Burda 12/09 #120

The Red Sweatshirt Fabric From NYC

I've been looking for a while for a fabric for Burda 12/09 #120, and finally found something I liked in NYC: the red sweatshirt fabric. It is soft, a nice weight, and a nice bright color.
Ann had already made this top, so I knew it would be a bit long. I also noted that the front opening and hood were a bit big for my petite frame. I traced off a size 36 and then made the following alterations: shortened the placket by 3" (otherwise it was almost to my waist), shortened the sleeves by 1 1/2", shortened the hood by 2" (I just cut off two inches at the bottom). Those changes worked well, you can see the shorter placket below. I still had to deal with the hem length.

I decided to try on the top before finishing the hems and take some pictures at various hem lengths to see what would look the best. Here they are:

A. Original hem length - made without the side slits, this would almost be dress length for me.
B. 4" shorter than original.

C. 8" shorter than original.


D. 10" shorter than original.

I showed the pictures to my husband and asked what he thought. He did not like C at all - the hem is right at the widest part of my body and just about sleeve hem length, too. He liked A and D the best. What do you think? For the moment, it is a bit shorter than A, but I think I'm still going to take off a couple more inches to make it less like a dress and more like a tunic proportional to my body size. This will be pretty easy as I finished the hems with the coverstitch machine.

Other than just some proportional changes, I sewed the top as Burda instructed and really like the finished top. It is comfortable, and the tunic length is a little different from the regular length sweaters I usually wear.

Parting Shot: One Done, One To Go. I've been working on my current pair of socks more than usual this week and I got one finished. Now I'll have to get going so that I can get the second one done!

Spring's First Blush - Part IV

Edge Finishing

For this project, I will be finishing the edges before doing any of the beading. As it is, the edges are raw, and they need to be bound in some way. Of course, this isn't the easiest project to finish easily, with inside and outside curves, plus four corners that are not necessarily 90 degrees. Add to that the piece is only 8"x6" at the widest and longest places and it is a delicate operation to get the binding done.

I also did not want to actually see the binding, so I chose a final width of 3/8" and turned it completely to the wrong side. After cutting and pre-shaping the bias strips, I stitched the strips to the piece, turned them to the wrong side and hand stitched them down. It was also during this phase that I added the ribbon ties. They were basted on to the piece and stitched permanently to the piece with the bias binding strips.

To add a little extra to the finished edges, I did a little picot beading all the way around the edge in a matching colored size 11 seed bead.

Next week, we'll take a look at the beading!

Parting Shot: Scraps. Wellie and my son had a great time playing with some scraps from cutting out the new red top this morning.

Puzzle Quilt

Last Piece in Place

If you haven't noticed, I haven't done a puzzle quilt post this week until today. I finally got the quilt finished, although a little later than I'd like to have finished it. I'll save the comments for later in this post, so here it is (oops, sorry, cut off the top 1/4"!):

This piece is 12"x12" square, and I think it turned out pretty well, as I designed some of it as I went. Remember that the theme is "puzzle", and my final title is "Whose Things Are These?". Notice that the necklaces and flowers that represent the earrings form question marks, as a little extra to the whole theme.

There is a lot of beading detail, not that that's a big surprise! Let's take a closer look:

Here's the blue flower I showed a while ago, now complete with the rest of the flowers and leaves:

Here's the detail of one section, you can see that I've joined the three sections with beads - not a new technique for me, right?;) You can barely see it, but the handkerchief section is echo quilted, while the other two sections have different background fillers.

Yes, those are real necklaces. I made them for this project and they are couched to the quilt in the shape of a question mark. The dot of the question mark is a cluster of flowers that imitate a pair of vintage earrings that have a cluster of three similarly colored flowers made of tiny painted shells.

The top corner section inspiration was taken from the vintage compact, which has pretty little flowers with pearl centers:

I'm fairly happy with the quilt - I had an idea of where I was going with it when I started, but wasn't sure exactly of the final product. It is a bit more abstract of an interpretation of the theme, but I feel that it relates to me and the things I love to collect.

