Sewing Sunsets

Real life just seems to continue to enjoy limiting my sewing time.  Actually, I haven’t been able to sew for months because of real life’s other plans for me.  This is not a good thing at all.  I am having serious sewing withdrawals and this situation must be corrected very soon.  And it will be when we finally get moved and somewhat settled.

We recently found out that my husband’s new job wants him to report for work very quickly, which leaves us very little time to get things in order here.  We have a house to sell, but the realtor doesn’t think we could list for what we paid for it three years ago.  What really stinks is that we did everything right–didn’t buy more than we could afford, put money down, and we have spent money making some much needed improvements to the house.  I believe housing prices are increasing in this area, but at this point, we don’t have time to wait and see if/when the house will sell.  This puts us in the position of having to rent/lease  this house and become renters ourselves in our new destination.  I don’t mind renting if I can rent a house with a fenced in back yard.  The dog really needs a yard!

We have two weeks to get everything together and move to our new state.  What is adding to the stress level is the fact that we also have to move my mom, who is almost 83, and getting her and her furniture in her new apartment at the same time is proving to be quite a challenge.  Her apartment won’t be ready quite as early as we need it to be, so that is making things a bit more difficult as well.  Thankfully, we are all happy about this move, but the challenges are sometimes throwing cold water on that happiness.

Would somebody please tell Real Life that all I want to do is sew and ask that I please be left in peace do do lots and lots of sewing?!

Happy Sewing!

www.sewseamless.com

I am sew overwhelmed these days!  If I could just engage in a few hours of sewing therapy, I think I would be fine.  Instead, I have to concentrate on helping hubby get this house ready to be put on the market and pray that it sells quickly.  After not knowing when we have to be in our new state for a couple of months, all of a sudden, it’s now “hurry up and get there yesterday”.    We have less than a month and not only do we have to move ourselves, but we also have to move my mom.  Thankfully, I have found her a new apartment and all of that is in process.  Our own living situation is another matter that needs to be sorted out and things seem to be moving along slowly in trying to get this house ready for the realtor to see.

One of my biggest chores is getting the sewing room sorted out.  I would sew much rather be sewing than tidying it up.  One of these days soon, I am going to sew, no matter what is going on around me.

I did get to engage in some fabric shopping therapy recently, and that did help my stress level a bit.

Due to all the upheaval around here, I haven’t really had time to keep up with this blog, but I promise to finish the tutorial on sewing the skirt with in-seam pockets and sewing it to the bodice soon.

Sewing in-seam pockets and sewing a skirt to a bodice: www.sewseamless.com/Page9.html and www.sewseamless.com/Page18.html

Happy Sewing!

www.sewseamless.com

I am sew not motivated to do much of anything these days, but I have to force myself to get motivated soon because I have lots to do.  Because hubby and I are moving to another state, we have to get this house ready to put on the market and this house is full of clutter (with no place to put anything because there is no storage) and the house itself needs lots of updating.  We have chosen to concentrate on the master bath  because we already rennovated that downstairs half bath and the kitchen about a year ago.  If we could hire this done, the house would already be on the market, but to save money, hubby does the work himself, so it takes longer to get finished.  All I really want to do is sew, but now I’m finding that I have to clean out the sewing room and try to sort through fabric scraps and determine what to donate, throw out, and keep.  Groan

One of these days, we’ll be moved and settled and I am going to spend lots and lots and lots of quality time in my sewing room and do lots and lots and lots of sewing.

In the meantime, let me finish the tutorial about sewing the skirt with in-seam pockets.  The last time I posted, I think I told you about sewing the side seam of the skirt, starting at the bottom of the skirt, and pivoting at the pocket.  After this  seam has been sewn, the top of the skirt (at the pocket area) is still open and must be sewn closed as well.  The way I do this is to measure from the top of the skirt to the pocket area.  (There is usually a dot marked on the tissue pattern piece itself so it’s easy to get this measurement.)

I start sewing at the top of the skirt and sew close to the seam until I reach the pin that I’ve placed on the skirt to mark the stopping point.  This closes the top of the side seam.

After sewing this seam, the next step is to clip the stitching under the pocket, making sure to clip to the stitching.  This allows you to press the side seam open.  Personally, I like to press the seam over a seam roll and press from both the right and wrong sides of the fabric.

At this point, the skirt is almost ready to be sewn to the bodice.  More about that later.  Frankly, I’m rather tired of this one project because I started it in early December and it still isn’t quite finished.  I found myself becoming frustrated with it early on, so now I’m anxious to finish it and move on to another sewing project–if real life ever decides to give me time to sew, that is.

