Fire Hall Wall Pour, Part 1

Part of the wall pour for the new fire hall happened yesterday morning, so I stopped on my way home from town to take some pictures. I say “part” because the husband only had enough 4' concrete forms to do half the wall. (It’s a big fire hall!) The crew will strip the forms today and put them up for the other half of the wall. I am not sure when that will get poured.

The husband manned the boom to make sure the right amount of concrete went into the form. One of our employees followed behind him with the backpack vibrator to eliminate any air pockets. There was another group of guys further back who were finishing the top of the wall.

This is why I wage a constant war against dirt in my house. 🤪

The pump operator moves the boom around with a joystick control.

You can see that it is still smoky here. We are supposed to get some rain and thunderstorms tomorrow and Friday. Hopefully that will clear the air a bit.

*****

It occurred to me, while I was working on this Grainline tank pattern, that perhaps I needed to address the fit of the back pattern piece to help make the front pattern piece fit better. Duh. That seems like such a basic concept, but I also think that we get so stuck on trying to figure out where the problem lies—usually the problem we can see in the mirror—that we develop a bit of tunnel vision. I am being fairly picky about the fit of this woven tank because it fits more closely than a top with sleeves.

When Ryliss Bod was helping me to fit that dress pattern last fall, she noted that my back neck-to-waist measurement was shorter than average. We shortened the back dress pattern piece by about 3/4". I remembered that little piece of information and decided to try the same adjustment on this Grainline Willow tank. I had some gaping at the back of the armhole, so I shortened the top at the upper back, between the neck and the base of the armhole, by about the same amount.

What a difference that made to the fit! The back fits better and now the front fits better, too. The irony is that I needed to shorten the back pattern piece but lengthen the front pattern piece. The front fits nicely on the upper bodice with no gaping or wrinkling. Everything hangs straight. I made my second muslin out of some black cotton fabric that the Other Janet gave me. I just need to bind the neck and armholes and hem it.

I should take a good look at the fit of my other woven tops to see if those patterns could benefit from a similar adjustment.