Cutting Line Designs, Simplify Your Life View B

This pattern has been out for a while, but it was a new one for me. I've been needing some simple garments for work since we're in jeans mode all summer long. Plus, Albuquerque is hot this time of year! Garments need to be light and airy for being outside in the heat, while also being layering pieces for air conditioning.

The top is fairly simple looking but the button band across the left shoulder and sleeve gives it that little something extra.

I love these shell buttons that came from Hancock's when they were going out of business.

I got the fabric at the ASG conference in San Diego last year; one of the vendors sold fabric that was literally in piles and you had to dig to find the fabric you wanted. I'm not sure of the fabric content but it's a voile. I originally thought it was poly but after sewing with it, I think it's a cotton/poly blend or maybe even cotton.

I barely had enough fabric, so had to be a bit creative in cutting. I would have preferred to have the flowers centered on both front and back, but there just wasn't enough. I think it's all right though.

As is typical for Cutting Line, the pattern has simple lines but is well-drafted with very detailed guide sheets. Also keep in mind that the designer, Louise Cutting, often does not have you assemble the garment in the order that you'd use for the typical Butterick/McCall/Vogue pattern.

Related to that, I found one little error in this pattern--if you follow the order of construction as written, you will make all of the buttonholes and attach all buttons before completing the side seams and sleeve hems.  However, the sleeve hem is very close the the last buttonhole and button, so hold off on sewing them until after the sleeve is hemmed.

Catching Up on July and August

I have not fallen off the face of the earth, although it might look that way.

Chalk it up to a busy summer with a bit of vacation travel, and some workplace drama thrown in for good measure. To top it off, I also had a sewing fail that seriously made me wonder what the heck I was doing.

Since the last post on July 9 (hangs head in shame), I went to the ASG Conference in San Diego. It's been a while since I went to my last one here in Albuquerque several years ago. And I had gone to the previous conference in San Diego way back when--I think it was the year W. was campaigning for his first term.

This year's conference was at the same place, but I don't really think Town and Country is a resort anymore, and that's a real shame. It's a huge property with a combination of high rises and bungalows, as well as two sizable meeting facilities. However, there were many signs of deferred maintenance that made me wonder about its future. I wouldn't be a bit surprised if large parts are torn down and replaced with something new. The site is large and in a popular area of town, so the land itself must be quite valuable. Fashion Valley Mall is behind the property which was within walking distance and good for snoop and real shopping. We also took advantage of the many restaurants there.

I got some shoes (of course) at Steve Madden and a couple of tops at Nordstrom:

The conference itself was good, although I didn't see as many speakers and vendors as I expected from past experience. It's a huge and expensive undertaking, so that probably accounts for it. I took several classes with Louise Cutting and her assistant, Sandy Miller, learned a lot and was very pleased. I am also wanting a "real" dress form now, thanks to one of the other presenters--I didn't get one at the show but it is on my wish list. I bought several items from the vendors. Louise Cutting of course--I bought several of her videos, some patterns, and elastic.

But I also visited a fabric booth several times where you literally had to dig for the piece you wanted. Here are the fabrics I bought:

Clockwise from upper left--a Missoni-esque knit; white eyelet with an all over floral design; blue and red floral poly; black floral voile; strawberry print poly; splatter print knit; and in the center, a pale turquoise floral poly.

Since coming back I attempted to make a fairly simple outfit that went so wrong I can't even post it. I haven't had that big of a fail in years. Fairly discouraging, even though I know it happens to all of us once in a while. Too bad, because I did like the fabric, but the outfit was just horrible. Oh well.

And then, drama at work. I won't go into details but I'm working on another team now with a different client, and things seem to be going much better. The new team seems to have a more cooperative way of working. What a relief!

I have a few things sewn that I'd like to show you and plan to get some pictures up soon. However, it's been such a long hiatus I didn't want to delay writing for the sake of a photo shoot. Hopefully I will be back on track now that summer is over and will have some sewing projects for you to see shortly!

9/6 Edited to add some photos!

Stashing the Extras

Carolyn at Diary of a Sewing Fanatic recently posed some questions about notions and buttons stashing on her blog:

I'm pretty sure that if you are a stasher/collector of fabric, you probably stash the extra stuff too...and that if you purchase a piece or two at a time that you probably purchase all of your extra stuff that way too.  Now I'm wondering which way is more effective...

Which caused me to ponder on whether or not having such a large collection of buttons and trims helps or hinders my projects? 

