Ms Fix-It

If you have read my blog for any length of time you will know that I am drawn to fixing textiles.  I was at my church sew-in Friday and a lady teased me that I wouldn't know what do do with a new piece of fabric.

 Last week a friend asked me to look at an afghan she had purchased at an estate sale.  She had even located a matching skein of yarn.  There were just a few seams that had come loose.  I seamed them up and reinforced a few other spots.  I regret not taking a picture.  It is a beautiful piece of work and will be gifted to a friend of hers.

Next up, a neighbor had asked me shorten a pair of king size pillow cases to standard.  I asked her to give me a case that is the size she wants.  Well I misplaced these cases for quite some time.  I am not even sure how long I have had them.  I thought for sure I had returned them.  She insisted I had not.  She came down earlier today and on a whim I looked through a box I hadn't touched in some time.  There they were.  She was delighted and I was a bit embarrassed but relieved.

I went straight to work on them. I'm sharing my process in the event someone wants to do the same.

First I cut the case to be altered one inch longer than the target sized case.

Leaving it right side out I sewed an1/8th inch seam.  I turned and pressed the seam.

Here I sewed a 1/4" inch seam although I had intended to sew a 1/2 inch.  This isn't rocket science folks.  I turned and pressed the new formed French seams.  Voila!  They are done and will be delivered tomorrow.

Another project that I have been working on is a shawl of a former coworker.  She hag gotten it caught on something and tore a hole in it.  It is thread crochet and the ripped portion was in the first 1/3rd of the body.  No easy way to fix it.  I used regular thread to catch the loose pieces and bind it together.  I ended up using some DMC 12 thread as well which worked better.  There was no way to make it match the rest if the shawl.  I stabilized it and touched frayed spots with fray check.  She is going to have to handle with great care going forward.

I noticed some if the fringe was broken and torn away.  I removed a lot of bad thread but it seemed never ending.  I finally stopped and knotted my replacement pieces and tied those into the existing pieces.  It looks better but the thread seemed like it had rotted away.  DMC 8 was used in this part.  Usually I am quite proud of the work I did.  I was not going to be happy with the outcome unless I had pulled it all out and reworked the entire thing.  That was not going to happen.  I hope she is satisfied with the outcome.

Up next is the baby quilt I showed you a few weeks ago.  All the holes are patched and it is pin basted ready for quilting.  I have my machine setup and ready to go tomorrow.  Will be glad to get that one off my plate too.

Happy quilting!