Wednesday, March 20, 2013

Shortening sleeve length

Sodetake wo tsumeru

Work has been a collection of SNAFUs. The very description of my job almost guarantees that the people I work with on a daily basis are much smarter than the general population. (I didn't say I was smart, I said that as a collective group, my colleagues are smarter than most people.) But since we're specialists, we have clerk types who SHOULD be helping us with our work, but can't (or worse, won't) perform simple tasks. And when I say simple tasks, I mean 5th grade math. Sigh...

With that going on, I haven't had much time or energy for things like sewing. Last month, I shortened the sleeves of my chambray jacket. This is my grownup denim jacket that I throw on over my T-shirts or turtlenecks and wrap a scarf around my neck to pretend I thought about getting dressed in the morning. The trouble is, I had to roll up the sleeves for my hands to show. I could have shortened them at the cuff, but that would have meant dealing with the vented cuff and quasi-antique buttons, which I both really like.

So I did the only thing a girl could do...

I ripped out the sleeve at the shoulder, and shortened it there.


The chalk marks are 4 cm from the original seam. They will be the new (target) sew line. I marked this line the old fashioned way, using a ruler and chalk, measuring 4 cm from the original seam, marking, measuring, marking, measuring, marking and connecting the dots.



And here it is, all sewn back together again.

There is minor creasing at the shoulder, but I think it falls in the realm of "what, you are bothered by THAT when there are children starving in Africa? Get a life" territory. It would probably bother me more if the jacket were something like wool serge, but it's chambray with a bit of a crinkle, so, yes, there are children starving in Africa. The sleeves are now the perfect length, and when I wear the jacket under my also DIY altered trench coat, the cuffs don't show! So, Yay me!

I really need to sew again.

I'm up earlier than usual today because airway blockage woke me shortly before 4 a.m. OK, I made that sound a lot worse than it actually was. My nose is stuffed up from pollen allergies, made worse by my being too tired to shower before going to bed (it actually makes a difference. Showering before bedtime ensures that you wash all the pollen out of your hair). Then I started answering work e-mails (attempted cleanup of previously mentioned SNAFU) and it was all kind of downhill from there. I think I'll post this, then shower, and get the Pumpkin Daddy's breakfast ready (but not the Pumpkin Prince and Princess's, not yet, because the three of us have a holiday but the Pumpkin Daddy has to go to work).