Sewing by the Seat of my Pants

VPLL 0336 Princess Slip - Finished!

2012-03-01T00:21:00.001-05:00

Pattern Description: Ladies' princess seamed slip with lace insertion and trim from the March 24, 1912 issue of La Mode Illustree (French fashion and pattern magazine).

Let me preface this review by explaining that I'm involved in the Vintage Pattern Lending Library's 1912 Project, which is an attempt to recreate an entire year (1912) of La Mode Illustree's patterns to mark the 100th anniversary of the sinking of the Titanic. The patterns are sent in PDF format, to be printed and taped or printed at a copy shop. They are directly taken from the original patterns and any grading or modifications is up to the sewist. A lot of the people doing the 1912 Project are historical costumers, but I signed on because I thought it was interesting and I knew it would expose me to techniques that I've had no reason to learn up until now. A challenge is always a good thing.

Pattern Sizing: Basically one size, as the pattern is drafted from the original magazine pattern. Thankfully it's not too out-of-scale for the modern woman - it has a 36" bust. However, the waist is considerably smaller since these women were corseted.

Did it look like the photo/drawing on the pattern envelope once you were done sewing with it? Remarkably so. The envelope illustration is the only one you get, but it was very detailed and I was even able to closely replicate the trim to the extent that I wanted to.

Were the instructions easy to follow? Especially considering that the instructions were translated from the original magazine instructions. We were warned on taking on the project that the instructions might be minimal, but I found these to be very clear, especially in explaining how to do lace insertion, which I've never done before (and probably never will again, more's the pity).

What did you particularly like or dislike about the pattern? I thought it was absolutely gorgeous, and since I'm slowly coming down from a Downton Abbey binge, the idea that I was recreating clothing from that era made it even more interesting. And I've always loved Edwardian/pre-WWI era white cotton dresses; I decided that since I would never have the opportunity to wear this as a slip, I'd make it up and use it as a dress (with a more modern slip underneath). I loved all the detailing and trim, even though I tend normally toward busy prints without embellishment.

Fabric Used: Ivory cotton batiste from Gorgeous Fabrics (3 yards, used all but tiny scraps). 10 yards of 1.5" insertion lace (straight on both sides), 1 yard of vintage (and slightly discolored) threading eyelet found on Etsy, 1 yard of 3/8" pink ribbon and 6 buttons.

Pattern alterations or any design changes you made: Very few, all things considered. When I printed out the pattern, I noted that the bust measurement was indeed 36". The waist was more like 26", and that's only because this garment was intended to be worn over a corset, which would in turn have been worn over another undergarment. Swoon much?

I tend not to make muslins, but first off, my batiste hadn't arrived by way of the postal elves, and second, I didn't want to waste it by making something unwearable. Because the slip flares out, I knew I'd have no hip issues, so I just muslined the bodice to the marked natural waistline. When I cut the pieces, I added an extra inch outside the seam allowances for the waist, tapering up to nothing around the bust. I pin-fit it and took it in a bit from there, and also took it in at the armholes, which were a little generous, though nicely high so there will be no bra showing.

I took the muslin apart, marked my changes and cut the batiste using the muslin pieces. The additional change I made was to add 1.5" in length at the waist - the marked waistline on the pattern was just at my bottom rib, and I tend to expand outward a bit from there.

The slip made up beautifully, and very quickly. The instructions tell you to make the fronts and backs, do all the insertion work, button placket and buttons, then sew the two pieces together, add the eyelet and ribbon at the neck, the bottom ruffle and another row of lace insertion (between the slip and the ruffle).

Doing it all by machine (they did have sewing machines in 1912, after all), this probably took me about 10 hours, and a good part of that was the learning curve for the lace. The first strip probably took me an hour, but by the end I could sew the lace on, slice the fabric behind it, press the seam allowances back, fold them, press again and topstitch in about 20 minutes.

There were a few other changes, but they were in the area of trim. The pattern suggests gathered lace around the neck (in addition to the eyelet and ribbon) and around the armholes. Yikes. My lace is a cotton-poly blend, but seems to tend toward the poly when gathered and put near my underarms. Plus I thought it looked fussy. I decided to go my own way there and did a bias binding for the armholes, which looked much cleaner to me. I also didn't like the gathered lace at the neckline; I liked the idea, but the lace itself again seemed fussy. Plus I didn't think I'd have enough left for a respectable gather. I did, however, have enough scraps of batiste left to cut into 3" strips, fold in half, gather, press flat and sew on a self-fabric ruffles. It fills the space at the neckline appropriately without looking overdone.

Also, the ruffle at the bottom was supposed to be pleated. That's fine and dandy if you have a maid around to press your pleats for you every time they get crushed, but alas, I do not. I took a width of fabric about 3 times as wide as the hem, gathered it and attached. Being that there was going to be a line of lace added there, I pressed the gathers flat for several inches so that the lace would attach smoothly.

Another benefit to this process was that I forced myself to slow down and sew this pattern in the way it deserved to be sewn. I did French seams, which I normally can't be bothered to do (and will line a garment to avoid doing). I was as precise as possible in my pressing so that when seam allowances showed through the slip, as they're going to do because of the sheerness of the fabric, they were even and looked intentional.

Biggest mistake I made: Sewing while cranky and distracted. This is like sewing under the influence or cutting after midnight. Big mistake. On the other hand, it resulted in a very nice design opportunity, so there. I had finished the front of the slip and did the button placket and center back seam. Then I added the side pieces, and very carefully and painstakingly did French seams. I was so proud of them I didn't even look closely until I was done (other than pressing), and that's when I noticed that both my nice French seams were on the outside of the garment. Both of them. At least I'm consistently wrong? I sulked for a minute, thought about it, and cut 2 more lengths of lace and ended up by trimming the back of the slip to match the front. Better anyway, since I'm going to wear it as a dress. That's my story, and I'm sticking to it.

Would you sew it again? Would you recommend it to others? I don't know as I'll sew it again, but that's more a reflection on how little need I have for 100 year old garments in my wardrobe than my thoughts on the pattern itself. I would highly recommend it to anyone who does historical sewing, or who wants an interesting, challenging project that results in a really pretty summer dress.

Conclusion: I'm thrilled with this. I accomplished what I set out to do with this first pattern of the project: I learned a new technique, I forced myself to slow down and give the project my full attention, and I ended up with a garment that I actually can't believe I made.

Lady Mary's Underthings

2012-02-24T01:20:00.000-05:00

Bodice from the right side - one row
of lace left to be finished.

I will admit it. I have an unhealthy obsession with Downton Abbey. I don't worry about it too much, because I think it's a very common problem right now. Hopefully it will fade with time, only to come back with a vengeance in time for season 3. (Shirley MacLaine! In hats! Trading barbs with the Dowager Countess!)

It's not going to clear up as quickly as I would like because the series coincided with the Vintage Pattern Lending Library's 1912 Project, so I'm basically sewing things right now that would have been in the Crawley girls' wardrobes at the beginning of the series. Right now, I'm working on a princess-lined slip that would have gone over their corsets. All this work and prettiness only to be hidden by more work and prettiness on the exterior.

I've never done insertion lace before, and that was why I took on the challenge project. Turns out it's not that bad - especially if you're using a machine. I can't imagine the horrors of pre-industrial insertion lace, where every seam has to be sewn basically 5 times (seams, lace sewn on either side, then the central seam slashed and rolled back and sewn under the edge of the lace). No wonder they needed dressmakers and ladies' maids.

Cutting behind the lace is a little nerve-wracking.

That being said, I got my ivory cotton batiste from Gorgeous Fabrics yesterday (this project also coincided with Ann's 5th anniversary 25% off sale, which made her cotton batiste less expensive than Fabric.com's, and we all know the quality will be 10 times better). I soaked it in hot water, then threw it in a hot dryer for a half hour, and am hoping I got maximum shrinkage because I wanted to get started.

Once the cut is made, the
seam allowances are
pressed back.

Since I'd already muslined the bodice of the slip, I used the muslin pieces to cut, adding 1.5" to lengthen the waist and then drafting outward over the lines of the skirt to match the width I added above. I sewed the front pieces together, then pinned and stitched the first 3 lines of lace, down the center front (nicely marked by folding and ironing) and then down each of the princess seams. The lace only starts below the bust. After the lace was stitched and pressed, I took scissors and sliced up the center of the fabric - a little nerve-wracking considering that if I slipped I'd have to find a way to repair the lace. And I'm no lady's maid, doing invisible mending in the servants' hall.

Once the seams were opened, they were pressed back against the garment and trimmed so that they would fold back neatly, to be pinned down and stitched almost on top of the original stitching line. The historically accurate instructions say to roll the seam allowance and whipstitch it, but that means I'd still be on the first seam, so it's me and my Singer, all the way.

Stitching the seam
allowances.

I have to admit that so far, I'm enjoying the process far more than I expected. It's nitpicky, but not really difficult once you get the idea down. I actually cut my seams and pressed them last night in the workroom and came out to the desk and caught up on some online reading while I folded and pinned the seam allowances back. Talk about a juxtaposition of time and place, Edwardian underwear sitting in front of the computer!

I don't know when I'm ever going to get to use this technique again. I think it's lovely, but it's a little frou-frou for my taste (unless it's a historical costume) but I'd love to find some way to work it into something, just because. I hate learning a technique, knowing I'm likely never to use it again.

Closeup of the neckline.

This evening the postal elves delivered the last bit of trim I was waiting for, a length of threading eyelet I found on Etsy. I didn't know the difference between eyelet and threading eyelet (can't even say I've heard of it before), but apparently threading eyelet is what you can THREAD a ribbon through. Gotcha. The eyelet gets applied to the unfinished edge of fabric around the neckline, has ribbon threaded through it, and then there's gathered lace sewn around the neckline and armholes.

I've pinned the eyelet onto the neckline here to get the effect, but it will be done more neatly and the corners will be mitered. And I need to find ribbon to thread through it. That I'm sure I have in the trim stash.

Slip front with trim pinned
at neckline, all lace inserted.

My weekend sewing: hopefully finishing this up and working on a little something for myself.

I haven't even starting constructing the back yet, or added the ruffle at the bottom. The back is pretty straightforward, princess seamed again, with a button placket because of course a lady couldn't dress herself. It might have been a prettier time, but damn, it was inconvenient.

Listening to the Fabric

2012-02-16T23:43:00.001-05:00

I'm playing with muslin tonight, trying out a first draft of the 1912 slip pattern, and I'm beginning to make myself cross-eyed, so I thought I'd post here a review I just put up on Patternreview. Fairly un-Edwardian, but other than that, quite nice.

Pattern Description: High side slits and wide bands on the bateau neckline give this simple t-shirt a trendy appeal. (Burda calls it a t-shirt in 2 of the 3 descriptions, but the third version, pictured here, is done in satin and there's no mention of t-shirt. Heck, the model even forgot to put on the rest of her clothes).

Pattern Sizing: Burda sizes 36-44; I made a 38.

Did it look like the photo/drawing on the pattern envelope once you were done sewing with it? More like the line drawing, since Burda contorts their models to the point where you miss most of the garment details. (Except for the bad airbrushing on this photo - I noticed that detail. Catch how the gold band on her near sleeve doesn't go all the way to the edges? And on the other sleeve, the gold is on the inside. Nice touch, Burda).

Were the instructions easy to follow? It's a very simple top, and I disregarded the instructions because I was afraid Burda would confuse me and make the whole project a lot more complicated.

What did you particularly like or dislike about the pattern? When I first saw the magazine, this was one of the patterns that didn't get me, but when I looked at the line drawings, it jumped out and said that it wanted to be made. In this particular fabric. I'm not a big tunic top wearer, but you have to listen to the fabric, right?

Fabric Used: Black, gray and white flamestitch knit from Metro Textiles, approximately 2008 or 2009. Accents of black poly satin recycled from a thrift store purchased slip.

Pattern alterations or any design changes you made: None, surprisingly.

The pattern went together easily enough. I'm not sure how Burda wanted me to apply the bands, but I wanted a clean edge so I sewed them right side to wrong side, then flipped them and topstitched them very narrowly along the inner edges. I didn't want visble stitching along the edges, especially using the satin. And satin it apparently had to be -I was originally going to use a remnant of black knit, but after I cut it out I couldn't do it. The picture in my head said the contrast fabric had to have a shine.

If I do this again (and I'm not sure I will; while the top looks nice and I got a number of compliments on it, I'm not sure it's me) I'll bring the neckline in a bit. As drafted it goes nearly to the shoulder and would show bra straps. From the wide neckline, the shoulder yoke is dropped over the upper arm. Beyond that, it's actually pretty flattering for a tunic - or maybe I should just re-evaluate how I think I look in them. I always think I look wider in something that doesn't have a defined waist, but since I don't really have a defined waist, maybe I'm wrong.

Would you sew it again? Would you recommend it to others? As I said, I'm not sure I'll sew it again, but that's a personal style issue, not a criticism of the pattern. I'd recommend it - it's a nice pattern, goes together well, and the only time-consuming bit was stitching and pressing the contrast bands. The shape is good and the straight neckline is actually a nice change (though you might want to check the width before sewing).

Conclusion: It never hurts to sew outside your style comfort zone, just to see if you like it after all. And in the case of this top, if I change my mind, I have 2 co-workers who offered to take it off my hands.

Raising the Titanic: the first pattern

2012-02-14T21:39:00.000-05:00

We're slowly but surely getting our first round of patterns in the Vintage Pattern Lending Library's 1912 Project. Technically, my group hasn't gotten their pattern yet, but the pattern pictured here was issued as a special challenge pattern, to be sewn at our choosing. Challenge patterns are either more difficult than the other patterns, or have special or more time-consuming techniques.

With this much insertion lace, this pattern definitely falls under "time-consuming," but I think it also falls under "gorgeous," "fabulous" and "I want a waist small enough to wear that."

Which I do not have, but I don't think many women do - even back then. That's why they wore corsets. And this beauty was meant to be worn over the corset, which was in turn worn over some kind of combination chemise/underdrawers garment. So this is actually the third layer of getting dressed.

No wonder these women felt faint all the time.

After I printed and taped the pattern together and laid it out on the living room floor (do I need to tell you how many pictures I erased before I got one without a cat in the frame?), I flat measured the waist seam, which is marked. Sorry the markings are so faint - they're pretty light in reality and no matter how I tweaked, I couldn't get them to come up any darker.

Get this - with a corset and more underwear underneath, the waist measurement is 26 inches. How much wearing ease do you think that probably is? Again, no wonder these women felt faint all the time.
I'll be making this up to fit me, but it's going to take some maneuvering. Just looking at it, I know I'm going to have to lengthen it from shoulder to bust, and then again from bust to waist. Waist to hip I might be okay, and the fit isn't as specific there anyway.

The slip, by the way, takes 3 yards or so of lawn for the garment itself, 12.5 yards of 1" lace for the insertion (or 8.5 if you don't add it to the pleated ruffle), and an additional 1.5 yards for said ruffle. There's also 2" lace for the top, and eyelet that gets threaded with ribbon. That's a lot of work for underwear.

Even though I'm generally not the fluff-and-ruffles type, this will probably end up being a nightgown. I can't go through all this effort only to have it hang in the closet, unworn, and damned if I'm making going through all that for someone else's benefit.

Autumn Camouflage - My Image Spring/Summer 2011 #1115

2012-02-13T13:38:00.003-05:00

I posted the full patternreview for this dress, which has a few more details and a bit less about the profanity involved in creating it - since most of my issues were self-created, it didn't seem fair to really dump on the pattern, which is actually quite nice.

As I said in the review, I don't think I'll make it again, but that's mainly because it's a pretty distinctive look.

It's as cold as February here today, so the dress did not get taken out for a test drive. I'm out of practice with winter; getting outside at 6:30 a.m. to give the chickens their water (I take it in otherwise it freezes overnight) has been downright painful.

Photos will arrive when warmer weather does. The photo here is from My Image, and proves that I'm not the only one out there who likes a loud print.

Victory over the dress

2012-02-11T21:38:00.000-05:00

No way was it going to get the better of me. No stinking way.

But oh, how it tried.

Not only did I have the previously-recounted neckline issues, but I had hem issues as well. Let me just say, for anyone else who bought this fabric at Metro during the last Elizabeth-inspired NY shopping trip, it is hell, pure and simple. It's pretty, it's drapy, and it's HELL. It sticks to everything, the rough spots on my hands, my fingernails, it hangs up on pins - yet pins fall out of it - and it has a distinctly unlovely tendency to get holes if you pick a stitch out of it.

It even upset my coverstitch! I pressed and pinned up the hem, and attempted to sew it on the coverstitch. A few inches in, and the fabric started bunching up. WTH? I raised the presser foot, retrieved the dress, and unraveled the hem. There was a big thread ball under where it had stopped. I blew out the machine, completely rethreaded it, and sewed it again. It did the same thing, a few inches later. Repeat the unraveling, add a few really good strings of profanity, and off I go to the regular machine to sew the hem. There's a slit in the front, under the gathered seam, so it's not a tight skirt. Fine. Dress hemmed. (Yet the sleeve hems worked fine. Go figure).

And now, about that neckline. I fixed it the other night, and I had an idea about the trim. I just thought it might be a weird idea. So on Thursday I looked for trim. I had nothing in stash. I called Karlin's, my local store, and asked what they had in the way of black trim. Grosgrain ribbon, satin ribbon and some upholstery braid, that was it. Today, we went to Jomar, where I scored the lace I need for my first Titanic-era project (more about that soon), but no interesting black trim there, either.

I decided to go with the weird idea, which was this black faux-leather barbed wire trim I bought at M&J in New York a few years ago. I had no idea what I was going to do with it at the time; Connie, who was with me, looked confused. But then, she was buying so much bridal trim it's a wonder she got it all home. Not one to really talk about my need for barbed wire trim.

I pinned it around the neck, straight, covering the stitches, and it looked skimpy. I decided to loop it on unevenly, to see what it looked like, thinking I could weave in two strands of wire. I liked the unevenness; I didn't like the double strand. One strand of wire it was, sewn by hand onto the dress while it was on the form. Standing.

This dress has been more trouble than any knit dress I've made in years. But I like it.

I showed it to Mario, and he liked the effect from the distance. Then he got close up and asked, "Is that . . . barbed wire?" Yes, I said. "Does it hurt?" No, sweetie. I'm not using real wire around my neck. They say beauty knows no pain, but you're talking about a woman who refuses to wear Spanx because they cut off my blood supply. I'm not wearing wire. He's so cute.

The tactful word he finally came up with was "avante garde." For lack of anything better/more complimentary, I'll take it.

At least I didn't give in to the repeated urge to take scissors to it. And now I'm glad.

No proper pattern review yet; when I can face writing one, I'll add a link to it.

Beware the Hubris

2012-02-09T00:52:00.000-05:00

Because it really hurts when it bites you in the ass. Ask me how I know.

In my month-end review, I mentioned a dress that was almost done. The key word there, if you were listening, was almost. I had hems to do, and I needed to finish off the neckline.

Alice - not totally gratuitous photo
- her 8th anniversary is this weekend.

The neckline is asymmetric, and my favorite part of the dress. When I turned the dress from a woven to a knit, I ran into the evil facing issue. I didn't want to do a binding, because I didn't think I could get the square corners clean enough. I ironed a strip of interfacing around the neck edge to keep it from stretching, and I used the right interfacing there and on the facings. I sewed them on, clipped my corners, trimmed my seam allowances, everything.

It looked okay, but of course knit facings are going to flip up at every opportunity, so it couldn't end there. And instead of putting it aside until my head was clearer, I kept going. I knew I could make it work.

Hubris told me it was okay to topstitch the neck with a stretch stitch which is impossible to pick out, and to continue stitching around the entire neckline even when my instincts were telling me something horribly wrong, and then to look at the lumpy, misshapen result and throw it on the floor until I recovered sufficiently to pick up the seam ripper.

It took three nights of ripping, but the lumpy stretch stitches are gone. Of course now there are picks in the knit and a few small holes (thankfully on the underside), and the pristine newness of my fabric is shot to shit.

What's a recovering know-it-all to do? I pressed my facing down again, used a little Steam-a-Seam this time to keep it from flipping (which I didn't need to do the first time because - repeat after me - I knew what I was doing. I ran a line of non-stretch basting stitches around the neck, because I really don't need it to stretch anyway. Then I decided the best thing to do to cover the wear and tear I inflicted on the area was to add some trim.

I'd considered trim when I first started the dress but vetoed it because the fabric was busy enough. But now it's necessary and I'm glad I was for it before I was against it. I'll think about it tomorrow. Right now I'm just happy that I've worked myself back out of the mess I made, and I know that some answer will present itself as regards to the trim. Enough.