Of course I responded, but it also got me to thinking that this was a pretty good topic for my own blog post. So I'm going to expand on my responses. Should be interesting, at least to me!

So the question of the day is, Do you collect/stash the extra stuff?  If you do, why do you?

I stash the extra stuff too! Here are my reasons why:

• My local resources are limited, so I can't get whatever I want when I want it.
• I'll buy for a specific project, and the project morphs. The items I bought at the beginning of the project then get stashed away. While I don't mind modifying projects as I go, it does result in a lot of extra stuff. 
• I've acquired a lot of my stuff through other ASG members purging their sewing rooms, so I've gotten things like zippers, buttons, and fabrics at very low prices or sometimes even free.
• Our chapter built a relationship with a couple of sewing factories several years ago, so I got bunches of stuff from them as well. That's where a lot of the buttons came from for my Holiday Giveaway. Sadly, those resources are mostly gone now since production has moved to Asia.
• Other people know I sew and they give me things. For example, my sister bought a large ziploc baggie of vintage buttons when she was travelling in Kentucky that I later got as a Christmas gift. Great present!!
• I also recycle interesting buttons from old garments. I'm talking about you, J. Jill!
• Shows. I've been to a few ASG Conferences, and Albuquerque has its Fiber Arts Fiesta every other year. Both have had vendor booths with unusual things, so interesting buttons, trims, and notions always find their way home with me.

Does it help or speed along the sewing process?  Or does it hinder the process?

Like so much in sewing, the answer is "Sometimes." I have some great buttons and trims stashed--many of them are "go to" whenever I need something of that style. Others I haven't used yet but they'll be there for the right project.

On the other hand, sometimes I don't have exactly what I want--I've run into that problem several times lately. For instance, both of the Marcy Tilton jackets I made this month, and the Now Shirt I made in December. Obviously I need to stock up on matte black buttons! However, going shopping is no guarantee that I'll find what I want. And I'm not a bargain shopper, but have you priced buttons lately? Even I pause when I see a single (plastic) button priced at over $4!

I may be delusional but I do think a lot of the "other" stash will get used. I regularly pull items out when planning a project, so I do generally know what I have on hand. Eventually, those great items will make the cut, and provide just the right accent for a project.

I also gift supplies to other sewists and provide stuff for ASG door prizes and such. After all, how much faux suede fringe does one person need, even in New Mexico? It's fun to see what happens after those things have gone to somebody else.

Farewell, Fred

I was fortunate enough to take several classes from Fred Bloeblum at ASG Conferences I've attended over the years. She always did a wonderful job of organizing and presenting her classes, and I always came away feeling that I had gained a lot of information. She was also always gracious when answering questions and offering suggestions about her pattern line, La Fred, when working her vendor booth.


I'm so glad that I took an extra day to attend the Insiders' Tour of Santa Fe after last year's ASG Conference in Albuquerque. Fred put a wonderful tour together. It included a trip to the Santa Fe Opera and a visit to her second home in Santa Fe, where she hosted a trunk show of buttons and jewelry by local artists.

Fred passed away on Saturday, so unfortunately, I won't get to see her again. But I have memories of some lovely moments talking sewing and for that, I'll always be grateful. Thanks Fred, for your warmth and grace, and may you rest in peace.

ASG Conference Wrap Up

Just a few last thoughts I haven't posted about before:

The Sewing Hall of Fame inductee was Connie Crawford. She has done a lot for sewing in general and sewing for plus sizes in particular.

Martha Pullen gave the keynote speech. She's a good storyteller and had everyone laughing so hard. Pretty hard core religious, but in a good way, know what I mean? Everyone attending that lunch also received an issue of her magazine.

Silhouettes Patterns will be selling its patterns through some Hancock Fabrics locations. I suspect this is a test program that will be rolled out nationally if they sell well.

A follow up on the community service project. Over 5000 pillowcases were contributed to the local Ronald McDonald House, and several chapters made pillowcases for their local Ronald McDonald Houses too. We had estimated 3000.

Next year's conference is in Atlanta, and the 2011 conference is in LA!

The guy from Martelli should send an audition video to Billy Mays' company. Really. He would be an excellent successor. I couldn't believe his schtik for selling cutting mats and rotary cutters.

I have a new respect for models after walking the runway for the Sewing Workshop in black wooden platform sandals whose rubber soles fell off after a day in the car. I tell you, wood soles and metal runways do not play well together. I didn't fall, but I came close.

