Red Plaid Shirt

When I was taking a quilting class this fall, I saw a red/black flannel plaid that I just could not pass up. I could see a shirt in this and I did just that.

Using a tried-and-true pattern from Kwik Sew (don't have the number handy at the moment), I cut it out single-layer to ensure accurate plaid matching. I cut the pocket, yokes, collar and cuffs on the bias.  But the inner yoke, under collar and inside cuffs were cut on the straight of grain to prevent stretching out with wear.

Now the question is: should I make my husband one as well?  or is that too kitchy?  

Deep in winter

I regularly read garden blogs and especially watch YouTube videos. This is an attempt to tide me over this hard cold  winter. Winter starts  for  us in November and lasts until mid- to late-April. That is a very long cold  season.

The garden is completely covered with 5" of pure white snow at the moment. We had a heavy snowfall last weekend and it has remained on all the trees.  Usually it melts and falls off, but many trees are bowed down with snow. And, if it doesn't melt soon, another snow will cause many of them to break and fall over. Such is central Ontario weather, hardiness zone 3B.

But in 2 to 3 weeks, we will be heading south to visit our daughter in Texas and we watch the temperature rise as we get further and further south. Usually we stay a week or 10 days, but this time we will be staying 7 weeks or so, as we bought a house in Bullard, Texas. Last year made us realise that the winter here was just too long and we had the means to purchase a second home so why not?  Not sure I will do much gardening there but I will be checking out  what grows in that southern clime.

So looking forward to the warmer temperatures and more sunshine! 

Meanwhile Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to one and all.

Christmas present to me!

After all the shopping for everyone else was done, I took a look at Blackbird Fabrics to see if there was anything new there.  I had also been intrigued by Lladybird's latest pair  of jeans made in non-stretch denim. Since I came of age in the 70's, when we all lived in jeans, this called to me.

The black is the denim, the two prints are both rayons in a nice wide width, and the plaid is a very light cotton/rayon blend.  This last one is just gorgeous and I can hardly wait to sew it up. It will become a shirt of course.  

The print on the left is a little too orange for my taste, as in I know I would never wear it, so I may give it to my Texan daughter who does wear orange. She is tiny and can probably make a Kalle shirtdress out of it. 

Meanwhile I am still sewing the black/red plaid shirt but a knee injury has kept me from navigating the steps down to the basement. I may get down there today, I hope so.

We go to Texas in less than a month and I definitely need some new clothes to wear. I read Girls in the Garden and am so impressed with Lori's output.  She must have a huge closet to hang all those great clothes she turns out so regularly. I would only have to do laundry every two weeks if I had that many tops in circulation.