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We Wish you a Merry Christmas

Saturday, December 24, 2005

We wish you a Merry Christmas;

We wish you a Merry Christmas;

We wish you a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year.

Good tidings we bring to you and your kin;

Good tidings for Christmas and a Happy New Year.

Oh, bring us a figgy pudding;

Oh, bring us a figgy pudding;

Oh, bring us a figgy pudding and a cup of good cheer.

I got my little cutie scarves done. The girls are getting these, which I made following the instructions I gave you yesterday, located at this website. I made 9 of these in about 2 hours:

And the boys are getting these, modeled by my resident elf, Mr H. There are 5 of these and one of them is in GaTech colors. (I won't mention who is the Tech fan !)

This one is the Scarf with a Twist from Hancock Fabrics leaflet found at the Hancock's Project Page.

Fleecy stuff

Friday, December 23, 2005

Is this not the cutest thing??? I'm wanting to whip up a few little silly Christmas gifts, and Googled for "fringed fleece scarf" and found this little cutie. I have in mind making up a few in red, white, black and grey for some Dawgs fans I know.

I was searching for directions for this fleece boa. I could almost make it from the directions she gave in the review, but not quite. Finally, (duh!) I went to the Hancock's site and found it among lots of other cool projects: Hancock's Free Project Page. The boa pattern is in the "Fun with Fleece 2003" link.

I'm lovin' it.

Mr H and I will be scarce for the next week or so. I'm hoping to get back in here tomorrow to wish you a Merry Christmas and show you some pics of the fleece thingies. See you then!

Snowflakes

Thursday, December 22, 2005

Last night I stitched out Sadia's Free Snowflake on my Simplicity SE3. This one is very pretty in person, but one of the "blips" on the end of the point (you describe it!) unraveled. I don't know why...

These FSL projects are great fun. You can just let them stitch. You don't have to worry about placement. You don't have to practice. You don't have to worry about spoiling good fabric when you don't practice!!

You just load 'er up and let 'er rip!

I want to sew for me!

Wednesday, December 21, 2005

There is no sewing going on at my house.

None. Zip. Nada.

Besides getting a bit more done in the Sprout's room, I'm working on getting things ready for our little "holiday" at the lake next week. (In reality, it'll be a holiday for the DH. The rest of us are support staff...)

My latest pants test, from 12/4, is still waiting for me to get back to it. If you recall, this was a test for lowering the crotch depth in PMB to get an appropriate crotch length. Prior to this, I had been using crotch extension and "scooping" the back to get room. I am usually able to get my pants to work this way, but not easily. I want to be able to draft, cut, and sew without all (some of?) the ripping and restitching.

The blue corduroy pants, which I have never photographed, have become my favorites. Not because they fit perfectly, but because of the legs, of all things. They are nice and long, and the upper leg fits closely, but not tightly. The lower leg is almost boot cut. It flares out and really looks nice.

I hope to make some more test pants using that styling.

Perhaps after next week...

For the week at the lake, I plan to load up a straight-stitch machine and work on a quilt for the Sprout's room. This is one of those "quilt-block-of-the-month" quilts that I bought at JoAnn Fabrics back in 2000. I think it was called a Century quilt. I went into the store each month and bought the block. At the end of the year, I even got the "finishing" kit. Each part has been patiently waiting in its little bag all this time for me to get it out and start on it. I'm hoping it will be a fun project.

If I get bored with that, there's some knitting to do, and I'll take plenty of books to read.

Christmas Decorating

Tuesday, December 20, 2005

Sunday night I stitched out these pretty FSL Snowflakes from Embroidery Library. I had never done anything like these before, although I had purchased some Badgemaster stabilizer last year, thinking I might eventually do some. I think they turned out pretty well. I'm planning to use them to decorate at the Christmas "cabin".

Pieced Roman Shades

Monday, December 19, 2005

In the Sprout's room we needed room-darkening shades. I had first considered making some heavy insulated shades, but these are double-paned insulated windows in a fairly new house. Add to that the fact that I didn't want to go to more expense than absolutely necessary right here at Christmas time and you get something a little less costly. Probably not any easier, though:

I didn't start out to make pieced shades. My plan was to simply fiind some fabric (ha!) and make a plain shade, possibly with flannel or something to insulate it a bit. There's a lot of information out there about making warmer windows, if you're interested in learning more on the subject:

• Warm Windows and supplies from The Warm Company
• A discussion on the subject at the PatternReview Message Boards

I also received some helpful advice by posting on a sewing list that I am on. Basically the recommendations were an emphatic "Do it, you won't be sorry."

When I went to the store on Friday afternoon to get fabric, I didn't have pieced shades in mind at all. I knew the Sprout wanted something to darken the bedroom, but I thought that the insulating material would do a fine job of that on its own. The trouble was that I could not find any fabric that I really liked.

