Stitching on the Quaker Winder Keeper

For the past month, I have spent so much time designing and stitching the lake cottage sampler that I have ignored my Quaker Winder Keeper.  I have worked on the lake cottage sampler so intensely that I was not certain I wanted to stitch yesterday.  I picked up my QWK and am very glad I did.  I finished the partial motif in the upper right corner.  Today I plan to work a little more of it, perhaps one of the small motifs. 

Ben and one of his friends mounted my little webcam so it monitors the finch nest.  Right now, the finches know that we have done things to the nest area; I hope that they can settle down and forget about the camera.  I also hope that they do not abandon the nest.  There is at least one egg in it.  Supposedly I can send video from the camera to my blog.  It remains to be seen whether or not I can actually do it. 

Yesterday I learned that I probably will not get my sewing machine back until the week before Easter at the earliest. 

Spring Is Here

Yes, spring came this past week; but what is more astounding is that weatherwise, spring is here in Minnesota.  Our unseasonably warm winter morphed into what appears to be an extremely early spring.  We have broken many past high temperature records during the week.  Leaves are coming out; grass is green; flowers are blooming; birds are building nests.  This does not happen in Minnesota in March.  The major bad thing is that it has been a poor year for collecting maple sap.  The maple trees need an extended period of night temperatures below freezing and day temperatures above freezing.  We just did not have enough for the trees to produce the usual amount of sap. 

I am going to post some pictures of spring 2012.


A pair of purple finches has begun to build a nest on our backdoor light.  This has all happened in less than a week.  They are using lint from the dryer that blows out the exhaust vent.  The female is in the nest while the male perches on the shed and sings.  He is staking out his territory which is essentially our patio.  I took the picture through the kitchen window so the quality is not particularly good but you can see her head and tail. 

White Crocus 

 

 

Apricot Tree

Wood Squill 

 

 

 

Lilac 

Trilium 

Bleeding Heart 

Dew Spangled Bleeding Heart 

Alpine Currant 

Purple Crocus

For the curious which is probably only Christine, I did not return to the estate sale last weekend.  It is just as well because I really do not need to augment my stash. 

I am Back

I feel like I have been away forever.  At times I felt like I was so busy I could not take a breath without having anything to show for it.  When I sat back to think about it, I realized that I had accomplished quite a bit. 

I have taken the 1912 princess line slip as far as I can for now.  It remains to be seen if I will translate it into a modern day garment for myself. 

While I was working on the slip, I picked up a little project for the local hospital.  I made a set of vinyl covered pads that are used to protect patient's arms.  I think that with the pad is wrapped around the patient's arm with the IV so the arm can be kept closer to the body during transport within the surgery suite and to the room following.  After I assembled 6 pads, my sewing machine stopped working.  We made a quick run to the shop to drop it off.  It is now in Chicago as it needs major repair work.  At this point it is in otherwise very good condition and is worth this repair.  It should be back in a couple weeks. 

The next project was a finishing job for Patricia Ann Designs.  I finished Tricia's ornaments for the Just Cross Stitch ornaments issue.  Right now, I cannot show you the fronts because the design not published.  As soon as the ornaments issue is out, I will show the fronts to you. 

Next is an exchange gift. 

I have selected the fabric and threads. 

As much as I want to be working on my Quaker Winders Keeper, my attention has been diverted.  I want to get back to the Quaker. 

Yesterday we went to an estate sale and it was positively scary.  The woman did cross stitching, needlepoint, and knitting.  The sale was essentially liquidating a literal Stash Acquisition Beyond Life Expectancy.  I cannot begin to estimate how many 1,000 dollars retail value was in the stash, knitting yarns, knitting, cross stitch & needlepoint magazines and books, cross stitch and needlepoint kits, cross stitch charts, canvas, cross stitch linen, needlepoint yarns, fibers for cross stitch.  There were extremely expensive cross stitch kits; there were charts that had been kitted with fabric and fibers.  It boggled the mind.  Unfortunately, the people conducting the sale priced everything much higher than is customary in these situations in this area.  I think it will be a zoo on Sunday when most of the prices are reduced. 

The scary part is that this could easily be my things. 

One morning last week as we were coming home from the health club, a small herd, yes, I said H-E-R-D, of male yearling deer galloped across the road in front of our car.  There were nine deer and they stayed in close formation as they quickly crossed the road.  It was quite a sight.  Yesterday four wild turkey hens ran through the park behind our home.  They were trotting along and not dawdling.  We wonder if they were looking for nesting sites.  The robins are back.  All of the birds have been singing to claim their territory.  The weather has been unseasonably warm.  We can still have snow in March and April so we are enjoying the fabulous weather but wondering if/when we will have a heavy, wet snowfall. 

