Twenty Years of Blogging....

 Nov. 4, 2005....I was in the early stages of costuming our church's second production of "The Gospel According to Scrooge" and found that I was monopolizing a couple of threads on sewing discussion boards...so I took a deep breath, signed on with Blogger, and put up the first post.

The photos I added to those early posts have all been dropped by Blogger; I think that happened when Google took over.   I tried linking them to an external album, but Photoworks has closed up shop as well and those are also gone.  

I don't suppose anyone is trying to see them these days anyway.  

I posted almost every day back then.  Hard to believe now, but I was immersed in sewing and had lots to talk about...much of it centered on the clothes I was sewing to wear in our church choir, as we were asked to wear garments from a specified color group, which changed monthly.  So it would look good on the broadcasts.  But I found myself feeling really out of sorts with posting about what I wore to church, when the service was so good and touched my spirit.

So, in 2008, I started a second blog, where I could talk about faith and related topics.  I was still posting *almost* daily to the sewing blog, but sometimes the faith blog would take precedence. 

Then, in March of 2009, I found myself gainfully employed.  Part-time, to be sure, but it took a big chunk of my time.  A year later, I moved from general office work...just helping the accounting team as needed...to being the church data base admin.  Which made sense, since I have a degree in Computer Science.  My work commitment increased to 24 hours a week.  Which doesn't sound like an awful lot, but it was now what was controlling my time.

For the last 10 years, I've been doing well to average one post per week in each of the blogs.  

Despite that, earlier this year I decided I needed a place to collect various bits of fanciful writing I've done over the years....some of it has been published here, some over on the faith blog, some to the now defunct Facebook Notes....and some didn't fit anywhere.  So I opened up a third blog so I would have a place to post and link those things.  It kind of amuses me that I did that.

I think maybe 12 people have found that one, lol.  But that's ok.  I haven't posted a boatload of stuff there yet anyway. If I were doing the proper author thing, I would be posting that to Substack, which is sort of like Patreon for writers, with a paywall that would only allow subscribers to read my stuff, but I don't feel like I'm quite on that level.  If I had  a boatload of followers who left lots of comments on what I posted, maybe, but as it's pretty much crickets over here on all three blogs these days...I'm just grateful for folks who DO stop by and read.  Substack is way over my grade level, lol.

But, blogging has changed over the years.  When I go back and look at those early posts I am gobsmacked by the number of comments.  But, as the years have passed, many of the folks whose blogs I followed in the early years have dropped out of blogging altogether.  The community that all read and commented on each other's posts has  moved on.  

And, you know, I had to work through that.  Was this worth doing if only a few people read it...or if only bots were hitting the posts?  I finally decided that I blog for me, to help me process life and work and, you know, all the things.  It feels productive to write a post, even if it serves no other purpose.

But I have enjoyed it, and the friends I've made along the way, even if they have moved on and aren't checking blogs anymore.  It's understandable.  Life is busy.  It's easy to read a post on a feed burner and kind of a nuisance to click through the links to actually leave a comment.  My own blog commenting has fallen way, way off.  So I am guilty as well.

But it is nice to have the outlet to post to when I have something to say, and when I can make time to sit down and write it up.  We no longer have an active church choir, as our director has moved on to other demanding tasks, so the choir wardrobe is no longer driving my sewing.  I am helping a bit with the costumes for our current Christmas production...and I do have some photos and such to put into a post soon..but I'm not in charge of it.  Which is fine.  It needs to move on too.  

So... with that little look at the evolution of the blogs, I do want to say THANK YOU to all the folks who have read the blogs through the years.  I am deeply appreciative that you would take the time to check out my ramblings and even leave a comment once in a while.  It means more than I can say to know that it isn't just bots hitting the stat counter, lol.

Here's to more sewing!  And more creating!  God Bless Us, Everyone.... ;-)

Meh....

