Finally, I hope.

Okay, good news. Finished up part 4 of my download pattern and I think I have all the parts for my shirt.
Had to wait for the last puzzle to get my collar and front band. The stocky boy parts are just that, still in parts.
So anyone who thought I was gonna make their stocky boy a shirt. Sorry but fagedabodit. He ain't gettin no
shirt. This one is about the stocky old man.

The puzzle patterns

Now right out of the gate I want to say I'm not gripping, cause I kind of knew what I was getting into.
Bought a online pattern. Thought maybe fifty pages, put em together, cut out what I need and get to sewing.
Well,,,,, my four part pattern, pt 1 and 2, 41 pages each. Part 3 and 4 thirty something each.
Oh man,, got through one. Most everything lines up, good. Part two,,, some are not lining up like they should,,
oh man oh man. Part three is a little out of whack too. I'm getting worried about number 4.
I got this because it was a great looking big mans ( and stout boy ) shirt. Might be easier to go on a diet. For a
long time. Okay, I'm going to get this thing together but I think I'm liking my project and trace idea a whole lot
better. The computer generated patterns are put together like this also. Man oh man, project me a pattern
please cause I'm a little burnt on puzzles.

more ideas

Well, along with the projector idea, I've decided
 that having a form to help fit what I'm making
would be an excellent addition to my stuff.
 Sew many projects, so little time.
BTW, anyone have a Singer 500 or 401 they don't
want anymore? Okay, just thought I'd ask lol.
The weather has cooled a bit, so I hope to
get more things done. That heat just puts
the brakes on life sometime.

ps. I need a giant table to lay out things.
The dining room table comes up just a
little short sometimes.

The weekend already

Well, I found a spot for my new sm and now it's time to get back to finishing my projector pattern.
Down side of the projector, you have to use it in a relatively dark room. So early morning or evening
is the time to wall trace.

A Singer 99 just found a new home

Well, I got a deal on a Singer 99 with cabinet off of CL and I went and picked it up tonight.
Little oil and it runs great. I know I didn't really need one but I've been wanting a 99 for a while
and this one was calling me.

Pattern project cont.

Well, last night I set up the projector, got the image close and then started to measure. It took a few times but
eventually I got it dialed in. I started by measuring the neck to shoulder length. I finally got it and then I checked
the side seam, it was right on the money, next, the center line and it too was right where it should be.

Next I took my pattern paper ( I used packing paper from when you get packages sent to you with all that
light brown paper tucked in there ) and ironed it smooth. I then taped it to the wall where the image was
and got it nice and tight. I then took my straight edge and sharpie and started tracing. It worked like a charm.
I got the one front done but it was so hot last night, I had to stop. Hope to get more done this evening.

I think this crazy idea is going to work.

My idea for pattern making

I talked about this on a couple of forums. Since I have lost my youthful shape, buying clothes can be a real
challenge. So I decided to dig out my old sewing skills learned from dear gramma and make some clothes
for myself. Well, naturally the pattern industry decided that being a big guy is two strikes against me.
So now what?
Well, as usual I came up with a crazy idea. I have a small portable projector that you can project pictures on
the wall. Nice for murals. I thought what if you had a pattern that wasn't your size but if you had a way to
enlarge it, it may work for you. Then I found a computer program that lets you put your measurements in and
it adjusts and creates a pattern for you. The downside is that it is expensive and you have to print out the
pattern and glue it together like the patterns you can buy and download online. The good thing is the program
has a demo you can get for free ( you can not print or save with it ) and it gives you a picture of the completed
pattern on the screen. So what I am trying at the moment is to save the picture and copy the measurements
for all the lines, print the picture and then project it on the wall. Adjust the projector so the projected image
matches the dimensions you need and then trace onto a paper.

I plan on working on this during the week, hopefully I can get a muslin made for a shirt and see if it fits.
I will post my progress.

Here's a first, Carl's blogging.

To be honest, I never really thought I would have a blog anywhere. What would I talk about?
What is to be said that already hasn't somewhere else? Then I thought, who cares? So I'm gonna
give it a shot and see what happens.