Thanksgiving

Hi everyone, no photos today but there has been Thanksgiving sewing. I've been working on the Smudge Vest today. All has gone well except I'm not liking the instructions for completing the side seams and lining. I think I'll rip out the lower edge, so I'll have more room for working on this faux fur garment. Since I can't press this stuff, I've been tacking down the seam allowances, and working with stupid 2" seam openings just isn't working for me. Geez. I hate stupid instructions like this.

DH says the vest makes me look like Mrs. Santa Claus. Hopefully, only because it's white faux fur.

We're heading out for Thanksgiving dinner in a few minutes. With just the two of us, and me working tomorrow, this just makes more sense.

I hope everybody had a great Thanksgiving!! We all have a lot to be thankful for.

JAM 7: Simplicity 2154 is Done!

I finished up the retro cardi yesterday with minimal drama.

I made the vertical buttonholes with Babylock Audrey's automatic buttonhole function--just straight onto the fabric, no stabilizer required. I think the grosgrain ribbon facing really helped in that respect. I made the top buttonhole manually with zigzag stitching. It's not perfect by any means, but it's functional and the the stitches blend into the animal print so it looks ok at a glance. I couldn't use the buttonhole function because of the neckband seam. I made a bunch of samples and couldn't come up with a way to make it work. I'm going to experiment with this technique some more so I can use it on other garments--this happens a lot with machine buttonholes, so it would be worth having another option. I wouldn't want to manually make a whole set, sometimes you need another way for the occasional buttonhole near an edge or a seam.

The sweater came out pretty well for a prototype; I'm happy with the style and fit. I wear a lot of gray so I'll have plenty of opportunities to wear it. I also feel comfortable using this pattern for the expensive wool and rayon sweater knit. Mission accomplished!

The fabric is an acrylic and rayon blend sweater knit that I've had in the stash for several years. I think it came from Jo-Ann's. I was in Hancock's Friday, and it turns out they had some so it's back in production again. Since this project was working out so well, I bought a couple of pieces for future knit projects in green and purple prints.

BTW, my camera's battery was running very low, so bear with me on using this quick snapshot of the corner of the Sewing Cave. I think I owe you all a couple of "styled" photos of recent garments, and hopefully can do something about that soon.

Home Improvements

This fall has been a time of home improvement projects. We had new windows installed last month.

The windows are great! The old metal ones were the same age as the house (circa 1993), leaky and difficult to open and shut. Here's a side-by-side comparison I took during the installation:

This view of the house is the back yard by the master bath and bedroom Granted, the old window looks a little bit worse than normal, since the workmen had already sawed around its perimeter. The new window is on the right.

Here's a picture I took this morning as I was getting ready for work. This was taken from the sink area, looking out through the upper part of the bathroom windows. The left window is in the same position as the old window in the picture above.

The shades are about halfway open--still have to have privacy. I took this picture without flash on my cell phone, I just thought the view was fabulous. In real life the shades and walls are a much paler creamy shade.

We are seeing results already with the approach of winter. The house is much more comfortable even with the thermostat turned back a few extra degrees.

This month's project is the building of new walls around our house. Our lot is near the end of a cul-de-sac, so it's shaped like a pie wedge. The builder put the walls way toward the back of the house, which means our back yard is wide but not very deep. Placing additional walls at the sides of our house gives us more backyard space, privacy and security. This view is from the Sewing Cave:

So far, it's not very impressive, but I think it'll be nice to have a private space right outside my sewing area. I'd put a bird bath out there, but that's probably not a great idea with a cat who hunts. Well, perhaps a seating arrangement instead.

Stitchology

Last night, I went to the grand opening of an ASG friend's new business venture. Stitchology is a sewing parlor and fabric boutique that will offer a variety of sewing classes. It also carries independent patterns, such as Colette and Sewaholic, as has a select group of fabrics.

The proprietor, Melissa, is an Albuquerquean who returned to town after earning her degree at Indiana University. She was in the fashion program there, and spent the last few years custom designing and making custom clothing while also teaching sewing. Now she's decided to be her own boss.

The shop is charming, with vintage touches and pops of Tiffany blue. She has a great location in the North Valley that's just a hop and skip from Old Town and I-40. She's pretty close to my house, so I know I'll be visiting often,  especially with La Montanita, our locally owned food co-op, in the same shopping center. How simple--sewing and food in one place!

I'm considering the class on making a special occasion dress using the Peony pattern from Collette--I could use some help fitting a sheath dress and haven't yet tried this pattern line. And of course, I've already bought some fabric--

Congratulations on your new venture, Melissa! I hope your business is wildly successful for years to come!

And thanks for your hospitality! The grand opening was a lovely opportunity to preview your new place and celebrate. Aren't these sewing oriented mini cupcakes cute, by the way? Needles and thread, and the others are spools.  And the chocolate requires no design, just sprinkles.

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On the home front, no sewing since last weekend. Halloween and DH's birthday on November 1st took two evenings out of the beginning of the week and I never got caught up. DH is taking a leave of absence from work, so he's around every evening when I get home. Which is good, but on the other hand--let's just say it's like a preview of his retirement.

As a result, the cardi is still waiting to be finished. Perhaps I'll set up the buttonhole machine this afternoon and at least do some testing of buttonholes.

Also, I appreciate the concern over my foot issues. I am under a podiatrist's care and she has given me the go-ahead on limited heel wearing if I feel up to it. Most days, it's some variety of "comfort" shoe--Born, Clark's or Sofft--and now that the weather's cooler, I can add boots and clogs to the mix.