PICTURES!!!!

Yay! I finally have pictures to share!

First up is the jacket I attempted to modify -- the pattern turned out very well... it was the stupid fabric that drove me crazy.

First picture is the scratches that were in the fabric. By the way, I realized that it wasn't my fault the scratches were there. I originally thought that I had inadvertently pulled the fabric across a piece of masking tape on the edge of my table. But this was not the case at all. The fabric, it turned out, was riddled with long scratches all over the material. I never noticed it, of course, until.... I had already sewn half of it together. That's what I get for cutting out a new project at night, I guess. I ended up lining the entire jacket with self fabric because the scratches were on the front and the yoke on the back. I recut the pieces I needed and used the original facing pieces as my jacket pieces... putting everything together as needed. It worked out well, for the most part.

However, part two of my problems was the fabric -- peachskin polyester. I will not.... WILL NOT... ever use this fabric again. Except perhaps as a lining fabric.... MAYBE. This fabric was awful to work with. It is worse than acetate or satin. Not only did it fray, but no matter how much I lowered the tension on my sewing machine, it STILL puckered when I sewed it.

First up, here are some of the scratches I found:

The material appears orange here because of my flash and because I worked the image so the scratches show a little better. If any of you have worked with peachskin before you will know the type of nap/shine it has going in one direction. This is probably how I missed it the first time. These scratches were found in about 8 different places all over the fabric.

Ok, so after I reworked the jacket to ensure it was fully lined, then I had to deal with the problem of sewing this kind of fabric. It sewed up terribly!

The next picture is the fabric puckering on the front of the jacket after I finished topstitching it with a -3 tension (the lowest I can go on my Singer):

It is a bit wrinkled from being stuck back on the shelf for three days after I got frustrated with it and began another project.... oopsie.... but you can still see how it puckered around the edging where I topstitched the edges. It was awful!

Here is the pattern I was working from:

Now, I hate, hate, hate admitting that I may be wrong about something..... (who does?), but, while this fabric is awful to work with, I have finally come to the conclusion, after thinking about for several days... that perhaps the fabric wasn't THAAAAT bad. Perhaps it is my MACHINE that is awful. I did purchase it at Wally World, after all, and we all know that sometimes companies will create a product specifically designed FOR Wally World... and said product is sometimes, well, not the same as the regular product that is sold elsewhere (case in point is their HP computers and Dell computers -- those bundled packages for such a GREAT price are made specifically for Wally World and no place else on the planet). So, anyway, I am going to play around with the fabric again (not the jacket, it is a lost cause because the topstitching cannot be pulled out without ruining the fabric, unfortunately.... I tried), but my scraps. I have over a yard left, too, so I think I will play around with different stitches and see exactly if it might be the fact that my machine won't allow a lot of tension adjustments. It will only allow adjustment for the top tension, not the bottom and the feed dogs can't be adjusted at all. Maybe it is the machine and not the fabric. I may have to begin saving up for a better machine, even though I paid around $180 for it.

Ok, on to funner things (is that a word?) ---

Here is the project I stopped the jacket for:

I purchased a blouse from C.J.Banks (my absolute favorite clothing store of all time) a few months ago that I absolutely LOVE to wear. I wanted to duplicate it with other colors and fabrics so I found this pattern and modified it accordingly. The blouse is almost done and then I believe I will make one more in another color before I move on to my sunshine yellow linen wardrobe projects. Here is the blouse so far. The neckline needed adjusting because the pattern was actually cut very short (more like a juniors), so I added 2 inches to the top all the way around (raglan style sleeves on this, so it was fairly easy). Then I added two inches to the bottom and took out the rounded bottom, straightening it up. I also put in a bit of a rounded back adjustment and also widened the bottom so it would flare nicely. I plan on smocking the top section a little bit (maybe) and then adding a tie string that goes from the sides to tie in the back. This should add a bit of interest and waist definition. I wanted to add something around the neckline, but didn't want to add ruffles or anything too frilly because the pattern is overwhelming enough. I thought about a bow, but I'm not sure. I figured I'd play after I get it together.

Then, for the coup de grâce ----

This is the wardrobe I want to make with the sunshine yellow linen, the pastel striped linen, and the pale yellow cream lace. Let me know what everyone thinks. It will be mix and match. I'm not sure which should be which, but because of one of the other sewing bloggers who is making a lot of items in yellow this summer, I was inspired. I don't have the link to the blog right now, otherwise I'd say who it was (it is on my other computer) and right now I can't decide between 2 possibles....

Here is the selection of fabric I chose:

It looks a bit more yellow than it really is, I think because of the lighting. If you notice the pattern picture above, also looks a bit yellow, so I think that is what happened.

I hope these look good together. I will have to modify the patterns a little for things like rounded back, etc., but I am getting to be a pro at it now since I bought that Fit for Real People book. I highly suggest it if you have problems with fitting your patterns to your body shape.

Well, that's all for right now. I will update as needed in the next few days as I finish the blouse. Sorry for the long post! And sorry for having to wait for pictures!! Have a wonderful weekend all!