Beware. When you're absolutely certain you know what you're doing, think again. Hubris might be lurking behind you, waiting for its chance to bite.

January 2012: Month End Review

2012-02-05T15:49:00.000-05:00

Wow, this was a good start to the new year. Looking at it as I went, I didn't feel like the month was all that productive, but I realized last night as I looked back, I made 8 pieces, and cleared 16 yards of fabric out of my workroom. (Plus random pieces of knit that moved to Andrea's stash, but that's not the same as sewing; however, it still frees up more space, so I'm all for it).

First off was the tripleheader tshirt day at Annette's sew-in. It cleared out space and expanded my wardrobe, all in one afternoon. With snacks and friends included. How fun is that?

I also made my Retro Striped Dress, which I really love. I've only worn it once so far, because it's been a little chilly for skirt-wearing, but I really have to suck it up and wear it again. It could actually be REAL winter instead of this faux-November thing that's confusing every plant in my garden.

Also in January: Mario's white-and-black shirt (pictured here because he finally wore it last night), my new jeans, the black Party in the Back skirt, and a knit dress which is finished all but the hem, so I'm counting it as January sewing. Finish work, so long as it does get finished, can run over into the next month.

While I'm waiting for my first Titanic-era pattern to arrive, I started in on a somewhat late Christmas present for a friend's baby. She loves something on Sprout called the Good Night Show, and her mother was unable to find her something called a Star Doll. Could I make one? Apparently I can, out of yellow bath towels, but now there are terrycloth fuzzies all over the sewing table and all I really want to do is work on something else. I don't have a great future in selfless sewing. I was pretty sure of that anyway, but this confirms it. (Shirtmaking doesn't count as selfless sewing; I get a lot out of that in several ways.)

Beyond finishing up my dress and this strange stuffed object, and anticipating the trials and tribulations of Downton Abbey era dresses, I'm not sure what's up next on the agenda. Possibly another pair of jeans, since I have them down to assembly line status now, or maybe I'll start playing with my Fatina dress pattern yet again, because it's going to be the basis of my YSL Mondrian dress knockoff.

Eventually.

Good Jeans

2012-02-04T01:04:00.000-05:00

Not great jeans, not yet. But damned good jeans.

These are the Frankenpattern of the infamous Jalie 2908 stretch jean, the Ottobre jean and the fly front from the McCalls men's shorts pattern I made for Mario this summer. I'll go over the pattern changes in detail in another post, once I lay out the various pattenr pieces and document what I did to them.

I wore these to work today; they've decided to give us casual Fridays from now on, so long as we don't "abuse it." So I wore my new jeans and got abused because they weren't denim enough for a jeans Friday.

Whatever.

Also, having held off wearing these to work because I wanted photos, it was such a busy day that I never had time to ask Andrea to take a few pictures of me in them and instead had to make do with table photos and asking Mario if there was any way on earth that he could take a flattering picture of my ass. Apparently it's too much to hope for, but this is what I have to show for now.

Basically it's the upper part of the Ottobre pattern (lowered slightly from Mom jeans rise to still-above-my-underwear rise). The waistband is slightly narrowed, and contoured (Ottobre, not Jalie). The back pockets are from Jalie, with random patterns done with the satin stitch on my machine. I fused lightweight interfacing on the backs of the pockets before doing the embroidery; one of the things I hate the most about stretch jeans is that the pockets end up stretching out when you stitch them, and then they stretch more and look wonky when you wear them. These stayed nice and flat.

The shape of the lower leg is the Jalie boot cut. Ottobre offers a straight leg or a boot cut, and I've tried both, but the I think the Jalie shape is more flattering.

Structural changes that I've arrived at after several pairs of previous unsatisfactory jeans: the fly front application that I used on his shorts this summer, which is the applied fly piece along with a fly shield on the inside. Yes, it adds a bit of bulk compared to that piddly little tab that both Jalie and Ottobre seem to think can adequately anchor a jeans zipper, but have you ever encountered a pair of jeans that didn't have that thickness at the zip? It would feel flimsy without it.

Also regarding the zip - because of the narrow, cut-on fly on both the Ottobre and Jalie patterns, I can't get the zip to sink back far enough beneath the overlap so that it's properly invisible. With the applied fly, I had much better luck with that, though I have hopes for better next time.

Pockets: neither one of those patterns cut the pocket so that the lining doesn't peep out over the topstitching. I've cut them lower and lower, but this time, since my denim wasn't particularly bulky, I just cut the pocket from the denim and then the pocket facing from a scrap of Liberty I had on hand. I get a little bit of pretty, but none of it shows.

Also with the pockets - if there are pocket stays at all on jeans patterns, they are again piddly, flimsy things that don't actually keep your pockets from creeping or shifting. Since my pocket was made of the denim, I decided to take advantage of its stretch. I cut the stay all the way to the fly, and anchored it on both sides in the zipper installation. In doing so, I also stretched the section of the pocket from the pocket bag seam to the middle, which does a tiny bit toward flattening my stomach without feeling tight.

Every little bit helps, right?

I have no idea where this fabric came from. It's been in stash a good few years, and I washed it when I got it, so there were no fabric.com stickers left or receipts rolled up in a fold. It's nice quality, not too heavy and with just enough stretch. I wore these for an 8 hour work day, out for drinks with a friend and then at home until after dinner, and while they accumulated a few creases from being sat in, all in all they held up really well and didn't grow much at all. Can you tell I'm still haunted by the incredible growing Clover pants?

All in all, I'm really pleased with these. There are a few things I'll change next time (but aren't there always?), and I also want to try cutting the pattern a size larger, and make them up in a non-stretch denim. I actually prefer jeans without stretch, they're just nearly impossible to find, as is non-stretch denim in a fabric store that isn't basically dress-weight.

Working to finish a dress tomorrow that I would like to wear for my belated birthday dinner tomorrow night. It's not looking good that I'll get it done, but you never know. I also have a few other things I want to clean up in the workroom while I'm waiting for my first vintage pattern to arrive.

Raise the Titanic

2012-01-28T22:56:00.000-05:00

Or at least the luggage.

This is beyond vintage, folks. Because obviously I don't have enough to do with a husband, a job, 10 cats, 2 chickens and an old house in need of hand-holding, I signed up to be a test sewist for the Vintage Pattern Lending Library's 1912 Project. Have you heard about it?

Almost 100 years ago - in April, 1912 - the Titanic struck an iceberg and went down in the north Atlantic. (On a personal note, my father would turn 100 this April, so I've always had that date in my head.) The Vintage Pattern Lending Library is providing patterns, starting from the April 1912 issue of La Mode Illustree, to a group test sewers, and I'm fortunate enough to be one of them.

Of course, this isn't going to be a walk on the promenade deck. From the website:

Construction and cutting information for these patterns are very vague, usually amounting to only a paragraph or two. These patterns come from a different era without all the luxuries that we have come to rely on. They may have no instructions and no markings. Any notes or supplementary information about the construction process that you are willing to share would be wonderful. The patterns are replicated directly from the original pattern sheet without changes – so sizing tends to run fairly small. 3/8-inch seam allowance will be added, and other information to clarify construction.

In other words, I'm going to be banging my head on the sewing table to make something that in no way, shape or form will fit me - or my dress form.

And I think I might enjoy it. I'll post photos of what pattern I get and what it turns into.

Away all boats.

I have loved this dress

2012-01-27T22:34:00.000-05:00

since forever.

Why have I never attempted a knockoff? It's a simple enough shape; it's just getting the colors right and the lines crisp.

Oh, is that all?

I have 5-6 dresses in my inspiration file that have been there so long that they've become part of my mental furniture. Maybe it's time to rearrange the furniture and drag these out into the cold light of day and see how they hold up.

It's not like I'm ever short of a project, but some of these dresses deserve to be made, and other dresses need to take their place in the Inspiration Closet of Doom.

Fine, there it is. My next Great Dress challenge for 2012 will be to knock off the iconic YSL Mondrian dress, and see if it's still a Great Dress when I'm done with it.

Can I do it in my colors? Is the shape and the colorblocking iconic enough that if I did it in something other than those colors, people would still understand what I was doing?

And so long as I like the result, do I really care?

Blinded by the White

2012-01-23T23:02:00.002-05:00

If you make shirts for a man long enough, eventually they start to have their own ideas.

"What if you made me a totally white shirt? A white shirt, but with black buttons and black buttonholes? And what if the underside of the collar, the inside band and the insides of the cuffs were tiny black-and-white checks. Could you do that?"

Could I?

Well, here it is, all finished but the buttons, which I'll sew on tomorrow when I can see straight again. So I guess I could.

Somehow I had no white shirting in stash, but I actually had the tiny black-and-white check (it couldn't be gingham; it had to be check).

This, ladies and gentlemen, is why we stash - when totally random requests for tiny black-and-white check come in, we can pull it out of the bin and say, "Is this what you wanted?"

Doesn't that feel good?

Making a production of it

2012-01-21T13:26:00.000-05:00

We all know one of those people, the ones who can take the simplest task and turn it into an epic saga. Admit it, you know one. Or two.

My mom could be like that, but only with regard to certain things. Sewing was one of those things.

From what little I ever saw, she knew how to sew. But it never grabbed her; it was just something she could do, and when she had no other choice, she did it. She made her maternity clothes when she was pregnant with me, because they didn't have money, but she bought (or was gifted) all my baby clothes.

Every once in a while she would decide to sew something, and then she would have to get the machine out. That shouldn't be difficult. Even those of us without a dedicated sewing space have the machine parked somewhere close by, waiting, where you can reach out and pet it occasionally.

Mom, on the other hand, kept her machine put away. On a shelf, in a closet. This was an early 1960s metal Kenmore, in a heavy case. It had to be taken down by a man, because not only could Mom not swing it down from the shelf on her own, she couldn't even reach the shelf without standing on a chair. And by the time my dad got home, or one of the neighbors' husbands could be borrowed, she'd lost interest in whatever the project was to begin with.

Once the machine was down, it only got worse. I learned how to thread it for her by following the the diagram in the instruction manual. It was easier than watching Mom fight with it - or listening to her swear at it (though that gave me a pretty extensive vocabulary for a 6 year old).

By the time I reached high school, the machine had moved. It still lived in a closet, but it lived in my closet, on the floor, where I could drag it out nightly and sew like a madwoman during the commercial breaks in my stepdad's marathon TV watching.

When I moved out at 18, the Kenmore stayed behind. It went back up onto its shelf in my mom's closet. She didn't love it, but she wasn't ready to give it up. And I spent one of my first paychecks on a sewing machine I could not only lift, but could leave on the kitchen table 24/7.

My mom died 5 years ago. When I went home to clear out her stuff, I fully expected to see the Kenmore up on the highest shelf of the closet, poised and waiting to fall on me. I even planned to take it home, for sentimental reasons, and swear at it every so often in her honor. But it was gone. When questioned, my stepfather said he sold it at a yard sale. He could no longer take it down from the shelf, and since there seemed to be nowhere else it could live, at least according to my mother, he let it go for $5 to someone who actually wanted to use it.

I think he got it right. If you don't love your sewing machine, set it free.

Party in the back

2012-01-17T22:54:00.000-05:00

This year, in addition to sewing whatever strikes my fancy, I decided to take a look at my wardrobe and see what I was actually lacking. Novel idea, no?

And one thing that I've needed for some time, and haven't made an adequate version of is, of all things, a black skirt. A longer (though not too long) skirt, full (but not too full). Early last year I made the Ottobre 10 gore skirt, which was fine, but the fabric wasn't as good as it should have been and the seams started showing wear entirely too soon. To the thrift store it went.

I also had a black A-line skirt (my TNT Burda pattern) but though it was longer than my usual take on that pattern, I wanted something below the knee, that I could wear with boots without that gap showing in between.

The newer patterns I've seen just weren't doing it for me, and then I realized I had the perfect pattern all along. (Don't we always realize that?) I'd even already made it up once, in a cream summer fabric. Here's the original patternreview, back in the mists of time.

BWOF 4/06 #122, skirt with back pleats. I used some of my apparently abundant collection of black rayon poly lycra (RPL), which I keep buying in the mistaken idea that I don't have any in stash. This is some serious skirt, people. The back pattern piece measures 44" before pleating, and the front is about 20". Which gives you some significant swish behind, and almost feels like I'm wearing a train. Very cool. The front is much more serious, just a slight flare to it, and the skirt drops from a front and back yoke, the back one curved to accommodate the curved line of pleats. Side zip. Loud lining of black and white floral poly charmeuse.

Original BWOF photo

Even adding 2.5" in length to the existing pattern, I found that if I hemmed the skirt properly, it wouldn't be long enough. And can I tell you, I also didn't feel like hand-hemming a skirt that had a hem of more than 5 feet in circumference?

My solution, otherwise known as a design opportunity, was to press the hem up by about an inch and use one of my machine's ornamental stitches to cover the raw edge. Then I added more rows of ornamental stitching on either side. All in all, the hem is about 1.5" high, and adds a nice bit of weight and interest to the skirt. And it used up almost 2 bobbins, so you know just how much sewing was involved, though it was the kind where I could just sit back and make sure it fed into the machine evenly.

I love it. I don't think I'm going to feel the need to replace this one any time soon, unless I wear it out.

Retro Striped Dress

2012-01-16T20:32:00.000-05:00

A friend who was visiting my workroom looked at this dress on the form and said, "Who's that for?" I said it was for me, and she was surprised. "It doesn't look like you," she said. "There's no visible cleavage."

Okay, I guess they are out there most of the time, but hey, I'm going to be 48 at the end of the month, and they're holding up better than quite a few other parts of me, so I'm not against a bit of display. But this dress did not require boobs; as a matter of fact, it requires one of my more minimal bras, just because I like the smoother line with this design.

This is somewhere between a self-draft and a frankenpattern. The neckline/collar came from an old Patrones pattern for a woven top. The sleeve and armhole came from the KS cowl neck pattern, because I liked the draft. The sectioning of skirt/bodice was totally me, as was the shape (such as it is) of the skirt. The front bodice curves upward from the side seams; the back seam runs straight across.

This dress came together one idea at a time. It first bubbled up (like the black gold in the Beverly Hillbillies' opener) when I was cleaning the workroom and found the black, white and red stripe. This fabric was a Marc Jacobs remnant from Jomar, just under a yard, plus there was some misprinting of the fabric, so I was really cutting it close. I left it on the table to think about it, and the next time I came in, I pulled a beefy black knit off the shelves and added that to the pile. It was obvious that I would have to use more than 1 fabric - even if I made a top, I didn't think there'd be enough.

The Patrones pattern was in my head when I woke up the next day. I liked the idea of those neckline pleats with the stripe, and I could use the contrast fabric for the collar. At that point, I wasn't sure if I was going for short striped sleeves or long solid ones. As you see, I checked 'none of the above.' Once I had the contrast collar idea set, I cut the fabrics. I used the dress pattern that I had drafted from the KS cowl neck top for the basic shape of the lower dress, and then cut the bodice piece in a curve. Having cut the skirt front higher, I then mirrored that curve and cut the skirts. I constructed the neck pleats and realized that the striped knit was just too lightweight to handle the beefy black knit. I wasn't changing solids, though; a lighter knit would have given a whole different look to the dress that was coming together.

I went in search of a solution and found 2 yards of nude knit (almost Spanx type knit) in the stash. I'd originally purchased it with the idea of making a custom cover for my dress form to cover her custom padding. There's still enough left if I ever get around to doing that. I underlined the bodice pieces with the nude knit, which gave it a nice bit of structure without making it too heavy. Then I added the contrast collar and left it on the form overnight to marinate some more.

The skirts sewed on easily enough, and I pinned it together to check and make sure my stripes and side seams lined up. Then I sat back and thought about sleeves. The Patrones pattern didn't have sleeves, so I cut the armhole in line with the KS cowl pattern, thinking I could use that sleeve whether I went long or short. I decided on long sleeves, cut from the black knit, but after I got them cut out, they didn't excite me. Then, as I was rearranging the table, I dropped a piece of the stripe and looked back and saw it on the sleeve. An idea was born.

But not the same idea, of course. The right sleeves has a block of stripe appliquéd at the wrist. The left sleeve has 3 broken stripes of appliquéd straight down from the shoulder. I tacked the pieces down with Steam-a-Seam and then used my machine's blanket stitch to stitch them down. I was going to use clear nylon thread but (a) I hate the stuff, (b) I didn't have any, and (c) I tried a sample with black thread and actually liked it, so that's how it went.

Once I got the sleeves on, I sewed them from wrists to dress hem, matching stripes and waist seams. I tried the dress on again, and while I liked it, it wasn't quite right. I let it sit some more and on Monday, I went back and altered the curved front seam and raised it by an inch center front, tapering into the original line at the sides. That improved the fit and made the curve more obvious; it lost some of its visible curve while wrapping around me.

Last but not least was the length of the skirt. I cut the fabric so that it went to mid-calf, more to give myself options than because I actually wanted the dress that long. I ended up taking it to right below the knee, because that's my most flattering length.

I do feel like it has a strong retro vibe, but not too strong. It kind of reminds me of something Claudette Colbert wore in It Happened One Night, or at least my 2012 interpretation of something she would have worn, if she'd had access to good knits.

This is the first piece in my "Great Dress Project" series. I wore it to work on Friday with black tights and heels (and froze my arse off, but that's another story). I love it, it makes me happy, and I have nothing else like it in my closet. I wasn't too sure about it once it was completed, but it felt good on, and it got more compliments than I've had in a while on a single garment - probably because it looks like nothing else in my closet.

I have other dresses brewing; hopefully, they too might qualify as Great Dresses.

Chilly Chickens

2012-01-15T19:50:00.000-05:00

Cold bothers them less than me. Go figure.

The Great Dress Project

2012-01-11T23:33:00.000-05:00

Which isn't actually a project, though it is about dresses. And that's as good a name as any for something that's going to weave in and out of my sewing for the better part of the coming year.

In my year-end review, I mentioned how many dresses I'd made. Turned out it wasn't that many, but 11 out of 13 of them were pieces I really loved. (One was so-so, though it got worn; the other was the silk twill Burda wadder. Nuff said about that one).

But what makes a great dress? A dress that you look forward to wearing and make sure is always pressed and ready in the closet? It's a combination of style, fit, color, attitude. It's a piece of clothing that makes you feel good about yourself, that sends you out the door in the morning with a smile on your face.

So my plan this year is to make a collection of great dresses. They can be knit, woven, short, long, work-appropriate or casual, but they must be dresses that I'll want to reach for when I open that closet door.

I have a few dresses in my inspiration file that have been around so long they should qualify as vintage. I'm going to pull them out and see what of my TNT patterns will serve as a base for some of them.

The first (hopefully) great dress was accidentally started last week when I was celebrating the cleanliness of my sewing room. I found a Marc Jacobs knit remnant that I got at Jomar sometime last year, and it started an idea that wouldn't go away. I think I have something here. More later.

Sewing Saturday

2012-01-10T23:09:00.000-05:00

Fits me better than Evelyn!

I was lucky enough to spend the day on Saturday surrounded by other sewing women, sewing machines, sewing projects and enough energy and creativity to run those machines.

Annette of Fabricate and Mira invited group of us to her house and we spent the day sewing, talking, trading fabric and pattern magazines, eating, and sewing. Annette and Mimi also wrapped each other in paper tape (which was probably less fun than it looked to someone not being wrapped in wet tape), and ended up with a Frida Kahlo-esque body cast to work from. I'm actually kind of intrigued, but if I ever do it, I think I may go the duct tape route instead.

Noile showed off the jacket pattern she's making for her husband, and started working very efficiently at the head of the table. Lee almost made me reconsider quilting. Almost. Pat couldn't stay long but it was great to see her and I believe she left with a few issues of Burda, circa 2006. Valerie was a satin stitch assembly line across the table. The fashionably late Andrea worked on a jacket that I can't wait to see finished.

Stencil was meant for another
project, but I like it here.

Of course I didn't really have a project planned to bring along - I'm working on a dress but it's all done except for hems and a little tweaking. So instead I pulled together some production sewing, stuff I could work on and talk at the same time without risk of messing it up. When I finish a knit project and have a remnant left over, I cut out my standard KS 3338 tshirt from it and put it aside until some time when I have motivation but no projects on hand.

I took 3 tops with me, one heathered gray with a stencil, one solid red and one sweater knit that I picked up at Jomar last year (I think it was part of the Marc Jacobs' remnant haul that they got). All 3 tops were finished except for hems (and about 2" of a side seam on the red tee, because I ran out of bobbin thread and it was so close to the end of the day that I didn't want to bother winding a new one. I finished them up tonight.

Why does red photograph
so badly?

So not only did I have a wonderful time with friends, I got a lot done. And ran out in the middle to get my hair cut, to boot. Now I no longer look like a sheepdog and I have 3 new tops to show for my fun Saturday.

