Tuesday, August 31, 2010

It starts tomorrow!

Eric and I as pirates in 2006
I LOVE Fall and Halloween is my VERY VERY favorite day of the year. I am super excited about change being in the air! 
I am already planning our family costumes and I did end up as a Co-Chair of the Octo-Boo Festival at M's school (October 30th you better be there!)
Marion as a Pony on her 2nd Halloween in 2008










The Self Stitched September challenge starts tomorrow. Therefore I decided to take an accounting of all my Self-Stitched garments. Some were made WAY before I signed up for the challenge and were already part of my every day wardrobe.

New Fall Clothes! Now maybe I need some shoes?

Total Self-Stitched garments 24 (But if the weather turns before the end of the month I am in trouble!)
Dresses - 8
6 are from before the challenge, 1 finished after I signed up and 1 is a store bought dress that I embroidered.

Skirts - 6 
All made before I signed up.
4 made from scratch
1 was a re-make I took a dress I did not like chopped it in half and made it a skirt
1 is embellished - hand dyed a blank

Shirts - 7 (need more!!!)
5 from before the challenge
1 completed last week
1 is a re-make of a mens t-shirt

Jackets 1
I FINALLY finished the evil green linen jacket (pictures of me wearing it soon)

Pants / Shorts 2
Just finished yesterday!

And a million more in my head just waiting to come out.  But I have one pattern cut already and today I started drafting the pattern to copy one of my favorite shirts. I have not done much drafting so we will shall see how it turns out but it is a really simple silhouette should be able to make it happen.


As far as goals for the week go I am doing well. I finished the pants, the shorts, the evil green jacket and a gift for my little buddy Mackenzie who is 5. Here is a pre-view of her gift but since it is a gift just a sneak.

Hope you are having a great week so far!

Peace Out! C

Sunday, August 29, 2010

Feeling stuck

Oh Dear Readers.....

I am feeling stuck and frustrated. Projects are not working, kid is having tummy issues, camera is busted blah blah blah. I know my life is not bad at all.

In reality it is quite nice. Just wanted to let you know I have not forgotten about you or all my grand plans. Just not feeling it right now. I need to get my mojo back!

My main goal for the week is to finish up some more Self Stitched September items and some gifts for the Murrays - we are going on a Labor Day trip with my best bud from college and her family! SOOO looking forward to seeing them and getting away from the city!



But as a reminder here is my Self Stitched Pledge:
'I, Chrissy Weeks, sign up as a participant of Self-Stitched-September. I endeavor to wear 1 handmade/re-fashioned or altered to actually fit me item of clothing or accessories every day for the duration of September 2010'.  - posted July 25 2010

You can take the pledge and sign up too while there is still time!

Hope to talk to you tomorrow.
Peace Out

Friday, August 27, 2010

Paying it forward and planning

Today I think I am going to have to stay home with with a sickly kid. Not sure what is up with her but she is just not totally herself. It will be fine, I am sure we will have lots of snuggles. It does sort of put me behind schedule but that's ok too.

Sadly my new cute pink camera is being set back to Vivitar. It got stuck on its settings and would not change so it is packed up to be mailed off. Which means no pictures today. But I will be able to get my old camera fired up and taking pictures, they just might be a little weird in color.

I did not get all my goal projects done this week. But I did pretty good. I did the PJ pants, I finished and mailed a pair of adapted PJ pants for Sew Much Comfort, and the brown twill pants are done but just need to be hemmed. The brown twill pants were much more work than I anticipated. Once I get a picture of them I will share the drama. But let's just say I was a little delusional in choosing which size to cut. 

Some notes about volunteering.

Just to let you know, I really like doing the SMC projects and think you should do some too. But they are not for beginning sewers. They have very specific directions and ways that they want things done. 

It does take a fair amount of time, it took me about 2.5 hours to finish the PJ pants. But I also have to say it is worth it because it is a great cause so if you are up for it you should become a volunteer with them too.

