Starting on skirt

Wow, the hem in this jacket and the sleeve hems are time consuming. Unfortunately the fabric I am using does not take a blind hem well using my sewing machine. Oh, to have a blind hemmer! Oh to have the space to put one.
My Designer SE has a great blind hem stitch and blind hem foot. But on some fabrics this hem does not turn out well. There just is too much thread on top or right side of the fabric. When I hem by hand, you can hardly see any thread on top, thus a blind hem.
I also have some arthritis in my hands so when I hem things by hand, my left hand usually starts to ache and I need to take periodic breaks.
The jacket now has buttonholes, bodice hemmed and one sleeve hemmed. I will finish the other sleeve hem later this evening. Then I only have to cut out the buttonholes and sew on the buttons. Since these are shank buttons, more hand sewing.

Taking a break from the hand stitching, I serged the seam allowances for the front and back pieces of the skirt. I also pinned in the darts. So to be ready to sew.

Diva Cordmaker

I meant to post about a notion I bought a couple of months ago. I have made a few trims using yarns and ribbons. Many of you knit in addition to sewing. I have never ever been successful at knitting and decided I really don't want to knit. I do love what many of you who knit make. But I am hopeless.


For me this is my knitting. I do use lots of yarns, acquired them for felting as well. Here is a photo of the Diva Cordmaker. I purchased mine locally but learned about it at http://www.joggles.com/. They sell them at that site along with yarns and such to make trim. They have a tutorial on their site as well.


The trim in the photo is one of several trims I have made. This one I am playing around with to make trim for my Chanel jacket.

More fabric

A Julie at PR was selling some fabric through their classified ads. Of course, I always take a look at fabrics when they are up for sale there. I liked the colors-she described it as black/autumn. Since I am mostly a spring and can wear warm shades well, I offered to buy the fabric. It arrived late last week and I finally got around to taking some photos of it. I really like the fabric and warm threads of greens, yellows and oranges running through it.


Below are shots of the right and wrong side:

This is the wrong side


This is the right side

Buttons found

I am so happy that I found the perfect buttons for my jacket. I did hem the jacket bodice last night but still need to hem the sleeves. I wanted to show you the buttons, I pinned them on to get a feel for what they will look like.

I was lucky that I was able to purchase two cards of these buttons, the last two on the button rack. They come two to a card and of course I need three!

Sewing-NOT!

Can't seem to get myself into the sewing room to sew.

I did take time to find some buttons on Monday for the jacket. Not many choices or places to look for them locally. I did not have 45 minutes to travel to Floyd and another 45 to get back. Lunch time is just not that long.

I also purchased an invisible zipper for my skirt as I did not have any shades of red zippers in stash. Briefly glanced at some fabric as I strolled through JoAnn's but nothing screamed at me to buy it or even look closer. I miss Hancock's fabrics, they just always had a better selection.

Online buying is fun and fabric usually turns out like you expected; sometimes better. But the ability to walk through a fabric store, truly sense the fabric-touch and smell- is so devine.

Sunday sewing-11/11/07

I had pleasant morning to sew yesterday. I could have completed the jacket if I had a maid and a cook!

The jacket has gone together rather easily. The fabric is fairly easy to sew. Since the jacket does not have a lining and I did not want to make one, this has been a pretty quick project. I only have to finish the hems for jacket and sleeves, make the buttonholes and sew on the buttons.

This is the jacket on Alma Marie. Here is a close up shot of the neckline. Pattern calls for the darts to be stitched and exposed on the outside. I did not want to do this with this fabric. I just did not think that the darts in the microfiber fabric would lie as well as a natural fabric, like wool. Next time, and I think there will be, I will sew them on the outside.

The skirt is ready to sew now. I just need to find a rose-red zipper that is close enough to match. I thought I had one in my zipper stash, but not.

