A Couple of Avocados

And now for something completely different.

(Well, maybe not completely – it is still about sewing.)

I recently had the pleasure of being a pattern tester for Mari of Disparate Disciplines as she launches her first sewing pattern for her new independent pattern business – the Avocado Hoodie, in versions for both men & women.

This is my brief review of both patterns.

She needed testers to be a variety of sizes and I just happened to be the small end size most others could not test for her. And since my husband was a size that she also needed to test for the men’s version, I was able to make one for each of us.

Part of what attracted me to this pattern is the unusual back pockets for your Significant Other to use.  I love the details on the hoodie because they are interesting and something I wouldn’t want to take the time to pattern & test myself. For me, it’s always about the style lines and interesting details when I choose to buy & make a pattern.

(The Avocado Hoodie even has a sweet backstory that can be read here.)

The pattern is a downloadable pdf file that you print from your home printer and then tape together. The printing instructions are easy to follow and I had no trouble taping all the pages together and cutting out the appropriate sizes.

I cut mine at the pattern’s size 0 and cut my husband’s in his suit size.

Pattern pieces taped and cut out.

(Tip: If you are cutting a size that is not the smallest or largest, use a highlighter to mark your cut lines because it can be a little tricky to follow the one you want through the nested pieces.)

I chose a dark grey microfleece with 40-50% crossgrain stretch (10″ stretched to about 18″) for our hoodies because the standard sweatshirt fleece options at my local fabric store did not have ANY stretch. (What’s up with that?? I still can’t figure out what you would want sweatshirt fleece without stretch for.)

I had fun playing with a new-to-me stretch stitch. I chose to use it for all my seams and the topstitching because it is like a straight stitch & serge all-in-one (at the moment, I really need to have my serger serviced) and it looks sort of like a coverstitch as topstitching.

Samples on scrap fabric of the stretch stitch I chose.

If you follow me on Twitter or Instagram, you may remember that I asked for opinions about topstitching color on my hoodie. And you sewcialists were no help – it was a perfect 3-way tie, lol!

Lime, Orange, or Hot Pink?

My jersey options were limited (and boring!) at the fabric store, so I resorted to buying the biggest men’s t-shirts I could find (and they were only $4 at Walmart!).

A men’s 4X t-shirt is perfect for cutting up when you need nice jersey fabric!

Despite my favorite colors being green and orange, I ended up choosing the pink for my hoodie for three reasons:

1) I decided to use pink jersey,

2) I recently got a new pair of sneakers that would match,

and 3) I had already decided my husband’s hoodie topstitching would be blue (you know, the whole cliché boy/girl thing).

I followed the pattern & instructions as printed. The only small modifications I made were lining the hoods with the same jersey fabric I used for the pockets, stitching the seams and then trimming the seam allowance close to the stitching as I went, and adding some decorative topstitching.

Pocket assembly.

The pocket was fascinating to me. I didn’t realize it would be all one pocket with 4 holes until I started assembling it. Nice engineering!

Bright jersey lining!

For the decorative topstitching (on both hoodies), I used two spools of thread at the same time through the needle. It made for better topstitching and the slightly different shades of the same color added some visual depth.

Oh, and I did manage to figure out a way to completely clean finish the thumbholes so there is no topstitching or handsewing necessary. I followed the pattern instructions up to the point just before you turn them right side out. Just before I turned them, I made two more stitchlines to attach the edges of both cuff holes to each other.

It is a bit advanced and hard to explain exactly how I did this with still photos, but here are some example pictures. (I might try to do a video if anyone is really interested in seeing how I did this and if the photos are too unclear.)

I tested what I thought would work with safety pins first (so I could turn the cuff right side out). When it worked, I replaced the pins with stitching.

Both hoodies fit very well without any alterations! That’s something that almost never happens for me – most mass produced patterns seem to have ridiculous amount of ease. I can tell that Mari spent a lot of time and attention to the fit of her hoodie patterns. They’re very well planned & drafted and went together like a dream. These patterns are about as close to custom drafted as you can get with something that has been graded.

