Slowly working

I've done several sleeve drafts trying to get one that will fit my shoulder and my arms without having huge amounts of ease in the sleeve cap or having a very low armhole that restricts my movement without having a sleeve so tight around my biceps that I can't hardly move my arm.

I think I have it now after I think using 5 different programs to draft a custom sleeve. I've got the jacket part of the Burda pattern altered to fit I believe using my best judgement on what I need, and I have cut the jacket out of a canvas "utility fabric" that seems to be about the same weight as my fashion fabric.

The darts are sewn in the front and back and I need to get in and change the threads and needles on my serger before moving forward. The cotton canvas ravels quite a bit, and since it's hopefully going to be a wearable muslin, I'd like to have all seams serged. If it works out well it will be a nice utility jacket for playing.

Hopefully next post will include some photos of a partially put together jacket at least.

More later,

Status Report

It's the middle of August here, and we've had a lot of days with triple digit temperatures, which kind of drains every single bit of energy from your body! 

I worked on the tunic top, and then set it aside for a bit. It was necessary to raise the center of the Vee about 2 1/2" for it to look decent. I did muslin the neckline with a regular piece of muslin, but now I'm convinced I need to muslin the entire top to be sure it's going to look right on me. With the look of the top, it will need a fabric that drapes well, so I didn't want to use regular muslin and have been contemplating what I have that I can use for a muslin that won't bother me if it doesn't turn out well. 

The light bulb finally went off yesterday, and I realized I have a very lightweight cotton sheeting that will work. It's a deep garnet red, so if it works out, will be a nice top for me as that's one of my favorite colors! Hooray.

In the meantime while that has been being mulled in the back of my brain, I decided it was time to finally bite the bullet and do a sleeve draft for my particularly un-typical arms. Due to genetics, a lot of pool exercise with weights, and extra pounds, my biceps are 18 1/2" around, while my shoulders are sloping and forward. That makes it interesting to try to fit anything, so I figured with a custom sleeve draft, I'd have better luck. 

I had done the Winifred Aldred draft a while back, (Metric Pattern Cutting for Women’s Wear) but never went ahead and did the muslin. I had purchased the Craftsy class (now Blueprint) of Suzy Furrer’s sleeves, Patternmaking + Design: Creative Sleeves at the same time I got the moulage class, but it was languishing in my queue, so needed to get that started. Since I had such good luck with her moulage, I wanted to go ahead and attempt that draft before moving ahead. Now, I have the two drafts and they seem to be fairly similar. I have not yet done the draft from the Armstrong book, (Patternmaking for Fashion Design) but may do so in the future as another check.

I did muslin the Suzy Furrer sleeve, and I think it’s a win for me. I’ll be moving forward with making it into a two piece sleeve for my jacket pattern this week. Unfortunately, I can’t stand for long periods of time, so it has to be done in fits and spurts. Hopefully quickly, but who knows?

For the lapel-less jacket, I’ll be using Burda 6569, View A and a houndstooth silk suiting in camel and navy. I pulled out the invoice for that and was actually quite shocked. I know back in the day, I bought a lot of really good fabrics on sale, on close out, or as bolt ends from Fabric Mart, but now as I look at the prices, I’m in shock and in heaven! The date on the order is May 9, 2009, and I bought three yards for $2.99 a yard!

Needing Ironing!

Unfortunately, when I looked in my lining bin, I didn’t find anything I wanted to use with this fabric. I figured I needed a camel or a dark navy, and was leaning towards a dark navy. My favorite and only lining I’ve used for the last multiple years is Ambiance Bemberg rayon lining. It’s wonderful and drapes nicely, and wears well.

When I went looking for it I was horrified to see that Logantex will no longer be importing it, so most of the places I looked were selling out of the stock they have with no possibilities of reordering. Denver fabrics had some, so I ordered a brown and an iridescent bronze (along with a piece of navy wool for trousers) and hopefully one or the other will work well with the fabric.

Onward and upward. Hopefully by the time the lining fabrics arrive, I’ll have the jacket ready for the lining!

More later, and hopefully soon!

I'm still around...but LIFE!

Ridiculous that I haven't posted for 2 months, but there it is.

I haven't really done that much sewing, anyway. My son-in-law passed away unexpectedly the end of June which brought up many, many issues, not only for my daughter and Grands, but some of my own as I was quite young when my own father passed away.

