Sharing, Inspiration and Project Photos XVII

[fzxdoc]

I was just finishing up a post when AOL went down and ate it.  I'll try to reconstruct it coherently. Don't you just hate when that happens?

Jenny, that is such a cute trenchcoat!  You're going to get a lot of wear from it, since it will go with everything, and the shorter style transcends the seasons more easily.  I really like all of the detail work that you did with the tabs, topstitching and buttonholes.  There are a lot of layers when those tabs get sewn in.  How did your machine do with all of that? Did the buttonholes turn out to suit you as well?

Ann, congrats on the finalization of the sale of your home.  I know it's been a long time coming.  I don't envy you all the labor involved with the move, but once it is all done and your are living happily in your beautiful and well-ordered new home, it will all have been worth it.  The movers told us that the average couple accumulates 1000 pounds of stuff for each year they live in a home, so I'm not surprised that you are discovering stuff that you forgot you had!

It will be nice to learn, through you, about that monogramming technique.  It sounds interesting.

Shannon, those are two cute outfits!  What fabrics did you use?  The tops paired well with the wide leg Hepburn pants. Did you use any special techniques for any of them?

Sue, that dress is gorgeous, and you look absolutely lovely in it.  I too like how the neckline frames your shoulders and face so prettily.  You do indeed look ready for a garden party in it, complete with high tea. You must have gotten a ton of compliments on it at the wedding.

Actually I like your version better than the original design.  I think the gored skirt that you substituted is much more wearable and adds and updated flair to the vintage tone.  I have a question about the underlining. From the way you described it, it sounds more like an interlining--a layer that hangs freely between the lining and fashion fabric layers as opposed to an underlining which has been basted to the individual pattern pieces of the fashion fabric before assembling the garment. Can you describe the assembly a bit more? I'm curious as to what methods you used and why.  It's always a nice way to learn new ideas and approaches.

BTW, I know that people often interchange the terms underlining and interlining.  I just described them as I use them.

Kathryn

[Claudine]

I haven't posted on this thread before (just the SWAP, I think), but I just finished a jacket and am proud.  :-)  The pattern is McCalls 5525.  I love all the tabs and buttons.

Wow, you should be proud!  Great jacket!

[Ann]

Kathryn, I will write it up after class. It looks like a fun class and I will have new pillow cases for the guest room. If I can find one of the colours in the quilt print, I might do a second set with an endless design of flowers I have. Then people can look at the bed but not sleep on it.

The packing is ahead of the timeline but the mess is getting to me. I am tired today from the exhausting heat wave and am looking forward to some cool weather, whenever that might be. This is the longest heatwave for our province in many, many years. We don't have A/C (DH wouldn't put it in - you never need it in the north he said It is true but before we moved up here; it has got hot and dry due to our arrival.) but I do keep a fan blowing in the room I am working in. It does help.

Ann

Somehow I got two postings.

[Liana]

JennyAnne, Definitely, you should be proud!  Very nice jacket, and great details.  That's what makes it extra special.  I can imagine you're going to enjoy wearing this for a long time since it's such a classic style.   

[Karen Roth]

SO many beautiful additions here!  Love the jacket and summer dresses, clever way to adapt that vintage pattern.  You ladies are so productive!
Good luck with the move Ann, hope you're settled in soon.  I'm sure the puffy foam is for "raised" dimensional embroidery, it comes in different colors and though theoretically your thread should cover it, I'm sure they've already said to use/purchase a color closest to your thread.  I bet there's a workaround on that $60 foot, but if you can find out if you're the only one in the class or not ahead of time, maybe you can go in and test it if there'll be others there rendering it unshareable.  The way the cases opened on the feet we sold (may vary by brand so this may or may not work), if a customer was on the fence about a foot I had no problem popping it on a store machine to demo and let her try it. 

[Ann]

Kathryn, I will write it up after class. It looks like a fun class and I will have new pillow cases for the guest room. If I can find one of the colours in the quilt print, I might do a second set with an endless design of flowers I have. Then people can look at the bed but not sleep on it.

The packing is ahead of the timeline but the mess is getting to me. I am tired today from the exhausting heat wave and am looking forward to some cool weather, whenever that might be. This is the longest heatwave for our province in many, many years. We don't have A/C (DH wouldn't put it in - you never need it in the north he said. It is true but before we moved up here; it has got hot and dry due to our arrival.) but I do keep a fan blowing in the room I am working in. It does help.

Ann

[LauraTS]

Jenny, fab coat, looks very What Not to Wear - the after I mean, not the before! White coat and a new baby, you are a bold woman! 

I've finished a couple things recently, but no pics yet; a simple knit top, elastic waist skirt, and fixed the neck binding on another top - it was too short so I ripped it out and cut out another one from the scraps that I just found recently. Oh, and I've been cleaning out my sewing area. Oh joy! Actually it is really nice once you're done and everything is tidy and you can find things.

[AnnRowley]

Jenny - what a lovely jacket!  All those details add a really professional look to it. Well worth the effort.

A  heat wave!!!  I wish!  It's been absolutely awful here in England - today, with incessant rain, the temperature hasn't even reached 60F... and there's more to come.  I'm really tempted to turn my heating on...  But it's July for heaven's sake, so I won't.

[sdBev]

Betsy, I won't know until I get the instructions. All I know is that it calls for foam so the initials will be puffy. Other than that, the project is still a bit of a mystery. On the webpage it says the puffy foam is to add depth to the embroidery for a hand embroidered look. The cuff of the pillowcase is stitched on with faggoting and that foot costs $60.00. I am not sure what we are going to do about that as I am not ready to buy that foot yet. I hope the instructor has a foot I can borrow as I probably will be the only person at the class.

Here is a picture of what we are doing. It comes from Snez Babic's blog. 

what perfect timing!!  I'm about to do my first project with puffy foam.   It will be a raised scroll on the front of a purse.  Question for you,  my instructions recommend a ball-point needle.  What is being recommended to you?  My instructions say that the ball point cuts through the puffy better.  I can't understand that.  I use ball-point needles with my knits so the needle won't cut through.  My instructions are several years old.. what can I say, it takes me a while to get around to some projects.   So I'm wondering what the current thought is. 

TIA

[DebbieY]

A  heat wave!!!  I wish!  It's been absolutely awful here in England - today, with incessant rain, the temperature hasn't even reached 60F... and there's more to come.  I'm really tempted to turn my heating on...  But it's July for heaven's sake, so I won't.

It's winter here in Australia and it's been in the mid 70's for the past few week. I just can't imagine temperature like that in Summer although I should, I was born in York (but it's been a long time since we left). I hope you get some decent Summer weather soon.

[kiltsnquilts]

Jenny, your trench is lovely.  Very trendy and versatile.  I have one on my 'list' but didn't get round to it yet, it would be fine for me here in NZ even in winter as I could just layer underneath it if it is really cold.  Problem is I can't decide on a style and I also have 3 different fabrics that would be great for a trench.  Perhaps I will make 3 !

[Ann]

Late night posting as I can't sleep. Had to give another extension on the sale as the buyer now needs an appraisal which came out of blue. And it is still hot in the house though it is cooling off nicely outside. Will be cool in here in another hour or so. Amazingly enough DH agreed that we would have had to buy A/C if we stayed up here. What makes matters worse is packing and cleaning. What is nice, we do sit outside in the shade with a cooler breeze around 4 p.m. daily to relax and enjoy the beauty of our place. Yesterday we saw a doe with twin fawns go through the field on the south side of our place. Won't see that in town.

sdBev, there was no mention of a ballpoint needle. There is a topstitching needle but I think that is for the faggoting. I don't get the instructions until Aug. 4th so will update you then.

[AnnRowley]

Thanks Debbie - it's better today...

I took advantage of my day indoors yesterday to do a bit of experimenting.

In the August edition of British Vogue there were several photos of 'paperchain' necklaces by Louis Vuitton - something about them caught my imagination...

                             
                             This is what I ended up with..

I'm currently using Rowan shimmer - the yarn I used - in a sweater, so I wondered if I could make use of it - I could!

You can follow my thought process here.

[Fran G]

Your necklace is pretty cool, Ann. I can see your idea being translated by many!

[fzxdoc]

Your new necklace looks like a fun project, Ann, and I like the outcome better than the big clunky chains that Louis Vuitton has designed.  It will be a cute way to accessorize.

You must be sitting around wondering where summertime is!  Our summer so far has been lovely, but also cooler (so the locals say) than in previous years.  It's typically in the high 70s/low 80s during the day and 60s at night in town.  At the lower altitudes, it has been in the 90s often this summer.  But the hot weather doesn't seem to stay in weeks-long stints as it used to do.  But the thought of perhaps having to turn the heat on in July! No wonder you're resisting!

