Tony Stark At Home

Taking a brief break from spring break parenting and manic competitive sewing for Pattern Review, I would like to share this photo, from EW this week. Credits on bottom of photo: I do not own it, I'm just borrowing it.

This down home workshop is only missing a couple of PBR's (or a Thermos brand in red plaid) and a less expensive blanket (that Pendleton retails for over $350, I saw it at SewExpo for 80 a yard). 

But the other details are spot on: the stuff hanging on the walls, the light well of the basement shop, the tool chests, the Atlas gloves...and are those baby food jars lower right on the bench?

I see this as the Suit complaining about life at home while Tony keeps working and mumbling "Uh huh, got that right, man"

Ok, back to work.

Cleaning up and preparing for the next project

I am not the tidiest person...oh, who am I kidding? Peg Bracken ain't my patron saint for nothin' kids.

I hate housework.

I also hate not being able to find stuff when I'm working, so I do have a tidy ritual with the sewing space.

First, after the project is done, I sew up bias strips. Okay, I cut them out when I was cutting the blouse, but I sew them together at the end. I chain them and then cut them apart

I make the joins all lean the same way (less annoying when in use)

Iron it out

Roll it up on a card or whatever's handy.

Now, in case you think I'm crazy, I use this stuff. I don't waste my time making it into ironed up folded strips, because I'd just be unironing it later. And I use a lot of it for nice accents and a sweet interior detail on a lot of clothes. Sometimes it's a nice way to remember a great project. Sometimes it's what was left when the project was an enormous failure.

The cherries on yellow was  a CLOWN suit, much nicer as bias trim.

The pink with stripes was a nightmare shirt that  was ALL cut for bias

This is a sweet dress for summer and I love having more of it to wear in other things.

I pull the thread FROM THE NEEDLE END (some repair guy gave me great grief about pulling it "backwards") and thread a needle with it. And save it for later.

I clean out the parts I can get at with a huge brush. It really pulls out the fluff and dirt, so I don't worry as much about vacuuming it out.

The usual. Wipe off the throat plate, you know the drill. 

Then I oil it. Take out the needle and run it. Wipe the devil out of it, and let it sit with a piece of something absorbent under the presser foot. And come back tomorrow.

Maybe go read a book....