Scene from a Shut-In
Apr. 19th, 2020 07:10 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
mishadayI am a fairly crafty person, cursed with a penchant for collecting (I've been informed it's not hoarding if you take care of it and store it properly) the materials necessary for what is at this point, too many things for me to finish unless I retire NOW.
At some point I got it into my head that I would pick up quilting. Instead I picked up a random set of fat quarters (a quarter-yard of patterned cotton fabric) over the years (mostly by going OOH, PRETTY when wandering through craft and fabric stores), a rotary cutter and a cutting mat. And a stack of white sheets to use as backing, and somewhere a fitted sheet crept in and I took off the corner seams to use it as a drop cloth.
While I still haven't picked up quilting, (I did make a baby quilt for my niece, which I sometimes forget!) I had the perfect accouterments to start mask-making. That doesn't even touch the other remnants of sewing adventures that I tucked away. (I've been watching an historical costumer make some things as a backdrop to my craftitude, and she calls her bag of cloth scraps a cabbage patch, full of cut cabbage. It's delightful!) The fabric needed for a mask is really minuscule in comparison to other projects, so while I first thought about the fat quarters, then I started in on other things.
I've got 3 and a half masks completed (The last only lacks elastic, which I do have) and I've spent the afternoon poking through my stash, washing some things, cutting out more masks (7 more to so far) and discovering odds and ends which will be re-purposed for masks: the outer edges of a sheet that had been worn through in the middle (excellent inside to the masks), some heavier colored dress shirts that I'd sliced off the seams in prep to make them a rag quilt. I have only touched one of my fat quarters - I have 4 that are wine-bottle themed, and the rest I've been looking at scraps and thinking about the bag of clothes I was going to give to goodwill, but that has instead been sitting in my car for two months...
I've been using two different patterns - one is more fitted, and the other more of a traditional surgical mask look. The surgical mask is easier to cut: just a rectangle, but I like the other mask - it's more comfortable, and it can be modified to use a shoelace if you're out of elastic. I started the top-stiching, and even though it'd been years, it all came right back to me: threading the sewing machine, turning and pressing, and fucking up the facing of the fabric so you have to repin everything. Getting out the seam ripper... but it's been on the whole a good rediscovery of rusty skills.
At some point I got it into my head that I would pick up quilting. Instead I picked up a random set of fat quarters (a quarter-yard of patterned cotton fabric) over the years (mostly by going OOH, PRETTY when wandering through craft and fabric stores), a rotary cutter and a cutting mat. And a stack of white sheets to use as backing, and somewhere a fitted sheet crept in and I took off the corner seams to use it as a drop cloth.
While I still haven't picked up quilting, (I did make a baby quilt for my niece, which I sometimes forget!) I had the perfect accouterments to start mask-making. That doesn't even touch the other remnants of sewing adventures that I tucked away. (I've been watching an historical costumer make some things as a backdrop to my craftitude, and she calls her bag of cloth scraps a cabbage patch, full of cut cabbage. It's delightful!) The fabric needed for a mask is really minuscule in comparison to other projects, so while I first thought about the fat quarters, then I started in on other things.
I've got 3 and a half masks completed (The last only lacks elastic, which I do have) and I've spent the afternoon poking through my stash, washing some things, cutting out more masks (7 more to so far) and discovering odds and ends which will be re-purposed for masks: the outer edges of a sheet that had been worn through in the middle (excellent inside to the masks), some heavier colored dress shirts that I'd sliced off the seams in prep to make them a rag quilt. I have only touched one of my fat quarters - I have 4 that are wine-bottle themed, and the rest I've been looking at scraps and thinking about the bag of clothes I was going to give to goodwill, but that has instead been sitting in my car for two months...
I've been using two different patterns - one is more fitted, and the other more of a traditional surgical mask look. The surgical mask is easier to cut: just a rectangle, but I like the other mask - it's more comfortable, and it can be modified to use a shoelace if you're out of elastic. I started the top-stiching, and even though it'd been years, it all came right back to me: threading the sewing machine, turning and pressing, and fucking up the facing of the fabric so you have to repin everything. Getting out the seam ripper... but it's been on the whole a good rediscovery of rusty skills.
