WIP Wednesday: Inside and Out

Tags

cats, quilting, sewing, swears, WIP Wednesday

Up in the hills outside Prosser, scouting out a new cycling route.  As my partner said, “My God, there really is fuck all out here.”  Yep.

WIP = Work in Progress

Happy Wednesday!

Since we last saw our heroine, she has done, well, this:

It doesn’t look like much, does it?

That’s actually something in the neighborhood of 680 1 1/2″ x 6 1/2″ rectangles for this quilt:

There was also this, for the black and white wall quilt:

I tried my best to get Ms Wiggly in the picture, but she wasn’t much interested in color-coordinating with my fabric.

The lap quilt was supposed to only (ONLY) require 576 rectangles, so I cut them and was happy to be finished.  Then I got to thinking about how nice it would be to have this queen sized for my bed, and how a border would get it almost there, and I decided to add another column of blocks.  Which meant another 96 rectangles, so much that I used up almost all of my black and white scraps and had to buy a couple more fat quarters to finish up.

There’s a lot of time to think when you’re cutting 680 rectangles.

I did a lot of thinking about the most efficient way to cut my oddly-shaped bits of fabric, of course.  And about how I learned to entertain myself with my own thoughts as a child, when the consequences of not sitting still in church or school were pretty severe, but there wasn’t much in the environment to entertain me.  And I worked on some ideas for my ideal fantasy home in the woods–you know, the one with the $20,000 long-arm quilting machine, and the massive garden that doesn’t require any weeding, and the cabin that I fix up FABULOUSLY and maintain all by myself despite having none of the skills required to do so.

This is what got me started on that: it’s an abandoned cabin built on the friends’ property where we stayed for the eclipse.  Apparently, it started life as a picnic shelter and just sort of grew from there.

Rustic yet cute.

OMG.  I wonder if my friends realize they NEED a quilt artist in residence?

Sigh.

I hope to make some good progress on my blouses this week, as the weather is turning a bit cooler (YAY) and they’ll be perfect for it.

Have a great week and find yourself some fun wherever you can.

STH

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WIP Wednesday: On and Off Track

Tags

bags, cats, clothing, Cloudsplitter Summit Pack, sewing, Shelby, Simplicity 1199, swears, WIP Wednesday

Well hello, Shelby the kitty!

(WIP = Work in Progress)

Many projects in process, as usual, but I also have an actual finish!  And another almost-finish!

ALL THE COLORS!

So I wrote about the Summit Pack last Wednesday–making progress, generally good instructions, blah blah blah, everything’s fine, nothing to see here.

Then I hit the proverbial rocks.

I got to work on putting the front of the bag together and YIKES.

You know how it is when you’re sewing two pieces of fabric together and their curves go the opposite way?  Like when you’re sewing a collar to a stand or putting a princess-seamed bodice together?  And the fabric is protesting and fighting you, so you use lots of pins, but the layers of fabric actually push them out, that’s how hard they’re fighting not to make that curve.  But you cram them together and sew the damn seam, and then you have to unpick and resew the three or four places where the fabric on the bottom folded up and got caught in the seam because it is NOT REPEAT NOT going to take that curve.

That’s what the front of this is, only you do that over and over with lining and exterior pieces, all with sharp angles that other pieces have to be coaxed-slash-forced to conform to.  Oh, and there are zippers, too.

Plenty of unpicking happened here, and easing, and unpicking, etc., etc.  There are definitely some wobbly bits and some slight gathering where my easing skills failed me, but that’s okay with me.  I can honestly say I did the best I could and more re-doing would not help.  And I don’t have any helpful advice, either; it’s just a difficult bag to make.  Absolutely doable if you have some bag-making experience and take every step slowly and carefully, but the kind of project that would probably make perfectionists twitch.

On the other hand, though, look how pretty!

Handy Oyster card slot for riding the Tube!  And passport fits in the back of the purple unit!

iPad fits in padded gadget pocket perfectly for reading on the plane!

