Black Friday at Craftsy!

I just opened my email and found this!

I am a total Craftsy fan and find their classes well worth the cost.  But at $20 each?  That’s a fantastic deal.   If you haven’t tried their classes yet, now is the time.  They have classes on sewing, quilting, knitting, cooking, jewelry making, even photography.  I’ve really been impressed with the teachers and the quality programs they put together.  And I LOVE that I can go back and watch them as often as I want.  I have a few that are a total resource for me.

This is what my cart currently looks like!  I’m trying to decide if I can whittle it down a bit, but what to cut??!

I wish you all a great ‘Black Friday’ and hope you find that something special you have been looking for.

Don’t spend too much!

On my to-do list …

It’s approaching Thanksgiving with all the cleaning and cooking prior to all the family chaos and great food.  Thanksgiving is one of my favorite holidays.  I love that fall and cooler weather has come (hopefully…  in Louisiana it’s always dicey).   I love holidays that let family come together without the pressure of presents.  It’s one of those mandatory holidays where everyone shows up unless they are working.  Prep can be stressful though.  I’ve already been to the grocery once and I’m going back again today.  The menu is taking shape.  I know I will be cooking all day tomorrow.

Pecan pies are a must!  I may have to share my version of the recipe.  I’ll try to do that tomorrow.   As much as I love pecan pie, I prefer a filling closer to custard than syrup and so I cut the sugars way back.  It’s yummy, if I say so myself.  Then there are the sweet potato pies…my hubby’s favorite.  My mother’s dressing, turkey, and maybe some duck gumbo if hubby shoots straight today.  And Cranberry Sauce!  So very yummy!

And in the back of my mind are all the things on my to-do list:

• I really, REALLY wanted to do a few quilts for Christmas, particularly for my son-in-law.  There’s a chance I may make it if I will get serious about it.
• There’s the Little French Jacket in progress.  At the risk of TMI, I’m working to get approval from my insurance for a breast reduction.  Not sure it’s going to get approved, but if it does, I will definitely need to recut the front of that jacket.  So I’ve stopped working on it until I hear back.
• For my youngest, there is denim cut for NamedClothing’s Jamie Jean pattern.
• A pair of Anna Maria Horner’s Knick Knack Knickers for my youngest grandson.
• An Airplane Bag that is in the middle of construction.  (And going to look awesome, I think.  Very excited about it.)
• Not to mention the PJ bottoms I want for myself or the ‘smaller’ things I wanted to make for Christmas for my girls.

Hmmm.  That list looks so much more intimidating in writing!

Oh well, back to Thanksgiving for now.  I wish you all a very happy Thanksgiving and hope you are able to spend the day with friends and family.  Even if it isn’t a holiday celebrated in your country, I wish you an awesome day anyway.

We’ve had a debate at work today about the perfect Thanksgiving side dish.  I’ve heard a lot of Mac n Cheese, and mashed potatoes and have to admit those have never been on our menu.  We’ve done a lot of vegetable casseroles like corn, sweet potato or green bean.  This year we’re going to be doing some roasted vegetables.  So help me out here, what do you consider the perfect side dish for Thanksgiving?

 

Brasilia Dress in Review

I recently had the opportunity to test the Brasilia dress pattern by Rachal of House of Pinheiro.  With the alterations and waiting on my daughters to be available for fittings, it’s taken me longer than planned.  It’s been well worth it.  This is a simple look with awesome details.

Originally, I had planned to use stretch fabric as Rachal had, but was drawn to the ’60’s’ inspiration and really wanted to make this in a wool.  After two muslins, there is finally a dress.  Since I’m still not certain I have the FBA’s where I want, I saved the wool and made this dress is in baby wale corduroy.  It’s fully lined with Bemberg lining.

The details on the front of the dress show up subtly and beautifully in this fabric.  There’s still one alteration I need to make and that is to smooth the hip line out a bit more.  Photo at left shows pucker at hip line.  The upper back still appears a bit long, but that will have to be an alteration for next time.

I would love to figure how to make that full bust adjustment and still nip it in at the waist.  Not quite enough definition yet.  I’ll be working on that..again, for next time.

