Vacation Projects

I took last week off at work, hoping to get some projects done and some errands run.

Here was my list pre-vacation:

Road trip to Vogue Fabrics in Evanston for pants fabric
Sew some pants for myself from acquired fabrics
Renew passport
Stock up trip for beauty supplies (I'm out of shampoo, etc)
Lunch with the aunties
Buy some new patio doors
Spend some time with the grands

Here's what I actually did:

Spend some time with the grands
Lunch with the aunties
Lunch with the grands
LOOK at some new patio doors
Clean up yarn stash
Organize the church quilt group cabinet
Help a friend pin four quilts

Yes, I'm still out of shampoo...

Here's one of the projects the girls and I did.

We saw this on one of those local news magazines that come on at 9 a.m.  Of course theirs were done by adults with very precise placement of dots on stem-less wine glasses.  They were classy!  They had tiny little dots very closely spaced, it must have taken a while to do.

Ours were done with whatever nail polish we had.  I was not too worried about how they turned out because I purchased all of these glasses at the Goodwill store for $1 or less each.  That's why I have two different sizes.  I think I have more somewhere, but they must be packed away.

We had a great time choosing different polish colors, and then dotting them, either with the nail brush directly on the glass, or in the case of Miss A, she used a Q-tip dipped into the bottle.  And of course it was a race to see which of the girls could do the most glasses!  I think the polish will stay on, even in the dishwasher.  But if not, we know how to do touch-ups!

Craft on...

Last Thing On The List

Way back a couple dozen posts ago, I started writing about things that inspired me or were important in my sewing journey:  Mrs. W, a white coat, and some other things.  The last thing on the list was the Jean Jacket Remake.

I bought a rather expensive jean jacket about seven years ago from Coldwater Creek.  It was expensive even though I bought it on sale, because it was made of a soft tencel fabric, I guess you could say it was denim in color only.  However, like most jean-style jackets it felt like it was too short on me.  I am long-waisted, and I normally add 2 inches to the length of tops and dresses.

This jacket was a major disappointment when I got it home.  I loved the fabric, and everyone in the world had a jean jacket -- except me.

I studied it for a while, hung it in the closet and pouted.  The catalogs were showing such cute combinations of jean jackets and floral skirts and dresses...  oh pooh!

  

I saw a Mary Mulari episode of Nancy's Notions where Mary extended the bottom of a sweat shirt cardigan with a fabric rectangle.  Hey, if she can do it on a sweatshirt, why can't I do it to this jacket?  It's just hanging there getting no use anyway, right?

I cut some batik rayon fabric into rectangles and finished the short ends.  Then I got out the scissors and cut the bottom band off the expensive tencel jean jacket.  I took out my serger.  The bottom of my jacket was longer than the width of the batik fabric, so I made two strips and overlapped them at the center back.  This would be more comfortable anyway, as it will allow for my wider hips.

You can just see above the date in this photo where the panel I added on this side angles toward the side seam.  I top stitched the seam allowance toward the batik panel.

OK, this was a totally gorgeous piece of batik, but with the fabric at the bottom it sort of looked like a patch, and not in a good way.  The secret to doing this type of makeover, according to Pauline Richards, is to put that same fabric somewhere else on the garment and make it look like it's supposed to be there.

I had a pretty good sized piece of batik left over, so I experimented with putting a piece on the pockets, on the cuffs, and finally settled on covering the collar.  That was a pretty simple operation.  I traced the collar onto tissue paper, creating a pattern.  I added seam allowance, cut it out, and hand stitched it to the jacket.

The fabric was very soft, and I didn't add any interfacing because the collar was as stiff as I wanted it to be.  The fabric easily conformed to the collar shape.  After 7 years it still looks very nice.

Here's the finished project:

I cut the cuffs off, finished the sleeve ends with the serger and folded them up twice for a casual look.  I wear this all the time with black slacks and a white tee shirt for casual Friday at the office.  With the black pants it's dressier than jeans and more appropriate for my downtown office.  I have also worn it over a solid navy tank and skirt, or my white summer Capri pants.

So I saved it from going into the Goodwill bin after one wearing, and have justified the money spent to purchase it by making it versatile, comfortable and more my style.

What are you remaking or restyling?

Keep on sewing!

Fabric Shopping

Anyone who reads this blog understands that I love sewing, and I have since I was a very small child!  I enjoy the process from beginning to end.  I was strictly a garment sewist for a very long time.  I started quilting when we were expecting the arrival of our first grandchild in 2001. 

My very favorite part of the process has to be picking out the fabrics.  I love the planning stage of any type of project.  Coming up with a pattern and having a picture in my mind of the finished product, and then trying to come up with the materials just makes my juices flow!

One of my favorite places to be is any fabric department of any store... but of course I have my favorites!! 

