Ta Daaaaa! Gold Top with Rust Slacks.

Wow it's been a looooong time since I've been able to wear an outfit that I sewed out in public. Well, today, I wore this to work.

You have to look under my sewing label on the side bar to see the details about the pattern and the fabric. I have to review some other blogs before attempting to do a technical post.

We not gonna look at what the inside of these garments look like (the pants actually aren't that bad). But, here's what the outside of the outfit looks like. This picture sucks, and I'll try to get a better one later. But, you can see the basics, right?

Now, since I don't know which details are most important to display on a sewing post of a finished product, you have to tell me. Where should I zoom in?

Before and After the seat belt and 3 1/2 hour meeting. Pics Enlarge.

Hemlock Ring Blankie Finished!

This is exactly what I 've been wanting for a long time now! On cold nights maintaining my body temperature while asleep can prove to be quite the challenge. I always have to sleep with an extra top layer that I can flip on and off at will. That top layer is always some ugly reject that works just fine but totally clashes with the bedroom decor. This blankie is NOT at all ugly. At 46" in diameter, the perfect size to slide up and down my body to either keep my shoulders or feet just a little warmer. It matches perfectly with my duvet cover and my dark wood furniture.

Needles used: Size 9 32" circular, Susan Baytes
Yarn: Cascade Ecological Wool, Color unknown.
I got the yarn before the Hemlock Ring Blanket Craze started by Jared Flood. I love that he did all the charting and conversion work for us.

I tried to fit the whole image into my little camera phone but couldn't. I love this blankie. It's mine all mine and will not be shared.

Hemlock Ring Blankie

Almost done with this one.

In our house, they're called blankies.

This is the longest bind off in history. I dare you to find one longer.

Yes, I've been working on this while doing the sewing. It's not too, too bad, I'm just working on it while sitting in bed at night. I can't use the sewing machine in bed and I have to keep my hands and brain churning until I fall asleep.

...Like It's Golden, Golden....

I'm almost done with this top. I've done as much as I could but now I need help with the sleeves because they have gathers and I forgot to transfer some markings. Hopefully I'll be able to finish this blouse in class tonight. This is the last class and I'm depending upon you all to help me with my next project. Please =)

This is the front. My stitches may not be as straight as yours, but they're pretty straight nonetheless.

Zipper In!

Okay, I'll probably be sewing all day today, or at least as long as my brain can take it. I'm ahead of my class a little because there was a problem with my paper blouse. The teacher had to take some time to figure it out on her own before she could help me.

This means that in order to stay occupied I had to move to the next step, at least on my pants. Which, was cutting out the fabric. So, while everyone else is cutting out fabric at home, I'm sewing pants at home.

Well, I'm so proud to announce that I have sewn in a zipper!

It's a little wonky at the top, but I do not care and I dare that teacher to ask me to re sew it. I think this zipper look pretty good for a first one (I may have done a zipper before but I can't remember). Especially since there are sooooo many patterns out there with no zippers or buttons at all. The only reason I'm putting up with this is because it's a class assignment. Shoot, give me a C grade on zipper install for all I care. I'm proud of my zipper.

And do you see all those little shreds coming off of my fabric. Should I have like "surged" over the edges of the piecies to keep that from happening? The teacher told me I could have done it before treating the fabric in order to avoid it, but she didn't tell me anything about the cut out pieces. Oh well, better keep moving before those shreds multiply and my seam allowance is all off.