Oilcloth: Yesterday, Today, Tomorrow

This is an image I found in a Google search on oilcloth. Who wouldn't want some of those retro prints you see on the wall? I want to be an oilcloth rep dressed in a black dress with a white collar.
This is a picture I took recently at Vogue Fabrics, no lady in a dress in sight. A lot of fruit and gingham prints, not quite the way cool stuff you see above, but it's still great stuff that would be great for totes, table covers, lunch bags tomorrow. Take a look at this collapsible pet bowl. Very cute. The strawberry print oilcloth is $7.50 a yard, and you wouldn't even need a yard for this project.

Yes, We Have No Bandanas: McCall 6185

About four years ago I deserted my collection of vintage sewing patterns and old cotton fabrics for the exciting world of new patterns and modern jerseys. I made the switch after I bought my Viking Husqvarna. This machine changed my life. Finally, I had a machine that would tell me how to set the tension, what kind of needle to use, all the stuff I found hard to do on my own. What's even better, my new acquisition wouldn't eat my fabric. I cannot tell you how frustrating it was to pull (really, yank) my sewing project out of the bobbin case again and again. This happened enough that it killed my love for sewing. If my Singer was going to single-handedly destroy my work, why bother? I only reconsidered when I got the new machine. It was like I was going on an adventure to someplace I hadn't visited before. Somehow, sewing became a 'new' skill to learn, and once I got beyond the fear of fabric being swallowed up by my machine, I jumped into the abyss, and the (home-sewn) parachute followed, lifting me aloft. I discovered knits. Pre-Viking, my collection was mostly old cottons acquired on eBay. Now? It's mostly jerseys, with the cottons still unsewn.

Anyhow, I've donated more than a few patterns since I started collecting to the Columbia College Study Collection. I still have a few, and I studied them recently after I decided to enter the PatternReview.com vintage contest. It was refreshing to look at them again after sewing so much with modern fabrics, instructions, accessories, etc. What was previously viewed as "hard" doesn't look so intimidating after all the projects completed in the past few years. Now what's looks difficult...is merely complicated. For example, I've one 1930s bolero jacket that has all this embroidery on it. That's the 'hard' part. The construction? Doable. Ditto the princess-style housecoat. The fit, not so hard, just time-consuming. And the zipper (new at that time) would make the dress easy to complete.

Even so, for competition purposes I opted for something cute, fairly easy to finish on short notice, but still challenging. Hence McCall 6185, which was intended for a teenager, which boggles my mind in a way. I don't know a 16-year-old who could tackle this pattern. I mean, even mature adults might struggle with the lapped zipper. But I've learned how to insert a zipper on a blouse, I thought this might be a good project to work that skill. Since this pattern actually suggests using two big scarves, I kept thinking about the bandana prints you see above. There are actually marks on this print to show where you would cut if you want to make a kerchief. I don't, so I'd leave them alone and consider them as part of what makes my blouse-to-be charming and cute.

Now, the next few weeks are busy. Easter, next week. A leggings class, the following, a quick trip to New York City for a conference, the last...all of which brings me to the end of April and this contest. So. I.Must.Get.To.Work. Wish me well.

So Nice I Had to Sew It Twice: McCall 3895

I signed up for Patternreview.com's sewn hat contest as soon it as was permissible. I mean, the moment the URL went live? I was there, hitting the keystrokes faster than I run to catch a bus. Really. I sometimes have knee issues, but fingers on the keyboard? Nearly never. Anyhow, I wanted to make Vogue 8405, view D. It's just got this retro vibe, besides the brim has this neat curve in the front that very Myrna Loy. I can see her wearing it, along with a matching crocheted dickey and gloves. Besides, I was going to be teaching how to make this hat, for crying out not too loud, at Vogue Fabrics.

But things happen, and a certain pragmatism (so unlike me, really) intervened. I got it in my head to use this damaged white and black print that I bought at Metro Textiles. Mind you, it wasn't ruined when I bought it, but it did become that way after I attempted to pre-shrink it. Anyhow, I thought I'd use it....consequently, View D was no longer suitable. I need to really showcase the large florals on my fabric, so I switched over to View A. Fair enough, I started cutting away, sewing while my students worked on View D in my workshop.

I didn't finish that day. I thought for sure I'd get to it the following Sunday during a scheduled sewing salon. Wouldn't you know it the day before I manage to lose my favored winter hat on the bus? I was having a very, very serious conversation on the cell phone, my stop was suddenly there, I hopped off with my bags and cell phone...but didn't notice my hat was not with me. I was practically ready to dash after the bus, but it was cold and raining. Besides, what good does it do to run after moving vehicles? Especiallly one that's probably a block or two ahead or me? Absolutely none.

I consider this hat a second love, it's been everywhere with me this winter. The Y, the post office, the grocery store, library, the bars and swing dance studio. Everywhere. Even the scratchy knits and the cute fuschia suede cap don't get this kind of attention. Why? The green suede bucket-shaped hat goes with my multi-green scarf and Forever 21 shawl and Kelly green handbag. No other headgear in my collection is green, cute and soft and works as a portable umbrella for the noggin. (I hate carrying umbrellas. I travel light, and umbrellas, even those little ones, just add to weight to whatever I'm carrying.)

The funny thing is the hat I lost is the second version of the original. I keep making the darn thing in the same exact fabric.

So I was on my way to this bar, for an event promoting Cuervo. Guess what I wore on the way home? A green, red, and white scarf from the promotion organizers. It looked garish, but it kept me warm and somewhat dry.

So Sunday rolls around like a dice, and I'm thinking, the hat contest is over on Tuesday and I need to make a hat. A practical hat that keeps me warm and coordinates with my other accessories became the priority. I found some scraps for the last project go-around, put all my stuff in my Vogue Fabrics sewing bag, and off I went to sew without any hat on my head. I was motivated to walk out of the store with a new matching hat, just like the old one.

I get there, plop my stuff in the classroom, pay for the room use, and get the fabric. I only needed $6 dollar worth of material. I got busy quickly because I wanted to go to visit a friend in the hospital and then go to Mass.

So in a matter of three hours, I made two hats, exactly the same. Here are some details from the 2005 version, plus some new details from Sunday's sewing session.

I think I'm almond nuts crazy to make the same exact hat four times. Has there ever been a hat you lost, and just never could stop obsessing about? What extremes have you gone to recover a lost or stolen hat or recreate it? By the way, I called the bus garage on the off chance they found McCall 3895, version 2. Sorry to say no, that hat probably went the same way as my bag of new yarn did almost two years ago. In the garbage! I do not cry over this stuff, it's just pointless.
* The details of the above photo. Jacket from Nordstrom, cowl I knitted using Noro yarn, multi-green scarf, Vogue Fabrics, shawl, Forever 21.