Whatever, it’s a little bit wonky, but I love it.  I just put on my to-do list to make some quickie zipper pulls for this, because we are going for maximum fabulousness here.

Also!

I had another squirrel moment this week, because I am basically a big kid (you’re completely shocked to hear this, I’m sure).

I have been invited to the Seattle area to spend the weekend with my BFF, Heidi.  Which means, of course, that I need to make something new to wear.  And, because of that big kid thing, it must involve the new Hello Kitty cotton knit I just got from here.

This is just the nicest fabric–soft and substantial, with great color.

I only bought a yard–I love it, but I’m still cheap–so I’m using the Kitty fabric for the front and back of view A (top picture).  For the rest, I dug through my knits and found the rest of the mystery knit I used for my black skirt.  I don’t know the fiber content on it, but it has similar weight and stretch to the Kitty fabric.

The instructions were a little bit of a mind bender–you sew the sleeves to the side front and side back, then attach the whole thing to the front and back–but quick and easy.  I strongly recommend cutting or marking the notches on everything to help keep you oriented, though.  Don’t be like this dork here; I ignored most of the notches because I didn’t have the mental energy to deal with them at the same time I was cutting out pieces that are a large at the bust and XXL at the waist and hip.  This made the non-standard construction more complicated than it needed to be.

The top is almost finished–just hem and sleeve hems to do.  Here’s a quick and dirty selfie in my sewing room:

No, that’s not some sort of apocalypse happening behind me, just a big window and a sunny day.

Quite a different effect than the striped one on the pattern envelope, huh?  Less sporty, more dressy, even though it’s covered in cartoon cat heads.  Some nice shaping on this; it isn’t the usual tee shape.  We’ll see what happens when I shorten the sleeves to their proper 3/4 length.  Right now I feel like it needs something, but I don’t know what.  Hmmm . . . .

Anyway, have a great Thursday and I’ll yak at you again soon.

STH

ETA:  I have linked this post up to Needle and Thread Thursday over at My Quilt Infatuation.

I’ve also linked to Midweek Makers #73 at Quilt Fabrication.

WIP Wednesday: Nesting

Tags

mending, quilting, sewing, swears, WIP Wednesday

(WIP = Work in Progress)

Happy Wednesday, all, and it’s especially happy for me because I have finished the baby quilt!

If you recall, this was a commission for a co-worker of my sister’s.  It was a simple quilt–big blueberries on one side, small on the other, blue border on both sides, cross-hatching for the quilting, ruffle around the edge–but there was a fair bit of hand-stitching, so it took me a while.

Things I learned doing this project:

• There is a reason that people don’t put a narrow border on both sides of a quilt, which is that the quilting you do will inevitably shift the border a bit, and then any quilting you do on or near the border will be wonky.  The only way I know to make sure that doesn’t happen is to carefully line up and hand baste the two sides of the border together so that there won’t be shifting.  Slow and laborious, but it did the trick.
• I still really, really hate making gathers.
• I really, really, profoundly suck at estimating the time needed for sewing projects.  I mean, I knew this, but yeah, it’s bad.  When I was a grad student, I was told about the Rule of Threes for research:  studies will always take three times as long as you expect, cost three times as much, and require three times as many experimental subjects.  I suspect the formula is similar for sewing projects.

I had set a goal for myself of finishing the quilt by Sunday night, but I finally finished at 2:00 Tuesday morning (and my fingers are still sore from that marathon binding session).  I’m afraid I don’t have any pics of the whole quilt, as it had just come out of the dryer, and I was desperate to keep it cat-hair-free until I could deliver it.  The only place my cats don’t sit is this little table next to my sewing machine, so that’s where I put the quilt for photos.

Will you just look at that (almost) perfectly-lined-up border quilting?!?

The good news:  I have some scraps of this super-cute fabric to use in future quilts.  The bad news:  I still haven’t learned how to keep the damn camera strap out of my pictures.

