Tuesday, June 30, 2015

My Garden

I just going to share some pictures of my flowers on this post.  The rain has been plentiful and the flowers are bigger and blooming earlier than normal.




Monday, June 29, 2015

Julia Cardigan

The Julia Cardigan has been on my to-do list for quite some time.  It is such a fun cardian with a nice drape and three different sleeve options.
Julia Cardigan from Indiesew made in the extended shoulder version with an animal print jersey knit

My pattern is available to purchase and download from Indiesew

Wednesday, June 24, 2015

Comments on Jenna Cardigan


Thank you all for the wonderful comments on my Jenna Cardigan


I wanted to share with all of you the wonderful comment from Kat from Muse Patterns:



Hi there. This is Kat from Muse Patterns - thought I'd answer some of your questions (hopefully Lori won't mind?!).

Muse Patterns are indeed designed for a 5' 10" woman. There are quite a lot of tall women who sew - in fact, for tall women it's often their height that got them into sewing in the first place, due to frustration over RTW garments that are too short in the leg and arm, and don't fit across shoulders! And yet, very very few patterns cater to this demographic, so we all have to make changes to every single pattern we buy. I'm tall myself, so to me it made sense to design patterns for people who are in that demographic. :-) 

With the adjustments - for people shorter than 5' 10", there are really only two areas that you may need to adjust with the Jenna pattern. The sleeves will almost certainly need to be shortened - they're designed to go down past the wrist on a tall women, and are very likely to be too long on others. This is a super easy adjustment to make - simply fold some of the length out of the sleeve around half-way down the pattern piece, smooth out the line of the side seams, and you're done! :-)

The other area of adjustment, which you noticed, is at the shoulders. Depending on your individual build, you may or may not need to adjust these. Since Jenna is a knit pattern, a good way to check is to measure the distance across your shoulder and compare to the pattern piece. If you need to take any width out, you can fold it out from the middle of the shoulder and smooth out the line.

Aside from those two alterations though, there shouldn't be any others needed as a result of height differences. For more fitted/woven garments with waist seams there may be due to different torso lengths, but for this style that should be all you need, and they're nice and fast to do.

Hope that helps!

Kat
Muse Patterns

It was so nice of her to comment on my blog and give us all this information.  Thank you, Kat, for your time, sharing your information and your wonderful patterns.



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Monday, June 22, 2015

Jenna Cardigan a Muse Pattern

The Jenna Cardigan is a pattern I have been wanting to try for quite some time.  What is it about new patterns, they just sit there in your sewing space tempting you so?  I finally got around to this one and it didn't disappoint.
Jenna Cardigan by Muse Patterns in a Girl Charlee Cotton Spandex knit

Tuesday, June 16, 2015

Hot Patterns Fast & Fabulous Blouse Back T


Another one of the Blouse Back T but this time for me!  If you remember the first one was for Meredith


Hot Patterns Blouse Back T from Girl Charlee fabric
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This is a cute shirt but I love it on Meredith so much more than on me.  

Tuesday, June 09, 2015

NIght Sky Quilt

August 2014 I took a class at my local quilt shop to make Jay Bird's Night Sky quilt and after the class the quilt lingered for a very long time in the storage container.  After the first of the year, I would work on it sparingly.





A group of us sew on the 4th Wednesday of the month.  One Wednesday I grabbed my container and went to work on this beauty.  It is about a twin size and I love how it turned out.  Jay Bird Quilt's Sidekick ruler is amazing and makes for the most perfect quilt blocks.  



I had planned to make this a queen size quilt but I  ran out of steam and motivation.  The lack of motivation was quickly followed by no more reddish-pink fabric.  This was like a sign, the quilt is finished!  I was thrilled with the look, the size and the fact it was done.


My local long arm quilter did a custom job on this quilt.  A custom quilting job is more pricey but I felt this quilt deserved something special.  I love how she quilted it and it is just perfect.



I have several quilts going, which is so different than my garment sewing.  I always finish a garment before starting another one.  With my quilting, I buy plastic storage containers and keep all the fabric and pattern together.  This system makes it so easy to pull out a quilt and work on it in small stages.



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Monday, June 08, 2015

New Look 6282


I have mentioned before on this blog about my youngest two (the twins) height.  Well, Meredith wanted another maxi dress and of course it is hard to find in RTW for a 5'9" girl.  So, it was Mom, will you make me another maxi dress?  Of course and off to Joann's we went for fabric.  Meredith and I have some similar characteristics but one thing we are very different is on how quickly we make a decision.  I am rapid fire, get it done.  Meredith is ponder, think, ponder more, change her mind, ponder and think some more.   Take this slower decision making to the fabric store and it is pull out bolts of fabric, then put them back, trying very hard to make a decision but uncertainty comes into the picture.  You see Meredith doesn't want to make a mistake with the fabric and thus the ultimate garment.  I have learned to let her work at her own pace and arrive at the perfect decision.  It rarely fails her and I need to learn from her.  Take this maxi dress (New Look 6282) as Exihibit A!


Friday, June 05, 2015

Friday Fashion Inspiration - 26

Today I am going to feature Modcloth for our ideas.
First up this cute maxi dress, I love the idea of mixing two knits.
source above photo

Butterick 6051 looks very close, love the waistband.
source above photo


source above photo

Monday, June 01, 2015

McCall's 7125



McCall's 7125 made from polka dot silky with lace trim

Meredith wanted at top just like view B on McCall's7125 right when she saw the pattern in my sewing room.  We headed to Joann's for some fabric and she selected this seafoam silky polka dot and a lace from the bridal section for the yoke.