Peas, Potatoes, and Peppers

Some of the pea plants escaped being munched on and actually produced some peas. I got enough to fill a quart zip bag. I think I am going to dig up what is there and replant them in hopes of a fall crop.

The husband went over the last of the raspberries yesterday morning because he is tall and can get into the middle of the patch. While he was doing that, I checked on the rest of the garden. The Carolina Amethyst pepper plants are, indeed, producing purple peppers. I see some ripening tomatoes. I could get another five-gallon bucket of currants if I have time. The grapes are filling out nicely and I need to start tying organza bags onto the bunches to protect them from marauding turkeys. The potato plants are starting to die back, so I grabbed a fork and dug up one plant to see how they did this year:

I am delighted. The potatoes always do very well in that part of the garden, which is odd because nothing else really grows well there.

My friend Anna, who has the catering business, got me 10 pounds of beautiful green beans from one of her suppliers, so those are first on the canning schedule this week.

To look at it now, you’d never know that the garden was struggling until almost July. I will take the bounty and be grateful.

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I ran up another Laundry Day Tee yesterday afternoon. I have three of them cut out, and they don’t take long to make.

This one was made from two chunks of double-brushed poly from the remnant rack. I think I will wear it today when I teach my Serger 101 class. I don’t like the DBP as much as the rayon jersey—DPB doesn’t breathe as well—but Joanns has a lot of it. I think the rayon jersey also drapes better. I certainly wouldn’t go with a fabric much heavier than this DBP.

I reinforce the shoulders on most of my tops. I used to use clear elastic, which is soft and flexible until you cut it, at which point it becomes sharp and poky and annoying. I ditched the clear elastic in favor of 1/4” wide ribbon. Serging the ribbon into the shoulders is a breeze on my old Juki serger, so that is the one I use for that part of the construction.

I need to make sure I change up my tried-and-true patterns or I am going to end up with 15 LDTs. I like this style, but it does run the risk of looking like a maternity top. A few raglans would be nice, and a raglan would lend itself well to using up some of the small leftover chunks from other projects.

My stash of fabrics is slowly being turned into finished garments. Several of the fabrics in the stash are there because I liked the color or print, not because I had something specific in mind for them. I have a much better idea now what fabrics work well in what patterns.

Pants Class Was a Success

The first time teaching a class is always a bit nervewracking because I just don’t know what problems are going to crop up. By the third time I taught Serger 101, I had a pretty good idea what questions people would have. This pants class was a totally new ballgame.

Funny story: I was getting dressed yesterday morning and went to put on the lovely stretch bengaline Renee pants that I made last week. Did you know that bengaline stretches vertically, not horizontally? No, neither did I. The pants wouldn’t go up past my knees. I had cut the pieces with the grainline parallel to the selvedges—as I would have if making them out of ponte—to maximize the stretch in the horizontal direction. The problem is that with bengaline, there is no horizontal stretch to maximize. I took them anyway and showed them in class. If I can’t be a good example, I should be a horrible warning. I will see if Hobby Lobby has more of that fabric and make another pair and cut them perpendicular to the selvedges. I decided to wear a pair of jeans and my Laundry Day Tee, instead.

As it turned out, one student called in sick, so I only had two in class. They happened to be two students I’ve had before. One works at the quilt store and used to be a patternmaker in Los Angeles. She doesn’t have a lot of experience sewing clothes, but she knows the process of pattern drafting inside and out. I love having her in class. The other lady makes clothes for herself and her grandchildren, but always out of wovens. She wants to become more comfortable with her serger so she can start making clothes out of knits.

Marci, the woman with pattern drafting experience, had made herself a couple of muslins (out of some 1970s vintage plaid double knit) before class, which ended up giving us a huge head start. The two ladies differ in height, but they were close enough in size otherwise that the muslin fit both of them. I had each of them try it on and we talked about where the fitting issues were. They had to make only minor adjustments to their pattern pieces. My brilliant stroke of genius was to tell them that we would wait to put the waist darts in until we got the rest of the pants fit properly. (The pattern has you sew the darts as the first step.) My other stroke of genius was bringing all my leftover ponte fabric so that they could make muslins before cutting into the good fabric. I only had enough fabric for them to make bike shorts, not full length pants, but that gave us the fitting information we needed.

This is Marci cutting out her bike shorts:

And this is Ariella assembling hers:

One of the most gratifying things about teaching is seeing a student gain confidence as class goes along. Ariella came to class not sure if she would like wearing these pants, both because of the style and because she isn’t used to wearing knits. I could see how much more relaxed she got with her serger as class went on, but the fun part was when she finished her muslin, changed into it, and came back out into the classroom. The bike shorts fit her perfectly and she liked the way they fit without the darts in them. She also wondered how the pants would look with a flowy knit top, so I went into the bathroom, took off the LDT, and let her try it on with her pants. She’s a convert.

I helped Marci mark the dart placements on her bike shorts. We also measured her inseam because she had to shorten her pants quite a bit. (Her inseam is 25”; mine is 33”, which is another indication of how much bodies differ.)

All in all, I couldn’t be happier with how this class went. Certainly, having two students with experience in clothes sewing and patternmaking helped. I think that for future classes, I am going to specify that students bring clearance fabric for making muslins and save the good fabric until we get the fitting issues worked out. I know the stores would rather the students buy the good fabric for the class, but they will lose customers if someone spends a lot of money on good fabric that ends up being an unwearable garment. I could load up on bolts of clearance fabric and factor that cost into the cost of the class, too. Stores are used to people buying supplies for quilting classes, but clothing classes are not like quilting classes.

I got a lot of comments on the Laundry Day Tee, both at that quilt store and the other quilt store. (I stopped at the quilt store north of town to drop off my home dec samples after class was over.) I think that if I do another T-shirt class, I’ll purchase the teaching license for the LDT. That style is flattering to many different body types and wouldn’t require a lot of fitting adjustments.

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We had a windstorm overnight. It was one of those windstorms where the pressure gradient sets up over the Continental Divide and the winds come back down the mountains from the east. Our house faces east, so I had to close the bedroom and bathroom windows down to cracks because the pleasant crossbreeze we get at night had turned into gale force winds. When the husband came to bed, I said that I had no idea a windstorm was in the forecast. He said that the windstorm had been in the forecast on the NOAA weather radio that he keeps on in the shop. I checked the NBC Montana weather app on my iPad and noted that we were under a high wind warning—a warning that had only been issued about an hour previously. I said that someone probably looked out the window and noticed the wind was blowing, so they decided to issue a wind warning. He told me I was too cynical.

[I’d love to have a job where I got paid big bucks to be wrong so often.]

The winds have died down now. I’ll be out in the garden this morning until it gets too warm to work out there, although the high is only supposed to be 78F. A heat wave is in the forecast for next week and we’ll be back up into the 90s. I’ve got two serger classes on the schedule, one of which is the Spokane class. I am trying to decide which route to take over to Spokane. The road is open near the fire, but I’d prefer to avoid that area if possible.

Today is Pants Class

Sometimes I look around and I see things that need to be done but aren’t being done, and I think to myself, “There’s an opportunity! No one has written and self-published a book on finishing techniques for knits, so I should do that” or “No one is teaching serger classes, so I should set some up!”

I do not always stop to think that maybe those things aren’t being done because other people thought through the idea and realized it was fraught with all sorts of potholes. No, I just forge ahead until I am so far into the project that I don’t want to abandon it.

Today is my pants class. Apparently, I am nervous enough about this that last night, I dreamed I got to class and had left all of my teaching supplies at home. In that dream, I also had 12 students instead of the three that I know have signed up. 😳

I don’t think I am in over my head, but we’ll find out. Pride goeth before, etc., etc. It’s one thing to teach a class on a technique or project where everyone is making the same thing, in the same size, in the same materials. It’s quite another to teach a class where each student is making something slightly different and customized to fit her body. The actual making of these pants is not difficult or time consuming. I can knock out a pair in a little over an hour. What is going to take most of class time (five hours) is going to be the measuring and fitting. Fortunately, I know the students who will be in this class—their backgrounds and skills—and I think we will be okay. I expect to learn almost as much as the students do.

