Not-So-Haute Couture

MOB blouse?

MOB shoes?

What if I can't make my mother-of-the-bride dress? I've had a muslin of a Sandra Betzina Vogue bias-cut dress w/matching bolero on Mrs. Dinky since, I think, before Thanksgiving. I guess with the holidays I could expect that I wouldn't have time to sew, what with the wrapping paper bin on my cutting table and all. But what I just don't have time to get it done? I've got my eye on a blouse at Avenue . Maybe I could buy it and make a skirt to go with it.... And I saw some verrryy nice shoes there also.

I haven't been able to sew lately. I've been sick. Then there was Thanksgiving. Now I'm working on getting ready for Christmas. And another thing....I bought some clothes, and that has taken the pressure off because I now have some nice slacks to wear to work. I found some pants at Avenue that fit me quite well; I'm even considering using one pair as a pattern. I didn't realize how much pressure I was putting on myself to make my own clothes. I just assumed I wouldn't get a decent fit from RTW (based on past experience). Now I can relax a little. I have made a muslin of the SB Vogue bias dress and bolero/shrug. I haven't tried it on yet. It may be too late to make a holiday dress out of that pattern, but I still need a mother-of-the-bride dress for March. I will get back into sewing later in December. I have the week between Christmas and New Years off of work. I'm looking forward to really getting to work on the MOB dress, and I have som

First order of business is a holiday party dress. This will also be a prototype for the MOB dress. I've gotta get the holiday dress done before December 4th, which is the date of the first of 3 holiday events I know of so far. I'm going to use Vogue 7823 . Gonna do up a muslin first. Sandra Betzina herself recommended it to me as flattering for my figure. It's got great reviews on PR, and if the muslin looks halfway decent I'm off to find some pretty fabric. After my holiday dress is finished I've got a bunch more patterns to make up: Petite Plus Shapely shirt , using a denim-look stretch woven with a subtle sparkle Unique trousers, using a bottom weight blue stretch woven (coordinates with the shapely shirt fabric Simplicity 5469 , in a stretch velvet that will go with my blue pencil skirt and maybe the blue stretch wovens. Vogue 7333 , or another pattern tbd, using a really nice tone-on-tone subtle stripe black polyester. I don't want much, do I?

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almost Amazing Fun!

I found a cute magnet idea here: rostitchery: SRC report: every little bit helps . I could make some for Kim using Dr. Pepper kitsch . I could download the images, make them small, cut the out and glue to the glass bits.

I met some fellow Pattern Review members, Neefer and Jennifer in SF, at a Sandra Betzina event at Stone Mountain Daughter fabric store in Berkeley. I'm all fired up to sew now. She uses such lucious fabrics and has a designer's eye. I like that she designs patterns for up to and even bigger than my size. Neefer (aka Jennifer & SF Jennifer were so nice, too. Like meeting old friends.

My sewing corner is in need of some renovations. I've prettied it up with a chair cover , table skirts and neatening up the ironing table cover . So far, so good. Now I have a serger and suddenly my worktable seems so much smaller! I've measured out a space for an 19"x48" shelf for the corner wall. When the shelf (we just happened to have that exact size in the garage) is installed at the level of my existing table I will have a L-shaped workspace. The long side will be my sewing space and the short side will be my serging area. After installing the L-shelf, I want to put up some corner shelves to raise the TV/VCR up off the work table. And I need a shelf above the sewing area to hold sewing reference books. It's going to look really nice and it shouldn't cost too much, either.

I'm headed to jojos (Joannes) after work to use those good-only-today 50% off coupons. I'm needing a few notions--cording and batting for my sewing room projects, and some more stretch bottom weight twill for the Unique pants. I compared the Unique pants pieces against the cut out Purrfection pieces and there are some interesting differences--the Unique pants are narrower (the Purrfection trouseres were quite wide) and are longer where I was going to add length. We'll see. I haven't pants for me since I was in jr. high.

Dh is wearing his 2nd custom-made work shirt today. Hope it doesn't get too dirty during the day--I want to take a picture of it this evening. He has requested that the pocket be adapted for a pen slot, and I will do that this evening on both of his shirts. I got the turkey trousers unbasted and will compare thos pieces against the Unique pants pattern tonight.