And (almost) best of all, I took 2 big bags of fabrics that for one reason or another didn't make the cut to stay in the stash. Almost all of them found new homes, and those that didn't, only made it as far as my downstairs hallway. Off to the thrift store they went this morning.

Sewing by the numbers

2012-01-05T22:55:00.000-05:00

Katie hiding behind the fabric shelf

I keep a spreadsheet of my sewing projects each year. It's nothing complicated, just a list, month by month, of the things I've made and how much fabric Iused. (I've given up counting fabric in, but I still keep track of fabric out. Go figure.)

When I printed out the spreadsheet for 2011 and put it on the workroom counter with the sheets for 2009 and 2010 (prior to that I had a different system), I compared the 3 years' sewing and noticed something strange - no matter how many pieces I made, how complicated or uncomplicated they were, my total yardage used for each year was nearly identical:

2009: 149.25 yards

2010: 147.50 yards

2011: 148.75 yards

Really? It's not a contest, but I find it interesting that without trying, without even adding up the numbers until the end of the year, I end up in the same place.

There are strange and wonderful things going on in the tidy place that is my workroom. I'll have something to show soon.

I couldn't sleep at all last night

2012-01-02T23:23:00.000-05:00

But look what came out of it!

I spent a good part of the holiday weekend, off and on, cleaning the room. Sorting patterns. Taking every single piece of fabric off the shelves, rolling it neatly and putting it back. It doesn't take up that much less room, but it does make the whole structure less susceptible to avalanche.

Next, I cleaned the floor. I vacuumed for the first time in recent memory and caused the Dyson to choke. I cleaned the table, and I sorted all the rubble that's in bags and boxes under the table. I filled 2 trashbags with remnants too small to use, assorted junk and just plain trash, and a brown bag with paper recycling. I filled 2 bags to take to the sit-and-sew next weekend in the hope that it will get a new home, and another bag for the thrift store.

Last night I worked in there from 9:00 to nearly midnight. I was tired, but since I'm nursing a cold, I was tired and antsy (that non-drowsy formula certainly is non-drowsy). We went to bed around 12:30, and at 1:30 I was still wide awake, with visions of fabric swirling in my head like sugarplums.

I gave in. I got up. No point in lying there, resenting others who sleep like logs while I'm awake and obsessing. Back into the room I went, with the idea that I would work for another half hour or so, until I got tired.

Hah! Know what time I finally gave up and went to bed? 3:45 a.m.

And the chicken alarm went off at 7:00 a.m. so I could go out back and feed and water the girls and then go back to bed. Which didn't work either, because then Mario's phone rang and it was his contractor who needed to stop by at 8:00, and . . .

You see where this is going. I have a clean sewing room and I didn't get to use it until 8:00 tonight. But use it I did, and damn, but it felt good.

2011: Year End Review

2012-01-01T14:05:00.000-05:00

Apparently, 2011 was the Year of the Dress, because I made a LOT of them.

Going back through my Month End Review posts for the year to try to pull together my favorites, I was surprised at just how many dresses there were. I felt like I'd kept it mixed up - pants, skirts, tops - but, no, dresses outnumbered everything. By a considerable amount.

Oops.

I started off in the early spring with dresses, continued on through the late spring and summer with dresses, discovered Vogue 1250 and made knit dresses, and finished off in the fall with yet more dresses.

I'm so glad I managed to pull together my plaid jacket just so I can feel that I made a complicated, lined, fitted jacket this year. I thought I'd made a few of them, but apparently, no. I made dresses.

Did I say I made dresses?

Another thing that's difficult not to notice when looking at a selection of my garments: I can't get excited about sewing with solids. I'm a prints all the way girl, and I'm okay with that. Face it, some of the prints I chose made those dresses. My fling with scoop-necked, vintage inspired dresses wouldn't have been half as much fun if they'd been one color. (Who'd give up that black and white border print for a solid?)

Stepping away from loud clothes for me, there is always the option of loud clothes for my handsome gentleman. Mario got quite a selection of shirts this year - from black-and-white stock reports to parchment-colored vintage bamboo print to his alltime favorite, the Dr. Who "Exterminate" shirt made from a Spoonflower print. He wears it entirely too often. Then again, it's so memorable does it really matter whether he wears it once a quarter or once a week? It's not as if his co-workers are likely to forget it.

Patterns used this year were the full gamut: BWOF, KwikSew, Vogue, McCalls, Simplicity and Ottobre. I think the only major pattern company that didn't make my "best of" list here was Butterick, and I can't think of the last time I sewed one of their patterns.

I also tried out My Image this year, and really need to try another pattern. They had some cute stuff, though their fabrics were such busy prints that it was difficult to make out the details of some of their patterns.

Ummm, pot? Meet kettle. Loud, printed kettle.

For 2012, I'm putting together a plan for myself. (A plan which will be put into action after I finish cleaning up the workroom which, you will be glad to hear, is well under way so I will stop whining about it soon). Somehow, it involves yet more dresses.

Today, there will be no work in the sewing room - at least not until this evening. We've been spending much of our time off working on the never-ending renovations at Mario's house, but now we're beginning to see light at the end of the tunnel that isn't an oncoming train. Fingers crossed that it will be finished and available for rent by the end of January.

Which is the only reason I'm spending my New Year's day plastering the downstairs bathroom instead of sorting fabrics. The things you do for love (and money).

I hope everyone had a wonderful New Year and are having a much more enjoyably productive day than I am.

I'll be back soon with a photo of the complete, reorganized and unspeakably tidy work space.

Really.

A Thousand Words

2011-12-28T23:58:00.000-05:00

The scrap hamper

For anyone who thought I was exaggerating about the state of the room, here's proof positive of what's in there.

There are actually worse bits, but I can't maneuver sufficiently to get a photo.

And did I clean up tonight? No, I did not.

Floor alongside sewing table

What did I do instead of cleaning my workroom? I made applesauce. And when that seemed like it might end soon enough to send me upstairs, I roasted a butternut squash and some golden beets for tomorrow's dinner, scooped the squash guts, peeled and sliced the beets, then voluntarily did the dishes. Rather than go upstairs.

I haven't gone into it, but my house gave me grief for Christmas, along with an obscene and still-to-come plumbing bill.

Have I ever mentioned that my house is a vindictive, ungrateful pile of bricks? Well, she is. And if she doesn't knock this crap off, I may never clean my workroom again. Serves her right.

Dredging the Swamp

2011-12-28T14:31:00.000-05:00

I'm embarrassed to admit it, but my workroom has gotten into such a state that I can't sew there.

When I was a kid, I was lucky enough to have the spare bedroom in our house as a playroom. Which was good, because it kept my bedroom neat, and bad, because with a door to shut behind me, I could turn my playroom into, well, a swamp. A toy-filled swamp. With a rug almost completely covered in crap, with little islands of clear space so I could hop from place to place. If only my mom had seen my potential as a ballerina . . . She did, however, see my potential as a slob.

Between one thing and another (work, housework, house projects, craft show, life and sewing), I haven't neatened up the workroom in several months. I don't notice how bad it's getting until I realize I can't lay out a piece of fabric on the cutting table, because there's not enough room on the table to eat dinner.

The other night, I noticed that I was actually hopping from one little island of space to another, with my carpet almost completely covered in fabric - bags, remnants, whole cuts waiting to be put on shelves.

Bad. This is very bad.

I can't sew when it's like that. I can't even find my next project in my head, much less on my shelves.

I have another long weekend coming up, and I would love to start the new year off right - with a (mostly) clean sewing space. I'm not promising perfection, but I'd like to get the floor cleared and vacuumed, enough space made on the table to cut out a pattern, and the shelves restacked so there's no further risk of avalanche. That should only take me until New Year's Eve.

Over so quickly

2011-12-26T22:15:00.000-05:00

Harriet says "Happy Holidays"

Both the holidays and my long weekend. But isn't that how it always works?

I had such plans - lots of quality time in the sewing room, time with Mario, time with family -- more time than I actually had, as it turns out.

We visited my aunt on Friday, had Christmas Eve dinner with his family in NJ, and spent Christmas Day on our own. We cooked our big dinner, as planned - seared duck breast with port wine and cherries, garlic mashed potatoes and sauteed wild mushrooms. Yum. I took a nice long break from the computer, did some work out in the yard, cleaned out the chickens (who are adapting well to to the cold and their new high-protein diet) and, somehow, got almost no sewing done.

Annie says "Humbug."

Today I finished the black pants I started before my break, but that's it. I think I need to clean up the workroom. It's still trashed from working on craft show projects, then bringing back the items that didn't sell, then having yet another small avalanche . . . you get the picture. It's a swamp.

And I'm back to work tomorrow, so of course now all I want to do is stay up all night rearranging my sewing space. Which I can't do, and which I probably wouldn't want to do if I had off tomorrow.

We have winners!

2011-12-19T00:53:00.000-05:00

Thanks for all the interest in my book giveaway. It should always be so easy when I'm trying to clean out the house.

And here are the winners . . .

for the Fantastic Fit book, the lucky sewist is Alicia!

And for Do One Green Things, Amy is the green goddess!

Ladies, I've sent emails to you both - please get back to me with your addresses and I'll try to get the books out before Christmas. (No guarantees, as it looks to be a hellish work week, but I'll try).

And in answer to Karen's question on my Pants for Christmas post, RPL is the abbreviation for rayon poly lycra, which in my opinion is the best fabric ever for pants - hardwearing, washable and barely wrinkles.

It's cold here. The chickens are cranky, but they're still laying.

Pants for Christmas

2011-12-17T23:29:00.000-05:00

We don't exchange Christmas gifts. Our holiday tradition is going out shopping the weekend before the holiday, picking out all the ingredients and either on Christmas Eve or the Day (depending on dinner-with-family scheduling) putting together a seriously kick-ass dinner that we eat in the dining room, with candles, tablecloth and napkins, like civilized humans.

The other thing we do is treat ourselves to something we want, without guilt. It doesn't have to come right at the holiday, but if it does, so much the better.

What else would I get myself but fabric? I had a recent avalanche in the workroom and as I was reassembling the stash wall - why did I not think that if I pulled a piece out of the bottom of a stack, the rest of it wouldn't slide down on my head? - I realized that I am woefully short of solid colors. Woefully short, I tell you.

And of course, I'm also woefully short of decent pants to wear to work. This thought process occurred on Tuesday, when I was off from work, so I dutifully traipsed up to the computer, went to Gorgeous Fabrics, and quickly purchased 10 yards of Ann's best RPL - 4 yards of black, 2 yards of gray, 2 yards of maroon and 2 yards of what she called "British tan." Which is kind of caramel, but cooler. And lovely. Maroon isn't a color I normally wear, but I was on an RPL roll. I love that stuff, and figured if I was going to spend money, and have to pay for shipping, I might as well get everything that I wanted.

So I did. And now, with a couple of long weekends coming up for the holidays, I will be sewing pants. Probably my TNT BWOF side zip pants pattern, but I do want to try those Colette Clover pants again, a bit smaller and with a better fabric.

Maybe that's why I got 4 yards of black, so I could make one of each.

Highland Fling

2011-12-15T22:11:00.001-05:00

Tomorrow is my firm's holiday party. While it's supposed to just be a "lunch" - beginning at noon and ending sometime before the bars close - it still involves much preparation and overdressing among my co-workers.

As in sequins before noon overdressing. Ahem.

Me, I'll be ridiculously under dressed tomorrow, at least in their eyes. Because I haven't gotten my winter dress finished, and I don't want to rush and try to finish it tonight, I'll be wearing my recently completed (but not yet worn) plaid jacket.

It's green. It's red. It has shiny red and brass buttons. It has a freaking olive green silk charmeuse lining.

I say I'm dressed up. I don't care what they call it.

This pattern is mostly McCall 5859. I made a sleeveless version last summer (because I ran out of fabric before I cut sleeves). This time, I had just enough. Literally, I couldn't have made a vest for Lily the sewing room cat out of my scraps, and she only weighs 7 pounds.

Here's the revised patternreview:

Pattern Description: Princess seamed peplum jacket with collar, pockets, short and long sleeve variations.

Pattern Sizing: Some variation between 12 and 14. I tend toward the 14 these days, but it's princess seamed front and back, and doesn't have to button across the bulkiest part of me, so I went a little more fitted.

Did it look like the photo/drawing on the pattern envelope once you were done sewing with it? More or less. The lines are the same, though I de-poofed the sleeves and took some of the cute out of it.

Were the instructions easy to follow? Very easy. I looked them over the first time and this time I just went for it. I did check back regarding the collar, because collar and lapel are two separate pieces, not meant to be sewn together.

What did you particularly like or dislike about the pattern? I loved it when I first saw it, and while I really like my gray pinstripe summer version, I hadn't planned to make another. But the last time I wore the pinstripe, I caught a look at myself in the mirror and decided that the peplum look was really flattering and gave me a bit more waist definition than I usually can achieve from a jacket. Good enough reason for a re-sew in my books.

Fabric Used: Oh, yum, the fabric. Mossy green wool/cashmere flannel wonderfulness from Metro Textiles. It was in Kashi's remnant bin and it just drew me across the store. There wasn't much of it, so this jacket took some creative cutting. Lining: olive green silk charmeuse purchased at PR Weekend NY 2006. I got the last 5 yards on the bolt, knowing it was a color I'd always wear. This is my second jacket lining, and I think there's enough for one more, if I choose my fabrics carefully. Buttons are vintage, brass with a rusty painted overlay. I buffed them with an emery board to let a little more of the gold show through.

Pattern alterations or any design changes you made: I changed the sleeves. With the gray pinstripe version, I only had enough fabric for the tiny sleeves, and I hated them. This time I had enough for real sleeves, but the sleeve as drafted was still too puffed for my taste, so I fiddled with it and took out most of the ease (not all; I was working with wool, so I knew that I could get away with some).

I also cut the peplums on the bias, because I knew there'd be no way to match plaid both coming and going on the princess seams. Because the peplums were bias and I didn't want them to stretch out, I interfaced them with a fairly crisp interfacing. It also gives a slightly structured vintage feel to the jacket when worn. I also interfaced both sides of the collar and lapel, the facings, the center back panel of the jacket, and fused strips of interfacing at the hems of the jacket and sleeves. I used very minimal shoulder pads and made sleeve heads from some puffy shoulder pads I took apart.

I was actually going to treat myself and take the bus up to NY and have my buttonholes done at Jonathan's. They do the best buttonholes. And I'd started this jacket before we went to Paris, so this has been hanging around literally for almost 2 months. I don't let projects linger this long. But I decided against NY - because I know myself. I wouldn't have held it to buttonholes, and then there would have been more fabric in my house. I sat down at my machine, took my beautiful jacket in my hands, and made 4 perfectly good buttonholes all on my own. (Okay, so they're not Jonathan, but I'm fine with them. Really.)

Would you sew it again? Would you recommend it to others? Absolutely, on both counts. I hadn't planned on sewing it a second time because of the distinctive collar, but when I got my hands on this fabric, this was the first pattern that came to mind. You have to trust your fabric's instincts; it knows what it wants to be. And it doesn't pay to argue.

Conclusion: One of my favorite garments for the year, and I haven't even worn it out of the house yet. I'm a sucker for a good jacket, though, and every time I make it one step further along in my journey toward the perfect jacket, it just makes me want to keep going.

Extra, Extra

2011-12-14T21:47:00.000-05:00

Books, that is.

During my days off, I also went on a bit of a cleaning and organizing frenzy. (There might be some hormones involved in all this, but who am I to object that parts of my house that haven't seen the vacuum in ages are now breathing dust-free?)

In pulling together all the random books that had migrated to far corners of the house, I discovered 2 duplicates that I'd like to share.

First is Gale Grigg Hazen's Fantastic Fit for Every Body. Here's what the reviews say on Amazon (and look at the reviewers):

"Finally someone has written an in-depth fit book that is reader-friendly and reality-based with excellent photos of real people. If you read if from cover to cover, you will understand not only the concept of fit but also why you have experienced frustrations in the past."--Sandra Betzina

"At last, Fantastic Fit for Every Body reveals that fitting is every bit as creative, fun, and satisfying as sitting down at the sewing machine and sewing. This book is crammed with fitting solutions--many I've never seen in print--and each one has been tested on a real person. Fantastic Fit for Every Body not only makes fitting fun but also is full of ideas and inspiration."--Marcy Tilton

The second book, Do One Green Thing, is for those who are trying to green up their lives, but just can't tackle the commitment to do it all at once. Who can? The road to hell is paved with good intentions, but most of us don't get that far. This is a book for the ones who would at least like to make a good start.
This, from Amazon:

If you can only read and reference one green thing, make it this book: an easily comprehensible, clearly presented source for green living. Everything you need to know is right here at your fingertips. Unlike a lot of other overwhelming green guides on the market, this is green decision making in bite sized pieces.With chose it/lose it comparisons throughout, now it's simple to figure out it’s worth switching to a green detergent, what kind of plastic your sports bottle is made of, or which fish is safest to eat. Rather than spending time trying to figure out how best to go green, use this book and devote that time to making the difference.

If either of these strike you as interesting, please leave a comment and let me know. I'll pick names on Sunday for each book, and pop them in the mail next week.

Progress on all fronts (and backs)

2011-12-12T23:18:00.000-05:00

All days off from work should be this productive.

I got up earlier than I would have on a work day, treated myself to breakfast at the coffee shop across the street, and promptly at 10:00 a.m., my contractor arrived to do the attic window.

While he hammered and sawed and generally made noise upstairs, I put together a batch of soup and made wine jelly, which is going to be handed out as holiday giftage this year. I'm tired of non-reaction to sewn gifts; this year they'll get cooked ones instead. It was the first time I'd tried the recipe, and it came out well. We sampled the first jar after dinner tonight.

Window was finished in 3 hours, and then the rest of his crew showed up and re-coated my front and side bay window roofs, which were showing wear but not yet leaking. Sometimes I get them before they get me. Sometimes.

Best part: because he got a good deal on the window, my total was actually $50 less than his estimate. Who does that?

I also got the entire first floor vacuumed, washed the kitchen floor (first time in way too long) and did all the sticky, jell-covered dishes.

I spent some time with the chickens, who actually don't seem to mind the cold weather. They stopped laying for over a week, but some internet research convinced me that upping their protein intake would fix it (like molting, cold is stressful and the first thing that goes when they're stressed is the eggs). In addition to their standard food, I'm giving them dried worms, raisins and nuts (all protein sources). They love it, and I've been rewarded with eggs for the last few days, so it seems to work.

Finally, after dinner, I got into the sewing room. The dress is now beginning to look like a dress, not just like a good idea in my head. I sewed the darts in the skirt front and backs, and sewed bodices to skirts. I got the invisible zip inserted, though I somehow inserted the cream zipper I had instead of the tan one which I deliberately went out and bought on Saturday.

All scheduled "work" is complete. Tomorrow is mine, all mine, and you know where I'll be.

Don't look up

2011-12-11T21:54:00.000-05:00

It's that time of year again. I don't mean the holidays; I mean the wonderful, expensive time of year when I bond with contractors to keep my house from falling apart. I had my roofer out recently because when it snowed in October, I had some dripping through my new porch ceiling. The ceiling was done by someone else, but I think when he jacked the roof up, he might have popped a seam in the roof. The roofer fixed that, and left me an estimate for a job he and I had discussed last year, but I'd never gotten around to following up on.

My house has a full attic, with 4 dormer windows. The windows on the sides and back are in reasonable condition (i.e., mostly air tight and not leaking when it rains), but the front window is a horror. As you can see. And my roofer gave me an estimate for a replacement window, with all new wood trim and structural repairs that was much lower than expected. Apparently with roofing season pretty much over (except for emergencies), he wants to keep his crew busy and discounts other work to keep them working. That works for me.

I had Monday and Tuesday off as scheduled vacation days anyway, so we set up the work for Monday. He said it wouldn't extend into Tuesday, and that would be good because then I have all of Tuesday to work on my dress. I'll probably get time on Monday, as well; he's very well trained and will call my cell if he needs to get out of the house because he knows I don't like contractors opening doors when the cats are loose.

It's time. I've spent so much time and money on the visible parts of the house, but what good does it do if the attic's taking on water? Besides, if you just look up, it looks like an abandoned crack house up there. Not any house's best look.

Let it snow

2011-12-08T22:45:00.000-05:00

Don't worry, the next post won't be titled "Chestnuts Roasting on an Open Fire," or anything cheesy like that, at least, not unless this dress takes a drastic turn.

Yes, it's a dress. It was actually on its way to becoming a dress by late last evening, but I had the post scheduled to publish and never got back to tweak it.

