Sew Distracted

Aqua

I am still in the painting stages of the closet.  The walls are painted and the trim and radiators have been painted.  And while I am on the subject of painting radiators, why the guy that built this house (before we owned it) baseboard heat in all the closets is absolutely beyond me -- it is the worst thing for my clothes and shoes and fabrics.  So I try to keep it turned down.  But some rooms would have no heat if it weren't for the closets, which also means of course, that you have to keep the closet doors open..... duh!

Well, someday I intend to put in radiant heat under the floors, but that means we have to get rid of the wall-to-wall, which is pretty much everywhere, with no finished floors underneath (gotta love the '70s).  But let's not tell G yet, he'll think he can't retire.  I can wait a long time.....

  So here's the basic color.  The walls are done.  Isn't it a lovely aqua!  The trim is a light blue gray  and I still have to put on a second coat. 

The shelves will be aluminum so the gray trim will look really nice.  It looks so nice in fact that I am glad that I never got around to painting the windows and window frames in the sewing room because I think I will use the same gray.  It looks good with the light green of the sewing room, the turquoise, and this lovely aqua. . 

Isn't it nice to be able to justify having not done something when your were originally supposed to have done it?

I don't know if I have enough of the gray to do the closet doors as well.  I'll do the trim first.  The gray paint is one I have had for years, it is a Martha Stewart color from K-Mart that I used for painting some planters a few years back.  I don't even know if it is still available.  But then, maybe I don't need closet doors.  The room is small enough that they are in the way if they are open and I like to see in.  At the same time having doors does keep dust and light out.  I wonder if I can mount one of those honeycomb shades inside the door frame and get one in a pretty, complimentary color.  Then I can just open and close it at will.  Is there some rule that closet doors have to be a door?

Well, I probably need to think about that a bit.

In the meantime I have been doing some more shopping late at night when I can't sleep.  A package filled with lovely treats came from Lucy's.  I ordered them immediately after finishing my top (and I still haven't cut out another).

I don't have any immediate plans for these fabrics so they just go into the stash, even though my stash is definitely at SABLE proportions (stash accumulation beyond life expectancy)  I don't usually worry about it, although I had been more cautious about buying fabric for a while, just because I wasn't sewing.

As I've said  before, I love my stash for its own sake, and I obviously love pretty fabric.  I do realize that I may be overindulging right now, but shopping as therapy is not a totally bad thing unless you let it get out of hand.  I don't intend to.  I was about to say I was already slowing down, I hadn't bought any fabric for several days, until I got the Fabric Mart swatches yesterday, but swatches provide a whole different level of temptation.

Well, we'll see how I feel tomorrow when I have to put everything in the closet.

I want to thank everyone for all the kind notes.  Surprisingly in retrospect, I wasn't expecting them but you all bring smiles to my face.  Your words and thoughts are a great boon and I am cheered by receiving them.

I have played with the tee pattern in my head and looked at the pieces, but I haven't actually made the alterations to the pattern yet.  But I have a pretty clear mental plan.  I also got a great deal of filing and accounting work out of the way, including the dreaded taxes so that is a great burden off my mind. 

When I am tired and distracted and not quite up to sewing, I browse the web and so there have been several purchases of late, each one small, little treats to perk up my spiritis.  I realize this can't go on indefinitely, but there is a lot to be said for coming home to a package in the mail.

Yesterday I received these rayon knits from gorgeous things.  Visions of spring are dancing in my head.

Bits, Pieces, and Unexpected Changes

Burda Tee: I am wearing the new tee today even though it would look much better with my gray pants.  Unfortunately both pairs of gray pants were at the cleaners and I did not think it appropriate to run there first and dress behind the press.  Also, I had to be out at 7:00 and my dry cleaner was not open at that hour.  So I wore black.  You don't get to see much of the tee:

When I attempted to take photos without the cardigan I ended up with a terrible chipmunk face so those photos have already been moved to the trash bin.  I don't know if I was shivering because I don't normally have that much of an overbite (it is cold and gray today) or it was just bad photographic karma. 

