Day Trippin'

My friend Lynn and I decided we were going to take a little fabric road trip. What a fun day! Our agenda was to drive from the Detroit area to Vogue Fabrics in Evanston, IL and then drive home. Well, even with the ungodly amount of sitting we did in traffic on the Kennedy expressway in Chicago, we still had time for a stop at Field's Fabrics in Kalamazoo!

First up, Vogue Fabrics in Evanston. Please don't throw tomatos, but I can't say that i'm all that impressed. Although, you would never know it from all the fabric I bought. I did get a few knit prints that you can't get from the local JoAnns, but other than that, it seemed like a lot of the same stuff. Although for WAY better prices on most things. Here are a few pics of my findings.

The top two pics are of the knits I got. The bottom one is of the 3 cuts of woven fabrics I got. One is a heavy weight WHITE denim. I can't wait to try out a pair of jeans.















Our bonus stop was Field's fabrics in K-zoo. I was a lot more impresses with this place than I was with Vogue. The store is clean, the staff is friendly, the store is well stocked and almost everything was on sale! I told Lynn that I would like to make a trip every few months to this store. I think it's worth the drive.

By this point I was getting a bit tried, as I am 8 and a half months pregnant. But I still managed to pick up for cuts of fabric and four patterns! GO ME!

I got two knits for me, a bunny knit for DDs jammies (how cute!) and a cute eyelet that was on the 50% off clearance table.
















At the end of the day the damage was just over 26 yards of fabric. Not bad when you consider that buying fabric was what I had set out to do! lol Oh, And I had to get hubby some fireworks from Indiana for our big 4th of July party. I hope he doesn't set the yard on fire...

Happy Fathers Day!

While I doubt there are many fathers reading my blog, I would like to just say happy fathers day anyway!

For dads day, I made a shirt for DH. It's Kwik Sew 3484. The fabric I used was a Navy print(you know, like the military). DH was in the military years ago, so it's fitting for him. He also got a big ole' pan of lasagna. I narmally make it with chicken and no ricotta chesse, but today he got a whole pan of lasagna with spicy sausage and plenty of ricotta. Me and DD both don't like it, so it's all for him!

32 Weeks Preggo

Yep, that's me. Getting bigger by the day. As of June 10, 2009 I am 32 weeks and 1 day pregnant. ONLY 58 MORE DAYS TO GO!!!!

I love all you women who say you love being pregnant. You're the best. You can have it! I still have 8 weeks to go and so far I can't work, half the time I can't stand, I can't walk, I can't sleep, heartburn sucks and i'm dying for a smoke! Add to that about an extra 30 pounds I get to carry around... Can you tell i'm not the happiest of pregnant women? lol

Jalie 2907 View A this time

I am trying the pocket diaper from Jalie. I think this one needs a few adjustments though. I'm just not sure how to go about it. Here are the changes I plan to make.

1) First things first. I want to use snaps and not velcro. I didn't add any to this diaper because this one is a 'muslin'. I can't believe i'm making a muslin for a baby diaper when I don't even make a muslin for half of the things I make for me. lol

2) The outer layer is PUL and the inner layer is supposed to be some sort of wicking fabric. I just used flannel on this one just to get an idea, but i'll be using fleece for anything I plan to use as a real diaper.

3) The outer PUL layer. YUCK! I think i'm going to cut a cute fabric and use some basting spray to stick the two layers together. Then treat it as one layer nad have the PUL hidden inside. I just don't like PUL either, but it's necessary.

4) I need to add snaps to my soaker insert. I'm not quite sure how to go about this yet. But the pad that gets stuffed into the diaper is not going to stay in one place. Also, the soaker really needs to be thicker. As it is now, it's only 4 layers of flannel.

5) I wish I had a real baby to test on. All this could be for nothing because I don't even know how they fit.

I do like these AO2's though so far. Mostly because I don't like the stand alone PUL covers. I'm going to make a few more of these -- tweaking as I go, of course and see aht I can come up with. I'll keep you posted.