I firmly believe that giving of a unique talent and your time is even more valuable than giving money, but hey money is good too ;)
In additional volunteering news I am still working on the Choice Celebration for The Feminist Women's Health Center and I am co-chairing the planning of the Harvest Festival for Marion's school, The Clifton School. Additionally in the Spring I am planning to be involved with the school's big auction party, not yet been ropped into chairing that but.......

Other News

I have re-opened my Etsy Shop - Stems and I am sending in an application for my first craft fair! It is not until December so I have plenty of time to plan. But I do intend to have all sorts of fun accessories and stuff available for sale. As I get things ready I will post them for sale on Etsy as well. If you have any requests please let me know. Once I have gotten a couple more pieces done for the Self Stitched September Challenge I plan on switching gears and working on this stuff.

Hope you have a great day! We will be snuggling and watching movies most of the day I am guessing. I am a sucker for a good snuggle. And she looks extra cute when she is sleeping.

Peace Out! - C

Wednesday, August 25, 2010

How to make a headband


I don't know about you but hot Atlanta weather does terrible things to my hair. It is just hot all the time, I feel like I am melting. My hair gets all weird and frizzy and does not look fantastic in a ponytail. Therefore the best solution I have found it to wear a headband.

Fabric Origami Flower Headband
Not only do they make my hair look decent, they can add color and style to an outfit and are a great way to use up some scraps. I make several different versions of headbands, including the fabric origami flower that I came up with, but this tutorial is for the simple tie back headband.

Ready? Well here it goes.....

You can make yourself a little pattern if you like. The headband is comprised of 3 pieces, one center piece and two tie ends.

Top: Headband Center Piece
Bottom: two tie end pieces, folded in half log way 
You may need to adjust the dimensions for your head. But I start with each of these pieces at 16" x 5".

Get your pieces cut out and then you will prep your edges.

For the center piece - if you have a serger, serge the top and bottom edge but don't bother with the ends. Then fold down your serged edges and hem. If you do not have a serger you can do a zig zag stitch, use pinking sheers or do a double fold hem to finish your edges.


Next, fold your tie ends in half, right sides together and press. While you are pressing, fold one end of the tie down 1/2" and press that as well. This will be one of your finished ends and the other will be sewn closed.



Next sew the tie end closed on the long end and at the bottom. You will have a folded over edge like the one shown above. After you have sewn your tie ends then you need to turn them. I use a giant wooden crochet hook.


After your tie ends are turned you need to press them. 

Top: turned and pressed
Bottom: ready to be turned and pressed
It is up to you if you want to top stitch your tie ends at this point. On this one I decided that it would be a cute contrast to top stitch in black. But if you do top stitch, make sure that you leave the turned under end open, do not stitch it closed.



Next you need to gather the ends of your center piece. Select the longest stitch that your machine will do, mine goes up to 5.0. Then stitch the ends of your center piece, do not back tack! But do leave yourself a big long thread tail. Pull one of the threads to gather the center piece.


Next you are going to insert the gathered end of the center piece into the open end of the tie piece.


And sew the center piece and the end tie together.


After you sew both ties onto the center piece you have a super spiffy new headband to wear. 

Here is me and the fam out and about last weekend, while I had on yet another of my spiffy headbands. 




Hope this helps you and your hair get through the last few weeks of heat! Feel free to email me with questions and I would love to see pics of any headbands create!

Peace Out!


Monday, August 23, 2010

Pile of projects and new goodies to contemplate, Oh My!


On Saturday I went to the craft swap over at Whipstitch. It was really fun, met some nice ladies and got some way cool stuff. I am working on some plans for what to do with the items I acquired. Will keep you posted on that ;) 

After finishing my most recent dress, I decided that I need some everyday clothes. I had a bunch of different stuff pulled out to think about and settled on making a a little blouse with some Japanese fabric I picked up when I was in Chicago. It was a major splurge to buy this fabric. So I felt like I really needed to make something that I would actually use.

