2020 - Handmade by Carolyn

creamy broderie anglaise…

30/12/2020 5:31 pm \ 6 Comments \ Carolyn

Oh, hey, I made a dress! and not just any old dress but this the final thing in my little mini make-nine challenge which of course was actually make-twelve! So happy I managed to squeak it in for the end of the year! Phew!

This is sorta based on the Named Inari tee dress pattern, and the fabric is a heavy clotted cream coloured, broderie anglaise cotton that I bought in Mood when I visited New York with Yoshimi on our holiday there last year. GORGEOUS fabric. I feel like I’m wearing a wedding cake, in a good way!

I’m so thrilled with how my dress turned out… in the end! It has a few features that I shall now proceed to explain…

a. the shoulders have a sort of raglan effect, but still with the set in sleeves. There is a reason for this that I shall delve into further, later… ahem…

b. I utilised the broderie edging as much as possible, in the sleeve edges, the hem edge at the bottom, and to form the upper edge of the patch pockets. Love how this turned out!

c. To get the best effect of the broderie “stripes” I did not make the inari with its traditional stepped hem . ie. longer at the back and shorter at the front; because I wanted the broderie edge to finish the entire hem, and also wanted the broderie pattern to match along those side(-ish) seams.

Btw, to digress for a bit… when it comes to pattern/stripe matching, I admit to being a fiend for this in the past, however lately I’ve felt a little ambivalent towards the rabid mania for extreme pattern matching that seems de rigeur for the sewing world. Sure, there are definitely times when strict pattern matching is necessary, but I’m starting to crave the artistic possibilities that come with a less rigid approach. For example, when a patch pocket is so excellently pattern matched that you can’t even see it’s there. WHY?! Sometimes I just find myself wishing for something a bit more exciting.

That’s not relevant to this, my latest thing though, because I decided a good pattern match was indeed essential to the dress looking good, so I went there. There is no pocket matching whatsoever with the pockets and I like this look a lot.

Now to be real here; my initial “make 12” plan actually included a different pattern Vogue 8968, and I really did make this fabric up in that pattern too. And it looked … absolutely terrible. Behold the awfulness.

Yeah, it looks kind of ok on my dummy but on me it looked pretty bad, like a big broderie anglaise circus tent. No modelled pictures because twas only “finished” for a minute or so before I starting cutting it up anew to make this. To be honest, when I first did my make 12 plan I did not plan very thoroughly, and just chose 12 patterns and 12 fabrics with the thought I was just going to jam them together and make it work somehow, and unfortunately the last pattern and fabric were not a good match for each other after all. I absolutely love this beautiful fabric though, so I’m very happy to have “saved” it!

see that little patch of bias-cut cream muslin sitting behind my label? I had to put it there because without it you could see the red back of the label through this very lightweight fabric!

As it is, it’s absolutely essential to wear a slip with the dress. I’m wearing it here with my ivory slip dress, the pattern is the free Ruby pattern by the very generous Sheryll of pattern scissors cloth, available here…

Oh, so the change of pattern is kinda the explanation for the funny, half raglan, half set in sleeve look. True, Vogue 8968 doesn’t have raglan sleeve, haha; but bear with me. I decided a raglan sleeve would look better than the big cut on, non-sleeve of the pattern. Does it sound like I took a bit of a dislike to V8968? hmmm I think so, yes. Anyway, I changed it to a raglan sleeve. Then when cutting out the Inari, I ended up keeping the perfectly finished bias-bound neckline of the original dress along with the raglan seams, and still cut out the armholes for the Inari too. The Vogue dress was so big I was able to cut out my amended inari sleeves from the original sleeves too. I got the patch pockets from the extra hem length cut off the sides. So that was a bonus!

Of course, in peak 2020 style I made a little matching mask. We’re not yet wearing them over here in Western Australia because of zero community spread, but who knows what the future holds? I’m slowly building up a small collection of masks to have ready, just in case.

So that’s it for my little mini “make nine” challenge for this year! Yay, I did it!

The thing is that I say “mini” challenge but it turned out to actually be a bit of a bigger challenge for me than I thought, for some reason. I can’t quite put my finger on it, but I think it’s something to do with the fact that spontaneity and the whim of the moment are important motivators for me when it comes to making things. And when the spontaneity and whimsy are not there then I actually find it … well, not quite a “chore” but something quite close to that anyway. Terrible, huh. Truthfully though, in spite of making it sound like (back-hand to brow) oh how I struggled! … I did not, because I love sewing and I really love all the things I made during the challenge. However I don’t know if I will do a make nine again next year or not. Maybe I’ll think of a new challenge… hmmm….I’ll have to give it some serious thought, because I only have one day to decide!

