Happy Anniversary to Me!

Today, I had one of those Facebook memories pop up and today is the 10th anniversary of when I bought my first sewing machine!

I bought a Singer Talent 3321 from my local JoAnn that day. And as you know... the rest is history! :)

I sewed on that machine from January 2013 until around April 2015 when I got a Singer Stylist 7258 (it was SUCH a great machine at its price point). I kept that until spring 2017 when I treated myself to a Singer Quantum Stylist 9985 and Brother 2340CV coverstitch for my birthday. 

During the pandemic, I got the Janome Skyline S5 (and upgraded my Brother serger to a Babylock!).

I haven't sewn much in the last year but boy was a busy little bee that first 3-4 years. I sewed HUNDREDS of garments. Some are still in my wardrobe. 

I made this coat on that little $120 Singer!

And these jeans!

And this quilt!

I was so fearless in my sewing! I didn't shy away from anything! Nothing felt "too hard". I just kept sewing and sewing and sewing and one day, I got really good at it :)

I am always so grateful that I took the leap, and always wish I'd started sooner. It truly is a lifelong skill with infinite opportunity for development. 

So while I haven't been sewing a lot, the craft remains such an integral part of my life. Here's to many, many more years of sewing!

Most recent project: 

Burda 8/2017 skirt in an eggplant/plum wool. I wore it for the first time today and I LOVE it. I should have lined it but I was being lazy. :)

And I've started some more knitting! 

We had two baby girls born into our family this month, and of of my closest friends became a grandma to a baby girl as well. So expect a couple more things to pop up! 

Simplicity 9375

I actually finished this in a timely manner! Yay me! You know the routine...it's winter in the tundra and I have to get pics when I can. In this case, I work from home on Thursdays and that's an opportunity!

As mentioned in my last post, I got this fabric from Fabric Mart during a recent sale and it is really nice! It was listed as a double knit but I don't think that's true. DKs have knit stitches on both sides, right? At any rate, its a poly/rayon/lycra, washed and dried well, and has nice drape. I saw it on the site and immediately new I'd use it for this skirt pattern. 

I am still carrying my COVID +15 and went up a size bigger. The last skirt I was working on is a UFO because I cut my normal size and it DOES NOT FIT. LOL! I cut an 18 front and 20 back. I was lazy and didn't do a butt adjustment and the skirt tilts just enough to annoy me when I'm looking at it/pics. Grr. 

Otherwise, I really love everything about it. The fabric looks like it could be a wool woven and the plaid makes me happy!! The pattern is very intuitive to assemble. The overlay is reinforced, a small pass-through is hemmed, the exposed edge gets hemmed and the whole thing basted to the front. The smaller piece is treated the same and then looped through the overlap and basted to the upper front. Interestingly, the front is left loose under the overlay -- on the left side the front and back are sewn together but on the right side, the front+overlay+back are sewn together until the break and then just the overlay and back with the front loose. I imagine this is in place of a walking slit? Especially if you're a) using the longer length or b) using a woven fabric. 

I looked at the length for this view (22") and the longer one (28") and was going to add 3". I wish I had! It comes to my knee which is my favorite skirt length, but I think this could have been very impactful just a hair longer (but not midi length). I'm too thick for midi length skirts. I have little waist definition and very shapely legs but they can turn squat with the wrong length. I can pull off midi dresses but have never really liked that length on a skirt. Mini, knee, and just past the knee, or maxi length. 

I inserted a center zip instead of invisible since this tape color was a perfect match. Also, because I was using a knit but treating it like a woven, I used a firmer (not tricot) interfacing on the facing pieces, and added a 1.25" band of interfacing to the upper skirt edge (front and back). I don't want this skirt growing on me throughout the day when worn. And I did an okay job on the plaid matching too! Woohoo!

I did all of the hemming on the coverstitch machine

The fabric is so versatile! It has a pale grey background with black and rust/brown plaid lines. I can really play off both the grey and the rust with pairing it with other wardrobe items. My fave!

