I think it was Sunday that I started to put on YD#10 and found that the elastic had come untied. Tonight, the computer being down, I pulled the elastic out, put it back, and tied it very carefully. There were plenty of gaps in the stitching of the casing.
&& 2025SEW1.HTM -- copy to Pictures of Tools
[pictures] A frightfully-clever case that I improvised out of a greeting card to protect a needle threader. The two flaps fold in to keep the threader from falling out: roll it up, secure with a paper clip. Every few months I'd find it in the arm of the futon and wonder "what is this?"
Today I was darning a sock at the kitchen table, and had a terrible time re-threading the needle after weaving it into the sock. Don't I have a needle threader in the arm of the futon?" Yes, but I still had a terrible time persuading the short end to enter the loop of the threader. Finally I managed to rake it through with the point of my SuperSnips, being too lazy to get up and fetch a more suitable tool.
A long time after I made this case, my dentist prescribed fuzzy toothpicks. Every hundred days, I get a beautiful little case meant for ten toothpicks and just right for carrying a few needles and pins. All my other threaders were in plastic cases, and now this one is too. But it's not back in the arm of the futon; I put it into the snack bag of darning wool. Perhaps I'll add it to the go bag of hand-sewing tools when the darning is done.
The home-made case will be sent to the land fill as soon as I photograph it.
The computer is still down. Makes me nervous that I don't know how to back up this file.
The fabric samples arrived today. The mid-weight hemp looks as though it would do for the bras, and the hemp summercloth might do for the jersey, but of course I have to wash the samples to be sure. The summercloth will do only if it shrinks a bit.
Seems to me that "summercloth" used to be coarser.
I have decided to iron a brakerchief and zig-zag the samples to it before washing. That will keep track of them, and also measure how much they shrink. Pity the linens are out of stock.
I found time today to clear off the ironing board, iron my muslin cap, iron my white collar T-shirt, and press an interfacing patch on a torn pattern and hang it back up. I don't know just where it fell from.
Oops. Forgot to iron a brakerchief while the iron was hot.
No church on account of ice. I plan to take all the patterns off the wall and put them back in order, fileting out those required for the linen jersey.
I have carefully considered the swatches and selected #HWM, Hemp Woven Medium. Essex doesn't wick as vigorously, and Summercloth is an ounce heavier. All of them make round spots like cotton instead of wicking along the threads as linen is supposed to do. Perhaps that is the result of spinning it on cotton machines.
But I'm going to check for linen before sending in the order. Changing the entries from "out of stock" to missing entirely doen't look as though they expected to find more soon.
I checked that I have all the pieces of the woven- jersey pattern and looked around for a good place to lay them out to see how much 53" fabric I need when I remembered:
In the notes for the cotten jersey: "fabric: 42" x 4 yd yellow cotton (25" left over, three and a half feet long on the side where I cut away a front yoke.)"
So four yards of white hemp should be worlds aplenty. And I think I have some pre-made calculations for the bras.
[checks Web page]
Says that I can get up to three bras from a bias strip that is 57" along the selvage.
A bias line that begins at one corner of a piece of fabric would end the width of the fabric from the other corner. 53" + 57" = 110" = two inches more than three yards.
But that calculation assumes that the straps don't interlock, and there will be some fabric left over from the jersey -- perhaps conveniently near bias.
Let's check the yellow-linen jersey notes.
They are spread out all through 2019, but I did find this entry:
30 March 2019
[snip]
But I have established that I do, indeed, have worlds of fabric. I think I could get this shirt out of three yards, and I have four.
No mention of buying the fabric. No mention of how wide it was. I got three bras out of the scraps. I think I took notes while making the bras -- perhaps even pictures.
Wakeful in the night, I found this entry:
23 May 2018
I hauled down the tulip-print scraps with an eye to making timer pockets for T shirts.
After Dave went through much fuss and feathers to get me a virtual credit-card number, I ordered four yards of Fashion Fabric's yellow linen to make a new summer jersey. It says it's suitable for pants, so I have hope that it's not sheer and flimsy. Dithering about buying it paid off — it's on sale at three dollars off until Memorial Day. A tad over ten dollars a yard, with shipping, and the original price was twelve something. (Sale price nine something.)
end quote
Still no mention of the width -- but I probably still have the invoice!
Yep, in the box with the scraps. Together with a note saying that it was 52" x 4 yards 8". That's probably after washing.
It made a jersey and three bras, and a lot of scraps big enough to be worth saving, so five yards of 53" hemp should do me even if it shrinks ten percent. That's 47.7" and the yellow cotton was 42".
