Out Camping…House On Market…
Hi! Still here! Tons of news:
1. House is now on market. We don’t have our hopes set too high, housing is down, economy is in rough shape, we’ve got nothing better to do…we thought we’d throw it up and see what comes of it. I’ve been working like a Chinese Factory Worker getting it in show condition–deep clean, shampooing carpets, throwing out junk, touching up paint, polishing, packing up ALL personal items, repairing small odds and ends. Up at 5:00, to bed by 10:00, hard labor in between. I’d wake in the morning and think “5 more minutes…” My inner TaskMaster would say “GET UP! YOU DO NOT HAVE TIME TO DALLY! GET UP! GET UP! GET UP!”
It’s been 3 weeks of absolute torture. I’m done and the house looks great. If it doesn’t sell, well…I still live in a gorgeous house.
2. My dress form came in!!! I am so excited! (Exclamation Points!!!) I haven’t had time to really play with it because of our decision to put the house up for sale. I’m working on a new summer dress; that’s on it right now.
I left a nice review for the book “Fit Made Easy” on Amazon.com and Jill Ralston, co-author of “Fit Made Easy” copied it to the Fabulous Fit website. I found out by calling Fabulous Fit to get a status update of shipping for my dress form and she was nice enough to thank me for my review. I asked if she would autograph my copy of “Fit Made Easy” if I sent it to her. She did. Her autograph included the advice “….Play!…” This IS play. Playing with Barbies wasn’t this much fun. So I’m having a ball!
Hmmm…Well, this is interesting…
I haven’t forgotten about this blog. I’ve been sewing and surprisingly, having some great results. I’m starting to feel pretty good and confident about garment construction.
After that Very Simple Idiot-Proof Top (VSI-PT) that was a complete disaster, I got discouraged. I knew it was in the fit, I also knew that what I didn’t know about making a garment fit properly was the next hurdle to clear. So I stopped sewing and started reading and watching instructional sewing YouTube videos (hugely helpful!).
Even though I had already read Fit Made Easy , I just couldn’t quite wrap my mind the concepts. I recognized the expertise of the authors, but thought that this must be one of those books written by maestros for virtuosos. However, the next garment I started, I surprised myself by realizing after I cut it out that I had given the layout of pattern pieces on the fabric a lot of consideration. Fit Made Easy goes into great detail about the grain and cross grain lines and making sure they are in correct parallel/perpendicular order. I paid very close attention to the grain and cross grain lines. That helped like you read about. Before, I was trying to get as many pattern pieces on the fabric to conserve the leftover fabric as much as possible and giving only cursory attention to the grain lines. Additionally, I found little tidbits of info burbling up to the front of my mind during construction, which would send me off to fetch Fit Made Easy from the last place I left it so I could refer to it. It wasn’t until I physically applied Fit Made Easy to a garment under construction that the concepts started crystallize.
Fast Fit: Easy Patter Alterations For Every Figure - another good book. I’m heavy on top and have since learned that off the rack ready to wear AND store bought patterns are designed for the generic bust: a B cup. I haven’t been a B cup since I was a teenager. I think I may have spent 6 months as a B Cup as a passing phase onto full blown high end of C’s. Not quite there on the D side, thank God for “small” (**Pun Alert!**) favors!
All the reading and YouTube vids introduced me to a thing called Full Bust Adjustment (FBA). This is an industry term. Now, it could be that I’ve just read enough and watched all those instructional videos on the subject so the seed had been planted and cultivated, but Fast Fit was the book that gave me the confidence needed to boldy slash an FBA alteration on the pattern. Seriously…you slash the pattern open where you need more room, lay it out again so it lays flat, tape tissue paper under where you’ve opened it up, pin the darts closed to make sure the pattern fits, flatten it back out… Fast Fit made it easy breezy lemon squeezy where before it was difficult, difficult lemon difficult.