I can't wait to see what next theme will be. It will be announced Mar. 1.

Parting Shot: Cookies! My daughter and I made cookies today to take to a friend's house tonight. Part of getting to help is getting to lick the beater!

LindsayT: No, the red fabric is not quilted - wish I would have seen that one, probably should have asked! It is a sweatshirt fabric I found in the Annex. Even so, it is still soft after washing and didn't turn stiff and boardy like fabric I could have bought locally. My son asked the staff at Mood about Swatch and they said he had to stay home yesterday due to the weather; maybe next time we'll see him. I did see him last fall when I visited.

NYC Trip

I took the children to NYC yesterday. While the weather was not the best (cold and rainy) we did have a good time!

Our first stop was Mood because my son wanted to see Swatch the dog. Swatch was not there because of the weather, so we went to Metro Textiles to see Kashi and pick out some fabric. Here's what we got there, from left to right: shirting for my husband, a green plaid shirting for my son, a rayon woven for my daughter picked out by my son, and a knit for my daughter.

Not to be left out, I bought this piece of border eyelet for myself:

From there, we went to Daytona Trim to visit Ric and Rac, the shop cats. My son was not disappointed, as he was able to meet Ric:

Then came along Rac, who was so friendly he wanted to climb right up on my son and investigate everything - just like another orange cat that I know.

We then decided to go to Paron and Paron's Annex, where we picked up the fabrics below: the aqua Banana Republic stretch shirting (they also have pink and lavender; all three are in the Annex) for my daughter and a red, very soft (even after washing) sweatshirt fabric. You'll see more of that later this week!

My son was hungry so we set off toward Times Square to satisfy one of his goals for the day: a giant pretzel. Looks like we found one:

After walking around Times Square, doing a little shopping, visiting the library to get out of the rain, and then getting a nice meal, we did a little more fabric shopping. We visited Lace Star, which I had never been to. If you need sumptuous lace and all sorts of other fancy fabrics, this is the place to shop! I always try to visit at least one new store every time I go to NYC and Lace Star did not disappoint. After hot chocolates, we got on the bus and headed home. Despite the weather, we had a great day and plan to visit Central Park and some of the museums on the next trip either in the spring or summer, when it isn't cold or raining!

Parting Shot: Treasures. My son is a collector of little things. These are his little treasures from his first trip to NYC.

Spring's First Blush - Part III

The Quilting

Since this piece is relatively small, approximately 8" wide by 6" tall, the quilting went rather quickly as I didn't have to fill huge areas. I wanted to do a few different styles of quilting, so I divided up the piece into smaller section and did some smaller scale work.

I started with the gold double lines that separate the left section from the middle section. Once the gold double lines are stitched, then I was able to fill in with an overall circular pattern. This was done with free motion stitching and a Sulky shiny poly thread that matched the fabric. After adding the other gold lines, then I could fill in the diamond quilted area. Once that was done, all I had left was the flowers and filler in the left section. The flower stems and leaves were quilted in a green shiny poly Sulky, while the flowers were quilted in a pink Superior Glitter.

After tying off any extra threads and remarking the outer edges, I stitched close to the acutal stitching line and then trimmed off all the excess fabric except for a narrow seam allowance. This left me with the actual shape of the piece.

Here is a close up of one of the edges:


Next: Beading!

Tomorrow the children and I will be taking a trip to NYC. I should be able to finish the puzzle quilt on the bus and be able to show that all finished this week sometime and a few pictures from our trip.

Parting Shot: Gladiola. Last weekend, the play I've been working on was performed. At the last performance, I was given a few little things, among them was this red gladiola. (It wanted to lean oddly, so you're actually see it better in the mirror!) The play was fun, but as with all major performances, sort of took over my life for the last week. It turned out very well, and I know every one is happy to be on vacation now!

