New Life

 Many years ago I made a beautiful brown lace tank top. It was such an indulgence for me, but it just didn't work out for me. At some point I gave it to Lucy, because she had a pair of brown pants. Recently, she actually wore it to work! I was so happy!

She didn't really want to pose and be on the blog, but how could I not?

I now the pictures are a little fuzzy, but she wasn't as excited as she was when she was 8. The most interesting thing I noticed though, is that she had it on inside out! I looked for the shoulder seams, and there were none. I'm not surprised I grafted the shoulders, but it still looked good around the armholes and neckline. She really thought this was the right side.

It looks so good on her! I'm so thrilled she's wearing it, even if it's inside out!

It's March?

 I can't believe it's March. 

I have been knitting--we've had several road trips to the kids' university/colleges, my mom's place, etc. But nothing has gotten finished. 

I had some sort of reaction to a scarf that I made a year (?) ago. It's mainly wool (I think), and I had started using a retinol product, and always made sure to do my neck. I broke out in a rash...weirdly, I had been using the product for a month, and I'd been using the scarf for a couple months, so I don't know what happened. I stopped both, and have now restarted the retinol with no issue. I haven't worn the scarf again. It's a fairly rough wool.

I have been working on brioche mittens to match the hat I made myself, but every time I knit them (in the truck), I get congested. The hat makes my forehead itch. Sigh. I've become very tender in my old age.

Anyway. 

This school year, I was hired as a 0.5 LTO position--mornings only, teaching music from grades 4-8 at the school I accidentally worked full time at last year. In January, I was asked to also work the afternoons, teaching math and science to grade 7/8. The science was no problem, but I can not do math. It was supposed to be a week. They tried to find a teacher to replace another teacher so she could do this job, but there were no applicants. So the teacher that was the afternoon 0.5 LTO (the other half of my position--neither of us could do the whole position), was going to take over, but they had to find someone to take over her English classes. I ended up spending all of January teaching math and science. Often, another teacher would come in to do the math while I covered their class. However, the kids were a challenge to start with, and got worse as the month went on (mainly one class). I had an actual, on the ground, fist fight break out near the end of January. So I said that was it, Jan 31. I'm back to half days, with a few afternoons also supplying. Behaviours have gotten terrible. It's sad. 

Then, just before the long weekend in Feb (like, Feb 15?) I found out the teacher I was replacing, was going to come back early!! WTF?! I had planned the entire year, with projects that build upon what they learned. I was learning digital composition to teach them! The original teacher is more old school--paper and pencil, listening logs to boring songs. She's been on a return to work program, so she's been coming in every other morning for two weeks, but not in the classrooms yet. She'll start that soon, observing, helping with small groups, etc. I told two of the grade 7/8 classes today, and many were almost as upset as me. I was really looking forward to "graduating them" since I've known them for 4 or so years. Other intermediate teachers only know them 2 years; I got to know them earlier because of being a supply teacher. 

I had been thinking of opening a Teachers Pay Teachers store this summer, but I'm going to start early. It sounds like my last day of this position will be March 22. We have a week off after next week. The store will be called Stay Musical. I have started a blog  and can be found on Twitter with the same name as the blog (OntTeacherTracy). On Instagram, I am www.instagram.com/staymusical_ I'm not giving up on this blog, but considering how little I knit, there might not be a lot of posts. It's been an awesome 18 years!

Memorial Blanket

 In 2019, my Dad died, and then less than 5 months later, my brother's dog was (accidentally) killed and then a week later, his wife died. Nancy had PKD--Polycystic Kidney Disease and had been on dialysis for a long time (7 years?) while waiting for a transplant. Shortly after, I found a bag of purple Bernat Softee Chunky (I think. I can't seem to find any of the labels) at my favourite store in my Mom's small town. I wanted to make a blanket to donate to the dialysis unit where Nancy spent so much time. Purple was her favourite colour. 

I started with corner to corner crochet. I found a graph to make a heart in the corner, where I thought I could somehow add her info. However, I had no yarn that worked well with the purple--too smooth, too thin, wrong colour, etc. Then I tried numerous things on the SK155 knitting machine. Nothing was making a blanket that would be big enough to be useful. 

