Not-So-Haute Couture

TV shelf installed! It looks great, too. I worked on the bridesmaid dress alterations and during that process learned more about my serger and how to work with light-weight and sheer fabrics. I learned about the stitch finger and that if not properly installed it will jam the machine. I've been kinda afraid of the stitch finger, but had to learn about it because I needed narrower stitches for the sheer fabric on the dresses and Kim's veil. Turns out, to get narrower stitches, on my machine a White 2000 ATS one either changes the stitch finger to a narrower one, or doesn't even use it at all. Since I didn't take a good hard look at the factory installed stitch finger before I removed it (I was impressed that it seemed so easy to do, and indeed it was easy to remove) I didn't put the narrow stitch finger in correctly and the machine jammed with a big 'clunk'. I was so scared I'd hurt my baby just when I needed her most, but I took the sf out and all s...

A TV shelf for my sewing corner My husband is wonderful. He ordered this TV shelf & undershelf unit from Stacks and Stacks for me for Christmas. Marcy, a terrifically helpful S&S goddess, told me he came in with the above picture and looking lost. They didn't carry the item in the store so he bought a gift certificate and gave it to me. What a guy. He knows I love shelves. I traipsed over to S&S the day after Christmas and Marcy ordered the set for me. The corner unit came in pretty quickly but I just picked up the undershelf yesterday. And today I get to install it! Whoo Hoo! Think of the workspace I'll gain when I get my little TV up off the sewing table! Before I install it, though, I'm going to finish one of the bridesmaid tops--can't get too sidetracked from the alterations because I have no intention of staying up til 2 in the morning before the wedding doing stuff I could've done well before. After all, on Kim's big day I ha...

Thanks to rostitchery , I've discovered that aprons are making a comeback: Kitsch'n" Glam: Collection . Love the kitsch, but oh, the prices! $41.60 for the small apron! Hmmm......Y'know, dh is a garage door contractor and he sometimes sells garage doors that have a mail slot in one of the sections. He told me that people have some pretty crazy set-ups to catch their mail so it doesn't fall on the garage floor to be run over by the returning vehicle. He suggested that I design a container made of net, or the like (something flexible but strong) and sell them. Again I say, "Hmmmmm....." May not be as glamorous or kitschy as these aprons, but, hey! It could happen!. I think I will go surf the net for garage door mail containers..... Oh, wait a minute--I have some wedding sewing to do. Okay, then. I will start my business empire after the wedding , which, by the way, is our new slogan.

The Rusty Bobbin: Inklings

Went to Thai Silks with my cousin Tracy and purchased 12 yards of lovely dark lavender raw silk. 12 yards is more than I calculated that I need; I guess I'll have to make a pretty maternity dress for dd with the leftover yardage : ). The color is much darker than the chiffon so I'll have to play with it to see how I'm going to incorporate the two fabrics. But I love that silk! I ordered Bridal Couture and How to Alter a Bridal Gown and I'm very much looking forward to using a few couture techniques in my outfit. However, I plan to serge the seams and I'm informed that serging is not a couture technique. But if hand-sewing is couture--and the book says it is--then the bridesmaids' gown alterations are at least semi-couture. Or would that be demi-couture? I started dd's matron of honor gown alterations. I split the back side seams for some hiney-room and slipped stitched them closed with beautiful results. Before starting I consulted my handy-da...

I sewed up a muslin of the reissued Unique 8038UO and it looks just about perfect. The drafter pivoted the shoulder point forward and added back shoulder darts and a back seam for shaping at the neckline. I'm so excited to see it made up, even in a muslin. MoB top muslin front MoB top muslin back MoB muslin shoulder dart detail The skirt will be Simplicity 5469 . It'll look a lot more formal made up in the lavender with the sheer overskirt. If necessary I can add more flare below the knees. I won't have to alter my Sandra Betzine pencil skirt now--I was a little worried about the time it might take. Now I am certain of the patterns for the top and skirt and can go fabric shopping. My shoes arrived--they look great and are comfortable. They look very nice with the lavender sheer. When I held it up while wearing the shoes I made the decision to make my skirt ankle-length--that way my fat ankles won't distract from the pretty outfit. And I want to m...

Sonia Rose in her pink sleeper.

I think I've made a design decision about my Mother of the Bride outfit: A soft 2-piece suit, lined. The skirt shall have a flouncy flare at the hemline, but must be more fitted at the waist and hips, and will have a sheer overlay. The top will have sheer sleeves and sheer flounce details on the neckline and continuing down the top front, as well as at the sleeve hems. I believe I will use my Unique jacket pattern for the top. I'll eliminate the pockets and collar and use flounce details similar to Simplicity 5109 . These are both tried and true patterns, although the Unique pattern was re-drafted to fix some fitting issues and I haven't tried the re-drafted pattern yet. I will cut it out of muslin to make a toile. The skirt needs to be fairly fitted up top, with a flouncy skirt (?) or should I go with a straight skirt such as my tried and true Sandra Betzina Vogue 7333 , and add a deep flounce? But then how would I bringg the sheer into the skirt--overlay just ...

Oh, dear. Bad news. None of the brussels washer fabric swatches I have come anywhere near matching the lavender chiffon. Hmmm......I guess I'll start at Jojos and if I don't find anything there I may end up taking a trip to the big bad city in search of fabric.

Fleece jacket and blanket

Pink sleepers

Well, I tried on that pink blouse at Avenue, and it didn't work. It wasn't too bad, but not good enough for this Mother of the Bride. So I'm going to order some lavender brussels washer fabric to coordinate with some lovely lavender chiffon that was first purchased to decorate the chuppa at my sister's wedding. Then we used it to swag over the alter at my oldest daughter's wedding. Now I'll use part of it in my dress at my younger daughter's wedding. I'm also going to make Sonnie a matching dress! Won't that be cute! I did order those shoes, though. I really like the way they look on the web--soon we'll see how they look (and feel) on me.

I got back to some sewing this new year's weekend. My new niece Sonia Rose now has 2 little pink lace-trimmed sleepers, a fleece jacket and a matching fleece blanket. She is 17 1/2 inches long and weighs only 4 lbs, 14 oz. I downloaded a size large (4-6 lbs) preemie sleeper pattern and made up 2 of them using a pink t-shirt weight cotton blend. They went together pretty fast, if you don't count the time I spent re-acquainting myself with my serger (I haven't sewn during the holidays, and I hadn't had my serger very long before that) and the time I spent making a practice sleeper. This pattern was great and it was free. Note however that they don't instruct you about finishing the ends of the neck ribbing before attaching it to the neckline. I can think of 2 ways to finish the ends: Fold ribbing in half longways, right sides together, stitch the ends in a narrow seam, turn and press. Attach ribbing per pattern instructions; or Taper each end of the ribbing into th...

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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