Sewing Sunsets

This week has been a particularly busy one, and of course because I haven’t had time to sew, I actually want to sew!  Funny how that seems to work sometimes.   One of these days, I am going to finish the spaghetti strap pajama top and I’ll share that here.  In the meantime, I have other things to do.

Today, one of the main things on my agenda is to go by the hearing aid office and starting the process of getting hearing aids for my mom.  She has needed them for a long time, but they are very expensive and hubby and I have struggled with how to make this particular purchase.  I think we have it figured out now, and hopefully, my mom will receive her hearing aids in the near future. 

It just so happens that the hearing aid office is very close to JoAnn Fabrics, so I think I’ll be stopping by JoAnn’s today for some much needed fabric therapy.   I have a coupon, and it seems that they are having a sale as well, so this is very good timing.

Who knows?!  I might have some quality sewing time in the near future!

Happy Sewing!

www.sewseamless.com

I don’t consider myself old at all, even though some agencies say that at my age I’m considered a senior citizen.  Since I think age is just a number, I think that is poppycock!  However, this past weekend, I began to seriously wonder if these agencies might be correct in deeming me a “senior”.

It started out fine.  My hubby and I went out to eat lunch, and then we stopped by a local pet store to see if they were hosting a pet adoption event.  They were, and I met some wonderful doggies.  One even captured my heart and I’m considering submitting an application to adopt her.  Of course, based on the way my brain cells have been working, the shelter might turn me down!

After attending the doggy adoption event, hubby and I came home and then he decided to visit a shoe shop because he needed some new athletic shoes.  We bought the shoes and came out of the store, headed to our car.  That’s when it happened!  Yes sir, it happened!  I started to turn left because I was just sure that was the correct route to our car, but hubby instructed me to turn rignt, which I did.  We got to our car, and I noticed something hanging from the rear view mirror.  Somewhere in my fuzzy brain cells, I realized that this might not be our car, but it was the same model and color  so that didn’t immediately register…..until hubby started trying to unlock the car.  At that point, my brain cells snapped to attention and I realized that this was not our car!  I started laughing and walking away, but my hubby was still trying to unlock the door–of somebody else’s car.  He finally heard me telling him that was the wrong car, and we managed to make it across the parking lot to our own car.

Now, folks, if that had been the only incident, I might not be thinking that my brain cells are sew old, but  there were several more incidents just like this one over the weekend.  Yep, that’s right…..we seemed to have trouble finding our car several times over the weekend!

That night, we went out to another restaurant for dinner.  I had gone inside while hubby parked the car, so I didn’t know where our car was and was following hubby.  I started to turn toward the car that I thought  was our car, but once again, it was the wrong car! It’s a good thing that I didn’t sew that day because I’m not sure how any of my seams might have turned out.  That night, we went home and didn’t venture out again, which was probably a very good thing.

The next day was Sunday and we went to church as usual.  After church services, we headed to the parking lot.  I was following hubby again, and went to car—that wasn’t ours!  Not only was this the wrong car, it wasn’t even the right model!  We have a Toyota; this car was a Honda.  At least it was the right color.  As I peered into the passenger side, wondering why things didn’t look familar, I heard my hubby’s voice coming from a different area of the parking lot.  He was saying “wrong car, over here”.  I managed not to collapse into a fit of giggles until I got into the right car.

If you think this was over, you are sadly mistaken–it happened again!  It is our custom to go out to lunch after church.  Both of us made a point of checking to see where we had parked so that we would not try to enter someone else’s car.  Lo and behold, we did it again!  I headed toward a car and hubby started saying “wrong car, wrong car”.  This particular type of event happened four times in a two day time span!  You would think I could recognize my own car, but in my defense, all the cars that we tried to enter were the exact same color as ours–and all but one of those other cars were Toyotas.  I think I’m beginning to see why so many people who own the same make and model as my car hang things from the rear view mirrors.  It makes it easier to identify your car.

Even if I had wanted to do any sewing over the weekend, I think I might not have attempted it.  It might have taken me a while to find the right sewing machine in my sewing room.

For those of you whose brain cells are working correctly and aren’t sew old……

Happy Sewing!

www.sewseamless.com

Now I remember why I didn’t like sewing the spaghetti strap flannel pajama shirt.  I had forgotten some of my frustrations since the last time I sewed this pattern was over a year ago.  The front neckline must be eased to fit the facing, and I think that the pattern makers may have put a little too much ease into the front bodice piece.  I had to run an ease line and make snips in both the bodice and the facing in order to get the pattern pieces to fit together, and even then, I had problems.  Even though it involves setting in sleeves (www.sewseamless.com/Page8.html , www.sewseamless.com/Page17.html) ,  and sewing a collar (www.sewseamless.com/Page6.html , www.sewseamless.com/Page16.html) ,I would much rather sew the button down shirt with the collar.  That pattern fit together much better, and was actually easier to sew. 

