Sew Distracted

Still Here

I am still here, but I seem to be existing in a lull state of late.  It is not just sewing that is suffering due to my general state of ennui; knitting, reading, even cooking have basically ceased. 

This is unusual.  Typically my great stress-reliever is time spent in the kitchen whipping up a meal for someone, or a batch of cookies.  Cooking got me through college and grad school, finals and orals are literally a piece of cake after a night spent baking.  I know that my stress-relieving techniques fed many a happy dorm-mate during my college years.  But now, nothing. Even when I venture into the kitchen the inspiration is gone and the results may not be particularly appealing.  It reminds me how much of what we do is more than just  following directions.  There is a bit of soul that goes into making things.

I know this too will pass.  The one-seam pants that have been languishing for weeks will be conquered (they are not the problem) and I will find where I left my creative side (is it under the living room sofa?)  and snap it back in place.

Things may already be looking up.

I actually sewed a button on my pants rather than safety pin them together yesterday:  They weren't the buttons that came with the pants.  I know I saved the button when it fell off.  I know I put it in my pants pocket.  But I washed the pants -- no button.  It may be lurking in the bowels of the washing machine, or it may have fallen out anywhere -- when I changed to swim?.  These are the kinds of things that happen when one is not oneself.

I love that phrase, "not oneself".  Who might I be?

I also turned out a pretty decent dinner tonight.  Simple, but decent.  Pork chops, broccoli, baked potatoes.  All-American right?

A lovely bit of salad was fabricated from a few things I found in the pantry:

A local peach.  A tomato.  The tops to some local onions.  Belgian endive, a navel orange, and a little olive oil round it all out.

I think I'll be back soon.

New Vogues

Well, the new patterns have been up at Vogue for a few days now, and as anticipated, there are quite a few I like.  I haven't finalized my order yet, but here are the contenders that are moving in and out of my shopping cart depending on my moods and thoughts:

Well, now I have loved this since I first saw it posted online, before I even got the Vogue Patterns magazine.  I will not make it in the same kind of fabric.  And yes it is true that the off the shoulder styling is not practical for many things, but I love it anyway and I can see myself wearing it for dressier evening events.  I also love the skirt, so this one goes into my cart.

On this pattern it is the jacket which calls to me.  The top is nice, the pants are nice, the jacket is wonderful, especially if one looks at the seaming on the back (which I did not copy to post here).  Great jacket, and I think I have exactly the perfect thing for it waiting in my closet.

This pattern is much more versatile.  It can really span a wide range from very dressy to somewhat casual depending on the fabrication, and I love the jacket as shown both in its closed versions and worn open.  I also love every other garment included in the pattern so it has great potential for multiple uses. 

Two other jackets appeal to me, the lovely short coat or jacket with the angled tucks in the back, and the the Anne Klein jacket which is shown belted here but I think would be just as lovely unbelted.  It has a lovely curved peplum type shape in the back that I think would be quite flattering.

As I said before, I am a great sucker for blouses, and these really appeal even with their strong shoulder emphasis and strong sleeve shapes, or perhaps it is because of their statement making possibilities that they attract.

I love  a good blouse that can stand alone with a simple pair of pants or a skirt, not just a blouse that plays a secondary role, and these blouses show good potential.

I suppose it is the drama of the collar on this dress that appeals to me more than anything else, but I keep waffling on the decision.  I like the sleeveless version better than the long sleeve version, for no particular reason that I can put my finger on.  I had a knit dress that looked like the long sleeve version once and it was incredibly warm, almost too warm to wear anywhere except perhaps a drafty castle in Scotland, not one of my normal haunts.  I suppose that memory could be haunting my thoughts.  But the dress did look good, and there is no reason I need to make this dress out of densely knitted alpaca.

I also love this look.  I think of the jacket and skirt as a dress like look more than as a suit and I adore the tunic over pants for its sporty simplicity without being too casual.  This could be lovely and elegant in a beautiful wool crepe, or nicely casual in a tweed or other fabric to wear running arund town or perhaps even as a light jacket over simple pants and flats for coming home from the gym.

