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September 29, 2006
slogging
I've been slogging, and I know it. After 6 weeks on what shall henceforth be known on the Project from Hell, my work life is getting back towards normal. I merely want to throw stuffed fish at my coworker when he is irritating, not gouge my eyeballs with a letter opener just to have a moment away from the towers of Stuff to be Done. Anyhoot, I can breathe again and it is real nice.
In crafty news, I'm most of the way done with a pair of grey wool pants for which I'm in the process of making up a pattern. Well, if "almost done" means "looks like pants". I still have to figure out how exactly I'm going to do the waistband, obtain a zipper, remember how to use my supposedly awesome but actually terribly confusing button-holer, and hem the suckers. The first part was easy (read: "sew seams"). All this detail work is a pain. So the pants are languishing on my ironing board, and I might get around to the rest in a year or two. In the meantime I've been knitting like crazy. I've got a couple of the blognipresent Mason-Dixon warshrags finished, am nearing the second toe of my first-ever handmade socks (I'm very proud), and have started work on projects for the 2006 Holiday Knitting Season. Obviously, those projects are classified and no further information regarding them will be available on this weblog until December 26th. Of course, I don't have pictures of any of these current projects. I've been having too much fun making them to take time to photograph them!
I'm also trying to remind myself that having a social life isn't a bad thing. There. You have now read my excuses for slogging. I'll try not to stay away for so long in the future.
Posted by amy at 4:02 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)
Tags: jobby job, knitting, mason-dixon, sewing, slogging, socks
September 6, 2006
sewing update
I have been needing to update for a long time regarding my experience with Vogue 2902. The dress is done, I've worn it to work a couple of times, and also to my brother and Alicia's Wedding Reception, Part the Second. I must say it is very comfortable, but has enough structure to look fancier than it is--especially since it is made from a very simple linin/cotton blend. But HEAVY. In the future, I might remember that a lightweight lining fabric might be made that way for a reason. But my trusty readers don't care about how it wears. I bet you're all on pins and needles to find out what I thought of the process.
Overall I really enjoyed this pattern. I know it has given others fits, and I went in with trepedation. I think I was particularly suited (dressed?) to take this on for two reasons. First, most of my sewing is done sans pattern/from rubbings of pieces I already own, and secondly because I had just made up (with only broad strokes from Butterick 4443) a lined party dress for my lovely Ms. Kibbeyrella.
I'm getting off track. Overall, this is a pretty basic lined bodice attached to a lined skirt with a zipper to allow a body access. 
Except for the ridiculous contrast band, wich instead of being attached in some sort of normal method is made as a completely separate (lined) piece that must be slip stitched to the bodice. While I considered ignoring this crazy instruction, opting to instead topstitch the border to the bodice, I'm glad I went with the original instructions. I was able to fit the two pieces together much more exactly as I hand stitched for what seemed like forever (and very well may have been hours and hours). When I was first playing with the pieces I thought I had definitely selected the wrong size and that never in a million years would this dress end up fitting. The closer I came to completion, the better the dress fit, with almost no tailoring.
The shaping for the zipper seems to be totally backwards, as hilatron has noted. Since I am a zipper-installation reject (it seems so simple, but it is not!), I almost always go for the invisible zipper. With this pattern, I was true to form and didn't even try to follow the pattern's non-sensical zipper instructions and had mine installed in a flash. By the time the bodice was finished, band and all, and the skirt/zipper/liner was all put together, I was in no mood to hem around a full circle skirt. I ironed a fold into the liner, ran a zig-zag over the join, and a top-stitch close to the edge, cut out the bottom band, and seamed it (folded in half) to the bottom of the skirt. While it was quick and easy, I regret my quick-and-dirty method for a few reasons. The liner shows more often than I thought, and I wish it's hem was prettier. I might try redoing this someday with my rolled hem foot, though I'm not sure how well this would hold up on the cotton with machine washing. Also, the seam allowance between the bottom band and the skirt is NOT holding up well and is fraying like wildfire. So some hemtape is pretty essential--that I am going to have to handstitch. The most important step I completely skipped was not measuring the hem. There is about a 2' section in the back that hangs about 4" longer than the rest of the skirt. Dumb. So I'm going to have to take the band off and re-attach. Maybe at that time I'll figure out a more intelligent way to put this together. I'm also wishing that a bit of the hem had not bounced against my dirty bike chain the other day, but that is a laundry problem, not a construction problem.
So, any tips on how to get black bike grease out of cotton? My aunts swear by Spray N Wash. Should I trust them? While I'm on a questioning role, here's a few more for my multitudes of readers. I'm still looking to sew up Vogue 2903 even though the Pants's wedding is in the past and Mammacita doesn't need a gaymarrying costume anymore. So I think I'll make it for myself, too. I'd like it to be winter/fall work attire. So here's what I'm thinking--to modernize a bit, what if I made it out of a nice wool jersey with a little (but not too much) stretch. Maybe in a wine/burgandy hue. Thoughts? Opinions? Has anybody made this thing? Will the jersey be to heavy? Should I follow the pattern recommendations? Okay, next question. I mentioned before that I often spurn the idea that everything must be made from a pattern, and that I am a fan of winging it. I should be more specific. I wing a lot of skirts. However, I have some nice grey wool suiting that I'd really like to turn into a pair of slacks for winter very similarly shaped to a pair of pink slacks I have for summer. Pants from a rubbing? Is this a good idea? Do I really have to make a muslin? (I know the answer to that one, danggit.) If Vincent can do it, so can I, right? (In case I haven't mentioned it, I really hated that outfit, Vincent.)
Obviously, I have nowhere near enough time for all the projects I'd like to do for myself, but I'll keep stitching!
(more Red Dress pictures here)
Posted by amy at 6:11 AM | Permalink | Comments (7)
Tags: comment whoring, kibbeyish party dress, pattern review, red dress, sewing
September 5, 2006
new photo map geekery
This post may be mostly for my friend David, hater of flickr and new convert to web albums by picasa. This is not to say he isn't on to something, but I did recently pay up for another year's pro account. And I discovered this new gem. I spent a lot of this holiday weekend wallowing at home feeling very unwell. Instead of laying on the sofa with nothing to show for it, I think I productively used that time by geotagging over 75% of my photos. Does this make me as big of a nerd as I think it might? Probably.