And once I decided what pattern it would be (BWOF sheath dress with V back, the one I based the wedding dress on), it immediately started to bother me that it needed something else. Something . . . more.

And since it is the season of glitter and excess, I had some beads leftover for the craft show and decided to put them to use here by adding some "ice" and "snow" embellishment on the bare branches. I think it's fairly subtle, and it strikes me as somewhat vintage, as well.

I started playing with the beads last night around 10:00, and all of a sudden it was midnight! I guess that proves that you can do some things successfully after 10:00 p.m. I'm glad I got the cutting over with earlier; I don't think I'd have tried that since there's almost no fabric leftover.

I underlined the bodice front and back with white batiste, for structure, comfort and also because when I decided to add the beads, I knew it would work better that way.

Tonight I spent another 2 hours beading the bodice backs. So that's 4 hours down now, and not a machine stitch has been sewn, other than to baste the two fabrics together, and to sew the bust darts.

Tomorrow night I would actually like to start sewing, but that may not happen. The neighborhood theater is having an opening, and whether or not I've been involved in the costuming (I haven't this time), I still like to go.

On the other hand, I'd like to wear this to a holiday party next Friday night, so I'm going to have to wedge it in somewhere.

Winter Wonderland

2011-12-07T23:51:00.001-05:00

This was the home dec fabric I bought at Jack B's at the Philadelphia PR Day in November. I didn't know quite what it wanted to be, I just knew I had to have it. I love the cold and wintry feel of the bare branches, and the spare colors.

Interestingly, there was a colorway with a green background and more color, and it left me completely cold. And I normally love greens. But it was the mood of this fabric that got me, and it still does.

Not sure yet if it wants to be a dress or a skirt. There's 1.5 yards of it, and it's home dec width, so at least that means I've got a good bit of it to play with.

Any suggestions?

Month End Review - November 2011

2011-12-05T23:47:00.000-05:00

Well, by the stats it looks like a productive month, but I think that depends on your definition of productive. In number of items made, it looks fabulous: 23 pieces. Yardage, because of what they were, not so much: 11.5 yards. In the number of pieces for me versus pieces for the craft show: the craft show won by 22 to 1.

The only item I finished for myself this month, start to finish, was the gray and black ruffled sweater. Okay, it was a really good piece, but it was one piece.

I also finished my plaid jacket that was almost finished in October, but it was so close to the end that month that I counted it for October. Silly me. It took almost the entire month to do the finish work between one thing and another. Full review of that coming later in the week when I can wear it to work and get photos taken.

Craft Show 2011

2011-12-03T11:16:00.004-05:00

The University City Arts League holiday craft show opened on Friday night. We stopped by for a bit of the opening and I'm now anxious to do a bit more work.

We're generally promised a 4x4 table space (not too much, not too little) but there are apparently a few less artists this year as there was a bit of extra space and the wicker sled holding my velvet scarves (which started out on my table) was relocated to the stand next to it.

Well, okay, if you want me to expand to fill my space, I can. Also, last year there was artwork on the walls above each table; this year , not so much. I'm going to think of a fast way to go vertical on the display. Why have extra merchandise in boxes under the table when I can have it on the table?

The bottom photo is a closeup of some of the baby clothes I got done on my sweatshop day off Wednesday.

There was a lot of interest tonight, but since we couldn't stay long, I didn't see if or how much money changed hands. I'll check in Saturday afternoon when they open up and do some rearranging.

The circle widens

2011-12-02T13:41:00.000-05:00

Now that I have my head above water, I can mention the fact that the sewing world got just a little bigger last weekend. Gaylen of GMarieSews, was in town over the holiday weekend with her husband and we were able to meet up on Sunday morning for coffee (but alas, no fabric shopping; she did that on Monday).

Not surprisingly, she is another lovely, interesting woman whom I felt like I'd known for ages - about 5 minutes into the conversation. What is it about sewists? We're a very likable bunch. Her husband was also a good and patient man, tolerating sewing and other conversation with nary a sigh or an eyeroll. Sewists also apparently have likable husbands.

Another sign that she's one of my people - we were talking about knitting (which I'm still resisting, mostly for fear of another stash) and she showed me her very gorgeous socks that she had knit herself. And she let me touch them, and didn't think it was weird.

That's what I'm talking about.

Six

2011-11-30T22:59:00.000-05:00

That's how many pieces I finished today.

Then labeled them, priced them and delivered them, along with my other items, to the show and set up my table.

Then I came home and got my metal folding table from the attic and took it back to the Arts League, because half their tables had disappeared.

So. Tired. There was coffee all day, and wine with dinner. Soon there will be sleep.

Flat out

2011-11-29T23:43:00.002-05:00

I have off from work tomorrow. Vacation day, you ask? Well, it might have been planned that way, but then things went sideways.

I got a reminder that the craft show load-in has to be done on Wednesday, November 30th.

Oops. That would be tomorrow.

How did I manage to put this out of my mind when I know the show opens Friday? My "day off" has now become a day in - in the sewing room. There are a few pieces left from last year and I made more after vacation, but what I really wanted this year was to do a nice pile of upcycled baby items from the great printed cottons I have in the workroom which were set aside for just that purpose.

Tonight, after pricing everything and filling out my inventory forms, I brought out all the fabrics, my 3 favorite fast patterns, and pulled together fabric pairings for 8 dresses.

How many do you think I can knock out by tomorrow evening? Wish me luck, and much caffeine.

* Elaray asked where the craft show was taking place. Since she's local, and there might be others out there, I thought it might be a bright idea (!) to post the flyer. The University City Arts League is at 4226 Spruce Street in Philadelphia. They offer all types of classes - painting, pottery, dance, etc., plenty of programs for kids, gallery shows and the craft show, which is a neighborhood institution.

Ghosts of Christmas Past

2011-11-27T22:54:00.000-05:00

In a previous post, I mentioned the Japanese glitter houses from my grandmom's Christmas village, and also that I was thinking about listing them on Etsy.

Apparently my readers are a lot more sentimental than I am, because most comments told me to keep them, even though we don't decorate, don't have a a tree, and have the tchotchkes of a much larger family.

Here's what I've decided to do: I'm keeping the house on the top left, the large white "hotel" or "mansion" type house that was the center of many small person daydreams.

(There was also a large candy-pink house, with a turret, but apparently that one vanished somewhere during the trip over the river and through the woods from grandma's house to aunt's house to mom's house to mine; in that case, it's a wonder more of them didn't disappear).

The remaining 6 houses (I swear there were at least a dozen, plus a larger scale plastic church with stained glass windows that played "Silent Night" when you opened the doors, but again, it was a long road from grandma's house) are getting listed in 2 lots, as pictured.

I love them, but I won't miss them. I hope they make someone's Christmas a little brighter; they brightened mine for a lot of years, and the last house is now on the bookcase overlooking my desk, where I can see it and (hopefully) the cats won't find its crusty, glittery surface at all appetizing or appealing. Hopefully.

It's been a long, long time coming

2011-11-21T21:50:00.000-05:00

But I finally finished my ruffled sweater!

It's been nearly done it was almost anti-climactic to put it on today, but I'm really happy how it turned out.

My last bright idea, in a project that contained many "bright ideas," was to add the cowl. Of course I decided to do this after I'd finished the neckline. So I made a separate, detachable cowl, and decided then that I liked this idea even better - now I can wear it both ways, because obviously no one would ever recognize this sweater, it's so unassuming and unrecognizable.

Sometimes I make my own head hurt.

The cowl is basted at from shoulder to shouldler seam in the back, left loose in the front. That way I can rearrange it however I want, and, since it is only basted, I can remove it if I change my mind.

The sleeves are still my favorite part. I love the chevron effect, and while it wasn't intentional that the chevrons flow up one sleeve and down another (I think wine might have caused that little bit of inspiration), it works for me. How can you look at this top and actually say that it shouldn't?

Where's that particular rule?

What got me to finish up, finally? Well, Saturday was PR Day - the official celebration of PatternReview's 10th anniversary, and there was a small get-together in Philadelphia.

Now whether you're a fan of Patternreview, Stitcher's Guild or Burdastyle, their intentions arethe same: sewing is a pretty solitary obsession, and there's an enormous community out there if only someone could organize it and shove it in our face in a way that makes us recognize what we could have.

So thank you, Deepika, for Patternreview. I joined in 2006, oblivious to what the site would add to my sewing (and personal) life within the next 5 years. Now most of my friends also sew - and some of them even live in the same general vicinity. I got to see them on Saturday, and a few "locals" I hadn't met before. It's always good to enlarge the sewing circle, and when I got home, I was so inspired just by a few hours of shopping and lunch that I had to tack on my cowl and hem the sweater.

What's that you ask?

A few hours of shopping?

And you want to know if I bought anything?

Why yes. Yes, I did.

Photos are forthcoming (most fabric is still in the laundry basket), but I got 2 different colors of a very nice washable linen, one of which was a light grayish blue color that I looked for without success all summer. The other is a sage-ish green. I got a flannel print that manages to not look childish or mannish; I think it wants to be a shirt dress for my painfully cold office. And I got a home dec fabric that I'm absolutely in love with - it's ivory with very cool, neutral wintry tree branches in grays, browns and tans. I walked in the store, spotted that almost at the back, and went right for it. It was too expensive, and I didn't care. So there.

Not quite there . . . yet

2011-11-15T22:35:00.000-05:00

It's still not done, but progress has been made on the striped sweater.

Can I still call it striped, when the stripes run in every direction except up and down?

Still not finished: neckline, because I'm having a thought, and hems on both cuffs and the bottom of the garment. I also might reshape the side seams a little bit; it looks a little baggy on the dress form, but then again, Evelyn and I haven't been the same size for a while now. So maybe not on the reshaping.

What gave me the idea for this was a top worn by a co-worker. You know that pre-ruffled knit fabric everyone was making skirts out of this past summer? She has a top made from the narrowest ruffles, and it had the same bias seam on the front. The back of her top, meanwhile, was just a solid knit, no ruffles at all, and it was sleeveless.

But nothing succeeds like excess, so I also cut the back on the bias, and then for good measure, I split the sleeves and chevroned them. One up and one down, of course, and I cut the lower sleeve on the cross grain, just to be different. Or normal. Whichever.

I've been distracted from sewing -- again -- because I've been trying to do a little housecleaning. Never a good idea. I just find stuff and lose time trying to decide where it came from, why I kept it, if I should continue to keep it, and where I should put it.
I found another box of crap (not really) from the relatives. Etsy is going to be getting another big bulk listing really, really soon. I'm getting very fond of them, they're clearing out my rubble quite nicely.

Actually, it was the first batch of Etsy proceeds that paid for the chicken coop.

Also, work has been insane (nothing new there), I'm behind on my craft show sewing, and, oh, yeah, the holidays are coming. I'm feeling a little humbug right now, though I might get over it.

Or I might not. Though I did get a little twinge of Christmas when I unpacked one of those boxes and found my grandmom's Christmas village that she used to put under the tree - glitter houses and tiny trees -- my favorite part of the holiday even when I was little. Part of me wants to keep them; the practical part says to take their picture and pass them on. If I haven't seen them in 30 years, I haven't really missed them, and we don't do a tree.

Back to to the sweater: note to self, even if not having your picture taken with a flash, watch what color bra you put under this sweater!

Easing my way back

2011-11-11T23:41:00.000-05:00

I realized the other night that the only sewing I've done since before vacation was stuff for the craft show. Okay, so I know I need to work on that, but not at the cost of no sewing for me. Not at the cost of my sanity.

So Thursday night, I took off from craft sewing and spent a little quality time in the workroom. The results will bemade public soon - I have a little bit of finish work left before I introduce my new creation. Let's just say I took that black and gray ruffled sweater knit and did terrible, wonderful things with stripes. I do love a stripe, I just tend to love them running in all directions at once, which may or may not be a problem.

My plaid jacket is still languishing on the dress form. I'll get back to that soon; after a substantial break, I wanted to ease my way back in with something a little less structured than a fitted, lined jacket with plaids to be matched.

With my head cleared of all that backed up sewing, I was able to dive back into the craft show sewing and finish doing a beaded edging to scarves that, at least for the last 2 years, have been the quick-to-sew and quick-to-sell item on my table. Fingers crossed it will be the same this year, or else everyone I know will be getting a pretty similar gift at the holidays . . .

Chicken FYI: for Kathi Rank (and anyone else) who wondered about Bonnie losing her feathers. Molting is normal, though she is doing it a bit later than she should. Most chickens lose feathers once a year and grow new ones, and during the molting period they stop laying eggs. The logic there is eggs are mostly protein, and so are feathers; if she's going to produce feathers, she needs to stop producing eggs.

As far as getting out in the yard for exercise, it never happens intentionally. These girls can fly, I've seen them do it, and if I let them out, they'd be gone in a blink. Once they settled in, they seemed not to mind the reduced quarters, and in the winter, it'll be a benefit. Their little upstairs coop is just big enough for them, a perch and their nesting box. Their body heat and the heat of their droppings (otherwise known as the best compost activator on earth) will keep them toasty.

Let there be light

2011-11-10T23:55:00.000-05:00

Random chicken update: The chickens seem to be tolerating cooler weather better than the heat and the hellish rain we had in August, but I don't want them (or their water) to freeze this winter. Everything I've read also says that they'll continue to lay more frequently if they are provided more light, because they need between 12-16 hours of sunlight to lay regularly. And since my chickens are apparently not spring chickens, they probably really need it since egg production slows as they age.

I thought about this for a while, and what I really wanted to do was a solar setup for the coop light. How cool would that be, to have my back yard chickens go solar-powered? But since I also wanted their light on a timer, that just complicated things unnecessarily - what if there wasn't enough power stored in the solar battery to keep the timer on time? In the end, I had my handyman install an outdoor outlet by my back door, something I've been planning to have done for close to a decade anyway.

We picked up a work light at Lowe's, one of those bulb-in-a-cage deals, so my brilliant ladies don't attempt to peck at the bulb. On Sunday, since it had just turned daylight savings, I decided it was time to get to it. The bulb cage got zip-tied to the wire above the door, so that it shines up into the enclosed coop when it's on. It's also right above the waterer, so the heat from the bulb will keep the water from freezing. From there, we cut a small hole in the wire and ran the plug through, up and over the roof (and under the tarp), through the lilac tree and into the timer, which was plugged into the outlet by the back door.

The girls now have light from 4:30 to 6:00, twice a day. It seems to be working. They still go to bed before 6:00, but later than they were prior to the light going in.

Egg production is still slow, because Bonnie is now moulting. I told her she'd better get a move on; a Philadelphia winter is not the time to be a naked chicken. She just looks at me, flaps her wings, and feathers drift slowly onto the ground.

Another note: do NOT try to take an egg out of the nest box when your chickens have gone to roost on the perch above said nest box. And if you insist on trying, wear long sleeves so that their pointy little beaks don't do too much damage.

So Pretty

2011-11-09T15:16:00.000-05:00

Or maybe it's about the food

2011-11-06T17:50:00.000-05:00

Okay, so maybe it's not ALL about the food, but for me, in Paris, it's close.

We've been 3 times now, and it's always like that. In 2007, for our first trip, we dumb-lucked into 2 fantastic restaurants that we've returned to on each trip. More on that as we go along here.

Friday morning, we woke up pretty well rested from our jet lag. We each had something we wanted to do in Montmartre - I, of course, had to make a pilgrimage to Reine and stroke the expensive fabrics, and Mario, a big comic art/graphic novel fan, had 2 galleries he wanted to visit that specialized in his favorite thing. We went first to the fabric district, where my feelings were hurt by the drastic price increases (though I did buy 2 pieces of fabric at one of the remnant or "coupon" stores). Then we had a lovely lunch at a restaurant recommended by a friend, and then we walked to the galleries.

From there, we walked back to our hotel, which meant we walked from the tippy-top of Montmartre, down through central Paris, across the bridge, across the Ile, across the next bridge and through the Jardins de Luxembourg to get back to our hotel by late afternoon.

We had ourselves a well deserved rest after our hike, then meandered out in the evening back to our first favorite restaurant, Au Chien qui Fume (the Smoking Dog). I had salmon quenelles in a shellfish sauce, rabbit with mustard and a potato gratin, and a glazed apple tart with vanilla sauce and fresh whipped cream. And wine, of course.

Most of the photos here are from various street markets we encountered during our wanderings around the city. It seems like we found one every day, and it really began to make me crazy that I was trapped in a city with all this glorious food and no kitchen to cook it in. A basket of fresh porcini mushrooms is enough to make me twitch, but unlike when we went to Florence, I couldn't find any dried ones at the markets to bring home. Waaaah.

On Saturday, we got up extra early to go to the flea market near the Porte de Vanves metro stop. The weather forecast had been for days in the mid-60s, nights in the mid-40s, but that Saturday it wasn't anywhere near mid-40. Even layered up, we were cold and miserable. And the price increases had struck the flea market as well, so we were cold, miserable, and thwarted by the European financial crisis. Vintage buttons for 5 euro apiece?? Really?? Who's buying them?

We stopped at a vendor cart had double espressos and crepes to warm up. It worked for a little while, but my happiest moment at the market was finding a woman who was selling scarves for 3 euro. We each bought one, and felt much better. Though I have to say I feel a little like a Jane Austen heroine - I took a chill, and spent the rest of the week, the flight home and the week after, coughing like a consumptive.

Saturday night we went to dinner at a seafood restaurant that called to us. I had fish soup with a spicy rouille and croutons, and a bucket of mussels. And I mean a bucket. They had to bring me a second bowl for all the shells, it was ridiculous. Mario finished his skate and helped me down the last of the mussels because I was running out of room. Though I did have room for the 3 scoop sorbet/glace dessert - flavors were yogurt (yogurt-flavored ice cream. Really), blood orange and lavender. Sounds strange, but yum!

Sunday was the day that didn't work properly. We tried to go to the Beauborg, and the lines were over an hour long by 9:00 a.m. We decided we didn't want to see their art that badly when there's so much more to be had. We walked up to Les Halles, to get in from the chill at the galleries and shopping area there, and found most of it under renovation. There is apparently no shortage of construction work in Paris; many, many buildings were surrounded by green construction barricades.

We walked back through the Marais, picked up lunch, and then went to the Musee de Mode du Textiles (the fashion museum attached to the Louvre). Their main exhibit was Hussein Chalayan. I wasn't thrilled - for me, sometimes when a designer has too many points he's trying to make (political or whatever they may be), the fashion gets lost. Mario thought he did great installations, but he wouldn't have known it was a fashion exhibit if I hadn't said so.

By this time, it was later in the afternoon and we were starting to fade a little. But since we were already halfway down Rue de Rivoli, Mario suggested we walk the rest of the way down and go to L'Orangerie, to see their collection of Monet's waterlilies. Since I dragged him through the Cluny Museum on Friday morning to visit the Unicorn tapestries, I thought that was only fair. And it's not like I didn't want to see them; I was just flagging a bit.

Great art has restorative powers, however. Once we got inside the museum and into the stark white oval rooms wrapped in waterlilies (has anybody seen Midnight in Paris?) I forgot that my feet hurt and I wanted my pre-dinner nap. We circled around looking at paintings until they kicked us out at 6:00, and then we went back to put our feet up for a while.

We tried to go to Allard, our other favorite restaurant, but by the time we got there at 8:30 (okay, we put our feet up for QUITE a while), they were packed. Happy hour in Paris is from 7:00 to 9:00, not the American 5:00 - 7:00, so they were really just getting started. We made a reservation for Monday night, our last night, and walked back up the block and found a perfectly acceptable backup restaurant. By that point we were both wolfishly hungry and Allard's spectacular dinner might have been wasted on us anyway.

On our last day, we really had no specific plans. We walked a lot that day. The weather had warmed up and we just wanted to spend the last day looking at the city.

We realized over lunch that we'd bought no gifts, so we stopped at a shop and bought macarons for family and friends. They were supposed to be refrigerated, but we thought between spending the night out on the cool balcony and then being on the plane, they'd survive (and they mostly did, only a little bit squashed - and they still tasted good).

Yes, he's coated in chocolate!

After bringing our macarons back to the hotel, we rested and then walked back to Allard for dinner. Last meal in Paris: pate de maison, cassoulet and a chocolate charlotte that was absolutely obscenely good. Mario had escargot, boeuf bourguignon and the chocolate charlotte. We split a bottle of burgundy and drifted back to the hotel in a happy haze of wine and way too much good food.

And that, dear readers, was our trip to Paris. I'll post separate photos from the Orangerie; the waterlilies really do need to be seen to be believed - there's something about the scale and the size of those rooms, built to accommodate them, that made them even more impressive than I'd expected.

Pick a color, any color

2011-11-03T23:31:00.000-04:00

At the Porte de Vanves flea market, Paris

I didn't know I wanted a turquoise sewing machine, but I do.

