Fabric shopping while on vacation

I've been spending the almost 2 weeks since we've been back catching up on all the day to day stuff that accumulates when your focus is off your household for weeks at a time.  I haven't had a chance to share about the fabric shopping adventures I enjoyed while in Oregon.  So here goes...

I had a small list of shops that I wanted to visit while in Oregon:   Fabric Depot, Mill End Store, and The Rain Shed.

Wednesday morning before we headed to the coast, my husband promised that we could visit Fabric Depot in Portland.  We entered the address into the GPS and headed out. 

Much to John's amusement, across the street there was an adult bookstore/strip club.  He wondered out loud if that was where the husbands hung out while their wives bought fabric.

Needless to say, John and the little girls accompanied me into the fabric store.

Fabric Depot is huge!  There are aisles upon aisles of fabric.  It was great to see all the popular fabric lines and be able to touch them.  I saw tons of prints that appealed to me but what I really need are some good basic solids.  It was a bit overwhelming being amidst all that fabric and I ended up leaving the store with only a pattern (Oliver + S School Photo Dress) in hand.

Next up, we headed to the Mill End Store which was a little bit out of our way.  The girls wanted to wander around outside so I went in by myself.  Once again, there was quite a bit of fabric!  Lots of adult clothing yardage and a good selection of woolens.  I lingered over some of the melton wool but decided that there really wasn't enough room in our luggage to buy any significant yardage.  I also was taken by some of the children's knit prints but there again, I really need more solids in my stash.  So, I left there empty handed.

My last fabric hunting outing, took place on the Saturday of the wedding.  A few weeks before we left town, I had been researching companies that sold outerwear fabric.  I came across The Rain Shed and as I was looking at their information, realized that they were located in Corvallis which is where we would be staying Friday and Saturday night. 

First thing Saturday morning, I headed out with my mother-in-law and arrived just as The Rain Shed was opening.   After a good 30 minutes looking at what was available and picking the brain of the nice woman who worked there, I made my "big" purchase.

best picture I could get of my haul, it's been raining every day since we arrived home



2 yards of Thinsulate, 3 yards of a woven quick dry fabric in "rattan", 2 yards of black sateen, 1 1/2 yards each of 2 ply Taslan in red and charcoal, and a zipper.  The Oliver + S pattern was my Fabric Depot purchase.

The Thinsulate will be for winter coats, the quick dry fabric will be for shorts next summer, black sateen is for K (she needs a black skirt for choral performances), and the Taslan+zipper is for a windbreaker jacket for P.

I'm quite pleased with my purchases and can't wait to sew some of it up!

Museum Tunic in Berry

I didn't have any full length shots of me in my AMH Museum Dress at the wedding.  So, I chose to wear it to church on Sunday and have my husband take some pictures before heading out into the dreary, rainy morning.

front

back

While cutting and sewing the dress, I referenced 2 sites:  the original tutorial and The Southern Institute's tutorial which includes instructions on how to line it.   My dress is made from Little Folk's  Square Dance Voile in Berry.

Due to time constraints and lack of fabric to line the dress with, I skipped the lining.  Next time, I will line the dress.  Full slips aren't the easiest items of lingerie to find.  And in the case of my slip, it slides around a bit and shows in the front v if I'm not careful.

It's an easy dress to wear and is quite comfortable...too bad the same can't be said about my heels!

Here comes the Flower Girl

The Bride and BK

BK did a fabulous job being a flower girl.  She walked nicely down the aisle carrying her flowers and stood by the maid of honor patiently during the ceremony.   Her dress (Ottobre Design 02/02 #18 "Festkleid") fit perfectly.  The petticoat and white roses that were my mom's contribution made the dress that much more special.  The head piece was from our dress up box.  I made it over using white satin ribbon and some sheer blue fabric that was left over from a niece's wedding 2 years ago.

MG and BK ready to blow bubbles on the newly married couple

MG's dress (Ottobre Design 03/08 #19 "Tafetta Princess") was unfortunately, a little too big across the chest.  I didn't start sewing the dresses until school had started and BK had been my fitting model while MG attended school.  While the girls' are pretty much the same size, MG has a slighter build.

The wedding party

back of dress

Daddy with his 2 little princesses

2/3 of our family

As you can see above, I did finish my AMH Museum dress.    

The skirts were nice and full on both dresses.  Perfect for leaping high with Daddy...

...chasing goats at the reception...

...and for dancing the evening away!

Mr. Penguin is Ready....

...for his trip to Oregon!  After some painful, should have thought this through better, that's what I get for working in the evening when I'm already tired moments, the Little Things to Sew Penguin Backpack is finished. 

All ready for our airplane trip

Mr. Penguin (as he is referred to around here) is made from black duck cloth and various quilting cottons for his beak, feet, tummy, and lining.   He is also big enough to carry a pocket folder in. 

My original intention for the backpack was for BK to use it to carry her folders for speech.  Laying a folder on top of the lining panel, it was obviously not going to work.

