Cutting fabric

If there is one thing I wish I could avoid, it'd be cutting out fabric for patterns. But, somehow it wasn't too bad for the one I'm working on now. (Likely because I was taking study breaks, which probably made it seem like less of a chore)

Here is what's gone on so far with the coat making process:

Step 1 pick out pattern
Done: McCalls M5525

Step 2 pick out material
Done: Navy Gabardine, navy lining, sew-in interfacing (I wanted a contrasting lining, but the selection was not so great, so navy it is)

Step 3 cut out pattern
Done: For some reason I cut this pattern out when I first bought it... three months ago. Weird, I never do that in case I don't make the pattern. I guess I knew I'd try it?

Step 4 cut out fabric
Done

cut out fabric

Next, on to the sewing...

Here are some links to my other posts on this topic:
picking the pattern
first few stitches

mission: first coat

At the top of my "to make" stash of patterns is McCalls pattern for jackets/coats M5525 . (The pictures in this post are all from the McCall's website, click on the "M5525" below each picture and it will take you to their site)

M5525

I absolutely love all of these coats, but decided to try pattern "B" first.

M5525

I was hoping to get brown fabric, like the McCall's picture shows the coat in, but when picking out my fabric they did not have it. So, I got navy blue instead. I chose to use Gabardine, one of the suggested fabrics, and also had to pick up some lining and sew-in interfacing. The fabric store did not have fabrics with the same widths as the pattern called for (a couple inches shorter) which was only a problem when cutting the interfacing.

With all the supplies in hand, I can now start (or attempt...) to make my first coat. I'm not sure how this will go!

Here are some links to my other posts on this topic:
cutting the fabric
first few stitches

bad BAD Beagle

Several months ago, hubby-to-be and I picked out a new couch. Our beagle, who is a year old has half of the house to roam freely, which includes our living room (the other half is for our scaredy cat). Well, we brought the couch home, put it in our living room, and it was instant love for beagle. He could now look out the window and see what was going on in the outside world.
red couch
We were a little hesitant to leave him with this new furniture, so every few hours I would check on him to make sure all was well. And, it was. He was a really good little guy...
beagle being good on red couch

...for about a week. Then, as I was studying in another room, I decided to take a break to play with the little guy. I never heard any ruckus... but was speechless when I saw a VERY guilty looking Beagle sitting on the back of the couch. Oh, and stuffing all over the floor. He had thrown one of the back cushions off of the couch and decided to dissect it. There was no way for beagle to deny his role in this mess... he had a chunk of stuffing hanging out of his mouth.

Anyways, we were able to order a replacement pillow. BUT I still would like to fix the old one, and keep the other "on hand" in case it's needed in the future. The nice new one hopefully can be for when he is a little older, and A LOT better trained It seems like an easy enough fix, assuming I can find some matching fabric. Plus, it should be kind of hidden... though the hole is near the top. Here is what needs to be fixed : (it looked a lot worse before... not so bad now)

aftermath of beagle on red couch

Suggestions on how to patch that?

the blanket now

Here is what the crocheted blanket looks like now...

red redheart yarn crocheted blanket in progress

The blanket is opened out on a queen sized bed. It is hitting just on the edge of the mattress the right side, and just on the edge at the head of the bed. But, it hangs over a lot at the foot. I wasn't going to measure it, but now I feel like I should to see that I'm actually making a difference when working on it! So... currently it is 45" wide by 86".

2 more skeins to go (plus the little bit left I'm currently on) hopefully. If it looks crazy proportion wise, I'll have to do the dreaded... and buy more yarn.

blanket progress

Here is the blanket I'm crocheting... about a month ago.
red redheart yarn crocheted blanket in progress
The ruler on the bottom right of the blanket is 18 inches long. I think I've added 2 skeins since then, so I'll take an updated picture and post it soon. Because it is so long, 2 skeins may not be very noticeable, but we'll see what it looks like!

that big patterned top...

