Late Night Ramblings

We got back from our trip to the dog park and I was all set to hide away in the sewing room for a couple of hours to work on my top. Until I realized I was completely out of brown thread. How did that happen? So no sewing until a trip to Joann's to restock.

I figured I might as well take a quick thread inventory before leaving to make the gas expenditure worth the trip. (That's my excuse and I'm stickin' with it!) I restocked a few shades of brown thread and some other colors, and even found some mini cones of Gutermann upholstery thread for future topstitching. (Using this thread is Belinda's great hint, BTW.)

Then, because the store was relatively quiet and I didn't have a time limit, I decided to wander around to look at the sections I usually never even go near. At the back of my mind was looking through the stencils and paint to see what I could come up with without spending another $30. Stenciling some fabric has been at the back of my mind ever since Belinda showed me this tee shirt she stenciled a couple of Aussie summers ago. And then Beth brought the stenciling bug to the front of my brain with her recent hat and dress projects.

Is it only me, or does anyone else remember when stenciling was more popular and those little bottles of acrylic paint were front and center? At "my" Joann's, the stencils and paints are now at the very far, far, far corner of the store. I really had to hunt to find them. The collection of stencils is pitiful and it looks like they're about to be cleared out completely as nearly every one was marked way down with a clearance sticker. Good for me today, though, as I was able to find a few stencils that would work, a couple of cheapie stenciling sponge brushes/daubers, and paint — all for under $8. (I'm also wondering what I ever did with the stencils/brushes I used to have. Did I toss them, or are they still hidden in an unpacked box somewhere? Hmmm.)

Here's some of what I bought:



And here's the top in progress:



I've stenciled the front and back neckbands in a haphazard, random "pattern." I don't think I'll do the sleeve bands because I really don't need extra attention at my flabby biceps. But I reserve the right to change my mind tomorrow. The paint is metallic brown with fabric medium mixed in. It's not nearly so shiny as shows in this photo, but the flash reflected and made the paint stand out really bright.

Because I had to first play, test the stencil on scraps and then wait for the final stenciling to dry, I haven't made a whole lot of progress. (Yeah, tell us something new Debbie!) This is just the front piece pinned to Zillie. I have to thread up the serger in brown thread to neaten up the inside before I move on but I was too lazy to do that tonight so I stopped and headed for the computer. But so far I'm loving the top with a vee instead of scoop neck. I like how the gathers are radiating in a flattering-to-me shape and they really add some nice bust shaping. Too bad you can't see this top in 3D. It looks like it has boobs with no boobs yet inside. ;-) I'm also half-wishing I wore sleeveless tops because I think this would also look great as is.

Speaking of the gathers, this photo is for you Bev. ;-)



After I pulled threads for the gathering, I fused a narrow self-cut strip of black interfacing onto the seam allowance to keep the gathers tight until I could attach the neckband. I tried the Design Plus fusible stay tape first, but it isn't meant to fuse permanently and didn't hold the gathers in place as I started fiddling to pin the neckband into place. Most of the interfacing will be cut off when I serge the edges tomorrow so no worries about extra bulk. Tonight the inside is messy and the gathering threads are hanging out all over the place.

Before I go, one more comment about a comment. Someone asked, "I am wondering if that neckline curve should be concave instead of convex, just a bit, following the natural line of the body." After the gathering is pulled tight and attached to the neckband, the shape does turn into what you'd expect for the neckband (concave, so to speak). I'm sure there's a great technical explanation for curving out the seam allowance where it is to be gathered and maybe I'll even be able to think of it when it's not 4 a.m., but the main reason I do it is simply because that's just how I've seen it done in patterns and patternmaking books and it made sense to me.

Now I'm off to bed. Zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz