You Spin Me Right Round

Early morning spinning session.

If you follow me on Facebook, Instagram, or have run into me in person over the last two and a half weeks you know by the title exactly what this blog post is about...

For years I've desperately wanted to get into spinning yarn.  Over time I've acquired some drop spindles and what turns out to be way too little fibre.  After a few aborted attempts with the drop spindle, a book and some youtube videos I finally decided to take a class last spring at one of the LYS.

It was a few hours long, thoroughly enjoyable, but truth be told I was a bit of train wreck with the whole co-ordination thing although I did leave the class with my drop spindle holding a little bit of a spun single attached to it so not all was lost.  I practiced a bit following the class but then got frustrated, set it aside, then couldn't figure out what I was doing when I picked it up again.  Still.  That dream of spinning was still there.

Imagine my surprise when, on my birthday, at the beginning of July I opened a lovely card from my husband and when I was instructed to keep reading, I turned the page of the inset of the card to find a note saying I was to have a one day class with a local master spinner in the city AND after my class I was to choose the spinning wheel I wanted.

OH MY WORD!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

The next day I phoned and booked my class for July 23rd and then anxiously waited, like a child waits for Santa Claus, for the day to arrive.  I was all kinds of nervous when I walked up to the door, but within minutes of entering the woman's home I was put at ease.   She was lovely and friendly and so very interesting.  It was a day filled with not only learning how to spin, but of history and tidbits of knowledge she'd gathered over her years as a spinner and former mill owner as well as just general camaraderie of two people who share a mutual love of all things wooly. I was fascinated, and couldn't believe when the time had come for the little boys and (BF)G to pick me up again.  I can't say enough good things about it.  It was just an all around fantastic day.

My new crafty tool!!!

After the day of trying out three different wheels I was completely taken with the Ashford Kiwi 2, so the cheque was written, the wheel carried out to our vehicle along with a bag of fibre, a skein of my first ever hand spun single I made that morning,  a skein of plied yarn that I'd made that afternoon clutched tightly in my hands and my imagination running wild with the possibilities that lay ahead of me.  My instructor had given me the advice that I should spin every day if I could.  "Five minutes a day is better than one 35 minute session a week" she'd said often enough throughout the day that it stuck.  I sat down to spin some more as soon as my wheel came into the house.

Top is my first ever single, bottom is my plied yarn 

I've found that I don't have a problem spinning every day.  I have a problem stopping when I start.  Supper?  Who needs supper?  There's still fibre to be spun!!!  It's soothing, it's therapeutic and it's addictive.

Mystery roving yarn plus a teeny tiny skein of mystery roving plied with the polwarth batt

I quickly finished up with all the Polwarth fibre she'd given me to "get me started", and then dug through my stash to find some mystery roving I'd bought years ago in hopes of learning to use the drop spindle that N made me one year when I must have talked non-stop about drop spindles.  (I think he was about 12 or 13 at the time).  I went through the mystery roving in a day, so then I moved onto a drop spindle kit (BF)G had given me for Christmas a few years ago.  It held the promise of three different types of fibre to be spun.  When it was getting low, I quickly contacted a friend who I know spins and asked her if she had a good local source that she could tell me of for fibre.

Last of the fibre in the house!  Panic was setting in!

Turns out there is a wonderful little farm not five miles away from me.  I paid them a visit last Friday afternoon and was in heaven!  I came home with enough stash of fibre - shetland and shetland/alpaca blends if you're curious - to hopefully get me the next few weeks at least!

Shetland Sheep, Shetland Sheep have you any wool,
Yes ma'am, yes ma'am, three bags full!

My poor husband is wondering what kind of monster he has inadvertently created in buying me the wheel, and he keeps gently suggesting that maybe, just maybe I'd like to start knitting something with all of the yarn I've made.  I think he worries that he may some day be buried alive by the ever growing pile of skeins of yarn that is amassing in our room.

Resistance was futile.
I had to dive right into my shetland/alpaca blend rolag as soon as I got home!

Right now I've been working hard on trying to get more consistent with my drafting so that my finished yarn is more consistent.  The shetland/alpaca blend from up the road is amazing to work with - so easy to spin and makes me happy to know it was prepared right in the little room at the back of the farm house.  I love the idea that this is local to me and hand produced from beginning to end from sheep that I've been introduced to! (although they seemed to be much less enthusiastic about our meeting than I was, choosing instead to largely ignore my ooh-ing and aaah-ing and I want one-ing!)

Spinning has really taken over my crafting world right now and my knitting and sewing have mostly fallen to the wayside.  I can't help it.  I am completely smitten.  I have always loved that with my sewing and knitting I could take a simple object of yarn or fabric and turn it into something.  The fact that I can now take essentially a blob of fluff and turn it into yarn and then turn it into something is just takes it to that next level for me!

Anchor's Aweigh

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I'm so excited everyone!  I've been completely obsessed with making a nautical themed dress for months now, probably at least since we were still knee deep in the snow.  (Ok.  That might have just been May knowing the prairies but let's not quibble ok?)  Now it's done and ready to wear!

