I got some fun mail on Friday. A box arrived from Lettuce Knit in Toronto full of beautiful yarn. It's Cascade 220 Heather in Whiskey (8013) and it is going to become a Cobblestone sweater for Rob. It is unbelievably soft (softer than the solids even) and a beautiful changeable grey-brown colour that should show off nicely in the texture of a garter stitch. I've been wanting to make this sweater ever since the pattern came out. It's so simple, with just the right amount of detail for a men's sweater.

I'm going to start swatching tonight - hopefully I have all the needles I'll need and won't have to wait for any new ones to arrive (there are rummers of a yarn shop opening here but for now I still have to get everything through the mail). I can't wait to be working on this.

I taught an apron sewing class today. Our class was pretty small but that made it good practice for me; I'm still pretty nervous every time I teach. This is the apron I made as I was teaching. It is also my entry for the next Tie One On.

The theme is "spend no money" and aprons are due at the end of April. I had read that earlier this week and thought "I should have a look around and see if I've got something I can turn into an apron but I can't think of anything pretty and anyway I've got lots of time" and went on with the rest of my day. A couple of days later I started getting ready for my class and this morning I pulled some things out of my shelves for demonstrating while I taught. I was just sewing on the waistband when I realized that I'd made an apron and spend no money on it. So not only did I make the theme project, I finished it long before the deadline and completely by accident.

The brown broadcloth is leftover from Abby's bed and the curved seam cushions. The pocket fabric came from a fat quarter I had in my stash. The pocket lining was a remnant from the backing on Rob's quilt and the lace was from a bag of goodies gifted to me by my friend's mother when she cleaned up her sewing room a couple of years ago (thanks Margo).

... and it's so cute! I love this new addition to my apron collection.

 

Curved seams intimidate me. Not because I haven't sewn plenty of them - they show up frequently in garment sewing (especially Jane Austen dresses) - but because I've never really been sure I was doing them correctly. They just feel like the sort of thing where there must be a trick that makes them easy to do but no one ever taught me. I love the look of curves in quilting too and I've never felt confident enough to actually try it out. Sometimes all you need is a little push (and some naked couch cushions).

When I saw this tutorial on The Purl Bee I just had to give it a try. Molly's instructions for sewing curved seams are fantastic. It's like the difference between a pattern saying "Sew in zipper as shown," with a few cryptic diagrams, and my mother carefully walking me through the process of getting the right foot on the machine and explaining that if you baste the seam first the edges over the zipper will always match up perfectly. Molly explains how to pin the pieces together properly and shows how much stretching you can do (something I've never been sure about) to encourage your pieces to match up nicely and lay flat when you're done.

I followed her instructions - using lots of pins and sewing nice and slowly - and I got a perfectly flat pieced curve on my first try. It was so satisfying that I just kept going until I had enough quadrants to make two pillow covers. When I was all done I had two nice looking cushions decorating our family room couch.


Now I really want to make a quilt top this way. I think I'll use one solid and a whole bunch of co-ordinating prints.

Oh ... and this spat of sewing was prompted by my need to make a cover for the duvet Abby sleeps on. It's basically a big pillow case with an overlap on the back (like the backs of the pillow covers) so she can't pull it off. The duvet inside is folded in four. If she likes it this way I'm planning to get some nice home dec weight fabric that will be able to stand up to her digging for longer.

Though I kind of like how her bed matches my cushions perfectly.