In a couple of weeks, I have a party to go to. You know, one of those work functions for your husband parties. It always means finding a new dress. I decided this year that I should go buy a dress and I tried on lots of lovely 40's style dresses. However, I don't like spending $100+ on a dress that would most likely be a one time wear. I prefer my clothes to be washed at home not dry-clean only. Most of the dresses were made from an acrylic blend knit. Although they felt nice and surprisingly looked nice, I'm not sure about the fabric. Only a couple of the dresses I tried on were washable. So, I decided that I could make something myself that looked similar but Noooooo! Not one of the pattern companies offer anything similar to what I found today. This was very disappointing. Am I expecting too much to find patterns similar to what I can find in RTW? I really liked the dresses with the interesting collars and belts. Does anyone else find this to be so?
Ok, enough complaining. Guess, I will go back and pick out one of the lovely dresses. Then, I will need shoes and maybe some new jewelry. I suppose that I will save my sewing time for the Halloween costume I'm working on.
Happy Sewing!
Saturday, September 26, 2009
Saturday, September 19, 2009
Costume Sewing - Part 1
Yes, the costume sewing has begun. I did start with the easiest on the list - the mask. I started with a sleep mask from Scarlet Fig - www.lauriewis.blogspot.com/2009/08/sleep-mask-tutorial.html . Here's my copy:
Below is the mask cutout of the lavender fabric with a heavy-weight fusible interfacing attached. You can also see where I modifying the mask making it narrower.
The mask all stitched together before turning. The elastic was the easy part. I did reduce the length by a couple of inches for both the lavender fabric and the elastic.
The finished mask (maybe). I thinking now that I need to shape the top part of the mask a little bit more to match the bottom. If I do this, I will satin stitch all around the outside edges.
Next, I will be concentrating on the moccasins. Below is my little buddy. When I'm sewing or just in the office, he is generally happy to be nearby. Laying on the pillow I made him a couple of weeks ago. 
Below is the mask cutout of the lavender fabric with a heavy-weight fusible interfacing attached. You can also see where I modifying the mask making it narrower.
The mask all stitched together before turning. The elastic was the easy part. I did reduce the length by a couple of inches for both the lavender fabric and the elastic.
The finished mask (maybe). I thinking now that I need to shape the top part of the mask a little bit more to match the bottom. If I do this, I will satin stitch all around the outside edges.
Next, I will be concentrating on the moccasins. Below is my little buddy. When I'm sewing or just in the office, he is generally happy to be nearby. Laying on the pillow I made him a couple of weeks ago.
Happy Sewing!
Friday, September 11, 2009
Sewing and Rambling...
I've actually sewed yesterday. Nothing terribly exciting. It was some Keeper-Fresh Veggie Bags.
You can find the review here: http://sewing.patternreview.com/cgi-bin/readreview.pl?readreview=1&reviewnum=43346 . I found this little project in the Sew & Stow book by Betty Oppenheimer. You don't need to book to create the bags. I used the bags when I went to the store today. The larger one was great for celery but the smaller ones were not as useful but they work well in the frig which is where they are intended to be used. I was hoping to use them as replacements for small plastic bags.
Yesterday, the new Sew News arrived and I forgot about it. However, I found it today and looked through it. My subscription is up for renewal and I just don't know if I'm going to renew or not. I think I have one more issue or maybe this is the last one.
I have been on a buying spree the last few weeks. Today, the last purchase arrive from Pink Chalk Studios. I ordered fabric for holiday napkins. Although after I saw the fabric (Moda Figgy Puddy), I realize that I also need fabric for holiday placemats. I'll need to think about this as I have been buying a lot of fabric lately. I want to make these napkins without the embroidery:
http://www.emblibrary.com/EL/elprojects/SimpleProduct_ELP.aspx?CS_ProductID=PR1522&CS_Category=&CS_Catalog=Elprojects .
Along with the fabric, I received Ottobre 05/2009. I have only glanced at it but I'm hoping that I will be able to make something from Ottobre that fits. Unfortunately, I have a ton of projects in front of anything that that my son thinks is more important like the Halloween costume....lol. That must be done! Hopefully, we'll get started this weekend.
Happy Sewing!
You can find the review here: http://sewing.patternreview.com/cgi-bin/readreview.pl?readreview=1&reviewnum=43346 . I found this little project in the Sew & Stow book by Betty Oppenheimer. You don't need to book to create the bags. I used the bags when I went to the store today. The larger one was great for celery but the smaller ones were not as useful but they work well in the frig which is where they are intended to be used. I was hoping to use them as replacements for small plastic bags.
Yesterday, the new Sew News arrived and I forgot about it. However, I found it today and looked through it. My subscription is up for renewal and I just don't know if I'm going to renew or not. I think I have one more issue or maybe this is the last one.
