Phew! It’s been a very busy week, both in my sewing room and elsewhere on the boat. Parties, film nights, more deck grinding, music selection for a friend’s wedding, gardening, broken water pumps, gifts, muslins, and BIG shopping, but to name a few!
The deadline for the finished instructions and my bio for the “Pillowcase Challenge” book were also due this week, so I devoted a big chunk of Sunday to getting that perfect, and then the rest of the weekend was spent making a twin blue KnipMode shirt for my mom:
She wanted short sleeves and I added a bit of width in places, but other than that, it’s a spitting image of my original… It’s already on its way to her so hopefully I’ll get a photoshoot as nice as the Christmas one in due course (hint, hint!).
I also stole a bit of time to trace some of my upcoming summer sewing patterns (I need to buy more craft paper for tracing patterns very soon!), and in short, ten minute snatches of time before work and after dinner, I’ve been able to sew together most of the BWOF tulip skirt.
My folds go in the opposite direction due to constraints of working with leftover fabric, but unless you have the magazine, you’re not going to know that anyway! I’m just waiting on my invisible zipper to arrive before I can sew up the centre back seam (which I created so I could have a walking slit) and attach the waistband. If I actually had a spare chunk of a few hours, it’d be done by now – it’s a really quick skirt to throw together once you get past the origami front panel! So if you’re looking for something to sew up for Stacy’s skirt sewalong, then this could be a great choice!
And speaking of sewalongs, if you’re involved with the Great Coat Sewalong (currently closed), you’ll have already seen that I’ve sewn up my (first) muslin of my winter coat. Thank god for the expert advice over there, though, because I’ve got so many alterations to do on this! The waistline’s too low, there isn’t anywhere near enough ease to wear thick sweaters underneath, nor enough room for shoulder pads, and the chest pulls when I move my arms. And stylistically, I’ve realised I can’t shove my hands into the flap pockets, so I’m changing those to be in-seam pockets instead.
So I’ve got my plate full of unpicking and letting out seams, slicing and spreading, and folding and tucking to hopefully get a much better fit before I cut into my beautiful wool! I don’t normally have to do any alterations beyond taking in the waist or letting out the hips a half inch or so, so all these changes are making my head spin! It’s really great to have so much help with the fitting – I’m really looking forward to seeing the end result already!
My upcoming sewing for this weekend depends largely on what the postman brings – I’ve got my aforementioned invisible zipper and other bits of haberdashery coming, plus June and July’s KnipMode magazines (June has a swimsuit pattern TO DIE FOR!), and my big purchase I’m giddily awaiting by courier tomorrow…