September in Review

Sewing, Alterations and Mending

It's hard to believe that the end of September is here and all that I managed to sew this month are five pairs of panties that I start sewing the previous month.  No alterations or mending projects were completed.  It was a pretty slow month in the sewing department although it was busy, my mind was working overtime on future sewing plans.  

I'm busy trying to figure out what and how to wear clothing with the scoliosis back brace.  It's been a blessing and also a pain (no pun intended).  Wearing a brace during the summer months has been less than fun.  It's been a long hot summer and wearing a bulky back brace plus body sock in the heat is not at all my idea of a fun time.  But the brace helps with the back pain and in so many ways it has been a blessing.  It also creates another problem that I need to solve.  

What to wear?  

This is basically what I wear now.  A sleeveless polyester body sock underneath the brace that causes abrasion wounds in the underarm region.  I asked if the upper part of the brace could be cut down but the answer was no.  And the family doctor suggests putting gauze bandages where the abrasion wound appear before I put the brace on.  There has to be a simpler solution.  

 

This is a RTW t-shirt with underarm flaps to be worn under a back brace that I could pick up online.  I dislike shopping online about as much as I dislike printing, taping and cutting out PDF patterns.  I've been disappointed too many times with scoliosis undergarments that I've pick up in the past.  Not going down that route again.  But it is an interesting design.  

I want control over the fabric.  The body sock I was given with the brace is made with 100% polyester and even though the label claims to "help keep skin dry" that is a big fat falsehood.  And it's pilling like crazy.  I want cotton, a rare commodity in the body sock market.  

If I want something in cotton and that is high enough in the armpits to provide protection, I'm going to have to make it myself.  The idea is still brewing in my brain, but I hope to have a sample sewn up shortly.  

National Sewing Month

Today marks the end of National Sewing Month, which this year's theme could be summed up in the words in Barbara Burman's introduction to The Point of the Needle:  Why Sewing Matters.

The most marked new theme to emerge in the intervening time is best called the new politics of stuff--when sewing for yourself is part of the desire to reduce ready-made consumption, to be a thoughtful and well-informed consumer mindful of the potential exploitation of people and the planet (15). 

Well as far as celebrating the theme of Sew Sustainable, I went as far as leaving a smaller footprint with the small output this month.  

Stash busting

Stash busted this month:  

• 2.5 metres fabric
• 7 metres elastic

Stash-busted totals for 2024:  

• 65.5 metres fabric + scrap pieces patchworked together to create new fabric yardage
• 14.4 elastic
• 5 metres of knit binding / trim
• 8.6 metres interfacing
• 6 invisible zippers
• 2 metres Knit 'N Stable tape
• 6 metres trim
• 8 sewing labels
• 25 buttons
• 5 leather spools
• 4.3 metres basting tape

Total additions this year:  

• 5 leather toggles
• 14 thread spools
• 11 sewing patterns
• 10--20 mm buttons
• 7.8 metres trim
• 15 metres fabric
• 1 second hand cover stitch machine

Happy Sewing!