New McCall's are up!

I love seeing the new designs each season and I certainly purchase my share of the patterns. I just wish I used more of them. There are two designs that I might to add to my collection:


I really like this shirt dress (M5847). This is a little bit more fitted than the patterns I've noticed in the past. I know I have a couple of shirt dress patterns and I will need to check them before I invest in yet another pattern.

I was surprised that I didn't see any shirt dress styles with ruffles. Although I suppose if that is what you're interested in, it would be a easy detail to add.

This is M5856. This is a very trendy skirt this year. I have seen several designer skirts made similar to this that costs between $200 - $300. I like the length of the skirt, too.

I thought this was a very cute top. The neckline is a bit wider/lower than I like to wear but it certainly is very cute. The embellishment on the white top is very pretty.


There are lots of pretty dresses from all of the pattern companies this year. I love dresses but don't have a lot of places to wear them. However, I suppose that the daily casual could include more skirts / dresses. I think that the shirt dress could easily be a great every day type dress. I suppose we'll see what happens with that. It doesn't take that much more to look nicer on a daily basis.

Happy Sewing!

I did sew again today!

I haven't made it to the next set of PJs yet but I did sew today. I found this little project on another blog. I think it was Mermaids but I can't locate it. This is a little pocket that you can add to a notebook. I made this as part of a gift from my son to my husband. Here's how I made mine:

1. I took a piece of 1 1/2" petersham ribbon. Sorry not sure of the length but it will change with every project. I trimmed one end straight across, zigzagged the edge, turned under the edge and stitched across, Then I attached a 1" piece of elastic.

2. Next I figure out how long the ribbon needed to be. This was really just eye-balled. The pocket is a couple of inches from the top of the notebook. I trimmed the edge and repeated the zigzag and turn under.

3. Then I put this edge where I wanted the pocket to begin, lined up the edges of the ribbon, and straight stitched the edge (don't forget to back stitch at the start).

4. When I turned the corner at the fold, I switched back to a zigzag stitch and centered the elastic. Then, stitched up the other side of the pocket and back stitched.

Here's the results:














The perfect place to keep a pen. This took maybe 15 minutes to create. Makes a really wonderful gift. Think of all the embellishments that could be done on the ribbon.

Happy Sewing!

Flannel pants finished..on to the next project

Here's the flannel pants:














This is such a quick and easy project. I do recommend the Kwik Sew patterns. However I think of all the Kwik Sew books, the Sewing for Children has been the least used. Once I got started on these pants, it took less than an hour to complete.














The next project will be another set of PJs. I am making all of these with a little extra length for just in case the fabric shrinks a little bit and of course growth. Again, a cute little print that I was surprised my son was willing to wear. He did pick it a couple of years ago. The top for this pair will be the same one that I used for the Scooby Doo pjs that I made at Christmas. I think I'm going to try the pant pattern that was in the same book as the top. The sizes is slightly different and it is a good time to give it a try.

Happy Sewing!

The PJ pants are cut out....finally!

Below is the flannel fabric that I used to cut out a pair of flannel pants:
Isn't it cute? I was surprised that my son was still willing to wear such a cute print. I'm using Kwik Sew's Sewing for Children pant pattern in the large width, x-large length with about 5-6 inches added in the leg length. The additional inches was split evenly above and below the knee.

Here's my little buddy enjoying the heat from the fireplace. It's about 25F out today and about 65F inside. When I rubbed his belly, he was very warm. He is generally nearby when I'm home following me from room to room.

Above are the finished floors. I think that they are beautiful. This is a unstained oak with a oil-based polyurethane. The finish is satin. I'm still working on getting the dust off the walls. You can't really tell in the pictures but there is a lot of dust on the walls and I have already done over the walls with Endust and a dust mop. The next round will be with a microfiber cloth from top to bottom. The closet is also in need of a heavy cleaning. That will have to wait until the baseboards are installed. The view of the room is from the closet.

Happy Sewing!

Class was fun,...

The all day sewing class was fun. It was really geared toward getting folks over the fear the machines and was a "Thank you" from the dealer. In the morning, we played with the different decorative stitches and I realized that my machine has a balance problem. So, it will need to be worked on sometime in the near future. Since I'm so far from the actual dealership, they will be sending a technician to the closest JoAnn's that has a small dealership inside. They will send an email to let me know when the technician will be there. In the afternoon, we used our largest hoops and practiced stitching out a design that required alignment. We were also shown how to create similar type designs using our software. The fabric that I chose was a cream silk dupioni with the design stitched in a med. blue. I'm hoping to complete a pillow for the guest room. Although, technically it could end up as another UFO. I wanted to take some pictures but my camera is missing and no one know where it's at.

My "new" sewing room is getting closer to completion. The floors are finished and turned out absolutely beautiful. Electrical is finished. I really want to sew again. I have found lots of items but unfortunately there are more things that are still missing. I discovered the other day that my crotch curve had gotten broken. I don't even know if I can purchase another one. I will be searching for a new one. As soon as I locate the camera, I will get pics of the floors. Although, there is a good chance that the room will be finished before I find it.

Happy Stitching!