So, This Was My Idea

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Remember when I started this quilt I had a wonderful bright fabric with yellows/oranges/ turqoises/blues. Because the solids weren’t quite light/bright enough, I added a couple more to liven the array.

The Original Fabrics
With Some Lights Added

I had an idea in my head based on a quilt I’d seen on Pinterest

Another HST Idea

to use the print as my background, the solids as accents, with the solid triangles formed from three strips.

This afternoon I finally got back to sewing on this quilt (I’ve been avoiding it for over a month). It didn’t take long to sew the strips for the “solid” triangles, pair each strip with a strip of background print fabric, cut the HST.

56 HST with Solids

Each strip pair gave me four blocks – I just needed to lay them out interspersing them with background blocks.

Tentative Layout 9×12 Layout

I find it very interesting that when I look at the pieces on my floor the yellows/oranges stand out, but the photo brings out the turquoises/blues! The pale yellow solid elements brighten the ensemble. The pale blues are lost among the music elements of the background. The orange solids, the burgundy stripes connect with the background print (on the floor – not so much in the photo), and the navy doesn’t do much of anything. I’m not sure I see much point in playing around with the layout – I don’t think it will make much difference to this rather drab quilt top.

My challenge now is to come up with some way to make this layout interesting. Would a solid sashing in one of the lighter yellows accomplish that? Use the background fabric for a border? What about circle appliqués (of different sizes) cut from the solids placed in some kind of cascade?

Whatever I do, it will have to involve the solids because that background fabric, which I thought would be striking is so busy when cut up, that it overpowers everything else!

Got any suggestions? I sure don’t know where to go from here.

Since I began working on the project, I’ve had a hunch I wasn’t going to be happy with the outcome. My fallback position was to assemble the array, make it into a quilt (with batting and a backing), then use it to make a jacket! Looking at the potential panel, however, I don’t think the jacket would be outstanding, either.

I hate it when the work goes sideways as it has here.

Latest Socks

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I finished these socks last evening. A nice yarn to work with.

The pink was on the outside of the ball which meant I’d never get to the second pink stripe for a size 7-8 sock! So I rewound the ball in order to have both pink stripes come through.

I enjoyed knitting with this yarn even though the transitions were so subtle. It was difficult finding the matching location – the ball label said the yarn would make two matching socks – the manufacturer just forgot to mark the begin/end in the centre of the ball. It took a bit of careful study to find a similar location for starting the second sock. I didn’t do too badly – the match is almost perfect.

These socks are in the gift pile at the moment – they may make it to my sock drawer….

Today’s Project

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I’m getting nowhere on the quilt project – I know I’m not going to be happy with the finished outcome and that what I’ll end up doing is making a quilt, then cutting it up to construct a jacket of some sort. So I keep walking away from the strips of fabric sitting at one of my machines.

My avoidance project today, after having put strings of lights on my driftwood sculpture and along my balcony railing, was to make a new iPhone case!

The Old iPhone Case
The New iPhone Case

As you an see, my old iPhone case which I made over a year ago has become very shabby. The lambskin (which I bought locally) was very soft and didn’t wear well. I’ve been meaning to make a new iPhone case but haven’t made time to do it. It’s not a big project, I can make one in under two hours. It’s just getting to it. Today was the day.

I used some leather I had bought in New York City in the spring of 2012 at the Leather Skins warehouse. (Check out the lambskins! Yummy! Irresistable! Not outrageously expensive!)

Leather Skins Warehouse

The place was small, on the 11th floor, Suite 1101, 261 W 35th St. The walls were filled with skins from ceiling to floor, sorted by kind, not so much by colour! I was taken with the lamb skins – I bought one in a purple-ish blue. There were actually six matching skins enough to make a jacket and pants – I only took a single skin. I also bought a printed leather skin (rather inexpensive – because a piece had been cut from one end – didn’t matter to me because I was intending to use it used for trim and there was a lot of leather in what remained of the skin). I’ve used small bits and pieces of that printed leather from time to time but most of the skin was still intact. Today I decided to cut a 5 1/4″ strip to make the iPhone case!

