Not-So-Haute Couture

Happy Birthday to my honey. He won't see this....he never reads this thing, but happy birthday to him, anyway. And birthday wishes to Lynn, too. And to Auntie-Gommie (4/23), Kim Y. and Lisa B. (4/27) and Bryan B. (4/30). And here's hoping Katee has her baby girl by midnight tonight so she can share her birthday with Uncle Darren & Aunt Lynn. Darren said if she came tonight they can name her Darrelynn! Lucky her! So it's been a h**l of a long week but a little sewing got done. Placket & pockets are on the front of DH's work shirt. That is all. Sure wish I could whip this stuff out. The placket & pocket were easier this time. This time easier, next time easier and faster. Still have to make the collar. I'm gonna keep my eye out for some more nice cotton knit interlock and buy enough for about 4 work shirts and make 'em assembly-line style. I'm wearing my Unique lavender shirt. I put on shoulder pads and they help the fit a lot. I'm starting to...

Add these to the in-process projects: Stretch & Sew 1745 , work shirt for Darren. Cut out of 100% cotton burgundy knit. Contrasting green placket interfaced. I removed the length I had added in the upper chest area because the shirts I made that way indicated that the additional room isn't needed. I think this one will fit better in the arms. Also, this time I'm going to try making a contrasting collar to match the placket. I've used purchased collars in the past and I frankly didn't want to spend the money this time. Vogue 7281 Long sleeve view. Muslin cut; final fashion fabric to be a reddish-rose linen look material. Need some special buttons for this. Vogue 7976 shorter jacket. Muslin cut; final fashion fabric to be a gray/pink/white boucle tweed with white lining. (I wanted pink lining, but they were out and I had to catch the 50% sale while the catching was good) The lavender knit shirt from Unique is finished. I guess it fits okay; that is, the bust,...

Malachi at 20 weeks. Look at this beautiful profile! If you look closely you can see his little foot up by his chin......or did Amanda say that's his knee? Well, it's cute, whatever it is.

I've done up Butterick 4290 as customized by Unique and I think it fits pretty well. I made the v-neck long-sleeved version in a 60" wide lavender cotton knit I got @ 5+ yds for $5 from fabric.com . The top needs some finishing touches (hemming & top-stitching), then I'm going to wash it and try it on again. It always takes me a couple of try-ons to assess fit. I used a video clip from Threads Magazine website to apply a self-binding and it worked beautifully. I need to buy a 4mm double needle for the top stitching and hemming. Aha! A use for my latest 40% off coupon from jojos. My closet organizing project is moving forward bit by bit. I now have self-stick battery operated lights to install in there. Next the doorway needs to be measured for a pole and curtains, and those items as well as paint need to be priced. And the closet needs dusting again. Even the shoes in my hanging canvas shoe cubby are dusty. Where does all that dust come from??? Dh and I are...

Check this out: Next Ten . The email explaining this site said I could set up California's budget my way. Hmmm....

The Petite Plus Shapely Shirt has not turned out as well as I'd hoped. The pattern itself is still cute. I bought, cut & altered it months ago and I added length to it. Why? Why did I do that? have no idea. I'll have to look at the pattern directions to see if I followed their instructions about adjusting for a larger bust. Anyways, the shoulders & bust fit, but the stylized empire waist hits me too low (why did I add that length?). One think that is not due to my adding length to the pattern is the fact that the back is HUGE on me. I deepened the back darts and took a 2" tuck down the middle and it's better back there. I have a very narrow back and I suspect that PP patterns are drafted for more of an apple shape. And the hips are mighty small on me, despite my cutting out the size that supposedly fits my hips. It doesn't even come close. This is a typical RTW problem for me. The other thing is the fabric. In an earlier post I said it sewed...

Now that the kids are raised and out of the house it's time to get rich and thin: Hamptons Diet

Worth checking out: American Dreamwear's Zaftique.com- Plus size clothing in Sophisticated styles for fashionable, full figured women, curvy chicks, & BBWs.