I finally settled on a simple tuck pattern, making three panels. It's still a little narrow. It could be used as a wrap too.

I decided against the Bickford Seam because I worried that it could lose it's shape. I did a mattress stitch, using half a stitch on each edge. It doesn't show too badly on the wrong side (though no side is really the wrong side with tuck).

I gave it a heavy steaming, to flatten the edges and stretch it out some. It relaxed the texture a bit (no pictures), but I think it's still nice.

I have thought about how to add her name or info. I looked into doing heat transfer with my Cricut. I don't have any experience and I don't know how it'd hold up to be in a hospital facility. I thought about embroidery, but then I'd have to sew some sort of patch on because the blanket can't really be embroidered right on to. Probably expensive. And in the end, no one except maybe some nurses would even know who she was. So I'm leaving it purple; that says enough.

I haven't gotten to donate it yet. I'm not sure if they'll take anything right now. It's ready though, when the time is right. Sign your organ donor card and let your family know. Nancy was in her mid-40s, her daughters were in 16 and 21. An organ donation would have changed their lives.

Yarn In:  1400gr

Yarn Out: 600gr + 3764gr = 4364gr

Balance:  2964gr more OUT than in

Cost:  $0, $0/day

Quick and Easy Project

 Way back last summer, a weekly email from Cricut included a link to a tutorial on making a subway tile backsplash. I sent it to my Mom. She's been trying to re-do her backsplash, but wanted something non-permanent, cheap, and easy. This seemed to fit the bill and she was excited to give it a go.  I found some non-permanent vinyl at Happy Crafters in a soft orange. Yes, she wanted orange.  My brother was painting the laundry room so he painted the backsplash to represent the mortar.

I took measurements while we were there dropping off the dog before our cottage trip. I took some time during the vacation to figure out what size a tile should be. The general idea for a subway tile is that it is twice as long as it is high. However, I wanted to minimize cutting and fitting on the wall, and get the most effective use of the 12"x12" sheets. I finally created a size, I'm not sure what it is now but I was able to fit 8 on a sheet with hardly any waste. In the tutorial, she mentions 4 or 5. I bought 30 sheets because I calculated 28.75 sq ft. I was worried if that would be enough. I knew I'd have to trim some, and would those trimmings be usable in other spots? What if I mess some up? I cut them out and didn't get to weeding them right away (which isn't really necessary).

After it had sat for awhile, the vinyl sort of shrunk from the cut lines. When it was fresh, it was hard to see the cut lines, but in the picture above, you can clearly see each tile.

Easy weeding, but it added up to a lot of waste. I do hate that about vinyl crafting.

All done! We were planning a surprise visit during Thanksgiving weekend and I thought maybe I could get it done.

It took a bit to figure out the best way to do it, keep them straight, create the grout spacing. I started over on this end because it's a short wall, with something in front usually LOL

I noticed right away, that the non-permanent vinyl is not opaque. It's a bit translucent and feels thinner. This meant that the defects in the wall she was hoping to cover, showed up. You can see this in the tile above the outlet.

And...this section was all I got done. And then life, surgery, recovery, more COVID restrictions...finally I decided I just needed to go for a day. Which turned into two nights. I had other things (food, vitamins, electrical panel) to deliver that she needed, so I wasn't totally breaking the rules!  

I had started with 1/4" grout line above the wood strip. However, as I went over, I couldn't keep that, and keep the tiles straight. It was frustrating. I didn't want to trim tiles for the bottom row, so I had to fudge and play.

I couldn't get right into the corner behind the TV. The angle that I needed to twist/stand/lay down at was too uncomfortable for my left ankle. 

We were left with a lot of tiles left. Maybe 10 sheets? Not sure. 

So this quick and easy project, took six months to (almost) finish. LOL. She's happy and still determined that she wants an orange backsplash. 