Look at what I got!

I bought some Michael Miller fabrics off of Etsy.com the other day. I think these are so cool! Two vintage-y type fabrics. I just love it. I can't wait to make a shirt from the fabric with the pattern pieces on it!

If anyone is interested, I bought this from Rainbow Fabrics from Etsy.com. SHe has a lot of nice fabrics there.

I have a diaper! Jalie 2907

Well, I have ONE fitted diaper! One! I'm on a roll now! This pattern is really fast to make and you can assembly line them. Right now I have about 6 diapers cut and ready to go, and I have the soaker pads serged. Now I just have to finish the assembly.

This particular pattern calls for velcro, but honestly, I don't really like velcro, so I used snaps (applied with my new pliers, more on that below). I am under the impression though that snaps on fitted diapers aren't the best idea. Although I see plenly of them out there.

Here is one happy Elmo with a new diaper...


Now for the snaps. As I said in a previous post, I have 3 snap tools from Dritz. Pliers, a 'quick attatcher' thing and the little knob thing that you hit with a hammer. They all suck as far as i'm concerned. So, I needed something to add my snaps to my diapers.

I ended up buying a pair for pliers from KAMsnaps.com. The pliers feel a bit flimsly, but so far i'm pretty impressed. The pliers with a bunch of snaps were about half the price of just a press. A press is what I really wanted, but I just couldn't justify the cost. If I use the pliers a lot, i'll get a press eventually, i'm sure.

My Mad Diaper Makin' Skillz...

...Or not! lol















Well, here is my first attempt at Jalie 2907. These are view C, the covers made from PUL fabric. My snap panels don't match up. And my snap setting sucks. I think I lost half my snaps in the washer. Oops!

Snap panels: Looking at the pattern piece, the front and back match -- they're the same size. However, on my sample, the back is way bigger. I'm thinking that I may have streched a bit to much trying to sew on the elastic. I'm going to have to come up with a better technique.

The snaps. I have three different Dritz tools that attatches snaps. As far as I can tell, all three suck. I had the best luck with my dritz pliers, but they are still a pain.

I considered buying a snap press, but at over $100, I decided against it. Although, I may kick myself later because as far as I can tell, the resale value is really high. So proably could have sold it if I decided I didn't need it.

What I did settle on was another pair of pliers. But I hear these are a bit better than the Dritz pliers. They are pliers for the plastic (resin) snaps. They come with an actual die set, so we'll see how that goes. Apparently people like these pliers, so, if they don't work for me i'll sell them off on eBay at a small loss and then just break down and get a press.

I'm going to attempt another pair of covers probably tomorrow. And hopfully my terry from fabic.com will be here tomorrow too, so I can make the insert! YAY. Now all I need is some 1 1/2 loop tape (velcro). Wonder if JoAnns carries velcro that's that wide? I'll have to stop and check tomorrow.

Cupcake Hat Awwww! and Jalie 2907

If anyone is paying attention, I would like one of these for the new baby! How can you go wrong with a cupcake hat on a little baby? lol

Here is a link to the shop of the lady who makes these. NinisHandmades Shop on Etsy Check it out. She has a lot of really cute stuff.

*************

JALIE 2907

I have the diapers all traced, and I think i'm going to get cutting tonight. I'm putting a little thought into this project for once, and I think I may have traced the wrong sizes. I traced newborn and 1 month sizes.

The newborn size fits 6-9 pounds
The one month size fits 7-11 pounds.
The three month size fits 9-15 pounds.

I'm wondering if I should skip the 1 month size and just do Newborn and 3 month since that will cover me from 6 to 15 pounds. Or do I really need the one month size? It seems like i'm wasting time with that size. One, because it seems like that is just overlapping with the 3 month and secondly, the kid is probably going to be in the 1 month size for only 3 weeks before he grows out of them anyway. I guess I can start with the newborn size, considering that i'm probably going to start with a newborn anyway. lol

I have the PUL fabric waiting to go. I can start with the covers. I ordered terry from fabric.com. It's should be here in a few days. Has anyone ever tried using plain muslin for soaker pads or prefolds? The directions I have found say use twill, but you need a yard each, so I bet it can get expensive fast.