I did finish my beginning Spanish class at the local community college, and was reminded once again that having a class that takes a full semester and gets jammed it into 6 or 8 weeks means you are underwater with studying and homework the entire time. I did come out with a 4.0, but felt like I didn't learn enough. It was too jammed up with too little time to actually memorize all the verb tenses and phrases that are vital to having a conversation. So, good news, bad news. :-)

I wanted to get a bit more organized, and bought a new, very inexpensive bookcase from Amazon that now holds several boxes of patterns, some of my most vital reference books, my ham, my June tailor board, my clapper, and spare plastic pattern envelopes. I did get to bring some (12 pattern boxes!) of my patterns in from our back yard shed, so it's easier to find things. But there are still many out there in filing cabinets that I really need to go through and cull out any I'm no longer interested in sewing.

I haven't had a lot of time to sew, but did finish the skirt block and the flared skirt from the "in House Patterns" May challenge. This picture looks like it dips in the front, but it is an illusion.It is a black linen, that will work well for whatever needs I have for a skirt in the warmer weather.

After that, I made a couple of hot weather sleeveless tops from my TNT pattern that was first made in August of 2013! The above top is the same pattern! I'm not even sure what the original pattern looked like, but I believe it had a collar. Should check that out I guess. Perhaps it's time to change it up. Who knows? 

This first one is from a rayon remnant I've had in the stash forever. Not sure where or from whence it has come! It has a lovely hand and the colors feel like summer to me. Makes me feel cooler even in triple digit heat!

This second one is from a piece of cotton purchased (on sale!) from Fashion Fabrics Club.com in May of this year. I love making blouses that fit, I like the fabric, and end up costing under $10 for the whole thing! Pretty amazing to use a "new" fabric instead of one that's been around for years! LOL

I can't believe it, but it's already August. I promised myself that this year I'd start in August on fall/winter work clothes. To that end, I have two jackets on the list, one in a black and white tiny check, and another navy and brown herringbone. One will be lapel-less, and the other I think is going to have a shawl collar. But before that, I'm jumping in on the "tunic" craze. I found one that doesn't look all that 60's to me, and have just traced off the pattern. I do need to muslin the back and front yokes because from the way it looks to me now, the front Vee will be about 2-3" below the top of my bra. That really isn't my style! LOL

The pattern is from Bootstraps,#45749,  and it seems to me this will be a nice top to wear when I'm not interested in wearing a blazer. Lots of the ladies at my office never wear jackets, and this has a  similar look to their choices, but more my style. I have several nicely draping rayons that it might work for. We'll see what I think when it's done!

Hopefully, it won't be so long before I post again! I love to use this as my sewing record, so need to keep it more up to date. The sewing this year is way behind a typical year for me, and I hope over the next few months, to get it moving!

Wishing you lots of sewing mojo and the time to make lovely items.

The jacket looks better now

Thursday, May 9

Well, today is a beautiful day in New Mexico! We've had a high of 80, and it should get down into the mid 50 degrees tonight with a chance of showers from about 10 PM to about 2 AM. That makes all of the flowers happy!

I've been working on continuing education as well as sewing. The jacket bothered me with that big white spot down the left side enough that I finally pulled out the scraps, cut around flowers, and am going to applique them to the front panel. I have it basted on right now and it looks SO MUCH BETTER. Here's a pic with the completed blue linen pants.

Much better in my opinion! 

This week, I'm doing some playing. Alexandra Morgan of In House Patterns up in Vancouver, BC is having a little free skirt "draft along" for the month of may in honor of Me Made May. I really want to do more drafts because the Suzy Furrer bodice worked out so well. In general, I am finding it much easier to do a draft from scratch to my measurements than trying to alter a commercial pattern. In that vein, I've joined her this week and today I drafted my skirt pattern. BTW, if you're interested, she's doing it all this month and you can join free by just asking. Here's the link: https://www.inhousepatternsstudio.com/email-capture-2bd2e31e-65fb-4816-ab95-6294d01fcdf6

However, that doesn't mean I'm not using commercial patterns. I am using my bodice block to alter the commercial patterns and that seems to make it much easier and less error prone than starting from scratch. I have a blouse coming up soon, I hope. I've pulled out Vogue 8689, (copyright is 2010) interestingly enough, it's still on their website: https://voguepatterns.mccall.com/v8689 and have pulled out the pieces for View A. I'll probably not start tracing them until tomorrow. 

My boss that wanted me to come back to work neglected to tell me that for summer work, the pay scale is 25% less than I'd been paid for tax season. I  politely declined the offer when I got the contract. However, I am continuing on with my progress and will be ready to go back in January for tax season. So I don't really have to do too many "professional" outfits for summer and I can mosey along with what I want to sew instead. 😎

I've also signed up for a Spanish class at the local community college. That starts in about a week, and will be four mornings a week. I expect my summer is going to be busy. But fun!

I'll try to check in more frequently! Hope all your sewing is going well!

The long cold winter is over...hopefully!

Hi all.