In spite of having some frustrations, I made progress on this pajama top.  I got the collar sewed on and the spagetti straps placed.  Sewing the straps to the back was simple and sewing the facings over them was very easy.  What caused me the most trouble was sewing the spaghetti straps to the front of the bodice.  I felt that there should have been an easier way to sew those spaghetti straps to the front of the bodice, but even though I tried, I couldn’t come up with an alternative sewing method.

The picture on the left above shows the back facing pinned to the shirt, over the spaghetti strap.  The picture on the right is the front facing pinned to the shirt.  You were supposed to sew the facing on, leaving an opening for the other side of the strap, but I found this opening to be too narrow.  Also, the instructions told me to turn the shirt right side out, after the facings had been sewn on, insert the front strap, turn it back to the wrong side, and complete sewing the seam where the strap was inserted.  I found this confusing and decided to keep the front shoulder seam open, place the strap inside, pin it, and then sew.  I had to be careful not to twist the strap, which I did once, and had to do some unsewing.   In the future, I don’t think I’ll sew this particular pajama top again.

I hope you’re having better luck with your sewing projects.

Happy Sewing!

www.sewseamless.com

If I had more time to sew, I think that I would have already finished this spaghetti strap flannel pajama top.  Of course, if I plan to sew, something always seems to interrupt me, and if I don’t plan to sew, I seem to lose interest!   In spite of it all, I actually have made quite a bit of progress on this current sewing project.

I pinned and sewed the main bodice of the shirt together.

I basted the spagetti straps to the back shoulders on the bodice.

I have also sewn the short seams of the facings together.

The picture on the left above shows the front and back facings pinned together, ready to be sewn.  I sewed the short seam, pressed it open, and then turned the facing right side out.  The good thing here is that I didn’t have to finish the seams on the facing because they won’t be seen. 

Now I need to sew the facing on to the bodice.  This isn’t hard, but it is a different type facing than those for button down shirts.  (More information on  sewing facings can be found at www.sewseamless.com/Page6.html , www.sewseamless.com/Page16.html )

(Of course, I had already fused the interfacing (www.sewseamless.com/Page4.html , www.sewseamless.com/Page15.html ( to these pieces before sewing them together. )

When I have time to sew again, all I need to do is to sew this facing on to the bodice, trim and clip the seams, and then hem the shirt, which is done by machine.  Instead of understitching (www.sewseamless.com/Page7.html , www.sewseamless.com/Page16.html), this pattern requires top stitching along the neckline. 

I’m hoping to get this flannel pajama top completed this week sometime.  But of course, life may have other plans for me.

Happy Sewing!

www.sewseamless.com

 No, I’m not literally sewing dogs!

I love to sew, and I also love dogs.  When I was a child, I once told my mother that when I grew up, I was going to have six children and six dogs and bring them all to her house.  I had two children, and once had two dogs at the same time, but I never fulfilled that “promise” to my mom.

Unfortunately, my home now seems much too quiet because my sweet little Shandy died in early October.  She was 14 years old and not in good health, but I had hoped that she would be with me a little while longer.  I really want another dog to love, but I’m not sure that I’m quite ready to take that step just yet.  However, sometimes just petting a dog helps my healing process.

My hubby knows how much I love dogs, and he knows that our house will not be without a furry friend for very long, so yesterday, he suggested that we stop by the local pet store to see if they were hosting pet adoptions.  They were, and I got to meet and pet some of the most wonderful doggies.  One of the volunteers suggested that I consider fostering a dog, but I told her that I would never want to give the dog up to someone else because I would fall in love with it.  What I didn’t tell her was that I think that if I were to foster a dog and then have to give it to a new owner, it would make me feel  like I was losing Shandy all over again–the grief would be too strong, at least right now. 

Even though I really want another dog, I want to make sure that I’m ready, and that I have fully grieved the death of my beloved Shandy.  Although Shandy didn’t die in the sewing room,  that is the room where we found her struggling to breathe, and it is still a painful memory.   When my heart has healed a little more, I hope to get a new furry friend, and perhaps this new furry friend will help make new and good memories in the sewing room.  Of course, this will not erase that memory, but it might ease the pain a little.

In the meantime, until I’m fully ready to open my home to another dog friend, I’ll continue to spend time in my sewing room, doing something that I love, and perhaps I can donate  items to an animal shelter as well as donating clothing to Mission of Hope (www.missionofhope.org).  As you know, I love using my sewing skills to help others and yesterday, I learned that many shelters can use donations of blankets and other items.  There is some old flannel fabric in my closet and I think it will make nice soft blankets for homeless doggies. 

I always encourage seamstresses of all skill levels to use their sewing skills and talents to help others, and perhaps yesterday, I needed a little reminder of that myself.

