"Sew" many steps for a new project

It amazes me how many steps it can take to accomplish your projects. I am lucky with this project because I caught that knit on sale at Fabric.com for 1.95 a yard and that was with free shipping. This was the first time I had every purchased fabric online-but it turned out to be a great experience. They emailed me and kept me in the loop as to what was going on, plus I received the nicest thank you note and the shipping was fast.

I have had trouble in the last 2 years , finding the color gray in the knit everywhere I had looked . But gray is the color that my oldest son likes - and Fabric.com had lots of gray! Whoopee!  So now I have the fabric and I know which person it will be for. Next comes the design! Sometimes it can take a while to hunt down the perfect design . I like hunting the design online because you don't have to worry about leaving home and you can multi-task as you go along. You know-like laundry when you need to stretch your legs.

I got lucky again because I only spent a part of yesterday evening and a part of this morning .

This is the pile of fabric that I am going to tackle and the reason it is a bundle is because I always prewash the fabric to eliminate the shrinkage problem. When I go to all the effort to make something for somebody - I sure do not want it to shrink up to a doll's size , like some of the store bought items do.

But it can be such a problem when I take it out of the dryer. It is like a live snake and I don't have the strength  to manhandle it into submission!The war is one.

Now I realize that I have not traced the larger size from the main pattern! O Shoot ! So, I pull out the soil control and lay it on top of the main pattern. See how easy it is to see the pattern below. But this always takes me quiet a spell and this time I pulled one of my dumb moves and copied the SMALL size -INSTEAD- of the Large size . This will be a good thing when I want the small pattern - but right now I did not. Sometimes I think my sewing angels are playing jokes on me. Weeelllll - that certainly sounds better than my marbles are getting loose!

Time stands still for no body-DH came in and I had to stop to feed us. He goes back to his wood cutting and I go back to my project. Since the fabric is so hard for me to corral I laid out the pattern piece on top on the fabric to see how much it will need and I am going to cut off a piece of fabric to make it easier for me to handle. If you notice the little red tool in the background-DH got this for me two Christmases ago. While we were visiting a lovely little fabric store one day and as the lady was cutting fabric this was the tool she used. You can use it for many things - even like cutting carpet or vinyl - but I keep it just for my fabric. It works perfect when you just need to make a straight cut and it really saves my rotary cutter!

Well, this is my shirt pieces compared to my bundle - I am making progress. I wish I had time to tackle finish my project - but seems like life just gets in the way.  :) :) I did get DH to call oldest son and ask him which he liked best - long or short sleeves on his shirts. He told his Dad that short sleeves are his preference- BUT_ no matter which he needs a pocket for his cigarettes. Pooh! I HATE pockets . I should really be tickled that he prefers short sleeves because that save quiet a bit of fabric!

But, I am happy because I got to do "something sewing " related. Sometimes it is the the details that bog you down. !!

Our weather was cold and clear today - nothing falling from our skies! But they are watching something for Tues. and Weds. Guess we will just have to wait and see.

I hope each of you have had a wonderful day too!