I'm Stuck On You, Baby Clothes

Idly shopping at Michael's one evening after work (I was working as the costume designer for a 10 minute play festival) before COVID-19 made such window shopping impossible, I came across the cute yarn collection in the clearance aisle.  5 small balls of yarn in somewhat coordinating colors, intended for small projects and simple color patterning.  In a merino wool/nylon blend.  I am constitutionally incapable of passing up merino wool at a good price.  I bought it.  And then realized I needed a set of needles to go with it.  So I bought those, too, and trundled my way home through the cold, blowing January winds.

Aha! Granddaughter needs a hat, I said.  Perfect.

This was the final result.  I had no real plan, I just kind of winged the patterning, just plain old striping really, as I went along.  The whole hat is done in K1, P1 ribbing knit which made the decreases in the stitches for the hat shaping rather clumsy, but I think it turned out pretty cute nonetheless.  DIL loved it.  Granddaughter wasn't so sure she liked anything on her head.  Alas, in the manner of all babies, she grew out of it very quickly.  But still likes the tassel on the point, so the hat graduated from the hated (or at least disliked :o) hate is such a strong term) item of clothing to a coveted toy whose tassels she likes to hold in her hand and squish it in that delightfully squishy way that merino squishes.  Win, win.  And I have no doubt that Granddaughter will have a little brother or sister sometime in the next few years, so it's a good hat to pass on to the siblings.

Cute Baby Clothes

My oldest son and his wife had their first baby last August.  I didn't get to make nearly enough baby clothes as I was busy working ridiculous hours as a theatre costume shop manager.  This year will be different *evil grin*  This kid will have so many clothes, her mother will only have to do laundry once a month.

I did manage to make this batch early on before my work got beyond insane.  They didn't find out she was a girl until she was actually born, so I made mixes of girl and boy clothes.

I love footed pants for babies.  I think they're so adorable and they eliminate the dreaded Lost Sock Syndrome.  The tops are all onesies with binding around the neck and leg edges and long prong fasteners at the crotch.

These were made from Big 4 patterns, and as we all know, the fit left a great deal to be desired.  I used the newborn size and naturally they were all too big.  And my granddaughter was not a particularly small baby.  Let's just say she wore those footed pants with the narwhales for quite some time.

When my contract with the theatre ended in October, I did some serious revamping of the onesie pattern and also made Granddaughter a few dresses.  None of which I took pictures of, of course. 

However, she needs more, so I will definitely get pics of those.  I've got three different kitty cotton knits (okay, one is tigers, but those are just big kitties, right?) that I've been just dying to cut in to.

I've also got a red brocade to make her a Christmas dress (hey! can't prepare too early) but I'm going to wait on that for a bit.  Guessing what her size will be six months from now is not likely to be accurate.

The Freshness of a Garden

I've always loved having a garden, but it hasn't always been practical. My house has no land, but it does have a nice deck.

Garden solution? Raised beds, of course.

My house is at 1600 feet elevation, and I don't like to work outside in the cold. So, I didn't get this started until the last week of May. But I talked to a local lady gardener who said she plants her pole beans every year on June 1st. I figured I'd give it a go, since it works for her.

I wish I had pics of the construction process, but I didn't think that far ahead. The boxes are basically made of 2x12's with 2x4's as supports for the bottom. The bottom itself is hardware cloth to aid with drainage so my plants don't get "wet feet."

The bottom layer is discarded straw from my son's sheep and goat barn. Then a layer of topsoil, which, frankly, has way too much bark and twigs in it, but it was what I could get at the time. Then a layer of compost and a top layer of soil. Vermiculite has also been mixed in to select areas.  Peat moss and soil from my son's farm will be added square by square. I'm not going to get an amazing yield the first year, but I'm a long term planner.

It's Great to Be Back! Diary of an Amateur Gone Pro And Returned

It's been a strange time these last six years.  I remember when blogging and sewing were my two favorite things to do.  And then life happened.  Fast and furious, things radically changed for me.  Things that I loved doing were replaced by things that I thought I would love doing more.  In some instances, I was right.  In others, dreadfully wrong.

In June 2014, my kids were finally old enough that Mom could go out and get a job.  I'd been a primarily stay-at-home mom for 24 years.  It sounded like a good plan.

I live in an area where theatre and the arts are the biggest thing happening in the summertime.  There are world class museums, award-winning performance venues, famous names and faces everywhere.  So it's no surprise that I ended up working in the arts.

It came by a weird, roundabout way.  A friend of my oldest children saw the dresses I made for my daughter and offered me a job as a stitcher in the costume shop she managed.  The costume shop for an internationally traveling ballet company.  Three days a week.  Sew in the shop, they said.  It'll be fun, they said.

