The Julien Chore Jacket

The Julien Chore Jacket

I don’t have a lot of memories with my grandpas because both of them passed away when I was small, but I think the photos I have of them are why I didn’t need a lot of convincing to add a chore jacket to my sewing projects list. A chore jacket just seems like a grandpa uniform.I don’t remember what exactly made the Julien Chore Jacket stand out over the many other chore jacket patterns – the Ilford jacket and a Japanese mens’ jacket were also in the running.

I picked a luminous chartreuse linen for the outer fabric (warp and weft are an electric yellow-green and a rich gold), and picked a batik cotton from my stash for a lining. I wanted a lining so it could be a three-season jacket.

How to be a Good Neighbor

How to be a Good Neighbor

Most people have heard the line from the Bible about loving your neighbor as yourself. If you don’t know the rest of the story, in the biblical context, everyone is your neighbor.

Here are three good books unified around a theme of neighbors and how we treat ours. These books contain big T truth – the Truth that comes through in any medium where there is space for it to dwell.

Light Reading

Light Reading

I’ve been posting about a lot of heavy books lately, because they are good and important. This post is a quick little pop-up advertisement for two books that are just for fun.

Wonder

Wonder

This past weekend, I did the same 2.6 mile hike three times in two days, with three sets of people. I hiked the same loop in the same direction, and each time it was like a new trail.

The first time, I walked with a friend who I’ve hiked with regularly throughout the pandemic.The reason I kept going back was because that first hike was magical. The only other people on the trail seemed to be serious birders with big binoculars.

We stopped to speak with one couple. They told us the preserve where we hiked was in the midst of a two week migration period, when tiny birds flying north from the Caribbean rest on their way to their nesting grounds.

Since we can’t travel to the Caribbean right now, it seemed like the next best thing was to go see birds who have just spent the winter there.

Sewing: Three Things

Sewing: Three Things

Back at the beginning of April, I was starting to feel hopeful about sewing again and I mentioned that I had a couple of patterns I wanted to make.

At that point, I hadn’t started sewing yet. The three items I was planning to make were an Elizabethan Sea Dogs jerkin, a pair of Luna pants, and a Remy raglan. The original plan was a sort of monochromatic history bounding look that would mix and match with the rest of my wardrobe.

I did make three items. It didn’t go exactly how I planned, but I’m happy with the results. I’m not sure if I’m capable of making three black items in a row per the original plan, but I set a record for making three neutral items in a row, so that’s something.