Sewing Activities and Pictures

I know my previous posts have been lacking pictures. I finally got around to snapping some shots yesterday. Here's what I am working on and contemplating. (Note: fabrics were purchased last year).

First off, is a summer tote bag for myself. I found both of these lovely fabrics at Hancock's on the clearance shelf. They are both somewhat lightweight which would make a real slouchy tote bag. I went ahead and added a lightweight fleece backing to the floral fabric to give it some body.

Summer Tote Bag. Main: bright floral home dec fabric. Lining: swirls curtain fabric

Added lightweight fleece to the main fabric to give it some body


Here's two more tote bag combinations I'm contemplating. These were also found at Hancock's clearance shelf. This black and white fabric is a medium weight home dec. This will make a fabulous tote bag. I hope it won't be too hard on the eyes.

And yet another tote bag combination. Main: black/white home dec fabric. Lining: curtain fabric


Another tote bag combination. This will be a gift. Main: floral home dec fabric. Lining: curtain fabric


Here's my garment projects. the blue herringbone denim fabric will become my infamous Butterick 5223 pleated top. The pink floral knit will become my fave Vogue 2925 sleeveless pleated knit top. Yes, I made one before in the same fabric. This one will be sewn in a larger size so I can breathe.

Apparel projects: denim pleated top and pink floral knit top


I had to take a picture of my SM (back from maintenance) before I gave it a good workout. It looks brand new...not for long!

My baby. Look how clean it is! They even cleaned my thread spindles

I removed a lot of the clutter out of my sewing room and re-organized my notions. Two large bins found a new home in my basement. I can now roll my chair from SM to serger without running over speed bumps (clutter on the floor). Yes, it was that bad.

Life is Good

I'm here and back on the Internet! My DSL wireless modem/router arrived yesterday. Next day delivery. Way cool! My DSL provider must have been tired of all my calls and my persistence in getting my high speed service back. I connected my modem/router and was back online in no time. I've also noticed my connection is faster. Like 1184 Kbps. Sweet!

I forgot to mention in my previous post, which coverstitch machine I ordered. It's the Babylock CS. Since I already have a serger, I was leaning towards a standalone coverstitch machine. The Janome CP900 has been discontinued and only the CP1000 is available. My Janome dealer wouldn't give me a good deal nor throw in a freebie. I guess they forgot I purchased an embroidery machine from them a few years ago. My Babylock dealer knew I have been looking for a CS machine. Back to the time when I purchased the serger from him a few years ago. This time he offered one free accessory to go with the CS. Hmmm. That was tempting. It didn't hurt to ask for the 2nd freebie. So, I left his shop with 2 free binders and a CS machine on order.

Today, I spent a few hours in my sewing room. I pulled out a few TNT patterns and started cutting away. What a fantastic feeling. My upcoming projects include a denim pleated top, sleeveless pleated knit top, a Stretch & Sew sleeveless knit top (pattern I haven't used before), and a "summer-y" tote bag to carry my knitting projects.

My DH is away this weekend. I am spending time with my hobbies and watching some DVDs: Australia, Momma Mia, Pride & Prejudice, and Devil Wears Prada.

It was a gorgeous Saturday (79 degrees). I spent some time sitting on our porch...knitting. The viburnums are blooming and filling the air with some wonderful sweet scents.

Life is good. :)

On the Cutting Table...

I finished knitting and seaming my two-tone sweater and it's finally off my cutting table. I can now start sewing again. It's been awhile, like two months to be exact. Have I missed sewing? Yes!

I was reading Linda's blog about the cute KwikSew twinset she had made. It happens to be my TNT pattern. I had two fabrics sitting next to my cutting table. Waiting for some action. It took me awhile to find my KS 2759 pattern. You know, I put it in a safe place. Well, that could be anywhere in my sewing room. Can you relate?

KwikSew 2759 - Twin Set

I will be using one of the two knit fabrics below. What's amazing about these two fabrics...they look very similar in print. The biggest difference between the two is the weight. One is a heavy-weight and the other is a mid-weight. I'm beginning to think the mid-weight fabric will work better with this pattern.

Brown and blue floral sweater knit. Heavy knit with a slight stretch.