Mad Sewing Skills Can Get You Work Now*

Can you fix hems, adjust a waist in a pair of pants? Offer to work at a local tailor shop or do some work in your home. My grandmother had a sewing business in her basement. She fixed clothes like everybody's business in the basement of her Westchester, Ill. house. As a little kid, I remember a table perpetually piled with clothes waiting to be mended. My mother says she was turned off by sewing for many years by that mountain. Later on, though, when she was married and working on growing her brood, the sewing gene kicked in and she cranked out dresses, mommy-and-me bathing suits, plaid ties, hand-sewn quilts. I know it's infinitely more fun to make a dress from scratch than to take a seam ripper to a waistband, but when there's money to be made, why not? You can do it while watching Dancing with the Stars.

Small pop-and-mom textile shops need sewing operators. Solid Stone Fabrics President and CEO David Stone actually sees a return to "Made in the U.S.A" garments as Americans count their nickels and dimes figuring that what's made locally is a better deal than something from overseas. If you see a Singer or a Juki in operation anywhere in your town, chances are there are jobs.

If you can teach, head on over to Jo-Ann Fabrics, where beginning sewing classes are in demand. I'm an instructor at Vogue Fabrics in Evanston. Who would have thought that how-to classes for pajama pants would be sew (sic) popular? They are at Jo-Ann Fabrics in Schaumburg. No mammoth craft store in your 'hood? Start your own sewing tutor business.

Even better: if you can repair a sewing machine, forget the Golden Ticket, you are the ticket. People are resurrecting decades-old machines from their garages so they can do their own fixing. Even guys are getting in on the act. One man discovered a machine used for stitching sails, now he wants to use it to make awnings for his house, according to my student Laura Proudfoot, who works at a Jo-Ann Superstore. Smart guy. You too be equally clever!

Tell me what other stitchable ways you've heard or have employed to make money now.
* I found the above image by way of The Glasgow Story. As the article says, "The man appears to be either bored or comatose, and has made a poor job of buttoning the fly on his trousers!"

Lo and Behold: Apron.ology, the Magazine

It would appear that retro-style aprons are returning with a June Cleaver and "I Love Lucy" vengeance. Can scorched frying pans and pantyhose in the kitchen be far behind? I don't think so. Here's the proof in the butterscotch pudding: first, there's Apron.ology, a new magazine. This is absolutely amazing, considering periodicals have been dropping faster than flies trapped in a screened-in window. Now, this new publication is not cheap. I repeat, not cheap. I won't even say the price aloud. You could probably see a movie and buy the smallest size of popcorn for the same price. But the patterns! The photos! The sheer hilarity! All this needs to be factored in. Now, of course, I haven't bought it thus far, I'm all talk, and no traction. Still.

What else heralds the return of The Apron? The crockpot. All the blogs with slow-cooker recipes. Don't you need the garment for this kind of cookery? I think so.. thus a 1950s-style is totally appropriate since you will be chopping up Spam and Velveeta for your concoctions. These kinds of ingredients call for period-appropriate apparel, right? Even if you do wear it over your Seven for All for Mankind jeans and slinky mesh jersey tops. Anyhow, here are some aprons that you can stitch while your stew is bubbling for a few hours. Check out McCall M5825 (comes with a mitt too!) and Simplicity 3532.

Naturally, you will be using scraps for your apron, just like you might do in the kitchen. Instead of left-over celery and carrot stubs, you dive into your vintage fabric stash, as I have. The swatch you see above? The only remains for a 1950s top I attempted on my grandmother's Singer. That machine ate my fabric and any ambition I had to finish the project. I ditched the blouse, and somehow salvaged the tissue-paper thin cotton fabric. See how cute it is? Vases? Plates? Askew teapots?

I will use this to make the sample for my retro apron class at Vogue Fabrics, that is if anyone signs up for the class. So far, no one has. I'm figuring sewers are out there thrifting for aprons at the local Goodwills, Salvation Army shops and not even bothering to see what's left from quilting projects past. Sewing an apron is much more fun than discovering one that says "World's Best Dad" on it for $1.50. Really. It will do you no good to wear something like that when you're prepping a home-made pizza and you're a woman. I'm not kidding. Of course, your dog won't give you any grief (unless he or she is very smart and can read) but your kids will. What's more, they will never forget. You'll hear about it until...I don't know when.

On that note, here's a link for my apron-making classes at Vogue Fabrics next month. We'll be using Butterick 4945. For inspiration, I found this Flickr set of vintage apron patterns. For this one, you could use the inexpensive appliques for pockets. Gosh, the possibilities are more endless than snow in Chicago!

Embellishing the Hippeastrum* for Vogue 1020, the dress

This fabric floral, believe or not, is the centerpiece of a panel of one-way stretch jersey (?) that I bought the other day at Vogue Fabrics. Each panel has one massive flower for the entire length. There's actually a really long brown stalk and leaves that you don't see here that's on the backside of the dress version of Vogue 1020. It pained me greatly to separate the flower and the leaves and actually leave the flower off the back of my dress. One of these big beauties on a dress is enough and I just remembered the signature Sarah Jessica Parker dress from the movie version of "Sex in the City." One is enough, two is overkill, three makes for the beginning of a garden if you know the dress I'm talking about. Anyhow, I don't have a mint green thumb, so I'm not entirely confident that the flower above is a Hippeastrum, but it looks like the one on this Wiki page. Am I wrong or am I right? I was totally tempted to call this an Amaryllis, but I understand Amaryllis is often confused with Hippeastrum, and I'd like to get the correct name of the plant if it's going front and center on the garment I'm sewing. Any flower experts out there?
* I decorated the center of the flower with glitzy blue dot Hot Fix transfers also on sale at Vogue Fabrics. It was $1.29 a yard. I bought a 1/4 of a yard, plenty for my purposes!

Sew What? A Little Friday Humor...

