The Husband Must Really Love Me

You will never believe what the husband did. It just proves that he really loves me. The husband bought me fabric! Yes, you heard correctly and I will repeat it. The husband BOUGHT me FABRIC!

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Remember my blog post about the online fabric sale that Joann’s was having? Remember the piece of Mickey Mouse fabric that sparked me to actually make a purchase? Remember that the next day, I received an email telling me that that fabric was out of stock and would not ship? Well, the husband received an email later stating that that particular piece of Mickey Mouse fabric was back in stock and could be purchased at the sale price. The husband knew that I wanted that piece of fabric very badly and that I was disappointed when it had not shipped with the original order, so he decided to buy me a couple of yards. Isn’t he so sweet?

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It arrived the other day and I am excited to get creative with this piece of fabric and see what I can design and make from the husband’s fabulous purchase for me.

Oops, I Did It Again

Bought fabric. Yes, I bought more fabric. I admit it. I said it out loud. Even though the stash has worked its way out of the closet it’s stored in and is headed out the door of the room it lives in, I still felt the need to add more to it. I received an email from Joann’s Fabric stating that all fabric was on sale. Usually I can resist temptation and not even look, but not the other day. All fabric on sale. SALE?!? FABRIC?!? FABRIC SALE?!? Hmm… Let’s just see what I might think I need!

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Because I am not the biggest fan of buying fabric online, when I look on line at fabric, I limit it to licensed cottons, flannel and fleeces. That way I know what I will have when it arrives. So, I start by checking out the Mickey Mouse prints and I found one that I fell in love with. I quickly added it to my cart. I then went looking for a free shipping coupon.

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Yay!

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I found a free shipping coupon but with a minimum purchase.

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Darn!

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So, I returned to shopping to try and meet the minimum purchase. Of course it was no problem to meet and exceed the minimum purchase after checking out the rest of the Disney prints, the Snoopy prints, and the other licensed prints. Another Mickey Mouse print, a Snoopy print and a Marvel Comic print were added to the cart with hardly a second look. When I finally looked in my cart, I decided to click on check out before I found more. Pleased with my selection, I now had to forget about it and wait for it to be shipped.

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All was good until the next day when I received an email informing me that the first piece of Mickey Mouse fabric, the one I fell in love with, the one that prompted the purchase of the other pieces in the first place, was out of stock and would not be shipped with the other pieces. Argh!

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Oh well, the other pieces have arrived and they are awesome. I decided not to just pack them into the stash but to let them set in my line of site and see if they can become something more than just stash. Hopefully you will see some great new posts soon of what I decided to create with these new pieces.

I put a Curse on You, You evil Fabric Sale you!

Joann’s last sale featured some basic sewing supplies I was running low on, so I decided to take a journey to the sale. Before we left, the husband handed me an emailed coupon for 20% off my purchase including all regular and sales prices. Excited at the thought of saving even more on the supplies I needed, we headed for the store.

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When we got to the store, my list of needed supplies was quickly put in my pocket as the first rack of fabric was all leftover holiday prints 60% off. 60% off was a great price but then add my 20% off on top of that and I was in sale heaven! I quickly filled the cart with bolts and bolts of wonderful fabric which included holiday Snoopy and Mickey Mouse in both cottons and fleeces. After the cart was too heavy to push, I made my way to the cutting tables to have it cut.

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On the way to the cutting tables, I passed the licensed prints, at 40% off for the sale. You can do the math, 40% sale plus 20% coupon. How much more can I fit in the cart? How much more can I fit in the trunk of the car? How much more can I fit in the stash? Without answering these important questions, several more bolts of precious fabric made its way to the cutting table with me.

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After spending a fair amount of time at the cutting table, the husband, who is a real trooper, reminded me of the list of supplies that we really came for. It did not take long to pick those up and then we were off to the registers.

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After ringing up my piles of fabric and needed supplies, the young man behind the register handed me a coupon for 30% my total purchases for next week. The husband about burst into tears and I started to plan my trip to Joann’s next week to shop the sales again.

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And yes I do have to keep reminding the husband that if the apocalypse happens in the near future that I will always be able to trade fabric for food. If it wasn’t for that, I’m unsure he would let me continue to purchase more and more fabric for the stash.

Great, Kid. Don’t Get Cocky.

