Into the Eye of the Storm

This week I returned from Residential School and was greeted by a fierce storm.  Power went out about 0200 on Monday night.    I awoke on Tuesday to the fury of very fierce winds and rain.  Our intrepid receptionist had gone to work as her power was out and she knew the hospital where the rooms are situated would have emergency generator power - she wanted her coffee!  That was wonderful, because she cancelled all the patients.  I asked her to go home early while it was still daylight. Luckily I have a gas cook top, so I could cook and boil water.

Then  I noticed the drip and hastily put a container under it:

The drip seemed quite large:

 So, as DH was at home, all patients cancelled, we went into the roof space to see what the problem was:

As you can see from the light, two slate tiles have come out.

We put a large container under the hole.  Later that night we bucketed it out - no fun for DH who had to bend double in that part of the rood.  I had to stand on the roof ladder and take the bucket and empty it, and then hand it back.

There was also a small leak over my cutting table:

I was sure that things would settle down the next day. DH had to go and see some hospital patients, even though the roads were awful.  To take my mind off things (and to distract myself from worrying about John) I decided to cut out a garment by torchlight:

  I felt sure the power would go on that night, because it had been out for so long by then.   I wanted to start sewing it after study the next 

The next day the power was still off.   I thought it had to go on in a few hours, but no.  It was still raining, so we needed to drain the tub sitting in the roof space.  DH had a stroke of genius and syphoned the water out of the tub - an awful job, as he crawled on the roof timbers, and as you would know, close to the eaves, there is no room to even kneel.  He poked the tube through the eaves:

And drained the tub.  Amazing what a Consultant Physician can do - I said you put in a chest drain.  He said  yes, an underwater seal drain ( I remember making them years ago).   The idea was that we could syphon the water out if need be, because we had not yet had a tarpaulin placed on the roof.  We had reported the damage to the insurance company, but it was going to be a couple of days before the tarpaulin arrived.

Which it did (after me reminding the insurance company that there would be more damage as we could not keep going into the roof space twenty four hours a day to drain water), the tarpaulin arrived on Friday morning:

So now we have a bright blue cover on the roof!  

Apparently we had a Category 2 Cyclone (not the Tropical sort).  So no wonder we were a bit blown around.

In the park opposite my house.

Unfortunately, this has interfered with study plans - I could not do any this week, and there will be a lot of work in dealing with insurance and so on next week and for some time after - plus the repairs - plus the added stress.  So I will withdraw from one subject - it is important to do this, because I need to keep my GPA up.  The University sent out emails last night saying they would support these decisions, which is good to know. 

I am just grateful that we are fine here in Newcastle- towns inland in Hunter Valley fared badly with floods and houses washed away, and I think 7 deaths.  I feel for them.

*****

After the tarpaulin went on, I decided a little stress stashing was in order.  Spotlight is selling Vogue patterns for $10.00 at the moment - normally about $28.00 here, so I added to the collection:

So, that was the week that was - hopefully we won't have a repeat next week and I can get on with some sewing.

Hoping you all had better sewing weeks :)

Sarah Liz

Vogue 8793. A Trial Run T-Shirt.

Somehow this week I managed to put together this little t-shirt top thing-ey.  I had a piece of very, very, very stretchy knit that I was not sure what to do with. And I wanted to see what this top made up like. I like it and think it can have many uses.  But first I wanted to trial it before getting to excited about it :)

The pattern I used is Vogue8793, a Katherine Tilton design.

As you can see, it is quite loose around the middle in the top photographs.  When I looked at the pattern shapes this was confirmed. I cut size S,  but reduced the tummy area by 3 cms on both  front and back pieces, especially as I was using a very stretch knit.  I also did not want zips in the collars, or a double collar, so I settled on just the main collar, which is cut on grain.  This means it doesn't stretch much, so stabilizing the rather large neck hole. I also decided to use a piece of leftover stable knit as one of the layers of the collar as the knit I was using was very stretchy in both directions and therefor not stabilize the neckline.

And when I say the knit was stretch, I  mean stretchy:

Across the stretch (width) un-stretched

Across the stretch (width)  stretched

Down the length, the grain, un-stretched

Down the length, the grain, stretched.

