Part 3 of 4: Trying Again or Stubbornness

*AHEM* Never make plans. Plans never work out. I planned to post twice last week, but unfortunately evil shapeshifting soldiers from an alternate universe appeared and … wait. That was Fringe.

I ended up watching TV because I was hijacked by illness and despair last week. A nasty combination of migraine and stomach flu convinced me by late Wednesday that I must surely be dying. This was not true. I was, however, sicker than I’ve been since I was a teenager, and the only thing that interested me about the computer was reruns of Simon & Simon on Hulu.

Crafting did not interest me. For three days I lay prone, trying to pretend I was hot or cold because I was in the Bahamas or Iceland. Finally yesterday I picked up my crochet hook (it seemed like a low energy task) and started working again on the red sweater I started a year ago. I WILL FINISH IT THIS TIME. I just tried it on again this evening and the sleeves now fit and the decreases I forgot last time are going well. All these sweater struggles had better make my next crochet sweater much easier.

It seems I am in a mood to pick up tasks which previously frustrated me, all of them having to do with making clothing. If I am nothing else, I am persistent in getting things done which I feel must be done. I may get frustrated, but I don’t give up until I’ve figured things out.

Before the minions of hell loosed their plague upon me, I was working on my wardrobe sewing skills. I’ve been using my mending pile to figure how fitting clothing works. You may remember I was slightly miffed when trying to alter a dress pattern to fit me (we won’t go into that rant again) and gave it up as a bad job for a while. I’ve managed to alter several shirts and two skirts to fit me now, figuring out where the darts and whatever are supposed to go for things to fit me.

This is my example of my fitting work, complete with bad camera work and piles of mending. On the left is a shirt with an acre of extra room, and on the right the end product. I was excited that it worked. The project wasn’t all that spectacular, except for the fact that all the fitting was new to me …  I have to start somewhere, right?

In summation, I am determined that (a) I will feel like a human again, not a dishrag and (b) that I will make myself clothing that fits. Surely these are not too much to ask for.

Closet + Windows + Bathroom = Wrap

In my house, the only closet is exactly on the opposite side of the house from the only bathroom, and there are four windows and two doors in between them. Let me say that having a robe for the windows and slippers for the cold floors has become a necessity since I moved in.

However, I dislike robes. Mine always seem to untie themselves. In front of a window.

I found the solution in Simple Sewing with a French Twist by Celine Dupuy. A bath wrap is not a new idea, of course. I’ve seen them in my mom’s Lillian Vernon catalogs and the Hammacher Shl-whatever magazines you always see on airplanes.

This one, however, has several features that those did not. It (1) used up a stash of blue terry cloth I bought for another project that I didn’t know what to do with, (2) fits me really well, because I made it, (3) has straps and 2 buttons, because I wanted them, (4) has elastic sewn to the fabric in places so the fabric in the band never bunches up and (5) is the length I wanted, longer than one I could buy.

Excellent. I love it when a plan comes together.

P.S. I’m trying to make, or “complete” one project a week. Erk. It’s hard when you don’t have many hours to devote to it!

Grand Freaking Finale

Comments from the cheap seats:

My mother-in-law said, “Soon you’ll be so organized you won’t be able to find anything.”

My brother Jeremy, when writing about the sewing machine pad, asked “Where is the snack drawer?”

Clever, clever folks.

This is actually my last post about all the organizational items I’ve been making, because I finished the LAST 3 ITEMS. Have I bored you to tears yet with my quest for organization? Did I do enough sewing? I promise, there is a reason I’m doing all of this. One day it will make sense! Eventually you will all look back and say ohhh, yes, I see what amazing forethought she had.

If that’s not foreshadowing I don’t know what is.

So this is 2 small pockets for Stuff. The green one is for crocheting and holds things like my gauge measure, stitch counter, stitch holders, plastic and metal needles, that sort of thing.  The purple one is for embroidery & hand-sewing, and has things like a seam ripper, adjustable measure, measuring tape, chalk, thimble, etc.  Each has two outside pockets and one main pocket. I haven’t decided whether to put a button close on or not. I think not.

I made myself a needle book, designed from the initial issue of Stitch in 2008. There are 8 felt pages for all sizes of needles and you know what? I own a lot of needles. And many of them are huge. Why do I own so many dagger-type needles?! Well anyway – each felt page features a sewn piece of bias tape written on with a fabric marker.

There you have a bit of detail. On the back of the purple pocket is elastic for holding whatever spools of thread I might be using at the time. Nice, right?  It will also hold embroidery bobbins. Then there’s the needle book stitching, there, I was happy about that – there’s a piece of fabric in between each felt page of needles.

Finally, THE BAG. The bag that holds all this stuff I’ve been making lately. The bag that holds every last little fiddly notion, tool and do-dad that I could possibly want whether I’m sitting on the couch or sitting in a car. Fact is, I do more handwork than anything else, and I HATE continually getting up to get things, and I also HATE losing things.

The bag has a top zipper in a very nice casing. But it’s the lining that makes this bag. It’s got three compartments.

YES THREE. Now, all you sewers out there, please take a second and try to imagine exactly how you would make a T-shaped three-compartment inner lining for a bag. It isn’t exactly easy. But I insisted. One pocket is for crochet, the other for sewing, and the end one for general STUFF like eyeglasses and pens.

And you know what? I’m not great at visualization or anything, but I am quite pleased with this.

Before and after. Haha!

I should mention I got the yen to make a chatelaine in the midst of this craziness, but I think I’m done for now.