Weekend Sewing, my first experience

I was totally enamored with this book the first time I flipped through it at Borders. It is filled with lovely styling and photography; it does its job of selling the simple summer weekend. There are flowing, easy to wear dresses, picnics, running though a field of flowers, and paddling around a lake. I bought it: hook, line, and sinker.

Then I tried my first pattern, the flower girl dress, and realized that beauty really is only skin deep. Now settle in with a cup of something soothing because this is a long one.

I encountered my first mistake in the introduction. It claims to fit little girls between the ages of 4 and 8. Little Miss Lou is your average sized 4 year old and even the largest size was too small for her by one inch. OK, not a big deal. I just enlarged the pattern on a copier so that it was half her chest measurement plus additional for the seam allowances called for in the pattern. Heather acknowledges this error on her web page and suggests adding additional width to the largest pattern size, but not additional height. This doesn’t seem quite right to me. If you need addition width, don’t you also need additional height to maintain the same proportion?

Moving on to the fabric requirements and cutting diagram. Like Elise, I found these to be a bit off. The pattern doesn’t indicate the width of fabric required just a length of one yard. If you’re using a typical 44/45” wide quilting weight cotton there is no way to place the pattern pieces on a yard of fabric so that the lengthwise grain runs the length of the garment. And that was using the largest pattern pieces provided in the book, not my enlarged pieces. So I channeled Tim Gunn and made it work by cutting a contrasting band of white to add to the bottom of the dress skirt. If you cut these bands at double the length you need you can iron them in half, attach to the skirt bottom and avoid needing to hem the garment.

Now let’s talk about those step-by-step instructions. I’ve made a lot of garments for kids that have a bodice and never have I seen such strange instructions for putting together a bodice. I read through it a few times, trying to make sense of what she was talking about in the words and diagrams. In the end I gave up and did it my way. Well, it wasn’t really my way but Amy Butler and Leisl Gibson’s way. I suggest you go that route as well because it’s easy, peasy. All you need to do is attach the front/back of the bodice lining at the sides seams. Repeat for the bodice exterior. Now pin your lining and exterior pieces right sides together along the top edge of the bodice.

Where to put the straps you ask? Good question. It’s not marked on the pattern so I made a guess. I sandwiched one end of each strap between the exterior and lining piece on one side of the bodice. I then stitched a seam around the top of the bodice. I clipped into the seams around the curved bits and turned the bodice right side out.

At this point I was pretty annoyed with the instructions so I didn’t even bother trying to follow the rest of the pattern as written. Instead I just went with what I knew from Amy and Leisl. I attached the contrasting bands to the bottom of my skirt panels and then attached the front and back panels, finishing the seams. (I used the serger-like stitch that is on my Bernina though a zig-zag will also work.) At this point I marked the centers of my bodice and centers of my skirt (again no marking provided on the pattern). At the top of the skirt I sewed in two rows of basting stitches less than ½ inch from the top. Then I gathered the skirt until it was the same width as the bodice. With right sides together, I matched up the markings on the bodice and skirt and attached with a ½ inch seam. I finished the edges like above.

At this point I needed to fit the dress on the girl to figure out how long those straps really needed to be and where to place a buttonhole. (One of the errata indicates that it’s impossible to get the dress on and off without either snaps or buttons.) You can use whatever method is your favorite for making buttonholes and sewing on buttons. I chose to hide mine. The straps button on the inside of the back bodice.

Are you still reading? I hope so. I wanted to give as much detail as I could on how I made sense of the construction of this dress. Because this is such a lovely book to pick up and look through I’m sure it’s drawing in lots of people who are new to sewing. Without any previous sewing experience though I worry that poorly written instructions and diagrams will turn off those new sewers forever. And I just can’t let that happen. Sewing is just too rewarding an experience. I’m hoping that the editors of this book are taking the reviews to heart and are busily working on the second edition. I understand that mistakes happen but I cannot imagine how so many errors made it through the entire book process. It’s sad and disappointing.

Recipe of the (Last) Week

Recipe: Spicy Chicken Peperonata with Lime and Mint Dressing
Source: Bon Appetit

Ingredients: ****
Very basic ingredients but ingredients I love and sometimes those make the best dishes. I did leave out the mint. I may have spoken of my weird feelings about mint in the past.

Preparation: *****
There was really very little work involved in making this dish. All that had to be done was sauteing the chicken, sauteing the veggies, and mixing together the dressing. It all took less than thirty minutes, start to finish. That time even included making the polenta I served it over. (Leave it creamy, rather than allowing it to set-up.)

Taste: ***
Spicy? I don't think so. Maybe it was my poblano, but this dish completely lacked heat. What could have been a delish dish ending up tasting like fajitas served over polenta. Not exactly what I'd hoped for. My go-to polenta recipe came through though. In the end, the polenta was the only thing I had a second helping of. Doesn't that just sum it up?