Springs First Blush - Part II

Samples and Set Up For Quilting

Now that the threads have been narrowed down through early comparisons, I still need to do a little more practice with my choices to be comfortable with the threads and to get all the settings on the sewing machine perfect.

The samples also allow me a little more practice for the designs I've chosen:

While I'm working on samples, I've also been working on getting everything ready to quilt. I'm using silk for both the top and back of the quilting, plus Hobb's Tuscany Silk batting as the batting. The outline for the design is traced onto the silk and then the divider lines are drawn in. This silk is light enough in color that I can see the artwork underneath easily enough to trace it.

Once pinned, it is ready to quilt.


Next: Quilting!

Parting Shot: Pretzels! My husband had a craving for large, soft pretzels, so he decided to make some. Here he is, working at shaping the pretzels. They're in the oven now, so we'll see how they turn out in a few minutes!

Spring's First Blush - Part I

Auditions

After the initial concept and fabric selection, the next step for me when working on a project is the selection of threads and beads. This is the really fun part as I get to pull out all the threads, beads and whatever else I think could possibly relate to the project from my collections.

First, the threads:

Believe it or not, I really only need three threads for the final project. I only need one pink, one green and one gold. I eliminate threads for several reasons. First, it isn't the right color. I don't always have colors that are perfect, but I won't know until I evaluate the colors under different lighting situations and stitched onto the fabric. Second, the thread doesn't stitch well. If it shreds, snaps, doesn't flow nicely, doesn't stitch curves or loops nicely it is out. Believe me, there is nothing worse than working on a project and fighting with the thread.

Next, the beads and sparkly things:

For the beads, it won't be too hard to choose, as you can see that right away some of this will not work. Those beads up by the organza ribbon are the best so far, and will probably make it into the final project.

Other than that, I needed a ribbon to tie the necklace around neck. I already had a beautiful ivory and gold organza ribbon in the collection that was shown in the bead picture.

Next: sample, sample, sample, sample.

Parting Shot: Nosey! Wellie is the most nosey cat we've owned. He's now checking out the stuff brought over for my IL's cat who will be spending the weekend with us as the IL's are going away for the weekend.

Spring's First Blush

Introduction

Since completing Garden Path in October, I haven't worked on any art garment projects. I've decided to start my art projects this year with a smaller project. Instead of working on a whole garment, I've chosen to work on something much, much smaller: a bib necklace.

I've been working on my free motion quilting, and a bib necklace seems to be just the right scale to work on without being too overwhelming. I also am a bit short on time at the moment due to the high school play, but yet I still want to be creative.

For fabric, I've chosen a blush pink silk dupioni to be used for both the front and back. That along with some ivory, gold, and pale green and my color palette is complete.

Here is a little bit of the preliminary artwork, just of you can get an idea of the concept:

There will be several sections, each with a different type of quilting.

Next: bead and thread auditions - the fun part!

Parting Shot: Tulips! My husband gave me tulips for Valentine's Day. They're such a nice reminder that spring will be here soon!

The Trouser Saga

Fitting Results

Thanks to all of your comments, I had plenty of ideas to try with the current pair that I'm fitting. First, I do need to clarify regarding the previous photo of the back. These trousers do have a low waist and were not pulled up at all. I did do a fish eye dart alteration and that pulled down the center back. Because of my body shape, I know that my patterns must have a higher center back than side seams or it just won't fit over the excess in the seat. The fish eye dart alteration made the waistline level on paper and dipped at CB once on my body. I'm not sure that the method I used for the fish eye dart works the best for my body shape - more on that later.

