Safe in Spokane

Kevin—who is beginning to feel like a member of our family based on the number of texts we’ve sent back and forth—let me know the minute the BMW arrived in Spokane yesterday. Now we wait while they take it apart and see what the issue is. I asked them to call the husband directly when they find out, as he’ll know what they’re talking about. I hope it can be fixed under the recall. If not, we’ll have to decide how far we want to take this. I am not enthused about buying another car to replace that one, but I need something reliable.

I had WS here for a few hours yesterday morning while his mom had a job interview (she got the job!). He helped me put my new chair together.

I thought I might use this as my office chair, but I decided to swap it with the chair I’ve been using upstairs at my machine. That chair truly is an office chair (an old wooden one) and the new chair is a sewing chair. The back support on that sewing chair is amazing, by the way.

I cut the green Cordura for the lining of the Slabtown Backpack, and after lunch, I assembled the front and side pockets:

The pattern is thoroughly detailed and hasn’t once left me scratching my head. I really like how this is coming together. We have another day of rain in the forecast, so I’ll probably work on this again this afternoon. We also have a frost warning for tonight. I’ll have to cover everything. We had 3” of snow one year on June 10, so this isn’t unheard of, but I could do without the whiplash. The forecast high for Monday is 89. Those poor plants won’t know what hit them.

McCall’s (the pattern company) is planning to close its Kansas printing plant by the end of the year, according to this article on the Craft Industry Alliance’s website. It sounds a bit as though the Big 4 got caught flat-footed with the recent resurgence in sewing and are trying to catch up. The source cites customer complaints about the quality of the pattern tissue (no, really?) and notes that the Simplicity plant in Wisconsin—which will now do all the printing—can print higher-quality tissue patterns. Perhaps they will also revisit their 1950s-era sizing charts.

There are so many great indie patterns companies out there.

I need to get my serger class handout ready this weekend. The store wanted to have me teach a class on the third Thursday of every month, but I asked to hold off on any more classes until this fall. Summer is always nuts, and trying to fit two more serger classes in with everything else could very well have sent me round the bend. Also, seeing how this first class goes will give me a better idea of what to offer next.