I liked the snugness of the sleeves on the women’s version; however, I have really skinny arms, so I’m guessing that the average woman might prefer the sleeves a little looser. (I might even cut my next hoodie a little bigger in the sleeves just for ease of wearing with more layers.)

And here’s a series of photos of me and the comic-relief husband wearing our hoodies:

Non-overlapped hood on his. Overlapped hood on mine.

Hoodies from the back.

Men’s Avocado Hoodie

Women’s Avocado Hoodie

His Emperor Palpatine impression.

And my pockets don’t really gap in the back, but no one told me I was pulling forward with my hands in the front pocket. Where’s my costumer when I’m in front of the camera?

Crummy self-mirror shot. See? No gapping pockets.

Hood detail.

Men’s Avocado Hoodie with back pockets.

These shots just make me laugh. =)

My “Vogue Sewing Patterns” pose and a cheesy sitting pose to show the hoodie with my matching shoes.

I love this pattern and plan to make a few more variations of the hoodie for myself, probably with a center front zipper because that’s what I wear the most when I work (the zipper makes it easier to shed when I’m wearing a walkie and other costuming junk around my neck).

If you want to sew your own Avocado Hoodie, you can buy your own downloadable copy of the Disparate Disciplines Pattern. There’s the men’s hoodie, the women’s hoodie, and a discount if you buy both together.

Both versions fit true to measurements and have nice style lines, which keep them from looking sloppy.

I highly recommend these hoodie patterns! Thanks, Mari, for letting me test them! =)

My Cassini Style Easter Dress

For Easter in 1963, Jackie Kennedy wore an Oleg Cassini dress made in pale pink linen. Fifty years later, the simple style of her dress is still beautiful, and I’ve wanted to copy it for myself for years.

This Easter I finally did.

Side by side in black & white
My dress and Jackie Kennedy’s as pictured in the Palm Beach Daily News.

I first fell in love with her dress when I purchased the book Jacqueline Kennedy: The White House Years, which I was lucky to find at my local Half Price Books for only $10. It is full of wonderful photos specifically of her fabulous clothes.

Book cover and the Cassini Easter dress pages.

While I love everything about her dress, I knew I would not look good wearing such a pale pink. I look better in warm colors, and let’s face it, I am the opposite of tanned. (I’m bordering on vampire pale.)

I already had a large stash of 100% linen in an ivory color left over from a wedding dress I once made for a client. So I decided to dye some in a color I can wear.

It took me at least 6 attempts to get the final color. I almost stopped at this shade of orange, which was just a little too yellow:

I love this color orange, but it isn’t the best for me to wear. It’s a little too “naked” of a color.

Thankfully, one of my coworkers at the time is a dye expert, and she was able to tell me what color to over-dye my linen to make it a better shade of orange. (Thanks, Susan!) I also dyed my white cotton/poly underlining fabric a similar color to prevent seams from showing through. (I checked the linen with the undyed white, and there definitely would have been some color difference around the seams had I left it white.)

My fabrics: final peach color of linen & underlining fabric with beige lining fabric.

After studying the photographs of the Cassini dress closely, I chose McCall’s 7158 from 1963 because the style lines were the most similar. (I didn’t even realize the pattern date was the same as the Cassini dress until just now when I checked!)

Dress Pattern McCall’s 7158 and a close up of the Cassini dress.

The pattern needed a lot of tweaking. You can see how I fit the mockup in this post.

Once I had made the appropriate pattern alterations, I cut and assembled the lining first so I could double check the fit. Then I cut my linen and underlining fabric and basted them together.

Linen basted to the underlining.

I also made matching linen bias for the “quatrefoil motif” and to finish the arm and neck edges. (I generally dislike facings and try to eliminate them whenever possible.)

Linen bias tape.

My favorite part of this build was creating the single decorative detail near the neckline of the dress.

Careful ironing to shape the bias tape and then lots of pins & hand-stitching.