Black and white floral knit. Mid-weight knit with some stretch.

I will be going up to a size Medium on this pattern, since the knit fabrics have very little stretch. I think I will add a black contrast trim around the front edge and leave out the buttons and buttonholes. I think I will lengthen the cardigan to the normal pattern length. My previous versions were shorter. I just love black and white fabric.

Does That Look Like a Seam?

I am finally back into my sewing groove. Okay, it's only two seams and some topstitching around the top of the bag. It's progress. Here's a picture of the inside of the tote bag. I just love this fabric...inside and out. All I need to do is sew the straps and then attach them to the bag. I'll give the bag a good press and then pre-wrap it for my SIL.

Would you believe it took me a few minutes to get re-acquainted with my SM? It's been over 6 weeks since I've last touched it. I even had to dust around it. It didn't take me long to before I fell back into the groove. I'm loving it!

A Step in the Right Direction...

I have posted this fabric before. I wanted to share with you the inside (edge folded down). It's a mid-weight home decorating fabric from Hancock's remnant table. I'm making this into a tote bag for an Xmas gift for my SIL. I was going to line it, but decided against it as I want to show off the interior.

This morning I managed to cut out the two pieces for this tote bag. A step in the right direction to get my sewing mojo back.

Here's a VA Tech fabric I found also at Hancock's. This will be made up into another gift. I can't say what the final product will be, as a certain someone might be reading this post. I also managed to cut into this fabric.

I can now move around in my sewing room. I was able to remove a lot of clutter and re-organize my stash (notions & fabrics).

The other day, DH was listening to me complain about being behind in my sewing projects. He reminded me that "sewing" was suppose to be an enjoyable experience for me and not to get bent out of shape. Well...he's absolutely right.

I have taken a step in the right direction. I'm ready to sew again.

Sewing To Dos

As I've been resting, I've been thinking of future sewing projects. I know I have been posting about my next projects...some which actually get made up and some that get lost in my whirlwind sewing. I plan to make a sewing list for the rest of the year. Let's face it, Christmas will be here before we know it. My sewing list will include Christmas gifts which I will have to keep under wraps as I know a few folks will be reading my blog.

My first priority is to create my crotch curve and sew up a pair of pants and do some tweaking before I forget what I learned in class. There's a few Vogue and Butterick jackets that I would love to make, a few knit tops and somewhere in between tackle the Christmas gifts. Oh yeah, at some point I'll also have to move my Janome embroidery machine next to my sewing machine...so I can tackle and complete some embroidery requests. Nothing like multi-tasking.

I'll be back to post my sewing to do list. I'll also need to figure out how to post this list on the side of my blog and be able to mark off when the project is completed. If anyone can help, please advise. Thanks!

Butterick 5251 - Sweater Knit Cardigan-WIP #1

I am currently working on the Butterick 5251 knit cardigan. I have to mention, it's coming along nicely. It is turning out to be a wonderful looking knit garment. This will be a long post with lots of pictures for your viewing pleasure.

This is a close up of the bulky sweater knit I am using for this knit cardigan. It's a pretty blue and dark brown diamond patterned knit that I found at G-Streets. I had about 2 yards and 2 inches of this fabric. Turns out it wasn't enough to fit the belt pattern piece. Since this fabric had a 4-way stretch, I was able to reposition the belt pattern piece along the selvage.


Here's the fusible knit interface applied to the collar. I used Pellon's Easy Knit (that's what it said on the paper that came with it). I applied and fused it with a damp press cloth and medium/high heat setting.


Here, I am pinning the front pieces to the back piece. I match my notches first and then match the ends. Then I gently pin along the seam line and careful not to stretch the knit fabric.


I'm sewing a 5/8 inch seam using a narrow zigzag stitch. Once I'm done with the seams on my SM, I go to my serger and finish the seam edges. I stitch about 1/8 inch away from my SM seam (main seam). This gives the seams a nice finish as well as reinforces them. Sorry, I forgot to take a picture of the finished seams. I will include a picture in my next post.


To give you an idea of the narrow zigzag stitch I used, here's the display on my SM. This shows what the actual stitch would look like. Your SM stitch settings will be different than mine. This gives you an idea of what you should try to get your machine to stitch out.



