Fiberly One

In September 2009, my friend Evelyn found herself homeless when a fire ran up the wall of her Upper West Side apartment from the apartment below. The biggest hit was her bedroom. Among the things she lost were her mother’s clothes, who was quite fashionable throughout her life. She also lost most of the things I’d made for her over the years.

About 15 years ago, one of the first things I sewed for Evelyn was a swing coat. It was before websites, blogging and the like, so I have no documentation, but as I recall it was black tweed wool with a red satin lining. It was lost.

She also lost a coat inherited from her mom.

Last year I received an email asking if I’d make a coat to replace both. She wrote:

Big shawl collar and sleeves that were slightly puffy w/a cuff at the wrist. The crowning glory was actually the lining. It was black velvet w/embroidered red flower clusters that had tiny rhinestones in the middle of each flower. She said that women, back in the day, would let their coats drape over the back of their chairs so everyone could see the linings. Some things I would like to change. I love the big bell sleeve you did on the swing coat. Full in the body but not as full as the swing you made me. A BIG collar but w/the option of a botton or closure of some kind and about 3 or 4 inches below the knee. A dark color, and truly flashy lining is a must.

Marfy 1961

This was my first attempt to make a Marfy pattern. For the uninitiated, Marfy patterns are made in Italy and include no instructions (I read they are drafted for “professionals) and no seam allowances. That was my first challenge since, although I don’t always follow directions to the letter, they definitely provide a road map for the process.

My next and  favorite challenge was sewing double welt pockets in a princess dart. So I decided that I needed to make a “muslin”  to figure this pocket thing out and make sure I could figure the whole coat out before she invested her hard-earned cash on fabric.  The fabric is a wool blend tweed from fabrics.com and a polyester print from joann.com

The only information I had to go off was the one picture on the Vogue Patterns site and the pattern pieces.

In searching for information on the pattern to try to see if someone had made it and mastered the double welt in a princess dart, I found no one had blogged or written anything but intent to make the coat, so here we are.

Front and welt pattern pieces

The challenge here was to connect the welts when there was no seam allowances at both ends where you would normally anchor the welts. I prepared the front piece by leaving a quarter inch to the dart where the welt end would attach, then I added interfacing reinforcement to the point of the dart and top end of the welt.

Front cut and marked in muslin

Attaching the welts

I finished the ends of the welts by folding the added seam allowance and basting closed.  The cut edge of the welt seam allowances (the width of the finished welt) was aligned to the cut edges of the dart.

Both welts attached to front

I attached the pocket linings, then turned the welts to the inside so the lips met and the linings aligned.

Pocket linings

I stitched the top of the dart to the welt, then folded under the extra fabric at the top of the welt, basted and pressed. Once the welt was pressed, I basted it closed, topstitched around the welt.  I stitched the welt together one-half in from both ends, reinforced the welt edges with narrow zig zag stitching, then whip stitched the top and bottom of the welts to the body.

And I had a double welt pocket inserted into a princess seam dart.

Finished pocket welts

And then I had a coat.

Finished coat

Finished coat and lining

BTW—This is Evelyn’s birthday present and I’ll take it out when I go to visit in October. I’m fairly certain she won’t happen on this blog post on her own. If you know her, please don’t mention it.

So here’s the thing. Events over the past few years have changed my day-to-day life to such an extent that I just don’t seem motivated to post to my blog as much as in previous years, but I am still sewing and knitting (and crocheting and weaving, too.) I seem to only get around to posting pictures to Facebook. If you’re a Facebook friend, then you’ve seen them. If not and if you’re interested, I’ve started to make the albums public so you can see what’s finished. Pictures of my latest projects—finished over the past nine months—because it took me that long to get the pictures postable—can be seen here.

And since we’re catching up, here are Jackets and Shirts and Skirts.

Oh…and let’s not forget the dogs.  There’s Jake waiting for dinner and Jake iPhone pictures. It’s not that we don’t love our Mandy, but she’s just a hard one to photograph—because she moves and most pictures end up with doggy-devil-eyes.