Rob's Turn

After I had sewn a few things for myself, I decided it was Rob's turn. I had picked up this sprocket pattern cotton lycra from a de-stash (I think). It wasn't quite enough for a full shirt though, darn tall guy. With help from one of the teens, I chose a dark brown for the sleeves. This is the Zesty Tee, from the old Pickle Toes Patterns (now with a new name).

The cotton-lycra was fairly stiff at first, but after a few washings, it's quite soft now. Wish I knew where it was from originally

Looks pretty good. He's not sure of the dark sleeves, but whatever. 

Nice to see him in shirts without big holes and stains!

Then, one night, he says "Can you make me a tank top?". I had been thinking about that! I found that Thread Theory has a free one, the Arrowhead.  I picked out some bright yellow, and the periodic table fabric for the trims.

He was trying to do a muscle man  pose

Yes, it's bright!

Pretty good coverage in the back. Then he says, "I wasn't sucking in. Take it again". So I did LOL

The teens don't want to be seen with him in this. LOL. We do make him untuck it. 

I also made him a mossy green one. The problem is, it's too cold in the house to wear them LOL. Now I'll have to make him a cardigan!!

New Dance Outfit

For a long time I've wanted to make Megan skating outfits. She's been resistant. I had an idea of making a basic bodysuit and then various skirts, for the different dances. Now that she's getting towards the end of her dance tests LOL, she agreed.  What really helped was that I got an offer of fabric from https://fabric-online.com/. I thought making her a skating dress would be a great way to show their fabric and make something new.

We went to www.jalie.com and browsed. I liked the long sleeve Tessa  but she actually wanted sleeveless so I felt it better to go with a sleeveless pattern to start with. We settled on the Tank Skating Dress. I opted to get the PDF version since I didn't want to wait for the mail. Well.

I ordered the pattern on January 17. I order the black fabric (Dream Performance Athletic Knit) from Halo Fabric Addicts . Some awesome fabrics there!! This black is thick, squat-proof and feels great. That was ordered on January 3.

I went to Staples on Feb 1 to print. It wouldn't print the right size. I thought maybe I had saved it wrong. Went home, made sure to save it through Adobe. Went back, and it was still wrong. Went to the Facebook Sewing with Jalie page to inquire. Turns out that you can't print Jalie patterns at the self service at Staples. Now what? My printer wasn't working. I googled for copyshops that did A0/drafting prints and found a franchise shop (not UPS). I sent in a request for an estimate through their website. Got an automated response saying they'd send it within 24 hours. I waited a few days and sent an email. Got a response quickly with an estimate. Not bad, I thought, so I went ahead and sent in the files (I had bought two patterns). After a few days I sent an email asking how long it would take. It was ready the next day.  That was Feb 19. When I picked up, they were a little more than the quote had said. They came to $15 and change and the quote said $13. I didn't have it with me, so I just sucked it up.

I had to trace her sizes. Cut that out. I wanted to do a thong since the skirts would have panties attached and I didn't want her to have to worry about conflicting panty lines. The leotard was pretty easy to actually sew, and fit her well.  I did have an issue with the thong and elastic. I forgot that the thong pattern I was using was intended for a tiny band added. I was doing elastic, which gets sewn on, then flipped to the inside and topstitched. If I had done that, the elastic would have ended up over lapping on the  thong part. So I just sewed it down and didn't flip it in. Also makes it a bit smoother if she wears it under leggings.

On to the skirt. Oh my gosh. We went to Fabricland on February 22. We were also looking for her solo dance custome fabric and it was overwhelming. She told me her next dance was "tango-ish", so we were looking at red and black. She liked the idea of red chiffon with a black lay overlap. An assymetrical skirt. And the lace had a nice scalloped edge. Okay.

Well. OMG. The skirt was killing me. My first attempt, the long side just sagged inwards and there wasn't much "fullness". I tried another version, using a flouncy border piece so the scalloped edge was still usable. She didn't really like that either. I was out of the lace.  I have pictures, but for some reason they're not in my Google photos.