Anyway, you saw the detail photo yesterday.

I was dreaming about pattern alterations and this top last night and I came up with all kinds of simple and complicated schemes.  But when I woke up and looked at the top on me I realized that I messed up the top of the front sleeve piece, the one that forms the side piece along the shoulders.  I changed the angle of the sleeve cap where it meets the body of the shirt, I needed to change that to match the changes in the front pattern piece.  But I left the top of the sleeve the same so that the angle of the neckline relative to the sleeve was inadvertently changed.  When I changed the angle of one seam, I should have  changed the other one so that the relationship between the two seams was properly maintained.  Hopefully this is an easy fix.

I will be making more of this shirt, as I do like it, especially in its original shape, and it suits me right now to continue obsessing about a single pattern.  I am not usually this focused, once a pattern has been made once, I want to move on, but right now I like the familiarity of this pattern  and the idea of new tees.

Embroidered Tweed:  I decided that I am going to make the simple V-neck dress with the embroidery on the bottom.  I called Kashi today and he is sending some more fabric so that I will be certain to have enough, and more than likely, too much. But I have ideas about what to do with any excess as well.  You will have to wait until fall to find out what they may be.

Retirement:  Part of the reason that I am so content making one tee pattern over and over right now, and the reason that I find only a few minutes each day to sew, is that life has gone a little haywire on me of late.   Last Thursday G announced to the office that he was going to retire, effective the end of this week so I have lots and lots of work to do.  Although we stop doing our normal business this week, the office will be open for some time as I collect payments and close out the accounts receivable and so forth and so on.    I am already drowning in paper.  The staff will be working until mid April but that still leaves lots of work for me before and after they leave. Of course, eventually the books and the corporation will be closed and I will be unemployed retired as well.

Piles:  In anticipation of this retirement G has been cleaning out his office and has brought about 20 years worth of various financial and other records home for me to sort through as well as various other items he has saved up in the office over the years and we have piles of stuff everywhere.  Of course I have piles too.  I have the piles that constitute our income taxes which I am very late in doing this year (but which I must finish before the accountant comes on Thursday to discuss both our personal taxes and various corporate issues).  I also have the piles of shelving materials that arrived for me to set up my sewing room closet, and the pile which consists of paint which must be put on the wall before I build the shelving unit.  And there is all the piles of fabric that will occupy the sewing room closet when I am done.  They are currently in the guest room.  I expect guests on Monday.

The Unexpected:  This has all hit me at once because the unexpected occurred.  My darling G had his annual physical 2 weeks ago and learned he had a tumor in his lung.  The next week was filled with fear, trepidation, doctors visits, and eventually some relief, when we learned that the invader had not metastasized and there is hope for a surgical solution.  Now we are running around dealing with many tests and procedures in preparation (we hope) for surgery, for which no date has been settled.  What is settled is that something will happen, G will retire, and he can no longer keep it a secret from his family. 

I may be in and out of this blog, depending on my sewing, my general state of mind, and the time available.

Burda WOF 12/2006 #107

When did I last sew?  When did I last write?  Oh yes, that was Thursday. 

I did take those extra 15 minutes on Thursday to finish the swirly tee, but it was not fated to be.  I put the tee on Matilda and pinned up the neckline, then stitched it up.  I had to try it on to mark the sleeve hems, even though they are marked on the pattern, and it was a good thing I did because I shortened them by an inch.

But the neckline was funny, with extra fabric on one side and it needed to be turned up differently.  It seems that Matilda and I are not shaped exactly the same through the upper chest.  That's OK because the top looks better on me than it does on Matilda.   Unfortunately I did not have time to rip out the seam, repin it, and do the hems so everything got put aside until today, when I took a break after hours and hours of accounting work followed by a few more hours of shifting and filing of what appears to be a never ending pile of paperwork, but more about that later.

So here's a partial view along side a shot of the first draft (that seems so long ago).

