Sewing and Business Travel

Most of you don't know that I travel part or all of every week most months of the year.  While I travel some during January and February, I travel through out the U.S. and Canada every week from March through November.  While most travel days are 10 hour days, about 5 times a year I get evenings free in the same hotel (hard to get much done on the weeks where you change hotel rooms every night) or a free weekend.  I try to pack a sewing project every week which is usually the hand sewing needed for a project, tracing a pattern or a hand embroidery project.  For those 5 times a year, I bring a sewing machine with me.

This week is the first of the sewing trips this year.

This is one of my carry-on bags:

And it holds my sewing machine.  This is my travel Brother machine that is also an embroidery machine so has a more powerful motor.  And it also has my favorite feature, the thread cutting button. I try to protect the  bobbin winder and thread intake on the top with foam and batting.  While I don't have to take it out for TSA screening, most of the screeners have never seen one go through the airport except for my regular TSA people in Fresno.

I made this padded bag for notions so scissors and pins won't stick through my luggage.  These are the notions I brought with me for this trip.

And these are the projects I plan to work on this week when I get time.  I cut the fabric at home and run through every notion I need for that project and put them all together in a zip lock bag.

The sewing notions and fabric all go in to my checked luggage.  Can't forget the most important part of the sewing supplies - the foot pedal, sewing feet, bobbins and power cord.

The reason I have all this room in my checked luggage for sewing supplies is that I build my travel wardrobe around black. I wear a pair of black pants and shoes to travel and pack another pair of black pants and shoes.  All my tops coordinate with black pants and I try to wear each top at least twice on a trip.

Hope all the free time I anticipate happens for sewing and I have something to post in a few days.

Red and black jacket

My second light weight jacket without a collar.  This polyester was almost too light in weight so I fused interfacing to each jacket piece.  It is also lined with black polyester fabric.  I love how this one turned out and will wear this a lot this summer.  Time now to take a break from the Fashion Sewing Group pattern 1945.

Teal and charcoal jacket

Now that I have a jacket pattern that fits (trust me that this jacket fits me better than the mannequin) I wanted to make some lighter weight jackets.  This is the first one made with Fashion Sewing Group 1945 without the collar.  The jacket fabric is a polyester light weight fabric and lining is polyester as well.  Both fabrics came from the LA garment district.  I finished the hand sewing while on a trip last week and wore it to a cocktail party with black pants and shell with silver jewelry.

Fashion Sewing Group Pattern #1945 - Teal Dupioni

I have decided April is jacket month and am going to see how many I can get done.  These take a little longer to make when you line them and I serge every seam after it is sewn.  Still, they are faster to make than a quilt.:)

This teal polyester dupioni came from the garment district in Los Angeles and has a polyester lining to match.  I still want to practice more on jackets before I get brave enough to make one in a more expensive fabric.

For this jacket, I eliminated the vent on the sleeve and decided to try it without buttons.  I really like how this turned out and will wear this a lot this spring when I am in the office.  Not sure how this will remain wrinkle free for travel.

Fashion Sewing Group Pattern #1945 -Red and black

After sewing the Silhouette Pattern Jacket, I wanted to sew a jacket that was put together more traditionally and looked more finished inside.  I have had this princess seam jacket pattern from Fashion Sewing Group for a few years but wasn't brave enough to try it.  It has a vented sleeve (my first) and is fully lined.  After three muslins, I got the fit right so the jacket went together pretty smoothly.  The fabric is a red with black sueded polyester I had in my stash and I lined it with black polyester.  The buttons also came from my stash. I thought I needed an uneven number of buttons on the front and with the large buttons I chose, I think I should have stayed with two.  Next time.

I am pleased with the fit and the jacket.  It looks boxy on the mannequin but then when I look in the mirror, I look boxy too.  This should be a good travel jacket as I don't think it will wrinkle too much.