Winter Coat wrap up: Can be seen from space

 Finishing the coat took a long time. I just didn't have any extended period of time to sit with it and get it all done, so sewing in five minute chunks would have to do

the quilting was too big for the exterior, so I trimmed it down

I open up the pins and hang them on the edge. As this went on, I hung them with the heavier bits on the inside of the bowl.

Yes, it's huge, even without hood or cuffs or hem. It's all held together with safety pins

This is the time when the coat is just dragging itself off the table and trying to break free.

I need to set up on the big work table when I do this stuff, and I just.... don't. 

I like the checkered flag tape. 

My zipper is weird: at the bottom, the insert pin is on the right (my left) and the retaining box is on the left (my right). I am used to inserting the pin with my right hand, and this is backwards and I can see a day where I rip this zipper out because of it. My brain is not happy with this.

https://www.ykkfastening.com/products/zipper/s_zipper.html  What a zipper is supposed to be

I made cuffs for the previous version remodel out of socks and it worked really well. I'm only using the part above the heel, folded in on itself, and not using the cuff.

This part, where I sew the sock ribbing to the end of the sleeve, took a ridiculous number of tries to get it right. And I unpicked it all every time I redid it. Picking black thread out of a black sock is really hard on the eyes, but really good for the profanity.

Added the end piece of fabric (also a lot of undoing and redoing)

Flipped up

It's over stretched but it keeps out the wind well enough

It sinks way in there

I had to pull it over a 2 by 6 piece of wood to get the basting properly done

I also had to remove the hood and redo it so that the collar is wider - it's still more snug than I would like, and I need to put something on the inside of the top of the placket to keep it from poking me in the neck.

Oh, you can see me coming alright

Homemade bias trim from rayon lining to cover neck seam

Cuffs need a something: this will wear out the fastest but is easily replaced

It wants to be free; the rest of the coat is crawling away

I wore it out today; the prequilted lining is really stiff and this is noisy and I am mammoth in it. 

The zips in the outside pockets are annoying, so I will unpick the single welt and either add a wider flap or just remove the zippers.

Clearly I am not staying on top of my blogging, but I am going to continue. I do post on instagram when they aren't blocking me from posting (there's a couple other faux Ernie accounts and I could put a stop to it if I paid for my account and got a blue star).

Also, fyi: this coat is not THAT fluorescent in person. I did get some OH MY comments from strangers today, but there are so many construction workers in Seattle I kinda fit in.

I will add a photo of me standing on my front steps (the fluorescent green ones) to complete my  story.

Winter Pants Miracle

 It's a gorram miracle.

I can't find the original photo of these fully lined Eddie Bauer wool pants, which were given some winter wear last year by adding a new zipper over the old opening and moving the button over an inch.

There's been a lot of cake since then.

This year's model: cake happens. It happened all in the front, the back fits just fine.

Is this flattering? No.

Is it real? Yes.

Do I have a problem I can solve with sewing? YESSSSSSS

OH YEAH

2/10: Took off tabs and waistband.

Took out pleats, gained inches (about three on each pants front side)

This is gonna work. Using the original zipper.

I was prepared to take that off and add the fabric harvested from the waistband.

I am leaving the waistband and tabs for later. Someone may want them.

This is the moral of this story. If you have a well made article of clothing, over it's lifespan it may need to be many sizes. Alterations in costuming teach you to leave your options open, keep the seam allowances, and save the scraps for the future you can't possibly know or plan for. The trick is keeping those spare parts somewhere you can find them again. And yes, I have a spare parts drawer. I've also found pieces sewn into other coats or vests, tucked in the linings. Because you never know that the temperature is going to drop and You Have No Warm Pants.

New waistband. Nothing fancy, I'M IN A HURRY. Gonna be 20s tomorrow. I'm old. I got super cold at work today, in my chilly little hallway.

Wearing them right now (2/11)

Brrrrrrrrr

Mittens 2019

Winter sucks.

I know, Canadians, laugh at me. This is Seattle. We have hills all over and this happens once every five years. We forget. We lose our shovels and tire chains.

 But a week of no melt, of more snow, of ice all over everywhere, we grind to a halt. 

So please, stop it.

Eventually there were ten inches of snow. Right now there's eight inches of slush.

My neighbors took pity on me one day and shoveled my stairs.

I am very tired of snow.

The only way I know to make the weather change is to make winter clothes.

Mittens. 

That'll make it warm up.

As usual, Ikat Bag has made them and done a far better job than I could ever. That said, I have different materials and different results.

http://www.ikatbag.com/2010/10/mittens-and-theyre-theoretically.html

Here is my version. 

This is the basic idea.

A u shape, with a plain back and a thumb cut out front.

Plus a thumb gusset (I can put one in everywhere)

You sew the thumb gusset on  and sew the one piece back on.

This is the pattern (see that grid? This is with a 1/4" inch seam allowance)

That's the basic idea.

