The Wool Blanket Jacket

I may have a bit of an obsession with wool fabric. It started a year and a half ago when I bought my bolt of purple plaid wool. After making a capelet out of my purple plaid wool last fall and lining it with what used to be a wool skirt, I've discovered what a great fabric source thrifted wool garments can be. Now no trip to a thrift store is complete with out a wander through the skirts to see what wool beauties I can find. Occasionally I find wool in other areas too, such as the linens. A month or two ago I happened upon this wool blanket.

It being all wool, and plaid wool at that, I couldn't leave it behind. What would I make out of it though? A couple weeks later I happened across this blog post about making a jacket out of a wool blanket. There, that is what I wanted to do.  A jacket, with an asymmetrical front closure. I sketched out my idea then got to work.

I started cutting up my blanket and draping it around myself. Yep, I wasn't going to use a pattern if I could help it.

I'm working on making myself less dependent on patterns. Sewing is fun for me because I can make it as challenging or as easy as I want it to be that day. I'm always learning, always trying to get better at my craft and master new skills. Currently that skill is draping and drafting my own patterns. With this blanket only costing me $4, it seemed like a good canvas for me to practice on.

The body of the jacket was was easy enough to figure out. It required about half the length of the blanket. The blanket was just wide enough to make the front and back of the jacket. I cut the front diagonal as I'd envisioned and cut slits for the arm holes. Looking back I should have shaped the arm holes more, but at the time I was trying to retain as much shoulder width as possible (commercial patterns are almost always too narrow through the shoulders for me.)

I stitched up the shoulder seams and tried it on, it worked! Next up, the sleeves.

I made two tubes from the other half of the blanket. I added a little bit of shaping to the sleeve head so that my sleeves would fit right, then sewed them on, attached the lining, made pockets, and added some buttons. In one evening I had a jacket done, and I wasn't overly fond of it. 

(sorry for the wonky mirror selfies, there was no one around to take pics for me)

The jacket needed something else, like a hood. Yes! That was it, my jacket needed a hood, or a shoulder cape-like thing. Oh! It needed a shoulder-cape thing that turned into a hood, just like on Simplicity 1254, a pattern I've admired several times but never bought. At that moment I was really regretting never buying that pattern, despite being tempted to many times. I had no idea how to make a cape thing that could convert to a hood thing. I searched for tutorials online. No luck. I considered waiting until Simplicity patterns were on sale again, then buying the pattern and finishing the jacket. Hmm, no. I really wanted to get this jacket done, and I'd come this far without a pattern, surly I could finish without one. So I took my scrap. . .

trimmed off the fringe. . .

and started draping the fabric around my shoulders. 

I had to piece together all of my scraps, but eventually, I had it! 

A cape. . .

That converts to a hood. . .

With the help of a drawstring woven through little button holes around the edge of the cape/hood.

The cape/hood was just what the jacket needed! I love it now!

The jacket closes with two buttons at the neck, and a third hidden button beneath those. 

I lined the jacket in a soft purple rayon I found at a thrift store.

The only thing a dislike about the jacket is how the pockets look. They work well, but they could look better. I have an idea of how to fix them, I just need to take the time to try my idea out.

Even with the less than perfect pockets, I've been wearing this jacket a lot lately. Giselle approves of it!

Speaking of Giselle, she has been growing like a weed and is quite friendly! I'm so happy to have this daughter of Sombrita.

Whenever I go out to the goat pen she runs over to say hi. I can't wait to see how she turns out as she grows!

A wool blanket to a snuggle-y warm goat-approved jacket. I can't complain about how this refashion turned out!

Kidding 2016- Done! (Katniss)

Katniss. Darned goat. She finally kidded. Before I get into that though, let me give you the back story. Katniss is loud, very loud. "Give me attention!" she screams every time she has reason to suspect a human is outside. Many times I have heard a goat crying as if something were wrong, only to run to the pen and find Katniss, perfectly fine. Another thing about Katniss, she only has three (yes just 3) hooves. "Why?" You ask, well, she hasn't always been that way, nor has she always been as talkative as she is now.

For the first 2 years of her life Katniss was a perfectly normal goat. A beautiful kid, a Grand Champion yearling at the County Fair , then a first freshener who had twin does and got them all cleaned up before I even got outside one snowy March day. A couple months after her first kidding, Katniss disappeared, just flat out disappeared. We walked the entire pasture looking for her. She was no where to be found. We search some more, still no Katniss. After two days we gave up and considered her gone. Part of the field was flooded at the time, so we figured she'd some how managed to get swept away by the flood (strange as goats avoid getting their feet wet at all costs and typically have enough sense to avoid flood water). A week and a half later Katniss appeared. She just limped into the lot one morning at feeding time. Imagine my surprise!

It looked like she had gotten something, most likely some sort of wire, wrapped around one of her back hooves. In the following weeks her hoof fell off due to having the blood supply cut off for those 10 days she was missing. To this day I have no idea where she was when she disappeared, but I'm very glad to have her back! Though no longer a show goat, Katniss is a very good brood doe, with some excellent bloodlines, so I keep her around.

