PR weekend in Philadelphia

A front door garden on a Philli street

What fun I had! I just wanted to start by saying that the best about this past weekend was meeting all my fellow sewists; I really enjoyed talking to everyone and finding out about their backgrounds and families, we are such a diverse group and what fun to get together and be able not just to get along but so enjoy each others company. My only regret is that I missed meeting some of the 50 or so participants and it was only due to lack of time.

I left early on Friday by train. Trena and I coordinated taking the same train so we could share a cab to the hotel, this also gave us the opportunity to chat for a while.

Kenneth King was very entertaining and the workshop was informative. Having everyone together in one room where we could relax and chat was a great way to start the weekend. I also met my roommate for the weekend, Shirley, for the first time. Thanks Shirley for being a great roomie!

Sample from workshop


Entrance to the Perelman building where the garment collection resides.

After the workshop we split up in groups to go have lunch and then go to the Philadelphia Museum of Art to see a fashion exhibit and to get to see some of the designer garments in their collection. I did not take pictures but you can see some of the garments here (My favorite was the Chanel knit coat) I did take some pictures of the surrounding area of the museum. While at the museum I also got to see an amazing collection of Indian quilts.


That evening we had a wonderful dinner and while we waited for the rain to stop we had a fashion show. I enjoyed seeing everyone's creations up close. Connie you convinced me to make the Michael Kors you were wearing!


Pyracanthas shrubs trained as espaliers!!


On Saturday we started early. I enjoyed an early morning walk before our shopping trips where I found myself on beautiful cobblestone streets in the surrounding area.




Our first stop was 4th street also known as Fabric Row. I only had a chance to visit two stores because the line at PA Fabrics lasted about an hour but that is the one place I wanted to visit to get hair canvas, buttons and miscellaneous supplies. I also got the beautiful purple wool/acrylic knit at Kinkus.

Our next stop London Textiles in Cherry Hill, NJ was a madhouse of women pulling cuts of fabric from huge cardboard boxes. I only found the above navy wool crepe (3 yards) of beautiful quality.



Next came Jomar. Talk about low prices! I found two cuts of nice lining and the light blue which is a woven with lots of stretch.

And of course you know that women like us who are so conscious of fashion would only travel in style...in a bright yellow school bus!!!!


From left Connie, Karen, me, Touran and Lee

Saturday ended with a visit to Karen. As you can see we enjoyed dinner and wine and great conversation. As Mario was trying to take our picture he kept saying "Say patterns" "Say Burda"...He's a keeper Karen! We also had Karen modeled for us her latest creation, the Burda Mag Plus shirtdress she graded down to her size, it is gorgeous!

On Sunday morning we got together at the hotel for breakfast and then my roomie and I went for a walk and ended up back in Fabric Row where Fleishman's was the only shop open. I found belting material and the larger military style buttons I had been looking for. Back at the hotel we waited with Jackie and Jaeng making time to go to the train terminal, of course even waiting can be fun in company of new friends.

Thank you Connie, Karen, Lee, Annette, Andrea, Mimi and Elaine you all did a wonderful job!

I will soon update my blogroll to include all the new blogs I discovered this past weekend!

Mother's day weekend

This past weekend my family and I went to south New Jersey to visit my MIL. Since we usually visit a garden for Mother's day I did a quick search of the area and I found the gardens at Georgian Court University.

Sadly the pictures on their site did not reflect the state of the gardens presently. The garden has good bones, lots of beautiful fountains and sculptures but they have been neglected for what it looks a while. Flowers were hard to find and weeds proliferated. The Japanese garden was the best looking, we were glad that it was the last one we visited.





My son had a photo assignment so this trip was perfect for him.

I hope all my readers who are moms enjoyed our special day!

Maryland Sheep and Wool Festival

This weekend was the MD Sheep and Wool Festival. I went on Saturday which is the most crowded day but also you get better selection if you have something in mind. I wanted yarn for a cardigan, DK weight. I found a beautiful wool in a lilac color, which I don't have in my closet. The caramel color alpaca was an impulse buy, the price was wonderful, and I plan to make a stole/shawl and wear it with my new glass pin.

I ate delicious lamb and got to watch some of the sheep judging. I also admired the 4-H entries and did a lot of people watching when I took breaks to rest from the hot sun.

There were more vendors that I remember from previous years. There were a lot of beautiful hand dyed yarn most of it sock weight and I'm not a sock knitter. I still have some of this yarn that I bought before and have to figure out what to make out of it other than socks.


Isn't this a great haircut?














I got a new phone and since Clio doesn't know that it has a camera I was able to take her picture. Isn't she a cutie?


