Studio Alexandra

2011 #10 - Black and brown tank tops

2011-08-17T18:11:00.000-06:00

I made these the same week as the black dress but after I posted about it, I spaced the rest.
Anyway, I made three of these tank tops - one black and two brown.

The pattern is KwikSew 2759. I love the depth and width of the neckline and the width of the straps. I made minimal alterations to the pattern - a tiny change in the shoulder slope and 1" added to the bottom of the armhole for better coverage.

This was one of those super-quick projects that yield three wearable garments in one afternoon. I like that. I'm not much for instant gratification but when it happens, it's nice.

The black fabric is a Sophia knit from stash. The brown fabric is a viscose/poly/lycra knit from a recent Michael's Fabrics mailer. (I bought ten yards of it so you'll be seeing it again.) With only two pieces, the pattern is quick to cut. After serging the shoulder seams and side seams, I used a narrow zig-zag (2mm width, 2mm length) to finish the neckline, armholes, and hem. I like this finish better than coverstitching - I think it's less visible and less sporty-looking.

(No, I don't know why DH didn't tell me to change the pose so the pants wouldn't look like that.)

I'd love to say that I'll be sewing up a storm soon but until cooler weather comes, that's only a dream. Without air conditioning ("No, ma'am, you won't need air conditioning, this is Wyoming." Don't need air conditioning, my foot! When it's 80F outside, it's 85F in here and that's with the blinds closed.), I am not keen to spend hours in my heat-hole of a sewing room (which is wonderful the rest of the year) or to even turn on the iron.
Also, the fall semester starts next Monday so time will be at a premium. Still though, I have a few more wardrobe holes to fill so there will be some sewing soon.

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2011 #9 - Black wool sheath

2011-08-07T13:33:00.001-06:00

My latest project - the LBD - is a sleeveless sheath dress in black tropical wool.

The pattern is my own draft (fitting pictures here). I love the adjusted armhole (thank you, Kathleen!). Between the extra coverage in the back and the nice non-binding scoop in the front, the armholes are very comfortable, without being revealing.

I left the front darts as they were, a bust dart and two waist darts on each side. I'm thinking about converting the front to princess seams but I wanted to see how well I suppressed the extra fabric before further pattern manipulation. In the back, I made the darts closer to the center slightly deeper (1/8" each side) and about an inch or so longer on the skirt side to take out a bit of unexpected extra ease. I say unexpected because it didn't show up in muslin. I'm chalking it up to the difference in fabric.

I edgestitched all the darts and lined the dress in black Ambiance (nothing new there). I really like the armholes, the neckline lies just so, and I think I finally got the shoulder slope perfect. This is my new favorite dress. I should make it in more colors.

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Wardrobe building and planning - part 5

2011-07-28T11:17:00.000-06:00

OK, patterns.
I am often drawn to interesting designs with dramatic details. I like them, I want to sew them, and... I'd never wear them. The wardrobe items that get consistent wear around here are of classic shapes, free of extraneous details, in solid colors. Simple, classic patterns then:

pencil skirt - my own draft (seen here)
pants - TNT pattern, originally from Burda WOF 8/98 #106, altered to remove the pleats (seen here)
fitted shirt - TNT pattern from New Look 6407 (seen here)
knit tank top - TNT pattern from KwikSew 2759 (seen here)
fitted jacket - short version, TNT pattern from FSG 1945 (seen here)
sweater jacket - TNT pattern from PMB (seen here)
sheath dress - my own draft (seen here), both with and without sleeves
sweater/knit dress - TNT pattern from Burda WOF 3/02 #125 (seen here)
coat - probably from Burda WOF 3/10 #101

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Wardrobe building and planning - part 4

2011-07-21T10:37:00.000-06:00

I was going to talk about the patterns I want to use for the core of this new wardrobe collection, but I'm still working on those. Instead, let's talk accessories.

A couple of weeks ago, Nancy Nix-Rice sent out a newsletter focusing on linking accessories. I liked the idea so I promptly emailed her to ask if she had anything that would work for my wardrobe. We exchanged a few emails and a few days later, I had three new scarves and a new necklace.

I really like the concept, especially because I generally prefer to wear solid-colored garments. Scarves and jewelry that incorporate several of these colors tie the outfit together into a cohesive whole. The beauty of these accessories is that they contain multiple shades of the colors, adding depth and eliminating the need for an exact match.
Here's how I wore one of the scarves the very next day:

I am looking forward to having the new wardrobe sewn up and hanging in the closet, ready to wear at a moment's notice. The semester is almost over; I have finished all the writing and there is only one more exam to take. Then I can sew. Yay!

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Wardrobe building and planning - part 3

2011-07-12T23:22:00.001-06:00

Let's move on to the fabrics.
In the previous post, I had a few pieces from the stash that are the right colors plus a whole lot of swatches from Banksville Fabrics. Today, the new fabrics arrived.
Silks in the top row - drapey, with a sheen, three prints and one solid. Below them an interesting super-dark brown wool - it reminds me of double gauze. The green wool crepe below it has a lovely twill-weave look, and the black/gray zebra print is a cotton knit. Pretty, eh?

Then I brought out the stash fabrics from the previous post and arranged them together. With the color fan on top, you can see how well the fabrics coordinate. They may not be the exact shades from the fan but they come very close.

I put all the fabrics on the shelves in my sewing room. I don't keep much fabric there, only pieces for upcoming projects. I organized the fabrics by type: on the top shelf are the silks and the white shirt-weight cotton. On the middle shelf are the knits, and on the bottom are the wool wovens. Here's how it looked:

Looking at this arrangement on the shelves, I was reminded of a few other fabrics that would work with this grouping. A little bit of stash-digging later, it started looking much more like what I had in mind, with a greater proportion of black and dark brown.
To the silks I added a black/white dalmatian print, the cotton got a solid white friend. Two pieces joined the knits: a black rib-knit cotton (the smaller piece) and a super-dark brown viscose/poly/lycra knit from a recent Michael's Fabrics mailer. The newcomers to the bottom shelf are black wool crepe and a plain weave, a small piece of green wool gabardine, and a fuchsia wool crepe (or maybe 80/20 blend of wool and poly, I'm not sure).

I really like all these fabrics and looking at them organized like that makes me want to sew. In the next post, I'll address the patterns. I am very close to finishing up the fitting adjustments so that everything will be ready to go when the semester ends in two weeks.

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Wardrobe building and planning - part 2

2011-07-05T00:14:00.000-06:00

Let's talk about color today.
Have you had your colors done? Do you know what colors make you look your very best? Do you care? Do you pay attention to color when selecting fabrics for your projects?

I've been fascinated by the whole color theory and image bit for years. I own or at least have read just about every book on the subject. I also regularly read several image-related blogs. I got my colors done in 2006 by Ethel Harms, during a Palmer/Pletsch workshop. I had figured out much of the color stuff from books but it was great to have confirmation from a pro. Plus, I received a fan of swatches to make fabric selection easy.

I love the fan and use it often - for fabric purchases as well as RTW purchases. It really helps narrow down the choices. For this new wardrobe, I have selected a limited palette because I think it will be easier to manage.
I started with two basics: black/charcoal and very dark brown. These colors are in my eyes and hair.
Then I picked two accent colors: blue green and fuchsia/magenta. These are my look-at-me colors and will need grounding with one of the basics.
And for light and contrast, bright white will be perfect.

Note that in this picture, the proportion of colors is reversed - black/charcoal
and dark brown will be more prominent, the green and fuchsia/magenta will be accents.

With these colors in mind, I looked through my stash to see what I have. I found enough black wool and dark gray wool to get started, a little bit of dark brown wool crepe, and a couple of green wool jerseys. I also have enough white cotton shirting. That's a pretty good beginning, no?

Next I sent a few color swatches to Banksville Designer Fabrics with a request that they help me coordinate a wardrobe around the colors from my swatches. Last Thursday, a big fat envelope arrived in the mail and in it, a whole lot of swatches. (The three I had sent them are at the top left.)

I love the swatching service. It makes life so much easier. (And the wallet so much lighter.) Lots of lovely fabrics there - wools, silks, and cottons. I made my list today and am ready to place an order as soon as they open in morning. Here are the swatches laid on top of the stash fabrics:

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Thank you all very much for your comments on my previous post and the good luck wishes (I'll need it).

Carolyn asked: "So are you going to use this as the jumping off point? Will you assign patterns to these looks and sew them up? Or is this just your dream wardrobe? Oh, one more question...no white blouse?"

Yes, I will use specific patterns. This is my year to create and/or refine TNT patterns so there will be multiple iterations of each. And there will likely be a white blouse later on but... I don't know yet how cold I will be at work throughout the year, especially with all the jackets. I doubt Wyomingites rely on air conditioning as much as Floridians do. So for now, I'm going with sleeveless shells.

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Wardrobe building and planning - part 1

2011-06-29T17:34:00.000-06:00

Lately, I've been thinking a lot about what I want to sew, what type of clothes I like to wear, what fabrics, what colors, etc. Not just thinking, but reading books, blogs and other websites dedicated to image, wardrobe building, and color theory.

The right colors and fabrics are easy to choose: I know what I like and have a pretty good idea what looks good on me. Figuring out how many pieces of each type of garment I should sew, not so easy. There is the SWAP - Sewing with a Plan, which is lovely but includes only one jacket so it doesn't work in this climate/office environment. There is the 6-PAC, a 6-pack wardrobe, which provides a nice coordinated capsule but is not big enough to carry one through the whole week. After reading Color Me Confident, I came up with the following plan for my work wardrobe:

Four suits or jacket+skirt combinations. For me, that will be one corporate style black skirt suit and three other jacket and skirt combinations, like this:

Six tops, shirts, or sweaters. This is where I get to bring in colors, like this:

Two dresses to wear instead of skirts and tops plus one cardigan for warmth, like this:

I already have a favorite coat, a few pairs of suitable shoes, and an appropriate handbag. I have a small collection of scarves that needs to grow a little bigger, and my belt collection is dismal so that will need work, too.

So, that's my dream wardrobe. We'll see how it works out in real life.

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Fitting the sleeveless sheath dress

2011-06-24T17:26:00.001-06:00

Sewing:
I've been putting off sewing the two dresses for my originally planned 6-PAC wardrobe. Mostly because the pattern needed a bit of adjusting and I couldn't even look at muslin after all the work on the jacket pattern. So I made another skirt... then a blouse... and then Kathleen posted about reshaping armholes to allow for proper range of motion. Hmmm... maybe now is a good time to take another look at that dress pattern.

First, I took the pattern I drafted from the Armstrong book and frankenpatterned it with my new TNT skirt. Then I lined them up the way Kathleen showed, with the grainlines aligned, with a pin at the underarm point, and reshaped the armhole:

Here's a close-up of the alteration:

By the way, if you don't have Kathleen's book, buy it, read it, and join the forum. Her book will change your life.

So now that the armhole looks anatomically correct, it's time to sew it up in muslin. This is a quick-and-dirty muslin version, marked with a regular pencil and a black Sharpie (which bleeds through the fabric so I can cut the fabric folded).

The neckline looks a little loose in the front so that will need to be tightened up, and I may add a half-inch or an inch to the length to get the hem to the top of my knees. Not really visible in these pictures, there was a dart forming in the back, on both sides. I pinned it out like this:

Just a note: see how the center back curves beautifully along my spine? Would you believe it was cut as a straight line? (If you don't, scroll back up to the first picture for proof.) Looks like the darts are doing their job, shaping the fabric just right.

I like the new armhole - it is comfortable; I can raise my arms in the front as if driving a car and it doesn't feel tight. All in all, this is a successful mock-up, I think. I'll make the few changes noted above and cut it in fabric.

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Pursuit of happiness:
Warm weather, open windows, lounging on the patio... good times.

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2011 #8 - Purple print shirt

2011-06-17T18:48:00.001-06:00

Sewing:

The fourth item for my new wardrobe is a shirt. Or blouse. I'm not quite sure what the difference is.

It is a fairly simple shirt with 3/4 length dolman sleeves, collar with a narrow collar stand, and a horizontal seam in the front. The pattern I used is a slightly modified Burda 07/10 #122.

I made one fitting adjustment - low neck base - following instructions in Fitting and Pattern Alteration (full review here):

I modified the style just a little:

the back horizontal seam does not involve any shaping so I eliminated it and cut the back in one piece (the front horizontal seam involves shaping so it stayed);
I cut the lower front in one piece, which made the shirt pull-over only;
I shortened the shirt by 4", eliminating the curved bottom, because I didn't have enough fabric; and
I omitted the button closure because I prefer the neckline open.

Speaking of fabric, this is one of the polyester silky prints I bought after Gail pointed out that I should wear more color. Cutting it and sewing it were not difficult. Edgestitching, though, good grief! I think I whispered every curse word I know as I ripped and re-sewed and ripped and re-sewed some more. And it's not like I could just skip the edgestitching, either. This is polyester - not exactly known for holding a crease.

The changes I made require a different sewing order but I read through the instructions anyway just to make sure I wouldn't run into anything crazy. They are typical Burda instructions in that they tell you the order of steps and expect you to know how. I know some people dislike Burda instructions but I grew up with it so 1) I'm used to their brevity, and 2) I don't expect every pattern to be a sewing lesson.

I made the collar first.

I cut the collar stand on the straight grain and the collar pieces on the bias to get that nice soft roll at the top. The collar stand had to wait for its edgestitching until it was attached to the rest of the shirt.

Then things were pretty easy from there: sew the fronts to the back at the shoulder/sleeve seams, attach the collar to the neckline, sew the lower front to the upper fronts, then side/sleeve seams, and hem. All done.

Here's the back view:

Lessons learned:

it's not visible when the shirt is tucked into the skirt but it needs another 3/4" length at CF - kind of like an FBA but without adding width;
the collar makes a really round line when the collar stand is pinned together at CF and I prefer a more open, V-shaped neckline so I skipped the buttons and buttonholes because I'll just wear it open and modify the neckline on the next one;
the sleeves flare out a little at the hem so they'll need a little stabilizer next time.

I love the soft shoulder line without a seam. I'm going to make this again and again. It's definitely TNT material.

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Pursuit of happiness:

Strawberries - large, sweet, juicy, delicious strawberries. The whole fridge smells strawberry-amazing.

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Two weeks without sewing...

2011-06-16T21:58:00.000-06:00

...is too long. Seriously. I blame school work.

Sewing:
Today I finally had a day to sew. I did everything I could to get ahead of schedule in my classes so I could have a couple of days without school stuff on my mind. Working in between thunderstorms, I made a simple shirt out of one of those polyester silky prints that were originally meant to become sleeveless shells. I have to wait until tomorrow to get pictures of it on me, but here's a sneak peek on the dressform:

I had debated using a white cotton shirting that's been patiently waiting in the stash but the 6-PAC already turned into a 9-PAC so I didn't want to make it any worse.

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Pursuit of happiness:

Getting away from the daily grind, just the two of us and miles of driving.

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2011 #7 - Black wool skirt

2011-06-03T20:48:00.000-06:00

Sewing:
I have finished the third item for my 6-PAC wardrobe - the black wool skirt.

It is a simple skirt, with single darts in the front and double darts in the back, a slit at the bottom of the CB seam, an invisible zipper, and a 1" wide straight-cut waistband that buttons in the back. I used the same (self-drafted) pattern as for the gray skirt, with a few changes:

the front darts are a bit shorter and narrower (and I adjusted the side seam to take out the difference),
the length from waist to hem at CB is 21 3/4" (1" shorter), and
a regular waistband replaced the bias binding.

The fabric is a tropical wool - really wiry stuff so I edgestitched the darts and the waistband to keep it under control. (And now that I'm looking at the picture, I think I will put the buttonhole closer to the CB edge of the waistband next time.)

I sewed the hem by hand because I don't have a blind-hemmer (it's on my wish list) but that is the only hand-stitching on this skirt. With the gray skirt, I had worked myself into a corner and ended up hand-stitching the lining around the zipper but this time I had a plan: after sewing up the shell and the lining, I attached them together at the zipper first, then around the back slit, and only then at the waist. It worked perfectly.

I really like this skirt. Now I want to make more. It will take a lot of will power to stay on the 6-PAC track.

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Pursuit of happiness:
Cleaning out the extra books opened up space for my collection of Burda magazines. I've been slowly reading them, looking at the drawings, observing color combinations and lengths/proportions. Cool stuff.

Organizing and letting go

2011-05-30T17:00:00.000-06:00

Sewing:
I haven't done any sewing in the last week. Instead, I have been organizing my sewing room, which means such fun tasks as:

unpacking sewing- and knitting-related stuff from the remaining moving boxes in the basement,
moving frequently used supplies/tools/notions to the sewing room,
organizing infrequently used supplies/tools/notions in boxes and moving them to the basement storage area,
going through my library and pattern collection, deciding what to keep and what to let go.

This morning I posted 61 books for sale or trade on Stitcher's Guild. I am hoping to get Burda WOF issues 01/07, 09/07, 12/07, 02/08, and 10/08 to round out my collection. But mostly I am hoping to put the books in the hands of people who can love and appreciate them. If no one shows interest in any of those books, I will donate them to our local library.

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Inspiration:

This is my first attempt at leather-tooling. DH and I took a short introductory class at Tandy Leather. It was interesting and neat. I'm thinking about taking that class a few more times to see if I can get a little better. I am fascinated by some of the beautiful multicolored accessories like this belt.It would be perfect with blue jeans and a white shirt at the upcoming Frontier Days. It will be my first time going to a rodeo show and I intend to be stylin'.

