Sewing Garments . . .

. . . and a couple other odds and ends:)

Last year David remodeled a house for a woman who worked at Pendleton Woolen Mills.  She was really nice and gave him some very heavy wool fabric since she knew I sewed.  It kind of got stashed on the back of a shelf, probably hoping no one would remember it!!  I sure didn't!  Unfortunately, when my brother was visiting, he was talking about buying some fabric and it triggered David's memory.  I found the fabric and showed it, and he figured I probably should do something about making it into something.  And, since I love him so much, I did.

The night before Christmas Eve I cut it out.  It was so hard to cut out two layers of that fabric; it left my hand sore.  I hate cutting out pieces for clothes.  I just want to get to the real part of making it into something.  I figured I'd got past the hard part and sewing it up would be a breeze.  Ha-ha!!  Little did I know. 

First of all I used a bigger pattern than the last time I sewed him a shirt (something like 10-15 years ago).  I really can't remember the last time I made one, so I know it was a long time ago.  I had two sizes of the pattern I'd used for him.  The lady had also given him a premade Pendleton shirt, so I measured the pattern pieces to it.  The size large pattern I'd used before was smaller, so I decided to go with x-large, which seemed reasonable since I always buy XL for him in the store.  Big mistake!!

I sewed the front and back together and draped it over him.  It was like a huge cape!  After much trimming and re-trying it on, I finally decided it would be fine, and finished it.  I thought I'd use snaps on it because they're always easier for me to put on and for him to take it off.  I put all the snaps on (and it was hard work because the fabric was soooo thick).  Then I closed up all the snaps and it looked great.  I pulled them open and half of the snaps came apart.  The fabric was just too thick to use the snaps I had.  So, I took all of them off and did buttons and buttonholes. 

I really still need to buy more buttons for it and replace what I have on there.  They were just some buttons I had on hand and they're too small since the fabric is so thick.

Here he is, loving his shirt/jacket.  It's still plenty big, but he's recalling from when I made him some before that they do shrink.  He gets it wet outside and dries it by the fire and I think that's how it will shrink.

Unfortunately, I have more of the fabric left:(  My boys are begging for one, but at this point I can't think of making another one!  It really wouldn't be so bad if I knew I could just sew it up and it would fit.  Anyway, I don't have a pattern for them right now, so I have an excuse to put it off!!!

In other news . . . Tanner is 11 months old.  I couldn't get a happy picture because he had an ear infection and is teething.  His favorite place to race off to is my bathroom.  He hasn't dug in any toilets (yet!!).  I'm not sure what's so great about my bathroom . . . maybe he likes to go stand at the tub??  He has to scoot right past the hall bathroom to get to mine and that door can be open and he'll ignore it.  Therefore, I'm always having to remember to close my bathroom door . . . and telling others who don't close it that they may have to clean up after him if he makes a mess:)

He doesn't crawl . . . he scoots on his behind.  His right hand moves him pretty fast.

David and the boys have been trapping.  The boys built their own cage traps and have them out at their uncle and aunt's house. The first day they checked them, Clayton, Forrest and Christopher all had muskrats.  Since then, Forrest (the smallest) has gotten two more!!  I'm not keeping too good of track, but I know David has gotten an otter and bobcat in the past week.

My nephew got married in December.  Reid (on the right) and his cousin (who was the bride's cousin) were ushers.  I managed to get them to stand still long enough to let me get one picture:)

I made this cake for the wedding.

By the way, it's a pet peeve of mine, how the spacing is above this cake picture.  There are no spaces in the draft and I don't know how they suddenly decided to be here in the final product!!

And, as usual, I should probably turn in for the night . . . or morning, as the case may be:)