I also have confidence in this pattern. I’ve made three pairs of pants from it already, and may have a fourth underway as part of today’s class. I think it is drafted and sized well. I know what adjustments, if any, we might have to make and where to make them.

You’ll have to tune in tomorrow to find out how it went.

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I played around with the three-thread edging stitch on my serger again yesterday. This is how it looks on the home dec class sample with a 12wt cotton thread (Wonderfil Spaghetti) in each looper:

The blue thread is the one I almost ran out of while stitching. This is intended to be a basket liner that shows on both sides. (The fabric line is “Decorum” by BasicGrey for Moda.) I’ve seen this edging done with 8wt perle cotton and it’s even more dramatic.

I made a sample yesterday with two layers of flannel and wooly polyester (Wonderfil Sofloc) in the loopers to see how that worked:

I probably could crunch the stitch length down even a bit more for additional coverage on that edge—almost like a satin stitch—but for a sample, this was fine. It told me what I needed to know.

I went through my stash of knit fabrics and sorted them into piles—double-brushed poly, French terry, etc.—and prioritized what I want to make next. I am trying to be more intentional about filling holes in my wardrobe. Navy blue DBP might be boring to work with, but I could use a basic navy blue top.

I also popped up to sewing around lunch time yesterday to do some visiting. That group of women knows how to laugh and have a good time. I always enjoy being there. (We missed you, Sarah!) I don’t think we always get much sewing done, but we do our part to solve the world’s problems.

The garden needs some attention, so that’s on the schedule for tomorrow. The zuccihni and melon patch is turning out to be quite a surprise. Apparently, I put a wide variety of plants in the ground and promptly forgot what I planted. I think the tomato patch is going to be the same way.

Looper Chicken

Those of you who sew may be familiar with the term “bobbin chicken.” That’s the race you play with your machine to see if you can finish sewing a seam before the bobbin thread runs out. Knitters have a version as well. The serger version is “looper chicken.” Yesterday, I played looper chicken and won:

I was working on the last of my home dec class samples. That one called for a three-thread edging using serger thread in the needle and heavier 12wt thread in each of the loopers. I had a large spool of one color but only a sample spool of the other color. (Wonderfil makes sample spools for teachers to use in their classes.) The two colors together were perfect for the print I was using.

The edging is decorative and thread intensive, intended to cover the entire edge, so I knew it was going to be close. I was sweating that fourth side. I stitched the last 6” of it with one eye on the spool. If I ran out, I would have had a sample with a partially-finished edge, but I made it with this much to spare. Yay me.

The samples are done; now I just need to put the handout together. I may make a second set of samples, though, in case I teach this class at another store.

Speaking of classes at other stores . . . I’m scheduled to teach a Serger 101 class at the small quilt store in Spokane this month. Back in May or so, I also contacted the big quilt store in Spokane and offered to teach some classes there, too. The big quilt store responded that they already had people teaching serger classes but would call me if they needed another teacher.

The big store puts out a class mailer every quarter with a list of the upcoming classes. I looked at the mailer that just came out to see what serger classes they are offering in case I want to take one. (LOL.) The only “classes” they offer are the model-specific mastery classes that you get for free if you buy a machine there, although you can take one if you pay for it, if you bought your machine elsewhere. They also have a Bernina serger club which meets monthly and does a different project each month.

So yes, they are offering classes, but not classes open to just anyone with a serger. The mailer states, “If you do not have a current machine model, please call to inquire about your options. We are happy to accommodate other machines, based on instructor availability, as you may require a one-on-one session.” Those individual sessions are $40/hour, which is good information to have because the stores where I currently teach sometimes get requests for private instruction.

Part of me can’t fault the store for setting things up this way. They are a dealer and they want to sell machines. Perhaps their current instructor doesn’t want the hassle of dealing with other brands of sergers, especially vintage ones. My experience, though, has been that people who come to class with machines they inherited, pulled out of closets, or bought at yard sales quickly determine the limitations of those machines and start looking at newer ones.

Here is the interesting thing: I called the smaller quilt store yesterday to see if anyone signed up for the serger class being offered there. I don’t want to make travel arrangements if no one is registered. The woman I spoke with on the phone said that it’s sold out; she registered the last person a couple of days ago. Granted, it’s a small class—we limited it to either six or eight people—but it’s sold out. This is a Serger 101 class and we didn’t limit it to one brand even though this store is a Juki dealer. I will be curious to see what machines people bring to class.

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It’s supposed to be a bit cooler for a few days, although breezy. That fire on the west side of Flathead Lake is still burning, mostly uncontained. And the Flathead County Sheriff’s office released information yesterday that five grass fires over the weekend appear to have been started deliberately. All were extinguished quickly, but it wouldn’t take much for one of those to turn into a wildfire under the right conditions.

I have thoughts about people who get their jollies that way, and they aren’t charitable thoughts.

We had cukes from the garden in our salad last night, and we even have a watermelon in the patch!

So far only one, and it’s only about the size of a softball, but I have hope.

More Gifts From Friends

My friend Sunnie texted me yesterday afternoon and asked if she could drop something off. I was home so I said yes, and a few minutes later she pulled into the driveway. I jokingly asked her if she was bringing me pants to hem and she said, “Oh, no, that’s Robin! I brought you something fun!”

Robin went to visit Sunnie in Texas in March and the two of them went fabric shopping. Sunnie is an artist although she doesn’t sew. She does, however, shop. She and Robin saw this fabric and decided I needed some.

Certainly I shall make myself an apron from this! They also found a coordinating green solid that I can use for the back.

I need to visit the raspberry patch this morning before it gets hot, but then I have a whole day of sewing ahead of me. I have two LDTs cut out and ready to assemble. I pressed all the fabric for the home dec serger class samples yesterday afternoon and need to make those. I need to cut out the pieces for another pair of Renee pants—black Robert Kaufman ponte for these—so I can use them for demonstration purposes in class on Friday. One of the patterns I want to try has a neckline edge treatment that is going to require some experimentation before I attempt it on the actual garment.

And I’ll be keeping one eye on the weather—the fire that is burning on the west side of Flathead Lake, near the junction of Hwy 28 and Hwy 93, jumped the highway and also started burning north, so the sheriff was going door to door to evacuate residents. That fire has burned over 12,000 acres. One structure was lost. Fire managers requested engines from a couple of Flathead County rural fire departments; I heard them get paged out just before dinnertime yesterday. Hwy 93 was shut down because of poor visibility. (The NBC Montana website has pictures if you want to look.) I woke up around midnight last night to hear rumbles of thunder from a storm over the mountains just east of us. I doubt the storm dropped any rain, but I saw several flashes of lightning. It is still hot and this afternoon is supposed to be windy. That is not a good combination of conditions.

I will not complain about snow when it comes. This is, without a doubt, my least favorite time of the year. (March runs a close second.) My cousin’s daughter is coming for a visit at the end of August and I’m really hoping the whole place isn’t on fire. The chickens don’t like the heat, either. They’ve stopped laying and there’s a lot of arguing and pecking going on in the coop. I’m going to rig up a misting system in the chicken yard for them today.

Gifts From Friends

Robin and I had lunch together on Saturday. I hemmed a pair of pants for her on the coverstitch machine and she gifted me this mini chicken from her travels:

He is tiny—just about 1-1/2” tall. He could be a pincushion, but I suspect he is meant to be a pattern weight. I have him sitting by my computer.

I have been remiss in my other thank-yous. My neighbor Theresa brought me this beautiful wool scarf from her trip to Scotland in April:

I wish it were snowing and I could wear this with my new winter coat. It is so hot right now.

[From the Seattle Weather Blog Twitter account: Seattle is very likely to top 90° this afternoon for the sixth day in a row, making for the longest streak of 90-degree days on record. Records date back to 1891. Current record is 5, set in July 1941, Aug 1981 & July 2015. DD#2 asked for an air conditioner for her apartment for her birthday this year.]

