Progress is my Middle Name

;) . Couldn't resist...that post title is for my DH--(inside joke).

But it's the truth. Yesterday I made real progress on my jacket as you can see from the pic. Today I will attach the facings and get started on the lining. The only part that bugs me out is the cutting out and block fusing. I've said it before about how much I loathe block fusing, but cutting is also my bugaboo. I've been SO spoiled by making summer tees, tanks, and simple winter tops that cutting out anything with more than four pieces makes me push it off because of the time element. And space, definitely. It means I have to cut at the kitchen table, and therefore, it must be clean. So any cutting has to be done when the kids are in school lest I risk getting food spots on my fabric.

But once those time consuming things are done, everything just goes so smoothly and quickly. I did sew one jacket seam and decided to seam rip and hand baste all my seams before machine stitching them. It let me get more control at making sure everything was matching up the way it should be. I can't wait to work with the lining. It is probably a b**ch to sew, but it feels and looks luxurious.

I can't wait until it's finished! This jacket is needed pronto because my black wool pea coat must be dry cleaned. And the buttons...Ohhh! The buttons on my RTW pea coat were becoming loose and one fell off. So I get this brainiac idea to sew the one back on *AND* all the rest much more securely. I was at the batting cages when I did it and talking to one of my friends and sewed right through my pockets on four of them--two on each side! So now at least four of them must come off and resewn back on more carefully.

You'd think I could talk and sew at the same time, but no. It just doesn't happen, at least for me LOL! A blonde moment for sure.

The Scissors are Smokin' !

My jacket is all cut out! Lining included :) . I'm going to transfer some markings tonight but am SO excited that I can actually start sewing it very soon.

No progress on the handbag today, but I searched for a flower/foliage book that Kenneth King recommended for embellishing my handbag. Also, I need to get some thread that matches the Dior roses. When I get the chance, I'm planning on doing a rolled edge with decorative threads on each side of the straps. "Planning" is the operative word. That might change--lots of embellishing/sewing thoughts going through my head right now.

And, of course, no progress on the waist inset on my dress.

Happy New Year!

I hope it's a healthy and prosperous year for all my on-line friends!

I had a very relaxing and lazy New Year's Day today. Woke up at 8:30, had breakfast, made coffee for DH, surfed the web for a little while, showered/dressed and went to the gym with DD#1 and DD#2.

After that, we ran a couple of errands and picked up two DVD's. The kids and DH don't have to go back to school/work until Thursday. It will be body shock for them Thursday morning when they have to wake up 4 or 5 hours earlier than what they've become accustomed to the past week and a half. Two weeks for DH because he took a long vacation. The grumbling has begun about going back to work and I don't blame him one bit.

When I got home, I made homemade fried chicken, DD#2 made the homemade mozzarella sticks, and we finished up with a tortellini salad. Quite fatty, and I felt like a slug after eating it. Sure glad we only eat this way on special occasions too. Cleaning the deep fryer is a pain in the a$$ too. It's probably *the* no. 1 reason we don't eat too many fried foods LOL. Dessert was our leftover apricot brownies and church window candy from yesterday.

Tonight I hope to think embroidery thoughts. I have to make a belated Christmas present for a friend of mine that has had a tough personal life the past 18 mos. She's going through a divorce and the soon-to-be DH is not making things easy for her. And that's putting it mildly. He's been dragging it out as long as he can. I'm making her a wall hanging with her name on it and three things that will remind her what a wonderful person she is. She's a loving, devoted mother to a beautiful 4-year old son, a good and loyal friend, and a positive role model for her students. She's a pitching coach for my daughter and 11 other girls throughout the year. She is probably one of the strongest people I know, but certainly has had several low moments the past year and a half, but she always keeps going. I'm continually amazed at her firm resolve, positive attitude, and her dedication to help others despite what she has been through. So I just want to make something for her that she can see every day to remind her of what a wonderful person she is. I have to look through my embroidery designs to see if I can find some special designs for her wall hanging. It's kind of like a mini quilt.

Also, I've been looking at my dress and think maybe some embroidery on the front inset would be nice. (My dress is pictured in my 12/31 post.) It looks so plain, and I think some embroidery would make it more of a special, one-of-a-kind dress. It would have to be a v-shape design, and I'd like to keep it all red on the black fabric. Ideas, anyone? If you have ideas for a design, please let me know. I usually buy my designs from Embroidery Library but am still somewhat new to embroidery. I'm learning as I go, but there's only so much time to spend on it during the week. I did put covered, black buttons at the side of the sleeves below the tuck. This seemed to add to the "something" that was needed.

Well, I've sat here enough at my computer. It's time to do some dishes and get thinking embroidery!

Progress part 4

Merry Christmas everyone!!!

It was a great Christmas where we were able to stay home most of the day, and I made much progress on my Christmas dress (okay, so now it will be a New Year's dress :) ).

The zipper is done, the neck facing done, side seams are basted and just a little more tweaking in the upper thigh area is all that's needed to complete the seams with some permanent stitching.

