THAT Hoodie

I'm going to post the last few projects I've been working on in order over a few days so one post does not end up too picture heavy. I seem to be picture stingy lately and am attempting to fix that. Comments and Emails are much appreciated!

Here's the hoodie. This is the one that my machines went down on. The one I think looks like it belongs in a circus show. I love the stripes and the colors, I planned poorly. This would have looked much better had I placed the stripes going horizontal instead of vertical. I'm not very happy with the sleeves at the cuffs as I would like an actual cuff, like on a sweatshirt, and this does not have it. I made a boo boo on the hood but was able to adjust slightly for it. I can see the mistake and if you look hard enough at the close up of the hood and zipper, you may be able to see it too. My matching is atrocious. This is a flaw in my sewing habits that I must fix and soon.

So Im a Neurotic Personality....

Not to mention I have erratic behavior tendencies. I like to refer to it as spontaneity. Both of these traits show in my sewing. I start out with a few pre-planned projects and get sidetracked along the way. When I have the time, I will go back to back with projects and get as many done as I can. Then, I will go long periods with sewing nothing at all, my poor, beloved machine (which has been worked mercilessly lately) collecting dust while I'm on some other kick/trend. The hoodie which was half finished when both my machines were wounded in action is now complete. I'm not very happy with it at all (will post pics very soon) will be used as a house jacket. The reason for this will become evident when the pictures are posted and I give more details on the project. Almost as soon as I completed the hoodie (the same day actually) I began cutting a jacket pattern for my daughter. Thursday morning I set out to cut the pattern from the fabrics and mark it. Well, I got a little obsessed and ended up completing it by Thursday evening. This jacket makes me very happy for a few reasons. It was not a difficult pattern, it went together quickly, even though I ran out of the blue fleece I was originally going to make the whole jacket from I managed to dig up a remnant from my stash that completed it while making it look wonderful at the same time and, last but not least (the biggest reason in my book) my daughter LOVES it. She put it on and ran outside to show it to all of her friends. Plans were made to wear it today but I had to use a little elbow grease to get the markings out from the buttonholes. Initial wearing was postponed until this afternoon when the wash/dry cycle was complete. It is still on its initial run, running around the house. I'll have to wrestle her out of it to get her to bed. Well, the story does not end there. I was still feeling inspired Thursday night after completing the jacket so I went back to my pattern and fabric stash. Current project is a tunic for Alexis made from end of bolt plaid shirting fabric. The tunic sits on my ironing board half finished when I look at the Ottobre magazine and I find a zip jacket I want to make for Russell. Out comes the tracing fabric and the insert from the magazine. My kitchen table is now covered with tracing fabric, pattern pages and a pen. Apparently I don't know when to quit. The upside to it is that I have all weekend to work on the two and hopefully finish at least one. Pictures will be coming before Monday so check back to see them! Hope you all have a wonderful weekend :)

An Epiphany

I'm a genius, not really. An idea did strike in my sleep though. I'm going to use my daughter's sewing machine to finish my hoodie! See, I told you I was a genius....o.k., o.k., so I'm not, I'll live. Just keep your fingers crossed that I'm not cursed and I don't make her machine go the way of mine right now. All I have left to finish on the hoodie are the sleeves, zipper and hem so, not much. Now, lets see if I can get the boyfriend to help me haul the machine and table out of the basement ;)

In Lieu of Flannel

Until I can get more of the flannel fabric for the cuffs I am going to be working on fleece hoodies for the family to get ready for winter. I'm experimenting with this pattern for myself first so I can work out all the bugs and make some really nice ones for the kids and boyfriend. The last hoodie I made didn't turn out so well. I seem to have an issue getting sizes right. I measure, make the size according to the measurements on the individual pattern and it's still off somehow. My some measured in for a size 8 on a Simplicity pattern, the size 10 just seemed too big. The hoodie was made and it was the right size alright, almost skin tight right size, way too short also. The zipper size the packaging called for was off by 6 inches too. By the time I finished with the garment I was fed up with sewing for a bit. Yeah, right, it only took me two weeks to get back to it and here I am. I will, however, not purchase the zippers anymore until it is time to put them in.