Smocking On Stormy Night

I have begun the smocking on Stormy Night:





The first round is cable in DMC 976, a nice shade of gold with a little orange tone to it. That is followed by a round of wheat stitch in 977, then three rounds of baby wave. I think this is looking very sweet. This is a simple smocking pattern (I need to post a picture of the source) that is perfect for the person smocking with the flu.

This pattern is not mind-blogging at all, and leaves me plenty of time for sneezing and coughing. Of course, there is much whining involved, too..."I'm sick and nobody cares"..."I'm going to die unless I get some tea"...."My head hurts"...."I want to watch football"......you get the idea.

Maybe I can get more done today. I need to get my appetite back QUICK since we are going to put on the feedback at my sister's house on Thanksgiving Day.

Day 3--She Bites The Bullet

I was so disgusted last night that I gave up and went to bed. This morning I checked in on my blog and then, armed with strong coffee, a fresh mind, and a nice breeze on the back porch, I took the cuff off. A hint to those who make huge mistakes while working with black fabric: Natural daylight (preferably outdoors) is the best for removing teeny tiny little stitches. And serging. Just so you'll know.

I had too much of me invested in this to set it on fire. Number 1, I love the fabric. Number 2, I spent oodles of time perfecting the fit on this pattern. Number 3, I hate to give up. Yall do remember the Baby Love Incident, don't you? (For all the newcomers, just click on the links to the left and read all about THAT fiasco.)

But the main reason? Again, it's all you out there. I could feel all yall rooting for me on this one. And I couldn't just let loose with a hissy fit and chop this to bits.

If I had left it as it was, I would have never been happy with it. And since of the reasons I sew is the happiness it gives me, I had to fix it. So I did. Here it is, new and improved:



All the little pleats are pointing in the correct direction. I'm happy now. I just need seven buttons and it's done!

Thank you to all of you. Your encouragement spurs me on!


Up next: Vogue 7876. I'm going for View D, with the 3/4 length sleeves from View B.



And the back:



I have the pattern pieces out and separated, and I need to make some pattern alterations.

Bring on Day 3!

Day 2--Stupider And Stupider

Several of you made 100 on your test yesterday. I sewed the sleeve in upside down. Well, actually I hand-basted it in upside down. Then I machine sewed it in upside down. And last of all I serged it in upside down.

I discovered this huge act of idiocity when I started to put it on for a photo. I was totally amazed at myself. This is what happens when you watch college football while sewing.

At any rate, here it is now. It needs seven buttons and a hem. It already has buttonholes.




I was really loving this, but now I'm not so sure. Why?

Here's the detail of the right sleeve:




And here's the detail of the left sleeve:




Those pleats should be mirror images of each other. But in this case, a Stupid Person didn't orient the pleats in the correct direction. And they have been topstitched and serged, too, of course.

Time To Vote

So what will an aggravated Southern girl do at this point? Will she......

• throw it in the trash
• throw it out a window
• cut it up into tiny little pieces with a very sharp pair of Gingher scissors
• whack off the sleeves
• give it up and go back to cooking

I'm discouraged.

Day 1 Update and A Sewing Test

Making progress.

My original plan was to cut the blouse out by the original pattern markings, then mark my altered seam lines on the pieces. That way I could always drop back and punt, if necessary. I tried out marking methods before I cut out anything, because I've been down this road before with similar fabric and knew it could be a real treat trying to mark this stuff.

I tried to mark the darts, dots, etc.
I tried carbon paper. Nope. Didn't show up.
I tried chalk. Nope. Ditto.
I tried tailor tacks. Nope. Wouldn't stay in.

At this point I realized that I was going to have to cut the blouse out with the alterations already made. I mean really, I made two muslins, put in and took out 100 basted seams, and made 1000 mathematical calculations getting the alterations perfected, right? So I just jumped into the deep end and cut it out by my altered pattern. I'm a big girl.

I still needed to mark those other things, and ended up with a combination of pin marking each little thing, one at a time, and thread marking it immediately. I ended up hand basting the darts just to make sure I had them in the right spot.

Next up was interfacing. I tried black fusible knit in the lightest weight known to mankind, and it was perfect! I adore Fusi-Knit, yes I do.

I took a picture of it so you can see how it looks:




It's barely there, but gives the collar and front band just enough body to lie nicely and support buttonholes.


Here's the front in progress. Ignore the glamorous man's t-shirt, please:




And the side:



Warning: Sewing Test Ahead!

Allrighty now, who can tell me what is wrong with this picture?

This can happen to you, too. At least I hope I'm not the only idiot in this world.

Day 1-Ready, Set, Go!

Let us now begin the nine glorious days of fall vacation, which I am calling my Fall Fashion Fling!

The Men Folk have all left and are off somewhere playing with a chainsaw. Load Number 2 is in the Merry-Go-Round, and Load Number 1 is riding in the Whirly-Gig. I have the house to myself!

Contestant A won the election by a landslide, and I have to admit it was calling to me the loudest:




This is a slinky, sheer, chiffony thing I picked up at Joann Fabrics a while back. Those whitish stripes aren't white; instead they are a black satiny weave. Very pretty. Since I own 11 pairs of black pants, this will work well with my pitiful wardrobe. I hope to gradually move away from the Dowdy Grandma look to the Interesting Fashionable look.

This really is sheer, but not so sheer as to be Madonna-ish, if you know what I mean. Of course I plan to wear a black tank or camisole under it, since I am such a shy little thing. See how sheer?




It looks WAY too sheer in the photo, but it's not that much in real life. I'm going to have to test out some interfacing for the collar before the day is over.

Mr. Scissors, where are you?





If you have your own piece of slinky, sheer, chiffony goodness that is speaking to you, here are some tips for you when the time comes to lay it out and use the scissors on it:

Required Items:

• one large pot of coffee, with caffine
• three hundred straight pins
• the patience of Job

And she's off!