FNSI and Simpliciy 2374

Ok, i'm just come right out and say that I barely did much last nigth. What I DID do was watch clips of Bill Cosby standup on youtube.

Anyway, on with the show.

I got my My Image pattern cut (I traced it the day before). I did go out to the garage to find my fabric and I tore up the upstairs to find my rotary cutter blades. Other than than that, that was about all I did.

I'm blaming Bill Cosby for not getting anything done.

A few days ago, I finished up the first muslin on Simplicity 2374. Oh...the humanity. I don't normally make muslins, but I did this time. I'm glad I did, because this thing won't be seeing the light of day anytime soon.

Friday night sew in...

Oh gosh! I forgot all about it! Tonight is the Friday night sew-in.

Yesterday I got the first issue of My Image magazine. It's a cute little pattern magazine with 16 designs in it. The designs are cute and usable, and the pattern sheets are printed on nice paper. They look to be a lot easier to trace than Burda is too.

One thing though, and I know a few people won't like this because this magazine is new, and for some reason some people don't think a new company should get any criticism. BUT the instructions suck. Bad. I can't make heads or tails out of them. Don't get me wrong, they made an honest effort, but the translation is ridiculous. There designs aren't too out there though, so I can probably get away without them. We will see.

Simplicity 2374

Just going to try to keep myself honest here...

My next project is goign to be Simplicity 2374. View D, the long jumpsuit. (All of a sudden, I can't shamlessly steal pics from Simplicity's site)

Anyway, I plan on making this from a flowy blue streaky fabric that I got at JoAnns years ago. The only problem is THAT I CAN'T FIND IT!! There has got to be a missing bin of fabric here somewhere. I just can't find it.

On a side note: I think I may be broken. I have tried since I moved into the new house to buy fabric from fabric.com (Cause lord knows there isn't shit for fabric in the stores here!!). I just haven't been able to buy anything. Nothing is exciting me enough to spend the $35 to get free shipping. Something is CLEARLY wrong! lol

There has been sewing, and there will be more...

I've been in the new house for 3 weeks as of tomorrow. I've actually got a lot of sewing done.

No pics, sorry. Maybe next time.

I made tab curtains for Suzies room. They are pink and purple. I bought the fabric for curtains for her room in Michigan right before we moved. I'm glad I was able to use that fabric, and that it didn't manage to sit in my stash for the next 5 years.

I made two night gowns. One pink and one purple. This was fabric left over fromt he curtains. All told for the two gowns and the curtains, I usd up 13 yeards. Too bad it was broadcloth, so it hardly made a dent. Now if I could just sew up 13 yeards of fleece, I could empty out a bin.

I made an apron to clean in. Every shirt I have ever cleaned in gets bleach all over it. I'm hoping the apron will help a tiny bit.

I made a little cat house. Basically I cut a hole into a box and hot glued fabric onto the box. Then I made a pillow to go inside. Cats loved it for the first few days. Now they could care less. A little over two yards for those two projects.

I feel like there was a fifth project in there somewhere, I just can't remeber what it was.

Friday Night Sew In - the results

I'm in a hurry, so here is just a quick rundown of what I did.

I was able to cut two pairs of jammies.

I got one of them done. I was only able to get about half of the second pair done.

That's it for now. Gotta go work on getting a sewing group together.

Wee!

Friday Night Sew In December 10th

For those of you who may not know already, there are two scheduled FNSI's this month. The first is the 10th and the second is on the 17th. I plan on participating in both. I don't have any gifts planned, but I do have some garment projects planned for me. I need clothes badly, so now that i'm (basically) unemployed, I should make the best of it.

For those of you don't already know, I moved from the Detroit area to the Charlotte, NC area in November. I'm not sure how I feel about this anymore. At first I was all excited, but I think I was a bit delusional about the Charlotte area before I got here.

First, the weather has sucked since I got here. It's been 20 degress below average for the last ten days! It's almost as cold as it is in Michigan. This wasn't supposed to happen.

