New color in the sewing room!

It's Southfield Green from Benjamin Moore...sort of a Williamsburg-y green.  Not Williamsburg, NYC--Williamsburg, VA!

Anyway, the Roommate had a 3 day weekend & I had a 4 day weekend, so we got it done (he did the green, I did the trim).  It's partially back together now.  I'm waiting for the ceiling touch-up to dry so I can take off the blue painter's tape.  Which I do NOT recommend...it always seems to pull part of the original paint off that you were trying to protect, or the other color leaks under the tape.  I guess it's better than trying to paint a whole room very carefully, but I'm just not that impressed...

I just wanted to quickly share a few pics...the first is the before.  Our whole house was painted in a very neutral light brown (moccasin, I think is the color name).  Mostly I like it, and that's why when I first did the sewing room, I just left it.  But over time, I really decided I wanted something a bit more fun...

(Don't be deceived by that big window.  It's to the east & our neighbors are next door, & fairly close (about 12 or 14'), and they have a 2 story house--so it's a nice window, but doesn't really bring in that much light, especially after noon.)

And the 2 after shots.  I think you can see how well the green looks against the white trim,and also how nice it is with the light wood furniture...all from Ikea, except my wall-mounted ironing board, which is also birch.

I don't have that much I can do w/ the 2 tables, the cabinet & 2 small drawer/file cabinet units (one is for my notions, the other is for our files & the printer lives on top of it).  But I am trying a bit of a different layout.  I wanted to get the cabinet away from the door because it made the room hard to look into & rather uninviting.

If you're wondering about the dress, I'm about to go put the hooks on it (got them at G Street yesterday when I bought enough wool for 2 Starlet Suits!) and I've already hemmed it.  I'm wearing it tomorrow, even though it's going to be too warm (60F)...but darn it, I'm wearing it!  Pictures will be posted!


Music?  Paint it Black by you-know-who!

My new BFF!

I was at a giant hardware store this morning buying closet organizing stuff for the south wing (which is being painted--getting close to being finished!).  I decided to ask one of the employees about a small screwdriver for the extremely low clearance needed to get to the "frozen" screws on the needle plate of my sewing machine (less than 2" & the screwdriver that came with the machine doesn't work).  And he showed me this (and 2 others in a packet for $3.88)!

I took them home, applied them to the previously unmovable screws and Viola!  In about 5 seconds I had both screws off.  Amazing what the right tool can do!  Lever + Screw = Ability to Move Universe!

I vacuumed out under the needle plate, put the bobbin holder back in where it should be, and used the machine tonight to do all the darts on the bodice, and also finish putting the collar pieces together.  My lovely Singer Quantum 9910 is running like a dream again.

And I got 6 new tools, which I think will be useful elsewhere, not just in the sewing studio!

Breaking News! Sewing machine freezes as latest version of Simplicity 7051 is begun

I think this may qualify as an epic fail! I was all ready to start sewing my 2nd try to create Simplicity 7051 out of Simplicity 7501, and my sewing machine went berserk.  The bobbin holder moved, a lot, and I cannot get the screws out of the needle plate!  This actually came up a few months ago, and right after I got it (15 months or so ago), as I usually clean out the machine when I start a new project.  I couldn't get the screws out--they don't budge a bit--and thought, well, they'll loosen up.  I've tried a few other times over the last year+, to no avail.

Two months later...they are so amazingly tight that the Roommate, with all his brute strength didn't have any luck either, even after leaving some WD-40 on for 30 minutes. We're going to try a few more times (knocking on the screwdriver lightly with a hammer and trying with the screwdriver bit on the power drill).  And if nothing works, I'm going over to Sun Sew & Vac, as tomorrow is my day off, and see if they have any luck.

I had already taken a photo of my pattern additions, as part of my I Just Can't Make It series:

As you can see from above, I had to make a collar, and then make front & back facings as I changed the neckline a bit.  (I made it a V-neck to accommodate the collar, and wanted the back to not be quite so high.) I had just sewn up one of the 2 collar pieces when the machine stopped working.  Egad--will I ever get my narrow-wale corduroy dress?  Waaaaaaa!  That is a very wide-wail you're hearing!

As Ms. Sewaholic had her readers write in about their favorite online fabric shops last week, I just wanted to mention that I bought 2 more yards of the fabric you see above (remember this is at least my 2nd or 3rd try on this dress), which was on sale for 1/2 price at joann.com.  I had checked the store, but they were out of it.  It came quickly, and I was pleased with the service, but then I'm not a real test-case as I had seen the fabric already in person.  I'm not so sure about buying fabric completely online, though many Sewaholic commenters seemed to have quite good luck & have done it often.

Instead, today, the Roommate & I went to see 2 Warhol exhibits that are on the Mall right now & are closing soon.  It's one of those, "We'll get over there soonish" things & that was 6 months ago. Last weekend when we were in DC to go to the Kuba/Kasai fabric show at the Textile Museum, we happened upon a brochure reminding us that if we didn't get to the Warhol exhibits at the NGA & the Hirshhorn we'd be out of luck as they are ending in early January--and we're going on our xmas trip soon. (A hint: the only place in the world where you can see Darwin's finches!)

So the Warhol stuff was great & great fun, especially Shadows.  And certainly distracted me from the broken sewing machine!  Not really broken, just frozen...

And the fish tacos we made when we got home?  That totally took my mind off winter corduroy dresses!

Music?  Since I mentioned an (English) Beat album in the earlier, I feel compelled to use one of their songs, which fits quite well with this post, too:  Save It For Later!

My machine: Singer 9960 Quantum Stylist

This is a picture of my sewing machine, a Singer Quantum Stylist 9960.  I had one in Abu Dhabi (and left it behind in Istanbul because of the differing electricity issues).  I liked it so much that when I got another for my birthday last year I got the same one. And lucked out, because this one is like my old one, but it's now got a quilting-table attachment, and it's got more features (knot & clip).  So it's the same, but better.  Yay!!


This song popped into my head the other day.  My roommate is not the monster, though...I suspect he sings this about me!  My Beloved Monster, Eels.