Original Sewing & Quilting Expo-Kansas City MO

I just returned from working at the Original Sewing & Quilting Expo in KCMO with my friend, Londa. I feel so privileged to be able to work in her booth. It is hard work, no doubt about it. But I really enjoy my time selling her beautiful Creative Sweatshirt Jacket patterns & DVDs along with other sewing items and I love talking to all the women (and men) who come in to look and buy. I also get to see new & exciting trends in the sewing & quilting cultures. 


I don't claim to be on the cutting edge of what's hot but here are some things I have noticed as I attend these expos. 


Quilting—Yes, women are still quilting but there seems to be a definite trend away from traditional large quilts made for beds or wall hanging. I see the patchwork principle (seaming small pieces of fabric together to create an object) being applied in different ways. Decorative pillows, place mats, and other small items were every where. 


There were also several booths teaching ink jet printing on cloth. There were machines for laminating fabric and machines for cutting all manner of shapes. I guess the biggest application would be applique. 


Embroidery-There are still booths selling embroidery designs but the number is shrinking. 


Garment sewing-Dare I say I see a trend back to garment sewing? There are lots of small pattern designers showing up at these expos. 


I don't work with Londa again till March. It will be interesting to see what 2011 brings. 

My First Garment

Wow! A month since I posted anything here. I knew I lost some momentum, and was out of town for a few days, and have been sick for over a week, but my, my. Where does the time go? 


This time of year reminds me of the first garment I ever made for myself. I started sewing as a little tyke. I remember making "diapers" for my baby dolls before I was in kindergarten. But I didn't make anything I could actually wear until 6th grade. I was 11 years old. It was a blue and black houndstooth check wool skirt. Back in the 60's it was called a dirndl skirt. It was 2 straight pieces of fabric sewed into a tube with elastic at the top. I think I put pockets in it, but I could be wrong about that. 


I loved that skirt! The fabric was awesome. I loved the colors. I wore it for a long time. I remember letting the hem down so I could wear it more. I have no idea whatever happened to it. But I sure did love it!

Weekend Sewing

I had a very productive sewing weekend even with the ASG Fashion Show on Sunday. 


I finished the casual skirt I was working on. Oops! I forgot to take a picture. It is KwikSew 3098. I made view A but shortened it and used snaps in place of the buttons. It turned out pretty cute. A great hanging-out-at-home kinda skirt. The fabric is a Ralph Lauren cotton stretch twill, khaki colored background with very small purple, lavender and yellow flowers. I bought the fabric at Vogue Fabrics in Evanston IL back in 2001 for around $6.00 for 3 yds. 


I also made a Loes Hinse jacket, The Bolero Jacket. I just need to finish hemming both the jacket and sleeves and it will be finished. Pictures and a more complete review to follow.


And then, there is this 2-piece dress. I made this back in July. It was a "project" from Peggy Sagers at Silhouette Patterns. I bought the Cowl Neck Top and Yoga Skirt patterns and 2 yards of this surface embroidered slinky fabric for $29.95, I think. It's o.k. It's a lot of print for me and the color is not my favorite, but I like the patterns. They were ridiculously easy to sew. I can't believe they cost $15 each. I don't like the sizing model Peggy uses. There are no body measurements, only finished garment measurements. I find that makes it hard to figure out a size. The finished garment measurement of this really stretchy slinky knit is different from a woven silk cut on the bias. And she also has 2 size groups—one for "regular" sizes (1-4) and then what I guess are "plus" sizes. They are numbered 5W-8W. It seemed to me there was an overlap in the sizes. Oh well. The outfit turned out o.k. It's an easy fitting, casual garment I can throw on and feel good in. 

Why Do I Always Look Like I'm "Biting my tongue" ? 

Remembering a Sad Time

Saturday evening I was in my sewing studio "puttzing" around, as my dear MIL would say. I had sewed all day and needed a break from actual sewing. But I still wanted to be in my studio so I was looking at patterns, moving stuff around, stash dreaming…you know, "puttzing" around. 


As I was rearranging a couple of the many piles I have in my studio I found 3 pieces of fabric I purchased from Textile Studios in January 2005. For some inexplicable reason these 3 pieces of fabric have never made it into the "official" stash. I knew I had the fabric. They were purchased for 3 specific garments, but I hadn't cut swatches to add to my stash file, nor had I included the yardage in my stash tally. (It would be +10 yards.) But here is what made me sad when I found this fabric.


I went through a very difficult period starting in the late 90's. I was falling apart emotionally from the inside out. For a long time I didn't realize what was happening. Looking back I see that one of the ways I tried to cope was by purchasing fabric. I was obsessive, stashing away hundreds & hundreds of yards of fabric. Truth be told, I wasn't stashing, I was hoarding. I sewed very little during this period. I just bought fabric and stashed it away in boxes I hid in closets & under beds and any place I could find where I hoped  The Love wouldn't notice. I racked up pretty high balances on several credit cards due to my hoarding. 


