Necktie madness

"If men can run the world, why can't they stop wearing neckties? How intelligent is it to start the day by tying a little noose around your neck?" ~Linda Ellerbee

I've been working on my mom's outfit a little and have come to a standstill on it. I deconstructed the muslin and cut the pieces out of the fashion fabric, but I didn't label them in any way, the front of the fabric or the back, or which pieces are front panels or side panels. I thought I could just figure it out, but it's turning out to be quite a chore and is making me angry.

I'll get back to it but I definitely needed a break from it. In the meantime I worked on the next project I have in my queue...my dad's tie. If you recall, I bought two tie silks in the New York fashion district. I decided to use this one



to make a tie for my Dad's Christmas present this past Christmas. Well now that it's almost February, it's about time I started working on it, eh? :)

I used Kwik Sew 3183 for the pattern.



First I made a muslin to practice. It turned out so-so.





As you can see, the point wasn't exactly straight, and while you can't see it in this picture, the interfacing showed on the back, and there's a crease down the center of the tie that I couldn't get to iron out. The cool thing was that I figured out how to change the directions a little bit to fix these problems.

For the first time in my sewing experiences, I am *extremely* pleased with how it turned out! Don't get me wrong, I've liked other things I've made, but this is the first time I've felt very excited and happy about how the item looks in comparison to a store-bought item.



This tie was such a fun, quick, and relatively easy project! I do believe my Dad will be quite surprised and happy when he sees his (belated) Christmas present. :)

Back to the Future Wednesday

"Children will not remember you for the material things that you provided but for the feeling that you cherished them."
~Richard L. Evans

This year for Christmas, based on a tradition Gwen has for her nieces and nephews, I decided to take my niece who's 9 and my nephew who's 11 fabric shopping as part of their Christmas present. I told them that I wanted to make them pjs and they could pick out whatever fabric and basic design that they liked. My niece desperately wanted footie pajamas, but I was unsuccessful at finding a footie pj pattern during our shopping trip, so she settled for a nightgown and we chose this pattern:

As you may or may not remember, this is the pattern from which I made my twin nieces pjs, so I already have some familiarity with the pattern! Score! But this time I get to make the gown instead of the two pieces. For her fabric, she fell in love with this very fun, very fishy seersucker fabric.
My nephew wanted a short sleeve t-shirt pj, so we picked this pattern for him:

and he was instantly drawn to these two simpsons cotton prints. He wants the bottoms made out of the blue "I didn't do it" fabric. For the top he chose the fabric on the right called "Where's Bart" and much like "Where's Waldo" you search for Bart amongst all of the other Simpsons characters. My nephew just thought that was so totally awesome and was very excited about his pjs!


I have a few other things to finish before I get to these pjs, like my mom's outfit, and my Dad's and B's ties, but since the present was the afternoon out with me and the purchase of the fabric there's no real hurry to get them done. Though they are definitely marked high on the priority list.

Return to sewing

"A hobby is only fun if you don't have time to do it."
~Leo Beenhakker


Well I had a very nice holiday season and I hope all of you did too! Now that all the Christmas-crafting is over, it's time to resume sewing. Boy do I have a bunch to do. Right before the holiday season hit I felt no motivation to sew. Luckily for my birthday, in December, I received several gifts that will help me sew- tools and inspiration:

My mom gave me a nice cutting table and a craft lamp. Now I don't have kneel on the floor to cut and I'll be able to see much better to sew after dark.

and I got a great Japanese sewing book from my friend Gwen.


There are so many cute clothes in this! Sadly I don't think I'm actually small enough to fit into their largest size, since Japanese women tend to be on the petite side, but some of the items would make great gifts, and perhaps the patterns can be modified to fit me. All of the pictures feature polka dots, which I adore!!! So thanks Gwen, I can definitely see lots of inspiration coming from this book.

Now, after my hiatus from sewing and my new tools in hand I'm feeling the motivation. Sewing machine here I come!

Back to the Future Wednesday

"Once again, we come to the holiday season, a deeply religious time that each of us observes, in his own way, by going to the mall of his choice."
~Dave Barry

While I too will be going to the malls this holiday season (heaven help me) to buy presents this year, I'm also making some presents as well. I don't have all the details worked out just yet, but I have a few ideas in mind. Alas, I cannot post them here at this time because the people I will be making them for may read this. But I can show you the supplies I have bought so far.

