Denver Fabrics is back up...

but is it just me or do they carry the EXACT same inventory as Fashion Fabrics Club?

See for yourself...I did a search for coating fabric at Denver Fabrics and got the exact same results as I did from the same search at Fashion Fabrics Club

Curious...

I need to name my SWAP!

The more I look at my current SWAP plan, the happier I am with it. I am usually my own worst enemy when it comes to trying to plan out a wardrobe like this (I was going to attempt the Wardrobe Contest over at patternreview.com, but could NOT make up my mind on what I wanted to make or what I wanted the wardrobe to look like). I think it helped that I have a specific need/desire in mind. When I was attempting create a summer wardrobe I didn't really have a need, and then I got pregnant and needed a "maternity wardrobe", but the contest was practically over and I had no desire to do anything but sleep!!!

But back to the current SWAP...I may have some additional tweaking to do once I get the rest of my fabrics in, but I think it's pretty much "the plan". I'm looking at this wardrobe as a *hopefully* somewhat sophisticated transitional wardrobe that will help me not only transition from post-pregnancy weight back to pre-pregnancy weight (and then finishing the weight loss I started before I got pregnant), but also transition from a more casual work wardrobe to a more professional work wardrobe. Even though my office goes anywhere from casual to professional and everywhere in between - I want to start maintaining a more professional appearance at work to go along with the promotion I received this week.

Since my color scheme is black/gray/white/purple, I've been trying to come up with a name that fits. I was originally thinking something that had to do with a cityscape at night with the dark colors with a splash of white, but I'm having a hard time coming up with a name that suits that theme. So far, the only name I've been able to come up with is "Smoke on the Water." There are several reasons why this name fits:
1. It is the name of a song by the band "Deep Purple" - being that the only real color in my wardrobe is purple, it fits.
2. The color of smoke can be any of the three remaining colors: black, gray, white.
3. When I think of the name "smoke on the water", aside from the song, it reminds me of a picture I saw of a forest fire near a lake. The photo was taken at dusk and the sky was several shades of purple, with the blackening lake, gray smoke and the glint of white from the moon reflected off the lake.

But I am open to new ideas. I still would like to come up with a name to represent a cityscape at night before I make a final decision as to the name...anyone have any ideas??

SWAP plan

After careful deliberation, I am going to make every attempt to complete the Timmel Fabrics SWAP. Since I will be in dire need of some transitional clothes once the baby is born and I go back to work. I don't anticipate having a lot of baby weight to lose, but I know I'm going to want comfortable clothes and then I plan on rejoining Weight Watchers to lose the rest of the weight I had to lose before I got pregnant. All in all, I'm expecting about 20lbs total. I have a lot of casual clothes, but not a lot of dressier work clothes.

So, this brings me to SWAP. With 11 garments, plus a couple of extras, I'll have a wardrobe that will be perfect for work, business trips and special events. Even though I won't be wearing any of these items during the fall or most of the winter, I have decided on a color scheme of black, gray, white and shades of purple. There are four reasons I chose this color scheme:

1. I'm a little bummed that I can't wear most of the gorgeous fall and winter styles that are coming out this year, so I'm going to wear them a season or two late (woman's prerogative).

2. My favorite maternity clothes (one top and two dresses) are in this color scheme and I plan on altering them to be wearable post-pregnancy, so they will be added to the final wardrobe to expand the number of options.

3. Purple and gray is one of my favorite color combinations and black and white are business wardrobe staples. Even though I can wear pretty much whatever I want to work, one of my plans for next year is to make a conscious effort to dress more professionally.

4. The majority of the wardrobe pieces (especially the bottom pieces) will go with many of the mis-matched tops I made for my early pregnancy and will allow more options for the transitional wardrobe.

Without further ado, here is my plan. I currently have one additional top and bottom piece than the SWAP rules call for, but this gives me a little bit of flexibility in decision making.



My chosen wardrobe pattern is Butterick 5101:


I chose this wardrobe pattern primarily because it was a knit wardrobe and knits are better for my post-pregnancy transitional plan. The reason I chose this over the many other knit wardrobe patterns was the fact that the top and skirt together look like a wrap dress, but will give so many additional options for a SWAP wardrobe. I like the wrap dress that comes with the pattern, but I really like the handkerchief hem of the skirt - my combination will be a black version of the all brown look on the far right of the picture.

As soon as all of my fabrics arrive, I'll post some photos of more detailed plans.

ok...so i've been giving this some thought

and I need some suggestions of some good patterns that I can possibly use for a transitional wardrobe SWAP. I need items for a primarily business-casual environment (once I'm back at work) that aren't too fitted and that I can make and mostly fit in the hip/bust areas while I'm pregnant. I don't think I'll really have too much baby weight to lose, but I want things that will be more comfortable than my fitted clothes I wore prior to becoming pregnant. I'm going to try and use as much of my stash as possible so that this wardrobe will only cost me whatever patterns I may need to buy and some notions...especially since I'm sure there are some pieces that I will only be wearing for a short time.

So if anyone has any pattern ideas of what would be appropriate for the office, yet still comfortable for a new mom, please let me know!!!!! Thanks :)

oh my goodness!!

I can't believe it's been more than a month since my last post. Unfortunately, there is still no sewing on the horizon. The house is chugging along, although it's going a lot more slowly than I had hoped. Hubby has been gone for the last month on a job training and is finally coming home in one day!!! In the meantime, I've been fighting with the contractor who is supposed to paint and install baseboards - they don't want to talk to me because hubby is the one who they have been dealing with. Oh well, at least I have beautiful new cherry hardwood floors.

I have contemplated participating in the 2008 Timmel SWAP, but since it doesn't start until January there really isn't any point. I was going to make a maternity SWAP if it started earlier, but since I'm due in early February I don't really want to make a whole wardrobe I can wear for only a month. I have some time to plan, maybe I'll make a post-partum transitional wardrobe to wear while I lose baby weight. Ooooh, that's actually a really good idea! Ok, now the ideas are rolling...time to rethink not participating!!

Well, I guess that's about all that's going on. Pregnancy is going well, hubby is coming home, work and school are taking up most of my time right now - but everything should be back to normal very, very soon.

sew many things

have been going on, and sadly none of them have anything to do with sewing. Wait, I take that back...

The weekend before last, my mom, granny and I went to the Original Creative Arts Festival when it made it's way to Reno. I meant to post about this sometime last week, but the week got away from me with work and baby preparations (not to mention I am in Las Vegas this week on business). My mom and I had originally planned on taking several of the classes and seminars that were offered throughout the weekend, but that was before I found out I was pregnant. Now, I would never be able to sit through an 8-hour long class without several breaks. Instead, we decided to bring mom's mom (dear granny) to the festival with us. I don't know what I was expecting; after all, looking at the website indicates it's heavy on quilting. But after looking at the various classes offered, I thought there would be more garment-based booths then there were. Oh well - there were some absolutely GORGEOUS quilts and while I'm not a fan of wearable art items myself, there were some great items in that area as well. All in all, it was not a waste of the $7 admission fee and it was nice to spend an afternoon with my mom and granny.

