StudioKat Boho Baguette pattern Pieces!

WOW!

That's all I can say!

Here are all the traced pieces to the Boho Baguette bag from StudioKat.




Some pieces are for lining only, some for exterior only and some for fusiables. There is going to be a lot of cutting going on here! lol I did read through the instructions though, and the pattern seems simple enough if you can get through the cutting part. I'll be starting on this tonight.

On a side note: Anyone who use Blogger have any issues uploading pics to the blogger site? I can't upload any. I have to use Photobucket and then link them to Blogger.

Repairing a boat cover

So, my brother in law asked me late LAST summer if I could fix his boat cover. Of course, I said yes. Originally, the plan was for me to bring my sewing machine outside and fix it out on the back porch. Needless to say, about a week after he dropped off the cover, it got cold and there was no way I was going to sit outside and freeze my ass off repairing this cover. So, there it sat until it got warm last weekend.

Initially, I tried looking for information on the web as to how to go about repairing a boat cover, since I really had no idea where to start. I found there wasn't a whole lot of information out there, and that's way i'm going to document it a bit here.


First, materials.

For fabric, I used 500 deiner Cordura that I purchased from
SeattleFabrics.com I bought 1 1/4 yard, but I didn't even come close to needing that much.

I used a size 14 Schmetz microtex needle.

Just regular poly/cotton thread.

I used a roller foot, but I don't think that's really necessary.

I'm going to reccomend that my BIL spray some waterproffing spray to finish the seams.




I would like to point out a few helpful tips to any one who is thinking of taking on a project like this:

-Be aware of where the patch job is. If it's around the edge or along an area that has access to the tear, you'll be ok. YOU ARE NOT GOING TO TO BE ABLE TO FIT ALL THIS BOAT COVER ON THE BED OF YOUR MACHINE!! In other words, if there is a rip in the center of the cover, you'll probably need the services of a professional.

-You really can't move the boat cover while you're sewing. It's heavy and akward. You are much better off moving your machine as much as you can.

-Have plenty off needles ready. You're going to need them.

-Have plently of space available (see pic above).

This particular boat cover had two tears in it. Both tears needed to be patched. First, I had to remove the binding from the opening for the cleat. This was the easy part.

Patching was pretty easy too. I zig-zaged over the rip to close it a bit. Then I just cut two squares to fit over the rip. I sandwiched the boat cover between the two squares and then sewed around the rip.



Once that was done, then it was time to put the binding back on. What a pain in the ass! I cut strips 2 1/2 in wide. I had to narrow them a bit to about 2 inches, but that's a good place to start. Also, while I call these strips bias, they're not really, and I didn't cut them on the bias. I wasn't sure if it would matter with coated nylon.

As I said before, the boat cover doesn't easly move. The best you can do is sew a few inches and move your machine. OR you can sew a few inches and completely turn the boat cover over. This takes a bit of strength. Don't give this job to your grandma! lol



This took me about 4 hours total to do. And the finished result looks a bit crappy because the new nylon doesn't match the worn and faded boat cover. When I told my BIL this, he said he didn't care how it looks, he needed it to be functional. So, he got functional.

Anyone who has a bit of patience and a good mechnical machine could probably do this. It's not a easy job though.

New patterns

When i'm not in the mood to sew much, I try to get inspired by buying stuff. After reading the posts on PatternReview and plenty of blogs, I don't think i'm alone.

First up is Jalie 2908. Womens stretch jeans. Since i'm pregnant, i don't think i'll be making these soon, but just by looking at the reviews, they look really cute.

Next up is Kwik Sew 3675 Once again, since i'm pregnant, I have no real use for this pattern right now. But it looks really cute. Hopefully i'll get it made up before the new baby is 9 years old.

Last but not least is Jalie 2907. Yep, the baby diapers. How cute are these things? lol Hubby wasn't too fond of the idea of reusable diapers, but too bad! They're better for the enviornment, cheaper AND better for baby.

I'm sure i'll use my fair share of disposables, but I hope these are going to be a great alternative.

My first Quilt

I just finished my first quilt. I have to say that i'm pretty disappointed.

I have had the top done and pinned to the batting and backing for quite a while now. But after that, the unfinished quilt has pretty much just sat around doing nothing for a year or so. Here is the completed quilt, complete with cat who immediately sat on top of the quilt when I laid it on the floor to take a picture.





No, you're not seeing things. The quilt really is that distorted.

I KNOW what I did wrong. However, by the time I figured it out, it was way to late to fix it. Apparently, you have to tack the quilt together somehow to keep the layers from shifting. *rolls eyes* Initially, I just basted around the edges of the quilt, and then tried to FM quilt the top. For those of you who quilt, you can stop laughing at my ignorance now. Once I realized that the basting wasn't holding, I decided to just stitch around the edges of the quilt. Good idea, because that was extra fun ripping out those tiny stitches later.

