Finally, Some Sewing

I had a podcast interview at 10 am yesterday morning, which gave me about two hours of sewing time after breakfast. Before we went to Washington state two weeks ago, I had cut out McCall’s 8636 in anticipation of possibly taking it with me to work on while visiting the kids. Ultimately, I decided against the idea. I would have had to take a serger with me and space in the truck cab was at a premium.

Because it was already cut out, though, I was able to start working on it. I have found that the key to short sewing sessions—anything less than a full morning or afternoon feels “short” to me—is to go into it with no expectations. I am so goal-oriented that I usually begin a sewing session with an idea of what I want to accomplish. I can’t do that when I am sewing in time confetti. I have to break it down into literal baby steps: I will fuse the interfacing to the fabric or I will sew and topstitch one seam.

I started by fusing the interfacing to the fly extension of the pants.

These pants have a faux fly, which makes them a good beginner class.

No, my iron is not broken. The fabric is Kona Crush, which is designed to have those permanent wrinkles in it. It is a great choice for this pattern.

This pattern has many pieces. The fronts consist of a center front, a middle front, and side front/back. I sewed each long seam, finished the edges together on the serger, then topstitched the seam.

I am at the point where I I am ready to add the side pockets. I like how this is coming together and I think it will make a good class. The pattern features some details that elevate the design but aren’t hard to execute.

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My podcast interview was with a young man who lives here in the Flathead Valley and has a business recycling and upcycling textile waste. His company is called Fdes: Functional Design. He is also on the board of The Making Place, a new makerspace in Columbia Falls. We had a great conversation and it will be part of next week’s episode. I am going to visit The Making Place next week.

I also got a lovely e-mail yesterday from Bernina’s manager of national events. When I submitted my class proposals for Sew Expo, I asked to have my serger class and the thread class in the Bernina classrooms. Sew Expo contracts with local sewing machine dealers to bring in machines for the event. After the event, the dealers sell those machines at a discount. It’s a great way to get a lightly-used machine (with a full warranty) for an excellent price. Last year, I taught the thread class in the Brother classroom. Each classroom has a monitor who is there to handle technical issues, but it’s infinitely easier to teach on a machine you know.

The e-mail from the national events manager included an introduction to the regional rep and to the liaison from the store providing the machines. She asked a few questions about supplies and said she hoped we could meet at BU this summer. One of the things I love about Bernina the company is that their staff—even the higher-ups—are so gracious and friendly and make a sincere effort to get to know their dealers and teachers.