Sewing One for Me and One for You*

I'm returning to Vogue Fabrics on Sunday for another installation of the Sewing Salon. For the uninitiated (I was going to say uninformed, but I'm working on being more kind), the Salon is kind of like open call at the local comedy club, but significantly less intimidating. You will not be expected to get up on a stage (there isn't one, so this is not an issue). You will not be booed. Your jokes will not be met with silence (you might hear the hissssing of a steam iron). Finally, your sketch or routine will not be met with an over-enthusiastic round of applause the moment you finish ("I really suck. I can tell!"). You're not even expected to sew, but it would hard not to surrounded by a dozen or so sewing machines, two irons and what looks like a mile of cutting boards. You'd have to nearly insane (or half-dead) not to want to even turn on a Viking Husquvarna and watch the needle quiver awake (does anyone know why it does that? It makes me think of a cat's purr.) Truly, you could sit inside the salon (otherwise known as the classroom) and just hang out. Plenty of entertainment holds for even those who don't want to lift a presser foot. Little kids wander away from mothers lost in the dream world known as the pattern books. Admirers or wanna-bee sewers peer in and ask if you're taking a class. Store employees come in, try to shut the swollen wood door shut, slide two metal chairs next to each other, plop down on one and prop their feet on the other (she stands all day!) and open a brown-paper bag lunch in what looks like one motion. Amazing feat (not feet). Anyhow, this is Pat, who works in the notions department. Then there are the ladies who come in to do eyebrow-threading (they always stop to admire my work-in-progress which is nice). I want to stare, but that would be rude. (I do get eyebrows trimmed using the threading technique, just not at Vogue Fabrics.)

What else? You could always explore the store if you're really bored. Three huge rooms! You could get lost or find the fabric for your next project. I often like to go next door to the local grocery store for a soda pop (yes, we use those words here in the Midwest. Our new president will likely too when he goes to Washington, DC) and a bag of Sun Chips. I sneak snacks back into the classroom (what's a salon without refreshments? Not a proper one).

So anyhow back to the Salon, which by the way, summons images of Victorian-era ladies in bustles and crinolines working on embroidery and craft projects using human hair. Most of the time, I'm all by my lonesome with nary another sewer nearby. I love the inherent drama of kindred spirits, like the fellow PatternReview sewer who burned the ironing board. Or the African girl, dressed in native attire, who asked me a thousand questions on how to sew with patterns (like so many of her peers, she can cut out her own patterns, but she's at a loss with our American system of tissue paper pieces, cussing, sitting and stepping on our own pins). I don't mind stitching on my own and hear the chatter just outside the door, it's just much more fun with others. Then I'm not so tempted to spread myself around - a table for my jacket, scarf and hat, another for my purse, still another for my projects.

Anyhow, this Sunday I'll like be working at least one Christmas project (a top I started this year for a friend)...but I plan to do plenty of sewing for myself. It's the whole shopping concept just applied to sewing. You know, buy one for me, buy one for you. That means I intend to finish a couple of hats I started a few years ago and a swimsuit half-born but not baptized in water earlier this year. Oh, I might embelllish some fabric with some of these neat heat-transfer crayons I tested out last night. But that is it. Nothing overly ambitious. After all, I must devote time to eating and enjoying the holidays, no use slaving over the Viking, eh? I do have a knitting project that I intend to finish before December 25th, but I don't need the Salon for that, just the cozy comfort of a couple of loooong bus rides. How about you? What are you working on for gift-giving?
Finally, a couple of hatty links I found yesterday that you might enjoy:
Number One.
Another Burdastyle hat and mittens combo for those of you who like to sew, but not knit.
* The 1930s-era fabric above is from one of the unfinished hats. I actually made a pair of shorts from it a while ago. Not sure if I still have them. I might have given them to the Columbia College study collection.

Saturday's Hat*

Here's my version of Dizzy, which doesn't make my head spin despite the name. My rendition, however, is a bit scratchy. Warm, but itchy. I may have to layer it with another hat to make it useful and not just a dust-catcher in my household. Overall, I'm pleased. The hat fits. It's made from yarn from my stash. I did it all by myself, with virtually no help. I only had to buy one set of DPNs to complete it. Truly thrifty. Next up, is some sewing at Vogue Fabrics this afternoon and knitting a pair of toe warmers using an ounce of vintage Fleisher's EverMatch in a bluish green yarn. I've already butchered the heel once already! It's a great feeling to knit something with a bump that's actually supposed to be there.
*The scarf? It's actually a bolero jacket I sewed.

Saturday's List of Hat Links*

While I'm working at an elephant's pace on my knitted hat, I haven't touched my sewing machine in over a month. I'm not certain how the Viking Husqvarna would react if I were to turn it on now. It might give me an electric shock for ignoring it for so long, eat my fabric for lunch or to show how hurt it really feels, just rebel completely and not work at all. Really I think about sewing, and I'm disinclined to do any real-time stitching until there's a day's worth of freezing rain or snow. So there. I also love to dream about hats, and here are some great links about all things chapeaux:

* Two hats from Interweave Knits, Winter 2008.
* One man's impressive collection of hand-knitted hats. He made them all.
* Information on La Fete de Catherinettes, coming up on November 25. Warning: the link is completely in French.
* The Rutland Trail cap from Anthropologie.

* The image above? Drawn from part of my collection of fall/winter 2004 collection of playing cards from Eugenia Kim.

Thursday's Quick Hat Hits

First off, I need to know whether you wore a hat to the polls on Tuesday. I did. Specifically, I wore this knitted topper. Yes, I did what I could to make the planet a little less serious that day (I frequently like to paraphrase Monty Python: "The problem with the world today, There aren't enough people wearing hats."). I'm not sure it worked. Well, ok, I heard fireworks later that evening after 10 p.m. Maybe it was belated recognition for my millinery? Anyhow, here are some quick hat hits if you're so inclined.
1. The hat above? It's Caityquilter's. Yes, those really are zipper roses. Now you know what to do with all those old metal-edged ones you find at garage sales. I've also seen them turned into clip-ons for shoes.
2. Have you wondered where to find high-quality flat wool felt? Here's a link. Now you can make those Vogue Pattern hats. I plan on ordering some soon (the Autumn gold looks beautiful).
3. So you're not inclined to sew, knit or spider spin a hat? Here's a whole blog post on what to buy: Refinery29's 15+ hats for fall.
4. I'm actually knitting another hat, no surprise I suspect given what I've made and uploaded to date. This one's called Dizzy, and I'm the ditsy making it. I will return to sewing in good time. I'm just waiting for some crummy cold weather. It's been like summer here the past few days, hardly appropriate for lowering the presser foot and getting down to business. That I'll do in good time.

