No More Naked Wall

The husband put up the brackets and rod for me yesterday morning so I could hang the quilt I made for the space above the stairs. Decorating this space was the entire reason I took up quilting—12 years ago.

Better late than never!

The color combo is weird, and not my palette at all, but I love it and it cozies up this space. I also adore that pattern. I’ll make it again some time into a quilt. I should also clean that fence off and stop using it as extra fabric storage, but it’s so handy.

Yay.

I made another jacket over the weekend:

This is Simplicity 8811, not the Little Somethin’ jacket, but the two are very similar. This is made out of the rayon fleece that Joanns brought in last fall. Our store has never had it in stock, but the store in Missoula carries it. I bought two yards in a grape color, then three more yards in black. This is one of those fabrics I think of as “cotton candy” fabric. It’s light and luscious and feels wonderful, but has zero durability. I knew that going in, and this jacket has a specific purpose because of that. When I travel, I like to have something to throw on over my PJs in the morning while I am drinking my coffee. (At home, I wear a long robe.) This will work.

The pattern is okay; I had a few problems that were rooted more in operator error than anything. The jacket comes in three lengths. I had intended to make the middle length. When I started to sew it together, though, I discovered that I had traced two different lengths—the back in the middle length but the fronts in the shortest length. I had to trim the back to match. The jacket is still plenty long. The pattern also includes two sleeve styles, which I did not realize. I traced the wide sleeve, not the narrow sleeve. I prefer closer-fitting sleeves. I could have narrowed these as I sewed them, but I left them and they are okay. I did shorten them, however, as they were hanging halfway down to my fingertips and I knew that would drive me nuts.

The photos and line art on the pattern cover are a bit deceiving and make the jacket look more tailored than it is. The finished garment has a slight flare to it that isn’t obvious on the models. The shoulders are dropped and slouchy. I reinforced the shoulder seams with 1/4” organza ribbon as I usually do, but I also used it when sewing the sleeves to the body because I was afraid they would continue to grow otherwise. The construction of that collar is identical to the Little Somethin’ Jacket. The fabric was very easy to work with on both the serger and the sewing machine, although I can tell just from working with it that the fleece side wants to pill.

The jacket is done and it will serve its intended purpose.

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Over the weekend, I also put together a French terry pullover (Burda 6315) that has been sitting for way too long. The French terry is not of very good quality, but I can wear it to work outside if nothing else. I cut a Nancy Raglan (5 Out of 4 Patterns) in some spruce green Trainers French terry from Robert Kaufman, although I have to figure out how I want to do the collar on that one. The first two tops I made using that pattern had cowl necks, but I didn’t have enough of the Kaufman fabric for a full cowl. I either have to scale it back to a turtleneck or use a different fabric for the cowl. I am still thinking on that.

Today’s to-do list begins with that royal blue waterfall cardigan. I need to tackle that one while I am fresh and not likely to do something stupid. I may cut out a few more Burda 6315 tops and/or Nancy Raglans. I have plenty of fabric in the stash and those are easy to put together.

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Winter has arrived, at least in the mountains:

Activity in the north Pacific is ramping up. Waves of moisture are rolling into Seattle and eventually (hopefully?) in our direction. I’m still hoping for a good, hard winter.