A Hat, Parisian Rosette, and more

I finally made a hat from McCall's pattern 5641.  Last week I pulled the pattern out, read the directions and did not like what I saw.  So after giving some thought to potential problems with this pattern I brought it back out for a go. 

Directions called for the brim to be made of a single layer of fabric--are you kidding me?  Also the fabric flower McCall designers wanted made seemed like another piece of poorly thought out work.  So I made a few changes:

The brim is two layers of contrasting fabrics with light weight pellon.  Sew wrong sides together, turn, and topstitch. 

Added ribbon trim to the interior seam between brim and crown--see in photo #2 below.

Forget that ugly flower design from the pattern and since I signed up for a Parisian Rosette swap--make one.  After all, I had never heard of the Parisian Rosette until last week and I have to make one for my swap partner.

Ta da, behold my first attempt with hat and rosette:

I worked out some of the problems in the hat design but will try some other things on my next version of this hat.  The Parisian Rosette designing needs some more work too.  Not much help to be found on the internet as far as these rosettes are concerned.  The wrap and roll rosettes are everywhere but not the ones using silk flowers.  Darn, this makes my work much harder.  If you guys have any ideas out there let me know.  I really don't want my swap partner to be disappointed with my end of the deal.

Sewing Machines

My cheapy Singer that I just had worked on a couple of weeks ago is at it again.  I decided to try making a pair of pants after seeing a blog where the lady had made 4 pairs of pants and 1 dress in a week.  No need to be jealous of her success Toocute, just put your mind and sewing machine to work.

You would not believe the high drama a simple pair of elastic waist pants have turned out to be.  No details--too embarassing, but look at the stitching in the photo.  From the front all looked just fine but then:

Those were long seams to pick out and I just paid to have this thing fixed!  I will not put another dime in the blasted sewing machine!  It is out of here!

My other problem with the pants is that while on the phone talking to the BFF I said "Geeze these pants look huge! I'm going to hate it when they fit."  Guess what? They fit! "screaming hissy fit, crying on the floor like a two year old".  So elastic waist, seams to finish (gabardine ravels like crazy), trim to length and hem, then I'll have a pair of pants.  Yep, big butt pants.

Cheap & Picky is on a mission for a featherweight and I found this site with lots of information about featherweights to share with you all. Come to think of it I need to replace that cheapie Singer with something.

http://singerfeatherweight221.blogspot.com/

That is it for today I guess. I have a meeting with someone about doing a database for the non-profit group associated with the animal shelter.  No dog walking until tomorrow.  Thank goodness, it is HOT in South Carolina.