What's Going On?

I am still smocking away, but also still working on See & Sew B 5699.  The dress came out really nice & I need to get a photo up.  The dress has a built-in wide waistband that is really flattering.  I wore it to work w/ a different (ready-made) jacket & got lots of compliments on it.

I like the jacket, too, it has a really neat long slash dart up through the pocket, which makes it fit me SOOO well.  But I don't like the wide collar, and want it to be a little less big. I have tried twice to change it (even using a finished jacket Mohammed made for me as the template), but I did not get it right.  

You can see the toile here; the fit is just right (mostly), but the collar? Bleccch! So I'm headed over to Bits of Thread this afternoon to get Allison's help.  (BTW, I buy old sheets at the thrift store, wash them & use them as toile fabric; I think it works pretty well.)  **Of course the fitting was NOT easy...2 hours with Allison + a week later = almost done!  (More in the next post.)**

What else is happening?  Well, sewing-wise, I'm still smocking away.  

Below you can see 3 actual cushions I've made up with smocked covers.  (I also learned how to make a lapped-zipper.  Not that hard, but now I'm getting good at it...thanks, Allison!)  

This was made with some upholstery fabric I found in the Bits of Thread recycled fabric shop.  I think the "cobblestones" smocking pattern is pretty effective here.  If nothing else, the Roommate really liked it!  

There were 6 pieces of 36" square upholstery fabric, so I'll definitely be making more cushions covers from those. Now we need to get a couch to put them on!

And the other two pillows were also made with scraps from the shop.  The brown is cotton velvet, really nice, and the blue is fake suede.  I think the smocking is quite effective on these, too.  

However, the bows pattern on the brown cushion really distorted the fabric.  So much so that I really had trouble getting a rectangle or square out of it.  I took a close-up of the cushion so you can't see how messy the edges are!  

I really like how the smocking brings texture to the fabric; it makes the cushions look much more luxurious than they are.  Honestly, the covers are cheap (just the price of a long zipper, mostly), it's the cushions that are expensive.  I've been using coupons whenever I can at Joann & Hancock so I can get the nice down-filled type.  

What else is going on?  I'm excited by the Saudi women who are pushing the country's laws about driving.  They've been posting videos of women driving on the web.  They are so brave and I wish them luck.  

Here's Marvin Gaye singing "What's Goin' On?" from 1971.