Sew-something

Enlightenment,,,

2012-01-22T20:08:00.000-08:00

I got a serious wake up call this weekend,,, that I need to seriously downsize and organize,,,, I have 3 emb machines, my D1 that I use regularly,, well if you can call it regularly,, my Bernina 600 and 330...

I have a friend that I thought might be interested in one,, so asked her,,, OH YES,,, she said,, so I decide on the 600,, now this was my 1st emb machine,, it is a work horse, if I have my D1 in the shop for any reason, I use it,, which is odd, cause its only a 4x4 sewing area, and my 330 is 5x7,, ( my D1 is 6x10 sewing area)BUT,, its dependable,, I can put almost any thread in it and it will sew,, and sew good,,, its quiet, and sturdy,, the 330 well.......now, thats not saying I am giving her a lemon, it is a good machine,, its just I have the 600 to compare it to, and well, if the 330 had the bigger sewing area,,, and bigger bobbins,, it would be great,, but she has never had an emb machine, so I think she will actually do fine,,,

Anyway,, I start looking for everything for the 600,, Buzz box, check; usb cable check; instruction book check; installation cd, installation cd,,,, oh crap... no installation cd,, OH NO,,, it has been soooo long,, um years? since I last used the 600 that I forgot what we did with it,, and actually, I told my Dh,, that if the installation cd is actually floppies??? then to get it loaded on my laptop we had to have gone to the OESD site and downloaded the drivers.. laptops don't have places for disks... sooo,,,for hours I tore apart.(it seemed like) every part of the house I could think of that the "cd" might be,, finally,, no go...

So, I went with plan B,, I would give her my 330... so here I went again,, looking for everything that went to it,,, cables, Cd's instruction book,,, instruction book,,,,, eeeeeeehhhhh,, NNOOOOOO,,, not again,, ok by this time,, I am seriously,, stressed,, and I don't stress out too much, but I am thinking,,, I am sooooo tired of this,,, why why why,,, I have wwwwaaayyy to much stuff,,,,,,,, when I put the "stuff" for each machine up, I really thought I had put everything with it,, well I looked in a bag that went with the 330,, and found the book,,, huge sigh of relief,,,

But now,, my sewing room,,,, WHY is it so bad,, cause I procrastinate.......

I have so much stuff that I put off doing,, or I see something new that looks interesting and get it.. that I just don't have room for everything that I have,,, and I don't do anything with anything,, it just keeps stacking up....

So,, to the point,, finally huh,, I am going to try to do something in my sewing room everyday, something,, I am putting things up on Sewitsforsale, that I have been wanting to get rid of for a while,,, I am cleaning off my cutting table so I can cut out fabric,, and I am going to start making little pieces of lace (free standing lace) out of my old Sulky spools of rayon thread that I have had for years, that I didn't know what to do with before,,, so I can get it used up, and my emb designs,, oh my designs,, man I am so glad that they are stored on my computer,,

You know something I have realized lately though,, and no its not that I am a hoarder,,, ha ha,, but that I like to buy stuff,, well at least sewing related, but stuff,, now it really is generally something that I can use,, but not really something that I NEED,, books, designs, material, patterns, well books and designs,, IF they are on sale,, yes I may buy them,, cause they are easy to store,, but material,, uh no,,, I am on a fabric fast for a while,, and patterns,, well they are seasonal,,, and they don't take up too much space,,

So,,,,,,, let me see what I can get done this week,, ha ha,, I just thought,, pictures and blogging is included in this getting something done,, see I have 2 tops, to put on here that have been done for a while,,, so, I guess I had better get started.......

And more books..

2012-01-15T10:54:00.000-08:00

I love Crazy Quilts,, I know you can use scraps with other quilts,, but withe CQ, you can do other embellishments that just make the quilt "pop" that you don't do with other quilts.. like adding lace pieces..even if they are just little strips,, or lace medallions with Cq's you can use up things that are just setting around,, maybe one day I will get to doing one... yeah right!!!

I am finally getting my book list whittled down,, only half a dozen more to go.. slight exaggeration there,, well maybe... hehe...

New book.

2012-01-01T12:24:00.000-08:00

I seen this in Jo Ann's while back. so before I got it,, I looked it up Pattern Review my go to place for info on sewing,,, anyway,, I found several interesting comments,, on it,, so I went back and looked through it more.. and got it.. I have only read a little but so far,, I love it,,, I am a very visual person,, it doesn't have a lot of info on "lots" of the garments, but it has thorough instructions on finishing the edges of neck lines and armholes,, that will help a lot,,

Jacket

2011-12-05T20:33:00.000-08:00

Ok, so its been a little longer than I expected,,, but here's the finished jacket..

Well, what can I say,, my Dh got me to laughing, and took the pic. and handed the camera back to me, laughing as he left,,,, after I looked at the pic,, I laughed to....

Jacket

2011-11-10T20:18:00.000-08:00

I am starting on a jacket.. I had 1-1/2 yds of sweatshirt fleece that I have been wanting to make a jacket out of for some time,,, problem is,, none of my patterns call for less than 2 yards, so my dilemma how do I make it,, then I got to thinking, I can make a loose fitting top (tunic) out of 1-1/2 yds of material,, why not just use a knit top pattern for it,,, ssooo....the most important thing I knew to do was to make it a little bit bigger than the pattern, since this was quit possibly going to be worn over that shirt pattern,, I just had to figure how much to add and where,,,,

I kept the neck the same,, I added 5/8in to the cf,, and cut that edge for the zipper,,, I added 1/2in to the shoulder and extended that to the armhole tapering down, and eventually cutting off 1/4 in at the side seam,, then extending the side seam 2 in,,,

I then did the same thing to the back...

Here is where not having enough material started to show,, I didn't have enough for the sleeves,, now looking at this pic, it looks like I have plenty, but that is because this is a 3/4 length sleeve pattern,, I needed it about 5 in longer..

I was going to sew stay tape into the shoulder, but couldn't find it, so I put clear elastic in instead,, hmm that didn't work, so I had to find my stay tape,,,,

Much better...

So far, not bad,, a little big at the sides,

This is the the other place I ran out of material,, the collar, I had a piece of black material, the same kind,, so I just used it,, now I didn't have a pattern for the collar, so I decided to wing it,,, cringe,,, well, you do what you gotta do,,,so I cut a big rectangle,, the width of the neck line plus some, I wanted to make sure I had enough,, plus 7 in,, enough for the extra 4 in of zipper.. will post the finished jacket tomorrow....

The shirt that wouldn't go away,,,,

2011-11-08T19:08:00.000-08:00

I have made this pattern several times.. but not out of woven fabric,, well woven that stretches.. I have never had so much trouble putting in a binding for a neck.. Of coarse part of the problem was I didn't take into consideration the "lack" of stretch the material had... But I finally got it right,,,

I just wish she liked it,,,, 'sigh',, no she doesn't like it.... she got home from school and I asked her what she thought of it,, because you know that now matter how much you like the print, the pattern or the style,, if it doesn't feel good,, then it won't work,,, well she told me she doesn't like anything about it.,... WHAT!!,, I am like,, you don't like the material,,, the last time I asked, you did.... so I start asking her about other pieces of fabric she had picked out while back that she did like,, well she doesn't like half of them,, so long story short,,, I guess she is going through a phase,,, after looking at 3 stores to find some shirts,, and only finding 1.... I decided that if we cant find anything she DOES like, then what I make for her is just going to have to do,,,,,

So until then,,,,,, I am going to do some sewing for me,,,,, yeah!!!!!!!!

Vogue 8636

2011-10-12T21:03:00.000-07:00

I love this top...

I have actually made 2 tops for Holly out of this pattern so far,, the 1st was out of some green material she didn't really like,, so it probably wont see the light of day,, but the 2nd is nice,,,

I have had this material for a while,, it is a stretch mesh,, I never realized how much I like stretch mesh,, it is fairly easy to work with,, there are lots of options for tops,, and you can leave it both single layer or line it,, depending on where you use it at,,,for the hems, I just did a rolled hem on the serger...

I was really at a loss on how to do the neck line,, I knew I needed to bind it,, but I needed the stretch of the cover stitch machine but was too lazy to thread it,, plus I didn't know how the material would word in the binder,, so i got to thinking,, yeh, i do that sometimes,,

I have seen this type of finish on other tops and thought it would be neat to try it,, besides,, I wouldn't have to line it this way.. It worked great,, I just measures the neck opening,, making the material that long,, then cut it I think 3 in wide,, marked every inch on each side of the material,, instead of matching up the opposite marks, I offset them by 1, thus creating a "wrinkle" in the fabric,,,clear as mud??

I lined the fabric with grey knit,, in the front and back,,,it turned out great,, she had her School pictures taken in it...

MIA...

2011-09-25T19:55:00.000-07:00

I've been missing here,, but I have been sewing,, trying to get more done for Holly,, I really like this pattern, especially now that I have it almost perfect,, ha ha,,,its taken me a while...

I had to raise the dart,, it is supposed to be angled up, but with this material it has a horizontal lines so I had to raise them,,, I also had to raise the front shoulder,, funny thing,, the back shoulder line is higher than the front...

It would seem for some reason when I drew off the sleeve, I made it too small, can't imagine how I did that,, the brighter white is the too small sleeve... the top pattern is Tru-grid,,, I love this stuff..

Tracing off the sleeve,, this stuff is so see through,, you can see both the pattern, and the lines from my cutting table through it, making it very easy to line things up...

Oops, ran out of material,, oh as they say in heirloom sewing,, there are no mistakes, just opportunities..

And whallaa..

I think I need to take a little more in in the front armscye (sp) (I looked it up and tried spelling it three different times,, you get the idea,, sigh)

Sleeve looks pretty good...

I've been shopping

2011-08-28T11:06:00.000-07:00

I have had some of these for a while,, just thought I would load them all at once,,, most of them are for Holly,,

I love skirts with seam and hem options,,unfortunately, since Holly and I are such different sizes,, I have to get two patterns,,, one in her size, one in mine,, and equally unfortunate,, since Joann's is so small still,,(tornado in May hit it) they only had her size,, so I don't know if I am going to go ahead and get one in my size, or try to make these big enough for me,,,

These are for me,,,I need some new aprons for work,, and the bags/purses,, well they were only $1.00 each, so I thought why not,,

Instant gratification,,,

2011-08-03T10:09:00.000-07:00

After my last jacket,, I needed something quick and easy,, well add "er" to each of those,, ha ha ,, and this was just the thing,, I found some cotton crinkle material in my G-mothers old stash, and in going through my old Thread magazines,, I found an article in there on making broomstick skirts,, now for me,, making the actual broomstick "look" well i'm iffy on that,, but I do like the layers look,, and that is what this skirt is about,, and it is so easy,, you just measure and sew,, basically....

Now it wasn't as quick as I would have liked it to be,, since I did the seam the way I did,, wright side of each upper ruffle to wrong side of lower ruffle,, but it still was enjoyable...

I just like the idea that I can make this skirt in lots of fabrics,, you aren't limited to the crinkle look,, and you can make the layers and depth you want,, and have as many layers as desired... the seam finishes are also changeable...so, many options for this skirt..

The jacket from &^($%^%!!!!!

2011-07-20T21:22:00.000-07:00

You know how sometimes you want to slip a project in while you are working on other things,, sometimes it works out,, sometimes it don't? ha,, well this one didn't.. read on,,

Have you ever worked on a garment that seemed like it just wasn't meant to be,, well McCalls 5668 is it for me,, and it really ticks me off, cause I really liked this pattern,,, it looks so casual and easy,,, uhhhummm, right!!!

