9/17/2014: Patterns To Go!

I have been looking for an app that stores patterns on my phone so I can look at what I already have. The options are not very good for android. I have read of people using Ever Note, but I really needed something that wasn't tied to the internet. Apple has something I think, but I don't have an iPhone so whatever it is would be useless.

I have started using S Memo. It came on my phone and it is just a notepad app I believe. Basically I take a picture of the front and back of my pattern and upload them to a new note. I name them based on their number S1800, S2246, etc. Then I can separate them into different folders based on type of pattern. I have also done some of my fabrics. The best part is that I don't need wifi or even to use my data to access these. They are just on my phone for me to look at.

It is very nice because I can look up how much fabric or what notions I need for a project. So lovely. 

Obviously this may not be the best option for everyone because you have to upload all your own pictures and there is no saved catalog to search through or anything. This is not an actual pattern application, and you can use it for anything that you want to save to it. You can get S Memo from Google Play for free if you have an android device.

9/17/2014: Sewing Room (or Office, but I prefer sewing room)

I have been meaning to post this for a bit but just got around to it. While sewing my Ariel Dress I rearranged the office to make it more sewing-friendly. I also covered our wooden desk with a microfiber sheet so that my fabric had no chance of getting snagged or messed up in any way. I think I need to add a plastic tablecloth on it as well to help the fabric slide but it works for now.

My supplies setup was just a few random boxes but Joann had some crazy sales and student discount month in July. I picked up a variety of snap boxes to help me with my semi-OCD organizational needs. All of my fabric is put away nice and neat now. 

During August,  I also stopped by Ikea and picked some other supplies and I ended up with this:

Try to ignore the piles of junk on the desk, the are not actually there I swear. Also that blue bag is full of yarn and it is now in the cabinet behind the fabric boxes. I got a Ribba shelf which is actually for hanging pictures up but all of my notions fit very well. I also purchased 6 Bygel containers. Normally these are meant to hang on a rod in the kitchen (I have one over my sink that holds the dish soap) but they attach perfectly to the shelf. They all hold something different: zippers; crochet needles; elastic; scissors; bias tape; buttons. Yes, that is the Sewtionary you see there from Sewaholic and yes it is as cool as you hope.

9/17/2014: Mis-adventures in Simplicity 3833

Prepare for rambles and a lot of pictures.

Remember when I said I was sewing this pattern?

I think I may have been excited about it at the time. The excitement was apparently just a cover up for sadness, weird fit, and pointy bust darts. >:/

Anyway, this dress has been pretty much done for um… maybe a month, minus fixing the arm-hole binding, so I might as well blog away this depressing dress.

9/14/2014: Geometric Zipper Pouch and Emergency Machine Repair

I have actually sewn something recently (surprise surprise), and quite quickly too. My lovely friend Gina is getting married on Saturday and her bridal shower was today. I decided to make her a cute zippy pouch to take with her on her honeymoon to hold little travel whatsits or whatever she needs. I am quite pleased with how it turned out:

I used this tutorial by Sew Delicious. I added the border and the handle. Her bag also used a 6 inch zipper but I needed to make it a little bigger, hence the border and an upgrade to a 9" zip. I used flannel rather than batting between the lining and outer fabric because it is so much cheaper. It is really quite sturdy. She loved it! Sorry I don't have a better picture… I was in such a rush to sew it and I had already filled it with everything I was giving her. Two minutes later it went into the gift bag. Included inside was a travel lint roller, travel spray sunscreen, travel lavender vanilla bath and body works aromatherapy lotion (amazeballs), lavender hand sanitizer, chapstick, and some perfectly matching undies that I happened upon at VS. I want to make myself one, and now all my friends want one too… ahh well.

