Whew! Time Flies....

I hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas and a Happy New Year. I don't know where the time went. My family had a very quiet Christmas with just the three of us. We did give family members calls to see how everyone was doing.

I don't think that I have sewn anything other than mending since my last post. I did finish taking may skirt apart and it wasn't nearly as bad as I thought it would be.

As far as sewing goes, I finished the Christmas tree napkins for Christmas but didn't quite get to the placemats. It will be something that I will finish this year and be ready for the next Christmas holidays. Ok, let's mark the calendar and see if I get them done. LOL. I have enough fabric to create 6 simple placemats.

I have a huge list of projects for the year and if I get a small portion of them completed, I will feel like I have accomplished something. Here's my sewing plans for the year:

1. Finish altering brown skirt. (In- process)
2. Complete a UFO bag I started a year or so ago. I got hung up here because I didn't like the lining and was going to redraft.
3. Make a curtain for the deck to block the afternoon sun. (Fabric purchased)
4. Make pillows and cushions for the front porch chairs. (Fabric is mostly purchased)
5. Make cushions for the deck furniture. (Fabric purchased)
6. Make curtains for my sewing room/office area. (Need to purchase)
7. Make fabric covers for the plastic containers in the sewing room. (Need to purchase)
8. Make a large floor pillow for the play room. (Fabric purchased)
9. Make a slip cover for the couch in the play room. (Fabric purchased)
10. Finish apron sample for the new pattern company for my store. (Fabric purchased)
11. Christmas placemats. (Fabric purchased)
12. Fall placemats / napkins (In-process)

When I look at this long list, I realize how little I have planned to sew for myself. I really need to get someone to help me with the fitting issues that I have. I do think that once I understand what changes I need to make that I will sew more for myself. I did find someone who is certified with Palmer/Pletsch fitting techniques. She charges about $25.00/hour so I will need to be careful with my time.

I just looked at my list and realized just how much fabric I have sitting around waiting on me to get to the various projects. I think I'm going to try to work for an hour every day and see how much can get done. I would love to have the space that all of those planned projects with the fabric already purchased is taking up.

Happy Sewing!

Wadder? maybe.....

Here is my version of Simplicity 2475:


This is one of the Amazing Fit patterns from Simplicity. I like the concept offered by these patterns. Back to my version.... Even though you can't really tell in this picture, the skirt is huge on me. When I started to trace this pattern, I realized that I had purchased the wrong size. The largest size that I had was a 14. So, I added width to the pattern at the sides. This was mistake #1. During the fitting process, I removed almost all of the added width. I carefully chalked the new seamlines and proceeded to stitch them up. I did try the skirt on again with the seams stitched and the yoke on. I DID note that it was a little bit loose. This was mistake #2 --- I didn't take it in. I finished the skirt and hemmed before deciding that it was toooooo big. Also, I made the skirt in the longer length. In looking at the photos, I think that is a mistake. It needs to be shorter.
Because I like this skirt, I have decided to take it apart and attempt to salvage it. Did I mention that there is a lot of topstitching, understitching, and an invisible zipper? Yes, all of the above with matching dark brown thread on dark brown corduroy. However, it only took about an hour to remove the topstitching, understitching, invisible zipper, yoke, and the hem. I want to tell you about a little trick I learned. When having to remove thread, if you will every 3rd or 4th thread, you can just pull the thread on the flip side. This makes really quick work of an stitch removal except the backstitches.
I am now ready to re-make this skirt. There are two firsts for me here. I can't remember anything turning out too big before (generally, too small is the result) and I can't remember ever taking a finished item apart to fix it. I like the fabric that I chose for this project. I'll let you know sometime in the next couple of weeks how this turns out.
Happy Sewing!

2 Thread Capabilities on Serger

Below are the results of playing with my Serger and the 2-thread capabilities:

Above is me playing with the 2-thread flatlock on my Huskylock. If you look close, you can see that I almost have a satin stitch. I was following the information provided in the Specialty Techniques book that I have for this machine. I have the machine set on the widest stitch width and the longest length. The needle tension is set at 0 and the lower loop tension was set at 5. I'm using a 14/90 needle with Signature Decorative Spun Polyester in size 30. You can see that I'm not quiet getting a blanket stitch effect.

Here you can see that the flatlock now looks more like a blanket stitch. The only setting I changed was lower looper tension was changed to 7. Also, I was using a water soluble stabilizer to stitch on. This worked very well.

Here you can see the final result on the blanket. I was pleased with my first attempt at this technique. This would have looked much better if I had had a heavier decorative thread. Sorry, the pic is a little bit out of focus.

This is the very first time that I attempted using the 2 thread flatlock on my machine. I hope that it will not be the last time.

Happy Sewing!

Sewing again..

Today, found me in the sewing room. I washed/dried the fabrics for Christmas napkins. When this was going on, I decided to play with my serger. I realized that I although I use it and I do not use much of the capabilities on it. Generally, I finish edges and sew knits. That's it. So, today, I decided to test the 2 thread capabilities. I decided to attempt a blanket stitch and started testing scrap fleece. The longest stitch my machine will do is 5mm. I couldn't get the serger to make a consistence stitch length. So, I changed increased the tension on the looper and changed to a heavy water soluble stabilizer. Amazingly, it worked. Tomorrow, I hope to add the edge of a piece of fleece.

Happy Sewing!

Here's the long awaited Halloween costume

Well, here it is. The long awaited Halloween costume:

In this picture, you can see all of the items that were made. From top to bottom - the mask, the shirt, the belt, the gloves, the pants, and the moccasins. The inspiration for this costume is the Gorshin version of the Riddler from Batman. He was from Pittsburgh. So, it seemed like an appropriate costume.

For the mask, I used a freebie pattern from http://www.scarletfig.com/ and modified it. Making it narrower to fit a child's face.

For the shirt and pants, I used the basic t-shirt and pant from Kwik Sew's Sewing with Children pattern book. My DS is tall and thin. So, to get a little bit closer fit, I made a size Medium in width and made the length to fit him. I also added a mock turtle neck to the top. This is the first time that I can remember painting on fabric. I needed to come up with a stencil as there are many "?" marks down the legs and on the sleeves. Using a font on the computer, I enlarged it until I had a sizes that I was happy with. Then, made many copies and cut them out. The large "?" on the chest is freehand. Yes, I used paper as stencils. I used a spray glue to attach each set to the pant and painted using a sponge brush. It worked.

For the gloves, I used a Vogue pattern (8608, view D). This was a very strange pattern. I did end up with a pair of gloves that were usable but thumb was weird. The was only one pattern piece for all sizes. The thumb seemed to big for glove.

For the belt, I drew a rectangle using measurements taken from my son. It was approximately 12 1/2" x 5". Then, I took a curve and made the little point at the center front. I used simple ties in the back.

The moccasins pattern was from the http://www.nativetech.org/ . This pattern had you draft for the person foot which I managed to do and they actually fit the little guy's foot. He did start his evening wearing the moccasins but return home for another pair of shoes.

Here's a pose with the questions marks on the leg and a little on the sleeve.

In the end, all adults recognized that he was the Riddler but none of the other children seemed to know who the Riddler was. My son didn't care. He was very happy with his costume. It has now been adopted as PJs.

Hope someone finds some inspiration from this costume.

Happy Sewing!