My least favorite part of this build was making the bust darts cooperate – I almost gave up and threw the dress in the trash because of them. When stitched in the linen, they wanted to be extra pointy and I really wanted to avoid an Anne Hathaway dart dilemma.

Had I not wanted a new Easter dress so badly, and if so many people (online and in real life) had not known about me making it, I doubt I would have been so determined to finish it. (And yes, I did have to remind myself of the advice in this old post.)

I fought those stupid, hateful darts for at least 2 nights after work. I ended up shaping them slightly and stitching them by hand because it was easier to do the minor changes by hand.

Ultimately, I found the biggest improvement to the pointiness was stitching the dart fold down to the underlining to control them. (In hindsight, I probably should have reduced the length of the darts on the pattern before I cut the linen.)

Bust darts, my nemesis of the build.

They still aren’t perfect, and they really bug me because that’s all I see when I look at the dress. I’m hoping that by the time next spring comes around, I will have had enough distance from the dress for the darts not to bother me as much.

Somehow, I can make nearly perfect things for others, but when I try to make something couture for myself, it’s never quite right. I know part of the problem is that fitting and seeing the design elements on your own body is nearly as hard as cutting your own hair – it’s hard to back up and see the full picture.

So during two short breaks and part of my lunch break every day for a couple weeks, I did as much as I could to build my dress during my time at the opera. Then I continued working on it at night when I came home. But I managed to complete it in time for Easter Sunday.

Here’s the abbreviated summary of the build, through photos (as usual, click to enlarge):

Seam allowance of the dress was cross-stitched to the underlining without catching outer layer of linen. I did not bother to stitch the seam allowance all the way down the skirt.

I stitched all the seams except the center back where the zipper went. The center back seam was pinned with a tapered seam allowance during the final fitting for a custom fit, and then the zipper was inserted along that tapered line. (I’m still amazed I was able to find a matching zipper!)

Finished handpicked zipper.

Hem was also cross-stitched to underlining without catching outer layer of linen, which makes it a completely invisible hem. (Later, the lining was slip-stitched to the linen hem about half an inch up from the bottom edge.)

Lining & dress were built separately. Then the lining was dropped into dress and basted together at neck and arms.

Neck & arm edges were finished with bias strips, seam allowance trimmed, and bias was folded to the inside of the dress and hand stitched only to the lining for an invisible facing.

The finished dress inside out.

Easter morning was quite chilly where I live, but since my dress was three layers, I was rather warm even without sleeves.

Since we got out of church before the rest of my family, I ended up taking most of the photos by myself using the camera’s self-timer while I warmed up the food for lunch at my parents’ house (my husband went back at our house to attend to other things).

It was so stinking bright outside, I could hardly keep my eyes open and I was almost crying. I captured lots of photos of myself with my eyes closed or really weird expressions. I did manage to take a few decent shots though.

Outdoors in my parents’ backyard. (I almost feel like I should add vampire sparkles to this shot.)

Indoors, I’m a little less washed out.

I had hoped to take some better pictures with my husband’s help later, but nothing turned out any better. He did take a photo of the back (something I had forgotten to do):

Back of the dress. (It’s really wrinkled from sitting.)

And I shall end with a close up of my favorite part – the simple decoration:

Bias and a single covered button give a minimal design a touch of elegance.

Tracing Sewing Patterns

I promise that my Easter dress post will be next! I’m presently weeding through all the photos for it. =)

In the meantime, I feel I need to write a post about pattern tracing and the wonderful paper I recently discovered since so many sewcialists have been asking me about it over on Twitter. Seems that everyone was looking for the perfect way to trace patterns at the same time – and I just happened to find the answer right before they started asking! (Weird how things like that happen…)

I have always tried to trace sewing patterns – especially if they are vintage patterns! That way I can alter and make design changes without losing the original, and I can keep all the sizes when a pattern is drafted in multiple sizes all nested together.

