The Comraderie of Sewing

I can't believe it's been nearly two months since I wrote in my blog! I have had alot going on. My wonderful, 81 year old father had a heart attack, then triple bypass surgery. I traveled to Sudbury, MA a week ago to be with him. I arrived just before the snow storm, and just in time to experience the power outage at my sister's home. Fortunately, the power came on three days later, and we could bring Dad home. He is doing remarkably well, and is the perfect patient.



While in MA, I discovered just how close some of my Stitcher's Guild friends are to Sudbury. I enjoyed a wonderful afternoon last week with Betsy and Debra at Sawyer Brook where I also met Dixie. I found a fabulous wool cashmere and cotton print to make a shirt/vest combo.

Dixie introduced me to a staff person, Sue who was from KY. I mentioned that my family was from Butler, a town that is hardly on the map and that no one has ever heard of. Not only had Sue heard of Butler, she was raised there! She asked about my family, and I responded she would not know them. They left KY in the 50's. When I finally told her the family name, I learned that my great uncle had been a friend of her father's!

Today, I met my sewing buddies again for a trip to a fabric store in Natick. This time, Denise also joined us. It was great fun looking at fabric with fellow sewers, already knowing their preferences from Stitcher's Guild. We've been posting for so long, we all know each other fairly well: our moments of joy, sorrow, dreams, frustrations. Not only do we share a passion for fabric, sewing, fashion, and clothes. We also share our lives. It's great to have such wonderful friends, and finally get to meet them in person.

The End of A Great Week!

It's been a great week off from work. I managed to accomplish the sewing goals I made for myself for the week as well as spend some quality time with my hubby. The total for the week was:

Pants - 4
Skirts -3
Sweater - 1
Shells - 2
Vest -1
Top - 1
Total - 12 Garments.

This sweater set rounded out my sewing this week. A great addition to my fall wardrobe. It's from Loes Hinse Sweater Set pattern. It had been years since I had sewn it. I made alterations with, once again, Sure Fit Designs, and it came out perfectly. I had orange sweater material left from the vest, so I made a shell from it as well.


All fabric is from Gorgeous Fabrics. They are a light sweater fabric that is perfect for early fall, and in Alabama will also work all winter.

I've really enjoyed having the week off to sew and hang out at the house instead of going somewhere. My husband and I decided this will be a new tradition for us Labor Day week. We decided it was a good practice for retirement in 10 years.

I was having this "sewcation" simultaneously with Carolyn in NJ. It was great fun knowing that she was sewing hard at home and anticipating her creations. Carolyn is always inspiring and makes the most beautiful clothes.

Unfortunately, now it's back to work and catching up with what I missed in the world of Public Health Social Work.

A New Vest

This is my next item completed during my Sewcation. It 's a vest made from Pamela's Patterns Draped Cardigan. I love this pattern, and have made it several times as a cardigan and once before as a vest. The fabric is a wonderful sweater knit from Gorgeous Fabrics. I had enough to make a shell from the Sweater Set from Loes Hinse. It will go with a brown cardigan of the same pattern that I'm working on.

The shirt was completed last week. It was drafted from Sure Fits and fit perfectly without any alterations. (Hurray) Once I have finished the brown cardigan, I will have met my goals for the week! Lots of new clothing items, mostly basics to update my wardrobe.

Staycation Continued

I would have posted my progess sooner, but I have been busy sewing! It's been a great week sewing, hanging out with my husband, and just enjoying being home. I realize how much I'm going to enjoy retirement. Unfortunately, that won't happen for another 10 years!

So far, I've made three pairs of pants, three skirts, a top, and a shirt. I hope to get a draped cardigan/vest, LH sweater set, and a shell completed before the weekend is over.

My body has been changing over the last few months. I'd like to attribute it mostly to menopause, but I think it has to do with the fact that I have a husband now who loves to eat (particularly fried chicken and ice cream). Therefore, I needed some basics to add to my wardrobe. I made these three skirts from Pamela's Patterns pencil skirt. I love this pattern. It is so fast to sew - about 30 minutes including cutting out. The brown is much darker, more chocolate. It came out lighter in the picture.