The best thing I can say about having all that fabric is this. During that time I would periodically go in my sewing studio, close and lock the door, literally wrap myself in several pieces of fabric and take a nap. I would feel safe locked away from the rest of the world wrapped in long lengths of beautiful fabric. For a time, the anxiety I felt inside would dissipate. A good thing now about all that fabric is that now that I am much healthier emotionally, I have a wonderful selection of fabrics to sew from.


Finding these 3 pieces of fabric reminded me of the dark period in my life; the pain I caused the people who loved me, especially The Love Of My Life. It reminded me of the years of therapy; the hard, painful work I did to climb out of the abyss I had sunk into. It also reminded me how much The Love stood by me and how grateful I am for his love, patience, understanding, empathy and friendship. 


I am ready to cut into these 3 pieces fabric now. Patterns are traced off, fabric is pre-shrunk and on the cutting table. My journey to an emotionally healthy adult continues daily. Sometimes I take small steps, sometimes I leap forward. Sewing these 3 garments will be like vaulting over a high fence. 

Ready for the Runway!

I just finished the 2nd garment for the upcoming fashion show hosted by ASG-St. Louis. I will be modeling these 2 garments.

(I am going to add a hook & eye
closure to the front of the circle vest. ) 

Hot Pink Sweatshirt Jacket

I am pretty pleased with how both garments turned out. 




The sweatshirt jacket is from the Genesis Too pattern from Londa's Creative Threads. Londa asked me to participate in filming her latest DVD, Creative Jacket Journey. I was thrilled to be asked and spent 3 wonderful, sewing-filled days in her studio. On the last day, she received a shipment of duppioni silk and I absolutely fell in love with the hot pink. The photo didn't capture the true color of the silk. It is a bright, hot pink, bordering on magenta. It is gorgeous! So I paired it with this interesting cotton batik print, added some bright blue silk duppioni for a  little contrast and "plopped" it all on a navy sweatshirt base. I am really happy with the results. Here is a picture of the back. 

A Busy Little Beaver

I worked hard all weekend and finished up one garment for the upcoming fashion sew for our ASG chapter. This is it. 

It is a circular vest from Threads #146. The fabric is from my friend, Londa. The fabric isn't double cloth. It is just woven to have 2 distinct sides. I bound the edges and the armholes with black French bias strips. The armholes are a bit tight and after the fashion sew I am going to remove the binding and make them bigger. 
Also, the fabric is a bit stiff and doesn't allow for the vest to look "closed". I am going to add a small black hook & eye so if I want to "close" it, I can. The Chef suggested using a great button for the closure. A great idea, but I don't want to draw that much attention to my mid-life midriff. 

I Really Have Been Sewing

In spite of the drought in blog posts I have been sewing. Here's a three items I have completed recently.


Amy Butler Frenchie Bag

I made this bag for DGD1 for Christmas 2009 and really like the style. On a recent trip to Dearborn MI I stopped in at quilt store and fell in love with the dogwood print. I would never "wear" the fabric so I decided to make me a Frenchie Bag. I've received a ton of compliments on it. 

Laptop Bag

  

Again, I fell in love with the sateen cotton print at a sewing show I worked at in Cincinnati.  I bought the fabric and then found a laptop bag pattern in the booth next to me. I had some trouble with the pattern directions not making sense, but the bag turned out o.k. Someone I know loves the bag and may receive it as a present come Christmas. 

Clothes for The Princess

My youngest DGD has earned the nickname Princess. I say it lovingly but some members of her immediate family are a little more sarcastic. Be that as it may, I love sewing for The Princess. Here's a summer dress I whipped up for her. 

She didn't really like the drawstring tie in the front so when I made her a short top with capri pants from the same pattern, I moved the tie(s) to the shoulders. I don't have a picture but it was made from a silky polyester fabric, very light pink background with rosebuds all over. Her mom (The Coach) told me when The Princess opened the package she immediately declared them pyjamas and wore them every night for the first week or so. I'm so happy she liked them. 

I have a couple of other garments which are deserving of their own post. 

A Look Inside My Lull

There was a lull in sewing last week for a couple of reasons, the heat and poor sleep. I am at that peri-menopausal point where I have a really difficult time sleeping. I'm usually hot which is a problem because DH's heart medicine makes him cold. This combination usually finds me asleep on the couch in the cool bar basement or in the guest bed with the overhead fan on high. Plus, even if I'm comfortable temperature-wise, sometimes I can't get to sleep or I can't stay asleep or I wake up in the middle of the night unable to get back to sleep. The result is that I'm tired, sluggish and unmotivated to do much.