So, in a moment of clarity, I decided to pull out all those stitches and just free-motion quilt the top with NO basting whatsoever! YAY!


See all that puckering? Yep, that's what happens when you don't tack the quilt layers together. At this point I was just getting really pissed and just wanted this thing to be done. So I FMQed pretty much just around the edges and slapped a binding on it, and not it's done. I think I can just toss it on a wooden rocking chair I have hiding in another room, and no one but me will know the difference.

I might try quilting again, and if I do, I will certainly know to handle things differently when it comes to the quilting part.

On a side note: Yes, I realize that I left "quilting' off as an option in the poll. I'm sorry. Thanks to all one of you who pointed that out! lol So, for anyone who is reading this, if there was a 'quilting' option in the poll, it would have at least one vote! :)

Fabric.Com and StudioKat

I have to say that i'm impressed! Ordered fabric from Fabric.com on Sunday, and it showed up at my door this afternoon (Thursday).





I bought two cuts of sweater knits (just when it's finally warm enough in Michigan to wear shorts - almost). 4 yards of red poplin, 2.5 yards of silk shirting for DH and a black and white polka dot jersey. I'm not too impressed with the jersey, but that's ok, I wasn't expecting much. I also bought three cones of serger thread, but we all know that thread is NOT exciting! Overall, I am very happy with my order and their service. I will be ordering from them again. I'm trying to get away from JoAnns, and expierences like this just might do it.

Speaking of JoAnns...

I just ordered the Boho Baguette purse pattern from StudioKat patterns. I can't wait for it to get here! I was in JoAnns today to get a pattern and I bought two cuts of fabric for the bag. I just love purple!

McCalls 5612

Here is the current project. It's a top pattern for my 4 year old DD. The finished garment is kind of making me go 'hmmmm'. The top, for the most part looks really cute, except for one major drawback: The gathering in the front makes my kid look like she has boobs. Uh, she's 4. As far as I can tell, I didn't actaully do anyting wrong to cause this. I also don't know how to fix it. The best I could do is perhaps try and take it in a bit at the center front seam, but since the neck opening has been finished with a binding, it's unlikely that will happen anytime soon. I'll probably just have to toss it and start over paying closer attention to the CF seam.

Oh, and I would also like to point out that this pattern uses the wonderful elastic gadge pattern piece. (See bitchy post a few posts down). What a bunch of crap!

Some good news is that I got my embroidery machine back a few days ago! YAY! I did a quick stitchout of a design that I had problems with before I took the machine in. It did stitch out a lot better, but I wouldn't say it was perfect. I have the weekend off, I think I may give it a few good tests, and see how things stich out. What I really want to do is trade it in for a new model. How cool would that be?

Oh Geez! What have I done?

It's mid April. As of yesterday, i've added about 10 yards of fabric to the stash this year. So far so good with the stash.

So much for that! I added 27.25 yards today thanks to Fabric.com and JoAnns. I guess I can't really blame JA's and Fabric.com, but i'm going to anyway.

Most of the fabric was for projects that I actually have planned, so perhaps it will get used instead of sitting in my stash for 30 years. *sigh* perhaps. I bought 5.5 yards of fleece to make a jacket for DH and his friend. They do a motorcycle bike trip every year, and he likes something embroidered and unique for the trip. I make one for both him and his friend. Two of the most manly guys I know who for some strange reason don't mind looking like twins when it comes to whatever it is I make. Go figure.

I bought about 5 yards of Tutti-Fruity fabrics from JA's. I use that to make dress for DD. While I don't actually have plans to make her anything right this minute. I'm not too worried about it, that stuff will get used.

I bought 2.5 yards of novelty US Navy print for a shirt for DH. This won't be a shirt he can go to work in, but it will be nice on BBQ days.

I bought a yard of quilting cotton for this Studio Kat purse pattern. Studio Kat has awesome patterns, BTW. (NAYY and all)

From Fabric.com I bought:
4 yards of poplin, 2.5 of black and white polka dot knit that i'm sure will sit in the stash for forever. 5 yards of sweater knits that I just couldn't pass up and some silk shirting for DH. The shirting is the ONLY reason I was really actually looking for fabric in the first place, and look at where it got me! Let also not forget that I added 3 cones of Talon brand serger thread to the order. Bah!

Oh well, like I said, I actaully have something planned for these fabrics, so hopefully they won't sit for too long. We'll see.

Butterick 5216 and a few random gripes.

