the nut house

please please please

Mon, 01 Feb 2010 12:18:18 -0500

b and i are on opposite sleep schedules which is really infuriating for both of us. when one is trying to sleep, the other wants to be productive. right now i REALLY REALLY want to get some sewing done but there's the issue of the dog. if it was just the two of us, this wouldn't be a problem. i'd sew quite contentedly for several hours uninterrupted while he slept.

]]> but the puppy wants attention, and rightfully so. if i leave him alone in the living room he chews on things or pees on the floor. if i put him in his crate he whines and barks. this has seriously cut into my sewing time and it's making me very cranky.

meanwhile

Sun, 31 Jan 2010 22:08:09 -0500

since i'm not going anywhere any time soon, i've had a chance to work on that suit. turns out i had enough of both fabrics to do everything i needed to do, and still had some of the suiting left over for... i don't know. it's not a lot, but i could figure something out. maybe a little skirt? we'll see.

]]> meanwhile, i got all the white satin lining pieces and the grey pinstripe outer pieces cut out for the vest and slacks. unfortunately when i ran by joann's friday night to get the zipper and buttons i forgot to get the interfacing too so i've got everything cut out but i can't finish the assembly. i can do parts of it, but i can't finish until i can get back out of the driveway. unfortunately it's already below 18 degrees outside so whatever thawing we may have had today is going to become a sheet of ice overnight and tomorrow's high is only supposed to be 37 so i'm not sure what chance i'm going to have to get out tomorrow either. luckily i have tomorrow off from work so if it does thaw, i'll be able to go out during the day while there's still daylight.

man, i hope this fits right...

snowed in

Sun, 31 Jan 2010 21:53:50 -0500

it's a good thing friday was payday because it meant i could go to the grocery store before we got snowed in for the weekend. it started somewhere around 4 am saturday and snowed all day, turning to freezing rain/sleet in the evening. it froze overnight giving everything a crunchy candy coating. it's been funny seeing axel's reaction to his first snow. it apparently makes chasing gumballs all that much more fun.

a snip here, a snip there

Fri, 29 Jan 2010 10:56:28 -0500

axel spent yesterday running around with charlie and last night b had to work, so by the time i picked up the pup and got him home, he was worn out and the house was quiet. i set his bed at the end of the hallway where he could see me, and managed almost an hour of work before he got too fussy for me to continue.

]]> in that time i managed to iron out what's left of my roll of muslin (time to buy a new roll!), figure out which pieces i needed to cut out to do a fitting of some new slacks, and cut out the pieces.

this is my next project:

i'm going to try to do the vest with the inset button panel and the slacks out of this grey pinstripe. i just got the end of the roll and they only had about 2.5 yards, so i'm not sure if i'm going to have enough to do it all, but i'll give it a shot. i'm also going to try to eek out the lining for the vest and the pants pockets out of the white satin i've got left from this blouse.

i'm not sure if i'm going to have enough, so i have to be very very careful about how i cut everything out. making a muslin fit properly is going to be imperative since i'm going to have to squeeze every last inch i can out of both pieces of fabric. wish me luck in this. no room for errors here.

progress

Wed, 27 Jan 2010 09:39:51 -0500

project 1.5 completed: http://www.flickr.com/photos/miss_shigatsu/sets/72157622830697931/

finally finished that white blouse last night. when i first put on the piece where the buttons and holes go, i neglected the interfacing, because i am lazy. but when i went to put the button hole in, the fabric wouldn't hold still, and i realized it really needed that extra stability. i considered skipping the buttons altogether and just leaving it open but decided that just wouldn't work either, so i broke down and pulled apart the front of the shirt, put in the interfacing, and stitched it all back up. tada, now i have buttons and holes. even ran some bias tape around the arm holes for stability there.

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i should have used french seams on the inside for all the vertical pieces, but i didn't, and now it's going to fray like crazy. :( oh well. another lesson learned.

also, this stuff runs really easily (seen very clearly on the front). i need to remember next time to use the proper needle and thread tension. tearing out seams is no fun at all and this fabric simply can't take it.

this has been a truly educational project for me, in many ways. too bad i really like this fabric, cheap as it may have been. i need to invest in another roll of muslin.

unfortunately because of so many little technical details i had with this shirt, i'll probably end up wearing it mostly under other things like vests or high waisted skirts.

basically done

Mon, 18 Jan 2010 11:32:39 -0500

well, i think i've done about all i can/will do on that dress. i'll try to get some pics today but i took it in, made the arm holes smaller, got new accessories for it, and i think i've got at least 3 ways i can wear it now.

i'm not sure b will like it at all (he hasn't seen it since i made the adjustments) but at least i can say it wasn't a total wadder. i don't entirely hate it now. i'm not sure how much wear i'll get out of it (i'm not much of a dress person) but there it is.

my only problem is what shoes to wear with it. if i wear it with the wide black belt, i have my knee-high boots and black tights. if i wear it with the brown leather belt, i have my brown leather slingbacks. but if i wear it with the white tights and white scarf, what shoes do i wear with it? the only white shoes i have are sandals, and they're white white, where everything else is ivory. could i get away with, like, green? guess i'll try it...

