SpinnySpinny

It’s my blog, I can say that.

So I have totally screwed up the dress I was making for the opera. With only a couple days before we leave. I had it all ready to hem and decided to take in the side seam a bit under the arms. Since it was cut from a pattern with sleeves, it really needed to be smaller in the bust for a slip dress. I pinned and stitched and trimmed the seams, and then discovered I had somehow managed to alter the wrong seam. The side front, which is most assuredly NOT where it needed to be taken in. Dress trashed.

I have some different black fabric and a suitable pattern already altered to fit. I just need to adjust the length appropriate for a cocktail dress. And line it because it’s sheer. It’s about another three hours of work, not including hand stitching the hem. I’d have to hand stitch it anyway, so I’ll have two weeks to do it while I’m in Italy. The opera isn’t until the trip home, when we are staying overnight in Munich.

And I still have other things to finish, like stitching the sleeve lining and hemming the coat. How irritating.

I’ve been working on a coat for the upcoming trip, because I desperately need one. It’s Polartec Wind Pro Weathershield, a very dense fleece. It’s tedious to work with thick fabric and this stuff won’t hold a press for anything. But it’s warm, we’ll see how it holds up in the rain. It has almost no stretch, particularly lengthwise, so I can mostly ignore that it’s a knit. Handy, since my lining is woven.

I have the body and sleeves done, ready to put together:

The lining is some discount waterproof breathable nylon, I’m using it wrong side out because it’s impossible to match a printed plaid design. It’s a lining, so what if it’s brown.

No, not mine. Stop that already.

DH’s sister-in-law is pregnant so I’ve started pulling out baby fabric and patterns. And collecting more, of course. I was making baby clothes for someone else a few years ago, but it’s been stuck in the back of the closet for a while. We don’t know yet if it will be a boy or girl, but from shopping through pattern catalogs there are still way more girl patterns than boy patterns. In the baby department, even more so. I’ve bought a few to fill holes in the collection but tried to keep it to things that could go either way.

In the meantime, there are other things to do. I made a double-sided blanket, more an oversized changing pad, of flannel and tablecloth vinyl:

I did one of these a couple years ago and it seemed like a neat idea, something to keep around the house for the visiting infant. I don’t know how practical it is because it never really got used. Maybe this time I’ll find out.

Here is a picture, for a few more (and larger) you can go to the regular page: Dillo and Feorlen Get Married.

My jacket is navy dupioni with paisley tie twill lining. Instead of the suggested fusible interfacing I used organza. There is one snap at the waist, covered in a round black frog-type knot. Using all silk means it weighs nothing. The dress is blue rayon of some sort, very much like another I have in purple Tencel. It is fairly heavy but drapes well.

Simple things can be very satisfying. I needed a bag for for the new cheese board (a piece of slate, must be no longer trendy because it was on sale.) I had the perfect fabric for a protective sleeve, thick cotton flannel, except I had already made it into a half-baked pair of test pants that I’m never going to finish. Out came the seam ripper and I pieced together a couple pieces. A couple more seams later and it was done.

So there’s some extra random seams where they might otherwise be unexpected. One more UFO disposed of and a needed object constructed. I’d consider that a success. After the past month of dealing with jackets it was a nice instant-gratification project.