So my machine has kind of been making this noise, which I have been sort of ignoring because I didn't have time to take it apart. It was also dropping the tread from one of the tension loops it has but the is not usually a huge problem. While I was sewing the bag, suddenly my machine started eating the fabric. Basically the fabric was getting pulled down into the throat plate and munched on. Not good. I got home from work on Saturday at 11:45 pm and started taking my machine apart. Mind you I was not done with the bag at all. Just one row of squares was sewn together. I have never seen the inside of my machine. It was actually pretty cool:

 I quickly figured out the problem was not on the top, so I had to take out the bobbin case. After turning the hand wheel multiple times, it was like magic. I found the little asshole that was causing the problem:

But seriously, this piece of thread was wrapped around and around and I had to keep spinning the hand wheel to see it because it would disappear. I used tweezers to extract various pieces and I am pretty sure I got all of them. I cleaned everything out - there was so much dust and fuzz - I think this was the first time it has been cleaned ever. After putting everything back together, I had to make adjustments to the bobbin case placement. It is slightly looser than it was before and it makes a little clicking noise when it moves around, but the machine sews like a dream now!! 

This is such good news because I have to finish sewing Butterick 6025 by Saturday. Here is a preview:

I lurve it already :)

8/20/2014: DIY Dress Form or Ready Made?

I really want a dress form but they are so darn expensive, so I am really tempted to make my own from either paper tape or duct tape.

Another possibility would be to purchase an adjustable dress form. This one by Dritz is only slightly smaller than my measurements (34-27-37) so it wouldn't take that much adjusting (in theory). Amazon is selling it for $99, which I don't really want to fork over at the moment.

But just look:

Want.

8/16/2014: Lovely Presser Feet Set

Excuse me while I drool over this set of presser feet on Amazon. 32 feet for 40 bucks. Plus right now free ruffler. Not like I need a ruffler but free with purchase.

So many, I just want the whole thing…I will have to wait until I order my new machine bc yah well. Can't just let them collect dust.

Oh and I was browsing on the CS6000i again today and noticed that it includes a walking foot. Just for fun they throw it in, so nice of them. So in the spirit of helping me remember what comes with my future sewing machine, I will catalog it here:

8/16/2014: The National City Fabric District?? + Fabric Haul

My hubs and I were trying to figure out which swap meet to go to today for lack of better things to do. We go to Koby's Swap Meet because it's close to where we live, but we when considering others, the choices were pretty much the Spring Valley Swap Meet (which boasts a beer garden and good nachos), and the National City Swap Meet (which boasts, apparently, very CHEAP FABRIC!!). According to Yelp, the National City Swap Meet is the place for Fabric in San Diego. Cheap like $2 per yard cheap.

We got to the swap meet around 10ish this morning, sweltering hot already mind you. The booths were mixed in, but there was one general aisle with fabrics. There were bolts and bolts, most $2 per yard. There were also piles of fabric remnants at most booths with fabric pieces ranging from 1/2 a yard to over 3 yards. It was amazing but I haven't been to L.A. so I haven't experienced the real deal quite yet.

Anyway, it was still awesome! Here are some pics I snapped:

8/14/2014: Pattern Haul

August 7-9 Joann's had some huge sale like they always do, but this time they included a 5 for $5 simplicity pattern sale. So it is not that I exactly needed patterns or anything, but you really can't pass up $1 patterns when they are normally so much more. So I got 10.  I apologize for the less than great quality of these pictures.

I am very excited about this one - #1: Simplicity 1325

 I includes a sweet jumper/romper, a long sleeve shirt, questionable pants, and a jacket. That jumper looks super cute, and I since have a navy long sleeve shirt I can wear with it, that is probably what I will make first.

8/13/2014: Simplicity 3833 Preview

I swear I am working on a project. I am sewing the (possibly, I have sleeves cut) sleeveless version of Simplicity 3833, which is a retro reprint I picked up in my pattern haul from Joann's 5 for $5 sale.

This pattern appears to be very popular around the internet, so I have had no problem finding examples of this already sewn. I actually have the whole dress sewn already. It is too long, so it needs hemming, and I need to add neck and armhole facing… possibly a little more taking at the waist. I know it is a shift dress but eh.

