Hi! I am here! I feel like this is my special diary and I have this stong urge to write in it all the time, but can never sit down long enough to do it! I liked this pic of Molly and I a lot. We had the same color shirt on and Molly thought we were twins. That's all I want to know is how I can transplant her hair onto my head. It's absolutely perfect.
I want to start by thanking everyone for my birthday wishes and healing wrist wishes. My birthday was delightful. The girls at work went all out for me and I came in to a desk covered with balloons, flowers, banners, etc. My sister (whom I also work with) made me a wonderful ice cream sandwich cake. YUM. Thanks Ang! She doesn't even read my blog but I thought I'd throw that out there anyways.
My wrist is much better now. It's still very sore but I can do almost everything. I just need to go to physical therapy once a week so I can stretch out the tendon and massage the scar tissue. Fun!
With the healing wrist I actually got around to a little sewing this weekend. You can see the girlies in their matching pants. I started with a pair for Abby and of course Molly wanted the same exact fabrics for herself. I don't blame her because they are adorable patterns from Sandi Henderson's new Farmers Market line, but I only ordered one yard and I could've used a little more. I love it so much that I guess I will eventually be buying a lot more. I need a separate bank account for this addiction I've developed. Why does everyone have to keep coming out with new amazing fabrics! Of course I really don't have a pattern, so I did my classic "wing it."
I must admit that they look pretty cute in the pictures but let me tell you the whole truth. Anyone reading this who is not an expert sewer (a novice like me) should appreciate my blunders. Abby's pants were sewn um... upside down I guess you can say. Basically, what was supposed to be the legs turned into the crotch and the crotch ended up the legs. This makes for a very "low rise" type of pants that only make it 1/2 way up the diaper and fall off continuously (doesn't help that the elastic was to big too also). Elastic always gets me because I hate pants that are too tight and leave marks on their bellies so I overshoot. Note to self... elastic stretches a lot.
With Molly's pants I made sure that I had the crotch/leg situation under control when sewing but I still didn't make the crotch big enough. The I have been following has the front and back of the pants exactly the same. Is this normal? I realize that you need more room for the butt to fit in the back so maybe I should be looking into a different pattern? Or should I just leave a really lot of room in the crotch area? They looked really cute on Molly but she did have to keep pulling them up so her little butt crack wouldn't sneak out. It was definitely a learning experience, although I still really don't know how to do it right.
Oh yeah, the serged seams tore in the crotch area on Molly's pants before the end of the day. I was told that I didn't have to sew the seams and then serge afterwards, that the serger would take care of everything. Is this true? Do I just have to reinforce the high stress areas?
I hope you have some advice for me!
sergers are amazing and totally take care of the seams for you... those pants are ADORABLE!!! as for the pattern, you know that's not my thing. i'm a winger too! and that first picture rocks... i LOVE her hair!
Posted by: caren | July 22, 2008 at 11:42 PM
Ah! I make these same mistakes everytime I make pants. I have never used a pattern and I guess I should. I do use just about the same length of the front of the crotch as the back, but I always seem to make the pants way to low-rise too. Awesome prints. I love Sandi Henderson too, but haven't picked up any of the Farmer's Market prints yet.
Posted by: Elexis | July 23, 2008 at 09:09 AM
I'm so glad your wrist is better. I can't imagine not being able to sew and knit. I don't know what I'd do with myself. As for pattern advice, I got nothing for you. Although maybe you could just lengthen the waist of the pants by an inch or so. How is the new serger working out? I am so stinkin' jealous.
By the way the babes look adorable, Molly looks so like you and Abby is a doll.
Posted by: josie | July 24, 2008 at 09:48 PM