Danvillegirl Sewing Diary

http://thelongandwindingbobbin.blogspot.com/2010/09/giveawaypalooza.html

Go to this address and participate in the giveaway=vintage patterns, fabric and vintage look purse!

First, thank you to everyone for the well wishes for DH and me.  Wrist is improving but had a few twinges this AM.  I may need to cut back on the pace.

I did some sewing yesterday morning and evening on the Sencha Blouse by Colette Patterns.    The following photos give you some idea of how blouse is progressing.  My fabric is from Fabric Mart.  The fabric is more vibrant and appealing than I could capture in these photos.  I went with a smaller size in the upper chest, neckline.  I may have to trim out the neckline some.  It looks tight on Alma Marie.  I am going to baste the facings to neckline and will decide then.  The first Sencha blouse I made was a little on the big side in that area.
I also hemmed the Simplicity skirt.  I ended up fiddling with tension on the sewing machine and got it to my satisfaction and hemmed the skirt using blind hem stitch.

I normally don't go into a lot about personal, non-sewing related information at casa Danvillegirl.  I have had my little wrist issue for a couple of weeks now, and today I can say it is getting better. 

My DH has had some sciatic nerve pain for some time now (over two months) with lower back pain and loss of feeling in his left leg.  For a man with a pain tolerance factor of -10, it takes him forever to go see his doctor.  He finally did so about two weeks ago and he was referred to an orthopedic physician specializing in back pain issues.  Last weekend he completed a MRI which we took results of that to the doctor yesterday. 

Long story short-he has to have surgery for a herniated disc.  Amazingly it is done as outpatient surgery and he goes home same day.  He will not be able to drive or travel for about 10 days.  He will be out of work for over 6 weeks.

So life has taken us in another direction.  We will get through this, though household budget does take a hit.  I am thankf…

I was able to sew the hem for the skirt lining.  My blindhem stitch  on my sewing machine was not looking so good for the skirt.  I tried hemming by hand but my wrist unfortunately is not better!  Now if I had that blind hemmer machine, I could get it sewn.

I have an Embellisher machine that I have hardly used.  I had great design ideas but I really am more of a sewist and not an artist.  I have thought on more than one occasion to sale the machine.  I may run with this and see what results I get on eBay.  The proceeds could then go toward the hemmer!!!  I know I will/would get more use from that machine.

My concern about the hemmer is what brand to buy.  I know several other sewists/bloggers who have a blind hemmer.  So my question to all is if you have a hemmer, would you recommend it? and what is the brand?  Feedback appreciated.

First, thank you to all wishing me well with my wrist.  I have to say the wrist support with metal splints has been helpful.  I still have some discomfort and sometimes I know I have overdone it. 

Today I know I did a little to much.  I made such good progress on fitting the lining for this skirt, view D without the topstitching.  I just had to jump in and start on the skirt fabric.  I started last evening working on the skirt and I just kept pushing through today.  It is finished except for the hemming.

Here are some photos of skirt:
 













 



































More info about skirt and me wearing it soon.  Next up the Sencha blouse.

The wrist continued to hurt and I was able to see physician's assistant.  Diagnosis-tendinitis!  How-not sure.  Prescription for now, rest the hand and wrist!  Purchase wrist support with splint to support that area.

Wrist support does help.  Resting hand-not doing well with that.  It is "budget season" at work thus spending more time at computer than normal.  Not the time to have aching wrist. 

I plan to do some sewing tomorrow, will see how it goes.  Now that lining is adjusted to fit, ready to complete the skirt.

So to rest the hand, I am going to read some blogs, not write.  Later!

I decided to sew the skirt lining first.  This gave me the opportunity to make fitting adjustments before sewing the skirt fabric. I did have to take deeper seams from waist to hip.

I hope to be able to sew a little this evening.  I am having some issues with my left wrist and not sure why or the cause.  As a result I have wrapped it a wrist band to give it some stability.  I could understand better if my right wrist hurt, since I am right handed.  I have put off contacting my physician but think today I will make that call.

More later.

adventures in baby-sewing: September 11

This morning I completed the cutting out of the Simplicity skirt pattern.  I cut out the skirt fabric last night.  I like to line my skirts and though this pattern does not call for a lining, I do.  So this AM I pressed some Ambiance navy lining fabric that I purchased earlier this year and then cut the skirt lining.

I decided to cut out the fabric for the Sencha blouse by Collette patterns.  Sometimes I just prefer to cut out several patterns so that I have several in the queue to sew.  I had ideas to cut out several other patterns but nixed that plan to move forward with the sewing of these two patterns.

