And a few more patterns

I tried the second closest store for The Pants Pattern. I am begining to get a complex! This store only had the very largest and very smallest sizes - grrrrrrrrr!

But I did get my seam roll and the jacket pattern I mentioned in yesterday's post, as well as a casual shirt (both of which have been languishing on the wish list for far too long).

I like the 2 views in the front the best.

Yes, shades of Chanel :-)

I had earmarked this blouse for weekend wear but my office is so embarrassingly casual that I could wear it any day of the week (and be over dressed). However, I will relegate it mainly to Fridays, when other folks wear jeans. It will team with the DKNY skirt I posted yesterday very nicely.

I think this collar style and hem line could be teamed with a conservative skirt and classed up easily. I like the collar on view A too, but I don't wear short sleeves to work. I freeze in the air conditioning even in three-quarter or long sleeves as it is! But I can just make it with the longer sleeves and this collar, too.

Also, the collar, cuff and facing are cut separately so they could easily be done in contrasting fabric - such as white with a color or two different textures of the same color.
Being as this blouse is dolman sleeved (although not extreme), I will have to come up with a clever jacket to wear with it. I think I have a raglan sleeve jacket pattern that will work.

Some more patterns

As planned, I hit the Vogue pattern sale to replace the way too tiny pants pattern and it was in stock (yay!) only in the same 6-8-10 size! (boo!)

They did not have the jacket pattern I wanted (boo!) so I settled for a shirt. (yay!) But they did have the skirt that was sold out from my previous pattern sale foray:

I would not have really noticed this skirt had the model not had her hands in the pockets (pencil skirt+pockets=happy). Once I looked at the line art I was sold:

I haz mad crazy love for the seam detail. This is going to make swell khaki/chino skirts for casual Fridays.

And this from just going through the drawers*:

This view is so wonderfully corporate casual:And made in silk broadcloth or fine Swiss cotton, it borders on executive casual.

And this view I may make just for fun. I do like the way it is presented on the envelope done up in soft stripes. Good mainstream business casual.

As much as I love the cut away hem, I am not sure if it would be a good idea on my figure. The shoulder princess seams by virtue of their lengthening/slenderizing effect may negate the horizontal effect of the cutaway. I will have to make a muslin to see.
(ha ha ha! I sound like I think I know what I am talking about! I got this from reading books.)

I have been reading some old Palmer Pletsch sewing books trying to just basically start over and relearn how to sew. And I have been getting my sewing area organized and buying the tools I need. (Such as additional feet for my sewing machine - thanks to reading the David Coffin book. As an aside, he seems like a nice guy - he actually responds to emails.)
Alas, I forgot my 40% off coupon today so I will be going back to the store at some point this weekend to get a seam roll.

~~~

I also ordered some fabric. A LOT of fabric, trusting that this vendor was a reputable one based on a lot of gushing posts on several sewing blogs.

Honestly, the first few times I checked out this store I was not impressed. I am just not a polyester kind of gal. Also, this person always suggests patterns to go with her fabrics and some are so unsuitable I wonder how anyone could be so far off the mark.

My head and my gut have been at odds about this store for months, but I went ahead and placed my usual sized order and have lived to REGRET it, severely regret it. I should have paid heed to my gut instinct.

My order arrived and some of it is absolutely NOT as described (and does not even come close to the weave in the picture on the website) and some has big stains on it. How on earth can some one miss huge stains on RED fabric when only cutting 2 yards?!?? And shipping is very high, no matter what $ize order you place. And the email communications were so brief and coldly impersonal as to border on indifferent.

And no, you can not return anything.

I am bummed out. I am not going to put a dollar loss to it out of shame, but I messed up. Big time. I really thought this lady was above board, but I have learned a harsh lesson about A.) not ordering swatches first no matter what the store's 'reputation' may be and B.) stores that have a "no returns policy" do so for a reason. No reputable store would do that!

Lesson painfully learned.

I'll be donating several yards of mostly polyester practice fabric to someone...will be trying to get the stains out of the wool. Or at least that is what the web site said the content is. I will do a burn test as I do not trust any of it now. Well the silk I got looks and feels like the real thing, at least.

~~~

*But on a happier note: I met a fellow sewing pattern drawer surfer doing the same thing as I was today! (I go through the drawers when I forget my back up list. I have found out of print patterns this way. And it is easier than looking in the book only to find the pattern is not there or not there in your size.)

I got to drawer surf and chat with a really sweet elderly lady. She does not have computer access and did not even know to look through the pattern books.

