Mending & Patching

MY KANBANS, LET ME SHOW YOU THEM

Hi, any readers still here!  I've been incredibusy[1] for the last while, but none of it's been interesting new textile explorations that I needed to whine about, and I've been travelling a lot, so lack of postings.  (I actually have a pick-list of general topics I want to burble about, and I need to be better about motivating self to burble about them when I'm not in the middle of a project.

Since last we parted, I've moved, let's see here, eleven cards from "Backlog" to "Done"; each of them representing a task (see graphic above).  Now, a single task might be small and quick (e.g., mending the top of a gore) or a lot of work (e.g., making 50-odd buttons for a pourpoint); but they're still An Thing.   You can also get fancier by estimating effort per task and using that as a filter or pick mechanism, but I usually have an idea just by looking at it, so I haven't bothered shaving that yak.

I used a different method to track the kirtle work (which I've also finished!!)--it's on a single card, but it has ticky-boxes inside the card for each step.  I can see value to both methodologies; I think it really comes down to whether you're more inclined to do one entire project to completion, or to cycle through several in turn.  Since a lot of what I was doing presently was mending/fixing/upgrading, it made sense to have this combo method.   

For the record, I did not stop to resolve the questions I had about the kirtle that I burbled about in the previous post; I just forged ahead and made the thing.  I'll get analysis later, for use with a more serious project.  (I did face the center-front and the neckline with silk bits, the linen being so very fine; I did not bind the neckline or armholes.)

it's less dorky if you sew stuff
in your own underwear

A thing I am slightly smug about: I have classified my chemises.  I have a bunch of shifts and, except for two which I made simultaneously, they're all slightly different in cut and fit, and some work better with some dresses than others; and it's difficult when you're staggering around your tent in the morning to figure this out.  So!  I have tried each on in turn, taken notes of its particular features, and sewed in tiny corresponding numbers at the back of the neckline.  And they're nubbly, so I could even figure it out in the dark.  Ahem.  (And this also means I don't have to fumble around figuring out which side's the front.)  

I may forget what each number represents, yes.

Having finished the kirtle last night, now I suffer the option paralysis of what to pick off the backlog next.   OH HEY I'LL HAVE LUNCH THAT WILL HELP SOLVE THIS no no it will not


[1] I have an English degree and that means I can make up words.