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 Fabrics, Fabric.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!

April Birthday Celebration

Follow-up

Okay, this is a follow-up to my post: Movie Star for a Month.  This month it was My Birthday, too.  at the time of the previous post, I didn't  have the cake yet, so here is the Magnificent cake from Brittany....

I had been so busy that it was the day before the party and I realized I didn't have a party dress... Oh My... So I had already purchased this great fabric a linen blend $3/yd on the JA 50% off clearance days, and of course washed and ready to go, as is all my fabric when I get it home... I like to be ready... I had a dress pattern picked out that I wanted to make with it, so I set out to go for it. No pix as I went, so all I have is a done picture the following day in my office.  McCall's M6115 pattern.

So, i am including some photos from the party. I embroider tags with Happy Birthday and their name on it and put it on the beanie birthday bears.

Here's the set up before the pot-luck lunch food comes...  I try to make it festive, but we don't over power the room, just this little section.  It is Pot-Luck, and we put more dollars into the food than into decorating the WHOLE kitchen :-)

The teams have to rotate in since part of the team is a call center, and need to cover the phones....

Then we had the return of the Angry Birds Toss Game that I created - Post here.  It made it's debut at our holiday party in 2012. One of my colleagues calls me the CFO: Chief Fun-times Officer.... LOL...

Here are the two celebrants Marlene and Tom Playing...  The door that is there is the door to my office :-)

That concludes this post.  LOL

Oh Yea... Happy Birthday to Me!

Cheers, 

JDol

SWAP 2013

My very first SWAP...

A SWAP - Sewing With A Plan.... It is a contest they run on the forum I belong to Stitcher's Guild (Artisan's Square) The have one every year. It is a contest where you sew a certain amount of garments (I think it's usually 11) within a period of time.  This year it starts Dec 26th.  The rules are out already, this year it will be sewing 2 capsules either 5+5+1 or 4+4+1 (or combo of those two).  Within that grouping the pieces are set, meaning the 4+4 is 2 tops, 1 bottom and 1 dress, and the 5+5 is 3 tops and two bottoms. then the +1 is a garment that ties to both groups.  (many people do a jacket for this piece)  I am in the planning stage, so here is my first draft...

I still don't know what fabrics yet, but there's more to plan....

 

 

So, it's a few days later and I've changed up because I kept looking at the poster and a few pieces I just almost knew I wouldn't wear, and I want to wear everything I make...You know I really want the pieces to be enjoyable - there's no purpose for me just to sew pieces to make a quota or something :-) So, i threw out that dress that was going to take almost 7 yards of fabric, and while nice, I didn't think I would get enough wear form it.. whatever the reason, it just didn't work for me, and I went on to look for a replacement pattern... I ended up getting nowhere fast, and came up with the idea that i didn't have to have a pattern after all! I could make my own design!!!!!  So that's what I am doing! My own dress, my first design.  It will have a silky solid-color shell and a patterned sheer overlay, with a dropped waist, and asymmetrical hemline, lined with ruffles.

 

There's so much to do still - colors? and shopping for fabrics?  I think I will make the other side also 1 dress, two tops and 1 bottom.  I still want to make the knickerbockers, and the cuff top, We are allowed to have one pre-sewn item, so i think i will enter my jumper.

 

8-Nov-2012

 

Well I went shopping today for fabrics for this SWAP, what fun!!! there is nothing better than shopping for fabrics!  It's great to have such a blank canvas - I hadn't had any ideas yet of my colors.  It was still open... So i was going shopping with a blank canvas - which can be real tough when there's so many choices... I have to find the one fabric that i absolutely fall in love with to be my centerpiece and then work the colors from there...  This go 'round it turned out to be my self designed dress.  I found a sheer that was so gorgeous - a must have - and so i am building from there. After the first decision was made, some more fell into place and I had my next piece.  Didn't find anything for my Winter capsule at that store, but stopped at the other one on my way home and it worked out - found a fab flannel I loved for my cuff shirt, then the sweater knit, and black denim, so there you have it - grays, blacks, splashed with red would be my winter capsule.

 

So my plan has evolved and here's my 2nd Draft!

