A new home for a much loved machine

I inherited this lovely Bernina 717 from my husband's grandmother who recently passed.  She sewed all of her three children's clothes with this machine and who knows how many quilts (of which we own 6).  She (the machine - thinking of calling her Betty) was originally meant to be mounted in a table but I didn't have the room for it in my house so I just brought her home hoping that I could either find something online or make a makeshift base of some kind.  My in-laws were in town for several weeks and my father-in-law took it upon himself to make me a beautiful base.  It's like the two were made for each other.  The paint is a perfect match and although it is made out of wood, you would never know!

This picture was taken before I placed her in her permanent home on my sewing table.  I have the manual and about six or so feet plus a couple of odds and ends I'll have to figure out.  She sews like a brute and I will most likely use her for medium to heavy weight fabrics or when I need a specialty foot that I don't have for my other Bernina 1050.  So happy!

Me Made May 2014 Recap

 

I participated in my first Me Made May this year and documented my outfits on Instagram.  I made a fatal mistake by wearing all of my makes in the first 15 days of May leaving nothing but repeats. This led to an eventual lack of posting at all.  But I am pleasantly surprised that I even have 15 me-mades! The hardest thing was photographing my outfits - selfies can get tiresome and my husband isn't the greatest photographer. Here is a breakdown of what I wore (in no particular order).

 

A couple of revelations:

• All of my dress/shirts are sleeveless.  Not one has sleeves!
• I need to make more shorts - they are fun and easy.
• I need to attempt pants.
• I need to sew more with knits.
• I have a lot of unblogged makes! 

 

Burda blouse in Thai Silk (old pic)

 Cynthia Rowley dress in navy knit

 

Cake Tiramisu in rayon knit from San Diego Swap Meet (unblogged)

Skirt in Suriname cotton border print (unblogged)

Maiden voyage dress in linen

Colette Iris shorts in cotton print (unblogged)

Colette Sorbeto in linen (unblogged)

Dress in 80s print

 

Burda top in IKEA cotton print (unblogged)

 

Peplum dress in black embossed print from Yellow Bird Fabrics (unblogged)

Colette Iris shorts (again)

 

Cynthia Rowley blouse in gingham

Self drafted wrap skirt in linen

Me Made May 2014

I'm participating in Me Made May 2014.  Head on over to Instagram to see my daily outfits.

The "Gape Factor" Dress

Fabric:  Rayon knit from San Diego Swap Meet

Notions: Serger thread
Pattern: Cake Tiramisu
Year: 2014
Time to complete: 4 hours
First worn:  Yes, to work!
Wear again?  Yes
Total Cost: $5ish
 
My family and I went to San Diego over Thanksgiving and while we were there we went to a swap meet.  I purchased several yards of different knit fabric there and made my jolly way home thinking that I got a screaming deal.  I got home soon to discover not so much.  The knits I bought are all pretty cheap-o.  I think rayon something or other with a lot of drape and stretch.  Some are pretty see-through too.  But now that I have them I have to use them or they will sit forever on my shelves mocking me for what a sucker and really, in the end, a sewing and fabric novice I am.  So I pulled out my patterns to see what I could make. 

Before we left, the local fabric shop in town, Yellow Bird Fabrics (now A Fashionable Stitch), had a fabric and notions swap where I scored the Cake Tiramisu pattern.  So I set out to lurk the many sewists I lurk when in actuality I knew exactly which one to go straight to - Lauren of lladybird.  I read her posts and tried to implement many of her suggestions, including shortening the bodice band to tighten the mock wrap for a less of a gape (yes I even did a crazy gape factor dance!).
 

I have to say that all in all sewing up the pattern was pretty straight forward.  I used the custom fit with the midriff but still managed to get it wrong so I ended up winging it.  It looks pretty decent and thanks to Lauren, the gape factor is non existent.  My only problem, and I've had this problem before, is that you can see my serger thread front the right side - as in the seam pulls apart a bit.  I'm thinking that this is because my serger tension isn't right?  I'm one of those lazy sewers that never touches the tension and just sews merrily along.  I guess that is going to have to change because I can't have this happening every time I sew with knits!  I tried pressing it out but it's only getting worse the more the dress hangs.
 

And what sewing post is complete without a random gif that popped up when I tried uploading photos of my dress.  This is my daughter Roya when she was four-ish months old talking to her mobile.  So precious.