Fast forward a week and I'm in Las Vegas. My house is being painted this week (hubby informed me tonight that he already finished painting the baby's room!!!) Next week, the new floors are going in the house and then hubby leaves for a month in Idaho for training for his new job. Whew, there is a lot going on - I guess you can see how I have so little time for sewing. I did, however, get some cross-stitch done. I am doing a set of Winnie the Pooh characters for the baby's room and Tigger is done. Now I'm working on Winnie. Then comes Eeyore and Piglet. When I get home I'll post a picture. That's about it for now!!

planning a challenge...

is much different than actually undertaking the challenge! But, I digress. I am looking forward to the unplanned renovations in the house being done so that I can start working on some of the projects I have waiting on the back burner as well as some ideas that have been percolating.

One of the things that I was really thinking about, was doing a sort of SWAP-style plan for my maternity wardrobe. This is no more. I have two really cute dresses, jeans, slacks and some cute, simple tops. My mom is making me some additional tops and a couple pairs of slacks. I already have several of the longer sweaters that were trendy last winter that will work really well over the swelling belly and since we are approaching cooler weather that will prevail throughout the rest of my pregnancy, I'll probably be OK with a few more filler items...but what I'm really coveting are jackets and coats.

In addition to the Simplicity 4954 jacket from that great pink and black boucle I mentioned in this post, I'm also contemplating several others. I love coats and jackets and have more than one rationalization for wanting to make several. The first reason is that I practically froze to death last winter. It was the first winter in several years where it got in the single-digits (although it's frequently near the freezing mark). The second reason is that so far, the majority of my maternity clothes are summery t-shirts and shells. This is fine when it's 90 degrees outside, but when it starts hitting the 40s and 50s, a light sweater just won't do the trick anymore. Add this to the fact that I love layering, and you see where I have a need for jackets and coats. I figure if my maternity clothes are on the plain side, I can easily dress anything up with a great jacket or coat...and the best part is I can wear them after the baby is born because I don't plan on making maternity jackets. I may make one coat that can be fully fastened, but I don't want something that's obviously maternity - I want something that I can wear pregnant or not.

With all of this said, here is my current working list of jackets/coats that I really really like:

Simplicity 4791 (OOP):

I really like both the jacket and the longer coat. I have two great pieces of faux suede in camel and navy that would look great as either coat. I really envision the shorter coat out of leather or suede and the longer coat out of a tweedy wool.

Simplicity 4033:

My favorite cut from this pattern is the longer tan version on the far left. I really see this in a velvet or cotton velveteen with a brocade-style trim. I also have a heavy black poly/cotton jacquard that this would be great in - especially with either a rainbow or blue swirled silk I have in the stash as a lining.

Simplicity 4403:

My favorite views are the pink and green views on the right side of the photo. I have a chocolate brown velveteen that this would look great in, and I have a matching remnant of faux fur that would make a great collar. I would also really like this in a pink or royal purple wool. A friend of mine has this fabulous jacket made of what I call "Muppet fur". It's a bright purple shaggy fur coat that is very similar in cut and style to this jacket. It's such a fun jacket I could see making this out of a funky faux fur as well.

McCalls 5247:

This is very similar to Simplicity 4403. I obviously wouldn't make both, but both patterns have their merits. In the end, for me, I think S4403 probably will beat out this one.

Simplicity 4084:

I love a classic trench coat. This would be great in either a classic twill, or I really think it would be wonderful in a solid-colored brocade or jacquard fabric. The black rose-print jacquard I have in my stash would be perfect...if I made it from a fabric that could handle the treatment, I would definitely want to pre-treat the fabric with a water repellent. This would make it perfect for those drizzly or rainy days when wearing a wool coat is out of the question.

McCalls 5190:

I would love this in corduroy....a hot pink corduroy. I love girly-looking military style jackets and this definitely fits the bill. This would also be smashing in denim (of course) or even velvet. Could you imagine how fun it would be to have a velvet military-style jacket??? Ok, maybe it's just me!

Talea coat from burdastyle.com:

I can't say how much I LOVE LOVE LOVE this coat! It has all sorts of great military styling with trench coat syling and a big collar...not that I need to justify why I love this coat. I plan on making it in a camel-colored wool. I know, I know, how original...but in my own defense, I had envisioned a coat VERY similar to this in camel wool before I even found this pattern. I had figured I would have to take a different pattern and modify the heck out of it to get what I wanted...and then I found this and it was practically perfect.

BWOF 8/07 #111A - the jacket cape:

I'm not sure this will look that great on me - and it's a definite no while I'm pregnant - but I love it anyway. If this is still something that will work in the spring, I may make it then...but oh how I love it in the black...

So that is my wish-list for right now. In addition to the jacket challenge I'm setting before myself, does anyone know of any good resources for sewing leather? This is something I have never done by machine and am interested in any books that anyone can recommend on the subject. Specifically, I would like to make a leather jacket. I'm too tall and my arms are too long to find anything that fits in RTW leather styles I like so I would really like to make my own.

embellishment

After writing a previous post, I started pondering the concept of embellishments on garments. Personally, I have always loved looking at the embellishinment that other sewists use on their garments. Since I started blogging, and started reading many other sewist's blogs, I have found a new appreciation for embellishing garments. I feel that the right type of embellishment gives a garment a special presence and a definite individuality that the fabric alone may not provide. However, I have always been reluctant to embellish my own garments. Why, you may ask? The answer is simple: my beloved grandmother. Now, don't get me wrong, I love my grandmother to pieces. The problem is that she is one of those who OVER-embellishes. And when I say she over-does it, I mean she REALLY over-does it!! She lives by the philosophy that more is better, while I have always lived by the philosophy that less is more (thanks to my mother, who feels the same way I do about her mother's taste in embellishment). I think the better philosophy is probably somewhere in between because my wardrobe screams for "a little something extra", although dear granny's screams for a little breathing room.

I am making a conscious effort to slowly start incorporating embellishments, when appropriate, into the planning stages of future garments. It's not my personality to embellish everything, as many sewists out there can do with such class and beauty, but I definitely see a need for a little "something extra" in my wardrobe. With a baby on the way, I'll have "something extra" in my life - so why not my clothes? Close one chapter and open a new one...I can always reinvent myself as the glamorous diva I've always wanted to be :)

since I'm not sewing...

