After the Holiday Sewing & Crocheting

Hello All and hoping you had a Beautiful Holiday. 

    My Singer HD-110 finally arrived just in time for Holiday sewing, at least I thought.  I was too tired the night I received it to open it, but got up early the next morning...umm like 3:30am and proceeded to unpack it, got it threaded and ready to test.  Within a nano of pressing the foot pedal a needle broke....WT*?!%.  I removed the broken needle inserted another one and again the needle broke... I went through this process for 4 needles and was totally miffed.  Despite it now being  4:30am, I kindly woke up my guy to help me figure out what was wrong.  After showing him what I did, with sleep clearly in his eyes he checked the machine and in his Barry White voice informed me that the shank was off causing the needle to hit the needle plate.  The machine has to go back...humbug.

So what have I been doing since that dreadful morning.... more crocheting of course.  I've managed to bump out another Simple Shawl in Red Heart  Heather Grey yarn. All done in single crochet.

This project took me 2-1/2 days and provided instant gratification.  I started another one, but this one will take some time, I'm using Angora Extra (70% Angora / 25% Wool / 5% Nylon) in Rubino, which I purchased form Robin during her Yarn Blow Out Sale.  The yarn is soooooo soft and using it for a shawl is the perfect project.

Since this project will take some time I took a break and revisited Simplicity 2850.  I thought I'd retired the pattern, but ummm nope.  Since I've acquired 4 batches of knit prints in increments of 2 yds, I realized that S2850 was the best pattern to use for the prints and again the pattern didn't fail me.  I've become addicted to bold & funky prints and have taken to pairing them with my collection of sweaters.  The four tops I made during Faye's Month of Tops have been in heavy rotation.  They work well for work and also for the weekend, just grab and go.

With the temps in the 30's, wearing just a knit top with slacks or a skirt under my coat is not doable.  So I am enjoying playing-up my sweaters with the bold prints.  A great way to had a splash of color or more likely a batch of color to an otherwise dowdy outfit.

Off to begin cutting another one.... Enjoy the rest of your weekend.

Happy Holiday

May Peace be with you during this Holiday Season and sending Blessings throughout the year!

Snow & Crocheting

Happy Snow Day All,

I seriously doubted the meteorologists about the amount of snow expected.  How could I believe when I was able to capture this Cardinal feasting on our grass yesterday morning.

So my  daughter and I ventured out early yesterday and did a lil shopping visiting several stores.  We ended up at Joann's and to our surprise, when we exited Joann's the ground was coated with snow.... totally surprised at the amount that had fallen and at the same time experienced trepidation... I had to drive back home in that snow.   As we headed back home we gawked at the lack of visibility compared to when we started out.... I had to control my heavy foot on the accelerator in an attempt to get home quickly... I so did not want to get caught out there.

Throughout the rest of the evening the snow fell fast and heavy and woke up to this...

My guy trying to clear the walkway.....brrrrrrr

Of course, I thought, what a great way to photograph my latest crochet project.... Yes! you've read correctly - crocheting on the horizon.  Every year I give away my hat & scarf sets from the prior year and that calls for making new ones.  I completed this Hat & Shawl set last week adding a special touch... I pulled out my pins and used it on the hat.  I used Red Heart yarn in Windsor blue and both items were done in single crochet and worked up very quickly.  (Tanya and Ma'at hearing you ladies loud and clear - dusting off my hook and needles...lol)

Here it is draped over my mannequin.... I didn't use a pattern, just freestyle with an I/5.50mm crochet hook and as you can see my point is wonky, but can I tell you with temps ranging from the mid 20s to 30's.. the set worked perfect and provided much needed warmth.

I'm really liking the idea of a shawl over a scarf now and prefer to wear the shawl under my coat - liking that I  can cover my head, if need be and still have coverage across my shoulders.

I started another one last night while watching Sex 'n the City (really good movie) and since this pic I have about 23" off my hook.  Looks like I got that point under control...eh? 

