Two On Two Off

Vogue 8634 Again

2012-01-23T15:36:00.001-09:00

I know, I know. It’s been a while. What can I say? I suck! I’ve been busy and life and blah blah blah. It has been very heart warming to get your positive comments and well-wishes. I really have been fine. Just busy. As in B to the USY. I did finally crank up the sewing machines and made this little ditty. I made this last one in October and really like it with boots and skinny leg jeans. Do you know that was the last item I made? Yikes! My life is busy but that is too little garment sewing!

First, let’s all ooh and aah over the outside house remodel. Here you can see the old front (poo colored T-111 and pink trim). Here’s the front door now. It’s a gray green with white trim. We re-sided the front and side so it’s a much nicer looking lap siding. We extended the door to the side and added a side light to lighten up the front room a little bit. The door is a dark cranberry red. I wish I had a full picture of the whole front for you. You’ll have to wait until summer.

Here’s the new top. On the last one, I really took a lot out of the sides for a more fitted look. On this one, I left it big so I could wear a chunky belt with it. Overall, this is a pretty boring review. There’s nothing earth-shattering or even technically challenging about this knit top but I did want you guys to know I was still alive.

I’ll try to post more than 51 times this year. Wow. 2011 was not my year for sewing or blog posts!

San Diego fabric

2011-12-21T08:09:00.001-09:00

I haven't been a good blogger lately but I'm hoping someone will point
me to a good fabric store in San Diego. I'll be here for another week.
Promise I'll post more regularly when I get back. I'll HAVE to if I
purchase fabric lovlies. :)

It's a fabric SOS.

Vogue 8634 Cowl-neck Tunic

2011-10-29T14:57:00.001-08:00

I was going to make that McCall’s dress but then I decided I needed a sweater more than another dress. It’s been chilly here. Like in the high 20’s and low 30’s. I used the same terry fabric as I did in this red dress. I didn’t have enough fabric to make long sleeves so I made longer “short” sleeves. I like the pattern although there is some pulling across the bust and the seam is a little high on the bust instead of under the bust like I think it’s supposed to be. This fabric isn’t really all that stretchy so maybe that’s part of the problem. I do need to lower the top section a bit. I think I’ll make it again in another sweater knit.

ETA: One thing I forgot to mention yesterday is that I took it in about two inches around the waist and then left the hip area alone. Otherwise, it was very loose.

I like the length with this pair of jeans and my boots. I really like the drapey neckline.

Wow, I look really washed out in these photos. I swear to you that I’m not sick or ill. It much just me the early morning light and the flash.

Minky Sale at Fabric.com (damn them!)

2011-10-27T10:23:00.001-08:00

Yea . . . um . . . it’s been chilly which made me look for fabric and I had to . . . um . . . buy some. Of course. As if I could look at Fabric.com and not buy. So, ya’ll know that my living situation changed a while back. I now have my Boy Toy living with me and he comes with another kid-let so now that’s four. I recently bought a five bedroom house but you guys know I’m a selfish woman and have my own sewing room. So, the twinlets share a room and the “new” kid-let sleeps in her own room. It works out well because the Twin Things are now separated at school and like to be together at night. The New Chitlin is two so she wakes up at night sometimes and needs her space for time-outs and such. Anyway, where am I going with all this? Oh, yea, blankets. Twin Things have a predominantly hot pink room with lime green accents so I thought these two fabrics would make fantastic little blankets. I’ll make the other side a pink fleece.

Cussing Boy (example 1 and example 2) has a black and red room so I thought this would be a good choice for him.

Little Two Year Old has a pink and black room so this should work with just about everything. I love these little owls. Are they cute or what?

FYI: If you’re a long-time reader you already know that Fabric.com is a sponsor and I get kickbacks from Fabric.com website if you purchase through my blog. I just hate to not tell people that and I’ve had a lot of people join my blog recently.

Giving my kids the addiction . . .

2011-10-25T13:55:00.001-08:00

My girls recently got this sewing machine. We’ve already made a Barbie blanket and a little purse. What intrigues me is that it’s a chainstitch machine. There’s no bobbin (awesome) but the stitches unravel like a bitch (not awesome). It also includes little decorative snaps that we used on the purse and Hello Kitty patches we’ve put on the blanket. I did have a hard time adjusting the tension but I didn’t really try too hard either. We mostly focused on keeping fingers out of the way of the needle (who needs that little protective needle cover?) and not being afraid of the noise of the machine. It’s not loud, mind you, but little people are scary that they will be sucked into the machine.

Very. Fun. We’ll be doing a lot more of this. Maybe I can even get you some action shots. Little Girl #2 was very proud of the things she made.

6282 v. 1250

2011-10-21T10:39:00.001-08:00

So, I’ve made the famous Vogue 1250 draped front dress. In fact, I made it twice (take one, take two). I love it. It’s great and sexy and comfortable and has a wonderful drape. I love it in every way. But do you guys ever get the itch to try another pattern that’s just like one that you already have?? I picked up M6282 the other day with my Vogue dress in mind. I love the Vogue dress but I want to try the McCalls one now. There are some obvious similarities between the two like the draped front and the cap sleeves. There are also some subtle differences like the 6282 has a little ruching at the waist, 6282 has the option for a higher neckline, 1250 has that interesting back seaming detail while 6282 has typical side seams. I’m curious to see how they are different on the body.

Has anyone else been tempted to try both of these? I’m hoping to crack this out this weekend.

Don’t I need these in my sewing room?

2011-10-06T11:47:00.001-08:00

I found this wall art at Fred Meyer of all places. They are cute but I think I’ll wait until they are on clearance.

I’s too cheep.

Another Vogue 1250–Black and Sexy

2011-10-02T20:27:00.001-08:00

I had to do it, Ladies. I had to make another one. This one is black a little shorter. I head to Vegas next week and this would be a fun party dress. This fabric is a lot drapier and I swear you can see my xiphoid process from the front, it’s that low.

I love this pattern. Nuff said.

Here’s a lightened up page so you can see the draping.

Next up: Jeez, I don’t know. It’s getting chilly so maybe some sweaters.

I blame you, Ladies. Vogue 1250

2011-09-10T14:10:00.001-08:00

I saw so many pretty and sexy versions of this dress over at PatternReview.com that I had to make my own. Wow. It’s a great dress. Comfortable, quick to sew, sexy, and classy. How could it get any better? I made my version out of ITY from Fabric.com. It’s the partner fabric to this swimsuit cover up I made a few months ago. Same pattern; different colorway. What can I say about this dress that hasn’t already been said? It’s fantastic. The only modifications I made were to take it in about an inch on both sides from the arm to the hips and to make the hem about 4 inches shorter than it was. I’ve got a little pooling above my butt, but I think that is easily adjusted next time by taking a slightly larger SA for that back seam that attaches the bodice back to the CB of the dress. And yes, I said “next time.” I plan to make this in solid black too. It’s the perfect pattern for the little black dress.

Is this not the best ITY ever?

What more can I say?

Butterick 5559–Slinky Red Dress

2011-09-05T16:45:00.001-08:00

I bought this dress at the JoAnn’s sale a while ago. This french terry knit I also bought from JoAnn’s. It’s one of those rare, quality knits from there. It’s red but with a little fleck of white or light gray.

Here’s my version. I like my skirts short but this one is a work dress and I wanted it a little bit longer. I made the teensiest, weensiest hem on this and it’s still a little on the short side. Wow, my hair is raggedy in this humid, rainy weather. I’ve been growing it out and I’m amazed how curly it is. Pre-kid I had very straight hair. Very. Straight.

I didn’t really have any fit problems. I probably could have done a little swayback alteration but I didn’t. See how wavy it is?? My hair, not my swayback.

Next up: I’m going to tackle one of those cowl-y patterns from the other day.

Do you see a pattern here? (snort get it? pattern??)

2011-09-02T18:48:00.001-08:00

Okay. I know my puns are not funny. They entertain me and, really, that’s all that matters to me. What I should have titled this is “Do you see a trend??” Because, wow, I’m really into cowl-y, drapy tops right now, eh? I just bought these at JoAnns because they are having their $.99 and $3.99 sale on patterns.

I bought McCalls 6282 because I’ve always liked it and because this girl at work wore a dress very similar to it. Now I need it. I have some RPL that’s dying to be used.

And who isn’t going to buy Vogue 1250 when there are already 44 reviews at PatternReview.com? This one by Calverie pushed me over the edge. Need it. Need it in animal print.

I also bought Vogue 8634 because, as my dad would say, it’s a real weiner (winner). There are also a lot of reviews of this one out there. I have a gray sweater knit that would be perfect.

Maybe I’ll actually find time to sew this week.

I need these.

2011-08-24T11:44:00.001-08:00

These are Merino Wool Jersey’s from Fabric.com. Wow. I bought a swatch a while ago of the Passion Pink and it’s really nice. Like, really. Really. Nice. I also have a 10% discount that they sent via my email. The coupon code is KNITS111. I’m not sure if they don’t think I’m buying enough or what.

Cognac

Ivy

Iguana

Passion Pink

I may wait until they go on sale a bit more. Even with 10% off they are spendy ($19.98/yard!!) for a ~~cheap~~ frugal person like me.

Whew. I’m done tuckered out.

2011-08-22T13:47:00.001-08:00

I finished my first marathon yesterday and I’m tired. Bone tired.

I finished in 4:05 which is a bummer because I wanted to hit that 4:00 hour mark. I’m trying to console myself knowing I was the 4th in my age group (there were only 20-ish of us) and 31th overall for women in the marathon (there were 140 or so of us ladies).

Phew.

Cool Tutorial for Those of Us Sewing for Little Girls

2011-08-16T13:54:00.001-08:00

I was just reading Pam’s tutorial on making washable “silk” flowers to add as embellishments on little girls’ clothes. Why, had I never thought of adding these to my girls’ clothes?? Well, duh. My mother thinks I’m so creative. HA! I just know how to sew. Creative I am not.

Anyhoo, here’s the link. You don’t even have to sew your own clothes (Robyn in Fairbanks), you can just add them to anything. And such a simple idea I never thought of . . .

I also added it to my blog tutorials over on the right side of this page.

Butterick 5634 Ruffled Dress

2011-08-15T21:48:00.001-08:00

I saw this pattern the last time I was at JoAnn’s and couldn’t resist. I finally got around to finishing it.

I made view B/C with the self-fabric belt.

I really like how it turned out. I used a fabric I’ve had in stash for a few years. It was one that my then-husband bought me to make him a shirt. I figure this is a better use of it. This is one of those A/B, C, D cup patterns. It’s interesting to look at the difference between the A/B and the D.

One funny thing is I was at JoAnn’s looking for a long blue zipper. When I came home, I looked in my zipper stash and a navy long zipper appeared out of nowhere. I really like how fitted the back is and I made zero adjustments.

Here’s a better picture of the fabric.

Here’s the nostril shot. Lovely, eh? Once I sewed on the ruffles, I flattened them with the iron so they weren’t so puffy. The V looks really crooked here but it’s not this bad for really. I do think it’s just a tad off but you can see from the top picture, that it doesn’t look like this.

School starts tomorrow (ack!) and I’m wearing this. I’m not really excited too much.

Double Duvets–Pink and Black Edition

2011-08-07T11:26:00.001-08:00

I’ve actually been sewing! My last blog post was the pink and black cabinets I recently refinished for my girls’ room. They had comforters but they were reversible blue-tan ones. I bought four twin flat sheets from Target and sewed them together to make two duvets. I finished them off with black buttons to go along with the color scheme. I made a 10” overlap on the top so the buttons weren’t right in their faces. Can you believe how much duvets are? Even with bargain shopping, they are $30 and up. These ones, made from sheets, are about $14.

Here are the new duvets on the bunk beds. You can see that I still haven’t put on the knobs for the nightstand. It’s been so rainy I haven’t been able to paint anything.

I used my Greist buttonholer. Love that thing.

