...and a red hat that doesn't go...or maybe it does...

 My participation in the church Christmas production this year is minimal; I'm just in the chorus of the two Big Numbers...the one right before intermission and the finale.  For the finale, we are in biblical gear so, pulling out the ol' Bible costume for that one.  For the other one, we are in contemporary garb, and were encouraged to dress as 'characters' (ie, baker, barista, etc).  One of the suggestions was 'a granny'.

Well, I AM a granny.  How about a kinda hippy granny?

I had some things in my closet that I probably wouldn't ever wear in public as a combo, but it works for this...

White trainers w/ red trim.  Red sweat pants.  A longsleeved red t shirt w/ white snowflakes.  A white puffer vest.  Red hoop earrings.

But it needed something else...

Hey, remember all those hats I made?

What about a red bakerboy cap?

I knew I had some red corduroy...and some red velveteen....either of which would work.  Found the corduroy first.

For some stupid reason I cut out twice as many gores as I needed.  I guess I was just stuck on the number six.  Either that or I was still stupid from being ill all week (nasty tummy bug followed by a sinus/ ear infection...). I didn't get started on it until late Saturday afternoon. 

Had to use one of my backup machines; that's another story.  It wasn't as happy going through lots of layers as my main Janome...but it worked.

The best thing was finding a crocheted button in my button box...if I remember right, it was a spare from a sweater I had, oh, I dunno...30 years ago?  The sweater is long gone but the extra button was still in the box.

It was a pretty close match.

As you can see from the clock, I finished it up at about 20 minutes till twelve Saturday night.  Woulda been faster but I stopped for dinner and some laundry switching and I had to do a bit of unstitching and restitching because the crown was just a pinch too small for the band.  Tried to fudge it to be a wee bit bigger and it wasn't entirely successful.  There's a tiny pleat in the back band...shhhhh.....it's not terribly noticeable....

And...I would wear that outfit in public, if I switched the sweat pants for cream cords and the trainers for my vanilla granny boots, lol.  Make it just a pinch more uptown, lol.

That's my sole contribution to the costuming this go round. The team that pulled last year's production together whilst I was busy getting the boys married off had this in hand and didn't need me.

And, given how useless I was last week...it's probably a good thing, lol.  Still haven't gotten my appetite back...that tummy bug don't play, y'all.  Word up...wash those hands....a LOT.

A different sort of towels...

 A while back Fabric-Store.com had a sale on their linen waffle fabric.  It's a very interesting thing...fairly stiff when it arrives, it shrinks variably and waffles up when washed.  They have a tutorial on their blog for cutting two bath towels one hand towel and two washcloths from three yards of the fabric; I ordered an extra yard to get a total of two hand towels and 4 washcloths...which is what I always get when I buy towel sets.

I added an extra step after cutting...I serged all the raw edges.  The fabric is sort of loosely woven and regular towels sometimes fray out so, an excess of caution prevailed.

I used templates cut from manila folders to press the hems up...slightly narrower than recommended

 (1/2" turned twice instead of 3/4")

At this stage the fabric is really nice to press.

The instructions are just to fold one side over the other and stitch them down, but I like mitered corners so the first two washcloths I mitered the corners.

Now, I don't like MAKING mitered corners, I like LOOKING AT Mitered corners, lol.  They are fiddly and tedious to do...

But after grinding through four, I suddenly realized that those threads were gonna shrink when washed and I got worried that I'd trimmed them out too much.

But I didn't want bulky corners...what to do...

Finally I decided to trim a bit out, then fold the hems over each other like the instructions.

But I box stitched the corners to make sure to hold everything down well.

 

Once everything was done, I washed the towels to waffle them up.  Here's the before the wash and after the wash...

Hand towels:

 

And the bath towels:

The towels are still really big, compared to my Lands' End towels.  I am actually standing on the hearth, lol. But...it needs the length.  When I used them, my subconscious reaction was 'Ew!  Cheap thin towels!'   And I had to remind myself that they weren't thin, they were different.   So the extra length kinda makes up for the lack of heft. They ARE really absorbent.  And the miters seemed to have held up fine...after one washing, anyway.  But the box stitched corners are way faster to do and there's no chance it will come undone.

So...it was an interesting experiment.  I've read that the towels get softer over time.  I may do a follow up report after six months or so to let you know if the opinion changes, lol.

I am going to label this as Home Dec, which is isn't, technically, but that's the best label I've got, lol.

Another one bites the dust...

 Sad face.  Very, very sad face.

I have received an email that Textile Fabrics in Nashville, THE ONLY REAL FABRIC STORE within driving distance, will be closing as the owner is retiring.

