Saturday, March 25, 2017

Wadders and Where is my sewing mojo!

Toaster Sweater Version 2, take 2, wadder.  Some of the adjustments made just did not work and instead of working to make it work, I decided to move on.  Spring is in the air and now I want to make some tops out of woven fabric.  I am also going to the beach with a friend in a couple of months and needs some beach wear.

And honestly, my sewing mojo has been stunted.  Just was not feeling it and most likely due to the bipolar weather we have had this month.

I did break my pattern and fabric fast last week.  New fabric and new patterns have arrived at my door step.  Will post photos of those soon.  Hopefully that will boost my mojo.

Later!

Friday, March 17, 2017

Toaster Sweater 2 Again

Lately I have been sewing items from the same pattern.  Normally I make an item from a pattern, put the pattern aside and move on to the next pattern.  Not sure why I have changed, I have enough patterns in my stash to sew and still will most likely not sew them all in my lifetime.

With my last garment wadder, I decided to use the golden yellow ponte knit to make another Toaster Sweater View 2 again.  The weather has been bipolar as someone else posted on Instagram lately, they too are from Virginia and I learned that they live in the Hampton Roads area.  With spring turned to winter weather in the past two weeks, my thoughts of sewing something for spring went out with the warm weather.

With my last Toaster Sweater, I found the top needed a few more tweaks.

I made a vertical FBA by cutting straight across from below the bust point area and adding 5/8 inch below.  I will then ease in this extra at the side seams but hopefully that will fix one problem I had.  I also shaved off 5/8 inch from the back starting right below the underarm and through the waist area to right above the hip area, there is a lot of fullness in the back. You can see the issues from this side view below.

I also adjusted the front neckline as I did not like how it lies in that area.  Instead of cutting a medium in that area, I cut at the small cutting line to shorten the length in the front keeping the back at medium.  My thought was that this would work like a forward neck adjustment.  Will see!

I have sewn the shoulders and neck area and now attaching the sleeves with one attached at this point. From there, you sew the side and sleeve seams in one.  My plan is to finish this hopefully by tomorrow.  

More updates to follow.

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Saturday, March 11, 2017

Wadder

Last weekend I attempted to sew a Marcy Tilton pattern that I have had in stash forever!  It is Vogue 9057.   I was going to use two fabrics from Girl Charlee as the colors in the print fabric complimented the mustard color of a ponte knit.



I made a mistake trying to use these two fabrics together as the solid knit was somewhat heavier than the print fabric and not sufficient stretch.  While attaching the neckband and frog stitching (ripping out stitches) I created small holes in the print fabric which at first I thought I could apply fusible stay tape to and I did.  Then I re cut the neckband and attached this one.  I hated the way the neckband looked, it stood away from my neck area and steaming did not change anything.  

Let me say that I was using the instructions for the neckband and not attaching as I normally would-that was the second mistake.  In removing the second neckband, I got to ripping too much and ruined the neckline.  No amount of stay tape or fusible would fix that.

I hope to salvage the print fabric and use it somehow in another top.  I have plenty of the solid color fabric for something else!

With the crazy weather we have had recently I am in limbo with what to sew next.  Hopefully I will decide on something to take advantage of a cold weekend perfect for me to stay inside and in my sewing room.

Saturday, March 04, 2017

Sad Week

I try to keep this blog sewing related; this past week was a tough one and I had no desire or energy to think or do anything sewing related.

I am a senior vice president with a nonprofit agency with several individuals reporting directly to me. I have never experienced the death of a direct report before and hope that I don't again.

My administrative assistant came to work for me 5 years ago replacing my previous person who retired. During the past President's day holiday weekend she suffered a heart attack and had to undergo bypass surgery.  I talked with her off and on after this procedure with my last conversation being that she was excited to go home this past Monday.  We talked about her recovery and her desire to come back and work half days until the doctor released her full time.  She promised to call when she returned home.

The call never came and on Tuesday AM, her husband and son came to my office to tell me she did not make it and passed away that morning.  He and I had talked a lot during the week of her surgery and after. So he wanted to tell me in person instead of by phone.  I know that was hard for him and his son but they felt a phone call was too impersonal.  They wanted to express to me how much she loved working at our agency and I assured them that all of us in our suite loved and cared about her. She will be truly missed by a lot of people.  The pain of this loss went both ways.

This loss not only impacted me but the numerous people who work in my business segment.  It was a week of mourning and loss to many of us.  She was in short in statue yet very tall in her capacity to help others with numerous acts of compassion and caring.  We brought in a grief counselor to help us all and on Friday one of my staff put together a memorial service in which to honor her and help us all obtain some closure.

I share this because writing about it has proven to be helpful and allows me to mourn and move on.
I share this also because she was only 59; some of her issues were genetic.  Some were due to not so great eating habits and lack of exercise; which is making me focus on my eating habits that are not too good and my off and on exercise routine.

Take care of yourselves, eat healthy, exercise and enjoy each day.  Life can be too short.


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