I also made cooresponding pants to the skirts. The first was the brown. I drafted it from Sure Fit Designs with a shaped waistband. It is my least favorite. This was not my most flattering style, but is wearable. I changed plans after the brown, and made the black and camel with an elastic facing similar to the old SoHo pants from Textile Studios, again, drafted from Sure Fit. They fit very well and are very comfortable.
My favorite project thus far has been The Sewing Workshop Trio Top with the jacquard from Emma One Sock. (Pictured in the first photo.) I love this pattern! I have a green knit to make a t-shirt underneath. In the meantime I can wear it with a white t-shirt. It also matches my brown pants perfectly. The buttons I found at JoAnn's were great. In the back, I changed the direction of the yoke. I also used the brown linen for the bias facing for the sleeves.

This will be a fun top to wear through out the fall and winter. Once it's too cold in Alabama for the brown linen pants, I can wear it with the chocolate brown pants.

Fall Sewing

As tropical storm Lee comes through Alabama, I am busy working on my fall wardrobe. Lucky for me, I've taken a week off from work for a Staycation! We had planned for this in the last few weeks. For me, that meant purchasing fabric to get ready. I purchased a collection from Emma One Sock and Gorgeous Fabrics. I love these fabrics! If you are looking for a great RPL at a reasonable price, I highly recommend Emma One Sock. I bought it in brown, black, and camel to make pants using my Sure Fit Designs Kit and pencil skirts from Pamelas Patterns.

The first item I made was a a pair of pants out of a beautiful brown/white cross weave linen to match the beautiful brocade I purchased. I used my Sure Fit Pants Blue Print and drafted them based on the Katherine Pant by Style Arc. They fit perfectly at first try. No Tweaking! Being in Alabama, I can wear these well into October before the weather turns cooler. They will also be perfect for summer next year.

These were very easy to draft. I cut through the front dart to make a princess seam pant. Then I chopped it to make the pant, angling it down about 1 1/2 inches to the side. Because the opening is on the bias, I used fusible stay tape to stabilize. There are definitely more of these in my future. I'm thinking they will be cute in a light weight denim.

I'm now working on The Sewing Workshop Trio Top out of the stripe brocade to go with the pants. I also have the RPL in the washing machine getting ready to go.

Staycation and Fall Planning!

My husband and I have decided to start a tradition of taking a staycation around Labor Day each year. We plan to take a week off from work and have absolutely no plans. I'm sure he'll take the opportunity to go to the casino a couple of times, giving me some time in my sewing room!

I plan to start my fall wardrobe and have acquired my new fabrics from Gorgeous Fabrics and Emma One Sock. What wonderful fabrics as you can see from the picture above! I purchased a brown knit and orange knit from Gorgeous fabrics. They feel wonderful and are the perfect weight for Alabama winters. The brown will become a cardigan, probably Loes Hinse Sweater Set, and the orange will be a vest from the draped cardigan from Pamela's Patterns.

The brown, black, and camel RPL is from EmmaOneSock. I highly recommend it. It's excellent quality, just enough stretch, beautiful drape, and only $12 a yard. They will become pants from Sure Fit Designs and pencil skirts from Pamela's Patterns.

The brown linen is going to be pants self drafted, but based on Katherine's pants from Style Arc. This fabric matches beautifully with the jacquard stripe from EOC that will be a Trio Top from TSW along with the green knit for a Trio Top. I love these three fabrics together. It's my favorite combo in a long time.

I hope to get my patterns ready and much of my fabric cut out before the week off. I think I'm going to like this new tradition of ours.

Black and White

I have been sewing up a storm with my new Bernina this past week. Here are some of my new creations. First, I bought some wonderful fabric from Marcy Tilton recently. Some fabrics are just worth the price, and I loved a french print. It happened to match a lavender cardigan I made several years ago. The fabric became a Tango Skirt - a pattern I have made millions of times. I was very pleased how this one turned out. I used a decorative stitch for the hem, which matched the design of the print perfectly.

Now for the topic at hand: black and white.

I have been trying to make more unusual pieces. It's been a challenge experimenting with new designs and challenging myself with new techniques.

I purchased black and white fabrics from Fabric.com - one is polka dot while the other is a stripe. I intended to use them together and was able to make two tops. It was fun making two totally different things. The first shirt is a Marcy Tilton pattern from Vogue, while the second is the Urban T from The Sewing Workshop. That's the joy of sewing.