Goofy Dog & GF Birthday Pillow

I ask, how can anyone not love this face?


Remember when I said that Chili smiles? I was trying to get photographic evidence yesterday but he was so wiggly. This is the best I could get.


It's hard to capture the goofiness because it tends to look like a full-on dog snarl in a still photo, but trust me, it's not. He is definitely happy. Oh, and excuse the rug full o' dog hair — I'm still having vacuum issues. (One being that I haven't.) ;-)


I'm hoping to finish my skirt and top this afternoon after I get back from some errands, but one project that did get completed yesterday was the tee shirt pillow DS made for his girlfriend's birthday. He really did do everything himself. I chalked out the cutting lines on the tee shirt and rethreaded my machine in black, but then he took over and rotary cut it, sewed the seams, stuffed the pillow form in plus some extra stuffing in the corners, and then hand-sewed the opening closed (which I had pinned for him). I had suggested adding a ruffle trim but he vetoed the idea by saying it would be too girly for him to do. The logic of making something girly for a girl was lost on him.

The Fabric is Cut

I've cut the skirt out, using the Kwik Sew pattern shown yesterday. But last night I did try on the FT Cute Skirts muslin again and have decided that with a couple of adjustments and in nicer fabric, it won't be as horrible as I was describing. Since the KS pattern is fairly distinctive, I can't make every summer skirt from it (can I?) so a very casual Cute Skirts option would be good to have. However, I do still have one or two new-ish casual skirt patterns yet to try so I'm not sure if I'll return to the Cute Skirts straight away. One is from the new Ottobre Woman magazine which has yet to show up here (grrr) and the other is Jalie 2681. But that's putting the perverbial cart before the horse since I'm still working on the current Kwik Sew skirt. I always do that … start on one project and then start dreaming about another.

I also cut out the Butterick twist top so it's ready to sew too. I won't be able to wear it, though, until I make a cami to wear underneath it. I'll want to wear the cami untucked which means I need a longer version than the one in my cami drawer right now. That will be an easy project so I'm hoping to be wearing the Butterick top soon.

Also on the list for today is a quickie pillow from a tee shirt project. DS#1 wants to make that for his girlfriend's birthday tomorrow. The tee is a "souvenir" from one of the high school drama productions she starred in and DS thinks she'll like it as much as he likes the pillow I made for him using a football tee shirt. (I thought I had a pic of that pillow but I can't find it. Oh well. We'll take pics of the one to be made today.) DS even ventured out to Joann's all by himself to pick up a pillow form … and he made it back unscathed. ;-)

But first, time to take the dogs for a walk.

(Not so) Cute Skirt?

Presenting the muslin for the Favorite Things Cute Skirts pattern:


OK, first the good points …

1. Very, and I mean very, easy to put together. And only 3 pattern pieces.

2. It fits. (Although I will have to lengthen it a bit and adjust for a tilted waist.)

3. Um. I think that's it. Oh wait. I realized that I don't have to lengthen the top.

And now the bad …

1. It's a sack.

2. It's a sack and has no shape on me.

3. It's still a sack.

Do you sense a theme? ;-)

Part of the problem is the muslin itself. Bland and boring. The rest of the blame goes to this skirt on my body cuz it sure looked cute on Beki. But on me, there's just too much fabric gathered at the back. Five of the eight panels' worth to be exact. As you can see in the pic above, that's a lot of gathering and creates poofs I just don't need. I'm not willing to mess with it at this point or to commit the good fabric to it, so I'm thinking of switching gears to Kwik Sew 3287. Remember this one?


It's much more flattering on me and also very easy to make up. In fact, I'm wondering now why I haven't made it again. (Note to self: Stop being tempted by all the patterns not in the stash!) I'll topstitch in aqua to make those seams really pop like they do on this denim version. It'll look fab! :grin:

Back to the cutting table …

Pretty in Pink

Here's the muslin for Butterick 4986. The fabric is a bubblegum pink textured poly knit. It looks kind of nice in the photo, but it's thin and cheapo looking in person. I would not be wearing this even if the sewing was neat (which it's most definitely not). This ugly knit has served its purpose well by being a decent test fabric without any temptation to want it to be wearable.

