Still Needs A Bit More

Posted by jmn

Responding to my reinforced / visible mended sweater Donna DeCourcy wrote:

“I think your darning is wonderful and you really have created a unique item with more life for the garment. My comment is this: I think your friend has a good idea with adding a little more darning at the shoulder, only because it will draw the eye upward rather than linger in the middle. I had an art teacher once who taught us to be conscious of where the eye travels through an art object and my eyes stayed on the darning you already have.
That is it! That is my 2 cents, for what it is worth.”

I wasn’t going to anything further but Donna’s argument made sense to me – instead of keeping the eye at my thickened middle, I should add further reinforcement closer to my shoulder to draw the eye toward my face, which I did last night.

With the sweater on, it’s obvious I still need to do more! I need more darning closer to the center – a couple of small patches like the ones just at bust level yet attached in some way to the work I did last night.

I can see this project may have no end! Once that’s done, I’m sure I’ll decide I want some darning on the back as well!

Maybe Not Finished But Wearable…

Posted by jmn

You certainly can see the wear pattern on the sweater – worse on the back of the right sleeve and right front. A bit more concentrated just below the boob on the left front.

Yesterday, I wore it to show a friend; she suggested a bit more darning on one side closer to the shoulder. But I think I’m leaving this where it is, for now.

Other wear spots aren’t jumping out at me with the white turtleneck shirt beneath. The knitting in the sweater isn’t looking obviously threadbare anywhere else.

I think this job has been a success. I averted holes, save the garment from the garbage bin, and have myself a new interesting wearable sweater.

When You Can’t Throw It Out…

Posted by jmn

I have a peachy/red sweater in my closet – I’ve owned it for at least 40 years – bought it at Mills Brothers when 100% wool sweaters were the norm. I have worn it a lot as the wear patterns attest. There are no holes – yet – but I haven’t had it on recently because my white turtlenecks highlight the worn spots.

I’m not sure what prompted me, but yesterday I looked at the sweater, thought about putting it in the garbage, but instead went through my yarn stash and found a ball of variegated sock yarn in shades of peach/red and decided to try repairing the sweater, instead. I thought about darning the worn sections but in the end decided Swiss darning was more appropriate.

When I placed a piece of white paper inside the sweater the wear spots jumped out! There’s actually a LOT of reinforcing needed. Because I don’t actually have holes that need fixing, I am able to “duplicate” stitch my way through the thin sections, reinforcing the stitches in the sweater. It’s a slow process with lots of yarn ends needing to be woven into the back of each reinforced section.

At the moment, I have both sleeves “done” (I may do more). I’ve started on the right front – rather than one very large patch, I’m planning to create several smaller sections – I can always join them up if I need to.

I’m not sure what the repair is going to look like when I’m done or whether I might actually wear the sweater when I’m finished! I just need to get back to my darning and see what happens.

Jeddore Variety

Posted by jmn

On November 19, a friend and I did the annual Eastern Shore Annual Seaside Christmas trail – starting with a visit to Harbour Breezes Day Lilies where I picked up some delicious home made cranberry/orange compote. We visited a bunch of craft shops but our best stop was Jeddore Variety just before you get to Jeddore (from Halifax). One of my friends in the building who lived in Jeddore for many years raves about the store; she always comes back from shopping there with lots of goodies.

I made some amazing finds there – my best buy was sock yarn for $13.99! I bought two balls, including this one. Should have bought more! Lots of interesting gadgets and arts and crafts supplies. Prices were unbelievably low for quality goods! Definitely worth a trip of its own.

I liked how this pair turned out. A good colour combination, too.

On to the next pair – probably the same pattern in greys and rose shades. Should be satisfying to make. Maybe I’ll even keep them – the colours fit with my wardrobe.

Repair and Wear

Posted by jmn

I have no idea how long I’ve had this wool sweater. I bought it from LLBean at least 40 years ago! It’s warm, versatile, comfortable to wear. It hasn’t shown signs of wear until recently when I discovered I had worn through the left elbow, so I repaired it. At the time, I didn’t notice any other wear, so I put the sweater back into use. [BTW, I use the sweater as a pullover, so I stitched up the front binding shortly after I bought it so it wouldn’t pull between the buttons – it looks better that way.]

The other day I discovered the front binding (between the second and third button from the bottom) was seriously worn and ready to lose stitches! Just in that spot where my clothes rub against counter tops! Yesterday I mended it.

I though all I had to rework was the top binding, the edge of which was coming apart; but once I’d done that fix, I saw the damage was more extensive – both front panels were thin extending about 1 1/2″ from the midline. I dug out sock yarn leftovers in colours as close as I could get to match the existing yarn and got to work with some Swiss darning.

Not a bad job, if I say so myself. Look closely at the repair and you can see where I did the reinforcing stitches, but from a distance you can’t see anything was wrong.

Knowing how to repair knitwear is a good skill to have in your repertoire. Flora Collinwood-Norris does a brilliant job of darning (and Swiss darning) to restore knit garments to a wearable state. She has written books, and gives online classes. I have neither the books, nor taken classes, but I can see from the photos on her website how this work is done. I’m nowhere as skilled as she is at rebuilding a worn patch in a knit garment, but this repair is definitely acceptable and will extend the life of my sweater for quite a while (until the next wear spot shows up and I’ll fix that, too).

Take a look at Collinwood-Norris’ repair work. It’s worth knowing how to fix knit garments (socks, included).

Holiday Greetings, etc.

Posted by jmn

A bit late for “Merry Christmas” but still in time to extend best wishes for 2024!