Didn’t take long to put the iPhone case together. I grabbed some zipper tape and slides. I dug through my zippered bag fabrics and found one to use for the linings, cut the three pieces I needed for the small pockets, the side pocket and the phone pocket. I looked through my parachute cord stash and picked out one. Finally I cut a small amount of velcro, and chose a button to decorate the closure tab.

I made this bag just a bit wider than the old one – to make room for the credit cards and the cash and the few items I carry in the side pocket. In under two hours I was finished. It’ll be interesting to see how long this one will last. I’m expecting the painted surface will rub off, but the skin is a bit sturdier than the blue leather was so the case may hold up somewhat longer.

In case you’re interested, you can find my instructions for this version of the iPhone case here.

Burgundy Pants / Black & White Top

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I’ve finished garment making for now. I just completed (maybe – more about that in a moment) a black and white Ebony T-Shirt top. I took out some of the flare (I could take out more – might do that if I make another one) and widened the sleeves, dropped the arm hole a small amount to relax the sleeves – it worked. Although I lengthened the 3/4 sleeves, I didn’t lengthen them enough! I’m not doing anything about that right now (I have enough fabric to add cuffs, for example) – I’ll wear it a couple of times before deciding whether to change the sleeve length or not.

Black/White Flared Top

I like the weight of the fabric, a knit, but with more heft than a t-shirt fabric. I have no idea how well it will wear – I have a hunch I will be dealing with pilling. It wasn’t a cheap fabric (even though it’s a synthetic without any natural fibre in it) so I won’t be surprised if I have to shave it after wearing it; whereas the fabric in the burgundy top has a slightly polished surface and it shouldn’t pill at all.

No doubt about it, the quality of fabric, even “good” fabric, is not the same as say 25 years ago. The integrity of the weave, the stability of the fibres, have deteriorated. When I make or buy something I want it to last a good while. I hate garments that make it through one season and then look shabby and need to be thrown out.

I finished the burgundy corduroy pants last week. I adjusted the crotch depth (I removed 3/4″ from the back panel which seems to have eliminated the fold that occured on the teal pants).

Burgundy Pants
Teal Pants

The reality is, even if I’ve made the pattern before (sometimes many times), each new garment is still a muslin! There are always adjustments to be made. The fabrics hang a wee bit differently. There’s more or less stretch in one fabric which changes the fit. Good thing what draws me to making clothes for myself is the challenge each new garment offers!

Full Tummy Adjustment!

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No point in denying it – my pants pattern needed a FTA. There are lots of descriptions for adjusting for a full tummy; here’s one: https://www.tillyandthebuttons.com/2023/06/full-tummy-adjustment.html.

In the pants I just finished I incorporated a FTA in the traced pattern. It has resulted in a good fit at the waist, nicely draping coverage across my tummy, with no pulling when I do up the front fly zipper.

I followed the instructions in Jenny Rushmore’s “Ahead Of The Curve”. I started by putting on an unadjusted pair of pants/jeans, buttoning the waistband but leaving the zipper gaping so I could measure how much I needed to add to make the tummy fit work. Then I drafted the changes she laid out – a horizontal cut connected to a diagonal cut, with a cut from top to horizontal cut to open the waistband.

Full Tummy Adjustment – FTA

I made those adjustments on my pattern (outlined in red – sort of). You can see I needed to open the top close to 3/4″ at the centre front, 1/4″ at the waistband, giving another 1/4″ (a shade under) at the centre front to make the fly flap straight.

My Adjustments

That gave me a nicely fitting front for the pants:

I wore them all day yesterday; I have them on again today. They stay snugly at my waist, they don’t pull down when I sit, and there’s no strain across the tummy. Comfortable. I’m making these same adjustments on the burgundy pair of pants I’m just about to cut out!

