Words Clouds Tags

[the direct link is here http://wordle.net/gallery/wrdl/499755/February_2009 ]

Wordle.net is starting to travel around the blogosphere, so let me and an image of this infant blog.  Maybe I'll run it on a regular basis so I can see where my interests travel.  This is my first image and I find it ironic that my first image is one of words...

No sewing tonight--it was time to do my laundry.  

Recounting January

Several people are adding end-of-month posts that summarizes what the month's accomplishments.   I think that I did okay regarding some of my 2009 goals:  I did not buy any fabric from stores or online.  I did succumb to some fabric from an estate sale and when I went to SCRAP in SF.   At SCRAP, a shopping bag of fabric was $5.  I could not resist.  I also got some rhinestone buckles (10 cents each!) and some fold over elastic.  Total cost = about $8  (the lady who works the register kind of eyeballs the stuff you  have on the counter and tells you how much you owe. 

Other goals need more work.  I did buy new sewing patterns, too.   I need to figure out how to break the pattern buying habit:  those pattern sales are my downfall.    I don't think that I could ever purchase a pattern at full price.  In the mean time, I have boxes of patterns in my living space.  Sigh.

Sewing:  I made Burda Sweater top (from November 2007), so that used about 1.75 yards.   I have made this pattern before.   Wait!  I messed up the assembly, so I had to re-cut several of the pieces- another 0.5 yard!  (2.25 yards)   I am not certain if I will hold onto this top--the fabric is a raschel/flat sweater knit that I bought from Fabrix in SF several years ago.  I think that the fiber content is synthetic--the fabric looks very shiny and cheap (as opposed to being fabric was just inexpensive).

Burda 7970--I'm trying to make this one a TNT pattern. I think that I have succeeded--I can practically make it in my sleep.   I made a black and white (jersey knit) version of Burda 7970,  as well as a purple stretch velvet version (with a white collar accent), so that is another 1.75 yards.  I also used that pattern to make a black/white/pink floral mesh blouse, which I lined with black mesh, so that mean I used 3.5 yards for this version (7 yards total!)

Over this past weekend, I made fleece socks from KwikSew 2527.  I have made these before--they are are great to wear around my apartment (I remove my shoes after entering my home).  I also wear them when I go to sleep--no cold toes!  I made two pairs from some fleece scraps I bought at Joann's in December.  I bought the fleece for some Christmas gifts before I found different material to use.  Now I can discard my earlier/wornout versions of these socks.  I used about 1 yard of fabric for the socks.

I also made a camisole top from KwikSew 3115, also made from mesh, also lined.  I skipped the shelf bra, because I'm planning on wearing it over my regular bra.  The pattern takes about  0.5 yards, doubled (because of the lining), that's 1 yard.  I was also able to use some of the foldover elastic from SCRAP.

Jeesh!  I think that is 9 10.75  yards!   When I add it up, that number looks pretty good!  When I add the previous figure, it's 13.25 15  yards sewn for 2009!

February projects on deck:  

1. I need to make certain I have flattering dance costume I can wear later this month at a performance.   This will be a folkloric costume:  I have the sparkly black and white, I have the pattern (a variant of Jalie's polo shirt pattern).  I have also done this before, so it shouldn't be so bad.  
2. I also like the idea of working a pattern to death and making it a TNT (TNT = Tried and True, I think that many sewists has adopted this terminology from Carolyn).  I think that I have done this with several patterns (e.g. KS 3115, both top and bottom views), as well as several BWOF tops.  I traced out a skirt pattern and I made a muslin (Oh! more yardage 1.75 yards), so I do have adjust it.  While digging through the pattern stash I found a copy of Burda 7947, which is a skirt that has interesting piecing . I will need to alter the pattern to fit, as I am out of the size range.
3. I'm expecting 2 pattern magazines:  the February issue of BWOF, as well as Patrones.  I received the Burda Plus issue.  I might make something from one of these issues.

Two sewing goals are enough.  That's all for now!

Galactica Night!

No sewing.  Sigh. :)

Checking in

Not much going on.  I managed to sew one more Burda 7970 top--a white cotton lycra with 3/4 sleeves (fabric purchased from Fabrics R Us in San Jose over a year ago).    So another 1 and 7/8 yards down.   Year to date total = 4.25 yards!  95.75 to go!

I'm going through my (massive) pattern collection,  for a skirt pattern.  Skirts seem to be less daunting than trousers.  Burda 8269 is a lovely pieced skirt--when I read though the pattern pattern instructions, I saw that the pattern required laying it out flat, in a single layer.  Yuck. I have the energy to trace out the pattern, and then lay it out:  10 separate pieces (2 that are facings).  Maybe I'll be able to do it this (long) weekend.

Shuffling the Deck - Trying to Void the Collyer Legacy

What did I do today?  I took a couple of whacks at the fabric stash, reshuffled it and re-organized it.

My mountain of fabric was overwhelming.  It was impossible to look through, difficult to find things and demoralizing to look at.   I saw a post on the local freecycle list for fabric scraps so that someone could sew clothes for her daughter's doll.   I was able to create two semi-large bags to pass along.  They contain some scraps  of fashion fabrics, quilting fabrics, as well as some large scrap pieces from my dance costumes that I have never created.  If I hear back from the freecycler, I think that she will be pleased.  Regarding my stash, I was able to organize the stash into knits and wovens, then by color (more or less).  I was also able to identify fabrics I would feel comfortable using as muslins.  and a few sorted scraps that weren't worth passing along were deposited in the dumpster.