I had originally planned on making my nautical fabric into another Emery dress, but had been holding off not quite sure what I wanted to do with the skirt (certainly not waistline gathers.  Nope. Not for me, thanks!) So my lovely cotton fabric that I ordered from a seller in Thailand early in the spring sat languishing in the storage bin.  OK.  That's a lie.  It only went down to the sewing room about two weeks ago.  Prior to that it sat on my dresser staring at me begging to be sewn up.

Anyways, I'm going off course here.  Let's get back to business.  A few weeks ago Kennis of Itch to Stitch released an update to her Marbella* pattern.  It's a pattern I've had my eye on for a long time, I love the slightly scooped out boat neckline, but hadn't quite committed to purchasing yet because of the skirt.  I'm just not sure I'm a tulip skirt kind of girl.  But the update happens to be the addition of a variation for a circle skirt.  Yes, please!!! I'm definitely a circle skirt kind of girl no question about it.

I look impatient here.  I wasn't...
Little Man was telling me how to pose and I was concentrating.

I muslined the bodice because you just never know when it's a new to you pattern but as like almost all of the Itch to Stitch patterns I've sewn to date, it fit great from the get go.  The only adjustment I made was to lengthen the bodice by about 3/4", which is pretty much standard for any pattern I sew from any company.

Oooh!  Look at the impeccable lining up of the invisible zip.
Ok.  You can't really see it, but it's there and it lines up
...and it only took me three bloody tries to get it perfect.

The pattern itself sewed up really easily.  I did choose to skip the lining step and just lined the yoke instead.  I'm a bit lazy that way! LOL  It was also a billion degrees outside which meant it was about a billion and two degrees in the house when I was sewing and the thought of extra layers was just too much for me to contemplate at the time.

Note to self.  Be careful where placing hands.  I'm not grabbing my own butt.
I was following instructions to put my hands in my pockets.
Just not fast enough.
Seven year olds are demanding photographers I tell you!

I was going to get fancy with my hem and do some ribbon or contrast fabric binding but in the end decided that I'd keep it simple and just do a narrow three-step hem for it.  I did buy some fishing weights to stitch into it, to lessen the "flash my knickers" potential but then promptly forgot about them.  I might just stitch them in just above the hemline into the seam allowances on the sides and centre back and see if that does the trick.

I think this dress is going to get a lot of wear this summer.   The cotton is soft and a great weight and I love the style and fit of the dress itself.  This one is a total win for the wardrobe!!

See ya later!  I'm off to do some more sewing! :)

Vintage Baby

This year I decided I was going to officially take part in the Vintage Pledge hosted by Marie of A Stitching Odyssey and Kerry of Kestrel Makes.

I wasn't sure at the time I signed up what I wanted to pledge, so I will admit to being pretty wishy-washy about it.  Something along the lines of "I will knit or sew some projects using vintage patterns".  There's commitment for you, all right.

I still have absolutely no direction in mind for what I'm doing in terms of my vintage pledge, well... in many areas outside of the vintage pledge as well, but we'll focus on the pledge in this post, not life in general at the moment.  LOL!  I have enough stress going on in life at the moment that my crafting should definitely not be one of them.  So, my goal is to have fun and enjoy this and just see what happens.

One of the limitations of my Vintage Pledge is that I do not have an extensive library of patterns to choose from.  Although with the 80s now being included I suppose I have many more than I realize - but when I think vintage I like to go a bit further back.   Also, the majority of the patterns I do have are children's patterns.

Wow!  So that was a lot of preamble to get to the point of this post, which is that I have actually made my first Vintage Pledge project of the year!

I signed up to do a swap in one of my Ravelry groups in the spring and was assigned a little girl who lives in the Southern States so I really wanted to make her a little sunsuit for the heat of the summer.  I knew I had a great 1960s pattern in my stash that would fit the bill exactly for what I was envisioning for her.

I didn't realize until I dug it out of my pattern box that the pattern itself was a size 2 and the little miss in question was just turning one this summer and unlike my gargantuan babies, she is slightly more petite, so between consulting a modern pattern I had in my stash (well - early 1990s anyways) for sizing and a bit of going by guess and by golly I graded the pattern down to what I hope is closer to the 12 month size clothes she actually wears.

It was a fun sew and I love the blend of the vintage look of the pattern and the modern beachy print.  I decided to add eyelet instead of a self ruffle at the bottom because I LOVE eyelet on all things and then changed the bottom of the bloomers to have a ruffled edge rather than a turned under casing because ruffles should be somewhere on a baby girl's sunsuit in my humble estimation and since I'd eliminated them from the top they had to go on the bottom.  (My mind is a mysterious and bizarre place.  Don't feel badly if you're thinking, "What in holy hell is she on about now?!?!" I certainly won't judge you for it! LOL)

I also knit a quick little head band because the swap was on Ravelry and I felt that meant it should definitely utilize yarn somehow in it!  I used a thoroughly modern pattern but picked one that I thought sort of echoed the vintage vibe of the eyelet I used on the suit.  The Princess Headband took almost no time and was an absolute pleasure to knit!

