Easy baby blanket

I have a friend who is due with her first baby is just a few days and I recently made her this baby blanket - it's my favorite quick baby gift to make. The pattern is from Last Minute Patchwork and Quilted Gifts, it's the "super quick + easy baby quilt" on page 42. Super easy it is - it's just batting (I usually use the craft size Warm & Natural Cotton batting) sandwiched between 2 quilting cottons. You use a machine embroidery or zig zag stitch to quilt it together in a grid pattern to prevent the batting from shifting. The most time-consuming part is tying off all the threads. I highly recommend this pattern, and the book is full of other great gift ideas.

Black Friday fabric shopping

As I alluded to in my previous post, I spent my Black Friday visiting fabric stores. I met up with my sewing girlfriends Cindy (who visited me a couple of months ago) and Leslie for a day of fun.

First stop, Britex in San Francisco.  Britex offered their email subscribers a coupon for 30% off remnants on Black Friday. We got there right after they opened at 10 am and headed straight for the 4th floor. Even though we spent more than an hour there, we didn't buy much, each of us leaving with just one cut of fabric I think. I'm sure it won't surprise you to know that Leslie has a cut of Burberry plaid wool in her shopping bag there...

Next stop, Stonemountain and Daughter in Berkeley. Both photos the cutter took for us were slightly blurry, her arm must have still been quivering from cutting all of our fabric.  I think we were there for 2 hours. We were armed with Black Friday coupons for 20% off regular priced fabrics, plus there was great stuff in the 50% off sale section upstairs.

As you can see, I stuck to basic solids that should stand the test of time (if not in the closet then in the stash). Only the cotton chambray is from Britex, the rest is from Stonemountain.

Purple is one of my favorite colors, but I have hardly any purple clothes, so I made it a point to include some in my shopping cart. The silk/cotton woven is the same type of fabric I used to make BWOF 6-2008-120 (this is even the same color) and BWOF 7-2009-104 . It is truly the most divine fabric to work with.

Stonemountain had an amazing selection of silk jerseys, a few solids and close to 20 different prints, all priced at $20/yard ($16/yard with coupon!). I was very tempted by several of the prints - you know how you carry a bolt around the store with you while you "think about it". Ultimately I stuck with a solid, neutral olive color. At 60" wide, it was a steal.

I was also thrilled to find the "Home Sewing is Easy" print by Alexander Henry. It's based on a vintage sewing booklet (a copy of which I'm lucky to own), and I didn't even know the reproduction fabric existed until Sew Tessuti shared it with us. My plan is to use it as a ironing board cover. But now I'm thinking I first want to upgrade from my 14.5" wide ironing board to something wider (18"+).  Any suggestions?

****************

One more thing - in my previous post, I mentioned that I had found one of the Threads DVDs, Threads Industry Insider Techniques, at my public library. It is well worth watching, I highly recommend it. I can't wait to try out the pattern alteration to create a bulk-free collar. Also, Louise Cutting demonstrates the proper way to use a point turner, which was a real eye-opener for me! I always assumed you were supposed to just shove that little thing in the corner of your newly-turned-out collars (as is shown on the package in the link); Cutting's method is much more sophisticated and less likely to poke straight through and damage your fabric.

There actually is some sewing happening over here...

Not much, but some!

Simplicity 2850

Nothing too exciting, frankly, but can you ever have enough comfy knit tops?  I bought this pattern because I really like the gathered neckband.  It turned out to be very fiddly and time-consuming! I made View C, and the only change I made was to skip the elastic in the sleeve cuffs and finished it with a narrow sleeve band instead. The fabric is rayon lycra jersey from Fabric.com that I bought in June.

I do have to rave about a notion that I used for the first time - SewKeysE by Emma Seabrooke fine fusible knit interfacing. I bought this at Fabric Depot during PR Weekend Portland in May. It's basically fusible tricot that's cut 1.25" wide, used to stabilize knit hems. It fused onto my fabric easily and beautifully. I'm hooked! So much nicer than cutting interfacing strips yourself. I have a roll in black and a roll in white.

In a few hours, I'm boarding a plane to the SF Bay area to celebrate Thanksgiving with the in-laws. I'm bringing this along for the ride:

Threads Industry Insider Techniques

I love the Seattle Public Library!  This is the only Threads DVD I found there, I hope they get in more soon.

On Friday, I have an exciting day planned that involves sewing friends and fabric stores...

Have a great Thanksgiving everyone!

Bright Star

I made plans to go to a movie with a friend this past weekend. She suggested we see Bright Star, which I hadn't heard of before, but I was pleasantly surprised.

Directed by Jane Campion, Bright Star is the story of the poet John Keats and the girl he fell in love with, Fanny Brawne. What may be of particular interest to readers of this blog is that Fanny sews many of her own clothes and, especially at the start of the movie, there are plenty of close-up action shots of delicate hand-stitching.  At their first meeting, Keats learns of her interest in fashion and asks Brawne what she thinks of his clothes; she tells him he would look better in a blue velvet jacket and I thought for sure this meant she would surreptitiously sew one up for him during the course of the movie, but no such luck for him! Anyway, she does many great pieces for herself, including what she claims is the first "triple mushroom collar" in her part of the countryside, seen in both photos here.

Photos from IMDB

If you're up for a period piece with eye candy costumes, a love story, and a tear jerker all rolled into one, this is the film for you!

Queen of the Nile

I spent most of my Halloween Saturday sewing my costume for a party that evening! I decided on Cleopatra several weeks ago, but in typical style waited until the last minute to sew it up.

