Dogs on Thursday - a sad post

This post is about Abby - not our Abby, but our niece's Abby. Doesn't she look beautiful in her Christmas photo?

Sweet little three-year old Abby died two weeks ago. Unexpectedly. From kidney failure. From prescribed medication that carried no warning that it could cause kidney failure in some dogs. I just haven't been able to write about it before now because it makes me so incredibly sad.

Abby was rescued/adopted from Last Hope, a no-kill pet shelter (just like our Abby) and found herself the spoiled princess of two doting "parents".

Abby had a problem with one of her legs for quite some time. At Christmas our niece mentioned how much she disliked her vet because he was always pushing for the most expensive treatment without providing other, less costly or invasive, options. She sensed he cared more about bringing in money than the well being of her pet.

My husband and I suggested she give our vet a call. We love our vet and so do our dogs, Abby and Sophia. They practically drag us inside whenever we go there. Our vet cares for our animals as if they were her own. She will give us all of our options but ultimately lets us make our decision - especially when it involves a lot of money (like when Sophia was diagnosed with White Shaker Dog syndrome).

Our niece did bring her Abby there and called us to let us know how happy she was with the vet and to thank us for recommending her. Abby needed an x-ray (not an ultrasound which is what the other vet said had to be done) and it was determined that the solution was indeed surgery on her leg.

(The rest of this story I'm writing from what my husband shared with me so I don't have all of the details.) Abby was scheduled for surgery and prescribed pre-surgery medication - not sure exactly what it was or what it was for.

Apparently it caused her kidneys to fail! The vet made an emergency house call to try and save little Abby. But it was too late and Abby died. The vet immediately contacted the manufacturer of the medication to find out why it would have caused kidney failure in a dog. They told the vet that this medication has caused kidney failure in "a few dogs"! Why didn't they provide a warning! The vet would have never knowingly prescribed a medication that could cause kidney failure.

I know the vet feels terrible, as do we, but we're not heartbroken like our niece and her husband. They lost their precious little Abby. If you've ever lost a pet you know how they feel.

If you want to say anything to my niece (I'll just call her S) leave a comment or send me an email (sewingbysharon [at] gmail [dot] com) and I'll make sure it gets to her. Pin It

Did you all read PR 's Best Patterns of 2007

I'm so behind on all of my pattern review and blog reading...so this is probably old news to most - if not all - of you. I'm talking about the Best Patterns of 2007 article on PatternReview.

I've sewn four out of the top ten patterns - a knit dress from Simplicity 3775, two knit tops Simplicity 4020, a knit dress from Vogue 8386, and five (one, two, three, four, five) pencil skirts from McCall's 5330 - and have the patterns and fabric to sew three others listed in the article.

As I was reading the article I was silently checking off the patterns I had sewn or had plans to sew. Imagine my delight to see one of my versions of the McCall's 5330 pencil skirt included in the article!





It really was my favorite skirt pattern for 2007, but will it remain in the top position for 2008? That remains to be seen as I kinda have my eye on this McCall's high waisted pencil skirt pattern...
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This story just warms my heart

"The Daily News online
Published: January 28, 2008 12:49 am

Quilter ‘pays it forward’ with covers for homeless

Katie Farrell
GEORGETOWN — Donna Lay believes in returning a helping hand.

When disaster struck in her own life last year, she received an outpouring of support. Lay was among those who lost their homes when an apartment complex in Georgetown caught fire last January. Lay and her son were temporarily displaced.

Watching “The Oprah Winfrey Show” about a month ago, Lay said she was struck with an inspiration for how to go about doing something to help others.

A guest on the show described how she had started a pajama drive for children living in group foster homes. As she watched, Lay, 47, said she was moved to start her own campaign — Quick Quilts for Kids. Her goal is to provide a blanket to every homeless child in the state."

Click here to read the entire story. Lay is looking for donations as well as volunteers. Her contact information is at the end of the story.
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Answers to questions on the costume

Thanks for the comments and feedback. It's nice to hear from others who know what's involved in sewing something like this.

