Sewing this evening

We (DH and I) went to Danville to visit MIL and DH's niece. We returned home and picked up Chinese takeout for dinner. After eating I spent some time in the sewing room. I decided to finish up the Burda jacket. That became a real task.

First I tested the buttonhole on a scrap of fabric. That worked well. When I attempted to sew the first buttonhole on the jacket, the fabric puckered. I decided to reduce the foot tension which was a good idea. My sewing machine-Husqvarna SE-has a sensor button hole foot that for whatever strange reason did not work like it is suppose to. With this foot, you program in the button size and the machine is suppose to sew the correct size buttonhole.

The sensor worked on the first buttonhole; the second it did not stop at the beginning point and I had to manually move through the buttonhole steps as if I was not using the sensor foot. The results on the third was not very good either. This is the first time I have had this issue with the sensor foot. Not sure if it was the fabric or the foot or combination of both.

The jacket calls for a turned up cuff. I am not happy with how the cuffs look and have decided not to attach them. I turned up the hem after serge finishing the edge. I will sew the buttons on tomorrow.

I like the jacket but don't think I will make another one from this pattern. I think I will wear the jacket more as a casual one. I will take photos of me wearing the completed jacket tomorrow.

What I wore-Thursday

This is a shot of me wearing the recently completed Jalie top. Skirt is RTW. I got a lot of complements on the top. I like the fit of this one better than the first. I see more of this top in the future.

Jalie 2806 Complete

Yeah, I finished something!

I completed Jalie 2806. This is my second time making this top and this one fits better than the first one. The knit for this top was a little heavier in weight than the first one I made giving it better body. I also used 3/8 inch side seams instead of 1/4. The other adjustment I made was with the sleeve.

With the first one I increased the width of the sleeve; I think because I read where others thought the sleeve was a little tight. I really did not need to do that so with this one, I redrafted the sleeve pattern reducing the added width.

I used my coverstitch hem to hem the sleeves and the top. I also used the machine to stitch the neckline band and top.

It was great to complete a project. The Burda jacket is waiting for button holes and buttons. I now have buttons for the jacket, I just need to rethread the machine to complete this. I plan to work on this during the week.

I have a KS knit top cut out. I am looking forward to making this one.

An Award

I normally try to keep my blog focused on sewing related postings. However, I received an award at our agency's annual event last Tuesday night. I am truly proud of my career accomplishments and to be recognized by those I work with and supervise was a great honor. Thus I decided to share this with my sewing friends as well.

I have been fortunate to work with some great people throughout my career. Most of all I believe in the work we do with people with disabilities and disadvantaging conditions. I was truly honored to have my career efforts recognized.

Butterick, you're out; Jalie, you win

I became very frustrated working on the Butterick knit top. The knit was just to fiddly and I am not liking how the pleats and the whole neckline thing was just not coming together. There is a lot of hand stitching to catch various pieces to each other. When that goes wrong, and it did!, because of the knit, the removal of those stitches was not easy and left a hole. I decided I just did not want to be working on such a tedious project. So it is a wadder and I'm okay with that.

I moved on to the Jalie scoopneck top and it has been such a pleasure to sew this. Rethreading the serger, the coverstitich and sewing machine ate up a lot of the sewing time I had. I have created the gathered foldover part; sewn the shoulders together; basted the side seams for fitting; and I tried it on to make sure that it is all falling into place correctly. It did!!!!

So I made that the stopping point while I am waiting for DH to finish getting ready to go do a few shopping errands and eat. Back to the sewing machine later. It's good to be sewing again.

This evening I actually sewed something

Since last weekend's reunion celebration, I have not sewn any. I really have not had the inclination to sew. This evening however, I got the urge to pick up where I left off on my knit top. I am working on the tricky part of the neckline that is pleated and tucked over. Following the drawings with the instructions, I was able to sew this part and it is starting to come together. It is truly like working with a puzzle.

I again lost interest in the project and decided to take a moment to post something on my blog. I know this is just a phase of non-sewing that I and many of us go through from time to time. When I get like this it is good to visit other blogs or fabric sites and even online fashion catalogs for some inspiration. This weekend will be one of staying around the house and I know that I will pick up my sewing again.

