Danvillegirl Sewing Diary

Let me say first and foremost I love this Vogue skirt pattern.  Mostly because I really like the fit and the uniqueness of the pattern.  My next version of this skirt will be in a solid color and with topstitching that will accent the many pieces that make up this skirt.  So far I have made it in print fabrics that do not reveal the yokes and the side front pieces.

Here is a previous post about the recent version of this skirt.

I purchased a few knit tops from J C Penney's recently and this was one I fell in love with because of the large dots on the front with back and sides being solid black.  It also came with the skinny black belt I am wearing in the photo below.  Never thinking when I purchased it that I would wear with this skirt.

Not the best photo background to use and the view is from a mirror using my iPad.   This is a semi side view.  One more shot and more of a frontal view.

I also wore a lightweight sweater in black with this as the AM was chilly turning to warm by m…

I have made great strides on completing the skirt in progress.  I have truly enjoyed sewing the polyester crepe fabric. The front and back pieces are complete and I am now ready to insert the zipper, sew the lining and fabric units together and hem.

I have a business trip coming up the middle of next week and had hoped to have the skirt and top ready to take with me.  Most likely will not happen.  I will be taking two skirts I made; one last year and one last week.

I am really stumped on the top to make with this skirt.  I realized I have limited fabric as I remembered that when I bought it from EOS she had only a small amount left and I accepted what she had.  The other criteria is that it needs to be a more fitted top to work with this skirt.

I am going to edit a few photos I took of my Vogue skirt and post shortly.  I wore it last week and I decided to get on the mixed pattern band wagon; I think I did it rather successfully based on comments I received.  This will be one outfit I…

I cut out the crepe fabric for the Simplicity skirt this evening.  I decided the crepe fabric would need to be lined and fortunately I had a good shade of pale lining fabric to use; the lining is cut out also.    I plan to start sewing on it tomorrow.

I am now considering what the knit fabric top should look like.  The model is wearing a closer fitting top which I think is rather appropriate for this type skirt.  I have several new knit top patterns acquired this year so I am sure I will be able to find one.

More updates later.

Here are photos of the two fabrics I acquired from Les Fabrique at 50% off recently.

The first one is a linen/rayon border print fabric.  This is a heavier weight linen blend and my first thought that this would become a dress.
The other piece is a blue poly suede.  The backing on this one is a woven, non-satiny knit as some other faux suede pieces I have acquired.  The blue is much prettier "live" than showing in this photo.  This almost looks like velvet; not that look at all in person.

I am looking forward to the weekend.  I have taken the pattern out of the envelope and hope to get going on the next skirt.  My work activity this week has just been draining and just no energy to do much more after getting home from work.

I have to say that we had some cooler temps recently and this has been a boost to my doing more planning for some garments for the upcoming fall and winter.  I have definitely taken time to move the spring/summer fabric from the sewing room to the fabric storage room. (That sounds like a vault of some sort, trust me it is not).  And I have selected some fabrics to begin a transition wardrobe.  Coupling those from the stash with some of the new pieces I recently acquired.

I also got an opportunity to visit Les Fabrique in Charlottesville and picked up two nice pieces of fabric at 50% off.  One was an ultra suede piece and the order was a border print linen blend.  I will post some photos of those soon.

Congratulations to several sewing bloggers who …

I completed the Vogue 8750 skirt; the bias did not grow.  I only need to add the hook and eye.

I started on the Magic Pencil Skirt.  I am using a knit fabric that has been in my stash for so long and don't remember when I actually purchased it.  I do know that it came from Fabric.com.  There are two sides to this knit fabric with the predominantly white background most likely being the "right" side.  I decided to use the "wrong" side for this skirt.

This is a scrap of the fabric
Not sure why I have been on this black and white kick of late, perhaps because the machines are set on this.  Yet I keep seeing a lot of black and white in the magazines which is also an influence.  Once this is completed, I am switching to pale yellow.  This is the fabric up next.
I also plan to use this knit fabric from EOS for a top to wear with this skirt as well as some others in my closet as well as planned.
It goes nicely with the crepe fabric above but the photo of the yellow fa…

I completed the Vogue skirt except for the hemming.  Because the bottom side pieces are on the bias I thought I should let it hang over night in case the bias pieces start to grow.  Not sure that they would with the type of fabric I am using but possible.

