This and That

I'm in between major projects right now, but still keeping busy in the Cave.

DH talked me into alterations and mending on a couple pairs of his motorcycle pants. One pair done, and one to go. The alterations consist of adding some room by adding a wedge of fabric to the center back (both are the same style). Mending is fixing a zipper on one and replacing the hook fastener on the other. Only for my husband!

I cut out a couple more pairs of the TNT pajama pants (McCall's 2476)  late last year and have sewed up both of them as of this weekend.  Here's the pattern, which is out of print, I think. However, there are lots of pajama patterns out there and all of them are similar.

Here's a photo of the latest ones. Yes, folded. You know what pajama pants look like, so this is more to show the prints.

I used "quilter's" cotton for these, which is a nice weight for lounging and sleeping. I used to make flannel ones, but they're too warm to sleep in. These sew up pretty quickly because I've made so many. Instant gratification and a good way to use some of the wilder cotton prints I have. I think both of these came from Nob Hill Fabrics. If you're visiting Albuquerque and looking for souvenir fabrics to take home, Liz's store is a good one to look into. 

I also just completed a crochet project. I don't pull out the hooks often, but it's nice to make something from time to time. Plus, I can work on it while hanging out at home without having to be in the Cave. I learned how when I was in junior high with guidance from my grandma and one of my teachers (thank you Mrs. Penn!). This latest project is a scarf that I found on the Moogly blog, called the Chevron Lace Infinity Scarf. The yarn is just Red Heart, but I loved the Monet color scheme when I saw it. The photo below shows it looped twice around the neck.

I'm pretty happy with how it came out although I found the instructions a little hard to follow. I'm thinking about making the matching fingerless mitts too (so I guess the pattern wasn't that hard to follow!).

One of my latest projects is the result of the Ugly Fabric Challenge sponsored by the ASG chapter here in Albuquerque. My fabric is a beige stretch cotton bottom weight. Let's just say it's not my best color.

There's a lot of it, so I'll be muslining pants and attempting to compete one "real" pair.  I'm currently trying to narrow down the patterns I've pulled from my collection. Any leftover fabric after the challenge will be used for the First Day of School project that we've done for the past couple of years. The fabric is heavy enough for kids' pants.

Another of my latest projects is also related to ASG. We are one of the sponsoring guilds of the biannual Fiber Arts Fiesta, so we need to make some little goodies for a charity fundraiser at the event. I have been going through my Pinterest and the pattern collection to come up with some ideas for quick and cute things to make. I know, charity sewing, but my "selfish sewist" goal is to use up many of the scraps that are taking over my sewing space.

Two Weekends, Three Skirts

I've been on a bit of a roll for the last couple of weekends and now I have something to show for it. I always enjoy wearing skirts when the weather gets warm. Although it has been a rainy and cool Memorial Day weekend, temperatures will be rising soon! Sorry for all the hanger shots--it's unseasonably cold and dreary today so I was in no mood to pose outside or even fool with the dress form on the patio. Hopefully later.

Skirt 1: 

This one is made from an old Sewing Workshop favorite, the Sandra Betzina Wrap Skirt. I've made several versions of this skirt in the past, and surprisingly, it's still in print.

The original skirt is quite long, so I shortened it several inches. One thing I like about this pattern is how it isn't a true wrap. The front (called Skirt Left Front on the pattern piece) and back are attached at both side seams; the wrap front (called Skirt Right Front) is actually an overlay. As a result, this skirt is much less risky to wear out in the wind. Here's what the front pattern piece looks like:

Here's how it looks when sewn:

The fabric is a poly matte jersey from Fashion Fabrics Club that's been in the stash for several years. I had enough left for another Kwik Sew 2565 T-shirt. It's all cut out and ready to be sewn, so then I'll have separates that I can mix and match with other pieces in my wardrobe.

Skirt 2:

This is another old favorite, the LJ Designs Asymmetrical Skirt. I've made several of these in the past, but I had put it away for quite a while. It's still available through the website.

This is another long skirt, even with the shorter pattern piece I used this time. The pattern is one panel that is cut into eight gores. The version I made results in a scalloped edge, which results if you cut 4 gores with the pattern facing up and four with the pattern facing down. I'm not sure if you can really see the scallop in the picture above, so here's another shot with the hem spread out:

There's also a sawtooth edged version that results if you cut all the gores with the pattern piece right side up. Here's what the pattern piece looks like:

The fabric is a red print crinkle rayon that came to me free via Material Girls. I received an entire bolt at March's meeting. I decided on a gored skirt to break up the print because it is quite vivid, not quite as much as in the photos, but still...I have more but may re-donate it. It's pretty memorable and I don't see making a top out of it.

