Sewing Jots and Tittles 4.30.11

Ok, as you know "Sewing Jots & Tittles" is my weekly post where I get to ramble on and on about sewing related stuff that's been on my mind. Here's what I've been thinking. 

-My Coverstitch is here!!! It arrived yesterday evening and I was all too happy to unpack it. It arrived well packed. It was double-boxed and wrapped tightly in bubble wrap and saran wrap. It was fortified, let me tell ya!!!

After unpacking it for 10 minutes, out emerged my machine and I'm so delighted. I gave it a try and it works great. It's pretty simple to use and is just like threading a serger. Anywho, I've already added it with the other "babies". The family is complete---a sewing machine (I have 3 other around), 1 serger, 1 coverstitch, and 1 blind hemmer. I'm pretty proud of my family:)

Support- I want to give a special "shout-out" goes out to my Hubby for encouraging me to get my coverstitch machine. I think somewhere along the way I've convinced him that I'm serious about this "sewing thing"! LOL! He always supports me without reservation and that means alot. Maybe it's about time I start doing a little sewing for him to show my gratitude (wink)!

-Is this a dress? I picked up this Vogue 1229 pattern a couple of months ago and thought I had picked up a top. I just realized this is a dress pattern. Really?!? That's interesting. I guess I'm just going to have to wear it as a top.

-No Vogue patterns yet?- I'm about to blow a gasket. Neither my local Hancock Fabrics or JoAnn's has gotten in the new Summer Vogue patterns. What in the world is going on?  Two sets of Vogue pattern sales have come and still no patterns. I'm really struggling. I'm going to go to both stores tomorrow morning to investigate and make sure they're not hiding out in the store room.

-War Zone-My Sewing room looked  like World War VII broke out!!! It took over an hour or so to tidy. I threw out lots--fabric swatches, and organized my summer fabrics. Man, I love decluttering!!!!I watched a Princess Diana special while I worked. I forgot how big of a philanthropist she was. I care more about that then the current royal wedding details! Anyway things are all tidy now and I'm ready to get back to  sewing.

Great Sewing books: I've had these books for a while and have been meaning to review them. I bought the Tailoring and Couture Techniques book first and loved them SO much that I bought the Garment Construction book. The latter book is more so for beginners so I'll use it with my sewing students.

 At first I really didn't know what to expect but I was pleasantly surprised. The books have great pictures and go into great depth on alterations, construction details, and finishing touches. I love the Tailoring book. I have other great one's but this one covers handling a Man's and Woman's jacket and alter for them and complete 2 fittings. If you want to expand your sewing library some, these are great supplements!

-Mother's Day dress- I found this fabric and SOOOOO want to make a dress out of it. I think it would be perfect for Mother's day. It's a matte jersey with a gorgeous and bold red, white, and black floral print.The only challenge is I have 1 1/2 yd of it.

I might just pick something else for Mother's day and instead I might just use it to make this instead....

Women's Day Flowers- I'm working with an old client who would like for me to make 50 bodice corsages for every woman at her church to wear for their Women's program. The only details she gave me is that the event is May 22nd and she wants them to have a pink artificial flower (still need to decide on a shade), some ribbon, and be pinnable. She's given me creative license so I've got lots of research to do so I can show her some options. Then once we decide on a design we can talk price, supplies, and all the other details. For me pricing is always the tricky part--I like to make it fair for me and my clients. But with good research I usually do so. This will be a fun journey. I like taking on fun projects!!!

-Clothing Labels- I had a friend assist me in designing my clothing labels a month ago and I still haven't placed an order for them. I'm astonished by my level of procrastination sometimes. I'll send those off this week. I'm tired of making label-less garments.

-New Muslin fabric- You all know I like to make a muslin, especially when I'm sewing something really fitted. Well I'm switching over from using the cotton muslin (which I figured out how to get for a $1/yd at Joann's by using 50% coupon off of 15yd pre-packaged bolts) to a cheaper alternative. The lovely Katie at Kadiddlehopper turned me on to this product which is used for plumbing work but is also great for tracing patterns and doing fittings.  This is actually great because it might encourage me to start using my old Burda pattern magazines. So I ordered a roll and should get it in the next week and a half.

-Trip Down Memory Lane- For some reason my mind wandered to the first dress I ever sewn and wore to an event. It wasn't anything fancy--just a black sheath dress that I had to wear as a hostess in a friends wedding. The fabric wasn't the best quality and the seams weren't perfect, but I sure was proud of it and it look pretty nice. I just remember beaming with pride and feeling SO confident. Wow, that's been a long time ago and I've come along way but it will always be a GREAT memory!

Ok, that's what's been circulating through my mind, what's been on yours?