More Patterns on Order

Gosh, you get a BMV membership and it is just so easy to order patterns.  But then I was always someone who was easy to enable!

Today's email offer from McCalls was too good to resist at $2.99.

This is a cute blouse, McCalls 6512, from Melissa Watson, Pati Palmer's daughter who is now designing for McCalls along with her mom. It is the short sleeve version that caught my eye, and especially the neckline that I like most.

The second pattern is McCalls 6405, a pattern for slim pants. This pattern has two features that I want to try:  first, the contour waistband which I have found is so comfortable to wear; and second, the seam in the centre back leg which allows you to remove excess fabric in the back thigh. That is a problem many of us sew-ers have with our sewn pants, that bagginess in the back leg. What really sold me on this pattern was seeing it on Pati Palmer in their newsletter. Pati has a mature figure and, if she can make these pants look flattering, well why not me?

And the third pattern I ordered was 6294, a jacket pattern again by Melissa Watson. the seaming details caught my attention on this. The back view has many seams and one section is cut on the bias, making for interest depending on your fabric. A mini plaid would look wonderful cut on several grains, and even denim with topstitched seams to highlight the design would be great.

I'm going to have lots to sew once these patterns arrive. No shortage of fabric though. I won't tell you how many boxes of fabric I have in my stash. When we moved into this house 16 years ago, I had no stash whatsoever. Since that time, and largely due to running an online fabric business, I accumulated many fabrics. I think everyone can understand how that happens. Some are small pieces, the ends of bolts, but others are quite large, 5 metres for instance, as I knew they were just too good to pass by.

I particularly like sewing spring and summer clothes, so this morning I am going to go and look at the stash to see what will work with these patterns soon to arrive.









New Patterns

After four weeks of being on crutches and a walker, I am anxious to get back into my sewing room. But I have a few more weeks of recovery yet.  I could sew, but it is just too difficult to get all the other things organized, such as the ironing board and manoevring a walker around that. Plus cutting out would be tricky when you have to stand on one leg only. 

But I have noticed a few patterns lately that are very attractive and this morning I thought why not order them and they will be here in a few weeks, just as I am ready to start sewing again.

One pattern is a cardigan that I noticed on Carolyn's blog at http://sewingfantaticdiary.blogspot.com/.
It is Butterick 5760

Carolyn makes many sweater sets, and she used this pattern to make a different neckline than her usual V-neck.  The pattern looks great to me, and I have some knits just waiting to be made up into cardigans.  I have noticed many dresses lately that seem to just call out for a light cardigan to be worn over them.

And speaking of dresses, I have been wanting to make a couple of new dresses. And there are some nice patterns out there.  The first one I ordered is Butterick 5382.



I really like the neckline on this, with the pleats adding interest to an otherwise straight sheath dress.

Then I also ordered Vogue 8786 because this is another simple sheath, but with the interest of a yoke. And with two sleeve variations, this can be made up for either warm or cool weather.

and the fourth pattern I ordered was McCalls 6433. I had seen this last year in the catalogue and I really liked it but thought that this would not work for my figure type.  But then I read the newsletter put out by Palmer/Pletsch and read that Marta Alto made this up as a top and skirt, rather than a dress. Then she could lengthen the top and straighten out the side seams, rather than make a dress with a defined waistline, something that doesn't work for either her or me.  I will also raise that neck opening, as that is definitely for a younger body than mine.  If you haven't checked out their website, it is worth reading the newsletter. You can download it for free at www.palmerpletsch.com  - click on the left for Free On-line Fashion Magazine. I read with interest Pati's experience with a new pant pattern with a contour waistband. As she says, cotton/lycra pants just don't look that great because the fabric doesn't drape. Her fitting tips are well worth reading.

Now, I will anxiously await these new patterns and, in the meantime, think of which fabrics from the stash I can use for them. Because I am going to keep the New Year's resolution of sewing two stash fabrics for every one new purchase. 

I am still working on the Aran baby blanket. It is going slowly, as there are 171 stitches in each row, and I am making it with baby weight wool, rather than worsted weight. I find the lighter wool easier to knit with these fingers that get stiff holding heavier yarn.

It is good to feel keen to sew once again. It has been a while since I felt inspired to make something new. 



Blog Award

Ann from http://everythingsewing.blogspot.com/ gave me the Versatile Blogger Award.  Thanks, Ann, I have to confess I was surprised as I only have a few readers. But it's kind of fun to participate in this so here goes.

Now let's see. I am supposed to do some things here, in order to spread this around.

First I have to mention seven random things about myself.  Hmmm.....

