Slow Going

Not all projects go smoothly and sometimes there is a real “bump in the road”.

Working on Nancy’s jacket should have been an easy project, right? The muslin and early try-on went well but then the party came to a halt.

Can you see what happens down near the hem? Why are straight of grain bands flaring out? Has this ever happened to you?

After checking all the seams and the paper pattern over and over, I went back to the cutting room and checked the leftover selvedge pieces to see why the fronts were stretching like that.

And here is what I found:

Have you ever had fabric stretch on the straight of grain? I sure have never come across such an animal and this explains why the the sections attached to the bands are growing.

So what can be done? I raised the panels below the waist seam about 3/8 inch to counterbalance the angle. So now it is slightly better but I would have never known as all the other large pieces stayed in place and did not stretch but that “L” shaped piece just had nothing else to grab unto.

Here is the inside ready to attach the bands.

You can see the bands are attached with only a slight flare at the bottom and I have marked the location of the hidden snaps on the right side.

Because only the front bands are interfaced with fusible tricot, the lining bands needed some beefing up to hold the one inch snaps so they get their own circles of tricot. The edges are pinked to not show on the right side after pressing.

The wild silk lining and the finished bands…just need the lined sleeves and hem. The bands will be sewn together on the inside seams for stability and also topstitched along the outer edge.

What you can’t see is the fact that I have added triangles of silk near the hem at the side seams because this silk fabric is from the 60’s when fabric came in 35 inch widths.

  You know how Facebook sends you reminders of past photos…well this popped up this week from 22 years ago when we arrived from Liverpool with two suitcases, two sets of cutlery and nothing else. We started from scratch in a vacant house with two camping chairs and a TV bought from the local Walmart. We used the cardboard box as a table and had all the energy of 50 year olds to repaint all the rooms as we waited months for our shipping container to arrive from England. We rented a bed and acquired a microwave for meals and spent every day up and down ladders stripping wallpaper and painting over bright red and navy blue walls.

Now we can and should hire workers to do any jobs we need and we avoid doing stupid things on ladders…well, most of the time anyway.

The most daring thing I do now is bake Basque burnt cheesecakes.

The one on the left was made in a 6 inch springform pan with no parchment paper and the one on the right I used parchment paper all on the inside so it did not get at burnt on top but the tops are divine! They taste smoky and a little crunchy and the inside is custard-like and when made with monkfruit granules instead of 1.5 cups of white sugar…so low carb! All the ingredients are whizzed in the food processor and then poured into the pans…so easy peasy!

Hoping all your sewing projects go smoothly this week with no bumps in the road!!!!