Details:

Dress, sorta Inari tee dress pattern by Named patterns, cream cotton broderie anglaise from Mood fabrics in New York
Mask, from this tutorial
Shoes; ancient, from an op shop

is this thing even working?! *camera click*

Posted in: Uncategorized \ Tagged: dress, inari, named patterns, own design, pockets, sleeves, Vogue 8968

baby swing and coconut ice

27/12/2020 4:33 pm \ 6 Comments \ Carolyn

Tim and I made this adorable little swing for Arthur!

peekaboo!!

Kelly found the design and Tim suggested it be a joint project between us, with me making the swing and Tim taking care of the woodwork etc… Kelly and Arthur and I went to Spotlight together and bought the stuff… apart from the fact that it was like 41C that day it was fun!

Arthur’s first trip to Spotlight!

We bought this cute orange-based kangaroo? wallaby? print which Kelly thought would go really nicely with their deep blue/grey walls and jarrah floors, bamboo wadding, which I used doubled up for extra padding, and white webbing and a white clip-in catch to make a safety belt too… also Tim got pine dowelling and nylon rope from Bunnings. We based our swing on this one on a blog the Thud… I think that Kelly had found it through Pinterest? I think? anyway I recommend checking it out because she is hilarious!!

I did have to make adjustments to practically every dimension though for several reasons:

a. the dowel Tim had was 2.54mm (1″) instead of the 19mm dowel used in the tutorial so extra height was needed at every top edge.

b. we wanted the back rest to be above the arm rests because it makes good sense to have the back highest, I think and also makes a nice visual to the layers.

c. I wanted all the kangaroos/wallabies to face UP, so I split the bottom/side piece into two, and cut and joined so the animals stood up each side. Furthermore, I arranged it so the seam in the back/side piece was on the opposite side for each piece, the inside and outside of the swing, if that makes sense.

d. I added a little seat belt for safety. The part that goes around his waist is stitched in each side of the back piece of the swing, and the front is stitched in with the seam between the front and the bottom/side piece,

e. I also made a little flat, square, seat cushion, partially for comfort and also so the kangaroos face up when you look inside the swing too. In addition, I made an extra, super-fat cushion to sit in the back of the swing, which looks cute, and also narrows the opening a little so he’s less inclined to pull his knees up and try to stand up in it. Although, Tim and Kelly tell me that when he’s in it he just loves chilling out in his swing, mostly just sitting quietly resting against the cushion in it, and happily swinging.

Here is my (amended) pattern…

and Arthur, chilllaxing in his swing … CUTE!!

Oh, and of course everything is going to be an anticlimax after that cutie patootie! but anyway… so, every Christmas I usually make some sweet treat as a gift for extended family and friends. This year I made coconut ice, but partly due to small supplies of red food colouring I decided upon a slightly different colour scheme from the usual.

I think it all turned out super pretty! Also, delicious, obviously! btw, this quantity pictured looks a bit mean but is really just for “pretty” photographic purposes, because everyone got at least four times this amount in little reusable lunchboxes. I used this recipe from Taste.com…

Posted in: crafty stuff, sewing \ Tagged: babywear, own design, recipe

I’ve been making a whole bunch of stuff…

22/12/2020 8:01 pm \ 13 Comments \ Carolyn

Ok… stuff! I just have to write this quick blog post or … I dunno, explode or something! because right now I am the Red Queen, running as fast as I can just to stay in the same place… and if I don’t just get on with a thing right this very minute then will it ever ever get gone on with, at all?! That is the question? So, on with the stuff!

So, a while ago I’d written about how the Burda baby onesie pattern I’d been using for Arthur had proved itself to be too wide for the height of it? Like way too wide, fall off the shoulders wide, while the poppers at the crotch were straining to stay shut? Well, I made a new pattern, and it’s super cute. Of course it is! When are tiny weeny baby clothes NOT cute, hmmm? Exactly!

So above is the first one… yellow striped cotton jersey from Spotlight stores… At the same time that we got this fabric, we also bought some lengths for bunny rugs for the baby. When I say “we” by the way, that is NOT the royal we, although I am indeed in the thick of watching the Crown at present and as such am become quite proficient in such conversational niceties… no, actually Cassie and I went to Spotlight together and selected fabrics for the new baby’s, new nursery.

