Bad *Feng Shui* in my sewing room

Well I don't even know what feng shui really is.. I just know something is NOT working well in my sewing room. I had so many mess ups yesterday, I about swore off sewing all together!!! Grumble Grumble

After a month of not sewing, I was ready to get behind the machine again. Let's say 2007 is off to an interesting start ;)

First off, I bought a back up serger, the Viking Huskylock 910. I was so excited about it... so far I have been less than pleased. It serges WAY too slowly... I thought, "Oh well, I will set up it for rolled hems. " I have seen rolled hems on Huskylock's and they have been beautiful... On my Babylock Imagine they have A LOT to be desired, truthfully they STINK badly! After and HOUR trying to figure out how to thread the thing, I ended up with less-than-good rolled hems. Better than my Imagine, but not by much. I think I will be searching out a rolled hem tutorial, as It may be operator error :snort:

I moved on to appliquéing with my embroidery machine, only to have trouble. The stabilizer ripped off the back while the machine was stitching, the n the t-shirt fabric bunched up and stitched in the wrong place. Of course it was impossible to rip the stitches without tearing the fabric.

Okay, "buy new design.... Have to find blank disks to download data." That is like finding a needle in a haystack. I forgot I had to only download designs and kept trying to download all the instructions on to the disk :duh: Then accidentally downloaded the wrong size file. "Wipe disk clean and start again."... I finally get ready to try again.

...I Cut out the VERY last piece of the red knit for the top. .....and guess what??? Yes, that's right! The same thing happened. The stabilizer ripped the knit fabric and bunched up. The machine started stitching in the wrong place. I was about ready to throw my machine in the garbage. Let's just say I was venting!

Okay, "don't give up", I thought. I will just whip up some new leggings from the Ottobre 1/2007 issue. Nope. I stitched through the elastic. :sigh: Okay, just seam rip and try again... bad idea
I sliced my thumb open with the ripper.
I gave up, and cut fabric orders and went to bed!

What a lousy, no good, terrible and bad feng shui kinda day in the sewing room.

Suzanne

Our Latest 30 second Audio Spot

http://www.sewzannesfabrics.com/sewsewsewaudio.mp3

Notable Children

Once a year my kids Charter School has a *Night of the Notables* The kids are each asked to choose a notable a person from History (either notable for good or bad) They are to dress up and act as if they are that person. They are also asked to create a display board about the person. The older kids, Jr. High and High School are also asked to write a paper.






This year my son Landon was "Billy Yank" A term used to describe the common soldier in the Union Army during the Civil War.
















My daughter Gabriella was the painter Frida Kahlo














My oldest son Kyle was Abe Lincoln
















It is a wonderful event. One of my favorite events of the year. I really enjoy asking the kids questions about their characters. I can tell the ones who just did the report and really don't understand their person, an those who really tried to understand who the person was.. The kids have tons of fun dressing up and acting too.

The school music class also gets to rock out. It was fun this year seeing Abe Lincoln play the base and drums and Frida Kahlo belting out the tunes.


Thanks for letting me share the fun
Suzanne

Black and White Skirt

When I was sewing this skirt up...um 4 months ago. My younger daughter Eliana said "I think that skirt is too funky Mom!" Well, I think funky is fitting for my teen daughter. I finally got a picture of her wearing it today.
It's the Birch Street Womens Spiral Skirt Pattern. I used a white twill and black denim, I picked up years ago in Reno, NV. Easy pattern. I just had to eliminate about 2-3 panels so it wouldn't be to full or heavy with all the denim.
Sorry for the grainy picture, I had to borrow my daughters camera, to take pics today after my camera battery died as soon as we were finally getting around to taking our Christmas picture.:sigh:

Fun and funky. Ahhh to be 15 again and wear such playful clothes.

Thanks
Suzanne

Happy January 7th from the Poneks!

So we missed the Christmas picture deadline this year! .... And still a little late to be wishing a happy new year.... So, Happy January 7th!

Christmas Dress 2006

I know, I know what I am doing showing a Christmas Dress I finished Dec 13th??? The Christmas stuff is already all packed away. What is it with me... after Dec. 26 and on, I don't want to see another Christmas light or anything. I want it all packed away and cleaned up... I really love Christmas time, all the lights and decorations. But the next day I just want my house back.

Anyway back to sewing :) I have been totally un-inspired about creating. I need a new pattern to try... Maybe time to check out the Ottobre's and get the seam ripper ready ;) I do believe it may be getting rusty. Poor thing :) I want to try new things... More with wovens and more time consuming projects. This falls into 2007 Goals ramblings...

Okay about the dress and jacket. I used some Baby Nay *Wildflowers* stretch poplin. I used a See & Sew pattern B4098. Simple to use pattern with nice clear instructions. I do like these patterns for classic styles. I never would have used them except my friend Meg, who does the podcast Material Mama, used one and liked it. It has very nice instructions for sewing in the zipper :)The collar is a bit big for the now styles, but I like the old fashioned-ness of it.

For the most part I only like to sew with European Patterns or Kwik Sew but I will always give a See & Sew or New Look a whirl.

I used the New Look Pattern 6551 for the lined bolero jacket. I used Joanns red veveteen and Baby Nay for the lining. I have used this pattern before and found it easy enough. Great pattern for someone wanting to make a girls jacket with out buttons or zippers.



I don't really remember if I had to seam rip on this dress, but I do remember it felt like I gathered for days with the drindl skirt. (One long very wide piece)

Now, I'm going to move onto some fun, over-embellished clothing :)

Suzanne