I don't often get to go, as it is a 2 hour drive, and I don't even think I've made it to their newest location (they've moved twice since I first managed to visit), but just knowing they were there was like a security blanket.  

I probably won't make it up this fall for the clearance sales; it's not like I NEED more fabric anyway,  so I'm just going to have to remember how lovely it was to walk in...smell FABRIC and not cinnamon brooms, and see gorgeous silks and woolens live and in person.

I am grateful for the internet vendors, but even the best of them will sometimes send a 'Hhhhmmmm...' piece of fabric, something that wasn't quite what I pictured from the description.  There's just something so luscious about actually touching that piece of fabric and envisioning what it might be...then putting it on the counter and watching it get unrolled and cut; finding matching thread and buttons right there...

I fear that is a thing of the past.  At least in North Alabama.  There's just nothing around...that I know of, anyway.  Textile Fabrics was the last bastion of fine home sewing.

Now all there is...is JoAnn's World of Polyester and Crafts.

I'm going to be kinda blue about this for a bit.

I should find time to sew something I bought from Textile Fabrics in honor of the dreams I have dreamed there...

Putting the suitcase away....

The last road trip of the year...so far as I know, anyway.

Drove myself to a large cabin in the mountains of North Carolina...taking a very roundabout route to avoid all of the 'essential travel only' areas that are marked in both North Carolina and Tennessee.  I decided I'd talk about the trip itself here...and the reason for the trip (a small writer's conference) over on the other blog, once I get it processed enough down to coherency.

I will just say that the willingness to make the 7ish hour drive by myself, in completely unfamiliar territory, is evidence that I REALLY, REALLY wanted to go.

I had obsessed over Google maps for the previous, like, month, trying to figure out the best way to go.  I had a plan, including a stop on the way back to visit with a friend in East Tennessee, then Helene tore through and wrecked all those plans.

My friend lives in the 'essential travel only' (henceforth ETO) area.  We discussed meeting up on the edge of said area for a bit as I went by, but she ultimately decided it was going to be too tough to get in and out.  We were sad to not get together (it's been 5 years since we last met up) but...too hard is too hard.

And google maps played with me.  I had planned one route out;  based on what I saw on the North Carolina maps, it looked like the route was good east bound, with some lane closures west bound, so I was going to take the longer route home, with a stop on the way (which I had planned before it became obvious I couldn't meet up with my friend.  Just decided to keep the overnight west of Knoxville to make the trip home easier).  But when I actually tried to bring up the route on my aging tablet  in the driveway before pulling out, the North Carolina route didn't even show up.  Instead, I had the option of going through the ETO area in Tennessee, or driving down to Atlanta and then back North.  And my tablet kept losing the GPS signal; that worried me.

I decided I'd stop for coffee in Starbucks in Chattanooga and check the map again and see what I got.

Then had problems with a tire pressure light about 8 miles from the house.  Not going into the details; turns out it was a problem with the sensor but I lost nearly half an hour dealing with it.  Worth noting that the problem never showed up again on the entire trip.

So, a potty break being a necessity, I stopped at a McDonalds about 1/2 of the way to Chattanooga, scrapping the Sbux plan, got a biscuit, hit the bathroom, and looked at the routes again.  I gave up on the tablet and pulled GM up on the phone.  Still wanted me to go to Atlanta or through the ETO area of Tennessee. I figured there was a problem on the North Carolina route, so  I manually selected the all-interstate route that went up into Virginia to connect with the ONLY interstate that currently crosses North Carolina, the route I planned to use coming back, and got back on the road.

As I approached where I would have headed East, had I been given the option of the NC route, Google suddenly says 'We've found a faster route that will save you 14 minutes'  At that point, I was a little weirded out..  Was there or was there not a problem on that route?  As I got closer to that exit, I decided to stick with my (only 14 minutes, right?) longer route as a Sure Thing and kept going.  I assumed Google would revert back to my route choice, my phone screen being too small to quickly see where it was heading.  I relied on the voice directions, but I had a basic idea of where I was going.

Wrong.  I kept an eye on the ETA (we had been asked to be there between 4 and 5 Eastern) and I was looking pretty good.  Until I got the 'In two miles, take the exit to I 26/ Johnson City' alert.  Apparently, somewhere it had defaulted back to that ETO route  (why, Google??  Why???) and THAT was the '14 minutes longer' one...not the route through VA that I had selected.  It kept trying to reroute me that way at every exit I encountered until I got to Virginia.  Where I discovered that the I-77 exit wasn't around 40-50 miles in, as I had kinda rough estimated from looking at the maps, it was EIGHTY miles in.