First of all, I HATE a pattern that the front princess seem go to the side of the bust... and the problem with getting pattenrs like this, is you don't realize this is how it goes together till you get it home and open it up,,,, I think if I even get another one of these, I may just take it back,,, ok enough of that, onto the next problem,,

Adjustments,,,I already know my shoulders are 41/2 in wide,, so I have to take the shouders in over an inch,, then I have to take the pricess seams (PS) in front and back at the arm hole,, 1/2 in in back and almost an inch in front,, now when i take up the PS in front, I forget that because this pattern has the seam to the side of the bust,, there are going to be some gathers in the front piece,, so the front piece it going to be a little longer than the side front,, #1 mistake...

Next alteration,, I need to add to the PS below the bust line down to the hem,, so I add at both the front,, (because I do need a little there) and at the side front seams.. #2 mistake,, I add too much..

. I usually do a sway back adjustment,, but this pattern has an optional belt that I likes,, so that would "supposedly take tare of the wrinkles in the lower back,,, heh,,,

It looks good, at first,, but,, the belt I realize it way too wide,, so need to narrow it by half,,,

Ok constrution time,, lets see what I have done,, taken in the shoulders, taken in the ps at the front and back arm,, let out ps at the underbust,, made the belt narrower,, Oh and the biggest Pain in the BUTT,, that collar,, oh where did McCalls ever come up with an idea like that,, now other seamstress's may do good with this pattern,, NOT ME...... I never did get this collar figured out,, I just muddled trough it,, uuuhhgg,,,

Anyway,, I hadn't sewn the front together yet, had to take some off the front,, an inch at the hem, tapering at the bust, so guess where mistake #3 came in at,, I cut off the side front,,not the center,,,

So at this point I am thinking can this jacket be saved?? I make the belt narrower, sew up the seams, everything but the sleeves ,, I get up to try it on,, and one of the belts get caught on something and tears it out of the seam,, buy this time I am thinking,, well you don't want to know what I am thinking at this point,, I put it on,, and realize,, as big as my waist is, I probably don't need a belt anyway,, BUT the waist is almost too small now,, WHAT,,,, I guess when I cut off that inch, i cut off too much,, so I decide that I am just going to put a hook and eye closure in,, that will be ok,,

So now its time for the sleeves,, they go together good,, I get ready to put them in,, you know how you normally have to gather the sleeves a little,, its called ease,,, this was the last straw,, I had to s-t-r-e-t-c-h- the sleeves to fit,,,, somehow I either had the armhole too big,, or the sleeves too small,,, I don't know,, but that was mistake #4 i think,, and that was it,, in the trash it went,, I was done,,,

So,, all the tops I had planned for Holly I decided were going to be put on hold,,, I needed something quick, easy,, fail proof,, if there is such a thing,, stay tooned...

McCalls 4932...

2011-07-17T20:15:00.000-07:00

Well sort of...

You might remember this post I was making some lace to go on a jacket,, well after trial and error making a jacket and shell, I finally got working patterns..

This is what the jacket looked like, basically,,, no dart,, allready starting off bad,,

The shoulder seam was too wide...then it had to be angled...

This is what the alterations look like that work,, take in the shoulder seam but 3/4 in,,, raise the armhole 1/2 in,, where the waist comes in,,, let that out,,, and the piece of pattern going across the bust, that is where I have to put a dart in....

I have also learned a little trick,, I have started putting the date on my pattern of the last time I altered them,, that way I can remember...

Now for the shell,, the waist from the shell from the pattern was just like the jacket waist,,I didn't feel like messing with anymore alterations if I didn't have to,, besides, I had a knit top that fit me almost perfect,,so I thought, just copy it,, so I went and got some Press and Seal, (P&S),and laid it out,,, you can see in the pic that that stuff really sticks,,,

Getting the P&S laid out good on the top,,,

After I have traced around the edges..I cut it out,, the very thing that lets P&S work so good.. also lets it stick to about anything else,, so I knew I needed something to stick to the adhesive side,,, introducing Pellon Tru Grid,,,

All Tru Grid is is a see thru fiborous material that has an inch grid on it,, after I cut out the P&S, I laid it on the Tru Grid and cut,,,

This is what it looks like,, the shine is from the P&S,,, the lines are from the Tru Grid,,

This is a try on,, I wanted to see just how much of a difference the dart made,, the left side is with no dart,, the right,, with one,,

Finished jacket and shell.. I think I could use a little deeper of a dart,, but this works pretty good for now,, will make the alterations for the next set...

Completed..

2011-07-11T18:25:00.000-07:00

I am still here,, and have been sewing,, I really like this top,, it was a pain,, I have always felt that God gave me a gift for sewing,, BUT,, I didn't realize he was going to give me such a busty daughter to sew for... and it is a challenge..I managed to incorporate most of the excess fabric into the dart at the waist.. and I took in another inch in the side seems,, there is actually another 2 inches that could be taken up, but I didn't want the top to be too tight,, so I left it... the material is a little see through,, so she will wear it with an undershirt..all in all, I think it will work...the only other problem,, this is 100% cotton which means lots of ironing,, why do I do this to myself???

First up.

2011-06-07T15:38:00.000-07:00

I have had this pattern and material in my stash for a while, so it is time to make it..New Look 6563,,, I am making view E, the sheer one on the left,, my material is a light weight cotton not sheer,, with a ribbon look like thing running through it,,(will take a pic later,,,)

I had to do a 2 in FBA to start off with,,

Ha, this is bad,, I got the Cd from Palmer/Pletsch Full busted,,, but I feel like this is going to bust me,, and i am just starting out,,,, its kinda hard to see, but after the 2 in alterations,, look at the bustline compared to the neckline,, there is a good 1/2 in difference,, now I know that the pattern is lower than this, but this is how high we want it. well maybe a little lower, but not much,,,.. sooooo...

I realize one thing about sewing for Holly, darts are my friend,, i need to use them everywhere,,,, so I took out a 1/2 in dart in the neck,,,

Plus I took up 1 inch in the back, I actually went all the way down with the tuck, but after looking at it,,, I realized that below the neck,, it got tight at the mid back,, but I still needed a little tuck in there, now the CB is supposed to be cut on the fold,,, not anymore,,,,,

I hope you can see, it, forget that, i hope you can understand it,,,,lol..first,, I had to take out the dart in the neck,, see that black slit just below where the neckline line is,,, that is the dart that I made,, BUT then i rotated it to the waist,, now wait for it,,, I had such a big side dart,, that I rotated some of it to the waist to,, see the tape in the middle of the side dart,, well there you go,,

Now if it goes together in the material like it is supposed to,, Hallelujah..

Some light sewing......

2011-06-02T18:12:00.000-07:00

My daughter needs tops... so I have my work cut out for me,,,this is what I have so far,, I really wante to make knit shirts, but after looking through my stash, I reallized just how few knit pieces of material,, especially for descent tops I have,, so most of what I am making are woven tops.. well at least I will get plenty of practice with alterations...

The red above and the green below are the same type of material,,,,

This is a slightly sheer material, not as sheer as the pic,(the one on the left),, so it will have a muscel shirt under it...

This is pretty, with gold threads through it,, though its hard to see them...

My only knit,,,

Disaster struck..

2011-05-24T18:35:00.000-07:00

Oh Sun May 22, an F5 tornado hit the town of Joplin Mo,, pop 50,000... it cut a 3/4 mile wide, 6 mile long path,, taking out a major hospital,,, St Johns, and all the surrounding businesses, drs offices,, and other buildings that make up the St Johns area..., one of the Wal-Marts.. Joann's, Pizza Hut, CiCi's pizza,, Home Depot, 3 Schools.. including the High School... and lots more....all together 7000 building were destroyed,, 122 confirmed dead,,, and approx, 1500 missing..

This link is a good before and after post.. but it doesn't even begin to give an idea of what it is like,,,,

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1390530/Joplin-MO-tornado-Before-photos-complete-devastation.html

Catching up..

2011-05-16T20:25:00.000-07:00

Here are pix of the jackets..

This is the one the bride wore over her dress,, it is made out of satin, it doesn't look shiny because her dress wasn't very shiny like satin, so I turned the shiny side to the inside, then i lined it with voile..

These are all the jackets,, the white on the bottom is the miniature bride...there are 4 silver/gray,, and 3 purple...

Wedding party....

Marathon sewing,,

2011-05-03T16:23:00.000-07:00

Pictures, pictures, who has the pictures,, not me, not yet anyway,, I am still here, still going. Actually I am very busy making jackets for a wedding,, I have to have a total of 9 made by May 7th,,, I already have 3 done and am working on 2 more,, so I figured if I get an average of 2 done a day I will be pretty good,, you might be pulling you'r hair out thinking 6 in 3 days,, is she crazy,, well ~~yes~~ maybe.. The jackets are pretty basic Bolero style,, 3 pieces per jacket,, so not too much hair pulling going on here,,, not too much anyway,, will post pix later.. gotta get back to sewing........

Making lace, and a wadder!

2011-03-13T21:18:00.000-07:00

This is kind of a two part post,, its about something that will be used now (lace) and something that will be used later, maybe, (wadder)..huh? I shall explain, in a bit...First,, this was supposed to be my 2nd JAM, it is a twin set,, made out of maroon knit.. with lace,,, McCalls 4923 which is out of print,,

one problem with the material, it is heavy,, not just drapy, but heavy,, it would make a good winter top,, but too hot for summer,,,and since I am making a matching shell to go under it,, well,, enough said on that,, the other thing,, I forgot the stretch of the material goes against the grain, so the stretch is going down, instead of around,, I remembered this after I had it cut out,, it does have some stretch the way I cut it out,, but this material is so thick, after I put the front facing on, I graded the SA.,. I was going to understitch the seam,, well the seam is so thick and stretchy,, is that a word,, that I had to hand sew the whole thing,, this is what I got done on the jacket... It isn't actually a wadder,, I will finish it, just not now..

Now for the lace,, this was fun, kinda,,, I have always been the "kind of person", that when I see a lady wearing a piece of clothing that has matching lace,, whether it be a knit top, or a nice dress,, i say, I can make that,, well I am learning a valuable lesson,,I don't need to be making everything I see,, if I was persistent about getting something done, it might be ok to be "that kind of person" BUT,, being a procrastinator,, wrong,, I have been working on this top and lace for a month,, after a while it stars getting old,, now if I had kept at it,, and set a goal each day,, it might have worked,, right now I have, 2 1/2 yards made,, yes, that is made on the embroidery machine,,,

BTW, if you are wondering where to get this design, or to see more,, it is http://www.myembroideryhaven.com/shop/lace-edging-13-inthehoop-p-1052.html

This is a close-up of how I matched the designs,, so it would be endless...

This is how I secured the WSS so it wouldn't move.

The design I used fit in a 4x4 area, so I put it in my 5x7 hoop and put 3 designs per hoop,,,

This is where I am at now, I may have more to make,, but it is getting easier,,,

Something new for me,,,

2011-02-14T17:06:00.000-08:00

I am still working on lace,, but had to get some more needles,, I get tired of having to go to Joann's for them,, so I decided to order some,, I got 10 in the package, for about the same I would pay for 5., now just to see how they work,, stay tuned.

A teaser,,, making lace!!

2011-02-10T17:37:00.000-08:00

Hmmmm, what's it for,, will let you know.....