I'm sidling up to my first Slinky knit project.  It's odd that after so many years of sewing I've never sewn with Slinky.  It's for a simple little dress for my DD and I have barely enough fabric for it.  DD pulled the fabric and pattern from my stash, and according to the pattern envelope I am about 5/8 yards shy of what I need. But with some creative pattern placement, skirt shortening, and the use of a contrast fabric for one of the pieces, I will get this dress to come together for her--as long as I don't mess anything up with my Slinky learning curve! Fortunately it's the good kind of Slinky, purchased years ago from Christine Jonson.  So my plan is to dance around this project another time or two and then just suck it up and start cutting and sewing!   

As I was doing some clothing alterations for DD a few weeks ago, I was making a simple lycra interlock knit underslip for her to wear with a knit dress that was too clingy.  I used my serger for it, and was too lazy to thread up the cover stitch machine for the simple hems at the top of the bodice and the lower edge.  First I set up my coverham option on my serger. Disaster.  Then I swung my chair around 90 degrees and threaded up a twin needle on my Bernina sewing machine.  Disaster struck again.  Skipped and uneven stitches abounded on both.  Fiddled with needle types, stitching over tissue paper, narrowing the hole of the plate of the machine, differential feeds, using the walking foot. Nothing worked.  So I threaded up my coverstitch machine.  Badda bing. The hems were finished in two shakes of a lamb's tail. I guess the moral of the story is to use the right tool for the job, if it is available. 

Kathryn

[JennyAnne]

Thanks so much to everyone for the kind comments on my trench.  I guess I'm brave to have a white jacket with little kids, but it is machine washable.

Had to give another extension on the sale as the buyer now needs an appraisal which came out of blue.

My sister just went through that on the buyer end.  At the last minute, the bank wanted another appraisal.  Hope it works out for you soon!

[vtmartha]

I am about 5/8 yards shy of what I need.
Kathryn

With Slinky's propensity to grow, that shouldn't be an issue.     I'll be interested to see what you make as I have some of the 'good' stuff as well.

[LauraS.]

Ann, your necklace is very cool.  An interesting project.  Kathryn, I'm sure we all had to smile as we read of your slip "ordeal."  Sometimes the shortcuts we take just don't pan out and we spend more time and thought trying to figure it out than it's worth.  And sometimes I'm too stubborn to step back but will continue to trudge ahead.  I've got a couple of slinky's, tho I'm sure they're not of great quality.

laura

[cmarie12]

Slipping in this morning to a treasure trove of riches...

Sue I love the smile and the dress!

Shannon - I'm a little envious of the time you have to sew this summer but very happy for the inspiration!  As I said before these are two wonderful new additions to your work wardrobe!

JennyAnne - love, love, love the trenchcoat - especially the fact that it's machine washable!  Hope you get a lot of wear out of it!

Ann - The necklace is amazing!

Kathryn - can't wait to read about your slinky adventures.  I'm sure I will learn something new as this is a fabric that I haven't sewn with much either!

Thanks everyone for supplying such wonderful inspiration on a Thursday morning!

[Diane Egelston]

JennyAnne, what a terrific trenchcoat! It looks wonderful on you; beautiful work!

AnnR, your necklace is lovely. What a great idea!

Ann, your embroidery projects are inspiring. Love the puffy embroidery concept. Lovely linens!

And Kathryn, have fun with that slinky. It'll be beautiful, just as is everything you sew.

[cindyintampa]

Love the necklace idea, Ann.  Thanks for sharing.

[Ann]

Love the necklace Ann. Looked at how  you did it and it looks like it is easy to make once you worked out how you wanted it done.

The appraisal is done because the buyers are putting a 12% down payment on the place CMHC requires 20% without an appraisal. Our place will make the what is required as it was costly to get things done and the cost has gone up since then. And, there isn't many places out there like ours making it quite unique. But... I am stressing about it. Will keep on house cleaning and packing as the real estate agent said to do. The last appraisal that was done on farm land more than made the price the buyers got it for. Fingers crossed.

Ann

[Liana]

Ann,  Your necklace is so cute, and I love the way you showed us your process.  I like the shape of your links.  Did you think about stiffening them so they would be more round, more like the paper links you tried?  Not sure I'd like it better, though.

[Karendee]

Wonderful items here this AM; thanks for posting.

Karen

[AnnRowley]

Thanks for comments on my experiment - the idea for using crochet just came out of the blue.

Liana, I had thought of making them - somehow? - more stiff, but having seen the softer result I decided that I preferred it. I wasn't trying to copy, just using the idea as inspiration. I may do some more experiments...

