I love my job, but the work situation has been on a bit of overload for some time…. however, we recently hired two more people who start soon, so hopefully I’ll get some time back! 🙂
In the meantime, read up on my latest project:
https://vintagepatternproject.com/engine/2018/02/24/welcome-to-the-vintage-pattern-project/
If anyone is still hanging around this ghost town, I thought I’d explain the name change….
I’m one of those people who rarely sees a movie twice, and if I do it’s usually to go along with whoever I’m hanging out with.
Then.
The new Wonder Woman happened. I should preface this with the fact that I was never a fan of Wonder Woman in my childhood years; the 70s Wonder Woman was a sexy magical being, who felt…. invented (because of course she was), and totally unrelatable to me.
Back to the new Wonder Woman, with Gal Gadot. This Wonder Woman, this is someone who, in spite of magical powers, I could relate to!
She spent her childhood pining to train… Gets at last the chance, and trains her heart out, never knowing she’s actually the daughter of a god. All the strength, grace, and intelligence she possesses at that point is the result of her hard work and dedication. Later when she learns she is an Amazon Goddess…. her god-like powers are much more harnessable – because without knowing it, she’s trained for that day, ever since she started training.
It was so inspiring, I saw it in the theater 9 times. Every time, I came out feeling like I could conquer the world. My husband bought me the DVD for my birthday, and a necklace for Christmas (he did take note that’s it’s literally the only time in our relationship that I’ve asked for jewelry!).
So, my home on the web now reflects that…. my tribute to Princess Diana of Themyscira is MysciraMe, a site to come, and this blog, which will now just be for my sewing projects, has become MysciraMakes.
Expect a lot more activity, including more about that protracted basement redo that will allow more sewing. I’ve also joined a few sewing challenges, so watch for items from those as well, as I do them.
More changes are yet to come, but welcome to my island!
Ron, owner of the Ramset nailer, came by this morning and helped push through a bunch more sheets of luan – the subfloor is down! Took a break for lunch, and now I’m picking all those orange plastic bits off with pliers so the floor is actually flat for the vinyl tile.
Then I’ll go back through and add more nails where the luan is a little bubbly, and repick off the orange plastic. Next up: hit the walls with some nice paint instead of primer that’s been there for the last three-plus years….. this is definitely “scope creep” compared to donating a bed, LOL, but I think it’ll be worthwhile in the end…..
Ugh, I know it’s been forever since I posted. I’ve done surprisingly little sewing lately. The last item was a vintage button down shirt finished the night before I started a new job, and that was Valentine’s Day.
The new job has me working remotely at home, and I’m finally getting into the swing of it enough (I hope!) that I can make some time to sew again… but since I couldn’t decide about having a workspace in the basement or upstairs, everything is kind of piled together in the basement, where I sew. The office desk ended up upstairs, and the basement is still a jungle.
However….
Somehow (my husband says it’s because I am “kookamonga” – and I just might be inclined to agree!), donating the big heavy Ikea bed from the basement has turned into “I think I’ll get some vinyl floor tiles” which has turned into “now I need luan and subfloor adhesive, and hey while I’m at it I might as well paint the walls”. 8-/
What I’m starting from: 
It takes a flashlight to find any dropped pins on this!
Where that donated bed was
Can’t think in here!
Doesn’t a holiday cocktail party deserve a little bling? Definitely not my normal wear, but I was able to squeeze it out in two very long evenings, once I came to terms with the fact that my original idea wasn’t going to be in working order in time (I’ll come back to that another day, but it was red, which I do wear sometimes, and definitely more often than brocade or metallics!)
Anyway, I took a pattern I’d fitted already, the Grainline Scout tee shirt, and hacked the sleeves to be like the Itch to Stitch Sirena, but with a split bell.
Brocade being what it is, shreds like crazy when you just look at it askance, so the complexity of the project was more than a tee would have been… but I have lovely invisible neckline seam and invisible hem, and a fully lined brocade top, not bad for two evenings. Next project will be much simpler, because I need a break from complicated projects! 🙂
Anyway…. “Scoutena”, LOL:
eggplant, navy, & metallic gold brocade
vertical seams finished by the underlining
hemline stitched to underlining- nothing shows outside
the split bell sleeve
neckline with turned in self-bias binding tacked to the underlining
the finished top
And, modeled, with my loving husband putting up with me, running late, asking if he’s clicked yet to “just take the pic already”!
Oh boy. I promised myself early this year that this would be the year I would learn to make jeans. I got some denim (stretch, and non-stretch). I got a pattern or two. I got rivets and jeans buttons.
Have I made jeans yet? With three-quarters of the year gone – still a resounding no.
I don’t know why they’re so intimidating. Like my friend Rosemary says, it’s really just trousers made of denim, right? And I’ve made several pairs of trousers now, pretty wearable even they’re not even approaching perfect.
Still, I’ve been content to focus on other goals (vintage unprinted pattern? Check. Fly-front shorts? Check.), but then Rosemary needed new jeans, and a shot of sew-jo, and when I mentioned I had the supplies but was chicken to actually make jeans… she offered for us to do it together! Community sew-jo, if you will.
