Now Quilting

Well, I was quilting, but now I'm done.

Every so often I get the itch to make a quilt. And then I've got it out of my system. I so admire the quilts made by dedicated quilters - all the precision and attention to every detail - but I can only manage to quilt in small doses. Then my attention wanders back to clothing.

This one was inspired by a car load of gifted fabric from a friend at church. The first batch required machine washing. By the time I finished that, I found that I actually liked some of the fabric. I felt it deserved to become part of a quilt. It is mostly older prints but by flipping it over, I had solids. I gravitate to solids more than prints.

The pattern I used (mostly) is a simplified courthouse steps. The quilting is simply vertical lines more-or-less an inch apart. I was actually a pretty satisfying make, in the end.

The back of the quilt is made from some white muslin included in the gifted fabric. It had a few flaws, so I added a bit of boro to the quilt back. I also used some of my remnants from thrifted men's shirts. Those too had some flaws requiring a bit of boro repair.

This is to be a present for DS. I wonder what he will think of boro repair!

The rest of the gifted fabric will be used in future sewing camps or go to my local American Sewing Guild chapter for redistribution. We will use it to make projects like this:

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Real Man's Shirt

I love making shirts.

I even have a shirts tab on this blog, though I've not updated it in a while. I find all the details fascinating from the button plackets on the sleeves to the double row of top-stitching on the cuff. The latter is especially fun since the double row shows on the outside, but not the inside!

I guess I qualify as a sewing nerd when it comes to shirts.

Though I've made many a shirt for myself and a few for the grandboys, I had never made a regular man's shirt until last month. My guy wanted a shirt to match one the 2 year old grandson wears. We all looked high and low for a similar shirt with no luck. The obvious solution was for me to make one for each of them.

Now I knew DH would discourage me from this project, so I kept it under wraps until Christmas. This was both good and bad. The down side to such a surprise is that I could not take his measurements. The next best thing was to use one of his many existing RTW shirts. The man loves shirts and has more than a few.

Men's patterns are not plentiful so that was a challenge too. I wanted a shirt pattern with ALL of the conventional men's details. Vogue 9220 comes pretty darned close. It has the button plackets on the sleeves and the instructions are quite clear. It has a yoke and forward shoulders. It comes in three views - standard, slim fit and formal wear.

The sizing is not conventional for men's shirts from RTW. I was really hoping it would be sized by neck size and sleeve length like DH's shirts. But I guess it makes sense that the sizes are listed by chest size, as that is a good place to start fitting.

Comparing his RTW shirt with the pattern tissue, I chose size 40, standard fit. Sleeve length was easy to adjust. The neck size seemed about right.

The fabric is a lovely cotton shirting from Gail K. With a plaid or stripe, I like cutting the top yoke in two pieces with a center back seam. This allows me to create a solid line where the yoke joins each front. It also creates a chevron in the back.

Plaids are such fun, especially on a man's shirt, because there are great places for bias.

The little guy's shirt was made with an OOP Ottobre pattern.

It was child's play compared to my guy's shirt. Some of the conventional details were missing from the pattern including the yoke and the sleeve placket. I think that's OK for a  two-year-old.

In the end my guy's shirt is too tight and the little guy's shirt is a bit large. But they were sweet to pose for the picture anyway.

By the time I remake DH's shirt, the little guy will have grown into his. Fingers crossed.

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Review of Gift-Making December

Or, why I haven't blogged in over a month.

Where did December go? Well, it flew by me. For the past month, I've been focused on making and buying presents for family members. The truth is that it was not all fun in 2017. And this was a monster of my own making, so-to-speak.

Next year, there will be few handmade gifts. I promise. I do love the idea of handmade gifts but I obsess over it. I don't think that fits with the spirit of giving. So unless it is zen sewing and gives me selfish pleasure, I must step back and allow time to breathe and enjoy the joy.

Here are the gifts I made, and honestly, some really were fun.

This jacket was requested by my granddaughter. It's made using Kwik Sew 3818, a medium-weight wool and lined with a medium-weight silk-cotton blend. I blogged about it here so I won't rehash it, But isn't she cute in it?

Next up were two robes. These were also by request. And they were so simple to make using Simplicity 1562, now probably out-of-print.

They are both made from polyester fleece, so easy to sew. The owls on white background is for my 8 year old granddaughter; the Clemson-themed robe is for my 11 year old grandson. The Clemson version was a HUGE success. He almost wore it into a movie theater. The owl version will be used too but did not garner great enthusiasm.

The last requested gift was this super-simple pillow case for a youth-sized pillow:

Here it is in its first use with 2-year-old grandson:

Now a sensible person would have stopped there. Those were requested and so pretty much guaranteed to please. I did not stop. Next I made these two (2!) patchwork pillows for another 11 year old grandson and his 13 year old brother (who wears glasses like these). They have two dogs of this breed.

If they look simple, then please, please look again. They took FOREVER to piece. Each contains half-square triangles no larger than 1 inch. Yikes! What was I thinking?

The pillows finish at standard bed-pillow size. I put a zipper in the back to allow for machine washing. When the 11-year-old opened it, he said, "Oh, look! A pillow." And he proceeded to unzip it and remove the pillow. Hmmm...

And then I could have stopped, yes? But for a long time now, I've had this great idea. My husband wanted a shirt to match one that the 2 year old had. Such a shirt simply did not exist. So I made each of them a shirt using this lovely cotton shirting from Gail K in Atlanta.

