Woohoo! I got tickets!

Igbo Girls' Night is on tonight! A group of my Igbo girlfriends try to get together about 3 or 4 times a year to hang out. We all originate from different states in Igboland, and ordinarily we wouldn't have had a chance to meet and known each other except for fate. All of our parents immigrated to the U.S. from Nigeria during the early '70s and at some point ended up in the north Texas area. Well, as you can imagine, there weren't too many Igbos in Texas at that time, so the few families that were here clung to, helped, and socialized with each other. We girls "grew up" together as "cousins," though we don't share a drop of common blood! As life would have it, we all went our separate ways -- to college, to travel, to married life -- but eventually we all ended up back here in the Dallas area. So now we get together and have fun, talk about living a neo-African life in America, and boys (of course).

So tonight, for Igbo Girls' Night, I got us tickets to see Sex in the City at Studio Movie Grill. Studio Movie Grill is a great place for dinner & a movie -- they have a full-service dinner menu and serve adult beverages. I tried to get these tickets a few weeks ago, but all the showings were sold out. Fortunately, the Dallas location scheduled a couple of extra showings for opening night, so we are in!!! This is especially exciting because 2 years ago when one of us got married we threw a Sex in the City bridal shower for her. We stayed up all night drinking Cosmos, giggling at her haul of sexy wedding night lingerie, and watching the first 5 seasons of the show.

I found my cahones ...

And have signed up to join Marji et al on The Great Coat Sew-Along and make either this* ...




or this* ...





or this* ...

with this* ...
I'm leaning toward the Sandra Betzina because I think it won't need too much alteration and it is a style I'll get a lot of wear out of. I also like the second Vogue precisely because its such an impractical coat (in terms of fending off the cold around neck & shoulders). I don't really need a heavy wool coat down here in Texas. Every time I reach into the coat closet for the vacuum, I'm reminded of the cherry red felted wool jacket and the winter white cashmere blend car coat that I bought in London last Spring which I only managed to wear twice each this past Winter. But, I love coats and I just can't pass up the valuable learning experience Marji is so generously offering at TGCSA. So "hold on to your cahones," 'cause I'm in!

*all photos courtesy of named pattern companies & fabric.com

Notion Emotion

***ETA: I took another look at my new Professional Sewing Gauge while I was sewing this weekend and see that it actually is not scaled for Metric. Rather, it is scaled for 1/32nds and 1/64ths inch (English system). The conversion chart on the back is also English system to decimal equivalents. Sorry for the confusion; however, it still is the best English system sewing gauge I've used! end ETA***

Cidell over at Miss Celie's Pants complained about her (useless) sewing gauge, which, of course, got me thinking about my (useless) sewing gauge! Mine is long gone -- I tossed the last one after I melted the little moveable gauge do-hickey with the iron. Instead, I've been using this Dritz measuring gauge thingy which is double-sided and marked to allow you to make 14 different length measurments. The measurements range from 1/4 inch to 2 inches with about 10 or 12 of the standard English system measurements in between.

Then, a few weeks ago I came across this professional gauge at Sew Exciting Fashion Sewing Supply. I think I'm in LUV! It is so accurate! It is calibrated in 1/64th inch and millimeters and has a English-Metric conversion chart on the back. It is entirely stainless steel -- no chance of melting or bending out of shape with use. Most importantly, the sliding gauge thingy really holds it setting without moving. Between the extremely accurate 1/64th inch markings and the amazingly steady sliding gauge thingy, you can be certain your hems, topstitching, collar points, etc. will match up precisely when sewing with this seam gauge!

$50 Pattern Binge (not incl. shipping & sundry other items)

I have a few Neue Mode patterns in stash, but have only tried one years ago in a semi-tailored jacket class I took (the jacket was a disaster on the inside, but I tried a lot of new techniques & I wore it to work with pride that season). I recently heard through the online grapevine that Neue Mode was going out of business, so I rushed on over to mynotions.com to see if there were any patterns I absolutely needed. Of course, I ran across the $1 pattern page and was in hog heaven!


