The Seamstress Tag

Happy New Year, everyone!  I hope 2017 is treating you well so far!

Recently, the lovely ladies Renata from RunningNStyle and Stefanie from Sea of Teal tagged me and asked that I participate in "The Seamstress Tag" started by Hollie from Hollie Sews and what better way to start the new year here on the blog then sharing a bit about myself for new or curious readers?

1) Who are you? I'm Jennifer, or Jenny if you prefer ;) . I'm 31 years old.  As you can guess by my online persona, I'm a homemaker (and was promptly dubbed a "Susie homemaker," in a good way of course, by our first house guests, hence the name). How that came to be is a bit of a story, but I won't bore you. I did go to university and have a degree in Psychology and Business. No kids at the moment, but probably someday. Currently, I live in metro Atlanta with my fiancé, Brandon, who takes the majority of my blog photos, and our golden shepherd, CoCo.

2) When & why did you start sewing? I initially started sewing around 2009? (though, I didn't really get going 'til a year or so later) because we moved half-way across the country for Brandon's new job and our new town wasn't keen on "outsiders," so I decided to take up a time-consuming and fun hobby ;) Admittedly, I think I'd seen Project Runway a few times, which showed home sewing could be more than muumuus and pillow cases. So, being the Google-geek that I am, I started to research sewing and machines and began to discover a whole online community via sites like Pattern Review. Brandon bought me my first machine after a little wardrobe shopping at the mall. We'd started actually looking more closely at the clothes we were interested in and he knew I'd be able to make clothes at least as nice as what we saw in shops, and since I wasn't working at the time, it seemed a good way to save a bit of money on the "trendy" items. Little did we know just how far down the rabbit hole I would fall! Funny thing is, I now tend to shy away from trendy items and sewing definitely does not save money when you have champagne taste in fabric! haha 

3) What is your favourite or proudest make? Well, favorite is a tough question. Doesn't each new item automatically become the new favorite for a time? But, I think I can narrow it down to two. First, is my burgundy wool Brasilia dress, because it was the most care I'd put into a garment at that time, one of the nicest fabrics I'd used, best fit, etc. It felt like I'd finally upgraded my sewing. Then there's my yet unblogged black silk/point d'espirit cocktail dress. I finally bit the bullet and tackled silk and used a ton of new "couture" techniques, like underlining, hand-basting, a hand-picked zip, there's a spiral-steel boned bodice layer... basically, it's the most work I've ever put into a garment and it actually turned out well :)

4) What is your most disastrous make? Hahaha, that would probably be the first garment I ever made... it was a horrible polyester satin garbage bag of a dress with a yoke that I couldn't figure out how to finish. But, you know what? That thing was fully lined and I was still reasonably pleased at the time (even if I didn't dare wear it out)!

5) Where is your favourite place to go fabric shopping? Oh, what a tricky one! We only have two local options but I love them both for different things. Fine Fabrics (in Norcross, if you're local) has amazing prices and the cutters know me as "The Silk Lady" because I rarely leave without buying some! Gail K is more in line with what you'd expect to pay, but the selection is a little nicer and definitely more consistent. Another b&m shop I love is Promenade Fine Fabrics in New Orleans, but of course, I can only shop there while on vacation. For online shopping, I've had particularly good luck with Fabric Mart and Cali Fabrics.

6) What is your most used pattern? I tend not to use many patterns more than once, but one I do swear by is the pencil skirt from Simplicity 2154. I can't stop planning new versions! I have changed out the waistband for a curved one though, and do prefer that for my shape.

7) Your most dreaded sewing task is... Seam ripping, obviously! But, if we're talking an essential step, I'd say prepping and cutting the fabric. It's just such a long, tedious task, isn't it?

8) And your favourite sewing task? I'm torn between finishing a tricky bit of a pattern and hand-sewing in a lining. I love watching tricky bits come together, but I haven't done a lot of "wow-moment" patterns lately. And hand-sewing a lining gives such a nice look and the process is very soothing.

9) What is your favourite sewing entertainment'? Oh, this changes with my mood. Lately, I've been back to watching Friends on Netflix. It has to be something I've already seen before or I get too distracted (I save sewing vlogs for when I'm folding laundry and such). I also like 60s music or classical on Pandora, or listening to classic books on Libravox.

10) Printed or PDF? Printed! Definitely. I love the instant gratification of PDFs, but I'm horrible at gluing them together. I always feel like I'm distorting the pattern no matter how hard I try to line up those blasted diamonds. And since I'm only going to do that once, I've started tracing my PDFs, just as I do with printed; so really, it's just an added step.

11) What sewing machine do you use? I currently use a Pfaff Ambition 1.0 and I looooooove it! It was an upgrade from a box store Brother model and the stitches are so much nicer and I cannot say enough good things about Pfaff's IDT system! For those who haven't tried it, it's a built-in walking foot that you can use with nearly every foot they offer, including the standard zipper foot! Seriously, if you've already discovered the even-feeding, plaid-matching magic of a snap-on walking foot, you really need to try the IDT version. Game. Changing.

12) Do you have any other hobbies? I do! In the cooler months, I like to knit, like many people who sew (I'm jmsews on Ravelry). I also like to go on bike rides on our local greenway, take our dog for long walks (our "short" daily walk is 1.35 miles), I do a bit of yoga, I love to dance, travel, and I enjoy hiking and camping in the fall.

Thanks so much to Renata and Stefanie for tagging me!

In turn, I'd like to pass the tag along a few relatively new-to-me bloggers with great skills and style: Rachel of Maker Style, Anya of Anna Zoe, and Maddie of Maddie Made This

The questions:
1) Who are you?
2) When & why did you start sewing?
3) What is your favorite or proudest make?
4) What is your most disastrous make?
5) Where is your favorite place to go fabric shopping?
6) What is your most used pattern?
7) Your most dreaded sewing task is...
8) And your favorite sewing task?
9) What is your favorite 'sewing entertainment'?
10) Printed or PDF?
11) What sewing machine do you use?
12) Do you have any other hobbies?



Happy sewing! x