Thursday, April 30, 2009

Back from DC and no fabric

I returned yesterday late afternoon from DC. It was a very good conference and weather though to some was "hot"; it was perfect for me. Unfortunately for me my plans to go to G Street got canceled; it was a work related thing that started out as a mountain and was really only a mole hill. I did however go shopping (mostly window shopping) with some of my staff at the Fashion Centre Mall at Pentagon City. I think we made it to all floors. So much to see and not enough money or time.

I did get some great ideas for blouses with ruffles. I also saw a blouse costing over $100 with the worst sewn ruffles ever on a blouse. I wanted to take a photo of it with my cell phone but sales lady kept hanging around while I looked. More about this later.

Back to the office today!

Friday, April 24, 2009

KS3633 Backview on AlmaMarie

Back view on AlmaMarie.

KS3633 on AlmaMarie


KS3633 on AlmaMarie
Originally uploaded by Danvillegirl
I realized I have not posted much about the completion of the KS 3633 Dress. It is complete and I am planning to take the dress with me to DC. I decided to show it on AlmaMarie. I am concerned about the wrinkles in the bottom layer. Those occured just pulling the dress onto the dress form.

Thursday, April 23, 2009

Slow but steady progress

Last evening I took about 30 minutes to spend time fitting the top of the dress. I found I needed to adjust the darts a little and decided that I will need to take a deeper side seam from the under arm to the bust and then taper to 5/8 seam. The back is a little full and puffy at the back waist area. There are tucks/pleats on both sides of the center back so I took those up some to bring in the fit there.

I do think that the back neck line is going to be too high once I attach the stand collar. I will have to baste fit that to test that. I am thinking I will have to cut down that area so the stand collar will not rise to high.

I like the look of the ruffles down the front. I think that it lengthens the look of the top. I am going to do what Cennetta-The Mahogany Stylist- did with the same dress for her daughter and use a longer zipper in the side. I debated when cutting this out to add a back seam and put the zipper there but I like the dress the way it is designed with the side zipper. I am trying to visualize using an invisible zipper instead of regular. I think that I will do better though with the lapped zipper for this dress.

Wednesday, April 22, 2009

G Street

I can't believe that I am staying that close to G Street!!! I think the last visit to G Street was about three years ago. Omega, thanks for map directions. I have that plus my GPS so should be no problem. (yeah, right--I am directionally challenged) Last year I got lost going into Arlington using the GPS. I ended up going in circles for about 15 minutes. I pulled over at 15th and D Street, called the hotel and they said I was in DC. No kidding!!!! I knew that. They told me I had to get to 395. I did and found my way to the hotel. Life is an adventure!

The metro is available also. I do plan to travel to a mall-Foggy Bottom?-about three stories of shops. Can you tell I live in a small city, that does not have a Nordstroms or any other big name store?

Tuesday, April 21, 2009

Upcoming business trip

I am going to be traveling to DC on Sunday; I will be driving up with one of my staff. I will be in town on Monday and Tuesday attending seminar sessions. I plan to travel back home on Wednesday. I am staying at the Marriott Wardman Park Hotel. How far is that from G Street Fabrics in Rockville? I am thinking of going to G Street Wednesday AM and then leaving around noonish to 1:00 PM to travel back.

This is all subject to change but that is my thinking for today.

Front ruffle




This is a shot of the front ruffle on the dress. I kept trying to play with the photo so you could see the ruffle better with not much success. After putting it aside and then looking at it last night, the ruffle looks better than I thought it did on Sunday.

Gwen asked if the ruffle was single or double fabric. I liked how she described in her comment to Sunday's post how she did a ruffle on her blouse. Gwen be sure to post that!

This ruffle is a single piece of fabric that you stitch two lines of gathering stitches. The gathering stitches are noted on the pattern piece. This is where pattern and instructions did not sync up and created an issue for me. You stitch a gathering line about 3/8 of inch down one edge of the fabric. You then are to attach, by basting, this edge onto a marked line on the front pattern piece, then pull up your gathering stitch so piece fits between marked dots at top and bottom. My error was I did not mark the line well on front pattern piece, thus required me to measure and mark on the front piece. When you baste the piece to the front and pull up the gathering stitch that also tends to pull the front fabric piece. So rip, rip, rip out the basting stitches, then gather the piece, then attach to front piece. That was my method. Also before attaching the ruffle, you are to turn under about 3/4 on the other side of the piece and press under. Now there are gathering lines in this area also. Only I failed to mark those. Yet looking at the drawings you can see a basting stitch down the center of the folded under piece, so I decided to run a basting line down that piece to hold the fold in place. This was actually a gathering stitch.

The instructions do not tell you to stitch this gathering line though the pattern is clearly marked for this second gathering stitch line. Then you turn that ruffle piece in half and line up the pressed under folded edge to the center of the dress and pull your gathering stitches to fit this side between top edge and bottom. You also need to make sure that the facing piece is turned out so you do not stitch the ruffle to it. Then you stitch this down.

