Neat and Tidy Facing

Here is an easy, beautiful way to finish a shaped facing.

De-constructing this from the outside in:Above is the finished facing on the center front princess piece of McCall's 5426.

Opening it out, you see I have used self-fabric for the interfacing. Now, ideal would have been some cream colored batiste or lawn, but I don't have that at the moment. So I have oriented the self fabric so that the wrong side (which is lighter) will face the outside of the garment when folded in. Why a sew-in interfacing for a blouse? Well, why not? Especially with this method, where you are going to sew the interfacing in anyway to finish the edge of the facing. Sew in interfacing is less risky...it won't bubble in the wash! But, yes, you could do this technique with a fusible as well if you like. Orient the fusible so you sew it right side of fusible to right side of facing, then understitch, turn the fusible side in under the facing and fuse.

Opening the facing/interfacing out one more time, you see the seam between the two. I have used a 1/4" seam allowance b/c to use 5/8" would have made the facing a bit too thin. I have also understitched the interfacing to encourage the interfacing/facing seam to roll to the underside and become invisible.
You could use this technique to nicely finish any kind of facing. I especially like it for a keyhole opening, waist facing, or, as in this case, a blouse center front.

One final note: I always tell my students to do the most difficult sewing tasks (i.e., cutting) when they are freshest. But, as Jedi Master Yoda would say, "Practice what I preach, I don't." So, I cut all the blouse pieces out last night. I was thrilled to have them done...until this morning when I discovered I had cut all the color, stand, and interfacing pieces doubled so that I had two right sides of everything. Nothing was mirrored! Duh!

Made-For-You Patterns

(yeah, that's me, I lost weight and got a perm!)

Well, I just started to cut a blouse pattern out for myself. I've had this one, McCall's 5426, since last spring. But I'm determined to make some decent things for myself. I'm tired of buying blouses at the mall that shrink up to useless wrinkly rags after a couple washes.

I didn't even notice that this pattern is labeled MADE-FOR-YOU. Apparently, this means that there are different bodice fronts for different bust cup sizes. Eureka!!! It's about damn time.

But then I was left with a quandary...should I use my high bust measurement to chose my pattern size, as I usually do, or my full bust size?

So, I compared both front pieces for the C-D cup with the front pieces for the smaller cups. It appears that the neck and shoulders are identical. So, I will chose the same pattern size that I would had I expected to have to do a FBA, according to the high bust measurement. We'll see how this works.

Let's hope I do better with this blouse than I did with my daughter's winter coat (still in a pile of tissue/fabric pinned pieces.) If I do, then I need about 3 more blouses. Not to mention pants that fit. I used to make almost all my clothes. What happened to that??

In any case, if you're bigger than a B-cup and need to regularly make an FBA, why not search for this MADE-FOR-YOU line? I haven't seen it promoted much, but it's there....and maybe if they sell a lot of them, other pattern companies will follow suit.

A Beautiful Weekend

I've been busy dyeing for weeks. This Saturday my friend Carolyn and I participated in a small sheep and wool festival. It was a beautiful event. Though the morning threatened rain, the sun came out by noon and it couldn't have been nicer.

Lots of people showed up, family dogs in tow, girls in long flowy dresses and skirts, ladies sporting hand-crafted hats, shawls, sweaters and scarves. There were men in kilts and weavers in pioneer wear. Re-enactments of sheep trials, bagpipe music, and sheep shearing, spinning and weaving were among the activities and demos. And, of course, food and crafts for kids.

I have to say that the quality of the vendors was superb, from authentic Scottish tartans to Cormo fleece I wanted to roll around in, to hand hooked, crocheted, and woven wool rugs, and of course hand-dyed yarns and rovings. All with the Hudson River gleaming in the background. And can I just say, thank God for Zyrtec!

I forgot my camera. I always must forget something, so this wasn't such a bad thing to forget considering. But my booth-mate Carolyn took some photos before the fair was open to the public and posted them on her blog. By the way, her handspuns were flying out of there. But she will list what's left in her etsy shop. You can't pet them online of course, but I will tell you that there were constant ooohs and ahhhs emanating from those that did Saturday!

Fleece of Many Colors

Remember this?Well I washed it (something I will never do again as it took hours, countless gallons of water, and a toll on my knees....and I can have it done at a fiber mill for $5/pound!) and it came out like this:
Then I spent over a week picking out hay and seeds and such. (Well, I've still got about a pound to go!) Here are a few picked locks:
Teased, you can see the nice crimp:By the way, this stuff feels like a cross b/w bunny fur and baby hair. It's very pleasant to work with.

