My New, Old Sewing Machine

Probably about a month ago I acquired a new to me, but old sewing machine. It was one of Bert's mother's sewing machines. After she passed away it traveled across the U.S. I feel truly honored to be able to have it and use it to continue in her footsteps. It is a Singer Athena 2000 from 1975. It was the world's first electronic home sewing machine. I haven't had time to play with it, but I did download the manual for it and read through it.

I do love the sewing machine I have which is a small blue Kenmore Ultra Mini. I love the size so that I can take it with me to class etc. So far it has been able to make what I wanted, but the Athena is going to be able to go way beyond the Mini. It has so many more stitches and you can just tell it will be more powerful. I just hope that my Mini won't think it is getting replaced.

Reunion Review

My dress was half way done when I left for San Diego on Friday so being the crazy person I am I decided that I could finish it Saturday morning instead of just wearing something I already had. So I decided I would bring my sewing machine to San Diego. I carried it onto the plane. The thing that pisses me off is that my machine went through security without any problems, but my ounce of water in my water bottle did not make it through. I could sew someone to death, but for heavens sake you wouldn't want me to quench my thirst. Anyway, let's just say I finished the dress 15 minutes before I left for the pre-party thanks to my Mom's help! It is not the project I am most proud of, but I like the style and most importantly it did not fall apart.
The reunion was actually fun and it turned out to be a great weekend. I got to hang out with old friends and reminisce. I also looked at my parents high school yearbooks from the 60's. It was fun to look at the fashions and I noticed that all the females were wearing dresses. My mom told me that girls could only wear dresses or skirts and that you had to get on your knees and if the length of the skirt did not reach past your knees you were sent home. Well I guess my Dad found his way under there some how... Wow has society changed!!

It's been 10 years since High School!

My 10 year High School reunion is coming up real soon and I mean real soon! The theme is cocktail party and is in San Diego. I have dresses that I could wear, but I thought it would be fun again to make a dress. I had a pattern I have been wanting to use and I ordered some stretch sateen fabric on-line, but when it came it was just too bright and wild. The fabric won't go to waste. I love it and I will use the fabric for something to wear in San Francisco. At that point I decided to not make a dress, but this last weekend I found some new fabric and I am going to try and give it a go. I started the dress last night, but this is what it looked like this morning. I am trying to make the black dress in the corner of the pattern photo. I think it looks cocktailish and I like the retro feel. I need to finish it by Thursday. The clock is ticking...tick tick tick

Project Runway Returns!

Just a friendly reminder that it is finally here. Project Runway returns to Lifetime this Thursday night at 10 pm. I can now have pizza and wine night again. They sure have been hyping it. I hope it's good.

FFD Update

First off Whitney's wedding was beautiful and lots of fun! I am so happy for her and the new chapter in her life. Secondly, I did finish the dress before the wedding on Saturday. Here are some pictures of me in my parent's backyard and at the wedding. I think most people liked it and were impressed. I really really love the dress. It lasted well and I danced in it for hours, but when I was dancing with the brides mom the slit in back ripped up towards my butt. I am very happy that it happened when I was dancing with Kathy. It is very fixable. I should make sure I reinforce that stuff if I know I will be dancing in the garment I make. I can't wait to wear it again. :)

Flowered Friendship Dress

Yeah done...well almost done. Here is the dress I made for Whitney's wedding. My Flowered One Strap dress for the Japanese Friendship Garden. I love it! I think it turned out great. I just finished it with 30 minutes to spare. I am going to bed soon, leaving for San Diego after work tomorrow and wearing it Saturday. Leave it to me to save it till the last minute. It is pretty much done except for some hand sewing and pressing. The dress has a zipper on the side, 1 strap, a slit in the back, 4 darts (2 in front and 2 in back) and 4 pleats (2 in front and 2 in back. I have to say I really struggled with the 1 strap. After several attempts I finally came to the conclusion that I just would never understand the instructions and I didn't want to waste any more fabric so I ended up hand sewing the strap on to the bodice.
After the wedding I will post more pictures, let you know how it went over and how it held up.