We had lots of doggy fun on the beaches in Florida.

Patch at Brohard Paws Beach, Venice, Florida

Gaely GoLightly and Patch Go Exploring at De Soto National Memorial

Gaely and Patch Investigating a Horseshoe Crab Shell

Patch Meets a New Friend

Evening Falls in Sarasota

I’m on a roll sewing up knit dresses, loving something simple after conquering the difficult jacket fabric blogged at The Sewing Divas that took up much of my sewing time for the month of October. I haven’t sewn many knits for the past few years and really don’t buy them often.

I have some acrylic double knit from Michael’s Mom’s store, A Fabric Place. Why am I always talking about Michael’s Fabrics???

I got to stop there on a sales trip last Fall and again during this October when we made a furniture delivery in Massachusetts. So Micheal has much of my fabric budget for the past couple of years. I don’t have a big budget these days but considering the mistakes I’ve made in the past when buying online, it’s probably best if I get to fondle fabrics before I buy them.

This inexpensive piece is a test to see whether if I like wearing magenta and gold. They are quite outside of my usually palette and perfect for a muslin. I don’t know whether or not I’ll ever actually wear this dress.

Double knit fabric has very little stretch so I pulled the HP Annisette Dress (AKA HP 1021), a sheath with a little waist shaping, no darts, gathering in the sleeve head and only a little gathering in the sleeve cuff. The bands on this dress do not require the stretch that the newer Uptown/Downtown Dress bands need to have. The wrong side of my fabric has mostly gold and yellow threads showing so I used that for the contrast at the neck, cuff, and hem.

Again Hot Patterns has produced a great draft that fits me well and this comfy dress will become a favorite silhouette.

The only change I made to the pattern was to shorten the dress by 3.5″. It is a straight sheath with little waist shaping and no darts and I like it for the way it fits without the armscye being large and droopy.

I don’t think it looks like the envelope illustration, do you? The neckline is much higher and the sleeves at the cuffs are not as gathered as shown nor is the cuff as small and the sleeves are not “batwinged” at all.

So without further discussion here’s the dress, sewn without alterations except to cut a size 14 through the shoulders and bust and a size 16 from the waist on down:

On my next rendition of the dress I’ll lower the front neckline about a half an inch. I wonder how well wool crepe would work using this pattern?

I wanted to post this before the next sales trip so let’s get it straight that these horrid eggplant tights are only because of the press of time!!! Forget ‘em. I planned to crop them out of the picture but then how would I explain that dog head in the lower corner??? So you get to see them. Darn.

Oh that dog…my constant sidekick who wouldn’t fall for the ruse of playing fetch with a stick. He looks pretty suspicious, doesn’t he?

But no, he wouldn’t go away. Hey, after 13 years on a chain all alone who can blame him for sticking so close? I’m going to treat him to lots of long walks in Florida with his buddy Gaely GoLightly. There are a number of preserves in the area we are going where dogs are welcome as long as they are on leashes and any poops are cleaned up.

I can do that for this old gentle dog. Maybe some day he will tire of being so close to humans all the time.

If you want a quick and comfy knit dress this just might work for you!

Here’s my finished dress. It was cut at size 14 although I probably ended up with a 12 because I had to rip and reapply the difficult ribbing so often.

This wool jersey knit fabric is from Michaels Fabrics. He probably has some still available.   It’s very soft and not scratchy so I didn’t have to line this simple dress. When I asked Husband if he liked the blue stripped version he said “You look French!” LOL

The ribbed rayon fabric has no lycra in it and it stretches out with no recovery.  It was in the stash from an early coop buy, Michael doesn’t have this stuff. He wouldn’t touch it!!!!!

What a pain it was!!!  I had to cut every stripe into about half of what the pattern pieces give you for the bands.  Test, test, test!

I ended up putting an elastic yarn in the neckband to keep it lying flat.

I don’t look too happy. I forced myself to do photos today in the cold and wind and it even started raining.  The following photo I took the day before yesterday when there were better conditions.   At least you can see the paisley in the nylon jersey bought long ago from Emma One Sock. This is my muslin cut at a size 16, which is according to my measurements.

This ribbing has more recovery but still wrinkled at the neckline.  That is the toughest thing about this simple pattern:  finding proper ribbing.  The paisley version will be OK for work and look much better in the Spring time!  Somehow it seems way too silly for our deepening Fall.

It will match the jacket I made last week

Here’s the neckline with the elastic thread in it. I just gave up on “perfect”. Good ribbing, and better yet, with lycra in it, would help so very much.

