A sewing binge

Or at least it felt like a sewing binge this weekend. In actual fact I only just completed outfits this weekend but the biggest challenge of all was the Ottobre skirt I started on Friday night. Not a huge challenge per se, but very time consuming because I added alot of embroidery to it before sewing and that always slows a project down. And in true Newtonian form, my embroidery software needed updating before I could do anything - are you guessing where this is going? You have probably been there yourself before. Yup, 3 hours later after all the glitches were worked out I had a functioning piece of software again. And how much stitching did i get done? Not so much. Oh I just love small software companies - NOT! Anyway, finally finally I could download and load designs onto my machine again. Yaay! Ok so back to the Ottobre skirt, I added these floral designs to match the Kaffe Fasset accent fabric I was using and stitched it onto the plain brown corduroy. Finished it up, added a matching belt and it's a perfect match to a sweater my Mom whipped up a couple months ago. Yay - a finished outfit. Take a bow!

Like the pumpkins? Those were planted by the kids and finally a few months later, we have a whole crop of them just in time for halloween. They are decorating our front porch for now.
I managed to get some nice model shots of my new skirt design today - the weater was so lovely and sunny today.
And finally the Olivia rose Twirl dress - I really love this vibrant blue color - amazing.
Back to the sewing machine - I have the whole day off tomorrow - I will be sewing up a storm - I hope!

Love Affair

What's this? A Love Affair? Desperate Housewives episode you ask? No! Not at all. I've fallen in love with sewing knits these days! So much fun and sew easy ;) I don't know why I waited so long. I've only scratched the surface starting with these pieces but I tell you a bazillion more are planned. It's too fun to stop!

Here's is an Ottobre Designs pattern done in a pique knitAdmittedly not the best for achieving a nice lettuce edge, simply because you need to be able to stretch the fabric alot, and pique knits aren't as stretchy. Still, this first attempt worked out well. And then there is the FOE - that's sew speak for Foldover Elastic. Where has this stuff been all my life? Seriously, this makes knits completely painless - delivers a beautifully finished edge with stretch and return and looks great too. Oh and did I mention that it's foldover, so there is that nice easy to turn groove in the middle of it! Can't get any easier. Hmm there is a commercial in there somewhere...
Attempt 2 is a plain brown turtleneck spiced up with pink lettuce edging (another Ottobre Designs pattern). The turtleneck matches my new cupcake twirl skirt design. This top is made of cotton lycra and is very stretchy thus delivering a very nice lettuce edge. Used a wooly nylon thread here to really fill out the stitches and show off the pink contrast stitching.

True, I used the serger to achieve that nice rolled edge effect - while not absoluetely necessary, I'm pretty sure you need the serger to achieve a professional look.

The finished set. Now go buy some knit fabric and give it a go!

Visions of sugar plums....

...danced in their heads. It's christmas time - ok no, no it's not. But it IS time to start thinking about it if you are in the market for a christmas dress, portrait outfit etc etc. It's October, only 77 days until Christmas and you know the jolly old elf will be here soon enough - probably sooner than you'ld like if you're like me and always behind on the gift buying. Hmm maybe I should start making a list now. Meanwhile, check out the new Christmas goodies from the Girlfriends Manor Christmas launch underway tonight - that's Oct 7th. Here is the Trillium design contribution

This one will also be available in the etsy shoppe - in another day or so, so click on over there or follow the ebay link in the sidebar.

Meanwhile this wraps up my TGFM customs for awhile, so I can concentrate on my daughters shrinking wardrobe (ha ha ha) and maybe even some fun new purses for momma. Don't forget - there is another giveaway going on at the TGFM blog, so head on over there too.