Do you have my sewjo?

Both my blogging mojo and sewing mojo seem to have disappeared at the same time.  I’ve noticed that a lot of other sewing bloggers have mentioned a lack of sewjo recently, so I hope mine is keeping yours company – wherever they are hiding.

Just after my last post (nearly two months ago!) I came down with whatever it was that Mr RTS had over my birthday weekend, and it took me a couple of weeks to even begin to feel normal again.  Then, on 30th September, the bobbin case on my main machine got damaged.  I ordered a new one, but it didn’t turn up until yesterday.  I ordered it from a fairly local shop (about 30 miles away) and presumed it would turn up within a few days, even allowing for second class post, but they neglected to inform me that they didn’t actually have the bobbin case in stock when I ordered it and they were “waiting on their supplier” and it would be delivered “within a week or so”.  This information was only given after chasing the order a couple of times via email.  When it finally turned up, it was with a receipt and a compliments slip – no apology for taking nearly a month to deliver an item. Their excuse in one of their emails (after I’d chased) was that they state that items are “subject to availability” on their website – seriously (!?!?) in this day and age. I definitely won’t be ordering anything from them again – especially as I bought my “fully serviced” Singer featherweight from the same shop and there were bare wires hanging from the foot pedal, and the tension wasn’t working at all!!  (If anyone wants to know a shop to avoid – it is the largish sewing shop in Bournemouth with the intials SW.)

I know I have loads of other machines I could use, but if I just want to sew a pair of PJs, or a jersey top, or a TNT skirt, I really don’t want to muck around with one of my more temperamental machines.

In between being ill and my machine breaking, I did sew a few things from the pile I already had cut out. I’ve had them photographed for ages, but couldn’t get around to blogging about them until now.

First up was another pair of PJ pants using Simplicity 3696.

I already had a t-shirt that I don’t wear anymore to go with these so I am very happy with the complete outfit, and have already worn it a lot.  The t-shirt was one of a set of three and a green version now gets worn with my green check PJ pants and a lilac one with my muslin of these PJs.

It may sound odd, but in six+ years of sewing I hadn’t once used a fabric that needed a pattern match at the seams. The above PJs were the first, and I’m happy to say that the pattern matching at the side, front and back seams is perfect. It doesn’t look that way in the photos because I think the front seams is folded, but you can see how the pattern runs across from one leg to the other, right down to the hem.  This makes me happy 🙂

Next is a very boring item – a slip.  I used a fabric that my local shop calls “evening jersey” and some wide black elastic.  I have a few long skirts and dresses that I haven’t lined because I want to wear them in the summer, but would also like to be able to wear in the winter and can’t because they are either a bit too thin, or would cling to tights. This slip gives me more wear out of quite a lot of my wardrobe.  Because the fabric stretches I was able to make this quite fitted so it doesn’t add any bulk under the skirt/dress I wear it with.  I think I’ll be making a white one at some point in the future.

Two belts to go with my cherry print dress.  The first one is from the pattern for the dress itself (Simplicity 2888) and the other is New Look 6067. This is only the second time making my own piping and although it isn’t perfect, I’m very happy with it.

Another quite boring garment.  This dress is Vogue 8764. I made a red and black version at the beginning of the year and wore it a lot last winter.  I don’t like this version as much, due to poor fabric choices.  The outer fabric is a weird jersey – it’s much thinner than it looks, and has very little stretch. It’s also already trying to pull apart at the seams, before I’ve even worn it – it’s almost as if the needle holes have damaged the fabric even though I’m fairly sure I used a stretch needle.  Because the jersey was too thin, I fully lined this dress using the same “evening jersey” I used for the slip above.  However, this lining fabric is heavier than the outer fabric so the two seem to be fighting each other.  Because of this I had to sew closed the slit that is supposed to be at the neckline.  I am reserving judgment on this dress until I actually wear it.  I also managed to not realise until after I’d cut it out that I actually had enough fabric to match the pattern across the waist seam between the bodice and skirt.  I think I might have liked it more if I’d done that pattern matching. Oh well, live (sew) and learn.

On a positive note – my shopping for fabric mojo ran off with my sewjo.  All I have bought since my last post is a 99p quilt cover that will become a skirt of some description (probably with the stripes running horizontally)

and three metres of striped jersey that is destined to be a Tiramisu Dress once Steph gets the pattern posted out.  The purple stripes are somewhat darker in real life than they look in the photo.

I’m really looking forward to making this dress because it appears as though Steph may have designed a dress with a cross-over front that doesn’t gape. I have about a bazillion patterns with a surplice neckline, but have given up on trying to sew any of them because I haven’t yet made one that doesn’t gape.  I know that an FBA might solve that problem, but, if I’m completely honest, I’d rather just keep sewing other patterns that don’t need an FBA because I can’t be bothered to learn how to do one properly. The Tiramisu Dress pattern has different cup sizes included so hopefully Steph has done the FBA work for me 🙂

On a completely non-sewing related note, I seem to have picked up a new shopping habit:

Yep, they are all nail polishes.  I was completely unaware until quite recently that there are so many amazing nail blogs out there.  I only discovered them back in around May when I only owned about ten polishes and was researching an upcoming QVC TSV.  Since then my polish collection has increased just a teeny bit (!), along with my Google Reader subscriptions.  This, along with having a wardrobe full of clothes that I like, is one of the reasons that my sewing has stalled.  Nail art is creative but painted nails don’t need to be stored anywhere, although the polish does – but it takes up a lot less room than fabric.   Don’t worry, this blog isn’t going to turn into a nail art blog – I’ll start a new one for that if I can ever get my nail art and photography good enough.  I only really mentioned it because it’s a another creative pastime that I was completely unaware of until not that long ago and I wish I’d discovered it sooner.

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