Sewing a skirt with in-seam pockets: www.sewseamless.com/Page9.html and www.sewseamless.com/Page18.html

Happy Sewing!

www.sewseamless.com

When I posted last, I think I told you about understitching the in-seam pockets on the skirt of the dress I was sewing.  The next step was to sew the side seams of the skirt, which includes sewing around the pockets as well.  This is really quite easy, especially if you start sewing at the bottom of the skirt, and then, leaving the needle down in the fabric, pivot at the pocket and sew around the pocket bag.

After you have sewn the skirt side seams and the pocket bag, there are a few more steps before the skirt is considered complete, but I don’t have time to tell you about that now.  In fact, my blogging may be slowing down this week, right along with my sewing.  This is all due to our upcoming move, of course.  I will be sew happy when we finally get settled.  

Sewing a skirt with in-seam pockets: www.sewseamless.com/Page9.html and www.sewseamless.com/Page18.html

Happy Sewing!

www.sewseamless.com

Yesterday, I told you that I would share how I understitched the pockets on the skirt I was sewing.  This pattern has in-seam pockets on the skirt and I discovered that understitching the pockets really does create a nice appearance.   Of course, this is not my original idea, but a tip that I picked up from a tv sewing expert.  At first, I was skeptical, but when I tried it, it worked so now I understitch all in-seam pockets. 

Understitching is quite easy and understitching the pockets is much easier than understitching the facings on the bodice.  When understitching pockets, you have a completely flat surface to work on, which is quite easy.  Once you have sewn the pocket pieces to the fronts and backs of the skirts, press the pocket piece away from the skirt.   When understitching, you will be sewing on the right side of the fabric, close to the seam line.  The seam allowance will be pressed toward the pocket piece as you are sewing, and you can feel it with your fingers while you’re understitching.

Before understitching the pocket pieces, I like to serge finish the raw edge of the skirt first.  This makes it really easy to feel the seam underneath the pocket that you are understitching. 

The picture below shows the finished pocket after it has been understitched. 

I always have to remember that I will be understitching on the pocket piece and not the body of the skirt.   To make it easier, I place my sewing machine needle all the way to the left so I can sew as close to the seam line as possible. 

Once the pocket pieces have been sewn to the skirt, the next step is to sew the skirt side seams and the pockets together.   That is also very easy and quite fun.  Well, sewing is just fun anyway!

Sewing in-seam pockets (pictures and instructions): www.sewseamless.com/Page9.html and www.sewseamless.com/Page18.html

Understitching technique (pictures and instructions): www.sewseamless.com/Page7.html and www.sewseamless.com/Page16.html

Happy Sewing!

www.sewseamless.com

I am watching blowing snow today.  Under ordinary circumstances, this would be a great day for sewing, but with all the other plans real life has had for me lately, I’m not sure that my sewing machine and I will be able to spend much time together for a while. When I get to my new destination and get everybody settled, real life had just better learn to settle down and leave me alone and let me sew, sew, sew, and sew!

In the meantime, I’ll keep telling you about the most recent sewing project.  (That sewing project was started back in early December and it’s still not finished. ) 

My last post was about sewing the set in sleeves into the bodice.  That was the last step in finishing the bodice .  I then turned my attention to the skirt.  This pattern has in-seam pockets and those are fun to sew.  There will be four pocket pattern pieces; these are sewn on to the front and back of the skirt before sewing the skirt together. 

Pin the pocket pieces to the skirt, right sides together, and sew using a 3/8 inch seam allowance.

After sewing the pockets to each side of the front and back of the skirt, I always press well and press the pocket away from the skirt, as you see in the above picture.  A few months ago, I saw a sewing expert on tv mention that understitching in-seam pockets gives a garment a nice look and keeps the pocket a little more “hidden” when the garment is being worn.  I tried the technique and liked it, so I’ll share how I understitched the pockets with you in the next post. 

Sewing a bodice (instructions and pictures): www.sewseamless.com/Page5.html and www.sewseamless.com/Page15.html

Sewing facings (instructions and pictures): www.sewseamless.com/Page6.html and www.sewseamless.com/Page16.html

Sewing in-seam pockets (instructions and pictures): www.sewseamless.com/Page9.html and www.sewseamless.com/Page18.html

Understitching instructions and pictures: www.sewseamless.com/Page7.html and www.sewseamless.com/Page16.html

Happy Sewing!

www.sewseamless.com