Read All About It, op-ed page

Finished! And in my humble opinion, it's pretty good!

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Annie, it's fabulous! Your neckband looks perfect! I am violating the rules of the Selfish Seamstress and sewing something for someone else. And it's bbboorrrrinngg! Gah! I can hardly wait til it's done and I can get back to fun sewing.
--Sis

Read All About It, page 3

Okay, a couple of pictures to show where the words have fallen.  I hope I'm not going to feel like I'm wearing a newspaper.  Hmm, should have thought of that.

Front

Back

Read All About It, page 2

Whew!  I just finished cutting it out, and it took a long time -- all of Mahler's first, and halfway through the Marriage of Figaro -- because I had to keep moving pieces around to avoid the word BIG falling you know where.  But I did it.  The big letters will go across the upper chest (no way to avoid it) but not the word BIG.

Blah blah blahahaha

Dear Annie,

Busy, busy, blah, blah, blah. SOME people have plenty of time to sew up new and newsworthy projects. OTHER people have plenty of lousy excuses for not doing anything. The table has stuff on it! I have to feed the cat! I can't find the sewing machine! Sheesh. I could lie and say that I'm going to sew up a storm this weekend, but I think we all know that probably won't happen.

Oh, wait - I did finish something! Louise Cutting's Ebb (not Flow), finally got its buttons! I don't have great pictures. Why didn't we put it on Dahlia, Annie? I'll post these for now and add better ones later. The fabric is a beautiful lightweight brown wool with kind of a seersucker texture. It's really comfortable to wear and I made only a few changes - I lengthened the bodice by about an inch and I shortened the overall length and left out the side vents. The buttons are vintage shell that I got at Expo two years ago. I really love this pattern and will probably make it again in something summery.

New project: Read All About It

I'm finally starting my first post-Expo project, having come down with a terrible cold followed by allergies right after Expo ended. Sis has an excuse too, but hers isn't very good.

So the new project is a top using this Katherine Tilton pattern (long sleeved version) I bought at Expo last year. I've already made it three times, so I know it fits beautifully and is very flattering. Unfortunately, since I've made it three times, I have had time to lose the pattern piece for the neckband. This means I will either have to fake it (not hard to do) or clean my sewing room (very hard to do).

The fabric I'm using is a poly/lycra I bought from Christine Jonson last year, called Read All About It. In real life it's much darker. And I'm sure you can spot a pitfall right off -- I'll need be careful that "BIG HOUSE GAINES" doesn't land on any part of my anatomy that I don't want to emphasize.

I'm also playing with a cool new toy. I bought some pattern making software at Expo, Wild Ginger's PatternMaster, and I'm getting ready to use it to make a "fit" dress in muslin. And once it's adjusted and fits correctly, I'm going to make it again in a heavy cotton with 0 easy to use as a cover for Dahlia the dressform.

Busy, busy, busy. Amazing what you can do once you tear yourself away from Skyrim.

BTW, have you all been watching Peggy Sagers's webcasts ? They are wonderful, hour long webcasts where Peggy generously shares valuable information (for free!), such as how to use a french curve. Sis and I "attended" last night's webcast on sleeves, in which Peggy explains how to use the french curve on an armhole in order to get your own personal numbers. Then you can apply these numbers to any new pattern you use to alter it to your perfect fit. This is the sort of thing I imagine design students learn, but for those of us with only a junior high school education in sewing it's all brand new and wonderful. Thank you, Peggy!

Challenge for next year's Sewing Expo

Sis and I have decided to have a Challenge to sew things for next year's Puyallup Sewing Expo. Here are the rules (so far, and subject to change!).

• Four outfits for the four days of the expo. An outfit means two or more pieces, made during the coming year.
• One outfit will include a dress.
• One outfit will include a me-made accessory.
• One item will use a technique we have not used before.
• One item will be in a bright color, but for Sis it can't be red.
• For one item Sis and Annie will use the same pattern.

Sis -- did I miss anything?



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Hi Annie - I don't think you missed anything! I'm looking forward to getting started. Lord knows it will probably take me all year to sew four outfits at the rate I'm going.......

More things from Pam's busy hands



Coasters



Apple tea towel



Cherry tea towel

Pam -- They are so pretty!  Thanks for sharing!

More Pretty Pammy Presents

Pam gave me this a couple of weeks ago, when we had our belated Christmas.  She says it's a washcloth, but it's far too pretty for anything but display.

Then a couple of days ago, she stopped by and gave me a Christmas ornament!  I love monkeys!

Happy happy monkeys!  Hey, I think it's time to go to the zoo again!

Puyallup Sewing Expo Day 4

This morning Sis and I and our husbands met at the Expo for coffee and Fischer scones (traditional Puyallup Fair food).  Sis wore another of her lovely jackets, Katherine Tilton's Vogue 8654.

And I issued her a challenge for next year's Expo:  four days, four outfits!  Well, okay, not really original, but it will be fun!  We are still working out the details of the challenge.

Now I'm going to go play with my new Wild Ginger pattern software.

Puyallup Sewing Expo Day 3

Expo without Sis.  I went to talks by Louise Cutting and Sandra Betzina; and Sandra Betzina's and Marcy Tilton's style show.  This is the last expo for Sandra, which is really sad.

Here's today's haul:

  This is a woolen dauber.

I also bought my friend Pam a present, to make up for the one I was making for her and which I totally spoiled.

Now I'm exhausted, so I'm off to Skyrim to kill something.

Puyallup Sewing Expo Day 2

Hi Annie! What a fun day we had shopping and people-watching. I'm glad you wore your Vogue 8620, so that we could show off to the Tilton sisters! Here is a (very poor) picture of my version in gray denim:

And a few pictures of the patterns from Silhouette, Sewing Workshop and Louise Cutting that will be my sewing projects in the coming months:

Of course I bought fabric too! As it turns out, all from Marcy Tilton.

A beautiful lime/gold silk dupioni (it's hard to show the color correctly).

Also a mocha/latte/espresso animal-print brocade and a black/silver pinstripe cotton stretch. Jackets? Skirts? We Shall See.

AND - cool slotted wooden holders for my rulers and bone folders. A large one for the cutting table and a smaller one for next to the sewing maching!

Thanks for going with me and driving us all about - it was fun! But now I need a nap....

Hi Sis!  We did have fun, even though silly Me forgot both her money and her credit cards!  So thanks for buying my dvds for me.  (Pay you back soon!)

 

Puyallup Sewing Expo Day 1

Sis and I were there when the doors opened and we raced to Marcy Tilton's booth to buy fabric!  This is what I bought:

A beautiful piece of linen

A beautiful acid green wool that is wonderfully soft

A silk crepe which in real life is slightly yellower than the wool:

And a few other lovely prizes: