i make some more stuff

A hoodie for my Ralph, a Valentine’s Day gift. This was made using a supple tomato-red rayon knit from Joanns and Green Pepper’s Mount Hood Polar Hoodie pattern; I saw the fabric and immediately put it all together in my mind. He likes it; it fits him well. He is a large, but an XL for his height.  You know what’s awesome – in looking at the above picture – I suck at embroidery! But I still always feel so cool whenever I do it!

Side-seam, pocket. Topstitching rayon knit – ugh!

I gambled that Ralph would like the loose, casual-finish cuffs (double zig-zagged) because I knew I could add ribbed ones later if he preferred. He likes them as-is. Good job, me!

Speaking of bad embroidery, I spent the studio-hour or so making the kiddos a couple of customized crayon roll-ups (using this lovely tutorial: [ link ]):

You know, I am an Intermediate seamstress – maybe even Advanced Intermediate (it’s fun obsessing over classifications no one else could possibly care about!). That’s why it’s so rad that a simple, simple project like this almost always gives me trouble. And it did. My omission of pre-shrinking the interfacing, my several-times-over f*cked-up triple top-stitch, my poor choice of a homespun-weave houndstooth, and the many, many times I drew and re-drew the stitching channels to house the crayons (folks, did I not mention that this tutorial completely lays all this out, and yet I still fail?). Maybe this is one reason I love sewing: it never ceases to mess with me and keep my ego in perspective.

Detail shot, and you know, I think I did do a great job when all was said and done:

The kids deeply, deeply love their latest homesewn gift.