Craft Activism: Book Review

2011-10-31T22:28:00.006-04:00

Craft Activism by Joan Tapper,
photos by Gale Zucker

As a kid, whenever I would whine that I was bored, my mom would say, "Go make something."

The many contributors to this book apparently had mothers similar to mine, because they all make SOMETHING. And you can too.

Craft Activism is more than a craft book - it's a profile of the current crafting movement and includes chapters on sewing, embroidery, quilting, knitting, crochet, etc. The knitting section is as far apart as yarn bombing (tree cozies) to sweaters with political statements to amazingly accurate animal pelts reproduced as knitting projects.

Each profile is accompanied by a project inspired by the crafter's work - if you have basic knowledge of their craft, you can manage the project. It's simplified, but not dumbed-down.

The book is divided up into several sections: Crafting a Statement, Recrafting the Past, Crafting for a Cause, Crafting to Recycle, Renew and Reuse, and Crafting a Community. Even without the projects, it's an interesting read simply for the crafters and their various causes and organizations.

Books like this inspire me just by existing. I like knowing there are that many other people out there who get up every day, knowing that by bedtime, they're going to make something.

It's all about the clothes

2011-10-30T20:31:00.000-04:00

So of course there's more to visiting Paris than the clothes, but seeing who I am and what I do, I do tend to pay attention. A lot.

What I saw quite a bit of on the streets:

Capes, surprisingly. The cute short ones that BWOF has been showing. I didn't think much of them in the magazine, but seeing them on real women, moving around, I liked them.

Shorts - everything from Daisy Dukes with fishnets (on the twentysomethings on a Saturday night) to dressy wool shorts that end with a button-tab and cuff just above the knee.

Ankle boots - with pants, skirts of all lengths, and the above-mentioned dress shorts.

As far as specific trends for women, it seems anything goes, but particularly extremes - skirts either to the ankles or barely below your underwear. Pants skinny to the ankle or billowing wider than hip-width.

Men wearing more - and brighter - colors than the women. As in I lost count of how many men I saw wearing red corduroy trousers. Or orange. Or yellow. Or green. It wasn't a trend Mario took to, thankfully, though he tends to notice how much sharper European men dress than American men.

And then, of course, there are the store windows. These were my favorites. The color-blocked dress above is going to be coming out of my workroom sooner rather than later. Isn't it fabulous? I might change it from tan and black to something-more-flattering-on-me and black, or I might not. Need to see what's in the stash that will work.

The second dress reminds me of something from one of the Japanese pattern magazines - there's a bit of origami in there somewhere, and I love it. I don't know a lot of people who really look good in these types of garments, but I love looking at them. The color didn't come up well (night photography with glass in between) but it's a very pale pearl gray, just a shade or two darker than the mannequin.

Look at this coat. The first thing that caught my eye, of course, was the fur down both sleeves. Then I actually looked at the sleeves, and the very strong shoulder that's supporting all that fur. It wasn't until I got home that I noticed some of the finer details - the darts on the front are sewn to the outside, for example. And it's princess-seamed. And double-breasted. With a lovely collar, outsized buttons and uber-outsized cargo pockets. It's a lot of look, and one of my favorites.

I love plaid. I love lace. I apparently love plaid dresses appliqued with lace, even in somewhat odd places for applique. And I wish I could have gotten a better angle so I could see what was up with those sleeves!

The black and gray outfit on the left didn't do as much for me, but it was YSL's store window, and I was in Paris, and isn't every sewist worth her thread supposed to stop and genuflect in front of YSL's store window? There was a Christian Lacroix store right down the street, under construction. If his windows had been filled with clothes, there would have been kneeling in worship involved. And possibly drool on my chin.

The next dress just attracted me because of the colors, the print, the overall . . . something of it. So many of the pieces I fall for are for the fabrics, rather than the cut; it's a weakness of mine, and one I had pointed out recently watching the lame finale of this lame season of Project Runway. A beautiful print does not make for a great dress, nor does knowing how to use a beautiful print make for a great designer. I need to learn to work with more solids.

The last photo, the coat, was taken at L'Orangerie, while ostensibly looking at Monet's waterlilies. And I was looking at them, I just walked in behind this woman and her coat kept distracting me, so I finally got a photo of it while (ostensibly) taking a photo of the waterlilies.

Another thing that really gets me is patchwork or working with multiple prints. I remember a few pieces like this coat from Florence 2 years ago. Apparently the trend either hasn't gone away or she's taken very good care of this coat.
You can't tell too well from the photo, but most of the coat is made up from multiple layers of multiple fabrics. The large face on the upper back had a layer of black net or gauze over it; several of the lower pieces, in black, were overlaid with layers of black lace. It didn't change the color much, obviously, but it added a lot of depth to the coat while walking behind it and mentally taking notes.

So these are my fashion highlights. I wish there were more, but I was actually trying not to take as many photos this trip. We've been several times now, so I don't need to take photos of the major sights anymore, and I get a little tired of trying not to look like I'm stalking someone who's wearing something that interests me.

Of course, when we were walking along the Seine and there was a woman several yards in front of us, wearing an absolutely phenomenal skirt made of at least 4 coordinating fabrics with bias-cut ruffles in leopard print, my camera battery crapped out and I missed her entirely.

It snowed on Saturday, shooting my weekend plans somewhat in the foot, so I finally renewed my acquaintance with my sewing machine. The plaid jacket is still under construction; I decided to ease my way back in with something simple, and made myself a pair of annoyingly loud striped pajamas because it's cold in the house and I refuse to turn the heat on this early in the season. Thanksgiving is my usual start date - something to be thankful for, is how I think of it. In the meantime, a little cold builds character. And justifies the construction of fuzzy new pajamas.

From my garden

2011-10-29T19:03:00.000-04:00

Does this look like the end of October to you?

Of course the snow outside my window doesn't look much like the end of October either.

There's no place like home

2011-10-27T20:39:00.051-04:00

Do you ever feel, when you walk through the automatic doors at the airport, that you're entering someplace akin to the Twilight Zone? A place where time as you know it has no meaning, where things are going to occur in their own time - airport time - and you have no choice but to surrender and go with the flow, wherever you're bound, and hope that you get there?

That's me with airports, anyway. This trip included, though it could have been worse. I have to thank several very nice blonde ladies who work for Delta Airlines for making the experience as tolerable as it was.

We left for the airport on time, even though we discovered that the flight would be delayed. What if it got undelayed and we weren't there? Trying to print our boarding passes at the kiosk, we got a message that there was a problem and to go to the desk to talk to a real, live human.

Our flight, it turned out, had been canceled and we were being re-routed through Atlanta. We get our new boarding passes and find the gate. There's an Atlanta flight leaving in an hour on the board, but it's not the flight number on our passes. I ask the nice blonde lady, and she says there are 2 flights to Atlanta, both delayed, and we're on the second one. Which might or might not connect with the Paris flight.

WTF? I take a deep breath and do not scream. Instead, I tear up. "We're on our honeymoon," I said. "We can't spend the night in an airport." She puts us on standby for the first flight, but says not to get my hopes up.

An hour later, when they start boarding, I hear my name called. There were 3 standby seats on the flight, and we got 2 of them. I resist hugging the nice blonde lady, especially when she says that there's no way the people on the second flight will make it to Paris - and because it's a weather delay, the airline isn't responsible for putting them up at a hotel.

We fly to Atlanta, seated separately, and another nice blonde Delta lady stows our bags in the staff area because after we get on the plane they ran out of overhead space. I chat all the way there with the woman seated beside me, who sews, grows her own vegetables and is dying to get chickens. My people are everywhere, I tell you.

Atlanta's airport makes Philadelphia International look tired and shabby. Which it is. We get yet another pair of boarding passes (keeping count?) because our seats need to be changed from the ones we got in Philly. Since the second plane wouldn't get in on time, we were going to have to spread out on the plane to balance the load - we were flying at 1/3 full!

All this led to us getting into Paris about 3 hours later than expected, but considering the alternative - a night in the Atlanta airport - 3 hours was fine by me. We checked into our hotel on the edge of the Jardin de Luxembourg, and meandered around the neighborhood before going off in search of food. We ended up on the Quai des Augustins, along the river, at the Bistro des Augustins, having several glasses of wine and a creamy, cheesy gratin and a basket of bread.

What airport? What frustration? Give me wine and sufficient dairy products and I can forget almost anything.

And a little Tina Turner. When we got to the bistro, it was around 3:00 p.m. - the wasteland between lunch and dinnertime. There were no other customers, just the waiter and a few friends hanging at the bar. American music is all over Paris, and they had some good stuff going on. The highlight: when the really fast version of Proud Mary came on, and all 3 men, very French, very white and very skinny, started dancing at the bar like Tina in her fringed dress and singing along, very loudly, to boot. None of them actually spoke English but they knew all the words. I couldn't help but applaud.

We kept going for a while, but our policy on vacation is to try to put ourselves into the local time zone as soon as possible, go until we can't and then fall down.

We fell down at about 8:30 p.m., woke up at 7:00 the next day to a bright blue sky and only minimal jet lag.

Much more to come - obviously - including highlights of the clothes, the amazing food markets and our trip to the Orangerie to be surrounded by more Monet water lilies than I thought humanly possible.

The BurdaStyle Sewing Handbook

2011-10-26T23:30:00.000-04:00

This little lovely arrived in my mailbox the day before we left for Paris. How much did that suck? Not only was I leaving behind my unfinished plaid jacket - still unfinished, sigh! - but I had to flip through this book and leave it on the table until I returned, unreviewed, undigested . . . do books feel neglected?

This one doesn't deserve to. Let me say, full disclosure, that while I'm a member of the Burdastyle website, I don't think I'm their target audience. I like some of their patterns, and a few of their downloadable freebies have become go-to pieces, but the forums and other features there leave me a little cold.

I think it's a mindset thing; you're Patternreview or you're Burdastyle. You may be fluent in both, but one place is more comfortable. Know what I mean?

Which isn't to say anything negative about the book. On the contrary, spending time with this beautifully illustrated book is making me rethink my feelings about the website. If I didn't already spend so much valuable sewing time on the computer reading sewing blogs and tutorials, I'd be getting better acquainted already.

But enough about me. On to the book.

Chapters are: Getting Started, Using Patterns, Let's Start Sewing, The Skirt, The Blouse, The Dress, The Coat and The Bag.

The Amazon blurb is short and to the point, and I'll quote it here for expediency:

The BurdaStyle Sewing Handbook is the most comprehensive, hip and creative guide to learning to sew clothes with style. With more than 430,000 members around the world, BurdaStyle is the largest online community of sewing enthusiasts, fashion designers and DIYers. In their first book, BurdaStyle celebrates this vibrant, global community as they teach readers everything they need to know to design and sew an entire wardrobe of fashion-forward looks using the five fully customisable sewing patterns enclosed with the book. Filled with gorgeous photography, step-by-step instruction and contributions by 78 designers from 22 countries, The BurdaStyle Sewing Handbook will be the go-to guide for every fashion sewer.

As the blurb says, the book comes with 5 patterns. Why yes, yes it does. And what I truly appreciate is that in addition to showing you the Burdastyle version made up, they also do variations dreamed up by 2 of their members (some of whom we all know pretty well from sewing blogland), complete with illustrated instructions on how to accomplish the changes to each pattern. At the end of each segment - dress, skirt, blouse, jacket, bag - they show a bunch more versions of each item, just to whet your creativity.

The photography is great, the illustrations are very clear, and the tone throughout is friendly and encouraging

One of the things I really, really appreciate about this book and others like it - and all the young sewing bloggers out there who've had no real sewing training - is that thinking and stepping outside the box is so easy for them.

The most valuable thing I'll take from this book is that reminder.

And those 5 customisable patterns. Mustn't forget about them.

Bon Voyage

2011-10-19T22:22:00.005-04:00

Nine months and four days ago, there was a wedding.

Today, there is a honeymoon, if somewhat late.

See you all in a week with vacation photos, Parisian fashion commentary and a couple of good book reviews that I don't have time to finish off before we fly.

Contagious Inspiration

2011-10-16T11:44:00.001-04:00

One of the other fabrics I brought back from the NY shopping day in September was this fabulous black sweater knit with gray ruffles. I got a remnant at Kashi (another remnant . . . do you see a trend here?) and it's just under 2 yards. Of course, since 2 yards is enough to make almost anything sweatery, I'm thinking about doing something cut on the bias to take extra advantage of the interesting ruffles and to give myself the challenge of making something - again - out of too little fabric.

What got me started? Andrea sent me a link on Friday morning and it turns out that Lori of GirlsintheGarden used the very same sweater knit to make a beautiful cardigan. She got her fabric at FabricMart, but it's the same lovely stuff, and it made me start thinking about mine all over again.

Thanks, Lori. Thanks, Andrea.

New sweater, coming soon to a sewing room near you.

What is your time worth?

2011-10-11T22:48:00.000-04:00

I was doing the hand finishing on one of my craft show pieces at work yesterday (baby dress in a tiny floral corduroy with 2 kinds of trim and a lace collar). A co-worker (with a small child) stopped past to look and asked if I was selling it. I said that I would be, once I finished enough pieces to submit to the craft show.

She asked if I'd set my prices yet. I'm pretty much there, but I don't like discussing it with co-workers unless we're actually negotiating over me doing some sewing for them, which rarely happens. I said that I hadn't.

She closed her eyes and thought. "I'd pay $15 for that. Maybe even $18. It's really cute."

This from a woman who keeps telling me I should quit my job and sew for a living.

I point this out. I tell her that the dress took about 2 hours to complete, including the hand sewing, and that there were costs for fabric, trim, thread, and wear and tear on my machine. And, most importantly, my time.

"I'd be making less than minimum wage if I asked $18 for this dress," I told her.

"But I can get the same thing at Gymboree on clearance for $10," she said.

And there you have it, folks. Why most of us who sew constantly, think about it obsessively, and work a non-creative 9:00 - 5:00 job will NEVER sew for a living.

Planned Procrastination

2011-10-10T23:08:00.000-04:00

This is what I'm currently NOT working on.

And I really, really want to be working on it.

But I'm participating in the craft show again this year, and I've been procrastinating on working on the show items (in a completely unplanned way). So I decided the only way to apply the boot to my own butt was to force myself to postpone working on a project that really excites me just so I can work on the pieces I need to at least get started on.

The first piece is done. Three more are cut out, and I was going to sew tonight but I was cross-eyed tired and decided that might not be a good idea.

The fabric of my postponed jacket is a green/brown/red plaid (not as vivid as the fabric photo - much more like the collar pic) that I purchased last month from Metro Textiles as a remnant. It's a wool, I think possibly with some cashmere or something else that makes it obscenely soft, and it takes steam like nobody's business. I originally wanted to line it in red, but I decided to take the understated route and use the last of my olive green silk charmeuse instead. Oh, the hardships of a silk charmeuse lining.

Much as I'd like to think I can knock out a few more craft projects by mid-week and be back to my jacket by Thursday, I'm not sure it's going to happen. A few other things have to happen this week that can't be put off, and that will push my sewing to the later evening, when the likelihood of energy and success happening at the same time go sharply downhill.

But it'll happen, and soon. I can hear it calling to me from the back room . . . "Come back, come back. . . don't you want to cut out my sleek and slippery lining and attach it to my matched plaid facings? Don't you want to choose buttons and swear at buttonholes?"

Yes. Yes, I do.

Gratuitous Cat Photo

2011-10-10T00:44:00.000-04:00

What do you mean, it's not a cat bed?

Sewing has occurred, but I have nothing to show yet. Actually, several things are being worked on - the jacket that I really, really want to sew, and several projects for the looming holiday craft show. To make myself do the craft show sewing, I'm not allowed to work on the jacket until I complete 2 pieces.

One is done except for some hand sewing; the second is cut out.

I really want to work on my jacket.

Thought for the day

2011-10-05T23:33:00.001-04:00

I'm not a tech person, but it's hard to avoid Steve Jobs' influence on the way we live, especially since most of us are either competing with an iPhone for someone's attention or downloading an application on one to organize our pattern collections. In the endless loop of obituaries on TV tonight, this phrase stood out:

"You're here for a limited time, so don't waste it living someone else's life."

Techie or Luddite, words to live by.

Vogue 1250 - Take 3

2011-10-03T23:56:00.001-04:00

Vogue missed the mark with this pattern. They should have marketed it with the slogan, "Bet you can't make just one."

This is my third version of this dress, and there will be a fourth, simply because I have to have one in black, eventually. It's the perfect little black dress.

That being said, this time around it's the perfect little black, white and gray dress.

This fabric followed me home from Metro Textiles on September 17th at the NY shopping day. I was pretty well behaved that day - only 13 yards in all (not counting a painful stop at Pacific Trims) - but this print called to me from the chaos that was Metro filled with a dozen or so fabric-frenzied women.

I made a few tweaks this time, changing the shoulder tucks/pleats into gathers. It makes for a softer look on the body and the drape actually works a little better for me. I think it's a personal, body-shape issue; depending on the weight of the knit, looking down at that pleat cascading into a drape over my chest feels more like I'm wearing a valance, and I've never wanted to be Scarlett O'Hara and wear the drapes!

I also made one other minor change, this one out of hard-headedness on my part. I ended up with a bit more fabric than I asked for (Kashi does cut generously sometimes) and wondered if I had enough left to make myself a top. I decided that I would, if I conserved just a bit and cut the back bodice as two pieces instead of wasting fabric by cutting on the fold. Considering there's already a center back seam up the skirt, I didn't think it would make much of a difference, and because of the print, it's barely visible.

So, a dress and a top from this fabric. Even better.

No sewing last night or today. Yesterday we went to NJ for a belated family birthday dinner, and stopped at Tractor Supply so I could get chicken supplies to last us until spring. I like a little added value to a family visit; I'm still looking for one when we visit my aunt.

The chickens are doing well, despite literally almost 2 feet of rain since they moved in. They lay pretty regularly (we get between 6-9 eggs per week, so I'm learning to make quiche) and don't require much in the way of attention. 5 minutes in the morning for water and feed, the same in the evening plus our kitchen scraps or some weeds from the garden to perk up their diet. On Saturdays I scoop the poop, which makes the compost very happy. It's interesting watching the tempered glass lids on my compost bins steam up after I make a deposit.

And last weekend my handyman came over and installed an outdoor outlet so I can put a light in the coop this winter for warmth and to keep their water from freezing. Not much else to report on the poultry front - I have to say, I like having their eggs, but I don't find them tremendously interesting. I think they feel the same about me, so at least we're even.

Month End Review - September 2011

2011-10-02T01:21:00.000-04:00

Even though it doesn't feel like fall (except maybe today, October temps magically dropping even if the rain hasn't gone away), I'm thinking fall sewing.

Switching sewing seasons seems to have gotten me out of my rut, even if one of my projects won't win any prizes for fit.

September's numbers: 5 projects, 11.5 yards. Not bad, and only a little less than the amount of fabric I brought home from New York mid-month.

My favorite project for the month (I think) is the Ottobre Autumn Watercolor dress. It turned out much better than expected, and I can see getting a lot of use from that pattern in the future.

Mario's Dr. Who shirt gets the prize for most appreciated sewing for others EVER. At least until the Hendrix jacket materializes.

More mundane sewing: KwikSew 3740's cowl neck top, made up in cream sweater knit and at great risk to life, limb and thumb. It's healing, and the sweater turned out well.

Colette's Clover pants were project #4. Thumbs up for the pattern, if not for the result I got. When I recover from looking at those photos, I'll try it again.

Last up, and to be fully reviewed when I wear it, is my third take on Vogue 1250, made from a black, white and gray knit from Metro Textiles, purchased on Elizabeth's shopping day on September 17th. I love it, though I might have given up the fabric in exchange for her burnt orange cashmere corduroy. If she'd only let go of it.

The Miracle is

2011-10-01T00:03:00.000-04:00

that I get any pressing done at all. With Lily (left) and Katie (right), jockeying for position on the small ironing board, I'm reduced to the sleeve board for most pressing, or setting up the big board in the living room.

Since the big ironing board is old and metal and screeches when I set it up, they leave it alone.

Something in this house that's mine, all mine . . . and it's the ironing board? That's just wrong.

Pattern Review: Colette Clover Pants

2011-09-28T23:35:00.000-04:00

* I wrote most of this review prior to wearing the pants. I've put my addendum first, because it explains the photos.

Sometimes you just can't anticipate the way a fabric will behave. I knew that my fabric was a little stretchier than I needed for these pants, and truthfully, I expected a little bagging in the seat and at the knees by the end of the day. However, the fabric had started to stretch by the time I got to work. The photos were taken on my lunch break, approximately 4 hours into the wearing of the pants. These pants did NOT fit like that when I left the house, especially the crotch area.