Lastly, this third book which got me fired up and inspired~The Dressmaker’s Handbook of Couture Sewing Techniques: Essential Step-by-Step Techniques for Professional Results This book is AWESOME! I was so galvanized, I went directly upstairs and grabbed some cute tie-dyed fabric I’d been saving until I got better at this and put together a darling knit top. (Sorry, pics/Lessons Learned to be posted later when the photographer, AKA The Whoosbando, gets home). Came out just cuter than a brand new puppy. Until I washed it. In my excitement, I forgot I hadn’t washed this particular fabric and it shrunk a bit in the dryer after construction…I’ll go ahead and wear it anyway, but still.
Then…I made this pattern~View A:
Again, can’t post a pic until the Official Photographer gets home from his day job, but I will post a pic and Lessons Learned as soon as I can. But just know–
I’m over the moon in how it turned out. I did do an FBA on it (Great Success!) although there were some other areas I had obstacles to work through (Successfully as well!). But that is the subject of my next post…soon, I hope.
You know? I can do this.
50% Off? Whaaaa….?
So, about that dress form. The company, Fabulous Fit® is having a 50% Off sale. What that means is I’m getting the Pro Matrix Full Body Dress Form. For comparison, the one I was going to get, this one:
…is about $700 (comes w/2 attachable arms, and the company’ Patented Fitting System). This one is NOT on sale.
But this one:
…just went half-priced for $1100. So, for $400 more…, I can have the super-whammo-dyne Pro Matrix. Could not be more thrilled!
Husband: Hey! I’m going broke with how you save me money!
Me: I know, honey, I know.
I also ordered their book, “Fit Made Easy“. Good info in this book and I’m impatiently waiting for the dress form to come in. I don’t think the company has a warehouse that they ship these forms out, maybe they just make them to fill orders. It’ll take about 3-4 weeks. One week down, 2-3 weeks to go. I really need it.
In the meantime, I threw together a very simple idiot-proof top (think: no-frills summer top). And it does not fit right! Yea!
Why “Yea!” ? Well, after reading “Fit Made Easy“, I can recognize corrections that need to be made and today, I get to spend all day long in my sewing room doing play-play with some new found knowledge! See? Yea! Sure, it’ll be more fun with my new dress form, but I’m looking forward to it putting what I read about in the book to practical use. Play-Play.
I’m toying with starting a new quilt today. That’ll help burn through the 2-3 weeks waiting for my dress form. I’ve got some gorgeous fabric upstairs but I don’t dare cut into it for clothing right now. I can only sew with fabrics I bought on sale for $3.00/yd because I suck at garment construction for the moment. I’d like to play with my pretty fabric.
Just something in the back of my head I’m thinking about.
NOTE: This is a beginner’s effort…for pete’s sake! (What Do You People Want From Me?)
Okay…here’s my very first 2 items o’wearable clothing. I hope I get better at this because right now–I just suck at it **(buries head in folded arms and sighs deeply)**.
Here’s the jersey top. Sewn completely on the new Serger. New Record!!! Not only was every single seam sewn, ripped out and re-sewn multiple times (overlock/twin needle combo serger seams, no less) but this top was cut out, sewn, seams ripped, resewn, thrown away, re-cut, sewn, seams ripped and re-sewn. And still, I do not expect this top to survive the washing machine due to some waffling on the seam lines. But I learned a lot. I also noticed…boy howdy do I have a set of sweater zepplins or what??? Why would some women pay to have those huge things implanted? They just get in the way of a good fit. The only reason I mention this is in looking at the picture here, I’m wondering if darts around those pumpkins would have helped to give a better shape and create a smoother fit.
I liked the twin needle seams a lot and plan to be using that more and more, although I noticed way too late in the game that I probably would have liked it more with a better coordinating color thread than white…
Also, I made an alteration in the shoulders. Had to sorta guess at how much to alter and I see that the boat neck rides up too high in the back. Not sure how to fix it without taking it apart and that is just not going to happen. I’m done with this.