Back to sewing again...

2011-02-04T19:38:00.000-08:00

Actually I joined the JAM, (jacket a month) thread at Stitchers Guild,, and I must say the ladies over there have put out some really pretty jackets,,,

Ha ha, I was almost ready to post this and forgot that I didn't put the pattern info on here, Burda 7634
Material used is a light weight linen,, the lining is voile..

Well here is my 1st, I am a little behind as this is my first one,, but you know,,,

Ok all the good, bad, ugly, and whatever,,, I have leared a few things sewing this jacket,,

First off the alterations,, I am one of the unlucky ones that I have to make alterations to every stinking thing I make,, bleck....

sleves, I had to add 1/2 in to the width,,,

the side bodice, this was a little more tricky for me,, I am not real good at figuring out alterations yet,, but I had to add over an inch to the width, then I had to bring the top, down a half and inch,, you can see this better in the pic below,,

Ok now for one of the lessons learned,, I have been seeing different sewing techniques on blogs for a while, so I decided I wanted to try one,, Hong Kong finish here I come,, it should have been here I go,, as in bye bye,,, first off,, I don't know if there is a way to do a HK finish on a princess seam,, if there is,, I didn't find it,, because it didn't work too well for me,,,see the wave,,, first off I forgot to pull the bias strip just a little,, hence the ripple,, but second it isn't easy pulling a bias strip on the inside of a princess seam,,, keeping the seam flat,, so it doesn't ripple, sewing and ugh,, you get the idea,,

So I had to go back re-sew it while it was pinned, well I didn't sew over the pins,, but darn near it,, then I ironed it good,, so now it looks like this,, not bad...

Ok details on the HK finish,, you cut bias strips, I made mine 1 1/4 in wide,, you do not cut off the seam allowance of the garmet,,, you put the bias tape to what would be the right side of the seam allowance,, and sew a narrow seam, I think mine was just over 1/4 inch,, I just put the material under the edge of my pressure foot,,, and sewed,,

Then you turn the bias strip to the back around the seam,, (a HK finish basically finished a seam just like a serger,, but with a serger you are using thread,, ) and pin, above pic,, see where the pin is,, that is the seam for sewing the bias strip on,, then you do something called stitching in the ditch, basically sewing over the seam to sew on the bias stip,,( am i getting a little redundant here,, ok moving on,,,,

Ok on the back of that seam you have the excess, you trim that off as close to the seam as possible,,,

Pic of finished jacket,, I must say I am still proud of it,, I have a TNT (tried and true) pattern now,, and that is a great thing,,

More pix of the HK finish,, ok another thing learned,, HK finishes are a pain,, they are fairly easy,, but they take forever to do,, forever,,

Oh another pic of the princess seam,,,,

Patterns.

2011-01-16T10:57:00.000-08:00

Butterick 5557, This is a set, but I love the look of this top.

Butterick 5562 I already have a McCalls pattern 6164 that has the same sleeve treatment,, but i fell in love with the neck on the green top,, and my daughter loves cowl neck lines,, besides i seen this made up in a sweater knit at sharon sews and I have a couple pieces of fabric that would be perfect for it...

I just like the simple clean lines of this jacket,, I may have to add a closure to it,, don't know if I like just having a belt to keep it closed,, will see.

Another purse,, well two....

2011-01-12T18:04:00.000-08:00

Ok I need to do more of these,, they are fun, just choosing the project and the font is the hardest,, this was an embroidery design I got from
here My Embroidery Haven,,, I omitted the ribbon,, and put on the font instead..

I decided to throw one more in, this is one I got from a blog.. outside was easy,

The inside however was a little more tricky,, not putting the pockets in, but sewing the 'inside" up,, I had to take out some seams and make the lining smaller so it would lay flatter. or more flat... ha ha..

Which to do first,

2011-01-04T15:29:00.000-08:00

I have gotten back to the sewing room,, several times in fact,, problem is I need to narrow down what I want to do.. I got started on the pouch/purse things,, I even got another one made, will post pix soon,, but I also started sewing clothes again,,, uuhhhhh,, don't faint,,, it has been a while,,

See I figured out something,, ok this is going to sound totally crazy, I love to sew and embroider, but I do my best when I am helping someone, and they are telling what to do,, like what designs or patterns, material, thread colors,, in other words,, I am not making the "decision",, starting to sound familiar,,

Which brings up another scenario,, my husband,, now this is a good thing believe it or not,,, you know how most women say thier husbands have no style,, well fortunately mine does, and in my case,, very fortunately,, cause I have had to go to him several times to ask his opinion on, colors, (eeks) fabric,, (shock),, I mean he is like a woman,, uh let me be clear,, lol,, in the terms of taste,, he is very should I say gifted,, he just has good tastes,, and ideas.

I said all that to say this,, I was in my sewing/bedroom,, ha ha,, the other day, looking through material to see what i wanted to do with what,, and I thought,, everynow and then i make something, (for our daughter Holly) that he just doesn't like, for one reason or other,, problem is I do it fairly often,,(ok let me insert this here, you know the saying "what were you thinking" when you bought that,, i mean, even with clothing,, maybe more so, with clothing, just because its on the rack doesn't mean it should be purchased, I mean has anyone seen the emails, "poeple of Wal-Mart",, ) problem is, I probably get a lot of materail that you could say that about,,) now most ladies I know would just say, its just my husband,, if i want to make it I will,, well just like clothes that we buy, we want them to be liked by our family,, we just feel good, or better when someone says,, oh that looks nice, or I like that,,,, well, DH does when he likes it,, but he also says something when he doesn't,, which lately has been faily often,, soooooo,, I decided to ask him on material,, ok don't thow things at me yet,, cause here is the scenario,(should I be numbering these yet, hhmmm) I am looking at material, trying to look at it from his prospective,, ok this is what he says,, "looks too busy,, too small print,, too old looking, oh yeah,, that will work",, and I think I need to separate this material, because I have pieces in there that I want to make,, but I need to find out what would work best for her first,, so what do I do,, ha ha,, this was my great idea,, I have never actually done this before,, not on material for clothes anyway, I asked him to help me pick out material that he likes for her,,, we go through about 20 pieces of material in about 5 min,, i pick them up, and say what do you think,, he looks at them and says,, yes or no,,, or great, or ^&%$ no,,, lol...

So I start pairing material with patterns after that,, it was SOOOO easy,, I paired up about 5 things after that,,, why didn't I do this sooner,, I could have saved myself so much frustration,, I have about 20 more pieces for hime to look at in the closet, but at least I have a direcion now,,,

So that is part of the reason i havent't posted, I am busy trying to figure out what to make first,, well thats not completely true,, I am sewing a jacket,, that just why I havent posted on embroidery,, I am trying to figure out what to make next, I want to to a font on something,, I just haven't decided what yet..

And you might say, well you asked DH about the material,, ask him about the embroidery project,, huh, no way,, I want "something" to be me,, even if it does look like ~~crap~~ mess up at least its my ~~crap~~ mess up.

Embroidering projects

2010-12-26T19:56:00.000-08:00

I am doing some embroidering for a change,, pouches and key fobs, they are so fun, and addicting,, I am going to make more of the key fobs, they are really fast,, and pretty easy,, the pouch takes a little more time,, but it is padded,, they both came from http://www.embroiderygarden.com/store/index.php Reen is a wonderful designer, and she has great ideas.

I am going to try monogramming next,, I can't believe I have had an embroidery machine for so long, (blush) and have never done that yet..

Where did she go,,,

2010-12-23T14:52:00.000-08:00

She is still here,, just hiding,,
That's about what if feels like, it feels like I dropped off the face of the earth as far as sewing goes.. my sewing mojo took a trip and it didn't come back,,, :(..

Well hopefully it is back, I have been cleaning out my sewing room "again" not like it really needed it,, but,, you know you find something to do when you don't know what to do, so cleaning it was,,

I have found another part of my problem when it comes to sewing,, or maybe I just didn't want to admit it,, either way,, it is a problem,, making desicions, and being too technical about them,,

You see, my DS, is a VERY technical person,, not in the way of work,, but in thinking about things,, he over thinks in other words,, WAY over thinks,, well, he gets it from me,, for me when I start thinking about a pattern, I am probably like a lot of sewers, I find the pattern, material, ect, but for me I think,, I have 2 yds more fabric than this pattern needs,, so instead of just using the material, and having some left over, I think, what else could I make with this material that would use more of it,, and I start looking, and find a pattern, but am either not ready to do all the alterations that I know it is going to take,, or I am scared to try it, simply because of how much material there is, and how much trouble it would be to get it on my table,, get it straightened out,, and such.. so, I decide not to do anything,,, does this sound familiar to anyone....

New things

2010-09-13T19:23:00.000-07:00

Uhggg,, see that procrastintor bug bit again,, don't have anything new to show,, well not that I have made anyway,, BUT I do have something that was made for me,,,, drum roll.....
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I am so excited,, my Ddad made me a table just for my embroidery machine,, how great is that,,, oh admit it you are jealous,,, ha ha, just kidding.. my Dd has been in the carpentry business off and on for about 40 yrs,, well in May I thought I would like to have my cutting table free of my machine,, to be able to cut things out on without having to move a machine around ever time I wanted to use it,, HA, now I just move junk around,, but thats another story,,, lol.. I knew my Dh wouldn't want to do it,, besides to be fair,, I don't think he has the tools anyway,, so my options were pretty limited,, then I thought of Dad,,

Click on pix for a closer look.....

It is 40 in high,, I know that may sound high,, my cutting table is 36 in ,,but, I got so tired of bending over to thread the machine, or to see how it stitched out, or whatever,, I dont have to bend at all with this one,, it is actuall a little high for some things,, but I will get used to that, that brown that you see is formica (sp) it came from my Dbrothers, my Dd made his kitchen cabinets, and this was the formica he used,, you can probably tell I proud of this can't you,, it has also helped me to organize a little, I can put my stabilizer in it,, right now I have binders with pix of projects in there,,

It also has a flap that folds down when not used, it is perfect for hooping or taking the hoop out and trimming,, or ever doing cutwork,, right now I have my Bernina 330 on it,, I am STILL waiting on my D1 to come home from the hospital,, its been over a month,,

Patterns

2010-08-15T20:16:00.000-07:00

I finally found some patterns I like, well I only got a few for right now,, it seems that lately I haven't found many that I like,, or that I have so many it is hard to find something I don't have,, lol... it seems I have weeded out as many as I have in the last year. I mean, just how many ways can you make a skirt or a knit top,, oh well never mind about the top...you can never have too many well fitting knit top patterns..

Anyway, here are a few of my recent additions McCall's. 5847

I really like this one,, I like embellishments,, and I can also use some of my scrap material to make the ruffles with.

McCall's 6036

I thought this was a good play on the basic T. it also lends itself well to some embroidery?????

McCalls6164

I just thought this one was neat,, I don't know if I care for the piece that hangs down from the front hem, but it might work good for using scarps to,,

Vogue 8671

Inspiration

2010-08-01T13:23:00.000-07:00

I have tons of blogs in my favorites list,, most of them are on clothing, some are on embroidery, but a few are on quilting,,, Allie's in stitches is one of them,, I can't remember the search I was doing that brought her blog to me,, but I am so glad I found it,, I have never really done crazy quilting,, but I think done properly,, it is gorgeous,, and I think for the most part, she does it properly.

