Destruction Phase 1: Complete

Yesterday after work I embarked on phase one of destroying the dining room. This is the easy part, it only took about an hour and a half to completely remove the carpet and the pad from the room. Really, the only tool you need is a box cutter.

To make the pieces of carpet a little easier to handle, I removed it in strips. Find a spot where you can get to the edge of the carpet...like in one of the holes cut for the vents (this is also a good way to get a peek at what is under carpeted floors if you are looking at a house to buy. Lift out a heating vent, and pick up the edge of the carpet).

Grab the free edge, and start cutting with the box cutter, until you have a whole strip free. To pull the carpet away from the tack strip. The pad rips easily and is only attached to the floor with a few staples, so just grab it and rip it up.

Now, if your objective is to refinish the floor, the tack strip and the staples from the pad will have to be pulled out because if anything is left in the floor it will destroy the VERY EXPENSIVE drum on the floor sander (ask me how I know!). But, if you are considering having a professional refinishing service come in and redo your floors, taking up the carpet and pulling all the staples is a great way to cut costs, because while it is time consuming and tedious, it requires NO skills, other than the ability to operate a pair of pliers. Why pay professional labor rates to have someone else do it? Grab a plier and go!

Clearly, though, there will be no refinishing of these floors, due to the huge patches in them:


Here is the damaged wall from the window leak. The windows have been replaced, so now I can repair the wall. Yay, more destruction! I get to use a sledge hammer!!


Reason number two for the removal of the carpet, and reason number one that I am going to beat my cat with a shoe:


Last year, Ollie embarked on a campaign of terror against the dining room carpet. After much behavioral modification and a ridiculous sum of money spent on anti-depressants for a CAT, the "Mad Pisser" has been defeated. Now Ollie can return to his hobby of gaining as much weight as possible:


Here is the room with the carpet completely removed. My brother an I will be starting on lifting the hardwood floor this weekend:

Back to Basics

When I first started this blog, I used to have a lot more information about home improvement projects, but lately I have been so obsessed with sewing, it has kind of drifted in another direction. Well, I am preparing to start on a brand new home improvement project, and blow some of the wedding money that has been burning a hole in my pocket!

This is the dining room...in it's better days:

Since this photo was taken, we have had a couple of "issues." First, the windows to the right. In the midst of a huge storm, they started leaking. And completely destroyed the wall under the window, and now the plaster has crumbled and I am debating repairing the plaster or just smashing the crap out of it, tearing it out, and replacing it with drywall. There was a considerable amount of water that also soaked into the wood floor, presumably damaging it even though it is hidden by the vast expanse of "realtor beige" carpet that covers most of the flat surfaces in our house.

After "The Flood," my cat took it upon himself to further destroy the flooring in the room by selecting a few places to repeatedly (and I mean repeatedly) pee. The entire room still stinks of cat piss. I keep it closed permanently, which is a huge loss because it is a great dining room. The table is huge (I know, I refinished it), and is a great room for dinner parties. It also has an attached butler's pantry:

My mother claims the butler's pantry is the only reason that I bought the house. I don't tell her this, but I suspect she may be onto something.

So, here is "The Big New Project"....This weekend I am tearing up the carpet in the dining room AND the hardwood floor. Yes, there will be prybars involved! And the hiring of younger brothers!

Why am I doing this? Because I have purchased a new floor. Yes! A new floor! And not just any floor. Solid oak, and stained an espresso color to match the black box beams in the ceiling.

Why replace rather than refinish? Ah, that is a very good question you ask. The reason is that I would like to refinish the rest of the floors in the house. Unfortunately, the contractors shared with me that the reason for the carpeting is that the floors are badly damaged, and needed much patching when they renovated the house.

When you take a floor installed in 1920, and repair it with wood from 2009, there is really no way to make it look exact. For one, the width of the slats. Times have changed, and the standard width has changed as well. Also, thickness. Again, not standard over time, not to mention that the thickness of the floors can be changed by how many times the original floors have been sanded. Finally, age adds a patina to the coloring that cannot be recreated with stains.

So, given all this, HOW will we ever patch the floors to repair them in the rest of the house??? That is where the dining room comes in! This is the one floor that I would like the stain to be "not brown." Mainly, because of the black box beams, and the black table and chairs that I worked so hard on. Because of that, I am willing to sacrifice the original floor in that room so that that wood can be stored as a source for patches in other rooms.

