Looking Forward

2008 is almost over and I am looking forward to 2009, like it seems many of you are. I'm getting a collective sense that 2008 was a tough year for many and that there is a sense of hope for 2009. I, too, had some rough spots in 2008, but like we used to say of the cockroaches when I worked in college food service: What doesn't kill you makes you stronger! With that in mind, I'm looking forward to 2009.

What do I have in mind regarding sewing in 2009? As usual, I have way more ideas than time to sew. In general, I have some things I'd like to try or do. If I'm able to accomplish them, that would be wonderful. If I don't that is fine, too.

Besides the usual sewing for myself and family (and no, I don't plan on getting more garments made in 2009 than I did in 2008!), here are some specific things I have in mind for 2009:

• finish Bluebird of Happiness!
  
• to try basic tambour beading - I have an old Threads article on this and since I've taught myself many other fiber crafts, why not?
• to make a bra, or two or three - I already have patterns and some of the supplies. Besides, I have a really cool idea to integrate long line bras into my art garment gowns and making bras would be another good skill to have in my repertoire.
• to knit a sweater - I can knit, I learned how when I was 7 years old and have made quite a few very nice sweaters, but just haven't knitted anything recently. Maybe I'll make socks - they're quicker projects. Who knows? We'll see how that works out.
• to make two more large art garment projects - I have a running list of ideas (ten ideas at the moment, until I get more!), but I haven't made a final decision yet. I'm thinking of making two of the following: Cherry Blossom, Jackie O, Green with Envy, or Fall Splendor. These have all percolated long enough, except for Green with Envy whose details have started to fall into place just this week.

I think that should do it. Have a happy and prosperous New Year!

Parting Shot: For Now and For the Fall. Yes, this is the time to get those bargains on fall fabrics that are now being put into clearance! My daughter and I picked up the burgundy and grey pieces of corduroy for less than $2.00 per yard for school clothes for next fall. We'll need to fill in a few items that will either be too small or too worn out, so she picked these fabrics out for skirts, dresses or jumpers. The teal fabric is a brushed mystery knit (you know how that fabric from Jo-ann's is!) that will make a great quick turtleneck for her to wear now.

Year in Review - 2008

When I counted up the garments I made in 2008 the other day, I was a bit surprised. So surprised in fact, that I recounted today. The total number of garments I made this year is: 88.

Now, let me clarify a few things. First, I don't sew just for myself. I sew for all the members of my family and extended family, too. Second, some of these garments were very easy knits or patterns I had made before. Third, the total includes both the Timmel SWAP I made earlier in the year and an entire new school wardrobe for my daughter. Lastly, the total does not include art garments, the commissioned quilt I made this spring or any of the items from alteration clients.

By number this is what I sewed:

• 33 Tops, Blouses, Shirts
  
• 13 Skirts
  
• 15 Dresses
  
• 9 Jackets or Coats
  
• 9 Trousers or Shorts
  
• 10 Miscellaneous Items

Miscellaneous items include: a swimsuit, ironing board covers, three sweater refashions, two library book bags and two wallets and bag which were actually pattern test items for a friend.

Having sewn that many garments, you know there were winners and losers among the group. Having looked at all the photos from the year, and thinking about all the garments, there were certainly more winners than losers. Let's start with some of my favorite pieces:

My red dress from the SWAP:

The black trousers from the SWAP. Although I don't wear them often, when I need to look sharp and well dressed, these are what I reach for:

My Easter dress and Easter suit that wasn't:


My green top and swimsuit. I've only posted the swimsuit, but this was such a great fabric from Gorgeous Fabrics:

The yellow dress, top and camisole all made from the same fabric. I've only posted the photo of the top, but again, another fabric I really love!

I couldn't leave out my husband's most recent shirt! (If you haven't read his own comment on yesterday's post, you should - he had me laughing!)

For some of my least favorite garments we have the red and white top from the SWAP. I don't know why, but once it was made up it just didn't work for me. The white circle skirt, is great, though!

