Garment Sewing: KLASSIC KIMONO by Indygo Junction- and my new Singer!

I have been wanting a new sewing machine for a while now. I have a Singer Heavy Duty machine and while it's great for sewing things like bags, I wanted to get a machine that was a bit more streamlined with some extra features, and something that did more refined work like quilting and garments.

I had my eye on the Quantum Stylist 9960 on Amazon for awhile and then all of a sudden it was sold out. I was heartbroken. But the next time I checked it was back in stock and I had to get creative to try to snag one while I could.

I won't bore you with the woes of borrowing money for a small business but I have had great luck with borrowing money using PayPal Capital Loans.  I have taken several loans this way and it was always a very smooth transition. No interest. I can pay it off quickly as they take the percentage of each sale made.  However this latest attempt at another loan was denied, and I found out later that it was because of my recent low volume of sales. Which gives me the SADS. :(

Come to find out Shopify has the same type of Capital loans available and alas, I was granted a loan which I used for some business inventory and supplies, and a new shiny Singer machine.

Isn't she a BEAUTY!?

Yesterday was my first real sewing adventure on the new machine and I have to say, I am pretty tickled pink about it.  Mostly because I didn't waste a boatload of thread due to the thread cutter option!! It's like THE BEST TOOL EVER.

I have been wanting a new robe for a while- something more adequate for the Summer months. The one I've been wearing is this huge fleece beast of a robe from Victoria's Secret and although great for cooler times of the year, not really ideal in the heatwave we've been having.

The benefits of working at a quilt shop is that my manager can order most any pattern that I want and she agreed to order a copy of the KLASSIC KIMONO by Indygo Junction patterns.

I would say that the pattern was very good and easy to understand as a total beginner. This is my first successful garment sewing experience.  But it did have some advanced techniques that I did struggle a bit with.... most notably the sewing back of the contrasting border after it was attached to the main body of the robe.

The fabric I picked out for it is perfect. A couple of quilting cottons from Clothworks. I made the XL size and did not pre-wash my fabrics before starting. Mostly because I forgot and mostly because it's a robe. I actually thing it's a bit roomy and might benefit from a small amount of shrinkage but we'll see what happens when I get it in the wash. If it doesn't fall apart completely, it will be a win win.

I decided not to do the contrast bands on the sleeves. I just folded back the hem and sewed . I am thinking that I should have zigzagged the edges first before doing this. Ahh well, live and learn.

The contrasting belt was the last step and was fairly easy to accomplish. I also made belt loops on the robe at the very end.  Fiddly to say the least and not pretty but hey, it's something I'm wearing around the house.  My mom always called this type of thing a Housecoat. Go figure.

I actually really like the 3/4 length for the sleeves. Great for Summer!

The pattern has 3 lengths- short medium or long. I chose to do the medium length and it's perfect.

I am looking forward to trying more garments on my new machine. We have some plans at work to do a sew-a-long for the Sew Liberated Metamorphosis Dress. I figured I'd better practice a bit before trying that out!!