So…. October 14th is the official start date for an unofficial, informal jeans Sewalong. Make jeans, make pants, use a pattern you’ve never tried, use one you’ve made a 100 times… but if you plan to finish pants for US Thanksgiving (and I know, decently-fitting jeans is a small thing, but one worth giving thanks for, among the rest of life’s blessings), feel free to join us. Get all the details in Rosemary’s blogpost!
I will probably make the Morgan jeans by Closet Case Files, but I have until the 13th to commit, right?
Advance 5378, a pattern from 1951 (and therefore, yes, older than I!) came into my hands via Facebook auction. Love at first sight!
Advance 5378, a 1951 vintage nightgown pattern
While the gown isn’t perfect – it’s still a heck of a lot of fun to wear around the house! The skirt is just the right fullness and length to be unequivocally elegant (and I didn’t add any length – shorter sewists take note; I’m 5’8″).
I used a lightweight linen-cotton blend, so comfy! and finished nearly every seam with a French seams, and I added a lining in the bodice so everything’s cleanly finished there as well.
The (tiny, little) downside – this is pretty fitted in the waist. Loose enough to be comfortable, but it’s an over-the-head donning, vs having a zip or other fastener to make it easier. Next time I’ll consider that more as I do adjustments.
UPSIDE – the pattern has a pocket! LOL How bad can it be? 🙂
So without further ado:
unprinted pattern pieces, coded with punched holes
first bodice
a lovely butterfly pocket, if I do say so myself
cleanly finished bodice lining
bias tape hemming
cross-back bodice!
cross-back has a nice pointed back waist
finished gown!!
And the swish! (This “magic spinning” appears to have turned my tomato red, finally! LOL, so I’m going to be eating a delicious, ripe, freshly picked ‘mater tomorrow!)
a ’51 nightgown covers enough for sundress in 2016!
So it turns out the McCall’s pattern company is hosting an online bomber jacket sewalong! They’ll support direct questions if you’re sewing up M7100 or with B6181, but really you can sew any bomber jacket you want to.
Since I already had M7100…. I’m jumping in.
I had a bit of white eyelet pleather – I know! It’s TOTALLY my normal thing to wear, right? But I fell in love with how unexpected it is… so I stashed some for a motorcycle jacket. But when this sewalong came up, I decided that a moto jacket would probably break up the eyelet too much, with all the pockets and zippers (and trust me, I am not reducing the number of pockets on anything!), so I’ve decided to give a go here.
This tour is about sewing for the transition from summer. While the last couple of days have finally been beautiful, it sure hasn’t felt like “Sew-long, Summer” much at all!
However, as they do, the seasons will change. In the transition zone, you can’t usually predict the weather, not will it be the steady over the day; it can be hot, warm, or breezy and a little chilly in a single 24-hour span! So for the interim: an elbow-sleeved jacket to toss on as needed. Too warm for the heat of summer (but perfect for the indoor AC), great for transition days when you’re not quite ready for fleece and definitely not ready for down & shearling!
HotPatterns 1031 Boulevard Cardigan-Jacket
I love HotPatterns’ drafting, but the niggling thing I don’t like is the “same weight/print” lines, regardless of size. I usually deal with this by carefully tracing out the size, or blended size, I need; this time I went with a straight size, and was out of the tissue I usually trace on, so I marked all the cutting corners with highlighter so my eyes would stay uncrossed…. and so I wouldn’t make a mistake in cutting!
The fabric I chose is an embossed poly knit. I know, poly! But it has good recovery, and looks fairly decent, so I gave it a try. I loved the texture.
Button selection pondering, and fabric texture
The construction of this jacket went fairly quickly – perhaps my skill level might be considered intermediate now? The pattern is labeled intermediate, but what I think may actually push it to intermediate is the minimalistic instructions! On the plus side for speed is that I ended up not needing any pattern adjustments, a very rare thing indeed.
So…. a bunch of construction and detail pics! 🙂
trimming and clipping the faux vent (instructions not included)
right side front done! suddenly looks like a jacket
pocket birdies!! and these are nice deep pockets
facing gets attached at the end
I ended up choosing completely different buttons!
detail of the front yoke & pocket
this fabric topstitched really nicely!
birdies under my collar too
theres a huge mirror by the elevator in the basement of my office building, so I took a “just in case” shot
yes, I can move around in this!
back yoke, and the sleeves fit pretty well also
Check out the participants’ blogs:
Don’t forget to enter the raffle, sponsored by Blue Dot Patterns, Zierstoff Patterns, and On the Cutting Floor.
Fun discounts and coupon codes from our sponsors:
Next week will be the big reveal! I know, you already know what they look like; there’s a photo on the pattern and pictures of the ones other people have made all over the Internet…. but anyway.
This week, you should have finished all the early stage work: the pattern fitting adjustments, the final cutting, the interface attachments. Did you thread your machine in the right color, too?
Some progress pics:
underlining pinned in place
various interfaced bits, & a waistband facing
The zipper fly!
I’m a tease, I know. It went better than I expected, but pics will come on Sunday’s bonus post which will have the full reveal. I haven’t made much progress on the shirt though, so that post will likely only be the shorts instead of the whole outfit. I’ll probably end up taking the Juki to NC when I visit my sis for our birthday weekend (unless I get a lot done on the shirt on this Sunday – hey, it could happen!)…
Have a great weekend, sew up a storm (or some shorts), and see ya Sunday!