Tough Friday, fabulous weekend ahead

 

Yesterday was a tough one at work.  It was a day of scheduled meetings with my staff and on both occasions I got pulled from my responsibilities to do someone elses work.  What is wrong with this picture!!!

Normally DH and I go to grocery store on Friday.  He was feeling under the weather and I was stressed to the max, so this is postponed until today. So it will eat into my sewing time today but I needed the Friday night off for my mental health.

So last night I spent time on Google Reader reading lots of blogs, many of which I had not read in way too long.  It was very soothing actually.  I am so ready to be sewing and have my skirt ready to go.

I want to pattern fit and adjust a McCall’s pattern for the jacket I plan to make from remaining black/white wool fabric.  I have a long weekend so I think this will pan out.

Off to CURVES now, another stress reducer for me, and it is helping to get rid of the “too much Christmas” food.

Skirt progress

The skirt is almost complete.  I need to stitch the front and front side pieces together.  This is the last sewing step in the process, except of course the hemming.

The front pieces overlap each other and require that the skirt facings be attached before you overlap the right and left front pieces.  You have to baste these front pieces together before stitching the front and side front pieces together.

This is not difficult to do . Adding a lining adds some bulk to those seams and with one side with gathers you must adjust those to how you want the gathers to look before the final stitching also.  The pattern does not call for one but I like linings in some skirts, particularly wool.   

You definitely want to make sure that you have fitted the skirt prior to this last step also as it makes it more difficult to remove facings and take up seams.    I had to make some final fitting adjustments for the waist area, the waist was a little too loose. 

All in all, I like the look of this skirt and may decide to make another one.

Here are a few photos of the skirt in progress

Mojo rising

I think the title above is from a Van Morrison song.  Yet it was how I was feeling after getting home from CURVES last night.  I wore the dress pictured above to work yesterday.  I always receive compliments when I wear it.  We had some visitors at our facility yesterday who had not seen this dress. Again more compliments.

I am currently working on this dress pattern.  So before going to CURVES I tried on the dress in progress and was truly pleased that the second dress is fitting a little better.  The first one had too much width in the shoulder and upper chest area, thus neckline stands away from my body some.  No one seems to notice but me.  I took deeper back seam with the first dress to pull in some of the fullness.

With the second dress, I took a 3/8 inch tuck at back and front necklines.  This made a great difference in the second dress.  So after CURVES I got motivated to do the pressing on the dress in current progress and serge finished the edges to hem.  The sash is almost complete and provided that tomorrow night I complete that and hem the dress, I can have a new dress to wear by next week at the latest.  So my sewing mojo is rising and thinking about my next projects.

My second sewing project-completed!

Below are some photos of Butterick 5278. This was a bear of a project and was due mainly to "Operator Error" and not the pattern nor the fabric. I just failed to do some things when cutting out the pattern after making some pattern adjustments. For example I did not do a forward shoulder adjustment with the neckline pieces but did on a portion of the sleeves. I had to compensate for this by restitching the shoulder seams on these pieces.

Another issue was the FBA I completed. This of course increased the width and length of the bodice; that was necessary. The FBA required an adjustment to the center front piece which I made. What I did not do is adjust or correct the placement dot on the front bodice piece so that the ties would be placed differently at center front. This creates a situation with tying the ties that I notice right off but I think that others when seeing it will not notice as I do. Because of the way I attached the lining/facing center piece enclosing the front center piece by machine and thus no hand sewing, it is possible to correct. This would however require me to undo way too many pieces. So I will live with it.

These are things that I made note of but not sure that this pattern warrants more than one of this style dress. As mentioned in an earlier post, I had to cut another front piece and I was fortunate enough to have enough to do that. So I am happy that the project is almost over.

All that is left to do is to hem the skirt. I just ran out of steam and had other things I needed to do. So I will take care of the hem later this week. All in all I am satisfied with the dress.

I love the fabric. Amazing how sometimes when I buy fabric it will linger in fabric collection months and even years. This fabric I acquired last month from "Gorgeous Fabrics" and it did not linger long at all. The final two shots are of my backside. At the time these were taken the side seams were only basted in.

For some strange reason, when my camera was set on timer to take self portraits, the first of the two pictures always came out blurry. I have no idea why. So here is fuzzy and non-fuzzy view.

Vacation and sewing

I am taking a vacation day today so my long holiday weekend continues. I am making progress on my Butterick dress. I am about ready to go to sewing room and resume sewing. I always like to drink coffee and catch up on emails/blogs/Flickr photos and Pattern Review. I am limiting my time however as staying at the computer definitely eats up the sewing time.

I plan to take photos of the McCall's dress today and will post photos here. I want to write a review for PR as well.

More later.

Limping along

Yesterday was another pleasant day weather wise. As for sewing, not much to write about.

I did set up my serger, coverstitch and sewing machine for sewing the brown/creme knit dress. I actually did sew the front neckline/collar together, sewed gathering stitches for the knit bodice, sewed the gathering stitches for the midriff and basted them to the front stay. Began pinning the midriff/stay front to one side of the front bodice and that was the end of my sewing for yesterday.

I am going on a business trip to Richmond tomorrow late afternoon and will return on Thursday; thus no sewing during the week. I will be thinking about it.

Second Butterick skirt almost complete

The skirt is almost finished. I just hemmed the skirt and I need to attach the hook and eye. I will try to post photos of me wearing it later today.

I have the three projects in my head to work on. One-a knit top to wear with new skirt; tri-colored KS knit dress and woven Butterick dress. I am at the point where I need to pin fit all three patterns, make adjustments and proceed from there.

I am off to manicure and CURVES. I love vacations, even when they are the R&R type with no destination except to do what one wants to do. I admit though I have had numerous conversations with my staff via phone or email due to budget development. But even that has been productive and less stressful than if it was a required work day!

Later.

Sewing Update

Yesterday, DH and I went to Danville to visit MIL. Friday was her birthday so we took her out to lunch at her favorite restaurant on Saturday. We took her to the mall where I saw my SIL and her DH and grandchild. While there I saw my cousin, so it was a nice visit with family.

Later that evening, I began on the second version of the BWOF Feb. 108 top. Friday night, I finished tweaking the pattern and cut out the fabric. Using some helpful information from "burdaenglish" yahoo group, I was able to topstitch the neckline with some better results than the first version. It is still not as I would really like it but passable. Last night I attached the sleeves using flat method instead of in the round as the instructions would have you do. Finished the side seams and turned up the hem. This AM I completed the hemming of the sleeves and top. I took a photo of it hanging a rack and will try it on later for another few photos.

I am more pleased with the fit of this second version. Whether this will become a TNT for this style top is still being considered. I just don't like the turn under and topstitching of the neckline. Got to be a better way. Later!

Top 108-Feb BWOF

Yes, I took the plunge and traced my first BWOF pattern. I chose pattern #108 as it was to my mind a simple pattern to start with. A front, a back and two sleeves.

Unsure of the size to use I ended up using the largest size and decided I would need a FBA. I also went back and forth on whether the dart was in the right location or should I lower it. For some reason, still unknown to me, my inner voice said not to lower and I chose not to listen. The dart sits to low and some of that could be the knit fabric I chose to use for this test garment.

I did a swayback adjustment but the back length is still to long. I have the same issue with Jalie patterns as well. More work to do on that problem.

I decided to follow the instructions for the neckline hem/topstitching and that created a sewing issue for me when it came to sewing the shoulder seams. Their way has you turn under the neckline seam allowances as first step and topstitch. Then sew shoulder seams. When doing that, the neckline was wonky and did not lay right. So I think I will do it another way. I just wrote (ranted) about this at the "burdaenglish" yahoo group. I am hoping someone will tell me if they used their method and how they got it to work.

So I am disappointed with my first try with this pattern. I will not give up and will tweak the pattern further and still use knit stash fabric that will not be painful to me if I ruin it. I did ruin this test knit fabric due to removing stitches one time to many. It now has holes in it.

More later.

UNCLE!

First and foremost my DH's tests proved to be very positive. He was given a clean bill of health with both test. Thank you all for wishing us well.

After returning home, I spent some time responding to company emails and report writing. Around 3:30 I went to my sewing room to work on the jacket from h---! I came to realize this AM that part of the not wanting to sew is the darn jacket. No matter what I do the bottom portion of the front pulls to the side. It is not even a pull it just swings out and to the side. After sewing the lining to the sleeves, I turned up the hem on the jacket and tried it on.