I had also previously bought some white cotton jersey, to make a maternity frock for Cassie.

She’d sort of semi-designed what she wanted in the dress, a tank dress, with the tank front able to be lifted up for breast-feeding, layered over a sort of boob tube with an elasticated top edge underneath. The skirt is a quarter circle skirt. It’s a pretty simple design and style, and she loves it!

Side note: I’ve had to look at the messy lower half of this dresser for years. It took putting the house on the market for me to finally do something about making this a wee bit prettier to the casual observer. Voila!! A sweet lace curtain! Side note to the side note; we sold the house… very quickly as it turned out. The beach house also sold very quickly, like before it even went officially on the market. My head is spinning!! I’ll talk more about this later, right now it’s all still a bit overwhelming.

Next! I bought this shark print cotton jersey from Spotlight… actually, ALL these fabrics are from Spotlight, to be honest! I bought this fabric months ago, pre covid, always with the intention of making a little Watson bra and briefs set… ta da! Simple, pretty – well as pretty as a shark can get I guess! – and comfy. And finally done!

Lastly, I had a small bit of sharky leftovers. So, obviously… 🙂

This one is a little bit bigger than the yellow one.

So, I think that’s it for now! I have a few other things in the works, and will definitely/hopefully?! be posting everything before the end of the year. I’d better pull my socks up, eh?

Posted in: Uncategorized \ Tagged: baby clothes, babywear, cloth habit, dress, lingerie, maternity, own design, watson

madder and madder…

30/11/2020 11:19 pm \ 13 Comments \ Carolyn

I made a dress, using this very precious piece of fabric that I have been too frightened to cut in to for years now … ok so I’ve just checked back and it first came into my life back in August 2015, FIVE YEARS AGO!! well it’s about well overdue that I made it up, hey…

So what is this, hmmm? well I did a fantastic one day, natural dyeing workshop with Niji iro Kitta during which I dyed a length of pure white linen with natural madder root. They had two options; you could either choose to dye with madder, or indigo. I (obviously) chose madder, the natural dyestuff from the root of rubia tinctoria and since I later got a chance to also dye with natural indigo too, I’m so glad I chose madder this time! I went along with Nicki (this is moonlight), Sue (fadanista) and Megan (meggipeg), and first posted about it here…

It was heaps of fun! I remember our fabric had been soaked in soya water and dried first, which apparently helps the dye “take” thoroughly. Before dyeing, we had to embroider our initials or something marking the fabric as “yours” in some way. I did mine in red thread; and when it came time to cut out my dress, I carefully made sure to cut around and save the corner with my initials. And rather than use one of my usual labels I stitched the little square of linen featuring my embroidery inside as a sort of reminder of the day.

I used Vogue 2900 to make my dress… I’ve used this pattern twice before and I really love it! I think it’s all of comfortable, elegant, classy and beautiful too… I mostly made it just about exactly as per the instructions, topstitching all the seams with matching thread. I think my only difference was leaving off the pocket facings because I had enough fabric to simply cut the pocket piece and lining also from the self-fabric linen. I also had enough fabric for a mask!

Hmmm, I wonder if we’ll ever need to wear these here? I could be making all these masks for nothing! I guess we’ll have to wait and see. I sure have nothing against wearing one. Also, I know I sound like a broken record, but again we are so lucky to have no community transmission of the virus here. So lucky! for now!

I finished all the raw edges inside with red overlocking thread, and used a red invisible zip in the CB seam. The natural madder root produces a colour that I would describe as more of a coppery pinky-orange rather that a red actually… and I really like the red inner workings inside against this colour, I think it’s a really pretty contrasting feature. Of course a pretty contrasting feature that no one is every going to see, haha. I mean, that’s ok, because who do we do this for but ourselves anyway, hmm? Exactly.

This is the eleventh thing in my list of 12 things I was going to make this year, from the 12 fabrics I nominated as well… hurrah!

I have just one thing left on the list, and I think I’m going to be able to manage it. And I love this dress! I adore the colour, and the style is right up my alley, so I’m so happy Yoshimi recommended the pattern to me all those years ago. 🙂

Details:

Dress; Vogue 2900, madder dyed linen
Mask; using this tutorial
Sandals; super old, from an oppy… I love these and really really need to replace them!

I propped up my phone in a tree and snapped a quick picture on our walk, even though it’s a bit blurry… oh well!

