New Shoes

UPS delivers not only fabrics but shoes. I love patent leather shoes and platforms. However, platform pumps are not so easy to wear when you are over a certain age. But this platform is subtle enough to work and for me to be comfortable. I could not get patent leather locally so ordered from Zappo's. What great and prompt service they have. This is my second pair from them. I also ordered some ball of the foot petals for comfort and to help with my feet sliding forward.

These will look great with the Vogue skirt as well as the black/white stripe one coming up next.

Almost complete

I only have to sew the grosgrain ribbon to waistline seam and hem to have a completed skirt.  I worked very hard to make sure that side seams and back yoke pieces lined up.  In one of Louise Cutting's workbooks she gives some great tips of making sure those type of seams line up well.  You need to baste them at matching points and then pin the remaining seams together.  You may still need to adjust, but the basting seems to help the most for me.

I used a regular zipper per the instructions.  I normally use an invisible zipper but decided I wanted to keep my skills up on inserting this type of zipper.

I love the fit of this skirt and think I have found my correct skirt size for now.  I did not make any fitting adjustments while sewing the skirt.  I did shortened the length between waist and hip as well as doing a sway back adjustment prior to cutting out the skirt.

I hope to have a completed skirt to show later.  Time for dinner!

Vogue Skirt in progress

I've make great progress on the Vogue 8750 skirt.  The front unit is complete.  I love the three pieces of the side front.  They went together very easily.   The fabric is from EOS and is a stretch woven fabric that looks like lace overlay.  I am actually using the wrong side of the fabric; but for me this gave a better illusion of lace and it appears more gray and black.

I continue to see a lot of gray and silver colored clothes in department stores and magazines.  So I want to add some of this to my wardrobe.

Here are a few shots of the skirt front:

Close up of side front pieces

Topstitching of the curved side pieces

Front and side front pieces stitched together



I started on the back pieces and should have a completed skirt tomorrow!

Work, work and work

Where I work we held a strategic planning session with senior staff and some of the board members.  This began with brunch on Sunday and extended into the early evening, followed by dinner.  Monday we completed the session and was back to work.  Wednesday and Thursday I have been in seminars.  I was able to serge finish the edges of both skirts on Saturday.  This will give me a jumpstart for this weekend.  I am so looking forward to this weekend when I can sew my skirts.

I have taken the opportunity to view some Flickr photos of what many of you have been working on.  Always inspiring.    I am about to make two shoe purchases soon and will be seeking fabric to go with both. 

I hope to share more later.

Update to Patterns for Sale

I have added more patterns to the Patterns for Sale page.  Take a look as there maybe something you like.

Second skirt cut out to sew

I cut out Vogue 8750 skirt pattern on Sunday and have not had a moment to sew this week.  Tonight after pizza dinner with DH, I cut out a second skirt-Simplicity 2413.  I just found out that it has been moved to the OOP's at Simplicity. 

I used fabric from my stash, striped black and white stretch woven that I acquired in a fabric bundle from Fabric Mart perhaps two years ago-maybe longer than two.  The stripes will run vertical for the main body of the skirt with the stripes running horizontal for the skirt band at the bottom.

Of course, I get my sewing mojo back when I have to travel Sunday for a business trip.  It is just a one night away trip.  The meeting begins early afternoon on Sunday so only have a small window of sewing opportunity on Saturday.

The weather turned much cooler today so I find myself ready to begin the fall/winter sewing.  I pulled a few more fabrics out of my collection and coming up with some potential ideas for sewing.
More later.

I Won

I won a book giveaway on ThreadsMagazine.com.  I remember commenting to enter for the giveaway, but had truly forgotten about it until now.  I received an email notifying me today and then went to website and saw the notice there.  Link is below:

http://www.threadsmagazine.com/item/20036/and-the-winner-of-couture-sewing-techniques-is#comments

Cool!!!

Vogue 1250 Front

Vogue 1250 Front, a photo by Danvillegirl on Flickr.

Front view. Overall I am pleased with the look of this dress. I would not make this in a solid color for me but a print works well.

Vogue 1250-side view

Vogue 1250-side view, a photo by Danvillegirl on Flickr.

This is semi side view of dress. I have not hemmed the sleeves so there is a thread hanging down that needs to be cut!

Vogue 1250 Back

Vogue 1250 Back, a photo by Danvillegirl on Flickr.

Back view of the ever popular Vogue cowl neck dress. I cut a size 18 but can get by with 16. Could probably get by with 14 but would make front to clingy. I made swayback and narrow shoulder adjustments. Plus took 1/4 inch horizontal tuck right above the under arm area straight across to center back and did the same for the front.