Happy Sewing!

www.sewseamless.com

I’m enjoying sewing this spaghetti strap flannel pajama top.  Yesterday, I had to take my mom to the eye doctor so I didn’t get to sew, but I had made quite a bit of progress the day before.

This pajama top is easier to sew in some ways than the button down pajama top that I just finished.  There are no buttonholes or buttons or zippers.  However, because this pajama top doesn’t have sleeves, the facings look a little bit different.  The facings for this top are just as easy to sew, but getting the spaghetti straps placed correctly can be a bit tricky.

When sewing patterns with sleeves, there is  usually a front facing and a back facing.

The picture on the left above shows front facings and the picture on the left shows front facings and back facings that have been sewn together.  Sometimes,  pajama tops or a boy’s casual shirt will not have a back facing, and requires a slightly different sewing technique for that area.

In the pattern that I’m currently sewing, the facings look like this:

The tissue pattern pieces for the facings are placed on the fold of the fabric.  I also place the tissue pattern pieces on the fold of the interfacing as well.

Here is the front facing piece:

And here is the back facing piece:

This type of facing is sewn together by placing right sides together and sewing on the short sides only. 

When I’m working on any sewing pattern, I try to decide whether I want to serge finish the pieces before I sew them, or if I want to sew a seam and then serge that seam.  With the first method, the seams are pressed open, and with the second method, seams are pressed to one side.  The latter method is faster, but I decided to press the seams open on this project because there is less bulk in the seams this way.

 Since this is the weekend, I may not have much sewing time, which as we all know is an effective cure for the Sewing Slumps.   I’m ready to sew the facings on when I do finally have time to sew.  When I get the facings sewing on, all I’ll need to do is top stitch around the neckline of the shirt. (No dreaded understitching(www.sewseamless.com/Page7.html , www.sewseamless.com/Page16.html ) here. ) After top stitching, I’ll machine hem this pajama top, and then I can move on to another sewing project. 

Yes, I can see that my Sewing Slumps are definitely cured.

Happy Sewing!

www.sewseamless.com

I managed to do a little bit of sewing so I think my sewing  slumps are cured for now.

Although my sewing time has been interrupted this week, the little flannel pajama top is coming along nicely.  This particular pattern is a tank style top and has thin straps on it.  I don’t follow the pattern instructions in sewing the thin spaghetti straps because I think there is an easier way to sew them than the pattern suggests.  Most patterns will tell you to turn the fabric right sides together, sew at 3/8 inch, and then turn the tube right side out.  If you have a tube turner, this might work, but since I don’t have one of those, I sew these straps a different way.

The thin strap pieces are shown in the picture above left; the right side of the fabric is showing.  I press these well, turn them over to the wrong side, and press one side up, toward the center of the strap.  Then I press the other side up, each side meeting in the middle.  This kind of looks like a bias strip at this point, even though the pattern piece is placed on the straight of grain when cutting it out.

The picture on the left is hard to see, but it’s the thin shirt strap with both sides folded to the middle and pressed.  Then fold the strap in the middle again and press.  After this step, I take the strap to my sewing machine and edge stitch down both sides, using my edge stitch presser foot.

I like to press the straps well after edge stitching down both sides.  At this point, I can lay these straps aside and concentrate on the front and back facings, which are very easy to sew.

I got a little more accomplished in the sewing room, but I’ll wait and share that when I have a little more time.  Today, I have to take my mom to the eye doctor so there won’t be much sewing time.  Maybe this weekend, I can spend lots of quality time in the sewing room.  See…..I really think my Sewing Slumps are cured!

Happy Sewing!

www.sewseamless.com

I am happy to report that the Sewing Slumps seem to have disappeared–at least for now!  The flannel pajama top is finished, and I’m moving on to my next project, which will be another flannel pajama top, but a different design. 

This pajama top has thin straps and is more of a tank style top.  There are no buttonholes (www.sewseamless.com/Page10.html , www.sewseamless.com/Page19.html)  buttons, or zippers to sew on this top, so sewing this pj top should go a little faster.I have already applied the fusible interfacing (www.sewseamless.com/Page4.html , www.sewseamless.com/Page15.html) to the facings for this top.  This is a different type of facing than I’ve shared before, but it’s just as easy to sew.

I’m not sure if there is any understitching (www.sewseamless.com/Page7.html , www.sewseamless.com/Page16.html) or not, or if this pattern calls for top stitching instead.  Either way, other than the slight trickiness of placing the thin straps in the right place,  this is a fairly easy pattern to sew and I’m looking forward to making some progress this week. 

This is the pattern that I’ve been using to sew the pajama pants, the button down pajama shirt with sleeves, and now the tank type top.  The pj top that I’m sewing now is the one on the left, shown here with a heart applique.

