Been a Long Time

Hello Friends! Yes, I'm still here. I've been in a very complicated escrow this summer and coupled with work, I've been extremely busy. I'm hoping that escrow will close this month and I will be able to get my home sorted out. Living in an apartment for the past seven months has been difficult at best. So, keep your fingers crossed for me.

Sergers

Hello, readers.

I was reading some of my favorite sewing blogs today and I came across Gertie’s post about her Bernina 1008.  I started to think about the machines I’ve had throughout my life and it reminded me of the difficulty I always seem to have with my little Brother 1034 serger.

I really like having the serger because I love the way it makes my garments look so finished.  It isn’t an overlock, sad to say, but it has served its purpose, for the most part.  It does have the tendency to jam though, and I’ve posted about this problem a few times in the past.

This last week as I was making the jacket for my boy, my serger once again jammed and no matter how many times I rethreaded all four threads, it still jammed up.  I really don’t want to take it to be repaired because that’s going to cost $100+.  Not only that, I’m finding that I really only use it to finish my seam edges and nothing else.

So, my question to you is this:  should I put the serger away for a while and experiment with other seam finishes (as I’ve been doing anyways) or should I fork out the greenbacks to get it serviced?

Decisions, decisions.

The Boy's Jacket

I’m using Simplicity 2292 for my son’s jacket.  It’s a very easy pattern but I can’t say that the directions are very good.  Things were going along swimmingly until I hit the sleeves.

The directions for the sleeves must be incorrect.  Stay with me here.  I followed the pattern to the letter.  I stitched up the sleeve seam, prepared the cuff, and just as I was going to attach the cuff, I realized that the sleeve opening was too small to fit in my machine.  I then realized that I should have attached the cuff prior to stitching the sleeve.  It would have made far more sense to do it this way as children’s clothing generally will not fit over the sewing machine.

Needless to say, I was frustrated because I attached twill tape to the outside of the sleeve which took some time and then spent more time trying to fix my serger that had decided to make trouble once again.  As a result, I made no progress on the jacket last night.  Tonight, I will be recutting the sleeves and attaching the twill tape once again.  Before I stitch up the seams, I will attach the cuffs, then the seams and then attach the sleeves to the body.

Whew!

Sounds of Silence

Sorry for the silence, folks.  Been busy at work and at home.  We have put an offer on some property in wine country out here in Temecula and since it’s a short sale, it is dragging on forever.  We are tempted to begin looking again, as we haven’t heard much on it but it meets all our  wants so we are waiting for it.  It’s been two months.  Hopefully, it won’t be much longer.

In sewing news, I’ve been working on a jacket for my boy made out of some lovely gray flannel (I will post pictures later).  It has turned out to be a very easy pattern and I can easily see myself making more of these.  I’ve also cut out the quilting fabric into 5” squares.  Next on that list is to cut white fabric sashing.

In addition to being busy at work, I’ve been busy changing my diet and exercising.  I’ve lost four pounds in about 3 weeks.  Not bad.  Of course, those blue Collette pants I made don’t fit anymore.  They are too loose around the hips.  Oh, drat!  Maybe I will just take them apart and re-fit them to my new measurements.  I’m not posting pictures yet because I personally don’t see any change although my husband says he does.

Have a great day!

I finally got my quilt back and it’s gorgeous!  I found rose-colored quilt binding at Joann’s and used it.  My first binding and its ok.  Lot’s of flaws in this first quilt but I love, love, love the stippling! 

While I was in Joann’s, I ran into a lady who was purchasing some quilting fabric and this is what she bought.

Yes, it was so gorgeous that I just had to get some, too. This will be my next quilt.

The next project will be working on a jacket for my little guy.  He’s growing out of all his jackets and in California, we have these cool morning that require something light weight.  This is a lovely charcoal flannel fabric that I think will work well.

That’s all for now, dear readers.  What  projects are you working on?

The Story of the Never-Ending Clover Pants

….can finally end!  I got my sewing machine back and finished them up and I love them!!

Don’t they look great?

With very little adjustment, the pants fit like a dream.

In fact, they were so easy to make and I’m so enthralled with my blue pair that I thought I would make a red pair, too!

If you haven't made a pair of Colette Patterns Clover Pants, I highly recommend you do.  They are fabulous!

Clover pants - now the REAL never-ending story!

Hello, readers.  Well, it happened.  I was finishing up my clover pants, re-attaching the new waistband, feeling the love of finally being able to wear them when my sewing machine started making really funny noises.  No warning, no problems.  Just suddenly, as if it was revolting against my using it.  So, I focused on trying to fix it, thinking there was a jam somewhere.  The bobbin kept on getting knotted up and I couldn't figure it out. 

Yesterday, I took it into the repair shop and they discovered that my bobbin casing kept shifting.  No explanation as to why.  But, the bad news is that my machine will be in the repair shop for at least a week.

So, my Clover pants, all pinned and ready to be finished lay on my sewing desk.

My frustration knew no bounds!

So, not wanting to waste any time, I decided I could prep future patterns.  I got some new fabric from Fashion Fabrics Club.  The red I want to use to make another pair of Clover pants.  The other is more of a winter fabric that I won't be using yet.

I've decided I want to make Colette Jasmine top with some printed aqua rayon blend and I have some nice printed cotton to make another Sorbetto (sorry, I didn't take any pictures of them).  I also have some white bull denim fabric for Simplicity 2562  that Erica Bunker inspired to me make.  She made a pair using yellow bull denim.  They look great!

So, for the most part, I'm in a holding pattern until I get my machine back.  I'm hoping it doesn't cost too much nor take too long.

Do some sewing for me, ok?

Clover pants - the never-ending story

The Colette Clover pants are coming along fine.  They are almost finished and fitting very well.  I’m finding that they are gaping just a tad away from the back but not enough to be bothersome.  I don’t tuck my tops into pants anymore so I’m not too worried.  And, of course, that gaping might correct itself once I put in the zipper and finish the waistband. 

Sometimes it seems that way. Things are going well with them and I'm very excited to get them finished up.

I tried them on this morning but didn’t take any pictures because I had just gotten out of bed.  I didn’t think any of you really wanted to see me in all my morning glory.

I did make a mistake, though. 

I attached my waistband last night during my 30 minute sewing session and didn’t realize my mistake until I tried on the pants this morning. Turns out it the waistband wasn’t on the inside as I had thought but on the outside and would have shown.  So, this morning, I quickly removed the waistband and will cut out another tonight and reattach.  I also plan on finishing up the pants since this happens to be my Friday.  I only have the zipper, the left side and the hemming.

I can definitely see myself making several pairs of this pattern.  They are very quick and easy.

Classic Films

Don't you just love classic movies?  I know I do.  In fact, one of my favorite past times is sewing while I watch whatever classic movie is on TCM.  I don't get to do it often enough.  Sometimes, I have to listen to a Disney cartoon so my toddler will be occupied and I can get my 20 minutes of sewing in.  Bad mother, I know, but sometimes there's no other alternative.  When he's tired of cutting old scraps of fabric, Disney movies come in handy.

But, I grew up watching classic movies.  Channel 5 KTLA used to have a Saturday afternoon show hosted by Tom Hatten that showed Hollywood musicals and comedies.  Tom Hatten would sit in a chair and much like TCM today, would give interesting insights into the people who made the movie and how it was made.
I spend every Saturday afternoon in front of the TV watching Abbott & Costello, The Marx Brothers, Singing in the Rain, Easter Parade, and on and on and on.  I loved the singing and dancing, the comedy, the filming - everything about it.

My older sister took me to see Gone With the Wind for the first time at the local movie theater.  It was still being re-released way back then.  Many blockbusters were.  Every Easter, we would watch Ben Hur or Ten Commandments.  Every Christmas we watched all the classic Christmas movies. Needless to say, there was never a lack of classic movie watching my house.

Last week was Doris Day's birthday and true to form, TCM launched a week of Doris Day films. One of my favorites is Love Me or Leave Me starring Doris Day and James Cagney.  If you haven't seen it, I highly recommend you treat yourself to this fantastic movie.  Doris Day has never looked so beautiful and her costumes are to die for....

