Despite having an incredibly busy week with something on every night, I’ve still managed to make some good progress on my “couture sweatshirt” interpretation of the Patrones Halhuber jacket…
I’ve really only got to do the hood, which involves interfacing and attaching the eyelets for the drawstring, making the drawstring, sewing the hood edge with a twin needle, and attaching it. All that sounds like way more work than it actually is, and will probably only take an hour or so. And then I’ve just got to attach the zipper to the centre front panels…
But then I decided that I really like front pockets on sweatshirts (and I’ve always got tools, keys, my mobile, and/or tissues in them!), so I’ve drawn up some suitably angular ones to add on.
Though of course I’ve decided to add these completely in the wrong order, and I really should’ve added them before the bottom ribbing band, but c’est la vie! You can also see above how I’ve got to take in the centre back seam of the hood to make it fit the neckline here. I’ve nicked this hood from BWOF 09/2008’s “big shirt”, where the front of the hood overlaps itself, so I’m not surprised to have to pare it down a bit to fit the neckline here.
In any case, I’m hoping to be able to complete it this weekend. It’s getting very cold here now, so I’ll also being doing my twice-annual wardrobe swap. Ever since I was little, we’ve always had the current season of clothes hanging up, and the off-season tucked away in boxes, and then sometime in Spring and Fall, I go through the current stuff with piles for Pack / Repair / Charity Shop to make room for the “ooh I forgot I had that” stuff coming out of storage.
Oh, and last night my other crafty group had way too much fun playing with six different sewing machines!
My friend is a gadget writer (who also sews and knits!) and she was commissioned to review The Best Sewing Machines Under £150 for a big newspaper, so we all had a go at seeing how easy they were to thread and make buttonholes and how they stood up to multiple layers of denim and generally tried to abuse them front the point of view of a beginner. I was most surprised that the two models I didn’t expect to like at all ended up being our favourites! I don’t want to give anything away, so I’ll post the article when it’s published for any of you in the market for a new machine, whether it’s for yourself or the beginning sewer in your life…