Practice Makes Perfect

I do have some art projects planned for this year in addition to the 3 Studios Quilt Challenge, so for the past few months, off and on I've been practicing my free motion quilting. Doing it well on a non-stitch regulated domestic machine is not easy and does require practice for it to be nice enough to actually claim that you did it and show it to others.

To free motion quilt, the machine's feed dogs are drop and the piece is then stitched using a special quilting or darning foot. Your hands move the fabric in the desired pattern and the stitch size is determined by machine speed and hand speed. Consistency in stitch length and tension are of great importance to having the overall piece look nice from a technical stand point.

I've been practicing a few different things, mostly feathers and background fillers, hence all the samples you see in this post.

While this may seem repetitive, it does serve a purpose. There truly is something to be said for muscle and brain memory when it comes to these patterns. The more you do them, the more automatic they become and then you can start to fine tune all the little things that take the quilting from good enough to excellent.

I think that "practice makes perfect" is true with a lot of the techniques in sewing - including fitting. (I need to remember that when I'm working on my umpteenth revision of my trousers!) I have a student currently working on a project that involves bound buttonholes, and she's now working on close to her twentieth bound buttonhole. She's getting better at it, too, the last set I saw was meticulously lined up and perfect. Welt pockets are another example, as is putting in any kind of zipper. The more you do, the better you get. Sure there will be plenty of duds along the way, and we all have off days where it's best just to walk away from the machine, but in the end a little practice doesn't hurt.

Parting Shot: Caught Again. Pix and Wellie are almost cozy. They're actually sharing the blanket and she's not hissing at him. He's certainly man of the house, but Pix does get R-E-S-P-E-C-T from him.

The Trouser Saga

In my quest for a pair of trousers that fit like my hiking pants, I have now made a second muslin. Which, fit better, but not quite right either. Sigh.

Back at the drawing board, I've decided to trace off the current back piece - the part that doesn't really fit right and make alterations on a fresh copy.

Armed with a third muslin, things still weren't right. I tried the hiking pants on again, thinking that I was crazy and that they just couldn't fit as good as I thought. No, they fit great, in fact, if they didn't have the crazy pockets, articulated knees and other hiking specific details, I'd wear them all the time. Reality is, you can't wear hiking pants everywhere. They are made for a specific activity, and that's their place in my wardrobe.

Don't get me wrong, the hiking pants are not perfect - they are still a bit big in the waist - everything that fits my lower half is too big in the waist, that's not a new revelation. Since they fit nicely in the seat and thigh, a real miracle with my body, I can deal with the waist. Now I am on a quest to get a pattern for these trousers.

Since this obviously isn't a "sew it in an afternoon" kind of project, my next move will be to take a pattern from the hiking pants. The Patrones pattern is very close - the front is exactly the same, the back is the same through the crotch curve, but different at the side seams and back yoke. I think I'll work on that next week. Right now, I have other projects that need my attention, namely things for clients and the Puzzle quilt, costumes and anything else that comes my way. I'm in no hurry for the trousers. I've lived this long with a pair I really, really liked!

Parting Shot: More Socks. My next knitting project is another pair of socks. It occurred to me that I did not have a red pair of socks. Strange, but true. I found a pattern I really liked for cabled socks and now that I've got the gauge right for this Cascade sock yarn, I'll have some red cabled socks.

Winter Perk Up Ensemble

As promised, here are the photos of the new outfit I wore today:



I also wore a teal colored sweater with it. I would have liked to have worn tights and boots, but I'm still searching for boots that fit my feet and my calves.


Finally, this is what happens when you use the same fabric for different family members:

This was *totally* unplanned.

Tomorrow, an update on those trousers, which I fear will end up being a long term project.

Parting Shot: Pattern Weight. He so pleased that he's helping me out. What is it about cats and fabric? I know quite a few of you have fabric weights and fabric approvers, too.

Puzzled!

Back at the beginning of the year, one of my goals was to complete the 3 Creative Studios 2010 Quilt Challenge. Every two months, there is a theme and each participant should finish a quilt of their choosing with that theme. This is different for me, as I normally do not work with someone else's ideas. I have plenty of ideas of my own, and never enough time to sew them! It is good discipline to work with whatever you've been given, so hence the challenge for me.