And while I am on the subject of dressing to go to and from the gym, I love the tunic in this pattern.  It would be perfect over leggings or slim stretchy pants and flats to wear as a transitional piece when stopping in at the store, gas-station, or post-office.  It could look casual but still pulled-together.

New McCalls Patterns

Although I can't exactly say that I never met a pattern I didn't like, because there are tons of bad patterns out there.  I also cannot say that I am not easily seduced by the promise of new patterns.  I have an extensive pattern collection, far more extensive than either my fabric or yarn collection, and I am completely unrepentant about it.  Well, except for occasional periods where I fret about storing the ever-growing collection and keeping it well enough organized that I can actually find things.

And I don't necessarily wait for pattern sales. There are several reasons for this.

*    There is no Hancock Fabrics near me.
*     My local JoAnn puts the patterns out weeks after they  arrive and there is nothing more frustrating than driving 40 minutes to buy a pattern that isn't there..
*     My collection is large enough that I don't necessarily remember what I have and by shopping online I can compare line drawings to my own personal pattern catalog and make a much more informed decision.  This doesn't keep me from buying very similar patterns for subtle changes or differences, or sometimes just buying them for comparison purposes.  Nor does it keep me from buying a pattern I will probably never sew if I am intrigued enough by the design details or potential.

By the time I have gotten online, looked at my own catalog and decided to buy a pattern it makes no sense to get in the car and drive to buy the pattern when I can just click a button and have the pattern find its way to me.

I do realize that this is probably the lazy way out.  But it works for me.

Therefore it should come as no surprise that I went shopping on the McCall's Pattern website last week.  My purchases arrived today.

This isn't really that complicated of a dress and I have several basic patterns in similar shapes, but this particular pattern is being added to the collection because of the neckline pleats.  Of course, I could do my own, but I probably won't.  And although I may end up working on these pleats and moving them around to fit me,  I would rather see how someone else does it and work from there rather than draft my own.

I don't yet know if I will make this as is, or use it as a jumping-off point for several other ideas that are mulling around in my brain.

I really like this look:  the strapless jumper with a blouse, and although I have tons of patterns I don't have anything like this.  Strapless was not my thing during my "dartless" years.  I had trouble keeping everything in place.

I am intrigued by how one can wear this look without the blouse pulling out and bunching up under the arms, or the dress slipping around.  But I saw a lot of this look last fall and into this year, both as a jumper and a dress with a jumper look so I am willing to dream about it, or at least save the pattern as a testament to the styles of the times.  And I am actually intrigued enough I might give it a try.  I am convinced that I could be far more successful now than I was in my younger days despite the lack of a youthful figure.

I have always been a sucker for a great blouse.

And there are two great, trendy jackets I picked up as well.

These jackets are both "of the moment"  and they both have that gathered lower sleeve feature which I have seen in some things for this coming fall as well.  I think they are still quite wearable, and they also have good "bones" .  They are quite modern, but they also have a classic, ladylike appeal that is almost vintage in its inspiration. I think they have a timeless potential, or more exactly, they either fit one's style or they don't but neither one is boring and they could be more or less trendy, depending on the fabric and construction used.

A birthday gift to myself

As I was driving home from the hotel this morning I got a call from FedEx.  They wanted to deliver a package and a signature was required.

This is what came:

My birthday present to myself:  A Panton chair. 

I have been harboring the idea that I would get at least one of these as long as we have been working on the deck, probably longer.  Modern deck, modern furniture, no?

I sat in one in San Francisco one year and absolutely love it.  It fits me perfectly:  back support in just the right place for my odd back.  That doesn't of course mean that anyone else would like it.  G thinks it is ok, but would not chose to sit in it.  The neighbors were over and they side with G on this one.  That is OK because it means there is no competition for this chair.  It is MINE, all MINE.  When I sit in this chair I feel like swinging my arms and legs and smiling, just like little grandson Owen does when he is in the swing.  I can see that much knitting, dreaming, reading, and just contemplating the Hudson will be done from this movable perch.

