New Year, New Sewing Room, New Skirt
Sunday, January 06, 2013
Happy New Year everyone! Hope these first 6 days have been good to you so far. I've started out the new year with a new sewing room, so-so skirt and a ridonkulous goal (more on that later). I finished the Colette Beignet this evening, or actually last night since it's technically Sunday @ 2am now. What can I say I'm a a night owl.
I'm not really sure how I feel about this skirt. The fabric is a wide wale corduroy that I got in a mystery bundle at Fabric Mart. I'm not really crazy about this color. It's just off. I wish it was a darker brown. Better than that I wish it was navy blue because that's the color I really wanted to make this skirt in but since I already had this and I'm on a no buy looks like this had to do...sniff..sniff..
This was an intermediate pattern and it proved to be just that to me. This was my first skirt with an attached lining. Attaching the lining to the facing was tricky, tricky, tricky! I cut a size zero and the only alteration I made was to shorten the seam allowance just a tad when sewing the facing/lining to the skirt shell (it was just a tad snug around the waist). I also omitted the pockets and belt loops. I originally had the pockets attached but the bulkiness of the corduroy caused the pockets to kind of protrude on my hips. Not a good thing so I took them out.
I had a hell of a time with my buttonholer and my blind hem foot. It took me two hours to figure out how to even use my blind hem foot then I had to practice, practice, practice. My sewing machine instructions were pretty vague on how to program the machine for the blind hem food foot mode (omg can you tell I'm hungry, my stomach is literally growling). I finally figured it out after a lot of cussing and I like the outcome. I will use this foot more often! I wish I could say the same about my buttonholer. If you follow me on instagram you seen just a little peek at what my buttonholer was doing. I haven't the foggiest of what the problem was...janky buttonhole foot...user stupidity (probably the latter). I swore I was not going to hand sew 11 buttonholes so I kept on with horrible results. I ended up using a tiny zigzag stitch to finish out most of my buttonholes. Let me tell ya they look HORRIBLE. Luckily my thread blends in pretty well and you can only tell close up. I'm terrified to ever have to use my buttonhole foot again.
And lastly what the *smurf* happened down here...
I don't have any idea how this happened or even how to fix it. The waist matches up perfectly so not sure how this happened. I love the look of the Beignet so much but this just isn't doing it for me. Sucks to ring in the new year with a fail but I think I'll turn it into a tote bag or a gym bag (maybe that will motivate me to go to the gym, ha ha). On to better things...
I moved my sewing room from the basement to the upstairs spare bedroom. I was always freezing downstairs in the winter and the spare room was doing nothing but collecting dust and junk. I'm so much happier in the new room.
I moved my sewing room from the basement to the upstairs spare bedroom. I was always freezing downstairs in the winter and the spare room was doing nothing but collecting dust and junk. I'm so much happier in the new room.
Just need to put up some wall decor and make a table skirt for my sewing table. I won this gigantic ape at Busch Gardens when I was in high school. I won it on one of those games where you have to get the ring around a bottle. My boyfriend at the time practically emptied his wallet on it. I think I won on my second toss. Boy it was a lot of fun having to carry him around the park the entire day. I'll probably be buried with George cuz he ain't going nowhere. He can sit here on my trunk of fabric scraps for as long as he wants.
 | ||
| George the grape ape...he makes me smile |
Oh and about my ridonkulous goal. If you follow Karen @ Did You Make That, then you read her post on the 2013 sewlutions jar. Basically you commented on her blog what your goal was for the year. She then puts everyone's goals in a jar then at the end of the year we all come back and fess up on whether we accomplished them or not. Well Miss Shanni Big Pants here said she was going to sew one thing a week. WTH. I don't even think I thought that through I just started frantically typing. I just got done saying quality over quantity now I'm going to try this??? Oh well we will see, I won't stress myself out about it. It will be fun to try though. I did accomplish it back in September when I made myself a monthly goal of just that but that was only for 4 weeks, we are talking about 52 weeks here - 52 items!! Oh and they can be either, clothing, accessories or refashions. Did any of you throw a goal into Karen's Sewlutions jar?
UPDATE!!!!
After reading everyone's comments telling me NOT to turn this skirt into a bag I decided to let it sit for a few days and come back to it. So glad I did. I was able to fix the uneven hem. I just simply let out the hem on the side that was shorter. I let it out as much as I could and it was still off a tad. At this point I was unsure what to do so I threw it in the wash while I stewed over it. Well what do you know after I washed it, it shrunk it up some and it looks almost perfect. Funny how those things turn out.
