Author Archives: mrsmole

Underlining?

Posted on December 18, 2025 by mrsmole

The more I feel the two layers of wool and imagine them working (or not working) together, I feel they need something else to make them more stable and hold up under the pressure of many wearings and dry cleaning. … Continue reading →

Posted in non-challenges | Tagged , , , , | 5 Comments

Stiffen Up!

Posted on December 13, 2025 by mrsmole

When your client buys fabric, especially wools for a jacket/coat, the texture and thickness have to perform just right. If there is not enough interfacing inside, the finished garment will hang like a rag and not hold up after many … Continue reading →

Posted in non-challenges | Tagged , , , , | 4 Comments

Getting Serious

Posted on November 10, 2025 by mrsmole

After surviving 3 weeks of a nasty virus and non-stop coughing and nose blowing, it was time to get to work on the jacket. In the last post I had photos of some of the problems and now I can … Continue reading →

Posted in non-challenges | Tagged , , | 8 Comments

The Try-On

Posted on October 23, 2025 by mrsmole

Let’s get started with fitting this Vogue 1263 muslin to Nancy: From the back we see that there is extra fabric at the back princess seams and the collar is huge! The hem shaping darts are basted and ok for … Continue reading →

Posted in non-challenges | Tagged , , , , | 1 Comment

Muslins to Go

Posted on September 25, 2025 by mrsmole

In my last post I shared the Vogue jacket 1263 made up in muslin for Nancy. She has also mentioned that other jackets have caught her eye, so I will be making more muslins for her when she comes back … Continue reading →

Posted in non-challenges | Tagged , , , , | 5 Comments

Struggling at 102 Degrees

Posted on August 24, 2025 by mrsmole

These past few weeks have challenged both plants and people. The purple sweet potato slips have been growing wildly in the ground and in the grow bags. So far I have given 5-6 slips each to about 10 people who … Continue reading →

Posted in non-challenges | Tagged , , | 5 Comments

Summer Veggies and Things

Posted on August 7, 2025 by mrsmole

OMG is it August already? Let’s start with a quick walk around the back garden to grab some things for dinner: Found this monster lurking under a big leaf! The berries are still producing! My neighbor’s peach tree overflow: My … Continue reading →

Posted in non-challenges | Tagged , , , | 2 Comments

Lost Three Weeks

Posted on July 30, 2025 by mrsmole

For the last three weeks we have been battling some mean germs: Having avoided Covid back in 2019 with all my brides, unfortunately, it has found us. Talk about losing your mojo or sewjo…there were days when just getting up … Continue reading →

Posted in non-challenges | Tagged , , , | 6 Comments

Wicked and Wool

Posted on July 3, 2025 by mrsmole

The ComicCon event is over and we have photos to share. You can get a real idea of how much fun this event must have been! My client fully dressed with make-up ready for the event:   Other participants in … Continue reading →

Posted in non-challenges | Tagged , , , | 2 Comments

Pants and Plants

Posted on June 14, 2025 by mrsmole

Maybe like me, you have been collecting patterns since the 80’s. Maybe like me you have patterns from the 60’s when fitting was a breeze. So when I went through my boxes of paper patterns from the 1960’s to the … Continue reading →

Posted in non-challenges | 1 Comment