 I finished the white-linen - rayon-crepe tunic outfit a week ago and meant to wear it to church last Sunday, but, as it turned out it was one of those odd damp coolish days so I put it off for a week.

It is NOT the most flattering thing in my closet by a long shot, and it has clear construction issues,  although it is comfy and fun to wear.

 The biggest problem I had was that the fabric was crazy unstable.  It wouldn't even lie square on a single layer. It was just a beast to try and work with.  Hindsight...I shoulda starched the daylights out of it, but I didn't even think of that until I put the finished product on.  I think if I had starched it into paper stiffness, I would have had much less trouble with things going whopperjawed on me as I was first trying to cut it out (and I used a sharp rotary cutter) and then trying to assemble it.

The second issue is...it really would have looked better with out the waistline seam, although that allowed me to line the bodice, which I really wanted to do due to the sheerness of the fabric.  I need that double layer on top or I would have to wear a tank top or cami under it.  And because of the shiftiness of the fabric, the two layers kinda fight each other; hence the ripples in the top. Sure wish I'd thought of spray starch a little sooner.

The inspiration pattern had the seam above the waist but I left the top waist-length because I didn't want a gap between the top of my pants and the seam showing through the sheer skirt layer.  A little higher seam likely would have looked less frumpish, but then there would be that color shift underneath. So I picked the lower seamline.

The white linen pants are great...even though the construction details (pockets, seam allowances) show through the fairly  substantial fabric (Fabrics-store.com 4C22).  I thought it was stout enough that it wouldn't be a huge problem.  Never underestimate the shadow factor of white fabric... well, best worn under a tunic, lol.   

So, yeah, lessons learned and maybe I'l wear it on really hot days despite the problems.  Like I said, it's comfy and floaty, and if I keep moving...who will notice? LOL.  I wore a lightweight linen knit long cardigan over it...air conditioning and all... so I think a lot of the issues were camouflaged a bit.

I did cut a couple of scarves from the remnants of the green print; that might be a better use for that fabric.  Instability won't matter much there...

Smacked by Inspiration

 Despite the fact that I have way more  fabric than I can reasonably sew in the next 30 years, every once in a while I succumb to a sale.

Happened a couple of weeks ago and I ended up with what was supposed to be two pieces of crinkle rayon.  One was a crinkly rayon and I intend to turn it into a floaty summer maxi, but the other was a semi-sheer printed jacquard pattern.  I loved it...but I could read the newspaper through it.  Too sheer for a dress ( yes, the website did warn that a lining would likely be necessary but I thought something with lots of gathered up fabric would be ok...Not this).

It's white with a mint green reverse print.  Lovely and summery...just sheer. You're looking at a folded bit in the picture; it really is sheer.  Honest.

You can just barely see the little pattern woven in under the print.

Earlier this week, I had a flash of inspiration.  I have a Burda pattern that has been in my stash for...decades, lol.

I suddenly thought about making that split side topper from the green and white rayon, with some white linen pants.

Spent yesterday tracing one of my favorite quick pants, Stretch and Sew 704 'Quick and Easy Pants', which are slim no-side-seam pants with welt pockets, in a bigger size than my 20 year old tracing, cut it out of some White 4C22 linen from Fabric-Store dotcom,  and sewed them to the crotch seam yesterday.  Today, I finished them to the hem, then set it aside to do the hand sewing whilst occupying my brain in other ways, and turned to the split tunic.

I have  had a good bit of trouble with Burda's woven patterns over the years coming out decidedly short on ease.  I was surprised when I pulled out this pattern and found I had traced off and apparently made the pants years ago; I even reviewed them on Pattern Review.  When I read the review, I vaguely remembered them...the review indicates that they were Too Small, even though I had made the size my measurements indicated.  So...no wonder.   I compared the Size 44  upper bodice to  my recently- retraced Cutting Lines Designs My Hearts A Flutter shell and saw that, yeah, that was going to be more fitted than I really wanted.

So, I just used the upper bits from the MHA top, and adjusted the skirt bits to fit and cut it out.