OMG TEH QTE

Wed, 13 Jan 2010 19:31:17 -0500

puppy pictures!!!

way to start off on the wrong foot

Mon, 11 Jan 2010 20:35:41 -0500

ok, so back to that little shift/jersey/pink dress.

i tried it on again with different belts and under garments, but it was no good. it looked awful (i got pics but they're still on the camera).

i tried taking it in 4 inches in the middle, tapering back out for the sleeves and hips, but it still wasn't working.

i've now cut the sides completely off down to the pattern size XS and quickly stitched it back together. i still received nothing more than a scowl and furrowed brow from b. "the neckline is too low, the arm holes are too big, it's too baggy in the waist..." basically he hates it all the way around.

so, super. my very first project of the year is a wadder. hell of a way to start off in style. :(

i think a really wide elastic belt and some scrunchy leg warmers would make it really 80's and i could maybe pull it off, but ugh. i'm just really bummed about the whole thing.

not right

Mon, 04 Jan 2010 12:53:48 -0500

i am sitting at my desk wearing a sweater over my blouse, and a blanket over that, and i'm shivering. my right hand feels like i held it in a bucket of ice water. i may have to go outside to warm up (and it's barely above freezing out there).

my list

Sun, 03 Jan 2010 11:39:30 -0500

things i need to do today:

- spend all my money
- clean the whole house
- sew
- lament falling again for false promises and outright lies

hachoo!!!

Sat, 02 Jan 2010 21:13:18 -0500

we went to charlottesville for christmas, which was really nice. we never get to see that part of the family enough. unfortunately, bryan's dad started getting a cold the first day we were there and everybody that stayed with us at the house got sick in the next couple days. today b and i are both still sneezy and stuffy. hooray for starting a new year with a cold.

shoulda

Sat, 02 Jan 2010 21:06:23 -0500

we had kickball today but it was FUH-REE-ZING outside so we got about an inning and a half into a scrimmage and everybody just walked off the field.

i took out some recycling, but didn't get a chance to vacuum so the whole house is covered in leaves again.

washed the dog and that thoroughly pissed him off, so as retaliation he's been peeing all over the floor. we had been doing so well the last couple days and today it's like he totally forgot about all of that.

didn't get any dishes washed and there is a whole sinkload so i haven't made dinner.

i showed that dress to bryan and he agreed it looks like a sack on me. there's a nag in the back of my head telling me not to leave it sitting, like so many of my other unfinished projects. don't give up on it like all the other stretch knits. get in there and finish the damn thing! you know what to do, so fix it! but it's so much easier to sit here on the couch with the puppy, watching tv...

drop back and punt

Sat, 02 Jan 2010 11:39:21 -0500

before writing out my goals last night, i pulled out my (now up to 3 full boxes) patterns and fabric stash to see what i had. while in there, i found this bright pink stretch knit stuff. i figured i had about two yards of it (i should keep better records of those things i suppose), which is enough to make several shirts, but it seems a little on the heavy side for a t-shirt. i figured it'd be a good place to start for that little "around town" casual dress. knowing i had already pre-washed it and just had to get started on it, i had b watch the dog while i worked.

]]> somewhere in there i realized two things:

1) i never finish t-shirts because i hate working with stretch knits. just laying out the fabric to cut it is an ordeal! it wants to stick to itself and never lies flat then always ends up being too stretchy or not stretchy enough and if it gets pulled on at all during construction, suddenly the pieces don't line up properly. HASSLE!
2) the sizing on stretch knits is always wrong. whenever i follow the pattern's recommended sizes for my measurements, they come out too big. i should have known this from the get-go and when the pattern said to make a medium, i should have gone ahead and made the extra small instead.

in terms of actual construction, it went together super easy and came out looking essentially like the picture, or would have if i was, say, 50 lbs heavier. fortunately for me i am not. unfortunately for the pattern, that means it came out WAY too big and makes me LOOK like i am that much bigger, just from all the extra bulk all over. i'll try to snap some pics later.

