Thursday, February 21, 2008

If at first you don't succeed, try and try again, or bust out the scissors

I'm feeling a bit more accomplished today. I finally got a pair of pants done for a custom order. I'm pretty happy with them, although I'm wondering about the fit. Either this guy is pretty little, or he did one helluva job measuring himself. He wanted something Grateful Dead-ish, with a few different logo choices. After letting him know that I don't do copy-written logos, we settled for the lightning bolt applique--one that looks least like an official logo. I mean, it's just a lightning bolt, right??

I really like the color combination. He asked for brown and blue, similar to this pair I had on the site. I didn't have the same brown in my dye stash, so I needed to order more. I love brown, and use it often in my dyes, so I splurged and got the bigger container of dye so it will last longer.

I still need to cut up the top I made last week and try it again. I have been having the darnedest time with necklines and knits lately. Last year I seemed to have had no problem with this, as I created several knit-fabric pieces. I don't know what the heck is different about it. I'm using the same fabrics. Either I am being a nit-picky perfectionist or I've lost some of my skills. I've bought a new foot for my machine and clear elastic, hoping to get better looking stitches.

This is the problem I am having. The seams are sewn together just fine, it's just the top-stitching that is getting wonky. It keeps stretching out as I sew it down. I used my new Teflon foot, but it still stretched.

See how the neckline got stretched out and rippled?

Not cool.

Come to think of it, I'm really not that thrilled with the top as it is. After I sewed it together, I tried to fit it on Franny. Franny is my dress-form, in case you have not met her. Well, the top was supposed be her size. But I could just BARELY get the thing on her. See, most knit fabrics have stretch in both directions. One direction usually stretches way more, but usually they both do.

Not with this fabric.

I got 3 beautiful Organic Cotton knit printed fabrics a few months ago and have not had the chance to use them up very much. So I use this gorgeous paisley type print for the bottom of the shirt. Only I sew it on--in the complete opposite direction of the stretch! That thing won't budge!

Here is the top before I go and hack it to death. . ... I don't know why these little spots are coming up on the soy when I photograph it, cuz it looks FINE when I look at it!!!

The whole bottom print is coming off. I'm going to do something a little more groovy with that part of it, hoping it will make the top way cuter. Cuz now it's just boring. And it needs pockets, but the pockets looked stupid on the solid piece of fabric. The 3D flowers on the shoulder add a nice touch, but I'm afraid they might look kind of lame, too. It almost whispers (not screams) old lady to me.

Those little red flowers? Well, I had no red jersey so I went to my closet and cut the bottom hem off a red Clutch t-shirt I had. OK, the shirt is from 2000, but I can still wear it, though! Hey--it just HAD to have red flowers!!!!

DH is off for another tour. This time is a whole month long. Woah! I'm gonna miss him so much. :( I'll be sittin' here at home my me lonesome if any of yas wanna come by!

Our last meal together was just plain comfort goodness. We got a new car on Tuesday, and we ended up getting home later than we had originally thought. So I picked up some stuff for a quick dinner and drove home in the new Jeep Liberty. I love making my own sauce, but this time I picked up a jar of organic vodka sauce and it was delish! I also really love the Alexa brand Garlic bread, so I picked up a double pack of that. Looks like I have a whole loaf all to myself during this month long tour DH is on. Darn! Feeling like I really needed to get some veggies in, I threw what I had in the oven to roast. Oh, how I love roasted veggies. And this recent bag of super-large organic carrots--freaking YUM, I tell ya. Only a mere 3 shiitake mushrooms to throw in, unfortunately.

I've learned to add the garlic in the middle of the cooking process so it doesn't burn. Also, fresh rosemary adds such a wonderful earthy intense flavor to it.
Maybe I should have wiped the plate down like they do in the restaurants for this photo, but you can just ignore that and look at the food instead.


I made it to the gym yesterday. I've been getting bored with it and have also been feeling quite lazy. It has been so cold here (well. . . it's winter!) and I just dread going out the door in the mornings. Even worse, is afterwards, going out to a cold car, in sweaty clothes, only to get out about 2 minutes later to go inside and get Subway sandwiches. OK, how could you NOT eat a Subway sandwich after you're starving from working out???? But yesterday I worked out, damnit. It had started snowing as I drove down the mountain, but I figured it wouldn't really amount to much. Well, I just BARELY made it back up the mountain! I had to kick inthe 4WD just to get up the hill! Darn! Gotta use the 4WD on the new wheels!!

Unfortunately I didn't get to see DH off as he left for tour yesterday afternoon. He made the decision to go ahead and leave early, because of the snow. It's a good thing he left when he did cuz we got about 3 inches here. And we're supposed to have freezing temps for the next few days/week. Perhaps Spring is further away than we had thought. I even saw some crocus's yesterday--I guess even they're confused about the weather!!!

At least the Jeep can make it. . . .
And what a crazy lookin' tree next to it, huh???


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2 comments:

Anonymous said...

ok i'm wiping the drool off my chin as i write this :) mmm mmm good :) So you guys decided on the libertey eh? sweet! That's what pat wants for his next vehicle (well as of right now).... oh speaking of stretch knits, i picked up my wallking foot last night and found another foot too, a roller foot, i bought it.... here's what the back says "the roller foot is used for loosely knit materials, uneven layers of fabric, or textured fabric such as velvet. Get an excellent reuslt when sewing a flatlock hem on knits. also use as an alternative to the teflon foot when sewing leather or vinyl" Only $5 at joann's so i had to try it... i'm going to see if it fits my machine in a bit :) I know i already told ya on the phone, but the fabric postcards came out super cute!

Cupcake Mama said...

Love the colors in the pants, and your roasted veggie dinner look Deeeeeelicious!!!

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