I thought I might show you what I am doing. Mainly, waiting...yep, waiting for water to dry is about as long and boring a process as waiting for paint to dry. Paint comes later...

So here are some pictures of my house. Please excuse the horrible mess :) You can see the holes that the water extraction people cut in the baseboards of my walls to help the drywall dry out. You can also see that basically everything in the downstairs of my home has been piled up on every available piece of furniture. I'm putting off taking all of this upstairs or into the garage for as long as possible because I'm afraid that once it gets moved it'll never go back to it's rightful spot.

Here is the kitchen, which sustained the most damage. You can see that our stove is in the middle of the room, now the dishwasher has joined it:


Here is the family room which, oddly enough, sustained the second most amount of damage, yet has the most furniture piled in:


The living room and part of the dining room - these rooms had more water than I thought - then again, carpet padding is made of sponges, so I shouldn't be that surprised:


The hallway, because the stairs are carpeted with the same carpet that was downstairs, we get new hardwood floors instead of carpeting in the whole downstairs of the house :)


So that's it. As soon as the water is dry (it's been a full week since cleanup began, but they found additional damage late last week that must finish drying) then we will get new paint and floors. I hope this will all be done before the end of the month. I'm already sick of the house being in shambles.

been away for a while...

So much has happened since my last post. Hubby and I found out we were going to have a baby and between work and school I've been exhausted. Hubby has also had to put in extra hours at his job because of some recent staffing problems. Then last weekend the first floor of our house flooded, so we get to deal with all of that now on top of everything else. Needless to say, I have gotten NO sewing done...AT ALL!!! I had quite a bit of nausea the first 10 weeks and now it's subsided for the most part - I still get waves every once in a while but usually just before bed. I think that's my body's way of telling me it's time to go to sleep...I just have a hard time listening!!

My mom, bless her heart, has altered some old jeans for me and added the maternity panel. She also made me a dress to wear to a wedding this weekend. I'm only about 3 1/2 months along but I'm already showing quite a bit and none of my old clothes fit me. It's really amusing that I've grown so many inches and gained so few pounds. I'm about 40lbs lighter now than I was at my wedding, but my wedding dress is too small...and I've only gained 5lbs!! But I digress...

I have quite a few projects lined up in my mind and as soon as my house situation gets squared away I'll have my sewing room back and can begin some of my projects. My mom has graciously agreed to sew me some maternity clothes so I can focus on making things that I can wear while I'm pregnant, but that will be primarily for after the baby is born.

Up first:


I plan on using this gorgeous pink and black houndstooth style boucle I bought from Gorgeous Things:


This will all have to wait until the piles of furniture in the first floor of our house are back in their rightful place on top of floors that are not soggy plywood...

I'm back...sort of

My high school reunion was so much fun! Even though we didn't have as good a turnout as everyone had hoped, there were a lot of faces that it was nice to see again. Some of them I will be fortunate enough to see in September when one of my closest friends (and Maid of Honor at my own wedding) gets married!

In addition to seeing friends that I hadn't seen since I was 18, my hubby also got to experience Central Oregon for the first time. My goodness has it changed drastically since I left 10 years ago. There is a freeway now (although they call it a Parkway)!! There is even a Macy's and several Starbucks. Just so you all know how shocking this really is to me, when I left there were probably 50,000 people in the county - now there are 50,000 people in my hometown. It was still nice to visit my old haunts, although that nagging feeling like I was missing out on living there is now gone.

What have I been up to in the sewing room? Not much, I'm afraid. I did cut out a Kwik Sew 3263 (I think that's the pattern number, I don't have it handy) from a pink and white cabana knit from Gorgeous Fabrics that should be really cute. I cut it out the day before I left for vacation though, and it's still sitting on my cutting table waiting to be sewn.

I also ordered this fabric right before I left for vacation and it showed up yesterday:



It's a stretch cotton twill from Fabric Mart and I fell in love with it. I got enough to make a skirt - probably another Simplicity 3881 (which has become my TNT skirt pattern because of how flattering it is on me).

Now to answer a question. I'm newer to blog-land than many of you so I don't get too many questions. I'm excited to be able to answer one! Dawn asked me how I tacked down the grosgrain ribbon on my Simplicity 3881 skirt. The pattern originally called for 5/8" twill tape that you join to the right side at the waist with a 3/8" seam and then turn under and topstitch. I just find twill tape sort of yucky to work with so I chose a 7/8" (because I couldn't find 1") grosgrain ribbon and did basically the same thing. I used a 3/8" seam, and turned it to the inside. Instead of doing a wider topstitching like I think the pattern called for, I did a less than 1/4" topstitch at the waist just to encase the seam edges. Because I wear the skirt with longer tunic-style tops you don't even see it. At the zipper, I folded the edges under and hand-stitched them to the zipper. I had originally attempted to put the zipper on after the ribbon was attached to the waist but it just didn't look nice so I redid it.

I have a couople of other ideas of how I could use this technique without topstitching but I should try them first before posting just in case someone else actually reads this blog :)

I have a couple more projects that I need to finish and then I will be on a temporary (and hopefully short-lived) sewing hiatus. More on that later.

in need of some structure

I haven't really been posting much - or even very active on the various boards - because I haven't been around much. I have a math final that I'm taking tomorrow and then Thursday afternoon my husband and I will be leaving town to travel to Oregon for my 10-year high school reunion this weekend. Once that's over I'll be back to a somewhat normal schedule (except for the many weddings I have to attend over the summer and into fall).

After reading many of my favorite blogs I've come to the realization that mine needs a little more structure than it currently has. I originally just wanted this to be my place to talk about whatever with my fiber arts in the forefront, but I have another blog for the "whatever". This one will be 100% focused on projects - past, future and in progress.

I already have my "plan of attack" for how it will work and I'll get started as soon as I get home from Oregon.

Stay tuned!

so many projects, so little time

I managed to have a nice 3-day weekend at home with the hubby and dog and did absolutely nothing on Saturday and Sunday. Monday I had lunch with the girls and then when I got home managed to get enough motivation to make another Simplicity 4076 top. I have made one wearable version already, in the wrap-style, to wear on Mother's day and this time I made the scoop-neck version out of my leftover black/aqua chain link. It wasn't until I cut it out that I realized that Summerset already made the same top! Thank goodness we live on opposite sides of the country. I originally bought 3 yards with the intention of making a dress, but decided to make a dress out of the coral/chocolate version and make a tunic top out of the black/aqua. I ended up with just enough leftover to eek out the scoop-neck version of my new favorite t-shirt pattern. This will go fantastically with the white linen pants (or will they be capris?) I have cut out and waiting to sew.

Now I need to get off my bum and post pictures of all my latest creations!

on the road...again

In addition to not doing much sewing, I also haven't been doing ANY blogging. Friday and Saturday before Mother's Day I made another Simplicity 3881 skirt in red/white graphic print and Simplicity 4076 in a perfectly matching red knit (this one was the crossover with the short sleeves). I wore the outfit to Mother's Day brunch with my mom and grandparents - my grandmother said I looked like something straight out of the Nieman Marcus catalog :) I'll post a photo of me in the full outfit when I am back in town for more than two days.

That was the last thing I've sewn...the next day I went to Toronto and this week I'm in Las Vegas. In the next two weeks I'll be back in Vegas and my weekends have been busy with homework and spending time with hubby and the pup (who is STILL getting bigger every day...the pup, not hubby).

Up next: some low-slung, wide-leg, drawstring pants out of a slightly off-white linen blend. I have everything in my stash, but don't remember the pattern number offhand. After this much time away from the craft, I'm in need of an instant-gratification fix. I've had much time to think and plan and I think I finally have some other projects decided as well. The list will be in a future post - again, when I'm home for more than two days.

I can't wait until this traveling slows down...then I can get some stuff done for ME!

Simplicity 4076 - take one

After having read so many wonderful reviews of the Simplicity 4076 top, and seeing as it's in my stash, I decided to give it a try. I haven't done much sewing with knits until more recently, so to get myself back in the swing of things I decided to make a muslin out of some yucky polyester interlock knit that I found for $1/yard.

For this trial run, I made view D - which is the short-sleeved scoop neck version. Based on my measurements and the fact that the knit was really stretchy, I made a size 18. There were a couple of things about this pattern (some of them have already been outlined in other PR reviews and blogs):
1. The neckline band is strange. The instructions aren't very clear about how they want this attached until you read them a few times and then actually do it. I'm going to make some changes to how this is attached the next time I make it, possibly making a new band altogether...we'll see. The band attachment as-is is something that I can live with.
2. I actually need to do a FBA on this view. I generally do not need the FBA, but in this case it's the only way to keep the pretty gathers from getting stretched out.
3. The short sleeves are just too short for me. I modified the pattern and lengthened the sleeves by almost 2" to make them a more appropriate length.

Here is the final muslin


I didn't bother hemming the sleeves or bottom as I accidentally tore a few small holes in the front band while making adjustments. The fabric was not pleasant to work with without stabilizer and I didn't start using stabilizer until it was too late. This one is a wadder but that's OK - the fabric is so yucky I probably wouldn't have worn it much anyway. I'll make one more out of this fabric to perfect the fit before I cut it out of the actual fabric. It's a quick sew and worth the effort because overall it's a nice-looking top.

Simplicity 3881 skirt

With everything but hubby's shirt complete (and hubby's shirt is just waiting for buttonholes) I was in need of some instant gratification. I have two full notebook pages worth of projects in the queue but wanted something quick and easy that I could start on Sunday and wear to work on Monday. I chose the Simplicity 3881 skirt. Read the review on PR.


This picture was taken after a FULL day of wearing.

I made view A (which is the view in the photo, only I didn't make the belt) and my skirt came out almost identical to the one in the photo (even down to the similar print!). I swear it was a coincidence that the pattern's fabric almost matched what I ended up using. I made it in a straight size 20 based on my hip measurement and decided not to lengthen it any.

The fabric I used is a cotton/lycra stretch twill with a sateen finish in a black and white leaf/bubble motif that I got at Hancock Fabrics. I was originally going to make a pair of capris from the fabric but decided to use it as a wearable muslin of sorts for this skirt. The fabric cuts and sews up beautifully. The other great thing about the pattern on this fabric is that it's not really necessary to match up the pattern because of how the design is laid out...it seemed to match up for the most part no matter how I laid out my patterns. This was a relief because I didn't really have a ton of yardage to begin with.

When I first basted the side seams together I thought the finished skirt may be a little snug in the hip area, so I sewed the side seams of the top skirt and flounce with 3/8" seams instead of the standard 5/8". I also attached the flounce to the top skirt with 3/8" seams to give me some leeway with the overall length. It turned out I could have done my 5/8" seams and been fine in the end. Something to remember for next time.

The pattern calls for twill tape to be stitched to the top edge, turned over and topstitched. I used 7/8" grosgrain ribbon instead of 1/2" twill tape (I think twill tape looks yucky anyway) and really like how stable and comfortable the waistband is - and I don't have to worry about tucking in a facing, it lies totally flat. I also did a Hong Kong finish on all of the inside seams (including the long seam that attaches the flounce at the bottom) and did my usual invisible zipper application rather than the lapped zipper the pattern called for. The instructions called for the zipper to be inserted 3/8" (I think that's the measurement, I don't have the instructions in front of me) from the finished lower edge but I don't like having the gap at the waist, so whenever I have a pattern that calls for this treatment I insert the zipper to the top and then put the hook and eye below the zipper pull. It's not only easier to get to for me (especially on dresses) but it has that extra protection to keep the zipper from inching its way too far down (which I've honestly never had happen). For the hem, I played around with using a couple different types of seam finishes and in the end opted to sew a finishing stitch around the bottom hem and turn it up 3/8" and topstitch. Anything else I tried (including a double-turned hem or anything wider than 3/8" ended up interfering with the flowy-ness of the flounce. I ended up cutting about 1/2" off the bottom of the flounce to get the final length at mid-knee (which is the ideal length on me for shorter skirts and dresses), which accounts for my 3/8" seam between the flounce and skirt and the 3/8" hem rather than 5/8". This skirt also falls more than 1" below my natural waist because of my increased side seams. I like where it falls, so when I make it again I will probably keep the waist seam the same and taper down to 5/8" at the bottom of the upper skirt.

The interesting thing about this skirt is that it calls for 2-1/8 yards for a size 18+ but then it only uses 2/3 of the full width of fabric. My fabric was 45" wide. Three of the four pieces are cut on a fold and with 45" fabric the fourth piece cannot be cut to the side of any of the folded pieces. This left me with easily 12" of fabric down the entire folded length of fabric. I'm not sure what I'll do with the leftover piece of fabric, but it's definitely enough that I could do a simple tank.

I wore the skirt to work on Monday with cute fitted black knit top and dressy beaded black flip-flops. I wish I had gotten a picture of me in it. It is definitely a flattering look for me and was comfortable and wore great (no wrinkles!). This is absolutely something I will make again.

my first project

A few posts back I commented that I don't usually make clothing out of tablecloths except in one case. Well, my very first apparal project for myself was made out of just that - a tablecloth.

From the time that I was 7, I was sewing. Granted, I was sewing doll clothes and blankets, as well as aprons, potholders and these cute little animal pillows that my grandmother and I designed together (I should post on these later). As my skills and confidence progressed, I was allowed to help make my clothes, but never to complete them from start to finish.

One day when I was 14 (and I surprisingly remember this day vividly) I was going through my mom's stash (she's worse than I'll ever be) and came across this really fun and funky looking fabric. I pulled it out, asked mom if I could have it (which she looked at it with disgust and said "please, take it") and then proceeded to pick out the right pattern. My mom had all of her patterns from when she was a teenager, so I found a pattern for these great hip-hugger bell bottom pants. Not really knowing completely what I was doing, I measured myself and then looked at the pattern. I determined my size and cut those suckers out. I did know enough that I would have to lengthen them by a couple of inches (at 14, I was the same height I am today - 5'10") but I didn't know that the lengthening needed to happen at a point other than the hem - so that's where I added them (making them even MORE bell-bottomy than they already were).

This is the finished product:


I had enough of this tablecloth leftover and I used it to make an A-line mini skirt. I think I made both pants and skirt in a weekend.

Here is the skirt:


Here is an up-close of the fabric:


I wore both the skirt and pants quite a bit until I completely outgrew them. I was a late bloomer - it wasn't until my junior year of high school that I started growing out of my Twiggy look (yes, I'm 28 and I know who Twiggy is).

Until I was a junior in high school all of the apparel sewing I did was random, spur of the moment, pick whatever I felt like using from my mom's "throw away" stash. I never even thought to take the time to match up patterns - and I probably wouldn't have even if I did have the thought. Sadly, the skirt and pants made from the same hippie tablecloth is all I have left from those days (any pictures of me in any of my other strange creations burned up in a fire two years ago).

Those were the days - if only I could get away without having to do any real alterations today and still have something that was cute and wearable (at least in my distorted 14-year old brain)!

My next post will be about my first REAL project that was actually planned and had a purpose - my junior prom dress. I just have to find the picture of 16 year-old me wearing it!

a quickie

Today I was in need of some instant gratification. The fabric for hubby's shirt is giving me fits and I needed to bust out something quick and easy. One of my friends was having a birthday today (although I won't see her again until Tuesday) and I was planning on making her an apron so I decided that today was the day.

I used McCall's 3979 which is a vintage apron in 5 styles. The sizes run S-XL but my friend is a very small petite (4'11" and less than 100lbs) so I adjusted the pattern to what would be an XS and shortened it by 2". I did a full review on PR that can be found here. It's a pretty simple pattern and I used quilting cotton in pinks and browns as well as purchased brown bias binding. Next time I make this pattern I will make my own binding but I was a little pressed for time. If given more time, I would have made binding from the pink paisley print.

Here is the finished product:







I have a few more people with this pattern in mind. It's a really cute vintage design.

the poppy jacket is finished!

The poppy jacket is finally DONE! You can read my PR review here.

Here is the finished product:

Here is the inside of the jacket:
.

I'm glad this beast is finally done, now I can focus on the other projects I have planned!

Read all posts on this project here.

some changes

Today I did some housecleaning on the blog. I removed some dead links from some of the older posts so that anyone who might be looking back at those posts won't wonder what happened to the links and pictures.

I also put up progress bars (courtesy of Yarn Tomato) to keep track of the projects that I have coming up...because I have a lot.

That's it for now. I hope to have the final update for the Poppy Jacket up this week as well as Hubby's shirt that I'm currently working on. If I can figure out what's wrong with my buttonholer on my ancient Singer, I hope to have it totally done by the end of the weekend. If not, I'll have to wait until my mechanical genius of a mother comes up to visit me in a couple of weeks.

making progress...

just not as much as I would like. I didn't get my poppy jacket finished just yet. Too many other things have gotten in the way. All that needs to be done is applying elastic to the sleeve cuffs and then hemming the cuffs (I want the elastic so that when I lose more weight, the sleeves won't look super-huge on my *hopefully* thinner arms). Once the sleeves are finished I just need to add eyelets to the belt and sew the beltloops on and it's done! I WILL finish it tonight after work.

I have been getting sidetracked by my husband's need for new shirts. He really likes retro/bowling shirts and wants a collection of shirts in different color block variations. I think I will make a whole series of posts about these shirts because if he has his way, he'll have 20 when I'm done. I have ordered some polyester poplin from Vogue Fabrics for his first "real" bowling shirt and then will evaluate whether or not to continue making them of the same fabric. Hubby will probably love it, I'm not a fan of making clothing out of tablecloths (except when I was 14, but that's a story for another day).

For the first "muslin" of the pattern and process, I'm going to use black and burgundy peachskins that I got at Denver Fabrics. Hubby really likes the fabric and will definitely wear the shirt so it's a good choice for a wearable muslin.

More to come, so stay tuned!

slight diversion

Hubby and I took a 4 day weekend trip to the lake house to spend some time with his parents. I have taken a bit of time to finish up the final touches of the poppy jacket (which I hope to post here tomorrow). In the meantime, I found a small diversion from relaxing.

As with everyone else, I blame this on Gorgeous Things.

You are Strength

Courage, strength, fortitude. Power not arrested in the act of judgement, but passing on to further action, sometimes obstinacy.

This is a card of courage and energy. It represents both the Lion's hot, roaring energy, and the Maiden's steadfast will. The innocent Maiden is unafraid, undaunted, and indomitable. In some cards she opens the lion's mouth, in others she shuts it. Either way, she proves that inner strength is more powerful than raw physical strength. That forces can be controlled and used to score a victory is very close to the message of the Chariot, which might be why, in some decks, it is Justice that is card 8 instead of Strength. With strength you can control not only the situation, but yourself. It is a card about anger and impulse management, about creative answers, leadership and maintaining one's personal honor. It can also stand for a steadfast friend.

What Tarot Card are You?
Take the Test to Find Out.

fabric, fabric, everywhere there's fabric!

I got a package from UPS the other day containing the coral chainlink fabric I bought from Gorgeous Things!! It is so fabulous. I'm thinking of making a dress with it. While my original inspiration for that fabric was the Hot Patterns Cosmopolitan dress, after seeing that Ann had made the exact same dress, I decided to find another pattern. I have several weddings to attend over the summer and into the fall so this fabric would definitely fit the bill for one of the late summer weddings!

