Turns out I do still remember how to sew...

My winter coat is a 10-year-old (at least) boxy, black pea coat from the Navy surplus store. Its cut isn't flattering; its wool isn't soft and pretty; it collects scarf and sweater fuzz balls at an alarming rate. But it is soooo warm, and I've become somewhat attached to it. And so I will keep wearing it until it falls apart, I'd imagine.



This weekend, I decided it was finally time to take care of the pockets. They have been holey for ages, but at some point in the past couple of years they disintegrated into a mangled knot of fabric. And, after my recent period of non-sewing, I thought it might be a good idea to start off with a small project that wouldn't really be visible. Perfect.



So simple. Just measured the pocket hole, drew up some pockets, sewed them together by machine, and stitched them in by hand. Not the prettiest hand stitching in the world, but definitely serviceable. And aren't they cheery?



 

Oh, and geez, this time of year is awful for photos. Yuck. Getting home when it's dark out is just no good.

Darn, darn, darn

I darn my socks.

They aren't nice socks. They aren't expensive or handmade. They're just some plain, boring, regular socks from some department store. And I don't darn them all that well (though it's not for lack of trying). But I darn them anyway. They were just normal almost-perfectly-good socks sitting there with holes in them, and it seemed like the thing to do. I suspect that this is one of those things where a person either immediately thinks something like, "Why, yes! But of course!" or else is left wondering why the sock-darner is so weird.



Those of you who fall into the former category will be happy to know that now, after a visit to my parents' house last weekend from which I came away with a new (but decidedly quite old) darning egg, I'll at long last be properly equipped.

Instant gratification

Well, I've done all the cutting for the dress, but I've been feeling too lazy to get to the sewing-it-together part. All those instructions! I feel too weekendish to devote that kind of mental exertion to it today.

But I did feel like doing some sewing. Just nothing very difficult or time consuming.



So first I stitched up this little cuff with some linen (leftovers from an old skirt I had previously deconstructed), a few buttons (sitting in my sewing box, from who knows where), and a cute cotton print (bought this winter with no project in mind). I like it.



Then I took a look at the remains of this denim skirt, which I had hacked the bottom off of for this apron. Now it should make a pretty good skirt to throw on over my swimsuit for trips to the beach. Nice. This stitching is ostensibly to keep it from unraveling at the bottom too quickly, but really it is just fun to do. It's like scribbling, but cooler. I wish I had more stuff to stitch around on like this.