Dead Bra Day

Beverly Johnson, the Fairy Bra Mother, has declared today "Dead Bra Day"! (I can't do links properly so here it is: http://bramakers.blogspot.ca/2016/02/dead-bra-day-february-13.html ) Of course it's the day before Valentines Day, often noted for gifts of sexy lingerie, right? OK, not in my world but perhaps in someone's. Anyway, I took the advice to check the drawer for bras that are past their best-before date. Ummm....that would be nearly all of them! So instead I decided to give a bunch of my commercially made non-underwire bras a bit of a makeover.

Basically I have a major problem with the straps falling down. On every single bra ever, sadly even including the ones I've made myself. Blame my very narrow rounded shoulders which just seem to invite everything to fall off them. So I finally figured out what to do - chop off the straps at the back and re-stitch them closer to the centre back. So simple really! Why didn't I do this decades ago?

Just a strap's width inward did the trick. Unfortunately this trick is a little more difficult with my homemade bras because the strap elastic is continuous to the hook fastening. I'm sure I can Frankenstein it but it won't look great so I haven't tackled those yet. The rest of the bunch are so much more comfortable now though! I may be sorely tempted to hack the homemade ones too very soon regardless of how bad it looks.

These are some of the collection. I also took the side boning out of several of them. It digs in uncomfortably and isn't really necessary for support. I plan to clone the one on the top of the heap there since it has several of the features that I prefer in a bra: diagonal seams, power bars and wide padded straps. Now that it's cured of its strap-down-itis it's definitely my favourite. The other ones in that pile have some interesting features too, such as fold-over elastic and the front band in two overlapping doubled pieces of power net (rather than continuing the plush elastic) which is something I haven't seen in other bras. I now understand what Beverly means when she suggests checking out ready-to-wear bras for inspiration.

And, in a carryover from yesterday's post, here's an interview with Elizabeth Doherty on her set-in sleeve technique and her book: http://quinceandco.com/blogs/news/55075267-in-depth-top-down 

In other news, our clothes dryer died an unhappy death yesterday. It was a mere 33 years old! Thom gave it a grand effort trying to revive the beast but it was futile. However now is not a particularly good time for such a large expense. Not to mention the FUN we're going to have getting the old machine out and a new one in! There are all kinds of obstacles including stairs and a very tight corner. We have to remove a door and part of a wooden wall, plus move the bicycles and a bunch of other stuff. Ugh. Wish us luck, will you? Thanks.
 
 

Lightening Strikes Twice

My deep apologies for the darkness of the photos of my shirt! I swear the details were visible on my iPad but on my big computer screen - not so much. They're somewhat blown out now but at least you should be able to see the shape better. My luck for sewing nearly-black garments in darkest January!

So, the front:

The back:

Detail of the buttons and collar front:

And the naughty ripply shoulder dart:

Is that better? Hope so. Yes, it's an oddly fitting shirt but it's just weird enough that it doesn't matter. At least that's my excuse and I'm sticking to it. I wear the heck out of my blue linen-blend vest version but then vests are more versatile anyway. I also wear the vest that I made out of the scraps of this fabric. I hope I can find enough occasions to wear this shirt too. The fine worsted wool fabric is just yummy! Did I mention it passed my machine wash and dry test with nary a wrinkle? I'll be more gentle in future but no damn dry cleaning for this baby!

Moving right along. This next FO should show up alright - it's definitely bright enough! I give you the finished Stripey Sweater:

I'm really pleased with how it turned out. I started with the Mon petit gilet raye'  by Isabelle Milleret, a free pattern on Ravelry. It's one size and needed quite a lot of modifying to fit me (as usual) so I booted up the old Knitware program and rejigged the yoke and body shaping. Of course the fact that I ended up with two different gauges, one in the striped area and a tighter gauge in the main yarn, kind of messed up my careful calculations but it came out all right in the end.

