Friday fragments - a finished SWAP and other treats

in which our plucky heroine is grateful for a return to the grey and damp...

This is my favorite kind of weather. Just cool enough that I can wear a dress under my pinafore, and only need a sweater or a rain poncho when the outside beckons. The overcast grey sky soothes my eyes and adds a gentle glow to the surroundings... Looking out my bedroom window this morning; the soft light brought out all the springtime colors

While inside the kitchen, all the spiderplant babies are taking over my kitchen cart! Need to get them potted up into hanging planters, and put a few more ceiling hooks up here and there. Seeing them every morning makes me smile, reminds me of the kind friends that shared them with me...

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There are so many lovely things in bloom right now, that any chance to wander outside between rainstorms is a chance to appreciate the everyday beauty of my neighborhood and environs...


Until I took a closer look, I thought these flowers on the corner in Karla's yard were wood hyacinths, which are blooming everywhere around here right now. Nope, they are our native PNW camas, much less common, larger, and really worth a second glance.

There are still some apple blossoms on the tree in my backyard. It will be curious to see if there will be any apples at all later this year, since it has been an exceptionally rainy April into May, which may have played hob with pollination (bees don't like the rain, I suspect, though I did see one bumblebee busy amid the flowers one day that it was not raining).

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Now there are eleven new garments hanging in my closet. My efforts for SWAP 2017 have been successful; I need to figure out how best to photograph them, which is always a challenge. This addition more than doubles the size of my everyday wardrobe. My goal for a number of years has been to have enough clothing so I can go a week between laundry, and slow steady effort has improved the situation quite a bit...


I am pleased with this set as a whole, all the pieces work together, fit into my overall wardrobe refurbishment project, and can all be worn with my other clothing as well. The turquoise dress, while obviously an accent color, looks good with three of the four pinafores, and with the addition of some jewelry or a scarf, looks okay with the fourth pinafore as well.

The petticoat pants, which were my best effort for fulfilling the SWAP "bottoms" requirement, do add needful cold weather warmth. They won't ever be worn alone, or at all in warm weather, but for the months of the year when the outdoor temperatures are under 60F, they will be very welcome, and SWAP requirements encouraged my efforts so that I now have a new TNT pattern for this necessary garment. I call that a win.

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May SMART goals (x=extra)

#	THINGS MADE	THINGS FIXED	THINGS GONE
1	grey jersey pants	loom weights	-
2	brown trim bands	x	-
3	brown jersey pants	x	x
4	x	x	x
5	x	x	x
6	x	x	x
7	x	x	x
8	x	x	x
9	x	x	x
10	x	x	x
11	x	x	x
12	x	x	x
13	x	x	x
14	x	x	x

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brought to you by the letter W

in which our plucky heroine whinges about weather, and notices wardrobe progress...

Today was rather a lost day, because sudden heat wave. Tuesday the high was 61F, while Wednesday it leapt up to 85F. Unfortunately when I headed out to do errands in the morning, I forgot that the transit system is rather bollixed up because repairs were happening this month, and ended up caught out in the heat and sun for much longer than is good for this girl... got home feeling quite ill and even a tepid shower didn't revive me.

much of my planned efforts for the day will be rescheduled for tomorrow, with most activities indoors (sewing and metalwork and prepping other sewing projects), along with a visit from my pal Drusa, who likes hanging out here while she also works on her sewing.

That said, I am quite pleased that I will actually be finishing up my final SWAP 2017 garment, a pair of brown jersey petticoat pants. I carved the cintamani design on a 2"sq linoleum block last year. Once the painted fabric sits for 24 hours, it can be heat set for permanence, and I can finish up the sewing...

It seems that I just might make it to a finished SWAP this year, for the first time in several years. Each garment that I have completed is in very active rotation - while some were a bit challenging to construct, they are all successful additions to the daily wardrobe. Indeed, I am already thinking about what necessary further sewing, both modern and SCA, will be needed in the months to come.

