Upon Seeing Her Dollhouse

Grace and Brother (Aaron)

OKAY, OKAY!

On December 1st my sister Catherine posted a comment on my blog that simply said, "POST TO YOUR BLOG!" Actually I think that is screaming. So here I go trying to catch up on the past 2 months but don't worry I won't try to fill in every detail-- I've forgotten.

THE JACKET is still not finished but oh so close. I have to sew on 3 pockets and fix one sleeve. Belive me when it is finished I will post it! It has been a labor intensive project - I quit counting at 120 hours- but worth the time and engery I have invested. I will make another one someday, not because I need another one, but being the perfectionist that I am, I want to do the work again and improve on the finished product.

November 14th Grace spent the night while Jim was deer hunting. We went to the mall then came home and made chocolate pancakes and painted pictures for Santa and Mrs Claus. And we decorated the "All About Me Princess Tree. The next day she went with me to our RV Club Christmas party and guess who was there! Santa and Mrs. Claus! She was so excited, she said, "I've never met Mrs. Claus before!"

Thanksgiving was spent with the Arkansas family at Phyllis and Randall's. We stayed for two nights and had a great visit with all. When we got home it was full speed ahead for Christmas. Even though we have intentionally downsized Christmas activities it was a very busy season. The difference is we are really focusing on the special things and really close friends and family. More about the holidays later.

The year is almost over and of course that means it is a time of reflection as well as a time to look forward. I am reviewing the goals I set for this year and trying to evaluate myself. And I'm thinking about the things I want to acomplish in '09. I am interested in what you consider to be important. Let me hear your feedback.

Days 4, 5, 6 and Beyond!

We were now ready to sew the main seams of the jacket by stitching on the basting threads. These large rectangular chunks of fabric looked nothing like a jacket and I could not imagine how a good fit could ever be established with 4 inches of excess fabric in every seam. But leave it to Susan and it was done. After the fitting we began the very tedious job of trimming the excess seam allowances and folding and pressing the lining seam allowances. All the lining seams are done by hand with a fell stitch And then came the sleeves. Oh my gosh, the sleeves. Set by hand and beautiful but definitely labor intensive.

At this point the class was over but the jacket not yet finished. Once at home I decided my sleeves were too tight so I took them out and remade them --twice. As soon as my trim comes I will apply them, yes them, I am using three different trims. (And yes of course they are applied by hand.) Then all I have to do is make 4pockets, sew on 10 buttons and sew in the chain at the hem and I'm done! Yes done,
D O N E! I now have 100 hours of time invested in this project. Should this jacket be the death of me I will wear it finished or not as I lie in my casket.

DAY 3, I THINK

The next step as shown in this picture was to lay the fashion fabric right side up on lining fabric, pin and then cut large chunks around the shape of the jacket pieces. And then the fun started, we stitched the lining to the fabric by stitching lines one inch apart from top to bottom of each piece. Long thread tails were left on the top and bottom of each stitching line and later they would be pulled between the layers and tied.

DAY 2

On our scond day we pinned the muslin pattern to the fashion fabric and cut but not in the usual way. Remember the seam allowances have all been trimmed away from the muslin so we cut around the pattern leaving at least two inches of fabric on every side. This basically ended up being large rectangle of fabric with the muslin pinned on the right side. The next step was to hand baste using contrasting thread all around each pattern piece. This resulted in a basting thread marking all stiching lines on each piece. No piece was recognizable shape. This is thw amazing part-- this took 9 hours and then some. I had to take 3 pieces back to the hotel and finish basting.

FRENCH JACKET DAY 1

I arrived in St Louis Monday morning about 10 am. Our first task was to have Susan check the fit of our muslins which would later become the pattern. I knew I had a slight problem in the back thanks to the previous picture. This was corrected by adding a center back seam. This was the perfect adjustment for my curvy backside and I will use this trick again. Some jackets had center back seams others did not depending on curve or flatness of the back. Susan also thought I needed more shaping to the jacket and really nipped in the waist and made the armsyce smaller and higher for tighter fit in the sleeve. This proved to be a problem and when I got home I ended up taking my sleeves out because they were too tight! There were a few other slight ajustments that ended up making a big difference in the overall fit. It was easy to tell that Susan has done this many times and had a very good eye for all details of the fit. We then marked all the adjustments on the muslin with tracing paper and cut the 1" seam allowances off the muslin. The muslin pattern pieces looked so small now and it was strange to see a pattern piece without a seam allowance. Couture relies on stitching lines instead of cutting lines and I loved this way of doing it. It was much more accurate and of course more labor intensive but worth every minute spent.