Thanks to everyone who attended this month. We missed bad weather and now the sun is shining and the grass is showing so I think we’re past the bad weather issues (I hope, I hope). Here are pictures, the Club sheets are available at the top of the website if you have questions.
Show and Tell was great-keep up the good work. Looking forward to spring creations.
Show and Tell-these patterns all came highly recommended!
Happy St. Patrick’s Day! Sew green today.
Monday night was webcast of Peggy’s blouse construction webcast. We didn’t watch it at the Fashion Sewing Club that night because it was mostly on technique and not fit. The techniques in the webcast are also on her “Factory Tips and Techniques-2″ video (pant construction is also on the DVD).
So anyway, I thought I’d give it a try and bought her #600 pattern which she used on the webcast. I had the pattern all cut out and turned on the DVD. Slow sewing was all over the letters to the editor in recent sewing mags but Peggy is out there to git ‘er done! And she delivers. The webcast was 50 minutes long and she finished the blouse-well, except for fitting darts, hems and buttons. I also got that far on my blouse. I took time out for a long phone call and paused the webcast when she got ahead of me. All in all it probably took me an hour and a half. Not bad when I had to look at the pattern once in a while to see what she was talking about. Having said that, it was fun to just sew and have her telling me what to do the whole time. That in itself was a timesaver. I had also watched her DVD once so that may have helped me a bit.
Just a few comments-She talks about sewing on the sleeve and turning off the differential feed. In my experience, all differential feeds are neutral in the middle and turned in one direction to gather and the opposite to stretch. Not sure what serger she’s using… The sleeve did go in very well-not much extra fabric. I really didn’t need much from my differential feed at all. Sewing on the collar with her method is pretty slick and I must say it looks good too. The front plackets add a nice stability to the garment and certainly is quick.
Trying the blouse on this morning I probably should have used a size 3 instead of 2. I went for 3 inches of bust ease-measuring my favorite blouses as she suggests. I forget that she has that 3/8” seam allowance so there’s no grace. The blouse fits-even at the bottom. Bust is great. There is just a bit less ease of movement in the shoulders than I’d like.
Sometime today I will watch her fit webcast for this blouse and I’ll let you know how that goes. Anybody else try this pattern and methods?
Here are the samples for Tailoring Tools. We’ll explain how to use all of our favorite tools and then everyone can make a set of their own. Lots of us used to have them but got rid of them from lack of use, but they can improve your garments and make pressing tasks easier. And it’s always more fon to work with lovely tools 🙂
Join us at Make It Sew on Friday, May 18 at 10 am. $20-everything but outer cotton fabric included-we supply wool, lining and stuffing. Call 952-767-0701 to reserve your spot.
If you need something fun and inspiring to do this Sunday, the fashion show at Eagle Creek featuring Amy Ordahl and company is at 1 pm and there’s still room. Should be fun to see what she’s creating and the fabrics she uses. Call 952-233-3774 to reserve a spot.
We had 14 Girl Scouts at Hancock/Bernina on Tuesday. They each made an infinity scarf and a wrist pincushion. It’s always inspiring to see small hands working so hard at something new. Because there were so many, I was trying to think of things to entertain them if they finished early (one never knows) and I remembered a button toy from my childhood. Anybody remember a large button on a loop of string and then you spin it and once it gets twisted enough you can gently pull and release and the button spins and the string hums? I experimented with several different strings and yarns. A fun toy to keep in your sewing room for distraction ( who said anything about children-I need a diversion every once in a while! It gets the creative juices flowing 🙂 There are lots of you tube videos showing this toy so I guess I’m not alone. Google “spinning button toys”– evidently the erotic world has a corner on “button toys”. (Now you’re curious aren’t you!)
Happy Sewing, see you next week.
Show and Tell on Valentine’s Day! We even got birthday treats and bookmarks as we celebrated Ruth’s birthday at the Treadle morning meeting. Yet another good reason to come to Club 🙂
This month’s offerings came from a larger pool of sewists. Thanks to Cheri and Carrie for filling out the line up as Laurel improved her vision and Debbie and Kristin worked on an early tan. Thanks to all of you who attended and keep up the wonderful show and tell.
Here are pictures of most of the garments:
And a few Show and Tell highlights:
Happy Sewing and hope to see you in March!
