A couple of years ago I went on a fabric exploration trip to Milan. I've not ever talked about it here but last night when I was working with G on her Ancient Roman project I whipped up some images and find myself, this morning, drawn into looking at them again.
At every turn there are religious figures with their eyes on you!
Wish I saw more of this around here … public transit, bikes and walking
The very old and the new
just breathtaking
A modern art sculpture of needle and thread
This weeks sewing itinerary was ironing, more ironing, and a dash of sewing. 20 aprons were embellished with iron-ons and hand selected, personality appropriate ribbon. M was so thorough and conscious in selecting ribbon, it was a really nice expression of her thoughtfulness.
All these aprons were part of the annual 1st grade reading restaurant. Which is a fun way for our readers to show us, and let us take home in our ‘to go’ bag, what they’ve been working on all year. They read to us and generally show off their skills and then in their very best manners serve us some breakfast. L.O.V.E.
and I'll cry if I want to.
Every darn time I try to switch my 'evolve' serger to coverstitch I end up in a fit of one sort or another. Which is really a shame, I'm pretty sure it's all operator error but I'll be darned if I can re-thread and be happily on my way. GRRR.
I'm starting off, right out of the gate, with that because it's right there… UN-HEMMED TOP! Like a homing beacon; it's pressed for hemming, even has some needle marks along the back where there are unpicked wonky coverstitch stitches, but it was the end of the day and I was at the end of my rope and really just didn't care any longer. Then M REALLY wanted to wear it and who am I to say no to a request like that. Except that now I've snapped a bunch of pic's advertising that I let my kid go 'round in UN-HEMMED tops. Bad bad mommy!
This tank is so super easy that it should have been a quick buzz through the machines. But alas, I got in the way of that, well … me and a little help from the machine. The plan is to add a black iron on to the front to continue with the black and white bits. But I think I'm going to re-do the top altogether. There was this brilliant (NOT) idea to bind the neck and arm holes with woven bias binding, so I backed out the seam allowances. After adding the bias to one of the arms it was just too much. Too much bulk, too much black and white and just too much NOT RIGHT. This is where I should have re-cut the top pieces with seam allowance so all would be right in the world of Sara tanks but I didn't and it's a little too gappy in the front arm hole area, which makes a momma a little uncomfortable with little girls and active playground play.
The black and white bias trim was chosen because the fabric for the skirt is just so awesome and colorful but I wanted the hem to stand out, not get lost. To tie in the bold hem is the black and white ruffle and eventually the black iron-on on the white jersey.
Oh and the leggings. They are made out of some stretch lace fabric from a local shop and using my favorite legging pattern. They are stitched with a 3 thread rolled hem stitch on the serger. I don't know if that's necessary or beneficial and didn't do any research. My thought was just that that's a nice tight stitch and I wanted to catch as much fabric as possible in the seams so there won't be holes. I'll report back if they fall apart after a few washings 
