Pattern Adaptation Fail

I've been working with Raine on some summer clothes for her. I've got a pants pattern that she likes pretty well, and looks good on her. I've made a couple of button-down shirts she will/did wear. I've made others though, that she would not. Even some I've consulted with her about, but when the time came to wear them, the answer was "no." Sigh.

This summer she is wanting some pull-over tunic-y style tops. That should be easy enough, right? Well, I couldn't find a pattern in my statsh that was exactly what she wanted, but I didn't let that stop me. It almost never does.

Here's the starting pattern

I dug out this pattern for a girl's top, thinking I could lengthen it suitably. It had a nice neckline detail in view G that I liked.

cute notch in the neckline

The top was  simple to cut out, and quick to sew up. Lengthening it gave it a nice, if subtle, fit and flair shape. I did bias tape facings at the sleeves.

All those dots confused the camera

It came out just as cute as it could be, notch in the neckline and all...

You can ALMOST see it.

The problem? It just doesn't fit Raine AT ALL. The neckline is too big, and reaches from shoulder to shoulder. The shirt is just too big around for her. I could fix that easily enough, if the neckline were better. The neckline didn't look too big until I had it all put together, and then I worried about it. She is my daughter after all, and got my narrow shoulders. Darn it.

Still the top is cute, and I won't throw it away. I will see if it will fit my niece, and if not, donate it to the battered women's shelter. It will fit someone, somewhere...

In the mean time, I have round two ready to go...

Messy desk

This is how my sewing table looked this morning:

Disaster area

Nothing could possibly be sewn here. There are projects and patterns and fabric and machines, and even some duct tape in view. Whew! What a mess!

When I thought about how my work area could get so piled with stuff, I had an epiphany. I sew almost every week. What with working and all, I don't sew every day, but almost every week. It is such good creative therapy. However, there are many weeks where I do not sew at that desk. In fact, I often don't sew at home.

I decided that I am a social sewer. I take one or other of those machines and pack them into my car, along with bags, boxes, baskets, and tubs of supplies (at times) and go somewhere to sew with friends. It's lovely, mostly - even if I don't get a lot of "my own" sewing done at these times. But sometimes when I get home, the piles accumulate.

So, today, I unpiled, and put away and organized. At least a little. At least the sewing table. I got out the basket of projects that I've cut out for my daughter

what to do?

I picked the project on top, because the serger had black thread on it, and I didn't want to take MORE time for rethreading. I went to work. about an hour later, I had a cute top put together. Had Raine try it on, and sigh. Meat for another post...

Got several things cut from that khaki fabric, including a skirt for me. Think it's time to rethread the serger!

Eggstra Information

This year, I saw the advice on boiling the perfect egg on Facebook. I suppose everyone who's anyone on Facebook did. Will, I followed their "advice" and put the eggs into the water cold (I usually do that) then brought them to a very gentle boil for a few minutes then put the lid on, turned the burner off, and walked away. 

The eggs dyed beautifully, with no noticeable cracks, and no mishaps that would indicate undue rawness. We mostly did the egg bath PAAS dyes, with a side of dab on with a sponge stuff that gave a tie die kind of effect.

pretty eggs in their rows

The plan for Easter feast was to turn the pretty dyed eggs into yummy devilled eggs. Yeah. Not so much. The eggs were cooked, but they just weren't firm enough to peel well. Definitely not firm enough to act as finger food. So, on to plan B. Devilled egg salad. 

After we decided that they were done enough to be egg salad, we finished peeling them As advertised, the yolks were a beautiful yellow, and no grey on the outside of them. I stirred in my usual devilled egg ingredients (which I never measure, and might depend on how much of what is in the fridge) and topped with a little mild red chili powder since I was out of paprika.

no, I'm not pretty plating obsessed

All in all, I think it turned out pretty tasty. We joked about mixing some with the mashed potatos to make mashed potato salad. Stop laughing!

I've learned that eggs for devilling need more cooking though. The "rubbery" whites, and nearly dry yolks work better for that plate of Easter feasty goodness.

Yay! We Sewed!

What with one thing and another, Roxanne and I have not been sewing as much so far this year. She is working on her Doctorate, and has been busy with work and that. Its been a little hit or miss with me, too. But we got to get together this weekend, and even got a couple of things finished. I guess I'll never learn to take my camera, though. Darn it!

