Bird Shirt

The pattern is New Look 6527 view B and the fabric is from the sale bin at Joann's. Since it was a remnant, there wasn't enough fabric to make even the short sleeves, so I opted to make something I could layer this winter. I cut a size 14 that graded to an 18 below the waist. Next time, I'll start with a 16 on top though, 14 was a bit tight across the shoulders and the armscye was too small. The shirt was quick to cut out, and since the birds were facing all directions I didn't have to worry about matching pattern. I like the neckline on this shirt and it went together smoothly.

Collar before

Collar with iron-on interfacing

Collar after

Next to get sewn on was the bottom half of the shirt.  The fabric is translucent though and the seam across the chest needed to be trimmed to minimize visibility.

Bottom of shirt added, need to trim seam across chest

The next pattern tweak came with the armscye.

Armscye are too small

Green line shows where I resized armholes

Larger armhole

Since there were no sleeves to attach, I finished the sleeve edges at this point and added the shirt hem. My Bernina 1230 handled this lightweight, slightly slippery fabric just fine.

Hem

The finished shirt. I love the birds and I think this will pair with just about any cardigan or sweater.  Since it is a bit see-through and there is no lining, it's probably better that it will get layered.

Front view

Side view: I like the high front-low back hemline 

Back view: still a bit tight across shoulders

Drunkard's Path Quilt is Finished

She is a showstopper

Last time we checked in on this quilt it was back from being quilted and was waiting for some binding and a good cleaning.

Lainie is inspecting the quilting

 All of the fabrics used in this quilt are at mom's house, so I took my quilt over there a couple weekends ago to piece together the binding. Assembly line style, I cut fabric and mom sewed the strips together. The process went very smoothly--maybe too smoothly as we ended up with 18+ yards of binding for a quilt that only needed 14. No problem, another quilt will come along for which the extras here will make the perfect binding.

18 yards of binding

I had planned to take the quilt back to my place to sew on the binding, but I realized I was going to have to get very creative about space if I did that.  Maybe set up a machine on the dining room table or perhaps the floor so that I would have room to maneuver the quilt next to it? Mom has a beautiful sewing room though and a very large table for her Bernina 1130. She offered to let me sew on binding using that machine and I gratefully accepted.

Look at all that table real estate off to the left

I wanted to keep some of the border that Andrea had sewn on when she did the quilting for a little extra support, so I sewed the binding on where it overlapped the quilt blocks by 1/8" and the white border by 1/8".  Even though the blocks and binding have random pattern placement, there is one place along the edge of the quilt where the same fabric is side-by-side. You probably won't see that unless you know to look for it.

These are not the matching fabrics you are looking for

There was a lot of quilt to maneuver during this process, but the Bernina was more than happy to accommodate and this part of the process proceeded without any hiccups.

Can my arms even reach the machine from here?

The quilt came home and after trimming the border the binding was hand-stitched down. This part of the process took a bit longer that planned. No matter how many times I tried to start working without making any sound I inevitably triggered the innate cat radar that senses warm and comfy napping spots. Both cats would come from the far corners of the house and immediately park themselves on the quilt in my lap. It's very difficult to work with a king size quilt and two cats in your lap.

These little red clips are perfect for holding binding

When Andrea was quilting, she noticed a spot where red dye had spread on the top.  She sent along some Synthrapol to wash the quilt in with the hope of getting the dye out. Here is a before and after of the block with the red dye.  Looks like it all came clean in the wash.

Where did this red dye come from?

Splotch free

The finished quilt on the bed. Sweet dreams.

It's big enough to hang down on both sides and cover the pillows

Update: Andrea showed the quilt in a show in Sun Prairie, WI last weekend. (March 24-26, 2019) 

Sewing Machine Cover

Pic taken in the summer, love the view of sunflowers

My Bernina 1230 is in a cabinet in front of a large picture window facing west.  This is a very welcoming place to sit and sew for hours, but it is not a great place to leave a sewing machine for extended periods of time. Every afternoon, the sun shines directly into the window before dipping behind my neighbor's roof line. I do have curtains on my windows and these are usually pulled partway closed to protect my machine from direct sun, but in the winter I like to keep the curtains open so that we can soak up some heat in the short hours before darkness falls. Along with the sun exposure, my machine has to put up with more than its fair share of cat hair. This window provides the perfect place for napping cats and there is at least one cat luxuriating in the sun on any given day.  They drape themselves around the machine, sprawl on the cutting board, and test gravity by pushing things just over the edge of the table. Then when they are fully recharged or they hear someone making dinner, off they go, lickety-split. There are telltale signs that you have been visited by a cat though. Someone has munched on the plant leaves, your pattern pieces have been filed/wedged on the floor between the cabinet and the wall, and wisps of cat hair settles on any and every surface.  I'd like to minimize the amount of that cat hair that gets to settle on/in my machine.
A couple days ago I mentioned to T that I should make a few machine covers. That was me verbally putting it on my to do list. Later that day though, T sent me the link to a Threads article from 2011 for a tutorial on making a sewing machine cover. That was pretty sweet of you, T, thank you. After reading through the tutorial and deciding it was something I could tackle, I started looking for fabric. My first choice came from a remnant that I got when my sister-in-law had me check on some free bags of fabric she saw listed online. They were in my neighborhood and, of course, I drove over to claim the bags immediately. It was mostly upholstery remnants and I didn't find much that I needed to keep, but this particular piece had farm animals on it and I couldn't pass that up.

