Wednesday, July 31, 2013

needle and thREAD WiP


My quilt is coming along very s l o w l y.


My best calculation (and it would be easy for me to be missing a few hours here and there)
puts me at 36 hours and counting.
I no longer remember if that includes cutting fabric or not.
(I'm thinking it does not)

It takes me an hour to turn eight finished sections


into a completed (but untrimmed) block.


More than once, I've thought I've bitten of more than I can chew with this quilt...

~

My sewing class is coming along nicely.


I probably could have done without the Colette book,
since I'm not exactly a new seamstress,
but I wanted to start at the very beginning...

I did learn a few things, and it would be a good book for a beginning garment sewer,
(especially if she/he wasn't a perfectionist)
but I gotta say,
I was extremely distracted by the fact that - with the exception of the photo on the cover,
and one other picture - in all of photos with real people,
the person was wearing ill-fitting clothes.

"tight horizontal wrinkles means there is not enough width in that area"
Sarai demonstrates this perfectly, although I don't think that was the intent.

I made a croquis as she recommends
(basically (according to Tyler) I drew a picture of myself naked - but there was a heck of a lot more to it than that ;-)
(Florence talks about her croquis  hereI have yet to turn mine into a book ~ let's just say her croquis is a bit lovelier than mine...)
and as soon as I can figure out who to enlist to help me,
I will take a ton of measurements which will thoroughly disgust me.
(thus the difficulty of enlisting help) 

Then I will make a muslin of the dress on the book cover.
Depending on how it looks when I get a good fit,
I may or may not make an actual dress.

You can see by my picture that I've added more books to my course
(insert sheepish grin)
but The Perfect Fit is recommended by pretty much everyone in blogland, 
and at less than $13, it seemed a wise investment,
and supposedly, anything by Adele Margolis is worth getting your hands on.
The Dressmaking Handbook was the cheapest place to start.
It just arrived, so I've only cracked the cover, 
but I liked what I saw:




linking up with

WIP Wednesday at Freshly Pieced

and 

needle and thREAD



10 comments:

  1. That quilt top is breathtaking. I may have missed it on the post, but would love to know the name of the pattern. I have seen a few similar popping up on pinterest

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Hi Jo ~ thank-you!! It's a paper pieced lone starburst (huh! I thought it was a lonestar, 'til I went looking for the link) For the most part, I followed this tutorial http://thepeonyteacup.blogspot.com/2012/06/lone-starburst-paper-pieced-block.html

      Delete
  2. I love your quilt (and those are not "my" colors), it will be spectacular.
    I admit that I rarely do any sewing on clothes any more (although until a few years ago I made everything I wore). Quilts last longer than clothes seems to be my motto now.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks, Dora! I hope so :-)
      Quilts do last longer ('course, they take longer to make, too ;-)
      I just peeked at your blog ~ oh my goodness!! I can't believe you FMQ with a treadle machine! That must be quite a workout!

      Delete
  3. Another stunning quilt. Wow. I love love love the colors you chose, the orange really pops it. And you're killing me with the dressmaking comments, LOL! I wonder if Linda ever took up sewing, LOL! Have a great weekend Tracy.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. thanks :D
      Surely she did, don't you think?? How did your sewing night go last week? Have you taken your jeans off yet?

      Delete
  4. What a brilliant idea to make a croquis of yourself -- or, I mean a "naked sketch of yourself" lol. (Going on the to do list now...) Be not afraid and go get those measurements, dear woman!!! A bit a strong drink before and after couldn't hurt :o).

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. You may as well wait 'til after the baby to make one.
      You know, I actually scheduled a friend to come over next week to help me :-) Which made me think of your dress (and made me realize my 'can you have a non-sewing friend help?' comment was lame - I mean, it takes a special person to be able to assist with these things ;-) So ~ have you found a matching gray? And what about the wedding dress ~ how's that going??

      Delete
  5. Well for some reason I'm not able to reply to your reply! But yes, our sewing night was awesome ... I just need to finish a hem on a skirt then I'm done it. And I do wear my jeans aLL the time :)

    ReplyDelete
  6. That quilt LOOKs like tons of work! Its spectacular!! and I love learning, don't you??

    ReplyDelete

You're leaving me a comment?? Oh goody! I love comments :-)