So, as you've probably deduced by now, the theme for Jan/Feb is the word "puzzle". Right. I have been puzzling over this for almost four weeks now. I know have two months to make the quilt, but if you know how I work, I spend at least as much time percolating an idea as I do making it come to life. This is how I work on my art garments, I plan anywhere from 6 to 12 months in advance. My strategy for these quilts is to percolate for a month and create for a month.

Knowing that my time was getting short, and I'd need plenty of time to actually make something - you know it will probably be labor intensive and have a bazillion beads (ok, at least a hundred beads!) - I had to come up with something, but what? I started by researching puzzles - word games, picture puzzles, 3D puzzles - of various cultures. Nope, not inspiring. Then I looked up things that puzzle scientists. Nothing there inspiring. From there I started to think about not only scientists, but other people who have jobs that require them to solve puzzles. That naturally made me think about my brother and his fiancee, who are both archaeologists. In part, archaeologists do digs to find artifacts to answer questions and solve puzzles as to how people lived and their motivations for leaving behind the items, big and small, that they did.

From there, my brain skipped to a conversation I had with a lady in our church before choir practice this Sunday, who is a bit older than me, she having been a child in WWII. I mentioned that I collect "stuff" from the 1950's and always wondered to whom all those pieces belonged, why they were bought, where they were worn, etc. Then the light bulb went off.

I will make a quilt using various elements and representations of the items I've bought over the years and have puzzled about their previous owners.

Now to figure out how to make this quilt. Tune in next Tuesday for an update on this project!

Parting Shot: Kitty Cubby. Back to his old tricks, Wellie has found a new spot to hide from and to surprise his friend, Kiwi.

Burda 12/09 #122

Finished!

Sorry, no pictures of me wearing it. I will post one on Thursday, as I plan to wear the outfit on Wednesday. It might look a bit long compared to the other versions that others have made, and it is actually between the length of the shorter version and longer version, but with all the details (top stitching!) of the shorter one.

I added the belt loops, although I'm not sure why. I rarely wear a belt or things tucked in for that matter. Belts at the waist do not always help the short waisted figure.

Burda only had one button on the waistband, but the waistband is wide, so I used two buttons instead. The motif on the buttons works nicely with the facing fabric.

I'm really happy with the skirt - it turned out very well, I was able to try out a new technique, and is the perfect color boost for the middle of winter. Tomorrow I will get those trousers cut out and started!

Parting Shot: Another Scarf. I've completed another scarf, this one is for my son. The yarn is a washable acrylic blend, and while it isn't the nicest or most expensive yarn, it will stand up nicely to the use (and abuse) of an 8 year old boy.

Burda 12/09 #122

Getting There

Between yesterday afternoon and today I made good progress on the skirt. Here it is now, waiting for the waistband and belt loops to be finished, the flounce to be added and the hem finished.


I'm really pleased with how the welt pockets turned out. I used Kenneth King's ribbon method from his recent book, Cool Couture. I did change one little thing, instead of using ribbon as directed, I used a strip of fusible interfacing cut to the same dimensions and fused in place before starting the technique.


I will probably use this technique from now on when making double welt pockets due to the ease and great results.

I should be able to finish this tomorrow and be able to start those trousers next week. Of course that depends on me finishing things for my clients and how many costumes I'll have to work on!

Parting Shot: Sunset. Yesterday's sunset was so pretty that my son ran out with the camera to take pictures of it. The picture really does not do it justice - the sky was full of beautiful color, graduating from color to the next.

Burda 12/09 #122

A Good Start

Thanks for all the compliments on the Jalie top. It's nice to know I'm not the only one who gets the winter blahs and craves some color!

Between all the errands I ran today, I was able to get the skirt cut out and upper back section constructed! So far, so good:

I found a neat print in my collection of cotton prints for the waistband facing and pocket linings, since I was a bit short on the corduroy to cut out those extra pieces:

I'm hoping to finish this skirt this weekend. There is a lot of topstitching, but if I can finish the front welt pockets and the zipper tomorrow, I should be able to show you the finished outfit on Monday.

Parting Shot: Bargain. It is not too early to think about Easter dresses, so I've been watching online sales and the clearance at Jo-ann's for off season fabric deals. Today, I was able to take my daughter with me and she picked out this pink embroidered rayon/linen which ended up being $3.50 per yard. We bought 4 yards, plus the Simplicity pattern for the dress and after my other discount ended up paying only $13.33 for *all* of it. The original cost *per yard* of the fabric was $14.99.

