sewdistracted

Suddenly I don't worry about style

What a relief.  Suddenly I don't worry about style.  Who cares?  I think fretting about style was a symptom of something else.  It is not that I don't worry about these things; I love clothes, they are never far from my brain it is true. And I still think about what I want, what would look good, what goes with what.  But I don't need to force the issue.  I know what I like.  I know what I don't.  There is enough room in the world for all of us to be whatever we wish.

 I finally realized that the basic dichotomy that follows me in everything I do and love remains a constant.  I love the simple.  And I love the incredibly ornate.  Simple predominates, except when it doesn't.   Simple, isn't it?

I think I was trying to be something in-between, something not me.  I was trying to pain that picture and then trying to live up to the portrait I had assembled.  Not so simple at all.

I realize I need jeans again.  I mentioned somewhere that I was going to need jeans soon, when I reached a certain goal.  That point has come and gone.  And spring seems to be approaching rapidly.  I need jeans.  I need simple clothes for every day. I need clothes I can wear to work in the yard.  If they are also up for going to the post office all the better.  I have been known to work in the yard in some baggy old worn out thing that I loved but with which I was not quite ready to part.  That is no longer a possibility.  Those old things are gone.  Really, they were too big to wear anyway.  I don't need to hang on to the past.

And now Spring is coming and I cannot live in cashmere and wool forever.

Isn't that why I was working on a shirt muslin?  yes.

Isn't that why I was working on pants?  yes.

Am I going to sew everything I wear?  not on your life.

Seems like it may be time to get a move on.

Marfy giveaway

I am still putting my "House" in order, physically and metaphorically.  But I am not working to quickly.  It is important to enjoy the days as well.

I am sorting and cataloging my sewing patterns.  I have just finished going through the Marfy patterns.  I have not made a Marfy pattern for 5 years, but I have acquired a few in the meantime.  Actually I am quite happy with my choices, I still want to make these garments, although some are perhaps a little too formal for my current life.  I am not willing to commit to never using them though.

 There is one Marfy pattern in which I have no interest, and no, it is not one of the patterns I bought, which is gratifying.  It is one of the pattern sheets that comes with the Marfy catalog.  This one is from the Winter 2007/2008 catalog and includes patterns for two skirts, pants, a blouse, a shirt-jacket and a lovely little cape.  I will not make any of these patterns.

 I have decided to give this pattern sheet away if anyone wants it.  The six patterns are on a fold out pattern sheet and need to be traced.  The sizes included are 42, 44, 46, 48, 50, 54, and 58. Remember that Marfy patterns do not include seam allowances or instructions.  A size chart can be found here. Although there is also one available on the McCalls website, I prefer Marfy's as they list measurements in both centimeters and inches and I don't have to do the math.

Pictures of the garments are shown here and I will include them with the pattern sheet.  I no longer have the book though, these pictures were cut out of the book and pasted to a file folder.

If you are interested in the patterns please just leave a comment to that effect.  If more than one of you is interested I will draw a name on Saturday morning using a random number generator.

Lessons from the china closet

We have been looking at china.  

What does this have to do with sewing and clothing you ask?  Surprisingly, a great deal.

I wanted new china.  I don't particularly like what we have and use everyday, although it was a great improvement over the china we had before: china I liked more style-wise but disliked contextually.  That china was a wedding gift to my DH and his first wife; she didn't want it, he kept it.  The stuff we have now is the result of protracted negotiations and was a compromise for all parties; neither one of us was happy, but we could both accept it.  It is time for a change.

As we were looking at china, looking at what is available, what we have, and what I actually like, as opposed to what I was expected to like, I was struck by something.

 

Apparently my taste in china runs to extremes, as it actually does in many other things as well.  I tend to like very plain, simple, modern pieces, things one of G's cousins calls "stark", or very ornate embellished pieces.  As for the majority of china patterns, which for the most part fall in between these extremes, there is very very little I like, although I am drawn to a few simple patterns with strong bands of color and little embellishment, patterns with an almost architectural feel.

What struck me was that I could apply this knowledge to my wardrobe as well.  I like very simple austere clothes, and I actually can do minimalism on occasion and pull it off, but I can't stick with it.  I am also drawn to very dramatic, sometimes highly constructed, pieces.  And then there is my love of the dramatic accessory and interesting color combinations.   

And yet, although most of my clothing choices tend to be fairly classic, I feel  rather blah and discomfited with fairly classic ways of putting things together.  I need, in my clothing choices, to stick with very simple structured pieces, almost to the point of being stark, or go for a strongly  decorous effect, and I feel compromised when I try to take a middle path.

I spent a little time perusing china patterns just to make myself a kind of visual guide.  I think over time it will prove quite clarifying.