Then she played me the music. Ummmm. Not tango-ish at all. Apparently they had been practicing to the "Series 8" option which is the instrumental, old-timey version that Skate Canada offer, and the vocal "Contemporary" song is much different. The first thing that came to mind when I heard it was "1970s Canadian Disco". Turns out it's an American song from the '2000s?! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4H5I6y1Qvz0   I dare you. Go listen/watch.
I texted her coach for suggestions. I thought a bell bottomed pantsuit would be fun but yeah, I knew it wouldn't go over LOL. Next option was a full skirt, and the coach recommended a bright colour. Back to the store we went, March 3. She picked out this nice bright ....magenta? It's not really bright, but it's not dull either.

I found a pattern in my stash from my mother-in-law that was a full skirt. Got all set up, and found out that although the size chart went large enough (up to 18), the pattern in the envelop only went up to size 12. Argh. Thankfully, I didn't have to add much. And in the end, I think I had to take out most of that because she didn't need so much ease.

The skirt pattern calls for a side zipper. I was doing a knit band for the waist, so could I get away with no zipper? Well, no. Not exactly. But how is this going to work with attached panties? Much thinking, and ripping, and I got it done.

Hemming was a nightmare. Well, not the actual stitching, but chiffon! It grows! It does all kinds of weird things! It ended up being way too long and not even!  And Megan kept saying she wanted it shorter. Usually dance skirts are on the longer side. I hung it and trimmed, I laid it out on the floor and marked it and trimmed. In the end, the chiffon matches up pretty close, but I think her right side is a bit longer. The actual stitching was easy. I was going  to do a rolled hem, but didn't really like it, so I went with a narrow, 3 needle hem.

See how it's a bit longer on her right?

It swished so nicely when she skated though! She said it kept going between her legs and bugging her. I wish she had been able to have a test run before the test day. The first go round of the dance was a bit rough but the judge had them go around again and she was able to pass!

I also made her a skinny tie for her hair.

Megan felt the need to add crystals. This was also new territory. She wanted to glue them on, but I did some research and decided we needed to "Hot Fix" crystals. We got our coupon and went to Michaels. There was a cheap Hot Fix "gun" (?) in the crafting section but we weren't keen on it. We looked at the Swarovski  one and liked it better. It is a lot more, but with the coupon (a rare 40% one!), it brought it to about the same price and seemed like a much better device. The cheap crystals were also not suitable so she picked out some Swarovski crystals. However, once she got them out of the package, she realized they had a pink tint to them. Fine for this outfit, and really, I'm sure no one else will notice if there's a pink tint to the crystals when she's wearing, say, a green skirt.

She tested on March 11 and I was finishing up the tie that morning. It ended up being way more rushed that we originally thought, but the end result is much better than the original plan.
I wish I could attach a video of her test. I have posted it on my FB page but not sure if it's public. Maybe it's time to update YouTube LOL.

EDIT---Added on YouTube  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q-jfNGgAFjs

Water Socks!

So, we're going on a cruise. Yup. Taking our two girls and my mom! Her first cruise!! Exciting! One item you often see recommended to take are water shoes. Many excursions involve water, and although the beaches are usually beautiful sand, you never know what lurks beneath. I also frequently hurt my feet and hate strange things touching my feet in the water LOL. One day on Facebook, there was an ad for these water slippers. They had thin soles, unlike most water shoes that have thick plastic soles. While those do have good traction and protection, they are heavy and we're trying to pack light.

So I looked at the slipper pattern I use and thought maybe I could just make them smaller with swim fabric. But I didn't think the style would be the most secure in the water. I searched and searched online to find something like what was in the ad.

I finally found these Skin Splashy Shoes. Seemed simple enough. I bought the pattern. I had already ordered the Tough Tek from The Fabric Snob (I'm on a new 2-in-1 tablet so linking is still a challenge). I cut out my size. For the bias banding I just cut a strip of the swim fabric to fold over the top.

 For the ankle band, you were to use woven fabric but  I couldn't figure what to use so  I used some interfacing. I didn't stick well and you can kind of see it.

It should have been difficult to put together, but of course I had some issues. And when I tried them on, they were too pointy at the toes and wide around the ankle. The opening wasn't snug either. So I resewed a few spots, took off some of the opening binding and stretched it tighter. I think I ended up making them a bit too small for me though. So I had my mom try them on and she was happy with them.

