So Very Close

I knocked out the Pamela’s Patterns Magic Pencil Skirt Wednesday afternoon using some of the black ponte. I wanted to start with a simple pattern from her line to see how she does her drafting and fitting. I chose the high-waisted version, which she recommends for people with long torsos. That was a good decision.

I would say that her sizing is aimed at mature bodies. Her size range seems to be larger than standard, because I traced and made the Medium pencil skirt and still had to take in each side by half an inch at the hips (more on that in a moment). I left the darts in both the front and back pieces. I think the back ones could be adjusted a bit, but it is hard to do fitting adjustments like that by myself. I was happy with the way the skirt looked and fit when I was done. It just needs a hem. I put it in the coverstitch queue.

After I transferred the sizing adjustments to my version of the pattern, I compared the skirt to the bottom half of Pamela’s Classic T-Shirt Dress pattern. I was hoping that that pattern would fit better than the Tessa dress because Pamela’s version has bust darts. I traced the Medium—based on my high bust measurement, as suggested in the pattern—but when I laid out the skirt pattern on top of the dress pattern, I discovered that I was going to have to grade down quite a bit below the bust. Truly, I am shaped like a Barbie doll. I am larger on top, with a well-defined waist, but my hips are narrower than one might expect given my bust measurement. I actually graded down from a Medium in the bodice to a Small in the waist to an X-Small in the hips (!) in order to have the dress pattern approximate the same size and shape as the skirt pattern.

[This is exactly the problem I have with RTW dresses. If it’s big enough in the bust, it will be swimming around my hips. If it fits in the hips, I won’t be able to get it closed on top.

Yesterday morning, while waiting for it to get light enough to go out to the garden, I cut out and put together a muslin of the Classic T-Shirt Dress using the Joanns clearance interlock. My first impression was, “Wow, something that actually fits!” There were no gapes or wrinkles in the upper bodice. The darts were positioned perfectly. The dress skimmed over my hips, so grading down to that smallest size was a good move. I set the muslin aside to revisit after lunch, when I thought I might put the sleeves in just to make sure things still looked good.

I’m glad I waited, because after lunch I looked at it again with a more critical eye. I thought that the upper bodice was too long vertically. The top fit better when I pulled up an inch out of the shoulders, but then the bust darts were in the wrong place. The pattern has this note: “Do you feel as though the armholes in garments are often too long? It could be that you are shorter (petite) in this area.” It then goes on to describe how to use the shorten/lengthen lines to adjust the armhole depth.

I measured the pattern and the armholes are 10” deep. A 10” armhole is deep in a handknitted design. Personally, I think it is way too deep in a sewing pattern. And I am far from “petite.”

Back to the drawing board. I used the lines in the pattern to remove 1-1/4” from the armhole depth on the front pattern piece. Then I had to move the bust dart down. I made the same armhole adjustment on the back pattern piece and also on the sleeve pieces. I had enough of the interlock left to cut a T-shirt length out to test those changes, which was okay as I thought the bottom half of the dress fit well. (I added that 1-1/4” back in to the length below the bodice on both front and back.)

I think this may be as close as I get. (I hear Zede Donahue’s voice in my head warning against overfitting. Some sewists succumb to the temptation to get garments to fit with zero wrinkles, which is unrealistic.) The only other change I might make is to use a slightly larger seam allowance to get this to fit just a tad closer. The seam allowance specified in the pattern is 1/4”, which baffles me. Why do some of these designers use such a narrow seam allowance? Are they all former quilters?

I am comfortable enough with this version to go ahead and make the ponte dress. I think I could also use this as a T-shirt pattern because even though T-shirts usually stretch enough to accommodate the girls, I like the fit better with the bust darts. That neckline is way too high, though, for T-shirts.

All of this is good information that I can use in my classes. If you’re short, the Love Notions patterns will probably fit you well. (Whitney, of TomKat Stitchery, is 5’2”, which is part of why I think she likes that line so much.) If you’re taller than 5’5”, start with a pattern line drafted for taller people, like Seamwork. If you’re skinny, you probably will like the Liesel + Co patterns or Grainline patterns. And if you’re curvy, just go straight to the Cashmerette patterns. You’ll still have to make some refinements, most likely, but you’ll be closer to the goal than you might be otherwise.

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And now, back to the cowl neck top. I picked up this clearance fabric at Hobby Lobby on Wednesday:

Does this have enough pink in it that I could get away with wearing it? This is retina-burning, for sure. The fabric is 100% polyester, not rayon, but the drape is similar. I need to trace the smaller size of that pattern and put this one together.

Some day I will be done with all this fitting and can make the actual clothing.

Guess Your Pattern Size

Yesterday was a mixed bag. I restrung my windchime successfully. That was a spatially-challenging project, so I was proud of myself for getting it done.

I need to adjust that center string up a couple of inches, but I am enjoying hearing the chimes again.

