Ahhh! Sewing Again.

I'll show you know how it turns out tomorrow when I get the sleeves in.

Birthdays are Fun

Monday was my birthday so Twin Sister and I went to Disneyland to celebrate. She hadn't been in almost 20 years, it's been about a month for me. The park was not crowded at all so we got to enjoy a character breakfast buffet, go on all the big roller coaster rides, and see the fireworks from the front row. This was probably one of my best birthdays in a long time. I don't think I mind growing older if I can do it in the Happiest Place On Earth.

When I got home around midnight, Husband had a small gift and a cute card waiting for me. Chocolate, just what I need. What I need is to stick to my diet!

I finally got the second Annie costume finished. This one was drafted from a children's pattern. I had to make it about 6" bigger all over. That's not as easy as it sounds. The girl loved it, she was twirling the skirt through the dressing rooms last night.

I've been procrastinating sewing up the Annie dresses and spending way too much time on Pattern review this last week. In fact, I was the most active on the boards for the week. Not a distinction I want. How embarrassing to point out how much time I'm wasting on the computer. So what am I doing right now? OK, I'm thinking about sewing, does that count?

Now it's time to get back to sewing for me. Debbie Cook suggested I use one of my TNT patterns and cut something from my new fabrics just to give me a sense of accomplishment before tackling my woven top. So, that's what I'm going to do today. I haven't made a Ottobre Puffed-sleeve top this summer yet, so that's what I'm doing today. The fabrics are in the dryer right now so I'm off to clean up a spot on the cutting table.

I Went Shopping!

My son (isn't he cute?) wanted to attend the Anime Expo this year and since he'll be 15 yo next month, I decided to let him go without his parents, ACK! My nephew, who has an emotional disability and is almost 30 yo went with him. They both have about the same maturity at some level, but my nephew is great with kids and knows how to keep them safe. The reason I'm telling you this is because I had to drive him into Los Angeles to the Convention Center this morning. AND since I couldn't let a trip downtown go to waste, I just had to stop a few blocks away at the garment district. I hit the jackpot with poly/lycra jerseys! I see a wrap dress in my future.


Melody and Michelle have both made this pattern, Vogue 8379 and I want to make it too. They both look so lovely in this wrap dress and they both got good bustline coverage with only a FBA. I'll have to do a FBA and a few other alterations too.


This is a low quality poly lycra jersey I bought at Michael Levine's Loft where all the fabric is $2 a pound. That worked out to around $1.33/yd. for me today. It's sort of like dumpster diving, however. You never know what you're going to get, but you can be sure it'll be dusty and wrinkled at the very least. I got 5 yards of this lavender and turquoise jersey to use as a muslin for my wrap dress. It's a bit pretty in a gaudy sort of way. If a muslin actually worked out the first time, I'd probably drop dead so there isn't any worry that I'd actually wind up wearing this fabric.


This one is a good quality poly/lycra jersey I got at Mikey's on 9th street. It was $4 yd and has such a lovely hand. This is what my wrap dress will be made from when I get the pattern perfected. The back ground is a dark brown which is a great fabric color to start my fall sewing with.

If I feel the need for another wrap dress once I get the first one finished, I think this snakeskin print will make a nice second dress. It came from the Loft as well.



This is another $2 pound fabric, but I saw it in the regular store for $5/yd. It's rayon/lycra and I was lucky enough to find 1.5 yards of it. It will be a new top in the fall.



These two were at the Loft too. I don't have a garment in mind for them, but I thought they were nice enough to follow me home.


This animal print came from the mill end store close to my house. They don't get new fabrics in very often, but I hadn't seen this one before and had to pick up 1.5 yards for a fall t-shirt of some sort.

Just one more week until the opening of my son's play. I may have mentioned that he's playing a mobster in Annie for a local production of the play. They will have 12 performances and it will run for two weeks. Then my life can get back to normal. I haven't been able to sew for myself this week because I have been working on costumes for the play. Above is the Christmas dress that Annie will be wearing. I still have to make her another dress, it will be pink striped with lace. Annie who is usually a small child was cast with a 14 yo girl who has developed into quite the young woman. None of the costumes for the play fit her. I've also been doing alterations and stitching on trim and such.


I want to wish everyone a happy and safe Fourth of July. My birthday is on Monday so my twinsis and I will be visiting Disneyland. They are having a Celebration Campaign this year where you get to go free on your birthday. Neither one of us will have to pay! What a very nice present for both of us.

Life Without Direction

Not having a job to go to every day has left me somewhat unfocused. I'm spending way too much time in front of my computer, not accomplishing anything. However, I have finished watching every season of Numb3rs on Netflix and all of the Stargate Episodes that Hulu has to offer.

I think my body is beginning to morph into something I don't recognize. Last week I went to the Dr. because my body forgot it was in menopause after 16 months and I've been experiencing severe pelvic pain. She sent me in for blood work and an ultrasound and a routine mamogram. I won't find out until Wednesday about the results of my tests. I truly hope they find something and can take care of it easily because I hate the way I've been feeling.

