Introducing Beverley

 Here are the first decent photos of my new design, "Beverley". 

The body is knitted in the round, bottom up; sleeves are then picked up and worked seamlessly top down. Simple. Now the work of grading and preparing the pattern for release begins. 

P.S. I installed the spring snaps onto my new Parchment Coat (not as bright as it looks here), and took it off my back for a few moments to grab this pic.

I might not take it off again until spring!

It's a Snap

 The Parchment Coat is almost there. Just need to apply these spring snaps (not ALL of them).

In the meantime, I've been wearing my coat all morning, given winter's return. After all, it's only the middle of February. We all know that winter's grip on us has a way to go before it runs out. I considered a fire in the living room, but then realized I had the coat almost ready and waiting, and I've been nice and cozy since donning it. A definite win in the sewing department.

So happy with the fabric I chose, which works well with all the other makes in my photo: the Hedgewood Sweater, my Pembroke Scarf (bright teal version), and my checked York Pinafore. It's all in keeping with the colour palette I came up with back in 2017. Doesn't that seem a lifetime ago? Enough angst over the last few years for all of us without having to dither over fabric and yarn choices!

The Point

 This morning I made fabric origami.

 As I wrote yesterday, when I need lots of bias tape I like to use the "continuous" method to churn it out. There are lots of YouTube tutorials on how to do this, but once you master it, it's amazingly quick. Above, you can see the chalk lines I drew that would allow me to cut yards and yards (metres?) of 2" bias tape for binding my coat. Then, I filled up my steam iron and, using my Clover bias tape maker, I turned it all into this.

 

 

Ignore the fact that my phone camera wants to make the background grey instead of navy. Next, I sewed a little sample of how the binding will look, just to make sure all would work, and tomorrow the whole coat will be done except for the snap closures. And washing. A quilted coat needs to be washed to develop those essential quilty crinkles.

As I stood admiring my work, Bill looked at me and asked, "Will it look like a "commercial" coat, meaning one bought in a shop. Clearly, he was concerned about being married to someone who might look a trifle embarrassing (to him). I decided not to answer, since there is no way to explain to him that having a coat that doesn't look as though it came off the rack IS ENTIRELY THE POINT!

Everything All at Once

It's not often that TWO projects move along on the same day to the stage that they can be tried on. Not finished, mind you, but joined together sufficiently that they can be put on and checked for fit.

First up, The Coat, as I've come to think of it. Actually, it's Closet Core's Parchment Coat.

Here it is at midday today. All the major seams have been joined, although not all have been pressed, as you can see. After trying it on, I laid out my bias binding to see if I had enough, but alas, I will need to begin my next sewing session making more. I use the continuous method, in case you're curious. FYI, I wasn't sure whether I wanted the binding to be in the print or the green contrast. I looked at a lot of versions of the quilted Tamarack Jacket before opting for the print.

I used Grainline Studio's method for making, quilting, and applying the patch pockets. Very tidy, inside and out.

Now it's afternoon and I'm about to join the shoulders of my simple cable pullover with 3-needle BO. 

Why not graft them together, as in Soiree, the sweater which was my inspiration for this piece? Read this tutorial here to learn the reason. 

We (and our little Mazda 3) seem to have survived the weekend record cold weather. On Saturday, when I woke up the air temperature was minus 31C with a wind chill of minus 38C. (That's minus 24F and minus 36F, for American readers.) We're back to hovering on either side of the freezing point, hopefully with the worst of winter behind us.

View from our house down toward the lake. Thank goodness for the City's sidewalk ploughs.

Bellevue House, in all its 1840s Italian villa-style grandeur, down the street on the way to the lake.

 

I love walking past here; it's a beautiful dose of nature in the middle of the city, even if the apple trees were over-pruned last season.