My other spatially-challenging project was making the See & Sew B5513 top.

Eh. Lots of pros and cons here. Lets start with the pros:

• I love love love the fabric. This is a woven rayon from Hobby Lobby. Is it super high quality rayon? No, but it has bugs all over it—bees, dragonflies, butterflies, and moths. I love it so much I plan to buy more of it when it goes on sale again. (Hobby Lobby sales rotate on a three-week schedule.)

• I really like the raglan style. I know raglans fit me well (broad shoulders) and I should make more of them.

• I also love the cowl neck. More on that in a moment.

• It comes in two lengths, and the tunic length was perfect.

• The overall construction was complicated enough to be interesting, but not so complicated that it was frustrating. Seams were done mostly on the Janome and finished on the serger.

The cons:

I have never used a See & Sew pattern before. I am not even sure they exist anymore as I pulled this out of my pattern stash. See & Sew patterns seem to be a low-budget version of one of the Big Four companies, with emphasis on the “low-budget” part. There were three body measurements given for choosing the correct size: Bust, Waist, and Hip. That was it. The only finished garment measurement given was the circumference at the hem. The description of the top says “loose fitting.” From that minimal information, one is supposed to figure out what size to make.

I figured wrong.

I went with the size that corresponded to my full bust measurement because the pattern did not differentiate between full and high bust. I should have measured the pattern pieces, although there is a lot of origami in this design with pleats and darts.

This top is so “loose fitting” that I could hide a couple of toddlers underneath. Thank goodness that rayon is drapey. The finished top looks okay on my body, but clearly, I need a smaller size. I suspect I could go down two entire sizes—which, incidentally, would correspond to my high bust measurement—and the top would fit much better.

Things I would change:

• This top has darts in the shoulders and pleats in both front and back pieces. I’d be inclined to remove the back pleat and cut the back bodice straight. I think there would still be plenty of freedom of movement thanks to the shoulder darts.

• The pattern says to interface the cowl, which is cut on the bias. I used the lightest possible interfacing and ended up pulling it off the fabric after I got one edge sewn to the neck opening, because the cowl wouldn’t drape. It’s a deep cowl—about 9” deep when doubled over and sewn down—and all the interfacing accomplished was to make it stiff. I would not interface the cowl with anything. I am not sure it needs to be cut on the bias, either, if it isn’t interfaced. I think the primary reason for the interfacing is because drapey rayon has no prayer of holding its shape once those bias edges are released. It is also possible that a very light knit interfacing would work better than a woven one. I’ve run into a couple of designers who say that they use the knit interfacing exclusively, even on wovens.

The husband asked me if I could take this top in enough to fit me better. Not really—it would be faster to make another one from scratch. This only took a few hours to put together. I might see if there is any drapey rayon on the clearance rack at Joanns that I could use to test a smaller size, because I like this style and would make a few more if I could get the size dialed in.

I really appreciate the indie sewing pattern designers who give finished garment measurement and/or specific ease measurements in their patterns. That information is so helpful when deciding what size to make.

I keep telling myself this is a process. I do learn something from every project, but I understand why a lot of sewists stick to a few “tried and true” patterns or only buy patterns from one or two pattern companies. Making muslins, even from clearance or sale fabric, costs time and money.

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Whitney, at TomKat Stitchery, released a video this week about the “Coastal Grandma” fashion trend.

I’ve seen this trend pop up on other social media sites, so I watched the video to see what she had to say about it. As she described it, I thought to myself that it perfectly captures my mother’s and my sister’s fashion aesthetics (and my sister lives in North Carolina), but then I laughed because two of the patterns Whitney chose to illustrate the trend are jacket patterns I have in the queue to make for myself. And the accessory pattern she chose was the Fremont Tote from Klum House. I made one of those a few years ago and loved it. I think of my fashion aesthetic more as “Montana Chicken Farmer,” but I clean up nicely when I have a mind to.

Microbe Magic

It’s science project season here. I put some cucumbers into a crock a few days ago and covered them with a brine solution. It has started to bubble.

The plate and the glass weights keep the cucumbers submerged. In another week or so, I will be able to transfer the pickles to jars in the fridge, which will slow down the fermentation process. I do not expect them to last long in the fridge because the husband likes pickles. A lot.

[The Magic School Bus episode “In a Pickle” has the best explanation of fermentation ever. Highly recommended.]

I sweep through the garden every morning to gather what’s ripe. I am getting cucumbers, zucchini, tomatillos, tomatoes, lettuce, chard, and collards. Some cantaloupe and a watermelon are close to being ready, too. We are going to have a ton of acorn squash.

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I’ve mentioned before that I try to keep Mondays as a prep day for my sewing projects. That seems to be a good system. It keeps the cutting room organized and gives me a steady supply of things to work on. Yesterday, I traced patterns and did some cutting. These projects are ready to go:

Pamela’s Patterns Magic Pencil Skirt, black ponte.