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Pursuit of happiness:
Wearing clothes that I made. It's such a satisfying feeling to put on something that I created from a flat piece of fabric or a long piece of yarn. It is a rare day that I'm not wearing at least one garment I made.

Book review: Fitting & Pattern Alteration

2011-05-24T14:42:00.005-06:00

About two weeks ago, a book that had been on my wish list for a long time finally arrived at my house.
This book:

Let me take you through the book in the same order I read it (front to back - call me boring). In the first chapter, the authors discuss the obligatory stuff like fitting tools and materials, and pattern size selection. Also addressed is personal appearance: "An attractive hairstyle adds to a positive self-image. Hair length, however, should not interfere with fitting. [...] Apply your usual makeup. If you make your appearance as pleasing as possible, it contributes to a more positive fitting experience for all concerned."

Chapter 2 is about design principles and elements, such as line, shape, color, texture, pattern, balance, proportion, rhythm, emphasis, harmony, and unity.

There are runway pictures and drawings in abundance to illustrate the concepts. In one of the Reality Check boxes (see the red boxes on the left page in the picture above) that are interspersed throughout the text, the authors offer the following insight: "Patterns selected only for the sake of fashion or newness often result in clothes that become wardrobe orphans - clothes that hang unloved and unworn in the back of the closet." Raise your hand if you've been there done that.

Chapter 3 offers the reader multiple methods for evaluating fit: structural line (silhouette, seamlines, closures, etc), grainline (lengthwise and crosswise; perpendicular or parallel to the floor as intended), ease (wearing and design), pinch test, measurement (from existing comfortably fitting garments), and wrinkles. The word "method" seems to imply using one or another, though in reality we're often using a combination of several methods simultaneously. Just think about fitting a sleeve - you may pinch it to see if there's enough ease, look at the marked grainline to see if it hangs properly, and see where wrinkles, if any, are forming.

This chapter also includes two tables detailing the standards for fitting. The first one is for the basic fitting garment while the second one is for fashion garments (both sewn and RTW). The second table addresses fit and appearance of the garment at various points from the neckline down and includes such gems as "Underwear is not visible". I wish people didn't need to be reminded of such basic concepts.

Chapter 4 includes a section on body image:

Posture, figure types, and clothing selection are discussed in depth rarely found in fitting books and abundantly illustrated:

Chapter 5 is a discussion of the various fitting methods - measurement, tissue fitting, and muslin fitting - with a solid analysis of their relative advantages and disadvantages.

Chapter 6 is a discussion of the various pattern alteration methods - seam method, pivot and slide, and slash method.

It includes an extensive section on altering the pant crotch curve with clear illustrations and text.

Chapter 7 is a quick discussion of personalized patterns and slopers - checking them for accuracy, using them to determine how to alter a fashion pattern, and designing new patterns from them.

After these introductory chapters, chapter 8 is the beginning of 305 pages full of information about measurement, fitting, and alteration procedures for specific fitting issues. Chapter 8 covers the bodice, chapter 9 the sleeves, and chapter 10 skirts and pants. There is a method to the organization of this part of the book. The authors say explain it thus: "Within each section, the first variation to be presented is the first that needs to be altered if the entire fitting process is to be successful. In Chapter 8, Measuring for the Bodice, the first three figure variations that need increased length are presented (1, 2, 3). The second three opposite figure variations that need decreased length are presented next (4, 5, 6). The remaining figure variations are arranged according to their approximate vertical position on the body, starting from the neck and moving downward. Where appropriate, opposite figure variations will be treated following one another, as causes and solutions are essentially reversed. The larger variation will generally be presented first, followed by the smaller variation."

Body measurements (this page is for length measurements; there is another page for width measurements):

Pattern measurements:

You know how most of the Big 4 patterns have a shorten/lengthen line somewhere below the armhole? And you know how it totally works for some people but others have to shorten through the armhole as well? And some need just a shorter armhole but leave the rest of the length be? As it turns out, there's a good reason for that.

I have a short torso so I'll show you the three alterations for that:

Here, the bodice is too long below the bust.

Here, the bodice is too long between the armhole and the bust.

And here, the extra length is above the bottom of the armhole.

Notice how for each figure variation, there is a picture with the affected area highlighted in red. This is the figure evaluation picture (A) and there is text that goes with it on the left. Then there is the fitting problems picture (B) that shows how the garment would look on a person with this figure variation and the text describes issues observed. Picture C and its text show how to alter ready-to-wear, while picture D and its text show the alteration for the muslin garment (which you can later transfer to your pattern). On the facing page, pictures E and F show lines on the body and on the affected pattern pieces that represent measurements: black lines are the measurements that are correct, red lines are those that need to be corrected. The text again helps clarify the visual.

So let's say you have square shoulders. You would turn to this page, compare the wrinkles you see to the picture, and verify that your pattern's length is correct everywhere except the too short measurement from CF at the waist to shoulder point.

So then you turn the page and find this:

Pick your favorite alteration method and follow the instructions on the left. The instructions are clear and the pictures help those of us who need to see how things should look. Notice that the right page shows how collars will need to be altered as well. That you will need to alter facings goes without saying. The nice touch here is that alterations for a specific figure variations are grouped together on the same page so you don't have to frantically page through the book looking for the section about altering a blouse with princess seams or a kimono sleeve.

OK, so back to those square shoulders. Remember how I said your pattern's length should be correct everywhere except the too short measurement from CF at the waist to shoulder point? What if you're like me and it's the other way around? What if the measurement from CF at the waist to the shoulder point is correct and even the bust point is where it's supposed to be but the neckline is up in the air because your pattern's CF is too long? Well, no square shoulder alteration for you!
For you, my special reader, we have something better - the Low Neck Base alteration:

And here's how you do it:

Easy-peasy, and it certainly beats doing a square shoulder alteration only to discover that now the pattern's bust point is saying hello to your navel so you'll have to shorten it somewhere else which may result in yet another unexpected problem. It's better to just focus on where the issue really is and fix it.

I have to say that this is an alteration I have not seen in a fitting book up until now. I have been using it without knowing what it was because I had found it in one of my vintage 50's magazines for dressmakers. It's in German and it had to do with RTW altering (I think) but they had pictures and I liked them.

The authors also differentiate between a large bust that needs more width but not length:

and a prominent bust which needs both more width and more length:

And they are very kind:

See how they say "inward rotation of knee" instead of calling it knock-knees? And see how bowed legs became "outward rotation of knee"? They also have inward and outward rotation of elbow but I didn't even know such thing existed, let alone what the less-than-kind terms might be.

There is only one way I can think of to improve this book and that is to give it spiral binding so that the notcher doesn't have to double as a paper weight. So this afternoon, I'll go to Office Max and have the book spiral-bound.

Summary:
This is the most comprehensive fitting and alteration resource I have seen to date (and you should see my library of fitting books), with clear instructions and pictures (lots of them). You can pick your favorite alteration method or use a combination of several - the pictures will guide you. You don't even need to be very familiar with any specific method as they are all explained in chapter 6. At over $90, the book is expensive but well worth the money.

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And now, over to you, dear readers: do you have this book? Is it on your wishlist? Or do you have a different favorite, in which case - what is your favorite fitting/pattern alteration book?

2011 #6 - Black pajama pants

2011-05-22T10:51:00.001-06:00

Sewing:
I haven't been able to wear my favorite night attire - nightgowns - because ~~it's so damn cold~~ it hasn't been warm enough. I've been sleeping in pajamas and socks (socks!!!). Anyway, my one pair of pajamas was showing its age so it was time to replace it:

I used my TNT pants pattern - Burda WOF 8/98 #106. Originally, this was a pattern for wide-leg pleated-front pants with a wide curved waistband. I loved it just like that in a menswear wool, then I loved it in its flat-front incarnation in various bottom-weight fabrics including denim, and now I've turned it into comfy pajama pants.

The pattern making process was fairly straightforward. I put the side seams together at the widest point of the hip, traced the front and back curves, extending them upwards for a cut-on casing, and ignoring the waist darts. I narrowed the hem to just under 20", pivoting at the crotch point (both front and back) and tracing the inseam down to the hem. Then I cut off the bottom 4" for the contrast, and added seam allowances all around.

This pair is made in black Kona cotton from the stash. The zebra print is from a piece left over from my first quilt. I was hoping to get a pair made from the zebra fabric but there wasn't enough for that. However, there is plenty left still for trim so just know you'll see it again.

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Inspiration:

Gail said in a recent comment: "you are too young and beautiful to hide in grey and black. Be sure to add some colour". True, I do usually shy away from much color, but I do wear colorful scarves. So what could I wear when a scarf is not appropriate/desired? How about simple sleeveless shells out of these three three lovely fabrics (I think you'll agree that they are colorful, or at least more colorful than my usual fare):

They will turn my 6-PAC plan into a 9-PAC. It should be interesting.

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Pursuit of happiness:
Home-made bread. Simple dough of water, salt, yeast, and flour. The scent of freshly baked bread in the air. The crunch of the crust. The soft, moist, substantial crumb. I love it.

Quick update and a cool dress

2011-05-19T20:11:00.002-06:00

Sewing:
Thank you very much for all the lovely compliments. I love them all so please keep them coming :-)

The pattern for the sleeveless sheath (#3 and #6 in my 6-piece starter wardrobe) is almost finished. I've been waffling between mocking it up one more time in muslin to check or just leaving larger side seam allowances and cutting it it in the intended fabric. I am a bit worried about over-fitting so I think fashion fabric with larger seam allowances will be it.

I have been reading the Fitting & Pattern Alteration book and will review it soon. Like, within a week soon.

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Inspiration:
My sister, the one who for many years would not touch handwork with a ten-foot pole, has ....

wait for it....

crocheted herself a dress:

Here's the real kicker: she just learned to crochet a few months ago. Pretty awesome, right? (It fits nicely too, because yours truly recalculated the pattern for her gauge and made her rip out and re-crochet several sections.) I am very proud of her. She's on Ravelry.

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Pursuit of ~~happiness~~ ~~education~~ a checked box:

I am going back to school. It is time to finish this master's degree.

2011 #5 - Gray wool skirt

2011-05-15T15:34:00.003-06:00

Sewing:
Thank you very much for all your lovely comments on my jacket. I appreciate them all. And now, the jacket has a new companion - the skirt!

It is the second finished piece of my 6-PAC. What 6-PAC, you ask? Ah, well, two years ago, Elizabeth wrote a post about 6-piece seasonal sewing collections. On Stitcher's Guild, she leads seasonal sew-alongs based on that idea. I recently joined one of these sew-alongs, adjusting the plan to fit my needs. So my plan is this:

gray wool jacket (done)
gray wool skirt (done)
gray wool sleeveless sheath
black wool jacket
black wool skirt
black sleeveless sheath

These six pieces should start off my new wardrobe. Other pieces will round it out later.

A few words about the skirt: I drafted the pattern using instructions in the Armstrong book, and checked the fit in muslin. It's not perfect but it's pretty close. I used the same gray wool as for the jacket to get the suit look. I plan to use the same fabric for the gray sheath dress as well. The skirt is lined in Ambiance.

I mitered the corners on the back slit. I like the look of it. The lining and skirt fabric are machine-sewn together around the slit, but I did the stitching around the zipper by hand. You can see the basting around the zipper in the picture above.

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Inspiration:
Beautiful necklines on these dresses.


White dress: Aidan Mattox, Green dress: Kay Unger; both available at Neiman Marcus.

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Pursuit of happiness:
A quiet afternoon with my husband, holding hands while reading books from the library.

Mail day

2011-05-11T00:11:00.001-06:00

Sewing:
You know those days when you just love your mailman? I had one of those yesterday.
Look at the loot:

I decided to get the updated Couture Sewing Techniques book after seeing the new pictures and reading reviews that mentioned improved text organization. The companion DVD had been on my list since it first came out. The Fitting and Pattern Alteration book is supposed to be a comprehensive resource so I'm looking forward to reading it. Threads magazine is self-explanatory and Mad Men... well, that's my favorite show.

And this here was in a box on the porch:

I've been wanting to try interfacings from Fashion Sewing Supply. Last week, I finally ordered them. I explained to Pam that I was mainly looking for a very thin versatile interfacing, something close in thinness to that superfine almost-sheer fusible stay-tape. She suggested the Pro-Sheer Elegance (that's 10yds of it folded up in the upper half of the picture). It's quite lovely and very thin, and there is enough for the next few garments. I'll make some samples today as I consider fabrics for future projects. I ordered one yard each of all the other interfacings, which should be plenty for testing and hopefully enough for at least one project. Pam had suggested her very generous swatch set but I thought it would be better to have a full yard so I wouldn't have to wait for an order to come in before starting a project.

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Pursuit of happiness:
Chocolate. Definitely chocolate.

2011 #4 - Gray wool jacket

2011-05-09T13:20:00.001-06:00

Sewing:

The gray wool jacket, FSG 1945, is finished. See?

I thought I'd post a review of the pattern here (I don't do this often so bear with me, please):

Back view

The pattern comes in sizes 8-18, with finished measurements provided for each size. In her book, Nancy explains how and where to measure your existing clothes to get an idea of which size to make. If you're thinking "I don't have any clothes that fit, what am I supposed to measure", stop right there. We're not talking measuring a perfectly fitted garment here so measure what you do have. You can take a shirt that is a little too tight and a shirt that is a little too loose, measure both, and get a good idea of where you want to start. You're going to fit this pattern in tissue or muslin anyway before cutting into your lovely fabric, right?

In the fitting pictures, you can see I followed another suggestion of Nancy's - to fit the 1945 front on one side and 1945A on the other. The back pattern pieces are the same for both jackets (and all the other ones in the series). This way, I have all the pieces ready to go when I want to sew, no further fitting is necessary.

I used size 8 because its finished measurements on the envelope came closest to those I took from my existing clothes. With Nancy's help and a lot of pins, I came really close to what I had envisioned. Then before cutting the fabric, I made a last-minute decision to raise the armhole another 1/4" which delayed the cutting because now I had to redo all the affected pattern pieces.

The fabric for this jacket has been in my stash for a little over a year. It's a tropical wool from Metro Textiles. I had made a dress from it (no pictures) and possibly something else because I distinctly remember ordering 10yds but when I measured it before cutting, I only had 6yds left. I block-fused this lovely fabric with Textured Weft, mostly because I truly dislike cutting that stuff. I figured block-fusing is easier and will make cutting more pleasant (it did). And the lining is Ambiance, which is my lining of choice. I buy it by the bolt in my basic colors - black, gray, and white.

With the matching dress

I didn't make any style line changes so that jacket looks a lot like the picture on the envelope. I omitted the pockets and sleeve vents. I'll never miss them. The instructions in the pattern are good and the book has additional insights so they're definitely worth reading. The parts where I veered away from those instructions were sleeve heads and the hem/facing/lining intersection (see Mastering new techniques). I plan to continue using these new-to-me techniques because they are awesome. And easy, too.

I often wonder how other people organize their sewing time. I usually sew all the seams I can before pressing. That means, in this jacket's case, sewing all the front seams, back seams, sleeve seams, undercollar seam, facing seams, back lining seams, sleeve lining seams, and front lining darts. The only thing I didn't touch in that first sewing session was the collar because his buddy, the undercollar, had a seam to be pressed first. Then I pressed all those seams. The second session meant sewing the collar and the shoulder seams and side seams on both shell fabric and lining. Then press those, and go on to the next sewing session. Is this how you all sew? Or do you put the body of the garment together first, then focus on sleeves or collar?

Now that this jacket is done, I have serious dreams of filling my closet with many different versions of it. It would mean using up some of my stash, refining the fit, and perfecting my existing jacket-making techniques as well as, hopefully, learning new ones.

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Pursuit of happiness:
Opening the windows to let in the sunshine - it is finally warm enough to do that. The weather has been glorious the last few days - warm, breezy, and sunny. I hope it stays that way. Forever would be great.

Eight hours of sleep and pink lipstick

2011-05-06T11:12:00.001-06:00

Sewing:

The jacket still needs buttons and buttonholes and a good press but here's how it looks on Babbette so far:

In the meantime, I've been working on perfecting the skirt pattern. I'm going to sew the skirt this weekend and have the suit ready to go on Monday. At least that's the plan.

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Inspiration:

Neiman Marcus has the fall preview up on the website. There are some lovely things to see, as well as some what-were-they-thinking pieces. Here are my favorite dresses from the preview:

Clockwise from upper left: Carolina Herrera, Oscar de la Renta, Stella McCartney, and Blumarine.

Clearly, I am drawn to the same silhouette - the sheath - with or without sleeves. I love the two-piece look of the Herrera dress, the pretty collar of the green dress, the beaded neckline and satin insets of the Blumarine dress, and the seaming detail of the gray dress. I hope to incorporate at least some of these inspiring details into my fall sewing.

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Pursuit of happiness:

Eight hours of sleep and pink lipstick do wonders for the skin and soul. Did you know that? In the last few months, I have made it a priority to get enough sleep and keep a regular sleep schedule. It has enabled me to deal with the stresses of moving. My skin hasn't looked this good since... well, since the last time I was able to keep a regular sleep schedule, which was many years ago.

And the pink lipstick - it says spring and young and it just works. A few days ago as I was putting on my regular lipstick, I caught myself thinking "I want more pink on my face" so after my other errands I stopped at the Clinique counter and picked up "Pink Beach". It has just the right amount of color (sheer) and moisture (lots), and how can you go wrong with a name like Pink Beach? I love it.