It makes beautiful buttonholes.

A picture from the park the other day. Aren’t they getting big?

Next up? I’ve been working on a dress. Yes, really, a dress.

I’m a sanding maniac.

2011-07-21T17:48:00.001-08:00

In my last post, ya’ll got to hear what I’ve been doing that has kept me away from sewing. Here is another project I’ve been working on. Last year, when I moved out of the house, I picked up a cheapy (but all wood) dress and nightstand for my twin girls. It was originally a light pink color that was pretty ratty. I sanded the crap out of this and got all the pink off of it. Then I spray painted the dresser black and the drawers a darker shade of pink. I found some wooden knobs and painted them black to match. You can’t really tell in this picture but the dresser has got great little details. It’s missing a drawer because there is a little wood gluing going on.

Here’s the matching nightstand. I need to get a few more knobs.

Here’s a close-up so you can see the detail. I added little adhesive gemstones to the handles. I love them.

Another close-up of the big dresser.

I’m hoping I’ll be completely done with the knobs and everything in the next day or two. My girls will looooooooooooooove it.

Burda 07-2009 #124B Swimsuit Coverup

2011-07-18T21:30:00.001-08:00

I’m so sick of writing, “I’m so glad I’m back to sewing and blogging.” I feel like I’ve been saying shit like this for a year. So, I will be forgoing that little song and dance and just pretend that I’ve been sewing and blogging all along. Tra la la la LA. There will be a little ditty at the end of this post if you’ll like to hear me complain a lot and explain some pretty crazy-ass relationship shit.

After I made my swimsuit, I wanted a little summer cover-up to go over it. I’ve had this cut out and partially sewn up for quite a while. Between this and that (I’ll go into that at the bottom) it’s been about three weeks since I started this. I never used to do this. Uck. Well, it’s done and I really like it. It’s kind of like a backwards wrap top. I love how low the back is. It’s perfect for a cover-up but probably not by itself. I made it out of some of that ITY I bought a while ago from Fabric.com.

Here you can see the back wrap portion.

The complainy part:
Between removing trees in my backyard (about five total and one that was HUGE), putting security cameras up and running wire (there are a lot of freaking doors in this house which means a lot of cameras), removing the dark wood paneling in my house (I’m going to sheetrock it), replacing my 21 windows (they were old and very drafty), having my camera break, not having connectivity in my sewing room, losing most of the photos on my blog (it will be easy to put them back in but it takes time and connectivity – see above), training for a marathon, and dating a man (also my ex-husband’s girlfriend’s ex-husband* – yea, figure THAT one out), I’ve had so little time and energy I haven’t been sewing OR blogging. I’m feeling burned out but happy. I’ve managed to go out of state a couple of times, had tons of fun with my kids, and gone camping several times this summer.

*Yeaaaaaaaaaaa, more on that. Let’s say there were once two married couples. Let’s call them B/D and L/S. I’ll make it easy to figure out for ya’ll with the letters. L accuses S of cheating. Then L decides she would start rumors about S and D. Eventually the couples all break up and they become just L, S, D, and B. Come to find out, L and B have been sleeping together for months before the marriages were over. Uh oh. Trouble in Whoville. At the time same time that L is spreading filth and accusations all over this town, she is dinging B (married to D). S and D start dating and get to think about B and L (still dating) with our kids (he’s got one and I’ve got three and we both have shared custody.) It’s all very complicated to say the least.

Ha, I just re-read that and even I got confused. You guys will never be able to figure it out. :) It’s okay though, I’m sure that B/L will be reading this too. They are like big brother

Oh, and for those of you worried that I was irritated by Anonymous’s “button tits” and “shriveled prune” comment, rest assured. It made me giggle a bit and that was it.

New Swimsuit–Jalie and Ottobre

2011-06-08T14:57:00.001-08:00

Ya’ll know I bought a new house with a hot tub. Well, I made the kids swimsuits and it was time to make one for me. I prefer to go au naturel but when you have company over or when you hot tub with the kidlets, well, I go with a swimsuit. I used Jalie 2446 for the bikini top and the Ottobre 5/2009 #2 underwear pattern for the bottoms.

Here are the bottoms. I used my Necchi machine and it does beautiful zig zags on nylon. I use a stretch needle and Gutterman thread to get the best results.

I love the Jalie bikini top. It’s pretty darn easy and looks pretty RTW when you get done. I lined the top and the front of the bottoms.

I bought the s-hooks from SewSassy.com a while ago.

Jalie 2788–Twist Top

2011-05-31T21:54:00.001-08:00

I know that the twist top has more than come and gone and that people are so over this pattern and design. But, can I just say, I really like it. Yes. Still. I’ve made this pattern a couple of times before (here’s the pattern at Jalie) and the only change I made was to make the back a little lower. I love the front.

And I did like the back until I saw it in these pictures. It’s actually just the bra that makes it bad. It looks like a have two, giant, widely-spaced, man nipples on my back. Can you say, eeeeeeeeeeeewwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww? I think it’ll look a lot better with a different bra. Kind of funny.

Here’s a close-up of the front twist part. Typical Jalie, it fits really well.

Next, I need to make a kid swimsuit and some summer jammies for my kids. It’s been a really warm summer and my kids mostly just have long-sleeved warm stuff. I’m still working on changing up my photos to my photo library so you can’t see my other versions of this top.

Burda 02-2011 #107 Skirt

2011-05-18T14:40:00.001-08:00

Here’s the newest project finally finished. It took forever but not because it was difficult. On the contrary, this skirt was incredibly easy and the fit is fantastic with no modifications. I made a 34 with no changes to the sizing. I may add belt loops but then again, I might not. The only reason I would add them is to make the belt in back the same distance down the skirt. If you add belt loops though, it looks funny if you don’t have a belt on. I used the leftovers from this dress. It’s a silk/wool blend suiting.

The inside is lined with a stretch silk from ThaiSilks.com I bought a while ago. There is no slit but it’s pretty easy to walk in.

I used the Threads tip about adding elastic to the waistband to make sure it stays snug against the body. This elastic adds quite a bit of bulk but I love the idea especially in something this high. Usually these high-waisted things kill me by lunch but this is nice because it has some give. The only problem is that the elastic wants to flip to the outside. I fixed this by tacking it from the inside to the fashion fabric (going through the lining). It does create a dimple from the RS but only when it’s not on the body.

You can see from the outside, off the body, that it looks like it’s puckered and not ironed. On the body though, it looks nice and the top edge stays against me but isn’t tight. I’ll definitely use this technique again even though it’s not the prettiest finish on the inside. I may try to sandwich the elastic between the lining and fashion fabric next time.

BurdaStyle 02-2011-107A – High Waisted Skirt

2011-05-10T12:43:00.001-08:00

I’ve loved this skirt in the February BurdaStyle since I first saw it. I have a little of this silk/wool woven (from one of my favorite dresses ever!) and this used up almost all of it. The only thing left is small scraps of fabric.

Here’s the pattern.

Here’s the inside and outside. I haven’t pressed my darts yet because I want to make sure they are where they are supposed to be. I used Whisper Weft on the back of this woven because it likes to stretch out on the bias quite a bit. The pattern calls for using a self-fabric facing but I’m going to skip that and just line it from the top. This is also thick fabric and I don’t want that extra bulk.

Here’s a bad picture of it on me. I like where it hits on the navel. This is with my running gear on. I came back from my run this morning and headed to the sewing room.

I’m a little concerned about the top of this skirt stretching over time. I’m going to use this Threads trick to reinforce the waistband and make it more comfortable. Basically, I’m adding a strip of elastic inside the skirt to make it tight around the top. I’ll let you know how it goes. I should be able to put the zipper in tomorrow or Thursday and the elastic band after that.

ETA: Hmmmmmmmmmmm, I just figured out that there is no one hosting my photos anymore. Awesome. My ex-husband must have never forwarded me my subscription notice to renew (I know, not his problem, I should have remembered to renew on my own). So you can’t see my pretty dress but I’ll start trying to fix that slowly and surely. Drat. That’s gonna be a lot of work. I need to migrate those photos to another photo album and then link all the photos again. Anyone know of an easy way to do that for three year’s worth of photos????

Cool New (Old) Books

2011-05-09T09:47:00.000-08:00

I love it when people are cleaning out their houses and I get their old sewing stuff. Sometimes it’s a treasure trove and sometimes it’s just random stuff I donate. This time, it’s the former.

First up is this Simplicity Sewing Book. It’s circa 1968 so it’s got great ads in it. It also has a lot of great illustrations. I have several older books like this and they are all fun to look at. It’s got your standard sewing techniques but what I really love are the ads.

Come on, who doesn’t need these pants and this fur leopard jumper thingy??

And don’t we all need Electric Satin clothes????????? Take a closer look. Really. It’s awesome. Even if you guys don’t think you need it, you do.

Then I received this book. It’s what you would expect. If you have a wrinkle here, tuck this; if you have a fold here, slice here. It’s kinda cool but not as exciting as electric satin. Seriously, what is??

This is a book by Kerstin Martensson, the founder of Kwik Sew. It’s got a lot of information about knits from when people didn’t know much about knits. So it talks a lot about the different types. It’s an interesting read. And who doesn’t love the hairdos of the 60s and 70s?

I hope to actually do some sewing this coming week but things have been busy, busy. There is only 9 more days of school!!! Thank Gawd! It has been a long, grueling year for me.

CAbi – Spring 2011

2011-05-05T08:50:00.000-08:00

I went to another CAbi party this weekend. There are some really cute knit tops I thought I’d share with you. I also took some super secret photos of some of the embellishments. I say super secret because I feel bad for never buying anything and then taking their ideas. I think that’s how they make so much money. People feel like they need to buy things because they go into another person’s home, eat good food, maybe drink good drinks (mmmmmmmmmmm, lemon drops), and then you get The Speech about quality clothes. I never buy and always feel guilty.
Here is the first knit tank I really like. It’s called the Grecian tank and it’s got ruching all over it. It’s super cute and comes in several colors. I think I could easily make this out of the Jalie Cross Over Empire Top. It even includes ruching.

Next up is this cute draped knit top with a cute cowl neck. It’s a typical t-shirt but it’s got extra fabric in the CF that is actually sewed together to create the draped effect. Anyone know of a pattern like this?? Excuse my really bad pictures but they were taken with my iPhone. I put arrows in to emphasize where the little stitches are that hold the drape together.

This tank is just like the Grecian Tank except it has a square neckline. I like this one quite a bit too. That’s my white camisole you can see. They had the tank in another color as well.

I also really liked this asymmetrical tank. Although pictures on me aren’t all that flattering. I think part of that is that it’s pretty big and stretchy. I think I’m a size 0 in CAbi (thank you vanity sizing!) and this tank I tried on was a 2 or 4.

I liked this Chanel style jacket. I took some close-ups of the embellishments.

I didn’t really like the cut of this top but I did think the embellishments were cute and very easy. They are just unfinished knit circles, folded in quarters, sewn down on the top. Cute and simple.

I disliked almost everything about this outfit. Yellow is not an olive-skinned girl’s best friend. But, the embellishments are similar to the gray and white top. They are unfinished organza circles folded in quarters. The center of the “flower” was a button. I also liked how they used matching grosgrain ribbon as support for the decor and as added decoration.

I also liked these tweed slacks. They are a honey brown color and so pretty. I love the button placement on them too. I never got to see the fit because the smallest size was a size 4. I love these yummy Fabric.com suitings although they might not be the best match for this pattern. They are pretty inexpensive too because that whole category is on sale right now.

