Sewing – Page 2 – Damselfly's Delights

Shortest Month

February 28, 2021 damselflysdelights4 Comments

Here we are at the tail end of February and again I’m running behind. It’s not like I’ve got a gazillion things going on in my life or anything! Just a lack of enthusiasm for typing. Or something. Anyhoo, I’ve finished a number of things since last post so here’s the quick and dirty deets.

I had a couple more knit garments that I had cut out last autumn and hadn’t sewn yet. I finally got to it and made a t-shirt, leggings and a short-sleeved tunic in a lightweight green marl. Not sure of the fibre content (possibly rayon/lycra) but there’s plenty of stretch.

T-shirt with curled selvedge neckline and leggings

All three layers can be worn together for the full Sherwood Forest effect! Heh. I still have a couple of t-shirts that I cut out back then but haven’t sewn yet. I guess I have to be in the mood for changing all the threads on the serger and coverstitch machines.

Then there’s a couple of jackets completed:

This is the Pona Jacket pattern from Helen’s Closet in the longer version. This plaid denim was a freebee I picked up years ago but never found a use for until now. It’s a bit thick for the Pona but I think it turned out just fine, especially judging by how many times I’ve worn it since I finished it! I used scraps of indigo blue batik cotton for the bias seam finishing:

The cotton was left over from the lining to my Sewaholic Minoru Jacket that I made years ago, a pattern designed by Tasia Pona for whom this Pona pattern is named. Kind of came around in a circle, didn’t it? Anyway, it took many many yards of bias and I only had less than half a metre left when I was done. Is the game of Binding Chicken a thing? Now of course I want another Pona, perhaps the cropped version in some naturally dyed linen canvas which is also too thick but drapier than the denim.

The most complex project this month was the blue Amy Parka from a pattern by Schnittchen Patterns. I had purchased the dry oiled canvas in 2019 for this jacket but got sidetracked, or maybe intimidated by the thought of sewing with fabric that marks so easily? I luckily had just bought a bunch more wonder clips recently because pins are a complete no-go. At least I was actually able to iron it gently. I used some leftover rust cotton batik yardage in a pinecone design for the lining. And Past-Me was smart enough to have already purchased the long double separating zipper so I didn’t have to go shopping.

The hardest part actually turned out to be the pattern fitting. This pattern comes in two size ranges, regular and curvy, but they are sold separately. As a Betweenie, I always have a hard time deciding which way to go with this since I’m right over the dividing line: get the regular sizes and grade up at the waist and hip if necessary or go with the curvy ones and chop the upper bust, sleeves and armhole down? Neither option works particularly well for my body and I usually have to completely rework the armhole and sleeve cap. I ended up printing out a number of pages three times to grade between the size 40 and 46. And I still needed to do more fiddling after that including raising the underarm seam by a full 2 inches.

So just to be sure I got it all right I decided to actually make a muslin which I never normally do but it turned out to be a great solution. I needed several extra changes on the muslin but only had one tiny tweak to make on the real thing, happily taking in since letting anything out shows needle holes. I also added an interior cellphone pocket and a drawstring on the hood. The finished jacket is darn near perfect except for the lack of seam sealant. It’s pretty water repellant though and will work fine in all but a serious downpour. I almost always have an umbrella with me anyhow.

There’s quite a bit of the oiled canvas left since I’d bought enough to make the longer version and instead made the shorter one which is plenty long enough on me. The long one would have been down to my calf! I’ve been thinking I might make a rain hat with the leftovers but we’ll see if that happens.

One last thing, I actually finished a knitting project! This pair of socks took the longest to finish ever. Since June 2019 which is just nuts.

Don’t know what the problem was really. Maybe Covid stress? The Beaded Rib pattern was just that tiny bit more complicated where I couldn’t easily read at the same time. I also started these for Thom originally but ended up thinking that there wouldn’t be enough yarn to finish them. Turned out I could probably have managed especially after I decided to do the foot almost plain. The rib pattern takes up quite a lot more yarn. Oh well. I started another plain pair of socks for him and he’s happy. They are coming along much faster and yes, I can read while knitting on them. I still don’t really have my knitting mojo back though. Very odd.

Spring is coming here in Vancouver despite the couple of days of snow we got. The crocuses are out and I’ve even seen a daffodil or two. My rhubarb and garlic are coming up. I’ve still got lots of work to do out there but it’s too wet for me to feel inspired. Indoors I have seeds and soil ready to go and will be starting the Grow Op in a couple of weeks so hopefully that inspiration will hit before the baby plants need to be transplanted outside! The year continues to go around no matter what.