She does have a grand daughter or god daughter that she likes to make pretty dresses for. She used to play violin and cello but was not able to continue beyond high school because her family was very poor.

She was not sure about the patterns and the prices and sure enough they did not tell her that she could come back next week and get 3 of them on sale.

I sorted that part our while I watched and waited for the cashier to do the right thing and the lady struggle with which ones to put back. (She did not have a lot of money - who does?!?!?)

But ultimately I did listen to my gut this time and went out of line and helped her out. I showed her the sales date in the flyer and suggested she write down her pattern numbers so she could find them again. The cashier was actually cool about it.

She reminded me a little of my grand mom and I wish I could have helped her more.

Vogue Pattern Giveaway!

Cos I went stupid yesterday and bought the wrong size.

Dork! Dork! Dork!

Vogue 7468

Don't worry, I am not out much money, thanks to the sale and a coupon, it was only $3.49 plus tax. So for all the trouble it would take to try to exchange it (the store is a long haul across a toll bridge in a bad neighborhood staffed by mean girls who don't speak English so much as mangle it) or sell it, I am just going to give it away.

There's another sale (at the much closer, safer store) in a week when I will be replacing it in the right size this time.

Here's the rub: it's the very smallest size, 6-8-10.
(Don't get me started about my middle age spread. I used to actually fit in this size range for a couple of decades! grrrrrrr dork! dork! dork!)

If you are enviably slim or would like to have this to make some very posh slacks for your teen/junior miss type daughter/neighbor/cousin/friend/friend-of-a-friend/etc. please leave a comment.

And pleeze make sure I have a way to contact you should you be the lucky person who the random number generator picks.

Oh let's make the time frame for comments reasonably long since I only think 3 or 4 people aside from yours truly actually read this blog :-P (So pass the word, y'all.) How about I leave this open until midnight Sunday, June 21st?

It will make the most awesomest pressie for some tiny lucky seamster.

Birthday gift

Well here it is, well past my bedtime (again) and instead of sleeping, I am blogging cos if I don't post this now, it will go into the "I'll get 'round to it" pile of things I never actually get around to doing or take forever to actually complete. (hangs head in shame)

But here we go!

Yep, another "frayed" (pinked, actually) flower pin - but this time I also borrowed from the silk flower pin idea cos I liked the pop in the center. This boss got all gushy when I wore mine so the idea light bulb lit up and told me that this would be a good birthday gift for her.

It sits in its very cleverly refashioned gift box:

Which in a former life held thank you notes that I have used up. Boy am I glad I am a hamster who hoards useful things. I covered it in some of the tissue paper that Firemoutain Gems ships all their orders in, trimmed the inside with the little scrap of birthday gift wrapping and put some double sided tape to good use. It is poised on a little pedestal of tissue paper covered foam for presentation - a real pseudo jewelry box type of affair.
(The color is all wacky because I am still on those low batteries and standing in my own light.)

Total time to complete all of this (except cutting and trimming the fabric cos I had already done that part) about 90 minutes from running stitch to closing the box and putting it somewhere that I can't miss in the morning - er later this morning.

And now I really must crash. The alarm goes off at 6:45!

Silk Flower Brooch

Oh heck am I tired.
I have to say that because I had a 12 hour day at work and 4 of it was schmoozing with clients. So I have been on my feet and upbeat and friendly and dynamic and yadda yadda yadda - all that corporate jazz.

But I looked fabulous!
(Sorry no photo, maybe someone took one at the open house I can post. I'll find out later.)

I only own 2 suits at this time that I pretty much only wear to first job interviews. (Not that I don't love suits, I just need to get some serious sewing skills to expand my wardrobe.) A wool one for the winter and a linen/rayon one for the summer. The summer suit is black and coincidentally, my company's colors are red, white and black. (Needless to say, my jacket especially is in need of serious freshening up - which I will do right after I finish this post!)

To to add a classy dash of color, I made this flower brooch using this outstanding tut by Abby of A Feathered Nest. It is super easy and quick to do. (Quick since I limited the size and color, otherwise you could be playing and designing for hours!) This is so easy that you can even do it in a half asleep/half stressed out of your gourd state - just like I was at 12:30am this morning when I put it together.

The only thing I added was the leaves. I just glued them on at the end. The batteries in the camera need recharging or I would show you the back - but I did it just like the tutorial, using the green part from one of the flowers to cover the leaf stems and pin back. It makes a tidy and flower looking finish back there. I like it.