Not Trousers

Another Jalie 2794 Sweetheart Top

I went to get the black corduroy I had in my collection to make the new Patrones trousers, and quickly found out what I thought was enough for trousers was not. There is enough for a skirt or something smaller, but not trousers. After a trip to Joann's, I came home with some denim good enough for a pair of trousers, but cheap enough to not feel guilty about if they turn into muslin #2. Of course, the denim needs to washed and dried a few times before use, so I have to wait.

Meanwhile, I've started a different ensemble for myself, consisting of a skirt and top in the two fabrics below.


This was an ensemble I considered making in the fall, and then decided not to for various reasons. Now is the perfect time since it seems that mid-winter is always sort of blah and a few new bright pieces of clothing always seem to help. I already had both fabrics in my collection along with the patterns and notions, so it was a good idea all around.

Here's the top I made this morning between loads of laundry:



It isn't anything terribly exciting, but it is a pattern that gives reliably good results. The fabric is from Kashi at MetroTextiles in NYC. My daughter has a top in this fabric, and after making this one, there is still enough fabric for one more top.

The skirt will be Burda 12/09 #122, the flared skirt that I've seen made up several times now. All the versions I've seen have turned out really well, and I've been wanting one, too. It will also give me the opportunity to try out a new welt pocket technique. I'm going to try to get that traced up tonight and cut out tomorrow.

As far as the trousers are concerned, I'll get back to those next week.

Parting Shot: Attack! Wellie is very playful and will chase the girls quite a bit around the house. He doesn't have front claws, and I'm not sure if the girls know this or not. He does have his teeth, but Pix won't let him mess with her and Kiwi will eventually get tired of him and run under the bed.

The Kindness of Others

A week or so ago, I posted a Parting Shot photo of two vintage shirt patterns with monograms, with intent that one of the patterns would be used in the Great Vintage Shirt Project, most likely for March (I've got another idea for February). The only problem with the patterns was that neither of them had their monogram transfers! Jessica contacted me and said that she had one of the patterns, complete with monograms and offered to send them to me.

I took her up on the offer and here they are:

Wasn't that great of her? I've met a lot of people via the Internet and while I've seen both ends of the spectrum of human behavior, what impresses me the most is the wonderful acts of sharing and kindness amongst sewers/crafters.

Since I had the transfers, I couldn't resist taking a few shots to show you the details.

First, let's note that this transfer is the one that does belong with this pattern. It was also used for a couple of other pattern numbers, too.

That means that the letters are exactly the right size. The other pattern, a similar McCall's, stated that the letters were 2 1/2", and so are these.

What to do if you wanted a different size or style alphabet? No problem, just get Simplicity 4040!

There's even a cute little trial motif section:

Not that I would use it. I have plenty of vintage embroidery transfers and have used them on various projects over the past 25+ years. I never use them as they were originally intended, to be ironed onto fabric and then embroidered. Inks and transfer methods have changed a lot over the years and some of those transfer can be more permanent than I'd like!

So, what I have done with these? I have very carefully photocopied the entire sheet so that Jessica can have the transfers back, and I'll use my own methods to transfer the letter(s). I feel it is important to keep patterns together if possible, especially vintage ones. I'm just thankful to have had these to photocopy!

Thanks so much Jessica, I'm putting the transfers back in the mail this afternoon!

Tomorrow: Trouser progress, or not.

Parting Shot: In Action? Here are the fleece pants, not quite in true action. He does like them and is happy that they are warm, as he wore them home from the gym last night. In this photo, with his matching fleece top, he says he has a Snuggie that fits.

Patrones #286 Model #21 - Trousers

Here I am again, working on yet another type of trousers. This particular inspiration occurred when I bought a new pair of hiking pants at the end of December. There really is not much variation in fit styles of hiking pants - they're mostly functional with a lot of pockets, room to move and enough room in the leg to be worn over hiking boots. I was extremely pleased and happy to find a pair in my size in a short length (as opposed to a regular length). Of course this was the only style in the store that came in short, so I took a deep breath and tried them on. They weren't bad and they were the perfect length.

