Well, I Have No Idea...

So now I've been home for two and a half weeks, but I still can't seem to post on a more regular basis. I have no idea...

Anyway, on to the interesting stuff. I've gotten a lot done since I last posted, which makes me very happy. I finished all of the patterns that I had yet to make (pencil skirt, arch-neck dress, princess cut dress and the sheath dress). Once those were finished, I made muslins for the arch-neck dress pattern and the pencil skirt to test the fit. When I made the pattern for the arch neck dress, I automatically added 3 inches to the waistline, like I had to do with the pattern for the princess cut jacket. When I made the muslin to test it, I ended up not needing any of the 3 inches that I had needed before. Weird, huh? Whatever the reason, the pattern works.

Once the patterns were done, I was able to cut out all the remaining garments that I hadn't done yet (the photo is all of the cut garments sitting on my pressing table). It took a long time, and I was vividly reminded of how much I dislike cutting fabric. Seriously, it sucks. Also, I think I need to get my scissors sharpened...but, it's all done now! My next step is to overcast everything before I sew it. I've planned to do all the overcasting and then all the sewing, but I'll probably ignore that and just do one piece a day. I haven't really decided, though. Overcasting is a boring, mindless job, and it's actually pretty exhausting.

Now, on to more important things...

CHRISTMAS GIFTS!!!!!

My parents gave me a Bernina serger!!!!! I'm so excited to use it, but I don't really know how. There are classes offered at the store where by parents found the serger, so I think I'm going to sign up for one before I start to play around with it.

With the serger came some thread for me to get started. I'm so excited to try it, but I have to stay focused on my project.

My other big present was a new digital camera that my lovely boyfriend got me. It'll definitely be nice to have good quality photos rather than the fuzzy phone pictures that I've been taking. I love my new camera so much! I decided to take photos of all of my clothes so far so that I can get a feel of what I have done from a different perspective. Watch out for an inventory post in the days to come!!

Well, that's all I have at the moment, other than several victory posts which I'll be putting up once this one is finished. Have a great New Year's!!

Back Home, Ready To Sew!!!

I know I've been relatively quiet the past few months, but I'm back home now, which means that I'm ready to get back to some intense sewing!!

I guess there's a bunch of news for me to discuss first, so I'll try to do that quickly...
First, my parents are in the process of moving into a new house, so everything is crazier than usual, because all of our stuff is split up between the old house and the new one. My parents have decided to let me take over one room of the old house for the break for me to sew in. The new house is smaller than the one we were in, so there isn't enough room for my sewing stuff to be set up.

Basically, the deal is that when my mom leaves for work, she's going to take me to the house and then when she comes home she's going to pick me up. So I get about 9 hours every day with nothing else to do other than sew. Today was my first day there for it, and it was pretty exhausting because I was there the whole time (no lunch break away from the house).











So, here's my new sewing room! There's still some furniture that my parents have to decide what to do with, but I've definitely got enough room to do my work. I'm still waiting on a surface for ironing, but that just has to be moved into the room. It's so exciting! I have so much more light to work with I don't even know what to do!

After I arranged everything, I spent most of my time planning out everything I need to do. I put everything on its own little card so I could really visualize it.

It was a lot of stuff...


Once I had a good idea of everything I need to do, I made a big calendar of the weeks I'll be home and taped it to a box. I pinned certain things that I want to get done on each day (no more than 4 tasks per day), so I'll be able to make sure I'm really on track. It's something that I can change if I find that some things don't take as long as others and it's nice and flexible. If I get tired of cutting out fabric, I can just move some cards and schedule myself to sew that day. I think it'll work out much better. I'm mostly more confident because I can really see just how much work there still is so I can't convince myself that I have a lot of extra time anymore.

Once I finished all that, I even had time to finish the two Blue Cotton V-neck Tops that have been waiting for...I don't even know how long it's been...a month and a half? Anyways, they're both done now and ready for any embellishing I want to put on them. I'll post about them separately.

Well, that's it for today! Tomorrow I'm planning on working on the few patterns I haven't finished yet. I'll post again soon (I promise)!

Again, Nothing Special To Show...

Well, it's finals week, and I have to say I'm not having the best time with it. I found out on Saturday that my boyfriend has mono. It was about that day that I started getting the symptoms, too. Awesome. So basically I'm now trying to stay awake enough to focus on my finals and plan out what's going on for when I get home.

Don't think I haven't been working, though! Although I sent my sewing machine and fabric home with my parents this weekend, I've been knitting at pretty much every chance I've had (whenever I'm awake, that is). I've been working on the Gold Hand Knitted Fluted Collar Cardigan and so far have the back panel done. I just started the left front earlier today, so I'm confident I'll be able to have that finished by Friday afternoon when I leave campus, too. It's so exciting! It's a pretty big piece, so I'm happy that it's coming along so quickly.

In other news, I've done a little work of my Red Hand Knitted Half Sleeve Sweater (I know, I know, 'how long will I keep you waiting for that?'), but it's still not much. I was working on the belt today, but it wasn't turning out at all like I wanted it to. I decided to scrap it and start a new one. Don't yell at me, this one is going a lot faster, so as long as I don't forget about it, it should be done within a week. Still, I don't think I want to make any promises...