Here is a little peeky at my first ever lapped zipper. I started out following the package instructions but soon realized they would not be sufficient. I turned to google for a tutorial instead. The fabric is a discount buy from Joann's. I think it was possibly quilting fabric but it is not itchy which is a plus. I love the pattern, husband of course does not. Oh well, this will likely be my date dress for Friday (our anniversary)!

7/31/2014: Floral Pencil Skirt

Last weekend I purchased some new fabric at Joann's.

My husband has compared this to a table cloth, curtains, or old woman bathroom wallpaper. He is not exactly wrong, but I still love it. I got 1 2/3 yards, so I decided to make a pencil skirt (I still have a yard left over). 

I made a pattern from a skirt I already own that is a little shorter. When I pieced the skirt together, I had originally put the zipper on the side, but after 3 tries with unfavorable results, I sewed a seam up the back of the skirt and put the zipper in the back. Much better. I also chose not to do a waistband, but instead just did a simple 1/4 inch rolled waist. When I was finished, I did a 1 inch hem. My zipper and my thread were dusty rose, but it would have looked nicer to chose the background light blue color.

I wore it to work yesterday and styled it with a skinny aqua belt. It's pretty cute but it gets wrinkled very easily.

7/31/2014: Ariel's SightSeeing Dress Part 2

My past 2 costumes have looked kind of homemade so I wanted to make a more professional looking costume this year. I started out by going to Yardage Town to pick up some fabric. I have never been there so I wanted to check it out. Needless to say I was unimpressed by the dinginess of the store and the lack of interest the sales people showed in their customers. I would choose Joann's over Yardage Town any day. I picked up some satin and charmeuse for the top and the skirt.

I tried sewing with the light blue charmeuse and it kept bunching up. I think I was not using the right tension settings on my machine, but I abandoned that fabric in favor of a different, more study satin. As for the darker turquoise satin, I only bought 2 yards and that was really not enough. I don't know what I was thinking. So I had to buy more skirt fabric as well…$$$$$$$!

7/31/2014: Comic Con: Ariel's SightSeeing Dress Part 1

I decided to make Ariel's Blue Sight Seeing Dress for Comic Con this year.



My husband and I have gone the last Comic Con the past 2 years and I have dressed up both times. The in 2012 I went as Princess Mononoke, and in 2013 I went as Snow White. My husband went as Freakazoid both years.

7/31/2014: Patterns

I found these 3 discontinued patterns at Yardage Town at the beginning of July:

Because, you know, everyone needs these. Obviously that is why they were discontinued. Simplicity decided to get crazy and it clearly did not work out for them. Especially with the jackets :/

7/31/2014: Beginnings

I started sewing in 2003 when I was in 10th grade. I took sewing I and sewing II as high school electives and I got hooked. I never sewed anything that impressive, I think a skirt, maybe a couple of little purses, some strawberry print pajama pants (I wonder what happened to those…). My class had a scraps box, so I used to take pieces out to make squares for my quilt. 

Eventually I ended up with this masterpiece. I tried to match fabric patterns and colors together as best I could and it turned out alright. I bought a large golden yellow floral fabric for the back piece, and chose not to use quilt binding for some reason. Lastly, I attached the front to the back through the batting with little yarn pieces at the corners. It took forever. It used to use it on my old twin sized bed even though its a little small, and I still use it sometimes. I love it.

This is my sewing machine, a Singer 4530. My mom purchased it in 1989, and along with the much newer brothers in my sewing class, I learned a lot about sewing on it. Eventually my mom gave it to me because she wasn't using it anymore, and so I use this old and trusty sewing machine for whatever project I have. I have recently been coveting the Brother CS6000i. It is around $150 on Amazon (right now it is $143) and it has so many features and included accessories that it is a serious deal. I love my Singer but it is old and it gives me problems when I am doing just general stitching. So time to upgrade, I think.

I have recently started sewing much more frequently and want to start making my own clothes, so I will document my adventures here. I also like to crochet, make costumes, and do crafts, that's going to crop up here too. I was originally posting on Tumblr, but I am going to move everything I have (which is not much) over here, so there are going to be a bunch of posts all at once to get updated. Whoops.