In sewing news today...

How do you say "no"?  

I am very selective of who I will sew for. The group is extremely small, me, Mama R, that's it. The group is small because I absolutely despise being taken advantage of, hate it!

No matter how much I tell people I'm too busy to take on sewing work, do not want to take on sewing work, it seems to fall on deaf ears.

And so once again I find myself hating this part of my life.

But it is a project for the church, a project that they want done for the Christmas eve decorations.

How could I say no? I couldn't. It is the power of Catholic guilt.

Yup, not only is there Portuguese guilt, there is also Catholic guilt that causes me to take on sewing projects when I don't have much free time.

Sometimes life sucks. No one thinks of these projects while I'm laid off from work and have the time to invest in the project.

No, I suspect that the act of sewing is often de-valued in the eyes of non-sewers as something that we're able to whip up without any effort.

Yup, sometimes life sucks.

"Ouch!" I yelp, wondering how I got struck by lightening.

Now where was I? Oh yeah, life sucks when you don't have the time and resources to make this an easy project. They are really expecting a miracle here.

Of course, no one from the church is available to come help me scope out supplies. So I'm on my own for that. All I'm given is a photograph, description, and general guidelines. And no budget. I was able to talk Mama R to come along for that important second opinion that I value when I'm venturing into unfamiliar sewing territory.

So, it was off to Mitchell Fabrics to price things out and see if it is even possible. I'm looking to purchase 20 metres of fabric. The fabric has to be burgundy like in the photograph and something maybe with some drape.

Of course, trying to find 20 metres of anything in Winnipeg. Well, wish me luck.

There was a beautiful organza that would have been perfect and only $7.99/metre.  Yeah, for organza! You wouldn't find that price at the big chain fabric stores like Fabricland, my other option in the city.

But there was not enough burgundy organza and it could not be special ordered in, so the search continues.

The salesperson is able to help me out since burgundy is not a popular colour this season. We were able to find some burgundy light-weight taffeta that might work. Of course, there is not enough for the project.

I'm sent off with a clipping from the bolt of fabric and the business card to hand over to the church to make the final decision and place the order.

The manager will be in on Monday and will have to see if it can even be ordered.

If it can be ordered, it could take up to 2 to 3 weeks. And then someone will have to pick it up and pay for it.

If it can come together it really will be beautiful. We'll have to wait and see. I just hope there is enough time.

Since we're here... 

Mama R and I took a peak around Mitchell Fabrics to see what is new.

We found some beautiful brightly coloured knits, pretty but I'm not in the market for knits.

In the sales section, I was delighted to see the ivory and pink fabric that I used for the Vogue 1043 dress earlier this year.

I was surprised that there is still some left on the bolt and even more surprised that the price has gone up significantly since I picked it up.

Mama R and I head downstairs to check out what treasures are to be found. Again we were surprised at the prices, things certainly have changed since our last visit there!

But we did have a fun trip down memory lane checking out the vintage fabric selection.

I did end up scoring a fantastic price on muslin.

I have to admit that it is the first time that I've seen light green muslin. They even had pink!

And you never know when you'll come across the perfect size of snaps for a winter coat! I'll take a couple of those.


I did find a cotton/wool blend vintage plaid that made it home with me.

I thought that I would use it for Vintage Vogue 2401 but when I pulled out the pattern it read that it is not suitable for plaids.

Do I risk it?

I might have to sit on this for awhile and think about it.




And finally some sewing time!  

But I think I might be out of practice!

I finally spent some time in front of the sewing machine. It felt like it has been way too long!

I'm sewing another jacket in green sateen stretch fabric using Vogue pattern 8709.

I think I mentioned that I love this jacket? Well, I'm making another one, that's how much I like it.



The front bodice darts are done. And the bodice back pieces are stitched together. It is starting to look good as I piece together the bodice pieces.

Right now, I'm at the seam-ripping stage.

I'm removing the bias strip at the cuff opening. I don't know what I was thinking.

Maybe that was my problem, I have too much work stuff on my brain. I gotta remove that along with these stitches.  

This might take awhile.  

That's all in sewing news today...