Butterick 6251

I had to laugh when I read my last post.

I realize that you probably looked at it and thought "Babs is sleeping under a bridge. Oh god that woman."

Really, no need to worry, this was a legitimate RV camping place, just happens that the spots at one end are under the entrance to a huge overpass. 

When you rv down this time of the winter so many places en route just aren't open so you take what you can get when you need it.

At any rate we have landed in the wonderful McKinney State Park just outside of Austin, Texas, where we have one son. For the next month or so this is what my sewing room looks like. We have a real long extension cord and I can set up the ironing board next to the rv and just plug in the iron to an outside plug.

Perfect arrangement.

I will be setting up there shortly with the Rocketeer, a couple of projects I pre-cut at home, and a can of wasp spray. 

The wasp spray is in case I have another coyote circle the table like I did last year. They really are pretty attractive, smooth moving animals, and I don't mind them looking at me, it's the looking through me to another world part I don't really like.

Apart from the coyote issue this is a lovely place to sew. I am looking forward to it after nearly six days on the road.

The campsite has also provided me with a nice backdrop to a project I finished up while we drove - sort of camping sweater coat thing made up in some really thick cotton sweatshirt type fleece.

Here I am with Daisy who is keep an eye out for things that move in the bush

You know how sometimes you make a project and you think it will be great, and it actually turns out kind of not great?

Well in my estimation for every 10 or those you occasionally pull off a low-expectations-going-in project that you really like a lot.

This sweater coat was one of those.

The pattern I used was Butterick 6251  I got so long ago I don't remember getting it. The main attraction of this pattern for me was the shawl collar. Coming from a cold climate and possessing a scrawny neck I have never met a shawl collar I didn't like.

The reason I like this coat so much is probably the fabric. It has sort of a confetti thing going on, a clear knit on one side and a really, really thick fluffy side on the other:

I am completely crazy about this fabric and would get more in other colours if I could. 

Which reminds me to contact Angry Ballerina Fabrics where I got it - one of a number of cool knit little fabric online stores (often with an interesting ranges of weight in solids) we have in Canada. You know my US readers with the dollar it is, it would make sense to look at some of these sources, mostly run by young momenterpreneurs.  Blackbird is probably the most familiar of these companies, but I have also been really happy with fabric from Fabric Snob, Mint Lily Fabrics, L'oiseau fabrics, and Fabric Crush. 

There are other sources too, but these are just the ones I have ordered from. And of course I am on all the Facebook groups for each vendor which means I am able to sit in my bed in the morning with my coffee and order fabric before I am even up or can change my mind.

Back to this project.

I ended up doing a fair bit of hand sewing on this one, which was fine with me as I had 2,300 miles to kill to get here.

First off I followed the pattern instructions and topstitched on the pockets. In the light of day through the window of the rv it became clear to me that topstitching was not a good idea in such thick and bouncy fabric. That hard line of machine stitches just sort of violated the hand of the fabric and cheapened it a bit, as much as you can cheapen a camping coat made out of sweatshirt fleece.

As a result, and since I had some time on my hands which never ever happens at home, I unpicked the pockets and slipstitched them back on with some reinforcing backstitching done into the seam allowances from the wrong side. This is how they looked after I did that:

I also had a dilemma over closures. 

One of the great mysteries of life as we know it know to me is this current idea that a cardigan for any season but the summer makes sense to be closureless.

I mean really. 

Think about it. 

An open, no button attached cardigan might make sense for wearing in the office in one of those places that always have the AC turned onto super, super high, but for any other time when you put on a cardigan you are doing so because you are cold. 

And to stay warm you would want to button it up.

So why not build the cardigan to be able to do it? Why make an article of clothing that you need to keep you warm with a built in draft down the middle of it?

Since I am on a rant let me continue.

I have recently being looking at Aran sweater cardigan patterns on Ravelry. An amazing number of them look like the one worn by this knitter in the home page today:

What do you notice here? 

First there is a lot of serious knitting gone on. This is no make-it-in-a-weekend project.

Second this person obviously has a sweater on because she is cold. She looks cold to me.

Third the only way she can keep warm in this item, that undoubtedly cost her $200 in yarn and four years to make, is to grab it with two hands and wrap it around her. 

I know this look. 

It is the national costume worn by Canadian woman who dash out with a sweater on over their flannelette nightgowns, and in their boots, to get the car started so it will be warm when they have to drive the kids to school.

The problem of course in using your hands as closures is how would you do anything else? Like what if you have to scrape the ice off the windshield? Or grab that dumb cat and bring it in? Or use your phone to call your husband and have a discussion because he said he would put gas in the car but forgot?

Why not put a few buttons on that cardigan?

Where did this no closure movement come from?

Is there a world shortage of buttons going on that you all forgot to tell me about?

So all this means this coat thing I made has snaps.

After having determined that machine stitched on pockets defiled the integrity of my sweatshirt fleece of course I couldn't make machine buttonholes.

So instead I sewed on some nice big snaps I got a while ago in Botani in NYC. 

 These look pretty sharp IMO but to make them work securely you have to stitch them right through the facing which makes a little right side dimple in the fabric, which you can see better here:

I am OK with that but maybe not everyone would be.

