Friday, August 29, 2008

Goodies

I love good mail days, don't you? You know, those days will your mail box is filled with all sorts of goodies (and no bills to boot!). Well today was my good mail day. It was actually a good mail week so I'm showing off my loot.


It started earlier in the week with my new Vogue Patterns and Burda Easy Fashion magazines. Then yesterday my Threads magazine arrived. I'm on the fence about the BEF mag. I like some of the coats, but I'm not sure if I see myself in anything else. I'll let it marinate for a while and see what I think later on. The new Threads magazine looks like a good one, but I always seem to enjoy the magazine. The Vogue Pattern one seems pretty good too. There is a great article on how build a better coat. I have had a busy week so I honestly haven't had much time to look at the magazines.

Then today, be still my heart, the new Ottobre Woman mag arrived. I haven't even cracked it open. I had some things left to finish up, so that was my incentive to get them done. As soon as I'm done with this entry I'm off to snuggle with it. I liked the preview on line so I'm sure I'll like it even better in person. Plus I love the Ottobre staff and like to support their efforts by subscribing to the magazine.

Also pictured is a booklet of all the new Burda Fall/Winter fashion patterns that were released recently. This was included with the new patterns I got (shown below).

My friend Kim can atest to my waffling while trying to figure out what Jalie patterns to order. Of course I wanted so much more, but at nearly $12 a pop, I decided to limit myself to two new ones. I ended up picked coat pattern #2680 and the adorable criss-cross knit top pattern #2787. Then to get my order to ship free on PR (friends of PR get free shipping at $25), I added NL 6729. I've always liked the top and figured this was a great reason to try it.

This past week while checking out one of my favorite forums (SewingMamas.com), a gal was selling off some of her fabric and I picked up the above gem. It's a yummy knit that is the perfect shade of red for me. I have no clue what I'll make with it, but I just had to have it - it's just so *me*!

Since it's Labor Day weekend, Joann's has 50% off the notions wall. All week long I've been making my list so I could jet in and out and not be wooed by anything else. Success! I got some embroidery stabilizers and adhesive, another magnetic pin cushion, purse handles, and a sleeve roll ~ everything that was on my list, nothing more.

I had a question asked in the comments section of my last post, however Blogger doesn't typically give me your email address when readers post a comment so I'll take the opportunity to answer the question here. Anne asked if the knee patches would work if the fabrics weren't fused together. From past experience, yes that seems to work well. The knees stay without holes longer, but once a hole forms you just see the nice new fabric underneath the hole. What I was hoping to accomplish by fusing two fabrics together was a overall sturdier knee. One that was thicker and would be harder to make a hole in. My oldest son is known for being tough on his knees so this is an experiment. I will report my findings once the school year is underway and I can see how the knees are fairing. I've only done the treatment on one pair of pants. The second pair I made had pleated knees (a design element) and I found the fused fabric very hard to manipulate. Thankfully I was able to take the fused fabric off fairly easily. The pair I'm working on right now has double knees already so I didn't do the fusing. I hope this provides some enlightenment as to why I did what I did.

So what are your plans for the holiday weekend? We are just hanging out getting ready for Tuesday (the first day of school). My daughter's 11th birthday is coming up on Wednesday, so after church on Sunday we're taking a family trip to Build-A-Bear Workshop and then going out for dinner (birthday girl says Red Robin). I hope to get a few more pairs of pants done for the boys, but they don't seem to be too in to school clothes like my daughter. I guess a good mom would make sure they have a new shirt to wear, so maybe I'll whip up a few new t-shirts too. Have a safe & fun weekend! :-)

5 comments:

inadvertent farmer said...

I don't think 'waffling' covers it. A teeter totter comes to mind...even maybe a roller coaster! They are just patterns, its not like you are deciding on whether to purchase say a dump truck, or even a bulldoser...snort!

Anonymous said...

Thank you for the clarification! I look forward to reading your report in a few months. :-)

Anne said...

What a fun post, Melissa. I just subscribed to Threads. Of course, my first issue was the very magazine I'd bought at the newsstand and torn the subscription card from! The issue you pictured is not the one I received, so I'll be happy to get that one soon. BTW, you make great clothes for your kids (and yourself, of course). Enjoy the holiday. I'm off to re-arrange my sewing room.

angie.a said...

Great minds think alike! I just bought that nL top pattern too. And BEF has never really done it for me all that much.

Nancy Winningham said...

Melissa = where did you order the Burda Easy Fashion - and is it in English?