Blogger Help !!

In my last post, the "comments" ended up wayyyyyy down from my post. This happens every time I fiddle with photos. Is there a cure for this disease? I cannot figure out how to correct it.

Cookie Cutter Wool--Jacket Class Day Two

I learned an interesting and probably, little known, technique in the Felted Wool Jacket Class. I had never seen this until introduced to Barbara Skimin, the instructor of the class. She has won several contests using this technique to embellish her felted wool garments.

The following samples I made up quickly, and they are not as accurate as they would be if I were actually working on a garment. This is fun but not for the faint of heart! Those who like to play with embellishments and make art garments will find it challenging and fascinating.

Begin with wool that has been felted. Cut out a garment. Work out a design on a muslin . Think applique type designs. The design could take the form of a flower, hearts, or something geometric. Once you have a design drawn on your muslin (or pattern paper), pin the muslin to the garment. And--cut the design elements from your garment fabric. This is like cutting cookies out of dough. See--big hole cut into wool fabric!

The objective is to fill that hole with co-ordinating wool felted fabric(s), using the cut-out shape as a pattern. It can be a solid color piece of fabric, or fabrics pieced like Crazy Quilting. To make a patchwork fabric, cut two pieces of felted wool, making sure the two edges that are to be joined are straight.

Butt the two straight edges up against each other. They should be "bunched up" --crowded--just a bit--not laying flat when they go under the presser foot. This will ensure that when they are stitched together, there will not be any gaps between the fabrics.

Sew them together using a "serpentine" stitch, and using lightweight (lingerie) thread to match the fabrics. Instead of lightweight thread, I used transparent nylon thread on top. (not the cheap, packaged stuff but good, flexible quality like YLI) and lingerie thread in the bobbin. Use an open-toe foot. Stitch length set at 1.

Continue adding fabric and repeating the piecing process until there's enough for the shape that was cut out. Lay that cutout onto the pieced fabric and cut out the shape. Press well.

Lay the new pieced fabric back into the hole in the garment. Make several registration marks completely across the design and garment fabric. Those are necessary when sewing the shape back into the hole.

Sew the shape into the hole. Using the same technique as above, put the fabrics under the open-toe foot. Butt them together, crowding them together and sew with a serpentine stitch. This is a slow process, concentrating on sewing from one registration mark to another. Sew from the center to a point. Stop. Sew from the opposite side to the point. Press well.

On my sample, I didn't set the piece in accurately, and it isn't as smooth as it should be.

The seams are now embellished with decorative stitching. Using lightweight thread in the bobbin and a heavy thread on top, sew over the inside seams using a decorative stitch. I used lingerie thread in the bobbin, Sulky 12 weight cotton variegated thread on top, and a wide feather stitch.

When the inside seams are finished, continue decorative stitching around the outside of the design. Extend the stitching if you wish, into the garment, wherever you want. This is the finished sample.

Now that I understand the technique and have worked on some samples, I have second thoughts on the design I have. Fortunately, I haven't cut into my garment. I will redesign. I have some sketches and when I'm satisfied, will start the garment. It's been long time since I did an artsy type project and this will be a work in progress for a while.

Meanwhile, I cut out 6 long sleeve t-shirts. They are stacked up and ready to sew while I think.

The Traveling Pincushion

"Necessity is the mother of invention".

Anyone who takes their sewing gear from one location to another has encountered the problem of securing their pins. Pin cushions just don't work for travel because pins inevitably fall out. If they are in a box, they are difficult to pick up and use.

The instructor of the Felted Wool jacket class, Barbara Skimin, had this most simple, but perfect solution to the traveling pin dilemma. It's one of those "why didn't I think of that" things.

This traveling pincushion is not pretty, although I suppose one could dress it up. But--it works. It starts with a pill bottle. Just your normal size pill bottle, about 2 1/2" high and 1" in diameter. Any size will work, but this is what I had in my medicine cabinet. You also need a piece of wool felt, 4" x 12".

Fold the wool felt in half, lengthwise so it is 2 1/2" by 12" and roll it up tightly, like a jelly-roll.

Stuff that roll into the pill bottle with the folded edge on top.

Stick your pins into the felt, pushing them all the way down, and put the cap on the bottle.

This took maybe 2 minutes. My bottle is now filled with pins and ready to go. The pins are secure but I can still get to them easily.

I will be posting a pictorial of the "seamless piecing" technique that I learned. It's quite ingenious and something I had never seen.