These came in the mail yesterday:



an assortment of glitter and beads from the Glass Glitter and Beads Store. They are having a fabulous 15% off sale right now with the coupon code HOLIDAZE3! Looking at that picture makes me realize I didn't really buy a very colorful assortment, but they are they colors I need (I hope) for my crafting.

Next I bought these supplies from JoAnn's and Winn Dixie tonight.

2 skeins of yarn, multi-purpose craft glue, pearly blue beads and parchment paper.

Now all of these supplies will not necessarily be used together (I bet you're thinking "thank goodness for that!") But they will all be used in some craft or another this holiday season.

*note - during the Christmas holidays this sewing blog will also feature non-sewing crafts*

Life moves pretty fast...

"Sweater, n.: garment worn by child when its mother is feeling chilly."
~Ambrose Bierce

My parents came to visit this weekend. As mentioned in an earlier post, I am making Simplicity 4193 (the skirt and jacket) for my mother as a Christmas present.


I was able to get the "muslin" skirt basted together before she arrived and we fitted it to her. She's a short lady, so I had to cut off something like 3" from the bottom to get the right length. It seems to fit pretty good now, and it's ready to be deconstructed and cut out of the fashion fabric. She actually really liked the pink butterfly fabric on the skirt, so once I cut the new pieces out of the fashion fabric I'm also going to reconstruct the "muslin" so she'll have 2 skirts!

I wasn't able to get the jacket put together before she left but I worked on it today. Here's the "finished" skirt (still the muslin) and as far as I've gotten on the jacket.


The jacket is HUGE! There's no way it's going to fit her. I think I'm going to have to make it a few sizes smaller. They're coming back for a very brief visit on Friday because my dad has gotten us great seats to see the shuttle launch. I had intended to have the "muslin" jacket done by then, but now since I have to basically redo the whole thing, I'm not so sure that's going to happen. Now I'm torn between starting to redo it and just leaving it as is so that she can at least get an idea of what it'll be like to make sure she's happy with her choice.

We did have time this weekend, though, to make a trip to Joann's and she picked out the fashion fabric for the skirt and the jacket. Here's what she chose:

a pink silk for the skirt and a gorgeous brown silk brocade with a turquoise, pink, and white paisley/flower pattern for the jacket. There's more turquoise than pink on the brocade, so the skirt will highlight the pink in the jacket quite nicely, I think.

It's interesting, when I was working on the muslin, I had almost no motivation to work on it. It was a chore and I just couldn't get excited about it. Now that we have the fashion fabric, though, I'm really excited about working on it, even the muslin! I'm quite amazed at how just having fun fabric for a project makes such a huge difference in my excitement and motivation for that project.

Penguin Progress hinderence

Riddle: What do you sing to a penguin on its birthday?

When I needed a break from working on the penguin costumes the last few weeks I worked on another project inspired by the costumes, and a birthday present for my friend and co-worker, Natalie since she loves penguins

I had to wait to post this until after her birthday so I wouldn't ruin the surprise, but without further ado here it is:



It's a wall hanging of a penguin with little interchangeable accessories, and friends, that are held on with velcro. A great majority of this was made with scraps from the penguin costumes, and other scraps from my bin. I'm quite happy with how it turned out! :)



Aside:
One of my kittens, Grace, LOVED the little heart. No matter where I put it she found a way to get to it and then carried it around the house. Finally I broke down and made her one. Here she is enjoying it.



Answer: Freeze a jolly good fellow.

Back to the Future Wednesday

"I've found that you don't need to wear a necktie if you can hit."
~Ted Williams, American baseball player

This week's featured future projects are the ties for B and my Dad (since neither one of them can hit). If you recall I'll be using this fabric for my Dad and making it as a Christmas present

and this fabric for B as his souvenir from NYC, albeit a few months after I actually returned.

I bought this pattern to use.

The tie seems fairly simple and straightforward, and it seems like they'll be really fun to make. Though this is my first time working with fairly expensive fabric, so I'm a little nervous about cutting into it.

Go Rays!

Past project Wednesday becomes Back to the Future Wednesday

Well I've now gotten my blog up to date on all my past projects, so past project Wednesday is now converted to Back to the Future Wednesday where I will report on the projects I have lined up and/or need to get to.

Next on my list is an outfit I'm making for my mother, she picked out Simplicity 4193 for me to make her the skirt and the jacket as a Christmas present.

