We Have Some Snow

Winter storms invariably are followed by breathtakingly sunny days:

The husband was out clearing paths on Thursday, so I followed him around. You’ll notice he’s wearing bright orange in case he has to direct traffic or falls into a snowbank. (He would tell me that comment is irreverent, but it’s still funny because I bought him that coat.)

We have anywhere from 2-3’ of snow on the ground. In some spots, it has drifted deeper.

A tree did indeed fall down in the pig pasture.

I am always amazed that trees know exactly which direction to fall in order to cause the most damage. If it had fallen to the right, it would have landed in the middle of an open pig pasture instead of on top of the garden fence.

The forecast for this week is temps in the mid- to upper-30s and rain or snow, so all of this will become an ugly, mucky mess.

I ordered seeds yesterday. Hope springs eternal.

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I am working on view B of Burda 6146:

I actually bought this pattern to make the blouse on the left, because that is very much like the one I found at Kohls last spring that was too short on me. (I will lose those fussy cuffs when I make it.) I liked the top on the right, too, although every time I looked at this pattern envelope, I imagined view B in a stable knit, not a woven as called for in the pattern.

I traced both views a few months ago, lengthening them (of course), and put the pattern on the pile of future projects. The other day, I ran across a length of fabric in the stash that I thought would be good for a muslin for view B, so yesterday, I took it out and got started. I can tell by the construction that the fabric is a jersey knit, not a ponte, but it’s a beefy jersey knit. It has to be a Walmart remnant because it’s teal, and I wouldn’t deliberately order teal from a fabric supplier. I have too much teal in my closet as it is. It looks and feels like a polyester/rayon blend.

When I discovered I could make my own clothes, and that I could make them so they fit me properly, in colors I love, I went a bit nuts. I made a lot of pieces that were quick to run up on the serger. I’m tired of eating Twinkies, though, and I have enough of those kinds of tops and pants in my closet. If I am going to continue to make clothes, it’s time for me to slow down and make items that require more time and care and that incorporate other construction techniques. View B of that pattern appears simple, and it’s not complicated. It cannot be done entirely on the serger, however. The V-neck has a facing. The facing has to be sewn into the neck opening on the sewing machine and then understitched.

As much as I love my Janome 6600P, it requires some sweet talking to get it to sew knits. That’s the one issue that has me thinking, occasionally, of trading it in for a different machine, although it did well enough with this top. I made it far enough in the assembly to try on the top and assess the fit. I’ll post a photo in the next blog post, but so far, it’s looking promising.

I have had good luck with Burda patterns.

I’ve been following a new YouTube channel called Calcedonia Sewing. The sewist is a woman in Germany and she does a lot of magazine reviews. In Europe—much more so than in the US—patterns come as part of magazine subscriptions. An issue might have 20-30 patterns, all printed on top of each other on large pieces of paper inside the magazine. (They have to be traced, obviously.)

Camelia reviews the monthly issues of Burda, Knip Mode, and Patrones magazines. I am enjoying these videos. She has an accent, but I am hardly going to complain about someone who speaks a second language fluently, and I love the musicality of her speech. She’s also brutally honest about what she thinks. Sometimes I find her comments hilarious but spot on. Check out her channel.