I intend to cut all the pieces, put them into a box, and make bras. I'll probably need to concentrate on finishing one bra once I get them all cut out. I'm taking the old ones off and putting them on very, very carefully.
Time to start a file for the project blog, but I'm still trying to piece the Web site together.
57" one end
56 1/2" 'tother end (surprisingly stretchy)
four yards and forty-one inches drawn thread to drawn thread.
Too tired to write tonight. Fabric is in washer, hot with Tide pod. Will wash again, hot with a clug of ammonia, then dryer dry.
58" measured along drawn thread -- and it's still wrinkled from washing. This does not compute.
Other end 58 1/2", but I think I pulled a little more.
Four yards and thirty-one inches from drawn thread to drawn thread. This, at least, makes sense.
I got a bit garden-pathed when I found a copy of Bulldog Drummond Strikes Back while looking for linen scraps. There appears to be no black at all in the linen box, but the pant-weight linen box is mostly black, and it's not all coarse.
I think I'll leave cutting the black parts until I've made at least one bra.
Past time to make a diary file for this project. I haven't finished straightening out this file yet.
12:32
It took the whole morning to finish ironing the five yards. (But I did have a dely starting because DH was working on my computer and I couldn't get to the outlet to switch the ceiling outlet from dimmer switch to surge suppressor.)
The fabric is a tad wider than the ironing board, which left me with no place to put the iron. The cord wouldn't reach to a stool placed at the end of the board. I coped by advancing the end opposite the current location of the iron, ironing a spot large enough to set the plywood and iron on, then advancing the rest. This moved all the extra fabric to the former iron location; I folded and unfolded a wide cuff for dampening and ironing.
Like linen, hemp must be not just damp, but downright wet to iron well. When I draped it over the board to air, I found that some of the first bit I ironed wasn't ironed at all. I shall deal with this by starting to cut at the other end. Once the jersey is off the piece, the remainder should be much easier to iron.
Cut the back out an put it in a folder made from a large corrugated cardboard box and put it under the bed. Must take it out before the home helper vacuums tomorrow.
I started a blog, but don't feel smart enough to update it.
The front pattern is a tad higher than the front- yoke pattern and the fabric is just wide enough to cut one of each.
I've been making entries in 066, but it's still a disorganized mess. I drew a second thread from the straightening line I haven't cut along yet because washing made the mark harder to see. I cut a scrap to be the top of my new do-rag. The rectangle I intend to cut the back pocket from was just enough wider than the back pocket to make that reasonable.
066, is still a disorganized mess, but some progress is recorded.
Some sewing today: when dressing this morning I found that the elastic in both of the remaining pairs of yellow briefs had come untied.
I repaired them in the evening. #12 was easy, because I'd been forethoughtful enough to mark the stitches to be taken out by darning a bit of embroidery thread into the wrong side of the hem, and my needle stash inclluded one with yellow thread already in it.
On #11, I had to hunt for the spot with magnifying glasses, and it wasn't easy to find the thread to be taken out, but both are back in the drawer. I used square knots again because weavers knots are bigger, but I pulled and wiggled thoroughly to make sure they were tight.
I secured the thread only by hiding the end inside the zig-zag stitches, and beginning before and ending after the gap.
Is there a word for overcasting when it's not done over an edge? Well, it does hold the edge of the hem flat, so I guess it was overcasting.
All hemp pieces of the jersey are in the folder and under the bed. I cut out the side of the front yoke to be cut from the main body, but only labeled the scrap from which I intend to cut the other side.
I made holes for marking the dots aligning the seam with the front and the dots marking the corners of the pockets. I poked holes with a brass knitting needle, shaved off the turned-up paper, poked again, shaved again, then enlarged the holes by repeating the entire sequence with a #0 knitting needle. Came out just the right size to twist a wash-out pen in.
I shaved by holding the
razor blade Also
took some pictures of the
remaining fabric, showing which way the bias lines
for the bras should slant.
I got two bias lines drawn yesterday. Today I
tried the bra pattern on the bias line nearer the
cut end. Lining the hemlines on the bias line
wastes some fabric, but lining the dart seamlines
doesn't quite fit. I think I just designate the
"wasted" fabric as where I cut my bias tape.
I may cut the band of the do rag there too; I don't
thing the rag cares which grain its on as long as
it's on one.
Yesterday, I finally sewed the snap of the flannel
nightgown, then ran the nightgown through a
delicate cycle and hoped it would dry before I
wanted to put it on at nine. Turned out that at
nine I was in Lutheran's emergency room trying to
nap in a straight-back chair, and I don't feel
like sewing today.
