Back to Sewing

Breaks are good. Taking three weeks away from sewing turned out to be restorative. I returned to the Craft Lounge on Saturday feeling relaxed, patient and ready to sew.

I also got over my irritation with the purple Hot Patterns top. I decided that it will be fine without sleeves, and I will just have to wait until warmer weather to wear it. C'est la vie! Once that decision was made, I took in the side seams and did a little reshaping of the underarms. I was ready to hem the arm holes and the bottom, but then realized that I didn't have a double needle. Oh, well. As soon as I pick one up, the top will be done, done, done.

It finally fits!

Since I was stymied with finishing the purple top, I decided to work on my pencil skirt and made a HUGE amount of progress. I already had the lining ready to go, but the skirt was just cut and marked. On Saturday, I sewed the darts, seams and waistband, checked and fine-tuned the fit, installed the zipper and dropped in the lining.

Look! It's invisible!

Check out my invisible zipper. Not bad for my first time! I used an amalgam of the pattern's instructions and the very good directions in Connie Crawford's book. The invisible zipper foot I bought for my sewing machine made it easier than I thought, and I now feel like I can conquer any zipper.

So, I have a few things left to do on this project - finishing the slit, hemming and hand stitching part of the lining. But with the skirt 85% done, I am beginning to think that this might be my best project yet. It is making me feel very optimistic, indeed! In fact, last night I flipped through my other patterns, feeling very confident and eager. Now, I just need to decide what to tackle next.