Seamwork Lenny Dress, the muslin to be made from some clearance interlock from Joanns. The interlock is a juvenile print with cars all over it, but I needed three yards and the price was right. Who knows—you might see me wearing it some time. I do have “nice” interlock for making this if I like the way it fits.

Seamwork Sadie Tunic, muslin to be made from a beefy clearance knit from Joanns, although it’s a lovely blue ribbed fabric, so if the muslin turns out well, I’ll probably wear this one, too.

See & Sew B5513, which I had in my pattern stash.

I am going to make View A (short sleeves and cowl neck) from a drapey woven rayon. This is a raglan-style top and it has pleats in the front, back, and shoulders. A woven rayon will be a nice change from all the knits, although I will sew/finish as much of this on the serger as I can.

I also knocked out two more Laundry Day Tees on Sunday afternoon. They are waiting to be hemmed, along with the Lark Tee. I have enough rayon jersey in the stash for five more LDTs, but I’m wondering how many is too many? They have just been so comfortable to wear in this weather. I could do a few long-sleeve versions, too, for next spring.

I’ve been watching all of TomKat Stitchery’s videos on knits, and I am feeling braver about branching out to some different styles. I love wrap dresses, but I steer clear of them for obvious reasons. In RTW, those kinds of dresses tend to gape in unfortunate areas. Whitney made the Antrim dress from Itch to Stitch, which has full bust pattern pieces, and it was very flattering on her.

{Zede Donahue has pointed out on more than one occasion that “full bust” does not mean your bust circumference is large—it means that your full bust measurement differs significantly from your high bust measurement, usually by 4” or more. One can be petite, with a small frame, and still need to do a full bust adjustment.]

We’ll see. I need places to wear all of these things I want to make.

I’m also evaluating some pattern club/subscription services. Almost all of the indie pattern lines have some version of one, ranging in price from a few dollars a month to several hundred dollars a year. If I join one, it has to be because a) they design clothing I want to wear; and b) I know that their patterns fit my body type. I am a member of the Thoughtful Creativity YouTube channel ($5 a month), but I’m thinking of canceling that one. There is such a thing as too much content, and she puts out a lot of members-only videos—so many that I am way, way behind.

Heat

We have an outdoor church service at a local pavilion every August. On the Sunday we had it last year, I don’t think we broke 60 degrees. Today, it will be 92. We did get some rain last night—actual precipitation that did not evaporate before it hit the ground. I’ve got doors and windows open right now, trying to cool off the house. According to the forecasts I am checking, it doesn’t look like this is going to break until the second week of September.

Oh, well. The tomatoes and melons are happy.

The husband was busy with a building project yesterday:

He is putting in a wood boiler. We have a lot of wood here to use up before it rots, and this will provide a secondary heating source for the house. Eventually, he will run lines to the old and new shops, as well. He trenched the line yesterday and ran the hose and got it all backfilled before the rain came.

I do not know much about this system. I trust the husband, though, and if he decided that this was something that needed to be done, then it must be important.

One of my jobs this week is to source more greenhouse plastic so that can be replaced as it’s been a little over 10 years since he built the greenhouse.

This has been a week of repairs. I dropped my 14” Farberware frying pan and broke the handle. I got that pan as a wedding present 32 years ago and use it every day. I actually have two because I picked up a second one at a thrift store a while back. Thankfully, replacement parts are still available. I ordered two new handles and replaced them on both pans:

And yesterday’s mail brought the repair kit for my large windchime. It broke during a storm. I’ll restring it with the new parts and hang it back up.

I also received my Pamela’s Patterns order this week. Joann Fabrics had a 60% off one regular-priced item yesterday (a rarity), so I stopped in and got enough black ponte knit to make the Magic Pencil Skirt and the Classic T-Shirt Dress. Yes, I will have a lot of black ponte pieces in my closet, but they are basics and go with everything. I think I am going to do a winter version of that dress with long sleeves and the portrait collar.

We have houseguests coming this week so I need to do some cleaning and organizing. That’s a good thing.

Cucurbitae and Solanaceae

I laughed when the husband brought that golf cart home, but I have discovered that it is very useful for hauling produce over from the garden. I used to use the kids’ old wagon, but the golf cart holds a lot more and is fun to drive.

Yesterday’s haul included a box of cucumbers:

If WS wants some for the market, I said he could have them; otherwise, I might start a batch of fermented pickles. These will just keep coming for the next few weeks.

The tomatoes are insane. Some of the plants are so large and so heavy with fruit that they are pulling over the tomato cages. I have started picking the tomatoes as soon as I see them ripening and bringing them inside to finish. I do not want the ground squirrels to get them.