Here's a picture of the narrow zigzag stitch I used. As you can see, it's not quite a deep zigzag and not quite a straight stitch. The narrow zigzag gives the seam some stretch and prevents the stitch from popping or breaking.

Here's the collar after it is sewn together (interfaced with non-interfaced). I pinned the back collar area away from the seam line.


This is the first time I am sewing a knit on my Sapphire SM. I tried sewing a knit over a year ago and had some issues. I guess with experience and getting to know my SM, I didn't encounter any problems with sewing this sweater knit fabric. You'll notice the thickness in the picture. That is about 5 layers of bulky knit fabric. I set my SM speed to the slowest setting and it did not hesitate one bit.


Save the best picture for last. Here's the collar and front facings installed. The collar is actually a bit wider than what's presented on the pattern envelope picture. The line drawings appear to be exact. I think I have to get used to the collar. It just seems a bit wide towards the bottom when I tried on the cardigan. I do like the style...very contemporary looking.

This cardigan is about 80% completed. I still have to finish (hand sew) the collar back, hem the cardigan, topstitch the hem and front facing areas, and create the self fabric belt. I will be back with more pictures and another post later.

Happy Sewing!

A Curtain for My Sewing Cart

Before I could move onto sewing my sweater knit cardigan, I had to stitch up my sewing cart curtain. My serger and sewing machine was already threaded with off-white thread from my doorway panel project. Might as well finish everything before moving on.

Here's my finished curtain. I serged all the raw edges. This sheer fabric loved to fray and drop threads all over my carpet. I basically folded over the top and stitched down the fold. I made sure I had enough to slide the rod in to folded pocket. I did the same to the bottom, folded over but not as deep as the top. To hang this curtain, I used a spring tension rod that I found at Walmart. This is a lot narrower than the one I used in the doorway.


Here's my sewing cart with the curtain. I left enough room at the bottom, to have access to my SM pedal.

You can see in my window that tropical storm Hanna is sitting over us. So far, we've had 5.6 inches of rain and we still have a few more hours of her drenching us.


So, what sewing stuff do I have behind my curtain? A lot of sewing junk that I need to sort out, keep, or trash. As I get more organized (e.g. hide my fabric stash, collect my scattered patterns, etc), I'll do a future post on my sewing room.

My Doorway Panel

I found this lovely sheer patterned fabric at Hancock’s in their home decorating area. This fabric is regularly $9.99/yard and I was able to purchase this fabric for 50% off. Not bad.

My doorway is about 30 inches wide. This fabric is close to 60 inches wide. Instead of gathering the fabric, I folded the fabric in half. My selvages are on one side and the fold of the fabric is on the other side. So, now my fabric is 30 inches wide and will fit in my doorway without any shirring or gathering or bunching up. It looks like a flat panel of fabric.

To hold up this fabric panel, I am using a spring tension rod that I found at Home Depot. Walmart also sells this type of rod.

Here, I am turning under and pinning the serged edges to form a long pocket to thread my curtain rod through. This fabric is gorgeous and having the self patterned squares made it easy to line up the folds. Having doubled up the fabric it is not as sheer as a single layer of fabric.



As you can see in the pictures, my panel doesn’t go all the way up to the top of the doorway, nor does it touch the floor at the bottom. That was my plan. I normally shut my door and so the air gets pretty stagnant in my room. The room also gets quite warm. The openings above and below the panel is suppose to let the air flow in and out of my room. It actually works.

My fabric panel is very light and airy. It’s more of a decorative curtain and looks better than keeping my door shut.

I went back to Hancock's and bought more of this fabric. I plan on making a curtain for my sewing machine cart to hide my sewing stuff.

Shifting Gears...Now onto a Butterick Cardigan?

I made a mistake. I went to Hancock's to buy more sheer curtain fabric to make a curtain for my sewing cart. They were having a Butterick pattern sale. Like I need more patterns. Well, the sick person that I am...I skimmed through the pattern book. This pattern called to me...BIG time! I am shifting gears and changing my sewing priorities.

A few days ago I posted a picture of some fabrics I found at G-Street. Remember the sweater knits? It dawned on me that one of those knits would make a lovely cardigan jacket like the one in View A. (I shudder at View B as it reminds me of a bath robe). Anyways, this pattern is now on my tracing/cutting table. My two sweater knits are being pre-washed.