A 2020 Recap

January 25, 2021 damselflysdelights2 Comments

Yes, it’s already halfway through January and I haven’t done a final tally of my makes from last year. Now that that government south of us is sorted and we can all breathe easier I feel a little more willing to look backward again. Plus I finally finished writing up my project notes that I hadn’t touched since August so it’s all fresh in my mind. Drum-roll please! In 2020, I completed:

26 garments sewn or refashioned
1 seam roll and a plethora of masks made
6 items knitted
2 skeins spun
6 tea towels woven
5 fabrics dyed

I only made a couple of things for Thom. And after I put the photos together I realised that the green Jeds were actually completed this year, not 2020! I did cut them out in December anyway. And both pairs of socks above are his. He has enough pieces now that he can dress completely in wife-mades, except for his undies! (Maybe I should remedy that. Or not.)

I completely lost track of how many masks I’ve made although they were only for Thom, his mom and me. Unlike many other sewists I was slow off the mark and didn’t make any for giving away. However I think it will continue to be needful to wear face coverings for quite awhile still, at least until everyone is vaccinated and so-called “herd immunity” kicks in. So pretty much for most of the rest of 2021, I figure. Currently in my province you can’t get on a bus or ferry, shop in a store, go to a medical appointment, get your hair cut or enter a mall without a mask on. At least mine are more fun to wear than the generic paper disposables! Who knew a year ago that they would become perhaps literally a life-saver?

In the end I did complete some UFOs but there’s still several left over. I have a pile of knits cut out and ready to sew. I was threading up the machines for the green ones but I’m stalling. It’s a lightweight stretchy beast and I’m a little nervous about sewing it. Just DO IT! Also I’m finally back to knitting on a pair of socks that’s been hanging around half-done since 2019. And I was actually dreaming about spinning last night so maybe there’s hope that I will finally complete the sweater quantity project that I started forever ago. Only another 2 skeins to go, I think. And then they all get popped into a dyepot. That would be fun for a change! I haven’t spun at all for nearly a year. I also have a weaving draft and yarns all picked out for another round of towels. But there it all sits. Sad and forlorn.

Some soul-searching has me concluding that perhaps I’ve been somewhat reluctant to start new projects because I don’t actually need anything right now. Unlike some people however it’s not because I dress differently when mostly staying home! This is my normal life. Comfy practical clothes for gardening, walking, working in the craft studio, doing housework, cooking – all the usual stuff. Really, the only things I really do miss these days is getting together with family and eating out (particularly foods that don’t do so well as take-out like sushi, dosas, dim sum, yam fries with chipotle mayo…yum…). Oh, and running away to the beach or the desert in our van. Okay, enough of that, damselfly. No use whining about it. Nearly everyone is in a similar situation.

The good news is that I didn’t buy very much in the way of craft supplies all year, instead I was digging deeply into what I already have. I managed to use only stash fabrics and buttons but needed some more thread and of course a few PDF patterns that I couldn’t resist. What I did go a little spendy on were my new sewing and coverstitch machines but so far in the few months I’ve had them they’ve gotten plenty of use so definitely happy with those purchases. I also bought extra essentials like wonder tape, clips, a stitch ripper and more bobbins. I still have a ridiculous amount of fabric left though a lot of it is pretty ancient (some is over 20 years old!) and not particularly wonderful. It’s a challenge to find the best use for it and to make sure it will be something that actually gets worn. One day though I’m going to reward myself for my good reduce/reuse/recycle behaviour and buy something really special to sew! But that can wait for now.

Looking forward. I’m hopeful. I’ve already bought my garden seeds for this coming season!

Seven-Oh

November 8, 2020 damselflysdelights4 Comments

Yes! I’m still here! But I’ve been really quiet, haven’t I? It’s been a strange month or so for everyone. At least that crazy US election is (mostly) over with and we can all heave a sigh of relief. I don’t know how much Americans realise the way the rest of the world is impacted by their politics. Here in Canada where we live just an hour from the border, it’s been completely nerve-wracking having such a completely dysfunctional person as their president for the last four years. So wonderful to finally have a calm, sane, kind man and a brilliant woman of colour poised to take over shortly. Maybe one day we’ll be able to visit there again. (But not until we all beat that pandemic down to safe levels.) Meanwhile I’m waving across that border, invisible in the photo above, and congratulating our southern neighbours on finally allowing saner heads to prevail. Thank you, voters!