 

 

My bridging piece will be the poncho mainly because with the ruffle top (2nd one from the top) I wouldn't want to be wearing a jacket with sleeves, so the poncho would keep the sleeves fresh.  It will have removable fur along the front, for winter/spring conversion.

 

So I have all the fabrics for my winter capsule which i want to sew first anyway, so there you have it.  I am allowed to cut things out before the 26th, and I'm still not sure that i like the top on the lower left corner.. I might like it if I take the sleeves off.

 

I bought muslin material so i can make my dress first to make sure I have it right before I cut into the real fabric.  ( I learned about "doing a muslin" from the forum.)

 

More to come...

 

November 12th

 

Ha!  I just found out my Jumper dress is actually considered a 'pinafore' and therefore will be considered as a bottom, so i needed to reconstruct my winter capsule, to 2 bottoms, and 3 tops - perfect excuse to do another of my favorite tops! (the ruffle sleeve)  I will need to go pick out fabric for this top, not sure what I'd like yet... need to stay with the grays/blacks/red theme... anyway i re-did my poster - Version #3 :-)...

Also, I redesigned my dress, and am going to do this design instead.  I like it better.

 

 

I hope to stick with this plan... just need to pick out more fabric... I plan on making a muslin of my dress before Dec 26th, just to make sure I have it basically as a good design.  Like I'm not sure if I will need a zipper or not - if so, it will be on the side...

 

November 30th

 

Okay, Here we go - more changes!  I think I am closer, I will have to make final decisions soon!  My latest Poster:

 

I do really like the Motorcycle capsule idea with the custom embroidery... Here is the 1st draft of the design for the back of the jacket:

 

 

It will be Tone on Tone.  I ordered the faux leather and the wine denim, I hope the leather is not too thin.  The description indicated "soft leather" so i hope that doesn't mean paper thin.  I hope it has some weight to it.  If not, then I'll have to go with the other one I saw.  But it was more upholstery weight.  Nice color though.  This one said it would be good for jackets... Anyway I'd like to make two suits (Jacket and Pants) and a matching cap.  I am going to do a muslin of each piece over the next couple weeks, starting today if I can.  I am doing Burda "Larissa" #6032 jacket and Burda "Bella" 6011 Pants. Then the cap is from a tutorial Eddie Cap Tutorial from Website: All Free Sewing.

I haven't tried any of these patterns yet, so I want to make sure they will all turn out before I make the final drafts.  however, for me, doing mock ups isn't as appealing as diving right in and making the garment. But logically it makes sense because then I can tweak it of course, and figure out any potential mistakes all before working on the fashion fabric... but it's just not appealing to me; it just seams like a lot of potential extra work.  it seems like something you would do if you were designing something on your own, but if you have a pattern, I'm not sure about it.  I do, but I don't.  I'm torn in other words.  I guess that's why I haven't started them yet.  I am more of a "just go for it" kind of gal....  Well I'll kepp you posted on whether I change my plan again or if I do any muslins....

 

Pieces of my Motorcycle Suit:

 

 

JANUARY 2013

 

Here is the Latest and Greatest update.  I had to do a little shuffling to keep within the contest rules...  Also, 3 of my pieces are done so far and I put those pictures in my current poster...

 

Piece 3 - Jumper Dress

It's my Jumper! - 3rd Piece of my 6PAC

Well, now that I've gotten the jumpsuit out of the way, (and 1 turtleneck) I needed to get a jump on my jumper.  I am jumping into the unknown (what else is new) and am going to take two patterns and doctor them up and combine them to make my jumper.  I've used both patterns before for their intended garment, and was pleased with the results. I'm nervous because I will have to figure out how to blend them together - but that'll get my creativity juices flowing.  You know how I LOVE to be creative!  I am going to pretty much put the overall top on the skirt and call it a jumper dress.  These are the two patterns.

I'm doing view E on the skirt - the short yellow one at the bottom.  So this week I cut out the fabric - a nice deep black Caviar Corduroy.  I tried to figure on how much fabric I needed to purchase in order to accomplish the outfit - without laying all the pieces out, I kind of winged it with my sense of spacial relation.

