Moulage 2 And 3

May 6, 2014December 27, 2017 ~ Michelle

You might be wondering about that title. What happened to 1? I went through the whole process of measuring myself, having my hubby measure me, putting all those numbers onto the form that comes with the class, drawing out a basic moulage with the instructor, and then drawing out my own. And I was so sure I had done it incorrectly that I crumpled it up and threw it in the trash.

When I was done my second moulage, I realized what I had thought was wrong on the first one, hadn’t been wrong. I decided to wrap it up to more practice was good for me!

Moulage 1

Here is the first sewn moulage on my dress form. On this you can see where I pinned the shoulders to take them in. I also decided to move the bust width together more, and the waist was loose on me.

I wish I had taped the audio from that second moulage being pinned on me. I thought we sounded like a comedy routine. First, my hubby was sure pinning the moulage on me would take hours. I have no idea why he thought this, but he was convinced it would. I finally had to tell him to be quiet and pin me up.

The moulage was to be pinned up the back, and I had explained to my hubby that it would be tight-fitting. He kept saying, ‘This is pretty tight.’ And I’d assure him it was supposed to be tight. I told him it was to fit like a second skin even. But he must have commented four or five times on how tight it was.

Once it was all pinned up the back, I told him to pin the extra out of the shoulders and he did. With no give, I couldn’t pin myself.

I think five minutes have passed by now, if that. At this point I’m done what I needed to do – I’ve seen how it fit and where I needed to adjust it. So I tell my hubby to go ahead and unpin me. ‘What? Why? Didn’t I just pin you up? Why do you want to be unpinned now?’

Well, I didn’t want to wear it forever! My poor dear hubby really had no idea what we’d accomplished in this not-hours-long endeavor.

On my next one, I decided to take some of the drama out of the fitting and left the center front open and sewed up the back seam.

Moulage on dress form

You can see this one is a little more fitted around the waist. Not a huge difference, but this one is snug around the waist, whereas the first sewn up one wasn’t.

And here it is on me.

See. Definitely snug. But I’m told this is exactly what I’m wanting. Amazingly, making moulage two and three took a couple of days each! I had hoped to have the sloper done by now too, but that will have to be later this week.

Happy creating!

Slopers and Styles

April 29, 2014April 8, 2026 ~ Michelle

I saw this and it gave me a smile. I thought I’d share it.

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The other day my friend came over and she’s taking a class on making a sloper. She was having trouble getting her muslin to fit using the sloper pattern, so we looked at her instructions and it wasn’t making a lot of sense to me. I’m not the best when it’s all numbers.

I finally suggested she put the muslin on and I’d pin the sides where it needed to be taken in. She then traced the pin lines, and laid the pattern over the muslin and traced those lines onto it. And it worked. She sent me a message the next day to tell me I got an A+ on her assignment. We laughed over that. I was thankful her instructor did explain what she’d wanted her to accomplish with the numbers, and our way was just another (non-math) way to do it.

My sloper, or actually moulage, that I’ve been working on for a Craftsy class I’m taking is done. It’s an awesome class by the way – Patternmaking Basics – The Bodice Sloper. Boy is it a detailed class. And remember, I said I’m not a numbers person. There are a LOT of numbers; at times she’s using one set of numbers and I’m having to remember to use my own numbers. Whew! It’s a workout. But I’m trusting it will be well worth the effort by time I’m done.

My class is also fraction of the cost of my friend’s class. She paid over $300 for the class she’s taking. I think the Craftsy class is a much better deal. Oh, and I took another Craftsy class this past year and the instructor never responded to any of my questions – even after I mentioned this to Craftsy. And from reading the questions and comments, I wasn’t alone. This class, I highly recommend and the instructor gets back really quickly.

One of the things I learned is before you make a sloper, you make a moulage, which is an exact skin-tight pattern. Then you add in some ease and have a sloper. My moulage was done in pencil, and although I took a picture, the paper looked blank. Here’s a sample picture to show what I’ve been working on.

sloper

I bought some fabric today and will sew it up either today or tomorrow. I know I don’t have the shoulders just perfect yet (my dear hubby measured me), but will use that same pinch method to get them better and anywhere else I need to fix. Then I will adjust the moulage.