Getting Close to Completion

As I stitched the beading to the neckline, I made two discoveries.
1.  I could have basted the inside edge of the bias tape which is standing in for the insertion to hold it in place.  Then I could have placed the edge of the beading over the insertion and stitched them in place together.
2.  Do you see that little margin of fabric extending beyond the beading?  I am going to fold it to the right side of the slip and press it in place.  Then I am going to poke the 2-inch lace down between the slip fabric and the beading and stitch all three together.  Wait until you see my substitution for the 2-inch lace.

Speaking of 2-inch lace.  I have two ideas about that.  Originally I was going to use something that would simulate an half-inch wide flat edging because I thought that might work better than 2-inch wide.  I did decide to use a 2-inch wide and I had a very pleasant surprise.  I applied it as a flat edging without gathering it because the picture looks more like a flat application.  Just the process of applying the wide flat edging took in a little of the front neckline so that it was gaping much less.  Then I mitered in a little more in the corners and that took in more of the gaping front neckline.  So, I think I would recommend using a 2-inch wide lace and applying it flat.

I stitched the 2-inch wide quick and dirty.  The miters are not very well done and are still pinned in place but it is enough to give you the general idea of what I am doing.

 Yes, the substitute for 2-inch wide lace is seersucker.  I folded back a small hem along one edge and stitched it in place with my shell stitch feature.  Then I cut off a strip 2 inches wide, more or less. 

In this picture, you can see from the inside of the slip how I slid the seersucker down between the beading and the slip fabric. 

 In this picture, you can see the miter of the seersucker strip and how more fabric can be drawn into it to relieve the gaping neckline. 

You can also see an issue which I forgot to resolve.  I did plan the placement of the beading so the ribbon would be tied in a bow at the center front.  But, I neglected to manipulate the beading to give me an attractive way to turn the ribbon in the corner. 

The slip is flat so it is a little difficult to give you an accurate picture of it.  The space above the bustline looks a bit graceless.  It does look better on the dress form with contours behind it. 

This picture gives you a little idea how the slip can look on a contoured form.  It does have very flattering lines.

I still have the 2-inch wide "lace" to apply to the armseyes.  I think that I will only do one because after all, no one is going to wear this. 
 
I have been a little silent here and barely working on my slip, on any cross stitching, on keeping the house tidy.  I hope this week to take up and continue working on what I have put down and to start some new tidiness habits. 

To that end, I feel virtuous today.  Friday I found, quite by chance, someone who actually wants my old copies of Threads magazines.  I have all of them from the current issue back to the premier issue.  I also have the CD with all issues through 2011.  I had a difficult time with the idea of putting the old magazines in recycling so they sat on the floor in the basement.  Now that I found a good home for them where they will be appreciated, I can finish sanitizing them.  I wrote my name on some that I had loaned out; I am blacking out my name and I am pulling off mailing labels. 

Today one of our sons helped me sort through my turtlenecks, tee-shirts, and sweatshirts.  That is a fairly non-threatening collection reduction.  I did not discard as many turtlenecks as I thought I would but at least I can get them into two boxes and one small drawer; if I get any new ones, I will have to discard that many from what I have.  Again with the tee-shirts, I did not discard that many but what I still have fits into one large drawer.  Some of the older and more stretched out sweatshirts are gone.  The sad thing about that is that I still like them and cannot find any like them now. 

A Little Cross Stitching

Yes, I have been working on the Quaker Winders Keeper, just not as intensively as I was before I got the slip to stitch. 

I think that I have found something to use in place of the 2-inch wide lace on the slip.  Hopefully I will complete the slip during the weekend. 

The snow blower that was stolen from our church is back.  We picked it up earlier this week.  I am not certain if the length of time reflected difficulty locating it or if it was kept until the thief made his court appearance and pleaded guilty.  The value of the snow blower is more than $1,000 so the crime is a felony.  Our son has been asked to write a statement of expenses for restitution.  I doubt that we will see a cent of restitution.  He has also been asked to write an impact statement to be used at the time of sentencing.  Right now our son and a friend took the snow blower to the shop that has serviced it to have it checked and order repairs, if necessary.  It is just nice to know that we have it back.  For the time being, it is chained to a truss in the shed.  In the spring, our son and his friend will embed a heavy duty loop or two into the cement floor of the shed and chain the snow blower there.  At least this sorry story has concluded. 

Time to show you more progress on the slip

I have to admit that at the moment I am extremely tired.  I am not certain I will feel like working on the slip after I finish this blog entry.  I have what I think are some interesting construction ideas that I am dying to try out so I just may turn on the sewing machine and heat up the iron when I finish here. 

