I went to Camp Ya'll!!!

Camp. Workroom. Social.

My first sewing related retreat and it was a success.  For those who are not aware, Camp Workroom Social (CWS) is a 4 day retreat held by Jennifer of Workroom Social, which is a sewing studio in my home town of Brooklyn, NY.  I've known Jennifer for a while through the Sewing Community in NYC, so I was aware of CWS before this year. Last year I found out too late to participate in the inaugural year, so I promised myself that I would go this year.

CWS this year had six different tracks for students to choose from.  This year's tracks were Fit, Shirtmaking, Bra Making, Jacketmaking, Hand Sewing, and Surface Design.  By the time I signed up, most of the classes were sold out.  I ended up signing up for the fit class, because of the classes that were left to choose from, this class was the one that seemed to fit into my sewing journey.

Fast forward to October 14, departure day.  We left from Penn Station in Manhattan on chartered buses up to the YMCA Frost Valley Camp in the Catskills. It was about a 4 hour ride. Once we were checked in at the camp registration office, off we went to our assigned rooms.  There were 6 women to a room.  The swag bag was amazing.  We received a CWS badge, a copy of Upper Case magazine, a seam ripper and a headlamp from Singer Sewing Machines, who was one of the sponsors. After we got settled and had dinner, it was time for class orientation. After orientation it was time for the Pajama party. In our Facebook group, many of us decided to make the Carolyn pajamas by Closet Case Files to wear to the party.  I only made the pants because I don’t wear. PJ tops. That will be a later blog post.  The party was amazing, and it was really cool to see the Carolyn in different fabrics. Another amazing thing about Camp was that I got to see many of the indie patterns that I currently have or lusted drooled over in real life.  I also got to fangirl over all of the teaching staff, who are all people in the Sewing world that I follow and admire.

Melissa Watson and Pamela Leggett were the instructors.  Both were well versed in the Palmer Pletsch tissue fitting method. For this class we used the M7279 Fitting Shell pattern. I had the book "fit for real people" but I didn't understand it fully.  I was measured to find the right pattern size, which for me was a 14. After prepping the pattern tissue and trying it on, the tissue began to mold itself to my shape. By the time I cut out my fabric, I was amazed at having a garment that fit me perfectly with no drag marks. It was as if a lightbulb went off.  Now I want to sew all the things. Learning to fit myself was the push that I needed to cut into all of the fabric that I own.  It also allowed me to understand my body to see how the adjustments work in relation to ready to wear garments.

Through the 4 days of camp I got to meet some amazing campers from all over the world.  At the end I didn't want to go home because I found my tribe. Being with this tribe opened my eyes to all that the sewing world has to offer.

Our lovely Camp Director

My first Full Bust Adjustment

This is me!! This is the first well fitting "garment" ever!!

The final pin fitting, Excuse the hair.

This shirt was made by the shirt making class using pieces from each shirt that was made during class.
This was given to the YMCA manager as a thank you from the whole group.

Back of Shirt.
The back pocket was to hold his Jokes

The Carolyn Crew at the Pajama Party

The Camp Staff taking a group pic

This group of women are awesome and so very talented.

The Final Serenade before it was back to reality.

Blogging: What Next?

No I am not quitting my blog.

This blog has been up for a few months, I've posted a few times about my makes, but now I am at a loss of what else I can and should talk about.  My mind is going in so many different directions what to do. I need help, but know not where to begin.  I need ideas. I would like this blog to be informative, with a hope that it will be able to assist newbie sewers/sewists navigate this world.

Some Ideas that I have are:

Facebook groups
buying used items online
Pattern Hauls
Machine reviews
Fabric Buys

Although this blog is primarily a sewing blog, I can post about other topics.

If anyone has any tips, websites, or knowledge on how to make my blog better, please comment and let me know.

Until Next Time

Wedding Gifts and Individualism

A few months ago, I found out that a family member was getting married.  Once I found out, I knew that I wanted to make them a gift that was from the heart.  As they both are believers of Christ, I wanted to make something that had a biblical theme to it.  

Cue Husqvarna Viking Designer Diamond Embroidery Machine...

Since I didn't have time to make a quilt, and get it bound, etc.  I figured I would make a framed embroidery that embodied the married couple. I started with digitizing my design using EmbroideryWorks Everyday.  I sewed the test version on muslin with some tester embroidery thread that I had laying around. Once I did my first test, I was able to see what I needed to tweak before I did the final sew out. During my testing, I found out that the font that I purchased was mapped wrong.  The 4 key was mapped to 3.  I emailed the company and they sent me the corrected font.  I was unsure of how it would come out I hope that the new married couple will place this in a place of honor. In order to transport the gift easier, I brought the pieces with me and got it framed it at Michaels.