These days, I shop for garment fabric from my stash, and when I can't find the right thing there, I have to travel out of town, or shop the Internet.  <Sigh>

Sewists are by nature tactile beings.  We need to touch and feel.  We see as much with our fingers as with our eyes.  I dare anyone who sews even a little to walk through their local fabric source and not touch SOMETHING while they're walking the aisles!!  Nope, can't do it!

So learning to shop on the Internet has been a challenge for me.  For quilting cottons, it's not so bad.  You can learn a fabric line or buy a designer, and you just have to be a little concerned that the colors on the screen are what you really want. 

With garment fabric it's a bit more challenging.  You can learn the various types of fabric, and what they are expected to feel like, or how they would drape.  Books like Fabric Savvy and More Fabric Savvy from Sandra Betzina can help.

But if you really want to know how the fabric will FEEL, if that's important to you before you buy, shopping on line can be very hard.  That's why it's so important to find out some things about your on line retailer.  What is their return policy if the fabric is just not what you thought it would be?  And can you order a swatch, and will it be large enough for you to determine whether it's suitable?

Soapbox warning!!  If you work for a chain store you can turn away for a few second...

I am a big believer in supporting local merchants!  If there's a store in the area that carries what I need, I don't buy on line, even if I can get something a little cheaper.  Because if I'm not helping to support those local stores all the time, sooner or later they close up.  Then we're stuck with fabric from whoever stays in the area, and the choices dry up!  So shop your local merchants, and thank them for being in business in your area!

OK, off the soapbox now.  You can look again.

Enjoy your next fabric shopping trip.  Look around, you might see me there!

Sew On.

It's All In the Prep Work

I am part of a group of quilters through our church, the Loving Hands Quilters.  We make baptism quilts for the babies in our congregation and those who are baptized in our church.  We donate quilts to various charities both local and worldwide. We enjoy working together.

Everyone has a task they like best, but we all do various things.  Over the past couple of years I've become the "kit maker".  We pick various patterns to sew, and I cut up fabric from our stash and pack each kit in a zip-locked plastic bag.  I label the bag with the pattern name, and everyone works from their personal copy of the pattern.

We cleaned and organized our stash recently.  I ended up with a large tub of fabric, tied into bundles of fabrics that go together.  Now I have to start cutting.

Normally we're what we call 'self-funded'... that is, we are on our own for finances.  This has been OK for a long while, because we have donated fabrics to work from, and we've made do with things from our various personal resource centers.  Once in a while we get some money and go pick up the things that we're missing.  Most of the time we buy solids or tone on tone fabrics, and batting.

This month I have the pleasant task of spending a few dollars to fill the gaps in our stash.  We have a lot of floral calicoes, and we need some coordiates and some muslin.

The ladies requested that we do a couple of heart applique patterns.  I picked up a bolt of Wonder Under at Joann's with my 40% off coupon.  Then I used my ASG discount for another 10% off.  I spent this afternoon tracing my heart templates onto the paper side, and ironing them onto swatches of the various florals and other small pieces of fabric. 

Then. I. Cut. Them. Out.  Wow, even when watching reruns of The Gilmore Girls, that makes for a long, boring afternoon!!  Then, more ironing onto 6 1/2 inch squares of muslin. 

I hope someone else wants to sew around the edges of these hearts.  I think I may be tired of looking at them...

The List....

Remember the list from a few blogs ago?

• Mrs. D sewed a suit for Gail
• Mrs. W's gray wool skirt
• Mrs. H's blouse
• White wool coat
• Fabric shopping
• Jean jacket/batik remake

I wrote about the suit and the skirt and the blouse, with a segue into the white wool coat.  So this is the story of that coat!

After Mrs. H bought me the gorgeous white wool and all the accessories to make a dress coat, I went into whatever it is that's the sewist's equivalent to writer's block!  I was so undecided on what to do next... imagine what it's like to stare at beautiful, pristine, NEW fabric, after working on fabric salvaged from recycled items all the time.  Somehow having the freedom to choose the pattern myself and make anything I wanted seemed too hard.

But my mom did not suffer fools lightly, and she said, basically, "get your rear in gear and get it done".  So I cleared off the kitchen table, laid out the fabric and started cutting.  I cut lining and interfacing, because by this time I had learned to read the pattern directions all the way through before starting anything.  I marked with old fashioned tailor's tacks because anything else might have left permanent marks.  And I started to assemble the coat.

Working after school and around my part-time job, it took me almost a month to get it done.  I never spent a lot of time on homework because school was pretty easy for me, but that had to come first.  That was the first question we were asked at the dinner table, and a no meant you were going to be back at the kitchen table with books right after the dishes were done.

