Two Projects Completed!

My two major projects are finally completed and worn today!  I hope I can get this typed and the pictures loaded before the creme brulee is done--it's in the water bath in the oven now.  A special treat!

The teens looked very nice in their new clothes.  Here are the pics:

This was taken after they'd been worn awhile and both are linen, although the dress has some silk, too.  I guess it's the rumpled look.  haha  My dd beaded her pin plus some earrings as accessories.  Here are some close ups of those:

No matter how hard I try to enjoy the process of sewing, for some projects, I just cannot wait to be done with them!  This dress was one of them--made worse when I got the zipper stuck in the lining and had to undo and redo all the handsewing to the zipper since I'd sewn it too close.  arrggh!

Time to clean up my mess from this round and think about what's next--a smocked dress, a purse, a pincushion or a top for me?  Decisions, decisions!

Tired of Cutting Out

Okay, enough already with cutting this Butterick pattern out!  I've done 3 muslins so far.  Very satisfying to know that it fits and all that.  Then I go to do the real stuff and realize that I get to cut it all out again 3 more times--the lining, the underlining, and the fashion fabric!  I guess it isn't all that bad (but it it when you think too hard about it and count the number of times!) since I know the dress will fit well.  I also made the decision to underline it--but that should pay off in the long run.  Here's a picture of the underlining and fashion fabric, both pinned and handstitched together:

I have all the lovely blue marking on the underlining (at least I don't have to mark all 3 layers!  Just the lining and fashion fabrics!) plus the pins and the basting stitches.  I am using silk thread for the basting.  Pretty enjoyable stuff, wish it were more readily available.  Should make pulling it out much easier, too.  I still have more hand basting to do, but am nearly finished and then on to the sewing!  And the clock is ticking...!  Nothing like a little pressure to get it done.

I got a little sidetracked today because my ds had asked me to learn to knit.  We picked out yarn at Michael's yesterday.  Really lovely and very, very soft organic cotton with a little lumpiness about it for texture.  Here he is practicing on some from my stash:

He's caught on very fast, I must say!

Here's a little teaser picture of dd with her work-in-progress beaded accessory for her finished dress (it's held up to her muslin).  I think it's going to look stunning!  The dress itself might have other "accessorizing", but we'll have to see!

Finally, to tell or not to tell?  Dd doesn't know what dd, ds, dh, etc.  So she and her db figured dd must be ditzy daughter, etc.  You know, in this day and age of texting thumbs, I think I'll let them figure it out themselves, what do you think? 

Butterick 5277 continued

It always amazes me at how busy the week becomes.  I went to the ASG's smocking neighborhood group yesterday and got the buttons sewn on my son's shirt.  Tonight was another sewing guild meeting.  Plus all the other things that life has to offer!  I have spent a good deal of time working on the muslin for my daughter's dress, Butterick 5277.  For some reason, it was giving me a lot of trouble--I think it is the raglan sleeve.  As I had originally pinned the dart in front I realized it would not work since it went off to the underarm/side seam/sleeve intersection.  Today I moved it up and it fits perfectly!    I'll need to work on cutting out the real goods either tonight or tomorrow.  That will be delightful--I have a silk/linen blend from http://www.emmaonesock.com/.  If you've never tried them before, please do!  Free generously sized swatches and super fast shipping.  Not to mention the great quality, too.  (And, no, I'm not affiliated w/ emmaonesock--this was my first order and I love the quality!)

Moving along, I'll post a final picture of my son in his new shirt as soon as I go buy more buttons--need one more! and remove the lovely blue marks which are truly so helpful but don't look great.  Also, I realized that I forgot to mention the idea for the cipher that I put into his shirt came from a post (think it was in January) by http://clairekennedydesign.typepad.com/the_atelier_of_claire_ken/.  My son had already done a cipher of his name ages and ages ago and had had it made into a stamper.  I just looked at what he'd done and transcribed it to his shirt.

In the very short time I've been blogging, I've realized that I always have more ideas than time and energy and like to hop around from one project to the next entirely too much!  No wonder I wind up w/ UFO's!  I've made a real effort to finish anything I start over the last couple of years and I have gotten better at it.  However!  I could be a lot better about bringing new things home before I've cleared more/some projects first!  It is hard to do--sew many ideas!  At the present, my son's shirt is still "out there", dd's dress, cupcake pincushions for a class later this spring, 2 kits from http://www.sewitup.com/ (another great resource I just found!  Wonderful fabric!  Can you tell I'm frustrated by the lack of local sources?) plus some silk dupioni gingham for an AS&E project and the 2 purse fabrics I bought last week.  Yeah, definitely need to slow down on the incoming!  That doesn't count the ideas percolating for youngest dd birthday and the urge to go buy lots of red paint for the living room!

Butterick 5277 Muslin

I'm working on Butterick 5277 View C with the collar for my teenaged daughter. 

I've made 2 muslins so far--the first was just way too big for me to see what needed to be adjusted, so I did another 2 sizes smaller.  Weird since I did actually measure her first!  Anyway, it looks like I need to add a small dart at the bust and adjust the armscye in the back.  Not too bad, but I am ready to get into the fashion fabric!

Here's the muslin with the bust dart pinned: