Fiber Monday - Sample book

Here is one of the more fascinating photos you are going to see on the blog. 

Clearly you should read that previous sentence with a sarcastic tone because this looks like just a piece of fabric. Which it is, sort of. It's also my latest addition to my personal sample book that I'm slowly constructing. 

I've learned that when you draft your own patterns one of the most challenging aspects is that there are no construction directions. It's great to say I want to put side seam pockets into something, but what would those pattern pieces look like and how do you put them together? This is where a sample book comes in. It contains directions and samples for various parts of garment construction, such as fly front zippers or ratios for Father's or side seam pockets. 

I'm very pleased with how it came out and I am pretty sure that I can replicate it in an actual garment. But it also took me a ridiculous amount of time to figure the whole thing out and then actually doing it. My pattern drafting class is great, but it also feels like a perpetually steep learning curve.

Here is my pile of things I need to do something with. 

On the top is the wearable muslin for a pair of barn trousers that I am making. My goal is that by the time frigid weather sets in I will have a pair of lined  felted wool trousers to wear in the barn. Sounds toasty, right? On the bottom of the pile is the cloth that will be Christmas guest towels which I wove off the loom this past weekend. I need to cut them apart, press up the hems, then hemstitch (by hand) all of them. What you don't see is the red warp that I am over halfway through measuring out so I can get it on the loom to weave the next set.