OK.... off to crochet some more and wishing everyone a fun-filled Snow Day...

ETA: Sheilaz Simple Shawl Pattern

Also, I'm sure everyone has a collection of brooches and/or pins that can add a lil pop to this simple shawl.

Add'l ETA: Here it is blocked & drying...

 

I also use my pattern weights to keep the ends in place, since I tend to stretch it to the max.

I failed to measure after finishing the shawl, but currently in its blocked stage - it measures 59" across and 29" long.

Sewing Slump

First let me Thank You for the helpful suggestions on how to fix my Dolman Dilemma, however New Look 6852 is No More.... yep you read right... No More!  Carolyn directed me to Kathy's technique and I also took into consideration Faye's suggestion on using a gusset to alter the underarm, but quickly realized that I had to deal with side front & side back panels and opted out of that option.  Then I checked Sandra Betzina's and Towanda's technique on scooping out 1/2"+ to raise the underarm, again ran into the problem of the side front and side back panels.  If  the coat had just the back and 2 fronts I could've worked it and come out a winner.  I proceeded to try my own thing and the more I tweaked and pinched the worst it became til I realized after several hours... that I'd botched the jacket.   Let me tell you I was in a fit of fury.. to the point I had to go to sleep to keep from being destructive... yeah I was that pissed at myself. 

After a restful nap, which calmed me considerably, I dove right into making another coat, but a different pattern Butterick 4902, using this fabric

I managed to cut all the pieces and underline the back, front, side panels & sleeves with material I'd purchased from Greenberg & Hammer, which consisted of some type of shiny nylon-flannel back material.

At some point I wondered if my sewing machine could handle the several hours I'd been sewing and the joining of several layers, but I pressed on determined to make up for the botched coat fiasco.

Finally, I started to see the sun beyond the clouds, despite it being 2:30am, tried it on and everything was good.

Around 4:30am, I decided to press open the seams on the underside and tediously stood over a steaming iron and pressed only to realized when I tried the coat on that serious puckering along the seams was running rampant and the coat stood away from my body as if I had a petticoat under it... my eyes started to glaze over, surely thinking I was not seeing what was reflecting back at me from my mirror.

Here is a closer look at the coat puckering in all its glory....uggh

I believe the backing to the underlining did not work well with the heat.... ya think?  I then figured, throw it in the machine and just maybe the fibers will relax, but Nope... the seams continued to pucker and pout.  By 6:00am I was at wits end and decided to proceed with topstitiching along the seams in the hopes that it would rid the puckering and what happens, my machine's LCD screen beeps and displays "stopped for safety purposes"... I actually yelled out loud Ya Gotta Be Kiddin' Me....NOT NOW! continued to force the machine to sew, but no luck and now my machine has to be sent in for servicing... by 9:00am I was down right exhausted, mad and hungry after working on that coat for 12 freaking hours... yes12 hours at some point I fell alseep in my sewing room.

So I've been in a sewing slump, just aimlessly wondering around in my sewing room, doing nothing productive....but I feel I am slowly creeping out of it.  I decided that I needed a machine that could handle several layers of fabric and after emailing Adrienne about her Singer HD-110, placed an order for one and patiently awaiting its arrival.  Thanks Adrienne.

 

As for the status of the coat, I am not sure what will become of it, the coat has been washed twice and despite it being softer its still puckering and pouting as it hang on my mannequin.  yeah... just hanging all puckered out.

Coat Progress with NL 6852

New Look 6852: Misses Coat in two lengths and collar & sleeve variations and doing View A.

I am using an upholstery fabric from Fulton Fabrics in a deep seaform color.  The underside has some type of weaved backing with a coating and to soften the underside I tossed it in the washing machine on a cold setting and tumbled dry.

I've spent the better part of the week working on the coat, mainly sewing the underlining to the fashion fabric.  I've completed the pockets which has a welt facing and topstitching and really like it. My intention was to have the pockets lined with the polyester lining, but when I placed the pockets, I noticed that the lining side ended up on the outside and decided not to fight the forces and pressed on.