What color are you?

you are darkviolet #9400D3

Your dominant hues are blue and magenta. You're the one who goes to all the parties but doesn't quite fit in at every one... you know what you want, but are afraid of what the world might think of it. You're a little different and that's okay with them, and if you're smart it's okay with you too. Your saturation level is very high - you are all about getting things done. The world may think you work too hard but you have a lot to show for it, and it keeps you going. You shouldn't be afraid to lead people, because if you're doing it, it'll be done right. Your outlook on life is brighter than most people's. You like the idea of influencing things for the better and find hope in situations where others might give up. You're not exactly a bouncy sunshine but things in your world generally look up.

the spacefem.com html color quiz

Some sewing

I did get some sewing completed on the Simplicity jacket pattern this AM. The darts in the upper front of the jacket were sewn as well as sewing the front and back pieces together. The upper seams of the front and back sleeves have been sewn. I am happy that I completed this before we went to Danville to see family and attend my DH's niece 3 yr. birthday party. We took his mother shopping for some new shoes and I got a cute Christmas themed sweater vest.

Returning home, we stopped for a bite to eat. I have just slumped out in front of the TV for a couple of hours watching some taped shows and then decided to catch up on some emails and post a brief comment on sewing.

Tomorrow I should finish the jacket. I then plan to do some machine embroidery for some Christmas projects and while that is going on I want to cut out the Vogue 7975 pattern.

Small moments of time

I have the serger set up to go. Threaded the machine last night, set the stitches to trim and finish the fabric edges of the red-rose fabric just so. I am now ready to set up sewing machine and start on the project.

I took a photo of the fabric I am going to use for the Chanel jacket. I am not sure if I acquired this from Vogue Fabrics or Fabric Mart. I purchased the fabric about two years ago. I also purchased another black and white fabric about the same time. I made a Loes Hinses jacket from that one soon after I purchased it. Obviously this one needed to age more.

I am working on what will be the trim. More on this later.

Sewing Projects

As I noted in my post yesterday, I am starting work on Simplicity 3631.
I cut out the pattern today for the jacket and the skirt. I thought I would start sewing on it today. But I changed my plan.

I decided that I wanted to go ahead and pin fit the Vogue 7975 pattern as I want to make a Chanel style jacket. It seems several of us have posted about this pattern and the desire to make a Chanel jacket. I pin fitted the jacket pattern and made the usual adjustments-forward shoulder (FSA), swayback, and full bust adjustment (FBA). As usual I used the petite adjustment for the sleeve length. So now this jacket is ready for me to cut out.

Here is a look at the Simplicity jacket and the fabric I will be using. It is a rose red color, Pantone 18-1633.

The Vogue jacket is going to be made from another stash fabric, a black and white boucle. This fabric was acquired from either Fabric Mart or Vogue Fabrics. Unfortunately I have not taken a photo of this one either. I will post later.

Tomorrow I hope to at least get the serger and sewing machine set up to begin sewing the Simplicity project. If I can do this before work, then after exercise tomorrow evening, I will layout the fabric and lining for the Vogue jacket.

Next up-Simplicity 3631

After posting about new fabrics a few days ago, I have decided to use fabric from my stash! This is a microfiber that I purchased when I lived in Lakeland, FL; that was 6 1/2 years ago. I believe it has aged well enough now.

I will post a photo soon. I realized that many of my stash fabrics have not been photographed and catalogued in my Stitch and Stash program. I have many of them recorded, but I stopped updating at one point and this was probably in one of the fabric bins where I stopped.
I think I am being influenced to use this fabric because the pattern does not call for a lining and this fabric wears nicely and has some what satiny feel on the wrong side. Thus I think I can skip making a lining for this pattern. Also the photo shot on the cover of Sew Stylish magazine where this pattern was depicted in its many variations had a similar red jacket on the front. My fabric is a blended red color. I need to pull out the Pantone cards and assign it a number for other Pantone users.

I pinned fitted the jacket pattern and made a slight FBA. I removed the resulting side dart and increased the neck darts to accommodate this. My first attempt at moving a dart to the neckline area. With darts already there, it made sense. Skirt was pin fitted also and I did not need to make any adjustments, except I folded out one inch at the petite marking on the pattern.
Photos of the fabric to follow later. Time to start dinner.