Off the Clock

  Now that this quilt has been gifted I can finally post about it.  Harry Potter holds a spot in our hearts in this family.  Both my children were avid fans, and we give credit to the first book for turning my son into a reader.  I bought the book and started reading a chapter a night to the kids, but after 3 or 4 chapters my son was too impatient to wait until bedtime and picked up the book to finish it himself.  My daughter has incorporated the Harry Potter theme into a memorial tattoo for her brother.  So when I ran across these Harry Potter themed fabrics at Lens Mill I immediately started thinking about how I could incorporate them into a quilt for Daughter. I ended up choosing 5 prints; one with the Hogwarts crest, one with the individual house crests, a Marauder's Map one, one with various Potter themed items and one of the Daily Prophet, the HP newspaper.  I used the same basic layout as I did for Algonquin and Dragonflies ; 25 patch squares alternating with themed squares

"Donuts" for Sweet Dreams :)  I have been making jammer pants for the kids for quite a few Christmases now, and made them for the grandkids last year for the first time.  They were a win and the kids loved them.  The only downside was that they outgrow them so quickly!  These girls are all going to be tall and by the spring these jammers were more like capri pants.   So to get a little more wear out of them I decided to add an extra couple of inches to the length and made a second hem with a long basting stitch that should be easy enough for Daughter to pick out when they start getting to be too short. When I was buying the fabric I hadn't done my calculations ahead of time and just made an assumption that I could get 3 pairs of jammer pants for little girls out of 2 meters of fabric.  This *would* have worked if I had done them to the finished length, but adding those couple of extra inches each left me scrambling to patch together a few bits on one of the pairs.  I deci

 EDIT: After I posted this lengthy experimentation I tried something I saw in this youtube video by Johanna  (she is a wealth of information on coverstitch machines); I threaded the machine in the order of looper first and then the needles left to right and "flossed" the threads to seat them properly in the tension guides.  It made a huge difference.  I don't know why I am surprised, as my old Brother serger was finicky about how it was threaded.  I was able to go back to the original recommended settings on the picture guides on the machine AND do the hems without any stabilizer added.  I've done 2 tops this way since this original post and they turned out beautifully. __________________________  It looks like I've had my Janome coverstitch machine for about 7 years now, so it's about time I learned how to use it properly.  I have had really hit-and-miss results when doing hems on knits, particularly thin knits.  And apparently I'm not alone; there are lo

  I again used Color Pop Rayon Knit Print - Daisy - Coral for this top.  I've written about it in the post for NL6735 . This is another of the patterns I got from my MIL.  I thought I would try the knit shell.  There are only two pieces to this pattern; no bands or facings.  Instead they have you turn under a 3/8" hem at the neck, armholes and bottom.  I used my usual size 14 for big 3 patterns.  The It is definitely a short top.  I need to wear it with higher waisted pants.  After adding my usual 1" to the length I lost 1/4" by having to use a 5/8" hem instead of 3/8" due to my coverstitch issues (separate post).  I've added another inch to the pattern for the next time I make it.  It does have a center back seam for subtle shaping.  I made my usual size 14 for big 4 patterns and it has a bit of a loose drapy fit under the bust.  I found it quite flattering in this lightweight knit.  The only issue is the hem.  I used steam-a-seam to stabilize the fabr

  I used Color Pop Rayon Knit Print - Daisy - Coral for this top.  From the website:  "This medium weight rayon spandex jersey is very soft and drapable, it is perfect to sew stylish tops, dresses and skirts."  It is 95% Rayon/5% Spandex.  It calls for hand washing but we all know that's not how I roll so I prewashed the fabric and preshrunk it in the dryer.  To be honest it washed up beautifully.   If nothing else prewashing helps to see what a bad job the fabric stores do when cutting fabric!  It had clearly been stretched out of shape and then cut that way.  To be fair to my local fabric store this bolt was on the "discontinued" rack and therefore may have been shipped in that way.  Fortunately I had bought 2 meters so I had lots to work with.  I also made NL 6034 which will get its own post. So back to NL6735, yes I know I have a dedicated posted for this pattern but I had to do a write up about the new neckline.  After making this top more than a dozen time

