My soap fetish... and jacket progress

Every Christmas I ask for some soap as gifts. A lot of the time my request is met with strange looks of disbelief. I guess people can't believe that something so simple could make me so happy. A bar of nice soap is all it takes to make my day. I've already told my husband - "If you ever get that urge to bring home flowers for your wife, bring her some nice soap instead". Anyway, so this year I scored a lot of soap!! Here's all the soap I got this Christmas. My brothers and sisters-in-law, and my Mother-in-law have gotten me enough soap to last till my birthday in June... My nose is so happy! To me, there is absolutely nothing like starting each day with a pleasant smelling bar of soap.

My rendition of Simplicity 3628 is coming along. I was able to finish the lining and have gotten as far as creating the collar. Did most of this last night and early this morning. It's so fab not having to go to work!!

Argh! Ah well...

It's a beautiful morning. The hubby's still asleep and I've got my cup of coffee. The lining for my Simplicity 3628 jacket is coming together, but the edges are getting fuzzy and threatening to unravel. I decide to serge the seams that are finished so far. And then it happens. My serger takes a bite out of a portion of fabric that should have been far away from the blade.

Sigh... But hey, this is my first lining, right? I'll just have to hand sew it somehow to fix it. Good thing it's the lining not the jacket!!!

Like I mentioned before, the jacket itself is still in pieces...


Growing up, Christmas day was always the day we celebrated. Now, with me and my siblings married and part of other families, it's changed. I celebrated yesterday with my husband's extended family. Tomorrow some of my family will come over. That leaves Christmas day completely free! Well, free to um.. er.. ah... do housework and yard work

Next week we're hosting my husband's parents and my brother-in-law's family for New Year's eve into the New Year. I have to idea what to cook/buy for the occasion since we usually just have a quiet night in. Well, I've got a week to figure it out (and to do some serious house cleaning)!!

Merry Christmas!

I'm finally taking some time off from work! I also have started on my next project but construction-wise, am still working on the lining. The actual jacket pieces are only cut out and labelled (because this has more pieces than anything I've made before and I don't want to get confused!)
My blog's been awfully quiet lately because I have nothing new on the sewing front. My camera also doesn't want to turn on right now, so I can't even show you what little progress I've made. It's weird. Something similar happened to my last camera. I connected it to the computer to download all the pictures on it. We had to leave to go get my in-laws and go to the family Christmas celebration, so I left it in the process of copying the pictures from the camera to the computer. Well, not too long ago I went to the computer. It was no longer recognizing that the camera was connected. I disconnected, and the camera wouldn't turn on. I'm recharging the battery now - hoping that's the problem. Sigh... I refuse to have another camera quit on me just out of the blue.
Anyway, enough of that. There is so much other stuff going well in my life - I am truly blessed, so the camera issue is nothing in comparison. A merry Christmas to all!!

Thanks Sherril!

Until I read Sherril's comment on my last post, I didn't see it. I guess I'm used to clothes not fitting perfectly... (tee hee). She said: "A size 20 is too large for you in the shoulders and neck. If you use this pattern again, cut the neck, shoulders, and armscye at a 16 or 18 and then cut the side seams at a 20...."
At first I wondered how she could just look at the picture and see that. But I've been looking at this picture and finally (a day later, yes it takes me a while) it clicked. I see that it's too large at the shoulders and neck. Wow. Double wow.

Well, I'm going to be making another fleece jacket, though with Simplicity 3628 this time - in a slightly thinner black fleece, and I think I'll take her advice on that one. One step at a time. Thanks again, Sherril!

Slowly getting my feet wet again.

I decided to re-enter the garment sewing arena by working on something quick and simple. Alas,
the project I picked was doomed. I now have an unfinished project due to it. The object in question is my rendition of New Look 6762. I did a quick search on Pattern Review after cutting my pieces out and realized that others had issues with the neckband. My neckband didn't turn out too bad, but the shoulder darts???? I still don't get exactly how they were supposed to work. Ah well, whatever. It's just basted together now, and I didn't feel like fighting with it. To the unfinished pile it went. It doesn't look too bad in the picture, but the shoulders are really wacked up.



Enter my next project. With the weather getting colder, and my having to be in the park and ride for my vanpool at 5:15 am, I've been feeling underdressed in my corduroy jackets and scarves. I have a larger, warmer coat, but it's not quite cold enough for that. I also have the usual issue with my other store-bought warm clothes - the arms are too short. Now that I live in a colder part of LA county, I really can't get by with cold wrists. So... for the past few weeks I have wanted to make myself a fleece jacket with arms that are long enough.

I dug through my stash looking for a pattern I could make up with one of the two pieces of fleece I got at Joanns last year and came up with two options -Simplicity 3563 and Simplicity 4032 . Both have mostly favorable reviews on PatternReview.com - which was a great sign! I finally picked 4032 to work on based on the number of pieces (tee hee!) It had fewer pieces to put together. I also was not so sure the pin tucks in the other pattern would look flattering on me, so I figured I'd try this one first.

I didn't bother making a muslin, because this is not meant to be a fitted garment. I really just wanted something with arms that are long enough and can go over my clothes. Plus, this is supposed to be my re-introduction to sewing clothing for myself, right? So no stress(aka fitting) allowed =).

I traced a size 20 pattern on Monday night and cut the pieces out on Tuesday night. With a few steps completed each day, I finally finished the jacket this evening. I'm quite pleased with it! I think it makes me look a little chunky, but again, it's not fitted, so I'm not bothered. I made some minor changes during the constuction process:
1. Lengthened the sleeves by 4 inches
2. Omitted the bow on the collar
3. Topstitched about 1 inch from center front on each side
4. Added button tab to the back of the jacket (bc it looked blah otherwise)

I can't seem to take decent pictures of the jacket on myself, so my dress form was the perfect stand-in (hey, at least I'm using her for something!).




















