Holiday sewing spree

 

WISDOM GAINED: Don't forget that width  matters, but creativity can save you!

Folded xmas tree for child's apron        

I have two weeks holiday. For Christmas. And somehow I think I am going to finish all my sewing projects. Umm DT you have some Christmas cooking to do, and, well, catch-up visits with friends (if that will be allowed), but, big sewing plans. 

It did not start out too well. I finally got Montreal-daughter to measure her beau so that I could take the Gosling shirt PDF to the copy shop to get it printed out. Friday, after the last day of classes I make a detour to Staples to get this done. (I am on the bus, and I have increasingly sore feet - toes which makes walking uncomfortable). 😞 Well I probably should not go into too much detail, but the clerk asked me why I did not order online, and informed me that she could not do the job until ... Sunday, possibly Saturday, because they had 8 pages of online orders to fill, and online orders 'take priority'. Uh - really?! So I took my chances and thought I would try online, and go to a different location. The online was, as I expected, not going to work. I could not see the selection for the type of project I wanted, and the closest I could get was going to cost me $105.  Not impressed, I went out to the second location, and they said indeed that was not the price of this job, and they could do it by WEDNESDAY. I needed this so that I could whip up a muslin before Tuesday. UGH! One of the clerks took pity on me and was able to print it up for me at a very reasonable price (under $20). 

The plan Saturday was to go to Fabricland and get more elastic, trace the Gosling pattern, and my Jalie Clara leggings, and cut out the three pairs of PJ bottoms in the snowman decorated flannelette I bought last week. I managed to trace the Gosling pattern, cut out the PJ bottoms, and pin the Gosling to the muslin fabric. The leggings are going to have to wait!

I did buy interesting stretchy thread at Fabricland; we'll see how that works!However, the pinning of the PJ bottoms met a small roadblock. I had made another error with my fabric purchase and I did not check what width I needed. When I got home I realized that I did not have enough room to cut out my pieces.😬😵 I came up with a solution to that - piecing the extra length on the back leg, but varying the colours. (The three pieces of flannelette are the same design, but different background colour.)  What a save!

multi-pieced PJ save!

I am happy with the PJ result!

I also, on a whim, engaged in an unplanned project... something to do with the leftover fabric from the PJs:

I made the folded Xmas tree onto an apron for our favourite little neighbour.

It is WAY too big for him... oh well. The green is a light, denim-weight that I have had for years (since Germany), and which I love, but could never find the right use for. It has a great 'hand' (that is it drapes nicely), and nice 'sound' (fabric appreciation is multi-sensory!). The pattern is a pattern from our time in Japan, and I love the little cross back. I am sorry that I did not make this smaller, and I did have the chance - after I had pieced the front I could have recut the pieces to the smaller size...

The Xmas tree is a free pattern from Misusu and is fun to make. See last week's post to see how I kind of messed it up, so this time I cut both the tree piece AND the backing, very carefully. But I still mis-judged, and the top is wonky. Next time I will also mark the points for the tree - I think I got it kind of wrong, and so the top is crooked. Kind of like some of our real trees have been, I guess!

back view

front view

The Gosling shirt muslin travelled to Montreal for a fitting. It needs some work. The shoulders seem to fit but the recipient wants a good six inches removed from the waist. I think I will redraft the body of the shirt, rather than just sew it tighter at the seams...