My Big Bad Sewing thread

[Teallaura]

1) Stick the pointy bit in the little stuffed tomato.
2) Leave it there.
3) Put on your pants.
4) Go to the fabric store.
5) show the nice lady the hole and ask for iron on patches.
6) Buy the patches.
7) Go home (bring the patches with you).
8) Get your mom to show you how to plug in the iron and set up the ironing board.
9) Read the instructions.
10) Put the patch on the hole.
11) Iron the patch like the instructions said.
12) Unplug the iron.
13) Go to the emergency room and have the nice doctor make the burns on your legs all better.
14) Go home.
15) Try on the pants.
16) Carefully separate the back from the front where you ironed them together.
17) Try them on again.
18) Repeat steps 8 - 12 - this time, don't iron them together.
19) Go back to the ER and try explaining how you managed to iron your backside.
20) On the way home, stop at the store and buy new pants.

[technomage]

Seriously. There was no room at all for boobs in that original piece. Bah that it is supposed to be B-cup standard. Perhaps B pounded flat for a mammogram.

I don't have those, and I still winced in pain.

[mossrose]

1) Stick the pointy bit in the little stuffed tomato.
2) Leave it there.
3) Put on your pants.
4) Go to the fabric store.
5) show the nice lady the hole and ask for iron on patches.
6) Buy the patches.
7) Go home (bring the patches with you).
8) Get your mom to show you how to plug in the iron and set up the ironing board.
9) Read the instructions.
10) Put the patch on the hole.
11) Iron the patch like the instructions said.
12) Unplug the iron.
13) Go to the emergency room and have the nice doctor make the burns on your legs all better.
14) Go home.
15) Try on the pants.
16) Carefully separate the back from the front where you ironed them together.
17) Try them on again.
18) Repeat steps 8 - 12 - this time, don't iron them together.
19) Go back to the ER and try explaining how you managed to iron your backside.
20) On the way home, stop at the store and buy new pants.

Sadly, those iron on patches don't hold up to multiple washings and dryings. And if the fabric is old, new tears come into play. You know, like sewing a new patch on an old wineskin.....

Donkey needs to find somebody with a sewing machine who will take pity on him.

[Dee Dee Warren]

Well I have a problem. Not enough fabric. So the insert panels will need to be a different colour. They will be black as that is what matches the fabric I have. I had enough fabric according to the envelope, just another fail in this pattern. Off to Jo-Ann's.

[technomage]

just another fail in this pattern

What's the old quote? "There are big people, and there are small people. There are short people, and there are tall people. And they all want to get their hands on the sorry so-and-so who invented the phrase 'One size fits all'."

[Dee Dee Warren]

Actually in this case, it is just that one expects the yardage on the envelope to be right! The extra fabric for the bust came from what would have been scrap in any scenario. And though the boobs may be bigger than allowed for in this pattern, they are not a yard bigger. That would be a world record, and doubtless, not very attractive. <shudders>

[Dee Dee Warren]

I am so happy there are dudes in this thread. Straight guys DO sew! And yes, we do need some homosexual men in this thread.

[Dee Dee Warren]

Here are some photos

First the pattern

1802.jpg

Then the product

1802front.jpg

1802front2.png

1802back.jpg

Please read the entire review though on my blog

http://www.carynification.com/index....-rowley-dress/

[Dee Dee Warren]

That dress got NO comments. Sheesh, slackers.

[Teallaura]

We're all still speechless...

[Dee Dee Warren]

We're all still speechless...

I guess I am puzzled because I think it came out pretty awesome.

[Dee Dee Warren]

1.jpg

I had found this awesome sparkly leopard knit that I just HAD to make something out of. Problem: $20 yard. I had a coupon that brought it down by 40% but that is still a lot for me if we are talking about a dress or something requiring serious yardage, plus I suck with knits still so investing in such expensive (for me) fabric for a big project was too scary on the mind and pocketbook. Well McCall's patterns were on sale for 99 cents at that same time, and I figured, "Hey, I can make that cute drapey cowl-neck overblouse with this stuff." So make it I did.

2.jpg

So here first is the finished project before I give any commentary on the pattern itself. Sorry the photo is a little grainy, I have to catch whatever volunteers at work I can find, and the lighting in my work hallway is awful. You don't really get to see the $1 thrift store tee underneath it that has a black sparkle neckband that went well with the sparkle leopard knit. You get a glimpse of my black sequin headband to which I paired black sequined Ugg-style boots with a skirt. Oh yes I did. For some reason I look kinda fat in this picture, but I actually have lost quite a bit of weight. I think it is just the drapiness of it that is creating the illusion in the picture. In person, it didn't make me look fat.

Now, I, like everyone else, have trouble cutting knits. Chasing them around the cutting table to get an approximate shape of the pattern piece is usually what I end up with, and then I just pray. Plus I just don't like rotary cutters, which is what is recommended. I am a shears girl. And I don't like pattern weights. They don't work for me, at least not for cutting. So I googled various tips on cutting knits, and I am sorry that I can't refind the link, but I found this great blog article from another shears-only girl who recommended having a piece of muslin always on hand that is the size of your cutting table. It places the muslin on the table, or it gets the hose again.... so you put down the muslin, then you lay your slinky fabric on top, and then pin your pattern pieces through the tissue, fashion fabric, and muslin, like so:

3.jpg

Then you cut only through the fabric around the pattern piece. You do not cut into the muslin, it just keeps the fabric from running around the table, and the muslin remains pristine for the next time you need this tip, like so:

4.jpg

Notes on the pattern itself: I always overbuy at least a bit on the yardage because I just simply distrust the envelope. And even with the extra, I barely had enough. It was easy enough to make though I think the way the cowl neckline diagram was drawn was just really strange.

PS: I found the link! She has better pictures if mine are confusing. Check out A Fashionable Stitch for this.

[Teallaura]

I just use cardboard...

[Dee Dee Warren]

During, Project Effie Trinket, I had a very interesting needle mishap. I tend to be very hard on my machine. But this needle break takes the cake. Have you ever seen anything like it?

needle.jpg

[Teallaura]

I bent a leather needle once. But it is rare - usually they snap like twigs.