Vogue 8750

Following dinner with DH, I spent time moving fabric from one place to another.  This is to begin my fall sewing and to refresh my memory of what I have in the stash.

I knew I had and did find some pleather pieces from my collection.  One is green and one is brown/black crocodile skin.  I want to incorporate one of them into a skirt.  The other (probably the green) will become a sleeveless top similar to this.

My first fall pattern to sew will be Vogue 8750, like the one the model is wearing.  I plan to use a denim fabric purchased from EOS in February of this year.

It has the look of lace overlay.  I washed it previously but thinking about washing it one more time.

It has some stretch to it as well which I like.  The pattern pieces have been cut out and I will pin fit tomorrow.



I feel like this is going to be a good, good sewing weekend

I am feeling it again-sewing that is.

I really like the Pinterest website.  I spent time this AM waking up to my usual coffee, breakfast and Internet.  I decided to peruse the Pinterest site and saw a lot of clothing of interest to me.  Obviously other bloggers are there also as I repinned many of what others had pinned.

I am seriously into making skirts for next sewing projects.  I have several skirt patterns acquired earlier this year and of course some from last year.  I already have picked a few I know I am going to sew initially.

Also as part of my sewing weekend I will be moving a lot of my spring/summer fabric in my sewing room back to the fabric collection room and begin to pull the fall/winter fabrics that I will work on next.

Enough for now, got to get ready to go to CURVES for Zumba class.  Later. 

Vogue 1250

I completed Vogue 1250.  Photos later.

I am happy with the way my version of this dress turned out.  My areas of concern with this pattern were the shoulders, the drape of the cowl and how low it would go, and whether I would a FBA.

My concern with the shoulders were more with length.  I decided to narrow the shoulder width by 3/8 inch.  I also ended up taking up the shoulder seam by one inch.  This was due somewhat  to the stretch of the fabric and more and more of a reality that I probably need to use a 12 in the upper chest/shoulder area.  I needed the 14 to 16 for bust down.

By taking that deeper seam it also helped with the drape of the cowl.  I really don't wear low draping styles well and my preference is not for low necklines; when you are my age, that is not the most flattering of looks.

I decided not to make a FBA and that worked out okay as well.  There is a good example of how to do a FBA for this pattern at  Debbie Cook's blog Stitches and Seams.

Will share more later.

I am sure that many of you have started a project and decided you had to just put it aside because you were just not "feeling it".  That is how I feel about the Butterick dress and came fully to that conclusion this morning when I went to my sewing room.  I just don't want to make this at this time.

After making that decision and allowing myself to not finish it now, ( I can be obsessive sometimes) I did some cleaning up of the space as well as cleaned out the bobbin area of my sewing machine.  I also  cleaned and oiled the serger. 

Once I did that I threaded the serger to prepare for sewing the final summer dress of the season, Vogue 1250.  I am probably one of the last people to sew this popular dress.  I hesitated sewing it because of the low neckline on the model and my petite size.  And how does one make a FBA with this.  Having read pretty much all the reviews on PR and various blogs where many of you have made this dress, I am ready to give it a try.

I will post updates later.

Sewing mojo is starting to return

After dinner out with DH and returning home, I spent some time in sewing room.  I completed the front facing part of the Butterick dress in progress.  I also pinned the neck binding to the dress and will sew that next.  Followed by inserting sleeves and hemming.  I am really ready to get this dress completed.  I think I will have several opportunities to wear it before transitioning to fall.

I have Vogue 1250 cut out and ready to sew next.  After this I plan to start on sewing for fall.  I want to make a few skirts and start working on some jackets.  I have been busy perusing various magazines and have found some inspirational pieces.  So I am feeling like getting back to sewing now.  Having a long holiday weekend helps also.

Back from Charleston

I returned from Charleston, SC on Wednesday evening.  I enjoyed my visit but would have liked to have had a few more days to see more of the city.  I spent Tuesday AM in downtown Charleston and a lot of time walking around the City Market and visiting shops close to that area.

I saw a sign for Hancock's Fabrics but did not have time to stop and shop.  I ate some fabulous food while there; perhaps really more than I should have.

I did find a pair of shoes at a really neat shoe store that was within an air conditioned area of the city market.  It is called Charleston Shoe Company.  They are comfortable and affordable shoes. Here is a link to their website, if interested.

Here is a really blurry shot of the shoes I bought.  They are sooooo comfortable. The fabric is a stretch fabric.  Most all of their shoes are washable in the delicate cycle.