Operation Scarecrow: mission accomplished

You see that big market umbrella cover? We made that! My friend Han and I, we made that, on this little hard-working machine just above.
You can see the beginnings here.
We've spent maybe four or five sessions on Wednesdays whenever we can manage between work, kids, home, blah blah. It's been a challenge, and a lovely opportunity to spend time with a dear friend and her sweet baby girl.

what is this sewing thing you are doing?

Even though we made a muslin, the entire process has been a bit of a 'don't count your chickens' exercise until we put the final cover onto its frame. It worked better than either of us really hoped. We even managed to salvage the large eyelet-thing from the very top of the old cover to re-use.
Hannah's very basic-model new Singer machine just churned through multiple layers of outdoor fabric with a denim needle and thick Gutermann thread. There were a few 'choking' moments but nothing a bit of unpicking and gentle persuasion couldn't remedy. Pretty impressive and has raised the notion of new sewing machines a few notches in my eyes.
Now, 'count your chickens', yes that was planning for a little segue.

In chook news, we have two melted-together broodies on the one nest of twelve eggs. Every day for twenty minutes we plop them out for a little eat-drink-poop-stretch-the-legs and then they're back to this position. Four days our of twenty-one down and counting!
Chargold the young pullet was not accepted by the feathered friends at my parents' coop so she's now in a large cardboard box in our house, pending her own outdoor accommodations to be built on the weekend.
Oh and I took one of our rats to the vet for the second time this week, he's now on antibiotics and thankfully responding well. $69 later.
Pets. Sheesh. We also have a box of silkworms but right now I'm thinking they might make a nutritious snack for one of the chickens.

- Jane x

Operation Scarecrow

My dear friend Han who very much encouraged me to start a blog loves a bit of stitching herself. But she's had three adorable kidlets in four-and-a-half years, and helps run a business. So she's had less time than she'd like in which to get crafty.
Han asked if I'd help her with a big project. Not too complex but dauntingly large-scale: making a new cover for her market umbrella. "You can blog about it!" she said, and besides, I had encouraged her to tackle the task in the first place.

Han has dubbed the project 'Operation Scarecrow'

As an extra incentive, I can also have cuddles with this little **girl!!**:

'Do you have permission from my Mama to put my completely edible face on your blog?'
'Why yes I do Miss Winter.'   'Oh, okay then. Continue.'

Probably about a year ago we pulled the old umbrella cover apart, examined the construction and Han traced the parts onto 7.5 metres of calico, which looks like this:

yikes

Then it was carefully folded away next to the roll of pricey outdoor fabric that we were both a bit scared to slice into. We let the project marinate. (I love that term! Thanks whoever invented that!) It seemed to really help with this, because look what we sewed up today.

the muslin FITS!

And then, the pricey outdoor fabric was sliced.

yes you can, yes you can!

Phew. That's enough for one day. All tuckered out.

Clem calls her 'Baby Sun', which was some mix-up with her name Winter, but I think it suits her beautifully

Operation Scarecrow continues next Wednesday. We're planning flat-felled seams sewed with some sturdy thick Gutermann polyester thread. Breaking a big task like this into bite-size chunks seems to be working well.
Have you ever tackled an umbrella re-cover, or similar project? I'd love to hear any tips or wise words.
- Jane x