Another thing about Katniss, It's nearly impossible before she kids to have any idea when she's gonna kid. I was saying "any day now" for three months last year! Almost as soon as she's pregnant, she looks pregnant, and by halfway through her pregnancy she's bagged up. Darned goat. I have had way to many interrupted nights of sleep thanks to having to check on her!

Finally last Wednesday, she kidded, bringing an end to my kidding season with twin bucks.

While most of the time she's very loud, while in labor Katniss is one of the quietest goats you ever saw. (which explains how we've missed two of her four kiddings) If I hadn't been outside Wednesday morning I never would have guessed she was in labor. She was acting normal, came with the other goats to eat and everything, just quiet. 

Then, when she was ready she just got down to business and had these babies, quiet as can be. Twin bucks. I would have loved a doeling out of her, but, I guess I can't really complain, because with three previous kiddings, she's only had one other buck. 

So, that concludes my kidding season, 10 does kidded, resulting in 19 live babies, 8 does and 11 bucks. I'm happy! (and very excited about the fact I no longer have to go outside at 2 a.m.to check on pregnant goats!

The Flowy Sleeved Dress

Once again, I found myself in the fabric section of Hobby Lobby when I went in for something else entirely. I stumbled across this remnant of printed cotton knit fabric, it appealed to me so I grabbed it and walked on to what I'd actually gone in to get that day.

When I grabbed this fabric I already knew exactly what I wanted to make out of it. Remember my shirt with half-circle sleeves I made a few weeks back? Well, my sister really wanted something with sleeves like that, preferably a dress. I only had a yard of this fabric. Surely, I could squeak a simple shift dress with half-circle sleeves out of that?  The dress though would hold so much more visual interest if I added a contrasting fabric. So I went on a search through my sewing room. I wanted a blue to match the larger motifs on the fabric. I dug looked through my fabric stash to see what I could find. I found a knit in the perfect shade of blue, but it was a slippery poly-knit, not what I wanted for this project. Next, I went through my refashion bin, nothing there. Finally, I headed to my closet. I found this shirt.

I'd had it since my freshman year of high school and haven't worn it in a couple years. It was nearly worn out. The shirt was the right color, and I wouldn't miss it if I cut it up. Perfect!

I used a simple shift dress pattern in my sister's size as my template, adjusting where necessary to make what I had in mind. The remaining fabric I cut into two half-circles for the sleeves. I had to piece together one sleeve due to the limited fabric amount. From the shirt, I cut a yoke for the dress and some other fun details.

The dress came together really easily and my sister loves it!

The flowy sleeves are her favorite part of the dress.

The deep v and the bow on the back of the dress are probably my favorite details.

I also really like the little ruffle on one side of the band at the bottom of the dress. I made the band by piecing together what was left of the shirt after I cut out the yoke. In order to get enough fabric for the band I had to cut into the ruffled neck band or make a narrower skirt band. I decided the little ruffle would be a fun, unexpected, detail on the side of the dress.

The dress came out a little on the large side, but that's ok. It's not way too big, so it just that means my sister can wear this dress for a little longer than she otherwise would. Hopefully it remains a favorite!

This dress came out a success, hopefully I can do just as well on the Easter dresses I need to make next week. Now back to sewing and baby goats I go!

A Bag Refashion

One evening once I had finished my current sewing project I looked around my sewing room, trying to figure out what to work on next. I had some big projects to work on, but none of those appealed to me at that moment. I wanted something small and quick. My eyes fell on this computer bag.

My aunt gave it to me several years ago for Christmas, a nice bag, but as I already had a computer bag (with a shoulder strap!) I've never used this one. That night I decided it needed a purpose.

My little sister has some stuff she must carry with her where ever she goes. To hold this stuff she needs a small purse-type bag with lots of pockets so nothing gets lost. The idea hit me, I could refashion this bag for my sister!

First, I carefully detached the zipper from the sides of the bag with my seam ripper. Then, I cut the bag down to the size I thought would work best for my sister. Once that was done, I cut a circle of pink fabric to applique over the embroidered "A" (not my sister's first initial). I used fabric paint on the circle to add my sister's monogram.

That left me with this, a good base for lots of pockets! The outside of the bag and the lining were, at this point, only connected to each other at the top, where I'd left part of the zipper attached. This made it easy to add pockets to both the inside and outside of the bag.

A cute pocket on the outside of the bag, and. . .

. . .nice big pockets on the inside, to keep my sister's stuff all organized.

Once the pockets were sewn on, I re- attached the zipper and sewed up the bottom of the bag, using wide bias tape to finish my seams.

There! My sister had a new bag, with, hopefully, enough pockets to keep her things organized, and that cute computer bag, finally, was gonna get used!

Now, the all-important question, does my sister like this bag and use it? Yes! This bag refashion was a success! 