Happy creating! I’m off to work on my moulage.

Seemed to Take Forever!

April 15, 2014April 8, 2026 ~ Michelle

A while back – it was January, I think – I mentioned I’d ordered a booklet on altering bodices. It was one of those things that seemed to be taking a long time getting to me, so I went online and looked up the tracking number to see when I had ordered it. It had been about a month at this point. I thought it should have arrived by now.

What I found surprised me. That little packet had made it all the way from Australia to my little town in Alberta, Canada, but didn’t make it to me! I could hardly believe the label fell off while it was on its way to being delivered to my door. It made it to the post office, was out for delivery and then the next thing on the detail list from the tracking number was it had been sent to the Undeliverable Mail Office. Maybe I should call that bag of bras that don’t fit The Undeliverable Bra Bag.

What a run around! I spoke to one woman in the post office and she took all the information I had like my name, address, the tracking number, the sender’s name and address too, and at the end of the call said for me to stay home the next day – the parcel would be delivered then. Well, that day came and went, and I waited, but no one came to my door. I called the post office again.

The next person I spoke to was most unhelpful. She could not give a straight answer no matter what I asked her. I might get the parcel in a month, but there was no guarantee. That, definitely, without a doubt or hesitation, was a very frustrating phone call, and nothing resulted from it.

I think a weekend came at this point and I had to wait a few days before I could call again. The person I spoke with took all my information (again), and this time was very helpful. She assured me I had given enough information, and with the tracking information, was the person who was supposed to receive that package. Whew. I was told it would be on its way to me.

During all of this, I was in contact with the sender and author of the booklet. She was as anxious as I was for this parcel to be delivered. I’d shared every false-positive start I’d had. We were both in waiting mode at this point.

The next I heard from the post office was a lovely official letter telling me that as the addressee I had no authority to start an investigation as to the whereabouts of this parcel! So, I contacted the post office again, but this time to ask why all the run around. Why was I being asked for information, providing it, being told that was enough, and then being told it wasn’t, later, in a letter. They apologized profusely at this point, and told me what information the sender needed to include to start an investigation from her post office in Australia.

All I can say is, 38 emails and 5 or 6 phone calls, a letter, and three months later, I got my parcel. The envelope it was in was pristine! Not a mark or tear on it; no label either. Somehow, that had gotten lost.

booklet

But here it is now, on my desk. Now to finish that bodice sloper and get started on some fun projects in here!

And lastly, a bit a teaser. I’ve been playing with some lace placement.

playing with lace 1

I bought this lace from Margreet’s Etsy store, Merckwaerdigh. She has so many beautiful lingerie sets.

playing with lace 2

This may not show wonderfully, but this is the bridge. More pictures to come soon.

Happy Creating!

A Few Accomplishments!

April 8, 2014April 8, 2026 ~ Michelle

My husband and I went away last week for our 22nd anniversary. We found a wonderful deal at Christmas time and bought it and put it away for ourselves. We only live 4 hours from the Rocky Mountains, and it’s our favorite vacation spot. Our suite had a tremendous view! Just look at this:

View from Windtower Rm 234

This was the view from the kitchen patio door. I could just sit and look out at that. We spent 4 days with that view, and although there was still snow on the ground, and we even woke up to snow one morning, it was still perfect!

I took a few projects on my trip that I wanted to complete while I was there. One project was to complete the measurements for a bodice sloper. That’s not a big deal, but for some reason those last few measurements just weren’t getting done. They’re done now, so I can work on that.

Another project was fingerless gloves. I was determined to get them done. (I know, Andrea, it’s a bit late in the season.) I’d looked at many patterns, and finally settled on one I found on Ravelry. These are based on the Vanilla Frappe Fingerless Gloves. You can find the pattern here.

I really liked the ‘body’ part of this pattern, and decided to do just that, with a scallop border on the top and bottom. The body is knit; I crocheted the borders, so mine look different than the originals, but I’m happy with them.

fingerless glove 2

I’ve sewn one, and one waiting to be sewn up.

fingerless glove 1

The ball of white yarn is to do some flowers or hearts or some type of embellishment.

So two projects done. I also took my sewing kit to tighten a button on my coat, but that’s still on my to-do list.

And when I got back I had one more accomplishment!

