Winter coziness (curtains, leggings, socks, ....)

This has been a productive sewing week.

I have worked on re-organizing my sewing spaces, I got the curtains done, I finished the merino wool project and nearly finished the cardigan! I also finished my 'ugly socks'. YAY!

Curtains

just a bit long

Curtains should be easy-peasy, right? Well, in a way they are, but they can be tricky! You are dealing with a large expanse of fabric that you need to cut = not easy to line it all up from one end to the other. Then when sewing - even if they are straight seams, the weight can pull down, impeding the work of the feed-dogs (that pull the fabric through the machine.)

dimout effect

   

pleats

header tape

I bought some drapery silk-dupioni, and some dim-out lining. The intended recipient of the curtains thought the fabric looked a bit like one of those stuffy rooms in Downton Abbey😂. She was not wrong. That was the appeal, no?

hard to handle a bit

I cut the lining a bit shorter on the top, bottom and sides. I sewed up the side seams right-sides together, then when I put it right side out, the outer fabric was pulled to the inside to create the hem. At the top I double folded the outer fabric, and it partially overlapped the lining, same at the bottom hem. I then sewed the auto-pleat header tape to the top, with three rows of stitching. Then the fun part - pulling the strings which creates the pleats! I hand sewed the bottom hem. 

At the last minute I decided to tack each of the pleats, to keep them tighter.

I was also very generous for the length. She had measured 163 cm, including the frame. I decided to add 20 cm for safe measure. Too much! (It hangs behind the radiator.)

The packet of rings included 10 rings, but turns out I have seven pleats on each panel. So the current pictures show the curtain sagging a bit. This will be rectified!

Bottom line - sewing curtains is do-able. The hardest part may be calculating how much fabric you need. (I have enough left over to make a curtain for that window in the staircase where the sun just BEATS in during the late afternoon!)

 Merino longjohns and top

disregard the kilt!

I am always feeling quite cold in the winter, and find that wool is the BEST. I had made a pair of merino long johns about two winters ago, and then before the BC trip I made two pair with wool knit (not merino), and one top (the turquoise set). You may recall the top I made out of the Italian wool scraps, which shrunk in the wash and that I salvaged it with an extra band sewn around the lower edge... I decided I needed a nice version of a wool top. So I looked around, and was able to find some merino wool jersey from Mimi Fabrics - which is local, but hard for me to get to. So I had it mailed anyway. I bought two metres, and figured I should be able to somehow get these two items from it. (Jalie Clara leggings, and Jalie top 2805, incidentally. Mock turtle-neck view).

the piecing not visible!

I did. Kind of!  Pinning and cutting a single layer does maximise fabric use. So I got it all laid out, and realized I would have to do some 'piecing.' I split the back of the top into two near the bottom. I cut it all out, (that took the most time!). Went to sew the longjohns and realized I had only cut one waistband piece, but needed two (one for the facing.) There was NOT enough fabric left for that (there were long pieces in the wrong direction). But you always have lots of leftover with knits,* so I pulled out some cotton jersey from a t-shirt I had made in the summer, and this made a perfect facing. Phew!

(*the contradiction here is not a contradiction. I KNEW that I would have too much left over if I bought enough fabric to only make the top or the leggings, but buying just a bit extra and planning two items would result in less unused fabric).

I used the triple zig-zag for hems. I realized that even though this stitch stretches, it does not always stretch enough, and some of my stitches pop. So I stretched the fabric as I sewed the hem, and I think it will work fine now!

I think I just might wear that top every day until May. SO cozy! 

the contrasting facing waist band

just another Clara leggings

Stash busting socks

and here is what is left!

After making four pairs of socks as Christmas gifts, I had odds and ends left over, and no socks for me. I knew that those bits could languish in my wool-stash bucket for years. And while I know they are completely mismatched, I wanted to use up this yarn and have my own socks. 

Check✔ See the photo for what is now left! Not much!

Sewing room

just a peak into my SR

I got the sewing machines and tables consolidated into one room, and am liking it! I have also moved a decommissioned card-catalogue into the sewing room, and need to plan what to store in it. (This has been in the works for YEARS).

The iron and other storage will live in the other room.