Beth Smith's Blog, page 6

Project of the Year

Last year I watched a fabulous sewer named Leanne Barlow make a gown each month. She designed and draped and sewed them all. She bought accessories and gorgeous shoes to go with all of them. You can check it all out on her blog and follow her on Instagram if you love that kind of stuff.

The whole time I was watching her I was thinking of doing something similar but I wasn’t sure exactly what. Sewing formal gowns was attractive to me but then I’d have to wear them for teaching or to church which might be weird.

I thought about Disney Bounds because I love Disney, as you probably know. A Disney Bound is when you dress to resemble a Disney character but not exactly as they are dressed. But then I saw that another fantastic sewer that I follow is doing that and so… You can follow her also on Instagram. Her name is Tabitha Sewer. Yes, that’s her real name. Here is the link to her website too.

I thought about sequins. I love sequins. But I also couldn’t get a clear vision for where I would go with that. Sequins are definitely on the list for a future year long project.

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Then it came to me. I bought a pattern from Charm Patterns called the Night and Day Dress. The pattern includes so many options that when combined and recombined you could possibly make 72 different dresses. So, that’s what is going to be my year long project. Every month I will do a different version of the Night and Day Dress using seasonal appropriate fabrics. I also have big plans to accessorize them well.

The first one is going to be March. So my year of Night and Day Dresses will run from March 2019 through February 2020. I have already started making a spreadsheet with plans for which pattern pieces to use and what fabrics, color schemes and fabric supplier I’ll use.

I wanted to start with a fabric that isn’t very precious or expensive while I work on fit. JoAnn Fabrics currently has all of their St Patrick’s Day prints on sale for 40% off and I also had an addition 20% off coupon and here’s what I came up with.

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The clovers will be the bodice and sleeves with the plaid as the skirt.

I’m excited to do this project. In the end I will have 12 very different dresses all made from the same pattern. I’ll hope you’ll follow along. I’ll be posting lots on Instagram about it and talking about any new tips I learn which I know will come from repeating similar techniques over and over. I also plan on incorporating some hand sewing and couture techniques into these dresses to make them extra special.

Another thing to watch is my new Etsy Shop. I’m up and running and I will be adding lots of new skirts from different fabrics and patterns that I am excited to sew especially for you to your measurements.

DressMaker

I come from a long line of textile people. In the most recent past both my mother’s mother and my mom were dressmakers. My grandmother worked in a dress factory until she retires. My mom made custom formal gowns and bridal as long as I can remember. She also made every day dresses for customers that we all got to know because they were regular customers.

I loved looking at the brides when they came for fittings and traveling to Philadelphia to buy fabric for the next weddings. I loved the fanciest fabrics then as much as I do now.

I actually started sewing when I was little. Maybe 5 years old. I began with hand sewing fabrics together. I remember making a doll once with scraps from my mom’s sewing room. I also learned to embroider and do all kinds of stitching when I was young.

In middle school when we had to take a home economics class we all had to choose a project to make and then wear our finished project to school. Most of the other girls made an a line skirt with an elastic waist. I chose a reversible vest with a hood. I wish I could find that photo. I loved that vest.

In the early 90s I decided o put all of my sewing knowledge to work and I started sewing for other people. I made wedding dresses and bridesmaids and street dresses. And I was very happy doing it.

And then we moved to Michigan in 1999 and I didn’t try to restart that business.

Here we are 20 years later! I can’t believe we’ve been in Michigan for 20 years! For a while I didn’t sew at all. Not even to hem pants. But, I miss sewing. I miss the lovely fabrics and the thinking about the best way to make a pattern and the way sewing makes me feel.

So, I’m going back to it.

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I’m not quitting spinning and I’ll still teach if people want me. I love teaching spinning and I don’t think I’ll ever walk completely away from it. I still need yarn to knit with for crying out loud!

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Here’s what’s happening. I’m going to open up my Etsy shop and sell circle and gathered skirts. I have lots of fabrics and I’m excited to collaborate with people to make them a skirt for a special occasion or just a skirt that will make them feel awesome for every day.

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In addition, if you live nearby and you want a special occasion dress for a wedding or a prom ora fancy ball I hope you’ll come and see me and let me help you get the dress of your dreams.

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A Look Back – Favorite Posts of 2018

In December of 2017 I wrote about what blog posts of mine were the ones most visited over the year. Some were surprises and others were not. I thought it would be fun to look at that again for 2018.

So here are the top ten most visited posts of 2018.

10. Looking to Buy Wool Combs? – Using single and double pitch combs – February, 2018. This one has a video of my combing technique

9. Hand Cards – July 2015 – detailed description of the hand cards in my collection with weights and discussion about which I like and why.

8. Spinning Chair Height – January 2018 Just my thoughts on a good spinning chair. but the comments section has some great information too.

7. Combing Can be Easy – March 2012 – Still photos and descriptions of my combing method. The video in the number 10 video is more instructive.

6. Fleece of Sadness – January 2011! I know! this one is all about a beautiful BFL Fleece that was so full of scurf I chose not to use it

5. Fiber Prep for Production Spinning – September 2013 This one was number 3 last year.

4. Looking to Buy Wool Combs – Terminology    February 2018 – Photos and descriptions of the types of wool combs and what they are used for.

3. Your Drive Band – this one from 2014 was in the number 2 spot last year.

2. The Cost of Fleece – April 2018 – This one was a tiny bit controversial but it is my no nonsense opinion about why we shouldn’t complain too much about fleece prices

1.Wool Scouring – Simple and Mostly Quick – May 2016 and the winner for 2 years running.

Here are the 2017 top 5. It’s crazy how similar they are to this year’s top five. I’m wondering if you all would like some more in depth information about any of these topics. Things I may not have spent enough time on in the post.

5. Combing Can be Easy – For this one we go all the way back to March of 2012 and the fact that this is number 5 makes me think I’d better do an updated version since the pictures have disappeared and I have no idea where to find them. The info is still good but the pictures helped a lot.

4. Weaving Decisions – This post from February 2017 is about the steps I would go through to make a decision about how to finish (or not) the singles for the BFL yardage.

3. Fiber Prep for Production Spinning – Just what it says. This was for Spinzilla in September 2013

2. Your Drive Band – The first in a two part series I wrote in 2014 about drive bands, what to use and how to use them and why you would choose one or another.

Number 1!!!!!! Wool Scouring: Simple and Mostly Quick This post is from May of 2016 and is consistently in the top 5 pages visited on my site. It’s a step by step of how I get so much wool washed.

Let me know if there is something more you’d like to know about these things or even about the weaving and sewing I’ve been doing. Sometimes I don’t talk too much about some topics because I figure if I know it everybody must. But maybe I’m wrong about that…

Also, if you get a chance, hop on over and check out my Patreon. If you can, please lend a little support so I can keep on working and researching and trying things and writing about it for you.

Skirt Project – Putting the samples on the loom

Not much progress since last week. I’m about halfway through threading the heddles for my samples right now but I thought I’d talk my way through this with you and tell you what I’m thinking. It helps to get it all out and really think it through. 

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I’ve been putting this off a bit because I know it’s going to be difficult to get it wound onto the back beam. I threading front to back because I didn’t find that going from back to front was any easier on the threads. They are a bit sticky because it’s wool and has some fuzzy bits. I want my threads to be somewhat closely sett and also they don’t slide very nicely over the lease sticks. So I went back to the way I know best.

I didn’t size the threads before dressing the loom because frankly, sizing is a pain in the butt. Would it actually save me time? I would have to keep an eye on the yarn as it was drying and keep separating them so they don’t all stick together. I’m not good at staying in one place focused on one task for hours. Plus, lots of people around the world weave with singles without sizing so why can’t I?

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This is only a 2 yard warp so as soon as I get it threaded I’ll begin carefully winding it on.

