My last blog post was May 2023. I had many sewing plans. Three weeks later I broke my wrist into many pieces, had surgery, did PT for many months and didn’t sew at all. It was a sad situation. I sewed a bit in 2024 but partway through the year, I had an existential crisis and decided to apply to grad school to give me options for a different career path. I have been in oncology nursing for 18 years and I will likely continue to do this work for many more, but at some point, I will want to narrow my focus back to spending most of my time one on one with patients. Right now I have many administrative responsibilities, am pulled in many directions, and am feeling a bit frazzled. So I am now about to start my third (of 11) term at Duke Divinity School because some day, I would like to transition to being a hospital chaplain. It’s amazing. It’s challenging. It is a privilege. It is a four year long program so it is a journey! Needless to say between working full time as a nurse practitioner and doing a graduate degree at the same time leaves very little time for sewing. But I just had a 5 week breaks and I dove into many unfinished projects inspired by the Thread Loop app which lets me see the projects by status so each time I look at the list, I see what I have finished and what is in process. It may sound silly but it really keeps me on task.

Today I was supposed to be on my way to our Seminary immersion week for the Summer term. Immersion week is a 5-day intensive in-person session, but Delta texted me last night and cancelled my flight and told me sorry, no other available flights. So, I am flying out tomorrow on American and thought I would document some of my sewing wins.

This month I finished a long-time WIP: a corduroy Oslo coat which I have been working on for several years. It was inspired by a brown corduroy coat that I love and still wear, 26 years after buying it in New York. This was a challenging sew. I had a plan for a quilted lining but after sewing it, I scrapped it because it was too stiff. The unfinished coat sat in my sewing room for literally years until Blackbird Fabrics had a navy flannel back lining fabric on sale which called my name. The coat is full of mistakes, but I love it, and it feels great on, and I know I will wear it all the time next Fall. Here are some pictures that don’t do it justice. I love the pattern that the corduroy makes on the shawl collar. I sewed whatever the largest size was: 16 maybe? and added 3 inches to the length and 2 to the sleeves which ended up possibly too long, but I like them with the sleeve turned back so you can see the lining. I expect to wear it over jeans as my noodling around NYC Fall coat.

The second project I finished this month is a Grainline Tamarack jacket with a hood and zipper. I used the quilted Merchant and Mills cotton that is all the rage. I went a bit rogue and didn’t use bias binding. It wasn’t an issue anywhere except where the hood met the zipper. But I fudged it a bit and it works well enough and it is a perfect slouchy hoody. This is my third Tamarack but not my last. I love the pattern. I made a straight size 12 which is what I have sewn each time. No adjustments. So comfortable.

The third WIP I finished this month is a Helen’s Closet Pona Jacket in a beautiful plaid tweed linen that I got in NYC at Gray Lines Linens in the Garment District some time before the pandemic. I cut this project out at least two years ago. I believe that I cut a large based on my measurements. I was happy with the end result but I found the sewing process a bit stressful. Helen uses a creative approach that encloses the seams but it makes it challenging to adjust things along the way. I usually use a hem facing so I can adjust the length at the end and that wasn’t possible here so I followed the directions and prayed. I think it was fine in the end but I might change how I construct it next time. I would like to sew another version in a pink linen from my stash. I wore it when I preached a sermon recently. I preached on one of the healing stories in the Gospel of Mark. If you are interested, you can listen here, starting at minute 40.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KKN_Xdb0do8

It is short and sweet. I mostly talk with my hands as you can see below.

Finally, I sewed a new to me pattern, the Closet Core Chloe Jeans. I love them. I sewed a straight 12. They fit generally great, but the back gapes a bit. I inserted some elastic which helps. I am already sewing a second pair and I am trying a couple of tweaks to perfect the fit. I will report back! I used a black heavyweight denim that I have owned for years. I am sewing a corduroy pair now. Also stash fabric. If my tweaks work, I want to sew a brown denim pair. I tend to sew multiples of the same pattern.

Finally, I finished two scrap quilts that I wanted to sew for the beds my grandsons will sleep on when they visit. I worked on these a bit at a time. I had lots of quilting cotton left over from various projects and I wanted to sew these up while the kids are young enough to enjoy the designs. I cut strips 6.5 inches wide with my quilting ruler and then sliced them into 6.5 X 4.5 inch rectangles and then when I had time, I would sew a strip of 22 of them. The final quilts were 10 strips wide. One strip of precut rectangles takes me about 30 minutes to sew so I was able to do this in easy chunks as a study break this winter when I was too busy to tackle any more complicated projects. I sent them to be longarm quilted and backed them heavyweight cotton plaid. The kids don’t know that I made them so it will be a surprise. I expect that they will probably go home with them to the Midwest and if that is the case, I plan to make more of these to have in the house when kids visit. It was a fun and satisfying sew and sending them off to be long-armed made all the difference. I used a pattern called Domestic Waves. the longarm quilter is Wild Phil Quilting (highly recommend) and I love the post-wash crinkle (see photo above. The pictures below are before washing so you can see the design. Would use this one again. It is great with the straight lines of the rectangles.)

A big reason I am getting things done is that I started using the Thread Loop website. I catalogued all of my patterns (and added free patterns I don’t have but could use) and most of my fabric and I now feel so organized. You can create projects and sort them and it helps me not lose track of ideas I may have while keeping me focused on the project at hand. If you haven’t tried it, I highly recommend it.

I have been limiting my fabric purchases and it is so helpful to see what you own in the app and match what you have with the patterns you want to sew. I am excited to sew the Made by Rae Sapphire Dress this Summer and the Closet Core Claire shorts and I bought the new Friday Pattern Company pants pattern because I was intrigued by how simple it is. It will either be great or a fail but I am willing to risk trying. I have generally had great luck with the Closet Core pants block so plan to make more Mitchell Trousers and their Rika pants in addition to the Chloe Jeans. Being able to sew pants that fit feels like a superpower (more pants pictures below for good measure. The fit really is great-almost perfect.)

I haven’t been doing a lot of reading but my Libby library hold came in today and I am totally engrossed in Heartwood. I am also excited to read the new Ali Smith. I love everything she writes.

Well that is it for now. I am hoping to continue my sewing momentum but I am off to school tomorrow so it may be another while before I post again but hopefully not two years.