Sarah gifted me a couple of tomatillo plants in the spring. We agonized over whether they would make it, but it appears now that both of us will have plenty for making salsa:

The cukes and melons also have taken off. If it stays this warm, we might get some after all. My sense of garden timing is so messed up this year.

The husband was home all weekend. He spent time doing some cleanup around the house and yard, sweeping up pine needles and clearing away brush. He put out hoses by all the spigots, too, so they are ready if we need them. And the electric fence is up around the apple trees.

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I hemmed my Laundry Day Tee and wore it to church yesterday. I have another one ready to cut out from the blue DBP I bought in Missoula. I hemmed the bengaline Renee pants and I might wear them to class this Friday. It’s supposed to cool off a bit by then, to the high 70s. I like to wear my me-mades when I teach. Or I could wear the black ponte Tessa dress. I hemmed that one, too. I still like the way it looks and fits, and I plan to talk a lot about the importance of making muslins.

I really need to get the projects under control. I know I keep saying that. It’s just so lovely to be able to make clothing that fits me and that I enjoy wearing. I’m not constantly pulling tops down because they are too short or pulling pants up because they are falling off my hips. And the best part is that I get to choose the colors.

I’ve also get one more set of class samples to make for the home dec serger class I am teaching at the end of September. I bought the fabric last week and just need to run them up.

August, though, is traditionally the start of canning season and I’ll be hitting that hard. I also need to do a thorough sweep of the house, especially the basement, and take a couple of loads of stuff to the thrift stores. It’s cool in the basement and a good time to clean.

Fire Season Has Begun

We had such a cold, wet spring that fire season seemed a distinct impossibility this year. I should know better. A fire started last evening along the route I take to get to Spokane. It blew up quickly—last report was over 200 acres—and Hwy 28 west from Hwy 93 is closed. Residents are being evacuated. This is about 40 miles southwest of us, but if it happened there, it can happen up here, too. The photos I’ve seen are sobering.

I will take January over late July and August any time. We won’t get any relief from this heat until the middle of next week, but it looks like the long-range forecast for August is hot and dry, too. Ugh.

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I have found what I think is the perfect use for that Eloflex stretch thread. I used it in the looper of my coverstitch machine when I hemmed the Renee pants:

I’m going to try it on a T-shirt next and see how it does, but I think it looks and sews better than the wooly nylon.

I started reading Jenny Rushmore’s Ahead of the Curve fitting book last night, and now I’m rethinking that Tessa Sheath Dress pattern again. I will see if I can do a Zede boob bump on the unaltered side of the pink muslin, but if that doesn’t work, I might go ahead with my original idea to just put darts in the upper bodice and be done with it.

I didn’t get as much hemming done yesterday as I’d hoped because a “quick trip into town” ate up four hours. I had to wait for stores to open and for things I’d dropped of to be finished so I could pick them up again. Traffic was insane. Some stores didn’t have what I needed so I had to go to other stores. Did I mention traffic was insane? I thought I might go to Costco, but at 10:15—well past when they opened—the line to get in stretched out into the parking lot.

The Big Brown Truck of Happiness delivered my Amazon order yesterday. The box contained three large, brightly-colored rubber snakes. (I checked in town, but neither the Dollar Store nor WalMart had any for sale.) The husband thinks this attempt at keeping pests out of the garden is amusing, but I am desperate. Last night, I went out to check on things after dinner and when I stepped out of the greenhouse, I could see the raspberry canes moving. A couple of turkeys and four poults wandered out of the patch. These animals seem to think I planted this smorgasbord just for them.

We’ll see if the rubber snakes deter the ground squirrels. I’ve got a tray of arugula starts that I’d like to transplant, but I don’t want them to get mowed down as soon as they’re in the ground. I put the rubber snakes in strategic locations.

This cosmos made such a pretty picture the other evening:

I like having flowers planted among the veggies.

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I’m not a doctor and I don’t play one here on the blog, but I think it’s helpful to mention what has worked for me in case it helps others. I have followed Dr. William Davis for several years—he is the author of the book Wheat Belly and a lot of his research in the area of wheat intolerance has been helpful for me. He is a huge proponent of probiotics. He is particularly fond of the strains of Lactobacillus reuteri. This microorganism was first isolated in 1962. It used to be found commonly in the digestive tract of human beings, but its prevalence has decreased significantly over the past 50 years—coincidentally, as inflammatory diseases have increased.

I’ve talked here before about the MTHFR gene mutation running rampant in my family. That has manifested as a B12 deficiency in my mother and a folate deficiency in me. I’ve been reading up on the benefits of L. reuteri recently (this is a good start), and it appears that some strains are capable of synthesizing both B12 and folate in the gut.

Hmmmmm.

I started taking an L. reuteri probiotic about a week ago. This isn’t the strain that synthesizes vitamins—I need to find and order that one specifically—but I can tell that something different (and beneficial) is happening in my gut. I’ve been front-loading and taking a capsule with every meal, although I expect to back off from that soon. I’ll post further developments as they happen.

Not the FBA I Need

Yesterday was productive. I knocked out a pair of Renee pants in the stretch bengaline. I have not yet tried them on because it is so hot that I cannot bear the thought of snug fabric on my legs. They look good, though, and the bengaline was reasonably easy to work with. They are sitting on the “to be hemmed” pile, which I plan to tackle today.

I also figured out what is going on with the Tessa Sheath Dress. Spoiler alert: Not all FBAs are created equal.

I cut out and ran up another muslin with the Joann ponte I got in Missoula. It’s a dusty pink color, which is a much better color than black for identifying problems because I can actually see what’s going on.

[This would be a pretty color on me if it were a bluer dusty pink, not a brownish dusty pink. I would dearly love to have a conversation with the person responsible for choosing fabric colors for Joann Fabrics. My first question would be, “Why all the mud?”]

For this muslin, I traced the XL shoulders, then graded down to the Large with FBA. I put the dress on—and darn it, I still had excess fabric at the bust. I could have pinned out darts again, albeit smaller than the ones on the black version. I took out the side seam and cut off some of the extra width from the FBA and ran up another seam. Better, but still not quite right.

And then it hit me. The problem isn’t so much the FBA, it’s the kind of FBA. Look at this picture (and yes, there is a reason I am not a fashion illustrator).

This is basically the shape of the full bust pattern piece for the Tessa Sheath Dress. Do you see how the piece starts to widen immediately below the base of the armhole opening? That is where I kept having to pin out excess fabric.

Now look at this picture:

This is what I’ve normally done for a full bust adjustment in stretchy knits. This is the “boob bump” a la Zede Donahue of the Sewing Out Loud podcast. Her version begins an inch or so BELOW the base of the armhole opening, scoots out, and scoots back in again. It makes the side edge of the front a bit longer than the side edge of the back, but that extra fabric just gets eased into the seam.

I don’t need a full bust adjustment to begin beneath my armpit. I need less fabric there, not more. When I pinned that excess out and adjusted the bustline, the armhole seam—which had been full of wrinkles—straightened out.

I got out the Standard bust pattern piece and laid my full bust pattern piece on top so I could compare them. What I really need, I think, is the Standard bust front pattern with a Zede boob bump so that I only have extra fabric where I truly need it.

Melissa, I wonder if this is why you prefer the original Laundry Day Tee with a boob bump rather than the LDT with the full bust front. I didn’t notice this issue in the LDT, but then again, that bodice widens under the armpit and keeps going, and I made the second one in a very drapey rayon jersey.

I might be able to take the other side seam out on the pink muslin and test out this theory, or I could find more clearance ponte and make a third—and hopefully final—muslin before making a real dress. And I do want to make a “real” dress.

This explanation lines up with what I am seeing in the Love Notions pattern group on Facebook. For a subset of people with a specific shape, the Love Notions kind of FBA probably makes a lot of sense. For people like me, this kind of full bust pattern piece puts extra fabric in a place I don’t need it. Maybe all of this is blindingly obvious to more experienced sewists, but I’m having to analyze and intuit my way through this process.

Hemming today, and then I’ll revisit the pile of fabric and patterns and see what I want to tackle next. I might just spend a couple of hours hemming napkins on the serger. Napkins don’t require fitting adjustments. My brain could use the break.