Overall, despite the somewhat disappointing photos, I'm going to declare these pants a fabric failure, not a pattern failure. And because I do like the pants generally (and because even with some sag the butt doesn't look too bad), I'm going to take in the inside leg seam and the center/crotch/seat seam and see what happens. Next time I'll start out with pants that are too tight which will relax into a nice fit by mid-morning. And I'll know better for the next pair. (There will still be a next pair).

Pattern Description: Beautifully simple slim pants that will go with practically anything! These pants close with a side zipper for a streamlined look and easy sewing. Version 1 is ankle length, with small in-seam pockets set into the waistband. Version 2 is cropped just below mid-calf.

The pattern is meant for bottom-weight fabrics with some stretch.

Pattern Sizing: 0-18. I made approximately a 10, with some adjustments where I deviated from the standard measurements.

Did it look like the photo/drawing on the pattern envelope once you were done sewing with it? The line drawing on the envelope is very basic, but I'd say I got a close resemblance. Mine are longer, because I didn't want ankle-length pants. Isn't that why we sew?

Were the instructions easy to follow? Absolutely. More on that below.

What did you particularly like or dislike about the pattern? I tend to like side zip pants better than fly front. Which is annoying, because from making jeans for myself and shorts for Mario, I can actually do a decent fly front these days. But outside of jeans, I don't find fly-front pants all that flattering on me; I wear a lot of knit tops and I like the smoother line of a side zip, instead of the bunchiness of a zipper under the knit.

And I have a go-to Burda side zip pant that I've been making since 2007, but when Colette announced their new fall patterns I decided to give their pants a try - it never hurts to check out a new twist on an old favorite. My Burda pants are darted, front and back, with a facing but no waistband; Colette's pants have a waistband and inseam pockets. Since the waistband is more like a narrow yoke than a classic waistband, I thought it might work well on my lack-of-defined-waist.

As an aside, I thought the little pockets set in the seam between the pants and waistband were cute. They'll never be seen, since most of my tops will cover them, but I know they're there.

Fabric Used: Tan stretch twill (very stretchy stretch twill). Leftover Liberty lawn for the pockets.

Pattern alterations or any design changes you made: When I make a pattern for the first time, unless I find something ridiculously wrong (or in the case of Burda, unintelligible) in the instructions, I try to follow the pattern's order of construction. I assume there's a reason for what they do, and the order in which they do it.

So when I made my Clover pants (without having made a muslin, of course, because I couldn't find a fabric for the muslin with a similar stretch), I followed their instructions. I have to say that their instructions are some of the clearest I've ever come across and the illustrations are very well done. If I'd had to depend on Burda to explain how to do those little waistband pockets, I'd have pants without pockets.

That being said, next time I think I will change the order of construction just a bit, because even when I get a pattern altered to fit me, depending on the vagaries of the particular fabric I'm using, there might be tweaking involved.

Colette's order: sew fronts to backs at inside leg seam, then sew center seam from front to back. After that, sew up your outside seams (completely on the right, to the zipper point on the left. Construct the waistband side seams and sew outer waistband to mostly-completed pants. Sew the pockets together. Insert invisible zipper in already mostly-completed pants. Then add facing waistband and do all the neat and tidy stuff.

How I'll do it next time: sew fronts to backs at inside leg seam, then sew center seam from front to back. Sew the outer waistbands to fronts and backs, sewing pockets. Pin fit to make sure nothing has gone wrong, then insert invisible zipper and finish rest of left leg seam. Baste right leg seam to check fit, tweak, then finish. Add facing waistband and neaten.

There's nothing wrong with the Colette instructions, and I think I got a pretty good result, but since every fabric is going to behave at least somewhat differently - the stretch twill I'm using seems to be almost part bubblegum it was so stretchy - I like having the option of tweaking in multiple places throughout the construction process.

Would you sew it again? Would you recommend it to others? I think these are in the running to join my Burda pants in the TNT pile. There weren't many kinks to work out in this first pair, so I'd definitely try them again.

Conclusion: A good basic pattern - with great instructions - that can be made up in a variety of fabrics. Further investigation is required, but there could be TNT potential here.

Some questions on the sweater

2011-09-23T23:50:00.000-04:00

Collar pieces - under on top of upper

I had a few questions on my "Did I Mention?" post that deserve an answer.

First off, there was a question about making buttonholes in sweater knit. It can be done, but it really depends on the knit. There are different types of sweater knit and I would only even attempt it in a more stable (no visible holes if you stretch it) kind of knit. That "all one piece" feel to the knit would make it behave more like fabric. That being said, I'm sure there's a way to do buttonholes in knit with a looser weave, but I'm not willing to risk unravelling something that I can't put back together.

On the other hand, snaps work well on sweater knit, and I love the look of those oversized snaps. Or you could always sew buttons on the outside and have the best of both

Ripply seams!

With regard to the collar piece, that is one of my favorite parts of this KwikSew pattern (3740). As in any good collar pattern, there is an upper and under collar piece. In this instance, the under collar is significantly smaller. You sew the two collars together at the widest part (the hem), and then bring the upper edges together to be attached at the neckline which, since the under collar is shorter, turns the upper collar underneath so there is no seam visible from the right (upper) side. The way it lays generally keeps the seam allowance to the inside, though with this knit and its tendency to ripple, I pressed the seam allowances in and then ran a seam over them. The knit hides the stitches completely, and the collar would hide them anyway.

The other thing I like about the collar on KS 3740 is that if you're using a stripe (or a rib/cable knit), the stripes line up in a chevron pattern on the center back of the collar seam. Cool.

As far as finishing the seams on sweater knit, I just zigzag them to keep them from fraying. I don't have a serger, so I'm sure if you do there's a much better/neater option. But that's what works for me.

I hemmed the sleeves and hem on my coverstitch. I could have just used the regular machine, but the coverstitch really deals with the raw edges of the hem, and zigzagging there wouldn't have been an option because of the knit's aforementioned tendency to ripple.

And now, without further ado, is the completed sweater - maybe not worth the blood, but good all the same. I'll get a lot of wear out of this.

I got my Colette patterns in the mail today. While I don't have enough yardage of the fabric I was considering for the Ceylon dress, I did find a good khaki bottomweight with some stretch that would work for the Clover pants. So those will probably be up next . . . unless I'm distracted by something else.

Did I mention?

2011-09-22T23:18:00.000-04:00

Did I mention the other night when the rotary cutter broke and my hand hit the blade that I was cutting out cream sweater knit? Could there be a worse possible fabric, other than possibly white silk (which will never see the inside of my sewing room) to risk getting covered with blood?

Somehow, when it happened, my first instinct was to grab my thumb - mostly so I wouldn't look down and see what I did. I made it downstairs to the kitchen before it got messy, and so, now that I'm feeling better, and the bandage on my thumb is small enough to work with, my sweater knit was waiting for me, still immaculate, on the cutting surface where I left it.

I finished cutting with scissors. I'll get back on the horse, really, I will - life without a rotary cutter would be too stinking inconvenient - but for now I'll go it the old-fashioned way. I take the long way for almost everything else, it won't kill me.

The sweater knit, a cream lightweight cable knit, is from Fabric.com about 2-3 years ago. They had a great price on sweater knits, and I bought a bunch, but most of them were worth about what I paid for them. This looks like it'll actually have some staying power, and it's going to be yet another KS 3740, the cowl neck sweater. Because it's flattering, it's quick, and I have almost no sweaters left in my drawer for fall.

Sewing Haiku

2011-09-20T22:46:00.000-04:00

Me versus the blade . . .

Blade will get me every time.

Day off from sewing.

Don't worry, no fingers were lost in the making of this haiku, only a few ounces of blood.

Also, it wasn't after 10:00 p.m., there was no wine involved (at least until after the bleeding was stanched) and I'm very glad I misplaced my new rotary cutter blades before my cutter broke -- while I was using it, letting my thumb come down on the blade.

A nurse friend told me this evening I should have had stitches. Too late now. I'll live, and have another sewing-related scar to show to the unbelieving.

What I did for love

2011-09-18T21:30:00.003-04:00

If you sew for others, every once in a while you're going to get a strange request. Unless you're sewing for someone you care about (or they're paying you a good bit of cash), you can ignore the strange request and go on about your business.

I brought this one on myself.

Allow me to backtrack and explain. When I first saw this fabric a few months ago on Dressaday, someone had made it into a dress to wear to Comic Con in San Diego. Mario would love to go to Comic Con, and I wanted him to see the fabric because he's also a Dr. Who fan.

How did I know it would be love at first sight? I could practically hear the violins. "Can you even buy that fabric?" he asked. Silly me, I said, "Yes, they have it on Spoonflower. I could order it."

"And could you make a shirt out of it?"

What was I supposed to say? No? To the man who puts up with an absentee sewing wife, and 10 cats, and chickens?

If he wants a Dr. Who shirt, he gets a Dr. Who shirt. I pull out KwikSew 3422 and order the fabric.

The fabric arrives. It's even more orange and blue than it appeared in the photograph, and the grid seems even larger. I'm a little frightened; he's ecstatic. It is now decided that it's going to be a long-sleeved dress shirt. In vibrant orange and blue, with a cream grid, and the word "EXTERMINATE" printed in large blue letters.

Again, why not?

Complications arise when I start cutting. I read Spoonflower's fabric care instructions, I just didn't pay attention to them. For their quilting cotton, it suggested there might be as much as 7% shrinkage, and it said not to put it in the dryer. So, after I put it in the dryer . . . it shrunk probably more than 7%, but only in one direction. I managed to completely warp the print, which made me want to get it right even more.

I got the front and back cut out of the most even portions of the fabric. The sleeves are cut slightly skewed, but don't look it. The small pieces, collar and cuffs, were steamed back into straightness and them glued into submission with some of Pam Erny's new Shirt Crisp interfacing. Love that stuff!

Things really got complicated when I cut out the yokes. None of the remaining fabric was square enough to work when sewed across the top of the straight grid on the back of the shirt. I got one so-so yoke, but it didn't make me happy. Then I got an idea. An awful idea. An idea that caused me to drink wine in the sewing room. You know, one of those ideas.

I went through all my scraps and I cut them up so I had a row of robots, and I pieced them together. Rather than an uneven, slanted grid across his shoulders, he now had a rank of Dalek robots marching in file, with one lone weapon across his left shoulder. Brilliance! (Or at least that's what the wine said).

Yesterday I went to NY for the rescheduled fabric shopping day, and I put myself in a position of having to finish the shirt by telling way too many people about it. Best way to make yourself do something you're not up for? Make sure that a dozen or so people will notice when it doesn't happen, and ask uncomfortable questions.

Not to mention the intended wearer of the shirt, who has been following its progress with interest. Today he got to help out with the finish - because I warped the fabric, I changed the order of construction a bit. I sewed the sleeves on at the shoulders, and then did the sleeve seams but only to the first grid line past the underarm. Then I made all the front buttonholes and sewed on the buttons. Since I had to match text on the center front of the shirt, the most important thing was to get those letters lined up; a slight shift on the side seams - normally the end of the world - would be okay at this point. So he got to try on the shirt, buttoned and with the side seams basted, to make sure everything lined up.

I think the sewing gods took pity, I really do. Everything lined up, and the slightly narrow silhouette caused by a slightly larger-than-usual overlap in the front to line up the lettering, actually works with this shirt.

Best part? HE LOVES IT. He's wearing it to work tomorrow. I expect to hear shortly from the lawyers representing his blinded co-workers.

The other best part: this was such an unintentionally challenging project that I'm almost looking forward to making his Hendrix jacket. All notions and lining fabric were purchased in NY on Saturday, but first, there will be a little sewing for me.

My Image - Fall/Winter

2011-09-13T23:44:00.000-04:00

I just received the Fall/Winter issue of My Image pattern magazine, and I'm pretty pleased with the contents.

For those unfamiliar with My Image, it's a fairly recent entry in the European pattern magazine race, but it's moving up quickly in my estimation.

Like Ottobre, they're no Burda, but then again, that's not a bad thing. Their clothes are wearable, not cut too low, and their models are pretty close to reality (though not as close as Ottobre's).

Their instructions are a little terse, and their English is a bit stilted, but for anyone who has tried to wrap their head around Burda's English, MI is a breeze. And their pattern sheets are on bright white paper with nice, readable multi-colored lines. You'll only have eyestrain at the end, not an actual migraine.

Even though I love warm weather and summer clothes, I like cold weather sewing better. Cold weather sewing is about jackets and linings and weightier fabrics; it's about not taking shortcuts and making quick knit pieces to get me in and out of the workroom quickly.

There are a few pieces in My Image that I'm looking forward to trying - a jacket, a short coat and one (or more) of the dresses. And the slouchy drape necked top fills the space left by quick summer sewing: quick winter sewing.

What are you doing next Saturday?

2011-09-09T22:36:00.001-04:00

I'm going to be shopping with like-minded friends in New York's Garment District, and there's still space left if you'd like to join us.

The expedition was organized by Elizabeth, and I am shamelessly filching her schedule to post here:

9:45am Gather in front of Starbucks at 494 8th Ave (corner of 8th and 35th St). I will hand out maps of the garment district and we’ll split into 2 groups.

9:55am Each group will walk to either Metro Textiles (265 W 37th St, Ste 908, between 7th and 8th but closer to 8th) or Elliott Berman (225 W 35th St, #7, between 7th and 8th but closer to 7th).

10:00am Shopping to commence!

11:00am Start having your fabrics cut.

11:30am Leave for other store. If you started at Metro, go to Elliott Berman and vice versa.

12:00pm Shopping!

1:00pm Start having your fabrics cut.

1:30pm Finished at both stores.

At this point, you can use your maps to shop at other fabric or trim stores in the district, have lunch or just go home. I look forward to seeing you all there!

The trip was originally scheduled for the weekend of Hurricane Irene, and wisely canceled as NYC evacuated and the rest of us couldn't get in or out. Both Kashi at Metro and Elliott Berman are opening epecially for us, so it's important for enough of us to show up to make it worth their while or they might not do it again.

Come on, people, show up and support the Garment District, spend the day hanging out and talking sewing with people who understand you, and go home with a little fabric as a souvenir.

I don't know, it sounds good to me.

Autumn Watercolor

2011-09-09T00:02:00.001-04:00

Ottobre Design - Woman, Fall Winter, 5/2011 #15

Pattern Description: The simple, minimalist style of this dress is always trendy and interesting. Admittedly, they also require a little more attention from the sewer as they need to be carefully tried on and fitted. The body-hugging silhouette of the dress is produced both by the pattern design and by shaping it by pressing during construction. The waistline is raised slightly above the narroest part of the body. The skirt has contouring darts at the waist, and the slanted bust darts start at the side seams of the bodice.

Pattern Sizing: Ottobre sizes (similar to Burda) 34-48. As I was using a woven, I made a 40.

Did it look like the photo/drawing on the pattern envelope once you were done sewing with it? The shape was the same. Their dress is a nice, quiet, well-bred gray. Mine is not.

Were the instructions easy to follow? Ottobre's instructions are fabulous. You don't even notice the lack of illustrations, and anyone who has tackled even one Burda pattern would find these a breeze.

What did you particularly like or dislike about the pattern? I liked that it was basically a blank slate for any print that I decided to throw at it. Ottobre's patterns aren't always exciting at first glance, but upon further study they're actually very good starts to a lot of interesting garments. Another nice thing about Ottobre is that many of their pattern pieces can be swapped - the 4 dresses in this issue have interchangeable skirts, sleeves and collars; only the bodice is consistently the same, so if you get the bodice fit right, you have a lot of options to play with.

I also liked the neckline - nice and wide, a flattering look, without having to worry about the depth of a Burda neckline. Sometimes it's just nice to go to work and not worry about flashing too much cleavage at the wrong lawyer.

Fabric Used: Cotton voile purchased at PR Weekend Chicago at Fishman's Fabrics. I waffled about the purchase, but several PR members, including Sherril Miller, basically strong-armed me into it. (Thank you, ladies, you were right).

Pattern alterations or any design changes you made: No changes other than tweaking for fit. Ottobre patterns tend to fit me without a lot of manipulation, which can be a nice change of pace.

The dresses in this pattern series had some nice vintage touches, but the only one that is really structural is the dart at the back neck/shoulder which I think makes such a difference in fit. The inside facing is cut without the dart, and makes the neckline lay beautifully.

I had issues with lining the dress - not technical issues, but color. Because the cotton voile is somewhat sheer, my first choice of lining (black) made the print muddy. Brown wasn't much better. I scrounged through the lining stash until I came up with some ivory, which brightened the light parts of the print.

I did not line the sleeves. The sleeve is fitted, and I was afraid that it would be too snug if I lined it, so I turned the bodice lining under at the armhole and hand sewed it to the seam allowance. I also hand sewed the skirt and sleeve hems, and attached the lining to the invisible zip. Lots of hand-sewing on this dress, but the fabric was so lightweight that I knew any machine stitches would show, and not in a good way.

Despite my print being somewhat (!) busy, I decided to add some embellishment to the neckline. I purchased a jacket a few summers ago at a yard sale, specifically because it had these brown wooden beads sewn around the neckline and down the front. The jacket was white pique and filthy; I cut the beads off and have kept them all this time waiting for the right project. I thought that they suited the fabric, which despite its watercolor effect is not shy and retiring at all. The beads weren't too heavy, and they're hand-sewn down and tacked to the facing, which has a heavier interfacing than I would have normally used specifically to support the embellishment.

The embellishment doesn't go around to the back neckline because Lily the sewing room cat made off with 3 of the larger pieces. When they resurface on the sewing room floor, I'll add them. Or not; I don't actually miss them despite having made fun of RTW tops with embellishments that stop at the shoulders.

Would you sew it again? Would you recommend it to others? I would definitely recommend both this pattern and Ottobre generally. It's not an exciting looking magazine if you're used to a steady diet of Burda or Patrones, but it's full of good, basic, useful patterns that can be used in a variety of ways. Since I got the bodice fit the way I want, I'll definitely be using this pattern again.

Conclusion: I was told that this pattern had great potential to be dowdy, but I think fit and fabric can win out any time. I'm happy with my dress, and I think I'll get a lot of wear out of this one.

Do you Ottobre?

2011-09-07T21:26:00.001-04:00

I tend to forget, between twice-yearly issues, that I like Ottobre patterns.

Admittedly, they don't have the glossy lure of Burda or Patrones, the fashion magazine styling and photography, the on-trend clothes, but they do have something I like (when I remember).

Reality. Or at least a really close pattern magazine facsimile thereof.

Ottobre uses real women (I swear I think they scoop up their office workers and let them wear the clothes) and they're women of various sizes and shapes. I like that in addition to the description of the pattern, you get the model's name, her pattern size and height. In the Autumn/Winter 2011 issue, the "models" were between European sizes 36 and 42, and I've definitely seen women larger than that, and older, and shorter.

Instead of looking at a 7 foot tall, rail thin Burda "plus" model, and trying to figure what that dress would look like on me, it's kind of comforting to look at someone whose figure issues are similar to mine and know pretty much what it would look like.

The Fall/Winter issue had a series of 4 vintage styled dresses that caught my eye. It wasn't so much the "vintage"details, which weren't vintage enough if that's what I wanted; I liked that underneath those details seemed to be a very good, basic dress pattern.

And it was. And because it's Ottobre, the varying sleeves and skirts and collars for all 4 dresses are interchangeable, so you only have to do bodice-tweaking once.

So, yes, all this talk about Ottobre does mean that I've sewn something from this issue. I chose dress #15, the dress on the left in the upper photo. Probably the most basic shape in the bunch, and as I was advised by a dear friend who shall remain nameless (BECAUSE SHE WAS WRONG), a dress that had great potential to be frumpy.

Thankfully great fabric (and a lot of effort on fitting) can work wonders even with a potentially frumpy pattern. Full review hopefully tomorrow; I just wanted to check in because I've gone missing for the last week. Labor Day weekend is never a vacation weekend for me, it's the 3 days where I try to pack in all the projects I've neglected all summer, and possibly pre-summer.

Let's just say I was glad to get back to work to get some rest.

Fabric pictured above is, obviously, my new dress, and was purchased at Fishman's in Chicago during PR Weekend at the urging of Sherril Miller and several other PR friends who insisted that I didn't need to step otuside my color comfort zone - I should buy what I like, and what I know works for me.

If Burda gives you lemons

2011-08-29T00:06:00.000-04:00

make Sorbetto with them.

I wanted to deal with the remains of my BWOF 9/11 #132 dress before it became a crumpled silk UFO taunting me from the floor of my sewing room - or worse, a crumpled silk sleeping mat for Lily, no longer taunting me because it's full of cat hair.