Cut four. Cut thumb cut out on two of them.

It took me a few variations on this mitten idea to get a pair that worked.

This is the classic quick and dirty spare sock version. You cut out the heel for the thumb opening, you slice off the toe to make the thumb. Stitch it together and boom.

But I have a lot of scrap outerwear fabric and I wanted something more long term and functional.

So I have an outer layer in waterproof backed fleece. It was too heavy for a coat, but perfect for this.

The outside thumb assembly in the orange, partly sewn.

And what it looks on the inside (thumb sewn)

You add the yellow fleecy inside layer. I cut mine two inches longer than the outside to make a cuff.

with a thumb opening slit. Just a slit. 

Lining the thumb with the yellow fleece was too much with the orange layer being as thick as it was.

What do we say, your results will vary? They will. Play around with it. Make a model thumb. I did.

And you stick those slit edges down with double-sided fabric tape. ResQ tape works very well, for one example.

You could stitch it. I did not.

It's all stuck down. Remember, this is the inside of the mitten. The thumb is going through that slit into the sewn thumb of the outside orange fabric.

And then I sandwiched all the layers together. I'll be turning it inside out once I've stitched around.

You have to make sure not to sew the thumb into the side seam.

I pinked it on the top edge to make it less lumpy when I turned it.

That's what they look like. 

I handstitched the cuffs. It was faster than wrestling them under the presser foot. I could have added elastic inside the cuff, but they work for me without that. 

I have a seam ripper. I can always change my mind.

And yes, I should have flipped the  cuff seam that last inch, so it doesn't' show.

But you know me. When I see the finish line, I speed up.

Look. Mitten. Two mitten.

This is where I remind you to mirror the outside pieces if they are a coated fabric. Otherwise, you'd have two left or two right hand mittens.

You could make a friend and shake hands.

Uh huh.

I'll be honest. I didn't ask Mr Mitten for permission to post his face here. 

But he was wearing the sweater and scarf, I HADDA. 

I mean, Matchy! I finished the mittens and he came home from a trip, wearing this ensemble.

What are the odds?

So now I am expecting it to never snow again this season.

I've done my part.

Oh man. Bpffffffff.

Hey, 2021 Me wants you to know that Ikat Bag has a superlative mitten pattern

right on her blog

http://www.ikatbag.com/2021/01/mittens-for-grownups.html

The download link works and everything!

A bit of perspective about my home town and me: Linky Love Snow EditionWEATHER

I don't write about myself much because I used to and it bored me.

All sentences that begin with "I" are suspicious to me.

Normally I leave these to  Instagram, but sharing is caring. And linky love is hard to do on Instagram.

In honor of the first potential snowfall of the season later on this evening, may I present to you

First Snowflake Freakout Lady

They should have asked me to pose. My shovel is prettier.

Yup, I'm ready

from a series of pretty much right on target cliche 'trading cards' from a local insurance company

We're A Lot Like You

Yup, guilty.

Today's WEATHER ALERT! DANGER WILL ROBINSON DANGER!

from https://sliceofmidlife.com/2015/04/08/what-would-bertrand-russell-say/
because I can't find the photo I took earlier today, and it's a charming blog

As the author in the post featuring this photo mentions, these signs live year round by the top and bottom of streets that the city will close if it gets icy (that is, streets with a steep grade that are really good for skiing).

But it hasn't done that for a few years, and the signs are still there. Mostly.

Waiting.

Perhaps this week?

I drove up the highway alongside a snow plow, heading north. People honked and waved at it. 

actual citizens moving sign into place, taking the law into their own hands, possibly too late
photo Seattle PI  Jan 11, 2011

Snowpocalypse?

I have never seen this happen, but I love it

And then of course, the classic car pinball game

None of this is actually funny except that no one was killed. Seattle is a city of hills and tall trees that fall over in the wind and we doesn't have buried power lines because poles are still cheaper than holes (nothing says holidays like a power outage when you have family staying with you)

I have gotten stuck in snow on the interstate, driving home from British Columbia in a freak snow storm that just dumped snow on a steady stream of slowly spinning out cars.

Friends got snowed in to her family's home for a week because it's Magnolia and that neighborhood is defended from snow zombies by two bridges that ice over.

And there was that time where I spun/slid into a drainage ditch a block from my home. Almost made it up the hill. Almost. And yes, I had chains on the car.

We don't get hit the same way Portland,OR does, as we are too far inland from the ocean and the cold wet air does not smack us as hard. Stumptown ices over badly.

What will be interesting if it does get icy is that since the last time it was frozen over in 2011, a lot of new people moved here, who bought the Subaru Outback and the Range Rover and think that 4WD will prevent them from sliding around.

And it won't on a hill. 

See, we make charts about these things!

Kids, play safe, and put those signs back where they belong!

OH NO AN INCH OF SNOW HAS FALLEN! SHUT THE CITY DOWN! 2011 Snowpocalypse