Crafty Daddy

     Sometimes there comes a moment when your whole sewing life passes by your eyes. When you see everything you've ever made and piles of fabric for the dresses you never got to sew. Ok let me explain. It's been too long since I last made anything. I miss sewing. I have to many plans, but lately I was too busy and traveled a lot, so sewing was on the hold.

     Yesterday I decided to start on a new dress. I've had the fabric and lace trim since last year. There's always a lining I can use, appropriate for summer dresses and I did buy a zip last week. So I'm all ready to go! I've cut my fabric, cut my lining, pinned the darts, sewn the darts, pinned the side seams, I' m sewing, sewing, clap... the needle has jammed the fabric in the tiny whole beneath it, between the feed dogs, I can see loops of thread where they shouldn't be. I tried to manually reverse the needle up but nothing is moving. The balance wheel turns alright, but nothing moves, not the feeding dogs, not the needle bar. Deap breath Maria, calm down. I unplug the machine and unjam the fabric, cut the thread loops, open the bobin case part, take the needle completely off, it's broken. So far so good, but still the balance wheel is turning and nothing else moves and I can't find the second half of the broken needle.
    Another deep breath. I take the little screw driver, that came with the machine and try to open it and see what I'll find in there. The missing needle part, something broken that gives move from the balance weel to the feed dogs and needle bar?... that damn screw is too tight.
    My dad just woke up from his siesta, I give him a few moments and I call for help. He unscrewed that stubborn screw so easily. Why does that always has to happen? He asked me what was going on. I was already thinking that if my machine broke again, I wouldn't take it this time. I would buy a new one. I can't be without a sewing machine, apart from refusing to imagine my self without sewing, look at all the money I've spent on fabric, still unsewn!
    I explained to my dad what was wrong. He slowly went to the other room, put this glasses on and took a close look to my machine. Took a screwdriver and tightened a screw, with a weird shape. That was it! It's been flowing like a river ever since! The crisis went over fast! Thanks dad!

See you around

Maria

Stash oh my stash -2-

   Second afternoon spent organizing my fabric stash ... the one of garments to be fabric stash, because I have one huge pile of upholstery fabric that I was given for free. Actually it's more like scraps, but they are big enough for  many many projects. I made a sofa bed cover and it barely lost any height! 

   Any way I made progress today. I arranged all my winter fabrics on the left. Scraps are right above them and my summer fabrics and muslin on the right. I still need to figure out a few more things. How do I arrange my non fabric equipment, like leather, interfacing, small pieces of trims, ribbons etc? I also need to do something better with scraps, that pile will collapse too easy. Any ideas? How do you store your scraps?

See you around

Maria

Stash oh my stash

     Hello all! After a weekend off sleep and eat I charged my batteries again and I'm on fire! I decided to do what I've been avoiding for so long... tidy up my fabric stash! I'm talking about hard work. I have to categorize my fabrics in winter and summer, linings and miscellaneous. Fold everything to fit the closet and probably think, in which order to place them, because sometimes it's really hard to pull out the one in the bottom!

   So if you enter my sewing room today you will find fabric all over the floor waiting for it's turn to be placed in the closet. I'm afraid I will have to find a new place for my knitting and embroidery stuff... See I mostly buy fabric because I like it. I may thing this will be for a dress or a jacket, but I rarely have a pattern in mind. So I buy a bit extra and when I sew the garment I just can't throw the left over scraps away... Scraps make a great stash. Not only you can use them to fix the original garment, if something should happen to it, but also for other projects, as trims, bias tape, lining etc So I have a lot of fabric! More than I can sew and more than my closet (of clothes, not fabric) could ever fit!

  How big is your stash? How often do you buy fabric? Do you buy it for a specific pattern or emotionally (kind like over eating!)? Let me know about your fabric shopping habits. I'll be back soon!

See you around

Maria

Sew me to look like her!

 I'm so happy when this happens!

Remember that McCall's lace dress pattern by Phoebe Couture (6505) I told you about the other day and then I ordered on sale?

  

This pattern is ideal for lace, because it has minimal seams.

Look what I found

Source

   

This is Lauren Conrad in her Note by Marchesa dress.

It looks identical to me! 

Ok it's not, but it's very close and with the right lace choice you can make it.

          Source

The basic difference is the back.

The McCalls pattern has a deeper back, while the Marchesa dress doesn't.

                     Source

Source

Now I love it even more!

Without being certain about that,

I also think the Marchesa dress has an under-dress with spaghetti straps,

while the McCalls dress is one piece.