I have one tomato plant whose fruit is suffering from blossom end rot and I am not sure why. Thirty-nine other plants are just fine, so I do not think it is a systemic issue such as lack of calcium or inconsistent watering. I got down on the ground to see if I could find the label for that variety, but it’s a jungle out there and if that plant has a label, I won’t find it for weeks yet. It’s a smallish paste tomato of some sort. The chickens are getting all of those.

I cleaned off the gooseberry bush and came in with several gallons. Those will likely end up in a pie for the husband and perhaps some jam.

This is a mystery squash—Elysian and WS like to sneak a seedling into my collection every spring and I wonder if this is this year’s contribution? It almost looks like a Delicata, but it might also be a winter squash of some sort.

We’ll find out!

The pollinators are quite busy:

If I stand in the garden and listen, I hear a constant low hum.

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I finished putting the hardware—straps, buckles, and snaps—on the Slabtown Backpack and it is officially complete. While I love the finished product, those kinds of projects are nervewracking, because any small mistake at the end can ruin hours and hours of work. I triple-checked everything before I secured rivets and snaps. I also told the husband that I was very happy he bought that anvil.

The Bernina serger was set up for rolled hems, so I finished a stack of napkins before changing it over for regular serging. I have two LDTs ready to make as well as that Lark Tee. I like to assembly-line my projects as much as possible so I don’t keep having to rethread the machine and change needles.

I got a very nice e-mail this week from one of the students in my Spokane serger class, and last evening, the owner of the store called to let me know that the response was overwhelmingly positive and she would love to have me teach again. Yay! More road trips.

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The big news in Kalispell yesterday was a subadult black bear that somehow found its way into town and was being tracked on social media. People posted pictures and videos of it at the mall, over by Walgreens, and walking past one of the elementary schools. FWP thought they might have to dart it and tranquilize it in order to get it back out in the woods where it belongs. Sometimes the mama bears kick those teenagers out, especially when there are cubs, and the teenagers have trouble figuring out where they belong. Town is not that place, LOL.

Fun With Aprons

Wednesday was a fun day because I got to teach two Cookin’ in Color apron pattern classes. I had a morning session with one student, Cindy, who had been in my Serger 101 class. She chose a beautiful bright combination of fabrics for her apron and we finished off the waistband with a line of metallic green Glamore 12wt thread:

For the evening class I had Dawn and Marianne. Dawn requested the evening class because of her schedule. Marianne owns the quilt store; she was happy to have an evening class, too, because as the owner, she rarely gets to take classes. Dawn went with Tula Pink fabric:

And Marianne used the Montana Memories batiks:

We are slowly but surely building up a base for these serger classes. The interest is there and I do think people want to start using their sergers if someone will show them how. I am starting to feel like a serger evangelist.

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It appears that we have three more days of this oppressive heat and then a front moves in and we should cool off a bit. I sincerely hope that is it for the 90-degree weather this year. I’m done. I am glad for the heat only because it has helped the garden along after a very slow start. We probably will have to cover tomatoes next month to keep them going if we get a frost, but we do that almost every year.

I cut out another Laundry Day Tee in a rayon jersey yesterday. I’ve decided I am going to stick to rayon knits for that pattern because they drape so well. They are also cooler than double-brushed polyester. I am finding I reach for that first LDT from rayon jersey a lot because it’s so comfortable to wear in this heat.

I also traced and cut out a Lark Tee, from Grainline Studio. This is a new one to me and I am curious to see how it fits.

Still in the queue are the Lenny Dress and the Sadie Tunic. The Lenny Dress needs a muslin. I think I’ll use some interlock knit from Joanns for that. I am going to skip making a muslin for the Sadie Tunic only because I compared my Liz Claiborne tunic, which is very similar, to the pattern. The fit is close enough that I think I can get away with not making one.

Before sewing today, though, I need to do some work out in the garden. Our salad last night was comprised mostly of ingredients we grew, which is always so gratifying.

Moving UFOs Along

I did get out the Slabtown Backpack project. I didn’t have to do much digging to unearth it as it has been sitting here in my office for a year. Restarting a project after a long hiatus can be difficult because it takes time to figure out where the project stalled. I have always been very impressed with the Klum House patterns, though. They are broken down into easily-manageable steps with excellent explanations and illustrations. I had marked the pattern where I stopped, so it was a simple matter to pick up and continue.

The backpack portion is now done:

I expected this to take longer. I thought I’d get one or two steps done every day over the next week, but finishing the bag only took about three hours. I still have to attach the straps and some hardware. I’ll wait to do that, however, until some morning when I am fresh and less likely to make a stupid mistake.

It feels good to move this along, especially as this was not an inexpensive kit. And we can always use another backpack around here. I just wish I hadn’t waited so long. I do enjoy sewing with waxed canvas.

I made another batch of curried zucchini soup while working on this. WS came over last night to buy my extra cucumbers to sell at his corner market. (At eight years old, he has a much better grasp of economics than most adults I know.) The collards are just about ready to pick, blanch, and freeze. I started doing collards instead of spinach a couple of years ago because I always missed the five-minute window between when spinach was ready and when it bolted. Collards are just as good in soups.