But why yellow?  The chair came in white (nah, too boring) and orange-red.  But I had some canvas fabric that was originally purchased for some long forgotten project and is now destined to be used to make new seats and backs for a collection of director's chairs that have been sitting around getting grubby while they were shoved out of the way during the construction process.

The yellows don't quite match.  But there is both red and orange in the stripe and I wasn't sure red-orange would match either.  Yellow will blend in, and G and I both love bright colors.  With a cool gray house and cool gray deck, a little color is not a bad thing.

So as you can see, I have yet more sewing to do, and I haven't even finished those one-seam pants yet.  Too much back and forth is going on here for me to ever catch up.

And now that the deck is almost done those directors chairs need to be cleaned up, sanded down, repainted, and have new covers made as well. 

The list goes on and on, but the temptation to sit in the chair and just stare at the river is also great: Even though there are fewer boats on the river, apparently due to the high price of fuel, the view is remains way to entrancing to ignore:

Our Home Away from Home

Of course it always happens during a heat wave -- the AC is broken and cannot be repaired.   A replacement will not happen right away as a new condensing unit must be ordered.  Even a replacement of the same size would take a week to 10 days, and our previous system was woefully inadequate -- in fact I am probably responsible for burning it out during the heat waves we have had this summer. Knowing full well that the unit could not handle the afternoon sun on the western wall of the house, but also having an elderly ailing spouse who couldn't take the heat, I pushed the AC beyond its limit.  The power supply to the compressor is a burnt out mass of molten plastic, metal and soldered wires. The compressor is a small burnt partially charred mess.

So now we have two homes -- the hot one where I am working now, and the one shown above where we will be sleeping tonight.  Even with the windows open and the fans on, the nights during this heat spell are too warm for me too cool the house down to a tolerable level for my ailing DH.    He is lounging around in the cool hotel room while I am working at home in the heat, catching up on work, meeting a contractor and doing other tasks.  Luckily I have a cool pool, and the sun has not yet hit the house or the 50 feet of glass on the western side, so there is a cool breeze.

If the weather breaks enough that I can clear out enough residual heat to return to our bed over the weekend, we shall be home,  if not, we will have to move.  This is a resort area in high season and all local hotels are booked on the weekends for the remainder of the summer.  We shall be literally going over the river and through the woods to the far side of Kingston, the next nearest available hotel.

I don't know what will be happening with my sewing plans, but I will try to sew here and there -- who knows, freed of other duties I might find more time...or it may just be too hot.

Last night I curled up in the air-conditioned hotel and pondered fall sewing: The fall Marfy and the new Vogue Patterns both arrived.

The new Vogue Patterns looks quite promising and I think I will be making a large pattern purchase when the website is open.  The new Vogue's are not likely to be stocked in my local Jo Ann fabrics until sometime in August, and I refuse to patronize that kind of pattern rationing.

There are also quite a few Marfy pattern I like but I need a little more time to consider, look at patterns I have purchased in the past, and narrow down my selections.  Not to worry I will show you the final list when it is finally compiled.

I just don't get it

Sometimes I just don't get it.

This Chanel jacket arrived  this past week, forwarded by one of my favorite personal shoppers.  The jacket fits me beautifully, but I don't like it.

Why?

Well, it looks like a muslin, like something I just slapped together to get the fit right.

It is not a muslin.  It is actually beautifully finished, beautifully and meticulously constructed to look just like it was slapped together.

I understand about deconstruction from a purely intellectual standpoint.  I understand about exposed seams and ravelling and fringes and so forth.  But I  can't help myself.  I still fail to see why someone would spend $4,000 on a Chanel jacket that looks like something their dressmaker just slapped together in a few hours. 

I suppose, if I were the person who purchased this, (it is on sale now for about $1700) I would appreciate how beautifully it was made and get a little thrill out of the fact that it is such a meticulous piece of work even while everyone who saw me thought I was wearing some falling apart jacket that I didn't bother finishing.

But I am not that person.  And although I don't have trouble with the idea of people buying expensive clothes or investing in them to the best of my ability, I don't really get this "expensive run down" look.  Perhaps I don't have enough money to appreciate the irony.