Yesterday and Today

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Dark Teal Corduroy Pants/Jeans
Closet Case – Ebony T-Shirt/Dress

I’ve been busy sewing. Yesterday made this pair of corduroy pants/jeans (which I’ve been wearing all day – they’re very comfortable with a waist that’s large enough but just snug enough with the help of a bit of elastic in the back, they aren’t pulling down which means the crotch depth is good). As you an see I used a fly front which let me shape the sides just a bit (can’t shape them much because I don’t have hips and my waist is almost the same measurement as my hips). I no longer bother with inside pockets – the top pockets work just as well and look OK. There are also two back jeans pockets and as always, the dart down the centre back to give the legs/bum a bit of shape.

Back View

There’s a jeans back yoke to shape the top hip area which works quite well. There is still some bagginess just below the bum which I suspect I could get rid of if I brought in the back crotch about an inch – I’m not going to do that on these pants. The fullness doesn’t show when I wear a tunic length top. However, I will try that with the next pair – a dark maroon to go with the Ebony T-shirt.

Today, I cut out and zipped up the flowing tunic top. Simple to make – stitch the shoulders, add the neck facing, sew in the sleeves, stitch the underarm and side seams, finally hem sleeves and bottom. Two-three hours work. I lengthened the tunic by 2″ adding an extra 1 1/2″ to the front. In previous iterations of the tunic I found it tended to hang shorter in the front than the back – this time I have managed to even it up.

I love having a dedicated coverstitch machine – it makes hemming garments (and other projects) a snap. That precise double row of stitching which covers the hem edge on the inside gives the garment that commercial finished look and it’s so easy to do. My advice to people who do a reasonable amount of garment sewing is to buy a good mechanical serger without a lot of bells and whistles, and invest in a separate coverstitch machine as well, rather than an expensive serger with coverstitch which takes an annoying amount of time to convert from serging to coverstitch and back again! The two machines will likelky cost lest than that fancy serger. My covertitch machine just needs threading (which is very simple) and it’s always ready to go.

Tomorrow I will cut out the magenta corduroy pants and get those whipped together over the next few days.

Still Here!

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Christmas Cakes Baking
Socks
Playing Around With Quilt

Nearly a month – I bet you though I’d dropped off the face of the earth…. I haven’t. I did bake the Christmas Cakes the week after Canadian Thanksgiving (I forgot to write about that); I’ve finished a pair of socks and am half way through another pair; been playing around with that quilt – it’s not happening, Oh well. I put it aside while waiting for another yard and a half of the background fabric from the Fat Quarter Shop – it got here this morning. I’ve got a pair of navy corduroy pants partially made – I AM going to sit down and work on them right after this!

Yesterday I spent the afternoon sharing my quilts and wall art pieces with a Seniors Class at the SCANS group – a receptive and engaged group, including the one man who is a wood turner and interested in the commonalities between what he does and I do!

I’ll take time to write about the quilt as soon as I get the pants finished. I just wanted to touch base and let you know I haven’t disappeared!

Face Masks Again…

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New Face Masks

I’ve got a collection of face masks hanging on the door handle of my apartment, more on the coat closet doorknob, a couple in my car. They’ve been dormant for the summer and early fall but I’m putting them on again when I’m going into populated places, or medical appointments (because I’m usually asked to), and sometimes when I join the cribbage group on Monday evening. I’m wearing one more and more; I washed six yesterday when I did the laundry.

This past week one of the card women mentioned wanting a couple of new masks; my naturopath said the same thing to me on Friday. I’d been thinking about making a few new ones anyway. I happened to see a suitable fabric at Sew With Vision last week – I bought a half metre, I found another half metre of a fabric that went with it in my stash (you can just see the red peeking out in the lower mask).

Today I cut out two masks, made them up. I was using a pattern by SeeKateSew and while I didn’t follow her directions, I did use her template. The last time I made a batch of face masks I made her Adult M; this time I made Adult L – a better fit from nose to chin for me (and I’m guessing for other people, too). After finishing the two masks for myself, I cut out six more to sew and give away. (My wrist is still bothering me, rotary cutting is painful, but I put up with the pain to get this done.) I’ll get them sewn together in the next couple of days!

An Idea…

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Fabric with Fat Quarter Solids – Colour
In Black/White to Show Values

I was looking at the print fabric and the solid fat quarters and thinking I didn’t have “light” in my collection. So I eliminated the colour to see what my tonal contrasts looked like – not too bad, but I could use a bit more light in my colour assortment.