Felted Jacked with Seamless Piecing Day One

Our first day of class was terrific! Needlework and Textile Guild of Michigan had Barbara Skimmins today and tomorrow to teach her "seamless piecing" method using felted wool. The day began with a lecture and trunk show of her fabulous art garments. After lunch, we began our class.

Our wool fabrics were supposed to be pre-felted for class by washing in hot water/cold rinse and lots of agitation until felted properly. We were to have a muslin, fitted and sewn together. The instructor had us draw a design on our muslin. Here is my sleeve.
I made a teardrop shape. There are similar shapes drawn on the other pieces of the jacket. We took the muslin apart and used it for our pattern to cut out the jacket.

Next comes the fun part. We are going to cut design elements out of the jacket pieces, leaving a hole . As if you were cutting dough with cookie cutters. Only out of our fabric. Scary huh! Cutting a big old hole in a beautiful piece of wool! I will cut that teardrop out of my sleeve. The hole will be "plugged" with another piece of wool in a different color. It will be sewn into the hole using decorative stitching with heavy thread. Thus--"seamless piecing".

The teardrop shape will not be just one piece of fabric, but several pieces patched together like crazy-quilting, with decorative stitching.

So far, so good. My jacket is cut and ready for the embellishment process tomorrow morning. There were 20 people in class today. Twenty ladies who definitely know their stuff. These are all seasoned sewists. It was a great day. I am so looking forward to tomorrow.

Holiday Sewing

Bring on the holidays! No, not yet? What--you're not ready? DH and I went Christmas shopping and we are D.O.N.E. !! I try to have the shopping done by Thanksgiving.

I don't do a lot of holiday type sewing, but I like to have a "little something" for a couple of ladies. This year it's aprons. I made the 4-Corners Apron from Vanilla House Designs.

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This is Sewing 101. The apron is lined with the co-ordinating fabric. The public side has trim around two edges. Two large squares sewn together. Add straps at the neckline and waist. I used a religious-themed cotton fabric for the right side, and found a dotted print for the reverse side and trim. I think the recipients will appreciate the fabric choice. Ease-peasy. I will make another, probably tomorrow.

And then, I am finished with holiday gifts. The day after Thanksgiving, while people are out shopping in droves, I will be at home, hopefully in my sewing room, enjoying the day. Or-perhaps wrapping gifts!

Tomorrow I will pack my gear for the Felted Wool Jacket class on Tuesday and Wednesday. I'm looking forward to two days of fun!

A Free Invaluable Tool For Everyone

Carolyn's post today was "Stretch and How to Work It". We have all struggled with fitting difficulty, particularly when using a stretch fabric. Make a top in one knit and it fits perfectly. Make it again in another knit and it's too big, or too small. What is the key? She asked for suggestions, and although I left a comment on her blog, I am posting a wonderful worksheet here for anyone who has ever had problems figuring out how a pattern is going to fit using a stretch fabric. I believe that includes most of the blogging community!

Christine Johnson has been producing her own line of patterns for many years and is an authority on fitting knits. She developed a wonderful tool for calculating ease using any pattern, any fabric with any amount of stretch. It's a PDF worksheet. She has you measure your pattern, and determine the amount of stretch in your fabric using her guidelines. Following her instructions on the worksheet, do the math--and you have the amount of ease your garment will have. And, it's free.

This worksheet allows you to calculate how much ease you will have using fabric with 25% stretch, 50% stretch, 75% stretch, or no stretch at all using the same pattern.

Go to http://cjpatterns.com/. Click on "Tips and How To's". When that list comes up, click on "Perfect Sizing Worksheet". She has a good explanation of how stretch factors in the fit of a garment. It is an invaluable tool. No more guesswork.

I hope you take advantage of this worksheet and that it helps solve the mystery of stretch. This is a good thing people. Go get it!

Finished !

The beading on my bag is finished. I want to find a silver chain to use as a handle, and I will make a lining for it. Nancy K asked if I will bead on garments. I have done some beading on clothes, but beads get heavy, so I've used them sparingly. There is a good sample of beaded embroidery on a dress in the current issue of Threads. This little bag is surprisingly heavy.

I made a muslin for the Felted Wool Jacket class that is next week, already. I don't know what happened to October. I seemed to have missed it. Anyway, the instructor wants us to have a fitted muslin for class. She wants all construction marks on the muslin, which means we will be taking it apart and using it for our pattern.

I made S2701. (Blogger will not let me link today. Someone else was complaining about that earlier.)