I do like this length, but I can also see how 2 more inches would've been better. It sort of turns me into a square. The skirt is about 22" and I have a 45.5" hip so about 22" across the front of my body.

Not a complaint...just an observation. I love my body, the most! LOL!

I adore these boots! 

I'm so close to finishing up the baby sweater! I am going to sew the side seams today and then I'll seam the ribbing by hand, weave in the ends (grr), and by then my new yarn for the matching baby sweaters should be here! 

since taking this pic, the sleeves have been seamed to the sweater

In Progress

Life has been life'ing. I am overwhelmed, over tired, and over stressed. There's just been too much stuff. 

But, the bright side is, I've gotten back in the sewing room. I'm currently working on this newer Simplicity pattern, S9375, in a plaid double knit I got from FM last month (those shipping discounts will get me every time).

I got a lot done the past 2 days. Yesterday I cut out my pattern pieces, today I cut the fabric, fully assembled the front, the back darts are sewn and it's awaiting a zipper. I will likely finish it this weekend, yay! I still need to sew the zipper, baste the side seams for fit, sew the side seams, and hem. So it may be done tomorrow...maybe Sunday.

Really love this fabric as it looks like it could be a wool/woven but it's a knit! The double knit has some drape but is stable, so I cut my normal size, I'll make any necessary adjustments at the side seams, but I don't want this to fit too snugly either. 

I finished up my knit hat. It's slouchy but I wish I'd added more increases earlier on. All the "slouch" is near the top/tip of the hat. The yarn is really nice though!

I also started a sweater for Bert. It's an old pattern, likely from the 80s and a bit generous in sizing I think. I'm going to finish it but I'm also going to try the pattern one size smaller. I have all 4 pieces knit and blocked. Next up is the neckband, then assembly. Since it's a sweater for a little one, I'll seam it on the serger with a 3-thread stitch. Here's a pic of the back with 1 sleeve (I think I may knit the neckband in yellow just in case there are any errors with picking up stitches. They'll be easily hidden!):

I saw a cute colorblocked sweater and wanted to do something similar, but had no "fun" colors in stash. I visited Cindy in Princeton, MN (if you're a machine knitter, you have to visit her shop!) and we found lots of cones of yarn appropriate for my standard gauge machine. I picked up a purple but didn't care for the shade and she said, oh that one's wool. I figured I'd keep that one...there was another wool cone in gray. I got home and that yarn (Brown Sheep Nature Spun sport weight) retails for $50/lb! SCORE! I paid $1/lb!! My son in law's favorite color is purple so I'll use that one to make him a hat :)

If you're in the US, hopefully you had a great Thanksgiving.

Burda Mag 4/2018

I finished this shirt awhile ago and while I love the idea of it, I'm not sure how useful it'll be in my wardrobe. It has cool features with the radiating darts, back pleat and full sleeve. But IMO that limits it's versatility. 

I used a size 40 neckline and 42 for the rest. I also did a slash and spread on the lower back piece to add to the back hip. The fabric is a cotton sateen shirting from SR Harris in a bright pink (the pics of it on me are more accurate on the color).

I've said it before but, I love constructing shirts and jeans but they're not items I wear often. DOH! 

Baste! Baste! Baste!! :)

Look at that topstitching! So satisfying!!

There was a lot of extra fabric in the back waist (I didn't get a before pic). 

I did a quick fix which really helped. It was MUCH worse.

I took out as much as possible without throwing things too out of whack. 

Ended up removing about 3/4" total at center back. 

Like the last Burda shirt I made, the sleevehead is just too much. I am pretty sure I used the right sleeve size for the shirt. I do a 1" full bicep adjustment but that doesn't affect the length of the sleevehead. The fabric perhaps didn't like being eased...IDK. I redid the sleeves a couple times but it's just so much excess that I kept checking to make sure it wasn't a puff sleeve!

I do like the lower sleeve design. There's a horizontal seam on the sleeve and the lower is gathered into the cuff.

The darts are the other star of this shirt. They look really great! I used a 1/2" silver button from stash.

