Happy Day

That's better! My knit fabric from Sew Baby arrived. The pink goes so nicely with the brown. It's not a jersey like a t-shirt. It's a very thin interlock, but it is thin like a t-shirt. It's not thin as in cheesy. It's quite luxurious and of high quality. I've already washed the black and it washed beautifully.

I also received my Burda World of Fashion, quickly joined by a copy of Stitches, which I picked up when I went out to buy that pesky zipper I was missing. Stitches appears to be a very good magazine. It has detailed articles about garment sewing with many diagrams and photographs. I've only had time to flip through it so far, but I'm impressed.

I finally got some time to actually sew, and I put in my first lapped zipper. It was easy and the results are very professional looking. I did my first one right on my actual project. That caused some stress, but no real problems. I used these directions, but also discovered some directions inside the zipper package. The two sets of directions were the same except for the direction from which you viewed your work.

I started by reinforcing my seam allowance because the fabric is very loosely woven. My center back seam on my pants is curved because it has a built in dart. I curve A LOT in my butt. I refer to this as my "Butt Shelf." I swear you could set a drink on it. I was worried about the zipper application with such a curve, but it worked fine.

As you can see, the final result is wonderful. I love it. You can see the chevron that's made by the darting that sits on my "Butt Shelf."

I've finished the side seams and the inseams, as well as all the crotch seams. I need to fit my darts, attach the waist band, then hem them. I've already pressed the seams and tried them on. They look great! I altered these to fit better so I've made a lot of changes, as well as a style change. I've made the legs very wide. I like them!

Went Shopping with Mom!

When my mom came to visit from Phoenix, we went fabric shopping.

My mom's friend lives half of the year in Syracuse and half of the year in Phoenix. Syracuse is a bit of a drive from my house, but we went to visit mom's friend. Mom's friend's sister-in-law owns Cottons, Etc near Syracuse, so they figured that, since I love sewing, we'd go there. I was a little worried because it is predominately a quilt shop, and non-garment-sewers don't often understand why I think a fabric shop full of fabric could have nothing worth buying.

It turned out that the fabric alone was worth the trip. Cottons, Etc has a room they call the "fashion room," and it is full of a variety of garment fabrics. Here's what I got:

The fabric on the left on 2 3/4 yards of a woven cotton/ploy/rayon blend. It's soft and flowing. It's for a non-specific skirt.

The next is 2 3/4 yards of a woven 100% rayon. It is also soft and flowing. It is also for a non-specific skirt.

The one on the right is a thin 100% rayon knit. I bought that with V8151 in mind.

In the second photo, the fabric on the left is 2 1/2 yards of a linen-like 40% rayon, 40% poly, 15% flax blend.

Next to it is 2 1/2 yards of a linen-like 100% rayon purchased to match. Here's where the mystery comes in. After washing all the fabric and setting it aside for a month, I pulled it out and thought, "Hmm. Where did my green go and why is this brown fabric here? Did I buy brown and I'm remembering wrong?" Looking at my notes, I found it listed as green. It's as brown as brown can be. I don't know if this color change happened in the wash or in my mind. Could be either. I'm bad with colors.

I'm not planning to use any of these fabrics too soon. I bought them for my stash, not for any current projects. I'm working on a pair of pants from an alteration of these pants. I have lots of pictures, but little courage to post them. When I'm done with the pants I'll have to see what I end up having the courage to post.

What was I thinking?

I decided that I want a stripe down the leg of my brown yoga pants that matches my shirt, so I came up with what seemed like a good idea. I would buy two pink t-shirts and use one for the stripe and one to wear with the pants. I went to ONE store, a K-Mart at that, couldn't find a nice, pink t-shirt, so bought two of these ghastly green t-shirts. Why do I do such things?!?

I couldn't bring myself to do it. First, I look terrible in the green t-shirt. It's thin and cheap and it shows. Second, the green doesn't go with the brown at all. It looks like puke together. What was I thinking?!? Probably something along the lines of, "I have so much to do that if I don't buy something today, I'll never get anything, every." I'm very dramatic about such things.

Today I took decisive action. I put the two new t-shirts aside and ordered some pink fabric. I got it at Sew Baby. I'm planning to make Vogue 8151 for the top. I ordered the fabric from Sew Baby because they have the matching fabric and rib knit trim. I'm a bit confused because the site describes the fabric as "t-shirt knit (interlock)" which is a contradiction to me. I think of t-shirt knit as jersey and I don't think of interlock as t-shirt fabric. I'm not sure which I hope it turns out to be, jersey or interlock, since what I'd really like is a source for both. Whichever it is, I'm excited to have a source that sells matching rib knit trim.

I also ordered enough black to make two tops. I've realized that black is the perfect wearable muslin color. One can never have too many black clothes, I've discovered. I also ordered the August edition of Burda World of Fashion. Might be a bust for me, since it has few plus sizes, but all the other sewing bloggers use it, so I must explore.