I was going to be a bit late.

I knew the 4 - 5 o'clock time recommendation was a  bit ahead of the actual start of the event, but still, it put some stress on me at that point.

There was, however, a real treat going that way.

Virginia. Was. GORGEOUS.

ALL the trees were in full fall color.  One specific tree made a big impression...about 25 miles in, in the middle of the median (which was pretty wide at that point) was a huge, full, rounded maple tree on which all the leaves were a vibrant orange.  The sunlight lit it up so that it almost looked as if it were glowing.  None of the branch tips were bare yet; I'm telling you, it was magnificent.  Took my breath away.

The whole corridor was just brilliant with golds, yellows, reds, oranges..  It was hard to pay attention to the traffic, which was pretty heavy and needed attention. I stole glances as best I could at the display as I passed through.

But there was another treat.  Almost immediately upon getting on I77, which was nearly bumper to bumper in places and running 30 - 40 mph (I did say it is the only interstate that crosses NC right now...), there was a sign warning of an over 7-mile-long descent ahead.  The road literally ran down the bluff and the view off to the left was just unbelievable.  It was a bit hazy, but I could see for miles and miles.  I was glad we were going slow, it gave me the chance to look over at it three or four times on the way down.

It was not really visible on the way back, being over my shoulder as I went up the hill.  If I had come the other way, I wouldn't have seen it.

I got to my destination at about 5:30, with half an hour to get situated in my room before the event began with dinner. Just enough time to shake off the road stress, lol.

I was a bit bummed on both the trip out and the return trip that I couldn't share the beauty;  no one was with me to see it.  I couldn't take photos while I was driving.  It was a purely transitory experience.

Sunrise from the deck of the lodge on Saturday morning....

I will say the conference was worth the trip.  And I will also say that I'm glad I can collect all my travel gear and put it back in its storage spot for the foreseeable future.

And get back into creative mode again.

Everything BUT sewing...

 Good Grief.  How has it been two months since I last posted?  

Things have been ...busy... of late.

I have chipped away at a couple of projects in the sewing room but there's nothing really worth talking about in there.  Which is disappointing.

But, since I last stopped by,  we have had a trip to celebrate our anniversary, I made a spur-of-the-moment drive up to Indiana to help freeze sweet corn, driving up and back by myself,  we've had a holiday and a women's conference and a 10 day trip to Florida, where we spent a large portion of time with all the kids at Disney World.  

I had a button that read : "I am celebrating a New Hip!"...and got wished 'Happy Birthday' SEVERAL times.

Of course, we all did the Halloween Party in Magic Kingdom...and I pulled out the Edna costume for the 3rd time. 

Knowing how these things go now, I got a quick picture in the mirror before we left our (not on Disney property) resort, lol.  Good thing; I didn't get a chance to get a good pic of it later.

I got more reaction to it this year than I got last year; one of the cast members at the entrance told me I was the first Edna Mode he'd seen.  Which surprised me, because you can BUY an Edna Mode costume on Amazon.  But I heard 'No capes!' over and over again all night, lol.

If I could by chance meet up with the actual official Edna character for a picture I could retire the outfit and plan a different one.  I'm thinking Roz from Monsters, Inc, but we'll see.  

 I did NOT get the costumes done for the Florida kids' church wardrobe.  I got a good start on cutting one out, but that was it.  

I'm still working on a massive data repair project that is taking up days off.  I was planning to go in on Friday (our offices are closed on Fridays) for the 3rd time since we found the problem, but...I have laundry from the trip piled up, and we're supposed to have the remnants of a hurricane in our neighborhood on Friday...I may just stay home and do laundry.

And, dare I hope, spend some time in the sewing room?

Healing up...

Yesterday, I actually sat down to the sewing machine and did some sewing whilst having a zoom chat with a number of sewing buddies who all used to be part of the now-defunct Stitcher's Guild (Dragon Lady, I do hope you are doing ok...).

That was the first sewing of any kind that I've done since I whacked my right pinky finger on the mandoline on July 2.  Unfortunately, I can't share what it was because of the nature of the thing.  Sometimes things have to be...secrets.

I will talk about it...eventually, lol.

Actually, quite a lot of my sewing over the next  2- 3 months will be of the 'I can't talk about it on my blog'  ilk.  It will all make sense at the end.

I will take pictures, lol.

But...what I *can* talk about is costuming.  We did a first pass at sorting through the costumes...at least, getting like items all on a rack together instead of spread out over all the racks willy-nilly, which is how they were done.  We are, I am told, getting some additional industrial z-racks so we can refine the sorting somewhat once those come in and are assembled.