(I also cheat a bit and use my printer/copier/scanner to make copies of many of the small pieces. And I’ve even been known to copy the big pattern pieces in sections and tape them together.)

My previous pattern tracing method involved rolls of craft paper (white or brown). Craft paper is best for pattern drafting from scratch, but it is a pain when you want to trace something because you can’t see through it. To trace a pattern, I would have to place my pattern on top of the paper and use a tracing wheel to punch little dotted lines into the paper. Then I would need to go back and mark over the dots with a pencil. It was like tracing everything twice and it took for-ev-ER!

So I started hunting for a roll of thinner paper that was more see-through.

I couldn’t find anything sheer enough in wide widths in my local craft stores. Thus, I began searching online.

First, I found this 36-inch wide roll of vellum tracing paper by Pro Art brand. I added it to my wishlist and received some for Christmas. It is wonderful stuff, but it’s a bit pricey and only comes in a 5-yard roll, which doesn’t last very long. I plan to use it for patterns I need to use a million times. (It’s actually what I used to trace the vintage pattern I started with for my Easter dress, and you can see it in this post.)

My search for more affordable tracing paper continued.

And then I found it! Same brand as the tracing vellum but it’s actual tracing paper. I didn’t see it in my original searches because you have to click the 12-inch wide roll link to see that you can get it in all sorts of widths. Pick your width up to 36-inches and pick your length from 8 yards to 50 yards! (I like the 36-inch wide.)

Here’s a photo I posted to Instagram when I first got my roll (you can see how nice and sheer the paper is):

It’s exactly what I’ve always wanted – affordable, thicker than tissue; thin enough to see-through; relatively strong so it doesn’t rip too easily; and marks well with pencil, pen, or marker! Just what every serious sewist or sewcialist needs. =)

If you ever have a sewing dilemma, feel free to leave a comment, ask me by email or find me on Twitter – I’d love to help out if I can!

Another Blogging Award!

Just two days after posting about my Liebster Award, I was honored with another blogging award – the Very Inspiring Blogger Award!

Life has kept me rather busy (as soon as I’m able to get some better photos, I will post about my Easter dress!) so I am more than a month overdue for an “acceptance speech”.

Thank you so much for the nomination, Karen! I can’t tell you how honored I am to be on your list of inspiring bloggers! You were the first follower of my blog who I didn’t know in real life, and I am constantly inspired by your blog. You have amazing style, wonderful taste in fabric and patterns, and you teach me so many interesting details about fashion history with your posts! Thank you for the inspiration – I’m delighted that the inspiration is mutual! =)

The rules seem pretty universal for this award:

• Display award image on your blog page. Check.
• Link back to the person who nominated you. Check.
• State 7 facts about yourself. Eesh. These random things are going to make my logical brain overload from difficulty!
• Nominate 15 other bloggers for the award. Since I’m inspired by so many bloggers via their blogs or even just conversations on Twitter, how about a “blogroll” of sorts?

Okay so more facts about me. Umm…

1. I hate abbreviating when I write – which makes tweeting really hard! It’s probably because I was never good at Spelling when I was in school. (I’ve worked so hard to learn to spell, don’t make me do it badly on purpose!) Plus, when something is completely spelled out, there is less chance of confusion/misunderstandings.
2. I love typography. I can be a bit obsessed with letters, fonts, and page layout.
3. I have nearly 600 unique sewing pattern numbers (not counting doubles of the same number) in my collection.
4. I’m on IMDB but my listing  is horribly incomplete since I have neither an agent nor a paid account. Crew pages are full of errors & omissions. And no one ever gets a job because of IMDB. Resumes are much more impressive, but even those won’t get you a job in the film & theatre worlds. Word of mouth is the only way I’ve ever gotten a job.
5. Fun geeky piece of trivia from my life: I graduated college in 2001 and our graduation march was Holst’s Jupiter on the organ. (Geek points if you get why this was geeky!) Specifically, this part of the piece:

(Okay, just two more! Come on randomness…I can do this! *pep talk*)

6. My favorite color is green (especially shades of lime and grass) but orange is a very close second.

7. I finally joined the 21^st century and got a smartphone. So now when I’m not at home, I can take emails (the limited access to email was getting to be a career problem) and Twitter with me. And now that my phone has a decent camera, I got an Instagram account.