Swatch for next Simplicity 3759 dress

The above swatch looks more orange than the pretty pale pink it really is. It's more a wearable lipstick in your bathroom bin and less Orangeade. In any event, this is the stretch lace I plan on pairing with a cloud grey (the overcast sky variety not the ones thunderstorm type) super soft jersey for yet another rendition of Simplicity 3759. I'm trying to lighten the load in my closet by using two fabrics at once. The stretch lace will act as an overlay on the basic grey skirt. So to imagine it (as I often do in the pre-production stages) the lace will be on the skirt and the sleeves. To put it all over would be much too heavy. I'm going after a cocktail party at 8 p.m. look, besides, I'd totally lose the ruching detail at the neckline if I put the lace on the bodice. Somehow, I have this idea that I could put a crinoline underneath, but I don't think the skirt's quite long enough, but it would be fun to take Simplicity 3759, the first rendition, to a vintage shop and try one just to see how it would look. Maybe I will one day soon. There's always the vintage apparel shop in Evanston (naturally near Vogue Fabrics on Chicago Avenue, a half-block away from Whole Foods or to the Antique Resale and Thrift Shoppe (which has a new web site - more of a reference point that actual online sales portal).

But back to the stretch lace. It's funny how little I see this stuff in ready-to-wear or even made up in clothes by other sewers. Is it scary to sew? Not if you have the right needle, tension or even stabilizer if necessary. Or is just too sexy looking for everyday wear? It doesn't have to be if it's paired with more meek textiles. In my case, I plan to team it with a dense but still light jersey so I get coverage I need besides, my knit is so humble it will let the lace be the star of the show! I think the dress will be so stunning, I'll feel like wearing a pair of 1950s-era gloves, fascinator and coordinated tights. In my mind (a vast place even if it doesn't look like it), baby no. 2 will outshine no. 1. That isn't the always the case in real life, you know, where the first-born gets all the attention no matter what the second child does to gain notice? At least in my sewing world, the second even third attempt at a pattern can be far superior than my initial attempt. Haven't you found that to be the case?

So while flowered dress's hem is being pinned up, I'm also working at a snail's stride on the High Society hat from Romantic Hand-Knits. I have happily completed the brim, now there's the small matter of working on the crown. Even so I was surprised at how swiftly and easily I started this project. It's been a while since I knitted any lace pattern, so I wasn't sure how hard this hat would be. I'm hoping that the crown is quick work so I can wire the whole shebang already. I'm already contemplating another round on this particular pattern, this time in the suggested Knitpicks yarn. Blue might be pretty, I'm not sure. But I'd love to get something in a tweedy marigold flecked with bark brown, just something I can wear in the fall perhaps. Just maybe.

Here too are some interesting links that you might enjoy reading:
* How to make a t-shirt quilt. This is for all those whale-sized tees in your drawer or even get ones from a friend for a fantastic and personal birthday/holiday gift.
* Shirt Sold Out? DIY.
* The International Millinery Forum, Wagga Wagga, Australia, Jan. 17-22. Registrations are coming faster and furious, according to this blog.
* Finally least but not last, my newest poll results. When I asked how much sewing gets done when it's really hot outside, 40 percent of you responded, "a little." Aah. You're just like me. Over and out.

Summer's Not Over Yet...Pushing Daisies in Evanston*

For all the talk of summer slipping away like an eel, I'm not quite ready to write the season off just yet. In fact, I'm the type that won't even officially acknowledge fall until sometime in October or at the very least when the cool, jacket-weather winds blow through late September. To be completely fair (hard to do, I know) we've had a really mild summer so far in Chicago - no 100 + degree days, and the one day to date that was unpleasantly warm was actually only about 85 degrees but felt a lot hotter because of the humidity. Considering both coasts (East and West in the U.S.) have had some really scalding 24-periods during the past couple of months, well, I feel blessed and unable to complain about a few scattered thunderstorms here and there.

So I had to make a dent in my collection, so I really just went for the heaviest bag of fabric. I grabbed a hefty one with 3 yards worth of a pale grey super-soft jersey that I bought thinking I'd make Valerie's top again. I thought why not slay two birds at once and use some other fabric at the same time? So, just goofing around, I put a remnant of this pretty peach flower-print stretch lace on top. What a knock out! Then I pulled out Simplicity 3759 because I like the simple lines (read: super-easy to make) of View A. Figuring I'd cut two dresses at once, I uncovered another Vogue Fabrics bag with a lightweight sheer white knit with appliqued t-shirt weight fabric daisies in periwinkle, ruby and dusty beige. Summer magic, not fall lust.

So I headed off to Vogue Fabrics yesterday (Sale Sunday, folks!) with a short list of stuff to do: finish sewing bathing suit, and cut out two dresses while I was renting the classroom for $5 for the entire day.

Well, I ended up only getting one dress cut out and sewn. But I consider that an accomplishment of sorts considering this fabric has been neglected in my closet for at least a year. I remember buying three yards of it at Vogue Fabrics in the silk room. I don't have a receipt to show for it now. It was probably $2.99 to $3.99 a yard. It begged to be made in a flowy dress from the get-go, although I was thinking more along the lines of a wrap-dress not a t-shirt collar dress that it consequently became.

But I'm quite happy with the outcome, especially since it's wearable, with virtually no detectable flaws. Here's a short-list of what I like about this dress and some things to watch for if you, my friends, are decide to use this pattern:

1. This dress is ideal for women with small shoulders. It is a Misses/Petite Knit dress, according to the boldface print on the back of the envelope. It's also a raglan sleeve style, which is also flattering if you're small-boned and -busted on the top. I'm both, and I'm happy with God for making me that way. It makes sewing that much easier.
2. Probably the hardest part is the collar. While I cut a size 8 straight through from top to bottom with any alterations, I did cut a size 10 in the neck band, and actually could have gone with a size 12 in that department. I'd always always suggest cutting that piece out longer than you think because the pattern doesn't know how much stretch your fabric has. If it's too long, you can always cut, if it's too short, well, I'm not aware of any fabric growth hormone to make it longer. Be sure to notch it as suggested, and fit that part first, adjusting the threads on the ruching on the front bodice to fit. Then pin the rest of the collar all around. I serged the whole kit-kaboodle with the 'fake' serger stitch on the classroom Viking 735.
3. Since the fabric was so lightweight, I lined with a nude light knit that I think I got on what used to be the dollar a yard table (it's now $1.29 yard). I simply cut a top front and back, and both skirt pieces from this jersey. Stitched them directly to all pieces. Then sewed together the lined sections. I didn't line the sleeves because a) they don't need it b) it would appear too heavy.
4. I blind-hemmed the sleeves because anything else would have drawn attention away from the loveliness of the appliqued flowers. I did adhere Steam-A-Seam2 so I could keep the hem straight while I was blind-stitching, but that was awkward and time consuming because I had to pull away the somewhat sticky raw edge of the sleeve bottom just a little so I could do the hem properly. Sure, I could pin it, but I dislike having pins sticking out while I am sewing. It feels like I'm just going to get jabbed (Ouch!) that way. So I'm not sure what's a solution. Anyhow, the results looks good. So I'm content for the moment.
5. While I stitched the skirt lining and main fabric as one piece, next time around I would attach them separately so they hang free. I think it'll look better and be easier to hem. Right now, I've got to undo a little bit of the stitching at toward the bottom of the dress, so I can blind hem the edge. I'm hoping it'll still look smooth and pucker-free, fingers double-crossed.

