Sew Distracted

finished projects

The sweater set is finally done.  I tried it with a skirt out of a coordinating fabric which i made about 6 weeks ago.  This length looks better with a skirt than pants.  The skirt is now too big and I had to take it up about 3 inches through the waist.  It is too bad that it still fits through the hips.

I found the perfect buttons for the cardigan, the other pictures of the finished garments somehow did not come out well.  It is very dark and dreary today in anticipation of heavy rain so perhaps I will try again a couple of days. 

I cut another top of one of the matching fabrics.  It is probably weird to have a bunch of garments out of the same color knit but with different textures.  George has already asked if I am planning to make something that is not blue.

I also finished the lace scarf.  I just handsewed the lace in an overlapping seam at the back.  It is a simple thing really, inspired by one Nancy Erickson wrote about last fall.  The lace is a very dark eggplant, almost brown, you can really only see the plum tones in bright sunlight.  The colors are bits of fuzzy yarn that have been stitched onto the lace.

Cardigan Draft done

Well I finally finished the pumpkin wool jersey cardigan and it looks beautiful.  I wish I could say I look beautiful in it but the color does nothing for me.  Otherwise, the fabric, the construction and the fit are wonderful and it makes a great set with the matching top.  At the moment it is residing on Matilda, she needs something to wear after all, and it coordinates perfectly with the amber necklace that is stored around her neck as it does not fit in any drawer or box.  This way I don't have to borrow Matilda's clothes and I can admire my beautiful workmanship.

I will never be a fast sewer.  This still took me too long.  I admire people who can whip out several things in a day.  I have to press and consider and look and make sure I am doing the right thing.  I am too mired in thought to become a speedy sewist, but I enjoy the process and I suppose that is what truly matters.

Even so, I was very distracted and discombobulated when I started; I basically retreated to my sewing room to avoid the general chaos that was errupting around me, and in my fogged state I basted the first sleeve incorrectly, right side of sleeve to wrong side of body.   An unfortunate pairing to say the least.  Luckily I am finally realizing that it really is easier to baste things like sleeves first and then sew them up with final stitches if they work.  Ripping out is much easier.    I think ripping and resewing the sleeve was a calming exercise however and the finishing of the cardigan went much more expeditiously. 

Matilda is also wearing a lace scarf, which I still have to do a final row of stitching on to finish one seam (I am just to lazy to thread the machine for one six inch seam.  The scarf is a deep plum, almost dark chocolate brown with little flecks of pumpkin, fuschia, teal, plum, and turquoise.  It looks surprisingly good with the pumpkin sweater so I am beginning to think that perhaps I could wear this with the right garments, deep plums perhaps and my navy would look good with this as well.  Something to consider further.  Of course if I do this I will actually have to sew in the shoulder pads and put buttons and buttonholes in the cardigan.  I don't mind the task I just wasn't going to waste good buttons on Matilda.

Slow Progress

A little bit of sewing adds a great boost to the day.  I was so encouraged by completeing the marking on my caridgan while making breakfast that I have managed to get up and squeeze in even a few minutes of sewing each day.  It is a great way to start the morning, and even if I am too tired to accomplish more at the end of the day, I am happy to have sewn a little.

Yesterday I cut the interfacing and fused it onto the appropriate cardigan pieces.  I really like my new Naomoto iron.  The old Sussman had been faithful and worked very well, but it was very erratic.  Last week it would either come on or not, at seemingly its own whim, and it was very frustrating to work with.  It had been to the sick iron hospital a few times and had been advised that hospice care was all that was required.  I finally bit the bullet and bought a new one, mostly because I was so frustrated at not being able to sew because the iron wouldn't work.  Apparently Sussman now has trouble filling orders and there have been some problems with the newer irons.  Kathryn at Sewing World had high praises for her new Naomoto so I decided to try that.  Well it is an elegant little iron and it produces a good bit of steam just like my trusty old Sussman.  It is much lighter (the old iron was 8 pounds, this one is 4 , but works just well, probably with less arm fatigue.  The steam button on the handle is much easier to use as well.  Reaching to the left with the thumb to depress the button on the Sussman while pressing was fairly tiring to the thumb metacarpal joint.

This morning I have sewn the shoulder seams and the side seams on the cardigan.   The next step is to add the band, but I don't want to do that because I have to press, and I haven't warmed up the iron.  I thought it would take to long to press this morning as I have to run out to the gym in a few minutes and then to the grocery store.  I might get more done today but it is not likely as we are going into NYC to the symphony tonight.

Stolen Moments

For once, using the kitchen island as my cutting table paid off as I sureptitously used tracing paper and copied the stitching lines to my new cardigan as I made breakfast this morning. 

I cut a new cardigan last night, using Nancy Erickson's 1960 pattern and a beautiful pumpkin-rust colored wool jersey, which although nice, is not one of my better colors.  I have made this pattern before, but not recently.  I did lay out my newly altered top pattern underneath it and decided that I don't need major alterations although this may be wishful thinking.  Since I used to cut on the cutting line and not mark stitching lines, I just cut the pattern as is, after making a few alterations to accomodate the changes in my figure over the past couple of years.  MISTAKE.

Since I have been doing more pattern alteration and learning to redesign patterns to accomodate my my twisted, rodded and fused body, (no issues here) I have been cutting off the seam allowances on patterns and drawing the stitching lines directly on the fabric.  This has been a great improvement in ease of alteration and even sewing although I would occasionally grumble about the time it took.  This time I didn't do that but almost immediately regretted it.  I decided that I like seeing the stiching lines, they were good reference points.  I also learned that tracing them after the fact, using a tracing wheel and tracing paper is a pain and not necessarily very accurate unless one is VERY CAREFUL.  Last night I was too tired and went to bed figuring that I would just sew blind, based on seam allowances, as I used to do.

This morning I saw the neatly stacked pattern pieces on the island and thought, "aha! I can do this while I cook breakfast".  Luckily George asked for hot cereal, a menu that I can easily work around.  I put the water on to boil, traced a couple of pieces, added the cereal and stirred, did more tracing, and so on.  By the time the dear wandered down for breakfast everything was stacked back up just as I left it last night and I was putting the cereal on the table.  He was none the wiser except for noting that the cereal was a little thicker than usual.  Was I distracted or what??

Hopefully I can sew this up today, but even if I don't manage that, at least I managed to sneak in a little sewing time.