I like how this dress pattern feels on the body and I like the sleeves at the elbow length. I haven’t yet played with the infinity scarf or tie belts. I personally like these shifts the way they are.

I purchased the two new Hot Patterns, couldn’t help it.

I need a knit dress pattern just like this:

and I love the shape of this new bag.

It’s like they knew just what i was thinking. Scary!!!

I heard from the vet yesterday and Gaely’s biopsy came back negative for cancer! Yippeee, yay, cool. Thanks for your prayers!

Gaely is feeling better and better each day she’s on antibiotics and wants to know why she has to have her picture taken. She doesn’t like pictures and the flash.

It’s so nice to have a frisky, curious, adventuring Westie again .

Patch is stoic about pictures or so that’s the way he looks.

He’s been off the chain and out of the weather for 2 months now.

Gaely’s improved health will help Patch learn how to play and have a great time, too.

hugs all!

Doubly good news, according to the results from the endoscope!

1. Gaely’s tumor has shrunk greatly since we started antibiotics last week.
2. The tumor is located in an area where it can be surgically removed if need be.

There is much happiness in the dog house! We are hoping that the biopsy will report an inflammation and not a cancer. But canine bladder cancer will respond to antibiotics so cancer is not yet ruled out.

I am still “baby sitting”. Apparently there is some kind of restraint that is used during these procedures that has really bruised her little hip bones and she can not walk well enough to do her dog thing. She needs to be carried. This was scary until I located the source of her pain and figured it out. She is more mobile today.

Fortunately Dear Husband has taken our adopted and unsocialized Patch Dog to work with him so it’s just me and the little dog & cat but we’re stuck at home with no sewing for as long as it takes for Gaely to be able to heal. I haven’t set up the home sewing yet. I’m so used to going to work at The Stitchery every day!

Maybe this enforced removal from my sewing life is good: I have been stuck on a couple of difficult knits. I want to use them as mini dresses under a gray lurex knit overcoat. They are in a beautiful blush color but one is a rayon rib knit that is very difficult to sew and does not hold a shape and the other is a wonderful cloque . It is two jersey knit fabrics with the top one being joined to the smooth bottom piece so that there is great bubbling and texture, like what you’d get if you used shrinking thread or Texture Magic by Superior Threads. In fact the picture of Texture Magic shown at Superior Thread’s web site is almost identical to the yardage I am trying to use.

However, the color and texture will add major pounds to the silhouette and is probably better for the Spring season.

I need to turn to the wools and finally our mid-South weather has turned to the cool: 40’s at night and 70’s during the day.

It is gorgeous outside!!! Perfect time for fishing on the little local lake. Gaely likes to go out in the swamp boat with the electric motor and help with choosing the tackle and hauling in the fish. She loves to swim, too. It might be good for her to do some very limited swimming. Tomorrow it’s going up to 78 degrees so that might be the perfect evening to try a little water therapy.

sewing hugs to all!

I am shaky today. My little Westie is undergoing exploratory surgery because she has been diagnosed with cancer of the bladder and they want to assess the tumor. I am rarely WOD (with out dogs)

She’s been my constant companion for almost 11 years, and a major contributor to the weird looks on my face as I try to get photos done for the blogs.

Solo photography is hard enough to do without a couple of dogs hamming it up: sometimes I just have to give in

Last week was all about getting the laundry room set up at The Stitchery and finally everything is done

and the hot water heater produces clear water now that it has been inadvertently drained like a scene from a Walt Disney movie.

Because I bought a front loader for the house I had to paint the laundry room there when the over-the-washer cabinet had to be raised.

And now I’m loving having the ability to process fabric during the day instead of working even later into the night in prep for the next sewing project.

I’ve been truly blessed. My only thought now is this prayer:

Dear Lord: Please protect Gaely GoLightly, Westie Extraordinaire, and guide her Vet’s hand. And please don’t let any one else in my family get cancer!

The odyssey of adding a fabric pretreatment center continues…

I decided to move my 5 year old Neptune top loader washing machine into the Stitchery and get a new front loader for the house. So I got a call this morning that the new washing machine has come in and I set a delivery date for Thursday morning. Husband was in town for meetings so afterward he came to the house and we moved the old washer (which I dearly love for gentle treatment of fabrics) over to the Stitchery. We place it and leveled it.