All in all, I more pleased than Hawaiian Punch. I started the dress at 11:30 a.m. (laying the fabric, pinning the pattern pieces) and finished sewing around 4 p.m. (minus the hem, which is still undone). I love a pattern without zippers and buttons! This particular pattern might be a little boring for an advanced sewer, but it's great for a novice, especially someone who wants to sew with knits but doesn't know quite where to begin (start with the proper needle - I used a ballpoint one for jerseys - and fix the tension accordingly). Another note: this dress, with its below the knee hem, is probably a little demure for my taste. (I feel like I should go to high tea or at least a wedding reception wearing this). A certain, nameless member of my family would adore this dress. So while I'm not wild about the dress, I'm not entirely displeased, I do delight in how it turned out. I plan to cut at least one more out since I know exactly what to do and when. Yesterday, I also cut out the view B (a top) with the flowered remnant. I ran over to the main room to buy a yard of $1.29 sheer pink mesh, which I'll use to line it to make it distinct from the dress. By the way, when I wore the finished dress afterwards around the store, more than few admirers thought this was a top and a skirt, not one complete dress. So to make sure that the eagle-eyed sales staff doesn't think the top-to-be made isn't just part of the original dress, I'm lining it in pink so it's clearly different. So...summer stick around! I'll treat you well, well everyone's getting ready for autumn all too soon.
* Here's a fabric swatch, I'll upload a picture of said dress as soon the sun cooperates with my camera (i.e. I get an overcast day) and my hair's up to speed.

Going for the Gusto*

I'm a knitting wussie. So much of it intimidates me, I wish I could just swan dive into like some other fanatics out there. You know the ones. Those that buy three hanks of Brown Sheep Cotton fleece and three days later whip out a lacy top or skirt. Or those that have at least three projects going at once, and rotate them according to their level of speed like so many pots on a stove. Those lacy knit gloves? Stuck. Put on the back burner. Moss stitch beret? Making progress, but I need someone to help me rip back a row. Sweater? Swatching and blocking that later this evening. It seems to me too that those with large stashes of yarn, in other words, those knitters who get buried by a snowfall of skeins when they open the closet, they're the ones always working their sticks (though not necessarily reducing the collection aka stash). Me? My yarn collection is so small, it scarcely merits closet space. Whereas I'm hasty to cut out fabric and patterns, knitting takes me so much time that if I were running the Chicago Marathon, I'd do best to start now. It doesn't matter that the starting line hasn't been set up yet. Then there's the budget. If I buy any yarn, by golly, I'm going to knit now, not wait until winter when it's suitably cold enough to be doing K2, P2 with 100 percent wool. I don't want my yarn to gather any dust, and I want my money's worth right away. What's more, I really think about what I'm going to do for the longest time. I've got more 100 projects tagged favorite on Ravelry, but nothing queued. I don't even know how to use that function. So it was quite amusing to read in the latest issue of Vogue Knitting, that there are users who actually watch what others are lining up in their list of projects. That would actually be an interesting function to add to Patternreview. Maybe it's already available there. I dunno.

I'm thinking that the knitters who learn the most are the ones who invest the most, whether it's time, money or both. They aren't content to just sit on the sidelines, cheering on players, they jump the pointy fence, stumble on the dirt knees first (ouch!) and play. If they fumble with the bumble, help the opponent score a point, it doesn't matter, they're learning. It's all about the journey, which clearly needs to be the topic of a t-shirt, if it's not already somewhere, somehow.

I think I have that hunger to just make lots of mistakes fast and quick with sewing. I've tossed out dozens of projects. I've gots lots of unfinished projects in shopping bags throughout my home. A closet collection collaborating and planning future growth. Pins dangerously poking about on the bedroom floor, rolling in laughter on the living hardwood floor.

Meanwhile, the knitting needles are lined up nice, prim and proper behind a glassed in bookshelf. Ditto the knitting needles. The yarns are sequestered in a beaten-up shopping bag on a hanger in the front closet. There's nothing remotely knitting-related on my to-do. No "go to Arcadia today," or "test out lace pattern this weekend" or even "stock up on Malabrigo for bolero jacket." There's a bit of lingering fear, a fear of commitment - like how long will it take to make the cute 1930s knit hat in Romantic Hand Knits? Or the pom pom peds - how quickly can I master the pattern to the point that I'm cranking out a pair lickety-split without thinking? I just want to get to the point where I'm done in the way I am with sewing. Materials? Check. Pattern? Cut, cut, and CUT. Stitch, stitch, stitch. A little pressing. Steam here, steam there. I'm done. I'm wearing the sewn garment hot off the iron in a matter of hours.

Knitting seems like it's a lot of pre-crafting plotting. Get enough of same color lot yarn. Swatch. Rewrite pattern that so that it fits you and not your sister. Start project in fits like you're hand-cranking a Ford Model T. Speed only comes after you add ethanol. If you're lucky, you'll have something in a matter of 48 to 72 hours. Nothing, nothing, not even Tinker Bell, comes overnight. A lot, from what I read, gets done within months. Some gets aside and finished a year later. Gosh, what a slow-cooker hobby. Where's the instant gratification - but not a straightforward knit-and-purl scarf - that can be accomplished without enlisting an army of experts in person or online? I just dunno. Hence my hesitation.

Then again, knitting is a portable project as I've mentioned many times before. I'm not quite ready to give it up just yet. But I'm not in love. I don't swoon over skeins of yarn. I'm not ready to buy a drop-spindle let alone a spinning wheel just so that I can say that I not only carded the fiber but I spun the yarn. That's too much, although it does appeal to me in a Tasha Tudor sort of way. I feel the same way about hairpin lace. I've got the tool, but I hem and haw at the edge of the pool. (A fitting analogy given that I'm always in the warm-water pool for aerobics thrice weekly). Will it be cold?

With that in mind, I'm ready to sign off the computer and do something crafty. Will it be Vogue Fabrics or Arcadia Knitting? Vogue is a cheaper fix, Arcadia feels more like I'm signing up for Pre-Cana classes and the pre-wedding jitters are already kicking in. What about you? What hobbies are you ready to try but not quite ready to carry out?

Enough on my knitterly anxieties. A little bit of this and that:

• At Judith M Millinery - a wonderful leopard print beaver hatbody, not always available apparently.

