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Showing posts from January, 2012

Lazy weekend

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A lazy weekend for me means good stitching time if nothing else. I have managed to complete the left half of Frederick (minus the shelving at the top and bottom). I'll complete those once I have a good reference point on the top right. And joining Frederick and the fish is an owl. I didn't get much done on my dress, but i did cut out the skirt and pin it.

One quarter of the way done

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Yes, 1/4th done (rough estimate) As you can see, I've moved on the the lower left quadrant of Frederick and what was dominated by brown, red and gold, now has some blue and purple. I realize the picture's a little dark, I didn't have him illuminated by my stitching light when I took it.  As for the dress, the bodysuit now looks like a swimsuit. I just have to finish off the elastic on the upper edges and fit the bra to it and it'll be wearable. Then I stick the skirt on and I'm ready to add the fringe. Yippee! And yes, those are my fuzzy slippers to the right of the picture.

new smooth dress idea

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Ok. I've had this pattern for a while with the intent to make a smooth dress. I have finally figured out the logistics to make it. The majority of the dress is gathered pieces stitched onto interfacing and the main panel of the bodice has batting since they have the diagonal lines top-stitched onto it, not the best thing for dancing, too solid. I will take my princess seam pattern to make the bodysuit. This should give me the seaming in the bodice. Next, out of the 15 pieces the pattern came with, I only need 6 and 3 I can wing if absolutely necessary. The halter strap will be encased elastic with the other fabric gathered onto it in a similar fashion to the current red smooth dress I'm wearing for competitions. (That reminds me I need to move the lower two straps to take up the back of the dress.) The only thing I need to figure out now, is color, fabric, and stone pattern. Well, probably going to stone the bodice to mimic the top-stitching. Fabric is probably going to be

There's Frederick

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I have two things to update today. One, my latest progress on Frederick. you can actually see his face. Isn't he cute? Two, I have a picture of my dress' progress. I inserted the elastic on the legs. Despite not using a blind hem presser foot for my serger, I only cut the hem slightly once. Need to work on catching the fabric more but hopefully no one will have to see that portion of the dress. *whistles innocently* Now I just need to work on the top and insert the zipper. I have a feeling that once this portion is done, the rest will be much easier.

First trials with a serger

Well, I finally decided to sew the seams on my dress with my new serger. Yay me! But boy is it a bit of a pain. Hard to thread (may have to take the advice of the manual to clip and tie the new threads together and just run them through that way). Finally got it re-threaded to a 3-thread over-lock. Good thing I tested on scrap fabric (the piece I screwed up on earlier). Threads kept tangling, breaking, not there at all. Ended up being the thread was winding around the base. So I fixed that and then it was sewing fine, but the tension's all wonky. I got frustrated after a while and gave up for the day. Need to re-watch the DVD that came with it...

A little bit of Frederick in my life...

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I decided to take a picture of my progress on 'Frederick'. I realize it's not much, but not bad either for a little over a week. This is essentially the outline of 1/4 of the piece and it's stitching up relatively quick (I have the fish done! ha). I usually stitch while watching tv and as most of my shows are starting to come back on, I'll be stitching more. Of course I still have that latin dress to work on... I may do a little something on it tomorrow.

back to dancing

I just had my first lesson of the new year. Went over tango and started the new cha cha choreography. Fairly productive for the lesson. Still have a ways to go before the comp in march. As for my latin dress, I have no idea what's wrong with my brain when it comes to making it. First, i forgot I needed a zipper and cut the back in 1 piece. Luckily the pattern had already accounted for that. But upon cutting it, I for some reason ended up cutting the front in half. Stupid mistake, so I ended up cutting the front piece again and split the back, then sewed them together and did the darts. Decided I'm just going to attach a skirt to the bodysuit once I've finished with it. Next part is to finish sewing the seams. First time using the serger so wish me luck.

cross-stitch WIPs

I did manage to start cleaning up that closet of mine. The big pieces of paper have been folded and placed in a bag, which then joined the pile on the floor. Oops? Either way, I went through my cross-stitch to make a list of the pieces I had started it ends up looking like this: 1. GK's The Accolade ~25% completed 2. GK's The Arab Tent 4/5 pages of the pattern 3. GK's mountain landscape with a castle 15/20 rows of 50 stitches of first page out of 138 or something. (this is also known as my insanity piece) 4. TW's Millennium~2/3 completed of over 2 stitching. 5. TW's Peacock Tapestry, maybe about 2/3. Messed up on a blend and haven't worked on it since. 6. Dimension's Frederick 7. Dimension's Oriental Butterflies ~2/3 (travel project) 8. Dimension's jewels of the Orient ~3/4 9. Black Swan's Dewdrop Fairy ~1/6 10.A christmas stocking with 2 cat's. ~5/6. I believe the design is from vermillion stitchery. This is my first xs project,

fabric stash

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I decided to write down some of the fabric I have in my stash and what it's planned use is. 1. 3 yrds black stretch velvet. Planned to be used in a latin dress that has yet to be started except in my head. 2. ~2 yrds black spandex. to be used for bodysuits for my dresses. 3. 3 yrds blue/silver reversible sequined 2-way stretch. for a draped latin dress with sparkly bra. I have the bra, the nude straps were giving me trouble so it's temporarily on hold. 4. ~1 yrd nude stretch, for straps and such. 5. 2 yrds orange/black spandex. use currently unknown 6. ~1 yrd green gliter velvet. use most likely as bodice for smooth dress 7. ~1 yrd purple crushed velvet. use most likely as bodice for smooth dress 8. ~1 yrd big hole net. accent for future latin showcase dress     9. red silk chiffon, crepe de chine, and china silk for use in a vogue dress pattern (shorter version) 10. I have usable pieces from various completed projects that without me going t

Happy new year!

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Happy new year to all. And a happy birthday to me. I figure I should post my new years resolutions. Last year's was to lose 10 lbs. I managed to lose 15. Go me. 1. Lose another 10 lbs. 2. Finish at least one cross-stitch project that I have in my stash. 3. organize my craft closet. Yeah... That closet. Suggestions would be great. Projects startedjust before the new year were a new latin dress that I believe I mentioned in my previous post and the dimensions kit 'Frederick'. Right now neither looks like much so no pictures. I'll take a picture of the dress when it looks a bit more than just an unfinished bathing suit.