Summer projects

I got a lot more stuff cut out a couple of weeks ago before I visited family in Seattle. It feels good to have made a dent in the (neatly stacked and organized) piles on the cutting table. This week, things will slow down and I'll have my evenings free again, so I'm ready to make a dent in the (neatly stacked) pile of cut-out projects while watching the rest of my Fred and Ginger boxed set and trying not to cry during "The Story of Vernon and Irene Castle". Gets me every time.

My niece told me that I need to make a brown dress because she has a brown dress. Little does she know that I have some brown shirting with pink and red stripes just waiting to be cut out! Hooray! I've knitted a few more washcloths and am starting to feel a little more confident about actually achieving my goal to knit a sweater this year. My sister wants to get a big order of flour-sack towels to embroider and give away or sell, because we both have great ideas for such things. That may be a project for this summer as well.

That is, of course, if I can get my major summer project up and running by the end of May.

I'm making a wedding dress for a dear and lovely friend, and I'm SO excited I can't stand it.

That's right--a wedding dress.

I smile every time I think about it!

a-hem.

I've had three pairs of pants in my sewing room waiting to be hemmed for, oh, three weeks now. I haven't hemmed them because I've been wearing skirts more, but last night before I went to bed, I thought, "I miss my brown, green, and pink plaid pants and I want to wear them tomorrow with my pink sweater. I'll have plenty of time to hem them and wash and dry my hair in the morning!" and then I went softly to sleep. Until my alarm(s) went off between 6:05 and 6:31 AM. I thought about staying in bed for a few more minutes, and then remembered that I was going to hem some pants. "10 minutes," I thought. "Maybe 15."

However, when I got to the sewing room at 6:50, I had to try them on because I hadn't marked them earlier. Then I had to press out the old hem, which involved setting up my sleeve board, finding the spray bottle, and plugging the iron in after moving the lamp. Then I had to find thread that matched. Then I decided to do a blind hem instead of regular hem. Then I had to change presser feet and wind a bobbin of the thread that was close enough but not perfect. And then I had to adjust the stitch width. Then I had to press again. Then I had to put everything away.

Then I looked at the clock. And it was 7:15. The hair is curly-dried-naturally today instead of the smoothed-with-hairdryer-and-round-brush look I was aiming for, but the pants are hemmed and I made it to work on time (barely).

Remind me to make sure I have matching thread for the other two pairs of pants the night BEFORE I want to wear them.

Ugh.

Yeah, I'm a big talker.

Anyway. I love plaid. Love it. I also love pleats. This is a serious problem, because I hate matching plaids when I'm cutting things out. I have this great (ugly to some) plaid wool (actually I have three different wools) that I want to make skirts with and I love pleated plaid skirts and I put off cutting anything out because matching plaids is so annoying to me. And, once they're matched perfectly and being sewn, I remember that I don't have a walking foot or one with those little rollers on it, and even though we have great differential feed on this machine, the plaids nearly always come out just a fraction of an inch off. I'm talking MAYBE 1/16 of an inch. Enough to annoy me.

*sigh* I'm cursed, I tell you! Cursed!

2009

You know, I didn't get a lot of sewing done over the holidays. I'm a little disappointed in myself, but I'm glad I spent time with family and friends instead of locking myself in the sewing room for 10 hours a day. I'm trying to come up with realistic goals for this year--I had previously thought about doing a project a week, but then I realized that I'll probably have a lot on my plate this year and don't want to cause even more stress by trying for the nearly impossible. I think, instead, that I'll go for a project a month. That seems easier to accomplish, right? Yes.

I've decided as well that I want to improve my knitting skills enough to make a sweater by Christmas. This means that I'll need to practice, and practicing entails lots of scarves, washcloths, hats, etc. Because I really don't have room for a lot of stuff right now (seeing as how I don't have a house or apartment), I'll probably be giving stuff to people. If you like a project I'm doing (and I'll post progress photos), let me know and I'll send it to you. I love knitting and crocheting, but I'm realistic enough to know that I can't keep everything...so I might as well give it to someone who can use it!

Next up for the knitting: washcloths. Lots of them. I can get probably 3 washcloths out of one "super size" skein of Sugar n Cream yarn (I have a weird fondness for variegated things), and I have purchased something like 8 skeins lately. Before you scoff, I will tell you right now that knitted washcloths last forever--I found a pattern by a woman who says her knitted cloths have lasted 10 years--and are very absorbent. I made a test one for my mom and she's quite pleased. Pleased enough to want to find crochet cloth patterns and make them for her sisters. My sister wants me to make her several of them in red and bright green, and I'm happy to comply. If you want to try one, let me know and I'll throw one on the needles!

I'm still working on my sampler scarf, and I plan to knit a blue wool scarf in a "divided squares" pattern--the squares are divided diagonally in a half-knit, half-purl pattern and it's quite nice. I chose a solid almost-Williamsburg blue wool for this and I'm excited to see how it turns out.

I'm just about done crocheting a black boucle scarf. It's the same triple-crochet I did for Laresa's afghan and it's a nice lacy effect when you use a size N hook on a thinner yarn. That should be done this weekend. I have a bridal shower tomorrow but when I get home from that, I'm cutting out pajamas and skirts and I hope to sew a skirt and a dress before church on Sunday.

Happy New Year!

The continuing story

Continued from HeidiAphrodite.

A list of recent fabric yardage and the project into which said yardage will be sewn, links to be added later.