 First Test Stitch

Second Test Stitch

Beginning of Final Stitch Out

Final Product Fully Stitched and Framed 

So as I messed up my original outfit for the wedding, I needed something that gave me ensemble a little pop but was easy to make. So I figured I'd make some crochet roses and then connect them together to make a flower corsage. Luckily I had yarn in the wedding colors of sky blue and grey.  It was fun and easy to make thanks to YouTube.  Once I put it on, I realized that I should have put a second pin clasp on the top flower to keep it from flopping over. Cant wait to make the next one.

Me wearing my flower

Close up of corsage

The UFO That Almost Was

A few weeks ago, I received an email from the Fabulous Fit Company inviting me to enter their dress design contest.  This also coincided with the McCall's Shirt dress Sew Along. I decided that I was going to challenge myself to make a shirt dress. I also wanted to use what I had already in my stash. 

After searching through all of my patterns, to see what I wanted to make, I decided on M6885, a popover type shirt dress with back ties and a curved hem. In order to get the look that I wanted, I had to combine views C and D.  Using the blog posts from McCall's to help with the placket and collar construction made it easier to understand because the instructions that were included weren't the most clear.  I made the dress all the way up to the buttonholes when disaster struck.  As I was putting Fray-Check on my buttonholes to seal them, the container burst open and spilled Fray Check all over the placket.  So while I was able to take pictures for my contests, I was unable to wear it.  On the bright side, I learned some new techniques for the next time that I make anything with a collar. I will never use Fray Check in the squeeze bottle again.  My review of the pattern is below.

Pattern Description: Shirt dress with multiple hem lengths. I made view D with the sleeves from View C.

Did it look like the photo/drawing on the pattern envelope once you were done sewing with it? It came out looking like the picture, with the exception of the collar, which did not come out as well.

Were the instructions easy to follow? All of the instructions were easy with the exception of the placket and the collar. For those two parts I used the tutorials from the McCall's Shirt dress sew along blog posts.

Fabric Used: Cotton and Steel Poplin purchased from Craftsy.com.

Pattern alterations or any design changes you made: I used a combo of pattern views. I used the bodice from D, but used the skirt and sleeves from view C.

Would you sew it again? Would you recommend it to others? I would sew it again, but not immediately.

Conclusion: If I hadn't spilled Fray Check on it, I would have probably finished the dress and worn it.

The final product before the disaster.

Small Yardage, Large Print

What do you do when you have small yardage (1-2 Yards) of a fabric but it has an extremely large floral print that you are not sure of what to do with it? Or how about something very bright?? What would you make?  HELP!!! 







I think this is a Sateen.  I got it in a Fabric Mart mystery bundle



 

I have this exact fabric from a Fabric Mart mystery bundle.

Sewing Update and Creation Decisions

I know it's been a minute since I've written a blog post. Kinda lost my sew-jo for a minute which happens pretty much anytime my room is messy. It needs cleaning now, so I can do some sewing. 

So far, I have made some New shirts, finished a UFO from last year and made myself a comfortable and modest swimsuit. I have taken pictures with my phone, but eventually I hope to have better Quality photos as well as more reasons to take pictures.

Now onto the meat of this post-creation decisions. As I have previously mentioned, I have purged about 99% of my wardrobe due to my gaining weight and unable to fit them anymore. Now t have no casual clothes other than what I wear to work weekly, and the ONE pair of jeans that I own. I normally wouldn't be complaining or freaking at, bot I'm going on vacation in a month. Since I'll be gone for a week, I'll need more than PJ's and t-shirts. I made a plan and I have to stick to it. I'm thinking that this will more of a wardrobe project as well.

This is what I need:

Dress for church

Dress for my little brothers wedding

3 pairs of pants

Pajama pants

5 Tops

Cardigan sweater type thing.

I have from now until 8/7 to finish to give me time to pack. I will be keeping things simple so that I can finish and have time to pack. The first step is to figure out what patterns I'm going to use, then match fabric to the pattern, cut and sew.

My Casual Style

Wish me luck. Feel free to comment with any suggestions.

Me Made May

Happy May y'all. In the garment sewing world, its known as Me Made May.  While the original premise is to wear something "Me made" for all 31 days,  I don't have that many items.  So what I challenged myself to do is to wear at least 5 me makes this month and to make at least 3 garments.  Baby steps.

I have some plans, and I ordered a bolt of muslin so that  I can test out patterns before I cut into good fabric.  I finally hope to make a button down shirt this month, and hopefully some work pants.  Eventually I will get into jeans, but I need to get fitting down first before I tackle that cliff.

Here we go.  y'all wish me luck in this endeavor.