now i don't know what to do. probably i could just trim down the sides and try to salvage it. i'd really like to think my very first project out of the gate isn't a total loss and it'd look cute with a little white turtleneck and some white tights underneath (not that i have EITHER of those things).

it's a bummer, too, because i even did the fancy french seams down the sides and everything. *le sigh*

party pooper

Fri, 01 Jan 2010 20:09:09 -0500

this year i've just not been in the mood for any of this holiday stuff. none of it, really. going back to september, maybe even august, i just haven't had any heart for life. i just got through halloween, by hook or by crook, only to run headlong into thanksgiving, which i couldn't wait to be over. i couldn't bring myself to tell anybody "merry christmas" and actually mean it. even now it seems so cliche and meaningless the words leave a foul taste in my mouth. the most joy i got was finally spending a couple days in charlottesville with b's family, but even that was tainted by my inability to sleep well at night, as we are daily overshadowed by stress.

today, day 1 of 2010... how do i say "happy new year" honestly? i don't. i can't. i'll just be lucky to hold the pieces together for another year. it's horrible to say, but i have nearly lost all hope for this coming year, before it's even had a chance to begin.

please, God, if you're out there... prove me wrong...

lofty goals

Fri, 01 Jan 2010 18:34:05 -0500

it seems the thing for people who sew to do every year is to make goals for themselves which they can then review at the end of the year to see how they have progressed in their craft. as we start out 2010, and i'm about to turn 30 (omg...), i have decided to make such goals for myself.

]]> over the last few years that i've had my sewing machine, it turns out i've made very little in terms of numbers of garments. sure, i've learned a lot, and i'm finally starting to get past that "beginner" phase into more complicated garments with relatively high levels of success.

i now feel that i can say with confidence that "i make my own clothes." i'm almost at a point where i can wear at least one thing every day that i made, but i find that i'm wearing the same couple garments over and over, causing them to wear out quickly. thus, i need more foundation garments, which are neutral enough to wear with lots of other pieces, but i also need special pieces to only be worn once in a while.

i also need more cool tights, but that's a whole 'nother issue.

1. above all else, i need to get over my fear of cutting. just do something. the fabric isn't going to scream or hate me forever for cutting into it, and if i can't get past this, and trust that what i'm planning will be ok, i'll never get far.

2. another pair of jeans. i made a nice pair of wide leg trouser style jeans in 2009, but i also want some butt-hugging bootcut jeans (with pocket embellishment this time). of course this also means i need to get back to the gym so i have a nice butt to show off, but that is also a whole 'nother issue.

3. more skirts. denim mini-skirt to wear with tights or leggings, long flowy hippy skirt, and another pencil skirt for work. i also need to fix the pencil skirt i already made (fix the tear in the lining, and straighten the waistband instead of having it high in the front and low in the back).

4. more slacks. i have the brown plaid ones and the purple denim ones, but i also need some grey slacks and some black slacks. i have grey ones already, but they don't fit at all so it's time to make some new ones and maybe make a pillowcase or something from the old ones. also, finish the brown plaid walking shorts.

5. more blouses. let's shoot for, say, 4 this year. (this one, this one, this one, and this one) also, finish the cream satin button-down i started to wear with the brown plaid pencil skirt.

6. flannel pj's. i have that purple plaid flannel left over from the little jumper dress. pj pants would use that up nicely.

7. vests. shoot for 2 this year: black velvet lined with black satin and grey pinstripe lined with cream satin (to go with the grey pinstripe slacks).

8. dresses. at least one more nice fitted dress for work and one nice casual dress to wear around town.

9. basic knit shirts. long sleeve, short sleeve, turtle neck, blousy pull-over. they're quick and easy, so why am i always so hesitant to make them and why have i never actually finished one, after starting several?

10. uhhh... i should have a 10th thing... it IS 2010 after all... how about... uhhh... a swimsuit to use up all the spandex from the last two years of bryan's halloween costumes? sure. that works. a swimsuit. two-piece (again, gotta get to the gym) with under-wire top and some sort of cover-up.

so here's my tally for the year:

1 jeans
3.5 skirts
2.5 slacks
4.5 blouses
1 flannel pj bottoms
2 vests
2 dresses
4 basic knit shirts
1 bikini
1 swim suit cover-up

crap. i'd better get started. now if only the dog would quit peeing on the floor so i could leave him alone long enough to sew anything!