She does aqua-fit so these will also be good for that.

So I had to make another pair for myself. This time I didn't trim the toes as much. For the opening binding, I made wider trim and stitched down like bias binding, then folded it over and stitched from the right side. The inside wasn't folded in again, so I trimmed it close the stitching. Also on both pairs, I trimmed the front of the band back to the zig zags. I had to shorten the strip quite a bit more than what the pattern said it should be.  For the strap, I used some printed pink canvas. 

At the end of June I sprained my left ankle. You can see the swelling on the top of my foot. And this was seven weeks later.

I didn't make the foam insoles for either pair. I tested them in the hot tub, putting my feet right up to the jets, to see if they would slip off. They stayed on. Yes, it might be odd to be on a beach with my mommy and have matching water slippers, but I don't care. My comfort and safety is more important!   Oh, and Lucy has a bikini in this fabric LOL. Bring on the rocky shores of the Caribbean!

It's Chemistry

Back in the spring I saw some fabric on Facebook that I knew I had to get. At the time, the business was between here and my parents, so I could  have saved on shipping, but the business moved before the order was printed.
Lets back up a bit. When people get into sewing, they usually go to their local fabric store to shop. And are usually disappointed. You might come across an independent pattern designer, through google or blogs. You see all the awesome fabrics they use. Where do they get fabric?

Custom fabric groups and online businesses. There are two ways this is done. One, is just "in stock" or retail. Businesses like Funky Monkey, Water Tower Textiles, Fabric Snob. You've immediately upped your game by going on line. But lets say you want even more unique. That's were custom pre-orders come in. A business will create artwork and get some samples printed. They will make a call for "strike sewists" to use these samples to sew up real garments, which then often get promoted in the pattern group for whoever designed the garment pattern they used (such as Patterns For Pirates, Stitch Upon a Time, Rad Designs). Even better is when a new pattern is being tested and a sewist can use a fabric that's in a pre-sale. Everyone sees the awesome new fabric and orders through the pre-sale.

Sometimes the pre-sale closes by date, or by volume. Sometimes volume will mean you get a better price. Once you've placed your order and wait for the closing date, it can then take another 12 weeks to actually get your fabric! It gets printed (usually in China), then shipped, then all the orders are cut and shipped out.

How much is all this awesomeness going to cost you? Expect about $28/m (plus shipping) for cotton-lycra. Yup. Yes, it's expensive. It's also often quite a bit wider than fabric in retail stores--up to 72" instead of 60". And usually, the quality is really good.

I RARELY order through a pre-order. I just can't stomach the cost! I sew to be frugal. But sometimes I get sucked in. I usually just buy from people de-stashing. I see I never posted the shirt I made Rob from a pre-order fabric that "went retail" (sometimes they order extra, or people never pay up). I'm sure I ordered something else through a pre-order though...don't see anything on my selves.

But I saw the "strike offs" posted with this fabric and other fabric from the "round" (what each grouping of pre-orders is called) and knew I had to get some. There were so many prints that looked awesome and different than the florals that everyone else had. And the prints were almost all available in several bases--cotton lycra, bamboo lycra, swim, french terry...It is hard finding fabric for my men. Even though Rob is not a chemical engineer, he loved the fabric. And the awesome thing--his brother-in-law has a Ph.D in chemistry! I had never sewn for him before, but he's about Rob's size, so I got excited.

 Rob's came first, since he wanted the entire shirt in the fabric. No colour blocking for him. Full on brightness, full on periodic tables. This fabric is plush, soft and vibrant! One Friday the boss was away, so he wore this to work. No one could believe I made it. He even got comments out on his lunch walk!

  So then I moved to Pawel's shirt. I used "Taylor Tee" from Pickle Toes, who is changing names currently. I liked this pattern because the colour blocking looks more intentional--not like you got the back cut and realized you didn't have enough for the front. I ordered several different solid cotton-lycras from another business I've used before...finally "invested" in their colour swatch card...and they've just sold their business to another Canadian fabric shop. Don't know if they're going to continue with these solids or not. Rob gave his input on the colour choices for those sections. I got cutting and sewing.                            