But I’ve also been thinking. And here’s where I would be happy to have some advice. I have never done sectional beaming. I have the bits to convert my Schacht Baby Wolf back beam to sectional. And I’m wondering if it would make things a bit easier. The threads wouldn’t need to cross over lease sticks. They would have to go through a tension box but I think that would be fine. I would need to figure out how to get 120 ends to beam at one time. That means 120 bobbins of thread on some kind of holder. 120 ends because the current plan is 60 epi and the sectional beam has 2 inch sections.

From what I’ve read, sectional warping is the easiest on finer threads. I’m wondering if this is the way to go and if anybody near me has a tension box I can borrow to try it before I invest in one. Nancy McCraw says I can easily make myself a bobbin rack to hold 120 weaving bobbins. I do have an electric winder so…

Skirt Project – Merino Sampling

If you have been following the skirt project from the beginning you understand that the skirt project no longer is only about skirts and more about fabric and all kinds of garments. The next project is going to be a blazer or jacket of some sort. And it’s going to be pink.

The plan is to use singles for this particular project and I wanted them to be finer than the other yarns I’ve used so far. I’m ready to put the samples on the loom and see how it’s going to work. For these samples I’ll be putting 2 yards on but only 10 inches wide. If all goes well I’ll start spinning the singles for a 24 inch wide fabric.

I am hoping to avoid having to use on sizing the yarn at this point but we’ll see what happens. Right now, to control the active twist in the yarn during winding the warp and dressing the loom I wound the yarn from the spinning wheel bobbin onto a niddy noddy made of PVC.

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The great thing about a pvc niddy is that you can soak the yarn and block it right on the niddy. This will work for smaller amounts like this but I’ll have to think about how to proceed for the more than 10,000 yards I’ll need for the actual fabric.

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So, today I’m going to get the warp wound but before I can put anything on the loom I need to fix this girl.

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That’s my Schacht Baby Wolf. I recommend to my spinning students that they give their spinning wheels a good tightening a couple of times a year but I haven’t been following that advice with my looms and look…

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Little parts are falling out. So, I guess I’d better go take care of that and tighten all the other screws while I’m at it. I’ll keep you posted.

If you are interested in the calculations and details of this project I am posting that all over on my Patreon page.

Harris Tweed – Real Beginnings

I have a tendency to procrastinate projects. Often it is because the fabric I’m wanting to cut is rare or expensive, sometimes it’s because I’m not sure I can do it well, other times it’s because I’m not exactly sure how to do it or if my plans will actually work.

Yesterday I saw a quote on Instagram. I didn’t save it so I don’t know who said it or who posted it. It said something like all procrastination happens because of fear. Look at all of the reasons (excuses) I gave for procrastinating. Looks like fear to me.

My friend Dana, who obviously loves me very much, sent me several large pieces of Harris Tweed fabric when she was visiting Scotland. So you can see why I might be hesitant to cut it up.

So, I laid out my pattern for this very first Jacket from Harris Tweed before I left for SAFF on the 22nd of October. It actually sat there for a couple of days before I left. I wasn’t sure if I was going to be able to line up the lines well enough. So I put it off. That pattern laying there is Vogue 8701.

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So I got back on the 29th and it layed there for another day or two. While I was gone another pattern arrived in the mail. Vogue 9531.

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I decided to do this one instead. It has fewer pieces and if I’m learning how to match plaids I thought that might be a good idea. So here is what I did. I did some Googling around to see how other people match plaids. I watch some YouTube videos about it and then I did something about it.

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I laid my first pattern piece on the fabric and I traced the horizontal lines I wanted to match onto the pattern piece. Then I laid the next piece next to the first one and match the notches. I continued those lines across making sure the grainlines were straight then I laid the piece on lines. Because of the way this fabric is woven I didn’t have a ton of waste but I definitely couldn’t lay the pieces as efficiently as I wanted to but….

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It’s cut. I sewed the front bits together and then I got stuck. Should I bind the seams? Leave them alone? Overlock them? I couldn’t decide. But then I thought, one step at a time so yesterday I made good progress.

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The sleeves are a bit long and need to be hemmed today and I will be assembling the lining and facing today.

But can we just take a moment and look at the matching of those lines? I’m super proud of myself.

