StuntSewing

Okay so my only involvement in the Festivus stockings was that I pinned.. well.. one of them.

"If I jab myself one more *bleeping* time, I swear!"
"You're jabbing?"
"I'm jabbing!"

BUT I gotta give it up for my lovely wife on this. I think she had the vision for these things when she bought the slip covers from whence the stockings came. Yep, slip covers. Now I know purple is the color of royalty and all, but these things wanted, dare I say needed to be re-purposed. Their future as slip covers was indeed bleak.

They really did turn out nice, even if they were "thrown together" on Christmas eve. She even made one for her mother, and stitched "grammie" on one side and "Annie" on the other. Her mother seemed genuinely touched.

Nice job C!

(pictures to follow when the light is good, or one of us fgures out how to use a real camera)

Edit - 3-03-07 - adding the picture *finally*

My girls love P.J.'s! They would never change into their 'day-times' if I didn't push the issue. Maiah even goes so far as to make sure that we are getting ready to go somewhere when I tell her it's time to get dressed for the day. If there's nothing on the agenda, that stubborn 3 year old doesn't want out of her jammies.

Never have P.J. been such serious business for me as the past couple of weeks.... yes weeks! It started out simple enough. The need to learn both knit sewing and shirring. I thought these jammie dresses would be the perfect project. Armed with notes about how other people have succeeded with shirring I set out upon PROJECT JAMMIES. The girls were so excited. Grace spent a fair amount of time helping me cut them and and sitting next to me sewing. This simple project took weeks of trying, pulling hair and ripping seams. Sometimes the fabric would pucker up and sometimes it wouldn't! I did everything I've ever read about shirring, at least twice! Thanks to the chain stitch and some wonderfully detailed instructions on the babylocksergers group over at yahoo they will do! The girls love them because I made them and they helped make them and their dad loves that they have little biker girls on them. I love that they are done and I have a little shirring experience under my belt.

While browsing the MANY amazing charity auctions on the German eBay site I came across this one, by prinzessinnen-traum that particularly stuck my fancy. It's a fabulous tank made out of green campan and darling wide pants in Emily. What a great combination! I hope you are inspired :-) I know I am!

edit: As it turns out I *think* this is the BERIT pattern, which coincidentally is a new arrival at banberryPLACE

banberryPLACE is proud to offer a FREE fledge*studioTANTRUM LAGUNA pattern to designers that have participated in BOUTIQUE ANGELS auctions recently. This skirt/legging pattern is so fun and easy to sew! I will admit the first one gave me a bit of trouble.... only because in my mind I was making a double layer skirt with only enough fabric for a single layer skirt, thus trying to put it together completely incorrectly! LOL Once I got my vision in line with the fabric I cut cut out it was smooth sailing! THANK YOU Angels! I hope you enjoy this pattern as much as I do :-)

Maiah is getting too big for her britches so I set out to make her some new ones :-) I used Colline a just right for winter knit with sweat inside, and an Ottobre pattern for the leggings and the scrumptious La Maciez with the Hannel pattern. This fabric is simply divine. So much so that if it didn't have so much pink in it Terry would long ago chopped into it and, if need be, sewn something for himself with it!

Olivia loving her LAGUNA, I made a double layer using seventies and emily cord, soft as butter it is, I say! The top is the QUIARA pattern with both long and short sleeves using campan and interlock. She flits and twists and swings her leg up on the hand rail. What more can a mother ask for?

Grace is walking the walls for her new dress, made with the soft sweat knit Laureen. I am so in love with this fabric. The blue is perfect with the campan. The pattern is Olivia

Maiah must have her picture taken too, even with a dirty face. :-) Jackson he doesn't care, he's way ahead with dad and the dogs! We really are quite the production, how often do you see 6 people of varying sizes, with all kinds of gear (camera, poop bag, leaves, and rocks to name a few) walking 3 dogs down your street?

This is one of the "queen of hearts" outfits I made for Valentines. Olivia is loving hers just as much as Grace but I just haven't managed a picture of it. I used some cool-e-o knit from Han... (that I have way way way too much of) paired with campan red/red and some denim. Mostly, I decided on the single layer LAGUNA because I've been hearing about how there are like NO single Lagunas shown anywhere! Now there is, at least this one. It's hard to see in the image, I topstiched in RED on the skirt, it's darling IRL. The ZOE top I guessed on the width for the ruffles, and next time maybe I'll make them a smidge longer, but I like it :-) Oh yeah, about the yardage on this Laguna, It's a super wide denim but I only used 1 yard for the size 7/8, also I put piece a and b together and left it one big spiral.