I worked on another bra. I knew the area that needed work – the bridge – so I tackled that as soon as I got home. And another success! I have the best fit I’ve tried for yet! Let me tell you, if you’ve never had a properly fitting bra – one where the bridge goes all the way back to the chest wall – well, it’s a different feeling. I’ve never felt that. It’s not uncomfortable, but it is different for me.

plunge bra prototype

When I started this bra, I have to admit, I wasn’t feeling super encouraged. It feels like there have been too many challenges along the way that left me less than hopeful. I even skipped some of the little finishing details on this bra – finishing details that made it onto all the other attempts I’d made. However, this one only needs minor tweaking. That has me excited!

One of those minor tweaks? The bridge can still come up about 1/4″. But that’s it’s. So now I need to look at plunge styles. I haven’t seen a lot of patterns for plunge bras. Does anyone know of any?

For this bra, I took my Sewy Rebecca pattern and made it into a Classic pattern. I also straightened the lower edge of the upper cup to get the most lift. I decided not to do a three or four piece cup on this so it would sew up more quickly, and also I don’t see a lot of plunge bras that have those features. So, once I had a basic Classic pattern, I used my trusty Bra Makers Manual to change the cup shape to a plunge style, or ‘fake’ demi-style.

plunge back 2

A very basic back, with the Prima Donna U-shaped back. I don’t think they’re the only ones doing this now, but I do remember them advertising this feature.

So a few little glitches I ran into while sewing this? You can see in the above picture that the back band is a bit smaller than the hook and eye closures. That’s a small adjustment. You can see it better here:

plunge back

That’s not a big deal – just a small tweak.

Another small tweak is the lower cup. I still have to make adjustments for the Omega shape, and need to fit a larger cup into a smaller wire. On this bra, (again) I didn’t put a lot of effort into it. So when it came time to fit the cup, I simply put a fold in the lower cup’s material. The cup still fits fine, and the seam line fit as well. I have altered the pattern with a dart to take out that excess on the next one I do.

plunge bra dart

You can see the tuck here. It shows more here than when I’m wearing it.

Bow to cover seam

Lastly, a tweak to make is my order of sewing if I do this style again. On this bra I had the cups sewn into the cradle and then looked and I still had to add the neckline trim. On a style like this, I think it would be better to do that before putting the cups into the bra. It works fine, but would be neater sewn the other way.

So, I’m very happy to say I’ve had SUCCESS! It feels really good to know I’m there with just a few minor tweaks now. Whew! I said a long time ago that I hoped my journey would encourage someone else not to give up! How long has it taken me?

Here’s to happy & successful creating!

Changes in the Wind

March 13, 2014July 16, 2016 ~ Michelle

I’ve posted many photos of jewelry I’ve made recently in the classes I teach. I’ve really enjoyed taking people through the steps of making each project. I’ve also really enjoyed seeing them learn and make their own creations. However, all this is about to change, and I’m not sure I like the changes being proposed. It seems, in the classroom, I will no longer be making jewelry. Going forward I am expected to explain how to make jewelry using large photos which illustrate it. I’m not fond of this change and am thinking a change in employment will be coming soon.

Another change I experienced this past week was to lose my Lifestyle Coach. She’s no longer working with my physician, so no longer available to me. She helped me through a really rough health patch a few years ago, and I’ve been with her for 6 years. I will really miss her. As I was leaving the office and giving her a hug goodbye, she commented on the abstract poinsettia brooch I had on my coat. I took it off and gave it to her without a second thought.

I have no regrets about giving a gift to a friend, however, my coat now looked quite plain. So I pulled out my felt again, and sat and came up with a couple felt brooches to dress up my coat. I find hand-sewing to be very relaxing.

I’ll count this as part of a commitment I made to myself to make (at least) one project each month. I am on track for that with these, but it’s still early in March, so I plan to get something else sewn up. Hopefully I’ll resolve that bra alteration in my mind and get that off my desk and sewn up!

Here’s the first felt brooch I made. Quite similar to the other abstract poinsettia brooch, but this time I used some deep red with a black polka dot on it. It’s really charming felt.

red polka dot brooch

This one came off my coat for the photo shoot here.

