Sewing Vloggers

Tuesday, May 4, 2010

A Colorful Top , Jeans Tip, and More.....
























The first really colorful addition to my wardrobe is complete. It is the same pattern I used for the grey linen dress, simply cut shorter, Butterick 5348.  The fabric is a poly spandex charmeuse nightmare. I have sewn poly charmeuses before, not the easiest thing to do, but adding this lycra/spandex or whatever that made it stretch really tried my skills and patience. I never realized the fiber content was part stretch until I couldn't figure out why I was having such a time topstitching. Last night I asked for hints on how to do this on this fabric. I have since figured out you DON'T do topstitching on this fabric, just let it flow. I must have tried every thread/tension/ fiber combo possible and nothing gave good enough results. So today, after looking at my miserable mess I ripped out all the TSing and now I am happy. Learn something new all the time! The seams are all French seams, invisible zipper in the back, and pretty run of the mill construction otherwise. I do love the fabric, the flow of it all, the wonderful colors. This is perfect for my work. It gets terribly hot there and this will be perfect. Now it is time to put this pattern to bed, at least for a while. I did see Andrea Mitchell on TV today with a very similar top that looked great. It was grey (there I go with no color) with a tiny stripe. The neckband was laid so the stripes went evenly left to right, not what one would expect so it made an interesting design statement. Go Andrea!
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Before I ripped out my topstitching I stopped procrastinating and took up the hems on four pairs of pants this morning, one slinky, one ponte type knit, and two jeans. For my jeans I tried a new to me technique that I found fast and fabulous. I take no credit for this but am so excited about it's ease and results that I must pass it on to you. This is on a 2005 page of DaciaRay.com and is so clearly explained there that I won't go into the technique myself. I just followed her directions. Here are my results. This is the original hem that came on the heans but it is 2 1/2 inches shorter!


This went together in minutes and I doubt I would hem jeans any other way now. I HIGHLY RECOMMEND this technique, also known as a European jeans hem. Who knew?
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And last but not least DH and I went on a combo 4 wheel/ hiking adventure about 2-3 miles up our Deer River in the state park. It was so lovely there. The water is flowing full white water in lots of spots and it was quite majestic. We found about 3 miles deep into the woods an exquisite maple grove. I took lots of pictures and here are a few:
These are trilliums, a plant that has always intrigued me and is a protected species. They are quite lovely and hold their blooms for an extended time. I had them on our slope in NH and they are blooming in the deep shaded woods up here in NY now.
We saw several beaver dams, huts, and ponds. This was at one beaver dam. Can you guess what it is? Better yet, can you guess what killed it? Not the first time DH and I have seen this in the woods.
Yup, its the remains of a deer carcass. As we finished our afternoon trek and headed home this is the street I live on as it comes out of the state park. You can see the ominous storm looming. We made it in the house dodging egg size raindrops and lightening. Glad we were out of the woods when it hit.

Bunny

13 comments:

  1. Nice top and thanks for the helpful tip on hemming jeans.

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  2. Cute top. Must remember not to try and topstitch my poly stretch charmeuse!

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  3. What a gorgeous top.

    Thank you so much for passing on the tip of hemming jeans. I really needed this with my large family.

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  4. Love the top - the colors are wonderful!

    I've seen that jeans technique before, but never tried it. Looks great! Since I have to hem almost every pair I buy (except one nice petite pair I found!), I will try it next time.

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  5. Your top is so beautiful for summer. With white pants? Thank you for the tutorial on European jeans hemming. That would be a terrific "grow" hem for children.

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  6. I love the top. And the jeans tip. Would never have thought of that. THanks.

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  7. You're a better person than me on that stretch charmeuse....just plain ol' charmeuse moves all over my studio, I can only imagine the nightmare of stretch charmeuse. Love your outdoorsy walk - which we had someplace close like that. I live in the hinterlands granted, but in the very middle of the city, so we have to drive a distance to do any hiking, and I do love hiking and venturing around like that!

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  8. Beautiful top, lovely colors! Thanks for the jeans hem trick, I have a million pairs that need to be done. I love trilliums, too! They grew all over my parents wooded back yard, but were white.

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  9. Lovely top!
    But to me it sounds hot . . . . . in our typical 110+ avg temps here.
    I also remember trilliums - also in white.

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  10. Beautiful photos, even the storm (and Tennessee has seen enough of those of a while). As I recall, it is a "No,no" to pick a Trillium as it kills the plant. Good advise even if not the case.

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  11. What a wonderful tip on hemming jeans, Bunny. I had a denim skirt that needed shortening -- and I found myself avoiding the task like the plague. But I followed the easy directions -- and Voila! Job done in under 5 minutes. It took longer to change out to a jeans needle and jeans foot that to actually do the stitching. Thanks so much!

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  12. Bunny, your new blouse is beautiful. You know I love me some color. I just love that pattern as well.

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  13. I love your new top! I've been looking for a print fabric for a blouse, but I haven't found anything that I really like. Yours is fabulous!

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