Tackyfabulous!

My Niece's Christmas Present

My niece is 5 years old, and really likes Fancy Nancy. Fancy Nancy is extremely popular with this younger age group (as are princesses, fairies, etc.) because she is very extravagant and over the top. Since my niece already has several of the FN books, I bought the one she didn't have: the new Christmas book. To go with the book, my daughter and I made some very fancy Christmas themed dress up clothes. I think I've used a sufficient amount of embellishments: rhinestones, gold ric-rac, gold ribbon, two kinds of pom-poms, fluffy boa, gold lace, plastic mint candies, and beaded trim. This of course, is in addition to already sparkly fabrics.

I made a little vest:

Here's the skirt to match, complete with extra rhinestones:


My daughter helped to make the hair clips and the necklace. We had extra candies and pom-poms and I knew I had absolutely no use for these things, so rather than throw out the extras, we made a necklace:


I think this is the tackiest stuff I've made in recent memory. Which, of course, means that she should love it!

Parting Shot: Gift? I'm not sure if this present would be acceptable to put under the tree.

Burda 110/09 #130 - Pajama Top

Done!

Amazingly, today I was able to finish the top! Not without some slight drama. The sleeves for model #130 are not full length sleeves. I did not realize this until I had already attached one and tried it on. The sleeves are more like 3/4 or 7/8 sleeves. If you have the magazine, check out the model photo, the sleeves do not come to her wrists. If you want full length sleeves, either add to this sleeve or check out the sleeve for the robe - it might be full length.

I made the sleeve cuffs slightly different from the Burda directions, and I think this is a little bit easier. I did all of this construction *before* stitching the sleeve seams. Here's how I did it:

First, I stitched the piping to the cuff facing.


Second, I stitched the cuff facing to the sleeve, *right* side of facing to *wrong* side of sleeve.

Third, I pressed the sleeve cuff facing to the front, and the piping seam allowance under.

Last, I top stitched the sleeve cuff in place right along the piping. This hold the sleeve cuff to the sleeve and adds a nice finishing touch. This accomplishes the same thing the Burda instructions intended to and you're finished in three easy seams.


The pockets are easily made, too, and a little different than what I'm used to. The outside of the pocket has piping, which is stitched in between the upper and lower pieces.


Then, that pocket is stitched to a pocket lining (of the same shape and size) leaving and opening for turning. The pocket now is fully lined and ready to top stitch to the garment. All the edges are neatly finished and you don't have to turn under those rounded corners before apply the pocket.

I am pleased with the top and it matches the other two pieces in the set from the same issue of Burda. Here are the previous two pieces together:

Up next, a new shirt for my husband. Next week it looks like I'll need to go back to 30 Minutes Per Day - I've got too many things to make before Christmas. They are easy things, so they'll be perfect for this approach.

I will be taking a break until Monday as my family is home for the holiday and we will be having some family fun. Have a wonderful Thanksgiving and I'll see you on Monday!

Parting Shot: Helping. My son is helping to prepare his pumpkin for mini pies for Thanksgiving. He has been saving this last pumpkin from his garden since sometime in October in the refrigerator hoping that it would not spoil before we could use it. Today we roasted and pureed the pumpkin and made the pies.

Burda 11/09 #130 - Pajama Top

Shawl Collar and Some Thoughts

Thanks for the compliments on the red scarf and those pancakes. I hope I didn't make you too hungry! If so, you might want to skip today's parting shot!

For such a seemingly simple garment - a pajama top - there are some interesting details and construction. Today we'll take a look at the shawl collar. I've done a lot of shawl collars over the years and they all follow more or less the same construction order you'd find in any Big 4 pattern or book like the Reader's Digest Guide to Sewing. This one is a bit different and something I had not encountered before. Take a look at the line drawing of the front:

Notice that there is a dart at the shoulder/neck area. I have seen a similar, but not exactly the same construction in a vintage coat with a shawl collar. What do with the dart? Well, for starters, I read Burda's instructions. Second, I went, "Huh?!?". I'm pretty sure we've all had this reaction at one time or other to Burda's instructions, with various degrees of incredulity and expletives.

Not one to waste an opportunity to learn something new, I followed the instructions and was pleasantly surprised. I pretty much knew that the instructions would work, I was more pleased with the actual results.

That dart is split open down the center, like a french dart before any stitching is done. Of course, Burda does not give any instructions for staystitching, which I never skip if I'm clipping into any fabric. After staystitching right on the dart stitching lines as seen below, I cut the dart open as instructed. With the collar and shoulder seam free from each other I was able to stitch just the shoulder seams and in a separate seam, the collar sections at center back.