Long time no visit! It's been an interesting, hard and cold winter in this household. Tax season started off with a bang and a lot of hours. That hasn't abated much, but now that it's almost over, I'm more used to the odd schedules. Sometimes I open at 8:00 am, frequently I close at 9:00 pm, and the worst for me, sometimes it's closing one night and opening the next morning. I don't get a lot of sleep on those turn arounds, unfortunately. It takes me a while to get to sleep after an evening at work, usually around 10:30 to 11:30 pm before I can drop off. Then in the mornings, due to medications that can't be taken with food, I have to wait an hour before eating. So it winds up I get up around 5:30 am for an 8:00 arrival. AND I'm like a little kid. If I don't get enough sleep or my regular meals, I'm definitely cranky!

This year hasn't gone as planned at all! The Burda blouse I started was probably a wadder. I'm going to try to take it apart and redo as I LOVE the fabric. A beautiful deep red batik heavy-ish cotton. But somehow or another, I got the facings confused with a collar...and enough said. So it's waiting to be ripped apart and hopefully redone. I'm just not sure I have enough fabric to redo. Fingers crossed. I love the fabric and envelope design, so have high hopes if I just have enough fabric left to recut the neck facings.

I started on a new pair of heavy cotton twill pinstripe pants. Then, BAM! I got the Type A flu. I had a flu shot, well they told me it was a flu shot, and if my illness was "minor" compared to what it would have been, good grief! I was down in bed, which I don't do, for a full week, just getting up to eat and use the facilities. After that, it was back to work, but it took me a full month to get back to feeling more or less myself. That was from about mid February to a few weeks ago. I did get the twill pants finished, finally, and they are in rotation. Quick view:

These were a welcome addition to the wardrobe. I've been wearing a lot of my wool slacks made several years ago, but dry cleaning time and costs have added up. It's nice to have something I can throw in the washer and dryer.

All of a sudden, we went from really cold weather to Spring, and perhaps today moving towards summer. I know Southwestern New Mexico winters don't come close to what many of you experience, but for me, coming from California, it's a shock. We had several snow days...of course it melted quickly, and temps down in the 20's, 30's and 40's. Last week we started seeing mid 70's and today it's supposed to be 99 degrees. Big change in a few short weeks.

My fruit trees, all the deciduous trees, my roses, and peonies, are all leafed out and I'm starting to see buds on my items. Exciting stuff! But thoughts of Spring put a longing in my heart for some lighter weight clothing.

Well, this was obviously started a few weeks ago or even a month ago. Tax season is over, I've mostly recovered, and moving ahead. Despite being tired all the time, I generally enjoyed working again. It was very different from my Real Estate Appraisal business, and I'd forgotten how much I enjoyed the income tax business. You get to know a wide variety of people, and learn a lot more about the area you live in.

I've started working on continuing education already, and intend to "test up" several levels until I reach about the status I was before. I doubt I'll go ahead with retaking all the tests to become an Enrolled Agent again due to my age. It's at least a year of intense study and a two day test. Probably not worth it right now.

I did have my "exit interview" with our District Manager this week, and he was very positive about my contributions. To the point where he's asked me to work on a limited basis starting in July through at least the end of October, and we're going to work together on some marketing for this area.

BUT... as all of you out there know, this means a new wardrobe for this area. They want us to look "professional" and in this area through July and August the temps range anywhere from 92 up through 107 or so. Since my summer wardrobe since I've been here consists of shorts and sleeveless tops, they're probably not going to fit the bill.

I started about two weeks ago with a new jacket. Unfortunately the fabric was purchased when the local Hancock's was going out of business so I didn't have enough for pattern matching. But I still love it very much... It's a light to medium weight linen printed with big blue flowers. As I look at the picture, I'm thinking there will have to be something added to the left front in the big white space. But for now... It's a mixture of the front off Burda #6569, added to Butterick #5719. I had the Butterick fitted and like the princess seams and 3/4 sleeves, but wanted the lapel less look for summer.

I have a blue rayon knit tank that will go well under it, and the pants are started. They're a light weight linen bought recently from JoAnn Fabrics when I went with a friend. I figure they may make it tolerable. They're the same Burda TNT pants, but I've switched out the normal pockets for in-seam pockets. Other than that, it's the same old, same old. I don't think anyone notices that all my pants are from the same pattern. They're just pants! LOL 

Blue denim colored linen pants begun.

I think this outfit should be done fairly quickly. My plan over the next 60 days is to try to spend 3 hours studying and 3 hours sewing. Hopefully that'll give me at least three summer outfits for rotation. We'll have to see how it goes. I do have a light blue silk that I hope to make into a nice blouse too. 

That's all for now, and I hope to be here more often with more finished outfits!

ADDING TO THE WARDROBE!

