Hey everyone! I finished my jacket:

It went together very easy. Almost too easy. I was concerned about matching plaids, but I used tips from an article from Threads December 2007/January 2008 issue titled "Mad for Plaid." I probably mentioned it earlier. Anyway, it was helpful. I can't believe it turned out! I didn't include all of the buttons because I didn't have ones that matched and I wanted to avoid having to buy more. But besides that, I followed directions pretty easily, which is unusual for me. It is also fully lined. My next project is that purse and I have another jacket waiting in the wings which I am pretty excited about. I will tell you about it later.

I wanted to update this to add that I did end up buying the extra buttons. JoAnn's had buttons 50% off so how could I not? So I will be adding them and then taking a photo, of course.

I went back in the archives to see if I had posted a photo of the jacket that I am now working on and saw that I didn't. So here it is:


And here is the bag I am going to make. I know that I mentioned that it was on the cover of a Vogue Pattern magazine. I am going to make it in hot pink suede.

Finally I am finished with these jeans:


What a nightmare! Nothing was working. Not the zipper. Not the waistband. Not the buttonhole. I think my last post was me giving up, but I took them apart and recut and re-sewed them. I REALLY wanted skinny jeans! My obsession knows no bounds!

My next project is McCall's 5478 which I would like to complete by Easter. I think there is a photo on a previous blog entry. I will start it tomorrow. It is too late, today. Oh yeah, I will be making Vogue 8406 concurrently (it's a purse).

Well, I decided to rip apart the jeans and re-cut them, but they were still too big in the waist. I added two darts and they were still too big. Then I added a waistband and had to put darts in it so the back wouldn't pucker. The result? A mess of bulky fabric that won't lay flat. I don't think my body is that unusual and I am definitely not that thin. I do want skinny jeans, but I am not sure what to do. Personally, I don't think darts have any place in a pair of jeans. I may go tomorrow or Saturday and buy more denim and try again. I think this time I will buy some muslin and fit that first. The jeans are really but cute but too bulky in the waist. One other problem I always have is that the waistband is never long enough to give me a flap on which to place a fastener. I always have to add a piece of material to do the job.

I am not going to give up but I am definitely frustrated. I have been working on these stupid things for a couple of weeks. Sometimes I feel like a novice sewer who has never made a thing in her life. I would think by this stage of the game that I would be able to make something that actually fit.