Skirt 3:

The last skirt is Simplicity 2416, a newer pattern that I made last fall out of some Kaffe Fassett rayon. I checked the Simplicity website just now, and it's also still in print.

The view I made is the four gore skirt with an overlay (the light green version illustrated in the top row of the envelope). The print I used is a wild rayon challis that I found at Fabric Mart last year. Carolyn of Diary of a Sewing Fanatic made a dress out of it which you can see on her site.

Unfortunately, my piece had flaws in the weave that I didn't fully notice until the gores were cut out, so the skirt has a few. On the plus side, the overlay had not been cut when I discovered the flaws, so it got cut from a good section which covers most of them. The rest were on a busy area of the print so I used some Fray Block and hoped for the best. I do like the print, which is the only reason I didn't toss the whole thing out. Annoying, and I'll be more observant of anything I buy from there in the future.

Fiberly Train to Santa Fe, Part One

If you read Facebook, you probably already know that I was in Santa Fe last weekend with several wonderful women (and my DH, who joined us for some of our activities). Some I already knew in real life, others I felt like I knew from the world of blogging.

The first to arrive was Sharon (or shams as she is known on her blog, Communing with Fabric). She arrived on Wednesday due to a scheduling glitch and spent the night at Casa DaQ. What a delight to finally meet her in person! I took her to the airport on Thursday so she could meet her roommate (Margy of A Fool for Fabric) and arrange for their rental car. But of course, we had to fabric shop first! We stopped by Nob Hill Fabrics and found some wonderful fabrics.

I'll leave it to Sharon to post her finds, but here are mine:

On the left, devore silk chiffon. On the right, a colorful linen print.

The historical La Fonda on the Plaza was our hotel for the weekend. I'm happy to report that the recent renovations have not spoiled its charm. The rooms are are still lovely, but upgraded. The most obvious changes were the new bathrooms, closet space, and carpet. The concierge told me that the rooms were taken back to the studs during renovations; you would never know. My room was on the 5th floor with a view of the Loretto Chapel next door:

Loretto Chapel

Once we got settled in, we headed over to Santa Fe Fabrics (twice!) for more fabric shopping. It's a smallish store but has a wonderful selection of fabric. Here I am with Liana of the Sew Intriguing blog, working out one of the store's samples:

I picked out a couple more selections while there:

On the left, a soft cotton print. On the right, fleece

Our group arrived at various times. Sharon, Margy, Liana,  Jan (no blog), and I arrived on Thursday. Patti (no blog), Ann (owner of Gorgeous Fabrics and its blog), and DH arrived on Friday. We window shopped around the Plaza and had a late lunch at the Thunderbird Grill. It's located on the second floor of its building with a great view of the Plaza and the Cathedral:

A view of the Plaza from the Thunderbird's balcony

That evening, off to the Coyote Cafe. Very fancy!

Saturday, we were mostly on our own. More shopping and dining. Back to Santa Fe Fabrics, with a detour to the Outlet Mall with Liana and Jan.  And lunch at Osteria d'Assisi for a delicious Italian repast:

From left: Liana, Sharon, Ann, Margy, me, and Jan 

In the evening, we visited the Cantina at La Casa Sena for a delicious dinner and entertainment. The staff performs Broadway show tunes in between waiting tables. What fun! We headed back to the hotel to hang out at the La Fiesta Lounge, its venerable bar. We spent the rest of the evening chatting and enjoying each other's company.

Sisters from Different Mothers: me. Liana, Patti, Ann, Sharon, Margy, and Jan

Ann, Sharon, Margy, and Jan

Me and Liana

What a special time for all of us.

And that takes us through Saturday, but I'll post more on the rest of the weekend later.

Mini Sewing Tour

Back in the day, the Albuquerque ASG chapter put together sewing tours of the area by bus. There was usually a fee that included bus rental, lunch, and treats. We mostly went to sewing stores in the Albuquerque and Santa Fe area, although the agenda could include cultural offerings such as the Santa Fe Opera (including the costume and prop shops) and the International Museum of Folk Art. Typically, lunch was included, and a good time was had by all.