Add to the sleep issue hot & humid temperatures and I lost several days of sewing. We've had such great unseasonably cool weather that last couple of weeks that I was caught off guard when we had 2 days around 90 degrees with typical August humidity. Thinking I would just make it through was a mistake. Although my office was o.k. (It is in the basement.) my sewing studio was miserable. The weekend brought yard and house work.


But all was not lost. Wednesday I spent most of the day with my youngest daughter, Chef M. (Technically she's not a chef but she's working on it!) We met for coffee then hit the last day of the YMCA book fair. Books were $10 for any size box you could carry. Chef M. found some cookbooks along with some sci-fi novels for her SO. I found these items. The Stitch by Stitch book has a variety of knit, crochet, & sewing projects. I purchased it for the knitted lace baby blanket project. There is an interesting needlepoint/cross stitch Santa in the Holidays in Cross Stitch book. And the tailoring book is from Palmer/Pletsch, always a good resource.


Chef M and I hit the local Goodwill store also. In addition to be a talented cook, she also has the knack of finding great buys at thrift shops. I have lost count of the number of times I have commented and her clothes and her reply is she got it at Goodwill. I'm looking for a man's brown cardigan I can use in the needle felting project from the current issue of Sew Stylish. No luck that day, but I'll keep checking back.

I spent a lot of time this past week searching for the trim for my Chanel-style jacket I'm working on. Here is my fabric. The variegated cross yarn can be pulled out easily. So I tried braiding it, weaving it, crocheting it and knitting an I-cord. Nope. Didn't look right. So I purchased lots of samples of trims from a LFS. They were too wide, too narrow, too plain, too intricate. I tried black, white & black & white. I considered grosgrain ribbon, petersham, (I was amazed that the manager of the LFS did not know the difference between petersham and grosgrain ribbon. How sad.) satin ribbon, silk bias ribbon. I spent hours looking at trims on the Internet. Nothing really seemed right.
Then yesterday as really a last ditch effort I stopped in at Jo-Ann's and bought about 6 or 8 more samples of trim. Lo and behold, one of them looks really good, and I am trying out adding the variegated yarn from the fabric. I should have a sample by the middle of the week. I'm so excited!

Just need to make buttonholes and sew on the buttons of my Bells shirt and it will be finished. I hope to do that this evening.

Button, Button, Who's Got the Button?

I spent time yesterday studying my button box. I was looking for some buttons for my current UFO project and became captivated by the variety of buttons I possess. I could easily become a pat rack. I fight the urge to save every little scrap of fabric no matter how small. I have spools of half used thread dating back to my high school days. (I don't use it in my sewing machine, but I do baste with it.) So it's no surprise I have buttons 30+ years old. I also received my DMIL's button tin when she died. Most of my buttons are singles. I save every "extra" button from clothes I purchase. But yesterday I discovered a lot of matching buttons.

• Most of the matches were in 3's or 4's.
  
• Most of the matches were large buttons, 1" or more in diameter.
  
• Several of the matches had lots of buttons, 10 or more.

I found 3 really large buttons, 2" dia., with squirrels on them. (These were in my DMIL's collection. Hmm, I wonder what she put those on?) And several groups from her tin had sparkly stones on them. I am really curious about these since DMIL was very much a down-to-earth, utilitarian kind of person.

Pictured here are 2 groups of buttons that really caught my attention. The first is the pink group. There are 50 of these little pink buttons. I would love to hear their story. I can't imagine any garment needing 50 buttons. Why so many? Did she use the same button on multiple garments? And the color is out of character for DMIL. Neither her (nor DSIL's) coloring was good with this shade of pink. But I feel there must be a story here.





The 2nd picture is a sampling of all the white buttons I identified that were made from some kind of heavy "glass" or "stone" material. All the buttons (even the dirty ones) have a distinctive sheen. It reminds me a little of mother of pearl. But I don't think that is what the material is. I love the square button and really wish there was more than just this one. Also, the group strung together is especially nice. My immediate thought was a coat. I am also considering some kind of blouse or shirt using an assortment of similar, mismatched buttons. I've seen this done a couple of times and it was very striking. I hope I can pull it off.

I had a wonderful time yesterday with my button box. The buttons called up old memories and provided inspiration for several garments. What's in your button box?

P-R-O-G-R-E-S-S, Progress

I've been really tired this week but I have spent time every evening on my projects.