Vintage patterns, Jalie 2907 diapers and other ramblings.

I got some of my newly vintage patterns up on Etsy this weekend. These are patterns I KNOW i'll never use. So, instead of hording them, might as well find homes from them. I got a few 70's ones that I really am dying to sew, along with some of the 50's mail order patterns I got. I'm just waiting until the baby comes so I can see where my waist is going to end up. ;)

Visit my Etsy shop!

I would also like to take a quick second to apologize to anyone who has landed on my blog buy doing a Google search for Simplicity 2587. Yes, I see my stats. I know how you get here, just to find no useful information. Sorry!

Now for Jalie 2907:






















(How cute are these?!) I'm going to try my hand at making a few cloth diapers. I bought two yards of PUL fabric (from a company who shall remain nameless until they have been given a chance to correct their shitty customer service issues) and I have 6 yards of terry coming from fabric.com.

I'm going to make the fitted diaper and the diaper cover. I was going to go with the All-In-Ones, but I have been reading that they take forever to dry. I have the pattern traced, and I might start on the covers tomorrow -- as they require the PUL fabric. If anyone is interested Jalie.com has a video of their diapers being made. I haven't used it yet, but it could be a good resource if you need it.

New Vintage Patterns

I got my lot of vintage patterns from eBay a few days ago. I am so happy with what I got.



I never thought to take the picture while I had all the patterns out of the box! Duh! I can't believe some of the stuff that was in this lot. There are a few recent kids patterns, but most are 1975 and older. Here are the older ones. I haven't counted them all, but there are quite a few. And they are all mostly in got shape. A lot are still factory folded. And if that isn't good enough, most are in a size I can use! They are either 34 or 36 bust. I can't believe how I lucked out with this lot.







Here is a picture of the oldest ones.
They are mail order patterns that you ordered through the mail. They are not dated, and most don't even have an actual pattern company. But I do know that they are early 50's, and one is post marked 1952. I am thinking that the others are earlier because they don't have a dated post mark.

























Here is a picture of my fav from the 70's! Simplicity 6925. I was looking at something really similar in the Victoria Secret catalogue. I couldn't find anything current really. But here it is, in my vintage lot! I can't wait to make this up. I'm going to change it to a dress though. I have the perfect purple gauze for it. Of course, I have to not be pregnant anymore, but I only have about 11 more weeks to go.

One question if anyone can answer. I want to sell some of these on eBay, or etsy or whatever. They smell really old. Is that common? Or can I air them out somehow? I don't want to put smelly patterns on eBay, but they are 60 year old patterns. Anyone know anything about this?

Kwik Sew 3327 and the modification of Simplicity 2587

Well, I finally got around to making me some jammies! Weee! I don't think I have ever had a night gown in my adult life, but for some reason, I want them now.

The pattern I used was Kwik Sew 3327 For the most part, I like the pattern. It does have one big issue though. The fact that the nursing openings go down to your knees!



I hate to say this because it's just a night gown, but you will probably need to make a muslin just to find out where to place your nursing openings. I can't imagine that these fit anyone -- unless you are sagging to your knees. Sheesh!

After I made the nursing gown, I decided that I just really wanted a few more non-nursing gowns. So, I hunted through my pattern stash and came up with NOTHING! How do I not have a simple night gown pattern in my stash? Then it dawned on me, I can just modify the kwik sew pattern. It was actually really easy to do. You just fold the front right down the center front line. Voila! No more nursing gown, but you do have something that will fit a pregnant lady. These gowns are also so easy to put together. Hour, at most, start to finish. On piece of advice though, use your pre-pregnancy measurements.






