 Forgive the horrible picture.  I took it with my phone during the movie.  This particular dress is fabulous!  All sequins and tassels.   I was unable to find many pictures of this movie online.  Perhaps I'm just looking in the wrong places.  Trust me, you will be salivating

It Costs How Much??!!

Hello, Friends.  Today I wanted to talk about sewing tools and how much they cost. Like most sewers, I’ve spent my fair share of money on my tools, fabrics, notions, etc., and have spent a small fortune.  It has been worth it though, and I’m glad I was in a position to afford it (although I’ve yet to come across a deal on yards of fabric for $2 that I read others all over the internet are finding!).  But, does price equal quality?

Last year, I decided to purchase a new sewing machine.  It’s a Janome and although I bought it on sale, it was still more than I’ve ever spent on a sewing machine before.  My serger, a Brother 1034D was purchased on Amazon for less than $200.  I’ve been extremely happy with my Janome, the first non-Singer I’ve ever owned, as it has a whole lot of really neat features that have impressed me over the months.

Today, I was perusing the aisles of Joann’s during my lunch break today and I looked at pinking shears.  I’m not sure if I will buy a new pair as I already have a pair but, they acted up on my Clover pants pockets and things just haven’t been the same between us since.  So, thinking I might have to replace them, I stopped to look at the scissors.  As we all know, scissors aren’t cheap – well, at least good scissors aren’t cheap.  I’ve learned that, at least with sewing scissors, you get what you pay for.  Not yet ready to give up on my current pair of pinking shears, I didn’t linger too long and moved along to the next aisle.

On the next aisle, I saw the irons and began to invest some time in looking at the features of each iron.  Personally, I’ve never owned a top of the line iron.  I’ve usually stayed about mid-range or in some instances when it was an emergency, I bought a cheap iron to get me through.  As I was looking at the irons, I saw the prices and just about had a heart attack!  Some of these irons were going for $199!!  For that amount of money, the thing better make my dinner as well as perfectly iron my sewing projects.

                                         By the way, aren't these lovely trivets?

I’m sorry but, $199?  Really?  I just can’t envision any iron that works so well that it would be worth $199.  What could it do that the other models at $79 didn’t do?  Nothing.  Would it last longer?  Maybe marginally longer.  I understand that better irons do their job better but $199 worth of better?  I don’t think so.

In closing, dear readers, am I crazy to think that is far too expensive for an iron?  Do you think this is a reasonable price for an iron?  Am I missing something?

Have a great day and keep on sewing!

Clover pants

Hi Friends!  It’s another rainy day here in Southern California and I’m here to give you an update on my Clover project.  

So far, everything had gone smoothly.  I’ve been allotting about 20-30 minutes at the end of the day to sewing and I find that not only am I getting my sewing fix in, I’m making progress on my project.  Its slow going but progressing nonetheless.  (Sometimes I think I should change the name of my blog to The Slow Sewist instead because it certainly would be a more accurate portrayal of my sewing style, heh).

I traced my pattern pieces and made the necessary adjustments.  I cut and marked my fabric and stay-stitched the waist bands, etc. (I used some leftover yellow fabric for one of the waistbands.  It will be facing the inside and won’t be showing.  It would have matched with the pocket fabric but you will see what happened with that)

I moved onto the pockets.  I was going to serge the edges to keep them looking professional but my serger was acting up.  After several attempts and yards of broken thread, I came to the conclusion that my serger must have been damaged in the move.  One of the needles is hitting the needle plate and a new needle isn’t doing the trick.  I will need to take it in for adjustment, I think.  Drat!

So, I figured I would just do a zigzag stitch around the edges.

But, the pockets turned out to be really wonky after that.  The fabric I used for the pockets is lining fabric and very light weight.  I don’t think it was happy with the zigzag stitching.  *sigh*.

I decided to move on and cut new pockets out of some quilting fabric that I’ve had for years and I absolutely love.   Isn’t this pretty fabric?  It’s from a civil war collection (whose name I can’t remember) and I heard that they don’t make it anymore.  Anyhoo, it’s a little more substantial than the lining fabric and it looks good against the navy.