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The plants in the garden are loving this heat. My sister’s acorn squash is coming along nicely.

I grow these for her and she takes them home in her suitcase when she comes to visit.

I planted a few other kinds of squash, too, but I can’t remember what they are. They were from the plant sale. I think one of them is a butternut. One might be a spaghetti squash. We’ll find out eventually.

LDT Success, Finally

The second iteration of the Laundry Day Tee fits me much better in the shoulders. I used a rayon/spandex jersey for this one (clearance fabric from Joanns). I think it looks better on me than on the dress form, but it’s easier to photograph this way. I have not yet hemmed it. I am making a stack of things to hem and will do them on the coverstitch in a marathon session.

I lowered the armhole on this size, too, by about half an inch. I’m glad I did. Apparently, this is not an uncommon hack for this pattern line, as the designer has a blog post about how and when to do it.

Speaking of the coverstitch, I need to set up the binding attachment and start practicing with it. The LDT has options for a regular neckband and a bound neckband. This is one top that could benefit from a bound neckband.

I like the LDT enough—now that I have the correct size dialed in—that I probably will make a few more. I think the next one will be out of that cobalt/turquoise double-brushed poly that I picked up at The Confident Stitch on Tuesday.

Whew. That was a process.

I cut the grass yesterday morning, hopefully for the last time. It tends to go dormant in July. The husband also wants to put the electric fence up around the orchard because the apple and pear trees are loaded and we still have a marauding bear in the neighborhood.

And it’s hot. It’s so hot. Everyone I know is complaining about it. Those of us who live here obviously prefer cooler temperatures. It’s nothing like last summer, but five days of 90+ degrees is five days too many.

Today will be another day of sewing, although I am heading over to a friend’s house for a bit this morning to help her plan out her garden for next year. She wants to get started on the prep work now, which is very sensible.

This is what is next up in the queue:

1. Another pair of Renee pants, but this time from some stretch bengaline rather than ponte. Hobby Lobby had all their fabric at 40% off this week. Our Hobby Lobby has some new and interesting garment fabrics for fall (are you listening, Joann Fabrics?) and I picked up this bengaline in a two-tone black/charcoal mini-houndstooth pattern. I’m curious to see how it works for this pattern. The Renee pants class is next Friday, so it would be nice to have these done as another class sample.

2. A second iteration of the Tessa Sheath Dress. I have hope of hitting the correct size now that I’ve made a LDT that fits me.

3. Another version of the New Look 6577 cowl neck top with my pattern adjustments. I plan on making this out of some black rayon/spandex. I can always use more black tops.

4. I’m going to cut a few heavier tops out of my stash of French terry using a Burda pattern that I’ve lengthened into a tunic. I made one last winter and I always get compliments when I wear it. As hot as it is, though, cutting those out may be as far as I get right now.

And I am going to try a Seamwork pattern, specifically the Lenny dress. I know, this isn’t turtleneck weather, either.

I have been listening to the Seamwork podcast for a while now, although I haven’t tried any of their patterns. I am curious, though, to see if these work better for me than the Love Notions ones, because Seamwork patterns are drafted for a 5’8” frame. The Love Notions patterns are drafted for a 5’5” frame. I am 5’7” tall. Perhaps that is part of my issue with the Love Notions patterns. We’ll see.

I bought a comfy Liz Claiborne tunic in Seattle in April. I’d love to have a few more in that style. I’m rather hoping to find a similar pattern (Burda, maybe?) but thus far, no luck, so I might have to draft one myself. Oh, and there is that Upton dress . . .

Here’s another garden pic for you. My tomatoes once again look like I planted them on top of a nuclear waste dump, and they are on the opposite side of the garden from where they were last year. They really do like that black plastic. They are setting quite a bit of fruit, too.

The Heat Wave is Starting

I went to Missoula yesterday. The drive down was lovely; it was early enough in the morning that traffic was light. I had the joy of listening to the Whipstitch podcast—Heather, thank you so much for the link to her website and to that podcast!—which made the drive even more pleasant. I was gratified to hear her talk about how much work it is to fit garments properly. Zede and Mallory said something similar on one of their recent podcasts. If these expert sewists have to make multiple muslins for some garments, I’m going to give myself some grace in that department.

I went to Joann Fabrics first. It’s on the south end of Missoula and I like to start there and work my way back. I am not sure what is going on with the Joann Fabrics in Kalispell. All the other stores in the region are open 9 am to 9 pm. Our store is still on pandemic hours and is only open from 11 am to 5 pm. Ostensibly, it’s because of the labor shortage, but part of me wonders if the manager just likes it that way.

I could not believe the selection of garment fabric in the Missoula store. We have maybe one aisle of knits and one aisle of special occasion fabric. The Missoula store has three times that much, and it’s no bigger than our store. We never got the modal sweatshirt knits. The Missoula store has the original stock AND new colors. I might have a chat with the manager next time I’m in our store. She may just not know that people want to sew garments and would buy that fabric in Kalispell if the store stocked it. To look at our store, you’d think that the only things people in Kalispell sewed are fleece blankets.

[Joann Fabrics pushes people to buy on their website, but they have a two-yard minimum on fabric cuts. That’s fine for garment sewing but less fine for quilting and other types of projects. Also, I don’t like to order fabric I haven’t seen in person.]

I scored some rayon ponte from the clearance rack. It was priced at 50% off with another 40% off red tag clearance, and when I got to the cutting table, the woman there knocked it back even further because the edge was dirty. (Someone had set the bolt on the floor.) The ponte is not a color I would wear, but at that price, it will be fine to use for another attempt at the Tessa dress.

[I was scrolling through the posts about the Tessa dress on the Love Notions Facebook group and ran across one from a woman whose body shape looks a lot like mine. She noted that she made a Large with no FBA. It fit her nicely with no pulling, so maybe there is just a lot of extra ease built into that pattern.]

I left Joann Fabrics and headed for The Confident Stitch. I don’t like this store for reasons that have nothing to do with fabric, but I cannot argue with the fact that they have an excellent selection of product. Joann Fabrics has acres of olive green, navy blue, and burnt orange, so it’s nice to walk into a store that carries bright colors that I can wear. I did a fair bit of damage there and came out with a length of Robert Kaufman Trainers French terry in a lovely dark teal, some Birch Fabrics Abyss interlock in a saturated medium blue, and some QT Fabrics double-brushed poly in a geometric cobalt/turquoise blue print. I have not tried any of those fabrics before.

I also picked up some Essex Speckle Yarn Dyed in Cream, which is a 68% cotton/31% linen/1% polyester blend. It’s cream-colored with tiny bright-colored speckles. When I was in Alaska, DD#1 and I had a discussion about cloth napkins. She said they would like some that match but are also unique so that guests can be “assigned” a napkin. DSIL said that his mother does the same thing and I think it’s an eminently sensible idea. I think this fabric will make nice napkins, and I can change the rolled hem edging thread so that each one has a different-colored edging.

I meant to add this book to my pile of purchases while I was there, but I forgot.

I ordered a copy when I got home. The section on full bust adjustments is fabulous.

I did not stop at Vicki’s Quilts Down Under even though she also carries a nice selection of knit fabrics. I bought enough at The Confident Stitch to keep me busy for a while. In fact, I was pretty well done shopping by noon (the heat! the traffic! the tourists!) and decided to head back to Kalispell with a stop at the Amish store in St. Ignatius. The husband wanted some Lebanon bologna to take for lunch and I’ve been having trouble finding it here in town.

We’re at the beginning of a heat wave here. I am planning to cut the grass this morning (hopefully for the last time this summer), then spend the rest of the day inside, sewing. I’ve been getting a couple of zucchini every morning, and the husband has been snacking on the first raspberries. I also cut this lovely cauliflower the other morning:

In my family, cauliflower is most often prepared by browning bread crumbs in butter—do not skimp on the butter!—then pouring that over a bowl of steamed cauliflower florets. I did that with this head of cauliflower and have been eating it ever since. Bugs and worms do not plague my produce. I brushed three earwigs off while I was cleaning this one and that was it. Thank you, snakes.

