Pattern Addiction Satisfied...For Now

I stopped at Hancock's today for the McCall's and Vogue pattern sale.  Here are the latest acquistions:

McCall's 6024--Everyone seems to love this pattern but can you blame them? View C was calling my name.



McCall's 6025--Designed to be a wadder in my opinion but I like it for a nightgown...and it has fewer pieces than the ill-fated M5925 (see below).



McCall's 6035--Can a gal ever have enough basic blouse patterns? Princess seamlines too!



McCall's 6039--Ditch the crazy, crafty materials and this is a cute jacket.



McCall's 6041--Again, ditch the crazy, crafty crap and this is a great jacket.



Vogue 7881--I think I bought this one just to have Claire's tips for couture pants.



I've haven't done well this week with my New Year's resolution to sew 1 hour a day.  Although I did find time to do some sewing-related shopping today.  Does that count?  I cut out fabric for McCall's 5925.





I've already decided that I will never make this pattern again and I haven't even started sewing it yet.  It had ELEVEN pattern pieces for view A!!!  The bodice sections are also self-lined.  This pattern is designed to be a wadder but I decided it would make a cute nightgown.  I must have read the wrong line for yardage requirements because I didn't have enough for the sleeve extensions.  I know I hate a project when I use my leftover Pellon for the interfacing.  Care to place any bets on whether I actually finish this project?

I also have fabric preshrunk for some pajama pants.  I will add accent cuffs to the pants legs for the mint green (white with flowers print for accent) and red (pink with red flowers for accent).  The red print is looking a bit fuschia...trust me, it coordinates well.



Some more pajama pants and perhaps a cami with lace trim from this fabric:



I spent an hour just playing around with the buttonhole functions on both of my machines.  I do like the 4-step buttonhole on the Singer CG-590 but I'm not wowed by it.  I have an automatic buttonholer on order but I'm squabbling with the seller.  Advertised as a "new in box" Singer Professional Buttonholer.  It's in good condition but not new.  Had I known this, I would have ordered it cheaper on eBay.  Don't you wish you could reach through your computer and smack lying online sellers?  I still have 4 doubleknit cardigans waiting for buttons and buttonholes but I just can't bring myself to put them in.  This whole buttonhole fiasco has taken the wind out of my sails.  What is putting a little pep in my step however is my 3-day weekend!!!  I haven't had Martin Luther King Day as a holiday in years.  In perfect timing to reflect on MLK and what he stood for, DH and I watched our NetFlix movie, "The Express: The Ernie Davis Story."  A fantastic movie with several great story lines.  I highly recommend it.

Found my sewing mojo!

Thanks to Faye and the "Month of Tops" sew-a-long, I have even more incentive to get back to sewing. I have been pre-washing fabrics and buying notions for several "tops" projects for the past month. Time to get to work!



I have the following projects prepped already:



1. Dark navy denim stretch 3/4-sleeve jacket
McCalls 5816
I bought this fabric for bottoms but realized during the prewashing that the fabric is too lightweight for bottoms. I have never worked with denim so I figured the bolt labels would indicate what was best for tops vs bottoms. The bolt labels are very deceiving. To buy the proper weight denim fabric, you must know a little about how denim is categorized by weight (6 oz vs 12 oz??). I will create a separate post about some basic denim buying and sewing tips later. Anyway, I had 6+ yards of this and decided to make 2 jackets and a skirt.



2. Dark navy denim stretch short-sleeve jacket
Butterick 5332 view C


3. Double-knit cardigans in 4 colors (grey, navy, red, purple)
McCalls 5978
I did extensive reading about working with knits in general since I have never worked with knits and I have recently bought TONS of it in various types and colors. I'll post a summary of tips for working with double knits later this week. I'll save the rest of my knits FYI when I get around to those materials.



4. Striped button-front long-sleeve shirts in 2 different patterns

Remember the infamous shirting fabric that lost its smooth finish when I prewashed? This is the fabric I've been fussing with for some time. Everytime it beats me, I walk away from it for a week or so until I'm ready to try again. I've resigned myself to plain 'ol spray starching the material before ironing for use. I was really hoping to avoid that. I LOATHE starching and ironing.



That's all I've prepped so far. If I manage to finish those quickly, I'll probably get to work on the other knits. I have some pretty rayon blends and cotton jerseys that could be very easy to knock out. Can you tell I'm trying to avoid ironing?



Follow my progress here and on the Month of Tops blog.



Next up? I'm toying with the idea of doing the SWAP 2010 challenge. I went through my stash and found that I didn't have everything I needed to pull off a Chanel-themed wardrobe. Darn...guess I'll have to buy more fabric. (wink, wink) Anyway, here's my "storyboard."

Where's my sewing mojo?

