With hopefully a Happy, Healthy, Prosperous New Year.
Tuesday, December 24, 2019
Happy Holidays!
For all of my sewing friends, I'm wishing you a Happy Holiday Season. .
With hopefully a Happy, Healthy, Prosperous New Year.
With hopefully a Happy, Healthy, Prosperous New Year.
Sunday, December 22, 2019
Merry Christmas to me!
Long story, but in the midst of Christmas/work wardrobe sewing, my wonderful Pfaff 1475CD died. The circuit board is out, which means it doesn't do anything. I debated a lot. I can send it to a great technician about 2,000 miles away to get a determination and price for repairs, or I could buy a new machine. If I send it, he will go through it and give me an estimate. If I don't want to pay the price, he will buy it to recondition and sell again, or use it for parts.
Although I just purchased the machine a year and a half ago to replace my mid 1980's version, it is a 30 year old sewing machine. I think they're like cars. When they start to go, it's an endless cycle. Unfortunately, the Pfaff dealer in town who had an excellent service man was sold and the technician retired. So if it goes again, I'm searching for someone new.
As most of you who are sewists know, new machine prices have skyrocketed over the last 30 years. The Pfaff 1475CD was a top of the line machine, and I used it for 20 plus years, and loved it every stitch of the way. As close as I can tell, the machine I had, compares to the Pfaff Performance Icon, which retails at $9,999 now. Since we're retired, that price range is out of our budget. And Pfaff has been sold a few times and I don't believe the quality of the new machines is equivalent to the older ones made in Germany.
Enter the local Bernina dealer. It's a Mom-and-Pop store that has been in town for years and years. Pop does the repairs and all the "local reviews" are excellent. I spent some time looking at the Bernina website, which is excellent BTW. I even downloaded a video on how to work the machine and the manual, and went through both. Long story short, I didn't want a "quilting machine." I didn't want an "embroidery machine." I wanted an excellent sewing machine to make clothing and whatever else struck my fancy. After a lot of back and forth, and waiting for a week and a half for delivery on my special order, ta da!
It's sitting on a small computer desk right now, because it's large, and Dale has to modify my sewing table before it can fit. I'm extremely excited. At half the price of the Pfaff, I think it will do everything I ever dreamed of and more! However, I do need to go through the 19 pages of the manual of Sewing Preparation, and then the 12 pages of Setup Program, and fhen the page of system settings; and finally I'll get to the chapters on creative sewing; practical stitches; decorative stitches; alphabets; buttonholes; etc. The manual is actually 140 pages long, and it's so different from any machine I've ever used, I'll be reading most of it as I go along!
At this stage of our lives, this is a very expensive purchase, and I expect this one to last me as long as I can still sew. Or at least until I get ga-ga and start sewing crotch seams to waistlines and all that. LOL
I'll be sitting with the manual today, and getting this one all set up. Well, to be fair, probably now through at least Christmas! Dale is leaving on the 26th to visit the kids in California so I'll have from then until the 3rd to sew almost unceasingly. I'm very excited at the prospect.
And to cap off this post. This last week I got to witness one of the most exciting and thrilling events of my life. Which is why I'm not going to California with Dale. I was in Baltimore to see my oldest granddaughter get "hooded" for her PHD. Her doctorate is in Cognitive Science with an emphasis on early childhood education. Her is a picture of her and her husband, who got his PHD in September of 2018. I THINK his is in genetic engineering, but not sure. He does interesting stuff with genes.
She's a post-doc at University of California at Irvine, and he's at Cal-Tech, so they're in the LA-Orange County area. Now my oldest daughter's entire family is back in the state of California, at least for a bit. Her next younger sister is in Grad School at Berkeley, and the youngest has just applied to grad school, so we're waiting to hear where she'll be heading. She's been in San Diego for her the last five years.
Incredibly proud of all of them!
Hopefully, more soon! And lots of sewing projects completed. Hope you're all having a wonderful Holiday season and getting lots of goodies completed.
Although I just purchased the machine a year and a half ago to replace my mid 1980's version, it is a 30 year old sewing machine. I think they're like cars. When they start to go, it's an endless cycle. Unfortunately, the Pfaff dealer in town who had an excellent service man was sold and the technician retired. So if it goes again, I'm searching for someone new.
As most of you who are sewists know, new machine prices have skyrocketed over the last 30 years. The Pfaff 1475CD was a top of the line machine, and I used it for 20 plus years, and loved it every stitch of the way. As close as I can tell, the machine I had, compares to the Pfaff Performance Icon, which retails at $9,999 now. Since we're retired, that price range is out of our budget. And Pfaff has been sold a few times and I don't believe the quality of the new machines is equivalent to the older ones made in Germany.
Enter the local Bernina dealer. It's a Mom-and-Pop store that has been in town for years and years. Pop does the repairs and all the "local reviews" are excellent. I spent some time looking at the Bernina website, which is excellent BTW. I even downloaded a video on how to work the machine and the manual, and went through both. Long story short, I didn't want a "quilting machine." I didn't want an "embroidery machine." I wanted an excellent sewing machine to make clothing and whatever else struck my fancy. After a lot of back and forth, and waiting for a week and a half for delivery on my special order, ta da!
It's sitting on a small computer desk right now, because it's large, and Dale has to modify my sewing table before it can fit. I'm extremely excited. At half the price of the Pfaff, I think it will do everything I ever dreamed of and more! However, I do need to go through the 19 pages of the manual of Sewing Preparation, and then the 12 pages of Setup Program, and fhen the page of system settings; and finally I'll get to the chapters on creative sewing; practical stitches; decorative stitches; alphabets; buttonholes; etc. The manual is actually 140 pages long, and it's so different from any machine I've ever used, I'll be reading most of it as I go along!