My First Human Sized Quilt

Ever since I started sewing, I've been drawn to the world of quilting.  When it comes to YouTube, Craftsy, brick and mortar stores, etc, quilting is the sewing genre that you will find the most information about.  Add Instagram to that, and I have been interested in making a full sized quilt.  I have made various mini quilts for swaps and gifts, but never one that could be used as a human covering.

Enter the Mother's Day Brunch that my chapter, Eta Nu Sigma of Sigma Gamma Rho Sorority, Incorporated is holding.  While Mothers' day doesn't exist on my calendar, I did offer to make a quilt as a silent auction item. For the auction I made the Around the Third Rail quilt.

I found the pattern originally on YouTube on the Fons and Porter channel called the Around the Rail Fence.  When I saw how easy it was, I had to make it. So I started with the pattern, but I had to change things up because I wanted to use all precuts and no yardage other than the backing.  I ended up using jelly roll strips (2.5") to piece my quilt.  I wanted to keep it simple and use fabric from my quilt stash. I used a Toscana jelly roll from Northcott Fabrics along with a black and white Kona jelly roll from Robert Kaufman Fabrics. I also made some sizing and color changes from the original pattern. I alternated the inner borders between black and white and increased the size of the middle and outer borders. I incorporated black and white along with the Toscana in the rail fence blocks instead of the Batiks that the original pattern used.  Once I finished piecing, I straight line quilted my quilt using my walking foot with white thread on the white borders and grey thread everywhere else.  Although it was my first, It definitely won't be my last.  I now need to make one for myself, since I have loads of fabric left from this project.  

Hopefully the person who wins the quilt will appreciate this quilt along with the love that I put into making it.

The only space I had to actually photograph it was on my kitchen floor.  Its about 60" by 66"

Now that the quilt is done, I can focus on my next projects... Me Made May

Lenten Wrap-up and Future Plans

I almost made it. This was a challenge, because usually I procrastinate until the last minute, then I rush through things.  Since none of the projects that I made were for others, I'm ok.  I'm actually pretty proud of myself with what I did accomplish.  Five out of six ain't too shabby.

During the 40 days of Lent, I completed:

Pair of knit wide legged pants (M6571)

2 Crocheted Roses

Nita Wrap Skirt as a pattern tester

In the Hoop Cosmetic Bag

Ironing Board Cover

Of the items that I previously listed, only one item was completed.  The ironing board cover for one of my new ironing boards.  The cover that I replaced was the only one damaged. It was a $5 craigslist find that had a sticky stain on one of the 3 surfaces.  Since I plan to use this as a pressing surface for the many projects that don't need a full sized board for.  The fabric was given to my by Kenneth King when I took one of his classes at Sew Right.  The fabric was a floral home dec weight cotton.  It was perfect for the ironing board.  I still have a bit of the fabric left for when I need to cover the other 2 boards.

During this time I also got to use my embroidery machine (I know, I have not introduced y'all to my arsenal, that will come soon, I promise) to make a cosmetic bag.  Embroidery is actually a lot of fun when you know what you are doing.  I now have Christmas gift ideas for almost everyone (SHHH... don't tell my family).

I dabble in crocheting off and on.  It was something, along with sewing that my Grandma taught me when I was younger.  Back then I didn't really want to learn how to do them, but I learned because she wanted me to learn. Miraculously, I was able to retain the basics of crochet.  

Stay tuned for the next adventure. 

The Horrid Closet Rant

My closets suck. They really suck. 

That is the thought every time I enter my closet to find something to wear. It's either too small, or if it fits, it's too dressy for the occasion I need it for (usually work). I need to fix this. I need non dressy clothes that fit. 

I am seriously considering doing a clothing purge and getting rid of everything that does not fit. There are only two things that's stopping me from purging. 

1. Where to put purged clothes after the purge. The last time I did this, the clothes sat in my storage room until I tossed them in the trash. I did salvage all of the buttons though. 

2. How to deal with an empty closet. I will be purging about 80-90% of the clothes I own which mostly happen to be almost 10 years old. 

Has anyone ever done a total closet purge and makeover?? I'd love to read your comments on this. 

Lenten Update and Pattern Testing

Hello everyone,

Lenten sewing has been going well.  It started off slowly, and was progressing well, until I got sick last week.  I haven't been this sick in FOREVER. It pretty much ruined any and all plans to do anything productive.  Basically my immune system told my body to have several seats and rest.

Before my forced rest period, I was able to get over half way through my Lenten plans. Kinda proud of myself as I usually make goals then procrastinate and not get them done. I've still got 15 more days to make 2 projects. I think I can do it.

