Who's that girl on the needle threader?

this bundle:  https://i.ebayimg.com/images/g/Fy8AAOSwPc9Zxmhn/s-l1600.jpg

I've been shopping for them in bulk, as I am beginning to lose the ones I have, and need them more and more. 

There's a whole lot of needle threading going on with this Haptic Lab map quilt.

Somewhere between poor lighting, old eyes, and fussy thread ends, I can't eyeball it the way I used to.

Super fun tip: put a dab of glue on the wires on the back before you use it. Of course, let it dry first. This stops the wires from slipping out after the third use. Can't help it when they break, because those wires will eventually.  

various images from the internets

There are a lot of variations on this mystery portrait, but let's go look this up at the one stop  info mall.

Pretty much all made the same way 

https://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=65524

I love the Straight Dope.

The take: it has to be Minerva, Roman goddess of handcrafts.

AKA Athena, in her Grecian identity.

Her helmet evolves into a hairdo

I ALWAYS sew in a helmet

This version is definitely the outlier of the portraits; it looks more like a Gallic caricature by Toulouse-Lautrec or Daumier.

http://www.everypainterpaintshimself.com/article/daumiers_the_orchestra.._..during_a_tragedy_1852

Daumier’s The Orchestra.. ..During A Tragedy (1852)

And to keep things handy, a little DIY needle threader for you

https://makezine.com/2012/08/06/how-to_diy_needle_threader/

and a little history cause

https://trc-leiden.nl/trc-needles/tools/embroidery/needle-threader

"A popular, late nineteenth century form consists of a small plate (often stamped with a profile image of a woman), with a diamond shaped loop of fine steel wire attached to it. The wire loop is flexible and easily passes through the eye of a needle. The sewing thread is passed through the loop and the loop (with thread) is then pulled back through the needle eye. This form is still available in the beginning of the twenty-first century."

Well, yes!

and while we're here: it's summer. Get a stack of coasters.
https://www.zazzle.com/power_tool_round_paper_coaster-256904353820157476
or just look at stuff
https://www.zazzle.com/store/erniekdesigns/products

Weighted Blanket Project

A pal wanted a weighted blanket.

They are supposed to help with restless sleeping, and anxiety.

I watched a fair number of videos

"Man Sewing" Rob Appell has a nice one

https://youtu.be/svqiyDlJmus

And I figured it out.

I decided to make one that would just cover the torso and the upper thighs, so we could see how it worked. If it needed to be bigger, I could make more panels and sew them together.

I used a thrifted sheet, backed with flannel, and sewed through all three layers, leaving the channels open at one end.

Others work out from the center.

Your results will vary.

The math for the number of sections is how big you want them to be. 

I had an unfilled four inch border around the filled section. 

I started at the bottom, I felt that the first set of square pockets (3" square) looked overstuffed when filled, and sad with a little slack in them. Also there was enough movement in the pellets to make noise, and Client didn't want noise.

So I unpicked and sewed the remaining tunnels to make them half as wide

(while making sure the tube I was going to use to fill them still fit)

Tube rehearsal reenactment. I didn't take enough photos. 

The math for the weight is:

the person's weight, divided by 10, plus 2.

He's 140, so 14 plus 2: 16.

You are supposed to divide the weight by the number of pockets 16 lbs = 256 oz.

256 oz divided by 80? 3.2 oz, I weighed them - 

lets stop right here.

The blanket filled up at 8 pounds. I have a spare bag now.

This filling and sewing technique worked for me.

The bigger pockets are at the bottom, the skinnier longer ones towards the top.

So the tube goes in

You stand it up

Stick in your homemade paper funnel

This is the secret sauce. You figure out how much each section will need and you use a measuring cup. I cannot stress enough how boring cleaning up tiny plastic pellets is, or working them back and forth to make a clear area for stitching.

Be consistent and pay attention and it will go much much faster.

There they are in there. also helps that the tube wasn't longer than the sections I was filling. I cannot tell you enough to pay attention to how much goes in each section with enough slack to prevent things from exploding or stitches from popping.

I did handstitch some. I did that 'thread a couple needles on the spool' trick from this month's Threads letters column. 

