FATTENING UP MANNY 06/12/20
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As I said in my last post, I was somewhat dissappointed when it turned out Manny needed a few extra pounds on him <sigh>. However, once I finally got around to sorting things out, I realised it meant making him a padded waistcoat (a gambezon, basically). This involved first of all making a double-layed calico waistcoat to his current size - double layered so that I could glue the wadding in place without the danger of the glue seeping through... That in itself was quite a challenge.
Then the padding: mainly a layer of foam carpet under-felt.
Very useful stuff incidentally - it is pretty good at deadening sound and formed a major part of the sound-deadening I installed between myself and my neighbours several years back. This was followed by several layers of thin wadding, with a final layer of calico to smooth everything down and make it look presentable. A certain amount of hand-sewing was required, which was quite hard on the fingers but by the end of November all was finished and Manny is now more the shape he should be. After all that work, I'm almost tempted to re-name him 'Falstaff'!!
The pattern I'm using for the banyan is not a fitted one, per se, except somewhat at the neck and shoulders, but it is so nice to be able lay the pieces onto him.
At this stage, I'm sewing the inner, detachable 'winter' lining.
(and apologies for the poor photo: trying to take a one-handed 'selfie' at arm's length and in landscape mode was harder than expected!). Apart from the fact that I'm fairly easy on my clothes, this is not a garment that's going to require cast-iron seams!
As I said in my last post, I was somewhat dissappointed when it turned out Manny needed a few extra pounds on him <sigh>. However, once I finally got around to sorting things out, I realised it meant making him a padded waistcoat (a gambezon, basically). This involved first of all making a double-layed calico waistcoat to his current size - double layered so that I could glue the wadding in place without the danger of the glue seeping through... That in itself was quite a challenge.
The pattern I'm using for the banyan is not a fitted one, per se, except somewhat at the neck and shoulders, but it is so nice to be able lay the pieces onto him.
At this stage, I'm sewing the inner, detachable 'winter' lining.
Because the cotton chintz is so fine, I find I am making pretty fine stitches - one every 1.5mm roughly - in a sort of quarter back stitch: I do a back stitch followed by three or four running stitches, repeating as I go. I've started using a sort of bolster on my lap as a support for my sewing: I find it a) makes me keep in a fairly upright position and b) makes me much more aware if I am hunching over at all - something that's terribly easy to do when sewing, especially with fine work.
When that's done it'll be the ordinary lining and then, eventually, the silk brocade outer layer. It's important to build them up, so that the outer layer fits nicely over the inners.
Whilst the recent lockdown did not affect me very much, it's nice to be able to go out more and visit shops that were previously closed. Hopefully there won't be another one till after Christmas/New Year, but I rather fear they are with us for a while yet.....
Hey ho...
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