I want to experiment with canning some soups. I cannot bring myself to pay close to $5 for a can of Amy’s when I have all the ingredients here to make my own. I thought about canning that curried zucchini soup—freezer space is going to be at a premium soon—but I am not finding much USDA guidance on canning anything like that. I’ll start with some approved recipes, first.

[I used my homemade chicken stock as a base for the curried zucchini soup, and I have to say that it is so much better than anything I’ve ever bought in the store.]

I’ve got two Cookin’ in Color Apron classes today, one this morning and one this evening. That is not an ideal schedule for this morning person, but we had someone who could only take an evening class and I wanted to accommodate her.

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Finishing this backpack was the motivation I needed to keep going. My sew-jo was about to take a hike and I didn’t want that to happen. It is still ridiculously hot here, in the 90s until at least Monday. March and August are my two least favorite months of the year. The chickens are cranky and sniping at each other. Another fire started yesterday, not far from the one I drove by on my way back from Spokane. The husband is doing a job up by Glacier National Park and got caught in a traffic jam after a car accident on his way home the other night. There have been a lot of car accidents. People are driving like idiots. Every time I go to town, I pass drivers looking down at their phones (usually on Lake Blaine Road, for you locals).

I await fall. And snow.

Palate Cleanser, Sewing Edition

I can tell it’s time to work on a different kind of sewing project. I made a list of clothing projects last night, and either I have patterns but no fabric, or I have fabric but I am waiting on a pattern, or I have to trace something and haven’t yet done that. I believe I will resurrect the Slabtown Backpack and try to finish that one. I also have to mend a pair of the husband’s work pants, and both of those projects can be sewn on the Necchi industrial. And while I’m working on the Necchi, which is in my office next to the kitchen, I can probably have a cooking or canning project going on the stove. Function stacking for the win.

I needed another class sample for the Rolled Hem class I’m teaching next month, so I knocked this one out before leaving for town yesterday morning. This lovely piece of rayon crepe came from the 80% off remnant rack at one of the Joann stores in Spokane.

I adore the color and the print, but I look like death warmed over in anything yellow or orange. I have to content myself with making class samples in those colors. This is a simple scarf made from a piece of fabric about 12” wide, cut on the crossgrain with rounded points on the ends. I wanted to see how much I could get that edge to wave. The remnant was almost an entire yard. Had I cut it on the bias, I know I could have gotten it to wave even more, but I could not bring myself to waste so much fabric. I set the stitch length to the lowest setting, which has the effect of crowding a lot of stitches into a small area. Pulling laterally on the finished edge (very gently!) encourages the ruffling as those stitches spread out. The looper thread was wooly nylon and the other two threads were regular serger thread. I used some tearaway stabilizer on the edge, which was essential because of the weight of the fabric.

[I am struggling with what to do with my garment fabric scraps. Quilting cotton scraps are easy as they can get recycled into a scrap quilt. I hand out leftover knit fabrics in all my serger classes—or use the larger pieces for muslins—but I’m still swimming in them. One of the young women who works at the quilt store in town makes knit fabric headbands. I offered her the larger leftovers, but she’s moving and asked me to hang on to them until she gets settled. I hate throwing even small scraps into the trash, so the idea of cutting a scarf on the bias out of the middle of a yard of fabric was untenable, even from a remnant that only cost me about a dollar.]

I have got to spend some time today working on serger class administration. I would like to have a list of classes to give to stores so that when people ask “What class can I take next?” the store has something to choose from. I’ve got to organize supply lists, class samples, and handouts. The more I teach these serger classes, the more I am leaning toward making up class kits rather than having the students source their own supplies, for several reasons:

• It takes a fair bit of time to become familiar with what kinds of fabrics are suitable for what kinds of projects. I specified a rayon knit for a class last summer and one student showed up with a yard of a fairly pricey woven rayon. Even choosing fabric for a simple T-shirt can be confusing.

• Wonderfil can provide sample spools/ kits of thread, which would allow students to try out different kinds of thread without having to shell out money for something they might only use once. I don’t want students to think that they have to buy expensive supplies just to try a technique. Also, stores don’t necessarily want to place a minimum order for thread (or fabric) that they won’t be able to sell. Most quilt stores don’t keep a stock of garment fabrics, either. I noted in class on Saturday that the irony of teaching serger and clothing classes at quilt stores did not escape me.

• Supply chain disruptions are wreaking havoc on class materials. The stores will order class supplies for me, but that doesn’t guarantee they will arrive in time.

• If everyone in class has the same supplies, class will proceed much more smoothly—or so I tell myself.