The blue and yellow color scheme for the room is taken from a quilt that is of small floral prints. I needed a geometric or a large simple print for the shades. Naturally, the only fabrics I could find were busy small floral prints. To break this deadlock, I started pulling out appropriately-colored fabrics that appealed to me, no matter where they were in the store, as long as they weren't busy florals. The print I chose kept calling to me whenever I walked by. I had initially rejected it because it is blue and a light yellow green, rather than yellow. Also, there was not enough of it to make even one shade, let alone two. When I found the blue, I knew the print would work after all.

That led to the pieced design. If you have never seen them, go to see the ones at Terrell Designs right now. I'll wait..... Nice eh?

I wanted to keep with a simple, traditional design and not allow my print to take over. Since I was afraid that I could not apply strips of fabric to the shade with any precision, I tore the pieces for the shades and pieced them together with mitered corners. PE came in handy to figure out how big to make each strip, although it could have been done on paper without too much more effort. After piecing, it was a simple matter to sew it to the lining and attach the hook & loop tape to the top.

These can't be raised yet, but the primary goal was to get those windows covered as quickly as possible. I'm hopeful of getting back to the store for rings today. Later I'll figure out what to do about the rest of the window treatment.

First I've gotta paint the trim.

Bedroom Makeover

Friday, December 16, 2005

This is one of those painful mornings where everything that doesn't hurt is creaking.

After I thoroughly cleaned the carpet in the Sprout's room last night, the hallway didn't look so good. Then, there were some spots going down the stairs (fortunately I also rented the stairs tool when I got the machine).

Midway down the stairs, Husband said, "I'll get things ready down here, if you want to run that machine over this carpet."

After 10 o'clock last night, I finally dragged my exhausted self off to bed. I only worked for about 4 hours and I am beat. I don't know how people work like that all day, every day.

Today, perhaps, the new mattress will arrive. I suppose the next thing is to make the Roman shades for the windows. This time I will use hook & loop tape to attach them to the board and an inside mount. I also plan to study my notes from last time before I start.

It's bee-yooo-tee-fulllll!!!

Thursday, December 15, 2005

If I had only known how pretty the ice on the trees would be this morning, I would have snapped a photo of that, too!

Thankfully I'm almost done with the Sprout's room. Tonight I'll clean the carpet. Normally I would paint the trim next, but the mattress might come tomorrow, so the carpet has to be next. I'll be *really* careful when I paint the trim.

The hallway is now whining for yellow paint...

What's getting done...

Wednesday, December 14, 2005

In the spirit of considering what I'm accomplishing rather than what I would *rather* be doing, here's my current project list:

• Buy new mattress for the bedroom formerly known as the Sprout's
• Clean Sewing Room
• Get new Wiper Blades
• Send Christmas cards (can I get partial credit?)
• Two coat's primer in the guest room
• Paint ceiling in the guest room
• Cut in Jekyll Island Clubhouse Yellow in the guest room
• Roll on two coats Jekyll Island Clubhouse Yellow in the guest Sprout's room
• Paint bright white trim in the guest Sprout's room
• Make Roman Shades and curtains for the guest Sprout's room
• Shampoo carpet in the guest Sprout's room
• Beg my boss for the rest of the week off!

Getting to Know You

Tuesday, December 13, 2005

We've all seen the "Get to know you" questions that pop up from time
to time on the internet. Here is one just for the Christmas season.

1. What is your favorite Christmas song?
Mary Did you Know? I especially like listening to Kathy Mattea's recording of it.

2. What time do you usually get up on Christmas morning?
When I wake up, usually after 7.....

3. Where did you find your presents on Christmas morning when you were
young? Under the tree and all over the room.

4. What are you having for Christmas dinner this year?
Don't know yet.

5. What is your earliest Christmas memory?
Having Mom & Dad make us stay in our room until they got the movie lights set up.

6. Do you have any Christmas traditions that you still carry out?
I put out some of the kids' drawings every year at Christmas. My aunt did this, too.

7. Can you name Santa's eight reindeer?
Dopey, Sleepy, Sneezy, Grumpy, and four more.

8. What is your favorite Christmas food?
Sweet Potato Casserole with nut topping

9. Do you buy presents for your pets?
No. The cat is happy enough to get to come inside, and the bird would just peck it and squawk.

10. What is your most memorable Christmas present?
My Dancerella doll

11. Do you make or buy your Christmas cake or pudding?
What cake or pudding?

12. When do you put up your Christmas decorations?
When my husband makes me.

13. Ham or turkey?
I like ham better, but turkey will do.

14. Has it ever snowed at Christmas where you live?
No

15. What is your Christmas wish?
To get all this painting done and then be able to relax and actually get into the Holiday Spirit during the last week!