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Those are the singles soaking on my PVC niddy so I have some control when I wind them. All of the details of this project will be covered over on my Patreon Page so if spinning for weaving clothing is something you might be interested in check me out over there.

Two Jackets

What’s the difference between a blazer and a jacket?

I googled and found this article saying that the main difference is that a suit jacket is made from finer materials. It also gives two possible reasons for calling them blazers. Of course it is all about men’s suits but I imagine it applies to women as well now.

So, starting last week I began working on two jackets at the same time. One is a wearable muslin to test out a pattern that is in the running for the valuable Harris Tweed and the other is going to be the next handspun handwoven garment for my closetand the fifth item in what is known as the #skirtproject even though I’m branching out from skirts.

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For the wearable muslin, I am taking my time and making sure I check all of the seams and press well between each step. Today I’m planning on at least getting the collar in place and maybe the sleeves. After the sleeves I can place the shoulder pads and then the lining and facings fun begins. I’ll keep you updated. The goal is to get this jacket completely finished over the next week so that I can decide whether to use this pattern or try another one. The first Harris Tweed jacket will be finished before the end of October.

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For the other jacket I’ve got this fiber. It’s Merino from Essential Fibers. My goal is a two ply that I can sett at about 30 ends per inch.

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I’m actually not sure how much yarn is on this bobbin. I do know that it’s about 10 hours of spinning there and approximately 5 ounces. My goal is to finish filling this bobbin today and start the next. Hopefully I’ll be able to spend a bit more time each day spinning in the next week so that next Wednesday i can report about how much yardage fills a bobbin. That will also help me estimate how much time I need and how many more bobbins to spin.

So those are two good goals for the day.

If you have any questions about planning or working on big/long term projects let me know! I’ll be going into much more detail about the process and everything that goes into a long term project on my Patreon page.

Regrouping

Yesterday I had a long talk with my letsberealhere advisor. Her name is Amy King and if you ever need somebody to bring you to your senses she’s probably your girl. She doesn’t tell me what exactly to do but when I am making unrealistic goals and deadlines for myself she doesn’t hesitate to let me know that I’m full-o-crap.

So anyway I had plans to get some yarn spun for this experiment that I want to do and I started spinning for it about 10 or so days ago. I thought I could spin and ply 2000 yards of 2 ply and 2000 yards of 3 ply yarn in 2 weeks. And honestly if that’s what I was doing 8 to 10 hours a day, 5 days a week I can but there are kids and other things I promised to do and that kind of stuff so I in reality can only spin for about 2 to 3 hours per day. I have spun about 2000 yards of singles so far and we are 3/4 of the way through the month and I was giving myself a deadline of October 1 to have it all spun, plied and woven.

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We talked about that project for a bit and then we talked about Maggie’s prom dress (which is a project in itself) and the Harris tweed jacket/skirt I want to make before the end of October and the Handspun/handwoven jacket I want to have done before I go to MIdwest Weavers in June. Together we decided that it’s a lot. And something had to be put off.

The prom dress doesn’t have to be started immediately so I ordered the fabric yesterday and put that on the schedule to begin in January.

The Harris Tweed I want to have at least one item sewn before Dana gets back from her Great Britain Tour so that is staying on the get moving today schedule.

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The Corriedale spinning and weaving samples were really just for me although I’d like to have them for teaching at John C Campbell. But that isn’t until first week of April so I can nudge them a little

The Handspun/Handwoven Jacket is something that I feel like I need to do for June. I want to take a new finished object with me. This will be my first time teaching at a weaving focus conference and I need something new to show and/or wear since the last piece was finished a year ago.

So now I know the Jacket spinning must commence immediately. The Corriedale spinning all went into a bag together with the project notes so that I can return to it as soon as I can. But for now I need to focus on spinning a bunch of yarn as fast as I can.

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These are the two patterns that are in the running. I’m leaning toward the Burda 6582 because it requires a yard less of 45 inch wide fabric than the Vogue pattern which translates to 2 yards less since I will be weaving this at about 26 inches wide.

