Vogue 1224 -- SuperCute!!

Yes, I know that this may not be a proper word, and yes I know it is not a new pattern, but it has been on my radar since I started sewing again last year, and seeing as we are going to Florida on March Break in a few weeks, I wanted to sew it up and throw it in the suitcase. I cut it out tonight, adding 2 inches to both the top and skirt pieces, after reading several review of how short it is. So, hope to sew it up on the weekend and get some pictures up!

Putting my feet up now, with an adult beverage in hand, and looking forward to the weekend.

Happy stitching,

Steph

Tracy Reese Vogue 1224-- SuperCute!!

Surviving

Well, it's January 31, and I am still surviving my change in work status to full time, from part time. I actually settled in much quicker than I thought, and any speedbumps have been miniscule. In order to actually enjoy my weekends, I make sure that I get as much done during the week as possible - groceries, 1 load of laundry per day, meal planning for the week. I have hired a cleaning lady, and biggest surprise of all -- I am getting out of bed and to my gym for the 05:45 workout. That's AM, not PM. Crazy, I know, but it is a great feeling getting it done early in the day, then feeling energized for the rest of the day. I love being able to come home and have the evening to myself, relaxing, making dinner for my kids and husband and enjoying the rest of the day. I may now even be able to start a few sewing projects again! Happy! It seems the less time I have, the more I get done. Plus, I have recruited my kids and hubby, and they have pitched in to share the load with a lot less complaining than I had anticipated. So, all in all, life is good.

As for the vogue dress I had started in my previous post, it is still in limbo, but I hope to re-cut two back pieces, rip the existing seams and sew up the new pieces.

Happy Thursday :)

Vogue 1329 -- Grr!! Invisible Zipper 3, Me 0

I was reading my sewing blogs and instantly loved everything about the Vogue 1329 dress as posted by Erica B. I also loved that it said "easy", so I thought I would give it a try, in slightly different colours. Things seemed to be going well until the insertion of the dreaded IZ. For whatever reason, this zipper insertion has kicked my @$$ 3 times now, so I will be taking a different slant on it. When I looked at my fabric panel, it has quite the curved raw edge on it, and my cutting is atrocious -- it looks as if it was cut by the Dr. Seuss' Grinch. Remember his crooked cut job on his Santa suit? Anyway, the pattern piece on the instruction guide looks quite straight-- of course it does!--and my fabric edge is quite curved, and , um, jagged. Sigh. Sooo very frustrating. My language was quite salty.  Since my fabric is quite stretchy, I am just going to sew up the centre back seam, hope that it all lines up, forgo the lining that I started on, and just wear a slip underneath. And maybe Spanx. Yeah. I'm not ready to give it up as a wadder yet, so I will do my best to salvage it, even if I have to wear a cardigan over it.



Yes Vogue, I am a sewing novice, but your easy pattern is not too difficult, and will not defeat me!!

Life Changes...

Life will be changing for me come January - I will be working full time! We have had a change at work as to how we care for our community patients who require in home health services, to stay home and avoid going to nursing homes. We used to carry people across the health care spectrum - acute needs, rehab needs up to dying at home, and I took care of them all. Now, we will be taking care of only one type of client. As a result, we were laid off with the knowledge we would have to re-post into the new jobs, winning them by seniority. This past week was very stressful as the picking of the jobs took place, and I was very lucky to post into a nice geographic area, working with very frail seniors. So, I am ramping up for the change from part time to full time work, and trying to get my loose ends tied up while I still have days off. It is exciting, but also a litlle bit anxiety provoking. I will have to make some hard decisions as to what activities and hobbies will stay in my life and what will have to go.Decisions, decisions ahead of me...

Alterations...uggh

Just a short post...I have had some alterations piling up in my sewing nook for some time, had a nice glass of red then went down and tackled them. First up, a casual, unlined jacket I purchased on sale, that I knew required some fixing to be wearable. Ugly bubble elastic hem removed, hem re-sewn, sleeve band attached to sleeves ( come ON, sweat shop owners!!) and pressed...now looking much better, and totally wearable. Yeah me!! Fixed my older son's jeans -- they had a rip right up the inside of the leg, about 4 inches. Nice soft denim, so I just used a 3 step zigzag. Fixed!! Next up, dress pants that I got on sale for $14.99 which need hemming, 3 pairs of jeans ( 2 for me, 1 for younger son) and 2 pairs of pj pants for younger son, but I ran out of patience, so will try to get those completed in the next 2 days.

Happy-- and not so happy -- Sewing!!

Till next time....

Vogue skirt...done!!

I finally buckled down and finished my Vogue skirt. I am slightly embarrassed to show my picture as I have the hem done up in...scotch tape!! Yes, when I did my disaterous photo shoot, I was so sick of that skirt and the errors I needed to fix on it that I just taped up the skirt and took the shot. In real life, I did serge and hand stitch the hem, and used fusible hem tape ( I know, I know...) on the waistband, but I must say that everything looks quite neat and clean on the inside. The skirt also looks nice on the hanger, it is a little big and one of the hips is slightly off, but that can be camoflagued with a long sweater. As I said, each project looks a little better than the last, so I am making some progress. I now have this pattern and all it's modifications done so the next one I make will fit me perfectly :)

Bad shadow, and it looks much better on in real life than in a mirror...

It is out Thanksgiving weekend up here in Canada, so I will now sign off and get cooking. Happy Thanksgiving to me, so much to be grateful for, and happy weekend to the rest of you!

NL 6470, Pictures, and a fail...

I got my hair cut today, was feeling great, and had a quiet night ahead of me as my husband and younger son were out at a concert,so decided that tonight would be my long awaited picture taking night. I got all my outifts laid out, went to set up the tripod, andddd.....noticed the handle which tightens and stabilizes the camera base was broken!! Aarrgghh!! Epic Fail. I did proceed to take my pictures but they are not what I hoped they would be. I also realized why so many bloggers bother to take pictures outside -- the lighting inside is just, well, not good, to say the least. Tomorrow I will have to review our tripod situation ( we have several) and perhaps purchase a new tripod.



New Look 6470 Zumba top...makes me happy!





I wasn't too thrilled with this top initially, however it looks better in pictures than I thought. This picture was taken in my son's bedroom, as he has full length mirrors on his closet doors.I did some of my own drafting techniques to the existing pattern - made a size larger, made it 2 inches longer, and extended the cowl by about 1.5 inces to give it more drape. The fabric was a polyester burnout type, with a little bit of stretch in it, and was a bear to press. Ahh, the things I learn with each project!!

I will leave you with a final shot of me fresh from the stylist, and having a great hair day! Now if only I could go see her every 2 days to style me this way, every day :)



Happy Creating!!