Guest Blogger – Stephanie on the Kuspuk

2011-05-02T12:42:00.001-08:00

Seeing as I’m not an Alaska Native, I didn’t want to expound on the kuspuk (apparently, I don’t even spell it correctly so who am I to talk about it!!!). Stephanie regularly blogs over on her own stomping grounds at www.stephaniewritesitdown.wordpress.com. She’s freaking funny, artistic, witty, and has a way with words. I think you’ll see what I mean. Enjoy!!!
__________________________________________________________________

Hi Dawn’s People! Or maybe I should say, “Waqaa Dawn’s People,” since Dawn asked me to tell you all about this Native Alaskan thing called a kuspuk, which is actually spelled “qaspeq” or “gaspeq” if you’re being female-specific. “Kuspuk” is the spelling that helps you know how to pronounce the word. It’s like this: CUSS-PUCK; accent on the first syllable. I’m going to use “qaspeq.” Quaspeqs are worn throughout Alaska’s different Native Alaskan cultures, and different peoples have variations on the theme. I grew up in rural Alaska and am an Aleut, Yup’ik, and white girl mix. I’ll be bloggifying from that tradition/perspective/voice/culture, etc.

The simple answer to the quaspeq question is that a quaspeq is a sort of traditional (sort of since it’s made with cloth and not some more way traditional Nativey thing like the skin of something that used to be swimming, flying, or running around) hooded light parka or shirt with a gigantic pocket on the front. Think long hoodie. We don’t refer to the quapeq as a dress since guys can wear quaspeqs without being cross-dressers. And since they aren’t really dresses, quaspeqs are usually worn over some sort of leg covering like jeans or leggings. They can go over dress pants if we’re getting fancy for something important like a wedding, potluck, or trip to Anchorage to shop at Wal-Mart. Despite the not-really-a-dress status of quaspeqs, ladies can technically wear them without anything underneath. That’s not considered going commando since the lady version can have a little attached skirt. See below. Please pretend that I have a head. Please, please pretend that I look like Kate Beckinsale. Thank you. Quyana (which also means thank you).

Quaspeqs take the place of the heavy winter fur parka (although, there are winter quaspeqs that have heavier lining and can be coats) so that we don’t get heat stroke and plonk off while doing summer stuff like berry picking and cutting fish (cutting fish means cleaning and slicing it up for the freezer or smokehouse). They’re all about function. The hood is supposed to help keep the biting bugs like mosquitoes and white sox out of our ears and hair. If you’ve been to Alaska, you know how bitey things can be here. That’s actually why one lady version of the quaspeq has the little skirt. It’s to fluff mosquitoes out of your underworld. Guys are supposed to grin and bear it since they’re all manly. Also, they don’t traditionally pick berries, which is where you really get bitten. And most guys wear quaspeqs only for ceremonial or official events, like traditional festivals or Native dance performances. Most guys own only one or two quaspeqs. Ladies are the ones who wear quaspeqs for everyday, so we have more. I have eight quaspeqs. Many of the women in my hometown have upwards of twelve or fifteen.

Since this is a sewing blog, I’ll talk about the pattern, trim, and color choices for quaspeqs. You guys seem to be all into that stuff. Usually, a quaspeq is made of calico cotton for the ladies and plain cotton for the gentlemen. I have no idea how much fabric you need because I don’t sew, but I can tell you that quaspeqs are designed to fit loosely. These aren’t body-baring garments, and we’re supposed to be able to climb up to the smokehouse in them. We need to have enough room to move that booty. There’s usually some trim, commonly rick-rack, around the sleeves, hood, pocket, and skirt. Trim can also be thick brocade-looking stuff when we’ve had a stellar fishing season and are in the money. Or if we found some on eBay. As for color choices, little Native ladies who are old enough to be elders usually like the wildest, most clashing, brightest stuff they can find. A typical combination might be orange paisley with rick-rack in two colors like bright purple and green. Then, they’ll stick floral-patterned pants under it. It’s totally cute, and they work the look. More, umm, contemporary designs are typically a bit more matching.

As for the actual wearing of a quaspeq, we’ll start with an oldie but a goodie. Does this quaspeq make me look fat? The answer is yes. A quaspeq will make you look wide or wider in the beam, due to the loose and poofy fit. The little skirt option right at the hips doesn’t help. But, the nice thing about a quaspeq is that everyone looks like that in them. And traditional Native Alaskan cultures in my area are okay with a little sturdiness in a gal. It means we’re not weak and that we’re pretty fun to have around since we can probably cook.

Hope you enjoyed this one woman’s manifesto on quaspeqs. I’m going to leave you with pics of a few more of my quaspeqs so that you can see the variety in quaspeq design. Enjoy.

Parka Patterns

2011-04-28T13:09:00.001-08:00

I have three of the four patterns gone (and no, sorry, I can’t ship overseas) but I need an address for BeccaA. Doesn’t she have a blog out there? I tried looking via Blogger but couldn’t find anything to access her blog or her address. Once you other ladies write me back, I’ll mail your parka patterns.

I’m currently doing a little more work in the sewing room. I’ve got some shelving to put in and a big pegboard that goes on the wall. I have a super cute pencil skirt all traced out. I just need the time to get it done!!!

Stretch Denim

2011-04-22T14:28:00.001-08:00

Did you guys see that Fabric.com just got in some nice stretch denim? I like that it’s beefy like 9-11 oz. and has about 2% lycra. Perfect for Jalie jeans!! I would certainly get swatches for the ones you are interested in. It’s so hard to buy online without touching it!!!!! Good stretch denim is really hard to find so I snap it up when I find it. I love my Jalie jeans. I wear them all the time. I’ve lost quite a bit of weight in the last year so several pairs are way too big now. I may have to sample some of this denim myself. :)

In other exciting news:
I have a guest blogger coming who is going to enlighten us about kuspuks. She’s a native Alaskan, a kuspuk wearer, and awesome. I’ll email people this weekend and get addresses for the other patterns.

New patterns for me and freebies for you!

2011-04-18T09:48:00.001-08:00

I was gifted some patterns the other day of the “we were going through old stuff and knew you sewed” variety. I am keeping some of the patterns but I will never sew a kuspuk.

I can always use hat, mitten, and cold weather gear patterns. That v-neck fleece top is pretty bad with the moose (maybe deer?) motif. I will make the sweatshirts for my kids. I have a really hard time looking past bad pattern illustrations.

I will never make these patterns. I have two that are exactly the same and all four of them look to be about the same size. If anyone wants them, leave a comment and an email and I’ll contact you. I’ll send them to you for free just because they were my aunt’s and I want them to go to a good home. I’ll even splurge for postage. If several people want them, I’ll divvy them up and randomly assign you one.

KS 3740 with modified neck

2011-04-15T01:21:00.000-08:00

I first saw this twisted neckband treatment back in 2008 from Christina over at Assorted Notions. There has been ton of these on PatternReview.com and in blogland lately. I used KS3740 as my base t-shirt pattern and then just made my own neckband. I wanted a t-shirt that was nice and open in the front to show off the neckband. I used a stretchy Rayon/Lycra from JoAnn’s. It’s actually pretty nice. It’s a bit on the thin side but I love the color and the recovery is nice. I added an extra inch or so to the arms because I like extra long sleeves. I made the shirt a bit too long so I’ll shorten it although it’s perfect for tucking in right now.

Here’s a close-up of the neckline.

Here’s a sketch of how I did it. I marked it in 3/4” intervals and then matched the markings across and over one instead of just folding it in half.

I was looking at Fabric.com and now I want yummy solid knits. I maxed myself out with crazy, wild knit prints in my last order. These are also knit ITYs. Since I love the print ones, I figure I’ll love the solid ones too.

These are all rayon blends. Super yummy and soft I’m guessing. There are lots of colors too. I love that coffee-colored one.

For you anti-polyester folks, there is also some cotton/lycra solids that looks nice too. Although, there aren’t many colors.

Pussycat

2011-04-13T11:08:00.001-08:00

Vulgar language warning. If you don’t like other words for girl bits, you should probably skip this post. It’s a conversation my son and I had on the way home the other day. The girls didn’t say much but were keen observers. I’m wondering if it wasn’t a bad idea to talk about this in front of them. I guess I’ll know when a really inappropriate word pops out of one of their mouths.

______________________________________________________________________

Son: Hey mom, is pussycat a bad word??

Me: No, it’s not a bad word.

Son: Well, D______ says it’s a bad word.

Me: Well, it’s not.

Son (sheepishly): What about the word “pussy” by itself????

Me: Okay kids, I’m going to do some cussing. Remember that some of these words are adult words. Okay?

Three VERY INTERESTED kids: Okay.

Me: You guys know the word “butt” right? You know that “ass” means the same thing, right?

Six giant eyes: Right.

Me: Well, pussy is kind of the same thing. By itself, it also means a body part and it’s a bad word.

Son: Well, mom, which body part????????

Me: It’s means a girl’s front butt* and it’s not a good word to say. Got it??

Three kids with giant squid eyes and open mouths: Got it.

Son: So it’s okay to say pussy when you say pussycat but not by itself??

Me: Yup. But you know it’s a very bad word, right? No more saying it okay?

Son: Got it. Is it kind of like how you can HELLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLL-icopter? And HEELLLLLLLLLLLLL-o? And beaver-DAMMMMMMMMMMMMMM And ASSSSSSSSSSSSSSS-k? And ASSSSSSSSSSSSSS-hole. No, wait, sorry mom. That one really is a bad word. *giggle, snort* Sorry. Really, mom. Sorry.

Me: siiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiigh.

*My girls call their butt their “back butt” and the front the “front butt.” It made sense at the time but seems a little weird for my girls to be calling that part their “front butt,” but vagina, urethra, and vulva seem even more crass. The science teacher in me cringes when I hear “front butt.”

BurdaStyle May 2011

2011-04-09T10:33:00.002-08:00

There are several things that I like in this new May BurdaStyle. I really haven’t used my subscription much in the last year after all the fun stuff that’s been happening in my life. Now that I have a dedicated sewing space again and things are starting to calm down, I feel my mojo coming back. Here are my top picks. Remember I live in Alaska but I’m always drawn to the sleeveless styles. What’s with that??

Love this in the dress version. Online, they show it in a fuchsia pink and I actually, *cough, cough* like it. I know! It’s kind of bright and hideous but I like that it’s bright like that. We’ve been having warm, balmy, melty weather for the past two weeks but the last two days have been below freezing again with inches of snow accumulation. Blech. I’m ready for some bright and hideous!

I like this one too. It’s a tall pattern but I could cut it down easily enough if I wanted. I’m not sure where I would ever wear it. But, I do like it.

This is a petite dress (perfect!) and I really like the seaming on it. I love boat necks like that and it would be perfect for color blocking. Can you see black wool crepe in the middle and a dark eggplant on the side panels?

I always like a pair of shirt shorts. These are cute. I’m pretty sure I’ve seen this same pattern in Burda about five times now in the last year or so but I still like them.

I like this jacket although I will never make it. I’m not really a jacket kind of girl.

For this, I will not even post anything. I will just leave you with this picture as the reason I would never wear something like this.

Easy Skirt

2011-04-07T09:56:00.000-08:00

I had a bit of this charcoal gray double knit left over from this Jalie dress. I used the bottom of the pattern to make a very easy knit skirt. I thought I’d show you guys how I got creative with my elastic. I buy my elastic in bulk on a huge roll from ZipperStop.com. It’s good quality elastic but there is a lot of it so I try hard not to buy tons of different sizes. The stuff I use most commonly is the 3/4” elastic. This time, though, I wanted a skirt with a wider waistband. So I zigzagged two lengths of it together to make a 1.5” band. Here you can see the two pieces together. Once I have it put together, I sew it together to make a loop, quarter it, and serge the elastic to the skirt. This is the WS of the skirt.

This is the RS of the skirt before I fold the elastic down.

Here’s the finished skirt from the outside. This took me about 30 minutes from start to finish. I already had the pattern traced and it took about 5 minutes to cut the fabric. Now I have a cute just-above-the-knee skirt in a neutral color. I may have to look through my knits and see if there is anything else I can use up.

How fun is this??