And now for the easy list – my blogroll (in no particular order)! Many of the blogs that inspire me already have the Very Inspiring Blogger Award, but if any of the following bloggers don’t have it and would like to claim one for themselves, consider your blog nominated and do with it what you will. =)

Blogs I’ve followed for a year or more because they inspire, make me think, and/or teach me things I did not know:

Fifty Dresses by Karen (My nominator who also inspires me.)

Three Dresses Project by Leila (Sewcialist extraordinaire who introduced me to the Twitterverse)

Cation Designs by Cindy (Queen of the geeky bedsheet dress!)

The Vintage Traveler by Lizzie (If you love vintage clothing and fashion history, this is a blog not to be missed!)

EPBOT by Jen (DIY craft geek who is also the first blogger I ever followed regularly when a friend sent me the link to her hilarious Cake Wrecks blog just a couple months after she started it. EPBOT quickly became my favorite when she started it as her second blog.)

A Girl in Winter by a self-taught seamstress (who’s an amazingly FAST learner!)

Drawing Saudade by Saudi (I’ve followed her for almost a year now)

Blogs of some of my inspiring friends that I actually know in person (and many of which I helped setup):

Down by the Ash Tree by Ashley (my sister’s food & various domestic pursuits blog)

Purple Powder Puff by Marlene (my professional makeup artist friend)

art-T-dolls by Traci (friend and fellow professional costumer)

The Life and Times of Athene by Athene (who I’ve known since 8^th grade and always writes stuff that amuses me)

Barbara Knits by Barbara (my amazingly talented knitting friend, who I have more to write about in a future post)

Blogs of some of my inspiring new Sewcialist Twitter friends:

Love-Teach-Sew by Stephanie

Bird and Bicycle by MaLora Ann

Thimble & Cork by Kacie, a fellow Texan

Disparate Disciplines by Mari

Gjeometry by Catja

Sew Exhausted by Laurie (and her cousin Kerrielee)

A Make It Yourself Mom’s Diary by Laura

Sparkly Super Nova by Nova, who “lives on a cloud with her unicorn” (best location description ever!)

Kadiddlehopper by Katie

Sew and So by Becky

Musings of a Seamstress by Sarah

Crafting a Rainbow by Gillian

Sew Little Time by Joanne

I know I’m leaving out blogs that just haven’t made it into my reader yet. (I have so many wonderful conversations with those of you on Twitter, I sometimes forget to read your blogs if I don’t catch a link when it’s tweeted.)

Just look at the profiles of people I follow on Twitter if you want to find more blogs! Or look at the blogs of those who regularly comment here – I often spend time reading theirs. =)

The online sewing, crafting, diy-ing community is always inspiring! May we continue to inspire and encourage each other!

Transferring Fitting Marks from Mockup to Pattern

I’ve had a couple requests for a tutorial of sorts about how to transfer the fitting marks from a mockup (aka muslin or toile) to the paper sewing pattern. So since I’m in the process of making my Easter dress for this year and the pattern needed a lot of tweaking to be what I want, it was the perfect time to take some photo examples. =)

I’m currently working at The Dallas Opera (helping to build fun 19^th century costumes!), so I was able to have my coworker Traci help me fit my mockup during part of a lunch break. Really convenient since the pattern needed more work than I could easily fit on myself alone! Thanks, Traci!

Behold, the truly flattering (*sarcasm*) before & after fitting photos:

Before: Ick. Just a bad fit all around.
After: Lots of pins and Sharpie markings!