Because I’ve been working so hard on getting rid of the Sewing Slumps, I’ve almost forgotten that Valentine’s Day is just around the corner!  This pajama set would be cute sewn in some Valentine flannel fabric.  If making the same tank type top that I’ll be sewing this week, it would be cute to sew it in a contrasting color, sew the pj pants in a print, and use part of the print for the heart applique on the top, creating a matching set.  Teens and older children would enjoy receiving a gift like this.

Right now, I’m going to concentrate on keeing the Sewing Slumps away from me.

Happy Sewing!

www.sewseamless.com

I was sew happy to finish the flannel pajama top that I’ve been working on recently.  I was especially happy to get the buttonholes sewn!  It seems that buttonholes tend to have their own minds, and at least one of them decides to misbehave.

In spite of one misbehaving buttonhole yesterday, I still managed to sew five buttonholes.  That was the end of the machine sewing since I prefer to sew buttons on by hand.

In order to sew the buttonholes, I placed the button on the presser foot and snapped it on my machine.  There is a little lever that I also have to pull down in order to sew buttonholes.  The buttonhole presser foot has some red marks on it, and I place these marks where I want to start sewing the buttonhole.  (Of course, before I sew on the garment, I always do a couple of practice buttonholes!  )

I am very lucky because when the buttonhole is finished, my machine stops sewing automatically.  All I have to do is raise the presser foot, cut the threads, and move on to the next buttonhole.

After buttonholes are sewn, they have to be cut open, and there are a variety of ways to do this.  I put straight pins at each end of the buttonhole and carefully slit the buttonhole open with a seam ripper.

After I cut open all the buttonholes, I sew on the buttons.  My buttons had two holes in them, so they were fairly easy to sew.  One thing that I learned from watching Sandra Betzina’s tv show (it no longer airs) is that flat buttons should have some “give” so a thread shank must be sewn.  This is really very easy to do by placing a straight pin or a toothpick on the button and sewing over that in order to sew the button.  When the button is secure, wind the thread around the underside of the button, on top of the garment.  This creates a thread shank.  After this step, tie off the threads, cut them, and the buttons are securely sewn on to the garment.   I like this part because it means the project is finished, and I can move on to a different sewing project.

Here is my finished flannel pajama top:

This is the end of this button game, but if you want more detailed information, it can be found at www.sewseamless.com/Page10.html  

Detailed pictures of buttonholes can be found at www.sewseamless.com/Page19.html

Happy Sewing!

www.sewseamless.com

I finally made some progress in the sewing room!   The flannel pajama top is complete, buttonholes and all!

Sewing buttonholes (www.sewseamless.com/Page10.html , www.sewseamless.com/Page19.html)  doesn’t have to be hard if you have the right tools.  There is a four step buttonhole, which is found on many sewing machines, and there is an automatic buttonhole, which is what I have on my sewing machine.  With a four step buttonhole, you have to measure the size that you want the buttonhole to be, mark it, and then try to sew exactly that length.  The automatic buttonhole is much easier because it sizes automatically.  Every time I have to sew buttonholes, I’m grateful that my machine has an automatic buttonhole.

Here are the buttons that I chose for the flannel pajama shirt:

Before sewing any buttonholes or buttons, I mark the buttonholes on the garment.  I like to use the seam gauge to mark the location of the buttonhole, the distance from the edge of the garment that the buttonhole will be sewn, and the distance between the buttonholes.

Although it’s a little hard to see, the picture on the left shows the seam gauge measuring the distance from the edge of the garment that the buttonhole will be sewn.  In this case, I chose 3/8 inches from the edge of the pajama top.  I mark this with a  small horizontal line, using a water soluable marker.  Then I mark a small vertical line above the horizontal line.  This helps me see where to place the buttonhole presser foot.

I then measure the distance between buttonholes, also using the seam gauge.  In this case, the buttonholes are 3-1/4 inches apart. (This is seen in the picture on the right above.)

My sewing machine has a buttonhole presser foot and all I have to do is place my button into the correct space on the buttonhole presser foot, and then snap on the foot.  I also have to remember to pull down a buttonhole lever, but since my sewing machine “talks” to me, it will remind me if I forget this step.

The two pictures above show the buttonhole presser foot for my sewing machine.  In the picture on the left, there is no button, and in the picture on the right, I have placed the green button on the presser foot.   All I had to do after this was snap the presser foot on to the sewing machine,  lower the buttonhole lever, choose the type of buttonhole I wanted to sew from my stitch menu, and sew.

I’m happy to tell you that I got all five buttonholes sewn and the buttons sewn on as well.  Of course, we had a couple of buttonhole mishaps,  which almost seems to be a “rule” when sewing buttonholes.  At least one of them decides to misbehave!

Tomorrow, I’ll share the conclusion of the button game with you.

Happy Sewing!

www.sewseamless.com