So that was probably the longest period of time I ever worked on a garment continuously, that is without working on some other project in between.  But I spent a lot of time reading my source material (the pattern guide sheet) to make sure I did it right.  And I had to set up anew each time I worked, which also meant cleaning up after -- machine, materials, iron and ironing board.  Each time I think of this project I give thanks that now I have a big dedicated space in which to work!

I learned the use of a press cloth working on this coat.  I learned how to press lightly so as not to get the impression of your hem showing on the right side of your garment.  I finally perfected that button hole attachment... and I was impressed at how much the texture and loft of wool can hide some of the imperfections of a beginner sewist.

The first day that I put that coat on over my church dress, I felt like the princess going to the ball.  And when I showed it to Mrs. H, she was very liberal in her praise of my skills. 

I wore that coat for 'dress up' occasions until about 10 years after I graduated from high school.  Somewhere I have a photo of me wearing that and holding my DD as a baby in about 1976 or 77.  It still looked really good! 

Sadly, having two small children and a white coat didn't really go together.  Wearing the same coat every spring and fall for a number of years, and sending to the dry cleaners regularly, made it kind of an expensive item of clothing.  It really didn't make sense to hang on to it, and the fabric became so worn that it couldn't be recycled.  One sad spring day it was put into the donation box and that was that!

I never made another coat for myself.  I used those skills to make a number of coats and outerwear jackets for my children over the years.  Now I make other items of clothing for myself and the family.  But I will always have warm memories of the years with my white wool coat!

Thanks, Mrs. H, for lovely memories.

Sew on!

Mrs. H's Blouse

One of my jobs in high school was to sew my own clothes.  I am from a big family, back in the days when having a big family was something you did.  I'm the oldest of eight, one of two girls.  Men who grew up with lots of sisters sometimes complain about living in a house full of women, but we had the reverse -- 30% estrogen, 70% testosterone!

NOT my actual brothers but some of these guys are dirty enough to qualify...

I started babysitting for other families when I was about 12, and I saved up my 50 cents an hour to buy garments at the thrift stores and Goodwill (see other post on the subject).  I used my mom's machine but always had to clean up to clear the table for dinner, and things took forever to finish.  Otherwise I sewed in an unfinished basement.

When I was in high school I got a job for the Christmas season at a local variety store, one that had a big fabric department.  Someone traded in a used sewing machine in a cabinet for a new portable machine.  The store manager let me purchase this beauty for $65. 

It was a couple of days before my mom could come with the station wagon to haul the machine/cabinet home.  I set up at the foot of my bed, put my sewing basket under the legs and was thrilled to be in business!!  Funny, I am trying to remember what kind it was, probably a Kenmore.  I remember it had cams for the different stitches, and a big honkin' buttonhole attachment that fastened to the back of the presser foot.  It took me months to figure that thing out.

But figure it out I did, and that led directly to Mrs. H's blouse...

Mrs. H was a lady who went to our church.  She had a daughter and two sons.  The daughter was older than me, I think she was away at school most of the time.  One son was my age and one was  younger, and my brothers were friends with them.  I think Mrs. H missed Karen because she always was so nice to me.  But then she was a VERY nice person...

This is what it looks like in my memory...

She knew I sewed, and I think she must have been impressed with my skills because she offered to actually pay me to sew some things for her.  She had her eye on some fabric for an outfit for work at her job in a doctor's office.  It was a gray a-line skirt, and for a blouse she picked out a lovely teal paisley cotton blend.

 Sewing that outfit was a challenge; I wanted it to be as close to perfect as I could make it!  I sweated those buttonholes.  I'll bet I made them a dozen times in my dreams before I dared to make a couple of samples on the scraps.

I didn't have the benefit of any sewing classes, or a mentor who knew anything about garment construction.  My school schedule was full of college-prep classes like Advanced Algebra and Chemistry.  When I think about the vast amount of stuff I didn't know, I'm appalled at my hubris in thinking what I did would be worth payment!  Mrs. H, if you're still around, I'm humbled by your faith.

The blouse was very pretty.  It had a button placket and about 7 buttons that couldn't have been bigger than 5/8 of an inch.  Plus one more on each cuff.  The skirt was easy, a centered back zipper and a metal clasp on the waistband, pretty standard stuff.  I pressed carefully as I worked.  I didn't prewash anything, I'm sure.  I can't remember seeing Mrs. H in the outfit at church, but she thanked me prodigiously for my hard work.

Instead of money, she bought me all the supplies for a personal project at an actual FABRIC STORE downtown.  Two and a half yards of white wool, interfacing, lining, and buttons, and a pattern for a dress coat for spring and fall... at the time it was a dream come true.

And THAT project was so enjoyable to complete that it should be worth its own post!

Thank you and bless you, Mrs. H, wherever you are.  I hope you know how much you influenced me!

Sew on!