Eleven Stitches

Birthday Gifts

My friends and family know me well (and know about my Amazon Wishlist), so I got a lot of great sewing gifts for my birthday this year. 

First of all, meet my new dress form.  She is a Singer DF150,  I just adjusted it to my measurements this afternoon, so I still need to see how well it works out with making clothes.  The form is lightly padded, so I could angle pins into it if I want to pin something on.  I just need to find a good place for her in my tiny sewing room!

I also got some great books.

On the left is Patternmaking for a Perfect Fit.  It talks about how to copy a pattern from an existing garment.  It looks to be very practical and detailed, and I’m going to have to give it a try soon.

On the right is The Sweater Chop Shop.  We met the author at Rhinebeck, and my friend C got it for me and had it autographed.  It talks about how to cut and use old sweaters to make new clothing, toys, or other items.  It’s geared toward beginners, and I find it somewhat useful. 

In the middle is the book I find most impressive, Gertie’s New Book for Better Sewing.  This book is great!  There are detailed tutorials in it that I’ve looked up online, and now I have them at hand.  And there’s things in there that are more advanced than what I’m sewing right now, so it will be a book that I can use in the future as I get better at sewing.  And to top that, it’s spiral bound so that the book can lay flat while using it.  There are several patterns included that look very interesting, and she has great tips for how to modify the pattern for a different look or fit.  Fantastic.

Finally, a few days after my birthday, I got this book.  The timing was funny, since it's how to hand-sew garments, and we had no power at that time. 

The techniques outlined in this book are different from what I know how to do (mostly machine sewing), and look interesting.  I espeically like all of the different hand stitches.  This will be something I have to try!

 

New Fall Jacket

As Joann Fabric had their suiting fabric on sale last spring, I bought some with the thoughts of making a fall jacket.  Over the summer, I wasn't interested in sewing it, but once school started, it was on my mind.  We had Yom Kippur off at school, and I decided that it would be jacket day.

I managed to make most of the jacket in one day.  I only had to sew the lining and the hems on the next day.  This is my second time making the Uptown Coat, and it's great.  (The first time I made it is here.)

It came together a little easier this time, although I did have a little problem with the buttonholes on such a thick fabric.  I should have done bound buttonholes instead, and I will give that a try next time.  I think I also should have had the real buttonholes on the side closer to the edge of the jacket?  Anyway, I love the buttons.  I got them in Indonesia with this future jacket in mind.

The jacket is fully lined in a slippery pink fabric.  (Slippery fabrics are good for jacket linings because it's easier to slide your arms inside.) 

And the pockets are made out of flannel again.  So nice and cozy on a cool day!  This time I cut them out of a pair of pajama pants that had seen better days.

I'm really happy with the jacket overall, and it's a little warmer than my red corduroy one, so I get good use out of both of them.

And as always, Oberon was there to help sew this jacket.

 

A Birthday, A Wedding, and a Hurricane

It has been an exciting week!  First of all, it was my 34^th birthday on Saturday, now almost a week ago.

This is me on my birthday.

We went to Charlottesville, VA for a wedding. Because the bride and groom are weird, creative, delightful people, they had a wedding that fit them perfectly.  It was a masquerade ball.

David and I were suitably attired.

And the wedding party was as well.  The guy on the far right is the groom’s brother, and his shoes had a 6 inch platform on them.  I couldn’t help a quick little, “Thank you, Hagrid”, when he directed us from the cocktail hour to the ceremony.

The bride and groom were fantastic.  I especially loved the bride's tuxdeo jacket/dress.  It had a train in the back, and it was so fabulous. 

And a great time was had by all. 

On Sunday we took the train home.  I was nervous the whole way that public transportation would shut down ahead of the storm and we would get stranded, but we made it back in time to prepare for Hurricane Sandy

For our part, we are safe, and our basement is even dry.  We were without power for 3 days, and we got it back last night.  Our house got down to 57 degrees F, but we managed, and we were so lucky considering what other people are having to face right now.  David and I have had the whole week off because the power is still out at our work. 

I'm so thankful that I knit, quilt, and crochet, because it really helped keep us warm this week!

Let me leave you with another pic from my "Oberon Helps Sew" series, although this one is actually "Oberon Helps Knit".

More Separates

I have a new FO and an old FO to show you, together.