I want to work out the fitting issues with the Tabula Rasa jacket/blouse pattern so I will have another TNT pattern to use. I have long wanted a pattern to make a woven, button front garment, and struggled unsuccessfully with various methods to get things to fit. Maybe this time will be different.

My 2017 SWAP* list:

1. upper: dress, turquoise shot cotton
2. upper: knit top, black/cream marl hem
3. upper: knit top, dk grey/lt blue stripe hemp
4. upper: peplum top, black/multicolor print cotton
   (previously sewn)
5. lower: cropped knit petticoat pants, black knit (RTW)
6. lower: cropped knit petticoat pants, grey jersey
7. lower: cropped knit petticoat pants, brown jersey
   ...(currently in process)
8. over: pinafore, brown twill (early bird)
9. over: pinafore, grey corduroy
10. over: pinafore, dark indigo denim
11. over: pinafore, black/cream wool

I made all these clothes using three patterns - one TNT for the two knit tops, one TNT for the dress, the pinafores and the peplum top, and one new TNT made by copying the RTW cropped petticoat pants and making two more pairs of the same pattern.

* guidelines for 2017 "Sewing With A Plan", an annual online sewing challenge, are here on Stitchers Guild

Monday media etc

in which our plucky heroine improves slowly...

Here is a thoughtful and visually beautiful bit of media:

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So slowly, I began to regain some energy, some tiny modicum of enthusiasm. Instead of dragging through the days, desperate for an afternoon nap, I make it through 'til evening and cook an actual supper instead of just simply opening a box of soup.

Does this correlate with the lengthening daylight, or as is more likely, with the clever ministrations of my beloved acupuncturist doing her best to encourage my immune system to wake up and do what needs to be done. Difficult to be feeling cheerful when within the last week one good friend had a stroke, and two others were diagnosed with cancer. Grateful for my five years as a survivor, and hoping for the same for those dear to me.

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Stitchy stitchy stitch... the other hemp knit top is finished, and has been washed and worn again twice. I am liking the slightly rough linen-y texture, and just delighted with the narrow dark grey/pale blue stripes. Very narrow stripes are now going on the list as one of my fashion basics; I loved the only striped knit I had previously, and I hardly want to take this one off, I like it so much.

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And should all this be too serious, and something just plain silly called for, here is a very silly bit of media nonsense:

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March SMART goals (x=extra)

#	THINGS MADE	THINGS FIXED	THINGS GONE
1	grey pinafore	green onions planted	-
2	2 stencils	x	-
3	black/cream knit top	x	x
4	grey/blue knit top	x	x
5	-	x	x
6	-	x	x
7	-	x	x
8	-	x	x
9	-	x	x
10	x	x	x
11	x	x	x
12	x	x	x
13	x	x	x
14	x	x	x

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delectable stripes

in which our plucky heroine continues making progress on a renewed wardrobe...

Today's project is working on my second knit top, this one made from striped hemp jersey, which is behaving much more cooperatively than the marled hemp jersey did. Narrow 1/8" stripes of charcoal grey and a very pale blue will coordinate well with all my pinafores.

At this point in time, once this basic top is complete, if I get three more garments finished I will meet my minimum goal of meeting the requirements for SWAP 2017. If I finish those three by the end of March, I have a whole month (all of April) to do something a bit more intensive/spectacular, which is my hope. I really want to make the Alabama Chanin style cardigan that is currently taking up a big spot in my visual imagination, and that would be a most useful springtime layer.

Finished the hand-stitched neckline binding tonight, just need to do the same to the cuff edges, and hem the bottom edge, and it will be finished. For this one, my aim is a very basic wardrobe component, not highly elaborated, but with the visible hand stitching being a subtle embellishement. Given how much I wear my black/grey striped cotton turtleneck, a new stripey cool weather top, in a slightly different colorway and style, will surely become a wardrobe staple.

