Down Coat Finished

Well, here it is. I started with pattern pieces from two coat patterns. One was a trench coat and the other was a wool pea coat. No one makes patterns for down coats. I added the zipper, hood, and pockets and figured out how to add enough room for the down. It reminds me of the US postal service uniforms. The coat has three complete layers of fabric – the shell and lining are the same blue nylon. Then there’s an interlining of polar fleece to add warmth and prevent the feathers from coming through the shell. The hood is lined with fake fur. It was labeled monster fur, but it reminds me more of seal fur. The cuffs have thick wool knit inner cuffs that extend past my wrist. These were cut from some worn out socks. The quilting is all done by hand on the inside of the coat.

I’m incredibly happy to be finished with this coat, as it has been the most difficult garment I’ve made. I hated the entire process. I’m also happy because the coat fits and is very warm and doesn’t look terrible. The parts I really like are the cuffs because I was able to recycle the old socks, and the hood, which falls into a collar while being one piece. I designed that myself and it looks cool. The terrible part of the coat doesn’t show in the picture, but it really makes a bell shape. The bottom doesn’t fall straight, but fans out in a cone which looks ridiculous. This didn’t happen until I put the feathers in- and there was no going back at that point.

Greetings from Crooky

Happy Holidays!

Dress Form

I finally bought a dress form. We get along great. I’m wearing another new knit top in the photo. It’s kind of ugly, but I’m making lots of knit tops so I can keep experimenting with shapes, hems, and fabrics.

Wool Hat

I knitted this hat. It looks just like one my mom made 25 years ago, except hers was navy and gray. One of my brothers ended up with that hat. It was one of the family possessions we both had our eyes on, but he won that round. We always want the same things.

My strategy in collecting stuff from our parent’s house has simply been to hang around them the most. I mix drinks for my dad and rub my mom’s feet and pretend that their dog is as cute as mine. People are more likely to part with old things after a shopping trip, so I try to get my mom to the mall at least once per visit. Then when she’s finding a place for her new purchase, I might suggest the spot on the window sill where my favorite flower pot sits. If I’m after her jewelry (which is just too easy since I don’t have my brother’s competition here) I just put on a necklace she hasn’t worn much. When she sees it on me she’ll offer it to me.

My sister’s technique is a lot more direct. She’ll just sneak whatever she wants into her suitcase. She’s smart enough to pick things that are stored in the back of closets, so by the time anyone notices the absence she’s back in California.

My other brother probably has the best approach. He never asks for anything. Years pass while three of us are piling up our little trinkets and Mom suddenly realizes she hasn’t given anything to him, so she’ll give him the dining room table or something.

Interview

My friends at Ampolo interviewed me about this blog. Thanks guys!
I was also interviewed a few months ago by Chicago Magazine, but I never saw what they printed.

Watch the video here.

Approaching the Down Coat part 1

I’ve decided to ruin my winter vacation by making a down coat. This and the bathing suit are the most difficult garments I’ve tried to make. I bought the Altra Western Down Parka Kit on eBay. My plan right now is to design my own coat and use the kit’s feathers and some of the instructions. The drawing of the man sewing his own parka was on the side of the box. It's serving as inspiration. He looks so happy. He’s saving 30-50% of the retail cost by sewing the parka himself, say the instructions. The blurry picture of the candle is me searing the fabric. This stuff frays like crazy and searing it melts the edge a little to prevent this. It takes forever, so I’ll probably use my serger instead. I’ve included pages from my sketch book so you can see my thought process.

Approaching the Down Coat part 2

Plaid Turtleneck

I love turtlenecks. I had a great idea the other day while knitting. I’m working on a wool sweater, kitting from the bottom up, so I have plenty of time to think about what the neckline will be. I want it to be a turtleneck but the wool I’m using is too scratchy, so I thought I would just knit the neck with cotton yarn. It would be comfortable and warm! The idea is so practical, I wondered why this isn’t already a standard solution. Then I realized that the washing of the two fibers would be a problem. In my opinion, wool is self-cleaning. If you leave it alone long enough the smells always drop out. This is not the case with cotton. I would end up hand washing the neck, trying to keep the body of the sweater dry and that would be a pain.

Brown and Gray

When I made this top I was inspired by the stairs that I spend most of my time walking up and down. Every staircase at the back of an apartment building or condo in Chicago and Evanston look exactly like this. Same tan bricks, with gray painted stairs. There is only one gray for all the stairs, everywhere. I wonder if the bucket it comes in has a little picture of apartment stairs on it.

Reasonable Pajamas

I noticed that Banana Republic calls their pajama pants sleep pants. I guess it does sound more appealing. I finally made a decent pair of sleep pants and a suitable sleep top, although I screwed up the neckline. I thought I had knits figured out – but it’s never a sure bet when you’re dealing with stretch fabric. The stripes are once again created by the blinds and are not actually present on the clothes.

Accessories by Sharon

My friend Sharon knitted this beautiful scarf and hat for me. Sharon has written many of the comments on this blog and she sometimes posts them anonymously, which I think is really funny because it’s always obvious when she writes. She said this is a Hanukah present – I think because she didn’t want to make me feel obligated to match it, which one would naturally try to do if it were a Christmas present.

I absolutely love to give and receive presents, but the Christmastime pressure can take the fun out of it because everyone is expecting to get gifts. That immediately makes it stressful. It’s so much easier to delight someone with a gift when it comes as a complete surprise. Then there’s no awkwardness about reciprocation. If someone gives me a present out of the blue I can just enjoy it, knowing they weren’t expecting anything. I can take all the time I want deciding what to give them some other time.

My family started holding an auction last year to resolve the gift problem. Everyone brings several wrapped presents. There are no rules about what these presents are, how much they cost, how many there are, or whether they are new. Each family member gets $10,000 of play money for bidding. It makes everyone feel better when the present they brought goes for thousands of dollars when it might have only cost $7 at Walgreens. The auctioneer opens one present and starts the bidding. They can bid too. Whoever wins the item draws a card that gives them an additional instruction, like, collect an extra $500, or give this gift to the second highest bidder. That person is the auctioneer for the next round.

The auction is great because no one ends up with gifts they don’t want. And it’s much more fun to shop for presents generally rather than with specific people in mind. If someone brings a gift that no one bids on they are fined. There was much debate about how much the fine would be, and I can’t remember what it was. It had to be an amount that’s higher than the opening bid, or else you would just bid on the bad present yourself to avoid a fine. Obviously, this whole rule is designed to discourage people from bringing terrible gifts, which isn’t generally a problem in my family (unless I’m the one who keeps bringing them and I still haven’t figured it out).

A Scarf from Mom

My mom knitted this gorgeous scarf for me. She used to knit when we were little. I’m the youngest of four kids and I clearly remember the Christmas when she made us each a pair of gloves or mittens with extra long cuffs to keep our wrists warm. That was some time before I turned seven. I keep track of my childhood memories based on where we were living. I think kids who never moved must have an impossible time sorting out when things happened. Anyway – this is the period of my life when we lived in a house with an in-ground pool. I learned to swim when I was three by watching our golden retriever paddle around. I used to swim after the dog, each of us with a tennis ball in our mouth.

So, mom’s knitting again, which is great. I can’t believe anyone would want to spend their time knitting for someone else. I feel lucky.