Day after Christmas

Not much to report in the way of sewing.  Most of the day was spent running around with DH.  We even had late lunch of pizza and salad at Ragazzis.  Time for a change from turkey, dressing, and other Christmas dinner leftovers.  We even ventured to the mall; surprisingly it was not as bad as we thought it might be. 

Returning home, I spent time in the sewing room making the last tweaks to the Vogue pattern and then I was able to cut out the top.  I decided that I wanted to start preparing the fit of another Vogue knit pattern top, a Sandra Betzina pattern.  I am using another Gorgeous Fabrics knit in a green/black animal print.  I had originally planned to make a dress from this fabric but it is telling me a top would be better.  Once this pattern is adjusted and fabric cut out I will then sew these two tops.

I have to start thinking about my 2012 SWAP project.  I have decided to participate in this sewing challenge.  I normally talk myself out of it; I think this will help me focus a little on developing a spring wardrobe and to use up some of the patterns/fabric I have on hand.

More later;  sipping on coffee and taking a moment to read blogs to see what everyone is up to. 

Without Further Ado……

Here is the Sandra Betzina Vogue pattern, faux leather and Sherpa jacket.

After coming home from work yesterday evening and changing into comfy clothes I decided it was time to reveal the completed jacket. 

The final steps were tweaking the princess seams. I then trimmed each of the exposed Sherpa seams to between 3/8 to 1/4 inches and then stitched down the center of each seam to help keep them open.  This was suggested in the pattern instructions.  I probably could have used a different method to construct these seams; yet this method assured a better fit.

I did not insert pockets, there is just too much going on with this fabric and I would not really use the pockets.

I turned up 1 1/4 inch hem at the bottom and after stitching that I trimmed the hem by about 3/4 inch all around to eliminate some of the bulk.  This faux leather is thick.

Here is a view of the back: 

Here is how the jacket looks when partially unzipped:

You can also see the zipper in the sleeve in the shot above also.  Having made a KS jean jacket with zipper in the sleeve, I prefer their method than this one as you have a placket behind the zipper; this one is stitched into the sleeve seam.

I will write a more formal review for PR soon.  I do recommend this pattern and will definitely consider making another non-faux anything for the next one.

Soon to see

I finally completed the jacket!!!!!!  I took some photos of it hanging with my iPad and just did not have time yesterday to post.  I will also take some photos of me wearing it. 

My DH saw it hanging yesterday afternoon and immediately commented on how well it turned out.  He had seen some work in progress and I could tell he had some concerns about the outcome. 

I am now ready to move on to some very instant gratifications projects.  More later.

I'm dreaming of

sewing something else besides the Vogue faux leather jacket.  I am down to the last few areas to stitch. Then hem and trim those seams.  I only got about two hours of sewing time yesterday and I had a real challenge with sewing the collar and the facings to the jacket.  My sewing machine is getting tired of sewing this fabric!

Attaching the collar was actually a breeze; the collar pattern is drafted very well and all markings etc lined up as it was suppose to.  The challenge came with when sewing the facings to the neckline.  I am now sewing three, thick layers of fabric;  I am talking THICK fabric.  One issue was my needle by this time is dull and the thread kept breaking.  Changing the needle of course helped a lot, but we are still sewing thick fabric and the walking foot was not "walking" over the fabric well.   At this point I adjusted the presser foot presser which helped some.  Then I get to sewing over the shoulder seams which in those areas made the sewing even more a challenge.  All of this took about an hour.  By then I was tired and was rather late.  I decided to stop there until tomorrow.  I could feel myself getting flustered and likely to make more mistakes.

All I have left to do now is sew the facings down the front.  Make a lower back adjustment, hem the jacket with the machine and hem the sleeves, trim those seams.

All in all this has been a challenge to me and actually one that I have learned from.