• Upcoming Vogue Fabrics sale. Go Saturday afternoon to beat the rush and hit up the bargains. Also Kwik Sew patterns are 20 percent off (!!!) through Aug. 9. Go. Buy. Now.
  

• Pattern Poll Results. Forty percent of you love McCalls, 40 percent love all big four patterns (McCalls, Vogue, Butterick and Simplicity) ; 20 percent of you like Vogue. I'm the lone star in this crowd: I mostly love Simplicity, seemingly a small-shouldered girl's beeeeest friend.

* The swatch above is from a gauge-swatch cardigan started in Des Moines two years ago. I need more yarn to complete it.

Portable Projects*

Aah. The Portable Project. There's a lot of talk about that now, along with great books to read while sitting on the beach, hanging around for the endlessly delayed flight or on a sidetrack while waiting for a far more important freight train to pass by (this is for American train passengers idled on an Amtrak train).

Consequently, the project becomes hugely important. It's something to do after you're bored watching movies on the laptop, when it suddenly it becomes urgent to do something challenging with the brain. If you've get a well-thumbed paperback, you're set in the grey-cell activity department, and it is actually somewhat tacticle since you've got to turn those wrapping-paper thin pages. But I like digging into making something, a show-and-tell-for the road, a task that you can see progressing as you move along your journey, and hopefully complete before your adventure is finished.

Contrary to popular opinion, knitting and crochet aren't the only projects that you can easily pop into a handbag. Here are a couple of other handiwork entreprises that travel nicely like a well-covered homemade blueberry pie:
1. Cutwork. It could be paper or fabric. If you're not obsessed with perfection and you can handle carrying a little pair of scissors (particularly on airplanes, and I've done this, so it's all right at security checkpoints), this is a great way to exercise your hands and just play. For me, I've been hacking iron-on copper facing into tiny, big, and huge circles. These past two days, I've just sat there with no music, cutting and cutting, little bits of copper paper floating onto my bedspread, floating onto the wood floor. I even got some assistant from an admirer, who with Depression-era thriftiness, folded the paper in half, cut two circles at a time, sparing not one little bit of scrap. I've got lots of circles for my blue knit fabric. One more thought: you could make lots of cut-out for later use. I did that for a hatblock and this folding screen. What's even better, you can enlist fellow passengers that way your hands don't get fatigued.
2. Embroidery. This is excellent if you got your sewing on a hooping, and all your floss and needles arranged on a card. It's fantastic because you can set it on your lap, doze off, and pick it up hours later and know exactly where you are, which is not the case with knitting or crochet, particularly when you're following a pattern. Then you must reread the instructions at least twice to make sure you're on track (an appropriate wisecrack when you're traveling by rail, which I just might do tomorrow morning.) Another on-the-road worthy project is smocking, which is a great, slow way to add detail to a garment. Right now, I'm keen to cut out a square of small print red-and-white gingham, do 10 minutes of chicken-scratch embroidery across each. Then I'll have two pockets to machine stitch to a nice, big full, knee-length 1950s gingham skirt, which I'll make nice and fluffy with a crinoline.
3. Scrapbooking. I'm not sure you could bring a huge project with you, but I'd bring a lightweight blank pocketed binder, lots of stickers, then stick various bits of memorabilia in a sleeve as you park at various destinations. (Hopefully you will not stop on a cloud mid-journey on a plane. There are no postcards there.) Of course, to make it really meaningful you'd need to scribble little notes throughout, comments like: "We were stuck in the airport for three hours but dad took us to McDonald's" or even "We waited out a tornado in this rest area. It was really scary when the wind blew knocked over a garbage can, but we're okay."
4. Letter-writing. I think this is absolutely the best. It's basically like journal-writing, but instead of keeping each day's escapades and thoughts to yourself, you share it with family and friends. You'd need to make sure you have a pad of paper, pen, envelopes, stamps, and most importantly, your address book. Write everything that happens, preceded with "Dear >>>" to put it all in perspective. When you're finished with the missive, seal, stamp and drop it in the nearest mail box. Then you can relive your experiences weeks later when your friends call to thank you for your note. A lengthy letter is preferable than a postcard, which is short, somewhat sweet and sometimes, unreadable.
If all is fails, you can simply take a nap, and catch up on your sleep. Sugary dreams.
* The remnant above is not a part of a Portable Project right now. It's the by-product of my Patternreview tour at Vogue Fabrics last week. Yes, I got 10 percent off of $5.99 for 1 1/2 yards of this 54-inch swatch of stretch lace! I scanned the peachy fabric against a piece of black paper...

Vogue Fabrics Here We Come: The Patternreview Invasion

I feel like a little kid who knows she's going to the Museum of Science & Industry tomorrow on a field trip. I can hardly sleep. In my mind I'm already on the bus, up the stairs, inside the museum, aching to see all my favorite exhibits yet again, especially the mammoth train set with a miniature Chicago. That's precisely how I feel about visiting Vogue tomorrow. I go to this store at least twice a week, Monday nights for the free sewing demo and some other random day to pick up notions and/or fabric. But tomorrow night is different, way different. Deepika, founder of Patternreview, will be there. Other sewers who I only know from their thumbnail-sized photos will be there. Usually we just comment on each other projects online: "Nice job. Where did you get that fabric???" and "Wow. That looks like something you could buy in a store." or "I hate this pattern. I'm tossing it out NOW." For the first time, I will be able to put a face with a name (or handle) on Patternreview. I'd like to think we won't have any of that "first date" awkwardness: "Uh, what do you do?" or "Why do you sew?" or "Did you make that?" I imagine we will just chatter away like we known each all our Internet lives, or at least as long as we've been on Patternreview (three or so years for me....). I look forward to seeing what you've sewed, what you plan to sew. It kind tickles my funny bone (which is located right by my navel) that I will be part of the group tour that gets a private tour of Vogue Fabrics when I know the store layout better than my own storage unit. I'm actually quite curious about where the store employees will take us. I'm guessing we're not going upstairs to the break room, which I went for the first time in my short life last year after I got stung by a wasp in the store's classroom. I am certain we'll get to see the main room where there are all sorts of fabulous deals on knits and cottons, like what you see above. That lovely lusciously soft and drapy pink print is $1.99 a yard. It's on the Spring Knits table (or it was on Saturday, they tend to move around fabrics a lot in this store) right across from the cutting table if you need some guidance. I've been waiting long enough to buy this, but I keep putting it off. I see it as a wrap dress or as Valerie's top. You, however, could benefit from my buyer's reluctance and snap it all up.

