Conjuring Spring with McCall's 6513

Once I finished Vogue 1378 (view B), I realized that I needed a long top to cover my behind.  Although they are not billed as leggings, they felt like leggings, and I felt a little exposed.  I am still working off the weight I gained during my bathroom renovations.

Since snow was falling, I relied solely on my stash.  My first plan was to sew the top (view A) in Vogue 1378 with some ITY purchased a few years ago.  Unfortunately, it called for more than 2 yards of 60" fabric, and I had just about 1.5 yard.  So I pulled something else out of my stash: McCall's 6513.

McCall's 6513: I made view B

Well, I thought I had a yard-and-a-half, but it was actually much less AND the fabric had been written on, which meant that I had to be creative cutting the pattern pieces.  So pattern-matching was out of the question.

I couldn't even remove the ink with alcohol.  What is that?
I probably got an end-of-bolt discount on this, but it's been so long I've forgotten.

The pattern went together quickly.  My only problems were with the fabric.  This was my first rodeo with ITY, and I had a heck of a time hog-tying it.  It is slippery.  I used clear elastic to stabilize the shoulder seams, and attempted to use clear elastic for the sleeve ruching (per the instructions).  The elastic was Hobby Lobby store brand, and it was just so crappy that it broke every time I tried to stretch it more than 10%.

Let me interrupt this broadcast for a rant. THIS is the real reason I don't shop Hobby Lobby anymore: their poor quality private label products!  I'm sure they bring in bigger margins, but I refuse to spend my valuable time sewing poor quality merchandise.

Anyway, back to sewing.  I remedied the lack of clear elastic the old-fashioned way, by gathering the fabric with long stitches.  It doesn't stretch, but I'm not convinced it is necessary.

Sleeve ruching

My only other difficulty involved the neckline.  I rejected the pattern's instructions to sew a simple hem, envisioning gaping and buckling.  I tried two options before settling on "bias strips" (really cut on the cross grain), stretched just a little bit while sewing.  My first fail involved twill tape, which I have seen on some wrap dresses.  The second attempt was with the awful aforementioned elastic.  Both were klutzy looking.

Neckline inside: strip cut on the cross grain and stretched while sewn to the neckline.
Turned and topstitched with a twin needle.

Neckline public side: there was a little rippling, but once pressed it was fine.

As with most wrap tops, it is very figure flattering.  The ruching across the midriff in view B (achieved with gathering stitches) was perfect for helping to camouflage that extra little bit of flesh I've been carrying.

A few reviewers of this pattern mentioned that the top was too long, but I think the length is just right for me (see "cover my behind," above).  Also, I made no adjustments to the neckline, and I was pleased with the coverage it provides.

It covers my behind, too.

It was a quick project to whip up, and I was eager to wear it immediately.  Unfortunately, I was also eager to take it off --  I hated the feel of the polyester ITY against my skin!  So it hung in my closet for a few weeks, and I pouted.  Funny thing, when I tried it on again last week, I really liked it. It seemed to fit me better, and pull less around the middle.  I've also lost a few pounds, so maybe it wasn't the polyester after all.  Either way, I ordered some rayon ITY to give it another go.

The green and black fabric doesn't really match the wine color of the pants, but it coordinates well enough. [I'm sure my daughter will tell me otherwise, but I like it.]  It also looks great with my many black pants, and it matches my breakfast almost perfectly.  Unfortunately, it's still too cold to wear it.

Spring Cleaning

My husband has been politely reminding me to get my sewing room cleaned up for quite some time.  Why does he care what my sewing room looks like, you ask?  Well, because my sewing room is actually our dining room!  It is really a nice place to work: it has great natural light, it's near the kitchen, and the table quickly expands to 96".  Unfortunately, I also tend to pile my fabric and patterns and tools on it, too.  So I agree, it can be quite messy.

Several years ago, we realized that we rarely used the dining room and my husband had the idea to convert it to a "craft" space for the kids and me.  A few friends (including real estate agents) warned us not to do it, but we had no intentions of selling in the near future.  We added some built-in cabinetry to house the supplies, as well as a pop-up mechanism for my sewing machine, so we can quickly hide it when we do use the room for dining.  In theory, it would work as both a formal entertaining space and a sewing studio.