Second, can I just bitch about the fabric stores for a minute? I have two Hancocks in the area, and a place called MaryJo's. I have made a total of 5 vists to these 3 stores and I haven't purchaced a single yard of fabric. I'm not sure if it's because I just moved my whole stash half way across the country and I can no longer deny that I still need more stuff, or if it's just that i'm really not all that impressed with these stores. I really think it's the later, and yes, I know people are going to think i'm crazy because i'm not impressed with MJ's. Let me briefly tell you about MaryJo's. They have got a TON of stuff. It's a huge warehouse full of fabric, but unless you're a quilter or plannign home dec projects, most of the fashion fabric was just 'meh'. There was plenty of cottons, but what I was really looking for was some cool knits. I couldn't find anything decient. I can tell you, I won't be planning many trips there.

As for the Hancocks. Well, two dirty little stores with a crappy selection of fashion fabric. The one hancocks didn't even have any of the new patterns, and really at this point these patterns are not all that new. So it looks like it will be ClubBMV and Fabric.com for me. What a disappointment.

Oh well.

Project Runway, the finalie part 1

Project Runway is on! YAY!

Instead of watching, I'm here blogging! Boo!

DH is watching something, so I gotta wait my turn. I have a tv down here I could be watching on, but I refuse to sit through commercials. And the tv down here isn't a DVR box.

Anyway, GO MONDO!

Project Runway, Season 8, episode 44

(I apologize for the weird spacing.)

Congratulations Andy! Sorry Gretchen, but your crap in in the bottom three this week.

So, Heidi decides that she wants some cheap labor, and she's going to get it with the PR cast. Hell of a business woman, if you ask me.

When the challenge was presented Heidi says brightly "I'm providing you with some fabric, and you can also buy some other fabric". I didn't write that wrong, she actually said that.

In this episode, it appears that the cast wasn't happy with Heidi's line, with her fabrics, with her being on the workroom floor, with her critiques...with each other. What really kills me is that they aren't all that happy with the line, but you could bet not a single one would turn down the opportunity to have their item in that line (Free labor and all!)

Mondo rolls his eyes at Heidi...





Oh no he didint!




Then the commercial comes on...Cats are getting appetizers now? WTF!??






After the commercial, it is announced that 'the past' will show up. The past shows up in the form of 6 previous losers. One of those losers is Bitchface, Oh, I mean Ivy.






Bitchface is pissed because Michael C. is still on the show. Ivy says "He is holding a spot that could have been Valerie's, mine and Michael Drummonds". Yes folks, Michael is taking up 3 spots. Maybe he is three people? I don't know. Who cares.

Also, she believes in karma. Then promptly gets a needle to the eye.

So, now it's runway day. Heidi tells the designers that there are 6 of them left, soon there will be 5. This is in case any of the designers forgot, and to remind some of the less advanced audience members that 6 minus 1 equals 5.

Andy sends a ripoff down the runway...


We seen what you did there




Here's is Aprils stuff.



I'm sorry, BUT THIS IS NOT FUCKING ACTIVE WEAR!!! Look, I like April. She seems like she's a nice girl, but I just don't get the appeal of her designs. It looks like lingerie you would were if you wore lingerie to a funeral.





Then comes Christophers stuff. I couldn't get a clear screenshot of the pants, so you get nothing. But I really liked his pants. Doesn't matter, I guess. *Shrug*


And also, next time one of you PatternReview people get so hung up on wavy hems on your knits, remember that Project Runway contestants are churning out lovelies like this.








Oh, and here is Michael's wonky hem offering...
















I thought Mondo should have been the winner.















So, Gretchen, Michael and Christopher are in the bottom. So therefore, Andy, Mondo and April are on top.




Gretchen says that shes surprised she's in the bottom because she made 10 pieces in TWO days, and they're good! (You know, just like everyone else.) She's also shocked that Mondo is in the top because she feels like he really only made one look. Keep your eyes on your own paper, bitch!




So, here Michael Kors is talking about Andys look. Michael is being really nice, and saying nice things about Andys look. Michael nevertheless, still looks like a schmuck. I guess it's just his nature.