It's already been decided that one of my wardrobe colors shall be gray. I think charcoal gray. I think . And the 2nd color shall be navy blue. I decided on this because the Petite Plus Shapely Shirt that is my current work in progress has navy blue in it and when I tried it on for fitting (It won't button at the hips and for some reason I added length where it's not needed, but I won't go into that right now) I couldn't help but notice that the color looks great on me. Then, this morning I wore dh's dark blue bathrobe (mine's in the wash), and it looked great on me, too. I think we have a color winner. The third color I think will be camel. This is based on a comment in Forty over Forty where the author says that honey-blondes look good in honey-leather accessories and camel color. It's a matter of carrying your natural (I'm a natural blonde--honest!) coloring through into your clothing and accessories. I'm not sure I'm crazy about the pos...

Reasonably priced woven labels in small quanities can be purchased here: Heirloom Labels

Oh, my goodness--I am not a knitter (knitress?) I crochet a little bit--a very little bit. But this is is a knitblog link I found on going jesus and it is funnyfunnyfunny: Stitchy McYarnpants: The Museum of Kitschy Stitches, Vol. III - Emasculation Nation: Menswear That Makes Men Swear

I got started sewing on the Petite Plus Shapely Shirt using a stretch denim-look fabric that I 'won' for participating in PR's plus-size sewing contest (everybody was a winner in that contest). MaryT sent it to me (thank you, Mary!). It's too soon to tell whether the shirt's gonna be a good fit (please let it be!), but the fabric sure sews like a dream.

The taxes are ready to give to the accountant. So that's done. My sewing corner is lookin' goooood. The sewing machine and the serger each have their own pretty cover. Sewing Machine Covers My fabric is stowed prettily in rolls tied with muslin strips. And my patterns are organized and catalogued. I do not have a very large stash of either, and what I had was not all that disorganized, but it was getting there! Inspired by various Pattern Review message board threads and a desire to sew in an orderly environment I bought 3 bankers/file boxes and a roll of Sonoma pattern contact paper. The covered boxes look very pretty. Since the boxes aren't see-through I used my handy-dandy label maker to mark the boxes. 2 of the boxes now hold my pattern collection. The 3rd box holds some tablecloths. I have more tablecloths than would fit in the 1 box, though, so I'm gonna buy another set of 3 boxes to cover and use them to hold the rest of the linens. I don't use tablecloths ...

This is not an April Fool's joke: The Suzanne Collection . This site is about well-fitting bras for larger women. I had seen it before but forgotten about it. I was reading the bra sew-along thread on Pattern Review and came across it again.

And some foolery from the fug girls: Go Hug Yourself .

April Foolery from Google: Google Gulp

Woo hoo! Dh said he's buying me a palm pilot for my birthday! His birthday is next month and I plan to buy him an X-box or a Play Station. Circuit City has an online Video game console showdown that looks like it will be helpful in deciding which gaming unit to get him.

"He is not here; he has risen, just as he said." Matthew 28:6 "He has risen!" Mark 16:6 “Why do you look for the living among the dead? He is not here; he has risen!" Luke 24:5, 6 He has risen, indeed!

Uh oh. I think I want a Viking Interlude 445 . A discussion on Sewing World made it sound like the best non-embroidery computerized sewing machine there is. I used to not want a computerized machine but I seem to spend quite a bit of time looking in my manual for the correct settings, then tweaking & turning dials into just the right combination on my older and definately not computerized Viking 6370. I am very interested in the 'buttonhole sensor'. But not interested enough to go try it out at my Viking dealer; there are other things that have a higher financial priority. I'll try when I'm ready to buy. (But I might do an ebay search for a Viking Lily, which was replaced by the Interlude). For reference, I'm reading on SW that the Interlude is much the same as the more expensiveViking Platinum line, and that the Viking Freesia does not sew as smoothly as the Interlude. Why am I 'sew' partial to Vikings, I wonder?

The projection equipment is back where it belongs. The digital tapes of the wedding have been delivered into the hands of the professionals at Videobrite for transferring onto dvd. I never did successfully negiotiate that learning curve. Plus I have neither a firewire port nor a firewire cable, which apparently are absolutely, positively required for getting digital tape images into my computer. And even if I did have that stuff, I don't have the time--the camera doesn't belong to us and its owners want it back. I've been downright woozy with post-wedding traumatic syndrome. I took the day off work and slept awhile, then I did some grocery shopping (peanut butter cups, frosted animal cookies, chocolate-covered preztels, diet pepsi, bread, tomatoes and a copy of People--I'm good for the week!) Got some laundry done & am slowly putting things back where they belong. My sink is truly shiny for the first time in at least 2 weeks. A shiny sink is a fresh start. Patternr...