7 lbs. 6 oz and growing. Hard to believe she's almost three weeks old now!
Sunday, January 10, 2010
Thursday, December 24, 2009
Tuesday, December 22, 2009
New Pics!
My sister let me take a ton of pictures of her wearing all the maternity tops I made this fall. Poor thing--she's having the baby tomorrow and she still changed in and out of all these outfits! So sweet. Anyway, here is my favorite--the autumn roses Simplicity top. The only bummer is that it fits so well at the empire waist that the shirt is difficult to get in and out of. I think I'll make her another one, a post-pregnancy top that she can wear anytime, and either give it a side zipper or add in some elastic somewhere. As it is, the top is probably a bit too snug when she sits down. Still, pretty adorable. Plus, she loves it, so that's what really counts.
9 months!! Baby time tomorrow!
9 months!! Baby time tomorrow!Friday, December 18, 2009
Knocking Off Banana Republic
I really like BR's clothes--they are classy, usually well made, and generally fit me pretty well. Wearing their clothes, though--especially the dresses or suits--always makes me a little nervous because I'm convinced I'll show up at an event and two other women will be wearing the exact same thing. Normally that wouldn't matter, but since I only ever get dressed up for class or professional events, that makes things awkward. Nothing like being caught wearing the same clothes as your students!
I generally can't resist their clothes, though, because we live near a BR factory outlet (score!). And when they have sales, they have really, really good sales. A few weeks ago, for example, I got this very cute shirt for $8.32. I couldn't buy the fabric for that price! Well, I can't buy the fabric anyway, but you know what I mean.
Anyway, I love the cut of this shirt. The gathering along the sleeves and the bodice mean the shirt is pretty form fitting. I especially like the back of the shirt, which picks up the gathering motif, as well. In fact, I liked it so much that I got two of the shirts. One I wear and the other I pulled apart to pieces to use as a pattern.
My sister has a BR maternity dress that she loves that has a similar style, so I decided to make her a maternity version of the shirt. All the pattern pieces remained the same except the front panel. I did added about 10 cm in width and a bit extra length to keep things even at the hem. I then just gathered the piece at the empire waist and that solved that problem. On the muslin I had problems keeping the gathers in place on all these seams, so for this version I used clear elastic and that helped a lot. The only tricky bit was the bias binding along the neckline. I hate doing a binding in a knit. My stitching always always comes out wonky and ugly on the inside and there's always one section that is visible from the front, no matter how much I try to stay in the ditch. Sigh. I think this is partially my machine, which is not very. . . precise. But I think I need to play around with the foot pressure. I'm sure that is affecting the quality of the stitching.
It is a cute shirt and I think I'll probably make it again, although not as a maternity shirt. Actually, I think it would be really nice to extend it into a dress. But I probably won't make it again until I can figure out how to do a more precise neck binding. Otherwise it will just bug me and I'll never wear the shirt.
I generally can't resist their clothes, though, because we live near a BR factory outlet (score!). And when they have sales, they have really, really good sales. A few weeks ago, for example, I got this very cute shirt for $8.32. I couldn't buy the fabric for that price! Well, I can't buy the fabric anyway, but you know what I mean.
Anyway, I love the cut of this shirt. The gathering along the sleeves and the bodice mean the shirt is pretty form fitting. I especially like the back of the shirt, which picks up the gathering motif, as well. In fact, I liked it so much that I got two of the shirts. One I wear and the other I pulled apart to pieces to use as a pattern.
My sister has a BR maternity dress that she loves that has a similar style, so I decided to make her a maternity version of the shirt. All the pattern pieces remained the same except the front panel. I did added about 10 cm in width and a bit extra length to keep things even at the hem. I then just gathered the piece at the empire waist and that solved that problem. On the muslin I had problems keeping the gathers in place on all these seams, so for this version I used clear elastic and that helped a lot. The only tricky bit was the bias binding along the neckline. I hate doing a binding in a knit. My stitching always always comes out wonky and ugly on the inside and there's always one section that is visible from the front, no matter how much I try to stay in the ditch. Sigh. I think this is partially my machine, which is not very. . . precise. But I think I need to play around with the foot pressure. I'm sure that is affecting the quality of the stitching.
It is a cute shirt and I think I'll probably make it again, although not as a maternity shirt. Actually, I think it would be really nice to extend it into a dress. But I probably won't make it again until I can figure out how to do a more precise neck binding. Otherwise it will just bug me and I'll never wear the shirt.
Thursday, December 17, 2009
Clothing in Action!
