Mitering Corners on Altar Linens

Ah.  Just completed serving on a jury here in Orange County.  Not the best of times, to be sure - but it could have been a whole lot worse.  It did take up a whole lot more time than I was expecting, though.  Just as I was getting called up for duty, my client had an order that needed to be finished up for that weekend - she is expecting her second child any day now, and didn't want to take any more orders after December 5th.  So I was working after going through the jury selection process, staying up until 11 pm to finish.  On the days off from jury, I cranked out what was left of the orders and delivered them to the client on Sunday, right before having to get up on Monday morning and head back to court.

O Christmas Tree, O Christmas Tree......

I was recently in a car accident, and my car was in the shop for more than 10 days getting repaired.  I also (ahem) got a traffic ticket about two weeks before that as well (if you are my insurance agent, can you please pretend you didn't see this post?  I opted for Traffic School so the ticket would remain "invisible".....whatever that means according to the new California laws), so we had to pay for that, plus the repair deductible.

In the middle of all of this, my firstborn turned 21 years old.  And it's edging toward Christmas, and I didn't have any decorations up or cards ready to send out.

Sigh.  It never rains, but it pours.  

The Sewing Assistant was happy I was home when the trial was over, though - he really did not understand why I kept leaving the house and staying away until dinner time for so many days.  He ended up snuggling all day with the throw blanket I have on the couch throughout my absence.

If I sits here in her lap, then Mom can't go anywheres.  It's da law.

Client's order done & delivered?  Check.  Deductible paid and car repaired?  Check.  Ticket paid?  Check.  Traffic School scheduled?  Ummm....you'll have to tune in later for that one.  21 year old celebrated?  Check.  Jury duty completed?  Check.  Final band potluck attended?  Check.  Rehearsals underway for the spring percussion competition season? Check and check.  Laundry caught up?  Check.  Christmas tree up?  Check.  Sewing Assistant mollified?  Check.  For now, anyway.

I do have some hemming/mending orders here at the house that I'll get started on after tomorrow, but I needed to do something a little more meditative to alleviate the pressure I've been feeling lately.  I have been sitting on an order for the church that I've been trying to get to in between client orders - and I'm totally NOT telling you how long it's been sitting here waiting to be taken care of.  They are incredibly patient - or maybe just a little forgetful - no one has mentioned it for awhile.  Since I don't have any orders coming in from my steady client until after the start of the New Year, I decided that the church project would be the perfect thing to do to set my head back on straight.  

The Catholic church uses small cloths during the Mass, for cleaning out the ceborium and the chalices used during communion.  This particular cloth is known as a purificator (purificatorium or more anciently emunctorium).  When not being used, it is draped over the chalice like this:

                                

I belong to a very busy church which holds about 8-10 Masses each weekend - so when you add in the two daily Masses they have every other day of the week, you can see that they go through a lot of altar linens.  These linens get washed frequently, and eventually they start showing a fair amount of wear and tear.  The head of our Altar Guild knew that I do sewing & embroidery, and so I was asked if I could produce a quantity of purificators & some finger towels with an updated look to replace a stack of the older ones.

I had to take the Liturgical Coordinator with me when I went to Joanns to get the fabric - we have a pastor who is a bit on the finicky side and we knew he would want high quality, absorbent, high thread count fabric.  100% linen is the ultimate choice - only at Joanns linen runs around $20 to $25 a yard, which was well out of the budget.  The head of the Altar Guild had chosen some fabric (and unfortunately had pre-cut it as well) that was far too thin and not white enough.  I had picked up some white Kona cotton at Joanns to show the Coordinator, but even though it was thicker and white enough, it wasn't sturdy enough.  While shopping, the Coordinator and I finally settled on some cotton blend fabric that has the look & feel of linen without being quite as coarse, and with a coupon I think we brought the entire 3.5 yards in under about $30.  Not too bad when you consider a set of three of these purificators (cotton) can run about $18 from some supply companies.  The pure linen ones cost about that much apiece!  And that's before embroidery!