Mastering new techniques

2011-05-03T10:57:00.000-06:00

Sewing:

The gray wool jacket (FSG 1945) is almost finished. It still needs buttons and buttonholes. I learned some new techniques in the process. Take a look:

I made the sleeve heads the way Ann Rowley described. Her projects always look fabulous and her sleeves are impeccable so I thought it would be a good idea to try it. The cheapie batting came from an abandoned project because I didn't feel like going to the Hobby Lobby to pick up new batting. For future projects, I will buy nice new poly batting. I kept my phone by the sewing machine so I could look up Ann's pictures and instructions as I went. Totally neat! How did we ever get along without smartphones? Anyway, Ann's sleeve head method is awesome and if you haven't tried it, you should.

Notice the skinny shoulder pad - I doctored a store-bought set to work for these rather square shoulders of mine. More about that in another post.

For the facing/hem intersection I used Kathleen Fasanella's Nameless Tutorial. Totally awesome! In her book, Kathleen explains how to make the lining and facing pattern pieces and in the tutorial, she provides a close look at all the seam allowances involved and instructions for how to put it all together. This is another one of those things that if you haven't tried it, you should.

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Inspiration:

I love the look of a shirt tucked into a skirt but the reality sucks - the shirt blouses above the waist when I sit down. To the rescue: a mock two-piece dress (looks like a shirt and skirt but is a dress). This one is from Ralph Lauren a season or two ago.

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Pursuit of happiness:

Day before yesterday, I subscribed to Skype Premium. With it, I can video-conference with my parents and sister at the same time. It's wonderful. Family time is important to me and living on separate continents means that video-conferencing is as close as we can get most of the time.

Inspiration and baby steps

2011-05-01T02:04:00.000-06:00

Inspiration:

In one of the many style and image books available at our (state-of-the-art, go Laramie county!) library, the author (Isaac Mizrahi?) wrote about using inspiration boards as tools to discover one’s stylistic direction. Neat idea, right? I thought so too and a few weeks ago, I set about creating one.

I subscribe to Lucky and InStyle magazines, and occasionally pick up other magazines at the book store. I read each issue once, tearing out interesting pages as I go. Sometimes the point of interest is a whole outfit, other times it’s a color combination, neckline detail, or shape of a shoe. All these pages go into a large binder labeled, appropriately, Inspiration. And look, in one evening of cutting out pieces that inspire me the most right now and pasting them on a length of tracing paper (arranged in no particular order though I did put all the shoes together), I made this:

I’ve been looking at it every day. General impression: feminine, elegant, pretty, dresses, high heels, structured handbags, minimal ornamentation, mostly solid colors, tailored shapes, draping on upper body. So that’s my direction for the foreseeable future, at least as far as the wardrobe is concerned.

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Sewing:

The fabric and lining for the gray jacket are cut out and fused, ready to be stitched together. I am omitting the pockets and sleeve vents to save a bit of time. This first jacket is a prototype, mostly to check the fit in fabric. I will likely put sleeve vents on at least some future versions, though probably not pockets. Even if I decide to make a welt pocket, it will nonfunctional (backed with a flat piece of fabric) because I don’t actually like pockets. Things end up in them, you know, disfiguring the wearer or wreaking havoc in the washing machine. Yeah, definitely no pockets.

Speaking of future versions of the FSG 1945, I plan to work with the add-on patterns and Nancy’s Jackets book and make all the different variations. Just the add-on patterns A and C offer four new possibilities: the inset collar of the 1945A, and the collarless, hooded, and collared version of 1945C. Then there’s the original 1945 with lapels but no collar. That’s six jackets already before dipping into the multitude of variations in the book (1945B). Can you tell I’m excited?

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Pursuit of happiness:

Ann_B asked: "Will you stay with your current career or make a change?"

This is a hard one. I don’t know for sure. I love being a nurse. I don’t know of any work more rewarding than nursing. Ideally, I will find a way to stay in nursing and satisfy my scheduling and attire requirements at the same time.

NancyW. said "I really want to make some life changes but not quite ready to take big jumps just yet."

Big jumps can be scary. Baby steps are much better. Baby steps, like inspiration boards and new clothes, pinpointing what it is we really want, lining up the duckies so that we’re ready when an opportunity presents.

Transition and new wardrobe plan

2011-04-29T11:11:00.001-06:00

I am again at a point in my life where I look back to evaluate where I’ve been, where I’m going, where I want to go, and how I’m going to get there. I didn’t realize it until recently but I have been undergoing a major transition. For ten years, I had kept my hair short. Really short. As in, 1” or so short. Last year in January, I decided to let it grow out. (I wore wigs during that ugly hair period.) Now it is long enough to put up in a claw clip. How did I not see the hair change as a harbinger of transition?

Another factor has been my increasing awareness that I like to wear dresses and skirts and that putting on scrubs every workday is affecting my emotional well-being in a negative way. I thought about wearing scrub dresses to work but then I realized it wasn’t just about the dress. It is about the whole picture – the fabric, the shoes, the accessories.

Then there’s the realization that I need a better routine than 12-hour shift work allows. It is essential that I go to bed at the same time every night and wake up at the same time every morning. The best way to do that is a regular Monday-Friday job.

And last but not least, we have recently moved to a very different climate. From humid and warm Florida to dry and cold/windy Wyoming. And we’re expected to stay here for a few years.

Taking all of the above into account, I need a wardrobe makeover. My closet is full of lovely casual dresses but I have next to nothing to wear for work. I need jackets with matching skirts and fine-gauge sweaters. I also need sheath dresses to match the jackets. And I want dresses that look like a skirt with tucked-in shirt (the skirt portion in the same fabric as the jacket). I will start with black and gray wool suitings and a white cotton shirting. The sweaters will be store-bought. That should be a good beginning.

Fitting the FSG 1945 jacket - part 4

2011-04-28T22:28:00.001-06:00

This is a continuation of the previous three posts (part 1, part 2, and part 3).

I said I would show how I worked the length alteration. I have a very short torso, which often requires shortening the bodice an inch or more above the waist. This is easily accomplished all the way around and as I also do an FBA, that inch or so gets added back at the center front without affecting how the side seams go together. In the FSG 1945, however, there seemed to be plenty of room in the circumference so I had to fix the length differently. Here's how:

When I originally traced out the pattern, I marked all the seam lines. I shortened the back pieces 1" above the waist. For this alteration, I traced the seam lines of all three fronts (without shortening) onto one piece of tracing paper, aligning them as closely as possible from the waist up. They actually align almost perfectly. Below the waist, the pieces overlap. It's OK, let them. Then I marked the bust point on the middle front piece (my own bust point, not the pattern's - I had marked it on the muslin and then transferred it to paper), cut the paper on the seam line between the middle and center front pieces, cut from the side seam to the bust point mark, and then carefully cut a hinge from the other side of that last slash. The middle front piece extends past the bust point toward the CF, hence the need for a hinge.

Then I marked the amount to shorten the side seam, 1" in this case, and overlapped the upper portion of the middle and side fronts over the lower portion so that the edge of the slash would meet the new mark at the side seam. This opened up a "dart" between the middle front and center front pieces and also a tiny (1/8") dart on the middle front. Using a French curve, I blended the lines and traced off my new pattern pieces on separate pieces of paper, adding seam allowances. I walked the seam lines, marking new notches as needed. Easy-peasy.

The fabric and lining for the jacket are ready. Tomorrow is cutting and fusing day. Yay! I made the facing and lining pattern pieces the way Kathleen Fasanella described in her book and on her blog. It should be interesting and fun to learn a bunch of new techniques.

Fitting the FSG 1945 jacket - part 3

2011-04-25T18:04:00.005-06:00

This is a continuation of the two previous posts (part 1 and part 2).

After a few more adjustments, here is how the back looks. (Before this round of alterations on the left, after on the right.) Much better, I think.

And the side views:

In this second alteration session, I made the following changes:

took in CB seam 1/2" at the waist, tapering down to the hip and up to about 2" below the neckline;
took out a 1/4" wedge at CB neck, tapering to nothing at shoulder point;
scooped out both back and front armhole 1/2", blending toward the notches and bottom of armhole;
FBA 1/2" as described in Nancy's Jackets book.

I am still seeing some boobie starbursts on the front:

I am not planning any further alterations until I have made up this pattern in a nice wool suiting. Hopefully sometime in the next two weeks or so.

It also looks like I should find a chiropractor in this town soon. That crooked posture with one shoulder lower is just not normal for me.

Fitting the FSG 1945 jacket - part 2

2011-04-23T16:13:00.003-06:00

This is a continuation of the previous post.

Determined to get this jacket to fit, I did some serious pinning and measuring and adjusting. The full bust/short torso combination was an interesting alteration. More about that in another post.

Here are the side-by-side pictures of out of the envelope (left), after narrowing shoulders (middle), and after FBA and narrowing the back (right).
Front view:

Back view:

Right side view:

And left side view:

Changes so far:

back pieces shortened 1" above waist;
full bust/short torso alteration 1" for length only;
shoulder seam shortened 5/8", blending to below notches;
armhole raised (square shoulder) 1/4";
CB seam taken in 3/8" (3/4" total) at waist and all the way down to the hem, tapering to nothing 2" below neck;
back seams taken in 3/8" (3/4" total at each seam) at waist and all the way down to the hem, tapering to nothing 2" from armhole "point" of the pattern pieces;
outer edge of the 1945 collar spread 1/4" total (two slashes 1/8" each).

There is still more work to be done but I think it is looking pretty darn good.

Fitting the FSG 1945 jacket - part 1

2011-04-21T23:37:00.005-06:00

This is the first in a series of fitting posts. Read part 2, part 3, part 4. Follow-on posts about sewing the jacket are here: techniques used, work in progress, and final review.

Earlier this year, without realizing it, I embarked on a journey to get a wardrobe of well-fitting basic patterns. I have a skirt, shirt, and a sheath dress already. Now I am working on a versatile jacket - Nancy Erickson's FSG 1945. I had a positive experience sewing this jacket years ago but back then, in my youthful naivete, I did not keep notes about patterns or projects, not yet aware that life's curve balls would mean forgetting what alterations I made to the pattern and why and what I was planning to do next, or that a misplaced pattern could stay well-hidden for years. So I am starting from scratch.

I traced out size 8. The only alteration I made to it was shortening it one inch above the waist. Nancy recommends putting on a jacket that fits reasonably well and marking the waist at CB with a pin. Take off the jacket and measure the distance between the collar seam and the pin. Mine was 14", the pattern's 15". Hence the adjustment. I used the 1945 front for the right side and 1945A for the left side, another of Nancy's recommendations.

When I put it on, it was obviously a good-looking jacket. Only one problem - it looked as if I had borrowed it from my (imaginary) older sister. Nancy's suggestion was to adjust the shoulder width first, then the CB seam, and then the bust and hip.

This is the front view before and after the shoulder width alteration.

I took the shoulders in a half inch at the shoulder seam, tapering to nothing just below the notches. The shoulders look much more natural now. I like that.

There is still work to do. Witness this:

Here you can see the CB seam alteration: I took it in 3/8" on each side for a 3/4" total reduction. Clearly this is not enough and I think I will have to take in the other back seams as well. I don't really want to do that until after the full bust issue is addressed because only then will the side seams fall into place and I'll know just how much extra there is.

Also, at some point I will have to make room for my square shoulders, either by adding at the shoulder seam or by taking out a wedge through the upper chest. Without shoulder pads, the neckline falls in place around my neck perfectly. With the shoulder pads pinned in, it sort of floats in the air around my neck.

I love the lines of this jacket and its versatility. It is a very classic look and I am willing to put in however much work it takes to get it fitted just so.

Spring fitting

2011-04-18T21:53:00.005-06:00

Instead of spring cleaning, I have been doing spring fitting. First the New Look shirt that is on the back burner for now. Then the new sheath dress block with set-in sleeves (gray V-neck dress), which is now fixed. From that block, I drafted a raglan sleeve dress block so that I can make dresses like this one:

I was all ready to mock it up in a nice shirt-weight cotton when I got the urge to pull out my old FSG 1945 jackets and try them on. I have not worn them in several years now (shame!) but as soon as I put on the first one, I remembered how it felt to wear a suit. Suits help me project power in addition to femininity. Scrubs do nothing of the sort. Scrubs and other pajama-like uniforms harm my psyche. (Your mileage may vary). Long story short, I just finished tracing out the pattern for both the 1945 basic and the 1945A. As soon as my back has rested, I'll cut it out and then make the muslin tomorrow. I am hoping to enlist my mother-in-law's help in fitting when they come visit later this week.

All this fitting and not much sewing that yields real wearable garments. Oh well. Such is the price of multiple TNT patterns. Here's hoping I can sew up a ~~storm~~ wonderful wardrobe of beautiful clothes in the second part of the year.

2011 #2 - Sampler quilt - part 2

2011-04-07T22:58:00.003-06:00

The sampler quilt is finished!
It had been sitting here waiting for binding for almost a week so last night I finally made the binding strip and stitched it around the quilt. Today I finished it by hand while watching Northanger Abbey on DVD.

2011 #3 - Gray V-neck dress

2011-04-01T19:33:00.003-06:00

Somewhere in one of our many moves, I ~~lost~~ misplaced my original torso draft from years ago. A few weeks ago, when I was adjusting a commercial shirt pattern, I finally had enough of all the fitting work commercial patterns require and decided to draft a new torso foundation. Using my trusty Armstrong book for instructions and my wonderful DH for measuring, I did just that.

Having worked out most of the measuring/fitting issues in Tru-Grid and muslin, I made a simple dress in a dress-weight wool to see what else needed tweaking. Here is how it looks from the front:

Pretty good, though I see some wrinkles at the side seam/underarm point. They are much more pronounced in the back view:

It looks like the shoulder seams need to be sloped more. I checked the pattern and right now there is a hair under 1" of slope. It will need another 1/4" or so to fix. This is a new-to-me problem because my shoulders are rather square and my typical alteration for commercial patterns is to decrease the shoulder slope. It took some exercise in front of the mirror to figure out what caused these unusual wrinkles.

It is not obvious from the picture because of the belt, but the CB is cut straight (following instructions) and the waist is shaped with two darts on each side. When I adjust the pattern, the CB will curve in a half inch at the waist. My back has too much curve in it to have a straight CB seam in such a close-fitting dress.

I'm thinking about removing the sleeves and re-cutting the shoulder/armhole so that this dress can go into my regular rotation. Or I could just make a new one.

2011 #2 - Sampler quilt - part 1

2011-03-31T20:50:00.004-06:00

I'm still working on the sampler quilt. First, I applied sashing around the individual blocks to get this:

And two borders and some quilting later, it looks like this:

It's a lot of stitching in the ditch in and around the blocks, along the sashing and borders, and then a simple design in the wide border that did not require free-motion stitching. I was not quite ready to drop the feed dogs.

Now all that remains is the binding. I wanted to get it started today but it turned out to be a great day for cleaning and continued unpacking. Maybe by the end of next week. Maybe.

Work in progress

2011-03-20T23:07:00.003-06:00

I have been piecing my second quilt top. It is a sampler from The New Quilting by Machine. Pretty cool book for a beginner quilter, it has lots of pictures to illustrate very clear instructions and takes one from super easy to progressively more difficult blocks. So far, I have made the blocks with squares, rectangles, and triangles:

There are two empty spaces: one is reserved for an Eight-pointed Star block, the other for a Drunkard's Path block. Then sashing and borders, and it will be ready for quilting. I want to do this on my machine - it should be fun.

2011 #1 - My first quilt

2011-03-08T11:08:00.003-07:00

Sometime late last spring I got the urge to make a quilt. I hadn't made a quilt before but that couldn't stop me. I found a lovely pattern in a Thimbleberries book, a pattern that called for only three fabrics (I could handle that) and that came with simple sewing instructions. I made it a little bit larger and longer to account for the bed size (queen) and the pillow tuck. I finished the piecing last summer and left it with an experienced long-arm quilter to do the fancy quilting I envisioned. I got the quilt back early last week and promptly set to finish the binding so I could start using it. And here it is:

In reality, the green is much more green than the yellowish color on my monitor. I chose it because I love clear light greens on the yellow side of the range but can't wear them. They make me look ill (it's the yellow in them). So I use the color as an accent around the house.

Here's a closer look at the quilting:

One day, I would like to be able to quilt these fancy patterns but that day is still far in the future. It's a very cheerful quilt, and I think not bad for a first-timer. It makes me happy to look at it.

I am afraid the quilting bug is real. I stayed up past midnight cutting fabric for the next one - this one will be a sampler and the blocks require an awful lot of small pieces. I think I already have a preference for quilts that only require cutting strips and large squares, like my first one above. Yes, I'm a lazy fabric cutter.

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Thank you, ladies, for your warm comments on my previous posts.
BetsyV: the chair is very comfortable - it's just like sitting on a regular exercise ball but it won't roll away from you and it has a back rest so you don't fall off when you lean back. I got it at the Office Depot or Office Max some 7 or 8 years ago. You can get one like mine or one of the new interesting-looking models.

New sewing space

2011-03-06T21:17:00.002-07:00

All our stuff is finally here. And it's mostly unpacked and the place is mostly livable. We still have a few boxes left but those will have to wait until we get some nice new bookcases. I had to give up my awesome fabric closet (long story), which means fabric storage will have to be sorted out soon. But happily, the rest of my sewing room came together nicely.

