Pants, Shirts and a Tin Ceiling

My husband has been asking me for another pair of wool pants for a couple of months. So last September when Pendleton Wool was having their annual sale I picked up some nice grey wool to make a pair of winter pants for my husband. I used Vogue 8719 again as I have come to perfect this pattern for him over the last couple of years. Each time the pattern gets easier and easier. 

Again he wanted welt pockets in back instead of the patch pockets that are on the pattern. I'm getting a little batter as the welt pockets, the last couple of times I had cut the hole too large and had to do some funky repair so they didn't get any larger. That included adding some interfacing the the sides to bond the fabric back together. This time I really took my time and paid attention to how far I was cutting and where I was cutting. I also used a light weight material for the pockets which I think helped make the pockets lay flatter and not bunch up like the cotton material did on the last pair of pants. 

After the pants I was able to get the Hawaii Shirt made. I cut this pattern out back in June and it sat on my sewing table for several months. I was able to get the shirt done on one afternoon. It's an easy pattern, Butterick 6015 from about 1980. I have made this shirt several times before for my husband and he really likes this pattern as it's slightly snug but not tight, it has 2 breast pockets and small slits on the sides. He picked out some nice ivory buttons and now he is wearing the shirt with his new pants. If you don't remember this is the fabric that we bought back in January of 2017 in Hawaii. I let my husband pick out material for a shirt or pants when we travel. That way I get to shop for fabric while we are on vacation and it makes the piece of clothing a little more special because it reminds us  of our vacation. 

Last month we celebrated our 10th wedding anniversary. Since Tin was the traditional gift for 10 years I bought a tin ceiling for my husband. The funny thing is we have been looking at 3 different patterns for about 3 years, we just could not come to an agreement on which one we wanted. I wasted a softer more organic look, husband wanted a more square art deco type of pattern. We put up 3 different tiles and had all of our friends tell us which one they liked. It was always a toss up on who got the most votes. So when I saw that Tin was the gift for our 10th anniversary I decided to give in and buy the tin tile that my husband wanted. The good thing about this ceiling is now I will get a hood for my stove. Which has to go in before we complete the kitchen. SO...now my husband has a project to complete this winter and that means I will have more time to sew.

A friend gave me an old shirt that he was going to toss out. I cut up the shirt using a Jallie pattern 2805 making it a more feminine shirt. Once I made it over I realized how grungy the white material had become...so I dyed it. I did a string wrap of the shirt and set it in some dark blue dye for 24 hours. It came out a little darker than I wanted but it's still a cool shirt & really comfortable. 

A friend recently asked me if I could do a small upholstery job for him. He had an old Telephone Table that the seat had ripped and the stuffing was coming out. With a lot of these older vinyl chairs the vinyl gets dry and brittle, I for one have cut my legs on older vinyl chairs where the material has become ripped and is sharp. I had a head liner from a 82 Volvo that a friend gave me, I had made a couple of bags with that material and it looked perfect for the seat of the table. I took it over and left it on is porch. He called me later as he was happy to see the seat repaired and thought it looked great. 

And last but not least...I want to say Thank You to my mother..who would have been 81 yesterday. She sent me to sewing lessons when I was about 12 years old. She encouraged me to sew as she came from a family of women that sewed. My great Grandmother made quilts and my grandmother made clothes for her and my mother. My mother in turn made clothes for my sister's and myself. When I turned 18 my parents gave me a sewing machine. I used the Montgomery Wards sewing machine till about 6 years ago when I finally bought a new more up-to-date machine. I still have the Montgomery Wards machine to this day. I miss my mother and every day think of things I did not get to ask her, she was a wealth of knowledge when it came to sewing and gardening. 

Another pair of pants for my husband, a new car and kids playing dress up

It's been a while since I have written anything, sorry for my absence. I have been busy with some spring cleaning. I need to clean up my sewing area and make a nicer design board for laying out my quilts. In the mean time I made a pair of linen pants for my husband. He really liked the last pair of pants and wanted something nicer. So I went on-line late one night and bought some linen from fabric.com. I try not to buy fabric on line but fabric.com also had some of the Violet Craft Waterfront Park fabric in stock, specifically the bridges in yellow. So $150 later I had ordered the Violet Craft fabric a couple of nice 100% Linen fabrics and a few yards of knit fabric. I had to go buy a pants and I was off. I cut out the pattern and installed the zipper...I'm very happy with my zipper installation. Front zippers are not easy and it takes me about an hour to put in the zipper. After a few more pairs of pants for my husband I think I will get it down. The pattern is Vogue 8719, same as the last pair I made for my husband. He wanted cuffs and back pockets. I was going to put in patch pocket but he wanted welt pockets and I have never installed welt pockets...so all he got was the cuffs on this pair of pants. When putting in the waistband I tried to make it so I could enlarge the pants in the waist band, you know when you see mens pants that all you have to do is let out the back waist band and voila..larger or smaller pants. Well in the process of trying to line up the back waistband I didn't pay enough attention to the front and I was off by about 1/4" on the front waistband. It's a good thing no one will be looking that close at my husbands fly. He loves the pants and wore them for a week before he would let me wash them. I was having some problems with my serger so not all the seams were serged. When I washed the pants I had to cut off the unraveled threads on the inside. I did zigzag the inside seams so that helped, but next time I make something out of linen I will be serging all the edges of the fabric before I start to sew the pattern together. It makes for a much nicer interior. 

