Chocolate

Brown is my favorite color. When I was first playing with paint, I always created brown. Of course, I did not yet understand the way colors blend. I'm still working on that but have realized that I love brown anyway. I also live for chocolate.

So here is my chocolate column. It is composed of a swing tee in cotton (plus a little lycra maybe) jersey, and modified Helix pants in a very firm darker brown ponte. 

I was pleased to find a really good cotton jersey at Gail K, my go-to local fabric store. I think it has a little lycra in it because it recovers nicely. My burn test showed only cotton.

It was easy to manipulate without a lot of curling. I chose the Swing Tee from the Sewing Workshop. I've made this a number of times extended into a dress, and once as a tunic. It's a longish tunic so I thought I'd need to shorten it. Evidently when I cut it I extended it. So this time, I went with the original downloaded pattern plus sleeves extended to full length.

Using a combination of rotary cutters and scissors, I cut it out single layer. First I cut one side with center front pins extending into the fabric to prevent me from accidentally cutting down CF. I also placed a nip at center front at the neckline and at the hemline. This allowed me to then flip the pattern tissue and precisely line it up down center front. 

I used Linda Lee's standard of making the neck binding 7/8 of the neck opening and it worked like a charm. I wanted to keep the seam allowance pressed down, so I added some feather stitch to this area. For balance, I added this to the sleeve hems.

I intended to make a collar but was having such a good time that I forgot about that. Oh, well. Next time.

I added a little kantha scrap to the back neckline. That's it. So satisfying.

I also made some new brown ponte Helix pants. My standard change to that is to simply add a waistband. I like the fit so much better this way.

Here with Odette tee shirt in cotton knit 

These are very simple makes and basic garments, but still amazingly enjoyable to me.

So what are you sewing to take your mind off the current state of the world?

with Pearl jacket

Still Making

As August slips away, I'm wondering where it went. Nothing new there, especially during covid times, just very little in the creative arena to account for my time. 

My excuses are many. We've had workers in and out of the house renovating our master bathroom, which is progressing beautifully. I've spent a fair amount of time selecting tile, cabinet styles, fixtures, etc. And we've had to move into the other end of our house. I'm very grateful to have such options.

And we've had family in and out, as we gradually expand our contacts to include irregular meet-ups with the kids and grandkids. Two grandsons stayed with us, each one for a week. Even though my husband took the lead with these two, I still prepared constant meals, accompanied them on hikes, gave baths (to the little one) and played and read with them. I've very grateful for this time with them.

Although I've made a few masks, on request, my primary sewing activity has focused on a quilt for my niece. I mentioned Chelsea in a previous post about my grandmother's wedding dress. More on that below.

I found this cool inspiration board on her pinterest feed to guide me.

I took the picture to a sweet little quilt shop in my home town, the Cotton Farm. I was the only one there, other than the owner, and so felt safe as we were both masked. She was delightful and seemed to enjoy helping me find fabrics to meet the spirit of Chelsea's pinterest piece.

When I'm making a quilt for a specific person, my left brain interferes with the creative process. When it's just for my creative pleasure, I feel more free. I guess that makes sense but it's frustrating.

As is my usual sewing practice I allowed the piece to evolve. I enjoy circles and started there with some 5.5 inch blocks containing appliqued circles. I let it grow, round-robin style. It finished at 65 inches square.

I returned to the Cotton Farm for the backing. Lacking anything similar in the wide quilt cottons, I chose to buy more of the front fabrics to piece into a back. 

Because both sides are geometric and symmetrical, I took extra time when basting the layers together to make sure the top and bottom layers weren't askew. I threaded and knotted two needles with a double strand of thread. Then I guided them through two intersections with the knots on the right side of the backing piece. Then I carefully arranged the batting and guided the two needles through it. Lastly I placed the top over the batting, once again threading the two needles through two intersections. Then I tied off the threads. I think it's pretty straight.

With workers in and out, I sewed everywhere but my sewing room. I sewed in the basement on my featherweight.

And I sewed on my mother's cabinet style 1950 Singer. That is always such a pleasure. As I sew I remember her and our fun times shopping for fabric and sewing together.