Then I had to cook dinner, lol. I'll hem my pants whilst watching number 2 son stream tonight.

 So, hopefully in a couple of days I'll actually be able to get that top whipped up and we'll see if my inspiration pans out...stay tuned, lol.

Sewing in June...

 I have done a wee bit of stitching here and there...I made a half-dozen diapers for my neighbor, who has a new baby; hemmed the remants of the waffle fabric I used for the linen towels last year to use as dish towels (they are rather oddly proportioned, but they'll dry dishes, so who cares...) and made up the first of several patterns that I made years ago, when I was about 30 pounds lighter, and recently re-traced.

This one is La Fred's Athena Blouse; I posted about the last time I made it back in 2006; I originally made it in 2003, Before Blogging, lol.  

Back then, I actually sized down from my measurements as pattern measurements showed that it had a generous amount of ease.  So I remembered that and sized down when I traced my ...bigger size...to have a go at it again. But...I didn't remeasure.  I just assumed consistent ease.  Ooopsie.

And I decided to use it on the the floral fabric I got in my recently - mentioned Fabric-store.com cash-in of my loyalty points.   It's a beautiful print on fine cotton fabric; but the size of the print was such that I didn't want to cut small pieces...like a band and collar...from it.  So I went with the Athena, because it has a cut-on collar.  But the print was so large that, when I tried to match it across the front, I had to place the front pieces such that it was then impossible to get the rest of the pieces on the fabric (and I had an extra half yard!).  So I just shrugged and cut it out as instructed, with no attempt to match.  Um, I'd've been better off going for a deliberate mismatch that was balanced, but more on that later...

The fabric is a very tight weave; it was difficult to get pins to go into it, and the pinholes didn't close up, even after I sprayed it with water and steam pressed it.  Maybe after it's washed they'll go away.  Maybe...

This pattern has 6 places where you have to sew an  inside-corner to an outside-corner; it's the caveat I would give anyone.  It does have a really cool shape.

But I learned that the larger sizes apparently don't have as much ease as the smaller sizes...my shirt is a bit snug.  I don't think it's unwearable, but I will add a bit...maybe via a full bust adjustment...if I make it again...and I probably will.  I want at least one in linen.

I'll tell you, my friends, but will not mention it elsewhere, lol.  that near match on the front made me gnash my teeth a bit.  Fortunately the print is fairly well balanced so it's not terribly noticeable, but it bummed me.  With a match that close, you'd think I could have actually matched it...but I'm telling you, I tried several different ways to get it on there and it broke up the yardage so bad I couldn't get the other pieces (back, sleeves...which are pretty big...and front facing) all on.  

A friend recently asked me if I was still working on that wardrobe from the Vivienne files...and while the specific additions for Nov. and Dec. of 2021 are still in the queue, the garments I have sewn since, by and large, all work with the pink-green-navy-white color scheme.  So, while I haven't 'finished' that series, I am still building on it.

Today, I cut down a massive t-shirt...almost too much, lol.  It was from the previous year's collection in the merch shop at last fall's women's conference; I got it for five bucks and decided I'd use it to test the Style Arc Kim's Swing Top.  I took a TNT T shirt pattern and used it to pick the size to trace (a 12) and then I did a full bust adjustment.  I had to shorten the top by 2" to get it on the boxy original shirt (which I somehow missed getting a photo of before I took it apart).

It also came out a wee bit snug.  May have been partly due to the difficulty I had putting in on the half-deconstructed t-shirt (I left the shoulders and neckline intact)...it may not have been quite right.  But I think I will trace off a larger size before I try it again.  The sleeves are especially...fitted, lol.  But for a $5 test of the pattern...it's fine.

So...one pattern from the deep stash and one from recent stash, lol.  I have a few patterns that I made back in the day that I've retraced in a larger size.  Some of those patterns were great, that I wore over and over, and deserve to come back into the wardrobe.