This was nice to sew but I knew it would be dreadful to hem.  Which it was.  I sampled a variety of hems - plain with no fusible interfacing.  Another tape which just distorted the hem too much.  In the end I settled for a glue type - iron on, peel off the paper, fold fabric over type. Supposedly light weight and suitable for chiffon.   Called Heat'n Bond, Lite - I got it from Spotlight.

I don't think I would use it with chiffon - it added a lot of weight and thickness to the hem of my garment:

And it ripples.  I think with ironing the tape on, some of the rib was flattened.  Anyway, I decided to live with the end result.

The cuffs of the sleeves were made in the stable knit - I trialed the main fabric, but it just did not co-operate and stretched all through the seam - it was more distorted and rippled than the hem!

The neckline I like:

Here you can see the two layers - the contrast inner layer was the stable knit.  I also top-stitched the seam line around the neck.  The layers show anyway, so I thought I would make a feature of them.   I also made a slight mess of the overlocking at the back of the neck, so I covered that with a lace strip.

Now for the main frieze of photos, the usual front, side and back:

I'm coming to terms with the rippled hem, sort of peplum-ey.

Just as well hi-low hems are in!

Small back wrinkles.

I have not yet altered knits for my shape.  I need to lengthen the front and shorten the back above the waist.  I have only recently seen this alteration described in an old McCall's sewing book I saw in a second hand shop.  It was the alteration for the ideal figure, which I have never considered I have! 

I also wouldn't have attempted alterations and a good fit with this knit.

But look at the picture of the model again:

Loose around the hip line.  Rises up at the front and if you look at the bottom right picture, longer at the back and she is trying to make it look fitted.  Look at her hand placement.

So I have decided to do a model pose:

There, looking better already.  I should have put my hands around my middle and then the t-shirt would look perfect!

Wishing you all the best,

Sarah Liz

P.S.  I am at Residential School this week (flying out later this morning!) so I may not be able to answer your comments or comment so easily on your blogs.

A Shirt in Haste

Somehow this week I have nearly completed two assignments (one to rework, one to just edit and send upline and made this shirt  this week- rather in haste at night, so my technique is not the best.  And my technique is never up to best with knits in any case - I'm still getting the hang of them.

 

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I decided to use a stable knit for this shirt as it had details that are shirt-like, if that makes sense, and knits and I are not friends at the best of time, so I thought it would be a good idea to make this in something that wasn't going to give me too hard a time.

The fabric used is a combed cotton, from Spotlight.  It's warm and cosy.

The first thing I did was to make a muslin:

The shirt was far too long, so I removed 1 and 3/4 inches. The sleeves were too long as well, so I shortened them 1 1/4 inches over two L/S lines on the sleeve pattern piece.

The shoulders were too wide:

So I altered this area of the pattern and removed half an inch.

I didn't like the feel of the yoke across my back, so I joined the yoke piece to the back of the shirt - in short, I removed it.  The shirt was too long, so I removed 1 and 3/4 inches and then thought the curve was both too long and too extreme, so I shortened and reshaped that as well.

Then I cut the shirt.  I thought it would be an easy sew, but the first thing it did was misbehave.  My two front pieces, carefully cut on the grain, and I checked that the knit really was straight, decided to curve in a 30 degree bend.  Lots of pulling and tugging later, and I had them straight.  Then I recut the neck area.  Strangely, it seems to  sit nicely now I have finished it, but at first I thought I had an instant wadder.

The only other alteration I made was to raise the top buttonhole, and to use 5 buttons instead of 4.  It looks better.  I thought I would have a real problem making the buttonholes, but they turned out perfectly - and I didn't even need a stabilizer.  I can't easily show you because the flash washes out any detail on white.

Okay, now the views:

 

You can clearly see my more gently curved shirt tail in the photo above - which is a more classic length, or so I like to think, in any case.  And I can cover it with a longer cardigan.

Okay, so this is my shirt made in haste -far from perfect - but, made in haste, won't go to waste.  I know I will wear this a lot this winter, imperfections and all.

I'll take this opportunity to wish you all a Happy and Blessed Easter.

Take Care, wherever you are,

Sarah Liz