I LOVE what replacing the back pleats with darts did for the fit. Now, the front view:
I want to say, I do not have the right figure for this jumper and I blame the pleats in the front. My bust is too big to be able to pull front pleats off but again, this is just one of the things a beginner learns. I did create my own darts on the bodice which helped a lot. If I was not so eager to put this project to bed and get on with the next pattern on my list, I would go back and take the pleats out and replace them with darts just to see what would happen as I’m really pleased with the darts in the back, but this project is officially done.
Of course, if I come across a classified want-ad for milk maids on a Wisconsin dairy farm, this jumper should meet all uniform standards.
Still, even though I think this jumper may be too “young” for me to wear, I’m proud of my beginner’s effort on it. I had a flash of brilliance last night that I should go back and look through some old pictures of Jane Russell and the like, when that full figure was in vogue and look at the styles they wore. Luckily at my age, I still have a shape. It’s curvy-wurvy but it’s a shape.
Lessons Learned: Garments look better when matched to your shape, which is why I need a dress form. I can’t make the necessary corrections while I’m wearing it so I end up making guesses about where alterations should be made. Also, I would have seen during the early stages of construction that the front pleats were wrong for my body shape. But, don’t despair…good news! I found the one I want: Fabulous Fit ®. My husband is going to kill me because I will never, ever do a buy like I did with the Serger again. Which means I have to tell him beforehand. Which means…it was really nice knowing all of ya’ll.
ADDENDUM: The Husband looking over my shoulder reading my blog~
Him: Yeah, I can understand how a dress form would help you. Go ahead and get it if you think you need it.
Me: Thanks! You’re the greatest.
Him: You better be careful about what you put online. Those other girls reading it are going to come here and try to steal me away from you.
Me: But I get to order the dress form, right?
Other Things…
My son is here for 2 weeks. He got in early this morning at 1:00am. I’ve been tired all day but sill wanted to be a good host to him. Had a mishap today on our way to the commissary at Ft. Meade. I ran over something on the highway.
My son said (with a tone): “Um, Mom, you just ran over a piece of steel.” I said: “Yeah? So?” About a minute later I found out what the tone was about.
I said: “Hey! What’s that noise?” He said: “You have a flat tire.”
I asked: “How did you know that was steel?” He shrugged and said: “I heard it.”
I pulled off the road and without saying a word, the son got out went to the back and started rummaging around. Now, round here, as in all great metropolitan area…most males would have pulled out their cells and called AAA. True metrosexuals probably have an app for that…an AAApp?…then we would have sat there and waited for hours until AAA showed up. I confess, I was mentally mapping out the AAA call, the wait and was deep in a debate with myself whether I should get hold of the husband to come rescue me when it dawned on me that what I was looking at in the rear view mirror was the son holding a tire iron. He had the tire changed inside of 20 minutes.
I remembered an article I read some years back about how we make fun of rednecks but really, rednecks and country boys can fix things. My son fixed my flat tire and got us back on the road. It makes me happy that he can do things like that. Straight to the dealership for a new tire. Never did make it to the commissary so we managed a nice lunch at the mall instead. It pays to be flexible.
Don’t know how I’m going to be able to find the time to sew with him here. Unless…I try my hand at making him a shirt…hmmmm….yes, interesting, interesting…I like that… And, I can probably sneak in the knit top for my jumper while I’m at it.
For your viewing pleasure, here’s the patterns for my next 2 projects~
Ahhhhh….the sweet, sweet smell of success! (Finally.) New Look 6826
I did it. Just finished my first wearable garment. One that I can and will wear out in public. I love, love, love this jumper first of all, and a Google search of “New Look 6826” turned up more than a few sewing blogs like mine of gals who had made this pattern as well as great reviews on PatternReview.com that inspired me all the more to make it. I’m pretty happy right now.
