Snow Day Woes and Day Dreams

So what usually happens on a snow day when you plan to sew? We had 5 inches of snow yesterday, then freezing rain/sleet, then more snow all morning, for a total of about 10 inches. Icing - guess what - we lost power. Just as I was going up to sew, all power went off for several hours.

Given that limitation, I decided to prepare some patterns. Since one of my goals for 2009 is to make a garment from each BWOF magazine I've collected, I decided to start there. I traced out a Burda World of Fashion (BWOF) pattern. Well you know me - I couldn't stop at just one. I traced out three. The photo from the website and the line drawings are below.


Misses Skirt 104A from 11-08 BWOF I really like this skirt. I am not crazy about the fabric it is shown in, I have in mind a nice soft cotton or silk chiffon. But I think it will make a very femine garment.



LEFT: Women's Jacket 132 and RIGHT: Women's Tunic 133 B. Something about this jacket just appealed, perhaps the feminine quality of it. The tunic is interesting - it is much more "severe" in style, but I think it could be interesting in the right fabric (not that dead looking navy blue the sample is in!!)


This afternoon, I traced and made pattern adjustments for both the skirt and the jacket. I love the collar and sleeves on the jacket, but not the pleated bottom trim, so I left that off. I'm not certain of which fabric I will use, but if I want to go "blouse-ward" I have some synthetic in dark grey/black with Fragonard type shepherdesses frolicking, or if I want to go "jacket-ward" I have lots of wool. As to the skirt, it was about five sizes too small at its largest, but was fairly easy to enlarge, given the simple lines. Both of these are traced, adjusted and the seam allowances are added. I have the tunic traced, but have to make the adjustments and add seam allowances.




I also want to make some things from the BurdaStyle and I downloaded the Natalie top pattern when it first came out. It was free then, but I see it is now $3.00. Worth it I'm sure. Anyway, I taped it all together and made adjustments (FBA and raised the neckline about an inch and a half) and prepared the pattern for use. Last night, I washed the black cotton jersey and black lace I'm going to use for it, so I'm ready to cut (black lace collar/perhaps front center panel??).

At the end of last week, I received my Burda Plus for Spring/Summer. It has a number of nice styles in it. I am considering the following two:


This suit (Jacket 424, Skirt 405) appeals-again a feminine take on the suit. And I am thrilled to see pink in the styles for the upcoming season - great that it is continuing to be a select color. Anyway, the page before the one showing the pink outfit shows the same jacket in a cream pantsuit but without the organza strip on the bottom. I'd like to make the jacket from the cream set with the skirt. Fabric? I've got some great wool crepe in a light pink.



Finally, something about this dress is also appealing - the collar perhaps? Not just knotted, but perhaps made longer so you could tie it? I've got lots of floral cotton lawn that would be dynamite in this dress, 419 A.

So now I have ideas for at least a few months of sewing. Wish me luck!!

SNOW DAY!! Or maybe two!!

Finally, after days of cold cold cold freezing temps, but no snow or little more than a dusting, we have gotten hit. Five inches fell last night and this morning, with predictions for another "more significant" accumulation coming this evening, with frozen rain/sleet mixed in. Oh boy.

Needless to say SNOW DAY today, and probably tomorrow too. I am going to try to get my brother's quilt top completed if I have two days to sew.

Sewing This Week

Sewing this week has been fruitful. I tired of quilt piecing, so made something different. This lounge wear was made from McCalls 5768, a tunic and caftan pattern. I'm listing it on Pattern Review - see the link to it in the right hand column.

I quite like it. I had some knit I purchased last year, in a nice pink and white stripe. The feel is sort of "minky-ish" and it is super-comfortable and warm. With another winter storm coming our way, this is an important fashion choice for the next few weeks! Now I wish I would have bought the blue and white stripe too.

Here is the Carpenter's Wheel quilt as it stands as of Tuesday. I sewed all four together, with a border of very light wood design. I've got the next border cut ready to go. It is a plain medium chocolate brown (no wood), and another plain in a "light" navy blue. This border is going to be 1 inch blue, 2 inch brown, then 1 inch blue again. That will be followed by a row of dark half-squares, and a row of light half-squares, then blue again. I hope the blue will be a cool and still counterpoint to the warm wood colors.

Omamicon.me

Paste Magazine has a site where you can use the colors and format of the iconic Obama print to enter your own text and photo. Visit it to celebrate this week: http://obamicon.me.

Weekend Sewing

I didn't get as much done this weekend as I'd like, but I do have tomorrow to continue sewing. This photo shows one of the Carpenter's Wheel as it stands right now. (Pinned up on two bulletin boards, with lots of "stuff" around it!)

Today, I have sewn together several squares in order to determine what design I should use to add to the four Carpenter's Wheels. I spent about half an hour moving things around, until I came up with a satisfactory design. The photos below show the approach I'm going to take.

This row of three photos shows the two rows that will be added.

And this is a larger photo of the entire block with the additions. Of course the additions are a bit out of proportion as they haven't been trimmed and sewn together, but it gives the general idea.

Now the question - Adding those two rows where? My thought is to add the rows to each block on the inside edges - so the top or bottom and one side. That will increase the center by sixteen inches across (both vertically and horizontally). Since just the four blocks are almost queen sized, this should take it to close to king size. Then I will not add any borders to the outside edge, or a very small and plain one. So I hope to have the top finished tomorrow. Wish me luck!