Nice pattern, nice shirt, Not sure how often it'll be worn. Darn it. 

My other WIP? Eek! It's only based at the sides here but I don't think I have the room necessary to fit the hip and thigh area. 

I was so confused and then realized the other 2 times I made this pattern I used ponte and a springy crepe suiting with quite a bit of mechanical stretch. This is a 100% wool, tightly woven suiting. 

So now that's officially a UFO. 

I then started a full sweater project for myself. I did a few swatches and hit stitch count exactly and was a bit short on row count. I didn't know how to adjust the increases and decreases if I adjusted the length so I just made it as is. It seems like it'll *just* finish at my high hip. We'll see! :)

I kept forgetting to block my pattern pieces. Every night I'd have a DOH! moment. Finally blocked the sleeves and the front and back are currently blocked out. I need to seam the raglan at front and one side of the back, knit the neckband, rehang the sweater (hence the blue waste yarn) and attach the neckband and sweater. Then, I'll sew up the other raglan seam and stitch the side seams + sleeve seam. 

Woohoo!!! 

I'm hoping for sew-jo. I miss sewing but can't get motivated. Wah. Maybe have to push out a TNT. We'll see!

No-Go On the Mojo

I spent 2 weeks out in California with my daughter and son-in-law, and 12 glorious days in new grandma land. I was so glad that I was able to help out in those early days but it also meant NO sleep. It took me a long time to get my energy back! I know people have babies at 40 but goodness gracious I cannot imagine doing the sleeplessness now! Hahaha!

Couple that with not going into the office (most of my sewing is work wear) and fall breezing right by...meh. Oh, and that?! When I got back, I put away lots of summer stuff but not everything. On 10/9 it was 79F for a high. On Sunday, 10/18, the temp was 35F and it hasn't gotten above that since. BLERGH!

So I finally just went in the sewing room and got started on a project. Burda 4/2018 has been on the to-sew list for awhile. It's so interesting!! It's done and just needs photos. I will have to get them this weekend because this fabric practically glows with my phone.

Beth over at SunnygalStudio has made a couple iterations of this too!

I chose it 1) the pattern 2) nice, stable fabric 3) slightly more involved project. And I like it! And it fits nicely! But it didn't spark the mojo. 

So now I'm sewing a skirt. I was going to make another version of Burda 2/2020 but with all the seams, wasn't sure I had enough fabric for matching stripes. But I knew I had way more fabric than for just a straight skirt. Then I found these buckles in stash and got a little more excited. So I cut another NL6326

mock wrap skirt. Here's a prior version with the buckles:

I think this'll be a fun project and will "age" well in the wardrobe, even if it doesn't get much wear this winter. I'll be lining it in a black pongee.

I cut the waistband on the bias:

Lastly, mom and dad are doing well and adjusting to parenthood. The little one is doing EXCELLENTLY...still shunning clothing! :)

Baby Shower DIYs and...a little sewing

My next garment for the Endless Combinations contest is a dress from Simplicity 8890. I finished it but isn't my favorite thing. Will review as soon as the sun resurfaces and I can take pics.

Also, I was all set to cut out S8389 for my black shorts and I have the 6-14 size range. FOR PANTS! Eek! I am an 18 on bottom so yeah...no. I'm going to sew an oldie but goodie; Simplicity 1887.

I am thinking of finishing up with a tee, possibly McCalls 6839. An old pattern that I made back in 2015 but I loved the shape and am pretty much considering recreating it (using a b & w stripe again).

oh. my. goodness. Speaking of patterns...

Have you seen that IG Design Group is rebranding the Big4 as "Something Delightful"?

Not cool. At all. What on earth does this name mean? What does it have to do with sewing patterns?!? What does it have to do with the iconic names Butterick, McCall's, Vogue? Ugh.

ANYWAY...I will call the shower a success! Now, because things just have a way of happening...