Anyways.  End result?  I adore this outfit and as a bonus it fulfils the first of my Vintage Pledge projects.  Whoot!  Whoot!

Next up on my sewing desk is a modern pattern for me, but I do have a few more vintage pledge project ideas floating around in my head right now!

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It Only Took Three Years...

I've finally finished my Jane Richmond Gemini top and it only took me three years to get to this point.

I first cast on Gemini for the 2013 Tops Tanks and Tees Knit Along on Ravelry.  I even finished it during that KAL.  Unfortunately it was a disaster fit wise and I completely ripped it out the very next day.   I was ever so proud of myself that I not only ripped it out, but I cast on immediately again in a size smaller.  But then I made a mistake and ripped out again and restarted, then ripped and restarted and then eventually made a mistake, got confused where I even was in the pattern and tossed it into the deep dark recesses of my closet where it sat for a few years until this spring when I was trying to decide what to knit for the 2016 TTTKAL and found this languishing in a bag.

It wasn't even on needles any more, but the lace panel and a few rounds below were done, so I decided to put it back on the needles and figure it out once and for all.  Things were going swimmingly... or so I'd thought.  Until a few inches from the bottom I tried it on and realize that my gauge had gone to hell again and my top was getting larger and larger.  The bust fit well, but below that was a mess.

I just about threw in the towel then, but after investing so much effort already, I decided it had precisely one last chance.  I ripped back to almost the armholes and restarted again, immediately working a set of decreases along each side.  Then knit two more inches and worked another set of decreases.  Then noticed way back where I'd joined a ball of yarn I'd somehow twisted the stitch, dropped the one below it and goodness knows what else.  It was the ugliest stitch imaginable and stuck out like a sore thumb.  To give you an idea of how bad it was, my husband even noticed it from a distance and gently suggested something should be done about it.  He was right, so I painstakingly dropped down approximately 4" of knitting for two stitches and reworked them back up, which was no easy feat given that it was a stitch at the start of a new ball of yarn, but so worth it.  After that was done, I kept knitting, keeping close watch to make sure I didn't let my gauge go rogue on me again, and finally did a couple of sets of increases for the hips and finished up.

This was the original gemini in it's droopy tent like capacity:

Re-worked and much, much better :

I swear I thought I would never ever see the end of the tunnel with this one and I didn't finish it in time for the due date of the TTTKAL, which was a bit disappointing - I was two days late, but I am really glad that I did slog away at it and didn't give up.  It's exactly the fit was I was envisioning back in 2013 when I first set out to knit it.   Sometimes it pays to be a "responsible knitter" and re-work things until you get them the way you want them, even if it feels like an impossible task at times. To keep going and have something you'll wear, rather than something that languishes in a dark corner of the closet never to see the light of day again.  I suppose like anything in life.  Sometimes it's just good to persevere.

Vienna

I have a new addiction.  It's the latest release from Itch to Stitch* that I was fortunate enough to test.  Vienna is a fantastic little pattern.  Like Kennis Wong's Idyllwild tee that I couldn't stop making in the fall, this one has proved to be just as addictive.  No sooner had I finished my first one, I was cutting out a second one.  Fabric for version three is sitting on my table and version four is in the planning stages.  It's like potato chips.  You can't just stop at one.

I absolutely LOVE this top.  Cute, full of options, great size range, easy to whip up in a few hours max; the perfect warm weather sew.  Vienna is designed for a knit body and woven yoke, but I can tell you that lots of the ladies testing the pattern opted to do a completely woven version and they all turned out looking fantastic.  I can also tell you that almost all of us testing immediately jumped into making a second version as soon as the first one was done.

Another perk with this pattern is that you can use smaller cuts of fabric.  My friend sent me a parcel of fabric delights from Japan recently and one of the pieces was a sweet little cotton lawn print.  I adore the fabric.  From a distance it looks like just a floral print.   Pretty enough alright, but then hello!  Who's that peeking out from the flowers?  A polar bear!!!!  How much fun is that?!?! I only had half a metre of my precious polar bear in the flower garden fabric, and wondered what I could do with it.  With a print that fun I knew I wanted to have it in a garment somehow.  Then the testing call came out for Vienna and I knew exactly what I was going to do!  It was the perfect place to showcase it!

My first version used a cotton/spandex blend t-shirt knit for the main body and a cotton plaid for the yoke.

My second version used a drapey bamboo/spandex knit for the main body and cotton lawn for the yoke.

I highly recommend getting your hands on Vienna, which just so happens to be on sale right now for 20% off, and then run, don't walk to your sewing machine and get some fun new shirts in your wardrobe for summer!!

Me Made May Update

If you follow me on Instagram at all this is pretty much all going to be old news, but for those that don't I thought I'd give a bit of an update on how Me Made May went for me.