One of my completed projects, was the Nita Wrap Skirt from SewDIY.  I received an opportunity to test the pattern, which I've never done before.  It was a very fun experience, one that I hope to get to do again.  When the final version comes out, and I remake it, I will be able to give a proper review. My preliminary review from the test version, is that it will be a great addition to my sorely lacking wardrobe.

As a part of the project, I had to take pictures.  Now, as a lot of y'all know, I take a lot of selfies. However, I've never taken an official full body shot by myself.  I now know the power of the remote and the tripod.  I will never go back to just taking selfies for this blog.  I will however, figure out how to create a back drop to take pictures from that will enhance what I'm showing. If any of y'all have any ideas, please leave me a comment. Talk to y'all later.

Nita Wrap Skirt by SewDIY

 

Lent Sacrifices

Happy Lent Everyone,

While this is not a religious blog, here is my small departure to my religion (Christianity)

Webster’s Dictionary describes Lent as a period of 40 days before Easter during which many Christians do not eat certain foods or do certain pleasurable activities as a way of remembering the suffering of Jesus Christ. This year the Lenten season lasts from February 10, 2016 to March 24, 2016. While I do tend to give up a pleasurable activity every year, which usually revolves around food, this year I want to do something totally different.  This year, I would like to give up procrastination and being lazy when it comes to sewing.  

Lately, I’ve been seriously neglecting my craft.  Other than a few classes which will be blogged about shortly, I haven’t really touched any sewing items.  My excuse is that since my spaceisn’t where I want it to be, that I can’t sew. Plus I really love to come home and relax, so sewing is the last thing on my mind.  

So far, everything I’ve stated in this blog, I’ve held myself accountable to do, so here goes nothing.

I proclaim that for this Lenten season 2016, I will make at least 6 sewing related items using the fabric and patters that arealready IN MY STASH.  

Along with the above proclamation I have some projects in mind to work on in the next 40 days:

Quilt for goddaughter’s 3rd birthday

Dress to wear for Easter- M7279

Cover for my quilter’s planner 

2 Outfits for work (pants and top)

3 Ironing board covers for new ironing board

WHITE SHIRTDRESS FOR CHURCH- purchase exception for white fabric

Button down shirt -exception to purchase pattern from class

BONUS: DRESS FOR Pastor’s retirement banquet

 

As I go along, I will post my process.

 

Wish me luck ya’ll.

 

Here's some of what I get to work with. 

The Search for an Ironing Board

For the past few weeks, I have been researching options for a new ironing station/board/surface. As many sewists and quilters know, a good pressing surface is key. 

This surface must allow me to press clothes and projects and be very sturdy as to not drop my iron. 

Boy the price of ironing boards have gone way up since I last bought one. Plus the sewing studio (aka my bedroom) is a little crowded. 

Here are my requirements:

Must be sturdy on carpet

At least 18" x 49"

All metal

The sewing machine store has the perfect one but hey don't remember where they got it from. 

I think I want an ironing board so that I can move it as necessary. If anyone has any suggestions please leave a comment below.

The board I want

Stripes Galore

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Stripes!! After two years of sewing and two years of making cardigans and skirts, I finally ventured into making tops. I even made it just a wee bit more challenging by not using the recommended fabric and using striped fabric. My stripes matched, that's all that matters.

Selfie at the Holiday Work Party - I must learn how to make this flower.

Front View

                               Back View. I forgot to put it on myself to take a full length picture.

My first make of 2016 was the Lark T-shirt from Grainline Studios. I made the boatneck version.  I love the look of a boat neck on myself.  It seems to balance my body out just a wee bit, plus I like a bit of the retro look.

Pattern Description: With a modern, slim fit ideal for layering, the Lark Tee is your closet's new best friend. It's great on its own or under your favorite button up, sweater, or blazer. All four sleeves are interchangeable with each of the necklines resulting in 16 potential different tees in one pattern! Pattern Sizing: 0-18 Did it look like the photo/drawing on the pattern envelope once you were done sewing with it? Yes Were the instructions easy to follow? Yes. There is also a sew-along with all of the different views. What did you particularly like or dislike about the pattern? I liked the ease of construction. I made the boatneck, so there was only 3 pattern pieces. The max number of pieces would be 4. Fabric Used: Black and white striped double knit purchased from Metro Textiles during Wine and Cheese with Kashi Pattern alterations or any design changes you made: Lengthened the long sleeve by about 4 inches. I have long arms and most patterns are too short Would you sew it again? Would you recommend it to others? I would definitely sew it again later on down the line, but as I have so many patterns, I want to try a different one next. It is a very easy pattern.  Next time though I will need to take a small swayback tuck. Conclusion: This is a very versatile pattern. Changing the fabric will totally change the look of the top. Until Next time