2011-04-05T13:00:00.000-08:00

I went to Toys’R’Us yesterday and look what I found for my girls??? This is a lot like this toy I used to have when I was a little girl. I loved that thing. There were different fashion plates and you put them together and rubbed a crayon over it and made **magic**. Look at Angie’s blog to see what I’m talking about. I loved those things. This new version has stencils that go over these pre-sketched figured and then you fill in the details. The other one is more like a sketch book for ideas.

Jalie 3024–Another Dress

2011-04-03T19:39:00.001-08:00

I wanted something that would be easy and a success after making something that wasn’t very cute. This is one of those ITY knits. If you remember, the last time I made this dress, it was very high up on the bust and it was a bit snug. I went up a size and I think it’s much better.

I think I’m going to make another Jalie shirt too. Maybe the scarf collar top??

Hmmmmmmmmmmmm . . . .

2011-03-30T09:29:00.001-08:00

Well, I finished my MyImage dress I’ve been working on. The fit is great. The fabric is fun. The length is good. But, when you put all three together, it’s not good. In fact, it’s so “not good” that I didn’t even take a picture of it. Part of it is the crazy-ass print but that’s not even bad it’s just that there is so much of it. The cross over neckline is pretty high so it seems like I’m just covered in green/blue/black crazy print. I love the ruched side panel but it just seems messy with all that busy print.

I’ve decided to work on a Jalie slam dunk instead. I’m making another dress.

My Image Magazine – Winter 2010/2011

2011-03-25T10:02:00.001-08:00

So I’m a little late to the party for this magazine (here’s a link to their website) but I do have a copy and I really like it. I have traced out M1005 in size 34 and I didn’t make a muslin either. I’m probably going to regret that decision later but I thought I’d just hop into this whole “sewing thing” again. So, it’s your basic faux wrap dress. Although I read the PatternReview.com reviews and they said it’s more of a tunic length so I’ll add a few inches to make it longer.

Here’s the line drawings for all the designs in that issue. I also like (read: LURVE) that coat in the upper right hand corner. I have some red wool coating that needs to be loved on. M1014 is really cute too. I saw Karen’s version of the mini-skirt and loved the pocket details and all the seams. She said it’s super short though so I’ll add a few inches. If you know me, you know I like my skirts short but I do want to cover all my girl bits. (**ETA- Dammit! Karen’s version is in a totally different magazine!! What I have circled is a girl version. That certainly would not cover the girl bits! Ha!) also love that dress with the cowl neck and tabs. Cute!

Hopefully I will be able to cut out fabric this weekend and sew this little puppy up. Luckily, my Viking is already set up to coverstitch so I can do that overlay and then switch it over to overlock.

Pathetic?

2011-03-22T08:49:00.001-08:00

Is it pathetic that my great big Sewing Accomplishment is to hem a pair of pants?? On the positive side, that does mean that my sewing room is now functional. I found the iron, my pressing clothes, got all the cords managed, etc. I’ll have to pick any easy thing for my first garment. Maybe a knit Jalie top? Those are fun to make an always seem to fit well.

More on the Room

2011-03-17T10:49:00.001-08:00

Here’s a rough sketch on the new sewing room. The storage rack and built-in desk are on the wall with the Vintage Merlot.

I finished adding the outlet covers last night. Now all that needs to happen is some shelving that is built-in and backs to the backroom and attaching my pegboard. I have three machines on the desk and one embroidery machine on the little table that’s between the storage rack and the desk. Love!!

I actually looked for about 30 minutes today for my iron so I could hem a pair of pants. I finally found it but it was too late to work on them. Once I get all the stuff in the right place, that room will be rockin’.

It’s Me Again

2011-03-16T12:50:00.001-08:00

I feel like I need to change the name of my blog to, “I’m Back! No, Wait – I’m Moving, No, I’m Back!! Moving! Back! Moving! Back!!”

I’m not going to make any promises this time. You guys know I bought a house. Well, the first room I painted and fixed up was my sewing room. A girl’s gotta have priorities right? Granted the rest of the house is totally livable, it’s just dated. Picture white walls, white textured ceilings, brown trim, some wood paneling, and brass fixtures. It’s certainly a place I can call home. I plan to replace windows this summer so I’ll paint my walls and redo the trim then. The sewing room is in the basement so it’s kind of out of the way. I did two-tone walls with an accent color called Vintage Merlot. I left the old trim because I don’t plan on changing this window at all so I left the original trim/doors too. The rest of the house will eventually have brown walls, white trim/doors/windows, and a few accent walls. It’s kind of hard to figure out the shape of the room but it’s kind of like an L. I’ll have to sketch out a picture for you guys. It’s under the stairs so there are all sorts of fun angles. I really like how the colors look with each other. It took four coats of paint for that red wall!

This is looking toward the bathroom. That’s a little built-in desk. It may become a homework desk for my son when I’m sewing.

Here’s looking toward the door into the room. I put my storage rack that holds most of my fabric behind the door.

Here’s a view from the bathroom side. I bought a desk from Costco that fits perfectly in the space available. It’s got three desks, a hutch, and some drawers. Right now things are sort of strewn about.

Here’s another view toward the door. I am able to put four machines in here. I had three machines out up at the rental and boy do I miss being able to do topstitching on a separate machine!

Here’s a good shot of the three colors. This Vintage Merlot may show up somewhere else in the house. I love it! Maybe in the master bedroom? It looks very much like a boudoir color, no?

p.s. And thanks for the note yesterday from my “Blog Readers/Lurker.” Y’all make a gal feel loved!

Swimsuits!

2011-02-16T09:39:00.001-09:00

I finished up on a set of swimsuits last night. I love this pattern. Last time I graded down to a size 3 (4 is the smallest size) and this time I used size 5. I used the same fabric for both of them. Personally, I think it’s kind of hideous but it was the favorite for both of the girls. It’s great fabric with fantastic stretch and recovery. I bought one yard of several prints from Fabric.com a while back and it’s all really high quality. They don’t look like they have any right now otherwise I’d post it for you. I’ll get action shots when I can.

This shows you the racer back which I really like.

I used my zigzag stitch to finish off the elastic edges.

For those of you wanting the sewing nitty-gritty: I used a Microtex needle in size 80 for the zig-zag and had to change it once during the process. I used regular ol’ Coats and Clark cotton/poly thread. Nylon is sometimes a hard fabric to work with but it’s not bad if you use a really sharp needle and go slowly.

Undies for meeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee.

2011-02-14T13:11:00.001-09:00

I absolutely love the Ottobre 05/2009 #2 pattern for hipster underwear. I have made several of these pairs of underwear for myself lately. I am still (ack!) slowly moving so I am working on small projects I can do amidst the chaos. I used fabric from the girl jammies a while back and the pink turtleneck.

I have also completed some more pants redecoration for the blue jeans I’ve been working on. I also just cut out two swimsuits so the girls can play in the hot tub. We’ve been using the smaller ones but they are a bit uncomfortable for them.

Girl Jeans

2011-02-04T13:01:00.001-09:00

I’ve been working on refashioning some of my son’s jeans into jeans for my girls. I have had very little time to sew lately because I’ve been moving, packing, and cleaning. My sewing stuff is still at the old house so I’ve been able to sew here and there when I have a moment. This is what I managed to do last night.

I added some some velvet ribbon to the waist of the pants. The ribbon already had the white flowers on it. It’s kinda cute stuff. Who knows where I got it.

Then I decided that I needed more purple. I added matching purple velvet bows to the pockets. Again, who knows where I go that. It matches so I’m sure it was purchased together.

This is what it looks like now. I think it needs something in the middle where the ribbon just ends on the waistband.

Then I went digging through my button box and found this button. I think I’ll cut off the shank and glue it to the existing button. I’ll have to check that it will still go through the hole though. Another option is to paint it with purple nail polish and then add a clear gloss to it. That might be fun too.

I hate packing.

2011-01-27T10:42:00.001-09:00

I soooooooooo want to be sewing right now. I want to embellish little pants and those ITYs are screaming to be made into Jalie tops (specifically the scarf-top and the twist top). One of them is screaming at me to be made into a Burda wrap dress. Dammit! Why is it when your mojo comes back full force you have no time?? The Jalie 3204 Dress is wanting to be made too. I think I’ll add an inch to lower the bodice and then we’ll be good to go.

Um, seriously? They’re too small??!?

2011-01-24T21:51:00.001-09:00

My son is at that age where clothes cease to fit him in a very short period of time. I bought him several pairs of nice “school jeans” in August. Guess what? They are all too small now. They are almost all brand new and have minimal wear on them. I decided to refashion them into girl jeans. On this first pair, I ripped open the side leg seam so I could add some embroidery. It’ll be easy to sew that back up and hem them.

Is this not the cutest embroidery in the whole world? I got it free at EmbroiderThis.com. I want to make one with lace stripes and another with pink rick rack. I want to make one with pink bows on the pockets and one with flowers with button centers. I may even take off some back pockets and stitch them. Any other ideas? I’m sure Angie could do this 500 better than me. She’s so artistic and creative. Me? I’m a workhorse, I can get shite done. Creative, I am not.

Here are the seven pairs of jeans that are too small. Yee-zits!!!

I figure this is a fast, easy, simple project that will keep my sewing blues away but yet it don’t take much space and it doesn’t take much thinking. I’m concentrating all my spidey senses on packing and moving right now.

Oh, and guess who’s ITY came today??! It’s weird too because my first order isn’t here yet but the second one came today.

KwikSew 3234 (ad nauseam)

2011-01-21T17:37:00.001-09:00

See? Told you I could finish a project!! After buying a few *cough* yards of fabric I had to sew something up. I used KS 3234 again. Damn, that’s a good pattern. I’m only on size M too. That’s the 7-8 size range. This pattern goes all the way up to 12-14 so I’m all set for several more years.
First up the boy jammies. I used Urban Threads embroidery on the front in a variegated green. I love this Chez Ami ribbing. It’s so soft and it’s got great recovery. He ended up with two tops and one pair of pants. I didn’t have enough of the grey or the blue print to make up another pair of pants and I didn’t really have anything suitable that would coordinate.

Next the little boobins. They are twins, they are four, and for the life of me, I cannot make them sleep in separate beds. How do you say, “Stop snuggling your sister so much!!!” The problem is that a lot of giggling and tickling happens when they go to bed and it can keep them up for an additional hour or two. They prefer the top bunk and I usually don’t stop them from sleeping together. Maybe it’s just a twin thing. You can barely see the cute monster embroidery (again from Urban Threads) and I should have made it an applique.

My poor kids. This is how I woke them up this morning. “Good MOOOOOOOORRRRRRRRRRR-ning girls!!! Time for PIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIICCCC-tures!” This is their combined Death Glare.

I’ll probably offline for a bit. This is a big moving weekend for me. I don’t actually plan on moving into the new house until the end of February but I’m going to try to get the big stuff gone this next week while I have help.

Yup, I’m Bad

2011-01-20T11:45:00.001-09:00

So I succumbed to the damn coupon and sale coupon. I ended up ordering, um, some fabric. Let’s just say it was a lot. I ordered two yards of several prints. Maybe, like, um, eight different prints. I know. Cripes. So much for my fabric diet.

This shows five of the prints I bought. There are three others but they aren’t on the website anymore. I’m thinking they sold out of those? Hopefully I’ll still get my order but maybe not. I guess we shall see!

Jammie Update: They are done! I’ll try to post pictures tonight or tomorrow.

Lucky Day?

2011-01-19T07:58:00.001-09:00

I can’t decide if this is a lucky thing or not. Yesterday’s post is all about fabric I just bought. Well, last night I got the Fabric.com Deal of the Day email and it is none other than . . . wait for it . . . ITY for 40% off!!! I think I may buy some before I get my swatch since it’s about $2.00/yard cheaper than the other day! Here’s a link to the Fabric.com Coupon Corner which also has some other discounts that require a coupon code.

Acck!!! You may be seeing another “I’ve been bad” post shortly!

I’ve been bad.