As you can see the neckline is quite different, but nothing shows.  I kind of liked the wide low neckline as seen on the original pattern, better than my redrafted neckline, although I realize that it was perhaps a little revealing for everyday wear. I see that I changed the angle of the front trying to cover the bra straps and I wonder now if there was a better way to do that, a way where I can get that angle and swoop that I see in the all white version.  Of course the fabrics are quite different in the way they stretch and hang as well. Still I think the white is more flattering, and the swirl more mundane and boring, not that I won't wear it and love wearing it.  I just hope there is some happy middle point I can find in adapting this pattern to my body.

All in all, it is nice, and wearable but there are things I still might change.  Although I did not change the shoulder pieces or the back neck, the second top has excess fabric at the back of the shoulders that I did not see in the white top.  I wonder if that is caused by the changes in the shape of the front, or if it is caused by the different fabric.

It seems there is always something more to learn.

Here's what I did:

As you can see I raised the neckline  on the right side and also made the front narrower under the arm, changing the shape of the armhole opening.  I then made corresponding corrections to the sleeve pattern.  Although you can't see it here, I also added some increased room through the bust because the first top was a little snug and the second fabric was slightly less stretchy than the front.  If you look closely at the photo above you can see that I still get some wrinkling and I probably need to add a little more, especially on the right, where the shoulder curves in more and there is a more dramatic change from the fullness at the bustline to the smallness under the arms and at the upper chest.

Here is the altered front piece in full view.

To me this looks very asymmetrical, more so than I think I appear when I look at myself in the mirror.  When I look at the photo above I can see that a bit of asymmetricality, although the wide point of the top hits at exactly the same place relative to my bra strap on each side.

But other than adapting the pattern  to my own idiosyncrasies, it was an easy top to make and I will make it again.  I highly recommend the pattern.

 

The only thing I really did differently than the pattern was make a double front, especially since the white fabric was a little transparent.  The pattern calls for a front facing piece that ends just below the bustline.  But I really don't like facing pieces, and by lining the front you have the opportunity to hide the side seams so nicely, giving a lovely finished look to the inside of the tee (as if anyone is looking).

And the only part of the process I had trouble with (aside from the comedy of errors I call fitting and pattern alteration) was hemming the sleeve.  I am not sure how to double needle hem a narrow sleeve hem easily and well when it is too narrow to wrap around the sewing machine under the needle.

I kept holding out an inch here and there and stopping and pulling and turning, hoping desperately that I wasn't catching the underside of the fabric and sewing the sleeve closed.   There is probably some obvious solution that I am just missing, aside from making the sleeves wider, but I like close fitting sleeves at the cuff and my wrists are not large.

Distracted by dreams of future projects

No, I haven't finished the swirly dotted tee.  I have it all constructed, and it is fabulous, but I have to hem the sleeves, bottom and topstitch around the neck and shoulders.  This should take, what 15 minutes?  Ha!

Well, getting that off my chest felt much better.

And so what have I been doing when I could have been sewing? (not that I have had that much time).  I have been playing paper dolls and dreaming of future projects.

I am sure you remember this beautiful fabric I bought at Kashi's:

Well, I purchased more than I needed for a straight skirt, which is the first thing I envisioned, but not really enough to guarantee that I can make anything else.  I got 2 yards.  I might get a dress out of 2 yards, but it will be very close, and that is not counting on the border print.  (but cutting on the cross grain uses less fabric we hope, right?)

And just as I had relegated this to the back of my mind, thinking I would whip up a skirt soon, but not too soon, Mary Beth over at The Sewing Divas  takes this very same fabric and turns out a really spectacular dress. 

So I look at Mary Beth's dress and think?  Why must I make a skirt?   My fate is sealed.  My mind begins to wander.

Then, over at Stitcher's Guild someone starts discussing THE dress and ideas start flowing. 

Progress on practical matters is abandoned and I start playing with ideas.

As stated above, I originally planned on making a simple straight skirt with the embroidery along the hem.  This idea is still a strong contender and it would be a very wearable and versatile contribution to my wardrobe.

