Monthly Archives: February 2010

I worked my bum off this past week! I took a slight break from my SWAP to work on a few other projects. I made 3, that’s right 3, pieces this last week! I made 2 dresses and 1 top. All in a total of 8.25 yards of fabric used. Last Saturday I went to Jo-Ann’s and bought 2 yards of a satin print and 3.5 yards of a teal jersey knit. I am happy to say that I used all of those fabrics this week. The full reviews for all of the following are up and ready on PR.

Next I decided I wanted to make a dress to wear to a baby shower in a couple of weeks. I debated whether or not I wanted to do it in a knit since that had not worked out so well for me in the past. In the end, I went with the knit since one of my resolutions is to sew more with knit. I used M5974, the perfect knit dress for this. This led me to want to make a muslin test dress in knit to make sure I could get the fit perfect and test my knit construction skills. I pulled one out of my stash to start with. Before I started I did some test stitches on the scraps and found I had absolutely no problems at all in sewing with these. I was pleasantly surprised by this. As I was sewing the test dress was turning out so well I decided to finish it with a few alterations so it would not be exactly like the actual dress I wanted to make. I don’t know why I was so nervous to sew knits now. I think my previous troubles were as a result of my old machine not having stretch stitch capabilities. Anyways back to the the dresses. For the first dress I took of the sleeves and ties of view C/D. Depending on how my SWAP goes this dress may end up working itself in. That will probably happen if I don’t get my jacket done in time.

For the second dress I made view D as shown. I used the teal jersey knit for this. Both dresses called for a zipper down the back, which I found a bit odd and excluded it. I believe most of the reviews on PR also said they removed it. I also took in the dress by 2″ on each side seam. I think that both of these dresses turned out great. This will most likely end up being a TNT pattern for me. I am already thinking about making a few tops from views A and B.

On a side note my twin needle and my woven labels arrived last week. I ordered the twin needle to do the topstitching on the jeans I keep talking about making. I am going to put them on hold yet again. The labels are for the costumes I am putting in my Etsy shop, The Five Petals. It is that time of year when the Renaissance Festivals are gearing up and I need to get my inventory stocked up. There is nothing there yet but keep checking back for items.

Has anyone else seen this? I just happened to stumble upon it. How awfully sad. McQueen passed away this past Thursday the 11th. I love Alexander McQueen’s designs. The fashion world will mourn the loss of such a creative genius!

As you may recall, in December my iron of 2 years stopped working. I purchased a Shark iron to replace it. This iron was presented as a professional grade iron. I have had that iron for 2 months, I repeat 2 MONTHS, and now the steam button is broken. The spring inside has snapped. I know that as a sewer I do a lot of steaming and pressing, but 2 months is a bit ridiculous for the lifespan. The limited warranty won’t cover it because it is classified as normal usage. Really? Normal wear and tear after 2 months causes it to break. GRRRR… I am rethinking my decision not to purchase a Rowenta. With what I spent to get the Shark and now replace it could have been better spent on a much better quality Rowenta iron.

I haven’t posted in almost 2 weeks because I thought I had nothing to post about. Boy was I wrong. I have a handful of pictures to post and things to say.

First I am working on making this garland. Don’t be fooled, this is not a picture of my house. I borrowed it from the Purl Bee, which is where I found this how-to for the garland. The guide describes it as New Years Eve garland but I am making this to decorate for a baby shower.

I am using the colors above to match the invitation pictured. Please pardon the fact that this picture is turned the wrong way. My computer is on its last leg and is refusing to rotate my pictures. I am just finishing up cutting out the circles and I will sew it this weekend.

Next up, the 3rd piece of my SWAP. I have a review for the shorts on PR and I know I have talked about them previously, but I never did post any pictures.

This is a picture of the facing. I ran out of denim and had to come up with an alternative. So I serged everything in the red to match the facing fabric. I have been taking a break from my SWAP to work on a few other things including the garland and a teal dress for the baby shower.

I have done quite a bit of knitting over the last few weeks. I have completed the 3 scarves above and am currently working on the blue on below.

All of them are knitted exactly the same. I cast on 26 stitches and did a Knit 2 Purl 2. I think these are the scarves I will be donating. I plan on continuing to do the same scarf for a while so that I will be able to get a lot of them done before the fall season.

Back to work on the garland. I will try to take some pics of it once it is done and up for the shower but that is a few weeks away. Happy sewing!!