I have been to Bath today, and while there met three ducks out for a walk, just down the road from where I saw this noisy blighter. The ducks were much better company, very keen on the crumbs I chucked at them. One was more enthusiastic than the others and gave me a quick peck...
... resulting in this rather brilliant photo of a duck's-eye view of Bath
... just don't mix. Leah Day does say on her blog that you need to be careful with posture and keep your shoulders relaxed, but creaky old age is catching up with me. Free motion quilting for the moment is going to have to be an occasional indulgence, and I shall just get on with the rough and ready tweed cushion I am making for my husband.
The great advantage of working with tweed is that it is very easy to get rid of slight rumples - just turn the work over, sprinkle water on the cotton backing, and press it with a hot iron. The reward is the lovely smell of damp wool, and seeing the tweed magically shrink itself flat.
This brown tweed is particularly felty. It is hot work quilting it, even without gloves - which you just don't need because the wool is rough enough to grip.
Anyway, back on the subject of the shoulder, we are trying out the Niel-Asher technique. My son is doing the home treatment for me, and I think there may be a slight improvement already, but I'm not altogether sure. Anyone ever tried it? I'd love to hear how it worked out for you.
Linking up today with Leah Day's blog for Free Motion Friday.
Update 30th April
Also linking up today with Barbara's blog Cat Patches for the April NewFO, and here is the latest progress on February's NewFO
She looks fabulous (but I'm biased) and she's giving me the don't-think-I don't-know-what-you're-doing look I used to get from my mum. In fact, with the thick dark hair and lashings of red lipstick she looked like her - just for a few seconds at a time.
As for the blouse, I'm thrilled with it. Had it not been for the Sew for Victory challenge I wouldn't have made it so quickly, it would still be on the nebulous to do list between my ears. But now, suddenly, after hours and hours of work, it is finished, and the end result doesn't look much like the pictures on the pattern.
The first big change I made was to make it button down the front. I was dying to try out the sunray darts, but I wasn't keen on doing a placket, and an undivided front with a high neck just doesn't suit me. On the finished blouse you can't really see the lines of the darts because the material has such a busy pattern - however what you can see is how the darts make the front of the blouse fall in nice soft folds.
The pattern was for a 32 inch bust, so I had to scale it up a bit. Not only did I have to widen the front and back, but also make the armholes deeper. The original pattern was definitely cut for girls with arms and necks like broomsticks. The neck came very high up to the throat, so I cut it lower front and back. This meant that the original pattern piece for the collar wasn't going to work, so I drafted my own collar pattern. The short string of vintage beads sat really nicely just above the neckline.
The scariest bit of all the alterations was cutting the blouse in half to widen the back. I used a strip where the pattern matched, so it repeats itself down the middle. This way the two extra seams don't look too conspicuous.
The original plan was to make a peplum. After having to cut into the spare material to make the extra strip down the back, I didn't have enough left to cut circular pieces for a peplum, so I made a pleated frill instead.
I realise that I could have made a toile and planned and fitted in advance, but this cotton was only about £4 a metre, and I started late on the challenge, so I just bashed ahead with the intention of improvising as I went along.
Now I'll show what you never see on the Great British Sewing Bee - the inside story! Not a raw edge or a stray thread in sight. French seams across the shoulders and down the sides - as well as the two extra surprise seams down the back - and all other seams bound with bias binding...
...narrow binding inside the collar...
... and the cuffs...
... and the armholes...
... and wider binding for the seam attaching the frill.
The great 1940s star of this project has been the 1949 Singer 15K hand machine, which I used for all the machine sewing, except for the buttonholes...
... which I did yesterday using the buttonholer attachment on the 1936 Singer 201K treadle.
It has been an intense bit of sewing, and despite the fact my daughter looks wonderful in it, the blouse is mine!
Linking up today with Sarah's blog Confessions of a Fabric Addict for Whoop Whoop Friday
This is the Sew for Victory blouse being tried on by my daughter. The fit looked fine at the front, but at the back it was just a touch too tight. It isn't obvious on the photo, but if she pulled her arms forward it pulled too tight across the shoulders. I had already tried to avoid the problem by enlarging the armholes before I even cut out the pieces, but it needed more adjustment. It was time for drastic measures.
So I cut it straight down the back so I could insert a strip to widen the back.
Scary stuff, but this was ten days ago. If all goes well the blouse will be completely finished tomorrow.
Linking up today with Kelly's blog My Quilt Infatuation for Needle and Thread Thursday.
Slowly but surely the 1940s blouse is taking shape. When my daughter is around at a convenient moment she tries it on for me. The sleeves are now on, and since taking this photo I have made the collar, but it is not yet attached.
Also I have sewn on this tiny rick rack, using the braiding foot. It is very pale pink and it looks really pretty as a trim on the cuffs and collar. It is getting easier to visualise the finished blouse...
Taken last summer in Poland.