I am sure there is a way to work this out without looking like I am going to a monastery one day or a party at Versailles the next.  

A TNT jacket

I'm still sorting and assessing and putting my life back to rights.  In my bits and pieces of spare time, I've moved from the closet(s), which I haven't finished, to the rest of the house: cleaning, sorting, rearranging, and settling, with a rather hefty dose of negotiating going on as well.  It is a slow process, but worthwhile.  I think of it as a rather grand spring cleaning, and it was long overdue.  

But while I was involved in spring cleaning, Spring seems to have actually crept in unannounced.  I wasn't quite ready.  After all I just found all those lovely wools to wear. 

Luckily I do have choices now, and one of my projects has involved figuring out how the bits and pieces that remain can work together, and what I actually am missing and need in my wardrobe as well as what I have to work with. 

With the return of warmer weather and the promise of spring clothes I am also finding the remnants of TNT patterns past.  The trick is to reassess them now and see if they retain enough appeal to be reworked to fit my figure as it is now.

Take this long jacket.  This is made from an OOP Vogue pattern by Sandra Betzina, 7022, which is a princess-seamed cardigan jacket.  I had made it several times by the time I made this long version.

This iteration was made nearly 7 years ago and was part of my (step)MOB outfit.  The matching dress no longer fits; it is too small through the bust and too large through the hips and thighs.  The coat, however, is not bad.  It is actually a little too big, probably the only reason it does not pull through the bust, and if I were wearing it buttoned over a simple and thin sheath dress the sizing would be obvious.  But it works worn as a duster with pants or jeans and it will get me through part if not most of this season.

The fabric is really interesting in this coat.  It has a woven raffia like appearance on the surface, but this is just a surface effect of a knit fabric.  The fabric was from Cadena of Spain and I purchased it after seeing the same or similar fabric used in a collection of suits by the Italian house Mila Schön around 2001 or 2002.  The fabric grew with excess manipulation, although it steamed into shape beautifully, it shed little bits of fiber everywhere, and it snags easily. But it is beautiful.

 Here is the pattern picture. 

The question is whether I would use this again.  I don't need jackets for work, but this is a basic, if boring, shape. I really think I feel better and therefore look better with a bit of tailoring in my garments and this gives me the feel of a cardigan with a little extra structure.  But whether it works or is dowdy will all be up to the fabric and the fit.  I think it can be pulled off.  The pattern will need some alterations for my new shape, and it desperately needs to lose the shoulder pads.  It may work best for me in the longer length, but I will need to play with the muslin to be sure, and for me, it will all depend on the fabric.

What I am uncertain about right now is whether I am looking at this pattern realistically, or if my judgement is clouded by the jacket I am wearing and my love for it.

As for my needs list, this outfit, for all that I feel right at home in it, the following notes were added to my file:

New white shirts that fit: (muslin was in works -- finish and make shirts)

New Jeans.  These are getting too baggy to wear but for the most casual of days.  They will make good jeans for yard work after a replacement pair has been procured.

Replace the coat.  I like the feel and structure of this more than a long cardigan.  Look for soft, interesting fabric, that lend a more casual feel to this tailored jacket. Check fabric collection for a suitable replacement in a shade more appropriate for current coloring.  Check patterns for dusters and long jackets. No rush, this one will get me through most of the spring.

Flush

I'm still cleaning out the closets.  I spent a lot of time for a couple of days doing the basic stuff, things I wear every day like pants, skirts, and knit tops.  And I've worked a little bit every day since, but there are still things I am avoiding, like my sweaters.  But I've gotten rid of a lot of stuff, really an amazing amount of stuff.  

 So what I have I found in the closets?  Quite a bit actually.

I have 8 pairs of pants I can wear now, and one pair of summer pants, over there on the far left in the photo.  By summer I will need pants as the striped pair shown here are anything but basic, unless perhaps I run away and join the circus.

 Pants are perfect for right now when it is cold and windy, snowy and slushy outside and the fact that I have so many choices amazes me.

The pants are grouped by heel height, and within that by color.  I always aim to have basic pants in at least two, if not three lengths, to accommodate different heels. 

From left to right:

2 pairs of black pants I can wear with flats:  one Saint John knit pair, and a pair of slim fitting matte jersey pants, that will actually be comfortable well into spring.

1 pair of gray stretch cotton chinos.  This sit a little higher in the waist than is currently fashionable but they fit so well it is almost uncanny.  None of the problems I usually have with pants is evident in this pair.  I should trace them off and compare them to my pant pattern from November.

1 pair of yellow cords.  I need some color to keep me sane.  

Then there are two pairs of black pants to wear with mid-heels 1 1/2 to 2 inches or so.  One of these is solid, the other is a lovely suiting fabric with gray and red pinstripes.

Finally, on the right, two pairs to wear with heels, black and winter white.  As I said, I am set. 