I woke up that morning, early. I ran to Target to buy some pants (a rayon/linen blend) because it was going to be a SCORCHER; there was a heat advisory in place. I love a dress during the summer but as a member of the Thick Thigh Club, when it's really hot? I don't want any skin-on-skin action happening. Then, I went to Trader Joe's to buy flowers, came home and arranged them quickly, as my husband loaded up the car. 

indirectly related facts:

I am super independent. It's woven into my DNA. My husband is a caregiver. It's just a part of him.

Yes, this is huge spot of give and take for us.

Park that.

While arranging the flowers I was feeling "off". I couldn't put my finger on it but something was off. At one point, I said to him, "I don't know what made me think I could pull this off..." And carried on. I decided I was sad(?) that it was going to be HOT AS HELL and that would 1) affect the guest list and 2) result in a bunch of wasted food (because people really do not eat as much when it's hot).

We arrived at the park shelter (which is amazing and I will reserve it again for something else in the future!) and right away, I see tables with tablecloths on them. Deciding that someone had decided to hang out there on this warm summer day, I marched right up there and (nicely, I swear!) informed them that we had a reservation. But THEY had a reservation. WHAT?

After searching my email I realized, I RESERVED THE SHELTER FOR THE WRONG DAY!

I was gutted. And my brain felt fuzzy. And by then, my brother and sil had arrived (they were going to help with set up while my husband, Mike ran around picking up the food and ice). I started crying and he started freaking out. LOL! No one sees me cry. Like ever. Childbirth? no. Proposal? no. Wedding? no. But get me frustrated enough and the tears will flow.

I had to call my daughter and tell her. Apparently, she cried too! And Mike sprung into action!

The shower was scheduled to start at noon. At 11:15 we arrived at the new site. By 12:03, when the first guests arrived, everything was in place except for the baby pics of the mom and dad. His mom was one of the first to arrive so she took over hanging pics while I ran home to shower. By 12:30 I was back and my brother was back with the food.

You know what? It all worked out! Holding it at the Ice Arena (at the private school where Mike works), meant a place to cool off in the extremely hot weather (the interior of the arena is 50 degrees F!) and a better place to house the food (the vestibule was much closer to room temperature). He got to do what he does. I got to lean on ~everyone~ around me because we were all necessary in making it happen.

Never too old to learn new tricks? :-p

I bought a huge roll of the burlap pennant and used the Cricut to pretty them up. There was one each that said "baby", "eat", and "gifts". I made menu cards for the food and the cupcakes. I made an instruction card for the pin game and measure mommy's belly game, and finally, a little hanging sign welcoming baby Bert. (that's their name regardless of gender!).

We'd visited a local guy for the lovely wood rounds and scored a case of Mason jars cheap. Using burlap ribbon + satin ribbon + twinkle lights, and plenty of flowers, we created the centerpieces. I spent under $50 on flowers (I love TJ!) and collected vases and other glassware from my own stash at home :)

This trio of what is technically tealight holders on the wood round was my favorite!

Lastly, my daughter wanted a skirt with a 2-tiered flounce but not with a maternity panel. Sigh. (tbf I never wore maternity clothes with either pregnancy. YOUTH!) The ad she saw, the woman had just pulled the skirt over her belly so I said FINE. I used the still popular McCall's 6654 knit skirt pattern, in her normal size 12,  at the shortest length, and added a 4" tier and a 6" tier.

I measured the hem and cut out a rectangle. I slashed every inch and spread the shorter layer about 5/8" at each cut and the longer one at 7/8".  After taping it down I traced off the shape, keeping the center on the fold, and added seam allowance to the top. Because my daughter is as fickle with handmades as RTW items, I do enough but don't put too much energy into projects. I cut the flounces with my rotary cutter and left the ponte unhemmed.

