Skip to main content

Back At It

I've been tempted to leave off blogging--but I SO enjoy the online sewing blogging community!  ...and, frankly, I enjoy blogging--the whole creative and sharing process.   After reading about the whole online quandry of much younger bloggers on Sew Well, I feel so validated and inspired to get back to my blog.  Just for the joy of it.

My daughter Nikki, at Fancy That, always says "just pick up where you're at."  So, I'm going to take her advice and do just that.  

I've been back in UB for--wowzers!  About a month!  I was thinking a few weeks.  That explains a lot.

Anyway.  The fabric shopping here has become even more incredible.  I have to shop by feel for the most part, but man, the selection here is crazy.  I even stumble on a small shop selling amazing Italian ponte knits for about $7-$8 a meter.  

What's on the sewing table today:  A coat from this crazy wool/ fleece piece that actually caught my husband's eye last winter (yes, he's rare and special and I'm keeping him :)  
The wooly side has this crazy 3-dimensional thread scroll

The underside is super soft with a fleece-y feel.  But no stretch


Now, any patterns I use I have to bring.  Or download (not first choice).  Then there are Burda Style Magazines.  They have them here.  All in Russian which was a bit daunting.  So, I subscribed to the US.  I scooped up the lot and said husband offered to take them back in his carry on.  See?  A keeper indeed.  


Oh.  My.  Goodness.
Navigating LA freeways comes to mind



It took me A WEEK to trace the pattern pieces, add the seam allowances, etc.  A bit of insanity, no?  Hats off to women who grow up with these things.  And continue to sew.

...but look what I scored for about $3:  7 METERS of satin bias for the Hong Kong seam finish I want to do and these very intriguing sew-on clasp thingies in blue & black.  



Stay tuned!  I started sewing today and things are looking good ;)

I end with yet another tribute to The Man:
Just because.  sigh. 


Comments

Nikki Schreiner said…
Wow, that Burda is CRAZY! That's what's always deterred me from trying any from the magazine. More power to ya :)

Popular posts from this blog

Bloggers' Quilt Festival!

I'm so tickled to be a part of this year's Bloggers' Quilt Festival !  My entry was done in Outer Mongolia (literally!  --read on).  This quilt is one of my favorite recent projects that I named "Renegade Geisha's" --renegade because two of the geisha's don't conform to the rest (mainly because I ran out of coordinating fabrics!).  Can you find the two renegades?  ;)  The quilt incorporates fabric origami and the quilt itself is from  Fantastic Fabric Folding  --many projects from this book were a big hit with the Mongolian class pictured below. Due to my husband's work, we live in Mongolia; and I was privileged to teach classes at a local quilting studio.  I've included a picture of the class where we were working on the geisha blocks.  The students spoke almost no English and I speak what I call Monglish--a lot of English sprinkled with Mongolian.  Regardless, we all had a blast!  ...and, I'm very pleased with this quilt of mine!

Much Needed New Winter Robe - Vogue 9232

Last spring I chucked my 20-year-old bathrobe, giving me no choice but to replace it come winter.  Granted, I never took it to Mongolia, so it only got worn when I was home in the US.  But still.  For summer I made several light weight robes, but I knew I liked the style of my old RTW one.   When I saw reviews for Vogue 9232--on PR (all 3 of them), I knew I'd found my pattern.  Interestingly enough, the pattern is actually for a caftan-type dress; but all 3 reviews were done up as a robe.       Sham's review   in particular had great tips.   On a trip to Colorado Fabrics  in early summer I spotted a beeeuuutiful pink sweatshirt type fabric.  The outside is more like a thick knit and inside is dreamy soft.  And it's baby pink!  Which is hard to tell in the pics as we in Colorado have had lots of rain and no sunshine. And OK, I'm no photographer.  But seriously, this is like stepping into a pink cloud.   I made a small through the neck, shoulders and sleeves

A Stitch Sisters Kimono for Dubai

My husband had meetings come up quick in Dubai and of course I tagged along!  We were going to be there a week and I wanted a lightweight kimono-type pullover for the pool and getting out of the shower.  I had snagged a gorgeous white linen/cotton (guessing on this) here in UB that was perfect.  My inspiration came from Lisa's over at  Lisa's Carolina | Handmade .  I'm not good at pattern drafting and this was a quick FREE measure and cut tutorial of Stitch Sisters--find their Patternless Pattern Link  here .   I'm so happy with this!  It basically took me an afternoon.  The directions are great--and they include 5/8" seam allowances--yay!--as I wanted to turn under and top stitch them since I don't have a serger here.  I left off the ties.  Shapeless worked for this.  I also raised the neckline by about 1.5" The neckline was a little trickier as I didn't have any bias on hand and there is no "running out" anywhere here.  So, I used