The Time is Now

 

Still regressing

 Still in a state of lack of mojo for large projects. Got an email from Harrisville Designs for something or other, and wandered over to take a look — thinking I might stumble across a simple rigid heddle weaving project. Instead, I noticed the potholder loom. Hey, perfect! I need some new potholders and this is a small project that’s even easy enough for kids — sold!

I wanted something large enough to be actually useful, so selected the larger ‘Pro’ model. I never had one of these looms as a child, so had no notion of whether it was actually easy to use — but why let that stand in the way!  I eagerly awaited delivery, and got to work as soon as it arrived. And, a short while later (although a longer time than I would have imagined) I ended up with this —

Not entirely square, but a certainly useable potholder. The 10” loom yielded an approximately 8.5” potholder. 

It was easy to set up the warp - the ‘pegs’ of the loom seem to be high enough to hold the loops securely. Weaving the weft loops through seemed harder with the tool provided (it would catch on the fabric loops), so I mostly just used my fingers until the last few loops which were too tightly packed and the tool became necessary. 

The instructions with the loom seem fine, and include several charts for different patterns. The kit includes enough multi-colored loops for 2 pads, a tool for pulling the loops through the warp, a crochet hook for binding off and a metal loom. I bought extra loops (one bag white, one bag black) because I wanted to make pads with that color scheme.

 So, why let kids have all the fun — perhaps potholder weaving may be in your future too! Take a look at Piglet’s Potholder Patterns to see lots of fun, interesting designs.

Looking forward, and a look back

 I was sailing along - glad to finally be able to see clearly after the mess that was my first cataract operation - when bam! After carefully avoiding Covid for 4 years my DH came down with it, and a few days later so did I. It seems a lot of folks getting it these days report that it’s little more than a cold, but apparently we got the Super Deluxe ‘All’ the Symptoms version. Not pleasant. And as that cleared up I had Round 2 of my cataract surgery to look forward to. To say I was nervous is an understatement, but my 1 week post-op checkup is tomorrow, and so far (knock wood) it seems to have been the routine procedure everyone claimed it would be initially. Whew!

And so, time to start thinking about some fun sewing/knitting projects for the cooler weather that is surely just ahead - and wouldn’t you know it - all crafting energy has fled. I have things I’d like to do, but the thought of actually starting them just exhausts me. Hopefully a temporary condition, but until then I’ve picked up some little things to feel productive.

I can’t face sewing an adult garment, but finally made a casual outfit for my vintage Vogue Jill doll.

Sweater is hand knit from a free Ravelry pattern ‘Basic Top Down Raglan Sweater for Blythe’ - a long title for a very small sweater! 

Her pants were copied from a PJ set that she came with when I bought her a few years back. She is a copy of my long since given away original Jill doll. She’s circa 1957, so in dire need of a spa day, so - not so different from her owner!

Haskell Testing

 I’ve finally gotten around to making up the Haskell shirt pattern from Cashmerette and I’m really pleased with the outcome. This is a club membership pattern and my first time completing any of their patterns — although I did cut out one of their non-club dresses ages ago and never completed it. The pattern was fine — my fabric choice was rubbish.

For testing I used a cotton shirting. I love the color and pattern, but it was an online purchase and a good bit lighter in weight than I would have liked. Fine for testing though, and it will be worn — although I will be refining the fit a bit in my next attempt.

The pattern has different front pieces for the cup sizes offered — heaven! A fba is a mandatory pattern adjustment for me, along with narrowing the shoulders, and it’s lovely not to have to do it myself. Since the Haskell has cut-on sleeves I didn’t need to narrow the shoulders either. My fit refinement though will be lowering the dart a wee bit — what can I say, gravity + age.

The pattern pieces fit together beautifully and instructions for constructing were clear (and copious!). I was a bit short on fabric, so I left off the front pockets and had to narrow hem the shirt instead of using a bias facing/binding. The inside is finished so nicely that I (somewhat) regretted not using French seaming for the side seams — maybe next time. All in all a pleasant sewing experience, and I look forward to making this again.

Linen - in real life

 I got my new ‘interim’ glasses last week, and it’s been such a pleasure to be able to see clearly for close-up work. Also pleasant is clearing up a project from pre-operation days — Zalia top by Style Arc.

It was cut out, interfaced and partially sewn previously, but I hadn’t managed to serge around the sleeves. I knew I wanted to see well for going around the exaggerated curves and the linen really need the edge finishing before any further sewing. So, it waited.

You’ll notice it looks unpressed in the photo. While I carefully pressed all seams during construction, I’m showing it as it looks straight from the washer and hung up to air dry. Mostly because that is the way it will be worn. I love the look of crisply ironed linen, but that only lasts about 10 seconds (on me anyway) and I’m trying to accustom myself to the look of rumpled linen. We’ll see how that goes —

I love the color, and love the sleeves so I’m hopeful !

Ye Olde Curiousity

 

I always like to look for vintage sewing items whenever we come across vintage/antique/junk stores in our travels.

The pictured box and its contents are totally unrelated, but piqued my curiousity and I found I just couldn’t leave them.

The box must have originally contained some type of threads — I suspect embroidery, rather than sewing — due to the Handbeitsgarne (handcraft yarn) printed inside the lid. As far as I can tell, the company was located in Saxony, from the mid-1920s until ?. 

Inside the box are a lot (!) of embroidered tapes — most are two initials, a few are single initials.

A Google image search identifies them (for the most part) as French laundry labels. No idea if this is accurate, and no idea how they came to be in a German thread box — but it’s fun to speculate.

I keep thinking that one day I’ll have a flash of inspiration and find some creative use for them, but so far they’ve only been used as labels to mark the back of various slacks. They seem too narrow to easily be sewn together to make yardage and while they could work as trim, the red thread doesn’t always work with the colors I tend to sew. Oh well — Don’t hesitate to share a comment if you have a clever idea!

Minor alterations

 My sight is improving, but I’m still limiting my sewing to very basic projects. I have been able to (finally) have a prescription exam done so that I can get a new pair of glasses to serve during the interim between operations — still don’t know when my right eye will be scheduled.

At any rate, I’ve been catching up with minor repairs and alterations. I had made a jean jacket from a lighter weight home dec fabric a while back, and it didn’t get worn very much. Probably it was a bit light for cooler weather and too warm for hotter weather. I saw a cute jean jacket in a catalog that had short sleeves and decided I’d try that. Sleeves were not really tapered, so it was easy enough to lop off the extra fabric and do a machine hem — they are hemmed to just slightly above my elbows. I like how it turned out, and hope to be able to finish up a yellow tank I was machine knitting to wear underneath at some time soon.

Hopefully it will receive more wear with its new look. Not this week though — we’re hovering around 94F (34-ish C) at the moment, and even light layers are too much.