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My shirtdress is coming along but the garden has been occupying me so the progress has been slow.

McCalls 5752

I finally finished "the perfect knit dress" a few days ago, but the weather got cold and I hadn't worn it to show you. I wore it this morning not paying attention to the weather, I was cold.

As I said before I had construction issues because the knit I picked was very lightweight and stretchy. I added length to the bodice which I had to remove by taking a 1 1/2 inch seam allowance where the bodice joins the waistband. I also made the same alteration Amanda did on her dress which worked very nicely to remove the sagging of the neckline(thanks!). This pattern had a lot of extra instructions for modifications which was very nice, one thing it did not mention is that different knits will need different considerations.

This print had a lot going on vertically and horizontally and I'm really happy with how the dress turned out.



I had to share a picture of how the dress looked before I added the stay recommended in the directions. I had omitted it thinking that with the ruching there was a lot of bulk already in the waist, but oh! my! Didn't it look terrible? In the next picture you can see the stay; I used a rayon knit leftover from another project. If you look closely at the ruching in the back (it is hard to notice in my busy print yay!)you can see that it is a little droopy; I think that if I had made the dress with less ease the waistband section would have stretched and removed the droopiness, but with such a thin knit I didn't dare do that.




I now have a break between interpreting assignments and I'm changing my outfit. I believe in making some sacrifices for fashion, but I can't stand being cold =)

In progress...

I just finished cutting Burda Style 116 from the April issue. The fabric is from A Fabric Place in Baltimore, a light weight twill; I'm reproducing a favorite orange dress my mom made me when I was 12.

Simplicity 2472

This was a very easy pattern just two pieces and the binding. Although the original pattern has no shaping on the side seams mine has some to accommodate for my pear shape. Even so the dress is pretty loose as you can see in the pictures with no belt. The fabric is a poly knit I bought at Metro Textiles about a year ago. Not much more to say, this pattern was easy to make and it is very easy to wear.



From some angles it really looks sack like

A gift of fabric

My mom used to sew a lot but not any more. She now knits and crochets instead. But she still has quite a stash of fabrics. Yesterday I went to see her and she gave me the fabrics you see posted here. The beautiful white silk she gave me last year for Mother's day, isn't gorgeous? This is a "good" fabric and so I'm looking for the right pattern.




From the left is a light weight cotton that will make a pretty tunic or full skirt, next is another silk damask for a blouse and the white silk; both could be made into dresses there's plenty of yardage.

The next photo from the left a stripe silk for a blouse and a rayon print that came from a Fabric Place (Michael's) ( they were selling it at $1.00 a yard a couple of years ago who could resist?)

Like many of you who are going to PR weekend in Philadelphia, I'm saving all my pennies, so this gift was received with great enthusiasm!

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I have been working on the McCalls knit dress I mentioned in my previous post. It has given me all sort of construction issues, my fabric is extremely stretchy and doesn't want to behave. I think I finally got it, more details to come.

An update

Just before I came down with the nasty cold I'm fighting off right now, I finished Simplicity 2472; the temperatures also dropped and I couldn't even think about wearing this dress. I wanted a really simple pattern for the knit print since I didn't want to worry about matching circles and I didn't want chop the print too much either. It can't get any simpler than this pattern! I know it doesn't have hanger appeal but it does look cute on. I'll take pictures of me wearing it later, when I feel better...



I also decided on McCalls 5752 for this knit print that I found at Joann's about a year ago. I think it will look good with this design.


In looking through my stash I found this beautiful twill from Michael's fabrics. I usually don't buy this color, but it came in a bundle and the quality is wonderful. I really need a neutral spring jacket so now I'm searching for a pattern.

I'm really looking forward to next week, the kids are off and I don't work thanks to working for the school system. I hope I can shake off this cold soon because I have plans!!

Look what showed up in our backyard a couple of days ago! This is the first time we see a pheasant visiting, the colors were just beautiful!


I wish to those who celebrate a good holiday!

Burda WOF 1 2009 106A Dress

While I was working on my coat I was dreaming of making dresses and I made a list of what I wanted to make. This is the first one, a knit dress with v-neck and sleeve flounces. I was going to show this dress styled for spring/summer, but I'm cold so out came the tights and boots. I have a couple of belts that I'm also planning on wearing with this dress, but today is a "fat" day so no belt.



This was very easy to put together,it is a knit after all, right?. I love that is very versatile, I plan to wear it fall and spring, since the simple lines and neutral color can be the background to many colorful accessories. The fabric is a cotton/lycra knit I bought through a coop. It has enough body to work nicely as a dress, no clinging going on.