So today I decided that this would be my meditative project to clear my head and to do something for others.  It's kind of like a prayer shawl - I can pray while I'm are making them.  The purificators don't get blessed before use like some of the other types of altar linens, so this is typically the only prayer (if any) that would be said over these.

After washing and drying the fabric we chose, I cut them out to match the size of the existing purificators (finished size about 12" x 14" - but the size of these can vary quite a bit by manufacturer):

Stack!

The final approved embroidery, on a sample piece.  It's about 3/4 inch high.

I was able to cut about 27 cloths from the 3.5 yard length of fabric.  I did a little research on the interwebz, and came up with a hybrid way to miter the corners of the cloths so they would look nice & sharp & even.  This process can be used to hem cloth napkins for the home as well:

I started by pressing a scant 1/4" on each side.  I made the mistake on the first
one of pressing and sliding the iron - this can make the corners skew out, which
you don't want.  On the corners especially, just press with the iron and then lift
to move the iron across the cloth so the fabric doesn't warp.

Fold another 1/4" and press again.  Follow the same procedure as above (don't slide the iron).
Here you can see the resulting square (made of 4 smaller squares) in the corner. 

Carefully cut the square in half diagonally, leaving the one small square intact.

Fold the trimmed corner in towards the center at the innermost corner of the smaller square.
If you do this right, you should be able to match up the lines created by the pressed double folds.
(The corner lifted up a bit, which is why it doesn't look like it matches - but it does.)
Press this in place. 

Now fold the first 1/4" hems in toward the center again along the pressed lines.

And then fold the second 1/4" hems along the pressed lines.   Press the corner to secure the new
fold lines in the corners.  If you skip this step, by the time you get the cloth to
your machine the corner will have popped back out again, like bad origami.

Begin your stitching in the middle of a side - it's a lot easier to start and stop
there than it is to start in a corner - they have a tendency to get stuffed into
your machine's throat plate.  Stitch close to the inner foldline.

The fabric stays folded pretty nicely, which will allow you to stitch to the corner
and pivot, then stitch down the next side.

Stitch until you meet up with your starting point, then backstitch a couple of stitches
to secure, and cut your thread ends.  

Tomorrow:  finishing the hems of all 27 cloths, then on to the embroidery!

Anatomy of a Burning Bird

The final show of the fall competition season is over.  The band is SCJA Division 5 champions for 2012, a very well-deserved honor.  Now that the season's done, I can finally reveal the behind the scenes story of The Year I Set the Drum Majors on Fire (The Making Of).

Every year I've worked with the band (seven, at last count), in addition to the other tasks I've done, I've had a small part to play in soft goods props- whether it's been for the drum majors, the entire band, field props, flags, or front drop covers.  I've done color-change surprises, of which I have no photos (my old desktop died a sad and gruesome death, and took the first three years of band photos with it, darn it).  

I've shopped with the drum majors for formal gowns, which then had to be altered to make them safe enough to climb up and down ladders and run around the field, as well as making sure they left arms free to conduct without the danger of being too revealing (while <cough!> hiding the fact that I allowed them to choose a color that wasn't pre-approved by the directors).  Again, no photos.  Darn PC.  

I've done a magically appearing neon scarf for a drum major salute (the only surviving photo of which I cannot locate at the moment), as well as custom painted gauntlets:

I've constructed large prop covers:

That's 85 yards of fabric you see me buried under, there.

Monolithic veil.  Same yardage, different venue.

Made custom drum major baldrics (sashes):

Made several secret pockets for wireless mikes:

Made color guard flags for special occasions:

Helped create front drop covers (which I thankfully did NOT have to sew or construct - just source fabric and give dimensions/directions for):

The Monolithic front drops, behind the drum major. The drum major, along with 100+ students,
is wearing a grey veil matching that of the giant field prop.
All of which also had to be calculated, sourced, cut, & finished (thankfully, I was able
to get a lot of help producing these).

