Pink 'n Soft

Stash-busting 2015:  Baby Onsie

This little onesie is for a co-worker's baby shower, but I was missing from work the day of the shower. It has been handed off to my co-worker's friend yesterday who will deliver it this weekend.

The Pattern:

McCall's 7367 has been in my pattern stash for a very long time and the little once is my go-to baby shower gift. I've made so many of them over the years that I've honestly lost count.  

Memories are stitched with love.  ~Author Unknown

And I do love this pattern. I wish I had this pattern when my niece and nephews were wee little things. I would have certainly made a few more over the years. It is well-drafted and easy to sew. It is an out-of-print pattern but if you do happen to find a copy I would recommend picking it up for this is an item you're looking to sew.  

The Fabric:

Pink velour! Now, is the little gal this is going to be gifted to going to be one stylish little gal, or what? I've been spotting velour in the fabric store this fall before I realized that it was fall's hottest fabric. Luckily, I spotted this super soft baby pink velour at Northwest Fabrics before they caught wind of velour's recently upgraded fabric status as it was priced in a manner that actually made me buy pink fabric.  Eight metres of it as matter of fact. I'm not quite sure what is up with all the pink fabric that has found it's way into my fabric stash this past year other than I do like a good bargain.  

I thought that this fabric would make some comfy pyjama's but darn it, it also made a cute onesie as well. I contrasted the facing, leg and sleeve bands with a ivory coloured knit.  

Both fabrics were pre-treated with a tumble through the washing machine and dryer and held up very well. I stitched the onesie using a knit (lightning bolt) stitch and interfaced it with knit fusible. Instead of a button and buttonhole I used a medium sized snap.  

The Stats:

Fabric:          1 metre velour

Contrast:       0.60 metre cotton knit

Interfacing:   0.60 metre  

Snap:             1 - 15 mm snap

Needle:          1 serger needle

Ribbon:          0.50 metres of cotton twill tape

Pattern:          OOP McCall's 7367

Additional Tools and supplies:  Sewing machine, serger, serger needle, walking foot, seam ripper, pins, scissors, seven hours of labour, and one Bodum® of coffee.   

Happy Sewing!  

In Sewing News Today...

The early spring patterns from McCall's were released this week. Spring. I haven't got around to the fall clothes I want to make. Regardless, it is always fun to check out the new sewing pattern releases but there is something about McCall's patterns that makes me feel old and out-of-the-loop. Like these types of patterns:

McCall's 7340

Yeah, Yaya Han. No clue about this whole genre of patterns and what-not.  

McCall's 7341

I first spotted Yaya Han patterns around Halloween on the McCall's website and thought it was well, for Halloween. But apparently not. I'm going to chalk this up to not being a sci-fi gal and from the pre-video game era. And then Barbara from Sewing on the Edge posted this and I felt like I found another community of like-minded sewing-folks within the sewing community. Although, it is fun to see what the young ones are sewing.

Now, this Nancy Zieman pattern is more my speed. Give me comfort and a pair of birkenstocks over fantasy, padding and bunion-making heels any day. Yup, I'm embracing my oldness.

McCall's 7331

Talking about sewing-folks within the sewing community, I did have the pleasure of meeting Sox from Finished Threads this week. I knew of Sox via the blog and she was kind enough to send me a message a little while ago when I was whining about the pain in my wrist. Thank you again for reaching out.

Sox recommend a physio-therapist who has been an absolute gift. Get this, this wonderful  physiotherapist is a fellow sewer and she gets it when I described the pain and swelling that interferes with my enjoyment of sewing. This week, I was sitting in the waiting room reading a book when Sox happened to be sitting near by and asked if I might be me. Small world. It was pretty cool to meet her in person and personally thank her for the recommendation.

Pysio-therapy has been helping enormously, the swelling in my wrist and hand was not from tendonitis so another brace was prescribed, and it has made a world of difference.  

In other sewing news, the show went on and the kids were perfect. I almost had a heart-attack when one of the kids had their costume laying on the floor and the fact that it's cotton and visions of wrinkles and ironing popped into my head. Thankfully, children fill the room with the cutest things they say, laughter filled the room, and the costume was hung up before any wrinkles could set in. Mental note:  never sew angel costumes in cotton fabric.  

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This week's holiday busy-ness was punctuated with seven little words uttered the morning of the Advent concert. A co-worker asked me if I would mend a jacket. Not even a "good-morning" or "how are you?" just a "I have a favour to ask you." Those seven little words are never a good sign. ~sigh~ Nothing says Merry Christmas like "will you mend my clothes?" As if I didn't have enough on my mind that morning. But I digress...  

