The Lily Diaries Part 2 - A muslin...and a name for my sewing machine

Hi everyone!
Well, this time I tried to keep to some sort of a schedule, so this post still relates recent event (more than in last week's post at least).
I think we were talking about the Lily, weren't we? Well, here's how it went so far.
On Saturday, I drew the pattern pieces on my muslin fabric and cut them...

This is Gipsy, who seems to think my muslin pieces make a purrfect cat bed. She got all cranky when I  made her get up to take what I needed.

 And by 6 PM on Sunday, this is how far I'd gotten :

No straps and zipper yet, everything is held together at the back with a few safety pins, but  it looks as if we're going to get there, doesn't it?

Pockets!These were so much fun to sew in place!

Once this was done, I began sewing my straps. I had noticed my bobbin thread was a little bit loose...and this is when my machine chose to give me a bit of a fright. As I had taken the strap I was working on back from under the needle, my machine began to sew by itself (I swear, my foot wasn't on the pedal!!!!), the motor revved up and didn't stop when I switched it off. I had to unplug it and it had gotten so fast the needle broke and the bobbin holder began smoking.


So this is how my machine earned herself a name : Christine. I know, she's not a '58 Plymouth Fury. But she's red. And she's got a bitchy temper.


That same evening, after going out for a drink with my boyfriend, and letting Christine some time to cool down, I managed to sew my straps on (sorry, no pictures) and began hand-basting my zipper.


Have a nice week everyone, see you next week-end to talk about fitting!

The Lily Diaries – Part 1 : tracing and cutting the pattern

Last weekend was the kick-off of my Lily project (sorry, I promised news before Monday in the last post, but I lacked the time to…do it on time, actually). After fabric shopping (off-white cotton voile to underline my main fabric, fusible interfacing, black satin for the contrasting flaps, a zipper and some fabric for my muslin…oh, and the infamous invisible zipper foot mentioned in the post before last, though I have yet to understand how to install it on my machine…maybe I’ll go back to the shop and ask the guy who sold me the machine for advice…) I started tracing my pattern on non-woven interfacing (I just cut roughly around the pattern pieces and didn’t cut them to my size. You never know, in case I had a dramatic weight variation or had to make something out of this pattern for somebody else…) and then I cut it. I now have the main pattern pieces (just bodice, skirt and shoulder straps) cut in my size and, if needed, it is my non-woven version of the pattern that I will alter, and not the original.

Pattern tracing workshop coming soon…

I also used tracing paper (not pictured here) but chose to do without the tracing wheel after a while because the markings were too faint.

In progress...

 …And here are my trusty pattern weights. Yay for canned tuna and soy beans!

Next weekend: cutting the muslin and putting it together. And maybe start to work on fitting, if I have the time.

See you!

Happy birthday…and some sewing news !

Last weekend, I celebrated my birthday (I’m now 29, if you care to know). I was rather spoiled, as you can see.

(Sorry for the blurry phone pic. You might have recognized Colette Pattern's Lily, Sencha, Violet and Ginger, as well as Sewaholic's Lonsdale. Yeah, I know. None of these patterns are actually listed in the to-sew list I tried to make a while back…)

And of course, among what you can see, is my next sewing project…a guess, anyone ? No ? Well, here’s another clue :

Ah, this is becoming clearer now, does’nt it ? I think the Lily would look quite great in this fabric, and I’m even happier with my choice since I saw that a well-known blogger lady, whose good taste cannot be questioned (in my humble opinion at least), is also going to make a Lily in a Hawaiian inspired fabric.

Now here is what I will do : I will try to cover all the steps in the construction of this dress, from  cutting the pattern pieces to sewing the final hem on the finished dress. I won’t be calling this a sewalong, as I am not yet a skilled enough sewer to give any sort of advice. However, of course, you will be welcome to bear with me as I go through the steps until my Lily is done, and comment as much as you like if you have any piece of advice that might be useful.

Having a rather heavy work schedule, I have to warn you that the process will be a slow one, and that I will probably not be as well organized as other bloggers might be. But keep your eyes peeled, I’ll try my best to give you more news before next Monday !

See ya, all !

XX

Introducing...my faithful sewing sidekick.

...There you go. Apologies for the somewhat cluttered background  - I never claimed to be a well-organized person (well, in some areas of my life, such as at work, I try to, but given that I work far from my home and don't spend a lot of time here...well. To the point, now.)
This is what I bought, about one year ago, when I decided to get into sewing. After my birthday, I came into the shop of this sewing machines retailer which I had noticed a while ago, and said, "Hello Sir, what could I get for 200€?" and the answer was..."If that's all you got, then don't buy a new sewing machine, you woudn't get anything but crap that will fall apart after 6 months!". OK then..."However, you can have a second hand machine with a one year guarantee for 100€". Agreed!
And so this is how I got my first ever sewing machine. This model is a Husqvarna Vanessa 5610. I don't know how old it is...I'd say it's from the 70s or 80 judging on how it looks ( a guess, anyone?).
Not having an extended experience of sewing machines, all I can say is that I like it well enough, and basically it does what I want (well, sometimes the main thread and bobbin thread kind of "knit" themselves, if you see what I mean, but apart from that...). It is rather simple to use, with no electronics ( I hope the fact that it's entirely mechanic will allow it to last for some more time...fingers crossed!). It was sold with a handbook, which has come in handy more than once. It doesn't do automatic button holes, but having never used a machine that does, of course this isn't something I miss. The thing that confuses me for the moment is the feet. I have 3 or 4 feet, which do not exactly match those listed in the handbook (well, I understood what the regular foot and zipper foot are for, but I'm not sure about the 2 others), and I think I will have to buy an invisible zipper foot for my next project...stay tuned for that!