Tomorrow I will work on the sleeves, the next day maybe the hem, and it will be given a final pressing so it can be worn to church. I'd get a picture of the WIP, but it doesn't fit on Phat Chick because she's too fat. I really need to slim her down because I got a little zealous with the fiberfill when stuffing her.

It's bedtime now, but I can't wait to work on my dress tomorrow.

Progress part 3

Block. Fusing. Is. Done!!! (long sigh...) THANK GOODNESS! Now I can finally get down to the juicy part of making a garment--sewing! DH says to me today, "You're always working on sewing stuff." And no, I'm not. It's grunge work. Block fusing is not sewing. When I'm sitting at my machine, gathering, pinning a dart, etc., *that* is sewing. Cutting is not sewing either LOL.

Oh. I almost forgot that I still have to cut three more pattern pieces as well as the lining. But that's okay. Anything but what I've been doing the past 5 days. And to top it off, it seems that every time I go to an appointment, I have to go back for more. DS#2 now has two ortho appts. tomorrow, one in the morning, one in late afternoon. And I still haven't finished Christmas shopping, nor have I worked on housecleaning this week. But I'm not worried. This year I will not stress at Christmas time. Stress is not in my nature and I will not let this holiday season get me down with everything that doesn't get done.

I am going to stay a happy chick and not a grumpy one.

ETA I had to sit at field hockey intermurals tonight and found a great spot, the receptionist's desk, to lay my dress and underlining on to work on them. It was just long enough for the dress. The first thing I did was to work with the dress front and pinned DesignPlus fusible (bias) stay tape to the front neck so it wouldn't stretch. This was done very carefully. Then I laid the underlining fabric, cotton batiste, on top of the wrong side of the dress front. The fabrics were smoothed out and pinned at all edges. The waist tucks were pinned in place as well. I was going to do the back but ran out of pins. When I got home, I removed the neckline pins and ironed the bias stay tape in place, then repinned the neck area, and stitched the entire underlining and dress together at the edges. Then the waist tucks were stitched and the entire piece was pressed. A Microtex needle/cotton thread/taut sewing combo eliminated any seam puckering. Here is the dress front so far:

The bottom corner of the dress shows the black cotton batiste underlining. After contemplating the issue of lining, underlining, or both, I decided to just go with underlining. For the type and style of dress, underlining just seamed easier. I'll probably use a HongKong finish on the seams. The zipper was going to be handpicked with seed beads but I couldn't find the shade of red beads that was needed so it will just be a regular centered zipper. And why cotton batiste? Because I'm ALWAYS cold! Batiste doesn't feel cold like Bemberg rayon. So that completes my Progress part 3 for today.

Good news/Bad news

The good news is my interfacing arrived in the mail yesterday.

The bad news is the kids have dentist and orthodontisit appts. again today and tomorrow. And tomorrow's ortho appt. is a long one because DD#1 gets her braces off. I have to do *something* today so I can take it along for whatever hand sewing/basting/marking that needs to be done.

I'll probably work on some block fusing and cutting the lining.

ETA--heading down home stretch with block fusing. Oh man! I can't wait to get this dreaded chore over with. A nice BIG press board would make things so much easier.

Put the machine away.

A few days ago I was trying to get the house a little more organized for Christmas and decided to put my machine away. There's nothing to be sewn up at this point other than assembling my pants muslin which has been on my couch for at *least* two weeks or so. Maybe three. Our house is small, and although I do have a small sewing studio, I prefer to sew in the kitchen so my sewing machine is set up there. In a little corner next to my kitchen counter, there is a corner storage/table unit I purchased at Walmart about a year ago just for the purpose of a "sewing corner" in my kitchen. The intent was a little cart to put my machine on and store current notions and projects in it for quick and easy access. If there is anything else around (like my pants muslin on the couch!), it really doesn't belong there and should be back in the sewing studio.

So the other day I cleaned off my kitchen table and put the machine back on the cart with its cover. The cart was organized according to my original intent. And *finally* my kitchen table is free of "stuff"! The purpose of this was actually twofold: get a little more organized for our Christmas Eve dinner and get a good cutting surface back for my Christmas outfit project. Cutting is my most disliked aspect of sewing and I put it off with a lot of excuses. However, I'm trying to commit to more intensive sewing projects rather than the quick and easy ones so the absence of a machine means I'm getting down to serious business.

Thus far, I've cut out the red silk dupioni for my dress as well as the interfacing to underline it and the cotton batiste for the lining. Ambiance would have been more luxurious but it feels way too cold next to my skin during the winter so cotton batiste is a must. Now I'm going to cut and trace the pattern pieces for the jacket and work on block fusing the interfacing to the wool. That will probably take me a day or so. I was thinking about underlining the wool to make it warmer but am not sure at this point. Today I bought some 100% cotton black flannel at Walmart today of all places! It is hard to believe how hard it is in my area to get solid colored flannel so about 5 yards were added to the stash. So, who knows at this point if I'll use it on this jacket. If not, there are two other jackets in the cue that will need underlining.