CarmencitaB

Back In School

There is lots going on in the sewing blog world at the moment : The Selfish Seamtress is moving to Europe, Gertie has a new book deal, Tasia of Sewaholic is going to sell her own patterns and I am very happy for all of them, new endeavors are so much fun!

Here, @CarmencitaB central, life got a little kick in the shins as I went back to school last week. I start HTML-CSS classes tomorrow and am quite giddy with the prospect of new learning. Watch this space as it evolves and becomes what I envisioned when I started, but could not do because I lacked knowledge!

In the meantime, I put two little buttons on the side for my Facebook Fanpage and my Twitter feed which will be updated a little more regularly.

Sewing has not totally halted, but progress is slow, I'll keep you posted.

Yellow

This young woman has been imprinted in my mind for a while and I don't know if it's because of her absolutely fantastic yellow dress or if it's because she looks so forlorn in it. If I wore such a wonderful dress, it would make me happy all day but she just looks like she's waiting outside her corridor and she's just realized, that very moment, that she's been stood up or something.

It's the work of Mr Erwin Olaf and it's part of his Hope Series where his subjects all look like they are waiting for something that's not going to come. Wonderful work, really.

Fortunately, things do come, so some days, we do get to look happy in yellow dresses.

I Need Your Help

Am I doing things right here?

Burda's 08/2010 #113 is all cut and marked and interfaced, ready to sew, but I am still having doubts. There are a gazillion fusible interfacing tutorials, but there are no tutorials on WHERE to put interfacing.

I've read just about everything available at Sewing U (Googling sewing keywords) and I made choices. I didn't fuse the seam allowance because my fabric is really thick. I made a bigger interfacing piece on the side piece because the pocket would have looked funny and I thought it needed a little support. I abided by some of Fashion Incubator's tips about interfacing : I used a light fusible knit and crossed the fold line on the hem. I stabilized the neck area and the armhole, but I still have doubts.

So if any of you, my kind readers, have any tips you would like to share, I would be delighted. There is still time to correct the obvious mistakes.

Also, I bought this fabric at the local goodwill and it smells like it's been stored in a damp attic some place for years and though I have machine washed it, it still stinks when I iron it. I would gladly love to hear a tip about getting rid of the odor too.

In Progress : Another Burda

Emboldened by my very recent successful experiment with a Burda pattern, I am making another one!

I recently found this wool at the thrift shop and was going to make a skirt, but after washing it, I thought it would be a waste and a jacket would be better so I set up looking for one with very little yardage : #113 looks awesome. I am not sure about the back slit yet, but I like the extra long sleeves and I found this matching crazy ass chemical experiment gone awry polyester print for the lining and gave the project a go!

Being out of drafting paper, I looked around the house for a possible replacement and found cooking parchment. It's slippery and scotch tape won't stick to it, but it's transparent enough to make sense of the psychedelic pattern sheet.

Like with the Claire Shaeffer, I drafted every pattern piece, outer shell, lining and interfacing, which will help me get the precision I want. I did a quick tissue fit last night and everything looks in the right place. I'll try cutting it today and get back to you. I have very little fabric to work with, matching the plaid will be difficult, but I only paid 2€ for it so I won't fret over it too, too much.

Just in case you are wondering how I cut the lining pieces, Burda has a great video on how to do just that, I will use Fashion Incubator's tutorials on bagging a jacket and the Vogue 7467 instructions for the pockets so I won't follow the magazine's cryptographic instructions which never cease to baffle me, in either French or English.

It's a regular complaint, I wonder why they don't document the making of the garments they sew for the magazine's pictures. Now that's an idea....