G-CAS! Sew Excited!: June 2021

Wednesday, June 30, 2021

My Stylish High End Nephew!

My husband and his nephew (Allen) have a special relationship. I heard about it back when we were dating. Because he lived in another state, I didn't actually meet him until years after we were married. Well, recently within the last three years he has really been very present in our lives. He has a very kind demeaner and will do anything for my husband. Let's say he's more like a younger brother to us than a nephew. Anywoooo, he is quite stylish and a "Label" man. He wears Gucci, Ralph, Louie and buys expensive cologne. So, imagine my surprise when he mentions to me - Auntie, I want some fuchsia shorts! 😂

He said he has been looking everywhere and I believed him because he loves stylish clothes! I just happened to be sitting in my sewing room as we were talking. I asked him would linen do? Linen is a premium fabric and I knew it would be of his standard. So out from the stash table came some - you guessed it fuchsia linen. It had been taking up stash room for about three years and I had a lot of it so why not. Now, I do NOT sew for anyone except my son so he understood the magnitude of my yes.

I told him, I will do everything just be ready when I need you. He was quite excited and said this was his first custom garment. I prepped my machines and got to work. Not only was this a good opportunity to flex my menswear muscle, I could also do my Janome project. (I'm a Maker ya know! LOL!!) I measured my nephew that day and we had one fitting and the rest is photo history.

The pocket was embroidered by my Janome Horizon 15000. Such a smooth and flawless job it does! The monogram is one of many designs that come on the machine!

I used the Airthread 2000D to serge the fussy linen edges. I also had fuchsia serger threads to make pretty insides. I made sure I lined the inside of the shorts to minimize the wrinkle factor. They have elastic at the waist, a fly zip and wooden beads to finish off the shorts.

He absolutely loves his "custom linen fuchsia shorts" and I am the best Auntie ever💖! I love my title and loved sewing for him was fun. Allen, I know you will read this and the answer is still no! We 💘you to the moon and back!

He wears them well. Real men wear fuchsia!

They look Great! If I do say so myself!

This post is also featured on Janome's website!

Talk Soon

Carol

Wednesday, June 23, 2021

This Dress Has History!

This Dress Has History!

I LOVE the finished dress!!

So, I decided to participate in a UFO challenge. Those of you who are not familiar with UFO it means "unfinished object". In the sewing community this is not uncommon because there are tons of factors that will keep you from finishing a project. Bad fabric, above your skill level, not enough fabric, doesn't work with this pattern or just plain old - I fell out of love with it and something better has come along!

I call it the "hell freezes over pile". This dress landed in that pile in 2010. Yup!! I said it 11 years ago. So, through the years I have gotten stuck by it (I guess it was pissed at me. LOL!!), forgot completely about it, pulled it out and put it back, saw the ruffle cutting and just put it back. The list goes on!! The reason I didn't toss it (like some of the other projects that landed in the pile) was the fabric. I loved the color of the fabric. I think I paid $1 a yard back then for it.

Anywhooo, I took it out the bin last summer during the pandemic and said "I'm finishing this Bitch!" It didn't happen. So, I was cruising Instagram stories earlier this month and Jacinta Green of @pinkmimosabyjasinta was having a UFO Challenge. She is a feisty baby who I knew would NOT let me get away without finishing a project on her watch, so I decided to commit! When I committed I had three weeks to complete the dress.

Three weeks was a great amount of time because it allowed me to procrastinate, finally cut out the ruffles, bullshit and still meet my deadline. After all these years it's done! Now, let me explain, it's not a dress for the new sewer at all. (Which fooled me) Back in 2010 I considered myself an intermediate sewist until I purchased this pattern. I knew the ruffles had me. I considered buying ruffles, but like I said, I loved the fabric and the dress and I knew the ruffles would up my skills and look cool too. So, in the bin it went and I've been peeking at it ever since.

Well - I DID IT! I DID IT! I DID IT! I'm so excited about this dress. I'm so glad I refused to toss this project!

I did View A - circa 2010

Sewing and cutting the BIAS cut ruffles (yea, I said bias) and placing them on the dress was a big hassle but it was worth it in the end. I won't be doing it again tho! LOL!! I can add this to my list of sewing accomplishments. I added a weft interfacing to the hem which allowed me to sew an invisible hem. It also added some nice body to the hem and split on the dress.

Ruffles/Split

I added green beads to the neck ties for fun and lengthened the belt considerably. It was crazy short! I think they meant to print "cut two" instead of "cut one" on the pattern piece.