 The skirt population took a bigger hit.  But even here I have enough choices to get me through the season.  

White with red and black appliques.

Two pencil skirts in black, one with little pleats at the knee.

My favorite turquoise plaid Pendelton skirt, which has been taken up twice and will not be taken up again.

There are several other skirts, all skirts I made in 2005 or 2006 that have been put aside as they can be easily altered and worn and still look good.  We will see if I get to them.

Otherwise everything else has gone.

Two things I have learned so far:

1.  I do indeed have a few TNT patterns, or will after a few very minor alterations.  They are all patterns for things I made in 2004 or 2005.

2.  Good fabric truly is worth the investment.  The things I own that are made of really good fabric have held up beautifully and fresh and new.  The styles may not be perfectly current, but they are classic enough and the fabric good enough that they are fine.  Things I made out of less than stellar fabric often look tired and worn-out, even if they haven't been worn that much.  They weren't worth the effort that went into them, unless I was sewing them as a quick thrill to wear and toss.

Quick thrills aren't usually my style.

Through the closet door and into dreams: Ralph Rucci Fall 2010

 I've been cleaning out my closet.  This time I am being really brutal.  I must love it.  I must love it on.  No settling.

I am finding that I had forgotten how nice I feel in nice clothes, that I like tailoring, that I love a beautiful dress and heels, nice ladylike flats too, but especially heels.  I like dressing up.  Where have I been?  How could I forget?

Oh yes, I remember now.  Caregiver.  What a terrible word.  What a terrible style.

 I want to repudiate caregiver style.  Oh wearing jeans has been good for me.  I have learned to be casual; this took a long time, and there are days this is all I want.  But more often I want to be in a suit or dress and heels even though this is not the wardrobe expected in my life.  

One must gauge the climate.  One must also gauge the temperature of the woman, and find a meeting point where both coexist in comfort.  I am working on this; slowly yet, but working nonetheless.

I want to wear what I want simply because I want to wear it.

 I'm not far enough along in the closet restructuring to report anything, but I have been inspired to look at the fall collections.  Of course I started at the top, with my favorite, Chado by Ralph Rucci.  You must go look at the collection.  It is amazing.  Almost every piece is gorgeous.  The man is a genious.  Obviously I am stark-raving-mad for this collection.  I like it so much I have looked at it over and over.  I like it so much I haven't looked at anything else.

 I am so inspired I'm loopy.

 There are so many things here that speak to me.  Some are ideas for things to make.  I'm not really planning direct knock-offs.  I stopped that years ago, I'm more interested in stealing inspiration, and Ralph Rucci's work is all inspiration.  Besides, my skills aren't up to creating some of these things, not yet, perhaps not ever.  

But my love of this collection goes beyond just wanting the clothes, and yes I do want them.  It goes beyond just dreaming of making the clothes, or using them for inspiration.  This collection reminds me of something fundamental and basic that is in my style, something with which I had floundered for a while. 

If style is also a reflection of who you are, of the place you want to mark in the world, when the world throws you for a loop it is conceivable that even style can get lost.    But to deny one's style is to deny a fundamental piece of oneself, whether that style be "high" or "low", combat boots or Christian Louboutin.

I love these garments in and of themselves.  They are perfection.  They remind me of what I like, they remind me not to go down frivolous paths following whims.  

Sometimes I just look at something and say that is how I wish clothing could be, how I wish life could be, the life for those clothing.  

Aspirational.  

 Inspirational.

Clothing that makes me wax philosophic. Not a good sign.  Did I not tell you I was loopy? We all know I am not good at philosophy, and I am worse at writing about it.  

Did you know that in college I was told that I "write badly very well", and that I should write the blurbs that you find on the back of novels, enticing the reader to open the pages?  

It is true.  But it is not correct.  I let my mind wander far too freely to write blurbs.

Even in the context of these fabulous clothes my mind wanders beyond "where could I wear this" and "how could I reproduce that" and thinks of blurbs.

These are dream clothes.  They are not clothes for driving the garbage cans up the hill, or doing all those other practical things.  I don't think dreams need to be practical.

Where have I been?

Nowhere.  Here.

What have I been doing?

Everything.  Nothing.

Or at least that is how it seems to me.  I've been busy doing many things that all seem to be the perfect things to be doing at the time I am doing them, and yet I have nothing in particular to show for these things.  Not that having something to show is necessarily what life is about.  But still there are blogs, mine to write, others to read:  so much to say and see and do, and still life sits there either being lived or waiting to be lived.  I'm all for the living.