Out of interest my T-shirt is the Favourite Tee by Patterns for Pirates and the pants are Stylearc's Margaret pants. Despite going through considerable angst about making wide leg pants because they are fashionable I really wonder if they suit me. In fact I might be shortening the pairs of wide pantsI have made to 3-4" at least above the ankle. Otherwise I think they swamp me. I think the Margaret's are just about right for my legs.

It will be interesting what else I decide to make while I am here in Texas. I have been so, so busy at home this fall and winter. I really intend on letting myself float a bit while I am here. 

Pretty sure it is time for some of that.

New Year's resolutions and Movie Night pattern review

Well the tree is still up but the dining room table is covered now in things the spouse is considering packing into the RV. 

We will be leaving Nova Scotia in about two weeks. We are heading to Panama Beach Florida and more or less along the Gulf Coast to Texas, where we will cruise around for about a month getting to know the place the youngest son now lives in, and then west to San Francisco to do the same for the son and DIL in California.

It's pretty cold out there so we are packing warmer than usual clothes and of course a couple of months of sewing projects. When we hit the Bay area I am going to be shooting a few videos for the publisher, very homey, on some of the hints I think new sewers need to know. Hope they are braced for that. I have kind of decided to just be myself for that sort of thing and hope that makes sense to someone somewhere.

I am wondering how well I am going to go without sewing friends to talk to for nearly three months. I have even considered getting an American Sewing Guild at large membership so I can drop into a few meetings as we travel to just sit with other sewists.

For those of you who belong to the ASG does this make sense?

Back on topic.

Living in an RV brings out the inner minimalist. I know the concept of traveling this way might seem weird, certainly not something I thought I would ever do, but I really like it. 

I remember saying on a student trip to Europe years ago that I could travel forever if I could go home every night and sleep in my own bed.

It's like that with the addition of your sewing room traveling with you too. Imagine if every hotel room you ever stayed in had your pattern collection and machine in it.

There actually is a point to this.

I have made one major New Year's resolution, which I actually think I will keep because it is something I want to do anyway.

I am going to try make as many Indie patterns as I can in 2018 and review them.

Here are my reasons for doing this:

1. It will be fun
2. I will learn something new - really important to me as a sewist that I don't get limited or stuck in my familiar techniques. With sewing there is always a new idea and a different way the same thing can be done, we all know that. An example is the pattern I am going to review here.
3. A few of the patterns I have tried could do with some alternative instructions or maybe a construction technique alternative- if I see an opportunity to add information that might be helpful to the next person sewing this pattern I will do that.
4. I enjoy the stimulation of the sewing community that follows some of these pattern designers, nearly all have FB groups, and seeing their makes. This is good for my own creativity and when you are inspired, in my experience, you just should sew something.

And finally, this is too big an idea to be in a list, I want to explore new pattern designers. The ability to produce and sell .pdf patterns has revolutionized the access of design talent to the sewing community. 

I truly believe that there is a lot of talent out there and I want to meet it. I don't believe at all that the potential to create a great pattern or design can only happen on 5th Avenue. Many good ideas start on a kitchen table, late at night, or while someone naps. If anyone understands that I do.

And to quote Joseph Howe, a father of Confederation and fellow Nova Scotian,  you don't need a big field to grow a big turnip.

As an aside, just so you know,  I will pattern test if asked but I buying all patterns I am reviewing. You need to know I am being as objective as I can.

Now onto the Movie Night Pajamas.

This pattern is a free one from Sew a little seam if you join their FB page which will give you the freebie code. Note there is also an adult woman's version of this pattern available too. I am going to get that cut out soon to take with me to sew in the rv because I am anticipating some chilly nights on wheels this next month at least.

I threw together this pattern on December 24th for Mr. Billy who was yakking away about Batman jammies. I got the fabric from Fabric Crush, a Canadian online seller I highly recommend, just in time.

Of course I had already made Billy traditional flannel Christmas jammies but like all children, and most adults if they would admit it, how they felt was as important to him as the print was to me and to his mother.

He told us he didn't like the way the wide legs flapped around his feet. He is an action guy after all.

So I went searching and found the Movie Nights.

They were a particularly fast sew, which is handy when you are whipping something up the day before Christmas, with bands at both the cuff and ankles as well as the neck.

The only hem is on the top and I serged the edge and top stitched it down with a three step zig zag which, because the steps eliminate the long floating threads of the plain zig zag, and I have found to be the most durable for children's clothes - more so than my cover hem for instance.

The intriguing thing about this pattern (not illustrated because my model wouldn't stay still) is the option to replace the traditional elastic waist with a "yoga band" essentially a big wide band of Cotton lycra knit. This is a brilliant idea and one I am going to use more often.

The yoga band is of course super easy to apply, faster than the elastic, and more accommodating when you are trying to figure out what length to cut the elastic for someone you can't test on.

Billy finds it about 1000% more comfortable than an elastic waist too and it also does the job of holding up the jammies just as well.  

Where else can I use this idea?

Finally my model, Christmas morning:

Now off to cut out projects for the trip.