I have several embroidery designs that are for crazy quilts, and have tried some of them,, but doing this on a sewing machine compared to an embroidery machine, I think will be easier, besides,, my emb. machine is having a checkup done, so it won't be home for a week or two.

So far this material left and bottom right, is what I have to make a quilt out of,, and the silk ribbon I think might fit in nicely..

These are samples of what I would like to turn it into,, pretty huh.. here is the project she made, Vintage CQ.. I think it is beautiful,, I like the center more,, so I am going to try to go off that, for mine..

Alterations,,

2010-07-20T21:12:00.000-07:00

Have you ever heard someone say, I hate alterations,, well it was probably me..I hate ripping out seams,, I was given some clothes the other day,, and some of them needed to be altered, to fit either myself of Holly,, this was a dressy top, this is the first time I have put in an invisible zipper though,, I didn't even know if I had my foot attachment or not,, but I luckily found it..

Not only did I have to put in the zipper in, but I also had to deal with the fact that there was a little excess material,, I didn't feel like taking in the seam, and besides, I thought I could ease the material in a little,, the print material I figured would "hide" and puckers,, and it did...

In the process of learning invisible zippers, I found out you can get too close to the teeth, the black thread shows where I actually stitched into the teeth,,so #1 seam ripped out,,, now where the thread is also, is where the zipper is curled, where my thumb is is where I have "opened" it up,, like a normal zipper would be,, it may be hard to see, but and invizible zipper is actually where the teeth of the zipper has been curled around to back, so that when the zipper is closed all you see is material, as opposed to a regular zipper, where you can see the teeth,,

This is a pic of after I have sewed it in,, to the left of my thumb, there is about 2 mm width of the zipper stay, that is the part that is sewn to the material,, to the right of my thum,, I got a little closer than that,, too close actually,, it probably would have been fine,, but it just didn't seem like the zipper layed as flat sewn that close to the material,, so taking out another seam,,

Much better here...

Done,, and the puckers don't show too bad,, yes I know the seam is a little off,, but in reality, it isn't that bad,,,

Re-uphostering chairs

2010-07-16T18:55:00.000-07:00

This is what I have been working on for about a week,,,

We have had our kitchen set for about 15 yrs.. I think it was time for a make over,, they have been bad for a while,, I just didn't know if I could redo them,, well this summer I finally decided to, I mean after all, I couldn't do much worse,, lol...

Ahhh, now this is better,, and it only took me a week,, I have never seen so many staples in my life,, at least until I put them back together,, "raised eyebrows",, I think I put back in twice as many staples, I wanted to make sure these puppies werent coming apart,,, ha ha.. and yes the seat is a different color,, the chairs are so old, Joann's didn't have the "exact color", which didnt bother me anyway plus, the back didn't need anything done to it, and we were trying to save money in the first place by me doning it myself,, the chairs are functional and the look tons better, and no one is complaining,, I have even had some compliments form dear hubby, so all is good,,, :-)

Summer's here,

2010-07-02T15:14:00.000-07:00

But not a lot of sewing going on yet,, just a lot of buying,, material and embroidery designs, 4 sets from,, here here here here all from, From the Needle of Anne,, and another one from My embroidery haven , now I just have to get sewing,,,

New fabric

2010-05-31T11:47:00.000-07:00

My recent purchase from Fabric.com,, I haven't gotten anything from there is so long I was having withdrawls.. lol.. problem fixed though,,

On the left, is 2 yds of olive, right is 6 yds gray, and that bundle on the bottom, 10 yds of black,, I took advantage of this sale,, a $1.99 sale on twill, light weight twill at that,, the comments said it was light enough for tops... they weren't kidding,, I am used to skirt or jacket weight, this stuff is light,, I was originally wanting to make jean type skirts out of it,, may have to rethink it now, have to look through my pattern stash to see what I come up with, shouldn't be too hard,, I have lots of gored skirt patterns I think will be great on,,,

Latte quilt part 2

2010-05-20T18:10:00.000-07:00

Block is finished,, basically, I just have to wash it out, iron it,, and sew on these little white flowers,,

Latte quilt part 2

2010-05-15T20:36:00.000-07:00

Ok this is NOT fun, not talking about doing the block in general,, but specific stitches,,,

This is the back of this block,, the problem is,, see all the thread tales,, those are theads that I have had to hand tie,,, there are 8 rows with 5 to 6 flowers on each,, so that is between 40 and,,,,, oh lets just say 40 flowers,, well each flower has 2 ties,, so thats 80 ties,, 80,,,, uuuhhhhhgggggg,,,, AND,,,, I have to do that AT LEAST 1 more time,,, cause for this quilt,, you make at least 2 of each block, one of the blocks you make 4 of,, and in the book,, that just happens to be this block,, uuuuuuhhhgggg, I think I am going to find a different block to make the 4 out of,, other wise I may not have any nerves left,, or at least any hair,,,,,

And yes I have looked and looked and looked,, did I say I looked for another stitch,,,,,,,,I have a D1 and my 1230 sewing machine,, these motifs are from my 1230, the D1 had nothing I liked,,well it did,, but the size of the flower had to be small, the flower it had that I liked, was way to big,,,, so,, I am stuck.......

But, it is looking good,, except for this one thing, so far the block has been fun...

A close-up of the stitches,,

Something different.

2010-05-09T19:19:00.000-07:00

I love embroidered quilts. I have several sets of designs laying in wait to be made, but ya no!!! One I have had for about 5 yrs,, there is it,,just setting in my hard drive,, waiting,,, for me to get up and get going,, well my going is finally starting to get up.. lol..

Introducing quilt #1, the Latte quilt by Kerri Hey, I absolutely love to look of this quilt,, and doing a search online last yr,, I found a class on it,, it actually started last Sept,,, yeh I know I'm a little late,, it is taught by Serena Smith,, she sends out info each month on each block,, I am actually glad I havent' started till now,, cause I like making the blocks one after another, instead of waiting each month for the next one,,,

This is what the completed quilt will look like,,

This is what I have done so far,,

This is the printed pic of the 1st block, I still have to put the umbrellas on mine,, hopefully by tomorrow I will have it finished and be ready for the next block...

Well I wanted to post "something"!!!

2010-05-04T20:03:00.000-07:00

No I am not dead,, I feel like it sometimes,,ha ha, the sewing bug just flew out the window.. it seems to do that a lot to me,, I almost envy these ladies that can post all the time, that have so much so say, me, I don't sew everyday, or embroidery for that matter,, shucks, if it weren't for my sewing room being part of my bedroom,, there would probably be days I didn't even come in here at all.

Tonight I am looking for a disk,, I have a set of designs from here , clasic embroidery, I have several of the purse sets, but the one I am trying to work on now is the quilted handbag 4x4, when I tried to load the designs to my D1 floppy, the software said some of the designs were currupt,, so I got the hair brained idea that maybe it could be the software is having trouble reading the designs,,so on to looking for the stuff for my Deco 600,, it has a Buzz box, so I find the Buzz box, plug it in,, and forgot the software hasn't been installed on my laptop,, so i am in the process of trying to find the disk for that,, well back to looking,,,:-)

Treasures treasures,,,,, galore

2010-04-20T19:14:00.000-07:00

I am on several message boards.. no make that a LOT of boards,, and one thing I hear a lot is that ladies wish they had a Grandma or Aunt or some such ralation that they could inherit their sewing stash from,,, well I had one,, a Grandmother,, Grandma Miller past away in March,, she had lots of stuff,, LOTS of stuff,, NOT like most people do,, Grandma had a way of packing things,, my Ds has a saying now,, it was Grandma packed,, or you are learning to Grandma pack,, Grandma never worked,, she helped my Granpa Miller raise 4 kids,, I sometimes think part of her lot in life was to learn how to pack so she could move everything everytime her and Grandpa moved,, cause he told her one time,, I am not moving this stuff again,,,it makes me think of the reality shows,, that people come to you're home and teach you how to do things,, well they wouldn't have anything on Grandma,, she could teach them, ha ha,,,,, Anyway, I do have pix, lots of pix,, and what I have right now, I am told by my Dm that is just part of it,,, oh boy......

This box is still half full..

This came out of the box above, the green on the lower left is a box this pile is setting on,, to give you and idea of how much is in the pile,,,

Grandma did a lot of hand embroidery,

The back.

Lace, this is old,, and some of it is in the round....meaning it doesn't have a cut edge, like knit ribbing,,

The two peices 2nd from the bottom are the same,, this is an example of lace in the round,,

This is interesting, the stitches are slightly raised...

And here is the back,,

And oh the material,, I got about half way through this and that is when the thought hit me about having someone to inherit stash from,, and it made me realize I was sad that I didn't enjoy her as much as I could have,, and that I was sooo glad Mom was able to save some of her stuff,, a story for later,,,,

These are something different,, dont think I have ever seen this before,, these are I guess you would call craft kits,,I have three, this one is the pic in the middle, the mirror and vanity case,, the mirror is the piece i have,,

the one on the left is a victorian picture frame.

This is a note niche,, i think the piece on the left is whats in the box.

They all came in boxes like this one....

Not a lot going on yet.

2010-04-18T21:25:00.000-07:00

I guess I am in a sewing slump,, I haven't done anything in about two weeks,, In March 6th my Grand Mother passed away, she and I were the only ones in the family that sewed,, she didn't do much,, and least not any more,, and our styles were different,, but she had some awesome linens,, had embroidered pillow cases, that she crocheted edgings on,, I have gotten just a bit of her stuff so far,, there is supposedly a "bunch" at my Mothers house,, ,, so will have to post pix when I get them,,, Will hopefully get something done this week, Spring is here and need to start using up some of this stash so I can buy new,, plus need to get to doing some embroidery,, too much to do,, too little time,,,

Trying to get going again.

2010-04-05T18:48:00.000-07:00

I am trying to make a skirt for Holly hereI started it a week ago, well since then I have been babying her,, she had all 4 wisdom teeth pulled Thurs,, so from Friday on it has been hit and miss for me to be in the sewing room,, but I am determined to get it done,, besides,, poor girl needs some clothes,,, lol...

Viking 5x7 embroidery hoop.

2010-03-29T19:24:00.000-07:00

I am so excited, I have been wanting this hoop for over 6 mo. Ever since Viking started moving its warehouse from on state to another,(don't remember which ones), it has been next to impossible to get some things from dealers,, for me its been this hoop. So the only way to get one is to find on on the net,, well I found one on a Yahoo group called, sewitsforsale,, I just got it Sat..

Time for a change.

2010-03-27T21:30:00.000-07:00

Changing fabric that is, fall/winter is going out, spring/summer is in, well most of the fall fabric is out,, some that could be used for either season stayed, the lighter weight, or sheer stuff stayed.

These are the bins of spring fabric..

Some of the winter is on the left, spring is on the right, I roll up the fabric and put it in the bins as I get he spring out and roll it on card board for fabric.

Now to start planning to use it,,,

Christening gown II

2010-03-21T16:20:00.001-07:00

Apparently you can only post so much on each page? so I am having to finish on this post.

For the lace, I lay the lace on the skirt, straight stitch each side, turn over, cut the material down the center, open each side and iron flat, on top, I zigzag where the fold is about 1/8th in over on the material side, this helps prevert the material from unraveling, and stabilizes the seam, which with voile, you really need it.

I made the dress out of Voile, which is very sheer and of loose weave, I don't normally stabilize buttons on a dress, cause I usually use more sturdy material , so I didn't think about stabilizing the buttons, oops. So I dug put some linen, cut 1/2 in squares out, then I needed to finish off the edges, they were too small for serging, so I used frey check. I used a pin to hold them, worked perfect.