I realized that I had forgotten to add the trim to the neck edge of the stomacher so I took care of that tonight.
I knew I didn't want to try and machine stitch those thick multiple layers of fabric, so, remembering the multiple times I'd seen glue used on Project Runway, I opted to glue it. I figured if it works for them it'll work for me. The only problem was the only glue I had on hand was this bottle of fringe adhesive purchased years ago when I was sewing a lot of home dec. It works fantastic and dries clear, but I don't think it will hold if the dress is dry cleaned so I'll need to let them know when I turn the costume in.

Now, onto Linda68701's questions.

What does "railroad" mean?
Railroad or railroading simply means to cut the fabric so that the lengthwise grain runs horizontally. (It can be called lengthwise cut also - per M'Fay Designer's Digest and Workroom Manual. ) This method is used to eliminate or reduce the number of seams in an item.

You go lengthwise rather than across the width of the fabric. So, for both skirts I placed the waist edge along the selvage and cut the skirt in one long piece - eliminating the side seams.

I think railroad is probably a term more commonly used in home dec sewing. In fact, I needed to pull out my home dec reference books to locate an "official" definition as I was unable to locate the term in my garment sewing books.


Why did you use the three sleeve types to make sure the arm/sleeve fit was ok? Wouldn't just using another sleeve pattern have worked?
The sleeve pattern provided with the pattern consisted of three pieces. The sleeve itself was two pieces - an upper and an under. The third part was the flounce. Those pattern pieces are the white ones in the photo below. I laid them over the kimono robe sleeve pattern that I found so I could get an idea of how much wider I needed to cut the sleeve.

The reason I wanted to pin the three pieces together and use them as a guide was to make sure the armhole of the sleeve fit into the armhole opening in the bodice and the length of the sleeve matched the original pattern. I'm not experienced enough to know how to draft my own sleeve and I didn't think I could easily find another sleeve pattern that would fit the opening. If I had used this robe sleeve pattern it wouldn't have fit into my bodice armhole opening. Because I wasn't given a finished length for the sleeves I choose to use the length of the sleeve including the flounce as my guide. That is why I pinned the flounce pattern piece over the robe sleeve also.

As you can see, by tracing the armhole edge of the sleeve from the costume pattern and gradually widening the width at the wrist I was able to get a nice fit at the shoulder and still achieve the wide "robe" look they wanted.


Off topic notes
A couple of side notes here - if you're serious about home dec sewing, the M'Fay Designer Digest and Workroom Manual is a great reference to have on hand. It isn't cheap, but it's well worth the dollar investment. Another good resource is A Practical Guide to Soft Window Coverings by Cheryl Stickland - this one carries a more reasonable price tag.

And how do you like my pattern weights? I picked up a half dozen 2-1/2" flat washers the last time we were at Fleet Farm. The edges are smooth, and I find the size and weight work well for almost everything I cut. The best part? I only paid $1.25 for all of them.
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A day of sewing and all I produced was this costume

This is the costume I promised to sew for a local high school's play. I spent a few hours yesterday working on the underskirt (the striped skirt) and finished the rest of the costume today. All in all, it took me about ten hours to complete. I gotta tell ya, it isn't perfect, but I kept in mind what the costume coordinator told me when I mentioned the thread they sent didn't match ... something about it doesn't matter when it will be seen ten feet away under bright lights.

The dress is for a student that I've never met. The only connection I have with that high school is a co-worker's children go there. In fact, that's the only reason I was sewing this costume to begin with. Her son is active in theater and a year ago she had mentioned they are always looking for help sewing costumes.

So what did I do? I said "oh, that would be fun, I might be interested in helping" when the correct response should have been "oh, I hope you find some people that are able to help you out."

The entire process was bit frustrating for me. It didn't help that I had been sick and hadn't looked at the pattern and fabric as soon as I received them. That meant I didn't realize I had a questions until a few weeks after everyone else had begun their sewing projects.