Is Home Sewing Collapsing? A bit of a rant...

 As if it wasn't bad enough that Hancock's fabrics collapsed in 2016, then Jo-Ann's  (who had previously gobbled up the Cloth World, World of Fabrics, and So-Fro Fabrics chains in the previous decades) failed under the ludicrous burden of the leveraged buyout back in 2010, in which the investors who purchased the company did not take on the debt themselves but pushed it onto JoAnn's -- something that, in my opinion. should be illegal; now the news comes that the conglomerate that owns ALL the major pattern companies...Vogue, Butterick, McCall's and Simplicity... has sold all assets to a liquidator. 

Oh, there are mail order options for patterns from independent companies...some of whom have quite good patterns...but the only sewing pattern tissue printer in the entire country is part of that liquidation and all of those indy folks who print patterns on tissue paper use that printing service.  Who knows what will happen to that equipment now.  And we do have online fabric vendors.  Michael's craft stores has supposedly purchased up a good bit of the Hancock's and JoAnn's IP and intends to expand their home sewing offerings but the whole situation seems ominous.  I don't know if I will ever be able to, in the midst of a project, run to a local store and pick up that thing I need to finish, be it thread, zippers or buttons.  

I have read a lot of the comments pertaining to these closures, many of which say something to the effect of 'Oh, (whatever company) just didn't keep up with the times, so the demise was inevitable.'

But that begs the question...why did (fabric stores, pattern companies) not keep up with the times?

Y'all, they were all done in by financial shenanigans.  One company bought out all (or almost all) the major competition, then itself was bought out by an investor group that cared only for profit and had no interest whatsoever in the  home sewing community.  The Big 4 were owned, and just sold by,  IG Design group, who is a leading manufacturer and distributor of stationery, crafts, party and gift products for goodness sake!  Home sewing enthusiasts got frustrated with the lack of quality and techniques offered by the blob organizations and began turning to independent pattern designers and online fabric sources.  Not to disparage those folks, some of whom have great service and products, but...had the local store resources retained their quality, the masses would not have turned to online vendors.  Home sewing is an intensely personal pursuit, and we ALL want quick access to items we can see and touch in person.  I know the main reason I buy sewing goods online is because I can't get them locally. 

Which sounds like a business opportunity...except the goods available to retailers have also been disappearing.  Almost all fabric is milled overseas now.  Remember when a visit to a local fabric store would have the choice of multiple color ways in various prints or designs?  That's been rare for a long, long time.  Home sewing offerings are now mostly manufacturing overruns, with patterned fabrics available in one choice of color scheme only.  

All of this makes it difficult for youngsters coming of age to pick up the sewing habit.  The resources just aren't there; not to mention the demise of home economics in the public schools.  Materials for theater groups/ costuming/ cosplay are also getting harder to find...and more expensive.  I used to costume entire church productions from the dollar table at the local Wal-Mart.  Now I hesitate to even call what shows up on the discount rack (just one small rack...not a piled high table) 'sewing fabric'.  It. Is. Dreck.  A biblical costume could be made for less than $15 twenty years ago; that same costume would be about $75 now.  That's hard on a shoestring budget.

I don't know what the answer is, but I do wish our financial institutions would not allow leveraged buyouts that enable investors to skim profits from a company and then dump the debt back into it. 

I think I will now go upstairs and sew something as my own personal protest, lol.

Odds and Ends sewing

 I stumbled across a serious Lands' End sale a few weeks back and decided to pick up a few things to fill in some gaps in my wardrobe...until I can get some sewing done.  Got a couple of shirts and a couple of pairs of black pants.

One of the shirts fit fine, the other, being a sleeveless shirt, had a bit of gaposis.  There's an unsewn dart in the armhole and it is quite unattractive when worn.

But, I have McGyvered a solution to this problem before, so I pulled out my textured nylon serger thread and a large - eyed needle to tackle the problem. 

