Tops To Go With Those Jeans. . .

So like I said, I've got 3 more pairs of jeans to go.  I just got this fabric from Moods.  I think it should make a nice pair of jeans.  I can't wait to get started on them.  Its an Italian Printed Denim.  I've got to pre-treat the fabric and hope to start them this week.



Picture Courtesy of Mood.com

Until theses are done, though I've been thinking that I'm going to need some tops to go with all these jeans.   About two years ago I made a peplum top from the Patrones Issue 292, pattern number 32.  I've made this up twice in a skirt set.  The 2nd one was out of  African fabric that I found at a local store called Akente Express in Denver, CO. It has been around for over 20 years.   (For a quick virtual tour of the store, select this link - This is so cool! )

Picture courtesy of Google Maps, select virtual tour link above to see entire store

I made this top about a year ago.  I have a matching skirt for this top. I thought it would be nice with my black denim jeans that I just completed.

I figured I'd make another top to wear with the acid wash jeans. The fabric uses is a white cotton with mini polka dots in navy blue. I had a blue faux-leather belt that I had made sometime back to pair with the top. I also underlined it in w/ imperial baptist.

My next sewing stop is a vintage dress pattern made from this "stash" fabric.  I just finished it today, and can't wait to wear it.

Jeans, Jeans, and more Jeans

So lately I have been working on Jeans. When the cold weather approaches, it motivates me to do pants. As you recall, I had the desire to make a pair of jeans from printed denim after seeing this picture in Instyle Magazine 7/2012:

Photo Courtesy of Instyle Magazine, July 2012

Well try as I might, I wasn't able to find denim in such bold prints, so instead I went with these prints:

All of these were purchased from JoAnn's. Well when I got ready to sew that's when I discovered I had misplaced my jean pattern. After all of those months of getting the fit of the Jalie 2908 jeans pattern just right, now I can't find the thing!

Well thank goodness for Craftsy.com, and Kenneth Kings class "Jean-ius". It took me about 2 days; but I made another Jean pattern from one of the earlier pairs I had made. I only had to do very minor tweaking, and I was ready to go. He has so-o-o many helpful hints, and his directions are very easy to follow. This was definitely worth the money! And if you are like me you can catch one of the class sales and get a discount.

I decided to do some topstitching using a the triple stitch on my machine on 2 of the pairs, and using buttonhole thread and my Singer 99K on the other 2 pairs.

After discovering the convenience of having a separate machine already setup with the topstitching thread, I will never again sew jeans on a single machine. It's so convenient to just turn to the other machine rather than having to rethread the machine constantly, as I alternate between seams and topstitching.


  The first pair was made from "paint-splash" denim.  It had a little bit of lycra in it.  I always make my jeans with some extra comfort space.  I'm originally from the south, so anything close to freezing, and a sister will put on thermals in a heartbeat! I love to wear heals with my jeans; so I typically make my pants one to two inches longer than needed















Then came the Acid Wash jeans. I got was so pleased with the waistband. (A little thing that Kenneth King mentions is to cut the waist band on the crosswise grain, and this will give it some stretch). I As you can tell I got the fit over the rear without the use of darts! These were topstitched using white thread, and the triple stitch on my machine.



 


















Next were the black pin stripe jeans; on these I added 2 inches to the hemline, and decided to drop the waist about an inch. I've topped stitch these using a black buttonhole thread, so the topstitching is as noticeable on these as they are on the white ones and the final ones. Also, on these I decided to do the top stitching on the inseam; just to try something different.











The final pair was made from what I call"holey" denim. I chose to use a tan topstitching thread for these. I also went all out and did the rivets on the pockets, etc. I topstitched these on the inseam (hence, the reason for the awkward stand, so you could see the stitching). I kept all of the stitching on pockets very simple.  I figured the fabric was the eye-catcher.

I also decided to use my Singer 99k to do my buttonhole on the waistband.  It was so easy.   Sometimes these older attachments are great.  It handled the bulkiness at the waistband without problem:

I used my largest keyhole template and stitched around the buttonhole twice, but of course I had to do my sample stitch out first.

 The final touch was to use the buttonhole cutter to cut open the buttonhole, and a little fray check to seal the opening.

This is one of the many projects I've got finished during my blog absence.  So now I have 4 jeans completed and 3 more to go.  Hey, I need to have at least a weeks worth of jeans, you never know when a good old fashioned snow storm may hit.
  

Creative Expressions/Quilt Down Under

So folks this morning I got an offer for a free 6 month digital subscription to Creative Expressions with Jennny Haskins, Quilt Down Under, and Down Under Textiles.  All 3 are embroidery, quilting, sewing magazines out of Austraila.  This is being offered by Creative Living Media, who is the publisher of these magazines.  I think I got the notice because I have a subscription to the Austrailian Smocking Magazine.