We discovered the Clackamas Repertory Theatre four years ago, in it’s second season, when we saw the best production we’d seen (even better than off Broadway) of I Love You. You’re Perfect. Now Change. Since then we’ve subscribed and haven’t been disappointed.  Last night was no exception.

A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum is an ambitious undertaking for this small production company in a relatively small venue, but it was done brillantly.  I’m not a theater critic, so I’ll leave that to those who are, like Holly Johnson of the Oregonian.  Suffice it to say we LOVED the production—so much so, we are going back next Friday, when we’ll sit in on the Actor’s Forum after the performance.

The show runs through next weekend.  And at a mere $22 per ticket, it’s an entertainment bargain.  Even if you don’t live in Clackamas County, the Osterman Theater at Clackamas Community College is easy to get to—take I-205 to the Molalla/213 exit—and well worth your time.

Go see A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum.  I’m sure you’ll love it!

It was a busy Tigard Knitting Guild meeting for me.  It was my month to arrive early to help with set up.  It was my month to do a small presentation on lace, the theme of the year.  It’s half year so new members can join for half membership fee, so as treasurer I was very popular (6 new members). And at the last minute I was recruited to help with the Twist Collective fashion show.

I was thrilled to finally meet designer, blogger, and mom to Panda and Thea, Marnie MacLean who emceed the show.  She’s posted pictures.  Check it out.

A girl can’t have too many skirts

I’ve worn this skirt several time since finishing it in May. It was one of several pieces I cut from stash fabric to coordinate and it is the same fabric as the tank I made earlier in the month. It’s from the same New Look 6470 pattern. I love it!

I started this second Elderflower skirt (Ruth Sørensen design) in March in stashed Crystal Palace Maizy yarn. I didn’t actually look at how much of this sock weight yarn I had and started knitting away. This pattern is designed to be knit with any weight yarn and doesn’t specify amounts. I didn’t have enough. Fortunately it’s not an old stash yarn and is still being sold. Two orders and two months later, I finally finished it.

Working through the stash, I chose some Fiesta Yarns Meteor, a rayon/cotton ribbon yarn. It was a risk since the pattern called for 720 yards and I had 700. My stash made the body of the skirt and off to the internet to find one more hank. As luck would have it, not only did Webs have the yarn in Jamaican Spice, it was on sale. The pattern is Kira K Designs Sawtooth Skirt. The skirt is stockinette knit in the round (fast!fast!fast!); the lace border is knit separately and sewn on.

Gifts

In May, we headed to Black Butte Ranch to spend the weekend with Dianne and John. We went in to nearby Sisters and the Stitchin Post the local fabric and yarn shop. Dianne, an avid cook, liked the aprons featured. She picked out the fabric and pattern and I offered to make it for her.

In March we celebrate Dianne and Tom’s birthdays. In June/July, it’s John’s and my turn. In anticipation of our trip to Hawai’i later this year, I found a nice tropical fabric that wasn’t too garish and made John a shirt for his birthday.

What better thing to do on my birthday than acknowledge a friend’s day?

Early in the month, Tom and I took a quick trip south to help Amy celebrate her 30th. I’ve finally pulled out the camera.

It was a busy month for our San Jose friends, but we were fortunate that Cam was able to break away and have lunch with us at Armadillo Willy’s in Cupertino. It was well over 20 years since last we met in those Apple days.

It’s not a milestone birthday, so I’ll just spend the day with the man I love and my charming pups. I’ll probably do a little knitting, maybe some sewing, and possibly learn how to edit movies on my new iPhone – or not.

On Monday, I popped down to the Bay Area to spend a little time with Fiberly Friend, Diane. We started with lunch at Caffe 817, a nice little cafe in downtown Oakland.

Next it was to Piedmont Fabrics. Diane had been meaning to visit the shop earlier; I guess that’s why I really flew down. Maybe not. There were some lovely fabrics, including some Liberty cottons. In Lucky magazine, Diane saw a man-tailored shirt in Liberty cotton for $300. Aren’t we lucky that we can sew? We each took some home to make our own shirts for considerably less than $300. Diane suggested we see who gets her fabric made up first. Ha! That will be Diane, I’m sure.