Shimmer Blouse

Monday, December 12, 2005

You may recall that I made this to wear to a Christmas Party on Saturday. In true form, I finished about 12:15 and the party was at 2:00. I'm very happy with the Shimmer Blouse pattern draft with one small exception which you can read about further on. I'm not quite as happy with the fabric. Since I chose to use the fabric with wrong side out, the scratchy metallic is next to my skin.

Other than that, this is a really comfortable draft, so I'll make it again later. I enjoy being able to pull it over my head and not have to deal with buttons or any other closure. I'll have to redraft the sleeves, and I think I'll either draft them straight or with a flare, rather than the cuff that I used this time.

• Garment Type= Blouse
• Style= Classic Blouse
• Closure= Single Breasted
• Front Neckline= Jewel
• Back Neckline= Jewel
• Yoke= No Yoke
• Hemline Shape= Straight
• Darts= Side
• Upper Back Dart= Shoulder
• Sideseam shape= Fitted
• Front Waist Darts=2
• Back Waist Darts=2
• Front Neckline Depth= 0.5
• Back Neckline Depth= 0
• Neckline Width= 0.25
• Neckline Point= 0
• Armhole Depth= 0.5
• Dart Override=-0.25
• Side/Arm Point=-0.5
• Side/Hip Point=-0.5

• Upper Back Dart Length=1
• Lower Front Dart Length=4.5
• Lower Back Dart Length=4.5
• Back Shoulder Dart Length=3
• Sleeve Style= Set In
• Sleeve Underarm Seam= Tapered
• Sleeve Hemline Shape=Pleated
• Sleeve Cap Ease=0.86
• Sleeve Length=19
• Sleeve Cuff=Wing
• Sleeve Cuff Width=4.5
• Sleeve Cuff Length=7.5
• Sleeve Hem Circumference=7.5
• Sleeve Cap Height= -0.25
• Back Armhole Shape Up=0.8 Clicks
• Collar Style= Shirt
• Collar Width=2
• Chest Ease= 3.5
• Waist Ease= 2.5
• Hip Ease= 4

• Mirrored the collar to create a "whole"
• Located a point 5 inches from the side hemline
• Drew a line from the new point to CF and cut off the triangle
• Added 3/4" seam allowance at CB to allow for folding over to the outside.
• Deleted front and back waist darts

1. The sleeves drafted a bit too snug around the elbow, so I inset some triangles of the shiny side into the lower sleeve. I really like the effect.

2. To make the vertical accent on the back, I simply folded the seam allowances under on the outside and stitched them down.

3. To make the vertical accent on the front, I cut bias and positioned it so that I could seam it on then fold it over and the raw edges would be at the CF edge. Then I sewed the CF seam, which finished it off.

4. This was the first time I had tried PMB's shirt collar type. It always just looked funny to me. Fortunately, it turned out fine and I like it!

5. I eased in the back shoulder dart

What's the Backup Plan???

Friday, December 09, 2005

Every good plan needs a good backup plan. I'm getting down to the wire on my outfit and ornament for tomorrow's Christmas party. (I actually have two parties tomorrow, but the evening one is not an issue.)

Last night I was able to get the collar on my Shimmer Blouse, and the skirt is, of course, done. I got stuck on the treatment for the center front seam, so I stopped working and went to bed.

As on the tencel blouse, I want the alternate side of the fabric to accent the seam line. The back was easy--I just seamed it wrong sides together and stitched the seam allowances down on the right side. That won't work for the front because of the facing. I cut some bias to bind it somehow, but I just couldn't wrap my head around it last night.

This morning I have that figured out. I'll stitch one side of the bias to the CF so that when I fold it over, the edges match up and the raw edge is covered. Next I'll stitch the facing, then the remainder of the CF seam down to the slit.

A hem, some sleeves, and voilà! The blouse will be finished.

The ornament, OTOH, probably won't be finished in time. I'm about halfway done because I keep having to stop and thread more beads. That takes forever, and I've accepted the fact that this knitted ornament will fall into the basket until after tomorrow.

You can't do everything.

Not to worry. Embroidery Library has some pretty snowflakes that could be stitching out while I finish my blouse.

Double G Skirt and Shimmer Blouse

Thursday, December 08, 2005

The skirt is great! I'd be perfectly happy if there was a bit more room for the "fluff," though. The top is designed, cut and partially sewn. It offers plenty of room for "fluff," so perhaps I can cover anything unsightly.

After I finished the skirt, I tried it on with several garments in my closet to get a feel for a style that complemented it. I would have thought that a shorter, more fitted top would look best.

No.

I tried the semi-fitted green striped shirt and the Thai blouse. I was very disappointed--too much green skirt! The long, loose-fitting white shirt looked better than either of these. Finally I spied my aqua tencel blouse from last spring, and declared a winner.

