My New Cutting Table

First, let me apologize for the blurriness of the photos. I had the camera in manual focus mode but was shooting like it was in autofocus. Duh! I'll blame it on single parenting all weekend. And because I have been The Parent, I haven't had time to do much work on the Burda dress, which is about halfway cut out. I'll try to finish it up on Monday when DH is back home and I foist the kids off onto him suggest he take the kids to the movies.

Anyway, Sewing Diva Phyllis suggested I show off my sewing table. DH built it for me, and I love it! It was super easy to make. The top is a 4'X 8' sheet of melamine coated particle board. DH bought lengths of stripping and nailed them to the sides. Then he used a roundover bit on his router to smooth the edges. After that, he applied some filler compound to smooth out a couple of places where the melamine had chips (melamine is notorious for that, I guess). The legs are simply telescoping table legs and frames from Ikea. The whole thing took him just a couple of hours to make, and it is a perfect size and height. I don't have to bend over to cut things. At the Stitch 'n Bitch, we were all able to work at it comfortably. I love it! Here are some shots of the underside and the legs.




The whole thing cost a total of $85 to make, and now I have a table that suits me perfectly. Woo hoo!

Happy sewing!

Matchy-Matchy? No Way!

I was shopping for a laptop case the other day, and I came across this beauty. Of course, any accessory I carry has to be fabulous, non? Well, this one called to me across the store. I had lusted after one very much like it last year. It was the same shape, but it was made of ocelot print ponyskin trimmed with bright red patent leather. I walked around the store with it for about a half hour, then put it back: it was right on the border of too expensive, so I wanted to think about it. The next morning I woke up and decided to go back and buy it and - quel horreur - it had been sold the day before. I was devastated. I checked back frequently to see if they got any more, but no, that was the only one. Sigh.

Well, I was determined not to let this one slip through my grasp. And the color! It's a beautiful egg-yolk yellow. You know what I really love about it, though? It matches absolutely nothing that I own. So in reality, it goes with everything I own. I've never been one for the matching bag/shoe/belt/gloves/whatever, even when it's been the fashion. I really love mixing it up. This bag looks fabulous with a pair of bright blue shoes I own, and it looks equally fabulous with red, tan, brown and black. It's such a fun color! This is one that I'll carry all summer long. Just looking at the color makes me smile. My friend Emmett really loved it when he saw it, so it gets the designer stamp of approval, which is always good.

Happy handbags!

Spring Into Summer Sale at Gorgeous Fabrics!

Hi Everyone!

For those of us in the United States, next Monday is Memorial Day, a holiday that, among other things, marks the start of the Summer season. So in keeping with that unofficial interpretation of the holiday, we're having a

Spring Into Summer Sale
Yes, we're marking down all the summery fabrics from now through Monday! Every cotton, tropical wool, eyelet, piqué... all the fabrics that conjure up warm breezes and sunny days! Here are just a few for your consideration:


L to R: Raw Silk Tweed, Crinkle Floral Gauze, and Big Bad Floral Stretch
Click Here to Shop the Sale

So Many New Fabrics!
If you haven't had a chance to check out the site recently, do! I've been typing my fingers to the bone, adding new fabrics. And more are coming every day. Great knits, cool cottons, and some extremely Kewl fabrics from all over the world! Want a sneak peak? Here you go:

Girly Giraffe Jersey, Hammered Silk, and Ooooh, Aaaah Silk Charmeuse
Click Here to Shop What's New

Memorial Day Weekend
As I mentioned, next Monday is Memorial Day. We will be closed for the holiday. UPS and USPS will not be picking up. Any orders that come in over the weekend will ship by Wednesday. So feel free to shop; as soon as we're back in the office we'll be busy cutting, packing and shipping!

So keep an eye out, we'll be adding much, much more. New fabrics are arriving daily! And I hope you and yours have a great weekend. We'll be throwing something yummy on the grill and of course, I'll be sewing in my free time. Until next time...