If you'll recall, the yarns are Plymouth Happy Feet Dye For Me (90% merino/10% nylon), dyed in my homegrown madder. And Plymouth Alpaca/Tencel/Bamboo, dyed and overdyed in seven different shades with natural dyes. I added a little Fair Isle pattern to the striped section for variety since I'm not that fond of plain stripes. The buttons, all 15 of them, are ceramic handmade years ago by Esther Grav (What's Weft, Belleville, Ontario).

I just had enough madder-dyed yarn left to complete the sleeves. It was rather a tight race! The sweater fits very nicely and now I have to find some other garments to style it with. Or maybe it's an excuse to sew more? It thrills me no end that I can make clothes that I love and that fit me so much better than anything in the shops. Maybe it's not always cheaper but most often it is, especially when I use materials already in the stash.
 
Speaking of using things up, I'm cruising right along on the Featherstonehaugh. Nearly half finished! The plan was to use up the rest of the contrast yarns that weren't used in the sweater. The little modular fans are rather addicting to knit though I have to be careful where I put the colours since they are knitted directly onto each other and can't be moved around once I'm done. I'm also finishing in the ends as I go so there won't be a big job waiting at the end. More on this soon.
 
 

End of January

Sigh. The much more powerful blogging app that I found isn't as perfect as I thought. It can't manage paragraphs in Blogger which is rather important! Tech support says soon. I'll wait.

Meanwhile, back at the ranch, we have an FO! This is Marcy Tilton's shirt V8709:

Please excuse the crap lighting. It's been raining every time I try to take a picture and black pinstripes are problematic at the best of times. This is View A with the folded collar and more simple split cuff.

I've made this once before, View B as a vest in a linen blend and I love it. In this version the sleeves look shorter on the dummy but they're full length on Ms. Tyrannosaurus Rex Arms! On the other hand the body needs length so this time I added about 6". I left in all the wonky bits:

The extra odd pleat in the back and the asymmetrical front bands:

Don't know if you can see it but the buttons are also striped. You never know what you'll find in the stash.

I made a few more fitting changes (lowering the bust darts, narrowing the sleeves and shoulders) but I'm not sure it made any major improvement. For instance the shoulder darts I added refuse to lie flat. They press beautifully in this high quality Italian wool suiting but they don't stay! Life pops back into them the minute the fabric cools. Oh well. This lovely (and expensive) fabric is light weight and comfortable to wear in many different temperatures. I hope I can get lots of wear out of it.

In knitting news I've finished the Stripey Sweater! More on this one soon. The sleeves ended up full length but I had this much yarn left:

Not a lot. Obviously I didn't divide the ball equally or I might have gotten another row or two longer. Close enough though.

And there's some really exciting news! We are definitely going to the Sew Expo in Puyallup! Campsite reserved and everything. Who cares if it all costs half again as much this year thanks to the low Canadian dollar. Bleh. I'm not going to let that spoil a good time. As usual I won't be taking any seminars but I hope to catch the Tiltons' style show on Thursday, the one day I'll be attending. Then if the weather cooperates we'll be continuing on more of a camping trip, maybe to the Oregon coast for awhile. It all depends and our plans are flexible. I can stand a few days in our little Westie in the cold pouring rain if necessary. I have knitting and I have books! We even bought our old Fraulein a 27th birthday present, a new propane heater for when we don't have access to electricity. We are ready for anything now. Good. To. Go.
 

 

Two More Sewing FOs

As you might have noticed I'm trying to post more frequently. If they can't be very long at least they can be often!

These two pieces are from the same fabric that I bought in September in Portland on our way home from Colorado. It's a cotton/Lycra French terry in a charcoal mix. It was supposed to be for Thom but I was happy that there was just enough to squeeze out a top for me too. I love this stuff. It's easy to wear, not too warm or too lightweight, skims the curves instead of catching, and generally behaves itself nicely.

First as a warmup I sewed mine:

The pattern is a mashup of parts of my previously modified Katherine Tilton's B6101 (top half including sleeves, neckline and collar) and the lower half self-drafted. The pockets are single layer facings top-stitched to the front:

The stitching barely shows and they lie nice and flat. I stay-taped the opening edges so they won't bag out. Yeah, I know it's kind of a shapeless sweatshirt but it's something I just about live in this time of year.

