LaToya

Finally finished up one of my summer projects - just in time for the first freeze predicted for tonight! Oh well, it will be nice for next summer.

Pattern: Berrocco LaToya
Yarn: CottonEase, pineapple, 2 skeins (approximately 400 yards total)
Size: extra small
Needles: size 5 & 7

It was a pretty easy and quick pattern. I knit 75% of it while on vacation in July and then put it aside for 3 months. I think there were some errors in the pattern. The pattern calls for you to knit the back as if the side panels are knit side out whereas the front is knit as if the side panels are purl side out. I opted for purl side out. There was another error but I can't remember what it was. I shortened the straps by about an inch and kitchenered them together rather than bind off and knit together.

I started another project over the weekend while visiting my friend in Orlando. We visited a yarn shop in Tampa that I HIGHLY recommend. It is called Knit 'n Knibble and they had a very nice, very organized selection of yarns and patterns. There were many shop samples and the sales person, Dale, was very helpful! Although I certainly don't need any more yarn, I did pick up supplies for another little project that I'll post about later this week.

Lots of airplane time lately so I'm getting some knitting projects taken care of but all this time on the road is cramping my sewing progress. By Wednesday, I will have visited six Florida cities in 8 days.

My new toy!

I recently purchased an embroidery machine. Very basic as far as embroidery machines go. It's the Brother HE-120. I bought mine on ebay but I think HSN was the original retailer for them. Wal-Mart sells the similar Disney version, SE-270D.

I hate figuring out how things work so the machine sat in the box for a few weeks while I willed the knowledge to come to me. I finally accepted that I would actually have to read the manual so I took advantage of some free time that popped up last night after a canceled appointment and sat down with my new machine and the manual. I tried to watch Dancing with the Stars (Holy Toledo, Marie!!) at the same time so I wasn't terribly efficient but I did get my first sample design - my initials - embroidered! I need to make 12 monogrammed fleece blankets before the end of November.

Penny Power

Remember this?

Since end of March, it's been the receptacle for loose change from my car and wallet and off the kids' bedroom floors (hey, if it's not important enough to keep it off the floor, it's mine!) Well, the container was about 3/4 full and getting kind of heavy so I took it to my local grocery store where they have a Coinstar machine. Turns out there was $80.57 in it. Not bad for money I never would have missed. If you cash out, the surcharge is almost 9% but if you take a gift certificate from selected vendors, you get the full amount. So I took an Amazon certificate for $80.57 and ended up getting a bonus $10 gift certificate. Cool Beans!

New Look 6723 - Just in time!

All I had left was the hem and zipper so now my dress is complete, just in time for the dinner this Thursday. I will wear it with the patent leather strappy shoes, the patent leather purse and hopefully, rhinestone dangly earrings (gave my shopping-loving daughter the assignment today - "find me some inexpensive rhinestone dangly earrings before Thursday morning.")

The details:
New Look 6723, view B
Fabric - dull satin from Hancock's
Notions - invisible zipper, rhinestone belt buckle, hook & eye

Easy enough dress to construct. True to size and nothing tricky found in the pattern. I was going for the Audrey Hepburn look. Not happy with the crease line in the hem - happens all the time when I use the blind hem on my sewing maching. Can anyone tell me how to avoid that? I will press it out but it's annoying.

Ignore the hair - it's my lazy Sunday look!

Party Saturday

I gave the cable purse to my friend at the football tailgate party last night (BEAUTIFUL night for a tailgate and football game!) but forgot to take her picture with the purse. Unfortunately, I promised to make similar bags for two other friends. Photo of all cheer moms below. Yes, I am the only one with a drink in my hand.... do you have a point?

Photo at right shows Lucy apron being modeled at the Texas Hold 'Em party. My friend Lynne was a big winner so I think everyone should wear a vintage style apron to play cards!!

Ethel Apron

Dontcha think Lucy and Ethel would have loved matching aprons?! Although I should be doing about ten other things, I woke up and kept thinking about the other view that I had cut out so I headed to the sewing room and made view E of McCalls 3979. It will also be a friend gift. This one was a little easier to put together than the last one but I'm not sure if it is because there are less curved edges on this design or because I am now in a groove with applying bias tape. Either way, this is an adorable style. I recently found Heather Bailey's Freshcut line of fabric at a local store and you can bet I'll be creating this apron in her fabric.