First the old.  The skirt is Simplicity 2410, which I've made at least 4 times before!  I love this skirt pattern.  It's so easy to wear and flattering.  I made this skirt just as winter was turning into spring earlier this year, and I ended up waiting for cool weather to show it to you.  The fabric is a wide corduroy.  Love it.

And secondly is a new-to-me pattern, Renfrew.  I've been wanting to try this pattern for a while now, and it lived up to the hype.  Simple, flattering, and easy.  I made most of this top while watching the second presidential debate.  (Color choice does not necessarily indicate voting choice.)  I've already used Sewaholic's tip to add interfacing to the back of the pattern pieces because I know I'll use it many times in the future.

I love a big collar! 

Have a great weekend, everyone!

Rhinebeck Recap 2012

This was a low-key Rhinebeck for me this year.  I had to work on Friday night, so my friend C and I didn't get to leave until 9 that night, getting to our place around midnight.  I haven't been knitting that much recently, so I didn't have a "Rhinebeck Sweater", although I wore Levenwick.  And I didn't have a big list of stuff to buy! 

But it was still a great weekend.  My friend and I talked non-stop to catch up, had good food, did some yarn, clothes, and shoe shopping, and it was great.  I'm a sucker for tradition, and I loved being in the same places and doing the same things we did a year ago.  Yay.

This is what I got.

Clockwise from top:

• Gypsy Girl Creations Transitions Sock Yarn in Viola Bouquet
• Maple Creek Farm Cortland in Kiwi
• Socks That Rock Lightweight in Ooh La Lagoon
• 3 mini skeins from Miss Babs, in Obsidian and Slate

Two of those purchases are for Christmas gifts, so I was really conservative this year.  Although I also bought this.

This is an (unassembled) loom to make a potholder-style rug, using t-shirt and sweater scraps.  I needed a new auction project for my classroom this year, and I think this will be great. 

I also got 5 pounds of old cashmere sweaters.

With the plan to cut and re-assemble them into a dress or two.  I've wanting to do this since I found the Fromm Designs booth last year. 

I also bought a fantastic dress at a shop in Saugerties, and I'm going to wear it to a wedding next weekend.  I'll show it to you soon.

Since I have a bunch of these, I'll end with a photo for a new set I'm calling "Oberon Helps Sew".

Four Dresses and a Suprise

Even though it's the last one I've finished, I'm going to show you my favorite dress first.

This is another version of Butterick 5315, with fabric that I bought in Bristol last summer.  I used the red-polka dot bias tape to finish the neckline and the hem.  I love the combination of prints. The vintage buttons (courtesy of the button lady who is at New Jersey Sheep & Wool), also were a great fit.

This dress is easy to wear, and I get compliments on it whenever I wear it.  Yay, it's an instant favorite.

This is the A-Line version of Cambie, using some of my favorite batik fabric from Indonesia.

 

I think I would be happier with this dress if it fit a little better.  I think it looks OK, but it's a little tight so it doesn't feel as OK.  Maybe someday I'll either lose a little weight or alter it :)

I think I used the pretty edge print well in this dress, showing it off at the hem and the neckline.

And finally here are two Vogue 8764s.  I like that they're so simple, but I'm not liking the second one so much since I've seen it photographed.

This first one is white linen, and I enjoyed wearing it this summer.

The second one is a really drapey grey fabric, and it's not doing me any favors right now!  But when that's the case, using a kitten to distract is a good solution.

Meet our new baby boy!  We adopted him a week ago Saturday, and we named him Oberon.

He is a sweetheart and we think he will be a great addition to the family.  Sasha and Philana are not convinced and have spent a lot of time hissing at the scary kitten who is 1/3 their size.

 

I've found that it is a little bit harder to sew because there is often someone now demanding attention and getting in the way.  It's a good thing he's cute!

Things from England

I wasn't kidding when I said the Libery store was overwhelming.  It was huge.

I didn't realize how many types of Liberty fabric there is.  There was a lot of the lawn, of course, but there was also corduroy, silk, knits, and other types. 

This store had a lot of lawn pre-cut in 3 meter lengths.

I ended up choosing two pre-cuts, one of which was not Liberty and therefore much cheaper. (There was one short shelf of non-Liberty fabrics.)  I also got a 4 yard cut of the multicolored paisely and a 2 yard cut of the orange paisely.

The trees fabric is not Liberty, but I loved it so much.  The fabric feels like it might also be a lawn. 

Back in Bristol, I also found a store that has a lot of patterend bias tape.  I don't really enjoy making my own, so I was thrilled to find these.

