Latest Loes Hinse Tango Skirt

It's obvious that this skirt is a favorite because it's appeared so many time on this blog. Easy to sew, beautiful in both lengths--what's not to love?

This latest one is made out of a gorgeous vintage rayon challis that my friend Sue Ellen gave me. There are 10 panels, all cut from the same pattern piece. Honestly, cutting out all the panels is probably the most time consuming part of making this pattern. I made this using mostly the new Bernina to sew it together, using its dual feed feature. It's like having a built-in walking foot, and there are several feet compatible with this feature. Love it! The seam edges were serged to finish. The casing was made in the traditional fold over, sew, and pull elastic through manner instead of the technique described in the guide sheet. I'd like to be able to alter this skirt later if needed and while Loes Hinse's elastic waist technique is great, it's a pain in the neck to rip out due to multiple layers of stitching at the edge. The hem was also serged then just turned up and machine sewn.

I made the top from Kwik Sew 2565 a number of months ago, and it was previously posted here.

The shoes are the "Sable" from Sole Society, in gray suede, and very comfortable even with a 2 3/4" heel. I bought them at the end of the season last year and there are still a few pair in stock.

Early Christmas

I recently had the opportunity to buy a slightly used Bernina 710, so I'm considering it an early Christmas present to myself. It has way more bells and whistles than the Activa 140 I've been using, and I'm enjoying it a lot. So far, I've made the sweater set that I recently showed you, a pair of pajama pants, and another sweater knit shell (from the Loes Hinse pattern, but it goes with this cardigan that I made a few years ago).

In addition to the machine, a lot of accessories--a table, knee lift, extra bobbins, accessory case, cover, and some feet.

I'm keeping the Activa as a back-up and class machine, while this one will mostly live in the Sewing Cave. It's portable but kind of big to be hauling around.

The Toile Liberty is Complete!

Just in time for Halloween!

It took  a while for the final steps. I do most of my sewing on the weekend, but DH and I had some other activities lately that took me away from the Sewing Cave. Plus, I was running low on the thread I used for this project and needed to restock. Isn't that often the way it goes?

Ultimately, I decided to go basic with the buttons. I decided on some simple pearlized plastic buttons that I had on hand. There are six in all. Buttonhole placement was a breeze, thanks to a new-to-me tool that I recently purchased from an estate sale. It's a Sim-Flex:

I can't believe I didn't acquire one of these long ago! It's so easy to use by simply expanding it. No measuring required, so it's easy to change your mind.

I used little Audrey for the buttonholes since my Bernina doesn't have an automatic buttonhole function. Go figure!

I really love this pattern, so I anticipate making at least one more even though it's fairly distinctive. Here are a couple more shots from the side

and the back.

Button, Button

I now have two projects at the buttonhole stage: the Now Shirt and the Kwik Sew cardigan. And yet, both are just stalled.

What gives with me? I know how to make buttonholes. I have two good sewing machines with buttonholers.

I think I'll set up one of the machines and at least make some samples. Perhaps that'll kick-start this phase of both projects. Sigh.

The BIG Project: Vogue 2637 Waistband

More progress on the skirt. Last night I trimmed the excess lining from the skirt waist, then attached the waistband/casing. All done except elastic and finishing, which I'll do tonight (fingers crossed).

I must say, I'm quite impressed with the the #10 Bernina edgestitch foot that I used to sew the casing! I purchased one at the class Linda Lee gave at Ann Silva's in February, and I'm so happy I did. It makes stitching in the ditch easy, and the stitching is incredibly accurate.

Also, the Zappo's box came! Both pairs were cute. However, the thongs had too much bling--extremely large rhinestones that are just too much for the dress. The strappy sandals are also trimmed with rhinestones but they're small, more accent than feature.

Sewing Equipment

Recently I received a question about what serger I used, so I thought this would be a good opportunity to talk about my sewing equipment.

Catherine asked:

"Do you use a serger? What brand and are you happy with it? I am very unhappy and discouraged with my Pfaff Hobbylock 756. Just won't hold the tension. Repair person can't even help me in Santa Fe."

I'm on my second serger. My current one is a BabyLock Evolve, and I love it. I bought it from Ann Silva's in Albuquerque, which has an excellent repair department. This model was recently replaced by the Evolution, which I haven't tried yet because I'm not much of a trader. I tend to hang on to my machines. It's true that the BabyLocks are pricey, but since I use my serger a lot, it's been worth it.

My first serger was also a BabyLock, a Protege model that I had for 14-15 years. Finally, the stitch quality deteriorated, and it was too difficult to keep it adjusted. I sewed a lot with it but it was time to let it go.

BTW Catherine, the Pfaff dealer in Albuquerque is Bob's Discount. I think they have a pretty good reputation. I don't know if they can fix your Hobbylock but that's another possible repair resource for you.