Then, perhaps, we can do some sort of inventory and see what we actually have now...which will give us a better idea of what we will need in the future.

I wish I had better organizational skills.  Maybe this will force me to learn some, lol.

On another note, the Great British Sewing Bee finale was last week.  Was anyone watching?  We had a discussion about it on the zoom call this morning and lamented that the quality of sewing just isn't up there ...due mostly to the ridiculous time restraints.  But, also, earlier in the series when the choice was between a fantastic vision/ design that isn't fantastically sewn and a well-sewn but less adventurous design that wasn't quite finished, the not went to the design and the person who had executed well but bitten off more than she could chew in the time allotted went home, I found myself wondering if they were looking for 'Britain's best amateur sewer' or 'Britain's best amateur designer'. I think that subtle shift happened when May Martin (a sewing educator) stepped down as one of the judges and Esme Young ( a fashion designer) took her place. In the final pattern challenge of this series, Patrick emphasized 'We have given you PLENTY  of time' to sew a pair of very fiddly opera gloves.  Looking at how everyone faired...I'd say they gave them plenty of time to sew it perfectly but no extra time to go back and fix mistakes that are likely to be made by someone who's never tackled something like opera gloves.  Of course, the winner of that challenge was the one person who had actually made gloves before.  The other two made mistakes they didn't have time to fix, which was sad.  I am not sure the best skilled sewer is one who never makes mistakes...or one who has the determination and wherewithal to undo and correct a mistake.

 I know  I am never the first type but hopefully the second, lol.

Back to Work

 ...an update of sorts.  I returned to my normal work hours last week so I guess I'm almost restored, lol.

My hip continues to improve; I've been released from physical therapy as they said I had improved enough.  I'm supposed to keep walking and do some strengthening exercises about three times a week.

Um.  yeah, sure...meant to do that...

But I am walking.  I've hit 7K steps pretty regularly and have even made it up to 10 k once or twice.  I'm at 8K right now and am planning to do some laps around the house to get up to 10 before I head to bed tonight.

The foot is still swelling slightly...more if I don't wear the compression socks.  At my post op visit a couple of weeks ago, I told the surgeon what was going on with my foot, and commented that it felt like a bad sprain.  I actually sprained that ankle really bad back in 2001, and it was very similar both in how it felt and how it was restricted.  He got kind of a funny look on his face and said, 'You know, sprains don't  really ever go away...in the course of the surgery we clamped your foot in a big boot-like stirrup and manipulated it pretty aggressively.  It's entirely possible we have aggravated that old injury.'

Well that would explain a LOT, lol.

But I can put on shoes and socks unassisted again, so that's a gain.   I feel like I'm about where I was a year ago, before the situation began to deteriorate at a faster pace.  I should continue to improve, so long as I keep moving, lol.

The finger is still bandaged.  It's extremely tender and I keep it bundled more to insulate it against bumps than to bandage the wound.  It is closing but it's slow.  And I'm making much use of the backspace as I'm posting because...9 finger typing...

On a whole 'nuther topic...We have gotten a dedicated room at church for costuming; a crew actually began the process of sorting and organizing the costumes last week; I'm going to stay late a couple of nights this week to do some as well. I'm told we'll need Bible costumes and some Dickens costumes for the Christmas production this year...not sure what else. Maybe we can get a jump on it and get some things created ahead of time; I'm thinking men's Bible costume vests/over coats, for sure. We seem to have developed a real shortage there... 

Not sure how well I can wrangle hangers with a bummed hand but we'll see....

...and the klutz is at it again...

 Got a mandoline (the slicer, not the instrument, lol) around Christmas last year; finally pulled it out to slice cucumbers for salad on Tuesday.

It was a fairly large cucumber, and I thought, 'My hand is a good 3" above that blade, I'll whittle it down a bit and then use the guard."

Stupid.  Stupid. Stupid.

I did fine for about the first dozen passes, then something happened...still don't know what....and the cuke twisted and threw my pinkie finger right down on the blade.

Y'all.  I was still on aspirin to avoid clots, post surgery.  That thing bled and bled and bled...we went to urgent care, where I went when I stupidly cut my index finger last year, but when I told them I was on aspirin they said I had to go to the ER.

So off we went...to the pricier (and closer) of the two hospitals.  It wasn't stitchable, so they put a compression bandage on it but it was still bleeding profusely after about a half hour (at this point I'd been squeezing my pinkie for about an hour and a half to two hours; my left hand was cramping) so they put some stuff on it to help the blood coagulate, wrapped it up tightly and told me to leave it for 48 hours. 'If it's still bleeding when you change the bandage, come back.'

