Off the Clock

At the suggestion of some members on sewing.patternreview.com I've decided to try NewLook 6735 for my next project (click the pic to embiggen - 6735 is in the middle). This is a popular pattern on patternCentral and the top looks flattering on everyone that has posted to the review gallery . So off I went to my local Fabricland (I haven't decided if it is a blessing or a curse that it is 2 minutes from my house) to buy NewLook 6735. When I went to cash out the cashier said it was $1.67. WHAAATT?? Apparently they are getting out of selling NewLook patterns so they are on sale. Well. Needless to say, I headed back to the pattern books. I ended up with nine patterns for about $15. The cheap b@stard in me is very happy, even though I bought three dress patterns and I never wear dresses! lol I rarely see women in dresses where I live but maybe it's up to me to change that? Either way I have lots to drool over and plan over the holidays. No one ever accused me ...

so it looks like the blonde model in the grey tee is wearing view A; with negative ease? Really? I don't have much experience sewing with knits. Actually I don't have a lot of experience with any sewing lately. I often end up with work related shirts that are men's shirts, and as much as I often want the logo on the shirt, I don't like the cut. I have had some success adding vertical darts to some men's button down shirts, so a few years ago I bought a basic tee pattern, Butterick 5215 , with the goal of re-making some of the t-shirts. Well truth be told I haven't had much luck with that . So I decided to smarten up and learn to make a tee that I am happy with. When I had cut out B5215 I was using view B, the semi-fitted version. I think I shied away from version A, the fitted version, because it has negative ease and I wasn't sure that would work out with the existing tees. So this time around I decided to make a wearable muslin with view A. First I t...

I promised in an earlier post to post pics of my roman blinds. After the t-shirt disasters I needed something positive to post, and these blinds definitely qualify. I've lived here for twelve years and never put any window dressings in my kitchen. I didn't want to do regular curtains which could come across as bulky in my smallish kitchen. I have had mini blinds in other kitchens and they end up all caked in grease and dirt and are so hard to clean. So I just left those two windows bare. I figured it is good to see what is going on outside, and it let in all the light. Then this summer I was looking at the fabric rolled blinds my sister-in-law made for her kitchen window at her cottage, and I fell in love. I decided to go with roman shades instead of ones that you hand roll and tie up. I used 1"x2" pine for the header and stapled the finished blind to it, then used small metal brackets to mount them in the window frame. I initially just tacked the wooden dowels...

Because this learning curve is so steep! Lol I've been hemming jeans this week. Regular length jeans are just a tad too short when washed and "tall" jeans are too long, so either one often needs an adjustment. First I let down an old pair that was just a tad short. Yes, you can tell they've been let down, but they are old and faded so will be ok for very casual pants. Then I did an old pair that are too long, but I decided today I didn't shorten them enough. Finally I shortened a brand new pair and they turned out just right. Whew! I used a little trick I picked up from this video where you cut out a notch on the double seam so that that part of the hem only gets folded up once to eliminate bulk. I found that worked really well. Then last night I worked on three projects. Two were disasters. First I re-shortened the still-too-long jeans and now I'm happy with them. It went downhill from there. I moved on to a t-shirt project. Now this is a remake of a sto...

When Steve got married I finally felt justified in taking over his bedroom permanently. I wanted to turn it into a dressing/sewing/craft room, but being as it was the smallest bedroom at 9' x 10' there wouldn't be room for everything I wanted to do. Because it is now essentially a large walk-in closet, I don't have room for a cutting table, or a soaping table, or much else for that matter. The more I thought about it I knew that even a dedicated sewing machine table would just end up getting burried with other stuff and be a major pain to be able to do a quick mending project. I wanted something where I could leave the machine set up for a quick fix but not be in the way. Then I realized the closet was no longer being used for clothes because I made the wall my clothes storage area. So instead I made my sewing space inside the bedroom closet. I bought a 4' length of countertop and installed it inside the closet. I made sure I could fit a couple of rolling stor...

Final exams, that is. Although I'm still wondering how it can be that I take two classes and BOTH final exams are on Saturday nights! At least I can see light at the end of the tunnel with only one more semester to go. I have to focus this week for my programming exam next Saturday because I really don't know this stuff but I'm just hoping for a pass in this class. Then I can crack the covers on my two new books and play with fabric and such until January :) Feel free to leave any comments on the books if you're familiar with them. In other sewing stuff I finished the second pair of jammie pants out of the eyeball fabric . I made them an inch higher in the waist and longer in the legs. I also bypassed using ties at the waist instead just tightening up the elastic a bit. They are comfortable and look presentable. I may never wear regular pants on the weekends again! lol So for eye candy this week I thought I'd share my improvised cutting table (sorry for...