2011-01-18T10:37:00.001-09:00

I’ve been scrimping and saving to make sure that I have enough money for my new house and I haven’t bought fabric in a long time. Well, I fell off the wagon the other night. What’s my excuse? Well, it was late and I was alone and bored and well, my new house has a hot tub (woot!!!) so the kids will need swimsuits, and I was bored, and well, there is no good excuse (did I mention I was bored?).

Here’s the haul.

I’ve been into making kid jammies lately so I thought I’d but some of this thermal waffle knit. It’s black and white so it’s great for The Boy too. I often find that I buy a lot of girl prints instead of neutral or boy prints.

Seeing as my new place has a hot tub (***squeeeeeeeeee***) I’ll be needing little girl swimsuits. I have made them before when we went to Hawaii and they are super fast and easy to make. These are not prints that I would pick for myself but they are cute and the girls will love them. You will especially never see this French Canadian/Blackfoot Indian mutt (me) in yellow. I have olive, olive, olive skin that looks horrible in yellow.

I also ordered a swatch of this Jersey ITY. They have lots of fun prints. I sometimes don’t get the best knits from Fabric.com so I wanted to try out a swatch. I almost didn’t tell you ladies because there is only a few yards of some of them and I really like them all!

I also liked these colors.

I also got a swatch of this Rayon Stretch Jersey because I really liked it. We’ll see if it’s too thin for tops.

Actually making progress!

2011-01-15T21:52:00.001-09:00

The other day I said I was going to work on kid jammies and, strangely enough, I’ve actually made a lot of progress.

Cut out two pairs of girl jammies? CHECK!
Trace next bigger size for The Boy? CHECK!
Cut out two pairs for The Boy? CHECK! Oh wait. That’s an almost check. I cut out everything except two pairs of pants.
Stitch really cute embroidery from Urban Threads (owl here and monster here) on the girl’s jammies? Half-check.

Here’s the super cutie-patootie embroidery. I think I’m going to add yellow button eyes too.

Here’s proof I’ve cut out the girl and boy fabric. Hopefully tomorrow I’ll be able to sew some of this. My dad and his wife are in town right now to visit so I may not have too much time. We’ll see.

I bought a house!

2011-01-13T21:44:00.002-09:00

So I’m about to be very busy again. I just bought a house and am hoping to close on it in the next week or so. I do have some pictures of the inside but need to get them off my camera. It’s quite big at 3100 sq. feet and it’s on almost 3/4 of an acre. That probably doesn’t seem big to most of you but it’s pretty big for Anchorage. Most of the lots here are small like .17 or .2 acres. It has bedrooms for each kiddo AND a sewing room downstairs! I’ll be able to have all my stuff together again. Right now it’s sort of shoved in one room and it’s a small room at that.

And, by the way, I have started cutting out the jammies. I have two pairs for the girls cut out and I am currently tracing the size M out for my son. I can’t believe how fast they grow!

February Burda

2011-01-11T09:35:00.001-09:00

There are several items I really like out of the February Burda. I need to get out of my sewing funk and get crackin’. I find that since I started sewing, I get bored of my clothes pretty quickly. I also find that I purge clothes pretty quickly. I’ve lost about 10 pounds this last year and the pants and skirts that used to fit me snug are now loose and falling off of me. I should probably work on that sometime. I haven’t worn many skirts this winter because I’ve been juggling getting kids to two different daycares and trying to make it to work on time everyday (I have!) and haven’t really been that good at caring for my own appearance. Is it much harder to wear a skirt instead of pants? No, not really, but it involves tights and boots and coordination and blah. I’ve been on a steady diet of black/grey “pants and knit top” for the entire school year. It’s easy to coordinate, I don’t have to think about footwear, and it matches my mood. Time to change that. I’m really tired of black.

Here are my favorites from the February Burda. I love these two pencil skirts and the dress is cute and still very easy to wear (read: an easy alternative to black pants). I love a good t-shirt always and I should probably make some of those in bright colors.

If I have time tonight, I’m going to start on kid jammies and maybe make a pseudo plan for clothes for me as well.

Getting back on the hawsie . . .

2011-01-10T20:37:00.001-09:00

Jeez, where the heck did I go? I did not, dear readers, drop off the face of the Earth. I’m finding that being a single woman with three children is taking a lot more energy and time than I thought it would. And thank you for the comments and emails about my well being! I’m certainly hanging in there. Some days my only goal is to survive but I’ll get back to the point of kicking ass and taking names soon enough. Enough about moi though.

I’ve always loved the kid clothes over at Chez Ami. They are super cute and, of course, I drool over the fabric. They also sell fabric but I had never ordered any of it. Well, right before Christmas I bit the bullet and bought some of the jersey and a bunch of rib knit. I bought everything from the clearance section so it’s pretty darn cheap (like $3.50/yard). It took a long time to get here but that’s mainly because I live in Alaska and UPS Ground and can’t ship to PO boxes and blah, blah, blah. I really, really, really love the rib knit. Don’t get me wrong either. The jersey is nice but it’s really hard to find good rib knit. I think this jersey will become a cute set of jammies for my girls and I’ll either use the green, brown, or teal rib knit to go with it.

I also have this black knit print left over from this KwikSew dress. I may use this up for kid jammies too. I’m thinking the pink or teal for this fabric.

My son is also lacking in the jammies department so it’s probably time to make him some too! I’ll keep you updated on progress now that I and back to the life of the living! For him, I will certainly use the KwikSew 3234 pattern I always use. It’s fits so well! For the girls, well, I don’t know. They love the Butterick 4910 but the KwikSew ones are warmer. I live in a cold drafted house so we’ll see.

More Turtlenecks

2010-11-22T17:40:00.000-09:00

I realized the other day that I wear my Cotton Baby Jersey Knit Orange turtleneck all the time. I love the looooong slouchy sleeves and the warm and cozy (but not constrictive) turtleneck. I decided to use my two other colors of this same knit and make two more. The only change this time is that I marked the CB well and I added about two inches to the length. I found that it’s not quite long enough to be tucked in.

I constructed these with my serger and from cutting to hemming (I had already traced it) it only took about 45 minutes to make both of these. Talk about instant gratification. This is a great basic pattern and one that I really appreciate in the cold North.

Whoops. I just realized that my picture didn’t load yesterday so I’m re-posting this.

Hmmmm, fail or not?

2010-11-17T18:48:00.001-09:00

What do guys think of this? I’m kind of liking bubble skirts right now but I’m not sure if they are for me. I love, love, love Cidell’s versions here and here. I chose to just make a skirt instead of the whole dress but I think I might try that dress next. This 08-2010-132 skirt was originally made from woven but I made a knit rib waistband that was a little bit smaller than the pattern and now it’s just a pull-on skirt. I made a long tube of fabric (the blue stuff) and folded it in half. Then I turned the inside layer so it matched up with a different seam. For example, the CF inside layer matched up with the right side and the right side seam matched up with CB. Clear as mud? Then I gathered the skirt and attached it to the waistband. I’m not sure I like it. What do you guys think? I would probably style it like this for winter use. It’s much fuller than I thought it would be. Can you tell it’s cold out?

I know that I will for sure not be spilling in this dress. I didn’t realize it but it’s just like a circle skirt and it really flies right up there when you spin. Yikes!

It’s that time again . . .

2010-11-16T10:16:00.001-09:00

It was 8 degrees today at my house. Brrrrrrrrr . . . .

You guys know what that means. That means cold kids!!!

I’m not sure why Girl #2 must do these types of poses. She’s already a diva in training. I used a wind resistant Malden Mills Polartec. It’s very cozy and nice. I used my embroidery machine and the Font Engine to make the snowflakes. I used the Faux Snow font. For the flowers, I used this free design from . . . well, hell, somewhere. I just searched my favorite haunts and have no idea where I got it. I also have the small version. My favorite free ones come from EmbroideryThis.com.

I have a skirt to show you guys. I’m not sure I like it but maybe it’s just my styling. I may need some styling help.

The Boy and Gawd

2010-11-08T21:41:00.001-09:00

The Boy: Mom, what’s a warship??

Me (while driving three loud children up a very slick hill): Um, it’s a big ship that people use in war. It’s got guns and RADAR and stuff on it.

Boy: So it’s used to destroy, like submarines and, and, and, like planes, and stuff?

Twin Annoyances: BAM! BAM! TAKE THAT BAD GUYS!!! PPPZZZZTTTT!! BBBZZZZ!

Me (narrowly missing a car that’s stuck in the ditch): Yea, it’s used to shoot down planes and bad guys.

Twin Loud Things: Hey! Can a torpedo shoot things? MOM!! MOM!!! TORPEDO!!!!! LOOK LEFT!!!! TORPEDO!!!!! NO, SISTER!!! LEFT IS OVER THERE!!!! YOU MEAN RIGHT!!! NO, I MEAN LEFT!!!! MOM!!!! SHE’S BEING MEAN TO ME!!!!!!

Boy: Hmmmmmmmmm.

Boy: Mutter, mutter, mutter.

Me (straining to hear over Twin Megaphones): What?? What did you say?

Boy: Well, I’m confused. I thought they said that you had to warship God but I thought that you should be nice to people. If you warship God, then you are trying to destroy him and torpedo him, and smash heaven, and SHOOT THINGS, and zap THE BAD GUYS!

Me (sigggggggh): That’s WORSHIP, spelled W-O-R, not W-A-R.

My New Pumas

2010-11-05T17:58:00.000-08:00

For you long-time readers, you probably know about my love/hate relationship with Puma brand running shoes. I love the cushion, the spring, the width of the toe box, the heel cup, and many other aspects of the brand. One thing I have loathed about the shoes is the color scheme. My first pair was purple and glittery silver. When I went to get my second pair, I strapped on my big girl pants, inhaled a big cleansing breathe and bought the hot pink/glittery pair as their replacement. What can I say, I love the fit of the shoe and that's what really matters. I'm not what you would consider a girly girl. I own very little pink. Very. Little. In fact, I always have to come up with some lame excuse about not being able to wear pink on breast cancer awareness day ("Come on Dawn! Everyone has a pink shirt! Surely you can find one in your closet!").

Last year I wrote Puma an open letter on my blog asking/begging/pleading them to make some shoes that wouldn't make my cheeks pink from embarrassment. Did they hear me? Maybe. Or maybe they just moved away from their pink period. Anyway, I'm here to report that my new shoes are not pink. They are not girly at all. They are blue and yellow!! So. Much. Better. Thank you Puma!

My hot pink Puma's will not be my beat-up roam around shoes until they completely fall apart. They lived a long and full life and say lots of different landscapes. They were even a big hit in races on account of their vibrant color. I will actually kind of miss them when I'm running. Or maybe not much.

Jalie 3024 – Another Dress

2010-11-03T19:52:00.000-08:00

Here’s another version of the dress. I didn’t remember to add anything to the bodice bottom or to the hem. Oops. I think it’s cute as it is but I’ll either have to do leggings or tights under this if I want to wear it to work. This is a matte jersey I bought from Fabric.com not too long ago. To tell you the truth, I’m not a big fan of the hand of this fabric. It feels very polyester-y and has very little stretch in any direction. I was expecting something more stretchy and less synthetic, I guess. I do love the print though. I used a black ribbing for the waistband. The black shirt under it is my Jalie boat neck wool jersey top.

There doesn’t seem to be nearly as much butt wrinkling as there was in my other version. Maybe it’s just because there is so much print you can’t see any wrinkles??

Who doesn't love a pull-it-out-of-the-suitcase knit dress?

It’s that time of year again . . .

2010-11-02T09:21:00.001-08:00

Most of you know or have figured out that I’ve moved to a new house. This house is huge, beautiful and on lovely acreage. I absolutely love the house. The only one negative is that it’s drafty and can be a bit on the cold side. I’m fine with that and I actually prefer my house temperature to be in the low 60s or high 50s when I sleep. My kids, on the other hand, would love to live in a 70 degree house. So, instead of turning up the thermostat, I’m going to make them warm flannel jammies for Christmas. I’ve started my preliminary shopping and have found some very cute stuff at Fabric.com. I already have some nice cotton knit for the shirts but I want to make them some cozy flannel pants for lounging and bed. Here are some of my top picks for my girls. Some of these are expensive and I’m ~~cheap~~ frugal so I’m not sure what I’ll actually buy. All of these are from Fabric.com. I’m totally in love with the pink elephants. Each of those is an active link so you can just click on them and go see them at Fabric.com.

