Free time

Where all my free time goes

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Choosing Thread

I meant to get this post up soon after my KNITERview but life has a funny way of continually getting in the way. A couple of people asked me about the thread I use for sewing with knits so I kind of did a breakdown of the thread I use for all my different sewing projects.

1. polyester sewing thread
2. heavy weight top stitching thread
3. upholstery thread
4. stretch thread
5. woolly nylon


Let's break it down for the application I generally use each thread.

1. For all my general sewing I use a polyester thread. I don't always use Mettler. If I need to buy an unusual color that may only get used once I buy the cheapo thread from my craft store. 

2. I love using this thread for hemming jeans. I'm a shorty and I always have to hem jeans. The Gutermann Mara coarse comes in a few shades of golden that closely match ready to wear denim. This black I used on my super duper favorite Hudson skinny jeans and you could never tell that I had to chop off a good four inches from the bottom. 

 3. I don't do upholstery but I really like the way this thread works with a leather sewing needle when making leather baby booties. There isn't a huge selection of colors, but I always find a good match for the leather I'm working with.

 4. I love the Maxi-Lock stretch for sewing with knits. I use it on my serger (three thread option). I also use it in the bobbin of my sewing machine. So far I haven't encountered any problems and I really like the added stretch in my seams.

5. I use woolly nylon in underwear and swimsuit sewing. I've actually only made one swimsuit for Luca and it didn't fit really well so I'm hoping this Summer I can try again with better luck. I have used this thread for hemming store bought active wear (gym pants). 


So there it is. The only other thread I keep at home is embroidery floss which I ardently collect yet rarely use.

Turquoise Cars {zoom zoom}

Bribery is still the only way to get this one to wear a jacket. I guess it's a good thing California forgot to have Winter this year. We told him that he needed to wear a jacket to eat frozen yogurt since it's "brrrr, so cold".

It helps that he gets compliments when wearing this rather loud jacket. He likes feeling like the center of the universe.

P.S. I wrote this post over the weekend and today we have crazy wind and rain expected, so California is finally getting into the game.

P.P.S. Thank you everyone for the comments on the Mac/PC thingy. I am so relieved that it's totally do-able to run Windows on a Mac. Hopefully soon I will be with new laptop in hand.

P.P.P.S I looked over the raglan tee that I had traced and I couldn't believe my eyes. All it said was "Ottobre". I never do that! I always write the issue and the pattern number. Well, clearly not always. I looked through my issues and I think it is the 4/2010 #15 but here are some other raglans if you happen to have other issues of Ottobre

6/2009 #34
6/2009 #36
6/2007#27
3/2010 #12, #14, #35
1/2006 #17
4/2008 #26
1/2003 #15

I love the fit of Otto's patterns so I'm sure all of these are great.

The neighbors aren't complaining. Yet.

I tried to get Vinny to stand still the other day when I was taking pictures of the shirts I just made. This was the best I could do. 

What is that he is doing you ask? Someone thought that Luca needed a full size drum kit for her 8th birthday. No, I am not shitting you. Chef somehow convinced me that it was a great idea. I understand that I married a rocker at heart, but I must have doubled up on my happy pills the day he brought up this brilliant idea because clearly I allowed this to happen so I have only myself to blame. 

It's been very loud at Casa de Romeo.

Recent Upcycling

 I took some old t shirts that I just couldn't part with and made them into some t's for the little guy.

 You would think I may be getting tired of the raglan tee, but it's the total opposite. I love how quickly they come together. The pattern I have is getting a little snug so I need to trace the next size up.

On totally unrelated news my computer crashed two weeks ago and I'm making the switch to Mac. Any help/advice would be appreciated. I haven't used Mac since college and that was a very, very long time ago. The only problem I see with making the switch is that Rocco's BrailleNote is only PC compatible. The guy at the Apple store told me there is a program I can purchase to run Windows on the Mac when I need to interface with his BrailleNote. Any experience with that? I'd love to hear from you all before I make my final decision (but I'm pretty dead set on making the switch :)