Plum Pencil Skirt and Just Wing It Blouse

Today’s projects are the result of a collision between limited fabric yardage and an ambitious imagination.

These two pieces weren't meant to be worn together, but it appears that they can be!

The skirt is from a small piece of brocade that I picked up at our local discount fabric warehouse. It was originally supposed to become a purse lining, but the more I looked at it, the more I wanted to it end up in a visible garment and not hidden away in the grungy depths of a purse.

The biggest issue was that I had only 30 inches of this 54” fabric, so it was going to have to be a very small skirt.

I grabbed my simplest pencil skirt pattern, which happens to be this one

And made view A, without any fancy pockets or panels. The pattern fit easily on the width of fabric and allowed me to make sure the diagonal stripes were all going in the same direction around the skirt. Of course with only 30 inches in length, it came up a bit short, at least for me. The waistband is made from a piece of crepe-backed satin in the same plum color, with the crepe side turned out.

The blouse (actually a tunic) really took some weird directions on its short path to completion.

It started as a poly georgette bolt-end from the same discount warehouse. It was a border print with the black-and-purple paisleys along one selvedge and the rest in a solid medium gray. It was discounted because of a number of dye splotches where the reddish-purple colors had slid off onto the gray. So the gray portion, which comprised about 2/3 of the piece, was unusable. Still, with 2 ½ yards of fabric, I knew I could use the wide paisley border strip for something.

I thought this would be perfect.

The straight, fairly narrow pattern pieces would fit perfectly on the good parts of the fabric, and I could discard or find another use for the bad parts. Well, I searched my pattern boxes, and my shelves, and my fabric piles, and several other places and I CAN’T FIND THIS PATTERN!!! I guess I shouldn’t be surprised – even with all the recent destash activity, the sewing room is a warren of little hiding places and I may not find the pattern for years.

Frustrating, but after looking at the pattern picture, I realized that it isn’t much more than 4 big rectangles: front rectangle sewn to back rectangle, and sleeve rectangles sewn to the sides. I could definitely do that!

My next episode of inventiveness provided yet another idea: since I’d need to wear something under this sheer fabric, why not sew it together in double layers? That would also make use of the dye-stained gray parts of the fabric.

After all the cutting and sewing and muttering, I ended up with this.
The front and back are two very long rectangles cut cross-grain with the gray selvedge at one end and the paisley border at the other. Each long rectangle is folded at the edge of the border print, and the excess gray hangs down under the paisley. The tops of the folds are sewn together at each edge to create shoulder seams. Two more rectangles were cut at sleeve length and attached with the cut edge to the shoulder and the selvedge at the wrist. The side seams were sewn all in one go with the sleeve seams. The black selvedge of the border has a slightly fringed effect and I liked that as an edge, so no hem was necessary. The gray under-layer hung down so low it could have been a short dress, and I wanted more of a hip-length tunic, so I hemmed a couple of inches. With the hems finished and all the seam allowances beaten into submission by a vigorous zig-zagging, I did the final fitting and noticed…

Can you tell?I had sewed one of the sleeves wrong-side-out. I screamed, and nearly put the whole thing in the trash. No way was I going to remove all the seams and zigzagging from this stupid georgette! After feeling sorry for myself for a bit, I finally realized that the inside/outside difference is nearly imperceptible - at least I’m going to tell myself that - and so it is wearable.

So that's what happens when I try to just wing it. Never a dull moment here!

Katrina

Hello, my name is Katrina, and I’m a ___aholic

Just fill in the blank. I don’t care what it is, I’ve probably been addicted to it. But right now, I am a shopaholic and verging on a hoarder.

I won’t go into the details of every type of collectible I’ve accumulated over the years. There have been a lot. The only hope for me is that my compulsion to acquire is followed sometime later by the need to purge. Not so great for my financial situation, but at least I won’t be appearing on “Hoarders” anytime soon.