We Work for Fun

My friend Scott read my Sewcation post and sent me this video clip. It makes me giggle every time I watch it. I made the husband watch it yesterday morning, too, after I asked him what his plans were for the day and he said “Work.” We are peas in a pod.

The funny part is at the beginning.

I made quite a bit of headway on class samples yesterday afternoon. The scarf is done—all fringed—and I made more rolled hem samples. I lost my original set of rolled hem samples. I have looked through all of my class supplies and they are nowhere to be found. Of course, they will resurface now that I have made a second set. I experimented with a rolled edge on a remnant of rayon crepe de chine. I had to use some washaway stabilizer (OESD Stitch-2-O) on that edge, which took a bit of practice, but it turned out beautifully. I washed the rayon and have it hanging up to dry right now.

It’s a bit lettuce-edgy at the moment, but my experience with rayon is that it shrinks in water but stretches out again once it’s dry. And lettuce-edgy is fine, too.

Our renters’ little girl loves unicorns. I had just enough of a remnant of unicorn jersey fabric from Joanns to make her a T-shirt. I cut that out yesterday and will run it up this afternoon.

And I made another pile of fabric and patterns to play with this week, including Laundry Day Tee 2.0 in the larger size. If version 2.0 doesn’t work, I will call this a valuable learning experience and move on to another pattern line. DSIL’s mom had a great idea—she suggested I baste together my pattern pieces and try them on myself or on my dress form. I trace using Pellon Easy Pattern, which is a spun-bonded substrate that is stable enough to sew through. I will have to see how it works to use my dress form for fitting; I can pad out the bust, but the measurements in the hips and waist are different than my body measurements. (I didn’t take a picture of the Tessa sheath dress because it looks good on my body but bizarre on the dress form.) Still, it would give me a rough idea of what’s going on.

I redrafted the New Look 6577 cowl neck pattern and took out the armhole pleat. I also took out the back shaping. That might be a good candidate for the basting method, to see if my changes are an improvement or not. I know that one fits well in the shoulders and bust.

And if I can muster up the courage, I might start working on a muslin of the Upton dress. I’ve got some bolts of quilting cotton that were intended for quilt backs, but I could use one of them for a muslin. The dress requires about six yards and I doubt I’ll find that much of a suitable fabric on the clearance rack.

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My friend Anna, who owns a catering business, is interested in some of the zucchini for her menu this week. I will have plenty to spare. I am re-evaluating what I put in the freezer now. The husband eats a lot less wheat than he used to—I don’t know if it bothers him when he does or if that is just a consequence of me not having it around the house because it bothers me when I eat it. I don’t think I need to make and freeze 36 loaves of zucchini bread any more like I used to.

I might still get peas, in August, which is just bizarre. I think of those as a cool weather crop, but mine got nibbled on by some animal and they are just now reaching a stage where they are putting on blossoms.

I can’t control the weather. I couldn’t control it last year when we sweltered under a heat wave that made the cauliflower wither, and I can’t control it this year when it’s been so cool that the cucumbers are struggling to grow. Every year is different. I say that every year and every year it’s true. We’ll take what we get and be grateful for it.

What Works and What Doesn't

Warning, this is a long post. I have a lot to talk about.

The past two days have been a battle with the Tessa Sheath Dress pattern. I know there are people out there who are fans of the Love Notions patterns. The Facebook group has 54,000 members. I’ve tried two of the patterns and had issues with both, so I am not sure this line is for me. It’s either that or a whole lot of operator error, which is entirely possible.

My issue with the Laundry Day Tee was that I chose the size to make based on my high bust measurement, as recommended by the pattern. That resulted in a top which was too tight across the shoulders and too tight in the sleeves. Armed with that information, I chose the size for the Tessa dress in the same way, but then went up one size to make sure it would fit in the shoulders. I also used the full bust pattern piece.

I ended up with a dress I was swimming in. It fit me in the shoulders, yes, but it was huge everywhere else. I put it on inside out and started pinning. I took the dress in by 1-1/2” at each side seam. I got it to fit well from below my bust to the hem, but it still left me with a ton of excess fabric at the bust and under my arms. I took the sleeves out and put the dress on again inside out. I pinched fabric in various places to see where I could remove the excess. The best option seemed to be bust darts, so I played around with pinning them in different places and finally came up with a placement I liked. I also had to adjust the armsyce slightly, which actually made the sleeve cap set in better.

It took most of yesterday afternoon, but I finally beat the dress into submission. I like the end result very much. This is a flattering style on me and the ponte is comfortable, to boot, but I have no idea how to translate the adjustments I had to make back to the original pattern unless I take the whole dress apart. I could try grading the Tessa pattern from a larger size at the shoulders to a smaller size in the lower body, but I think what I am going to do is to frankenpattern the upper bodice of the Style Arc Kristen dress—which fits well and has the same kind of bust darts in the same location—to the bottom half of the Tessa dress in a smaller size. I will make another muslin to test out that idea. Thank goodness for clearance fabric.

I was talking this over with the husband last night. He doesn’t know much about sewing, but he can visualize what I am trying to do and he listens well. (He was unfamiliar with the term “frankenpattern,” so I had to explain that one.) I’m reluctant to blame the designer for these issues, having been a designer myself and knowing that it’s impossible to design something that fits every body shape and size out there. Based on the posts I’ve seen in the Facebook group, this is what I suspect is going on: People carry weight differently. I think that the people for whom these patterns work really well are those who have narrow shoulders but carry their weight in their bust and lower torso. I am, to put it bluntly, top heavy. I’ve got broad shoulders and I’m busty, but below my bust, things narrow quite a bit.

The fabric I used was the black ponte I got on the clearance rack at Hobby Lobby. Ponte comes in different kinds of fibers. The Kristen dress was made with the “summer ponte” from Joann Fabrics, which is 100% polyester. The first pair of Renee pants (the hot pink ones) were made with that same fabric. The second pair of Renee pants were made with the “refined ponte” from Joann Fabrics, which is 65% rayon/30% nylon/5% spandex. I have several lengths of the Robert Kauffman ponte, which is 67% rayon/28% nylon/5% spandex. The Hobby Lobby ponte is 63% rayon/32% nylon/5% spandex. The 100% polyester ponte does not stretch as much as the rayon blend pontes. The Hobby Lobby ponte seemed to stretch quite a bit while I was monkeying around with that dress yesterday. I am sure it’s a lower quality fabric than the Kaufman ponte.

I am trying to be patient with this process. Patterns rarely fit anyone well without some adjustments, and I am learning a lot as I go, but it takes time.

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When Susan and I were running around town last Monday, we stopped in at the quilt store. I got to talking with a woman who has been in a couple of my serger classes and she asked me why I was teaching the Cookin’ in Color apron class at the other quilt store and not at the one we were in.

[Some people will patronize both stores; some people are very loyal to one or the other. I know I am treading a fine line by teaching at both stores, but I did clear that with the store owners first.]

On Tuesday, when I was in to do the Facebook Live video, I mentioned the conversation to the owner of that quilt store. I said that I did not want her to think that I didn’t want to teach in her store, but I also pointed out that I had submitted a list of at least half a dozen potential serger classes—including the apron class—to her class manager after the Mystery Make in April and could not seem to get any of them scheduled. (The other store owner does not have a class manager; she tells me to pick an open date on the calendar and schedule what I want to teach.)

The store owner said she would talk to her class manager. The class manager called me a few days later and we had a good conversation. We put a few classes on the calendar, but now I am having to scramble and make up class samples and handouts and supply lists because some of the classes are next month. I’ve also got to factor in what I think makes a good class and what the store owner wants me to teach, which aren’t always the same thing. And both stores would prefer I teach classes unique to them, so even if I am teaching the same technique, I’ve got to approach it differently.

This is also a process and I am doing my best to hold up my end of things, but it’s not just a matter of putting a class on the calendar and poof!—I have all the information immediately.

This scarf is a good example.