So to answer Gwen's question it was a single piece of fabric, that is folded over thus doubled. I think is necessary to give the ruffle some body. I think there is an easier way to do the ruffle and if I use this dress top again, then I will try a different method.

Sunday, April 19, 2009

Sewing update-4-19-09

I did not sew hardly any yesterday. Before I could really tackle sewing, I needed to put away a lot of patterns, notions and general clutter in my sewing room. I purchased a new cardboard cutting board as my other one had so many marks on it you could hardly see the grids and other markings that were part of the board. Once that clean up was done, I set up my serger and sewing machine for the start of the Simplicity dress.

Today I began working on the dress top. The ruffle for the bodice front was painful. One was because I did not do a good job of marking the stitching lines for the sewing of the first gathered edge and thus had to spend time measuring and pinning the ruffle to the front. I also ran into an issue with this same piece as the instructions, I believe, are not as explicit as they need to be to instruct the sewist on how to complete the second step in the attaching of the ruffle. After reviewing the pattern piece several times, looking at the drawings and re-reading the instructions, I finally got a clue what I needed to do.

After attaching one ruffle to one side, you then of course attach to the other front piece. Getting the ruffles to resemble each other is a fiddly task. After doing this, the top of the ruffle on the second side is not lining up with the neckline as it should. I can feel some ripping coming up next.

I will share some photos later of the work in progress. I have some family issues to deal with now so any other sewing for today may not happen.

Another online fabric store going away

I got an email this week from Textile Studios, saying "sew long". I have purchased several fabrics from this source and let me say the quality has always been top of the line. I still have some of their fabric aging in my collection. I regret losing this source and wish all well for the future.

Thursday, April 16, 2009

Simplicity dress

Well work has been hectic; as I noted previously it is budget season. This afternoon I met with finance and CEO to review my department's budget. It was not as painful as previous years and I will only have to make minor cuts at this time. As with many companies and particularly non-profit agencies, we are being challenged to do more with less. We had some major funding cuts from some state agencies earlier this year requiring us to make some cutbacks in my business segment. To have my budget approved with just a few tweaks made my day much better.

With a little more spring in my step and an energy boost, after dinner with DH, I finished cutting out the Simplicity dress pattern. I cut out the skirt portion plus skirt lining on Monday and now the top part is cut. I am planning to underline the bodice front and back as I find the fabric I am using a little sheer. But I have to say that the feel and the ease of cutting this fabric was a pleasant experience.

I am looking forward to sewing the dress this weekend.

Tuesday, April 14, 2009

Jacket from the Past

I want to thank everyone for your comments on my green top. I mentioned in that post that I wore it with a jacket I made several years ago. The fabric is of unknown fiber to me, it looks something like silk shantung, I really don't know. I purchased it from a remnant table from a fabric store in the Orlando area, I forget the name of the store. I bought the fabric about 8 years ago and made the jacket probably 7 years ago. (And who says if you hold onto things for over a year without wearing them, you should get rid of it!) I wore the jacket many times after that before putting it aside.

One side of the fabric was green and black stripe; the other side was solid black and both sides were the "right" side. So I decided to take advantage of that. I decided to do decorative stitching on the solid black side and stitch it in the form of stripes. I have yet to use all decorative stitches on any sewing machine I have owned. One set of stripes is a satin stitch, the other is what I call a ladder stitch.

This is a Cutting Lines Design pattern. It is a rather boxy style jacket and somewhat like a jeans jacket- but not! Here are a few photos of the jacket:



Here is a shot of the back. I think I ran out of patience and/or time (most likely patience)thus I did not do a lot of decorative stitching on the back.

Monday, April 13, 2009

Coverstitch hem

This is my first hemmed project with new coverstitch machine. I really was impressed with how well it turned out. More photos and review later.
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I finally did it!

I made the plunge and acquired a new coverstitch machine. Our local Janome dealer got a great price break on these machines so I put my name in the hat for one. I picked it up last week. I coverstitched the sleeves hem on the finally completed KS tri-colored dress. Photos later. It sews great and oh sooooo! easy to thread.

I had to do some rearranging in my already cluttered and small sewing room. I have this machine sitting next to the serger and my embroidery machine is at the other end of the table and can easily be pulled forward to do embroidery. I have to admit I am not doing as much of that as I use to and have thought long and hard about selling the machine. For now, I am holding on to it.
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Friday, April 10, 2009

KS 3617 View A-Wore yesterday

I wore my new KS top yesterday to work. Thursday was more of a casual day since it was our Friday. Today is a holiday!!!! I wore my new top with black pants. I also wore a jacket that I made several years ago that worked well with this. Unfortunately that was a last minute decision and did not make it into the photos. It is a box style jacket from Louise Cutting patterns. I forget the name of the particular pattern. I will have to take a photo of it as I was most proud of this jacket when I made it. I did some decorative stitching on it to go with the fabric. But I digress---

Here is a shot of me wearing the top.