My primary sewing machine is a Bernina Activa 140 that I've had for a couple of years. It's a basic, but well made machine that mostly suits my needs.



I bought this BabyLock Audrey last year as a secondary machine to use for travel, classes, etc. I have to admit I haven't used her as much as anticipated. It's a nice little machine, though.

Sew Creative Club: Linda Lee and Project Sewing Workshop

This post is sort of a continuation of the last one. In addition to sponsoring the class on Monday, Ann Silva's also had Linda Lee at the monthly Sew Creative Club meeting on Tuesday. So of course, I also went to that!

For Sew Creative, Linda showed many garments from her pattern collection, but she also spoke about Project Sewing Workshop, her other endeavor in conjunction with Bernina. She introduced Project Sewing Workshop last year at the ASG Conference. Since then, she's done a lot of development work on the program. The kits are still the main part, but there's more.

• There's an Artist Series of patterns specifically designed for PSW: the first one features quilt artist Yvonne Porcella. This series will feature a new fiber/quilt artist twice a year. There will be special embellishment kits as well as fabric kits associated with each pattern so you can create the look. Linda said the embellishment kits will feature buttons and other embellishments that you can't find anywhere else.
• There's a whole swatching service that sewing stores can participate in, without having to stock thousands of additional yards of fabric. I really liked the viscose knits that were available. She will have standard fabrics that will be available only through participating stores, as well as special ones that will be available at the stores and online. Of course it would be great to have a quality local independent fabric shop, but face it, that's not going to happen. This is another option that's quasi local.
  
• The kits: PSW plans to offer kits featuring patterns from other fabric companies, so there will be additional options. The fabrics and patterns will change several times during the year.
  
• Accessories: buttons have been added to the PSW line, as well as fasteners. I bought some buckles that will be used on the Soho Coat I've had in the planning stage forever.

Sewing Workshop Techniques Class

This post and the next one will probably be very boring for anyone who doesn't sew. Just don't say you weren't warned. I also didn't have much opportunity for picture taking, so this one is text heavy as well.

I took Monday off and spent all day in sewing class with Linda Lee and my fellow sewists. Linda is the owner of the Sewing Workshop Pattern Collection.



What a fabulous time! The focus of the class was learning the fine points of quality garment sewing. Linda believes if you're going to spend time, you should make as high level garment as possible. Emulate high end RTW, not Walmart, in other words.

Some general principles:

• The fabric dictates the seam finish.
• Use different seam finishes for different areas of your garments.
• Make samples even before cutting into your fabric. You may need additional seam allowances, etc. that may need to be accounted for when cutting out the garment.
  
• 80/12 Universal needle 90% of the time.
• Use a short stitch length, 2.2 or so.
  
• Preferred thread is cotton, specifically Metrosene. The exception is sewing with knits, where you should use polyester.
• Marking: very important. Use tailor tacks, an old technique but the most accurate way.

Most of Monday morning involved sewing samples of seam finishes, including French seams, Hong Kong finish, flat fell seams, and turn and stitch. There are many options other than just serging the edges and you may want to use more than one seam finish in a garment.

After lunch, we made hem samples: mitered hem, Linda's knit hem technique, and a handkerchief hem. The final sample was installing an invisible zipper without pinning.

Through the class, Linda discussed garments from the Sewing Workshop Pattern Collection:

• Lotus Skirt: it has come back in style and popularity. She's now making it 4" shorter than the original. Several samples were shown.
• Mixit: 3 tops in this pattern. The princess seamed shirt can be made up as a top or jacket.
  
• Trio T: Linda went in depth with this one, discussing how to make this t on the sewing machine. So yes, you can sew knits without a serger.
  
• Trio Top: Linda was wearing this one as a blouse under a Zig Zag Shirt. It was made in a lightweight georgette. Very cute and different than other versions I've seen before.
  
• San Diego Jacket: many sample garments. Linda used this pattern to discuss the importance of marking.
  
• Valencia Jacket: This is somewhat similar to the drape-front knits Donna Karan has been showing but shorter. She had several samples in both wovens and knits. Definitely requires a drapy fabric
  
• Liberty Shirt: Linda used this top as jumping off point to demonstrate setting in a sleeve, using the sewing ham to shape the sleeve cap, ideal ease in sleeve cap (1.5 inches or less), pinning sleeve to garment to build in ease.
  
• Plaza, Valencia, and Urban Pants: all are built on the same block. Linda has submitted an article to Threads that explains how to make variations to a basic pant pattern.
• Oh yeah, and the famous felted wool Zen Shirt from the most recent cover of Threads. FYI, Linda has put the instructions for how to make this shirt/jacket on her blog.
  

Linda provided a lot of information during the day. It was a challenge to keep up with it all but now I have techniques that I can use on my own things, and samples that will help jog my memory. Linda also mentioned a lot of reference materials that we could make use of later.

