The Joys of Sewing

In case you aren't aware, Joann's is having a Founder's Day sale, and Simplicity patterns are $1 each. With the addition of D cup sizing in their pattern line, I am increasingly becoming a fan of Simplicity again! I recently cleaned house on my pattern collection - I tossed any pattern that wasn't complete, patterns of the "what was I thinking" variety, baby patterns (been quite awhile since I had a baby!!!), and any that just didn't 'speak' to me anymore. They all went to my local community college which offers a free sewing class. Well, this left me with 4 EMPTY boxes for patterns (and 3 filled quite nicely, lol) that I am determined to sew with this time. So here's a quick peak at my newest additions:

Top row: 3651 - men's and boy's jacket. This is going to be my kindergartner's fall jacket, made from some Wall-e fleece he has been coveting since we passed it at Joann's a month ago. It's a surprise for him :); 3624 - bought some luscious teal fabric for this, it will be the project I start as soon as I complete the 2 I have going and make the above pattern for my son; 2883 - A Project Runway pattern...

Middle Row: 2930, another Project Runway; 2852 (hoping this will be a TNT for a winter top as I love this style); 3697 - I really love this pattern...;

Bottom Row: 3790 - not sure about this one, but I think it has potential. I really like the band on the bottom of the shirt. You'll notice the other two are repeats. Not sure why Picasa does this, it just does.

I mentioned that I am in the middle of two projects as well. The first is Simplicity 3716, a Hannah Montana design series. I don't know what color to call the velour other than lipstick pink (I just noticed this is an updated envelope than what I have, because on my envelope cover, the little girl is wearing a lavender velour suit, and this picture is only slightly brighter than the color I'm using!), because that's what it reminds me of! It's a nice dark pink. Probably more along the lines of a spring color, but my daughter loves it and I had enough (ahem, barely) to make it for her, so that's where I am. So far so good on this one. I had to go buy satin lining for the hoodie, and then yesterday I ran out of the thread color I was using (no clue how that happened, I had a big spool of it!) but I picked up some more at Joann's tonight since all their thread is 50% off. It was so nice to buy some good quality Gutterman thread again! Anyway, I expect to finish this up tomorrow while my DH is off doing a dump run. I plan to post a review on http://www.patternreview.com/ as this is really a cute set. I need to go get the larger pattern size, as we just graduated from the 7 to the 8, and I see this pattern being used a lot!

The project I originally started was Simplicity 3789. I bought that really cute fabric to do the pockets of my Burda skirt with and ended up loving the skirt so much, I wanted to make a blouse out of the remaining fabric. Great idea, but even using View C, I didn't have enough for the sleeves once I cut out the pocket lining. Oops. So 3/4 of the way through, I had to put it aside. Now I am the first person to admit that I am really bad about UFO's!! But again, this is one of those patterns that I really think I could use over and over again if the fit is good (and I'm thinking it's going to be!!!). So I made sure tonight to get enough fabric to finish the sleeves and hopefully enough to line a self-drafted purse that I plan to coordinate with this. But I can live without the coordinating fabric for purse lining if need be. :)

I can't remember the last time I sewed THIS much, and I have to say, it's wonderful!! I forgot how relaxing sewing is for me. I am really itching to finish these two projects so that I can get on to my son's jacket so that I can get back to another top for "me"!!