Winter Warmth

It has not really snowed here yet and it has not been cold enough to freeze the lakes over for ice boating. All it has really done for the last month is rain. So I decided to start a sewing project. Anticipating a colder January and February, I've decided to convert one of my old main sails into a blanket.  I tried to sell it on ebay a while back but it is still here may as well put it to good use. BB and my mother also grabbed some of the old sail fabric a few weeks ago and created a set of curtains for our guest bedroom.  

I started by setting up the sewing machine in my traditional layout on the big living room floor.

Laying out the sail I used basting tape to hold the Dacron to a piece of light blue polar fleece.

Let the sewing begin.  I had a good run going when the first jam happened this little singer sewing machine just couldn't feed the fleece through and kept jamming.  I figured out after a few tries that if I ran the Dacron on the bottom and the fleece on top the feeder foot did not get full of fleece fluff and I was able to get three out of the four sides together with no problem.  The top was the hardest as the fleece wraps over the top of the Dacron and I no choice but to sew with fleece on the bottom.  To do this my mom suggested using parchment paper between the fleece and the walker foot.  This helped, but three layers of fleece and a layer of Dacron apparently is beyond the limits of this machine.  After switching to a more powerful machine, I was able to finish the project but it was with much muttering under my breath.

The finished project!  To get the largest possible blanket I went with a nontraditional shape.  

Dacron also makes some sharp looking curtains.  Here are the ones my Mom and BB sewed up a few weeks ago.