Fabric Shopping

The only way the olive color photographed properly
was to have it in a group shot with other colors.  When
photographed alone, it was a washed out green.  Weird!

Yesterday was a nice bit of fabric shopping in the Fabric District with friends.  I explored some new stores as well as hitting up my favorite haunts.  I like fabric shopping with friends as I have found that I don't pig out spend as much as I do when fabric shopping by myself.  I think it is like secret eating (which I don't do) but when fabric shopping by myself I tend to overindulge because no one is looking!

I was rather restrained and only made 2 purchases.

I bought the olive cotton at the Loft - 5 yards.


Then at another shop which is apparently in a former furniture store (since the only word on the outside of the shop name was Furniture) was 5 yards of white cotton and a lace collar.  Plan to use the collar on my civil war dress if I ever finish it.  The white cotton should be made into a chemise.

Not a bad haul for $10.13.

Pattern Buying Moratorium Lifted

I have been so very good.  Incredibly good for me!  I have not bought a new pattern since January!  This is me!  No pattern….since the first week of January.

Well, I lost the plot over the weekend and bought a few patterns.  I was forced to go to a costumer’s yard sale.  Yes, forced to go….that is my story and I am sticking with it!  One of the sellers had bins of patterns.  One bin in particular had 30’s and 40’s patterns!  Upon asking how much for a pattern, I learned they were all 1$.  WHAT!!!  So I scrambled and picked up a few.  I only had $5 on me…..I really went without the intent to buy or I would have had more $$ on me.  So, I bought 5 patterns at $1 each.

The envelopes of the patterns are in shreds or, in one case, missing completely.  Didn’t care, for a $1 I was willing to give them a shot!

One of the patterns is Simplicity 4662.  Note, this picture is from the Vintage Pattern Wikia because the envelope is in such bad condition.

 

I love the coat.  I must give this coat a try!

Also, Hollywood Patterns 739.

This envelope is in the
best condition

Another 1940s dress but isn’t lovely???

But then my camera battery crapped out.  Will post the others tomorrow.

Fabric Regrets?

Does anyone else have them?  I have to admit I don’t have a lot of them but the ones that exist are HUGE!!

Recently, I was going through the old bins o’fabric and found this:

It is really a richer darker olive green but scratchy!

I have had a lot of trouble photographing it.  It is a great olive green color and boy do I have tons of this fabric.  60 inches wide and 5 yards of it.  But what was I thinking?

It is a knit, a scratchy hard knit at that plus it has all those holes.  I don’t even sew with knits. What was I thinking????  How could I have thought I would be using this for anything?  Was I delusional that day?  Must have been because I can think of nothing…absolutely NOTHING…to do with this fabric!

Do you think washing it might soften it up?  Still, what to do with this?

Christmas Shopping

Soooo, no sewing because I have been finishing up my Christmas shopping and food shopping for Thanksgiving.  I used to always have my Christmas shopping done by Thanksgiving.  But, the last few years, I end up finishing the shopping a few days prior to Christmas.  Bugger that I told myself this year.  I am finishing the dreaded Christmas shopping as soon as possible.  I used the gift card "bonus" I got from work last year and headed out this week.

It really pays to hide those things you like at TJMaxx.  I did this with one item in particular.  I relied on the basic laziness of all people; I figured most people would look at the size and just put it back on the rack.  I just changed it from a Medium hanger to a Large hanger in the correct section.  2 weeks later I made it back and I was sure that the item would be gone.  However....lo and behold....there it was still in the wrong section waiting for me!!  Yes, it is a good idea to rely on the basic laziness of people.

I have also finished shopping for food for Thanksgiving.  Wow, I spent too much on food.  But it will be a nice meal and no turkey.  I really cannot abide the stuff.  Besides, having off the boat parents, we never had a traditional American Thanksgiving, it was really what a traditional British meal....think Christmas dinner with some Greek dishes thrown in for the other side of the family.  Certainly no sweet potatoes with marshmallows ever touched our table. 

But you are really here for the sewing.  Vogue 6329 is done and dusted.  However, the photographs are just not turning out well.  I am not sure why.  Live shots are just not attractive...I blame the photographer.  The shots on the dress form show many small wrinkles which are not present except in the photograph.  Thus steam pressing needs to ensue so I can present the finished skirt.  Gah..... frustrated.

In other news, I am way behind on my ball gown.  I may have to wear something old.......

Update on the Lining

First off, thank you all for commenting and providing guidance.  I sometimes get caught up in trying to do everything just right which causes me to spin my wheels endlessly.  The lining was one such issue.

I have cut out 1/2 of the lining and sewn it using essentially the same seam allowances because the fashion fabric is a nice crisp cotton and I really just want the skirt to hang properly.  If I do not like how it is hanging, well there is this wonderful tool called a seam ripper and I shall make adjustments.