My current project is Butterick 5216. I read a review on PR about how this would make a great maternity top. That reviewer wasn't lying, because so far, it fit's me well, and i'm 6 months pregnant. I really doubt that i'll be making this up again after I have the baby. The one i'm currently working on is a muslin, so i'll spare you the weird pictures. Although, if you are thinking of making this top, you have to wear a cami underneath. I don't care how uninhibited you are, you'll be showing boobs in this one!

Now for a few random gripes:

1) Pattern pieces for elastic! I'm getting really tired of this. The last 5 patterns i've made up has required elastic, and with the exception of the two Burda patterns, they all have pattern pieces for elastic. It's pissing me off! It would be a lot easier just to say in the directions: "Cut a 30 inch piece of elastic". Why can't pattern companies do this!? Instead I have to fish around for a stupid pattern piece that i've misplaced. Nice.

2) The lack of feedback. Seriously, I know I don't have the best of the most informative blog on the planet, but could you please leave feedback? Someone? Anyone? I'm starting to feel a bit lonely here. And leave my spelling errors out of it, Thanks!

Ok, I feel better now! Off to watch I Love Money and then go to bed.

Doing the right thing.

As some of you may already know, i'm pregnant. And becuase I have added a whole HALF cup size to my boobs, i'm all ready to show the still-tiny little things off to the public with low cut tops. Wee!

This weeks experiment is
Burda 8043. My plan was to make a muslin, just to see how it fit. And then lenghten the pattern into a dress. Heh! Clearly I did something wrong because the back panel was so loose that I was calling it my 'baby sling'. It was just hanging there, and there was no way for me to fix it. Bummer. I think I made the mistake of using an interlock though when the pattern calls for a woven (I think, the pattern envelope is not really clear). So, can you believe I went and did the right thing? Yep, I went ahead and threw the wadder out! Right into the trash can. No second looks. No goodbyes. I don't think I have ever don't that before. How liberating!

I do have to admit though, this pattern was really easy, so I think i'm going to give it a second try in a woven and see what comes of it.

Update on my embroidery machine.

In the previous post, I mentioned that I have a Janome MemoryCraft 300. Ever since I bought it (used, about 15 months ago) I have had nothing but problems with it. Designs stitch out ok, but lettering has always been terrible. I even went so far as to have a wonderful PR member (you know who you are!) stitch out something of mine on her machine. The design and lettering stitched out fine on her machine, so I took the machine to the dealer to have it serviced. The dealer said they 'fixed' the tension and it works fine. So at this point, I convinced myself that it was my hooping technique that has prevented me from getting a good stitchout.

On Wednesday, I had a appointment with a lady at the dealer for her to help me learn to hoop. Needless to say, she called in sick, but I was pretty adament with the dealer that I needed help. So, they told me to come in at my scheduled appointment time anyway, and that someone should be able to help me then.

I get to the dealer, and the person who was going to help me is the guy who does the repairs. I explain to him what's been going on and show him a few samples of my crappy lettering. He starts poking around and realizes something might be wrong. In the meantime, I head down the street to take my car in for a fuel filter and tire rotation. Only to get a call from them 30 minutes later telling me I need brakes and rotors and that they can get them on my truck for under $500. I told him he can just put my tires back on the truck -- whole other rant. Sorry to go off on a tanget!

Anyway, I get back to the dealer and I sit around there for about an hour. The dealer decided that he's going to have to keep it and talk to Janome about it. I came home and thought about that for a while. You know, the whole point of this story is that I am so disappointed in this machine that it's not even funny. When I bought it, I was so excited, and I had so many plans, only for them to not work out. A few hours after I got home, I called the dealer back and asked what kind of price I could get for a MC350 with the trade in. He was like "Oh, we'll get this machine working, blah, blah, blah..." He just doesn't want to take this one back, because it's a piece of shit.

Oh well, we'll see how this plays out. Sorry for being such a whineass, but this just bugs me. I'll stop ranting now.

Simplicity 2587

ARGH! So, I have been searching high and low for a simple pattern like this. I have even went so far as to buy a copy of Burda Easy Fashion because they had somehting simular. No sooner than I finally get the BURDA EF traced, Simplicity goes ahead and comes out with this!

Simplicity goes on sale tomorrow at JoAnns, so i'll be buying two. One to slice and dice to fit my preggo body, and the other to wear after baby gets here.

Also, today, after about 15 months of owning a Janome MemoryCraft 300, I am finally going to the dealer to get some help on how to use it! YAY ME! LOL Well, i'm not really haveing a problem using it. I have a problem hooping. I can't figure out for the life of me what i'm doing wrong. But it seems when I try and embroider something, the left half turns out fine, but the right half looks bad. While this could be a machine issue, i'm really hoping that it's me that's making a mistake. So, needless to say, i'll be at the Janome dealer today at 1 pm. :)