These photos don’t do justice as I’m fighting to find decent light.  I think I found all the shadows instead!

For those working on this pattern, I’ve made a FBA adjustment, and shortened through the bodice and the hip for a 5’2″ frame.  The adjustments look something like this.

Pattern:  Brasilia Dress by Rachal of House of Pinheiro

Fabric:  Baby wale corduroy / Bemberg Lining

I want a granddaughter …

Seriously, sewing for girls is so much fun.  Take a look at the styles from Burda…

Burda Herringbone Shorts

And my all time favorite …

Makes me want to sew a few of these up ‘just ’cause’.

(I was asked if these were in the Burda Magazine and I honestly can’t tell you.  I’m in the US and Burda isn’t as readily available here.  I subscribe to BurdaStyle blog and see some great styles that way.  You should check it out. )

Brasilia Dress

Rachal of House of Pinheiro

Working on the Brasilia dress by Rachal at House of Pinheiro.  Think I’m going to love working with this pattern.  Very few pieces, which is always nice and the pattern itself is beautifully done.  The trickiest part is the sharp curve at the sides.  Loads of pins and going slow solves that problem.

This will belong to my daughter who has measurements close to the pattern.  I made the original ‘muslin’ from the pattern “as is”.    Since Katie is a few inches shorter than the pattern is drafted, I expected to make some changes.  The muslin is made out of a fabric with 3% stretch.

Sure enough the muslin needs quite a bit taken off the length at the waist.  I also made a small full bust adjustment on the pattern with the intent of giving Katie a smidge more room in the bust and to bring it in a tad at the waist.  The back has me worried.  These pics show 2″ pulled out of the back and the zip is still buckling.  I will make one more muslin before moving to the real thing.   Ignore the length…I left extra length below the hem and haven’t even tested length yet.  (Sorry for the poor photo quality.  We were shooting these in bad light and in a hurry.)

I had intended to use something with a little stretch as Rachal did with the original, but I keep going back to one of Rachal’s inspirational photos.   I love the dress at bottom right.

I can just see this dress in a light wool.  Oddly enough, Katie came home with a piece of wool a couple of years ago and wanted a dress out of it.  At the time I thought it was a bit too heavy, but I may have to pull it back out for another look.  I really want to put a flat ‘belt’ in the place of the bow on this photo.  We’ll see.

Today, I’ve been tearing  cleaning up my sewing room, so there hasn’t been a log of sewing going on.   I’m ready to get back to it.  Why can’t sewing rooms clean themselves?!

Related pics and posts:

http://theseedsof3.wordpress.com/2013/11/10/the-brasilia-dress-a-pattern-testing-adventure/

http://instagram.com/p/goJMzmxMQe/

View this post on Instagram

Pattern testing @houseofpinheiro's Brasilia dress on the blog. Link in profile.

A post shared by Melanie (@theseedsof3) on Nov 10, 2013 at 9:50am PST

PDF Sewing Patterns

Marfy just offered a few free patterns that I immediately took advantage of.   If you’re interested in giving them a try, take a look at my previous post for more details.

Just a warning for others like me printing on 8.5 x 11″ paper, these patterns are drafted for A4 paper which is a bit longer.  I printed the skirt on 8.5 x 11″ and made it work but it was a bit short.  At the bottom of some pages slips of paper were inserted to make up what was missing.

For the jacket I switched to 8.5 x 14″ paper and it worked much better.  One tricked I learned in the past was to trim the bottom and right sides of each pattern piece.  It makes matching pages much easier.

Marfy seems tricky since there are no instructions included, but if you’ve sewn garments before, then a lot is intuitive.  Marfy marks their match points with letters, matching ‘A’ to ‘A’, etc., and putting the pieces together make sense.

 

Another pattern I worked on is the Brazilia Dress by Rachel at House of Pinheiro.  This is  a new pattern  and I was lucky enough to be one of her testers.  The pattern is beautifully drafted and, other than that tricky deep ‘V’ at the side, went together well.  It’s all put together and waiting on my daughters to get back in town for a fitting.

What I should have been doing is cleaning house and working on that Little French Jacket.  Maybe tomorrow after church.

How about you?  Have you been working on anything fun?