And so (sew) the Vaca and Holiday begins!

I am so excited that I am off for a whole week--I needed this break!

This AM I had a plumber come and fix the garbage disposal and after that was complete, I went to the sewing room and completed-finally-Vogue 9169.  This pattern is rated easy and for the most part perhaps that is an appropriate label.  The challenge with this pattern is adjusting the pattern pieces to fit as the upper front and back are one piece.  I needed a FBA about 1 1/2 inches which required some interesting maneuvering of the pattern piece.  The back needed a swayback adjustment which required also adjusting the bottom back piece. Below is the front FBA and the bottom front piece had to line up with the upper front.

Other adjustments needed were the sleeves, they are very tight IMHO and so I added 3/4 inch to the bicep area, tapering back to original cutting line of the sleeve.  I also reduced the length by 1 1/2 inches. My other adjustment was my usual forward shoulder adjustment.

After basting the side seams, I ended up reducing the seam allowance to 3/8.  I normally  sew an 18 at waist and taper to 16 at hip, with this pattern's largest size being 14, I failed to make an allowance for that.  I thought that with the adjustments for the FBA would give me that extra room.  I needed a smooch more.  I will have to remember good posture when wearing this!!!😊

Here are pictures of the completed garment, hope to take some photos wearing later this week.

V9169 View B is the one I made

Front View

Back View

The fabrics were easy to sew and worked well together.  The black is a bamboo knit and tends to wrinkle more than I thought it would, my first time sewing this type of knit.  The print is from EOS and I had a limited amount of it, thus did not have enough to use for the sleeves, so had to use the black.  I have enough of it to use as a small piece in another color/print block top, I love the feel of it.

So ready to start a new project.  Will share that with you later.

Victoria

I have made considerable progress with the Victoria Blazer.  Our Christmas was low key this year; DH and I stayed home for the holiday.  Both of us have had stressful work lives lately and the thought of chilling out was a nice present to ourselves.  I cooked Christmas dinner on Christmas eve so it was truly a DDSD-don't do stuff day!

DH gave me a new camera and a lovely Brahmin purse.  The camera I got before Christmas and now also have a sturdy tripod to use.  Now I need to take classes on taking better pictures.

















Back to the blazer.  I am just about finished with it.  I am not sure in the end if this will be exactly as I had hoped it to be.  I will say entering the New to Me contest on PR has helped ramp up my sewing mojo.  Having next week off I am happy to sew several other items on my to sew list.

I will say that the By Hand London instructions for this jacket are well written and I think the pattern is one a beginner can tackle.

Here are some photos of the jacket in progress.

Since taking those photos I have now attached by basting the collar and the lapels.  I have sewn the lining fabric.  I am going to line the sleeves though the pattern does not call for it. Because of my fabric the lining will help give it some stability and hopefully less wear of the sleeve fabric.

More later..

Silk for jacket

I have completed the pin fitting of the By Hand London Victoria Blazer.  I cut out the pink and black raw silk fabric.  Boy does it ravel!  It is somewhat loosely woven, thus the raveling and you can see some sections of how loose it is.

I serge finished all seams and I think I will also apply a light weight black fusible to the body of this jacket to provide a little more support.

I have a lot of sewing plans in place in my mind for my upcoming holiday and vacay time.  I don't return to work until 2016!  That has a nice ring to it!!!! :-)

More later.

Becoming a Jacket

I am beginning to feel like I will have a new jacket soon.  I made lots of progress this weekend.  The jacket unit is complete; next is to sew the lining pieces together and attach to the jacket!!

Here are a few photo shots of the jacket in progress on Alma Marie.  Alma Marie is a little large than I am and she has much broader shoulders so the jacket may look a little distorted.  The last sewing I did earlier today was to attach the sleeves.  I plan to insert sleeve head before attaching shoulder pads.

Front on Alma Marie, unzipped

Back view on Alma Marie

Close up of welt; no pocket bags attached.

I am on vacation and holiday next week; my hope is to complete the jacket before DH and I spend time with friends for Thanksgiving.  I hope to be able to wear this then.  The weather has turned cold, not cool; so I think this will feel nice for a day time event.

I have enjoyed this sewing project.  The fabric has been great to sew with, I ordered it from Mood back in October 2014.  It is a Marc Jacobs Italian Wool Tweed.  I have not sew a jacket in a long time and jackets were items I made a lot.  More to follow.

More progress on December Garment of the Month and Happy New Year!

No new pictures for now.  I made the final fitting tweaks to the dress this afternoon.  The Italian wool fabric has some Lycra and the double knit also has some stretch.  Because of this I had to take additional deeper seams than I did for the lining fabric which had no stretch.

I am pleased with the fit now.  Next steps are stitching lining to dress, inserting sleeves and a small shoulder pad as I think I need it as there is some droop to the back shoulder area and a shoulder pad helped.

I don't think I will finish this dress tonight so it will be my first completed project for the new year.