Posted in: sewing \ Tagged: Clara, dress, dyeing, natural dyeing, Vogue 2900

separated Cissy… and it’s green

27/11/2020 11:14 am \ 8 Comments \ Carolyn

Seems like a bit of a non-sequitur, but kinda sums up the whole process actually. Let me explain…

So I set out to make another Homer and Howells Cissy dress for myself because I was so pleased with the rust lace one that I’d made first off the block. This is back in April by the way, back when we were in a lockdown of sorts here in Perth, when we were all terrified of the virus and didn’t know as yet that there was no community transmission here. Yes, I do indeed know how very lucky we are! and it’s fantastic that everyone here is working hard to keep things that way too… but I digress!

I needed a sewing project!

I had some khaki-olive-blue-grey, slightly crinkly cotton in my stash that Mum had chucked my way, when she cleaned out her own stash, and it was just enough to cut out the Cissy pieces. Awesome! It was meant to be! However when I put it together I was just like…. blah. I think when you’re feeling anxious and depressed then your soul cries out for cheer and vibrancy, or even just strength, even in colour form; and drab colours just kinda drag you down … however at the time I determined a waist was what was needed. So I proceeded to cut a straight waistband from the scant remains of fabric, miraculously I had a strip just long enough! I took off the bodice and skinny-hemmed it, making a cute little loose crop top. I the sliced up the centre back of the skirt and inserted an invisible zip, re-folded the skirt pleats into my new waistband, and stitched on a button. Ok! I thought. This is going to be great!

ORIGINAL COLOUR… yeah it’s not awful, I guess

It lay in my wardrobe during winter and I was anticipating a lot of wear once the warm weather hit… and when I did my rainbow week mini-challenge I thought it would be my “green” ensemble… I frocked up and took a few photos, a sample of which is below, and man, at that moment the not-greenness of the whole thing just killed me, so it did not feature in that week after all. I still thought the ensemble had promise and I was on a mission to save it now! I wanted GREEN! I had to wait until Spotlight had restocked its dye supplies but finally they came in. And into the ~~spa~~ dye-pot it went!

looked terrible in this light!…

I used a whole pack of Rit Kelly green, and I very happy with it now, I think the strong colour is just what it, or maybe I – needed! The crop top is very cropped, and I have to be careful about lifting my arms up too high, and I’m planning next to make some pretty little lace camisoles to wear underneath.
Watch this space!

Details:

Top and skirt; from the Homer & Howells Cissy pattern, old cotton, overdyed by me
Caramel sandals; super old, originally from an op shop. I need to replace these, desperately!

Green turtleneck: modified Closet Core pattern Nettie in green merino
Black tights; my own design, black stretch poly
Black booties, from Zomp boutique

Posted in: sewing, Uncategorized \ Tagged: cissy dress, dress, dyeing, homer and howells, own design, skirt, top

limoncello

23/11/2020 11:11 pm \ 8 Comments \ Carolyn

I originally bought this fabric simply because it reminded me of limoncello; specifically limoncello partaken after a long day hiking thr0ugh the delightfully bucolic Italian countryside… yes of course it is indeed that most wonderful variety of fabric; souvenir fabric! I bought it in Rome, in the famous Fratelli Basetti Tessuti back in 2012, after our hiking holiday… it is a most gorgeously crisp linen in a sharp, warm, citrusy yellow with the skinniest white pinstripes. I have used a small piece of it previously to make one of my Perth dresses, and so I have learnt that this gorgeous colour unfortunately runs like the the wind! My Perth dress started out yellow and ended up basically beige eventually. Sad, but true. It’s ok though because I’m perfectly fine with giving it a refreshing new dye-bath when the time comes.

The pattern is the FibreMood Feliz. I have to admit I was a little suspicious of how very long the skirt is! and was initially dead set on shortening it just about immediately, but actually? I kind of like it like this. The Feliz has some nice features, specifically I like the curved back yoke and the flat, narrow collar; and I love how the workman-like vibe of those rolled up sleeves clashes stylistically with an almost impractically long skirt. Not that the skirt is really “impractical” in a real life sense but you know what I mean. I’m going to give it a good fair go before thinking about shortening it anyway.

Changes; just a few very minor tiny things.. Because the sleeves are worn rolled up most of the time, I decided to do a flat-felled seam finish on the sleeve seams, The seam allowances are only 1cm so this was a tiny bit tricky! but definitely worth it.