The process was very strange and scary, because everywhere I turned, I came across another bag or stack of fabric.  Yikes.  I had no idea that I had acquired so much fabric!  It was a very disturbing discovery.   I really don't have any excuse to buy any more.   I have fabrics from several online vendors, several local jobbers, some lower quality stuff from local fabric chain stores, higher quality stuff from some high end fabric stores, as well as mystery fabrics that I got from estate sales, great quality cottons that I have purchased from quilting stores, and other mystery stuff.

I'm expecting two more fabric shipments:  one from Fashionista Fabrics, as well as some made-to-order fabrics from a coop.   I don't think that I'll have any problems NOT buying more material.  I still have to go through clothing closets and get rid of clothing that I have no intention of wearing.  I mean, if I sew even half of my fabric stash into dresses, blouses, skirts, and pants (or pajamas, jackets, fitness clothes), there would be no room even if my closets were empty.

Oh, regarding the black denim.  Another sewer the coop mailing list pointed out that it was normal for black denim to shed a lot of dye and that she usually pre-washes black denim 2-3 times before sewing.  Well, I was more than a bit concerned by the amount of dye in the dryer's drum.  Sigh.   I still have to remove the denim from my car trunk--I'll wash it again later this week.

Oh, as far as I am aware, I'm not related to the late Collyer Brothers.  :)

Another Burda 7970, Pre-Washing, and Possibly Damaged Fabric

I'm close to finishing another Burda 7970, this time in a red cotton lycra (fabric purchased from Fabrics R Us in San Jose). This version has short sleeves, so I guess it's about 1.5 yards of fabric.

One of my goals is to develop a great fitting pair of pants.  This afternoon I decided to pre-wash the denim fabrics that I have in my stash.   Pre-washing is a good idea for several reasons:  

1. It pre-shrinks the fabric. Why spend a lot of time creating a garment that fits only once (before it gets laundered).  All of my clothing has to be able to survive the washing machine, so it gets tossed in the washing machine, on HOT if it's cotton.   I don't dry clean a lot of my clothing, so I try to be brutal when pre-washing.  
2. It gets rid of lint.  I try to clean/vacuum my sewing machine after each project, vacuuming the bobbin area, the needle uptake, etc.  I used to wonder where all the dust came from.  I buy a lot of my fabric from fabric jobbers, where the fabrics probably been stored in less than desirable locations (less than desirable = open air, on the ground, outside in parking lots, garages, etc.)  This means that the fabric picks up a lot of dust.  I don't store my fabrics away in a closet, they are pretty much out in open air in my apartment, so this means, MORE dust.  Pre-washing removes a lot of lint.  I pre-washed some corduroy (still unsewn) and the dryer's lint case was full.  Well, now I know the origin of the dust.
3. It removes any chemicals or sizing that remain in the fabric.  Some sewists have had problems with allergies, I haven't had problems, but pre-washing couldn't hurt.

I'm sure that there are other good reasons, but these are the reasons I do it.

Well, I discovered that one of the pieces of denim is crocked, that it it's shedding dye all over the place.  The fabric was fine (it didn't shed anything) until it was in the washing machine an dryer.   The washing machine was full of lint, but nothing unusual since I didn't finish the ends of the yardage before I tossed it in the washing machine.  The dryer was worse--after I removed the fabric, the dryer was full of a dry black dust--stuff that had flaked off of the black denim.  I had to wipe it down for about 10 minutes.  The lint case was full of black dust, not fibers, but dust.   And worse, when I put the fabric on the clothes line (did I mention that it was 5.5. yards?) the dust that was still on the fabric flaked off on my sweatshirt and on the clothes line.  Yuck.  I hope that the dye piece flake off the clothesline and don't stain my neighbors' clothing.   I folded up the piece as best I could and I put in a garbage bag in my car trunk.  I just could not face bringing it back into my apartment.

I purchased this piece of fabric online from a coop and I read that some of the other purchasers had reported  some problems when the fabric was washed.  It looks like there are two sets of black denim that were sold:  one set that is crocked and the other set that shreds/falls apart after being sewn.   I'm not certain if my purchase was from the group that shreds apart.  If it is, then I'll free-cycle it.   I was able to put some synthrapol in the washing machine, so the dye did not travel to the other piece of cheaper fabric chainstore denim.   

The next question, should the 5.5 yards count in my stash-busting?  :)

Stash Busting 2009 - Day 1

1 and 7/8 yards down, 98 yards to go! 

I made a simple long-sleeved t-shirt from some black and white fabric that I purchased from Happy Stop in Oakland, CA.  I used Burda pattern 7970, which is a simple scoop neck darted t-shirt.  I had to raise the neckline (which is a standard Burda alteration), and do a FBA.  When I traced the pattern, I kinda fudged the FBA but the finished garment fit very well, so this is a keeper.

I need more basic, yet dressy-ish tops for work.  I'm planning on using this pattern to make other t-shirts out of solid colored fabrics.  My stash contains a lot of bright print jerseys or wild prints:  I need to round out my work wardrobe with tops in some solid colors, so they will coordinate with some skirts I'm planning on sewing.   Sewing solid colors will be a great exercise, because solid color garments will display all the stitching and seams.  I have the solid colored knits material in my stash, I just need to sew it.