Why do I always do this???

This is a boring post. Just a rant. No pics. No need to read any further if you're looking for something remotely interesting.

Just wondering why I always make clothes for my oldest daughter, send them off with her, and never take a pic of the project first? It happens a lot! Like this past weekend. She came home from college, and we were headed out for grocery shopping. She asked her sister if she could borrow a sweatshirt, but I said there was no need to because her finished black, fleece jacket was hanging in the closet.

It looked great on her with her jeans and black boots. I was proud of my project, and that she liked it. She did mention the identical grey jacket I sent to her last month got her lots of compliments by her friends. Anyway, I drove her back to college AND NEVER TOOK A PIC OF HER IN THE JACKET!

Dummy me. Now I'm going to have to beg her for a pic lol. And her phone doesn't always take the best of pics either. Might as well wait until May.

Little Disappointments

I placed two orders last week from fabric.com. 3 fabrics in each order. One had wool suiting, wool/cashmere melton, and black fleece.

The fleece was a big disappointment. It had deep, vertical crease lines running from selvedge to selvedge. I need to return it. All four yards of it. I went out to JoAnn's today and bought 4 yards of their anti-pill fleece. It looks so much better. The wool/cashmere melton was advertised as being suitable for something like a coat or winter jacket? It's more like suiting fabric if you ask me, but I'll keep it. It is nice, just much thinner than what I was expecting. The wool suiting was really nice though.

Second order was a green rayon/lycra knit, a stretchy, black don't know what (DD#2 put it in the cart), and a lacy-look ITY. The ITY looked terrible, nothing like the screen pic. That is going to be returned as well. The other two were nice--they're keepers.

So 4 out of 6 were good, but the two stinkers have to be returned. I think I need to head into NYC PR Weekend for some nice wool. Paron's anyone?

Sewing a lot, Writing a little.

What's a sewing review? I finally did one last week. Blogging and pattern reviews the past year have taken a serious hit. So here I am, the morning after Superbowl Sunday, playing a bit of catch-up on my blog.

I really have been sewing. What has been made recently: a grey jacket for DD#1 who is away at college, 3 pink hats with her sorority letters, a tote, a black dress for DD#2, a blue dress and an orange dress for DD#1, a blue dress for me but no pics of that as of yet. Projects that are brewing: maybe entering a pair of jeans in the jeans contest at PR, another jacket for DD#1, a suit for DD#2, and a multitude of dresses and shirts for DD#2. Here are some of the finished projects:

DD#1 asked me to make her some fleece hats for cold days in the city at college. She pledged a sorority last Fall so a hat request was in order. My fabric stash is too big, thus a request for one hat became three. Trying to trim the stash a bit. She can pick one and give the other two away. This was a pattern from the book Polarfleece Pizazz. The hat style is okay. Other hat styles are better but this one will suffice. It's very quick and easy though with the serger. All three hats can be assembled during the TV commercials of a one-hour show. Seriously, it took no time at all. What gobbled up the time was tracing off greek letters onto fabric, making the applique, satin stitching the edges of the applique on the hat, as well as embroidering the band with the script letters.

DD#2's dress. This was McCalls 5893. It was a tank style maxi dress. I made it a one-shouldered dress and shortened it up quite a bit. Added a self-drafted ruffle along the top, front edge.

My daughter's jacket. I told her I'm not sending it to her unless I get pics of BOTH her dresses lol. She only sent me one for her blue dress. Still waiting for the orange one. This jacket is Simplicity 2024, and the black fleece should arrive in the mail any day now to make version 2.

This is Butterick 4364. It has about 3 different bag styles, and I used some retro fabric from my mother's stash which she was getting rid of. You know the fabric is old when one of the widths was 36" lol. These three fabrics were from the early/mid 70's. The button was purchased from a local fabric store. What a don't like--the buttonhole closure. Next time, it will be a magnetic snap.

DD#1's blue dress. I'm finding it hard to recognize my daughter lately because she dyed her hair brown lol. This is a morph of two patterns: Simplicity 2364 (one-shouldered top) and McCalls 5893 (elastic empire line down to hem).

That's it for now. Still waiting for DD#1's orange dress pic and have to get a pic of my blue holiday dress. Maybe sometime soon.

A Simplicity "Sew Simple" pattern

Last month I bought a cute jacket pattern I thought DD#1 might like at college. It's Simplicity 2024, a "Sew Simple" multi-size pattern (10-22).


On the pattern sheets there is a square that illustrates morphing between sizes for a perfect fit. Yeah, I do that. But there are at least two pattern pieces, maybe 3 because I can't remember for sure, that have the "old" 3 separate pattern pieces for (let's say) the collar/tie. As in "sizes 10 and 14 on piece X, sizes 12, 16, 18 on piece X, sizes 20 and 22 on piece X. I was VERY lucky! My morphing sizes are 10 and 14. I wouldn't have been too happy putting pattern pieces together and then morphing them. What a time hog. However, I thought it was kind of funny that the pattern is "Sew Simple", pattern morphing is illustrated for perfect sizing, then some of the pattern pieces are two or three sizes so the user has to pick/choose the appropriate one, then morph from two or three pieces on to a new one if they need to fine tune the fit.

If I was a newbie sewer, it would be very confusing in regard to the sizing aspect. And it does require a little thinking to morph properly on this pattern. So I thought it was kind of an oxymoron to call this pattern "Sew Simple". Yes, the sewing IS simple. Mostly thoughtless sewing, the kind experienced sewers could almost do with their eyes closed. However, the pattern pieces are not "sew simple" for a newbie sewer that might pick up this pattern and think it's easy based on that label. Especially if they want to morph it.