Here was my pledge for this year:

I, Sarah Jane, of Prairie Girl Knits, sign up as a participant of Me-Made-May '16. I endeavour to wear at least one handmade item each day for the duration of May 2016' (not including my bras and handbags as that would be cheating since I only ever use handmade for them. LOL) I also endeavour to discover what "holes" are in in my wardrobe so that I can begin to fill them up.

Just like last year I looked at my Me Made May challenge as a great time to discover what was missing in my current hand made wardrobe.  I was surprised to find that there weren't really any in terms of what I wanted to wear day in and day out.  Something I counted as a big success compared to last year was that instead of repeating an outfit because I'd run out of hand mades to choose from it was a repeat because I just love it that much.  I didn't find it a struggle at all this year to reach for hand mades as I'm realizing the ready to wear is really being phased out in my wardrobe and the majority is in fact hand made at this point.

Other than a couple of pairs of jeans this past winter (that I used a gift card for) I can't remember buying any clothing for myself.  Lisa of Sew Over It often mentions her personal rule of not buying if she can make it and its a sentiment that I can relate to quite a bit.  It's not that I have a hard and fast rule for myself on the matter exactly, but more that I simply prefer to make my own clothes rather than buy ready to wear.

So here's a glimpse of what my month looked like mostly through the eyes of Little Man who was my designated Me Made May photographer.  He was occasionally assisted by Baby Boy and when both little guys were too busy (or fed up, because lets face it, taking Mommy's picture every day gets a bit boring after a while) a selfie did the trick for recording the me made of the day.  There is a photo for every day except for May 1st - I forgot to take a photo of my Me Made that day - off to a rollicking start wasn't I?  Ha ha! And in case you're thinking that I can't count there are a couple of extra photos just because I changed from one me made into another partway through the day because I was going out.

May 2 - 7

May 8 - 14

May 15 - 21

May 22 - 28

May 29 - 31

All in all it was a great month and I made a few happy discoveries along the way in terms of what I had available and what favourites were amongst those choices. I easily succeeded in achieving my goal of wearing at least one handmade item per day.  I really enjoyed keeping up with all the photos on Instagram too.  It was loads of fun seeing what others were making and wearing.  One thing I am kind of over is the whole daily photo thing.  I always feel pretty awkward in front of a camera and so I find the daily photo feels a bit weird and after awhile I start feeling a bit silly posting a "LOOK AT ME!!!!" photo every single day.

I'm continuing on with my own journey of utilizing and expanding my hand made wardrobe.  I just made a new top earlier this week, have a skirt on the sewing desk and top on the knitting needles as I type this, and have plans for several upcoming projects.  In the same vein as continuing on, it occurs to me that I didn't even think about it this morning when I grabbed a hand made to put on when I was getting dressed for the day.  I call that success on my personal challenge!

So that's pretty much it for my thoughts on the challenge this year.  Did you make a Me Made May pledge this year?  How did you feel it went for you?

Operation New Dress Success!

Guess what!!! I did it!!! I am so happy to say that I have successfully completed "Operation New Dress (revisited)!  I put the finishing touches on this afternoon (finishing touches being buttons - everything else was already done).

Love this print and look what arrived in the post last week?!?!
My new Lottas!!! Yippee!!

I ended up choosing the Sew Over It's Doris Dress.  I love the easy feel of it.  Because there's more ease in the silhouette there was a lot less fitting to worry about in the bodice.  I did sew up a muslin because I wasn't sure and didn't want to waste any of my good fabric by messing up, but I didn't make any changes to it other than to add an inch to the bodice and take an inch off of the hem of skirt to compensate. Otherwise this baby fits right out of the envelope (or off the printer as is the case).

The fabric is an easy care, easy wear rayon from Fabricland in the city and after sewing Doris and wearing it I want to make a closet full of rayon dresses.  It was beautiful to work with! I was a wee bit nervous about how I would like the print because it does veer off quite a bit from my usual florals that I gravitate towards, but I really like it quite a bit!  Thanks Agnes!! (she's my go to gal at Fabricland.  She never leads me astray on fabric choices!).

Doris is a fairly straight forward sew and even more straight forward because I opted to leave the concealed side zip out.  I know!  I live on the edge...

I did test it out first of course by basting the side seam and then pinning the front bodice closed and it was easy enough to get on an off  unpinned so whoot, whoot!!!  No concealed  zip for me!  It's an upside of having a less than huge bust/waist ratio. Also an upside of me not liking my clothes to be super fitted as a general rule. Anyways.  I was pretty pleased to skip that step even though it meant I couldn't skip the button holes because they needed to be functioning now.  Lesser of two evils and all - especially given my buttonhole function on my old new to me Pfaff works a treat.

Doris Dress, Vianne Cardi and Low Braid Lottas 

I am so thrilled with this dress and have already started envisioning another.  I have a few other projects I want to do first but rest assured another Doris dress will be appearing here sooner or later!

And would you look at that!  N's pop up restaurant is still three days away and my new dress is DONE!!!

 I am just this happy about my new dress!
(apparently my excitement causes me to take weird angled selfies!)

So. About That Plan...