Also, I want to showcase the print even though, in a sense, it’s the background. I found an idea on Pinterest I thought might accomplish that for me:

You have to stretch your imagination to visualize the white above as my print fabric, and the print triangles as my solids. Even further, I’m thinking I will break up the triangle with strips from at least two different solids and include a narrow strip of the background fabric as well.

Just playing around with scrap fabric I start to get a sense of what this idea might yield:

Playing Around

Now imagine that bullrush print as my bright yellow/orange/turquoise/green fabric, those triangle elements as the bright solids above and you get a glimmer of where I think I’m heading. I have more bullrush fabric and a couple of different brown/taupe solids to add to the above – tomorrow I’ll do those and include them to the array.

There is actually a pattern for this quilt online: Lagoon Quilt Tutorial but I’m not planning on following it. The block size in the pattern is 4 1/2″ – I want to end up with 5″ or 6″ blocks (not sure which yet). My final quilt size will be more rectangular then the Baby or Lap quilts for which Erika @ KitchenTableQuilting gives dimensions. Her triangles are “solid”, mine will be striped. Lots of differences. What I’m taking from the quilt photo is the inclusion of squares from the background fabric – in my case, the foreground fabric! What I didn’t want was to bury that very interesting print amidst the solids – this way I can showcase it.

One thing stopping me from proceeding at the moment is that I don’t have enough of the print fabric. I’ve ordered some (because my local shop has none left), and I’m waiting for it to arrive! (I’m also in hold mode because my right wrist has decided to be painful – arthritis that will take a bit of time to settle down – cutting with a rotary cutter is almost impossible and I tried but can’t cut with my left hand). As soon as the fabric arrives (and my wrist settles down), I’ll get to work on this quilt.

Finished This Morning

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Qu8ilt Top
Quilt Back

I chose to complete this quilt with a facing/hidden binding (mitred corners) and did the hand stitched blind hem on the quilt back this morning.

The quilting took just three days – that’s because I elected to quilt the top in 4-block squares. That meant each row had to have a half design (because the top was constructed with 9 columns). I decided to stagger the quilting blocks so the half block elements alternated from one side to the other – half using the right side of the design, the other half using the left. Nobody but me will ever notice. All anyone looking at the quilt will see is the fact that it is quilted! I chose thread to match the background fabric on top; the bottom thread matches the blue/grey background fabric – same weight Wonderfil variegated, just a different colour. I embroidered the standard label I always use in a dark navy blue – I usually mute it to blend in but decided this time to make it stand out!

[BTW, no dragonflies, no embroidery – in the end I decided to let the circles be the focus of the work. In the photo you can see the colour and density change from bottom to top of the quilt – which was intentional.] I pieced the quilt back from scraps left over from the quilt top.

I was showing this quilt (top finished but not quilted) one evening last week to two friends when I realized if I build my next quilt using some version of half-square triangles, that would allow me to pull four-five quilts from my collection to go with it – my Parrsboro showing coming summer could become a collection of quilts created from half-square triangles! Each quilt would be seen differently because the HST theme would provide a new context. So now to think about block sizes and ways of combining the main fabric with the solids so the solids don’t take over the quilt – I want to showcase the print!

The print is Eclectic Elements – Abandoned (Rusted Patina) by Tim Holtz for Free Spirit. What grabbed me about the fabric was the rich colour pallet in yellow/oranges and turquoise/greens. When I pulled the solid fat quarters from a nearby box (conveniently at hand on the table in the shop) and laid them on the print the whole came alive. I figure there has to be a way to use the solids so they create a background and the print becomes the dominant feature (rather than the other way around – which is what I fear may happen)! My idea is this: start by cutting 4 1/2″ strips from the print, then cut 2 1/2″ strips from the matching solids, sew them together in pairs, then create a tube from the print strip and the two solids strips, from which I can then cut half-square triangles! I may want to subdivide the solids even further before I pair them with the print – to break up the concentration of solid colour….

I need to play with this idea using scraps to see what actually happens!