A wedding, a jeans jacket and more...

You wouldn't think I could have so much to chat about, but all sorts of things have happened in my life this past week.

First of all, Bill and I got officially married - just yesterday.  We've been together almost 15 years, both of us were widowed and we met online.




The bride is wearing a linen/cotton blend from Joann's, bought many years ago. The pattern was a Lutterloh pattern I sewed up last summer. The groom is wearing who knows what.

I started sewing Carols' Jacket from Silhouette Patterns, #900, the other day, and after a quick muslin it went together quite well.  It's based on the blouse pattern, so I started with my standard size 4 with a D cup.  When I made the muslin, I could easily see where I would have to add for my belly.  The front "darting" is in the princess seam at the front, so I added my width there and also some at the side seams.

I still have to add some buttons or snaps for the first jacket, but it's kind of cute and will be fun to wear this fall.




Some of the detail shots I took while sewing the jacket are below.



I had a difficult time attaching the collar with the "industry" method that Peggy shows, but I will get better with practice.  I ended up removing the collar and putting it between the facing and front bodice, the same way one would with t convertible collar.  But I do plan on practicing on the next one.



As far as chatting about colors, here is this fabric next to my swatches.  Obviously it is not a perfect match, but my consultant said we don't have to have perfect matches.  It's kind of between 20 (purple) and 19 (fuchsia).   I'm calling it close enough.



I decided to start on a 2nd jacket and this one is also from the stash, a red cotton/spandex, and no doubt, it's a perfect match to #22.  I have a piece of black and white that would be a cute skirt and with a little black (or white) top, I think it will be a fun outfit.

Growing out the roots and a ramble

I've done this a few times now.  Take the time to grow out the hair to it's natural state, then later I get bored of the blah and get it dyed again.  One of the reasons I'd dye it is to warm up my coloring more. Now that I'm not worried about my color being warm and I want it to be it's more natural cool shade, I will let the grey grow back out.

Here is is currently the roots are partially grown out.  I have a hair appointment this week and plan on getting as much chopped off as possible.  I will feel naked and there will still be yellow in my hair, but it will grow out eventually.




The next two photos show how my hair looked just a couple years back (2 and 1 I guess) so I know the gray is just fine.




Ah yes, I said I would ramble.  Well, I was actually in a real live department store yesterday and all the clothes looked so pretty on the hanger.  I had a bit of a blah feeling...the oh why do I sew when it would be so easy to buy kind of feeling.

I took 5 items into the dressing room, and none of them fit.  I tried a jacket on but it was too small in my belly.  I was good though and measured the sleeve width.

This is why I sew, to make things fit.  Heck, just looking at the two jackets above, they both fit better than anything I can buy.

But it's also discouraging to see yourself in the dressing room mirror, I'm heavier now than in either of those photos, probably by about 15 lbs.  My weight fluctuates so easily and motivation is not my strong suit.

As I continue to clean out the sewing room, I've already decided that my next plan will not be sewing, but it will be planning.  I will sit down with fabric and pattern and probably even a pencil and pen and start planning a fall wardrobe.

This is going to be a 100% solid (as in no print) neutral 6 pack.  I will allow myself to sew fun things too, but I want to focus on really upping my game, making really well fitted and well constructed garments.

I plan on focusing on Silhouette patterns as I really enjoy the message Peggy Sagers sends and I want my sewing projects to work together.  But I also want to put more detailed sewing into projects, nicer linings and fabrics, take mine time, make things perfect.  If the pants/skirts, blouses, and jackets are superb, then the t-shirts and yoga pants can be more casual sewing.

Plan, Plan, Plan...that will have to be my primary goal for fall.

Starting the clean up

My husband had a great idea of donating the fabric yardage to any of the local home ec departments. The high school my kids went to actually has an "apparel and design" course, it's more than just sewing too.  I will try to contact them sometime soon.

What I first did was take photos of the pieces I want out, and posted them on Facebook for my sewing group friends.  So far only 1 piece has been reserved, either everyone is sleeping or I have real ugly fabric...yup, that's the case.

Oh well, c'est la vie, and I won't let it bother me.  (It's not really bothering me.)

Here is a sampling of some of the fabrics I posted.  I'm guessing it's well over 30 pieces.




Some of the photos came out horribly.  One of the purple pieces read as tan and the dusty blue also photographed at tan or greys.

So today's plan is to head right back in.  Something is evolving in my mind too.  One side of the closet in the sewing room is dedicated to knitting, all knitting, and it's a larger space than the linen closet I use for fabric.  Now I don't want to have more space just to have more fabric, but it would allow me to have space to hang garments or nicer fabric pieces.  In other words, I need to declutter the knitting stuff too.

Right now is a good time for me to get to work.  I'll update with my progress.

This is NOT my messy sewing room

I know that it will be hard to tell from the photos, but they are not photos of my messy sewing room. Honestly, trust me...have a little faith.

I truly cleaned it up before this explosion of fabric.  I threw away trash and vacuumed all the dirty bits, all the edges and corners.  I tidied up a bit, but not too much.

Reason being my sewing friend Melody/Ody was coming over to help me go through my stash. I wanted help figuring out keeps and not-keeps.  The not-keep is a hard category.  Okay, sometimes it's easy, something is truly ugly, but that guilt thing will pop up and make it hard to pass on (or in some cases throw away.