See here:
Front view of jumper
Couple of changes. This little jumper had pleats front and back. I liked the front pleats but wasn’t crazy about the back pleats. It just didn’t drape in a way that made me happy. So I changed them to darts. I don’t think it will show up clearly, but here’s a photo:
Back pleats to darts.
Yeah, can’t see the darts but they’re there in all their glory.
Next change…late in the game, might I add…is I decided to line the skirt. The pattern envelope showed 4 views in 2 different lengths.
The pattern envelope is a bit deceptive (or maybe I’m worse at this than I think). The actual pattern lengths came to mid calf and right at the knee before hemming. I was really going for that cute little tunic length but after I got the jumper made, I had sorta fallen in love with the dress @ the knee length so I kept it. I did, however, then decided that as a dress I’d need to line it as I can’t be bothered with wearing a slip.
Lessons Learned: it is far easier to incorporated linings into the seam during construction. I did have that great 5/8″ seam where the bodice is attached to the skirt and I was able to **Serger the lining right onto it, but it took quite a bit of hand stitching to get the lining secured nicely around the zipper, and it (the lining) is jerry-built like you read about where the zipper tape meets the bodice/skirt seam. I really like the hand stitched lining around the zipper; just not where the bodice/skirt/zipper tape meets. So if I’ve decided I’m making a tunic length top, that’s what it will end up being and I’ll make it again as a dress. Or maybe I’ll hold the pattern up to see where the bottom of the pattern is on me because as it turned out, that’s the sort of information one finds really helpful beforehand. Or, maybe I’ll just get better at making changes in mid-stream. Who knows where this will end.
This little jumper is the result of 2 muslin mock-ups and still…during the construction of this final garment, I thought I would never be able to sew a seam without having to rip it out, reposition and then resew the seam. Yeah, thinking back on it, I’m not sure that there is a seam on the jumper that was sewn only once.
I’m taking it over to my good friend Jackie who works at Ellicott City Sew N Vac (ref: Serger purchase) and have her critique it for me. She’ll be able to see some things that I haven’t thought of for me to take into my next project…
…which will be a knit jersey top to be worn under the jumper.
**I got to use my brand new Serger! OMG! Had the manual opened with one hand marking text and the other on the Serger to figure out the knobs, dials and what-not, including how to thread it for a 3 thread overlock stitch but it was amazing to use. What a rush! Scary as all get out but…wow. Just wow! I was afraid because remember, this garment was all but finished and what if I completely screwed it up simply because it wasn’t until after I finished it that I decided it needed a lining? But–
I. Didn’t. Ruin. It.
P.S. If anyone reading this remembers me from my twenties, fear of completely screwing something up never did stop me.
The muslin mock-up, aka a modicum of success…
I did a muslin mock-up of a simple summer dress that has front/back and 4 side panels to it. I think I learned a lot…at least I’m thinking about it in a new way. The pattern for the summer dress is so uncomplicated that the only notions required are thread. The muslin was $3.99/yard at Joanns Fabrics so I felt exempted from perfection. What a liberating feeling. I basted every stitch. When I tried it on and noticed how it needed to be taken in here and there–which lead to more alterations–it dawned on me…recut the muslin and the pattern so it reflects the different sizes of my body.
Taking it in a half inch here and there just gave rise to taking the opposite sides in a half inch. So I wondered: should I take the panels in the back in a half inch on either side? Would it look off-kilter if I didn’t? That started me feeling that I had lost control and the mock up would end up lopsided and uneven. Tomorrow, I’m going to cut the waist and hips down the next lower size but leave the bust (which seemed just about right) alone.
I feel successful here. The mock up actually looks like the picture on the pattern envelope. I took the learning process up a notch with an “Aha!” moment of recutting the material down a size. I will measure/compare my altered muslin to the pattern to see if I’m on the right track. Luckily, when I say “take it in a half inch”, all I did was baste the seam in another half inch. I haven’t cut any of the dress from the original pattern cut.