The red sweater I made not too long ago. Although I love red sweaters, I forgot that BWOF v-neck tops are really, really low on me and it just didn't work.

Both of these tops were gladly donated to charity - I'm sure they will work out for someone else.

Now, if I could just finish a top I started on Sunday, the total would be 89. Maybe I'll get it done tomorrow.

Parting Shot: More Legos! Yes, legos for Christmas have kept my son busy and quiet.

Christmas Wrap Up!

I hope all of you had a Merry Christmas and will have a Happy New Year! I promised pictures of the gifts in action, so here they are.

First, for all you cat lovers, we have the cat man:

He was surprised about this gift, especially since the gift box was an old one with the words Petite Sophisticate on it. This shirt was not petite, nor was it sophisticated. Nonetheless, he loves the shirt, wears it often and will be off tomorrow to Jo-ann's to buy more fleece for more shirts.

Second, my son in his new jacket that matches his trousers. He did not know I was making it and was so excited that he wore it to church yesterday, too, without the hood. Not the best photo, maybe I will get a better one for tomorrow's Parting Shot.

Here is the super secret surprise gift for my husband that I could not tell you about in previous posts. He picked out the fabric quite some time ago and we thought it would be very interesting made up as a standard dress shirt. Not that you could find a tie to match!

What do you think?

The reason I ask is because we've received some varying reactions to the shirt. My daughter hated it, and my son loved it and wanted one, too. My mother in-law basically said that it took a lot of top stitching to make that fabric look good. I didn't like it while making it, but it has grown on me and looks much, much better on a person than on a dress form. He wore it to work Friday and got the same reactions; people either loved it or hated it.

It is a regular dress shirt, complete with pocket, collar with stand, fully finished cuffs and plackets and all the standard top stitching. Due to the varying colors in the shirt, I ended up top stitching in brown - I did pull out orange and blue thread, too, but both colors stood out too much. The brown blends in better.


He'll be looking for fabric tomorrow for more unique shirts, too. We finally have perfected the fit he likes, so it will be easy to make shirts from now on. The shoulders in this one are perfect, the length and the sleeves are just to his liking, too.

I don't have photos, but the children love their new pajamas and my daughter was very happy to get a new robe. Overall, it was a good Christmas for giving hand made gifts!

Parting Shot: My Gifts. I got chocolate, gift cards (neither pictured), sewing books (no surprise!), and a new camera! This gift is actually, for you blog readers, too, as I will be using the new camera from now on for blog pictures. I was using the larger Sony Alpha 100, which we bought to be compatible with our old Minolta lenses, since the old Minolta 35mm body was not usable anymore. I may still use the Sony for very detailed shots, but will mostly stick with the new Canon A590 IS.

My Son's Pajamas

I mentioned on Friday that I didn't make the pajamas for my son because my daughter was going to make them. Well, she worked on them over the past two days actually got them done today!

Her skills have really improved since the last time she wanted to sew something! She has much better control on the sewing machine and can read and understand quite a bit of the instructions. It helps that she's almost as tall as I am and can reach the foot pedal easily from the chair, now, too!

While I don't know if she'll ever develop hard core sewing skills, she at least can sew a seam. She was so excited to finish the project, so now she knows the feeling of staying with and accomplishing a task.

I will be taking the rest of the week off from blogging to spend with my family since they are on vacation from work and school. I'd like to wish you and your families a very Merry Christmas! Please take a few quiet moments from amid all the rush and excitement to contemplate the child in the manger and the true meaning of Christmas.

See you on Monday with more posts about BOH, a 2008 in review post and some ideas for 2009. I was actually embarrassed when I found out the number of things I sewed in 2008!

Parting Shot: Christmas Outfit. I did get to wear my outfit yesterday morning. Church was canceled for the evening due to the snow storm which left us with another 10 to 12 inches of snow. I'm not sure if I love the blouse, but I do love how the skirt turned out! I did actually lighten this photo, but you still can't see the drape. (Lory, yes, those are the pearls you sent me. They are absolutely perfect! Thank you!)

