Sham's Tablecloth Skirt

On Friday, Howard came home sick from work in that miserable man way that requires excessive amounts of sympathy only after the week not pretty, that's not something I had much of and my capacity for people was well past the overload point. There have been an unreasonable amount of appointments lately - with more this week - and that's not my typical style. I'm quite introverted and need a lot of alone time. Saturday morning, I told him I was going out for breakfast - by myself - and then sewing in my studio - by myself - and to please leave me alone. Apparently my low energy showed - LOL - as he warned all the kids to give me space.

I worked on Sham's Tablecloth Skirt. After all the things that could go wrong had lined up and taken their turn, it eventually came together. I used 60" instead of 45" fabric and one that didn't tear so I had to actually cut every piece. I cut a 45" square instead of a 44" one because I forgot to read the instructions first and then two 15" strips before I realized I didn't have as much fabric as I thought and cut them down to 14" plus two more. My waist hole was slightly smaller so in the end I think it worked okay. I am too short waisted for the suggested waistband so I cut it down and inserted 3/4" elastic instead. It's much faster to type that sentence than it was to actually do since the waistband was already attached to the skirt when I made that change.

The fabric is a lightweight, faux suede with a purple embroidered design. That's why it wouldn't tear. The suede would have but not the embroidery. And, it's static gathering. That skirt picked up every stray thread on my studio floor. By the time it was done, it needed washing again. I'm not sure how it's going to wear. I may find myself clinging to everything especially after sitting and standing. We'll see.

Sham's skirt is a similar style to Marcy Tilton's Vogue 8499 only Marcy's design has less fabric through the waist and hip area. I made the Vogue skirt in August and enjoy wearing it a lot so I want to see if I can morph the two together and get a slimmer look through the top half of the tablecloth skirt. With a smaller waist and bigger hips, extra fabric doesn't do me any favours although this one looks okay with a t-shirt over top although less fabric would be more flattering. It'll mean adding more seams and that's okay - or maybe not - because the rectangles could be part of the skirt panel so there may end up being a similar amount of seams. Either way... we'll see what happens... when I get to that.

The grey baby sweater was very close to finished when I discovered that I'd picked up the sleeve incorrectly. Don't ask me how - I have no idea - but I completely missed these four stitches at the end. Since the sleeve was picked up and knit from the cap down, that meant ripping back the sleeve and knitting it over again only to discover...

... that picking up with a single crochet is not a good idea. It leaves holes and a flat look around the top of the cap. That's the theory I was testing so now I know only that meant removing both sleeves and reknitting them. This is why I'm knitting in size small - so I'm willing to risk and learn and re-do as necessary. I also...

... pulled out the back and fronts to the armhole stage because I discovered a smoother way to cast off that results in no steps. At the neckline, just put the stitches on a stitch holder and don't cast off at all. At the armhole, if you're supposed to cast off more than one stitch, knit or purl the first two together and then cast off the remainder and if you're supposed to cast off one stitch, knit or purl them together. It is WAY smoother as you can see between the pins above. The back/front is...

... blocking while I (re) knit the sleeves. I prefer to block by pinning the shape to size and then wetting it with hot water in a spray bottle. The annoying pink dots on my blocking board happened the first time I used it when the dye in that wool ran. Frustrating.

This morning, I'm cleaning house. This afternoon, I'm taking my son grocery shopping and for a winter coat and some new running shoes. This evening, he has a party and a late shift at work so it's mostly an errand and running around day. Hopefully there's some sewing time in there but I'm not sure.

Lorrie wrote - About the book - why not just offer it as a PDF dowload via the Web?

I've done that before with patterns and it's a great idea if I decide to make public anything I write... which I'm debating... only I was referring to the book to accompany the handbags to their new homes. I wanted everyone to see the whole project but thought a booklet was going to be too expensive. This will work.

Talk soon - Myrna

Grateful - safe homes