They came !

Last week, Ann, of Gorgeous Things posted patterns she wanted to find new homes for. I asked for 2 and yesterday, there they were in the mailbox :-) Thanks, Ann !!!



Simplicity 4044 - 1940's Retro, Simplicity 4500 - Threads Collection

My sewing ability and time now need to catch up with my plans, I like all of these pieces, and can see trying most of them. I had the instructions out, reading at supper last night LOL

Having just had the enjoyment of getting a package in the mail, I hope Marjie soon gets the Threads mag and the pattern I sent her.

And speaking of Marjie, I just took her 'milk bread' out of the oven and tasted the first piece. Fabulous !



No sewing before Tuesday...I'm traveling tomorrow night for a VERY quick trip to New Brunswick - the bus ride between Montreal and Saint John is 14 hours each way. My Dad will be 80 on Sunday and there is an open house Saturday afternoon for him. He drove a city bus for almost his entire career and knows practically everyone in the city (it seems like it, anyway) - my sister placed an announcement in the paper for this so her place could be a zoo on Saturday.

That's it for now - next week, I'll adjust the sleeves on the coat muslin and hopefully be ready to cut the wool.

More on the Coat - Sleeves...Again.

I've made it through another attempt at sleeves.

The McCalls sleeve was giving me trouble and I was still fighting with it (it was winning...) when I saw the instructions for converting 1-pc sleeves. I psyched myself up and spent 2 evenings tracing and redrafting the 1-pc Vogue sleeve into a 2-pc sleeve and here are the results...

Front & Back :

There are 2 right sides here, the one taken in the shade looked pretty good till I saw how the sun really showed up the wrinkles.

I've just seen the post on the diagonal wrinkle problem and I guess I'm going to have to move the notch forward a bit on the right sleeve. I don't think I have to do anything to the left sleeve, do I ?

The last time I asked about resetting a sleeve I was told to take the whole thing out and set it in from scratch...is it the same now ? Would I be able to unpick the basting on the back of the armhole seam and just ease it all forward a bit ? I didn't gather the ease between the notches, I pretty much eased most of the armhole - just left the underarm with no easing, about 4-5" or so.

Looking at the whole body shot again from the side, I see the waistline is not actually level yet...CF is still higher than CB. I think I'll adjust this yet again, CB needs to come up at least another 1/2".

So, any thoughts, re: the sleeves or anything else you may see ?

Thinking, Again - Is that a good thing ?

I tell you, I'm spending more time thinking and reading than I am sewing...EVERYTHING I want to do must be learned ! LOL

Today's quandary ? How to Line an unlined skirt.

So, I've never made a lined skirt, I've yet to make a BWOF either, but this, of course, doesn't stop me.

I really like the skirt in BWOF 08-2008, the one with the pleat in the front - sorry don't remember the number #106A. I've read the instructions and it 'seems' easy enough...BUT..It's not lined and I don't know how to go about making a lining pattern for it (I want to use the wools I bought in Toronto, and they'll definitely need lining)

The questions are,
1. do I cut the skirt pieces exactly and make the lining w/the pleat and the darts, or
2. do I fold up the darts & pleat on the pattern to make a lining piece without that extra bulk, or
3. do I make the lining with darts but without the pleat?

Advice anyone ?


Re: the Coat - well, last night I read (again) the instructions for redrafting a 1-piece sleeve to make a 2-piece sleeve and started to rework the V8346 1-pc sleeve. I'm almost done, just a few more lines to adjust and I'll hopefully have sleeves set into the muslin by (or on) the weekend).

I was worried to be so far behind with the sewalong but it seems as though I'm not the only one still working on and finalizing the muslin - I really want to finish this coat, so the longer I can post the muslin to the blog the better !

M3341, No. 2

.

Here is the finished skirt I mentioned in the last post.

It's the same pattern and view ("C") I used for the black&white houndstooth skirt I posted on in June.

It's a peachy/orange stretch cotton that is VERY comfortable, the A-line skirt is better at work than a straight skirt - much easier to access bottom drawers of filing cabinets !

In June I made a size 16 which is pretty loose fitting. This time I made a 14 and it fits alot better. I'm very happy with it but see the wrinkles in the back now - I guess they are in the first skirt as well, but we didn't take pictures of that one on me. Since I've replaced the broken zipper maybe it's time for a pic.

Anyway, I've been paying close attention to the adjustments on the coat sewalong and in the blogs I read and, unless someone tells me otherwise, will pinch out that bit of extra fabric in a fish-eye dart on my pattern. Hmm, this is the fix I see people do on their muslins, since I'm working on my actual pattern pieces, could I just lower the CB the amount I need, tapering to nothing at the side seams ? Is this a swayback adjustment?

I traced the pattern out onto tracing paper for this skirt since I suspect I will make it a few times more - my first TNT ? After the holiday trip, I now have lots of skirt fabric to use up.

Vacation's Over

We were away this past week on holidays. Generally our vacations are very low key. Either visiting family in New Brunswick or in Toronto...this week it was Toronto.

I had no access to the internet til Thursday so, no blogging, reading blogs, reading emails AND no sewing either ! But, on Wednesday our hosts pointed DH and I in the direction of Queen & Spadina and I spent 3 hours dragging him through all the fabric & notion shops in the fasion district. I had a couple of notions I was looking for but I was NOT going to buy any fabric.....I didn't, hubby did ;-). Saturday Aug 2 was our 11th anniversary after all, what better present ?

I picked up a few skirt pieces at The Wool House - they had their end of roll pieces cut to approx 1 yd lengths and I will use these for skirts for work.

A couple of doors over, at Downtown Fabrics, I got :

a rayon knit print (the fact that I haven't yet got up the nerve to try knits didn't stop me),


a red stretch cotton w/embroidery,


blue cotton w/embroidery,

and 2 pieces of linen, the same print - one blue, one red, DH liked the blue, I liked the red, therefore I had to have both ! No ?

All of these pieces are quite a bit darker than these pics show.

I really liked every piece I bought and would like to sew them up rather than stash them. Tomorrow shortly, I'll start prewashing them.

Now I have to make another attempt at the sleeves for my coat and I've got a skirt almost finished (M3341) in an orange stretch cotton with a woven stripe in it. It only needs the waistband facing and the hem.