Grrrr... Jersey can go to the hot place

in which our plucky heroine dislikes some fabric...

While I love the ease of wearing knit tops, some knit fabrics are more amenable than others to work with. I enjoy sewing with ribbed knits, as the structure of the ribbing means that they fabric lays flat. I only used ponte* once, on a vest for my Mom, but it too was easy to work with, since it is a double knit and very stable. The most annoying knit fabric to work with is jersey, since it is a single knit, it wants to curl. This is a function of the structure of single knitting, whether in the form of fabric, or in knitting with wool by hand, where single knitting is called stockinette stitch.

Last week I started in on a simple black/cream marled hemp knit top. This fabric has an interesting visual texture and is a lightweight knit. My thought was that it would be an appropriate layering garment for winter, as well as being good on it's own in the transitional seasons. However, the cussed fabric rolls on every cut edge, and not just a little curl, but it will happily roll up several inches or more. This makes it rather quite annoying to work with. Nonetheless, I manage to get the main pieces serged together...

Somehow when I then foolishly serged the neckline binding in place, (rather than basting and stitching, I inadvertently stretched the neckline, which looks unattractive, as it makes the binding stick out rather than lay neatly flat. I had to remove the binding, cutting off the serged stitched portion, that will make the neckline larger, which is not the look I want.

A larger and wider neckline opening can be filled with a floppy cowl, or can become a wide deep scoop necklines, or in this case, I created kind of double facing, and sandwiched the cut opening between two pieces. Extending the neckline edge inwards on the double facing pattern pieces I created restored the original neckline. Yay! I think that the hand stitchery is a nice rustic detail on a pretty basic long sleeve knit top.

I had been trying to avoid starching the knit fabric, but it is unavoidable; there is no way to deal with the edges of the fabric otherwise. Those applied cuffs would literally curl into what looked like a heavy cord, were they not starched prior to my working with them, as would that tidy looking neckline facing, and that would make stitching them in place rather difficult. Heavy starch makes working with the curling jersey fabric a lot easier, rendering it almost as stiff as quilting cotton, but it takes time to do, requiring multiple applications of starch, makes a mess of the ironing board and of the surface of the iron.

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despite the snow this morning, there are definitely more signs of springtime every day. The days are getting longer, if not a lot warmer (yet). One or two eggs each day from the goofy hens. Many yards with sweet crocus blossoms, which reminds me... need to get self to a garden store and get some pea seeds,, because it's time!

Saturday snippets

in which our plucky heroine makes ragged progress...

springtime is on the way - the hellebore flowers are such a pretty sign of the changing seasons... I really would love it if my front garden could have some of the speckled ones, and the greenish white ones, as well as these pink flowers on the single hellebore in my garden..

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Cutting the new stencil - I decided that a new Alabama Chanin style cardigan would be a good wardrobe addition. That means some new stencils, since I get bored with using the same designs, and I like creating or choosing motifs just a little different than what is commonly seen. I am trying out this new mylar from the art store that opened up a few blocks from here, and hoping it is not too thin to work well, since it is thin enough that it is really easy to cut!... I'll be doing some trial stenciling first, before starting in on my actual garment fabric. For the striped sleeves, I can just lay out strips of masking tape, which is even easier than using a cut stencil.

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My new pinafore - grey corduroy, worn here with a teal batik stripe everyday dress (also new this year, but not for SWAP). This pinafore will be a good transition piece into spring; the darker colors seem more wintery to me, but this one will coordinate with future blouses and everyday dresses in paler colors. I have some striped grey and white set aside for a springtime dress, and some fun conversational prints for once I get a TNT blouse pattern.

Really, the hemline is level, but the camera lens makes it look very lopsided. I am enjoying stitching up my "sewing kits", and dividing up the cutting out from the sewing up seems to work well. I enjoy sewing, but really dislike cutting out for some reason...