I doubled the thread, then took a stitch about the middle of the front armhole, running the needle through the loop to make a knot-less secure stitch.

Then I run the needle through the bias binding

All the way to the side seam.

Once the thread is through, I do a slight mark w/ a soft pencil on the thread right where it exits the fabric, then tug it up a good inch past that point.  Take several stitches, then knot the thread off and bury the tail in the binding.

I put it on after I'd done the right side; you can see the gaping on the left.  The armhole looks a little puckery on the hanger but it's not noticeable when worn.

My Sweet Babboo needed some patches sewn on his Royal Ranger utility uniform.  This is all very specific as to what goes where and how it should be spaced.

I had some ancient Wonder Tape, which didn't stick really well to the plastic coated  backside of the patches, but it gripped enough that it didn't shift when I sewed the patches.  Some are embroidered; some are just velcro pile so the patches can be switched easily to reflect the most recent event/ achievement/ class/ etc.  I was able to sew on all the patches except the ones on the chest pockets...my machine just couldn't get into that tight space.  He'll hand sew those.

Finally, I hemmed one of the pairs of black jeans.  These are wide-legged, with a deep hem.  I turn the hem up so that the very narrow folded edge is exposed on the wrong side (the edge is just barely visible on the bottom layer), then just do a catch stitch between the new cuff and the pants.  

This works really well and makes the pants suitable for shorty me to wear with flat shoes, lol

I also got a bit of new fabric; I was just going to get some dusty olive linen for a pair of pants, using the credits I'd earned at Fabric-store.com.  I thought I could just redeem enough points to get the 2 yards of rustic fabric, but found that I could only use all of them at once.  So I ordered some of the midweight linen in the same color, some optic white midweight, and one of the cotton prints.  They are all currently in the wash for the pre-shrink but I do intend to sew those up fairly soon.  I hope, lol.  It was 8 yards of fabric for only about $36, after my credit, since it was actually over the minimum for free shipping.  So not gonna complain, lol.  

I need to make some time to get in the sewing room....

Finally a wardrobe addtion!

 Y'all.  The last actual garment I made for my own wardrobe was for LAST EASTER.  

This is not a good set of circumstances, lol.  

But Easter rolled around again, as it does, and this year is different.  The church choir is on an indefinite hiatus so...for the first time in 20 ish years I could wear anything my little heart desired for Easter Service.

So I went through my stashed patterns  and fabric and decided to make a blue linen tunic and pants.  The tunic is Vogue 9305, which has been in the stash since 2020.  I had five yards of Fabric-Store dotcom's  IL019 softened midweight linen, in 'Medieval Blue' that I thought would make up nicely as a tunic and pants and be very easy to accessorize...besides going well with the Start with a Scarf 2022  Wardrobe...I still have two more month's worth of designated items to add to that wardrobe, but I have also been favoring those colors in my fabric purchases, so I have things outside of the 12-month specifics that I am adding...such as this outfit.

There is a wide-leg pants pattern in the envelope with the tunic, but I already have a TNT wide-leg pull on pants pattern so I just used that one instead...an ancient New Look pattern that I've been using since 2003...with tweaks for, um, age-related metabolic decline, lol. (read:  I've added girth...)

Now, the Vogue pattern I had only went up to a size 14, and after doing some measurements and comparison I came to the conclusion that I probably needed about a 16, so there were some girth adjustments to be made, as well as petite adjustments since I'm only 5'4".

But this is an asymmetric pattern...which meant the adjustments were, um, rather tedious.

I traced off half of the top front above the lengthen/ shorten lines and made my adjustments for 1) petite armhole ( cut just below the armhole into the pattern for about 3", then cut up towards the shoulder , folded 3/4" out of the cut bit and filled in the gaps with tissue to shorten just the arm opening and not the whole bodice)  2) lowered the bust point  3) did a full bust adjustment  4) added 1" to the side seams, tapering into the underarm curve. 5) Lowered the neckline a bit so I could pull it over my head without a buttoned opening in the back.  I did leave the dart unsewn, so I had to curve the bottom edge up 3/4" at the seam allowance to compensate.