Wishing everyone

Merry Christmas

MERRY CHRISTMAS!!

Labor Day Holiday Sewing Update

Though I did not complete everything that I wanted to I did make good progress. The Kwik Sew raglan tee top is complete and fits well. My next version I will shorten about an inch.

The black garment next to the coral top is the almost completed McCall's dress. I made quite a few fitting adjustments as the ponte knit did not quite draped as the scuba knit did in my 1st version. I added a center back seam which gave me some additional fitting options; I still included back darts as well.

There were a few other fitting adjustments I made. I reduced the length of the bust dart, I changed the 5/8 sleeve seam to 1/2 inch as they were a little snug. I used bias binding for the neckline as my attempt to add a neckband did not produce the results I wanted.

I made a really stupid error in cutting out the pattern. I cut the front bodice longer than the back requiring shortening the front. I need to purchase hem tape so that I can turn up a modest hem.

I also cleaned up the sewing room, particularly the long table on which my coverstitch and serger machines sit. I also have a standalone Janome embroidery machine on this table which I cannot use easily without moving the other machines around. I am trying to figure how to rearrange the sewing room so that I could put another small table in the room and put the embroidery machine on it.

I hope you had a nice Labor Day holiday for those living in the USA.  Back to work tomorrow.

Happy July 4th!

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 love to grill so will be ready to fire up it up  shortly.

Happy Easter

For those who celebrate this religious holiday, I wish you a Happy Easter. 
I am preparing a nice dinner for DH and I, our celebration will just be the two of us.  No time to travel to be with family elsewhere.

Year ending! HAPPY NEW YEAR!

I can hardly believe that 2013 is about to come to an end.  I now understand why my grandmother always said to me when I used to say when I was in my late teens--"I wish I was 21 now".  She told me not to wish my life away as it will go by fast enough.  I understand that now much better; the years seem to just go by way to fast.

I want to wish everyone a Happy and Healthy New Year! 

I plan to post my Top 5  2013 hits/misses and inspirations tomorrow.  Off now to drink a Skinny Girl White Cranberry Cosmo and hopefully stay awake for the New Year!!

Finding my sewing mojo again!

With Christmas over and returning to a bit of normalcy, I found myself ready to sew again.  I have almost completed the black and camel skirt. It just needs hemming.  Photos and more to follow.

Friday was my last working day until Next Year!!!  I began my "New Year" holiday on Friday, taking my final vacation hours for the year and celebrating New Year's Day.  Will be doing as much sewing as possible.
My next project is the McCall's 6844 knit cardigan/jacket.  I have two fabrics I planned to use to make this.  Once is an off white-oatmeal-color knit boucle from Fabric Mart and the other one is a sweater knit from EOS.

Based on reviews many reviewers indicate that the pattern runs large.  I find most McCall's patterns to run large on me in the shoulder and upper chest area.  I have cut around the pattern pieces and will pin fit later today.

Off to the sewing room now!

Merry Christmas!!!!!

I hope your Christmas is a good one.  Thank you for stopping by and reading my blog.  It is great to share sewing ideas, suggestions, new pattern reviews etc. with each other. 

Christmas Eve

Hard to believe it is almost Christmas! 

I had a pleasant Christmas Eve day.  I have today and Christmas off.  I needed to pick up pies for Christmas dinner so was up early to get dressed to go to Fresh Market.  I was somewhat dreading the potential of finding the market crowded with other last minute shoppers.

I must have gone at the right time as I was able to find a decent parking place; able to maneuver through the crowds which were relatively small, retrieve two pies and get in a not so long check-out line.  I was out the door in 30 minutes or less. Leaving the center I was beginning to see more and more vehicles entering the parking lot and smiled knowing my timing was just right.

I then ran to the post office where again lines were short; earlier in the week I saw long lines and glad I had shipped via UPS.

I came home and watched a sewing video by Louise Cutting and then finally did some sewing on my black and camel skirt.  The facings and lining are complete and ready to be attached to the skirt.  Sewing mojo slowly returning.

Yesterday I received a small package via the postal service from Anita's Little Stitches in Texas.  Earlier this year Susan Khalje presented a program to our Sewing Guild and several of our members participated in a sewing retreat and shopping expedition with her.  One of the items she had available at our guild meeting was a really cool wrist pin cushion.  I wanted to purchase one but had to leave early and thought I would go online and purchase from her website.  I was amazed at the price. it was around $30 and the pin cushion was from France.  I decided I did not need that pricey pin cushion.  The one I have used for years-over 25 years-came from Nancy's Nations.

In doing a Google search, on Bohin products from France,  I came across Anita's Little Stitches site.  The price is still a little steep but about 1/2 the price on SK's site.  I decided this would be my sewing Christmas present to myself.  I also decided to try Bohin sewing machine needles. 

I tried out the pin cushion today and it fits wrist nicely.  It is adjustable making it comfortable to wear while sewing, cutting, pressing and more.  I am not affiliated in anyway with this company just wanting to show my sewing present to me.