I believe for the yarn size that I am spinning the sett will be about 30 ends per inch. Of course I need to do some sampling to be sure but that’s my starting point for figuring how much I need to spin. I’ll be warping with 2 ply and weaving with singles. That worked out beautifully with the dress so I’m going for it again.

So here’s my math:

26 inches wide x 30 ends per inch = 780 ends

I need at least 5 yards to cover 4 yards needed for the yardage plus loom waste so I should put 6 yards on the loo for possible sampling and testing.

780 ends x 6 yards = 4,680 yards of 2 ply

I generally just automatically plan for the same amount of weft even though I know it’s slightly less so 4,680 yards of singles.

 

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I’m going to spin the majority of this on Martha and for this thickness I think a bobbin will hold 1000 yards of singles so that’s 14 bobbins all together. I think I can spin a bobbin in 2 days…lol. That’s with no distractions I think but I’ll get back to you on the actual spinning time. It’s probably closer to 4 days if i’m honest. So that’s 56 days of spinning and 4 days of plying thrown in there. 60 days of spinning. 2 months. My hope is to get this all spun and plied by The end of January. Woven by the end of February and made into a jacket by the end of March (that’s taking into account the days I stare at it afraid to cut it and mess it up).

All of this is just estimating at this point based on an imaginary sett. But I need to go cut out a muslin for the Harris Tweed jacket and then get to work on the spinning. All words of encouragement are welcome and appreciated!

Winter Wardrobe Plans

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That photo is from Pinterest. I’ve had it pinned for a little while. It links to this blog post. I love that suit a lot and the blog post tells how to make the suit all by yourself without a pattern. Honestly, at this point I think I could do the skirt but I’m not sure about the jacket and so I went on a hunt for a pattern that would work. Let me tell you why.

My friend Dana and her husband Jerome are traveling around the world right now. Yes, you heard that right. They sold their house and almost all of their stuff except for what fits in a 10×10 ish storage unit. They left in the beginning of July and they each only have one carry on size suitcase and a back . It’s amazing. You can see some of it at Dana’s blog, Retired and Remote.

This does really have to do with my search.

I knew they would be in Scotland and I asked them to go to Harris Tweed and please please please send me some fabric. Well, I was not disappointed.

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Not all of that is mine but I’m holding onto it. The yellow is for a skirt I’ll make for Dana. The light green on top is for a waist coat I’ll make for Jerome ( I need to find a good pattern for that too). The little bundles are for bow ties for Dana’s grandsons and the stuff in the white bag is for a something. The rest is all mine. Not even kidding.

On a side note, if you know of a pattern for a men’s proper British waistcoat please point me to it.

So I have plenty for a suit and a blazer and another skirt and possibly a pieced skirt and a sleeve for my tablet and sunglasses and a purse and on and on.

I look better in a shorter or cropped length jacket and what I was looking for is hard to find but I have some options and I’m hoping for some opinions.

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Vogue, McCall’s, Butterick had a pattern sale on their website and I went looking for a jacket pattern…I may have gotten carried away. They were a really good price though! I may have also missed the point and bought no jackets…

But here’s what I’m thinking for my winter wardrobe.

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This is not the Harris Tweed. It’s a lightweight wool I got in Pennsylvania when I was visiting last year and I think it will be lovely with that dress. I have right around 10 yards I believe.

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This is a wool blend I got at the same time last year and I have had this pattern for a while.

OK on to the tweeds.

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I like the sailor collar on this one. It’s also the right length and double breasted like the pattern i was trying to match. The skirt pattern I have there has the front panel set on the bias which could be really pretty with the twill pattern in this green tweed.

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I really like the look of this and I think it would be so cute with the dark rust of this fabric. It would also give me some practice matching plaids.

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This fabric I think I have 6 meters. I like the little bolero but what about that cropped jacket on the other pattern?

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I also have this pattern which I really like. I think the tweed is too heavy for the dress but the jacket is gorgeous.

And finally I have these three remnants which might be enough for a pencil skirt that has different panels in the different colors. What do you think?

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My Sewing

In June, right after school was out, Maggie and Ryan and I went to Utah. The kids were going to a music camp where Maggie studied opera and Ryan was working on saxophone – although Ryan has decided to add Clarinet to the instruments he plays because he now loves classical music.