Bluebird of Happiness - Dress - Part II

A Tale of Two Muslins

A while back I mentioned that I discover (while looking for something else!) another dress pattern with a very similar style bodice, but yet in my size. Since the original bodice has some unusual pieces with the underarm gusset and integrated collar treatment, it is not the easiest pattern to grade down. I have partially fitted a first muslin, but it isn't quite right and I'm still swimming in it.

The nice thing about these patterns is that from mid ribcage down to the waist seam both patterns are the same. This means that I can still use the skirt pieces from the original Vogue Couturier pattern. The waist isn't the part that I'm have fitting problems with anyway. You can see in the photo below that while the pieces are not exactly the same, the total amount of fabric for the waist is nearly the same.

The real issue is through the bust, shoulder and armhole area. Because I am petite and smaller in the shoulders and waist, I usually buy my vintage patterns a size smaller than my bust measurement. I find there is plenty of ease in the bodices for the bust line, and it is easier to add at the bust line if needed than trying to subtract through the shoulders and armholes. The photo below shows the difference between the two patterns through the shoulder and armhole area. There is a french dart for the white pattern, but it isn't visible.

Here's the original muslin, even with taking it in, the shoulders are much too large. Too large that they won't stay in place and the bodice ends up around my waist. Not elegant or pretty at all. For the record, the shoulders and neck on my dressform are larger than my own, so that's why the bodice stays up and looks like it should.

This second bodice, a size smaller than the original is so much better, although it probably doesn't look like it!

Right away, it fit very well in the front, and only needing about 1" taken out at center back. The shoulder seam at the neckline was taken up 1" and tapered back to the original seam line about 4" from the neck edge. I will have to raise the neckline at center front a bit - these bodices are very low, despite what you see on the pattern envelope. They just didn't draw in the cleavage! I am hoping that I will be able to use the collar from the original pattern and make it work with the second pattern. You can see that I have some things pinned to the muslin to see how it will work Monday morning. I will be redrawing that neckline and trimming the excess muslin and then checking to see how that collar looks on me and if it needs to be trimmed down any.

While this might not seem like a lot of progress, but it really is. If you been sewing for any length of time, you know that getting the fit right is half of the job. If your pattern is pretty close to your size, it makes it that much easier.

Parting Shot: New Toy. We bought a snow blower from a colleague of mine that was moving to take a teaching position in England and was selling all his household goods. Today was the first real chance my husband had to use it (and will get to use it again for tomorrow's storm!) and he said it was worth every penny!

30 Minute Friday

Clothing and Accessory Envy

Thank you for the comments regarding the BOH coat! I appreciate the fact that you're following along and enjoying the process. It isn't finished yet, so keep watching for more to come after the holidays!

I did not get the pajamas done this week. They are actually my daughter's present to her brother so we will work on them together next week when she is home from school. Meanwhile, I've been using my 30 minutes to work on a top secret Christmas present which shall be revealed after Christmas. (Yes, it is for someone who reads my blog!)

Don't despair, because I do have a few things to show you. I have also decided to take another 30 minutes of my day to make myself a blouse and skirt for Christmas. The blouse is done, but the skirt is not. I will be able to finish it Saturday and wear the outfit to church on Sunday - if we have church, we're having a snow storm today and getting another one on Sunday.

Here's the blouse, below. Some of you might actually recognize this fabric. It is the same fabrics I used last year for my daughter's Christmas dress a beige satin overlayed with a black flocked organza. The inspiration was the Prada lace items that have been so popular. The buttons are vintage buttons from my collection. I had intended last year to make myself a blouse, but never even traced off a pattern. This year, I actually got it made.

This is Patrones #274, model #19:


This blouse originally had belt loops, but I left them off because I wanted to be able to wear tucked in as well as with a belt. One other thing to note about this model is that the cuffs are very narrow. This is hard to tell from the photo and line drawing since the blouse was not modelled on a real person, but photographed flat. The cuffs fit me snugly and I've got petite wrists. Measure carefully before cutting this one, if you do.

