"...BINGO!! We got action!!..."

Cheryl, over at Passion Flower Musings (AND, I might add, the one.... and only... person to add me to their "Blogs I follow" list!) just told me to check out the Marie skirt over at BurdaStyle as a possible pattern for my Inspiration Game Piece...

I think its BANG ON!!

I just might have to move this up to the top of the 'To Do' list!!

HOLLA!!

Slow flow MoJo....

I got back behind the wheel... or the needle as it were... and start a new project a few days ago.

I decided to try my hand at my first BurdaStyle pattern.
I chose the 6012 Kasia skirt I downloaded for free from their pattern page.

Because it was my first printed pattern, and I wasn't sure about the sizing, I decided to do a test run with some wearable muslin I got down at Fulton Fabrics.

I went there looking for muslin, but they ran out. So, I went with a heavy/bottom weight woven fabric instead.... not bad for 2.50$ a yard.

Please keep in mind, this was a wearable MUSLIN. So never mind the contrasting pocket lining or black zipper.... like the song says, you've got to use what you got, to get what you want.

I even put my newly acquired sloper making skills (and I use the term 'skills' VERY loosely) and made a skirt sloper to see how much I had to adjust the pattern.
I was very proud of myself... thank me very much!



The skirt worked as a bit of a booster shoot... I've already pulled out a few more patterns and fabs to make my next few projects...

I really like this simple shift top from Vogue... "Very easy"... hmph, we'll see....

I also need to make a heavier weight version of the M5701 Dress. I got this black poplin fabric a few months ago...

....I'm on the fence about the fabric, but I love this dress!

I'm planning on doing this wrap skirt next.
But I cant decide which fab to use.

I'm also on the hunt for a pattern for another Inspiration Game Piece.

I've been carrying around these mag pages in my look book for the last several weeks.


Then when I went to Fulton Fabrics looking for muslin I found this lovely print in a poly-satin shantung fabric. It has a really soft drap and a very subtle shine... and it was only 3bucks a yard!!

Now I just need to find a pattern.

Holla!

Turnabout is fair play and all that....

More goodies for me from Antoinette....... and now some goodies for Antoinette from Me!!

... I'm sure she'll work her Clevergirl tricks on this box in no time flat.

Tomorrow I'm going out with the The New York Sewing & Fabric Shopping Meetup Group. We are going out for our first fall fabric shopping expedition...I'm hoping being up close and personal with a few creative people will get me out of this sewing funk I've found myself in.

My camera's charged and packed so I'll be sure to take plenty of pics!

Holla.

...ssiigghhhhh....

Have you ever been in a mode where you tried a project, only to tired of it half way thru? Then you skipped on to another project only for it not to work out as nicely as you'd hoped? Then you moved on to yet ANOTHER project only to look at it and go from feeling '...meh' to bleeh about it?

Yeah? Well that's where I am right about now.

I keep seeing all my Internet FIMH's (friends in my head) making all this great looking stuff and I look at the half finished projects on my table and I just turn back to the couch and dive into another book.

.....I need a kick start in my proverbial pin cushion.

I'll holla.

........meh.

I put the V8487 together last night... it's oookaaaayyyy.

I will say it looks better on me than hanging on the form. But, since I'm not feeling photogenic today, this will have to do...

I have some fitting issues to deal with in the back and around the hip area that I might get to today. But since there is some prime Football watching to be had today, that is a very strong 'might'

Holla!!

Fall'g back into sewing...

Being soo caught up in various pattern making activities, coupled up with two weeks of Olympic coverage, followed by two more weeks of Convention coverage, I have not sewn a thing in almost a month!!... Bad Mica!

So, seeing as it looked like I was just going to be sitting on my tooter all day on Monday, mustered up the energy to work on this...

This is another one of those patterns that I kept screwing my face up at coming back to since it debuted earlier this summer.

Then a few weeks ago I looked, again, at the artist rendering (in blue) and imagined myself (standing JUST like that) and said to myself, with the right hair and shoes, that dress just might be a tinsy bit fly.

Then, as fate would have it, I ran my eye over this really drapy/light weight denim I picked up at P&S fabrics a few weeks ago and thought 'Bingo!'

It has a really nice handfeel and the softest sheen. I thought it would lend it self well to this dress. I've only gone so far as to trace the pattern and pin the fabric. I have to re-pin it (... realized I was wasting too much fabric) but the plan is to cut it out tomorrow/Friday and sew it up over the weekend.

And, I'm super proud to announce I used my newly acquired sloper making skills to adjust the pattern for a better fit... instead of the randomly placed slashes and cuts and taping that I would have done OTHERWISE... ((sniff))

I think I can safely name this dress my first Fall wardrobe piece... I'm not quite SWAP'g yet, but I'm trying.


OOHH, I ALMOST FORGOT!

Okay, so, I was reading thru the tips on Threads.com a few weeks ago and stumbled across this article on Rotary cutters and mats....

Well, I have been eyeballing the cutters at one of my local fabric shops for a few months now, but one of the major reason I put the idea aside was purely the cost of sizable cutting mats.
Most of the ones I see online are around 24 x 36 or some other minuscule size. Anyway, rambling thought stopped short, this article offered the most unique alternative to a gridded cutting board... POLY-VINYL FLOOR MATS!

You know, the big hard plastic mats you see under office chairs?!?

The Threads article suggested that the composition of the chair mats make it very similar to some of the solid vinyl styrene options you can get at your usual sewing supply vendor. But at a considerable savings...

So, you know me.... I went Straight to Staples and bought this!

....AND!! And it's clear and fits neatly over my cutting board so I still have my grid lines...BONUS!!

Its exactly what I wanted, a large mat that I can lay out a number of pattern pieces at the same time....

... all for a cool 24.99.... SCORE!

HOLLA!!!

Officially Unofficial last Sloper class...

... or maybe Unofficially Official... whichever! Even though we got very far in our 4 week class (...finishing a full front and back bodice and fitted straight sleeve and a bodice with extended torso,) Shannon graciously extended our class another week so that we could do a pant sloper! Yea Us!!

Here is my (sample size) finished sloper I made in class on Saturday...

I'm soooo proud of myself!!

HOLLA!!!!