What is different about these pants is that they are much closer to the body in fit than I am accustomed to wearing. I suppose because of my curvy lower body, I just assumed I couldn't wear a closer, straighter shape. I was wrong, these pants actually made my legs look narrower and longer, which is a feat hard to do when you're under 5'2". I then set off to find a trouser pattern with a similar fit. In Patrones #286 I found this pair:

Close fitting, yet the leg was tapered a bit more than I wanted, as they needed zippers at the ankle. Thankfully, that is an easy adjustment, compared to the trials of fitting the rest of trousers.

I made up a trial pair without pockets or waistband and started the fitting process. I've been working on that off and on for about two weeks and I think I've come to the point where I can cut out a pair and see how they fit. You can see by all the different color threads that this pair went through at least a couple of adjustments.

We'll see how they turn out in the next few days. If this next version of the trouser fits well, then I might make a pair in denim, or at least save the pattern so that I have one that I know works for this style.

The main lesson learned here is to at least try something on, even if you don't think it is your style or fit. It doesn't cost anything to try something on, and you'll walk away knowing whether a style works for you or not.

Parting Shot: Bluebird. This past weekend, Bluebird of Happiness was shown at the Road to California quilt show and received a second place. Elizabeth so kindly sent me some photographs from the show and has allowed me to share them with you. I really liked how it was displayed to show one of the bluebirds on the coat lining.

Fleece Athletic Pants

Finished!

I found enough time over the weekend to finish the fleece athletic pants. Once we got the fitting done, the rest was easy. All I had to do was take everything apart and sew it for real.

We did discover a few things during the fitting. The waist definitely needed to be full elastic, plus the belt. The belt is mainly there for looks, but the front looks a bit odd at center front without full elastic. Now it is finished properly, and looks much better when worn.

We also discovered that the legs were a bit fuller through the thigh and narrowed a bit too much at the ankle. After telling my husband that the pattern was published in 1994, he remarked that there was, "still a bit of Hammer in these pants". Right. (After a bit of internet searching, Simplicity *did* publish a true MC Hammer pants pattern, complete with his photo on the envelope! Check out this blog post!) I thought so, too, and was able to trim them out in the right places to get more of a straight leg.

To finish off the newly modernized legs, I put in the requested side zippers and a coverstitch hem:


Next project: a new pair of trousers for me. I've been working on the muslin off and on for a couple of weeks now. Now that these fleece pants are done, I think I'll work on my own trousers!

Parting Shots: Winter Hike. Saturday I went on a solo hike up Mt. Tom. It looked like the best day to hike this weekend, considering the 6 plus inches of snow we got last night/today. When I got there, I saw a little cloud around the summit. Not good.

Sure enough, when I got to the summit the cloud had not moved. Had it moved, I would have had some great views of Mt. Washington and the other peaks on the other side of Crawford Notch. This is about all I could see from the summit of the Pemi Wilderness which is the view from the true summit, which is to say, nothing. You can see how much snow is encrusted on everything:

Here's a quick peek down the trail, that I came up near the summit. The trees are so close and snow covered, it was almost like going through a tunnel.

Still Costuming . . .

We're down to the last 10 or so costumes, which includes the Norsemen, Roman soldiers and various small parts/townspeople. I'm working on the Norsemen.

We've decided to give the Norsemen fleece-like vests, "leather" helmets, belts and arm guards in addition to the tunics they already have. Fortunately, I will be able to make all this stuff for less than $20.00. The fleece was the most expensive part at $12.00, but the brown vinyl and weird upholstery piece were both remnants, averaging $2.00 each.

All the decorative "studs", which were once buttons, were donated. All I had to do was clip off the shanks. Since they were plastic this was an easy task with the wire cutters. (You can see that you-know-who was happy as could be taking a nap on extra fleece pieces!)

Most of the leather work is top stitched with a heavy thread in the bobbin, since it wouldn't run through the top of the machine. Very easy to do and adds a lot to the costumes.


The actors were excited to see the costume this afternoon when I brought it to play practice. They really are into their parts and have choreographed all the fights scenes on their own. The costumes are just the icing on the cake.

Now I need to clean up the work room and then finish the last belt and two pair of arm guards! Maybe tomorrow I can work on the black fleece warm-up pants for a little bit.

Parting Shot: Jacket. Winter clearance sales are great, especially since we'll be having two to three more months of cold weather. I got a great deal on a hiking specific jacket today and the bonus is that it is my favorite color, red!