I mostly picked up basics, but also got quite a handful that I thought had interesting details, reminded me of current trends, or just caught my eye!

Here's the breakdown of a few choice ones:

The shirtdress ....



and a good platform for working up the Safari look (view B1), both of which are tres chic right now.

I call these "Basics with a Twist." I think that dress (or some variation thereof) out of a nice wool or suiting-weight blend would be a great way to mix up the Fall/Winter wardrobe a bit. I don't know if the trousers would be right for my figure, but interesting look at the waist, I thought. And the skirt seems pretty versatile.

A few had interesting design/style lines:

I like the variation on the princess seams -- you get the long, slenderizing line, but a bit of interest at the waist/upper hip.

The overblouse/waistcoat got me on this one! Plus, lucky for me plenty of seams for achieving the perfect fit.

I also picked up a few men's patterns in anticipation of the day when DBF gets tired of being my measuring, pinning, fitting assistant and personal cheerleader and figures out that he could get something tangible out of my hobby, too!

The World Is Watching ...

I just got this in an email from an old friend in Scotland. This is apparently a float at a recent parade in Germany. Whatever your affiliation, make sure you vote come November!

Processed: She wants more ...

Well I finished the nightgown in time to give it to my Mom for Mother's Day today. I made Simplicity 4048 and my Mom just loved it! I knew she would like it because this type of gown is her favorite -- as my DBF says "the more lace the better." In her younger days while in nursing school, my Mom would keep any extra money (after paying school fees) that her Dad sent to her and head to Marks & Spencer to buy a nice cotton gown, an embroidered handkerchief, or yet another pair of knit cotton eyelet panties. Nowadays, anyone who travels to England must bring back something for her from Marks & Spencer (though I was there last year and found that the quality has really gone downhill, IMHO). I wish you could have seen the expression on her face when she opened the gift, but she didn't want to be posted on my blog. It was a priceless, precious moment, though.

I made a combo of view B & C, but left off the 7inch ruffle at the bottom since my Mom is only 5'4" and this gown "as is" was long on me at 5'9". The fabric is a lovely 100% cotton batiste with white-on-white embroidery of flowers & vines that I found at Hobby Lobby. I guess I wasn't paying attention when the lady cut it (or when I pre-washed it), because as I was pressing it prior to cutting out the gown I found that the fabric was joined (off-grain) right in the middle of my yardage! Not to worry, the front & back pieces fit nicely on one end of the goods, while the yoke pieces fit on the other end (after I straightened the grain). I also ended up with a good 1.25 yards left over (so maybe the cutting lady did notice the join & gave me extra to accommodate for it).

The gown was easy to put together, except for the fiddly construction bits here and there. Attaching the yoke was the most difficult part as it required quite a bit of precise sewing to look right. I had to clip the inside corners of the yoke to within a hair of their little lives in order to get a sharp corner when I turned it right side out. In fact, I had to go in and clip some more to get rid of the ugly puckers. Topstitching everything down also helped -- its a nightgown after all, so I didn't feel too bad about the remaining puckers.

"good" corner (l); "bad" corner (r)

One of my sewing goals is to use/learn a new-to-me or couture technique in each project I complete. I really stretched this time and used a number of techniques. I interfaced the yoke with silk organza -- everything else I tried just seemed too stiff to be comfortable in a nightgown. I kept every last scrap of that organza after cutting out the yoke -- that stuff is expensive.

I was even able to use a tiny scrap to stabilize the areas where I joined the lace to itself at the shoulder and hem.

I used French seams on this gown. I even French seamed the shoulders, though I realized much later that the shoulder seams would be totally encased by the yoke facing. Oh well, it was good practice.