Class kits are one of those things, though, that students either love or hate. Some students love them because it saves them the hassle of shopping, especially when they aren’t sure what supplies they need. Other students hate them because they would rather bring supplies they already have on hand. And the stores really want students to buy their supplies at the store. This is a fine line to walk. My goal as a teacher, though, is for students to leave knowing more than they did when they came to class, and I have specific ideas about how to make that happen.

The Pattern Queue is Full

I may need to take a break from the clothing sewing for a bit and do something else. When fall gets here, I definitely want to get back to quilting. The Slabtown Backpack stalled around this time last year and is still sitting here in my office next to the industrial Necchi. Working on that project would be a nice change of pace. I also need to prep some embroidery projects—probably more chickens—so I have handwork in the evening, not that I’ll be sitting down until canning season is over.

For now, it’s clothing. One of the women in my serger class on Saturday mentioned how much she likes the Pamela’s Patterns line. I took a look at the website when I got home and ordered three of the patterns. I ordered hard copies and had them shipped, because I’ve already got half a dozen other patterns in the queue and I’m not in any huge hurry. I might be ready to start them by the time they arrive in the mail.

The first one is the Magic Pencil Skirt:

I made a pencil skirt last year with some dark green ponte using the Liesel + Co Kensington pattern. I liked the skirt a lot, but I wasn’t crazy about the waistband construction. I thought it was clunky and looked unfinished. I’ve been kicking around the idea of frankenpatterning my own pencil skirt pattern using the top half of the Renee pants, because I love the way they fit. But then I saw this pattern and decided that I didn’t need to reinvent that wheel. This skirt’s waistband construction is similar and it comes with a YouTube video on dart placement.

The second one is the Classic T-Shirt Dress.

Again, I am trying to avoid doing the work if someone else has already done it for me. Rather than beating that Tessa Sheath Dress pattern into submission, I’m going to try this one. It has a bust dart option and that portrait collar is very intriguing. I watched the video for making the portrait collar and Pamela suggests using the three-step zig-zag stitch on the sewing machine to understitch collar facings on knits. I definitely plan to try that.

The last one is the Peek-A-Book Swing Tunic.

I think I might like this a bit better than the Laundry Day Tee just because it’s not quite as voluminous. Also, the bodice comes with a bust dart option. (There is a theme here.) I will not be making the “cold shoulder” version, though, because my shoulders do not like to be cold.

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I’m spending a lot of time in the kitchen. Yesterday, I made a batch of Red Lentil Coconut Curry using the recipe from the Simply in Season cookbook. I make this every so often so I can use up leftover bits of produce from the fridge, freezer, or garden. The recipe makes a big pot of curry; I portioned it out into smaller containers and put them in the freezer.

We’re swimming in cucumbers—why was I worried?—so the husband got a big batch of cucumbers in vinegar, or as my kids christened them when they were little, “instant pickles.”

I have all the ingredients for Grandma Milly’s BBQ sauce. I’ll do a batch of that soon.

I made 52 quarts of salsa last fall, based on the how much Costco salsa the husband used to consume in a year. That was a good estimate as we’ve used up 43 quarts so far. I’ll probably do 52 quarts again this year. I won’t need to do as much tomato sauce, though. We’re almost out of apple pie filling, but Susan informed me that my favorite Duchess of Oldenburg apple tree didn’t bear this year. (I have two that she grafted for me, but they are still small yet and not producing.) She said she has other varieties for me to choose from, though.

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Baby rooster discovered he can crow, so he has been practicing with abandon. Unfortunately, Dave now knows that there is another rooster in the coop and he is NOT HAPPY. The baby rooster and a handful of Barred Rock hens are still in the separate area of the coop. I let the rest of the pullets out with the general population. Dave paces back and forth around the outside of that blocked-off area looking menacingly at the baby rooster. The other day I went into the coop and Dave hopped up onto the top of the garbage can that holds the chicken feed and let loose a scathing editorial while I scooped scratch grains out of the other garbage can.

I will try to find a home for the baby rooster. I don’t dare let him out. Dave is probably the best rooster I’ve ever had, but he murders his competition. There can be only one.

Serging in Spokane

I left here Friday morning and drove over to Spokane. The drive over was lovely because it was early enough in the day that traffic was light. I took the northern route, through Libby and into north Idaho, and arrived in Spokane around 9 am Pacific time. Going westward nets me an extra hour.

I spent the day shopping, hitting all four Joanns and two Hobby Lobby stores. The clearance racks yielded up some treasures, and one store’s remnant rack was so full that all the remnants were 80% off. I picked up a couple of new serger project patterns at the big quilt store. I did some shopping at Trader Joe’s for myself and a friend. Dinner was a huge Cobb salad from Safeway (I do love their salads) and the hotel was so quiet that it was like I had the place to myself.