 

Well it all worked out - i squeezed every inch out.  Turns out I am learning about Nap. this corduroy has nap.  I can't say that I did a 100% job on the nap, because I realized it half way through, and couldn't remember which pieces were turned which way...  Nap is the direction of pile.  It all goes in one direction, and if you cut pieces with alternating nap (which can be for effect in some designs) then you have the light hitting differently on different parts of the garment.  Can look disorganized and mismatched.  So when patterns say allow extra yardage for nap I now know what they are talking about, because where on "non-nap" fabric you can turn pieces to fit (as long as they are on grain) you might need more yardage with nap because pieces might not be able to turn upside-down.  well i am still on my path of learning a new skill with each new project!  (this one I'm learning many skills)

 

Saturday November 3rd

 

Well, checked the forum and caught up on news this morning... then had to get going on putting the jumper together - started with the skirt - that's all together now - don't forget to press the seams! :-)

 

OK.  So now have to pretty much figure out the next steps.  Enter my partner in crime - another fabulous investment - I wouldn't be able to make this outfit without her for sure.  So I am piecing it together to see what the moves will be.

 

This is basically the mock-up of the front... There will be a zipper on the one side.  The skirt is too big, so I will be making a pleat in the front panel and the back panel to true it up.. - another thing I wouldn't be able to do with out my dress form.  I like the look of this so far, and I think I have the plan of how to sew it up.

 

 

This is the back.  The shoulder straps will be the overall kind with the buckles.  I'm trying to decide If i want to embroider a design on the front panel or not.  I dont' think I am going to put the front panel pocket on - it makes it too "outdoorsy"  this way it's a little more dressy.  A well chosen design could add a Little pizazz, also, but I want it to be something that will go with everything - no matter what top I want to wear - it can't clash neither with color nor with theme, nor with look (dressy/casual).  That will take some thinking....

 

Well, while I think on that design, I need to find those notes and remind myself how to make that pleat I want to do on the front and back panels to take in the skirt.  I'll add to this post at the next interval...

Next Steps....

 

Well I decided to add an embroidery design. This one I think is perfect for what I wanted.  "Inky Rose" found Here.  

 

 

 

I sewed the top front on to the skirt - so far so good! This is coming out just like I've hoped.

I put a pleat in the front center and back center to take in the waist to tailor the fit before i put on the waistband.  I used the pleat that is tucked in instead of the outside type one, I think they are called over vs. under, because I think it went better with the godets in the skirt... (the triangle panels).  Then I utilized the waistband as a transition piece - I'm real glad I did - what a difference!  Next i will assemble the back, and attach to the skirt.  I need to install a zipper, i guess that will come after the back is attached. then add straps, buckles, hem, and adorn with some satin ribbon, if i think it will work.  All in all I think I will actually finish this up tonight.  After all, tomorrow is football Sunday and I'll need to shop in the morning and prep something for game time.

Let's see how I do... Off to work on the back....

 

Almost finished!

 

Well, the back went pretty smoothly - I had to use my dress form to see at what height to attach it.. that was tricky because when I cut the pieces, I cut with a lot of extra on the bottom - you know just in case, since I had no idea where this piece would fall.  So, without the form, I wouldn't have been able to know where to pin it.  This turned out to be pretty high up, compared to where i cut the material, so that was good - hey better cut more than not enough!.. So the buckles that I had purchased were narrower than the overalls called for because the ones I had on hand were silver, which i didn't like for this, and they were i think 1 3/4 inch or 2 inch - whatever they were they were too wide and not "dainty" enough, so I bought these polished brass narrower ones, however that called for me to make the straps narrower since they were patterned for the wider buckles.  So i did that,. but boy was it real difficult to turn those - they were pretty thin... Then I remembered - i think with the thin straps you press the seams under, wrong sides together and top stitch it together...  (too late!) - but I made it through that rough turning...It's all together, and just will hem tomorrow, or the next day.  The ribbon is still tbd.  I'm thrilled this worked out! I will take a picture of me wearing the final piece.  Here's the jumper all together...

 

 

Now it's time to relax and watch a movie and surf...