The Long Sweater/Sweatshirt/Hoodie Thing

Around Christmas I decided I wanted a long sweatshirt/hoodie/sweater thing. I saw a girl wearing one somewhere and I decided it looked really comfy, so I wanted to make one. I made a long cardigan by refashioning a sweater dress, but that wasn't exactly what I was wanting. I found a thick sweatshirt knit fabric at Joann's that would be perfect for the project.

Actually, this is the same type of fabric as I used to line my brother's camo jacket, just with a fun sweater-esque print. It looks like sweater knit on the outside and is fuzzy like a sweatshirt on the backside. I used a Joann's gift card (given to me by my lovely aunt for Christmas) to get the fabric, then got to work.

I adapted the pattern I used for my brothers' camo jackets, McCall's M6614 to make my sweatshirt/hoodie/sweater thing. I just lengthened the pattern all around and curved the bottom of the front pieces some.

I used the leftover lining fabric from my brother's jacket to trim my sweatshirt with. I whipped  my sweater up one evening in January, and happily wore it the next day. I promptly discovered it needed pockets. So, when I got home that day I add two large patch pockets.

After wearing my sweater/sweatshirt/hoodie thing a few more times I decided it needed to button up the front. Despite my rather large button collection, somehow I had none that looked quite right for this. I wore the sweater as it was, button-less, to Indianapolis last month with my mom and brother. 

While there my mom and I went to a couple fabric stores. In one I found the perfect, large, colorful, buttons. So, I bought three, a blue, a red, and a green, brought them home, then, finally, got them sewn on (between baby goats arriving) during the first week of kidding season.

I love how the buttons finished off the sweater/hoodie/sweatshirt! I thought I wore it plenty before I sewed those on, but now that I actually have a way to close up the front of my sweater, I wear it so much more!

This was definitely a project worth making! It's perfect for wearing on days when I have run a bunch of errands, and really don't want to be bothered with a heavy coat, but need something to ward off the cold during the dash from the truck to the building. (my awesome sister took these pictures for me at the Library on one such day last week) 

At this point I have plenty of shirts, skirts, and dresses in my closet, so I really don't need to make anymore of those, and I'm not to the point where I want to attempt to sew my own jeans, so outerwear is a good choice for sewing projects. What else can I sew in that category? I will have to figure that out. . .

Kidding 2016, Week Two

Kidding week one concluded with 7 goats kidding and a total of 14 live kids.

Just hanging out on an old feed trough, like you do

Not to bad for one week, though I was looking forward to a much slower week (with more free time for sewing and fewer interrupted nights of sleep ) for week two. I had three pregnant goats left, two of which I figured weren't due for another few weeks at least. Well I was right, and I was wrong.

Apparently the best place to hang out is on Mama's back

The first half of the week was slow. Finally, Thursday morning, the final goat I expected to kid in February, Emerald (Sombrita's great granddaughter), was in labor. And I had to go to work! (Darned goat, I'd been home all day Wednesday, why couldn't she have kidded then?)

Emerald being a first timer and on the small side, I was a little concerned about not being around when she kidded. I didn't expect anything to go wrong, but still, I wanted to be around just in case.
Well, I went to work like a good girl, and discovered I have the best boss in the world! I told her I had a goat in labor and she had no problem with me coming back home for the morning, until the goat kidded. So, I came back home and a couple hours later Emerald had twin bucks, all on her own, no problems! 

Emerald is my sister's goat so she stayed close the whole time

I like kiddings that go like that! My sister and I got the new mama and babies moved into a warm shed and back to work I went.

Emerald has proven to be a good first time mama

Saturday I had a day full of work ahead of me, all of the previous weekend's babies were getting disbudded, sheds needed to be cleaned, and I was going to worm and trim hooves on all the new mamas. So, Saturday morning I got to work. While trimming hooves I noticed Sombrita was acting a little strange. Could she be in labor? I didn't think she was due for another month. I kept an eye on her, but continued with hoof trimming and worming. Once all the mamas had freshly trimmed hooves I went to check on Sombrita. She was definitely in labor, and very close to kidding! My mom, sister and I took some towels out to the pasture and waited. After lots of pacing, laying down, standing up, and more pacing, Sombrita had one big single. . .

DOELING!!!

Yes! A doeling! Her first doe in four years!

I'm so happy to have a Sombrita Jr! I've named her Giselle, and she will definitely be kept. Hopefully she grows up to be just as amazing as her mother.

Sombrita is 10 now, and while she's starting to show her age, she's still a great mama. She becomes quite concerned if her baby's not right next to her.

So, week two was definitely slower than week one, but since Sombrita kidded, it was just as rewarding! (I'm kinda crazy about that goat)

Only one goat left to kid now, Katniss. I'm not sure exactly when she's due, so I'm keeping a close eye on her and hoping she goes into labor on a day I'm not working. She's a goat though, so that last part is rather doubtful. :)

9 goats have kidded, 17 babies total, 8 does and 9 bucks. Sombrita's daughter, Giselle, counts as at least 2 doelings out of any other goat though, so I'm calling it even!