Irresistible! The simple beauty of a vintage handbag

Irresistible! Paper appeals to me in the same way fabric does

As my interests change, I eventually am able to let things go. I’ve sold many items on Etsy and eBay and taken the remainder to Goodwill with no regret. But for the past six months or so I’ve been in the grip of a fabic-buying mania, not to mention a vintage pattern obsession.

A third of my fabric collection, piled on the dresser to the left and gradually taking over the sewing table.

I can’t afford to keep buying, and it will take years to use everything I already have. So I have something of a plan. I’ve tried the no-online-shopping rule, the only-on-sale rule, and the one-out/one-in rule, and I just break them when I see the next unbelievable deal. So now I just have an absolute moratorium on new fabric purchases. Every day I unsubscribe to another ten or so shops that send me daily deals via email, and I un-bookmarked my favorite online fabric stores. Still the temptation persists.

But at this point I’m excited to say that I only made one fabric purchase during the entire month of September! And I tossed the last Joann’s coupon flyer into the recycling bin! Also, I’m steadily working through what I have - many recent projects have used up large portions of the accumulated fabric. I’ve also donated huge amounts: 40+ yards of QC to a local lady who makes quilts for pet shelters (so nice!), and I posted 25 yards of upholstery and utility fabrics and almost 50 yards of apparel fabric on Freecycle.

I’m posting all of this here since one of my main reasons for starting blogging again was to make myself accountable for some of the things I need to do. So here’s the status, with an educated guess for the beginning number.

Fabric Stash at 12/31/10 = 30 yards
Purchased through 9/30/11 = 475 !!! WHAT? !!!
Used through 9/30/11 = 175
Donated or sold through 9/30/11 = 140
Fabric Stash at 9/30/11 = 190 yards

That number needs to get smaller!

How about you – do you have a huge fabric stash? Do you consider it an investment or a detriment?

Katrina

Feeling Optimistic About October

I can NOT believe it is October already. There is a lot to do this month, in fact for the rest of the year!

First item of note: Some people are really nice.

I may have mentioned that I donated a lot of my fabrics recently, and one of the recipients happened to be a wonderful woman named Vicki.

Vicki lives here in the Phoenix metropolitan area, and she sews quilts for pet shelters. Like so many people in the current economy, she’s recently found herself with a lot of time on her hands. She loves animals and wanted to do something to help all the shelters in the area, so she started crocheting blankets and sewing quilts.

Some cities have charitable groups that coordinate donations and distribution of blankets and towels and such, but after a long search, Vicki learned that there is no one organization here that supplies shelters with bedding. So she’s taken that project on as well.

Currently she’s looking for donations of blankets, sheets, and towels, plus donations of all fabric and supplies (thread and batting can be expensive!) to make quilts, plus volunteers who would also like to make quilts for the shelters. She has asked some of the large fabric stores for donations but they would like her to establish a presence with the shelters before they donate to her. It’s sort of a catch-22 for someone who’s just begun.

Vicki’s starting small and has not yet established a 501c(3) organization with all the attendant filings and tax requirements, so she can’t, as yet, provide donors with tax deductible receipts. She hopes to be able to undertake the paperwork in the near future if she can establish enough of a presence to make it worthwhile.

I dropped off a big box of quilting fabric with her, and afterwards I wished I had more to give her. If you’re anywhere in or around the Phoenix area, please consider donating sewing supplies, fabric, and your old blankets, sheets and towels to Vicki so she can get it to the shelters.

I meet many caring and generous people every day on the Internet, but it’s nice once in a while to meet a genuinely wonderful individual in person!

Speaking of very nice people, on Friday I was presented with this:

A German chocolate cake made by my partner, aka The Piemaker, in thanks for altering his shirts. He was inspired by the mouthwatering photos in this month's Southern Living. It's one of those magazines I don't remember subscribing to, but now I'm glad to see it every month because the recipes are soooo good!

