Very Easy Pants

Butterick 5044 a great beginner pattern that is quick and Easy

This was so easy. From start to finish including pressing was approximately 1 hour. The time excludes cutting out the pattern and making alteration. The only alteration I did to shorten the crotch depth.

This is a keeper and a great beginner project

Butterick 5044- Easy Pants

I bought this pattern last week. It consist of 1 main pattern piece. I made a muslin and I am satisfied with the fit in the back.The pant has an elastic waist.
I took in a 1/2 inch in the front and 1/2 at the inner seam to take some of the fullness out of the pant leg. I have fabrics in my collection that i can use. I decided on a grey broadcloth. This fabrics has been in my collection for at lease 10 years. I don't have enough to get a full lenght pant. More about this tomorrow.

Simplicity 2965

In my previous post i wrote about not having enough time to sew. After completing a time study i found out why?
Since then, i made a decision to decrease the time i spend on E-bay by 75%, stop buying patterns at Jo-Ann even if they are on sale ( except when the sale is 10 patterns for $ 10.00). I am happy to report that i visited E-bay only once this week and read blogs twice this week.

Here are the results:
Simplicity 2965

Not Enough Time to Sew

I am feeling very blue right now. WHY? not enough time to sew. Why I don't have enough time to sew?

Well, I decided to do a time study to see why and here are results:

1. I spent most of my free time on E-bay, buying patterns and magazines at Jo-Ann, reading you guys blogs and surfing the Internet

2. I am overwhelmed by the large number of unfinished projects I have sitting around

3. I sew for my home; my daughter; and myself. In addition I love to sew quilts and i just don't have the time to do it all

4. I have a full time job that requires a 2-hour ( beack & forth) commute to the office. Thank God I am only required to be in the office for report writing and meetings. However, there are times when I must be in the office for a week.

What can I do to make my free time more productive?

Well for starters I need to:
1. Drastically cut back on the time i spend on E-bay , surfing the Internet ( except for reading you guys blogs)and at Jo-Ann Fabrics
2. Monitor my time so that I can set realistic goals and deadlines
3. Plan my sewing in blocks of time, instead of waiting for a large chunk of time

The moral of the lesson: The responsibility of a job and family life can become overwhelming at times. Therefore, its better to plan and sew in small increments of time. Some sewing is better than "NO" sewing. What is your opinion?

Kitchen Curtains

Done. Kitchen curtains

No Sewing and Ramblings

I visited monkeyroom's blog last month, and she wrote about "SABLE". It was the first time i came across that term and the article was sooo on target for the following reasons:

1. I will never be able to sew all the fabric I owned.

2. I bought each fabric for a particular project; however, somehow I was unrealistic about the time and effort I will have to invest in order to complete the project

3. I am a perfectionist, I know how garments should fit and I refused to settle. That is a major problem because I take way too much time than I should to complete a project.

4. Part of my stash has become dated and I refused to divorce myself from my dated or rather vintage stash. LOL

5. Sometimes I become anxious because of UFO, and not having enough time to sew.

6. My extensive pattern collection is overwhelming. This year I added Burda patterns to the collection. P.S. I have a list of the new McCalls and Simplicity patterns I am going to buy when they go on sale at Jo-Ann next week. LOL

7. Yes, indeed she gave me a lot to think about


More Ramblings
I visited monkeyroom's blog today and I was surprised to see that both of us spent our time organizing our patterns. Mmmm telepathy?

Threads magazine published an article maybe 3-years ago regarding how to organize your patterns.
The instructions were as follow:
1. Remove the pattern from the envelope and place it into a yellow mailing envelope

2. Write the pattern number and the company on the yellow envelope and file each envelope by the number and Pattern Company

3. The original pattern envelope was place inside a clear sheet protector and store in a large binder. My patterns are store by categories such as: blouse, skirts, slacks, jackets, sportswear, coordinates, semi-formal etc.

This makes finding a particular pattern very easy.

Two years ago hubby gave me a digital camera with a printer for Xmas and last year I bought a laptop.

Technology has invaded my sewing room. I scanned and printed all the patterns I bought in the last 2 months. Then I filed the patterns by number and Pattern Company. The patterns were left in their envelope and the printed copies were store in a new binder. I think I like this system better because the binder is not bulky.

Moving forward as I used the old patterns I will scan and print the pattern and return the pattern pieces to their original envelope. This will take less space in the file box and I can recycle the envelopes for another use.


I will post pictures on the next post