However, machine sewing goes faster 

IF

when you come to the end of the row and set up to sew your set of filled baffles,

you have pinned a path to sew that is: 

1) wide enough for the presser foot (I used the narrowest one. A zipper foot would work as well)

2) Has absolutely NO PELLETS IN IT

(so if you had to move some to the side for the next set, you pin that area closed)

You are creating an alley for the foot to travel down with no bumps to make the stitches loose and no pellets to break your needle.

This is the most time consuming part of the job.

Consistency will pay off big time here.

My finger is where the alley is.I'm running my finger down to keep checking for pellets.

The other key thing is: you will want to set up on a table that will support the blanket. It needs to be entirely on the table, or it will slide off quickly.

You will need to be able to hold the work up and not make the feed dogs pull it while you're stitching.

 Any lateral stress will break the needle.

And that is a pain.

It took the better part of two days, and it only would take 8 pounds of pellets.

It has worked really well. It's just big enough, the shorter baffles are cozy

The orange lateral lines are the stitching lines for closing the baffles, one set at a time. I went back and put in two sets with a gap in-between to allow the blanket to bend and be folded.

One side has flannel to keep the blanket from sliding off, the other side has fabric that is covers the other side, is wrapped around the edges, and is not quilted through except around the outside edges. It's there for structure, aesthetics and to protect the baffles from being torn.

He's pretty happy with it.  We'll see if he needs it enlarged.

Mending Sweaters, Mostly

Winter is sweater mending time.
"Where did you store this? How many holes?"
Not all of the mended are shown in this post

(mostly because most of them were black, and you can't see a damn thing).

Which is good. 
Photos lightened to show embarassing results

The first one is always dodgy. My duplicate stitch is not my strong suit.

 Then I lighten up the task, and it's more fun

There are many wiser folks working this topic.

https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2014/sep/22/how-to-mend-moth-holes

Sadly, the iron-on moth patches are in short supply.
I don't have photos of the striped 'black hole' sweater but it looks like.....black holes all over. Not my choice, but I enjoyed the process, and they loved the results.

https://visiblemending.com/
has much mending goodness. And a Russian version of the Speedweve.

There is kind of a cult around the SpeedWeve.

https://tomofholland.com/category/darning/page/1/

https://tomofholland.com/2011/06/23/the-speedweve-lancashires-smallest-loom-directions-for-use/

They are not inexpensive. 

Yoinks.

I almost bought one of these at Value Village, and left it there because I was unclear on what it was. And someone else bought it with screaming glee, I am sure.

That's cool. 

I left a Rocketeer Singer there too.

I cannot own everything.

photo lightened to show actual lace tatting bit sewn onto hole.

The holes are one thing. The snags are another.

I have yet to use the Snag Nab It. It's like a really tiny drill bit that catches the snag so you can pull it through to the wrong side (no hook). 

We're going to use the tiny knit hook tool.

"A Spendid Tool For The True Craftsman"

(spelling error retained) 

I wonder how many things I've bought that hooked me with a similar line.

Snag isolated.

Poke in from wrong side. Grab snag loop.

Pull loop to wrong side. 

I know, you can't really see it. I had a lot of these to fix, so this is a compilation of Snag Greatest Hits In Green.

I've got them in red and brown as well.

Pick up some back of the stitch loops with a sharpish needle that has a largish eye. Whichever one you have, it won't be perfect but it will be good enough.

Pull snag through needle eye with threader.

Work snag into back side of knit stitches with needle

Work it back and forth to make it not stick up.

Resist the urge to cut it. That won't end well.

Repeat on the gazillion other snags on his sweaters.

Last but not least, there's just putting a rivet into a bag to repair a broken strap.

Oh no, make me go into Tandy's and buy stuff!

I figured out that I could buy two sizes of rivets, in two finishes
and one set of rivet caps in a third finish.
Which gives me three options on the finished side.

We swapped the mend for a Tiny Mars in a jar

I am leaving off the unders mending for another post as part of the 

#remakenine2019 both here and on Instagram.

The Green Violet started it! Go check it out!

https://thegreenviolet.com/