I think I've wrung as much as possible out of the 2009 conference, so I'm putting it to bed. If there are specific questions, I will be happy to post Q and A, but other than that I'm done.

ASG Conference Classes

I took several classes, but I've learned since my first Conference not to take a class for each and every time they're available. You'll run yourself ragged, and it's information overload.

This time, I took the following:

• Louise Cutting, "Cutting It Apart": This one was an optional class that took all day Thursday. We made a bunch of samples under Louise's direction. Awesome class!! I think I learned a lot about Louise's approach to sewing, things that can be applied to other patterns as well.
  


• Louise Cutting, "Cutting and Pasting": This one was a short class that was more oriented specifically towards Louise's pattern line vs. techniques. I enjoyed this class because she talked about ways to play around with each pattern to develop unique looks.
  


• Susan Lazear, "Domino Design": Susan is a bit of a sleeper, in that she isn't a big hype sewing "personality." On the other hand, she does teach college level classes in fashion design, so she does know what she's talking about from a technical standpoint. The Domino theory is "to begin with one fabric, and as you add a piece to the wardrobe, you introduce a new fabric to the mix. As each subsequent fabric is added, a new fabric is introduced and and an existing fabric is dropped. This is the domino effect." OK, so I'm not going to apply this to each and every item I buy/make. But it was an interesting approach to wardrobing, so I'll give her that.
  


• Susan Lazear, "Armholes and Sleeves: Solving the Mystery": Sleeves are usually a mystery to most sewists. Susan provided a lot of detail on how a sleeve is developed, where bust shaping is incorporated into the sleeve, and finetuning of various sleeves and armholes.
  


• Mary Ray, "Designs in Details" Mary is a contributing editor to Threads Magazine and was formerly on staff. Beautiful sample garments, but she had to fight the skinny/deep layout of the room. The details were beautiful, but I wish she'd had some slides to give close up views.
  


• Jacque Goldsmith, "Adapting Vintage Patterns": Jacque is a younger sewing professional who has worked in the industrial and home sewing aspects of the clothing industry. Fearless about working with all kind of vintage patterns. I enjoyed the class and look forward to working with some of the vintage and vintage-reproduction patterns I have.
  


• Fred Bloebaum, "What's New With Knits": Fred is very organized and always provides an outline of her talks. Plus loads of samples that she passes around the room so you can experience what she's talking about. Look forward to seeing knits in unusual fibers for the foreseeable future. Anything that can be spun will be knitted.
  

ASG Conference: Insiders' Tour of Santa Fe

I'm a little hesitant to make yet another blog post showing "stuff" that I got. Yes, I'm feeling a bit guilty because I did go off the deep end during the Conference. On the other hand, I can afford it, it brings me joy, and I will use these things in the furtherance of my sewing skills. I expect that things will even out, and I will step away from the credit card machine for a while.

At any rate, shopping isn't all I did on this tour.

There were things to see and do as well. After taking the buses from Albuquerque to Santa Fe, the first item on our agenda was a tour of the Santa Fe Opera, with our docent David. Even if you're not into opera, it's a cool place to see. It was founded in the 1950s with the goal of giving American opera singers an opportunity to learn and perform new roles in a setting that allowed ample time to rehearse and prepare each production. The Santa Fe Opera is a highly regarded opera festival that takes place in July and August of each year. Its mission is to present productions meeting the highest artistic standards in a repertory of new, rarely performed, and standard works.

In addition to the theater, we got to see the scenery, prop and costume shops. And the piece de resistance: costume storage! Up until that point, we were unable to take pictures because people were busy working on the next opening but the costume meister gave us a special opportunity to touch and photograph the costumes. Apparently this is not something that normally happens on the tour. Here are some pictures from that portion of our visit:



The smiling redhead in the green shirt is the costume meister. Thank you!!


We also had lunch there. The opera is located on the site of a former dude ranch and some of the original buildings are still there, near the cafe where we ate. Here are some photos of the pool area and plants around the cafe.



I wish I could make my xeriscape look so good!

Next, our bus went to Fred Bloebaum's home for a Trunk Show. Fred is the creative force behind the La Fred pattern line. Somehow we managed to get an entire busload of sewing ladies into the house for some shopping (after my preamble you knew there'd be shopping, right?).


In addition to her pattern line and some fabrics, there were vintage buttons by Sarah Lee Chavez and jewelry by Terry Wrobel. Here's what I got:


Our next stop was the Museum of International Folk Art. Our docent was the delightful Toby, a tiny little lady who was able to express much knowlege and delight throughout our tour. We visited two galleries: the first had the textiles of SW China's minority people and second had the shadow puppet theaters of Indonesia. I previously visited the museum in the fall, and it's one of my favorite activities in Santa Fe.