Before hooking up we ran some water into a bucket and the water was red from rust. I turned on all the other faucets until all the water ran clear and then filled the washer. The water was opaque. Not red, just not clear so I found the drain valve on the hot water heater and using a cordless drill and a bucket I opened the valve…yup, too much crud in the water. I don’t have a garden hose so I thought I would drawn off 4 or 5 buckets of water to get the crud out of the hot water heater.

I tested the water valve again: it turned on and reversing the drill I easily turned it off again. No problem.

So I started draining and turned off the valve when the bucket was full. Went and emptied the bucket in the tub: back to it. But this time when I turned the valve on I opened the valve farther than I had before and when I tried to turn it off again, the drill bit couldn’t reach or something and

I couldn’t turn off the water. No water pan under the heater and no shut off valve that I could find anywhere! I did management to get the gas pilot turned off but

Oh shoot! Water gushed out in between bucket changes, all over the square of carpet under the heater and the 50 year old hard wood floors.

I had 2 bathroom waste baskets and one 5 gallon bucket. I had to fill one and slip the next under the wide open spigot and run to empty in the tub. Somewhere in there I needed to find the phone and call for help…somehow I did that…I have no memory of where the phone was. Got husband on the phone and he will have to drive 8 miles.

So I ran back and forth emptying buckets for another 15 minutes, shouting at dogs to get out of the way.

And Husband showed up, got a pair of pliers and turned the valve handle as far off as it would go. It was broken so the water was reduced to a dribble but not stopped. I used the flat head bit in the cordless drill to turn it the rest of the way off.

And I mopped up.

A shut off valve is less than $3. Why would it be under the house and not on the water line running into the heater???

Someone’s cheap home renovation. A 40 gallon water tank with no way to turn off the water. Joy….

But the good news is that the tank was almost completely drained and hopefully I will have fresher water for the first load of fabrics. I believe I’ll start with some very soggy towels.

After I catch my breath.

Johanna Lu at The Last Stitch blog posted about a dress from this designer and I fell hard for her work.

My fav for cold country Fall 09:

A Defining Moment

I have so neglected this blog! I’ve been sewing up a storm but I swear, I can’t get good photos if my life depended on it. And I’m feeling kind of well, maybe the word is lazy about modeling and photography and cropping and uploading so I’m gonna do this quick just to get it done:

After the fun with the new Vogue 1132 pattern that I blogged about at The Sewing Divas,

I had the pants pattern left to try so I did try it, after making my usual alterations and found it was, well, totally boring and uninspiring. The leg shape is wide and too full. I used some gray/black stretch cotton with black and pink threads running down in a pinstrip-y sort of fashion and some black fabric with primary colored threads running down in it a preschool sort of pin strip-y fashion. Two pairs of serviceable day-to-day pants that I needed for this late summer. But not terribly exciting and fun.

I wanted well-drafted slim pants, the look that is so popular for this Fall so I turned to Hot Pattern’s Cigarette Pants. Ahhhhhh! Much more bedda! The circumference of the leg of this pattern is 14.5″.

And got these in a stretch fabric

And then these, cut a little bit more slim (This is a cool beige and denim blue cotton lycra fabric from Bill Blass…)

I have to redo the left pant leg as it is not exactly cut. Just a tiny cutting error can put the leg in a twist.

But I had become a woman on a mission, not even a twisted leg could stop me and shortly I devised a pattern for leggings by taking my measurements and taping my Hot Patterns Deco Vibe Cigarette Pants tracings together to make a one-seam pattern

and then tracing that off onto its own pattern piece. The top is extended to make an elastic waistband.

I refined the fit as I serged up the 2 pieces until I had this shape and compared it to the original pattern

I used a very stretchy beefy poly lycra fabric purchased too long ago to remember the source and tried serging first on the commercial Merrow but that produced wavy seams. You can see that in the crotch seam. I found the regular serger was much better because it allowed a feed differential compatible with stretch fabrics.

I next cut into that wonderful stretch lace I showed here in the Leggings post in July from GorgeousFabrics where Ann is having a sale on her stretch fabrics at the moment.

but this fabric didn’t have the stretch of the poly lycra and holes developed. I’ll have to re-cut this pair of leggings. Fortunately I bought enough yardage to play with.

They are quite a bit more pink in the wearing than what I had expected. Maybe cut with more ease the black and silver will be more visible.

Here’s the black poly lycra leggings. The bottoms are not hemmed, just turned turned up.

As you can see, I had to make a tunic to wear with the leggings but that’s a whole ‘nother story for a different day…!