1.  I have been married to the same man for 38 years.

2.  We have 3 daughters and 8 grandchildren, with another on the way.

3.  Our youngest daughter broke the mold, wears a habit, and is a Franciscan nun.

4.  I began sewing at age 12 and am self-taught for the most part.

5.  For years, I crocheted endlessly; for the most part, I made lace shawls that I sold through craft stores.

6.  I love dogs and have had a dog almost all of my life.

7.  I would love to live in the country on an acreage, not a farm (too much work) but with a fair chunk of land around me.

Now I am to list the rules of the award and will now proceed to pass it along to 15 other bloggers. 

So here are the rules:

- Add the award to your blog.

- Thank the blogger who gave it to you.

-  Mention 7 random things about yourself.

-  List the rules.

-  Give the award to 15 bloggers.

-  Inform each of those bloggers by leaving a comment on their blog.

Update

I haven't posted in quite a while. Life has been different around here. I had hip replacement surgery on February 7, which means that tomorrow is the two week appointment with the surgeon to see that everything is on track.

Unfortunately, there is no longer physiotherapy offered for patients who have hip replacement. They still have it for knee replacements, but cutting costs in the medical system has meant some services are cut and physio for hips is one of those.

(Aside to Americans: I'd be really wary of getting a health care system like ours in Canada. While everyone does get to see a doctor and can go to emergency for care, the wait times and the amount of care have to make you wonder. I am definitely in favour of a two-tiered system, where you can pay extra to have some things done a whole lot quicker.)

Before going in for surgery, I almost finished the houndstooth version of Vogue 8548. I just have the buttons and snaps to sew on and will get a photo up when I can move around enough to take a photo and then upload it to the computer. Some things just involve too many steps to undertake at the moment. Getting up and down stairs, getting to the bathroom with a walker and checking email on the laptop is about the extent of my ventures in the house.

Due to the sedentary nature of my life at the moment, knitting has taken over. Last night, I finished the second sleeve of a cardigan, and will sew in the yarn ends today. Hopefully I will get round to pressing it this week, and then sewing it together before adding the neck and front bands. I have discovered www.ravelry.com and am checking out the next project. It is really nice to know that I can order wool online and have it delivered quickly so that I won't be without something to knit.

Although the next project I know will be an Aran baby blanket. My daughter Elena is expecting a baby in June, and the ultrasound showed that this one is a little girl. We are all excited about that, as she has five children and only one of them is a girl. Hannah will be nine when this one is born, and she already has so many mothering skills that Elena will be lucky if she gets the baby to nurse. Even the boys can look after wee ones now, as Joe was seen rocking Isaac when he was fussy and Elena was cooking.

The reaction of most people, when I tell them that Elena is having her 6th baby, is one of shock and disbelief. It seems that having a large family is considered impossible these days. But, if you could spend some time around one, you would realise that the children are happy having all those siblings, they really do look after each other, they always have someone to play with and as a result are very imaginative. No computer games for these kids, they play tag and cops and robbers, and endless games of hide and seek.

Elena and her husband will have six children and my oldest daughter Rebecca has five children with her husband Nathan. And all are thriving. I am so proud of all of them. Both these girls got post-secondary educations and not just simple degrees. Rebecca has a PhD in mathematics and Elena has a BA in history and a Bachelor of Education too, so she is trained as a high school history teacher. Both of them have opted to be stay-at-home moms while their children are young and they may even choose to home-school, if the schools do not provide the quality of eduation and the environment that they consider good for their children. They are post-feminist women and I am so proud of them, for making the choices that they have. There are days when I am sure they would much rather be at work, getting "things done" and feeling a sense of accomplishment whereas many days at home feel as if you have accomplished nothing. But the results are in the long run, not the short haul. Their kids have so much going for them, given that their moms have made that sacrifice. Kind of an old-fashioned choice in today's world, but sometimes you have to swim upstream to get what you really want.

Sweater Blocking

I finished knitting this sweater a couple of days ago, and then began the rather lengthy process of threading in yarn tails and sewing up seams. I understand why people prefer to knit on circular needles, so they don't have much of this to do. But the weight of a sweater on circular needles is not something I enjoy, so I will have to sew up the seams on all future sweaters.

Having read a little about blocking, I thought I should do this with this sweater. It is advisable to block the pieces before they are sewn and I should have done this. But I shall see how this method works. I covered a styrofoam board with 1/4" gingham, thinking that I would use the gingham to measure the sweater. Not at all, I took out the tape measure and pinned the sweater to the dimensions written on the diagram. Now I will mist the sweater with water, get it fairly damp and cover it with a towel for a few days until it dries completely.

I am not sure how this yarn will behave, as it is a new kind of yarn and acts very much like rayon fabric. It feels wonderful in the hand, but is heavy and drapey when made up. The finished sweater may grow in the wearing, we shall see.

Vogue 8548 Finished

Front view of the coat

Side view

And the back

I am going to take this to a dry cleaners and have them steam press it, as I just don't seem to be able to get a good final press of the wool.