Here's the finished half pattern:

Once I made all those adjustments, I traced the adjusted half of the front onto folded tissue paper to  make a whole pattern for the top part of the tunic.  

And the whole adjusted top bit, with the half pattern on top:

Then I moved to the bottom part of the front:  I 1) folded out 1" in length in three different spots, to spread the length adjustment out some and 2) added 1" to the side seam.  Then I taped the lower part of the front onto the bodice, matching the length  adjustment lines  (Interesting note... I did not do any length adjustment at those lines; that's just what I used to connect the altered top part to the altered bottom part).  I also shortened the lower left side front piece by 3"...folding the length out at 3 different spots...and adding 1" to the side seam.

For the back,   I just traced the pattern and 1) petited the armhole  as I had done for the front  2) removed 3"  buy removing 1" in three places below the waist  3) added 1" to the side seam and 4) adjusted the neckline to match the front.

I also drafted front and back neckline facings because I didn't think I'd have enough fabric to make bias binding for the neckline.

All the pattern work was the hard part. Once I had it cut out, it was pretty simple to put together.   I did extend the seam between the upper and lower left fronts a bit,  and I hemmed the cap sleeves before sewing the underarm seam.

The linen sews like a dream and the alterations worked well.  It does look like I lost some of the flare from waist to hem when I compare the final photo to the line drawings, and to the photos in the reviews, so that was probably due to alteration error; I did have to make some minor adjustments to the sideseams when I joined the top and bottom pieces of the pattern, so if I make it again I will see about adding a bit of flare to the skirt portion.  But...maybe it's because I sewed that drape a little farther?  Ok. Next time I'll stop on the dot, lol.

But it was really comfortable to wear!  This photo is after two Sunday services yesterday, so I am a bit rumpled, but I will likely wear this a fair amount this summer.  I can wear it over leggings, or skinny blue jeans, or white pants of any leg width...lots of options.  Sunday I wore an oblong pink/ blue/ mint green/ white floral rayon scarf just draped around my neck, but a statement necklace would look good too.  I think I could actually pull the neckline in a bit on the sides and it would still be pull-over-the-head-able.

So nice to make something again.

A bit of Birthday Sewing....

 The saga of the Pirate Shirts continues.  See, my original plan was to make Pirate Shirts for all my kids-in-law for Christmas, but life got complicated (read: I got a nasty tummy bug) and lost all the time I had planned to sew in December.  It occurred to me, along with the fact that I could make those tea towels for Epiphany, that both my sons-in-law had birthdays early in the year; The Jokester in January and Prince Charming in February.  So I decided to make their pirate shirts for birthday presents and we did something else for them for Christmas.

I made the tea towels first, told the Jokester that 'shipping was delayed' for his birthday present as it was clear I wasn't going to have it ready to mail in time to get to him;  then started in on the shirts. It's the same pattern I used for The Dancer (Butterick 5008)  but both of them got Large shirts. I added a bit to the girth for Prince Charming but otherwise they were the same, made full length (I shorten it 4" for ladies...).  I used twill tape, stitched in half, for the ties instead of burning my fingers on ties made from the linen, just as I did for the shirts I made for Christmas.    I thought I had taken a photo of Prince Charming's shirt before I wrapped it for his birthday dinner, but if I did I inadvertently deleted it because it is nowhere to be found.  But I do have a pic of him opening it...The Little Prince was, of course, very interested.

Prince Charming noted that it would also be good to wear to the annual Renaissance Faire, and he's completely correct.  A good pirate shirt can be worn for a number of things.  However, I don't think he's put it on yet so I'm still hoping I guessed right on the alterations, lol.

I finished the Jokester's shirt a couple of days before we headed to Florida last week.  I did get a picture of that shirt...