Now that I have a few night gowns, I think i'm going to try something a little more ambitious.



Simplicity 2587. Except I have to modify it to fit my pregnant body. I already slashed the front skirt piece, we will see how it goes. I plan on starting on that tomorrow. There are a million and one pieces though, and i'm not in any hurry to get a wadder out of this. Wish me luck!

Fun With Vintage!

Yes, I know there are other blogs that go over this. And I know they are better at it, but this was just too good for me to pass up!

I was looking through the vintage patterns on Etsy.com the other day, and I just happened to come accross a few gems! The were so good infact, even DH thought they were funny.



Really, are these cartoon pattern cover chicks so ugly that we can't even see their faces? Was the illistrator new and unsure of how to draw faces? Wonder if the sexy bonnet (wonder how many google hits I get because I said 'sexy bonnet') is part of the pattern. I never checked.


























IT'S FRANKENLADY!! I think the rose necklace is holding her head on -- or hiding the scars. Has to be. There is no other logical explianation!

Can I just bitch for a minute?

You ever notice how if one thing doesn't go rigth, nothing goes right?

Right now i'm really agitated with online retailers, USPS and shipping issues.

So, I buy patterns from PR a week or so ago. I get an email from Deepika telling me my patterns have been shipped. Great, I should have them in 2 or 3 days, right? WRONG! Apparently, USPS shipped my patterns to Washington state. So, my patterns Started in Mass. went to Wash. only to (hopefully) be back on their way to Michigan. My patterns are better traveled than I am! Just so we're clear. This is not a reflection on PR, the turn around was fast. This is a gripe about USPS. Which is my employer, BTW. How nice is that?

The day after I ordered the patterns from PR, I ordered some PUL fabric from whamsupply.com. Well, they say they have a turn around time of 4 days on orders. Well, I ordered early on the 30th, and it's now late on the 7th. Their website still says my order is processing, and they haven't answered my email.

Arg! eBay. I won some vintage patterns of of eBay the other day. I had a brief conversation with the seller, and she said she would ship yesterday. Well, I haven't get a tracking number in my email, so I assume i'll probably be waiting on those too.

Last but not least, grill parts. I ordered some new grill grates for DHs BBQ grill yesterday. Now I have no reason to worry that the grill grates won't ship in a reasonable amount of time, but it seems as if I am having no luck with shippers right now. Grr!

Thanks for listening to me vent. I needed to get that off my chest.

The Studio Kat Boho Bag is Finished!

The bag, it is finished! I can't beleive how easy this pattern came together. After all the pissing and moaning I did about all the pieces, it just came together.



Pic of the lining. If you like this design, definetly try this bag. It comes together so easy and they results are great!

Seriously, what have I done part 2...

I have been on my own little shopping spree for the last few weeks. I don't know what's gotten into me. But I think I better find a way to control it or we're going to end up living in a box eating Ramen noodles every night.

I have been trying to stay away from buying vintage patterns for some time now. Mostly because I have plenty of other crap I horde. But the bug finally got to me last night. Ready for this, I bought a lot of 120 patterns off of eBay. Auction YAY me! Now, if I could only find a place to store them.

Actually, I do have a plan. I saw a few in the picture that I actually do like. I am going to save those, and then probably try and sell the rest. We'll see when we get here, as I have no idea even what kind of shape these are in.

A week or so ago I posted that I had bought a few patterns from PR. Well, one of those patterns was for baby diapers. Well, I don't have any PUL fabic, so naturally, I had to buy some of that. I ordered 2 yards of white PUL from WAHM supply.com. I have neever heard of them, but they were by far the best price. I also bought two sling rings, because I want to make a baby sling.

As for today, I have to go to Michaels because I have to get beads to finish the Boho bag. I have a zillion beads in my stash, just nothing that matches or that will fit the cording. So off I go, hopefully to end my shoping spree! lol

The Boho Baugette bag in progress.