Anyway, now that this project is done and delivered (YAY), I think it may be time to do something about Mending Mountain.

All the ugh.

My sewing room is my own little comfy nest and I’m feeling these days like I want to take better care of it.  In addition to dealing with the Mountain, there’s the fabric inventory in Evernote, the project/fabric use spreadsheet (which I took a first whack at the other day), and using up some stash so that everything fits better into its assigned space.  I’m also making a pile of fabric to donate.  If I don’t love it, and it’s not long enough to be useful for muslins, out it goes.

I’ve got a couple of summer tops in mind to help use up some of these weird little 1 to 1 1/2 yard pieces of fabric I have.  These two, for example, are going to be combined to make view D here.

So hard to take pictures in this harsh white light we have here these days.  😦

That blue on the left has been in the stash for years and may be from Wal-Mart, I’m not sure.  The navy eyelet on the right (SO CUTE) is from SCRAP.

Off to start my way up the Mountain.  Wish me luck.

STH

 

On the other hand . . . .

Tags

clothing, FNWF, politics, sewing, swears

Somehow I’ve managed to avoid taking any nature photos in the last couple of weeks, so here’s one from our trip to the Oregon coast, just because.

I had planned on writing this over the weekend, but I wound up spending WAY too much time obsessively following the news and not much got done.  OY.  There’s a part of me that wants to write about this current batshit-crazy election season we’re in here, but a much bigger part is just overwhelmed by it all.

The important thing is this:  please, if you are a U.S. citizen, REGISTER AND VOTE.  Please.  Vote for Hillary Clinton, the only candidate that can stop that narcissistic, xenophobic bully.  I hear you if your conscience is telling you to vote third party.  Lots of us want to change the system, including me, but a third party vote in this election is not going to accomplish that.  What it could do, however, is get us into another war, roll back protections for LGBT people, and plunge the country back into recession.  We have to keep him away from the Presidency, and Clinton can do it.

Okay, let’s set all that aside for the moment and talk about sewing, shall we?  I don’t know about you, but sewing helps calm me and quiet my mind when it’s full of noise, and I could use a little quiet right about now.

No finishes here the last couple of weeks, but that’s because I’ve literally been working on about 10 things at once!  Which–surprisingly–has felt stimulating rather than overwhelming.  I found an out-of-print pattern to make with the fuzzy red fleece and got the notions for it the other day.  I only have 2 1/2 yards of the fleece, a bit skimpy for most jackets in my size, but this one should work.

I also have a couple of silver-colored buttons I could use . . . putting off that decision until later.

I also got a Hello Kitty fleece remnant at SCRAP the other day (I am pretending to be all grown-up about this, but my inner 6-year-old is jumping up and down with excitement).  It’s a longish strip about 11″ wide, so my head is full of fleece colorblocking thoughts.

HELLO KITTY!!

Last weekend was all about muslins.  I made one for the black jumper and one for the maroon corduroy.  Which forced me to confront how my body has changed due to menopause.  Sigh.  It’s a lot easier to ignore my new waist pudge when I’m making loose tunics and things; not so much with something a bit more fitted.  The truth is that the pear shape I’ve had my whole adult life is now more of an apple, and I’m going to have to adjust my expectations and pattern choices accordingly.  (So easy to write, somewhat more difficult to do.)

Because these two jumpers are more fitted, I had to grade up to a size 22 at the bust and hip (!), 24 at the waist (!!).  I’m pretty happy with how that worked on the black jumper, so I cut it out in my “real” fabric last week.  This is how far I got on sewing it up during Friday Night With Friends.

Ugh.  Photographing black denim is a problem.

I didn’t have enough of the black denim for facings, so I decided to use this fun fabric, which I had to piece (of course):

The denim is fraying like CRAZY, so next step is figuring out a way to bind the seams in a non-bulky way.