But then, after Mary Beth's got all creative I started thinking about other options.

Since the fall collections, I have been thinking about a simple fitted v-neck jumper using an old Vogue pattern, # 8416.  This would also look pretty with the embroidery on the bottom, along the hem.

Or perhaps with the embroidery along the hem and at the shoulders:

 

Both of these options are nice, but I really think I like the first one better, the simpler one with the embroidery on the bottom.  Besides, bright shiny golds and yellows are not my best colors and bringing them too close to my face is perhaps not the brightest idea.

In a fit of madness, I had another idea as well, cutting up the embroidery and putting a zipper down the front with the bottom piece of the embroidery running down the center front, mirrored from side to side.  Although my cutting and pasting and manipulation of computer images is not all that good, I think you can get the idea.  It is definitely overdone and far too much, for me at least.  But still, I am glad I played with the idea.  Better to spend time cutting and pasting, making paper dolls on the computer, and then deciding something is a mistake than cutting and sewing and wasting a lovely piece of fabric.

The upshot of all this computer dawdling is that I like the skirt and the simplest dress best.  If I make the skirt I will do it this spring as I still have time to wear it (if I am not distracted by other projects that is).  If I go for the jumper, well that is definitely a fall project.  And I am still not sure I have quite enough fabric.  The last time I made this pattern, I noted that I need 1 3/4 yards.  I have 2 and I am a good bit fluffier now than I was then.  In the end the skirt might win.

Sunday Update

After finishing the first version of my Burda tee yesterday (I attached the sleeves Saturday morning) I did very little toward working on the second draft. 

I don't have enough of the white fabric to make another identical top so I will use it to make something else.  Instead I will move on to the top originally planned for this pattern, using this rayon/lycra knit from Lucy's fabrics:

I had some qualms as to whether I would ruin it, but you know in the end I am not sure it matters.  If I make the changes as marked, it should all be alright and if it doesn't work, there will always be more fabric.

As I have thought about changes though I have also contemplated tweaking the pattern a little more than I originally intended and I am wondering how far I can go before I have overdone it and made too many changes.

All that has been done so far is to copy the front piece from the first pattern draft and create a full front piece from it.  Then  I transfered the changes I wanted to make to the white top to the new pattern piece with pencil.  I still have to raise up the top edge of the piece, which will require a new tracing.  Once I have finished the front piece, I will move on to correcting the sleeve pieces to match the changes that are being made to the underarm seams. 

Meanwhile my back is a little sore today and I have been lying on the floor with my legs up over a hassock contemplating the ceiling.  We have a post-and beam ceiling and I love looking at the patterns formed by the grain of the wood, the saw cuts, and occasionally the knots.  Today I was looking at a knot that reminded me very strongly of a stylized chrysanthemum, something similar but not quite like either of these fabric photos:

In the  case of the wooden beam, the parts I see as the petals of the chrysanthemum are raised up from the surface of the wood, almost puffy looking.  Sorry there are no pictures, the light and my camera are not up to getting a photo without flattening the effect.

I actually imagine creating a monochromatic version of this (like the wood of the beam is monochromatic), perhaps using silk dupioni, and creating a puffy chrysanthemum using something like a trapunto technique.

Well, enough of dreams for now, and back to pattern alterations.

WHITE

Yesterday's color was white.  It snowed all day and the world outside my windows was white.  We closed the office early and I rolled the phones over to the house so I needed to be nearby in case someone called.  No one called.  I think the entire Northeastern United States was closed or wished it was closed.

We got 18 inches of snow and I got to go out in the dusk and night-time plow runs because my eyes are better.  Unfortunately I don't turn well to the right, the direction the spotter in the passenger seat should be able to turn, so I kept having to climb out of the truck to spot where we were going when G had to back up.  I would have been fine looking over my left shoulder from the driver's seat, but I can't (or won't) drive the truck.  It is an old old Suburban, manual transmission, and I have to practically stand on the clutch to get it all the way in and then I have trouble doing that and getting the D*^* shift to work.  I am told it shifts like a dream, but having watched G attempting to shift the recalcitrant old thing several times last night and heard him cursing and grunting as he stalled out the truck over and over again, I am more inclined to believe that man and truck have grown older and more stubborn together and are just used to each other's quirks.