The skirt is BWOF 08/07, #113. My inspiration for the skirt was all the cute skirts I've seen others make recently, such as EricaB. and Tany. I got skirt envy and decided to make this one with some black wool from my collection that has a great drape for that front flounce.

The skirt at this point lacks a final fitting - I'll be basting the side seams and fitting tomorrow - and finishing the waist facing, lining, and hem. I will give you more details when it is done.

Last, but not least, I also go necklace envy! Can you tell I've been working too much on BOH? Tany has made some great pieces recently, and I started looking through my bead collection for just the right beads for a necklace. I really loved her idea of the oversized pearls, and when I came across the pearls you see below (a gift from a friend!), I knew they'd make a great necklace. It really isn't anything complicated, but works very well with the outfit.

Now, here's the great part of this Christmas outfit: everything you see was made from materials and supplies that I already had! I did not have to buy anything - I had all the buttons, the zipper, interfacings, jewelry findings, and fabrics right here.

Parting Shot: TV Zombies. It's Friday evening, today was the last day of school before Christmas break and there's a snowstorm outside. What better way to spend the evening than watching TV? (I could think of ways!) Actually, they don't watch much TV at all, so this is a big treat. My husband saved all the animated Christmas specials, so they have a whole evening of entertainment.

Bluebird of Happiness - Coat - Part XXV

The Borders - Phase 9, Part 2 aka Back to Beading

This is one of the most exciting parts of the work that I do - the part where it all comes together! Today you will get to see what I have been working towards with all these phases of work on the borders.

Now that all the edges are finished properly inside and out, it is time to attach the two pieces. Again, there is a moment of slight panic when the pieces are abutted for the first time. You never know if you've traced or sewn or clipped enough when turning! Thankfully, it is all good. Once the pieces are position properly and pinned, they are loosely basted together. The basting needs to keep the pieces aligned, yet have enough space (about 1/8" to 1/4") for the beads to be attached.

The beads and the stitching to attach them are the only things holding this border to the coat. I'm following the gold decorative stitching to add each bead; a bead goes on the edge where the is a valley in the stitching so that these gold beads visually alternate with the cream ones. These are the same size 8 seed beads that I used on the other edge of the border. (Yes, the higher the size number of the bead, the smaller the bead actually is.)

The basic procedure is to bring the needle up in the left side edge and pick up a bead:

Next, stitch down into the right side edge and back into the left side, under the bead. Repeat at the same bead - for strength.

Put needle back down into fabric at the left side and come up at the next place a bead needs to be stitched.

Repeat whole procedure. About - you know the drill - a thousand times. Yeah, not hard, not exciting if you think about the repetition of it all. Once in a while, I'll pull out some of the basting (which is removed at the end, anyway) and stand back and take a look. Now that's exciting - actually seeing the progress. It is enough to keep me inspired to keep going!

From the inside, the final product looks like what you see below. The lining does not bag - it just isn't attached to anything at the top right now.

I do hope to get this phase done by the end of Friday night. Meanwhile, I have been doing a little work on the dress and I will try to squeeze in a few posts about that before Christmas.

Parting Shot: Sneak Peek! Here it is, not finished by any means, but you get the idea. The sleeves still need to be attached and I need to figure out the collar, but I'll get that done soon.

Bluebird of Happiness - Coat - Part XXIV

The Moment of Truth - Phase 9, Part 1

This is it! This big moment where the borders are finally assembled with the coat! Before that actually happens, there is a lot of prep work that must be done. You see, I am planning to attach these borders to the coat with beads only, sort of like what is known as a strap or slot seam.

This means that both the edges of the border and coat must be finished before joining the two. The edges of the border are already done, which leaves the coat edges. The lining and the coat body have been constructed and now they need to be joined at the front and hem edges. As a side note here, the coat has raglan sleeves and is shaped at the neck with darts. Because of the thickness of the quilted outer fabric and the muslin underlined silk lining, I've slashed the darts and pressed them open. This distributes the bulk a little better than pressing the darts to one side.

