Almost done

So, am hoping to wear the blue satin and black brocade dress for NYE. (So much for wearing it for the holiday party, lol) It's almost done. I kinda wish I'd chosen a black invisible zipper instead of a blue one, since the blue doesn't quite match..but it'll be hidden, and dark..lol. Just need to finish the armholes and ruffle. And it'll be a dress! Lol!

Now, what did I accomplish today?

I cut out 6 pieces out so far. There is a total of about 14 pieces. I cut out all the skirt pieces (except the pockets, because that is out of a different fabric). Tomorrow I'll cut out the blouse parts, which is a third fabric. I'll put together the skirt, and wait until Friday to get blue thread and put together the blouse. Then I'll put the WHOLE thing together to make a dress.

For the skirt I've picked a beautiful black brocade looking fabric:

I cut out the skirt pieces and labeled them (because this one is a little trickier since it has a pattern):

Then the same for the other side. Same picture, just LB and RB, lol. On to the black satin for pockets real quick tomorrow, and then blue satin for the top!

I'm also excited about making jewelry and a clutch. Yay. And, I'm going to make brownies at some point tomorrow, so I can send them to Denver for my brother. Busy day tomorrow =)

Ok, going back.

So, I had taken a bit of a break, after Horrors.

But, this weekend I have a holiday party to go to, and have nothing to wear! Lol. So I went back to my fave pattern, the dress. I want it to look like the one in the picture - the bluish purple color. But alas, my local fabric store does not sell damask fabric =( So I bought a beautiful black brocade, but they only had 1 yard, so I can make the skirt part in that. Then I'm going to make the top in a great blue satin. We'll see how it goes.

I also got inspired (and distracted by shiny things) in the bead aisle. I bought some pretty blue beads and then some turquoise beads, and some silver star/circles plus some chain and some earring backs, to make matching jewelry for my blue/black holiday dress. I'm glad I went on Monday, because it snowed Monday, stopped for a bit. Then snowed all morning Tuesday, snowed ice Tuesday evening, and then turned into rain (which I think finally stopped now, at 1:30 am!). So at least I have all my supplies (although I may need blue thread, but am waiting to get it, since I have a coupon and figured might as well save a little bit =)

Gonna start tomorrow. Pictures to come =)

Horrors.

So I finished the dress. BUT, when I was cutting the extra piece of the hem, I made a hole in it! Right in the middle, right on the front, of course. This sorta brought me down for a bit. Hence, not too many posts. =)

Plus, New Moon was coming out. So put the sewing on hiatus, and turned to making glittery shirts =)

My sister and I made shirts with "Team Edward" on the front, and "Jacob...Take off your shirt!" on the back =)

Here are some pics:

HA! We did have a good time with it =)

Plus, I felt like trying something new. So I bought a new pattern - Simplicity 2758. More details to come!

Patterns

So, as I can't do the Kitchen quilt while a certain someone is home, and I am slowly (when the mood strikes) quilting the "Diced Chocolate" quilt, I thought maybe I could do a different project. I saw various dress patterns and thought, hey, maybe I could try it! Lol! It's just buying fabric, cutting it to the pattern and stitching them together right? Sorta...

I looked up various patterns, and ended up loving a pattern - Simplicity 2497.

Cute huh? So, first problem was, HOW MUCH FABRIC TO BUY? Turns out, patterns are a whole new world, with a whole new language. The nice lady at WalMart told me to look at the back, and read the pattern directions. Turns out, I needed 3 and 5/8 yards. I wanted to make it out of a purple satin, but it was 7 inches short! So, choose just plain black satin..for just $7.50! Took it home, started cutting, using my new tracing paper and wheel. Also an amazing thing, my sister just stared at me, like, "really? This is going to work?" Then I showed her where the lines came out, and she was amazed. We both were. So after cutting yesterday, I also sewed the bodice together. I made the rest today, except I couldn't find an invisible zipper the right size yesterday, otherwise I'd probably finish it. I made the skirt, added the midriff, put together all the pieces, made POCKETS! (OMG!! Love love love dresses with pockets!!). So far, it looks like a dress. Here's a really bad pic -

I still need to make the ruffle, add the zipper, and then finish the left side seam. And then, I'm going to buy REAL fabric - probably brocade.. either this:
or this: or this:

We'll see what I can find at the grand opening of the new JoAnn fabrics - I realize these aren't the coolest fabrics, but hey, when I can buy it for 50 % off and play with different things, I figure, hey why not!

Btw, I'm still amazed by the pockets. =)

Kitchen Fabric?

I'm out of town, but I'm still looking for fabric for my new project. I already have some fabrics - one with broccoli, one with garlic, one with tomatoes, one with green peppers, one with oranges, and one with bananas (do you see a theme? =) I'm planning on using a certain school's colors and have this so far...

Now I just need to find some fabric with aprons, spatulas, and chef's hats. If anyone has this, please let me know! I may end up appliqueing these shapes on if I can't find a nice fabric to use. We'll see how it goes.

Straight up, now tell me now...

Straight matters.

So, I figured out what salvage means. It's the ends of the fabric where the threads all meet and don't fray. (I don't know how to explain it) So I measured, 3 times, and cut. Beautiful, straight happy sides to my backing.