I also had some buttons I bought a while ago just because I liked them, and I think they work with this jacket. They're metal with a gunmetal finish. I wouldn't have thought of them for a fleece jacket, but I liked the way they looked. With only 4 in my stash, I had to make a quick run to Joann's to get two more.



The one thing I did for the first time ever on this project was use the one step buttonhole feature on my sewing machine. How fabulous! It's awesome! I had to help it along sometimes since the thickness of the fleece was somewhat challenging, but I still ended up with great buttonholes. I can't imagine what a nightmare it would have been to make them using the 4-step error-prone process on my older simple machine! I no longer have a reason to fear buttonholes.

This jacket has been a real confidence builder for me! Plus, I now have something to throw on in the morning until it gets cold enough to wear my wool blend coat. Simplicity was true to it's name with this pattern.

1 pattern $1.00
2+ yards of fleece $10.00
5 buttons $6.00

A jacket that covers my wrists and isn't the usual boring shapeless fleece? PRICELESS!

The pattern search is ON!

Link to original site

I tried on this jacket at JCP the other day, and it fit perfectly. Bubbling with excitement, I rushed to the catalog department to place an order for one in a tall size. I was so disappointed to find out they didn't have this style in talls - especially since all I needed was the longer arms.
I've thought of purchasing the jacket and altering it with similar material, but figured this was the perfect opportunity to see if I can make it (yah, even I think that sounds a little crazy - especially for someone who has yet to take a full set of her own measurements). So... has anyone seen a pattern with similar seams?

A teeny bit more sewing

So... I still haven't gotten back to garment sewing, but I'm certainly trying to work my way back up to it.
I took some time out on Sunday to start on curtains for our new place. I managed to get just two sheers done (yes, I'm slow) for one room using some of the the crinkle voile I purchased last week.
I don't actually have plans to put real curtains in since the house has blinds in each window. However, with blinds, it's impossible to maximize the amount of light in each room without giving the neighbors a view of our living spaces.



Enter sheers - they'll let in light without inviting prying eyes. I took the lazy route and didn't prewash the fabric (yes, very lazy) since it is 100% polyester. The fabric is 108 inches wide, and I (again, too lazy) just left the selvages on the sides.
I spent about two hours trying to get a consistent rolled hem on my (otherwise useless) 925D serger. After 1 broken needle, 3 broken looper threads, and lots of wasted thread, I "cried Uncle".
At that point, I was too frustrated to be bothered trying the same thing on my good serger - the 1034D. I just switched to my sewing machine.



Using an overcast foot gave me a more attractive edge (to me) than the serger had been doing, so I'm glad I made that choice. However, as is common knowledge, the sewing machine is a SNAIL compared to the serger. I'll have to figure out the rolled hem for my next set I make.
The drapery hardware was already in place when we moved in, so I had to work with what was there, and so just created a simple pocket at the top. I did think about having ruffles at the top, but decided to conserve fabric instead.
Now, I just have to figure out how to keep the sheers from blowing too much when the windows are open... Either way, I like them!

Room with a view

I get to work from home once a week, and since I moved have been taking advantage of that privilege. Last week I stationed myself in our new family room. The window I was looking out of had a single rose I had cut the night before. It was such a joy to watch it blossom throughout the day, and I loved that view. Every time I glanced up, I was reminded of how BLESSED I am and wanted to share the view. I took three pictures during my work day, partly because I was amazed at how quickly the flower was blooming. Here they are:

I finally sewed SOMETHING!

It took me ages, but I finally got in front of the sewing machine and created something today. I stayed home today because my eyes have been watering the last few days. This morning my eyes were red, and I was convinced I had conjunctivitis, so called in sick.
30 minutes later, my eyes were no longer red, but were still watery. So I spent the morning trying to find out if I could see a doctor (times when I wish I had PPO instead of HMO) Frustrating, but I eventually got a call back with an appointment for tomorrow. In the meantime I got some antihistamine eye drops recommended by the pharmacist. I'm hoping the doctor can figure out what is wrong with my eyes tomorrow...

With the afternoon off, I baked some cookies for the hubby (I'd promised him I would), and finished up a cover for my sewing machine that I had cut out last night.


I'd gotten tired of the plastic cover especially since it doesn't cover my sewing machine completely.
As I've mentioned before, I really like piping/cording, so I took the liberty of adding some to my project. The piping was made by *moi*, although it took longer than I anticipated. I tried creating the bias strips using the method where you cut one continuous strip, but somehow messed up, and had to sew each one together. I'll try again the next time I need bias strips.



I also bound the bottom edge with the same strips I used for the piping (without the cord). To add some visual interest (and also because I'm not that good at stitching in the ditch - and it would show here), I used one of my machine's stitches for the topstitching.


Of course I now realize I should have gotten some batting and quilted the fabric so the cover would have more structure. Bah, next time! This is how I learn, no?

I also purchased some crushed voile to make sheer curtains with. Our windows currently have blinds, and I'd like to let the light in without people being able to see directly into the house. I've never sewed sheers before, so am dealing with a bout of "analysis paralysis". Hopefully I can overcome that by this weekend.

And finally, for those of you who wonder why I never show pictures of myself (aka Mimi), here is a recent picture of me - (gasp!) - with my face!! I can't promise this will happen again though - blame it on my paranoia...

Too long?

Yes, I've been missing in action for a long time. I have my excuses - I moved and haven't quite got my sewing area ready yet. I have plenty to sew (as usual), including curtains for the new place. I don't know if curtain sewing is a good project to get me back into the sewing groove though. We'll see. I still feel like I have a million and one things to do since not all my stuff is unpacked. Sigh...