Mockups aren’t meant to look pretty. They are meant to be drawn all over and pinched and pinned and then cut up. This is why my fabric choice was a cheapy bedsheet – nothing pretty because I knew I would be throwing it away in the end. I never plan to save or use a mockup once it has served its purpose. If the pieces are big enough, I might cut it up and use the fabric for another mockup later (this fabric was actually left over from Camille’s wedding dress mockup).

Marked and pinned mockup after fitting.

There was a pinch taken out of the neckline to eliminate a gap. Tucks were taken out of the side front pieces for a better fit at the bust. Some of the flare was removed from the skirt. The princess seams were moved inward a bit and the neckline was widened slightly at the edges for a more pleasing shape (these adjustments were mainly made to match a photo of the dress I’m copying).

And here’s how I transferred all those marks to my pattern:

First step was to cut right on the new line for the princess seams in the front, cut off the sleeve following drawn armseye, and rip the stitches out of the shoulder seam – all so the mockup could be opened up and traced onto the paper pattern.

Mockup cut on new seamlines. Notice that it was only necessary to mark one side with new lines because I am (for the most part) symmetrical.

The cut mockup was placed on the center front piece and aligned with the pattern’s top line of the bust dart, shoulder seam, and center front. The new lines were traced onto the paper following the mockup at the neck, armseye, and down to top of dart.

Mockup lined up on pattern for tracing new lines.

Then the mockup was shifted down to line up with the bottom line of the dart on the pattern and the rest of the new seam was traced.

New seamline ready for tracing onto paper pattern.

To eliminate the gapping neck in the front, I measured from the top safety pin to the edge of dart.

Measuring pinched amount at neckline.

I forgot to take one photo at this point (but finished alteration is seen in next couple of pictures). To remove that fabric from the pattern without changing the straight center front line (because it’s cut on a fold), I drew a line perpendicular to the neckline and down to a random point on the side seam.

Then the newly drawn line is cut almost all the way down to the side seam – only a tiny point is left attached. And the paper is overlapped the measured amount at the neck (in a V-shape) and taped.

Altered pattern piece with all mockup markings transferred.

Seam allowances are added following the new seam lines.

Final corrected pattern piece including seam allowances.

To add the new seamlines on the side front pattern piece, I needed to extend the paper so scraps were taped down the length of pattern.

Side front pattern piece with paper added to edge.

The mockup was lined up with the paper pattern and pinned down to the table (eventually, I plan to make my cutting table’s surface pinnable too!) and the front edge was traced.

I traced the new side seam (new because of the tuck taken out of the center of the piece) using a tracing wheel, but you can also use a pin to poke a line of holes through the seam and into the paper.

Dotted line on pattern made from tracing the mockup’s side seam with the tracing wheel. Seam allowances were added out from dotted line.

New skirt seam line matched on side front piece using center front pattern piece (seam allowance already included).

There were only a couple tiny tweaks to the back pattern pieces. I will adjust the center back seam in a final fitting and then insert my zipper accordingly. (It will probably be a bigger seam allowance.)

Corrected pattern with alterations made. That is one strangely curving side front piece – but it hangs straight when it’s on my body!

Altered patterns always look a little weird because they are no longer “standard”. Learn to trust your mockup markings and ignore the unusual look of the corrected pattern on paper and your real garment will fit properly in the end. (And you can always make a second mockup just to be sure!)

I hope this photo walk-through is helpful! Let me know if you have any questions in the comments of this post. =)

Now that my pattern is altered, my real Easter dress fabric (and underlining fabric) is cut and ready to assemble! (See the finished dress in this post.)

Self-dyed linen in a pale orange – sort of a melon color.

A Liebster Award (with Pics!)

I’ve recently been bestowed a blogging award… twice!

While I was busy sewing cheer uniforms, I was awarded a Liebster Award by Julie of ParyMoppins.net (you may remember her vintage hat that I restored).

And before I had a chance to “accept” it, my new blogging friend (via Twitter) Stephanie of Love-Teach-Sew also awarded me the Liebster!

I am doubly honored. =)

I do have to say that a lot of these blogging awards confuse me. I think I’m just too logical to completely understand them, and the rules always seem to change as they get passed around from blog to blog.