Then I had to cut the ends of the quilt top, so I had a rectangle and not 3 straight sides and 1 side with different edges (imagine a staircase). Slowly. sLoWlY. SLOWLY. And 3 sides are beautiful. Straight and lovely. One side, slightly curvy, not so happy. But when I'm finished, I have to cut all the sides anyways, so I figured, it's ok for now. Then I sewed the 2 large backing pieces into one gigantic piece. I pressed everything before AND after sewing. It's beautiful. Then I cut the batting. I measured (twice) and cut it about in half. Then I pressed it too. I have never pressed so much in my life. Even my clothes aren't this wrinkle free.

Now I have everything laid out to spray the batting adhesive, but I sprayed a bit to check the spray and smell. Ppp-ueeew, it's smelllllllls. So I decided to do it tomorrow morning, when no one is in the house, and when I can open the windows without rain coming in. So I'm excited to finish it! Because starting tomorrow, I have a reunion tomorrow night, second part of the reunion Saturday night, an author visit on Sunday, and then off to Denver for a week on Monday. A quilting break for about 9 days. Then time to free quilt.

Salvage, not sewage

So after sewing my last set of strips, cutting out all my triangles, setting it out, making the pattern how I liked, I sewed the triangles together to make squares. I pressed all the squares, sewed them together to make the full quilt. Now it's time to figure out how to cut off the salvage, sew the 2 large backing pieces together to make a huge backing and then make a quilt sandwich.

To me, this was gibberish about a week ago. But I went to trusty quiltfabric.com and asked some questions. I bought the fabric I needed (2 pieces that are 1 and 1/2 yards each). I need to sew those 2 pieces together across and that will make my large backing for the whole quilt. I also need to cut off one edge (the salvage), before I sew the pieces together...which edge? Not sure.

I bought the batting (the part that makes it a soft and cozy =) and a spray adhesive, along with a pair of gloves for free stitching (the part that makes it look quilty), they're basically gloves with fabric thimbles at the tips of the fingers.

Apparently the part I have done so far is called piecing, whereas the actual quilting is the free stitching, which THANKFULLY you can do with a machine now. (Otherwise, I'd be stitching loopy stitches all over the quilt.) So I'm good to go, except for the salvage part. I thought I could figure it out with Google, but I'm stumped so far. Will continue searching...

My first class

So, the back-story: I was in New Jersey, trying to find something to fill my time while I was hoping to find a job out there. As no interviews were coming in, I decided to look into sewing classes (since I'd wanted to learn, and wanted to find something to do with all my sentimental and concert t-shirts). I found a quilting class, and figured that would be a fun way to use the concert t-shirts. I wanted to sign up, but needed a sewing machine. Thankfully, the people I was staying with had one I could borrow. I was all set! I went in, and it was WAY beyond my expertise, I didn't even know where to start. The instructor was very welcoming, and helped me anyways! She gave me some scrap fabric and told me to practice straight lines. After my first straight line, I asked (stupidly) what to do with the "string." I was quickly corrected and told it was THREAD!

Then she told me to find 2 half yards of fabric, that I liked, in the store and bring them back up. She taught me how to cut the fabric and told me to go home and cut squares to make a small place mat or table runner. I went home, cut my squares, came back the week later and put together small squares to make half a small table runner.

That was back in July. Then I went home to Chicago, and didn't have a sewing machine any more. As I contemplated what to do, I was still looking for a job. That was in mid-August. I looked for jobs, continuously. I checked my email and phone constantly, hoping for ANY responses. Still no job. No interviews. Letter after letter, "we have received your resume, and will contact you when we have made a decision." Or even worse, "we have received your resume, and will contact you, if we decide to interview you, otherwise thank you for your interest." UGH!


Finally, last week, I decided I would invest in a refurbished machine online for just $55. Mainly I needed something productive that would stop me from going crazy after all the TV watching. I was already reading a book a day, but I could only read and watch TV so long. My brain was turning into mush. I went to trusty Google, and found a local quilt store, quiltfabric.com and signed up for their "Strip Club" class. I called and asked if it was for beginners, and they said that if I knew how to cut and straight stitch, I should be fine. I can do both (thanks Pat from NJ!) and so I was excited to try it out. This class was a demonstration class, and not a hands on class (like the NJ one), so it was more just chatting about the pattern and the instructor showed us step by step how to do it, and how to avoid some problems so we wouldn't waste fabric. I went home with my "strips" and was supposed to go to Denver the next day.

Ended up changing the trip to Denver to the next week, and did some touristy stuff all day after the class. I was exhausted! I took a nap, and thought I would shower, get dressed, re-energize and go out for a night on the town (it WAS Saturday night!). But after the nap, I was just tired, tired, tired, and hungry. So, ended up ordering a pizza and putting on pajamas. It was still early, and after the pizza, I had energy, but not enough to go all out. I saw the strips, and decided, heck, let's start!

Now, 3 days later, I have sewn all my strips together. I have cut the triangles out of all but one strip set. And I have put all the triangles I cut into larger triangles. Now it's time to make the squares, lay it out, sew it all together. I went and got the things for the quilting sandwich, so as soon as I put the squares together, I'll need some extra hands (probably my mother and sister) to help my spray the batting and backing and stick everything together. I'm excited!

First triangles (actually 2 smaller triangles together).

Then put 2 triangles together.

Put 4 large triangles together to make 2 large squares.

Then put squares together.

Eek, a quilt! =)