Pattern Swaps & Vogue 8571

Not too bad!

Thank you for all your kind comments on my last post!  I am super excited about this dress.  So much so, that in a very unusual move for me, I worked on Vogue 8571 after work tonight.  I bound the left
armhole with biastape and then cut out the skirt portion and pinned it to my dress form. I will write more about the binding soon.


Yes, the color of my dress and the color of the dress on the pattern envelope are the same.  Now, if I only had Brooke Shields' hair!

I don't know if it's possible to be passionately in love with a dress that is half sewn, but I am with this one.  Suddenly my sewing mojo has returned and there are a bazillion things I want to sew.  YAY!


The skirt is just pinned to Izzy.


Back band is looking less wonky tonight

The origin of this pattern is MPB Day 2013, where there was a pattern swap.  I've participated in a few pattern swaps where my rule is generally "Donate but do not take any patterns, good gawd woman you don't need any more, think of how many you have at home."  Also my philosophy for several years now has generally been "less stuff more experiences" (i.e. spend money on experiences, not things) and more recently, buy no more fabric than what fits in the fabric closet.  Adhering to limits, setting boundaries, and all that.

The first time I broke this rule was for a $20 indie pattern that popped up at PR weekend 2013, the second time was the pattern above and the third time was PR Day 2014 for a pattern that I have seen many many PR members make but have never bought myself.

So do you have rules about pattern swaps?
Give but don't take?
Take but don't give (ha ha)?
Do you set limits on how many you donate and/or take (like, only take as many as you donated)??

Be well!

All sorts of sewing

Thanks everyone for your comments on my PR weekend NYC post!  I really appreciate everyone who commented to let me know they enjoyed the post. Fellow attendees have been posting their recaps and it's been fun to read what others did too. 

Here's what I've been up to since PR weekend.  I had 3 blissful days off after PR weekend which I enjoyed SO much.

I made a new apron.  I also made cookies from scratch.
 
The fabric is Melody Miller, Ruby Star Shining for Kokka fabric, purchased at WhipStitch in Atlanta last month. The pattern is my TNT apron pattern, McCalls 7391, circa 1995. 
I caution you to be careful with the placement of this fabric, though....you know what I mean...just sayin'.

Twitter is great. I tweeted @whipstitch with a picture of my apron, and @whipstitch tweeted @missletterM, who is the designer Melody Miller herself!
She then replied with "Super cute!". Awwwwwww!


I sewed up some underwear.

patch: 25 cent joann's clearance.
hot pink elastic: daytona from last weekend, PR weekend NYC.
brown knit fabric: jomar from PR weekend Philly. I had made it into a disaster shirt which is now wonderful UW.


Hey, what is the scalloped edge of the elastic on the left side of the picture called?  The elastic on the right side is picot for sure.  Are they both picot?  Different styles of picot?  Or does the elastic on the left have its own name?  I *need* to know.




Tonight I sewed a pillowcase for an unusual size pillow.
It's Alexander Henry Bird Seed fabric from Stitch Lab Austin circa 2010.

I like it! I piped it with purchased black piping in stash.  This was my creative solution to make the pillowcase wide enough, since I had cut up the fabric for something else....

I wanted to make a dress I saw on Kathy's blog, but the pattern range is too big. So, instead I played with my new rolled hem foot for about an hour or so this afternoon. I was inspired to buy one after seeing it on Noile's blog.  I think I have the hang of it now for straight hems, which is great because it means I can make a very nice rolled hem for the ruffle on B5638, which I'm planning on starting tmw.
I mean, it's pretty awesome.

I'm so excited!

All my attempts (earliest on top, latest on bottom):

I also put paper over the pattern boxes and labeled with stickers:

I think it looks cleaner and tidier that way.
I also organized my thread better. Navy is in the box on the left and black is in the box on the right, so I can distinguish them better!

Oh, and I've got something brewing with a dressform, but that's next weekend!
Be well!