And oh my goodness—class yesterday was so much fun. I had six students. Two had newer air-threading BabyLock sergers, two had Bernina sergers (relatively new, but without air threading), one had an older Elna, and one poor lady had an early model Singer serger that was a beast to thread. She knew its limitations coming in and she’d like to upgrade, but she just bought a new sewing machine so a new serger will have to wait. Nobody brought a Juki, which surprised me a bit, but the store owner, Irene, had two Juki sergers and a coverstitch machine set up for people to try.

All of the students got their machines threaded and running and most of them also got to try out a few different fabrics. One student asked me if I had an engineering degree. No, but I have the genes.

And then class was over.

“When are you coming back here to teach?”

“Can we have a class on making tops and T-shirts"?”

“Is once a month too often for you to come to Spokane?”

LOL. The husband said I can’t move there.

I always ask at the beginning of class for students to tell me why they are in class and how they hope to use their sergers. Everyone in this class wanted to make clothing. Like me, they are tired of not being able to find quality clothing that fits. One lady even asked if I would do a private class for her on making a bodice sloper. Irene said I can come and teach whatever and whenever I would like. The only negative is that she has a tiny little classroom space—six students is the maximum and there really is no place to spread out and trace and cut patterns. I suggested that if we do a T-shirt class, we set it up so that we do a few hours on a Friday afternoon or evening to take measurements, send everyone home to trace the pattern and cut it, then come back on Saturday and assemble the top.

[I wore my Laundry Day Tee made from the turquoise and royal blue DBP print that I picked up in Missoula. I paired it with some royal blue Charter Club jeans. Even though I knew I risked looking like a giant blueberry, I was reminded of something Kaffe Fassett said in a podcast interview. He believes that color is an energizing lifeforce. If his fabric lines came in knits as well as quilting cottons, I daresay my closet would be full of them. No muddy earth tones there.]

I’ve really got to sit down this week with my calendar and get things under control for teaching in 2023. And did I ever think I would be teaching serger classes and classes on making clothing? No, I did not. The universe has a stunningly deep sense of humor.

My original plan was to spend Saturday night in Spokane, as well, but I decided to hit the road right after class and come home. A big line of thunderstorms came through here Friday night and I was getting alerts on my phone for smoke investigations and grass fires. (When our fire department gets paged out, the alerts come to our cell phones.) Being away was making me nervous. I took today off from playing at church and even though I am home, I think I am going to take advantage of the break and work in the garden.

Speaking of fires, I drove home the southern route, past the wreckage of the recent Elmo fire. A lot of people think of wildfires as consuming only treed areas, but wildfires in open, grassy areas are just as devastating.

This road was closed at one point, and you can see how close the fire got to the pavement.

This is looking northward—Flathead Lake is to the right. The fire went up and over that ridge.

There were a few spots where the red fire retardant dropped by the planes was still visible on the ground. I know several of the homeowners were wondering if they were going to lose everything, because the fire got to within a couple hundred feet of their homes. It’s mostly contained now and not threatening any structures. The fire probably won’t go out completely until it snows, however.

Seeing where this fire started and how it spread, it wouldn’t surprise me a bit to know that it was the result of someone carelessly flinging a cigarette butt out the window.

Ten Pounds of Green Beans

I started keeping a canning journal a few years ago, which has been very helpful. I can look back and see how much of what I canned and when. I knew, for instance, that 10 pounds of fresh green beans would give me about 17 pints processed. I have not been able to get beans in the ground for the past two years, so I ordered some through one of my friend Anna’s suppliers:

That’s done and off the list. I have 10 pounds of carrots to do, but they can wait a week or so. I also need to do a big batch of Grandma Milly’s BBQ sauce. And we’re getting low on canned dry beans.

I think I might turn the zucchini into some curried zucchini soup and freeze that for this winter. The garden is really starting to look like a jungle. I ate the first ripe tomatoes off the vine yesterday. The husband asked if they were in last night’s salad and I said they never made it to the house. Eating the first ripe tomato is the prerogative of the gardener, one that I embrace readily. That explosion of flavor in my mouth always reminds me of the fall that I was having chemo. My MIL busted me out of the Cleveland Clinic for a few weeks between chemo treatments and we flew back to Montana. I was not supposed to have salads or fresh vegetables while immunocompromised because of the risk of infection. As soon as we pulled into the driveway, I got out of the car, went into the backyard, and popped a fresh tomato into my mouth.

[“Patient is noncompliant” is written in big letters all over my medical records, but I’m still here. Doctors have been wrong about a whole list of things when it comes to my medical care, actually.]

I weeded the lettuce and collards yesterday morning and pruned out some of the raspberry canes and branches on the currant bushes. I find it’s easier to do as soon as they are done bearing, as it opens things up and lets air circulate through there. The gooseberries are just about ripe, too.

And it’s hot. We got a little bit of rain yesterday evening, but the atmosphere is so dry that most of it evaporates before it reaches the ground.