I'm quite pleased that I found the time in and around working to complete my latest trousers. Nothing new to report, as they're my same TNT Burda pattern. These are in a lovely tropical weight wool in black, so that should work well. They will undoubtedly get a lot of wear over the next few months.

Without further ado:

You can see a bit of the pocked hanging down. LOL

In and around my schedule this week, I've been tracing off Burda 6386 and altering to match my sloper. I'm not much of a ruffle girl, but I saw view A made up on someone's blog and it looked like a wonderful shirt for work and play. When JoAnn had Burda patterns on sale, I did purchase a few.

As per usual, I'm narrowing and dropping shoulders, doing an FBA, back adjustment for sway back and forward shoulders, and adding inches (plural) to the biceps. I'll be working on that in my spare time. I just need to copy off the front facings and it's a go.

I have slightly less than 2 weeks before things start getting really busy and my full time plus hours kick in, so would like to get this one made up. Once I'm sure the alterations are correct, I should be able to make it up fairly quickly. We'll see how it goes!

Happy sewing!

Happy New Year!

I'm wishing you all a wonderful, exciting, healthy, happy & prosperous 2019. Here's to lots of projects that make you smile and feel absolutely beautiful!

In sewing news, I'm working on my black wool trousers and hope to have them completed today. Tomorrow starts my new foray into the business world again, so for the next several months, I don't expect to be super productive. But who knows, maybe instead of being exhausted, I'll be invigorated and have lots of extra energy for sewing projects. I can wish.

More soon!

Marry Christmas!

The rest of the year is filled with things that have to be done before January 1, so I'll see you all back here in 2019! Happy New Year!

FINALLY FINISHED!

Strangely, I started this blouse according to my journal on November 26. I'd had my daughter and three granddaughters to visit the weekend before, and I just got my sewing room (aka guest room) put back together. My GOAL was to make about 4 of these before the first of the year. Probably not going to happen though!

Due to multiple interruptions, classes, seminars, procrastination, and uncertainty, it finally got the buttons sewn on and the blouse finished yesterday morning. It was a second "muslin." from McCalls 6436. I'm pretty sure the first one was done in late February of 2013. Although I tried it on and it seemed to fit well, I really wanted to do a mock up to be sure I was really getting everything right before I started on the more expensive fabrics. The original was blogged in March of 2013. All of the alterations, and it was a big list are in that post.

I have decided on a few more minor tweaks, but it will work really well for a "professional work blouse."

The fabric is a very light weight printed cotton (I think it's a voile) purchased from fashionfabrics.com (they've been out of business for a while) a long time ago. It was on sale and listed as a "cotton lining" abstract print. I bought 3 yards and the total cost was $4.99. SCORE! It is an "eggshell" background with a "sea mist" grey, and taupe print. It's going to go with a lot of items in my wardrobe. The most exciting thing for me is that I've been looking at similar blouses in RTW and the prices for 100% cotton in my size are upwards of $69-$86!

Here's a hangar shot from this morning:

I did French seams throughout most of the interior. The shoulder seam, which was adjusted due to new information I found on fitting sleeves was done with a regular seam, a second stitching 1/4" away, and trimmed adjacent to the second stitching. 

This afternoon I started on my next wardrobe staple to be. It's a pair of black, tropical wool trousers for work. I'll be using the same TNT trouser pattern I have made most things out of in the last year. It's a great pattern, fits well, and looks great IMO.

Hope you are all done with your Christmas sewing and looking forward to celebrating with family and friends. 

I'm wishing you a Merry Christmas and a Fabulous New Year filled with love, happiness, meaningful work, health, and peace!

More later!

A few Holiday gifts!

It’s Christmas!

I’ve been busy making a few gifts for friends. It’s always difficult when you have a diverse group of people to figure out what’s going to work.

My Aqua Aerobics group has several women that I wanted to gift a small item and had been searching my brain for something appropriate. I saw on Mary’s blog over at https://kf-biblioblog.blogspot.com/ that she had made mug warmers for her riding friends, and figured that was a great idea. I think most everyone drinks coffee, tea, or cocoa! So they are getting a Christmas mug and a mug warmer. I put together several, one of which is shown here:

My first time to applique, so it was an interesting project. I made 6" square out of two fabrics and added a 100% cotton batting to the interior. Sew all the way around the outside, leaving a hole for turning. Turn, press in the open edges, and topstitch. They are fairly quick and easy once you figure out what you're doing. These are certainly not perfect, but they are handmade. And I always remember our Hopi friends saying that all Pueblo peoples leave a slight imperfection in their works as a spirit door because only the Holy Ones can make something perfect. Frequently this will turn into an artistic signature for a particular artisan.

The other, much more intense gift is for my BFF. We all have tote bags we use for our towels, etc. when we go to the pool. I wanted to do something special for her. She’s very loving and giving and is always doing for others. I took a large “grocery tote” I had received from the local grocery coop that is a perfect size. I figured out how it was made, and copied the size for Lupe.