Anyway, plowing looks like fun, and I would love to plow.  But not using this truck.  It made my sciatica worse 20 years ago, and I don't think I could even do it today.

But back on track.  While I was tied to the telephone, or at least waiting for the telephone, I had time to work on the Burda top I traced back at the beginning of the month, almost two weeks ago now.    The first muslin shows a good bit of promise and I think this top is going to turn out well, after another draft, and will become a favorite.

The initial changes I made to the pattern were a good start.  I lengthened the top about 2 inches below the bust and above the waist.  That worked out well. 

Then I made a guesstimate at how much extra to add at the bust.  This FBA stuff is new to me, as is working with knits so I was not particularly confident, but I also knew I had to add something.   I noticed that Burda did not mark the bust point so after lengthening the pattern I held the tissue up to my torso, positioning the waist in the proper place and put a dot where I thought the bust was supposed to be.  It seems to have worked and I seem to have the basic sizing correct.  Now I just need to fix those old asymmetricality issues, which, as you can see from the photo, are quite evident.  The top is perfectly balanced.  The model is not.

The left side fits pretty well, and no undergarments show.  I tried it on with a couple of bras to be sure of the fit and they are all OK on the left.  It is a little close, and I can probably  move that underarm seam up just a little bit higher to give me a little extra coverage there.

On the right however, more work is obviously needed.  The center piece is too low, and the armscye is too high up on the arm.  You  can see that the seam is too high up on my arm, and you can also see that I  have excess fabric in the center piece as well as the fact that I need a longer underarm seam on that side in order for the top to fit the same way on my body as it does on the other side.

I knew that it was unlikely that a completely symmetrical piece would fit, but since I did not understand how to alter the pattern until I made it up, this seemed like the best path.

Next up:  redrawing the pattern and making another top.

I am not sure if I have enough of this fabric for another muslin, but I will check.  Or I might just go on to the fabric I planned on using for this top and hope for the best.  I will find something.  I have purchased a good collection of knits because I want to get these details worked out so I know I have something to  play with.

Dreaming vs Doing

I need a serious motivational kick in the pants. 

I traced a pattern weeks ago and it still sits there on my cutting table taunting me.  Have I made my routine pattern modifications?  Have a cut out a first version?  Have I done anything? No, no, and no.  Somebody shove me.

Instead I have been dreaming of things that I might be sewing.  I have been reading new sewing magazines and newsletters.  I have been looking at patterns.  I have been cutting and pasting.

These two things came in the mail this week, on the same day no less:

The March Patrones is devoted to sewing for children, not a big thing in my book, although there is one really cute outfit for baby boys that I am seriously considering for little Owen now that he is moving around more and beginning to assert his personhood.

Nancy Erickson's Fashion Sewing Group newsletter was interesting and I really enjoyed reading it this week.  It really motivated me toward spring sewing, but obviously not quite enough, because I still haven't cranked up that sewing machine.  It did make me think about what I want to sew though.

And that leads to my other sewing-related activity.  I have been updating my inspiration notebook collage pages with ideas for Spring sewing.  For a season that in some ways seems somewhat uninspiring, I have collected a lot of pictures of things that inspire me, either directly as things I would like to knock-off, or things that are pure inspiration, things that I would never make as photographed, but which give me ideas for garments I would like to wear.  I have made bunches of pages so far, and I have lots of pictures left.  This may be more indicative of my burgeoning interest in making things again than in the fact that the season is particularly interesting.

Here is a sample of some of the things that have caught my eye:(as usual, clicking on all photos will enlarge them)

When I was younger I would pick a look and seek out a pattern and fabric to reproduce it.  But I don't do that as much anymore.  I learned that I react more to the fabric than the design.  At the same time, making these collages, and looking at them is more than just entertaining, it does color my judgment, and helps me to see new things in fabrics that I might otherwise have missed.

