Sewing, not posting

Sorry, I've been sewing instead of writing about it. I have two partially completed Avalon jackets on the table for Willa and I'm trying to clear them from my list so I can get cracking on Primrose's birthday dress and her Halloween costume. There was no good tiger striped fleece to be had in the city so she has fallen back on being a puppy for Halloween. We'll see how it goes. I would like the costume to be actual clothing so it gets more than just one use. I think I'm going to make an Imke hoody with floppy puppy ears on it and a pair of leggings. I'm not sure what I'm going to do about a tail. Maybe detachable? Or add one to the Imke but not stuff it?

So many choices to make!

Sewing along

I finally cut out the muslin of my suit. I hope to start stitching soon. I am mostly done with the leggings for Willa. I haven't put the elastic in yet. I am working a couple of tea cosies, and I just finished a pad for a friends bicycle seat. I hope it's nice and cushy for them.

Like a Dream!

Well, I finally wrestled the bottom panel off of my new Kenmore and oiled her up. She runs like a dream! I just realized as I'm typing this that I forgot to look at the belts and see what shape they're in! Silly me.

I stitched up one of my new patterns, the Vijona shirt, for Primrose and I love the pattern. It was just my color choices that blew. However, I am sure that next time my choices will be better and we will all get to view the end product. I spent most of the weekend cutting.....and cutting, and cutting and cutting. I have two jackets, a skirt, a pair of leggings and a shirt waiting to be sewn and I still haven't cut into the muslin for my new suit! I did manage to get rid of three big chunks from my stash of knit fabrics though.

I also stopped by JoAnn's, just to pick up some machine oil for the Kenmore. Perfectly innocent. Unfortunately there were all these 50% off signs all over the place. I ended up poorer, not especially wiser, but with some very tasty fabric (including a couple of chunks of knit fabric- my logic is not like your earth logic). I'm also continually plagued with the question "did I buy enough of it?" Generally the answer is no.

Studio Tantrum

I have become completely enamored the patterns at Studio Tantrum. I now have the Redondo Swirl Skirt and just ordered the Venice and the Hermosa Wave shirt. They're just so gorgeous. I think that the question now is, do I really order them for my children, or do I want to wear them myself? Perhaps I need more swirly skirts in my closet.

Insa for Primrose

I don't tend to make skirts for Primrose. She's steadier on her feet than she used to be though, so I figured, why not. I put this on her to check the elastic and she started spinning around and around. She really likes it. It's made of corduroy, all new purchases. I may make her a matching jacket. This was my first project on the new Kenmore. I totally bungled the 1st top skirt. I decided to put ribbons and elastic on it and it looked horrid. The fabric also kept crawling out from under the presser foot. The second draft of the top skirt I increased the presser foot pressure and left off the ribbons and vertical elastic. Much better all around.

A lovely 40s suit

I've just about finished tracing out the pattern for view #2. I have a lovely striped bedsheet picked out for the muslin. Wish me luck!

Almost last rummage sale of the season!

Saturday, October 16 from 9-5.

Lake City Community Center

12531 28th Avenue NE, 98125

My new baby

It's a Kenmore 158.1765180

It does many more stitches than my Singer does and I'm quite excited to learn all about them. The 158 series does have a super high shank though, which means that attachments are much more expensive. Luckily, I can buy and adapter which will make it possible to use low-shank attachments. That's good, because a ruffler for this baby costs about $65, and that is just too much to pay.

Cute isn't it?

Elizabethan Avalon Jacket

This jacket turned out really well. I love the button loops with the lacing on the back. I stitched down both sides of the ribbon on the sleeves and threaded the elastic through them. I am concerned that the velvet ribbon will fray and tear. I had planned to fully line the jacket, but I didn't think that it would be possible with the elastic on the sleeves so I lined the bodice instead. Now I have to make a matching skirt!

Halloween!

Well, Willa wants to be a ballerina. Boring for me but fine. I don't want to invest too much money or time in it though. She does insist that to be a proper ballerina the main thing that one needs is a ballerina hat.

According to Willa, this is a ballerina hat.

Any ideas on how to make one?

Feeding the addiction

I've just subscribed to Burdastyle magazine--because I need more projects? Not really. But I need a sewing fix on a regular basis and books and fabric and blogs (and actual sewing of course) aren't enough. I want more and more. I just received my first copy of Ottobre magazine. There's a lovely pair of tweed toddler pants that I think I'll make up, and there's a fleece coat that is darling! (Although I do seem to react strongly to getting fake fur in my eyes. I may need to wear safety glasses and do the cutting outside.) However, do my children really need more clothes? Probably not, even if they're really, really cute. I also subscribed to Ottobre's women's magazine but on first glance I don't see anything that I want to make. Isn't that sad. Burda will probably be better, and if I ever get a dress form I'll probably be much more inclined to actually make clothes for myself.

Anyway, today I'm plugging away on the Avalon jacket. The burgundy side has been assembled and top-stitched, and I made some button-loops from the burgundy corduroy to replace the ribbon loops for lacing the back. I'm just placing the ribbons for the sleeves and the front and back trim. I'm considering adding a small round collar and looking into other trim options (maybe a fabric rose?) I have to keep reminding myself of the fact that the jacket is reversible. I've already had to talk myself out of adding some beading --it would just be uncomfortable when it was on the inside.

Sewing along

I am working on the Willa version of the Avalon jacket. I just picked up the ribbon for it today and I'm quite excited about it. It will be much more embellished than Primrose's. I'm including lacing on the back and lots of ribbon.

I also just ordered a new Farbenmix pattern, Willemientje, and I'm looking forward to making it. I think I may make it up as a Solstice gift for Willa. She will love it -big swirly skirts get two thumbs up from Wil. I also picked up some ribbon while I was getting the pattern. It was just sitting there --covered with hedgehogs and tiny houses!

Flowered corduroy Avalon Jacket

I really love this jacket. It turned out great and wasn't very difficult at all. I can tell that I'm getting better at sewing because I didn't find this jacket very challenging and didn't need to refer to the instructions more than twice. I did screw up a few times though. The worst problem is the front center corner of the green side of the jacket, right at the bottom. After sewing almost the entire jacket together I noticed that I had cut out the front panel with a curved chunk missing from the bottom--oops. Rather than cutting a new panel and unpicking and re-stitching, I just sewed on a scrap of green and kept going. I think that it's not very noticeable. The jacket is all new materials. It's fully reversible and I used snaps because I am still having trouble with my buttonhole function on my sewing machine. I'll try to get a picture of Primrose wearing the jacket. My next project is an Avalon jacket for Willa and I'm going to sew some loops onto the back for some ribbon lacing which will make Willa beside herself with joy.