Miss Me?

I've been so busy the last couple of weeks and haven't been in the sewing room much until today. But I did get version 3 of the Danglez DB4 bra pattern finished today and here's a preview. It's about 97% perfect - still one tweak left to do - but definitely quite wearable. Don't mind Zillie's lumps. She's got a stuffed bra on under this one and the stuffing has never been smooth.

More details and photos sometime on Sunday, when I'm not too sleepy to write coherently.

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Three things are obvious from this photo. One, I actually made it out of my PJs and into the shower today. ;-) Two, I haven't yet learned how to not cut off the top of head in mirror shots. And, three, I paid absolutely no attention to the print when cutting out, darn it.



Oh well, it was destined to be a house-blouse anyway so I'm not heartbroken about it. I just wish I had paid more attention before I sewed it together since I did/do have enough fabric left to cut lower front section. But by the time I noticed the glaring twinsy-ness of the motifs, I had already inserted flat piping in the empire seam, sewed/serged it all together, and topstitched. (Buttonhole courtesy of my vintage Singer attachment on my "Kenmore buttonhole station." Love that!)



As mentioned last post, I left off the collar. I really don't like collars in the summer heat/humidity. My hair gets caught up in them and it's just another layer that I fiddle with and swelter in. This top without the collar feels great on my neck!



I finished the back neckline with a bias self-facing, which is caught on either end under the front-to-shoulder-seam facings.



All in all, though, I'm happy with it. Good quilting cottons always feel so nice as clothing.

Oh, and a note about the sleeves since my first make of this pattern was sleeveless — they fit into the armhole perfectly. No easing required, and remember — this fabric has no stretch. While I'm not complaining, this strikes me as odd since most patterns with set-in sleeves require some easing. I'm going to revisit the pattern before I put it away to see if I caused it by oversight during an alteration or if it's really supposed to be. You can't see in my photo above, but the sleeves fit great. The armhole is where I like it (on the high side), I have perfect arm mobility and the shirt doesn't raise up when I lift my arms. So there's been no sacrifice for an ease-less sleeve cap.

Moving on to the bra now …

Keeping Myself Accountable

I'm just noting all this publicly to keep myself accountable this weekend. The guys are away and I plan to sew, sew, SEW!

First up is to finish the second Petite Plus Shapely Shirt that I cut out last weekend and have worked on here and there since then. This one is from a quilting cotton, no Lycra. It's an Amy Butler print, so it may be a little too cutesy to wear in public. But for hanging around the house and out in the yard with the dogs, it should be very comfortable. I'm leaving off the collar to increase the comfort-in-humidity factor. But I am adding sleeves because my shoulders freeze inside in the A/C as my desk is right under a vent. The only things left to finish are inserting the second sleeve, hemming, and buttonholes/buttons. I plan to finish this in the morning.

After that, I want to work on a new bra. I finally ordered 4 different sets of underwires from Bramakers.com which came during the week and I now have 2 keeper sets. They are actually the same basic size, just different lengths for different style bras. The size charts you can print out from the site are extremely helpful. I want to tweak the fit of the last bra, made from the Danglez pattern. I hope to have at least a new "muslin" finished by Saturday evening. If that goes well, then I want to make a final version before the weekend is over.

Somewhere in all of this I do need to spend about 3-4 hours catching up on some work. It's been a frazzled week and I have a graphics project I haven't been able to concentrate on due to all of the other interruptions. I want this off my plate so it stops nagging at me.

I don't think that leaves time for any other projects, but if a miracle occurs, then I'll pull out the J. Stern jeans pattern and work on that again. Actually, I don't need to really pull it out as I've never put it or the non-fitting capris away. Out of sight is out of mind around here and I didn't want to forget about them.

So, what's on your to-do lists for the weekend?

Oops, I Did It Again

So last time I wrote about this pattern, I talked about putting it away. Well, I did. For a while. Until I realized the top I want to live in this summer is the rayon/Lycra knit version I made in May (2nd from right in the photo below). Over the weekend I pulled out the pattern again and cut out another rayon/Lycra knit. Tonight I sewed up the hems to finish it. I do still wear them all, so the new one will be added to the rotation. And if you're wondering, that little flower on the "apex" area of Zillie thankfully does not hit *me* in the same place.



The pattern, in case you don't have it memorized yet, is Simplicity 4122, below (neckline modified):

More Stars & Stripes

I started and finished the two Yankee Doodle Dandy blocks this week. And, no, I don't name these things. ;-)

They came out OK, not perfect in a couple spots but close enough. These are some of the most fiddly blocks I've done in a long time, or even ever. My personality is much more suited to fast strip quilting blocks, which is what I'll be doing to use up the leftovers if/whenever I finish these two Stars & Stripes projects. I will probably machine-quilt the wall hanging myself, but I'm already giving serious thought to paying for a long-arm quilter to quilt the big one.

So, here's where I am now. Only 2 blocks left for the wall hanging! I'm beginning to think I may get these both done by the end of the year.





I'm "forcing" myself to work on the applique eagle blocks next. The sewing part won't be hard. It's cutting out all those pieces — times two — that is making my eyes cross. For these, I'll be moving from the Featherweight to the D1 so I can use the buttonhole stitch on my D1 like I did for the previous appliqued blocks. I have to say, though, I'm really enjoying the simplicity and sturdiness of the little Featherweight and I'm glad it's part of the herd.

As for the rest of the weekend, my mind is a jumble and I haven't decided what to start. Analysis paralysis. Sigh.