This is a pattern designed by the woman who taught the Mystery Make class in April. She made the pattern available for free, with the stipulation that if I teach it as a class, the students get the pattern only if they purchase the fabric at the store. I can only teach this class at the store where we had the Mystery Make class. Those are not unreasonable stipulations; it’s her design and she can put whatever limitations on it she wants to. (Please do not ask me for the pattern.) I had bought the flannel for this scarf during the Mystery Make weekend, so I cut it out and put it together after I got the Tessa dress sorted. Now I have to fringe the ends up to that line of stitching. I asked the instructor how long it took her to fringe her sample scarf, and she said, “Four episodes of Magnum PI.” That’s about right. I got this much done last night while watching YouTube videos with the husband.

The store owner suggested this scarf project for one of the technique classes, which is fine, but it’s going to take at least another evening or two to finish fringing the scarf so I can get a photograph for the class listing on the website.

I need to spend some time this afternoon making up a schedule for this week. I hesitate to make a formal schedule because that is an invitation for the universe to start lobbing wrenches, but I’ve got to stay on track.

Sewcation

In the past, when I’ve needed a break, I’ve hit the road. That is still my favorite way to unwind, but for some reason, I’ve been procrastinating about going anywhere. That’s totally unlike me. When I sat down and had a talk with myself, I realized that I what I most wanted was several days alone to do nothing but sew (emphasis on the “alone” part). I had amassed a stack of new patterns and fabrics and until Cinderella’s mice take up residence in my sewing room, it’s up to me to put them together.

I’m making headway. The apron is done and ready to ship. Yesterday, I knocked out New Look 6577, the cowl neck top:

Is it perfect? No, but it’s everything I needed a muslin to be because I learned a lot from it. We’ll start with the fabric, which is some glittery metallic spandex-y stuff from the clearance bin at Joanns. It worked well for this top and wasn’t awful to sew, but now I have glitter from one end of my house to the other.

I can’t decide if I like this pattern better than the Easton Cowl. This one was a bit more complicated because it has pleats at the shoulders to help drape the cowl. It also has a pleat within the armhole, which continues that cowl draping all the way down through the abdomen. I am tempted to take that armhole pleat out.

[I will say that standard garment 5/8” seam allowances are much easier to work with than 1/4'“ seam allowances given in the Easton Cowl pattern.]

This top also has a shaped back. I might redraft the back bodice piece to make it straight rather than shaped. The upper bodice fits well, but I didn’t like the fit around my hips. I think that letting out the back shaping would help that. (The model on the pattern envelope is about 12” wide, which should tell you something. I am not 12” wide.) As Zede Donahue likes to say, “Knits should skim, not cling.”

I really like the length of the sleeves. Fussy sleeves—and especially cuffs—drive me nuts. I had to flatten the top of the sleeve cap again to get it to fit, which I shouldn’t really have to do in a stretchy knit. Once the sleeves were in the top, though, they fit beautifully.

One thing I won’t do again is interface the edge of the cowl. I should have done that with the Easton Cowl, but this fabric didn’t need it. I think the top edge of the cowl would drape better without it. And I like the way the back facing is done. I’ve seen similar facings on some of my Liz Claiborne tops but hadn’t quite figured out how they were done. Now I know.

I am at the upper end of the New Look pattern sizing, so I was pleasantly surprised at how nicely this top fit. One of the views on the pattern package is for a dress. If I can find some suitable fabric—sans glitter—I might try a dress version. I have that dark green Lurex that I also rescued from the clearance bin, but I think it might be too heavy and stretchy for anything other than a top. It might work for version 2.0 of this one, though.

While I was in town yesterday, I picked up two yards of black ponte from the clearance rack at Hobby Lobby. My obsession with ponte continues. It will be today’s project—I am going to make the Love Notions Tessa dress from it. I learned my lesson with the Laundry Day Tee and went up a size when I traced the Tessa dress. This should be a quick sew, and if I end up with a Little Black Dress, so much the better. I have a whole collection of LBDs because I wear them when I play for funerals. (Morbid, but true.)

I also bought the Upton Dress pattern:

This one might be a stretch even though the pattern is labelled for Advanced Beginner. Jenny, at Cashmerette, has got it dialed in when it comes to designing for curvy bodies, so I have hope. Her explanation of making an FBA for a shirtwaist dress was my first introduction to the concept. (I can’t find the link right now, but she has other good ones on the Cashmerette site.) I would like to try the version of this dress with princess seams in the bodice.

I’m giving myself one more week to play around with patterns, and then I need to get back to gardening and food preservation. I’ve also got a couple of serger classes scheduled for August, September, and October that need some prep work.

Why You Make a Muslin

The husband was working late on a job last night—sometimes he has to babysit the concrete until he knows it is setting properly—so I ran up a Laundry Day Tee to see what I thought. I don’t usually sew in the evenings because I tend to make stupid mistakes, but the potential for messing this up was minimal.

Eh. I am not sure this is the right pattern line for me, although I might give it one more shot. Here’s the issue: The pattern suggests choosing a size based on the high bust measurement and doing a full bust adjustment. One the face of it, that is sound advice. Because of the way clothing sizes are graded, if you choose a garment size based on the full bust measurement—your largest upper body circumference—you run the risk of having the shoulders be too large. I run into this all the time with RTW even though I have broad shoulders.

I made a size Large in the Laundry Day Tee based on my high bust measurement, and used the full bust piece for the front (the designer thoughtfully does the FBA for you). I had a sneaking suspicion going in that there might be issues, just because of the shape of the front pattern piece:

This piece has been modified by the designer with a dartless full bust adjustment. The original front bodice piece was slashed vertically from the hem to the bust apex and the side section rotated toward the armscye. (If you need a better explanation than the one I am giving here, search on “dartless FBA” and a bunch of sites will come up with better pics and descriptions.)

Two things happen as a result of this FBA:

1. Extra fabric gets added to the front bodice, which is what we want.

2. Rotating the side section toward the armscye closes the armsyce, which helps to minimize the gaping armhole that sometimes results when extra fabric is added to the front bodice.

I had two problems with the finished T-shirt. The first was that the shoulders of the size Large—which I chose based on my high bust measurement—are too narrow for me. Good to know. Choosing a size based on my high bust measurement may not always work.

The second problem was with the sleeves. Look at that armscye again. See how short it is vertically? I also thought the sleeve cap shaping was too tall. (I modified the sleeve cap on the pattern piece, so I can’t show you what it looked like originally.) Indeed, when I tried on the T-shirt, there was a little tent of fabric sticking up at the top of the sleeve.

It is one of those paradoxes of pattern drafting that a high, tight armhole actually gives better range of motion than a looser, lower armhole, because you’re not dragging all that excess fabric around. However, this pattern has a VERY high, tight armhole—higher and tighter than I think is comfortable for a T-shirt, especially with that FBA. I suspect the sleeve cap needs to be flattened a bit to better fit the armscye, too, although some of that may have to do with the shoulder width.

I’m not faulting the designer here. Human bodies vary SO MUCH in size and weight distribution that it is virtually impossible to design something to fit every body. And this pattern gets rave reviews all over the internet, so it must fit some people very well.

Making this muslin wasn’t a waste of time. I learned a few more things about fitting in general, and about fitting my body specifically. I do like the neckline on this top. It is a bit lower than I usually make for myself, but it looks good. And even things that don’t fit can be used as class samples.

Should I make another iteration of this pattern in a larger size, lowering the armscye a bit and flattening the sleeve cap? Or do I just go back to some of the other patterns I’ve drafted that don’t need so much tweaking? I’m undecided. I’ve been stocking up on clearance fabric from Joanns, so I don’t feel like I am wasting anything, but I don’t know how much more time I want to invest in this. I will say that making aprons is a welcome relief, because they don’t require as much fitting.

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I was a guest on the Quilt Gallery’s Tuesday morning Facebook Live video yesterday. I did a presentation on WonderFil threads. If you have a burning desire to listen to me talk about thread, click here and the video should pop up. You can also see me modeling the Renee ponte pants (they are so darn comfortable) and the Easton cowl.

