Winter is for Hibernating

I should be a bear. We had a potluck lunch after church yesterday but I decided not to stay because I am peopled-out at the moment. And I am being selfish with my time. I wanted to come home and sew. I like spending time by myself. (The husband was out in his shop working on a project because he likes spending time by himself, too.) I also like silence. I have enough going on inside my head to keep me entertained.

I pulled some Walmart mystery fabric out of the stash and ran up the Burda 6990 raglan pattern. I am very happy with it:

The fabric is a heathered interlock. Interlock knits are not my favorites—at least 100% cotton ones—because they don’t have a lot of recovery. This one must have some spandex in it, though. The hand of the fabric is quite nice and it bounces back after stretching.

I made one size larger than I normally make in Burda patterns. The pattern, as drafted, was intended to fit closely. I wanted something with less negative ease and not quite as clingy. I don’t often wear more than one layer of clothing because the wood boiler is keeping our house toasty warm.

This top is long enough and hits at mid-hip. I will have to shorten the raglan seamline on the pattern pieces. Other sewists on the PatternReview.com website noted the raglan seams as an issue, too. The length of the seam causes a fold of excess fabric above the armpit. I’m going to redraft the pattern pieces to shorten that seam. I will also narrow the sleeves a bit at the wrist to make them fit more closely.

This one will lend itself well to frankenpatterning. I’m going to modify the Toaster Sweater pattern to have this turtleneck rather than the funnel neck on the original. The funnel neck is a nice design feature, but it requires a beefy fabric so that it doesn’t collapse. I could also see this top lengthened into a tunic or even a simple black jersey dress. And it only took about 90 minutes to cut it out and run it up on the serger.

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These instant gratification projects are all well and good, but I have been hankering for something I can sink my teeth into. I thought about starting a bag pattern until this new Simplicity release came across my radar:

Other women like shoes; I like coats. I don’t know why. I have lots of coats and I rotate through them. This looks like it would be a fun, challenging sew. The hardest part, I suspect, is going to be sourcing a suitable fabric. I’m not going to find it locally, that’s for sure. Maybe Seattle Fabrics or Pacific Fabrics has something.

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I was checking the obituaries on the local newspaper website yesterday to see if one had been posted for my girls’ first-grade teacher. Sadly, I found an obituary for another friend of mine. She was one of the first people I met when we moved here to Kalispell because her husband and mine were working together as framing carpenters. She homeschooled their three daughters. At one time, they also belonged to the Mennonite church I attend. When I was diagnosed with leukemia and had to leave suddenly for treatment in Cleveland, she stepped up and offered to keep DD#1—who was not quite 2 at the time—while the husband went to work. We stayed friends as the girls got older, although I saw less of her as the years went by. She got divorced and eventually moved south of Missoula to be close to her oldest daughter. I am not sure what happened, but she died in early January.

I suppose this is a side effect of getting older. I don’t like the fact that checking the obituary page is getting to be part of my daily routine, though.