All posts tagged Sewing Sunday

Sewing Sunday: November Edition – Wacom Tablet Case

closed Wacom case

Last month I got a new gadget that I am extremely excited about.  I’m not a huge gadget person, but this one has already paid for itself in terms of increased productivity.  What is this amazing new gadget, you ask?  It is none other than a Wacom tablet, the savior of illustrators and designers everywhere!  Essentially, it’s a drawing surface that allows you to draw directly on your computer screen.  It’s pressure sensitive, and you can draw just like you’re drawing in your sketchbook.  It effectively cuts out the process of having to scan and illustration into the computer and clean it up for use in design projects.  It’s an amazing timesaver, and I can’t believe that I didn’t invest in one sooner in my design career.  I’m not really exaggerating when I say that it has changed my life as an illustrator.

Here it is–the new love of my life (sorry, Ben).  She’s pretty, right?

Wacom Intuos Pro

Okay, enough raving.

When I bought the Wacom tablet, it didn’t come with any sort of a protective case.  I expect that I might want to take it with me on occasion when I’m working remotely, in addition to the fact that it should probably be protected when stored at home, so I decided that I’d make a fabric case for it this month.  Plus, I didn’t have a whole lot of extra time this month to sew due to the fact that I had a draft of a big report due just before Thanksgiving, along with obligations related to Greenbuild, the U.S. Green Building Council’s annual conference, for which I was on the host committee here in Philadelphia.  (You might remember that I was involved in building the Legacy Project for the conference, which I wrote about a couple months ago on this very blog.)  Oh yeah, and somewhere in there, I was working on a cover story about electric cars for a forthcoming issue of Grid Magazine.  You get the point–it was a busy month with little time for sewing.

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Sewing Sunday: October Edition – Old Coat, New Lining

finished coat-cropped

I have a confession to make.  I didn’t technically finish October’s project in October.  I say “technically” because I actually finished at about 12:46 a.m. on November 1st.  My mom has a long-standing rule that it’s not really “tomorrow” until you go to sleep and wake up again, so I’m still counting this as October’s project.  Plus, I actually started it on a Sunday in October, so I figure that counts for something, right?

In my defense (and I’m not entirely sure why I feel the need to defend myself to you, dear reader, but I do), October was an insanely busy month with a last-minute trip to Asheville, NC, thrown in there for good measure.  You know, just your normal 1258 mile, 34 hour road trip to buy a harp.  Also, some sort of lapse in judgement led me to agree to premiere a new piece for harp, soprano and baritone in the midst of the other craziness.  Don’t get me wrong–the piece was lovely, and I love to play new works for harp–but it really could’ve used a few more weeks for practice/rehearsal, and I probably didn’t need the extra stress this month.  I think I need to relearn how to say the word, no.

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Sewing Sunday: July Edition — A Simple Summer Sheath Dress

Sheath dress neck facing

A couple of months ago, I got this amazing fabric from The Resource Exchange.  It came from a designer, and I’m not sure whether it was hand-dyed or not, but when I washed it prior to making anything out of it (to pre-shrink the material if it was going to do that), the fabric gave up so much red that my wash basin looked like I had killed someone in it.  I washed it several more times to make sure I had most of the red dye out that was going to come out; hopefully this will cut down on bleeding during future washes.

Because the fabric pattern was so cool (and somewhat busy), I knew that I would have to make something relatively simple out of it.  Something that wouldn’t violate the large, geometric pattern too much and wouldn’t detract from how cool the fabric is.  Since I’m a little short on more business-appropriate summer dresses, I decided that a shift or sheath dress would work well.  The dress lines would be simple so the fabric pattern could stand out.  I found a New Look pattern online for $7, which seemed quite reasonable, so I ordered it.  I’ve never used New Look patterns before, but they’re made by Simplicity, which I have used before, so I figured it would probably work out well.

Sheath Dress PatternSizing for patterns is different from sizing for clothes you buy in a store, and according to my measurements, I’m a size 14.  When my grandmother used to make clothes for me, we occasionally would have the problem that when she made the clothing according to the size I should be based on my measurements, it would come out too big, and she’d end up having to take it in considerably.  I never really understood what the problem was, but now I do.  When I cut out the pattern, I noticed that it had listed on the piece for the front of the dress what the final measurements would be.  A size 14 means my measurements are 36-28-38.  According to the pattern, the finished garment size was going to be 40-34.5-42.  Um, what?  Basically, it meant that if I made it my size, it was going to look like I was wearing a sack.

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