My goal in the next few days is to sort through this explosion of fabric and sort it into the closet that is designated as my fabric closet.  And the sad thing is that I've gotten lazy and my cats will lounge in the closet too, it's warm and snuggly, cozy like a cave, just what a cat likes.  But a few pieces were ruined from claws, and it was kind of hairy.  I will be washing lots of fabric in the next few days, sorting some into ziplock bags (woolens) and tossing tossing tossing some more.

I also have a hard time parting with patterns, but I want to take the patterns in my other closet and place them on the floor in the fabric closet, then I can use that space for my most current patterns. Hmmm...do you see the pattern here?  I have too much SHIT!

Then on top of it I have a ton of Burdas and Ottobres and I love my Lutterloh books (though they are mostly downstairs on my bookshelf. Just too much stuff.

Here we go with the photos...and please don't be too harsh on me.  I'll update more in the next few days.

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This first photo needs some explaining.  The tall table is my cutting table and the fabrics on top of it are pretty much my keep pile.  The fabrics on the floor are my toss/give away pile.  The fabrics on the smaller table with the fan were also keeps, but a few muslin pieces.  Under that table are drawers for embroidery threads and other items.



This is obviously my sewing machine set up, which right now is also covered with fabrics.  I have my serger, two sewing machines (one is an embroidery machine) and my coverstitch machine.  I have the computer for watching videos.  The totes with the manila envelopes by the window are full of my Silhouette Patterns, the ones I want to keep out for easy use, but to move to my closet.



This is actually a big double closet, the other half is full of knitting supplies, which also will need to be thinned out.  I have totes of patterns I want to move out, all my notions, and other odds and ends.



This bookshelf is outside the room and full of sewing and knitting magazines.



This is the closet I use for my fabric closet.  It is totally empty and thoroughly vacuumed, ready to be reorganized.  I want to put my lesser used patterns on the floor also.



This is often what the closet looks like.  This is a very bad habit I've let happen and when the fabrics are washed and put away, the doors will stay closed and the cats will not be let back in.

Sewing Crisis

Perhaps I need to take a short break from sewing.  I'm feeling discouraged right now, and I think shopping would help a bit.

I sewed a blazer...out of tweed...not what's supposed to be my style, and I look like I'm wearing my grandfather's coat.

And I went through a pile of garments I had sewn, and all of them were too bright or too the wrong color or too tight, and the discouragement kind of grew.

Oh, and I thought I would take in the legs of a pair of white jeans I had, and then the legs were too tight.

I definitely call that a SEWING CRISIS.

I did find a hot pink top and put on my winter makeup and that looks rights.  But style is hard.

A break is in order for now.

My colors were redone

A few years back I had my colors done by Linda with House of Colour.  When I went back recently for my style consult class she asked how I was doing and I said I struggle a bit with the Blue Spring she had typed me as.

She plopped me in her magic chair and started to drape me and said she thought she had made a mistake, and she wanted me to come back sometime soon for a re-drape.

That was yesterday.

We both went in with the idea that it was going to be a quick drape session, but she decided to do a full on from the start color consult as if she had never done it with me before.  She wanted to be real sure and did some extra steps.

Actually, she did a comparison between all four season.  I know they have special techniques they follow, I just don't know what they are.

In the mid 1980's a friend of mine had become a Color Me Beautiful consultant and when she did my colors she said I was an Autumn.  For years I've tried to wear Autumn colors and makeup but I always thought it was a bit harsh on me.

Then I went to Linda a few years ago as I had really noticed the changes in my skin and hair.  I had let it go natural a few times, each time with more gray than before.  I had always colored it so it would be more warm with reds and golden shades.

But once again, even as a Spring, I decided to warm up my hair again, and warm up the makeup.  I've never felt good with peachy colors on my lips.

Linda did say I was a tricky one, but definitely blue based.  Yet I'll get golden freckles that will make me look warm.  I don't look bad with the warm colors, I just looked brighter and more clear with the blue based colors.

This is going to be a fun challenge, one that will slow me down a bit.  I not only have a new color scheme, but I have a style to work on.

I'll go through my makeup and keep out only the winter shades and eventually do what I can with my current wardrobe.

My fabric stash is a sad mess right now.  And I will definitely plan on ordering swatches rather than just always hoping for the best.

Here's my photo from yesterday, it's not the best photo, but it's what I've got.

Some new capris for me

I have the Lana Jeans from Silhouette Patterns pretty well fit for my body.  The legs aren't tight or skinny, the pattern isn't for stretch denim either.

I used a very non-stretch denim for these capris, and even regular denim tends to stretch out a bit during the day, but not this one.  It also has a bit of crisp sheen to it.

That darn Pattern Stash

I have decided to deal with my Pattern Stash by entering the Pattern Stash contest on Pattern Review. I have no grand hopes on winning, as the winner is decided by who sews the most new patterns, but it's just a way for me to sew, try patterns I've had collecting for ages, and not worry about perfection.

Here's a quick view of some of my options:




I did my first pattern today from an old vintage (1980....ouch) Simplicity pattern.  I so totally would have sewn this top in high school.  Basically I did, but not this exact pattern.  I made a gazillion Hawaiian camp shirts back then.

My changes were in the sleeves for the most part and I added a bit over the belly and butt.  This pattern is a half-size pattern, which I think is a woman's petite, and it fit me wonderfully.

The fabric was a linen from FabricMart online; it was possibly a linen/cotton blend, but I don't remember.



It's kind of nice not dealing with all the extra lines from today's multi-sized patterns.