Thursday, June 30, 2011

eShrug

I cut out the eShrug pattern.  I love the lace knit fabric; I need to definitely find some fabrics in my stash or online to go with this. 

The serger is set up for sewing the Vogue knit top pattern.  I am counting down the hours to the upcoming long weekend.  I also have a sewcation coming up as well.  WhooHooo!

Wednesday, June 29, 2011

Hook and eyes and other sewing notes

The hook and eyes are sewn onto two of the three dresses.  I did do those Sunday evening.  The third dress has to wait as I don't have the correct hook/eyes size.  I had thought I would get to JoAnn's to get a pack but not yet. 

The Vogue knit top has been cut out and the Sewing Workshop eShrug pattern has been printed and taped together.  I had a few minutes yesterday AM before work to trace the pattern, so the next step is to cut out the stretch knit fabric. 

So some progress has taken place.  With the long weekend coming up, I hope to complete these two items and hopefully another top using a recent knit fabric purchased from Fabric.com- a cotton slub knit fabric in what I call hot pink but they describe as watermelon!

More later.

Sunday, June 26, 2011

Next projects

In addition to printing out the Sewing Workshop eShrug pattern, I decided to work on another knit top.  This is one that caught my attention when it first came out.  I am not sure if it was the stripes that hooked me or the sleeves on the other view.

I am using blue and cream striped knit for this pattern, of course making the striped version.   This is fabric that has been in my stash for over eight years since I had it before moving back to Virginia.  I think I actually purchased it in Florida which would put it to be closer to 12 years.  I think it has obviously aged enough now.

And I still have not sewn on the hook and eyes on the three dresses.  I told my DH that he must help reinforce that today as I plan to wear all three dresses at some point next week.  Which also means I have a new pair of shoes to wear that I have not worn yet either!!!!

Updates later. 

Saturday, June 25, 2011

Time to change sewing direction

I have made three dresses and a jacket back to back.  So I think I am going to change my direction and make some tops and skirts.  I also want to try the Sewing Workshop eShrug.  So my time this weekend will focus on what to make and get it going.  For now, have to go to some chores.

Photos of Butterick dress with me in it!


Sunday, June 19, 2011

Can we get a WooHoo?

The dress is complete!  Woo Hoo!  I still have to sew on a hook and eye, still have not done that yet for this dress or the other two!!!!  Still plan to do it, but after posting this I am off to fix some dinner!

As they say, pictures are worth a thousand words so -----

Butterick 5638

With all those flowers it is very hard to see the princess seaming, and the neckline ruffles in the photo.

B5638 Bias Binding

I cut the bias neck and armhole binding using the pattern pieces.  But instead of using the their directions for attaching, I decided to use my Simplicity Bias Taper Maker machine and create a nice bias tape.  In the photo above, I attached one side of the bias fabric using the fold created by the tape maker for sewing guide.  I then trim the seam and turned the bias fabric, pinned and then “stitched in the ditch”.  The pattern instructions have to you hand sew the bias binding; not for this girl.

B5638 Armhole bias boundThis is the pinned bias at the armhole.  The pattern has you stitch the bias binding and then turn all of the binding to the inside and then you topstitch.  Their method the bias binding does not show.  I wanted it to as a nice design feature.

B5638 Neckline ruffle and facing

Here is a close up of the neckline and ruffle.  Still hard to see. Perhaps I should have used the contrasting solid color for the ruffle. 

Sorry no photo of me wearing the dress.  I am comfortably dressed for lounging around the house and will have to save the wearing shot for another day.

I hope everyone has/had a nice Father’s Day, no matter how you celebrated.

It will be finished today

The Butterick dress will be finished today.  I have sewn the neck binding and have sewn one armhole binding, leaving only one more to do, then hem, and add hook and eye. 

I have a lot of hook and eye sewing to do today.  I have completed three dresses and have yet to sew the hook and eye on each one.  I want to wear the new dresses next week so this has to get done.  I don't like hand sewing much, thus this final steps linger.

I think I am going to switch to making some knit tops and woven blouses/tops next. I still need to make the Vogue DKNY 1250 dress.  There are certainly a lot of these popping up all over the place.    So many ideas, such limited sewing time. 

Photos and updates later.

Thursday, June 16, 2011

Pleating for Mercy

http://misaramirez.com/pleating-for-mercy-sneak-peak/

The above link will take you to a sneak peak of a Cozy Mystery book to be released in August/September.  I was given a pre-release copy to read.  As you can tell from the title sewing is a part of this mystery.  I just started reading it; I love mysteries and of course love sewing.  Starting out as a good read!  More later.

Another small step for a new dress

I attached the ruffle to the neckline of the dress last evening.  I took two photos with my iPhone.  The first one is a shot of the dress laying on cutting table with ruffle attached.  The second photo is a close up of the neckline.