And it was.  As three days a week gradually became five days a week, I suddenly had a full time job.  Sewing.  It was great.

And before I knew it, I was asked to go on tour.

It wasn't an easy decision.  To go from stay-at-home mom to gone for two months was a radical move.  But in the end, the family and I decided it was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity too good to pass up.  I got me a passport.  I made myself a mountain of black clothes to wear backstage on tour.  And I prepped my family to make it without me.  It was a Christmas season tour.  I would miss my daughter's and son's birthdays.  I would miss Thanksgiving.  I would miss Christmas.  Hell! I missed Halloween.  I was due to arrive home in time for New Year's Eve.

Wardrobe Supervisor on a traveling tour is a challenging job.  The days are long. The crises you have to solve can be constant.  I went to 60 cities in 65 days and I didn't get to see much more than the theatre backstage in many of them.  But it was one helluva trip!

When I got back, I was asked to replace my sons' friend (who had become my friend, and still is) as costume shop manager.  Which I did.  Far cry from signing on as a stitcher for three days a week, huh?

Somewhere in there, we bought a new house and moved about 40 minutes away from our old house.  One of my sons moved to an urban environment for a new job, hated it, bought a house about a mile from our new one and moved back.  Another son got his own apartment and moved out, then moved back into our old house after we moved into the new house.  Whew!

I also got my EMT certification, something I'd wanted to do for 20+ years.  I now volunteer at my local fire department. 

The gig at the ballet lasted for two and half years.  There are costumes out there that I have made with my two hands that have been seen and appreciated by thousands, no millions of people.  It is a thing I will always remember.

After that ended, I went to work in the local theatre's costume shops, sometimes as a stitcher, sometimes a first hand, sometimes as shop manager.  And I've been the costume designer on more than one occasion for entire shows.  I love costume. I love theatre.  But last year, I realized that's its not really for me.

I was costume shop manager last year, with nine staff and four interns to manage.  Most weeks I worked all seven days.  During tech week, I worked sixteen hour days, seven days a week.  I barely saw my family.  I rarely made it home to Sunday night family dinner.  What was I doing?

Then, my first grandchild was born in August.  And my priorities changed.  And I decided that a professional career in the arts wasn't for me if I couldn't do it and have time for my husband, and kids, and now a granddaughter.  It just wasn't the path I wanted to take in life.  Besides, sewing in the shop made me uninterested in sewing for myself or anyone else when I got home.

Aside from all that, being in quarantine helped me realize that I actually like the slower and more sedate pace of being at home.  Granted, it didn't feel like that when the kids were small, but I look back on it nostalgically now (please don't throw tomatoes, all you moms of toddlers dealing with temper tantrums right now).  My daughter is 16 now, and one of the most enjoyable people I know to spend time with.  My sons are all adults.

I spent six years in the arts.  Wouldn't change it for the world.  But I'm done now.  Except for the occasional short term projects I might accept.  Depending on my mood.  That's not to say I haven't still got a full plate of work and family and volunteering and hobbies.  Just not a career in the arts.

If you've made it this far and you've had the patience to read my saga, I thank you for your kindness.

I'm glad to be back.  And I expect to be blogging about sewing again.  And gardening.  And me cute grandbaby.  And all the other projects I get wrapped up in.

Braided Rag Rug

I think I mentioned that I made alot of clothes this year for the family out of some really nice wool knits.  Some were interlock, some jersey, some ponte knit.  All of them were very, very nice.  And I decided I couldn't bear to throw a single scrap away.

What to do?

Well, a rag rug, of course.  Isn't that the thought uppermost in everyone's mind.  No? Well, I AM weirder than most, I suppose.

My mother always crocheted rugs.  Where I grew up there were numerous textile factories, and there were always overruns of rolls and rolls of binding.  Usually about 1 inch wide, they were perfect for crocheting rugs and my mom made big ones--one long hallway runner was probably about 4 feet wide and a good 8-10 feet long. 

She showed me how when I was little, and I did make a few.  But I never enjoyed crocheting as much as she did and it's one of the few textile arts that I just. don't. do.

But I do like throw rugs.  Husband makes jokes about them being skateboards. I can't really argue--they do kind of have to be fastened down somehow or else they're hazardous to your health.  But they're so pretty.  And they keep the floor warm.  And they're fun to make!

Husband will just have to learn to be more careful.  :o)

Anyhow, I had all these scraps leftover from cutting out shirts and leggings and things.  Alot of them were already in long strips, some of them had to be cut, though.  And then I braided them together into a great long rope.