What can make you feel almost as good as a successful sewing project? Taking scissors to an unsuccessful one.

I cut off that unfortunate upper portion and threw it out. That left the lower section, and once cut along the side seams, I had a very large piece of fabric for the front, and a reasonbly-sized piece for the back.

What to do with those pieces? I looked through a few patterns, but most of the ones that appealed wouldn't work with the fabric (either the size or the print), so I reached for the Colette Sorbetto pieces which were still on the table from the other week.

I guess there's a point to being a slob.

When I made this pattern a week or so ago, I thought it was a quick, easy, cute top, and now I can add one more positive to this list:

It's a quick, easy, cute top that saves me from having to look at this failure of a dress crumpled on the sewing room floor.

Take that, Burda. It may not be the dress - or even a dress - but it's a wearable, finished garment and I can now put the Burda dress behind me.

Hurricane update: I really thought with the weather we were going to have this weekend, I'd get a ton of sewing done. Not so; I got about as much sewing done as we got hurricane weather. (I'm glad about the weather - this is one of the times when I was happy the weathermen were wrong - but sad about the sewing).

Philly got about 6" of rain, which is less than we got two weeks ago. The winds were rough but nothing the house couldn't handle, and for the first time in many, many years, we took on no water. It's comforting, knowing that the house is finally just about watertight.

For anyone who's curious, the chickens made it through the storm just fine - it was, after all, less water than they've had several times since moving into the back yard. In what turned out to be an excess of caution, we took a fashionable blue tarp, some bungee cords and a few bricks, and made sure that the girls were as close to protected as we could manage. All that did was keep them relatively dark all day yesterday, and so they laid no eggs, but at least they were dry.

Tomorrow is a vacation day for me, though I'm not sure now what we're going to do with it. Originally it was supposed to be a shore day but I think the shore's still closed, and even if it's not, most of the roads between here and there probably are. So maybe it'll just be a vacation at home day, sleeping late, cleaning up some debris outside, . . . getting a little bit of sewing done?

Hope you all made it through the storm unscathed, and got more sewing done than I did.

Not for the faint of heart

2011-08-27T00:23:00.002-04:00

Or, apparently, for the big of boob.

I'm not going to call BWOF 9/11 #132 a wadder, and it really isn't the silk twill potato sack I feared it would be, but I think that I'm going to cut my losses before it becomes either, and reserve what's left of this beautiful fabric for some other project.

The back of the dress doesn't look too bad, and the front doesn't either, but I made one mistake that I've made before - I love dresses with that nice straight line above the bust, and I have too much bust beneath that nice straight line for it to look, well, . . . nice.

The drape looked good on the dress form. It doesn't look bad flat on the table, either.

But on me, not so much. The drape just wouldn't drape properly - it centered itself over one boob and stubbornly refused to drape the way it did on the form.

Anybody ever see that Julie Andrews movie called Thoroughly Modern Millie? This dress reminds me of the scene early in the movie when her strand of pearls kept locating itself over one or the other, until she finally went out and got the 1920s version of shapewear and flattened herself out.

Flattening would work, but it's not happening, and I don't think generic shapewear woudl be enough. Certainly my most minimal bra made almost no difference at all. Shapewear and I aren't particularly good friends, and this isn't the dress to push me over the edge into wearing it.

Despite having absolutely the worst Burda instructions I've ever encountered, they were right about one thing - this is definitely a dress that would look better on a taller woman. A taller, thinner woman. A taller, thinner woman with smaller boobs.

I couldn't bear to get Mario involved in taking photos of this dress. He thinks I walk on water, or at least sew that way. Some projects don't need witnesses.

On the plus side, I got the spring and fall Ottobre magazines today. Their patterns never do much for me in the magazine, but I always tend to really like them made up. Off to trace something practical and keep myself occupied while the hurricane attempts to wash away my chickens.

Some Progress

2011-08-22T23:15:00.000-04:00

I'm still wrestling with this dress (which is BWOF 9/11 #132, since I forgot to properly identify it last time around), and I think we've reached some kind of agreement.

What you see in these photos is the upper bodices sewn together at the shoulders (self-lined on the upper bodice), piping basted to the seam, and the lower front folded and pinned to the piped seam.

There's a bit of sag at the fold, but I think this is mostly caused by (a) the weight of the fabric; (b) the fact that there's no back on the dress yet to balance out the weight; and (c) the upper bodice linings aren't pinned or stitched to the lower part of the dress yet. I think once everything is together the way it should be, I'll have a straight line across the front.

I tried several different ways to get the drape the way it was in the magazine. You can see here that you can fiddle with it and get several different looks. I'm not sure if you're supposed to be able to do that, and I'm not sure what (if?) I've done wrong that is giving me about an extra inch of fabric around the lower armholes, but I think if everything is draped properly and looks like a dress when it's hanging on the form, I'm just going to work with it as it is and see what happens.

It's looking much less like a potato sack than I thought, or at least it's a rather elegant potato sack. I love the fabric.
I'm questioning now whether or not I want the piping on that seam or not. It's nowhere near as obvious in real life as it is in the photos, where it looks like I drew across the bodice with a black Sharpie. The black in the fabric rises up to join it and it makes sense; on the other hand, I wasn't thinking how the weird shape of the lower front piece would play with the grain/pattern of the fabric and I'm not sure I want that interrupted by a line, however straight (or not straight) it may be.

I also may not want that black line there just in case I can't get everything to balance exactly. Hmm. Another reason to possibly unbaste. I'll think on it; I'm probably not going to get any sewing done tomorrow night anyway.

In a dark wood wandering

2011-08-21T23:59:00.001-04:00

Burda has done it again - delivered the English translation of their magazine with instructions that might as well be written in the original German, that is.

Or possibly not - I could probably feed the German instructions into the Google machine and get back something resembling instructions to make this dress.

Why do I want to make this dress? That's another thing entirely, and I'm not completely sure why, but when the September issue arrived yesterday, that was what jumped out at me. I hated the photo - the model was so contorted you couldn't tell what the dress was supposed to look like - but I found the line drawing intriguing, and when I looked up the online photo, I decided to go for it.

And then of course I see that it's a TALL pattern, and last time I checked, I'm still not tall.

I decide I still find the pattern intriguing, though there's a chance it will make me look like a bag of potatoes. Maybe that's why I find it intriguing? Because most of the time I can't just head straight for a flattering pattern; I have to wrestle with something first to make it work?

I trace it off, noting that the front pattern piece is so ginormous (to account for the drape) that it's wider than my fabric. Thankfully I've chosen a non-directional print (a silk twill from Paron's) so I laid out the pieces the wrong way and still had enough left to cut the front and back upper bodices, armhole facings and hem facings.

How did Burda go wrong this time? Let me count the ways. First off, the diagram where they tell you which pieces to trace - it specifically states to trace pieces 1 through 7. Which I do. And fold the page up and put it away, not noticing until later that the list of pattern pieces in the written instructions also includes piece 8, the back hem facing. This is when I start muttering under my breath, partly because I should have realized that there were 2 facings.

The swearing starts when I have all the pieces assembled (minus the missing facing) and I realize that the instructions begin with the drape. There's no mention anywhere about the upper bodice. Ever. It's beside the point that I don't need them. They're instructions - instruct, preferably from the beginning. Someone will thank you, and not write cranky blog posts about your inadequacies.

Then I read the instructions for the drape. Twice. Three times. That they are awful is an understatement. Riddle me this one: "For the draped fold on the front, fold the front along marked fold line, right side facing in. Stitch along the upper edge from the fold edge to the seam mark (seam number 1), then stitch upward to edge of seam allowance at the seam mark." Still with me? "Here, clip allowance diagonally into the stitched corner. Pull the draped fold out and push the pointed upper corner to the inside, approx. 8" wide."

From there, they deal with the back. "Gather the upper edge of the back between the asterisks to 9 1/2 ins." (They neglect to mention that pesky back upper bodice that you're supposed to connect it to. Details, details.

After that, they cover side seams, the zip and some sketchy description of the armhole facings. If I didn't know what I was doing, I'd be so stinking lost.

I finally figured out my mistake - the "marked fold line" is an almost invisible straight line next to the diagonal line where the 2 pieces of the front pattern piece are taped together, and it's noted on the pattern sheet with large words in Russian and German, and a discreet "fold" written below, so I missed it. I'm still confused, but it's becoming clearer.

More later, when I finally get the drape draped. And then decide I look like I'm wearing a silk twill potato sack.

More than a UFO

2011-08-16T23:32:00.001-04:00

UFOs are Unfinished Objects. What do you call an object that's never been started, only obsessively planned and talked about and delayed and procrastinated and ignored . . . and reminded?

Whatever we want to call it, I've got one.

Way back when Mario and I first started seeing each other (friend stage; not even dating yet, though I had plans) he asked how hard it was to make a jacket. I said that it would depend on the jacket, plus I hadn't started sewing for men at that point. Why?

It seems he's always had a yen for a particular jacket. Anybody remember the jackets Jimi Hendrix wore, the funky, velvet, Sergeant Pepper bandleader type jackets? Pseudo-military with too much gold braid? Frock coat on acid?

That's what he wanted.

I thought, "No way, dude. We're not even dating."

Fast forward 5+ years.

What's my excuse now? He still talks about it. There's a TV commercial with a quick flash of Hendrix wearing one of those jackets and he points it out. And he's not normally like that.

I ask if he'd really wear the thing if I made it. "Absolutely!" he says. "I'd probably never take it off."

I'm not sure how that would fly at work, but whatever floats your boat. I guess I really need to start thinking about how I want to make this jacket. I have a few mens patterns around, but nothing that's going to come close to. Time to look at the historical patterns and see what I can morph into something resembling what he wants.

He looks so quiet. Here I am all this time trying to liven up his wardrobe with print shirts when what he really, really wants is a frock coat on acid.

Go figure.

Chicken Update

2011-08-14T12:39:00.002-04:00

Update to the update - the girls are earning their keep:

Something to do on a rainy day.

Thanks for all your comments on my new venture. I'm glad I could provide so many with so much amusement - including me. I was laughing like a fool the entire time, so I can see how anyone else would find it funny. Let's just say I never expected the first time I touched a chicken would be by tackling it in a thrift store.

A few of your comments need/deserve responses:

Elaray: I'm going to ask stupid questions: Don't you also need a rooster? Does having no rooster mean you get eggs, but no chicks? Don't you work in education? There are no stupid questions. I don't need a rooster (and probably wouldn't have gotten the go-ahead from my neighbors if I wanted one).

Chickens operate basically the same way we do; they have eggs, but they only turn in to chicks if they're fertilized by Mr. Rooster. Otherwise, they're just eggs. Much tidier and more useful than us, actually.

Marysews: Good story! Where did you get your coop? We are in the planning stages to have hens next year. We live in a residential area where we are not allowed to have livestock, but we can have a pet that just happens to have feathers and give eggs - two, if the neighbors don't complain! I got the coop from Hayneedle. It was a little pricier than I wanted - I actually had wanted to build my own - but short notice means less choice, and they had free Fedex ground shipping. I saw the same coop on several other sites for the same price, PLUS shipping. It wasn't difficult at all to build - it took the 2 of us about a half hour, and that's using screwdrivers because of course we couldn't find the philips head bit for the drill.

Lisette: By the way what happens in the winter time? Do you have to get a heater for the coop? Some people do. Chickens actually don't do too badly in cold weather - they're more at risk in the extreme heat we've had - but if it gets below zero and stays that way for a while, it's hard on them, plus their water freezes up. I'm going to re-use something we used to use for the stray cats on the porch. I forget what they're called, but they're these plastic things that look like the ones you put in the freezer, except these can be microwaved and stay warm for 6 hours or so. A deep bed of straw and a couple of these should keep them warm enough, and I can always tarp off some of the screening if it's really blowing.

The girls seem to have settled in, but it's hard for me to tell. After way too much dry, now it's absolutely pissing down rain out there. I've gone out a couple times just to make sure they're not standing in mud and they seem okay, if a little offended by the dampness. I gave them a handful of lettuce and a few cherry tomatoes that were knocked down by the rain, and that cheered them right up.

And since it's raining, I'm sewing. I guess that's one positive - the next thing you read will be a post about sewing, for a change.

Chickens Coming Home to Roost

2011-08-13T23:00:00.001-04:00

Literally.

I've wanted chickens for a while, but we didn't think it was time. I did a lot of re-landscaping in the back yard this year, the point of which was to make room for next year's eventual chicken coop.

Then serendipity got in the way. A week ago, we went to a party at a friend's house. I got to talking to a friend of hers who keeps chickens. It made me think again.

The next day, a message came through on our neighborhood listserv about a local CSA farm that was getting out of the egg business due to severe raccoon problems (they are still in the city but more suburban than my area). They had 14 chickens who were looking for new homes.

I emailed Mario at work and told him. Wonderful man, his only question was, "Are we ready?"

Is anybody ever ready when change comes along? I figure things happen for a reason, and when they do, you roll with it. I emailed back, and asked for 3. Within a matter of hours, they only had 2 chickens left - in a city that doesn't allow backyard chickens. When I stop finding dime bags in my front yard, I'll start worrying about who's keeping illegal poultry.

Two days later, a chicken coop was on its way, and on Thursday, we got it built and installed in the back yard (in a completely different but much more practical area than I had originally planned). On Friday, we raccoon-proofed it - hardware cloth stapled to the entire floor of the run, then covered with dirt and bedding, and spring hooks on the doors.

We were as ready as we could be.

This morning, we picked up the girls. They were bundled up in a big cardboard box, taped shut. We drove them home, and I carried the box up the alley to the back yard while Mario parked. I untaped the box, put it down in front of the open coop door, and shook the box. The smaller chicken (the one in the front of the picture) walked into the coop.

The second chicken, bigger and darker, flew straight up in the air, landed somewhere behind me, did 2 high-stepping laps around the yard, tearing off mouthfuls of leaves from every passing plant, rose up again and flew over a 4 foot chain link fence, ran down the alley next door, out through their locked gate and out of sight. In a matter of seconds.

During this time I ran and swore and dove at the bird, but she was too fast. I ran down the alley after her, only to find that Mario locked the gate because he would, obviously, be coming in the front door. Thankfully he got back just then, saw me and unlocked the gate. I run past him, see an older man standing outside the karate studio down the street. "Have you seen my chicken?" Completely unfazed, he points left. "He went that way, ma'am."

We track the chicken by the people standing on the sidewalk, either puzzled or laughing. We track the chicken through the double doors into the thrift store where I do a lot of my shopping. We eventually track the chicken into a corner behind a rack of hangers. With an authority I didn't really feel, I got hold of the chicken and called for a box. Mario found one, and for good measure, we put the box in a trash bag and carted her off home.

This time, she went into the coop. A little huffy about it, if you ask me, but she went in.

They're a little stressed right now, between multiple raccoon attacks at their old home that killed over 2 dozen chickens, then being moved to a temporary home, then moving again today. (Plus that little unplanned adventure). But they're eating, they're drinking, and eventually, they'll be calm enough to lay us nice pale blue eggs.

I noted when I was hunting the chicken that it was half price day at the thrift store. I went back a little later and spent some money, just to make up for the fuss we'd caused.

New (Old) Patterns

2011-08-10T21:30:00.000-04:00

I mentioned in my previous post that we went flea marketing last weekend and I found a few vintage patterns.

These were found in a little store in Lambertville, NJ, which had a heavy inventory of vintage clothes, jewelry, knicknacks, toys, magazines, and the kind of stuff that can keep you occupied for hours. The patterns (there were probably about 25) were stuffed, standing up, in an old jewelry box. Mario pointed them out to me and disappeared off into some back room to look at comic books.

I settled down in a corner and spread them out. Most were gorgeous - there were a few of those cute romper-with-skirt combos, bathing suits, loads of dresses, a few pairs of pants. I'm a sucker for a vintage dress, though, and that's where I focused my attention.

They had two Hollywood Patterns, the Evelyn Keyes 1041 pictured here, and a Betty Grable which I couldn't afford (the random pricing didn't make much sense except for that one). Despite wanting the Grable because of the photo and the great pattern drawing, I ended up with Evelyn, Scarlett O'Hara's little sister, because it was overall a better pattern.

Here's the description: Fitted jacket-blouse with or without square collar. Shoulder yokes in one with center front and back sections. Bracelet length or shortsleeves. Slim six-gored skirt.

A little girlish in the drawings, perhaps, but I think it has a lot of possibilities - look at those interesting curved shoulder seams. They're hidden under the collar on the center figure, buried in floral print on the left, and ruined with ruffles on the right, but the style line in and of itself is interesting. Best of all, it's a 38" bust, 41" hip. No grading up, hallelujah! (Though can you believe that I'm a size 20 in this vintage pattern?)

The second pattern is McCall 8040, another dress. There's nothing tremendously special about this one (other than the 40" bust measurement; I might have to grade down) but I liked the plaid version with the collar on the bias. And I just plain like the shape of the collar which, by the way, is cut on, not a separate piece. And they give pattern pieces for the shoulder pads.

I love old patterns.

The third and final pattern, Simplicity 2780, is my favorite, because I know I'll get a ton of wear out of it. I may be a sucker for vintage dress patterns, but jacket patterns of any era always pique my interest.

The pattern description: Misses bolero. The bolero is fitted with darts and the lining is optional. Style 1 features a shawl collar cut in one with the front. The lower edge is curved, and the long sleeves are trimmed with cuffs. A Peter Pan collar edges the high neckline in Style 2, and the lining is in contrast. The sleeves in Style 3 are three-quarter length.

I think that's a lot of jacket for one pattern. And for a seemingly simple pattern, ther are - count 'em - 10 darts. Back darts, bust darts, back shoulder darts (I LOVE those) and 2 darts in each sleeve. I can't wait to make this one.

Simplicity called this a bolero, but I always think of boleros as really cropped. According to the measurements on the back of the envelope, the length from back of neck to bottom of jacket for my size is 16 1/4". Longer than what I think of as a bolero, but also way more useful than those cropped jackets that are absolutely adorable but don't work with the clothes I want to wear under them.

Where was this jacket in January? It would have saved me three muslins for the wedding jacket.
These patterns were all in the lower price level ($7 each), which I thought was a little high, but I convinced the seller to let me open the envelopes to confirm that the instructions and all pieces were there, and they were. The envelopes have had a little wear and tear, but the pattern tissue is still intact and the instructions, if a little brown and crispy around the edges, are there as well. Can't wait to dive in and read them; I always learn someting new from vintage instructions.

Not bad for a day otherwise spent enjoyably wandering 2 flea markets, looking over everyone's old goodies, getting a nice sunburn,and then having lunch outdoors under a tree that made the sunburn worthwhile.

Instant Gratification Sewing

2011-08-09T21:25:00.000-04:00

Or, I still haven't worked on Mario's shorts.

I had very little time to sew this weekend, and I wanted to make something for me, me, me. I chose a quick project, because I knew otherwise I was at risk of creating a UFO.

But I chose a good fabric, because I wanted to make it worthwhile.

I know I'm late jumping on yet another popular pattern bandwagon, but better late than never, right?

Here's my version of the Colette Sorbetto top, in Liberty paisley in a variety of blues and greens, neck and armholes bound with blue seam binding. The fit on the top isn't perfect, but it's good for a first shot. Next time, I'll change the dart - it's a little long for my personal configuration; also a little high. I like Colette patterns because they're drafted for curves, but I think their draft might still be for younger, higher curves than I have. But that's an easy enough fix, and I'm even going to tweak the one I wore today and shorten the dart so that it ends in a better place. Other than that, the fit was good - I added a little to the length, because I always do, but no morechanges except to add buttons down the front pleat, for extra interest. They don't really show well on the paisley, but I know they're there.

That's my weekend sewing for you. We did go flea marketing on Saturday and I scored a couple of really cute vintage patterns I'll share soon - the joy of finding vintage patterns with a 38" bust. Talk about fit for real people!

Lemonade Stand

2011-08-04T23:54:00.000-04:00

Not a lot going on in the sewing room - Mario's shorts are all cut out, and while I'm interested to see how my pattern alterations turn out, I've been distracted.

It rained yesterday - all night and into this morning. A nice, slow, steady rain, instead of these slash-and-burn thunderstorms we've been getting. I sat on my back step this morning and smelled things growing, which beats trying not to brush up against a tomato for fear that the brown and brittle leaves will crumble.

Tonight there were peppers when this morning there were none. This nature thing is really something to reckon with.

A good part of tonight was spent in the kitchen. I went to Reading Terminal today, which for the non-Philadelphians is a huge indoor food market, with prepared foods, restaurants, butchers, fishmongers, and several fruit and vegetable markets. There's also the Fair Food Farmstand, which is where I get all the local and organic I don't grow myself. But today, one of the other markets had a special on cherries. I happen to have a major weakness for cherries, and their season is so short. These were a good price, so I bought . . . 5 pounds.

