Return of the CJ

Work has progressed a bit on the jacket.  I have the fronts and backs put together and side seams sewn.  I'll sew the sleeves together soon and attach them.  To the side is a picture of what I've accomplished so far.  I think I'm happy with it.  But not altogether.  I probably should have laid it out so the silver stripes could up and down instead of across.  Oh well.  I'll just have to live with it. I have made one other decision though.  I'll be using the silk charmeuse as a blouse instead of a lining on this jacket.  I purchased some nice black anti-stat to substitute for the silk.  

I'm sorry the picture is so dark; unfortunately the lighting isn't that great in here at night.  

Very Quiet...

I'm sorry there haven't been any posts for a little while.  I've been down with a sinus headache and little has been done in the sewing dept since.  Don't seem to have much energy for much right now beyond reading a book or two.  But, and I have to get better for this, I'm attending a Wendy Schoen class on Saturday and am really looking forward to it. 

I will have a couple of updates on my CJ and a new project that I started before this sinus thingy came along.

As always...more later

Back to the Chanel Jacket

It's about time isn't it!  LOL.  I was finally able to obtain enough underlining to get the job done.  And I think a little of my reluctance to cut into this fabric is I'm so afraid of making a huge mistake and not having any more fabric to make a correction.  There; I said it.  Got it off my chest so now I can just forget about it and forge ahead.  GAH!  Well here is some of what I've accomplished so far.  Since there is a silver thread that is quite prominent in the fabric, I had to be to try to match it throughout the garment.  At least its not a complicated plaid.  I started this project with 1 1/3 yards of 60" fabric - yes you heard right.  LOL.  The only way this would work is by having elbow length (my preference anyway) sleeves and no facings.  There simply wasn't enough fabric.  So I'll do a Chanel-esque  application by lining to the edge thus eliminating  those facings.

My first problem was to solve how I was going to cut out all of those pieces ( 2 fronts, 2 backs & 2 sleeves ) without screwing  messing up the layout and therefore not having enough fabric.  Sooooooo, I had to arrange the fabric in a single layer and then layout the pattern pieces and thread trace around them.  I only had to do this once, thank goodness, or I would have gone nuts having to do that much thread tracing.  LOL.

I know this is going to be a little hard to see but if you click on the picture, you should be able to see the thread tracing in the fabric.

Once I had one set of each pattern piece traced to the fabric with thread, I could then proceed to cutting out the rest making sure I had them lined up as well as I could with the amount of fabric I had.  Let me tell you - I took one huge breath in and let it out before I took that first cut with my rotary cutter.  LOL.  Then I proceeded to cut out all the underlining pieces.  Before I go much further, I used Palmer/Pletsch PerfectFuse Light to underline this project.  Its added a soft body to this really loosely woven novelty boucle'.  Otherwise I just wouldn't be able to handle it without it falling apart. 

The picture just above shows the underlined side up and I've inserted pins where I had to match the silver thread (which of course you can't see).

Quick Hoodie...

As promised, here is a quick project that I made from Kwik Sew 3693 view B.  Talk about easy.  It would have taken me only one afternoon to make it but I putzed around trying to clean up my sewing room too. LOL.

I found this skull themed fabric at Joann's figuring it would make a great hoodie for hanging around in the house.  It can get pretty chilly and my internal thermostat doesn't work as well as it used to.

Here's a pic of the hoodie.  It was very easy as there were no closures such as a zip or a drawstring to install.  It does have the typical pockets.

I'm planning on making view A as soon as I can get my proverbial "stuff" together.  LOL.  I think I have some double knit squirreled away somewhere.

Lata...

Decisions, decisions...

Well, I thought I would be working on my Chanel style jacket once I finished the blouse for the class I'm teaching in March.  But as luck would have it, again, I have to change plans.  I had the fabric all laid out with the pattern pieces, when I finally gave in.  I really don't have enough fabric to make a traditionally constructed CJ.  Which means each pattern piece is cut out with an extra 2 to 4 inches of fabric to account for shrinkage during the quilting and/or fitting process.  Soooooo, I'm going to opt for a more modern, but still softly tailored, version of the jacket since I do have enough fabric for that.  But to do it, I'll need an underlining and I don't have enough around to do the job.  And since we've had so much snow (22.7 record breaking inches for the month already), it makes getting around in Tulsa a really iffy situation.  We haven't had garbage pickup for a week and a half, very sporadic US mail and no sign at all of the UPS guy who is a daily visitor in the neighborhood.  LOL.  Cabin fever is starting to be an issue.   I'll probably place an order today and hopefully since the weather is supposed to improve immeasurably next week, the stuff will be delivered then. 

In the meantime, I'm going to work on a couple of really easy projects.  The first is going to be a hoodie/sweat jacket, whatever.  I wear them as sweaters now.  I found some funky sweatshirt fabric at Jo Ann's last fall and its been languishing in my stash ever since.  It's already been prewashed, so it's ready to go.

More in a little while...

Summer Blouse - Done

Finished the blouse today.  Went to Jo Ann's and found the perfect buttons and some teal thread for sewing them on.  I embroidered the button holes with an 80wt Madeira Cotona in pale blue.  I didn't want the buttonholes to really stand out.  Using the pale blue thread made the buttonholes blend into the background.  I realize I've made the blouse a bit fancy for the class, but I'd like to inspire them to see the embellishment potential for a plain garment.  Here's a couple of pictures of the finished garment.

A Little Palate Cleansing

Yesterday, Saturday, I got out of the house for the first time since last Monday.  Picked up a few groceries at Walmart.  I couldn't believe how empty the shelves were.  I normally give them a wide berth, but I just couldn't see trying to make it up and down the steep hills to my regular grocer.  And what a wet, slushy mess it was!  Picture me driving around in 6-8 inches of grey mush.  Ugh.  Oh, and we get to look forward to this again starting Tuesday night.  Another 5 to 10 inches of snow on our already inundated town.  I'm just looking forward to some warmer temps and melting snow. 

I'm going to be teaching my first sewing class at the B-Sew Inn starting the first week of March.  It will be a very simple sleeveless blouse.  I'm in the process of making up my sample for the class.  I took a few pictures so you could see what I've been working on and also this is why I've been fairly quiet for a few days.  Once I get it completed, I'll settle down and get back to my second jacket for the JAM sewalong at SG.  I still have to bind the armholes with bias and sew buttons & buttonholes. 

I love this fabric.  I got it from the Sewing Workshop late last year.  I love how stripes make you look thinner.  LOL.  But its a nice spring-like fabric from my stash.   

This picture shows a little fun I had with the collar.  I've seen some fairly high-end men's shirts with 2 piece upper collars and just love the chevron it creates.

Looky, Looky...at all of that snow!

Well, for once, the Oklahoma weathermen were right on with the forecast.  LOL.  We have about 10-11 inches on the ground with 3ft drifts and blizzard conditions.  I'm sitting snug in the house with the kitties in my sewing room.  Here's a picture of the backyard I took about 30 minutes ago.