I can see from the back picture there are some folds around the back, but I think this is not uncommon on a dress with no darts, I also might have overcompensated when straightening my back for the picture.



As far as techniques used...stabilized shoulders with Seams Great, interfaced hem as explained in Easy Guide for sewing tops and t-shirts

Modifications to pattern...Used 38, 40 to 42 sizes (shoulders, chest and waist/hips), lengthened bodice by 1 inch.

On to the next dress!

A gift from my mom

I'm sure I have mentioned before that my mom is fantastic with a crochet hook. I like to crochet but she loves it and not with the thicker yarns but the ones you could consider thread weight. I am lucky to have two bedspreads, tablecloth trim (yet to be attached to said tablecloth), curtains hanging in my house and quite a few garments in lace crochet.

Although I'm not a lace girl (my wedding dress was completely devoid of any lace and so was my prom dress), I love lace crochet. So since mom loves to make it and I love to wear it, she made me the cardigan you see above (sorry for the headless picture, my photographer was not in the mood, and believe me you did not want to see my face).

I have commissioned a couple of other pieces that will make their appearance on my blog in the future :-)

Fad classic vest

Thanks everyone for all the wonderful comments you left about my coat. I am very happy with the outcome!

This design by Wendy Bernard has been very popular and with good reason. The pattern stitch is easy to memorize and it is very pretty. I originally wanted to make it in cotton but I had this beautiful Brooks Farm Solana worsted weight yarn that I bought at the Maryland Sheep and Wool Festival last year, and I thought it would make a nice fall/winter vest. Besides, the festival is coming up again soon (May) and it makes sense to use at least one of my purchases.

Because the variation of colors in the yarn you can really see that the vest is done knitting back and forth up to the neckline and then all stitches from front and back are joined in the round. It is more obvious in the back.



I need to remind myself to stand up straight, oh well...

Burda WOF 9/2005 102 Coat

Can I tell you how excited I am that the coat is finished? Let me count the ways...Seriously, I'm thrilled with this coat! The fabric is the most luxurious I have ever experience, no itchy wool here. The fabric is a (I believe) wool/cashmere/camel blend, which I bought at PA fabrics back when there was an outlet a couple of miles from my house;they had this wonderful sales where if you bought over a $100 worth of fabric you payed for half, yeap those were the days.



My very last struggles had to do with the hem and back vent. After I had bagged the lining and got it all through the sleeve, I tried it on and the hem was doing all sort of weird things. I had to rip the hem stitches to see what was going on in the construction. It turns out after I attached the wigwam according to the instructions in a Threads magazine, I neglected to actually sew a hem, duh!! Once I corrected that I sewed the hem by hand this time and all was well. The way my lining is going around the top of the vent does not satisfy me, but at this point I will let it be until the coat comes out next season to be worn. Even after reading tutorials I'm having a hard time visualizing how the lining should be attached to the vent, so I need to put it aside.

I'm also thrilled with the silk lining which came from G street Fabrics. It reminds me of the old fashion linings I used to see in my grandfather's and my father's jackets; all their clothes were made by tailors, those were the days.



What I learned during this project:

1. Bound buttonholes

2. Welt pockets with flap

3. Padstitching undercollar and lapels

4. Tailoring techniques in general, as I have discussed in previous posts, including using hair canvas.

5. Applying wigan to hems

6. During collar construction, adjusting for turn of the cloth.



As far as changing the pattern, besides adding all the tailoring, I cut the under collar as a two piece cut on the bias. Of course I had a lot of help from the Great Coat Sew Along as my muslin was analyzed by Marji.


Anyways I know you have heard plenty about this coat so I'm sure you are glad to see it finished too! I will have a brand new coat to wear next season.

Green!

Yesterday I got to spend the day in Washington DC with my family. We went to the Botanical Gardens, the Native American Museum and a brief visit to the National Gallery. I love going to the museums in the winter! We got there around 10:00 am and parked across from the gardens, no crowds at the gardens and lunch at the Native American Museum was delicious and with plenty of room to sit and relax.


Primeval

The best part of the trip, I was surrounded by the color green for a few hours! I really needed that dose of tropical weather. As a bonus they had at the gardens a special orchid exhibit, so not only did I see green but a variety of bright beautiful colors too!





Teenager at rest


Ignore my goofy look and notice that I am now the short one (at 5'6") in the family, DS1 on the left is 15, DS2 on the right 12.


The obligatory shot at arm's length


I'm holding off on showing you the coat, I'm so close to finishing!