Fixing up the Sewing Room

There are actually two sewing rooms in my house, both of which are still in progress. My boys bought these dollhouse pieces with their allowance money for their sisters' birthdays. Most of the miniatures are from Hobby Lobby. They're pretty inexpensive with a coupon.

I'm sure many a real sewing room has an exploring baby on the floor. We'd better put a railing up for that stairwell!

You can see the bolt of fabric, measuring tape and dressform. We have some tiny envelope patterns, too, but they've gone missing.

My son cut up some of my scraps to make a good sized fabric stash here.

Corduroy Jeans

This moment has been long anticipated . . . I finished my first garment of 2010! I cut these out in December and was hoping they'd still fit the boys. I'd intended these cord jeans for the oldest, but figured they could fit either boy since they are currently the same height and weight. I'd already made this pattern for Alex in denim. I slimmed the previous pair additionally by narrowing them through the hips and waist, which made for something akin to skinny jeans! This time I added elastic in the waistband to keep the pants on while maintaining a bit of the bagginess.

Front on boy #1. Peter was thrilled with his new pants until he tried them on. They're uncomfortable in the crotch. I think the fit looks nice, but you can't argue with discomfort. He generally wears elastic waist pants, so I can't tell if there's a problem with the fit or if he's just accustomed to a looser fit.

Back on boy #1.

Front on boy #2. I asked Alex to try them on and, voila, he loves them. Peter is thin and wispy, but Alex is narrower and really solid. The elastic isn't allowing the waistband to lie flat. I don't mind too much about that, but next time maybe I'll try using elastic only in the back.

Back on boy #2.

The pattern is Ottobre 4-2008-28. The fabric is brown/blue corduroy from fabric.com.

He's happy with his new jeans and has already tested them by playing football in the mud with the neighborhood boys...

I'm less happy, though, as the fly front is absolutely, dreadfully wretched. My spirits were lifted a bit when I discovered this Threads video by Sandra Betzina. I will definitely try her method next time.

Back in the Saddle Again

Today I stepped on my sewing machine's familiar foot pedal for the first time in 2 1/2 months. I had forgotten how loud and clunky my trusty old Kenmore is.

This coin pocket is a small piece of the pair of corduroy jeans I cut out for Alex just before we packed up to move. I need to tackle these pants right away before he grows out of them - if he hasn't already.

The pocket is small, but it represents a lot of steps:
1. Unpacking and thawing the sewing machines (from 2 months in cold storage).
2. Deciding where to put the sewing "area".
3. Stringing the appropriate cords and power strips here and there.
4. Deciding where to stash my stash and notions in my new "area". Now I have a dedicated closet for the fabric. Very nice.
5. And then organizing the chaos of the rest of the house (and my brain) to sit down and sew a straight line.

I'll call it coin pocket catharsis.