Remember the part in Star Wars when Luke blows up the tie fighter and yells, “Got ‘im. I got ‘im.” and Han Solo turns and says “Great, kid. Don’t get cocky.” I always hated that line from the movie. Why wasn’t Han Solo happy for Luke that he had blown up the tie fighter? I never understood Han Solo’s words until I sat at my sewing machine, stitching on the husband’s new bathrobe. After the successful sewing from the mystery boxes, a shirt that fits me great, the completion of two shirts that the husband likes to wear, two adorable kid’s sweatshirts from grey fleece, and then the  fit of the plastic bathrobe, I was feeling pretty cocky about my sewing ability. But, as I sewed together this bathrobe, I was knocked down a few pegs and I am now a lot more humble. Mama always said, “Nothing will teach you patience like sewing.”

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Let’s start at the beginning with the fabric. I went to Joann’s to get some buttons, but, of course, had to stop and see what was on sale that week. The husband is always good about going to Joann’s with me and as I looked at the fleece that was 50% off that week, he found a super soft, super fluffy, super stretchy fleece that he wanted his new bathrobe to be made from. Even though I could name you 3 pieces of fabric in the stash that I have purchased over the years to make him bathrobes with, and I am sure there is more than that I have forgotten about, we purchased enough of this fleece plus what remained on the bolt for the husband a new bathrobe. Crazy. Because it was 50% off, it wasn’t a bad price but I am sure that is was more than I paid for the pieces in the stash and that was why the pattern needed to be correct. I was going to cut right into this fabric instead of doing a muslin first and there couldn’t be any mistakes.

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With the new bathrobe pattern complete, I started the cutting process. I was careful not to stretch the fabric as I cut. I have already learned that lesson when working super stretchy fabric. Next, I started to sew. I figured my sewing machine would not be too happy about stitching this fabric and that I might have to use my walking foot, but it did fine. On the other hand, my serger HATED this fabric. I spent a fair amount of good sewing time trying to get this fabric to serge properly. I finally got the tensions and the differential feed set to where the serging was acceptable and so I continued on.

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After stitching and serging the shoulder seams, I attached the facing to the front of the bathrobe before the sleeves and side seams. Because of the serging problems, I was trying to minimize the use of the serger on this bathrobe, so decided to use the overcast stitch on my sewing machine to finish the edges of the facings. I really did not need to finish the edges of the facings because they are tucked under in the construction but I quickly noticed that the edges of this fabric pulled apart easily while working with it so I decided it was best to have all the edges finished. Overcasting took forever and it took two spools of bobbin thread to complete, but it did work and I got the facings sewn on. I then finished up the side seam and attached the sleeves. Wow, except for some detail work the bathrobe was done. Except I had missed one important part, fitting. And that is the reason why you sew the sleeves and side seams before the facings.

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I had the husband try on the bathrobe and let’s just say I had gotten a little too cocky about the plastic pattern fitting correctly because it did not. The back neck line was way too low. I knew what I had to do, unpick the entire back facing and take in the shoulder which would lift the back up. If I had just tried it on him before sewing on the facings, this would not have been a big deal. I hate to unpick, but I knew it was the only correct way to fix this, so I got started. As I sat down to get started, I thought of Han Solo’s words that I previously thought were so cruel to Luke and realized that they were not cruel at all, and that he just wanted Luke to keep his head in the game and stay focused. That was something I needed to remember too. Stay focused.

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Unpicking this fabric is not impossible but darn near. I worked for several hours on it but I only had a couple of inches unpicked. I could not find my stitches in this super fluffy mess. So, since the husband wanted to wear this bathrobe in this life time, a new plan was formed and I decided to put a dart in the back of the neck to bring it up. I only had to unpick a little more to complete that part. It was not the best option, but it was a workable one and now that it is done, it looks fine.

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I then started the hems which required some unpicking of the facings. More grumbling was heard from me at this point. Plus, it took much longer to do the hems with the overcast stitch instead of serging them. Then came the belt and belt loops and finally the pockets which I ended up making three times to get the right size. Oh, brother!

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Finally with the bathrobe completed I look back and see that I learned many things from the construction of this bathrobe. I just hope I with not have to relearn them as I continue my sewing journey, and that I keep my mind focused instead of getting cocky. Thanks for the advice Han Solo!

Wow! A great sewing machine deal on Amazon Goldbox for Black Friday!

It’s BACK! For Black Friday this morning’s Amazon’s Gold Box deal is for a commercial JUKI HZL-27Z Sewing Machine for $159!

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This deal is good only for 11-25-11 or until they sell out! So order it quick! They only lasted a few hours last time!