His shirt was the same as Prince Charming's ...no ruffles.  He was quite pleased with it; tried it on after we left their apartment and reported that it 'fit perfectly!'.  He's in children's ministry so it will get used.

I think I'm going to do some sewing for me next; I need to get through some of the stash, lol.  I have acquired quite a bit of linen...and it's been so lovely to sew that I want to have something ready for spring, which surely can't be too much farther off...

RIP Claire Shaeffer

 I suppose most folks in the sewing community have heard that Claire Shaeffer, author, educator, pattern designer and source of much inspiration, passed away a couple of days ago.

That was just 5 days after she posted a you-tube video with plans for 2025.  I haven't heard cause, but it appears to have been something sudden.

I have several of Claire's patterns...haven't gotten brave enough to try any of them yet.  I have a couple of her books...she was a wealth of information.  The you-tube channel was a fairly new thing; she doesn't appear on it but does voice-over narration.  Or, at least that's been the case for the videos I have watched so far.

So we have lost another of the major influencers of home sewing enthusiasts...one who knew and taught the classic techniques.  I'm encouraged by the younger faces now appearing with instruction on social media...some have done much work and research and are well worth watching.  But we are losing some of the folks who sustained us during the years when home sewing was rather scorned.  Now the creative potential is beginning to revive, along with an interest in clothing as investment, which was a Thing of the Past for so long.  

I feel much gratitude for folks like Claire Shaeffer, Nancy Zieman, Cynthia Guffey, Clothilde, and others, who kept the education going when universal sewing instruction in home ec class slowly faded away.   I have I have learned much from these ladies over the years and my sewing is better for it.

Mayhap I should pull out one of Claire's Vogue patterns this year and challenge myself to learn from her some more....

A bit of...Epiphany? Sewing...

 I had the idea last summer to take advantage of a sale on some Christmas print tea towel kits at Fabric-Store.com.  At first, I was just going to use them for stocking stuffers, and maybe one or two others.  Then I thought of my co-workers...and decided I should make tea towels for them.

I ended up getting 10 kits...that's 20 towels...and it still really wasn't enough.  Stocking stuffers for my daughters/ daughters in law; a goodie for a sort-of secret (but not secret) sister, and the rest went to ladies that have worked with me in the data base in the past year.

The towels aren't difficult...you cut off the selvedge edge, then cut them apart on the  marked line, then hem them; much like the linen waffle towels I made in October.  I made, like, six back in the early fall, then got busy with other things.

I had planned to take my unused vacation/ personal leave (sick) time to work on them during December; then I ended up using my actual sick leave...being sick...and totally useless.  As we got closer and closer to Christmas and I still had the two pirate shirts and the crossback apron to do, it hit me that our first day back at work after the Christmas holiday was Epiphany.

So I was sewing during Christmas break and my co-workers got Epiphany presents, lol.

I thought I took some pics of the construction process when I did the first batch...but if I did, I have lost the photos.  You'll just have to look at the pics on the waffle towel construction...because it's the same.  I did miter ALL THE CORNERS on the tea towels.  (80 mitered corners).  That's lots of practice...but they were simple.  Both sides of the corner measured the same, and the fabric pressed beautifully and didn't fray badly.  It was just fiddly.

I had already given away five of the ones I had made earlier but the other fifteen are in this photo; multiples are stacked together:

  The only print that's not in the photo is the kitty print...I made two of those and they both went to my cat-loving daughters for Christmas.  The 12 days of Christmas print was the one I made the most from...I think I did six of those.

My only complaint is that the towels aren't perfectly square on the fabric.  Trying to get a straight edge yields something a bit crooked looking; after a few tries at that I gave up and just cut it according to the print. It didn't make the edges too off grain to press well.  The prints are lovely.

I will say that these are COTTON towels, not linen towels like I thought in the beginning.  Just so you know.

I've gotten some nice comments from the folks that got them!  Wish I'd had time to make more so I could have enough for everyone....