From Blah to Something I Want to Wear!

What a busy summer!  It is difficult to find time to sew.  I know I am not the only one with this problem.  Everybody is busy.  There is always something that needs to be done either in the house or yard and we are always taking a road trip to somewhere.   I also have been busy getting Chicken Little Sews a Facebook page of its own and an Instagram account.  Both are up and running now. 

I did find time to sew a new top from one of the knit fabrics I purchased at Zink’s Fabric Outlet in Ligonier, Indiana a few weeks ago.  I love the print and the fabric is really soft so it feels comfortable when I wear it.  I added a strip of tricot iron-on interfacing to the bottom of the garment the width of the hem and also to the edge of the sleeves.  This will stabilize the hems and help the fabric to hold its shape.  A picture of the top is shown below.

 

I made another top from a light blue knit in my stash.  This top really did not want to be made.  I cut it out at least a year ago, maybe two.  I carried the pieces in my sewing bag with me to all my Wednesday sewing sessions with my friends, but I always worked on something else at those sessions.  Recently I decided to sew those pieces together.   It was a blah project.  It did not inspire me, but I pushed on with it.  Finally, a few days ago, I realized what was needed to turn that shirt from blah to something I wanted to wear.  It needed something embroidered on it.  My sewing machine also embroiders; however, I had not used that feature for quite a while.  I had to read the manual in order to retrain myself.  I spent most of a day searching for an appropriate embroidery design in my machine and then reading the manual.   At first, I was going to add the embroidery to the center front on the chest area.  At the last minute I decided to add it to the bottom to the right of the center front.  I was pleased with how the embroidery turned out.  However, there is another area of the shirt I wish looked better.  That is the neckband.  There are wrinkles in the front caused by the band not being quite long enough.    I am not willing to rip the band off and start over.  I figure I have spent enough time on this project.  It is not perfect, but I learned some lessons.  Lesson number one is to baste the neckband if you think it may not fit perfectly.  The stretch of knits varies, so the length of the band may not always be the same even if you use the same pattern.  Lesson number two is to decide if you are going to add an embroidery design before you sew the project together.  This prevents ripping the pieces apart to get the garment on the hoop.     A picture of the finished project is shown below.

 

A friend gave me a piece of fabric that presents a challenge for me.  My friend knows how much I love shoes.  She is aware I once made a black wool coat with appliqued shoes all over it!  She knows my weakness.  Now I have to think of something to make from this piece of fabric.  I am not sure if I can make a purse from this, but I may try.  Pictures of the fabric are shown below.

 

I really need to focus on starting my fall and winter wardrobe sewing.  I plan to cut out some fall projects to sew at the Lansing ASG’s sewing retreat in Shipshewana in August.  I want to use some of the fabric I bought from Zink’s.  However, I am going to give some serious consideration to what I can make from that piece of fabric Joyce gave me.  Maybe I will be able to show the finished project in my next post.

Have fun sewing!

Judy