A Beautiful Kenmore

I ventured up to the attic yesterday and it was a fruitful trip. Lurking in the corner with boxes blocking it was a small sewing table with a fold-over leaf in mahogany finish. It took a few minutes to move the boxes to the side in an organized manner without falling down the stairs. (There is no railing and I am scared to death of heights) Just my luck, there was a plug in right next to where I moved the table when I pulled it out. The light came right on and the thread pin screwed in easily. I have to figure out how to thread this machine, it is similar to Alexis' machine but with some extras on the top. It shouldn't take too much to get it running. B says it needs to be serviced but it's nothing I can't do myself. She even says she might be interested in letting it go to make room in the attic. The sewing book that was laying next to it (which is also fabulous) is dated 1971, this is around the same time the machine was manufactured. The only thing missing is the machine's manual. Maybe it will pop up while I'm tinkering with the machine. I think the attic will be my new hang-out until I can have my machine back on my desk.

Update on house hunting: We are going to look at a row house today in an acceptable neighborhood. The owner doesn't mind our animals and the rent is not outrageous so this could be a strong possibility for us. There is another row house coming available near the end of the month also that could be promising. Keep your fingers crossed for us.

Could it Be?

No, no house yet, we are looking, every day.  I went to the art store last night for a sketch pad and pencils.  While I'm out, future mother-in-law says she has a sewing machine in the attic, it just needs to be serviced........should I do it?

Still Looking for a Place to Live

Apparently the city we moved to is NOT and I repeat NOT pet friendly unless you are willing to pay almost $1000/month  for rent and utilities.  We are staying with relatives until we find a place that will suit our needs, I'm just beginning to get a bit depressed about not finding something sooner.  The saddest part of it is, we had a place lined up, got up here and the place was a train wreck.  There was no way we were renting it.  The best laid plans huh?  I'm only getting to log onto the web every couple of days and my patterns and machine will be in storage until we find a place so cross your fingers we find a place....soon.  I'm having sewing withdrawls.

Still Alive

Hi everyone, I'm still alive. What was supposed to be a seamless interstate move has become the move from H.E.L.L. Our apartment fell through and we are staying with the BF's parents until our new place of residence becomes available. I will be posting periodically until we get moved into the new place. All of my patterns are in transit and then will be in storage :(. Happy Sewing to all of you until I get my machine back.

Friday Finds

Friday was my day to hit all the local sales.  I came home with one box full of goodies, notions, fabric, patterns, even a small pattern for a handmade felt cardinal on a pin (I will post on this later).  I came home with quite a bit of vintage fabric which I'm very pleased with.  A beautiful gabardine, blue shirting fabric, red calico, and a mystery fabric which I have posted over at Sew Retro in better detail.  

One of My "Busy" Projects

This is one of the projects that has helped keep me busy through last week.  My ironing board cover screamed "you're wrong" every time I tried to iron on it.  Really, there was no excuse for the shape it was in other than sheer laziness.  I dropped everything to make a new cover, which I'm very happy with.  I used a Kwik Sew pattern for the cover, sleeve roll, and tailor's ham.  The pattern called for the ham and roll to be filled with saw dust.  Not having any of that readily available and having no clue where to get it, I opted for rice.  This seemed a reasonable substitute to me.  Each piece was easy to put together and turned out well.  The board cover pattern was made for a board a bit larger than mine.  I just need to go it and tighten up the elastic to make it fit better (that's where the gathering is coming from).  I am keeping this pattern in my stash as a "go-to" pattern for future purposes.  Another board cover is in order so I can rotate the two out and save some wear and tear on them.

Alexis' First Project and Sewing Machine

The gods have decided to teach me patience.  I am teaching Alexis to sew.  I got her a machine from and estate sale a couple of months ago.  After about an hour of adjusting and playing with the machine it was ready to go.  I had her cut, lay, and pin the pattern out over the last three days.  She decided to make pajama pants.  It's a Simplicity "Learn to Sew" pattern, #3553.  It is a modern pattern.  She chose some striped flannel from my stash and we had just enough.  The machine is a 1975 Singer Fashion Mate Model 360.  It had several different feet and fashion discs for decorative stitching.  It's also mounted in a beautiful table.  Alexis is doing rather well on straight stitches and is working on curves.  She did an outstanding job pinning the pattern to the flannel, she did all of it by herself.   I've had her practicing on scraps before she starts each section.  I'm happy she has taken such an interest in sewing and wanting to learn.

Confessions of a Pattern Hoarder

I just keep buying more.  There are boxes full of patterns in my closet that I need to re-home and yet I keep buying more.  In search of those elusive "my size" patterns with just the right look to them.  When will it stop?  I guess i will be drowning in pattern paper before I stop.

My Apologies

I am attempting to make my blog more user friendly.  I have screwed up.  This will only be a temporary background until I find one that suits my needs.  There needs to be more room across for larger pictures to be inserted without making the posts a mile long.  If anyone has any suggestions as to where I might find something like I'm looking for, please leave me a comment.

Update, I like this template better but now I need to figure out how to change some colors, the pink has to go from the backgrounds.  I think purple would be great and wouldn't clash with the flowers.

Ann's Dress

Our neighbor's daughter is almost 2.  She's a very SMALL 2.  I used a size 2 pattern to cut this dress and just cut the seam allowance off to make it smaller.  She should have room to grow into the dress over the summer.  I used the rest of the cherry fabric that was left over from making Alexis' dress.  It took some creative cutting to get it to work but it did.  This is just one of the many projects I've been working on this week around cleaning and hosting a yard sale.  We will be making our big move to Pennsylvania next week and I wanted Ann's dress finished before we left.  The back has and elastic casing built into the inside of the waistline in the back.  I used some cheap silk to make the facing with and hem tape to finish the hem.  Ann is tall and thin and I didn't want to lose and length on the skirt while making this.  The pattern was a 1955 McCall's, #3346.  

Have a Good Memorial Day!

Glitter Graphics Maker & MySpace Layouts

Busy Busy Week

I do apologize for my "blogger/radio silence" on sewing this week.  As things go, I ended up with three more projects to work on, along with everyday stuff to take care of also.  I hope to be posting on this in more detail over this week as I begin to get things done and get a bit more organized.  I will be post pictures of a wonderful stack of "Work Basket" booklets I ended up with from the 40's, 50's, and 60's.