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Sunday, June 2, 2019

New Look 6314

& May Wrap Up! :-p

This month I sewed NL6314! LOL!!!! I sewed 1 yard of fabric. I purchased NO NEW FABRIC and 3 new patterns.

YTD Total yards IN: 28.75
YTD Total yards OUT: 24

New Look 6314 was made once before. Again, I had 1 yard of a well-liked piece of fabric and figured this pattern would be a great fit for this fabric and our mild early summer weather.


These ASOS jeans are about a half size too big. If there was a size 33, that would have been a better fit...but I love the style SO MUCH that I don't care. The next time I have something to take to the tailor (because alterations? No thank you), I will bring them to see what she thinks about taking them in.

The only change I made from last time was to sew the bands with a smaller seam allowance. They were quite wimpy for the full sleeves. I used a 1/4" seam allowance which gave a bit of length on the sleeve too...but I like the wider bands.

The fabric is a distressed french terry from Fabric Mart and twill tape from SR Harris. The smaller location has a nice range of trims available and I almost always buy 5 yards of twill tape when I'm there :) It's usually $0.40-50 per yard so it's worth it to keep some basic colors on hand. This was a straight serger/coverstitch project aside from the buttonholes for the ties. I still had to cut it out over the course of 2 days. But I'm looking forward to getting in the sewing room a bit more now that I have the surgeon's blessing.

I think I'll get a TON of wear out of this right on through fall!

Another Me Made May in the books!

Sunday I was on the road from Memphis to Chicago so no handmades that day.
In reverse order...again...

Monday: I was on road from Chicago to home. I had on my S2061 lounge pants and a tee. Baby cat was so happy to see me :)

Tuesday: Back to work and in one of my favorite handmade garments ever - Vogue 1323.

Wednesday: An oldie but goodie; the dress from now OOP wardrobe pattern M5890. 

Thursday: RTW top (that I love and fixed once with a needle and embroidery thread!) and M7392 denim skirt

Friday: TNT tee M6964 with thrifted jeans

This year, I didn't make any specific MMM pledge. I just got dressed for the day (hence so many random pics or last minute selfies). But it is still a fun challenge for me each year! 

In non-sewing news, I've picked up a new hobby (skill)! :) I have wanted to learn to make bread for forever. We bbq'd the other day and I decided TODAY IS THE DAY! Because that's how I roll. 

Well...I was clueless about the whole 'dough rising for forever and ever' thing :) So it was pretty late Thursday when I finished and they did not turn out well. They smelled very 'yeasty' and were super dense. I did a bunch of reading/research and decided I would try again Friday (because that's how I roll!).  It worked!

Left: attempt #1
Right: attempt #2

Things I learned in between batch #1 and batch #2:
The 1st recipe was fine but did not give any of the tips, hints and potential pitfalls that a beginner would be unaware of. Also, it was suggested to turn the oven on for a minute, turn it back off, and let the dough rise in the oven. Yeah, no. Maybe if your house is super cold, but that was too warm.

That first batch of dough was wrong. LOL! I used the paddle on my KitchenAid when I should have used the dough hook. And slightly sticky is okay but this was sticking to everything. 

We don't drink milk but it didn't need much so I figured no big deal. I think I forgot the sugar too. I don't remember.

It's hilarious to me, with cooking and baking, how a little bit of time makes a huge difference. With batch #2, I kneaded the dough for the specified amount of time but it didn't seem right so I did it for about 90 more seconds - perfect! 

I bought milk! I bought a thermometer! (the water is supposed to be a set temp). I bought a scale! Several sources said the flour should be weighed. Now, I do bake cookies, cakes, etc so I know not to scoop the flour with the intended measuring cup as it can be compacted. But weighing it worked well.  Also, the scale ensured equal sized buns. 

I was SO excited about how they turned out and we had burgers on Saturday! 

(This is the recipe I used.)