Keeping the Toes Warm and the Boot Clean

Note to Self; See? I didn't have to buy a thing! I can now justify my HUGE stash of stuff. (Cue the celebratory fireworks!)

Briefly: Not happening. Maybe I should give this part up.

In mid-November I had corrective surgery on my foot. I had time to make a couple of cast/walking boot covers to keep my foot warm outside and to keep me the cast/boot from scratching me at night.

The two covers, basically glorified Christmas stockings with a long tie in front to keep them on, were made of blue cotton flannel (for night time) and polar fleece for outside appointments. The night cover proved to be too short for the boot and the velcro strapping still scratched, so I ended up covering the cast/ boot with an old pillow case tied on with a bit of elastic.

cotton flannel

I also made a toe cover but that item was not photographed. Basically I drew around my winter boot and made a half-moon cover that fit only over my toes.

polar fleece

unintentional pattern matching

I was pleased with the pattern matching across the toe and even more tickled by the way it matched on the bottom.

"treads"

We were fortunate this year that we didn't have any real snow until early December and since I was non-weight bearing for the first six weeks I didn't have to worry about the durability of the boot.

Near the middle of December I realized I had only about two weeks to get a warmer and more resilient cover ready as I'd start utilizing the 'walking' part of the walking boot just after Christmas.

I opened the bottom of the polar fleece cover and put it on the walking boot, then layered felted wool over the fleece, securing them with the cover straps while I 'quilted' the wool in place. There are five layers of fleece and wool over the toes and three over the rest of my foot.

 I then put the whole shebang on a piece of waxed cotton and cut out external cover.

The wool is from two different sweaters but since it isn't on display I didn't fuss about that too much.

The weatherproof cover didn't have a bottom. I wasn't keen on this (major drafts) but I had fears any fabric I used would just become icy and slippery so I planned to use the treads on the walking boot to provide traction. I zigzagged a piece of taut elastic around the inside of the bottom of the boot to hold all the layers together and to hold it in place.

A zipper and snaps keep it closed in the back. Of course, I didn't have a brass zipper or silver snaps. I kind of expected both to appear just after I finished this -you know that's how these things go.

From the side, the little rascal has a rather pugnacious expression.

And from the front it looked rather like a crabby rhinoceros. I was going to embroider a face on the front but figured it was rather senseless to poke all those holes into waxed fabric...

On Friday I decided I wasn't entirely happy with the open bottom. While it kept my foot warm enough it obviously didn't keep the boot clean. It was bad enough hauling around rags to dry my crutches but I wasn't sure if I could dry the sole of the boot properly. I neither wanted to slip nor track up my friends' floors.

This summer The Geek had re-soled some of her sandals and thankfully remembered she still had some of the crepe-sole material left so I started hatching a plan to close the bottom.

I drew around the base of the walking boot (left) and then around the cover.

The Geek didn't think the crepe would stick to the waxed cotton so I cut out a piece of both waxed cotton and regular cotton,

stitched them, wrong-side together, and then flipped the right side out and stitched again.

I traced around the boot template so I'd know where to apply the Barge cement (bluish tube).

Then used the same template to cut out the crepe soling.

The glue was applied to the crepe and the fabric and allowed to cure for about 10 minutes.

The Barge cement is stinky stuff so we put it on the stove top under the exhaust fan to air out.

The crepe was then positioned on the fabric and covered with a piece of paper so any excess glue would wind up on the paper and not on the bottle.

The cement needs some firm pressure to adhere properly and extra rolling was done around he very edges of the crepe to keep it from peeling up later. The bottle was excellent for this task.

I flipped the boot inside out and positioned the sole with clothes pins.

Then zigzagged it in place.

I made the sole a little big so it would extend past the waxed cotton and keep it from rubbing on the ground. I noticed after wearing them outside that the crepe sole should have been a bit farther back but that would have been hard to figure out beforehand.

A size comparison; the boot cover, my regular winter boot and my hiking boot.

Bicycle pump on the far left.

Today, at -23, both feet were equally warm so I can call this a win. I'll have to see what happens when it gets colder.