Next, I tried to plant all the winter garden seeds by the end of September as planned, but it was not to be. Can you believe it FINALLY cooled down to 97 or so on Sunday? But at this point I only have the beans, beets, herbs, and the first round of lettuce seeded. The temperatures really need to drop at least another 10 degrees before I can put in the carrots, spinach, and peas.

In sewing news, I’m working on a pair of men’s boxers.

This may appear to be out of character for me since I generally refuse to sew for anyone else, including my partner. However, due to recent events (see above), I am wavering somewhat in my usual stance. Also, this sew-along has several benefits that convinced me to participate: it will use up some of that burgeoning stash that threatens my sanity, it will answer the annual Christmas present dilemma, and I’ll use the first pair (for him) as the practice run so I can make other, more elegant and well-made boxers (for myself)!

I also started sewing something that will break me out of the blue-green dress rut – it’s a purple skirt. I’m going to focus on separates and try to knock out some tops and sweaters in the next month or so. Pants might have to wait.

Next on our agenda is a non-sewing project I’m thinking seriously about: writing another novel! You might be aware that I’ve written three novels, none of which have been published (or even read by more than two people). This is because all the effort involved in dealing with editors, agents, publishers, etc. is exhausting and discouraging, and it undermines my enjoyment of writing. In fact, I haven’t written anything for more than a year because I became so frustrated with the process.

But I’ve had a story in my head for the last several months, and it’s gone from gently prodding at me to furiously screaming to be let out. That’s usually a sign that it’s time to write. Coincidentally, the National Novel Writing Month is starting in four weeks.

If you are not familiar with NaNoWriMo, you should check it out. More on that in the coming weeks!

That’s it for today!

Katrina

Can a Turtle Save a Dog?

It's a serious topic today: Protecting our pets.

I have two small dogs, and I have a pool. Neither dog likes water, so they don’t jump in the pool on purpose, and they avoid coming near it if people are splashing around. But there are some narrow spaces between the pool and the house, and between the pool and the back fence, where the dogs run back and forth making their rounds of the property for important tasks such as sniffing, digging, eating unidentified objects, barking, and producing volumes of waste matter.

This is Manny, the dignified, wise, and often grumpy old man of the house. He has never fallen into the pool.

This is Dolly, the silly, happy-go-lucky flibbertigibbit with non-stop energy. She falls into the pool A LOT. Fortunately I’ve always been nearby to haul her out.

If one of these 14-pound dogs with 7-inch legs falls into the pool at the deep end, they can’t climb out. I spent some time over the summer trying to teach them to swim to the steps instead of scrabbling at the edge, but panic sets in as soon as they hit the water and they don’t grasp the concept of swimming across the pool. Plus, even if they reach the stairs, it’s very high for them and it takes a huge burst of doggy strength to leap from the top step to the patio.

Then I looked into pet-safety measures thinking there had to be some type of platform or ramp that would assist little dogs in this situation. I investigated Doggy Docks, Skamper Ramp, and Pool Pup, which are all types of steps or ramps, and found that they would not work for various reasons. The biggest problem being that the dog still has to swim TO the ramp, step, or dock to get out.

So I thought if I can’t prevent it, maybe there are other safety precautions. I found that there are several pool alarm systems that can be used for children, pets, and even wildlife. The best one seemed to be the Safety Turtle, which is an alarm for the pet, not the pool. If a pet wearing a turtle is submerged, a central receiver is triggered and sets off a very loud alarm.

The turtle transmitter slides onto the pet collar.

I received my Safety Turtle system today and tested it. Now everything is installed and the dogs are turtled and ready.

Unfortunately this only gives me peace of mind when I’m at home and can hear the alarm. I still have to come up with a solution for when I’m away. When we go out of town for more than a day, a pet sitter visits the dogs twice a day for feeding and play, but what about the 12 hours between each visit?

Any suggestions for pet safety around swimming pools?

Katrina