Archive | October, 2009

I’m busy at work / Happy Halloween

31 Oct

blah, blah, blah. Two weeks of of my backside being the top photo on my blog is long enough.

Last night, my friend and I attended a fundraiser / costume party for the Greek Hero’s exhibit at the Walters Art Museum.

I went as a Greek goddess. The dress is a J. Crew wedding gown that I bought from another friend this summer for $75 after she got married. She even threw in the shoes. She wasn’t going to wear it again and you never know when you’ll need a dress.

Today I send off a delegation from Odessa, Ukraine that’s been here for a week and tomorrow pick up a delegation from Japan that we’ll be hosting until Wednesday. After working three solid weekends I am taking this Thursday and Friday off. I would say I’d do some sewing, but I have a house guest coming that we all know but have never met IRL and I need to prepare for her! All to be revealed in due time :)

Jeans Muslin

18 Oct

I’ve wanted to make jeans for at least two years now. In 2008, I bought  two awesome cuts of stretch denim at PR Weekend in Los Angeles. In 2009 at PR Weekend Portland, I tried on Emilie’s size V Jalie Stretch Jeans and *knew* I had to make jeans before the year was over. So, this weekend I took a crack at the size W. I apologize now for the quality of the photos.

In general, I love how they make my rear look. And, quite frankly. I still cannot believe that I’ve made a pair of jeans.

I don’t love how they make my thighs look. Or rather, I don’t like how my legs make the jeans look. I think a less clingy / straighter leg could be more flattering on me.

** Warning. Unflattering rear shot. Wonky topstitching, bad swayback adjustment and stretched out waistband and yoke. But, man, do I LOVE my pockets! :

And as I type you now after three hours of wear — the waist is all kinds of stretched out. This straight waistband is cut on the bias. If I were to make these again with a straight waistband, I would cut it on the straight of grain.  And, despite taking out a good two inches, I still need a major swayback adjustment. So, a curved waistband just makes more sense for me.

And, ugh. I have this on all my RTW jeans. I’ve already emailed Marji to see why she thinks I’m getting the whiskers / fold. I suspect it’s a muscular thigh issue.

So, I’ve got the back yoke altered for the swayback and will draft a curved (vs straight) waistband this week so I’ll be ready for the class. I’m also going to get some non-stretch denim to try a few of the other jeans patterns I have.

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Travel Fabric

13 Oct

Dude, I totally got furloughed on Friday (with another seven more days to come). Which combined with Monday’s holiday, gave me a four day weekend! So, blessed that I still have a job in this crappy economy, I spent the weekend up and down I-95 visiting my sewing friends. First stop was an hour south to DC to see Trena after work on Thursday. Saturday morning we drove the three hours up to Philly for Jomar and Karen. Sunday morning Karen and I headed two hours to Carolyn (you’ll recognize me in the first photo because I’m talking. I am always talking) in Jersey.  Carolyn will always be able to get me to visit as she’s just one exit away from the Crate and Barrel outlet. After dropping Karen back off in Philly, I headed another 1.5 hours back home to Baltimore. I *love* the east coast!

So, what do you do in a weekend like that?

Today, I show you the Jomar knits:

All just three dollars a yard. But, more than I ever thought I would leave with. And, one (the yellow and gray)  that both Trena and I couldn’t resist. Goodness. It’s like I don’t believe in solids.

Second, the wovens. This is a combo of gifted fabrics, Crate and Barrel Marmikko prints and local fabric store buys from the last few weeks.

L to R: Malaysia print from Trena, Orange and Blue crossweave shirting from Guss Woolens, orange and white stretch seersucker from Guss Woolens, Japanese owl print from Trena, wool woven from Guss Woolens, Merrimeko bedroom curtain fabric, Merrimekko kitchen curtain fabric.

Yikes.

While in Philly, Karen allowed me to adopt Vivian. Like in most adoptions, I’ll probably rename her. Right now, I’m leaning to Waverly.

She’ll be great for taking photos and a step back from my work. And, it lets me show you the new bra I’m working on:

 Please pay no attention to the mismatched bra cups. I love that all my knit scraps can now go in the bra making bag. This is a true muslin as I’m sizing up one cup based on my last bra experiment.