This fabric is very easy to sew despite its excellent stretch capability. So the second go-round was done in a day:

Unlike a lot of guys, Thom is pretty appreciative whenever I make him something. It really doesn't happen as often as it should! This Thread Theory's Finlayson Sweater was totally the perfect thing:

This is the type of sweater that Thom wears all the time. This one obviously fits him perfectly so I plan to make more as soon as I find the appropriate fabric for it. It needs something not too thick since the collar front edge has many layers of fabric in it. This French terry is actually the third piece I bought! One was too flimsy and thin and one was too bulky. This one was just right!

Speaking of the collar, I got tripped up by the instructions. Sorry, dear Morgan, you have it with the under collar on the top side when you're done your tricksy method! I also get confused by the shaded wrong-side/white right-side illustrations which are the complete opposite to what I've been using for the past 50+ years of sewing experience. So I did it my way and the collar looks just fine and rolls correctly. I even remembered to note my changes on the pattern. Don't want to have to rip anything next time. Big pain in the posterior.

So I still haven't sewn up all the garments that I cut out before the Holidays. I'm currently working on the ones to be sewn with black thread so I don't have to keep changing it. However there are also plenty more pieces in the queue that will need pattern fitting before I cut them out. It's an ongoing process. Stay tuned for more!
 

 

First Sewing FO of the Year

Yup! I finished sewing my Lattice Dress:

The pattern is the second time I've used Marcy Tilton's V9112 and I'm even happier with this dress than I thought I would be. The lattice print cotton had a selvedge that said it was a VIP print by Joan Messmore, Cranston Print Works Co. It turns out that Cranston was in business from 1812 and closed in 2009, another victim of the US manufacturing policies that sent everything overseas. I've had this piece for so long that the shop I bought it from is long gone as well. Nice to finally use it for something interesting. The black slub rayon was also hovering around waiting for a project. You know how you never want to use the "good stuff"? It's committed now! As I said I consider this dress a freebie and hope that I don't have to wait until it warms up before I can wear it.

I'm beginning to feel like I have a much better grasp of what to sew that will integrate well into my wardrobe and lifestyle. Better fabric choices help as does better fitting on my body. Now that I've got my narrow shoulders and small armholes down nicely I was disappointed to see more loose and boxy shapes coming into fashion. Bleh. They don't look good on me at all. At least I don't have to be dependent on what's in the shops! I can make exactly what I prefer and pftth to them all.

So next I'm sewing a warm tunic top (frankenpatterned) from a heavy French terry in a charcoal mix. It's kind of a test sew for the Thread Theory Finlayson sweater that I want to make for Thom from the same fabric. More on these coming soon.

Meanwhile I was perusing the new books I recently received. Here's one of them:

The Shirtmaking Workbook by David Page Coffin is quite different than what you might expect. The subtitle helps a little - "Pattern, Design and Construction Resources" but what you really get are a lot of shapes for shirt details, especially collars. For example:

 

This is just one of many spreads like this! Plus quite a lot of inspiration and examples of shirts and of course the details can be extrapolated for women as well as men. 

The really interesting bit is that a lot more is available online, including many full-size collar and cuff pattern blocks to play with. Some reviews have bemoaned the fact that these are not in the book itself. However I think this hybrid idea uses the strengths of both print and digital resources and keeps production costs down. Coffin also included quick profiles of some well-known and not-so-well-known (but should be!) designers who share a talent for taking the ubiquitous shirt to new levels. What this book is not is for beginner sewists but for those of us with some pattern making and designing experience, it's a complete treasure trove.

Obviously I really like this book - even though I will likely never try to make so many different collars! I'm looking forward to exploring both the print and the online resources and seeing how I can use the info in my own sewing. After all, I've promised Thom a "tried and true" shirt pattern and have yet to deliver on it. And I make shirts for me too, even though mine aren't exactly your standard shape. Always more to learn and do!