The next one is very similar, but I changed the shape a little. I wanted it a more uniform shape.

pink zebra brooch

I LOVE this felt! It is so fun and flirty.

And the last one I changed the design again.

leopard print brooch

I had fun with all of these, and really do enjoy sitting down and doing some hand-sewing. I bought some Swarovski Hot Fix crystals and I’m going to add some bling to these.

Something helpful I’ve realized about myself while writing this blog is I really like to think things through before I decide to do anything. I don’t think I realized how much internal discussion I had with myself before making a decision. For example, I’m still contemplating the bridge on that bra alteration. I’ve even re-drawn it but am still contemplating it. And I’m not ready to start cutting fabric on that project yet.

What’s next on my project list? Well, I do want to continue with the two sloper classes I’ve signed up for on Craftsy, and tomorrow I’m heading over to a friend’s to help her with a sloper too. Seems like slopers are next. And that bridge. I will get them done!

Happy creating!

Jewelry and a Pareo

February 3, 2014July 16, 2016 ~ Michelle

I bought a new bathing suit for an upcoming 3-day conference & hotel stay my hubby and I are going on. He loves to hot tub, and I rarely join him, but decided I’d at least sit by the pool this time and keep him company. But sitting around in a bathing suit isn’t the most comfortable for me. I like to be a little more covered up. Maybe if I lived in the tropics I’d feel differently, but this Canadian girl likes to stay warm! A pareo wasn’t offered with the swim suit, so it was up to me to come up with something. There’s always basic black, but I only wanted to use that as a last resort. I was really wanting something that would go with the suit. Here’s what I found:

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I’m really pleased with how well these go together. Are they a perfect match? No. But there are similar elements and colors; enough so I will be wearing this on our up-coming trip – at least by the pool. The material is a knit, and I simply cut out a rectangle and did an overcast stitch around the edges. I also decided to use the material with the pattern running length-wise down my body. I’m not the tallest, and thought this would be more flattering than a wide horizontal pattern going across me.

Onto jewelry now. My classes have been filling up the last few weeks; I had five students this week in one class. That was my biggest yet. I made a few things and this time I LOVE the colors. A while back I made a blue and gold necklace, and really liked those colors together, so decided to do something in those colors.

Here’s the first piece of jewelry I made – a memory wire bracelet, and then an elastic bracelet.

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These bracelets feature dyed Imperial Jasper beads, Aqua & gold glass beads, and golden glass beads. I love it! I think I wore it every day last week. The elastic bracelet has the same beads in it.

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Then I had a Crimping class and used those same beads to make this necklace. Well, I was wearing the two items for a few days when I decided to be all matchy-matchy and made a pair of earring too! This picture is nice and close so you can see the three beads really well.

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And to really put the matchy-matchy over the top, I made a Medical ID bracelet to boot.

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So I think I’m good now with the matching Imperial Jasper. I did make one other piece of jewelry in my class this week. While waiting for my students to finish their projects, I put together an eye-glasses holder/chain.

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Completely different beads this time! Well, almost completely different. I still used Jasper, but this time undyed. And I used white, pale pink and pale grey pearls in-between.

It was a big jewelry week, but I love what I made. And am really pleased with the pareo. Still unfinished on my desk: the Prima Donna Duchess cloned bra. I have no big desire to finish it, but am determined to clean my desk off so will set a deadline for myself. Next post I will have it done!

Happy creating!

Happy Australia Day and More

January 27, 2014April 8, 2026 ~ Michelle

I’ll start this post by wishing any and all Australian readers and friends a Happy Australia Day! My husband and I are part of the Australian Wine Club here in our town, and although I don’t drink, we have wonderful get-togethers and I enjoy them very much. We just celebrated Australia Day together and just look at our menu:

Pan Seared Chilean Sea Bass topped with Grape Tomato salsa, bedded with braised fennel

Wild Boar Consomme with Julienne green onion cake

Duck leg Confit & Port Belly, dried cranberry Saskatoon glace de viande, garlic asparagus & dilled baby carrots, and Potato & Yam pie

Sticky Date Pudding and Anzac biscuits.

It was delicious! We have such fun with our group.

But back to sewing and other crafts.