This may well be my new favourite outfit for spring!!

Remember how the other day I had a plan?  One month.  One dress.  All I had to do was decide which one?

Well it kind of fell by the wayside.  It wasn't my fault entirely.  It was that I was let loose with some money in my pocket and a fabric store in my sights.  I was still on the straight and narrow of the "Operation New Dress (revisited)" plan at the fabric store for the first bit of my peruse around.  But then I spied a sweet red floral print.  Better yet, the red floral print also had white polka dots.  And there went the plan.  Because that seemingly sweet innocent floral/polka dot print was actually screaming quite loudly that it absolutely NEEDED to become a Sew Over It Susie.

Plans to make a dress. Cuts out a blouse...
(And yes.  That is a can of tuna and a can of black olives doing double duty as pattern weights)

You know how it happens.  You plan to make a dress and instead start a blouse.  Oh the fickle seamstress I am.   But I loved this print and it's lightweight and soft and was a remarkable $3.99/metre.  You can see how I couldn't say no, right?

Like my first Susie, I really adore this one!  I had cut it out earlier in the week and then unfortunately never got a chance to start sewing right away.  It ended up that I actually sewed it up after the little boys went to bed on Thursday evening.  (And Baby Boy didn't go to sleep until about 9:45, darn his little hide!).  Now that I've got the fit down from doing the work prior to my first Susie, it was so quick to put together. For reference, I was hanging my new blouse in the closet and climbing into bed by 11:30pm. So not bad for sewing time!

A Susie Selfie! I ADORE this blouse!!!

I was so glad I stayed up a bit later Thursday night so I could wear my new blouse out for my date with my mama and my daughter on Friday.  Good visit, good food and a comfy blouse.  What more could a girl ask for?

So now that I've got Susie sewing out of my system I will return to my previously scheduled new dress sewing... Honestly.  I will.  Really...

Operation New Dress Revisited

I've decided to revisit "Operation New Dress" and am hoping to have much more timely success this time around than I did the last time!

I've got one month from today before N's next pop up restaurant and I WILL have a new dress to wear for the occasion come hell or high water.

I just have to decide what the new dress will be.  I've narrowed down my choices and I have fabric at the ready.  I've also made sure I have appropriate cardigans already in my wardrobe as well as shoes.  (well, one choice of shoes is actually not in my wardrobe yet.  I just ordered them, but once they ship, Lotta From Stockholm has super fast shipping so I'm not really worried.) I'm good to go.

So here's my pattern and fabric choices for Operation New Dress (revisited).

The first up is Tiramisu from Cake Patterns.  I've had this pattern for a few years now and am likely to be the last person in the sewing world to jump on the Tiramisu train.  I bought it, I printed out the PDF, and put it in an envelope down in the sewing room and there it's sat.  One of these days, even if it doesn't make the cut for "Operation New Dress" this month, I'll assemble that baby and get to work on it.  The fabric is a nice cotton knit that I found in a bin at Fabricland in the city last fall.  It was a great price and those daisies with their navy blue heart shaped centres make me  smile.  I figure this one will pair great with either my white Miette cardi or even possibly my red Sunshower cardi.

Another choice on the list is another Emery dress version.  Still no gathers.  No way. Not happening. I  am planning pleats again, but this time using box pleats across the entire skirt instead of just the few small pleats I did on my last version (operation new dress, the original version).  I really love the gathered yoke mod I did last time, but am thinking going more with a traditional boat neck might be fun with this fabric.  I'll likely decide using the very scientific  method of "Eeeny Meeny Miney Moe".  Speaking of this fabric, I absolutely ADORE it!  It was an Ebay purchase from Thailand that I was a bit unsure of how it would go, but turned out great!  When it arrived, within record time (I think about two weeks? Maybe slightly more!) I was quite surprised.  Not only with the speed in which it arrived, but also the quality.  I was really happy with how it seemed right out of it's packaging, but thought things might go south when I pre-washed it.  Instead it turned out even lovelier than it's original state.  It's soft and got just the right amount of drape to it.  I can't wait to sew it up!  Again the Miette or Sunshower cardis will fit the bill!

My third choice, (by the way these aren't in any particular order at all), is from Sew Over It.  The Doris Dress has been offered as a class in the past from Sew Over It but just recently they released it as a stand alone pattern and I have to admit I'm pretty excited about it!  I've got it all printed out and assembled and just waiting to be muslined so I can check for any fit issues I might have.  The fabric is a fun rayon print that I got at Fabricland in the city a week or two ago.  It's so different from my usual type of print I gravitate towards that I was a bit unsure of it at first, but I'm going to be brave, branch out and give it a whirl.  This dress, once made, will be paired with the new low braid Lottas and my Vianne cardi.

So there you go!  One month to make one dress to wear to N's Southern BBQ pop up restaurant. 

Before I head off for the day -  the sun is shining, the thermometer is climbing and there is no way I'm staying indoors today - I want to just finish off with my pledge for Me Made May since tomorrow is May 1st!  Here's what I pledged on So Zoe's sign up post.