It hurts worse than last year's injury.  Probably because my finger was twisting as it hit the blade.  I actually went looking for my post surgery pain meds  middle of the night on Tuesday, it hurt that badly.  But I had stashed them so well (didn't actually take them after surgery; it was never that bad) I couldn't find them.  I took an ice pack back to bed and managed to get back to sleep.

Well, not going into gross detail but the non-stick dressing completely adhered to the booboo so when we tried to take it off on Thursday...it pulled on the injury and it started bleeding again.

So we went back.  Following directions.  Was SO excited to go to the ER in the evening on July 4th, but they were surprisingly not busy, at least while we were there.

A soak in a sterile saline bath and the old dressing came free with minimal bleeding so I got bandaged back up and sent home with instructions to change it after another 48 hours.

Just changed the bandage again and that puppy is still oozing when disturbed. And it still hurts, although not so badly as earlier in the week.

Stupid. Stupid.  Been saying that a lot.

So much for getting back in the sewing room.

Sigh.

I am going to get myself some of those chain-mail gloves, lol.

I lost my blogroll...

 This hurts...

I had a long list of blogs that I followed from back in the day.  Unfortunately, some of them have fallen into ...other hands?...and were now being updated with non-sewing material, to put it mildly.

I repeatedly tried to edit out the blogs that were now talking about stuff other than sewing, or that set off my Unsafe Site alert when clicked, or that were now just filled with crazy asian script, but I could. not. get. Blogger to save updates.  The Save button just would NOT activate.  I tried over and over, over several months.

Then I hit on an idea...what if I just made a new blog list widget, with the bloggers that I could remember who were still publishing?  I could copy and paste from the old list pretty easily.  Then I could delete the old one and hopefully not get those random non- sewing links showing up

It was sad to go through the list and see all the fine folks who were no longer blogging.  And, it's true, some had even reactivated after several years of being dormant...that was exciting to see.  But truth was...any non- active blog seems to be subject to being hijacked and used for other purposes so I took a deep breath and just listed the ones I thought were active, as best I could remember.

It saved it...in the wrong place.  I tried to move it, but no dice, so I did a new one...again...

It saved, I thought, but all I managed to do was get rid of both the old list and the list in the wrong place.  The list in the right place, for whatever reason, didn't save.

So I will likely have to reconstruct it all from scratch again and that will take some time.

Bummer.

I guess this is the kind of thing that happens when I can't actually sew, lol.

I will say I am recovering from the hip surgery slowly.  It's one week out today and I actually managed to lift my foot high enough to get over the edge of the bathtub, so I could take a real shower.  Hooray for small victories...

New Parts....

 Specifically, a new right hip.  Installed on Thursday...and I'm really amazed at how little pain I have today.  And today is worse than yesterday, lol.  I figure tomorrow will be about the same and then we should start seeing improvement.  I hope to be consistently walking without the walker in a week.  I can do it a little now...but I'm trying to be good....

Incredible what new tecniques are out there for these things.  That surgery took 30 minutes.  

Maybe in a few weeks I can actually put on my own socks and tie my shoes again....

And get back into the sewing room.  I'm behind. ;-)

A little tomfoolery...

 So, nearly 7 years of planning came to fruition last week when the total eclipse went right over my parents' farm.

The kids came up from Florida.  My sister and her family came in from NY state and Pennsylvania.  

It was a family reunion...and a perfect day.

The best picture was taken by The Artist, who climbed up on the tallest grain bin to get his vantage point.

If you click on the picture to make it bigger you can even see Venus.  The house I grew up in is there in the trees, lol.

My ever practical hubby waited until after the event to order T shirts....he wanted to make sure the weather cooperated and we actually saw it, lol.

We saw the  2017 eclipse at Tennessee's Fall Creek Falls State Park, so the shirt he picked was appropriate.

If you look really, really closely...you'll see two red French knots indicating the approximate locations where we were when we saw them.  It was kinda frustrating, because the map isn't accurate...the 2017 path is marked too far south, and this year's path is marked too far north.  

Ok, adding a closer shot because I could just barely see them in the other:

So, yeah, very approximate, lol.

A wee bit of Fray Check on the back to make sure the knots stay knotted and...custom shirts, lol.

The next Big National Eclipse will be in 2045.  I'll be 86.  Not sure I'll make that one, lol.  But if I'm still around I'm sure I'll try.  

It's that cool. 

