when the going gets tough...

The last two days I have been rather flattened by the news from Boston - I lived there for many years, and have family and friends there. Last year my kid brother ran in the Boston Marathon as part of a group that raises money for melanoma research; only a foot injury kept him from running this year as well. I am trying to focus on all the news of how folks are and have been good and helpful...

I know that there are places all over the world where this kind of bombing happens all too frequently, and we rarely hear about it. It is never okay. Having it now happen in my old stomping grounds, on streets I've walked more times than I can number, just makes me wonder and weep.

When the going gets tough, our plucky heroine heads to the workshop... there is little that I can do to heal the world, but I can use hands and heart to create small pieces of beauty, and put my attention on the work of creation, as a counterweight to destruction.

A fair amount of enameling has been done, including a do-over on the piece that was so troublesome earlier this year... this time, it seems that the fire-gods have been kindly, and this large enamel (3" x 2") is ready to have a setting constructed. I love the combination of cloisonne and limoges enameling.

There is as much thinking as doing in the pieces of custom jewelry that I create, since each one has different technical challenges... here, I am building a setting for a teardrop shaped enamel pendant that will be bordered with pearls. One challenge is how to specifically place the small eyelets that will hold the pearl border, since they need to be spaced appropriately and exactly. It is a balancing act between the distance and the size of the seed pearls.

Ended up needing to make a side trip today to Winks Hardware since somehow all the 20ga drillbits had dissapeared. Very very tiny drillbits, needful to make tiny holes to place the fabricated eyelets in place before soldering. Seed pearls are pretty, and quite small (these are actually rather large as seed pearls go; transparent ruler included to show scale)

the downhill side

in which our plucky heroine continues to make slow but steady progress in the small bits of time between work; eight down and two to go...

Denim pinafore + black floral top = springtime... A denim pinafore is fairly basic, and a wardrobe workhorse. I did add a wide top pocket across the front bodice panel, since the top pocket on the overall pinafore is so very useful. In some ways I prefer the integral pockets to patch pockets, they are a bit more work and fabric intensive, but they hold a lot more, and are slightly less obtrusive.

highlighted clothing is completed...
(SWAP sewing closes on April 30th)

springtime 6PAC		2013 SWAP
	pinafore	black vertical pique
black denim	pinafore	black denim
	top	black reverse applique
	top	grey/black knit
black floral print	top	black floral print
apron	bridge/third layer	apron
indigo denim	pinafore	indigo denim
	top	brown knit
indigo knit	top	indigo knit
brown/indigo	dress	brown/indigo

Sunday stitchery snippets

Last night 'twas so windy out that the noise of the turbine ventilators on my roof woke me from sleep twice. Wish there was some simple way to harness that power to help keep the house warm! No current affordable micro-scale wind turbines yet for urban homestead, alas...

Have been making good progress on extant regalia orders, and in between work, wirebending and enameling and suchlike, there are still random sewing bits happening here.

Starting on the hemline panels for the wrap apron... There are three more garments I want to complete for SWAP 2013 before the contest ends on April 30th: a denim pinafore, a brown tee shirt and a wrap apron that will coordinate with all the pieces. These panels are in process, being first stenciled in black on brown jersey, then applied to some indigo linen. They will be embroidered reverse applique, stitched in grey, and eventually end up decorating the hem of my bridge garment, the dark denim wrap apron (which I still need to develop a pattern for; fortunately the pinafore and tee are both TNT patterns, and fairly simple...)

A clever tip, when doing reverse applique, is to cut a tiny hole in the area that will be cut away after the stitching is completed. That way, the chances of accidentally snipping through BOTH layers when cutting away parts of the top layer, are greatly reduced. Ask me how I figured this one out...

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The denim pinafore uses a pattern that I have made many times... This particular detail is a Useful Tip: before stitching the binding that edges the armscye and forms the shoulder straps, tack 1/4" twill tape in place, by surrounding that with the binding, the straps are both reinforced and stabilised.

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Years and years ago I made a cloak for young Heather , which now is being worn by her daughter Elli. Elli's best buddy Laurel needs a cloak too! So bit by bit another child cloak will be fashioned so both little girls will be happy! This is the start of trim for around the edge of the hood...

As far as the ribbon shown in the photo... as I had nothing at all here that coordinated, and do not have the time currently to cardweave my own trim! (the original cloak is trimmed in a scrap of handwoven trim) I went to my favorite local fabric boutique (Bolt Fabrics) and found something that looked well with the teal wool, and added medium size rickrack on either side. The points of the rickrack will be stitched down with peach color floss.

For a "pattern", it is a simple half circle cloak, with an attached hood made from a rectangle folded in half and pleated slightly at the neck edge to give just a little shape. A small metal cloak clasp fastens it at the neckline, and all the raw edges are bound. The design looks similar to the Folkwear Morrocan Burnoouse, but made small to fit a littley-kid

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This BBC program is a delight to watch, rather different apparently from US "reality" shows, the folks sewing are rather more a diverse crew. It was a real treat for me to see Ann Rowley, who is a strong presence on my favorite message board (Stitcher's Guild); now I have a face and voice to go with her ever useful commentary...

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I have been enjoying in the last few months working on projects in the style of Alabama Chanin. Wouldn't it be fun to go see actual Alabama Chanin garments IRL... trunk show here in PDX April 25 - 27