2.625 yds of fine-wale red corduroy. It was going to be a skirt for me, but then I decided that I'd rather have a nice wool suiting skirt instead. I'm tossing around the idea of lengthening View A of this pattern to something at least mid-calf, if not longer. So I'll need to head to Hancock and get a couple of yards of their red wool while I still can. As of yesterday, I think I'll use the corduroy for skirts for my mom and sister, or just a dress for my sister. She's not as tall as me--there should be plenty for a simple dress.

4 yds of that pretty rose-colored damask I posted about earlier, to be made into the 3/4 sleeve version of this.

4 yds of cream cotton with a very pretty brown filigree butterfly print on it, to be made into this, except with sleeves. I'll be using the cummerbund effect of View B on View A, and finding an appropriate sleeve.

3.5 yds of red flannel-backed satin for pajamas for Laresa.

1.5 yds of pink flannel-backed satin with a cute penguin print for pajama pants for me.

3.5 yds of sky blue cotton with snowflakes and sparkles for pajamas for Bethani (I just need the style, Bethani!). I have a couple of surprises in mind for this project and I'm excited about it!

4 yds (maybe 3? I don't rightly remember) of that pretty sea-green wool I talked about in an earlier post somewhere that will become a skirt for mom and a dress for me, even if I have to buy another yard just to guarantee I have enough. The skirt will match the 4 or so yards of green and blue flowered silk I bought a few months ago, which will be made into a top to match said skirt.

2 yds of tan, rust, and sage green plaid wool from Pendleton Woolen Mills. I've had this for YEARS and I need to finally make a skirt out of it. I'm debating between bias cut or straight, but it will definitely be an A-line, possibly with pockets, and it will definitely be lined. I'm also definitely grateful the plaid is big, and therefore easier to match. Because Heaven forbid my plaids should be off by 1/8"! I'm serious.

I have a circle skirt of rust and brown plaid that I've been meaning to cut down into something a little more manageable. Probably another A-line or 1/4 circle skirt. It all depends on what works with what I have.

3 yds of a purple and ivory herringbone that was too pretty to pass up. It'll be a skirt, I just have to decide what pattern to use.

I have an awesome tapestry skirt that taught me, very painfully, to PRESHRINK before I sew! Now I wash pretty much everything (except stuff like acetate, polyester, and wool, but even then I'll usually give it a shot) before cutting it, because that beautiful tapestry skirt shrank on me and the only way to get it bigger is to cut off a few inches from the top and make it shorter. If that makes any sense. I'll have to move the zipper down and adjust to a shorter skirt that used to be almost ankle-length. I should have bought everything on the bolt because I've never found a prettier tapestry. *sigh* I still feel stupid about that one.

This week I also need to finish weaving in the yarn ends on Laresa's afghan and do some mending, including letting out some hems of supposed "long" pants that still aren't quite long enough. Silly Gap. Good thing they do deep hems.

Wish me luck--it's quite a goal to have all of this done next week!

The time has come...

I hate cutting things out. It's my least favorite part of sewing. In order to make the whole process less annoying, my dad built a wheeled platform for an old desk that is our cutting table. The platform puts it at a really good height, and allows a lot of storage space underneath. Last year on the day after Thanksgiving, I braved the crowds (even got up early!) and bought a large rotary cutting mat (30x60 inches) so that we no longer have to use two smaller ones butted together. I also now have two rotary cutters--a regular size and a small size--to make those tricky curves easier to deal with. I recently bought a soapstone marker after remembering that it's much better than chalk, disappearing ink, pencil, or transfer paper (although each one of those has its place and can be very useful for certain fabrics) and I've really enjoyed using it. I have a magnetic pin cushion, my ninja scissors (the earlier version of the pair I linked to), pattern weights, a wall-mounted TV, a DVD player, a stereo, a nicely climate-controlled room with easy access to snacks (the storage room) and company (the family room).

And yet I still have a hard time getting motivated to cut anything out. Once it's on the table and I know how I'm laying out the pattern, I'm very quick at it. I learned some shortcuts (cutting little slashes in the seam allowance instead of cutting out darts) that have made it even faster, but I still don't like the whole preparation bit of it.

Maybe this weekend, if I have a spare four hours, I will put in my new Fred and Ginger DVDs and force myself to stay in the sewing room until I've cut out at least two dresses and some pajamas. IF I have a spare four hours... *sigh*

A High-fiber Lunch

Thanks to Lisa, who made a really bad (and awesomely funny) pun when I told her I was going to the fabric store on my lunch break, I have title for my blog. Actually, I had to go to the fabric store because I have to reinforce the buttons on my pretty wool coat and I (GASP) don't have the right color of thread amongst my dozens of spools. I was pretty shocked. So I told Lisa with the magic of IM that I needed to go, and she said "Sounds like a healthy lunch full of fiber". It made me laugh.

I did come back with some fiber, and not just thread! I found a really pretty sea-greenish lightweight wool that would make a really pretty dress like unto this or this from Boden. For me or my mom. Or maybe both of us! I have just under 4 yards of 60" wide fabric, and that should be plenty for a simple little dress like that. What's surprising about finding that wool is that the wool selection around here has been absolutely dismal for the last few years with the exception of some nice coat-weight wool felts that I have no use for at this time. What's also surprising is that I got it for only $9.99 a yard. I did some quick calculating (initial cost divided by days worn) and realized that it would be a bargain to get a nice dress (or two) for $40. Now I just need to find a pattern or get really adventurous and "kitbash" a new pattern out of what I already have.

Next up, actually make the brown butterfly dress and the orange velveteen skirt (prettier than it sounds, I assure you) and some pleated skirts (corduroy? wool? a magic blend of some kind?). And buy some long socks (or these! because look how cute!) to keep my little legs warm.