One other thing to note... she really was wearing this outside and all around without feeling one bit cold on Valentines day ;-)

Go on now and subscribe to the banberryPLACE newsletter in MARCH. You will be automatically entered into a drawing for a $50 gift certificate! yup, one lucky subscriber will come away with fif-tee buckaroos to indulge on a little eye candy with :-)

A few of the benefits of the newsletter are new product notifications, sale notifications and special coupons just for subscribers, what are you waiting for? Go to the bottom right of the main page at banberry and enter your email, it really is that simple.

-C

Ahhh, this was a nice project! Adding all those inset pieces added to the sewing time considerably, but having a twirl dress made it all worth it. Olivia is loving it and frankly so am I. I made the leggings using the blue and white campan and the blumenwise for the band at the bottom, but it's so warm here I don't know that she'll get a chance to wear them. The dress is a little snugger than I would like so I think I need to measure that girly girl again and check the amount I'm adding for SA and gets used up in the serge. Details, details.

This is one part ANNA in Green, one part Blumenwise, one part Abacadabra 75 and two parts cutie ballerina girl

I'm off to look for a cute little 'cami' pattern to use for the tank in campan

Here's a little glimpse at my current project. San Antonio goes all out this week for Fiesta. Each night there's major partying going on down at the Riverwalk, NIOSA (night in old san antonio) culminating on Friday with The Battle of the Flowers. There is no school Friday, nor are the library's open. Yes, you read that right, this is serious business. Of course, the girls need a little dress action, and flowers are a must, serious flowers! So coordinating with existing tees we tackled the task.

It was late and I was tired, what's a girl to do put enlist the help of the only other moving person in the house. I had yards of flowers to hem and halter ties to turn. Terry gladly accepted the turning project.

I recently purchased the Dritz "Quick Turn", with a 50% off coupon at J's. But after seeing a blog post that this was actually a 'flop' notion. I was left wondering if it was wasted money. I explained my old stand by method to Terry and handed him the Quick Turn package, giving him the choice. Well whadda know, he was back in a flash with turned ties! He gives it a thumbs up.

Money well spent!

On another completely different note. It's been 15 big ones since I skinnyed into that white dress and met up with THE most amazing guy. I can't wait to see what the next 15 years bring!
Love ya, babe!

fabric headbands, 8 miles of hem, something like 15 pieces ... COMPLETELY worth it!

fabrics. blumenmeer in yellow, blue and pink, flowers and dots aqua and buslis dots.
Pattern Tuolumne apron dress

What a great vacation! First, spending a bunch of time with the family, in the mountains (even trekking through some snow), collecting building materials for our fairy house at Grammies. Miley Cyrus, the Blue Man group and one of the largest fire-works displays in the country. Lots of swimming and sleepovers, can it get any better? Oh yes it can...

Then, WOW, over to Sundance for a date, a real date! The symphony on the side of a mountain with a picnic dinner and no no we don't need the shuttle from our room to the concert, or back again; I can't really call it hiking but it was a very nice walk.

Next we set off to Southern California. I've never been to California, man you can't beat that weather with a stick! Coronado Beach ROCKED!, Legoland and the Wildlife Park were great and man, the SD Zoo is something else!

I'll happily post a few pictures of some of our trip, um ... well, soon. I was technically challenged while away. I broke the USB ports on my LT, making it impossible to upload pictures or recharge Grace's "ipod" grrr. This makes a new computer a necessity, but for now I'm pretending that I'm whipping through projects with a mouse and can get my pictures and stuff. This is NOT working out very well so I imagine it won't be long before I take the plunge and get a new one. My other mishap is, let me just say, DO NOT select format on your dslr viewing menu. The first warning sign which I didn't heed is the red circle with the !, next that you have to press ENTER to make it happen. DRRRR, I re-formatted my card. Half of all the trip pictures are gone. But there is still plenty of fun to be seen.

I'm all recharged and ready for an awesome summer and beyond. Starting with a banberry GIVE-AWAY.

SEW WITH ME, for the next 2 weeks the studoTANTRUM pattern ZUMA will be on sale. I'll have lots of posts with sewing help, here at stunt sewing. Including, trying something new (at least for me) GROMMETS and making my own BINDING. All you have to do to be entered into the drawing is post your ZUMA's at the banberryPLACE flickr group before August 18th. The lucky winner will receive 3 yards of fabric!

