Tuesday, March 31, 2009

Shopping and sewing

I hope to start my "trench coat" tonight. It will be out of Butterick 4865, double breasted view, lengthened a bit with the belt. Well, it is Spring Break and I am able to stay up a little later and sleep in a little bit.
I did manage to stop by Hancock fabrics today and acquire some new fabric: a turquoise pique for McCalls 5701;
It has been really nice to get some household chores done, like oil changes for the cars, get the dog washed/teeth cleaning/shots, and do some shopping for a few new things. In particular, I was looking for new denim pillow shams for the bed. Our current ones are very faded and a bit thread bare. I looked high and low at all the major stores and did not find any. What I did find, maybe in a solid twill plain sham, was overpriced cheap product from China. Then it dawned on me, I have some cool embossed blue denim that I just got from the Puyallup SewExpo. How hard could it be? So, this afternoon, I made two shams.

The actual color is darker than the photo and the embossed pattern is very hard to see. A few days ago, I brought out my embroidery machine (Kenmore 19001) and embroidered a couple kitchen towels. I had totally forgot about doing those kinds of things for the past couple years. And, in the middle of these two projects, I made sweatpants for my son. The hem is about a half an inch shorter than I measured but I think they are long enough. I'll post a photo of them an other time. This is one reason why I sew. I can make what I need and have the quality be much higher than what you see in the store. I see quality of goods going down and the prices going up. Because I sew, I don't shop for clothes and home bedding as much so when I do go shopping, it's kind of a little shock to me at the time. My DH and DS were shopping yesterday too, for shoes. Again, the quality and price really have changed in the last few years. I guess if I could make shoes, I would!!












I am still learning how to post photos around what I type. The blogger wants to put the photos at the top of the post and then I have been cutting and pasting my post around them. So, if this is a little choppy, you know why!

Wednesday, March 25, 2009

Finished!!


Here is the finished jacket. I haven't worn shoulder pads in a jacket in awhile so I kinda feel like a linebacker. The sweatshirt fabric came in the mail today and so I'm getting that washed up as I type. I just got home from work and as usual, I am tired but I wanted to get this photo posted. More later!!!

Thursday, March 19, 2009

Is it Friday yet?


This has been a busy week. No sewing at all ;(

Seems like there have been many different things all happening at once. The gal who has cut my hair for the past 11 + years, has a very, very ill child in the hospital in critical condition. She basically has many serious complications from a Strep infection that went crazy. She is on a Ventilator and in an induced coma. It's like a punch in the stomach and it makes me sad. We are all praying for a good outcome for her.

Work has been busy as conference week is now upon us. I just finished my progress reports, yeah!

Even though I have not sewn anything this week, I did manage to order some sweatshirt fabric to sew into a pair of sweatpants for my son. I ordered from www.sewingstudio.com They are a web-only fabric site that happens to be based here in Spokane. The pattern is pictured above. I wanted to post this picture here but it got posted up above. I haven't figured out how to do that yet.
The weekend will be busy as usual. My son and I will be helping at the annual Spaghetti Dinner our church does as a fundraiser for the preschool/kindergarten on Saturday. Maybe if I'm lucky, I'll have time to give the green jacket a good pressing and snap a photo of me in it to post!

Sunday, March 15, 2009

I should always stay with tried and true...

Loes Hinse Ascot jacket above.


I finished the green jacket. It looks fine but I still have some issues with the fit. The armholes are low and it was drafted I think at the time that bigger shoulder pads were in vogue. I replaced the ones I originally put in and am replacing with smaller ones. I think I am probably my own worst critic, but I hate fussing with a pattern too much. Recently, I got an email from Loes Hinse, my all time favorite pattern designer. She has released a new jacket, the Ascot. I love the lines of this jacket! So, I just ordered it, along with her Perfect T pattern. I have made many, many of her patterns with wonderful results--very little tweaking if at all. I met her about 7-8 years ago in Carmel at her boutique--very nice. Her build is very similiar to mine so I think that's why I have good luck with the fit. www.loeshinse.com I have considered going to her sewing seminars in Carmel but when I think I can go, I look and see the dates for this year are sold out already--through October! I think they fill up fast.

Saturday, March 14, 2009

Dreaming of warmer weather...


Just got back from the grocery/errand routine. I prefer to shop once a week on Saturdays but then so does the rest of the world! It takes me 3-4 hours for Costco, Fred Meyer, Wal-mart, etc. I did run into Hancock fabrics and snag a couple Kwik Sew patterns; a sweatsuit for men (son and husband) and a swim suit one for me. Used my ASG card to get my 10% off since KS never goes on sale. The boys are out shopping too; getting a new outdoor/Carhartt coat for DH and bales of alfalfa for the goats. We still have snow on the ground and it has been melting on and off for weeks but I am so sick of it all. So, I am dreaming of the Summertime! Here's a photo of some of the sunflowers I grew last year.

My first post!


Hi!


I have been a long time sewing blog lurker out there. Finally I'm taking the plunge and doing a blog! I am calling it The Farm-Stitcher because I live out on a farm. I have goats, chickens, a dog and a couple cats. I also am married with one teenager. Besides the farm, I work full time, except in the summer, but that time is filled with gardening, canning (especially in August and September) and a fair amount of sewing!! I try to squeeze in as much sewing as I can during the school year. Here is my latest, Janie's jacket from Sillouette patterns. I just have to sew in the lining and it's done.