Hey! A New Top!

 So I didn't think I would be doing ANY sewing for myself any time soon.  The church choir has dropped the 'seasonal color' thing we've done for so long and are just wearing, well, Janice Rigg's 'Common Wardrobe'...without realizing it, lol.  Denim with neutrals.  So, I figured...no more choir-driving sewing.

But.  Turned out that only sorta applies.  We got word early this week that for Easter we are to wear kind of a salmony pink or a turquoise/aquaish blue, with the neutrals.

Thought I had something that would work, but the scales have crept up a bit over the last year and...it was too snug.

So, what to do, what to do.  I had a sweater the right color in the closet, but I needed a top to go under it.

Dug around in the stash and found a stripy knit print that I got for the Hydrangea wardrobe.  

Timestamp on this photo is 1:26 PM

Time stamp on this photo is 4:08.

Of course, if this had been The Great British Sewing Bee I would have had about an hour and a half to do that, but I went carefully and did a couple of extra steps to hopefully keep things humming along.  Something hosed up in the tension on the double needle hem so it's a wee bit tunneled, but that'll be our secret.  At least the pinks match...

I need something I can get on and off quickly because I will have about 15 minutes to change into my bible costume after the choir leaves the platform before I have to be in place for the mini-production we're doing this year.  And then, when that's done...change back to the choir clothes to repeat the process for second service. 

I will take a mesh bag to put over my head so I don't smear the makeup.  Hopefully. LOL.

But at least I have made SOMETHING for myself this year...

Up late but done

 So, this is the last bit of sewing that I have to sew for the Easter production; dress rehearsal is tomorrow so I had to finish tonight.

I told myself I had to be done by midnight; I have a whole hour to spare, lol.

Another lady is making black costumes for the two Pharisees in our cast, but we needed something resembling the prayer shawls that peek out from under the head drapes.  As I mentioned in the last post, we had some from when we had blue and white Pharisee costumes and at first we thought we'd just sew black ribbon over the blue ribbon.

But, you know, ya never really know what might be useful in the future and we might need those blue-ribboned drapes, since we still have the blue-and-white costumes they go with, so I just decided to make new ones with the black ribbon..

Now, I want to say right up front that these are in no way intended to replicate an actual tallit.  This is stage costuming and is meant to suggest it only.  Despite my usual over-the-top dedication to being authentic, this is something I think is better served by suggestion.  Using an actual tallit with an otherwise inaccurate costume just seems ....wrong.  So we have reasonable facsimiles, not actual replicas.

That includes the tassels.  In the older ones, I just used purchased tassels but sewing notion availability being what it is nowadays, the only tassels I could find in the right size (and price, lol) were red and black, which wouldn't do.  So I bought several skeins of ecru embroidery floss and set about making my own.

And I made tassels, not proper tzitzit, because...well, the whole cultural appropriation thing, and I had no idea how to actually make tzitzit and I didn't really have time to research it.  I had made tassels before, as part of a project with my jr high girls class back in the day,  so I at least had an idea of where to start.

And I took a shortcut.  The instructions I'd had on making tassels began with wrapping the floss around a card...and, you know, those skeins are really already looped around.

So I just cut 'em in half.  Carefully.

Then I cut a length from the extra skein I'd bought  and tied off the looped end of the half-skein, after draping a bit of blue floss over it (the blue thread is specified in Numbers, so I used it, even though it's not proper tzitzit)

I tied it tightly , then cut another bit of floss and tied it off just below the bend.

I wrapped the ends of that second piece around and tied it, then wrapped them around to the other side and tied again...several times... and finished it by pulling the ends down through the middle.  This looks rather muddled, but you can see the large darning needle I used to pull those ends through.

Then I trimmed off the ends even

Sewed them onto the corners of the drapes.

And here's the finished product. 

 I don't think it will show much; I think there's a black head drape that will be over it. But I haven't seen the new costumes, just the inspiration picture, so I'm just going off of that.

Now I need to go collect my old costume and head drapes and such to take to church tomorrow.  It's a short production...only about 25 ish minutes...so we will have regular choir first and I'll have to change from church clothes to the bible costume pretty quickly.  Without smearing the makeup, lol.  Gonna try the mesh-bag-over-the-head trick; hopefully that will work.

I have more bible costumes to sew this spring, but they are for the kids ministry at the church where my two younger kids are on staff so they can wait until after things settle down a bit.

Another costume out the door...