The button didn't photograph well but it is glass and from oh I guess 20 years ago now. Getting the shank part off was a bear - I was not able to get it all due to a combination of fatigue and not wanting to start and epic search for something to cut/remove it all at the risk of breaking the button in the process. I got enough shank off to get a good glue bond. Had a lot of fun with the ole glue gun!

I got a zillion compliments on this and even some disbelieving looks when I told them what it was: 2 silk flowers from the Michael's across the street and a button. Oh yes, I will be making more! These work for the executive office excellently.

~~~

Oh! In case you are wondering why no post for so long, I have been making something for Lolly Chops who had surgery but I am so incredibly slow she will be all well before I get it to her. I will post pictures later.

lessons learned from Use What You Have Month

I learned that the muse could give a rats patootie about using what is on hand.

I also learned that I have A LOT of supplies that do not make a complete project (that the muse wanted anything to do with in April).

And most of all I learned that sewing is my least favourite craft right now.

That last one is a major problem since that is basically the only way I have to get clothes. Well if I didn't abhor shopping, and were not so danged difficult to fit, that is. (Surprisingly or not, my Wardrobe Refashion pledge has nothing to do with this.)

I don't know what happened. I used to sew and thrift shop A LOT when I was younger. And yes, I was was working full time then, too. Now I have to force myself to sew. Yet when I am not sewing, I am wishing I were making this or that.

(I am hoping this very public confession will kick start whatever needs kicking.)

Curiously I have discovered that I seem to have no problem dropping everything to make jewelry. The inspiration hits and the results just happen. It's a beautiful thing. (Are you listening sewing inspiration? This could be you!)

And since my first UWYH month has concluded, I did some targeted shopping.

Starting with jewelry supplies, specifically related to bead embroidery. Firemountain Gems probably loves me right now. My employer gave the admins a little bonus for administrative professionals day so I used that to get a basic beaded cabochon stash going.

This is also related to what I plan to do on my vacation in June. Like a good little crafting addict, I am planning what I can take with me out of town so I don't jones too badly. It's not that I don't have other things to do, um, like visit my sister. And I can live without the computer for a few days but no crafts? It gives me cold chills just to think about it. I am sure that if I don't take precautions, I will surely end up a babbling mess, mumbling jibberish in the fetal position in a corner of my hotel room. Probably scare the living daylights out of housekeeping and end up in a rubber room repeating something like "craftster" over and over.

And Lanetz Living is having a sale so I had started a wish list in April. I got a few things...

(click the pic to go to my photostream or)

You can see better pictures and read some ramblings about why I chose these here.

But you have to get past these first:

The first book is from my wish list at Lanetz Living. The rest started with the beading book, then my book wish list. Note the percentage of sewing books? I am looking for a fix for my clothing construction block.

I'll find it.

A necklace refashion

I can't believe I forgot to post this. I mean, just because I didn't take a before picture is no excuse (in case anyone from Wardrobe Refashion surfs by and wonders why I didn't post this over there).

This necklace is from the early to mid 90's. The workmanship was pretty shoddy, as to be expected for a cheap necklace from a mall clothing store. But it was a fave. Sadly it was really showing its age (and pedigree), so it was set aside for a refashion months ago. This past Wednesday, I fixed it.

It used to be longer (a bit too long, actually ) and the dangly bits were on some cord. The corded bits had started falling apart and the cord itself, unraveling shortly after I bought it. So I lashed it back together a couple of times and kept on wearing it. Not surprisingly, as I took it apart some of the metal on the dangles disintegrated.

Hopefully this shot will help show why I love this necklace. It's the ethnic look of the psedo Bali beads and the wood. After looking at it from a refashion standpoint, I decided that necklace part of all black wood beads was too boring. So after interspersing the silver beads into the necklace, and shortening the length a bit, I had many wood beads left over and had to make matching earrings!

Above and beyond the necklace components, from my stash I used some...um...I restrung this on...oh man...have to go get it to get the name again...hang on...(insert Jeapordy theme music here)...ah!ha!..on some Soft Flex .014. (I think I should have opted for finer beading wire but it hangs just fine when it is worn.) I used a few flat headpins to restring the dangles. I also used a bit of the waste trimmed from a head pin to make a jump ring to attach the dangles to the necklace at the crimp that I added. (The original was strung on some fishing line and just knotted. Amazing that it held up as long as it did.) And lastly, I used a few more 70's beads and a couple of surgical steel ear wires.

And that's it. Not a whole lot of stash busting, but a really fun use of what I had on hand, IMHO.

I don't think I have quite enough left overs to make a bracelet but I intend to find out by trying!