Bliss Flannel Elephants – They have this in other color ways too.

Bliss Flannel Circle – They have this in other color ways too.

Bliss Flannel Lions

Irving Street City Stripe

Irving Street Downtown Pink

I had to go back and add these to my post because they are so dang cute! They have it in thermal waffle knit (left) and a jersey knit (right).

Halloween

2010-11-01T15:08:00.001-08:00

Here’s my final costume although you can’t really see it in all it’s glory. I painted my face and had some nice stripes on it. I wore a fun wig that had a very long braid, you can see it in the picture. All in all, it was a flippin’ riot. I kept my cell phone in my loin cloth and had fun at my friend’s house. That’s my friend K________, she’s a spelling bee.

The Costume (almost all of it)

2010-10-29T15:48:00.002-08:00

How much fun is this costume?? I think the loin cloth actually kind of looks like leather. And having a tail is always so fun.

See? And you guys were totally right about the black heels. They do lengthen and extend my legs. And that Avatar girl is so long and lean, I need all the help I can get.

The next time you’ll see this will be once I’m all duded up and ready to rock. I'll also give you some details on how I put everything together (including attaching the tail you naughty girl, you!).

Wow! I love this Etsy store!!

2010-10-28T09:25:00.001-08:00

One of my girlfriends at work sent me this link and I had to share it with y’all. In fact, it might just be one of you guys. Liza Rietz’s Etsy store has me drooling. I love, love, love her structural pieces. How pretty are these???

LOVE that subtle bias detail at the waist.

Both photos were “harvested” from her store. Permission is pending (I emailed and asked it it’s okay).

Halloween Progress . . . The shoes

2010-10-26T19:41:00.001-08:00

You guys were right. You almost always are . . . .
Black heels make it look so much better! I bought mine at Famous Footwear.

Next up: The whole kit and caboodle sans make-up and wig.

Halloween Progress . . . Stripes, and lots of them

2010-10-25T14:30:00.000-08:00

So I’ve been wracking my brain on how to make a template for my stripes. Tape? Way too time consuming. Paper? Maybe but it’ll get soggy. Cardstock? Maybe but how to get it around the corners smoothly. Then, mental head slap, why not use fabric??!? I only have 500 yards or so of it lying around. I dug out the rest of that ugly, cheap polyester felt and put that to the test. I knew I needed something beefier than a cotton. The felt was just perfect. So I cut out some larger and smaller stripes in my felt.

I stuffed my pants with newspaper and pinned on the felt templates. Notice the yard is snow free! Yea October in Alaska!!

Here’s a better picture.

Here’s the first run. I did one set down each side and then came back to each side a few times to get the holes and empty spots. I can tell you that I really, really like the Valspar spray paint from Lowe’s. No stupid wobbly spray knob and no mess.

I think the stripes look very nice. I didn’t want perfect moon-shaped arcs.

Look! A dismembered Na’vi on my lawn!!

Here’s the top. There aren’t many of the top because it started snowing on me. Damn Alaska in October! I had to hurry and get done!

Here’s the back of the finished shirt. I cut several inches off the bottom after I was done. I knew it was way too long so I didn’t really do much painting down there.

Next up: The Shoes!

Halloween Progress . . . Tail!!

2010-10-23T12:50:00.000-08:00

I wasn’t sure how this spray painting shin-dig was going to go so I wanted to start with something easy and that I didn’t mind throwing away if it didn’t work. Therefore, the tail seemed like the easiest choice. I used blue painter’s tape and made some stripes. I put it on the lawn and sprayed the heck out of it. One thing I learned is that I do not want to be wearing this little outfit when I spray paint it. That paint goes right through.

When I removed the tape, I was pleasantly surprised. It looked good although it smelled like, what else, spray paint.

Then I used the “tail” method in my handy dandy Singer Halloween costume sewing book. I love that thing; bought it at a garage sale for a buck or something. This picture shows the set up right before I sew the fabric together right sides together. Click to make this bigger so you can read the text.

Here’s my tail in all it’s glory.

Here’s the “hair”. I used black twine and just untwisted it to make it more hair-like. I probably should have added more hair.

Next up? Makin’ stripes!!

Halloween Progress . . . Loin Cloth

2010-10-21T18:10:00.000-08:00

I’m not sure what else to call it but a loin cloth. I used cheapy brown polyester felt and just made a rectangular pocket. I cut more of the felt into strips and braided them together to make the belt.

Here’s a close-up of the belt. I added beads to the last part just by braiding them in.

I added a casing on the back for the beads to go through. I made the belt super long so it can go around my hips a few times.

Next up?? The tail!

Jalie 3024 – Knit Dresses

2010-10-19T10:26:00.000-08:00

Well, folks, Jalie made another winner. One of these days I’m sure they will mess up but they haven’t for me yet. I love this dress and it’s super easy and fast to make. I would highly recommend it for those scared of knits and for those who want to try a Jalie pattern but are scared of all the lines. One thing I did notice with this pattern is that they made the pattern lines a bit easier to find. They grouped the sizes together and made the lines slightly different. For example, the size R through V are dashed lines and others are solid lines.

This dress took me approximately 1 hour from trace to hem. This one needs a PatternReview.com rating of easy-peasy-chicken-squeasy. There is no difference between the front and back so there are few pattern pieces and the sleeves are cut on so there are no sleeves to set and nothing to bind on the sleeves. I can see a closet full of these in my future.

Next time I make it, I’ll see if I can fix the dress for the swayback-ed-ness of back and butt.

Here it is flat. Simple, neat, and easy.

What is your opinion on photo size? Personally, I like big photos because I hate clicking on a photo to enlarge it and then waiting while my slow connection brings up the photo. However, I can see the other side too where you want to read the text and have the option of clicking to make the photos bigger. I’ll let y’all decide and I’ll leave them small this time.

Halloween Progress . . .

2010-10-17T13:08:00.001-08:00

If you don’t recall my plans, check here. I have the main pieces assembled. I used Jalie 2215 for both the top and the bottoms. I sort of feel like a blue marshmallow right now. I plan to add some stripes to my suit in the next few days. I’ll have to enlist the help of a friend so I can wear it while she paints me. I was thinking of making little paper/cardstock templates and having her spray paint the stripes on. What do you guys think of that idea? Anyone got a better idea?

And more importantly, I made a muslin of those Jalie 3022 pants. I really like the wide waistband and the back seam detail. I have Jalie 2215 and modified them to work.

Here you can barely see these back leg seams. I have no idea what shoes to wear with this outfit. I don’t have any blue shoes and I think the boots look okay.

Here’s a better view of the waistband. It’s an 8” band folded in half so it’s a little under 4” (I didn’t add any extra for SA). Hello, runner’s butt.

Here I am. Imagine it with a really long black braided wig, blue face paint and some sparkly decals.

Test Windows Live Writer Post

2010-10-01T12:35:00.001-08:00

On my continuing quest to stop using Blogger to upload posts, I have found Windows Live Writer. I have to thank Mimi O and BeanGirl for suggesting it. You can easy add photos and text, change things around without it getting wonky, and the code is actually nice and neat. In Blogger it left bits and pieces of code everywhere which leaves this type-A lady hysterical.

Isn’t my photo pretty? I still have some kinks to work out but so far, so good! You just write in Live Writer, click a button and it uploads it to Blogger. It’s like magic!

Burda 02-2010 #102 Pants

2010-09-30T12:51:00.000-08:00

I love these pants and this fabric. I’m planning on buying more of this Fabric.com Bi-Stretch Gabardine in black. I have it in this heathered grey and I love it. These are simple side-zip pants from Burda 02/2010 #102. Here’s the line drawing from Burda.

Here’s more of my beautiful view. The snow went away and will hopefully not return for another three or four weeks! I’m wearing knee-high suede boots and the pants seem to get stuck on them a bit at the hem. I usually wear these boots with skirts, not pants.

The booty shot.

The side booty shot complete with muscular front thigh

The classic hands-in-pockets pose. I really like these pants. I’m planning on making a few more pairs in black, navy, and maybe dark purple. I love this gabardine from Fabric.com.

And are these not the coolest knee-high suede boots? They’re purple! How could you not love them?

Here’s the inside finish on the invisible zipper. I always use the Kathleen Fasanella tips in doing the zippers. It makes a very nice looking inside! ~~There is a link on my sidebar on the right.~~ Hmmm, just kidding, I guess. I’ll add one.

More Burda #121

2010-09-26T11:03:00.000-08:00

I made two more of the Burda turtlenecks this weekend. This is a super fast pattern and very easy to put together. I made them both out of Fabric.com fabric I bought last year in December. Sadly, they don't have anymore of it in stock. They are nice beefy cotton interlocks with 4-way stretch.

Do you see this face?? It's because something is happening outside that I really don't like.

Namely this . . . Yes, folks. It's snowing at my house. Siiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiigh.

Halloween Plans!! You guys'll love this!

2010-09-23T17:57:00.001-08:00

Last year I had a blast making (and wearing) my Halloween costume. If you don't recall, I went as Amy Winehouse and had a lot of fun. This year I'm planning on going as Neytiri, the Avatar girl. How much fun will that be?

So I ordered yardage of the Orina Nylon Swimwear fabric from Fabric.com. I am planning on either melding two patterns to make a jumpsuit or making a pant/top combo out of the fabric. I know the combo would be easier and maybe I could wear it for some other occasion (not). The combo would also be easier to alter and change the torso length. Once I cut out the one-piece jumpsuit, I'm stuck with it. I'm planning on making some templates for the stripes and having a friend spray paint stripes on while I'm wearing it. Then I'll make a simple loincloth like above. Then, all I need is a wig. I love wigs! I might even be able to take the Amy wig and braid it and add beads to it. We'll see.

I plan on using Jalie 2215 because I've made it numerous times and the fit is snug for the top and the bottom. Here's one of the versions that I've made. The knit top here is a little loose because it has very little recovery.

I was also a bad girl when I went to Fabric.com. I loved that Slub Rayon Jersey Knit so much that I also bought it in black and grey. Oops!! But I HAD to get up to the free shipping mark of $35.

Bloglines Closing, What to do???

2010-09-21T20:21:00.000-08:00

I don't know how many of you use Bloglines as your RSS feed but they are closing as of October 1st. I've kinda been out of the loop lately as far as blog/RSS/sewing goes so it was kind of a surprise to me. I really like my feeds because it's a fast way for me to check in on my favorite bloggers.

What do you guys use? Do you use a RSS reader still? What are my other options? I like that I can go to one site and read all of my favorites at one stop. I haven't been very good lately at reading other people's blogs but I'm getting to the point where I am ready to start in again. And now Bloglines is closing! Damn them to hell!! Okay, I'm not really that upset but I do want to move my feeds to another place so I don't lose them all.

Burda 09-2010 #121 Turtleneck

2010-09-20T17:54:00.001-08:00

I've been in love with this top since I saw Karen's versions of it. I used the Fabric.com Cotton Baby Jersey Knits in the rose color. It's not usually a color that I am drawn to but I really like it in this knit.

The pattern is a great basic. It's a cut-on turtleneck with sleeves. As with all Burda knit tops, I made a size 34. This pattern only goes down to a size 36 so I graded down one size. I will make this again but probably with a different knit. I love this one but it doesn't quite have enough stretch. It's really tight to get over the neck. And next time I make it, I'll make sure and down notch the back turtleneck facing because I'll be damned if I can figure out which is the front and back of this thing. I tried it on the other way and there were lots of wrinkles which is why I think this is the way it is supposed to be. I think the neck wrinkles on this top kind of go with the style.

