I wore out the W

I'm just putting this picture here, because I need to link it elsewhere.

A Birthday Serger and a Little Bit of Sewing

After years of dithering, I finally bought a serger!  It's the Baby Lock Imagine with the fancy-pants jet-air threading.  The FP JAT poofs the thread into the loopers and I squint and thread the needles my own self.  I love that it's so easy to thread and that I can thread it in any order. If a thread breaks I don't have to re-do the whole thing.

I practiced using the new machine by making a few baby blankets - terry cloth on one side, cotton on the other, all serged up with a 4 thread overlock.  It was a good way to get used to the speed of the machine, get a feel for how everything lined up to the cutting blade and learn how to serge a rounded corner.

Hattie, of course, napped in the scraps.

Next I practiced a narrow rolled hem.  I want to use this for hemming some silk crepe de chine chemisey-thingies that I want to make soon.  I really love this rolled hem:

Then I took a deep breath and serged the seam allowances and hems of a Louise Cutting shirt that had been waiting around for a month or so for me to finish it.
It's Cutting Line Design's Point of View shirt, view B.  I did away with the pleat in the back and just gathered it into the yoke.  It's a lovely loose shirt to wear on its own or over a camisole or tshirt.  The fabric is a  cotton from Marcy Tilton.  It has a bit of a brocade effect and is a little greener in real life.

 The houndstoothy fabric is a light-weight scuba knit I got at Britex in San Francisco earlier this year.  It will eventually be made into a pencil skirt and tank top

 Loverly buttons from Nancy's Sewing Basket

 Gathers substituted for the back pleat.

A mitered corner that I would not be ashamed for Louise Cutting herself to see!

While I'm enjoying learning a new machine, and looking forward to using it more,  Hattie is enjoying plotting mayhem and practicing her evil laugh

Summer garden on a rainy day

This is David's garden:

One cherry

Two pears

Many apples

Many, many raspberries

This is my garden (which David takes care of for me):

My new Peace and a sunflower:

My old Peace:

Memorial Day:

Our neighbor's scarecrow:

Titanosaur at the American Natural History Museum

Wedding blouse finished!

The is Katherine Tilton's Butterick 5891.  One half is a silk jacquard (Nancy's Sewing Basket) and the other is a glazed linen (Emma One Sock).  I took the second picture with a flash to show how shiny it is.  Now I'm going to Divinity: Original Sin and kill spiders.

Teal silk jacket

This is Vogue 9035, Marcy Tilton's jacket, and I'm really pleased with it, especially the buttons.  I picked the fabric up years ago at Peggy Sager's booth at the Puyallup sewing expo.

So...I got a couple things done over the Presidents' Day weekend.  The pictures are not so great because it's pouring down rain outside and I don't want to drag Hedy out into that. She's posing in the messy laundry room instead; please disregard mess and admire a couple of perfect neckbands.

The first one, Simplicity 1071, is made from a remnant that I believe Annie gave me a few years ago.  It's a two layer textured knit in an odd plummy brown and taupe color.   The neckline is higher and rounder than the Vogue 9057 below, and the fit is much boxier.  I like them both!




The second is  another iteration of Vogue 9057, which I've made a couple times now.  I love the fit of the shoulders and the curve of the hem.  The fabric is a very light weight polyester from Pacific Fabrics in shades of taupe, cream, brown, orange and gold.
The picture on the right gives a better feel for the colors.



It's possible I may get a jacket cut out this weekend too!