Go here to see more views.

Tuesday, April 07, 2009

Next project-Simplicity Dress



This is my next project.
I have been reading through the instructions for this dress. I was impressed by the dress Cennetta of Mahogany Stylist made for her daughter. I am excited by all of the combination options included in this pattern. I plan to make the ruffle top with stand up collar and straight/pencil skirt. Sleeves or no is dependent on fabric availability, though I think there will be sufficient fabric for a short sleeve version.
Here is my fabric choice.
Very spring looking IMHO. Today we are having winter again, high of 47 after a Saturday and Sunday highs in upper 60's to low 70's. So sewing spring colors and lighter weight fabrics are keeping me in a spring time mode. The green/pink/yellow apple fabric I acquired from a vintage fabric seller on eBay. This fabric is truly lovely and feels great. Whether truly vintage, I don't really know but it met my expectations when it arrived, actually it was better than expected. The green is a silk noil I purchased from Nancy's Notions. I have not sewn silk noil in several years but I always liked the feel and the look garments from this fabric.

Monday, April 06, 2009

Back view-what I wore


Back view-what I wore
Originally uploaded by Danvillegirl

KS Cardigan wearing


KS Cardigan wearing
Originally uploaded by Danvillegirl
Another view of top with two snaps closed.

Wearing


Wearing
Originally uploaded by Danvillegirl

Shots of other sewing projects

Here is my completed View A KS 3617. I need to write a review for PR. I am okay with the fit but decided I will go down a size in neckline shoulder area when I make this again. I also need to take a deeper tuck between shoulder and bust line; I tucked out about 1/4 inch but think I could easily go 1/2 inch. I will wear this top; yet I know I can perfect the fit a little more. This fabric is one I purchased recently at Hancock's in Fredericksburg.




This is my KS tri-color dress. I ran out of steam working on this yesterday, plus it was so nice and warm (7o degrees) that I wanted to spend time outside. I used one inch just in case seams that I found to be totally unnecessary for this dress. I will actually take about 1.5 inches from below bust to hemline. I am liking the look of this dress as the colors are truly what I like to wear.

Additional snap setter information.

This is the snap setter I used. The snaps I used were size 16. I also have the snap adapter for size 20 which are a tad larger snaps. One other thing I would add; the instructions say to tap the adapter tool two or three times to set the snap. You then remove fabric from tool and check to be sure snaps are secure. I found that I needed to tap about 4 or 5 times to get the snaps secure for my comfort. I was really pleased with this tool.

The tricky part is aligning the snaps on each front piece. I truly worked hard to make sure that they lined up.

Sunday, April 05, 2009

KS Cardigan with snaps

I recently made this cardigan and a matching tank top. I decided to use pastel yellow snaps on this. I used a Snap Setter Tool that truly worked great. I like the look of the snaps. I see a lot of this look in stores of late. I really could not find pale yellow buttons to use that appealed to me or small enough. Now I can wear this to work in the near future. One UFO complete!
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Saturday, April 04, 2009

Sewing going on here

We had a change of plans for today. (I am so grateful.) Thus I was able to fit in my Saturday AM Curves session. After that I returned home and completed the hem on my green top-ready to wear now.

I decided to take care of some UFOs. I stitched the facings to the lining on my skirt and sewed on the hook and eyes. I plan to wear the skirt and maybe the green top to work on Wednesday and then to our ASG meeting. I have not done a show and tell at one of our meetings in some time now.

I purchased some pastel colored snaps recently from Nancy's Notions. I have a Snap Setter Tool that I purchased perhaps five years ago and have never used it. Don't know why, just never did. The KS cardigan and tank top I made recently still needed buttons. But I have yet find what I wanted in my limited button universe. So I decided after seeing several similar cardigans with nice snaps that I would try this. The pastel snaps are blue, green, yellow and pink. The yellow snaps are perfect for this. I practiced on a knit piece of fabric with binding tape sewn on it to replicate my cardigan. The snap setter worked perfectly on the test.

I had to put aside my sewing to get ready to go out shopping and dining with DH so hope to attach snaps to the garment tonight. That will complete my UFOs for now.

I will start on the KS tri-color dress next. I have already planned my next two garments and will show case the fabric and my selections soon.

Later.

Friday, April 03, 2009

I am still here

I have not made it into my sewing room this week except to get something out of the closet or to put down or pick up a pattern to check some specific information.

I did buy the green thread that I ran out of and maybe will hem the top that is still waiting to be finished. Tomorrow DH and I are visiting his mother so the AM will be shot. I am so happy though that I have a garment ready and waiting to be sewn.

I also had a few patterns to arrive earlier in the week. Like I really need more patterns. I have to stop buying them, SERIOUSLY! I also have another item that arrived at the dealers but not yet at my home. More on that soon, I hope.

August Sewing Simplicity 7295

 I am not doing well as a blogger. I have been working on this project since July 30. Today, I finally finished it. It has been a stop-and-g...