Next up: the Silk Room, so named for all those fabrics there created by silkworms. Now there's other stuff besides the silks, like the Soft Touch Jersey (above), which as you can see by the neon orange sign is on sale. The assymetrical skirts I've made came from this fabric. The selection's a bit picked over now, so all the incredibly vibrant hues are gone, but there's still plenty of other likeable stuff. I've thought about picking up a yard or so for a beige full-length slip trimmed with matching stretch lace. Let me know if you need help finding these jerseys, I'm not above clambering on bolts of fabric like a scene out of a Jackie Chan action movie. Wait! I could pretend that these are logs in a water, and spin them as I walk across them, and do my best not to fall to the ground (although I much rather fall into the water, but this isn't physically possible inside Vogue.)

Also in the Silk Room are these big bold OFK (One oF Kind) jersey knits, priced at $8.99 a yard. I especially like this one with its grand geo print and incredible color combo: Orange! White! Beige! This is a very "Look at Me Now!" print that I could see as a totally tubular, ankle-grazing summer dress much like the one Adriana made. This is across from a cutting table toward the back of the room, right by the exit (not that's where you want to go, I'm just telling you). Again, I will happily show you the way, even help you bring the bolt over to the cash register. I will try my best not to hit you in the head or in the rump with it. I must say I'm a bumbling shopper, given to tripping on my own hem, and hitting myself in the noggin with fabric. You see why Vogue Fabrics likes me so much? By the time I actually get about credit card out, my head is spinning and I can't remember what I've gotten, so I actually end up getting more. Now you know why closet is bulging with fabrics, most of it from Vogue.

Back to the tour. Beyond the Silk Room is the Notions Room, where we're all meeting. If you need a copy of Burda, maybe there'll be a copy of one there. There wasn't on Saturday. But as we all know in the wonderful world of sewing, tomorrow is another day with all sorts of surprises (mostly good!) including overnight deliveries of great sewing magazines such as Burda World of Fashion.

If you're sew inclined, there's the Home Decorating Fabrics section just beyond the Notions Room. I almost never go there, in fact the employees in that part tell me, "Aren't you in the wrong part of the store?" I mean why sew clothes for unappreciative pieces of furniture when you could make dresses, skirts and tops for humans who will most certainly appreciate what you do! Take that unappreciative window!

That's all for now, folks. See you tomorrow. Me? I plan to wear another version of Vogue 2977, stitched up in a golden Liz Claiborne knit bought you-know-where.

Playing Footsie *

I haven't really been inclined to knit socks. Why do it when so many look so functional, and er, like something Rosie the Riveter might have worn to work? I'm all about nice-looking and feminine, and socks for the most part just don't seem to go with skirts and dresses! I mean do you see the models in Vogue wearing socks or even celebrities at the various movie premieres? No, socks are just too practical to be pretty. They're just something to wear to bed or when it's so cold you might freeze some digits down there.

But I've been rethinking my position, only because my fingers are so bored on the bus and the train these days. There's only so much you can read or text to Twitter. So I want to knit something that's easy on the debit card and lightweight to carry. But I want a challenge. I'm thinking I might enjoy making these Pom Pom Peds (or these footlets)...so similar to the dozens and dozens of cotton Liz Claiborne ones I've bought at Marshalls over the past years. I'd imagine the ones I'd make would be so soft and comfy that I would never ever buy any more anklet socks. I'd love 'em so much that I would be inspired to make them for my mother, sisters, friends and bloggers I've befriended over the years. I could even see myself buying those antique darning eggs you often see at the antique shop. (I swear the Antique and Resale Shoppe has a few in a 1940s-era sewing basket I can picture now). Then I would lovingly repair all my homemade socks. (I should tell you I already stitch up any holey socks on my Viking Husqvarna. I just push the heavy knit and 'faux' serger buttons, and stitch away with made-for-knits needle on my machine. Done in 30 seconds.)

So I could see myself phasing out the machinemade in China or Viet Nam sockies in favor of the knitted-at-home ones that can be worn with flip-flops, slippers or my Natural Sport slip-on sneakers (so wonderful for dancing!). But I will never ever wear Crocs (I'm a member of I Don't Care How Comfortable Crocs Are, You Look Like A Dumbass club on Facebook). I might, just might make lacy socks but none of those multi-colored ones that look something the Seven Dwarves might wear to cut down wood in the forest.

Will it be cheaper to make my own? Probably not. But it will keep me entertained on the bus, which I think is almost more important. I'll become one of those knitters who memorize their patterns and can crank out these things like somebody's business with impromptu variations. Wanna a leaf at the ankle? Done. Your initials on the bottom? Consider your John Hancock duly noted. So stripes or even an argyle pattern? A little trickier, but give me a couple of weeks and your feet will be decorated by you know who. And we're not talking about tattoos, a whole other topic.

I figure one of the patterns above will be easy enough to learn. If not, I can pester my mom who has aced the sock-making process to the point she's got a few pairs saved up for Christmas. I won't have to go to the local sock-making store or even yelp for help at the local SnB. I can go to mom's (and raid the refrigerator in the process). And the cost of the yarn - even a nice 100 percent merino wool variety - won't bust the checkbook. I can master those wobbly double-pointed needles. (I had trouble trying to make a pair of fingerless gloves with those things and I ripped up the project without guilt and made a sweater instead.) I can stash, needles, yarn and my ego all in my to-go bag.

Now I must check on all those clean cotton anklet socks drying on a rack in my living room. They feel a little stiff, but wait til I get little socks - handwashed probably - on the same rack. Any of you who come over for dinner on wash day Wednesday (which is really any day I have a $1.25 in quarters and enough detergent) are in for a Show N' Tell. See pretty socks! Touch the little pom-pom I made. Isn't that sooo cute? Bop me on the head if you get such a lame presentation, but don't do it before you eat, ok? If you do, you might not get dinner or even an appetizer. My pride might be sorely wounded if you act disinterested or even laugh at my sockies. You know Chris Evert would love to have a pair of these? She'd probably would have really appreciated two or four back in the day when she wore the machine-made ones on the tennis courts. Now of course that she's married to Greg Norman, she doesn't care a whit about foot comfort on the court except when she's padding around the house late at night nibbling or watching "Dancing With the Stars" (I don't know if she really does this; I'm just imagining.)

Do you think if I made a pair for Rachel Ray, she'd wear them on her show? Seriously. (For those of you who don't like this woman, skip this part.) I thought about sewing her a surplice-wrap top (think the popular Kwik Sew pattern), but I don't know her measurements. I might have to do a FBA (I don't need to do one myself - I'm in the small-bust club). She looks a little short-waisted too. Would her public relations staff give me her measurements if I asked or would they just consider me a wacko? Or could I just get away with asking for her foot size without people thinking I have a foot fetish? But would she show her new socks with gusto pre-cooking on her show? I can't see that. But a top! That would hog the show big time, especially is she spilled some pesto sauce on it at some point. Then it would end up as a clip on the People Magazine funny moments on TV site. But it would be a complete disaster if my handiwork didn't fit right or looked mousy. What's the point of making something that just gets tossed in the Salvation Army donation pile? Pointless, I say.

