Lucy Pevensie Tam & the Kitchener Stitch

I just completed the cabled hat band for my gray Lucy Pevensie hat pattern. Two new lessons learned were picking up stitches and the Kitchener stitch to join the ends. Also learned that it is important to add yarn and pick up more than one yarn at a time when picking up stitches, or else holes and distortion may appear as a result.

Although I picked up 16 stitches to match the other end, somehow once they were joined, I was left with 2 extra stitches. I took the tail end of the yarn and wove them in as best as I could. I'm pretty sure it is not the best looking seam, but at least I tried and I suppose that for a beginner, it is all that really matters. :)

Butterick 5572

After spending the entire day last Sunday sewing it wrong (the pant only had one leg and the waist area was divided in two!), I finally had a chance to rip out the stitches and redo everything all over this weekend. I finally finished C's flannel pajama pants today. Yay! Also, I believe a new sewing milestone has been reached as these pants have pockets!

Comments About Instructions

I was really tripped up by step 2 when it came to sewing the crotch seam. Somehow, I must have laid out the pieces incorrectly. For those who have never sewn pants before, I highly recommend pinning and checking to see if the seam makes sense before stitching and clipping. I stitched and clipped everything up to the Casing and Finishing part when I realized just how horribly wrong everything was. By then, once I ripped everything out and all pieces were free again, all of the edges no longer could be relied upon for alignment (I couldn't rely on aligning and pinning the edges anymore) since the wrong parts were sewn together and their edges clipped. I had to be brave and work through that problem by trying to pin everything so that the grain of the fabric was as straight as I could make them again.

For step 5, make sure that the top of the pocket is basted close to the top and not with a 5/8" seam allowance. I think the 5/8" seam allowance made it very difficult to pull the elastic through.

Step 7 asks you to turn the upper edge of the garment along the fold line before creating a 1/4" fold. I find it easier to press the 1/4" fold first.

Also be careful when stitching along the top edge. Don't stitch too deeply into the casing area or the elastic won't be able to pass through. Ask me how I know :(

Ending Comments

I had made pajama pants for myself using Simplicity 1561 and did not have as difficult a time. The instructions for Butterick seems to have left out details which could have made the process easier, for example how to lay out the fabric for the crotch area so that he wrong pieces are not sewn together. Simplicity 1561 had a different technique which requires inserting one pant leg into the other and then stitching the crotch. It seemed weird and I couldn't quite figure out how it would work until I took one store brought pant and tried it. When I had to work on the Butterick pattern, I thought to use the same technique, but since there were pockets and their instructions are different, I figured that I should just follow their instructions instead. I'm a little leery of Butterick patterns now and will make sure that I pin and check to see if something makes sense before rushing into sewing it together.

The Historian's Toolbox -- Book Review

A Student's Guide to the Theory and Craft of History
Third Edition
Robert C. Williams
M.E. Sharpe, Armonk, New York
2012

I finished The Historian's Toolbox and am very happy to say that I really liked it. The conversational tone of the book and the very interesting examples used ensured that it was never a dull read. The topics are carefully organized by sections and subsections and discuss various aspects of doing history from the types of history that can be found, writing a paper, the various evidences that can be used to support a claim, the different ways that history can be told, to how history is still relevant today.

It is a handy reference book since the sections are broken down into subsections by logical sequence. The easy to follow layout makes it simple to look up specific topics. Although short, each section is concise, yet informative. Many topics are covered, but the pace of the book is quick due to the straightforward writing style.

In addition, The Historian's Toolbox can also be used as a textbook in the classroom. Historical examples are used to illustrate the current topic which helps to reinforce the relevance of the topic under discussion. There are also some black and white pictures to enhance the story. A few of them are a little fuzzy, but they are clear enough to get the point across. Some of the sections end with a "Task." These tasks consist of questions or exercises designed to review the topic discussed. They are great starting points for class discussions and exercise critical thinking skills.  In addition, there are plenty of books recommended for further reading, in case the reader's interest is piqued by the examples used.

While reader is learning about some of the tools used by historians, he is also learning how they are actually used in practice through history examples. For the new historian, it is a very good resource for methodology. If I were teaching a core history class, I would not hesitate to include it as a requirement for my course.