Gemma...and More Gemma

I know I've said this before, but I love Rae's patterns. They are easy to make and the directions are very well written. I bought my pattern for the Beatrix blouse awhile ago and I have made one and I have two more cut out, one with short sleeves and one with 3/4 length sleeves. But summer is coming on early and strong here so I need something cooler and sleeveless.  Enter Gemma.

It's as if Rae read my mind, for the very day I needed such a thing, I received a post in my email suggesting the Gemma for summer sewing. I was so thrilled I bought the pattern and after reading the fabric suggestions, I ordered fabrics for 4 Gemmas!

The first two are done and I love them so far! Here is what I have made:

 This Gemma is made in Boardwalk Delight Jersey knit Ice Cream Shop by Dana Willard for Art Gallery Fabrics. I haven't sewn a jersey knit before, but with careful handling and a few google searches for handling advice, I think it worked like a dream.

 I like the way it fits and the drape of the jersey knit is wonderful. This is a very comfortable blouse and pretty easy to make.

 This is the first one I made, in Kaffe Fassett Collective Shot Cotton in Ice. This light weight fabric just screams summer time cool. This has a great drape to it as well.

I think it will get lots of wear, as it goes with everything. I must confess, I did not make a muslin as suggested, having done so with the Beatrix. I found the pattern to be true to size for me. I like my tops loose and flowing, pretty much. If you have never made a muslin, you should, just for the experience of fitting a garment.

The last two Gemma blouses are not made yet. But I wanted to share the fabrics with you anyway.

 This one is Hudson Bay Rayon Challis. It too has a light swishy drape to it. I love that for summer. I thought the colorful pattern would be a nice switch from the solids. I love solids, but I need some diversity, you know?

This last one is my favorite. This is Kaufman's Manchester Textured Yarn Dye Shirting in Poppy. Can you see the great texture created by the weaving process? This is going to be beautiful! I look forward to this one the most! I think it will be kind of dressy. And all of these can be worn with a cardigan or jacket to dress them up when things get cooler.

I hope you are having a great week and I will talk to you soon!

Progress

It's been a busy week, with not as much sewing time as I would like. But anyway, I did get three rows put together in my MSBHQAL.  Here they are...

 It is a bit too wide for me to hold up properly.  But then it is a big quilt so I had to lay it down, which is how I take many pics.

It was overcast, but a bright sky. Good for pictures today. This is half of the quilt. Three more rows to go.  I have decided to put a wide, grey border around it to get it to the size I need.  I am thinking 6 inches, but we will see when I try it on the bed.

In other sewing I made some pants for the grandsons.  This is the pair I made for V.

 I have been making pants for him for a few years using a style and technique I found on Dana Made It. She has lots of tutorials for boy and girl stuff. Lots of great easy ways to make pants.

 This time, I lined them, since it's fall and cooling down and the fabric was pretty thin. It is the railroad denim that I bought awhile ago. I loved the idea of the dog tag.  The lining is Pooches and Pickups by Laurie Wisbrun.

 I made the pockets a bit deeper this time since he is getting older and needs "real" pockets.

Here is the lining. Should keep him cozy and warm and once washed, they will be oh so soft. The elastic only goes across the back so the front is flat. A more grown up look.  I made a pair of Quick Change Trousers for baby B out of the same two fabrics, but forgot to get pictures before I sent them to his house.

It's a nice change of pace to sew clothing periodically.  Talk to you soon.

Summer Sewing Contest Entry

If you are looking for my giveaway, go here.

I wasn't sure if I could have the time to make anything for the summer sewing contest at Ellison Lane Quilts, but I sure wanted to.  Then, the planets aligned and I was able to get two things of my to do list and actually finished.  This is the first thing I made.  Boy shorts.

 I am using the same pattern I made last year for the slacks V wore in the wedding.  I just cut them shorter.  The pattern was drawn by me, but I used the instructions and the pocket pattern from Dana Made It.

 I used a light grey shad of Kona cotton and the pockets are from the Backyard Baby collection, Bug Jars in Gray.

 I fussy cut the jars to put bands around the bottom of the leg openings.  I wanted to tie it all together.

                                                  As you see, they fit the boy perfectly.

                                                    A view of the back.

And we do love our pockets.  He is all boy, this one.  I have 3 more pair of these to make in three different colors with pocket accents from my stash.  If you have never drafted your own pattern, you should try it.  Dana gives great easy instructions.

She's Back!

I really missed Nina, my Bernina.  She went in for a check up last week.  I thought I was to a point in all my projects that I had enough hand work to keep me busy.  But instead, the minute she was gone, everything I wanted to do involved Nina.  She was only gone 5 days, but every day brought another idea that needed trying.  Torture I tell you.  But now she's home!

And the sewing has begun again!  Such chaos, such clutter; I am one happy quilter.  But the first thing I need to do is make some pants, a vest and bow tie for V for his mom's wedding in a few weeks.  I got the pattern idea/advice from Dana.  She drafts patterns all the time for her son and they are adorable.  I can do this!

Well, it took several tries with "junk" fabric, but now I think I've got it!

It's a very nice linen and the vest will be the same.  I have drafted the pattern for the vest, but haven't started it yet.  I am having trouble getting my Nina to sew over the elastic in the casing at the back of the pants.  If anyone has advice on how to make this work, I would be grateful.  The needle hits the elastic and won't go through.  It is one inch non-twisting elastic.

So I thought, since I have been so good about working on this must do project, I am going to reward myself with a want to do project.  I am starting my Hometown quilt.  I bought a layer cake of Hometown a while back and was waiting for inspiration.  I found it on Moda Lissa's blog.

This is an easy pattern that will really showcase the fabrics.  Since I really couldn't indulge myself with more of this line, I wanted to make the most of it and this pattern does it for me.  First seen in Moda Bake Shop, it's simple, but fun.

The rest of my weekend was spent helping my husband get some things done in the back yard for the upcoming wedding.  We will have family here with us, and want to spend all our spare time just hanging out and talking and cooking and eating.  So we needed more outdoor space to do this.  He found plans on line and we built a picnic table and are working on a fire pit.

it's nice and sturdy.

needs a few more bricks

We are going to have so much fun!! I can't wait.  Now, back to Nina.  I've got lots to do.
Have a great week.