TSW Black and Cream Collection: Trio Pants

Nothing like working down to the wire, is there? The Conference starts tonight for me. I woke up way early Tuesday morning due to hot flashes (I know, TMI!), so I decided to sew instead of tossing and turning until the alarm went off. Sometimes there's just no point in trying to go back to sleep.

I made pretty good progress before having to get ready for work, making the pockets and basting them to the side panels. Then much more sewing after work. This morning, all that was left was casing and elastic, which I made quick work of. The pants were covered with thread and fur when it was all said and done, the downside of having a white cat that likes to hang out with me in the sewing room. So they've also been laundered.

Once again, not difficult, but precision is needed. This is a theme with all of the Sewing Workshop's patterns. Precision is helped by good marking. I'm finding that poking the fabric with an awl is a simple yet effective way to make all those markings needed. I think I learned about this years ago at a Margaret Islander class in Las Cruces, but haven't used it until now. It comes from the garment industry, like many of her techniques. Just because you don't use information right away doesn't mean it isn't useful. Someday it may rise to the surface and work perfectly.

The pattern has techniques for button closures and for zippers on those big cargo-style pockets. I used neither, substituting Velcro rectangles. I see this treatment a lot in technical RTW like Columbia, REI, etc., so I thought it was appropriate. Even the military has gone to Velcro! Other ideas include anorak snaps (the kind that use the plier-like tool) or even large sew on snaps.

The fabric is 100% linen from JoAnn's, of all places. See, not everything they sell is embellished. I bought this piece 2 years ago in July 2007.

Surprisingly the details showed up better than expected, even though these pants are black! I guess that's what 5 pm summer sun and flash photography will get you.

I'm still muddling along with the Mimosa Top. It's practically done but I need to psych myself up for the buttonholes. I'm not thrilled with the buttonholes produced by any of my machines at present. The one I know the best, a Brother, isn't playing nice, and I haven't made enough buttonholes with either the Bernina or the Janome Gem to feel proficient. But it will make an appearance soon, I promise!

Now Shirt is Done

I finally completed the Now Shirt that I worked on at the Sewing Workshop Getaway I attended over Super Bowl Weekend. All that was left was buttonholes and buttons, yet it took a long time for me to get around to it. Probably because I'm not crazy about the buttonhole function on any of my sewing machines. I like the automatic buttonhole function, but the Brother is notoriously picky and the Bernina doesn't have this. So of course, I used the Brother and struggled with it. I'm not thrilled with how they came out, but it is a busy batik print so the details don't really show. Must. Practice. with. Bernina. It does make a nice buttonhole, even if it's not automatic.

The top came out cute and I wore it to church today.

The fabrics from Textile Studios came yesterday, and they are gorgeous!! The pictures I posted are pretty accurate but don't compare with real life. I also picked up a short length of cotton fabric while researching rayons at Hancock.



Not much rayon there BTW. One display, most of it tropical prints for Hawaiian shirts. However, there were some solids, which are often hard to find.

I also stopped by World Market on the way home to restock the wine rack, and found a really cool dish towel that I plan to use in something, I'm not sure what. Worse comes to worse, it'll end up as a dish towel! (Added 3/31/09: wow, the monitor really makes a difference! I was confused about a comment I received about combining the towel with black and white fabrics until I saw the photo on my work monitor. The towel is actually dark navy and white and looks that way on my laptop. But it definitely looks black and white here at the office!)

My New Toy

Well folks, DF decided to buy a motorcycle. The 2006 version of this one:

BMW F 650 GS Dakar

Of course, I needed a toy as well. I went to Ann Silva's at lunch yesterday to buy some Do-Sew (pattern tracing paper for my non-sewing friends), and saw a sewing machine that seemed to have the features I needed. Although I have sewing machines (yes, plural), I'm not a big fan of the Brother I'm using now as my primary. The New Home 5000 is a nice machine, but it may have a bad touch screen on it and probably not worth fixing since it's a 1993 model. The Janome Gem is a nice little machine, but a bit too small and basic for a primary. As you might suppose, I was open to the idea of a new machine.

I went back after work, played with it for a while, pulled out the plastic, and brought it home:

Yep, my very own Bernina 140. You'll note that it's a "Patchwork Edition." I don't quilt, but no matter. Manny, Ann Silva's resident sewing machine wizard, says it's just the regular 140 packaged with an assortment of stitches that quilters like to have. In other words, it doesn't mind if you make clothes on it. Not a new machine, but new to me. And not cheap, but a lot less pricy than the brand new comparable models.

So there you are. I've gone over to the Dark Side.

DF was even pleased that I'd bought it, although he found my comment that it was "a BMW of sewing machines" a little silly. However, it's nice that he realizes that price and value are not the same.