Looking up

I spent the Easter weekend with the stomach flu, and then the following week trying to get caught up on housework again.

One notable thing was that when I finally got out of the house again, to the library, I found two books of the Borrowers series in their book sale...both were in like-new condition despite being fairly old, and they were exactly the two volumes that I didn't have. 

The series has undeniably had an impact on my life; the Borrowers' resourcefulness in creatively re-using whatever they could scavenge was something that resonated strongly with me in the circumstances I grew up in.

Back to sewing

This week is ridiculously overscheduled, but I finally got clear enough to get back into making things.

I finished the embroidery portion of a project that I started several years ago, making several long panels that I intend to assemble into a tiered skirt.

I did a review of my wardrobe notebooks, and made a list of things that I need to make, replace, alter, or buy.

One of the smaller projects on the list was to trim the edges of a sweater that I had turned into a cardigan; it just needed a little something more to look finished. I had some ribbon yarn left over from the armchair-reupholstering project, and the colors went together well, so I used that.

My mother-in-law gave me two grocery bags of fabric scraps, and I have been thinking about what to do with them. There was a partially-deconstructed flannel shirt, which I am making into some new cloth napkins; there was enough fabric for five or six.  My goal is to have about twenty napkins altogether; about half a dozen need to be replaced.

I think there are one or two pieces of fabric in the bags that are large enough for a blouse. Most of the rest is headed for quilt squares.

Braided rug repairs

My little homemade denim braided rug needed some repairs to the lacing that holds the braids together...again.  It sits right between the back door and the most popular hot-air register in the house, so it gets some hard wear.

The original lacing was just acrylic yarn, which I wouldn't have recommended for anyone else to use, as it is not particularly durable.

The last time I repaired the rug, I used a linen yarn, almost like string. That wore out, too--and much more quickly than I would have expected.

This time, I was in a hurry, and used acrylic yarn again. It occurred to me that the acrylic yarn has some elasticity that the linen yarn does not, and that may be helping the lacing last longer than it otherwise would--it can take a certain amount of strain before the fibers begin to be damaged.

The repairs themselves were straightforward:  unlace enough to be able to tie on a new piece of lacing, use a big yarn needle (tapestry needle) to lace the braids together, and then tie the lacing at the other end, trying to hide the knots. I find it best to do the repairs from the center of the rug outward--as the rug was originally made.

With the lacing repaired as needed, a braided rug can last a very long time.

A pillowcase

One of my pillowcases wore out to the point of tearing as I was taking it off the pillow. It was a hand-me-down from my mother-in-law; she buys very nice linens, but it seems like the high-thread-count fabrics often don't last as long as the coarser ones do.

I looked around at the fabric I had, and found a fitted crib sheet in mint green that we no longer need. Using an intact pillowcase as a pattern, I was able to cut out just one pillowcase; there wasn't enough fabric for two. The leftover scraps went into the future-quilt stash.

The sewing was straightforward. I chose to do French seams, for neatness and for practice.

I finished the pillowcase by trimming the edge with some white crocheted lace that I had. This was from some garage sale that my relatives went to; someone had cleaned out their sewing stash, and all their odds and ends ended up at my house--and were very welcome, too.

The lace was in two pieces, and looked like it had been made for trimming a pair of pillowcases, but never used. I had them draped over the mirror in my bedroom for a long time, as nonfragile decor, and then across one of the windows.

Right on time

I went to the thrift store to look for new used shirts. I found one that was exactly like one that I had:  exact same brand, style, color, and size, but in nearly-new condition.

I hadn't even planned on replacing that particular shirt, just to mend it and keep it going for a bit longer, but when I put the two side-by-side, it is clear that it is time to retire it with honors.

Interesting

I tested a swatch of one of the polyester fabrics in my fabric stash to see what would happen. As I more or less expected, what happened was nothing at all; the color is built into the fibers.

Later on, I made a skirt out of that fabric, and dyed it with a dye for synthetic fabrics.

Still later, I accidentally dripped some chlorine bleach on the skirt. I don't seem to be able to use bleach without getting some of it on my clothing. The bleach removed the dye, leaving the original color in those spots. This may be useful for later textile projects.

This is the chart that I have been looking for

Comparison of the temperatures of different burning gasses. Note that these are significantly lower than they are given elsewhere on the internet; don't ask me why. I'll put the elsewhere temperatures in parentheses.

Most notable ones are:

MAPP gas:  2900 deg F  (3670, 3730)
Propane:  1950 deg F  (3600)
Natural gas (methane):  2750 deg F  (3500)
Butane:  1760 deg F

From elsewhere, I'll add:

Methanol (available as that HEET stuff for cars):  3398 deg F
Ethanol:  3488 deg F

The linked page also has melting points of various metals:

Aluminum:  1220 deg F
Copper:  1981 deg F
Iron/Steel:  2802 deg F
Tin:  450 deg F

Once upon a time, I took a glass-bead-making class, and used a MAPP gas torch.

In the slightly less distant past, I heated pennies to red hot over a little methanol-burning camp stove, and was able to shape and work them. I used my very long stainless-steel tweezers from the beadmaking class to hold each penny in the flame.

In addition, here are glue gun temperatures:

Hot melt glue gun:  375-450 degrees F
Low melt glue gun:  250 degrees F

I was wondering if the low melt glue gun would melt paraffin, but apparently it is far too hot for the job.