That Was the Week That Was

Following on from our last installment, I did find ribbon and be-ribbon the Etsy/ArtFire merchandise.  

The cutting die for the kilt/Sam Browne belt piece arrived last week (Thursday-ish, IIRC).  I don't think it's as sharp as the dies I got from Weaver were when new, but it's probably sharp enough.  I haven't actually gone down to the basement yet and tried it out, though.  

Robin and Marmaduke took over the living room Saturday afternoon to paint miniatures, so I hung out in the dining room and started a new project.  I also determined that the stainless-steel workbench does interfere with sitting at the big sewing machine.  I'll try shifting the sewing machine over a bit before rearranging the whole room.  I'd have drafted Robin and Marmaduke to move the sewing machine on Saturday, but there's mess that must be dealt with first.

My new project is something similar to the Steampunk Spare Pockets from AltKilt.com. My first pass at the pocket portion was constructed along the lines of a fabric pocket, and was a flop as it was too bulky in leather. And it would also be too much like the AltKilt pockets.  

The second pass is going better - I'm going with a 2-piece pocket - a front and a soft gusset.  I'm confident enough in this design that I went ahead and cut out the parts for all three pockets (1 larger center pocket and a smaller pocket on each side), the apron bit, and have some of it ready for sewing. I'm going to lace around the flaps for the pocket, but not the other parts, in part because the leather I'm using for the flaps doesn't cut as nicely as some, and lacing hides imperfect edges.  And it's the thing I do.

Yesterday my plan was to cut out the flaps and doing other work on other flap-related things - setting latches, getting flaps ready to lace, etc., and then take everything with me to a friend's Labor Day party in the afternoon to work on.

Didn't happen. The kitchen porch ate the morning and part of the afternoon, and by the time we got home I only really had time to put dinner for today together.  I'll go natter on about that on my personal blog, but it was frustrating. Probably more frustrating than it should really have been. 

Still no pictures taken of belts or other new-ish merchandise taken. Blame the porch. Robin did reassemble the light table, maybe one night this week I'll go up and do some photography on my own responsibility, something I actually am capable of.  If I don't keep myself busy working on the pockets.