This and That

I think I'm creating a sewing blogger sin since today I'm talking about showing cheap RTW instead of Me Made June anything. The horror! ;-)

I was in Walmart yesterday. I go there a lot. It's cheap, and I'm unemployed. I was also by myself, which doesn't happen much as Alex usually tags along. Since I had this luxury of time and no impatient teenaged glaring, I decided to look at the cheap Walmart clothes and try on some capris just to see what RTW size I am now. It's always a boost to try on even bad-fitting RTW pants when you know you've lost weight. At least for me it is. I don't even think about trying on ANYTHING when I know I've gained weight. ;-)

I'm happy to report that I've dropped two sizes. Woo! And the capris actually fit well. So I bought them. (You knew that was coming, right?) They were only $14 and if I keep losing weight as I'm planning, they won't fit in a month anyway. I definitely don't want to sew pants and not be able to wear them much. I have a closet full of those for the trip downward, some of which are now seeing the light of day again.

After the capris, I wandered around some more and found really cheap PJ sets. I need new PJs. I usually make my own because they're a fast and gratifying project and I usually have some "What Was I Thinking Fabric" for PJs in the stash. But I really don't have any stash fabric suitable for PJs and to buy new PJ-specific fabric would cost more than Walmart PJs. So I bought 3 sets, at $12-14 each. And wore one last night.

This is me this morning shortly after waking up. It's still me right now as I'm typing this as I haven't showered or dressed yet. I think they're pretty cute. They will probably only last this one summer, but that's OK. It's one thing off my sewing list and how the heck could I buy/ship the fabric, add tricot piping trim and 7 cute purple buttons for $12-14? I don't sew to save money, but sometimes my time IS money and, well, you know the rest …

I actually cleaned the mirror but it didn't help much

Last, another trip back to the fitting room after I found this dress. Does it look familiar? It's almost a complete match for the great See & Sew 5593 pattern I recently made 2 dresses from (and will be making again soon). It's also a smaller size for me and it fits, even at the underbust seam. It will need some Hollywood Fashion Tape on the crossover, but no big deal since I just stocked up at Joann's the other day.

It's not an exact replica of the pattern, but it's close and the overall look and comfort factor are very similar. There are no pleats at the skirt front and the bodice underbust is gathered to the waist seam.

As you can see above, the neckline has cut-on facings. These are just folded over and sewn into the shoulder and waist seams. They are not stitched down along the neckline. Interesting. I may copy that. The shoulder seam also has clear elastic serged into it.

Below, you can see that the back neckline is faced with a narrow bias (or not?) strip, like Sherril did with her dress. The armholes are just turned and coverstitched.

This will be a weekend/casual dress for me since it's sleeveless and a skootch shorter than I'm comfortable with for office wear — if I ever find an office job. Ahem. Getting impatient here, sorry. I'm planning to wear this today so I'll try to remember to snap a pic. I've been LIVING in my 2 makes of the S&S pattern since it's HOT and dresses are so comfortable and breezy.

On the sewing agenda today (bet you thought I'd never get to that), is a sleeveless top/shell to match the green skirt I made last week. I'm not sure what pattern I'm using yet, but I've narrowed it down to these three. I'll pull out the instructions/line drawings for review and make a decision then.

A couple of closing notes and then I'm off to the shower and sewing room.

1. That rayon knit print fabric that I just bought from Fabric.com? Trash. Horrible. It's already boxed and ready to ship back. Ick. I hope you didn't buy any, and if you did because of me, I'm sorry.

I just bought some more knit prints from Fabric Mart instead. I'll keep you posted after they arrive.

2. Leg make-up. A few of you have commented about it in lieu of pantyhose. Help! What brand? Where do you buy it? Drugstore? And what shade would you recommend for dead fish underbelly as a starting point?

Down and Dirty Stashbusting

Making PJs is very gratifying. It's fast sewing that doesn't have to be perfect since they are just pajamas, I get to use up older stash, and I can stretch out the laundering of my stuff a bit longer. (I think the latter is my favorite!)





Both of these tops are the gathered front tees from the 02/2007 issue of Ottobre Woman. (So Belinda, who's ahead now in the count?) The pants are no-sideseam, Kwik Sew 2779. The green pair is not new. But I needed a short-sleeved top for them since the top I made when I made those pants is long-sleeved and too hot for summer in Florida. You would think with the A/C running 24/7 it wouldn't matter, but it does. My body knows when it's 40 degrees or 150 degrees outside, even if the inside temp remains constant.

I haven't really fit this pants pattern because I just don't care if my PJs have a baggy bum or crotch wrinkles. The pants fit well enough and they're always made from knits, which stretches when you sleep in it anyway. The only "alteration" I've done is to reduce the CF length for my tilted waist so I don't have to pull them up to my armpits in the morning. ;-)

Both tops are a longer length than I'd wear out of the house because I like more coverage when I'm sleeping. I don't like my shirt hems in my armpits either. I made the yellow top with extra ease because it's a really cheap knit that I just know is going to continue to shrink.

I cut these out one evening last week, so it was all construction today. The fun stuff. But I was a little *too* quick on the draw when I cut up the scraps to use as household rags. Seems I forgot to cut a binding strip for this one. Oops.



Oh well. I just dug out some plain white interlock and threaded up with lime green thread and called it an embellishment. PJs, remember? Who cares!

I used my coverstitch binder for both necklines and also for the sleeves on the yellow top. I had to wipe off the cobwebs, though, since it seems like forever since I used any of my binders.



And voila! Dirt cheap pajamas that took less than an afternoon to sew, and which look a whole lot prettier than sleeping in a ratty old tee shirt. The only problem with pretty PJs is that one may not feel highly motivated to change out of them in any big hurry in the morning. Ahem.

