Next up- a skirt!

This is an idea for the skirt I plan to make.  I actually saw a similar skirt in an earlier Nordstrom catalog; I thought I had scanned the page from it but I am not finding the photo scan or the catalog.  This is close enough.

The pattern is Vogue 8928.

I plan to make View C/D.  The wrap portion is a little too open for me, so I added to the front edge of the under portion of the skirt.  If I was young and had legs like the model then maybe; maybe not.  I am going for the angled wrap look not the sexy blonde look.

The fabric is a purchase from Vogue Fabrics in 2013.  This is labeled as suiting fabric in a warm rose color.  I also purchased two knit fabrics with this suiting fabric.  One knit is a ruffle knit in the same color; the other knit is very light weight floral print with the flowers being a warm rose color on an off-white background.  If I use the lighter knit it will require a knit lining.

I have the perfect lining fabric in stash for this skirt.  I acquired this last year from a donation to our local ASG chapter; I purchased three lining pieces and have used one in an earlier skirt pattern that did not turn out as expected.

The one in the middle goes very well with the fabric, though in this photo it looks like a different color.  I am not sure of the content, did not do a burn test.  It feels like Bemberg rayon.

The pattern adjustments have been made after pin fitting.  I hope to cut it out tomorrow.  I discovered some kind of "oil" leak with my car and may have to spend time at the car dealers after my much awaited mani/pedi tomorrow morning.

More fabric arrived earlier this week and will share with you in an upcoming post. 

ASG Meeting

Last evening I attended our local ASG meeting; I have not been able to attend this year as I would like and it was great to be among such talented sewists.  Our guild celebrated its 20th anniversary.  The founder and most all of the past presidents plus current one spoke to the group about its history and growth.

Of course we had sew and tell.  I wore and presented my recently sewn McCall's blouse.

I saw on Pattern Review this morning the winners of the fitted blouse contest; though I was not a winner it was fun to participate in a contest.  The blouse is a winner for me as it has passed the "wearability" factor as well as the washing, drying, no ironing test.  I do see me making some more blouses, not this one for now, as I do have some other lovely fabrics in stash that have aged enough to become something besides just fabric.

I had a great time talking with my sitting partner last night.  It was fun for both of us to learn how much we love shoes and don't really need more but ........  We also seem to be patternaholics as well.

Weekend sewing plans are to make the McCall's knit dress mentioned in an earlier post.  I have pin fitted the pattern and need to make a FBA-no surprise there.  I made the usual forward shoulder, upper round and horizontal tuck for upper chest and upper back.  Still need to make the swayback adjustment.  For the FBA, I really need to figure what technique I want to use so that I can eliminate the resulting dart.

Off to get ready for work.  I am wearing my Butterick dress with front ruffles today.

We have a special employees luncheon today and I am making a presentation of an award to one of my staff.  I have not worn this since late fall; this is one of my favorite dress patterns.

Updates later.

New fabric

I ordered some fabric from EOS.  It is a bottom weight slight stretch woven in camel and black.  I also ordered some zippers from Wawak which are to be stitched to be exposed.

This is the skirt that is the inspiration for this purchase.

And this is fabric I acquired at our ASG meeting Thursday evening.  All three pieces are lining fabrics

On to more sewing.

Susan Khalje and Peplum top update

Inspiration comes in many forms when it comes to sewing.  Many of us sometimes hit a sewing block, loss of sewing mojo being between seasons, etc.  Our local ASG had Susan Khalje as a presenter at our sewing meeting this past Thursday.  That was a real treat and pleasure.  She presented for about two hours and we got to see some nice samples of her week; many of which I remember seeing in Threads but so nice to see up front and personal.  After that I felt even more energized to sew and have taken advantage of brief moments of sewing when longer periods have not been available since the class. Meaning I also have gotten away from TV and games on the iPad!!

I took advantage of several brief periods of sewing time yesterday before and after work to sew the Simplicity peplum top I am working on.  All fitting adjustments were made and the pattern instructions are so very easy to follow.  I have sewn side backs and side fronts together and sewn the peplum piece to both.  I just finished basting the front piece to front side piece and will do the same with the back soon.

I will post photos soon.  Now I have to go fix breakfast and have some outdoor activities to participate in today; we having such nice warm as well as hot weather of late---LOVE IT!

I resume this previous broadcast...

As previously posted, the power outage interrupted my previous sewing momentum.  After being home finally after a week in a hotel and getting food restocked and some resumption of normal life, my sewing mojo somewhat disappeared.

This past Monday I traveled to Richmond for a state government committee meeting in the late afternoon getting caught up in heavy duty rain, driving through areas where roadwork slowed down traffic to a crawl along with the rain; coming up on a wreck which slowed traffic some more and getting caught in a heavy evening commute, my usual 2.5 to 3 hour trip took me 4 hours.  By the time I got checked into the hotel, I was too tired to go to Hancock's Fabric as is my habit or even Short Pump Mall.  I went to dinner and then returned to my room to do some work that needed my attention via the computer.

Tuesday's business meeting went well but long.  After a quick trip to Nordstroms, I drove back to Roanoke without all the travel woes I had traveling to Richmond.

The rest of the week was pretty hectic work week and my sewing mojo was just gone.  Thursday night was my ASG meeting and after not attending since February, it was nice to have dinner with ladies who like to sew and I got to sit and talk with our guest speaker, Mary Ray.  I was prepared to think this was going to be more about quilting and she does incorporate quilting into her garments; I was delighted to see the garments she has made and some were made using quilting techniques, but the garments are far from the boxy shaped jackets with lots of piece work and the like.  Many of her garments are showcased in Threads magazine which was nice to see them up close and personal.  I walked away from the meeting feeling my sewing mojo to be on the rise. I even purchased her skirt pattern.

With all of that said, I spent about an hour in my sewing room yesterday.  I attached the lining to the skirt and  now only have a few more steps to take to finally complete this simple skirt.  I have begun the process of looking at fabric stash and thinking on to the next few projects; that for me is a clue that I am going to resume my sewing time once again.

Local ASG event

Our Roanoke Valley ASG had Cynthia Guffey as a presenter for a special sewing event today.  Great day with sewing related friends and Cynthia G was an entertaining as well as educational presenter.  I learned some new things about fitting as well as some important sewing techniques.  Some information I knew well but it is nice to have it reinforced.

Of course I purchased three patterns and one of her sewing booklets.  She has some great fabric as well but I did not buy; I may regret this later.  The event went from 9 to 4, with break for lunch.

DH and I went to dinner and following dinner I spent some time doing some work with dress currently in progress.  Hopefully tomorrow I will get more done with the dress.

Look what came home with me!

One of our ASG members had a sale several months ago at her home.  She is downsizing and selling several of her sewing/embroidery machines as well as other sewing related items. 

She had shared with me several years ago how she won a blind hemmer machine in an auction.  She also told me she had never used it.  I mentioned to her if she ever decided to sale it to let me know as I wanted a blind hemmer machine.

When she announced her sale, I emailed her and told her I could not make it to her sale and I was still interested in the blind hemmer if she was making that part of her sale.  She did not put the machine up for sale at the time.
Last month she asked if I was still interested in the machine and I agreed to take it off her hands.  So when I joined several ladies for dinner prior to ASG she said she had the machine in her car and we transferred it to mine.  I think I got myself a real bargain.
I hope to get it threaded to try it this weekend.  Isn’t she lovely?  Here’s another view-
 

Back from business trip

I made it back from Richmond Tuesday evening, safe and sound.  AND with no new patterns or fabric.  I did stop at Hancock's on my way to hotel Sunday afternoon.  I was wanting to purchase one or two KS patterns just released for fall/winter but they were not in stock :-(.

I also looked at some faux suede fabric in a lustrous, rich gray color but left it at the store along with some other fabrics.  Just was not quite feeling the love.  I compensated by ordering two boucle fabrics from Fabric.com.  So not quite empty handed and hopefully will have them in hand tomorrow.

Tonight I attended my ASG meeting and something special came home with me. It is something I have wanted for a long time.  A member is downsizing and selling off several sewing machines, fabric and more.  I will take a photo and post what it is tomorrow.  Until then---

Where did the week go?

You go on vacation, then go back to work and no sewing. Though I am thinking about it and planning projects. I had even planned to purchase some fabric from Vogue Fabrics and the material I wanted was sold out! I am angry with myself as I had several opportunities to place the order and didn't.

I was in Richmond Thursday evening and all day Friday for business. Unfortunately I was not able to find a moment to go to any fabric store while there. Today is our ASG's Christmas luncheon so no sewing this AM and DH and I are doing some family shopping this afternoon. Hopefully this evening I can advance my plans to cut out some skirt patterns and is some cases trace the BWOF patterns for fitting and cutting.

I am taking a few moments this AM to read blogs and see what others are up to before getting ready to go to luncheon. Happy sewing to all.