Whoo-Hoo! Progress! This is probably one of the more involved projects i've ever done, but the directions are so well written that things seem to be moving along without any problems so far. Good thing Melody from FashionistaFabrics lives down the street from me, and she was able to supply me with the D rings, or that would have been a trip to JoAnns. Which would have hindered my progress. Not good!

First up is a picture of the bottom. I have to say, I am not used to using so many pins. I'm more of a one-two pin kind of girl, but I want to do this right.



Next is attaching the top lining...



Last but not least is where i'm going to finish for the night. I have the straps and D rings and snaps on, and i'm putting on the casing for the drawstrings.



So far, this has been a fairly easy project. Keep in mind that I have been taking careful steps to make sure that I have all my pattern markings and pieces handy (which I don't usually do a very good job of that) I'm meeting with my sewing group tomorrow, so hopefully i'll be able to get more done. At this rate, I might be done by the end of the weekend!

I started a Purse sew along on patternreview, if you're interested.
Purse sew along thread.

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. :)

New machine and plenty of clothes!

I bought a new machine yesterday! YAY! I got a Kenmore 19110. About a week ago, I watched my friend Melody use her machine to make one step buttonholes, and i've had machine envy ever since! lol So, last night I went and bought a new machine. So far, I love it! The stitches are beautiful and the one step buttonholes are a DREAM! It has 110 different stitches, although, I doubt i'll use them all. I would also like to point out that this machine is reviewed rather favorably on
Pattern Review.

I've also been a fairly busy bee sewing lately. In the last month i've made 4 dresses and a top for me, and 2 dresses for DD. Now, you might argue that her two dresses and two of mine don't really count because they are made from that pre-shirred fabric from JoAnns, but the fact that I had to sew a seam should count for something! lol Seriously, if you want something fast and easy, this stuff is for you. YOu just buy your yardage, then sew the seam. Yep, it's that easy. It really awsome if you have young daughters. They love these dresses!



Here is a pic of Burda 8377. Along with my getting-bigger-by-the-day belly. I don't understand how I look so big. I've only gained 6 pounds so far!


Last but not least is Simplicity 3762. This is the third time i've made a garment from this pattern. It is so easy to make. If you need maternity patterns, I highly recommend this one! For the dress I added 13 inches to the length, and it's perfect! The fabric is from Fashionista Fabrics

The verdict is in....

...We have an undetermined!



Went for my 5th ultrasound today. Yes, 5th, and still no idea what i'm having. We think it might be a boy, but the technician couldn't be sure. The heartbeat indicates that we have a boy, and during the ultrasound, she thinks she might have seen a penis, BUT once she thought she saw little girl parts. On a happy note, everything else looks great. I even got one of those new 3D pictures of my baby!

Oh, for those of you who haven't figured it out already, i'm about 21 weeks pregnant.

Burda Easy Fashion Spring/Summer

Normally I try and stay away from 'extra' pattern magazines and patterns that I don't have easy access to. But for some reason the Spring/Summer issue of Burda Easy Fashion sucked me right in! I couldn't help it. I have been searching high and low for a dress pattern like this



So, naturally I head on over to GLP News to see if I can order the magazine from there. Boy, they sure are accomidating! lol Just as a side note, you can order the regular Burda WOF magazines from them too. I have used them for the last few years, and I reccomend them if you are looking for WOF.

Anyway, for $15, you get 2 issues of easy fashion. That's not bad, considering the price included first class shipping from Germany. I'm not sure about shipping times. Hopefully the magazine will get here soon, as I am looking forward to making a dress from the above top pattern. As many of you know, i'm pregnant. I figure that now would be the best time for me to have a top like this since it's the first, and probably ONLY time i'll ever have boobs! lol Wish me luck, and i'll post an update when the magazine arrives!

First Fabric of 2009

Well, I was doing really well not buying any fabric this year UNTIL I found out Melody over at Fashionista Fabrics was having a sale. I got two different knits to make some more maternity tops (see post below).