By patching the other rooms with original flooring from the house, the patches will be less noticeable, it will be easier for the refinishers, and ultimately, CHEAPER for me! So, when we finally tear up the carpet in the living room:

I won't have to burst into tears when I see the giant plywood patches in the floor. Because I will have a whole basement full of original wood that can be used to repair it!

How Awesome is THIS??

Emily Kate nominated me for an award!!!

And clearly she knows me VERY well since she said about this blog "why pay a professional to do something when it could take much longer and cause a lot more frustration to do it yourself? Hey, it's all about the learning." Seriously, I couldn't have said I better myself! Emily Kate is awesome, and I love the freaky ceramics!!

So, here are the rules:

Rules:

1. Accept the award, post it on your blog together with the name of the person who has granted the award, and his or her blog link.


2. Pass the award on to 5 other blogs that you’ve newly discovered. Remember to contact the bloggers to let them know they have been chosen for this award.

Kristine at Just Keep Sewing. Kristine is an awesome sewist and always willing to share her ideas and expertise.

Skitzo Leezra Studio. Some of the most incredibly inventive, creative stuff I have ever seen! Seriously, I am SO stealing her idea of using suspenders for a purse strap!

Rachelle at Smoking Needles. Because the 'Chelles have it going ON!

Okie2thFairy at The Furcation. Awesome projects and an adorable puppy!

Caitlin at Caityquilter. More than just sewing, but a great sense of humor.

In other news....

I become totally ADDICTED to Burda World of Fashion patterns! Ever since I made my first jacket, I have been trying to decide what pattern to do next. I finally settled on BWOF May 2009 101:
I used a remnant of stretch denim from my "tape pants." One of the great advantages to this pattern is that it only takes a yard of fabric. Yep, even in MY size it only takes one yard. So I finally have a use for those remnants that hang around in my sewing room that I just can't throw away because they are almost big enough to make something.


I also successfully inserted an invisible zipper using my little plastic zipper foot. Well, almost successfully. I started the zipper too high on the skirt and didn't have enough room to add a hook and eye once the facing was on. Ner. I'll not do THAT again!


Here it is from the back. It is more A-line than it looks, but it hangs like that because my dress form has only minimal ass and no thighs:


Here it is on an actual human:


Overall, I am very happy with the way that this skirt turned out. It is really comfortable, and another good addition to the summer work wardrobe. Although, in the beige denim, it will be a great transitional piece that will carry right through the fall.

In other news, I have decided that I now hate the white jeans-style jacket that I made last week. I tried to make some alterations to fit, and ended up turning a nicely-shaped jacket into a boxy mess. I should have left it alone. I wore it to work the other day and noticed when I passed a mirror in the bathroom that I looked like I was wearing a lab coat. All I needed was a stethoscope.


I wouldn't necessarily call it a "wadder," because it is nicely made (If I do say so myself, ner) so I'll probably just give it to my mother or something.

Progress on "The Plan"

This weekend I finished with the second step in my plan that I set up for myself a couple of weeks ago.

If you remember, I wanted to use this red fabric to make the McCalls 5860, but there wasn't enough so I reverted to the orange jacket instead:


After a little thought, I decided to use the white linen blend for the McCall's jacket, rather than for either of the Vogue patterns that I had selected.


I felt like either of the Vogue patterns really needed a crisper fabric. I have to say, as nice as it looks on the bolt, I am not a fan of these linen blends. They are not "drapey" so much as they are "floppy." I don't know if that makes sense or not, but they don't press well, either. So I think I am pretty much done with them. I got three colors, I just used the last of it, and I won't be buying any more.

But, because I didn't have a fabric for the Donna Karan jacket, I ordered a citrus green color sateen from Fashion Fabrics Club, as well as a white sateen to make a coordinating pair of pants from my tape pattern.

Back to the McCalls jean jacket:



Since this is a Palmer-Pletsch pattern, there are pages and pages of instructions on fitting. Somehow, over the course of all the fitting, I managed to make a princess-seamed, nicely shaped jacket into something rather boxy. Also, a warning: the sleeves are super-long, and I took about 3 inches off the length of the jacket overall. Otherwise it was just so long it was overwhelming.