The back puffs out at the back and the front continues to do what I described above. No matter what I have tried to do I can not remedy this. I attempted this jacket before and that one is an UFO. I had pulled out that jacket before starting this one. The same front issue occurred on that one. I thought it was a FBA thing, but that is not the case. I just don't want to work on this pattern anymore! UNCLE! I'm calling it.

I am disappointed because I really wanted a jacket to wear with the matching fabric skirt. The skirt is now a good fit and is at the cleaners for me to wear. I have another jacket that is one of those multi- colored jackets and I can find some color of the skirt in the jacket but it just is not right! I looked through my fabric collection and DH even assisted, I found two fabrics that are okay. One is more winter into spring type look so I am kind of leaning toward that one. The other fabric is more gray than taupe, yet the brown in the plaid of this fabric makes the gray look a little taupe where the gray and brown cross. I have to say the taupe fabric leans more toward a lavender shading.

I then came across a knit fabric that is yellow with purple/burgundy print. A nice color blend with the lavendar taupe skirt. I thought perhaps a cardigan and sleeveless top. I have a KS pattern that I made a short sleeve cardigan and sleeveless pullover so I think this will work for this fabric.

I need to decide on another jacket pattern. I am tossing this Vogue one. Others have used it with success, but twice for me and poor results is enough to call UNCLE!

Mojo rising

This weekend was gorgeous. We had spring like weather on Saturday and Sunday. Highs in the upper 60's-low 70's. What a nice break from the extreme colds earlier in the week with highs only in the upper 20's.

I am like a bear in winter-I pretty much hibernate. With the warm temperatures on Saturday, I just did not feel like sewing at all. Though my thoughts did turn to warm weather clothing to sew. The closest thing I did to sewing on Saturday was to go to JoAnn's Fabrics to get some batting to be used as sleeve heads in jackets and I bought a Sew News magazine. With warm weather comes thoughts of grilling, so I stopped at the grocery store to buy steaks and baking potatoes. I cleaned up the grill and grilled our steaks for an early dinner. Then I just plunked myself down for TV time with DH.

Sunday AM I began work on my jacket again. Inserted the shoulder pads and sleeve heads, attached the lining unit to the neckline and front edge. That is as far as I got as again the spring like fever bit so DH and I went motorcycling.

Today I am going with DH to two doctors' appointments which are follow ups to two health issues he has had over the past few years. I like to go as he misses a lot of what the doctor says. This month he and I will have been married 36 years. I would like for him to be around much longer so I choose to go and hear what the doctors tell him about what he should and should not be doing. In between I need to do some work related things as well as ASG Treasurer work and who knows I just might get the jacket completed!

A small sewing moment

Let me say that the economy is impacting my job and this week most all of my time has been spent on budget revisions and potential department restructuring. I have spent most of my past three days in meetings from 8 to noon, a small break for lunch which has consisted of pretzels, water or coke. Not a very healthy diet.

DH and I had a nice dinner last night and then when we got home. I took a small sewing break to work on my jacket. I basted the side seams and then tried it on. I still have the bottom front swinging out at the bottom. Not sure if this is because of the FBA I made which was necessary but created more bias at the upper side front. Not sure how that would impact the bottom. It is not a huge swinging out but I notice it. Others may not. I also may need to trim some of the shoulder length. It was nice just to spend time thinking about fitting and not about budgets!

Thank you for the wishes

Thank you all for the birthday wishes. The snow for my birthday was very minimal but I know many of you have had more than enough of the white staff. It basically was "spitting" here.

I did get some sewing in for the day. I sewed the front/side fronts as well as the back/side backs of my jacket. I added the faux welt pockets to the jacket front.

My DH had to have an emergency root canal yesterday afternoon so that put a little damper on the end of the day. All in all it was a nice day.

It was back to work today. We did get to stop a meeting to watch the swearing in of our new President. What a great moment! DH recorded the event so I got to see more of the event this evening. I liked what the First Lady wore; the daughters were precious. Today I feel so much better about the future and the hope for some real change.

Holiday and Birthday

Today is my birthday!!! Having a day off for a holiday and it is my birthday day is just great. I started working on the Vogue jacket yesterday and plans are to continue on that today.

We are anticipating a little snow today. When I was a small child it seemed that it always snowed on my birthday. So I was actually hoping for some snow today. It will probably be only an inch yet that is a little something.