 So, here were are at the end of March, and I have not made a single thing for my closet yet this year.  Oh, I've putzed around on the Velvet Hippie Earth Mother Skirt, but it is really kind of a tedious thing to do and my heart is not in making a velvet skirt whilst the azaleas are blooming and the birds are singing and spring is calling.  I want to sew nice linen things.

But, first, the Easter Production.  This costume isn't going in the costume wardrobe, it's for a friend who is on staff at church and is, by default, going to be in all the productions.  He's borrowed one of my personal extra costumes and he's borrowed my son's costume in the past, so I thought I'd just make him his own.

The fabric came from a sale at Fabric Mart...the under robe is made of a wool/ poly/ lycra blend and it's really nice.  I did not make NEARLY as many bone-headed mistakes this go round; I guess I just needed to clean the cobwebs out of the bible costume skills, lol.

I got it to him today; I hadn't told him I was doing it but he'd figured it out, lol.  ETA  a couple of days later:  He thought I was just making a costume for him to wear, LOL.  He didn't realize until we were talking about it at dress rehearsal that this costume is for him to OWN.  

I have a couple of small pieces to make for the new Pharisee costumes that another lady is making.  We had white and blue costumes from years ago, with tasseled shawls, but thanks to The Chosen (you are watching it, right?) we need to put our Pharisees in black costumes, lol.  At first, I was just going to sew black ribbon over the blue ribbon on our existing shawls but, after I thought about it I decided we migh want the blue ones so I found some cotton/ linen fabric on sale at Jo Ann's (the only game in town, now, although who knows how much longer that'll hold) to make new ones.  It's surprisingly nice; I think it will work well.  But I can't find any tassels.  So I got several skeins of embroidery floss and I'm just going to make 'em.  

Dress rehearsal is Thursday; I'm behind, lol.  I will probably go in to work late; I have several hours in over my allotment already this pay period so I can  afford to use a couple of hours to sew in the morning.

Maybe I can squeeze in a bit of me-sewing next week...lol...but it will be a squeeze.  The calendar really doesn't let up until  mid April...and that's only for a couple of weeks.  I don't get an extended period of 'nothing on the calendar' until June...but I'm going to get a new hip that first week, so it's a good thing I have some time with no out-of-the-ordinary demands...  hopefully I can get recuperated enough that when things start ramping up again in the fall I'll be back to normal.  And able to put on socks and tie my shoes, lol.  It's day surgery, believe it or not.  Out patient.  Medical technology is truly amazing.

A little reminiscing....

 So, yeah, I am procrastinating.  I popped my knee a bit this evening and it hurts, so I'm sitting at the computer instead of putzing around the cutting table on the next costume...

I poked around on the blog a bit, looking at old posts, and I stumbled across one from 2007 in which I asked all my readers where they were from.

Saw a lot of names I hadn't seen in a long, long time.  I don't think I'll try it again; I had about 30 folks comment on that post and I'm sure I'd get nowhere near that now.  I don't think people comment like they used to.  I know I don't, lol.  Back in the day, there weren't feedburners and we read everyone's post right on the source.  Now most of the blog reading is done on something like Feedly and it takes an extra three or four clicks to get to the 'leave a comment' box.  I'm just as guilty as anyone else of reading right by...sometimes I think I'll go back and leave a comment but I almost always forget.  So I'm not whining about the lack of comments...just kind of wistfully remembering when it was different, lol.

But I did get a bit nostalgic for the community that we had back in those days; we all sewed and wrote it up and commented.  It was a real treat.  We even had some meet ups on shopping road trips and expo dinners, lol.  It was an amazing thing to see how we all connected via the web.

These days...folks are youtubing instead of blogging.  I do have a youtube channel; I think I got it when I made an account back in something like 2009.  I had no idea it was even there until fairly recently.  But, lawd have mercy, I don't think I could come up with enough content to make the youtube channel a thing.  I'm having enough trouble keeping two blogs active.

Maybe I'll fiddle with it in retirement, lol.  Be a cheesy old lady youtuber. Keep the brain sharp by learning video editing.....

Yeah, right, lol.

So anyway this is kinda pointless except to say that I had a love burst for all my friends...those I've met and those I haven't ...who pop by and read the sporadic posts and sometimes even leave a comment.  I appreciate all of you more than I could say.

I will hopefully be back shortly with another costume to show ;-)

Oof...a rough weekend in the sewing room....

 Good for humility, I guess.  This shoulda been something I could do in my sleep.

It's Bible costume season again.  This is not for the current church production...I am not really involved in that again, too much travel at the wrong time this year for me to be part of that team.  But I did have a friend who is participating in a walk-through program as John the Beloved and he needed a costume.  He purchased the fabric from JoAnns and Hobby Lobby and brought it to me to sew up.