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That is $690 off the retail price. It’s a great deal for a great heavy duty commercial machine if you want a spare to do those heavy or dirty jobs you wouldn’t want to put your normal machine through. It has several 5-star reviews on Amazon. I’ve owned several Juki’s in the past and my first serger which my mom still uses today was a Juki. They are tough machines.

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Since Amazon has a no questions asked money back guarantee and free shipping I am going to pick it up as a spare. I’ll let you know how I like it once I get it and try it out.

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If you want more information on it or want to purchase one for yourself you can find it here:

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JUKI HZL-27Z Sewing Machine

An Ode to Yarn

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No! No! No! No more fabric!

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Since my dreaded trip to the stash, I have purchased very, very little fabric recently. We even made a trip to see Mom and Dad, where Mom showered me with pieces of fabric she was parting with, and I only took 4 small pieces, not the usual 4 boxes. Mom and I even made a trip to the Walmart fabric department and I did not buy any fabric there at all. I am proud of myself for this but I quickly realized that the pride was in vain, that my habits had not changed, that I was just substituting the purchase of fabric with the purchase of yarn.

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My acquisition of yarn is really not my fault. Well not this time anyway…

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There are really two culprits to blame for the piles of yarn that are now accumulating next to the piles of fabric. The first is Walmart. My local Walmart just went through a remodel. Luckily, the fabric department wasn’t discontinued, but in the process, many skeins of yarn went on clearance. The clearance skein’s were mostly speciality type yarns which saddens my heart as I realized that my local Walmart would only have the basic Red Heart yarn styles and colors from now on. So, with this in mind, I started to buy. I felt that I had to stock up because my Walmart would not be carrying these yarns any longer. When Mom and I went to her local Walmart, I had to check out their yarn too and I found that they were also clearing out selected yarns as well. So, once again, I just HAD to buy it. So, as you can see, it is really not my fault. I had to buy the yarn while I could.

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The second culprit is my mother. Upon arriving at her home, she pulled me aside and said, “Look at this.”  She had purchased 5 skeins of Sensations Boucle pattern yarn at the local thrift store for $3.00 a skein. “You can have this if you want it.” For that price, I could not leave it. I quickly handed Mom the money and ran my new treasure out to the car before she changed her mind. It is now sitting in my pile of yarn, waiting for its turn to be crocheted into something amazing.

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Oh, what have I done?!? I might as well go back to buying fabric if I am going to replace it with yarn.

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Help. Please. Someone.

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Well you know what they say. The first step to solving the problem is admitting that you have a problem.

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So here goes: “Hi, my name is Lanita and I am a Fabriholic and now a Yarnaholic and I need help…”

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Does anyone know any local Yarnaholic chapters I can join?

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Well until next time…

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Wow! A great sewing machine deal on Amazon Goldbox!

This morning Amazon’s Gold Box deal is for a commercial JUKI HZL-27Z Sewing Machine for $159!

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This deal is good only for 5-1-11.

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That is $690 off the retail price. It’s a great deal for a great heavy duty commercial machine if you want a spare to do those heavy or dirty jobs you wouldn’t want to put your normal machine through. It has several 5-star reviews on Amazon. I’ve owned several Juki’s in the past and my first serger which my mom still uses today was a Juki. They are tough machines.

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Since Amazon has a no questions asked money back guarantee and free shipping I am going to pick it up as a spare. I’ll let you know how I like it once I get it and try it out.

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If you want more information on it or want to purchase one for yourself you can find it here:

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JUKI HZL-27Z Sewing Machine

Now That I Am Older

I pretty much sew the same thing over and over again. When I need a new shirt, I pull out my basic sloper patterns and either make one of those or modify it only slightly. Sometimes this becomes very boring and I long for a new and different style. That is when I start searching the pattern books and online pattern web sites to see what’s new and what’s currently in style. Most times I am disappointed in the selection of patterns for plus sizes, but not this time. Butterick has a great selection of new styles in their plus size section. So, the next time Butterick patterns went on sell at Joann’s, I picked up several of these new patterns to try.

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I have sewn many times from a store bought pattern but not for myself. When I first started sewing I tried to make a dress from a Simplicity pattern. I studied the pattern and its guide. I then bought a wonderful piece of fabric to make the dress with. Next I spent several hours cutting out the dress.

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Then I started to sew. I stitched the bodice together quickly and tried it on. It was a disaster. It was way too short and cut way too low and hung off my shoulder. I was so disappointed that I threw away the whole project, pattern, fabric and all.  I decided that because I was a plus size, I had just better stick to my slopers that my mom helped me make, that I knew fit, and that I had had success sewing.