View A should be quick and easy to sew. I just need to decide which sweater knit to use. Hopefully, I can find a cool belt in my closet to go with it. I can already tell that I will need to shorten the cardigan length. The sleeve length (which will be a bit longer on me) should be fine. Maybe this will be the jump start I needed to start sewing with knits again.

In other sewing news, I finished my doorway panel and hung it on the spring tension rod. It's working out great. I have my much needed privacy along with the much needed air flowing in and out of my room. I have to take a picture to show you what it looks like. That will be a new post for another day.

Next Vogue Projects & Other Things in the Works

Here are two Vogue patterns that are on my tracing/cutting table.

This is Vogue 8429. Loose fitting and lined jackets. I'm looking at making View A (jacket in the middle). The finished bust for a size 10 is around 37-1/2 inches. It will be interesting to see how loose fitting this jacket will be. What caught my eye are the pleats on the collar. I also like the shape of the patch pockets. Also, no buttons...just snaps. Pretty cool, if you ask me.


This dress is Vogue 8486. And you probably noticed the pleats on this dress. I'm not a dress person, but I picked up this pattern for the style. This is a slim fitting dress for moderate stretch knits only. Guess what I am going to do with this pattern? I am going to make a top. I am looking at View A (left dress), the sleeveless version. The finished bust for a size 10 is around 36 inches. This might work for me if I used a knit fabric with some stretch. If I use a really stretchy knit, I might end up with a size 8. I still need to take a flat pattern measurement. I might end up doing a muslin. We'll see.

As I mentioned, I'm at the tracing stage for both patterns. I still haven't picked out the fabrics. This is rare for me. Usually I have the fabric picked out before the pattern. Oh well.

No sewing today. I decided to get out of the house and enjoy the beautiful humidless day. I did stop by G-Street with coupon in hand. I picked up this beautiful slinky knit. Doesn't it look like a lacy knit? Now, this slinky knit looks very familiar. I thought I saw this on EOS's site last year?

Another project in the works is a curtain panel. I found this sheer curtain fabric at Hancock's. I plan on making a privacy panel to hang over my doorway into my sewing room. I'm using a spring tension rod to hang the panel. That way I can keep my door open and keep folks from looking in and bothering me while I'm sewing.

In closing, I was just thinking that I could get used to these 3 day weekends.


And don't forget that September is National Sewing Month. You can find their link here: National Sewing Month

Ready to Sew...Vogue Jacket and Other Things

I am now working on this Vogue jacket. View A with short sleeves. I am making a muslin...using inexpensive fabric to see if I like this jacket style on me. I really want to make View B with the long kimono-type sleeves, but decided to make the short sleeves instead. 1) to see where the short sleeve falls on my arm, 2) to gauge how much I need to shorten for View B sleeves, and 3) view A uses the least amount of fabric.


Here is the muslin fabric I am using. It's a cotton woven floral print with some lycra that I found in the clearance section at Joann's. The dark areas in the fabric is olive green. To line this jacket, I'm using an olive green lightweight cotton fabric. I could not find a raspberry or medium brown fabric to match. There was no way I was going to use orange fabric for lining. Oh well, it's only a test jacket and green will have to do.


G-Street is having another sale. I went off my G-Street Fabric diet. I had a list that I pretty much stuck to (e.g. weft interfacing, buttons, thread), but I made a mistake of looking at their fabrics. Here's what I purchased (left to right): dark gray and white floral sweater knit, black with white thread suiting, black and white squares suiting, and blue and brown diamond print sweater knit.

I also found a black heavy lace knit and a black jacquard floral print brocade for some future eveningwear garments.

I did finish sewing the buttonholes and buttons on my Butterick brocade jacket. I plan on doing a special review for this jacket real soon.

In non-sewing related news...I found an Omni-Bounce flash diffuser for my external Nikon flash unit. I tried it out when I took the two pictures above. I am very happy with the results. Now, I can take wonderful pictures of my fabrics without getting any weird results. Not sure if there's an interest, but I thought I would do a future post on the basic photo equipment that I use to take pictures. Let me know if you think it would be helpful.