I can get three bras from one bias strip, and
since I hand wash a bra every other night, three
will suffice, so I think I will put the rest of
the fabric away for future projects. There will
probably be less than a yard on the shorter side.
The edge of the scrap will be on the true bias, so
it will be easy to cut more binding if the wasted
fabric isn't enough.
Long time me no write. There have been some
entries in the bra/jersey blog, but that has also
been neglected -- I threaded the sewing machine
yesterday, but didn't find time to say so. I've
realized that I have to grok the openings for the
elastic in the bra bands before sewing the darts,
so that I'll know which side of the seam allowance
to trim. I think I'll put the openings on the
"public" side, as && puts it, to maximise the
linen between the elastic and my skin.
I spent considerable time yesterday picking at
the very low-priority job of ravelling off the
bottom tier my orange dress to make it into a
slopping-around shirt.
While dressing for a ride, I discovered that my
"fleece lined" tigghts are indeed two layers, and
there was a hole in the saddle area of the outer
layer. I baseball-stitched the edges of the hole
together in hope that it would keep the hole from
getting bigger.
One end of the hole was a slit, and the mend is
holding that part well. The end closest to the
seam pulled away into a roundish hole, and will
need some buttonhole darning. I could use a
water-soluble darning egg for that operation!
I've been darning the white socks in my go bag.
Good project for random occupation -- white on
white allows merely good light, complex enough to
keep my mind off what I'm waiting for, but doesn't
require any bran power. One sock is ready to
wear, the other is one needlefull away. (I'm
hoping I don't finish it soon!)
I unvented a couple of tricks while working.
The wool is too fat to go through the eye after
folding it over the needle to make a sharp bight
in the usual way, but if I wet the end of the yarn
and roll it between my fingers for a while, it
usually felts stiff enough to go through straight.
A few times I have resorted to pulling the thin
end of the yarn through with a loop of sewing
thread.
The sewing thread found another use. I like to
weave in the frayed end instead of cutting after
weaving and leaving a blunt end to poke out. It
is difficult to thread a needle after weaving it
into the cloth even when the end is long enough to
take hold of. I've probably thought of this
before, and it's certainly known to the world at
large: I fold a piece of sewing thread in half,
thread it into the needle, weave it in where I
want the yarn to go, and pull the yarn through
with with the loop.
The loop wants to snag the yarn at its base. I
let it until I've pulled it small enough to resist
the motion of the yarn a little, then put the
needle between the loop and the yarn and gradually
pull the yarn until only the end is caught,
tightening the loop at intervals.
Though this darn is coarser than previous darns,
it was difficult to catch enough fabric when
making a buttonhole stitch. Before sticking it
in, I pushed the needle back against the top of
the stich below the stitch I was working into.
Sometimes I slanted it backward a little to catch
more fabric, which felt like the way one sweeps a
hairpin from backward to the direction it's to be
pushed.
Finally resumed work on the bra. Tried sewing
with the bobbin thread.
Continued at the
Jersey Blog
C:\RUFFTEXT\ROUGH066.HTM/e
A few days ago I started to put on my black
briefs, noted that they were too loose, laid them
on the ironing board, and forgot about them. The
evening I found them on the floor, took them to
the window, found a gap in the stitching of the
casing, pulled on the elastic, the knot prompty
appeared, I cut it out, retied the elastic, and
put the briefs back into the drawer without
mending the gap.
Hmmm.... is that my drawers drawer?
I at least thought about the bra today, but moved
a volunteer fern instead.
I did some sewing on a day when I was too busy to
write about it: I stuck a safety pin into my garden
pants.
I put it where I thought I'd need a bar tack to
keep my cell phone in a too-shallow pocket, and it
works. I'll probably work a woven bar to replace
it sometime today. I have the kakhi thread out to
shorten Dave's new cotton-linen pants.
4:37 p.m.
Finished Dave's new pants before leaving for eye
exam. Tried them on this evening; I may buy a
pair for me when I wear my current garden pants
out -- plenty of room for a cell phone, and
wouldn't need to pin my garden knife to the
pocket. Loose fit means plenty of room in the
hips. I'm not crazy about the drawstring, but
could replace it with elastic.
Still too dilated to work on bra. Could change
the thread on the Necchi back to white.
I was weaving in the end of the last needle of
thread on the socks I'm darning when called to get
my skin examined. I've put them in my
attaché case for today's trip to Dave's
oncologist.
