Ahhhhhh!!!!

I am NOT dead in a ditch somewhere!!!  I have been sick 3-4 times since my last post, my allergies have been crazy bad this year, and I have an ovarian cyst (TMI?) that is completely benign, but is currently pumping tons of estrogen into my system and making me so fatigued that I feel like napping all day. Not much sewing was going on.  However, I am working on a big project for my munchkin's birthday party on the 12th!!  So, I am buckling down and I am going to get a ton of sewing done for it. I will take pictures and post.

Ooh, I also hear about google reader being shut down. What do you guys use to read your blogs??  I have an obnoxious amount of blogs in my reader and I need to start transferring them to another reader kind of thing.

Happy sewing!!!

GSWDS: Interfacing, Stay Stitching, and Collar

Usually, I like to do stay stitching and interfacing immediately after I cut everything out.  I do this for a couple reasons: 1) I am deathly scared of curved edges stretching out before I can get to them, and I probably over-stay-stitch...if that's possible 2) I am a little lazy and I HATE interfacing.  There have been project with everything cut out and I will sew until I HAVE to put in the interfacing and then the project sits and languishes until I get up and just interface.  So, I found out if I lump cutting/interfacing/stay stitching together, projects get done much quicker.

Soooo,  Gertie didn't actually tell us to stay stitch any of the pieces, did she?  I am pretty anal about stay stitching, so I added it in.  The pieces I stay stitched were: Bodice Front, Bodice Facing, and both Back Yoke sections.  I don't have any pictures, but yeah, they're stay stitched.

 So, first thing first, sew the bodice facings to the skirt facing at the waist seam.  Now, you have a really long facing.

 Lay the facing right side up and then lay the interfacing piece sticky side up.  That is really important!  Facing=right side up, interfacing=sticky side up.  Then you want to sew (using a regular length stitch) the two pieces together along the outer edge.  See picture above.  Don't sew at the neckline, the shoulder seam, the bottom, or the other long side. 

 

Then, you want to trim the seam you just sewed and then if you have any extra interfacing at the bottom of your facing, snip that off as well.

 Then, very carefully, sew the outer edge.  The interfacing will fuse a little bit, but you are just looking for a nice, crisp seam at the outer edge.

 Now, you get to fuse the interfacing as normal.  The collar's interfacing is applied like usual.

Since we are already dealing with the facings and back yokes (you did stay stitch that right?) go ahead and sew the facings on. When you go to press the seam, make sure you press everything towards the back yoke.  You can also press the seam allowance back on the rest of the back yoke (this will help when you need to slipstitch everything together later).

Set your facings aside and you're done with all of your prep work!  Yay!  Also, don't mind the dress on the dress form.  I started making this dress last year.  It was supposed to be my mother's day dress, if that gives you any idea of how long it's been sitting there ;)  Must finish that dress...oh well!

GSWDS: Cutting

Ahhh!  I am so behind!  This week has been insane, honestly.  There was a bunch of things that came up that I really couldn't account for.  But, I am going to get some posts out today.  Better late than never, right??

 

One thing when you are cutting everything out, make sure that your front skirt piece will fit on the 60" layout before you start cutting things out!  Quite frankly, if your fabric is less than 55" wide, expect to use the 45" layout!  My fabric I am using here is 55" wide and the skirt just barely fits on there.

 

To see how much interfacing you need, you will have to measure out your facing and collar pieces.  I think I got a yard and half of interfacing, just to be sure I had enough.  Make sure you measure the front facings like in the picture.  Sure, you could get away with less interfacing if you put them right next to each other in the layout, but I didn't want to do that, because instead of cutting out four short pieces of interfacing for the front facing.  I chose to cut out two long pieces of interfacing, see below :P

 So, basically, you set the facings right up next to each other and cut two long pieces of interfacing.  I found that this got rid of some of the bulk at the waistline (I'm an apple shape and any unnecessary bulk at the waistline is a big no no. 

 So, now everything is all cut out and ready to go!  Go and get your self a drink or, if you have a cutting space like mine (the floor) go get a back rub from the resident back rub specialist *cough*husband*cough*