Great, another hobby

It might be more appropriate to call this a hobby within a hobby - collecting sewing machines. When I found out about the Singer Genie, I had to have one. And eBay auction and $10.50 + shipping later, and yes, it was mine. It's That 70s Sewing Machine! Look at its adorableness! It should play the theme from the Austin Powers movies!

Sadly, it came without a presser foot so I haven't taken mine for a test drive yet. I'll let you know how it sews though.

celebratory sewing

I passed my prelim exam! Yay! To celebrate (yeah, this girl knows how to party!) I did some sewing - I worked on Advance 9427. I had an issue on the bodice in the front and the back, where the center seams meet the facing - what a mess. I'm not too good at seam intersections like that. I have enough fabric to cut out another bodice if I need to, though I may move on to another pattern; those little kimono sleeves built into the bodice may not be the best choice for a full figure.

Survivor: Grad School Edition

Whew! I have just survived an exhausting point in my grad school career: prelims, a week chock full of essay-writing madness. It's an initiation, some might even say a hazing, into the realm of academia. But if I passed it means that I've actually learned something after two years.

One of the benefits is that my coursework is winding down. This semester is pretty light, and once it's done I have one more class I'll have to take whenever it's offered. Of course, the down side to this is that I have to start thinking about my dissertation...

But for the moment I can savor the fact that I should never have to take another test for school. Ever. I'm itching to do some sewing, but my brain is feeling a bit uncooperative. I'd probably sew something backwards and inside out. Tomorrow I should be recovered and able to work on a project, ideally my latest vintage dress project.

Meanwhile, I've decided that I need a new serger. My current one is an early 90s White that is the most difficult to thread piece of equipment ever created. I go out of my way to avoid changing the thread, and even with the old knot-tying trick it usually comes undone and I'm left trying desperately to weave the threads into an improbable path. Sewing is supposed to be fun - there's no crying in sewing, to paraphrase Tom Hanks. After years of putting up with this annoying thing, I've finally decided to pony up for a more upscale model, one that will actually help in the sewing process and not add to my collection of grey hairs. So it's off to the area Baby Lock dealers, as my research has shown that they are pretty easy to thread.

We interrupt this craft blog -

-for the blogger's preliminary exams! A week filled with writing essays; I guess that's to be expected since I'm an English major. Anyway, the exams start tomorrow, so posting will be light if any for the next week. A danger for a young, growing blog, but it can't be helped.

Do check in because at some point I'll share a picture of the now-shortened skirt from my last post - took about a foot off! - and I am about done with another 1960s A-line dress so a report on that may show up.

Cmon baby, finish whatcha started

Don't you hate finding halfway completed projects? Like a pattern that's been cut out but that's it, or a dress that's mostly done but why didn't it get finished? Well, no more - for me, anyway. I've promised myself to finish one project before starting another.

So here is the newly completed Vogue 9959, a now-discontinued pattern for LONG skirts. At the time I was thinking that long was the way to go, after all, I'm 5'8" so I can carry it off, right? And the drawings look so very fashion-forward. Only now that I've seen myself in it I'm thinking it's a bit too long. Which is very easy to fix. Besides, how will people see my knee-high, black, lace up Mudd boots with such a long skirt? The fabric is that wonderful skull bandanna fabric in black. I have to resist the urge to buy more of it whenever I see it.

Sewing is so relaxing...

...except when things don't go my way.

Case in point: I figured I'd take a little break and cut out a skirt, Butterick 4743 (view E). I figured I had enough fabric, since it called for 1 3/4 yards and I had maybe an inch or two to spare. So I start the layout (following the directions exactly as I've learned the hard way not to try to outguess those layouts) - and I can't get the pattern pieces to fit. ???? Could there be a typo? Not according to the Internets. Finally, in desparation, I took the liberty of measuring the width of the fabric ("Little Ladybugs" by Alexander Henry, cute but not cutesy), and guess what?

The fabric is 43" wide. Not 45" as the pattern calls for. Just two inches short. Two inches! Well, that was an hour spent fruitlessly, and now I have to get back to studying. Hrumph.

It's Hard Work

Wow - I've just spent some time setting up a store on Etsy for my extra sewing patterns. It's not easy, even when you are listing unused ones. There's research to see what the going price is (if you can even find the pattern elsewhere on the Google), you have to photograph it and scale the photo, type in the description... Sheesh!

So, after putting all that work in and seeing the effort it takes to sell patterns on-line, I don't feel so bad paying for extra-special vintage patterns like this:



Found that little gem over on Grandma's Patterns. Can't wait to make it!

Maybe I have some patterns you need?