I have become interested in beading again. I watch Burn Notice and on the show's website you can buy clothes from the show. One of the characters, Fiona, was wearing the macrame bracelet I made last year! I am so ahead of the curve! There is another bracelet from the same designer that I would like to recreate. This got me interested in beading again. I was looking into metal clay but it is very expensive because of the price of gold. I am going to reinterpret it in a different medium. I will keep you posted on the progress.

It has been forever since I wrote! I haven't been sewing much lately because I have been working on my writing, but I did whip up two skirts to wear to a work meeting. They ended up being too big, but I wore one of them anyway. I am away from work room at the moment, so I can't give up the pattern numbers, but the next time I post, I will. I am going to schedule more sewing in my future, to fit in with my writing.

Until then, happy crafting!

On edit: I know that I promised to post the pattern numbers on the skirts I made and I don't want to be a liar, so here they are: Butterick 4461 and Simplicity 9825. The Simplicity skirt was inspired by a skirt I saw at Banana Republic but was too expensive for me to even consider buying.

I am a member of the Crafter's Choice book club and recently received the new Nancy Ziemen book, Pattern Fitting With Confidence and Marie Clayton's Ultimate Sewing Bible. I didn't ask for these two and I must have missed the opt out e-mail, but I am going to keep them. I also received, in the mail, an RSVP for Clotilde's Sew Smart. I really enjoy the magazine and I feel you can't have enough sewing reference books.

I went to Hancock's yesterday and picked up a couple of patterns that were on sale for $.99. One is a shorts pattern and the other is a t-shirt pattern. I also learned the difference between ribbing and regular knit. Don't laugh. I had no idea. I also bought some clearance fabric for my shorts. If you remember from a previous post, that I wanted to perfect a shorts pattern and make them in a bunch of colors. The same goes with the t-shirt. As I said in my latest Wordful Googie post, there doesn't seem to be enough hours in a day to get everything done. To that end, I am going to create a schedule to fit writing and sewing in to my day.

I wanted to pop in and say hey! My Chanel jacket hadn't been going as well as I had hoped. I am working on the lining and it is a bit of a nightmare. I put it aside for now and have been working on non-related craft projects. I received the Hancock flier in the mail the other day and they are having fantastic pattern sales coming up at the end of June. I'm talking $0.88 patterns! Wheeee! I want to find a shorts pattern that I can make in a bunch of different colors. I hope I can find one.

Will check in later and hopefully have good news about my jacket.

I wanted to check in to let you know that I have been busy with other projects and haven't been working on my Chanel jacket. I will work on it this week and post an update, but I have kind of lost interest. The jacket is lined and it is not working out as well as I had hoped. I will finish it and post photos, though. Until then.

I wanted to add that I was on a sewing tear this weekend. I hemmed up my skinny pants, fixed the curtains that the cats shredded, and fixed my bra that needed the elastic re-worked. Everything, it seems, except for working on my jacket. I did, however, get more thread so I am all set for sewing tomorrow night.

Well, I didn't get my Chanel type jacket finished in time to wear it. I just got bogged down in other stuff during the week. I also ran out of thread, so I have to go get more this morning. I wore my purple velvet jacket out last night and my hemmed-up skinny jeans (which finally fit!). I hemmed them up 11th hour but I think they turned out great.

I will continue to work on the jacket, then the rest of my pile looks as follows:
Pants, another Burda jacket, a dress from hotpatterns.com, and two skirts. I am going to start looking for a quick and easy shorts pattern to whip out several pairs of shorts in all kinds of colors. Summer is coming and I want to be ready. I am going to work on my motivation and get going to get all of this done.

I have been busy multi-tasking. I have been working on my purse. I had to break out the Simplicity Classic to sew the leather. It isn't perfect, but I consider it to be a learning experience.

But I had to stop so I could start work on my Chanel jacket. I want to wear it next week for my birthday. Here it is in mid-sew. I didn't have enough fabric for the face, so I am using part of the lining. Thanks mom for the tip!

Spring has sprung here in Toledo, so I have been wearing the jackets I made this past winter. I am not pleased with the way the Burda jacket turned out. I have the pattern cut out and ready with fabric from Vogue fabrics. I think I will make it next. I am hoping that I have learned enough that this one turns out better.