I have a fabric forest growing in my spare bedroom/sewing room. I should be sewing every spare minute that I have so I can enjoy all my wonderful fabric finds and finally have clothes that fit and wear well. So why don't I want to sew?!!!

Hubby keeps saying to me, "You look bored or like you are looking for something to do. Why don't you sew something?" I think he really wants my piles of unfinished projects to just get cleared off of tables but I still appreciate the encouragement.

I was reading Marji's latest post today and it hit me. I'm fat and don't like my body as it is now. I don't want to waste my fabric on clothes that hopefully will be too big in the coming months. I wanted to reward myself for exercising and eating healthier by making new clothes. I can't seem to find the motivation to eat well or exercise. Everytime I put on the frumpy clothes that I have now, I hate my body even more.

Bottom line:

"Sew for the body you have."

So simple but I forgot that along the way. I know I will feel better about the way I look if the clothes I wear are more flattering to my body as it is. A little good feeling will go a long way...maybe I'll even exercise?

When the clothes are too big, I will have to practice altering finished garments. I usually just donate them because I never enjoyed unpicking a finished garment, homemade or store-bought. This will be good practice for me. If I can't make it smaller, then I can also practice repurposing. Maybe a shirt will become a purse, blanket square...or something else for the cats to nap on.

I have some doubleknits at home that are desperately needing to be made into cardigans. The weather is finally cooling off and I need some new layers to wear. Sew for the body you have. I can always buy more fabric! (wink, wink)

Restoring Finish on Polished Cotton...part 3

Thought I had thrown in the towel on my polished stretch poplins, didn't you?

I did too until I found myself staring at my hubby's shirt last night. He gets his shirts washed and starched at the dry cleaners. I never noticed before but the finish, that polished look, is exactly what I was trying to accomplish on my fabric. I think I ruled starch out because I hate spraying and ironing my clothes. Maybe a liquid starch added to the wash is what I really need. I could fix the finish on my stretch poplins (and finally get on with the project) AND I could stop spraying starch on my clothes. I hate how the spray gets on EVERYTHING (ironing board cover, carpet, the cats, me, etc.).

But I've never seen liquid starch in the stores....

Make my own, of course!

Thrifty Fun recipe for liquid starch
In a large bowl or pot, stir 1/2 cup of corn starch into 1 cup of cold water. Stir in boiling water (2 quarts for a heavy solution; 4 quarts for medium and 6 quarts for a light solution). Dip the clothing into the starch solution and let dry. To iron, sprinkle the garments lightly with warm water, roll up and place in a plastic bag until evenly moistened, then iron as usual.

Vicki Welsh recipe for liquid starch

1. Put 1 1/2 cups of water in a saucepan and bring to a boil.

2. While waiting for the water to boil, dissolve 2 - 3 teaspoons of cornstarch in 3 tablespoons of cold water in a cup or small bowl. Keep mixing the cornstarch while waiting for the water to boil.

3. After the water boils, pour the cornstarch mixture into the boiling water and stir for a minute or so. The liquid will be clear or slightly cloudy.

4. Remove the saucepan from the heat and let cool to room temperature, stirring occasionally.

5. Transfer the starch mixture to a spray bottle and starch away! Throw it out after a couple of days.

I will let you know how the liquid starch turned out.

Restoring the finish on polished cotton...part 2

I tried one of Heloise's tips for restoring the smooth finish to some polished stretch poplin shirting fabric I bought and washed. This tip seemed to be the easiest so I tried that one first...add plain gelatin to the final rinse.

Gelatin in final rinse--wet fabric


Hmm, that didn't work so well. Maybe if I dry it and iron it.

Ironed, gelatin-covered fabric on left and regular wash & dry on the right


See the difference?!! Yeah, neither do I.

Heloise had some other suggestions (add borax to rinse, add liquid starch to rinse, etc.). Honestly, I'm so discouraged that I don't care to try any of these other suggestions. I think a hot iron and starch will have to do.

I bought several of these shirtings (all from Denver Fabrics).

Poplin shirting pre-wash--you can kinda see the polished finish


Poplin shirting post-wash and dry (no iron)



Lesson learned: test samples before laundering the entire yardage.

Linda Podietz is the owner of EmmaOneSock.com, where she sells designer fabrics. Under the "fabric care" link on her website, you can find a great pdf of fabric testing how-to.

She also has a link for guides to sewing all the different types of fabric. This is very handy if you don't own one of the great fabric guides that are available, like "More Fabric Savvy" by Sandra Betzina.

Free Purse Project from Singer

I have been toying with the idea of making my own purses. I am so fed up with floppy purses with handles that break. I am still researching interfacings and strap options but I came across this free pattern from Singer and thought this might be a nice design to try in the near future.

PDF purse instructions "Mirror Image Shopper"

Singers also has other free designs; mostly bags, pillows, hair accessories, etc.

Singer Free Designs and Projects