Kathryn, have fun with the Slinky - it's a fabric that I can't even bear to touch, just thinking about it gives me the heebie- jeebies!
Your weather sounds lovely - I spoke too soon this morning about ours - As I left for my yoga class the heavens opened once more, but at least they had the heating on at the yoga studio...

[kiltsnquilts]

Ann, that necklace is great - I will have to find time later to go and look at your process!

It's my Friday off today and I don't know where to start!  I have got the invisible (yuck!) zip to put in the ball dress for L, after that it is just shoulders and hem so, fingers crossed, I will finish with time to spare.  Unfortunately - Friday is housework day!  I will do the bare minimum but will still have to spend a few hours doing that!  Iis no fun spending most of my day off doing the housework, especially when I am inspired and want to sew!!!

In between L's dress I have cut out Simplicity 2603 in a bright red stretch fabric I had - I wanted to test the pattern before the August WIAW.  I hope to make it up this weekend.

Just love to come on here to get my fix before I start my day 

[kiltsnquilts]

Just thought I would share a few pics of a denim skirt I 'saved'!  I was not happy with it when I had finished (only had the hem to go!) and had thrown it in the corner.  Decided today to see if I could save it and at least get a bit of wear out of it.  I call it my 'Down and Dirty Denim skirt' (more details on my blog)

[joan71]

kitsnquilts,
Nice save on your skirt and creative detail with the long zipper and the pocket placement.  Love to see those finished UFO's....inspiration for all of mine tossed in a box in the corner.

Joan

[kiltsnquilts]

Thanks Joan, It is so easy to leave it in the corner in disgrace    but I am glad I finished it. 

[fzxdoc]

You really jazzed up that "boring" (as you described it) skirt design, kiltsnquilts! I love what you did with it.  The sparkly zipper is really cute, and the unexpected pocket placement is so much nicer than the more predictable locations.  Finishing up the waist and hem with your serger gave it a fresh twist too. So I'd say you did a great save, especially for a skirt that you plan on taking in as your weight loss program progresses.  Enjoy wearing it as much as I enjoyed seeing it! 

Kathryn

[Nedra]

This is my first post on this thread, but I am a constant lurker     My thanks to everyone who posts with beautiful clothes, inspiration, not to mention the wonderful discussions, etc.   My goal this Saturday morning, was to post with a link.  I've practiced in the Sand Box, so here goes: 

Etcetera

I know the Etcetera site has been mentioned before, but they do have up their new fall line, so I thought others might enjoy.  It's given me enough inspiration for a whole wardrobe this morning -- now if I could just get them sewn

Again, my thanks to all of you.
Nedra

[Karen Roth]

That denim skirt is cute!  Exposed zippers...very in, a nice trendy look, and I agree w/the pocket idea too - kind of like that Vogue Marcy Tilton pattern (which I still cannot get them to send me updated instructions).  

Thanks for the etcetera link, cute stuff.  The white jacket on far right reminds me of this jacket... which reminds me, I also recently bought -- any quick easy ways to eliminate the puff in the puffed sleeve?  I'm sure it's something that is filed somewhere in my brain or packed books, but can't think of it.  Maybe it'd be easier to simply redraft the sleeve top.
Clothes sewing aside anyway as I'm trying to finish the curtains before some friends come over and DD has put in her request for a "grown up" version of the hair/accessory organizer I made for the closet years ago.  What happened to HER wanting to sew this summer?    

etc: replaced page urls with image urls (to eliminate "red-x in box") 

[Ann]

Everyone is so busy looking at patterns, etc. and I am still washing walls. Just the livingroom and ensuite to do and I am done. I wrenched my shoulder and it hurts when I have to do certain types of reaches, thus hindering me. But I will survive.

Movinon, the lady who owns the store is going to let me try hers. If I like it and think I will use it, I will buy one later on. Otherwise no use wasting money on something that will sit in its holder. I packed a pair of white pillowcases that I am going to put a rows of flowers onto to use with the pillow cases I am going to make. This will go nicely with the quilt for the guest bed.

The bottom picture is how I am feeling with the heat wave, packing, and housecleaning.

Ann

[joan71]

Nedra, thanks for the link....MovinOn, I also immediately thought of that HotPattern and I have pondered ordering it.

Joan

[Charb]

Nedra, thanks for posting the Etcetera link.  That one is new to me - lots of great looks!

Charlotte