The shirt(s) are done!

The shirt that I blogged about earlier for Russell is done.

 

He likes it.  But the fun thing was somehow I bought way too much of the shirt fabric and was able to make another shirt.

So he now has two new shirts.  I expect the white one will become a work in the yard or workroom shirt not in the too distant future.  But that is Russell with white.

I wear aprons.

I am that crazy lady in the grocery store who is wearing an apron.  Or maybe not in the just in the grocery store and around town too.

I wear aprons.

I have a tendency to bake and get flour in the middle of my back.  I am not exaggerating, just ask Russell and Danica.  All my aprons are handmade.  My sister made me one for Christmas and the rest I have made myself.  I have tried different patterns but I have decided that I like an Edwardian apron style because it covers me.  If I go out, people think it is a dress most of the time.  I started with a pattern from Sense and Sensibility.  I have changed the pockets, the waist tie, and all the edging.  This weekend I decided to make another.

 

The one negative about this pattern is how much fabric it takes.  Four and a half yards.  It should not surprise me because that is similar to what my frontier dresses take and they cover me in a similar manner.  The waist tie was difficult until I figured out a different way to do it.  Maybe it was just me and the directions but I made it simpler and had to cut out one less pattern piece.

 

Then it is just stitching.  

And it is ready to get dirty.  Russell keeps telling me I need one for every day of the week.  I probably do.  I have printed fabric to make more.  I keep thinking I need to make some plain muslin ones, maybe with an embroidered appliqued patch on the chest.  Then people will really think I am Amish or Mennonite when I am out and about!

All the straw bales are covered

Russell and I have been working on the Teahouse together.  He gets the cob mixed and I help apply it to the walls.  He finally got the scaffolding at a level where I can easily get into the loft to work on the wall.  I still have issues reaching the outside edge but he finishes that bit.

The straw bales are covered.

We are at the point of designing the roof.  We are going to put a reciprocal roof.  We need to even out the top edge a bit and also cover the straw bales just a bit more.  The cob in some places is very thin or stair stepped over the bales.  

There are actually not that many resources on how to build a reciprocal roof but it is one of the strongest roofs out there.  We are coming up with ideas and Russell is very excited.

He also got to work on knives yesterday.

I would say that we had a good day. 

When all I have is ten minutes to sew

Some days, all I have is ten minutes to sew.  That means that a skirt that takes about two hours will take two weeks.  Or  a dress or shirt will be similar.  It is not a bad thing to slow down the growth of the clothes in the drawers and closets, unless we are destroying them faster then I make them.  But when all I have is ten minutes to sew and need to feel like I accomplished something, I make these:

Nine squares.  I know it will take many to make a quilt but I have finished a piece.  I am going to use these on the back of a quilt I have already finished the front on.  One small square at a time.

Speaking about indestructible clothes, one of Russell's linen shirts is disintegrating.  If anyone sees a linen in a Hawaiian print, please let me know.

Work skirt

A couple years ago, I went shopping and tried on about $10,000 worth of clothes.  Nothing fit.  I do not think of myself as that difficult of a body but I must be.  I vowed then that I was going to make everything I wore.  I have actually been very true to that but not a hundred percent.  I do find that I am happier with the clothes that I make versus the clothes that I buy.  

I have been needing/wanting some more skirts to wear to work.  I admit to liking skirts that are to the floor and a full a-line style.  Something you would have seen in the Beatrice Potter movie starring Renee Zwellenger.  I actually started with a Talbots skirt that I really liked the fit on.

 

Then I modified it a bit more.  I needed to slim down the hips or I make myself feel twice as wide.  I then measure to the length of skirt I want and pin the shape I want in the fabric.  This was a wool remnant I found.  The length was enough to make two skirts.  I made the skirt forty inches long so you can see my feet barely.

 

And then the stitching begins.

 

I have actually gone from putting a zipper in to using buttons on the side.  I just prefer them even though I have come to not hate putting zippers in (huzzah to the invisible zipper!).  This skirt has already been worn to work and put into my bicycle bag to come home.  I also have made the same skirt with red buttons.

This style looks lovely with the Essential Jacket I made in pumpkin.  I need to make more of these and over time I will.  They take me about an hour and a half to sew and then I just have the buttons to put on.