5.18.2013

Native American Poncho & Jacket

Well Here's Projects 2 & 3 on my DH 6PAC - Dearest Hubby's "6 Projects for my Awesome Companion"

Native American Jacket


DH found inspiration from Indian Village Mall one day, so he put on the list to embellish a denim jacket one day.  I had fallen in love with that site, too, and was inspired, so I searched for some nice fabrics, and ordered some from Southwest Decoratives.  He liked Sierra Trail Aztec Brown Stripe.  Their cottons are very good quality - at least the southwest collection was.  So No major pictures here, but I trimmed some fabric for the front and back yokes, 3 separate pieces. Took attention to details on centering, lining up, etc.  I double top-stitched all around each piece.  That gave it a quality finish as well as a strong finish.  I am aware that he washes his jackets, so I didn't want any mishaps down the line.

Do you know he paid me the grandest compliment today?  He said this jacket was The Best jacket he had out of his denims.  Now, this is coming from a man who a) knows how to dress, b) takes care on how he dresses, c) has many denim outfits, (and leather) let alone denim jackets, and he told me that this one was The Best of his denim jackets.  I am thrilled that he likes this one so much :-)  I am pleased how it turned out and pleased at how it looks on him.

We are both thinking if there is a touch of anything that will coordinate onto the front breast pockets, but he is being very particular, since he said he would rather have the jacket as is, then put something on the pockets, just for the sake of putting something on there.  If it doesn't coordinate within the fabric that is already on, then we are going to leave them as is.  So far I've been playing around and haven't liked anything.

Here is the front an back of the jacket.  No photos along the way, this was a pretty simple assembly, just took time to line it all up the way I wanted.






Native American Poncho


So, next, for my SWAP bridging garment I had made a Native American Poncho, and when he saw mine, he immediately wanted one.  See, we always keep a blanket in the trucks for in the case of an emergency to keep warm.  when he saw my poncho, he thought that would be a great idea, because then while keeping warm, you could still use your hands if needed.  Now if this isn't a simple garment to make, I don't  know what else is.  You know those patterns that advertise 1 hour pattern? and then in that small print they say **1 hour actual sewing time?  Yes, you still have to cut the pattern pieces and still have the cut the fabric, pin it, yadda yadda.... well this is totally a 20 minute outfit.  Fold the blanket twice to get the exact center, cut from the center in each direction (on the long side) about 9 inches, but to a decorative stop point on the garment, and roll and stitch.  I've found it easiest so far to stitch the two sides then stitch the two v's.






So, Now I have 3 projects knocked off of the DH 6PAC list.  At the current time, the only materials I have in house are the leather and bead strips for the leather shirt embellishment, so we'll take a look at that project next.  

Since I've got 3 projects knocked out, I might squeeze in my pants tomorrow.... I'd like to have them for next week.

Preakness is starting in a few minutes.... Will Orb head for the Triple Crown?  

Oh well... Not so much....Oxbow & D Wayne Lukas. At least my girl Showed. :-)


Cheers!

JDol

















Shoulder Taps Gone Wild!

Well, here's the 1st item on my DH 6PAC.  I'm using 6PAC as 6 Projects 4 my Awesome Companion.

So DH purchased a brown leather riding jacket with fringe, nice for spring mornings with a bit of a chill in the air. Real nice jacket... though those shoulder taps - goodness were they loopy... almost looping up to his ears.... take a look at this....




Have you seen taps like this before?? Anyway, I took a look and it seemed if i opened the shoulder seams, I could pull the tap through and snug it up.  Also, one of the sides seemed to be placed back too far. So lets pull that forward a bit, too while we're at it.

Okay here we go.  Let's open the lining at the shoulders.  DH said he wasn't concerned with how the lining looked at the end, so I was just going to open it up and top-stitch it back together when done.



Once the lining was opened, I was able to pull the shoulder through and take a peek how they assembled it.  Sometimes they use glue on leather assembly, so I didn't know what I was gong to find.  Well nothing was out of the ordinary, the seam held the tap, and the fringe. 


So i opened that up, just the inch 1/2 or so that held the tap, and pulled the tap through.  Gee that was a lot of extra tap. Hmmm.


So took a peek at how it looked on the other side, and what an improvement. So now comes the stitching.  This is leather after all.  So I have upholstery thread and Leather needles...


I set the stitches at 3.0 length. It made it though all thicknesses when we got to the tap, and no thread breakage at all.  I am confident now that the stitches are of good strength for the wear and tear of a man's leather jacket.  Adjusted side two to move the tap forward a bit, and stitched that together.  Went together flawlessly also.  Let's take a look....