To keep the pockets flat... I did a whip stitch along the perimeter.

This coat has dolman sleeves since the sleeves are part of the front and back pieces, as well as side fronts and side backs which merges into the underarm seams. The pattern instructions calls for seaming up the shoulder, sleeves and side seams prior to closing underarm seams, which are baste stitched closed for fitting purposes and noticed upon trying on the coat that when I raise my arms, the coat lifts up and wondering is this what happens with Dolman sleeve garments...ummm. 

Right now I am at a stand still with the progress, in search of answers to fixing the underarm seams and thinking that a low armhole is the problem.

What remains is the collar, sleeve band, facings and lining. Instead of going with the belt, I will do buttonholes & buttons.

I've subscribed to Sandra Betzina Power Sewing site, which lists her technique for getting rid of bulky fabric at the underarm and making Dolman sleeves fit better, but unable to access the information.  I guess since its the weekend I have to wait til Monday.  In the interim... I ask all you out there... is there any way to fix the underarm of Dolman sleeves.

The Last of Simiplicity 2850

Hoping all had a beautiful Thanksgiving.

I've completed my final top for the Month of Tops and like to give a big Thank You to Faye for hosting a great sew along.  Also, would like to give a shout-out to all the ladies that participated and created beautiful garments.  This sew along allowed me to create tops that added some pop to my wardrobe - and I mean POP by going with vibrant prints that I can use in my wardrobe repertoire. 

The fabric is another poly/lycra from Walmart @ $2.00/yd during one of my shopping excursions. The print is interesting and reminds me of an asian inspired print.  I did the same pattern alterations as the others, but there was some repeated positioning to get the print on the sleeve and body of the blouse to line up... think its close enough.

With 3 days remaining, I would like to get started on a coat. I made a coat this Spring, but the warmer temps came fast and wasn't able to get a good wear out of it.  However, with the Fall temps I have been wearing the dickins' out the coat, which I used upholstery fabric in a rust color.  I did not do any underlining to add warmth and used a polyester lining, so it works well for now.  The fabric is washing machine friendly and does not wrinkle and no sign of shrinkage.  So another coat is in order.

I visited Sav-a-thon who was hosting a sale on faux fur and selected a Wheat colored faux fur with 80/20% Acrylic/Modacrylica with a short pile, minimal one-way stretch and soft.  The top fabric is Sandstone in color and a textured polyester blend used for curtains, which I'll be used as an underlining.  Since the faux fur has one-way stretch, I will use the stretch vertically and hope that issues will not crop up wherein hindsight I should be using an underling with the same characteristics.

My next fabric trip was to Fulton fabrics where they had a new selection of upholstery fabrics.  There were 8 different colors to chose from and I purchased a deep seaform fabric with a very tight stitch, and smooth to the touch on the fashion fabric side. The underside has some type of weaved backing with a coating and to soften the underside I tossed it in the washing machine on a cold setting and tumbled dry.  As for shrinkage, I started out with 2-1/2 yds and after washing & drying, ended with 2-3/8 yds.

Here is a pic of the fabrics after washing & drying... used a lot of fabric softner.

Little if any wrinkling.

 I explained to the clerk that I wanted some type of windbreak lining and he suggested using - as he like to call it umbrella fabric, I like to call it shower curtain fabric.  Very smooth and subtle, but with some type of coating on the back.  I washed it together with the fabric pictured above and ended up with the same shrinkage of 2-3/8 yds.  The fabrics that I will be using for underlining salvage edge reads PKaufman - Flame Retardant....umm good to know.



Purchased the same fabric as above but in a Wine color and coordinating fabric for underlining.  I still need to find buttons and lining. 

These are the patterns I've selected for my coats and although the patterns call for more yards of fabric than I purchased, making the jackets shorter will balance it out.... I hope...teehee.

As we express our gratitude, we must never forget that the highest appreciation is not to utter words, but to live by them. - JFK