Janet is Closed

Nicole Sauce, who does my favorite Living Free in Tennessee podcast, has a policy of taking time off periodically and telling people that “Nicole is closed.” Janet is going to be closed this week. Except for a few previously-scheduled commitments, I am not going to be available to solve problems, manage projects, or head off emergencies. If I don’t answer phone calls or texts, that’s why.

I spent yesterday afternoon tracing a stack of patterns in preparation for a marathon sewing session. I will start with the apron order. After that, it’s the lounge pants from New Look 6689:

The Renee ponte pants fit well, but I need to make a few other pants patterns to better understand crotch shaping and potential adjustments to that area. The top is nice, too, but it’s further down the priority list.

I’ve got the Love Notions Laundry Day Tee traced and ready to make. I joined the Love Notions pattern support group on Facebook and that has provided a wealth of fitting information, as have the patterns themselves. The patterns come with a full bust pattern piece, so I don’t have to do the full bust adjustment myself. After the LDT comes the Love Notions Tessa Sheath dress. I still have a couple of yards of that summer ponte in a lovely periwinkle blue that is earmarked for that pattern, although I plan to make a muslin first to make sure the length is good.

I scoured the clearance bins at Joanns the other day and came up with some slinky, sparkly dark green Lurex stretch knit—it sounds hideous, but made up into the right top, it’s going to be spectacular, I think—and I’ve got another New Look pattern to go with it:

I bought this one because I wanted to see how the cowl shaping compared to the Easton Cowl pattern. The basic design is similar, but this one has some additional shoulder pleating to help drape the cowl. I will not be making those flutter sleeves, ick. Sewing the Lurex may prove to be a challenge, but I have to try. If this works out, it may end up being my holiday outfit, and kudos to me for not waiting until the last minute to make something.

This is all part of the educational process. If I am going to be teaching clothing classes, I’d better broaden my experience.

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My refrigerator has some new artwork:

Our renters have a little girl who is a quite a firecracker. She was selling pictures the other day at a stand in her yard, so I went over and bought two of them. Please note that she signed her name in cursive, and she just finished kindergarten.

WS had his lemonade stand set up during the garden tour, so several tour guests came to my garden carrying their drinks. His lemonade has quite the reputation—you can choose to drink it plain or have raspberries, strawberries, or huckleberries added to it. I’m partial to the strawberry version.

And I am making progress with the little rooster. He decided that if the hens could eat scratch grains out of my hand, he could, too. I’m waiting for him to start practicing crowing. That should start any day now.

They Came, They Saw, They Toured

I think we had a successful garden tour yesterday. I was exhausted by the end of the day—I talked to a lot of people and I am not used to being out in the heat like that—but I met quite a few new people and answered many questions. The lavender shortbread cookies seemed to be a big hit. My baking skills are minimal, but it’s hard to screw up a recipe with only three ingredients, one of which is butter. The husband was happy that there were a few left over for him to eat.

My friend Robin was my hostess, and she sat and greeted people as they came in. We got to catch up after not seeing each other for almost four months.

Racer snake stayed out of sight, as did his garter snake friends; I checked the zucchini before the tour to make sure that no one was hiding under the leaves waiting to scare the living daylights out of a guest:

Racer snake completely ignores me when I am out there, but the garter snakes see me coming and slither off to hide.

I picked the first zucchini yesterday! The avalanche will not be long in coming.

I am trying an experiment. We can’t grow sweet potatoes here, but apparently, the leaves are tasty and good in stir fry and sautes. I had a couple in the house that had started to sprout, so I popped them into a pot and put them in the garden. The first leaves have poked through the dirt:

We’ll see how they taste.

I need to step up my baby rooster training efforts. One of the Barred Rock pullets managed to get from the separate space into the big coop yesterday. The baby rooster knew the pullet was not where she was supposed to be and was pacing back and forth, obviously agitated. I scooped her up to put her back with her friends—which made her squawk—and he started to come at me. I calmed him down and told him what a good rooster he was for looking out for his hens. I want him to be assertive about taking care of them, but he has to direct his instincts in the right direction.

It’s a process. At least he’s been watching Dave, which is good. I want to find a home for him. I’d keep him but Dave doesn’t like competition.

I hope things calm down now. I need some peace and quiet. The co-op sale has been scheduled for September 23rd and 24th, although I said to Robin that I may not sell there this year. I don’t have that much inventory and my cousin is getting married the weekend before. We’ll see.

I’ve figured out where I want to run away to for a few days—the trick is going to be shoehorning a trip into the schedule between Zoom interviews of interim pastor candidates and having to play piano at church on Sundays. The new Homestead Foundation website is just about ready to launch, too. I am getting together with the treasurer this week to get the e-commerce links set up, after which we’ll be able to take donations and sell memberships.

But first, sewing.

Down the Garden Path

For the locals, here are the details on this Saturday’s garden tour:

The Mountain Brook Community Center, 2353 Foothill Rd, will host a fundraising garden tour on Saturday, July 16th from 10:00 am to 4:00 pm entitled, “What’s Growing in Mountain Brook (Legally).” The tour will feature 5 working gardens in the Mountain Brook community, which has its own microclimate challenges for gardeners.

Gardeners will begin each hour of the tour by introducing their gardens and participants will be free to ask questions and meander through gardens as they wish.

Five artists have been chosen to paint in the gardens, Lavonne Burgard, Lindalee Cleveland, Therese Ely, Lael Gray, and Sunnie LeBlanc. Sunnie LeBlanc will be doing Plein Aire paintings. Garden refreshments will be served.

Six artists will be at the Mountain Brook Community Center: Gail Hanson, Sandra Marker, Chris Olson Hartley, Dixie Turner, and Pam Wheat.

Tickets are $10/person. To purchase tickets, call the library, 406-314-8232 or stop by Monday, Wednesday and Thursday from 5-8 pm. Tickets are also available for purchase the day of the tour. After touring all five gardens, drop off your punched ticket for a chance of winning a gift basket.

Come and join us! I am sure all of us will be emphasizing the challenges of gardening in Montana in our talks this year.

I love my lavender. I’m going to cut some today to use in baking the treats we’ll be serving at the garden tour.

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In the midst of getting ready for this garden tour, I’ve also been juggling my responsibilities as a member of our pastor transition team. We went from having one candidate a few weeks ago to now having several. We are trying to schedule Zoom interviews, but that’s made more challenging by the fact that people are traveling—candidates as well as team members—and one of our team members drives truck around the state during the week.

I’d still like to get away for a few days, but that’s going to have to wait until we get these Zoom interviews scheduled.

Today and tomorrow focus completely on garden prep. I’ve been waiting to cut the grass one last time. Most of the weeding has been done; it’s minimal thanks to the black plastic.

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It turns out the duck that was in our yard did not belong to WS but to someone else in the neighborhood. Apparently, that person’s chickens got out of the coop. I think the duck may have been living with the chickens and escaped at the same time, which explains why it was hanging around our coop and looked like it wanted to be inside with the chickens. (I suspect Dave would have had something to say about that.)

Elysian sent WS over with a net and the duck has been reunited successfully with its family.

A Bear Was There

We have a path from our property through the woods to the other property where the greenhouse and garden are located. I walk that path multiple times a day. I know immediately if something is different. Yesterday morning, I asked the husband if he would walk out to the garden with me when I went to turn the water on. It was about 6 am—early enough that I shouldn’t be out wandering around by myself. As we walked down the path, I spotted some pieces of rotted tree stump spread around. They hadn’t been there the day before. I pointed to the stump:

“A bear did that, didn’t it?” I said.

“Probably.”

“This is why you are coming with me to the garden.”

The bears like to dig for grubs in the rotted tree stumps. This stump was only about 100 feet from the chicken coop, but presumably, the bear has figured out that it will get a nasty shock on the nose if it goes looking for a chicken dinner. The husband opined that it would be great if we could get the bears to dig up all the tree stumps for us.

It has taken a couple of days and a lot of hose dragging, but I think I finally have my watering system in place. We just had a thunderstorm rumble through, but not enough rain to fill a teacup so I’m trying to be diligent about watering every morning.