Now that is much better than that airborne floppy tap of ole...  Had DH do a quick try on, to make sure just before the closing of the lining... I got a big stamp of approval :-)..., so I stitched up the lining on the shoulders, and we're all set.  


There was also a loose stitch on the front of the jacket that was unraveling, so I did a run along that to give that reinforcement.  It was a zipper facing stitch, so that would have only kept unraveling as used...  All is good.


Alright!  Project #1 on the DH 6PAC done!

I think I threw off my comrades on my SG Forum by calling this a 6PAC.  They are used to 6PAC's being collections of sewn garments that form a cohesive unit.  I playfully called this a DH 6PAC since it was going to be 6 projects for DH.  I think I set off a stir on the 6PAC thread. :-) LOL   Ahhhh......... Whatta ya gonna do....

OKAY - What's next?

Cheers, 

JDol








DH 6PAC

Well! with SWAP behind me, and photos in, the big reveal is on Monday the 20th.  DH (Dearest Husband) has been rooting me on the whole way, and said my collection was top notch. I think the word excellent has been used. :-) He's just grand.  So I was sort of energetic to jump into a Summer 6PAC which turned into a double....for an ambitious 12 pieces.  Then I noticed DH had a few items on the docket, that i wanted to tackle for him, and decided, i didn't want to merely "squeeze" them in, I wanted to "Take them on". SO............. we are placing the 2 summer 6's aside and we are going to do a DH 6PAC.  So let's see what we have:

"Shoulder Taps Gone Wild"

He recently purchased a really nice riding jacket, brown leather with fringe. Good for the spring chill in the mornings.  It is a "Bon Jovi" style. That aside, it is really nice........except for ........... well it has shoulder taps that practically loop up to his ears! LOL.  So that's project number one.

Native American Denim Jacket.

We were both inspired at the same time by Indian Village Mall.  He had come across this website and showed me their clothing items. I fell in love, too.  So he would like a denim jacket with embellishment on the shoulder yokes.

Native American Poncho.

He saw mine from SWAP and wanted one :-)

Civil War Period Shirt.

He likes history, and Gettysburg.  We are looking for the right pattern and then will shop for the fabric.  That one will be fun.

Beading Embellishments

He has two strips of beads to be installed onto a black leather pullover shirt/jacket.  He got some inexpensive black leather pants off EBay for me to cut up to make the strips for braiding that will frame the beads when I install them on the shoulders of the shirt.

Quilt.

He liked the quilt I made. My Butterfly Quilt.  I told him he could pick out fabric and I would make him one! He will pick out 8 complimentary fabrics and 1/2 yard each.  Let's see what he comes up with!  He's got a great sense of style.  He will have his own unique quilt.

So that's my DH 6PAC that I will be working on until they are complete.  There is *one* pair of pants that I have cut that will take two hours to sew that I will "squeeze" in for myself, but the rest is the DH 6PAC.

Cheers!

JDol

5.17.2013

SWAP Entry 2013 Final Pix.

I have now finished my very first SWAP (Sewing With A Plan) 2013. I had a lot of fun joining in this adventure.  You have seen my posts along the way.  I am making this post merely of the collection as a whole all in one post.  Photo submissions start on May 10th and close on May 18th.  I'm not sure when voting occurs, how it is handled, or any of those logistics.  That info will be revealed as time draws nearer.  I am so excited to see everyone's collections!  We were all given some sneak peeks of some, and then there are some quiet members who will unveil at the end.  Everyone has so much talent this will be hard to vote - I'll want to vote for so many of them.  I'm glad I joined the Stitcher's Guild Forum when I did - Last Sept/Oct, because I jumped in on a winter 6PAC sew-along, which gave me a little boost of confidence to join the SWAP 2013.

So here is the Collections Photo:


Photo #1

#1A: Top #1.  Self Designed and Drafted Top.  Della Buckskin Faux Leather from Warehouse Fabrics Inc.  Side zip, fringe, self fabric lace, modesty panel.

#1B: Bottom #1.  Matching Faux Leather Pants Burda "Bella" #6011. Della Buckskin from Warehouse Fabrics.com.  Fringe added. (not in pattern)


Photo#2

#2: Top #2.  3rd piece of ensemble: Self Drafted Halter inspired by a photo of a Harley Davidson Halter top.  Matching Faux Leather.  Self designed and weaved beading accents,  Back has embroidery of wolf. (next photo)


Photo #3

#3: Back of Self Drafted Halter with wolf embroidery. Design is from Embroidery Library
It's called Autumn Wolf


Photo#4

#4: Bridging Poncho with this collection


Photo #5

#5A: Top #3.  Same Self-Drafted Halter pattern (inspired by a picture of a Harley Davidson halter).  Completely hand painted with self designed artwork. (butterflies) Piece 3 of my wine denim ensemble. (piece 2 was a Moto Jacket which is not included in this SWAP)

#5B: Bottom #2.  Wine Denim trousers: Burda "Bella" #6011.  Fabric is: Wine Denim from Fabric.Com



Photo #6

#6A: Top #1. Purchased Plain Denim Shirt and embellished with yoke accent fabric (Southwest Decoratives), fringe, and 3 embroidery designs: a Sun Dancer Kachina, Rain Dance Kachina and a Wolf Diamond on the back. Designs from Design Library and Embroidery Library.