And helped with covers again this year, after our prop masters constructed brand new front drops:

Bare frames, in front.

Really impressive work done by our prop masters - back view

Front view.  Miles ahead of what we did the previous year.

Now that everything was set for the field, the drum majors approached me for one last favor:  could I come up with and construct special baldrics that would reflect the theme of this year's show (Fire)?

You know me.  I have a really difficult time saying the word, "No."  

The three drum majors and I met several times to hash out what they had in mind, while keeping the show's focus uppermost.  One of the drum majors came up with a rough design draft after all the discussions:

Gorgeous, no?  Only one problem with the design - it had to remain hidden because the bright fire colors didn't hit the field until more than half-way through the show.  If the drum majors wore it the entire time, as soon as they turned to face the field, the fire/feathers would be showing to the audience, while the band & color guard were still wearing & using the smoke colors.  The drum majors would pretty much be upstaging the entire ensemble.  (Nope - no good.)

The silver/black fabric in the upper left will be the front of the baldric sash.
The grey, sheer fabric at the lower left might work, but was too transparent
to go over the bright colors of the fire/feathers.
Did you recognize it, by the way?
Yep.  We refashioned some of those veils.

How to hide it, how to hide it......an origami styled setup that would be the same smoke color as the new front baldric I was making?

The origami style hidden pouch was too stiff in the silver/black fabric and looked like something Alexander Calder might have constructed.  (Nope.)

Maybe I could have used several layers of the veil fabric to hide the fire/feathers, but that ended up looking like an egg-sac from a Monolithic Spider.  Plus, the fabric would have made a quick-release using Velcro nearly impossible.  (Double nope.)

C'mon, Neko - give me an assist, here.

I AM.  I'm being the world's best pattern weight.  Or at least the heaviest.

It wasn't until I was really under the gun, with only a week left to go (with three comps, though) that I finally figured that the simpler, the better.  I made the front baldrics separately, from the silver & black fabric:

For the back portion of the baldrics, I constructed three semi-matching manila-folder-like setups that matched the back of the drum major uniforms. I used more of the grey veil fabric attached to the outer cover for the "smoke" (with the fire/feather wings sandwiched in the middle of the "folder").  The whole setup was pinned to the back of the drum major jackets, and all three had a quick-release tab that they were able to reach up and pull (sort of like a ripcord) while still conducting:

Here is the drum major, with the "smoke" billowing out behind him.
Can you spot the sandwich?  

Drum major after the quick release - now you can see the
Firebird wing, along with a trail of grey smoke which
moved out to the side with the slightest breeze or swing
of the arms.  The fabric "folder cover" of black is now
hanging to the right, and just looks like an extension of
the drum major's jacket. 

A better view of the flames during awards. 

Dang, I love it when things work out right.  Especially since we didn't get in trouble with the band directors, who were in the dark about the entire project.  :)

Color Guard captains, all three drum majors, drumline captain, and the two directors.  The young man without the hat

happens to be my son, who is graduating this year.  He represented the front ensemble when they went out for awards.

The head drum major still appears to be trailing smoke.  (LOL!)

I'd do it all again, in a heartbeat.

So Many Blog Post Ideas, So Little Time

It's Halloween already.  I've been so swamped with sewing & embroidery orders I haven't been able to do much else.  Before I go nuts trying to decorate the house for the trick-or-treaters, I thought I would try my hand at something I've been dying to do for awhile:  face painting.

Note:  It's hard to paint your own face without your bifocals on.  (Just sayin'.)

Outside.  And no, even though it's Halloween, those are NOT those stupid "orbs"
everyone's always talking about.  I really need to clean my lens.

The other photo shows the colors better, but this one shows
the design much more clearly.
And yes, my camera really likes to focus.  On itself.