I am so ready after this to tackle some knit tops, a few blouses and some more skirts.  I also want to make a cape.  I have some great fabric purchased over the past four years or so that would make up into a nice winter cape.  So I am dreaming of some new challenges and new clothes for the future.

I have vacation time coming up during the Christmas holidays and my sewing plans are ambitious ones.  I will get several complete I am sure.

In dreaming of some other sewing projects, I have burned up the Internet of late with some fabric purchases.  More show and tell later.  I am off to sew now.

SB Vogue jacket

SB Vogue jacket, a photo by Danvillegirl on Flickr.

This is still a work in progress. Sleeves inserted. This was a difficult task given the thickness of fabric and the nature of the fabric. When fitting is finalized the seams will be trimmed to 1/4 inch.

More progress

I wanted the jacket to challenge me, particularly because I am sewing on faux leather.  Believe me this has been a bear of a challenge.  The fabric is thick to begin with and when sewing through two thicknesses it is rather difficult and sewing very slowly is the best way to handle this.

I have switched back and forth between walking foot, zipper foot and Teflon foot. The walking foot has been a huge success in sewing layers together.

I just completed inserting the sleeves which was the most difficult sewing thus far.  Photos to follow.

Start of the Holiday parties

After a very stressful week at work, the ending of the week has begun for me the start of various holiday parties.  My Rotary club kicked off the week with an event Thursday night, which because of work I was not able to attend.  Our agency had its annual meeting which became close to a four hour event.

Today I will be going to our annual ASG Holiday luncheon at a local country club.  I had truly hoped that I could complete my faux shearling jacket in time for the event; I realized Tuesday evening that I would not meet the deadline unless I spent time into the wee hours working on it.  Unfortunately I am way past the age when I could go to bed at 2 AM and get up at 5AM to get ready to work a full 9+ hour workday.  Accepting this reality, I will present my jacket at next month's show and tell.

The real fun for me with this event is the opportunity to enjoy time with people who love to sew, eat great food and have a genuinely good time.

I will say that my jacket is coming along nicely.  I have inserted the zippers into each sleeve.  I had to cut out another set of sleeves; fortunately I had enough fabric to do that!  In reading the reviews on PR it was noted that the sleeves ran small.  Based on the measurements on the pattern piece, I thought the size I cut would work nicely.  NOT!  If you wear say a heavier sweater under the jacket the sleeves will be very tight fitting and I believe uncomfortable.  I think some of the tightness also relates to the thickness of the fabric I am using, as faux shearling is thick.  Having to re-cut another set of sleeves created a slow down in the sewing momentum also.

I eliminated the back belt as it looked wide on me, rather bulky and unflattering.  I will adjust the back to fit closer through the various back seams.

Enough for now, have to go now to get ready for today's luncheon.  Later!

Sandra Betzina Vogue 8151

Yesterday I was wearing this top (from an older photo). It is a Sandra Betzina top pattern, Vogue 8151. I made another one from a heavier knit that I just did not like the outcome. The one I wore yesterday is a softer knit that I acquired from Wazoodle.

This particularly top fits me fairly well but I decided when I made this one that I needed to lower the side darts about 3/4 inch. I also needed to rework the swayback adjustment. Other than that, the top fits me well through the upper chest and shoulder. Because of that I decided that in addition to the two KS projects I am working on I needed to add this to the project list.

I have a huge knit piece of fabric, perhaps 4 yards, of a black crepe knit I purchased over a year ago in Charlottesville. I have used it as part of another knit top so I decided to use for another SB top.

I ended up making this top first instead of the KS top that I was all fired up to make. Not sure why I bumped it but I guess that the SB top was one I had made twice; I knew the adjustments I needed to make and the sewing machine and serger were already threaded with black thread. So I made the top today in between various household chores.

The knit was a little fiddly to work with, yet it sewed up well. I even re-threaded the serger to use the coverstitch feature and hemmed the sleeves and the top using a wide coverstitch.

One can never have enough black knit tops.