#6B: Bottom #1.  Black Denim Tiered Skirt from a XOX Skirt Tutorial from Weekend Designer.  Pattern was modified to include waist band, and to match photo that came with the tutorial.


Photo #7

#7A&7B: Back of Shirt and Skirt



Photo #8

#8A: Top #2.  Red Denim Vest  Butterick B5402. 10 oz. Red Bull Denim from JoAnn's. Made Cut-Off Sleeves., Embroidered Front pockets and back.

#8B: Bottom #2.  Matching Red Denim Jeans McCall's Palmer Pletsch M5894 Boot cut. Outfit designed to match my motorcycle.




Photo # 9

#9: Top #3.  Showcase the Silver Spandex Turtleneck pattern for the cooler days, also matches my motorcycle. Fabric (Dancewear from JoAnn's) Pattern: Kwik Sew/Kwik Serge 2900 view A.


Photo #10

#10: Bridging Poncho with this collection


Photo #11

#11:  Denim Skirt detail.


Well, That's it...

My SWAP 2013.  See you next year.

PS.  I'm onto a Summer 6PAC along with a JDol 6PAC starting May-July.

Cheers!

JDol.


























5.12.2013

2 Summer 6 PACS

Well My friends, SWAP 2013 is over, my photos are submitted, I have a post drafted but not published yet, and we're onto summer 6PACs now. These are sew-alongs with my pals at Stitcher's Guild Sewing Forum.  I did a purge of my closets/racks a couple weeks ago and gave 9 bags of clothes to Purple Heart (for Veterans) foundation.  So I found where the holes were in my wardrobe.  Definitely needed comfortable pants to wear to work. and I wanted summer dresses.  So when the Summer 6PAC finally rolled out, I was excited, and figured I'd do 2 pants and 4 dresses. However, when the ladies do 6PACs, they are usually capsules of certain pieces, with certain schematics involved.  This summer, the guidelines are to choose a neutral (white/khaki/olive/black, etc).... and a "color", and choose these pieces:

1 a jacket or cardigan that will set the tone for the whole collection - in neutral
2 a pair of trousers, shorts, or skirt in the same neutral (but not necessarily EXACTLY the same --can vary in shade or texture)
3 another bottom in the second colour
4 an underlayer top in the neutral
5 an underlayer top in the colour
6 an overlayer top in a linking print or in the colour

So you can see my 2 pants and 4 dresses were not in the spirit of this 6PAC, so I had to determine whether I was going to do my 6PAC, and sit this one out from the forum, or do both?  You got it - I decided to do both.  So, 12 pieces in another 3 months...I already have 2 done, so 10 really to do....

So, I needed some patterns to fit in the SG 6PAC, and JA's was having a 5 for $5 sale on Simplicity, so off I went.... and found some nice ones.  Then I had to go through stash to see what all I had.  Oh -- did I tell you that I had chosen my two colors to be cream/pale yellow & Lavender...

Stash audit yielded that I have a lot of "junk" in there of scraps... I have 4 tubs and probably 2 of them are scraps.  Hmmmm what do people do with these scraps???  I've gotta organize those tubs - but that's another day.

I found a good handful of good yardage to choose from for my 6PACs, and then I ordered about 30 swatches and samples from Fashion FabricsFabric.Com, and Online Fabric Store. I basically stopped there because I wore myself out.  I still need to learn my fabrics, so I ordered quite an assortment and range so I could see what different fabrics are.  Then maybe one day I can say "Oh I can see that in a nice Chambray".  Right now I have no idea what a chambray is. :-)

So enough chatter - here are my two Summer 6PAC's

This one is for the Forum's Summer 6PAC:




So far I have two fabrics chosen. For the 4127 C top, it is a pale yellow stretch cotton with a hint of glitter.  For the Burda it is a lavender heather knit.


Here is my "JDol Summer-dress 6PAC"


2 of these are done already, (checked) and I have fabric for 3 of the others. It's Mother's Day today... Shall I sew something?  I would actually like to get that second pair of pants done.  I have a DH project on the board, too.

Here's me in the summer-dress M6115 above:



Of course with black knee boots, it was a wintery summer-dress I guess.

That's it for now.

Happy Mother's Day!