Jake and the Coverstitch Machine

It's late, but I had to post this. I know the post title should be, "Don't Let Your Cat Do this!" or "This is Dangerous for Cats!", but it was also cute when it happened. I have since put everything away. Nothing can happen to my little boy, Jake, because we all love him so. Cats and sewing don't always mix well but...

This just was so darned cute. I got out my Coverstitch machine to work on topstitching my swimsuit and guess who suddenly took an interest in my machine!?!? My little baby. Before I got him interested in something else, I snapped these pics of him:

He was batting the threads and rubbing the telescoping bar while I was trying to rethread:

Exploring the nooks and crannies...

Discovered his own use for the telescopic bar :( ...

As well as finding pleasure in the cone holders :( ...

He was redirected toward a nice, plush piece of fleece that he can burrow into. He LOVES to burrow, so he lost interest in my Coverstitch. But I loved that he at least took an interest in it.

Nighty night!

Maybe I Should Live in Florida

Hot weather and humidity are the bane of my existence. Both do not agree with my skin, nor my hair. But...I sure love making swimsuits. So maybe if I ever did move to Florida, I could forget about making clothes and just make and wear swimsuits all the time :) .

All I have to do is topstitch the neckline, armholes, and leg openings on my current suit. Pulling out my Coverstitch tomorrow and setting it up in matching thread to do just that. Then I can model it and throw it in the drawer for next summer. A few matching pareos would be nice, too, and the perfect mesh is in my stash just for that purpose.

More later. Happy Sewing!

The Family Model

Yesterday I mentioning what was keeping me busy, and it started with sending my daughter off to college. She was in the happy pic with her cousin who is also a Freshman and attending the same school. In the same post I was posting about making my swimsuit (which is almost finished BTW :) ), so it was quite ironic that a little while after I posted on my blog, I saw the picture below. It's my niece! Same girl next to my daughter in yesterday's blog post. She's been doing a bit of modeling the past couple of years, but here she is in a US company catalog for competitive swimwear. Congrats to her!

Busy Woman's Guide to Sewing and Blogging

First off, thanks to all for your comments in my two previous blog posts. I have a low to zero tolerance for snooty people and that point came through loud and clear. It is nice to know there are others out there that have the same disdain for these types of people. When my love of sewing gets bogged down by "snoots", I feel the need to tell the snoots to buzz off. So if my posts accomplished that, all is good.

The title to today's post is the obvious: The Busy Woman's Guide to Sewing and Blogging. If you have the guide (I'm being facetious), please post it on your blog or be kind enough to email it to me. You see, life has been so busy, and not the sew busy that I'd like it to be. My husband has been handling the softball side for our daughter who has to juggle a schedule being on three teams, and I get the boys' schedules of Cross Country and Football. Throw in the activity of highest priority in my day which is going to the gym and three lengthy chiropractor appts every week dealing with car accident issues from last January. Add in the usual motherly responsibilities and it's hard to find quality sewing time.

One would think having one less child at home would mean being less busy, but my oldest still keeps me busy with having to send something to her at college on a regular basis. A little over a month ago we packed her up and shipped her off :) . Here she is with her cousin who is also a Freshman at the same college. Um...she's not short LOL. It's just that her cousin is SO tall.

She was busy unloading and getting her room organized last month, and then we were off.



She is currently a very happy and well adjusted college Freshman! She also made the college's Club Tennis Team and is playing weekend tournaments. On to sewing...

Unfortunately, lately I've been doing my sewing at night if I have any little chunks of time. Did you know I hate sewing at night? I'm tired and constantly make mistakes. For example, let me tell you about DD#2's skirt that she requested from me. She told me the style she wanted, I drafted the pattern for it. She tells me she wants the waist in the weirdest place on her body. I said, "You can't have it THAT low! It's just an inch or two above your hips!!! It's going to look bizarre." Anyway, I made it the way she wanted and she says, "Why is it so low???" I need the head shake emoticon. "Because YOU wanted it that way!" Then she proceeds to tell me that she doesn't like the back. Too much fabric at the hemline.

So...I tried to make the fixes, but there's only so much I can do with taking things in with a side zip on the skirt. The entire skirt had to be taken apart, and a new back was cut with modified side seams and two princess seamlines so I could mold the skirt to her backside. Everything was just about right when I sat down at the Ott light to handstitch a little part on the skirt and discovered my latest evening snafu. I CUT THE BACK PIECE FROM MY BLACK FABRIC AND NOT THE NAVY BLUE!!! (*@#(*@#$#$*(*&@# . I couldn't tell the difference under my kitchen light at all when cutting the fabric out. So I will seam rip the entire skirt again and cut the back from blue. It is terribly frustrating so I set the project aside, made some drapery tie backs, and am working on finishing up my swimsuit that was started two months ago. A break from the skirt-from-you-know-where project is in order.

Anyway, my tie backs came out nicely. I need to buy an L-hook and some rings and am hoping to do that today. Once I get the tie backs up, I will take a pic of them.

My swimsuit is looking good. All it needs right now is a fitting session, final stitching, and elastic application at all openings. I'm getting pretty good at stitching the bra cups in the swimsuit lining fabric. The key is to zigzag stitch on the cups through the cups and fabric. Don't let the zigzag stitch fall off the cup edge into the lining fabric. What I'm not good at yet is getting even zigzaging when attaching the elastic to the bottom of the bra lining. I like a snug fit and really need to stretch the lining to fit the elastic while maneuvering the machine and project effectively. Maybe my coverstitch machine would do a more effective job with this. Perfection is key because I'd like to enter a swimsuit or two in next year's local fair.

Here is the swimsuit front and back thus far:

Check out those swimsuit bra cups too! They're essential, IMO, for good lift and support in a swimsuit. I'll post the source when I do my swimsuit review because I can't remember where I purchased them as I type this post.

Last but not least, here I am in my Amy Butler Halter Top (converted to a dress) that I reviewed a month or two ago. I was supposed to be a maxi style length, but it didn't turn out that way. It's okay. It's still a comfortable dress, and I like it. Shown are the front and angled to show the side slit.

Today it's pouring like crazy, but it's a good thing here. Good for sewing and good for the drought-stricken Poconos. Maybe that swimsuit will be done today. I'm off to work on it.

Happy Sewing!