The result.

More pix of details, the skirt has 3 sets of 6 pintucks. 1 puffing strip, and one lace strip, I didn't originally plan on putting riffon in the lace, but someone suggested I "bring" some pink into the skirt, it can be removed or use white instead.

Close-up of bodice.

Close-up of waist, I used the fabric, folded it in half, used a shell stitch from my machine to make the waist trim.

Christening gown

2010-03-21T15:40:00.000-07:00

DONE, I won't bore you with all the details that got me here, suffice to say, I have been working on this since Aug of 09, and it finally finished,,

The dress measures from neck, 30 1/2 inches in length, and above the ruffle it is 41 in wide.

Some of the process of making it.

Using the hemmer on the ruffle.

Starting the pintucks,, I love pintucks, they are a cheap and easy embellishment, all you need is a double needle and pintuck foot, and two spools of thread. To start the tucks, just mark the fabric, I used a water soluble pen, and marked every few inches, once you get the 1st tuck done, the rest is easy.

The pintuck foot I used has 7 grooves. as you can see, I allign the previous tuck in a groove of the foot, this allows me to keep the other tucks straight using it as a guide,

Done

2010-02-23T20:38:00.000-08:00

Have you ever been working on a project that you really didn't want to finish,, or that you didn't want to do what was needed to finish it properly, well this is that project for me,,, I got the shell done,, with much aggravation I might add, I wrote about that here

After getting the shell and the lining, done,, I left it for a while,, I even threw the lining away,, i was so frustrated,, but after a couple weeks, I settled down,, no I don't know if it took me that long to settle down,, but that was how long it was before I got back to it,, I have read on blogs where different ladies put lining in different ways, on one blog,, I believe it was summer banks wrote that she put the sleeve hems right sides together sewed them, turned them in and sewed the armhole together,, Well to keep from having to do too much hand sewing I thought was good enough for me,,but that would mean I would have to rip out the arms of the lining,, something I really didn't want to do,, just because I didn't want to do it,, call it lazy, call it procrastintion,, or call it what ever,, well I did it,,

Then I finished up the rest,

Hem of sleeve.

Some times I notice the sating stitch for the button holes are a little dense,, so I thought I would play aroung with the settings,, the setting on the right half is the default setting for button holes,, the one on the left side is what I went with,, and this is without and stabilizer,,

I always put paper behind my material for button holes,, there may be something out there just as good, but this is what I use for now,,

The result, flat button holes..

I like this jacket, my only problem with is though is, the neck is too big,, I didn't adjust enough for my small neck,, and those are self fabric buttons,, Joann's didn't have hunter green buttons in the size or style I like,, so I had to make them..

What to do,,

2010-02-14T20:24:00.000-08:00

I just hate it when I have all day to do something, and don't do anything. I either couldn't make up my mind what to do,, or I just couldn't make myself do anything,,

So, I cleaned. And I am glad I did,, the photo at the right,, way up in the far left corner,, under the basket, see that white "stuff" well that is a ice cream basket full of wss,,but mixed in there,,

I found this,, more designs, I had forgotten about them,, I sewed them out sometime last year..So now I have something else to do,,, oh yeh!!

Update, and embroidery designs finished,,

2010-02-13T21:15:00.000-08:00

In this post here I wrote about my Dbrother, well on Feb 6th, he passed away, he fought a hard battle. He once told me Dmother that he beat Pneumonia and a pinched Sciatic nerve,, but he wasn't going to beat Cancer. RIP Michael,

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This is the results of the embroidery designs,, I like the red and white, and pink the best,,

here is what is next on my list to do,,,

Sewing out samples.

2010-02-01T20:51:00.000-08:00

After ranting about my embroidery designs, I decided to do something about it.

I am sewing out samples,, I am going throught my coasters and doilies folder first,, these are all FSL (free standing lace) and still have the WSS (water soluble stablilizer ) in them.. I will get them rinsed out tomorrow and hopefully more done, and post more pix,, this will let me know what designs I want to keep and what to delete,

The green design is ok so far, it had a few base threads showing around the satin stitching but not bad, the marroon and pink,, uh no,, I really liked the marroon one, it is a really pretty design,, but the closer you get to the center,, the more dense the stitches are,, and it is starting to get to be a mess, the pink one,, my machine just wouldn't sew it without the thread breaking too many times,, and I used two different threads,,,

The purple, red and white, and dark pink look ok so far,, tomorrow will tell though,,

Argg, I need to organize my designs,,

2010-01-29T19:17:00.000-08:00

I love embroidery,, but my designs are in such a mess, yes it is all my fault,, no one else here to blame,,

Here is how i got here,, we got the internet in 03, I already had the Deco 600,, so I was really excited about getting free designs,, I collected ANY that were available, cause I thought, there are so many free designs on the net i wont ever have a need to buy any..
Well over the years I have learned two things,, not all digitizers are the same,, and I don't need EVERY design that is free,,

So over the years I have cleaned my files out several time, but I have also added to them several more times, and I am not organized enough to put the designs in the place they need to be when i get them,, if fact some times, someone will have a good enough sale, (especially if I have been wanting several sets and get them all at once) that I will get several sets,,

I have over 650 files of sewing and embroidery related items on my computer,, and each file can have oh say between, 5 and 500( ha ha, thats laughable,, but probably accurate) designs or pieces of information, (directions and or instructions) in each one,, now I am NOT the worlds best organizer,, ha ha ha,, that is a laugh,, I used to get so many sets of designs at a time,, some in emails, some direct downloads,,

Here is where my problems come from,, first off my procrastinating ways are to blame for a lot of it,,,for the emails,, I started another folder in my Email Box labeled,, Designs,, If I got several sets, I would simply put them in there,, to be saved in my Net folder later,, if they were downloads, I would go ahead and put them in my Net folder and just save both for later,, part of the problem with saving them in the emails is I don't always remember to download them, or I don't alway remember IF I downloaded them ,which sometimes causes me to download them again,, ( this can be done ONLY if they are emails,) in this case, I have probably downloaded them already have maybe changed the name(long explanation, boring and hard to understand, maybe later,,thank goodness you say, you are right,, whew), and forgot where I put them,,so this leads to multiple copies of said designs,, which leads me to where I am today,, In a mess,

I have been working off and on, on cleaning up my folders since Dec,, my Fonts folder I think is the worst,,(almost 300 files in there alone) eih eih eih,,,

Now for what I have been leading up to,, I sometimes get to where I want to something, nothint in particular,, just something,, so, I desided to try coasters,, I go looking for them, uh which folder are they in, uh how many folders might they be in,, which one do I want to try,, which one need material and which ones don't, which one require materials I don't have,, ,, and so on , and so on,,

I would like to get them organized in a way that I could just go in there,, with an idea of what i want to do,, find it,, and go......

But instead and until then I have this mess,, argg....

Some embroidering done.

2010-01-24T21:14:00.001-08:00

ETA, please bear with me,, I am trying to learn the updated version of Blogger,, will post more when I get the kinks worked out,,,
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I have been working on this doily for a while,, I am giving it to my G-mother,, she is the only person in my family that shares my love for sewing,, so I know she appreciates it when I make things for her,,,I got the set from here,,
From the needle of Anne

Using water soluble stabilizer, (wss) I sew out the design,, I then rinse it out with water till it is soft and flexible,,

then using the #10 foot, which is the joining foot (it has a little bar that makes it easy to butt two pieces of material up to, making it easier to stitch,,,)

as you can see, the pieces of lace go on each side of the metal bar,,

oops, I forgot to take a pic of the finished "ring", but you can kind of see what it looks like with the pieces all sewn together,,,, here I am sewing it with a zigzag stitch on the machine..

I used a pair of applique scissors to cut the exess fabric away,, you can also see the stitches,,,

I didn't know which pic I liked the best, so I just left them both,, ha ha,, and yes there is a wrinkle in the fabric,, linen does that when traveling,,,

Update, on Burda 7634

2010-01-20T14:49:00.000-08:00

Yes I am still working on it,, do you ever do anything where you feel like you bit off more than you could chew, or, had one of those, what was I thinking moments,, well this jacket is getting to be both of those,,, 1st,, the center front,, which was basically the only alteration I have done to this pattern,, BUT that was all I needed to send me over the edge,, until I realized that that alteration affected the armhole as well,, THAT is what done me in,, almost,, I can figure out bust adjustments faily well,, but armhole adjustments,, we are talking going to School to learn that,, eyeyey,, the 1st change to the CF was adding the inch ..that made the armhole a little low,, yes I know all I needed to do was to raise it,, well I have a problem with messing with amrholes,, I make them either too loose or too tight,, that was the issue here,, so i finally decide to raise it about an inch..

Well either my measurements were off or I adjusted too much, cause then it was too, see I told you,, so I just started cutting, 1/2 in at a time,, now what is so much fun about

doing "little bits" at a time,, is you tend to forget to ether write the adjustments down, or you forget how many you made and how much each time,, this was trial and error time, well I finally got everything figured out,, got the jacket shell assembled, started putting the lining on,, and had the biggest duh moment of all,,,, you don't make something out of stretch material only to line it with non-stretch material,,, &&)*&^(&*))*)*

SO, now I am either going to have to get some stetch lining or, just wear the jacket as is,, will let you know,,

Burda 7634

2010-01-11T18:18:00.000-08:00

I have wanted to get a tried and true (TNT ) jacket for ages,,

I have tried jackets that are what I call "boxy", the only shaping they have is a bust dart, very loose, and baggy. That is ok, but I like something more fitted,, not really snug, not hanging on me either,, so, princes seams will work. Besides, I have a sway back, so I need seams in the back,, and with boxy designs the hem usually hits me right at the fullest part of the uhum,, butt..so difinitely princess seams,,,

So I have decided on Burda 7634, and I am making it out of a stretch hunter green suede.

We have snow.

2010-01-04T14:08:00.000-08:00

We had our first decent snow Sat,, we woke up to about 3 to 4 inches of the white stuff Sun morning,, these are pix from the front porch,,

School is supposed to start on the 5th,, but I doubt we will have School much this week at all, the back roads are bad enough that they can prevent us from having classes, cause the buses cant get around,, and the weather is too cold to melt much,, and we are supposed to get some more snow Wed.

So I guess I will get to sew some more,,, yeahhh,,,

A pic of one of our fur babies,, Tinker,, she is a Yorkie,, weighs about 5lbs,, this was her outside

yesterday on our porch,,, she is so cute......

New things

2010-01-02T19:41:00.000-08:00

2010, are you one to set New Years resolutions,, not me,, those went out the door years ago,, being more active, losing weight, sewing more, and whatever else happens to be on the list,,well it just doesn't work for me..

I have been wanting to try some new things though,, one is I have been wanting to make a nice jacket for the longest time,, using materials like stay tape and hair canvas in the collar.. I have been reading Tany's blog a lot lately,,WONDERFUL seamstress, if anything can get me motivated its looking at her creations,, everything she makes looks professional..

Unfortunately my local Joann's doesn't carry either the tape or the canvas, so I will have to order it, oh well, there are a lot of things I have been ordering lately, so I will just add that to the list..

