WIP Wednesday: Preppy Plaid Pillow

Tags

Butterick 5948, clothing, Kaleo, music, SCRAP Tri-Cities, sewing, WIP Wednesday

(WIP=work in progress)

Brand new!  Hot off the pr . . . uh, sewing machine!

I just finished this late this afternoon, and I’m feeling all ready for summer now.

I’ve been a little bit grumpy about how gray and wet it’s been here lately, so I pulled out a bunch of my most summer-y fabrics and patterns and pondered what I could make that would remind me of sunny, hot days.

I started with this fabric, a remnant that I picked up at SCRAP a while ago–great colors, nice, crisp feel to it, but only 7/8 of a yard (53″ wide), which isn’t much.  It’s actually a Waverly home decor fabric and “dry clean only” (HA), but it came through the wash fine, wasn’t stiff like most home decor, and Google told me it was 100% cotton.  I’m not at all a plaid sort of person, but I love the fresh look of this print.  It was probably meant to be pillows for a chair on the deck of a beach house in the Hamptons, but, hey, I can do soft and pillowy, no problem.

Here’s the pattern I came up with–dated 2001, but actually still in print.

View B on the far left only requires 7/8 of a yard for 60″ fabric, so that was what I made.

I was worried it was going to be boring, though, with such a simple design, so I used the pocket included in the pattern and bound the neck edge with a bias binding.

Arm holes are finished with some bias tape that I made some time ago and accidentally cut too narrow.

This fabric had a huge selvage on it and I just barely had enough width for the two pattern pieces.  I wound up having to sew one side seam with a little bit bigger seam allowance, just so the selvage wouldn’t show.

Doing French seams doesn’t work well with vents, so I finished the side seams by turning the seam allowances under and stitching.

Sewing this got me thinking about preppy style, which I’ve always liked.  Not the pastels or the polo shirts, but the straight skirts, button-down shirts, and little cardigans.  There’s just something so neat and tidy about that stuff, you know?  It was a socially-acceptable way for girls to dress that wasn’t frilly or fussy (in other words, I could get away with wearing it while still living with my mother, even though it edges a bit closer to androgyny). It occurs to me that if clothing is a language, we sewing people can use our hobby to explore the facets of what we’re trying to communicate, why, and to whom.  Like lots of things, a simple little tank top can be the start of an interesting meditation.  🙂

This was a quick and easy project–not the 2 hours promised, but are they ever?–and a nice basic pattern to have around.  It’s sized for wovens, but I might try this in a knit just to see how it works.  I spent the winter replacing my oldest fleece tops, but I could stand to do the same with my tee shirts.

I hope you’re seeing signs of spring where you are and having lots of sunny summer dreams.  Here’s some sweet summer music for you to listen to.  (I really like this band–try this and this, too!)

STH

Buttered Scones for Tea

Tags

Butterick 5948, cooking, recipe, sewing

Happy Monday, everybody.  I hope a good weekend was had by all and that those who celebrate Thanksgiving had a fun, low-stress day.

My partner and I had our Thanksgiving meal at a local hotel buffet, as we’ve done for the past few years, and this time we were joined by my mother and sister.  Nice food and conversation and all the beef and gravy that my carnivorous roomie could eat.  He and I took a walk along the Columbia River afterward, then headed home for mulled wine and a nap.  Not a bad day.

On Saturday morning, we headed south toward Portland.  The plan was to meet up with some cycling friends in the afternoon, partner and friends would go off for an evening bike ride, then we’d all get back together for brunch on Sunday morning.  Our van had a different plan for the weekend.  We made it about halfway, then turned around and came home, as we weren’t sure the van would survive the whole trip.  Major bummer, but at least it meant that we didn’t have to share the scones I had made for the brunch.

Those are cheddar and chive on the right, cranberry on the left.  I used half all-purpose unbleached flour and half white whole wheat flour to make them, and I added the zest of an orange to the cranberry ones, but other than that I stuck to the recipes.  The dough for the sweet scones was awfully soft, and I didn’t add the extra flour suggested in the recipe, so they spread out a little in the oven.  Both scone versions were great, though, and we really enjoyed them with our own little Sunday brunch at home.

On the sewing front, I’m close to finishing up the pattern testing project.  The fit needs a little tinkering first, though.  (I have a post slow-cooking in my head that has to do with fit issues and my own apparently-very-unique ones.)  Here’s a preview:

I actually had to break down and purchase fabric for this, which offended my cheapskate and stash-busting sensibilities NO END, but the fabric was on sale at Joann’s and I had a coupon, so that’s okay, I guess?  That’s my story, anyway.

I also took a break from that project last week to whip up a long-sleeved tee-shirt using Butterick 5948 and the red knit fabric I got through Freecycle.

Here it is with a jacket I picked up several years ago from a Coldwater Creek outlet store (still grieving the loss of that store–sigh).

After all the complicated projects I’ve been working on lately, I was dying to make something that was actually QUICK AND EASY.  You know, something that I actually had enough fabric for.  So that’s what this was.  I cut it too big, but it was easily trimmed down later.  I kept it big enough and long enough that I can either wear it as a tunic or tucked into bottoms for layering.

The neckline is a bit wonky–one of these days I need to buckle down and actually learn some things about sewing knits–but it’s soft and cuddly, and it was actually quick and easy, so I’m happy with it.

STH