I finally got some pictures of my sister wearing her new jacket. She can actually still button it all the way up and she's due next Tuesday! It's crazy! The other day we were out buying Christmas trees and she was wearing a regular windbreaker, all zipped up. My mom was talking with another woman and mentioned that her daughter was due on the 22nd. The woman looked over at us and said "which one?" lol. She's so tiny. Of course, she's getting a bit sick of strangers asking if she's eating enough and if she's healthy. Yes and yes. She simply didn't gain a lot of extra weight during the pregnancy and what she did gain wasn't along the waistline. Except for the baby bump, of course.
Anyway, I promised to cut her face out of the photos, so you can't see her lovely smile. But the jacket looks cute, at least!
Anyway, I promised to cut her face out of the photos, so you can't see her lovely smile. But the jacket looks cute, at least!
Tuesday, December 8, 2009
Bleak House, Charles Dickens
Bleak House, Charles Dickens (1852-1853)
Grandmother Smallweed, who has been mumbling and shaking her head at the trivets, hearing figures mentioned, connects them with money, and screeches, like a horrible old parrot without any plumage, “Ten ten-pound notes!”
Grandfather Smallweed immediately throws the cushion at her.
“Drat you, be quiet!” says the good old man.
The effect of this act of ejaculation is twofold. It not only doubles up Mrs Smallweed’s head against the side of her porter’s chair, and causes her to present, when extricated by her grand-daughter, a highly unbecoming state of cap, but the necessary exertion recoils on Mr Smallweed himself, whom it throws back into his porter’s chair, like a broken puppet. The excellent old gentleman being, at these times, a mere clothes-bag with a black skull-cap on the top of it, does not present a very animated appearance until he has undergone the two operations at the hands of his grand-daughter, of being shaken up like a great bottle, and poked and punched like a great bolster. Some indication of a neck being developed in him by these means, he and the sharer of his life’s evening again sit fronting one another in their two porter’s chairs, like a couple of sentinels long forgotten on their post by the Black Serjeant, Death.
Judy the twin is worthy company for these associates. She is so indubitably sister to Mr Smallweed the younger, that the two kneaded into one would hardly make a young person of average proportions; while she so happily exemplifies the before-mentioned family likeness to the monkey tribe, that, attired in a spangled robe and cap, she might walk about the table-land on the top of a barrel-organ without exciting much remark as an unusual specimen. Under existing circumstances, however, she is dressed in a plain, spare gown of brown stuff.
Grandmother Smallweed, who has been mumbling and shaking her head at the trivets, hearing figures mentioned, connects them with money, and screeches, like a horrible old parrot without any plumage, “Ten ten-pound notes!”
Grandfather Smallweed immediately throws the cushion at her.
“Drat you, be quiet!” says the good old man.
The effect of this act of ejaculation is twofold. It not only doubles up Mrs Smallweed’s head against the side of her porter’s chair, and causes her to present, when extricated by her grand-daughter, a highly unbecoming state of cap, but the necessary exertion recoils on Mr Smallweed himself, whom it throws back into his porter’s chair, like a broken puppet. The excellent old gentleman being, at these times, a mere clothes-bag with a black skull-cap on the top of it, does not present a very animated appearance until he has undergone the two operations at the hands of his grand-daughter, of being shaken up like a great bottle, and poked and punched like a great bolster. Some indication of a neck being developed in him by these means, he and the sharer of his life’s evening again sit fronting one another in their two porter’s chairs, like a couple of sentinels long forgotten on their post by the Black Serjeant, Death.
Judy the twin is worthy company for these associates. She is so indubitably sister to Mr Smallweed the younger, that the two kneaded into one would hardly make a young person of average proportions; while she so happily exemplifies the before-mentioned family likeness to the monkey tribe, that, attired in a spangled robe and cap, she might walk about the table-land on the top of a barrel-organ without exciting much remark as an unusual specimen. Under existing circumstances, however, she is dressed in a plain, spare gown of brown stuff.
Monday, December 7, 2009
Vogue 8480
This is the second time I've made this little spring jacket. I just think it is so cute. I like the 3/4 sleeves, the topstitching, and the little collar, which is neither too small to be dorky or too big to be overwhelming. My favorite part is the back, though--the peplum gives the back a lovely shape but without making it look like your hips just gained a few extra pounds. So nice.
The only things that make me grumpy about this pattern are the pockets (too small!) and the sleeves (too horrible!). I fixed the pockets this time around, by just cutting them larger. They still aren't sturdy enough to hold much of anything, but you can slip a few keys or an mp3 player in there easily, now, without worrying that they might come tumbling out two seconds later.
