Turquoise Dish Towels

Pattern/Technique: Followed warping instructions from Gist Beginner Cotton Towels by Sara Resnick, then improvised on the weft.

Warp: 8/4 Brassard Cotton; using the number of ends specified in the Beginner Cotton Towels patter, alternated Peacock, Denim, Peacock, Denim, Peacock

Weft: Used combination of peacock, sage, denim in various patterns. Wove each towel to 26” on loom. Wove 2 picks of contrast color between towels.

Materials: Maurice Brassard 8/4 Cotton in Peacock, Sage, Denim

12 dent reed

Stick Shuttle

Lessons/Notes: After weaving to desired length on loom, I zigzag stitched the front and back end of the cloth on a sewing machine, washed the cloth in the washing machine, then zig zag stitched 2x at the split between towels.

I folded each end under 2x and straight stitched to secure the hem.

Care: Machine wash, tumble dry

Pekka Jacket

Pattern/Technique: Pekka Jacket by Ready to Sew in size 50, view A (narrow collar, non-folded sleeves)

Modifications: n/a

Materials: 2.75 yds Kaufman Essex (cotton linen blend) in Navy for exterior. 3 yds Ankara cloth for lining (cut on cross-grain to have large rosettes at the bottom of the jacket lining).

New skills: bagging a jacket lining

Lessons: I think because I used two different types of fabric (cotton/linen exterior and cotton lining) and cut the lining fabric on the cross-grain, I ended up with the exterior fabric growing and being larger than the lining at the sleeve hems and bottom hem of the jacket. I cheated the sleeve hems and made a small pleat in the exterior fabric to make it match the lining. The remedy for the bottom hem was more extensive:

  • Steamed the exterior fabric (cotton/linen essex) to tighten up the fabric weave.

  • Aligned the lining with the bottom hem and folded under excess fabric to prevent the lining from relaxing below the exterior fabric. (I had this happen with the black & white Unfolding Jacket I made where I cut the mariners cloth lining on the cross-grain.)

  • Basted and stabilized the lining & main fabrics using Wonder Tape.

  • Hand sewed the seam using a blind stitch.

Hand sewing through Wonder Tape was horrible. The moisture on my hands activated the adhesive so I had sticky fingers and a sticky needle. I ended up removing the piece hanging out of the steam 2/3 of the way through hand sewing for sanity. Next time I’ll be more careful with my placement to make sure I’m not stitching through the Wonder Tape.

Thread gloss is a boon for preventing knots in thread while hand sewing.

What I'd do differently: Next time I’ll cut the lining on the grain so that I can compensate for the exterior fabric stretching using the cross-grain stretch of the lining fabric.

Care: Machine wash cold, lay flat to dry.