Two outfits

Here are pics of two outfits ... almost finished .... the pants need to be hemmed and pressed.

The tops would have looked better on the dress form but I wanted to show them with the coordinating pants.

The green is a TCC Twist Top and the yellow is a TCC cowl. Both are out of knits so will be user friendly for laundry and wearing.

Now, back to the cutting table to work on blouse #3.

Pants! Pants!

Two pair of pants finished except for the hems ... not certain which shoes I'll wear so am going to hem those next week.

No pictures -- pants on a hanger is a pretty boring picture and I don't feel like posing for the camera today.

I used The Complete Clothier Fitted Pants Draped and made them almost at default except for using the ankle ease and leg shaping tool to get a straight leg.

Pair 1 is the medium brown herringbone with an invisible zipper in the side seam, and those went together with only having to recut the waistband once. I had one too many interruptions and didn't follow my dad's advice of measure twice cut once .... so I had to measure twice, cut twice -- lucky for me I had enough fabric.

Pair 2 is dark brown and almost had to be capris. There wasn't as much fabric as I thought I had but with some forethought was able to flip one pattern piece over and get them cut out of approx 1 2/3 yd of fabric, even allowing for the nap. Sewing was a bit challenging this morning. I had changed to a sharp microtex needle but after sewing all the darts and putting in the zipper 3 times I was not happy with the tension. First time I didn't interface the seam allowance. Second time I did interface the seam allowance. Third time I put paper under the seam.

SO ... after ripping the zipper again I took a look at the darts and wasn't happy with the tension there either ... out came the 8 darts. Next tried a universal needle size 12. Next tried a universal size 14. Finally with the size 14 tried adjusting the tension. VOILA! back in business. After that everything went together just fine. And I realized that the fabric was heavier than I first thought so they will be good all winter.

Now to cut out the green pants.

Fabrics for my SWAP

...that's Sewing with a Plan

My thought for southern Michigan the end of September was to make pants, short-sleeved tops/blouses, and jackets ... so if we have a hot week I won't roast and if the weather or the AC is cool, the jackets will take care of any chill. I may decide to make the sleeves 3/4 length but they will all be a basic straight sleeve since that is my favorite to wear.



Long story short -- I found lots of nice matches and can make do for the three days with three pairs of pants (dark brown, medium brown, and sage green), one jacket (tweed of dark brown, medium brown, sage green, off white, and a little aqua if you look really hard), and three blouses/tops. I found several fabrics for the tops so will make three for Novi and the rest for my fall wardrobe.


Outfit 1 is the jacket with dark brown pants and a light green twist top that will be worn with a light beige camisole.

Outfit 2 is the jacket with medium brown pants with a tropical print (but fall colors) that will make a collared shirt.

Outfit 3 is the jacket with the sage green pants and a butter yellow textured knit that will be a cowl top.


Other tops are a satin with a fun print of cologne bottles that will be a ruched neckband blouse, a mossy green slinky for a pleated shoulder cowl top, and a couple other prints that I have pulled from the stash but haven't decided a pattern yet.


progress report -- the medium brown pants are cut out .... ready to sew ....

Time to Post!

The title could mean a couple things ... both true ...

1. It is time for me to start posting here. I really fell short on my resolution to use this blog.
2. I need to find time to post. Taking the pictures, writing the copy ...


But since I last posted I've sewn a coordinated winter/spring wardrobe that I wore in the TCC booth at Puyallup, visited my son in Oregon, worked a TCC user workshop in Chicago, visited my daughter in Atlanta, tested lots of patterns, read more about sewing, mowed the yard too many times to count, worked on a lot of manuscript to earn money, attended two separate sewing expos in Cincinnati and lots of classes, joined ASG ... well then, I guess I have been busy!

I did manage to make & finish two real garments -- a pair of walking shorts and a t-shirt. Maybe some pictures of those next.

Now plans are in high tilt for the American Sewing Expo in Novi, Michigan the end of the month and I haven't started sewing yet! But I have shopped my stash for my fabric and managed to coordinate 3 solids for pants, 3 prints for tops, 3 solid knits for tops/cami, and a beautiful tweed for a jacket that will coordinate with all.

Apron!

Working on those resolutions!

Here is the first apron that satisfied Resolutions #4 & #5.


It is a simple apron from TCC's Accents that I was testing and will take with me to Puyallup to display in our booth.

I added rickrack in the waistband seam and between pocket band and gathering and then again along the bottom of the apron. I also used a decorative stitch from my Janome 6600 (Mode 3, #66) that actually mimics the print of the pocket to attach the pocket and also to do the bottom stitching on the waistband.

The pocket is purposely put on a slant so that 1) I didn't have to align it to be perfect ... anything was correct and 2) it is easy to reach into with my right hand. It's a little pocket just for jewelry, rings; actually more for decoration than function since I rarely use pockets. The decorative stitch was also functional as well as pretty since I knew I would catch all the edges that needed to be caught w/o stressing over getting it "perfect."

A fun, functional garment for the kitchen!

HAPPY NEW YEAR -- 2009!

Once I started to think of what my resolution for this year should be, I couldn't stop at just one. So here are the top five --

#5 Learn some new embellishment techniques

#4 Wear aprons -- this means sewing some funky ones that will put fun into function

#3 Play the piano once a day -- at least the keys will stay dusted

#2 Drink more water -- always a good idea

#1 Post regularly on this blog!


A quick story about #3 ... when I was a little girl in the late 1950s, we lived on a 100-acre farm in NW Ohio where my father grew wheat, oats, corn, and soy beans. Even though he also worked a night job, there wasn't much disposable income.

My mother wanted a piano ... so she had to be creative in finding the funds for such a luxury ... while deciding what to sacrifice to get it.

I don't remember the details of the transaction (I was about 5 at the time) but do know that one day some man came to our house with a piano and drove away in my parents' car. My mother had answered a newspaper ad where he had wanted to trade a used piano for a car. (Or, an "un-used" piano ... his children refused to practice...) A win-win solution since he got a car and we had a piano in our living room but still had the pickup truck for transportation and farm chores.

Mom was always singing, with or without the radio; now she had a piano and "our" formal music education began. She would sit at the back of the room during my piano lessons -- today I realize she was actually auditing and practicing and learning along with me. I was somewhat of a convenient means to her end.

I am sure that the car has many years ago gone to the "big parking lot in the sky," but I still have that piano and many memories which include more than piano lessons and recitals and practicing. In high school I was one of the accompanists for both the high school and church choirs and even gave piano lessons at a local music store my senior year.

Thanks, Mom, for knowing how to set priorities ... and giving me the gift of music ....

Some current stitching

Boy have I fallen short of my goal to post a couple times a week -- I didn't even make twice in the month of June!

Here is a pic of a current project-- a simple little empire top that I made as a test muslin from my The Complete Clothier (TCC) - Custom Closet software. This is the newest kid on the block of pattern-drafting software. So new, it hasn't been released to the general public yet!



I am a member of the SEAM Team and we put the patterns through lots of testing. Since I'm pretty pleased with the fit of this muslin (or should I say calico) version, I'll get more creative with fabric choice and collar and/or embellishment on the next one. But this is just fine for running out on errands around town. Perfect for heading to the grocery store or the library to check out more sewing books!