McCalls 6435 Blue & Grey

After completing the grey Vogue knit top I had a conundrum. Too much fabric to throw away guilt-free but what to do with it? I'm trying very hard to use up my stash and I don't want to exchange yardage for scraps. So? Then I remembered McCall's #6435 I picked up for a buck at a recent sale. "No problem," I thought. There would be more than enough fabric to cut view D. That didn't work out. I was short for the second sleeve so I switched to view C. I had enough fabric, barely.  I ended up cutting both upper sections on the crosswise grain. The fabric is very stretchy so I don't think it made any difference.


For the body and second sleeve I used some navy cotton knit I had in the stash. Woo-hoo! Stash reduction x2.

 

 

This picture was taken to showcase the necklace but it shows the top also.

 

This pattern is very shapely at the waist. I straightened the side seams since I am more straight up & down. But I think I will go back and create a bit of waist shaping. I think I will do the same with the solid grey top. Both look a little bag-like right now.

Samo-Samo for Christmas

Pajama pants for Christmas - again! Jeni tells me that the kids love the pajama pants I make them. So, again, this year I am making pajama pants for Hannah, Mason, & Austin. Riley will get a nightgown. She prefers gowns to pajamas. A girly-girl after my own heart! Here is a picture of the fabric I used for Hannah's pj's. 


Hannah's Pajama Pants 2012

I also knitted Hannah a purple slouchy hat. I hope she likes it!


I boys' fabric is a black & white plaid. I haven't decided on Riley's fabric yet. I don't think I have anything in the stash.

Brown, Brown, Brown

In a moment of desperation I bought some brown knit at Jo-Ann's to make a simple skirt and pair of pants. They were supposed to be basics for a brown column of clothes. In my desperation I failed to realize the fabric was too thin to be used successfully for winter clothes. Thank goodness the fabric was on sale or I would feel even worse.

I used a Loes Hinse skirt pattern, #5002. I made the short version without the ruffle at the hem. I wanted a plain simple straight skirt. And that's what I got. I think I need to taper it a bit at the hem to create a more pleasing line.

The pants were from Vogue 2448. This pattern is out of print. It is a Vogue Wardrobe pattern that includes a dress, top, pants, skirt, coat & cape. The dress & top are for moderate stretch knits only. The coat & cape call for double sided fleece or similar fabric. I bought this pattern because it has that long, drapey look. I never used it till now. Even though I'm not long & lean like the model, I am learning to adapt that look to my body. Yeah!

So I haven't worn the pants yet. I still have some handwork to do on them. But I think the will look good. The problem is that the fabric is too thin for winter, as I said earlier. But I can put tights under them and I think they'll be o.k.

Pictures coming soon.

Fall Wreath

Somewhere on the Internet I saw this wreath and fell in love with it. Only problem is I don't do paper crafts, such as scrap booking and I don't really want to start. So I puzzled on how to adapt the idea to fabric. I finally decided that yo-yo's would be the way to go. So-o-o-o after years of deriding yo-yo's and people who made them, I purchased the Clover yo-yo makers and got to work. 

 So here is a look at my new collection of yo-yo makers AND the Olfa circle cutter that really made this craft easy to do. I don't know if I would have had the patience to cut all the circles if I hadn't had this awesome tool!                      

And here is my interpretation!!!

In Anticipation of the Stash Bash

Our ASG chapter is having a stash bash in conjunction with our Annual Meeting in October. I'm planning on (hopefully) selling off a bunch of my stash (like 50%, I hope!). I've gone through all my fabric, pulling out what I want to sell, and reorganizing what's left. I have about 80 pieces of fabric to sell. When I look at the boxes and boxes of fabric that I acquired during that really dark time of my life, I am truly saddened. That fabric brings me no joy. I will be so glad to get it out of my life. It's almost like chains holding me down. I told my friend, Aline, that I didn't want any of the fabric back. If it didn't sell, I just didn't want to bring it back into my life. She gave me the name of a charity I could donate it to. I really hope I sell a lot of it. Ninety per cent of it is really quality stuff. I know that there are people who would love to have it. I just hope they come to the stash bash and buy it. 

Here are pictures of the mess created while sorting, culling, and reorganizing the sewing studio.

Tubs & tubs of fabric. Aagh!

Now what happened to the inventory cards on these?

The paperwork to organize it all!

The mess before the calm.

Lavender Lovely

Here is the kit for my latest Creative Sweatshirt Jacket. It goes on a beautiful lavender sweatshirt. Oh my gosh the color is fabulous! The lightest silk in the picture is a beautiful shade of light mint green. I have actually started on the jacket. But haven't taken any construction pictures yet. I probably will have a finished picture in a couple of days. I'm pretty excited about this project.

Round Bobbin St. Charles

The weekend of Sept. 14th & 15th was the Round Bobbin quilting and sewing expo in St. Charles. Londa was here with her booth so I was able to work for her. It was quite an experience. 

Setup - Londa received information that set up wouldn't be available until noon on Thursday. When she checked with show management they told her to arrive around 10 a.m. and get in line to unload. Because there was only 1 dock, unloading was the issue. So we arrived around 9:30, found ourselves next in line unload and were able to start unloading within about 15 minutes. We finished up about 5 p.m., headed back to my house to clean up a bit before meeting Ron for dinner.

The Show Opens - Doors open Friday morning at 10 a.m. Londa & I arrived about 8:30 to take care of some last minute work. Ready to start the day, and on the first transaction the credit card machine decides not to work. She calls the bank and gets put on hold. She hands me the phone and says, in essence, "here, you fix it." (She was off to teach a class.) Which was o.k. After the credit card machine fiasco in Houston one year, I was not really panicked. However, when the cash register wouldn't work properly, I did swallow hard. So now the credit card machine is working o.k. (It had dust in the card reading slot?), but I can't ring up any sales. 

I found the manual for the register and called the manufacturer. After describing the problem, the tech guy proceeds to tell me the batteries need to be replaced. "Batteries?", I ask incredulously. "The register is plugged into electricity." Who knew there were internal batteries! So know I've identified the problem, but I can't leave the booth to locate batteries. So I start hand writing sales tickets on yellow legal pad paper. I use the calculator to compute tax. "Please God,"  I pray silently, "Let me not make too big of a mistake." I send a text to Londa's phone, "Plz come back to the booth between classes." 

So I keep hand writing sales tickets. Londa reports back to the booth between classes and I hurriedly tell her the problem. What else could possibly go wrong? Thankfully, nothing did. God heard my pray and provided batteries. The show management lady came by the booth and said she had heard I needed batteries, would these work. In her hand were 4 A batteries. Just what I needed.  I inserted the batteries and said a quick prayer of thanks. Unfortunately all the pre-programmed pricing was lost, but I knew the prices well enough to enter the manually. Londa and Charlie are very understanding about cash register goofs. Thank goodness. 

So I was back in business. The afternoon was a blockbuster sale day and Saturday was o.k. So we ended up o.k. Life is good. I was able to spend time with Londa, talk to a wide variety of interesting women, and also see some of my sewing guild friends. Yes, God is good to me.