It was hard to cut through any animal, I wanted them all on my cover

I took measurements of my machine and then using the tutorial, I measured and cut the 5 rectangles that went into making this cover. Instead of one continuous piece for the main cover, I cut it in half and put a seam across the top. This way, the animals would drape right-side-up on the front and back sides of the cover. I opted not to put in a handle opening now.  Maybe it will get added later, but this machine doesn't get out of its cabinet, so I don't see the need for a handle yet. Rectangles are easy to cut and I was ready to start sewing in short order.

The pocket that spans the front of the cover got finished with black seam binding out of the leftovers bin.  

It is upside down from the back, but right side up when finished

The tutorial included rounded end covers, but I stayed with the rectangles.  The corners aren't perfectly square, but that's not a problem on a sewing machine cover.  There was enough sew binding left over to finish the bottom edge of the cover as well.

Finished cover

Here's the cover in action. The pocket offers a good view of a pig, chick, and sheep, but I don't know what, if anything, will be stored in there. Cover number one is done, now let's find some more fabric for the others and make sure all of the ladies are well dressed.

Marlene's Quilt

My sister made this top a couple years ago, but she moved into a new house this year and was hoping to get it finished and hanging up on the wall.  She does not have time to quilt anything right now, so I offered to take on that project. Now that it's finished, I went back to see what pictures I could find to document the process and wouldn't you know it, I didn't take any 'before' pics. Oops. This is the earliest one I could find.  Clearly, I had already been working on it for awhile and 3 edges are quilted.

Originally, I had it on a floor frame but I quickly changed to my smaller Q-Snap frame

Closeup of a block before quilting

Slow going when you have a frame and Stewie on your lap

Other nights were more productive 

Quilting is finished

At this point, I handed off the quilt to mom who put on the binding and added a hanging sleeve on the back.

Beautiful

Dark binding was a good choice

Mom will deliver the quilt to my sister over Thanksgiving.  I hope she loves having it on her wall.

Polka Dot Blouse

The pattern is Eve, a pleated blouse from so-sew-easy.com.  It says this pattern is for intermediate sewists.

Background is see-through, polka-dots are constant

There are only two pieces to this pattern.  The front gets cut on the fold and the back gets cut as two separate pieces.  I used the rotary cutter for this one.

Pottery makes good fabric weights

 Sewing starts with the french seam down the back and then moves on to the pleats on the front.  There are six pleats on the front and they folded into place pretty easily.

Pinning the pleats

 The pinned pleats get staystitched and then it moves onto the shoulder and side seams. I finished all of these with french seams.

Pleats are staystitched

The last step is to hem the bottom and sleeves.  I love the color and polka dots in this fabric and it is so lightweight and flowing.  At times I felt like I was cutting and shaping water.  Every seam was thoroughly pinned before I went anywhere near the sewing machine.

Finishing hem on sleeves

 This shirt now looks finished from the inside and outside.  It's not actually reversible, but it could be with the right fabric choice if don't mind seeing the seams.

French side seams meet bottom hem

 I used blue bias tape to finished the seams.  It's a little lighter blue than the fabric. The bias tape doesn't lay flat all the way around the keyhole, but that doesn't bother me.

Finished keyhole

 Here are a few finished pics on the dress form.  Yes, this blouse will need camisole or tanktop underneath it when I actually wear it.

Finished front view

Pleats look great up close

Finished side view

If I make this pattern again I will increase the length by a couple inches and probably try the larger size. This shirt is a bit tight across the back shoulders.

Back view with french seam in the middle and keyhole up top

I am so pleased with how the keyhole in the back and the pleats in the front look on this shirt.  Now, I need to find the perfect layer to wear underneath that will allow the polka dots to shine.

Bernina 717

This post was written months ago, but apparently, I forgot to publish it. I went back to look for it after writing about my most recent project on it. It's a bit late now, but Bernina 717 deserves to share her story.

She was listed on Craigslist in a different state.  A Bernina 717 in a cabinet and reasonably priced, so I had to see if I could get her back to Chicago. The machine was up near Mankato, MN which is between the Twin Cities where my sisters live and Chicago. Ok, not really on the way, but for a Bernina a bit of a side trip could be made.
Originally, I was planning to be in the Twin Cities before Valentine's Day to meet my new niece.  She turned out to not be in a rush and missed her due date by at least a week. So, I did not end up going to MN until about a month later. Mom went up after my niece was born to help out though and when she came home she was willing to make a detour through Rochester, MN on her way back to Illinois. The lady who was selling the machine had infinite patience and I really do appreciate her giving me time to sort out how to get the machine home. She even helped me look into the cost of shipping the machine when travel plans were up in the air.
The machine had a cabinet, foot control, and power cord, but there were no accessories or manual.  I put the machine in the front room with a view out the window for awhile until I could clean her up and try her out.

In front of the sunny window

Here is a close up of the machine before I cleaned her inside and out. The hand wheel shows wear, but most of the other scuffs and discoloring should clean up.

The first step was taking her out of the cabinet and then I took a look inside. While the machine did sew, clearly it was not running as smoothly as it could.  There was quite a build-up of gunk on some of the gears. Q-tips and alcohol got it cleaned up, but it was a red substance caked on there that I hadn't seen before. Usually things turn brown, but this was a decidedly red jelly substance. Is there a grease or oil out there that is red colored?

Distinct red coloring isn't noticeable in this picture

 The zig-zag lever was frozen and I used heat and Tri-Flow to get is loosened up.  The needle position piston was also stuck so I couldn't move the needle right-left-center, but that loosened up as well with heat.

The back side needed cleaning and the pressure foot lifter and spool pins had a bit of rust

Here she is all cleaned up and back in the cabinet.

Almost looks brand new

Has anyone reading this used a Bernina 717 before?  Any comments, suggestions, warnings as I look for a project to try out on this machine?