At least some things go as planned.

Well, I never even got around to putting on my new dress yesterday, let alone take any pictures.  To tell the truth, I was a little disappointed - I was really looking forward to wearing it!  But my friend had come over for some help on a project, and it ended up taking us about 6 hours, rather than the 2 we'd thought it would take.  We finished up so late that I didn't even have time to make all the different dishes I wanted for dinner!  But our boys seemed pretty happy with what we did serve, and everyone managed to get full.

I had planned to have a sewing day today, and that plan did come through.  I spent quite a while figuring out the narrow rolled hem function on my serger, so that I could make a scarf out of the remainder of the fabric from the dress.  Check it out!

It took me quite a while:  two rethreadings of the machine and a lot of playing around with the tension.  One of the things I love about the Brother 1034D is that the threading is so easy - the path of each thread is labeled right on the machine, so you don't even have to look at the book! 

I haven't quite perfected my rolled hem technique, but I'm pretty happy with today's result:

The other thing I had on my agenda for today was (wait for it!) . . . my red Clover pants!  (Finally!!)

The first thing I had to do was lengthen the legs on the pattern - when I made my muslin I accidentally cut the version one (crop pants) rather than the ankle length I wanted.  I gave myself an extra 5" so I'd have plenty of wiggle room.

After I cut out my pieces, I marked a separate, deeper seam line for my less-full right hip - I'm so happy I've learned that I need this adjustment!  I think it makes a huge difference in the fit.

And then I finished all the seams that need finishing on my serger before beginning to construct the pants.  I managed to almost finish them - all I have left to do is insert the zipper and the waistband facing, and then hem them!  I'm really proud that I made myself stop though, once I realized I was getting tired.  I've learned that I usually end up with a mess if I push through!

So here's where they are right now:

Isn't that a funny picture?  It makes the pants look like they will accomodate enormous thighs!  I have already tried them on though, and I think they're actually pretty slimming.  Hoping to finish them tomorrow!

Loot! And gratitude!

Thanks again to everyone who left comments and suggestions on my skirt yesterday. I really do appreciate the input!

I spent most of yesterday working on a muslin for the Lisette Market Blouse (the short sleeved one).  After I cut out the fabric, I serged all the way around each piece.  Way fun!  I don't know if that's the approved way to do things, but I think it's pretty darn cool to have all the seams finished before I even start to sew the blouse! And while I had the serger going, I serged the hem of the skirt too.  So now I'll just have to do a little gathering and press it back, then sew it down.  Fingers crossed!

No more fraying!

muslin - I changed all my threads to white

So even though my birthday isn't until Sunday, I've managed to acquire some loot! Last Saturday, I received a package from my mom.  I was going to save it to open on my birthday, but I really needed a pick-me-up on Monday, so I tore in.  Look what she sent me:

Fitting and Pattern Alteration - it looks like this is going to be an invaluable resource.  I was really blown away.  My mom is the best (for a whole lot of reasons)! Thanks,  Mom!

Then yesterday while I was serging away, my mail lady rang my bell.  She had two treats for me.  First up was the giveaway I won last week from Melizza at Pincushion Treats - two goodies!  First off, an adorable pincushion that she made herself:

I love it that she roams around London (one of my favorite cities in the world!) looking for sweet little bits and bobs to make her pincushions.  I feel honored to own this treasure!  And as if this wasn't enough, she also included a belt buckle she picked up at Liberty of London!

I have big plans for this little buckle, which I'll elaborate on another time.  Thanks, Melizza!

The other treat I got in the mail yesterday was a handmade card and some goodies from my lovely friend Andrea at Stitch Parade:

If you read Andrea's blog, then you know she made her own undies after taking a class a few weeks ago.  She sent me some of the very same stretch lace she used!

the loopy black one

and yellow - my favorite color!

So now of course, I'm going to have to try my hand at making undies too!  Thanks again, Andrea - I'm so touched by your gift!

A little later in the afternoon, I was taking the garbage out and I heard the UPS truck.  The rest of my "serger bundle" arrived.  After flipping through the books, I'm glad I got them:

They have lots of tips and creative ideas for using the machine.  Which, by the way, I've decided to name Sergio.  My sewing machine is a Kenmore, and it never had a name before, but now that I've named the serger, I'm going to call the sewing machine Ken.

Ken and Sergio.  I loves them.

Oh, Brother (1034D) !!

Incredible!  Hubby ordered my serger Saturday afternoon, and it arrived this morning at 10:30 - two days ahead of the estimated arrival!  I had to wait until the afternoon to take pictures though, because my camera had run out of battery.

I know some of you are interested in purchasing a serger, and in this machine specifically, so I've taken lots of pictures to show you what you can expect if you buy this one.

I got the Brother 1034D.  We ordered it from Amazon, and the list price is $199, which includes free shipping - pretty sweet deal, in my opinion.  I actually got the bundle which includes two books on serging, for a total of $220; but now that I've got the serger with its manuals and DVDs, I'm wondering if the books will be overkill.  Because guess what?  It's not that hard!

The machine comes pre-threaded, and all the threads are color coded.  So the first thing I did was take a good look at the paths the threads take.  It's very easy to follow, because the machine itself has pictures and numbers showing the threading paths.

front

back

with the cover open, showing the threading paths

Included with the machine you get lots of goodies:  

instruction manual
techniques booklet
instructional DVD
techniques DVD
dust cover

pedal
tray to catch fabric trimmings
bag of accessories, shown closer below
(MacBook not included!)

gathering foot
rolled hem foot
tweezers
hex wrench
lint brush
spool cones
extra needles - normal sewing machine needles!
4 "yarn bras"

It honestly took me longer to watch the DVD (I only watched the instructional one) than it did to unthread and rethread the machine, and I had to do it twice because one of the threads got caught on something the first time.  The instructions on the DVD are very clear,  made up of about ten mini movies ranging from 2 to 15 minutes each.  When I inserted the disk into my computer and opened it, the topics were in random order, so it took me a while to figure out which order to watch them in.   That was another reason it took me a while to watch it!  But the information given is solid.

Once I'd learned about the threading sequence, I took another good look at what was already in the machine:

the knives of doom - not so scary after all!

Then turned it on and tried it out, and immediately broke one of the looper threads! That's a good thing though - it forced me to rethread the machine on my own, and truly, it's no big deal!  It really makes sense.

Then I went upstairs and got some scrap fabric, and did my very first rows of stitching:

baby's first serging

I'm inordinately proud of myself!