She's coming to visit the second week of November, so while she's here we will go shopping for the fashion fabric and hopefully I will have a muslin version ready for a fitting. I think she's a brave woman agreeing to this considering these will be my first adult pieces of clothing to sew. :-O

Though she may not have actually realized this yet.

Past Project Wednesday

"Methinks it is a token of healthy and gentle characteristics, when women of high thoughts and accomplishments love to sew; especially as they are never more at home with their own hearts than while so occupied."
~Nathaniel Hawthorne, The Marble Faun, 1859


I needed a gift for a friend who sews - actually my friend from after the dress who started *me* sewing. So, I felt like it had to be a good sewing kind of gift, and since I really enjoy making gifts, I made this pincushion

side 1


side 2



following this tutorial . It was actually pretty easy. I made a couple of them, and lo and behold decided I liked this first one I made. Why did I make a couple you might ask? Well first of all after I finished the first I learned how to do invisible stitches. Since the first one had my own version of a closing stitch and I wasn't real happy with it, I felt I needed to make another. Also, the first version was pink (her favorite color) and white on one side and green and white on the other
so I thought I'd try to make an all pink and white one. Ultimately though, I liked the contrast of the pink and green, so I decided to fix the closing stitch, and give the first one.

Finally, I made shrinky dink pins from this tutorial using the graphic of Gwen's designer label to put in the pin cushion. For the pins I used inkjet shrinky dink plastic.

This is the final product.

Tiger bag complete

"Lettin' the cat outta the bag is a whole lot easier 'n puttin' it back in." ~Will Rogers

I finished the bag I was making for my mom for her birthday.

My mom teaches at a high school where the mascot is the tiger and their colors are orange and brown. I think it will make a cute school bag for her.

The inside has a big pocket and a divided pocket.

The details:
This bag was quite a project and I only got it done in a weekend because I pretty much did nothing else the entire weekend. Next time I think I'll give myself a little more time for gift making.

The bag is formed by the patchwork layer (cotton fabric), a layer of buckram, 2 layers of fusible fleece, and another cotton fabric for the lining. Sewing all of that together was a bit difficult for my machine. I broke the needle 3 times. One time because the lining had bunched up so it was extra thick. Once I realized what had happened I had to take the stitches out and redo it which was a HUGE pain considering I was using a small stitch length. Also, getting all of those layers under the foot was a feat in itself. I think my machine is a bit grumpy after all that.

I hand stitched the binding on the top, and that was quite a chore, though I eventually got the hang of making the slip stitch and it got much easier. Overall I'm pretty satisfied with it despite the fact that more swear words were used in the making of this project than all of the others combined. :) I don't think I'd make it again necessarily, but I'm glad I tried it once.

Well my quote works two-fold. There's a slight chance (very slight) that my mom might read this and the cat will be out of the bag, and also one of the kittens decided to take a nap in it and I managed to snap a picture before she hopped out.

Birthday present project

"All women become like their mothers. That is their tragedy. No man does. That's his."
~Oscar Wilde, The Importance of Being Earnest, 1895

My mother's birthday is coming this Friday. Eep! I had no idea what to give her. So I decided to make her this bag


McCall's 5598





















Finding a bag pattern I liked was easy. Choosing 4+ fabrics is turning out to be not so easy. I spent over an hour last night dragging poor B around making him help me make decisions only to say to him "well I dunno that I really like that, actually." :) He was quite a trooper though.

My first thought, since my mom is a French teacher, was to find some cute fabric with scenes of Paris or the Eiffel tower on it like these Michael Miller fabrics














But they didn't have anything even close at my local Joann's. We scoured the shelves and came up empty handed. As an after thought we checked the red tag clearance and found a nice cotton fabric with tiger heads on it. The reason for the tiger print is that the high school where she teaches' mascot is the tiger, and their colors are brown and orange. She has a lot of school spirit - she wears orange and brown clothes, she has tiger stickers that she puts on the students papers sometimes and she has various other tiger school supplies - so I think she might really like it if the patchwork was some combination of tigers and brown and orange fabrics. Though I only found 3 fabrics that I liked for the patchwork so I was thinking of repeating the tiger fabric for one of the 4 squares.

The cool thing is that my mom used to sew. She still does a little, but I think mostly to mend. She never got a chance to teach me, but now when I have questions I can call her up and ask her and she does the best she can over the phone. So I think she'll really appreciate the handmade bag.