 

I bought the stack on the right one day, and then went back later to get the stack on the left.  I'm planning to use the thicker orange dot to bind a quilt, and I've already put the red dot tape to use. 

 

Gone A Long Time

David and I took a long trip this August, and in the weeks leading up to it, I found that I was running out of time to do everything that I wanted to do.  So, I had an inadvertantly long blog break, and I'm just now feeling like I'm really back home even though we got back two weeks ago.

We were in England, and we got to arrive in London right in the middle of the Olympics.  And through a bit of good luck, we got to attend the Olympics. Yes, it was pretty awesome.

Before we went to our venue, we watched the women's marathon flash by.

And then we went to the ExCel Arena to see Table Tennis.  It was so cool!  I took some pictures with me in them, but given that I had just flown in on a (stressful) redeye flight, I don't want to show them to you :)  But this is what I saw.

The games were exciting, espeically the match between #2 South Korea and #8 Portugal, where Portugal fought for every point and made the match run an hour longer than scheduled.  Everyone in the stadium became a Portugal fan, but they lost in the end.

I was so impressed with the ease we navigated through the city and the venues.  London really had the games figured out, and we never waited more than a couple of minutes for the train or in any line.  It was so cool just to be there and be a part of it.

After we did that, we got to settle in to our hotel in Bristol, and I got to travel while David went to work.  And we both traveled on weekends. 

Well, the first week I didn't travel because I wanted as much of a British Olympic experience as I could get!  There was a public sqaure near our hotel that had a huge screen and deck chairs for Olympic viewing.  It was a great place to be, and so fun to be in the crowd when Team GB won gold.

If it was raining (as it tends to do), I watched the BBC coverage in my hotel room.  I liked it so much better than the coverage we got in the US.

And then we traveled!  We went to Edinburgh.

I went to Wales.

I took a day trip back to London so I could shop for Liberty fabric.  It was overwhelming.

We went to Berlin.

I visited the next most famous stone circle after Stonehenge, Avebury, which has a town in the middle of it.

And I explored the beautiful things that were close by where we were staying.

It was a wonderful experience, and I'm so grateful to have had it.  I am also happy to be back home!  I'm way behind with sewing and knitting content, so I will be back here soon to show it to you.

Cambie

When I saw that Sewaholic had a new dress pattern out, I knew I would be trying it soon.  It has so many details I like, and I've been trying to sew more patterns from independent designers.

I decided pretty quickly which fabric I would like to use.  I got a great black and white linen print from JoAnn fabric a few months ago, and I used it to try out Vogue 1175.  Unfortunately, my first go at that dress did not go well, and I determined that it was unfixable and I tossed it. 

So I bought that fabric again. I finished the bolt, too, so I was lucky that I got back to it in time.

I made a FBA to this pattern, and it ended up fitting well. I made the full-skirted version, but I used the A-line skirt for the lining.  Sewaholic has a lot of tutorials up about this pattern, and I referenced a few of them while I was making this dress.

I love the pockets,  The skirt's side seams in the full-skirted version are shifted a little bit towards the front, which makes the pockets sit forward as well.  I used the tutorial to attach the lining fabric to the zipper, but I did have problems zipping up the dress afterwards because the fabric was sewn too close to the zipper teeth.  Next time I'll have to move my stitching out a bit.

I was a little disappointed that the sweetheart curves are different between the two sides.  (This is my fault not the pattern's fault.)  It's not as noticeable here as it is to me in the mirror, so perhaps that means I shouldn't worry about it so much.  I'm planning to wear this dress a lot anyway!

Overall, I really like the dress, and I'm impressed with the pattern.  Sewaholic has a new trousers pattern out now-- maybe someday I'll actually attempt a pair!

A Skirt I Made Up

I haven't really tried making up my own patterns yet for sewing.  But this skirt is about halfway there!

 

It's pretty simple.  I was inspired by Tilly's Picnic Blanket Skirt, and by some clearance black and white checked fabric. 

This is what I did:  I pre-pleated the fabric, which took a lot more work than it should have, especially given how pleated it looks in the FO.  I took Simplicity 2410, one of my favorite skirt patterns, put the center and side pieces together, and traced over them to make one pattern piece.  I then added several inches since I wasn't planning to add a ruffle to this skirt.  I then cut out the pattern using the pre-pleated fabric, and sewed it to the waistband from Simplicity 2410.

It's a great simple summer skirt, and I'm happy that I figured out how to do it!