Case in point, the rules from both my nominators were completely different when it came to passing it on. I’m so bad about passing awards on (sorry!) because a) it seems that half of the blogs I would nominate already have the award and b) the rules usually disqualify the other half.

Anyway, to show my appreciation to my sweet nominators, I will combine their questions into a list of 11 and share 11 random facts about myself. (The number 11 is inexplicably the one consistent thing about all the versions of the Liebster Award rules.)

I hope everyone enjoys the randomness… with pics! =)

11 Questions:

1. Cats or Dogs? Little dogs. Especially Jack Russell Terriers.

May I sit on your lap? Pleeeeze?

2. What is your favorite form of social networking?/ What do you do in your spare time?  I have considered blogging my hobby for a while now, but I would say that Twitter is more addictive. More instant gratification I suppose.
3. Coffee or Tea?  Tea. With milk and sugar – the British way. I can’t stand coffee because I’m a Supertaster and it’s disgustingly bitter to me.

5. How many siblings do you have? One younger sister.
6. What’s the first thing you’ve sewn?/What’s the first wearable thing you’ve sewn?/Why did you start sewing? I don’t really remember what the first wearable item I made was, but these questions are all answered to some degree in this blog post.
7. Who’s your biggest inspiration?/Where do you find new sewing inspiration? Lots of creative people inspire me and many of them are my blogging friends and commenters when it comes to sewing. The online sewing community is amazingly cool. Sewists, #sewcialists and Sewasaurus Rexes all!
8. What’s your favorite craft besides sewing? I really like millinery but I don’t have all the tools I really need/want. And I miss my college days of stained glass making. Once again, lack of tools. I do occasional origami – sometimes in miniature.

Each little “flower” started as a one-inch square piece of paper.

8. What’s your dream project? To work in a costume shop for a big budget period or sci-fi/fantasy movie with amazing costume designs to build. And then NOT to work full-time on set once they are built. =)
9. What’s your favorite sewing snack? I often forget to eat when I’m involved in a project, but I try to keep nuts (especially almonds or cashews) nearby. Often, they are candied or chocolate covered.

Currently, I have Cocoa Almonds and Chocolate Butter Toffee Peanuts.

10. What’s your craft space like? See for yourself – it’s the most popular post on my blog (and here’s the sequel). It’s even in a book!
11. Which projects were you most excited about that turned out a complete fail? I had a lot of fails as a kid trying to learn to sew without much guidance. But the most epic fail I remember was one when I was probably in 8^th grade. I wanted to make a jumper (dress worn with a shirt underneath) that I could wear to school. I chose a nice simple princess seamed pattern but I used denim that was WAY too thick. Once it was made, I hated how stiff & belled the hem was – it stood out from my legs in the most unflattering way. It was a complete disappointment. Most sewing fails are the result of bad fabric choice.

11 Random Facts (in Random Order):

1. I was Salutatorian of my graduating class in high school. (But there were only 29 of us in the class.)

A page in my senior scrapbook from high school. One of my good friends was the Valedictorian (on right) – that’s why we both have medals.

2. Randomness/improv is amusing and makes me laugh, but I completely stink at being random. I’m too cerebral. Just ask my husband. (You have no idea how hard it is to come up with random facts about myself!)

3. I play piano. I got my very own upright grand vintage piano (1927 I think) from a neighbor two doors down. It’s so heavy took 3 men to wheel it down the sidewalk and then lift it over the threshold.

My vintage upright grand piano.

4. If I were rich, I’d pay my sister to do all my cooking. She’s better at it than I am and she actually enjoys it!

5. My husband and I met online BEFORE it was cool. (I’m talking in the days of dial-up!)

6. Star TREK is my first sci-fi love, but I enjoy lots of other things like Star Wars, Firefly, Back to the Future, Doctor Who – yeah, I just plain like sci-fi.  But not horror.

