Good news… I have ONE CLEAN CLEAR table!  And it’s under a window, not shoved in a dark corner!  It will eventually be for my 3 sewing machines, right now it’s serving as organization and purge central.  Eventually I’ll get one more table upstairs and then I’ll have a huge table for crafting and cutting and pressing! Oh my! Progress?!

While cleaning and going through some of my patterns I’ve been contemplating what to make first once I have room.  It will probably be this, from the new Ottobre Woman (they’re Finnish).  (Did you know you can order individual copies or have a subscription directly from Ottobre?!  And you can do it all online and they come fast.  Love that.  Now if only Burda would do similar!)

This top looks like a simple and easy project.  I have 4 Ottobre Woman’s now.  Time to make something!  Their styles are not as fashion-forward as Burda, but a lot of nice simple styles and the size range is larger.

What I’d really like to make is the new plus-size pattern from Burda Style (below).  Maybe in the future… right now all I wear is knits, knits, knits.  Sweaters, t-shirts, knit tops.  I’m thinking that’s what I should be sewing! So cute though!  If I started wearing stuff like this to work, people might at work might wonder if I was leaving them for a new job   Much classier than my normal casual-geek-girl look.

Nadine Plus from Burda Style:

The original had way to much gathering going on for already fluffy figures.  It looks so much nicer with the smooth peplum and cuffs.

I’ve also been collecting knit wear inspirations for creating my own tops.  The selection of sewing patterns for knits is… sad.  Here’s my recent favorites from Banana Republic, Anthropologie, and Adidas.

Cheers!

2 things finished Wednesday night! Been lying on my back a lot hopped up on muscle relaxers.  Probably too much stress seized my back up. I can’t take any pain reliever but Tylenol, Friday’s endoscopy revealed a stomach ulcer.  Surprise!  

This is probably the first thing I’ve sewn since January.  For my boss on Boss’s Day (today).  Sewn by hand(!) out of some off-white velour.  The pattern is from the book Softies: Simple Instructions for 25 Plush Pals.  I present Tooth with Crown.  (I work with a lot of Dentists)  There’s probably a small industry in selling plush teeth to the dental industry if I make up my own pattern

Also finished these socks out of bamboo yarn.  Very unforgiving splitty yarn.  I had to force myself to finish them.  If they hadn’t of fit they’d be in the trash bin!  Back to wool yarn!

I haven’t felt like sewing in a while.  Or I’ve felt like it and stared at my sewing area and sighed.  A nightmare!

PR (patternreview.com) is having a contest in July for one item sewn with knits.  I figured I’d try and see if would get me moving.  I ordered Jalie 2796 and I plan on making the skort with the short underneath .  I also have a matching top design floating around in my head.  Something sleeveless for summer!  I love Jalies, they acutally go up to my size!

I’ve obtained some light grey and light blue DriFit wicking lycra from Mill End Store (which I’m pretty sure they got from Rose City Textiles as the vendor code started with RCT )  I have made workout capris from the same stuff in black that I had left over from when I worked at Nike.  Great fabric, not flimsy, and I wear them all the time!  I may have some scraps of other colors in my stash for accents.  I also picked up some reflective piping for accents if needed.

This should be a great project to finish on my new coverstitch machine too.  Poor baby only has had one thing sewn on it! (and I still haven’t got a picture of it).   So lots to do in July!  I’m still waiting on the skort pattern to show up in the mail, so last weekend I got a bit of cleaning done in my sewing room (also my bedroom).  The room is 12×16 so there’s pleny of space.  I really need to get it all de-cluttered this summer so I take a trip to Ikea and get the components to make my dream cutting/storage table.

Some day I’ll make it to Rose City Textiles (RCT) to get more workout fabric.  I have tried two Saturdays and they haven’t been open.  The first time I didn’t know they were only open the first Saturday of the month, the second time was last weekend, and the sign said they’d be open the second Saturday becuase the first Saturday was a holiday weekend.  Blah!  I then ended up going to Fabric Depot, the big Mill End Store and Pendleton Woolen Mill outlet.  I found a few yards of decent wicking fabric at Mill End so I should have a few more months before I try RCT again (and I’ll call first and make sure they’re open!)

I don’t completely hate you any more.

Reason #1: 14 yards of knits from the clearance at $2.50 at yard. All are mystery cotton/poly jersey plus lycra except the top (probably a cotton/poly interlock). Plenty for lots and lots of (hopefully) wearable muslins.

Reason #2: Pattern Sales. $1 each. (Especially when I accidentally buy one I already have (4076))

I got so busy the first week of my pledge that I had nothing but ideas running around my head. Last weekend I attempted a knit top out of a knit sheet, but the top looked absolutely horrible on me. So I didn’t finish it. I was quite proud of the great sewing job I did, but there was no saving the top from making me look more dumpy. (It was Simplicity 3983 view E). I don’t even have the heart to take a picture. I’d rather just move on to new projects…

This weekend I attacked one of three blouses I have of the same style, in different Pucci-esque prints. They are all about 2 sizes too big for me. I really like the way they are styled, with the wrap looking top and draped bottom that covers my tummy. One problem is they were too low cut and I always had to wear a camisole underneath. Problem solved with the addition of a band around the neckline. I bought a 1/4 yard of black peachskin that was really close to the fiber and hand of the orginal fabric. I took apart the blouse and attached a band to the neck line and the sleeves.

This week I hope to get some exercise clothes made/remade. I have some men’s NASA tshirts I’d like to refashion into something more feminine and the workout capris I made last month are already too big!