I just work here. (Fear is the mind-killer)

I like to post pictures of flowers from my garden, even when they really don't have anything to do with the rest of the post, but I don't really have a whole lot to show for this week except a pile of shirts to sew and a pile of mostly finished project bags that lack a few seams. I'm trying an assembly line approach with them and I'm about four or so hours into five bags, which works out to about $10/bag so far, if I were to use the average wage of a seamstress. There's all kinds of interesting data behind that link and it could be a rabbit-hole for a number nerd like me. It's useful, though, because those numbers can help you see what sort of value the market puts on your sewing time. In the grand scheme of things, it's not a lot. Ordinary sewists have, historically, never been valued very highly in a monetary sense, but it's a good starting point so that you don't undervalue yourself if you want to sell your services.
This year wasn't going to be focused on peddling my wares and I didn't really want to do any commission work, but the dance school was in a bind and I'm kind of okay with being paid to help them out. Apparently, they said "We'd like some shirts for little boys." and the vendor heard, "Please send circus tents under which they might perform." and were terribly rude about having been in the wrong about what size a young boy might wear. I tried on the "teen" size, which is meant to be larger than the child sizes, but smaller than adult sizes, so right about where I'm at on the size chart for boys' clothes. It was huge. Whoever did the size chart for these shirts should probably set aside the illicit substances from now on. Lord 'a' mercy.

This looks excitin'

Anyway, I've still got a lot of shirts to sew back up and not a lot of time before the recital. I'm not hugely confident with knit fabrics at the sewing machine, but Project Make doesn't care if I'm timid. Project Make decides that this week, I'm learning about knit fabrics, so I obey. Project Make is my beneficent overlord that requires nothing more than total devotion to learning. My biggest fear is that I'm going to screw them up beyond all repair, but fear is just an activity of the mind.
Fear is the mind-killer.
Where the fear has gone, only my seams will remain.

This week's technique is a two-fer as far as videos go and this week, I actually watched the video before trying the technique instead of my usual M.O. where I just do the thing and then watch a video about it.

Sewing with knit fabrics

Part One is an overview of knit fabrics and how they behave:

Part Two is the knitty-gritty on how to sew it (see what I did there?):

So, of course I really want a walking foot now, but I can make do with what I've got for this particular job and it won't look awful. 

In other stitching news, I don't really have that much to report. Legwarmers and Leto are continuing apace, but my focus has shifted mainly to sewing. I don't know if it's the weather or what, but that's where I'm at right now. I'd already decided on a couple more little shirts for Bu as next up in the queue, but now one of them will be red with white polka dots in honor of our trip to Disney this summer.