30 comments
Love the skirt - I am on a bit of a skirt attack at the moment. This colour will be very useful in the wardrobe. As for mastering the blind hem foot, well, I think my foot needs new glasses because it sews the most obvious hems ever (no way is this a user issue!!!)
ReplyDeleteAwww, man, sorry you don't like the skirt! It's a really nice shape for you and the fit is spot-on! I bet you'll love your next version. My buttonholes always look shitty, but luckily buttons always cover them up.
ReplyDeleteOh, and I'm so impressed by your sewing goal! Maybe you will enjoy having a goal like that to keep you looking for different kinds of projects. :)
ReplyDeleteCute, cute, and cute! I've always wanted to sew a Beignet! I have a few other Colette patterns in my stash already though that I need to work through. I'm saving them for the return of Sew Colette! My one step auto button hole-er had a really hard time with my recent wide wale cord project. I ended up using a really small zigzag and just making my own lol. Which worked just fine for one, but I don't think I'd attempt it like, 12 times on a skirt haha! I can't even tell what your buttonholes really look like from your photos so I think you're safe ;)
ReplyDeleteAww, I think it's adorable! I'm sorry you don't love it :(, I got the Beignet for Christmas and am looking forward to trying it out. My buttonholer is OK, but it always terrifies me anyway, and there are sooo many on this skirt--eek!
ReplyDeleteFirszt off, this is freaking awesome! Beignet is such a fiddly pattern and you have done a great job! Great work on the blind hem foot- that is such a tough skill to master and I will take any hints you have because I still can't do it! Best of luck with your sewing goals- just think how many great new skills you are going to learn!
ReplyDeleteI really like your skirt. It looks great on you. As to the front not aligning, may I suggest that you fold up the longer front area so that it matches the other side and let the added fold blend back to where it is correct. You could top stitch the front to match up with topstitching of hem on the other front piece. I have had this type thing happen with skirts and jackets; this is one way to salvage the front area. Even though I have been sewing many, many years, I fail to remember to sew skirts from hemline to waistline. That helps with this top of alignment as well.
ReplyDeleteThanks I will have to give that a try!
ReplyDeletePatience! Mine is no where near perfect. I had to go over it in several places where the thread didn't catch. I'm going to have to do some more practicing.
ReplyDeleteI think I'll try a lighter weight fabric next time, maybe that will help. Would love to see yours!
ReplyDeleteI can't wait for the next Sew Colette!
ReplyDeleteYeah I'm impressed that I even made myself that goal. lol! Looking forward to using this goal to motivate myself to work through all these craftsy classes I've bought!
ReplyDeleteI think I'm going to move on to blouses next and avoid buttonholes at all cost. lol
ReplyDeleteThis is the skirt sitting on my sewing table, I haven't started yet nd I'm thinking not to lined as I'm thinking cotton sateen. Maybe your would be less bulky without it. I committed to a coat and the bombshell dress
ReplyDeleteWhoa, whoa, whoa, don't be pulling that Beignet apart!! Send it over here! lol. But I think you can fix the hem like Linda says. This is super cute and I like the colour too! Don't you dare call it a fail lol! :)
ReplyDeleteAlso your post made me laugh, and also intensified my fear of buttonholes, haha :D
Well don't be scared because of me. It has to be all me since my other machines buttonholer didn't like me either. ;)> I took Linda's advice and I've got it pinned up to fix that hem.
ReplyDeleteYes I probably really didn't need to line mine either since it's corduroy but I wanted to get the experience. I'll definitely make this again just in a lighter weight fabric. Can't wait to see your bombshell dress!
ReplyDeleteI'm psyched about your ridonkulous goal! You're going to have a blast with it. At the very least, you'll inspire a lot of us.
ReplyDeleteYour sewing space is lovely. Congrats and enjoy!!
Your Beignet is totally fixable. Just put it away for a bit and come back to it. The color isn't as bad as you think, and it looks great with those boots. Don't turn it into a bag. :)
Thanks!! Yeah I'm totally ready to fix my Beignet. I've changed my mind about turning it into a bag. :)
ReplyDeleteI really like your skirt even though its not your favourite colour it will still go with a heap of things. Maybe it will grow on you. Your new sewing room looks nice! Is that snow outside the window! It's blistering hot here. I've never seen the snow I really want to get to the US or Canada one year soon. I love George he's so awesome! I used to collect huge toys as well my mum won this massive bear one year but ended up giving him away after moving so many times. You def have to keep him!!
ReplyDeleteYes it's snow. The weather is crazy here! It was just 10 degrees with a foot of snow a couple days ago now it's 50 degrees out and the snow has almost melted. Almost feels spring like out.
ReplyDeleteThаnks for finally talking аbout > "New Year, New Sewing Room, New Skirt" < Loved it!
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