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There has been no sewing. None. I had Ali’s little guy for a few hours yesterday; it was too hot for me to be outside, so the scheduled activity at Auntie Janet’s Summer Camp was watching Jurassic World Legos on YouTube. The boys don’t watch much TV—which is a good thing—so when they come here, it’s a treat I don’t feel too bad about providing. I sat and watched, too, and knocked out a few hexies.

I’ve got the Love Notions Laundry Day Tee pattern and Tessa Sheath Dress pattern in the queue. (I might still do the Vivace Dolman, too, but I’m going to start with these.) Part of me asks myself, “How many T-shirts and dresses and ponte pants do you really need?” but then the other part points out that in order to understand pattern drafting and alterations, I need to sew these garments in actual fabrics, not simply theorize the construction in my head. At some point, I will have to do a ruthless purge of my closet. I am getting closer, though, to being able to sew the things I want to wear, in the colors I want to wear, and have clothes that fit me perfectly.

The last time Joanns had thread on sale, I picked up a spool of this:

Some of the patterns I’ve made recently—the Easton Cowl and the Renee ponte pants—require that some of the stitching be done on the sewing machine. I’ve been using regular thread and it’s been fine, but I’d like to try this on the next batch of patterns. This is stretch thread that can be used in both the top and the bobbin. I am curious to see how it behaves.

Blog posts may be few and far between for the next couple of days. I still have a lot to do to get ready for this garden tour. I’ll try to remember to take some pictures, though.

Little Bunny Foo-Foo

We have a rabbit. It hangs out here by the house, which is fine with me. At least if it’s here, I know it’s not eating produce out in the garden.

I christened it “Foo-Foo,” a name that baffled the husband until we determined that he did not know the song about Little Bunny Foo-Foo hopping through the forest, picking up the field mice and bopping them on the head.

(I sang it for him.)

I often tease him that he came into this world as an adult in a child’s body, but given the bizarre things I’ve pulled out of my brain from my childhood—like a song about a rabbit bopping field mice on the head—maybe he thinks that’s a good thing.

Moving on . . . when he came to bed last night, he said, “Did you know we had a duck?”

“A duck? We don’t have a duck. WS has a duck. It must have wandered over here.”

“It was out by the chicken coop eating scratch grains.”

I will see if it is still here when it gets light out. I think it’s looking for a pond.

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I have alerted the husband that once this garden tour is over, I plan to disappear for a few days. I am not sure when, or where I am going to go, but I need a few days alone not being responsible for anyone or anything. I may also just tell people I am going somewhere but stay here and sew without answering the door or the telephone. I haven’t decided. A few days of sewing in an Airbnb elsewhere would be ideal, but all of my supplies are here. Joanns had New Look patterns on sale this week. They hardly ever go on sale, so I took advantage and bought a couple. I’ve traced them and would like to test them out.

And of course, in the middle of all of this, we had an unexpected development in our pastor search process. It could be a good development, but it comes with time constraints. When it rains, it pours.

I begged off attending the Homestead Foundation board meeting last night. I want to live in a world where we have board meetings at 6 am, when I am happy and fresh and ready to tackle the day, instead of at 7 pm when I am tired and cranky and done with people. I gave Susan (the president) my report about the progress of the website. The garden tour booklet is done and I am going to start printing and assembling it today. I need to do some baking on Thursday; each of the gardens will have refreshments, and I’d like to serve some lavender shortbread and lavender lemonade. Lavender is one of the things my garden is known for, and seedlings from my plants have been shared all over this valley. The lavender hedges should be close to peak for the garden tour on Saturday. Have I mentioned that it’s going to be 91 degrees? We’ll be making use of that pop-up canopy I bought before the plant sale.

I also need to clean up the greenhouse. The garden looks reasonably good. It will just need some touching up here and there, and the husband has promised to do the trimming with the big weedeater some night this week.

And it occurred to me yesterday that it’s almost August. This is one of the weird things about living in Montana—summer is so short anyway that when we have a cold spring and cold June, summer feels even shorter than normal. I don’t mind; I prefer cooler weather, but the fact that fall is breathing down our necks just as the weather is starting to warm up is a bit disconcerting.

The young woman who does my eyebrow waxing got caught out on Flathead Lake Saturday during that hailstorm. She has bruises on her arms. We were joking yesterday that we should create a tourism campaign about not coming to Montana, because Montana will try to kill you, in lots of creative and horrifying ways.

That Road to Hell

This has been a difficult week. Everything I’ve attempted to do in the spirit of moving some things in a positive direction has come back to me in spades in the form of criticism and disapprobation. I’ve had to explain and defend myself left and right. Even an online community that I usually consider to be a good support system felt it necessary to tell me what I was doing wrong. The criticism is one thing; what bothers me more, though, are the swirling undercurrents in society that seem to be driving this behavior. Or maybe it’s the coming full moon. Either way, grace and kindness seem to be in short supply.

I’m going forward anyway. We’ve had to make some sudden adjustments to the garden tour plans. One of the tour participants had to pull out, so we are swapping in my friend Susan’s garden. I just finished laying out the garden tour booklet, which means a few last-minute adjustments, but that delay meant that we were able to sell a few business card ads for the booklet to help raise money. (See? It’s always possible to find the positive if you’re willing to look.) I also indulged myself for a few hours yesterday afternoon and worked on the Mountain Brook Homestead Foundation website. This kind of work is not something I would want to do professionally or full-time, but it’s a form of design and I enjoy it, although I enjoy it far more now than I did when I had to hand code everything. I also like being able to showcase what our community organization is doing. The website is close to being done and I am hoping to have it up by the end of the month. I think it looks great, although given my experiences this week, no doubt there will be people lined up to tell me how I could have done it better.

The husband was trying to finish up a job about an hour and a half south of here, so he was gone all day yesterday. He had given one of our employees permission to work on his vehicle in our shop. That kid and a buddy were here most of the day. I spent the morning out in the garden trying to wrangle my watering system into shape. The robins are gone, thankfully, so I was able to pull all the hoses out of storage, but then I had to organize them and lay them out. The basic system is in place, though. I’ll tweak as needed.

And I finished up one more knot top:

This is the Azalea Top by Sinclair Patterns. The fabric is some double-brushed poly picked up for $3 a yard from the Joanns clearance bin at one of the Spokane stores. I am ambivalent about this one. It looks okay on me, although it needs additional length. And I think I somehow managed to put the sleeves in backwards despite carefully transferring the marks from the pattern pieces. I must have turned them around. I’ll have to take those out and redo them. (I understand the rationale for shaped sleeve caps in wovens, but knit fabric is so forgiving that including it seems unnecessary to me.) The knot construction is also very, very fiddly. I don’t like this one enough to make more of it.

I was hemming this top on the coverstitch yesterday afternoon when I started to hear rumblings of thunder. We’ve had some serious storms this week. On Thursday night, a huge system came barreling up from the southwest and dropped golf ball-sized hail on parts of the valley. The damage was spotty, though, and missed us. (I didn’t know anything had happened until the husband got home from fire training and came to bed, as apparently I slept through it.) We weren’t so lucky with yesterday’s storm, though, and got a few minutes of nickel-sized hail. As soon as it was over, I went out to check on the garden. The only casualty appeared to be this parsnip:

RIP, parsnip. (I planted parsnips once and now they come up all over the garden.)

Those of us whose gardens will be featured on this tour have been comparing notes on what a challenging gardening season this has been. Despite what some people, like Michael Bloomberg, would have you think—"I could teach anybody, even people in this room, to be a farmer. It's a process. You dig a hole, you put a seed in, you put dirt on top, add water, up comes the corn"—growing food is not a foregone conclusion. It rains, it doesn’t rain, it snows, it hails, it’s too hot, it’s too cold, rabbits and ground squirrels think you planted a buffet just for them, grasshoppers snack on the tomatillos . . . I could go on and on, but you get the idea. I will be grateful for everything that comes out of the garden this year, even the zucchinis.

I realized yesterday that it’s been a full-court press since the plant sale in May. I went from the sale to traveling to getting ready for this garden tour, and I am ready for a break. Next week is going to be all about stuff I want to do. I’ll make my custom apron order, make a few more tops for myself, and play around with making that bodice block.