Pants-Fitting Delayed by Polar Vortex!   

I have never enjoyed Michigan winters.  Now with this polar vortex thing, winter has become an even bigger ugh factor for me.  I do not like being cold and I especially do not like being confronted with cold winds when I venture outside.   However, Michigan has been my home for many years and I have adjusted to the winters as well as I can.  I usually go about my daily life and manage to get along until Spring makes a return. 

Winter is different this year because it is seriously interfering with my Wednesday sewing group!  Yesterday was the third Wednesday in a row I was not able to attend that group due to inclement weather.  Usually if the weather prevents me from being a part of the Wednesday group, I just sew at home.  Then I only miss the social aspect of the group, which is a big deal but I can still sew. 

The last three Wednesdays, I missed more than just the social aspect of sewing with friends.  I missed my opportunity to fit pants on someone at the sewing group so I could post on how to fit and sew pants on my blog.   I assumed I would have the pants-fitting post ready by the first of February.  Unfortunately, that is not going to happen.

I sewed the muslin to be used for fitting the pants and studied the details of the pattern so I would be ready to fit the pants on the volunteer model at our Wednesday sewing group.  I usually have at least two different sewing projects going at once.  However, I was so excited about the pants fitting project that I did not have another project in process.  So, when this weather thing hit, I needed to find a project to do.  I decided this would be a good time to focus on an on-line class to learn more about the operation of my Pfaff Creative Icon sewing machine.   Yesterday and the day before I viewed videos and took notes.  Today I will probably sew a couple of samples of the techniques I learned yesterday. 

Yesterday when I needed a break from watching videos, I looked for something to sew.  I decided to work on the American Sewing Guild (ASG) Lansing Chapter’s charity project.   This year we are making drawstring bags and bags with zippers for Helping Women Period.  This organization provides feminine hygiene products to homeless and low-income women in this part of Michigan.  They will fill our bags with products before giving them to needy women.    We will be working on this project through the end of this year.  We hope to have lots of bags to contribute.  If you live in this area and wish to contribute, please go to https://www.helpingwomenperiod.org/  for information on how to participate.  You can also participate with our ASG chapter by contacting me.  Pictures of sample bags are shown below.

My post of April 10, 2017 on this blog gives instructions for making drawstring gift bags similar to those pictured above.

The snow has finally stopped.  It looks beautiful from the inside looking out, but I can’t be deceived.  I know the temperature outside is -11 degrees and the wind chill is -30 degrees.  It is predicted our temperature this Sunday (3 days away) will be 45 degrees with rain.  Hopefully, both my model and I will be able to attend the sewing group next Wednesday.  If that happens, my post on how to fit pants will probably be up sometime before the end of February.  That is, provided we do not get another polar vortex!

Stay warm and keep sewing!

Judy