To finish the seams, I flat-felled most of them. There are a couple of places, like the inside of the pockets and under the pocket flap, that I zig-zagged the edges because I just couldn't envision how to hide it.

The fabric is somewhat see-through, but definitely not as bad as the eyelet I was working with a couple of weeks ago. Because it is lightweight, the jacket could be worn as a shirt, and the two "strategically placed" pockets and the front facing means you can get away without a cami.

In further sewing news....I probably won't get much done today because my niece is coming over to sew. Last week she finished another tunic, and this week she wants to make a skirt. We cut out the pieces last week and this week I did some "pre-sewing," mainly finishing some difficult parts for her and zig-zagging the edges of all her fabric.



She is doing well with her sewing but that ruffle on that shirt...omg, it was a disaster! She stayed over last weekend, and after looking at how she had sewn it on, I ended up taking out all her stitches and re-doing it while she was sleeping. I also re-set her sleeves. She's such a goof, she never noticed! She still thinks that she did all the sewing on the shirt!

Today we are going to work on this skirt from the April BWOF:
I have projects to work on as well, yesterday I cut out my fabric for Vogue 1107:


This pattern has 27 pieces. Let me repeat that.....TWENTY-SEVEN PIECES. Seriously!! The front and back are split into 4 pieces each, there are pleat underlays...but the side ones are a different size than the center ones!! I didn't even cut the pieces for the macrame belt or the knotted buttons. I just bought buttons. I used a brushed twill, and if this works out, I will probably get a nicer fabric for another version.

I'm trying my best to not let myself get derailed from my plans, but I just got an order from Fabric.com, and this charmeuse has been calling my name:


I think I need a couple of tunics! But logic will prevail, and I will continue to work on my plan....

Pants Copy Complete

Just a quick post today...I completed my copy of the Ann Taylor pants that I really like. To start, here are the original pants (please pardon the red face and crazy hair, work was a touch rough today!):


They are made of a gray poly-blend suiting with a deep cuff. The fabric does not stretch, and they do not have pockets in the front, but have welt pockets in the back.

Here is the completed copy:


I made a few changes to the copy, for one I left off the deep cuffs for a slightly more casual look. I also left out the welt pockets in the back, because the pocket bags ALWAYS wad up on my bum during the day. I also left off the belt carriers because I never wear a belt.

I made the copy from a taupe stretch denim from Fashion Fabrics Club that cost me a whopping $5.75 a yard. I still have enough left for a skirt, I may do up a version of this skirt from the April issue of Burda World of Fashion:
Overall, I am very happy with the copy of my RTW pants, and will probably use the pattern again.

Edited to Answer Questions:

Amy asked "Do they feel the same as your RTW pants?" and "How do you manage darts and pleats while taping?"

Yes, the pants do feel the same as the RTW pants, except for the slightly shorter hem. The other pants had to be worn with heels, these I raised the hem so they could be more versatile. As for darts and pleats, these pants did not have any darts, and I tend to not wear pleats because of my round tummy, so this is all just in my head, but....

What I did with the pocket markings and and fly was that I used a black sharpie and actually drew them right onto the tape while it was still stuck to the pants. That way I could transfer them exactly to the new fabric. If I had a dart, I would do the same. I would mark the line for the dart on the tape. But, when I transferred the tape to the tracing material, I would cut that dart open and expand it as I taped the copy to the tracing material...kind of the way you slash open a dart when you are making an FBA. Pleats, because they are more substantial, I think would be more difficult, even in the taping of the pants. I would think that the easiest way to make a dart would be to use an existing pattern with a dart to draw that in while you are tracing the tape later; that would give you a clue how much width you need to allow for pleats.

Also, Patty asked "Is there anything you would do differently?"

Yes I would do a better job of stretching the back piece as I was sewing to match the length of the front piece. One of the drawbacks to making patterns like this is you have no pattern markings (or instructions!) so I ended up with the back pattern piece not quite meeting the hem of the front piece at the inseam. Had I just stretched it a little while sewing, it would have been fine.

I would also have used a much more substantial interfacing in the waistband, or even make the interior waistband with a non-stretch material, because the waist does stretch....a bit of a "duh" moment for me, you make pants with a stretch denim, and then are surprised that the waistband isn't as snug? I deserve a slap to the forehead for that!! To fix that I may open up the waistband and contour a bit more at the side and center back seam.