I've been trying to do something with sewing everyday. Last week I made a pair of pants, but I'm not completely thrilled with them. The pattern is KS 2720 and while they fit nicely through the hips and butt, the legs are just too wide for my short and wide body. I still haven't finished the waistband or hemming. I also did a muslin for Butterick 53oo again.


Here's my first muslin using the 1X in Women's sizes and the D-cup. It's way too big all over.

For my second muslin I used the Misses sizes cutting the XL and adding 5/8" to the side seams. Now it's too tight and needs lots of ease, but I think the misses fits much, much better. I've added several inches of ease to the top, leaving the neck and shoulders alone, but haven't made a muslin from my altered pattern yet. I'll do that later today.


My intention for the Butterick pattern is that once I get it to fit, I'll redraft it to look similiar to this Burda WOF pattern. With the help of the Plus-Size Sew-Along on Patternreview, I've decided to lose the bows and the drawstring. Then I'll take the neckline binding all the way down center front and use colorful snaps. I really like the pockets, I just hope they work on my apple shape. Even if they don't, I may want to keep them, they're so cute.


Here's the fabric I'll use for the blouse and some capris to go with it. The capris will be my TNT capris pattern, Simplicity 5013, which is a Jr. Size pattern and now OOP.


I also had some bad luck with Butterick 5356. It fits, but looks so awful that I just threw the pattern and the muslin in the garbage. There are much better looking blouses for my round shape out there. However, I'm not sure this blouse would look good on any figure type. If you were considering it, do yourself a favor, and don't!

I've Discovered Reading

No sewing for me this week. I think sewing the last five garments in one week gave me burn-out. Unfortunately, I didn't work but two days this week so it would have been a great time to get some sewing done. Instead, I read. I haven't been doing much reading in the last two years (that'll be no reading). I have about 8 books on my shelf waiting for me to get back to reading. I used to devour books but I stopped reading because I couldn't see to read with my contact lenses on. My far sightedness has gotten bad, but my nearsightedness had improved. To help me, the eye dr. prescribed me mono vision lenses. That's where one eye is for far away and one eye is for close up. That completely ruined reading for me.

In honor of my age, which will be 48 in exactly one month, I've given up on contact lenses and have taken to wearing eye glasses. I can see perfectly close up without them, but if you want me to recognize you from 5 feet way, I'll need to wear my glasses. Anyway, without the contacts on, I can read! I forgot how much fun it is. I finished two books in four days. The first one was The Thirteenth Tale by Diane Setterfield, and the second one was Time Bomb by Johnathan Kellerman. I'm pretty sure I've read Time bomb before, but the book was brand new so I must have given my other copy away. I really enjoyed reading this week. I can see doing much more of it this summer, sitting out in the sun while DS is playing at the local pool with his friends.


Changing the subject, I was awarded the One Lovely Blog Award by Julia from Julia's Sew Sweet and Special Occasion Clothing for Children. Julia makes the cutest kids clothes. She inspires me to sew for my Great Niece. That's something else on my plate for summer. I was also awared the same award by Diana at djStoreRoom who uses her blogs to highlight other sewing and craft blogs. The intention of this award is to pass it on to 5 or more blogs you have recently started following. You should then comment on their post to let them know they are awarded and then link to their blogs from yours. Here's my nominations:

1. Lindsay T Sews - Not only is Lindsay a great sewist, she shares her skills with her blog readers and is now teaching to young people. She has also used her blog as a forum for other sewists to communicate with JoAnn's. Thank you Lindsay.

2. Sew Much Fabric, Sew Little Time - Christy is a woman I can relate to. On her blog she shares her love of fabric and patterns. I've learned a lot about foreign pattern magazines from her.

3. Sewing by the Seat of My Pants - While I didn't newly discover her, Karen has a wonderful sewing blog. She shares her plans of what she is going to sew, and then actually sews it. I admire her for that. I was lucky enough to get to meet her in person when I visited New York. She took me to all the right places for great fabric. Thanks Karen.

4. Sew-Ann's Stitchery - Ann is the mother of two wonderful special needs kids, just like me. (OK, I only have one) Also she is a plus sized woman with a style all her own. I love that about her. Check out her blog to see what she is doing in her sewing room for her and her kids.

5. Adventures in the Art of Sewing - Claudine has some serious skills in the sewing room. Not only does she sew for herself, making the most wonderful creations, she also makes beautiful garments for her little girls. I aspire to be like Claudine. Unfortunately, I don't have the need for such wonderful clothes.

Now to answer a few questions:

A couple have mentioned Connie Crawford patterns to me since I'm plus sized and she drafts for plus sized women. I really don't care for her draft. She has a tendency to rotate some or all of the dart as an underbust dart and then leave it unstitched. I think that is very unflattering to most figures. If you like her patterns, then by all means, use them. I just happen not to like them. I've tried them, but haven't gotten good results.

Elaray asked, "When you get the muslin you like, do you transfer the changes to the paper pattern, or do you use the muslin as a pattern?" I always go back and change my paper pattern. Muslin has a tendency to stretch out of shape so it doesn't work for a pattern, IMHO.

