July Part 1

I apologize for being so long in writing a post.  In hind-sight I probably should have warn you that I would be a little late with this one.  The short of it was that I was able to have my artist salon with my friends & haven't had much motivation to hurry up & get back into the swing of things for the past week or so.  I worked on unpacking from my return on the 4th last Sunday & I just managed to put my suitcase away but hardly touched anything in my crafting supply bag, if that gives you any idea.  Despite this lack of motivation, I have been quite productive.  I have been so productive actually that I am going to divide this into 2 Parts

Preparing for the Artist Salon:

After the 1st artist salon where I took way too much to work on 1 project & didn't get to the construction stage or anything beyond that, I wanted to get my ducks in a row so that it didn't look like I was moving in permanently with my friends instead of for a week.  So I planned out which projects to take...

1. Nellie's Birthday Frills, of coarse.
2. Colette's Cinnamon Slip, needed only hemming
3. My Aqua Mist Maid Marion Cloak

The main project that I needed proper prep work on was the Aqua Mist Cloak since Cinnamon only needed to be hemmed & Nellie's Frills was constructed to the point that all I needed were the detailing supplies to finish it.

Aqua Mist, however, needed a little bit more done to it before leaving, mainly dying.  Since the last episode, I was able to take the lining apart into 3 sections, Hood , Right Side & Left Side.  I did it this way to make it easier to dye the fabric since the pattern calls for soo much.  I did a preliminary dye job with Jacquard's "Dye-Na-Flow" periwinkle, which when I initially researched & purchased it, I did not realize that it was technically paint & not dye.  But I will say this, it is extremely cool.  In my book it is the fabric paint equivalent of watercolor paint.  It did work to a point as dye for this project, however, it needed a lil more pop for me.  So I went to Dick Blick's & purchased proper Jacquard dye for both natural & synthetic blends because the flannel backed satin is a blend of both.  I did still add a splash of the periwinkle Dyn-na-flow though.  I was amazed at how quickly the fabric took the dye, and I absolutely love it.

 IF ever you find yourself in a position of dyeing Satin these have helped me in what to do, since my preliminary Satin dye job for Nellie's Birthday Frills where I used 2 big bottles of purple Rit Dye, & everyone that I showed the swatch to said that it was pink not purple. There was a reason...
All About Hand Dyeing
E How


I had wanted to cut out the new outer hood but I ran out of time & just took enough fabric & the pattern piece for it with me.

Before leaving for the Artist salon however I was given a surprise project from my Dad.  He has enjoyed going to the Mid-Ohio races for a number of years now.  This past time he had purchased a replica of Steve McQueen's Gulf Racing Jacket that needed 2 patches attached to it.

Artist Salon:

Between finishing our long running Role Playing Game of Legaia 2, & visiting Squire's Castle & a yummy Italian restaurant.  I managed to work on 3 of the 4 Projects that I had prepped.

1. My Dad's patches
2. Cinnamon Slip
3. Nellie's Frills

Dad's Patches:

It took my brain a while to realize that no matter what I did, I would have to hand-stitch the Firestone patch. After looking at my reference photos for the placement of that patch, it belongs right ontop of a funtional pocket, that machine stitching it would then turn it into a decorative pocket.  So with using Fusion Thread, needle & borrowing a thimble, I handstiched the Firestone Patch & machine stitched the patch above it.  Once I got home I heat setted the patches with an iron.

Cinnamon Slip:

As previously mentioned the main thing that needed to be done with it was to hem it, though I believe that I did re-adjust the straps.  So with some assistance a marking pin was put in place & I place the bottom of the back skirt in line with it.  I then cut across & hemmed the bottum with one 1cm fold notching it so that it would lay flat when it was sewed down.  A mystery that popped up is that somehow I cut the bottom 3.5 " short.  So in short, it is a short slip.  I do still have what I trimmed off of it so I am able to reattach it.  I am just not in any rush to do it just yet.

Things that I like about the slip is the style & the feel of it.  I am definitely willing to do this pattern again.

I would however do a couple of things a little differently.  Despite the convenience that I can print this off of my own home printer, I would rather take it to a proper printer tell them what page the 4" square is & have them figure out the the adjustments to get it to scale.  The other thing would be to do the straps differently.  I am not entirely sure how yet.  As the pattern has them, they are anchored down & not adjustable.  When I wear this slip, there is a tendency for the straps to fall down despite the many times that I have shortened them.

Well this is where I'm going to leave this episode at for this 2 Parter.
Coming up soon will be Part 2: Nellie's Birthday Frills.

Until then... Good night.