As for the maroon corduroy jumper, I’m just not sure about that one.  I’ve set it aside for now while I ponder my options.  In order to get the look I envisioned, I might have to fit the jumper more than I’m really comfortable with.  Hmmm . . . .

Anyway, first priority this week is to prep for the unpaper towel class scheduled for Saturday.  Then it’s back to the black denim.

Have a great week, everybody!

STH

Make-a-List Wednesday 01-27-16

Tags

#2016FAL, cats, depression, Make-A-List Monday, sewing, swears

Pooh and Shelby demonstrate the proper way to pass a cold, gray January (and Shelby gives me side eye for waking them up).

I feel like this post should be subtitled “not dead edition.”  Yep, I’m still here, just got sidelined for a bit by depression.  But I’m not going to write about it.  It’s boring, frankly–boring for you, and really, really, supremely fucking boring to me.  I already spend too much time focusing on what’s wrong and what’s hurting; these lists are about what I’m doing to move forward, so let’s talk about that for a few minutes.

(Make-A-List Monday is an idea that I borrowed from Sarah Craig over at Confessions of a Fabric Addict and I thank her for inspiring me to try it!)

My last list was done on 1/11 and I did get some of it done, though not as much as I would have liked.

1.  Put the damn button on the last damn item of mending. 

Done!  This sweater from the Eddie Bauer outlet crosses over in the front and I was always having to adjust it–oh, how I hate clothing you have to fiddle with!–so I sewed a button through both layers to hold them in place.  You can’t really tell, but it’s a pretty etched silver-colored button.

2.  Make the boxes for my desk drawers and get all the stuff in there.

Done!  I love them so much, but I’d just like to mention here that they took totally freaking forever to do.

The old wood desk that my sewing machine is on has these deep, narrow drawers and I wanted a way to organize my sewing stuff in them that would allow me to see what I had and also be deep enough to use a good portion of the available space.  And I liked the idea of boxes that I could just pull out of there to, say, carry my pattern weights to the dining room table for fabric cutting.

You can see here that I made two deep (6″ tall) boxes and four 4″ tall ones per drawer.

The sides of these are constructed like pillows with pieces of plastic canvas inserted in them rather than pillow forms (I hope that makes sense–I’m having a hell of a time writing clearly with the bad case of depression brain I’ve got going).  Then I slip-stitched the ends closed.  The four sides of each box were slip-stitched together, then slip-stitched to the base, which was made the same way as the sides.  I used interfacing in the first box, but it didn’t really seem to add much to the support that the plastic canvas was providing, so I skipped interfacing the rest of the boxes.

And I realized, as I was doing all the aforementioned slip-stitching, that I have a certain way of thinking about sewing projects that perhaps is a bit misleading.  My typical train of thought goes something like this:  “Oh, this should be a quick project!  I just have these few seams to do on the machine, then a little hand-sewing, and I’m done!”  Then I get frustrated when the “little hand-sewing” takes ten times as long as doing the seams on the machine.

So these took a lot of hours of hand-stitching over a week and a half or so–I even managed to give myself an overuse injury, a pain on the inside of my right elbow, that’s slowly fading.  I’m really happy with them, though, and love being able to find all my little bits and pieces.  (Just a reminder–if you ever want more complete instructions or a tutorial on something that I’ve made, just let me know.  I’d be happy to do that.)

(This is my first finish for the 2016 Q1 Finish-Along, number eight on my list.)

3.  Finish the cross-stitch clock. 

Nope, didn’t get to this one.

4.  Check the fit on the wool jacket and cut out the lining.

This didn’t happen, either.

 

So, goals for this week (what’s left of it, since I want to get back to doing Monday lists):

1.  Complete my self-care checklist every single day.  MUST MUST MUST.
2.   Check the fit on the wool jacket and cut out the lining.
3.   Cut out the purple knit top.  BECAUSE JANUARY REQUIRES PRETTY PURPLE THINGS.

4.  Put the binding on the new mug rug I made for my desk last night.  I’m almost done spiffing up my sewing room and it’s going to look so great!