Here's a picture of my Sewing Workshop Bells shirt. This is that fabulous silk/bamboo fabric. The color is really chambray, not purple-ish. It's a great color that will fit in my wardrobe with no problem. I have all 3 front bands on the body of the shirt. Yes, that's right. I said 3 front bands. There is a "floating" band on left side in addition to the regular front band. It is attached for about 4" at the top, then "floats" freely. It will have buttonholes so it can buttoned "in many interesting" ways, according to the pattern. The fit is still bothering me. It is better now that I have the front bands on. But I still don't think I would call this a semi-fitted garment. It's pretty fitted around the arms and bust. All in all, I really like this garment. Did I mention the fabric is fabulous?












Here is the counted cross stitch UFO I'm finishing up. I had trouble finding the right color buttons. Who knew it was such a big deal finding light and dark wood tone buttons. I just need to sew on the buttons and then frame it and it will be finished. Yeah! I like the pillow finishing shown, but darn it--I already have the frame and I don't want to waste it. (Obviously, being well organized I purchased the frame at the time I purchased the cloth and pattern. That'll teach me!)














And finally, I decided on my fabric for my Go Chanel or Go Home sew-along. I had almost decided to go with a purple/black/grey fabric I purchased at Vogue Fabrics some time back. I had the 2 yds the pattern calls for, but I just couldn't get comfortable with my choice. I checked around the online shops for possible trim and buttons and nothing really jumped out at me as looking great with the fabric. So I pulled out my swatches this morning and decided to go with this fabric. It is a wool boucle. I bought it at the Puyallup Sewing show from Peggy Sagers at Silhouette Patterns. I have about 3-1/2 yds. I can cut those 2" wide seam allowances and not worry. Also, if something happens and I need to recut a piece, I will have the fabric to do that. I feel really good about my choice. I'm excited about finding trim and buttons. I just wasn't excited with my first almost-choice of fabric. Now I need to go post about my progress with the jacket on the Go Chanel blog.

Mending and Meandering

I get a real sense of satisfaction when I look at a pile of completed mending. I don't like mending: sewing on missing buttons, repairing buttonholes, resewing seams, fixing a hole in a pair of slacks. These tasks just don't fill me with excitement. Is there anyone who really likes to mend?

However, there is one aspect of mending that I guess I actually do like. It's the ability to let my mind wander and think about all the fabric, patterns, and projects around me in my sewing studio. I can look at inspiration pictures I have cut out of magazines and plan a project. Or I can look at fabric scraps and think about a garment I already made. I can look at the patterns laying around and think about how cute DGD2 will look wearing garments made from those patterns. Mending time is an opportunity to just let my thoughts meander from one aspect of sewing to another, a time to dream and be inspired.

So while I didn't actually work on a garment project this weekend, I did spend a fair amount of time in the sewing studio. And as the weekend draws to a close, I feel "darn" good about what I accomplished.

Sewing Mojo…Lost & Found

Several years ago I went through an emotional crisis that nearly took my life. I didn't just wake up one day and my life fell apart. Rather, gradually over several years my life collapsed from the inside. (Similar to the termites we had our house treated for recently. You don't see the damage until there is a lot of it.) Sewing was a victim of my crisis. No longer did it bring me joy. It was work, but nothing worked out right. Zippers were crooked, seams uneven, sleeves sewn in backward, buttonholes looked homemade. Sewing became a chore and gradually I stopped. I did, however, continue to buy fabric and patterns for a couple of years (and I have a nice stash of both now). But eventually I even stopped buying those things. Then I let my swatch subscriptions lapse, I quit visiting online fabric & sewing sites, I even let all my sewing magazine subscriptions lapse, except Threads, but even they just piled up, unread.

Several months into therapy I started not sleeping. To fill the nights I started knitting again after years (like 20) of not knitting. I discovered several podcasts I really liked and I would listen to them as I knitted the middle of the night away. Knitting was soothing to my soul. The rhythm calmed my brain. The repetition of the pattern met my need for order in my life. When I couldn't figure out life, I could sit down and knit a complicated pattern and feel a sense of accomplishment. Unlike life, if I made a mistake in my knitting I could rip it out and reknit it. I could fix the mistakes in knitting!

In addition, the yarn was soft as it flowed through my fingers. There was something about just touching and feeling the yarn that reminded me of something. Something buried deep inside me, something I couldn't quite reach. Knitting gradually reawakened my love of sewing. I didn't realize what had taken place until recently. But just feeling the yarn in my hands reminded my subconscious of how much I loved handling fabric. When I visited my LYS—oh my! all the colors, the textures, the possibilities! For some reason I found yarn much less intimidating than the fabric in my stash. Knitting projects seemed much less intimidating than sewing projects. And after a year or so and multiple successful knitting projects, the yearning to take a piece of fabric in my hands and create a garment surfaced.

So here I am again. Brimming with ideas to sew, shopping my stash like crazy with a new dilemma. How to find time to knit and sew since I am sleeping all night again!