When it all doesn't come together

Okay, well, some of it comes together. But not the part where I continue to do the dishes, laundry, cleaning, bills kind of together. I sort of neglect different things as I go along. At the beginning of the week, I think, hmmm... what to neglect this week? The answer... dishes. So a big messy pile of them sit in my sink and there they will stay until I get home tomorrow at 6. I guess I'm a little bit embarassed about that, but not much!

I finally made a little progress on the table runner/wall hanging thing I was making out of those beautiful Kyle's Marketplace fabrics. I think I'm heading towards wall-hanging because at the moment I sew in my kitchen and it seems like a piece of art that works as a segway between this room's dual purpose.

 Obviously the project is still in process, but I like what's come out of it so far. Still need to attach the batting and do some quilting on the darn thing. Ergh, I find the quilting a little daunting... nevermind, I'll push it out of my mind for the moment.

Here is a close-up shot of the fabric my sister and I picked out for a dress I'm making her. It's the big button dress from Vivat Veritas' site.

Here's the project as it comes along. Does that look like a toddler's dress to you?
A word of warning if you are ever going to attempt this pattern... if you are petite never shorten the top part so much that the dress becomes a straight jacket. Second, remember that the person who drafted this pattern is very petite and her ideas of reasonable measurements may not be your idea of reasonable measurements. Just saying ... I'm looking into ways of increasing the top part. I may unstitch at the shoulder seam and add a 3 inch section *yes it's that small* or I may unpick the top part and cut out a new one. Luckily I have enough fabric for that.

The nice part about sewing is that almost everything is salvageable if you're patient enough to figure out what to do with it. At least I hope so...

A new dress and another WIP complete

I cannot tell a lie ... I work part-time. Not that this isn't completely obvious considering my obsession with my hobby and with other people's blogs about my hobby. As a result, though, I have Mondays off most of the time. So on Monday I started a new project out of my newest book Sew U: Home Stretch, of Built by Wendy fame. If you live in Canada and are anywhere near Chapters/Indigo/Coles you should go buy this book for the rock-bottom price of $5.99 (oh, yeah, I suppose you could order it online, I never really think of doing that, what can I say, I don't use a cellphone either a.k.a I live in the dark ages).

Of course you should start with the t-shirt pattern because that is where you learn all the skills you will then apply to your other projects ... or you could skip to the dress, because what's more fun than learning on the fly, non? So, yeah, I skipped to the dress, and here is a picture of what I learned.

1. I love my machine and will never criticize it ... but it doesn't love this fabric. Or maybe it does love it because it liked to EAT it. So, all of my seams look like this. What is that, you say? Little, teeny, bits of tissue paper that are left over after feeding all the seams through with tissue paper under them. Hmmm.

 2. My shoulders are narrow, like really narrow! So when I put this dress on for the first time after making it the shoulder seam was down my arms and the little puff on the sleeve was more like an awkwardly placed bicep. I made an extra dart along the top between neckline and shoulder line on both front and back to gather up a little fabric and bring that puff back on to the shoulder.

3. Oh yeah, and sewing with knits is hard. I know, I know, Wendy says it's easy but I kinda think it's hard. Not impossible but challenging when you don't own a serger!

Next week - back to cotton! YAY! Oh knits, I'll be back -- I just need a little time with some fabric that likes to be pressed and folded and cut, oh yeah and sewn!

Meanwhile I have this pile of leftovers to take a look at!

PS My mom's cardigan fit and I didn't ruin the hem!

Finished gift and WIPs

A finished gift is a wondrous thing ... especially this one which was so fun and easy. I hope to make one for myself, too because I could use a little something with personality in my office at work. As you can see below my sister took the pictures of this project. Why is it when you put the very same camera in another person's hands do you get such different results? Oh, yeah, I guess that's called "talent."

Hmm ... now on to those pesky Works In Progress. Considering my relatively new status as a regular sewist I find it amazing to note how many projects I am currently in the middle of. Sometimes I get so eager to move on and so I just do, much to the chagrin of my husband who has been patiently waiting for roman blinds in our bedroom since I began them back in November (all they need is one more row of brass rings, what is my problem?)