Another Use For Painter's Tape

In my quest for a pattern for pants, I have been frustrated by the fact that I cannot get the pants I make to fit like some of the RTW pants that I have. So I went searching for information about how to go about copying a RTW garment...and most importantly, without taking it apart.

I have a pair of gray wide-legged pants with a cuff from Ann Taylor that I really like the fit of. They cover my bum, the waistband sits properly, and they are comfortable. So they became candidates for copying.

But how to copy a pair of pants? You can't just lay them down and trace them. Enter the painter's tape. It is important to use painter's tape, or some other low-tack tape because you are going to actually put it ON the pants.

Start by laying the pants out on a table, as flat as possible:


Start by "outlining" the front of the pants with tape:


Then using strips of tape, "fill in" the leg of the pants, and mark the fly, pockets, cuffs, or other details:


Carefully peel the tape off the pants as one piece, and stick it to your tracing material. I am using soil-separator cloth, so it is hard to see in the photo:


Using Kristine's handy-dandy little invention, outline your "replicas" to add seam allowances, and add the fly:


Yep, it's a sharpie rubber-banded to a pencil. Run the pencil along the edge of the tape, and the sharpie will draw a line where cutting line should be. There is a little strip of cardboard tucked in between the pencil and the sharpie to make the distance between the two tips 5/8 in. Also add the hem allowance.


Then do the same for the back. Since the back piece of a pair of pants is wider than the front, you will have to wrap the tape around to reach from seam to seam:


Fill in the same way you did with the front:


You will also need to do the same with the waistband, I lined the edge of the tape up with the bottom of the waistband, and added tiny little pleats to follow the contour of the back waistband:


Trace your seam allowances on the final pieces, and there you have it, a complete copy of the pattern for your RTW pants, without dismantling the pants!

Next blog, maybe I'll have a replica of the pants for you!

Phase 1, Complete

I should have called this blog "Phase One, Abort, Abort! Revert to Plan B!" But lord knows what kind of crazy searches it would turn up in if I had "Abort, Abort!" and "Plan B" in the title. It's kind of like the time I was teaching an Intro to Physical Anthropology class and didn't have any photos of Homo erectus remains for my powerpoint presentation. So, genius that I am, I did a google image search for "homo erectus." Yeah, not so many fossils turned up.

Anyway, back to the sewing....This past week I started on my first project in the plan I made for myself. Initially, I wanted to work on the red embroidered cotton:


But I discovered as I was laying out the pattern that the embroidery does not go all the way to the edge of the fabric. In fact, you lose about 4 inches on either side because of it, so you have to change your layout. No matter what I did, there was no room for the sleeves. I may try it again with a flat layout, and see if that helps. Or the fabric may become something else. What a bummer, though. I was all ready to get started and....nope.

So I switched over to the orange linen blend:


This one was super-simple because I had already made a pink version of the jacket, so I knew what I needed to do in regards to fit, and intended to do a MUCH better job on the top-stitching this time.


I am not going to buy any more of this linen blend crap. It feels nice in the store, but it doesn't look crisp at all, no matter how much you press it. So my lapels are kind of jacked up, and that is after using a heavier-than-usual interfacing, and also flipping the pieces so the interfacing is on the public side of the garment.

This pattern does not call for a lining, so I added binding to the seams to keep it from raveling:


I also hand-stitched the hem, and the front and back princess seams are flat-felled. The pattern calls for topstitching, but just like in the last version, why topstitch when it looks the same if you flat-fell it? AND you can hide the raw edges. I suppose that one day I will HAVE to break down and get a serger. Let me learn how to fit pants first. And stay off Craig's List looking for old Singers (I missed a 401 for $30.00 by 2 hours!!).

Next up, the Chado dress:


It is currently on the cutting table, I have separated all the pieces that I do not need. For the first version, I will leave out the lining, not make my own hand-knotted buttons, or the macrame belt, or the hem facing, or any of the other stuff that is just going to get in the way of me figuring out the fit and how to put together this crazy dress. It is just too complex to take the whole thing on at once.

I probably won't get anything more done today than cutting it out. My niece and nephew are here this weekend, so the sewing room is taken over with Sadie's projects.