I don't like mending my own clothes, never mind someone else's. I don't get people sometimes (I'm going to chalk it up to holiday craziness taking hold), I would never ask someone to do my household chores. But people seem to think it is okay to ask me to do theirs, why? I think that is why I'm so beat, I just can't figure some people out and I'm exhausted with people asking me to sew for them. People need to stop. Like right now! I need to start collecting business cards from seamstresses who actually are looking for this type of work just when these scenarios happen because people have no clue the amount of work that goes into mending and the insane pile of my own mending. Come to think of it. Maybe I should take some of my mending in to get mended.  

Would that be bad?  

Anyway, I wish you all a wonderful and relaxing weekend before all the Christmas craziness settles in and may all you holiday sewing be fun.  

Happy Sewing!  

Christmas Wish List

The Sewing Edition

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1.  A Pair of Small Scissors.  

During the time that I was running a sewing club with my co-workers, my small scissors disappeared and there is nothing that I miss more while I'm sitting down to sew at the serger or while hand-stitching.  

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2.  Outrageously expensive and gorgeous buttons.  

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Just because.  

3.  Serger thread.  

The good stuff that I can only afford when they go on sale.  

4.  Time to actually enjoy sewing.    

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Or at least the strength to say, "Thanks, but no thank you," when someone asks me to sew for them as if I have nothing else to do in my life. Sewing hasn't been enjoyable of late. I would really like have my hobby back.  

And that's all I want for Christmas.  What's on your Christmas wish list?  

Happy Sewing!  

The Velvet Touch

Stash-busting 2015:  Pullover Dress

Oh my goodness, I could stroke this stretch velvet fabric ALL. DAY. LONG. I will admit, as a prairie gal, I feel overdressed in this dress but I still like it. Thank goodness, I can dress it down with that red plaid jacket, another fabric that I can easily stroke ALL. DAY. LONG.

The Pattern:

I finally decided on a TNT pattern, OOP Vogue 8939. This is the third version that I have made. I still haven't found the collar pattern piece and re-used the collar from Burda pattern that I used on the last version. This time I added more width to the pattern piece and it is loose with some drape, so it doesn't look like the turtleneck from the other two versions.  

This pattern is an quick and easy make. The only changes I made (besides the collar) include shortening the length on the sleeves and adding seven inches to the length. I hemmed the dress with an inch and a half hem.  

The Fabric:

This fabric found its way into my stash when it went on sale while Fanny Fabrics was closing down in the city. I picked up this fabric for a song which probably explains why there is so much of it in my stash.  

Stretch velvet requires special care when sewing but with the right tools I found it is easy to handle.  

• I used a ball point sewing machine needle.  
• I choose a lightening bolt stitch (knit stitch) on my sewing machine. If you don't have one on your machine you can sew with a small zig-zag stitch. 
• I used a polyester thread.  
• And the most important trick to sewing this fabric is to have a walking foot. It has a set of upper feed dogs the help feed the fabric through the presser foot without any sliding. It worked like a dream even when I was stitching three layers of fabric stitching the collar in place. 

I should mention that I had to pay special attention when cutting out this pattern. Since the fabric has a nap, I had to take care with the placement of the pattern pieces. Nap refers to a fabric that has a pile, such as velvet, and causes the fabric to appear as if it were different shades from different angles. You can even feel the nap if you run your hand across the fabric from different angles. 

This fabric had been previously pre-treated with a tumble in the washing machine and dryer on the delicate setting. I did not need to steam the fabric prior of during the sewing process. The finished seams laid flat without any issues.  

The Stats:

Fabric:         2 metres

Twill Tape:  0.3 metres

Needle:        1 ball point needle  

Pattern:        OOP Vogue 8939 

Thread:        Used the premier thread on the serger.  

Additional Tools:  Sewing machine, serger, scissors, pins, hand sewing needle, and walking foot.  

Happy Sewing!  

Fall's Hottest Textile

InStyle proclaimed velvet as "fall's hottest textile." 

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It just seemed like the perfect time to break out that black stretch velvet that has been in the stash for... decades? I picked up around five metres of this fabric for a song back-in-the-day when Fanny Fabrics was closing down. And then velvet went out of style before I had a chance to make anything out of it. This just goes to prove that if you hold onto something long enough, it comes back in style again. Like leggings worn as pants.  

