A Little Yarn On The Side

One of my goals this year was to make 3 colorwork ornaments, and the third one is finally done: so I have now completed another goal!!!!!!!!!!!  Which brings me up to TWO.  Out of eight .  Ahem...... The big one, of course, is the 115 projects, and I'm falling behind a bit.  The fall jacket is getting close to being done, in spite of my assistant: with the sleeves ready for top-stitching and buttonholes before being attached: I love how this fabric looks, but in all honesty the fabric is a little thinner than it should be for this jacket.  It didn't feel like it when I bought it, or even when I cut it out, but I've had to be very, very careful to not stretch the fabric while sewing it together.  Like so much women's clothing, it will be completely useless for anything practical, like staying warm, but I still love it.  This is my fourth jacket from this pattern (5th if you count the one I lost and had to replace), and aside from having ...

If I wasn't trying to reach 115 finished projects by the end of the year, this    would not exist.  I simply do not know enough foul language to describe what it was like to work with this fabric.  It's a very good thing that Andy didn't like this fabric after all--there's no WAY a collared shirt would EVER have been made from this stuff, and I don't think I would have been a better person for the experience. Still, it's finished and eventually I will even wear it.  I have probably forgiven worse projects.  In the meantime, I'm working on the jacket.  It's home decorating fabric, but it is a little on the light side for this perhaps.  I think it will be fine, and the fabric is a dream to work with after the purple mess.  It will definitely be a completing-the-outfit sort of jacket rather than a keeping-me-warm one.  As it's back to scary-hot here right now, it's difficult to even remember the "needing warmth" thing.  I am ...

One problem I've never had: too many matching placemats.  When I first took up sewing again (after loathing it in 4-H), I made the same placemat pattern over and over--both because I liked it and because it was a good way to learn.  However, because my dining table sat 6 and I had 6 chairs, I never made more than 6 placemats and 6 matching napkins.  Which was fine at my old house, but now that we've been here 9 years and things have had a chance to end up behind the washing machine or in back of the cabinet, it's a real challenge to find 6 matching placemats when we have company.  So, I have 12 placemats made: which almost used up all 5 yards.  And THINKING AHEAD, I have actually written this information on the pattern I drafted for future reference.  I am not even sure how to wrap my mind around this new level of organization. The batting I used for them is a poly/cotton blend that says it should be quilted every 4 inches.  I don't know how that ...

So obviously the shirt wasn't done in time for Andy's birthday, but it was at least finished before July ended: except that I managed to miscount buttonholes and needed NINE instead of eight.  I'm running to the fabric store in a few minutes to get the extra button.  I just bought them a few weeks ago, so I'm sure they'll still be in stock.  Or pretty sure.  Or hopeful.  Maybe praying, really. Aside from minus one button, I am SO pleased with how this shirt turned out.  Besides how great the fabric looks and that the shirt looks nice on Andy, I am positively thrilled to have used up some of my oldest fabric.  I was so excited that I dug out more old fabric to make another jacket, but decided a break from collars might be in order, so this morning I am cutting out placemats for my mother-in-law for Christmas.  When we were down there, she said she would love oval placemats, because she has this lovely old table and a large group of friends,...

If we lived in an era when everything had to be hand-sewn, we would be naked.    This is not an exaggeration.  On Andy's shirt, the facing for the cuffs and the collar had to be slip-stitched down by hand, and even with a thimble and the good thread, I managed to stab myself repeatedly AND break the thread twice.  Thank heavens I top-stitched over them, as I wouldn't trust my seams through even one laundry cycle. However,  the shirt progresses and this morning got the first sleeve.  I pinned it in last night, but I wasn't too sure of my placement, so I thought it might be wise to revisit it again with coffee.  The sleeve had plenty of markings, but they didn't actually have the same corresponding markings on the shirt, so I was just sort of hoping that the square was meant to line up with one seam and the circle another, because in order to simplify the sleeve placket, the pattern moved the sleeve seam to match up with the BACK yoke seam....

* Having a cat who brings in live vermin which can run INTO the sewing room......

Sunday I laid the fabric out flat on the floor (probably among the top 10 things I'm not really supposed to do because of my back), and found that if I changed the orientation of the collar pieces, I could get the shirt cut out.  It's not something I'd do with cheap fabric, but this one is pretty straight grain-wise, so I remarked the grainline on the collar pieces, and ACTUALLY remembering to make sure one front and one sleeve were cut with the pattern right-side-up and one of each WRONG side up, I got all the pieces cut out and have even made some progress!  The shirt pattern I'm using is one I've made fairly frequently, and one of the features I like on it is the button band, which on solid prints one can roll to the outside to create the look of an added band.  I did think about trying it with this shirt, but the back is enough of a darker shade that I thought it would look strange, and I thought one error per shirt is really enough for any project--w...