Ask and ye shall receive!

Thank you to everyone who wrote in with helpful hints about my glitter dot fabric fiasco. You people had a ton of good advice. You are not going to believe what actually solved my problem!

I had figured out right after I posted that the residue left on the machine needle was what was causing the skipped stitches. It came off with Goo-Gone and would sew perfectly for about 4 inches. Problem was, I had to clean it off after every 4 inches and that was taking forever. Then I checked out www.davina.org/CNSummer2002/Glittedot.html, that Dawn suggested, and one of their solutions was to use a silicone lubricant on the needle. Hmmm, don't have that, do have machine oil that is suppose to be clear and stainless. And what do you know, it worked! So now I put a drop on my needle (with the aid of the telescoping spout which came with the bottle) every 12 inches or so, and it sews up beautifully!

Here's the mystery, though. The blue dance skirt was actually the third one I made using the same fabric! I had absolutely zero problems with the first two. That was the reason for my extreme frustration. I could not figure out what had changed from the second to the third. Nothing had. So why my machine suddenly decided it didn't like sewing on confetti dot fabric, I guess I'll never know.

Dear Confetti Dot Fabric...

I have decided that we can no longer be friends. You are a mean, mean fabric. You leave weird residue on my machine needle:

Your dots pop off and stick to my iron no matter how low a setting I put it on, but I must press you to get a crisp hemline.

And worst of all, machine stitches skip so much on you, it is driving me insane!!!

You made me so frustrated yesterday, I cried all my eye makeup off and contemplated throwing my machine out the window. Then I borrowed a friend's machine, thinking mine was broken, and am having the same issues! (Although I now realize that I really really want a new machine for Christmas.) You make a very pretty dance skirt, but you are not worth all the sweat and tears. And were it not for the fact that I already bought yards and yards of you for my church's Christmas musical, you would be in the trash can.

I hope we never meet again!

Amanda S.



Seriously, does anybody have any tips for working with this stuff? I have tried just about everything: adjusting the tension up and down, sewing on the opposite side of the fabric, stretching the fabric, switching machines. I have 6 more dance skirts to make and don't want to make myself completely crazy. Thanks!

Vogue 2865 - Maroon Boucle Suit

Even though I made this several years ago, it remains one of my favorite outfits ever sewn. I wore it to church this morning so thought I'd show it to you. This is a dress and jacket combo. I thought the front of this design was so cute with loop button closures and little flap pockets set at the ribcage. I made this out of boucle, back when Jo-Anne's had a whole isle dedicated to the fabric. It's hard to find now, but I think it's still timeless.

The dress has hemline slits in the front and back and also at the neckline. It has front and back princess seams for a flattering fit. There really is a lot of topstitching on these two garments as well, although hardly noticeable.

These shoes have a life of about 4 hours max before I have to take them off. They are cute but they hurt!!! I'm willing to suffer for fashion for only so long.

The back neckline is somewhat low. I think it's very pretty but those shoulder straps don't want to stay on me. Because of that, I hardly ever take the jacket off while in public.

On these close-ups, you can see the fabric better. I really love the color pallet. Maybe you can see the topstitching along the labels as well. Both the dress and jacket have a full lining in dark brown.

Here's the pattern. I hardly ever remake jacket patterns, and this one is definitely distinct. But for some reason I can't bear to part with the pattern.

I am currently working on this Burda WOF top, only with long sleeves. I do not plan to expose any cleavage while wearing it, though.