Thursday, February 25, 2010

Plaid Jacket

Finished plaid jacket!  At last!  McCall's 5525.  It will probably be awhile before I attempt another plaid.  This was difficult to match.  I used a woven plaid flannel with fusible batting as an interlining.  I lined it with a bubblegum pink bemberg lining.  The pockets are in the princess seam and are really much too small.  I think a cell phone and keys would fall out pretty easily.  The collar is very wide, and that's even after I narrowed it quite a bit.  I narrowed the lapels as well as this jacket is for my tween daughter and apparently wide lapels and collars are not all that!  It does look cute on her but I had a few screw ups on this one.  First as you can plainly see the sleeves do not line up perfectly - close enough, but not perfect.  I'm ok with that.  But then I cut the left side of the lining at the little kick pleat in the back when I shouldn't have, which left me with a little problem of not enough fabric to cover the area.  I fixed it by muttering a few cuss words and then applique-ing a little patch to cover it.  I'm glad it's finally finished and even though I don't think she will wear it very much, it does look cute on her.  It was difficult to find a simple trench style jacket that would fit a 12 year old girl.  I cut the smallest size (size 8) and just had to take it in slightly, lengthen the arms and shorten the length of the jacket.  I left off all the tabs and belt because I just thought it was a little too much with the plaid and because I was just plain tired of working on this and ready for it to be done. 

Tuesday, February 9, 2010

Hand Dyed Silk Bias

I discovered hand dyed silk bias binding while working at an independent fabric store.  Since then I have used it on several projects and LOVED the results.  It's pretty easy and the silk dye is so much fun to use.  I bought a set of the ColorHue silk dyes from Art Threads and a 35 yard roll of silk satin bias (2 inch) from silkribbon.com.  This is the first time I have played with it at home, and I'm not sure what I'm going to do with this yet, but I'll think of something.  I'm starting to create a "recipe" book so that I can duplicate colors I really like in the future.  The swatches on the left were the solid colors that I used to create this marbled look on the right.  I need to take a picture in better light because I did like the blend of colors much better in person than in this photo.  I have used it in the past as the trim on my reversible wrap and as binding on my quilted purse, but that one was a beautifully muted kelly green with denim blues.  For this one, I'm think of making another quilted purse with an eggplant colored floral I just picked up by Sevenberry.  I'll keep you posted on  my progress!  Happy sewing!

Monday, February 8, 2010

No Snow Day?!

While most of the east coast and some of the midwest got to stay home and play, we Coloradoans did NOT get a snow day.  Is it because they expect people living in Colorado to drive on ice and snow as if it were any other day of the week?  Is it because they LOVE to torture school aged children who do the snow day dance before bedtime only to be awakened at 6:30 a.m. for school on a day with 3 inches of snow.  Now granted 3 inches is not much for our neck of the woods, but for crying out loud, it's MONDAY, it's COLD and I didn't make lunches before I went to bed because I didn't think any school administrator in their right mind would send children out to buses in snow and ice and frigid temperatures! I therefore revolted and granted my happy little children a no snow day holiday.  Did I get any sewing done like so many of my favorite bloggers?  Did I get caught up on laundry or cleaning out the fridge which clearly is growing penicillin on its own? Did I even get out of my pajamas?  Why no, dear readers, I did not!  And that my friends, is the beauty of a no snow day!  Here's hoping for better things tomorrow . . .