I made my own bias binding for the armhole facings from the fashion fabric. The pattern suggests purchased bias binding. I bought some, but it was uhhggg. After making my own binding, I promptly attached it incorrectly, but decided to forgo the "ribbit" stitch and "make it work." Thankfully, the lace mostly covers it and provides a pretty distraction from the sewing snafus.

I went out on my own with the embellishment. I started with just lace around the yoke per view A, but it was just blah and a bit overkill at the same time. Then I tried lace just on the outer edge of the yoke, but that look lacked pizzaz. So, I added a strip of jacquardy-satiny looking ribbon and topstitched the neck edge of the yoke. Then I repeated the lace/ribbon trim combo at the hem. For the hem, I attached the ribbon to the lace before sewing it to the hem that I had already double-folded, pressed & machine basted down.
After pressing the gown one last time, I didn't like how the cotton lace curled up and knew that it would curl even worse after a few wearings & launderings. So I eventually went back to bartack the corners of the yoke and do some additional topstitching on the armholes.

All in all, a great Mother's Day gift which was well-received. Even my Dad was impressed! I guess I have to review this one on PatternReview now (hi SewShy!). LOL!

Ssshhhh....don't tell Mom!

Plans for a Mother's day giftie. Fingers crossed it will be done by Sunday brunch after church.

What gives? Life's UFOs...

Well, I didn't get much done on the sewing front this past week. I spent most of the week dealing with the ethics committee and end-of-life decision questions at the hospital at which I work. Its not the patients, but their families, that really have divergent views that we (the hospital administration & attorneys) are called upon to help referee. Surprisingly, our patients are quite prepared for this stage in life on paper, but tend to fail to adequately communicate their wants to their family members and friends.

*** BEGIN PUBLIC SERVICE ANNOUNCEMENT***

Okay, let me put on my hospital lawyer hat for a moment and remind you all out there in blogland how important it is to plan for health care decisions before a crisis occurs! You don't have to be suffering from a terminal condition to make your wishes known and document them in writing. In fact, it is better if you make those decisions long before, God willing, they are ever needed. And once you make those decisions, please, please, please have candid discussions (plural) with your family and friends about it -- make sure they understand YOUR wishes despite their own thoughts/biases about what is best for you. If you don't have an advance directive/living will, check out Caring Connections for your state-specific advance planning documents, or speak to your personal lawyer of choice.

***END PUBLIC SERVICE ANNOUNCEMENT***

So back to sewing ... I did manage to retrieve my dress form from my parents' garage. Its a size 10; I am not. I hope with a lot of padding, some muslin, and a fitting shell, that I can get "Iyagogo" to resemble my shape and be a boon to my attempts at fitting myself. My name, "Nneka," means "Mother is great/superior" in Igbo; "Iya" means "Mother" in Yoruba (one of the other main Nigerian languages); and a girl who takes after, is named after, or reincarnates (if you believe in reincarnation) her grandmother is often called Iyagogo. I haven't decided yet what method to use to pad Iyagogo out, but I'm contemplating either: (1) a duct or paper tape double a la Threads that I can put over the dress form with some kind of stuffing between the form and my double; or (2) creating a tight princess seamed shell based on my measurements and pad that out like Kay Y and Agnes on PatternReview.com did. Oh, I see that I commented on Agnes' review back in '06, so I better get cracking on this one!

I also found this ECI dress at a Dillard's clearance sale a few weeks ago for $15, marked down from $125!

I LUV the fabric. Its 100% rayon jersey cutout embroidery. It is buttah-soft & very drapey. The neck is done in beautiful silk organza and its lined in nylon. It is *supposed* to be a dress, but it is waaaay too short for decency's sake IMHO, so I'll wear it with jeans. But, as I said, I'm in love with the fabric, so I think I need to find something similar for my stash. Have any of you seen it out there in fabric land? Preferably online?

Well, that's it for now. The classic white shirt is still on my list, but I think I need some instant gratification projects this week.