Now I need to focus on getting the knitwear components cut out, two new tops, two pairs of petticoat pants, and then the pieces for the reverse applique shirt jacket. Once all of those "kits" are prepared, I can return to the fun of adding new garments to the wardrobe.

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Something to listen to - pick up a teacup and take a moment...

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March SMART goals (x=extra)

#	THINGS MADE	THINGS FIXED	THINGS GONE
1	grey pinafore	x	-
2	2 stencils	x	-
3	-	x	x
4	-	x	x
5	-	x	x
6	-	x	x
7	-	x	x
8	-	x	x
9	-	x	x
10	x	x	x
11	x	x	x
12	x	x	x
13	x	x	x
14	x	x	x

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Thursday?

in which our plucky heroine is still sick but hopeful of a corner turned?

This is so tiresome, to still be sleeping huge chunks of each day. Wake up, do a little bit, then collapse back into bed. At least, after five days on eye drops, my eyes are clear. Sadly, my health itself continues as poorly as the news I read online. Which isn't helping.

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Earlier today, whilst still awake, I poked again at the idea of sorting out some new clothing sewing plans, since it was beginning to feel like my ideas earlier this year were too grandiose. It was about all the speed I could manage to do some very rough sketches, and then to snip up a few post-it notes, and see literally how various options would mix and match, and thereby meet this years SWAP guidelines. (While much of Acorn Cottage remains still disorganised or even still unsorted, it was a restful treat to know where the post-its were, and where the writing sticks, and the index cards for sketching. Someday, when I am not all puny and sick, the rest of the house will follow suit.)

Instead of all dresses, or woven blouses, am switching into the "uppers" category two knit turtleneck tops, in marled black/brown hemp and in dk grey/lt blue stripe hemp. This time of year knit turtlenecks are welcome, and they are fast to sew, being done in less than three hours start to finish. Done is better than perfect, and other more detailed garments can follow as I have leisure, or at least a modicum more energy.

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February SMART goals

#	THINGS MADE	THINGS FIXED	THINGS GONE
1	-	turtleneck re-edged	-
2	-	sweater button repair	-
3	-	-	-
4	-	-	-
5	-	-	-
6	-	-	-
7	-	-	-
8	-	-	-
9	-	-	-
10	-	-	-
11	-	-	-
12	-	-	-
13	-	-	-
14	-	-	-

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Tuesday tidbit

in which our plucky heroine managed to get out on the front porch when it wasn't bitterly cold, or icy, or snowing...

was too cold for a real photo session, but I wanted to get started documenting my first few SWAP garments: This is Over #1, a pinafore made from brown brushed cotton twill, trimmed with black corduroy and a decorative stencil patch. It is worn over Upper #1, a dress made from turquoise Kaffe Fasset shot cotton.

This is Over #2, a pinafore made from some lovely, almost silky, wool, black with tiny flecks of cream. The textured weave and cream "dots" turn the color of the fabric to almost a bittersweet chocolate color*. I am wearing it here with one of my potential candidates for "previously sewn", an everyday top made from the same pattern as my dress, in a black floral print inspired by midcentury design.

(you can just barely see my toile for Lower #1 (knit capri pants) sticking out underneath the hemline - the pastel blue jersey used for the toile is not really well coordinated with any of my colors, but at not quite 40F, it was still really chilly outside today, so keeping my legs warm was the priority! This gives me the general shape of my basic look, but requires imagination to change the color to navy/indigo/brown/black. Future actual capri lower garments will be just a few inches longer, with some subtle trimming as decoration, possibly some reverse AC style applique)

*A closer look at the wool fabric:

Monday musings

in which our plucky heroine becomes confused, and laughs...

