I'm still here!

I'm still around...just haven't been sewing or blogging. I was very busy for work lately and am now getting a bit of time for my favorite hobby!
Sunday I made a shorts muslin that I had to tweak just a bit and now I'm ready to cut the fashion fabric. I'm using Kwik Sew 3614.

I'm making the longer version of course! This pattern has a really unique way to insert the zipper and also the waistband. Everything is done flat! Quite easy and intersting. This is the first pair of pants I'm made in many, many years. Stay tuned for the finished project.

The quilt...I'm not done with it, but I've put it away for now. I wasn't able to practice the quilting as much as I thought I would, so I've put it away until I feel like practicing again.

I did get to spend a whole week in my favorite place...San Diego. I was there for work and then spent a few days extra to have fun. The weather was horrible...yes, horrible, but we managed to enjoy it anyway. Sunday, March 7 (my birthday) I had brunch with friends at the Hotel Del Coronado, wonderful! Then the afternoon/sunset in La Jolla.

I've also booked my annual sister's vacation. We are heading to London in July.

Well, until next time...Happy Sewing!

Practicing

The machine quilting isn't going so good. It. Is. Hard. And I'm not good at it. I did try tracing the stencil onto the sticky saran wrap...my BSR doesn't read the fabric well so my stitches in curves are not regulated. So I've traced the stencil directly onto the fabric. I'm. Not. Good. AT ALL! So I may just have to stitch in the ditch...we'll see....practice continues.

Mama's Boy Quilt

I have finished the quilt top and I really like the way it looks.
I went to several quilt shops yesterday looking for a product that has quilting stitches already printed on a sticky back paper so that I can "cheat" quilt. I'm just not that good at stippling, so I thought I would be able to find this product...not so. One of the shops said they could order it, but I can do that myself from a catalog.
But on the way home I had this great idea! I think I might be able to use the sticky back plastic wrap and just stick that to the quilt, then trace a pattern onto that. Then I can do the quilting and just pull the plastic wrap off. Doesn't that sound like a plan?? I'm just not sure how it will work. I'm afraid it might gum up my needle, but I'll give it a test run. Till then....

Burda October 2009 Magazine Dress 115

This dress was easy to sew, however I did take my time. It came out exactly how I wanted it to and the fit was perfect with only small adjustments made to the front princess seam. I took them in about an inch or inch and a half at the bust area on each side. I might add that this is more of a "standing" dress and not so much a sitting dress. If I had made it form fitting as the Burda model wore it,
I would have never been able to walk much less sit! I really had to watch my steps too. The width at the hem was much more narrow that I had thought it would be. When I tried to get into my car...well, lets just say I had to hike the hem up a good 6 inches or so just to get in the car! Here is the technical drawing from the Burda website:

Here are the photos of the finished dress. Excuse the wrinkles....I wore it to work! Here is the front as I wore it. I bought this cardigan from Talbot's to wear with this dress.

And here are the shoes. I bought these with this dress in mind.
Here is the dress without the cardi.
The back.
The lining. I used a technique from the book Easy Guides to Sewing Linings an ebook I downloaded.
I will have to restitch the area around the zipper. After wearing the dress the stitching has come loose in the area across my back. The dress isn't tight, so I'm not quite sure why it came unsewn.

And here is my next project already in the works. A lap quilt using the pattern "Mama's Boy".
I bought the fabric and the pattern from Connecting Threads before Thanksgiving.
This is the completed center strip that I cut, pieced and sashed!

Almost there

I worked on the finishing parts of the Burda dress. It is coming along very nice...except when I was ready to press up the hem of the dress....I tripped the breaker in the sewing room. Not good. It was dark. I was home alone. It scared me! I think it was because I had the electric space heater on, the TV, the sewing machine and the vacuum ironing board. I think the ironing board and the heater were pulling too much power. Anyway, I turned everything off, flicked the breaker back on and then turned the light and TV back on in the room. Then I turned the lights back off and stopped for the evening. I'll finish up tomorrow, since it is MLK day and I don't have to go to work. I think the dress will be perfect!

Happy New Year!

I was finally able to get into the sewing room today. I was off work for 11 days and only was able to sew today. I managed to get the banner made for my Sorority (Iota Epsilon chapter of Beta Sigma Phi) so that we can have our ritual on Thursday night.

I also worked on the Burda magazine dress. I have all of it sewed and ready for the handwork to stitch the lining to the zipper, then the sleeves go in and then the hem. I'll post pictures as soon as it is finished which should be this weekend.

I think I'm going to work on a lap quilt next so I won't have to "fit" anything. I need something to do that is just straight stitching.

McCall's 5890

I didn't start the Burda magazine dress yet, but it is all cut out and ready. Instead I sewed McCall's 5890.


I made it from a really nice knit that I bought on a whim at Hancock Fabric's a few weeks ago when I went in there for white satin for a banner project.

I made view D for the dress and view B of the jacket. Previous reviews on PR of this jacket commented that the finish for the hem along the shawl collar were odd because you could see the back side at the bottom of the front edge. So I used a tricot edge, at least that is what my serger book called it. I used a black wholly nylon in the lower looper and regular black thread in both needles and the upper looper. Here is what the edge looks like from the inside of the front edge and this is what it looks like on the outside of the front edge.

I wore this the other day and it is so very comfortable. Here is the whole ensemble as I wore it

Here is just the dress.

I had to do some alterations on the dress because the fullness of the skirt was a little too matronly for my taste. From the picture on the pattern envelope, it doesn't look that full. I cut the size 18 and it fit perfect at the shoulders and bust, but after it was sewn, I ended up tapering about an inch at each side seam at the waist and ending up with about 4 inches at the bottom. Each princess seam was tapered from 1/2" at the waist to about 2 inches at the bottom, to give the dress a more straight skirt look, but with a little flip. I really like the way it turned out.
I can even wear it with a black blazer for a bit of a different look.

The next project WILL be the Burda dress!