What is this in the crotch? These pants look like they've been washed and worn a few dozen times. (These are Christophers pants, BTW.)














Gretchen actually tells Heidi that she doesn't really have anything sophisticated in her line! LOL Heidi counters with a frown!















So anyway, Andy wins the challenge. Good for him, I think he deserved another win...just not necessarily with this challenge.

Christopher is out. Personally, I think it was his time. He seemed like a nice guy, but his stuff really was just 'safe'.

Project Runway, season 8, episode...what...7?

First, GO MONDO! WOO-HOO! Congrats!

*wildly waves my 'Go Mondo!'* flag!

Bye-bye, little brown haired girl. She seemed like a wonderful person, I just didn't see anything that gave me any type of reaction. While I was no big fan of Ivy, I thought she was the better designer. I'm still a bit suprised that Ivy went home before her too. Of course, I know jack about high fashion, so I can be way off. Of course, the judges could have just wanted to get rid of her because she was so bitchy and willing to throw people (Micheal D.) under the bus. Eh, who cares, she wasn't going to make it to the end, anyway.

Christopher is next. Sorry, Christopher fans.

That will leave April, Andy, Gretchen, Michael and Mondo.

I would really like to see Mondo, Michael and Andy in the top three, although, I doubt Gretchen isn't going to go down without a fight. April I really can't see in the top three because all her stuff looks the same to me. Morgue lingerie. Of course, once again, I know jack about high fashion.

Can someone explian to me why Micheal Kors always has a stupid look on his face? Really, he looks fucking misreable -- ALL THE FUCKING TIME!







Anyway, I can't wait for next week. Hopefully we will finally find out who's cheating. Although, I have a feeling that's just footage of Gretchen accusing Micheal of stealing her fabric color, and the actual footage just wound up on the cutting room floor. We'll see.

Project Runway, Season 8

CAN I JUST SAY THAT I FUCKING HATE GRETCHEN?!

*ahem*

Anyway...

The whole time that project runway has been on the air, I have not paid any attention to it. I have not seen a single episode...that is until about 2 weeks ago. I am so totally hooked now. I have DVR'd as many episodes as I could, and I think i've just missed one from this season. Is this show on DVD? Can I get it from the video store?

I hate having 'shows'.

In case you haven't been paying attention, here are two links to fill you in on all the catty drama:

Una LaMarche from the Huffington Post
Projectrunguy Blog

Here's my thoughts:

I just totally love Mondo. I hope he wins. I like Mike C. too! Tough shit if you don't like it! He has a son, isn't he gay?

Now that Ivy is gone (What a bitch), I can focus my hate and anger at Gretchen. Not to repeat what is said on every other blog out there, but really Gretchen, the mullet isn't doing you any favors.

Andy: I have to say, I really liked that futuristic, peanut butter cup shoulder action things he made last week. I like his stuff too, I just happen to like Mondo and Mike C better.

Christopher and the other dark haired girl: Meh

April: I like her, I would so totally hang out at the bar and do shots with her. I'm not really digging her designs though, as they aren't really my style. Although, i'm sure sweat pants and bleach stained tee-shirts really isn't her style either so, it's all good.

Anyway...go Mondo!

Free Lekala Patterns

For those of you who might not already know, or for those who have never used Lekala patterns, now is your chance to check them out.

Lekala Patterns For the month of September, they are giving away their size 42 and size 44 patterns. These sizes are supposed to be comparable to the BurdaStyle 42 and 44. Go ahead, give them a try!

Etsy find

See what I bought myself last night? cute isn't it? Too bad it's 2 sizes too small and summer is almost over, BUT we'll always have next summer, right?

Feliz dress

The Feliz dress is finished! Actually, it's been finished for at least a week now, I just can't manage to get a good picture. I just love the results! I had been putting off making this dress for a year now because some of the reviews made it sound like this dress is so hard and time consuming to make. It's not! The ruffels are a bit of a pain, but other than that, this dress went togther easily.