As I mentioned last night, the only pattern alterations I made prior to cutting and sewing this muslin were to narrow and square the shoulders. After trying it on, the fit over the bust is great, including the underbust seam which hits me under the bust as it should. Yes, this is without an FBA. I'm in shock. And really, even though this is a knit, the stretch is not compensating for an FBA. It fits over the bazooms without seeming to stretch anymore than the bias of a woven would had I used a woven per the pattern.

I cut the pattern at the size 18 lines at the upper bodice and gradually morphed to the 22 toward the hips. For this knit version, I also cut the back on the fold instead of with the shaped center back of the pattern. I don't want the seam in the solid fabric I have planned for the first wearable version. I may add another 1/2" to 5/8" ease in the back hips since I was trying this on without the underlayer I'll need in order to wear it out of the house.

The sleeve on your left is hemmed and the other is not. You can see on the unhemmed side that the armhole is drooping a bit. It's passable on me, but will be more comfortable raised about 3/8" so that's what I'll do. I think I'll add a little bit to the sleeve length because I like the unhemmed length better than the side that's hemmed. I like the puffed cap sleeves, which I was unsure about before trying it on. The bottom of the top is also unhemmed and again, I like this length so I'll add onto it for a new hem allowance. The last fit tweak will be to narrow the shoulders a bit more.

One thing I will be changing that has nothing to do with fit is to leave off the collar stand. I questioned it for a knit but since I was in testing mode, I figured why not just try it. I like the collar but there's absolutely no reason to have a stand for this top in a knit. I'll just widen the collar to compensate and make the top even easier to sew in the process.

Oh, if only all patterns were this easy to fit and sew. But I won't be greedy — I'll just be thankful that this one is a winner all around.

Other projects going on around here today:

DH finally took out the hearth in the family room. It's only a matter of days now before we have a real floor in there. We are going to cover up the fireplace. Yeah, I know, but right now it just does not work for our furniture. And besides, this is Florida. How much do we really need a fireplace? We're not going to make it permanent in case we change our minds or buy new furniture. (It won't even be pretty since our furniture will cover the wall completely.) One of the problems with it is that it is not centered on the wall. That drives me crazy. The other problem is that the brick hearth ran the full width of the wall and took up 2 feet of what could be useable floor space. We've now reclaimed that floor space.

This is a before shot from this morning:


And this is an after, taken earlier tonight.

Skirt and Top Sunday Plans

Tomorrow I'm planning to sew a non-wearable muslin for Butterick 4986. The pattern calls for bias cut wovens or stable knits but I see it as a stretchy knit.


I took out my TNT tee pattern and laid it over the Butterick tissue. It really looks like the bust fullness and underbust seam will be OK without alterations since I'm using a knit. But that's what the test is for. If I'm wrong, nothing lost and I'll make the alterations. But if I'm right, woo hoo! I did already narrow and square the shoulders as I was cutting the tissue but I do those as a matter of course on any pattern.

I'm also going to be working on one of these skirts (the third one from the left, the one without godets or flounces). The pattern is Cute Skirts from Favorite Things. After seeing the pattern, I can't believe I paid $10 (plus shipping) for it since it's so simple, but those pretty prints on the envelope pattern and inspiration from Beki's skirts left me weak and it was too easy to add it to the virtual cart with the rest of my order. Still, if I like the results and it sews up as fast as I'm expecting it to, it will be worth the price. I'll do a real muslin for this one too, just in case (and since my fabrics are sold out from Fabric.com).


These are my next-up fabrics. The first is a cotton woven for the skirt from Fabric.com. (I have another woven from this grouping if the pattern works. Those browns and paislies were really calling to me.) The other fabric below is a paler-than-it-looks-here cotton/Lycra knit from Belinda Down Under which I want to use for the Butterick top. The knit was part of my 2006 Summer SWAP but my plans were more enthusiastic than my sewing time and thus many of the fabrics are still stashed. Not to worry, they're looking good again for Summer 2007.