Other things happening on the home front:

I got to work on at least one Halloween costume this year.  A friend of mine wanted to be a Smurfette, but wanted to be comfortable while working the typical 9 to 5 in a cubicle.  So we dyed a white shirt and some leggings that pretty aqua Smurf blue color, only the leggings were too high in synthetic content and wouldn't take the dye as well as the cotton shirt did.  So Phase Two included running out to the local fabric store, buying some inexpensive flat-fold jersey (that neither of us could help "petting" repeatedly - it was that soft) and a pattern for leggings.  The leggings made up in about an hour, start to finish.  I may just have to go buy that pattern for myself.  (Wonder how long leggings will stay in style this time around?)  Anyway, my friend now has an awesome custom dyed t-shirt, some really comfy leggings, and a Halloween costume that she can use again.

And I think she makes a really cute Smurfette, don't you?

Other creative stuffs:

Guess who finally finished his mom's custom-decorated slip-ons from Payless?
These.  Are.  AWESOME.
And I'm the only one with a pair so far (hee hee hee).

Embroidery jobs that flew through here lately:

Note to future customers:  when you tell your students that they need to
purchase a white polo top to have custom embroidered, you might want
to mention that they should select a shirt WITHOUT an existing logo.
That C and crest weren't part of my custom design.
Should have taken a picture of the cuter one, though - the Falcon
looked like it was about to capture the Tommy Hilfiger flag logo.

For a band mom.
Whose three kids in the program all have interesting nicknames.

And last (but not least), here is the Sewing Assistant doing his best to look like a scary Halloween kitteh:

Happy Halloween!

       

Fine Tuning & Going a Little Old School

 Because I am that kind of mom.  I mean, I'm all for new technologies and such (and trust me, I use it to my advantage on a daily basis), but sometimes you just gotta fall back on what you knew way back when.....

Still playing around with the Halloween decor; fine tuning the eyes in the tube for all the outdoor plants up the front walkway.  It's starting to look nice & creepy (and here's a shout out to new technology - LOVE the night setting on my camera, even though it means I HAVE to get the tripod out and set it up just to take a simple snapshot...)   :

This will either make them laugh, or it will keep them from coming
to the front door.  We'll have to see how it looks when I have all of them
cut out with all the different colors in them. 

Whazzat?  You have no idea what I'm talking about?  Hmmmm.....after trolling my blog, I'm discovering that you are (ahem) in the dark after all - I guess I never posted about this little project.  My bad!

Old School #1:
Simple craft:  save your cardboard tubes (from toilet paper or paper towel rolls); head to your nearest Dollar Tree or 99 Cent Store and pick up multi-paks of glow in the dark bracelets (they are EVERYWHERE right now with the Halloween stuff); find some eye designs by Google-ing images of scary (or Halloween) eye clipart; draw them on the tube (it doesn't really matter if they are perfect, trust me); cut them out carefully with an X-Acto knife and a very sharp pair of small scissors; crack the bracelet and shake it up; fold it into the bracelet shape & attach the connectors included in the pack; stuff it into the tube; then go outside and stuff it into one of your trees, bushes, or plants.  The bracelet should glow for several hours - this is one I cracked open about three days ago to start beta-testing, then threw it into the freezer.  It's still going strong, so I'm pretty sure the new ones will be scaring the kiddos all night on Halloween.  Especially since we have about 8 of these multi-tier topiary type bushes out front, LOL.......just imagine eyes in every tier, in about five different colors.....

Someone is fired - AGAIN:

 The Sewing Assistant, sleeping on the job.
As usual.

New School # 1:

C'mon, seriously?  Who names their daughter "Monet?"
No matter - as long as they can pay for the embroidery job....

An Old-School, New-School Combo:

New School:  The wireless mic that the field show soloist needs to have somewhere
on his person because he doesn't have time to run up to the podium during the show
for his solo.  Needs a secret, secure pocket close to the front, so he can hit the
button and have it near enough to the pickup on the bell of his sax to prevent
distortion or loss of sound.