Later in the week, I got another Chanel jacket.  This one is from the fall line and it is much more traditional.  I like it much better.  It is also cheaper, retailing for around $2700.  I am still not buying it, and it doesn't fit me well -- it fits through the shoulders and needs serious shaping below the bust.   I would enjoy making something like it however, and I have the perfect fabric in mind.

Why is it cheaper even though it is wool? Well it is much more traditionally made.  This jacket looks more like a finished jacket but it took less time to finish it properly.  There was a lot of work that went into making that other jacket look like it was unfinished.

Here is a peak of a detail from the original. 

For more you will have to seek out your nearest Neiman Marcus or Chanel boutique.  Or wait to see if I ever do anything further with the ideas this jacket has inspired.

Ending a year and starting sewing again.

Well I was determined to end my 49th year actually sewing, not just dreaming about it, and on that count I have been successful.

Last night I finally sat down and finished the blue tee.  This was originally supposed to be a "muslin" but I liked it so much that I had to finish it.  I am going to finish the purple printed tee as well, although I must have, in a fit of pique, put the remaining fabric away for a later project.  Rather than storing that fabric in my muslin pile, it got moved, following Judith's excellent suggestion that it looked like a skirt, into a future project box that is currently stored at the top of the master bedroom closet.   Since it was late, it seemed best not to go hauling things out of the top of the closet in the dark, so it will wait until I get tired of UFO's or get around to that box of fabric.

Taking pictures of a dark blue tee is not easy:

It is meant to be loose and fairly boxy and I am quite happy with it, even though I did have trouble sewing the neck band and I messed it up more than once before it went in correctly. But basically I love the tee.  The fabric is really nice, a beefy cotton knit from Wazoodle and I love the shape and size.  The neckline lies perfectly at the back of my neck and the tee does not slide back, threatening to strangle me they way most purchased boxy tees do.    This is going to be a great hang-out and exercise tee.

To refresh your memory, this tee is a morph of two patterns: Christine Johnson's 3 tees pattern and an old Vogue pattern, Vogue  8253:

When I think about what I actually did, I realize this top is mostly the Vogue pattern,  using the Christine's back neckline, which fits me much better, but using the shape of the shoulders, front neckline, and sleeve shaping from the Vogue, sized up to be somewhere between a CJ small and medium.  Actually the back is cut more in a trapeze shape between a small at the under arm and a medium at the hem, and the front is closer to a small all the way down, except that I added a little fullness at the center front for the bust..

So I have no idea how I am going to file this in the pattern file:  under the Vogue number I suppose.

I have plans to cut out another top in a really interesting textured charcoal gray knit.  But first I am making a pair of one-seam pants in a neat French terry I got from Textile Studio.  I am actually going to keep the light gray (shown in the photo) on the inside and leave the dark charcoal on the outside:

I was surprised to see that I had enough for two pairs of pants, another sign of successful weight loss.  Previously I would have had to cut them differently, using side seams, and staggering the pieces so I would have needed more length even though there would have been more waste.   This is also a boon to having TNT patterns.  I know how much yardage it takes and what to expect, whereas when fitting new patterns I have experienced some unpleasant surprises and therefore tend to buy more fabric than I need if I am not sure what I am making or how it will fit. 

I only cut one pair now, if I like them I will sew up another pair before changing the serger thread.  It shouldn't take long.

This morning I cut the pants and serged all the edges.  This probably isn't necessary as it is a pretty stable knit, but it just looks nicer.  I also serged the edges of the blue cotton border eyelet I got from Kashi in the spring: 

I am washing that and some ambiance lining since a skirt made from Simplicity 4186 will be my next project after the pants and tee are done.

I will be only using the border half of the blue cotton, so the remainder, which will be significant will be used for something else, what I don't yet know.

I have not been working steadily or at any great pace, but I have been enjoying myself.  I think I need to learn to work with more interruptions, and with an audience, and I am slowly getting used to the idea.

The new Patrones arrived today  and it is ok, but not my favorite issue so far.  That shouldn't surprise me, as generally speaking, summer clothes aren't my favorites.  I also have finally spent some time perusing the new Threads which is definitely one of the best issues they have produced recently.