Instead of zigzagging around the edges, I decided to use my pinking shears.  But, low and behold, I had trouble with them, too!  They kept on getting caught up in the fabric and weren’t being very helpful.  I haven’t had this problem with them before so I don’t understand what’s up with them.  They weren’t cheap pinking shears.

I finally got the pockets sewn onto the waistband and the front waist of the pants.  Tonight I will be sewing the darts and the legs together and do a little fitting. 

Wish me luck!

Bags, bags and more bags

Hello friends!  There’s been something on my mind for quite some time and I’d like to talk about it.  Purses.  They come in all shapes and sizes, all different colors and styles.  Some are beautiful and some are downright ugly.

Here is a picture of my dream purse but I cannot find it anywhere for less than $300.  That’s too rich for my blood. (No, that's not me holding it.  It's some other very lucky woman!)

I have a real love/hate relationship with purses.  Because women’s clothing is all about looks, not about practicality and is mostly produced without pockets, I have to carry a purse just to carry my necessities, I.D., lipstick, nail file, etc.  I’ve whittled my necessities down to the point where I can have a small cross-body bag and it suits me perfectly. I must keep my hands free because I have a toddler that requires two hands.

Every month or so, I see a sewing magazine that inordinately has a front cover headline about purses.  Quick and easy purses!  Pretty and fabulous totes!  Purse projects for spring! The styles always change with the fashions and lately I’ve seen more patterns for clutches rather than purses. Tempted as I am to try them, I resist because none of them fit what I need – cross-body or – dare I say it? – fanny pack (on etsy).

The purses are usually pretty cute and use great fabric but I’ve never made a fabric purse. Sure, I’ve made some larger totes in neutral colors to be used at the beach or some other purpose.  They looked fine but never quite cut the mustard for my taste. But, this one is really cute.

So, I was wondering - do you like to sew purses?  How have they turned out?

No More!

Hello friends!  Today I’m going to talk about something that I just recently had a revelation about – cheap clothing.  Now, granted, we all have different reasons for sewing.  Some of us (like me) just love it as a hobby and can’t have enough fabric in our stash.  Some of us sew because we like to have our clothes fit better.  Some of us sew because we can’t stand to buy the cheap clothing we find in department stores.

Until recently, I’ve sewn just for the sheer joy of it.  Although my time is limited, I stole a few minutes each week to work on some project that was taking me far too long to finish. I’ve always looked at sewing as just a hobby, nothing more.  I would spend more time shopping to nurse my fabric obsession than sewing.  I read blogs and magazines, all about sewing, to get my sewing fix. Every now and then I would sew something to keep my hobby alive.

No more!

Lately, as I’ve done clothes shopping, I’ve really noticed how cheap all this clothing is.  I’ve shopped at Kohl’s, JC Penney’s, Coldwater Creek, Chico’s, etc., and I find the same thing over and over again – the fabric is cheap, the sewing is standard, and there’s nothing in these pieces of clothing that stand out as well-made.  Why do I want to spend my hard-earned money on this junk?? 

I know some of you may be saying “DUH!” but for me, this realization is fairly new.  Well, not really new but let’s say that it just sunk in.

Yes, I’ve always known that the clothing I was buying was substandard and not being able to afford couture shops, I just settled for what I could afford.  But I tell you, this past week as I was window shopping during my lunch hour, I couldn’t find anything that I would actually buy. As I looked through the racks of clothing,  I knew that the t-shirt I’d buy would shrink to be too short on me in the first wash.  I knew that the slacks I purchased would rip at the seams.  I knew the fabrics would fade and that the clothing would end up looking like a rumpled mess.  I also knew that I wouldn’t fork out the cash to dry clean them.  It was all so cheaply made and the fabric was such low quality that I couldn’t help but think to myself, “Why would I bother to buy this junk when I can make it so much better myself?”

Not anymore!  I’m done spending my money on crap.  I’m frustrated but this realization is born out of my frustration, really.  

My hobby is no longer just a hobby to do in my spare time.  It’s a means to create higher quality clothing that fits better and lasts longer.