This pattern is from the book "Sewing Clothes Kids Love". I think it's a great book if you sew for little girls. The instructions aren't the best in the book. And the instruction that come with the individual pattern are even worse! Don't reinvent the wheel. Use one of the many tutorals that are out there. I used the one found on

Trillium. Do a search for Feliz when you get there to find her three part tutorial on the construction of this dress.

Now for pics!

FNSI

Well, I didn't get too much accomplished during the Friday Night Sew In, but that's not all totally my fault.

I have the 'Sewing Clothes Kids Love' book, and I think it's a wonderful book. If you sew frilly dresses for young girls, apparently the Feliz dress in this book is the holy grail of dresses.

Anyway, back to the FNSI. All started out well on Friday. I decided to trace the Feliz pattern. Not only do I have the book this pattern comes in, I also have the individual pattern too. I decided to trace from the individual pattern because I like the heaver while paper it's printed on, as opposed to the regular old tissue paper that comes with the book. I also used the individual pattern because it's in German. I have other individual patterns from Studio Tantrum, and I thought this would be a good opportunity to brush up on my German. NOT! Not a single word that is on the pattern is in my (rather large) German to English dictionary. WTF! I might have some problems!

Anyway, the pattern is traced and the pieces are cut. Wish me luck, I hear that the first time you make this dress, it's a huge pain.

Simplicity 3956

So ok, I don't blog for a month, and then you get two in one day. The world must be coming to an end. That, or i'm just a bad blogger. :/

This post happens to be about Simplicity 3956.

I just have to say that I love this top. I've actually made it twice in the last 3 weeks. I might even make it a third time too. The next time I am going to have to lengthen the bottom part by about 2 inches. I just don't quite like where it lands.

Also, here is a tip for you if you don't already know. When you are going to cut silky fabrics, starch the hell out of it. I hung my fabric out on the line and sprayed it with starch until is was wet, then let it dry. It made cutting and sewing silky fabrics so much easier. I recomend Stay-flo starch. It's in a blue bottle (like a bleach bottle). The stuff in a can just doesn't cut it for stuff like this.

I really like this top, and I would defanitly give it a try if you like this style.

Friday Night Sew In

I've decided to join the Friday Night Sew In. I have a whole queue of things to get to tonight. And then we have the southeastern Michigan meet up in Ann Arbor on Saturday. I should get quite a bit accomplished.

Actaully, now that I think about it, I have been sewing a lot lately. I've made a dress and two tops in the last two or three weeks. That's good for me. Of course, I haven't been working much because of a health issue so I have a bit more free time, but whatever.

Anyway, hope you can join the FNSI! Seems like fun!

I'm pissed off at my stash!

..And i'm currently giving it Angry Eyes... >:(

So anyway, I finally decide to join the rest of the sewing world and make Vogue 8379. I had a nice fabrc picked out and was ready to go. Well, I notice that the pattern says I need 2 1/2 yards of fabric. I only had 2 1/4 of my chosen fabric. No problem, I said. I can make it work.

Well, apparently, no I can't make it work! I tried everything. I even traced extra pieces so that I could try and place each individual piece. NO luck. Nothing I tried worked.

Well, I took the high road and decided that i'll just go find something else in my stash. Can you believe that I have 555 (no kidding) yards of stash and not a single piece of stash is either long enough or inspiring enough? Friggen amazing! I need more knit prints, that's what I need! That's it, more fabric. The answer to all my troubles. Although, next time i'll be buying 2 1/2 cuts. lol

And the grand total is...

...537.25. That's only half of my estimated 1,000. And boy am I glad!

I still have a few items that I need to count -- mostly scraps. And some of that will end up in the trash. I have a small pile of yardage that needs to be counted, but I doubt it comes to more than 3 or 4 yards.

The great thing is that I have a whole empty storage bin left over. I'm sure it won't take me long to find something to put in it though. I think my scrapbooking supplies and when little bit of yarn I have can probably go in it.

Hopefully now that i've worked through some of the clutter, I can get some sewing done!

312.50 That's enough for one night

Well, the count stands at 312.50. I'm done for the night. I'm tired of standing and folding for what seems like hours!

The good news is that i'm probably 2 thirds of the way done.

