Decisions, Decisions

I recently moved all my sewing stuff into one place in my house, so I am anxious to see how it works out.  I can't decide what to do next.  I have all the supplies for these two dresses or the coat and I don't know what to do next.

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In a brown copper taffeta?
This photo is from the Butterick website.  I don't
have a crinolin yet.

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I have a tweedish plaid brown, blue and tan fabric.  I loved
this coat as soon as I saw it on Princess Catherine.

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I have a chocolate,royal blue, cream and black
chunky plaid I fell in love with for this dress.

I got some other great choices, just can't decide what I want to sew next.  This is a tough place to be!

Quick Review of the Ott Lite 3-in1 Craft Lamp

I received the Ott Lite 3-in-1 Craft Lamp as a gift and purchased at JoAnn Fabrics at an incredibly irrestistable price with a coupon and a great sale.

This is the stock photo from the website.

I was in love with this lamp from the beginning.  It can be configured to sit on a table or on the floor.  I was surprised to discover the magnifying glass was plastic!  I was not happy about that at first, but since then have appreciated the durability.  I have not "knocked" this one over yet, so I don't know how tough it would be there.  I was especially curious to see how the nut would hold the light up.  It did GREAT.  However, after only four months the plastice housing has stripped beyond repair.

In the light's defense.  I am blind as a bat and was constantly raising and lowering the light.  If someone wanted to use the light like a normal person, I guess they would position the ligth and use it.  However, since my machine is older than God, I found myself positioning it and repositioning it so I could see.  Now that the plastic nut is stripped, I am using the clip to hold the light up.  I have not sewed since it broke and my friends are telling me to take it back.  I don't know if I will or if I will let my husband try his hand at making it more durable.

At the price I got it, I would buy this lamp again, at the price they want for it retail and a regular sale, I might skip it and buy just a nice floor lamp with a snake-type neck I can adjust.  The best feature I found on this was the light itself.  It really does give off a different kind off light that seems to be easier to see under which is probably why I used it enough to strip it out in four months.

Vogue 8416: Super Easy! Material Makes It

I'll add more pictures to this when I figure out how to get them off my phone.  I wanted to get something posted in this blog before the end of the week.

I sewed this for a company party with my husband.  I purposefully picked some very lightweight wool knowing we were going to be outside in December.  The evenings had already started to get cool.  So I found some tweedy wool with a little sparkle.  Something I thought was going to be awesome when I found some fabric that had pink circles that looked a little like candy, a black back ground and sparkles just like the wool.

I would use the wool for the jumper and the pink for the top.  Then as is usual, my husband go into the mix.  I wanted him to look nice to receive his award and the whole thing when south.  I bought all new material for a shirt that didn't match the wool at all but would match the material for the vest I was going to make for him wear under his suit coat.  I was not amused, but at the same time, as usual, it was a night for someone else and not me.

The jumper went together with the wool perfectly.  I used tape on the edges of the wool and it really had a nice finish.  For some reason it was a little big.  This is the second vintage Vogue pattern I have sewn that came out big.  The disasterous mumu project being the other one.  I am beginning to question my meausurements or the pattern measurements and I'm leaning toward my measurements.

As  I stated before the material we picked to match the vest did not in anyway match the jumper, but we were home and I was on a deadline to get the clothes sewed.  My husband offered for me to buy different material for the jumper portion, but that didn't happen.  It was too late.

The whole outfit went together very easy and had simple lines.  Other than being a hair too big and not matching, it fit like it was supposed to fit and looked very nice.  I didn't buy the right size buttons for the front, so I had to make do with some leftovers from another outfit.

What I cannot wait to do is make the shirt out of the material I bought to go with the jumper and see how they look together.  I actally bought two kinds of fabric that night in hopes of creating a few outfits.  We shall see how that goes.  I think we all know how that will go.



A New Home For Sewing Retro

This is the new home for Sewing Retro!  I am in the process of breaking up a larger blog.  When I moved the posts I kept the old dates in case there was anyone following my posts from the old site:

http://andsawmyself.blogspot.com/

  I hope to be posting here at least once a week or more depending on how my schedule goes.  I have several projects that I have not taken pictures of yet, so as soon as things slow down for me I will be posting quite a bit.