Spent yesterday evening practicing on my serger and working on Dh's 2nd polo work shirt. I graded up the pocket as suggested in comment to my review of polo work shirt #1. I have learned that it's very distracting to my sewing while trying to watch a funny movie. Maybe I should just listen to music while I sew. For the work shirt, the pocket and placket are done first, with the sewing machine. For next time, I will clearly marke the center fronts on the front piece and all the markings (cf, stitching line, folding lines, etc.) on the placket. This will make things go faster. Next is shoulder seams, and the first chance to use a serger. The collar follows, and it was evident that I need to learn to properly adjust the serger for the thicker fabric of the purchased collars I use. That should be easy enough. I ended up doing it on the sewing machine and it went fine. Now all that's left is to serge the remaining seams, hem, buttons & buttonholes. I wonde

Let's get the bad news over with: The Purrfection Perfect Trousers were not perfect. Before I even took my serger out of the box I basted the trousers for a quick fitting. They are too low in the back, undoubtedly due to my booty shape, and there are unattractive smile creases in the crotch area. Since I have a custom drafted trousers pattern waiting in the wings I'm not going to fiddle with this pattern at all. I'm going to unbaste them and try to use the pieces for my Unique trousers pattern, with which I hope to have better luck. And now for the good news! My serger is HERE! She arrived in one piece and works like a dream. Easy-peasy to thread--just like threading a sewing machine x4. Serging is "sew" different! Tonight I plan to serge dh's other polo workshirt after I practice securing seams and serging on scraps from the shirt's knit fabric. Between mailers, emailers and in-store flyers I have six--count'em--six 50% off Jojos coupons--three

Last night I trekked to jojos in Rohnert Park for some serger thread. I was not surprised to see that the Maxi-Lock rack was all dusty and about 2/3 empty. Jojos charges $2.79 for a spool. There was some chinese no-name serger thread on sale for $1.99. I bought the Maxi-Lock; managed to find black (but only in the extra large spool), white, gray, spruce green, and brick. The green and brick are for dh's shirt. I'd 've bought the thread at either Village Sewing or The Place That Sells Sewing Machines, but it's gawdawful expensive there--like over $4.00/spool. I guess I'm paying for the extra customer service, 'cause both places have a great color selection and the racks are dust-free. Since I was in Rohnert Park I stopped in at Burlington Coat Factory to see Kimbers at work. Saw a cute wrap top in the plus size dept. Also saw a v-neck t-shirt style shirt that was made up in a spongy, stretchy bright fabric, and was detailed with sheer black 1" wide ruffles a

Stretch and Sew 1745 This is the first shirt made from the graded-up pattern. Read the review . The next one is cut out and awaiting the arrival of my serger, which should come TOMORROW!!!!

Unique 80387UO Here is the Unique jacket made up. I wrote more about it in a previous post .

My serger spent the day in repose at the UPS depot in Richmond. Looks like she'll get here on Monday. S'okay. My brother and SIL are coming up tomorrow afternoon and since I've gotta clean the house in the morning and will be having fun with them all afternoon and evening I wouldn't be playing with my new toy anyway. I'll spend Sunday afternoon cutting out my Unique pants pattern and prepping some of my other patterns.

Oh, dear. I just can't keep from checking that UPS tracker every couple of hours! She left Texas just after midnight on the 13th. Maybemaybemaybe she'll be here Friday. Then again, maybe not. Scheduled delivery date is Monday. I can make it. I'm too selfish. I was thinking about what dh could buy that would make him act like I am about my serger. I thought, "guns". He likes guns and target shooting and hunting. He used to have some guns but he sold them when we used to be poor. What a guy. I asked him and he said he wanted a .350 magnum and a .22. I'm gonna get him one of those.

Hi. My name is Tami and I'm a trackaholic. I can't seem to help myself from tracking my serger's progress from Lousiana to my sewing table. It left Louisiana on the 11th, had a brief stopover in Mississippi, then landed in Texas from whence it departed shortly after midnight. This behavior is not healthy. I'm stopping at TPSSM on the way home for serger thread.