Not the skirt I planned to make

I had planned to make a yard-sale wrap skirt from Weekend Sewing. It looked like a simple project, so even if the notoriously bad directions led me astray I figured I had a good chance of making it work. The pattern call for 2.5 yards of 45" fabric and I had 3 of this summery Midwest Modern print on hand. Perfect, or so I thought. After I traced the pattern I noticed that there was no diagram for how to lay out the pattern pieces on 45" fabric. Strange, but I could deal with that. Until I realized that, in fact, it is impossible to cut out enough panels for the larger sized skirt from 2.5 yards of fabric. Or 3 yards. I estimated that I would need 8-9 yards of 45" fabric to cut out 9 panels; more if the print was directional (like those made by the author herself). No wonder there was no diagram for cutting out panels from 45" fabric; it can't be done.

Surely this error was due to some mishap as the book passed from author to editor to pattern testers and it would be fully explained on the errata page. Alas, no such clarification was forthcoming. Strangely, upon googling peer reviews of this book, I found only glowing praises, many citing the "excellent and clear directions". In my opinion, I don't think anyone test-sewed the yard-sale skirt pattern before the book went to press. I understand that mistakes happen, but please correct them, acknowledge their extent, explain what happened. Can you tell I'm a little disappointed?

Enough about the lemons, let's move on to lemonade. Or, in this case, a Barcelona skirt. I love this pattern, it having been a staple of my summer wardrobe last year. Since I used a lighter cotton than for the previous two, I lined this one with a lovely pima cotton that I found at my local fabric store. I was pleasantly surprised that lining it only added about half an hour on to the construction time. Fortunately the rain let up yesterday and I was able to get outside to take some photos. And experiment with my remote control and tripod. I even attempted some action shots: I love bloggers who are able to convey movement in their photos.

Yes, we're pretty happy to see the sun around these here parts.

Wishing

Because I'd be starting my summer vacation. Days on end of nothing to do but everything to do. Of course, this six year old self would be able to drive and have a huge allowance because my summer wish list is a long one. What's on your summer wish list?

Fab Freebie Downloads

The internet/blog world is such a lovely little place to be. Check out the fabulous free cards that the wildly talented bloggers of the world are making available...for free!

Cards designed by Creature Comforts (snail) and mmmcrafts (owls & apple)

Cards designed by Creature Comforts (flower) and Little Brown Pen/Creature Comforts (Procrastinate Now)

There is no way my geriatric printer, that barely prints in black ink, could do these great designs justice. Instead I loaded them on a memory stick and stopped by the local Staples to let the professionals handle it. I chose white 110lb cardstock for the printing and it cost just $1.09 per sheet! Some of the cards are two per sheet meaning they cost less than 55 cents each. What a bargain.

Looking at the great pdf freebies on the web has inspired me to create my own. Remember last summer when I took the computer design course? Well, I think it's time to brush the dust off those skills and see what I can create. So I'm saying it publicly, you can expect a free card download from Funky & Delightful in the future.

Oops, I did it again!

I don't know how this happens. It all begins so innocently. I need one fabric to finish off a project. Then I start rationalizing. Well, I'm already paying for shipping so I might as well pick up a few pieces I've had my eyes on. That makes sense, right? I'm saving on future shipping charges by buying more now. Is this an economist's dream or nightmare? Please, tell me I'm not alone.

Recipe of the Week

Recipe: Nectarine-Blackberry Crisp
Source: Bon Appetit

Ingredients: ***
I’m being a little harsh on the ingredient list on this recipe. It’s pushing it a bit to find good ripe nectarines and blackberries at the end of May in my neck of the woods. But Bon Appetit lured me in with this recipe from their June issue and I had to make it! Now! I’m not one for patience. However, if the growing season and the release of this recipe were better timed (or I had more patience to wait) I’d have to rate the ingredient list at five stars. It is lots of fruit turned into my favorite course, dessert! Now, that’s what I call health conscious.

Preparation: *****
Measure, mix, chop, dump, pour and crumble. Easy peasy! I did make a few small changes. I peeled my nectarines. I think this is a personal choice. You’d be fine either way. I also doubled the amount of sugar in the fruit since the nectarines needed a bit of help.

Taste: ***(**)
This tasting result comes from a much larger sample size than most weeks: me and the dudely, my mom, my sister, and Little Miss Lou. The topping was really well received by the entire group earning it 5 stars. In fact there were hands found picking at the crumb topping long after their bowl of dessert was finished. That’s very poor dessert etiquette; I really should try to control myself. I think the secret to this topping’s success lies in the lemon zest. It’s a lovely addition I wouldn’t have thought of on my own.

Now to the fruit filling and its three stars. I think it mostly comes down to the lack of really good fruit. On top of that the custard was just there, suspended on top of the layer of fruit. Perhaps if the fruit had released more juice the custard would have been creamier. So really the three star rating may be a bit unfair at this point. I think I’ll have to revisit this recipe later this summer when really good peaches or nectarines find their way to me. As my sister pointed out this dessert has real potential. It is sweet but not too sweet and that crumb topping deserves to be paired with perfect fruit. It sounds like an experiment I’m willing to take on. I wonder if I can get them to fly to me for the next tasting?