And here is my PSA: The Geek added a 'platform' to my indoor shoes so my hips are the same height. Walking boots tend to do a number on your back, hips, and knees because of the difference in height from one leg to the other. Here she used the bottom from an old pair of thongs (or flip-flops if that's what you call them where you are), drilled holes for some loops and used lock-lacing to keep them in place. If I'd had a pair of shoes with thicker soles they would have worked just as well but wouldn't be such a conversation starter.

Moving into the Light

I am lucky to have a dedicated space for my sewing. My only complaint would be its location -the basement. It's cold and dark down there, and while I can put on a toque, an extra sweater and turn on the space heater, I can't make it light. By the beginning of January, I crave light. And in the summer, I'd prefer not to be inside, let alone downstairs.
At the same time, the Geek's home office needed some modifying. She was spending more time working from home and her current set-up of a table top on a round table wasn't doing her wrists any favours.
We planned an upgrade that would give both of us standing work stations.
This is what the room looked like before, with (from left to right) the Geek's desk and tool shelf and the futon (where we take turns reading and napping).

This is the new arrangement.We bought a couple of bookshelves from Ikea, and used the old kitchen countertops and a countertop the Geek used as a desk in her old apartment, so it wasn't too costly a job.

 My sewing stuff is in the corner, then a shared workspace (which amazingly, after about six weeks is still not piled full of stuff) and the Geek's computer. The futon stayed where it was while the Geek's tool shelf has moved to the top end of the futon.

This arrangement provides plenty of space and supplementary light for us both, and allows me to channel my inner Mrs Kravitz. ;D Being warm and comfortable -the height of luxury!

The Goldilocks Skirt

Once upon a time, in a land far, far away lived a woman called Sox. One day, Sox decided to sew herself a long, cozy corduroy skirt to keep her warm through the cold winter months. These were dark times, many years before the proliferation of indie pattern designers, and Sox chose a pattern from a house of the Big 4, companies she had sewn with many times before.  

Sweet innocent Sox decided on her size from the measurements printed on the envelope, not from the finished dimensions on the pattern pieces themselves, and merrily cut out and sewed her skirt. Imagine her surprise when the skirt did not fit! It did not fit to the extent that as she walked, the skirt spun around on her waist, much like the sun was once thought to spin around the earth. Sox shortened the skirt so that the hem might not provide so much traction, and thereby reducing the amount of movement, but alas, the skirt stubbornly continued to rotate. She put the skirt in the give-away box.

For some reason tho' Sox still had hopes for that pattern, with its slightly A-line shape and yoked waistband, and in the opening days of the winter of 2012 she took that pattern and some wonderfully colourful, cozy, quirky fabric on a weekend visit to her parents farm in order to cut it out on her parent's huge kitchen table.

Colourful upholstery fabric.

Imagine if you will, Sox's surpirse, when she discovered both waist yoke pieces were missing from the envelope. Undaunted, Sox decided she would simply draft a new waistband and carry on. Unfortunately Sox's motto of 'don't think, just do', a philosophy which has served her well in sporting events, good deeds, and affairs of the heart, did not translate well into endevours requiring mathematical precision. The waistband sides were not the same width, a slight miscalculation that went unnoticed until the sides were sewn together.

If there was pattern matching one point, there isn't now.

And even tho' Sox had cut the skirt two sizes smaller than that first much-too-big skirt, the second version was still much

too big.

So Sox took it in, and then took it in some more, and then a smidge more. And then it was

too small.

At that point Sox regretted the third 'reduction' involved the use of her serger. Shame on Sox for being so impatient. So the skirt was left to languish on the naughty pile, and the pattern discarded ruthlessly into the recycling bin, while Sox moved on to adventures with other fabric.

Then came the never-ending winter of 2013. Sox was Desperate. For. Colour. She entered her magical sewing chamber, saw the skirt of quirky colours and pounced. With some judicious finagaling of the back seam, she was able to get the skirt to a point where it fit (in a sub-standard way)

just right.

Flash reflecting from my Nutella jar 'tripod'.

(tho' slightly too short to be worn without tights).

Why do my top and tights look two different colours?

Is there a moral to this story? Undoubtedly. Will Sox learn something useful from it? Probably not.

But here they look almost the same?

Oh well, at least the skirt is still warm. And colourful. And no longer a UFO.