I pinned them together and before I knew it, I'd sewn them each to the front and back of the skirt. DOH! I wanted to sew them in the round! So I had to do some unpicking (not fun in ponte with perfectly matched thread!!) but it was fine in the end :)

3 days before the shower, she asked me to make this top for her and I found a bodice in Burda 11/2015 that was a perfect match. She wanted tulle sleeves but there was no time to acquire fabric AND sew the top so I hit the stash. I had this mesh that was a perfect pairing with the ivory ponte. This bodice is meant to be a dress so I lengthened and straightened out the side seam. It was also meant to be lined. The sleeve attaches to the bodice from just above the notch in front to about the same in back. The rest of the sleeve is just hemmed. I did not take into account new finishing without the lining (and the mesh!) and it was Friday afternoon and I just didn't see finishing it if I had to undo a bunch of topstitching (and in places that had already been trimmed back). So, we hit up Forever 21 because of course, her 7 month belly can still fit into a medium top at the juniors store! Oh, to be young! :)

I probably won't be finishing this but the bodice is NICE

 andI plan to make myself a dress from this pattern!

We had a blast, the food was good, the games were fun and they got a ridiculous amount of gifts including ALL of the big things (car seat, stroller, breast pump, crib (they actually got 2 cribs and have to return one!). And an actual ton of Target gift cards which will come in handy. Baby Bert is set!

my top is M6519

I keep telling them that if we know nothing else, we know Bert is going to have a super curly mane :-D Don't let them fool you in their pink shirts; gender is unknown and I'm betting it's a boy!

Some TNTs

Wah, wah, so many unblogged projects! I'm going to be working from home a bit so hopefully I can get a bunch of photos done during the daytime.

Butterick 6183 was a favorite the first time I sewed it and I got ready to put it away after the black top and figured I'd keep it upstairs. Then I decided I needed a brighter skirt that could still work with our weather. I've had this 2 yd cut of cotton sateen in stash since summer of 2017.

I knew I'd be using my TNT B5760 skirt and thought the leftover yard wouldn't be great for much anything else besides another skirt. Then, lightbulb! I can make a '2-piece dress'!!

:snicker: TMI moment, I'm not wearing a bra! Bras are optional now! 

Well kinda, not at work. I always wear a bra to work.

The top is unchanged from last time. I forgot to do a swayback adjustment again. This is a size 14 A/B cup pattern piece. Slash and spread at the back hip, a 3/8" forward shoulder adjustment, and a 1.5" full bicep adjustment. I used a regular 7" nylon zipper.

I really like the facing on this pattern!

The Butterick 5760 skirt pattern remains unchanged. I cut a 16 front and 18 back, removing the easing from the front pattern piece. I used an invisible zipper (instead of centered) and decided to line it. I find that stretch cotton sateen can often bag out and the lining should help with that. I used a polyester pongee - I love this stuff! - in navy, and left out the back slit.

I'm sure it's widely spread info but I like to pleat out the darts of the lining vs sewing them and when using lining and an invisible zipper, I attach the lining to the zipper by machine. Especially with fabric as lightweight and press-able as this. 

I wore the skirt long before finishing the top! :)

Looking at this pic I realized my navy cardigan bled all over my top. Wah!

My March plans were so definitive and here I am, mid-month and I've managed to sew my daughter's outfit, some more baby stuff and a top:

McCall's 7975

The Burda raglan dress is SO. SO. cute but the cotton sateen is so stiff that I don't think it really works with the pattern :( I did just get a lovely Rag & Bone crepe and may revisit it. We'll see. 

This week I'm going to plan to finish. my. blazer!!!!! and trace off the dress from Burda 2/2020 (and muslin it??).  I think. LOL!!!!

Be well!

Burda Magazine 04/2019 #113

I think this April issue is pretty freaking awesome and this skirt is a STANDOUT! It's an A-line but has such fantastic details that totally elevate it.

When two of my sewing faves sewed it, I knew I was IN. Beth's version and YSG's were both done in denim. And, I wanted a denim one! But I'd bought this bright kelly green cotton twill for a skirt and knew this pattern's details + this fabric would = LOVE!