You know? I think I may be able to do this!
P.S. Marty says “Go get your Serger.” God love him and bless him big. I will never, never, ever do that to him again…may I fall down on the street. And I feel compelled to tell him the truth. Anyway, I can stop hiding my new Serger now.
Aaaaarrrrggghhh!…sigh…
So…I’m sewing clothes, sorta. Let’s just say that I have 2 pieces of fabric that I am successfully joining with thread. I took a class at G Street Fabric and made a denim skirt. It looks and fits like a pillow case. I hate it. I came home and grabbed some left over material from my first quilt and cut the skirt pattern out again with somewhat better results. I at least see myself wearing the second one here at home. Maybe out walking the dogs.
Thinking that practice makes perfect, I grabbed some more material, an even easier pattern and tried my hand again. If there was a mistake to be made, I made it. Now, I did get “creative”. This pattern was so easy that my imagination just ran away from me. Also, I recently bought the book Sew What! Skirts that heavy handedly encourages one to “go crazy!” “get creative!” and I’ve gone so crazy and creative on this extremely easy skirt pattern that it is now a true work of horror and I doubt myself. Intuitively I know that I have to just keep doing it. Do it over and over again and not give up. I do think that I need to go buy some cheap muslin and learn how to sew clothes on that. I have some absolute gorgeous fabric upstairs in my sewing loft but now I am hesitant to ruin it. I’ll post pics of the skirts tomorrow.
Plus–I have a sense that I’m just not paying attention. I just feel like I’m missing a lot of important steps and guessing instead of being precise about measurements. This last skirt just feels all loosey-goosey in the making.
And the fit…!!!… According to my measurements, my size is around pattern size 18. But I noticed in cutting the material out that it seemed huge. It was. Grotesquely huge. (See above, skirt looks like a pillow case). The skirt falls off me me. In last week’s class, the instructor pinned here and there and resized the pattern so it’s not an 18 anymore but I’m not good enough to do that on my own.
So…aaaaaarrrrggghhhh!…sigh…
I will wake up tomorrow and go work on the last skirt again. It’s supposed to be a “One-Hour” project that is going into it’s 4th day of production. I really, really suck at this.
Sigh.
P.S. I bought a Baby Lock Serger. An expensive one. And I haven’t told my husband. I’ve never done that to him before and as God is my witness, I will never do it to him again. It is just not worth the guilt of sneaking a big ticket purchase from a man who denies me nothing. I just couldn’t help it. I really, really, really wanted this machine. Of course, it also means that I can’t give up on learning how to sew. I’m committed.
Mostly Bitchin’…There’s probably gonna be a lot of this here….
So–it’s Tuesday, February 22. My new Juki is in the shop, something about the tension going in and out. It’s not a big fix but the shop I have my machine in sells another line along with Care Plans. I’m sure (and it’s fair) that for customers that bought machines and Care Plans with this shop gets first crack at repairs. I got a good deal online for this machine but I would not recommend buying one this way. No follow up so the money saved is going to cost me in the long run as my Juki gets second class treatment for repairs. Again…this is fair to the customers who paid top dollar for a machine and also plopped money down for a Care Plan. I’m just sayin’…I learned a lesson.
In the meantime, I still have the quilt I’m working on. I’m hand quilting the borders. It’s a queen so it’s large. I already had one side of the border hand quilted and thought if I machine quilt the other 3 sides, it will look pretty silly. I just finished a second side so 2 more borders to go. The hand quilting shows up more so than the body of the quilt as the border is dark and the light color thread shows up better. I really like the look of hand quilting. I thought I saw a post somewhere where a gal was over the top about how she was able to make her quilting machine look like hand quilting but I haven’t had much luck locating it again. I’ll try to search for that in earnest later on today. Maybe. We’ll see.