Fall Wardrobe Plan -- The Real One

2010-09-20T09:20:00.003-08:00

Okay, so I'm going to pretend that that other blog post doesn't exist. I may erase it and the last one now that I think I have this new editor figured out a bit. We'll see I guess.

I haven't been doing too much sewing lately. I have all this great fabric and it's just sitting forlorn on a shelf in my sewing room. I'm starting to feel bad for it. I chose a bunch of stuff that kind of goes together and decided that it's time to hop back on this horsey and get riding again. So, we have (r-l) white cotton shirting (hard to see in the lower right), light grey t-shirting, darker grey RPL, dusty rose baby jersey, hot pink baby jersey, rayon slub jersey, matte jersey, crazy purple/black cotton jersey, and wool sweater knit. I have some ideas for some of it but definitely need some basics.

Here are the ones I have sort of figured out. I don't want to restrict myself too much to a plan. I love these 02/2010 #102 pants. I think they'd be great in a dark pinstripe RPL.

The 09/2010 #121 turtleneck would be perfect for these two baby knits. These are part of my recent fabric haul. I love this fabric. I may buy more of it. I can't find the September photos of BurdaStyle magazine online. I can find August and October but September seems to have been eaten by the new Burda website. The bottom one is more of a dusty rose. It's hard to tell the color in this photo.

I absolutely adore this bubble skirt in the 08/2010 edition of Burda. It's for a woven but I'm sure it will be fine in a knit if I reinforce the yoke. I'll use this light grey heathered t-shirt knit.

I think these 04/2010 #119 pants would be great in this grey RPL. This is another fabric from my recent Fabric.com order.

These pants are cute too and I might make them in a thin denim. Haven't decided yet . . .

I also have all this fabric which is unspoken for. I want to use the slub rayon for another simplicity cardigan. I'm not sure about the other fabrics. I'm thinking knit dresses for the purple/black knit and the crazy purple/black/dot fabric. The bottom one is the Slub Rayon Jersey Knit . It's so soft and pretty!!!

Blogger, You Annoy Me.

2010-09-20T08:25:00.002-08:00

This is mostly just a test blog entry to see how to format with their new and improved (read: crappy) editor. I do know a bit of HTML so I could format things that way but you would think they would have a good editor. For most of you guys, I would just skip this blog post. I am going to add random photos so see if it works better to add photos after you write. I used to add all my photos first and then add text but that didn't work out so well yesterday.

I need some text and I'm not sure how to fill it up. I don't want to actually put in sewing information because people will actually want to read about it. Instead I'll write about running. I did my third half marathon a month ago. I'm gearing up to do my fourth next month. What's super fun about the one in October? Well, it's a Zombie Half-Marathon. Yes, I said zombie. How much fun will be be to run around with green paint on my face?

Yesterday I ran seven miles in the scorching heat. Well, it wasn't hot but normal standards but this is Alaska. I think it was in the 60s so that is really hot for September in Alaska. Here's the official logo for the Zombie Half-Marathon. There is also a marathon, and the Undead Ultra 50k. I like that it says "Pizza and limbs at the Chalet when you finish." You've got to love funny runners.

Okay, the damn linkie-links seem to work. I think the key is to do your text first and then add your photos which is completely different that the older Blogger editor.

My Sewing Plan for Fall

2010-09-19T21:09:00.009-08:00

Uck. I removed this ugly post and replaced it with a better one. :) Thanks for your tips and ideas for overcoming Blogger.

Thanks Ya'll!

2010-09-16T22:02:00.002-08:00

Thanks Ladies! A few of you nominating me for this award. I know I've been absent for a while but I'm gearing up and getting better, my friends.

Okay, I have to list 10 things about myself that no one knows. I did this back in March 22, 2008 but I'll try to think of 10 more interesting things. Sigh . . . maybe I'll make some up for you guys. I'm not feeling too interesting right now. I'm going to use some of the original ones too. Yes folks, I'm that lame.

I love Chicken Pot Pies. You know, the gross ones by Marie Callendar? Oh yeeeeeah.
I have three kids. A 6YO and a set of identical girl twins that are 4 years old. No, they don't look identical and no it doesn't run in our family. (Side note: While fraternal twinning does usually run in families, there is no scientific data to support identical twinning being passed down in families. It is just a genetic fluke and happens randomly.)
I was an aquatic entomological taxonomist before I became a 7th grade teacher. Teaching 7th graders is like sticking a hot needle in your eye some days.
I run for pleasure. I love the feeling of the wind in my hair and the "uh-huh, that's right" feeling of passing another runner. Are we racing? No, but every person out there running in front of me is my competitor.
I love running in the dark in the early mornings. Is it smart in Alaska with all the bears and moose? Helllllllllllllllllllllllll, no. It makes me feel alive though. I feel very alive when a bear pops across the road and heads my way. I feel so alive I almost pee my pants.
I have a collection of Demestid Beetles in my classroom. There is also a decomposing ~~lynx~~ moose head in with them. "Science Stinks" is my current mantra at school.
I didn't have a TV for years. I finally broke down and got one so my son could watch Sesame Street and other fun cartoons. (Hee, hee, bonus points to those who understand why my edit is funny!)
I love bad 90s rap music. MC Hammer - Too Legit to Quit, Vengaboys - We like to Party, T-Shirt - You Sexy Thing, Right Said Fred - I'm Too Sexy. I know, it's bad isn't it? This stuff is my favorite type of music to dance to. Sometimes I look around on a deserted road and do a little booty dance while I'm running.
I once ate a cockroach for beer money. It was alive.
In college I was the Supreme Winner of the Bat Spin Race in the Mud Olympics. I won a plaque. Woot.

If I can think of any items that are any more wow, I'll change them.

KwikSew 3790 Asymmetric Top Alterations

2010-09-14T19:56:00.003-08:00

Here are the alterations for the KS top. I had to take out about a 1/2" from the CF. They show a CF marking at the top of the top at the neckline. Then I sort of faked it down the rest of the top. I made it a 1/2" overlap at the top and made the overlap smaller as I went down. I tend to be hippier than bustier so I don't want it to be too tight at the bum. I also did a petite tuck of about a 1/4" above the bust.

I did the same petite tuck on the back.

I did the exact same tuck on the sleeve heads. Now it's a very flat sleeve head.

Now we'll have to see if I can find the right knit to make it into a dress. I think it could be smashing in a print but it might be too much of a good thing.

KwikSew 3790 Asymmetric Top

2010-09-13T19:54:00.005-08:00

This is a muslin but I'm a pretty big fan. The fabric is from Fabric.com. I bought it December. It's a very orange-y tomato-y color. On the screen it looked a bit more like a true red. The hand of the fabric is wonderful though. It served it's purpose though and I have it in blue and grey too. This, of course, is KS 3790. There have been several reviews over at PatternReview.com. I've loved this pattern since it came out. I do like my muslin but I need to make some modifications. First off though, would this make a fantastic little black dress if it was 8" longer???

I usually make a petite adjustment on KS patterns to bring the armhole up but I wanted to try this out as is since I knew it was going to be a muslin. I also just used the facing that they recommend. I'm not sure if I will do that again. I much prefer this review by LynnRowe where she recommends to coverstitch it and screw the facings (my words, NOT hers!!).

The runching isn't as tight as I would like it. But, my second KS modification will tighten it up a little. I usually pinch out a 1/2" at the CF and CB.

Like this . . .

Maybe tomorrow I'll document the alterations. I still have to show you my new sewing digs but at least I have Internet!!! Got it tonight. I live in BFE and they couldn't find any houses near me that had cables so they had to dig me a trench from far, far away.

I got all my new fabric loot too so I'll share about it. There are some big winners in there!!!

Uh oh. Fell off the fabric wagon . . .

2010-08-30T12:33:00.007-08:00

I've been really good all summer. Well, not today, folks, not today. I just went to Fabric.com and bought:

Two Matte Jerseys (can you say wrap dresses?),

three Cotton Baby Jersey Knits (I must be needing some color in my life),

two RPLs for work pants,

and a Slub Rayon Jersey Knit . Sounds interesting and I love the color.

I also got a swatch of this Orina Nylon activewear fabric. I wanted to see if it would be good for workout tops.

Remember that I get kickbacks from Fabric.com. If you click on one of my links and buy, I get a commission. Just want to be out in the open about that! I'll let you know how I like all the fabrics once I receive them in the mail. I just NEEDED fabric. I had an itch I needed to scratch!

Girl Jammies

2010-08-29T14:19:00.001-08:00

Still blogging from the iPhone. Siiiiiggggghhhhhh. GCI should be up this week to dig ditches and get things connected.

Just finished two sets of girl jammies. I made them short sleeved because I didn't have enough fabric for long sleeves and I think the girls like short sleeves. Both have embroidery and both have bows. You can't have one twin with a bow and the other without! Good Gawd! This is the fourth time I've used this great pattern. Kristine sent it to me originally and it's definitely a keeper! I used my triple coverstitch on the wrong side so it sort of looks like a top cover (I think that what it's called) stitch. I used that for the neckline, sleeves, and ruffle hem. This is Butterick 4910.

This embroidery is from UrbanThreads.com. Love it!

Here's my faux-top cover stitch.

This is Hawaii fabric.

This is a freebie from EmbroiderThis.com. They have some cute free designs.

Ottobre 05/2009 #2

2010-08-02T16:35:00.000-08:00

I apologize again for the bad formatting. I'm still using my iPhone
for pictures and posting. On the plus side, they did say that I should
have my Internet connection by Friday of this week. Anyway this
underwear pattern is from Ottobre May 2009. This is pattern #2:
"simply basic" panties and hipsters. I made the hipster version of boy
shorts. You can see from the pattern pieces it's kind of interesting
how much higher the center back is than the center front. You can see
I cut off a little bit from the center front and center back to make
them more like a low rise hipster boy shorts. They are very
comfortable and I'll be making more. This is a size 38 which is higher
than the 36 which matches my measurements. This isn't a real stretchy
fabric and maybe that's why I had to make them a size up. There's no
elastic in his underwear and all the edges are coverstitched.

And for those of you who have inquired, no I didn't piece this fabric.
Its just that cool.

Jalie shirt and Gap (!!!!!) jeans

2010-08-01T15:45:00.001-08:00

So my new love affair has been started by the Gap 1969 Curvy Girl jeans. Mind you, I can ONLY wear the CURVY girl version. There is a contour waistband and great booty coverage. They are slim through the thighs, low-ish on the waist, and boot cut. I have this wash and a dark, dark, dark wash. I'm still on the crappy iPhone so no close-ups of the great waistband but it's perfect for the swayback lady. I love the vanity sizing at the Gap. I'm a zero. Seriously??!? Come on Gap, I am not a zero. Granted I have lost weight recently but zero my butt is not. I hemmed this pair to be worn with my Danskos and left another pair long for heels. Again, sorry for the crappy formatting and pictures. I should have Internet next week and I'll fix these and make the photos better for y'all.

Love this Jalie top. I added a little width in the shoulders because the last scarf collar top I made was a little narrow. I'll show you how to do that in another post. Maybe tomorrow. :)

Like my beautiful view on my new two acre lot???? These things I am thankful for…

Jalie 2921 Scarf Collar Top

2010-07-31T19:38:00.001-08:00

Here's another Jalie 2921. This is the scarf collar top I made it before. Paulette gave me this great fabric. Love that woman. Love, love, love her. This is my first garment at the new house. Tomorrow I will show you that shirt on the bod and I will show you my new jeans that you all are dying to see.

I'm still on iPhone so sorry for the bad formatting. I'll go back and fix these when I get my Internet sorted out.

First project in the new house…

2010-07-27T13:27:00.002-08:00

ETA: Some links, a correction and formatting nasty.

So.

I live in a new house. Weird how life turns out. I have a new, albeit smaller, sewing room and all my stuff moved here. As you could probably tell I took a summer sewing break to move and spend some quality time with my kiddos. They seem to be taking the move well. They love the new house.