Lucy Apron

Why do I call it that? Because I can just picture Lucy Ricardo wearing it, although in more sedate fabrics). I made this apron for another friend who also has an October birthday. She loves to cook so I'll package it with these adorable notecards:


The pattern is McCalls 3979 - vintage aprons (View D).


The fabric is some quilter's cotton from JoAnn's. This is not a pattern for beginners. All that seam binding was a pain in the patootey to apply! But I do like how it turned out and I have View E cut out in the same fabric for yet another friend's birthday gift!

Cable Knit Purse - Take 3

I made the Knitpicks Cable purse* for myself last winter and received lots of compliments on it. Then my daughter wanted one so I made one for her, too. One of my friends really wanted one so I told her I'd make her one, too. She makes jewelry and offered to make me a bracelet. Yeah, you guessed it... she gave me the bracelet ages ago and NADA in return for her.

Her birthday is tomorrow so I decided I would finally bite the bullet. She wanted a black one. I forgot that cables look better in lighter yarn or else I would have talked her out of it. I just used some Wool-Ease I had in my stash. Oh well, I hope she likes it. I am giving it with the red ribbon on it but in case she thinks it's too gaudy that way, I'm also including the white ribbon for a more neutral look.

I forgot how fast this is to knit. Probably took 3 hours (and I am a SLOW knitter!). For this one, I started with the bottom panel, picked up stitches around the bottom and then knit the whole thing in the round.

* It was a free pattern but it's gone from their site. I have the pattern in pdf form so if you want a copy, email me and I'll send it to you.

Muslin Tulip Skirt - yay or nay?

10/16/07 - Thanks for all your comments! Between the comments here on my blog and at Pattern Review, it looks like this skirt is a go although I will heed the advice to make it a bit fitter at the sides and definitely, will wear a fitted, streamlined top. I'm thinking turtleneck - just like in the pattern picture!

I love the look of the tulip skirt in McCalls 5473 but have heard a lot of people say, "Oh, I could never wear that style." But I'm not sure why people who don't like it, don't like it. I decided to make a muslin to see if I can, "wear that style."

I think it turned out kinda cute but maybe I'm missing something. I made View C some scrap thin twill that had not been pre-washed so I think it's a little stiffer than the skirt should be. If I end up making this for real, I'll be sure to pick a drapier fabric.

So I ask... "Can I (should I) wear this style?" My feelings won't be hurt if the answer is no. But if you say yes and I find out later I look silly, I'll have to hunt you down! LOL!

Finally - She cooks!

I have to admit that although I love to cook, dinners at my house have been .... well.... a bit sporadic lately. Could it be because I'm spending too much time in my sewing room? [No comment, my M&M loving friend!]

I realized today that I perhaps need to spend a little more time in the kitchen when one of the kids called and rather than asking me, "What's for dinner?" asked, "Will there be dinner?" LOL. Now, in my own defense.... these are able bodied people that could very easily whip up dinner from the abundance of groceries that are always in the freezer/fridge/pantry while I'm working but that's not exactly the game plan I've laid out over the years. So, on this first cool day of the season (LOVE IT!), I whipped up an old family favorite - pure comfort food. Added bonus is that it's quick and easy if you use some head-starts from the grocery store.

Chicken Broccoli Rice Casserole

• 2 cups cooked chicken (I buy a rotisserie chicken almost every week at the grocery store; so many things you can do with it)
• 1 10 oz box frozen chopped broccoli, cooked in microwave for 4-5 minutes. (I subbed a box of broccoli with cheese sauce that I found in the freezer)
• 1 small can chopped mushrooms, drained
• 1/2 - 1 cup shredded cheese (I used some low fat velveeta that I cut in small cubes)
• 1 can cream of chicken soup (use the low fat/low sodium one)
• 1/2 soup can milk
• 3 cups cooked rice
• black pepper and garlic powder to taste

Mix together all ingredients in large bowl and pour into greased casserole pan. Bake at 350 degrees for 30 minutes.

Vogue 2980 revisited

I made another version of Vogue 2980; this time a long sleeve version. The fabric is a very stretchy, slippery, embossed knit from my stash, purchased a couple years ago from JoAnn's.

Every time I see this top reviewed on PR I LOVE it. It really is a fun style. I added a bit to the seam allowance as the first one came out very snug and I'm still a little nervous that this one is too tight for a gal of my age! I think I'm going to buy this pattern again and make the next one in the next larger size or maybe even two sizes up.

