Off the Clock

I guess the new baby and the new hobby aren't quite connected, but seeing how negligent I've been about updating my blog I'm just going to put them both in this post. The new baby, as you can see in the above pic, is a Babylock Enlighten serger.  I've been happily serging on my Brother 1034D for many years.  The other week I went to adjust the stitch width from rolled hem back to a regular stitch width when something popped loose.  I had the pressure foot down and I think that's why.  I managed to get it working again but decided that since I had a little extra cash in my pocket this fall why not take advantage and buy my dream serger?  So I did!  As an added bonus I brought the Brother serger and my old original White sewing machine up to keep at J's house so that I can play when I am staying up here. I'll be honest I haven't done much with it yet as I've been totally engrossed in my new hobby - quilting!  I started and finished a quilt top

Between picket duty and then being back to work I've been crazy busy the last month.  I've carved out some time to work on projects but I haven't had time to post about them.  So I'm just going to plant a bunch of pics here and perhaps I'll get back and write about them at some point.  You'll have to scroll all the way to the end to find a finished project.

When I bought the black and blue checked ponte to make a pair of pants I didn't have the pattern with me, so I bought over two meters because I know that's what I need for a pair of jeans.  Of course I wasn't thinking that denim usually comes 45" wide and the ponte was 60" wide.  Therefore I found I had enough fabric left over to get myself a second pair.  To be fair I considered saving it to make a pair for daughter post-pregnancy but with her long legs there wouldn't be quite enough fabric.  I have another length of ponte, a charcoal plaid, that I may be able to work a pair for each of us out of if I plan for that from the beginning. Anyway, I made a second pair of Lutterloh 282-249 with a couple of changes.  I am having a hard time seeing the fit on the first pair , because the fabric is dark and the lighting is not very good in my dressing room.  I changed the lightbulbs and saw that I have a fair bit of wrinkling under my butt, and that if I pull u

I had traced out the back of this pattern earlier this summer when I was comparing the shape and size of three different pants patterns .  I was initially going to use this black and navy checked ponte to make another pair of Simplicity 1696  but in a knit, but I'm still not convinced that that pattern is fitting as well as I would like.  I finally got around to tracing the front of this Lutterloh one as it is drafted for a knit fabric and I could have a go at my first Lutterloh pants pattern. I wanted to keep it simple so I eliminated the front pockets and I didn't include the fly zip figuring there was enough stretch in the fabric to make them as a pull-on pair.  I did topstitch the fly stitching but I used standard thread instead of topstitching thread, trying to keep it subtle.  It is subtle all right - you can barely see it! lol  I may go over it again with a topstitching thread, we will see.  I did make myself a little cardboard template for fly topstitching.

Waaaaay back in the day I had a pair of jeans that I hand-embroidered and embellished with love beads  and star studs.  Remember those?  Well fast forward about 40 years and I'm at it again.  I keep thinking that machine embroidering on jean pockets means making new jeans, but it occurred to me that I can just embroider on a pair of jeans I already own.  I have had these basic Gap jeans for years so I thought they would be a good pair to try on in case things go horribly wrong. This pattern is called Western Flair Pocket from Embroidery Library .  I just love the turquoise in it, although I want to do another pair replacing the turquoise with black.  I think White on white would work as well. I was a little concerned about taking off the pockets and then reattaching them without it looking like a "home" job, but I had just the right colour of jean top stitching thread on hand and I think it turned out alright. I hooped both pockets together in my larger hoop

Inspector 1 on the job This post is a continuation from here . I finished up my blazer the other morning.  I am quite happy with the final result.  It is definitely wearable.  I think the fit could have been a little more fine tuned but that is probably my perfectionism kicking in.  The length of the sleeves and the bodice are perfect, so I am glad I trusted my instincts and lengthened the sleeves that half inch. I did really struggle getting this jacket finished because I was trying to add sleeve heads and shoulder pads with the lining already in place.  I was getting very frustrated and walked away from it more than once.  I initially bought some felt thinking it would give good support as a sleeve head, but as you can see in the pic it is too firm.  You could see the scalloped folds through the sleeves.  Of course I sewed them in place a couple of times before admitting they just won't work. I finally used a piece of flannel I had on hand (pattern side in so l