 

Ciao

 

Finito!

 

Well I put the hem on last night, and declared my jumper done.  I don't think the satin ribbon trim on the hem would fit the look I wanted, and the ribbon bows on the front either.  I think basically the embroidery is embellishment enough.  This way the jumper can still be casual or dressy...

 

So I wanted to wait until this morning so I could take the images outside - when you are photographing black for some details, regular point and shoot flash is not your friend, so if you do not have studio lighting, natural day lighting is best, and you will achieve results where the details will come out virtually how they look to the eye.  (be sure you are in an even shadow area, and not in a half shadow half bright sun!)  ANYWAY.... here are my pics!  BTW I'm wearing the turtleneck I made which was my 2nd piece of my 6PAC...

 

 

 

I learned a lot making this jumper...How to morph two patterns together, and join them at the right time, I'm telling you if I did not have my Dress Form, I never could have pulled this off.  I was constantly throwing this on her and fitting it and then when it came time to put the front and back on seeing where they would fall, so where to attache them, etc.  I have some things on this jumper that will remain between me and my Janome and my dress form.. ha ha...now that I completed this, I am more encouraged to try it the next time I want to morph a pattern.

 

So now I've got three down, and three to go... the last three are all turtlenecks, and I still have to get the fabric for my last turtleneck. The other two will be solids made from Ponte Roma Knit.  Good thing is - the two hardest pieces of my 6PAC are complete!

 

:)

 

 

Christmas/New Year's Dressy Sew-Along

Another Piece from a Forum Thread...

Well the gals at the forum started another Sew-Along for Christmas/New Years "Dressy" sew-a-long.  I am going to take part in this one also, aside form my 6PAC because I need a dress for my office holiday celebration in December.  I always do something special for everyone for the party, just so everyone has a gift to open...I've already begun thinking of what this year's plan will be.  I can't put it on my blog because some of my colleagues in the office read the blog and the surprise will be out...But I've got some ideas brewing...:-)  

So the sew along developed the other week, and I've found my fabric and a pattern that I want to sew.  The Fabric is a gorgeous Red Velvet knit, and it's got gold snowflakes on it - I figured very festive...

 

The red color is very rich and the velvet is beautiful  I chose the two patterns below, I am leaning towards the New Look 6802, view D with View A sleeves.  I like the twist on the front - I've never attempted anything like that before, it looks like it would be flattering,  I do like the cap sleeves on the View C, but would like long sleeves on this dress I think.  I'm not big on short sleeves - especially in the office - whether it's summer or winter the office is always chilly.

 

Well I have 2 pieces of my 6PAC done - I think I started before the starting gun went off, but I don't think they will ban me - this one wasn't a contest, this was just s sew along, so I think it's a little more lenient, plus it was my first one, so I'm not even sure if I was early or not?  Not to worry... Have to do my jumper and 3 more turtlenecks.  Still missing the 4th material. Here is a place for mega gorgeous fabric - hey that's even its name - "Gorgeous Fabrics" I saw some real interesting knits on there the other day. 

Well I will keep adding to this post when I start the Dress.  Right now I'm hunkering down for Hurricane Sandy.  Hoping we won't lose power for too long, since it seems inevitable that we will lose it for some period of time.  Going to the Library to pick up my books so I have something to read when out of power...  I put some Grisham's on hold.

Ciao!

 

 

November 9th

 

Well SuperStorm Sandy really hit NY and NJ, but we didn't get much at all. Only lost power for a short period of time maybe 2 hours or so.  We were blessed.

 

Well I started cutting out my pieces today, I would like to start my dress this weekend.  I have planned a lot for my office party and so I'm in the mood.  I made a game for them to play I really think it is going to be a hit. It is a craft sewn project.  I've played it to make sure it works and I've had fun....then I shopped for some decor and stuff like paper plates, cups, that kind of stuff.  The gifts I'm doing up for them all the pieces are due to arrive tomorrow, I designed the graphic for them, and then I'm personalizing them with their names embroidered.  Can't tell you yet, just in case a colleague reads this blog before the party! That's why I didn't describe the game either!... 