Happy sewing everyone

See you around

Maria

I have a cursed dress

    Let's take things from the beginning. About a month and a half ago I had to go to this wedding. I had one week time (excluding work and sleep hours) to sew a new dress, because, as every woman, I have an empty closet!

   I looked through my patterns and I found the perfect one. Simple but elegant. Long, black, made of satin crepe, while using both sides of the fabric, front slit. Just perfect. It is pattern 110 from BWF 12/2006.

   So I went fabric shopping and I found the exact same black satin crepe! Can you  imagine my joy? On a very good price too. I got all my notions and I headed home with a big smile on my face.

   I cut the pattern pieces, sewed up a muslin, tried it on and ohhh so perfect. A few dart adjustments, as always, a little bit on the shoulder and let's make that decolte a little wider... perfect! I transfered the alterations on the paper pattern and I was on fire and on schedule! It was Saturday night.

    In the following days I cut the fashion fabric and I begun to sew. Everything was going smoothly. I decided not to line the dress. I was calm, concentraded and I was progressing fast. ...until I realised that for a while I was sewing with long stitches. I check and recheck my sewing machine's setting and what I had chosen was not what my machine was doing. While trying to adjust everything from scratch, I heard a snap. Something broke...

   So I'm standing still, not breathing, having a half finished dress on my lap, while the clock was ticking, staring at a broken machine. Come on sewing machines don't just break. What on earth happened? I pulled my self together and I tried making a couple of stitches on a scrap piece of fabric. My machine was still sewing in big basting stiches, as before. And that was the only thing "she" could do. No adjustings and settings allowed, not even zic zac in big basting stitches. Only straight basting stitch. Just 4 days (working days for me) before the wedding. Crap...

  No time to take the machine for a repair, no alternative choice for what to wear that day. So I settled down with my options and decided to keep sewing, even with basting stitch. After all the dress is black, my fabric is good quality and I know how to make things work. And I did. I had mittered corners, self faced seam allowances (no zic zac stitch remember?), hong kong finished hem, hand sewn front slip. I had everything a night gown calls for. And I looked stunning in it!

    I went to the wedding and a couple of days later my machine went to the "doctor". Now she's back and all healthy. The "doctor" said what happened to her was very weird!

    For the next weeks the dress had been sitting on a chair waiting to be hand hemmed again, because my heel ripped of the old hemming while dancing. By the way I haven't still done that and I'm not sure if I will!!!

   Last Saturday I decided to photo shoot me, with the dress on. I hadn't done it so long, because I was hopping I would get the chance to take some pics in the sunshine, but since that never happened...

   So I got all dressed up, cleaned the room, made my setting, fixed the tripod, took my camera off it's case and it slipped right of my hands, fell on the floor, not on the carpet, on the floor and it broke. Now it's totally dead. I can't turn it on, the lens won't move a bit. Took a big breath, took the memory card out. I had taken a test shoot with the dress. My PC won't read the memory card.

   So let's think about this again :

   - while I was sewing the dress my sewing machine broke down

   - while I was photo shooting the dress my camera broke

   if that's not a curse what is??? I swear to you, I wanted to scream so hard and rip that dress off.

   To be honest with you, I didn't try hard enough to "read" that memory card. I'm afraid that the moment that picture will be on my PC's screen, my PC will shut off and never turn on again! I'm afraid that if I manage to upload that single photo on my blog, my blog will be forever erased! I'm afraid you'll have to settle with this story and no photos. The cursed dress is folded in the bottom of my closet and will remain in the dark for a long long time!

   The bad news is that, I'm afraid, I can't blog without a camera. How will I show you my finished wrap? How will I show you my new scarf? How will I show you my Christmas crafting? Until I'll be able to fix that camera or buy a new one please be patient with me.

   That's all folks. Now I have to go write Santa a letter, asking for a new camera.

 See you around

Maria

  

It's alive!

    When does a skirt or dress climb up? When it's too tight. Fabric gets stressed and wants to go somewhere more comfortable and usually that's up!

    Why did I wear a tight dress today, since I knew what would happen? Well when I tried it on at the store I was on pants and I thought that with panty hoses it will fit smoother...but guess what, it didn't. I still like this dress too much not to wear it.

    That's why it's a good thing to know how to sew. You make your own at custom fit, shape, colour etc. If you have some extra weight you don't feel at ease at the store, when clothes don't fit right and you don't mess up with your good mood. So go on and sew!

    I wish I could fix it, but as every ready made apparel there is not enough seam allowances.

    So in conclusion, bad choise of dress for this long difficult day. I'm going to spend the rest of it pulling it down...