I think this could make a very sexy LBD (if lengthened, of course!) but only for a young, very fit body. I'm about 3 kids too late for that look. LOL!

NL 6429

After spending so long on the coat, I wanted a quicky project. Voila! A knit dress that I'll wear on a business trip this week. I cut it out last night and finished it up this morning. This is the second time I've made this pattern and I really love the style. I'm not sure that I love the sleeve length on this version, however. It hits about 2" above the wrist. Next time, I will shorten or lengthen so it's either full length or 3/4 length. But not changing this one.

The particulars:

NL6429, View B
Fabric: Floral Medallion poly knit in black/white from Gorgeous Fabrics. I don't think it's available any longer.

V8346

I feel like I've been talking about this coat forever but I'm finally done. As I've mentioned before, this is a "muslin" for a knee-length version I'm going to do in pink wool.

The "dummy" buttons look crooked in the picture but they didn't in the mirror. I'm going to have to check on that. I didn't notice the color was sticking up either but my photographer was not very cooperative so I'm stuck with this photo.

The particulars:

V8346, View A
Fabric: loose woven acrylic from JoAnn ($4 / yard); underlined with flannel to make it warmer; lined with a poly blend in black.

New Look 6723 in process

I have a business dinner coming up at the end of the month that requires a dressy dress. I remember seeing someone's version of NL 6723 a few months ago (I can't remember who) and thinking it looked very classy and elegant and I think it's a perfect style for this awards dinner.

I couldn't decide on which neckline so I did a muslin of both and worked on the fitting issues at the same time. I think I like the high neckline (fuschia version on right) best for this one.

My dress will be made from the red fabric (dull satin from Hancock's) and I selected a contrast belt in black from the same fabric. The buckle provides a little bling and I'm picturing dangly sparkly rhinestoney earrings and black strappy shoes to accessorize. I considered rhinestone strappy shoes but 1) I don't have any and don't really want to buy any and 2) might be too much bling for my business associates to handle. Ha ha.

(I just previewed this post and the sample above looks like a Santa suit! Hopefully, the finished product won't have people saying Ho, Ho, Ho to me!)

Need Sewing Advice - Buttons on Double Breasted Coat

My "muslin" coat is finished except for the buttons. As shown in the short tweedy view, the coat is a double breasted with four buttons. The pattern calls for four snaps as fasteners with non-functional, i.e. purely decorative buttons. I don't want snaps to close the coat; I want "real" buttons, but I'm not sure how many buttonholes to make.

Assume you are facing the coat, which has the right side lapped over the left. It would look sort of like this with the numbers representing the buttons and the lines indicating the top and side opening (try not to be too impressed by my graphic abilities!):

_______________

|

1 2 |

|

3 4 |

|

i.e. 2 & 4 are closest to the opening.

I think I should make buttonholes on the right side (i.e. outer layer) for # 1, 2, 4. Those would be functioning buttonholes, whereas #3 button would be decorative with no buttonhole. But should I make a functioning buttonhole for #3 on the (left side) bottom layer, too? i.e. so that the left side of the coat has one buttonhole with just a plain button that buttons to the the inside.

Now that my muslin is no longer a muslin, I don't want to screw it up! Help me, Please!

Ravelry

I received my invitation today. I haven't gone to check it out yet and probably won't until the weekend but my ID is BonnieCrocker (in case that means anything to those of you who are also members.)

Who Knew??

Dawn of The Secret Pocket tagged me for the "tell eight things about yourself that most don't know" meme. That was sweet of you to think of me, Dawn!

Now, call me crazy but maybe I don't WANT people to know the things about me that they don't already know. LOL. Just kidding but I am going to have to think hard to come up with something interesting. Or maybe I'll just invent some cool things. How would you know if I was telling the truth?? Hee hee.

1. I lived in Montreal for two years.

2. I lived in Milton Keynes, England for one year.

3. I'm a consultant. Specifically, a financial planner for airports; primarily domestically; occasionally internationally. I help airports figure out how to pay for major capital projects.

4. In spite of my girly-girl ways now, I was quite a tomboy as a kid, growing up with three brothers and a neighborhood of all boys. I played tackle football, basketball & baseball and got into more than my share of physical scraps with the boys, usually initiated by me. "Bonnie the Bully"

5. Tomatoes are one of my top five favorite foods but sun-dried tomatoes make me want to retch.

6. Mimes and magicians annoy me.

7. I've never in my life been on a blind date. Cidell's hilarious speed date experience made me think of this! (The illustration of a true dumb*ss .)