I completed my first-ever self-made pattern and sewed up the skirt. I mentioned previously the class Design and Sew an A-Line Skirt on Craftsy. Would I recommend the class? Well, I’m divided on this one.

In other classes I’ve taken on Craftsy the instructor has been great at getting back to anyone with a question. I can’t say the same on this one. I have contacted Craftsy about this, and they’ve been great, but my questions remained unanswered. That right there is why I don’t know I could recommend the class 100%

I did learn the basics of how to draft a skirt pattern myself, and how to do some basic alterations as well. I’ll be taking another go at it too, as this one sits too low for my liking. The instructor suggested a lower-sitting skirt as that’s more in fashion right now, but I’m not completely comfortable in it.

skirt

Here it is on me. It’s sitting about 2-inches below my natural waist. A pretty good fit though. So for that reason, I would recommend the class.

invisible zipper

And I’m thrilled with the invisible zipper here. Great instruction on that part.

I did use a longer zipper and shorten it. Thanks to Threads, I was able to do that easily. I found out an invisible zipper can only be shortened from the bottom. Threads is such a great resource! You can read about how to shorten a zipper here.

So will I recommend the class? I guess I will with one caveat. If you run into problems and ask questions, I don’t know if you’ll get an answer there.

Happy creating!

Not So Much Sewing

January 14, 2014December 27, 2017 ~ Michelle ~ 11 Comments

I did a lot of sitting this past week. I hurt my knee just over a week ago and it started to get better and then I did too much. I drive a standard car, so all that shifting was too much for my knee. So this past week I did a lot of sitting and with my leg up and doing my best not to hurt it again. I’m able to go up and down stairs again with only the littlest bit of a twinge in the knee, so I’m almost there.

My muslin did get done though. And so did my A-Line skirt pattern.

a line skirt pattern

Pretty basic, just like an A-Line skirt should be. It looks a little off in the picture, but isn’t when it’s sewn up. Not sure why it looks this way.

I was having some trouble ‘squaring’ the pattern at the top where the waist and side seam meet. Seems there was just too much of a difference between my hip & waist to get a 90 degree angle on the pattern. So I raised where the hip line sat by about 4 inches so the curve is much less than it was, and also took the waist out by 1/2-inch to decrease that angle some more. This worked for the pattern, but when I put the darts in…

Well, before I put the darts in, I sewed up the muslin.

I’m going to break up my chain of thoughts here just for a moment to share I put in my first invisible zipper! I was quite pleased with how it turned out. The zipper is the same one I plan on using with my fabric, that’s why it’s black and not white.

zipper

But back to the muslin; I tried it on, then pinned in the darts and … (the frightening theatrical music would play right here) the waist didn’t want to go back over my hips. I tried to gently squeeze myself out of the muslin and those pins but it didn’t work.

tear

This tear is what happened – the muslin tore where the pins were for the darts. I have a matching one on the back too. But not both darts, just the two farthest from the zipper.

dart in pattern

You can see here where I closed the dart on the pattern there is quite a difference between my hips & waist. So what to do?

I haven’t had a response on the Craftsy platform when I asked a question in this class, but wanted an answer from someone with more experience than I had. I put a call in to my local sewing store and spoke with an instructor there. She suggested I use elastic for the waist!

Well, back to my comment from last week, all my skirts are either elastic waists or they are too big in the waist.

It’s funny, I started sewing over 30 years ago, yet still don’t feel like I know it all when it comes to sewing. So am glad to have resources to call on for things like this. Even if it does confirm what I am already thinking.

She also gave me a good idea saying keep the front of the skirt free of elastic and just have it in the back for the straighter look A-Line skirts are known for. I liked that idea, but it might be too much elastic for the back of the skirt.

And will I still want a zipper if I’m going to use an elastic waist? I’m thinking not.

So as soon as my knee is up to driving again, I’ll be heading to the fabric store for some wide elastic. I don’t have any in my stash and I want a wide waist band. Which I’m going to have to draft because that wasn’t part of this course.

Happy creating!

Happy New Year!

January 5, 2014April 8, 2026 ~ Michelle

I hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas and New Year’s. Here’s a little something to remember times past and be thankful for where we are now:

Singer sewing advice 1949

A friend of mine posted this on Facebook, and I got a chuckle out of it. Just had to share.