Happy Sewing!

A Short Detour

Tomorrow morning DH is flying to DC for the weekend to visit his dad. It will be his dad's birthday (one ending in 0), so all three kids are flying in for it. We inlaws were kind of specifically dis-invited (not for any bad reasons, mostly b/c of transportation costs, baseball season, MCAS tests and such). All three kids pitched in and got DFiL a laptop computer. So I volunteered to make a leather sleeve for it. That's what I worked on today. I made it the same way I made my Silver Lambskin Laptop Sleeve. This time I used a black lambskin that was slightly heavier than the original silver. It all went together great. Remember if you sew with leather, use a teflon foot to ease your stitching. Also, use a specialized leather needle, and use binder clips to hold the pieces together. This took about an hour to make from start to finish, and I think DFiL will like it!

Tomorrow I'll get the Burda dress well underway. I think tonight I will head out to JoAnn and see if they have any halfway interesting snaps for closures on the dress.

Oh who am I kidding? I should just buy them from SnapSource.

Happy sewing!

Next up... Burda 7827 Dress and the Pipeline

I have the pattern pieces for this prepped and ready to go on the cutting table. I'm going to make it from this (sold out, sorry) Cotton Stretch Sateen in Caperberry from Gorgeous Fabrics (natch).

I really like this for a hang-around summer dress. I'm prewashing the fabric today, then I'll start cutting and sewing tomorrow. I saw this dress in an issue of BWOF that is about a year old. I think Camille borrowed it at the S&B, and I noticed it as she was flipping through. I really like the lines of it, and I think the sateen will look really sharp. I need a kick-butt pair of sandals to go with it. Time to hit up
SmartBargains!

I'm also going to prewash fabric for my next project, which will be the Ralph Rucci dress for Vogue.

I'm going to make a muslin of this one, since I've heard over on Stitchers Guild that some folks have had problems adjusting the fit of the bodice. I'll keep you posted. Thanks to Sewing Diva Phyllis' great suggestion, I'm going to make this in a Green Seersucker that is not sold out (for a change) yet.

That should be fun, and I love seersucker for summer

Oh, and one last pattern I want to show you. This one grabbed me when I was at the store yesterday. It's another Burda,

Burda 7832
Looking at the picture, it seems rather unremarkable. The hemline looks different. But as I was just about to pass it by, I noticed the line drawing:

How very cool is that! I love the princess lines with the raglan sleeves. I haven't opened the pattern yet, so I don't know what the back looks like. I have my suspicion that the line drawing is not correct- I would have expected the back to have raglan, not a set-in style sleeve, but hey, I could be wrong... Anyway, I really liked this one, so I threw it in my basket.

So with those in the queue and the new Jalies coming hopefully later this month, I should have my sewing agenda set for a few weeks. As I say, stay tuned!

Happy sewing!

Another Jalie V-Neck Top

At the S&B the other day, I cut another version of the Jalie V-Neck Top. This one is made from

Dainty Floral Jersey in Red/Aqua from Gorgeous Fabrics. Alas, it's sold out. But all in all, this took me a grand total of about an hour to make, from start to finish. I really love this pattern, and I can see making it in all sorts of fabrications.

Happy sewing!

The Inaugural Stitch 'n B*tch!

Yesterday was a blast. Several local sewing friends came up to the new studio for the first S&B in the new space. What a blast! We all spent a couple of hours on projects. Then we knocked off, pulled out hors d'oeuvres, snacks and drinks and spent another hour socializing. It was so much fun! I cut out another version of the Jalie V Neck top. DH and DS the Youngest stopped by for a couple of minutes. I think they are even happier than I am to have the S&Bs taking place out of the house. I used to throw them out for several hours while I'd host them at home. Now everyone gets a better deal! DH took a couple of pictures while he was there.
From left: Valerie, Phyllis, Marianne, Camille and me. Here's another shot. Sorry they're a little blurry. He took them with our little point-and-shoot.