My Club BMV patterns arrived yesterday so will again plan to work on the Kay Unger dress once I adjust the bodice.  I have decided not to use the black/white diamond faille fabric at this time.  I have a lovely royal blue double knit that I think will make up well for this dress pattern.  I suppose I must be in a "blue" sewing mode at this time.

Updates later.

Random Question for you: I am looking into dress forms and I saw that you bought a Uniquely You dress form back in 2006. It looks like you are still using it from your pictures. How do you like it now? How well is it holding up? Any advice for those scoping out the market on dress forms?

I like the Uniquely You dress form, though it could use some adjustments as I my measurements have changed a little since this was created.  The shoulders are too wide, always have been. I probably should shave them down.  I like this form better than the hard shell ones from Dritz.  For the price, I like this form better than others I have had.  You can use pins to easy pin pattern or fabric onto the form.  Hard shell forms, not so.

There are some more expensive and perhaps a little better forms out there.  I searched a lot of sites, even eBay for dress forms and in the end this was the one for me.  It has held up real well and because my sewing room is so small, it gets moved around a lot.  It has h…

It's out!  I am putting aside the Lutterloh top.  I am frustrated with myself over the "rookie" error I made.  So I decided to move on to some other projects.  I also am waiting for the mailman to deliver my Vogue replacement pattern, so that dress project is on hold.

This is now in!  I have a beautiful navy blue fabric from EOS, it is RPL (rayon,poly,Lycra).  I made another skirt from the same type of material a year ago and I love the fit, feel and wear of that skirt.  I think this will be the same.  I am using a Simplicity skirt pattern purchased within the past month or two.  I cut out the pattern pieces and will pin fit them later.

I also have this lovely fabric (above) acquired from Fabric Mart earlier this year.  I had always planned to use it to make another Collette pattern-the Sencha blouse which stays sold out on her website.  I made this blouse several months ago from some leftover fabric I had in my stash.  As many people have mentioned the blouse is rather f…

Thanks Club BMV!  I can now repurchase the Vogue dress pattern and get a second chance at getting the bodice adjusted to fit right!  As soon as I saw that notice in my email this AM, I was on it!  That too led to Gorgeous Fabric site and I purchased a knit fabric that was on sale to make a dress from a McCall's pattern I purchased along with the Vogue pattern.

Time for me to get away from the computer to go sew up what I have.

Have a great Labor Day Holiday!

The Lutterloh top has been cut out.  I am using fabric from Fabric Mart acquired earlier this year.  It is an unusual shade of lavendar/purple; maybe a brown lavendar. I actually had thread to match, as to serger thread, I am using dark gray.  I was going to use another fabric that was brown and gold but I did not have enough to make the top.  (The photo was taken using my BlackBerry)

As to the Vogue dress, in my attempt to do a FBA, I really butchered the bodice pattern pieces.  So badly butchered, that I just could not get the pieces back to any resemblance of what they originally looked like.  My intent was good, execution was faulty.  So I will wait for Vogue patten sale and repurchase the pattern.  I will use plan B for FBA method, more along the pivot and slide method.

Next Thursday I am making a presentation at our ASG meeting on the Lutterloh pattern drafting system.  Now, I am no expert by any means.  Yet I think I have studied and played with it enough to provide information about how it works.  Unfortunately, my plans to sew several garments prior to the meeting did not happen.  I made a test garment and then I made a knit top that is wearable but could use a little extra at waist and hip.

I am completing the draft of this Lutterloh top that I want to wear under jackets this fall.  This is from their Supplement 273.  I am making the top on the right.  It is similar to a Burda Style top and actually one from Vogue as well.














I also want to make another dress from this Vogue pattern.  The fabric I am going to use is from Fabric.mart.  Unfortunately I cannot find a link to this on their site, nor did I have a current photo to show you what it looks like.  It is an off white background with black diamonds, some sort of silk shantung or faille.

As of l…

I wore the Vogue dress yesterday to work.  When I put it on to wear I liked how it looked without the sash, so I left it off.  Because I made fitting adjustments to the shoulder area, I did not have some of the upper fullness I had with the first dress. 
I am really pleased that I decided to use the border print in the upper part of the dress instead of at the hemline.

Here is a back view:

I might could use darts in the back, again though this version was not as full as the other one.  Here is a side view:


I realized that the photo shots I took did not show the shoes I wore, which were white.  I received some very nice compliments.  I am now ready to move on to fall sewing.  I am drafting a top pattern from the Lutterloh system and plan to patten fit another Vogue dress this holiday weekend.  More later.