I am looking forward to the long weekend of sewing. How about you?

Sewing Mojo & One Project at a Time...Whew!

What can I say? I am glad to be sewing again. Every now and then I do have a problem. I have all these sewing projects whizzing around in my head...constantly. Like right now, I'm thinking of 2 jackets and 4 fabrics. I'm getting a slight headache.

See this picture? This is the 1 yard EOS brocade remnant (60 inches wide) that I received the other day. See all those pattern pieces? They fit on the fabric. Yes, I'm doing the happy dance! I'm too tired tonight to cut out the fabric and I don't have enough light in my sewing room. For me, cutting black fabric at night is not a good idea. I'll let my fabric relax on my cutting table overnight. I'll get up early in the morning and start cutting away.

I did find the perfect buttons for this jacket at Hancock's. Of course, I forgot to take a picture of them. I'll save that for another post later.

I really need to focus on one sewing project at a time. That's the only way I can be sure to finish a garment.

So, how do you folks sew? Do you end up sewing one project at a time or do you have several ongoing projects?

Upcoming Brocade Project

First off, I want to commend the folks who run online fabric stores and take wonderful pictures of the fabrics they sell. Thank goodness for digital cameras, because I ended up taking 20 pictures before I could get the details of this brocade to show up. And you know when you're snapping away, you lose track of how many pictures were taken. Yep, that's what happened to me.

So, here is the black and gray lightweight brocade fabric I purchased (1-3/4 yards) from EmmaOneSock (EOS) two weeks ago. Linda recently had an end piece (1 yard) left and I snapped that one up. I'm waiting for its arrival. I think I can get by using this 1 yard piece to make my favorite Butterick 5223 cropped jacket. I am going to save the larger piece for something special later on. So, what happens if the jacket takes more than a yard? I know I can get the front, back, and sleeve pattern pieces to fit within the length of the fabric. I'll just use a plain black fabric for the front and neck facings.

While I'm waiting for the fabric, I better look for some fancy buttons.

Kat...thank you for the suggestions on how to iron/press the brocade fabric when I get to the sewing stage. I feel more confident now.

I also have a black fabric with a herringbone weave that's calling to me to be made into the same jacket. Since I'll be using black thread for both fabrics, it makes sense to cut out and sew two jackets at the same time.

Some of you are probably wondering why am I making so many short sleeve jackets when Fall is right around the corner. I think I'm part Eskimo (not really), but I get warm when I wear long sleeves. That's why I like wearing layers. A lot of times my base garment is either a short sleeve or tank top.

Well, I'm off to watch the Olympics before it's lights out at our house.

Another Butterick 5223 in The Works

Remember this pattern? It's Butterick 5223 - the cropped jacket. Well, I'm now making another one...again in View A. This will be my 4th version which will lead to a 5th version in a fancy fabric I plan on wearing in September. Yeah, I would call it practice sewing.

So, here's my blue lightweight denim dot fabric ready to be cut out. The dots on the denim are actually part of the fabric weave and not painted on. I came across this fabric at Joann's, this past weekend. I got the fabric for 50% off. I've already pre-washed and dried it. It's nice and soft. I love this fabric!

My fancy fabric from EmmaOneSock (EOS) came in the mail yesterday. That's fast delivery...as I ordered it on Sunday. Anyways, I was worried that this fancy fabric would be too heavy, but it turned out to be lightweight and perfect for this jacket pattern. So, what kind of fabric did I get???? It's an Italian black/gray floral brocade fabric. Now, all I have to do is worry about how I'm going to press this brocade fabric once I start sewing it. I guess, I'll worry about that later. I need to focus on one project at a time. Now, to finish cutting out my denim dot fabric.

If any of my fellow bloggers and visitors have any tips on sewing and pressing brocade fabric...please post your suggestions. I would love to hear from you.

Happy Sewing!

Next Up On My Sewing Agenda

I have been in the cutting out fabric mood. I decided that during my upcoming 3-day weekend, I would sew two pieces of garments that I can wear together (top and bottom). The floral and butterfly print fabric will be made into Butterick 5216 – the gathered top without the front ties. The pale sea green fabric will be made into another pair of walking shorts, KS 2840. This might get me in the mood to do a future SWAP on PR.