First is the coat... It's a very pretty piece of upholstery fabric that has a sprayed-on interfacing.  I washed it and it softend up considerably but that backing was icky and it's going to start flaking off before long.  The coat will hang much better once it DOES rub off, I think, but it's going to be messy.  He decided he wanted sleeves, so I planned to make a Bog Coat; however, the fabric was only 54" wide and my friend is a strapping 6'4" fellow and, since the width of the fabric is the finished circumference of the coat, I didn't think that would be roomy enough.  So I altered up my trusty McCall's Bible costume...cutting the front open and the back on the fold and adding slits to the sides.  I had to cut everything on the cross - grain because he really only got enough to make a sleeveless vest. So in my humble opinion, between the bulk of the fabric, the spray on interfacing and the cross-grain cut, it doesn't hang as nicely as I would like.  I did manage to get that tried on him this morning, though, and he is pleased so that's all that matters.  I bought it back home to hem up the sleeves.

I already had the under gown cut out and, once I had the coat sleeves hemmed, proceeded to work on the gown.  Shoulda been a piece of cake.

But the right side and the wrong side are nearly indistinguishable, and that bit me.  I added self-drafted pockets and put the right one on too high, gauging off of the notch that marked the sleeve front instead of the notch that marked the waist line.  I'd already trimmed, turned and pressed the pocket facing before I realized my error.  

Cut it back, unstitched it, patched the hole in the seam allowance, cut a new pocket and tried again.

And noticed when I started to pin up the sideseams that the finished pocket bag was on the OUTSIDE of the robe.

I unpicked it, filled in the hole in the seam allowance and gave up.  He's got one pocket on the left side.

If you click on that to embiggen it you will see my hasty patch jobs.  The edge didn't really waver that much...that's just the unstable fabric showing it's tricks.

The fabric, while it appears to be a woven, behaves like a knit. A very unstable knit.  It wasn't nice to sew as it kept shifting and stretching in odd places.  The neckband (I elected to put a band rather than a facing) twisted oddly on one side.  Didn't want to risk damaging the picky fabric so I left it; I don't think it's going to be terribly noticeable but I'm not happy with it.

The whole thing is VERY heavy; my plastic hanger was threatening to buckle when I took the picture.

I have about 3 more costumes to make in the next couple of weeks...one IS for the Easter mini-production...so that's what my sewing is gong to be for the foreseeable future.

Hopefully the next ones will be more cooperative.  And I won't be stupid.

See Blog Two...

 I write two blogs, for a number of reasons, and most folks don't read the second one.

But, in the interest of not typing the same thing twice...here's a link...

Beer Lahai Roi 2/12/24

Hopefully sewing will happen later this week...

Whittling the WIP Stack --- the Velvet Hippie Earth Mother Skirt

It's been too long since I actually sat down at the sewing machine and made a thing to wear, lol.  

But, as it happens, I have a stack of things I have started ...some really an embarrassingly long time ago...and I just need to clear the Work In Progress stack.

So I started with the velvet earth mother skirt. When I left it...just a little under 11 months ago, gulp, I had finished the yoke with the pockets.  I decided to cut out each tier, sew it up, and then cut the next one, to avoid mixing the pieces up (one of the previous Hippie Earth Mother Skirts may have had that problem...).  

So, today I finished cutting the first gathered tier, and sewed it on, then I cut and assembled the second tier and have it sewn on, although I do need to serge the seam to finish the edges.

I did tackle my cutting schematic to see if I could do wider, and fewer, tiers, but my fabric was 2" too narrow for that to work.  I have to use the narrow tiers to be able to use up the fabric efficiently.

Which means...5 tiers, with each tier 1.5 times the volume of the one above it...the hem is going to be something like 330" around.  Yeesh. Fortunately, for a velvet, the fabric is fairly light.

I made a casing for a drawstring, just in case it's too heavy for the elastic, just the same.

So, anyway, I shall be gathering for a bit, lol.

When doing something so bodacious and hefty, I use dental floss to gather ... Zigzag over it, 

Then pull the dental floss and secure the ends.  This is waxed, which means the gathers aren't terribly inclined to slip once I've got them arranged...but it's kinda stiff, so I do pull it out after the seaming is all done.

That's just a little tedious, lol.

Not sure when I will finish this; likely not in time to wear it this season as 1) all the fancy events are behind us and 2) even though our high was in the teens today, we'll be pushing 70 in a week.  We're likely done with winter at that point, based on historical trends.  But I'll be ready for  any holiday parties that arise in 2024, lol.