 

Chop Chop

The last week or so has been a frenzy of sewing prep: pattern fitting, adjusting, redesigning, laying out and cutting. Whew! Even with good lighting and my excellent cutting table I spend a lot of time going around and around it, arranging and rearranging to get a hopefully straight grain and the most efficient layout. It’s like a real-life game of Tetris! I’m up to a count of 6 garments cut out now which is perhaps a third of my current list. Yeah, I know. Ambitious, aren’t I? Well, I’ve got the fabrics including a few from deepest stash, so why not? I’ll just keep going while the momentum holds. Right now I should probably get sewing on what I’ve got so far – just for a chance to sit down for awhile if nothing else.

The most stressful piece of fabric to cut out was the fine Italian wool that I bought in September at the Mill End Store in Portland, OR. The selvedge had a woven-in label so I could look it up: Guabello. It’s apparently been around for 200 years and I had 3 yards of the second-finest (150s) pinstriped suiting in their collection. Who knew? It was pricey at US$28.99 per yard but not ridiculously so. And yes, I went at it with the rotary cutter. Brave damselfly. I’ve used both patterns before so I had a pretty good idea of fit.

The first one was Marcy Tilton’s Vogue 8709, View A:

I’ve made View B before as a vest after lengthening the bottom by 3”. The only differences between A and B are in the collar and the sleeves. This time I added another inch, moved the bust darts down more and shortened the sleeves. Although the sleeves on the model are not full length, they probably still will be longer on my little “tyrannosaurus rex” arms! The pinstripes will add interest to the shirt/jacket as they are horizontal (sort of) on the peplum and meeting in a V on the bias-cut back.

There was still fabric left over so I decided to make a vest from Katherine Tilton’s Butterick 5891 View C, the jacket (not the vest):

I modified this quite a bit by using only the front right side piece to cut both left and right, thus eliminating the asymmetry. I also used only one quadrant of the collar pattern and repeated it to make a more simple collar. However, I ran out of fabric pieces big enough to cut it so I had great fun piecing together bits with the stripes running every which way. Of course then I had to make matching pieced patch pockets instead of the inseam pockets which don’t hang very well in the draped sides anyway. When I was done, this was all that was left of the original 3 yards:

Mostly selvedges! And wee scraps not even big enough for a pocket. Did I mention that when I brought this yardage home I actually washed it in the washing machine on gentle with Orvus and then held my breath and threw it in the dryer? It came out completely wrinkle-free and hardly shrank at all. Perfect. I was glad I’d stitched a line of straight stitches across the raw edges though because it ravels quite easily. Now I don’t have to dry-clean the finished garments because I hate dry-cleaning with a passion. I’ll just wash them on gentle with Orvus and hang to dry on a padded hanger. So much cheaper and easier and Orvus smells much better than toxic dry-cleaning fluid. Excellent tightly worsted-spun wool. Gotta love it! Now I just have to sew all the rest of the pieces together, right? Right.

What else is new? Halloween was fun but the fireworks were a bit much. They kept on and on long after we went to bed and were trying to sleep. Ghouls and demons for sure. Then yesterday was of course my birthday. Hah, I’m an official Old Person now! Can’t even fake the middle-age thing anymore, can I? Oh well. Now I’m looking for seniors’ discounts instead. Somehow there aren’t as many as there used to be though. Too many of us Baby Boomers are retired now and used them all up. So how come I still feel about 25 in my head? Where did that last 40 years go anyway?

So I have a knitting FO to show you too but right now it’s suppertime and I’ve gotta go cook. Back soon.

A Cushion For Corbie

No, I haven’t gotten swept up with the fall leaves! They are lovely to kick around though. Such amazing colours! This is my favourite season of all and I’m enjoying it thoroughly. Especially after our Canadian election in which we collectively Heaved Steve. Yay! Ten years was ten too many under that man. Hopefully we can get back on track as the positive, innovative, tolerant and eco-conscious country we used to be. We’ll be watching you, Justin. Please don’t disappoint. But I digress.

