I have to apologize, it isn't that I haven't been working on anything, but that I just have not been in the mood to photograph everything, put it on, and take more photographs.
We also had some upheaval here in we finally had to say goodbye to my 17-year-old dog, Spaz. After bouts with bladder and kidney stones, incontinence, arthritis, dementia, seizures, and finally a brain tumor, we made the decision that the time had come to say goodbye. It was one of the hardest things I have ever had to do, although I knew it was the right decision for him, it was very had for me to wrap my head around the fact that I had made the decision that he should die. And then scheduled it with the vet. I still have no way to explain how awful that was. He was a great dog, and will be greatly missed.
But, going through that process found me looking for things to do to keep my mind busy, and one of the things I did was make a complete mess of making some hats. In the March, 2013 issue of BurdaStyle, they had a pattern for a newsboy's cap:
I veerrry carefully measured my head, traced off the pattern, and ended up with a hat that was HUGE...seriously, I should have made the kid size for my tiny noggin. How did I mess it up so badly??? Fortunately, my husband has a huge head, so he got a new hat:
The one thing that I didn't really like about the Burda pattern was that there was no snap in it to keep the front of the hat down on the brim, so I added one:
Had I noticed the lack BEFORE I sewed the brim in, I would have added the snap so that it didn't show on the bottom of the brim. Not that Jeremy cares, he didn't want a hat, anyway! He just got it because I messed up the measurements.
Not to be deterred, I decided instead that I would copy a hat that I already had. I made a pattern by putting a piece of newsprint over a piece of foam core, then laid the piece I wanted to copy over the top. Stick pins through the seams of the piece you are copying, into the foam core, then when you pull them out you just "connect the dots" and you have a pattern. Add seam allowances, and there you go. The red hat is the one I purchased, and the green and black hat is the copy I made with my pattern knock off:
Then I thought about it and decided...you know, I never wear green and black. Plus, like the newsboy's cap, it was too big, ner! But I wear a lot of grey. So, I made a grey one instead:
Fortunately, that one fit!
In other sewing news, I am also on a quest for a simple, woven shirt. No collars, no buttons, just a simple t-shirt, but woven and not knit. I have been through about 6 versions so far....and they all suck. But all for different reasons. Soon, I'll have a big post about side seams, armscyes, dropped shoulders, and fabric choices...and all the reasons that woven tees can go wrong. Hopefully, I'll even have a reason that they go RIGHT from time to time. But, that is still a few versions away....
In the meantime...happy sewing!