Now, this skirt has a saga. All user created though so if you're into this pattern, sew it! Now! :)

I cut a size 42 which is normal for me with Burda. With skirts, I've been using a 16/42 front and 18/44 back for awhile but the last couple skirts I made were a bit big so I opted to go a straight 42. I did a 1" full bottom adjustment *park this* and was on my way. The pattern calls for 1.5 yards, which I had, but my fabric was only 52" wide. *park this too*.  

So let's just get the major mistake out there.

Wait, can I just say, I love topstitching!! I don't wear jeans often but it's one of the reasons I enjoy making them :) I used a thread that was *just* lighter than the fabric. I used a topstitching needle and doubled thread. YSG mentioned paying attention to the directions so for once in my life, I actually did so :-p

Since the twill looks the same on both sides, I used tape to mark the wrong side after cutting. But, that whole 1.5 yards of 52" fabric meant that I had to 'fussy-cut'.  I went to interface my zipper area (which I always do with invisible zippers), And realized I'd interfaced the RIGHT SIDE of the fabric. I panicked, I Googled, and I was actually able to remove most of it! But now I'm looking at my pattern pieces so utterly confused...turns out, I did the full butt adjustment wrong! I added the wedge to the side seam vs at center back. So that entire pattern piece was just WRONG. It was wrong. It made the pattern pieces unusable. The only fabric I had left was the fabric to cut the belt and facings (I'd saved the facings for last because I knew I could use an alternate fabric if needed).

I had to retrace the pattern piece and do the proper adjustment. Then I just barely found a large enough section to cut new back pieces. It was SO close and I thought I'd made it. And then...

There were several missing chunks. Doh!

And a serious 'make it work' moment with my zipper. Whew!

I ended up using the 'bad' backs for the belt and I found chunks to use for my facings. I had to do 3/8" side seams and had chunks missing out of the lower seam allowance, which thankfully, doesn't matter much.

I thought that pocket bag was so cute and pretty much worked on that first. I was using doubled thread for topstitching, right? I accidentally topstitched the wrong side. There was some other weird mistake with this bag but I don't remember now.

Oh! Aaaaaaaaaand I forgot to leave an opening in CF even though I had the warning to pay attention. DOH! I had already topstitched the seam but no worries. I ended up cutting open the slit and doing bar-tacking on either end to ensure it was secure. Whew.

I had major difficulties sewing the pockets in after the seams were sewn.  I'm not sure why it was handled that way but also get that I was just having a hard time with this pattern. I angled the end of the belt and topstitched it, but it was "backwards" once the belt was in the D-ring. (sheesh).

I was off work that Monday and worked on this skirt on and off ALL DAY. And still had hours of work to do on the other days I worked on it. It was just never ending.

But it's so perfect! It's so bright! It fits so well!!!!! And the pocket bag is ADORABLE! I have a piece of red denim that I think will have a turn with this pattern this fall :)

I thought I had more up-close pics but didn't. And I put my summer stuff away this weekend. 

This post was written back in July when I sewed the pattern. I never got pics when wearing it and took photos for the blog this past week. Err, it's a little too snug now. LOL!!! I assume once I'm cleared to return to activity I'll drop the extra few I've put on. :-p 

I have been low on sew-jo. I did get the top from M7812 finished. But I also have a ton of other stuff I need to finish. I realized today what my hold up was!

• I have to finish hand sewing the binding on my mom's quilt. I'm just over halfway done. 
• I have to finish my jacket from the tailoring class that requires hand sewing (I chose not to bag the lining).
• I have to hem the skirt I made for my Minerva post.

I don't mind hand sewing but I just can't do a ton of hand sewing back to back. I need to just buckle down and focus on finishing up one thing at a time.

But then, when the mojo returned, I wanted to SEW ALL THE THINGS!

There's a lot of stuff I want to make but I realized that I don't have a pair of plain, straight leg jeans in a dark wash. I started cutting out a new pair of the Style Arc Sandra this weekend. I want to sew the Claryville jeans by Workroom Social but didn't feel like tracing, cutting it out, doing a muslin. Blergh. Hopefully I'll get them done some time this winter. I like the look of the pattern.