Now for the really interesting part: starting at one side, the dart is stitched from the point inward and continues right into stitching the collar to the back neck and then continues right into the other dart and down to its point. In the photo below, which is difficult to see because I photographed this after I stitched the facing in, the dart is under my thumb and continues to the right, which goes right into the collar and back neck edge at the right of the photo.

Hidden under the collar, here is the resulting dart:

I had never done this, and it worked great! That got me to thinking: what if I would have skipped the dart and just made the collar the way I already knew how? Would I have learned anything, or would it have been just another project? Personally, I like doing things new ways and having a repertoire of techniques to chose from for a particular task. Learning something new keeps me fresh and interested in my projects. How about you? Are you alert to opportunities for new techniques or are you satisfied with the way you've always done a particular task? Let me know what you think!

Here's the pajama top as it is now, hopefully tomorrow I'll have some time to work on it.

Parting Shot: Homemade Bread. My MIL likes to use my homemade bread for her special stuffing, so the big loaf is for her. The small loaf is for us, and I know it won't last long! In a couple of hours once the loaves have risen, this bread will be in and out of the oven and hard to resist.

Red Knit Scarf - Done!


I finished the red scarf today. It seems like I have been knitting on it for quite a while, but I finished the knitting yesterday and put the fringe on today. With the help of a book, I was able to wrap the yarn for the fringe and then cut it off so that I'd have length of yarn that were about the same length.


With the help of a large crochet hook I attached all the fringe:



After it was all attached, it was an easy job with the rotary cutter to make all the fringe nice and even.


I'm really happy with it. Now I'm not sure what I'll be knitting next!


I have been sewing today, but it is for a client and I don't have permission to show it. I also got the pajama top cut out today, and will try to get that started tomorrow. Right now, I'm going to go look at the new Burda that came in the mail today.

Parting Shot: Perfect Pancakes. We have an electric stove and some really nice pans. That means that making things like pancakes takes a bit of careful preheating and some luck so that the end result is edible and not burnt. My husband finally decided that it was time to get an electric griddle so that he could make nice pancakes every time. The bonus is that we can now make six at a time instead of one at a time.

Burda 11/09 #134

Finished!


The little top is done and I'm really pleased with it. It is exactly how I hoped it would turn out. I do have confess that I did not follow all of Burda's instructions, but took a few short cuts.

First, I used ribbon instead of making self fabric ties for the front casings. The ribbon was much easier to thread through the casings, and was already done. Making tiny self-fabric ties out of poly charmuese is not easy because it doesn't hold a nice crease like real silk does!

For much the same reasons, I chose to finish the top edge and make straps with some red lingerie elastic that I had in the collection. You can see how the elastic continues as a strap in the photo below. This was much easier than dealing with the fabric itself to bind the edge and make straps. I did not do adjustable straps - the elastic is stretchy enough and I don't foresee any one else wearing this and needing to make adjustments!

The other nice thing about using the elastic was that I could get a better fit. I had a inkling that the top might be a bit big, so I tried it on over a top and sweater, and it fit easily. I knew then that just binding the top edge would be disaster. I cut the elastic shorter through the back only so that it would gather the fabric for a nice fit after the elastic was applied.

Now I just need to make the matching long sleeve pajama top as an extra layer. It gets cold here and the extra layer will be nice to have!

Parting Shot: Skipping. We went on a quick, easy four mile hike this afternoon to the Greeley Ponds. While at the upper pond, the children tried to skip rocks.

Burda 11/09 #134

Shorts and Bodice "Trim"

Well, the shorts go together very quickly, just like any elastic waist short or trouser. I made a casing and used a narrow elastic for the waist instead of applying a lingerie type elastic to the top edge. For this kind of fabric that is prone to fraying, this looks neater to me.

To start work on the top, I've trimmed the upper edge of the front upper bodice sections. The first thing I did was to cut a section of just the lace and press under one edge. This was then pinned in place on the right side of the front section. The original piece has a curved top edge. Because I'm using a straight piece of trim, I'll have to trim off that excess red later and just leave it straight.

The next step is stitching the trim piece down. It sounds pretty easy, but this is a slippery charmuese and the seam is being stitched on the bias on the red piece. This could be a formula for disaster, but was easily avoided by the use of some tear away stabilizer on the underside. With the stabilizer underneath, it was an easy matter to stitch along the pressed fold of the lace and attach the two pieces together. The stabilizer was removed after stitching.


Once pressed, both pieces are trimmed. The lace piece is trimmed to the original size and shape of the pattern piece. The red piece was trimmed just along the top to be even with the lace piece. You can see the original pattern piece in the top of the photo below, and how the top edge is curved. Because of my trim choice, that edge will now be straight.

These pieces are now ready to use so that I can finish the top in the next few days.

