Cut And Run

You might have noticed the bonus Saturday posting about my daughter's bra. I was up early to see my son off on his trip to his sister's. He delivered the bra in person although he found that somewhat embarrassing - LOL - even though it was tissue wrapped and in a gift bag. Cute! He'll be bringing it back for adjustments because when she tried it on, it wouldn't fit around her. Darn - I mixed up the fabrics.

I want to say right now - LOUD and CLEAR - that it was MY fault. It was ME who made the mistake since I'd only sewn two bras before this one. I assumed the firmer fabric was for the band when in reality, the band needs to stretch while the cups need to be supportive. When he brings it back, I'll be redoing the band.

This means that the company DID send me the right amounts of the right fabrics. It was ME who mixed them up. However, that does not excuse the cat hair and the musk smell which is still permeating my studio and giving me a screaming headache. Yesterday, I had the window open all day hoping to dispense it more. Not so far. Perhaps I can blame the smell for...




... my lack of sewing success on Saturday. I've been wanting a casual coat, something spring and fall-ish, for walking around the block. Burda 7890 is a basic track suit jacket with a mandarin collar ( translate as somewhat boring... ) and seemed a good place to start. I traced off the pattern and then...




... attempted to read through the instructions just in case there was something unexpected. Burda is not noted for its fabulous instructions but this is ridiculous. One whole page is empty while the other three are filled with teeny tiny type. I'm not sure what the average sewing age is but I'm pretty sure most of us don't have 20/20 vision and reading what looks like a size 6 font is annoying.




At one point, Kamloops had five fabric stores. Now we just have Fabricland. My favourite was Fanny's - a fabulous store - neat, clean, with good stock and great deals in the bargain section. I picked up this loopy looking fabric a few years before they closed, which was at least five or more years ago, so it's been in my stash forever. The fabric is like a stretch terry - only nicer - it doesn't look like a towel - and seemed perfect for a - hopefully - wearable muslin, fine if it worked and no great loss if it didn't.

I redrafted the back to have princess lines taking the width measurements from the McCall's 6035 blouse that I sewed recently. It fits great through the body only I should have checked the bicep width. The sleeves pull the underarm in very uncomfortable and ugly directions. You know for sure that it's too tight when your husband comments on it. Husband note-worthy tightness is WAY TOO TIGHT.

There most likely aren't too many of my textile students reading this blog since it's definitely all about clothes and not about textile art anymore. However, if they could, they'd tell you that I'm quite vocal about sticking with a project until the end and doing what you can to make it work, that success is finishing, and that masterpieces are a bonus. I believe this is true especially with textile art and anything particularly free form and creative however, I'm finding that sewing fashions requires a different way of thinking. With day-to-day general clothing sewing, I need to weigh and measure the value of pushing forward to determine if it's really worth it. Often, it's not and the learning is good and enough.

I could make this project work. I could pick off the sleeves, cut new ones, re-insert them, and finish the garment and I'm not going to. There's a time to finish and a time to be finished with a project. IMHO - life is too short to spend my time on something that my intuition says isn't working.

This coat is not that amazing. It's only okay. The fabric is inexpensive - probably two or three dollars a meter on sale in the bargain center - and has most likely been in my stash for ten years or longer. Instead of sticking with it, I decided to cut and run. There is enough yardage left to start over and - if and when - I'd much rather do that than try to make this work by picking out top stitching and serging along a loopy fabric. Into the recycle pile it goes. Perhaps some other sewist will want to finish it.




Saturday afternoon, when I went to add the soap to a load of my clothes, this is what I saw. It made me laugh. There are more coloured garments toward the bottom but at least 75% of the load is black. Do you think I wear too much black? I don't but it is a reminder to pull out those other colors that I love.




The blue loopy fabric was quite bulky. It took up a lot of space in my stash. This boucle-ish fabric does as well. I bought it at the Fabric Depot in Portland when I was there taking a class with Palmer/Pletsch. That was three years ago when I was hoping to, but not making much progress at, getting back to sewing fashions. Realizing that little color might be a good thing, I pulled this one out for my next coat attempt.




Vogue 8459 is NOT recommended for my figure type. Why not? I'm not sure what Vogue is thinking or what their figure criteria is but I do know that these lines are perfect for a triangle especially the red coat with the wide collar that would balance my hips and give shape through the waist. The front has a princess line and the back has multiple seams which are fabulous for fitting.




The muslin turned out pretty good. For a jacket, it's a bit too snug. I'll sew 4/8" seams for the princess and side seams and that'll give me another 1 1/2" ease which should be about right.I'm also going to narrow the shoulders about 3/4" which will get rid of all that sagging and bagging that's going on.




Remember last week when I took ease out of the front of the sleeve cap. I'm really glad I sewed in the sleeves on this muslin. This time, the ease needs to come out of the back sleeve cap. The front fit smoothly even over the shoulder where I tried the forward technique I'd been thinking about. I'm not ready to discuss it until I try it on a few more garments but so far - on this muslin - it appears to be working. If so, it's a lot easier than anything I've read about and as you can see, the sleeve hangs straight. The true test will be when the shoulders are narrowed because that pulls the fabric in a different way. Later on, I want to sew McCall's 6035 again and compare wrinkles to wrinkles and see if it makes a difference or not. First - this jacket.

Talk soon - Myrna

Grateful - an extensive stash with lots of options

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Personal Growth - I believe as I did as a child, that life has meaning, direction, and value; that no suffering is lost; that each drop of blood and every tear counts; and that the secret of the world is to be found in St John's "Veus Caritas est" - "God is love" - Francois Mauriac

The little boy Zach that I mentioned last week passed away on Sunday morning. He was thirteen years old. He leaves behind his Mom and step-Dad, his eleven-year-old brother, and his older step-brother, sister, and sister-in-law. As I mentioned last week, this family has already had much loss and the step-Dad is currently dealing with cancer issues himself. Please pray for them at this incredibly difficult time.

I was reminded on the weekend that I haven't mentioned Howard's health in a long time and that some of you are concerned and praying for us. I'm sorry. I should have said something sooner. It's because we have no results, just lots of questions. All the tests were inconclusive although he is going for physio and massage treatments on his legs that appear to be making a difference even though they are still very painful.

This morning, I'm going for an ultrasound and a mammogram. It's most likely nothing, just yet still another cyst, however there is a new bump they want to check out. I have bumpy boobs. I'm sure my entire D cup is cysts - LOL - and that once menopause is over, they'll dissolve away as I've been told they should. Then, I'll be back to a B - darn - too funny. I'm so thankful for technology that allows us to deal with these issues in a proactive way... and with humor... it's so important. If you haven't been for a mammogram lately - GO!