Bound Buttonholes

Since I had more construction photos of this coat, I decided- being on a roll and all that :)), another mini tut was in order. Must be tons of great info on this in cyberspace, but here it is for what it's worth;

The Very Incomplete Bound Buttonhole Tutorial

And notice on the side bar of my blog: I have put a picture of the Magnifiers that are glued to my head on a daily basis. Lindsay T used them while constructing a gorgeous, boned, strapless dress- What I Learned, Part 1. I have an extra pair... maybe another giveaway in the future? :)) Seriously, I couldn't sew without them, and I mean it. You may not believe me, but once you've tried these you'll never go back, they are a blessing.

Slashed pockets with welts

The coat I'm making for DD, BWOF 09-2009-146, has slashed pockets with welts, and I realized I've never done this exact style before so I took some pictures during construction. It's not much different than other welts I've done, but maybe the pictures can be helpful, especially to someone who runs away like Speedy Gonzales from anything that says slash!

My advise to newbies in regards to welts:

*Take your time to prepare.

*Cut everything with exact seam allowance.

*Mark all seam lines and start/stop points.

*Baste pieces together by hand along the exact lines before machine stitching

*Cut to the exact points- no more, no less

-it is helpful to use a magnifier for the last one:))

If you do this, the welts will be successful. It is so worth taking this extra time to prepare. The reward- besides fab pockets- is that you will embrace welts and include them whenever you can. And those 3 - 4 dots BWOF patterns? All yours, baby :))

Happy Slashing!

Belt & Buckle Kit

They're baaack!

The belt and buckle kit is now being manufactured by a company called Maxant, right here in the US. I bought a stand-alone buckle kit as well which I will use for youngest daughter's coat. International Silks and Woolens carry them in 4 sizes but 2 were out of stock, so they promised to call me when they arrive.

It's not a big thing to give away, but I thought some of you may have a hard time finding it, so:

Leave a message if you would like to be included in the drawing of this belt and buckle kit (The one on the right in the picture.) It has good instructions on the back, and I'll take pictures of the assembly of the buckle- it looks pretty straight forward; adhesive backing with exact cutout and slits to the corners. I'll pay for shipping, and let's make the drawing Thursday January 7th.

Happy New Year!