The New Toy!

My new serger came on a Thursday, Valentine's Day--I was hopeful that it would be a harbinger of much love to come! And so far, I love it. I bought it online from Walmart. The make is a Brother 1034D and it has lay-in threading. I made my decision to buy it after reading a convincing review on PR. After it arrived, I set it up, looked it over a good bit, read the manual, and watched the two CDs the first week.

Then 2 weekends after it came, I actually used it a bit. I practiced on some cotton, a medium knit, and a heavy fleece knit for the 4-thread overlock stitch. Loved it. Then I changed the threads. I snipped the pre-threaded spools and tied the threads to my new ones. Then I pulled the threads through. I learned sufficiently how to thread the machine that next time I will just cut, remove, and thread from scratch. It seems pretty easy, so far.

I wanted to try it on a real piece. I started sewing a raspberry-black heather sweater knit in Burda 8028, view D length with collar of view A. I've done the shoulders so far and am delighted with the look of the seams. Here is a test view. It uses a 4-thread stitch. The stitching on top is using the pre-threaded spools that came on the machine. The stitching to the right side shows the thread I used to actually make the sweater.

I am now using it on the fabric that I got at SewZanne's as part of my contest winnings for the UFO contest. I bought a lot of fabric to make younger DS clothes for the summer mostly. As they're all pretty much knits, the serger is really coming in handy!

Wardrobe 2008: Would You Care for a Little Wine

I have come up with a name for my Wardrobe. It's "Would You Care for a Little Wine". I'm going to want a glass to celebrate when I get done!

My wardrobe will be in shades of burgundy and wine. I've begun to plan the outfits. More later.

Wardrobe Contest 2008 and SWAP

OK. I'm NOT going to do the Wardrobe Contest for 2008--at least not officially. In the first place, the dates are not good for me. Here's why:

--younger DS's fabric for a robe came in from FFC on Feb. 1st and I want to work on that
--still working on elder DS's skishirt
--younger DS wants another pair of pajamas and I'm working on that
--bought a serger this month, want to play with that and learn it!
--signed up for Shannon Gifford's Beginner Sewing Lab 101 on PR, which starts Feb. 15th--can't wait!
--may sign up for another class shortly
--just found out about SWAP and storyboards and want to learn how to do these before daring to officially enter anything.

So here's the unofficial:

I've divided my stash into 3 similar color combinations: wine/burgundy; purple/lavender; and magenta/pink. I'm going to concentrate on the wine/burgundy collection this year and will try to teach myself new techniques as follows:

--how to plan a SWAP/wardrobe
--how to make a storyboard (may start out low-tech and work up to Photoshop)
--how to alter patterns for fit (forward shoulder alteration, shortening arms, perhaps high back alteration, all using P/P Fit for Real People)
--developing a basic collection of TNT patterns, so when I DO enter a Wardrobe or SWAP contest next year, I won't have to worry about choosing so many untried patterns

I may consider the mini-wardrobe contest later and definitely the fabric and pattern stash contests upcoming later this spring and summer.

I will use the Wardrobe Contest 2008 rules as best as I can as far as garments go. That means:

--a jacket or dress
--1 accessory
--4 tops
--and 4 bottoms.

When do I start?
Well, I cut the fabric for one top last night, so I guess offically, I started Feb. 10th.

Will I keep to the deadline of May 9th (extended for when I officially started)??
I don't think I can make it, but I will see how many garments (including my sons' garments) I can get done during the time. I am tasking myself to try to do as many as possible without making a bunch of trash I won't wear, as I really, really want to do this next year.

Oh and by the way, SWAP is an acronym for "Sew with a plan." Its very similar to Wardrobe Contest and each year Timmel Fabrics holds a SWAP contest. Many thanks to Sherril on PR for educating me on yet another worthy concept.

2008 Wardrobe Contest on PR

I'm considering doing the 2008 wardrobe contest on Pattern Review which starts today. They've removed the restriction on being a member for 3 months before you start, which was my main reason for not being allowed before.

The contest on PR has basically the following rules (complete rules can be found here):
Make a wardrobe of 10 items :
- 4 bottoms
- 4 tops
- 1 jacket or dress
- 1 accessory

My problem is can I do it and:
- work full-time
- be full-time wife, cook, and mommy
- and keep my sanity!

I've never challenged myself to sew this much before AND I want to sew a couple of things for DS the younger and DS the elder during the contest--no exceptions. So I will wait a few days and keep sewing to see if I can do it.

My other problem is that in getting out my stash, I see that I buy a little more haphazardly than I thought. I wanted to restrict myself to stash only. I THINK I can do the 4 tops and bottoms plus a dress, but we'll just have to see. I've chosen fabrics in shades of purple. You can see the fabrics from my stash that I'm hoping to use for the contest here .