They sent me this pattern to work with - Simplicity 4092 - along with a photograph of what they wanted the costume to look like.
The instructions provided were a bit vague - railroad the skirt and add a collar so it looks like the picture. No note as to which piece of fabric to use for what, where to put the enclosed trim, what the collar was supposed to look like, or even how wide to make the sleeves.

I have yet to develop the mind-reading skill that would come in really handy in situations like this so I had no choice but to ask for more direction. In their defense I had been unable to attend the costume meeting that was held previously and that might have provided all of the answers, but still, more information would have been helpful. After getting most of these questions answered, I set aside as much time as I could to get down to business.

It's a good thing I asked for clarification on what fabric to use where, because the stomacher was supposed to be striped (I would have cut it from the plum color) and the sleeves needed to be "wide, like a bathrobe".
The stripes on the stomacher are about 1/2 the size of the stripes on the skirt. They look the same at the waistline because the underskirt is gathered tightly to a waistband. To achieve the narrow stripes, the fabric was pleated and then fused in place with steam a seam before cutting out the stomacher.

The underskirt was a piece of cake. It was cut railroaded the entire length of the striped fabric with one selvage edge gathered into a grosgrain ribbon waistband.

Now you know there was no way I would have been able to gather heavy home-decor fabric using the two rows of long stitches method. So I used the zig-zag over dental floss method. It works great with heavy fabrics and produces a nice even gather. It's easy to do and I find it quicker than sewing two rows of stitches.

Just secure the floss on one end with a pin. Set your machine to a wide zig-zag stitch - it needs to be wide enough so the floss is not caught in the stitches.
Sew the entire length to be gathered then gently pull the floss to create the gathers. I say pull gently because, depending on the type of floss you use, you could shred it as you pull and then you would have to start over.
The bodice is boned and consists of three layers. The outer fabric, a lining and interfacing. I used a home dec fabric for both the lining and the interfacing. M serger is still not working so I used a zig-zag stitch to secure all three layers of each piece together before sewing all of the seams. This acted as my basting as well as my seam finish.

I was instructed to cut a strip of fabric 3-1/2" wide out of velvet for the collar and face it with the plum fabric. I did just as instructed and then realized, when sewing it to the neckline, that you can't sew a straight piece of fabric to a curve...it won't lay properly. So I had to recut the strips longer and add some very slight gathers to the back edge so it would look right.

The instructions on the costume pattern call for purchased bias tape to finish the neck edge. Ugh - ugly. I made my own 1" bias tape - using my handy-dandy bias tape maker - out of the lining fabric. Much prettier. I also finished the corner where the stomacher meets the neckline differently than what the pattern instructions called for. I finished the stomacher edge first, then sewed the neck edge and bias facing to the stomacher.

I had to create my own pattern for the sleeves as the only instruction I received was to make them "wider, like a bathrobe." I assumed that meant like the sleeves on a kimono style bathrobe, so I pulled out an old bathrobe pattern to use for the desired width. The sleeve pattern provided is in two pieces and includes a flounce. To make sure the armhole fit and the length remained the same, I laid the three pattern pieces over the bathrobe sleeve pattern and measured the length. I then cut out the sleeve wide like the robe, but fitted at the armhole.

The sleeve is lined also as I didn't think the plum fabric had enough body to support the velvet cuff. The velvet cuff is a 10" strip of velvet folded in half, wrong sides together, sewn to the bottom of the sleeve, and turned up over the right side of the sleeve.

The last step was to gather and sew the overskirt to the bodice and sew in the zipper. Yikes, the zipper was a bear to put in. Trying to sew through all of those fabric layers while maneuvering a completed - and heavy - costume through my machine was not fun.

But, as my mother says, "All's well that ends well". The costume, while not perfect, looks pretty darn good. It wasn't as difficult or time-consuming as I had anticipated. And I didn't damage my machine sewing through multiple layers of home dec fabric. Shoot, I might even make one of these for myself.