I cut out my first toile of the loose capri length leggings (a necessary part of my SWAP 2017 wardrobe components), using my blue tape pattern pieces. I looked at my instructions for "how to sew pants together": sew crotch seams, sew inseams, sew outseams, cover waistband, attach waistband. I sewed the pants together and moved on to the covered waistband. Which went together perfectly; the instructions in Threads #126 are good and helpful. However, when I tried to attach the waistband to the pants, something didn't look quite right: I had somehow sewn the pants together upside down, mixing up the inseams and the outseams, so I have a toile that has REALLY short legs, and is REALLY high-waisted!

Fortunately I used fabric I didn't love (a thrifted cotton knit jersey bedsheet) and I am not sure wondering if I can simply cut off the serged edges and re-stitch them, because I will lose at minimum an inch of width on the pants if I do so. Might need to start over entirely with new fabric to see if the toile will fit me properly. I mostly never wear pants at all, and so don't usually sew pants for self. This pattern is from a pair of loose leggings that do fit me and are VERY COMFORTABLE. All I can do is look at my goofy mistake and laugh.

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Compared to many parts of the country, our relatively mild climate is both good and problematical. The media, and many people who live in much more intensely wintery places, find it amusing how only a little bit of snow and ice causes widespread panic here in the PNW. Truth be told, there is very little in the way of municipal snow removal infrastructure here, very few plows etc...

Last week before the most recent ice storm hit, I trundled out to the little Green Zebra grocery to pick up a bit of extra produce and a quart of milk, so I'd be set for a few days. While they were not exceptionally crowded, for a Saturday, the man behind me in line said that the local big grocery store had lines almost an hour long, to which I replied, it's only a winter storm, not the Apocalypse.

Sure enough, we did get quite a layer of ice on everything this weekend, and I had to put on my YakTrax to to chicken chores. With my dodgy legs, I try and be cautious about slip-sliding away. Today, as the weather warmed, the result was lots of water OVER packed ice. Not safe walking, so the YakTrax were again deployed for my trip to Physical Therapy. By the time I was home again, the ice was gone, at least for the time being.

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Well that was interesting... got a notice last week from the water bureau, the "home water report"... apparently Acorn Cottage ranks in the top 20% of conservation households. Average for similar house and yard size is 157 GPD (gallons per day). Usage here is 16 GPD !

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January SMART goals

#	THINGS MADE	THINGS FIXED	THINGS GONE
1	black/cream pinafore	brown pinafore hem	expired medicines
2	-	reframed charter	paper recycle
3	-	-	-
4	-	-	-
5	-	-	-
6	-	-	-
7	-	-	-
8	-	-	-
9	-	-	-
10	-	-	-
11	-	-	-
12	-	-	-
13	-	-	-
14	-	-	-

several Sunday snippets

in which our plucky heroine attempts to raise her spirits by raising her activity level...

...at least as much as is possible when the outdoors is a sheet of ice. Went as far as Green Zebra yesterday to pick up extra produce and a container of milk, but then decided against any further travel since the snow was picking up. We didn't get anywhere near as much as places further south, or higher up; the grass is visible under the snow, here, but there is ice layers all over the place (this afternoon I took the flat end shovel, and cracked away all the ice over the concrete next to the back door, so as to render chook patrol less fraught with danger)

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In the interest of starting 2017 off in a positive direction, I am going to be offering Enameling Workshops here at Acorn Cottage, on the weekends of January 28th/29th, and February 4th/5th... anyone out there interested and available at either of those times? All materials and supplies would be provided, as well as knowledgeable instruction. Cost for the workshop will be $250. Completion of a workshop allows you to come to my open studio times for further fun with enamel...

I intend to to offer workshops here at Acorn Cottage throughout the year on various skills, not only cloisonne, or painting enamel, but other jewelry techniques, as well as sewing and decorative textile arts. Some will be whole weekend workshops, others for either a day, or an evening. Is there anything you would like to learn from me? drop me a line...

