Show & Tell

and I'm telling you this Tunic is going to cause me a severe case of Tourette syndrome. Now tell me somebodyyyyyyy... how did this happen.... I noticed the change in the stitches after retrieving a dropped stitch. I flipped the piece inside out and right side in several times to no avail. Again noticed the stitch change when I retrieved another dropped stitch. You know what tho... I will not rip back... I am going to continue this tunic... it may not become a summertime tunic... but it will be something....lol

My tunic troubles came to an end when I received this.....

Happy.... Happy... because I quickly learned I hate changing needles... now my worries are over.

Learning from my Mistakes

Mistakes are seen as stepping stones to finding new ways. To learn from my mistakes I need to know it's okay to make them and then need to think about them. Well, with that said I casted on for the Summertime Tunic, again ... I started off with alternate rows of knitting & purling, hated it... and decided knitting every row would work better and now that I have the hang of the continental method I'm moving along at a nice pace. Next I moved on to the 1x1 ribbing, after 2 rows.. I clearly noticed something was wrong... I mistakenly k1, p1 for row one and then p1, k1 for the next row... unknowingly creating the Moss stitch, which I learned from the young ladies at Ebony Elite.

I can happily say my mistake was a stepping stone to a new stitch... known as the Moss Stitch. I also learned that Seed stitch is also known as Moss Stitch, which is good for edging by preventing garments from curling to one side or the other. Can I now call my project the Moss Tunic.... lol.

Crafting, Revamping & Purchases

I woke up this morning eagerly tackling the Summertime Tunic again, and in the back of my mind thinking about what I would wear to work this week. I thought Silly!! make something, so I checked my stash and pulled out a deep peach fabric with small floral print, which is 100% polyester. Right now its on the cutting board and hopefully I will have it done by weeks end.

Also, I'm hoping I can keep up with my crafting while I attempt to revamp my itty-bitty bathroom which hasn't seen a makeover in 7 years.

I had mentioned to dh & db in January that the bathroom needed a makeover, but it was quickly put on the back burner b/c of other work. Well while home alone (which can be dangerous for me...lol) I decided I no longer wanted the ottoman that served as a table in the livingroom and moved it to the foyer. So that meant the livingroom was without a coffee table. As usual when I go shopping my intent is to get what I have in mind and quickly return home. I love oriental inspired furniture, and was hoping to find a coffee table that would fit in with the design style. I have a couple of pieces...

Well I found the most beautiful table, with intricate carving in rosewood ... talk about craftmanship, warmth, elegance and hopefully longevity.

Here is a closer look of the inlay, every time I look at it I see something new...

Then my eyes started wandering... and I came across this mahogany & marble vanity... for a nano-second my heart had stopped... I had to have it.

and this medicine cabinet.... Well.... I purchased the table and immediately went home to measure the space for the vanity & cabinet and was back the next day, with measurements in hand... after about 2 hrs in the store.. I made the ultimate purchase... I have since received the vanity and now awaiting the medicine cabinet, which at the time they didn't have the mahogany cabinet... so an order had to be placed. I also need to paint, replace light fixtures, buy materials for a radiator cover and maybe a hutch that has to be made and stained (my bob-the-builders don't know that yet...*snickering*) ...talk about work to be done.

As for the light fixture, I'm looking for something simple, up-to-date and with a roman bronze finish that will match the facet fixtures...

Along the lines of this

or this
or this
but the searh went awry.... dh and I did not see eye-to-eye on the style and we both left the store with attitudes....lol. He totally did not know what he was looking at, which were chrome based fixtures... urgghhh... NOT!!!. So after I gave him a lil pep talk... we will try it again...lol

Continental breakfast..... Not!!!

Friday was totally exhausting for many reasons.... one being not enough sleep and with that I was suffering from sleep deprivation. In the back of my mind, the mantra was knit... knit... and more knitting. So my intention was to take a nap on the train in order to get some knitting done once I arrived home, but not... what did I do, attempt to get in some more rows of the Summertime Tunic, I was determined to get this project at least part way done. Well I sailed along nicely... feeling renewed.. and then urggh!!!. I dropped a stitch a few rows back and in my attempt to retrieve it, I made a major mess....... urgggh. At that point I realized I should've taken that much needed nap. I arrive home, again refusing to take a nap and fumbled around with the now mangled Summertime Tunic and decided there was only one solution... rip rip rip... I stopped and hooked the string to my ball winder and gave it my all. So now I was back to square one, and decided before casting on that I needed more practice and proceeded to pull out my Bev Dillon Dvd and took a good hard look at what I needed to do to get the project going again correctly. Well... well... well.. I learned Continental Knitting!!!!! never heard of it until last night while viewing one of my knitting dvds. Knitting with the working yarn in my left hand is so much easier and a lil faster. Can I say Sheila Got Her Groove Back!!!! lol. Stay tuned....