Inside view of the bodice, I added interfacing to the side front and back side as I thought this wool needed the extra body.

Button loops from stretch cording, this is the kind of notion that is used in fur coats.

Inside view of the bodice before the bottom is attached. The wool is double on most of the top, including the centre back piece.

I am pleased with this coat, but there are a few things I would do differently. The pattern does not call for shoulder pads, and I think the sleeves would hang better with a small pad. The lining is attached by machine to the armholes before the sleeves are inserted and then the sleeve lining is hand-stitched in place. So I won't be undoing all of that to add shoulder pads at this point. I will live without them.

I plan on making this again, the version with the more open neckline and I have a houndstooth wool in mind for this. But I will make some changes. I will reduce the flare at the sides of the coat, as I am not keen on this on me. It looks great on the others that I have seen, but most of the flare seems to be on my back, and I would prefer to have less. Also, I will attach the bodice lining to the bodice front and then sew that piece to the lining of the skirt part of the coat, then attach the entire lining to the coat at the front edges. This will eliminate most of the hand sewing which was rather tedious. I think it will be easier to press as well, since I will be dealing with single layers, rather than the bulky seam at the empire waist.

The wool was a dream to sew, and top-stitching really shows up well on this. I particularly like the seams on the bodice being accentuated that way. A good pattern, even if it is out of print. You can still buy it on the Vogue pattern site, under their OOP pattern link.

Happy New Year

Wishing all a happy new year. New resolutions? not here, not this year anyway. I am anticipating some upheavals soon, so no need to add to the stress. Every time the phone rings, I think "that's the hospital" with a mix of fear and relief. It will be good to have this hip surgery over with and the rehab period over as well.

Meanwhile, knitting has been progressing as we have been watching quite a few movies here. My husband is a Brit from Liverpool and my parents came from the UK as well, so watching British flicks is normal fare. We just discovered the series Yes Minister and Yes Prime Minister. The repartees are hilarious and it is hard to believe this was written and filmed in the 80's. It seems as if nothing has changed. If you like political satire, try it. It is good to laugh at such things, and perhaps become a little wiser to the machinations of politicos and civil servants.

We made a short three day trip to Maine and stayed in Orono. There is a small lovely wool shop there, called Fiberphilia. I had hoped to find an apple green wool there for a cardigan, but there was no such yarn. And the shop here, LK Yarns, is also nice but smallish. So online I went and hopefully, the company I contacted will have the wool I want.

Anyone have sources for buying yarn online? I would prefer Canadian sources as the shipping from the US to Canada is very steep, often as much as $25 per parcel. Which means it is not worth buying anything unless you buy $100 or more.

I have a pair of LH Cruise pants cut out and ready to sew. I have never tried her Euro Pant pattern but took it out to compare. Basically the two pants are the same, with the Euro having wider legs. The crotch curve is identical and the Euro does offer an elastic-waist version, which is what the Cruise Pants are. I will stick with the Cruise Pant pattern as I have made this at least three times and there is no altering to do at all now. I even made a flat-seat alteration, taking a 1/4" tuck down the entire back leg. At my height, all extraneous fabric needs to be removed.

And just before Christmas, I was searching for some grey coating to make this coat - Vogue 8548.

I first saw this coat on Tany`s blog and I ordered the pattern, which took three weeks to come from Vogue. Then I saw the coat again on Erica`s blog and saw her line about pockets. Good advice, I will be adding side seam pockets to mine. The pattern is out of print but still available from Vogue.

There was no wool coating that I liked at our local fabric store and I really wanted a grey coat. I already have a black wool coat and the majority of my clothes would go best with either of those colours (or red, but I don`t want a red coat this year). Online again for a fabric search. I discovered that there is not much in the way of heavy wool coatings to be found. Most retailers have wool for jackets, but it is simply not heavy enough for a Canadian winter coat. I found lots of wools that are boiled wool weight, but that would be a cardigan in my neck of the woods.

I did find some at Vogue Fabrics and it seemed the right weight, although the colour was a little lighter than what I wanted. But I thought why not, I am not going to find anything more suitable at this time of year. And I want to make this coat for this winter, not for next. So that is next in the queue, after I finish the Cruise pants. So a quick trip to Fabricville for some grey satin lining, hopefully they will have Kasha, and thread and buttons. I have plenty of interfacing here, and will probably use weft insertion fusible for this project. I hope this will go quickly and I will have some pictures to show in a week or so. Enjoy your sewing adventures, and knitting ones too!

By the way, the wool coating arrived within two weeks and it is great, it has a brushed surface and has a slight bluish tint to it. Vogue Fabrics did indicate that on their webpage. I was very impressed with the shipping time. Usually parcels from the US take three weeks to reach Nova Scotia.