The instructor advised us to have a collar-less jacket. Preferably Princess seams, rather than darts, and a simple design. This pattern seemed to fit the bill. There is a round-neck version. There is a pleat in the back, which I took out. I have a good fit, with all construction marks, grainlines, etc. on the muslin. All I have left to do to prepare for the class is get my "Little Brother" sewing machine from upstairs and make sure it sews the decorative threads without issues.

Next--I want to make a couple of aprons for holiday gifts. I have the fabrics washed. I'll probably get those started on Thursday.

Busy Beading

I've always loved to do handwork. A lot of it has passed through my hands. Needlepoint, many types of embroidery, knitting, crochet. I've been enjoying beaded embroidery the last couple of days. I took a class with Christine Reilly a couple of weeks ago and posted about it previously.

I'm working on the class sample. It's a little beaded bag. Here it is, in progress.

There is no pattern for the placement of stitches. It's free-form. Each side is different. There are several cabochons (stones held in place with rounds of beaded stitches). I have started the netting, which looks lattice-like, and goes around the entire bottom portion of the bag.

It's very relaxing, and a good thing to do while watching TV in the evening.

Also, I'm working on a muslin for the felted jacket class coming up. I have it traced and made alterations to the flat pattern. Tomorrow, I'll cut and sew it.

I Felt It

It has been a nightmare of a week. My DH had a medical emergency Monday and we've had two trips to the ER, trips to doctors. He is going to be ok in the end, but right now he requires a lot of care. It has taken all I can do to take care of his needs.

I'm trying to get supplies together for the Felted Wool jacket workshop next month. The way my life shakes out, I don't wait until the last minute because if I do, surely something comes along that takes my time.


These are my fabrics, all felted, ironed and ready.


The light gray wool I got off the grab table at a sewing meeting. There was 3 yards. To felt it, I washed it in hot water/cold rinse 4 times. Then, I threw it in the dryer. It felted beautifully. The red and the black are smaller pieces needed for embellishment. They are blazers I bought at Salvation Army Thrift Store for $4 each. I ripped the blazers apart and felted them. After they were dry, I steam-ironed them. The fabric is felted properly if you can cut into it and it doesn't ravel.

The teacher, Barbara Skimin, likes Sulky 12 wt. cotton thread to do the decorative stitching. I ordered black, dark gray, red, red variegated, black variegated from http://www.speedstitch.com/. I won't use all of them, but I have enough to make a choice when the time comes.

Barbara Skimin is well know in Michigan. She wrote a book for Brother sewing machine company. She's been featured in Threads magazine. I took a photo of her "Felted Wool Jacket with Seamless Piecing Techniques" for reference. Here it is:

Note: This is the work of Barbara Skimin, not me. I didn't get a chance to examine this closely. But, I think what she's doing is cutting pieces of felted wool, butting them together, and doing a decorative stitch where they butt together. Then taking the pieced embellishment and laying it on the jacket and stitching down with a decorative stitch.

I may be wrong about the procedure, but that is what it looks like to me.

There's a couple of things I have to pick up at the local Jo when I'm out that way. Also, I am taking my cheap, little Brother machine with me to class, instead of my heavy Bernina(s).

Make some beautiful things this weekend!

Simplicity Sucks

I have sent an email to Simplicity.com expressing my distaste for their new website. I'm trying to research patterns, and their pages take forever to load, if at all. It's difficult to navigate about the site.

I encourage any of you who do not like their new format to take a moment and drop an email to them. Perhaps if they get enough complaints they will revamp the site.

Books, Fabrics and All Things Good

The "Beading on Fabric" class I took last week was terrific. Two days of uninterrupted stitching with sewing friends and a first-class teacher.

Next month, the workshop is "Felted Wood Jacket with Seamless Piecing". We need a piece of wool fabric which has been wet-felted for the jacket itself, and pieces of contrasting felted pieces for the decorative technique we're learning. I had a large chunk of light gray wool that I got off the grab table at another sewing club. I washed it it hot water/cold rinse 5 times. It felted beautifully. For contrasting fabric, I went to the Salvation Army Thrift Store and picked up two wool blazers for $4 each--one black, one red. I ripped them apart, and felted them also. My jacket will be light gray with black and red contrasting adornment. Now, I have to order some Sulky 12-wt. decorative threads. What fun!

I bought Kenneth King's book, "Cool Couture". I have a LOT of sewing books, so I am particular what I buy now. This one does not disappoint.

Many of his techniques are different from the norm. His instructions are excellent, and he has a lot of ideas about embellishing. Those who are familiar with his work know his style is NOT boring! This is a good read, and I'm going through the book page by page.

