NPRINS

I took an 'easy 2 hour' New Look top and turned it into a three day extravaganza, and I'm still not finished with it. I decided the silk twill I purchased in LA during the Pattern Review weekend would be perfect for a knockoff of this J.Crew top, however it was on the sheer side so I thought it would be a good candidate to try a technique called flat-lining. This involves sewing the lining pieces to the garment pieces before the seams are sewn. Here is a good description of the process. So after 2 muslins, drafting sleeves and a new neckline and facings, I started on the top. The silk was so shifty it was nearly impossible to keep on grain. Despite all my basting, by the time I got to the hem the silk was hanging lower than the cotton batiste I used for the underlining, so I had to hang it and repin. Sorry it's pretty wrinkly, I still need to hem and press. I had originally planned to do an invisible zipper, but yet again I thought 'why not?' and put in ...

Hi, I'm Leslie, I like to sew. On with the blog.* I've been getting by with an ancient Black and Decker iron DH bought before I was even a thought. Poor thing has been taking a beating since last summer when I really started sewing regularly, and it was time to put it down. Hearing Cidell rave about her Consew Silver Star CES-300 gravity feed iron made it easy to purchase from allbrands .com for $99. And then what is a new iron without a new ironing board? The old one was equally feeble, it was so wobbly our hardwood floor has a chunk out of it where the Black & Decker took a spill off the end. DH was NOT pleased about that. Made it easy to sell him on the new board though. I got this european-size Rowenta from Bed Bath and Beyond with one of their 20% off coupons. So the iron was delivered during the week when I am away from home for work, and DH happily opened the box and set it up for me. He went through several arrangements for hanging the water tank, and ...