Mid-Summer Project reflections
July and August are jam-packed with private and group classes and in the in-between times I am getting some of my personal projects moving along. I made my first braided-in rag rug (from what I learned in my online class with Kathryn Swanson) and it is now prominently displayed in the studio. It doesn’t just serve as a welcome mat, but I also use it as a kneeling cushion in front of the mirror as I help folks hem and adjust their garments.
I am still working along on a pair of pants for my daughter. The muslin (definition: a test garment made out of cheaper/scrap fabric) showed me that the pattern fit her almost perfectly. But then I whipped them up in this terracotta medium weight deadstock cotton with some gorgeous patches out of the Fableism fabric line, and they fit quite baggy in the hip. Something is akimbo with where the set-in pockets meet the back pieces, right below the hip-bone (TMI for those of you not enthralled with pattern augmentation). I got pretty frustrated, but with the emotional support of my mother-in-law I think I have them pinned so I can just adjust a few inches at the hip and call it a day. We shall see when my daughter tries them on this week if the situation calls for just a tweak or a reallllyyy frustrating hack of some sort or another. (Photos to come in the next post.)
To get a dose of pure accomplishment in my creative blood stream I used a few moments of down time to add a tool pocket to my husband’s pants, fix the zipper of a gorgeous tank top I am handing down to my daughter, and start a Sew House Seven top for myself out of Fableism plaid. I am generally not a boxy shirt kind of person, but I just adore the hand and drape of this glorious fabric and needed to figure out a garment that would show it off.
And of course I love working with my students in their project journeys. It has been joyful to support a mother and her two teens in their goal to each make themselves a pair of pants out of some divine linen; a student transform her decades-old linen night dress into a casual quick apron; the patterning and sewing plan for a brilliant black and white A-line maxi dress; and to witness the excitement and glee as weird-shaped fabric pieces come together into wearable garments and usable bags and aprons.
There is still so much more summer to go (the bee balm!) and I can’t wait to watch as folks begin to complete and use their creations.