I'm Home

We got home around 6PM. What a GREAT 40 year class reunion! It was so much fun to see former class mates again. We had horderves (not sure if this is spelled correctly) and chatting from 7 to 9 PM and then dancing to a band called 58 West. I have not danced so much in a long, long time.


This AM I visited some more with classmates and went to a longtime friends home to visit with her and her mother. We stopped for dinner on the way home. I am now unpacked and ready to recover before going back to work tomorrow.


With this nice break from day to day life, I feel I can concentrate on sewing once again. Later!

Class Reunion

This week was a short work week for me-Monday was a holiday. Today, I am on vacation as I am getting ready for a weekend of activities in celebration of my 40 year High School class reunion. (Gosh, I can't hardly believe it has been that long since I was 18!!!!!!!) Most days I still feel young.

My three day work week was jammed with meetings, reports to be written and submitted, more meetings, a presentation to a local SHRM organization and constant follow up with staff on numerous projects. My and DH's evenings were consumed with FB, phone calls and emails to our former class mates to set up meet ups and lunches, etc. I am really looking forward to seeing everyone and catching up. Being preoccupied with all of this we hardly even watched TV (yahoo!!!) that is probably a real good thing. But also I never made it into the sewing room to do anything remotely related to finishing the Butterick top or do anything else.

We will be traveling this evening to Danville and spend the weekend there; today will be consumed with grocery/banking and packing. So sewing related projects are on hold. So my blogging will be pretty quiet over the weekend as we enjoy our reunion weekend.

Success and what I did on my holiday

I got buttons for my jacket. I actually purchased several sets of various buttons from Schoolhouse Fabrics in Floyd, VA. Here is the buttons for my jacket.

I am not sure that the photo does it justice, but I was able to get enough for jacket front and cuffs. I really want to finish this project. With weather turning cooler here, this will be a nice jacket for the fall for work or casual.

I did not get away from Schoolhouse Fabrics without buying fabric as well. They had a beautiful pink,gray,black and a touch of pale yellow boucle fabric that called my name as soon as I walked into the room where this fabric was located. I also purchased trim for a Chanel type look. The photos I took of the trim did not turn out well so I will post something later.

I also purchased two shades of gray fabric to go with this boucle, one has a touch of lycra and is a light gray and the other is a polyester that is a steel gray color. Plus I purchased several yards of lining to have on hand; the colors were black, dark gray and light gray.

I also resumed working on the matte jersey Butterick top. I attached the neckband and then got stumped on how the pleated left front attaches to right front at neckline. I almost thought I was working on Burda pattern; but after staring at the drawings along with the instructions, I finally got it. By then I had to stop and pull out my laptop to take care of some work related issues due to my time crunch at the office tomorrow.

All in all my time off was a successful day.

Future tops

While I was using the camera I took shots of the other two patterns and the fabrics I cut out to make them.

This is the KS pattern-KS3658. The fabric was acquired from Hancock Fabrics in Fredericksburg, VA in March of this year. I was on a business trip and had time to shop prior to the start of our meetings. This is a teal polyester knit, somewhat beefy but has 35% stretch as the pattern suggests.

This is the Jalie scoopneck top. I made View A before with satisfactory results and pattern was tweaked afterwards to assure a better fit for next time. This knit fabric was purchased from Fabric.com perhaps a year ago.

WIP

I was incorrect about the fabric I am using for the Butterick top. In an earlier post, I said I bought it about two years ago-NOT-I acquired it March of this year. I have similar fabric and that is the fabric I purchased from Sew Biz in Radford about two years ago. Here is a photo of the fabric:

Here is a shot of the front pattern piece with center front seam sewn and neckline overlaid left over right front.

Love a challenge!

First, thanks Mary for suggesting Sew True. I had a catalog from them, yet I forgot all about that source. I found the catalog which helps with colors. Atlanta Thread was running some sort of special, so I think I will compare my options.