I am hopping to get patterns of a TNT skirt, button front top, and jacket done up, for Holly and myself soon, I have found that for tops for her, princess seam shirts and jackets are about the only option, I HAVE to have seams to manipulate to fit her,, the darts don't always work, unless there is enough of them, or I have to add them.. That way even if she isn't here ( I get home from work before she gets home from School) I can start on them anyway,, there is something so nice about knowing that you can just lay a pattern down on material and cut it out, and know that it is going to fit,, so for me right now, fitting those three style of patterns is at the top of my to do list...

New fabric

2009-12-25T10:26:00.000-08:00

I got a new shipment of fabric from Fabric.com. I ordered it on Mon. night and it got here Thurs. wow that was fast, 2 days to ship?

The yellow and blue are cotton knit, and the bottom 2 are stretch poplin, with lycra,, I was concerned because Fabric.com's info on the poplin was med weight, but I have 2 shirts I ordered from Chadwicks several years ago, that is the same weight at these, and I love the Chadwicks shirts. So this material will work great..

Burda 7758

2009-12-05T11:07:00.000-08:00

I have seen this pattern on many blogs, so I finally decided to make one for me,, it was a little different, the neck is just turned under and top stitched using a twin needle,, I did raise the neckline 3 in, it is VERY low cut,, if I make it again I will make it more circular,, right now its kind of a v shape, but it will work.

The material is a slinky knit,, I think I got it off Wal-Mart's $1.00 table,, I used a slight zigzag to finish off the hems...and did a 1/2 upper arm adjustment,, I never knew my upper arms were so full,,, but this is the 3rd pattern I have had to make this adjustment to,,so I think it is to stay...

Another Vogue

2009-12-01T20:13:00.000-08:00

A quick post,, yes I am still around,, have been helping my Db, he was diagnosed with Colon Cancer in Nov of 07, since then, it has spread to his lungs, liver, breast bone, and now to his brain stem,, and yes he has been undergoing Chemo, but the Cancer that he has, is so aggressive, that it will never be in remission,, it will always be maintenance, so it will eventually win,, unless a miracle happens,, and I do believe in those,, thank God!!!

Sometime in Oct/Nov, (been too long to remember now),, he came down with Pneumonia, was in the hosp for a month,, scarring on his lung left him with only one,, he is now doing as good as is possible,, but we go day to day,, so that is part of where i have been lately,,,

Now onto sewing things!!!

I love this pattern,, this is the 2nd one, I think I am getting better at making it,, I am getting the bugs worked out, still have to take it in a little more though,,

Vouge, 8151

2009-10-31T22:06:00.000-07:00

I am in the process of finding a TNT knit top for Dd, and I think I have found it,,,,

This is my 1st try at it,, I am in the process of making another one, and each on that I make, I am adjusting the pattern to get the right fit, its nice doing it this way cause each time she is getting a new top,, and cause its knit,, the material is forgiving,, on the right is the 1st adjustment I made, and 3/4in forward shoulder adj, it may not look bad, but when she is standing straigh,, it is very noticable that the seam is too far back..

I also moved the sleeves "forward", basically adding 1/4in to the back sleeve,, and taking away 1/4 from the front,, I think I will need to adj the front a little more, but that is for the next one,,, well, the 3rd one,

Browsing

2009-10-02T21:21:00.000-07:00

I am in a blah mood,, I have had my SM back for a week now,, and just cant get into doing anything, at the same time, I haven't embroidered for a month,, I wanted to make something on it this weekend but can't make up my mind what,,

So what is the next best thing,, browsing,, I was thinking purses,, and lets face it,, what lady can say no to a new purse,, but,, I always wait for a sale to get them,,but the places I like getting purse design from aren't having any sales,, so,,, browsing i went,, here is what i found, here lots of tutorials,,, enjoy,,,:-)

My baby is back!!

2009-09-27T18:15:00.000-07:00

Wow, I have been gone a whole month, see what being without you're baby will do to you,, in a nutshell, my Bernina 1230 had to go into the shop the 1st of Aug,, I was working on a Christening gown for an Embellishment contest on Pattern Review, when the feed dogs messed up,, they would go up and down, but not back and forth.

So off to the tech it went,, I was so affraid something was really wrong with it,, and that parts were going to have to be ordered,, well guess what,, I want you to see what,, 20 yrs of pins add up to,,, yes pins, got stuck in the mechanism and kept my machine from working,, there are 69 pins plus a machine needle,,, I am keeping them as a reminder of what can happen when something gets into my machine that isn't supposed to be in there,,,

Now you may ask, how did all those get in there,,, well, I have a lovely son that when he was little (under 5) that liked putting the pins in two holes in the bed of the machine,, the holes are for putting guides in for quilting,, I showed him the pins and asked him if he remembered doing it,, he thought for a minute then the light came on,, yes he remembered,, :-)

So what have I been doing for almost a month,, "trying" to get used to my D1, needless to say it didn't happen,, I MISSED my knee lift,, there is something to be said for control when you sew,, I know that the D1 is a lot newer than my 1230, but when you can control how fast the presser foot comes down on the material,, AND my 1230 has a reverse button, I never did get used to the fix button on the D1,, don't get me wrong,, I love my D1 also, but the reason I got it was for embroidery,, and because it has oodles of heirloom stitches, which I am going to be using here real soon,,,, a post on that later,, for right now, I am just glad to back sewing,,,,,,,woohooo......

New patterns

2009-08-26T20:45:00.000-07:00

I have been eyeing several patterns for a while, so I figured I had better get them before they are no longer available,, I got the idea for them from here

I will probably make these for DD sometime,, as they are more youthfull, and I well, have passed that area of life a little,, too much "fluff" carried around the midsection,, :-)

Anyway,, they are all Vogue's,, the black is 1107, (not on her site)the white is 1048, both of these are Chado Ralph Rucci,, the other is Badgley Mischka 1066, I first started looking at Tany's blog several months ago,, and was astounded,, she sews like I would love to, so much detail,, so perfect,, so fast, of coarse she probably doesn't have as many fitting issuse as I do either,,, lol...

Jean Skirt

2009-08-03T22:07:00.000-07:00

I have been looking for a jean skirt pattern that I liked for a long time,, I finally found one,,,Burda 7651

I was going to make a muslin out of just this black denim,, but it turned out so good,, well it's no longer a muslin,, it is very comfortable,, but, there was some tweaking,,

The pattern has 2in tucks, but I didn't think they looked that good on me with all my "fluff",
so I sewed the tuck up, tapering it to nothing at the hem,,

but that didn't look too good either,,

so next I tried putting 3 small tucks in,,, nope didn't like that either..

so I finally figured out to just pin out the fullness, and make a flat tummy,, much better,,,

I really like this pattern, and will not only make more of them,, I will make several more,,,:-)

Comment away,,,,

2009-07-22T08:21:00.000-07:00

I got this from Dawns blog

It sounds like fun and . So comment away. .

The following is copied from her blog:

Here's how it generally how it works:
The first five people to leave a comment on this post will get something from me.But in return, you have to do the same thing on your blog and make something for five other people.The details are as follows, and if you want to play, copy the following onto your blog and leave me a post:

BUT since I don't have 5 followers yet,, I am going to do it this way,, the first 5 people that leave comments,,this will apply to..:), you do not have to have a blog...

1. I make no guarantees that you will like what I make. Whatcha get is whatcha get.

2. What I create will be just for you, with love.

3. It’ll be done this year (2009).

4. I will not give you any clue what it’s going to be. It will be something made in the real world and not something cyber. It may be weird or beautiful. Or it may be monstrous and annoying. Heck, I might bake something for you and mail it to you. Who knows? Not you, that’s for sure!

5. I reserve the right to do something strange.

6. In return, all you need to do is post this text on your blog and make 5 things for the first 5 to respond to your blog post.

7. Send your mailing address - after I contact you.
Okay get busy and leave me some comments so I can get busy making you something.

New things.

2009-07-20T16:40:00.000-07:00

I have been quiet lately,,, because,, I got a new computer,,in the pic, you can see the dark pink shade, well that is where my old computer used to set,, the plastic file cabinet used to be under the far side of the table,, the drawer,, ha ha,, you probably didn;t know this table came with one huh,, well that's because it's been hidden on the other side of the table,, against my sewing machine table,,,, oh, and yes,, that is a ton of fabric under the table,,,

A better pic of my computer,, I really like it,, I have never had a laptop before,, actually the only comp I've had was the table top one,, we started with it as a family comp, in 03 when we got internet,, and slowly from there,, DH got one,, DS got one, now that I have this one, DD got my old, one,,, OK now the reason I got it,, the 1st week of July,, I thought my comp crashed,, my DH had been telling me for a while that it was running slow,, and slower,, well you get the idea,, well one Sun I tured it on, and nothing,, the biggest problem was I didn't have anything saved,, none of my designs,, my password for Embird,, nothing,, see about a week before,, we had went to Best Buy to look for something for my DH,, well I asked him about an external hard drive, for my comp.. he said he had one I could use but would have to get a cord for the power supply,, well that week went by and my comp went down,, so ,to make a long story short,,, we finnaly got it going again,(but in the meantime, we dicided it was time for a new one so we wouldn't have to worry about any problems again,,,), Dh got the ex.hard drive going, we got everything transferred,, and the day was saved,, but get this,, I had SOOO many designs on the computer, that it took over 2 hrs to transfer all of them,,, wow,, when we got the new comp,, it took 10 min,, 10 MINUTES,,, hah,,,but now I am learing all the advantages of having a table comp,, the number keypad is built in,,,(yes I know you can get the keypad built in on a laptop,, but is has to be bigger than what I have,, so...) the slot for my memory stick for my camera, the slot for my D1 floppy disk, all these I have to plug in manually,, so that's 3 usb ports taken sometimes,, not to mention all the usb ports used anyway,,, but all in all,, I like it,,now I can take it with me where ever I go,,, AND the bigger plus, I can use my cutting table again,,, YES,,,,

My 24 hour Dedication Gown

2009-06-25T14:14:00.000-07:00

I don't sew for people very often,, but I have a soft spot for Dedication/Christening gowns,, I guess because I love heirloom creations. Well a couple in our church had a little girl on the 19th,, they were going to wait a while to have her dedicted,, but Family came in from out of town,, and it got moved up,, very up, I was told on the 21st, (Sun, night) that it was going to be on the 23rd (Tues),, :-0,,,

The Grandmother, was happy that the in-laws were here,, but didn't think I would be able to make anything that fast,,, niether did I actually, so she was just going to go get something for the baby instead,,, I thought about it for about a minute,, and said,,, I can do it,,(some times I wonder how I get myself into these things),, it won't be what I really had in mind,, but it will be pretty,, she was happy,,,

So I started thinking,, I have SO many designs,,, surely I can find something to use. I found the fabric to use,, a white voile,,, my pattern, Simp 7488, the only baby pattern I have,,(out of print) and started figuring,, I didn't get much done that night,, so Mon, I started experimenting,, after a while I realized I didn't have time for that,, and I went to what i knew,, Heirloom,,

I only used the front, back and sleeve pieces when I make a dress,, I make up my own skirt,, and any embellishments that go on them,, the flowers on the bodice are cuttouts from the lace used on the hem,, that I had on hand.. I love pintucks,, they are quick, cheap,, and easy. there are 4 just above the lace,, then I used a shaping board I got from the Martha Pullen Co,, that has loop shapes on it,, and traced those shapes for the circular pintucks,, then I just echoed the shape once, the trim for the waist is just voile folded in half with a shell stitch giving it a scalloped look...

