2013/01/06

The macaroni prototype

Glad I made a prototype. Learned a lot!  It has been approximately 25 years since I've actually made anything with a sewing machine.  While some things came back quickly, I completely forgot others.



After about four hours of tension issues (which I powered through), I consulted the interwebs.  Although the suggestions contained thereupon were helpful, they did not solve the issues.  As a last resort (typical), I read the manual this morning.

Wow, what a difference some cleaning and light oiling make! I did make the cardinal mistake of combining thread types, buuuuuuut I made no effort to change my bobbin thread.  It all worked out in the end.

Ladies and gentlemen, I present to you, the Macaroni Prototype!! Huzzah!


You can clearly see my top thread tension issues, as well as the fact that I made the front out of two pieces rather than one (oops!). Laur is also a fan of the wildlife armpit theme - I had to resort to fabric store ends, as I did not have enough fleece on hand to complete my project.  The only thing left is the collar, finishing the wrist and waist seams.  I am going to skip these steps, though. If I run into trouble on the real deal, I'll go back to the prototype for experimentation.

Things I learned:

-the arms are a great width, but could be shortened 2.5" each
-make front and back each out of one complete piece
-tension issues will drive your bananas up the wall
-pay attention to your pattern and cut your fabric in a straight line
-I'm too fat I need to adjust the widths on the front and back portions

The online forum stated that this pattern was for a 5'8-6'0 person, taller and presumably slimmer than I currently am (I'm hoping to get taller).  It should be easy to allow for this adjustment.

Other than that, I'm quite happy with the MP.

Yesterday we took a trip into the "City of Trees" and visited a few non-valley stores.  One of which was Princess Auto, at which I purchased a canvas tarp. I hope to make this large piece of brown 18oz duck into an outer, windblocking layer.   Although there is a different pattern for the canvas, I'm also excited to take on that project as well.

Stay tuned for the Real Woolie Deal in a couple of weeks.

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