Ruth C. asked, "What pattern is the dress? It is lovely and I think the white collar solved your problems with it." The pattern is Simplicity 3773. However, I cheated and took a very similar TNT dress and traced the armhole and collar treatment to it.

Windsong asked, "Do you buy a plus-size pattern? Do you find you have to do a full bust adjustment even on a t-shirt pattern?" I do buy plus-sized patterns, and I do usually have to do a FBA. I have a TNT t-shirt pattern that I use almost exclusively and it is KS 2900. I've tweeked it a bit until it fit the way I like but didn't do a FBA. I've redrafted it many, many times to recreate things I've seen in RTW. If I sew a T-shirt type top, I've almost always redrafted KS 2900. When I don't I regret it every time.



Thank you to everyone who encouraged me to make red jeans. These are some red jeans I made in the past, but I've gained quite a bit of weight since then and can't fit into them any longer. I'm definitely going to get a new pair made up in a few days. I hope you all have a great week.

Another Summer Top Done

Remember I cut out five garments last weekend, but only got three finished? Well, I finished another one.

I first made this pattern two years ago and didn't like it at all. After writing a review on PR, I was told that it didn't make me look pregnant, just full-busted. Well, I guess that's better. Everytime I wore the first one, I got loads of compliments. The pattern is Simplicity 5013 which is an OOP Jr. Plus pattern. I sewed the largest size with alterations, of course.


I still think it looks a bit maternity, but that's what's "in" right now. Today I'll cut out a pair of red jeans to go with my new top. I'm not sure if it is proper for a plus-sized woman to wear red jeans, let alone a sleeveless top, but I'm going to do it. If I can keep up this pace up, I'll get my summer wardrobe done before summer gets here. That would be some accomplishment.

Three Days of Success

I had a wonderful time shopping downtown LA for fabric with Karrol and her daughter, Chloie, Jeanette, and Cat. There's nothing like spending time with people who love fabric as much as I do. We didn't stop in a lot of stores so I wasn't too tired when I got home. I usually wear myself out when I go. It was the stop and go traffic all the way home that wore me out.


Here are four of the five fabrics I purchased. Going clockwise, the purple/white floral is a linen/tencel blend and was the most expensive at $10/yd. Next is a beautifully drapy rayon challis that was $2/yd. Both of these and the last one I got at Michael Levines. The pink floral linen was purchased at Mikes for $4/yd and is the most beautiful quality. The print does look a little drapery-ish so it will take some thinking on my part to decide what to make from it. The last is a cotton single knit from the clearance section for $1.50/yd. There are always such great bargins shopping downtown. I don't know why I don't go more often.

After I got home on Saturday, I spent the rest of the day washing my haul plus several other fabrics I wanted to get cut out and sewn this weekend. I got four tops and a dress cut out and two of the tops and the dress actually got sewn.


This is the fifth fabric I bought this weekend. It's a thin poly/lycra knit. I just loved the print and knew they'd go with the long shorts I made a week ago. I used my TNT t-shirt pattern KS 2900 cutting the sleeves to a cap length and giving the crew neckline more of a scoop.


I was determined not to go to JoAnn's for anything during my sewing spree. I found this great decorative elastic with a piping along the edge in my stash and even though you can't tell in the photograph, the green is a perfect match for the green in the fabric. I sewed it on the neckline and sleeve hems using the zipper foot on my sewing machine and the trim came out perfectly. You can also see the varigated pink thread I used in the coverstitch machine.


For the other top I made I used some rayon/lycra knit purchased on a previous visit to Michael Levines with the Los Angeles ASG chapter. The pattern is one I drafted from KS 2900 when someone on PR asked how the RTW top could be copied.


It's hard to see the design detail in my model pose so here's a close-up. I've reviewed the pattern before but this time I did the binding a little differently and used short sleeves. I don't have anything much to wear with it yet so I'm thinking of making some linen pull-on pants to go with it. I have a darker turquoise linen that would match nicely.


Last but not least is the linen dress. This fabric was stuffed in a plastic tub in the very bottom of my closet. I was searching for something when I ran across it. The fabric has probably been in my stash for about six years and I think I purchased it from FFC. It's very off grain and it doesn't drape very nicely. I don't think the bad grain will be a problem since I folded the fabric so that it laid nicely, ignoring the straigt of grain. The fabric had been washed previously and I washed it again before cutting the dress out. The last time I sewed this dress, I was disappointed with the collar. The busy fabric hid my collar. Debbie Cook suggested I make a contrast collar so this time I took her advise. I was worried that with the white there would be show-through so instead of using interfacing I used a double layer of the white mystery fabric I found in my stash. I used spray glue to glue the two layers together and treated them as one. I'm pretty happy with the way the dress turned out even if I'm not thrilled with the fabric. I'm sure I'll get some use out of it.

I still have two more tops cut out and some red denim waiting to be cut so I'm going to stay at it for a few more days. DH is back home so someone can keep the kitchen clean. Now if I could only train the cat to pick up the hair she's sheading all over the house.