uniGLO shorts

The original floor model

I copied a pair of super lightweight men's poly knit long boxer shorts from an international clothing chain, to cope with summer and dresses.

And now I wear them under all the dresses.

Me at Frocktails.

See, I do leave the house. And I'm wearing this very pair from this post.

Many of you might be familiar with the concept of chub rub.

I certainly am.

And in the summer, I don't want to wear tights or pantyhose to cope with this.

I figured these would work. And they do.

So I traced off a pair.

It's a very simple pattern.

I don't need a fly that opens, so I just did the front curve.

 This is the entire pattern. One piece, cut on a fold.

After you sew the front 'fly' curve down to that red star dot,  

you'll match those red star dots. 

Sew the center front curve.

You match the dots, you sew across the bottom crotch.

You hem them (not shown. You know how to do that)

(to be honest, you probably don't need to, but this stuff curls up, so I did)

The waist band is the most time consuming part.

You'll want to make a loop of not so wide elastic you don't mind next to your body. You divide it up in half, then half again, then some more halves, and pin it in equal sections to the top edge of the shorts, which you divided up similarly.

 And then you stretch it as you sew it.

 You sew the elastic to the top edge.

I ALWAYS over stretch it, but because I used 1" fold over elastic and and didn't fold it over, so it's not over stretched on the top edge. It looks like hell, but this tricot is translucent, so I am not modeling these shorts.

Melissa Fehr has a variety of methods on her blog (and in her Activewear sewing book)

http://blog.fehrtrade.com/inspiration/625/a-better-elastic-waistband-finish-tutorial/

I sew a button in the front for quick finding. Yes, I get dressed in the dark. 

Thanks Blondini for that idea.

And I wore them.

 While I made a second pair.

Okay, so my paper pattern is missing the back point. I know enough to continue that line when I'm cutting.

But there's the red dot on the fold

And it's friend the red dot at the bottom of the crotch curve seam in the front.

And this is where I put the order number of the tricot I bought on Fabric.com, so I won't forget when I need more.

Yes, it's  108" wide.

Simple as pie. Easy as cake. Right on a grid for your summer convenience.

 You can borrow this all you want. Just gotta be stretchy stuff.

Bernina bobbins branded and otherwise

I seem to have a new Bernina in my future, and it came without a bobbin case. So I went online on Amazon and Ebay to shop.

The same companies sell on both, the prices are the same.

The one on the left came with my original 140 Activa machine.

The one on the right was the unbranded online purchase.

Unbranded has a thinner arm for thread, and a tension screw of same metal as case (original has a darker metal screw)

There are more metal working marks, but that's immaterial.

 Hole is at about the same angle from the body.

The thread hole in the arm is a little bigger. Since many bobbin cases don't have that hole, that's fine.

This is where my issues come in. The side opening on the metal spring on the side (which is how you are adjusting the thread tension) is kinda outta whack.

This is the original. All lined up nice

And this is the online purchase. The opening between the prongs is smaller, the 'tension spring'  isn't lined up in the middle. 

I could test it, and I probably will, but I've got a stack of real sewing to do and not a lot of play time.

It was about ten dollars, but I could have spent between 5 and 20 for the same model from various sellers.

So I'm glad the repair shop talked me into buying a branded one. I mean, I'm cheap thrifty, but dang.

Wrapping up gifts and birthdays Winter 2016/17

I made pajama bottoms for the men

I finished the quilt for my friend

Finally made myself tights (pattern taken from a pair that fits)

Almost finished my McCalls vintage blouse but can't bring myself to put in the pleats on a shirt I won't get to wear for months and months. And yes, the plaid match at the front is PERFECT. There's an overlap and buttonholes there.

City maps available on www.spl.org website. I love the library!

I made a lot of tea towels out of fabrics I made the designs for on Spoonflower and didn't take photos of the towels. Or the awful scarf I made for my sister. Infinity scarves are not my forte.

Two hats from one sadly felted sweater vest.

The pussy hats will get there own post later, when I have the photos to prove it. Although I have a feeling that getting fashion photos is not on her agenda during the Women's March in DC this weekend. It was a gift, not a photo op. I'm good with that.

lousy photos I know. The dress has left the building.

I knocked off a dress for my niece

My niece is transgender, and has a lot of unrelated agoraphobic issues about shopping, leaving out the whole 'nothing is going to fit you because you're not a size  0 - 14 so you should just disappear' thang.  On top of every other thing she's dealing with, that is a crappy thing to discover that everyone else knows about it. "What? There's no size 40 A cup bra? You're not rioting in the streets?"

Eh, no.

Anyway, my sister and my niece were walking out of Macy's and saw a Michael Kors dress in the window and Niece pointed and said Yes to that dress.

So they found it in the store, got one that mostly fits, and I made a straight copy, different color, of it for her over the holiday.

Since I am trying not to swear quite so much, I am making up a profanity for use regarding this fabric.

Cotton stretch sateen is a snurbswobble. The lowest rung of hell kind of snurbswobble.

It was a perfect rectangle until I ironed it.

So many puckers and bubbles. But the exposed zipper was a breeze for once.
I guess you give up a lot but you get one back.

 It won't take a hard press, it has just enough stretch to pucker and pull when you're topstitching, and this dress is ALL TOPSTITCHING. 

There is an epic tragedy under that wobbly patch. Actually less wobbly in person, but still tragic.

There is an entire roll of Wonder Tape in this snurbswobble, and even that wouldn't quite grab enough to stop the shifting. I couldn't press hot enough to fuse the fusibles. I pinned the nonsense out of this mother-snurbswobbler!

Wouldn't it be cool if that multicolored fuzzy thing was the sleeve extension? It's a purse I made almost ten years ago that hangs on the wall so I will see it and figure out how to make it functional. It's taunting me.

There will be no modeling yet. Aren't there yet. Looks good; she picked out the fabric and the notions, and while the fabric is a demon from hell, it's a good choice for the item and a good color for her.

This is my sister and that's the best view of the Space Needle from a pizza restaurant you will ever see. It's even better from the bar of that restaurant; the bartender has the best view in the house. For a change!

I had a birthday on Monday, I'm now roundly and soundly 58. Every day above ground is a good one.  Thing One turned 20 as well (same day) and he got snowed out of his Whistler skiing trip. It was his prepaid birthday present from me, so every penny he can get back from that is still his gift. Sorry sweetie. The irony is strong with this one.

And my favorite card. So favored, I could not give it to its intended recipient.

See, we can cross borders and boundaries in sewing with humor. Or the other thing.

Dad jokes forever!