[norasroom]

Oh, BOOTS! I am so on the look-out for turquoise dotted rain boots. If anyone sees some in a 7, lemme know!

[norasroom]

@amylapinsky, I ended up making my rain jacket out of the Amy Butler laminate, and I used the City Coat Pattern by Jalie. You can read my review of the pattern here:

http://sewing.patternreview.com/cgi-bin/readreview.pl?readreview=1&reviewnum=45726

And there are a few photos of my coat on Flickr:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/37177124@N02/4153632951/

If you scroll through my photostream, you’ll also see a few pictures of a second rain jacket that I made using Anna Maria Horner fabric and the same Jalie pattern.

[norasroom]

To make matters worse, Heather Bailey also has some laminates coming out: http://www.trueup.net/?p=6764 and her fabrics, like Anna Maria’s and Amy Butler’s, come from Free Spirit/Westminster. So painful!

[norasroom]

Another vote for “More Fabric Savvy” by Sandra Betzina. It’s the garment sewer’s fabric bible! I also have her Power Sewing book which is pretty good, and her fitting book which is meh.

Personally, I’m kicking myself for giving away my 1970 Reader’s Digest sewing guide. It was a gem!

[norasroom]

OMG, those are gorgeous!

[norasroom]

That’s a good point, Lizabeth. I’m always drawn to these big graphic prints and forget that I’m 5 feet in shoes. On a tall day. Grrr. Great to know about the quality of the Westminster laminate, though. I so seldom get to touch fabric in real life before I buy!

In the end, it may come to immediate vs. delayed gratification. The Amy Butler prints are due out this month, while the Kokka is an 8-12 week wait.

[norasroom]

Mine too–and stark naked. You mean that’s not where we’re supposed to keep ’em?

[norasroom]

Hi, Toyota888,

There is a long discussion about the Fabric.com wool melton over at Pattern Review:

http://sewing.patternreview.com/SewingDiscussions/topic/43991

You may need to register with the site to read the whole thing, but it’s very informative. There’s some disagreement about whether these fabrics are double-faced or double-cloth, but the bottom line is that you can use whichever side you like best. After all, you paid for both!

I have two yards of the red wool melton sitting on my sewing table (and black, and eggplant, and light purple, and robin’s egg blue . . .) and I can see why you like the look of the woven side!

If you do decide to dress all three kids in red wool coats, I hope you share the pictures!

[norasroom]

Hi, Jodie,

I have always sewn the bodice and bodice lining to the skirt as one piece and then serged the seam to finish. Since you don’t have a serger or a zig-zag stitch, you could finish the seam with bias binding (either pre-packaged or made from the same fabric as the flat piping). Or you could attach just the outer bodice fabric to the skirt and then finish the raw edge of the lining by folding it under 1/2 inch and hand-stitching it in place to cover the seam allowances of the bodice/skirt seam. Or (if you hate hand-sewing as much as I do) you could fold under the raw edge of the lining, hold it in place with pins or double-sided water-soluble tape, and then top-stitch from the front, catching your folded edge for a neat finish.

This is off the top of my head, so others may have better ideas or at least more coherent ones!

Edited to Add: I bet your dress looks lovely with the french seams. I love when the inside of a garment is as pretty as the outside.

[norasroom]

Wow, thanks to all for this wealth of information. I knew there had to be a method to the madness!

Thanks also for the assurance that the sewing police most likely do not have me on their radar.

[norasroom]

Hi, Liz,

I’m not Liesl, but I sew a lot of elastic waist skirts for other people’s children. A good rule of thumb is to cut the elastic one inch shorter than the child’s waist measurement; once you sew the ends together, it ends up being about the right amount of stretch. If you don’t know the actual waist measurement, you can use the corresponding waist measurement on the size chart, which is 21 inches for size 2T. That would make your elastic length about 20 inches. (Though to be perfectly honest, that sounds a little long to me. I use 19″ elastic for my 3T daughter).

Hope this helps! It sounds like a perfectly lovely gift.

[norasroom]

Ooh, ooh, ooh! Larger sizes for selected patterns! I’d love to see a Sunday Brunch Jacket or a Birthday Party Dress in a 10-12. (But would settle for a Tea Party Sundress in 6-8!). More options for boys: a button down shirt or vintage trousers or a seersucker blazer with your delicious details. A little slim-fitting girly blouse for layering.

But you know I’ll gladly sew whatever patterns you make. I mean, who knew I needed a hooded rain jacket so desperately?!

[norasroom]

Hi, and welcome. You’re absolutely right that you can’t cut the pattern pieces if you plan to re-use the pattern. What you want is Pellon Easy Pattern, and you’ll find it on a bolt at JoAnn where they keep the interfacings. In fact, I use my 50% off coupons to buy it by the bolt. It’s translucent, but thicker and sturdier than tracing paper. I give the whole sheet of pattern paper a quick press with a warm dry iron, lay it flat on my cutting table, and then trace the pattern with a sharp pencil and cut it out with my rotary cutter.

I know a lot of people kvetch about tracing patterns, but I really get into it, especially if the pattern is new to me. It helps me get all the pieces straight in my head and sort of picture how they go together.

Hope this helps!

[norasroom]

Well, I finally finished Nora’s school days rain jacket and uploaded the photos to the flickr group. I am really pleased about how it turned out, especially the lining which looks very polished. Setting in the laminate sleeves was a little tricky, but I took it slow and I think it looks great! Hope to see others on Flickr soon.

[norasroom]

Heathir, I’ve made both patterns several times for my daughter, aged 3. I think the Sunday Brunch Jacket is designed with a little less ease; that is, it’s meant to have a bit more tailored fit than the 2+2 blouse. I don’t think I would “size up” if I were you. The 18-24 month jacket would probably swamp her if the 12-18 month blouse fits with room to grow.