We spied Piedmont Yarn & Apparel as we were looking for fabrics, so did a quick stop there. They had some usual and unusual yarns, including locally dyed yarns, one of which came home with me. It’s fingering weight superwash merino.

Our next stop was for a cookie break at Sweet Adeline Bakeshop. Good oatmeal cookie, but I still like mine better.

Our time was running short, but as fate would have it, I got an email that my flight was running 25 minutes late, so we had time for one more stop.

Now one could got to Berkeley and spend the day looking at everything in Lacis. Instead we spent a half hour and I come home with two cool little notions for my knitting tools bag—a small maginifying glass, since I don’t always have cheaters with me, and a neat little yarn cutter.

The day went by too quickly and to the airport we went. Fortunately OAK isn’t too busy in the early evening, and we able to prevail on the security guy to take our picture.

Good day spent with a good friend.

Before the summer Interweave Knits arrived a couple of weeks ago, I had already picked out a “must-knit” pattern–Annie Modesitt’s Luminarie skirt. KnitPicks CotLin yarn was ordered for another skirt project, but this one seemed infinitely more interesting to knit–and it was.  I love enterlac and lace, and I love skirts, so the pattern had my name all over it. All in all it was a pretty quick knit, since I “knit backwards” instead of purling.
 
 
 

April was the month for starting more thing than I finished. I spent several days deciding on patterns and fabric, laying out fabric and cutting patterns – the part of the sewing process I really dislike, so I do as much at one time as I can stand. The idea was to take one piece of stash fabric and see how much I could make from other stash fabrics that would coordinate.

The first of that effort was this cowl tank from New Look 6470. The fabric is a Fabric Mart purchase from who-knows-when. There was enough for a skirt and, from other fabrics, I cut a different top and a pair of pants.

The realization that Mother’s Day was just a few weeks away prompted me to pull out the beaded fabric I’d bought for my mom on a trip to Mexico. I consulted with my Fiberly Friends, on what kind of pattern to use and decided on McCall’s 5668. It took some days to prepare, since it had to be cut one pattern piece at a time to make sure the beads were placed off seam. Then I had to cut off beads on the sleeve and lower back and sew down any loose beads. I also decided to line the jacket and had to make lining pieces. Here’s there result.

On an episode Knit and Crochet Today, they featured the cutest baby booties that I knew I’d make and the birth of Carolyn‘s grandson, The Little Prince, was just the excuse I needed as a diversion from the larger projects on knitting needles.

February was a bust for finishing projects because I just wasn’t in any one place long enough to focus on anything. But March was a different story: in addition to the birthday gifts and jacket, I was also able to start and finish three things in just the last week.

One
I received my copy of Mother-Daughter Knits by Sally Melville and Caddy Melville-Ledbetter and loved several patterns, but settled on the easiest to start. Begun on Thursday and completed on Friday: the Reversible Tank—knit in KnitPicks five balls of Shine Worsted yarn, .

Two
It’s spring, but it’s still cool in the mornings so I need to wear a hat on our mostly-daily walks. I wanted a neutral hat, and found Foliage on knitty.com. Two hours later it was completed in time for the morning trek to Starbucks, out of one ball of Series M Cuzco Peruvian Highland Wool – a very old stash yarn.

Three
And finally (for the month), there’s the Drop Stitch Lace Tank from Fitted Knits: 25 Projects for the Fashionable Knitter by Stephanie Japel. A three-day project that knit up quickly from even older stash yarn – Sunbeam Cotton Classic, I picked up in London on our second trip which was sometime in the early nineties. I will make a comment about this pattern and book: the pattern was extremely easy, but the book/pattern editing was pretty bad. Be sure to check out the many corrections from the book at Grampyre Knits site before you start anything from this book.

On to my next knit project
I’ve started Elderflower skirt by Ruth Sørensen out of Crystal Palace Maizy that I found at Purlessence in Sunnyvale two years ago. I made the skirt last year our of another stash fingering yarn, but made it too large in the waist. This time, I took the time to take the knitting off the needles and measure. So foward ho!