If you've noticed, the edges of the border are curved, which means that the coat edges must match if they are to be joined. To make sure both pieces will match perfectly, the border is laid face down on the wrong side of the quilted coat body - here's the nervous moment - and hopefully, it will fit and the side seams will match.

Yes! It fit. The border side seams and fronts all matched the body of the coat. When modifying patterns like this there is always that moment of doubt when you wonder whether you left enough of a seam allowance, if there's enough fabric, if the border is too big or too small, and then what you're going to do about any or all of these problems.

In the photo above, you can see that I have the ruler and measuring tape out to make sure that the side seams are the exact same length and that everything else is the same distance from the neck edge.

The border edge is pinned and traced onto the wrong side of the coat body - this becomes the stitching line. The coat and lining are then carefully lined up and pinned together. This process takes a while because the lining and coat must match perfectly. The lining can not bag or sag at the hemline as it will spoil the entire effect. Once I thought I had it pinned, I would pick it up and let it hang from the neckline to see if the lining or coat bagged or sagged in any way. After adjusting and doing this a few times, I was pretty sure it was right.

The two pieces were stitched together, trimmed, clipped and pressed. The armhole and neck edges are not joined at this point. The respective sleeves will be attached to either the coat or lining once the border is on. After that, the collar and closure need to be done and lastly, some interior work on the lining (which will come much later!).

Whew. This really was the nerve wrecking and hard part.

Before Christmas, I promise a photo of the coat, not quite finished, but close enough so that you can get an idea of how it will look.

Parting Shot: Even in the Snow. Yes, the trash must go out. Today we got about four inches of snow, and with two more storms coming before Christmas, it looks like we will have a white Christmas.

Inside the Envelope - Advance 6904

This little gem from 1954 was just too much to pass up buying and then when I looked inside the envelope I found a few cool things, too.

First, this outfit is also supposed to be pajamas. From the line drawing, I can see something interesting about the top. It has buttons up the back! How many children do you know would be able to button *and* unbutton the top? I know that children are wiry little flexible things, but my poor kid would be trapped in his own pajamas. Just as a side note, this pattern was available in sizes 4 through 12. This one is a size 6 and too small for my son.


For pajamas these things are pretty nicely finished - the shoulders and armholes have flat felled seams. This is not the "2 Hours to Pajamas with serger shortcuts " pattern.

The cuffs of the sleeves remind me very much of the curved cuffs of the very popular cowboy outfits. The cuff is stitched to the wrong side of the sleeve, turned to the front and topstitched in place to finish it. Again, a very well-made pajama top!

The pants have flat-felled outser seams, and a fake fly. The instructions are incredible - you do everything short of really installing a zipper - check out the photo below. The really interesting thing is that the waist is finished off with elastic, too!

The helmet with visor is of course, the coolest part of the outfit, well finished with a bias binding and bias binding motifs.


Parting Shot: Christmas Tree. Here's this year's tree. It looks about the same each year, yet a little different. I think that depends on who is decorating it and if we decide to use all the ornaments and the ribbons.

Bluebird of Happiness - Coat - Part XXIII

Borders - Phase 8 - Beading

More beads?!? Absolutely. No major project of mine is complete without the thousands of beads that make most people's eyes cross and mine roll across the floor after a day of too much beading!

These beads are the ones in the smaller outer borders (ivory size 11 seed beads) and along the outer edge (gold size 8 seed beads). They could not be done before attaching the facing to the border because they'd be in the way of the presser foot of the sewing machine.

Thankfully, while there are a lot of these beads, this is easy beading to do. Stitch one bead in each space. Repeat. About a thousand times.

Tomorrow I have an Inside the Envelope for you. Once inside the vintage spacesuit pattern, I found too many interesting things to ignore.

Parting Shot: Archaeology. I received this journal today from my brother, who is an archaeologist. He co-authored and illustrated the article contained therein. He is quite the learned sibling!