Next on my agenda is to have a look at Jalie 2806, which arrived here Friday. I'm going to compare the sizing to both the recent Jalie Sweetheart top and to my ever-TNT Ottobre tee before deciding on sizing and/or alterations. I want to make the gathered fold-over neckline, a style that's been popping up all over RTW and which I've wanted to make since I saw one in a Burda WOF from over a year ago (too lazy too look up exact issue). I need to do it soon before it pops OUT of style.

But I think right now I need a nap. That's what Sunday afternoons are for, right?

Assembly Line

I'm happy to report that the Ottobre patterns are alive and well. ;-)

The reason I had them out to begin with was for a marathon PJ sewing session on Sunday. Needing to piece together and re-trace slowed me down a bit though and I didn't get all the PJs done on Sunday. I finished everything except waistbands for the pants by Monday night and this morning I completed those. I now have a selection of new pajamas to choose from at bedtime tonight (and tomorrow, and the day after!).

First up, a rayon/Lycra turquoise and green jersey print top with turquoise interlock pants and matching turquoise binding on the neckline. While I was re-tracing patterns Sunday morning, I also traced the 3/4 sleeves.



To wear with this top, green interlock pants:



Here's a close-up of the sleeve vent (coverstitched, of course!) for the 3/4 sleeve.



Pink/white rib pants, white jersey with matching print sleeves and neck binding. I have PJ pants from this same print but they have seen better days. Now I can toss them. And I still have enough left for one more pair in the future. Why did I buy so much of this?? It must've been really cheap. (And yes, it is, but just fine for PJs.)



Blue rib print with coordinating periwinkle rib top, neckline and sleeve hems bound with the print.



And a 3/4 sleeve top from the same print:



Close-up of the neckline binding and sleeve vent:



All tops are the gathered front tee from Ottobre Woman 02/2007. I added an extra inch in length to the tops since I like longer tops for sleeping. All pants are Kwik Sew 2779. KS 2779 is a no-sideseam pattern for knits. It takes very little fabric and with only one pattern piece it sews up in a flash.

I goofed when cutting some of the tops because I wasn't paying attention to my notes on my tracing. The short story is some of the necklines are wider than intended. But no problem on PJs since I won't be wearing a bra with them anyway. In other words, no worries about straps peeking out. I caught my mistake about halfway through cutting so some are as intended and a couple are not.

All fabrics are from stash so it was nice to put a dent into it. I still have quite a few fabrics earmarked for PJs that are taking up room so maybe after the holidays, I'll do another PJ marathon. You'd think this would be enough, but much of my current "wardrobe" of PJs is looking rather worn and I like to have a new pair for every night without needing to do laundry more than once a week.

Up next is more Christmas sewing. I think I'll do the scrub for my sister before starting in on mom's purse.

We Interrupt This Jeans Report To Bring You …

… more PJs!

I finished the purple jeans and tossed them into the laundry to remove the glue basting (back pockets) and chalk/pen marks (all over). And then I had no more excuses for ignoring the KS 3277 test sews in various stages of completion still strewn about the sewing room. I want to make a top to wear with the jeans, and then a jeans-style jacket, but all of these unfinished potentially wearable muslins are making me nuts. I don't really like UFOs and clutter, and work better when I've finished one thing before moving onto the next.

I finished up two of those test pants last night and have the other two pairs still to do tonight. From last night's sewing, one will be wearable outside the house and the other turned into this PJ set. Yeah, forget what I said about finishing one project before starting another because in the middle of trying to finish these, I decided they needed a matching top. Which means I started something else without finishing all of the test pants and also created more mess when I added the tee fabric the mix. But rules are made to be broken, and hey, at least I also finished it. Plus, it's going to be very cold here tonight (even non-Floridians would consider it cold, maybe), so I really wanted some nice new snuggly PJs and a top with long-ish sleeves. These fit the bill rather nicely (if I do say so myself!).

The pants are a beefy cotton/Lycra blend with great recovery. The top is 100% cotton interlock. While the lime green top does actually match the green in the pants in real life, I wanted to tie both pieces of the to-be set together a little more. So I bound the neckline and sleeve hems with the pants print and then I created an iron-on transfer for the front of the top.

To make the transfer, I scanned a scrap of the fabric and separated out some of the motifs. Then I re-combined those into a new design, which I outlined with more of the green and printed off onto opaque transfer paper. (Love that stuff!) Voila!

The sun is down and it's dark outside now. It's only 6:30 PM but I'm very tempted to strip Zillie of her new outfit and start snuggling in my new PJs.

In the meantime, we now return you to the regularly scheduled jeans. This is one of the back pockets. After sewing it on for the second time. If you squint, you can see the deco stitching in the bottom right corner of the pocket. It shows up nicer in real life and I like the subtle effect. If you keep squinting and look at the pic of the PJs above, you can see the completed jeans hanging behind Zillie.

Who lives in a pineapple under the sea …

SpongeBob SquarePants!

Absorbent and yellow and porous is he!
SpongeBob SquarePants!
If nautical nonsense be something you wish...
SpongeBob SquarePants!
Then drop on the deck and flop like a fish!
SpongeBob SquarePants!

My pants fitting muslin is now the bottom half of this lovely ensemble. It was nice to finish something, instead of adding to the pile of pants muslin carcasses, even if it was this silly PJ set. But they do make me smile, and they completely crack up my younger son, who is a major SpongeBob fan.

Today I'm going to investigate turning this new pants pattern into pants I can leave the house in. Don't know how far I'll get, but that's the plan.

By the way … Bloglines has been burping on my blog feed for over a week now. I don't know why. I'm only mentioning it because I've been writing more than you're probably seeing if you use Bloglines. Of course, you won't see this either so …