  I was going through my patterns when I ran across some that I got from my MIL.  There are three New Look patterns of coordinates; two for woven and one for knits.  All three have a version of a shell that caught my eye.  Of the two patterns for wovens one has a standard horizontal bust dart and the other has a French (oblique) dart.  As I've never tried a French dart I thought that would be a good project for today.  The pattern looks like it has never been taken out of the envelope.   I traced it out and chose the brown and blue lightweight rayon from the stash.   I used this fabric before  to make  Butterick 5493 .  This fabric drapes beautifully and as I just had a meter left it was destined for a shell of some sort. I made my usual size 14 for big 4 patterns and the only adjustment I made was to add 1" to the length.  I do feel it fits me perfectly.  The armholes aren't too big and it sits nicely on the shoulders.  It is modest enough that it doesn't gape when I

  Excuse the wierd expressions, my husband was making me laugh lol.  I fell in love with this pattern as soon as I saw it and immediately started looking for fabric.  I ended up going with Amata Tie Dye Batiks 100% cotton voile in Deep Cobalt.  This is a wonderfully soft lightweight cotton that feels comfortable on the skin and drapes beautifully.  This last point is important because there is a lot of fullness in that skirt and I didn't want to look like a billboard or overheat!  The pattern calls for 370 x 150cm, but I ended up using 3m of the 5m I purchased. Like others that have posted on Facebook about this pattern I was initially confused about the dimensions of the fabric for the tiers.  At a first glance the pattern says a code and then "X 1" twice, and my brain took that as 1 piece for the tier but written in two languages.  As a Canadian we often have things written in English and repeated in French so this was a default assumption on my part.  Also, the piece i

  One of the great things about having granddaughters is that you have someone to sew for.  I bought scads of pink and blue fabric with blocks and numbers when the oldest was born.  I had a pattern but somehow managed to buy way too much of the fabric.  I made an infant sundress and a couple of shirred dresses  and some doll clothes but STILL had quite a bit left over, and since it wasn't cheap I was thinking that as these girls grow this is my last chance to use it before they have completely outgrown the theme of the print.  Well I think it is finally safe to say I have used up every scrap of that fabric. I used Lutterloh pattern 239 from supplement 305.  I had just enough fabric to make three little dresses if I left off the sleeves.  I was ok with that as I saw this as a little summer dress.  Because the girls don't live near me I had to go on faith and a few measurements.  The dresses turned out a tiny bit on the big side but as we are only in May and they will grow over

  S (just turning 5yo): 21" waist, 18" inseam to bottom of ankle B (will be 3yo in March): 19" waist, 13" inseam to ankle D (just turned 1yo): 18.5" waist, 10" inseam to ankle I love the idea of sewing for the grandkids, but in reality they grow so fast that it is hard to justify the time and effort that goes into a home made outfit.  I just received some new supplements for my Lutterloh collection and one of them was chosen simply because of a child's basic dress pattern.  Working with Lutterloh you only use the chest or hips sizes to lay out the pattern, but I only had on hand the girls' waist sizes.  I decided to look up what Simplicity has for sizing guides.  I think I can work with this.  I have the girls' measurements from their Christmas jammie pants (above) but they are all already like capris so I know the girls have grown since then.  I think I will add an inch to the waist measurements as well as to back waist measurements as they ar

  I finished the chair pad covers and love the combination of the blue and brown fabrics so much that I decided to make a coordinating tea cozy.  I found a youtube tutorial  to get me started and bought an applique embroidery pattern to go on it.  There are four layers; the outer skin, a layer of batting, a layer of insulate fabric and the lining.  I used the feather fabric of the applique cup for the lining.  I can't believe how well it works!  I can make a pot of tea and two hours later the tea is still warm.  So it is functional while brightening up my kitchen.  That's the best type of project!

  I bit the bullet, pulled on my big girl panties and had another go at a Bionic Gear Bag.  I struggled with the first one I made but I've got a lot more experience with quilting and binding since then, plus I've found helpful videos for a similar bag on Youtube to hold my hand through the process.  In all the years since I made the first bag the designer never did make the videos available that she frequently mentioned, although some folks have said that she later charged another membership fee to make them available.  I have no idea about the helpfulness of those videos (if they actually were made available) but these videos from other folks definitely helped; this bag turned out MUCH better. I've been on a quilting binge so I though this could be a small scrappy stash buster.  I quilted the outer skin this time.  That is one of the questions I couldn't get a response from the designer first time around, so instead I learned from my experience of making the first o