Mending and Repairs, Family, Work and Sewing (why can't I use pins and thread to fix them?)

 

This year is throwing the entire trash can of trouble at me. I am not fond of sharing my personal life on this sewing blog, but it's rocky. Work has sucked a lot of my attention, it's not going well, and I have counted on work to distract me from my personal life. There is a high likelihood I will lose my job, or that my job will disappear. 

No, sewing is not a job. Not one that I can make enough money at.

(redacted gripe about how the standard response to something I've made is: you could sell that. No. Stop it. Not everything can or should be monetized)

Meanwhile, I made mittens. And then remade them because they were not warm enough. More often than not, when I sew a thing to fill a need, the act of creation eliminates the need. I'm sick of icy streets and sidewalks; make new mittens.

Voila! Winter, begone!

I know I made a mitten pattern or two, but I know I did not like the results so started over from available materials and first principles.  I have a fleece glove that fits just perfectly.

So I traced it off.

I have a lot of  fleece chunks and scrap from a project I did for SewBaby back last century (at least I haven't had to move so haven't had to ditch the useful stash).

I ended up handsewing them while I watched Svengoolie. It's a quick sew, it's repetitive in a soothing way, I could keep an even and very small seam allowance.

A little tailoring to fit

I wore them outside and rapidly realized they would need some lining to keep the wind out. 

Found some Spoonflower lycra scrap and put it on the interior non-thumb side.

Trusty hand model led to silly video at the start of this post.

In the same vein, I repaired the welts on my Orange "I am my own traffic cone" parka. 
I did not do as tidy or invisible a job, because I apparently alternate between doing a good job and an adequate one.

I am working on a pair of jeans, in moleskin, that I realized will need lining. This realization came pretty far into the process, so we're going to end up with a 'lining your jeans' focused post. Meanwhile, I am going to spend today working on the duties spreadsheet my boss has requested for our meeting tomorrow. 

Don't get comfortable.

PS: a new to me fix for a broken jacket zipper bottom tab on this video link (will start at the fix I am referencing). Low temp hot glue stick and a plastic straw!

https://youtu.be/xox768Pcwtg?si=MndJm4pxB4qPEBH3&t=45

Sewing that doesn't fit into one post or another: some WIPS

 I could just skip blogging June entirely. 

Work has been nuts. I am making myself sit at my computer to write this (all I do all day long is sit at a computer. Oy) 

I have been sewing. Mending.

This mini backpack has needed a handle forever. Wrapped a length of webbing around upholstery welting for a handle, opened up that back horizontal webbing and poked it in place, and stitched it back up. More sewing with plyers while watching Svengoolie.

Still needs a tidy up. Also one of the long straps is missing an end and about ten inches of strap. 

Yoinks.

I had to take the presser foot off to get it under the needle.

Finishing the Felix lobster dress I started last summer; because I CAN.

I changed the neck facing 

(made a coordinating print on Spoonflower and hated it after it was all sewn on)  

and auditioning sleeves.  And yes, I recut the skirt to stop it from poofing out so much.

I dunno. Going to safety pin it and try it on.

and a mask for seeing this

through July 3rd

https://www.seattlerep.org/plays/202122-season/bruce/

the last remnant from the Shark lap quilt
https://erniekdesigns.blogspot.com/2017/05/shark-quilt.html

The Cuties don't fit because cake. 

I need to add some fabric in the side seams.

Mmmmmmm poppin'

 I may have to lose the sleeves to do this. I have more of these dresses, but some might be made of fabric I can't photograph and put on the blog, ya know.

There was cake. And work and family anxiety. And cake.

And I have about ten blogs about projects that aren't quite ready to go.

More will be said about some of these things, but I just can't sit here anymore and type right now.

Work From Home: This chair hurts me. I can fix that

The cat owns the chair when I'm not on it.

And it's killing me now that I'm sitting on it eight hours a day.

Maybe it needs more padding.

 The process is the project.

Pretty self explanatory.

Using stuff I have around the house

This works

Darts

Pliers for pulling the needle in a tight spot

Work from home office, except now the PPP ran out and I'm on standby.
At 0% hours.
I know, it could be worse.
Stay safe kids.

Ida approves this chair

ReMake Nine: Some Challenge Thing Results

Last year, Green Violet did this

I remake stuff all the time, so it was a fair idea.

This is what I was going to do

Make a pullover bra from underpants

Remodel / resize t shirts

Transform a skirt into a hat

Reweave some sweaters

Make socks into mittens

Refashion one thing into another

Make two tshirts into one

Mend something into usefulness from the bottom of the pile

I have no bingo, even with a wild card in the middle.

Unders: I have photos, for my reference only. It does not quite work, but not for the reasons I thought. 

Simply: I like a wider bra band than an pair of underpants can provide. That waist elastic is too skinny for me. BUT THIS DOES WORK. You do need to put fold over elastic for the neck straps, and extend them past where the crotch fabric goes, but for a light day bra, yeah.

T Shirts: oh yes

 Slice em off and hem em up. Rinse and repeat. Although this one was a mistake, as when Spouse raised his arms to swing golf club, previously too long shirt raised to show off navel.
Note to self: do not alter too-large golf wear.

The best one this year was the Poe sweater from Archie's: it was too big by half, but not anymore.

I took it apart into pieces and moved the whole body up three inches (or lowered the neckline: pick one, same thing).

Cut carefully. Plan your piece cuts carefully. Make pattern pieces just to be safe.

It's a pattern for the neckline, so I can replicate it three inches lower.

Save any yarn you can to resew the neck back on 

(so it will stretch)

The redone shoulder and top armhole seam, interior.

Transformed: Skirt into hat: Not yet.

Years ago (2014), I cut a wool miniskirt into chunks to make a hat. The parts resurfaced when I made this grid. And then it disappeared again. No, I can't find the pieces. I could have sworn I still had photos on this blog. Apparently not.

Reweaving: oh yesss, Very overexposed to show the stitches.

This is the fun one.
Apparently I did not blog this one?

Now I have.

Feet into hands: Socks into mittens: did not work. It could, but I lacked patience. 

 Made mittens instead, cause needed mittens.

Refashion: kind of a  meh

Turned tote bag into dog rain coat. It would have worked better with dog for measurements. I got it back all chopped up to better dimensions

This is the before photo.

After's note: "We bought a good one so no thanks"

That's my second son.

Just like his ma.

The sweater was a success

Two into one:  not yet. I need to toile one

She is my inspiration for the better version that I will make, vs the 'eh' one I was thinking of.

From the bottom of the pile: oh yasssssss

The neck on this Tilton V8813 just cut into my neck, so for a quick win after a couple fails, I put in a back neck facing

Made a paper pattern first! Yay me!

Mostly just stitching to seam allowances, although I did open up the back neck seam to slot this in.

I could enjoy this dress now. It's a light weight shirt fabric, so I'm not wearing it now, but I've got a tablecloth to make this my Pao Tribute Dress.

God I hated sewing this dress.....so maybe not yet.

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My sewing plan for 2020 is I'm making a Chanel style, Western decorated jacket, I'm making a toile or two first, and I'm going to take way too long to make it. 

so this blog will get really boring.

Well, we will still have mending...

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We'll see exactly how long this lasts.