On another note, I also ordered several more yards of fabric from Gorgeous Things. First, if any of you don't recall an earlier post where I had talked about not only buying the chain link, but also the Stylized Floral Knit and the Bright Floral Cotton Stretch. Well, the next post discussed how I ended up not getting the Stylized Floral. This is OK, I replaced it with the Hot House Flowers Knit Print in blue

I also took full advantage of Ann's Wild Wednesday Sale she had yesterday and bought:
3 yards of the Black,White&Yellow Floral Stretch Woven, 2 yards of the Cabana Stripe knit in pink, 2 yards of the Cabana Stripe knit in turquoise, 2 yards of the Aqua Mesh and 1 yard of the White Sheer Ottoman Knit

I should have these sometime next week.

poppy jacket #1

I *finally* found time to finish the muslin of Simplicity 4698. Ok, so I didn't do as complete a muslin as I should have - but I was so dumb for thinking that I could just cut out the 22 and alter it down from there. After taking in almost 3" in the back, I decided to tear it apart, cut it at a size 18 and start over. What was fascinating to me was that the straight size 18 fit pretty darn perfectly (with the exception of my 1-1/2" length alteration). I decided not to worry too much about other alterations and just go for it - especially after seeing that JoAnn's has two more bolts of the fabric in stock. I've been too busy working on the jacket to download the pictures to post, but I'll rundown the changes I have made (or have planned):

Fit alterations:
The only fitting changes I made was to add 1-1/2" to the length

Other changes:
Sleeves - Instead of the long sleeve or 3/4 sleeve options, I decided to use a short, cuffed sleeve from a shrug jacket pattern I already had in my stash. It was a one-piece sleeve. The gathered cap and bottom looked cute on my muslin fabric, but I think the twill may be a bit heavy for the look, so I may just pleat the cap and bottom to get the same fullness without puckery-looking gathers.

Closure - I awoke from a deep sleep several nights ago with the idea of having a buckle/belt closure for a jacket (the original idea stemmed from this great piece of black velveteen I've had in the stash for a couple of years). Since the poppy fabric was relatively inexpensive ($5/yd), I decided to test out the idea on this jacket. It should work well since I am making View E, which is the single-button front. I will attach the belt to the side seams, have a pair of belt-loops on each side to keep the belt from flopping about.

Embellishment - Since the fabric is quite busy (and impossible to match the pattern without several additional yards of fabric) I thought it might make be a nice touch to bind the edges. I opted for a white bias binding (I was originally going to use a white twill, but it was too heavy, and white satin was too shiny and transparent - so I just went with the pre-made stuff). I edged the belt in a narrow binding and the jacket will be done in a slightly wider binding.

Finishing - Because I decided not to line it at all (just using a high thread-count white sateen cotton for the facings to keep a clean look), I used a modified Hong Kong finish completely binding the seams. The front princess seams were heavily clipped, so I pressed those towards the center front and am going to enclose those in the facing instead of binding them. I also think I'll make the center-front seam just a bit larger than usual to ensure that the front pieces meet in the center rather than overlap. I would ordinarily cut off the extra allowance first, but because I'm experimenting I wanted to make sure I wouldn't change my mind and have to go to the store and buy more fabric to start over.

There are some things that I would do differently next time, but those will be saved for the next - and probably final - post on this jacket.

Read all posts on this project here.

update to previous post

It looks like I missed the boat on the Stylized Floral Knit Jersey - those are the breaks. I'll post what I replace it with as soon as I figure that out!

I must say, Ann at Gorgeous Things is SO quick to respond in letting me know it was sold out. Thank goodness I'm not that high maintenance when it comes to purchasing fabric. The way I figure it, I don't *need* the fabric, I just want it. I can live with wanting something and not being able to get it.

This experience made me realize that I have a terrible habit of waiting until something is almost sold out before I buy it. I lucked out with the coral chain link I purchased earlier in the week...now I realize just how much I lucked out!

new fabric on its way!

Earlier this week I had ordered what I believe to be the last 3 yards of the Coral Chain Link from Gorgeous Things. I expect it to arrive sometime next week.

Today, I just ordered more fabric from Gorgeous Things. I got three yards each of the Stylized Floral Knit Jersey and the Bright Floral Cotton Stretch

The current plan is to make dresses with both fabrics, although the patterns are yet to be determined. Woohoo, I'm so excited!!

Gorgeous Fabric...

One class down, one more to go and then I'll have time to SEW SEW SEW! OK, so that was a really cheesy rhyme, but what can I say - I'm sleep deprived!

The topic for today's post is:
I just found one of Ann's Gorgeous Fabrics on the Simplicity/NewLook website. I'm sure I'm not the first to see this, but the "Vintage Floral Knit Print" that is part of the "Changes in Latitude" collection is featured on the pattern envelope for New Look 6571. If it's not the same, it's VERY similar!
The New Look Pattern:

Ann's Gorgeous Fabric:
(This link was taken down or moved)

What a co-inky-dink :) Personally, I love just about everything on Ann's site and if I was made of money I would probably buy a little bit of everything...so far the only thing I've been able to justify was the last 3 yards of the coral chain-link (I can't wait for it to arrive!!), but for now I need to finish this last really tough class so I can have some time to sew up the projects in my queue.

re-learning to fit patterns

It has been AGES since I've had to really fit a pattern. I had a nice TNT method that worked well for most patterns (assuming they went up to a size 22). I would make a FBA, add a half inch to the length of the shoulder and an inch to the width of sleeves for two or three-piece sleeve patterns, increase the overall length by an inch and a half and in non one-piece sleeve patterns I would widen the upper arm portion. Some patterns I've never had to modify for size at all (such as my wedding dress, although plenty of other modifications were made). I've lost 50lbs since October and am finding now that I have to make totally different types of alterations. I've been working on the Simplicity 4698 jacket and even though I've made this jacket numerous times, now that I've gone from a RTW 22 to a 14, I decided to make a muslin.

Well, my muslin attempt didn't get too far off the ground because I was having a heck of a time making a decision on the size to start with. I don't really think I'll have to make ANY modifications and I can probably get away with a size 14 or 16, but I traced off the pattern in a 22 to be on the safe side. The only modifications I made to the original sizing was adding overall length to the front and back. I didn't make any width modifications to anything. I don't know what my deal is, but I just can't seem to come to terms with the fact that I'm not as big as I used to be.

I was hoping the muslin would actually be cut out today, but that's not going to happen as I realized I have a paper due in a week that I haven't actually started. Let me tell you, it was so difficult to get away from the cutting table to work on that paper. Fortunately, the paper is almost done and I can hopefully have the muslin cut out and the first fit done before the end of the week.

My re-fitting of this TNT pattern is this:
1. Cut out and sew together the size 22 muslin
2. Make whatever fitting adjustments need to be made to the jacket front and back only (I'm not worry about sleeves right now because I'm still deciding what kind of sleeves I want)
3. Once I get the fit perfected, I'll figure out the sleeves and get them perfected in the same way (I may need to draft a new sleeve altogether)
4. Mark the muslin and re-trace my pattern pieces. This will also help me definitively decide what size to make in the future :)
5. Cut out my stretch twill poppy fabric and make my first summer jacket!