The Pleasure of Sewing for MOI!!!

I had the pleasure of wearing my slacks... n/k/a Sleet Slacks. I was a little concerned about the thinness of the fabric... and made a note to double the fabric the next time. Also that day was the wearability test to determine if the fabric would hold up to long periods of sitting, some bending, opening & closing of the zipper and wrinkle resistance. I had to laugh at myself, before stepping out of the house... I did a few warm-up exercises... a few drop it like its hot moves....lol and headed for the car. The slacks held up during the 1hr 15 min. commute, no excessive wrinkling... a few creases in the crotch area.. but nothing significant. Once at work I checked for any weak seams and all was clear.. so throughout the day I was able to sit, bend, open & close the zipper several times without any stress and did not experience wrinkling and liked the breathability factor... and would best describe the slacks as wear-all-day cotton slacks. I realized that I like the zipper in the side seam... I felt it gave me a slimmer look frontal wise, whereas with my RTW slacks that have front zippers, I tend to have a pouchy look.

I must say I love... totally love my skirt... I've worn it 2 times already... in short, its perfect.

I stopped at the fabric store yesterday to get fabric to make a lining for another skirt I'm working on. Why is it necessary to keep a watchful eye on the fabric cutter? I graciously asked for 6 yards of cotton fabric and turned around to talk to another customer for a nano-second and then turned back around to see if he was finished cutting it, only see him reeling off the material and simultaneously noticed a large yellow stain on it.... urgggh!! I said wait a minute... what is that on the material... he said ohhh that... ohhh when you wash it will come out... I said oh really and then said what about reeling off another 6 yards WITHOUT a stain thank you!!! Gee Wiz... Have you purchased yarn only to get home and notice that its stained...?

Not content with just getting one thing, I stopped at another fabric store and picked-up 3 yards of navy blue cotton-blend fabric and 3 yds of embroidered edging for another skirt..... Oh the pleasure of sewing for moi!!!

Slowwwwwly getting the hang of

Knitting.

I have cast on 3 times for the Summertime Tunic. The first time I realized after 10 rows that it was twisted. The second time I had just too many holes... and now for the third time around I think i got it, but i've veered off course already. I opted to use Lion Brand Baby Soft yarn. Secondly after doing 4-1/2" of knitting in the round I was suppose to switch needles (size 4) and continue for another 2" in 1x1 rib... I opted to just do purling with the size 6 needles.. so this is what I have so far.... I dropped some stitches and retrieving them was really tricky, and ended up with some weird looking stitches... Also, I'm actually enjoying the circular needles, so if my project ends up looking like a green shopping bag at least I learned how to use circulars..wooohoo.

Honestly... I may just go in search for the right yarn and start over after taking a peeksy at a Summertime Tunic Kal...

Thread Counts

After the pants debacle, I dusted myself off and tried again using the New Look 6354 pattern again and tweaking it to my sense of style. Well, this time I had a color in mind... GRAY, so off I went in search of that GRAY. I had to have the right GRAY. The fabric store didn't have what I wanted so I continued on at some point realized that I wasn't going to find that GRAY. Well I just wandered from store to store, checking out the RTW, turning them inside out to see how they were constructed, and just checking out other merchandise and then something caught my eye. The label read:

These easy-care 380 thread count cotton sheets are soft

and cozy and they don't need ironing. Just wash and dry.
100% Cotton
Fits up to 15" mattresses
Classic Windowpane design gives your bed a more contemporary look
Each set contains 1 Flat Sheet(90 x 102in)
1 Fitted Sheet(78 x 80in)
2 King Pillowcases
Made in USA.

and they were GRAY.... I sauntered home as happy as a pig in Sh*t, no one and I mean no one could tell me that what I was about to do was impossible. I washed them not once but twice... lol and presto!!!

HAPPY FATHER'S DAY

MISSING - John Jay College Grad Stepha Henry

Read More...

Lessons Learned

Must say I'm very proud of my first sewn pants.... just happy, happy... and then urrrrgh!!! I failed to do what is traditional in sewing... wash fabric before doing anything else. I normally wash my fabrics before starting a project... well, in my haste to get going on the pants project, I went ahead and pinned, cut and sewed. I tried the pants on, took them off, tried them on... took them off and made the necessary modifications like sba (small butt adjustment...lol) and presto... they fit... I was in Heaven, when I say Heaven... I mean purly gates and all... the pants fit perfect, ... I did it!!! Well the only thing left to do was wash... well wash I did and lo and behold... instead of long pants I have peddle pushers. Ain't that a b*tch!!!, but you know what... I learned a valuable lesson as well as a few others....