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The new website for the Mountain Brook Homestead Foundation is just about ready to launch. A few of us had a meeting Tuesday night to get the PayPal stuff straightened out. I am hoping that I can make the website live early next week. We’ll be able to utilize it for so many things—some of which could generate additional revenue—although I noted during the board meeting Monday night that we’re going to add new features slowly and one at a time so as not overwhelm the webmistress.

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I’ve been so frustrated by my trips to town lately. I think I’ll run in and get everything done in an hour or two and I end up spending half the day there. The traffic is ridiculous—our infrastructure was not built to handle this influx of people—and when I do get to each destination, even making a simple purchase takes forever. A lot of places are using the “labor shortage” as an excuse, and I know it’s an excuse because there are plenty of staff milling about trying their best to not do any actual work. I was in one store the other day where I watched an employee stand on the floor for 20 minutes (I had to wait in a long line) visiting with a friend of hers about their kids. I watched another couple of employees at the farm store chat with each other in the loading area, and when I finally got their attention, the young lady said to me, “Oh, sorry, we’re shorthanded today.” Not shorthanded enough that you can’t ignore customers in favor of visiting with your coworker, apparently.

I know I’ve reached the age of “Get off my lawn!” but part of me wishes that I had a copy of that list of employee guidelines that my grandparents kept posted above the time clock at their ice cream parlor. I would hand one out every time I see instances of lousy employee behavior, and it starts with acknowledging that people are in your store to give you money in exchange for a product. Don’t make it difficult for them.

Serger Summer

My Serger 101 class on Monday was supposed to have two students, but one called in sick. The lucky remaining student got a mastery class on her BabyLock machine. She was not a serger newbie, just unfamiliar with that new-to-her machine, so we made samples of all the three- and four-thread stitches. She was delighted and I got additional experience with the BabyLock models. That’s why I don’t mind teaching a class with one student; I learn as much as the student does. And this lady drove in from 2-1/2 hours away, so I wanted to make it worth her while.

The owner of the store in Spokane called me last evening to touch base. I have six students, which is about all we can fit into her classroom space and still be comfortable. I’m curious to see what machines students bring. I’m not as familiar with the newer Juki machines—mine is almost eight years old—so I’ll be getting up to speed on those models.

And I have two Cookin’ in Color apron classes next Wednesday—one during the day and one in the evening. It is so hard to schedule classes in a way that makes everyone happy. The Saturday time slots are usually full. The store would schedule classes on Sunday, too, but my Sundays are committed to church activities.

I wore my new Laundry Day Tee to class on Monday, but I’m not as happy with the double-brushed poly version as I am with the rayon spandex version. The DBP from Joanns is thicker than the rayon jersey and doesn’t drape as well. I also compared the Joanns DBP to the QT Fabrics DBP that I bought in Missoula—which I made into another LDT, now awaiting hemming—and there is a noticeable difference in the weight. Unfortunately, it appears that most of the fall knits that Joanns is stocking are going to be DBP. They have very few rayon/spandex knits. I’ll still wear it, but I won’t use the Joanns DBP for any further versions of that pattern.

I was perusing the Seamwork Patterns website yesterday and was excited to find this pattern:

This is the Sadie Tunic. This is almost identical to the Liz Claiborne tunic I bought in Seattle that I’ve been thinking about copying. Now I don’t have to.

Most pattern companies provide large format files of their patterns, so I’ve been taking them to the place in town that does blueprints. I’d rather pay to have the pattern printed there than print them here and have to tape dozens of sheets of paper together.

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The owner of the quilt store where I taught the pants class recommended a new podcast called Sew & So, which I am enjoying very much.

From the website: The Sew&So podcast will be a simple and casual conversation with many guests in the sewing/quilting community. We will talk with different individuals on what excites them, what inspires their work and how they grow and connect with their communities.

The episode from the recent Bernina University in Palm Springs was especially interesting.

Listening to sewing podcasts is about as close as I am going to get to sewing for a few days, though. The pressure canner is taking up residence on the stove today. I’ve started organizing the pantry—moving what is left of last year’s canning to the upper shelves so those items get used up—and figuring out how much of what I’ll need to do in the coming weeks. Today is green beans and then carrots. I was in the kitchen most of yesterday afternoon doing the prep work. I also made a raspberry crisp for the husband. My friend Anna dropped off a box of romaine lettuce; she said it needed to be cleaned and she didn’t have time, so I could either clean and use it or give it to the chickens. I did both. I pulled off the outer layers for the chickens and kept the good parts for our salads.

I remembered to get a picture of the Carolina Amethyst peppers yesterday. They are such a pretty color:

I thought that one had sun scald, but I think they are that color until they start turning purple. Or not. I am curious to see how these taste.

We might get some spotty thunderstorms today. The forecast also looks like more hot weather for the foreseeable future. The chickens are hot and cranky and pecking at each other. I’ll put the sprinkler on today to see if I can cool them off a bit.

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.