First, let me refresh everyone’s memories on the Arctic Sky Fabric, which I had been calling Project 5. It was based on a forecast I did for Handwoven Magazine for the January ’07 issue. It is a twill variation, using whatever was on my shelf, novelties, Harrisville wools from the late 70’s? I had some variegated cottons, and this very pretty bright lime green novelty rayon.
I originally set this warp up on my 8 shaft, 24″ floor loom, not because it needed to be, but when I have sticky wool warps, I find that by spreading them over eight shafts instead of four, I get less skipped sticky warp issues.
I have about 6 yards of 21″ wide fabric, not a huge amount, but enough I think for a short jacket, and I have a beautiful silk Sari from my husband’s gift stash in the perfect teal. And I have this odd little sash/narrow scarf that I felted with a friend, in that fabulous lime green color. I can see using the natural edge of the felt as a narrow accent down the princess seams, almost like piping.
So when last we left off, I was tracing the Burda pattern onto the tracing medium, and then of course, the next step is a muslin. I know this doesn’t look like a muslin, but I use whatever junk is on my shelf, I have this huge hunk of decorator fabric which someone gave me, which in the picture is actually appealing, but trust me, it isn’t. So instead of wasting perfectly good muslin, I made up the jacket in this. The upper collar/facing was left out, you get the general idea without going to all that trouble, and I put the cuff on only one sleeve. The sleeves are too long, I always have to shorten Burda sleeves, an easy fix, and the jacket itself, although cute, and well fitting, is way too short waisted. By about 2 inches (see blue line in photo). The buttons look compressed, and the torso looks squished. The lime green edge of the felt piping would come down the princess seams, or, now that I look at the photo, maybe I could run it down the edge of the collar/front. There will be a welt pocket in the side front, and a belt in the center back.
Once I make these changes, I’m good to start cutting. But I wanted to give you an update on the pattern tracing medium issue. I was waiting for a sample or bolt, which ever got to me first, from Pellon, showing me the version of Red Dot Tracer they picked up from HTCW. Their Tru-Grid product, which was their original pattern tracing medium, is very soft like cloth, and though I like the grid, and the re-engineered product that is now stable in all directions, the pencil marks that I make that copy the pattern onto the medium tend to rub off on your hands, and slowly disappear. Not good for long term patterns. I really miss Red Dot Tracer, which was more paper like, though it was a polyester composite cloth, and it really held the color, and the marks. You couldn’t get them off if you wanted to.
Well, today I got a bolt of the new Red Dot Tracer from Pellon, and oddly enough, and sadly enough, it is the same product as their Tru-Grid, except it has a 1″ grid of red dots instead of blue squares. Bummer. I’m not sure why they need both. And I’m really sad that I can’t get the HTCW version of Red Dot. All of my master patterns I use for teaching are made from Red Dot from HTCW, and they hold the color and the marks for years. I don’t see that happening with Tru-Grid/Red Dot from Pellon.
In the total scheme of things, what with everything that’s happening in the world, this is really a minor thing. It is just frustrating because the things I use for garment making seem to disappear since most of the sewing world is ruled by the quilters. My complete admiration for the quilters of the world, for they have single-handedly kept the sewing industry alive, but us garment makers have to struggle to make do with what the manufacturers provide. There aren’t enough of us to have a voice.
We are going to the movies tonight, free at any Claridge Cinema on Tuesday nights with the Optimum Rewards Card. That’s a perk from my cable company that also provides my phone and internet service. Free movies once in awhile is a nice perk.
When I sat down to make the lime green tassel, from a skein of embroidery floss, a number of the members asked how I was doing it, you know when you know something, and have always known something and you find out that not everyone knows it, and of course you are happy to share the knowledge. That’s what we do. Back in the late 1970’s, when I graduated from college with a pretty worthless Bachelor’s in Fine Arts, I went to work teaching crafts at a mall chain store called the Craft Showcase. I taught macrame owl plant hangers, calligraphy, stained glass making, needlework, and anything else they needed teaching. Macrame was big. And plant hangers were even bigger. And all of the plant hangers had a giant tassel at the bottom. We chatted at the meeting about those big tassels, which is where I learned to wrap the head of a tassel.
I’m using a Burda pattern, since I subscribe to the 
So I take my bolt of Pellon’s Tru-Grid, cut off a chunk, and lay it out on the “RED LINES” on the G Sheet. It is important to note that there are no seam allowances or hem allowances on the pattern pieces, so I trace the lines with my colored pencil, using dotted lines, making sure all the pieces are at least 1 1/4″ away from each other to allow for the allowances. I add the seam allowances later. I copy all the marks and reference lines, checking the little direction sheet to make sure they are all accounted for.