The outside is a fairly substantial denim, with the fish cut out of a piece of quilting cotton. I’d rough cut all the fish quite a few years ago. I think I was going to make a shower curtain with fish on it, but obviously, that never happened. After completing all the appliques, I sewed it together, and added the straps. I used a quilting cotton for the interior lining, and put a pocket for eyeglasses on one side piece and a pocket for a cell phone on the opposite side piece. Again, not perfect, but not bad.

I still have the blouse I was working on set out. It was set aside when I realized that Christmas is almost here! It just needs the sleeves installed, and the buttons and buttonholes. Hopefully it will be finished by the end of the week.

That’s all for now! Happy Sewing and Happy Holidays!

Pinstripe Pants! & A little back story.

Just another quick pair of slacks for my new work wardrobe. I purchased this wool in Sicily many years ago on my first venture out after my late husband passed away.

Within a month of hearing a terminal diagnosis, my company let us know they were going to "downsize and sell the business to a competitor. I was an outside salesperson and the other company did strictly telemarketing. So I had several major life changes within a very short six months.

In trying to decide what I wanted to do, I made lists of what I was going to do with my life. At that point, just a few months shy of my 50th birthday, I sat and though about what I'd always wanted to do and didn't have the time, money, or energy for. There were several items on my list, and one was that  I'd always wanted to go back to school and get some kind of degree. In order to determine if it was something that would work for me, I took an Italian language class. Towards the end of the semester, some of my classmates about my age were talking about a local club that had fabulous and relatively inexpensive group tours, and they had one coming up to Sicily. Ten days. I thought about it and waffled, and went back and forth.

Finally I decided I wanted to go. I called to sign up and found out I was on a waiting list. I figured that if I were meant to go, I'd be cleared, if not, the Universe was telling me to stay home.
It turned out I had about 10 days from clearing the waiting list to departure. I did some quick sewing, and some packing, and off I went. It was glorious! So far as I remember, it was October of 1998. I loved being back in school, and I loved the trip. In my youth I worked as a travel agent for about 10 years, and it brought back all the longing for travel and to see the world. The weather was great, and I was enthralled with the depth of knowledge and history the guides were able to impart. Overall very successful!

Moving on, while there I decided I needed to buy some Italian wool as my "souvenir" of the trip. . I had a friend go with me and we wandered through the market until we found the correct shop. In my first year halting Italian, I was able to let him know what I wanted. It has been in stash for so long, and I wasn't sure which piece of wool was which until I got it out and was doing the prep prior to cutting, I use Eucalan soap, soak the wool for about 30 minutes in cold water with the Eucalan, and then hang to dry. When I got ready to press, I found this on the selvage:

Winner! A few days later, these were ready for my first meeting at work on Monday:

So now I'm on to a muslin for a new blouse. I hope to get several long sleeved, woven, business like blouses made during the month of December, and maybe a couple more pair of slacks. We'll see how it goes!

P.S. The last post omitted most of the verbiage! It did say Happy Thanksgiving. So I hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving day.

iT'S TURKEY DAY!

HAPPY THANKSGIVING!

Wishing all my blog friends a lovely thanksgiving with lots of food, friends, relatives, fun and love!

I'll be back soon with some more sewing projects.

Work pants

Feels a bit strange to be making a work wardrobe again, but I'm having fun and enjoying the fact that I'll be meeting lots of new folks and making money at the same time! AND best of all, it's only for a few months, so the rest of the year, we're hoping to get to play explorers when we have a long weekend.

My knees are improving and I notice odd things at odd times. I'm far ahead of my friend that had both knees replaced a few months before I did my stem cell therapy, so it's encouraging. I did see somewhere on a site that a woman who had hers done indicated it was about a year before she felt back to her "before" status. In that case, I'm only half way through and am pleased with my progress. It is odd though that I am having to "relearn" how to walk correctly. After 10 years +/- of knee problems, I had adapted my stance and my way of walking. Now I'm working back to normal and frequently get odd leg cramps because of the change. I am hoping it will eventually get me back the 1 1/2" inches that I've shrunk, but at the ripe old age of almost 72, I'm not holding my breath.

Anyhow, I spent my odd minutes here and there last week working on another core piece. These are a quick pair of slacks out of a grey stretch cotton. I'm pretty sure it's a piece I got from Gorgeous Fabrics back in May of 2016. Unfortunately, I copied the photo off the website, but didn't attach a swatch when it got here. I used the same Burda TNT pattern I've been using for almost everything that covers my lower half.

I do have some black linen for the next pair of slacks, and probably will also make a pair of black tropical weight wool ones too.