So, armed with new information (via Belinda's blog - thank you Vicki!)and some research in fitting books, I figured that I'd need to at least remove some of the width of the back legs at the inseam. I cut a new set of backs, trimming out the excess and that worked pretty well, but I still had the folds under the seat of the trousers. I knew that meant another fish eye dart, and I knew it would make the back waist dip even worse. Fortunately, Anne Frances suggested Ann Rowley's flat seat adjustment, which is the same as a fish eye dart. It was very quick, very easy and did not make the center back waist level worse. Here they are now:

I intend to put a waistband on these and do a final check and a bit more tweaking (adding some at the CB waistline and adding just a tiny bit at the side seams). I just need to make a waistband in four parts so that I can make adjustments without removing the waistband way too many times. At this point, that is the last step, as I've already fixed the strange curve in the side seams. I'm pleased with the way they fit and I've worn them about the house a bit to see how they settle once I've been up and down the stairs, sitting, standing, etc. There are still a few wrinkles, but the trousers are tremendously better! Thank you all again!

Parting Shot: It's Back! My snow is back. We only got about 4", but it is enough to make it look like winter again.

Puzzle Quilt

Puzzle Piece #2 and a Title

Thank you all for the helpful suggestions on yesterday's Trouser Saga post. I spent about four hours this morning working on the pants trying out various suggestions and found that a combination of several worked for me. I will show you the results tomorrow.

Now for today's puzzle piece. I've spent the rest of my day - a snow day, so I don't have the two hour commute or play practice and I have helpers for all the housework - working on the puzzle quilt. Some of the elements are in place, while others will be dimensional and added later. Here is a detail of the quilt:

You knew there would be beads and sequins, right?!? LOL. The true question is not "Are there going to be beads and sequins?" but "How many beads and sequins will there be?"

I have finally decided on a title for this piece, other than the generic "Puzzle Quilt". I've decided to call this one "Whose Things Are These?" I think that sums up my interpretation of the theme pretty well, since I've always puzzled over who owned my trinkets before I bought them.

Parting Shot: New To Me. Here's my latest vintage acquisition; it is from Myra's Etsy shop. It is the Anne Adams version of the Walkaway dress. I really like this version in the stripes. Since I've made the reissued version of the Walkaway, I wonder if this version is any better in regards to the front creeping up, wide shoulders, etc. Maybe we'll find out this summer.

The Trouser Saga

Muslin #???

In the last post in this series, I took a pattern from my hiking pants, but had not sewn up a muslin for them. Armed with some really cheap denim, I've made yet another muslin.

I'm actually pretty happy with the front of this pair! There are some small tweaks - letting out the front crotch curve just a little, narrowing the outer leg a little from just mid-thigh to knee - besides dealing with the back upper thigh wrinkles.

I need to sit down with some fit books tonight and see if I can work through what's going on with the back of these trousers. The fit through the rear feels good, but the wrinkles on the upper thigh are a concern. The whole pair is comfortable and a narrower trouser for me, so I really want to get these right so that I can actually make a real pair.

Tomorrow I'll update you with some sneaks peaks into the Puzzle Quilt and later this week, I have a special treat as I will start a new series on a small art garment project.

Parting Shot: Two Oranges. Wellie decided the best place to experience the Olympics was up close. Here he is with a famous orange headed athlete, snowboarder Shaun White.

The Great Vintage Shirt Project - Simplicity 4813

Finished!


I had enough time today to finish my latest vintage shirt. It sure it bright, but I think the white collar, cuffs and tabs help to offset that brightness. Besides, those of you who have had plenty of snow this winter, aren't you starting to crave bright colors?


There are plenty of details in this shirt, and you've seen quite a few already. The front has buttons and a snap at the waistline.


Notice that there are no buttons below this point. I suppose it makes for less bulk not to have those buttons below the waistline.


The tabs, while only decorative, do add something to the blouse. The tabs are easily aligned via a pair of dots.

Notice that the dots are at the top of the tab edge on the pattern piece.

You'd think they'd be in the spot where the buttons would go, but they aren't. There are no markings for the buttons, so I played around with them until I got a look that I liked.

The blouse is more fitted than January's blouse, and in this fabric can be either dressed up or down depending on what I decide to wear with it. I can see this blouse also being worn in the summer with white.

Parting Shot: Unicorn. My daughter made this unicorn out of polymer clay for her friend's birthday. I think she did a great job with all the details as this is less than 4" long and less than 3" tall.