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Spent almost two hours this morning working on the black/cream wool pinafore, as my next SWAP garment. Decided that timing how long it takes to complete will be helpful in future estimates of sewing commissions. I am suspecting that my rough estimate of about four hours labor is likely to be close. So far I am up to 2¾ hrs, and still have all the edge binding, and attaching the skirt to the bodice yet to go; tempting to just go on and finish it today...

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my interpretation of "wintery mix" (where snow starts to turn back to rain and vice versa)...

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January SMART goals

#	THINGS MADE	THINGS FIXED	THINGS GONE
1	black/cream pinafore	brown pinafore hem	expired medicines
2	-	-	paper recycle
3	-	-	-
4	-	-	-
5	-	-	-
6	-	-	-
7	-	-	-
8	-	-	-
9	-	-	-
10	-	-	-
11	-	-	-
12	-	-	-
13	-	-	-
14	-	-	-

Friday fragments - pattern development

in which our plucky heroine attempts some new things...

Given the difficulty of tracing a pattern from an extant garment, particularly pants with an elasticated waistband, I decided to try the technique of using blue low tack tape to copy the pattern pieces. It was surprisingly straightforward, mostly...

... although the back piece of the pants pattern didn't initially want to lie flat, not surprising, since the actual garment is several years old and fairly worn. To solve that, I did a variation on a FBA, and slashed the pattern piece, opened it as far as necessary, and taped it down flat. I then measured the width of the slash and removed that amount from the sides of the back leg pattern, so that the pattern did not become significantly wider. This has the benefit of reshaping the back crotch line to a more "L" shape than a "V" shape, which is a shape that is more aligned with how human bodies are shaped.

One unexpected benefit of the blue tape method is that when walking the inseam and the outseam, they both appear to be aligned correctly, which says that I didn't distort anything while applying and removing the tape. The acid test will be making up a toile, and I have a thrifted cornflower blue cotton jersey sheet that will serve nicely. In addition, I just ran across a tutorial in Threads #126 that clearly illustrates how to apply a covered wide elastic waistband, which will be useful in completing this pattern development project. If the toile proves successful, the plan is to create at least three pair of loose capri pants, to be worn under my dresses and pinafores, for addtional warmth in the current bitterly cold weather...

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January SMART goals

#	THINGS MADE	THINGS FIXED	THINGS GONE
1	-	brown pinafore hem	expired medicines
2	-	-	-
3	-	-	-
4	-	-	-
5	-	-	-
6	-	-	-
7	-	-	-
8	-	-	-
9	-	-	-
10	-	-	-
11	-	-	-
12	-	-	-
13	-	-	-
14	-	-	-

Monday musings

in which our plucky heroine returns from seasonal navel gazing....

The first handicraft of 2017, was, appropriately, a bit of adaptation, since the very narrow edgebinding on the new brown twill pinafore promptly folded and flipped up on the stitching line, just as narrow hems on denim often do, as soon as it went through the washer/dryer. (I shall have to remember this tendency, and create some clever hemline treatment for the planned dark denim pinafore later this year.) I cut some heavy black corduroy to end up an inch wide once applied, and am hoping this will encourage the hemline to lie flat. The photo shows the very narrow original binding just below the new wider border.

My next SWAP sewing will likely be both the black/cream wool pinafore, and taking time to rub off a pattern for the loose capri leggings. The weather here is turning bitterly cold (for these parts anyway) with highs forecast around freezing, and lows around 20F. Another layer of nether garments will be welcome, and I just may be able to create some interesting hemline embelllishments on them, maybe some Alabama Chanin style reverse applique borders done separately and applied afterwards could be good transit handwork...

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January SMART goals

#	THINGS MADE	THINGS FIXED	THINGS GONE
1	-	brown pinafore hem	-
2	-	-	-
3	-	-	-
4	-	-	-
5	-	-	-
6	-	-	-
7	-	-	-
8	-	-	-
9	-	-	-
10	-	-	-
11	-	-	-
12	-	-	-
13	-	-	-
14	-	-	-