Garments and Fabric: Part 1

We went to this month's Marlborough Weavers' meeting on Saturday. Although we arrived an hour late, and I forgot my pattern on the kitchen counter. No matter, there was great amount to be learned, and more to be reminded of.

Sue the Sewing Guru who was recruited to the occasion is fitting a felted garment. I thought, "Yeah, easy for felters," and considered how far I would be willing to felt a woven fabric in the wet finish.
Sure enough, Joan had made a zip-up jacket made of woven-then-wet-finished/felted fabric which worked as well as a felted (never woven) fabric.
June McKenzie showed me how far the woven fabric front's seam allowance extends in different parts of the vest.
She doesn't hesitate cutting into floats like these, and with lining, creates successful garments.

I liked the wide side panels on Chris's vest; we can weave narrower cloths, create contrast, and I even know how to make the seams curve on both sides of the panel so there is none in the middle.
Alternatively, we can construct garments using commercial fabric in the difficult parts and handwoven cloth in the flat/square areas. Rose used up her warp ends this way.
Judy reminded me I can also weave different structures or with different wefts to create contrast fabric; something I've always dreamed of doing, but had totally forgotten since I started worrying about construction. I've been in email communication with Judy for over as long as we've had the Marlborough Weavers blog, but it was the first time I met her. Nice!

(Husband was on the lookout for something he might ask me to make, or something that makes me feel a little more at ease about cutting my cloths.)

This ought to tell you I am not, as a general rule, concerned about clothes, but still, nice to imagine wearing something that came off my loom. Besides, when shaped unconventionally, I feel it's not a bad thing to put a bit of effort into looking nicer, you know. But I said that already, didn't I?

We didn't have to, but we overnighted in Blenheim because Ben has two weeks off and it was the start of his holidays. We stumbled upon Japan vs. the Netherlands in our motel, (we don't have Sky/cable at home so can't watch non-NZ games), and it was fun texting my sister in Japan while watching the same game.