I stitched the back the same way that I stitched the front.  The major difference here is that there is less body curvature to accommodate so the seam 31-32 acts more like a miter and less like a dart. 

As you can see, I interfaced the button placket sides.  I opted for fast and dirty as opposed to 1912 techniques.  I used fusible interfacing.  If I were trying to be more accurate, I would have used a strip of organdy, stitching it in place at the fold like with herringbone catch stitches. 

I am tempted to think a shaped interfacing might work better than folding the extension to the inside of the slip.  The one reason standing in the way of that is the fact that it would add the bulk of a seam at the fold line.  So, in the end, it is probably better to press the extension to the inside, clipping it where necessary to make it lie flat. 

I clipped the top of the center back seam to be able to open the seam allowances to press the seam.  Unfortunately Blogger does not want to post my picture top edge up.  I have tried everything I can think of including cropping the picture.  You will just have to turn your head to the side if you want to see it top edge up. 

The slip is not designed to fit Agatha Amelia's shape.  Agatha Amelia is a standard dressmaker's form.  I think it is a size 14 prior to the most recent sizing standardization.  The front of the slip gapes a little as you can see in the picture. 

The extra room could intentionally be there to accommodate the push-up effect of a corset.  If one does not plan to wear a corset, this should be fitted out.  It might be possible to pull the ribbon a little tight in the beading to ease in the fullness but I am not certain it would look good under the garment of choice. 

I found this insertion in my stash and it is the correct width.  As I began to pin it in place, I developed a couple ideas about how to work with the laces and insertion.  I am anxious to see if my ideas have any merit. 

The day was extremely dark yesterday.  It was very hard to get a decent picture of the slip.  I am hoping that before I finish up my blog entries following the construction of the slip, I can get a decent picture of the entire slip. 

Back Again with the Slip Pattern

I apologize because I am afraid that you are going to become very bored with this.  For those who thought I was constructing the garment, I am sorry to disappoint you.  I am, at this point, only sampling the pattern and its construction.  Some of the stitchers are constructing wearable garments. 

The patterns come without modern construction directions.  I gather that we are doing the work to enable the writers to develop the construction directions.  But then, I could be completely wrong.  It is a little exciting to know that the patterns we are using were last used a little less than a hundred years ago; to be on the safe side, let us say they have not been used in at least 75 years. 

After posting an entry on the 1912 Project blog, I decided to come back here and write my comments; I am much more comfortable working with Blogger than WordPress.  Did I also tell you that I am blundering my way around Facebook?  The group is using Facebook to communicate. 

After constructing the front yesterday, I had intended to work on the insertion today.  After Tracey posted her progress on the slip, I thought I might skip this step.  After thinking it over, I decided to go ahead.  My original plan was to apply the insertion to the front after constructing it but before stitching it to the back.  It is a little more fussy and demanding to do it this way rather than applying the insertion to the individual pieces where possible before doing the construction.  I think the way I am doing it has the advantage of reducing bulk in the seam allowance areas, enabling the garment to mold a little more closely to the body. 

I am substituting wide single-fold bias tape for the insertion.  It is a lot stiffer than lace insertion and a little narrower but does give us an idea of how the process works. 

The bias tape represents the insertion down the center and each of the side front seams.  It begins a little above the placement line for the first horizontal line of insertion across the top of the slip. 

Because the garment has shaping created by the seamlines 26-27 and and 27-28, I draped the slip over a pressing ham to better pin the horizontal tape in place, covering the upper edges of the vertical lines of insesrtion. 

Needless to say, I used the pressing ham to press the bias tape after I stitched it in place. 

I brought Agatha Amelia, my dress form, out to help me show you how this is going to look.  Agatha Amelia is too big for me to use for myself and is a little smaller than this pattern is sized.  I think that she will still be helpful to us. 

I used the same process with the insertion in the neckline and upper armseye areas.  First I applied the four vertical segments and then I applied the horizontal one, covering the lower ends of the vertical segments. 

This horizontal line of insertion does not cover the seam 26-27.  Its upper edge is at the #27 point. 

I want to try to find something that more closely represents the eyelet beading that is applied to the slip above and inside the rows of insertion at the neckline.  The beading will have to be mitered to account for the 26-27 seams in front and the 31-32 seams in back. 

The list of materials calls for 2-inch wide lace.  I had assumed that it would be applied to the beading in the neckline and around the armseyes.  Until now, I thought that 2 inches would be too wide.  As I look at the front on Agatha Amelia, I think 2 inches will work.