Beginnings of a Jacket Made the Susan Khalje Way

A couple days ago I began the process of making a jacket for myself.  I signed up for an online sewing class called The Couture Dress by Susan Khalje, who is renowned in the world of couture sewing.  This class is offered at www.craftsy.com, if interested.  I have signed up for several sewing classes through Craftsy and am I  really enjoying them.

I've been sewing for decades, but no formal training other than my mother, wonderful Home Economics teachers in school and years of experience sewing.  I have so much at my disposal now for training with online resources as well as books.

The process of making this jacket is detailed and time consuming; but in the end I feel it will be well worth it!

I'll try to post information along the way.  I altered my pattern to hopefully fit better using the pivot and slide method.  I recommend Nancy Zieman's Pattern Fitting with Confidence if unfamiliar with this way of altering patterns.

I marked the stitching lines on the pattern pieces and then pinned and roughly cut out the pattern pieces out of muslin.  Now I am ready to begin tracing the stitching lines onto the muslin pieces.  After I do that, I will "thread trace" all the stitching lines.  I'll post more about that later.

Here's a couple pictures:

 This is the fashion fabric.  It's olive green gabardine.  I ended up getting wooden buttons.

Here's the pattern pieces roughly cut out of muslin and ready to trace the stitching lines onto the muslin.


Thanks for reading.  Hope your weekend is going well!

Marla

Lace Find

Yesterday I received a call from our former preacher that their church was having a garage sale to raise money for their food pantry.  He told me there was a box full of lace that I might be interested in purchasing. So I ran over there right away and bought this very large box of laces and also bought yards of lace fabric that could be used for curtains or perhaps a tablecloth.  I got a very good deal and also helped a local food pantry!

Here's a picture of some of the lace:

There are all sorts of colors of lace including pink, red, black, peach, and of course white!

Maybe some of this will come in handy for some heirloom dresses one day!

Thanks for reading.

Marla

Hemming Tapered Slacks

Right now I'm hemming up several slacks for my dad.  Seems like a lot of slacks are tapered.  I have come to the conclusion that the fashion industry should not make tapered slacks...at least not for shorter people.  Sometimes I have to shorten slacks by 4-5 inches for customers.  When they are tapered, it involves adjusting the side seams at the hem.  It's not hard, just another step.

Therefore, I say there should be a law that there be only straight leg slacks for short people.  Besides I think straight leg slacks are more flattering for us.  :)

On another note, I'm missing my Janome Horizon Memory Craft 12000 this week.  I took it in to have a cleaning and inspection.  I get a free cleaning the first year, so thought I better take advantage of it.  Thankfully, I have a back-up machine that I can use for now.  It's my cute little Janome 4030.  It does a nice job for a basic machine.

One of these days, I'm going to finish up that tiered skirt.  I just need to put in the zipper and finish the waist with some twill tape.  Then I'm going to crinkle it by wetting it, wadding it up and drying it.  I really hope it draws in the fullness.  It's a learning process sometimes for even someone like me who has sewn for years.  If I EVER make another skirt like this, I'm going to use rayon batik and I'm not going to gather the tiers up so much.

We learn along the way...

Marla

Alterations

I'm taking a break from my tiered skirt to do a few alterations for my dad and brother.  Hemming slacks and cutting off shirt sleeves to make them into short sleeved shirts.

Once I get those done, I plan to get back to work on this skirt.  This skirt is reminding me of some square dance skirts and dresses that I own.  Yes, we used to square dance!  It was fun and great exercise.

I found my square dance skirts and dresses in a closet along with some petticoats.  We even drug our kids to square dance lessons, so I have my daughter's petticoat, etc. stashed away.

This skirt is so full.  I really hope once I wet it down and crinkle it in the dryer that it will draw some of the fullness up!  Otherwise, I'm going to sell it as a square dance skirt someday!

Marla

Former Home Economics Teacher Passes Away

I'd like to dedicate this post to a dear former Home Economics teacher, Miss Pat Selsor, who passed away September 30, 2012.

Miss Selsor made a tremendous impact on all her students.  She was one of the most patient persons I have ever known.  She never raised her voice to her students.  She had a gentle, quiet spirit.  She taught her students much more than how to cook and sew.  She taught valuable life lessons on how to treat others.

I remember a specific day when I was sewing and I had to rip out a seam.  I was just having a lot of trouble ripping it out and was really getting frustrated!  Finally, I went up to Miss Selsor and asked if she could help me.  She very willingly took the stitches out for me!  It was her patience and willingness to serve others that impressed me so much.

Miss Selsor, thank you for your servant's heart.  You will be missed dearly by all who knew and loved you!

In loving memory,

Marla