And so I am living it.  And for me that means I am doing a lot of things.  Planning various things that need done, I like schedules and charts and research.  I like lists.  I've been reading and knitting and cooking.  I've been cooking up a storm, making stock and cheese and just cooking the three meals a day that we seem to need to have on the table.  I suppose we always eat, and I always manage to get meals on the table but sometimes I cook more, experiment more, sometimes I just get meals on the table.  I have fun with this.  I can't imagine not doing it, just as I can't imagine not sewing.

Sewing.  That is what this blog is supposed to be about isn't it? Well yes.  And the distractions from sewing, the things sewing distracts me from.  

I've been working with my muslins, working on them a little here and there.  Don't think I have tons of muslins lined up and garments will just roll out, they will, but I'm not there quite yet.  I've been working a little bit but mostly I've just ben absorbing the process, working on things and wrapping my head around what they really mean.  And I have not been subjecting you to the small variations and details that I play with, but the results will eventually be apparent, or at least I hope they will.  They are already starting to show up in my knitting. 

I seem to have needed

 a long time to just flounder about, wondering what I wanted, wondering which shelf or box I had placed put my true "self" in when I got busy taking care of other things that were more important.  When those other things settled themselves down again, I found that I wasn't quite ready to put myself back together, or I was but I didn't remember how to do it.  And somehow I opened the right box and there I was.

Hello self.

I'm comfortable in my skin again.  It is not weight, although I am losing weight and am back at a weight where I feel more  comfortable with myself.  I'm growing my hair out again. I am exercising every day and that takes a big chunk of time. Somehow, amidst all this, I've rediscovered my old sense of style, rediscovered that I do have a sense of style, discovered that I don't have to look for it, struggle over it, fret and ponder.  It is just there.  Where did I lose that knowlede?  

I'm glad to have it back.  It is very calming. 

What I want now is a plan.  

I remember now:  I do love clothes.  But I want the clothes I want to wear.  And I want to sew the things I want to wear, not sew something just to sew something.  Some of the things I want to wear and sew are simple, some are not.  Some of the things I want to wear I will not sew.  That is OK too.  

And the days are just all too short.

Alexander McQueen

I was very sad yesterday to hear of the passing of Alexander McQueen.  Here is a link to an article in today's Wall Street Journal.  Wendy Brandes has links to more news coverage on her blog. 

Of course I didn't know the man, but I admired his creativity and talent.  His runway shows were inspiring, and his tailoring was beautiful.  I never bought a suit by McQueen because by the time he was making a name for himself I no longer needed suits, but I had thought that once I get my own personal reconfiguring settled, I could treat myself to one of his tailored pieces. 

 Alas, it shall not be.

I will however, wear one of my favorite sweaters, a little red McQueen number my sweetie gave me a couple of years ago to dinner tomorrow night.

New Vogues Have Arrived

I ordered the new Vogue patterns after the last sale and have been haunting the mailbox.  Is it just me or did they seem to be taking much longer than usual to ship them out?   I don't know, but fretting about it certainly kept me somewhat dithery.

 

As for my January goals, I actually did pretty well with those.  The goal was to get back into a routine and also to carve out some time that was my time alone to devote to solitary pursuits.  I am not exactly putting in an hour each day on everything but we have a system and a routine, and most importantly I am getting to the things I want to do.  I have not been in the sewing room every day, but I have put in about 6 hours a week the last two weeks and there will be things to show eventually.  I am mostly working on muslins now, and it gets a bit repetitious.  Besides I had abandoned several projects in varying stage of muslin-fitting and it has taken some time to recreate each process and figure out what I was doing before, and if it is worth continuing the project.  And frankly, I am perfectly happy with my progress even if that means that at this point I am more devoted to my gym time than my sewing time.  This too shall pass.

Unfortunately, this week has been absolutely devoid of sewing time.  Granted it is only Wednesday, so I do have time to make that up; and I did spend some time catching up with blogs and internet sites from which I had been absent.  I'm not trying to pull the plug on my internet activities, but I am trying to find some kind of balance between living my life in my life and following  all of your activities online.  Balance is difficult for me in a way.  I tend to bury myself in whatever I am doing and let all the rest slide, but I am trying to be more balanced and I think it is paying off.

Simple stitching

I promised I would do some sewing for the local historical society.  They have many knitted and crocheted blocks that were donated at an annual "knit-in" which need to be assembled into blankets.  Apparently gathering squares is easier than finding willing seamstresses.  

I do actually find the work rather calming  now that I have finally figured out what I was doing.  I didn't like the look of the blanket when I crocheted it together, or when I used a mattress-stitch like seam, too many colors and weights and different patterns were used.  

In the end I am happiest using a simple blanket stitch, which also helps me adjust the tension and gives me a little wiggle room, matching up blocks that very slightly in gauge and size.  I also like the even more minimal stitches seen on the reverse (right in the photo here.

 

I am hoping to put some regular time in this now and finish it up over the weekend.