I, Sarah Jane of Prairie Girl Knits, sign up as a participant of Me-Made-May '16. I endeavour to wear at least one handmade item each day for the duration of May 2016' (not including my bras and handbags as that would be cheating since I only ever use handmade for them. LOL) I also endeavour to discover what "holes" are in in my wardrobe so that I can begin to fill them up.

I'll be back over the next few weeks with some updates as to how my challenge is going as well as hopefully some finished projects to tell you about!

Selfish Sewing Week - The Reality

Selfish Sewing Week is now over of course and as promised I'm back with my reality check post of how my week went.

For a brief bit of time I thought this was going to be an incredibly short post stating, "It didn't happen." However, at the end of the week I was able to get a bit more sewing time in and finish up at least one project in the nick of time.

I'm a bit disappointed that I wasn't able to get all three done that I'd planned, but you know what? I'm not going to beat myself up about it.  I was still having quite a bit of discomfort from my back and hip and was trying to get caught up on all the things I couldn't get done the week that I couldn't do anything at all.   Also, the one item I did get done, was a complete winner.  I absolutely ADORE it! So that is an extra big bonus in my books!

Onto my finished item.  It was, of course, project number one, the Susie Blouse.  It was my first ever time sewing a Sew Over It pattern and I was really impressed.  I did muslin it first and I'm really glad I did as I definitely needed to tweak the pattern to fit properly. I actually did two muslins, which of course also cut into my planned schedule, but I'd much rather take the time to do the leg work at the beginning and finish with a garment I love rather than forge ahead and have a dud sitting in my closet unworn.  Now that I have the size down pat I can definitely see making more Susie Blouses in the future!

I ended up sizing up from my original muslin to accommodate my broad shoulders then doing a sloped shoulder adjustment, and tapering down a size for the waist and hips.  I think in retrospect I could have lengthened the blouse a touch as well for my personal preference, but it'll do alright as is for both tucked in and untucked.  I also could have shaved off a smidge more in the hips, but again.  It'll do.  The only other adjustment I made was to adjust the sleeve cap slightly.  My sloped shoulder adjustment brought the previously drooping armscye up pretty much the perfect amount, but then the sleeve cap was a bit uncomfortable so a quick shave off to make a gentler curve and it was perfect.

The fabric was a great bargain and I've enough left over that I'll likely either make a Tortola Tank or a Sorbetto with the remainder.  It's a polyester with a silky feel and great drape, but was lovely to sew with, not slippery at all. It's showing up on the photos as shiny, but it's actually a matte.  It rained all weekend though so we had to use the flash when taking the photos and maybe that's what accounts for the shine?  I've no idea.

I did finish all the seam allowances with my serger though as I discovered much to my horror how much it wants to fray when I trimmed the seam allowance a wee bit too close on the collar and ended up with it fraying apart at the seam.  EEEK.  Thank goodness for extra fabric!  I cut and new collar and was far more cautious after that.  Also, as you can see in the photos, static cling.  OH MY WORD!!!!  Unbelievable amounts of static in this fabric.  Must find a remedy for that!!

I did manage to also start sewing my Wedgwood skirt but didn't get it finished.  I'm now in limbo on it's construction waiting for my Ebay lace zipper order to arrive.   I'll finish it up quickly enough once the zips arrive (providing I get a dark blue in my "random assortment pack") since I've decided I don't really want to use the red one I have in my stash currently.

As for the Shelley?  It didn't even get cut out, but that's ok.  Its pretty much a no brainer, quick one or two day project at this point.   So that was my Selfish Sewing Week in a nutshell.   Not as successful as hoped, but certainly not a complete bust.

Next on the agenda will be participating in Me Made May!  I just realized that's coming up in a hurry so headed over to So Zoe to throw my hat (or pledge as the case may be) in the ring today.

Selfish Sewing Week - The Plan

Today kicks off the start of the Imagine Gnats Selfish Sewing Week!  Now, I know what you're thinking.  You're probably saying to yourself, "But Sarah, you always get excited about this sewing week or that sewing week and then you never get anything sewn!"  Or maybe that's just ME saying it to myself, because I can pretty much guarantee that happens 99.9% of the time around here.

But this time will be different.  This time I have a plan!

See?  An honest to goodness plan.  I even wrote it all out for myself on the handy little printable planner from Rachel at Imagine Gnats.

The only caveat I have to all this planning business is that I don't yet know if I can really sit at the sewing machine.  I've been down for the count since last Monday with horrendous low back/hip pain.  Bad enough that I couldn't actually dress myself and had to rely on the kindness of my five and six year old each morning.  (and all the result of merely bending to tie a garbage bag of all the unheroic and unathletic reasons. BAH)  It is slowly getting better but it's been a long haul this time, possibly the worst I've had in the last ten years.  I got dressed all by myself today including my socks though, which I feel is a huge improvement!! I also didn't want to cry getting in and out of the truck to drive the boys to and from school and I can get in and out of a chair without needing a hoist.

