Monday, September 22, 2014

Wow! I was busy.

Here are a few more garments I've made this month.

Made between August 30, and September 1. A pinstripe twill, denim colored. It may have some linen in the mix also. Fabric Purchased From: Fashion Fabrics Club    Date of Purchase: 05/07/2012



Pinstripe Jeans inseam pockets ala David Paige Coffin

The aqua top prototype. Am going to redo the shoulder and side seams and hopefully get it working correctly. Started 9/2 and worked on it at least a little bit every day until 9/7. As you'll see from the pictures, it needs to be reworked, but I wanted to do quick and easy tees instead of pondering and playing with it. I think I'm going to have to do some top stitching along the front to get it to stay in place too. It's on the list for this week for deconstruction, and then we'll see where it goes:


The grey tee initially completed 9/9 and picture with the neck band removed for replacement. Fabric from Emma One Sock, rayon jersey. Sorry for the picture. It has been piled in the suitcase and then on the ironing board after I removed the band. 



The cream tee completed 9/10. Fabric an eggshell rayon jersey from Christine Jonson purchased 3/31/13. It will be so useful in my wardrobe! It's been packed, so needs washing and pressing, but here it is! Doesn't look that great over my jeans, though! 



I also hemmed a couple of pair of Levis for Dale before we took off. The sewing machine was running a lot over the first two weeks of the year! 

More later!



MIA? Not really.

I can't believe it's been almost a month since I last posted. I have been trying to wear Me Made clothing everyday, and I think I've succeeded, with the possible exception of a day or two in pjs all day. And most of those are me made too! Unfortunately I had a computer melt down and lost a few things right before we were to go on vacation. So I will be posting SOME pictures, but not all.

We did a wild run driving almost 2,700 miles and had 5 days in Las Cruces, where we will be retiring, hopefully sooner rather than later, but at any point, I anticipate being there hopefully by New Years of 2016 in our new house whatever that may be. I did wear me mades every day we were there.

For our vacation, I lost my mind and decided I needed some new tee shirts. I went on a tee shirt binge, and got several completed. All are from my very altered Pamela's Perfect tee shirt. A blue print with 3/4 sleeves, a teal short sleeved, a white short sleeved, and a grey with a vee neck. Unfortunately, the grey fabric was a light weight rayon jersey and the neck binding just didn't work. So last night I took it all off and will redo it after adding some stablizer around the neck. For some reason, I don't have the pics of the aqua shirt, the grey tee, or the white tee. I'll try to rectify that soon!


The 3/4 sleeve blue cotton knit. It's from old stash, and it may look a little bit familiar because it was the left over fabric from one of the dresses I made for my daughter for her birthday. It was completed 9/08.

Teal rayon tee. Fabric purchased for this year's SWAP. Purchased April 7, 2014 from Emma One Sock. Completed 09/09.

The aqua top just isn't there yet. I'm going to be changing it out because my idea, while good, wasn't quite the ticket. I have large folds running from the shoulder point to the underarm. After much contemplation and rumination, I have decided that I didn't make the sleeve area deep enough, and that will be unsewn and corrected, hopefully. It's also huge in the body, so when I'm doing that, I'll take it in a bit. I will get some before and after photos of that one too!

Hope your month is going well and you're making good use of National Sewing Month sales!

More later!




Monday, September 1, 2014

It's National Sewing Month in the States starting today!

I'm going to try to sew at least a little every single day no matter what!

We're even going on vacation and I'll be taking my little Pfaff Passport "portable" machine with us so I can keep up the promises. As part of it, I'll be doing a daily "made by me" also. They may not get posted daily, but I'll try to get pictures every day!

Catching up.... The silk topper. I am just not sure about this. I had thought about using a silk organza interfacing, and then after fiddling with it, decided it was sufficiently opaque that the regular interfacing wouldn't show through. Obviously I was wrong. There are still some minor issues with the top, but I'm pretty sure they are fabric related. Please weigh in with your opinions... I'm thinking about trying to add a white lining underneath to the body only (NOT taking the buttonholes out of this fabric!) so the facings won't show. But I'm honestly not sure whether it is worth the additional work despite the fact I like the fabric. Here's a pic:

I also wanted to show you the revised Sangria top. I took about 4" out of the center at the bottom, and I think it looks better despite the fact that I've gained a few pounds since I started my "diet." :P}} 


It's being worn with my latest pair of Style Arc Barb pants. Black Karl Lagerfeld rayon/nylon/lycra ponte from Marcy Tilton bought specifically for these pants. I added pockets to them! 

I finished another pair of "trouser jeans" this weekend too, but unfortunately, I didn't inform my photographer to take pictures of those specifically, so the pics will have to wait for another day. 

This last week, I got the urge to purge, and started in on the back of my closet where the really old things that I didn't want to get rid of reside, despite the fact that at the minimum they are 2 to 3 sizes smaller than I am, and some quite a bit more than that! In the process, I unearthed a blouse I thought had gone quite some time ago. 

I made it back in the 80's or 90's, when I was probably a size 8 or 10. It was a very unusual blouse for me because in those days, I didn't wear patterned tops, didn't wear these colors, and the majority of my blouses were long sleeved to wear under business suits. This particular blouse had a hidden button placket that just showed the top button on the outside, and some little kimono type cap sleeves. I've been wanting to remember how I did it for several years now, and wanted to recreate it to wear now. Well, for what it's worth: 

The Inspiration Piece

Long story shorter, I took my basic bodice, and overlaid the neckline and shoulders of this top, figured out, (I hope) how to make the hidden button placket, and have a new pattern made and cut out. I haven't started sewing yet, and that's going to be my 20 minute task for today. I'm using an OLD stash cotton-silk blend woven in an aqua. I figure worse case, it will be a wearable muslin. Best case, I have a nice new blouse for summer and Indian summer. 

Will you join me in trying to sew every day for National Sewing Month? Maybe we can make it into International Sewing Month! More later!