Parting Shot: Got Tuna? It's lunchtime and the sound of the can opener brings the cats to the kitchen so quickly that they've been nicknamed "Pavlov's cats". Kiwi can not wait to get the empty tuna can. Of course there's more tuna in the can than I'll eat, so everybody gets tuna for lunch.

Burda 11/09 #134

Only I Could Make This Complicated . . .

Give me a fairly simple pattern and an interesting print and I can make it so complicated it isn't funny! While the print is beautiful, it does take some engineering to use it wisely.

Armed with the pattern pieces, I started laying out different ways I could cut out the top, make it interesting but not make it too much. This is another reason I only trace just the pattern piece and use white tissue paper - it is easy for me to get an idea of how different combinatons of prints will look.

After trying out a few ideas, I came up with one I'm happy with:

• plain red upper bodice, border print at hem - not bad, but what you'd expect to see done with such a print.
  

• border print upper bodice, plain lower bodice - not bad either, but looks a little top heavy in this print.
  

• border print upped bodice, border print at hem, too - Hmmm . . way too much print for such a small garment!
  

• upper portion with lace cut as "trim", bottom portion with full border - this is my favorite of the lot and I think this will do it. It has trim, but not too much trim.
  

I'm going to take the lace portion of the print and stitch it it a red section to put "trim" on the upper bodice top edge. I'll show you how I'm going to do that in another post.

The shorts are easy - they are going to be the central red print; the little top will be busy enough with the rest of the print.

Right. Now I actually need to sew the outfit!

Parting Shot: One of the Other Cats. Yes, we still have the other two cats, contrary to popular belief that they're gone because you've seen quite a bit of Wellie recently. Here's Pix, thinking that I'm going to sit - she's a real lap cat. All I wanted was for her to come over for a picture!

Next!

I always have a big list of things I want to sew, and it always seems that someone in the family needs something new. I've decided that my next project will be some new lounge wear for me. After that I'll tackle the plaid Vogue 1132 suit and my daughter's Christmas outfit. I do hope it will work that order, but you never know because of costuming and client jobs in between.

Here's the plan:

Patterns: From the latest Burda mag, 11/09, styles #130, #134 and possibly #131.

Fabric: Red flannel backed satin for the pajama top, and the print charmuese for the rest of the pieces. I think I can do some clever cutting with the print for an interesting set.

Now, I hope to get these patterns traced and cut tomorrow, but we'll see. I have a muslin fitting tomorrow for a client's Christmas party dress and ensemble practice, plus I need to something with that Egyptian costume that's been hanging around in the studio for waaaaay to long.

Parting Shot: Another Give Away. ****The yarn has been claimed!******

Simplicity 2337 - Vintage Trousers

I Thought I Was Done . . .

Until I looked behind me and saw that I didn't stitch close enough to the invisible zipper coils and ended up with a not-so-invisible zipper! LOL! Not quite the smooth look I was going for.

After fixing that, I think I've got wearable trousers. Sorry for the weirdness of the fabric - the camera does strange things to prints sometimes, and now these look like moire taffeta. I promise that they are not.

The wool drapes a little more than the twill, and the waist ended up a little bigger than I wanted, but overall, I'm pleased with the trousers and will probably wear them a lot this winter. I should make a pair in brown, too and maybe a subtle plaid.

Parting Shot: Guess Who? Yeah, you know, that big orange cat who is into everything. That's how Wellie is!

Simplicity 2337 - Vintage Trousers

Pockets

I got the pockets and side seams done on the trousers today - no minor feat after cleaning the house, cooking for company and taking a fun little shopping trip to Sephora with my daughter.

These are not the most exciting pockets in the world, but they're done and have some nice little extras.

First, the front pocket bags have a facing of the fashion fabric. There is a line on the pattern piece for the facing, which I traced onto both pocket bags.

To make the facing, I serged one side of a rectangle of fabric wider and longer than the facing needed to be. I then turned the serged edge under and pressed it:

The pressed edge is then placed with the serged side down along the traced line on the pocket bag. After edge stitching it in place and pressing, the piece looks like the one on the left in the photo below. After pressing the facing piece is trimmed to match the pocket bag shape, so that the front pocket bag looks like the piece on the right.

I also used stay tape to strengthen the front of the trousers where the pocket is attached so that the opening does not sag or stretch out of shape. I simply incorporated the stay tape while stitch the front pocket bag to the side seam.

Here's the pocket all finished from the outside, clean and simple:

From the inside, although I still need to serge around the pocket bag, just to finish it nicely:

Tomorrow, I think I'll be able to finish constructing the trousers and maybe get started on the lining.

Parting Shot: Red Jacket, Again. Here's how I wore the red jacket last night to the concert, with black trousers and a white blouse. The concert, by the way, was excellent and *standing room only*. I stood for about half the concert, while my husband stood for the whole thing.