An Expensive Muslin

12 Oct

There are no words for how badly I would like to have the two new Hot Patterns. I desperately HEART this bag and the dress is just too cute for words. But, I own 10 of their patterns (Um, Trudy and Jeremy. You might want to leave me off the mailing list the next time you do a buy-one-get-one-free)  and have only made up one (albeit twice). So, I told myself if I whipped through a few this fall I was totally entitled to buy the new ones!

Where did that dressform come from? It was from my whirlwind weekend to DC, Philly and Jersey. But, more on that tomorrow. I made up the Portobello Road Shearling Coat. I’m calling it my expensive muslin. I bought this fabric from FabricMart and it was not love at first sight. I decided to use this for muslining this coat after Trudy e-mailed me special to make sure I used a thick fleece weight fabric for my muslin.  And, if I had made it in the size that the pattern *says* I am, would have likely been all  but perfect. But, noooooo. I thought I knew more than the pattern and went TWO sizes smaller. Sigh.

I’ll be honest, I did not and do not know how the collar is supposed to assemble. And, I didn’t spend a great deal of time on it because I knew this was my expensive muslin. Other than changes for my body, I must recommend that you perhaps go with a 3/8 vs 5/8 seams allowance. Why? Because I think the sherpa showing is a touch thick. I would also recommend you remove ease from the sleeve cap. I had to take out two inches (below) to get the sleeves on this pile of fuzzy vinyl to ease in. And, for my fabric, I found the cut of the back skirt too ‘full’ and would straighten out the curve in the back seam.

Am I going to make it up soon? Sadly, no. I have a piece of fabric that is perfect and gorgeous (denim backed sherpa from PR Portland 2009)  but I’m still holding out hope that it’ll still become a motorcycle jacket. But, I totally think this counts towards me being able to buy the new Hot Patterns.

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Hispanic Heritage Month!

6 Oct

I have a really great job. This year I helped plan for a celebration of Hispanic Heritage month. I had an idea to use various hats from Latin America in a display. We were able to collect about 15 different hats from about 10 countries including Colombia, Ecuador, Panama, Costa Rica, Bolivia, Peru and Mexico. They are on display in a gallery in City Hall.

Each station has a flag, photo of someone wearing the hat and a description of materials or what part of the country the hat was from or more information on it’s origins.


 

It was great exhibit to install and we had terrific feedback. If you’re in Baltimore, it’ll be up through the 15th of October!

You can also view the photos above in a slide show

It Is a Great Weekend Bag

6 Oct

I can’t say I’ll tackle this project ever again….

But, the Amy Butler Weekender Bag was great for my overnight trip to Cambridge on the Eastern Shore of Maryland. That’s my friend Julia’s dog Prince modeling. SO stinking cute I wanted to take him home with me.

I started this lil box of pain back in January or February.  And it sat and sat and sat. Honestly, I haven’t and won’t even bother with the lining at this point. The nerves are still raw. But, the zipper was in and the bag was made. It easily held jeans, boots, shoes, make up bag and a change of clothes.

Amy Butler, the trust is gone. But, you make some cute patterns. With time and therapy we might be able to get to know each other again.

Thanks for the tips on the coat. I’m going to Philadelphia this weekend (with this bag again!) and might try and find a subtle contrast. I just haven’t gotten around to even tracing it out!

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I just might make this work

1 Oct

So, here’s the fabric I’d like to use to knock-off the Anthropologie Check Please peacoat. It was a Fashion Fabrics Club purchase from a couple years ago.

Isn’t it lovely? And, a nice thematic match?

But, I only have two yards and the pattern calls for 3.25. This $10 a yard fabric is left over from an ill-fated attempt at a Burda coat. It was made in the time before blogging and it was so horrible, that even  my spendthrift, can’t-you-still-use-that cut-fabric mother told me to let it go.

Phyllis thinks if I do a single layer, no bias yoke I might be able to squeeze it in. I’m going to troll around for some black, white or gray wool in the stash that might suffice for the facing too. But, if you bought this too and are willing to sell it off, let a sister know!

This weekend I’m visiting a girlfriend on the Eastern Shore and next weekend I’m visiting Trena in DC and Karen in Philly. So, I’m not sure when I’ll have time. But, Imma git her done as the folks say!

On another note, how excited am I about this new show? It’s an eight episode special on Sundance following the Buyer at Large for Anthropologie!! Man Shops Globe. It’s fashion, shopping, and travel!