7. I don’t have a personal Facebook account – just my “business page”.

8. I originally wanted to be a Disney animator.

9. I have an Uncle Donald who was a safety engineer at Disney World until he retired a few years ago.

10. I’ve moved 18 times. Some of those moves were in the same town and others were across the country. I don’t ever want to move again.

11. I have really good color memory. I do really well at matching shade & tint in the store without having the object I am matching with me.

___________________________

Okay, your turn! Share something random/funny/interesting in the comments. =)

Sewing Tip: Fusible Interfacing Shortcuts

I’ve spent the last couple of weeks frantically sewing some custom cheer uniforms for a local football team’s dancers. It was a lot of crazy detail work in the end and I’m just glad it’s over now. (Thank you to all my new Twitter friends for “cheering” me on during this project!)

During the uniform madness, I did manage to take a few pictures and mentally note some sewing tips I have for interfacing.

Before I continue with my shortcuts, let me just point out that this is NOT a post about which type of interfacing is best for different types of fabrics. That would require a whole post or two on just that topic and there would still be experimenting required for each individual project.

If you really want a good overview and chart about interfacing, my favorite go-to sewing book is Vogue Sewing. It is for sewing what The Joy of Cooking cookbook is for cooking, and includes information about all the sewing basics you would probably ever want to reference. If you want just one sewing reference book on your shelf, it is the one I would recommend.

That being said, I do have some interfacing tips, especially if you are making cuffs and collars.

If you’ve ever followed the instructions included with a sewing pattern, you’ve probably cut your fabric and interfacing separately using the pattern pieces. And then, you’ve probably had the fun task of trying to line up the two in order to fuse the pieces together.

And the edges of the two layers always shift around don’t they? Super annoying.

There are two ways to prevent the shifting and fusing frustration.

One way is to cut only the interfacing pieces using your pattern. Then you fuse those to your yardage of fabric and then cut your fabric around the fused interfacing. This works best with the non-woven or non-knit interfacings because they hold their cut shape better.

The second way is to block-fuse (or pre-fuse) large strips of interfacing to your fabric before cutting either of them with your pattern, essentially creating a large piece of backed fabric.

I had 11 collars and 22 cuffs to make for the cheer uniforms, so I took it one step further. Not only did I block-fuse my interfacing, I traced my cuffs and collar pieces directly onto the interfacing using a pencil.

I did not include seam allowance on my pattern pieces, so the pencil line was my actual stitch line. This meant I was able to rough cut my pieces without measuring any seam allowances and then stitch directly on my pencil lines.

Cuffs were traced on the pre-fused interfacing and then roughly cut out and pinned back to back with another unmarked piece of pre-interfaced fabric.

After stitching, I trimmed my seam allowances down and clipped the curves.

This was the first curve I clipped and I was so tired that I goofed – I didn’t need to cut V’s around a curve going this direction. I made the others by just cutting single clips once I realized my mistake.

Then I ironed all my seams open with the help of my point presser with clapper to make turning easier and to insure crisp edges.

Ironing seams open with the point presser.

I followed the same steps for the collars with only one difference because I clean finished both the inside and the outside of the Mandarin style collar. (For this project, I chose not to finish my cuffs in this way mainly because of bulk & the need for speed.)

Before stitching the front to the back, I basted the bottom edge of the collar on the stitchline and pressed it up. This makes it easier to attach to the neckline later because one half is already neatly turned inward.

Bottom seam basted and pressed up on half of the collar
before both layers are stitched together.

And after I made my pile of cuffs and collars (oops! forgot to take a photo of the pile), I was able to attach them to all the uniforms.

One uniform top with cuffs & collar attached.

And one last interfacing tip. There’s a really easy way to clean any fusing residue off your iron. Grab a used dryer sheet from your laundry room and simply iron over it a few times. It should remove any glue & stickiness left on your iron and it will smell like clean laundry. =)

If you ever have a sewing dilemma, feel free to leave a comment, ask me by email or find me on Twitter – I’d love to help out if I can!