Next step, dye the locks different colors:So far I have dyed the purple you see above, red, blue, green and yellow locks. To dye, I place the locks in mesh lingerie bags and immerse in my crockpots, just as when I dye roving and top.

So now what? Here's the really fun part....I've been combing the different colors together! Here is how it works....

First, combs are spiky, sharp things. If you note some small holes in my thumb and fingers, this is why. Combs work in sets of two. I'm using small combs I have borrowed from the spinning guild. One comb is clamped to the table (that's our kitchen table, which now serves as dye workbench, combing station, and, soon, carding station!) The free comb is used in a motion first perpendicular to the stationary comb, then parallel to it. In the process the fiber is transferred from the stationary comb, to the moving comb, and back again, as many times as necessary to blend the fibers sufficiently.

There is an excellent tutorial on combing here at Red Stone Yarns, and I couldn't explain it any better than that! But, just in case that's not enough for you, there are some pdf tutorials here on the Majacraft site. Oh, and I'll say one more time...combs are sharp things.

First the locks are "loaded" onto the stationary comb: (I doubt this is the origin of "locked and loaded" but it could be!)Combing purple locks:Comb is moving left to right. Note fiber beginning to accumulate on moving comb.

Once all fiber has transferred to moving comb, it is combed vertically (though the moving comb remains held with tines to the side), transferring all fiber back to the stationary comb. Below, see the nice, fluffy, combed purple fiber.
Now I repeated with yellow locks:And ended up with two fluffy piles....one purple, and one yellow:
They are both loaded together onto the stationary comb:
And repeat the combing process. Remember trolls?
With the fiber back on the stationary comb, it's time to pull it off into a sliver (sly-ver). The fiber is pulled through a diz, or, in my case, a button with large holes.Here's the nice, blended purple and yellow combed top, ready to spin:
Rolled into a nice ball of fluff:Now, I will note here that combing produces more waste than carding. What's left are short fibers that are picked off the combs after each step...here's my pile:My husband would like to save this to make a dog bed for Her Royal Majesty Seven of Nine. He's welcome to it. Some people use it for felting, or in their gardens as mulch. Who needs irises if the mulch is purple and yellow?

Anyway, here.....drum roll please....is the resulting 2-ply sport weight yarn created after spindling the above troll's hair:This is about 6 grams of yarn, 1/4 ounce, or, enough for a large sweater for a small rat.
One final note: Had I continued combing the yellow and purple together, eventually I would've had brown. Purple and yellow are complements. Complements make wonderful visual partners, but you have to be careful to keep them from blending too thoroughly! You will note that the finished yarn is much more subtle in color than the starting locks. The complementary colors have blended just enough to give it an overall more earthy look while still retaining some of the individual purple and yellow detail. That is the beauty of combining colors "dyed in the wool."

Altering Beaded Clothing

I try not to cringe when my client opens her garment bag and reveals a beaded gown, I really do. But altering beaded gowns can really be a PITA.

Here, briefly, are some strategies I've found useful:

• Beware of chain-stitched lines of beads...if you pull the wrong thread, they will come off like a zipper un-zipping.
  
• To stop a chain of beads from un-zipping you must find a loose loop near the last attached bead. You've got to secure that loop. You can thread the thread tail through a needle (the tail will usually be found on the wrong side of the fabric), bring it up to the front, through the loop, and secure it on the back. Or, elongate the loop, bring it to the back and tie it directly to the thread tail at back. Or, often what I do is to thread a length of matching thread on a needle, bring it up somewhere near the loop, through the loop, back underneath, then probably secure further by backstitching through a couple beads.
  
• When altering something with many beads, for example hemming a gown that has scattered beads all around the skirt, I sometimes use a toothpick to place tiny dots of glue behind each bead. That way, if I cut a thread that would allow the beads to un-hitch, the threads are still secured.
• Beads can be removed without disturbing the thread that secures them. This is especially useful when removing beads from a design motif. Use a sturdy pliers to break the beads. Or, some people use a small hammer. Either way, you must place a tissue, fabric, or other shield between the breaking beads and your eyes. They are glass. Also, make sure to vigorously shake out the garment area afterwards to be sure the little glass pieces are gone. I have even vacuumed garments to be sure.
  