The good news X2 is that i'm sure i'm not going to hit the 1000 yard mark! I'm proud to say that i'm not the horder that I thought I was. YAY me!

121 and Counting

I'm doing the unthinkable.

I'm starting to count my stash.

I'm two whole bins in, and already I have 121 yards counted. I've got about 10 more bins to go. I'm hopeing to not hit the 1,000 yard mark, but it's going to be close.

Oh, the UNopened box from my latest fabric.com purchase is still upstairs...

Is this really what its come down to?

I swear, i'm going to take a class or something. I totally feel like a new sewer all of a sudden. Bah!

For the last few weeks (OK, months) I haven't had much of an interest in sewing. I think the only thing I actually finished besides the Butterick dress was some cloth baby wipes for a friend.

It's not that I haven't been sewing. I'm trying. I'm really, really trying. It's just that nothing fits, I don't know how to fix it, and it's starting to piss me off!

My first attempt was a Vogue dress that was so big that after the first one or two (feeble) attempts at trying to fix it, I knew it was a wadder. My second attempt was a McCalls dress. I cut a size 14, but can you belive that the stupid thing is about 5 inches too big? So, another wadder. Attempt three is a pair of KS shorts. They are particially made, sitting there on the ironing board just waiting for their turn. I lost interest installing the zipper. Bah again!

So, today I decided I needed some instant gratification. I came across New Look 6464. Easiest project ever. Although, I think i'm about 15 years too old for this look, I just don't give a shit. I'm going to wear this sucker with pride until I can make something a little more age appropriate fit! HA HA

For your viewing displeasure...

Butterick 4790

I have to start by making something clear. I'm a vintage pattern reseller on eBay and Esty. I have TONS of vintage patterns laying around my house. Not only do I buy patterns in lots to resell, I have spent a small fortune on patterns to add to my personal collection.

Ahem, having said that, I finally decided to wade into the vintage sewing waters the other day. With all the patterns I have laying around, want to take a guess on what my first project was? If you guessed a current Butterick repro, you win! (There is no actual prize, just be happy that you're a winner)






)





I gotta say that I just LOVE this dress...IF I had chosen a better fabric. The pink is a cotton and it wrinkles like crazy! This is supposed to be a fun little dress. I have no intentions of ironing it when I want to wear it. Hopefull to many people will notice. :/

I made a size 12, due to teh fact that a lot of reviewers mentioned to go down a size. Because of that, I had to use buttons and loops. The loops are a bit too long, but I think i can fix that with no problems. Other than that, i just love this dress. Give it a shot!

The Nani Iro Side Pocket bag is mine!!

Imagine my suprise this morning when I woke up to see this: And the winner is...

The winner was me! YAY! I hardly win stuff, let alone stuff that's actually cute.

Oh, here is the bag I won:





Heather from FeathertySews made this. Isn't it totally cute! And it's mine! Wee!

Thank you, Heather!

Baby Mozart

See my baby? Isn't she cute?

Patrones Magazine

I got my very first issue of Patones magazine the other day. I have to say that i'm not all that impressed. My opinion is that Burda WOF is way better, not only design wise, but pricewise too.

I read somewhere that Amazon.com offers the Patrones subscription for something like $400 a year. I hope i'm wrong, because I would not pay half that for the magazine. If you want my opinion, if you want to subscribe to a magazine, I would go with Burda. (Which you can get from GLP News)

I will say for those who are not falmiliar, this magazine is published in Spanish. The patterns are a lot like Burda -- pattern sheets that have to be traced, stapled to the center of the magazine. One thing I don't like is that as far as I can tell, the Patrones doesn't have the line drawing for the garments in the issue. I'll go back and look again, but I couldn't find them. Oh well.

I leave you with a few pics from the design page. Sorry, they're bad pics, but I dont' ahve a scanner. Also, if you're interested, I believe this is the Jan 2010 issue, although, i'm not entirely sure.

I'm a blogger lamer.

Well, here we are, only 6 years since my last post. Bet you're excited to see i'm still alive! I got a lot of stuff accomplished since I last updated.