So here we go. As you can see from my plan I've got a busy week scheduled for myself.  First up is a Susie Blouse from Sew Over It.  I love it's sweet simplistic design and could see it working in all sorts of different fabrics.  The fabric I've set aside for it is a feminine little scattered floral on a navy background. I know it's showing black in the photo, but I swear it really is navy.

For Susie

Next up on my schedule is a chambray Straight Stitch Designs Wedgwood Skirt.  I was drawn to both the big pleats and the cute side pockets detail on the pattern.  And although I've been a staunch disapprover of the exposed zip, I've suddenly switched sides and am now smitten with the idea.  Initially I'd ordered a red lace zip for this skirt and I thought red button accents on the pockets, but then I got to thinking that I'd rather have a navy zip and navy buttons, because I'm currently on the hunt for the perfect navy and white polka dot fabric to do another Wedgwood in and I think the red zip and buttons would go so well with that instead of the chambray.  Only problem is I am awaiting a shipment of zips that I bought off of Ebay and they are taking their sweet bloody time in arriving, so I'm not sure I'll be able to actually finish my skirt this week.  Ah, the trials and tribulations.

For Wedgwood

Last on the list is a new Pin Up Girls Shelley bra.  It's my go to pattern and I've got the fit perfected now, so it's a no brainer.  My ivory lace, power net and duoplex as well as findings just arrived from Bra Makers Supply last week ready to be cut out.

For Shelley

Wow. I've got to say that it's all kinds of weird to be talking about my under garments publicly like this.  Sooooo... Anywhooo... moving right along.  Nothing to see here...

Of course throwing a bit of a wrench into my plans was the arrival in today's post of this gorgeous sateen cotton from an eBay purchase a few weeks ago.  I wasn't expecting it until the end of the month and yet here it is already! I'm beyond impressed with both the quality of the fabric and the speed in which it arrived all the way from Bangkok.  (Well damn.  I can't manage to ever even think the word Bangkok without having One Night in Bangkok start playing on continuous loop in my brain. So know that as I'm typing the remainder of this post I'm actually singing along with Murray Head.  Which is ridiculous because I didn't particularly like the song back in '84 when it was released and I don't like it any better now.  It just gets stuck there. EVERY. SINGLE. TIME.)

Anyways.

The fabric in question is this:

For Emery???

It's so lovely I wish I'd bought an extra yard of it to make a Sew Over It Betty, but since I didn't (WHY OH WHY????) I think it may become another Emery.  And I may switch up my schedule a bit to include it this week.

What is it with the navy blue kick I'm on this spring?!?  I just realized I've mentioned navy in relation to an astounding four different projects in this post alone.

Anyways, back to the plan.  We shall see how much I can get done on it.  So far in little bits today I've cut out my pattern and a muslin for my Susie.  I've done some basic pattern adjustments, but need to tweak it a bit further I think yet.  I was hoping to sew a few seams this evening, but I think I'll have to pass on it tonight.  Hopefully tomorrow will work out better in terms of actual sewing.

I'll be back sometime in the next week to tell you how Selfish Sewing Week actually goes and if I manage to sew anything at all!  For now though I'm going to say goodnight.  I've taken all my meds for my back now and the pharmacist wasn't kidding when he warned me about the drowsiness from the muscle relaxant.  I'm starting to feel a bit cross-eyed at the moment.  Hasn't put the least bit of a damper on One Night in Bangkok mind you...

"Operation New Dress"

Emery Dress with Vianne Cardigan

A few months ago I took a notion into my head that I wanted a new dress to wear to N's pop up restaurant I was going to on February 8th.  I wisely took my brand new Anouk cardigan that I'd just finished knitting for Untangling Knots Selfish Sweater KAL along with me to the fabric store on February 1st and selected a nice weight charcoal grey/purple fabric.  It matched beautifully under the shop lighting and I can sew a dress in a week easily.  No problem!

Spoiler: There were problems.

Gathered shoulder yoke pattern hack

I had dress woes from the start on this one!  First off I chose to do Colette's Peony.  I had won it in a sew along last year and thought why not?  I blithely ignored all the comments and complaints about how hard it is to get Peony to fit.  Perhaps in arrogance?  Maybe in delusion?  I figured, how hard can it be?  I did decide to make it easier on myself and do the gathered yoke hack they have on the Colette website.  I loved the look and thought two less darts to worry about.  Sweet.  And it could've been, but then I made my muslin and OH DEAR BOB!  What the heck?!?!

Not sure what body type Peony is drafted for but it is definitely not mine.  It was laughable.  Gaping at the neckline.  Bust darts no where near the right spot.  Too short in the bodice.  But the worst offender by far was the back.  Oh the back.  I should have taken pictures.  It was the most ridiculous thing imaginable.  I had a huge poofy balloon of fabric going the entire width of my back from the middle of my back on up.  I could have used it as a papoose to carry a small child in.

The Peony disaster was on Friday.  My dinner out was Monday.  I didn't have time to start messing about.  So I consulted the inter webs and chose Christine Haynes' Emery dress instead.  Everyone loves Emery.  There's nary a complaint I've read about it.  Awesome!  Just what I need.  A tried and true pattern.

