A Busy Weekend - but no sewing

Well, as suspected, life had different plans than I did.

The migraine was NOT manageable so I didn't get anything done on Tuesday, or Wednesday, or Thursday - you get the picture.

We had a funeral on Wednesday and DBIL is in town for the week so we had a few people for supper on Wednesday and the big family dinner yesterday. Both at our place...we don't get to do this very often so I really enjoy it.

Now, my Dad's coming this Saturday and so I needed to make some bread for him; that was yesterday too since the planned supper was spaghetti and I was either going to make bread or buy it, sooooo, the results of the baking



Turned out really well, 7 loaves - 5 are now in the freezer waiting for Dad.

My coat -

Today I checked my wool flannel and just as I thought - it's not straight. Before I did the London Shrink on it, I did pull threads on either end, but forgot to check if it was square.

I roped DH into helping me pull it to square it up, but it didn't work - at all.

So now I'm going to try dampening it a bit to see if I can straighten it while wet then press it. I have no idea if this will work or not, but it's worth a try - I've checked thru the blogs and searched the 'Net and have seen this as an option a couple times.

Update - wool wet, 1 spin in the washer and pressed with a damp press cloth all the while straightening it out. Hopefully it will stay square. Time to lay it out for cutting. Tomorrow ... ???

V8346 - Time to start the coat

After fighting a migraine for 2 weeks (yes, weeks :-( ) and losing, I think it's finally on the way out. It's there, but less, maybe just a few more days.

So, on to the next batch of new things to learn ....

My muslin was done last week and I hadn't done a thing on it all week. Never mind the headache, it was pretty stressful to think of cutting apart all that work !

I took the scissors to it today and pressed each piece, now it's ready and waiting. The wool and the cotton flannel are ready to go (I think I need to check the wool, I don't remember straightening it ).

I was trying to decide if the flannel is to be underlining or interlining. Since I am using it more for warmth, I was leaning towards interlining, but I've read a comment on the sewalong blog where it was suggested that cotton flannel could be underlining since it's not so thick or bulky. I like the idea of basting the flannel to the wool and treating them as one piece. Guess that 's the next step, I'd like to work on it through the week and have both the wool and the flannel cut out by next weekend...that's the plan, anyway.

I do Believe the Muslin's Done !

That is, of course, unless someone looks at these pics and cringes because something is REALLY wrong.

Today's adjustment was the left armhole, had to take in the back at the bottom of the armhole - same adjustment I did last week on the right side. Both adjusted shoulders/armholes...

Front & Back

I started to fiddle with the waist line again, but on this pic, the waisline and the hemline are 'almost' straight.

The waist is comfortable as it is, so I'm going to hope that the weight of the wool flannel, the cotton flannel and the lining will all help this hang evenly. I think now feels like the right time to just 'go for it' and move on to the next step.

I love comments :-)

Since I'm relatively new to this whole blog environment I am having some trouble believing that anyone would be interested in checking out my ramblings. But, my counter is going up and I'm getting comments so I'm definitely 'out there'.

This blog was started partially to give myself a kick in the pants to get onto my projects ('if I write it down, I have to do it') ... that's sort of working, my sewing is very slow, but I do now have 3 new skirts and a coat muslin done since about March. I will NOT think about those of you who could do all that in one weekend :-)

NOW I have a whole other motivation - if people are reading then I need to post, therefore I need to sew - also, I'm buying fabric, & patterns, & fabric & notions, & fabric & Burdas, etc... so I have to sew.

Keeping up with everyone else's projects is very inspiring and is helping me start to think outside the box - the patterns are not written in stone - cut the size that fits, where it fits. The variety of projects to come from one pattern is just amazing.

When I've gottten comments previously, I've been responding in the comment section, but tonight I thought I'd make a post instead.

Liana, aren't subscriptions a great thing, 'especially' when you can't get something locally. 'Threads' is getting the better of me though, my magazine shop has had the new issue on the shelf since last week - but I'm waiting for my subscription. (I almost bought it before I remembered I subscribed - that would be two issues in a row if I did - sometimes I don't know where my brain is LOL). I started your string bag last night - hopefully it comes out as nicely as yours did.

Marjie, it's hard to find such places in Montreal, it's such a big place that generally people don't remember you. We do have a regular corner store though, it's 15 km away now since we moved in 2000 but it's still the one we go to if we have to stop on the way home from work. We've known the owner and his family for more than 20 years now. I don't have kids but they know our dogs LOL. We take them in for a visit every once in a while.

Ann, nice in-laws ! I hope your subscription renewal rumor is true ! Like you, in NB, I do most of my local shopping at Fabricville. My first experience with a 'garment district' was this summer ... in Toronto.
Montreal has a garment district but I'm not very familiar with it - 'yet' :-). Do you know Montreal at all ? There is St Hubert Street, which I know of but have never been and apparently some shops on St Laurent Blvd. I've seen a few people blog about them, but again, have never been. Do you know when you'll be up - I could meet up with you, if you'd like - It would be lovely to go with someone who sews and knows what they're doing (that, of course, would not be me !).

Thanks for reading everyone !

Customer Service !

Don't you just love to deal with local merchants ?

We spend a lot of time complaining about customer service these days - it's just not what it used to be - BUT there are certainly some places that do go out of their way to provide good service.

Today's example...

I found online sewing info last December...I found my first Burda in Feb 2008 (a 40 minute drive away). Then I spent 4 months trying to locate a shop a 'bit' closer, to no avail. During which time I did manage to get all but March 2008 & May 2008 from the first shop. A special trip to a fabric store being not a real hardship, after all. LOL :-)

In July, my brain actually started to function.....Hellooooo.....I work 1 block (yes, 1 block !) from a small, local dressmaker/craft store !!!!!!!!!! Now, I've been in there many times, for cross stitch supplies, zippers, etc. So, one day at lunch, over I go - THEY CARRY BWOF !!! EVERY MONTH !!

The young gentleman also told me, "by the way, we keep a list of people who want BWOF and put one aside for them each month - and if they don't come right away, we call them & after a month or two, if they haven't come in, we put it on the shelf for sale to the regular public."

So, is it just me, or is this AMAZING service ? You bet, I'm on the list and in August, they had a BWOF with a post-it with my name on it, just as promised.

And today, I strolled over on my lunch break and picked up the September issue - AND he remembered me - not my name but enough to know what I was there for. Reading for tonight's bus ride.

Life is good (so now I just have to actually make up one of these, a one dot skirt should be a safe start)

V8346 - Am I Close ?

I redrew the seam line on the back armhole to take up some of the bunching on the back. Then I reset the right sleeve with the shoulder dot back in the original spot.

The new pic is on the left, the mess from the last post is on the right.




The armhole now looks like a smoother line. There is still a bit of bunching just at the bottom but do I try to get rid if it ? At what point am I overfitting ?

Coat - V8346 - What am I doing wrong ?

Here we go again - Sleeves had diagonal wrinkles - after checking instructions on the coat sewalong blog, I unpicked the sleeves and moved the shoulder dot forward about 1/2"

The pics show tonight's change first - compared against the same view(s) from my last post.

Back...

Right side...

Left Side...

Ideas, anyone ?