Sew Distracted

Encircled

I lost the sewing spirit for a couple of days there and then, as tends to happen, the weekend was upon us and life got busy once again, going hither and yon.    Sunday was a relatively quiet day however and I got a few hours to play with my ideas for the hem band of the maroon printed skirt.   I played with some striped pieces of Kaffe Fasset cotton and this is what I ended up with:

I had intended to finish the skirt and photograph it today but it was not to be.  Obviously I have been out of the sewing groove far to long as t here were setbacks. 

Most importantly at this point is that I am out of thread:

This was not anticipated.  I had a full unused spool of thread which should have been enough, but last night, either because I am out of practice or I was not paying attention I wound a new bobbin and messed it up, creating a long tangled knot of thread that was not on the bobbin.   I probably have more bobbin thread than I need at this point, but it is easier to just run down to S&S later today and buy another spool or two, especially considering I need a thread stock refill anyway.

I still need to finish the hem band, the inner band has not yet been sewn to the skirt.  I also have to attach the lining and add the waistband.  None of these projects is time consuming or difficult, but they all require thread, more thread than is currently available.

Homage

I met Jane when I was a budding teenager and she was in college.  She took time for this young person who didn't yet know where she was going or what she wanted to be.  She offered my first encouragement and support in my budding interest in fashion and clothes. At first she showered me with interest and guidance.  She taught me about style and that dressing well was more about looking good and knowing one's own style than  about designers and labels.  She taught me that elegance and style had nothing to do with height, size, shape or money.  She also became my friend.

Jane was a bright light that could light up a room.  She was warm and embracing.  She could cut through bull like a knife.  And even though she was very short, and more often round than not, she had more style and class than most people ever dream of commanding.   

Although our lives had taken us further apart,  the occasional phone call would brighten the world.  I did not make enough of those calls.

I would not be the person I am today without Janes friendship.

Jane collected Vuitton bags.  She knew what she had and what she pursued what she wanted.  Jane was a monogram canvas kind of girl.  I most definitely was not, and although I was always attracted to the structured Epi leather bags, I put off buying one for years and years.   When I got my first Vuitton bag, this past spring, the first thing I did was call Jane.  She was thrilled and we screeched and giggled like the young women we once were.

I'm sorry I never got to show Jane my first Vuitton.

Jane:  1951 - 2006

Waiting

I would sneak up to the sewing room when I had a chance yesterday and look at different fabrics and trims, thinking about the solution for the maroon skirt.  Whenever there would be a lull or a pause in whatever I was working on, my mind would slip away and ponder the possibilities.  Miriam's suggestion made me think about the skirt in a new light and several alternatives presented themselves.....

but still they weren't quite right.

By early evening I was ready to escape to my own little fiber refuge and resume construction.   I got the skirt put together and the pleats sewn and the skirt fits beautifully and looks lovely. 

I  certainly have no complaints about this pattern: it is very nice; it goes together easily (its a skirt for goodness sake); it looks nice; it fits exactly the way the pattern says it will for the size chosen; and it looks just like the drawing on the pattern envelope.  That sounds obvious, but often it seems patterns don't turn out so simply.

As I went downstairs to watch THE CLOSER with George and knit a bit, I suddenly envisioned how I would finish the skirt.

I came back to the sewing room after the show and thought I should finish the seam allowances before I played with the hem.  I didn't want to serge the seams and I didn't feel like cutting bias strips from the lining fabric to  bind the edges.  I remembered that I have a roll of rayon seam binding that I found when I cleaned up the sewing space.  It is a beautiful dark green, not the same color as the skirt, and it coordinates beautifully.  As I started to apply it to the skirt I had a sudden vision of it bleeding over my skirt after I put all this effort into it, even though I know it is supposed to be colorfast, so I stitched a bit on a remnant of fabric, washed it, and left it to dry overnight. 

Better safe than sorry after all.

This morning at 5 AM I was relieved to see that the seam binding neither shrank or bled onto my fabric so I promptly went to work meticulously folding the seam binding, pinning it to the skirt and sewing it on.  It looks nice. 

I realized, after I did all this, that my Bernina must have a foot that will accomplish the same task in far less time than I did working by hand. So by 7 AM I was on the web perusing the sewing machine foot options.   Shortly after 9 I phoned S&S, my local Bernina dealer, to see if they had any of the feet I wanted in stock; it did not surprise me that they did not, I doubt they have much call for feet that either fold and apply binding or apply prefolded binding to seams.  So I ordered them, along with a couple of flat fell feet as well, the smaller and the larger one, figuring I might as well order several things at once.  They usually place orders on Thursday and I should have my feet next week.

I can make an apply binding by hand.  I can flat fell seams.  But why make life more difficult than it needs to be.  I keep forgetting that I have a new machine that does all these things that my old beloved machine did not.

Now, why I didn't think to wash the fabric that I need for the new bottom band last night when I washing the seam binding sample is beyond me.  So I sit.  I washed two fat quarters of Kaffe Fasset striped cotton and I must wait for them to dry.  I did consider running them through the dryer just so I could get back to work right away, but even I am not that profligate with energy that I will run an entire dryer cycle for 1/2 yard of fabric.

