Monthly Archives: September 2009

I am still here. Unfortunately, my internet has disappeared. I do not know where it went, neither does AT&T. I am very sad about this. Help me pray to the Internet Gods for it’s speedy return.

I stumbled across this article by Nanette Lepore and website thanks to Lindsay T. Did you know that the Garment District is in trouble? Everyone please read the article sign the petition.

That’s right, this month is National Sewing Month. In 1982, then President Ronald Reagan deemed September National Sewing Month. It is to recognize the importance of home sewing. In honor of this month long holiday I am changing my September goals. When I set those goals this past week I completely forgot which month it is. How sad!

New September Goals:

1. Chanel jacket. Hopefully the fabric will get here soon.

2. A new skirt.

3. Two new tops

4. Isaac’s pirate costume

I did a little sneaky shopping today at J.C. Penney’s and Old Navy. Originally I went because I needed to get a new pair of khaki’s. I ended up trying on a lot of garments and took pictures with my camera phone. This was so I could get an idea of some of the current trends and how they look on me before I start making anything. A theme that I found after I had went into the dressing room was the amount of purple prints I picked out. Like I said I took these on my camera phone so please pardon the poor quality of the photos.

These pants are a dark green corduroy. The top is a light weight woven cotton with the sleeves rolled up. I love this one. I found some great corduroy at Joann’s to make these pants with.

This jacket is a purple corduroy. It has a little ruffle around the hem. I think the cut of the jacket is looks great on me even though the one I tried on is a bit big in some places.

This top is a purple print chiffon. It has elastic gathers around the neck, arms and waist. I love this one.

I love this skirt. It is a plaid on the bias with 2 ruffles around the hem. The top was okay. I didn’t really like it because of the fabric it was made of.

I love the embellishment on this tunic. I think it would be fantastic under a tailored casual jacket. The tunic just doesn’t have enough shape to stand on it’s own with my body type. I can’t wait to do some embellishment like this.

I really enjoyed this because it inspired me so much and now I know how these pieces will look on me before I make them. I am going to keep doing this. Next time I will bring my actual camera that way I can get better pictures.

The next stop was to Joann’s. Now I originally intended to go in and get the organza I need for my Chanel jacket. I did end up with a few extra things, but I did try to keep it reasonable. I got 2 yards of each of the fabrics below.

I didn’t really find any purple prints that I liked for the pieces above but I did find a purple corduroy that matches the jacket pretty well. I will have to pick it up after I finish the Chanel jacket.

I love love love the short green corduroy coat. I am seeing another trend appear with all the corduroy from today. This jacket has a large wail corduroy. I also like the white coat. I want to make this out of a great wool or a twill. Who knows when I will get to these.

I got these because we are planning on going to a Old West Festival in Ohio next year. Our friends introduced us to it because their dad has a BBQ stand there this year. I am pretty geeked out about getting to make costumes for it, so I thought I might as well start early

It is September 4th and I just now realized I never did post my month end review. Honestly, there isn’t much to post about. I spent the month working on hand quilting the double ring quilt. Blah! It is going so much slower than I ever could have imagined. Bri and I decided that this will be what we give them for their 1 year anniversary. They do already know about it. We gave them a framed collage of pictures to illustrate the quilts progress thus far. We didn’t want them to not have a gift to open from us so we figured that was better than nothing. Dem cried, which after working so hard so far, Bri and I are glad to know they enjoy it even if they do not have the finished product.

I did purchase a bit of fabric this month. I bought it at the very end of the month though, so I do not think that it should qualify for August, but technically it does. I bought 2 yards of the pink and black plaid boucle and 2 yards of ivory lining. Both are from Fashion Fabrics Club and are for my faux Chanel jacket.

My project goals for September are limited.

1. Continue progress on the double ring quilt. Hopefully get halfway done with quilting the rings and melons.
2. Start Chanel jacket. So far this month, I have made my muslin and did the alterations and adjustments on it. Now I am just waiting for my fabric to arrive. Which should be here by now. Hmmm…
3. Cut out the pattern pieces and find fabric for the toddler pirate costume. I need to go through my scraps to find the fabric for this, which is a giant mess waiting to happen.
4. If I have time, I really need to make bloomers for my noble renaissance costume.

I would love to say that I am going to work on my pirate costume, but I sincerely doubt that will happen this month, let alone this year. The only work I did on it last month was do some more of the the prep work. My pieces are all cut, interfacing is fused and edges are all finished with serging. I am working towards finishing our costumes for next years faire.

My two things for today are two movies that inspire my costumes the most. The first is Elizabeth: The Golden Age. While I love both of the Elizabeth movies Cate Blanchett did, I prefer the costumes of the second more. The colors are much more vivid and they express a Queen Elizabeth that has grown over that last 10 years. This is the period of her reign that I enjoy studying not for only the costumes but because of how, for lack of better term, badass she could be!

The second movie is Shakespeare In Love. This is my favorite movie and I have seen it at least 20 times.

I have used the Simplicity pattern 8881 for my current costume. It’s the teal dress I am wearing below. I took all the inspiration for this costume from the movie. While mine is not nearly as detailed, I used the basic design of the orange dress Gwyneth wore above and combined that with a similar sleeve style and color worn by Dame Judy. I even covered my standing ruff with peacock feathers like the Queen’s. I do plan on adding more to this costume as I go. One of the things that I want do is add more feathers to the ruff as well as gold trim and beading. I also need to add detail to the front panel of the bodice.