DUCKS for THEE in 2023

[meadow]

Sounds like fun!! Love the 'sweatshop' part.

 

[ducks4you]

Yep, Youngest DD and I had our sweatshop. She is more of a veteran seamstress than me, but I have constructed many things in my time.
I had all materials assembled ahead of time, bagged up and her Her house by Friday.
Here is our afternoon, which became evening after dinner to complete.
We cut and pinned and stitched at her dining room table. Don't think I have ever seen cotton fabric without a selvage, so that was unusual.
Can't find the tutorial that we watched before starting. We do NOT assume anything before starting a project, but we do reference knowledgable people online.
We had never Made a pillowcase before. We tackled and Conquered the "burrito method," Here is one/like 100 videos on this topic. Every search brings up somebody New!

We cleaned up the two edges which were, predictable, starting to unravel. I had already prewashed and dried it in the dryer to prevent any shrinkage after assembly.
Despite the original price of $8/yard--I bought it 1/2 price bc it is a seasonal print--it is not a heavy cotton. Then we held and stretched it out folded in 1/2, lengthwise, folded and ironed the fold, then cut into 2, then did the same and ended up with 4 pieces ~ 1 yard long, 45 inch wide fabric.

 

[ducks4you]

We made the executive decision to cut the cuff 6 inches wide, which would make the finished cuff about 2 1/2 inches wide.
Didn't matter. I went a little bit cheap on the materials on purpose bc I have never made these before.
I had purchased polyester ribbon to make the piping with cording. That was a good primer for making piping. Here it is being stitched for MY pillow, which has a red piping "stripe."
It wasn't hard to make it piping. It was slick and troublesome married to the cotton.
DD and I decided that we would start on hers and mine to work through any problems.

 

[ducks4you]

While I wait for my photo of the burrito to pull up on my email, let's enjoy the cats!
Purrkins decided to take a nap on my sweatshirt--"smells like Duckums!"

I had to talk Troll Bridge off the cliff.

 

[ducks4you]

We figured out how to assemble the burrito and were able to fully assemble DD's pillowcase, with the lavendar piping.
In between referencing the pillowcase video we listened to This guy, a very proficient guitarist, nerd, "Final Fantasy" fan. It was highly relaxing and reminded me of the "Goldberg Variations", written by J S Bach to soothe a Count Kaiserling to sleep.

The Last of Us (Main Theme) | Classical Guitar Cover - YouTube

 

[ducks4you]

For MY pillowcase I machine basted the piping to the cuff. We goofed and had the cuff flipped during assembly, so I got to do my "favorite" sewing activity,
RIPPING
OUT
A
SEAM

No matter, but it ate up time, so we had to reroll and reassemble my pillowcase.
Then it was time to go to the Philo Tavern for dinner. DH met us there...BEAT us there--it's 20 minutes from our house, 7 minutes from DD's house.
Somebody questioned their $1 beer. Here is what it looks like. Yes, Pippin, they come in pints!

 

[ducks4you]

The most perfect pillowcase was for Other DD, who spent the afternoon food shopping and other stuff, and came back to play a video game. Her piping was hot pink. Here DD was pinning it. We also decided to serge the sides. She uses a serger a LOT, which is an understatement. The seamstress in the video taught her a new trick, to stop the needles at the corners and flip over the garment, then continue. It locks serger seams, which do Not lock themselves. DD got to practice this new skill 4x, and mastered it.

 

[ducks4you]

We put each body and cuff together on separate chairs. Had we mixed them up there would have been much crying and gnashing of teeth.
We used this cutting tool from Fiskers and discovered that you really have to press down and make a full pass back and forth to cut fabric.

Rotary Cutter and Ruler Combo (6" x 24") | Fiskars

Specifically designed to cut multiple layers, a rotary cutter with a 6" x 24" ruler attached makes measuring and making perfect cuts through fabric easier than ever.

www.fiskars.com

On the first try we had to go back and used scissors to separate the pieces.
So, here we are, on the last pillowcase and it's 8PM.
I still had to feed dogs and the horses were waiting at home to be put back into their stalls.
Still, we pressed on--get it, "pressed, like using an iron?!?"
We had pulled a standard pillowcase from upstairs for reference. All of ours completed wider than the standard, which was 19 1/2" wide.

 

[ducks4you]

FINISHED!!! White trim, hot pink trim, lavendar trim and red trim. Everybody has their own!
Eldest DD had bought present bags for all of us. I had intended for these to be Valentine's Day gift bags, but I was willing to be persuaded. AND, I didn't pull an all nighter on the 13th!

NOTE: Their Dining Room is now SO bright it's hard to see the colors, but I did well matching them.

 

[Rhodie Ranch]

What a wonderful play by play! I was so enthralled! GREAT Job!!