Here in BC we also had an election, one with a fairly foregone conclusion and kind of buried in the overwhelming onslaught of Covid-19 and US election news. We voted by mail, by far the safer option. Done. And then there was the Halloween that really wasn’t much of one. We bought a pumpkin, never bothered carving it and kept our lights off. Meh. Right after that I had a birthday, a significant one with a zero in it and catching up to Thom who had his back in September. Not much of a celebration there either. What can you do when it’s not safe for families to get together?

So since I have mixed feelings about turning 70, uncharacteristically I resorted to retail therapy and bought myself some presents! My Janome sewing machine (aka Janny) is only two years old but an issue has cropped up with it again. I was having trouble with the bobbin case popping out of position back when I first bought it but it seemed to resolve itself so I didn’t take it back to the shop. Now the problem has returned so I finally dragged it the hour+ drive out to Abbotsford to take it in for repair. While I was there I asked to see the Janome CoverPro 1000CPX coverstitch machine. They had a couple of them with a reduced price which I thought was reasonable. It’s not the latest model but still quite similar to the 2000CPX which is quite a lot more expensive. Since the shop is adhering to Covid-19 protections I wasn’t actually able to try it out myself but only watched a demo by the salesperson through the plexiglass barrier. Bet you can guess the rest! I bought it.

Her name is Covyn, which apparently means Unpredictable Woman! And yes, she’s can be somewhat finicky. Why did I want this extra machine that takes up space and cost nearly as much as Janny? Answer: I sew a lot and I sew a lot of hems. If you look at your t-shirt, the coverstitch makes the stitch that looks like 2 or 3 rows of straight stitch on the front but like a flat version of the wiggly loops that a serger/overlocker makes on the back. It has a more professional look than the usual zigzag or twin-needle finish that I can do with my sewing machine.

Both serging and coverstitching (back side)

Of course my 14-year-old Pfaff CoverStyle serger (aka Sergio) can convert to a coverstitch (2 needle, one width) but it’s a royal pain in the you-know to do it and then switch back for the next seam. So I haven’t used that feature for years. He’s a great serger though so I just let him do what he does best! Covyn can do a 3-needle wide, 2-needle wide or left or right 2-needle narrow coverstitch. There’s lots of delicate adjustments to tensions, differential feed and stitch length but otherwise it’s simple to thread. There’s a definite learning curve however and online videos have been very helpful. I’ve also ordered the definitive book which hasn’t arrived yet. More on that when it does.

My biggest complaint though is that there are a couple of attachments not included with the machine that absolutely should have been. A clear foot and an edge guide are pretty much indispensable. I’m using masking tape for the latter but will order a clear centre-guide foot. Unfortunately Janome’s “optional” attachments are seriously pricey. Why?

So now I had a serger and a coverstitch but no sewing machine! What to do? I didn’t really want another Janome so I went with a relatively inexpensive Brother machine ordered from Amazon. (Nobody had it locally.) I was actually quite impressed with my granddaughter’s mechanical Brother so I had hopes that this model, the Brother CS6000i, would be a good second machine to round out my collection.

This sewing machine is marketed as a garment and quilting machine so comes with a lot of extras including a wide table, 60 stitches (7 buttonholes!) and 9 feet (including a walking foot).

All I had to get extra was another package of bobbins since BeeBee takes different ones than Janny and it only came with 4. Sigh. Now I have to keep them carefully separated and identified! At least most of Janny’s are pink or blue and BeeBee’s are all clear plastic. I’m beginning to adore the computerised features like auto-needle down and speed control. Who knew I could be converted from my mechanical ways? And why does this relatively cheap machine have a much more responsive pedal than the Janomes’ crappy ones? The only real drawback I’ve found is that it is quite a lightweight machine without the power to go through very heavy fabrics or really thick seams. That’s what Janny is for, when and if she ever comes back from the shop well again. The two machines serve rather different purposes so I can see them both being used regularly.

The Brother does have some quirks however. I found the manual tension is a bit fussy to set. A small increment doesn’t change anything so you have to go big and then go back. But I got it right eventually and now it doesn’t need changing for most sewing. The LCD screen isn’t backlit so can be hard to see without good light and it loses it’s current program if you shut the machine off. Taking notes on manual setting changes are important! I had a great time making a sample book with a swatch of each of the stitches on their default settings. Even though I almost never use anything fancy there’s enough useful ones to keep me very happy. The only thing I would have loved to add is a font for text but it’s silly to miss something I’ve never had. I also found that judging where to line up for my seam allowances is tricky. The lines on the machine bed are calibrated for the default straight stitch (00) which has the needle all the way to the left. Many of the other stitches are centred so those marks don’t signify. I’ve started measuring with a ruler to get seam allowances more accurate.

