July Accomplishments

I was busy in July.

When I saw Simona Merchant-Dests lace cardigan from Vogue Knitting Spring/Summer 2008 knit in Lara, I shopped my stash found enough Lara and got started. I was sure it was going to take a lot of concentration and a month to knit up, but it only took about a week. Of course, then there’s finding and sewing on buttons; they’ve been found, but not sewn. Don’t know if you can tell by the picture, but they are quite glittery shell buttons.

I love Coldwater Creek, and have a favorite tencel jean jacket, so I thought that I needed more of the same. An embroidered cotton I ordered from FabricMart had been calling me, but I didn’t want to cut into it without knowing the fit of the McCalls 5191, so I pulled out a piece of FabricMart bundled fabric that I wouldn’t have ordered on my own, but it was out and just grew on me. I thought could fudge the 1/4 yard shortage, but of course came up short. I found a blue cotton fabric at JoAnn’s that I used for the band, cuff, collar, and yoke facings, as well as the pocket bags for the pockets that weren’t part of the pattern. What I found out from my colorful muslin was that the sleeves are way-long, and though I made an adjustment on the embroidered cotton, they were still too long, so I cut the cuffs off and just left the sleeve open at the bottom.

Last year Tom bought a scooter, then proceeded to dump it at the licensing test, and between recovering from the bruised ribs and really-big-elbow and the change in the weather, it sat for nine months. He signed up for the Team Oregon motorcycle training class to refresh his skills (and pass for the motorcycle endorsement on his license.) He needed a jacket that was heavy fabric for protection, but unlined so he didn’t melt, so we found a light colored denim at Fabric Depot and I made him a jean jacket from Kwik Sew 3251. The advantage of a custom made garment is that he got to tell me what he did and didn’t want. He didn’t want a collar, buttons, or a zipper. I omitted the collar and faced the neck with bias tape, and we added heavy duty snaps—I marked and poked the fabric and put Tom to work the attaching the snaps, so I could move on to another project.

Friday was our 27th Anniversary, and we planned on commemorating the occasion with a trip to San Diego. Of course, he needed a new shirt or two for the occasion. I’d started the green shirt in June only to find, I’d placed my pocket template in the wrong place so the pocket wouldn’t match. The fabric has been around for a while and, as I recall I had to order two pieces from two different sources, so I wasn’t holding too much hope of finding it again, but wonder-of-wonders I did find it at an online at Quilter’s Paradise in Wilmington, Vermont, and it took four weeks instead of four hours, but I finally finished the shirt.

I’m into bamboo fabric at the moment. I ordered a bamboo knit tank from Coldwater Creek (when it wasn’t tank top weather). It was a warm day and we took the convertible out for a spin. It was so comfortable, I went in search of fabric so I could have more comfortable tops. I found some knits for me, but also found some bamboo/cotton woven fabric for Tom at Ruthie’s Rags. It was a joy to sew. It’s substantial, but very light weight and didn’t wrinkle. Tom agreed it was a comfortable to wear.

I’ve got two more trips ahead of me this year. I’m hoping to get some sewing done for those, but it’s been a busy August so far, but with non-sewing ventures, so we’ll just see what happens.