I hope you guys are having a great week and January isn’t getting you down.  Take care.

STH

 

Sunday Sevens, 11-08-15: Maximum Color

Tags

Columbia Point, Kennewick, Richland, sewing, Sunday Sevens, swears, Washington, Zintel Canyon Park

Sunday Sevens is a blog series–begun by the ever-fabulous Natalie at Threads and Bobbins–where we put up some pictures of our week and chat a bit about what we’ve been doing.  All are welcome to join in!

Lots of outdoorsy pictures this week, as I actually got my lazy ass out for a walk twice!

On Monday, I did an expedition into the further reaches of Zintel Canyon Park, farther than I’m able to go when my mother’s with me.

Love this colorful plant!  Note how black the wood is here; there was at least one fire at the park this past summer.

Have no idea what this tree is, but the combination of the blue berries and red stems is just gorgeous.  Plenty of birds in this park, but they never seem to eat these berries, so I wonder if they’re poisonous.

Look what I made this week.

Heh.

Instructions are here, though I basically used the idea and ignored the instructions, partly because I didn’t have a functional iron when I made this.

The sweatshirt is from the Eddie Bauer outlet near Portland and I’ve had it in my mending/remake pile for a while now–despite the fact that I looked like a big ol’ fashion DON’T when I wore it–because I love the color and the soft rib-knit fabric.

Removing the bottom band and cuffs made it fit SO much better (seriously, does anybody look good in a sweatshirt with a bottom band?)  I finished the bottom and sleeves with blanket stitch.

I LOVE THIS and plan to wear it every day until Thanksgiving.

OUR LONG NIGHTMARE IS OVER.

On Saturday, my honey and I had a late lunch, then took a walk at Columbia Point in Richland.

Enlarge to see all the colors!

Since the new appliances were delivered, I have cooked SO MANY THINGS.

Here’s Sunday’s dinner:  ham and cheese quiche, herb biscuits, and a salad.

I have so many more pictures from last week’s walks; will throw those up on Flickr later today.

Have a great week, everybody.

STH

Sunday Sevens 10-11-15

Tags

Bateman Island, cooking, Kennewick, recipe, SCRAP Tri-Cities, sewing, Sunday Sevens, swears, Washington

Sunday Sevens is a series of weekly posts with seven-ish pictures from our week.  See Natalie at Threads and Bobbins for more info and please feel free to join us if you’d like to.

Running a little late this week–low on inspiration today after a week of ups and downs.

My mother’s quite elderly cat died recently, so my sister and I have been helping her (my mother, not the late cat) get estimates to have most of the carpet in her house replaced (yes, the late cat was one of those).

This process is exactly as enjoyable as used-car shopping; you have literally no idea what the hell you’re doing, and you’re pretty sure you’re getting screwed, but you feel powerless to prevent it.  :S

I spent some time this week finishing up the prep for my class at SCRAP Tri-Cities scheduled for Thursday–made kits for the students, wrote up a handout in case we weren’t able to finish during the class time, prepped demonstration materials, etc.

Thursday afternoon came, I loaded up the car with all my gear, and I headed down there.

And nobody showed up to take the class.

Sigh.

I was determined not to let it bring me down, though, so I stayed until closing, pricing stamps and chatting with Rachael and another volunteer.  It wasn’t the best day I’ve ever had, but I’m proud of myself for not letting it put me into a depressed funk.

GO ME

Friday afternoon was spent working on my honey’s birthday present.  Almost finished and I’m really liking it.  Here’s a sneak preview:

On Saturday, I hauled my butt out again to another MeetUp, this time a walk on Bateman Island.  Met some nice folks, got in a good 1 1/2 hour walk, and spent time outside on an almost-summery day.

This is the entrance.  As you can see, it’s more of a peninsula than an island.

Me actually going out to do things ALONE WITH A BUNCH OF STRANGERS is another huge step forward, so I’m proud of that, too.