After all was done,, I was happy, the family loved it,,, and I was glad I did it,, this was the 1st one I have made in about 10 yrs, so I was relieved I managed it,,

BWOF jacket

2009-06-19T21:17:00.000-07:00

My first BWOF pattern,, now what makes these patterns so different is you have to add seam allowances and hems,, and sometimes the instructions are a bit vague.. so it helps to have a little sewing experience to make them,,

Some embroidery I added to the front yoke

A closeup of how I had to pin the yoke to the hoop,, centering it up wasn't easy,,,,

Answering questions

2009-06-14T11:29:00.000-07:00

Thank you ladies for you'r comments,,and I am so sorry,, I thought I had the option chosen to be allerted when a response had been made,, I guess not,,,

SewMarySew, I bought them, about 5 of them in all, I already had several,, (I know have 13), but several were needing replaced,, If you get any, make sure that they are both glued and stapled,, the ones with just staples are now very sturdy,, that will come apart,,,

FBeenZ,, yes I had though about that,, not that I think my room is "all that" . well I do but for me,, I looked at one site mostly, with lots of ideas on it,, http://www.younge.com/sewing%20rooms.htm so I may submit pix to one sometime,, just to see what they think,,,,:-)

Making decisions

2009-06-14T11:16:00.000-07:00

I don't like making decisions, EVEN in sewing,, coarse for me,, I have known that about life in general for a long time,,, but i just realized it even happens when I sew,,,when I go out to eat,, even if it is the same restaurant (like Miky Ds) I sometimes still have to think about what i want,, even if the menu has been the same for a year,,, :oops:
When I sort mail, especially if it is a clothing catalog, or a crafting book,, I "might" look at it right quick to see if I want to keep it or throw it away,, OR it may sit on my cabinet for months, until i get tired of it setting there,,(along with all the other mail that's there because of indecision) and go through it and finally decide what to do with it,,,

Now onto sewing,, it may sound odd, that I am indecisive (sp),, but unless you were around me for a while,, you wouldn't see it,, and this isn't a sewing block,, well if it is,,then i have a lot of them, and fairly often,, :-0 and i don't think it is always being overwhelmed,, i think i just have a hard time making up my mind what i want to do,,,, If I was just a procrastinator,, it wouldn't be so bad,, but that and being indecisive,, wow,, its a wonder i ever get anything done,,, oh wait,, I don't get much done, and I have cleaned out as much material as i currently have,, Its not that it gets old,, well it does,, but i just don't make up my mind to do anything with it,,, then I get tired of looking at it,, and say by by,,, then i get more,, and it sets for months,, and years,, waiting and waiting,,

Same thing with designs,, I see all this thread,, my machine,, now that I have everything organized,, I think, what do i want to do,,well i would like to make some lace to go on an outfit, but then i have to decide on material, pattern,, color of thread, yadda yadda..
Well, maybe at least now that i know what the problem is,, I can work on it better,, :)

Icky iron

2009-05-10T20:31:00.000-07:00

I know it's probably not the dirtiest, but its mine,, and I need to clean it,,, :).. my iron has been like this for about a month,, we don't have anyplace local any more that carries and descent sewing supplies,, ( Wal-mart fab dept closed down over a year ago,, that's another subject,,:(
every time I would go to Joann's, I would forget about it,, well Friday, I almost burnt my DH shirt,, so I think making a special trip to Joann"s was necassary,, the before
the after,,, wow this stuff really works,, it took everything off,,,

off the iron, onto the rag,,

Sewing room,,,

2009-05-03T20:40:00.001-07:00

I am sooo excited,, after about 10 yrs,, I finally have a new sewing area,, this is what the old one looked like,,,I used to always say that I didn't have any more room left,, that we were going to have to start on the ceiling,, well i now see just how much waisted space we had on the wall,,,,
ok, excuse all the clutter,,, and I took these pictures,,,

the books by the computer, setting on the shelf,, they are my design/online class/project binders,,,

And now,,,, drum roll,, I love, love, love it,,

We took down that one shelf,, (that was pulling away from the wall already),put in a sheet of pegboard 4x8 ft.. he put the top brace board(for lack of a better name for it), going across the top,, then he put in 4 verticle boards in,,and nothing in the bottem,,, he told me it always happend that something always falls in behind the pegboard and gets trapped by the horizontal board,, well there are none aside from the top one,,

All of my thread is up where I can get to it easily,, I even have some more space to fill in to the right of the thread racks,,, I told my DH,, after looking at other ladies sewing rooms for years,, I am finally looking at my own,, you can't imagine how good this feels,, I don't have to look for things,, or move stuff around to be able to sew or embroidery, I just go over set down and go to it,,, it makes me feel like doing something,,,, or sewing something.. :)

DH took these...he told me after getting the room done that "I need a bigger room"... well I could have told him that,, what with my machines,, material, table and all, yes,, a bigger room would be nice,,,,

Scissor case

2009-05-03T20:27:00.000-07:00

I got this designs from a friend on a board,, I just love crazy patch,, both because it looks so pretty, but because you can use up scrap material, whether it be old or not,,

Now I still have to put a closure on it, probably will hand sew velcro to it,, , and the scissors arent all the way in,, but DH wanted them in there for looks,,

Embroidery designs.

2009-05-03T20:14:00.000-07:00

You've heard the saying of people being addicted to something,, well I think I am addicted to designs,,, I have 33 designers here,, now that isn't 33 sets,,,, my binders are separated by designers,,, and I have anywhere from 1 set to up to 30 sets froms each one,,, the binder on the left is a3 in D-ring binder,, it is FULL,,,it is so full, I had to start putting them in the 1-1/2 in on the right,,,,I have been collecting them for over 5 yrs,, don't ask me how much I have spent,I don't know,,but I would problably be shocked to.... :0

Knit binding

2009-04-30T17:13:00.000-07:00

I have been wanting to learn how to use my binder on my coverstitch machine, ever since I got it,,(too long ago),, well I finally am learning,,,,this is a shirt I am making,, now there is a little pucker on the upper right corner, but maybe a trip through the washer an dryer will fix that,, but I am making progress anyway,, yahooo,,,,,,,,,

Bowl finished

2009-04-26T20:58:00.000-07:00

Bowl is finished and washed out,,,

Finally,,,

2009-04-06T21:19:00.000-07:00

Oh it feels so good to be embroidering again,, I finally got my machine back,, after being gone for about 3 weeks,, Viking is in the process of moving I guess part of thier facility,, so it took longer than usuall to get the part it,,, but,,I also found out,, my bobbin tension is off AGAIN,,, you would think this machine and I have a love hate relationship,, humph, I actually really love my machine,, it is the best one I have ever sewn on,, I guess I have done pretty good that in about 10 yrs this is the most problems I have had with one,,, but I am very lucky,, I have a great, great, GREAT,, tech,, he is just wonderfull,, he has been sooooo helpful,,, never treated me like it is just me,, , you know the feeling i am sure,,,

Anyway,, here is the project I am on now,,, I haven't made a bowl in a long time,, so I thought why not,,, this is a new set anyway,, and I need to get some of this old emb. thread used,,( I am getting it a big order this week),,,I got this set from

myembroideryhaven

It's done,

2009-03-20T18:24:00.000-07:00

When will I ever learn,, probably never,,, I finally got the tablecloth done,, plus placemats,,, well one for now,, the other has wss (water soluble stablizer) rinsing out of it,, so I can put the last 10 pieces on it,,,

This is how it looked embroidering the edging,, the hoop size is 150x240,, I think I got 5 or 6 pieces on each hooping, then moved the stabilizer and rehooped...

It was a little trial and error,, but I figured out the best way for me to sew the pieces together,,, at first,, I just left the stabilizer on the designs,, (after cutting as close to the edges as possible),, then I tried putting the pieces together,,, but as I lapped the one piece over the other,, the stabilizer got in the way, and I couldn't see where to sew them together well enough,, so, I wet just the edge of the lace,, the dense edge that curves,, well some of the pieces may have gotten a little more wet than others,, but , next pic

this is what I was intending,, you see how leaving the stabilizer on the "bottom" piece allows for more stability,,, this way, I just match up the lines, and sew,,,

I wanted to use a contrasting thread to show the exact way I stitched,,,

This is after I have sewed the edging all up,, I sewed a loose running stitch (about 4mm) in the upper edge,, I re-wet the lace down,, to make it more pliable,, and easier to gather,, if you look close, you can see the pins in the outside edge,, I simply, but carefully pulled the threads up enough to make the lace lay flat,, then gently steam pressed it, then I starched it,, and layed it on the material..

This is after the lace is sewed down,, no, it isn't quite circular,, but I was getting tired, and just wanted to get it done,, and yes,, I sewed down both outside and inside,,

You know how when after you have started a project,, and it is already taking a while,, and you realize you still have a lot left to do.. you start wondering if it is going to be worth it,, well this placemat is where I started thinking that,,,I forgot to take pix of how I embroidered it out,, but it was a lot like the edging,, any piece of wss I could find that had some room on it,, I used it,,,

In the placemat,, there are 28 pieces,, 10 half pieces,,(these are the 3 on top, and bottom, and 2 on each side) 6 circles, and 12 I guess you would call them square pieces,, although they aren't literally square,, they do have 4 corners,,, 4 of them actually make up the corners,,my biggest concern was stability,, I mean, this is not a dense set,, the digitizer made it that way,, but I was concerned about how well it would hold up,, but when I got all the pieces together,, I was really supprised, and happy,, it was holing up pretty good,, I did also starch it some,, but,, the designs are tacked together about every 1/2,, or everywhere the two piece meet closely,,,and at first,, i trimmed the threads,,(on samples that I did) but on this mat,, I left them,, I didn't want the tacks comming out,,,oh,, the color variations are because the darker places are still wet.

This pic was taken by my DH,, he has a much better camera that my simple digital,, plus he took it into Adobe,, and took out the glare,, now you can really see what it looks like,,, :) Update,, well I thought you could see a closeup,, I will try to get this figured out,, cause DH said I should be able to click on it and make it larger,, if anyone has any ideas, let me know......

The finished tablecloth,, I didn't realize until I loaded the pic, that my feet were showing,,, oops,,and yes, I am fully dressed,,although it may look like I am trying to cover something,,, lol....

This is the table setting we put together at G-Mothers house,, she really likes it,,,

Not a morning person.

2009-03-16T10:24:00.000-07:00

Sometimes I really think I need a night job,,, I stay up late,, till about 12am, all the time,, and for work, I get up about 6:30 am,, on Sat,, I sleep as long as possible, sometimes till 9:30,, when I HAVE to get up to take DD over the Grandparents,, ( the kids have gone over there to eat breakfast since they were little), but on days when there is no School, ( I work in the HS Cafeteria,,) I may get up late,, around 9 or 10am, but I don't start coming alive until about noon,,,, unless I am feeling really motivated,, I just don't get much done in the morning,,

I want, I want, I want

2009-03-15T19:38:00.000-07:00

I want----- my embroidery machine back,, it has been over a month since I have been able to really use it,, I guess metal on plastic doesn't go to well,, the hoop holder,,( the part the hoop slides into to embroidery) started getting loose, and it started getting really noticable on my 240x150 hoop,, even on the smaller one, it wasn't much better,, so the dealer had to order another one,, well come to find out,, I guess Viking,, or part of it anyway is moving,, so my part took longer to get to the shop than maybe normal,,,

I want-----to order some more thread from Metro .com,, I already got their 66 mini spools that they had on sale, so now I want to get the king cones,, but I need to make sure that they will work on my D1 first..

