ADAM AT HOME UK

Should you prefer the audio version, please click   HERE 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...

If you'd like to listen to the spoken version of this post, you'd better click   HERE Oh dear... I see it's well over two weeks since my last entry... Well, I suppose I've been frightfully, frightfully  busy doing huge amounts of Notalot , which is always very tiring. In reality, it was something of a dissappointment that the mannequin I'd thrown myself into with such vigour turned out to be  somewhat  more svelte than he should have been. My general reaction to such things is to put them aside for a while; trouble being, that I do not want to get started on the Banyan Project till I have a viable mannequin. Time has not in fact been standing still, in that I have made myself two pairs of 'experimental' boxer shorts - very loosely based on C18th braies - with another one in the pipeline. Then I have been making myself several hats, starting with a calico mock-up out of which has come a sort of skullcap and a couple of pork pies, plus a pork pie for a go...

If you would prefer to listen to the audion version of my scribblings, please click   HERE There's been a temporary side-track while I make myself a couple of pairs of boxer shorts, as yer do, but now I'm back on track: the body form has been started! Initially quite straight-forward - centre-back-left to side-back-left, centre-front-left to side-front-left and so-on,  but the sleeve hole covers were really complex and made me realize why I don't like doing set-in sleeves. The neck cover wasn't much better.  I've actually been really enjoying the process - it's been stretching my sewing skills... The next step will be to stuff and finish - but that's for another day. And then... on to thge banyan!! I've been watching way too much YouTube recently, what I term the Orientals: Liziqi XiaoXi Polin Lifestyle   (to name a few) There's a certain peace and quiet which pervades their videos, as they get on with their daily...

Should you by chance wish to listen to the spoken version of this little ramble, please click right   HERE My pattern from Bootstrap Fashion duly came through - 40-odd A4 pages of actual pattern pieces, plus nearly 50 of very clear, detailed instructions. My poor laser printer had smoke coming out of it like some mad cartoon character... Tip to self (and others): next time give the poor beast a few breaks in the printing process!! A lot of yesterday was spent trimming and taping all the pieces together on my friendly fabric shop's cutting out table; it is quite amazing just how long that takes. Cutting the fabric itself out was quite straight forward, except that I wanted the pattern to match at the centre front and back seams. A mind-bending challenge where this rather wonderful Chatham Glyn 'Zig Zag' fabric was concerned... The stuffing took a certain amount of thought - and thank goodness for Mr Google (generally not my fav...