This is my sewing spot - the old faithful wonderful Horn cabinet, holding the sewing machine and the serger. The dressform, unpadded in the picture, has now been padded properly so the shirt no longer hangs off it like a hand-me-down.

To the left of the Horn cabinet is a small alcove with a modular cabinet from IKEA - it holds books, equipment, and fabric. The idea is to move the books to the bookcases when we get them and use this cabinet to hold fabrics and notions for upcoming projects. There is also just enough space next to the cabinet to fit the roll of pattern paper.

On the other side of the room is a small (and I mean, tiny!) closet and another IKEA cabinet with more books and sewing stuff. The picture on the wall is a needlepoint embroidery that my great-grandmother made in the late 1890's or early 1900's on her voyage to Europe.

In other news, the first shirt muslin turned out pretty good, with only small adjustments needed. I made those and am almost finished sewing the second one. Hopefully, no more adjustments will be needed after this and I can just make some shirts.

Moving etc.

2011-02-25T21:52:00.006-07:00

Well, we're here. Here was going to be Minot, ND right up until the Air Force powers that be changed their collective minds and sent us to Cheyenne, WY. Most of our household goods have arrived, chief among them my sewing supplies. (Priorities, you know.) We have another shipment coming sometime next week - the rest of my sewing and knitting library is in it. I have a lot of books. I mean, a lot of books, really. And a lot of fabric, too. Fabric and books weigh a lot.

Between unpacking and this crud I've had for a week now that makes me cough and leaves me breathless half the time, I haven't had much time or energy for anything fiber-related.

Browsing the current Brooks Brothers catalog, I came across this inspiring picture:

So today, coughing and taking frequent breaks, I adjusted New Look 6407 (fitted shirt). I have used that pattern before but I'm not sure where it is, nor do I remember if it needed any tweaking for fit, so I decided to start fresh. The pattern is now ready for the first fitting in muslin; I hope to get it done tomorrow. I have at least five pieces of lovely shirting fabrics ready to become shirts.

Neck things - finished

2010-12-14T10:30:00.003-07:00

Just a couple of quick projects to keep out the chill:

the Chickadee Cowl for me

and the Lazy River Scarf for my husband

Both are free patterns found on Ravelry and very quick to knit. The cowl took one skein of Malabrigo Chunky and it's a simple tube in linen stitch. The scarf took three balls of Lana Grossa Cinque and the pattern is alternating 1x1 rib with garter stitch. Easy and satisfying.

Wrapped Jewel pullover - finished

2010-12-11T07:24:00.003-07:00

Gray again - this time a little lighter shade and not a cardigan. I wanted a pullover with wrapped effect and I didn't want to reinvent the wheel. So I used my TNT knitting pattern - Jewel by Kim Hargreaves - altering it yet again for the faux wrap in the front.

Finished, the sweater looked like it could use a little pep. I dug through the button and ribbon stash, and in a nod to my romantic side, I sewed on a bit of black lace so that it's just peeking out from behind the front edges. The large black button anchors the waistband overlap.

Side view:

I knitted the peplum flat until the garter stitch waistband was finished, then joined the work and continued in the round until the bottom of the V-neckline, then flat again.
The yarn is my favorite sport-weight: Nature Spun by Brown Sheep, in Grey Heather.

Back view:

I am quite happy with how this sweater turned out. It was a quick knit with minimal math, and the fit is perfect.

Altered Jewel cardigan - finished

2010-11-17T04:23:00.002-07:00

Another gray sweater...
This one took a month to finish because knitting the first sleeve in one day proved to be too much for my left hand, which resulted in a two-week break from hand-knitting. The cardigan was actually completely finished and ready to wear yesterday but the gray skies outside were not conducive to taking decent pictures.

I really liked my Jewel cardigan so I used the same pattern, with only a few changes.

the original Jewel cardigan requires a camisole, this cardigan has a longer button band to cover the bits that need coverage - this required recalculating the neckline decreases as well as buttonhole spacing;
I added a shawl collar - this was simple: instead of decreasing the total number of stitches at the neckline, for each decrease in stockinette I added one stitch to the front band that would become the collar;
full-length sleeves instead of bracelet length;
I wanted the back more fitted at the waist - I decreased the peplum by eight stitches where back darts would usually be and then recalculated the side increases to add the eight stitches back.

Side view:

The yarn is sport-weight Nature Spun by Brown Sheep. I just love this yarn - it's so easy to knit, blocks beautifully, and it feels soft and warm on the skin. I have a few more cones of it in this color and a lighter gray so you'll be seeing it again :-)

Back view:

I am very happy with how this sweater turned out. I'm thinking about making it in multiple colors. One additional change I would make on future cardigans is move the buttonholes in by a stitch or two. I think it would be prettier to have more of the edge showing.

Georgie cardigan - finished

2010-11-13T07:16:00.003-07:00

I am back in Germany for a little while, just until we make the big move to North Dakota in January.

I'd been busy arranging all sorts of things prior to leaving Florida but that did not stop me from knitting. Even the knitting injury that made me take a break from hand-knitting couldn't stop me from knitting on the machine. And so, here is my Georgie cardigan, adapted from Kim Hargreaves' book Breeze.

The yarn is Brown Sheep Co.'s Nature Spun in sport weight; the color is Evergreen - a much more vibrant shade of emerald than these pictures would lead you to believe. I love how evenly this yarn works up on the machine.

Side views, belted and unbelted (I will be wearing this belted because I like the waist definition the belt adds and also because then no other closure will be needed):

I adjusted the fronts for a slightly smaller overlap because I wanted to knit the hood in one piece, which limited it to no more than 200 needles. (I used them all.) I'd left the neckline stitches live to hang back on the machine after blocking the pieces and grafting the shoulder seams. The decreases at the center back of the hood were a royal pain because I was working without a garter bar or my 9-prong transfer tool, which meant transferring close to 200 stitches toward the center three stitches at a time. Let's just say that the hood took longer to knit than the rest of the sweater combined.

I started with 2" deep hung hems and continued in stockinette all the way up. I had originally planned to make a 1x1 ribbed band at the center front, then changed my mind after blocking the first front piece. This necessitated re-knitting that piece and coming up with a different edge treatment. I decided on crab stitch but after multiple unsatisfactory attempts I changed it to a simple row of half-double crochet stitches all around the front edges.

This was a really straight-forward project. I will wear the cardigan for a while before making another one because I want to see how I like the overlap. I'm thinking smaller overlap next time but I want to make sure.

Jewel cardigan - finished

2010-10-17T15:27:00.003-06:00

Another project finished. This time, it's the Jewel cardigan from Kim Hargreaves' book Amber.

I used another yarn from Brown Sheep - Nature Spun in sport weight. It works up to the same gauge as their Lanaloft but it is a 3-ply yarn so the stitch definition is much crisper. It comes on cones, as does Lanaloft, which is very convenient for storage and leaves fewer ends to weave in at the end of knitting.

The shape of the cardigan is nicely fitted at the sides. There is no shaping at the center back so the cardigan hangs fairly straight down, as viewed from the side. I like it better pulled in closer with a belt.

The depth of the neckline definitely requires something underneath. It is a great layering piece and I am already planning to make it again.

As with my previous knitting projects, I made this one without side seams - the fronts knitted in one piece with the back up to the armholes. I find that it makes for quick knitting because I do the biggest portion of the work while I'm still riding the high of the initial excitement. From the bottom of the armholes, things go much faster: I'm working fewer than half the total number of stitches and I'm decreasing for the armhole at the same time. The body of the sweater is finished before I know it. And then it's just the sleeves and finishing. Easy-peasy.

Bea cardigan - finished

2010-09-23T12:25:00.004-06:00

I have not been particularly talkative lately, I know, nor have I been sewing. With the stress at work combined with the stress of planning the move to North Dakota, I have found it easier to turn to knitting for relaxation and quiet time. I've had fun rediscovering the joys of hand-knitting.

My latest project is the Bea cardigan by Kim Hargreav es. I can't wear it here in Florida yet because it's still too hot for it but it will be perfect for my trip to Minot next week.

Here is the front view:

The yarn is Lanaloft Sport from Brown Sheep - a single-ply 100% wool heaven on needles. I love all the shaping in this cardigan - it makes it fit just so. I did rewrite the pattern to omit the side seams and end with live stitches at the shoulders. I did not do the picot edge on the button band and sleeve hems. I shortened the back by about an inch, short-rowing the fronts, to account for the length difference between my erect back and B-cup bust. ( Knitting patterns usually say to do extra short rows in the front to add length for bust but when I work with sewing patterns, I shorten the back by an inch, adding the difference to the bust dart takeup, so that's what I did here.)

Side view:

Back view:

And a few notes:

08/31/10
I’ve cast on. I’m not a fan of seaming, so I cast on the fronts and back together in one piece. That’s a lot of stitches on fairly small needles. I have knitted 42 rows of the garter stitch peplum - easy knitting so far.

I also read through the whole pattern and did some calculations to figure out where the buttonholes will be, before I get far enough to make the first one. In this pattern, the buttonhole borders are knitted in one piece with the fronts (my preferred way).

09/04/10
I am loving the textured pattern! So subtle and intriguing, in a how-did-you-that way. And it keeps the cardigan from becoming a death-by-stockinette project.

09/10/10
I finished knitting the body of the cardigan. It’s drying on the blocking board now.

09/12/10
I kitchener-stitched the shoulders, wove in the yarn ends, and finished the neckline. Tried it on (at least 17 times). Not sure the neckline shape is very flattering on me but with a scarf it won’t be an issue. I might make the front neckline deeper on the next one.

09/22/10
It is finished! I sewed on the buttons and steamed the shoulder seams so it will be ready for pictures tomorrow.

I used a store-bought ribbon for the waist tie - I really wanted a nice velvet one but with Jo-Ann’s being the only game in town, the glitter ribbon will have to do until I find what I want.

I bought three different sets of buttons because I just couldn’t decide. After hours of deliberation, I decided to use the matte gray ones - they’re actually made of recycled cotton fibers (up to 80%), which is pretty cool. The label says they’re washable. I backed them with small flat buttons for stability.

All in all, a fun easy knit. I love the fitted shape. And it is definitely warm.

Stay-Put Wrap - finished

2010-08-26T16:59:00.004-06:00

It's official! We're moving to Cold Country aka Minot, ND! Yes, I did say North Dakota, and yes, contrary to popular opinion, they do have summers up there so hold off those condolences :-) because it was our first choice. That said, it gets much colder than any place I've ever been and we will be moving in January-February so please do keep your fingers crossed that I don't turn into an alexsicle.

Anyway, we found out on August 2 and I immediately went to the local yarn shop and picked up this beautiful eggplant-colored heavenly soft merino to make something warm. I finished it today.

Front view:

Side view:

A few notes:

08/02/10
Gauge swatch shows I have more stitches per inch. Turns out the largest size has the right numbers to make the second smallest size so I cast on 68 stitches and go to town.
After 8 rows I rip… because I just realized the wrap direction is wrong for me. I never wear wraps/shawls/ruanas with the long end over my right shoulder. Always over the left.
And so I cast on again, this time making a mirror image (cable at the end of RS rows, not the beginning).

08/06/10
So far so good, easy knitting. The 12-row repeat is an easy daily commitment, doable even after a long hectic shift at work. Today I made another adjustment: not a fan of binding off only to cast on again and then having to pick up the stitches for sleeves, I just used a piece of waste yarn to hold those stitches live.

08/12/10
The “wrap” part of the wrap is done. I blocked it last night, then started on the first sleeve today. It’s slow going because there aren’t quite enough stitches to move easily around the circular needle, and I don’t have a smaller one. I may have to resort to Magic Loop.

08/21/10
The left sleeve is done. I’ll start the other one tomorrow.

08/26/10
The wrap is finished! Ends darned in, the whole thing is ready to be worn.

Closeup of the back view:

All in all, this was an easy project and I love the result. There are people who don't like to do this much seed stitch but it never bothered me a bit. Seed stitch allows me to settle into a nice rhythm and helps me relax.

You can also see this project on Ravelry.

Still alive...

2010-07-31T22:19:00.005-06:00

Life has been happening... too much stress lately... scared away my sewing mojo. Energy has not been particularly plentiful either, what with too few hours of sleep most nights. But the future lies bright ahead as the changes we will be making over the next 4-10 months will significantly decrease my stress sources.

Until we emerge at the end of this tunnel, I have my dreams (dear stress, you can make me stop sewing but you can't make me stop dreaming about sewing, so there!) and my collection of Burda magazines. Going through the last two years' worth, I picked out patterns I would like to make and compiled them into this:

It is not really a plan (if history is any indication, the mojo runs away at the sound of the word "plan"), but more of a dream wardrobe, sewing inspiration, and reference in one.

Butterick 5314 - again

2010-03-16T20:02:00.005-06:00

The dress is finished! (Actually, it has been finished for almost a week now but all this working from sunup to sundown left no time for pictures.) It turned out a little bit different from what I had originally envisioned because the fabric would not cooperate (or perhaps it was the pattern piece that wasn't quite right, I'm not really sure), but I like it a lot anyway.

Here's how it looks with just a ribbon tied at the waist:

Please note the bias binding on the armholes, made from the same fabric as the collar. It was inspired by Carolyn who does amazing things with contrast fabrics. (I'm just such a solid-color person that it has taken me years of reading Carolyn's blog to wrap my head around the concept.) The ribbon at the waist was inspired by Ann's comment on the previous dress. I wanted a nice rayon petersham ribbon but as the local choices are extremely limited, I used the polyester ribbon from JoAnn's. I also wanted the ribbon to have a pretty bow and a hidden snap closure but sewing the polyester ribbon was so frustrating that in the end I went with a simple knot instead.

Here the dress is fully accessorized:

I used a piece of the collar fabric as a scarf/tie on the handbag handle, and on the hat a wider ribbon that matches the belt.
Here's a better picture of the hat and its ribbon (please excuse the crazy-lady-pondering-murder look on my face):

I have three fabrics washed and ready to cut. I think they're all going to be a version this dress. I really like it that much. Is that crazy?

Slow going

2010-03-07T18:33:00.003-07:00

I've been working on another dress from Butterick 5314. I wanted to make view A. I really did. I cut it out of the same white cotton jacquard used for the previous dress. I cut the draped collar from a beautiful shades-of-blue poly left over from another project.
It should have been perfect.
It wasn't.

The collar didn't drape ~~enough~~ at all. I cut a new one after measuring very carefully but it had too much fabric to ease into the neckline. I re-cut, re-pinned, and re-basted that sucker ~~a million~~ four or five times. No go.

Finally, I'd had it. I had another view B collar cut out of the white cotton (I don't know why I cut two but now I'm glad I did) so I cut one from the blue fabric and basted the two together so they could be handled as one layer. The blue poly by itself didn't have enough body for a stand-up collar but with the cotton inside, it's perfect. Now I just need to make a matching ribbon belt and the dress will be ready to wear.

Butterick 5314 - white sleeveless dress

2010-02-21T13:11:00.003-07:00

It is done!

This is view B of Butterick 5314. The pattern is for a dress with front & back darts, waistline seam, and three collar/neckline variations. View B has a simple bias-cut foldover collar.

I used a lovely cotton floral jacquard from Gorgeous Fabrics. It was a breeze to sew and press, and I am glad to have enough left for at least one more dress. The pattern calls for a lining but I skipped it, opting instead to use a facing at the neckline and bias tape for the armholes.

Besides the omitted lining, there are two other points of departure from the pattern instructions: one is the invisible zipper - I prefer it over the centered zipper application recommended in the pattern. The other is that I let the collar spread instead of bringing the points together at center back with hooks and eyes. I like the dip it creates (and not having to sew on another hook and eye is always a bonus).

Here's the back view:

I am definitely planning to make this dress again in other fabrics. This was kind of a trial run to see how I would like sewing and wearing cotton and to tweak the remaining fitting issues in this pattern (I worked out the major ones in muslin, as usual). I am always drawn to collars like this when I browse vintage patterns so I decided to give it a try - and I love it!

The Year of the (Sleeveless) Dress

2010-02-19T20:42:00.005-07:00

Last year turned out to be very unpredictable, which made it difficult to get much sewing done. This year, things should be different because

our hospital switched to a different scheduling system so my sewing time should be much more predictable,
I have learned to sew in small chunks, say 30-60 minutes, instead of waiting to have a whole day to sew, and
I am learning (slow process, mind you) to let go of my perfectionist tendencies which often hinder my creativity.

I plan to add ~~a few~~ many dresses to my wardrobe this year because that's what I like to wear the most. Sleeveless sheath dresses have proven to be the most versatile and most-often worn pieces in my wardrobe (together with knit cardigans, but I buy those) so I will focus on sewing more of them, both from my TNT pattern and Butterick 5314.

I love the graceful collared necklines of views A and B, and the waistline seam will be useful for pattern-morphing later. View B is currently half-sewn. I plan to finish it tomorrow.

Back from hiatus

2010-02-11T18:45:00.002-07:00

Hmm, I didn't even realize I've not posted since last July. It's not that I haven't been sewing - I have, but mostly muslin mock-ups, a couple of wadders, and a bunch of aprons. And then life got hectic and painful (and full of anxiety - long story involving a new dentist) and there went the mojo again. But now it's back and I am hoping to have some pretty new dresses to share and wear soon.

What I'm loving for fall...

