duck bucket sewing

I've been sewing -- just not clothes. (Lately: holiday gifts, mostly totes.) BUT I wanted to post this, because I'm kind of in love with this project, and the book it came from. Mini-doggie! It's from Microcrafts , which is mostly about hand-sewing teeny-tiny itty-bitty cute things: monster babies, cats, dogs, owls, you name it. I picked it up on impulse from the library and renewed it until they wouldn't let me renew it anymore, and I'm ashamed to say it's currently two weeks overdue. Whoops. My friend Liz, who was visiting at the time, squeed like crazy over the tiny dog, so I decided to make it and a couple of dog-cessories for her for Christmas. And then I spent a bunch of weeks making repeat trips to Michael's and picking out different colors of felt and generally putting things off. I don't exactly have amazing hand-sewing skills, as you can probably tell, and the thing about the dog is that you have to use a whipstitch. Visible stitches...

No finished projects yet, but some progress. (Frustrating, but still. Progress.) Made muslins of: V8771 : Fits in the front, but the back is huge! It looks like a parachute. I don't know how to fix it. Darts? If I make it in a stretch fabric, maybe it'll magically hang right? V8512 : ARGH. I love the look of this, but muslin #1 is way too big on the top. Needs a second muslin, a size or two down. V8819 : Seems to fit, although it's a bit big on the bottom. That's OK, though -- it's really just to wear around the office as a stand-in for a jacket. So it's up next -- first in a solid black, and then, if all goes well, in a striped wool. Realizing that I really need to learn how to fit things -- I can't just make a straight-out-of-the-envelope size 12 every time. (Yes, I know it's basic Sewing 101, but I was hoping.) We don't have sewing classes around here (unless you're into quilting), so I guess it's time to dive into my old sewing...

I haven't been sewing, really, because: we finally got the upstairs bathroom fixed, which meant a lot of plaster dust all over everything, and Harley, my intrepid sewing assistant, helped out by helpfully crawling into the tiny crawlspace the plumbers opened up, and it took most of a morning to get him out, AND THEN my husband sliced his thumb open while sawing drywall or something, so I was on carrying-stuff-around duty for a couple of days, AND to get ready for the plumbers, we had to pull everything out of the bathroom because we've been using it as an extra closet for the last couple of years, AND that all sort of spiraled into a massive house cleanout, AND we wound up having a yard sale to get rid of a lot of stuff, AND now we have houseguests coming next weekend and possibly the weekend after that. So it's been one thing after another for some weeks now. It's amazing how a small project can spiral out of control. (Ahem.) However! Next week, my husband...

Still nothing on the Sorbetto. I keep going through my stash, but I don't have enough of anything for an actual shirt. I thought about trying to make a Sorbetto nightgown (I've been really wanting one lately -- it's been so hot!) out of some light vintage cotton I picked up at a thrift store, but I don't have enough for that either. Thankfully, we're going to NY this weekend, so hopefully I'll have time to hit the Garment District and pick up some remnants. Lesson learned: From now on, buy 3 yards of everything. In the meantime: $1.99 out-of-print Vogue patterns! I'm pretty obsessed with this , especially this hoodie and skirt: I'm so making this for fall. The photo doesn't do the skirt justice; the line art is much better. Also, a hoodie with pockets that works for the office! Whee! And this : The top looks kind of ridiculous in the photo, but maybe that's due to the color choices. (Brown and blue, really?) I'd love to try it...

I made a muslin of the Sorbetto last night (everything but the bias tape), and ... well. I'm not crazy about the sizing. The size 8 fits just fine on top, and the length is fine, but it's pretty boxy around the waist. Another problem: I don't have enough of any of the fabric I wanted to use to make a finished version. I guess I could just dye the muslin (good old Rit), make the bias tape out of something or other and finish it. Maybe throwing in some side darts would help.

I really, really wanted to sew this weekend and did just about everything but. I did manage to cut out pattern pieces and muslin for v8784 and pattern pieces for v8512 , and I wound up making an emergency JoAnn run on Sunday because I was out of muslin. (I wish I could just muslin stuff out of thrifted bedsheets or something instead of buying new fabric, but we don't have any decent Goodwill or Salvation Army stores close to us.) Which, actually, is a problem that keeps coming up: I don't have any fabric. Oh, I have cotton. Tons and tons of novelty-printed cotton and calico from Old Sturbridge Village , and more Halloween fabric than you can shake a stick at. (Spiders, I got 'em.) Perfect for tote bags (I have too many) and pot holders (we have enough). And quilting! Unfortunately, I'm not interested in quilting. I looked into it, browsed through a couple of project books, and it makes my head spin. I don't think I have the patience. I'd like to make a duve...

I'm still fiddling with the fonts and layouts and whatnot on this thing to try and make it prettier and more functional. (My day job is as an editor for a Web usability group, so that's how I'm justifying it! Just experimenting for work, yup.) Anyway, here's my list of upcoming patterns I want to try. Let's experiment with Blogger's bullet formats, shall we? Colette Sorbetto : Everyone says it's easy, I'm in the mood for instant gratification, and I need a couple of cute, semi-dressy summer shirts for work. I just ordered a bias-tape maker. w00t! v1247 :  I love the geometric detail on the front and the asymmetric hem (I'm a sucker for anything geometric and/or asymmetrical). I'm going to muslin it out first (everything but the sleeves, probably) and then make the real thing with leftover fake purple linen from v1089 . If it works, I want to try and make a travel version out of Coolmax. (Trying to build a travel wardrobe, but travel clothes ...

This is my first dress. My first garment ever, actually, unless you count an aborted attempt at v8753 . (It's all wrinkled from being in my suitcase. Oops. Also, pay no attention to that interfacing behind the zipper.) My previous sewing experience consisted of a lot of tote bags, pot holders, Kindle covers and an apron or two. I have a Bernette 82e, which I love, and I've been doing beginner projects and minor mending  since, oh, about 2008. Also hoarding a lot of Vogue patterns -- they have so many cute ones, and I'd go crazy on the $3.99 sales. But I was afraid to actually try anything. Then my brother got engaged. And I started to look for dresses to wear to the wedding. And you know what? It's pretty depressing out there in dresses-appropriate-to-wear-to-a-summer-weddingland. Especially dresses-appropriate-to-wear-to-a-hot-summer-wedding-in-the-Midwestland. And ESPECIALLY dresses-appropriate-to-wear-to-a-hot-summer-wedding-in-the-Midwest-if-you're-in-y...