When I cut out the Vogue skirt, I also cut out a knit I have had in my stash for ever and ever.  Since I was working on black background skirt I would not have to do anything to serger or sewing machine except change the needle since both are threaded with black thread.  So this will be my immediate gratification skirt.

Next up is a Simplicity skirt that has been on my sewing list for a long time. I plan to use a wool crepe fabric that I am not sure how long it has been in my fabric collection.  I am planning on making the skirt style that the model is wearing.  I also pulled a knit fabric from EOS, that has not even been washed nor taken out of the packaging that EOS uses to wrap their fabric.  It has the same light mustard yellow i…

V8750 side view-front, a photo by Danvillegirl on Flickr. View of all the various pieces that made up the front unit.

V8750, a photo by Danvillegirl on Flickr. I have been working on this Vogue pattern for a skirt with multiple front and back pieces. Here is a shot of the front unit. Worked hard to match up the "stripes".

Here is the final piece of fabric I purchased from FM.  This will definitely be a jacket.  It is a rich brown, black, rust suiting fabric.

The gray skirt is complete. I will make another skirt form this pattern and will stay away from fiddly fabric (hopefully).  There are one or two other peplum styles I would like to try from this pattern.  I think though I like the flexibility of peplum tops better.

I have not settled on what my next project will be.  It is interesting to read that with this transition of seasons many sewists are floundering as to what to make next.

More later.

Two gabardine fabrics from Fabric Mart, left is navy and much prettier "live" than in this photo.  The one on the right is a light russet.

My FedEx delivery made it to me via another route and I thought I should bring you up to date since I shared my rant about wrong delivery.  If only FedEx had told me where they had delivered it, the issue would have been solved and no rant post.With the holiday and no weekend hours at Fabric Mart, I did not hear back from them until Tuesday.  I was still on vaca for one more day when I got their email response.  Attached to the response was a copy of the signed receipt for the delivery and the address where it had been shipped.  I still don’t have an answer as to why it was shipped to another location but obviously that address was on file with Fabric Mart.It was shipped to my work address!!!!!!  Deliveries are made to our warehouse/work center and whomever is working in that area when Fed Ex or UPS delivers accepts the packages and signs when necessary.  I still do not know who D Jones is in that part of our work place.  But if Fed Ex had just told me it was shipped to ME at XXX addr…

What a challenge this skirt was because of the fabric, it would ravel looking at it..  Just about every seam was serged and seam tape fused.  The skirt did not call for a lining but it was necessary for this fabric.  Besides I really like lined skirts most of the time.

So all is complete with this skirt except for the hem.  I realized I cut out the longer version of the skirt and NL patterns as are most patterns are designed for tall people, not petite/vertically challenged indivduals as I am.  So I will cut off about two inches to have the 1 1/4 inch hem called for.

I will take photos later. 

Now I am undecided what I really want to make next.  I put off a McCall's dress pattern with raglan sleeves as I just am not "feeling it" for this dress.  I think I want to continue with skirts and have a few knit tops I want to sew up also.

I will sleep on it as I do have one more day of vacation left and hopefully can start new project tomorrow.

I mentioned a few post back my break in my fabric purchasing diet.  I quickly received the fabric I ordered from EOS.

I took advantage of the sale at Fabric Mart and purchased a large amount of fabric, particularly wool gabardine and some challis fabric.  My order put in the category to receive a mystery fabric bundle.

I got an email within two days saying my order had shipped and was given a Fed Ex tracking number.  I clicked on the link and learned where my fabric was in route.  Based on that information it appeared I would get my fabric on Thursday.  Thursday came and went, so I thought okay tomorrow it will arrive. NOT.  Yesterday AM I went to Fed Ex site to view again and it showed that it had been delivered.  It also showed that a DJones had signed for the fabric.  There is no DJones living in my house, nor am I aware of a neighbor with that name.

I immediately contacted Fed Ex and yes they said it had been delivered but not to my address.  I was told I had to contact Fabric Ma…