Saturday, April 2, 2016

Three Finishes and One Monthly Goal (April)

Three finishes and its only the first day of the month.

Actually, no this isn't an April fools joke. I really did finish three projects today. And some dishes and some grocery shopping. Boy do I feel accomplished.

Last week Jack and I decided to make a couple loaner surcoats so that our new Dagorhir recruits would have something to wear to the Eryndor event this weekend. Two days ago he cut them out for me and I started stitching them together yesterday.

I made two of these :)
They went together pretty fast, the only problem is that I felt like I was 90% done once I had all the pieces together. I always forget how long it takes to hem things.  Ugh. Hemming. I really need to figure out how to use the rolled hem feet I have for my sewing machine.

After those were completed, I made a hood for Jack. He'll be outside in the snow and rain on Saturday. I'm hoping it won't rain much and will be warmer than predicted, but I've had the plans and materials to make this hood since last year so I figured it was about time to get it done.


I used a "pattern" I found to free online. You can find it here: A Medieval Cowl. I made a few changes to the pattern, starting with I lined it with fleece like I did with my green hood. For the actual hood, I made gently curving instead of the squared off back shown in the picture. The lining makes it very stiff and it doesn't hang correctly otherwise. Other than that, I mostly just winged it, had Jack try it on several time during the process, and am generally happy with how it turned out (and so is he, by the way). 

A couple more notes on the hood pattern - there isn't a size estimate for the hole for the head.  I cut my green one too large last year and had to gather the cowl to fit, so this time I cut it about 5-6 inches in diameter. Oddly enough, it was big enough except for a little shaping at the center front. My advice is to make the hole small and enlarge it only as needed.

The oak leaf clasp is one that we picked up at Ragnarok a couple of years ago from the vendor that does blacksmithing and metalwork. I wish I could remember his name, he really does some amazing art. 

So now finally, we get to the One Monthly Goal Setting part of this rather long post. 

I've been going easy on myself the last couple of months, so this time around we're going to make it harder. I have a Craftsy class on embroidery digitizing software. I've made it through 2.5 out of 9 lessons. This is going to be a real challenge, because she's not teaching the software I have, which means I need to take the extra step to figure out how to do the same thing in my program.


My goal this month is to finish the class AND the projects that go with it - with the qualification that I can change the design as long as I complete the task. Because there's no way I'm going to want to stitch a redwork bow or a modern applique butterfly. But a redwork celtic knot or an applique quilt block I would be more than happy to do.

So I'd love to hear, what are your plans for April?

3 comments:

  1. Wow well done on being super productive. Love the hood, it looks amazing. Don't have any set plans for April yet but have an idea or two floating around in my brain.

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  2. Your sewing is amazing Kaelyn. Beautiful job on them. I love the hoodie.

    Linda

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  3. It was probably The Crafty Celt. I bought a clasp forever ago (maple leaf?) from them and still love it. I haven't even thought about a crafty goal for April. This needs to change!

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