2009-07-13T22:56:00.005-06:00

Well, the Vogue Fabrics mailer finally arrived and to my amazement I found I was only slightly tempted to make a purchase. Most of the fabrics are still very summery and for some reason I'm already thinking fall. So today, I was a happy camper when I surfed over to Vogue patterns to find these:

V1123 - the neckline on the dress is a bit severe but I am in love with the jacket. The line drawing shows kimono sleeves with gussets and a lovely collar that stands away from the neck without being oversize.

V1129 - a totally cool unlined fitted jacket with what looks like a nice high armhole. It would make a great throw-on jacket for Florida's "cold season", more of a long cardigan really. The drape adds a touch of drama (more than plenty for my non-dramatic clothing personality).

V8604 - the briefest jacket of all, a cross between a shrug and a cardigan, it could easily become a favorite this season.

We still have a few months of heat left this year which gives me plenty of time to dream up the perfect collection of little black (and gray and blue) dresses to wear with these jackets.

2009 #2 Summer casual wardrobe

2009-06-28T14:16:00.006-06:00

It is done! Three dresses and two sleeveless tops - my summer wardrobe is pretty much complete.

The dresses are all from my TNT pattern, all three made up exactly the same. I would like to play with the neckline but this month was not the time for it - I needed dresses to wear right now. I am happy with all three, have worn the white and the print already. The blue dress was just born this afternoon. They are all unlined and I wear them with a half-slip. In the interest of speedy sewing, I faced the necklines but used a bias strip to finish the armholes. It looks nice, though it won't work in every situation - the topstitching is not invisible.

The two tops are from New Look 6895, much adjusted in the back. First I took out 1" at CB neck, tapering to nothing at the hem, then adjusted for an erect posture. I added a lining in a lightweight solid white poly crepe, sewed a wide band of the shell fabric to the hem of the lining, and hemmed the top 1.5" shorter to get the look of a double hem. I got the idea from an Ann Taylor top I love. The necklines are bias-bound and wide enough to go over my head without a closure. I changed the gathering in the front to a series of pleats because I liked it better. The tops are flowy, which makes them comfortable even in Florida's humid heat, despite the fact that they are polyester. I wear these tops with white shorts but they look great with blue jeans and a cardigan as well.

This was my first time sewing with polyester. I'd avoided it all these years thinking it was hot and uncomfortable and difficult to sew. Then I bought the Ann Taylor top and fell in love with it. It's made of polyester and I thought if AT can use it, so can I. As it turns out, it's easy to cut and sew, and the right pattern can provide comfort even in hot weather. *Disclaimer: I keep the thermostat set on 77-80F so my idea of "hot" and yours may differ (I freeze below 75F).

It's been a while...

2009-06-21T21:08:00.004-06:00

...I know. It's been hectic, it's been fun... and the time just flew by. The house is now furnished and comfortable. I've settled into my new old job. I've even done some sewing.

One of my goals for this year was to make more dresses. To that end, I've been working on improving my TNT sheath pattern. There was a bit of extra ease in the lower front that resisted all attempts at removal. Several mock-ups later, the pattern is now fixed.

My fabric collection stayed in Germany; it will move with us when we come back stateside in 2011. My wonderful mom-in-law sent me the few pieces I had stashed at their house so I have some basics but no real stash here and I don't want to build a new one. Instead, I subscribed to the Vogue Fabrics By Mail service. I wasn't really sure what to expect but figured $30 was a small price to pay for someone to coordinate fabrics for me. At the beginning of May, my first mailer arrived and I was impressed. Nine color-coordinated collections of very affordably-priced fabrics of very decent quality.

Two collections immediately caught my eye - they would be perfect for a casual summer wardrobe. A few days later, these lovely pieces showed up at my doorstep.

From the top: polyester plisse print and polyester faille print for loose tank tops, poly/rayon/flax textured suiting solid for a simple sheath, rayon/poly "painterly" print for another sheath, white textured cotton/lycra suiting for a sheath (and maybe a jacket or skirt, or both, I wasn't sure so I ordered 5 yards), and a cotton blend novelty tweed that will make a lovely cardigan jacket.

Now, my main fabric collection consists of timeless basics that I buy in 5 or 10 yards lengths and intend to use over time. However, these fabrics are for immediate sewing and, with the exception of the white cotton suiting, came in 2yd pieces, which I thought should be enough to cut a summer top or dress and still leave enough to re-cut in case of emergency. Also, having seen how Carolyn works embellishment, I thought having a half-yard or so left over might come in handy one day.

The cardigan jacket will be a project for later this year when it gets cool enough here to actually wear one. Other than that, my only rule was that the rest of the fabrics would have to be sewn up into garments before I could order more fabrics. That gave me two months to sew. Well, not quite because I had company most of May, but still plenty of time to sew. Otherwise, there would be no new fabric from the next mailer.

So far, I have finished two dresses - the white cotton and the painterly blue/green/white print, and two tank tops from the poly prints. This week I'll make a dress from the blue suiting and then wait contentedly for the next mailer. Pictures coming soon.

Why I haven't been sewing...

2009-03-06T22:02:00.009-07:00

Posted by Alexandra at Studio Alexandra

Well, it's been a busy few weeks. I painted two bedrooms and two bathrooms. It sounds pretty simple, but have you ever tried painting a popcorn ceiling? Those things should be illegal.

The rooms started out a fairly inoffensive shade of beige, with "contractor white" ceilings and trim. Well, where there is trim, because as you'll see in the pictures, there aren't casings around the windows, not to mention crown moldings. (Those will be a later project after I get approval from the property owner.) I picked out a very pale sunny yellow for the ceiling and a grayish blue shade for the walls about the color of the ocean on a slightly overcast day.

At the beginning, the sewing room looked like this (I didn't think to take pictures until after I already took off the cover plates from outlets and light switches so just imagine they're there):

After priming, it looked like this:

At this point I was really questioning my sanity (...and what's the problem with beige walls? most people are happy not to have white walls, but no, leave it to me to fix what isn't broken... seriously what's wrong with beige? I love beige!) but I persisted and voila!

The small desk in the corner will hold the knitting machine and the long white desk will hold the sewing machine and serger. For now, I've left the trim white but I plan to paint it the color of sand (notice a pattern here? sunny yellow, ocean blue, sand...).

The other large piece of furniture in the room is the cutting table. It came from Jo-Ann's and is much like the old one they used to sell but this one is a little bit wider when folded and has two shelves. It feels more stable, too.

The room still needs some pretties to put on the wall and a chair (probably a stability ball, actually) but other than that, it's ready for the machines. And then, I can really do some sewing. I need some dresses.

I'm in Florida!

2009-02-07T15:41:00.002-07:00

Posted by Alexandra at Studio Alexandra

I made it to Florida on Wednesday afternoon. It was a great day to drive - beautiful and sunny, if a little windy. I drove through the sticks of Georgia for what seemed like forever before hitting I-10 near Tallahassee. I spent the evening reacquainting myself with the base and the surrounding towns, even managing to look at a couple of townhouses for rent.

On Thursday, jet-lag caught up with me and I spent the afternoon napping. Friday turned out to be a very productive day - I was full of energy after all that sleep. I drove around to see quite a few more townhouses and found the right one in the right location. I signed the lease and will move in next Friday. Not that I have much to move in, having come here with two suitcases and one carry-on.

Next week will be mostly relaxing, taking care of utilities, and good old school work. Then after move-in day, the painting fun can start. I'm already looking forward to it.

Travel update

2009-02-03T20:01:00.004-07:00

Posted by Alexandra at Studio Alexandra

I have just spent two days traveling and have one more day before I get to my destination. Getting out of Germany was interesting because the flight schedule kept changing, with flights getting canceled or postponed left and right. That's the downside of Space-A travel: you can't plan. The upside: it's free (with dorky $4 meals which are optional - save your sanity and get a Subway sandwich before departure). And unless you're used to flying first class, military aircraft can be much more comfortable than regular airlines. Of course, if you can afford first-class tickets on a transatlantic flight, you're in a whole another league and can I please be your friend? If you don't mind a little noise (you receive a set of ear plugs when you board the plane and trust me, you'll need them) and lack of televised entertainment, I heartily recommend you try to get on a C17 - lots of leg room, and if there aren't many passengers, even room to stretch out and get some zzz's.***

(***Disclaimer: Space-A travel is only available to military members and their families, and only in certain circumstances.)

Early this morning, as I started driving from Delaware, the weather was bad. It was cold and raining snowflakes (you know, when you can see them coming down but they don't actually stay on the ground so it just looks like it's raining). There was actually supposed to be a storm with snow. (Now, I've never driven on/in snow and I wasn't about to start today. I got a very early start.) In the darkness and this ugly weather, I drove to I-95, and somewhere in Virginia it finally stopped raining. Then in North Carolina, the sun came out from behind the clouds a little bit, then a little bit more, and eventually the clouds gave way to a beautiful blue sky and sunshine. In South Carolina, the hay-colored hibernating grass started showing green patches, completing the picture. What started out so dreadful this morning turned into an absolutely glorious day by the time I got to Charleston.

Tomorrow I will drive the rest of the way to the Emerald Coast of Florida. I hope the weather stays nice because there really is nothing better for a weary soul than a gorgeous sunny day.

Going on a trip

2009-02-01T15:59:00.003-07:00

Posted by Alexandra at Studio Alexandra

I'm getting ready for an extended trip to Florida to set up a second household for us for a while (nothing bad happening, I just can't take this German weather anymore). I am in the middle of packing and totally stressing. Do you have any idea what it's like to go through all your sewing/knitting things (stash, tools, notions, trims, etc.) and decide what is absolutely essential and what you can do without? Harrowing and cruel, that's what it's like.

Now that I got that off my chest, I'm actually looking forward to finding a new place, painting, buying furniture (sparsely because it will have to fit into our next house with all the things we already have), and decorating. There won't be any sewing or machine knitting for me for a few weeks until the post office delivers my machines. There will, however, be pictures of the new place as it takes shape.

The blue wool crepe dress I cut out last week is almost finished; it only needs hemming. I have the hem basted so I can work on it at the hotel. I'll post pictures when it's completely finished.

Thank you!

2009-01-29T16:56:00.002-07:00

Posted by Alexandra at Studio Alexandra

A big huge THANK YOU to Lisa and Kat who have nominated me for this award! It feels good to know that people whose creations I admire stop here to read about mine.

Now the seven bloggers who inspire me (in alphabetical order, and some of them have already been nominated by others):

Carolyn who can take one pattern and turn out a bazillion different looks
Dana who sews some seriously classy clothes
Faith who knits and spins and weaves and cooks - all that with a smile and four very cute kiddos
Gigi who works knits like it's nobody's business
Notamermaid who has an enviable closet full of cool retro dresses
Toy who usually turns out one cool garment after another (but currently is in need of some extra positive vibes so please send her some)
Trena who can turn a sweater into a hat or a dress.

Thank you very much!

2009 #1 Machine knitting sampler - part 4

2009-01-28T16:12:00.003-07:00

Posted by Alexandra at Studio Alexandra

Here's the latest installment of my sampler project - the knitweave (or knit weave) sampler. In this technique, the resulting patterns look very similar to the fairisle sampler, but in knitweave the pattern is actually formed on the purl side. This is a rather involved technique because it requires the machine operator to move the contrast yarn from one side of the carriage to the other after each row. No zip-zip like some of the other techniques.

From left to right: cards # 1-4, 7-9, 11, 14, and 20.
Not all cards are suitable for knitweave. Long floats are bad enough on the inside (as in fairisle) where they can be protected with lining. On the outside of the garment, they're a disaster waiting to happen. Even some of these cards produced floats that are not acceptable to me, although yarn thickness is probably a factor here.

I'm guessing that if I were to use a main color yarn closer to the higher end of the thickness spectrum that the machine can handle, the floats would be shorter in the end product. I've been knitting the Wool Crepe on tension 5 so the fabric is quite stretched on the machine. The contrast yarn has to cover the whole distance between the end needles during knitting so when the fabric comes off the machine and relaxes into its natural narrower state, there is extra contrast yarn length in each row. This is a problem when the floats are three stitches or longer. Any knitweave projects will require samples not just for gauge but for the resulting texture as well.

I really like #1 and 7. They would produce a lovely tweedy looking fabric suitable for jackets. I'm thinking a solid main color and a variegated contrast yarn. Or a nice boucle yarn that would be a PITA to knit (but easy to knitweave because it just lays over the needles as it's woven into the fabric).
I also like #8, the herrigbone. I love herringbone - it's such a classic pattern. With the right combination of yarns, it could be quite spectacular.

A while ago, Kat asked "Okay, okay now! :) What machine is this and where did you get it?"
So, let me introduce the wonderful Singer 700 Memo-Matic.

It's a standard gauge (4.5 mm) machine that knits yarns from fingering to about sport-weight. I got it in probably 2001 or 2002, from a lady in Canada whose ad I found online. It was not working well in the beginning and it took a few years to find someone who knew anything about knitting machines. It turned out that it needed a new sponge bar, a part that is not mentioned anywhere in the manual. After that, it worked like a charm.

This machine has all the bells and whistles that a mechanical machine can have - a 24-stitch punchcard reader for patterns, knit radar for knitting shapes from sewing patterns (rather than row by row counts), and a built-in row counter. I also have a lace carriage for this machine; it comes with its own set of punchcards for lovely lace patterns. And I have a ribber, which is another long bed of needles that can be mounted in the front at an angle - together the two beds can produce ribbing patterns and other things that I have yet to explore.

Mary said "Very nice...makes me want to get a knitting machine now, but where would I put it?" Hmm... let's see, mine is in what's supposed to be the dining area. (We don't have a dining table; we eat at the kitchen counter bar.) But then, we don't have a traditional living room either because I needed the space for my sewing studio. It's all a matter of priorities, right?

On TNTs and the holy grail

2009-01-27T15:58:00.004-07:00

Posted by Alexandra at Studio Alexandra

Just as I was patting myself on the back for having traced out and adjusted four new BWOF patterns in a weekend, Carolyn posted about her weekend sewing. She has two new skirts to show for it; I have pieces of paper and muslin. I was going to feel sorry for myself but then I realized that maybe there's a message in her post that I missed on the first read-through.

If you've been reading my blog for at least a month, you know I have at least four well-fitting TNT dress patterns. Why then did I feel compelled to trace out and adjust three new dress patterns? I have a theory - the holy grail theory. We're all looking for the holy grail of fitting, and justifiably so considering the deterioration of fit in RTW. We read books and watch DVDs about fitting, spend hours adjusting paper patterns and making mock-ups in muslin or inexpensive fabric, and participate in the multitude of threads about fitting on sewing-related forums (fora?) in an effort to look our best.

It seems easy to define fit in objective terms - no wrinkles or gaping, follows body curves without clinging, hides bulges, and has enough room for movement. But I believe there is a subjective component, too - does it look flattering? And this, ladies and gentlemen, is the reason many of us try pattern after pattern, adjusting and tweaking, and moving on to the next pattern. We don't want a pattern that fits objectively, we want one that makes us look and feel great.

The problem is that those of us who have body image issues sometimes end up in a never-ending quest for the pattern that will make said issues disappear. I'm speaking from experience here. I keep looking for a dress pattern that will make my back view look shapely. You see, if I had to draw myself, I'd draw a fairly skinny figure with curves for the front view. For the back view, I'd draw a long rectangle with a head and limbs. My very square shoulders form an almost straight line and my butt looks very rectanglish no matter what I wear. As I reflected on this last night, I realized that what I'm really looking for is not a pattern that will make me look shapelier from the back, but rather my own acceptance of things I cannot change. I mean permanent acceptance rather than the typical skinny/pretty days vs. fat/ugly days.

The holy grail of fitting is not the pattern. It's knowing your body issues, accepting them, and then finding ways to mitigate them. For me this means necklines that dip considerably to break the solid line (collars work well, too) and well-defined waist lines. For others, it may be a proportion thing or a matter of length. Threads has a good article about finding your best silhouette and proportions.

I like my new patterns. When I compared the adjusted pattern pieces to my TNTs, they looked almost identical. So from here on out, my motto will be TNTs work so work your TNTs (and use new patterns only for details). And with that, I cut out a sleeveless sheath dress in a lovely royal blue wool crepe, using not one of my new BWOF patterns but an old TNT self-drafted one.

Marathon tracing

2009-01-24T17:00:00.004-07:00

Posted by Alexandra at Studio Alexandra

I love Burda WOF. I grew up with it. In fact, for the longest time I had no idea there were other patterns available. I used to buy every issue at the newsstand. (Then I had a subscription for a few years. Then my life was upside down for a while and my subscription lapsed and book stores in my area didn't carry the magazine. Now I'm back to buying it from a German store nearby. I'll get a subscription when we're stateside again.)

Not every issue is great. There are even some that make me wonder why I'm still keeping them. But every year, there is an issue or two full of patterns I can't wait to make up. Those are the issues that make the subscription worth every penny (my opinion only, your mileage may vary. This year's February issue is one of those gems.

I got the magazine last night, paged through it, and went to sleep dreaming about all the beautiful clothes in it. Today, I traced out these four patterns:

#124 - this dress looks like the perfect summer sheath - simple and elegant, with enough of a cap sleeve to protect the shoulders from the sun. Easy-breezy, made in cotton pique or something similarly washable and unpretentious, this dress could become the backbone of my summer wardrobe.