I didn't do too much of damage though, only three yards. Considering that so far i've eliminated 20.5 yards from the stash this year, that three yards doesn't even count! lol

Simplicity 3762

I'm really trying to make up some maternity clothes right now. Maternity clothes are sooo expensive in the stores, that I just can't seem to bend and spend the money. I finished Simplicity 3762 a few days ago. Boy, I just love this pattern. It has views for both wovens and knits. How often does that usually come along? Anyway, here is my first version of the top. I'm sure i'll be making more.

























I am also proud to say that I have bought NO fabric so far this year. YAY me! I've also eliminated 21.50 yards from the stash at the same time. Doesn't make a dent in the stash, but it's a start! lol

Back to work and a few projects

Well, after 5 months, i'm back to work. God I hate that place. For those of you who don't know, I work at the post office. I am a mail carrier. The job is just too hard phycially, and emotionally, it's almost just as bad. Oh well, hopefully this is just temporary. I'm pregnant now, and I have a 4 year old, and we're moving to NC. Hopefully i'll be able to quit when we either move, or when the new baby gets here. Which ever comes first. The move probably.

I have managed to get quite a bit of sewing done over the last few weeks.

I made two pairs of maternity pants from Kwik Sew pattern 3324. I love this pattern. It's so easy to put togetehr. The problem is that it's very plane. On my second pair, I added some topstitching to make a mock fly, and I topstitched the croch. If I make any more of these (and I just might) i'm going to add some back pockets.





I also just finished Kwik Sew 3484 for DH. I like the pattern, but I felt like this shirt took a needless amount of time for me to complete. I still can't figure out why, as I am usually a fast sewer. perhaps it's because I was doing other projects inbetween, who knows.

Arg! Maternity pants.

I am just about 4 months pregnant. So far I've gained all of a half of a pound, so I'm not doing too bad in the weight department (although, I wasn't exactly what I would call 'svelte' before I got pregnant. So not gaining weight so far isn't a problem) While I'm not gaining any weight, I seem to be rapidly getting rounder in the belly area. My pants are getting tighter by the day, and I'm sure I'll be in maternity pants here soon.

So, today I'm in Target. I figure I'll take a look around and see what they have maternity wise. Can you believe they want $30 for a pair of maternity pants? Holy crap! Their regular, non-maternity pants are only $22. It seems like a racket to me.

Good thing I sew and I've got plenty of denim stash laying around. I picked up Kwik Sew 3324 from PatternReview the other day, and I'm going to make a few of these. There is NO WAY I'm paying $30 for a pair of pants that I'm only going to wear for 8 months.

I'll post progress here.

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

Happy New Year to you!

With the new year comes the dreaded resolutions. *Sigh* I don't normally make to many, because I know i'll probably break them before the first week of the new year is even over. I think i'm going to do things a bit differently this year though, I think i'm going to set myself a few goals, as opposed to the 'this is how it's going to be...' type deal of a resolution.

Things I plan to work on in 2009:

1) Get my stash counted, and get rid of at least a few things I know i'll never use. I added 177 yards of fabric to my stash last year, and only 84 yards left. Grrr. I'm sure I have over 1000 yards of fabric, and i'm sure a lot of it is crap i'll never use. So it's time to get it under control.

2) Sew more wearable clothing for me. It's really stupid to have all this stash and nothing to wear. Actually, I have plenty to wear, it's just that most of it is in the form of sweat pants and tee-shirts (complete with bleach spots). Hubby hates how I dress, and I have this feeling if I don't do something about it soon, I my get a visit from the What Not to Wear people. How embarassing!

3) Do more charity work. I don't do much now, so I think I should get going on it.

4) Keep a cleaner house. Man, this place is a mess!

That's it. I think they're attainable, don't you? Nothing stupid like "I'm gonna make a million dollars this year!" I'll keep you updated!