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.

SWAP Denim Skirt

Black Denim Skirt...

Well, after making my 5th iteration of my SWAP, due to moving my Motorcycle Jacket over to be my bridging piece, I was going to make this skirt in matching denim to the Denim Motorcycle outfit, but much to my dismay, Fabric.Com ran out and has been out since last year.  I'm not hopeful of their re-stocking, so I made iteration #6, and made Black Denim skirt, which matches the jacket, and then went back to the older iteration of the Butterfly Goth top to have a black velvet bodice, so now it ties to the black skirt, So a little shifting and we're okay again.

This is the XOX Skirt from a tute I found from Weekend Designer.  XOX Skirt Tutorial   The tute is not a tutorial for the skirt pictured on the website.  You do not get that skirt from following that tute.  I was however able to figure out about how to make the ruffles the way they show on the pictured skirt - on the outside, not on the inside.

So basically here is the layout as the tute directions call for:

 

You are basically making a block diagram, Top 1 Block, Middle: 2 blocks, Bottom, 3  blocks.  All times 2.  (Post Production Note:  I think next time I will make the top block shorter than the others, I would say  on this skirt, 5 inches. in stead of 8. then make the others 11 inches.)  All my blocks were 8 inches tall.  The top comes out too boxy that way, not very flattering. I think it's too boxy because in actuality my waist is only about 5 inches from my hips, not 8 plus the belt... The skirt is in the dryer at the moment fluffing out the fray from the cut edges of the denim.

So I start out by drawing out the diagram onto the back of the fabric, after making my calculations according to the directions.  Hips + 2 1/2  divided by 2, rounding up if you like.  Then length of skirt + 2 divided by 3.

 

Project start time

 

Laid out/Drawn out  My fabric was only 54" wide, so instead of the 60" that I would have made it, I went with the 54" x2 and then 37 x2, keeping the 20 x2 for the top piece. (cause of my hips)...

 

Start to cut...

 

All cut ready to go sew...

 

Sew seams so you will have tier circles. (And press the seams)

 

Pink the seam allowance,

 

Now this is one of my new toys... I forget what the foot is called already but it makes rolled hems... I have a 4mm and a 6mm.  I used the 4mm to make a RAVENS bandanna for Hubby - really came out great! So after sewing the tiers into circles, I had to roll the bottom hem. These feet were the best!  I'm still getting the hang of using them, so my hems aren't perfect yet - workin' on it....

 

 

Now who couldn't use a spool of nylon thread the size of a soda bottle??? Ha!  This was the perfect thread to zig zag through the denim in order to gather each tier.

 

Perfect...

 

The gathering and pinning took a while for both tiers, had to do one side an then the other, I matched the side seams first and then spread the in-between...

 

Tier one complete and sewn...  Did the same with tier two, and pinned and sewed.  Then installed the elastic belt that I had in my notions bin... (below)  I used over lock stitch for that, while stretching the belt, after pinning the 4 spots (front, back and each side)...

 

 

Neatened up all seams, allowances, pressed stitches, and was ready to wash to get that frayed look that demin gets from cut edges.

 

Done.... what was that 3 1/2 hours?

 

 

The try on was OK, it fit, but was not the flattering fit that I wanted... For the most part this skirt will be worn with blouses/tops over it, as opposed to tucked in or anything, so I will be alright...  So, while I can't say this piece is a high quality piece, it is satisfactory.  Time will tell if it gets replaced or left in my SWAP.  For now it's in.

 

Finished:

 

 

Modeled with my Denim Jacket from my Denim Motorcycle outfit, and also my Bridging jacket for SWAP...

 

 

 

Sewn Ruffly Yarn Scarf

You Don't Need to Know How to Knit for One of These!

I came across this tutorial a few weeks ago on BurdaStyle, Sew a Ruffled Scarf and thought it would be great!  So I chose some yarn yesterday at JA and decided to try it.  It went along just as the tute said.  You will definitely need to sew a second strong stitch along the middle because i found just the one to be weak and it "ripped apart" I guess because it's hard to make sure your stitch is really grabbing the yarn enough to hold on.  I'm thinking if I bunched the yarn up more as i stitched down the middle, it might help hold the stitch better...it seemed I was not meticulous when it came to keeping that consistent going all the way down the scarf.  I bought 2 skeins - the other a Black & White, so I will try this again. Once I re-sewed those two places that had came apart, we were in good shape, and it's been good now. I had made sure i bunched them up good.  You will need to choose a Bulky yarn - or you might not get the fullness or ruffly effect.  The Yarn I chose was oh so soft and is real toasty around my neck.  It was 68 yds, and yielded a scarf of 1 1/4 yards, with me making the width about 5 inches.  It was rated 80g / 2.8 oz. (not that I really know what that means, but you might).  The total project was about 40 minutes....

 

It's funny, but when the yarn was rolled as it is when it's being sold, it sure didn't look like tarantula's legs...

 

The Next Day.... (today)

Well it's rainy out this morning and I have enough food for football snacks, so, I'm off to make my second scarf, of the black & white, so let's see if my new notes make a difference...

 

The beginning...

 

You criss-cross like this, so get a good handful of "rows"

 

Bunch them up together, and sew them up.. I used two hands to guide it through the feed, but needed one hand to take this picture....

 

So far so good...

 

The end... I was more conscious of "bunching" the strands up throughout the scarf this time, and with the 68 yds, I came out with a 43" scarf.  And BTW that second row of stitch to make it stronger--> don't sweat the fact that you will not find the exact middle seam that you made the first time around! the curly yarn will prevent that, where strands will lie on mis-strewn sides of one side or the other, but you will make a close path, and it will still be the strengthener.

 

 

All done!  It's so cozy!!!!!

 

This one took 30 Minutes....

 

Great to have a scarf made out of yarn even though I do not know how to knit!

 

Ciao!