I did return to my sewing room to baste the quilt together, using my cutting table and a folding table on risers. This quilt is really much larger than I expected it would be.

And now I'm hand-quilting it. I feel a need for hand-stitching comfort. And Chelsea got married Friday, so there's really no rush at this point. I'll have it handy to fill (many!) happy hours.

Chelsea did use a portion of my grandmother's gown. My sister-in-law and I, almost simultaneously, came up with the idea of using the skirt for her veil. I was thrilled. SIL carefully removed it and attached it to a comb. I think it's lovely. This is a very quick shot by my brother. I look forward to seeing more soon!

And no real harm was done to the dress. I love that! The skirt was sewn on by hand and I can easily return it to its original state. AND the next brides have this option too. I am so grateful.

Playing in the New Year

Happy new year to you.

Since the first, I have not begun any significant sewing projects. I'm playing and healing. That is enough for now.

Today I played by thrifting for fabric. I've done this before with mixed results. It is never a large investment and I always learn something or at least have some cheap fun. And today my favorite local thrift store had shirts priced at $2 each. Such a deal for these lovely cottons:

Each shirt is a men's size L or XL so as to be able to harvest the maximum fabric. First I'll toss them in the washer and dryer, though three of them still had laundry tags on them. Then I'll cut the pieces apart. I've learned that it's not generally worth the trouble to harvest from the collars or cuffs due to the fusible interfacing used. But I'll see.

I have some favorite patterns in mind but really should wait to see how large the pieces are. If all else fails, I'll just play with the pieces in some kind of an art project. I like how the colors play off one another.

In addition to playing with these thrifted shirts, I have discovered a new material - hanji paper - and a new technique - felting with hanji paper. Cornelia in my fiber art group introduced us to this cool stuff Tuesday night. Cornelia is Korean-American. She told us that in Korea, this has been used for clothing, even armor (before bullets). Bonus: it is yummy to hand-sew:

We started with two large sheets of white hanji paper and several small pieces of colored hanji. I cut profiles (or a vase, depending on your perspective) from the blue hanji and sandwiched the blue between the two white sheets. To felt you mist it with water and accordion fold it. Then it is squeezed for what seemed like hours but was really about 5 minutes. Then it was refolded in another direction, accordion style and squeezed some more. I squeezed it all the way home in the car but it was not really felted even then.

On the other hand, the blue color had transferred to the each white sheet. When I pealed it apart, the blue pieces stuck to one of the pieces of white hanji paper. And I had two versions of my design. You can tell in the picture which portions contain the blue paper because it is darker blue. The lighter blues are just the lovely bleeding. The blue pieces were just barely attached, so I hand-stitched them down. I also hand-stitched the two pieces together.

Then I ruined it experimented with writing on it. Great fun, but I don't like it as much. The poem is Mirror by Sylvia Plath.

I have ordered a roll of hanji and cannot wait for it to arrive. Lots of playing left to do.

Meanwhile, I am using a modified Jude Hill technique to add on to a quilt. It started with a signature block from the family reunion in August. Some of the kids also traced their hands onto the white muslin. The piecing is a bit unsettling but the hand-stitch makes it better, I think.

It started out quite small and so was easy and fun to hand-quilt. Jude's approach is a kind-of quilt-as-you-go. You start with what will become the center of the quilt, build the quilt sandwich and quilt it leaving some space around all edges.

To add on, I peeled back the top and the back to show about an inch of batting. Then I hand-whipped another piece of batting onto the previous batting.

adding on new batting

After that I pieced a new portion for the top, and hand-stitched it on using a felling stitch. And then did the same thing to the back.

new portion of the back

the new sections on the right is ready for some slow hand-quilting

And then more quilting but it is always around the perimeter of the quilt. I have always struggled hand-quilting a quilt of any size because the center is so hard to handle. This eliminates that problem. It is slow sewing, but I like to have a slow project on hand at all times just to pass the time sitting by the fireplace.

So what are you sewing in 2017?

Joy in Color

These colors give me joy.

This, too:

And the Christmas cactus is about to burst with red blooms