Last time we got together, we cut out two denim and lace zipper pouches. I finished mine and posted about it last week.

my pouch

This weekend I finished hers while she found some skirts we had started last fall, but had put aside (evidently) to work on Christmas presents. Her pouch has a daintier lace on it with a little bit of a scallop at the bottom, and the print she chose was light yellow, with some cheerful little pink flowers on it that have a retro feel. She had a pink zipper, so we used that, and it came out cute!

Then, we worked on the skirts. We finished one, and got another almost ready to put together. The other two have gathered layers, so the next time we meet, there will be gathering, I tell you, gathering...

Its about time for she and I to take a good look at what we want to accomplish with our sewing this year, and plan for it. We still have quilts to finish, too!

Obsession

Clearly, I'm obsessed with zippered pouches right now. Sadly I don't have the time to work through the obsession quickly, nor can I whip one up for everyone who wants one, RIGHT NOW! Even though I'd love to.

My recent finishes are a pouch for myself. I love the casualness of denim, and I just loved this strip of lace over it. Add some fun lining, and I even practiced putting a divided pocket inside. Roxanne's is cut out except for the inner facing and should go together quickly the next time we can sew.

denim repurposed from leftovers cut from pants legs

Ron's pouch was my next project. He asked for one to keep pipe tobacco in. I had been doing tabbed end zippers with the pouches so far, but this one gave me the challenge of incorporating the zipper ends so no tobacco would spill out of the bag. I had a brainstorm to extend the tabs and make them the sides of the pouch, which I then constructed very similarly to the baskets I've made. It turned out very well, and I'm pretty proud of the resulting pouch. The car fabric is fun, don't you think?

zippered pouch in three dimensions.

Zippered Pouches

I got my sewing fix this weekend. I'm so glad there were three days of it, too. Saturday was rather like a recovery day from the previous week, but Sunday, I took on this:

some pretty grays, and even a zipper

It ended up looking like this, when I was done.

zippered pouch

I looped the strap on this one because I did not get out to any store to get some clips.  I really love the grays, and the little pop of green on that flowered fabric. It is one of the pieces from my mom's stash, so definitely vintage, and I think it is a gorgeous fabric.

The pouch even has a pocket inside.

just enough of those cute grey flower to make a pocket

On Monday, I started another. I didn't take nearly as many pictures of the second pouch as I did the first. I was thinking blue/green/purple jewel tones with gray. I found some blues and some greens, but not really jewel tones, and the only purple I found did not play well with them. Really? ALL that fabric and I couldn't put together something in jewel tones? Still I liked the blues and greens together, and the gray stripe really helps.

Check out the silver zipper!

While I'm not one for adding trim and lace to everything, I do think details make a difference. This little pouch has a D ring on the strap, and a divider inside.

a place for everything...

I came across that pretty flowered fabric while searching through my scraps. It is another vintage piece, and I fell for it big time.

These two pouches will be heading for their new home this week!

Zippered Pouch, the First!

Yesterday, when I went to sew with Roxanne, she wasn't up for much sewing. She has a couple of conditions which were catching up to her, but she still wanted some visit time. Me too. I've been wanting to make a zippered pouch for a while, now, so it seemed like the perfect opportunity to try it out!

First, we picked out the pattern we wanted to try. I had printed out this Goody Pouch pattern from the Moda Bake Shop. I love looking at their "recipies" and I've picked out several that I want to try.

After that, we let Roxanne's five year old grandson pick out some fabrics. Dragons, check! Orange (for the flames) check! Grey for the smoke! Black for the coal (you know, so the dragons have something to burn...). Roxanne had a red zipper, the swivel clasp, and the split ring. While I don't usually like to use a dark fabric for the inside of a bag, I went with the dragons anyway, since I knew they were his focus for this project, and it is a small bag. Hopefully he won't loose anything in there.

It took a couple hours to make the bag. First I made sure I had everything ready, so I checked the pattern, and cut one set of pieces... and rechecked the pattern, and cut the next set, and so forth. I find that prepping take the most time on these projects, and the actual construction goes quickly, if I've done the prep. I took construction kind of slow, since it was my first time, and I didn't want to mess it up.

My first zippered pouch!

Her grandson LOVES it! It didn't quite work as a holster for his ray gun, but the matchbox cars were cozy. He barely let me borrow it back for my brother to snap this photo on his phone and email it to me. I'm very pleased with the way it came out, and I'm looking forward to my next one. Maybe even today...