the skirt of this coat, beginning to take shape
Not quite the classic ‘lingerie and a fur coat’ – a phenomenon that is quite fun and sensuous, but this week I am very proud to have made good progress on a wool coat and bra: I've a) gotten on with some actual sewing and construction, b) got to the Major Phase Two of pulling together the second half of the sweatercoat I’m making, and c) hfixed a bra… Getting from Phase One (starting) to Phase Two (keeping going) sounds pretty darn basic, but it’s rather an epic achievement, in the midst of our dynamic-transformative life right now!!
the chaotic pile of sewing, beneath a chaotic pile of other clothing, whilst I deliberate the next phase...
We also fitted in a day out as 
This week and a half back in Guardia Sanframondi, in the Arthouse (which we now have up online for sale) has helped me in particular, to calm sufficiently that I can pick up my regular rhythm of crafting and repairing. I spent multiple hours this week, sewing and darning – and am starting to see the final shape of my jumper-coat project come to life!
the bodice of the coat - with stripey lining
I also managed to almost-repair this ancient bra, which, like many modern bras, really is not up to the job of gracefully cradling my breasts (though I only wear it very occasionally these days) for more than a year or two. I already had to cut some edges off it which were falling off – and to sew the edges back on… Quite a lot of repair already, but this time the strap elastics AND the lower border lace trim have failed, and so I found my crate of ‘underwear-related’ items, and chose a contrasting fuschia strap and edging. I still have to sew the border on (stretched out, so a bit of a strain to sew by hand)...
I was musing over the difference between hand-sewing versus using the machine(s) too – having felt rather full of tasks and possibilities since we bought the new land, it is tempting to jump (as soon as we have some ‘spare hours’) into labour-saving machinery techniques. I dutifully dusted down, wiped, and rethreaded my serger/ taglia-cuci/ overlocker – but it’s still sitting there, as the hand-sewing was just more cosy and satisfying, at least for now!
But doing it by hand really was laborious: the wool first had to be divided from a 3-ply to one thinner thread that would fit into the (gargantuan) needle, and would actually pull the wool through the wooly cut pieces that I want to join together… The type of stitching was important also; I began with a mix of randomness and messy punti, but over the many hours settled into a sweet rhythm of relatively neat, what I think is called ‘blanket stitch’.
The reverse side of which looks rather nice. For the very beginnings of this sweatercoat I sort of had to use some light blue wool, contrasting with the dark browns of the reconstructed clothing I was working into the coat. Because I could (we were in the town, with shops), and because the balls were on offer (only one euro per skein!), I bought two nice wools in shades of brown. This allows me to be more organic in my stitching! In the skirt of the coat, the different sections are not stretched open much, and so shouldn’t show off the stitching much… possibly.
Seeing the shape of it come together is motivating! But I might have to pick up the serger machine and move the project along – as we may be returning to our mountain hide-out in the next days, and it is less conducive to sitting for long periods, what with the cold and the relative darkness (for now) there.
Sitting for long periods, invece in front of the big stove here, in a cosy and weatherproof room….. aaaaaahhhhhh: soooo nice! Makes us think of how important small comforts are, as the pillars that we build our new life on.
And a continuously-power-full powerbank!! Being in Guardia, we have an excellent close-by source of recharging: in the shared corridor there is a socket attached to the upstairs neighbours’ contattore - and they happen to have caused a shedload of chaos and damages in my house, on several occasions, for which they never compensated me.
Bless them, one of the stranieri couple passed away and the other is too unwell to travel here now – so they haven’t been in their house for at least 7 yrs or so. Having had multiple reasons for taking compensation from them, living under Natural Law and knowing Right from Not Right, we use this socket on their electricity meter to charge our powerbank daily, as it is the easiest and quickest means of having a full powerbank. The total charge, over the total days we are using it, is a drop in the over-10K euros ocean of their accrued damages against my property, but it’s a start!
Being on the land, we’ll obviously have to have both/ either a larger powerbank, more solar panels, and/ or other natural means of powering our machinery. One solution we already have, is the wonderful sewing machine table that was donated by a(nother) straniera, who was clearing a house she’d bought, and thought of us being off-grid; it has a treadle foot and just needs some kind of rubber hoop to join my vintage Brother sewing machine, to it. I should be able to buy the right size of rubber hoop in the garage here, so am estimating exactly how large it needs to be, and hope to have the table set up in the mountain house, when we return. Woop woop!! Unlimited pedal power!! (Until my ankles tire, of course.)
and finally: a painting commission, started yesterday!
So today I might try a bit of serging, depending on how hard it is: the serger with its 4 needles and confounding threading system, usually requires as much time to set up and correct as it saves on actually sewing – and this job is excessive by hand, so the machine might well be the perfect crutch to help me to the finish line!!
Love to you all, dear Needlework friends!
Clare.