I love it so far! The one problem is that I just don't have the right buttons for it yet. I will have to head out this week and do some button shopping. 

Yesterday was a cutting day. I cut out several projects and plan to working on sewing them up starting this afternoon. I have to sort of re-configure my sewing room for cutting so I like to do a bunch while I have it set up for cutting and then sew a bunch while I have it set up for sewing. 

Here are the projects I have cut and waiting to be sewn:

1. Simplicity 2422 - Pants, brown twill - these are supposed to go with that damned green jacket.

2. Simplicity 2894 - Shorts, tan linen

3. Simplicity 2894 - Tunic top in Heather Bailey Lindy Leaf in pink - I have realized that I have a thing for pick and red. This is super funny because when I was younger I hated pick and red together. Marion inherited my love of pink and red as well. I will enjoy it while it lasts.

4. McCall's M5992 - Capri pajama pants as a recycling project. The Betty Boop fabric used to be M's baby sling back when she was just tiny. And now it will soon be pj pants! 

Four cut projects should be enough for a few days. Additionally I committed to adapting some pajama pants for Sew Much Comfort and hope to get all of this done this week. I occasionally make things for this great organization, I need to make time to make more things for them. We make adaptive clothing for wounded soldiers. Check it out and if you are not a skilled enough sewer to help out you can make a donation. 

Here at home we had a great weekend! Saturday was our fun day and Sunday was our chore day but it was not too strenuous, at 5pm Marion was still napping and I still had on my jammies. 

On Saturday we went bowling in the morning. And in the afternoon we went to the Decatur BBQ & Blues festival. All I can say is that it was HOT and STICKY. But we went with my super fun cousin Stacy and we all had a great time.

Yes! A sausage (stolen from Mama) and a rib! 
Hope you had a good weekend and that you are looking forward to a productive week ahead. 

Peace Out! 


Thursday, August 19, 2010


I have to admit that I feel fantastic in this dress. It fits perfect and is just so right for me. Thank you Eric for picking out such great fabric. This is my first completed project using the fabric that Eric brought me back from Spain, let's call it Platinum Seamstress Dress #1. I admit it was challenging to make this dress but well worth it. Also I have a terrible habit of never reading pattern instructions so I don't really know if the instructions for this one are any good or not. 

   

I have never made something that was so similar to the pattern picture. I almost never even really stay on pattern. I do lots of changing and doing different things. But this time I am glad I stuck with the pattern because it turned out beautiful. I thought posing like her would just be funny. 


The dress is fully lined with white muslin, has a side zipper and the skirt and sleeves where hand hemmed. If you have any questions about the construction or finishing I would be happy to talk to you about it. 

Now I have to figure out what to work on next. I need to get some more clothes made for the Self Stitched September challenge and for life in general really.  Here are some of the contenders for my next project.


The short sleeve blouse
Tunic top.
Knee length shorts. Since in Atlanta  I could wear them until October ;)
And I have to gather my strength and finish that damned green jacket! I finally finished reading Gone With the Wind so I do think given enough time I can finish anything. We will just see if I manage to finish the short sleeve green jacket before it is too cool for short sleeves.

Tomorrow I get to have a day date with my hubby. Marion will be off at school and this will be our last chance to play hooky since he will be teaching "science to big kids" again soon. 

Wednesday, August 18, 2010

Today WILL be better

Yesterday was not my best day. As you may or may not know, I have been dealing with being afflicted with panic attacks my entire life. I had not had one in several weeks and yesterday I did. And it was a bad one. I was convinced that my life was terrible and that I was a failure at everything I do and that nothing was ever going to change.

Well none of this is entirely true today. What brought on the panic attack? I am not entirely sure but I am guessing it was a combination of things and somehow they just tipped over into too much. But like I said today will be better and I am moving on. A fellow sewer Gertie had blog post this morning that was just  what I needed to get going today.


