Four fabric orphans find a home

I just love this pattern. Its the Textile Studio Monaco Shell. I made one last fall just before it got cold out and knew right away then that I would return to it in the spring. With only 2 pattern pieces, it takes hardly any time and very little fabric. Happily, four remnants from my stash were able to find a new home in my closet:

Back in the saddle

Its been a busy month and it seems I've done way more daydreaming about sewing than actual sewing.
I did manage this:

The potato chip vest: 

The Designer III group I belong to had a challenge to make this vest (See & Sew 5772 or its identical twin Butterick 5680) and then add some sort of embellishment to it. I chose to make the longer version because I'll admit, I wasn't crazy about the cucoon shape of the pattern, and this vest may end up as dust rags someday, but I had so much fun doing the surface design on it that I've made myself a solemn promise to do more of this kind of thing.

This painting on the fabric was created by placing the fabric atop randomly placed rubber bands and then lightly rolling fabric paint over the rubber bands with a brayer. I used yellow, blue, gold and silver tulip paint on yellow jersey fabric.

What I don't like about the pattern is that my bust distorts the vest's really low arm holes. Shame on me for thinking I could use this patterns as is!
I still had fun though.

My pet grackle: 

Maxwell would not sit still for a nice picture

Sewing group challenges are nice, but I also like to end up with something I really like and will actually wear. I love Alabama Chanin (who doesn't?) and wanted to use some of her techniques to make another embellished vest. Inspired by all the grackles who visit our yard, I created this pattern and stenciled it on the fabric using a foam paint roller and fabric paint. (I know, the birds look more like martins.) I'm hand stitching around all the birds and using french knots for the eyes. Its a nice portable project and I figure it should take a couple months to complete.

 

I got a new serger!! 

I had a little windfall from a calligraphy job and although I have been coveting a cover stitch machine for a while, I decided to put my 20 year old serger out to pasture instead. This machine threads quite differently from my old one, but I still got it right on only the second try. It's supposed the have super strong cutting and it switches to rolled hemming with just a simple switch. I whipped up another of my TNT patterns (Vogue
8088). The old serger would not have been happy about this fabric.

I'm looking forward to many happy hours with my new Juki.

I went down with the ship

After my recent fail with this jacket pattern, I decided to try the skirt.

Well, the skirt was just as frightening as the jacket. I made a size 8 and it was huge! So I took it apart, took out the darts, cut it down & resewed everything. I expected the pointy things to kind of stick out like on the envelope drawing (I was using one of the recommended fabrics for the pattern.) but instead it looked like the pleats on the bottom of a garbage bag, which was fitting because that's were it went. Then it went for a little ride on a big truck.



Goodbye Forever, Vogue 7914!!



While I'm painfully aware I haven't had much free time to sew lately, I was quite surprised to notice it has been a whole month since I finished my last successful garment. That's a long time for me.

Just so nobody has to feel too sorry for me, I did manage to make two purses this month:



The Geraldine is home dec fabric on the top and a thrifted men's suit for the bottom



This Emma is made with boucle from a thrifted ladies' blazer and a vintage broach


In the meantime, I have been doing a ton of thinking about, reading, researching, testing and amassing of materials for my next project.  This project will be a major time investment, but its one of those things I can work on outside the actual sewing room. I'm currently working on a muslin for it and should be ready to really dive into it beginning this weekend. More later.

And I was excited to find these scissors at a neighborhood consignment shop for 4$

Now, when I'm feeling around under all the tissue, paper and fabric in my work area, I'll have twice as good a chance finding my scissors!

Flappin' in the breeze: Vogue 7914

I made up this pattern up once many years ago. I have in my mind this very fond memory of wearing it on one of the first nice days of spring. My husband and I went out for lunch and then to a bookstore to browse, or as I call it:  "read magazines for free." The fabric was this interesting, very drapey, black and white weave, and it had these really cool black and white buttons. I remember especially how the tails flapped in the breeze. At some point I got rid of it but kept the pattern.
I decided to make another. I sewed it all mostly together and tried it on and guess what? This thing is just ugky!! I was a much less experienced sewer then and I was also 20 pounds heavier. Maybe it suited me better or maybe I was just crazy. I don't know! Its a hot mess. There will be no photos.
I wonder what made me hang onto this pattern for so long when I know its just isn't right for me. I'm usually not a particularly sentimental person, by my judgement was certainly clouded by the memory of that beautiful afternoon.

