October in Review...

Sewing wise, October is not that spectacular, more spooky.  And not in a fun kind of spookiness. 

Image source:  Greener Kirkcaldy

My sewing mojo has been on hiatus for what seems like forever.  I'm not kidding.  I've seemed to have lost my desire to challenge myself in the sewing room.  Sure, there has been some sewing happening.  I've become content with sewing basic beginner level projects.  

And even with that I've managed to sew a few bloopers into my projects.  Not only that, I've seem to become content with mending projects.  I know, scary!  😲  Hopefully, next month the sewing table will become a less spooky place and will find some creative activity.

Happy Halloween to those who celebrate the Feast of Junk Food & Festive Costume Making.  If you have a chance, check out the Costume Contest over at Pattern Review.  There are some adorable costumes that were made.  

Happy Sewing!  

Rescue Sewing: Vogue 9268 & 9057

About two years ago I made a second version of Katherine Brenne's Vogue 9268, a pullover dress.  I tweaked the pattern by using Marcy Tilton's Vogue 9057, a top pattern for the rounded neckline.  I was quite pleased with how the neckline turned out but I didn't wear it as much as I thought I would because I didn't make the best fabric choice.  Don't get me wrong, the fabric is a fantastic cotton knit that I found at Marshall / Northwest Fabrics.  

This is a perfect example of how fabric choice does matter on how a garment will look.  I should have know better that the waterfall design on the dress would work better with a fabric that has a softer drape.  I finally got around to fixing this dress into something that I can wear by chopping off the excess fabric from the sides.  And now I have a wearable dress.  

Hmm, I wonder what I can make with those discarded hip flaps?  

Happy Sewing!

In Sewing News Today...

I've often said, "I'm not a quilter."  And I said it again this week.

I've convinced myself that my brain doesn't work like a quilter's brain.  Quilters are an enigma to me.  It sounds ridiculous doesn't it?

Image Source:  Dream Quilt Create

That is how I felt this week when I found myself in conversation with a die-hard quilter. She was trying to convince me to join her church quilting group. I told her that I'm more into garment sewing to which I got that glazed over look in her eye. This happen just before we both shared why we don't engage in each other's hobby. What struck me was that we had the same reasons for not being in garment sewing or quilting. It's like trying to solve the great debate of cats vs. dogs.  

Image source:  Dogs vs. Cats

No comparison, right? It's just a different animal. But I will admit that it has me thinking about that conversation quite a bit this week.  No, I'm not thinking about taking up quilting.  But it does seem to have a growing presence in the retirement community.  From the conversation, I don't think it really about making quilts rather it seems to be more about a social outlet.  And there you go, sewing whether it be garment or quilting just boils down to community.   And that's a good thing.

In other sewing news, McCall's released there Winter / Holiday collection today.  There are two patterns that caught my eye.

McCall's 7999, where were you months ago?  Lol.  Seriously, I'm happy to see this winter staple finally make an appearance.  I don't need one at this point.  I'm happy with my latest version and I do have this vintage Burda International pattern still waiting to be made up one day.  

I just have to locate my sewing mojo.  The other pattern that caught my eye is for another project that I don't need nor will I be sewing.

But I do think it is cute.  A cape with a hood.  The only thing that would make this perfect would be a hidden interior pocket to hide keys.  Oh and perhaps in a double faced knit!  I'm just looking forward to read the reviews on these ones.  

That's all in sewing new today... 

Happy Sewing!

Bloglovin' Issues

Earlier this week I wrote a blog post for National I Love Lucy day.  It has since come down because I noticed something strange on my Bloglovin' page where my original post appeared.  It seems that someone has replaced it with a link and photo to something completely different than I posted.

Please do not click on this as I fear that it can be spam or something else.  I've tried to delete it from the Bloglovin' page but can not as it states that the post is associated with another blog profile. I have tried to contact Bloglovin' but they have not yet done anything to resolve this issue.  I've removed Bloglovin' from my blog page in hopes that it may help and prevent anyone from clicking on the post.

I hope that Bloglovin' is able to clear this issue up so that I don't have to shut down the blog and start anew.  Unless someone else has experience something similar and can offer some advice.

Winter White Skirt: OOP Butterick 5790

I know that a winter white skirt is not the most practical piece of clothing that I can make on a weekend where we're recovering from a significant amount of slushy wet snow. But I made one anyway.  

I had a small piece of this fabric in the stash, just enough to sew up the pull-on skirt. For this project, I pulled out an out-of-print (OOP) pattern, Butterick 5790, from back-in-the-day (circa 1998) when I was a much smaller size.  

I placed the place-on-the-fold line two inches away from the fold to cut a skirt that fits my more generous hip size. Yup, that means no pumpkin pie this Canadian Thanksgiving weekend. Or maybe there is enough stretch in this one that I can sneak a piece?  

The Stats

Fabric:   1.3 metres

Elastic:  0.80 metres of 2" wide elastic

Pattern:  OOP Butterick 5790

Additional Tools & Supplies:  Cutting table, pins, pin cushions, iron, ironing board, clapper, sewing machine, walking foot, serger, threads, scissors, thread clippers and tea.  

Happy Sewing & Thanksgiving to those celebrating this weekend!  

Cozy Cotton Knit Dress: OOP Vogue 8939

I'm so thrilled with how this one turned out, I don't even mind that it's a pink dress. 

I've revisited out-of-print Vogue 8939 with hopes that I would get the width of the turtleneck right this time. I'm thrilled that I can pull this one over my head without any struggle. I lost the turtleneck pattern piece to the D5 size combination and I have been tweaking it with the piece from the AX5 sizes. I probably added about 1 1/2" to a width of a size 12.  Other than this, I shortened the length of the sleeves (it's still a long sleeve dress) and lengthened the hemline seven inches.  

Now lets talk about the fabric! It's a sweatshirt knit with some drape, not that stiff sweatshirt knit that you can find. It was actually a remnant piece. I did consider making another long cardigan with Butterick 6495 but I'm so glad that a dress won that debate. It really is cozy. And with all that gorgeous snowfall blanketing the landscape this evening, coziness is just perfect.  

This fabric was pretreated with a tumble through the washing machine and dryer. It will be a hand wash and hang-to-dry item going forward.  

The Stats

Fabric:  1.9 metres

Interfacing:  1.2 metres of Knit-N-Stable tape

Pattern:  OOP Vogue 8939 (Vogue Wardrobe)

Additional Tools & Supplies:  Pins, pin cushions, tailor's chalk, scissors, thread clippers, cutting table, measuring tape, measuring gauge, clapper, sewing machine, iron, ironing board, walking foot, serger, threads, chai tea and cookies.  

Happy Sewing!

Charity Sewing: McCall's 8548

There was a request recently in the church bulletin to help out a refugee family with children clothing and I thought it was the perfect time to break out vintage McCall's 8548 once again. The request was for newborn to age 2 boys clothes.  

My wrist has been acting up so the thought of sewing this type of baby clothes is out of the question right now but I was able to manage a pair of pull-on pants for an age 2 young lad.  

This grey coloured cord fabric is heavy enough to keep a wee lad warm with the upcoming colder weather. Would you believe they're calling for snow tomorrow? Insert a happy dance here to celebrate the end of allergy season. 

Plus the first snow fall is so pretty. But I digress...

My hope is that these pants will keep the little lad warm in the upcoming season.  

The Stats

Fabric:  1 metre

Elastic:  1" wide

Additional Tools & Supplies:  Cutting table, scissors, pins, pin cushion, measuring tape, measuring gauge, sewing machine, threads, serger, thread clippers, seam ripper and coffee.  

Happy Sewing!