I want----- to get this tablecloth done, it is a pain in the rear using my little Deco 600, the bobbin is small, when the bobbin runs out, or thread breaks,, you can't always hear the "beep", if there is one,,, and then when you find out the design,, has messed up,, the machine won't "back up" to where it messed up for you to pick up where it left off, no,, you have to go back to the beggining of the design,, and forward all the way to were it left off,, good thing the design I am on is a simple one,,,, I will be glad to get my D1 back,,

Knit shirt.. finished....

2009-02-07T19:35:00.000-08:00

I finally have a confortable knit shirt pattern,, I am soo excited,,, now I can make them whenever I want,,out of any material I want,, how great is that,,, :)I love knowing how to sew,, oh, the spots arent on the shirt,, but on the mirror....and,, I know,, I also need to learn how to take a good picture,,, :(

But I did learn one thing making this,, DON"T stretch the band for the neck, I tried it once,, noticed the shirt was puckered a little,, ok,, it was puckered a lot,, so I took it off, tried it again,, this time it was better, but I still pulled it ever so much,, but in some places it was still too much,, but not enough to take the band off,, I guess you could say this shirt is still a learning experience that is usable,,,

Knit shirt pattern again!

2009-01-31T12:59:00.000-08:00

Ok, learning experience here,, there are products made to clean mirrors with,, water isn't one of them,,,,really lol.....this is embarrassing, but I had to show the before and after pix,,, so before

and after,, ok, disregard the mess it in the background,, what can I say,, I'm a messy,,

Ok, this is why I had to make a new sleeve,, see the puckers in the armhole,, the sleeve is pulling in too tight,, this is what I call "troubleshooting",, and it's something I am not always good at,,, (and yes there is a seam in the elbow area,, I ran out of material and had to piece the sleeve together,,,

I just got to thinking,, I know several ladies that digitize,, ( make embroidery designs) all I can say is ,my hats off to them,, I can't imagine how many times they have to go to the software to change a stitch, move a column, add stitches,, and each time they have to send the design to the machine (how ever that method is, whether it via a box, or memory stick or whatever) with the new stitch placement,, to sew it out, to see if it is any better, or worse,,back and forth, time and time again, to get the design just right,, that is almost how I feel about sewing sometimes,,, every time you need to change something on a garment, to make up a new pattern piece with the adjustments, then cut material out again and sew it up,, I KNOW it is worth it in the end,, but that doesn't mean I have to like it,,, take this shirt for instance,, the front and back are good,, the sleeves were a little tight,, I had to add more room in the sleeve top,, so I folded it in half to find the center,, drew a line almost to the bottom,, the cut it open,, ( slash and spread),, I opened it 1 in ,,(ok you experts out there,, don't laugh,, I am still learning,, :) make new pattern with the alterations, and cut material again,,

Well, I ran out of red,, so onto purple,,( see, I knew that $1.00 a yd material from Wal-Mart was good for something,,,lol )

Hopefully I can get this put together today and see how it fits,,,

Knit shirt

2009-01-28T13:02:00.000-08:00

I have been wanting to make a knit shirt for a while now, a pattern that fits has been holding me back,, I have several, but the shoulders are either too wide, arms too long, and or tight,, that is a tricky one for me,, when the upper arm is too tight, but the rest of the sleeve pattern fits,, my brain goes into a freeze and I think, ok, where do I start,, I understand enough about alterations, that I would have to do what is called a slash and spread technique, if that were the only thing I had to do, it wouldn't bother me so much, but when you have half a dozen things to do to make a patten fit,, why bother,, unless you want a challenge,, which right now,, I don't,,,

So what I did, was get a shirt of my own,, and take it apart,, a good shirt mind you,, yes it "can" be a sacrifice,, if it were tore up enough that it couldn't be put back together,, but I think I was careful enough that it can be saved,,,

This is the front piece,, the part to the right, that you can't see much of, is the back,, I left it attached at the shoulder/neck line,, it had a binding on it that I didn't really want to mess with taking off, so I worked around it,,

I don't have any plain white paper wide enough yet to trace patterns onto,, so newspaper is the next best thing,,, I just folded the front and back in half,, placed the cf (center fold) on the straight edge of the paper,, and used a marker to go around the material,, leaving a 1/4 in sa (seam allowance)...

This is without sleeves, but so far, I am pleased,, it does fit fairly well ,,,

Jacket

2009-01-27T21:15:00.000-08:00

I sometime have a problem figuring out what to make next,, I have so much material to sew, I get overwhelmed,, so I decided to look through my closet and see what I lacked,, a white jacket,, here it is,, now this is a first for me,, this is a lined jacket,, it took some time,, but I am glad i did it,, I will probably make it again,, but without the gathers,, at least in the back,, it is a little big,, but very comfortable,,

What i DID do....

2009-01-04T11:31:00.000-08:00

For the last 2 weeks, this little one has been keeping me going,,, she is amost 3 mo old,, weighs about 3 lbs,, her name is Tinker,, i got her from my sister,, http://petmakers.com/>here but couldn't sell her on account of a heart murmur,, and we wanted a 2nd dog,, so here she is,,, please excuse the bottom end of the other dog,,

Now onto sewing,, these are pouches that i make sometimes,, they are really cute,, http://moosebstitchin.net/clear_view_cases_2.htm>cases

Now i couldn't be off for 2 weeks without doing some shopping,, so i got, a cutting mat,, 36x25,, this will fit on the end of my cutting table,, so now maybe i can get back to stanking upright, instead of leaning over my bed,,, i also got so 2 pressing helps,, the tailors ham,, and seam roll,, these are used mostly for tailoring,, which i want to get into sometime,, i am just slowly getting things now,, so it's not everything at once,, doing it slowly will also help me find places for it,, have you seen my sewing area lately,,,???? its scary in here,,,

Last but not least,, by best purchase for the week,,, can anyone say THREAD,,, yes yes,,, i have been embroidering for about 10 yrs,, and have never bought a package before,,,i guess because i never knew where to put it,, price,, and didn't know if i would use all those colors,, well i finally did it,, 66 spools,, 1000m,, and i love it,,,,this

is going to replace this,, hopefully soon,,

And now for some cleaning,, can anyone say overkill, i cleaned out my patterns,, wow,, i knew i have a lot,, but get real,, i got to looking at some of them, and noticed how close some were to others.. for instance,, i had about 5 button front slightly fitted shirt patterns,, that were basically all the same,, well most of them are for my DD,, but the pattern she needs has to have a dart both in the front and at the side,,and there was only 2 of them,, so that weeded out a few of those,, now in case you don't think i had too many,, there are at least 40 just in the bag,, i am going to be a LOT more picky about patterns in the future,,and look at line drawings more,, that is what really tells you what the pattern looks like,,,

Spinning my wheels

2009-01-02T09:53:00.000-08:00

Is that the term,, when you try and try, but never seem to get anything done,, on Dec 22, we started our two week vacation from School,, i have plans to get things done,, did I,,,, NO,,, well, i got a little more done on the tablecloth,, a few embroidered things made, (will post pix later) but of the things i wanted to get done,,ei,, a pattern for knit tops,, a pattern started for jean skirts,, samples started for pillow cases,, now for most poeple,, this would be done is a day,,,, now it's not so much procrastination that is a problem,, but just plain piddling,,, now tell me,, how can you seem to get nothing done in a 16 hrs period.. or it just seems like nothing,,, through disorganization,, and lack of planning,, or just sheer lack of motivation,, or being overwhelmed, by looking at everything you have to do,, and saying,, it will be there tomorrow,, well the problem with that is,, tomorrow ususally brings new things to do,, so now i have things to do for 2 days,, ugh,, will i ever learn,, or catch up,,, probably not,,lol......

It's done,

2008-11-30T20:01:00.000-08:00

I have been trying to get to Joann's for over a week now to get buttons,,, finally got them,, and found i had put the interfacing in sideways,,, well, the interfacing i used had stretch one way,, the material stretches both ways,, so the stretch is going up and down,,,

so i had to do some experimenting,, not my favorite thing,, but it made the difference,,,

I already had the interfacing,, but that wasn't enough,, so i needed something more stable,, cutaway stabilizer for embroidery,,,it worked perfect,,,it stabilized it going both ways,, but upon experimenting to see what the button hole would look like going both directions,, i noticed that the hole going up and down was better,, the one going side to side had the stitches burried in the material,, so this is one time the experimenting definitely helped,,

this is the stabilizer behind the button hole..

and the finished jacket,,,

Learning to blog,,

2008-11-18T20:17:00.000-08:00

Ok, so i am somewhat computer challeneged...but i will get this blogging figured out,, putting the pics in the right order,, my favorites, posting properly,,its a learning process for me,,,

Here are two aprons i made over the weekend,, not fancy, but a learning experience for me cause i didn't use a pattern,, i happened to have another one i had made before,, and used it as a pattern,, just laying the apron on material, and cutting it out,, allowing for edges and such,, but i think they turned out pretty good,,

I was looking at some of the pics on my camera stick the other day,, and forgot about these,, booties from southernstitches.com by Laurie Anderson,, they are just precious,,

2008-11-16T20:24:00.000-08:00

Inside of back of jacket,, i had to take it up about an inch at the waist,, cut open the darts, trimed them and pressed flat,, and put a coverstitch hem in,,

2008-11-16T20:22:00.000-08:00

Back of jacket,, now the pattern didn't call for darts,, but it just wasn't fitting right,, so i put it on my dress form, and just started pinning out the fullness,,, man i love my df.. it makes life sooo much easier,,, usually,,,,

2008-11-16T20:14:00.000-08:00

This was some of the fabric cluttering up my cutting table,, it is a heavy knit,, not quite finished yet,, still have to put a closure on it,, and i say closure cause i'm not sure if i want to use buttons, or something else,, depends on what Joann's has to offer,,,

A little sewing,, finally,,,

2008-11-16T19:58:00.000-08:00

I have been needing jackets for a while,, well i finally broke down and made one,, from this pattern,, sorry for the glare,,

Spring er, Fall cleaning,,

2008-11-07T22:05:00.000-08:00

This is SOME of my spring fabric,,,plastic bins are about 14.5 gallons each,,and i still have enough to fill another one,, i think,,,,

2008-10-24T14:48:00.000-07:00

Well, there is one thing i have gotten done,, making lace,,, i got this set from Marie ,,, http://www.myembroideryhaven.com/laceedging10.html i have been wanting to make a table cloth like forever,, well i am finally doing it,,, the above pic is about 90 in of lace,, i still have about 30 in left to make the cloth the way i am wanting it,,, the smaller piece is the size that i make on my Deco 600 machine,, the different color is because it is still wet...

Wow, it has been over a month since i started this blog,, did i not say i was a procrastinator,, lol.. and the above pic is a result of that,, this is what my cutting table had looked like for about a month,, my problem is if i don't use my cutting table, i have to use the bed to cut things out on,, i just put a piece of cardboard on it, and lay everything out on it,,, and obviously to use my table, i have to set everything on my bed,, catch 22? and yes,, most of what you are seeing is fabric,, i have stopped fabric shopping for a while until i can get some used,, if only you seen all that i have,, i will have to post pix later,,,

2008-09-22T16:24:00.000-07:00

I love sewing and embroidery,, but being a procrastinator really eats into my getting something done,, obviously, so i am hoping that starting a blog will help get me going,, eh,, er,, sewing,,, :) I see so many very talented ladies out there, with there own blogs, sew inspiring,,,