I think I've figured out what is keeping me from jumping into my sewing like I do with my knitting. It's the ironing. I absolutely love cutting out the pattern pieces, pinning them on the fabric and then cutting everything out - I really enjoy the pieces with their neat cutting lines and the pins all in a row (could you tell by the number of pattern piece photos I've posted?). And I like the actual sewing - a side seam, a hem, even a casing for elastic. But I hate all the "press down 1/4 in. here and then fold over and press again" sort of stuff. How annoying is that? Sew a little seam, stand up and do some tedious, intricate foldy-pressy thing, then sew another little seam. Just makes me want to get my knitting needles and do stockinette in front of the tv for an hour or two!

So this week, I tried to make friends with the iron. My first project wasn't sewing at all, but a bit of crafty, iron-on fun. Remember when I was dreaming of knitting Joe sweaters for the boys? Well, I still want to do that. I've got two more sweaters planned for the boys before I get to those, but I figure they'll still be watching Blue's Clues in two years! Anyway, the character they really love is Dora the Explorer and you cannot find any Dora clothes or accessories that are for boys. I'm not a huge stickler about boy colors and such, but everything Dora is pink AND ruffly AND covered in flowers. That's a little much for even the most open-minded mom. So I made up some little iron-ons and bought some cheap shirts at Old Navy, and voila: boys like Dora too!

And here's the back. The boys love them!

After doing the Dora shirts and making some headway on the native sweater (check it out!), I managed to almost finish sewing my stripey skirt. Step one on the skirt was iron on interfacing over buttonholes (now you can see why I waited so long!). I picked up the iron, since it was out, and got to work. Then sewed up the side seams, the hem and even added a bit of lace to the bottom. All that's left are the fiddly little drawstrings. I should have finished pics for next week's update. I really like how it came out and I'll probably start wearing it even though I still have to deal with the ties. Good thing the rest is finished, cause I'm done ironing for this week!

The boys had a great birthday, complete with balloons and a fire engine cake! I hate to say it, but the fire dogs were the yummiest part.

No new knitty gifts for the boys this birthday, but they did wear their lederhosen that I knit for them last year. And the mailman brought the yarn I need to make their pipsqueak sweaters. Yay!

In other birthday news, some belated but awesome presents arrived for me, including Vintage Knits, Burda and Ottobre magazines, and lots of fabric for sewing projects.

Birthdays are good.

My little sewing blog was lonely all on its own. And since it was displaced from the sidebar by the knit-alongs, I'm moving it back to the blue blog as a weekly update.

Current projects:

dressy
My first big sewing project and it's still awaiting armhole facings and a hem. I'm having trouble working up the courage to try the small curvy seams on the armhole facings. And I don't know how I'll get the hem right all by myself.

groovy
Why did I stop working on this? Ahh, the waistband. But now that I've conquered that fear/technique, I should be able to get these sewn up and hemmed pretty quick.

kwikies
Pants and more pants for the boys. I made one pair using the Kwik-Sew pattern and a couple of Kristi's fast pants. I've got more fabric and old t-shirts ready to be transformed into more pants and shorts for summer fun.

miscellany
I spent most of my sewing time in the last week and a half working on all the curtains that needed to be rehemmed for our new place. After running out of white thread and then (Carolyn, you'll like this!) sewing the pocket for the curtain rod closed on several panels, I finally managed to get them all done for the bedrooms. The kitchen and living room are still naked.

And remember this fabulous fabric that Kerrie sent me a while back? Well, I'm trying to turn it into something fun and summery. If I can't get it to work, I should still be able to turn it into a little shoulder bag.

Stop by next week for the chance to see:

- a finished pair of groovy pjs
- some fast shorts, and
- a fabulous little top (or the world's sexiest purse!)

I finished rehemming some of the curtains from my stack. I was going gangbusters with the blind hem stitch until I ran out of white thread! So, I moved on to redoing the seams on my old curtains. New seam, old seam; what a difference. I finished a few and went to hang them up to see how they looked and wouldn't you know it, I sewed up the pocket for the pole. Dooh!

We've entered the final phase of the move: pictures and curtains. And here's the stack of curtains I have to alter before we can get a little privacy around here!

The white ones all have to be shortened as the ceilings are lower in our new apartment. And the colored ones are curtains I made about five years ago with a little hand stitcher and no idea at all of what I was doing. Obviously, all those seams have to be redone. Taking them apart shouldn't be a problem since pretty much the only thing holding them together right now is inertia!

During the move, I've been amazed to discover how domestic we have become as a couple. While I'm upstairs with the sewing machine measuring and pinning curtains, my husband is downstairs with saw and drill, installing shelves. I vacillate between being proud and being scared by this.

Success! I was real nervous at first about stitching through all that denim. Alison had warned me in my comments that it could get hairy. But the sharp needle worked like a dream and my little Bernina made it through without a hitch. Despite somehow sewing the front of the ankle opening to the back a couple of times, everything went really well.

I topstitched through the seam allowance, after marking my stitching line with tape, just like my book says to do for topstitching zippers. And then I stitched across the top and ripped the seam. Voila!

Here I am modelling my new old pants in my bedroom mirror. (PS - that's my neglected-of-late knitting basket behind me.)

Made it to the fabric store yesterday to pick up some notions for the kwiky project. I got matching thread and some ball point needles for working with knits. I also picked up an extra sharp needle for denim, because I've got a notion in my head of something I want to do with some old jeans. Here's what I'm thinking...

I've got these old jeans. Well, they're not vintage old, but they are 1998 old, which is old enough that the styling is a little 'not quite right', if you know what I mean. I like the jeans and they still fit me (you'll agree that this alone is reason enough to keep them!), but the one thing that really keeps me from wearing them is the cut at the ankle. Although they're not tapered in at the ankles (they're not that old), they do date from the pre-Gap-bootcut era and seem too narrow. They've also shrunk a bit from many washings and are so are a bit short.

My idea is to open up the outside seam at the ankle, maybe two inches, and make slits, like on capri pants. What do you think? It could change the look enough that it won't seem too narrow or too short. And it shouldn't be too hard to do, right? Just some topstitching over the seam allowance to hold everything in place, a little stitching across the top of the slit, like at the base of a zipper, and open up the seam.

These gorgeous fabrics are by Kaffe Fasset and were sent to me by the oh so fabulously thoughtful Kerrie (who is so lucky to live in Rowan-land!). I don't yet know what to do with them.

I haven't ruled out simply keeping them all wrapped up to adore and fondle.