Stealing Ideas

I was reading LauraLo's blog this morning http://laurasewingroom.blogspot.com/ and she has made the cutest jacket. I am going to steal her idea for the upholstry fabric I purchased in Myrtle Beach on our vacation. She said she took the idea from Nordstrom's, so we all pass these ideas around anyway. I was so desperate to fabric shop in Myrtle Beach that I went to seven fabric shops, all were home dec stuff. I began to understand why some people on Stitcher's Guild are so frustrated with their choices. One more thing to be grateful about where I live. I put the fabric away somewhere in my stash, but if I can find it when I have the camera around, I'll post a picture of it. It is a gorgeous light aqua with silver threads. I think it is drapey enough for a jacket like this. Of course, with my tummy, I'll have to make it longer! I forget I no longer have the figure of the model above. Maybe this will inspire me to loose weight, and my sister just informed me of her success with Weight Watchers. Hmmmm! I have always been in competition with her on that. Boy do I know now what great figures we both had, and just a few years ago at that. How frustrating!

Still Sandra

Still struggling with my Sandra Betzina jacket. The muslin was made from polyester, and a stiff old piece at that. I had to completely redo the bust darts, etc. Then when I fitted the corduroy, guess what, the original darts from the pattern fit exactly! However, the center front is too wide on each side by at least 2 inches. I have posted this problem at Artisan's Square and quit for the night, because the jacket is supposed to have a 3 inch band added, making a grand total of 10 inches too much in the front! Gaaaaaah! To illustrate, I put a piece of peach fabric under the front flaps of the jacket and some white elastic to show the chalk marks where CF would ideally meet. The good news is, the sleeves and shoulders fit perfectly. I hope I can remember all the adjustments I have made to this pattern when I trace it for a permanent model.

The good news is, my sister received her pjs and they fit her perfectly! (We are mostly the same size so that was pretty easy.) She says she loves them - well she would say that anyway, but I hope it's true. She has asked for a gown and I already have the pattern and the fabric, it will be made after I make DGD something for Christmas and that will be after I finish this **** jacket!

Betzina patterns

I can't figure out why Sandra Betzina's patterns do not even come close to fitting me. I am the right age and the right shape, but boy do they not fit! I threw away the pants pattern but still decided to try a jacket. Of course I am small boned and petite (in height, anyway). Maybe a 12 is not considered that big in RTW. Anyway, I have struggled with my muslin for the first jacket I have ever made from her collection (view on right). The first try the darts were several inches below my bustline even after I had adjusted for this. After moving the darts again, I also cut about an inch off the top of the shoulders (and I had already recut the armscye.). Plus the back darts were okay if I sewed them all the way down to the hemline. I was so sick of the muslin that I have decided to wing it with the sleeves and band with the corduroy fabric. Now the question is, do I go to Coldwater Creek for the turtleneck shirt (or Land's End) or make one from the Denver Fabric that exactly matches the pink embroidery on the black corduroy.

Update on my sister: her surgery is scheduled for January 16. Naturally I had already booked my flight to Baltimore for a visit. So, the question is, do I fly out to Baltimore and fly from there to Dallas via Airtran, or do I just bite the bullet, reschedule Airtran and take the hit on the ticket and fly direct to DFW? I am going to sleep on this one.