The green jacket is well under way, but I have gotten stuck. It is puckering in a weird place and I am not entirely sure what to do about it. I may have to take it apart a little. I need to have a low stress day so I am going to take a break from it and do something easier today.

I also wanted to show you the fabric Eric brought me from Japan. Have you ever seen the show Iron Chef?  Basically chef's are given a mystery ingredient and they have to make a meal out of it. We here at the Weeks household are calling my fabrics from afar - The Platinum Seamstress Challenge!  How does it work? You ask...
First Eric travels to crazy countries for work. While he is there he hunts down a fabric store and brings me back what he finds for me to make into something lovely.
Here are the fabrics in the Japan Challenge.

This is a light weight canvas. Not sure but will probably be something for Marion. 

Yes it is only 16" wide selvedge to selvedge, no idea what to do with it? But it is lovely and I am totally into navy blue right now, weird I know.


When he sent the pic of this I thought it might be silk. But no it is cotton w/ sparkles. And only 1 meter. PJ shorts?
In case you have forgotten my first challenge from a far off land came from Spain, and I have not finished it yet either and I am avoiding it as well since I am just not up for anything hard today. But I will have to face the hard projects again soon because they are sitting there staring at me and life is all about challenging yourself to move forward and do more and be more. Just not today and maybe not tomorrow? But soon I will get back on the "horse" that threw me because we have to keep trying. 

What are you up to today? or tomorrow?

Monday, August 16, 2010

Does it have to be Monday ALL day long?

First I have to tell you I am SO glad that Eric is back from Japan. I had not been sleeping or eating well, which is what always happens when E is gone for more than a day or 2.  Last night I went to bed at 8pm and did not wake up until 6ish. So I am feeling much much better!

I decided to finally sew together the lime green linen jacket that I cut out in early June. Yesterday I got my new machine all ready and got green thread on the bobbin and started sewing. Only to my dismay to discover it was not sewing properly. Oh no! I tried every setting possible with no luck. The top thread was just laying there and the bobbin thread was coming up from the bottom looping over the sad top thread. After many many attempts I decided that I was wasting too much green thread and that I needed to continue my research efforts with a different color thread. What do my wondering eyes see, but when I used different thread she sewed just perfect. So I re-thread the green thread again, same problems as before. Took me a minute but I think I finally realized that the machine does not believe that this green thread and this green linen fabric were meant to be together. I trotted on over the the local shop that I don't love but is super close to my house and got some Coats & Clark green thread that I am hoping will do the trick. This saga is to be continued......
This is as far as I got before I gave up and went to try and get new thread.

Yesterday I managed to finish my lap top sleeve.

It took me longer than I anticipated. Since I was not using a pattern and just making it up as I went along there were a few construction issues along the way. For example closure of the flap. I had planned initially to use Velcro. But when I got to that step I discovered I was out of Velcro and was too lazy and cheap to go and buy any. So I decided to make the closure a tie.

In the end this was a good decision because now every time I open my lap top sleeve it is like opening a little present. It is pretty cool. My new machine did a great job on this project, sewed right through a crazy number of layers with no issues at all.

I am hoping that the thread  and fabric issue is just a small one. I will be super disappointed if the machine cannot handle delicate fabrics as well as it should. We shall see what I manage to come up with later today.

I have gone to the grocery store and done all the things I have to do today so I am going to spend the rest of my day sewing! Well until it is time to make dinner, and feed the fam and then go to a volunteer committee meeting. Marion's school wants me to head the fall festival committee, what do you think? Should I do it? 

Friday, August 13, 2010

New Machine!!!!

My very cute and wonderful husband is coming home from Japan!!! He is on his way now!! We are picking him up at the airport around 7pm on Saturday. But thanks to Skype he talked me into buying a new sewing machine. So I thought he deserved a little shout out as well as a picture in the old blog.
Photo by Marion Weeks - she told me today she does art with pictures! Love that gal! 
So I did it. I went shopping and got a new machine! Here she is................


