A restrained trip to Fabricland

(Sorry for the picture quality! Not my best work and the light is terrible for re-shooting right now)

I nipped over to Fabricland today to take advantage of their big members sale. Wasn't intending on buying any fabric, but ended up coming home with 2 pieces...which at $3/m and $4/m wasn't remotely a budget-breaker.

My haul (clock-wise from Henry's nose)
- Steam-a-Seam 2, 1/2" width
- glass headed pins (I learned that you can't drop a textbook on a pincushion and expect your pins to stay straight)
- 4/$1 handful of zippers for a mod I want to do to some of my running pants
- quilting foot (ok, not from Fabricland, it was a birthday gift I forgot to blog about)

And of course the two pieces of fabric.

The blue is a cotton stretch mesh that I'm envisioning made into a drape-y pullover to wear over a cream camisole.

The orange print isn't nearly so violently orange irl....more of of a muted rust colour. It's a lovely soft stretch fabric with some spandex in it that has a wonderful drape and feels amazing to the touch. In theory it will be made up into New Look 6648.

Photography was hampered by Henry's absolute fascination with the orange fabric. He kept snuffling it, licking it and growling at me whenever I tried to shoo him away. Little bugger.

If you can't beat 'em, use 'em for scale:

Digital Sewing Date follow-up

Behold the most psychedelic, seizure-inducing
pajamas ever!

So Heather and I's sewing date last night was a huge help. Finally motivated me to get the collar sewn on these pajamas. Even did some hand-sewing along the neckline.

The to do list for the rest of the project looks like this:

- attach sleeves
- sew up sides
- add sleeve cuffs
- hem
- buttons!!!!

All things I'm comfortable doing, so fear shouldn't be getting in the way of finishing (anymore).

P.S. Yes, I'm aware the pajamas look totally crazy. I didn't have enough fabric to cut out all the pieces from the main print (45" wide fabric with a 7" border print and cutting an XL size from the pattern doesn't leave much to work with), so I cut the collar, facings and pocket from the extra-psychedelic border print. Very cheerful, possibly nauseating. Best. Pajamas. Ever. Or so I keep trying to convince myself.

Wednesday Night Digital Sewing Date

Heather and I were chatting this aft about the cleaning (and sewing) we want to get done. As it turns out we both have the evening free (after some thesis-ing on my part)...so spawned a Wednesday Night Digital Sewing Date.

We are both beginning our evenings by tidying up our sewing spaced, and then moving on to finishing up projects that have been hanging around our necks for ages. And trying not to distract each other *too* much :P


My task list for the night is small but important:

1. clear off my sewing table, thus unburying the pieces of the pajama top.
2. nuts up and get the collar sewn on the top. Me = giant chicken.

Anything else I accomplish tonight is gravy.


If I can get this freaking collar on, maybe I'll even let myself splurge a bit at the big Fabricland sale tomorrow <evil grin>

No one around but me? Check!
Gmail chat open? Check!
Mug of hot tea? Check!
Bunnies sleeping right where I need to walk? Check!

All the ingredients for a productive sewing night are present!

A newbie's pattern stash

Tanit-Isis' post a few weeks ago got me thinking about stash storage and also left me feeling a tiny bit grateful that I'm not faced with her problem (yet! When we buy a house all bets are off!).

I love seeing pictures and reading posts about other people's stashes, am grateful for them even. THV only muttered once about the size of my cross stitch stash - I promptly showed him some pictures online of other ladies' hoards and he hasn't uttered a peep since. Smart man.

So while it is still adorable and tiny I thought I'd share my pattern stash with you guys:

Yup, thats it for individual patterns! I can fit the entire stack in my purse if I really needed to for some bizarre reason (Armageddon?). Not pictured are some Burda magazines and 2 books have some patterns in them. That subject might be fodder for another quick blog post :)

Lets see whats in the stack...

The "good patterns" aka. the ones I'm seriously interested in making (well aside from that tote bag, it just needed to go somewhere).

The aprons! I went through a phase apparently. Although in my defense two of those were gifts. Number of aprons I've made? 1!

The WTF patterns. Top two were scrounged from my mom's long unused stash. The best of a pile of 1980s patterns. The dog bed pattern I bought right when I started sewing and was terrified to sew a straight line without a pattern holding my hand. Hmmm, well I'm really not much better now, but I can at least figure out how to make pet beds without a pattern!

Randoms. Top two my grandmother bought me at craft shows. The Amy Butler Heather and I bought together at a quilting store with the idea of time-sharing it and I seem to have held it hostage ever since. Ooops. Sorry Heather!

Bottom left is actually one of my favorite patterns of all time. My awesome sewing aunt has made me two muumuus from this pattern. Never to be worn in public, perfect for super hot summer days at the cottage or an un-airconditioned apartment. After the last muumuu she just gave me the pattern to make my own :)

And finally, my newest pattern! A birthday present even! Can't wait to make it, assuming I can ever find 60" wide knit fabric that I: 1. like and 2. can afford

Thats it! All of my patterns. Not many now, but it's a slippery slope I've started down....

Do you collect patterns like candy or slowly and carefully add to your stash? Anyone else have a "wtf was I thinking?" pile?

When the weather outside is frightful....

.....let's sew, let's sew, let's sew!!!!!

This was the view across our backyard this afternoon. Normally at this time of year I'd be sulking, but we've had such pitiful snowfall (and too much freezing rain) that I'm almost giddy with excitement. More snow means more cross country skiing!