A Google image search for Cleopatra will show you that most RTW costumes have these common features: a sleeveless white gown, a wide collar, a belt with an embellished flap hanging down at CF, armbands, and a sheer cape.

I used BWOF 3-2005-114 as a starting point for the dress, tracing just the bodice without the sleeves.  I added a waist seam and drew pieces for a long split front skirt.

For supplies, my first stop was the thrift store where I found what would be the main fabrics - a king sized bedsheet ($3) for the dress, and a super wide poly dupioni pinch-pleat drape in a peachy color ($4) for the accessories.

I hit up Joann for cheap gold trims and the sheer cape fabric, which turned out to the most expensive part of the outfit at $10.  I used a zipper, velcro, and elastic from my stash.

The collar and the wristbands close with velcro.

I put elastic in the armbands to help keep them tight and in place on my upper arms.

The sheer cape, edges left raw, was stitched to the CB neck and the armbands.

There are all kinds of issues with this dress that you would only allow on a Halloween costume:
 - the invisible zip is a contrasting hot pink as it's all I had on hand - but is of course covered by the collar and wig
 - all seams are unfinished
 - the curved skirt hem is super wavy

My friend who is a professional makeup artist did my face, which is always a major treat. I'm wearing the Didi lashes by Make Up For Ever.

Tim went as a race car driver and I had a hand in his costume too - I sewed all those patches on!

Hope everyone had a great Halloween!

Carolina Herrera fabric meets Burda jacket

Burda magazine 9-2009-127

I finished this jacket during my recent sewing retreat, except for the last few buttons which I was just too tired to do then. This past weekend I added those, stitched in my label, and voila, it's done.

Fabric
As described before, the fabric is wool and organza by Carolina Herrera. The pattern calls for 1 and 5/8 yards of 60" fabric, but I purchased 2 yards so I could match the plaid at the seams, and I needed every inch of that 2 yards to successfully do that! The lining is Bemberg rayon. The interfacing is Pro-Weft fusible from Sew Exciting.

Notes on construction/alterations
I considered lengthening the sleeves on this jacket but in the end decided against it.  I actually don't own any 3/4 sleeve jackets yet so I figured I'd see what they're all about. 

This jacket pattern does not include pockets, and I forgot to add them.  Just something to consider for others who want to make this up.

I bagged the lining, using the instructions in Cecelia Podolak's Easy Guide to Sewing Jackets, like I usually do. I don't know what I would do without that book!

I briefly considered bound buttonholes but since my machine buttonhole sample turned out so nice, I went with those instead. 

Conclusion
I think this would be great in a solid color with a matching skirt to wear as a skirt suit, as suggested in the magazine. The shawl collar didn't turn out as large as I was expecting, perhaps it's because of how my thick fabric affects the turn of the cloth.  If I were to make this again (which I would most certainly consider), I might redraft the shawl collar to be a bit wider.

I don't think this is a jacket that I'll wear often, the fabric is a little too delicate for that, but with the right outfit and in the right weather conditions, it'll be just the thing.

Seattle BurdaStyle Club sewing retreat

Instead of our usual monthly meeting at Stitches, yesterday the Seattle BurdaStyle Club held an all day sewing retreat. One of our members kindly volunteered her mom's home for the event, and eight of us got together for nearly 12 hours of sewing, in addition to plenty of chatting, and snacking too.

 

It was raining like crazy on Saturday so it was the perfect day to stay inside and sew.  Coats and jackets were the most popular item - Vineta started an incredible blue wool coat from Vogue, Amy nearly finished a fall coat from McCalls, and Cheryl traced, altered and cut Burda 10-2009-109, which really piqued my interest!  Diana and Cheri both worked on woven shirts, and Stephanie mastered the blind hem on her new machine.  Plus we had a special 8-year old guest who sewed up her first garment ever, a pair of leggings from Ottobre.  They turned out fantastic, that young thing has a bright sewing future ahead of her.

I eased into the day with a pair of easy yoga pants, a BWOF pattern I've made before, and then I finished the jacket with the Carolina Herrera fabric I mentioned in my last post.  Pics and reviews to come as soon as I get them photographed.

All in all it was a fabulous day and we all want to do it again, soon!

I am infatuated with this fabric

I'm still around, just haven't been doing much sewing... until this past weekend that is.  I spent some quality time working on the jacket I started cutting during Cindy's visit last month.

First, a closer look at the fabric. I bought it at my local fabric shop during their annual sale; even at 30% off it was pricey, but I deserve it, right? It's Carolina Herrera, and after some sleuthing on Style.com, I discovered she used it in her Fall 2008 RTW line.

Runway pics from Style.com

It's a plaid wool, what makes it unique is that the right side is really worn and slubby, plus it has black organza stitched on in a diamond pattern. 

Wrong side above, right side below

It's kind of hard to see in the photos; the darker diamonds are the areas where the black organza is.

The pattern I chose is Burda magazine 9-2009-127, a shawl collar double breasted jacket. 

I used Sew Exciting pro-weft fusible in areas that needed stabilizing.

 

Burda tells you to fuse only the armholes on the back pieces, but I went ahead and fused more (in addition to all the hemlines).  I also decided to thread trace and I'm soooo glad I did.  I found that a couple of the pieces had stretched out a bit, probably when I was fusing them.  I was mostly able to steam them back into shape.

On Saturday I sewed up the lining (Bemberg rayon), even before I started the jacket shell, just like Ann told us to.  Ever since I read that tip, I've always sewn my lining first, and I'll never go back.  Today was a furlough day for me so I got the jacket shell done.  Now all that's left is to put those together and stitch some buttonholes...