As I began this week, it was windy, cold and really wet – with more rain in the forecast. I knew it was perfect weather for my Kelly Anorak, so I set to work to finish as quickly as possible.

Date: Monday, October 30

Time sewing: 20 minuntes; 50 minutes; 20 minutes; 20 minutes

What I did: It’s raining and blowing like crazy outside and the only appropriate jacket I have is not finished yet! We have a lunch date tomorrow, so I am going to try as hard as possible to finish this jacket (and the babywearing panel!?) today. I didn’t get off to a great start, as I sewed my sleeves and linings together and turned the jacket right side out to discover that the sleeves were too long, and, as a result, bunched up funny with the cuffs and stiff, thick fabrics. I also realized that I sewed the facing with the zipper pointing the wrong way. Both are relatively quick fixes, but so not what I need right now!

Later in the morning, I set to ripping out some seams while watching Outlander. I also took the opportunity to sew a bit further on the seams attaching the hood and lining as I realized the rest would be done by hand. I managed to shorten the sleeves by an inch and re-attach the ribbed cuffs. I feel like I’ve been making veeeeery slow progress over the last few days – two steps forward and one step back the whole way. It’s going to take some real focus to get this jacket done today.

I did some more work over the day, but kept making mistakes (the tag getting folded and caught in the seam, the topstitching not catching the lining) and felt myself getting frustrated. I decided that it was okay if I didn’t meet my deadline and I would take my time and enjoy the process.

Date: Tuesday, October 31

Time sewing: 45 minutes

What I did: I top stitched the hood and set to work on the hem. I got about three inches from the end and ran out of bobbin. I had very little thread left on my spool, so I couldn’t wind a new one. I knew I could get started on the babywearing panel, but I decided to take a break.

Date: Wednesday, November 1

Time sewing: 0 minutes

What I did: I took a break.

Date: Thursday, November 2

Time sewing: 40 minutes; 10 minutes

What I did: I started work on the babywearing panel. I adjusted the shape of the pattern, did and re-did the zippers and then realized that I made ANOTHER mistake. So I stopped.

Date: Friday, October 27

Time sewing: 45 minutes; 45 minutes; 1 hour

I spent a good part of my episode of Riverdale un-picking the zipper mistake from yesterday. Then, I set to work fixing it and taking pictures for the tutorial that is coming soon!

In the evening, I became determined to finish the babywearing panel, and I did, but it took waaaay longer than it should have. Things were humming along nicely until I tried to top stitch the zippers as a last step. I kept breaking needles at the ends (going through about 70 layers of thick fabric) and ran out of all of my appropriately-sized needles. I then had issues with skipped stitches. I rummaged around multiples times and finally found one last size 14 needle and managed to finish. Fewf!

Date: Saturday, October 28

Time sewing: 15 minutes

What I did: To go with my babywearing jacket, I decided I needed a neckwarmer. One of the issues with babywearing sweaters and jackets, as I have discovered, is that your neck/clavicle is left open as you can’t zip closed the top part of your coat at there is a baby’s head there. I joked that I needed a dickie, but reaaaaaaalllly didn’t actually want one. So I am making a bandana-style fleece neckwarmer for myself that will hopefully cover what my husband and I have dubbed “the triangle of death.”

Date: Sunday, October 22

Time sewing: 15 minutes

What I did: I organized my WIP bin and washed a swatch of the fabric for my Linden Swap top.

Total time sewing this week: 7 hours 35 minutes

What I learned:

• Self-imposed deadlines are great for motivation, but there’s no use rushing if you don’t actually have to. I know I made way more mistakes and spent more time re-doing things this week than I would have if I’d just taken my time from the get-go.
• Having the appropriate needle for a fabric is really important. So is having several back ups.
• Be careful with fluffy fabric. The black side of the fleece I used for rhe bandana neckwarmer was super fuzzy and shed little chunks. I coughed up two over the course of the morning. It was super gross.