It's finished!

I had a moment of genius! Nor really. But it sounded good! I was about to place an order for an extra yard of fabric for the Kaehra tunic - something just told me to look at it again.  This is what I stared at for 10 minutes:

Then I realized that I could try to cut just the front yokes again from the one front piece that I completely messed up! And no, I don't have a picture of that!

But it worked. I saved Euro 16 for that additional yardage and I was able  finish the top.  Well, except for the hemming and the belt. But we aren't too picky about that, are we! LOL...

Here is P in all her 70's glory:

By the way, P was mistaken in the date for the dance. It's actually next week. But it all worked out didn't it! Her top is ready and I can check of another item of my sewing list!

 

I was also able to finish J's skirt. She chose a black baby corduroy with cute skulls on it. She proudly wore it to school.

Here is a close up of the fabric:

Next up, another bath mat for my mom and a passport organizer for our trip to Arizona this summer.

Tada for now

K

Third Try!

Here I am - sitting in front of the computer instead of sitting at my sewing machine. I messed up. Big time! I promised P to sew her the Kehrae tunic from the Ottobre 01/2009 in time for her to wear it to the 70's dance on Friday. I thought - sure no problem. I have plenty of time and it looks easy enough.  Especially with three successful patterns sewn up from Ottobre. This should be so easy I could do it in my sleep. Yeah right! I traced the pattern on Sunday, prepped the fabric and read through the instructions as well. I noticed that I wasn't sure how the button part would work up so I decided to do a muslin of just that step. It had plenty of pictures with every step but it was still really confusing. I felt dumb! I begged M for an old Polo Shirt that I could take apart so I could understand what I was doing. It helped a bit but I had to modify it. I was still satisfied enough to get started on the actual project. But since it was already past 2300hrs I decided to wait until the next day.

Today during lunch I cut out the fabric. I had some extra time and started on the sewing. Mistake #1: I didn't read the instructions again and did step 4 right after step 1 - stupid me. I had to cut out the front dress pieces again as well as the button part again. Thank goodness I had enough fabric! I have less than a fat quarter left now.

Fast forward to the evening: I am getting started again. This time I made sure that I was following the steps and everything turned out quite nice! Step 6 arrived: I am supposed to sew the shoulder seams. Then I noticed that the armholes didn't look right. I am comparing the sewn pieces with the drawings, and then it hit me: Oh, no! I placed the front yoke pieces the wrong way!!! I looked if I could save it somehow but I already serged everything in to its place! I told P about my mess up... Needless to say that she was pretty upset about it. I found a fabric store that carries the fabric. I am going to call them tomorrow at 0900hrs and place my order and ask them to rush it. Hopefully it will get here by Thursday and I will get it done by Friday afternoon. I don't know how but it has to work. Wish me luck!

I don't like to post without a picture so I am going to show you the Siiri tunic I made from Ottobre 01/2009. I traced out a 146. It is two sizes too big and a tad too long. by the way, I send that picture to my parents. They said she looked lovely in it but next time not to choose a wallpaper pattern for her. I sure had to laugh about their comment! She chose it and she loves it and that's all it matters!

Tada for now!

K

i started sewing clothes!

Hi there,

I have been super busy this month. My job has kept me more at work than ever. Thank goodness that I love to do what I do!

But anyway, this blog is not about my work but about my hobby - sewing! I have started sewing clothes. I have been buying the Ottobre Design for about a year now. The kids magazine comes out 4 times a month and the women's twice a year. I have looked at these pages over and over again yet never found the courage to try it. But something in side of me just kept on taunting me about this so I decided a couple of weeks ago to just simply try it. And was I successful you wonder? Yes I was! In fact, my little success went to my head and I tried my hand on two more patterns from the same issue 01-2009. The fourth one is all traced and ready to be cut out

 I put up a review of the Sudoku Skirt on patternreview.com. 

Here it is - the Sudoku Skirt:

Pattern Description: Patchwork skirt

Pattern Sizing:104-140cm; I sized the skirt up to 146. However, it turned out that it was a tad big on her. So I cut the elastic by a couple cms and it turned out fine. I should have measured up my daughter first and it would have saved me a ton of time 

Did it look like the photo/drawing on the pattern envelope once you were done sewing with it?Yes, just without the bottom ruffle.

Were the instructions easy to follow?So easy that anyone (even people without much garment sewing experience like me) could be successful in sewing this one up.

What did you particularly like or dislike about the pattern?Like: I didn't have to match my seams perfectly. So even if I was off a couple of mms no one will notice. It is very forgiving. Dislike: there were 29 pieces to cut. Cutting and laying out the fabric took me a bit over 2.5hrs. Lots of gathering!

Fabric Used:Garden Party by Anna Marie Horner

Pattern Alterations or any design changes you made:I was a bit tired after I gathered 24 pieces of fabric. So after collaborating (a.k.a. bribing) my daughter she agreed that the bottom ruffle could be left off.

Would you sew it again? Would you recommend it to others?Even though it was really easy I don't think that I will sew this one again. 

Conclusion: A wonderful skirt pattern that is wonderful to sew up for all experience levels of sewers.

I am still working on my other ideas. I have realized that I need to write up a few posts in advance to get more organized. :-)

Tada for now!

K