So what has your damselfly been up to? First of all, I’m definitely not posting this from my new iPad. There are issues with the blogging apps and IOS 9 so I’m holding off for awhile. It’s taking a bit of a learning curve but some things are getting easier on the iPad and some things are downright fun! For instance I love Feedly for my blog reading. So quick with quite an elegant interface. Reading my library books on Adobe Digital Editions is so much easier too with such clear text on the Retina display. The camera is pretty good though I was sad that neither Hipstamatic nor Instagram are available and it’s a little awkward to use such a large device to take photos. At least it’s a mini and not a full-sized iPad. Here’s the little item I just finished sewing today, picture taken with Corbie, the iPad Mini 4:

This little item is Corbie’s new Pyramid Pillow. (Yes, I name my devices. Doesn’t everyone?) The pattern was available in the July issue of Threads magazine and I had made a note of it even before I actually had an iPad to put on it. My version is 2” smaller in all dimensions than the original however mainly because I used a bunch of 9” upholstery samples circa 1995 that I found lurking in the stash. I think they were from somebody else’s stash originally and wandered over to mine! It’s just the right size for a Mini though:

This photo was taken with Thom’s new iPhone. (Yes, of course we were playing with our new toys!) The pockets on both sides hold my earphones and Ruby, my old iTouch, which I still use for listening to podcasts while knitting, spinning or gardening. The iPad is a bit oversized for my pocket. Besides making this cushion smaller than the pattern states, I added a heavy cardboard base and a rather hefty rock inside the stuffing for stability. It’s perfect to sit on a table or on my lap while I read. No slipping about. All materials were from stash so besides that issue of Threads it cost me nothing but my time. Now I wish I could have my living room chairs reupholstered in that fabric. Too bad it’s 20 years out of date. It’s perfect.

I’ve also spent some time in the studio sorting out patterns and fabrics for yet another Sewing Marathon. I have at least 20 garments that I want to sew! Goodness. That should keep me busy for awhile. And I tested out my new printer (an HP Envy 5530 if you’re curious) while I went way back as far as July and wrote up all my makes for my analog notebook. I was too busy before we went on holiday and I’m still behind in blogging all the knits I made while we were driving all over the countryside. Coming soon. Really.

Then there was the gardening (got most of the veggie garden weeded, planted in fall rye and ready for winter) and the walking (gotta keep up the exercise. You know how it is. Time just disappears in a blur.

While I’m at it, I want to apologise for deleting the Flickr widget from my blog’s sidebar. It wasn’t working properly because Flickr changed something in their coding. Corbie can happily post to Flickr but they don’t show up on the widget. And you can’t click on the photos because all you get is a File Not Found error. Bleh. Bye-bye. I haven’t found a substitute either. Sorry about that.

Hasta La Vista!

Working like a beaver here trying to get things ready to leave at the crack of dawn Sunday morning. When we have a house-sitter I always want things to be just a little bit cleaner and nicer for them. You know how it is. Anyway we have 2 floors done and dusted (literally), the top one of which is my studio and study, aka The Sweatshop, and the basement which houses the laundry, dye studio, wine-making cellar, granny’s grow-op and the woodworking studio. Next up is the main floor which of course we’re still using – to pack and to live in for the next 3 days. Also this includes the rooms that take the most work to clean – the kitchen and the bathroom. They are also the ones which we need to use right up until we step out the door. And of course I would like to tidy up the garden too, at least a little. Hey, I’m tired just typing all this.

Speaking of gardens, the scrats squirrels are now munching on my zucchinis and anything else they can get their paws on. I give up. I’m picking what I can and leaving the rest to fend for itself. We’ve tried an animal repellent and if it worked at all it was only short term. Hard to tell really. At least the heavier net bags that I put over the grapes helped keep them safer. There’s a few bite marks (could also be rats) but the majority are still edible. Yay! At least one strategy worked. This is the first year in ages that we’ve had more than a couple of grapes from our vine. I’ve figured out the type of vegetable net that works best (finer mesh but thicker strands) so I’ll be saving those up for future use.

Enough complaints. So lets have some FOs now, shall we? First up there’s the regular indigo/Japanese indigo dyeing that I did a couple of weeks ago. On top is my favourite piece, the Mokume (it means wood grain) Moon Hankie:

This was really easy: draw a circle and cover it with straight lines about 1/2” apart. Stitch rows with straight stitches, gather tightly, tie and dye. The other hankie is the only one I did with the itajime (folded and clamped between two plastic squares) technique. The others were all stitched shibori except for the “bubbles” hankie that was wrapped around a string which was then tied in a donut:

I didn’t get particularly good penetration of the dye even though I massaged everything under the dye surface and left it in adequately long enough. I still love these hankies though. Very classy to blow one’s nose on!

And here’s the Amiga Sweater in slub rayon yarn that I had originally dyed in my Japanese indigo and this time overdyed again in regular natural indigo:

It’s a few shades darker now but not as dark as I had hoped. And ditto for the scarf, handwoven in India, that I also overdyed:

I promise to leave these items alone now and just leave them be the colour they want to be! Enough already.

Also you might remember the 40+ Blogger Meetup adventure where I purchased this batik quilting fabric at the Cloth Shop on Granville Island:

Photo courtesy of Spygirl.

And here is the finished Damselfly Vest:

Was that sewing-up speedy-quick or what? See the back where I added a little pop of red on the field of cavorting damselflies:

The buttons and the red contrast fabric were lurking in the stash for millennia. (OK, at least since the last millennium!) It was already cut into an Issey Miyake shirt that wouldn’t fit me now but the pattern pieces fit perfectly so I didn’t have to jigsaw them together. The pattern is Katherine Tilton’s B5891 View B:

Because I’ve made this before it already has my shoulder and armhole adjustments. This time I lengthened the body 3” by creating my own lengthen/shorten lines on the pattern pieces since there weren’t any printed. And again I left out the tucks on the peplum. I like this length much better than the original which I always want to tug down.

You might not notice but the right side pieces (both front and back) are cut with the damselflies flying upside down. Of course they could definitely fly that way but can the drops of water fall up into the pond? To be honest, I didn’t notice that the print was directional while I was cutting it out. I was just trying to fit the bazillion pattern pieces on a rather small length of rather pricey fabric! Now you can’t un-see my kamikaze damselflies, can you?

I even got an unsolicited compliment on this vest on its first outing today from a shoe shop salesperson. I think she was a bit shocked when I thanked her and said that I’d made it. Oh and then I saw the shoes to covet! Unfortunately $210 (on sale even) was too much for my meagre budget. Of course now I can’t find the brand but they were I think Dutch-made? I’d describe it as a rubber-soled black leather flat with a multi-strapped ankle band that fastened with velcro. Not enough support or padding for me but adorable anyway. Sigh. I’m just too picky about shoes. They have to be a little bit fun and funky. They have to fit properly. They have to have proper support. They have to be very flat. They have to be reasonably affordable. And I have to find them locally because I won’t mail-order shoes. Doesn’t leave a lot of choices there.

Nevermind. On with the show. We got an official refund for our campsite reservation in Kettle Valley. Apparently much of the campground is still there but it’s a little singed around the edges. The fire is still not contained. The guy who threw the cigarette out the window that started it all should be…think of something suitably nasty as punishment. And double it. We aren’t sure where we’re going to end up on Day 1 but we’re going anyway.

So here’s hoping I have all the navigational aids that I need to get us where we’re going and home again. Chances are I won’t be getting much in the way of wifi anywhere. (We’ll be lucky to get an occasional hot shower!) It’s actually kind of nice to be un-tethered for a month or so. (Yes, I keep telling myself that so I don’t start twitching!) If I can post I will but if you don’t hear from me for the duration, not to worry – I’ll have a metric tonne of things to babble at you about when we get back at the end of September!