I've subscribed and was just browsed thru some of the Creative Expressions magazines.  (Did I mentioned that you also get access some of the archived issues for this period?)  I am going to definitely enjoy this subscription for the next 6 months. 
Here's a snapshot of the URL:

The link if you are interested is: http://www.creativelivingmedia.com.au/
Happy Sewing!

A Vintage Dress and Petticoat finished!

Well I finally finished my vintage dress.
I used some fabric that I had purchased last year at the Pattern Review meetup in Chicago 2011. The pattern that I was making is a vintage McCall:

The fabric was a green border print:

The finished product (as worn by my sewing mannequin):

As you can see I took some of the border print and made a custom belt.
Don't be fooled by the length. This may look long on my mannequin; but on me it is only about mid-calf length
Since I love the 40's/50's style dresses, I decided it was time to make a petticoat to go under these full skirts. The petticoat is a simple align skirt with about a 12" deep double layer ruffly out of a soft netting. It was very simple to make, and I got the opportunity to use my ruffler foot - woo hoo!

I'll post a picture of me wearing it later this week.
Now on to my denim print jeans!
- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

No Place Like Home

Well I went down south to visit my Mom and was fortunate enough to be blessed by some friends of my Mom's with some vintage patterns:
I ended up coming home with a duffle bag filled with patterns. That meant I had to borrow a duffle bag from my Mom, since I only bought one suitcase with me:

I placed each one in a ziploc baggie, so they could survive the journey home.
You'd have thought that I had just won the lottery; well actually I did - The Vintage Pattern Lottery. There had to be over 80 patterns in the box that these ladies gave to me.
Also, after reading several reviews; and stalking Gerties and Male Pattern Boldness blogs. I decided I wanted a copy of the New Book For Better Sewing book by Vogue.
I found one on Ebay, and became the proud owner. I love this book!

I have the first pattern in my vintage stash, and have already started reading thru the chapter in the book for making the pattern. I'm so excited!
Tomorrow I'll post a copy of the vintage dress I just completed.
Happy Sewing . . . .
- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

No Brainer Pick-me-up --> Luggage Tags

Every once in a while you need a little pick me up.   Something to get your adrenaline flowing and doesn't require a lot of effort or thought.  I needed one of those.  I kept thinking about all of the scraps I have, and I wanted something quick.

So I figured, Luggage Tags!  Doesn't require much fabric, and I have everything I need here.  Its something I can never have too many of.  And with all of the traveling I've done, and the traveling to come they would definitely get plenty of use.

Of course I didn't want to pay for a pattern, so a "googling" I went.  I came across this pattern: Studio Kat ID Tags.  It took less than 30 minutes to make 3 tags.

I did make a couple of changes when I made the tag:

1. The patterns calls for 8 gauge or less vinyl.  I had a box of sheet protectors that I bought from Staples, so I just took a sheet and used that for the clear vinyl window.
2. The pattern called for interfacing on the wrong sides of the tag.  I did that; but I also had some buckram.  (I had used it in a belt).I cut this to the same size as the interfacing, and then trimmed it down so that I was just barely catching it in the seams.  This gave an additional stiffness to the tag.
3. My tag is just large enough to fit a business card into the vinyl pocket (as you can see in the picture above). The instructions state to stitch the vinyl pocket closed once you've inserted your ID information..  However, I decided to leave it open.  This way I can make some as gifts for family and they can put their information into the vinyl pocket.  It also makes it easy to switch out the id card info if I need to.

Tomorrow, I'll be back on my regular program - garment sewing.

Happy Sewing . . . .

One More Piece of Organization . . .

Well, if you've been reading my posts I've been all about organizing my sewing room.  I've got my patterns, and magazines done.  Now onto the last item my stash.  I have a fabric stash notebook, but I needed a better way to organize the new additions to my stash.

My biggest problem has been that when I buy new fabrics, I don't have a way to track the specifics of the fabric.  Then, as Oprah would say, I had an A-Ha moment.  I'm carrying all of this technology with me, why not make use of it.

When I decide to purchase a piece of fabric; as it is being, cut I take a quick snapshot of the end of the bolt with the fabric description, and of the fabric on the table.  (If its a bolt that doesn't have the information on the end of the bolt then I just turn my recorder on my smart phone and record the information so I can write it down later).

When I get home I just add the picture and bolt information to my fabric entry in Microsoft One-note:

An I-Phone, I-Pad, and Microsoft Office One-note have awaken the desire to become more organized with my sewing time.  The more time I save by organizing, means more time to sew!!!!

Now I'll have access to my patterns, magazines, and stash from anywhere by computer, phone, or ipad.  Yipee!!!!!

Happy Sewing. . . .