kitty: seaming party was 1/2 successful

I finally grew some balz to sew my Habu sweater together. Next week is MG and my Habu class and I had really wanted to wear this sweater to the class. So I really didn't have any more time to procrastinate. Getting this sweater to the point where I could sew it together has really been an adventure. I ended up having to block the pieces about 5 times. The problem was getting the stainless steel and the paper to create a strait edge. My blocking board was to short to block the body pieces and doing half at a time became a nightmare. In a last ditch effort I ended using my blocking wires and suspended it from my shower rod under tension to finally get the edge I was needed. After the blocking drama the fear of how to sew the sweater together began. When I tried to sew it by hand together, my lovely strait edge started to wave again through the man handling. In a fit of tears I ended up ripping it out and blocking again. What to do, What to do.... And Olga to the rescue. I can not begin to tell you how many days I spent whining on aim about this sweater. I absolutely love the sweater, but the construction has been a learning experience. And to be honest with the stress of my job as of late, this was one more stress I wasn't handeling. So she suggested that I just sew the sweater on a machine or serger. Now, there was no way I was going to take a serger to the sweater, that seemed way way to final. I did take the suggestion of using the sewing machine. It worked like a charm. Though the fibers were really hard on the needles. I broke three needles during the construction and got the foot caught on 4 of the stitches. Luckily I was going slow enough that this didn't cause any problems. Just putting the needle down and then slowly wiggling the trapped stitches off. Had I been smart I would have gotten out the leather foot to use the gliding roller, but I didn't think about it until it was to late.

So now it is time for the 6th blocking to regain the texture for the sweater, but I just had to share some photos after I sewed up the seams. I was floating on cloud nine that it actually came together and the sewing worked. The other big question is will I add the white strings along the seams to gather it slightly. I have a feeling I will do this to the sleeves but not sure about the other seams.

Yeah, I will definitely be wearing a Habu sweater to a Habu class next Sunday. Thanks Olga, Mia, and MG for listening to my whine!