Sunday, May 26, 2013

La Ronde Season Pass - pre season sale!

I let Simon talk me into getting season passes for La Ronde this year. I have not been there since I was 16, over 23 years ago! I know that since 6 Flags bought La Ronde it has gone monster crazy HUGE! I looked at the cost of the pre-season pass purchase and thought, why not? You can make 7 equal payments, easy enough! I get free parking, skip the line ups, I took the free lunch and dinner for everyone. And Sam gets in for free! We also have all kinds of perks and bonus.... LET  SUMMER BEGIN!











Sewing class Club Tissus - Bathing Suit

I started my sewing class at Club Tissus last week. I originally signed up for Tissus Extensible (stretch material) but it was cancelled. Luckily she opened up another Bathing suit (1) class. I originally wanted this class but it had already started.

This class is a 4 week class and she GUARANTEES that the bathing suit will fit like a second skin. The first week we learned about taking our measurements and adjusting the pattern to fir OUR measurements. This is what I wanted to learn. How to adjust a pattern to my small frame.

The base pattern that everyone is using is an old out of print pattern from Bouclair Studios. It is a one piece suit with no bells or whistles. We will be adjusting the hip line to make it more to date. There is a front, a back, crotch lining and bust lining. We make 4 pattern sizes. The one we pick will depend on the % of stretch of our fabric. We learned how to modify the pattern the first week and measure the bust, waist, hips and trunk to fit our specific measurements. We do this for all 4 pattern sizes. My sizes were 8, 10, 12 and 14.

Next week we will learn about the material and how to determine the amount of stretch. Yippee! I got my list of supplies I had to buy, and Simon and I had fun at Club Tissus buying stuff. I did not know that I had to pre-soak the elastic in cold water over night, otherwise when you go in the pool, the suit will cut off your circulation when it dries on you! This is why you take the class. There are a few notions I have not worked with before, like power mesh. This is what holds your belly in. After 2 kids and 2 C sections, this is needed. Yes, even at my small frame, I have stuff that moves around too! We were asked not to buy the bust shapers, this will be for another class. We will determine our size in a future class. Mine will be small. There was a time.....

WE had bought swimwear material at Stretch Text. I have a solid green and a cool green pattern. I think I will use the pattern. I believe I have enough. I cut out the Jalie Racerback suit and when my machine went KLUNK I set it aside. After this class I will finish it.

They offer a Bathing Suit 2 (style), and I hope they offer it. This class was added because another one was cancelled. If not, I will take it next year. Every class she offers sounds amazing. They are intensive theory, where you do the work at home. She expects the homework to be about 3 hours. This was you get the most out of your money. You are paying for the instruction. Not like Fabricville, where the teacher brings her own work in the class, does not really teach you much, what she does is not exactly 100% correct, and when you ask too many quesions she tells you she is not giving another class next sessions. B**ch. I spoke to the owner and let her know what was going on. She was not impressed. Nether was I. I was ready to take ALL kinds of classes, I have since last July. She just lost me as a customer... But that is another post. Sorry for the rant. I feel betrayed.

Wednesday, May 8, 2013

Sewing / Cutting table inspiration


Have you ever seen something and you have an Ah-Ha! Moment? Well, I did. I was reading Victoria’s blog   and she posted on something she saw that struck her as brilliant. She took us over to Brooke Wilkerson's blog. She took 12 IKEA LACK tables and stacked them to make this wonderful cutting / sewing table. I checked the IKEA website and the white ones are $9.99 each (even here in Canada). 

Here is what she created. Sheer genius, n'est pas?


I love the height of the tables, the depth of the table, the storage area beneath and the fact that it is held together by Velcro and can be dismounted easily. My current table is a fold up table from Canadiantire. It is too low, too narrow for my sewing table. This IKEA hack will allow me to have my sewing space while still being practical and affordable. My sewing space doubles as a play room and entertaining area. When we have people over I remove my tables. When we have large dinner parties we set up long tables in my sewing area. This idea will still allow us to do that!