 

So cut the pattern and then all the fabric.  This fabric being a nice velvet, has nap, so I made sure I cut it all so the nap was "brushing" downward.  I still do not know all of the technical terms; I will pick those up as I go along....I am going to do the puffy capped sleeves, but then make them long sleeves, but not like the sleeves in view A, I don't like those.  These sleeves will be form fitting to my arms, and real long, the way I like them.  Well I will be ready to start sewing in the morning.

 

November 10th

 

Well, had fun putting this together this morning.  Went together without a hitch.  I tell you though, there were parts that i needed to draw on past skills to understand the directions... Also I made the sleeves long like i wanted - I gave them a cap at the top which I'd never done before, but now that I know I'll be using that technique again!...  I'm getting more comfortable deviating from patterns and putting together pieces that I want, to make the item that I want to end up with.  So, I made the bodice twisty piece, which was neat - i like that technique, too.

 

 

Then I sewed up the sides....

 

 

All together... It looks OK hanging on a hanger, but the sleeve caps get lost, so i better get dressed and model it....

 

 

And of course my sleeves are nice and lo-o-o-o-o-o-o-ong...

 

 

So I took this pattern and made this dress with the sleeves... It's only a coincidence that they are both red  :-)

 

 

Here is a close up of the twisty part...  I like the style, I think I'll be calling upon that again in the future...  The pictures don't show how sparkly the fabric is, the gold snowflakes are glitter and the sun sparkles off of them... real pretty.

 

 

 

All Done!!!!

 

 

------

 

 

 

Some Sewing Projects

These are a few of my Sewing Projects done, starting in 2011...

This is my "Last minute Blouse" & "Last Minute Skirt" both via Rostitchery.  The tutes can be found here.  I think I found my way to her tutes via AllFreeSewing.com.  When I wore it to the office, Liz said she really thought I bought it at the store!  Again my dress form really came in handy for this outfit!  And the material! got it for like $2.99/yd!!! It has body to it.  I'm still not well versed on all my materials and what they are called, so for lack of knowledge I have to describe this as a heavy-weighted rayon.  :-D  It has a real nice hand, but is prone to wrinkles....

This is my Ruffle Waist Skirt.  This was a tutorial by Robie Dodson of So Sew Something. This is her "So Let's Go Home" skirt, as she was leaving the hospital after having a baby.  This skirt was awesome for my summer wardrobe, as it doubled as a summer dress, and work skirt as shown here.  Beautiful tutorial! Here is a link to her Tutorials/Blog Page.  Thanks Robie -- you're fabulous!

Ahhh!  Some of my favorite pieces!!! (there is another one below).... My Onesies!!! they are fabulous to wear and I love lounging in them!  The pattern is a Kwik Sew #K2175,  found here and the fun thing is you can adjust the height if you are shorter or taller! Picking your fabric and complimentary colored zipper and cuff materials is so much fun!  Fleece comes in so-o-o-o-o-o-o many different patterns, I still don't know the difference between polar fleece and anti-pill fleece, I can only surmise that one is for real cold, and the other holds it's softness wash after wash.  I will find out someday!  The few people I've asked at JoAnn's weren't sure either.  I'll do a web search one day, or you could tell me!  This was the second onesie I made, the first one (below) i loved so much, I just wanted to be able to change off now and again!

Yes!  My other Onesie!!!!  This says Live-Laugh-Love-Peace on it...

This knit dress was made from a tute by Sophia Dengo.  The tute can be found here on Pinterest: 20 Minute Dress  Her's was a short length, and I still may shorten this one, but so far this one stands as it is.  It was the first dress I made after getting my dress form.  I made another dress from this tutorial, but it was real difficult to attach the waist elastic all around consistently, but with the dress form the pinning was easy and the waist came out perfect!  I got my dress form on Amazon.com  This is a Singer DF150 on Amazon and is adjustable.  I got size Medium, where some other forms I would need a size small, so check the measurements.

Here is my cute little clutch bag - embroidered with a guy now fondly referred to as "Syndey"... The embroidered message says"Save the Earth... it's the only planet with chocolate!"  That embroidery  design can be found here.  I will come back and list the pattern I used for the clutch.