Not in the photo were Sharon, Ginna and Betsey. It was so much fun! And I have another Jalie top out of it. I can't wait for the next one.

Happy sewing!

Fun fun fun in the Big Apple!

Well, work work work, then fun fun fun! I spent yesterday on a buying trip in New York. It was a very, very long day. But I got tons done, I have so many new fabrics coming, and better yet, I was able to see two friends while I was there!

First off, I got to have lunch with The Ever Lovely and Hysterical Carolyn. Oh. My. Gawd! No subject was off limits. No dish was left undished! We had an absolute blast. We went to a great little pub (don't worry, we drank Cokes) and sat there laughing for the entire time. I love Carolyn. If you get the opportunity to meet her, do! She's one of the most accomplished sewists around, with a wicked sense of style and a wickeder sense of humor! Mmmmwaah, Carolyn!

After lunch, I got more business done, then I headed downtown to see Emmett. Emmett is my twin brother by a different mother. I got a preview of his newest collection. Can I tell you? Gorgeous! When he showed me one dress in three different fabrications, I immediately exclaimed, "It's so Pia Getty!" He has several dresses that have amazing details. And I have some pictures of detail shots of one of his hottest selling dresses. I'm going to do a tutorial on how to make something very similar, so stay tuned!

Oh, and for all you New York area Fashionistas, Emmett is doing a big by-invitation sale next week. And guess what? I got the invite, and I get to invite all you! So check out the fabulous canapés, cocktails and CLOTHES (the clothes, babies, the clothes). I'll have a preview when he sends me pictures of some of the dresses, but trust me - it's all chic, elegant and FABULOUS!

Back to work today. Gotta post a lotta fabrics. And don't forget, there's still a Linens and Woolens Sale going on through the weekend at Gorgeous Fabrics.

Happy sewing!

Pattern Review - Jalie 2682 V-Neck Top

I bought a bunch of Jalie patterns recently. I love the "Buy Three get the Fourth Free" deal that they have on their website. This was one of my acquisitions. Yesterday I had a little time, so I pulled it out, traced it off and ran it up.

Pattern Description: From the Jalie Website, "Stylish V-neck top, raised neckline at back, with or without sleeves. View A has a zipper at front neckline for more coverage." I made View B, the sleeveless V-neck

Sizing: All of them, from little children's to plus size. I made a size U. I think I could have gone down to a T with no ill effects.

Did it look like the photo or drawing when you got through? Yes!

How were the instructions? They were good. The front bodice is self-lined, which I really like. It took me a couple of minutes to figure out the construction, but the illustrations (once the coffee started to take effect and my brain started working) were quite clear.

Fabric Used: Fan-Dango jersey (alas, now sold out) from Gorgeous Fabrics (natch).

Any changes? FBA on the front bodice. Other than that, nothing. On the next one, I think I'll play around a bit with the upper bodice and V, to shape it a bit more.

Likes/Dislikes: The construction on this is really clever. I love the bodice, and I think the style lines are very flattering to many figures. I also really like the length (Jalie makes their tops nice and long, so I don't have to worry if I'm wearing lower-cut jeans, or if I want to tuck the top in.

Would you do it again? Would you recommend it? A resounding "Yes!" to both questions. I will definitely sew this up. It takes less than a yard of fabric in my size, so it's a great way to use up stash scraps. I can also see this being a fave-rave for sleeved tops in wool or silk jersey for the winter.

Conclusion: I can't believe it has taken me this long to discover the joys of Jalie. I'm totally hooked on their patterns. They have three more being released in the next couple of weeks, so I suspect I'll be buying more very soon.

One other little note. I highly recommend buying from Jalie's website. I was very happy with the speed of delivery and the ease of dealing with them. Excellent patterns, excellent service. NAYY, just a satisfied customer.

I'll post a picture later today. I'm having lunch with Carolyn, whom I haven't seen in a dog's age, so I'll get a picture then.

Happy Sewing!