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Anyway, while they were in Provo at BYU, I found a nice little Air BNB in Salt Lake City. I planned on visiting a lot of LDS church sites and relaxing. I did spend plenty of time at Deseret Book and the Family History Library.

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And whenever I get to Salt Lake City I like to visit Miriam Felton. I love her. She’s always doing something new and she’s super smart. So we met for lunch at the Blue Iguana (it was good but not as good as the Red Iguana where we went the next day) and we talked and talked. I expected to go back to my sight seeing after that but she invited me to her studio and I was excited to see this new place where she is working and creating. Little did I know it would turn into a bit of a therapy session for me.

She asked me what I wanted to do. Was there something I wanted to make or work on. I was stumped. I’m not sure if you have noticed but I haven’t been writing any blog posts and my social media between April and end of June was not very creative. I cried a little and we talked. And while we talked I made a pom pom.

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What we decided was I needed a little vacation from my usual work. I had sort of decided that in the beginning of June but I was nervous about it. I have been feeling stagnated in my creative pursuits. Most of my making time was spent on projects that I wasn’t excited about or preparing for upcoming classes. I had ideas for things I wanted to try or experiment with but I was so busy with all the stuff I had to do I didn’t have time to play or experiment. And everything felt like it had to be for work and so instead of following the natural path of things I was molding projects to fit what I thought I should be doing.

I’m not sure if any of this makes sense to you but it makes sense in my brain.

So, I have some things that I have promised to do and I’m going to do them. I’ll be at Webs in the beginning of October and SAFF at the end of October. And then  St Louis in December. In 2019 in April I’ll be at John C Campbell teaching about spinning for weaving  and then I’ll be at Midwest Weavers in June. And that’s all I have planned for now. I still love teaching and will be teaching when I can but I also need a minute to figure out what’s next.

The skirt project is stalled at the moment and I need some solid time to get back to that. My knitting life disappeared because I got tired of knitting what I thought I had to knit instead of knitting for me. The looms are all empty because I wasn’t excited and there were too many projects that sounded like no fun or directed by somebody else.

As I’m typing this is sounds so whiny and pathetic but there is something about a creative life where balance is necessary between what you have to do and what you want to do or the creativity leaves. It feels like this whispery thing that you have to have some quiet time to be able to feel it and all of my quiet time had been swallowed up in other stuff that I wasn’t excited or passionate about. I never really saw myself as a creative person before this happened. Mostly because I am very scientific and methodical about most of my work but I see now that it’s just another way to be creative.

Anyway, I’m going in a different direction at the moment but it’s on a curve which will swing me back to where I was. I got out my sewing machine again. I used to sew all the time. For other people. I was pretty good too. I made a lot of wedding gowns and bridesmaids dresses and I used to sew for my older kids when they were little. But the last few tImes I tried to sew a dress for myself it was an awful failure. And so I quit. I figured I lost that talent.

Miriam told me something that my mom had said and also that Amy King had told me before but I didn’t understand what they were talking about or didn’t know how to do it and so it didn’t stick. Miriam, on the other hand, spelled it out step by step for me. Which was very kind of her.

I bought padding for my dress form to make her the same measurements as me.

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The hips need work but since I am making dresses with fuller skirts I’m not too worried about that right now.

In the last 2 weeks I’ve made 2 dresses.

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They fit me. They are flattering. I feel happy with them. And now I’m going to stop using the clearance $3 per yarn fabric and make a dress with some of my good fabric that I have bought and have been afraid to use.

The way this spins back around is that I fully intend to continue spinning for weaving clothing and I can;t be driving to Pennsylvania for my mom to make my clothes. I need to know how to make them fit me. I’m learning how to alter patterns and take my own measurements. Eventually I may even learn to draft my own patterns.

I’ve also been knitting. My Patreon supporters and I are in the midst of a sweater spin and knit along and I finished spinning the singles for my sweater yesterday.

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I’m not going away, don’t worry and for those who are still sticking around in my Patreon, thank you. I still have things to teach.