ASG Meeting

The closest thing to sewing today will be going to our ASG meeting. Our chapter plus friends of chapter members took a bus trip to Mary Jo's in Gastonia, NC yesterday. Unfortunately I did not get to go as I was on vacation last week. I still have some lining and fabrics left from last year's trip. Hopefully I will get to see some of our shopper's treasurers tonight.

I did get to JoAnn's earlier this week and got some very nice buttons for my blouse so I can finish that up and have something new to wear. I did wear my new Vogue dress on Tuesday and got lots of comments about the dress. I have to say that it wore well and the knit I used feels fabulous.

Got to run and finish getting dressed for work. Later.

This and that for Saturday

I have not been sewing nor posting here. Too much going on to spend time sewing which leaves me disappointed as I cannot get projects going that I have started.

I will be attending our ASG's Christmas party today. I am looking forward to spending some quality time with other members who share the passion of sewing and creating. We will have a fashion show and that will be entertaining. Good food and friendship!

I did receive a package in the mail this week. I ordered some black wool fabric as well as black and brown knit from Gorgeous Fabrics. I truly was pleased with the order but the knit was just drop dead beautiful. Now you may question how black and brown fabric can be beautiful. It was the QUALITY! This knit has the best feel to it, not thick/not thin. Just right. I really can't wait to make this up. Black and brown are such staple colors in my wardrobe. Now if I could only get some gray.

After the party and running around to make a few purchases for Christmas gifts, I will be sewing!!!!!! Got to go take my shower and dress for my party. Later.

Sewing Notion

For sometime now I have been searching for a Dritz Bound Buttonhole Maker. I can't remember the first time I read about this item. I then was reading Dawn's blog-The Secret Pocket. I read and saw photos of the bound buttonholes she made using this tool.

I have searched on Ebay and found one but auction was over! So I continued to search at least weekly.

This past Thursday, our ASG met and we had an Auction. We actually had a real auctioneer which actually made it more fun! One item that I bid on and won was a Hefty bag filled with several sewing notions-point turners-3; snippers-2; two rulers with marked 1/4, 3/8,1/2,5/8,7/8 and 1 inch slots for ease of marking; invisible zipper foot and a bound buttonhole maker. When they read off what was in the bag and I heard bound buttonhole maker my flash card with number was flashing away. I won the bid for $12! When I opened the bag and saw that it was the exact bound buttonhole maker I had been searching for I could have danced. That was the best $12 I spent. The two rulers are great and one has scallop markings with varying size of scallops.

Go here to see my new notion.

Sewing and the ASG

This month I was responsible for a program for our local ASG group. I also was this month's felting group leader. This is a group of ASG members with an interest in felting mainly in using one of the felting machines currently on the market or using hand felting needles with foam or brush.

For our ASG monthly meeting program, I shared with the group the Stitch n Flip lining method taught by Shannon Gifford. I showcased a few of my jackets where I used this technique to line the jackets. I drafted a minature jacket pattern using PMB and cut out fabric and lining from leftover materials from my recently made jacket. I did not use this technique on that jacket. I then had another member Cindi of Cindi'sSewing blog, assist me by sewing up the jacket and lining pieces to show how the method works.

This past week I was the group leader for the Roanoke Felting Divas program. We have a yahoo group where we share information. Since we meet every two months, I had the members work on felting squares, circles, triangles using yarns and wool roving. I then had them work on felting yarns together. For the evening's class, I had members take yarn and using machines or needles felt yarn onto water soluable stabilizer with the outcome to be a lace scarf. This was inspired by an article in Stitches magazine about the Babylock Embellisher and a beautiful shawl that was made using the machine.

Shirley Adams and Roanoke ASG

I did not write about our local ASG chapters special event on February 28. We hosted Shirley Adams for two sessions on Wednesday. Attendance was great with more in attendance for the afternoon session than the evening one. I am glad we had both. We had attendees from West VA, New River Valley area as well as Lynchburg. I attended the evening session.

Shirley presented her basic pattern for her shell/top and then showed the variations she has made with the basic top. Her fabrics truly make the tops look very elegant, otherwise it would be a plain top. She also showed some other embellishments making the top truly one of a kind. She then showed her classic set in sleeve jacket and the many variations there of. I have her basic jacket pattern 400 and several of the add on patterns to make this simple jacket into various styles. I did buy the basic shell pattern at the ASG event, along with some wool roving for my embellisher.

I wish I had some photos to post. I took some with my Treo and need to transfer to the computer. Those photos are okay but not enough to do the presentation and the garments justice.