Disclaimer:  I came up with these measurements after a looooong day of working on other projects and my brain doesn't function well at night.   So, use them at your own risk!

I added 1 1/2 inches to the bottom of the top front and back panel.  I also added an additional seam allowance of 1/2 inches to the curves on those pieces. 

On the bottom front and back panels, I added 1 1/2 inches to the top, straight edge.  Then 1/2 inches around the rest of those pattern pieces. 

The pattern piece that forms the sides and bottom got an additional 2 1/2 inches of length on both of the short ends.  On the long sides, I added 1/2". 

For the zipper panels, I added 1/2" on one of the long sides and on both ends.

When it comes to the lining, I cut my pattern piece for the front and back panels (so it kind of looks like the outside pattern pieces) and slid a piece of paper in and taped it so that it got an additional 2 inches in length.  The pattern piece is then still one solid panel. 

I did add an extra inch of length to the long straps but it would have been fine without. 

The beak, wings, belly pocket, feet, and inside pocket all got an extra 1/2" all around.

Mr. Penguin now holds the speech folder with ease!

If I were to make this again with the adjustments, I'd tweak the outer front and back panels by only adding 1/2" to the bottom of the upper curved ones and 2 1/2" to the bottom pattern pieces.  Mr. Penguin tips off the back a little (see above) because where the straps are attached is a little low for the additional height.  The tweak should compensate for that. 

The boss is happy with her new backpack.  It will carry yellow (her beloved blanket), sticker books, snacks, crayons, coloring books, and Jewel (her webkinz weimaraner) out west to Oregon and then be all ready for speech when we come home.

 eta 9/29/11:  Mr. Penguin gets a slight improvement

Usually, when projects need a bit of an alteration or improvement I plan on making the fix but never get around to doing it.  I'll have you know, I have made the fix for Mr. Penguin! 

I went back and moved the straps up to the top of the backpack.  That takes care of the unwanted tilting caused by my size adjustments.  Now, Mr. Penguin fits The Boss perfectly!

The Penguin and the Flower Girl

It's been all about the flower girl dress this week.  Every morning after the older kids have left for school, I've been packing BK and my supplies up and heading to my parents' for some uninterrupted sewing.  It's been real helpful not only to have my youngest occupied playing with Grandma but to have expert help right there.  And I can say that they are now done.  Whew!

Here's a sneak peek...

Ottobre Design 02/02 #18 "Festkleid"

Ottobre Design 03/08 #19 "Taffeta Princess"

BK (who is the flower girl) will be wearing the top dress next Saturday in Oregon.  MG (backup flower girl) will be wearing the bottom.  MG has been in 2 weddings and knows the ins and outs.  BK....well, she's a tad bit unpredictable.  I think she'll be fine but if she isn't MG will walk with her.  The bride is very laid back and doesn't mind. 

The fabric for both dresses was a polyester shantung that I picked up on clearance.  I would have loved to have splurged on some silk but for practicality this will work best.  The "Festkleid" dress was from a German issue of OD.  Other than referencing the diagram for the sleeve hem, I left the magazine closed.  My mom is making petticoats to go under the dresses.  She also made the white satin roses that are on BK's dress.

Since we will be flying cross country to attend our nephew's wedding, I'm going to try and sew up the Penguin Backpack from Little Things to Sew this weekend.  BK requested one for speech and it's September's challenge for A Little Gray's sew-along.   If I finish it in time, she can use it on the plane to carry some toys and books to keep her occupied.  I'm going to try and modify the size of the backpack so that it will fit a pocket folder.  We'll see how that goes...

Apple for Teacher

With flower girl dress(es) needing to be sewn by next Monday, I was not going to do any first day of school sewing.  It's not like there was a need for it.  But while putting fabric away in my sewing room, I came across 2 of my favorite prints...Sandi Henderson Farmer's Market Apple Dot in pink and SH Meadowsweet Happy Buttferfly in Pumpkin.  The prints were begging to be made into short sleeved 2+2 tops (Oliver + S).

MG all ready for her first day of 1st grade

I'd intended to give BK this top and let the butterfly one be MG's since she has capris with butterflies embroidered on the pockets (see above).  But while sewing on the tops, BK walked in and was taken by the butterfly print.

I sewed up a size 4 (what I already had traced off) and added an inch to the hem.  I also used a fabric loop and button for the front closure instead of ties.  The buttons on the apple dot were from the buttons my mother-in-law gave me.  

BK won't be starting her "school" until the 21st of September but she wanted to wear her new top today too.

I did the same exact modifications on this one.  The buttons were from my existing supplies.

my little helper

Today marks the end of our summer.  The kids did great getting ready this morning.  The only hiccup was that K's bus did not arrive when it was supposed to (8:29am).  At around 9 am, she called me asking if I would take her to school.  So with K and 3 of her friends on board, BK and I made a quick run to the middle school.  Hopefully, tomorrow morning will not have any bus woes.

Kids, How do you feel about school starting tomorrow?

Our last beach day before school starts