Wednesday, June 15, 2011

Small steps

I have been able to take 10 minutes each morning to do a little something more to the dress.  I am currently working on getting the ruffle piece gathered and attached to the neckline.  I used my gathering foot and long stitch length to get the gathering started.  I am now ready to attach this to the neckline.

I did make all the fitting adjustments I spoke about in a previous post.  I tried the dress on after work on Monday and I am very pleased with the fit.  Hopefully a completed dress to wear soon.

Sunday, June 12, 2011

It is becoming a dress---

I made a lot of progress on the floral print dress.  I have sewn the princess seams and inserted the invisible zipper.  I then basted the shoulder and side seams for fitting purposes. 

I am discovering that my body is changing again and that I probably should consider using a size 12 in the upper back area and shoulders.  Perhaps I should use the size 12 for upper chest area also.  I still have to have a larger bust size and many times I taper to size 16 or 18 depending on pattern size ranges. If largest size is 14 than of course must do a FBA,

The largest size in the pattern I am using is 16 and had separate front pieces depending on cup size.  I had to make a FBA still, just not a large one.

So after fitting, I now have to take deeper seams in upper back area, and perhaps trim a little at the back armscye.  I raised the front neckline when fitting the pattern, but I find it is still rather low after raising an inch. 

I did find a solid color fabric to match the flowers in the print but not sure I want that much contrast after closer review.  More later.

Saturday, June 11, 2011

Friday activities

I found a burst of energy Friday evening; perhaps it was my brain needing a different challenge than work.  I washed and dried the cotton Lycra fabric, just in case after making I decide I will use that method for cleaning instead of dry cleaning.  It did fairly well out of the drier, meaning not a lot of ironing required.

I then took the time to layout and cut out the fabric.  I now have an idea that I would like to find the perfect matching fabric at JoAnn's to make the ruffle in a solid color and thinking of trying to match the flower colors.   I will go there today to see what I can find.  I also decide to make the sleeveless version with the simple belt tie.

Also, I ordered two knit fabrics form Fabric.com and they arrived yesterday.  One is bright pink, close to fuchsia and the other is a black and white large plaid print.  I fell in love with the black and white fabric after seeing it made up into a dress over at Sew Terri's blog.   I now have to decide what dress pattern I would use.  I like the one Terri used as it really show cases the fabric so well; that of course is what influenced me to buy the fabric.

What do you think of the idea of using a solid color for the neckline ruffle?  I truly appreciate your feedback.  More later.

Thursday, June 09, 2011

Sewing???

Not really much going on here with sewing!I have the fabric laying on the cutting table, that's a start anyway.  Work, work, work!  So happy tomorrow is Friday.

Tuesday, June 07, 2011

A quick note

Pattern adjustments have been made to the dress pattern-Butterick 5638.  I had to make a one inch FBA-even though the pattern has front pieces for B,C, and D.  I also raised the neckline about one inch as it was falling rather low on me.  I also made 5/8 upper back curve adjustment which seems to fix my forward shoulder issue by doing it this way also.  Of course the usual swayback adjustment along with the petite adjustment at hip line.

Hopefully I will be able to cut out the fabric one evening this week. 

Sunday, June 05, 2011

NL 6000 complete except----

The dress is complete except for hook and eye at the back; and I am still searching for the perfect button for the collar.  As I noted in my last post, I changed the sleeve from 3/4 with cuff, to a shorter sleeve with no cuff. 

I am preparing another dress or two for sewing.  The one I am going to sew first is this Butterick pattern:


I fell in love with this dress pattern because of the ruffled neckline and princess seams.  I am deviating from the look of the dresses on the envelope which are all in solid colors which I plan to do also.  But I wanted to make up this fabric and decided the dress does not have to be a solid.
This fabric is a purchase from Vogue Fabrics earlier this year.  I fell in love with this print and color.  I don't normally wear this color much; yet I was drawn to it.  Good enough for me to purchase it.  I plan to pin fit the pattern this afternoon and hopefully between having to do some house cleaning and some homework for my job, I will fit this all in.






Wednesday, June 01, 2011

Sleeves

I am making a design change with the sleeves for the New Look dress.  I did not want the short cap sleeves nor did I want sleeveless, so I decided to go with the cuffed sleeve.  The cuff is not working for me after attaching it to one sleeve.  When I pinned the cuff where the button would go it felt too constricting. 

I decided that I will shortened the sleeve and not have a cuff.  I just pinned the other sleeve hem up to where I want it and I think this will give me a nice sleeve-not too short nor too long.

I got home a little before DH did, so got a few minutes to play with this before fixing dinner!  Woohoo, a bit of sewing during the work week.  Love it.

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...