Ugh.... sleeves

Overlocking on finished sleeve.
I am not a happy bunny at the moment.....my sleeves are not turning out the way I want them to. I had added 1/2" to my sleeve head to make more room for my shoulders.....well my first sleeve I put in didn't need that extra 1/2" so on my second sleeve I cut the 1/2" off before I inserted the sleeve.....bad move......this sleeve needs the extra room.....now I am going to have to cut another sleeve with the 1/2" added....ugh.......why do I do stupid things ????????!!!!!!!
I was going to make myself a scalf with the fabric that is left over from this top but I don't think I will have enough now that I have to cut the extra sleeve.


I have turned and hemmed the soft collar on my blouse by hemming into every machine stitch, this leaves a lovely and almost invisible finish to collars and waistbands.

More of Vogue 7935

Not very good pictures of the finished neckline, I still have to hem by hand on the inside of the collar.....sleeves next. Here is a close up of the finished ties..... This is the collar with the ties...it took quite a long time to do this. I had to machine stitch 1/2" from the cut edge, trim just above the stitching then turn a double seam, tack and then machine stitch again.......I suppose I could have overlocked and turned and machine stitched the edge but as usual I decided on the longest method. These ties have a curved edge which took some manipulating to get a smooth curve and it doesn't look too bad.

Blouse so far

This is a close up of the the buttonholes, I had to do these twice, I made a right mess of them the first time, I haven't done buttonhole loops before and it isn't easy on a polyester fabric, man made fibres don't press like natural fibres, I would have liked them to be a little bit smaller but after doing them twice I 'd had enough.
More to come.
This is my blouse so far......I have added a seam down the back of the blouse, it was easier to fit with a seam rather than cutting the pattern apart. All I did was add 5/8 of an inch to the back and another 1/4 of an inch toward my shoulders, this allowed extra room for my rounded shoulders. I have sewn the shoulder seams....the right shoulder is fine but the left seam needs to come forward 1/2 an inch. I have done a FBA of 1/2 an inch which left me with extra fabric in the armhole area.......I transfered the the extra fabric into a another 11/2 inch dart (that is 2 darts I have in the bust area) and heightened the armhole by 11/2 inches. I then took out 1/4 inch at the neck to allow for my hollow chest. I also put a little more room in the hip area by adding 1/4 inch to the side seams and tapering to the original seam at the armholes. I overlocked all the seams and topstitched them with a 2 rows of stitching.
I have to tell you I have to make extensive alterations to my patterns and there are 10 darts in this top........in the front there are 2 waist darts and 4 darts in the bust area and in the back there are 2 back waist darts and I added 2 small shoulder darts to allow for the extra 1/2 inch that I added to the back to widen it using the S.B. method.... bringing the shoulder seam back to the orignial length. I have also tried my best to match the pattern while doing the seams and the darts, I haven't got it matched perfectly but I have tried my best...... and that is all anyone can do lol lol

I also had to lengthen the front and make a 1/2 inch adjustment for a sway back, adjust the bust and waist darts to bring them in line with my bust and add 1/2 inch to the sleeve head.

Phew !!!!!!????????? I think I have covered all of my alterations .....this post will remind me of what alterations I have to do on other tops.

Blouse

This is the top I am making at the moment, I am making view C.....the one with the long floaty sleeves......I have changed the sleeve style to a straight sleeve, floaty sleeves are a little bit over the top for me lol lol. The fabric in the picture is a polyester see here and slightly transparent so I will have to make a camisole to match, there is a camisole pattern included so I will use that. I have altered this pattern extensively, fitting is a nightmare for me.

Coverstitch machine

Here is a photograph of my new machine, as promised.

I haven't used it on anything yet but I have had a little bit of a play with it. I am so glad I chose this machine, it is simple to use and very sturdy.....I like it a lot.....and as I said I have never been disappointed with Janome sewing machines.

New Machine

I am waiting patiently for a delivery today.....I know it's today because I have been tracking my parcel...... I have ordered a Janome 1000cp coverstitch machine. I have been thinking about a coverstitch machine for sometime now and didn't know which one to choose, I always use Janome sewing machines and have never been disappointed however I was taken with the Babylock Evolve which is an overlocker and coverstitch machine in one and is very expensive, over £1000 pounds. In the end I decided to go for a coverstitch only machine.....my way of thinking, the more that is on a machine the more that can go wrong. The only thing is this Janome coverstitch machine doesn't excite me and The Babylock Evolve does.......I hope I am not disappointed.
I will let you know in due course and take some pictures.

New downloads

We have had enquiries as to why the new download isn't available yet......well there are other bits and pieces to be added to it but my daughter has loads of commissions at the moment and hasn't got time to put the finishing touches to it.
Please accept out apologies and it will be finished as soon as possible.
Sandra

New download

Here is my card using the papers from below.
I used the small patchwork and the small spotty papers... I used an A6 card and rounded the corners of the papers attached them to the card layering them. I used my cricut and cut out the shapes of the cream coloured card and a round white shape ( If you haven't got a cricut

square shapes will do ) stamp Wilbert (available from Willow Designs) onto the white shape and water colour him in. Cut out the small triangular tag and attach a brad and cut out 3 small flowers from the small blue flowered paper and attach to the card as shown....last but not least attach a small blue bow to the left hand corner of the card.

Happy Crafting.

Here are some of the papers for our new download......making a card with them is next on the agenda.

Wilbert and green patchwork daisies

I have been playing all day today using out patchwork daisy papers and Wilbert.

I used a plain green card for my first backing layer then the green patchwork frame paper for my next layer.....I cut out 2 daisies from the large patchwork daisy and a strip of small green flowers and placed them as shown on the card.

I used my cricut to cut the matting layers and coloured the scalloped layers with water colouring pencils.

I used the Wilbert and Wilbert sitting stamps from Willow Designs and coloured them also with water colouring pencils and placed them as shown on my card.

New papers for cd

Fantasy daisy in blue.

Fantasy daisy in pink.

These are the fantasy daisy papers in green.

Cardmaking on a cold day

This is another card I have done today.....I have used my cricut for the matting layers.....stamps from Willow Designs and the paper from the Springtime cd.
We have a covering of snow here today and it is really cold so I haven't had my nose out of the door today.

This is one of the cards I have been working on to day..... the little mouse in the mug, the hedgehog and the butterfly are all decoupaged, I also used my cricut to do the matting layers......the papers are from Willow Designs scrapbooking papers, the stamps are all from Willow Designs.