Emery printed off, assembled and cut out.  Please be good to me!

I decided to do the straight muslin first and then once that fit do the gathered yoke hack from Colette. My first muslin did not go too badly.  A few minor fit issues.  Take in the shoulder darts, take in 5/8" on either side of centre back and things were looking fine.  So I did a new front with the hack.  Things were still looking fine although I was getting a bit suspicious about those armholes.  They seemed pretty low and gape-y.  I decided to sew in the sleeve and assess from there.  WOE IS ME.  I could not move my arms.  The sleeves themselves were fine, but that armscye?  Disaster.  So back to the drawing board.  I raised the armscye by about 3/4" thinking that would help, but then could for the life of me get my little brain to figure out how to adjust the sleeve pattern that obviously would no longer fit.  Out of frustration and not just a bit of laziness I decided that sleeveless probably looked a little better anyways, so moved on.

Sailing right along and feeling good about things I cut out my good fabric and set to work.  I pleated the skirt so as not to have poofiness of gathers at my midsection.  Then  I painstakingly did my first ever in over 30 years of sewing invisible zip and it looked good!  I was so pleased with myself!  All that was left to do was hem and facings.  Easy peasy.  By this point it was Monday afternoon and I had an hour and a half left before I needed to leave for the dinner.  I tried on the dress so I would be able to see how much I needed to hem it up.

First problem.  Threw my Anouk cardi on to get the "full picture" even though the neckline and hem were still showing unfinished.  It looked ridiculous. Remember that aforementioned matching business?  It so did not match.  But all was not lost.  Grabbed my Vianne.  Looking much better cardigan wise!  Awesomesauce!!!  Problem one solved.

Second problem.  Oh what the hell?  I lengthened the bodice by about 3/4" because on my muslin it felt a bit short.  This is not an uncommon problem for me, so I didn't even hesitate to blithely add that length in.  What I forgot to take into account is that the weight of the skirt would pull that bodice down a bit.  Damn.  Definitely starting to look school marmish and matronly instead of cute.  But it would be ok.  At least for that night.  My cardi would hide the too long bodice.  So phew!  No problem two for the time being!

Third problem.  Something is still off on the armscye.  Really off.  And what the heck!  My neckline gapes.  Still Vianne could hide a myriad of fit sins.  Third problem could wait until after the supper.

Fourth problem. I turned around to look at the back view.  My painstakingly done invisible zip had a bit of a weird buldge right at the base of it that I swear I didn't see when I ironed it all nicely.  Worst than that though?  I did my blasted pleats on the back the opposite of the pleats on the front.  And as it turns out pleats that face towards the side seams are a whole lot more flattering than ones that face towards the centre on me.  I had what appeared to be a giant ol' bubble butt.

At that point "Operation New Dress" became Operation Damn it All to Hell, I'll Just Wear Jeans. There are days that I honestly feel I should just toss out the sewing machine, fabric, all the patterns and give up.

A welcome distraction of deliciousness.  

So, I wore jeans and my favourite red Itch to Stitch Irena Top and I sulked about my lack of a new dress.  I didn't sulk for too long because the food was too yummy to worry about what I was wearing.

After a few days in the time out corner, I hauled the dress out again and set to work taking it apart.  I did a new muslin of the bodice in a size smaller (graded out at the waist) and tried it on for fit.  It was so much better, but there was still some funky armscye excess fabric happening since I wasn't using sleeves.  I pinched in a dart in the front armscye, then transferred that to my pattern, rotated the dart, reshaped the armscye and redid the bodice muslin.  Things were pretty close at that point to a fit I liked.

Next, I was still fixated on the gathered yoke hack, so with a good fitting bodice I did yet another muslin to test out the yoke.  At this point in the proceedings I figured I might have a new dress by the time I was 90.

Gathered Shoulder Yoke

Not so invisible, invisible zip -
 I think it's pulling a bit due to how I'm standing

Which finally brings us to today. Almost two months later. No, I'm not 90, but I do feel I've aged considerably through "Operation New Dress" hell.  But, at least I  have a dress to show for all that work. And I even learned some new tricks - making continuous bias tape from a square of fabric and using my Clover bias tape thingy as well as re-learned some tricks - moving and repositioning darts. However, I don't even like it anymore.  It's drab. It's dreary.  It's boring as all hell.  BAH.  I want flowers! I want birds!  I want quirky and fun!  C'est la vie. Least it's done and perhaps someday I won't dislike it quite as much as I do right at this very moment.

A new to me technique for making bias tape for my neckline and armholes.
Also the first time I've ever used my Clover bias tape gadget even though I've had it for about five years...
This is a game changer for me.  It was so easy!

Now, even though Mother Nature doesn't seem to be wanting too,  I'm setting my sights on spring. A Wedgwood Skirt, another Emery, a Susie and I've got some nautical fabric en route from an eBay purchase...  How about you?  Any exciting plans for spring crafting?