TGIF: Weekend Sewing Plans!

Some weeks go very smoothly with my sewing and knitting and baking and such. Others don't. An intensely busy week at work basically left me with little time and less energy for my extracurricular pursuits. Today was the only day that I even got to take a walk in the Garment District.

However, I'm taking Monday and Tuesday off, and so I have big plans for this long weekend!  Here's the short list:

First: Working on my leather jacket muslin. I'm optimistic that muslin 1.0 will be in good shape soon and I can move on to muslin 2.0, which will be in a yicky faux leather only rivaled in hideousness by the awful camo and rose denim of it's predecessor. 

In person, the distressed areas are fake-tan orange.

Second: Some educational reading. Don't let the zebra print on the cover fool you; this book's styles are tragically out of date. But a first glance makes me think the techniques and technical info is sound.

Where did people buy OOP books before Half.com?

Last: Assembling supplies. I've actually already started this and have leather glue, leather needles, zippers and other notions at the ready for testing. I'm thinking this might be the right time to buy a rotary cutter and mat.

Do you have big weekend sewing or other crafty plans? What are you working on? 

Happy Friday, everyone!

Leather Jacket Muslin 1.0

I'd like to say I had spent all weekend sewing, but that would be a gross exaggeration. I arrived home from LA like an exhausted starlet and proceeded to loaf around the house all weekend. The only sewing to mention was that muslin 1.0 for my leather jacket (Burda 07-2010-118/119) is looking pretty good, so an accomplishment despite my best efforts at being lazy.

Front: very not bad

I'm basically happy with how the lapels and front are fitting. I think leather will be a bit bulkier than the denim muslin. So I'll probably let things out just a skootch so I have some extra ease. Honestly, this jacket needs to be pretty fitted to look good, but I don't want it skin tight.

The side view shows a little bit of wrinkling from the bust to the hip, which I didn't notice while on, but will investigate. I have room to let out the princess seam at the bust if needed.

Side: A few drag lines from bust to peplum

As for the back, I tested out both with and without the peplum. Peplum wins. And the back needs to be taken in a bit at the shoulder blades, which is normal for me. I've noticed that the drag lines from the bust seem to extend around to the peplum. So, I'm wondering if the solution might be just to let that seam out a little bit.

Back: The peplum is cute, despite looking like a Thanksgiving decoration in brown.

The only other alteration that is truly evident to me at this point is that I need to lengthen the jacket by 1-2" since the waist is currently above my waistline. Perhaps it needs a little length at the hem. I didn't press or pin up the hemline, so in the pictures you are looking at the unhemmed length.

You've probably noticed that my muslin has no sleeves. Because the fit of the bodice affects the fit of the sleeve, it's a waste of time to set in a sleeve before you've really worked out how the bodice should fit both across the front and back. So, this was quite deliberate and not just a symptom of my lazy weekend.

Anyway, stay tuned. Sleeves are next and then I have some truly ugly faux leather to do a more refined muslin, testing out how I plan to sew on the actual leather. Organizing supplies and buying leather are also in the near future. 

That Oonaballoona is One Bad Influence!!

So there I was in LA, sitting on top of my suitcase, trying to jam one last piece of fabric into it and thinking two things:

First: there are definitely moments when having a curvy bottom to help close a suitcase is a very good thing.

Second and more important: I must warn you all that Oonaballoona is a fabric enabler, temptress and bad influence of the first order! Not only will she take advantage of your personal fabric buying weakness, preying on my your love of orange, but she also has a talent for zoning in on the best deals in the store, making it impossible for you to say no.

While in town, I unwittingly agreed to meet up to peruse the LA branch of Mood. Perhaps I should have been suspicious when she suggested we meet for a sweet to fortify us for the shopping, but I'm a trusting person by nature and thought I would just browse a bit. However, Oona had other plans. Shortly after picking out the most gorgeous fabric in all of Mood (seriously, check out the Anna Sui panel she scored), she suggested - all big eyes and innocence - that we check out the remnant bins. It was downhill from there.

Four coordinated pieces of blue and green home dec fabric and a fabulous green and purple wool remnant

And if that wasn't enough, she offered to share - share! - two pieces of fabric she picked out with me! And somehow I found myself agreeing that it would be incredibly fun to both make something from our halves of this stripped orange knit and blog about it (stay tuned). Can you imagine?

My half of the shared fabric

Now, you'd think I would have learned my lesson, but at the end of our shopping at Mood, I somehow  found myself agreeing to meet up again to hit some other places the next day. I summoned all my will power and reminded myself of the limitations of my suitcase, but I truly underestimated that crafty and devious Oona. This time she brought backup!

Me, Oona and local sewista, Leah

Local sewista, Leah, took us to Michael Levine and pointed us to the discount loft, where they sell remnants for $2.50 per pound. Yes, you read that correctly $2.50 = 1 lb of fabric.

Between all the pawing over fabric and conversation about sewing, they managed to weaken my will power and I scored was pressured into buying these sweet pieces:

Black burnout jersey and orangey striped chiffon!

What could I do, I was outnumbered?  But I distracted Oona with a beautiful piece of organza and made a break for it, making some excuse about being on a business trip and having somewhere to be, blah, blah, blah. And with that, I left Oona and Leah before I got roped into any more fabric adventures.

So, consider yourself warned. Do not fabric shop with that fabulous and Oon-tastic woman from Kalkatroona unless you have an empty suitcase to hold all your gorgeous finds! I, for one, will definitely not be letting her know that I might end up back in LA for another business trip this May.

Oh, one last thing: It's come to my attention that there is a rumor that I'm the one who enabled Oona's spectacular haul, particularly the Anna Sui piece. In my defense, the poor gal left her stash in NY but has a poolside sewing patio, a featherweight and a sweet Ruggy, who seems to have been cut from a similar cloth as my Phin and brings her drinks while she sews. So, my so-called "enabling" was really just an act of compassion toward a fellow sewista far from home without her stash. That is my story and I'm sticking to it!

Happy Friday Everyone!

Sweet as Honey Pedicure Socks Reveal!

This week I'm in Los Angeles for work. I arrived this afternoon. And I was walking around - I know, I know, no one walks in LA, it really is true, but there I was - and I passed a yarn shop not too far from my hotel.

Sorry about the glare!

And I realized that all this time I've been knitting socks and scarves, I could have been knitting lingerie for myself! LOL But since those patterns aren't on their website, I guess I'll just have to content myself with socks.

Here is my latest pair! Ta-da!

Sweet As Honey Pedi-socks on ugly as sin runners feet

I had originally started a sock pattern called "Spiral Galaxy", but it was kind of boring to knit and I didn't love how it looked, at least not in my orange yarn.

So, keeping the same cute ruffle cuff, I ripped the rest of the stitches out and did a pattern called "Buzz" instead. It's a cute honeycomb kind of pattern. Sweet, don't you think?  And I finished the sock off with a "pedicure toe". Basically this is just a ribbed knit cuff that allows your toes to peek out.

I did what is called a short row heel (not sure why). It came out ok, but not perfect. The stitches are a little loose and I'm not sure how to tighten them up for next time.

Anyway, I'm away from my sewing machine while traveling for work and trying to fill my spare time with more knitting. So, expect my next pair of socks - a pretty purple number - in the not-too-distant future.

Leather Jacket: My Next Big Project!

For those of you who enjoyed following me through my Lady Grey Coat sewing last winter, my garden party dress in the spring, and my Red Project Dress in the late summer, you'll be happy to know that my next big project is about to take off. For those of you who I bored to tears with multiple muslins, tips and tutorials that I found useful during fitting and sewing, and thoughts on the gadgets that came in handy, well, I guess I'll see you in a month or so for the final reveal. hee hee

So, I've decided the time is right for the leather jacket that I first mentioned in January. Loads of other sewists have been doing great projects with leather or faux leather recently. And, ever since I received the July 2010 edition of BurdaStyle, I've had a crush on this jacket.

