Tuesday 28 November 2017

I still can't sew

Okay, I can admit it - I'm not a laid back or easy-going person generally.  I'm a planner and there is a lot of intentionality in the things that I do.  However, I didn't know that this "uptightness" translated into areas of my life beyond work and into the actual way I hold and use my body.  Apparently it does.  Apparently there is a lot of intentionality in the way I hold things like pens, and my phone, and the steering wheel of my car, and my rotary cutter.  And that intentionality is that I death-grip everything all of the time to choke the life force out of it.

Hence....thumb jail.

Sigh.

Thumb jail

Thumb jail is attempting to rectify tendinitis in my thumb and so far it's been three and a half months. There's been physio, acupuncture and massage three times a week since October but it doesn't seem to be getting much better.  Last night. my physiotherapist finally gave up (temporarily) -- time to bring in the bigger guns -- so back to the doctor and onto the next step.  Meanwhile, my thumb is on lock and I can't sew.

However, before thumb jail I had a really rad spring and summer and sewed all of the things...which actually might explain why I need thumb jail in the first place.

One of the things I did was finally replace my old, stained, and burnt ironing board cover.  I feel it prudent to add that I had no idea what the hell I was doing and reverse engineered it by taking apart the old cover.  Lol.
Step one: un-sew
Step one: take apart the old gross one.  I normally would question why someone would serge the old blue and yellow fabric cover with bright purple thread but in this instance was totally grateful for the contrast.  Also, I'm pretty sure my grandma made this cover and I'm not in the habit of taking my own life in my hands so I have ZERO questions.  Zero.  Do you hear me, Nan?  None.

Elastic.
Figure out how the fasteners were attached.
Once I had it all taken apart (and then panicked because I wasn't sure I could put something similar back together). I used the old bits as pattern pieces for the new bits and went to town.  All in all, a pretty quick project and now I can iron without fear that I will catch the iron on the lip of a hole and tear a ten-inch gash in the old, brittle, burnt fabric.  Sure makes things go faster.
Excuse the terrible lighting but here is the new and improved cover!
Not too shabby if I do say so myself!