In practice, I have taken over the entire space with my various projects and the cabinets are over-flowing with fabrics and patterns and notions, and things are rarely put out-of-sight.  Sometimes, I start a second (or fifth) project before cleaning up the previous project(s).  I'm just not very organized.

Fabric waiting to be sorted

So I began by pulling out the contents of the cabinets, piling it on the table and started sorting through it. In order to get a better idea of what I was storing, I measured the fabric and cataloged everything.  Even after throwing out the smaller, unusable pieces, I have over 80 fabrics in my stash!  Most of the fabric is left-over from previous projects, but 35 pieces are at least a yard in length, and 20 pieces are completely unused.  Before my clean-up, I had no idea that I had a hoarding problem.  Okay, I knew I had a hoarding problem, now I recognize the extent of it.  I have sworn off purchasing any more fabric until I've worked through some of the stockpile.

Fabric Catalog (in Excel)

The cataloging slowed the process a bit, but after seeing how much fabric can be stuffed into the cabinets, I wanted to have the inventory information at my fingertips, mainly so I can avoid any future impulse to run out and buy more fabric (at least until I've worked through most of this).  It's a simple Excel spreadsheet, making it easy to filter by color, content, size, etc., so in theory, it should be quite useful for me to find a fabric quickly.  We shall see.

I now have a lot more space for storage and I know where everything resides (or is supposed to reside).  I even set myself up with a little system where I have a fabric storage bin to hold everything I need for the current project (assuming there is only one), and it's easily stored during any hiatus in sewing or for entertaining dinner guests.  It sounds good, in theory.

Settling in for Winter

Sam's latest addition to his Minky collection (in red)

It seems that our sunny, 60-degree days are gone and Winter is here...my sewing room reflects our chill with stacks of flannel and fleece.  My daughter has had an ongoing request for a Minky snuggi/slanket/blanket-with-sleeves, and that sort of sewing is just not all that interesting to me, so I've put it off for nearly two years.  Last year, after waiting until November, I ordered some periwinkle "double-faced" minky on ebay, and it didn't arrive until January (I neglected to notice it was shipping from Korea when I placed the order).  When it did arrive, it was nothing more than purple, rough fleece, even after several washes.  I donated it to Goodwill because no one in our house was willing to wear it. 

This Christmas, I ordered fabric that should have at least arrived in time to wrap it up unmade for Christmas, but the heavy snow in Little Rock and Memphis delayed its arrival by several days.  My daughter didn't even get to see it before leaving town on the 26th.  She will be back this evening after a week in New York and I haven't done anything with it.  Well, I did wash it and dry it twice.

Minky for a "slanket" and Flannel to line

On our way out of town for a weekend trip last Saturday, we stopped at the Rabbit's Lair to pick up some flannel for PJs for my husband and son.  The guys are rarely the recipients of my sewing.  I even packed my sewing machine along on the trip with the intention of whipping up a couple of pairs of pants for them. The Rabbit's Lair is such a lovely quilt shop, and they carry a beautiful selection of quilting cottons and wools. It makes me want to start quilting again whenever I visit.  The flannel was nearly out of stock, but what was left was half price.  Sam picked out a vibrant lime green and Steve grabbed some Christmasy holly print for his. 

Steve's "Christmas" PJs

Sam loves to shop.  Even for fabric.  He talked me into stopping at Hobby Lobby as well and grabbed some red Minky "for a blanket".  So we have that too.  I never even unpacked my machine all weekend!  But I did wash/dry the flannel several times to shrink it completely. 


Sam's selection for pajama pants



I am hoping that these are quick projects, because I have committed to sew for myself in 2013!  I even have a plan for Stitcher's Guild SWAP (for me).  My goal is to at least get the 11 pieces finished in 2013 even if I miss the SWAP April deadline.  At the very least, I am trying to use it to push myself to finish my "Chanel" jacket that I started over a year ago.