#122 - this lovely dress will make the perfect beach cover-up or lounge dress. I like my hems to hit above the knee so I shortened the pattern as I was tracing it. I think I might make one in the original length though, because I'd like to see how I look in a maxi-dress.

#110 - I am visualizing this tunic slightly longer, as a dress. Instead of the buttons at CF, I'd like eyelets with lacing. Then I'd like to use more eyelets in a zig-zag pattern as a trim around the neckline, bottom of the sleeves (straight, not gathered), and maybe even at the hem.

#107B - I am totally loving this skirt. From the wide pleats to the cool "belt loops", it looks awesome. I'm thinking linen or cotton/linen blend.

I also like dress # 119, shirt #104, and jacket #112/113 but I am tired from all that tracing, adjusting, adding seam allowances, and cutting so they'll have to wait until next time. I have some muslin ready for mock-ups of all these patterns and I hope to get it all done this week. Maybe for once, I could actually get ahead of the curve and sew for the upcoming season.

2009 #1 Machine knitting sampler - part 3

2009-01-15T19:41:00.003-07:00

Posted by Alexandra at Studio Alexandra

Well, the tuck stitch sampler was hard to photograph to show its texture but the slip stitch sampler really takes the cake. The texture is so subtle it's hard to see with a naked eye, let alone in a photograph. But here it is, in all its (barely visible) glory:

Left to right: cards # 8, 7, 4, 3, and 2.

Left to right: cards #9, 10, 11, 12, and 14.

2009 #1 Machine knitting sampler - part 2

2009-01-13T17:16:00.006-07:00

Posted by Alexandra at Studio Alexandra

I never realized how difficult it is to photograph texture in solid color. It's has taken me several days, many photos, and learning how to increase contrast without making the picture look grainy/funny. And now, I present to you, the tuck stitch sampler:

Tuck stitch is a technique in which the machine knits stockinette on some needles and hangs loops of yarn on others (without knitting the stitches that are on them). At regular intervals dictated by the punchcard, these loops and the original stitch get knitted together, resulting in a textured fabric. The purl side is the right side with this technique.

As you can see, the swatches are much shorter than on the fairisle sampler. I used the same number of rows (40) per card. From left to right, card numbers are 12, 11, 10, 9, 8, 7, 4, 3, and 1. Most of them are fairly recognizable when compared to the fairisle sampler, but card #3 was a total surprise. It looks like honeycomb, very pretty, but not what I was expecting at all. I am loving the herringbone in the middle. Can you just see it on a shrug knitted side-to-side?

Coming up tomorrow is the slip stitch sampler - another textured solid.

2009 #1 Machine knitting sampler - part 1

2009-01-06T06:11:00.004-07:00

Posted by Alexandra at Studio Alexandra

One of my goals this year is to master the knitting machine. I figured the best way to familiarize myself with all it has to offer would be by making samples. I started with fairisle because all punchcards that come with the machine are suitable for fairisle. Here's how it turned out:

Cards 1-4

Cards 7-10

Cards 11-14 (love the houndstooth - such a classic)

Cards 15-17

Cards 18-20

As you can see, I skipped cards #5-6. That's because card #5 is a large flower not suited for all-over patterning and card #6 is a row of smaller flowers that look like a late 80's/early 90's throwback. Seriously, does anybody remember the huge sweater with a large floral motif smack-dab in the middle of the front? Once was enough!

As the card numbers get higher, there is a definite progression from simple 1-2 row patterns to more complex multi-row repeat patterns. For the swatches, I knitted 40 rows of the pattern, followed by 8 rows of plain color. Starting with card #15, several required a longer swatch to show the full effect. Note: card #19 leaves very long floats that will have to be protected by lining or fusible interfacing.

The whole sampler is over 2 1/2 yds long and had to be blocked in sections. It will soon be joined by samplers of other techniques, such as tuck stitch and weaving. Not all cards are suitable for these techniques so these other samplers should be considerably shorter.

Out with the old, in with the new...

2009-01-03T15:31:00.006-07:00

Posted by Alexandra at Studio Alexandra

We're three days into the new year and I've set up one of my knitting machines. To make room for its stand, I had to move the old desk into the storage room downstairs. That desk had been a wonderful home for my old desktop computer. Really old - a little more than five years, which in computer terms is just about ancient. You see, I got a laptop last fall that has become my constant companion but I wasn't quite ready to give the old faithful desktop computer so there it sat, used only occasionally. Today, as I took it apart, bundling up the mouse and keyboard (wired - do they even sell them anymore?) and all the other bits and pieces, it felt like the end of an era. A profound sense of sadness came over me as I reflected on all the things I'd learned and done with the help of that desktop computer and those that preceded it.

It was a transition. Transitions are good. They make us reflect on things we've done, wish we had done, wish we could have done differently, and those we'd like to accomplish going forward.

First, a look back at 2008:
I finished 18 garments and three home dec/accessory projects. Not nearly as impressive as some of the really prolific sewing bloggers but quite an accomplishment for me. I also made two wadders (plenty of lessons learned from those) and countless muslin mock-ups of patterns I was considering for various projects.

Of those 18 finished garments, 10 were dresses (the two wadders were also going to be dresses if this makes a statistical difference to anyone).

The number really surprised me because I have lived in pants this last year except for a precious few warm days when I could actually wear a dress.

At the end of last year, I pushed the issue a bit after making the wool jersey dresses - I packed very lightly for the trip to Paris: just the dresses and one pair of jeans that I vowed to wear only if I was miserably cold. Well, what do you know, I ended up wearing a dress every day seeing as how I didn't have that many choices :-) and I only wore the jeans on the last day when I was miserably cold and sick to boot. My point is that if I have nothing else, I will wear dresses even in bad weather. It seems pulling on a pair of pants is just an old habit and so...

Looking forward at 2009:

I'd like to wear dresses more often - that means I'll have to sew more of them. Ideally, I would like to increase my sewing productivity to 26 completed garments (at least 20 of them dresses).
I'd like to master the knitting machine so I can knit some Missoni-like fabric for more dresses.
I'd like to start putting embellishments on my creations - it won't be anything wild, it just wouldn't be me, but little touches like piping or tone-on-tone embroidery would be nice.

So there you have it - my dreams for the new year. I am formulating a plan to accomplish them all even as I type so hopefully this time next year, I'll be reporting great success.

Happy New Year!

2009-01-03T15:24:00.003-07:00

Posted by Alexandra at Studio Alexandra

Happy New Year!

May this year be better than the one before, with a lot more sewing and fiber-related pursuits, many beautiful creations, and sewing mojos that don't leave us stranded!

Project # 18 - wool jersey dresses

2008-12-30T15:00:00.009-07:00

Posted by Alexandra at Studio Alexandra

I finally have pictures of the dresses I made back in November. Here is the original version.

It's #125 from the March 2002 Burda WOF. I thought it was a cool version of Butterick 5247, only the Burda people made it first. Here's what the line drawing looks like:

Very similar to the Butterick pattern, only BWOF adds small darts in the back and what looks like a raglan seam. It's actually a simple dolman sleeve cut straight along the raglan line - I put it back together for easier and faster sewing. And I omitted the darts.

I used a lovely dark burgundy wool jersey I bought two years ago on a trip to Portland, OR. It's very soft, not scratchy at all, and very comfortable. I have a few other colors that will likely be joining this dress in the closet.

The instructions are pretty straightforward but really, with only three pieces who needs instructions? The whole dress went together really fast. I was very impressed with how it looked compared to how long it took to make.

The only thing I didn't much care for was the cowl. I thought it was too wide and too much fabric, which made it too heavy. I envisioned something more like a loose turtleneck and adjusted the pattern to accommodate my new vision. This was the result:

I like wearing it with a colorful scarf tucked into the turtleneck but it works quite well without one, too.
This dress is made of the same wool jersey as the one above. Note that it is two inches shorter than the first one - that's because I ran out of fabric (I blame that darn huge cowl on the first dress). I think I actually like this length better. There's something about the proportions that just works better here.

That same day, I cut out and sewed another one - in a dark blue wool jersey - same exact pattern, with the adjusted neckline. When I showed these dresses to a friend, she really loved the blue one so she got to keep it. I managed to get a picture before she walked out with it though.

For comparison, here are some closeups.

The first one is the cowlneck looking like a cowlneck. Notice how wide it is, almost from shoulder point to shoulder point. I thought that was a little too much. Also notice how much fabric it took - it's 10" tall. I folded it in half, and then again in half for the second picture. you can really see the width there. In the third picture, you see the adjusted neckline - more of a turtleneck that anything else. I like it the best.

This pattern is definitely a keeper. I love wearing these dresses and want more of them. I'd like to make it in other fibers, maybe cotton or silk.

Catching up

2008-12-27T19:13:00.004-07:00

Posted by Alexandra at Studio Alexandra

I feel like I haven't done much sewing lately although I have been spending quite a bit of time on sewing-related things.
I'm working on improving the fit of this vintage dress pattern - the shoulders could use a little extra room. Even more importantly, I'm adding underarm gussets to increase the available range of motion because I plan to use this pattern for scrub dresses. I've been using Natalie Bray's More Dress Pattern Designing to help with the gussets. It's a wonderful book (as are her other two) with lovely vintage 50's-60's illustrations and a large section devoted to drafting beautifully fitting kimono and raglan sleeves. I've got the pattern all finished on paper and muslin so I've cut one out of some soft cotton sweatshirt fabric to see if any changes are needed. I'd like to make a week's worth of these dresses in white and navy to wear for work.

And... nothing

2008-12-11T14:06:00.004-07:00

Posted by Alexandra at Studio Alexandra

Well, I tried to sew. Seriously! I cut out a night shirt and started putting it together. First, I screwed up the pockets. OK, no problem, I can recut them or just do without pockets... On to the sleeves - I sewed on the cuff pieces, pressed very neatly, and admired my handiwork right up until I realized that I should have waited until the sleeve seams were sewn. Hmm, I guess I'll have to take those stitches out and try again. No problem, right? ... On to the button placket - which turned out to be the ugliest button placket I've ever made and I can't fix it because the seam allowances are just under 1/8". Aargh! (I stopped sewing at this point figuring that it just wasn't my day to sew.)
That was last week.

This week we have houseguests - great company and a lot of fun but not conducive to sewing. We did go to the Bernina store to pick up embroidery thread for some designs I plan to put on my scrub pockets but by the time we got there I figured out that the numbers on my list were not Isacord numbers. I thought they might be Sulky but the store didn't have a conversion chart so we didn't actually buy any thread. It turned out later that evening, when I checked the individual designs, that the numbers were for Madeira thread and I now have an updated list with correct Isacord numbers.

I am hoping next week is a good sewing week for me. I need some pretty dresses. Or night shirts. Or something.

Dreaming about nightgowns

2008-11-25T14:56:00.003-07:00

Posted by Alexandra at Studio Alexandra

I've been dreaming about making (and wearing) some bedroom pretties. Now, I'm not big on all the lace and long nightgowns with matching slippers, but I thought something more feminine and prettier than a T-shirt and a pair of boy shorts would be nice. As I thought about it, it dawned on me that I have no idea what real nightwear looks like because I never paid much attention to it before. So, I hopped over to Nordstrom and started looking. Interesting stuff, really, even though a lot of those things seemed designed to be taken off shortly after being put on.
Here are the winners - my inspiration.

I really like the shirts. To test the idea, I borrowed one of DH's long-sleeved shirts and have slept in it the last couple of nights. Quite comfy, actually. (I didn't think it would be, with the collar and buttons...) So, I'm thinking a combination of plain white and a black/white microcheck shirting, maybe with a narrow black lace at the cuffs and on the collar. I already washed the fabrics.

I like the dress-like camisole nightgowns, too. For those, I'll have to come up with a way to attach sleeves. Not long sleeves, mind you, just a cap sleeve, to cover my shoulders. I can't sleep when my shoulders are cold (and it would have to be 80F in the house for me to wear those spaghetti straps comfortably). Hmmm, maybe I could make a matching shrug.

Is this what people really wear to bed? And with what shoes? Because I'm imagining a pair of silver strappy sandals with marabou trim to go with these pretty confections.

Is it my imagination?

2008-11-19T16:40:00.012-07:00

Posted by Alexandra at Studio Alexandra

First of all, thank you for the birthday wishes! We enjoyed our trip to Paris and my darling photographer husband took a lot of pictures. Alas, none of them show my new dresses because they are all covered up with the long cape that kept me warm the whole time. Oh well. When our schedules allow, we'll do some dress pictures.

And now, is it my imagination or are we suddenly seeing a proliferation of softer, rounded shoulders? This is what I'm talking about:

A small selection of recent Vogue and Butterick patterns

My recent projects have this type of shoulder. The 1950's dress has a kimono sleeve, the yet-to-be-photographed wool jersey dresses have dolman sleeves. I love the way these look on me. They make my square shoulders appear much less square (if you don't agree, please do not burst my bubble).
So, have they been around all along or are there really more of them now?

Mojo or not...

2008-11-07T14:02:00.003-07:00

Posted by Alexandra at Studio Alexandra

A big "Thank You" to all who commented on my previous post. I feel better now, knowing that my sewing mojo is not the only one with a dubious work ethic.
Also, on the advice of several of you, I decided to just go ahead and sew, mojo or not. And guess what? I made three dresses in two days. Granted, they're all made of wool jersey and entirely on the serger/coverstitch combo, but really - three dresses! No pictures right now because my photographer had other husbandly duties that didn't allow enough time for photography. Oh well, next time.

It's my birthday today and in a few hours we will be off to Paris for the weekend to celebrate it (and DH's birthday, too, and our 3rd anniversary). Have a good weekend, everyone!

Dear sewing mojo...

2008-11-02T13:12:00.003-07:00

Posted by Alexandra at Studio Alexandra

I'm not complaining and I promise not to nag but there are some things I have to tell you. First, I love you very much. You help me turn out lovely garments that bring me many compliments. You give me a sense of accomplishment with every new dress or top or pair of pants. You even help me keep my figure trim and slim because I usually forget to eat when I'm sewing.

However, last week Marji asked if her readers are planning to sew a SWAP and if not, why not. Well, I thought about it and had to admit that I'm definitely not doing the SWAP because it seems that every time I make any sewing plans, you make yourself scarce for weeks, sometimes even months, which fact creates a problem because those plans usually have associated deadlines that I can't meet without you. In the human world, we call this commitment phobia.

I know you like that old saying that goes "when the going gets tough, the tough get going". But next time, could you please get going in the same direction I am?

It might be helpful if you talk to the sewing mojos of prolific seamstresses like Marji, Carolyn, Shannon, kbenco, Faye Lewis, toy, and many others in my blog roll. Their sewing mojos seem to have no problem sticking around when their humans make big sewing plans, or even when their humans' lives get busy.
To help you, I will read their blogs regularly and also page through old issues of my sewing magazines to keep inspiration flowing.

You're a great sewing mojo. Thank you for all the beautiful things you help me create. Let's create more often now, shall we?

Project # 17 - vintage 50's dress

2008-10-30T10:59:00.006-06:00

Posted by Alexandra at Studio Alexandra

My mojo is back and I have a new dress.

I finally got around to sewing the vintage Simplicity 3797 - it's been on my list since spring. It's a Simple to Make slim dress with kimono sleeves, back zipper, and waistline casing for elastic or drawstring. As all vintage patterns, this one came in one size per envelope. Mine is size 12/bust 32". At first I thought I may need to do a small FBA, but when I made a muslin mock-up, it turned out unnecessary. I really liked the way it fit and looked in white muslin.

I made only a few changes:

shortened the dress at the hem to make it work with my proportions,
used a 9" zipper at the CB instead of a 22" because the mock-up slipped over my head without a problem,
zigzagged the narrow elastic in place of the casing,
and adjusted the neckline to accept the collar from vintage Butterick 9926.

I used a black tropical wool from the stash. (It originally came from Michael's Fabrics but that was a few years ago.) The dress is not lined because the pattern didn't call for any lining and I thought I would just wear a slip. Well, I thought that right up until I went to order one online and found out that full slips are apparently out of fashion. I'll line the next one. For this black one though, I wore a thin sleeveless undershirt and a half-slip. The combination worked quite well.

I really like the simplicity of the pattern, it is fast to cut out and sew, and comfortable to wear. The bateau neckline makes my shoulders look even more square than they are, which is why I morphed the collar onto it instead.

The instructions are very thorough and before I made the mock-up, I read them several times to get an idea of how they used to do things. As always though, the instructions are a guide; I use them to familiarize myself with the pattern pieces and design details, then I figure out the best way for me.

I wore this dress to work yesterday and was getting compliments left and right so I plan to make it again and again in various fabrics. I'm thinking wovens for work - wool crepe would work well and I have several colors in my stash - and knits for home. I envision the kind of knit used in sweatshirts or perhaps ponte knit, with a drawstring in addition to (or instead of) the elastic.

Quick update

2008-10-02T08:20:00.004-06:00

Posted by Alexandra at Studio Alexandra

Not a whole lot of sewing for me lately because I've been spending a lot of time out of the house. And also, teaching a friend of mine to sew. It's fun, we're making an apron.
But it's not like I'm not doing any sewing at all.

Remember this pattern?

I sewed up a quick muslin mock-up of it and fell in love. I absolutely need this dress in at least five incarnations. I am going to change the neckline to incorporate a loose turtleneck or a fold-over collar to make it more winter-worthy.
I am working on the pattern morph and hoping to make a few of these very soon.

Project # 16 - apron

2008-09-22T08:17:00.004-06:00

Posted by Alexandra at Studio Alexandra

Here it is!

