Disaster in the Making

I am so mad at myself for not going the extra mile!

This is the same Burda jacket I made last year, a great pattern if you have very little fabric to work with (in this case, 84cm plus some odd bits Suzanne gave me), it fits me great and I wore mine a lot last year. I blockfused like in Sherry's RTW sew-along, I had already done all the pattern making stuff and as you know by now, I am lazy, so I am still trimming allowances, but next time, believe you me, I will not!

I was out of fusible interfacing.
Sadly, 2 fabric stores closed up near where I live just last month, so, instead of driving the extra 30 kilometers to get to the good stuff, I went the haberdasher that has a small selection right near my house and bought the lightest stuff she had and I have regretted it ever since.

I don't think it'll ever fall right, it's really stiff.

Anybody knows if this can be fixed or at least made better? Would a wash do it? Lots of steam? Hammering? Tenderizing? Cooking? Freezing? Nuking?

Oh! And speaking of another questionable decision, lets look for a minute at my very wise lining choice which is showing through. I wonder how this'll work out...

Le Désastre Annoncé

Ah! Comme je m'en veux de ne pas avoir été plus loin!
Je me refait un Burda comme l'année dernière. Je l'aime bien parce qu'il nécessite très peu de tissu, dans ce cas, 84cm et quelques retailles que Suzanne m'a donné et il me va bien, je l'ai beaucoup porté.
J'ai posé l'entoilage comme Sherry le préconise dans son RTW sew-along (un must en anglais dans le texte!) mais, vous le savez bien je suis paresseuse, je n'ai pas retravaillé le patron comme indiqué vu que je l'avais déjà fait alors je coupe toujours des marges de couture. Mais on ne m'y reprendra plus la prochaine fois, c'est exactement la méthode que j'utiliserai.

Je n'avais pas assez d'entoilage thermocollant et maintenant que les 2 magasins de tissus près de chez moi sont fermés, il faut faire 30 km de plus pour trouver celui que j'aime alors, je suis allée à la mercerie toute proche, elle en a un peu, je lui ai pris ce qu'elle avait de plus léger et je le regrette amèrement depuis.
Ce veston sera toujours un peu raide et ne tombera jamais bien.
Quelqu'un connait le remède? Un lavage? Beaucoup de vapeur? Un martèlement constant? La congélation? Une bombe nucléaire?

Puis dans le genre décisions hasardeuses, j'aimerais porter votre attention sur mon choix judicieux de doublure! Ça se voit bien non?

Le Prêt / The Loan

Je déplace les meubles pour faire de la place dans ma maison sweatshop.

Mon copain, Olivier, veut bien me prêter sa machine industrielle pour un temps indéfini parce qu'il va mettre à sa place une machine plus puissante. Je suis allée l'essayer hier et je suis revenue toute énervée par la possibilité de faire des choses que je ne peux pas faire avec ma Singer : du cuir? des jeans? Elle n'a pas bronché. Une multitude d'épaisseurs? pas de problème. 

Je vais de ce pas me pencher sur un nouveau modèle de sac, tout de suite. Au travail!

/

I'm moving some furniture to make some space in my sweatshop house.

My friend, Olivier, is lending me this for an indefinite amount of time because he needs a sturdier machine. I tried it yesterday and I got in a right old state of agitation as I was thinking about projects that I couldn't previously do with my Singer : leather? jeans? She did not bat an eye. Thick layers? No bother.

I'll go think up a new bag, right now. To work!

Pauline The Weaver

I would like to introduce you to my Aunt Pauline's hand (I am sorry Pauline for the crummy picture!).

Pauline's hand can sew, knit, crochet, DIY, cook, repairs high voltage transformers, play with her grand-children, take care of my 98 years old grand-mother, she is the local WI secretary but, most of all, Pauline's hand weaves admirably. 

Weaving is so mysterious.

 

When I visited with her she was working on placemats and dish towels on two of her three looms (the third one is at my aunt Jeannine who also weaves) which, she offers to the members of our large family (larger than Céline Dion if you want to know!). Pauline never sells anything, she gives it away!  When she opened her wardrobe, it was brimming with plastic bags full of wonders, hours of fabulous workmanship.

  

Tablecloths, baby blankets, adult blankets, car rugs, placemats, tea towels. In Pauline's house, all the linen is handmade and generously offered. 

She gave me some tablecloth scraps, her scraps are so much more beautiful than mine! I have an idea germinating about what I am going to do with this, but it's for Christmas so sh!

Then she handed me this.

I quickly snapped a picture and then I saw her smile, "wrong side" she said.

She weaved this cloth a few years ago, with the intention of making a suit, which she never made. It's a really thick, dark blue and lilac polyester weave worthy of Chanel. Pauline said : "you have it". Emotional doesn't cover how I felt. 

I have been looking for a worthy project since then.

I would like to make a coat and I have been looking for a pattern I saw years ago. It was a long Chanel-like coat with a zipper in the front, the coat was white on the envelope, but I can't find it. Can I jog your good memory to help me find it? I will take any other suggestion as well.