I’ve found that having three machines going for a single garment means I need a lot of thread on many spools. It’s a challenge! I’ve also had to pick out a lot of imperfect sewing so wasting a lot of thread too. I’m considering it part of my education budget. Heh. (Good thing coverstitch zips out really easily, just saying.) All in all though I’m quite happy with my birthday presents to myself! Lest you think I broke the bank on these, both together actually cost about the same as my two new pairs of glasses. They’ve kept me sane while I wait for Janny’s return (which could be sometime in December) and kept me occupied learning new things which is good for my brain. I’m slowly sewing through my pile of knits.

And there’s more (a black and a dark charcoal) that I haven’t cut out yet. So far no finished garment photos. Still working on necklines which are giving me trouble in the light grey cotton micro-rib knit I chose to play with first. It doesn’t have any spandex content so not good recovery. The neckband stretches out and doesn’t return so it keeps being too wide. And it’s not helping to keep picking out the stitches. Oh well. If I can get it right then I can use the knowledge for the others of that type of fabric.

More soon…er, eventually? Meanwhile, stay well, wear a mask, wash your hands and stay distanced! It’s the least you can do.

Washed Away

September 20, 2020 damselflysdelightsLeave a comment

Life has been somewhat difficult for the last while. For over a week I was pretty much trapped inside with all the doors and windows closed and the HEPA air purifier blasting away. Several days in a row my city beat all other cities in the world (except maybe Portland, Oregon) for polluted air. Yikes! The sky was yellow with an orange sun – when the sun could be seen at all.

Orange sun peeking through smoky tree branches.

I’m super sensitive to smoke and getting worse as I get older. It smelled worse outside than a busy campground on a holiday long weekend! The air temps were quite high too so it was hot in the house without the windows open especially at night even with the fan blowing on us. Ugh. And all we could do was to feel so absolutely sorry for those who lost their homes and businesses and lives in the wildfires. What a horrible year, eh?

Meanwhile, I wasn’t in a very good headspace for creating though I did finish one project. I’m calling this my Popped Collar Vest. Yes, I was too lazy to take photos wearing it myself so you’ll have to make do with these wonky hanger shots! Better than nothing, I say. Bonus: you can actually see the inner bias binding and my nametag!

This is a fairly major hack of Katherine Tilton’s sadly out of print Butterick 5891 which is one of my TNT patterns with not one but two quite different but very wearable and hackable garments in it. After several makes I’ve got both versions fitting just the way I prefer.

The fabric is a mid-weight denim in a faded black leftover after I cut out a pair of pants for Thom. I had just a little over a metre of 52″ width and managed to squeeze this vest/sleeveless jacket out of it with some fancy Tetris work. I used one front piece and mirrored and lengthened it a lot. The back kept the asymmetrical back seam which left me enough room on the fabric to just cut out the front facings. I skipped the peplum and used the under collar pieces as a collar facing instead. The pockets are the original inseam pieces but used as two patch pockets, basically to cover a large flaw on the front piece. All raw seams were either reverse flat-felled or bias bound with striped bias strips and I used some to make the rouleau loops for the buttons. I didn’t really have any suitable buttons but Thom had some wooden button slices left from another project so I painted them with liquid acrylic and finished with a polymer wax. I don’t know how durable they’ll be but they can always be replaced with something better when I can get back into Dressew. Some day. Soon. Meanwhile it’s been good to use up stash!

I still haven’t sewn the pants for Thom yet but they’re all cut out and ready to go. The pockets are going to be wildly contrasting with the faded black denim (aka dark grey). More on this project when it’s done.

So now the air is fresh again thanks to the rain. The windows are all wide open again and I can breathe! Today was very nice so we were able to get out for a walk which felt really good after all that sitting about indoors reading endless books and perusing Pinterest. Tomorrow I finally get to mask up and go pick up my new glasses! Yeah, it took 3 whole weeks. My optometrist is not fast or cheap but they are good. Anyway I’ll be particularly happy to have my distance sunglasses back for walking. It’s hard to see where my feet are going with progressive lenses. The ground nearby is blurry unless I walk with my head down awkwardly. I use only my distance prescription for my sunglasses which works very well.

Hope everyone is staying well! Wear your mask…blah, blah, blah…