I was inspired by More Retro Aprons, with its cute styles and different prints. Initially, I traced off view B, then I changed my mind and ended up with a morph of views B and D. The top and the waistband are lined, the skirt is not. The neck strap is just that and non-adjustable, the back ties extend from the waistband.

This is the first apron I've ever made so it was a real learning experience.
The worst part was ripping out the stitching on the original denim apron - those people were really fond of bartacking. After that, it was pretty smooth sailing. I drew a rectangle around the logo and marked the center to help position the pattern piece. This was necessary because it was printed seriously off-grain.

My favorite part was the ruffle - I hemmed it with a narrow roll-hem foot (Bernina #64) and then used the newest addition to my "presser foot stable", The Monster a.k.a. the ruffler (Bernina #86) to make evenly spaced pleats. Bernina has a cool video demonstrating the use of this foot.

I used an existing denim apron for the logo part, a flowery quilting cotton for the waistband, skirt and lining, and some leftover white double-fold bias tape for flat piping around the denim (it's hard to see in the pictures, but I piped all four sides). The strap and ties came from the denim apron; I figured less work for me.

All in all, pretty easy to make, I got to use some specialty feet that usually don't get much workout , and I have a one-of-a-kind apron that no other consultant has.

Mostly comments

2008-09-20T14:06:00.002-06:00

Posted by Alexandra at Studio Alexandra

I spent this afternoon making a new apron. I needed one. Pictures tomorrow (my photographer went to see Munich today).

******************
Thank you all very much for the lovely comments. I really have missed you all.

Kathy: The machine knitting conference is open to anyone, beginners through experts. I believ the next one will also be in Cleveland, at least judging from what I heard there. Next year's dates are September 25-26 for the main event. This year, there were full-day seminars; one the day before, the other the day after the main event. You can stalk BT Yarns for more information (look for Inspiration 2009).

Charlene: I don't have my knitting machine set up right now, but you can see one here. Setting it up is on my list of things to do next week.

Dana, I didn't realize you were in Cleveland. We'll definitely get together and talk sewing next year.

Honey, I'm home!

2008-09-16T14:20:00.004-06:00

Posted by Alexandra at Studio Alexandra

Did you miss me? 'Cause I certainly missed you! See, what happened was... (here come the excuses, hehe) I went on vacation stateside with a brand-new laptop that didn't have my good old cookies. And my password reminder sheet stayed in Germany.
Sooo.... I couldn't blog. And I couldn't get into Bloglines to read everyone's blogs either. Well, now that I'm thinking about it, I suppose I could have just clicked on the ubiquitous "forgot password?" button but it didn't occur to me. Instead I took it as a sign that it's time for a short break from the internet.

I relaxed plenty, had fun, did some school assignments (not so much fun), spent the Labor Day weekend in Branson with my husband and his family (recommend Branson, do not recommend Labor Day weekend), met Marji who showed me exquisite fabrics I had only dreamed about before, went to a machine knitting conference, spent several days reminiscing with friends I hadn't seen in over a decade, and then finally flew back to Germany. In all this time, I drove well over 3,000 miles in my allt-ime favorite car, the unassuming Honda Civic (and I don't think Hertz will ever let me get a car from them again, hehe).

Now I'm back in Germany, trying to change gears quickly from wearing dresses and strappy heels in the warm sunny weather to whatever it takes to stay warm with daily highs in the upper 50's and lower 60's (it drops to 30's and lower 40's overnight). Sheesh!

As soon as I get over this jet lag, I want to get back into sewing and also some machine knitting. There was so much to see at the conference in Cleveland; I promised myself to truly master the knitting machine basics this year so that I could learn much more next year.

I'm back!

2008-08-19T15:55:00.004-06:00

Posted by Alexandra at Studio Alexandra

No posts in a while, I know. My apologies. I've been busy enjoying the last few weeks before school started again. I read fiction books, hung out with friends, cleaned out the studio, and rearranged the furniture, leaving little to no time for web-based activities, including blogging and reading blogs. I have quite a bit to catch up on.

The right skirt length

2008-07-27T15:05:00.003-06:00

Posted by Alexandra at Studio Alexandra

One of my immediate wardrobe needs is two skirts: one black, one gray. I have already picked out the fabrics and made a mock-up in muslin. Now it's decision time: which length is better? The longer length looks more grown-up, the shorter looks more like me. (And what does that say about me?)

Front view:

Side view:

Back view:

For this pattern, I used the bottom part of BWOF 06/99 #125, which is originally a dress pattern. I'd made a muslin mock-up of it for the red and aubergine dresses. For the skirt, I just ripped out the empire seam. I left the zipper long because I didn't want to waste it. I put elastic around my waist and pinned the skirt to it. Because as a dress it had a lot more ease in the waist than a skirt would, I had some extra fabric to contend with.

I could take some of the ease out at the side seams or I could put elastic in the waistband. There really wasn't a good place for front darts because they would be pointing to nothing. It took me a couple of nights to come up with a solution.

You see, I have this dream about wearing skirts that have a regular straight-cut waistband, with a belt. Unfortunately, with my curvy body, it is nigh impossible to make a skirt like that. I finally came to terms with this fact a few days ago after putting on a 1 1/4" elastic and measuring the top and bottom edges separately. There was a 2" difference!!! There's no way a straight-cut waistband is ever going to look decent on me.

Soooo.... the solution is a contoured waistband or yoke. I used the yoke from BWOF 05/07 #112, cut it out in muslin, sewed up the seams, and pulled it on over the skirt. First I adjusted the yoke for proper fit, then pinned the bottom of it to the skirt. When I took it off, I traced the yoke's bottom seam line onto the skirt, took the muslin pieces apart, and made a new paper pattern, adding 2" in length to test it out. The mock-up skirt above was cut from the new pattern.

Please help me make a decision about the length by leaving a comment.

Patching the closet holes

2008-07-21T14:50:00.002-06:00

Posted by Alexandra at Studio Alexandra

I have done some serious wardrobe planning in the last few days. Do you know how much paper and ink this takes? I have several copies of the worksheet, all with various check marks, crossed-out words, highlighted sections, etc.

I have identified three major issues:

I only have a few favorites in my main wardrobe and I keep rotating those, neglecting the rest.
I have next to nothing decent for wearing around the house. This is because I usually wear the mock-ups of new knit patterns, unfinished hems and all.
I need some decent sleepwear, of the kind I wouldn't be embarrassed to take on a trip.

My solutions:

Following Jennifer Skinner's wardrobe planning approach, I identified my favorites and created outfits around them. I'm modifying it to include the weekend so I'll have 7 bottoms. Also, I'm going for three tops each so I'll have summer, winter, and year-round choices. I will need to make some of these items.
The unfinished, often not perfectly fitting tops have left the building. The best of the non-favorite tops from #1 will move to the at-home-wear capsule. I will need to make two or three pairs of casual pants (likely denim).
I'll have to look through my stack of Burda WOF for inspiration and patterns to make some nice sleepwear.

I have identified immediate needs (as in, I don't have any of this item and need to make it ASAP) and future needs (as in, this will need to be replaced sometime in the upcoming season but until then, it will do). I am already pulling fabrics for the immediate ones.

I like the whole organizing aspect of this particular wardrobe planning approach because now I can hang the bottoms in the order I plan to wear them and put the tops in order as well. No more mix & match. Instead, it will be Monday - first bottom plus first top, Tuesday - second bottom plus second top, etc. On laundry days, it will take just a bit of planning (aka following the worksheet) to get it all set up.

I have holes in my closet!

2008-07-17T15:28:00.003-06:00

Posted by Alexandra at Studio Alexandra

Well, not the kind of holes through which something could fall. Rather, I am missing certain important garments. Let me explain...

Elizabeth (ejvc on Stitcher's Guild) posted some links to a wardrobe planning expert's articles about wardrobe capsules on yet another thread about wardrobing concepts, capsules, simplified dressing, etc. What is it about these things that we find so fascinating?

Anyway, said wardrobe expert Jennifer Skinner has an interesting, new-to-me approach to creating a functional wardrobe. You can read all about it here: Step 1 and Step 2. She even provides a handy-dandy worksheet.

I thought I'd play with it a bit and take a look at my own closet. Hmmm.... turns out I really love my black wool pants and can't live without sweaters and twinsets. On the other hand, I have no favorite skirts and not only that, but I also have no shoes to wear with skirts (well, one pair of knee-high boots, that's all). How did I not know this? Oh, and I also have multiple black twinsets. The things we learn...

I'm adapting the plan to fit my needs so instead of 6 bottoms with 2 tops each, I'm using 7 bottoms and 3 tops each. The bottoms are two pairs of black pants, one pair gray pants, one black skirt, one gray skirt, and two pairs of jeans. All except jeans are wool crepe or tropical wool. The skirts have yet to be made but I do have two non-favorites as placeholders.

I'm listing 3 tops for each bottom: one year-round, one summer, and one winter. I couldn't find 14 year-rounders, nor did I want to say goodbye to any of my cashmere (winter) sweaters or silk (summer) blouses. My colors are mostly black/gray/white/red/pale pink.

I planned out additional small capsules for homewear, sleepwear, gym/swimwear, and casual summer. (If those are not real words, I apologize.) Everything else is out of the closet and headed for storage downstairs. If I miss something, I'll bring it back and it will stay in the closet. The rest will be going to Goodwill a year from now.

It'll be interesting to see if this gives a new direction to my sewing. I will have to replace things as they wear out, of course. But I also want to incorporate a few dresses and perhaps start wearing a knit top with a boucle jacket instead of a sweater.

I should also say I'm not looking to have the smallest wardrobe possible. I just want it to be organized, with outfits that work for me every time and project a consistent image.

What a difference!

2008-07-12T07:26:00.004-06:00

Posted by Alexandra at Studio Alexandra

I ordered Pamela's Patterns' T-shirt Makeover pattern on a whim. I was ordering tracing paper from Nancy's Notions last weekend and this pattern just caught my eye. I picked it up from the post office this morning and tried it out right away.

I used a T-shirt we got for volunteering at the Special Olympics event earlier this year. The print is off-center but that was the least of this T-shirt's problems. I don't think I've ever seen a T-shirt this twisty. Then again, I don't usually wear T-shirts because they often look like this:

And I prefer that they look like this:

Quite a difference, eh?

The T-shirt Makeover pattern has two pieces: Front/Back and Sleeve. You cut off the sleeves, fold the remaining T-shirt in half along CF/CB and recut, then cut new sleeves from the old ones. The shoulder seam and neckline remain intact so all you have to do is sew in the sleeves, sew up the side/sleeve seams, and hem the bottom of the shirt. You can play with the neckline if you like. I didn't hem this one because I was just testing the pattern.
Not bad for a first try straight out of the envelope, what do you think?

Debbie Cook did something similar a while ago and posted a really cool tutorial about it, too. I remember looking at her pictures back then and thinking I should do that. Then I didn't think about it for a while and eventually I forgot all about it. And then I saw the pattern at Nancy's Notions and went for it. Now I think I'll never wear another shapeless T-shirt again.

Coat prep and musings

2008-07-11T13:25:00.004-06:00

Posted by Alexandra at Studio Alexandra

I'm all about the coat these days. I just can't get it off my mind. I want three - black (about to be cut out), gray, and red. Different lengths, too, so I'll always be ready for any occasion. A girl can dream, right?

Dreaming or not, I did wrap the lovely black coating in damp sheets this morning to preshrink it. I'll steam the heck out of it tomorrow and let it dry. On Sunday it should be ready to cut. The coat pattern is now on oak tag to help ensure its survival. I still have to make the lining pieces.

Other things that I'd like to make are a fur-trimmed cape and several cool-weather dresses. Dresses like these from the February 1956 issue of Rundschau magazine.

Or like this vintage Vogue pattern.

I think wool jersey and wool crepe would work quite well for these styles. Not that I'm looking forward to cold weather, but fall sewing is always fun.

New coat mock-up adjusted

2008-07-08T14:59:00.005-06:00

Posted by Alexandra at Studio Alexandra

Previous post: first try-on before adjustments.

Today I pinned out the extra length in the back, tapering to the front/side front seam. When I put it on, it still wasn't quite right and it dawned on me that maybe I need to shorten all three pattern pieces by the same amount. So I tried that. I pinned out 1" all the way around, just above the original bust point to bring it where it should be.

Here's how it looks with a belt, front view first:

I really like the side view:

And the back view - has something reminiscent of the 1940's about it, doesn't it?

Sometimes when I look at these pictures, I think the shoulders look a tad too wide. So I compared the muslin coat with my favorite winter coat (the only winter coat I have, which is why I'm making a new one) and it's actually about 1/2" smaller. Definitely not too wide then.

My husband doesn't like the shape of the collar. He showed me, cupping his hands around it, that it should be pointed. It's an interesting idea and reshaping it wouldn't be a big deal. What do you all think: pointed or rounded?

I am pretty happy with it so far and can already see several incarnations of it in my mind. This length as a regular coat, shortened for a car coat or topper, different colors and fabrics, some trim... Yes, I know it's summer but we had a cool rainy day that made me contemplate a wardrobe full of coats and knee-high boots.

New coat mock-up

2008-07-07T14:12:00.005-06:00

Posted by Alexandra at Studio Alexandra

After the fiasco with the Vogue pattern morph, I wasn't sure I wanted to sew another coat anytime soon. Alas, as a member of the Great Coat Sew-Along, I figured giving up was not an option. Neither was reworking those two patterns.
Burda WOF to the rescue! (I love that magazine; I'd cut my sewing teeth on it and I often wonder why I even try using other patterns when BWOF works so well.) This is BWOF 12/06 - #120.

Anyway, here is my first mock-up. Probably the last, too, because the adjustments needed are minimal. Here it is belted, which is how I prefer to wear my coats. (Red belt borrowed from the robe Babbette the dressform usually wears.)

And here it is without the belt. I'll need to raise the bust point. There may also be an FBA in the works, judging from the diagonal lines but I'll wait to evaluate that until after I adjust for erect back. I think the extra length may be contributing to the look. I'm not sure if I should shorten the sleeves a little bit or leave them as they are.

So far, I really like it. The hem hits me right below the knee, not that you can see it with the dark jeans in the pictures. I'm debating leaving it as is versus shortening to above the knee. I think I will wear this coat with skirts and knee-high boots, so shouldn't I have a bit of leg showing?

PS: Excuse the slightly dorky pictures - my paparazzo was already winding down and getting ready for bed when I pleaded with him to take some pictures. Great guy that he is, he graciously agreed. Tired guy that he was, he thought nothing of the door hardware visible in the view finder.

Ugly coat mock-up

2008-07-05T15:13:00.004-06:00

Posted by Alexandra at Studio Alexandra

I am so disappointed!
I sewed up the muslin expecting to verify the adjustments and tweak the fit. Instead, I found that the extra width around the hips doesn't do me any favors and I hate the neckline.

The back and side views aren't too horrible even though there certainly are things that need to be fixed.

But the front - oh my gosh, I've never seen anything uglier! Even ignoring the extra length pinned out above the bust, this is definitely not what I had in mind.

This is why I like to make mock-ups - I can throw this away with nary a guilty feeling. No nice fabric wasted on a hopeless project. So... in the trashcan it will go.

I have looked through my Burda WOF collection and decided to go for #120 from issue 12/06. I'd love to show you but the Burda website is having some problems with the image server and the picture may not show up.

I'll work on the mock-up tomorrow and if it turns out that this coat isn't right for me either, I'm just going to have to wear a poncho this winter.

Morphing the coat pattern

2008-06-29T13:28:00.004-06:00

Posted by Alexandra at Studio Alexandra

I had an interesting time with this pattern morph. The front wasn't too hard - aligning CF on CF, I simply traced the front edge and funnel neckline from V2988 onto the front of V8307. In this picture, you can see both the original lines and the new lines.

The back was a different story. V2988 has a cut-on funnel collar in the front but a separate collar in the back. I could not reconcile the neckline curves so instead I drew an extension similar to the one in the front.

We'll see how well it works when I make the mock-up tomorrow. I've left the original V8307 lines (shoulder and neck) in case I need them for adjustments. I think the funnel neck looks really wide on the model and I may have to take it in a little.

I am also debating leaving the fairly close shaping as is or making the coat slightly looser and belting it instead.

The planning of this project has been a lot of fun and I'd like to say "thank you" to all who have written words of advice, both here and elsewhere, about these two coat patterns. I have read the reviews and blog posts, looked at the pictures, and taken into consideration every comment. Sewing is definitely not the solitary endeavor it used to be, thanks to the wonderful online sewing community.

On vacation

2008-06-22T04:23:00.003-06:00

Posted by Alexandra at Studio Alexandra

Not much sewing action in the last week - I am on vacation, visiting my family. I have been wearing my two latest dresses. I love them, so comfy in the heat. Oh, and the heat... it's well over 80F and sunny... I am in heaven.

I do need to get my behind in gear and make a mock-up for the coat sew-along. I decided to morph the two coat patterns. I like the funnel neckline of V2988 and the shape and seam detail of V8307. I have the paper pattern halfway ready - it still needs my usual alterations. I'm hoping to get to it in the next few days. I'll be home on Wednesday, then I can try it out in muslin.

Vacations are great but they can really get in the way of sewing sometimes. I'm looking forward to getting back to my sewing studio.

Project #15 - red summer dress

2008-06-15T13:21:00.003-06:00

Posted by Alexandra at Studio Alexandra

Remember how I said that I was going to use that Burda WOF dress pattern again?