Now on to my challenge. I am making the Butterick top. Because of the unusual neck line I thought of that as a challenge. And it is; yet more so now because of the knit fabric I am using. Though it is a quality knit; it is a bear to sew with. I had to change settings several times on serger to get the right stitch and changed the tension and presser foot setting on sewing machine for this knit to sew without puckering. Achieved this finally.

The neckline is not all that difficult until you get to the neckline binding. There are several steps to follow per their instructions but I am working to modify that step. Again the challenge I think will be the knit fabric more than the pattern. I do think once made, it will be an attractive and different top.

I am taking a break now and will post more on this sewing challenge later.

Sewing Update

I have now cut out the Kwik Sew pattern. I now have three tops ready to sew.

I plan to sew the Butterick pattern first. I just threaded the serger. I ordered serger thread about two months ago from Atlanta Thread Supply. I cannot buy Maxi Lock thread except at one location in town and they have a limited selection. I was fortunate that one of the colors I selected on whim was perfect for this knit top.

The fabric is from Gorgeous Fabrics and I acquired it perhaps two years ago. It is a rayon knit that has nice feel and weight. It met the stretch requirements for this pattern as well.

Pattern tracing and fabric cutting

I was able to cut out the fabric for the Butterick top this AM. I ended up using another knit fabric that has been in my stash for a long time. The piece I had originally planned to use proved to not be enough even to do the sleeveless version. I decided to cut out the 3/4 length sleeves instead of making a sleeveless top.

I then cut out another knit fabric that has been in my stash for over a year or more. I used a Jalie pattern that I have made before. I plan to use the pleated front top as I made this before with nice success.

I then traced a Kwik Sew pattern. This has an interesting pattern for the front. I ended up using the pivot and slide method to make a FBA because of the unusual front pattern piece.

I still have not found buttons for my jacket. I am off Monday and will be traveling to Floyd and Schoolhouse Patterns. I have not been there in over 6 months. They have a great selection of buttons as well as lining fabrics. I plan to purchase a few more lining pieces as well.

Pattern tweaking

I decided I needed to do a little more tweaking to the Butterick knit pattern, so had a few moments this evening to play around in the sewing room. I had to do a swayback adjustment that I failed to do Sunday.

I also flipped through some additional top patterns thinking I wanted to perhaps pattern fit another one so I will be able to get a head start on cutting out more than one top pattern. That is when I get around to cutting out fabric.

That's about all the sewing related things I am able to get done this evening. I went into work much earlier this morning for a meeting and I am running out of steam.

What I am up to sewing wise

I topstitched the pockets to the BWOF jacket. I have decided I will not add the pocket flaps; I think there will be just too much activity in that area of the jacket and I don't want to draw too much attention at that waist line.



I looked through more of my buttons and either I have a nice match but only one to three of them. I thought about covered buttons and decided I am not wanting to do that. Unfortunately I do not have a great button source to go to locally. The closest place with a good variety of buttons is over an hour away. I am looking on line yet the colors on monitor are not necessarily a great match to fabric. I have a holiday coming up so I think I will be planning the hour drive to search for buttons.



Putting the jacket aside, I straightened up the sewing room and vacuumed the carpet. I then went through my fabric that I bought from the storage room to the sewing room and matched it up with patterns I want to sew. I am going with my current plan and will start to work on some knit tops first.



This is the first knit top pattern I am going to cut out and sew--I have adjusted the pattern for FBA and FSA. I am going to sew it up in blue floral knit fabric that has been in the stash for years. I am going to make the sleeveless top as I will only have enough fabric for that one. The next top from this pattern will be the one with 3/4 length sleeves.

Photo courtesy of Butterick Patterns website

Not sewing this AM

We are off to visit family in Danville today. My jacket is patiently waiting to be completed. I still do not have buttons yet. Once I can get as far as I can with the jacket until buttons materialize, I need to work on some tops-knit and woven.

Roaming others blogs or Flickr photos, I am inspired to sew tops. I like to wear skirts and pants when cold but I always feel I need more tops to change up the look. I actually have some TNT's and have several new ones to try as well.

Got to go, DH is giving me that "time to go" look.

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