Off to sew now!

Sewing while I can

Going back to work after a vacation is truly hard. The first day back is truly the most intense as you have mail backed up, people wanting a lot of your attention, etc. Then I start bringing work home so I can continue to work, thus time is taken away from my favorite past time.

But continuing to want to work on my sewing affirmations, there were some sewing moments to take advantage of this week. One ten minute session before work allowed me to pin the front skirt yokes to the skirt and the lining. Another 20 minute session allowed me to sew those yokes to both and to serge finish the seams on the side back and back pieces of the skirt and the lining.

I am getting ready to shower as later this month is my birthday and my friend's birthday was earlier this month. So this afternoon and evening we are getting together to visit and then go to dinner. I am sure I may find another 10-30 minutes of sewing later today. I will say this I am liking the look of this Vogue skirt and can see some other views being made up as well. Later.

Keeping one of my affirmations

I took advantage of a sewing opportunity this evening as DH was arriving home late. So while yesterday's leftovers were heating up slowly, I worked on my skirt. I was able to complete the front bottom part of the skirt. I will sew it to the front yoke next. This is not by the directions but this is better, IMHO.

I really enjoyed that brief sewing interlude.

Blouse in progress

I made fairly good progress on blouse pattern. I had cut the blouse at the longest length and decided that this would look like a tunic instead of a blouse, so I recut the length. I have sewn the shoulders together. I basted the side seams for first fitting. I will need to take a deeper seam at the underarm area, tapering to 5/8 at waist line and then switch to 3/8 at hip to hemline.

I sewed the blouse tie but made an error by not marking the circles and triangles well. Fortunately I had enough fabric to cut out new tie pattern pieces and carefully marked so the tie will line up correctly. There is a neck band facing that is attached to the neckline and over the basted tie neckline piece. Thank goodness my fabric is not thick, nor would you want a thick fabric to make this blouse, but when all of those pieces are attached to the neckline you are sewing through five fabric layers.

This is an OOP pattern. It has some mislabeled views with descriptions in some places so you really need to read through the instructions. The inside view of the various styles on the instruction sheet is correct. The labeling of the views on the pattern envelope are not correct. This created part of the issue I had with attaching the tie to the neckline.

I am fighting off some sort of upper respiratory thing I have going on right now, so have taken a few breaks in between sewing as I am not 100%. Thought while I am taking this break I would post something and take a look at what others are doing.

Sewing again

I was able to get a couple of hours sewing in this evening! :-)


I started on a blouse pattern that I cut out sometime ago but put aside to make a jacket and dress instead. This should be a quick project. I used some fabric that has been in my stash for at least three years and came from JoAnn Fabrics. Thus if it turns out poorly I did not use up some of my really good fabric that I want to use to make this blouse if it turns out well.

I also pulled out two skirt patterns that I want to try soon. I have the fabric out that I want to use to make the skirts. It felt good to spend time in my sewing room this evening.

Almost Completed Dress

Here is a view of the front and back of the Almost Completed Dress. (Click on the photo for a larger view.) There are a few fitting issues to resolve still. I need to lower the front waistline, so will go back and take 3/8 seam allowance. I am a long waisted short person. I added to the bodice length when cutting it out but the back waistline is fine but I find the front a little higher than I like to wear my front waistlines. I don't like the cap sleeves and I have an issue going on under the arm. The armhole dart was not placed correctly in the first place, my error. So in adjusting the line of the dart it has created a wonky seam right under the end of the cap sleeve. I am going to remove the sleeve and either use the full sleeve version or either go sleeveless. I am thinking sleeveless with a binding around the armhole. I am not sure that I have enough fabric to cut out the sleeve pattern.

I also need to take deeper seams at the hip area down. The lining has all seams sewn in and I basted all the side seams on the dress to finalize the fit. Making the changes above and then hemming the dress will complete the dress. I am so ready to have this over and done.

Back views

Here is a view from the back. Photo on left is on AlmaMarie, no side seams sewn yet. The center back seam is basted closed so I can pin baste the zipper. Top right is view of the pleated neckline and sewing through all those layers was a bit fiddly. Bottom right is where I started to pin in the zipper. I was getting tired and some what cranky so thought this was a good stopping point. The color of the zipper is brown shade but looks purple in this photo. Could not get this to adjust.