Epiphany

Pin It I've had a major breakthrough in my sewing. I discovered.... are you ready for this?.... that you have to follow ALL the directions on a pattern. Shocking isn't it? Who would have thunk it? I guess those professionals at the pattern companies actually know what they are doing. I spent about 2 hours sewing today and an equal hour or two un-sewing. Sigh. I really need to start following every single step in the directions before I move on to the next.

Latest projects

Pin It I have been sewing a lot of aprons lately. I teach adults how to build large commercial airplanes. I teach them how to seal fuel cells (wings and stub) and body/corrosion protection seal. The seal is a dark grey color and impossible to get out of clothing. So, to protect my clothes and so I have pockets to put my phone and other items in, I wear an apron.  Here are my first few aprons.

First apron, black and charcoal grey swirl design

McCalls 2947 view H, but the pocket is sewn flat with three compartments.

Second Apron and my favorite.  For some reason animal prints just make me happy. So does the color yellow :-).  Same pattern as before.  McCalls 2947, View H. Pocket sewn flat with 3 compartments.

Cobblers Apron. Red with little black airplanes. I like the fabric but I'm not liking the apron. The apron is a little too frumpy. The neck is too high and has a weird fold. I like the pockets and the fabric, I think I'll have get more fabric and make it from the McCalls pattern. This apron is Simplicity 4282, View C.

I have the next 11 days off work. Yay!! My plan is to tidy up my sewing room / shop (maybe, if I don't get lazy) and sew, sew, sew. I was digging through some of my fabric stash and found a lot that I can use over the holiday to make a couple of things.

My embarrassingly messy shop. Back right side is my Singer 401A. I actually have two of these machines. One for home and one for sewing classes. Best machine EVER.



Out of terrible, something wonderful

Pin It I just had a pretty crappy day at work. I teach "adults" (in quotations because some are legally adults, but.... well, you know) how to build commercial airplanes. I won't mention the company I work for, but, lets just say it is a large airplane manufacturing company in the Pacific Northwest. So, I am stuck with a particular student who has been frustrating the heck out of every instructor we have. He moves around like molasses on a cold day. He wanders off and won't stay on task. He does all his work at the absolute minimum (or less) level. I had to fail his project today because he took too long on it and the material he was working with has a specific application time. Just irritating because I don't like to see people fail.

I was so frustrated from work, I HAD to go to the fabric store on the way to pick up my son at his sisters house. Good thing I had two patterns with me in the car. Hmmmm. Coincidence? Maybe. So here is what I got.

Both are a knit material which I have not worked with in years. It should be interesting (hopefully, without colorful language).