I also pulled out a very old Burda pattern...from before they added seam allowances! I looked but it doesn't have a copyright date on it, so not sure, but the wide shoulders appear to be maybe from the 80's? Fairly bad picture but my scanner isn't working so I'm having to use pictures from the Internet.

I had originally cut this back when I was a size 14 or European size 40, so I had to use the pieces from view A, the green one. I had made a lot of these tops back in the day to wear under a suit jacket, and I figured if I can adapt it to my current size using my Suzy Furrer block it should work. Plus it is super easy and quick to do. I have the pattern copied off with my adjustments and will be playing with that in the next day or so. If it works, a nice rayon challis will work well for my future plans.

Well, more later! Hope your sewing endeavors are going well!

Dia de los Muertos shirt

Just a quick post today to document that I actually made a shirt for my sweet husband.

Back in 2013 he had a quadruple bypass and ever since has been saying he came back from the dead. Quite some time ago he requested a shirt out of Dia de los Muertos fabric to wear on Halloween as well as to commemorate the life giving surgery. Long story, but the first one was done with a commercial pattern and did not fit AT ALL.

If you're unfamiliar with the Holiday and want to know more about it, here's a link to the Wikipedia article: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Day_of_the_Dead

I went ahead and did a pattern draft for him, and it mellowed in the pattern drawer for several years as every time I'd offer to make it up, his response was he didn't want to take me away from what I wanted to do. Well, things changed this year.

Shortly after I started my tax classes, he said he wanted the shirt for this year. He's driving a school bus and many of the drivers were special things for Halloween. In and around my classes and homework (about 35 or 40 hours a week) I put together a shirt using the parts I found. Unfortunately, it's not perfect, and I've made some notes on changes for the next shirt I'll make him. But bottom line is he loved it, wore it, got lots of compliments at work.

So without further ado:

It's a bit wrinkled after a day of having a seat belt attached, but it didn't wrinkle as much as I anticipated being 100% cotton. I've got a few ideas for some more shirts, perhaps for Christmas in and around making clothing for my new work life.

There are a pair of grey pinstripe trousers almost cut out and ready to go, so I'll be off to work on them.

Hoping your sewing is going marvelously and you're enjoying your processes! More later!

Jalie Rose...The first of many!

A Jalie Rose!

I’m enamored of this pattern for sure. I have been looking for a pattern for a woven, sleeveless shirt with a collar and collar stand for quite a long time. Finding a pattern that works with my curves is difficult to say the least. Jalie won the gold cup! The pattern went together well, and it may be the nicest shirt collar I've seen in a long time! 

I put together a quick muslin and determined that other than adding a 1” strip through the back yoke to make up for my gravity affected shoulder posture. I did also shorten it by 3” as I’m only 5’2” tall, and their fit is designed for 5’6”. I may add back another inch, but not sure of that. I didn’t need any other alterations! What a thrill.

For my first of hopefully many to come, I used a luscious cotton lawn from the stash. Depending on your color sense, it’s in a creamy white and either turquoise,  aqua, light teal, or mint green, but I love it and it will go well in my wardrobe with multiple items. I took my time, and made sure it all went together well, even doing hand basting to be sure I had things right. It'd been a long time since I did a woven shirt collar. 

I’m not sure where the fabric came from or when, but perhaps in 2013 when I was putting together the fabrics for the teal collection, perhaps not. I had purchased 2.75 yards, and it’s 58” wide, so I have a nice remnant for who knows what.

For the collar and under-collar, I used a fusible tricot from Fashion Sewing Supply, and the buttons were in a bag of various shirt buttons from the stash, possibly also purchased from Fashion Sewing Supply. They are awesome!

Without further ado...

Completed 09-19-2018.

This morning I cut out the A-Line skirt from the teal blue denim remnant that I used for the pants back in February. This will work with some of my core items for tax season along with many items for the Spring and Summer. 

I hope to have more to show later in the week!

Happy sewing!

Definitely moving into Autumn around here

Happy week! I finished both swimsuits and they're going to fit in nicely with my exercise classes. As I said in last week's missive, the Berry fabric was from Fashion Fabrics Club (online) and the elastics and linings are from Sew Sassy. The bust cups haven't arrived yet, but are anticipated tomorrow. I'm pleased with both, and overall they fit well.

From old stash fabric, and Jalie 3350 Swimsuit pattern

From Fashion Fabrics Club fabric and Jalie 3350 Pattern

I finished my sloper and am quite pleased with it. I don't know that I've ever had one that fits quite this well, so that's huge in my book. I've already got it lined up to check fit on my Jalie Rose that was taped together and traced off last night. I'm hoping to get it cut out and started this afternoon. 