But, the next time someone mentions that they are always looking for help sewing costumes I will remember that the correct response is "oh, I hope you find some people that are able to help you out." Pin It

Dogs on Thursday

Brrrr! The morning began with the temperature at 13 below - but it warmed up to a balmy 8 above by the afternoon! I'm already weary of these bitter cold days and am looking forward to spring. At least the days are beginning to get longer again...which means only a few more months of winter.

I'm not too fond of these sub zero temperatures but it sure doesn't seem to bother our Abby. This is one puppy that loves being outdoors and it doesn't matter to her what the weather is like.
The other day I let her out and she didn't care that the temps were hovering near zero and snow was falling. She found a cozy place in the yard where she gnawed on a broken tree limb while watching the world go by. Whenever I called her to come in she would glance back at me as if to say "I don't think so", and then she would go back to gnawing her tree limb. She's already figured out that in these temps it's unlikely that I'm going to go outside and get her.

One of her favorite places to hang out is on top of the large snow pile that was created from the snow that was shoveled - many times - off of the patio. We're guessing she likes being up there because she can see over the fence.

When Abby comes in she almost always gets a treat but that little Sophia is right there trying to remove it from Abby's mouth. She may be the smaller of the two but she's definitely in charge.

Awww, but then the next minute the two of them are best buds again. Pin It

McCall's 5532 Non-Stop Wardrobe Pattern

In my continued quest to update my professional work wardrobe I purchased this McCall's Non-Stop Wardrobe pattern (number 5532). I was drawn to the jacket - the princess seaming, the shawl collar, the bishop sleeves, and the skinny self-fabric belt with bow trim.

This style is a bit out of the norm for me as I typically wear suit jackets unbuttoned with a tee or blouse underneath. However, the director of the department where I now work wears a lot of skirt suits like this and she always looks classy, polished and professional. I figured if it works for her it might work for me, so I gave it a try.

The chosen fabric was a black and white mini- houndstooth tropical weight wool originally purchased for the vintage swing jacket from Simplicity 4047. While the mini-houndstooth was really too small for that vintage look it worked great for this suit top. (I'm not sewing the matching belt until after I cut out the skirt as I want to make sure I have enough fabric.)

The best part? The silk charmeause lining! Thank you, thank you, thank you Shannon for writing your post about using Fabric Mart's $4.99 silks as linings. I doubt I would have thought of it otherwise and oh! having that silk hidden inside is such a luxurious feeling!

As for the pattern...well, it went together quite nicely. A few adjustments were made to the pattern pieces before I sewed the jacket - an FBA (of course), shortening the sleeves by one inch, and sway back adjustment.

I found myself adjusting the top *a lot* when I wore it to work which tells me I didn't have the fit right. I think the upper chest area ended up too large and could use some tweaking the next time around. All things considered, it was an easy jacket to construct and I think I'll do a bit of tweaking and sew myself another one.

By the way, did I mention how much I love the yummy silk charmeause lining?

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Pattern Rescue. A place to restore, preserve and recycle your patterns

Are you familiar with Pattern Rescue? I stumbled across the site a few weeks ago when I was trying to locate pattern covers for some old Hollywood patterns that I own. This is the place to go if you need to find a missing pattern piece, are trying to locate an old pattern, or you want to recycle your patterns.

You can send them any old patterns you don't want and they will list them on their site to see if anyone wants them. They then will ship, free of charge (donations accepted), up to three patterns of your choice. I have three coming to me one of which you'll see in future Flashback Fridays.

I'm going to post a request to see if I can find out what my Hollywood patterns are supposed to look like. I have the uncut tissue and the instructions but no photo or drawing of the completed outfits.

Take a few minutes and check the site out. Pin It

I'm baaaack! Did ya miss me?