I need to create a new memory!

DIY Stash app

A while back I bitched and moaned about my horrible experience with a sewing stash app called Sewing Kit HD.  I had finally got all my patterns and fabric inputted when I bought 3 new patterns. One afternoon, I had some free time while sitting in a waiting room so I thought I'd put in the new patterns. You've heard Einstein's definition of insanity: doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results? Well, that SOB app crashed over and over and over and I never even got one more pattern done. In a sudden moment of clarity, I deleted the whole shooting match. And it felt good.

Instead I did this:

I took a photo of the front and back of every pattern I own:

I put them all in one album together, where they are easy to see at a glance:

And you can easily zoom in on any image:

Then to catalogue my fabrics, I started by getting this app that allows you to add text to your images. I got the free version. I'm sure there are others similar app out there:

Then I took photos of all my fabric and added a brief text description. Since I am intimately familiar with my stash, I only recorded a name and the width and yardage.

Again, the thumbnails in the album.

All this took a mere fraction of the time that I spent on that other app. And no foul language!

Now I can easily browse through my stash whenever the spirit moves me and add to it when necessary.

Joan of Arc

That's the name my husband gave this jacket: Burda 113, Illusion Jacket.

I didn't quite get it finished this weekend as hoped, mainly due to my over-eagerness to get it finished! I had it all hemmed before I discovered the darts had somehow moved up an inch too high- elves must have been working on it while I slept! I had to undo the lining at the hem, open up the princess seams and the darts and re-sew the darts.
 

Other than the Odyssey of downloading, printing and preparing the pattern, and the dart setback, the pattern went together quickly and easily, except that I couldn't make heads or tails out of  Burda's instructions for attaching the sleeves even after reading them repeatedly. The little cap sleeves are lined to the edge of the sleeve hem, and the knit sleeves go inside them. What I did was baste the lining and jacket edges together at the armhole and then also basted the finished, lined cap and long sleeves together,  then set both sleeves in together and serged the raw edge. Not very pretty but I could not fathom any other way to do it. 

This pattern has other versions: a sleeveless vest and a vest with just the cap sleeves. I think perhaps the addition of the long knit sleeves was an after though and that may be why the directions for them was not fully figured out. 

I made this in the vest length as the jacket would have been below my knees.  I ended up making a size 38 with a 2" FBA and its a bit roomy.
I did wear it today even though it was only 28 degrees out and I was freezing my behind!  

Slow sewing

Last week, Peter of Male Pattern Boldness mused about slowing down  the sewing process. I guess he, like me, is usually a pedal-to-the-metal speed demon sewer! My sewing room compares to a sweatshop in productivity. Personally, I've had no desire to slow down, but lately I have been forced to by two forces. The first being work and family obligations and the second: Burda downloads!!

I decided to make this jacket:

Its model #113 and called the Illusion Jacket. It looks like a vest worn over a long tee, but the long sleeves are actually attached. The body and cap sleeves are made from a wool suiting and the long sleeves are made in ponte.
I downloaded the pattern, and since I own a 42 inch wide printer, I was able to print out the pattern pieces on one long sheet instead of tiling and taping a million smaller sheets together like mere mortal sewers.
After consulting Burda's size chart and measuring the pattern (there are no finished garments measurements), I chose a size, added an FBA and shortened the jacket and sleeves. Then I added the seam allowances-- What a pain!!!

A tangled mess

I cut and sewed a muslin, which was too big. I also decided to use the shorter version.

I figured it would be easier reprint the pattern rather than remark the already cut up and taped up pattern. Then I thought "I've got a brain, why not use it?" I opened the pdf file in Adobe Illustrator, traced my size, shortened it, did the FBA and slope shoulder adjustment all on the computer. And with one simple command added the seams allowances! And the best part? I could do all this sitting on my ass!!!

Doesn't this look a lot more orderly?!

So after a week, I finally cut the main fabric out last night. I still need the lining and ponte. Hopefully, if nobody bothers me, I might be able to power through this project this weekend.