So, here’s a slightly funny thing…. see how the back bodice of my dress pictured below curves down to the side seams? well the pattern piece, below right, is most definitely shaped just to do just this, however, the line drawings of the dress do not show this downward curve. Mmmm…

I made the back yoke double layered and utilised the burrito method to get a perfectly neat finish on the inside. This meant I could also add one of my labels without visible stitching showing on the outside, which is nice 🙂

The slimline, stamped brass buttons are so lovely, I got these from Fabulous Fabrics. I’ve actually used these twice before, for this olive shirt, and this blue shirtdress, now a shirt too. I know I shouldn’t ever be using the same buttons, you should find different ones. But you know when you’re perusing the button selection and you see they still have that super cute button you’ve used before… and you know you’re being predictable and unadventurous but basically one knows a good thing when one sees it and in the end why fight it.

Details:

Dress, Fibre Mood Feliz, in lemon-yellow pinstriped linen from Italy
Tights, made by me here
Booties; nylon from Zomp shoes

Posted in: sewing \ Tagged: daily outfit, dress, feliz, fibre mood, pattern review

Cap Ferrat and Myosotis

06/11/2020 8:16 am \ 6 Comments \ Carolyn

The funny thing was; I knew I was going to like this dress because the fabric is just so utterly divine, the pattern that I was a little hmmm about…? but I’m completely in love with the end result so all’s well that ends very very well!

So, fabric first… this is a cotton lawn from Storrs of London. It is described as a 100% Egyptian Superfine cotton lawn, and it is, as already mentioned; DIVINE. It has the exact same feel and hand, and gentle light crispness as Liberty… although diehard Liberty aficionados might come for me, but that’s just my honest opinion! This particular design is Cap Ferrat, and I honestly struggled to choose just one because there are so many breathtakingly lovely colours and prints to peruse. I absolutely have to get some more for a shirt for Craig… or maybe just another piece for myself hmmm hehe…

The pattern, this is the popular Deer and Doe Myosotis dress, of which I’ve seen more lovely versions than I can mention! I actually bought the pattern two years ago, and it’s taken me this long to finally get around to it, which is a little embarrassing, huh. I dunno, I’ve just been busy. #weddings Anyway, I’ve always liked the style and thought this gorgeous print would look nice in the style. And it does!

So like I said, I did have reservations about it though… as I shall now address. The bust darts on this thing are FIERCE. I think it really is intended for a far more busty lady than myself, to be honest and was quite worried I was going to end up with the dreaded deflated balloon look on my chest. I debated whether to tone them down, perhaps to redraft the front to be a more gentle princess seam or something. Eventually I did reduce the darts a bit but still went for the double darted style as designed, and while the front is still a wee bit flooffy on me I don’t think it’s too bad. For a future version I will definitely tone them down even more though.

Everything else about the style I love, though. The sleeves are super lovely, and I completely adore the gently V neckline too, and even the gathered skirts are beautifully proportioned and look very on-trend to my eyes.

It does feel quite short on me! and I even made the hem a teensy bit longer, and hemmed as narrow as I could. Probably best to avoid touching my toes in public… but I do think the style is super cute though, so I’m happy. Cute and flirty and fun and perfect for summer. Everyone needs a sweet little red dress for summer! 🙂

Normally I find gathering to be a pain in the neck, but this crisp, very lightweight cotton took to it beautifully. Yes, I can’t believe I’m saying this, but the gathering was actually a dream. You know how some fabrics are just a delight to work with, from the very beginning of a project to the end? Well that’s exactly what this stuff is. Just pure joy. In case it wasn’t obvious, I can highly recommend!

I also whipped up a quick mask! Haha, I felt extremely self conscious wearing this! even though I was all by myself taking these photos, apart from Clara; see, we are extremely lucky so far here in Western Australia that our hard border closure has ensured we have no community cases of covid-19, so basically no one is wearing masks yet; but I think we’re not kidding themselves that we will never get cases here. I think it’s inevitable, eventually. Anyway, I do carry one of my masks around in my bag all the time, and I thought it would be fun to whip up a matching one for this dress … I’ve seen so many cute matching masks from other makers on instagram! I lined it with red poplin, leftover from one I’d made for Craig’s Mum, and cut strips off an already partially cut-up old free Wildcats T-shirt for the straps.

So, funny story… I know it’s not obvious in my pictures here, but… did you notice my footwear?!! SO I got dressed in the morning, in a hurry, because my days are packed solid at the moment and I just grabbed my thongs, shoved them on my feet and was off. I took some photos of my new dress for my blog here, did some work, and then at lunchtime took myself and Clara off to the beach for our walk. And only much later did I suddenly noticed my feet. LOL!