BurdaStyle 07/2010 -#118

Does that happen to you? You find yourself returning to a certain pattern in your mind, or flipping to the directions every so often just to peruse them? Or am I weird that way? Anyway, I've had this pattern on the brain for a while. I think the style is pretty unique and eye catching. And, well, we all know how I like that kind of thing.

There is a second variation on this jacket - #119  - that Burda sewed up in a navy blue wool.

BurdaStyle 07/2010 #119

I plan to do a bit of a mash up of the two patterns - the collar of #119 (ie: one piece lapel rather than pieced), the zipper closure and non-cuffed sleeves from #118, and I'm on the fence about the peplum.

At this point, muslin 1.0 is cut, but not yet marked or sewn. I'm using up some of the ugliest denim known to man for this muslin. Seriously, the right side is dark green camo with pink and turquoise roses strewn about for good measure. I'm using the plain brown wrong side. I bought it to use as muslin for jeans, but then I found RTW jeans that fit really well. So it's been an eyesore in my stash for about 2 years. My goal for muslin 1.0 is simply to work out any fitting issues and see if I prefer the peplum or the straight back.

Fugly, no?

Here's what I'm doing/pondering so far:

• Which sewing machine to use - my Viking (I have a handy rolling foot for sticky fabrics) vs my granny's old workhorse (better on bulk)? I may end up sewing on the Viking and top stitching on granny's. Only testing will tell. 
• Reading up on good tips for sewing on leather - Lindsay T, Gorgeous Ann, the Sewing Lawyer and Kbenco have all done great posts on working with leather or leather jackets specifically. If you've got any tips or suggestions for further research, please suggest!
• Whether to use all leather, or make the jacket leather on the front, but a sturdy double knit in the back. This would keep costs down and may make fitting a bit easier and more forgiving.
• Zippers - I'm wondering if I can forgo the sleeve zippers. I think the jacket might be a bit more sleek without them.  

Have you sewn on  leather or another tricky fabric? Feel free to share!  And stay tuned since this is likely to be just the first of several posts about this project! 

PR Weekend in my Hometown!

It seems like I'm out of town every time there are other sewists visiting NYC.  But not this time! Not only is PR weekend in my hometown (yay New York!), but it's also on a weekend that I can make (double yay!)!  I've already registered.

Now, I just have to plan what to wear. (Seriously, I'm already having fits of angst about it. And May can really go either way in NY - it could be deliciously summery or cold and damp.)

I hope to meet some of you there! Holler if you're in! I shall grill you about what you plan to wear at a later date. ;-)

Deets are here if you didn't get the email.

Cute Purse from Left Over Scraps!

First, thank you everyone for the compliments on my color blocked dress! For some reason, I've always liked a green and purple color combo. So, it was fun to put them together in one dress.

So, today's news! When I finished up the diaper bag for my excellent friend, Dr Kiang, I was left with a whole bunch of scraps of ripstop that I really didn't want. And as I thought back to my sister Calliope's diaper bag carrying days, I remembered that she was always either trying to deal with carrying a diaper bag plus a purse OR digging through the depths of her diaper bag to try to find her wallet, keys, lipstick, etc.

So, I had a little brainstorm: why not make a cute matching clutch purse that can be clipped into the diaper bag or carried separately?

Enter Vogue 8527, which is now on clearance at the Vogue website. I picked version D and it sewed up pretty quickly and easily. The only change I madewas to add a tab with a D ring on it so that it could be clipped into the diaper bag.

There's not much to add other than I think it's a cute little bag that's large enough for the essentials.

This weekend I'm visiting with Dr K to deliver the bag and meet her new little guy for the first time. (Yay!  Auntie Clio gets some baby time!) Have a great weekend everyone!