My Favorite Stores

This week's featured store is Wawak Sewing. They have all manner of sewing supplies, accessories, and notions including things I didn't even know exist but what really keeps me coming back is zippers! Just one example: they have brass jeans zippers as short as 3 inches, (and up to 11 inches) in 18 different colors! And the prices! (Yes, I know. I'm using too many !!!) All of their jeans zippers are less than one US dollar each. And small orders are no problem. I try to wait until I need several items at once because I hate when shipping costs more than the item I'm ordering but if you only need one zipper you can order just one zipper.

Their selection of buttons seems fairly limited - just standard shirt buttons, coat buttons, etc - but you can buy them by the dozen or by the gross. (some styles) And, as I said, a lot of other sewing supplies and notions, including a lot of stuff intended for commercial/professional sewing like huge, 6000 yard spools of thread. In addition to the things you would expect, like thread, buttons, zippers, elastic, tape measures, bobbins, scissors, sewing machines and parts, they also have things like steam irons, hangers, garment bags, lint brushes... I hardly know where to stop. Just go browse.

My Favorite Stores

I have decided to start a series of brief reviews of my favorite online stores. (In some cases extremely brief; I'm not sure you would even call them "reviews") I will try to post these once a week.

First up is Create for Less. I mostly buy buttons from them but they have all kinds of sewing and craft supplies. They have a good selection of buttons, lots of the basics and a few fancy and novelty buttons. I wish they had a better selection of trims - laces, rick-rack, piping, etc. They do have quite a bit of that sort of thing but I often find myself wishing for more.

The website is easy to use. If I could have them make one improvement it would be to be able to search for hole buttons or shank buttons only. Shipping time (to Oklahoma) is about what I normally expect - usually a week or less.

Hurry Up, Summer

I finished this a week ago but today is the first nice day we've had in that time. It's been cold and raining and I wanted to take a picture outside. First, here's a close-up of the fabric.

I bought it at a local quilt shop last year, in fact, almost exactly a year ago if I remember correctly. This wasn't one of the things I was considering for my "next project" but I got a sudden craving for something summery.

Apparently, I can't stand up straight when I'm not looking in a mirror. There are some odd wrinkles here and there that I didn't see until I looked at the pictures. Oh well. I used the skirt from one pattern and used a blouse pattern, New Look 6078, as a guide for drafting the bodice, because I've made it several times and like the way it fits. The darts end up in the right places without a lot of futzing with it.

Here is one reason why I will almost certainly never be a popular sewing blogger: I keep making the same basic shape of dress - fitted or semi fitted bodice and gathered skirt - but it works for me. I have made different styles but these are the dresses I wear all the time (in the summer) while others just take up space in my closet. Minor variations, and of course many wonderful prints and colors, make each one fun and different.

My thoughts on rick-rack and hem lengths are relevant to this post.

Oh! Shoes!

I am definitely buying this: Women's Ballet Flat Sewing Pattern. Aren't those the cutest? I like the plain, the three-strap and the one with the laces. The one with the button is nice too. I'm not a big Mary Jane fan, mostly because I have a high instep and the strap hurts my foot. Which, I suppose, might be a problem with the three-strap version too, but they're cute.

Shoes are not something most people think of as something you can make yourself but I first started thinking about the idea long before the Internet. I came across a book about how to do and bought it but at the time just finding all the materials seemed like a huge hassle. So I just dropped the idea and didn't think about it for years but lately my difficulty in finding shoes that I like has started me thinking about it again. I don't think making my own is going to be my magic solution. It will be a challenge to make them comfortable, durable, and attractive enough to wear out of the house. But it might be fun and I'm ready to give it a try. Don't be holding your breath or anything like that though. It might be a while before I post my attempt here.

We're doing it all wrong, Darlings

A local quilt shop posted this image on their Facebook page.

What a difference between now and then, right? Maybe not as much as we think. Of all the women I've known who were around in 1949 (grandmother, aunts) I cannot think of one who would not have laughed at this as much as I did.

Two Purple Things

This is another New Look 6963. I have been sort of stuck on this pattern lately and I really need to move on. I am going to make at least one more but not right away. The fabric is the last of three pieces of cotton shirting that I bought several months ago when Denver Fabrics had a sale on it. I was going to use a different pattern for it but after thinking about it for a while I knew I really wanted it to be another one of these.