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Now that I am older and a more experienced sewer, I am going to try making me something from a store bought pattern again, especially since Connie Crawford has designed such great plus sized styles for Butterick patterns. I am going to try B5503 first. I have read the pattern guide and studied that pattern. The pattern looks good. The length of the shoulders look right and the width for the front and back looks good. I am very excited to get sewing.

The Jacket

This jacket is the first item on my list  that I created from the inspiration from the baby sleeper construction of a few weeks ago. I bought this polar fleece recently at Joann’s on sale for a great price. I was only looking for fleece for baby blankets. This piece caught the husband’s eye but I told him it was too dark for a baby. He liked the piece enough to say, “Go ahead and get some. You’ll find something to do with it.” Yes, this came from the guy who constantly asks if I am sure that I need anymore fabric, so I knew I had to make something fun with it.

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I have made a couple of kid’s jackets before with some success, but only out of sweatshirt fleece. This was my first try of making a jacket out of polar fleece. Thinking back, I believe this is my first garment out of polar fleece that I have ever made.

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I got out the pattern I used previously, but it was only a size 1, 2, 3. I wanted a bigger jacket so I went to my children’s Kwik-Sew book to look for a pattern. I found the style I wanted by combining details from several different patterns and making a few things up along the way. Although, I really just wanted to cut and sew a jacket, it was fun to spend the time in designing the details of the jacket too. I tried not to rush the process, spending the time to think the design through. The pockets were the most difficult to decided on. At first I was going to do welt pockets but decided they would be too bulky with the polar fleece. Next, I decided to put the pockets in the side seam, but rejected that idea and in the end I decided to make patch pockets to take advantage of the frogs on the fabric.

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After finishing designing my pattern, the cutting and the sewing went together nicely. I was surprised how nicely the polar fleeced stitched in the serger. I thought I was going to be in for a fight. My made up pattern did well except for the collar. I did not really have a pattern for the collar  to take inspiration from and I cut it too short, so in the process of attaching the collar, I had to stop and cut a longer collar. Not really a problem, just an annoyance.

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This biggest fight I had in the construction of the jacket was the button holes. Not having sewn much with polar fleece and especially since it would be doubled layers at the jackets facing, I figured the button holes were going to be a little tricky. I did some practice button holes on some scraps and my machine stitched just fine. I then stitched two of the three button holes on the jacket and they were perfect. But on the third button hole, my machine just decided to shorten the button hole by half. I unpicked the button hole, not my favorite thing to do, reset my machine and did another practice button hole and it stitched great. I then tried the third button hole on the jacket again and the machine once again stopped and finished the button hole at half the size.

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I tried this all over again with the same results. The only thing I can think of that would cause this problem is that the jacket was catching on something while stitching the button hole and stopping the process, but I could not find what the problem was. After the third time, the fabric was starting to show signs of being unpicked so I decided just to finish the button hole manually. It turned out pretty good. I actually think it stitched better than the second automatic button hole did.

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The end results are very acceptable and the jacket turned out to be very cute. With the completion of the jacket, I went back to the list to see what my next project would be, but once again, I can’t decide what to do next. Do I do the next thing on the list, or make another jacket? Possibly with a zipper and pockets in the side seams? Oh, decisions, decisions.

Joann’s

A new Joann Fabric and Craft store just opened near me. I am excited to see any new business start, but I have mixed emotions about this one.

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Now don’t get me wrong, I am very excited to have a real fabric store opening so close to me. Previous to this, the closest Joann’s or any fabric store other than Walmart was about 100 miles away. With the demise of Walmart’s fabric departments, it is becoming harder and harder to buy basic sewing supplies, buttons, zippers, bias tape and so on.  Even buying a good pair of scissors is getting to be totally out of the question. With the opening of this new Joann’s store, I now have a selection of notions to choose from, a better array of yarn colors to choose from, sales to shop, coupons to use and on the rare occasion, a great deal to be found.

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The problem I have is that after shopping M&L fabric in Anaheim, CA,  PA Fabric Outlet in Harrisburg, PA, Jomar’s in Philly and even SAS Fabric in Phoenix, Joann’s just falls short in comparison. Now, I know that these other fabric stores are discount store and they don’t carry everything, but they do have much more fabric and far better prices. And isn’t that the fix that a real fabriholic needs?

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I do see in the future many trips to this Joann’s store and plenty of money spent there as I continue my sewing journey. Joann’s has its place in suppling my basic sewing needs and having those needs in stock, but, I will still long for and hold dear to my heart the trips to the many awesome fabric stores I have shopped at over the years.