Thank you to everyone who sent me a kind note checking that all was well. That meant a lot to me. Alas, I wasn't missing due to a fantastic warm-weather vacation, which would have been really wonderful considering we've been in the midst of below zero temperatures at the moment.

I was missing because:
1) I started my new job on Jan. 2 (Yea! and I'm lovin' it!) New job means the brain has been getting quite the workout as new people, places and processes get tossed my way. I don't know about you but I find learning a lot all at once can be quite tiring. Combine that with...

2) I caught a cold on Jan. 4. You know the kind. It sneaks up on you. You sneeze once or twice over the course of the day and wonder if you're allergic to something. Then you develop a slight headache but pass that off to the bright office lights and eye strain due to computer usage. Then your throat gets a bit itchy but you reason it could be the dry air that arrives every year with the bitter cold temperatures. Just to be safe you make sure you have cough drops and nice soft Kleenex on hand. Pretty soon you can no longer deny you have a full blown, feel like cr*p, common cold. Yep. Nice way to start a new job, huh? Anyway, combine that with....

3) Helping my daughter decorate her new condo. We spent Sunday afternoons at her place assisting with cleaning and painting and planning. That also meant a few after-work nights were spent making Target and IKEA runs. I actually don't mind the IKEA runs...it's pretty cool to be close enough to an IKEA store that you can just drive over for inspiration. Combine that with...

4) Promising to sew a costume for a local high school production. The play is "Way of the World" and I was assigned Mrs. Marwoods. The costume is due Feb. 2 and I just lost two weeks production time because, thanks to my cold, I was too tired to sew by the time I arrived home from work. While I'm feeling just a tad stressed about this commitment I do know that I'm an accomplished seamstress so I shouldn't have any problems meeting that date. Combine that with...

4) Living life. Cooking, cleaning, church activities...well, there just wasn't any spare time to get on the computer.

So here I am. Back to blogging and ready to share the few sewing projects I did manage to complete in 10 to 20 minute blocks of sewing time. They include:

1) McCall's 5522 blouse which doesn't fit, which is doubly disappointing because the collar and collar band turned out perfect.
2) McCall's 5532 jacket which doesn't fit as well as I would have liked but you can be the judge.
3) McCall's 5323 blouse which doesn't look quite like the cover photograph which you'll notice immediately when you compare my version with their version.

I'll be back. I'm off to work on a few more UFOs. Pin It

A 2006 UFO - the McCall's 4924 skirt

Sophia and I cut this skirt out the end of September 2006. I have proof since I about it here...

It's underlined with cotton batiste.

It's hem is finished with a vintage rayon hem tape.


It's well fitted and the fabric (silk blend tweed from Fabric Mart) was wonderful to sew.

It's a great looking skirt.

I thought so every time I looked at it hanging in my closet, unworn, for the past year.

Why you ask? Because I never got around to sewing the hook and eye on the waistband. Talk about lazy sewing...two minutes of my time was all that was needed to complete this UFO.

Full review later. Right now I'm on a UFO mission.

Oh, and Marji? I'm with ya - I vow to not create any new UFO's in 2008. Pin It

Flashback Friday - 1980

In honor of my beautiful daughter's recent birthday (Jan. 2) I'm sharing photos from her fourth birthday party. That girl has never enjoyed being the center of attention - which was evident even at age four at her own birthday party.

And she's still in love with Winnie the Pooh.

Her pinafore dress was sewn by her mama (me) from a cotton floral print. The primary color was blue, but I choose to trim it with pink ribbon to help draw attention to the pink flowers in the print. Completing the ensemble was a blue button front blouse (also sewn by mama) and matching blue tights.
Oh gosh, look at that horrible gold chair in the background. I had forgotten all about that chair; it was old and falling apart but I was so grateful to have a chair to sit on. You know, until I look at these old pictures, I forget how poor we really were. We owned so little and much of it was cast offs. I should reflect back on the hard times once in awhile as it helps me to be thankful for the good times I now experience.

