Fiber Monday - laughably bad pictures

And that would be laughably bad pictures even by my typical bad picture standards. Prepare yourselves.

I had a bit of a Give a Mouse a Cookie moment today. A few days ago, since I had cut the horrible weaving off the loom, I had started to sley the reed with the warp for the blanket. (Translation: I needed to put each end of the warp through the slotted metal piece which determines how close each piece of yarn will be when woven.) I was taking my time, working on it when I had a free moment. Except this morning I realized I had some pattern drafting homework which required a flat surface and I needed it finished by Wednesday morning. 

The problem was that my weaving project was taking up my entire work table and wasn't something I could move. The only thing for it was to spend a couple of hours today getting it sleyed so I could use the table. Which I did.


And then I was able to move it over to the loom in preparation for threading.


The threading is going to take a while since there are ~960 ends which each need to be threaded to a heddle on one of the eight shafts I'm using. It is not going to be a quick process. This also means that all that yarn is no longer safely behind a closed door requiring cat-proofing measures whenever I'm not actively working on it.


(Don't worry, we haven't come to the laughably bad pictures, we've just made it through my usual level of bad pictures.)

All of this meant that now I have a surface where I can work on my pattern drafting homework. First, I thought I'd show you what I've done so far. 

I've learned to draft a front and back bodice from given measurements, to true those patterns, to transfer them onto muslin, and then to hand baste them together. Here is my front bodice pattern.


The bodice is there, I promise! I realized after I took the picture that pencil marks on brown paper don't actually show up that well. 

Here are the muslins for the bodice and skirt.


Last week we leaned to draft a sleeve to fit the bodice we had previously drafted. I know you're dying to see more vague photos of brown paper, so here's the sleeve draft.


(Looks just as impressive as the bodice, huh?) Once again, I promise it is there. Tomorrow I will transfer it to muslin and baste it together so that I'm class we can set the sleeves in. 

I'm really enjoying learning how to do this. By the end of the three class series, I will end up with bodice, skirt, and sleeve blocks drafted to my own measurements. If you've ever sewn a commercial pattern and have the fit be less than ideal, then you will understand how incredibly exciting the prospect of this is. 

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Making bias tape... otherwise known as the Sew, Mama, Sew! Giveaway

Image
( Sorry, the contest is now closed .... though you're welcome to leave a comment if you like.) [This picture has absolutely nothing to do with this post, but is here solely to give Blogger a different photo to post in the thumbnail.] It's Sew, Mama, Sew Giveaway time again.  I love bias tape.  It is so useful and so easy to use... finishing edges ... finishing seams ...  And while the pre-packaged stuff has it's place and I use it often, I really like to have patterned bias tape as well.  Enter one of my favorite little tools: the bias tape maker.  This one make 3/4 inch bias tape and I will be giving one away at the end of this post.  But first, I thought some of you might like to see what it does if you've never used one before. I don't have a rotary cutter, nice cutting mats, or even a proper cutting table (I cut-out things on my floor), so if I can do this, so can you.  Here is my admittedly quirky method. Step 1:  Lay out the fabric an...
Read more

Sew, Mama, Sew! Giveaway

Image
Sew, Mama, Sew! is hosting another giveaway day , the day where many bloggers giveaway things they have made or supplies to make things or both.  It is great fun to visit a lot of blogs and try to win cool stuff.  So fun that I thought I would participate this year. I had great hopes of making a set of coordinating mother/daughter aprons.  But reality reared its ugly head and I came to terms with the fact that my time is not limitless.Instead of aprons,  I must continue to spend quality time with yards and yards of red plaid flannel.  What am I making?  Well, as I tell my children, it is the season not to ask questions... I will be able to let you know sometime after the 25th. Instead of making something, I went to my favorite thrift store and found some supplies in the form of sheets and pillowcases (some of my favorite raw material).  I'm giving away three pillowcases and one twin flat sheet. I decided to go with bright, springy colors...
Read more

A little adoption history and pontificating

A little distance is always good before writing on a tough subject. I think I can tackle this rationally now, though I may step on a few toes. We'll see. As some of you may know, yesterday the State department issued a notice saying that China, as of the end of August, has closed their intercountry adoption program. This is across the board and regardless of whether a family has been matched with a child or not. This has been exceedingly hard news for the Chinese adoption community.  I think I need to fill you in on some background before I continue because I realize not everyone lives in this world. (This is an extremely cursory and very simplified history.) China began allowing intercounty adoptions in 1992. Since that time, more than 160,000 children (most were girls) were adopted around the world; ~82,000 of those children came to the US. The process was centralized and a fairly predictable process. Once a family assembled their dossier and had it logged-in, they could usually ...
Read more