Danvillegirl Sewing Diary

I moved away from my hometown of Danville, VA in 1981.  I have never regretted leaving; my career took my DH and me to Texas, California, Florida, Pennsylvania and now I am back in VA for almost 11 years.

A lot of my close friends also moved from Danville.  Yet many stayed.  Danville was a textile mill town and perhaps some of you have even purchased fabric over the years, particularly cotton, with the markings of Dan River Mills in the selvage or on the bolt end from which you purchased.  The mill was shut down like most textile mills throughout the country in the '90's (remember Ross Poiret and the sucking sound he talked about regarding NAFTA) and particularly through the southern states.  So even more people have left Danville after that.

I visited a good friend from long ago yesterday; over the years we have stayed in touch seeing each other every few years.  She has three children with two of them having families of their own so their home is always lively with children.…

I finished the Simplicity skirt.






I ended up taking deeper darts in the front, raising 1/4 inch on the right side and took a deeper side seam at the hip area to get the fit I wanted.
I still had this McCall's skirt that had not been hemmed so I blind hemmed with my sewing machine so I will now have two skirts to wear for August into September. Tomorrow I am visiting a friend that I have not seen in a couple of years.  She has been going through some tough times with her DH having had a serious operation and is recovering now at home.  I thought it would be nice to take her to lunch and give her a few hours of R&R.
I did get some new fabric yesterday from EOS.  I will post here later.  I took some photos of fabric still in their package on Instragram.
This afternoon I went through pattern stash trying to decide on some feature projects.  I have in mind to make this blouse/top pattern to go with the new skirt--I have a navy blue shantung fabric I purchased when I purchased the sk…

Yesterday evening I began working on the Simplicity skirt and continued the process this AM.  I made my usual alterations to the skirt pattern-swayback, back pillow fluff before cutting out the fabric.

Lately I find my skirts not hanging just right in the front.  I pulled out my trusty "Fit for Real People" and Sandra Betzina's "Fast Fit" to see if my front hanging issues are addressed and of course they were.  As one ages, body changes are inevitable.  I realized that my body has morphed again.  Some due to exercise-treadmill and elliptical machine at the Y.  Most due to age so I have a narrow upper back above waist, swayback and flat derriere (where did my bum go?). I have a larger front area at waist than at the back with a tummy.

I realized after searching through the two books how I need to adjust the front area and that with my right hip lower than my left is another simple fix.  Actually that is not surprising as my right shoulder is lower than left and…

I am on Staycation starting today!
First thing on the list for this morning was a pedicure.  I decided to try a new to me place.  Experience was good, pedi was good-just not the experience I wanted.

Here is my summer pedicure-
I just had lunch and back home for a few hours so now going to cut out my skirt and sew some.

I always have big sewing plans for when I am off, I normally never complete everything.  I will share what I complete as the week goes along!

I decided I wanted to make this skirt by Simplicity.  The fabric is from my last staycation and visit to Schoolhouse Fabrics.

Well I finished the Burda top and not really pleased with the results.  The fit is good but the striped/floral knit fabric did gather as well as I thought it would.  I probably could take deeper seams to get the effect that the pattern calls for.  The other thing is that it is way too long and probably can be shortened.  It is just not what I wanted for the top.  I have put it aside for now and may decide to do some more with it later.

So I am on to my next project which is going to be a skirt unless I change my mind between now and tomorrow AM.  I have lots of ideas and shortage of time.

I hope your sewing weekend is going well.

I got the email about new Vogue Fall Patterns.  Of course I had to go look and see.  There are a few I like.  I am just not ready for fall sewing yet--am I ever????

Here are a few that I like, all photos from Vogue Patterns website:

I completed the dress this weekend and wore it yesterday to work.


I really like this dress pattern and the way it falls from shoulder down.  I did feel like that by the end of the day the dress expanded from waist down.  I had thought about taking a deeper side seam at the waist.  This is a wash and wear fabric; I did wash and dry before sewing.  Sometimes fabric still shrinks so I will test the need for taking deeper waist to hem side seams.