It took some research to find a man's shirt with most of the conventional details. I settled on Vogue 9220. Then I took measurements from one of my husband's shirts and tried very hard to make them match. In the end his was a bit too tight and the little one is too big. Of course, too big is not a problem with a two-year-old, so now I'm thinking about ways to remake the one for DH. Or maybe not.

The little one is from one of my old Ottobre magazines. I have used and used those patterns making many things for grandchildren with the enclosed patterns. I must say that was joyful to make.

I should probably write a separate blog on DH's shirt. I learned a lot about the fit of a man's shirt and I should document it before I forget.

As I reflect on making gifts this past month, I realize that the simplest were perhaps the most joyful to make. There's a lesson there.

So that was my December. I'm so glad it's January now.

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Same song, second verse

Left is the new Jacket; Right is the old full-length coat!

I checked. And just now I double-checked. I made this jacket for my granddaughter almost 5 years ago. My daughter recently told me she had out-grown it. Well, yes, it had become a jacket instead of a coat and it had 3/4 length sleeves, almost elbow length. Sweet, sweet girl, she wore it way too long.

This time, I opted for assymetrical closure, rather than a double-breasted closure.

So here is a replacement. I now see that the original one was a full length coat when I made it. Over the years, as she kept wearing it, I thought it was a jacket. So this time I made the jacket length. This makes the proportions look a bit odd in the comparison, but I think she's really more of a jacket girl than a coat girl.

Kwik Sew 3818

Kwik Sew 3818 is not a quick make. It has a hood, an empire waist line, a sweet belt at the back, and it's double-breasted. The fabric is wool and I chose to line it with a silk-cotton blend called Radiance. Radiance has a satin side and a flat side. I love the weight of it and find it nicer in a coat than my go-to lining, Bemberg Ambiance.

The pattern does not include a lining so I simply made two coats - one from wool and one from Radiance. I followed the instructions which are quite thorough. I used my trusty Pam Howard jacket-lining techniques from our class, Jacket-making Boot Camp. I confused myself while attaching the sleeve lining but pushed through and finally got it right.

The pattern calls for a lined hood even though the jacket itself is not to be lined. The lined hood is sewn to the jacket and then the front and back facings are attached and enclose the raw edges on the neckline and hood. This required much grading and pressing, something else that I learned from my time in Pam's class. What a game-changer that class was!

Fingers crossed that this second coat is as well-loved, or maybe just half as well-loved, as the first one. I look forward to seeing her in it after Christmas. Like I said, fingers crossed. She's 11 and almost 12 now.

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Gift 1

It is gift-making season for me. Is it for you?

It must be December. My Christmas cactus is blooming.

Each year Fiber Art Fusion, my small fiber art group, has a 5x7 challenge combined with a dinner party. Each artist is challenged to make one 5" x 7" piece of fiber art, wrap it in brown paper and bring to dinner. Each artist leaves with a piece of art from another member. I have a wonderful collection from 5x7's from previous years.

Such a small piece of art used to make me anxious, the first couple of years I participated. Now I look forward to it. It is not intended to be a master piece. Just a small gift for a fiber art friend. This year I'm incorporating my new-found love of eco-printing.

This is a red maple leaf printed on a piece of cotton sateen. I dipped the lower portion in a black walnut juice and added some darker brown with a Sharpee.

I added a slightly smaller piece of white cotton flannel to the back to give it body. The hand stitching started with parallel lines roughly 1/4" apart. Then I used size 5 Pearl cotton thread to embroider the stem and onto the base of the leaf. Next I added some burgundy French knots. Everything is better with French knots.

The backing is a piece of wool dyed with black walnuts. It is barely visible in the pictures. The cotton leaf print is attached to the brown wool at the top. Lastly I added some timtex to the back of the brown wool, securing a knotted bias tube to it for hanging.

It's satisfying to make something small.

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Julie's Quilt

In a truly shocking turn of events, my eldest turned 40 last week. It's official. She's now older than me. In my head.

To celebrate her birthday, I decided to make her a quilt with all new fabric. Such extravagance but she deserves it. She has 4 children, a husband and a dog. And she lives close by. I'm so lucky.

bias binding for the edge

Recently I've been attracted to modern quilts on social media and it certainly shows in this design. I used Kona solids in colors Julie likes, but mostly white. She loves white. This may be my first and last quilt made exclusively with Kona solids. The fabric comes in yummy colors but it is too dense for me to comfortably apply sashiko. I did add some but there might have been more if it was easier to needle.

Just a little sashiko

Making large quilts is always a challenge for me. I finish the top, and I'm finished but the quilt is not. I could hire out the quilting but I'm too stubborn to do that. This is only 50x60, so sort of at the high end of a large quilt for me.

Backing secured to the table

And somehow I always enjoy the process. It gives me opportunity to think about the last 40 years and how Julie has blossomed.

Batting in place over backing - low loft cotton - so soft

Even the pinning is zen-like, meditative.

I quilted it with mostly vertical lines. I enjoy quilting with a walking foot. I've never worked hard enough to master free-motion quilting. Plus I love regular geometric shapes. The quilting rows range from 1" to 2" apart.

I added a handful of diagonal quilting lines and the quilting was done.

After I attached the binding and a label, I washed and dried it. A wrinkled quilt is soothing to me.

It was a sweet process and I so enjoyed giving it to her. I don't know when or if I'll make another quilt. So many other satisfying projects call to me.

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