At this stage of our lives, this is a very expensive purchase, and I expect this one to last me as long as I can still sew. Or at least until I get ga-ga and start sewing crotch seams to waistlines and all that. LOL
I'll be sitting with the manual today, and getting this one all set up. Well, to be fair, probably now through at least Christmas! Dale is leaving on the 26th to visit the kids in California so I'll have from then until the 3rd to sew almost unceasingly. I'm very excited at the prospect.
And to cap off this post. This last week I got to witness one of the most exciting and thrilling events of my life. Which is why I'm not going to California with Dale. I was in Baltimore to see my oldest granddaughter get "hooded" for her PHD. Her doctorate is in Cognitive Science with an emphasis on early childhood education. Her is a picture of her and her husband, who got his PHD in September of 2018. I THINK his is in genetic engineering, but not sure. He does interesting stuff with genes.
She's a post-doc at University of California at Irvine, and he's at Cal-Tech, so they're in the LA-Orange County area. Now my oldest daughter's entire family is back in the state of California, at least for a bit. Her next younger sister is in Grad School at Berkeley, and the youngest has just applied to grad school, so we're waiting to hear where she'll be heading. She's been in San Diego for her the last five years.
Incredibly proud of all of them!
Hopefully, more soon! And lots of sewing projects completed. Hope you're all having a wonderful Holiday season and getting lots of goodies completed.
Sunday, December 1, 2019
I'm moving in the right direction albeit slowly!
The bootstraps shirt got set aside as I have a definite urgency in my mind for the Modified Grainline Morris jacket. As I was looking for things in the sewing room, I ran across the pattern I started quite some time ago for the Morris jacket.
I have a ton of adjustments needed on anything like this due to my unique body shape. I had done some adjustments, and for whatever reasons, it got set aside and as far as I am aware, a muslin was never even started for it. I think it was because the fabric I had intended to use was a stretch cotton, and I wasn't sure how that would work.
Time passes, and I know I need a wool jacket for winter now that I live somewhere it actually gets pretty cold. I pulled out the wool double knit and did my standard prep for wool garments. I use Eucalan in the washing machine, let it soak, spin and then hang to dry. The one I use has lavender oil, so in addition to prepping the fabric, it is a natural moth repellent. Win, win, in my book. I save the cost of dry cleaning, and get the benefit of the moth repellent.
While that was going on, I made up a quick muslin of the Morris jacket, and had my hubbie, who is a fabulous photographer, but is only learning "fashion photography" take some pictures. First time around, it was apparent I needed quite a few additional adjustments. I guess as I move forward in my 70's, my body is changing more rapidly. At least much more rapidly than I would like.
I made some more adjustments, and another muslin, which didn't look too bad, (I never seem to get my horizontal balance lines in the same place on the front!) but still needed a bit more tweaking. I've become much more aware of the back issues lately. I've always needed a sway back adjustment, narrow, sloping shoulder adjustments, etc., but since I did my moulage and muslin, I realized that my upper back between the armholes is narrower than most for my body size. I also needed to make a larger adjustment at the top of the back for the rounded upper back I think I have from sitting at the computer so much. However, I think I have it now, and tomorrow I'll start the cutting and construction of the jacket.
Here's a quick pic of the muslin before I did the upper back adjustment. I think it's going to be a great addition to the wardrobe.
Hmmm. Looking like a mouth breather in this pic! LOL
I have since added a wedge of 5/8" at center back tapering to zero above the upper horizontal balance line. I'm pretty sure that's done the trick. At the minimum, this will fit better than any jacket I could purchase!
So I'll hope to keep up as this moves forward. It should be a quick and easy sew. Fingers crossed!
More later!
I have a ton of adjustments needed on anything like this due to my unique body shape. I had done some adjustments, and for whatever reasons, it got set aside and as far as I am aware, a muslin was never even started for it. I think it was because the fabric I had intended to use was a stretch cotton, and I wasn't sure how that would work.
Time passes, and I know I need a wool jacket for winter now that I live somewhere it actually gets pretty cold. I pulled out the wool double knit and did my standard prep for wool garments. I use Eucalan in the washing machine, let it soak, spin and then hang to dry. The one I use has lavender oil, so in addition to prepping the fabric, it is a natural moth repellent. Win, win, in my book. I save the cost of dry cleaning, and get the benefit of the moth repellent.
While that was going on, I made up a quick muslin of the Morris jacket, and had my hubbie, who is a fabulous photographer, but is only learning "fashion photography" take some pictures. First time around, it was apparent I needed quite a few additional adjustments. I guess as I move forward in my 70's, my body is changing more rapidly. At least much more rapidly than I would like.
I made some more adjustments, and another muslin, which didn't look too bad, (I never seem to get my horizontal balance lines in the same place on the front!) but still needed a bit more tweaking. I've become much more aware of the back issues lately. I've always needed a sway back adjustment, narrow, sloping shoulder adjustments, etc., but since I did my moulage and muslin, I realized that my upper back between the armholes is narrower than most for my body size. I also needed to make a larger adjustment at the top of the back for the rounded upper back I think I have from sitting at the computer so much. However, I think I have it now, and tomorrow I'll start the cutting and construction of the jacket.
Here's a quick pic of the muslin before I did the upper back adjustment. I think it's going to be a great addition to the wardrobe.
So I'll hope to keep up as this moves forward. It should be a quick and easy sew. Fingers crossed!
More later!
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