By the way, if you haven't read her story yet, click on last year's birthday post. This little one entered the world way too early and way too small yet survived with no side effects. Pin It

Dogs on Thursday - Abby at six months

The week before Christmas Abby turned six months.

Guess what she got for Christmas? That's right - a little day trip to the vet to get spayed. We dropped her off in the morning and discovered that she only weighs 46 lbs. When we brought her home after her little laser surgery all she wanted to do was lie on her bed.

The easy part was over. We now had to make sure she didn't disturb the stitches. She was really good during the day because we could watch her so closely, but we realized she was licking and pulling at the stitches at night. So poor Abby was transformed into a conehead for the dark hours of the night.
Sophia, who usually rules in this house, knew Abby wasn't feeling her best and cuddled up to her during naptimes.
Abby visited the vet again yesterday to get her stitches removed and she gained another 3 lbs in the two weeks after her surgery. The vet doesn't think she'll grow much larger than 55 to 60 lbs which is a lot smaller than the 80 to 100 lbs we were expecting. She may not have gotten the big size of a Newfie but she sure did get the gene for the gentle disposition. She is probably the calmest six month old puppy I've ever seen. Pin It

Happy 2008! And sew it begins - resolutions made, resolutions broken

Happy New Year!
I suppose I could begin my first post of the new year by creating a photo collage of my 2007 projects ala Erica and Christina , but that would mean I would have had to keep my photos and projects organized in some logical fashion and that just didn't happen.

2008 Sewing Resolutions
Guess that means I now have a resolution for 2008 - track my 2008 sewing projects in an organized and logical manner.

And as long as I'm tracking them, I think I'll discipline myself to work on only one project at a time - start to completion - so that I don't lose interest in one or the other and create another UFO.

And as long as I'm only working on one project at a time I think I'll not waste my precious sewing time using low-quality fabric.

Broken Resolutions
Uh, oops. Here it is, not even the end of the first day of 2008, and I've already broken my resolution to not waste my sewing time sewing with low-quality fabrics. I sewed on three yards of crappy cotton knit that was hanging around in my stash.

But I couldn't help it!

The color was great - a bright hot pink - but the fabric was really low quality. Not only was it a bit off grain, but it had a teensy-tiny flaw running through. I kept it around thinking that someday I'd use it to sew up a quick night shirt.

And today, that's just what I did.

So...whaddya think of my little night shirt?


Butterick 3405, c. 1970s, Pattern Review
A John Kloss design for nightgown, or babydoll (for stretch knits only) and robe. The gown has high fitted and tied bodice, scoop neckline and flared skirt. The robe has fitted bodice with released pleats, standing collar, front button and loop closing, and full length sleeves.

This particular pattern just arrived the other day buried in a pattern lot I had won recently. You see, sometimes I actually use the vintage and retro patterns I've collected over the years.

The nightgown was a two-hour sewing project - from the time I cut out the pattern to the time I took the photo on GiGi.

I did not do an FBA on the bodice, but I did add additional length to the pattern piece. I also increased the seam allowances on the side seams - tapering from a 12 at the shoulder to a 14 at the high waist/hip line. In retrospect, this additional width was not needed as there is plenty of ease built into the nightgown.

The skirt consists of four flared pieces and is attached to the self-lined bodice leaving a 2 inch opening at the center front. The bodice ties in front leaving a small keyhole opening between the bodice and the skirt. The pattern instructions call for slipstitching the inner bodice facing to the upper edge of the skirt, but I topstitched it in place.

Because my serger is still broken I hemmed the bottom edge - (which is a whopping 140 inches) - with a decorative overcast stitch on my sewing machine. I allowed the knit to stretch slightly which resulted in a rippled edge - similar to a lettuce hem.

I think it turned out cute considering the fabric that was used. Just think how great the next one will look!

My flannel jammies won't be traded in anytime soon for this little hot pink cutie, but it sure was fun to get one of those pesky resolutions out of the way! Pin It