Bad fabric choices and other random things

I've nothing new to show you as I've been experiencing a string of wadders these last few weeks. I still love both designs and will make them again in different fabrics, but it is so frustrating to waste time and money.

First I attempted vest 123 from the October 2008 Burda:

I found this lovely shade of quilted polyester taffeta at JoAnn's and thought I'd struck gold. It was a gorgeous fabric, but too stiff to be made into such a high-necked garment. It feels very choking to me. Also this was my first time putting in this kind of zipper, and for some reason it is wavy all along the edge. Is this my fabric or the nature of plastic zippers? I don't know, but the next go around with this pattern will involve a metal zipper. (Possibly this was user error as well.)

Then I spent 3 days sewing time tracing and cutting out each individual piece for the Claudia Strater jacket, also from October 2008. I have been in love with this design for 2 years and finally got around to making it.

Except the houndstooth I picked is too big to show any of the details that make this jacket special. See this welt pocket? I spent practically all of last night trying to get it perfect, only to realize it's invisible unless I stick my hand in. Not to mention the fabric is too light a weight for a jacket and raveled like crazy. Sigh.

So, to cheer myself up from all these mistakes, I've decided to make a little dress for Rachel. We'll just see how Simplicity's XXS measures up. It's suppose to fit up to 7 pounds, but I'm hoping to get at least small enough for a 0-3 month RTW size.

In other news, I just purchased 3 Oliver+S patterns from Fabric.com at the recommendation of Amber, and some fabrics to go with them. The patterns are on sale until Nov. 9, in case anyone else is interested. (Plus I found a 15% off coupon code online.)

Here's a picture of baby Rachel. She's now 10 weeks old and has started smiling. And sleeping for 10 hour stretches at night, which makes for a great night's sleep for me!

Costumes!

We really are not die-hard Halloween celebrators. I don't mind it if it stays fun, but I don't like super scary or evil things. Or trashy costumes, especially on little girls. Last year we went to our church's fall festival and I asked the boys if they wanted to wear some dress-up clothes. They said no, and that was fine with me. This year, things changed. They had definite ideas about costumes.

Nathan wanted to be a spider, and Daniel was content to wear some pirate dress-up clothes I made a few Christmas's ago, provided he received a genuine hat and eye patch to go with it.

Nathan was vexed he couldn't find a pattern for a spider in any of the pattern books. However, all I did was cut the arms out of really stiff felt and sew them into the side seams of a store-bought t-shirt. Then they were strung together and hung from his arms with skinny black elastic. The hood was made from some black polyester knit that's suppose to be part of a summer dress - (I hope I still have enough!) Justin got creative with the glue gun and added fangs and green eyeballs. That boy couldn't have been prouder of his costume!

November Burda picks

After stalking my mailbox for the past week, my November issue of Burda finally made an appearance today. I do look at the new designs online, usually on the Russia sight, but still like to have the magazine to look through before I make my picks.

Up first is this simple little dress, design 103. I actually have the perfect silk burnout velvet in my stash that I've been looking for a pattern to pair it with. The top is suppose to be chiffon with bias bindings around the neckline and armholes. It reminds me a lot of this dress, and those bindings in chiffon were a huge pain in the butt. I wonder if I could use some other material besides chiffon for the bindings, or possibly for the top of the dress as well.Jacket 104 is gorgeous in the magazine. I love the mix of fabrics with boucle being the main body, sequined tulle for the shaded areas, and zipper trim in between. Zipper trim! Does that stuff get anyone else excited? I've been wanting to use it on a project ever since I discovered JoAnn's carried it, and this one looks perfect. So fun!
Blouse 110 is super low cut, but I like it with the sequined cami they've paired it with on page 28. That's actually the dress version, which looks very 20's to me, but I don't think it would look too good on my square shape.
They're calling 121 a tuxedo jacket, I guess because its lapels and pocket flaps are out of satin. However, I adore all the interesting design lines and am not sure I'd distract from them with satin accents. I also think those design lines would be lost in a dark color. Hmmm, I'll have to think about this for awhile. Not that I need to make plans for yet another jacket.
I kind of like top 128, although you can' t really tell how it looks on the model since she's wearing it under a jacket.
Here's the jacket I'd like to do tuxedo style. I love their velvet and satin version, but would use the long sleeve design, 131.
I did start on a silk tunic last weekend, only to stop working on it halfway through since it's totally not fall or winter appropriate. Then I began a quilted vest/jacket but had to stop working on that too in order to get the Halloween costumes completed. Hopefully this weekend I'll have something new to post about. Have a great weekend!