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Don't panic, I'm not making stretch velvet leggings. I'm just saying. So, what to do with fall's hottest textile?  

Another turtleneck dress? It is a very comfortable dress and I like the style.  

Vogue 8813

Or a Marcy Tilton dress? It is a funky and fun design with pockets. I do like a dress with pockets.   

Vogue 8793

Or maybe a kAtheRine Tilton top? Even though I do like the look of that velvet sweatshirt style top shown above, I know it is not really my style. But this Vogue pattern just might work. Hmmm, I have some deliberating to do...

Have you sewn anything in fall's hottest fabric?  

Happy Sewing!

Pullover Top

Stash-busting 2015:  Polka-dot Top

I first made this top back in 2011 for Mama R. She wasn't all that smitten over it when I first made it for her but recently she has been asking me for another saying that it is a comfortable style to wear with pants [insert eye-brow raise]. Of course, I was happy to make another one.  

The Pattern:

OOP Butterick 5561 is a lovely pattern, well drafted and easy to put together. I have no complaints about this pattern. I've even made a version for myself many years ago. I love the raglan sleeves, the dart at the shoulder is perfectly placed. The pleat in the front is my favourite detail. If you come across this out-of-print pattern I would highly recommend giving it a try.

The only alterations made were shortening the length of the top and sleeves.  

The Fabric:

Goodness, this fabric has been in my stash for longer than I care to remember. Maybe, decades. I couldn't even honestly tell you where I picked it up.

It is a light-weight polyester crepe with a beautiful drape. The fabric was pretreated with a tumble in the washing machine and dryer and pressed with a light iron.   

The Stats:

Fabric:      2 metres, I couldn't tell you how much I paid for this piece of fabric.  

Pattern:     OOP Butterick 5561, already priced out in previous versions.

Interfacing:  0.2 metres of fusible interfacing. 

Thread:      Finished off one spool of thread.  

Happy Sewing!

2015 Sewing Goals Revisited

New Old year, new old sewing goals.

☺︎Get out of my comfort zone and learn new techniques.  

I did venture out of my comfort zone when I make those pleated peplum fitted shirts. Oh and there was that attempt at bound buttonholes.  2015 appears to be the year of baby steps.

☹  Fabric store fast (or shop my own stash). 

Yes, well... this one turned out to be a epic fail but I will say that I did add some lovely pieces to the stash. My bad. It took me awhile to pick up a new membership from the national brand fabric store. The increase in membership price and decrease in pattern discounts were enough to hit the pause button. But I eventually picked one up when I received a gift certificate. And I will admit without out it, I wouldn't have tried the premium serger thread when it went on sale. But as far as fabric, I wasn't wow'd by the selection of fabric offered in 2015. My favourite finds this year have been found at the other fabric stores.   

☺︎and ☹  Continue with the RTW fast. 

I did struggle with this goal this year but for the most part I did try my best. Oh, who am I kidding? I did a better job at the fast the previous year. I'm forgiving myself on the sweaters that I picked up since I'm not a knitter and the work-out gear since I didn't have the time to sew a swimsuit in a week's time. 

☹  Learn how to make bound buttonholes. 

I did attempt to make bound buttonholes with the help of Sewaholic's reference book but they're not perfect and I'm still working on this one. I haven't given up...  

☹  Make a pair of lined pants. 

I've been wanting to make the lined pants from now OOP Vogue 8887 ever since the pattern came out.  I have the pattern, fabric and lining waiting and another year has passed and I haven't gotten around to it. It is still on my want list.  

☹  Make that winter coat I've been talking about making for years now.

This is another project I have all the materials and supplies but haven't yet gotten around to it. My plan was to use the Sybil Connelly coat pattern but since I've been struggling with the fitted sleeves it has put a pause on this project.  

☹  Make a Chanel-esque cardigan jacket. 

I came close with this jacket.

A Chanel-esque is still on my wish-list.  

☹  Make a tailored jacket. 

Yes, this is another project that I didn't get around to making. It is still on my wish-list.  

☺︎  Make some workout clothes and use them!

I'm happy to report that I did make some work-out clothes and they have seen the inside of the gym!  

☹  Make a pair of jeans. 

I have the pattern and the fabric and no excuse as to why I don't have a completed pair of jeans.  

☹  Clear out the sewing drawer of all those unfinished sewing projects. 

Maybe next year... 

How about you, did you have any sewing goals this year and did you meet them?  

Happy Sewing!