I thought it would take me awhile to get used to wearing the longer shorts. You know what? I love them! They are really comfortable to wear. I think they look very stylish and hip for my 40-something age. After this 3rd pair of shorts, I plan on tracing out a pair of capris.

I am looking forward to a nice long weekend and practicing my stash reduction technique.

PIctures From Our Garden and My Next Sewing Project

I do not have any sewing pictures to share with you yet. I will get to that topic shortly. I thought I would take some non-sewing time and share some pictures of our front garden.

It is definitely Summer and we have many plants that are showing off their bright colors. This is a picture of our front curb garden that faces the street/cul-de-sac. Everytime I back out or come into our driveway...I get this wonderful view. So, one morning I did remember to take a picture.


It amazes me that bees don't seem to mind me taking pictures of them. We have all types of critters flying around our gardens. Besides bees, we have butterflies, moths, and a hummingbird or two visiting each day.



We have many daylilies in a variety of colors. Thanks to DH's good friend, who is a grower...he keeps sending over some wonderful plants.




And our live-in bunny who doesn't seem to mind my picture taking...



...she's just happy to be hopping from one garden to the next:



Now to my sewing topic. I've been thinking about sewing all week long. I am making another pair of shorts. This time I made my pattern adjustment (increase my crotch point by 1/2 inch to the back pattern piece) to the shorts pattern I reviewed recently. I also shortened the length of the shorts by an inch. My fabric is all cut out and pieces are interfaced and ready to sew. I can't wait to see how this version will fit. I am, again, working with a cotton twill fabric with no stretch. This time in a raspberry color! Don't worry...I've got some cool looking black fabric waiting to be made up as cropped pants. lol!

Oh, and I've been in the kitchen with DH this evening, preparing meals for our local SERVE.

Have a great weekend!

No More Elastic Waist Shorts/Pants for Me

Well, I finally did it. I took the plunge. I attempted my first pair of zippered shorts. It's still in the final sewing stages, but so far I like what I see and feel. It's not a perfect first pair of shorts, but looks be a wearable muslin.

And whatever happened to my elastic waist shorts/capris I was suppose to be making? Ahhhh, I am entitled to change my mind. lol!

I went through my pattern stash several times, looking for an interesting shorts/pants pattern. I had a specific pocket in mind...cargo type as I don't care for side seam pockets. The pattern had to have a front zipper. I kept coming back to my Kwik Sew stash. Here's the end result: KS 2840 - fitted cropped pants and shorts with a shaped, low cut waistband with side pockets stitched directly to the front. View C is perfect! Gotta love shopping in the pattern stash.

For my muslin, I used a cotton twill fabric. No lycra, no stretch. I wanted to see how the fit would be without any help from the fabric.

The love how the curved waistband and side pockets are sewn. I also love the zipper application. So far, it's looking pretty good and the waistband is sitting nicely below my waist. I really like the curved band.

You know...I feel like I have reached a new sewing level. I will post a picture soon...stay tuned for my new sewing adventure.

What I Hope to Sew Next - Post #1

I have this pattern in my stash. I made the short sleeve cropped jacket late last year (posted on PR). I pulled this pattern out, in the hopes of making the cropped pants. Yes they are elastic waist, but I want to start making some cool pants for the summer. The pattern says these are "semi-fitted", above ankle pull-on pants. Looks like a winner to me.

I purchased this pattern recently for the cropped pants. Hint, hint...the black and white view D. I would definitely add the front pockets to this version. Here again, these are also elastic waist. These appear to have a little more ease than B5000 above. I think it's worth a try.

Since I am assuming the pants won't take too long to trace and sew, I am now contemplating my next top. I have two patterns (recently purchased) that I can't seem to put down. First up, is this gorgeous Butterick 4811. I saw the sleeveless top with the tie casing at JoAnn's on display...it was cute! I would nix the standing collar and go with the regular collar.

The other top is Butterick 5025. Sleeveless of course. I actually like both the top and skirt together. Another wing collar to tackle. Yes, this has a similar collar application like Butterick 4659...I just reviewed.

Now to figure out what fabrics to use...

Be warned...I think I am in a chatty mood today.