I have been on a buying spree the last few weeks. Today, the last purchase arrive from Pink Chalk Studios. I ordered fabric for holiday napkins. Although after I saw the fabric (Moda Figgy Puddy), I realize that I also need fabric for holiday placemats. I'll need to think about this as I have been buying a lot of fabric lately. I want to make these napkins without the embroidery:
http://www.emblibrary.com/EL/elprojects/SimpleProduct_ELP.aspx?CS_ProductID=PR1522&CS_Category=&CS_Catalog=Elprojects .Along with the fabric, I received Ottobre 05/2009. I have only glanced at it but I'm hoping that I will be able to make something from Ottobre that fits. Unfortunately, I have a ton of projects in front of anything that that my son thinks is more important like the Halloween costume....lol. That must be done! Hopefully, we'll get started this weekend.
Happy Sewing!
Thursday, September 10, 2009
New Patterns have arrived!
I received my order from Marie Madeline Studio today. Here's a peek at what I received with my gift certificate:
They told me that the patterns would be on sale this week. Just in case you are interested. I hope I can find time to work with these patterns soon.
Happy Sewing!
Wednesday, September 9, 2009
Time Flies....
Whew! Time has been flying by lately. School has finally started (ok, it was a week ago but who's counting). The garden is slowing down. I did get a little bit of canning done but I ended up with late blight on the tomatoes. After looking at some of the hot banana peppers yesterday, I think those plants may have it or something similar also.
I picked up my sewing machine and serger about a week ago also. I did miss both of these items tremendously. The serger had nothing serious wrong with it that a good cleaning and oil didn't fix. However, I did knock the timing off on the sewing machine. Not sure how I did it but I do know when it happened and recognized that something was wrong immediately. At least it could be fixed.
On the costume front, I have finally gathered all of the materials (I think) necessary to make the Riddler costume:
The cute little carrying case which contains some of the items below:
Yep, I found a Featherweight 221K. I really wanted one when I was quilting a lot and going to classes but was never able to locate one. This one kind of landed in my lap and came with lots of goodies. Along with the machine and the original carrying case, I received a zigzagger with all of the extra disks, a sock darner (that didn't look like it had ever been used), a buttonholer with extra attachments, three books, many extra bobbins, an extra bobbin case, the original attachments, and a couple of additional attachments. Being the fiend that I am about machine attachments, I have already added a couple of additional attachments: a blind hemmer, a picot / hemmer attachments, and a blind stitch braider. As the attachments for these machines can be rather expensive, I will not be adding anything else to the mix. I have been playing with this machine and it runs very well. I have played with all of the attachments and most of them work very well. The only item I was a little bit disappointed in was the buttonholer and that is only because the some of the extra disks are duplicates. The buttonholes look beautiful. The future will see me taking a few more quilting/sewing classes, if I can find them.
Well, that's it for now. I need to finish up my existing sewing projects (wallet, and placemats) and then, get going on the Halloween costume. This may very well be the last costume that I make for my son. At 11, this may be the last year that is interested in dressing up and getting candy. He has always enjoyed going around the block, showing off his costume(s) to the neighbors, and coming home to hand out candy.
I picked up my sewing machine and serger about a week ago also. I did miss both of these items tremendously. The serger had nothing serious wrong with it that a good cleaning and oil didn't fix. However, I did knock the timing off on the sewing machine. Not sure how I did it but I do know when it happened and recognized that something was wrong immediately. At least it could be fixed.
On the costume front, I have finally gathered all of the materials (I think) necessary to make the Riddler costume:
The black faux suede (in the middle) will become the moccasins. The purple fabric on the left will become the mask, the belt, and if I'm lucky, gloves. The green fabric on the right is for the pants and top. The paint is for all the questions marks that on the top and pants. I know, I need to get busy. I haven't figured out how I'm going to enlarge the question mark for the shirt yet. Any suggestions for a quick inexpensive way to accomplish this would be greatly appreciated.
Now for a peek at my "new" toy:
The cute little carrying case which contains some of the items below:
Yep, I found a Featherweight 221K. I really wanted one when I was quilting a lot and going to classes but was never able to locate one. This one kind of landed in my lap and came with lots of goodies. Along with the machine and the original carrying case, I received a zigzagger with all of the extra disks, a sock darner (that didn't look like it had ever been used), a buttonholer with extra attachments, three books, many extra bobbins, an extra bobbin case, the original attachments, and a couple of additional attachments. Being the fiend that I am about machine attachments, I have already added a couple of additional attachments: a blind hemmer, a picot / hemmer attachments, and a blind stitch braider. As the attachments for these machines can be rather expensive, I will not be adding anything else to the mix. I have been playing with this machine and it runs very well. I have played with all of the attachments and most of them work very well. The only item I was a little bit disappointed in was the buttonholer and that is only because the some of the extra disks are duplicates. The buttonholes look beautiful. The future will see me taking a few more quilting/sewing classes, if I can find them.
Now, the most exciting thing that has happen was I won a $35.00 give certificate to Marie-Madeline Studio (http://www.mariemadelinestudio.com). Go check them out. They have a cute shop with fabric and their own brand of patterns. I decided to try out their patterns. It was just too hard to pick a fabric.
Well, that's it for now. I need to finish up my existing sewing projects (wallet, and placemats) and then, get going on the Halloween costume. This may very well be the last costume that I make for my son. At 11, this may be the last year that is interested in dressing up and getting candy. He has always enjoyed going around the block, showing off his costume(s) to the neighbors, and coming home to hand out candy.
Happy Sewing!
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