I went back and was re-reading some of the posts and wanted to add another chapter in the skinny jeans saga. I tried them on and they are now too big in the butt. So, I give up with them. I tried on my store bought ones and they now fit. I will be hemming the bottoms because they are a bit too long, but are totally wearable. I want to wear them with my Chanel jacket I am making for my birthday next week.

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.

Happy Leap Day! I, for one, am happy that February is over. It really is the longest month. Anyway, I tried on my skinny jeans tonight and they are too big. When I say too big, I mean like three inches too big on the waist. I am not sure what I did wrong. I followed Nancy's alteration directions, but to no avail. I would have to rip apart the seams and re-cut the pieces. I don't think I am going to do that. I may though. I really want skinny jeans! I tried on my store-bought skinny jeans and I am not quite able to wear them yet. I think another 5 pound loss should do it. I really want to perfect a pants pattern, so I am not going to stop trying. I may just buy more dark denim material and try again. It would be so great to be able to just make pants whenever I want. Really, any piece of clothing, because that is the reason I started to sew. I wanted to be able to reproduce the styles I saw on the runways because I can't afford to actually buy anything. I will get there. Hopefully before I am too old to see to thread the needle!

I finished my jacket and as promised, here is a photo. It was pretty easy, although I did have to re-do one of the sleeves. I used a hook and eye for a closure. Tomorrow I will start on the oft-mentioned skinny jeans!

Hey! I have been working diligently on my short-sleeved jacket. Everything is finished, except for the sleeves. There is a band that is attached to the bottom of the sleeve that has to be slip-stitched to the rest of the sleeve and I am doing that by hand. I am not the fastest hand sewer. I should have it finished within the next day or so. I will post a picture when it is finished.

My next project will be the skinny jeans from Burdastyle (see my previous post). I was watching TV last Sunday afternoon and I stumbled upon Sewing With Nancy with Nancy Zieman and she was demonstrating an alteration technique called pivot and slide. I feel like such an idiot. I have been doing alterations all wrong! I really like her. She can explain something so quickly that I have spent hours reading in a book and still don't know. Anyway, my point is that the skinny jeans pattern needs to be altered to fit me and I will be using this method. I may take photos and post them as I alter, but I don't know. I like to multi-task when I sew: sew a little, watch some TV, surf the Web. It suits my short attention span. I am pretty excited about trying something new. Even if I don't post photos of the work in progress, I will post photos of the finished project.

Well! It's been a long time since I have posted. I really didn't think it was almost two months! That is too long! I ended up not making any Christmas gifts. I wanted to, but didn't have the time. I had to go to New York for work last month and I wanted to sew some clothes for my trip. Alas, I didn't do that either. I ended up buying pants at Old Navy and hemming them. So, so much for that! I work from home and don't go a lot of places. That doesn't stop me from making things for the life I wish I had. To that end, I finished the jacket made out of purple velvet. Here is a photo:



And here is a photo of the cool buttons I used. They are Route 66 buttons:


I was shopping at my mom's house last weekend and she let me snag all of her military-type buttons, which was incredibly cool. I have two more jackets to make. One is a short-sleeve number in light blue velvet which I am sure I mentioned, and the other is an off-the-shoulder style, McCall's #5478. The buttons will definitely come in handy.

I also downloaded a skinny jeans pattern from Burdastyle.com. It is an open-source sewing website with free patterns. You download all of the pieces, tape them together, and then cut out the pattern. I am using clearanced stretch denim I found at JoAnn's when I was looking for the buttons. I do have a place to where these along with that off-the-shoulder jacket. It is good to have a deadline. Now if I can get the cat to stop laying on my material!

The Toledo Lucas County Public library had one of their really great book sales last weekend and of course I went. I snagged a bunch of really great sewing books, such as Fine Machine Sewing by Carol Ahles. I was actually going to buy this book on Amazon. Other titles include Fashion Sewing By The Bishop Method, Making Patterns From Finished Clothes, Vogue Fitting, Vogue Sewing For The Home, Good Housekeeping's Home Dressmaking, and Sew Much Better from the Editors of Sew News. Good stuff! There are several more book sales scheduled for this year and I will definitely attend. It seems every time I go, they have different books. If you recall, the last time I went I purchased the entire Time-Life set of The Art of Sewing for a song.

One more thing and I will call it a night. My mom and husband both volunteered at Fort Meigs, which is a local War of 1812-era fort. They have re-enactments in period costume. I am going to volunteer to and sew some costumes! It will be fun and I may even get to wear it around. I have attended Halloween events at the Fort at night and it is a pretty cool place. It was the site of a battle and it is on a bluff overlooking the Maumee River. It is a pretty spooky place and very cool. Google it and check it out.