More later.

Sewing Mojo on Holiday

I wish I had something new to report-I don't.  This past week has been consumed with preparations for Christmas.  Gift shopping, gift wrapping, gift packing consumed most of my evenings last week. 

I did take vacation day on Friday and that too was spent on getting groceries for the holidays and getting a much need manicure.  Yesterday was more holiday shopping.  I did however wash knits recently purchased from Fabric Mart yesterday; that helped me get back to doing something sewing related.   I just have not had the mojo for sewing.

I also have neglected the housework of late and my cleaning mojo took over for sewing.  Sometimes you just have to clean the house.

I do have some time off next week and taking the last week of December off returning to work in the new year.   I just like saying that!!! It makes me think I am in control of work time----

I have plans to get into sewing room later today and hopefully will share something of more value sewing wise later.

Where did the week go? 10 more days til Christmas!!!!

I spent three days out of town on business last week so all sewing came to a halt.  I didn't even get a chance to find a fabric store :-(

Yesterday morning I did spend a short time in the sewing room working on my skirt.  I truly drafted this too large. I had to take up the back seam a little and take much deeper side seams; I cut off 5/8 of an inch on the side seams after the first fitting, I drafted this with too much ease.  I still took a deeper waist to hip seam after doing this.  Now that I have the seams basted to fit I will mark and sew.  Will need to adjust the lining as well.

I pulled out my copy of the Easy Guide to Sewing Linings.  This book is worth its weight in gold.  There was a section on facings and linings and suggested methods of using together.  After reading this section I am going to use the easy method of attaching the facings to the lining.  The lining will help serve as interfacing, yet I think I will interface the facings using lightweight interfacing for stretch fabrics; I am using a stretch woven which also probably explains the need to take in the side seams.

Whether I will get to do this today or not is up for grabs.  Yesterday afternoon and evening was spent shopping and more shopping for home and Christmas.  My husband's company's Christmas party was postponed to today because of the crappy weather last Sunday.  Hopefully between my laundry activities this morning and getting ready for party, I can slip in a few moments of sewing which requires me to stop blogging now.

More later.

Thanksgiving celebrations

I was surprised and delighted when I got an email from Pattern Review.  I was selected in the 2nd day of Thanksgiving Giveaway!  You can see it here.

I hope all of you had a great Thanksgiving holiday.  We went over the hills to our niece's home to celebrate the day and to spend time with family.  It was a 2 hour trip going and coming; well worth the drive.  We saw the shopping frenzy going on as we traveled back home since we go by several WalMarts and other shopping centers.

I want to say thank you to all who visit here.  I appreciate hearing from you and that you read my blog.  It is such a nice way to meet so many other sewists from around the world.  I appreciate your comments and feedback; I in turn love to visit your blogs to see what you are creating and to learn from you.  THANK YOU!

Today was my Friday!

Tomorrow is Good Friday and a holiday for me!!!  So looking forward to time off and I am taking Monday as PTO.   I have plans to sew!

I have Coverstitch machine set up and ready to hem the Vogue top.  I ordered some fabric which arrived yesterday.  Ordered from Fabric Mart, my fabric bundle was a practical bundle, some lining fabric and a nice feeling knit fabric.  Photos tomorrow.

More later.

Jacket unit is complete

I was able to insert the sleeves this afternoon.  I did not get the lining cut out as hoped.  Here is a shot of the jacket.  Sorry that the photo is not better; I used my Samsung Galaxy Player to take the photo.

I think I will add small shoulder pads and sleeve head to give the shoulder and top of arms better shaping. I had pinned one shoulder pad in place and I thought it improved the look of the jacket.

Normally with KS patterns I use a small in the upper chest and shoulder area, tapering to large at the bust area.  With this jacket I decided to use a medium in the upper chest and shoulder area since I plan to wear heavier weight tops under the jacket and wanted the fit to not be too tight.  This seemed to be the right solution for the fabric I am using for this jacket as well.

If I had just one more day, I could have finished the jacket.  Next jacket may be a Sewaholic pattern.

Sewing progress on the KS jacket

Well I have had a great morning of sewing.  I got up early and started washing clothes.  I also prepared fixings for vegetable beef soup in the crock pot and then moved into the sewing room after a light breakfast.  I have made great progress with my jacket.  I am to the point of inserting the sleeves and then I have got to cut the lining fabric.  So happy to be at that stage finally.

Because I have spent a significant amount of time sewing, my usual neck ache started and so decided I need to take a break.  I have got to run to Walmart for a few household paper goods and the like.  I plan to cut out the lining when I return and see how much more sewing I can accomplish before dinner.  Nice holiday so far.

I will post photos later.

Merry Christmas

I just want to wish everyone a Merry Christmas!  Santa bought DH and I a new washer and dryer this year.  We are loving it.  There are a few more presents to open tomorrow.

I hope everyone has a great day tomorrow however you celebrate the season.