The penultimate star

Went out and had a few beers at the local Irish bar so we all woke up late.  Sean made a fire and I sewed on the last two stars.

I was really feeling in the Betsy Ross groove, especially when we made a fire in the wood stove.  I wonder if sunny mornings working on flag orders felt kind of like this in a strange sort of way.

Betsy Ross was not the “society” lady that I had always assumed.  A friend of Washington who came up with this flag idea as a way to dispel the boredom and helplessness felt by a lady unable to do anything else for this cause erupting all around her.  Turns out that is not at all what her life was like.  She was an upholsterer who built her own business and, for a period of time, filled flag orders for the new US government.  She buried three husbands, and a few children too (people seemed to die quite a bit back then) and died nearly broke.

Here’s the actual flag that flew over Fort McHenry and which the Star Spangled Banner was written about.

This one was not made by Betsy but her shop filled orders for as many as a hundred of these garrison flags (which measure 30′ x 40′).

How breathtaking!  You can see the felled seams and reinforcing stitches in the blue–my guess is to keep the flag from ripping?

Here’s the penultimate version of my sad little flag.  I need to adjust the position of that last little star on the bottom left of the 1.

Filed under: The Betsy Ross Project, american, betsy ross, flag, hand, sewn, star spangled banner

Skyping while sewing

Rachel works on scenic design while I sew.  We decided to play a mind reading game.  The theme was “grad school words”

Filed under: The Betsy Ross Project, grad school, hegemony, scenic design, screen shot, sewing, zeitgeist

Getting Close…

I have the first 8 stars on, should be done in a few days–then I can start in on the rest of the props for “The Spirit of 21” photo shoot (look for more details soon)

Also some of you may have noticed that I am now under the domain name john-blalock.com–don’t worry–the old address will get you here too.

Filed under: The Betsy Ross Project, american, denim, flag, hand, sewn, stars

First things first

Before I start sewing flags I had a little side job.

Fixing a hole in the crotch of seans jeans.  Rachel says its a good patch but it may not hold–the denim has a tendency to pull apart and fray.  She’s probably right, but at least it will keep sean decent for a while.

Filed under: The Betsy Ross Project, american, denim, flag, hand, jeans, patch, sewn, stars

The stars at night, are big and bright:

Tested out sewing a star onto a piece of blue

I think it will work fine, only the stars I use will have to be much smaller.  This is 4″ mine will be 2″ however I think they do not need to be hemmed.

They’re sewn on with blue thread so that it does not show through to the other side (because it would be backwards).  I am going to have to resew these stars onto the reverse side–however not right way…

Here’s the layout with the 2″ stars.  These are made out of paper–I think I am going to run into problems cutting the denim this tightly.

Filed under: The Betsy Ross Project

Curses #$%&!

Dang seam allowance!  This was the hardest piece to sew–the reinforcement for the hanging side of the flag.  For some reason the denim would not iron down, my hems kept folding out.  Plus I had to sew both sides together with each stitch, which meant pinning and readjusting every few inches (otherwise you would find out that you had been sewing only one side and have to go back).  And then–after all that I get to the end and I am 1/2″ short (not counting my hem!)!  I must have stretched the flag side out as I was sewing the strip!

Now I am either going to have to make a patch (which I think I will do) or pull the whole thing out (which I think I will not do)

Filed under: The Betsy Ross Project

UW v Oregon

We tried to go see the UW Oregon game.  It would have cost about $30 each to get in (at least)

So we watched it at the bar.  It was embarrassing.

But at least we did not pay $30 to see UW get killed.

Filed under: Uncategorized, football, Oregon, UofO, UW

Star Pattern

Soon I will be cutting out stars and figuring out how to attach them.  Iron on would be best but that would probably go against the spirit of this project.  Here is the rough layout however.

Filed under: The Betsy Ross Project, american, betsy, denim, flag, flat fell seams, hand, ross, sewn

All the pieces are coming together!

I finished the last stripe–this means I can add the blue field and tie the sections together.  I was afraid of what would happen when I tried to fell the felled seems.  So I cut away part of the seems so the will lay flatter:

Seems to work (haha), its pretty thick, but it works:

Now I just have to fell all the seems and hem the out side and I will be able to start the stars:

Filed under: The Betsy Ross Project, hand

D**m roommates

Thanks for fixing my book sean

Yea,

Thanks.

Filed under: Uncategorized