Dragon is done!

The dragon is done! The front one, that is. There is a larger one on the back, but he can wait. I would have had it done on Saturday, but my husband surprised me with dinner out without the kids, and it wasn't a hard choice. Here are some detail pics.




Update on the top (the one I cut the lining wrong): It's almost done - just some nit-picky handwork; the binding on the armscye, sewing the label in and embellishing the neck. It will fit, too! I compared it to a current top made from the same pattern and it's a bit bigger, so that's fantastic. Happy ending for this one.

Stupid Fabric Trick

Ok, I said I do stupid fabric tricks. These involve some sort of yardage calculation error, cutting error, or sewing pieces together backwards, upside down or whatever. Not that I'm completely brainless. People do trust their most precious possession, their offspring, to me to teach them high school science. My brain just tends to be in more places than one. Yesterday morning, same thing.

I'm working on an outfit called "Little Red Empress" for a show in November, with a deadline for entry Aug. 15. The pants are done, the jacket is almost there - dragons need beads, need to make ball and loop closures, and label needs to be put in. I decided that I need to make a top, too. I wanted to use the line and underline technique because I used it on the pants, so the lining needs to be larger all around to accomodate this. Here's a link to a tip on PatternReview.com about the technique: http://sewing.patternreview.com/cgi-bin/review/readreview.pl?readreview=1&ID=1044. Here's the inside of the pant leg with the finished seam.



No problem, I get out the leftover fabric and cut out a top and I get out the lining and cut it out, too. I was happily cutting away, making sure I had enough fabric so that I if I needed to get more of something I could on my big fabric shopping adventure. Everything was going great *until* later that day, I went to start sewing and of course the underlining step is first, and wouldn't you know it, I forgot to cut the lining pieces bigger. Ugh. Sometimes I get a break, and it doesn't end up all that bad. Because this is for my daughter and she's really skinny (size 6 around, size 10 in neck/waist and hem lengths!), I got one. I just trimmed off 1/2" from the side seams and shoulder seam, and dropped the bottom of the armscye 1/2" to compensate for the shoulder being shorter at the top. I think this will work and fit ok. Here's the corrected back piece.


I hope so. The whole thing is a surprise for my 8 year old daughter. See, she is enamored with Asian cultures, Chinese specifically. She's hinted she wants to be in a fashion show, like mom, and has wanted to come with me on some of my trips. Unfortunately, airfare for one more person isn't in the budget, so she didn't get to go to AQS National in Paducah, KY this spring with me. A Quilter's Gathering, however, is in Nashua, NH and is a much smaller show so this is the perfect venue to surprise her with an outfit she can model on the runway.

Here's a little detail on the jacket - hopefully the dragon will be done today, but we'll see . . .

I love my MIL!

I do, really! Every other week or so, she takes my two children for the day and does something with them. All day. From about 8:30a to 5:00p or so. In fact, today is one of those days and they're not back yet. And what do I do with a whole day to myself?!? Go fabric shopping of course! I got to go to Fabric Fix and Martin's House of Cloth *by myself*. I am shopping for another big project and it was nice not to have two bored children who after 15 minutes of looking at fabric invent ways to keep themselves busy, me mortified and the store staff enraged. Actually they're not that bad and do endure Jo-ann's on a regular basis and sometimes even Martin's, but a 6 hour fabric shopping trip isn't something I subject them to.

So what did I buy? Let's see, at Fabric Fix I got a yard of brown pinstripe woolish stuff - enough for a skirt, and 2 yards of royal blue satin for the birthday princess' dress and a piece of light blue crepey stuff they threw in for free from the $1 per yard bin since it was an odd cut. Really odd in that it was cut in half, there was one selvedge, but the other was missing. Fine enough, it could be quilted, backed and embellished to make a beautiful and cheap evening wrap. At Martin's, I got more 25 cent patterns, discontinued ones, mind you, but the lines are good and in the right fabric can still be interesting. I even got a wedding gown pattern for a quarter. I also bought 4 yards of red velvet, some organdy, and another red piece with glitter flowers. Then it was on to Jo-ann's Concord, where I did pick up Simplicity 4074, more red fabric and notions.

Great day, now I must go work on finishing and entry for the Quilter's Gathering Made to Wear fashion show! I will post pics when it's done, until then the unfinished version can be seen at www.summersetbanks.com.

Welcome to my little corner of the sewing world. Here I will try to post what I'm currently working on, what I've learned (or am learning) and just about my life as it relates to sewing. There will be some triumphs and a plenty of "stupid fabric tricks" along the way which usually keeps me on pins and needles.