I didn't put on the waistband or attach the lining.  I might want the waistband to match the bottom hem.

But here is the skirt so far:

I like it, I really like it.

Skirt Progress

After thinking about sewing a few summer skirts, I finally got the ball rolling this weekend. Here we are, summer mostly past and I am finally making another skirt.

Do you remember this fabric?

I originally posted about it on May 28th.  And that seems frightening to me, that I planned on making a simple summer skirt and I am just now making it, nearly two months later.  Where has the summer gone?  Well, I actually do have a few ideas, but let's not dwell on that.

This is the pattern I am using, Simplicity 4186.  It is a very simple, one pattern piece skirt.  There are two options, pleats that run straight up and down, and pleats that are angled out from the center.

I have no idea which skirt will look best on me at the moment.  I haven't made a pleated skirt for some time so I opted for the straight up and down pleats.  That is one of the interesting things about sewing, it is always a guessing game.

Saturday night I traced the lining pattern and sewed the lining.  So far so good.

Sunday night I traced the skirt pattern, and cut the skirt.  I kind of have mixed feelings about the skirt.  I love the fabric but I am not sure I will love the skirt yet.  It was an inexpensive cotton from JoAnn Fabrics so I figured that if the skirt works and I like the pattern I have a skirt I can wear for the summer.  If it doesn't work, either fabric-wise or pattern-wise, I have at least made a muslin, and hopefully, learned something.  I am always hoping that I will learn something, especially when I don't end up with wearable goods, but sometimes I have my doubts about this.

OK, on to the skirt.

Saturday I traced, cut, and sewed the lining

Sunday night I traced the skirt pattern and cut the skirt fabric.

I still had doubts, but went ahead anyway.  I made an extension for the contrast band to go at the bottom of the skirt and started cutting the green fabric.  When I placed the first piece on the skirt, I did not like it.  Yet, ever hopefull, I cut the remaining strips.  Still not good as you can see below.

The green is much too bright and does not go with the skirt.  I wonder what I was thinking when I purchased these two fabrics together.  Did I not see that the green was too bright?  Obviously not.  It seems I was running with the vision in my head, completely oblivious to the fact that the reality of the materials were not going to yield that ever-elusive dream result.

I do not have enough fabric to recut the skirt, but I do have enough to add bands of the same fabric at the bottom.  Perhaps I have a decorative ribbon that I can use at the seamline between the two pieces.  Perhaps I have another piece of fabric that will work as a contrast band?   Perhaps all these options were overwhelming my poor, tired, frustrated brain.

When you hit a wall, go to bed.  Words to live by.  And so, I did.

Today, I will construct the skirt and see if Iit fits and if it looks good on me and I like it.  Then, having passed those three critical tests, it will be time to see what can be done about replacing the bottom piece and bringing the skirt to a wearable length.

A little sewing

The itch to sew something, anything actually, but preferably clothes for me really soon has gotten stronger and stronger.  Oh I have been in the sewing room occasionally with a few minutes here or there, but not enough time to proof a pattern, alter it and cut anything out, or just late at night when I am so tired that just trying to figure out how lining up the pattern paper seems like a major challenge.

These are not good conditions for perfect sewing.  So I have played. I did a little messing around with coat pattern.  I still need bigger shoulders and haven't finished.  I suppose my heart has not been in it, but time has been an issue as well. 

I set up the embroidery unit on the Bernina and played with that too, trying different techniques.  It was fun, but I wasn't making something that I wanted to be making so it didn't have the thrill.  Perhaps I should find something I really want to do and start playing with that goal in mind, working my way up to the perfect garment. 

Perhaps my brain has just boiled into mush.

So last night I decided I had to make something, and it had to be something easy.  I want to make a couple of skirts.  I showed you the fabric back in June.  No progress yet.  But skirts require measuring and proofing the patterns.  I don't have a TNT skirt pattern right now.  Last winter's skirt pattern is miles to big.  Last summer's skirt pattern is almost right;  I can fit into it but it will be more comfortable in about two weeks.  That is probalby close enough that I can probably use it as a base.  In that sense it is probably good that I dilly dallied a bit on the cutting out.  Now I will be cutting smaller than I would have been a month ago.

But back to last night.  What to sew?  Well, I could sew the baby blanket.  The fabric was prequilted, all I needed was the binding. 

Of course your realize that sewing the binding on the quilt took far less time than cutting the strips, turning up the hem edge and pressing everything so it was perfect don't you?  I got the cutting, hem pressing and pinning all done before dinner and dinner was a little late as G went to the gym after work.  All I had to do after dinner was sew it up, but I didn't finish.  I was too tired  I got about half way around and the corners were starting to get difficult so I thought it best to go to bed.

Instead it was finished this morning.

