Schafenfreude

I was going to put a picture of a bucket here.  And then I thought about a washing machine.  But, neither one of those are really interesting, so I’ll save the picture for a little later and just say that my vest fabric is currently in the washer.

I finished weaving it off today – it’d been 100% trouble-free until I started to get a little greedy at the back end and I snapped a warp thread when I hit it with the shuttle.  I was at the end of a medallion anyway so I listened to the Weaving Gods and just wove a 12-shot header and called it done.  Then, I cut it off the loom, zig-zagged the ends, sewed the two warp ends together to make a big tube and banged the whole thing into a bucket of hot water with a little dish soap.  My aim was to ensure that the fabric was fully wetted and the size was dissolved before fulling it – we’ll see if that makes a difference. Then I went off to go buy lining fabric, some interfacing and get a haircut.

Back to pictures!  After gazing at the roll upon roll of 8mm silk, and putting my little swatch up against all of them (started at yellows, went through the blues, greens, browns, purples, so many colors!), I kept coming back to a family of greens and a family of blues.  The greens made sense (Lynn – you’re so smart!) since they’re complements to the red, and the blue really helped make things pop.  So I pulled down five or six different rolls and just kept playing about.  Finally, I decided on two colors and just bought a yard of each:

In both cases, the value is much less than the actual fabric.  I just didn’t think that a similar, or darker, value did anything for the pattern or the piece.  Given that it’s fully lined, this will only be spotted occasionally at best.  And, with the amount of black that I’d put in the overdye, really saturated, BRIGHT! colors didn’t seem to work either.  Hence these two.

A little closer on the green, and a little closer on the blue.

Anyway, as stated, everything went into the wash.  And, because I’m a dope, I didn’t weigh the fabric before putting it into the wash so I’ll have to wait until it’s dry to dye it.  That means tomorrow.  GAH!

So.  Green?  Blue?  Oh, and I got dark interfacing for the fabric.  I thought white interfacing was a patently Bad Idea.

It’s time for me to get started on the cloth for the vest which means sharpening my virtual pencil by getting out the spreadsheet and weaving software to make sure I put on a big enough warp, have enough heddles and that I’ll have a shot at getting sufficient cloth to make the garment.

Rather than using the pattern I drafted, I decided to go with a store-bought version because it has full instructions for doing a fully-lined, turned vest.  I’m pretty confident in my ability to make small changes (shoulder slope, waist location/length, etc.) and, since there aren’t any sleeves, the armholes should be able to stay as drafted.  However, since it’s a commercial pattern, there’s this pesky problem with fabric size and cutting layouts.  That means doing some math.

Step 1:  Open up the pattern and pull out the instructions/cutting diagram.  Here’s page 1 of the pattern.

It’s number 6075 from New Look/Simplicity – and their “Project Runway” series.  Before you start giggling, it’s pretty much the only one I could lay hands on that didn’t look like I’d just washed up on the shores of a Caribbean island.  And, it’s pretty nice.  The instructions are clear and I’ve liked their patterns in the past.  Plus, at $4, the price was right.  :-)

Next up, a close-in of the cutting diagram.  Please take particular note of the two grey pieces on the far left of the upper drawing.

1. Other than possible difference in shrinkage rate, can you think of a good reason why I shouldn’t turn the draft?  I’m highly motivated to do this.
2. What, if any, are the ramifications of having a seam in the middle of the collar?  Remember, this is a fully-lined/turned piece, so it’s the build-up of seams that I’m most concerned about.  But what else?
3. Also, if I turn the draft, my grain goes in the opposite direction.  It also means vertical rather than horizontal squares.  Should I go with that?  Can I ignore grain and turn my fabric?