Salvage job

Posted on May 17, 2013 by bethh

Project: Chambray skirt
Pattern: Simplicity 5723
Size: 14 1/2
Fabric: 100% cotton from stash

Some projects just don’t turn out like you planned. Agreed? This is one of those

It being summer and my requiring appropriately-pocketed dresses had me perusing sewing blogs for inspiration. I found this 1964 vintage dress pattern at A Dress A Day, and it looked perfect–not too full, waistline seam, cap sleeves. All I had to do was add some pockets, which I’ve done plenty of times.

An Etsy vendor offered the pattern in my size and I quickly clicked “Add to cart”. When it arrived, I *knew* I had found the holy grail of summer dresses.

When something seems to be too good to be true, it usually is, right?

The completed dress was the most unflattering rag I have put on in a long time! I joke about having prison matron tastes, but that dress was beyond anything even *I* could consider wearing outside my sewing room. Though it looked a lot like the vintage Vogue 7618 dress I made a while back, it was much less flattering thanks to the higher neckline and the plain chambray fabric.

The offensive beast didn’t hit the trash can immediately because I loved the skirt! Like any sewing wo/man with a sharp seam ripper, I considered the options: I could recut the bodice from a flattering pattern. I could modify the neckline. I could sew on a scarf to decorate the boring neckline.

In the end, the easiest thing to do was to simply cut off the bodice and let it be a skirt.

Now I’m back on the hunt for a summer dress pattern with pockets. I’ll let you know if I come up with anything.

I know why there’s no sewing

Posted on May 4, 2013 by bethh

Honestly I did not intend for this to be a once-a-week blog. But it *is* a sewing blog and there’s been no sewing. None. Nada. Zilch. I can’t get going on anything and I just now figured out why. We are having a cool wet spring for the first time in years, and it’s squelching my desire to sew.

This time of year I want to wear dresses and sandals, but for this weather I need shoes and socks and cardigans. Naturally I don’t want to sew long sleeved stuff in May!

So what’s a girl to do besides cruise Pinterest and make pretty stuff she finds on there instead?

My new planter boxen are happy regardless of the weather. Oh! I’ll go outside and get a photo…wait a minute …

Besides that, I’ve made a wreath to hang next to the back door…

and tried my hand at succulent gardening:

All these projects originated on Pinterest!

My planter boxes are based on these at Ana White dot com.
My wreath design came from numerous examples on Pinterest.
And my succulent garden sprang from posts at The Design File and Craftberry Bush.

I’ll get back to business as usual when it warms up! For now, I’ve got wood to cut.

Why yes, I did make these pants!

Posted on April 26, 2013 by bethh

Project: White Pants
Pattern: Simplicity 1696
Size: 14, heavily altered
Fabric: White cotton blend from stash

These turned out great! I’ve worn them for a couple of hours now, and I really don’t have anything negative to say about them. My back is still nagging me, but that’s not the pants’ fault.

I lengthened the pattern 1.25″ to add a hem allowance–I’m not into the ankle pants look.

As for the belt and tucked in top thing, well, I’ve been seeing it on other people’s blogs so I thought I’d give it a whirl. Unfortunately I have forgotten how to keep my tum sucked in since we’ve been wearing tops out for 15 or 20 years. That habit will definitely have to be redeveloped.

I’m considering what’s next onto the cutting table–I’ll let you know. Y’all have a great weekend!

Ouch!

Posted on April 24, 2013 by bethh

Today I would like to show you my new pants. Like to.

They *are* done but for the button and hook at the waistband. If I hadn’t had an overwhelming urge to move a rosebush on Monday, I would be modeling them right now! Instead I am lying in bed thankful to find a comfortable position to rest my sore back.

I snapped this photo just after I had the Bernina embroider the pattern number on the waistband–one of few useful applications for those machine alphabets.

The new pants are white. WHITE. I’m not sure why I had that nice length of white fabric in my stash, ’cause it ain’t a color I usually wear–especially not in pants. Think about it–black dog, red Georgia clay. Just sayin’.

I won’t be moving any rosebushes while I’m wearing them, that’s for sure. Actually I have no idea *when* I might wear them. We don’t have much need for long pants in the summertime. I need to wear them a few times to see if I want to make more.

Right now I’m thinking not. Skinny pants won’t last long at the rate styles change these days. Of course I could wait 6 months or a year and they’d be back.

My alterations were very successful with one exception, the vertical tuck down the back leg. With a 14.5″ hemline, even my bird legs needed that extra fabric. Fortunately the 1″ seam allowances allowed me to reclaim it.

(I may or may not show you the back. The pants hug in a way that I’m not sure I want broadcast in bright white on the WWW…)

The pattern has some nice features. It includes pocket facings and zipper shields, which I usually add anyway. It also provides a real fly, which I changed to a cut-on. I didn’t much like the fake back welts, though I used them. If I use the pattern again, I’ll put different pockets on.

As I mentioned, however, the jury is still out on making more.

The weather was hot for about 10 days, though it’s seasonal again. It got warm enough to wear my summer things, and I found that there weren’t enough pockets for a woman-with-a-dog. As soon as my back lets me out of this bed, there’ll be some cotton dresses with big pockets in my future.

No pants.

Posted on April 14, 2013 by bethh

This past week has been filled with business–or busy-ness. As often as I wanted to get in the sewing room and make pants, something always got in the way. Fun things, generally, but still, they weren’t sewing. I’ll show you some of those later–mostly they involve gardening or decorating the house.

I said it was fun, yes?

There was a bit of sewing–secret sewing, mostly. My ASG group likes to do round robin projects without the owner seeing their project until the end of the year. This year it’s a set of kitchen accessories–casserole carrier, hot pad, oven mitts and such.

This month we sewed casserole cover/carriers.

I made this one from All People Quilt, and it turned out great! I was hard pressed to put it in the bag and send it on.

Then I remembered that someone else was working on one for me!

Not only did some of my time go to the round robin project, but we were doing a service project and I was charged with making a prototype of an activity apron. You can see my apron and the sites where I researched the project on my Pinterest board.

This was a lot of fun to make! How often do you get to sew with all your most colorful notions at once! I used a grab bag purple zipper with a big sparkly pull that would have never been used otherwise. On a later apron I used some red pompon curtain trim. Too Fun!

Perhaps next week will show me some personal time in the sewing room. There will be no purple zippers or red pompons. Sorry.