After pitting 5 pounds of cherries, my fingers are too stained to deal with fabric. 2 pounds were halved and frozen, quite a few were consumed while standing in the kitchen, about a half pound are going into a batch of cherry vanilla ice cream, and the rest are going into my new food dehydrator this weekend as an experiment. I love experiments. Especially when they yield food.

One last thing before I go: I'd like to thank my packratty family, who left me with such an abundance of shiny stuff that I will never, ever be able to wear it all, and whose bounty, offered on Etsy, has retroactively paid off a nice chunk of my porch bill. Shop on, people, shop on.

I think what makes me happiest about the Etsy sales is that when I first got the bad news about the repairs, I had a small meltdown and was upset at the house for being an ungrateful pile of bricks (actually, still a little pissed at the house). Then, after I calmed down, I realized that I had at least some of the means to make this less of a burden, and all I needed was to get off my duff and take care of myself.

That's my pollyanna thought for the day, folks. When life gives you lemons, squeeze 'em. Someone's bound to be thirsty and want to buy your lemonade.

Month End Review - July 2011

2011-08-02T22:36:00.000-04:00

July was a productive month for me, probably because it was hotter than hell and my workroom is air conditioned. It makes a difference.

The totals for July are 10 items and 15.5 yards. Most of the numbers are taken up with t-shirt fest 2011, which was 5 for me and one for Mario, because he said he felt left out. His is a solid army green, and is in the laundry already, so no photo.

The rest of the month's sewing consisted of dresses: the brown embroidered dress; the yellow border print; and two versions of V1250.

Starting a special project for Mario tonight that will be revealed when he sees it. Not likely he checks in here, but just in case, I'll keep it to myself for a while longer. Let's just say it's one of the most frightening fabrics I've ever seen, and he'll love it - because of that fact.

Also on the list, and also for him, is another pair of cargo shorts. I'm not deliberately sewing for him rather than me; I think I may be getting over summer sewing but a new project hasn't announced itself yet, so I might as well be a nice wife, right?

I've spent some quality time with that shorts pattern I test drove recently, measuring it against all of his favorite shorts. The Simplicity pattern was drafted for a MUCH taller man, which means I removed 3.5" from the length of the leg. This meant I couldn't attach the pockets where I wanted, but that's okay because I've moved the upper pocket to an inside pocket instead of an applied one, so now they'll look (hopefully) much more RTW.

Not that he'll care - he just wants them not to fall down and to be able to put all his junk in the pockets. Style? That's just a plus.

Better now

2011-07-29T23:07:00.000-04:00

I'm somewhat recovered from my house-induced snit, but in the interests of full disclosure of why I was in said snit, the photos here should show the high (and low) lights.

1. Existing 100+ year old ceiling, with 2 big plywood patches over holes that were in the ceiling when I bought the house. When it was only a 90+ year old roof. Not visible in that photo: the single hanging CFL bulb in lieu of a light fixture. Snazzy.

2. Existing 100+ year old ceiling with plywood patches torn off, exposing very large hole cut in porch roof (apparently there was a skylight up there at one point; the logic of that escapes me), patched with another sheet of plywood, and the cut off rafters and joist patched with stick-like pieces of pine.

Contractor says this is bad, very bad. I don't need to take his word for it. I know it's bad, very bad.

3. Existing 100+ year old ceiling with plywood patches and inadequate fixes torn out, new rafters and joist installed, extra strips nailed on to attach the new tongue-and-groove ceiling.

It was sufficiently bad that it cost an extra $800 in lumber and labor - 5 rafters, a new center joist, a full extra day of labor and my roof is now 4 inches higher because they jacked it up to where it should have been. Amazingly, when I look out my bedroom window now, there is no pool of standing water on the roof.

At least I know it worked.

4. My finished porch. Is it weird now that when I look at that long, smooth expanse of primed ceiling, I feel a sense of . . . anti-climax? Before it was so horrible, and then it got worse. Now, it's repaired and white and flat. And kind of bland. Paint will happen, probably next year. After I can afford to fix the floor, which is in as bad a shape as the ceiling, especially after they put a leg of one of their ladders through it.

I don't begrudge the money to my contractor. He's an annoying, abrasive, opinionated man who does meticulous work and only does it in what he considers the proper way. If I had vetoed installing those new rafters, he would have refunded the appropriate amount of my money and taken his tools and gone home; he wouldn't have done it half-assed. I do appreciate that, but my savings account has the vapors.

Can you wave smelling salts the nose of a bank account?

On the Etsy front, I'm not going to keep posting goodies here, I'll post them there, where they belong. Just one final shot: the pirate's chest of rhinestone goodness that is the combined booty of the mom, great-grandmom, 2 great-aunts and a not-so-great aunt. That's a lot of sparkle for women who never went out much.

Not much sewing this week, but it's going to be hot again this weekend, so you know where I'll be. More later.

Home Repairs = New Items on Etsy

2011-07-28T00:18:00.000-04:00

How do you have a conversation with your house that starts, "After all I've done for you, this is what you do? Really?"

You can't. You just look your contractor in the eye, swallow hard and write that check. And then cry.

And then have a glass of wine, get yourself together and finally dump out that huge box(es) of vintage jewelry that you've been intending to sort through, photograph and list on Etsy so that (maybe) you can eventually PAY back the money you've just handed to said freaking contractor to keep your freaking porch roof from freaking caving in.

I'm better now.

No, I'm not. I'm pissed at my house, but I found a lot of pretty things that I didn't remember scoring from the aunties, and some of them I'm intending to keep. I can't turn all the vintage goodness out to find new homes.

If you're interested, the link to my Etsy shop is here. If you're not, no biggie. Enjoy the pretties and come back later for more sewing (and possibly a little more grousing about my house; I'm far from over it).

Making Space

2011-07-25T22:55:00.000-04:00

You'd think with an entire designated sewing room, I'd have enough room for everything. Not so. The fabric shelves (wovens) are full. The cedar closet (home dec, mostly) is full. The fabric shelves (knits) are full. The boxe(s) under the table are full of clothes to be cut up. The woven remnant bin (hamper) is full. The knit remnant drawers are overflowing, which means I have no place to put interfacing, lining and all the other random bits of usefulness that will get lost in the room if they're not in their properly labeled drawers.

Do I need 2 drawers of knit remnants? It's not like I'm ever going to find a use for the small bits. I don't quilt but I save random pieces of woven fabric, just in case I ever start. What's my excuse for 3x3 INCH scraps of knit?

There is no excuse. And they're gone now.

As are a lot of the larger remnants. Since it was in the high 90s (or higher) on Friday, Saturday AND Sunday, I didn't want to be anywhere but the air-conditioned sewing room. Problem: the heat leached all creativity from my brain and I had no clue what I wanted to sew. I just wanted to make something to justify my existence in the room. So I pulled out all my knit remnants and checked to see how many of them were big enough for me to cut out my standard KS 3338 tshirt pattern which I can do even with a sunburned brain.

Turns out there were 5 shirts worth of remnants, and those are just the ones that could be sewn with black thread, which was what happened to be in both the machine and the coverstitch.

This group of shirts looks like a brief history of my sewing over last several years: the green and black graphic print is left over from the BWOF drape-front dress; the black and multi "stained glass" print left over from another BWOF dress; both V1250s had a yard left over; and the turquoise and black floral was a remnant from a sundress a few summers ago. That piece actually had a small rotary cutter nick in it which I didn't notice until I'd cut out the back; I solved that problem by cutting an oval in the shirt back and binding it like the neckline. It's a nice change and very breezy in our current horrible heat & humidity.

A few of these shirts might get passed along to my friend Dianne, who is my size but taller, which is okay since I tend to make my shirts long. I don't even care about wearing them; this was production sewing, sewing to sew, sewing to keep cool. Getting something out of it was just a plus, and now I have some drawer space to stash my interfacing so I know where it is when I'm back to sewing clothes that require it. (It's too hot to think about structured clothes - the August Burda came this weekend and while I think I liked a lot of things in it, it was too hot to think about anything other than stretchy, absorbent fabrics).

I'm embarrassed to say that if change over to white thread, I could have a few more shirts. Summer's not over yet, so I might just do that. It takes me no time to cut and sew this pattern, and in weather like this, frequent changes of top have become necessary.

Ever have one of those days?

2011-07-24T11:33:00.000-04:00

I had a nice, relaxing Sunday planned. Mario got up early to go see his family, and I was going to sleep in, with the air conditioner (it's still 90+ in the a.m.), hang out with the cats, take myself to breakfast, and maybe get a little sewing done.

He left at 9:00 a.m., and I rolled over. Not 5 minutes later, a high-pitched beep shatters the quiet. Followed by another one. Smoke detector battery? Which one? I get up, stand in the hall. Not the one by my bedroom. I go upstairs. Not there. Downstairs and to the hall by the kitchen. I take the smoke detector down - and the carbon monoxide detector next to it goes off. Beep!

By the time I've found the instruction manual, it's beeped another half dozen times, freaking out all the cats and not doing much for me, either. Turns out obnoxious beeping every 30 seconds isn't imminent death from CO poisoning, it's just . . . low battery. Of course I have no spare batteries, because those were only 2 months old.

Back to bed. Except by then the cats are all awake and demanding food and water and litter changes, so I do that, then go back upstairs. Decide to stop in the bathroom, where the toilet begins to run - before I've gotten anywhere near it. Just like the downstairs one yesterday.

A few minutes later, I hear another sound. An alarm, but not smoke or carbon monoxide. I get up. I listen. It's upstairs. I go up and it's coming from my housemate's apartment. I bang on her door a couple of times. Nothing. I let myself in, and track the alarm back to her bedroom. Her alarm clock is on the bedside table, going off full blast, and she's sleeping the sleep of the innocent, right next to it. Her cat is freaking out. I shut off the alarm and poke her to make sure she's still breathing. Yep. I've known her for 20+ years and I always thought you could march a brass band past her bed and not wake her up. I think this proves me right.

I give up on sleep. I look out the window and inspect my yellow, thirsty plants. Watering them isn't giving them what they need; they need rain, and so do I. Anything to cool it down. I didn't know what 103 felt like, and now that I do, I see no need to feel it again.

It's not even 11:30. I could still sew. But the way things are going so far today, I'm afraid the machine might blow up.

Anybody know how to un-jinx my Sunday?

It's contagious

2011-07-21T22:54:00.001-04:00

Borderprintedness, that is. Carolyn's got a really bad case of it . . . but she's also got more of the cure on her shelves than I do.

I'm down to one remaining border print now, because this weekend I used up the second of the three I recently purchased from Gorgeous Fabrics.

I tend not to wear yellow as it's a pretty unflattering color on me, but when I saw this yellow, gold and orange floral border print, I couldn't resist. It reminded me (in a good way) of printed vintage sheets, but without the allover design. I knew it was meant to be a dress, and I knew the border had to be at the bottom, even though I do like some of the print-at-the-top dressess I've seen. No yellow flowers near the face, please.

This wasn't made from any particular pattern - the bodice was copied from an old blouse that I took apart years ago and tinkered with until I liked the fit. Looking at the photos now, I think I need to do an FBA on this TNT, because things aren't where I left them when I drafted that pattern! Close enough, with the right bra, but a little bit of fiberfill might cause an incident.

The skirt was just the entire 2 yard width of the fabric, cut with 2" to spare for hem and waist seam allowance. I marked the center back, fronts and side seams, pinned those points, and gathered in between. The bodice was underlined with white batiste because this fabric was much more sheer than I thought when I originally cut it out. The skirt was lined with white lining fabric (because I'm starting to run low on batiste). Because the bodice was underlined, I bound the armholes for a neater finish.

The collar used the last fragments of the border that floated toward the top of the print. I know, I said no yellow near the face, but it was just random petals at that point.

They're not too visible in the photos here, but partway through the day my new ice-blue Fluevog shoes arrived in the mail and I ditched my brown shoes in favor of them. (These were the shoes I wanted for the wedding, so they're only 6 months late, but they were also half price and they weren't in January. I'm a shoe whore, but I'm a frugal one). The shoes will have proper photos taken soon. They're so pretty, they deserve their own post.

Never too hot to sew

2011-07-18T15:00:00.002-04:00

It was a hot Sunday afternoon. Too hot to work in the garden; too hot to do laundry. Too hot to do anything . . . except sew.

Due to the forecast of temps in the low 100s this week, we did finally put the AC in the bedroom window today, but we'll hold off using it until it's unbearable to sleep.

Turns out I can sleep better in heat than I can sew. The back of the house faces west, and it doesn't matter how I try to cover the windows, the afternoon sun beats in and turns the workroom into a sauna. It's difficult to sew when you break into a full body sweat just by turning on the machine.

So I turned on the AC instead, and got to work. In the interests of the electric bill, and keeping it low, I made another version of V1250, both to work out a few kinks and because I only needed 90 minutes of cooling to do it. And 90 minutes was taking my time. Knowing where I was going this time made it go even faster.

I like the second version much better. The knit is similar, but has a slightly better drape, and that matters a lot - for the sake of the drape. Looking back at my last version, the side view shows the drape looking a little like it's hanging off a cliff. Okay, I've got some boobage, but it made them look a little square and bulky. This fabric curves and drapes off them and I LOVE the print.

The fabric is a Marc Jacobs remnant that I picked up at Jomar a few months back. It was the first fabric I thought of when I decided to give in to the peer pressure and make this pattern, but I wasn't sure of the fit and I didn't want to use a fabric with a lighter color just in case it made me look thicker. Turns out, the combination of the watercolor plaid and the strong vertical, plus the better drape, made a much better version of the dress.

If I'd made this one first, I might not have bothered with a second one. Photos of it on me at some point this week. Today was just too sticky for photography.

Bits and pieces

2011-07-17T11:49:00.001-04:00

First off, the winner of the Sewing in a Straight Line book is Pretty Kitty. Lily picked her name out of a bowl - literally, I put all the entry names on pieces of paper in a bowl and put a layer of her favorite treats underneath; Pretty Kitty was the first piece dragged out in search of treats. The things that happen when you don't have your camera charged!

And second, Lakaribane asked for a closeup or a link to the shoes I was wearing in the V1250 photos. Despite how often I cruise the Fluevog website, I am embarrased to admit that those sandals were from Payless.

Vogue 1250 - Pattern Review

2011-07-16T14:52:00.000-04:00

Pattern Description: Close-fitting, draped neck dress.

Pattern Sizing: 6-20. I made size 12 and it was spot on. I don't sew that many Big 4 patterns anymore, so I was a little nervous and because of the oddly shaped pattern pieces, there's really not a lot of wiggle room to take it in or out.

Did it look like the photo/drawing on the pattern envelope once you were done sewing with it? Yes.

Were the instructions easy to follow? Extremely. When I got the envelope I thought something was missing - one little sheet of pattern paper and the instructions don't even take up both sides of the page!

What did you particularly like or dislike about the pattern? It's 3 pieces (including a band for the back of the neck), it takes minimal fabric and even less time. This is definitely a "whip it up this afternoon to wear tonight" kind of pattern.

Fabric Used: Stretch knit from Metro Textiles. I say it looks like olives - the dark and light green, and the (honestly) dark purply color. In my office under the fluorescent lights, it deadened down to charcoal gray - still pretty, but no olives.

Pattern alterations or any design changes you made: None, other than shortening it a bit so that it came right above the knee.

Would you sew it again? Would you recommend it to others? I think I'm the 26th review, so I'm not sure this pattern needs any more recommendations, but yes, I'd sew it again. Definitely.

Conclusion: I wasn't planning to make this dress. It's kind of like Harry Potter - when the entire world started reading the books, I decided that I didn't want to. I didn't want to read what everyone else was reading. If all those people were reading it, it probably wasn't that good. Right. That lasted until Book 3, and now I have tickets tonight for the 2nd night of the final movie.

Same deal here. This pattern came out, I thought it was cute, and then EVERYONE started making it, and I decided I didn't want to. It couldn't be THAT good of a pattern, even though it looked good on every body type, didn't take much fabric or time. It couldn't be that good.

Right. And here I am, planning my second version. Sometimes I'm contrary just to be that way, and it ends up biting me in the butt. Glad I got on the V1250 bandwagon before it left without me.

Sewing in a Straight Line

2011-07-13T21:30:00.001-04:00

I recently came into possession of a copy of Sewing in a Straight Line, by Brett Bara. While I'll say right off the bat that there's not a lot of new information in this book for me (possibly because I already have the Leaning Tower of Sewing Books?), I think it's a great book for beginners or near-beginners, particularly the fearless types that seem to be around these days!

You really don't need fancy techniques to stitch awesome things. If you can sew a straight seam, you can make a world of projects, and this book will take you step-by-step through everything you'll need to know to get the job done.

The book is divided into 4 sections: Getting Started (which include basic tools and supplies, hand sewing, machine sewing, basic techniques and fabric basics); Straight-Up Chic Fashion, which features skirts, a blouse, a shirred maxi, a cardigan, and more; Cozy, Crafty Home - curtains, zippered throw pillows, shams, duvet covers, a quilted throw and a (deliberately) wonky patchwork quilt; and Quick, Cute Gifts, including fabric flower bowls, a baby quilt, an adorable sewing kit (!), stuffed animals and more.

Sewing kit - how cute!

What I really liked about this book was that the author tackled what many beginners would consider to be complicated techniques - the shirred maxi, for example - and breaks it down to something as simple as a rectangle of fabric, stitched along the top with elastic thread. It's a straight line, get it? Just the thread is different. Don't be frightened, pick up the fabric and see what happens.

Don't be afraid - remember, it's only fabric and thread, and the worst that will happen is that you'll tear out your stitches and sew another seam.

Shirred maxi dress

There are no patterns in the book, other than templates for the diamond quilt. Since all the clothing is based on squares or rectangles, the instructions simply tell you how and where to measure yourself, and how much ease to add to make it fit. In some respects this is way less limiting than following a pattern, depending on how your brain works.

You can customize each of the garments to your own body size for a fit that's sure to flatter. Before you begin, take your body measurements (or better yet, have a friend take them) and write them down. If you have doubts about any project, sew a muslin sample first to gain a firm understanding of the construction process and work out any kinks related to size, fit and sewing techniques.

Fabric flower bowls

Techniques that seem too complicated for the sewists this book is directed at, but aren't: shirring with elastic, basting, quilting and binding a quilt, installing zippers, buttons and buttonholes, elastic, French seams, sewing with vinyl/pleather, adding hardware to a bag, and more.

Go green! Old clothing is a fantastic source of fabric for new sewing projects. Scour the thrift store or your own closets for pieces to harvest. (The men's section of thrift stores is as great place to start, as the garments are usually larger and sometimes the dressier pieces are barely worn).

Layout for diamond quilt

All in all, this is a great little book - clearly explained, well illustrated with drawings and photos, and full of projects that will appeal to a variety of people.

Matter of fact, it's the kind of book I wish someone had given me when I was starting out. So . . . if you're a beginner, and think this book is for you, leave a comment telling me why you think it's something you need, and I'll ask Lily the Sewing Room Cat to choose a random winner on Saturday.

That's what friends are for

2011-07-12T20:21:00.000-04:00

Last May, for the Philly PR Weekend, a few sewing friends stayed at my house. Elizabeth brought a great hostess gift - wine and fabric. The fabric was beautiful, a gray, pink and black plaid, pictured here.

Unlike the wine, which didn't last long enough to have its pictuer taken, the fabric has been aging ever since. But this past weekend, I finally decided what it wanted to be, and I pulled it off the shelf. And there wasn't enough.

Normally, 2 yards is plenty for most projects. Because of the complexity of what I have in mind, I needed more like 4 yards. I knew where the fabric came from, and I tried there. No luck - sold out.

I mentioned to Elizabeth by email that I was looking for more of the fabric, and she said casuallly, "I have 2 pieces at home. I'll put them in the mail for you tomorrow."

She's getting a thank you in the form of something from my stash, and my gratitude for helping a fellow sewist out of a tight spot.

This is why I love this community.

Invasion

2011-07-10T22:37:00.000-04:00

Hey, lady, get off my porch!

Yes, that is a raccoon. And yes, that would be MY PORCH CEILING he's popped his head out of.

What the hell? I've already given you my zucchini, now you want my freaking house? I'll grant that they're animals and that they have as much right to tromp around in my veggies as any other wild creature that doesn't have a proper habitat because we humans have taken up all their living space. I'll even grant them my zucchini, though it sucks to have a 4 foot wide plant covered in blossoms that doesn't yield a single veggie because of these little bandits.

But when you invade the physical structure of my house? Game on, little man. Game on.