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Monday 25 July 2016

Be careful what you wish for!



Last year, somewhere in the middle of series 3 of The Great British Sewing Bee, mr Foxgloves developed a sudden interest in the show. We watched the next episodes together, sometimes replaying a part or pausing for explanation of technical matters. This year we were going to watch all episodes together. Nice, isn't it?
Well, it looks like this plan is backfiring! Mr Foxgloves is now a self proclaimed expert and very opinionated about my sewing, tsssss.

A few days ago I was working on a cushion cover and I was pretty pleased with my pattern matching.



Can you spot the seam?

Enter *Paddy* Foxgloves. In his best Patrick Grant-voice: "I think I spot a liiiiiittle bit of unevenness there, but overall, a big well done!"
What???
"O, and I forgot to mention you did a great job on that invisible zipper. No bubble at the end!"
Uhhh.... I used a regular zipper.
"No you didn't! I know what an invisible zipper looks like so you can't fool me!"

Spot the difference:


Well, okay. He's got the beard, the dreamy brown eyes, and on a good day he even has the dress sense. The backdrop may be a hint. One of these guys knows his haberdashery, one of them obviously doesn't. Yet.

I did mention the dress sense on a good day. Needless to say not all days are good days.
One day I found this in my sewing room:

The remains of mr F's favourite jeans

"Can you please mend this for me?"
Noooooo. What was he thinking?
"Maybe you can do something like they do in the Sewing Bee alterations challenge."
Grrmbl.

I offered to cut them off so he would have a shiny new pair of shorts.
"You're disappointing me, dear. That's not a very creative approach! You can make coats, and jackets, but you can't fix this?"
Now he had me cornered. He knows I can't say no to a challenge so that's how these beyond-repair-jeans ended on my sewing table. Not sure what to do with it, suggestions (especially creative(!) suggestions) are welcome. (I already told him that people are paying money for this fashionable distressed look, but he didn't buy it)

The cushion cover is finished. Now I'll struggle my way through 30 meters of curtain fabric and then I'm done with home dec sewing for a while.



Meanwhile Mr Foxgloves has redeemed himself by printing the pdf of my next project, the Cashmerette Upton dress. One more inappropriate remark about my sewing and I'll make him tape all 70 pages together. An allround sewing judge must be introduced to all the joys of sewing, right?



23 comments:

  1. Haha! Well if he tapes the pattern for you I think you may have gotten the better end of the deal ;)

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  2. Oh that made me laugh. My husband quite enjoys the Bee too. He gave me unsolicited advice with a gaping neckline recently 'just run it through the overlocker, just smash it through, it'll be perfect!' High five if he tapes up that pdf for you!

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    1. Men! It doesn't take much to turn them into experts :))

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  3. Ha ha! I laughed out loud at this. My husband watched GBSB with me too. He hasn't (often) offered unsolicited advice. He hasn't offered to tape a PDF either though - I'd take him up on that. It's my daughters who produce challenges for me, usually involving garments way past their usefulness.

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    1. It all comes down to the definition of 'garments way past their usefulness'. The inhabitants of Foxgloves Farm tend to have different opinions on the subject :)

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    2. Yes, you are quite right - here too. At least Joanne has asked me to hack her favourite, which even by her thinking is way past its usefulness!
      Are you able to delete my accidental duplicate post, below?

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  4. My husband seems to think I am a wonder in the sewing room, too, who can make or repair almost anything. Very flattering I'm sure but very awkward at times.
    I love your beautiful cushion cover.

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    1. I know what you mean, Kathy! How hard can it be?? Well, in fact it wasn't hard, but it did take over an hour to fix this. I'm not sure that's an hour well spent on this ticking time bomb. Just waiting for the next disaster to happen.

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  5. It's that "can't resist a challenge" problem for me too. Too bad we don't have the guy gene that had us mucking it up so badly, we never get asked again...

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    1. That's just what I did the last time he asked! Bit of interfacing on the backside, stitching zigzag in a 'that'll do' style. Didn't look like much, but it's just gardening pants after all. But now, due to his recently acquired sewing 'knowledge', we appear to have new standards!

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  6. This is hilarious! Now you've got a personal sewing expert! Good luck with the jeans alteration! I hope he'll be pleased :)

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    1. If only I could turn him into a fitting expert! Wait a minute, how about a Craftsy class for Christmas??

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  7. Got to love them when they take an interest in what we do! :-D

    Not sure about on a guy's jean, but I'm loving the shashiko approach to mending torn/worn jeans. (Literally search "shahiko jean" in Pinterest and you will see what I'm talking about.)

    Loving the cushion!

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    1. Thanks, Ramona! I googled the sashiko approach, and I even discovered an interesting sashiko workshop not too far away. Not tempted to put that much effort into worn jeans, but I do like the embroidery technique for decorative use!

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  8. That cushion is beautiful. The pattern matching is impressive! Yes - good idea - make him put together that PDF for you - ha. Good luck with those jeans!

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    1. Thanks, Tomasa. It's not much, but I've been sewing at last!

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  9. What a fun post to read! Not sure what is worse - sewing on buttons for my husband or patching his "gardening" jeans.
    Lovely pillow and beautiful matching!

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    1. In my book there's one thing worse than patching gardening jeans and that's clipping hedges. As long as the jeans are worn while taking care of that it's a good deal!

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  10. I love your cushion. It is stunning. And the difference between your husband and Patrick Grant is that your husband is really good looking.

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