May the coming year find you contented, well, and carrying on!

Take life day by day! (That’s all any of us has.) Enjoy each day. Take pleasure from the small things that happen. An unexpected conversation, something nice to eat, finishing a particularly challenging puzzle, being able to do something for someone else, a pleasantry in the elevator, a good workout at the pool, a leisurely walk, the sunshine!

Yesterday, for me, it was finishing the quilt I’ve been working on for weeks, a good Christmas dinner with friends down the hall, and a bit of texting with a distant friend I haven’t been in touch with for a while.

May you feel like “Maggie Muggans” – “don’t know what will happen tomorrow!”

You’ve made it through 2023. All the best in the coming year.

Judith

(They got dealt with before I went to bed!)

Finished – At last

Posted by jmn

Season’s greetings!

I started playing with this quilt on Oct 12. Ten/eleven weeks ago. I just finished hand stitching the hidden binding on the back! Finally – my Christmas day project – to get this quilt done.

Once I had the quilt top assembled I found I could move along again. I made the decision to use the Holtz fabric intact on the back rather than cut it up. I had to incorporate the two pieces I had in order to have enough to complete the back – that’s even after inserting a 14″ strip I assembled from bits and pieces leftover from the quilt top – a much better use of that very busy fabric!

I would have completed the quilt with a conventional binding, except I didn’t have enough of the bronze cork fabric to do that. So in the end I used the leftover strips from the backing to make a hidden binding.

I’m glad the quilt is finally completed. I kept avoiding it because I knew I wasn’t going to be happy with the finished project – nothing there that pops out to say “notice me!”. In fact, I may decided to showcase the quilt back, which I think is much more interesting, in upcoming exhibitions.

So on to the next project – a couple of wall art pieces which I’ve been thinking about for over a year! Time to start working on the first of them.

OK, The Finished Quilt Top

Posted by jmn

Here it is – the finished quilt top. It’s not the idea I had in my head when I started! It’s what I’ve ended up with, however; I can live with it.

It’s just another half-square triangle quilt; nothing special. The border pulls it together. I’d never have guessed I was going to use the “cork” fabric to finish the project but the brick colour brings out the various reds/oranges/yellows in the print fabric and the solids. One of the benefits of having a relatively large fabric stash.

Did I tell you about the discussion I had with a friend about “the stash”? I’ve decided I can call my fabric collection a “stash” as long as I’m using it to create new work. The moment I stop, it becomes a “hoard” and I turn into a hoarder!

Gotta keep working – I’ve more fabric and supplies in my apartment than I can use up in a lifetime. In the end I will die a hoarder!

Sally mentioned the other day, when I dropped into Sew With Vision about something, she’d like to hang it. I’m all for that. It’ll be interesting to see what people think of it.

Now onto the back. I’m going to use what I have left of the Free Spirit: Tim Holtz, Eclectic Elements, Abandoned, Rusted Patina fabric along with some border remnants, and the unused blocks I set aside. I want to see how large swaths of the fabric works, against a small amount of detail.

Amazing Hand Work

Posted by jmn

I was visiting Jawad and Shukria a couple of weeks ago. Shukria had just received a parcel from her sisters with hand embroidered and crocheted garments. The crochet embellished the edges of some head scarves; the embroidery enhanced the hem of some pants. Jawad had a tunic done by someone in his family who had taken three months to embroidery the front of it for him – obviously something to wear at a special occasion!

Last night I asked if I could photograph the hand work. What I forgot to do was place a coin on it to show the scale of the work – it’s extremely fine, both the crochet and the embroidery. Incredible precision! Not a hope in hell I’d be able to work with such fine thread (crochet or embroidery) and control it as magnificently as this work. The fabric is also a very fine, closely woven, either a lightweight cotton or a silk. It’s breathtaking!

I just had to share it.

Catchup

Posted by jmn

It’s days since I posted anything but I’ve been chugging along as always.

Danish Paper Stars – it’s become a seasonal tradition to make stars to share with neighbours and friends. I’ve made a total of close to 60 this year. I started with about 45 – which I distributed the other evening (one star per apartment). When I got home I realized I didn’t have enough left for friends so last evening I made another 15! That’s it for stars this year. It takes me about 8 minutes to make a star. [The website I found a couple of years ago describing how to make the stars is still functioning so click here if you want to try your hand at making a few!] [If that link doesn’t work try here.]

The Quilt Top – it’s been a chore but I finally managed to piece the panel together. I rummaged through my stash looking for fabrics to border it with. I came up with something.

The challenge with the burgundy “cork” fabric is that it’s directional so I’ll have to consider how to use it on all four sides – it will require some piecing, I think. Deciding to include a thin strip of the backing fabric ties the whole thing together. It don’t see any appliqué that will enhance this panel which is already way too busy!

Can’t say I’m ecstatic about this creative effort – the background fabric [Free Spirit: Tim Holtz, Eclectic Elements, Abandoned, Rusted Patina PWTH126] turned out to be much busier than I anticipated. I loved the colour combinations, but cutting it up just accentuated the “busy-ness” and adding the solids as I did made the whole panel out of control. That’s the challenge of improvising – it doesn’t always work out as you’ve imagined it.

The Rusted Patina fabric should have been used as very large pieces which is what I’m going to do on the back. I managed to purchase enough from a number of online sources to do that. I want to see what making a small strip through the dominant backing fabric will do. In any case I want to use up what I have. I don’t intend doing anything more with it. Lesson learned!

I just keep carrying on.

If you have time I recommend Barb Emodi’s recent Substack piece: Comes With The Territory.

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