Over my holidays, I decided to watch one of the Craftsy classes I’d signed up for during the year. Design and Sew an A-Line Skirt by Deborah Moebes.

So far, I’m enjoying it have started to design the pattern. I’m having a bit of trouble ‘squaring up’ the waist seam. Seems I’m really not very straight at all (says the woman with a 13″ difference between her waist & hips). Getting a 90 degree angle at the seam is going to be a challenge for me. I had my dear hubby watching the video and trying to help me. I think the only thing I can do about it is increase the waist so there isn’t so much of a difference between the hip & waist. Then take the extra out with larger darts.

It really must have been bothering me because I dreamt about it last night too, but didn’t come up with a solution in my dream for sure either. Deborah keeps reassuring us this is a first draft and we can still make changes. I may still have changes ahead of me. I do know from anything I buy in RTW, I either have to buy elastic waists for skirt, so or the waist band is too big.

Something I’m excited about is a really neat little book I came across last year, and this Craftsy class will go perfectly with it. The book is 27 Skirts from One Pattern. The author is Maureen Thompson.

27 skirts

I bought that book a year ago this past fall and was excited to get started doing something but our family had a few set backs. Unemployment and a death in the family both kept my motivation quite low. But time and new possibilities are great healers and I’m finally ready to try one of these 27 patterns – once I get this pattern for the A-line skirt corrected.

While I was looking at Maureen’s site, I noticed she has another booklet available now. I’m thinking I’ll have to get that one too!

Bodices by You

And one more little delight for me: I love to start new plants from clippings. This past fall we were at a friend’s home and I saw this adorable variegated African Violet. I really like variegated leaves on plants too. I asked for a couple of leaves and brought them home to plant them. I dipped the leaf stems in some rooting hormone and this morning when I was watering them I saw a new bud!

varigated african violet

Can you see that tiny bit of white at the bottom of the left leaf? That’s a new leaf just starting.

I still have that cloned bra to finish. I’m not that enthused though. The bra isn’t as comfortable as I’d like. That left wire is still not comfortable. It’s not poking through anymore, but I can still feel it every time I wear it. I’m wondering why I didn’t just clone the Fantasie one I have as it fits so much better and is extremely comfortable. But I will get it done. And maybe get my Fantasie pattern out too.

Happy creating!

More Sewing Done

December 20, 2013July 16, 2016 ~ Michelle

A great way to get some sewing done is take it on for someone else’s Christmas gift! Boy, that motivated me to get sewing. But I enjoyed all of it. Well almost all of it.

I didn’t love how the sleeves were set in on the pattern I was using. The first robe I made I followed all the instructions to a T. And the underarms of the sleeves weren’t as neat as I wanted them.

So on the second robe, I used a flat construction process, which I like so much better. However, I still didn’t love how the sleeves looked under the arm. But other than that, to which my dear husband says, ‘no one but you will even notice something like that’, I’m quite happy with how they turned out.

red robe

Here’s the red robe. And below is the blue one.

blue robe

I wasn’t completely done this one when I took the picture. The sleeves still hadn’t been hemmed, and the belt wasn’t done yet either.

They are very cute though, and should keep those wonderful boys warm.

While my machine was out and I was on a sewing roll, I repaired two bras that had some strap issues. While I was fixing them, I also shortened the straps on both of them.

But one bra that has been really bothering me is the Prima Donna Duchess I have. The left wire was popping out of its channeling and making it very uncomfortable to wear.

wonky bra channel

You can see here how it is a bit twisted. I did try to reinforce the channeling there with some hand sewing, but it wasn’t strong enough. So I popped that wire out and ran a few machine stitches over it. Put the wire back in and am hoping for the best now. Other than that, this is an extremely comfortable bra.

And I also worked on my favorite skirt. Having lost that weight over the last few years, my skirt was too big. But there was no way I was going to put it in the give-away pile. I opened the waistband where it was sewn to the slip, and then again under the elastic. I cut and overlapped the elastic and sewed it back up again. It fits perfectly! I was so happy with that little alteration.

fav skirt

And lastly, I had two jewelry classes this past week. Both classes were wire wrapping classes, where we made earrings. Here’s a sample of what I made in my classes.

black shell blue crystals