The new top will have the pointy slit front and the back detail of the aqua blouse minus the yoke. The sleeves will have a shaped cuff, and the collar will be a simple shirt collar with a 5 inch placket opening. Mix Batik Butik's Cooltouch with Onion 5021, view B, and you've got it.

The Double G

Wednesday, December 07, 2005

The "Double G" in progress

Same Song 3rd Verse

Tuesday, December 06, 2005

As I've mentioned many times before, I'm sure, I really like big full pants and culottes. I was seriously considering making another pair of Mompe Pants for my Christmas outfit. The original rayon pair has long since gone on to the trash because the rayon was not tough enough to live at my house. I did love those pants, though. They were unusual and I enjoy that. This green suedecloth would make nice Mompes.

Somewhere in that thought process, I remembered seeing Diane Ericson wearing her Taos Skirt at the Sewing Expo last year. That then reminded me of Sewing Workshop's Duplicity Culotte, which I love the look of. In fact, I had the two confused thinking they were the same pattern until I realized the Diane would *not* be wearing any but her *own* pattern at the Expo.

But I digress.

Despite my liking for these patterns, there's one problem with the culotte style of them--that "crotch" down around your ankles. I have to cross my leg when I sit. These, particularly the Duplicity where the "crotch" is sewn, would aggravate me ferociously.

Mine must be a skirt, then.

Consider the Duplicity. There is a seam center front and center back. That "crotch" could easily be turned into a godet and made level. It would be almost the same look on the body.

Taking my lessons learned from the Elegance Skirt, I came up with this draft, which will fit exactly onto the two yards of suedecloth that I have:

I drafted this as a 33 inch darted skirt, with a 19 inch godet. In PE, I lengthened both darts to the hip line and rotated the darts to the hem. Next, I added 1/2 inch of walking ease CF and CB. Finally I cut the godet in half and added 1/2 at CF and 1/2 at CB.

A Christmas Wearable, chapter 2

Monday, December 05, 2005

I'm a little closer to having a Christmas outfit for Saturday. I've bought fabric, and have decided on two pieces that will go beyond the holiday and one accent that will be totally screamin' Christmas cheer!

The fabrics are non-traditional colors, as you might expect. I went fabric shopping with the idea of a light blue with silver color scheme. That way I could use snowflakes in pearly white or silver thread as an embroidered accent. Of course, there was nothing like that around, except for fleece. Finally I found a perwinkle rayon cross-woven with an iridescent acid green. This matched perfectly (under flourescent lights) a green suedecloth. At home it is not such a good match, but there will be flourescent lighting at the party.

I'm still using snowflakes, but it's anyones' guess exactly what the pieces will be.

A Christmas Wearable

Friday, December 02, 2005

Say what you like about how tacky Christmas garments can be, I am planning to make something for myself this weekend to wear to the ASG party next weekend. I've been mulling this over for the last few days, knowing that I want to wear it (whatever *it* is) a lot over the next few weeks.

You can Google for Christmas Sweater and stay entertained for hours. I'm not sure it's a sweater that I want, however. I'm growing weary of loud or themed clothing that is useless after its holiday. It must be something that I will not mind giving up when the holidays end. Something easy enough that if I like it a lot, I can make another in an anti-holiday material.

That certainly narrows it down. 8-|

*It* could be an accessory, perhaps. Like a Christmas-themed cell-phone purse? That doesn't seem like quite enough, though. This wearables thing was *my* challenge to the group, after all.

Hmmm. More thought needed. Perhaps I should take a nap and see if I can dream something up!

Christmas Knitting

Thursday, December 01, 2005

For our ASG neighborhood group's Christmas party next Saturday, we are planning a little ornament swap. The ornament can be handmade or whatever each person desires to do.

I am knitting mine, bead knitting, to be more precise.

If you recall my MaryElla cuff, you know what I'm talking about. This is where the beads "swag" between knit stitches. They aren't actually knitted onto a particular stitch.

I'm enjoying this knitting more than the MaryElla, for some reason. True, it was slippery going at first, but now that I'm an inch or more into it, it has settled down some. This project isn't as heavy as MaryElla, and is wider, which may have more to do with the greater satisfaction.

The pattern is from BagLady Press and is their free pattern for a Christmas Ball Ornament linked from their homepage.

I'm using a deep red perle cotton with bright silver-lined red beads. I didn't think I'd be able to do this particular ornament, since I would not have time to mail order my materials. (BTW, I found Earth Faire to be a great Internet source of these supplies.) Happily, I discovered that our Hobby Lobby store has a wonderful selection of both beads and perle cotton. I've yet to look for a styrofoam ball. I'm thinking that I'll wait until the thing is finished and can try it on them while I shop.