I posted this picture of my cutting table with a glass of water for last week's Studio Friday. I recieved many comments asking what I am working on, so ...
The blue "tie dye" fabric is a printed knit, 50% cotton, 50% polyester, from Joann's that I bought to make the fitting toile of Neue Mode M23061. This will be my second attempt at this dress. The first time I chose an unsuitable fabric.
Playing with Embroidery
I've been playing with the designs loaded in my embroidery machine on scraps of fabric. This is a knit fabric, 100% cotton (I think), using a cut away stablizer.
I sent a cone of Maxi-Lock serger thread back to the manufacturer because it kept breaking every 18 inches or so. They sent me a large box full of thread. Some of those threads were rayon threads that I thought could be used for embroidery. I was very wrong. The duck on the left uses the free threads; you can see the white bobbin thread that is pulled up. I tried a lot of things to get that bobbin thread back behind; nothing worked. So I decided to use the free rayon thread as bobbin thread. The butterfly on the right uses Isacord (my favorite), Sulky, and Coat's & Clark's embroidery threads. No bobbin thread is showing.
Comparing Threads
I'm not sure why the colors were so different. The one on top uses the free thread, and the one on the bottom uses stuff I've paid for.
I'm making several t-shirts for myself. This one is almost complete. I've been working on this pattern for a couple of years, on and off. I keep lowering the neckline and changing the darts. This version uses 2 darts: a traditional bust dart and a french dart.
The image to the left is one of my prototype labels. I've wanted to put labels in my clothing for a long while, and I finally got my computer to talk to my embroidery machine, so Le Voila! labels! I was working on the labels when I got bored with them and started trying out the designs loaded in the embroidery module.
The image to the right are crochet samples. I recently discovered scrumble. I'm not sure if I'll make anything with these or not. I was just testing the patterns.
The blue fabric is for another t-shirt. I'm not sewing it because the serger is loaded with orange thread. The pink corduroy are a pair of Chungita's pants that need to be mended.
And last but not least, this is fabric for pillowcases for Chungita. I'm teaching her to sew. Right now, that means that mostly, I do the work while she watches. She can't cut straight, yet, so there isn't much she can do. But we do it together.
I don't know what this perennial is. I think I bought it 10 years ago when we redid the back yard. DH wanted white flowers, and this was something for him. It's never done especially well, but it hasn't died either.
This shasta daisy is from my mother from her new house. I have one other plant from her, a canna. She got the canna from a neighbor when they lived on Michigan Avenue in Oakland. So it's been in the family about 15 years longer than I have. Mom kept it in a pot on the deck at our house in Piedmont. By the time I got it, it had filled the pot with tubers. I had a terrible time getting it out and divided. Perhaps, some day, I will pass these 2 plants on to my children.
On the sewing front, I altered 2 t-shirts yesterday. They've never fit well. RTW doesn't do darts in t-shirts, so to get them big enough for the gigantic ones, they are too big in the neck. Losing weight made them even bigger. All I did was take the backs in. I think they will work. I'll have to wear them and see.
I'm not sure what I'm going to start on next. Maybe jeans? I've gone down a size, so my wardrobe just expanded to my prepregnancy clothes.
The lilac is blooming. Ours barely smells. This tree was in our yard when we bought the house. It's one of the few things that we've kept.
I finishe DH's windpro sweatshirt. He wants vests, now. Out of windpro, with zippers; the zipper part is not a problem. The windpro might be. It's not like I find it readily available. I hate to go no "no mail" on the fabric and notions mailing list because I'll be very tempted to buy more fabric. Oh, well, we shall see.
I finished Kwik Sew 2529. I had started it last May, so it took me almost a year. I like them, and I think they will work for wearing under skirts, but I need to lengthen the legs more. One really good thing about them is that I can get them to fit my waist without squeezing the dickens out of my thighs.
What's interesting is that this is the first time for as long as I can remember that I don't have anything cut out and waiting for me in the to-do pile. It must be the antidepressents. That's all I can think. I wish I had this response at work. Oh, well.
Patterns in Process Burda 8665 Fabric: Aqua linen/rayon
burnout Status: needs to be hemmed and have buttonholes sewn. Kwik Sew 3028 Fabric: lightweight olive green sweatshirt from a garage sale.
Status: sleeve hems Kwik Sew 2529 Fabric: white powerdry.
Status: cut. Simplicity 5633 tshirt, tank, and skirt.
Fabric: white eyelet. Status: waiting for white batiste so I can finish the necklines with bias tape instead of a facing. Burda WOF 4/2003 156 - Girl's top.
Fabric: white eyelet. Status: cut. Kwik Sew 2489
Status: altered (again) and cut.
