So, What Did YOU Do Yesterday?

I spent most of Monday under my son's new (old) car, a 1993 Jeep Cherokee. He and a friend installed new front brake rotors, calipers, and pads on Sunday but his friend had to take off early and the brake lines still needed to be bled to remove the air in the lines before the job was finished. DS bought this Jeep about 2 weeks ago and has been very impatient to get it fixed up so he can drive it. His main car for the last 2 years has been a 1965 Mustang with lots of looks but no air conditioning. He loves that car (and still has it) but wanted a "crapper" that he could tool around in and not really care where he parked it and, more importantly, one with A/C. I can't imagine driving around here in Florida in August without it, but he's done so for a while now. He'll get A/C for the Mustang one day but for now, he's sittting cool (finally!) in the new Jeep.

You would think that an 18-year old "dude" with a love for cars would also have some experience fixing them, right? Hah! He's handy but not very experienced in the car maintenance department since he has not really needed to be. Until now. I know a little from my dad and from my days as the teenage girl friend (not girlfriend, but female friend) and neighbor of Guys Who Drove Muscle Cars. OK, for a while I was girlfriend to one of them, but I digress. So anyway … I promised DS that I would help him yesterday and we would get his car road-ready or bust!

DS did the muscle work by jacking up the car, putting it on jackstands and removing the wheels. I studied the service manual, looked on the internet for more info and was ready with the how-to. Then we worked together to bleed the brake lines and to install new spark plugs and wires. Years ago, when I envisioned our mother-son bonding, I can tell you I never thought auto repair would be on the list. But it was actually a fun day together, even with the grease, brake fluid, and sweat. And we're happy to tell you the Jeep is braking like a champ, running smooth with the new plugs/wires, and DS will be driving it to work this morning and with hundreds more dollars in his bank account than the repair shop's.

Before Cook Auto Repair opened for the day, I did actually get in some sewing-related activities. Remember this Burda WOF top?





Well, I tried on the paper muslin again yesterday. Over TWO MONTHS after I first traced it. Sheesh. Time flies. I spent some time contemplating what I'd need to do to alter it and my head hurt. ;-) Not because it would be hard, but it would be time consuming and I'm short on time these days. So, instead of slicing/dicing my 42-to-48 graded-up pattern tracing, I decided to try recreating it in my pattern software. Which is what those doodles below are.



I'm nearly finished with the front pieces. I still have to create the neck and sleeve bands and then work on the back pieces, but so far my pattern pieces look nearly identical to the Burda pieces. When I've got mine finished and printed, I'll overlay the Burda pieces and do a final finesse to incorporate any subtleties missed during the "copy by eye" process.



Today, I'll try to finish up my pattern, get it printed and taped together. Maybe tomorrow I can squeeze in some time for a muslin.