It's time to learn Korean....

I've been away from this blog partly because other things have been coming up these past few weeks, and partly because I kept getting the Korean version of Blogspot every time I tried coming back to update. I finally did some clicking around and found myself miraculously at the English version. Better take this opportunity for a brief update.

The recent McCall's shirt was, shall we say, a wadder. I haven't had the chance to write a PR review, but I will attribute this flop more to outside factors than problems with the pattern itself.

My Threadbanger TB-30 was giving me tension problems and it wasn't until 3 days ago it dawned on me to open the bobbin case and adjust the screw. I had been changing needle tension and presser foot pressure trying to achieve a balanced stitch but even when needle tension was at 0 (auto is about 4) I still had a loose lower bobbin thread/stitch. With the recent tightening I seem to have fixed my previous problems with very uneven stitches.

Sadly my moment of clarity came as I had already sunk in about 90% of work into the shirt for DH. Oh well. Into the scrap pile it goes.

My other mistake was using the wrong interfacing for the CF. Instead of my nicer woven interfacing from Pam at Fashion Sewing Supply, I wanted to use up some fusible hair canvas interfacing I purchased at a local fabric shop. This is the stuff the most of the local tailors use in their suits (read: crap) and I don't know what possessed me to convince myself it'll be okay on this linen fabric. Stupid is as stupid does.

In short, I will attempt this pattern again, despite the lack of of a yoke. Today I received the Islander men's shirt patterns and DVDs I recently ordered, as well as some patterns from PR. I'm trying to do all of my online shopping for supplies before it gets really hot this summer- I am hiding away once we get to 85F and humidity is 100%.

On a happier note, I wanted to post some pictures of the fabric I found for Arielle in Haiti. She lost a lot of sewing things due to the earthquake earlier this year and in the spirit of sewing and charitable giving, I found out the kinds of fabrics/prints she likes and went on a shopping spree! I was at DDM (Dong Dae Mun) fabric market shopping for about 4 hours two weeks ago, the most time I have spent at that place and boy I was tired at the end! The box went out last week to Cidell who will be packing all the contributions from the sewing community into one box for Arielle's courier. I had so much fun shopping for her and I really hope she likes the choices I made!!!

80% rayon and 20% cotton knits

100% cotton eyelet

100% silk crepe de chine and stretch silk charmeuse

100% cotton shirting

100% cotton lawn and cotton knit

Cidell had commented on my first Blog post that I should do a write up on DDM. I have a couple of posts on PR about the fabric market but those were when I was still exploring. I have a pretty good grasp of the area now and will definitely do another write up soon. In the mean time, let's hope I can find my way back to the English version of Blogspot soon so I can post more about my sewing projects!