I did in fact finish both the Unique jacket/top and dh's polo work shirt. I did a hem and 12 buttonholes, including practice ones. Dh is wearing his shirt today and it looks gooood! If it doesn't get too dirty during the course of his workday I will take a picture tonight for the review. The Unique pattern sewed up quite well. The fabric I chose for the toile, a lavender stretch satin-backed sueded blend, is a lovely color. It looked good but didn't sew up very well. It didn't want to ease and there is some puckering on the seamlines. Some fellow PR members had issues with this type of fabric so I'm pretty sure it wasn't my sewing skill. Here's a picture . As to fit, the length of this garment is exactly where the pattern description said it would be--5" below my waist. The sleeves fit, the bust fits, the back fits. In fact, everything is perfect except that it wants to fall down my back. I get this in RTW all the time and it is a pet peeve, but v

I've got Unique 8038 finished save the hem/buttons/buttonholes. This is the pattern that was drafted to my 'Bodyskan' measurements. Overall, it seems to fit fine out of the envelope, which is wonderful. Per Unique's recommendations, I did a basted fitting and as a result took in a tad (about 1/2") over the full bust. The garment seems short--it is described as ending 5" below the waist--so once I have it hemmed I'll check that measurement. Another other thing I've noticed is that the collar doesn't seem long enough in the front. It appears longer in the pattern picture. And finally, the illustrations did not match the instructions. In a couple of parts of the instructions the right sides and wrong sides of the fabric were incorrectly depicted. Stretch and Sew 1745 --Dh's polo work shirt is complete except for--yep--buttons and buttonholes. I've a second shirt cut out and interfaced. I'll construct it using my soon-to-arrive

White 2000ATS Lookit! Lookit my new serger! Ordered it today from allbrands.com . I got the serger, which comes with quite a list of goodies, and the accessory set that includes extra feet and a workbook that I hear from PR is worth getting. $355 from the warehouse to my doorstep. I considered contacting my local dealer to see if they could come close to matching that price, but I don't see how they could. They list the White 1934D--one model lower than the 2000ATS--for $799 , currently on sale for $499. So if they're selling the lower model for $164 more than I paid for the top model and all the extras.....well, I just don't see how they could beat it. My dealer does include classes with purchase, but I hear--again on PR--that the video that comes with the machine is as good as taking a class. Even if I were willing to pay more and have the classes I'd have to come up with more cash. Not willing to do that. What I really think is that they would try to sel

Got one of Darren's workshirts finished except for buttons/buttonholes. It looks real good and he likes the soft knit (I bought it at a Stretch and Sew event at The Place That Sells Sewing Machines here in town. The first one went a little slow because I kept checking it against his existing workshirt that I had laid out on the worktable for comparison to the pattern, and having to go into the living room where he was watching a baseball game to eyeball the shirt he was wearing and comparing it to the one I had laid out and the one I was making. It really turned out nice, though, and now that I know it fits the next one will go much faster. I really want to get a serger before I make up the 2nd shirt. I could foresee making all his workshirts--cutting them out 2 at a time and whipping them out. I got the Unique Patterns jacket cut out and basted. By golly if it doesn't fit! At least it seems to. Sometimes I can't get a good read on fit until the garmet is finished and I

Woo hoo! Take Friday and Monday off from work and what do you get? A 4-day weekend in which to sew! Last night I cut out the perfect trousers pattern out of some black stretch twill. This morning I sewed some badly needed back darts into some cute purply black jeans I recently bought that fit me well otherwise. Next I'm cutting out the Unique Patterns jacket; hope to get that cut out before I have to leave to run some errands (like buy some notions and get my nails done). After the jacket gets cut out I'm going to tackle work shirts for dh, and then (whew!) trim the Unique Patterns trousers. I used my new rotary cutter last night for the first time. Methinks I like it!