Sew with me is something to help me climb the hurdle of trying something new and actually completing in in a timely manner. Let me digress. Totes, yes totes would be an excellent Mother's Day gift for the 3 mom's in my life. Yeah, yeah I know I've never done it before but it shouldn't be that big a deal - when was Mother's day? Do those mothers have their totes? NO! Call me a major slacker. I've started and stopped that darn project more time than I care to remember. Fast forward a couple of months and meet a pair of ZUMA's. I would like to make my own binding and I would like to try using grommets. So that's where we'll start, let's try sewing something new. I'll hold your hand the whole way through.

For the next 2 weeks the studoTANTRUM pattern ZUMA will be on sale. I'll have lots of posts with sewing help, here at stunt sewing. Including, trying something new (at least for me) GROMMETS and making my own BINDING. All you have to do to be entered into the drawing is post your ZUMA's at the banberryPLACE flickr group before August 18th. The lucky winner will receive 3 yards of fabric!

Let's get started!
-C

Tracing Zuma is about as easy as pie. Really, if you are new to pattern tracing this is a good first trace. You'll feel all accomplished and stuff. A note about size selection. I think the sizing runs spot on, but I want to STRONGLY encourage you to measure your sewing subject and go off those measurements not the "size".

I'm making "capri" Zuma's. So I got out my handy dandy measuring tape and decided how long I wanted the pants to be. It turns out that I was able to follow the length for 2 sizes smaller. Oh, Lucky Day! I already have this pattern traced so I've marked the new capri length on the regular pant pattern and pinned it up. So I can keep using this same tracing for either pants or capri's.

Next, I'll cut out the fabric. A FABULOUS summer weight stretch twill. With a great small print, very lightweight, poplin for the binding. Have you discovered the small 28mm rotary cutter yet? For cutting patterns/fabric with tight curves this notion is "brill". I don't pin. I lay the fabric out, put the pattern on top and use tuna cans to hold everything in place. I've heard of some people using special pattern weights or even big nuts from the hardware store, but I have tuna on hand, so that's what I use.

Cut 2 fronts and 2 backs along with the waist band and pocket pieces, if desired, for regular Zuma's. If you're getting all fancy and want a pair of reversible pants cut 4 fronts and 4 backs.

Actual sewing - coming soon :-)

One of the fun things we did in Utah was spend time with our family. And when I say family, I mean fAm-o-lEE. Let's see; there's my mom and sis #3, we invaded their basement for the duration. Sister #2, her hub and 2 kids whom we swam and had sleep-overs a plenty. My Grandma, who so graciously had us to her house not once but 3 times. My Dad flew in from Oregon, sis #4 and hub drove up from Vegas and my Aunt, who is more like an older sister to me came in from Florida. We also got to see one of my Uncles and his son. This sounds like a family reunion, but it wasn't it was all at different times. I'm glad we were there long enough to see everyone in their comings and goings.

One visit was to my Grandparents house (the other Grandma), She used to run a drapery shop and has all kinds of remnants from the 70's and 80's. I was hoping to score some swatch books. As a young girl I remember going through all those book, literally shelves and shelves of them. My own girls will have the memory of bolts and bolts of fabrics, I guess. However, she's been pitching them and doesn't have any left. What I did score was some trims. The girls are into pink, yellow and purple for their rooms so I stuck with those, but I secretly wanted the 70's green and orange pom pom's too. Some lace to top it off and I left happy.

Jackson scored a huge bowling trophy of my Grandpa's, Olivia got a porcelin betty boop baby and Grace and Maiah left with plastic farm animals. My grandma lightened her load a smidge. I think everyone was happy.

Yesterday I had a surprise visit, this is what came from that doorbell ringing;

The new Ottobre magazine plus some back issues.

FELIZ in ENGLISH yippee!

SOLANA in ENGLISH Yes, these are the same pants that we thought we would have about a year ago. Better late than never right ;-) We still have a small stock of this pattern in German that are discounted, if you don't mind translating.

some German FARBENMIX patterns.

What a lucky day! It was in fact dubbed by sewing day. It turned out to be a pattern day. TOMORROW or tonight after the play will be 'sewing day'. All pre-ordered patterns were collected by the post-man this morning. If you're nearby maybe you'll get yours tomorrow but for sure next week :-)

I've got some SwM to post but it'll have to wait just a smidge.

First let me say the the binding went well, delightfully well! I used this cutting technique and although I didn't end up with one long strip of fabric, just the right size for ironing and sewing, I did end up with 2. Which, for this project was perfect, seeing that Zuma pants happen to have 2 legs and all. I guess I need to practice to see where I went wrong so that when it's a skirt and not pants I'll be all set.