I can't get the whole thing in a photo, but you get the idea.  That stripy fabric is quite puckered, like a stretch seersucker, and it pulls up at that point.  The blanket is square and holds for a few minutes after pressing, but then the stretchy parts pull up again.

Here is a detail shot of a corner.

I'll ship the whole thing down to Knoxville today along with some more baby clothes.  And then I think I will cut that skirt.

But first I have another picnic and concert to get ready for.  Tonight we are hearing Mendelssohn's Elijah and I am really looking forward to it.

Little Boxes

Ruanas, shawls, and garments based on rectangles continue to fascinate me.  Usually however I am disappointed in them when I actually see them on the body.  Any given individual example may work on a particular person, but draping rectangular garments over rounded forms is difficult unless the exactly correct proportions are achieved.

Yesterday this garment arrived for my consideration, forwarded by a personal shopper at Neiman Marcus.  It is surprising because it is not the kind of thing I have ever purchased from this store.

It looks rather nice on Matilda doesn't it.  She has the advantage of not having arms. The actual garment was much too narrow through the shoulders for me. 

The jacket is by one of the Issey Miyake Lines, HaaT, and it basically consists of a large rectangle with sleeves, something like this sketch:

You can see the construction from the inside of the garment here:

But what is really interesting about this garment is not its shape.  It is hard to keep on the body, and I think it would work better as a modified rectangle.  What is really interesting is the fabric.  The body of the jacket is made up of a bunch of small rectangles of fabric that have been pieced together at the corners.  The fabric seems to have been fulled slightly, but not completely felted;  this probably does help with ravelling, but this is not a jacket for heavy duty wear. 

After the individual pieces were all sewn togther long rows of machine stitching were made free form to create the stripes on the fabric, and a few appliques were added.

Pockets were placed on the inside of the jacket:

I am really intrigued by this cutting up or deconstructiong of fabric and then reconstructing in a similar but different form.  This could be fun to play with someday.  I see many possibilities, not practical maybe, but fun.

Pink and Purple

Once upon a time I would have said I was not a pink kind of girl.  I thought I had "outgrown" that kind of thing.

I was wrong.

Pinks and Purples are definitely my thing.

From purple cauliflower:

To the varying shades of pink lilac and white in my garden:

It is obvious that I am definitely a "pink kind of girl".  My husband is grateful that I don't really like pink and purple decor in the house though.  My pinks are frivolous pinks, more for exuberant accents than for everyday practicality.

Fashion Fabrics Wools

The fabrics I ordered from the Fashion Fabrics Club  wool sale arrived today!  I was completely surprised; I had almost forgotten I had ordered them.

The taupe wool is lovely:

I had ordered it with some trepidation because taupes can be difficult.  True taupes are a great color (non-color??) for me, but often I see something described as taupe and it comes looking much to yellow.  This one is quite nice, has a lovely texture and a nice light spongy, crepey feel that will work very well for a versatile suit.  I really have no plans for it right now, the color and the price were right, and I can always use a good taupe wool.

The other fabric I ordered was kind of a menswear plaid that I hoped to use for a dress.  Here is the fabric with the proposed pattern:

The fabric is not quite what I hoped from the description and the online photo, but it is still nice.  I am not sure if I will like it for the dress, but I might, and the price is right.

We'll see.  As well you know, my plans for sewing seem to be way ahead of my actual sewing success of late.   It's not that I haven't planned and set aside time for sewing, I have.  And it's not that I then fritter that time away doing other things either.   It just seems that no matter what plans I make of late, life gets in the way, things come up and my schedule is shot to .... well, you know where it shot to.

Well, tomorrow is another day.

Corrections

I went back and made some corrections to my post on broad shoulder alterations.  I had not been careful enough and it had been plaguing me, not that the techniques were wrong, but that I was not meticulous in my measurements.  The three new patterns, using three diffferent techniques, should have yielded the same results. 

This error has been corrected and you can go directly to that post here.

Coffee Break

There I was, occupied by my normal Monday morning chores, when I hear a truck in the driveway.  I am not expecting anyone, and it sounds suspiciously like a UPS truck, so I look out the window.  It is! It is a UPS truck!  My heart goes pitty pat and I run to the front door, childishly thrilled at the prospect of new packages, and I open the door while Dave, my local UPS delivery person is still walking up the front walk.  He said he had an express package for me today so I get to see him earlier than usual.

And here it is:

The new fall Marfy!  I admit it, I was greedy and selfish and a total spendthrift:  I paid the extra for express shipping.  It was a little over $5 more, maybe almost $6, especially as the dollar was higher against the Euro last week than it is now.  It was no matter.  It was my birthday and I felt like indulging myself.

I looked through it briefly with a second cup of coffee -- many nice patterns.  I need more time to peruse the catalog more carefully.  I tend to get over excited at first, loving everything, filled with glee and excitement, and then I need to calm down and sit back and look more analytically.  That will have to wait.

But it is true -- there are 8 free patterns, and I actually like and might make some of them!  They also included a summary page at the front of the catalog showing the free patterns all together, so you don't have to go searching through the book.