Our last stop was Santa Fe Plaza for more shopping. By this time I was about done in, and we didn't have a lot of time. I did get a very inexpensive tiered black skirt at a little "hole in the wall" Guatemalan shop. It cost all of $20. It needs a little work to remove a dopey ruffle at the bottom, but it'll be a fun piece for the summer. It has unruffled tiers of bias cotton, the edge of each tier left raw. I didn't take a picture of this; it's black and the details don't show well.

I also got a little sewing inpiration from Fred. After almost of week of wearing only her own line, she wanted to wear something different. So she sewed up an interesting green linen skirt that was based on one owned by a friend. LJ Designs has a very similar pattern, the Asymmetrical Skirt, which I hope I still own. It will look great in a solid; all of the previous ones I've made were in prints.

ASG Conference Vendors: Patterns

I bought patterns, too. ASG is always a good opportunity to buy patterns because the vendors have samples and you can actually see what they will look like when made up.

I took two classes with Louise Cutting this year, including a full day of learning techniques and making samples. So I guess you could say that I drank the Koolaid; after experiencing the techniques I wanted to try the patterns they came from.

Left to right: Heading for Adventure, Stars in Heaven, and In the Trenches.


I also picked up a book of adaptations to the One Seam Pants. No I don't have this pattern, but I do have a pants patten with no side seams that I can morph onto. I also got a simple belt pattern from Louise, which is basically a contoured obi. I've seen pictures of this on, and it really looks good.


The Sewing Workshop typically introduces a pattern at ASG. This year it was MixIt, a set of tops. The tank is the same as the Mission tank from several years ago. Apparently it was a real sleeper. The shirt is a tweaked remake of the Elle. It has been modified for a closer fit, bracelet length sleeves and a smaller collar. I don't recognize the cap sleeve top, so that's a new one.




Shapes is a joint project of Louise Cutting an Linda Lee, after they discovered they both liked the same type of garments and finishes. These are the Eleven Eleven Skirt and the Six Sense Skirt.

ASG Conference Vendors: Miscellaneous

More items purchased from vendors at the Conference:


4 hanks of hand dyed ribbons and stone donuts for jewelry. From Bohemian Element in Washington.


Raggy cat pincushion. I can't help it, I like kitty things. From Cat Brysch Studio in Magdelena, NM.


Fabric flower pin from Stitch in Time in Texas. This booth had lots of Asian silks as well as a few accessories like this one.

ASG Conference Vendors: Buttons and Fabrics

Face it, one of the reasons people go to conferences is to acquire interesting items. Sewers being an acquistive bunch, there was plenty of activity in the vendor area. And when your local shopping choices are limited, well, ya know...

Without further ado, here's the first group of acquisitions:

These lovely cobalt ceramic buttons were at a booth occupied by two lovely potters from Waco, Texas, MudButtons and Barbara Francis Pottery. I hope they made some good contacts, as they were nice ladies who had some nice items for sale. Hopefully I'll have some links later as they're not on the vendor list.


More ceramic buttons, these are from South Africa. Courtesy of Londa's Creative Threads.

Rayon from LJ Designs, which is one of two sewing businesses owned by Lyla Messinger. The other one is The Sewing Place. We had a nice time catching up with our lives. Years ago, I helped Lyla with her booth at a sewing expo that used to come here.

These two came from Louis Cutting's Cutting Corners. Unfortunately, Louise no longer has a physical store but she continues to bring high quality fabrics to shows. the black geometric is rayon, and the fuschia and orange floral is silky feeling Swiss cotton voile.

These pieces came from Marcy Tilton. The botanical print is cotton/rayon blend with a wonderful soft hand, and the green is ponte knit that I bought for some of Marcy's pants. I also got to try on Marcy's new Vogue jacket, which was absolutely beautiful.


The Sewing Workshop sells fabrics, in case you didn't know. Linda Lee has a wonderful eye for fabrics, and I find her selections difficult to resist. The first is Donna Karan wool and silk; the second is Swiss embroidered linen (hmmm, another orange and fuschia color scheme); blue linen with a woven stripe; green linen with a woven herringbone.