The sewing table skirts are finished; they make such a difference! See before & after shots in my completed projects page, and read the review here . I think dh is getting used to the idea of a serger. I've decided on the White 2000ATS, since there are such good deals for it on ebay right now. From $287 to $340, depending on how many accessories come with it. I showed him the Joann's ad for the 1934 model, regular price $499, on sale for $399. On ebay I can get the top model for $100 less than Joann's sale price for a lesser model! Who could defy that logic?

Just about finished with the sewing skirt panels. Picked up the tension rods I need for the 2nd table, too. After spending $50 on rolled hem presser feet (2, each of a different width), I realized that this is a quickie home dec project and there is no need for fine couture techniques, or even amateur-looking rolled hems in this case. I could just zig-zag the raw edges and turn the hem as I sew. So that's what I did. I only press at the end, after all the edges have been finished and turned, and the panels look great. I'm returning the presser feet and putting the $$ towards my serger fund. This project would've gone a lot faster with a serger and if I have a serger I don't believe I would need rolled hem presser feet for my sewing machine, since I'd do that on the serger. Now that I've got one table skirted and can see how nice it looks I realize that I need to alter the press-table cover to fit so it looks neater and then make a sewing machine cover.

I've started my sewing table skirts. Got one panel done; 10 more to go, for 2 tables. The one I've finished looks very nice. After turning under and pressing several yards of the fabric to finish the edges of just one of the panels I have decided that now is the time to by a couple of hemming feet for my sewing machine. One to finish the edge before turning down to form the rod pocket, and another that turns a wider hem for the bottom edge. Now that my contest entry is complete I want to have a cutting marathon and cut out some of the patterns listed in my Works in Progress . Time to try out my new rotary cutter! Also, not on the WiP list is another 1 or 2 casual dress shirts for Darren. I have fabric planned for 2, but I think I will make one out of the same pattern I used for his first one, and then later make a 2nd, nicer, long-sleeved shirt, with cuffs and everything. I want to get David Page Coffin's Shirtmaking: Developing Skills for Fine Sewing book befor

My entry for Pattern Review's plus size sewing contest is done! Check my completed projects link in my sewing room to see them. My pants pattern from Unique Patterns that I got free with my bodyskan came yesterday, right on time. Now I have both patterns I ordered from them. The next step is to cut 'em out and sew 'em up. When that is completed I may post my whole Unique Patterns/bodyskan story on Pattern Review. I told dh I'm considering a serger. "Why would you need more than one sewing machine?" he asked. "Why do you need more than one tool, or one gun?" was my clever reply. I assured him I was looking at lower end and used models. That helped a little. I did get permission to buy off ebay if I got a good deal. I don't mean to make my ddh sound like a meanie, 'cause he's a real sweet man. But I tend to move fast when I get ideas and he ends up feeling railroaded. I have to move slowly so as not to overwhelm my sweetie.

Now I want a serger. How am I going to explain this to dh? I've done my usual round of comparison shopping (thank you, God, for the world-wide web) and have decided upon the White 1600 because it is in my price range, it has most of the features I want, it got good reviews on the Jojos website (there weren't any reviews for this machine on patternreview and only a small, but positive mention of it on sewingworld) and it is on sale there for $229. I could get it at Allbrands for $199 plus shipping, but then I'd have to wait . I'm still going to have to wait because I have to ease dh into this verrryyy gennnttly. I do have the money in my little special account, so as soon as dh gets used to the idea I will go get it. But he has to get used to it by October 2nd, because that's when the sale ends. I want it for dh's polo-style work shirts and for Kim's wedding veil. Plus I think the serger is a lot faster than a sewing machine.

Well, Jojos had a sale, Olfa rotary cutting supplies 40% off. So I bought me some. I have never rotary cut anything in my life, unless pizza counts. I heard it is faster. Anything to speed up my slow-sewing. I am soooo close to being finished with the blue skirt. The final fitting revealed that the waist needed to be taken in, the skirt pegged a little more and the darts may need a little work. So I did the waist and the pegging, then machine blind-hemmed it. Parts of that look a little funky. I'll fine-tune the hem and possibly the darts, give it a final pressing and be done!

I now have a website and 2 blogs. This blog is especially for sewing.