I did get the job I interviewed for, so I spent a good bit of time this week using some tools from Nancy Nix-Rice and the Vivienne Files to do wardrobe planning. I haven't worked in an office with multiple other people for many years, so I do want to look smart while fitting in, but remain true to my aesthetic and still be comfortable. In this area, everything is "business casual" so I went through the closet, looking at what I have, and what I need to fit in. A few items will need to be altered, and a few items are on the "to make" list, but overall I'm in good shape. I ONLY purchased about 5 yards of a rayon print from Fashion Fabrics Club, (on sale!) in an ocean/teal and the rest is already owned, and a lot is already made and ready to go. I used Vivienne's latest four by five grid to put together a "wardrobe plan." Without further ado...

Column 1 or Cluster 1 includes a royal blue linen unlined jacket, which is currently being altered to get the shoulders correct. A navy short sleeved tee; a navy long sleeved tee to be made; I actually have 3 pair of navy slacks; and a navy denim skirt. 

Column 2 or Cluster 2 has a teal blue (both items the same fabric) cardigan and short sleeved tee, previously blogged; a cream and teal paisley tee and teal and camel floral tee, both previously blogged, and a teal blue denim skirt, color IRL closer to the top photo. 

Cluster 3 Aztec print sweater from 2015 with red; teal; grey and black print; red short sleeved tee; a cream/red/black and grey linen blouse that will be made soon; and tropical wool slacks in both charcoal and light grey. 

Cluster 4 A RTW teal and royal blue heavy knee length sweater; the ocean/teal rayon shirt and skirt to be made; a RTW red cardigan gift from Hubby; and a pair of black wool and/or linen slacks to be made. 

There are other jackets that will work with the plan also and once this is put together, I'll probably start a new cluster with browns, tans, and the like. 

I'm pushing the pedal to the medal as I start tax classes the 24th of this month, which will take up 3 mornings a week with at least 9 hours a week of homework along with my Aqua Aerobics classes. Those will run until November 9, and then I have about 3 days of tax updates for the new laws put in place for 2018 returns. After that, I'll have some downtime until January 2, when I go into real work mode. 

I'm excited about the job, about the wardrobe, and also about having some extra income. I'm eyeballing a Baby Lock cover stitch machine for my "reward" for all my hard work. So in my book, it's a win-win-win!

I hope your autumn plans are working out well also! More later! 

Happy Holiday! And this week's projects

For all my friends in the US, it's Labor Day. Hope your day is lovely and you have time for food, family, and whatever makes your heart full. For those not in the US, Labor Day is a public holiday designed to honor the American labor movement and the contributions made by workers to the strength, prosperity, laws and well-being of the country. (Wikipedia)

As a child, in my hometown, it was always the day before the first day of school, so we attempted to grab every last bit of summer we could. As an adult, it was always a three day weekend that allowed one tiny last minute weekend getaway or celebration before we headed into the fall season with no breaks until Thanksgiving. At the current time, I think most schools around here start in around mid-August, this year the 13th, so those kids are enjoying a three day weekend.

In my family on Labor Day, my dad would barbecue, we'd have potato salad, macaroni salad, fresh watermelon and sliced tomatoes from our neighbor's garden, and sometimes, if we were lucky, some home churned ice cream. Today I have a rack of baby back ribs that will go into the crock-pot while I spend the day sewing. Sides will be a bit more healthy and less caloric.

I finally have my moulage set and ready to move on into making it into a sloper, so that's on the list for this week. After the first 1 1/2" sway back adjustment, I had to do an additional 5/8" tuck on both the upper and lower back at the waist seam tapering to nothing at the side seam. Now it looks just about perfect.

I'll be moving on with getting some things made with my sloper to check fit as soon as I've got that together. I do still have to take the sleeve class and get a sleeve that fits into my bodice and still works with my bodacious biceps! But first I'll be making up the Jalie Rose into a sleeveless shirt. Around this area, it can work on it's own, and then under a lightweight jacket or cardigan for at least a couple of months yet.

I'm also finishing up two swimsuits that I started earlier in the week. One from a very old Rose Marie Reed stash fabric, blues, aquas, light purple, and similar colors, possibly purchased in the 90's when Stretch and Sew would bring their fabrics to town once every few months and another in a relative new fabric from FashionFabricsClub.com purchased in March in purple, turquoise, and berry. I hope to have them done today. Still need to put the darker one together, and sew the elastic around the armholes/back and legs to the lighter one. I've used the new Jalie 3350 pattern for these, and I think they will be great for my Aqua Aerobics. 