Really. I'm better off making anklet socks for friends and family who I can actually give to in person. Watch their eyes light up in delight (I hope) and appreciation (they better, or take my knitted loveliness back faster than Batman can fly to the moon.) Now would I make socks for a man. Maybe. But not my brothers - not one of the seven. They wouldn't even put them on unless they were chained to a hospital bed. Then they might. So I'm not even going to go to the Socks for Men department right now. It might be a long while if I ever do. Let's just master the gusset first, ok? I'm going to go order my yarn for Knitpicks. Impatiently wait for my order to arrive in the slow-cooker mail, then go eat at the family household, and then bother the matriarch. I can't knit on an empty stomach or I might go poke someone's brown eye out with a double-pointed needle. Gosh, writing about food made me hungry. Oddly enough, it didn't exacerbate my desire to knit.
* The bag you see above? I crocheted that on a silk shantung lining from Tilli Tomas, which I can't find online anymore. Next time, I'd use more yarn and crochet a little looser, so the bag wouldn't look so pointy...

Monday After-'toon

Turning Totally Tubular

Between my Dunkins Donuts iced coffee (no sugar, skim milk please) and a bowlful of my pre-lunch lentil soup, I made myself this little tubular jacket. It went laser-quick on my Viking Husqvarna 735. If I could only grow the sleeves with the textile equivalent of human growth hormones, I'd be all set. Well, I'm still all set, although I don't have a set dinner table although I could have a set TV tray if I so chose.

Why the heck am I quibbling about when this project cost me all of $1 (about 92 cents less than the drink I mentioned above)? Here are some things that made it quickety-quick for me:

1) Set the foot pressure to 4. This is a very thin woven fabric, so it constantly wants to slip away, especially under the sewing table and play footsie with the pedal. Don't let it!
2) For those with advanced Viking machines, use a J foot to create a faux-serger stitch. I "serged' all raw edges because this flamestitch fabric is soooo ravelly.
3) Play up any scallops to your advantage. I love the scallops here, even though some of them looked liked they were falling apart. I've use them as the sleeve hem.
4) Fiddle with the neck opening. I did, and it's quite fitted in a way that 1950s seamstress could appreciate, but I'm content with that.
5) Use the iron to finish the project! I pressed out those scallops and the little bit of water in my iron flattened out the scallops and made them pointy as you can see in these photos.

I'm wearing this wearing this with a black top and skirt I made, but it could work with a pair of jeans (and some kind of top obviously). I'm thinking it would be spectacular with a white sleeveless jersey top and matching wide-legged linen pants. Smashing...perfect for a trip to Ravinia, which is where this train line leads if I'm so inclined to make that trip tonight. What are you sewing this weekend?

Stretch Lace Fabric Lady Strikes Again

Apparently most of us on the same wobbly wavelength as far what we're making last week. Like 5 of you, I'm also making a top, although I hadn't really planned on it. This past weekend was beginning to look like a bust in the "Look what I finished!" crocheting and knitting departments, when I decided I just needed to get a cranking on another Santa Monica Tee using fabric from my collection. I knew exactly what I was looking for when I went fishing in the sea of plastic bags filled with fabric in my closet. I plucked out this particular stretch lace, yet another score from Vogue Fabrics remnants department. It was a small piece ( 1 1/2 yards, 40 inches wide) that tested my creativity and ability to streeetch a piece of fabric in one little corner just so that I cut a complete sleeve. But I did it and I still have plenty of leftover fabric for the bodice on another top. (Incidentally this remnant set me back $4.49 pre-tax sometime in March of this year).

Here are more notes on this particular pattern:

• I cut out an extra small on the top and went two sizes up toward the hips. While I know I'm small on the northern part of my figure, a size small would at least give me a little more wiggle room and ease for my arms. Right now, I feel there's negative ease on this tee, but at least overall I'm radiating positive vibes. That's what's most important.
  

• I'm really happy with the twin-needle top stitching on this top. There's very little tunneling (which makes me think of a prairie dog traveling just a few inches underground) going on. Yes, I dropped the tension to a 2 and I used Lite Steam-A-Seam2 (the 1/2" x 20 yards version) to make the neckline fold under nicely prior to sewing it, I was prepared to get a little tunneling, but this time around I got none. Zippity zilch! A pleasant pre-Fourth of July surprise in my notebook. It might be the fabric, my pre-holiday sewing disposition, the alignment of the planets or who knows what else.
  

• I trimmed the neckline before I stitched it down just so it wouldn't be so tight in a 1940s "This is so fitted I can hardly breath" sort of way. See any of the blouses from that era to see what I'm talking about.

• The back is inside-out. Oops. Which means the scratchy part of the lace is against my back. Good thing is that the wrong and right sides of this fabric almost match. So no one will notice except my skin. I'm wearing a camisole so it's a little more comfortable. As long as I wear this top over and over again, that's all that matter. Yes, I can proudly say I did sew my "Made by Mary Beth" label inside.
  

This is the last time I'm sewing this pattern for a while. But scallop-edge stretch lace fabric? Bring it on. I was eyeing some more here and there. Once I get a little more spending money and make a Volkwagon-sized dent in my fabric collection, I'm buying more of this stuff. It rocks for tops. If I can force myself to trace the Jalie t-shirt pattern I bought back in December, I'll use some for that. I'm also thinking of using my scraps on this local pattern. But no more of the Santa Monica Tee for a while. Besides, I'll make some tops that really test my creativity and challenge me in a way that Hamlet does when he's charging down the steps with me following him in my wicked wedgies.

However, the Santa Monica Tee satisfied the need to make something new to wear, but I'm still aching to get started on a knitting project that will take me through the Fourth of July weekend. I need something that I can do while I'm on the super-crowded train to the fireworks on Thursday, idling on a bus to Summerdance on Friday, and then some. It would be nice to have something actually completed knitting by Monday that I could happily upload and say, "It's not a swatch, it's not a bust, ...it's a sweater/skirt/Swiffer cover!" Actually, the only thing that's holding me back is the purchase of the yarn, not ambition. Since I'm determined, I'll probably get something going that gets my heart singing. I'm also thinking about doing some back-to-back days of sewing this weekend at Vogue Fabrics since I'm doing the staycation like so many other Chicago denizens. What are your sewing, knitting, crocheting plans for this weekend?