Been away but busy!

I need to take and post pictures! I've been bad about posting but, I've been knocking out lots of little stuff. Made a bag to store my husband and son's Jeep tops. Better hanging in the closet, than laying on the family room floor! I'm almost done with McCalls 5586. The muslin didn't turn out the way I expected. The knit is too heavy, so it hangs more like a maternity top. And the arm holes come down way too low. But the good news is that based on the adjustments, I can go down two sizes when I make a new muslin!!! Yea!!! I had a couple of little projects laying around so getting those done too just so I can get them done quick and put away. One's a little witch for Halloween. Got the head and arms done last night. Should have the hat and dress done by tonight. And all assembled and put away in the Halloween bin by the weekend! One more thing off my planning table! Getting a bunch of hand sewing projects packaged up to take on vacation. Relaxing but productive!

The drapes are pressed, bagged and ready to deliver to my friend tomorrow morning! What a sense of accomplishment! Once I finished pressing them, I was kind of impressed with how nice the french seams looked. From both the front and back, the drapes look nice.
Challenges: figuring out which panels to put with which panels since some were older and faded and some were newer, and one was even a slightly different weight; the fabric was gauzey and the manufacturer did an outstanding job matching the thread to the fabric color- it made the initial removal of stitches very difficult; did a lot of hand basting to keep things together before machine sewing, especially re-attaching the hanging rings.

Tomorrow is quilt guild - changing of the boards for both the general guild board and the show board.

Drapes are Done!

The first thing I needed to finish before moving on to other projects was a set of drapes for a friend. Talk about thread matched exactly to the fabric! And the drapes were made of a gauzey fabric. I had to take lots of breaks just because my eyes would get so tired refocusing all the time. But this is a dear friend and I wanted to do these for her. By the time I got to the last pair I had figured out doing a french seam gave them a beautiful backside finish. But Not starting over! I'll press them tonight and take them to work tomorrow.

For eye breaks, I started marking out my pattern for McCalls 5586, a cute and comfortable little top.

But tonight I'll start cutting out a replacement top for a friend's kids swingset fort. 'Simple' straight sewing, but it's size that will be the challenge on this.

Hoping to pick up my car this evening...don't like not having one at my disposal! Quick stop funeral home for a friend who's mother-in-law passed away this weekend, and then home to my beloved little 'studio' and the iron!

Day One! I've enjoyed following so many other sewing blogs. It seems to develop a sense of accountability. And that is what I need right now! I was taught to sew by my mom. She was a fantastic seamstress. I remember beautiful dresses and suits she made. And coordinated outfits for my two sisters and me. She trained in millinery in Germany, but turned to sewing when she moved to the US. I learned from her.... I made many of my formals, college and early work clothes.

But four kids came along and my focus turned to them. A beautiful satin and lace christening gown, mom and daughter dresses for Christmas, coordinated halloween costumes. And in the past fifteen years, I've developed a love for quilting. To the point I'm co-chairing our guild's quilt show for next year!

But my goal this past year was to get back into fashion sewing for me. I do not have the figure I did twenty years ago, and clothes are more difficult to find in the stores for my, shall we call them 'anomalies'? And I do have a fabric stash plenty large enough to draw upon.

I started re-focusing last year by making a simple skirt totally in the coture method-and I do mean totally coture; there is not one single machine stitch in that little skirt. It re-taught me, and taught me new in some instances, a lot about fashion sewing. (I 'taught myself' using Claire Shaeffer's Coture Sewing book). This year I'll go back to sewing on my machine but with the benefit of some of those techniques.

There seems to be such a sense of accountability and sharing with bloggers, that I am hoping this community will help me be more accountable to reach my goals this year.