Sewing ADD

I can't seem to finish anything these days. I broke down and bought myself a new sewing machine for my birthday. This was over a month ago.

True Love. We can grow old together and have matching rocking chairs. Sigh. 

I actually finished the sofa, it spends all it's time under a sheet to keep the fur off of it. ... I need to figure out a better way to keep it clean... how does one slip cover a camel back sofa?   Thoughts? I have made:

• two pairs of PJ's for EZ's mom.
• a throw sized quilt
• two ugly throw pillows
• half a mermaid costume. 
• half a jacket for my sister
• a cocktail dress
• half a pair of drop front pants for the BF 

These were made from left over canvas  from the sofa. I dyed them. ... they were supposed to be mustard and navy. I also thought it'd be a good idea to try to shirr canvas. I'm not the brightest crayon sometimes. These will be re-dyed or scrapped haven't made up my mind yet. 

The pillow was made from a freeby sweater. I most certainly don't wear a size small, but I couldn't pass up the wool/CASHMERE  blend in such a pretty cable knit! 

 Lazy person's quilt. AKA a rag quilt, 5'x5' flannel on the back so cozy, sorry the pictures suck, not like you're reading this right now. hardy-har-har.  Also clipping the fuzzy rag seams, is taking a million years, so another unfinished project.

Detail of cuff

My first machine button holes, I'm stupid proud of these suckers

I can explain!!! a million years ago, when I was a wee lass learning to sew, I lost my buttonhole foot. Never bought another one, and thus never learned how to use this wonderfully simple, magical tool.

Flannel and cotton shirting

 Occasionally I get the urge to make something completely unpractical. It's half Simplicity 4043, half Jenny. Like BurdaStyle high-waisted pencil skirt, Jenny, because I am fat and do not wish to offend anyone with my corpulence. I can't wait for Halloween, can you tell?   

The dress was a plum colored cotton sateen. Another BurdaStyle pattern. Sewed together like a dream, fit like a glove. I put it on an less than an hour before we needed to leave to get to the wedding and the damned zipper decided to separate. I don't think EZ's ever seen someone swear like a sailor and cry at the same time.   I had swore I'd burn the damned-able dress and give up Coats and Clark zippers, but, alas I am weak. Really, find me another brand of zipper that is available locally and I will love you forever. 

A week of two ago I tried on a pair of cigarette pants. I am 5'9" and they looked like Hobbit pants. I bought them anyway, because I am an idiot. The thought of such an Audrey Hepburn esq. garment makes me drool a bit. I wised up and decided to make a pattern from my favorite skinny jeans. Do you have any idea how hard it is to find jeans these days that have a zipper longer than 2" inches in them, I mean like honest to god (or whoever) medium rise jeans? Anyway the fabric for those is in the dryer along with these two beauties:

Rust colored linen/rayon blend and a quilter's cotton print. 

New throw pillows?

I have things I *should* be working on, like that dress for the wedding that is less than 2 weeks away.... Instead I've been working on my Halloween costume, It fits great! I made a full bust adjustment and redrafted the pattern to have built in lapels instead of lapels as a separate pattern piece, which is the stupidest thing I've seen in a while. I also reshaped the upper collar since it wouldn't lie right in the back. I hate it. It's so PLAID! too....sigh. Why can I not picture things in my head better? Any suggestions ? maybe I'll scrap the whole thing and make a mermaid outfit instead....

Even the dress dummy looks fat in this thing.

I made this thing last weekend.

I've been on a quest to make work appropriate clothing that feels like pajamas.This little beauty is fleece. Unfortunately it's still too warm to wear it. I also made the ubiquitous BurdaStyle Jenny, it was a breeze to make and is to my surprise extremely comfortable, I can't wait to wear it with patterned tights! Cool weather now, please! 

Please ignore the button gap,
I swear I fixed it before leaving the house!

The best part about this skirt is the finishing inside, wish I had a picture, all the seams are finished with this darling lime green w/ white polka dot bias tape. 

Legs, Rambling.

Bought my first pair of respectable scissors today. 8" Gingher shears. Perfection. I ran home as quickly as I could, excited to make something. I had a skirt in mind. Something I should be able to draft easy-peasy. Self faced yoke, pockets, invisible zipper. Simple. ......... Until I tried it on and realized the thing is like 6 inches too big. I can't figure out what I did wrong I measured (both myself and my pieces) twice! I followed my seam allowances, I even held it up to myself (like a good little corner cutter) before attaching the waistband to the skirt. WTF? I figure I have 3 options. 1.) fix it 2.) toss it 3.) put on 30 pounds. sigh. I'd show you pictures (it turned out well otherwise) but it won't stay on my dress form, so I'm going to go bitch and moan and scream outside and get over it.

At least the scissors look pretty. 

Despite my apparent loss of sewing skills other things seem to be going well. I found the arm pieces to the wing back.... they were hiding in the footlocker I painted two weeks back. Moving will do that. I swear this has been the most finicky part of the process, getting them evenly spaced and setting them with out them bending has been pain.

The sofa legs are looking good. 

Before

I usually avoid painting wood but this is a (cheap) reproduction, so I'm not feeling guilty. I liked the solid white, but ended up adding another color paint for some fun. I'm hoping it's not too much...

I get to order fabric next week. Woot!

And lastly I found this by the dumpster. Don't ask. Thinking about cleaning it up, painting it, putting pictures behind it (or fabric!) and adding some old glass pulls to hang coats on. \Maybe after I finish some other things, eh?

Scissors, Rambling.

My Patterns of Fashion finally came in. I feel like a real (historical) seamstress now! ... that doesn't read with the sarcastic Pinocchio voice it does in my head. I'll get into some disasters with it sometime soon I'm sure, but where to put it until then... it's a really awkward size. Anyway. The real excitement in my life has been scissors. I went to the flea market yesterday and scored a sweet pair of vintage Wiss pinking shears for 5 bucks. Unfortunately I whisked them off to be sharpened before getting any pictures. On the up side of things the place sharpening them is two blocks from my house. Every day for the last three years I have driven by this neat-looking hobby shop and have never found sufficient reason to stop in until it came up on my Google search. Go figure. I was dreaming of scissors last night, and woke up questioning my sanity. How many pairs does a girl need? Is functionality not enough?


I made a skirt yesterday, it was so adorable.... in my head. It was supposed to be one of those (almost) instantly gratifying one-hour projects....instead its just one ugly skirt. It's too poofy? It's unflattering. It make me look like a really awkward 12 year old girl. I shudder just thinking about it. So it was banished to the UFO purgatory, to await fiery death or possible reincarnation. It has pockets... it needs help, thoughts? Look at how disgustingly cute this fabric is!

In other news, after fiddling around with so many failed (I mean unfinished.... right) projects and so many *ahem* distractions. I've decided I can at least try to look good doing nothing. So I got to work organizing and found that there was indeed a desk under the rubble or should I say rubbish? TADA!

Really Useful Boxes. Really, that's what they're called.