Initially, when I started stitching, I used the zigzag on my sewing machine.  I thought I was so clever and that I was going to have a rug in no time. And I was right.  Sort of.  Right up until it came time to stitch the portion of the rope that I had braided some scraps of viscose/nylon/lycra ponte knit into.  My machine revolted. My vintage machine rebelled.  My computerized machine sat in the corner, sulking and wailing.  My trusty compatriots abandoned me in my hour of need.

I broke down and handstitched it.

Wasn't as bad as I thought it would be.  Didn't really enjoy crawling around on the floor for the 4 or 5 hours it took, but I didn't hate it either. 

Now, I have a rug.  Granted, it's a little wonky in the center portion.  A rope made of wool knit stretches alot more than you think it might.  So that center portion got a little stretched in construction, but I think it'll settle down after it's been walked on a bit.

I've been told the colors don't go together.  My response?

It's like the forest. There's lots of rocks and dirt and dead leaves and bark that are gray and black and brown and bright green leaves overheard.  And then there's flowers which are pink and purple and red.

Don't tell me my colors don't go together.  If it works for Mother Nature, it works for me.

I haven't finished off the end yet.  I still have dreams of making it bigger. I just ran out of scraps.  But it's not like there won't be more in the future.  Scraps, I mean.

And I'm patient.

Hand Embroidered Applique

I think I've mentioned before how much I love Michelle Carragher's work in embroidery.  She uses not only thread, but beads, rings, crystals and other embellishments to make the most incredible designs. So I thought I'd give it a try myself.

I started with a quick sketch of an eagle in flight. After all, animals are easy, right? Wrong.  Categorically wrong.

Then I fastened a piece of black organza over the top of the sketch to an empty cardboard box. I simply used straight pins and pushed them through the cardboard to hold the two layers together.  Use lots of pins, because organza likes to slide around when you're tracing.

After that, I used a Fons & Porter chalk quilting pencil to trace the sketch onto the organza.

A really good pencil sharpener can put a nice point on a chalk pencil if you're careful not to break the chalk.  Good thing I have a nice collection of sharpeners.

Once you have your pattern traced, you can put the organza into an embroidery hoop and get started.  On this fabric, it helped if I put a black fabric on my lap so I could see the traced lines easier.

Here's the start of the wings.

Wings, tail, and head finished.  For the inside of the wings, I used one strand each of two different colored embroidery threads. Don't ask me which colors.  These are vintage embroidery flosses that I've had for a lifetime.

Chest and feet complete the thread design.

Some seed beads added to the wings, chest, and tail.  Seed beads make up the claws and the eye.  Ideal? No, but it's what I had on hand.  A trip to the bead store is a half hour and if I remember correctly, I was doing this at about 2am.

Then I coated the entire back side of the design with Alene's Jewel-It using a paintbrush.  I don't know if you can even get this stuff anymore, but it is my favorite fabric glue.  Stays soft and flexible, which is perfect for something like this.  And then I cut away the organza.  Very, very carefully.

And that's the finished applique.  Ready to be stitched to your garment of choice.  I haven't decided what to do with this one yet.

Wool Knits and Jalie Patterns

So back in November (maybe?) when FabricMartFabrics.com had their big sale on wool knits, I bought ....and astonishing amount of yardage from them.  Which I then proceeded to make woolen warm clothes for the whole family.  I got a combination of jerseys, interlocks, and ponte knits, all of them almost 100% wool.  A little itchy, like all wools but the most cozy merinos, but for $8-$12 a yard, who's complaining?

I used mostly Jalie patterns, as I am in love with their fit and all those sizes. One of the first Jalie patterns I ever bought was 2328, their men's thermal underwear pattern. I've used it countless times for either my husband or one of my three boys.  I've got the paper pattern which is no longer available. It's still available off the Jalie website as a download, however.

Here it is in a heathered gray wool ponte knit.  I used the three yards I bought of this fabric for a pair of leggings for me, one for DD, and one for DIL as well as this pair of thermal pants for one of my sons.

I also made a whole lot of shirts for my sons and husband using Jalie 2918. No pics of those, but there's only so much to see.  It's a t-shirt. Nuff said.

For DIL, I made this matching set of leggings and Jalie 2806 the gathered scoop neck top.  I made a whole lot of these for myself a couple of years ago.  These are made of wool/lycra jersey in a gorgeous periwinkle.  Not my color, but it looks fabulous on her.  The leggings I made from a pattern copied from a pair of leggings she already has that she likes the fit.

Apologies for the crummy pictures.  Laying things out on the floor is not my preferred way of displaying my creations, but it's snowing and blowing outside and kinda dim and dreary inside.

All in all, since November, I made alot of tops and pants for all the members of the family.  Good thing, too, 'cuz it's been coooold this year.