(1) Wash fabric
(2) Label my fabric pieces;
(3) Baste Stitch;
(4) Be sure to sew the inner leg seam with the longer front edge first;
(5) Select the right zipper weight to match the fabric;
(6) Bias Tape is like diamonds.... a woman's best friend;
(7) Fine tune technique for eliminating smiles/frowns at the crotch;
(8) Adding interfacing to my pants hem provides a better hang because of the extra weight; and
(9) Know your fabric.

Sew Active

I finally got pics of me sporting my active wear outfit with some interruptions of course. Trying to take pics of myself while pets are running around isn't easy. I used Simplicity Pattern 9107, which are loungewear/activewear pieces. I used vintage knit fabric and like the fit of the pants both in the crotch curve and in the waistband. The top started out as a halter, but changed it to a tank with not too great success, but it'll do for hanging out in the back yard and/or running to the store... now where did the dogs run off to...jeezzz!

Hot Dayummmm!!! I did it...

I'm sew caught in this web of sewing that I had to try making pants. I used New Look 6354, which consist of misses' pants, shorts, and skirt. I opted for this pattern because of its straight lines and simplicity. I cut the pattern for a size 16, but ended up tweaking it for a size 14. As for the material... I am unsure... but if I had to guess, its some kind of sateen material with thin horizontal stripes, which I purchased some time ago. I was concerned about the raw edges and used bias tape for the waist. My project doesn't resemble the pattern pic because I did not use the yoke (I like the look of bandless pants, I feel it gives me a slimmer look *giggling*) or other embellishment, like the ribbon, instead I put in an invisible zipper... well almost invisible zipper along the side seam...lol. I really wanted to get the feel of making simple pants. Will I use this pattern again???... maybe not, I wanted wider pants leg and this pattern is straight leg. Excuse the Madea face...lol

Organza & Cotton Skirt

Well let me say... I finally learned how to use the self-timer on my camera. I was determined to get a pic of me wearing my newly made skirt. Yahooooo!!! I did it after like 29 pics....lol. Now I want a tripod stand...hehe. Ok.. so I finished the skirt and initially cut it a size too big and had to tweak it. Boy-o-boy, the hemming part was tedious because of the organza with its raveled threads at the end, so I used biased tape for both layers of fabric to give it a finished look. I really like the organza because its has just enough body to stand out yet still move nicely and the cotton is cool, soft, and comfortable against my skin. Its the perfect casual skirt...A definite repeat pattern.

Use bias tape to hem organza

Use bias tape to hem cotton layer of skirt

The skirt on the wrong side

Sewestactic

While commuting to work sometime ago, I spotted a young lady sporting a cute beige skirt, which was a printed sheer fabric and a solid fabric under it. The sheer fabric was about 2½” shorter than the other fabric. I thought it was very cute and decided I wanted to make something along those lines. Since that time I have hit some bumps in the road on that project. The instructions were clear up until attaching the yoke… and I just couldn't grasp it. Well after listening to Inspirational Wednesday's interview with Ann of Gorgeous Things and feeling some inspirational funk… I headed home to tackle my skirt with the YOKE…..lol. Carolyn and Sheila were so gracious in helping me. So with help from two sewing divas and some inspirational funk... I pinned the front and back yoke pieces to the skirt and carefully tried it on… and realized that the yoke didn’t look so great. I felt the wide yoke emphasized my lil pouch and at 40+… I do not need anything bringing attention to my lil pouch. I decided I needed to minimize it rather than emphasize it….lol. Well after 3 hours... here is what I've accomplished... I ran into some problems with the zipper, but got past that and need to do the hem, so I'm hoping to complete it tonight.

Sandrene De Florimonte

Sandrene De Florimonte is taking crochet designing to a new level in Guyana. Check out this multi-talented young lady, whose designs are appearing in London.

Co 58, K1, P1

Well, well.... lil ol Sheila has been busy this week... learning how to knit... that's right... the K 2 T. Let me tell you it wasn't easy, I spent 4 hours learning how to knit from the Knitting Made Easy CD-Rom. I believe the first hour was spent learning how to hold the needles... my fingers were like what the dickens are you doing.....lol. Finally got the hang of holding the needles and then on to casting on, which was easy... I had attended a stitch n' bitch a while ago... and picked that up easy. Now the challenge was knitting... man o' man... it was a challenge learning how to pierce a loop and yo and carry it over to the right needle.... I darn near pierce my belly button trying to stabilize the needles.... lol. Let me not forget the purl... by the time I got that down the tips of my index fingers were sore. But I wasn't daunted... I kept right at it. I continued practicing while commuting to work and at one point I just knew I was going to poke someone on the train... but that didn't stop me... matter of fact... when I ride the train I favor the two seaters and I'm sure I looked dangerous while knitting and by the third day... I had the two seats to myself...lol. This week was really a learning experience for me... and this is what I managed to get on my needles... Well back to practicing.