Bias binding for the duffel

Hello, everyone.

The sewing on the first duffel is proceeding. It has become obvious that there are a few supplies that can't be gotten from the store.

One of them is bias binding made of lightweight nylon fabric. The stores are full of poly or poly-cotton bias tapes. They come in dozens of colors and are really handy for the right project.

Some projects just aren't meant for the matte finish and general all-around heaviness of the prepackaged bindings. Wedding dresses, for one. (Organza bias, not ripstop.) And these pack duffels for another.

The scraps of ripstop that are left from cutting the stow pocket bags are the source of the bias binding for this project. One of their purposes is to finish the seams on the said pocket! Seams that will be on the outside when the duffel is stowed into its little pocket. And while the binding doesn't match the zipper or the main fabric at all, it does match the pocket bag.

The bias binding is also standing in as an interfacing on the main zipper application--just a skosh, as we say, more stability and almost no added weight. (On this project, it is possible that the zippers weigh as much as the rest of the project put together.)

Learned a new thing with zippers

Hello, everyone.

As y'all may recall, there is a project in hand to make back pack duffels, for protecting the packs from airport conveyor systems.

The sewing has begun. The first strap has been made and attached, and the next step in assembly was to make the end of the bag that has a zippered pocket for stowage.

The zipper with the flip pull is way, way too long for this use--and this was the smallest it came. (It's also quite sturdy, but that may be more of a "feature" than a "bug." If the stowed bag is used as a pillow, the user will have to point the zip side away from the neck for comfort, but on the other hand it's sturdy enough that it probably won't come apart in transit.

The lovely videos at byannie.com include one on how to add a pull to a piece of zipper tape, either because you had leftovers or because you bought the whole roll of tape that some places sell. So when I ordered the flip zipper, I also ordered some catches to use up the leftover lengths of tape.

Hawk at Bentsen State Park

Hello, everyone.

The last time we went to Bentsen for walking, we took the very first turn-off from the paved road and wandered around on some dirt-surfaced trails. (This is the area called the Resaca Viejo trail.) Saw a lot of fallen wood, watched a male javelina run across the trail in front of us, and found, just before reaching an observation deck with a bench, this peek between the trees at a large bird.

Preening hawk

The so-smart camera couldn't take this photo, because it will instantly assume that closer objects are the purpose of the picture. Had to put it into manual focus mode to get it to ignore the branches and tree trunks that have been (mostly) cropped out of this shot.

More stash busting

Hello, everyone.

In the battle of the clutter, I'm using up some more stashed fabric.

Fabric: a lightweight silk print. Use: gathered skirt with invisible zip and a waist band. No pattern needed for this!

I had to change the needles in both the sewing machine and the serger for this fabric. It's much too light for the usual weight of needles, so they are now size 10 needles.

Hand basting was required to get the gathered skirt fabric to mate up with the waist band. I used a bit of machine embroidery thread for that. Also the zipper was hand basted into place on the interfaced seam allowance.

Still needed at this point, hand sewing the inside edge of the waistband down and hemming. Probably going to be a hand hem, this fabric seems too light for a machine blind stitch.

Revised Block Idea

Hello, everyone.

As is probably common, there was more noodling around with the block sketches the other day.

This is the revised Double T block, now a 12x12 size instead.

The base looked too tall, so the row of checkered piecing at the bottom was added. In addition, using the larger size allowed for a more recognizable shape for the letters of the T. I'm thinking red, of course, for the parts outlined in red ink, black for the shadowed parts of the letters, white or ivory for the main background, and then the checkers at the bottom in gray or beige with black.

Pack duffel progress report

Hello, everyone.

All the materials for the pack duffels have arrived! It's so exciting. And as soon as the project I'm doing now finishes, in a day or so, the duffel making will begin.

The fabric for the shell: main (red) and contrast (gray)

 Our duffels will be made from nylon Oxford cloth. It's not as lightweight as ripstop, but it is expected to go through airport conveyor systems, after all. Stated weight is about 4 ounces per yard. There will be about a yard of fabric in the duffel.

The top zippers: a good color match.

 These zippers open from the middle, not from the ends.

The zippers for the stow pocket. Almost a good match, but not supposed to be on display anyway.

The gray zippers have a reversible pull--that is, it can be pulled from either side. That will allow us to close the stow pocket after we stuff the bag into it.

The pocket bag will be made from a chunk of ripstop fabric that was already on hand.

Block Play Ideas

Hello, everyone.

In connection with a new quilt that has been requested, there has been some pencil block work done lately. The requestor is a Texas Tech student.

A quick stroll through Pinterest didn't come up with a whole lot of candidates...there was the square named Ararat for an elephant square from the Kansas City star, and a whole lot of applique elephants, and a couple of other pieced designs that just didn't appeal a lot.

A Tech elephant

Yes, yes, I know that Tech are the Red Raiders. And one of their big slogans is "Guns up!" But the masked rider is way, way beyond my artistic level. As is the hand in "guns up!" position. (Any hands, actually, are beyond my artistic level.)
The doggie with a blanket shown earlier was a possibility, and it might even make an appearance, substituting Tech fabric for the Aggie fabric that was used for the first dog blanket.
Here is an elephant, suggested colors being two shades of gray (the ear different from the rest) and the blanket being Tech-design fabric. The corners could be black, here, and the "floor" could be green, with the remainder of the background either a nondescript "solid" of any color or maybe a sky type design. There is just enough extra room at the top to add a little more shape to the ear if wanted. But do we want an elephant ear that looks like a straight-up lozenge?

The Double T in 6x6 square

This one to have the Double T in black and the main background red. Possibly a contrast shade of white or pearl gray in the side bar. (Side bar is there because I am really uninterested in blocks with odd-numbered dimensions--it was 6 tall and 5 wide until that was added.) If the square was made in 12x12 format, the double coloration of red and black in the square could be done. Also the serifs on the smaller T could be done with no problem, and the larger tee could have square serifs too. In that case, I would sub pale gray or white for the background and either a strip of Tech pattern fabric for the side bar or just have the side bar as part of the regular background. (Switching the sides of the bar could give a nice zigzag effect in a vertical stack of the T squares, too.)

And an attempt at a bridge

For this one, colors might be gray and/or black for the bridge structure and either a plain background for the rest or possibly something that suggests a body of water near the bottom and sky above.

The previously shown hammer and wrench blocks might even make an appearance, too, in the thematic colors of red and black.