Midsummer Meltdown!

This weekend July ends, August begins, and it is time for my annual freak-out about how many projects I have committed to for September and beyond.

I am taking Friday and Monday off and have plans to work on my halter top and tank top. Patterns are cut, Vilene bias tape has arrived, and it is time to get a move on. Also, I will visit my local fabric store to shop for the 4 diaper bags that I am planning to make between now and the new year. I know I will love giving them as gifts. (More on baby gifts next week.) I've also committed to a sewing project for one of the many showers that I have this fall.

Other sewists in the blogosphere have been lamenting that it is time to start thinking about fall clothing. I still feel like we haven't had much of a summer, but I have a whole fleet of planned projects for myself. Most notable are a pencil skirt with the fabulous plaid I bought a few weeks ago (pattern tbd), and, after giving myself all summer to think it over, I really can't put off my pants issues any longer. I thought I had made up my mind to work on my sloper, but then I went overboard when SewingPatterns.com had a Simplicity pattern sale.


Oh, and maybe I want to make a dress too.


Anyway, all of this has led me back to the same conclusion that I always arrive at: I just don't have enough time for sewing and really need to quit my job so that I can spend more time in the craft lounge. Sigh.

Stuck

Right now, Justin (my running coach) and I are not friends.


You may recall that I am now - in theory - "a runner," meaning that three days a week I hobble around the neighborhood at a very very slow speed, gasping and grunting while Phineas trots along shouting encouragements. Occasionally, I shout rude things back.

Anyway, no doubt you have noticed that my posts have dwindled a bit in the last few weeks. I blame it on Justin. Running is eating into my other hobbies. I'm exhausted. And hungry. Really, really hungry. But too tired to cook. And now, on top of it, I am stuck. I progressed thru the first 3 weeks of 5k training smoothly. But week 4, where I am supposed to be running for three 8-min bursts, separated by 1 minute of walking, and then a final 3-min sprint, is defeating me. It nearly killed me the first time. The second was only slightly better. And then on Monday my sneaker started rubbing my heel and I had to call my run short.

Dr Kiang said that when she started running it took 3-4 months to get to equilibrium (ie: not tired and starving all the time) . So, hang in there with me and hopefully we will be back to normal in time for Oktoberfest. In the meantime, I am considering buying stock in Skippy, since I am single-handedly propping up peanut butter sales in the northeast.

Oh, so, the point of the post: this week's blue plate special is the humble peanut butter sandwich - too humble even for a photo. I prefer mine without jelly and served open faced on a toasted english muffin. But you can have yours anyway you like it.

Tee Shirt Remake #2

I had very little time for sewing this weekend, so I had to content myself with just doing another tee refashioning project.

Here is the before picture - one normal tee shirt...


... which I cut down. Sayonara sleeves!


And I made into a fun halter top.


Not bad for an hour's work on a Saturday afternoon!

Odd, yet good...

So, I was looking for a fun Friday post and heard that Chris Daughtry recently did a cover of Lady Gaga's "Poker Face".

I thought it would be along the lines of, you know, Alanis Morisette covering the Black Eyes Peas "My Humps". I was wrong. It's not funny at all and actually it's really kinda good. So, enjoy...

Recurring theme: the halter

Over the weekend I started work on my first BWOF garment and also another tee shirt refashioning project. Both are halter-style tops, which seems like a recurring theme in my recent sewing. I guess I like what I like.

Here's the top I'm making.

Anyway, I took yesterday off and traced the pattern. BWOF includes all the patterns they feature in the issue on a few sheets of paper in the middle of the magazine. How do they fit all those patterns onto a few sheets? Here's how...

Each pattern is drawn overlapping but in a different color.
You have to trace the pattern you want from the jumble. Oy vey!

It was only after I finished cutting it out that I remembered that Burda does not include seam allowances and that I would have to draw them in myself. Uuugh. So, it looks like I will be doing some retracing.

For the fabric, I am going to use the black jersey I picked up from Metro Textiles recently. I also may have enough leftover jersey from my maxi dress to make a second top - if I like how the first one comes out. The one thing that could hold this project up is that it calls for something called "Vilene bias tape." Apparently this is some kind of bias binding that you can fuse on with an iron rather than sew. Assuming I can find it, it should make sewing this top pretty easy.

It is very strange that it is almost August and I still feel like it isn't quite summer. New fall sewing patterns are being released and back to school sales are imminent, but I just can't deal with it yet. I'm still craving warmth. Does anyone else feel that way?

Tee shirt remake #1

A few weeks ago, Polyhymnia - who is due in October - decided to get rid of some of her pre-pregnancy clothing. I was the major beneficiary of her wardrobe purge. Among other things, I inherited a number of tee shirts, some with the tags still on!

So, I decided to put them to good use. Here is my first tee shirt refashioning project. I used instructions from CraftStylish.

Sorry, I forgot to take a "before" picture, but I think you get the idea from this picture: this was once a normal tee shirt with a paisley design on it. I cut it down to make a top "shrug" portion and 4 strips.

Three strips were used to make a long ruffle to go around the edge of the shrug. The remaining strip was halved and used to trim the sleeves. I left all the edges raw.

And voila! Here is a tee-shirt shrug! This project took very little time and the results are very very cute!

Harry Friday!

I cannot wait 'til quittin' time 'cause I'm off to see Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince with the other muses.

Harry Potter Trailer

(Because it was super annoying that this video launched every time I went to my blog, you will just have to deal with a link instead of an embedded image...)