Linda has begun a new program in coordination with Bernina that went over very well at the conference. Called Project Sewing Workshop, they are kits with lengths of fabric and TSW patterns all packaged in a nice heavy gauge plastic zipper bag. This will enable Bernina dealers to carrya variety of garment fabrics without a large investment in bolts. Look for this to be rolled out nationally in the near future. This was the first consumer show and it was a feeding frenzy at the Sewing Workshop booth. I think she was very happy with the response!

There's more, but I'll continue with the rest later since this is already a long post,

TSW Black and Cream Collection: Trio Pants

The Trio Pants in action on the upper level of the Albuquerque Convention Center. Gotta love that sun!

TSW Black and Cream Collection: Ikina Jacket and Plaza Pants

I wore these pieces yesterday, and got one of my friends to get a quick photo of me wearing them. The tank is one I got from Coldwater Creek last year and the pin came from one of the vendors at the Conference.

TSW Black and Cream Collection: Mimosa Top

So much for finishing in one day. Instead, I moseyed along with this one, a little bit each night. I finally got over my buttonhole phobia and finally finished this project by making a couple. Really. As of Thursday night, the closures were all that were left to finish for this top. It's ridiculous that I let such a minor thing hold me back. But now it's done! It's a bit of a stretch colorwise, but I figured an occasional spot of color could still fit into a black and cream collection.

True, this one is a little bit of stunt dressing. However, it was made for the ASG Conference and if you can't stunt dress at a convention, where can you? I actually think the print may be subtle enough that I can wear it here in Albuquerque without irony later on. Elsewhere, maybe not. I wore it on Friday:

Speaking of the Conference, I've spent a ton of money on some fabulous pieces of fabric that I love. And patterns! The Sewing Workshop has introduced a new collection of tops, which I had to buy. Also some of the Shapes patterns, which are a collaboration of Louise Cutting and Linda Lee of the Sewing Workshop. Needless to say, it's been pretty hectic around here but I'll post more about the Conference once I've had a chance to catch my breath.

About Pictures...

Duchesse asked whether there will be pictures of me in action in any of the garments. Well yes, I hope so! I'm a little technologically challenged at the moment, having neither photographer or skill with photographing myself. I will throw myself at the mercy of other attendees and hope to get some pictures at the Conference.

And of course, DF will be moving in next month so he can photograph me once he's here all the time.

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!

TSW Black and Cream Collection: Ikina Jacket

I started on the Ikina Jacket Saturday afternoon. Wow, it sure goes together quickly. A couple of hours and I assembled the jacket bodice (including hems), attached the sleeves, and prepared the bias front band for recutting. And I still managed plenty of time to hang out and relax (although I totally forgot to make a dish for my church's monthly breakfast for the homeless. Oops--I'll need to bring two next time).

Sunday, I completed the sleeves and attached the facings and front band. It was all machine sewing to this point. The sleeves and facings require some precision in sewing but aren't hard. The last part of making the jacket required some hand sewing to attach the remaining edges. You probably could figure out a way to do this by machine as well, but I actually enjoyed the hand sewing. I felt that it gave me more control and results in a softer finish to the seam.

Today I finished the second facing, and with that, I'm all done!


Here are some close ups of the fabrics I've been using. I realized after posting the Plaza Pants that the mini windowpane check mystery fabric wasn't showing up well at all. So here's that one:


It's some kind of suiting, perhaps a rayon blend of some kind. I got it at the 2003 Albuquerque ASG chapter's silent auction.

The band of the Mimosa Top and bodice of the Ikina Jacket are made of this linen that came from JoAnn's in 2002:


The band and facings of the Ikina Jacket are made of this rayon/poly gauze from the Fashion Fabric Club, circa 1999:


So you see, there's a reason to assemble a stash. Eventually you'll be able to combine fabrics.

On a tangent, my neighbor's nephew visited for a couple of weeks and spent a lot of his time working on my neglected front and back yards. There's still more to do, but that's going to require heavier equipment than we wanted to deal with. The next step will be removing stumps and re-rocking those parts of the property that are looking thin. I'll be hiring a professional crew for that.

Seasonal weather has finally arrived! Hot as blazes and dry. It looks like it will remain that way throughout the conference.

Skeleton Crew, Rebellion, and Wardrobe Planning

So much for bankers' hours...new rules. If the Federal holiday falls on a Saturday, we don't close the previous day as we used to. Fortunately, we still get time off, just not for the holiday. As a result, I'm cleaning my office because my customers are businesses and have closed for a long weekend. It's probably busy at the branches though. There are 4 of us here this morning, and there will be 3 in the afternoon. Normally, we have 7-8 in the department itself, plus the other groups that we share our floor with.