We bought a new car...a 1978 Cadillac Fleetwood with red interior. It has an 8 track player and came with some country tapes. The car is HUGE. It's a gas hog but we really don't go very far, mostly to the store or the bar. We still have the little Santa Fe for long trips if we need it. My husband really wanted a new Cadillac, he had been looking on line for a couple of months. When he came across the 78 he was very excited. We drove up to Battleground to look at it, a very nice older gentleman was selling it for $2500, we got it for $2000. It needed all new tires (that is $500 alone). So there it is...our HUGE 70's car...we can fit 8 people in the car and a couple in the trunk. 

The other night was our friend Jessie's birthday. All the kids came running over to play in the yard and then got excited to play in the basement. They got into the dress up clothes and came out in several outfits. The last set of clothes they had found the strange box of masks, gloves and hats. They all had a great time and even cleaned up the mess. I think we are the strange old couple that lives down the street and these kids will remember these type of evenings for a long time. 

I MADE PANTS!!!!

I bought a men's pant pattern when Josephine's Dry Goods was closing in Downtown Portland. When I bought the pattern I looked at the size it said 34-36-38-40...I thought that meant waist. No it did not. When I finally pulled out the pattern the waist size only went to 34". My husband said he was a 36. So I took an on-line Craftsy class on how to enlarge and reduce ready made patterns, it was called Create Any Size: Grading for Sewers. I found this to be very helpful. I had asked my husband over and over about his waist size and he kept repeating that he was a 36...that's what his Levi's said & they fit!! So I enlarged the pattern to a 36" waist. Well guess what...they were too small. I had completed the body of the pants and put on the waist band, had my husband try them on and he immediately stated they were too small. I said they were a 36", I said that I needed to measure his waist...my measurement came to 42". He then asked me if I was saying he's fat...what? NO...I'm saying you're not a 36". An argument occurred and he stated again that the Levi's were a 36". So when he left the house I measured the Levi's that he claimed fit him...the tag did say 36...but in fact the waist measurement was 39"!!! So I removed the waist band and the darts in the back of the pants. I did not want to give up on these pants because it was only the second time I have put in a front zipper and I was quite proud that it worked and looked decent. I had him try on the pants again, I ended up putting smaller darts in the back of the pants & I made a new waist band that was 40".  Today I had him try on the pants with the new waist band and he loved the fit. They are snug but not tight. He can wear the pants with out a belt and they will stay up. The fabric I used was from a couple years ago, I bought 4 bolts of fabric from a woman on craigslist for $60. At that price it's as cheap as muslin fabric. I don't like to make simple muslins...I like to make wearable muslins. These pants are quite loud and they are a nice medium weight cotton. Now that I understand the pattern, I can make him a pair of Jeans or some nice wool pants. The pattern is Vogue 8719, and it's a fairly simple pattern. This project took me about 10 hours total, the next pair should only take about 5 hours to make. Or maybe I will make a pair of pants for me!! 

As a reward for completing the pants I made a couple more triangle bags. These are heading to a friend that requested one...and today is her birthday. Some cute Melody Miller fabric with a crushed penny from Portland.... Happy Birthday!! 

We finally repaired out front stairs!!! I do not have a before photo but believe me they were awful, moss had grown in the cracks and the treads were rotting out. We painted the stairs several years ago in an effort to make them last and it worked. But now it was time to really fix the stairs, mostly I wanted a clean look when you came up the front stairs. I mean it's the first thing people see when they approach your house..so make a good first impression. Rotting stairs are not a good first impression. 

Yea!!! I saw my tote bags in the store again. This time it's the illustration my niece did for me of a hedgehog wearing glasses reading a book. They started selling over the spring break and they ordered 25 more hedgehogs.  I was delivering 125 bags of the skeleton carrying books, that bag is doing great.