I still have 25-30 more pounds to lose, but I think if I make this jacket just a little bit more snug than usual, I won't have to take it in too much when I get to my goal weight.

Read all posts on this project here.

hubby's wedding vest

Since I haven't had much time to make anything lately, I figured I should post about my last couple of projects. Sadly, it's been June since I've really accomplished anything in the sewing room (although that is about to change, as I've got several projects lined up). Anyway, I figured I would start with the SURPRISE vest I made for my husband for our wedding.

Because hubby is an avid hunter, I wanted to make sure there was a little bit of "him" in our wedding (which was decorated with orange, pink and red gerbera daisies). I decided that the best way to allow him to express himself was to make him a tuxedo vest that more closely fit his personality. I envisioned a silk or satin camouflage front lined in safety orange. My first hurdle was the fact that the ONLY camo fabric I could find was a medium-weight twill, fleece or netting. The twill was the winner for obvious reasons. The second hurdle (and most difficult) was to find a suitable good-quality lining fabric. I wanted to avoid the traditional ambiance lining because I wanted something with more body. After an unsuccessful trip to JoAnn's, I stumbled upon a remnant of a great safety-orange satin that had good body to it at Hancock. I decided upon a black dull satin (also from Hancock) for the back of the vest and black dull-satin covered tuxedo buttons for the front.

I used Vogue 8048. I made view C (the black one on the bottom) with some modifications:

My husband is a broad man, and even though he is only 6' tall, he has a longer torso for his height. I took the largest side and extended the width to fit his broad shoulders and the length to fit her long torso. Because this was a surprise that I gave to him at our rehearsal dinner, I needed to make sure he didn't find out so it was somewhat difficult to get the proper measurements. It helped that I made a note of his measurements when he was fitted for his tuxedo. Aside from fitting modifications, I made two other changes: I liked the configuration of buttons on view A (a pair of buttons close together with a wider gap between each pair), only instead of 4 pair, I used 3 pair (view A is higher-cut than view C). I also modified the back ties. I thought it might be more comfortable if there was a tie on each side rather than one in the middle. I used black plastic strap tighteners like the kind that adjust straps on a backpack and camo ribbon for the back ties. If I had it to do all over again, I would have used the twill as the strap, but the ribbon was fun (it was also used to make the camo and black lace garter that held a tiny holster and cap gun). Sadly, the ribbon was also somewhat difficult to sew and it's the only part of the vest that screams Home Ec. class (which is actually funny, because my mother-in-law is a Home Ec. teacher).

Hubby LOVED the vest - so did everyone else for that matter. I still get comments on how great it was that I "let" him wear a camo vest...most people are even more shocked when I tell them that 1-I made it and 2-I made for him as a surprise. They all say what a good wife I am...but really I have a great husband so it was worth the effort - I don't feel it detracted from the theme of the wedding at all, and hubby loved wearing it.

Here are some pictures of the finished project:

Front

Back

Lining

Tie Detail

Hubby looking fab

It got two thumbs up from hubby and the best man

Chapter 11

I read the other day that Hancock Fabrics has filed Chapter 11 Bankruptcy protection and they are closing nearly 150 stores. In anticipation of the possibility of the Sparks store closing (sadly, the Reno store closed several years ago), I headed down to take advantage of the weekend sale they had going on and to get the scoop on the store closings. I was delighted when I walked up to the front door and a big sign reads "This store is NOT closing!". I was ecstatic, really. I like JoAnn's as much as the next person but my experience with Hancock is just so much more home-town. I will drive 25 miles from my home just to shop there, even though JoAnn is less than half that distance. With the lack of decent fabric shops in Reno, I take what I can get (I'm not counting the myriad of quilting shops, because we have a ton of those...I'm just not a quilter).

Anyway, I am thrilled that my home-town Hancock is safe...at least for now.

The Wish List

My husband and I are attempting to save more money each month. It's a somewhat daunting task because I'm a fabric junkie and my husband is a hunting junkie - both somewhat expensive hobbies. I decided it would be a good idea for us to just keep a running list of things that we want and budgeting for them better rather than just going out and buying them. Hubby asked where the fun was in that, but I'm looking to the distant future while he's looking to September when he goes Elk hunting in Idaho.

With that said, I've put together my "Wish List" for all of the items I would love to have but for whatever reason come up with no good "excuses" for why I should spend the money on them.
1. Subscription to Burda WOF
2. A serger
3. 4-5 yards of EVERYTHING at Gorgeous Things
4. Just about anything from Hot Patterns
5. A trip to NYC to go fabric shopping (the fabric-shopping trip to SF is happening this spring!)

My husband likes to think that I would love a new sewing machine. The fact of the matter is, both sewing machines I have were free and they work beautifully. The story behind my sewing machines will be saved for another day. In the meantime, what's on your wish list?

UPS rocks!

I have yet to sew for my husband. Granted, through much of our early relationship I had a traveling job and was home maybe 1 week per month. However, now we've been married nearly a year and I haven't been traveling nearly as much - but I still haven't managed to find enough time to sew at all, let alone anything for my wonderful husband.

That's about to change.

Last fall he asked me if I would be willing to make him a wool coat. He specifically requested a coat similar to what Ben Affleck and Matt Damon wear in the movie Dogma (hubby is so silly). I said sure and we proceeded to pick out a pattern - Burda 8275. The pattern was easy to decide on, finding the right fabric is the hard part.

Unfortunately, there are no great fabric stores in Reno. Sure, we have JoAnn and Hancock and a mill end store that I keep forgetting about (one of these days I WILL stop and check that place out, although I have heard mixed reactions of the quality of fabric they carry...that, and the place always looks like it's out of business). Anyway, I haven't been able to find a good local supplier of the melton wool that I want for this coat.

Thanks to the fabulous people at Vogue Fabrics I found just the right wool and an INCREDIBLE price! It was their clearance double-faced wool from a couple of weeks ago - charcoal grey on one side and copenhagen blue on the other side - and it was $5.99 a yard.

It arrived today!!!!!!!!!!! I was so excited I raced home from work for lunch and unwrapped so I could take a picture and post it before school tonight. Here it is:


Hubby really likes the dark charcoal grey better than the blue and since this is going to be a wintery coat I plan on underlining it with a lightweight flannel and then fully lining it with something (haven't thought THAT far ahead yet). Fortunately, I have the entire summer to figure it out and hubby will have a spectacular and well-fitting coat for a fraction of the cost that he would pay for it retail.

I love gift cards!