For both of these, I've used the front from View A and the back from View B. I did enlarge the straps as the directions call for 3/8" elastic with the fabric wrapper over it, and for a larger woman, a 3/4" elastic works much better, especially in a class where we're jumping and running, and really moving around a lot. While I won't be strutting my stuff in public at the current time, they're going to work perfectly for the intended use. I've been trying to work out a custom bust cup that will fit my body, and think I may have an idea that will work. These have a double cup ling so you can install "removable cups." I did buy a couple of pair of molded Wacoal cups yesterday that should be here this week. We'll see if I'm going to need to use them in the future or if my idea works well.

Although I've purchased several Jalie patterns over the years, I hadn't actually sewn any up until now. I have a friend who had purchased one of their patterns and was quite pleased. It was her first PDF, and having the ability to only print the size you want, was an eyeopener. It made an awful lot of sense to do that! I'll be using more of them in the future for sure! 

Since August is done, I'm checking in on my Sewing to do list for the last three months. I did amazingly well IMO. I have the Suzy Furrer bodice class almost completed, with the bodice fitting now. Hooray! The next few lessons are how to convert the moulage into your sloper, and truing it up, transferring to tag board, and some design options. I will have to carefully follow the instruction to change the moulage into the sloper, but the rest I have done in pattern classes before, so nothing earth shattering for me. I got the two pair of shorts completed, finished the first quilt and made another for the new grandson. Made some receiving blankets, and a baby shirt, and am working on swimsuits. No lingerie got started this month, but that's on the horizon I believe. I figured the swimsuits were more urgent as the ones I've been wearing the last year and a half are getting pretty sad and worn looking. 

September-October-November goals will be to complete the sloper on tag, make the Jalie Rose, perhaps get the McCalls 7575 shirt muslined and fitted, along with a couple of pair of long pants for winter. 

I also made a decision that in order to avoid any dementia or Alzheimer's I need to exercise my brain more, and along those lines decided to sign up to complete taxes for next year, which includes taking a 60 hour tax class. I signed up, took their assessment test, and passed, so have an interview tomorrow for the job. Because I passed both their initial assessment tests, I'll be starting as a tax specialist versus the initial tax assistant. It's a step up on the ladder, and comes with a slight edge. 

The tax class starts the 24th of this month, and will be three mornings a week until mid November. There will definitely be homework also, so that along with my Aqua Aerobics classes and whatever sewing I can squeeze in should keep me busy over the next few months. I'm looking forward to it! AND, if I decide it makes sense I'll use some of my earnings for a stand alone cover stitch machine. We'll see. I believer there is a dealer here in town that sells the Babylock, and if so, I'll be checking them out. 

So that's my week in review. I'd better get busy on my next week. Wishing you all a sew special week!

Lovely thoughts and what I'm working on.

One of the things I do when I"m not sewing or doing aqua aerobics or cooking. I read. A LOT.

I read this the other night in the current cozy mystery book and loved it. Yes. a real book with pages that turn and everything!

"Imagine, if you will, the horror that engulfs a modern family when they realize they cannot charge their electronic devices. Their mobiles, tablets, laptops, and desktops are useless! Panic sets in. Without a screen to watch or keys to tap, all harmony is at an end. The ties that bind are on the verge of snapping when someone recalls a dim and distant memory of...the original virtual-reality device! A wondrous device that will allow them to go anywhere at any time with anyone they choose. A device powered by the imagination, a device gravity cannot shatter, a device that decays organically, leaving no toxic sludge behind to poison our precious planet!"A Book!

Hug your librarian and read a real book...it'll make you happy or smarter, or just take you to another place!

In sewing news, I did the first alterations on the moulage #2, but my sway back adjustment of 1 1/2" was not quite enough. I need to do another and try again this week. Other than that, it's looking pretty good IMO.

I'm also working on a new swimsuit with a pattern from Jalie. This may be my first make with Jalie patterns, although I do have several I've bought over the years. The new Jalie Rose shirt is waiting to be muslined and completed too.

I hope to have something to show soon. More later.

Quick update of the last ten days...

I got the second baby quilt made in a short amount of time. I'm liking that this one was quick and is still cute, and I'm really happy with the fact that I'm learning how to do these nice mitered corners that are good on both sides. This one isn't perfect yet, but it's not bad if I say so myself!

The front is cut out of 8 1/2 " squares, making them 8" after sewing. It's approximately 40" X 50" which is just about right for crib size. I just alternated the "very hungry caterpillar abstract dots" fabric with "sock monkey sports" pieces I had auditioned for the binding on the first quilt. If I'd been paying more attention it would be more symmetrical but Dale keeps reminding me that in the "olden days" the Navajo always made some mistakes in their rugs so they could prove they were handmade! 

The back is a one piece fabric that has jungle images all over it in primary colors on a white background. 

I'm also working on some baby clothes, and my friend Lupe who is learning to sew had an idea for a tote for swimming that we worked on Wednesday. I don't have any pictures yet, but will get some before too long. 

More later!