I started making this shirt a couple of weeks ago but set it aside due to homework and wedding planning. Tonight I got around to doing the finishing touches ie finishing the arm holes and hem. I also took the sides in about 2" on each side to make it a little more narrow. The fabric was from JoAnns which I got awhile ago on a clearance. This shirt was made from McCalls pattern M5388.


The shirt I made was C (top right) but without the ruffles, which is also the same as D (top left) but without the sleeves.

This was a pretty quick and simple sew. I wish it wasn't so big on me, but I think some of that is the style of the shirt, which I'm not used to. Also, since the fabric has minimal stretch and no zippers, the larger style makes it easier to wear. I may try this pattern again, either the same one, or shirt B (bottom left) and make it a little smaller.

patterned McCalls M5388 top front

It's hard to see but below the smooth neck area of the shirt, there is a slight gathering of the fabric towards the center.

patterned McCalls M5388 top back

The back doesn't have anything fancy going on. It's a simple panel.

Take a look into the future at another McCalls M5388 top.

smaller curtains

This project was done a long time ago, but I never blogged about it. My fiance and I happened upon a "buy one get one" sale for curtains at Lowe's. Therefore since the sale was over that day, we bought what we liked, without having measurements of our windows. Surprisingly, the curtains fit perfectly over our sliding door/window set, but we knew we'd have to make one panel much smaller for our roughly 36x36" window. This is a picture of the smaller window with the altered curtains.

curtains made smaller

(I added curtain weights to the left half of the curtain, but haven't gotten around to doing that on the right side yet)

My fiance was working the night shift for a three month stretch and was forced to sleep in the basement since too much sunlight was coming into the bedrooms. So, we bought blackout curtains, and put those as liners to the other curtains we'd hung. Unfortunately the blackout curtains weren't even close to the right size for our window/door so they had to be chopped and sewn quite a bit. Luckily they're hidden by the outer curtain panels.

Anyways, the blackout curtains work quite well. So well, that it makes me want to get some for the guest bedrooms too. Those rooms are insanely bright, which isn't fun if you're trying to sleep past 6am. Hopefully curtains in general for those rooms will be one of the next projects.

poor little lamb

The little lamb I had recently sewn quickly became a beagle toy. Within no time, beagle ripped the lambs ear in half.

another feline friend

The blanket I'm crocheting is a feline magnet. I have a previous post with my two cats separately enjoying the comforts of this creation in progress... Here's another little guy who couldn't help but add some fur to the yarn :)

cat on crocheted blanket

This is my brother and sister-in-laws cat who stayed at my parents house while they were on vacation. My parents actually just adopted this cats mother from the shelter, she has yet to be found on the blanket.

that strange looking lamb...

So it's been quite awhile since my last post... this is likely to happen again since I'm getting married in 50 days, and there's always a lot to be working on for that.

I have gotten some sewing in over the last month and a half but mostly miscellaneous crafts. My friend and I had a Twilight movie day (in preparation for the release of Eclipse) and we busted out our crocheting together for the first time in several months. It looks like our goal of a June finish date for our blankets was not so realistic. (to be fair though, our blankets are 2 to 3 times the size of a normal pattern... so maybe by December or next June? I hope we're done before that)

My Mom and I caught a few pattern sales recently, so I continue to stock up on them and have slowly been trying them out. One pattern now in my collection is the Simplicity 2921 which is for little stuffed animals: a horse/unicorn, elephant, and lamb. I thought the lamb was cute, so I tried it out first. It didn't turn out as cute as the pattern shows, because I think I missed a dart when sewing the face or something. The picture on the pattern looks like there should be more dimension there. I was also surprised at how small the lamb is, although there was not a scale to compare on the pattern picture, I just assumed it was a normal sized animal. It's just slightly bigger than a beanie baby.

lamb stuffed animal front

This pattern was kind of fun and didn't take much fabric, so I may have to try it again. Maybe the next one will turn out more like it should?

lamb stuffed animal side