• I find that single beads can usually be removed safely without a chain reaction. But pull on neighboring beads to be sure. And save any intact beads you remove in case you need to replace any.
• I remove only as many beads as I think I will need to to sew the seam with a zipper foot. With the zipper foot I can get very close to remaining beads, but it's necessary to go slowly to avoid hitting the beads with the needle, or getting the beads caught in the needle plate and preventing the fabric from feeding.
• Milliner's needles are long and thin, great for working with beads.
• Sequins can usually be cut, and even sewn through, with little consequence.
  

Casualties of Multi-Tasking

So, I'm a bit frantic lately.

I have all my usual sewing work, of course.

And, now, the dyeing. I'm also trying to dye a much larger amount than usual because I'll be participating in a small local sheep and wool festival. (I have to figure out how to display it, and how to get said display there.)

Did I mention I'm teaching myself to card and comb fleece?

I also have a sewing class going one night a week. And a new class starting next month (Advancing Sewing Techniques...if you were taking it, what would you want to learn?).

And, costumes for a theatrical production based on the book The Little Prince by Antoine de Saint Exupéry (If you have never read this short story...you're missing a gem.)

Oh, I also have my creativity class on Sunday nights. Two spinning guilds, and our ASG Neighborhood Group meetings.

And I have to get a knot removed from the side of my head. Nothing serious...I just have a lumpy head.

Ah, yes, and my daughter has a social life that would rival that of Queen Elizabeth. I serve as secretary, driver, and "Momma J" (chief cook and bottle-washer my Gram P would say) to whoever is living here on any particular night. The Princess also has babysitting classes, guitar, religion, and theater to cram into her schedule, not to mention the orthodontist. Good thing she has an assistant! (imagine little smiley face with rolling eyes here, please.)

Between her schedule and mine, I had to travel to the next town, and back, 4 times Saturday. No, I couldn't just stay there to save gas...I had wool in crockpots, sand creatures to cut and sew, and appointments with clients. And anyway, I really enjoy cramming money into the gas tank.

Oh, I'm quite happy with my busy life, and when it gets overwhelming I remind myself how fortunate I am to be able to do all that I do. When I dread putting groceries away, for example, I think how grateful a less fortunate mom would be to have the same opportunity I take for granted every two weeks.

But there are, at times, mix-ups and screw-ups that happen when I'm especially busy and distracted. Today, for example, I pulled into the driveway wondering who was parked in front of my house. It was a client I'd forgotten had an appointment. I have also showed up at the wrong time for at least one thing in the past couple weeks, forgotten to send promised emails, and forgotten to turn on 3 out of my 4 crockpots.... not realizing it until 2 hours later when the timer went off and only one was hot.

In past years, at other times when I've felt our family a "lean, mean, schedule machine" I have done some pretty dumb things too.

I have, for example, dropped at least one kid off at religion when there was no class.

Realized, after who knows how long, that although I'd been diligently buckling my son into his car seat every outing, the car seat was not buckled into the car. (He's 18 now.)

I have put my purse in the fridge.

And driven towards the grocery store when I was supposed to be going to the dentist.

I've gone out in public with scissors hanging around my neck. And almost gone out with my slippers on! (Slippers feel different on the front walk than shoes with hard soles....thank goodness for small favors.)

I've forgotten pretty much everything you can forget to bring places....wallets, lists, forms, food, .....everything but pants it seems! (thank goodness for small favors)

And the house. Ah, the house. Well, it's a bit "early casual dust cloud."

Yeah, I'll catch up. In the meantime, I guess I'll just buckle up and enjoy the ride. (Just point me in the right direction, huh?)

Stuff You (hopefully) Only Hear in a Theater

• "Where's my blood rags?"
• "The leaves are under the table in a box marked 'mushrooms'"
• "Remind John to stay out of the orchard when the door's open"
• "We accidentally ate a prop in the lighting booth."
• "Will you check out my tail?"
• "Can you glue me?!"
• "I can't find my nose!"
• "Someone needs to plug in the wedding dress."
• "There is no such thing as Spain."
• "She needs a smaller pocket, inside the big pocket, so she can find her cheese."
• "Push out the giant Coco Puffs ahead of you."
• "One of my screws is loose."
• "My mustache really hurts."
• "The rats are having a hard time seeing where they're going."
  
• "Please don't eat the props!"