I still have my little $75 Brother. No computerization. Just a dumb, blind, simple little machine that sews like a champ so I do have recourse if I just decide I have to sew. I’ve already decided my next quilt will be “Storm At Sea” (see representative pic below):
This from Quilters Fabric
I’m thinking red, white & blue for my Dad, with the Holy Grail of quilting patterns added: a Mariners Compass either centered or upper right hand corner. I’ve been on a tear for the past 2 months buying fabric for his quilt. Oh, by the way… if anyone cares, the absolute best book I’ve found for patterns and ideas for “Storm At Sea” can be found at the link. Very excited to get started on it.
I’m on the lookout for a nice pattern so I can make a quilt for my mom. I’ll know it when I see it.
Sigh. I’ve got housework to do today. It really, really gets in the way of my sewing. Husband says I can get a maid but I’ve had a cleaning service before and although by their standards they do a good job, it’s not up to my standards. I’ve had friends and relatives advise me that I just have to get over it and let it go but I can’t. It’s like not getting to the place where I don’t care that I’m older and I don’t look like I did in my twenties-thirties-or hell, even my forties. If my house is cluttered it drives me up a wall.
I’m fine once I get going-it’s often difficult getting me to stop once I start. Husband calls it “Unleashing The Monster”…it’s just picking up that first dust rag…that’s where I’ve narrowed down the biggest hurdle…Just. Pick. It. Up.
Alright. “Bitch”-check. Begin housework– —- —have postponed long enough. See ya after the vacuuming.
Unless I decide my time is better spent venting on politics. No, don’t get me started. I’ll be here all day.
Jypsea Rose
Stitchin and Bitchin
Hello,
I would tell you my name but I’m going by Jypsea here so we’ll just call me that. It means something, the word itself is the very description of me, in every way. I not only love to travel about in my RV, I also wander about new projects, throwing myself into new things to learn and so forth.
This blog is about my foray into a little bitty hobby that has developed into an obsession, namely sewing. Lots of reasons for this:
- It’s creative and I’m drawn to that sort of thing
- I love mixing fabrics. Literally, this started out putting my husband’s shirts and ties together, went from there.
- It’s an all encompassing activity. I lose myself when I’m sewing. I zen.
- I’m at an age where clothes off the rack don’t look good on me. Tailored would be better.
- I naturally bitch about things that displease me.
Speaking of bitchin (literally, no stitchin just yet), I just bought a Juki F600. It’s a great machine, tons and tons of Juki customer Love out there…unfortunately, the one they sold me may or may not be a lemon. The jury hasn’t returned a verdict just yet. Reader’s Digest version: The guy who sold me my machine is a jerk. He’s not an authorized Juki dealer and clearly neither he nor his crew has had any training on this machine so he can’t help me with problems. I’m mostly aggravated that he didn’t have the good sense to just say he was the pass through guy and can’t help but “…here’s the number of someone who can.” Jerk! If he had directed me to an authorized Juki rep with real Juki know how right from the start, who knows? My machine could have been fixed already. C’est la vie.
Anyway, out of frustration, I called Juki America Corporate HQ and was directed to the authorized wholesaler who shipped my machine. I believe I’ve turned the corner and can get the tech help I need to get the machine fixed. Here’s hoping!
Oh…sorry, back to my original thought…even though I cancelled the paid for appointment with the Babylock dealer, I did see on their website that they have the very sewing class I’ve been looking hi and lo for! So, there was a blessing that did arise from my unfortunate Juki F600 incident. I guess another one is I found a great sewing forum to join.
And of course, there’s this here blog I’m starting so I can track this new hobby. It will be an online diary as I seriously doubt there is anyone out there who is in the least interested that I’m blogging about sewing. Here’s the quilt top I finished. I’m doing the quilting now…and will finish it as soon as my machine issues get resolved. Sigh.
Something To Crow About
Mitered Corners
I just looked at my first post. My blog looks empty, like a start-up. Again…sigh. Good Night for now.