8. Until 18 months ago, I did not like dogs. I now own two and can't imagine life without them.

I just tagged people for the Rocker Girl Blogger so I hesitate to tag anybody specific again so soon. If you're reading this and you have cool characteristics that people should know about, I tag YOU.

The Real Coat

I'm just about finished my "muslin" version of Vogue 8346 so I went ahead and order the pink coating to make my real version. I decided on a knee length version. I wanted to do a fun lining so I'm considering the brown & pink polka dot shown above.

Wearable Muslin & Sewing "Class"

Sunday Sewing # 1:

Dontcha just love when you end up with a wearable muslin????? I have wanted a pink wool coat knee length for more than a year. I never found exactly the style I wanted in RTW. I envisioned a fitted bodice and flared skirt. After seeing lovely wool coatings at Gorgeous Fabrics, I thought, "What the heck! I'll make one!" The fabric investment would be significant enough that I wanted to make sure I didn't blow it. So I decided to do a muslin using Vogue 8346 - the EXACT style I had in my mind although I'm not sure if I want the length in view B or D for my pink version. I need to decide before the end of day tomorrow to take advantage of Ann's 10% off deal.

Now, I love the idea of a muslin but honestly, hate the idea of spending time sewing and fitting a garment that ends up in the trash. So whenever I decide there is a need to "practice" a pattern by creating a muslin, I always select a fabric that is not only cheap but might end up being wearable. I found this pretty oversize herringbone tweed in the JoAnn's clearance and thought it would be terrific. Don't tell anyone but it's 100% acrylic. (Ick.) But it was only $4 / yd. This is not an heirloom quality coat but the fabric gives it sort of a trendy look that I won't want to wear forever anyway. I mentioned in an earlier post that I underlined it with some flannel to make it more substantial as well as stabilize the very ravelly nature of the fabric. I finished the body of it tonight and LOVE the style and the way it fits. I will start the facing and lining next but I can tell already, it's a keeper. I can't wait to finish it.

Question 1: The pattern calls for shoulder pads. I did not put any in yet. I'm tempted to omit them. Do you think that would be ok?

Sunday Sewing # 2:

One of my friends recently got married and she had a sewing machine on her registry. Well, HELLO! Of course, that's what I'm going to buy her! She has never even sewed a button but decided she wants to learn to sew. (Yes, the machine is a cheapy from the big box store and I'm skeptical but no point in spending lots of money before you know if you like sewing. Right?) Anyhoo, in addition to the sewing machine, her gift included sewing lessons from me. I read on The Secret Pocket blog that she likes to start her beginner students on a nightshirt like McCalls 2346 rather than the traditional skirt as a starter project reasoning that fit will not be an issue because... well, because it's a nightshirt that you'll be wearing in the privacy of your own home. This particular pattern is very basic with no zippers or buttons that might frustrate a new sewer.

I met my friend at the fabric store today and she picked a pretty pink flannel for her nightshirt (which is NOT pictured above) and some gathered eyelet trim to attach to the bottom of the gown and sleeves. She talked me into buying the same pattern and some fabric because she thought it would help her to have me sewing the same pattern at the same time. I bought the frog fabric to make my niece (and Goddaughter) some jammies and the purple cat fabric to make some for me. It was fun spending time together in the fabric store and then we went to lunch at Don Pablos afterwards.

Question # 2:
I'm so accustomed to using my serger for finishing seams that I don't know how to have my friend treat her seams. The fabric is a woven flannel so it won't be extremely ravelly but I wondered if anyone had a suggestion for how to finish the seams? I honestly don't remember what I did before I owned my serger.

Book Update

I hadn't updated my book list on the sidebar all summer so I did that this morning. A couple that I really enjoyed and recommend:

Eat Love Pray by Elizabeth Gilbert - The subtitle of this memoir really tells the story: One Woman's Search for Everything Across Italy, India and Indonesia
At many points in this book, I felt like I was looking in a mirror.

Without a Map by Meredith Hall - Terrific memoir about a woman who became pregnant as a teen in the 60s, was forced to give the baby up for adoption and the subsequent ramifications on her life. Interesting look at forgiveness.

Lucia, Lucia by Adriana Trigiani - Cute, quick read by the author of the Big Gap series, which I also loved. About a young Italian woman in the 50s who is torn between marrying and giving up her seamstress career.