Poncho and I spent a couple of hours in the sewing room Sunday afternoon, and it was a good, successful day.
I managed to fold, photograph, and catalog only a few pieces of fabric. More importantly however, I managed to set up a corner with good light where I could photograph said fabric with pretty good, and true-to color results. This is something that had eluded me during the summer, so I am much happier about the process of cataloging now and better photographs will be a boon.
I also finished the last sheet, the fitted sheet I wrote about in my last post. I did not successfully manage to photograph the process. I am not a good enough photographer to show anything useful in terms of white-on-white photography. But I am even happier with this sheet than I was with the first, mostly because I simply did a neater job, with nicely mitered and felled corners seams. My hems and seams were also neater and more even. Admittedly this is simply the benefit of increased practice, but I managed to vary my activity more, balancing sitting and standing, so I suffered less from back pain and the toll that takes on my patience.
Once upon a time I was meticulous about things being neat and beautiful, perhaps obsessively so, ripping and redoing and often tossing unsatisfactory projects. But time continues to remind me of the old adage that "perfect is the enemy of good", and I have been out of practice for far too long. It is enough to have good, functional items, and to see improvement each time I am in the sewing room.
Besides it seems that that perfectionism, the process of not allowing oneself to make mistakes, is really all about self-criticism, and makes it more difficult to actually grow creatively and develop pride in workmanship for its own sake.
I did elasticize the entire sheet this time around. When I went to the store to buy thread I also bought elastic. Running elastic through the entire seam on the bottom of the fitted sheet was a bit time consuming, but it was time spent pleasantly in front of the television. Stretching and sewing the elastic to the sheet would have been, perhaps, more annoying, at least to me. Perhaps there is yet a third option. I would think the easiest would be to thread the elastic simply through channels in the corners, rather than stitching it down as I did on the first sheet. Hopefully it will be a few years before I test that theory.
It will be interesting to note any differences between the two sheets over time. Will elastic and elastic placement affect long-term performance? How will the quality of the fabric affect performance since the sheets are noticeably different? These are exactly the kind of questions my nerdier side enjoys. I cannot replace either piece of fabric, but the knowledge gained will still play a role in my understanding of fabrics overall, and future choices, whenever they may occur.
I do love sleeping on my new linen sheets. I love the crispness, and even the weight of them. Yes, the feel of these sheets is a bit coarser or more rustic than my previous linen sheets, but I find that bothers me less as I get used to them. And there is something incredibly delicious about being ensconced in a bed that feels sensuous to the touch as well as warm (or cool) and comforting.
I still need to make pillowcases. But that will require washing another piece of linen. The pillowcases will be smoother than the sheets simply because the only white linen I have on hand is either a damask or double damask. I need to do some math to check how much yardage I need, and if either will work, I will simply chose the one that feels the most delicious next to my face. Since pillowcases are smaller, I may be able to manage photos.
I finished up my sewing afternoon by making some washcloths on strings, something like the loofa or back scrubbers you can buy various places. Most of the ones I have found have been too fancy, too big, too rough, or they don't hold up to heavy washing. The washcloth portion is only 18" wide on mine, but that is enough since I move them back and forth anyway, and the handles are longer than most of the commercially available versions I have found. In short they work for me.
I keep a supply of basic, inexpensive, white towels in the house in various sizes for cleaning and odd jobs. They are always white so they can be bleached. I cut up one 18" wide towel to make four cloths and rather than cord, which I find problematic in that it seems to mildew faster, I used a white cotton tape I had gotten at JoAnn fabrics during the last sale. I am just guessing that 4 is the right number for use between wash loads. Since I tend to use cloth towels rather than paper towels as much as possible, there tends to be more than one load of towels each week. Anyway, it is easy enough to make more. I think it took less than half an hour to whip up these four, less time than it would take me to drive to Target, which is pretty close, and buy anything.
