Mommy blog: http://babyburrito.wordpress.com/

Why I Haven't Posted Lately....

...Because I had another baby at 3:44 AM on the morning of August 27th! Life with an infant and a toddler can be a bit hectic - barely can manage to shower - let alone sew. If you're interested, you can check my soon-to-be-created mommy blog. I will post the link when I get past technical issues at wordpress.

The End of the Dress Saga

Well, I *ahem* finished the dress I was making for my toddler last night. And as I was finishing the seams (as best I could since the garment was already sewn together) I had an ironing accident. I have had the iron on the exact same setting the entire time I was working on this project, but I guess the fabric decided it had had enough. Take a look:

How annoying is that??? I wanted to cry and I think Kailee did too. Now I have to figure out a way to get scorched polyester off an iron. Fun.

A picture follows of the totally useless piece of elastic encased in bias tape on the inside back of the dress. Why does the pattern call for this? It has no stretchability or forseeable use - except to provide a scratchy "itch" factor. I do know, however, that I will be eliminating this in all future versions.

My facing disaster is below. I know what facings are and why they are used. But I still hate them. Thankfully a wonderful lady named Connie told me that facings are hardly used at all on RTW anymore (she, like myself, prefers lining instead) and not even much on couture clothing. Well, those of you who know me personally know that I am the elastic waistband / non-itchy / stretchy fabric queen of the universe. So I decided that I, too, will eliminate facings on most of my garmets. I've already started working on a sheer nightgown today and happily (and a bit triumphantly) threw the facing pattern pieces in the trash. Connie gets my vote in '08!!!

I also decided that I don't much care for the bias-tape finished armholes the pattern called for (below). Is there a neater and more attractive way to do this? Can't I just do a turned-under-twice treatment here? Opinions wanted, please.

Here's the "finished" dress, which I stopped finishing after I burned that unsightly hole in the front.

After all this, I am still really proud of myself for sticking with it and finishing as best I could. I also learned A LOT on this project, such as:

1. Finish your seams while you contstruct - there is no step for that at the end.

2. Make sure your iron is the right temp. for the fabric you're using.

3. If something doesn't "feel" right - like stupid interfacings and useless bias tape / elastic treatments, it's okay to eliminate them. No one will call the Pattern Police.

And thanks to my conversations with my awesome Sewing Divas, I feel like I now have the confidence to make adjustments to a pattern to suit my tastes. For example, I have a need for some nightgowns. I bought a simple shirt pattern that I liked the sleeves and neckline on. I've already enlarged the bust area for more ease, eliminated facings, and will lengthen the bottom to an above-the-knee nightgown length. I will keep you posted!

My first garmet!

This is my first garmet I'm working on - a dress for my toddler. It's coming along very slowly...but steadily. I actually had to look up what "staystitching" was and why it was necessary to do. The interfacings were a minor nightmare and look like a major disaster. But I'm just trying to get through and finish it and go from there while learning from my mistakes.


Lesson learned on this project:

1. It's not a good idea to make your first garmet with a slippery, ravelly fabric like this cute (but difficult) polyester seersucker.

2. The importance of cutting accurately.

3. What interfacings are and why they are necessary.

4. Staystitching.

5. The sound my sewing machine makes when the tension is not adjusted correctly.

6. If you're not sure about something, for gosh sakes, baste it in place before sewing it into place with a 2 stitch length!

7. Some pattern instruction leave a bit to be desired for the absolute beginner like me.

The curtains that started it all...

My mother-in-law and I fell in love with this adorable glittery "bug" fabric for the curtains and a cute pink (but darned ravelly!) gingham for the valances. First lesson learned: In order to achieve desired curtain fullness, each panel should be 1 to 2 times the width of the window. I hate how these hang limply and don't give enough coverage. I'm not too hysterical about how the valance turned out, but I bought 4 more yards of the bug fabric yesterday and I'm going to make two new (and full!) panels.

The smaller window in her room turned out much better. Full coverage. Except that I hemmed the valance to the right side (which of course was the wrong side) and didn' realize it until I went to hang it up. That was a big seam ripping project, but worth it.

Lessons learned:

1. Extra fabric is needed for desired fullness

2. How to sew a turned hem

3. Pay attention to the right and wrong sides!