I wanted to find the perfect purple buttons for it but past experience has taught me that a search for The Perfect Buttons usually leads to frustration and a long delay in finishing the project. I happened to have these light blue ones already and when I held one against the fabric I liked the way it looked so I used them. There's a certain kind of satisfaction in making something completely from the stash.

I must be honest; I'm not thrilled with this shirt. I mean, I don't really dislike it but I'm not excited about it either. It is comfortable though and perfect for what I intended it to be, just a casual everyday shirt, and I know I will wear it a lot.

I also made the slacks last week. (I'm trying to school myself to not say "pants" because I know that means something different to our friends in the UK.) I started out with McCall's 6173 but I've modified the pattern so much I don't feel like I can claim it's that pattern at all anymore. The fabric is a cotton/spandex twill. I made them a little bit looser than normal because the stretch is very slight. (I'm all about comfort, you know.) They have a side zipper. I like side zippers, not just because they're retro but also because they leave the front smooth. No funny looking ridges or lumps under your t-shirts.

I already had two pairs of purple slacks but I had issues with both of them. One was made of a "stretch" twill that had so little stretch it was practically imaginary and they were not comfortable. Also, the specific color of purple was not quite right to match any tops that I have. The other pair was a baggy, pull on style that I didn't really like except for the color, a kind of subdued or "faded" purple that went with a lot of different tops. Aside from that, the pockets were too shallow for my Galaxy S5. This is of utmost importance. So, one pair to replace two pairs. That's a win. And the color, which you can't really see well in this picture, will go with several of my tops.

Fondling the Stash

Hey, everyone! Long time no blog. Well, you know how it goes. I do have something ready to show off but I have a lot that I want to say about it (and hope I remember to say) and not a lot of time this afternoon.

So here are a few candidates for my next project. (Next brand new from scratch project, that is. I'm actually thinking of doing some re-fashioning of older, seldom worn garments before I start something new. Maybe.) I'm really wanting to get in on the Spring For Cotton Challenge. These are all quilting cottons so one of them will likely be my challenge project.

And here's one more that I remembered I wanted to include after I had taken the above pic and was putting away the fabrics.

Soviet Fabrics

Even their fabrics were full of propaganda. I hadn't thought about it before but a lot of Soviet art is rather interesting and sometimes even appealing and fabric is art. Also, I guess it shouldn't be surprising that propaganda, whatever its purpose, would be visually attractive. That's the whole idea: to attract and appeal to people.

Anyway, the fabrics... I wouldn't exactly say that I'm lusting after any of them but, yeah, a few of them are kind of nice. I guess, really, I like them because they're different.

Rescue Work

I said in my last post that I need to sacrifice a few things from my closet but I am not willing to sacrifice these buttons.

I love them! They were on a blouse that hasn't fit me in more than 10 years. I can still get into it and button all the buttons so I had been using that as an excuse to keep it but, honestly, it doesn't fit. So I replaced these lovelies with plain buttons. I have one more set of pretty buttons to rescue from a never worn garment before the big sacrifice to Goodwill.

Just a Gray Bag

This is what has been keeping me from sewing.

My husband asked for a new bag. I had been putting off making it and feeling guilty about putting it off so I finally decided that I must do this "next" but still kept putting it off. I used the Green Pepper cargo bag pattern which is really a very simple pattern and I simplified it even more by leaving off the end pocket and not making the flap over the zipper.

What made this a "Not Fun!" thing to make was the fabric. I'm not even sure what it is exactly but it's very stiff and hard to work with. Some kind of synthetic, probably nylon, with a rubber-like coating on the back. I found it at Walmart. It was obviously not intended for the home sewing industry. No disrespect for Walmart, please. Their little fabric department does have some cheap crap and an annoying lack of notions but they also have awesome stuff like this. Yes, awesome. Even though it was difficult to sew it makes excellent, sturdy bags. This is the third one I've made. I used my treadle machine. I have serious doubts that a non-commercial electric machine could handle this fabric.

So, what next? I finished this bag last Thursday and I still have not started anything else. I'm in that between seasons mode. If I make something that is appropriate for the weather we're having now I might only get to wear it once or twice before the weather warms up but if I make something for warmer weather I might not get to wear it for several weeks so it's hard to get motivated for something like that. Also, my undersized closet is seriously overstuffed and I need to sacrifice a few things before I add any more to it. I do have something in mind though, that I will try to at least cut out today.