We recently tried unsuccessfully to organize another "official" trip that fell through.  So some of us decided to organize a mini tour by car. We had two stops--Bernie's Fabrics in Belen and Silverado in town, then we ended up with lunch at the Grove in EDO (East of Downtown, hilarious that Albuquerque is now experimenting with Manhattan naming conventions!).

Bernie's was our first stop after meeting at our organizer's home. This is a new-to-me store located south of Albuquerque in the town of Belen in Valencia County. It was chock full of fabric--mostly quilting cottons, but a handful of other things.

It was a bit of a treasure hunt and you had to dig a bit, but I found some nice pieces--a vintage looking Western print, a pretty batik, and a tone on tone seersucker. 

Our next stop was a visit to Silverado, which is a manufacturer of soft furnishings (pillows, bed ensembles, and tabletop items) located in a former Datsun dealership. We have visited Silverado many times over the years as the business has morphed from women's boutique clothing to its current speciality, but at least it's still around. The owner, Silvia, told us that she currently has two main markets--the lodging industry and home decor catalogs. As you might guess, Silverado's look is Western-oriented, but with a luxury twist. 

They have been using home dec fabrics for years, even when making women's clothes, and Silvia opened up the warehouse to sell us some of her fabrics from past collections. I bought one piece there, which I bought for a future jacket.

Now I need to get sewing with all this new fabric! The weather is getting warmer and that means new things to wear.

No Sewing This Weekend, But a Haul

This weekend was the Material Girls meetup, but it was sort of a bust due to the switch to Daylight Savings Time. We get together at Ann Silva's Bernina, but the person who works at the store and lets us in didn't appear. I had brought some giveaways and so did a couple of other ladies, so we did a swap meet from our vehicles.

That ended up well! I got an almost full bolt of rayon challis (yes, it's bright but it's pretty and has a great hand),

a yard or so of Guatemalan ikat,

some wooly plaid mystery fabric (cat blankets if nothing else),

and a couple of pieces of Space Alien cotton from Roswell, NM.

I also picked up a couple of patterns--a vintage Calvin Klein Vogue and a Butterick Connie Crawford T-shirt.

We adjourned after it became clear that no one would be letting us in, and I headed over to TJ Maxx. I discovered that they are remodeling--the new fixtures are quite nice, I must say. Several items jumped into my cart and came home with me.  Some shoes

There were also a couple of tops and some lingerie, none of which have been tried on yet. The temporary dressing room was small and I didn't feel like waiting in line. Once I'm tried them on, I'll decide if I want to keep them or take them back. So, no pictures of any of that.

Oy Vey

The new year has been incredibly busy so far, so no sewing projects thus far in 2012. I did do some post Christmas shopping, however. Most of it was via the internet but I also dipped a toe into the consignment shopping pool.

First up, some new fabrics from Casual Elegance, both are knits:

Both of them appeared on the site last fall but I've been trying to restrain myself. When I noticed that they were in the remnant section, I could no longer resist! The top one is much prettier in person, with little raised gold dots on a nice taupe shade. The second one is a burnout knit with a few splashes of silver.  2 yards of each. I'm really looking forward to playing around with these.

Next up, another internet purchase from 6pm.com, which is Zappo's clearance site. They don't have as great of a return policy as the main site but it was the year end clearance and free shipping, so I took a chance.

I lightened the picture a bit so you could see a little more detail, but these are dark black suede in real life. This is the second pair of Naya that I've purchased and they're really comfortable and well made. They'll be great to wear at work.

As I mentioned, a little consignment shopping. 2 Time Couture is located a couple of freeway exits from my office in downtown so I stopped by on my way home from work for their post holiday sale. And I bought these:

I know, "eww, used shoes, what are you thinking?" But folks, these had minimal wear, maybe worn once. I've bought "new" shoes that had more wear on them from try ons. Leopard hair calf with dark brown patent leather accents! How fun! The heels are a little high but quite stable.

I also bought some underthings at Soma's sale but pardon me if I don't post them here. You know what undies look like and besides, they're in the laundry.

My sister in law is flying in from New Jersey tomorrow, so I'll be cleaning instead of sewing today. And I'm being totally lax, but the Christmas stuff is staying up for a little while longer. I just don't have the energy to take down the decor before she arrives. It's a relatively modest display anyway, and somebody should see the tree besides DH, me and the cat.

Stitchology

Last night, I went to the grand opening of an ASG friend's new business venture. Stitchology is a sewing parlor and fabric boutique that will offer a variety of sewing classes. It also carries independent patterns, such as Colette and Sewaholic, as has a select group of fabrics.

The proprietor, Melissa, is an Albuquerquean who returned to town after earning her degree at Indiana University. She was in the fashion program there, and spent the last few years custom designing and making custom clothing while also teaching sewing. Now she's decided to be her own boss.

The shop is charming, with vintage touches and pops of Tiffany blue. She has a great location in the North Valley that's just a hop and skip from Old Town and I-40. She's pretty close to my house, so I know I'll be visiting often,  especially with La Montanita, our locally owned food co-op, in the same shopping center. How simple--sewing and food in one place!

I'm considering the class on making a special occasion dress using the Peony pattern from Collette--I could use some help fitting a sheath dress and haven't yet tried this pattern line. And of course, I've already bought some fabric--

Congratulations on your new venture, Melissa! I hope your business is wildly successful for years to come!

And thanks for your hospitality! The grand opening was a lovely opportunity to preview your new place and celebrate. Aren't these sewing oriented mini cupcakes cute, by the way? Needles and thread, and the others are spools.  And the chocolate requires no design, just sprinkles.

******************

On the home front, no sewing since last weekend. Halloween and DH's birthday on November 1st took two evenings out of the beginning of the week and I never got caught up. DH is taking a leave of absence from work, so he's around every evening when I get home. Which is good, but on the other hand--let's just say it's like a preview of his retirement.

As a result, the cardi is still waiting to be finished. Perhaps I'll set up the buttonhole machine this afternoon and at least do some testing of buttonholes.

Also, I appreciate the concern over my foot issues. I am under a podiatrist's care and she has given me the go-ahead on limited heel wearing if I feel up to it. Most days, it's some variety of "comfort" shoe--Born, Clark's or Sofft--and now that the weather's cooler, I can add boots and clogs to the mix.

In Search of Dark Green Pants

I've recently made two different pairs of pants from the same fabric. I've concluded that I have a lot of green tops in my wardrobe and need something to coordinate with them. Both pairs were made from Sewing Workshop Patterns; I've had decent luck with their pants in the past.

The first pair was made from the Mimosa Pants pattern.

They came out all right, but not my favorite. I think the time for this style has passed for now. I found the legs too wide for my taste.

 I'll keep them for a while though, and maybe I'll like them better next time I wear them. If not, then they'll go to the donation pile. Life is too short, you know? One good thing--I really liked the instructions for installing the invisible zipper, so I'll use them as a reference. I also had a chance to use a Bernina invisible zipper foot that I've had for over a year--such an improvement over the plastic ones!

I still had plenty of the fabric left over after completing the Mimosa Pants, so I decided to use it to try out the new Quincy Pants pattern.

Now, these I love! Although they're elastic waist pants, they have a slim fit.  The hanger shot is a little wonky, but they hang nicely when on. The drawing is fairly representative of how they hang on a person.

I cut and sewed a size smaller than my current measurements but they worked out fine. I included the loop and button feature on the side seams, but it would be pretty simple to leave them off. Just redraw the lower edge of the pants so they're perpendicular to the grain. I think I'll be making more from this pattern, as they'll be perfect with tunics and sweaters. I rarely wear a tucked in shirt anyway.

The fabric is a very dark shade of green. Even with lightening the photos, I'm not sure if you can see much detail due to the color. However,  we haven't switched from swamp cooling to heat yet and the house is cold. I'm minimizing clothing changes as much as possible since temperatures are in the low 60's in here.

The fabric is a rayon/tencel blend that I bought from the Fashion Fabrics Club in 2003. Nicely aged.

TSW Now Shirt

I've been on a TNT TSW trend lately, and this project is the latest. I've made the Now Shirt a couple of times before, but the sleeves always felt a bit floppy to me thanks to my bird-wrists.

You can even see a bit of that in the drawing. The Now Shirt is the one on the right. So this time, I tapered the lower sleeve to refine the fit. I also lengthened the body of the shirt 2". The last one was wearable but the longer length is more versatile.

I used a cotton/rayon blend that I bought from Marcy Tilton at the 2009 ASG Conference in Albuquerque. Practically new, considering the size of my stash!

It's a little rumpled, not as much as it looks in the picture but a bit.  Of course, my iron decided to spit something on the front of the shirt when I was touching it up for pictures, so I had to launder it...and I didn't want to risk pressing it before taking a picture.