It's a dreary day but the mail came...

We are having a very dreary day in Pittsburgh. When I got home from work, the mailbox was packed with goodies and most of them were for me. How could I not smile and be happy? I received my orders from Silhouette Patterns today in record time. One order was placed on Tuesday evening and the other on Wednesday morning. The fabric is beautiful and the patterns I hope work out. I'm ready to start except I still need to get lining for the skirts. What patterns did I get? Amy's skirt (#2750) and Nancy's blouse (#450). It was a special that included fabric.

I also received a DVD - Achieving Great Fit Through Muslins. I want to learn to use my French curve. Oh, I use it but I don't think that I use it exactly the way it's suppose to be used. This is one of the items that Peggy has been going over. I realize that she is an "expert" in her field but I think finally understand the use of the French curve around the armhole, neckline, and the waistline. I had a major AHA moment the other night when she would working with the skirt webcast. So, here I am with sewing stuff piled around and I'm happy.

I was looking at the pattern instructions for both the top and the skirt. Wow! they are really minimal. However, neither item is particularly difficult and really shouldn't be hard to do. I think the hardest part will be figuring out the sizing on the top. I think I should get some inexpensive muslin and see what I can come with.

Happy Stitching!

Anyone watching Peggy Sager's webcasts?

Has anyone been watching the Peggy Sager's webcasts? I've been watching these over the last few weeks. Sometimes, I there live and sometimes, I have to watch the replays. Let me tell you, she makes everything seem easy about sewing. When I was watching the skirts webcast last night, I had a major aha moment. People were asking questions about sway back, skirt backs being shorter than the front, etc, etc. She whipped out the curve ruler and was explaining how to use it to adjust the pattern to fit our body. She made a comment about people expecting patterns to fit them right out of the package and that it just wasn't really possible because of the curves of the pattern would not necessarily match the curves of our bodies. Then, she said nobody waist is straight and don't expect it to be. She makes me want to sew for myself, again.

Yes, I am sitting here with a beautiful piece of voile to make a skirt. I realized after I washed it that I'm going to need another piece of voile to either line or make a matching slip. So, back to the internet I go. Fabric.com does have white voile cotton available. Now, I need to figure out how much to purchase.

If you haven't watched any of the webcasts, schedule an hour and treat yourself. It will be well worth the time.

Happy Sewing!

Blankie is finished....

I finally finished the baby blanket a week later than I had intended. I think it turned out really cute. Here it is:

It's an exaggerated log cabin. I used seersucker fabric for the top and minky for the back. Yes, I forgot to take pictures with the back showing but it was a very pale yellow minky. This was my very first time working with the minky and I did a lot of research before cutting it. Surprisingly, I did not have a hard time sewing the minky with the machine. I used many, many pins and made sure that the minky was next to the feed dogs.

How did I do on my first quilt project in years?

I haven't decided yet what my next project is but I was thinking about the Swing Shift jacket pattern by Sewn square one for your style or 1 little girl version of the Vintage Baby Bubble pattern by Petite Poche (Wendy Schoen).

Happy Sewing!

Sewing again....

Listen....Did you hear that sound? No, it's the sound of my sewing machine being used. Oh, it feels so good to have one of my machine going again. I've been sewing since Sunday just about every day. What am I working on? A baby quilt. I'm not really much of a quilter but I was inspired by the January issue of Martha Stewart's Living. Of course, there aren't really any instructions other than very basic information like the size of the starting square and the width of the strips. I should have the quilt top finished tonight. Then, the challenging part starts. I will be working with Minky for the first time. I want this little quilt to have lots of texture and interest and it's going to. I post a picture next week after it is all it is all finished assuming I survive the Minky.

Happy Sewing!