Adiós, amigas!

One Marathon Ends & Another Begins

I’m absolutely done with sewing! At least for a couple of months. I made 11 garments in total: 6 tops, 1 pant, 2 leggings and 2 vests. Some were simple and some were more challenging. Four were Katherine Tilton’s and one was an adaptation of hers. One was Marcy Tilton’s and three were my own TNT patterns. Only two were regular non-designer patterns. They were all pretty satisfying to make though I had issues with the extreme stretchiness of both the bamboo/lycra and the ribbed poly/lycra. I hope I will get lots of wear out of everything but only time will tell.

I played with my tripod and camera for most of these shots. Can’t say I’m any more pleased with them than with Thom’s efforts. Oh well. I need the documentation so I’ll just have to forego any concern about how silly I look!

First up, the Snakeskin Top, Katherine Tilton’s B6101:

I really like this one, asymmetrical wonky pockets and all!

The fabric, a fairly stable and spongy but still drapey poly/lycra novelty knit, works really well. I played with the pattern pieces’ grainlines to prevent the snakeskin pattern from just all being vertical. And the back:

I’m wearing this top with my KwikSew 2797 leggings in the poly/lycra rib. This is supposed to be capri length! More like 3/4 length on me. I also had to make the same changes to this pattern as I did to the Pumpkin tights (V9108) and take in the legs, tapering from the crotch to the knee and then straight down to the cuff. Oh, remember the Leggings Wars? I think this pattern won – but only by a whisker. The difference? The waist is a little more comfortable: a little higher and more contoured plus the back seam is angled more. Since I had to do the same re-fitting with the legs, they don’t count in the final score. Now I have a TNT leggings pattern! Not to mention that I totally wish I had bought 4 more metres of this $2-per-m fabric. It won’t be there by the time I can get back to Dressew. I could use more pairs of these.

After I made the B6101 top I knew exactly what my Japanese brick-coloured sweatshirt fabric was going to become. I didn’t think it was drapey enough for the funky folded pocket part so I just used the other side with the princess seam and mirrored it. Also straightened out the hem and hem bands and brought in the neckline at the sides by 1/2” each side (it felt too wide). It has more of a bubble thing going on than the original version:

But it’s cosy! I’m calling it the Arches Sweatshirt because both the colour and the pocket shapes remind me of Arches National Park in Utah (where we will be going again for the 3rd time!). Here’s the back:

Also notice the pants which are my TNT stretch pants in the poly/lycra rib. A very plain garment but one I will wear the heck out of. That’s the reason I cloned my original pair of ready-to-wear pants because I loved them so much I didn’t want them to disappear.

Which brings me to the last piece I made in the poly/lycra rib, B5954 in the sleeveless View A. It will probably be worn more as a jumper as here:

As you can see, this one gave me problems. I had issues with seams rippling especially the long curved hem. This fabric would not press flat and my iron-on stabilizer wouldn’t stick well at all. I actually hand-basted the armholes and neckline which just have a narrow hem and not bands or facings. However they still stretched out just enough so I had to take in the underarm seams about 1/2” to compensate. Oh well. Another learning experience and I’ll probably still wear this thing to death even if it isn’t much of an advertisement for my sewing skillz.

Back view shows the sweeping tail:

I have one more piece that I didn’t get photographed yet. I’m in full-on packing and cleaning mode now though so you’ll be lucky to get it on Debbie Double!

I did get Thom to photograph me in my knitted Periwinkle Necklace Cami:

We tried a new venue, the neighbour’s fence in our back alley. Nobody was there, right? Hah! The minute we started, a girl walked down the alley chuckling that she has the same problem posing for Instagram. Then the neighbour and her sister drove up in two separate cars and wanted to tell us all about her garage break-in and blah-blah. Then another car wants to get down the alley and the sisters’ cars are in the way. Suddenly it’s rush hour. Sheesh.