ALL THE YAYS

And we close with a little carby goodness, one of the loaves of Honey Wheat Bread I made on Sunday.  I subbed oats for some of the white flour in these, so there’s lots of good stuff in there.

All fueled up for another brave week.  Hopefully.  Maybe.  😉

Have a great week, everybody, and I hope you’re able to move a bit forward toward your goals.

STH

 

 

Laurel Dress (a.k.a. OMG SECRET PJS)

Tags

clothing, Greenstyle Laurel, sewing, swears

Sometimes your relationship with a sewing project is simple and easy:

Great idea!  —  Smooth execution!  —  Lovely result!

And sometimes it gets a little more complicated:

Possibly great idea + risk + worry  —  Massive fustercluck!  —  Kinda love, kinda not

This is the latter kind of project.

I loved the idea of a Greenstyle Laurel dress in some sort of weighty knit; I mean, a dress like that with leggings underneath is maximum cozy for fall, right?  But I haven’t sewn much with knits and don’t feel super-confident about doing so.  Plus I haven’t made a Greenstyle pattern before, so I don’t how they fit, and reviews online are not very enlightening on that issue.

So I decided to make a muslin using this tee shirt knit that my mother gave me.  The whole “huge florid swirly cabbage rose print” thing is so very much my mother and so very much NOT me, but it’s a nice quality knit and I thought I might get some wear out of it.

First big problem:  not enough fabric.  The pattern is vague on this, but says you may need up to 3 yards depending on what options you choose.  I had 2 1/2, but probably needed 3 1/2.  After MUCH angst, I decided to be cautious and cut a 2XL, even though my measurements would suggest an XL (and I chose the long torso option).  I also added 3″ to the length of the skirt, a pretty unusual circumstance for stubby little me.  Is that why I was so short on fabric?  I don’t know, but I didn’t have enough to cut the front OR back bodice on the fold, I didn’t have enough for the full cowl, and I had to cut the sleeves crosswise.  And then I discovered that the fabric has such a huge repeat–and I had so little left of it–that pattern matching of the bodice was not anywhere near possible.  OH JOY.

There were several points at which the only thing that kept me working on this project was the thought this was a muslin, and this was the first of those points.

So I took a few days’ break from the dress, then came back and started sewing, using the sewing order from the CSC review of the pattern (LOVE inserting sleeves before sewing side seams!)  I hadn’t realized I was out of ballpoint needles, though, so I had all kinds of problems with skipped stitches, broken thread, thread nests, you name it.  Of course I should have stopped right there and gone out and bought a ballpoint needle, and of course I did not.  Sigh.

But I finally got it all together and tried it on.

AAAAAHHHH.

SECRET PAJAMAS.

SO.  MUCH.  WIN.

I thought I was going to have to hem this by hand, but I finally got lucky–it felt way overdue!–and found a “reinforced straight stitch” option on my sewing machine that actually worked on the knit without any drama.

Then, just because I like the contrast of leggings with lace, I slip stitched some lace to the hem.

I wound up using this mauve-y thread because my sewing machine decided it hated my black thread.

And then, because I wanted to do SOMETHING to that front bodice seam to make it look more intentional and less half-assed, I added some buttons.

Boy, they’re hard to see here, but all three are on there.

So, final verdict on the dress:  feels SO SUPER LOVELY OMG WHERE HAVE YOU BEEN ALL MY LIFE to wear, but oy those cabbage roses.  I do have an off-white fleece cardigan I can wear over it to cover some of them up, though, so that may help.  I have some days when I haven’t slept well and every joint aches, and all I want is to be comfortable and not have to think–this is the dress for those days.  Sizing is right on, though I might raise the neckline just a bit next time and make the pockets out of lining fabric to reduce bulk.

I’m also thinking about a good-sized piece of purple knit fabric that I saw at SCRAP last week, and about how I need to make another one of these dresses immediately.

I am feeling so very ready for fall.