I didn’t realize how much work those winter coats were going to be last month. My daughter’s study abroad deadline forced me to finish the coat from Sew Serendipity and I thought I might share the finishing touches.
Buttons went on after the cuffs and hems and topstitching. I love the buttons and experimented with beads in the X of the thread but the beads were too big.
I wanted to sew small buttons to the back side to make the orange thread neater. Anybody know what that small button is called? I didn’t. It’s a backer button. I was worried that the smaller holes wouldn’t match up with the holes of the bigger buttons but it went very smoothly. I also wanted to make a bit of a shank to allow for the thick fabric. I’ve done that before-put a crochet hook between the fabric and button and sew, then take out the hook and wrap thread…but it never seems to be enough to make a shank. But then I consulted with Debbie and she straightened me out-put the crochet hook (or toothpick, etc.) on TOP of the button and sew it on. Oohhhhh! And just in case, I looked it up in Vogue and it was the same as Debbie’s advice. Wonder where my idea came from….
And then there was this pucker at the top corner of each center. At least it was symmetrical. With a buttonhole right next to it there wasn’t much I could do so I pressed it as well as I could and left it there! Can you tell I was getting to the end of my patience for this project?
But the fact that the jacket made the final suitcase cut for Wales was worth it all. I hope she gets lots of wear out of it. And I am in search of a similar pattern as I won’t be using that one again.
Another month of weather that wasn’t on our side but thanks to all of you who braved the weather to see this month’s offering plus all the great show and tell.
If you don’t have the Club sheets, click on “Club Sheets” in the top bar.
Don’t forget the arty t-shirt challenge for February. Check out Marcy and Katherine Tilton websites for inspiration-shopping is also great for picking up ideas. We’ll have a few new presenters in February as some of us have other time commitments.
We’ve had so many requests for the infinity scarf directions so I spent some time looking for a link and here it is:
Infinity Scarf. This is the original article that we made ours from in the Sew Stylish magazine. Awfully nice of them to put it on the web. Have fun whipping up a few.
As promised, here are pictures of other An Ren jackets. Dugo carries the one you saw at Fashion Sewing Club. I’ve also seen them at Macy’s and Von Maur. Wearing them can make cold weather a little more fun.
We’ve had two meetings-Make It Sew and Treadle-so much great Show and Tell and people shared info right away so I thought I would too. We still have Club meetings Thursday and Saturday at Hancock. Hope to see the rest of you.
1. Becky’s dress pattern was Vogue 8666. Everybody loved it and it’s an Easy Vogue-click on the pattern number to see it.
2. Donella’s microwave bowl or plate hotpad instructions-sorry I didn’t get a pic 😦
Microwave Hotpad
Supplies:
Two squares coordinating fabrics 11 ½”X 11 ½”
Two squares warm and natural 11 ½” X 11 ½” (Do not use polyester batting. It could melt in the microwave.)
Thread- cotton if possible. (I was told the polyester would melt also. But I’ve not had a problem.)
Lay one fabric on one batting. Quilt together. I sewed an X across the square.
Sew 3/8” darts -2 ½” long in the center of each side of the square. Shorter would make it more of a bowl. You can experiment with this.
Repeat with other square of fabric and batting.
Put quilted and darted squares right sides together. Sew all the way around leaving an opening. Turn right side out. Topstitch close to edge all the way around closing up the opening.
Lay in the microwave. Put dish on top. Microwave. Use like pot holder as you take the dish out and use on table as a hot pad, too.
One can make it in several sizes. The one I copied was 6 ½” square.
3. This is a great wrap for showing off a beautiful piece of fabric. In the picture is a velvet burnout from Treadle. We all thought it would be the perfect travel piece too!
Simply take a 23″ length of fabric-this one is 54″ wide-and roll hem serge all edges. Fold in half so selvedges would be together (yes, they’ve been serged off-or not if they are decorative). Stitch one of the two identical sides leaving a 14″ opening at folded edge for your head to fit through.
And then a few pictures of Show and Tell! We get so inspired by what you do!! It seems like most Show and Tell is crafty or for kids but those are the easiest to photograph-I’ll work on getting more garment pictures that look good.
Watch for the Club garment pictures after Saturday.
Material Girl Sewing 