The dime dropped when I was preparing for my
eye exam on Wednesday: I transferred
what I would need for this appointment into
my attaché case and left the
grab-when-there-is-no-time-to-think stuff in the
car.
Oddly, the attaché case is quite heavy, but
the go bag doesn't feel lighter.
A bit of sewing: I'm washing sweat pants to put
them away for the summer, and they have two tapes
to tie below my knees, attached by two brass
safety pins for securing the ankles. I want to
wash the tapes too, but there are no pillow cases
in this load -- ah, the house shirt has a large
pocket, and there is a needle with basting thread
on a strip of wool hanging from one of the spare
shelf brackets. Messy knot at the beginning, a
few short stitches at the end, some well past the
hem of the pocket, in the single layer of the
shirt.
It looks as though I might get to put a stitch
into the desperately-needed new bra today.
18:18
Too many Must Be Done Right Nows, and I didn't
even pick the asparagus.
Still light, brief hiatus
One of the hills is done producing, and must be
allowed to grow leaves. Still more than we can
eat.
I forgot the tape in the pocket, and it twists a
bit. I straightened it in the middle by dragging
it over the chair back I dried it on, but the ends
twisted up again.
I did make the buttonholed bar to secure my phone
in the pocket of my linen-cotton garden pants.
There was a threaded needle in the khaki bag, but
when I sat down to use it, I thought the thread
too feeble, and switched to 100/6. There was also
a threaded needle in the 100/6 bobbin box. I hope
Thursday's eye shot makes pre-threaded needles
less important!
'Taint the eyes; at one point I could quite
clearly see the thread dodging around the eye.
Finally took my own advice, pinched the thread
between thumb and forefinger with the end barely
showing, and lowered the eye of the needle over
it. Pushing the needle down between the fingers
left the fingers gripping the thread to pull it on
through -- no trying to tweeze a millimeter of
thread with my nails.
Found a note reminding me that I'd re-darned my
fuzzy tights on 7 May. On 10 May, I tucked in an
end that had worked loose. No longer remember the
enlightening details, save that sweeping the
needle back and forth obviated the need for a
darning egg between the layers.
This morning, I put a recently-emptied pill bottle
into the non-metal box box, and threw five push-
and-turn bottles into the recycle bin.
It seemed to me that all of my yellow briefs
wanted mending, but when I put briefs into my go
bag to work on in the hospital, I discovered only
one hole and one broken seam. The seam was worn
enough to require skill and patience, but the hole
responded to baseball stitch. I secured the
thread only with small running stitches before and
after, to reduce the odds of tearing the fabric.
On a previous occasion, I put a freshly washed
slopping-around shirt into my go bag intending to
mend a hole in the pocket, but by mistake took a
shirt that had been on the to-do hook waiting for
me to add a timer pocket to make it into a
sloppiing-around shirt. So I hand-hemmed the
sleeves, when zapping them with machine zig-zag
would have been more appropriate. On the next
excursion, I took the slopping around shirt.
I'm out of portable hand sewing.
And there is always some reason that I can't
resume work on my new bra. The one I wore
yesterday has disintegrated; perhaps I'll have to
work on it in the evening, when I'm stupid.
Did some work on the bra Tuesday, and also ironed
a shirt and ironed squares of sleazy-thin woven
interfacing to two patterns that had fallen off
the wall. One hanging hole had torn through, and
the other was thinking about it.
It was very hard to make hanging holes with a
paper punch. I used to have a die that one hit
with a hammer, but spoiled it over sixty years
ago. I imaagine that they are still being made --
if only I knew what they are called.
I picked the basting and bad stitches out of the
bra during stupid time yesterday, as reported in
the
Jersey Blog.
Thursday, 6 March 2025
Friday, 7 March 2025
4 April 2025
Saturday, 12 April 2025
Thursday, 17 April 2025
Tuesday, 22 April 2025
Monday, 28 April 2025
Wednesday, 30 April 2025
Friday, 2 May 2025
Monday, 5 May 2025
Monday, 12 May 2025
Friday, 23 May 2025
Monday, 26 May 2025
Thursday, 29 May 2025
&# C:\ED.DIR/E C:\RUFFTEXT\ED.DIR/E
For raw content see: http://wlweather.net/Pcw/2023SEW1.HTM sewing diary http://wlweather.net/Pcw/2023SEW2.HTM sewing diary http://wlweather.net/Pcw/WEBLOG2.HTM list of changes to site For *really* raw content see: http://wlweather.net/Pcw/blogsew.txt
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