Where to begin?...

I guess with the Pattern Review stash contest.

So far, I have about 10.50 yards entered into the contest.

I made a baby blanket: 2 yards


I made the Simplicity cardiwrap: 2.50 yards. I have to say, I really like this wrap. I put off sewing this for so long, and I don't know why. RuthieK from RuthieKSews has inspired me to make these from prints, as opposed to the plane ones I was plaing on making.

I made the famous Jalie Sweetheart Top.: 1.25 yards. I have mixed feelings about this top. I seemed to make my small bust even smaller. And the 1/4 inch SA didn't seem to be enough room for the basting stitches the top required. Also, when I was clipping curves, I cut part of the neckband. So, now I have to fix that.

I made yet abother version of McCalls 4223. 2.50 yards. I just love this fleece pullover. Hey, it's cold here in Michigan. We can't always be cute and warm. lol

I also made another version of Simplicity 3634 This is a cowl neck sweater pattern, but I just lengthed it into a dress. It turned out great. Trust me, the pictures are bad.

See, so i've been sewing. I'm just lame when it comes to blogging.

Here's one way to keep the stash under control...

...Close down all the damn fabric stores! If there are no stores, then I can't buy anything, right?

Last summer, they closed down the JoAnns in my city. It wasn't such a big deal, because I had another one not too far from me. Well, turns out, they're closing that one too. Now, I don't mind so much that the crappy fabirc is going away. If I really need something, I can buy online, and for notions, there is a WalMart a half mile away (although, i'm not a big fan of WalMart, I don't mind going there if all I need is a zipper). But I really feel like i'm losing a part of me with the closing of this store. It was one of the few places I could go and I didn't have to take the kids. I could just go there and look, even if I wasn't interested in buying anything. I sort of feel like they're taking my playground away.

I have to say, I still have a few JoAnns that are sort of near me, but I won't be making any special trips to go there any time soon. My stash will thank me for it.

Happy New Year!

Well, here we all are again. A new year, time for reflection and to set new goals.

The reflection part is easy. I had a baby in 2009 and I sewed some stuff. Didn't take me long to do all that reflecting.

The goal part is a bit harder. I like to set goals for myself that are actually attainable. So, here we go, since I know you're dying to read this! lol

- I would like to lose 10 pounds. I've already lost 50 since the baby has been born, so i'm thinking I can lose 10 more. Attainable.

- I'm thinking about keeping a cleaner house. Probably not attainable.

- Quit smoking. As soon as I can get hubby to quit, I should be able to do it. Probably attainable, but depends on the cooperation of someone else.

- Sewing goals. *sigh* Me thinks this is the biggie. lol I finally had to break down and go shopping for clothes the other day. What a sucky expierence! I hate clothes shopping! I always have. And as some of you can relate, it sucks when everything you try on doesn't fit for whatever reason. That's why I sew, because of my narrow shoulders, wide back and low armhole. RTW just doesn't fit. It's also really crummy when you're in the store and all you can think is "$20?? I can make THAT for $5!"

I had a gift card for Victoria's Secret that I got for my birthday LAST year, and I finally got around to using it. I spent $38 for a teddy. $38 bucks for a thin little garment that takes less than a yard of fabric. Amazing. I can't wait for the Pattern Review lingerie contest. I'm telling myself that I need to enter a few garments in that contest.

I'm ahead of the curve though this year. So far, I almost have Simplicity 2603 finished. You know, the cardi wrap that everyone on the planet has sewn. I finally made it to the party. All I have to do is hem it, which sucks. And I made a little sleep sack for my DD. She's 5 months old and in year old clothing. The sleep sacks they sell in the stores just simply don't fit. I'll be making one or two more of those for her soon.

Oh, that brings me to another goal -- More fabric going out than coming in. 2009 wasn't a bad year for me. I think I had about 20 more yards that came in than went out, but as most of you will probably agree, that's pretty damn good! lol I already have almost 4 yards out this year, and it's only the 3rd. YAY!

Anyway, we'll see how it all works out. Hope everyone has a happy new year!