STH

ETA:  Forgot to mention in the post, but this is my entry for Fabulous Fall week at the Sew Long Summer Sew-Along.

The End of the Summer (Blouses)

Tags

Butterick 5610, Butterick 6057, sewing, swears

Labor Day is the unofficial end of summer in the U.S., so I thought I should blog about my last two summer blouses then, just to sort of tidy up and end the season neatly.  But of course these things aren’t neat.  It was hot on Labor Day weekend and felt very much like summer was still underway.  It’s been cooler in the mornings lately, but afternoon temps have still been near 90F.

But fall arrived this week.  Sunday’s high temp was 96, I think, but Monday’s was 71 and accompanied by a gray sky.  It’s been cool all week, and I’m starting to see people in fall clothing.

So time to wrap up summer and blog about the other two hot-weather blouses I made (and enjoyed) this summer.

First, Butterick 5610, which I chose because it was the only pattern I had that would enable me to use my single yard of this embroidered cotton.

(I’m kind of wishing I wasn’t doing the headless, anonymous thing on these pictures, because my facial expressions in these are really funny for some reason.  I look either super-grumpy (TAKE THE PICTURE ALREADY CAMERA) or super-skeptical (WHAT EVEN IS THIS NEWFANGLED CONTRAPTION).)

I love this fabric, but it was pricey ($14 a yard, I think) and the end of the bolt said it was 50+ inches wide, so I just got a yard of it and figured that should be enough.  Problem is, it has a super-wide unembroidered edge, so the actual usable part of the fabric is only about 45″–not much fabric to cover a plus-size bod.

So I combined it with a plain white cotton from the stash and bound the sleeves with scraps of the embroidered fabric to help tie it together.

Couple of warnings about this pattern, if you should decide to make it.  First, the pleating in the front is weird and confusing and the instructions aren’t much help.  You make some pleats like normal–okay, I’m with you so far–but then you’re supposed to make an “inner pleat”–what?  I never did figure that out–then a big pleat essentially pleating the pleats.  I had no idea which markings to match up for the last one, so I puzzled over it and turned it over and over, and suddenly I saw it.  No idea how I did it, but it looks like the pleating on the envelope, so I’m calling it a win.

Second, if you hate hand sewing, this is not your pattern.  The whole front and back facing–which extends into the sleeves–AND the sleeve hems are slip-stitched down, which takes some time.

Third, you need fabric with a lot of drape for this pattern.  As you can see from all the creases in my pictures, my fabrics really weren’t right for it.  Besides all the creasing, the lack of drape also makes me look a little bit pregnant, since I carry my weight in the abdomen.  Something like challis would’ve looked much better in this style.

You know what, though?  I really like this blouse and I wear it a lot.  It’s cool and comfy and I still love that embroidered cotton.

Okay, on to Butterick 6057, another pattern meant for chiffon or some other light, drapey fabric.  What I had in mind, though, was a simple woven cotton tee shirt, since I’ve been enjoying wearing my other cotton tops so much.

I evened up the high-low hem on this and included all the cute details from the different views on the pattern envelope.

You can barely see the pocket in this ladybug print, so I sewed a button on it to make it a little more visible.  And I was determined not to have to iron this, so I sewed down the sleeve cuffs to make them stay put.

There are buttons down the back, another fun detail I liked.  I used BIG buttons to emphasize them.

Please note, buttonhole haters:  this thing took something like 11 buttons and I didn’t have to sew a single buttonhole.  The “band” on the back is actually just a pleat that’s sewn down. This would actually be a great pattern for a sewing n00b, as long as you use an easy-to-handle fabric like cotton.

The neckline on this blouse is a little bit wide for my taste, but–let’s be honest here–I was just too damn lazy to check it beforehand, even though this is a problem I often have.  I was going for quick and easy on this, DAMMIT.