Thank you both for sharing this WONDERFUL idea! Now, to save up $$$ for this. 

Tuesday, May 7, 2013

Jalie 2908 Stretch Jeans




This week I started Jalie's Stretch Jeans, pattern 2908. Simon and I went to Tonitex and picked up a nice stretch denim for $6 a meter. This made me reconsider my position on Tonitex. Simon suggested that we go there from now on. I think he has a good point! 


I took my measurements, waist 29 and hips 37. I cut out a “S”. I hope they are not too small. I know in the Big 4 patterns, I am a 10. If I go by the measurement charts, I would be a size 14, but from experience that is WAY TOO BIG. This is my first women’s pattern for Jalie, so we will see. They do not appear to be too large. They may be tight, however. I was going to do a muslin, but I decided against it. I had this vision of me knowing what to do once I made this muslin, then reality came back. Perhaps taking a course on pant fitting next year would be an asset. I have no idea about crotch depth and curvature!
Simon was SUPER awesome and he picked up the kids for me. That way I could go straight home and sew. What a sweetie-pie! He took them to the park and played. I was able to accomplish a lot! I tried designing a pattern for the back pockets and realized that I did not like the results. I would need to tinker a lot more before I commit to designing a back pocket. I have a new Janome Memory craft 8200, so I am sure I can arrange something fabulous, but not today.
The back pockets were simple to construct and place on. The more you practice something, the easier it becomes. I got confused on the front pocket illustration and had to rip out my seams. 

This will be my 4th fly that I have completed. The last time it was a breeze! Let’s hope tonight it will be as well.



Now in number 13 and 14 it appears that you sew all around, no? oops, no, look at 15. This is where I finished up the other night. I undid my stitches and laid it out flat. Then I pinned on the top and it now looks like #15. Sam has his first ear infection (now we know why he was so grumpy!) so I have not had the opportunity to sew as much as I would like. After a few hours of grumpy and crying I can no longer concentrate eek! Tonight Simon is picking up the kids again (love that Hubby!) and I will have a few hours of uninterrupted sewing time. I plan on getting the front pockets completed and the fly. Wish me luck!

I figured out the pockets quite easily. I fixed my mistake and after that it went pretty smoothly. The pants are taking quite a bit of time as I have to sew in bits and pieces. I try to get at least 45 minutes in before I make dinner. That is if Simon is home and he can take care of the kids. I am now making the tabs for the belt and will attach them and then the waistband. I tried on the jeans and they fit! Yippee! I like that I chose the higher waist. We will have to see if it is too high. I am tired of having jeans that are too low and I am constantly hiking them up. I am not 18 and letting "it all hang out", so sometimes low rise is just too low.

I have made a number of pants now and the fly construction is terrorizing me way less. I think after this pair I can consider myself an expert on this section. I am glad that I am perfecting my technique!


Friday, May 3, 2013

Summer PJ's for the boys


The warm weather is upon us, and it looks like it is going to stay! I must say I am loving this, but it has caught me by surprise. I do not know why, it is not like we had a lot of snow, nor has it been cold lately. I’m just not that organized this year I guess. Too much going on.
I have gone through the boy’s clothes and took out the clothing that was for winter. I just haven’t taken out the summer garments yet. Tyler has a few short PJ bottoms, but not many. And I KNOW we have some for Sam, I just can’t find the size 2 clothing bin at the moment. PROJECT!
I have the perfect pattern for PJ’s and I have the pattern traced out for Tyler’s size already, Simplicity’s 9499. I can bang out a shirt and short in no time at all! I will make sure I get the most out of this pattern. It gives you both the children's sizes and the adult sizes. Make sure to trace the pattern to keep it for a LONG time!

I plan to use this pattern to make Tyler's splash pants that we bought the material for, and then that night I finally found his splash pants tucked away.