Refashioners 2016 Denim Had Ambition, Pep

This is what we start with 

This is all we end up with.

The jacket' toile was a dud, I need a new block to start from. That's not going to happen for a few months, I have paid work coming in.

I had fine ambitions and lovely textures in mind. That bias at the top left? That was going to be the cuffs (runs off crying)

I wanted to start with a sampler of possibilities, so I figured I could use another hat.

Strip the jeans into the parts I wanted and let it work itself out from there.

Yes, that was a relined pocket. It's day is done.

Ooh. This is where the idea starts, with these layers and wear marks and contrast.

Collage hat in progress.

Measure twice

Cardboard pattern this time

Yeah, I'm still working on Ernie Kap 2.0. What's it to you!

A scalpel is a beautiful seam ripper

I anchor the end of the piece I'm ripping to the tabletop with one of these Irwin quick clamps. Not as pretty as the vintage 3rd hand birdy, but faster and more uses around the house.

(and no, I don't get money from Amazon. Those links are just so you can see what the thing is called in the real world and how much they cost. Hardware stores all over carry them one apiece. Only I need four of them. Maybe more.)

Measured against the headband piece. Making a cardboard pattern for this makes sense: I make a lot of these hats.

I put interfacing in the waistband/headband

Layers of seams, sewed down the belt loops, the button is no longer needed.

The top is a collage of mending techniques that I am not in love with. This is a sample for my entertainment.

 Voila. That's it.

And you will have to wait until Spring, my friends.

Storage Or Where To Put It

Expanding on today's topic on the Instagram #sewphotohop of storage tips,

I try to do right by the patterns, first of all.

I put all the patterns in acid-free magazine and comic book bags

The envelopes don't get caught on each other this way, and since I already buy them for my comix, I get them in bulk dirt cheap.

It's also easier to fold patterns to that size and put them in with the cover, rather than try to stuff them all back in together again.

Also helps hold the traced pieces.

and I store the best ones waaaay up off the floor

They come in different sizes

Golden age size comics are the biggest  7 1/2 X 10 1/2

Silver Age  7 x 10 

Current Size  6.75 X 10.5

Or you can get magazine sized bags.

They don't have a zipper edge that might rub on the envelope when you pull them out and put them back in, they are cheaper in bulk and the current sized bags fit most patterns (the larger Vogues fit in the Golden age bags).

You can also get appropriately sized storage boxes at the same place.

Don't get the long boxes- they bend and buckle and when full, weigh too much. 

They do fit under a Twin sized bed.....right next to the Captain America collection.

(and don't buy this stuff online. You live near a comic book shop whether you know it or not. The shipping on the boxes will kill you, and that local shop would love your local love).  It also amuses them to talk to folks who are not... their usual clientele. Go ruin their expectations!

Fabric gets folded to the size of the cupboard space. You know how to do that.

I do try to break it up with cardboard 'boxes'

trays (only Costco calls these boxes, thank you) between groups.

There is an organizational theory here, a new one every month, right after the avalanche...

However, where I think I have forged ahead in storage tech is in storing the unfoldables.

The vinyl. 

The pleather.

The nylon.

AKA: the unironables.

Tucked away in the back of the basement, across from the  deep storage for books, they hang on the wall.

They are draped over a long heavy cardboard tube that I ran a cord through, and screwed to the wall on both ends. I can unhook the loop and take it down if I need to. The tube is from Pacific Fabrics upholstery section. Thanks Leah!

Far enough off the floor to be single layers and out of the way.

Yes, they'll need dusting.

I can do that.

An Hour With Roostery

Yes, I just can't spend enough time playing with Spoonflower. 

Yes, I sell stuff on them.

And I make stuff for my own entertainment and use

That tasteful disclaimer out of the way.......

ROOSTERY!

This was a hoot and a half of an hour

You can select patterns and virtually audition them on pre-chosen views.

We've done this on Sprout Patterns.

You cannot move the print around on Roostery, so you get what you get.

But I always throw a fit....

Attention: the fine print says:

 Please note, while we have done our best to accurately represent the color, position, and scale of this design, the finished product may be slightly different than appears in the preview.

Let's begin!

Looking good so far.

Oh, there's white line in the repeat space I did not see in the swatch or preview viewer. This could be a very useful tool as well as entertaining. 

But the print isn't centered.

This horizontal stripe only shows up in a full yard.

But the most fun is with the skeleton

This is a full yard piece on the performance pique width 

 Lovely tea towels. It says so in the description.

uh nope

This preview implies a different view than we get

This is not a useful view at all

and last but not least

Soooo..... big prints not a good idea.

But that cloud print looks really good......

I wonder what the Spoondollars are on a chair.

Revisiting the Landmarks and the House of Dud

The first week after working all summer is a little crazy. I run around town and catch up with the errands I didn't do since June.

Let's begin by mentioning that I don't get a dime for linking from this page. 

Stuff happened over the summer.

Sad turn of events. Kinokuniya Books at Uwajimaya is down to this bookcase for sewing books in Seattle. No more Bunka basics (the orange spined ones). 

Boooooooooo!

Picked these up, plus a Gudetama lazy egg toy and another mechanical pencil.That looks like a pencil; oh yeah. Book reports later. Could not find Cotton Friend in the magazines. Did find the Gothic Lolita cosplay magazines though. Plenty of them.

Library books I blew through.  Saga is a great comic book; it's about war and racism so don't be handing it to your toddlers. The everyday carry mending kit with the business card stuck in the top so it won't go astray anymore.

Also watched the Creative Live Christine Haynes 'Sylvie' dress sewalong. Decently done, interesting format for a Sewalong (the idea being you buy the 'class' and watch it as you're working through it, not a one day marathon like other CL shows). Not cheap by any means at $79, which I assume will drop as time goes by. It's fine, that's just a ridiculous amount of money for a video about one dress.

Hey, for 69 cents maybe it would work

And I could make that Chanel denim jacket for the Refashioners 2016: denim challenge

Muslin's not too bad

Used the muslin as interlining for a full muslin on a Brunschwig and Fils "Palm House" chintz freebie (a short yard given to me because the corner is missing from a swatch. Sure......I'll take it off your hands....) because we are supposed to do things that we are afraid of

This is as much as you need to see. It's just not working out very well. It can be saved with some trickery in the top of the sleeve seam, just not now. And I don't imagine we'll be seeing the denim version this month.

 I'm in need of a new bodice block for the fat arms and the rounded shoulders and the dowager's hump I have acquired since the rotator cuff injury a year ago.

Grrrrrr

So I made a bag for my sister. Fabric from District Fabrics. Turns out I know the local fabric designer; it's Impwear. Hi Tracy!

It's just a copy of her beloved travel Sportsac. Their coated ripstop gets....icky after a number of years. Yeah, icky is a kind word for it.

 I stripped all the hardware and zips and decided to keep the label grosgrain tape as well.

Even put in an inside pocket the size she requested

Because bags don't need a full set of new bodice blocks.

Unlike the shirt and the other shirt

This photo doesn't need to be any bigger than this, thanks.

Which brings us to McCalls 7360, which was supposed to be a TNT, which still needs adjustments across the shoulders.

I'm going to go read my Veblen and cry. I need a new block.

On a brighter note, the Joann's in North Seattle did not clear out all the DKNY/Donna Karan patterns out of their drawers. 

Now I have. You're welcome, JoAnn's.