In other news, I went fabric shopping on Saturday and boy did I buy fabric.  Lots and lots and lots of fabric.   I must have come home with over 30 yards.  I know 2 purchases were 8 yards each.  I had to go back to my car 3 times to dump off bags of fabric.  I even had one store put some fabric aside so I could come back later because I just could  not carry any more.

I was disappointed in one of my favorite stores for silk.  The have almost doubled the price for silk dupioni.  Yikes, I almost croaked when I was told the price.  Then they gave a song and dance how price of dupioni has increased in all the stores because the cost to make it has increased.

Well, the next store I went to and asked about the same color dupioni gave me the expected price!  So, count me disappointed.

Tomorrow, photos of fabric will be forthcoming.

Fabric Alert

Amazing!  Did hell freeze over?  Were pigs flying?

Why?  Because for the month of October I purchased no fabric.  Nada, nope, nothing.  No money was spent buying fabric.  Just a few dollars on necessities such as thread or .75 on a zipper.

Seriously, miracles of miracles!  No money spent on fabric.  Not that it's bad thing; quite the contrary, it is fabulous since I saved money...kaaaaching!  Really, I have bins and bins of fabric because I have no self control when I go fabric shopping.  Even if I tried, I will never be able to use it all.  Perhaps it is time to try and sell some of it.

Besides, I know November will not be as kind.  I have white silk dupioni on the horizon and that will cost a pretty penny.

What about that Hawaii dress you ask.  Well, there is a bit of fine tuning going on adjusting side seams.  I am also adding another strip of bias binding.  This is what I love about sewing, making the adjustments that make it oh so special.  Now, I can wear the dress as is; but putting it on tonight, I just wanted to make a few oh so minute changes.  This means that I need another pair of buttons, but that’s okay and they can be added later.

Summer Weight

Here is the summer weight wool I bought on Saturday.  It is very yummy and soft and the most expensive fabric I have ever bought.  Even more expensive per yard than the silk taffeta I bought a couple of years ago.  Even though it was the most expensive fabric it was on super discount because it was a remnant.  That means I purchased 1 3/4 of a yard only.

I cant stop running my hands over it.  And I love this little houndstooth.

Ahhhh....happiness

Now, only if real life was not getting in the way of my sewing life I would be happy!

Saturday Purchases

So what if it was 100 degrees outside, I was shopping for fall/winter fabrics.

Well mostly.   The navy gauze I also purchased does not really fall into that category.  The navy color does remind me of fall but maybe that is just because of all those years in that dreadful uniform.  No picture because in the pictures the navy looked like a medium blue.  Why is it so very hard to photograph blues?

These are yummy fall fabrics perfect for a Chanel type jacket.  What shall I do with these?  They are nice for skirts.  Hmmm the possiblities

Maybe tomorrow a picture of my favorite from Saturday.

Pinking Shears

Well, I had my first couture sewing class on Thursday and since then I have not sewed.  Why you ask, because I have been running all over creation trying to find all of the supplies needed for the class.  Seriously, the entire weekend was spent trying to track down the correct ……fill in the blank.  My instructor is particular and the reason we were not given a materials list prior to the class was because he wanted to show us the exact item to get.  It has been time consuming and about 1/2 of the items I already had.

One item on the list is pinking shears.  Now, I do not have pinking shears and since I have a serger which I use very frequently, I do not see the need for pinking shears.  I polled 3 sewists that I know about whether they had pinking shears and their thoughts on the shears.  All 3 had pinking shears but only one person said she used the shears.  The other 2 said they found pinking shears to be useless.

I don’t know…I did buy a pair.  We will see if they are returned.  Hooray for 90 day return policies.

Also problematic was finding all weights of muslin.  I have heavy weight and found lightweight.  However, I need a medium weight muslin as well.  So far, I have struck out.  There are 2 additional stores I will check but not before the next class.  Seriously, the course work should be simpler than tracking down the supplies!

Tonight, I almost finished the mint chip dress.  I hope to have a final picture to share tomorrow, fingers crossed.

Spring has Sprung

At least it has for me.  Saturday was so nice, sunny and warm that I just had to go fabric shopping.  I went off with the thoughts of getting some cheap black cotton for a muslin of a 1918 dress.  Well, as you can see, black I did not get. All ideas of black went promptly right out the window once I started looking at fabrics.   Instead, all sorts of wonderfully springy type fabrics.  2 colours of swiss dot..white and turquoise.  

Also a mint swiss dot with a pattern which may be for a 1930’s dress.  The green is a heavy stretch silk. The second turquoise is an eyelet:

I don’t know if it was because of the sun or my mood but I kept choosing spring fabrics.  So unlike me.

All this fabric for the low price of ….wait for it…..all in all 29 yards of fabric….for….$28.  Yooowza.  I truly lucked out this time.  Oh yes!!  Now I just need to actually do some sewing.