Crappy photo of Old School:  After measuring the mic, I serged the top edge
and turned it under for a clean finish.  Then I measured the front of the pocket with the
mic unit inside of it, took two tucks in the bottom corners for depth, and sewed them diagonally.
After rechecking the fit, I pinned the front part of the pocket to the back part, to make it
a little easier to remove and reuse should they need it again next year.
When I'm not "with the band" any more.  

Stitched the side from the top of the pocket (with reinforced backstitching)
to the point of the diagonal and stopped (backstitching again for reinforcement).

Folded the diagonal toward the side that was already stitched,
started the stitching on the bottom at exactly the same point where I had
just finished off, and continued across the bottom.   I repeated this
when I got to the other corner.  After stitching all of this into place, I
serged around the entire pocket, leaving the top of the front open.

The finished pocket, sewn to the inside of the soloist's jacket with
a simple straight stitch.  This will make it possible for the next uniform chairperson
to detach the pocket and reuse on the jacket of whomever has the solo next time.

The inside, hidden pocket with the snugly-fitting wireless mic firmly in place.
Wish you could see & hear the show - the music is awesome this year.

Really, Really Old School:

Son # 1 comes home with some hysterical story from work roughly three weeks ago, about one of his co-workers who seems to have a real gift for humor.  He can come into the break room, look one of his fellow employees up and down like he's deciding whether to make a pass at him, then mutters "Mmmm, mmm, MMMMHHHH!" before walking on.  Apparently, this scenario repeats itself every time these two guys cross paths - and it's pretty funny because everyone knows they are just posing.  Son #1 gets the bright idea to make a custom t-shirt to wear underneath his uniform shirt as a surprise - then brings the other employee in on the joke and they decide that I need to make at least three of them - one for each of them to flash at the employee the next time he comes into the break room "eyeing" the other guy, then one to present to the employee as a gag gift.  

(Notice how "the son decides to make custom t-shirts" became "I NEED TO MAKE AT LEAST THREE OF THEM"?   Yeah, I did, too.)

Son #1 surreptitiously photographs the "swinging" employee, brings it home, puts it through
Photoshop & makes a black and white, high contrast stencil silhouette.  He tapes the printout to
a piece of Reynolds freezer paper, does part of the cutting
before he goes to night class, and mom finishes it up.
Note that he had to "borrow" mom's X-Acto knife, mom's cutting pad, and mom's new blades to do this.
And that mom had to go hunt for these items in said Son's bedroom afterwards.  Just sayin'.  

Mom irons the freezer paper stencil, shiny side down, onto a pre-washed shirt.
Out comes the Jacquard Textile paint in black, and mom paints it
on with a cheap-o foam brush.  It's much better than using a bristle brush.
(Dab the paint on if you're going to try this at home.  Works better than actually making brushstrokes
 - especially in areas that have tiny or thin pieces of the freezer paper cut.  Otherwise, you
can dislodge the smaller cuts and distort or ruin the pattern.)

This brings back all kinds of memories of doing late-night, last-minute painting projects
during art school (college), and mom gets all nostalgic and stuff.

Thought you might appreciate a view from the stencil side.
I know it looks like some crazy kidnapper got wild with the
duct tape, but be patient - all will be revealed when the paint dries
and the stencil can be VERY carefully lifted off the shirt and re-used.
Remember, mom has to do three of these suckers, and she's not about
to spend another three hours tonight cutting out all these tiny little details.  

The finished project (shirt #1).  Two more quickly followed
this one.  Can't wait to see the photos of the other employees
when Son #1 presents the shirts to them.  

Yes, this kind of detailed hand-cut stencil work takes a lot of time.  But - I really didn't have time to hit that learning curve to burn and use a silkscreen on my Yudu tonight, possibly wrecking the only two sheets of emulsion that I currently own and probably ending up doing it this way, anyway.  I figure I saved myself a lot of time & frustration.  But I WILL master that Yudu some day....especially if (and probably WHEN) either Son #1 or Son #2 come up with an idea for multiple t-shirts that they "really, really need by tomorrow, Mom!"