So what can you do? Be silly of course:

I actually like this top much better than I thought I would after all the fussing with the pattern and ripping and re-knitting. And the intense blue-heading-towards-violet colour, although it’s not one that shows up in my closet, is one of my favourites visually. It’s the colour of all the doors on my house and garage after all. Another Good Thing made with my weaving yarn stash!

OK, the heat is on now. We have less than a week to get ready and we’re both still feeling crap. We’ll have to pace ourselves and what doesn’t get done, just doesn’t. In case you were wondering, they’ve opened Highway 3 so we don’t have to come up with alternative plans. I think it’s going to be smoky for awhile though. Right now there’s a slow speed limit and debris but hopefully that will be cleared soon. Unsurprisingly the fire was started by a cigarette. Grrr…

And speaking of GRRRRR…this beast and all his/her relatives are Public Enemy Number One around here:

They’ve already run out of my hazelnuts and walnuts (best nut year ever too! Sniff.) so now they’re digging into my beans, my butternut squash (already ruined 3 out of 5), the sunflowers and ripped the nets off the not-quite-ripe grapes and ate them too. If this keeps up I’m going to give up gardening. Seriously. Why feed the scrats instead of us? And some people actually think they’re cute??? Anybody know of any squirrel repellent that one can safely use in the vegetable garden?

Off to begin the crazy - tidying up my studio!

The Marathon Continues

How annoying! Thom and I both have come down with some kind of bug – cough, congestion, postnasal drip, temperature fluctuations and all. Bleh. He is worse off than I am and since he so rarely gets sick, is very unhappy about it. Bare minimum watering and housework are getting done. However, I’m still on track for my sewing marathon. I’m not that sick unfortunately!

So where were we? Oh yeah, these two pieces are variations on the same pattern, my TNTee. First the gray Bamboo Tee that I already mentioned:

This style, though simple, is great layered under other clothes if when it actually gets cool enough again. I lengthened this a bit and lowered the neckline slightly from my usual version. Also 3/4 length sleeves which are my very favourite length. The neckline finish is a little wonky. It should have been stretched a little more when I applied it. But the binding method does have some possibilities with more practice:

And this top I finished yesterday, the Snakeskin Tee:

I only had enough fabric left to make short sleeves but this beast is quite warm. And a little tight in the middle because the novelty poly knit doesn’t stretch that much. You can’t see them in the photo but I made small side slits and also used the interesting fuzzy selvedge as the sleeve and neckline finish:

Today I hope to sew the other top that I’m making from this fabric, Katherine Tilton’s B6101. That’s the plan anyway.

Yup, it’s a veritable Katherine Tilton Festival around here! Monday’s project was her B6064 View A vest:

My fabric is a crinkly slightly iridescent poly which hopefully is at least a little water resistant for wearing in damp weather. I’m really happy with how this one turned out! I made a straight-up medium, no mods.

The pattern is deceptively simple but with subtle shaping and the instructions were excellent for once! It’s very easy to wear and every seam is completely finished inside. I particularly like the back stay which keeps it on my shoulders. It was a perfect place for a tag made from a scrap of the damselfly fabric:

I also used my Czech glass damselfly button that I bought at Diva Yarn in Port Townsend to close the neck on the outside:

There’s a random coat button from the stash on the inside opposite shoulder. I certainly won’t have to worry that this vest will get wrinkled when I pack it for the trip! I was more worried that I’d end up ironing all the wrinkles out while pressing all the hems. Didn’t happen thankfully! They’re in there to stay. Super-successful and I may make this pattern again if I find the right fabric.

One last thing, I thought you might like to see the progress on the Blackberry Amiga sweater:

That big gap in the front gets filled in with the collar/band that is picked up and knitted outward all the way around both the fronts and neck. I don’t think I’m going to make the sleeves more than a row or two longer before binding them off for cap sleeves. This shows the yarn a little brighter than it really is but it wouldn’t photograph any more accurately. Think actual blackberries. Like the ones I could be picking off my back fence right now! Instead I’m off to the studio for yet more sewing. At least 4 more garments to go. The marathon continues…oh, wait! I said that already, didn’t I?