The Quiz / Le Quiz

I got a new pattern which will likely be made up next summer and the technical drawing is so much fun that I had to share right away. Do you know what it is?

J'ai un nouveau patron auquel je vais probablement m'attaquer l'été prochain, mais le dessin technique est tellement le fun que je me suis dit qu'il fallait le partager. Est-ce que vous savez ce que c'est? 

Les Mille / The Thousand

Est-ce que vous vous rappelez du projet de recyclage de voile en Cuben Fiber? J'en ai parlé ici, ici et ici.

Le résultat était moyen parce que la voile en question, ayant traversé l'Atlantique et fait le tour du monde, se délaminait et ne pouvait être utilisée tous les jours. J'ai donc proposé d'autres solutions, des étiquettes à bagages, des étuis pour passeport et d'autres petits objets.

Les étiquettes à bagages ont été retenues et jusqu'au 15 octobre, je serai occupée à en coudre plus de mille qui seront offertes en cadeau de bienvenue au journalistes couvrant le Vendée Globe.

Je reviens toute suite!

Do you guys remember the Cuben Fiber sail recycling project? Talked about here, here and here. 

It didn't turn out so well as old Cuben Fiber (this sail went across the Atlantic and around the world a couple of times) delaminates and can't be used everyday, so I had to find another way to use it and suggested luggage tags, passport covers and other knick-knacks.

My customer chose the luggage tags so, until October 15, I'll be sewing up over a thousand of them which will be used as a greeting gift to journalists covering the Vendée Globe.

I'll be right back!

La Déchirure / The Rip

I've worn the doily skirt twice. Was it worth making it?

If you add all the time I spent hunting for doilies, bleaching the doilies, crocheting little flowers doilies, assembling the doilies, the time it took to repair, I broke it both times I wore it, and compare it with the total time I spent wearing it, I'd say it's a total waste.

But, it's incredibly popular. 

My Grand-Mother and my crafty aunts loved it at my parents 50th. At Antoine's all white 50th b'day, when I ripped it on a metal chair and all the women felt sorry for me, I was able to say something offhandedly to the song of :"nah! don't worry about it, I'll fix it up, I think I still have a couple of tiny flowers left in a tin someplace". Some jaws dropped, compliments were made and I was able to conceal my glowing pride by taking another sip of wine.

So yes, once in a while, undertaking a huge time consuming project is worth it. We all need some pride.

J'ai porté la jupe en napperons 2 fois. Est-ce que vous pensez que ça valait la peine de la faire?

Si vous additionnez le temps passé à chasser des napperons, javelliser les napperons, crocheter des mini napperons/fleurs, assembler les napperons et les réparations, je l'ai brisé à chaque fois, et comparez le tout aux quelques heures passées à la porter, je vous dirais que j'ai perdu mon temps.

Mais, cette jupe est extrêmement populaire.

Ma Grand-Mère et mes tantes habiles l'ont adoré au 50ème de mes parents. Au 50ème anniversaire tout en blanc d'Antoine, quand je l'ai déchiré sur une chaise en métal et que toutes les femmes présentes étaient désolées pour moi, j'ai pu dire avec détachement : "bah! c'est pas grave, je vais la réparer, il doit me rester une petite fleur dans une boîte quelque part". Après le petit moment de vide, des compliments furent faits et je pus cacher ma radieuse fierté en buvant une autre petite gorgée.

Alors oui, il est bon parfois d'entreprendre un projet prenant. On a toutes besoin d'un peu de fierté.

The 2nd McCall's 6044

Mr C likes his shirt so much, he asked for a second one.

I suspect he'll ask for many more, so I decided to modify the pattern and use some of Sherry's tutorials, Kathleen's advice on sewing allowances, Pam's trick for flawless flaps and I made a cardboard pressing tool for the pockets. Simply put, I hacked the pattern RTW style for speedier sewing.

I know some of you are dead set against using RTW techniques in home sewing, but I'm not. In fact I'm quite a fan of them as they really work and in this particular case, I aim to make the same shirt every time so, I decided to try it out. 

When you think of it though, it simply is a matter of choosing whether you trim before you sew or trim after you sew, whether it's suitable for your project or how many times you'll sew the item.

When I sew for myself, I usually make one garment, so there is not much incentive in taking all this extra time to trace the new seam allowance and trim the pattern and I like to have a bit of space to fit as I sew but, for a TNT pattern like this one it really makes sense, because you'll entirely remove one time-consuming sewing step. 

This is also a training run for the Galactica shirts, if this works well, I'll use it. 

I'll keep you posted on the progress, 1/4" seam allowances are really out of my comfort zone and it's making me nervous. I can't wait to see what happens.
Should I clock myself?