I started laying out the pieces with the biggest ones first, making sure the fabric was the right way up, and the stretch was going the right way according to the grain arrows. I went to pin the last section on, near the shoulder, and saw that the print was not going to be straight--despite making sure I lined it up with the grain/stretch arrow (I folded the piece on the arrow, so you can see I lined it up right. The fabric is printed properly). I was not about to have the top most section be at an angle, even if it meant the stretch was not exactly how the designer wanted it. Keep this in mind if your fabric needs to be kept vertical to make sense!! 

Blogger won't let me centre the picture! So, I took a scrap (thank god this was a small piece that didn't line up, and not one of the big sections), and lined it up with the piece next to it so that the print was horizontal, then laid the pattern piece on top. I just squeaked it out with this piece. It's not off by too much, but it'll look SO much better to have all the print sections running exactly the same.

So many seams! You always read in the instructions to press the seams. It really does make a difference. You get the seam allowance to lay flat in the direction you want it to (there was no instruction on this, so I went with kind of downwards). It smooths out any ripples. The steam will help shrink back anything the got stretched. Before is above, and after is below. Not a huge difference in the picture, but in real life, it shows. Look at where the yellow meets the print. So much crisper after.

Look at this piece below. Left seam is not pressed, right seam is.

I opted to not top stitch the seam allowances. I was running low on the blue thread and no matter what you use on the print, it's going to show. And I wasn't sure my yellow matched. And sometimes topstitching creates more waviness. I did however, change my serger threads often, to make them as invisible as possible. Yes, it's more work, but it just looks so much nicer when the seam threads just disappear. Because of the colour blocking, it wasn't possible around the neckline, for example. I wasn't changing threads mid-seam LOL.

Pawel didn't come up with Lou and Nya, so I gave them his shirt incase we didn't hook up later in the summer (Nya goes to summer camp in Ontario and Lou and Pawel then use that time to travel). She said yellow is his favourite colour! I was worried the yellow was too bright compared to the blue cause he's not really a "Look at me!" type of guy. Lou loved it and was sure Pawel would too.

Rob modeled it. And asked to keep it. I hope, looking at this picture, he just hadn't straightened it out cause that front print panel looks a little skewed. His solid shirt was a pattern by the same designer, and it seemed this one was basically the same (it did come with non-colour blocking options), but the fit seems a smidge different under the arms. I hope it fits Pawel, though if it doesn't, I'm sure Rob would gladly take it off his hands. I just don't think I have enough to make another one LOL.

Frugal Roxie

Megan's program for this year's competitions was "Roxie" from Chicago. We kept an eye out for a new dress, but we couldn't find anything. In the meantime, we decided to alter her current dress. We went to the fabric store to find some trim to make the skirt more swishy and longer. I liked a sequined fringe trim, but Megan didn't. We found this fabric with columns of sequins. I didn't think it was blingy enough, but Megan liked it. We also picked up some sequined elastic trim.

The columns of sequins are sewn down with a continuous strand of clear thread.

So. As you cut the length of the fabric, you've cut that clear thread. So, all those columns need to be secured. A dab of glue. 

 Then I sliced up between the columns, sometimes singles, sometimes doubles and a few triples. I sliced up to various lenghts. Then I glued it to the sequined trim and then hand stitched that to the skirt/dress seam. We created a headpiece with a feathered headband from the dollar store, with the sequined trim over it. We really got lucky with that headband!

 When Megan took to the ice for her first competition, I went up to the top of the stands to try to get a good view to film. I heard some women say "I love her headpiece. You can just tell this is going to be a sassy piece". Yes!!

Megan had three competitions and a couple tests with this costume, but on this last test day, feathers were coming out of the headpiece (which sat on her temple, a little closer to her ear). I didn't have any glue, thread, or double stick tape!

 I never managed to get a picture of her in the dress all season! I  would have liked the skirt to be a bit fuller over her original dress, but I still thinks it all works fine. I would have liked it a bit longer, but you don't want it to get in the way!