New Jalies - Pre-Order Tomorrow

I’ve been waiting for Jalie to publish new patterns for a looooooooong, long time people. I really like their new collection. I “harvested” these photos from their Facebook page but I think they’ll have them on their Jalie site tomorrow. I’m hoping they will also have the back of the page so we can see what sizes they offer for each pattern. Some of new patterns say “A Pattern for the Whole Family” and have 29 sizes. Others have their typical 22 sizes. Maybe the difference is the “family” one is for men and women and that’s why there are a few more sizes? Anyway, I’ve already picked out a few.

 

Cute but I have no ice skaters or gymnasts.

 

Again, cute.

 

This one I am buying for future use. This would make great swimsuits and I’m sure in the future my little girls will be in dance or something. I love the contrast panels. What fabric is Jalie using that is all shiny and stretchy? And how do you affix bling to it? It can’t be iron-on can it?

 

If I needed an underwear pattern, I would buy this one.

 

I might buy these but I want to see the back. And are they for knit or woven? I don’t see the stretch compass-rose thingie-dingie.

 

Funny, but no.

 

I will probably end up getting this one. I have a couple of raglan top patterns that fit me well but my kids could get years of wear from this.

 

This is cute but I can make one of these myself. And did Jalie take my idea and make a shrug?

 

I will buy this one because I’m always buying running shorts and running bras. This would also be great for swimsuits. I love all the top options. I would get years of use out of this.

 

I really like the design of this cardigan. This might be a keeper too.

Caribbean Cruise

I’m back and I’m alive but barely! Wow, I need a vacation from my vacation. Not too much time to write but you can see from the pictures that we had fun with a capital F. We went to the Princess Cays (which I’m not sure is a real place), Curacao, and Aruba. Bea-UUUUUUU-ti-FULLLLL. Little people had a blast. Haven't sewn a stitch since I’ve been back; I’m still trying to get all the laundry done. More later but I though you would enjoy some pictures.

I can sure tell you that both of my cameras got a workout!!!

Kwiksew 3155 - Hooded Sweatshirt

I made a sweatshirt with this pattern last summer and wear it all the time. This time, I wanted a cozier version. Let’s see, this version is obviously the long-sleeved version. I added some bling to the v-neck because it was way too plain without it. I added an inch to the sleeve hems and folded them back to the RS and topstitched them. I added about an inch to the bottom and then added a double-folded, 3” hem. I like that it’s long enough to cover me booty.

 

You can see this is a french terry kind of fabric. It’s very cozy inside this top. It’s like being inside a sleeping bag.

 

In the hood, I pressed the seam and stitched it down so the SA looks nice. You’ll see this from the outside so I wanted it to look finished.

 

The bling is the same bling that I used here on this Burda top. It’s iron-on but very easy to position and use. It has not come off my other top and it’s been through several washings.

 

 

The two fun photos for the day. This is The Boy and will he ever grow into those teeth? This is an inside shot in the evening. Not too bad.

 

We are losing snow like crazy up here people Like. Crazy. Not that I’m complaining.

 

This is the last time you’ll hear from me for a while. I’m headed to the Caribbean. Yeeeeeeeeeah.

Another Burda Gathered Raglan Top

This is a great pattern from Burda. I made this once before with a solid for the body and a stripe for the arms. The original was so nice, I made another one. This one is made from a charcoal gray knit. The length is just a titch long and I may shorten it by an inch or two.

 

Here’s a detail show of the gathers and the neck treatment. I probably could have made the neckband a centimeter or two shorter but it works as is and I think when I wash it, it’ll shrink back up. You can see at CF how the neckline is just a bit loose.

 

Look at the wonders of paint. We used Sherwin-Williams Duration paint. It covers so well we only had to do one coat. Painters are amazing. Like A-MAAAAZE-ING. When I paint, it takes forever and a day to tape, fill holes, sand, etc. This guys paints with no taping off. Let me say that again, he just paints. He doesn’t even tape off. Okay, what the hell. He probably thinks I’m a stalker because I was trying to learn by staring at him. Hard. He would turn around and I would be two feet away from him with a glazed look in my eye. I’m going to learn how to do it. I really am. Fuck taping. That takes longer than painting and it sucks. This is what my house looks like now. And yea, I still need to figure out exactly how to bring the pictures and mirror together a bit more. And yea, I kinda like the big blocky thing at the end. 

 

This is before. You guys saw this picture in this post.

 

Caribbean in six days! Can’t wait!

Burda 03-2011 #129 Tube Skirt

I’m embarrassed to admit I used a pattern for this skirt. There is no pattern pieces, it is just a rectangle with a CB seam, elastic waist, and hem. I made two of them. The first used up the remnants of this leopard print fabric. The second used up some of the embossed gray fabric from this dress.

Can you tell I’ve been having fun with my camera?

I didn’t even insert a grommet and drawstring. I just serged elastic to the band, folded it over, and coverstitched it. Voila, two skirts. I figured these would be fun on the cruise to slip on with a t-shirt. Together these two skirts took, ooooh, about an hour start to finish. As far as a review, well, you can’t get any simpler. I cut the rectangle for the size 34 and, what do you know, it works!

Random, fun photo(s) of the day (I couldn’t just pick one):

All the kids have the prettiest eyes

My workhorse.

Another Vogue 1250

Need I say more?

Well, of course, I have to say more. How many times am I going to make this dress? I love it. It fits perfectly and it’s sexy as hell. I made a black version and I wear it all the time. I needed another solid color because I have made a couple crazy print versions and you can’t wear them over and over again like you can a solid.

How about that new wall color and base trim? We’ve been changing some things up at the mansion and it’s a good thing.

And here’s your random nice photo of the day.

Bikinis Gone Wild–Jalie Top and Ottobre Bottoms

A long time ago made this very same swimsuit combination and wore the snot out of it. Since we are cruising very soon (less than a month, sqqqquuueeeeee!) I decided I needed another suit to go with it. This the Jalie pattern #2446 for the bikini top and Ottobre 05/2009 Bikini underwear pattern. This picture is taken in my basement since we had two worker guys putting up Sheetrock upstairs. I figured they didn’t really need to see any more of me than they do already. Anyway, I guess I wasn’t done with Jungle January. I’m hoping my pasty skin will go away after our week in the sun. 

 

The back is not very exciting. The top is a halter so it ties around the neck.

 

I again used my zig zag stitches for all the seams. After doing so research on previously-sewn swimsuits for my kids, I’ve made some conclusions. The serging threads always seems to die and it really doesn’t hold up to higher stress areas like where the back connects to the crotch piece. The zig zag stitches has never busted on any of the swimsuits my kids have worn. 

 

I used white zigzags on the tops and bottoms.

 

I love the coverage of these bottoms.

 

I still have a few hooks from Sew Sassy. I lined the front of the bikini top and the fronts of the bottoms. I bought the lining fabric from JoAnn’s and it’s actually pretty nice stuff.

 

Random Shot – Instead of boring you to pieces with a billion fun pictures with my new camera, I’ll just post one at the end. That will make me edit a bit so you aren’t looking at a ton of pictures. You can totally just skip it if you want. This is Little Person and I after a long day of cleaning, Sheetrocking, painting, and moving things around.