My first sewing project is an easy one. I had several girl shirts that were booooooorrrrrrring (girls' terms, not mine). I used my handy dandy embroidery machine to add a little pop to them. All these designs are (maybe were?) free. I think I got all except the bird from ~~Emblibrary.com~~ EmbroiderThis.com. The bird was a freebie from UrbanThread.com. I am doing all my posts via iPhone so I can't make links and I'm sure all the formatting will be junk. When I get my Internet hooked up, I'll
reformat these posts.

I have several things to post about. I'll show you my new sewing digs. And, forgive me, but I have found the perfect RTW jeans and, GASP, bought some!!!! I'll show you those soon. I'm glad to be back!!!!!!

Burda 06-2010-108 Saggy Boob Fail

2010-06-06T18:11:00.003-08:00

I really liked this top in the magazine. I really liked Karen's version though she does mention how the under-bust gathers might be an issue for those who are "gravitationally challenged." I guess I need to add "bust challenged" to the list of people who might not like this top. I don't think it's all the tops fault, however. I didn't line the points up perfectly and I could have focused more of the gathers on the bust region versus the waist region.

When it's pulled down at the waist, it looks okay.

When I move my fingers I get large boob-esque pockets under my bust. I think those with a bust will pull up some of the extra fabric. On me, it just pools and looks like an extremely long and floppy boob. Not so spicy.

It's okay, I'm not heart-broken. I liked the style but wanted to muslin in first because I wasn't sure of the gathers. I love this Gorgeous Fabrics knit but didn't have too much left so I used it as my muslin fabric. On an interesting note. I usually do a petite adjustment on Burda patterns. I didn't this time and the armhole is perfect. I think during the summer I run more and stand up straighter. I need to remember to do that all winter.

Not much, but it's something . . .

2010-06-05T22:06:00.003-08:00

You can never have too many simple black dresses right? I've had this one for years and love it. It's just a polyester knit dress that has some waist gathers. It's simple and I really like it. It had these fluttery butterfly sleeves on it though. They were looking a bit flouncy and dated so I lopped them off! Actually, I turned them to the inside and topstitched so now it's a tank dress. Much better!

Here's a close-up. I used to have this same dress in red but don't know what happened to it. I'll have to search. I like it so much better with no sleeves!

Tomorrow: An epic fail on what I will be calling The Saggy Boob Shirt. Stay tuned.

More Pillowcases!!!!

2010-06-01T15:41:00.002-08:00

I promised my kids some more pillowcases because they loved their other ones so much. This is fabric I picked up in Hawaii the last time we were there. The two pinks ones are for the girls and the green one is for my son. I'm not sure if he'll like his because it has pink on it. I can hear it now, "Pink? Mom? Really??? I'm not a girl! I don't like pink!" I used the same tutorial as last time. I really like it because the inside raw edge for the contrast fabric is non-existent. Here are the pillowcases I made last time with a close-up view of the inside.

Here's a close-up of the contrast rick-rack with contrast thread. I added the buttons because Sister B "needed" them.

How much do y'all love large rick-rack?

Fun and Sun

2010-05-31T14:57:00.000-08:00

Anchorage has been having fantastic weather. It's been in the high 60s
and mid 70s for a week now. The kids and I have been having a blast
outside. Note the KS swimsuits and BWoF swim trunks. Happy Monday!

Burda 05-2010-121 Short Shorts.

2010-05-29T17:53:00.003-08:00

I haven't made a Burda item for a loooong time. I liked these shorts though and I needed some running shorts. I used a blue Supplex fabric from my local fabric boutique. The trim fabric is a stretch poplin fabric. I made this shirt out of it and have some left over. It makes fun bias tape.

I didn't realize until this was mostly done but the drawstrings are sewn into the front sides and do NOT go all the way around the waist.

The edges are kind of fiddly but not too bad.

I don't know what is with my pictures. Not one of them included my whole head. I think it may be that I'm using a camera and taping it to the tripod. Ghetto, I know. But, it mostly works and I don't know where the little piece is that screws on to the camera bottom. These babies are short.* This is a Jalie top. See more about it here.

Here's where they hit on the navel.

Here's the side/back view. Short!!!

Hmmmm, other details . . . The pattern calls for 1.5" elastic. I bought .75" elastic in bulk last year so I just used the zigzag stitch and linked them together. I used my industrial snap press to put in the grommets. I love that thing.

I'm planning on making that knit June Burda with the bust gathers next. I really liked that top.

*Yes, I realize there are the haters out there that will say something like, "You are too old to be wearing those!" or "Wow, there she goes again! Too short and there she is parading around like that!" Really? You need to rain hate down on other people? I guess if it makes you feel better about yourself, then have at it. :)

Jalie Jeans - Number Five?

2010-05-26T12:21:00.002-08:00

I think this is the fifth time I've made the Jalie jeans. I think I have more back fitting issues than any other pair I've made. I don't think it's me, my body hasn't really changed all that much. I think it's a combination of the denim and the alterations I made. I know some of you are like me. I trace the pattern onto tracing paper and modify as I go. The first time I made these they were pretty tight in the thigh. So, the next time I just added a little width to the thigh without actually changing the tissue. Those were pretty perfect. On the next two pairs, it was big again. Again, I just sort of modified willy-nilly and guessed at the right amount to take off the thigh. I need to actually make them according to the pattern and then adjust the damn tissue so I'll know the next time. I just sort of guess and, well, sometimes it turns out but sometimes it doesn't. Overall, I like this pair of jeans. I hemmed them long to wear with these four inch heels.

Like I said, the back isn't great. One day I will have to make the contoured waistband. See the belt wrinkle? That's because there is a sharp V in the back of my pants that the belt can't follow. See the really wrinkly things??

A closer front view.

I've found the perfect topstitching guide feet by the way. I use a 3/8" and 1/8" for the topstitching. It gives the perfect space between the rows of stitches. I get my feet here and I love them. I have 1/32", 1/8", 1/4", 3/8", and 1/2". I've ordered from this eBay seller several times and they always ship fast!

Just have to share …

2010-05-10T16:35:00.001-08:00

How much fun are these pockets going to be??!???

Crop circles on my butt . . .

2010-05-09T17:06:00.003-08:00

I am wanting to make another pair of Jalie jeans and am playing around with embroidery on the pockets. I plan on using the Font Engine component of Embird to make my design. Right now, I'm leaning toward the Crop Circle Dingbat font from dafont.com. I particularly like the bottom one of my samples. The others are too small and I was experimenting with stitches. Not only do I like the shapes but I would love to have some crop circle-esque on my butt. It would make me smile every time I saw it. I was thinking too that it might be fun to put some sequins or small beads in those circles.

What do you guys think??

Jalie 2919 - Pleated Cardigan Again!

2010-05-09T14:10:00.002-08:00

Yikes, this is what my hair looks like with no attention. This is hop-out-of-the-shower-and-air-dry-hair.

I made another Jalie cardigan. This is my second one (here's the first one) and I love it. This is a lightweight wool sweater knit I bought from out local sewing boutique. Yes, I'm wearing wool with my shorts. It's about 55 degrees today and that qualifies as Shorts Weather. Sometimes, though, Shorts Weather is a bit too chilly for a tank top. This wool cardi is perfect for a day like this.

The back, obviously. Not a whole lot to post about here.

It's a winner. It's a Jalie. It's wool. Nuff said. :)

I hope to have a pair of jeans cut out by the end of today.

Hot Patterns - Nairobi Bag

2010-05-01T13:14:00.002-08:00

I finished it!!! It is pretty darn big but I love it. I always have to haul around a ton of stuff so it should be perfect. I love the teal color - very springy! Grumpy girl #1 wanted to be in the photo also. This photo is to show you the size and the real color. It's not as eye-popping as it looks in the other photos. Here's the original post with a little bit more information. Here are a few in-progress photos. Here's a link to the Hot Patterns page with the information. I got my download free (thank you, you-know-who!). If you want me to send it you, you probably won't have to convince me too much. I'm writing this small because I'm hoping that HP won't read this if it's small. They already aren't really big fans of me.

Here's the inside. This side sports a zippered pocket with a pink (all for you Paulette!) zipper.

This side has a series of pockets that you can barely see. Didn't I do an absolutely freaking awesome job matching the prints? It's so easy to do on something without darts, pleats, and curves. You can see my iPhone peeking out of one of the pockets. I made a few pencil pockets and a larger one for my wallet.

I decided to add a leather facing to the top edge. I didn't want the cotton peeking out at the top and I thought the cotton would be too dainty to deal with the magnetic snaps and the stress of open/shut, open/shut, open/shut. As it turns out, it's very hard to topstitch this many layers of leather. I topstiched through the outside and facing so that the lining didn't just go together leaving the main bag open. I never downloaded the directions so I don't know how HP has you put it together. I omitted the middle section of the bag. Melissa has made this bag numerous times and says that it's fine to leave that part out of the bag. It's plenty big she says.

Here's the outside of the bag with the straps. I don't like how long the straps that attach to the bag. They are too long. Oh well, there is no way I am fixing that at this point. On my next bag, I'll change that.

This is the intersection between the purse straps and the shoulder strap. Notice on the purse how I couldn't topstitch around the bag where the straps go it???? Too bulky. I'm not sure how to fix that next time. This time I think I'll just leave it. Oh well. I still love it. I'll get lots of use out of it.

cute knit top!

2010-04-30T10:21:00.004-08:00

I really, really like this new KwikSew knit top. It's got side gathers on one half and a fun asymmetrical shoulder. It's KS 3790. This may be a splurge for me once this summer hits and I have more time. I love the cap sleeve version.

Burda 10-2008 #101 Plaid Wool Dress II

2010-04-27T20:54:00.003-08:00

I finally finished this Burda coat. It's actually been done for quite a while but I wasn't around this computer so I couldn't post pics. I always have my iPhone but I find the picture quality isn't great and the formatting is always really bad. I really like it. I do not like this particular belt. I think I need something "harder" if you get my meaning. This belt is too flowy, loose, and just all wrong for this coat. I sort of feel like a lumberjack in his bathrobe sometimes but overall, I love it. I really, really, love the snaps. It took for-EVER to sew them on but it was totally worth it. I need a haircut.

I did the belt loops on the bias and lined them up with the stripes in the plaid. I really like how they turned out. Dang! I know I have a photo of the back but where did it go??!!?

Here are the fun snaps. They are big. I used Gutterman upholstery thread to sew them on.

Here's a close-up of the snaps. My handsewing has gotten so much better in the last year.

Next up? Another Jalie cardigan. It's all cut out and ready to go!

Gotta love those friends!

2010-04-27T19:49:00.002-08:00

Okay, I'll be posting regularly again for two weeks. I'll actually start participating in the Jeans Sew Along too (gasp!). Look at this great fabric my friends gave me. This fabric is from Paulette. The blue/purple on top is a beautiful cotton woven. It's a very loose weave. I should have asked her what kind of weave it was but it's super cool and airy. The purple/black/green is a cotton knit from her stash. I was ogling it and she made me take it! Damn that woman! I think I'm going to try to squeeze out a knit dress. Maybe another Burda wrap dress? I wear that thing all the time. The bottom left (blue/purple/pink) is a polyester (right, Paulette??) lining fabric. I'll be using it for a lining on something too. It's just way too fun to hide under a skirt so it'll be a jacket lining or something.

Then Karen sent me this fan-freaking-tastic silk duppioni from her stash with matching vintage buttons!!! It's totally my colors with the burgundy, red, rust, and lavender. I love, love, love it. I may make it into a shirt dress like Karen suggested. Wouldn't a bias placket be fun running down the front??

Thanks guys! For the next two weeks, I'll be sewing and posting away!

Bag Progress

2010-04-19T16:37:00.000-08:00

I'm getting there slowly but surely. I'll add more details once I'm on
a real computer.