My birthday was this past Sunday, and one of the gifts I received was a gift card to JoAnn's (much thanks to my wonderful in-laws!). So on the big day I decided to stop by my local store and see if they had anything I couldn't live without. Here is what I found:
2-1/4 yards of this great white cotton/spandex twill with a bold aqua and lime green poppy pattern (I got all that was left on the bolt, and it was on SALE).
I plan on using this to make Simplicity 4698

which I LOVE and found out it just went out of print!!! I plan on modifying View E (is the green and white one in the picture) and putting either the 3/4 sleeves or making a shorter pleated or cap sleeve. I am not sure how I plan on finishing this. The first time I used this pattern I ended up drafting a full lining because I didn't like the partial back lining and lack of sleeve lining. However, because I plan on this being a lightweight summer jacket, I think I may just bind the seams and facing edges and keep it unlined - or just line the front. I haven't really decided how I will finish it, but this one will be an experiment anyway because I have some trim ideas that I plan on playing around with.

I also found 4 yards of this heavenly poly sheer. It is ivory with vines and flower buds in shades of brown, green, mauve and aqua.

I also got the remainder of the bolt on this one (and it was 30% off). The picture doesn't do it justice - you can see that it was folded a few times prior to taking the picture. I plan on making a dress to wear to a wedding in August up at Lake Tahoe. I'm thinking New Look 6557.


I may pair it with a shrug made from the same ivory matte satin used to make my wedding dress - I'll have to make sure I have enough leftover fabric. Otherwise, I may choose a different type of ivory fabric or use one of the other colors from the pattern for a simple shrug (maybe a slightly lighter shade of aqua to brighten it up?). I may also just make a lightweight cardigan-style jacket to wear with it - the weather in the Reno/Tahoe area is so unpredictable.

After stocking up on these two gems, I still have money to buy the remaining notions I may need to finish both pieces! What a great birthday!

I'm so bizarre

So I was looking through my fabric and pattern stash today - as well as downloading some terrific patterns that I would love to try from burdastyle.com and fell in LOVE with their Talea coat:


I downloaded the pattern, printed it out, put it all together and am now trying to find the PERFECT wool to make it from. However, it was almost 80 degrees in Reno today...which got me thinking...why on EARTH am I planning WINTER clothes when it's 80 degrees outside? It seems that when the weather is cold, I plan warm-weather clothes and when the weather is warm, I plan cold-weather clothes. I'm such a freak. The good thing is that by the time I find the time to finish the coat, the weather will be cold again.

Maybe I'll spend my summer working on the wool coat from Burda 8275 for my husband and then make the Talea coat when I've lost all my weight. What I REALLY need to do is stop planning and JUST DO IT! I haven't sewn in forever it seems! Homework keeps getting in the way :(

my sewing room

Last year, my wonderful hubby gave me my own sewing room. He wasn't my hubby at the time, but it was wonderful of him nonetheless. It helps that we have a 3-bedroom house for just the two of us...I'm sure once we have kids, I'll be giving up my beloved room; but in the meantime I'm going to make the most of it.

Sadly, just before our wedding last June, my sewing room became a staging room for the wedding supplies - and then a storage room when we redecorated the downstairs portion of the house. This weekend I got industrious and cleaned out the entire room and put my sewing room back together. I needed to do homework and laundry and a myriad of other chores, but I dedicated the weekend to my sewing room. I even went so far as to re-organize and inventory my entire fabric stash. Not only do I have 5 under-bed plastic storage bins full of fabric (although one of them is my scrap box), I have an entire bedroom armoire FULL. I also have an entire inventory of the fabrics in my stash, including widths, lengths, content, color, special notes about the fabric, etc.

I went through all of my patterns and reorganized those as well. I decided to use the plastic storage bins that previously held my patterns and relocate them to manila folder pockets. They are now safely in the file cabinet. All that is left to do is move a bookshelf from another room and a desk from the garage.

This room also gives me the perfect wall to hang this great drawing of a pair of jeans my mom did when I was in high school. I'll post pictures as soon as it's totally done :)

isn't this cute?

So I was browsing the spring fashions on MSN a few weeks ago and happened upon this dress by BCBG Max Azria that can be found here.
I absolutely fell in love with it and went on a trip to JoAnns looking for just the right eyelet border fabric to make this with. Just my luck, they were having a sale on eyelet for $4.99/yd. Sadly, the ONE that was PERFECT for this dress was $16/yd and the only one not on sale. Because I didn't have enough time to look for a suitable pattern to make my own knockoff, I decided that it wasn't the right time to find the fabric. I would need to figure out the yardages for any pattern anyway and it would be my luck that I would buy 3 yards and need another 2 for more border...and then, of course, they would be out. I'm sure I can find some great border eyelet online or at Hancock across town, where I can easily special-order anything they don't have in stock.
Today, while browsing at patterns online, I happened across what just might be the perfect pattern to make this dress with Simplicity 3831:It's from their Spring 2007 line. I would have to look more closely at the pattern, but I think the styling would be a great fit to get something that looked very similar. For the sleeves, I would do something similar to Simplicity 4116:I would use a sleeve similar to the photo of the yellow dress...although I may end up drafting the sleeve myself. Now to find the perfect fabric...

so let's try this again...

So this is my first new "official" post of my sewing blog. I had attempted a few posts late last month, but after re-reading them decided to just start from scratch.

So a little bit about me and my passion. I'm 28 years old and live in Reno, NV. I love to sew. Sewing is my passion. Unfortunately, the last thing I had time to make were kitchen curtains and after doing them I rethought the whole process and changed my mind on kitchen design. Unfortunately, I have no pictures of that project. But here is the story:

My husband and I decided to do a French storefront motif for our kitchen decor and thought it would be fantastic to do the kitchen window valance in a red and white striped awning type of fabric to match the artwork and wallpaper border (I'm NOT a fan of wallpaper, but this border was great and is perfect for my kitchen, so I couldn't resist). The issue was that in Reno there are not an abundance of great fabric stores so I didn't have a lot to choose from for a red/white awning stripe. I decided to paint my own and used 1" masking tape as my guide. I used a dark red fabric paint on muslin but found that I had to paint both sides. Even after pressing, washing and drying, the fabric paint made the fabric so stiff it was hard to sew. It was especially hard to attach the tabs to the top, which I did using 1" red buttons.

They were looking great until I decided to do a black and white toile fabric for the adjacent family room and sliding glass door that sits directly in between the two rooms. It looked TERRIBLE with the red/white stripe. I'm in love with the toile so one had to go - looks like it's back to the drawing board for the valances. I think we've decided to do the black/white toile on all 4 windows and the sliding glass door that make up the kitchen/family room combo. I gave the red/white monstrosity to my mother who loved them. I'll be sure to take photos of my next project :)

Love and pincushions,
Jamie