Really, it's just a minor vent. And I guess a newbie would probably sew the entire jacket in one size. Just thought it was weird because it actually does take some thinking in the pre-cutting/sewing stages. While it is simple to sew, it's more on the time-consuming side to fit. It's just one of those kind of patterns that surprised me in that regard.

Oh well, the pattern has been morphed. Hopefully tomorrow I'll be cutting the fabric and interfacing.

Quick Sewing Updates

I really like making Q&E panties. Using my KS-2075 panty pattern, I've whipped up a few more pairs using knit fabric remnants in my stash. (Yes, if you look through my slide you'll see garments made from the same fabric lol!) Yes, a few alterations have been made to the pattern like fiddling with the crotch seams by moving the crotch piece forward (shortening the front piece/lengthening the back) and widening the lower back piece for my 40ish bum. The result? A great fitting pair of panties that provides good rear coverage, higher-cut leg openings, and a waistband that sits at the high hip as opposed to the waist. Here they are:

These Rita's Ice panties were made for DD#2 from her old work shirt that was stained. The t-shirt seaming made exact placement impossible, but I thought they were pretty cute. She has yet to wear them, but I told her they're going to be stolen away if she doesn't get use out of them.

I've been using black and white, plush/picot edge lingerie elastic from Sew Sassy -- http://www.sewsassy.com/ . Great stuff, easy to use.

I used my Babylock serger's elastic foot to apply the elastic. There is NO MEASURING/NO QUARTERING when using this foot. It is "Da Bomb"!!! One of the better inventions since the wheel. Simply adjust the screw on the foot to the desired stretch of elastic. It does take a few samples, but it works fabulous. Even if you can't adjust the screw at exactly the same place every time you make a pair, a minor change doesn't matter. I've experimented with different tension placed on the elastic via the screw for different pairs and they all fit great.

All cotton crotch linings are used from old 100% cotton t-shirts. Some are old ones in my drawers, or I look for the Hanes sales for mens' cotton tees in those 3-pack bags.

Movin' on. I'm working on a quick holiday dress using McCall's 2401. It's been sitting unused in my stash F O R E V E R. Did the alterations and am now stitching it up. It's about 2/3's done. I shopped my stash and was looking at the the 3 fabrics on the left for the dress:

The blue won out! Here it is from a few days ago as I was cutting out. More pics soon of the finished garment.
Hope you all have some time during the busy holiday season to accomplish some sewing!

Got Bit!

It's like somebody gave me a sewing shot. Or I definitely got bit by the sewing bug on Saturday night. I've been having a case of the Christmas grumps, then on Saturday night perhaps I figured out why. How long has it been since I've whipped up a garment for myself? Far too long. Oodles of panties don't count.

I pulled out a basic McCall's sheath dress pattern yesterday and went to work with pattern alterations and whipped up a muslin. It's good to go. In a few minutes I'm going to shop the stash for fabric. There are definitely a few possibilities. All are fabrics from PR Weekends from a few years ago. Let's see what I come up with.

My guess is I'll whip up two quickie dresses. One might be a sexy, short black lace number with a nude stretch lining, and the other will be knee-length as shown on the pattern. Figure if I spent a few hours with pattern alterations, the pattern has to get used twice right away.

Let's see what I come up with in a few days. And it's cold here all right! Here is one of my cozy sidekicks that knows how to stay warm on a very cold, December morning. The same guy that sleeps in a cozy blanket near my head at night, and wakes me with warm breathing and kitten kisses to let me know he wants to snuggle under the covers in the morning!

Thanksgiving Traditions

It's too bad it doesn't include sewing.

Yesterday I made pies all day.

3 Blueberry Pies (giving two to my mother)
1 Pumpkin Pie
1 Pumpkin Cheesecake
1 Caramel Apple Cheesecake
1 Chocolate Cream Pie

Also made the cake part of the pumpkin roll.

Today I'm making one more pie, an apple one, as well as the filling for the pumpkin roll and assembling it. Will also make apple crisp as a favor to my husband.

Tomorrow morning we celebrate our annual family tradition of eating Thanksgiving desserts at 10:30 a.m. while watching the NYC Macy's Day parade. I started this tradition about 11 years ago because we'd always be too full after the big dinner to enjoy our desserts, and now it's something my kids look forward to with gusto! You should see them lining up at the kitchen table at 10:15 in anticipation. They eagerly help out with table setup, plates, knives, and forks. And you know what the positive thing about this tradition is? Mid-morning desserts holds us over nicely until dinner around 2 or 3 p.m. Of course, we can always have seconds on desserts around 8 or 9 p.m. lol.

There is one tradition, however, I don't know if we'll be able to make during the Christmas season. Black Friday is the day we decorate our Christmas tree. In fact, I just brought the tree up last night and put it in our living room. Problem is, our kitten is still a kitten. 7 mos old to be exact and is highly active and highly curious. While big brother, Jake, loves to climb up the middle of the tree, little Riley gets great satisfaction out of playing with all things little like ponytail holders, security rings from milk jugs, running off with earrings, etc. This year I'm not sure if we're going to be able to put up any Christmas decorations. I worry about him having too much fun with the ornaments and playing with hooks. Forget the garland this year--it's out of the questions. We might just have to go with tree, lights, bows, and angel. And what if Jake teaches Riley bad habits of climbing up the middle of the tree??? Please, I'm not going there right now lol.

Here are very recent pics of our two boys sleeping together. I love how their arms are wrapped around each other :) . At the bottom is our little (but growing a lot) baby sitting on my youngest's lap.

Devon Rex and Sphynx cats are truly the dogs of the cat world. Our Sphynx even more so than our Devon though. They are truly wonderful, loving, curious animals, and I could blubber on about them all day long. Anyway...

Have a safe, wonderful, and happy Thanksgiving, everyone!