But you can't ski while most of the snow is still in the air instead of on the ground. So I did the next best thing and worked on my pajama top. Surprised myself by getting a good chunk done. Realizing I don't have to switch feet every time I switch between straight and zig-zag stitch has sped me up a fair bit (not that changing feet takes a noticeable amount of time, more that I think it does and end up futzing about when I should just be getting on with the sewings).

I made a pocket!

I attached a pocket (after several bad starts...I suck at edgestitching)

Attached the facings!

Made the collar!

"I like mah collah popped yo!"

"Less pictures, more pets plx"

Also got the big bits sewn together at the shoulders. That's a lot of progress for a glacial sewist like myself!

Hopefully I can finish this weekend, but that depends how distracted I get with skiing and nerdery.

So Project: Pajamas has been moving forward at a glacial pace - although I suppose the eulogy I had to write and give last week is a legit reason to not be sewing.

After cutting out the pattern pieces on Saturday night, I left everything carefully laid out on my sewing* table for Sunday. When I went back to it Monday night I couldn't find the pattern instructions! Extremely frustrating since my sewing area** is abnormally clean right now - there are only so many places I even have to look, and I've checked those places multiple times.

I bitched.

I moaned.

I sulked.

I did all three over gmail chat with the ever patient Heather and she didn't disown me as a friend.

In the end I went out and picked up the regular-sized version of the pattern. I was going to buy it any way since the 1X in the Plus version was big on me - and I've lost weight since I bought it. I love this style of pajamas and fully intend on making many more.

I do feel like a bit of a sewing wuss for not just trying to put it all together myself as Heather suggested. This is my first time making a garmet of any type - I've never done sleeves or collars before. At all. So I kinda want the safety net of instructions to keep my perfectionist self from freaking out.

Well, I think that's enough justification, don't you?

Less justifiable, but I will share just the same: these two patterns just happened to come home with me too:

The one on the left looks exactly like a beach cover up I drooled over in Bikini Village last year - and didn't buy because it was $75. The dress/top on the right might not be perfectly in fashion right now, but it's a bit more interesting than other patterns that are suited to my skills, and gives me practice sewing with knits and coming up with creative fabric choices. I like the look of the red variation, the other two with the white banding - not so much.

* also thesis table, board game table, art table, plant care center and to the bunnies: Pedestale On Which The Most Honoured And Glorious Receptacle Of Noms Rests.

** also office, bunny room, games room, storage room, art room, wannabe greenhouse and lounge.

A small step forward

Whew, finally got around to working on the pajama top. It's been a sad, stressful few weeks - just wasn't in the mood to tackle a sewing project. Particularly one whose next steps are my least favorite steps. Pinning and cutting out the pieces. Ugh. I'm anal retentive so all futzing and shifting and finger crossing you do to get everything lined up properly, pinned without messing it up, and then cut out, is just nerve-wracking.

So aimed low and accomplished a small goal today: cutting out and ironing the pattern pieces.

Tiny mission is accomplished.

Tomorrow I'm going to aim to get the pieces pinned to the fabric and cut out.

Or maybe some of them.

Just one?

Along the way I encountered a few wtf moments. Maybe they aren't anything worth commenting on to an experienced sewer (sewist?) but they gave me pause for a bit.

Like, why are the pockets different sizes? I get why patterns come in a range of sizes (duh) but why pockets? Does Kwik Sew think larger people need to carry more?

Ok, there is only one wtf moment. The other one I figured out as I was uploading the picture. Derp.

Have you had any wtf moments with patterns? Were they beginner mistakes or was the pattern designed by a flock of toucans hopped up on hallucinogens?

Proof of pants!

Apologies for the cruddy photo, apparently taking pictures in the mirror of yourself is a lot harder than photographing plants.

Anyway, just a quick pic to prove to Heather that the pants do indeed exist. They just need to be hemmed - I had considered cutting out the border print from the fabric and using it for the cuffs, but a pinned-on test looked like I had crazy floral hooves....too wacky (even for me) to justify the additional work.

Now onto the pj top!

I tried to remain strong, I really did. But then I introduced a friend to sewing, which of course involved a trip to a fabric store. And of course they had a buy 1m, get 2 free special on, and then I came across this acid trip of a fabric.

An aside:

Now there is something my hypothetical future readers should know about me. The clothes I wear in public tend to be somber and drab - dark blue, grey, black, some brown, and if there is colour it's usually blue, green or purple. I grew up loathing bright, girly colours. But slowly that's changed - in private at least. In the safety of my own home, few things are more cheering than putting on a pair of crazy socks or pajamas in bright fabrics. I have a whole host of obnoxious, almost ugly fabrics in my stash. I think I feel bad for them in the store, they are bold, brave and an assault on the eyes; consequently they sit on the bolt for months. So I bring them home with the intent of making a dress or skirt or something to lounge about the house in; where I can pretend I'm bold and brave too, and there are no eyes to assault.

Until now, none of them have been used.

Why?

Because I have a little crafty secret - I've never sewn a garment.

Too intimidated.

But then I saw this crazy pink flowered flannette at a crazy price. Found an easy pattern for pajamas and the perfect buttons. So hopefully I'm on my way to a something I can wear cuddled up on the couch with a book, while a storm rages outside.

If not, well I guess the rabbits could always use more blankets.