The fabric did not wrinkle much and in spite of the warmer temperatures I felt comfortable in the dress and with longer sleeves and cool A/C in my office, the longer sleeves felt good.  I had to travel in the dress yesterday, so driving and getting in and out of the car, again the wrinkles were minimal.

I do see another dress from this pattern for the future.

I decided that I had enough of the striped fabric as well as the blue from my last dress to use in other projects.  I normally move onto different fabric; this will be an exception as all machines are threaded for this fabric and I need some additional knit tops.

I purchased this Burda pattern earlier this year and wanted to make Version A (black top).



















I began the sewing process this morning by cutting around the pattern pieces for my size. Fitting adjustments are next.  Since these patterns are designed for women taller than I, there will be length adjustments and fortunately this pattern has several strategically placed lengthen/shorten lines so I do not have to create my own.

The dress project is complete.  Photos to follow later.

I hope your sewing weekend is fabulous and productive.

Tuesday I had to travel to Richmond, VA for a business meeting.  I was on the road by 6AM and got to my meeting by 9:00.  Then left Richmond around 2:00 and got back home by 5:30.  Lot of time on the road.  I did not take time to stop at any fabric stores while there.  I fell asleep early.

This evening after work I attached the sleeve bands to sleeves.  Last and final step, hem the dress.
Probably will not wear the dress until next week and will have photos to share soon.  I am real pleased with the fit of the dress and see a few more in the near future.

I have a lot of sewing ideas floating around in my brain.  I have some PTO time at the end of the month so hopefully can fit in more sewing then.

Later.

I am making great progress on the dress and I am so pleased with the fit.  I had some tweaks to make while sewing.  The weight of the knit fabrics pulled the shoulders and neckline down.  I ended up taking in the shoulder seams by one inch.  I cut 3/4 inch off the top of the sleeve and it fit perfectly.  I did test it before cutting off the excess fabric.

I cut the neckband about 3/8 wider than called for so I could stitch a 1/2 seam to attach the neckband.  I like having a little extra width as it makes sewing and handling better.

The sleeves call for a band at the hemline and I cut out the stripe/floral fabric for that band.  I still need to attach the bands and hem the dress.  The length is a little long but I am thinking about keeping it that length and having a midi length dress.  I am still thinking on that.

I needed to take a deeper seam at the back/side back area at the waist line to take out a smidgen of fullness.

Here is shot of the dress hanging as it is now.

More later!

First I want to say this is a good pattern.  It is important to read the introduction provided with the pattern pieces. (how do I know this?)  I made some adjustments to the pattern that ended up creating a wonky pattern.  I went back and retraced the pattern pieces selecting a better size as I did go from size 4 to size 6.  I also shortened too much in one area that instructions advise not doing what I did!!  I could have saved myself some time.

The front and back sections are complete.  I attached the front and back shoulders and basted the sides for fitting.  I found during this fitting that I need to take deeper shoulder seams and take in the waist area a little more.  I may have to cut some of the length off.

This fabric has the best drape for this pattern. Fabric is from EmmaOneSock. I will finish this up tomorrow.  I only have to sew up the sleeves and insert those and hem everything.

Here is a photo of the dress in progress laying on cutting table.

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I hope you have plans for a fun day whatever you choose to do!  I have been doing little this, little that. 

My computer has been on the fritz for weeks now!  It was Windows Vista operating system, which next to another old operating system from Microsoft-Windows ME, was a pain when I bought it years ago.  It crashed twice and after restoring the second time it worked well for several years.  The computer was 5 years old and I think that is good life time for a computer, it was a HP.

My new computer which I installed this AM is also a HP running Windows 8.  Setting it up was one of the easiest set ups I think I have had.  I took my time and took deep, deep breaths and worked like a charm. 

I did spend a little time in the sewing room making fitting adjustments to the Pinnafore dress pattern.  One final pattern fitting and I think I will be ready to cut out the fabric. 

I will be grilling soon.  This is a lazy 4th for us as DH has had to work a lot of overtime hours this past week.  I …