Pepper Passes, Pleats, & Plenty More

Pepper may no longer be guiding her former partner, Sarah, but she still does service in another way.

She goes into schools so that kids can read to her. Depending on the school and the teacher we are visiting, she may be hearing a child's first written piece ever (dog poetry, in one case), or helping a child practice reading aloud with a non threatening "listener" who won't know if they've read the words correctly or not and will simply enjoy the companionship of the child.

Teacher Daughter Lisa lets her students earn "Pepper Passes" as they meet their reading goals, and once or twice a semester, Pepper and I join her for a morning of celebrating those who achieved their goals. This past week we spent a morning with her.

Theoretically, her students are supposed to bring a book to read to Pepper,

but mostly they pet her, play ball with her, and learn about guide dogs and the work they do. This visit we even learned about alliterations during our time together:

"Pepper is nicknamed Princess Pepper and loves to be Petted. She may take treats from your hand like a Piranha so Please hold your hand flat like you would feed a Pony because she sometimes eats like a Pig. Her sister is named Paige and Pepper was the fifth Puppy born in her litter. Perhaps she would like to Play with all the People she will see today." And so on.

(The alliteration fun actually came about as we talked about litters of guide dog puppies all having names that begin with the same first letter.)

After spending time with the kids who earned Pepper Passes, Pepper and I go back into Lisa's classroom where she lets every student meet and say hello to Pepper. That can be a real incentive to those who haven't yet earned a Pepper Pass.

I was back at the sewing machine as soon as we returned home. Naturally Pepper slept on the bed behind me while I worked. Tammo joined us, too.

Pepper "just happened" to grab his favorite toy and laid on it so he could not get it back. (He patiently waited her out and grabbed it when she moved to a different spot.)

Not only am I working on Lisa's robe a l'Anglais, but I was asked to make some red and blue Stablemate sized haversacks for an upcoming live show. 

Finding a horsey print to fit the scale of a haversack that small was challenging. I found several possibilities and the show holder selected this one. 

They asked for five in each color

but I made six so they'd have an extra if needed. 

I'm also working on something else for this show but it's to be a surprise so I can't talk about it or post pictures yet. I will when I can.

It is scary to begin a major sewing project. (Especially when it is for someone else.) One wrong cut could be a disaster. But I was at the point where all the preliminaries were done - the muslin had been made and fitted, the pattern pieces had been redrawn to reflect the changes needed for a good fit, and the petticoat was finished.

Now it was time to cut the fabric, trusting that my math was correct when I made the alterations and that each pattern piece that needed to be changed had been altered correctly. Seriously, my heart beats faster when it is finally time to start cutting the pattern pieces out.

This is the piece that will fall from the neckline down past the waist and to Lisa's ankles. It is 55 inches long, a significant amount of the fabric on hand for the gown. If I make this wrong, I will not have enough to complete the gown. Gulp!

The instructions call for me to measure and mark a 15 1/4 inch seam that cants at an angle, growing wider from 1/2 inch at the neckline to 1 1/2 inches wide where it ends at the waist. 

You'd better believe that I triple checked those measurements before I finally drew the chalk line that I would sew.

The result is a box pleat, the one that will be centered at the back of the neck. On either side will be two knife pleats, making a total of five pleats down the back of the gown. Making those four knife pleats are today's project, and they are complicated by the fact that they, too, are angled and they curve just a bit.

Wish me luck. 

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