P.S. I added a link to BurdaStyle to the right so you can go directly to the site. Happy downloading!

I was shopping this past weekend and I found the perfect fabric for my jackets at Hancock. It is cotton velvet and it is sturdy enough but not too stiff. I also found V8460 at JoAnn's and picked up two more jacket patterns. Yes, I am a bit obsessed.
The one I am cutting out is McCall 5478. I have plaid wool fabric from my uncle that I am using. It is very cool.

I also started a Christmas gift but that person may read this and I don't want to give anything away.

Hey everyone! I have been working on the NaNoWriMo, see my other blog, Wordful Googie, for details. But now that is over with, I am back to the crafting.

I am working on a skirt using the red fabric I bought in Chicago and Vogue 2811. I also started knitting argyle slippers from Weekend Knitting, Melanie Falick's excellent book. The slippers were designed by Denyse Specktor and the yarn is Paternayan Persian Wool. They will be beautiful if they turn out. I don't have a lot of experience in intarsia, so we will see.

I was watching DVDs of Arrested Development and the Lindsay character had the coolest short-sleeve jacket on and I just knew I had to make one. Hancock had a sale on Butterick last week, so I picked up two jacket patterns: 4900 and 5107. The long-sleeve jacket I want to make out of a dusty pink velvet, which I saw on another Arrested Development character, Sally Sitwell (you just have to watch). I think that I am going to buy the fabrics online. I found a couple of really good sites with fabric at 60 inches, which I can't seem to find in Toledo.

Christmas is coming and I wanted to make people's gifts. I still may have time, although I am not going to run myself ragged. There is a couple of embroidery projects and some quick felted slipper patterns I want to try. I am obsessed a bit with slippers. I have three pair; it always seems I am losing them.

I do have one other obsession I wanted to share: on the cover of Vogue Patterns last month, there was the coolest bag and unfortunately, the month passed before I could find out what the pattern was. I tracked it down and it is Vogue 8406 and along with the Butterick sale, Hancock also had Vogue patterns on sale last week. Alas, they didn't have it. Fortunately, JoAnn has Vogue patterns on sale so I will be able to get it. There are three JoAnn's in town, so I have a better chance of finding it. There is only one Hancock in town. I have a really great brown suede from which to make it.

As promised, here are the photos of some projects I have been working on. This first is a really great skirt I made out of a cotton patchwork flannel. I used Vogue 2811 and it turned out really well.

I mentioned in a previous post that I went to Vogue Fabrics in Chicago. It is a fantastic place! I bought this toile-like washable suede fabric. It was a toile weekend. I stayed at my brother and his wife's house and my sister-in-law just re-upholstered their furniture in a red and white toile. It was very pretty! Here is the fabric and a close-up shot.




I also bought a gray washable suede that I will use with that same pattern. Believe me, the photo does not do it justice. It's beautiful.



I have been cutting out a lot of patterns to work on in an assembly-line fashion. Here are some pants I cut out:



I have also been doing other things. I started needlepoint. Here is a towel I have been working on:

It's a teapot and he's yawning!

I am also working on an environmental friendly crocheted grocery bag:



Finally, here is the Singer knitting machine my mom is letting me borrow. It is very cool:

Hey everybody! I know that you have heard this before, but I am definitely going to post more. I am safely ensconced in my studio and have been working up a storm. Sewing mostly. I did bring my writing books down so they are closer to the place I am working, but I am fitting everything in.

News: I have had to push back the debut of my VirtualGoogie collection at etsy.com until spring. I am just not organized enough to get it together. I have some really great ideas for totes and some jewelry that came to me in a dream, if you can believe it, and I will be working up some sample pieces in the next couple of weeks. I have to make sure I still have my etsy account.

I went to Chicago last week and have the saw the promised land. While there, I visited, not one, but two Vogue Fabrics! One is in Chicago on Roosevelt and the other is in Evanston, a hop, skip, and a jump north on Lake Shore Drive. There was so much at such cheap prices that going to JoAnn's and Hancock's just feels like a letdown now. It is probably a good thing that I don't live nearby because I would be broke.

Up tomorrow - photos of a couple of finished projects. I have been cutting out several patterns to be sewn in a sort of assembly line manner. I will have photos of those, too!