As for the sleeves: well, I still hate putting in these sleeves. Last time I made this jacket, I'm pretty sure I ripped the sleeves out four or five times. This time I got them in on the second try, but they still aren't as perfect as I would like. I can't tell if the sleeves are just drafted poorly (doubtful), or if part of it is that gathering on a thick twill isn't as precise as one might hope for. At any rate, getting these sleeves to lie smoothly is a trial. For me, at any rate.
This version of the jacket is for my sister. Between the peplum and the ease, this is the perfect maternity jacket, since it expands enough to allow for the baby bump. I don't know that she'll be able to wear it right now (in the ninth month), but you never know--she's still quite small. I made it using her pre-maternity sizes, though, so that she can enjoy it even after the baby wiggles out.
In fact, I like this version so much, with the dark chocolate fabric, that I might make one for myself. I used a sandwashed twill from fabric.com the first time I made this jacket, and it is very drapey. It's cute, but feels a little bit like I'm wearing a curtain. I really like this twill (from Joann's, actually)--it is wrinklease, so it doesn't need ironing (as much), and the color is really lovely (it looks a little grey in the photos, but it is actually very chocolatey). My only complaint about the fabric is that it attracts little bits of everything like crazy. I had to seriously delint this thing before I mailed it off to my sister. Anyway, I think I'll probably make another one, but I'm torn between this dark brown color and brick red. Tempting, tempting.
Hmm, what else. Oh yeah--topstitching. What a complete pain. I didn't trust the topstitching thread to stay tied, so I pulled all the threads to the inside of the coat, knotted them, then threaded them through the inside stiches. So tedious. And of course, all the knots got a good dose of fray-check. Hopefully everything will stay in place!
All in all, much cuter than the first version, I think. Hopefully it fits my sister, though, because I really don't want to have to take out those arm pieces again!
Not quite sure about those buttons--they might be a little too boring.
The back--luckily, in this light, you can't tell that the top stitching thread is two different colors: dark brown and slightly darker brown. I was too lazy to re-do two of the seams, and I doubt anyone will ever notice.
The inside seams--all tidied up! In retrospect, it would have been fun to use red or teal on the inside seams, but it's probably just as well that the whole jacket matches.
The only things that make me grumpy about this pattern are the pockets (too small!) and the sleeves (too horrible!). I fixed the pockets this time around, by just cutting them larger. They still aren't sturdy enough to hold much of anything, but you can slip a few keys or an mp3 player in there easily, now, without worrying that they might come tumbling out two seconds later.
As for the sleeves: well, I still hate putting in these sleeves. Last time I made this jacket, I'm pretty sure I ripped the sleeves out four or five times. This time I got them in on the second try, but they still aren't as perfect as I would like. I can't tell if the sleeves are just drafted poorly (doubtful), or if part of it is that gathering on a thick twill isn't as precise as one might hope for. At any rate, getting these sleeves to lie smoothly is a trial. For me, at any rate.
This version of the jacket is for my sister. Between the peplum and the ease, this is the perfect maternity jacket, since it expands enough to allow for the baby bump. I don't know that she'll be able to wear it right now (in the ninth month), but you never know--she's still quite small. I made it using her pre-maternity sizes, though, so that she can enjoy it even after the baby wiggles out.
In fact, I like this version so much, with the dark chocolate fabric, that I might make one for myself. I used a sandwashed twill from fabric.com the first time I made this jacket, and it is very drapey. It's cute, but feels a little bit like I'm wearing a curtain. I really like this twill (from Joann's, actually)--it is wrinklease, so it doesn't need ironing (as much), and the color is really lovely (it looks a little grey in the photos, but it is actually very chocolatey). My only complaint about the fabric is that it attracts little bits of everything like crazy. I had to seriously delint this thing before I mailed it off to my sister. Anyway, I think I'll probably make another one, but I'm torn between this dark brown color and brick red. Tempting, tempting.
Hmm, what else. Oh yeah--topstitching. What a complete pain. I didn't trust the topstitching thread to stay tied, so I pulled all the threads to the inside of the coat, knotted them, then threaded them through the inside stiches. So tedious. And of course, all the knots got a good dose of fray-check. Hopefully everything will stay in place!
All in all, much cuter than the first version, I think. Hopefully it fits my sister, though, because I really don't want to have to take out those arm pieces again!
Not quite sure about those buttons--they might be a little too boring. 
The back--luckily, in this light, you can't tell that the top stitching thread is two different colors: dark brown and slightly darker brown. I was too lazy to re-do two of the seams, and I doubt anyone will ever notice. 
The inside seams--all tidied up! In retrospect, it would have been fun to use red or teal on the inside seams, but it's probably just as well that the whole jacket matches.
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