only see the sock she knits

As I mentioned last week, I need to prioritise sock-making.

And I have! I've even finished the first of a pair of socklets (the sort of thing that lines your dress shoes). I will explain why socklets are important in a future post.

those who each day heave the papier-mache rock

We've discussed before the uses and failings of e-readers like Amazon's Kindle -- and by discussed, I mean 'made fun of Jonathan Franzen's indefensible notions of authoritative texts.'

when the world is puddle-wonderful

A confession, of sorts: I am not good at joining things.

So rächt sich die Fledermaus!

Well. Perhaps this is next year's Halloween costume:

From segment, fragment, he can reconstruct the whole

I'd call this "The Ort Report" except the rhyme began to annoy me about 10 seconds after I thought of it. I can't think of anything better though: The Scrap Brief? The Niggle Chronicle?

My hands grown tired, my head weighed down with dreams—

So, what was it I wanted white glue for, anyway?

Pattern weights. I wanted some pattern weights.

Since I've been sewing again, I've been reassessing things like tools and techniques.  One of the things I've seen recommended is the use of pattern weights instead of pins. The idea is this: you lay out your pattern, holding the pieces in place with the weights, and then trace them onto the fabric with a tailor's chalk. This allows greater precision, and is easier on the tissue-paper patterns.

So while I was out running the usual errands last weekend, I stopped at the local chain fabric store and took a look at the pattern weights for sale there. A package of 4 pattern weights was $10. That's about $2.50 per weight. And you need at least a dozen, so $30 for a usable set.

I am not normally one to gripe about the prices of things, and I will pay good money for quality tools for my hobbies.  But $2.50 each for weights? Really?

I'd rather spend $30 out of my craft budget on fabric, or patterns, or a tool for which precision really matters.  I suspect I am not the only person to feel that way. I went home and snooped around the internet for better ideas. Among the suggestions out there were beanbags filled with BBs, and large washers.

I am not wild about the idea of BB beanbags simply because BBs are small, will escape, and are not good to step on. Washers, on the other hand, are large, flat, easily contained, and less likely to be a hazard to life and limb.

The nice man in the Home Depot hardware aisle was baffled by my request for a box of 3/4" washers but helped me find them. The 3/4" measurement refers to the diameter of the hole in the middle of the washer; these babies are about 3 inches in diameter total. A single one is a bit light for use as a pattern weight and they do have some rough edges, so I decided to sandwich the washers with pieces of felt. Felt is cheap and non-slip, both of which were useful characteristics for this project.

The numbers:

$11.80 for a 5-lb box of 3/4" flat cut zinc washers; $2.50 for half a yard of craft felt; $2.50 for a bottle of Elmer's Glue-All = $16.80. The 5-lb box of washers contained 46 washers, enough for 23 weights, so call it about 73 cents per weight. Even if you add in my time, I think it's still less than $2.50 a weight.



I put together a photo set on Flickr showing how I made them, for the curious: Pattern Weights

Alice Moore Dunbar-Nelson

And the fields are strewn with the gold of the flower of March

The new sewing machine arrived. It is a Toyota STF39 and it is glorious.

In the bower, sewing no seam

All I really wanted to do this weekend was sew.

I haven't done much sewing recently. Heck, I haven't done that much sewing in several years. About the time we stopped being active in the SCA, I stopped sewing. Partly it was burnout from having to do tunic production for the Viking, partly it was stress from being stuck in the authentically-mediaeval groove, partly it was because my sewing machine was on the fritz.

Yes, I am (or was) one of those snooty Laurels in the SCA, but I never wholly bought into the 'everything I make for the SCA must be entirely handsewn' way of thinking.

Handsewing is good. It's an important skill for a serious re-enactor/recreationist to have. Many things are better handsewn than machine sewn, especially when we're talking about pre-20th-C clothing. I have made some things entirely by hand and am the wiser for it.

But long straight seams on the ten tunics you're trying to finish before Pennsic? Shrub, please.

Back to the story: my sewing mojo was drained dry, and took a long time to refill. This weekend, I was ready to knock out a few skirts for the first time in a long time. But there's still that fritzy machine problem.

The short form of the machine problem is this: they really don't make Singers like they used to, and it would cost nearly as much to fix as it would to buy a new machine.

It's not entirely unusable, but a lot of things that ought to work don't, and while I can work around some of them, it's far from ideal.

Still, I thought I could put a couple simple skirts together; at least get them to the point where I could hang them up and let them settle before doing the hems. It's all just straight seams, right?

Ha. Ha ha ha. A-ha. *cough* Ahem.

Yeah, that didn't work out so well. I am not normally one to fling things across the room and scream in frustration, but this time I made an exception. I may also have hopped up and down and uttered unladylike words. I was visibly and audibly irate enough that the Viking noticed and remarked upon it, which is saying something. Usually he just lets my fits of pique pass without comment.

Instead he got up and headed to the laundry room. 'Do I need to put on clean clothes and carry heavy things for you?' he wanted to know.

Well, no. I've been shopping for a new machine for a while, knowing that the mojo would refill, and so I knew already which model I wanted and that Sears would ship it direct to my house. All I had to do was log into their website and place the order.

Which I did. Wonder of wonders, sewing machines were even on sale. I spent this weekend organising fabric, patterns and notions -- of which I have plenty -- so I'm ready to go as soon as the machine gets here.