Respect the turn of cloth

Seems like I have heard this some where before. I probably should have listened better when I heard it. I did run into a small problem with the coats collar. It could have been a design flaw or when I sized up pattern, perhaps I didn't do it right in that area. 

The coats upper collar piece didn't compensate for the turn of cloth. It was made worse by the fact that the wool melton is very thick. Didn't catch it because I have never done a shawl collar and didn't "get " how the pieces went together until construction was well along. So I had a bit of fixing to do. See the solid white line drawn on the back neck facing? 

Thats the seam line for the fabric I had to piece. Quite a bit isn't it? I ended up hand basting piece in to make sure position was right and then stitching it in place. I will have to cover that area with embroidery when I put lining. I was thinking about putting braid over the facing/lining seam or perhaps a embroidery chain stitch. I have some burgundy silk topstitching thread that would be very subtle and perfect. And then a chain of flowers over the seams of my mistake with the collar. It would almost be "on purpose":)

We'll see. What I need to remember here is to make sure to:

1. Check pattern for turn of cloth on collars. It isn't that hard, Kim!

2. Don't get discouraged, you can fix almost any mistake when sewing, just need to calm down and get creative, right?

Till next week..........I have to tack down interfacing and attach shoulder pads. See you then!

The arms are actually attached now.....

I've got pictures too! With summer practically here, I've have really gotten busy with other parts of my life and finding the time to take pictures has been difficult. But not impossible.

So here you go, this is what I did this weekend:

I got the sleeves actually ATTACHED to the jacket! Yeah! This actually may be done by the time the snow flies. I am getting the itch to sew some summer clothes so I have to finish this soon. If I put it aside, it won't EVER be done. I've done that to projects before.

The sleeve were actually quite easy to attach. The wool melton was great to ease into the armhole. I've only set in sleeves a few times before so I was nervous about this. I must have been using difficult fabrics before, because this was a breeze. I just followed the directions in my tailoring book and all was well. You will notice if you look at the sleeves some vertical lines in the sleeve cap. I have not put the sleeve heads in yet. I am thinking(hoping) that that will solve the problem. Could also be the dummy, her arms stick out a bit. I did baste in horizontal and vertical lines to hang the sleeve so I know it it not skewed. We'll see I suppose. 

Here is the armhole from the inside. I pressed the seam allowances between the notches into the sleeve. Below the notches, I cut to the staystitching every 3/4" and pressed seam open, then hand stitched the seam allowance under the arms back onto itself so it would stay tidy. This is supposed to give me more room in the armhole.

Note all the stitching on the back of the armhole. There are 3 rows here and 4 underneath the arm hole. There is one row just on the body of coat(2 underneath the notches) for staystitching. I used this in place of taping the armhole. I was worried about bulk with a 4 layer seam already. The other 2 rows are the actual joining of arm and body. Had to go around twice, didn't stitch quite deep enough the first time and the staystitching showed on the outside.

And heres a side view. Note the cool retro cuffs, they rock! I am pretty close to lining this coat actually. I just have to finish the saddle stitching on the front of the coat,permanently attach the shoulder pads, make the headers, and permanently baste the hymo in place on the front.

Lightning strikes again

Wow, did I get lucky again! Hard to believe I have such good fortune.

We went to Richland Center for the Badger Poultry Club show last year and had to great honor of winning the Chantys first "best in show" with a white bantam cock. I had purchased him about 3 years ago and he is my "old man", the foundation of my flock. It's just AWESOME, knowing that the birds I am breeding are coming from good parents. But I had not actually hatched him. He was somebody else's breeding.

The family went back over the weekend to the same show. We took 5 birds, 2 Brahmas and 3 Chanteclers. All hens and cocks seeing as our young stock is gone.  All the Chants are bred by me. And well..........

Ethan, a 3rd generation cock won a reserve Best in Show! The Chants hit big twice in 2 years, talk about lightning striking twice. I am thrilled beyond words over this one. I bred this bird, yeah! I am doing SOMETHING RIGHT! Of course Ethan is too, he put on quite the show. He danced and preened and convinced everybody he was the man. 

On the baby front, I have 5 chicks out from Buck. Its a start but I would like to get about 30 altogether. 15 from Buck and 15 from Ethan. I have lots of fertiles in the incubator. Yeah! Even about 10 Brahmas, so Mikes birds will be saved also. I will have 15 chicks for sure from Bucks ladies and I have about 5 fertiles from Ethans girls. They are older, so they are laying a bit less. But I will get there!

So here are my handsome boys: The first one is Ethan, and the second is Buck, the older one.