Details:

Dress; Deer and Doe Myosotis, in Storrs Egyptian cotton lawn, col. Cap Ferrat
Hat; Vogue 8844, white corduroy, recycled from old jeans, details here
Mask; made using the Makers Habitat free YT pattern and tutorial here
Thongs; fipper, bought in Bali on out holiday 2 yrs ago

also, actual photo from my photo shoot today

Posted in: sewing \ Tagged: Clara, daily outfit, deer and doe patterns, dress, mask, mystotis

I made some cool blue sandals (shoes)

30/10/2020 5:49 pm \ 5 Comments \ Carolyn

Woo-eee! I really really wanted to add another pair of handmade shoes to my collection this year and after a whole bunch of postponing and procrastinating and a little bit of prevaricating too… ta da! I basically had to force myself to get started – I hadn’t made a pair of shoes in over a year and it suddenly seemed quite daunting, and hard! but of course in the end I really enjoyed myself making these. And I LOVE them!

I bought this quite thick blue suede from The Fabric Store in Auckland, during one of the massive stopovers that Air New Zealand gives you when you’re flying onto North America. Which I have done twice over the last three years. I think this might have been the Alaska trip. I’d originally thought I’d try to make closed toe, oxford style shoes or derbys but realised the suede was really too thick for that. You need for the leather/suede or whatever to be quite flexible and easily mouldable around your lasts without wrinkles or puckers, which is pretty much impossible in a thickish material. So I eventually went with this, quite simple style instead.

Cute, huh?! I’m pretty thrilled with them! Most of the other components are from one of the kits I bought from Lisa of the Shoe Camaraderie, and I followed all her instructions too. Although like I mentioned, I used my own leather and the design of the uppers is my own too.

I really wanted a matching blue thread for those visible stitches on my shoes, but didn’t have any, not even embroidery thread in the right colour! which is why I settled upon the beige waxed thread that Lisa supplied with my kit. Obviously this is the perfect stuff to use for the job anyway, and I think I’m fine with it being a contrasting colour, since it is the same colour as the bottom part of the sandal too.

Having a kit makes it all so much easier, plus I’ve done two workshops with Lisa now… so you’d think I would just barrel through, no problem; whip up a pair of sandals in no time.

Nope! I stuffed up on multiple occasions!

Firstly, I went to the effort of masking up my lasts and drawing out a fabulous and as it turned out, ridiculously complicated style for my sandals. And made a pattern and all. Let’s just say, it did NOT WORK. I did try pretty hard to make it work and then moved on to trying to force the pieces into a different design, which obviously was not going to work either.

Settled upon this, much simplified design, cut out a whole new set of pieces. Confidently whipped up a coupla buckle and strap sets and practically finished the sandals. Smooth sailing!

Noticed the buckle and strap were going the wrong way, ie buckling forwards rather than backwards. *cue silent scream*

I almost just let it go, but then realised I had plenty of leather actually, enough for new straps, and if I was going to do this thing, may as well do it properly. Cut new strips, made new buckle and straps sets. Completed the rigmarole a second time. Obviously not quite so smooth sailing this time. It never is.

Next, I’d applied glue to the soles with great thoroughness and excellent coverage… or so I thought. After leaving them overnight, I noticed in the morning a few millimetres of lifting on the side of one of the sandals. This is very very bad. You do NOT want gaps. I managed to pry open a slightly bigger gap, enough to dribble more glue down, spread it around with an opened-out paper clip, and propped it open with another paper clip to go tacky. I gave it masses of time, and fortunately this very very NOT-recommended trick seemed to work. A miracle!!!

On to the finishing touches… went around to Tim’s place to retrieve the sander, which he has for some time, I might add. Plugged the sander in, very happy I was basically on the home stretch now, and turned it on. Nothing. Dead as a doornail. Hunted out a different extension cord, tried different sockets. Brushed sawdust and cobwebs from out of likely looking spots. Nope. Finally rigged up the the orbital sander instead and got the job done, which did take longer but of course not nearly so long as if I had to sand by hand, so all’s good. Apart from the fact that maybe we now need a new belt sander, of course!

So, this is the tenth thing in my make twelve, the “making plan” I set up for myself at the beginning of the year. This particular project was arguably the most intimidating out of the entire twelve, maybe the most challenging too. I do love making shoes but it’s definitely next level stuff, catapulting me right out of my comfort zone … so I feel like the final two are going to be easy peasy, lemon squeezy! We shall see!