Next Project & New Items

About a week ago I had a conversation with my husband via text that went something like this:
  Husband - "Did you order something from Amazon?"
  Me - "No. Why?"
  Husband - "Cause there is a package here with your name on it and its pretty big."
  Me - "What!! Weird. I wonder what it is?"

Who doesn't like mysterious packages?!? Turns out it was a new Brother Lock 1034D serger from my super amazing parents!!



My machine collection is now complete! A sewing machine and a serger. This will help me out a ton when working on the apparel that I create. It makes wonderful finishing stitches and cuts the fabric while you sew. As Jessica Simpson would say its a "twofer" (one item that has two uses) which she uses often on The Fashion Star show. :) In the past couple of days I've been able to play with it a little and watch some video tutorials on how to thread it and change other features. I wont lie...it was very scary at first to even know where to start with it. I went to JoAnns and grabbed some neutral white/grey threads to get started.

I've been testing out its special stitches and I've learned that you can actually use your serger to gather your fabric! No more creating two baste stitches and pulling on threads. It does it for you and I found an amazing youtube tutorial here on how to do it. So I've tested a few of my fabrics I have on hand to see how the different types of fabric react to the gathering. I tried both gathering (on the serger) and just creating regular pleats (on the sewing machine) on the chiffon fabric to see which one I like better for my skirt. I will probably stick with the gathering.

regular stitch (green fabric) & gathering on stretch material

gathering (left -serger) & regular pleats (right - on sewing machine)


I am also a lover of books!! I love the smell of books, the feel of holding a book, and how pretty the covers are...strange I know. Which means I don't have a Kindle and don't plan on getting one unless I'm forced to. If I had endless amounts of money I would have the library from Beauty and the Beast...maybe just on a little bit smaller scale. :)



Like I said in one of my previous posts I've been very overwhelmed lately with all the new fabric terms and types of fabric out there..Chiffon, Voile, Seersucker, Faille..it never ends and with me being a newbie to sewing this was really hard to grasp. This led me to do some detailed searching on a book that would come in handy. I initially wanted a book that had actual swatches in it so that I could touch and feel the fabric, but this is the next best thing. Its Fabrics A to Z: The Essential Guide to Choosing and Using Fabric for Sewing. One of the awesome things about the author of the book is that she also has a GREAT blog that I am following as well. Check it out here!


Next Project! Ok so its really very similar to the last project I did since its just another version of a maxi skirt, but I'm working with chiffon and giving it an inner lining. I found the inspiration from the BurdaStyle website here and I really wanted to find a coral colored chiffon but JoAnns didnt have any and most of what I can find online is too expensive for me so I found a fun bright blue print fabric instead.

chiffon fabric, lining, 12" invisible zipper, and iron on interfacing


One of the great things about this skirt from BurdaStyle is that you can download all the pattern instructions for FREE which to a Dutch wife is the best word ever. :) More to come on my project later.

-Colby



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