Now, on to sleeping.

No Pictures Today...

Aaah! I just realized that I've forgotten to post for two weeks! Sadly, there's not much for me to catch up on. I'm in the midst of hastily finishing up projects before Thanksgiving break (which starts tomorrow), and have had little time to do much posting. I did do some work on my knitting patterns, both this Monday and last. My next knitting project will be the Gold Hand Knitted Fluted Collar Cardigan, so I have to get the pattern for that set before I start it. Ideally, I'd like to start it while on the break, but with all the shopping I have planned (there's Black Friday of course, and then the women on my mom's side of the family go out together on the Saturday after Black Friday), I'm not entirely convinced I'll have time. I'll figure it out later.

That's all for now! Happy Thanksgiving everyone!!

Piece #15 Finished!

And now for what I did today:

Say hello to my new Wideleg Grey Suiting Trousers (sorry for the HORRIBLE photos)!! I've had these overcasted for who knows how long, and they've just been sadly watching me for the past several weeks as I ignored them and left them at the bottom of a pile. I'm sorry, pants. As an apology, I decided to make you today.

They're significantly wider than I expected, due to my super wide hips (comparative to the rest of my figure). I'm not sure if this makes me look shorter or not, but it definitely can't help that they're at least 4 inches too long and I'm stepping on them... I'm going to have to wait to hem them until my mom can be there to pin them up for me. Other than that, and adding buttons, which I still have to shop for, they're done!

Total Hours Logged: 5

Fabric: Denim-Look Grey Suiting about 2 1/2 yards

Notions: 7 inch zipper cut to about 5 inches, soon to be 3 buttons

Cost (not including time): about $15

Piece #14 Finished!

And now, the long awaited post featuring the Copper Half-Sleeve Jacket! I know, I know, I really should keep more up to date. Maybe I will later...

Anyways, here it is! I really love the way it turned out for the most part. There are only a few things that I need to change/fix. Mainly I would say that the little belt is awful. The fabric I used has a one way stretch (which I didn't notice until I started sewing with it), and I cut the belt in just the wrong way. my plan is to recut it in the opposite direction so it doesn't curl so stupidly as it does now. I've tried pressing the curling out, but it's not doing anything, so I'll just start over.

I'm also not pleased with my hem, but that's easily fixed! It's a little too high so the jacket makes me look shorter. Not okay. Eventually I'll rehem it. No big deal.

Other than that, I love it! I still can't believe I found this fabric at all (much less in JoAnn's on the clearance rack!), and I love the way it changes in the light. It's so cool. I'm definitely proud of this piece and can't wait to wear it once I graduate!!

Total Hours Logged: approximately 8 1/2 hours. I haven't done a lining for a jacket before, so that took up some time

Fabric: Copper Metallic Suiting Fabric (with one-way stretch!) 3 yards

Notions: soon to be 5 buttons

Cost (not including time): about $15!!

Pieces #10, 11, 12, and 13 Finished!

I'm playing a bit of catch-up today, because I've been too lazy busy during the past few weeks to post my finished pieces. All four of these pieces are lumped together because they're pretty much the same...

First up, is the Silver Jersey Cap Sleeve V-neck Top. It's pretty much the same as the Red Jersey Cap Sleeve V-neck Top I made earlier, except that I left the V in the back and used raglan sleeves, just like in the Red Jersey A-line Dress.

Total Hours Logged: 1 1/2

Fabric: Silver Jersey (rayon/spandex mix) 1 yard

Notions: none

Cost (not including time): about $7

Second is the Long Sleeve Gold Cotton V-neck Top. Basically, this is the same pattern as all of the other shirts I have made/will make. I drafted both set-in and raglan sleeve versions with varying lengths. This is the long sleeve length (which, sadly, is not quite long enough) in the set in sleeve version. Also, no V in the back.

Total Hours Logged: 1 1/2

Fabric: Gold Interlock Cotton Knit 1 yard

Notions: none

Cost (not including time): about $7

Then the Silver Jersey Tank. This one is really comfortable. I can't exactly explain why, but I felt really accomplished when I finished up this tanktop. I always have trouble finding ready to wear tanktops that I like, so I'm happy that now I have a pattern I like to make my own.

Total Hours Logged: 1 1/2

Fabric: Silver Jersey (rayon/spandex mix) 1 yard

Notions: none

Cost (not including time): about $7

And finally the Black Cap Sleeve Cotton V-neck Top. For some reason, this one gave me a lot of trouble. I took it home to finish the edges on Antoinette (because I prefer the results when I use her compared to Theta 1217 1/8), but every time I tried to stitch the hem, the thread broke. I tried multiple times with various kinds of thread (all black). For some reason nothing worked. I thought maybe I needed a little more power, so I brought it back to school to see if Theta could handle it. The same thing kept happening until I pulled out the heavy duty thread that I bought for my pants. Is that normal for the fabric, or was I just doing something terribly wrong? Ah well, I got it done. Raglan sleeves, V back.

Total Hours Logged: 1 1/2

Fabric: Black Ponte Knit 1 yard

Notions: none

Cost (not including time): about $7