Which of these photos will be the inspiration for actual garments?  Only time will tell.  But I do have a few ideas.

What I Got (photo heavy post)

The package arrived from Metro Textiles late yesterday afternoon. The box was rather large and DH rolled his eyeballs; I could see he was about to open his mouth as well when I sent him a rather withering glance. He wanted to see what was in the box, but the price was that he had to check his tongue at the door.

Once I had gotten home Wednesday night, and throughout Thursday, the thrill of the hunt had worn off a little bit and I feared that I had been over-exuberant.  Well, I was, but I love all the fabrics I purchased.  I really indulged in cottons, especially cotton eyelets, but I have no regrets.    Although I really wanted brown eyelet, and didn't buy it, I am pretty happy with the eyelets I did get.

But first, the non-summer fabric.  This is a really beautiful Teal/Gray tweed with the embroidery along one edge of the fabric.  It is perfect for  a simple straight skirt, one which is sure to get lots of wear.  Although it is not a summer fabric, there is still plenty of time to wear it this spring before it has to be put away for next fall.

But then, on to the cottons:

This is a beautiful lightweight cotton print that I just love.  I am not sure what it will be yet.  It may be a bit "much" for a dress for me but it would certainly make a lovely blouse or skirt.   

For me, this was my most daring purchase.  This is not so much because it is bright, which it surely is, I love color, but at first I was uncertain about the combinations of the yellows and yellow-olives, but it seems to look really good.  I also love prints, but this is not the kind of print I usually wear, it is almost too bright -- unlike the other prints I purchased, which you can see below.  When I opened the box this print still brought a big smile to my face, and I couldn't wait to pull it out, a sure sign that it is not a mistake.  I think I just have to look at it a bit, have it floating around the edges of the sewing room, until I decide what it wants to become.

These two prints are eyelet fabrics and I love both of them.  The top one was love at first sight and the second one had to grow on me a little bit.  Both are destined to become summer dresses.

I might have purchased too much yardage, especially of the lower one, but as I am not sure what kind of dress I am making, and the price was very good, I am not worried.  When I first think "summer dress" I tend to think of sundresses with long full skirts, the kind of thing that tends to eat yardage.  I love the coolness, and the romantic way I feel in a long soft skirt.  And I don't fret as much about my pale legs in long skirts with sandals.  But in recent years I have made more close fitting summer dresses as well, often shorter, only about knee length.  For that kind of dress there is too much yardage.  We shall see, what materializes but for me these exuberant prints still call for exuberant dresses, not calm, cool, tailored dresses.

Then I got this wonderful lightweight polka-dot cotton with the embroidered border!  It looked black to me, but Kashi said it was navy.  At home it still looks black, and if it is navy it is such a dark dark navy that it is virtually indistinguishable from black; but then there are so many blacks out there it hardly matters.

For me this screams feminine floaty dress and so it shall be.  I have the perfect shoes already.

Of course there were more eyelets.  The black and blue one is going to become a skirt, probably from that same pleated skirt pattern I used several times last summer.  The white one will be a blouse of some sort.

Both of these fabrics are destined to be summer skirts as well. The darker blue fabric with the cut out embroidery will be a pleated, knee length skirt, probably again using the Simplicity 4186 pattern that I used last summer, but perhaps I will try something else.

The fabric on the right is actually a bit more muted than it appears in this photo.  It consists of strips of different fabrics and textures in the same color, including some embroidery and some lace.  This will be cut on the bias and made into a longer skirt. I am planning along the lines of this skirt from the new March 2007 Burda WOF:

I think I have enough yardage, although I guessed when I was at the store as I hadn't really "planned" on looking for something for this skirt.   If this doesn't quite work, I have no fears about finding something that will work, and will yield a skirt with a similar feel.