This little do-dad, is [insert your own favorite word]! Can't live without it, no-sir-ee. It's a binding maker tool. I found this one at Hancock fabrics and it was under $5 so it's not going to set you back to much. I wasn't sure the width I'd need so I bought the 1" and the 1/2". The 1" is what I've used so far, I don't forsee much use for the smaller width for the type of sewing I do.

The pocket tripped me up a bit. I got the pocket put together, but didn't finish the top edge of it. I want to say that it's not in the instructions but that may or may not be correct. I've had some heat and bond that I've never used and felt like this was a great time to try it out - one finished edge, no un-picking! The other suggestion I have is to use a pencil and the pocket piece to mark on your pant leg your sewing line. I also added the ribbon to the pocket flap, but my package of grommets has gone missing. I know I've had little hands help find them a new location, so once they're found I'll add them to the pocket flap and report back :-)

-placing the pocket

-Can you see the sewing line?

-Stitching on the pocket flap

Other than that it went pretty smoothly... Sew the inside leg seams then the crotch seam. Decide which way you want to wrap it and how tightly you want it wrapped. I stay stitched the wrapped up waist to keep everything together and then added the waist band.

Done! I must say that I am in love with this twill! Although it's hot enough to have used a poplin I think I prefer the hang of the twill.

I did a lot of seam ripping on this pattern. Let me start off saying that I have the German copy of this pattern but the English sewing guide. AND I am an instruction follower. I know that a shirt pretty much goes together like a shirt, but I still go step by step with the instructions. Maybe I need more confidence, I dunno. I do know that I follow instructions ;-)

First the sewing guide mentions that it runs small. The pattern itself says that it is a snug fitting tee. I measured and found that I did NOT need to go up a size. This fits a lot like ZOE, I really like it!

If sewing the yoke version make sure you are placing the yoke with the correct sides on the front piece. They will not go all the way down the entire sleeve opening, try as you might ;-)

On the neck binding I folded it long sides together and then stitched it to the neck opening, I didn't get as much stretch in the binding as I would have like. In the end I had to take off the front piece (I had marked my tracing as 110/116 when it was really a 98/104) The little bit of extra fabric coupled with the neck binding not stitched together let there be just enough stretch that it fits nicely.

This is a great shirt and I'm glad I traced all 3 girls' sizes. I will definitely be making more of these :-)

What do you do when you open up a European pattern for the first time. I'll admit, the first patterns I saw made this way were by Farbenmix and studioTANTRUM: Redondo - not too crazy and Zuma (a very easy trace) Paula; that was a little more intimidating, Olivia; more so. Then came OTTOBRE design. My eye popped completely out of my head! While I did appreciate the color coding, I think the first thing I said was "What the hell am I supposed to do with this?" I know I am not alone because I get emails on a regular basis asking me the same thing about this pattern or that one. So I thought I'd take a minute and put my thoughts on the subject 'out there'.

First if you've picked up a pattern that looks too tricky. Take out your handy dandy, trusty finger and find your line and follow it through; this is going to help you get a feel for where the line is going and to follow the right line when you are tracing. You might even want to consider getting a set of colored pens and do all one size one color or each pattern piece a different color.

What to trace onto? I use an interfacing product from Joann's, called patternease. It's about $1 per yard when they have their frequent 50% off sales. I like it because it's sturdy so it holds up to lots of use, it's transparent enough that tracing is easy and it drapes pretty well for mock fittings. Swedish Tracing Paper is a popular choice, freezer paper and tissue paper are also choices.

How to add seam allowances:
Again, there are lots of choices. I find that a pencil and a pen rubber banded together work just about right for my serging. I understand there is a cool olfa diddy that you can adjust to your preferred SA of the moment. In this case you would trace your pattern as is and then when your cutting out your fabric with your rotary cutter you get your SA addition like magic. **I really need to get one of these and give it a try** The very 'manual' way would be to go along your pattern line with a ruler and a pen making the new cutting line.

Adding seam allowances:
I add a seam allowance everywhere except the "fold" line and often the waistband or some other piece will say it doesn't need one. Otherwise if i sew the edge I figure it needs a SA. Now, I know there is debate on this one like "what about hems" while I know it's maybe not technically a seam; in that 2 different pieces of fabric are joining to become one, I think that I am sewing it, and folding it up, and I'd rather error on the side of getting to cut a little off or fold up a little more than end up too short.

Do you still have questions or do you have another way of doing these things? I'd love to hear from you!

-C