Finishing Touches…

Just a note to post some finished objects, one sewing related, and one not!

The resized knit top from Sears came out all right. It’s wearable, but I’ll see if I can tweak the front knot a bit more as it still bulges a bit. Here are the Before and After shots:

 

The fabric was a *b^gger* to sew; it’s one of those really thin, slippery knits that will NOT stay put! Can you imagine, 4 hours to fix this? Nuts!! So here’s what I did:

1. Cut off the sleeves at the armhole seam
2. Sew the new shoulder seams about 1 inch down, to lift up the Plunging V-neck
3. Open up the side seams a couple of inches down from the armhole seam, and the same on the sleeve
4. Sew the sleeves back in, sort of on the flat
5. Resew the side seam and back down the sleeve (I didn’t take the seams in, just resewed it)
6. Added clear elastic to the bottom of the side seams for a ruched effect
7. Fiddled with the front knot (there’s a CF seam there!) to reduce the weird bulging

And now that I have a fairly nice top, there is nowhere to wear it. ~sigh~ Yet! It’s too damn cold in the house to put this on without a fleece or cardi! As I said in a previous post, this type of sewing would not have even occurred to me had it not been for following Beth’s fabulous refashioning blog, The Renegade Seamstress.

On a last note, here’s a picture of our Finally finished kitchen, with it’s new backsplash. We did it a couple of weeks ago, and it only took a few days. The longest day was actually putting the tiles (in sections) on the wall, and cutting and filling in the edges. Then a couple of days to rest (the tiles, that is) and half a day to grout.

 

Oh, and those are 4 new lights too. I think we put them up back in September, and what a difference they make over the old ones. No problem seeing the dirt mess with those on!

The two t-shirts I wanted to compare during my Home Alone did get sewn up, but are still awaiting some fitting adjustments. But I’ve decided to put them on hold (yah, more UFOs!!), since winter isn’t the best time for this type of garment, and I am in DIRE NEED of actual “Cake” clothing. I have an idea…!

Home Alone!

Here I sit, alone in the new kitchen. Yep, I’ve been absent from sewing for several months, but not from “creating”! This summer, while my husband was unemployed (since the end of May) we completely renovated our kitchen. By ourselves. Nuts? Crazy? In hindsight, perhaps! 34 days of hard slog, and the boys were at home for most of it…they had the best time watching all the TV they wanted! But it was worth it. (Photos at the end if you’re interested.)

Anyway, before I show you that, here’s a peak at what I’ve got planned for this weekend. My first EVER weekend at home…alone. By myself. NO kids. NO husband. (They’re all at his sister’s for 2 nights, 4 hours away) Sewing! Can you say HEAVEN!!! Gawd, I feel so selfish!

1.    After a mere, what, 9 months, I cut out the fabric for Sherry’s Ruby Slip. The pattern’s been traced since I downloaded it last December, and I’ve had the fabric in stash since before that.

 

The fabric is nothing fancy, I think it’s a polyester satin, but it will be a wearable muslin in camisole length. And as the lace is no where near wide enough I’ll be patching bits together. Once I get the fit worked out I’ll be making a full length slip.

2.    The BCT (Basic Canvas Tee) from Stephanie at 3hourspast. Again, I’ve had this pattern since Stephanie first introduced it, but only just traced it this afternoon.

3.    The Kirsten Kimono Tee from Maria Denmark. I’ll be sewing muslins for both tops tomorrow so I can compare the fit. On paper they look quite different.

4.    A refashion/resize of a top I bought last week at the Sears store that’s closing this weekend. There was hardly anything left in the store, but my mum and I both found something for the ridiculous amount of $7! Ordinarily the top would not be worn all the way down, but ruched about the waist/hip; it’s just too big and that neckline is… plunging!

After months of seeing Beth’s fantastic refashions I’m finally going to have a go with her techniques. I would never in a million years have even thought of buying this top had it not been for seeing how Beth does it! Go figure! (By the way, check out her latest refashion, the art deco dress! It’s awesome!)

5.    Finish the adjustments on my Pants block. Jeez I’ve been dragging my feet on this, but I’ve got to get it done. I desperately need pants, and I’ve got fabric in stash for at least 3 pairs.

I’ve been working here in the kitchen all afternoon, tracing the patterns and cutting out the fabric, right on the counter/bar since it’s so fabulously huge!

And here’s the before and after photos (note: the walls were also repainted, in the entire space; everything is off-white now)

 

 

I took pics at the end of most days while we were doing it, and put them in an album on flickr. For posterity. I still have to pinch myself, it seemed like an eternity. And we were totally Exhausted by the end, I was actually sick of being in here and just wanted to get out of the house.

So, here’s a few stats:

• 40 work-days to completely finish the kitchen. We put the plinths, baseboards, ceiling lights and finished the painting a couple of weeks after that last photo.
• ~700 screws used to eliminate all the squeaks in the subfloor, and to anchor the new base floor onto the subfloor. We installed the cork boards on top of that.
• 489 unread sewing posts on the day of the last photo above.
• 6 weeks to read through ALL of those posts, no kidding.

Man I’ve missed sewing. It sure is good to be back! I’ve got another post in the works to show you what I was about to start sewing just before we started the renos in mid July, and only got to sew up a muslin last week. It’ll have to wait, it’s ICING!! And right now, I need CAKE.

Have a great weekend.