All in all, although I have a lot of fabric here, I am not feeling particularly guilty about these two fabric buying excursions , to Leandro and Metro Textile.  I had been feeling the need to sew new pretty clothes and there is little that fits right now (except evening clothes in black) aside from my basic day-to-day chinos and a few tees. Even including the Leandro fabrics, I have spent less than I usually spend on spring clothing shopping and I haven't shopped for any clothes this spring.  I might yet, but I am not very inclined to do so, even though I have never wanted to be a person who sewed ALL my clothes.  And although it is true that I could have probably shopped my stash for a good bit of my spring sewing, I am still excited about these new spring treats, and I know, having looked already, that there were no eyelets hiding in the stash.

When I get these things made up I will have a lovely spring/summer wardrobe.  And if I don't get them made up I will have nothing to wear.  I don't intend to put these away in the fabric closet.  They are sitting right out on the end of my cutting table, inspiring me to make them up.  They won't all sit there for very long.

Wednesday

I know that it is Thursday already, and in fact it is well into Thursday. But Thursday is just Thursday and I am already tired with the pure dreariness of it, whereas Wednesday was wonderful.

Wednesday was SO WONDERFUL that even walking around on the streets of NYC in the cold sleety/rainy/snowy mix, sloshing through combined water and slushy snow was a pleasure.

I started out early at the Poughkeepsie train station (not all that early in fact, I took the 8:00 train),  With all the other intrepid citizens of Poughkeepsie who wanted to take the morning train I stood on the cold platform while the wind blew across the river, transforming our faces into sheets of ice, listening to the announcement that the 8:05 train was boarding on track #3, then listening to the announcement again and again as they announced that the 8:05 train for Grand Central was about to depart from track # 3, and we just stood there.  We stood there because the train lumbered up from the yards, slowed at the platform and the proceeded to continue past it another 150 yards.  Then the train stopped and sat there.  The train came back toward the platform again and passed us, heading back into the yards.  We continued to stand and freeze.  On its third pass the train finally stopped at the platform and the doors opened.  We boarded.  The train left.  All was well.

I got into the city and trudged up to 108th Street to Crown Machine Service, where I dropped off my Elna.  They said it looked like a slow day (it was pretty unpleasant outside at that point) and they would call me in an hour to tell me when it would be ready. and I went back downtown.

Then the fun began!

I met Carolyn of diaryofasewingfanatic and Ann of Gorgeous Things for lunch. The lunch went way to fast for me.  It seemed like we were just beginning to talk and chat about fabric and blogs and all manner of sewing things when, poof, like Cinderella's pumpkin, the clock had struck 12 and Carolyn had to leave. 

Then Ann and I walked down to Metro Textiles to check out Kashi's new store.  I had never been to Metro Textiles before, and I was pretty confident I would not go crazy and buy much fabric.  WRONG! 

I thought I wanted the brown eyelet, just from the description, but when I saw it I knew it was not a brown for me.  It was much too warm of a brown and I need a deep dark cool brown, like the brown of really dark dark chocolate, or a rich brown with a bit of red or purple in it.  Oh well.  But before I could even think there was Kashi, pulling out fabric after fabric that would be just right for me.  And more often than not he was right.  He has an eye for looking at you and choosing the right colors, and he picks up on what you like and what you don't tremendously quickly.   He has found another loyal fan.

I think I got some of the same fabrics that Carolyn described:  a beautiful magenta and brown floral eyelet, the dotted fabric with the embroidery along one edge, and more.  I already had to lug my sewing machne home so I wasn't about to carry fabric.  Besides "charge it" and "ship it" are two of my favorite phrases.   It may be a bit elitist of me, but the older I get the less interested I am in lugging things around.  I want to sail through life unencumbered, at least as much as I can get away with it,  and just have things arrive at home.

And I got my "Metro Textile Pass"!.

 

It was only later, on the train home, when I was thinking about what a lovely day it had been and how much fun I had spending some time with Ann and Carolyn, that I realized that I had dragged my camera all around town but had forgotten to take any pictures.