I’ve been going back and forth on whether I should take the sides in . . . I suspect it would look a little better with some ease taken out, but it feels really nice on hot days to wear something loose-fitting like this.  And frankly, I’m more concerned with how I feel than how I look.  😉

Both of these have been really useful (and fun!) additions to my summer wardrobe, the kind of tops you look forward to putting on and enjoy wearing all day.

Now on to fall sewing and that Laurel dress that’s all cut out and ready to go.

STH

ETA:  I have linked this to Finish It Up Friday over at Crazy Mom Quilts and Whoop Whoop Friday at Confessions of a Fabric Addict.

Sunday Sevens 08-23-15

Tags

bags, Beaverton, Columbia River, Greenway Park, Oregon, randonneuring, Ronald Talney, SCRAP Tri-Cities, swears, travel, Tualatin Hills Nature Park, Vista House

(See the lovely and talented Natalie at Threads and Bobbins for the complete run-down on Sunday Sevens.  And join us–it’s fun!)

Since I skipped last week, I’m just going to include the best pictures of the best stuff from the last two weeks.

Best stuff:  PASTRY, MOSS, and SEWING.

Many people that my honey and I know were in France the last few weeks doing the Paris-Brest-Paris 1200k bike ride (PBP).

So one of our buddies in Portland organized a potluck and 100k bike ride called Tiny PBP for her cyclist friends that didn’t go to France.  The “PBP” here meaning “Portland-Boring-Portland.”  (Yes, there is a town in Oregon named Boring.  I can’t vouch for its boringness, never having been there.  Or maybe I have and just don’t remember due to the excessive boring?)

Said buddy made these awesome treats for the potluck:  macarons, fruit tart, and a pastry called a Paris-Brest (yes, actually named after the ride).

While all these bikey people were off doing their thing, I explored Tualatin Hills Nature Park in Beaverton.

Really amazing and beautiful park–man, Oregon does great parks!–with both paved and rougher trails, so accessible to everybody.

This is actually the root structure of a fallen tree.  I couldn’t get far enough away in the narrow trail to get the whole thing in a picture, but I think it’s more interesting this way, anyway.

I also went to Greenway Park, also in Beaverton.  I had just about given up hope of ever finding it, when suddenly there it was.  Seriously, Google navigation, not a lot of parks are located in corporate employee parking lots. 

Interesting bit of public art here.  (It’s a poem by Ronald Talney, but I can’t remember the whole thing and Google isn’t telling.  Harrumph.)

We took the scenic highway on the way home, hoping Multnomah Falls would be less packed with tourists than usual, but no luck there.

Vista House was better than usual, though (when I’ve been by here before, there hasn’t been any room to park, much less take a picture like this).

The view from the parking lot, looking down on the Columbia Gorge:

Back home, I worked all week on a new tote bag.  I don’t really need a new tote bag (QUITE AN UNDERSTATEMENT THERE), but it looked interesting and there was a sew-along.  Not sure how I’ll use this, but I do love the fabric combination.

And I spent the weekend putting together some samples for the class on scrap fabric projects that I’m going to teach at SCRAP Tri-Cities.  This was really just a way to get my butt moving on making some small things that I’ve been falling in love with and bookmarking and not actually making.  (Links to these projects are on the Resources page near the bottom.)

This is a little quilted fabric box.  I’m having lots of Christmas ideas involving these boxes and homemade treats . . . this year I am NOT going to be finishing presents at 11:00 p.m. on Christmas eve!

And this is a rice-filled foot warmer (or it will be when I get some rice).  Made with almost all flannels!  I am going to enjoy the HELL out of this when winter comes.  It occurs to me that I could really use some matching hand warmers . . . .

And I don’t EVEN understand it, but I seem to be on some weird pink binge lately.  Bright pink just seems so appropriate for hot summer days, doesn’t it?

I can feel fall coming, though.  It was 47F here this morning and a few of the trees are starting to change color, so it’s coming.  Hopefully, we’ll have a little more hot pink weather before then.

Have a great week, everybody.

STH