Dunroamin!

For the last three weeks we have had visitors from the UK and although this has seriously impacted my sewing time, it has meant that I have had a ball travelling around this fabulous Province that I live in.  Want to see some pics?

 The Parade for the Calgary Stampede.

 A Lancaster Plane at the Bomber Command Museum in Nanton.

 Old Grain Elevators in Nanton, AB.

 My Uncle Ed, his lovely lady Heather, and me wearing some of my TG clothes!

Stunningly beautiful Lake Louise.

A shed!  I got me a shed!  It will be a work in progress, but I plan on taking my treadle machine out here, so I can sew in the garden!

The Largest Dinosaur in the World!  Drumheller.

 Royal Tyrell Dinosuar Musuem in Drumheller.

 A real, live grizzly bear near Vermillion Lakes.

 View from Banff Springs Hotel - this is a 'panorama' pic so the perspective is a little wonky!

Canola fields on the Prairies - just down the road from my house.

 Looking down from Mt Norquay over the Banff Townsite.

Uncle Ed and Dad looking down over Vermillion Lakes where we saw the bear.

Phew!  It was fun looking back over the pics and realising just how much travelling we did.  This does not show the malls that we visited, various restaurants, Atlas Mines, Sheep River Falls etc., etc., etc!  It certainly highlights how comfy we have become - doing things around the house, not moving far from home, but boy, I'm exhausted!  I'm looking forward to getting down to business and doing some sewing again!  I picked up some patterns during the most recent Tina Givens sale, so can't wait to get cracking with them!  Also, have you seen the most recent post on the Curvy Sewing Collective?  It's all about Lagenlook - do take a look!

How has your summer been?

Details

There are no two ways about it - when I sew I often make two or three garments at the same time, perfecting the seams/buttons/hems/other details and making the most of fabric that uses the same colour thread in my serger!  This last weekend was no different.  I decided to make three linen jackets based up the Tina Givens pattern, Phoebe.  I have made up some plain versions of this and they are very wearable, so although I do not have photos of the complete garments (maybe tomorrow!) I do have some close ups of the details that I am particularly pleased with, and wanted to share.

Firstly, I noticed that one of the features of many layered looks is to have fabric patches attached inside the garment and outside.  For some designers it is a place for them to add their logos or brand names . . . . And I thought that I can do that!  So I sewed my 'Spotty Dog' clothing labels onto some coordinated fabric and made 'inside' patches on my jackets:

As you can see, I zigzagged near to the edge and (gasp!) left the edges raw.  I'm really getting into the raw edges . . . . . and I kinda like it!

I didn't want there to be a random rectangle of stitches showing on the right side of the fabric . . . so I added a patch in the same fabric as the main fabric:

Yeah, I know, the last photo is a little boring!!!  I like the look of these inside/outside patches so much that I have 'retro-fitted' a couple of slip dresses that I have made/worn/washed and added patches to them as well.  I have found that the patches do fray a little - I trim any stray threads, and that leaves a soft edging to the patches which is similar to the bias binding edges that I have been adding to necklines and hems.

I've also had some fun with button and button band facings:

These buttons are plain silver metal - the pattern on them looked a bit like the weave that you can get on leather buttons that are often sewn on woolly cardigans.

These are just ordinary self covered buttons . . . . . and I used a co-ordinating 1" lime green ribbon for the button band.  I have started using smaller plain buttons on the wrong side of fabric when attaching heavier buttons to the right side.  I find that this gives the buttons more stability and I think that it makes the wrong side (the side that you can see below) look much tidier.

Again I used some metal buttons - but oh boy, what a find - there are greyhounds on the buttons!  As I am the happy Mom to two greyhounds, I am thrilled with these!  I sewed them onto an off-white jacket as I knew I would be wearing this a lot.  I will now be chasing up my other local fabric shops to try and find more of these buttons!

And on the wrong side I used a plain cream ribbon for the button band and some small off white buttons to back the larger metal buttons on the front.

Do you have some 'patented' details or trims that you use that really 'make' your garments?