I cut the fabric on Friday, then spent part of yesterday and today to make this:

The fabric is the same linen/rayon or linen/cotton I'd used for this tunic. It's very easy to sew although I think it may wrinkle more than the other dress fabric. Oh well.

And here's how it looks with the belt from the aubergine dress. Gives it a different look, doesn't it?

Project #14 - aubergine dress - closeup

2008-06-12T05:15:00.004-06:00

Posted by Alexandra at Studio Alexandra

This is a follow-up post from Part 1.

The pictures from yesterday didn't show much detail so I took some today with better lighting. Here's how the belt looks when you can see it:

And here's a closeup:

The bias skirt is very comfortable as it moves with the body. With the fabric being a linen/cotton blend and the dress unlined, I was expecting a lot of wrinkles. To my very pleasant surprise, very few actually formed and those that did were very soft and hung out after a while. Bias rocks!

Project #14 - aubergine dress

2008-06-11T14:26:00.008-06:00

Posted by Alexandra at Studio Alexandra

I finished this dress last night. Last Saturday, I wrote about trying it out in muslin and planned to finish it on Sunday. Then I got sidetracked and the dress had to wait a couple of days.
Anyway, here it is:

The pattern is from Burda WOF 06/99 - #125. It's a simple sheath-like dress with a high-waist seam. The bodice and sleeves are cut on the straight of the grain, the skirt on the bias. A pretty scoop neckline and short sleeves finish off the summery look.

The pattern comes in sizes 36-44. I used size 36 and made appropriate adjustments on the muslin. The bias skirt was the only iffy thing because muslin is much stiffer than the fashion fabric so I knew the drape would be different.

I read through the instructions to get an idea of how they intended the dress to be sewn up. They were fairly straightforward but I changed some things:

I prefer to put the zipper in while the back is still flat, before sewing the shoulder and side seams.
Also, I didn't line the dress because I wanted it to be the kind of dress I could wear when it's 90F and feel comfortable. (Not that I'm expecting heat like that here in Germany - we're supposed to have a high of 58F, yes, fifty-eight, tomorrow.)
No lining meant I had to come up with an alternate way to finish the neckline. I used a bias strip pressed to the inside (not binding).
I added a belt because when I was working with muslin #1, I used the belt from my robe to cinch it in to see if it truly was worth fixing. It was and I decided to make a matching belt because I liked the look.
The original pattern shows the sleeves made of chiffon. I used the same fabric as the rest of the dress.

The fabric is a linen/cotton blend that I'd bought when we were still in Florida. Oh, the good old days of being able to run a mile or so down the road to my favorite fabric store/Bernina dealer. It was very easy to work with it - it sews up and presses like a dream. I was a bit scared of the bias because it is really stretchy, being a somewhat loose weave. I had actually spent most of Sunday researching ways to ensure success with bias sewing. It turned out I didn't need to worry. I quickly found a way to control the stretch with my fingers and it went very smoothly.

This pattern is new to me but it just became a TNT and I will be making and wearing more of these little dresses. I already have a couple of fabrics in mind.
Here's how I wore it today - with a linen shawl I knitted two or three years ago.

The belt is hard to see in the pictures because it's made in the same fabric as the rest of the dress. I positioned the belt to cover the seam. I wanted a bow in the front but I just couldn't make a bow I liked. I made a few "too-bows" (too floppy, too stiff, too big, too small, too wide...) then I gave it up. I decided instead of putting a button or hook/eye closure on the belt, I'll make it just a little bit longer and tie it in the front. The ends look like a bow when it's all done.

Closeup pictures and more thoughts about the bias are in Part 2.

That vintage dress!

2008-06-08T11:45:00.007-06:00

Posted by Alexandra at Studio Alexandra

Just last week, I showed you this lovely pattern that I ordered from LanetzLiving. I love that pink dress.

And last night, as I was reading the new issue of InStyle magazine, I came across this:

This beauty can be had for a mere $525 from stores that sell Phillip Lim fashions. The differences are minimal (raglan sleeve and French darts in the PL dress vs. cut-on sleeve and bust darts in the Simplicity pattern), the silhouette is the same. Now I'm looking forward to trying that pattern even more. I am definitely making it.

Muslin, muslin

2008-06-07T16:12:00.005-06:00

Posted by Alexandra at Studio Alexandra

Lindsay T muses about sewing muslin mock-ups this week. In her poll, Lindsay asks "When do you take the time to make a muslin?" My answer is for each new pattern. It saves me a lot of frustration.

I was actually thinking about it as I was working on a dress these last couple of days. You see, I made not one, but two mock-ups in muslin before cutting into the fashion fabric. I'm using a Burda WOF pattern (06/99 - #125) - a very summery sheath-style dress with short sleeves, scoop neckline and bias-cut skirt (the bodice is on the straight grain). After I traced it out, I compared it to my TNT sheath pattern. Several spots required immediate attention - square shoulders, short torso, and FBA. These are my standard alterations for most patterns. A few others weren't quite so clear. At least, I didn't know what to do about them. So I made muslin mock-up #1.

#1 looked great in the back but horribly loose in the front. I pinned out the excess ease, took off the dress, and transferred the adjustments to the paper pattern. Then I cut out muslin mock-up #2.

I know many people who think one is plenty, if not too many. In my opinion, it depends. For simple things, like taking in or letting out the side seams, sure. But if there are any wedge adjustments, and especially those that cross darts, I make a second mock-up. This will either confirm that my pattern is now correct and I can use the muslin pieces as a pattern, or it will reveal issues that were not apparent in the first mock-up because they were hidden or overshadowed by the already corrected problem.

#2 looked really good; the only thing that had to be fixed was the neckline width so my bra straps wouldn't show. After adjusting the paper pattern, I cut it out in the fashion fabric. I had time to sew all the darts but the rest of the sewing will have to wait until tomorrow. I have really high hopes for this pattern to become a TNT. It looks great even in muslin, imagine how it will look in a pretty fabric.

Overall, I consider sewing mock-ups part of the planning stage. They are relatively fast to sew and help ensure a good outcome. With the mileage I usually get out of my TNTs, a few hours of mock-up sewing are a small investment with a big payoff.

From the mailbag

2008-06-04T13:34:00.005-06:00

Posted by Alexandra at Studio Alexandra

My coat patterns have arrived! All three coat/jacket patterns I'm considering for the coat sew-along are now in my possession and I am really looking forward to reading through the instructions tonight so that I can make an informed choice. It'll be hard because I really like them all.

Speaking of patterns, I have also been visiting LanetzLiving regularly lately and today I found some real treasures. (I don't mind sharing because they're already on their way to my mailbox.)
This one caught my eye first. There's something so simple about that pink dress and yet so elegant. I love the sleeve band detail.

Next came this blouse pattern - check out the neckline treatment on View A. I am definitely going to make this one sometime soon.

And last but not least, this lovely dress that at first sight looks so prim and proper, and it's only when you look closely that you notice the details: pretty round back yoke, gathered bloused back, convertible collar, wide cuffs with two buttons...

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Comments

Thank you all very much for your compliments on the brown knit twinset.
Mardel - there is no time like the present. I'll be looking for pictures of your twinset on your blog.
Nancy W. and kbenco - the brown knit came from Nancy's Notions. It's a double knit, 67% polyester, 30% rayon, 3% spandex. It feels like the softest cotton, very substantial, and has just the right amount of stretch. I actually don't buy knits very much, I just really lucked out on that one (so then I bought it in three more colors).
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And that's all for tonight. I'm off to read the coat instructions.

Project #13 - brown twinset

2008-05-30T10:12:00.004-06:00

Posted by Alexandra at Studio Alexandra

For several years now I've been entertaining the idea of making my own twinsets instead of buying them. I even had the perfect pattern - Kwik Sew 2759. Last weekend I finally decided to try it out.

I finished it last night and wore it to the post office today. It's nice and comfortable, made of the same double knit I'd used for the brown dress.

Not a bad fit for pretty much straight out of the envelope. I used size S and the only pattern alteration I made was for square shoulders. It was very easy to sew following the instructions. I used the serger for the main seams and a simple zig-zag for the cardigan front/neckline binding and all hems. I have to say, the zig-zag finish is much prettier than I'd thought it would be.

Both pieces will need several alterations in order to become a TNT: erect back and shortening the distance from shoulder to bust. I also have some wrinkles indicating a need for a bust cup alteration but there is plenty of fabric to go around me so may have to start with size XS and then the FBA will take care of the circumference difference. Starting with a smaller size should also fix the shoulder length that looks just a tad too long in these pictures.

All in all, this is a great pattern with excellent instructions and I plan to perfect the fit so that it can join my lineup of TNT patterns.

Coats and Jackets

2008-05-26T14:38:00.007-06:00

Posted by Alexandra at Studio Alexandra

Today, I joined The Great Coat Sew-Along. Thank you, Marji. The idea behind it is to get people motivated and encouraged to learn and sew, and finish their coat (or two or three, as some of the more ambitious participants plan) in time to wear it this fall.

I have two fabrics I am considering for the coat project. One is a really pretty, fuzzy, black coating that is either all wool or a wool/cashmere blend. (I don't remember. It came from a friend of mine when we swapped fabrics after coming to terms with colors we could wear and those we couldn't.)
The other is a lighter weight dark gray wool herringbone. It would likely need Thinsulate or something similar to make it warm enough for these German winters.

For patterns, I'm considering Vogue 2988...

...and Vogue 8307, the short version.

I think I'd want a belt with both of those, even though the second one looks like it has enough waist shaping. I just really like the look of belted coats.

I am going to look for reviews of V2988. For V8307, I don't have to look far - Tany made it up earlier this year and posted extensively about it.

My DMIL, wonderful soul that she is, made a special trip to JoAnn's to pick up these patterns for me. Thank you, Darlene. While I'm waiting for them to arrive, I'll gather all the necessary materials and notions, as per Marji's sewing timeline.
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While I'm on the subject of patterns, I also picked out this one, Vogue 8480, to use with the raincoating fabrics I got from Michael's Fabrics. I have the red and the black. I really like the lines of this pattern and the only thing it needs is a hood. I may draft one or morph one from another pattern onto this one. And yes, I think this jacket too would benefit from a belt.

More on dyeing and stashing

2008-05-26T07:46:00.005-06:00

Posted by Alexandra at Studio Alexandra

Dyeing
For those of you who have been wanting to try it, I'll say "what are you waiting for?" It's fun, it's a good exercise (you have to stir frequently), and it gives your clothes a new lease on life.

Keely wanted to know if I'd dyed the clothes on the stove top or in the microwave. I used the stove top method because I wanted to be able to stir the garments in the dye bath. I wasn't sure whether the microwave method would result in even color and I didn't want to find out the hard way.

Lindsay T wanted to know whether the garments hold the color through washing. I haven't washed these enough yet, obviously, but when I used Rit dyes before I didn't have any problems with the color running or fading. Or rubbing off on my skin, which was my original worry before I tried it.

Fabric stash
Thank you very much for your kind comments about my stash organization. I find an organized sewing area inspiring. Messy is usually stressful to me.

Some of you seem to think that my stash is small. To me it sometimes seems huge. I think I could make a new garment every week and still have fabric left over after a year. That's a definition of a big stash in my book.

I love shopping my stash. It is such a nice feeling when I can come up with an idea, look in the fabric closet, pull out just the right piece, and sew it all up. I don't much care to go online, look for the fabric I have in mind, and then wait a week or two until it gets here. By then, the momentum is gone and I'm off thinking about something else (yes, I know, short attention span). Stash is a necessity for people like me who live far away from any well-stocked fabric store.

Project #12 - black cotton skirt

2008-05-26T07:14:00.002-06:00

Posted by Alexandra at Studio Alexandra

Pictures, finally. I've been promising them for a while, I know. So here they are.

I made this skirt using the same cotton twill that I'd used for the long pants and the capris. The pattern is printed out from PMB and I adjusted it to my liking, which resulted in some oddly shaped pieces. I like how it's pegged at the hem as opposed to straight down from the hips.

I debated the virtues of a slit in the back versus a vent. In the end, I decided to go with a slit. Now, I have to say that I'm used to sewing wool. Wool with all its drapiness and beauty. This cotton is completely different and I think the slit would benefit from some weights. I determined this by temporarily attaching a quarter on each side at the hem. It hung very nicely, straight down. I took them off though because they'll be impractical for the wash-and-dry nature of this skirt. Just something to remember next time I work with cotton.

Notice my hair in these pictures - it's 3" long. I know most women think that 3" qualifies as short hair but I kept my hair at about 1/2"-1" length for years and I'm telling you, 3" is long. I don't know what to do with it. It's not long enough to look long and not short enough to look like it's short on purpose. I'm going to have to get some hats.

Color options

2008-05-21T09:24:00.006-06:00

Posted by Alexandra at Studio Alexandra

Yesterday I cooked my clothes. Literally.
It was quite an interesting experience, actually.

This is the result:

It all started a few weeks ago with the seasonal closet clean-out when I realized I had some clothes I liked in a color I didn't like. Namely, off-white. Or creamy white. Or winter white. Call it what you want, it's a color that makes me look ill when I wear it and I know it (so who knows what I was thinking buying those tops?).

First I took the lovely twinset and some Dylon fabric dye in Poppy Red. The instructions were easy to follow, it went fast, and... let's just say that the Dylon people and I have different ideas when it comes to the color of poppies. I think bright red. They think bright orange.

I love bright orange.
I can't wear bright orange. Or any other orange unless I'm looking for sympathy of the "you don't look well" kind.

Rit dye to the rescue. Did you know they have a color mixing chart? (For Cherry Red mix Scarlet and Fuchsia.)

I didn't bother removing the orange color from the twinset so it ended up a pretty bright red. The shirt and the sweater are darker and in regular light the fuchsia influence is definitely visible.

I love them all.
It feels like I just got new clothes. And in a way, I did.

Got fabric?

2008-05-14T15:19:00.002-06:00

Posted by Alexandra at Studio Alexandra

No skirt pictures today - we didn't have time. This morning we drove to Mannheim for some serious IKEA shopping. We needed a slipcover for the winter white couch that developed a coffee stain courtesy of my husband. And we wanted a matching footstool. But I digress.

I got a few extra shelves for my stash closet and 16 of those white boxes you can see in the picture below (top shelf). I had to pull out all of my fabrics and move the pegs that hold the shelves so that I could fit in the new ones. This resulted in a major stash reorganization. Black, gray, and red fabrics on one side, all other colors on the other.

Wow! I didn't realize I had that much black and gray fabric. Good to know though. I'll need to remember that next time I am tempted by some lovely charcoal wool/silk from my favorite supplier.

I have two plastic drawer bins that I'm going to move into the white boxes as I use up the fabric and free up space in the stash closet. I'd really like to have no more plastic drawers by the end of this calendar year. Wish me luck! (And time to sew!)

Thanks

2008-05-13T15:53:00.004-06:00

Posted by Alexandra at Studio Alexandra

Thank you everyone for your kind compliments on my recent creations. They really warm my heart. And they really help keep the mojo around.
Also, thank you to all of you who have written with words of courage and/or commiseration after my latest fiasco. It's good to know these things happen to other people, too.

Marji, I am sorely tempted by the Sapporo iron. I'm trying to figure out how to handle the water reservoir. (We're not allowed to use screws in military housing, only nails.) Hmmm... I wonder if the sprinklers in the ceiling are sturdy enough to hold it up.

Now an update on the skirt: I cut out new back yokes and got back to sewing. It is almost finished; I only have some hand-sewing left to do. I am hoping to have pictures to post tomorrow.

Here's my sign

2008-05-10T14:15:00.008-06:00

Posted by Alexandra at Studio Alexandra

I don't feel like the brightest bulb on the string today. This afternoon, as I was working on the black twill skirt, the right back yoke just would not line up with the main right back piece. I had too much ease in the yoke. So I ripped it out and went for a stroll around the base with DH. Fresh air and sunshine do wonders for the soul, right?

I get back to the studio, chalk the seam lines so I can measure them - sure enough, the yoke is 3/8" longer. WTF? All I did was take the adjusted PMB skirt pattern, drew a yoke, cut apart, and added seam allowances. How could it possibly be longer? Hmm.. okay, whatever, I'll just whack off the extra 3/8" at CB and call it good. Pin, sew, looks pretty good. But just for the kicks, I pull out the pattern and put the back yoke pattern piece on top of the corresponding fabric piece. Ha! Corresponding my foot! The curve is all wrong! The pieces don't line up at all!

At this point, I'm thinking, "I must be off my rocker." Then I recall this foggy memory of fusing the interfacing to the back yokes and seeing the same misalignment. I'd chalked it up to the squirmy nature of the interfacing and just recut the pieces to fit the yoke. And then I had this bright idea: I put the front yoke pattern piece on top of the back yoke fabric piece... and guess what... they lined up perfectly! Good !@#$%^& grief! I had been trying to sew a front yoke to the back main piece - no wonder the seam lines didn't match!

So, back to the cutting table to cut out new back yoke pieces. As I was moving the pressing board off the table, the corner of it caught the ailing iron (the shot of steam button stopped working a few weeks ago) and sent it flying, tip-down, to the floor. Slow motion. Thud! Well, any hopes I might have had about saving the lovely Rowenta and maybe even repairing its steam button evaporated the moment I picked it up - all of the water was gushing (gushing!!!) out of its heel.

What a day!