She really is quite lovely and I hope that she and I have a long happy relationship. I traded in the Kenmore and the Janome. I was actually a little bit sad to leave them in the store and walk away from them. They have taught me so much and helped me through so many things. I sort of miss them, well sort of ;)

The last thing I made with the old machines was a whole bunch of bias tape which I am going to use to finally finish my lap top sleeve. Which I did manage to work on for a little while today.

It is going to turn out amazing,
but right now
I would call it a work in progress
However today was an oddly social day for me. I actually spoke with several other human beings in person. My new neighbor Jay stopped by for coffee and muffins this morning, then I went to yoga, I got to meet baby Nuri (my friend Raja just had a baby he is SOOO cute) and then my cousin Stacy came over to hang out with me and Marion. Per a very persistant request (from Marion) we had shrimps for dinner. The girl has good taste at least she inherited something from me.

I am eventually going to finish the lap top case and then I have a whole entire giant bucket of projects to work through.



Plus - Eric is bringing me fabric from Japan!! Lately when he goes on trips to cool places he has been hunting down fabric for me. Then I have to figure out what the heck to do with it sort of like "Iron Chef" but with fabric. So I like to call myself the platinum seamstress. He sent me cell phone pics but I am going to wait and get good pictures after I check it all out! But there are 3 different prints, ohhhh, ahhhh.


Stacy took this picture with Marions' new camera, we both got cameras for our birthdays SO COOL. It adds all sorts of stuff to the pictures for you. I am still reading "Gone With the Wind" so this is me as Rhett Butler. We are supposed to go to a pool party tomorrow. But we shall see what else tomorrow my bring. I know one thing it better bring, Marion's Daddy!!! Last trip he got stuck for an extra day, NOOO!!!!! Better not happen again. See I am making my mean face with a mustache on so fate better be listening to me. Argh!!!



Thursday, August 12, 2010

Oh horoscope you were so right for once......

I am a Leo and some would say therefore inclined to be dramatic. Yesterday my horoscope was decidedly anti-drama (good) and true. Here it is: "You can find the solution through the simplest conventional means". Well I did find a "solution" to my machines drama.

Machine #1
The Jenome that I love so dearly, which I inherited from my friend Glennis is dead.  She was a workhorse and had a good life but all the same parts that fell off and were replaced last August did it again and I just don't think it is cost effective to repair her. She is in he garage awaiting whatever her fate may end up being.

Machine #2
The old Kenmore, which I inherited from my mother, was wobbly and noisy because it was missing 2 of the rubber feet of the bottom. I took the remaining rubber feet of and oiled everything I could find to oil. Now she is much less wobbly and much less noisy but not entirely pleasant to work with.


Machine #3
Is an old Viking that I inherited from my Mother-in-Law. This machine "works" but sadly has never been my favorite machine to work with. It is a very early computerized machine. I think that part of the problem may be my expectations of a computerized machine, which are based on the machines I have seen other people using that are much more modern than this machine. I have had trouble with both button holes and zig zag stitches on this machine. It drops stitches on all of the options I have tried.The bottom line on this machine is that it is also usable, but not ideal.

All of these machines are hand-me-downs and are at least 18 or more years old. Actually not sure how old the Janome is but you get the picture. They have had long fruitful lives but it just might be time to call it quits.

Now back to the horoscope and the conventional solution. I have decided and I am going to arm myself with information. I am going to go do some sewing machine shopping. A-1 Sewing machines up on LaVista takes trade-ins and has a ton of different models to look at. Plus they are a small local shop which I would rather support than any of the "big box" stores. So I am headed there after lunch with my pal Diana today. I have done some online research about machines and I am hoping that seeing them in person will help me decide.


On another topic, I got Marion's room together but still need to hang the stuff back on the walls. And I have big plans to take the closet doors off and put up a cute quilted curtain over the closet door frame. Should be really cute! But I am not a quilter and this will be the biggest quilting project I have ever taken on.

What are your plans for today?