I need long-sleeve knit tops for winter. Nothing cutting-edge, stylish or elaborate, but plain, scoop-neck, 3/4 length sleeve t-shirts to wear to the grocery and running errands. I found a black and a white solid cotton knit at Jo's that is adequate. I bought a couple of print knits from http://www.thefabricfairy.com/. I like cotton or cotton/lycra.

The crossword-puzzle print is a hoot! I couldn't resist! There's a black/red polka dot, a solid black and a solid white. I will cut these all at once, and line them up to sew.

There's socks on my knitting needles, the bead-work project on a board and a couple of holiday projects in the works. Last week, I had zero sewing time. This week looks more promising. Yay!

How Much Fabric? Card GUEST GIVEAWAY!!!!

How Much Fabric? Card GUEST GIVEAWAY!!!!

Great giveaway!

Bead Release Me, Let Me Go

I went to an AM Lecture, PM Workshop at Needlework & Textile Guild of Michigan. The speaker was Christine Reilly of http://fireflybead.com/. Christine does magnificent things with beads. Her primary focus is bead embroidery. Her work has been featured in magazines such as Piecework, and she's sold wholesale to catalog companies, such as Mary Maxim, etc. (her website is just starting, and not up and running quite yet).

Christine was based in Michigan for many years, but moved to Tennessee four years ago. Michigan misses her. She is very well-known in the embroidery arts in this state.

She came back to our fair state to teach at our guild. We're making a beaded evening bag. This is a photograph of her bag:

The photo doesn't do it justice. There is beaded netting with beaded fringe on the bottom edge. There are crystals attached to the bag with beads using a technique called "crown rim setting". It's a beautiful piece of art.

The workshop was just great. I totally enjoyed the day. And the best part--I get to go back and do it again tomorrow!

Sewing-wise, I have a holiday project almost completed. I have to get to a fabric store to pick up an item to finish it. I cannot post it for another month. Also, I made two 3/4 sleeve length T's. One black, one navy. No need to post a photo of a black and blue T-shirt. Still, that's what I need in my wardrobe right now. I ordered a couple of pieces of fabric from http://www.thefabricfairy.com/ to make more. I like cotton/lycra fairly well for t's. I don't like rayon/lycra or poly/lycra. In fact, I don't like lycra at all. But I can tolerate it blended with cotton.

I've been busy, but have nothing to show for it at this time. The holidays are coming up fast and there are a couple of "gifty" things I want to get sewn right away.

Off to bed for me. 5:00 AM comes early!

Patterns Please

Judging from the feedback on my last post, many bloggers agree that we enjoy reading these sewing blogs, and that we shouldn't feel pressured to produce. Good thing as slow as I am! Actually, I am sewing, but I'm doing some Holiday sewing and cannot blog it right now. My time has been limited lately, but I had a great sewing weekend. I do keep up with your blogs as best I can, and when I can't physically sew, I sew vicariously through you.

In addition to enjoying your posts, you are also enablers. A couple of weeks ago, I bought three patterns during the sale at Jo's, that I've seen on you. And here they are.

V8605 is a jacket/coat. Diana of Sew Passionista made the jacket version. She sews a lot of designer patterns, such as Sewing Workshop, and looks fabulous in them.

Amanda made the pleated yoke version of B5284. I admire the way she finishes the seams of her garments. She makes french seams, Hong Kong seams, and uses bias tape for some. The inside of her garments are as nicely finished as the outside.

You all know Shannon's blog. She was sewing like the wind this summer. She made B4986, and of course, she's cute as a button in it.

I found a blog unfamiliar to me. It is http://communingwithfabric.blogspot.com/ . Shams loves funky clothing, and seeks out designer patterns as well as drafting some very unusual pieces. Drop by her blog and check out what she's doing. I'm sure you'll be pleasantly surprised.

Have a great week! Make it count!

PS to Previous Post

After thinking about the quilted jackets and sweatshirt jackets, I realize that where I see good sewing, interesting sewing, new and different is--here. Right here on these blogs.

Please, no one else quit blogging. We all have time issues. We can't all whip up 3 or 4 garments a week. But, when you do make something, I am so happy to read about it--the good, bad and ugly of it. I love to hear your take on patterns, fit issues, fabric, techniques. These blogs are a great learning tool and inspiring. Your blogs are sometimes sad, sometimes funny.

Those of us who can't produce at lightening speed seem to feel the need to apologize, or quit blogging. It isn't a contest. I hope to see your blogs WHEN you're able to sew something.

I'll be reading. And sewing when time permits. And blogging it.