I'm being a little rebellious today, wearing my latest Plaza Pants with a Cynthia Steffe twinset and Carlos Santana mules. Sounds pretty conservative but I'm breaking the "no bare legs" rule. Yes, we are a panty hose wearing company. Usually I'm ok with with wearing them because I'm pale, but sometimes you just need to break out a little.

I'll be on my own for the weekend. DF is on his way to New Jersey on Saturday morning for a family funeral and won't be back until Tuesday. So I'm planning to work on my black and cream TSW outfits for the ASG Conference.

I'm also hedging a little in case my reach again exceeds my grasp, and I don't accomplish as much sewing as I'd like. So I'm thinking of items already in my closet that will give that Sewing Workshop look without necessarily being an entire ensemble. I think sometimes people get overwhelmed with this line because they feel they must dress head to toe like the pattern envelope. It can become costumey. Not that these patterns are costumes--but sometimes, hmmm, they can be a little over the top, particularly if it's a departure from the wearer's usual look. Hard to say what I mean by this without sounding like I'm giving offense to the wearer or Linda Lee. That's not my intention at all, I hope you understand. Personally I see the pieces as separates instead of ensembles, which means that these items can mix in with RTW and other sewn garments without a problem. Sometimes it's the better approach.

Material Girls

Material Girls is one of my ASG chapter's Neighborhood Groups. Fortunately, it meets on Sunday afternoons when I can attend. I had stopped going for a long time and recently started up again. It's fun to have a group sewing experience. No agenda, just sit and sew. Because a couple of the participants work there, we use one of the classrooms at Ann Silva's store. We just lock ourselves in for a few hours and enjoy. I really appreciate her willingness to loan us her facility on a day when the store is closed.

I took some of my Sewing Workshop patterns with me so I could prepare for my pre-Conference sewing. I was able to cut out the Trio T and pants. No, I didn't trace first. I had the opportunity to try on samples at the last Getaway, so I'm pretty sure of the sizing (although those pants may end up a size smaller than I cut out, an easy fix).

The Trio T will be made from the black print mesh I showed in the last post. Originally I'd planned on using striped linen for the Trio Pants put I've changed my mind and will be using a solid color black linen instead. It'll be easier than having to match stripes with my limited time frame, but maybe another time.

I also cut out another Mimosa top, this time from a cotton print of chile ristras that I've had stashed away for quite a while. Arggh, more blur. What's going on with me and the camera. Sorry folks!



The binding will be another fabric that I pulled, a linen blend that has both black and cream threads. I was short on the cotton, and besides, I thought an all print top might look too home-y.

Butterick 4194, Modified

Hey, I'm done!!


The camo/embroidery version is complete. Sorry about the blur. My camera usually warns about this but decided not to this time. Oy. I installed the pocket tonight, using a velcro closure vs. the button recommended in the pattern instructions.


I'm happy with the minor alteration to the pattern. The tiny bit of pegging at the hem makes a big difference in the skirt's appearance. It's amazing that such a little change can totally change how the finished skirt looks.

Another fun summer skirt. Onwards toward the conference clothes...

Pulling Fabrics

When I'm planning to sew a group of garments, I often just start pulling fabrics out of all the drawers and bins and shelves of my collection. I'll begin with an inspiration piece or two, then other fabrics come to mind. Before you know it, I've gathered up a big stack of fabrics that might work together. Then I start pulling out pattern envelopes and start matching them up. I have sticky notes pinned to each grouping of fabrics to remind me of what I want each to be.

As I mentioned earlier this week, I want to sew a group of Sewing Workshop garments to wear at the upcoming ASG Conference next month. I started with a summery colorway, but the grouping quickly turned into neutrals. I'll be sewing black, tan, cream and taupe with a few color accents. Summer in New Mexico? No, not exactly, but these colors were what I was feeling. This is everything all laid out on the cutting table:



It looks like a mess, but there's a method in the madness.

For example, I actually started this pull session with a blue/gold/lavender/green watercolor print fabric to combine with a similar green for pants.



I then switched over to the neutrals and selected a black mesh print for a t-shirt. I laid it down on top of some other fabrics that just happened to be next to the green.



Ah, they aren't matchy match, but the green in the mesh blends with the green of the pant fabric. This is one of the benefits of pulling out fabrics--sometimes you can find combinations you never expected to work together.

For more on this process, I previously discussed it when I was preparing for the Sewing Workshop Getaway that I went to in October 2007.