I might still get some more sewing done today, but I also want to write another blog post over at that other place, and catch up with some emails so I might not get to it.  I do need to go to the gym even though it is my birthday.    I need to think of working out as being good to myself, rather than as a chore to be endured.

But I can't complain.  It is turning out to be a good day.

TNT

A significant part of my "spare" time the past few weeks has been spent looking at fabrics and dreaming of things I might make, as well as bemoaning the fact that I probably need to make a muslin of everything.  Bummer...muslins are great and I highly recommend them, but they are not conducive to instant gratification.

I have also been cleaning out my closets and trying on everything that they were harboring.  In the process, I made, what seems to me a remarkable discovery.  Many of the clothes I made two summers ago fit now, or nearly fit, which means that I actually have some patterns that fit, and they are, for the most part, basic patterns that I can use for new garments or as a basic block for altering other patterns. 

The second half of 2007 suddenly looks much brighter:

First I learned that I could wear these pants again:

These are actually just one pair of several pairs of one seam pants that are in my wardrobe, both in wovens and knits.    I also took this pattern and adapted it to be pants with a side seam, the first pair of pants I had ever made where the pants fit through the waist, hips, and crotch curve, and the side seams fell absolutely straight.   I wrote about them back in May 2005 .  All of these paints were made from a pattern I got from an online sewing class to which I can no longer find any links and I have totally changed the crotch curve, and in the standard pants with side seams, the entire shape of the pieces.

Still, I learned a lot using this pattern over a year or two and it is still has basic information which I use even when using other pants patterns.

I also learned that the straight skirt I last made two summers ago fits well and that pattern can go back into my basic pattern list without further alterations (yippee!)

I don't tend to think it matters what basic straight skirt pattern one uses, as there are only so many variations.  This particular skirt is from an OOP Sandra Betzina pattern for Vogue:

Between this skirt, and the pleated skirt pattern I used last summer and fall, I have a good foundation for several other skirts, and a good base to use when using new patterns as well.

Then I found that two older knit top patterns also fit again, or fit with only minimal work needed, perhaps a small full bust alteration, depending on the stretch factor in the particular knit being used, Butterick 3124 and Vogue 2483.

But truly the biggest thrill for me was that I almost fit back into a peach silk dress I made back in 2004 for my step-son's wedding.

It is not quite a TNT pattern as it looks a little dumpy on me now, and actually it is too small through the bust and too big through the hips.  The hip thing can be easily altered, the bust, not so much, and although I can zip the dress, I feel like my chest has been wrapped in a compression stocking, so this is not a dress I would recommend for wearing comfort. 

However, this is something I think I can easily alter, even with my relative lack of experience in FBAs. 

So I am thrilled.  With these patterns, and the two knit top patterns that are still sitting on my cutting table waiting to be perfected,  I could practically make a wardrobe in a pinch, and I can certainly use them as a starting point for working with several other styles and determining accurate pattern sizes. 

White

The accomplishments of the weekend are blue and white.  Unfortunately, no sewing was involved.

After the crew "cleaned" the pool there was still a fairly noticeable black ring or two.  We, the clients, were not happy.  I was told by the pool guy that he poured acid on it and scrubbed but it didn't come clean and that it would fade in time in the pool chemicals.  Well, that may be true, but I have had rings in the past that did not fade in pool chemicals.

  So of course I did it myself.  I didn't want to get taken off the list for water delivery, and I was afraid that we would be waiting for  these guys forever.

Besides, once I thought about it, it occurred to me that if the pool guy was right and the grime was caused by oil residue from the trains that go by several times a day, acid alone would do nothing, because you need an alkaline detergent to cut through oil residue. Although most household cleaners would probably do the trick, some one would require more elbow grease than others.

Luckily, although I am not one of those people who finds cleaning a pleasure, I do believe in keeping the appropriate tools in the house, including appropriate cleaning chemicals, and we have had many oil spills on the garage floor from G's leaky truck.

It is amazing how bright the inside of a white pool is in the sunlight. 

But the results are worth it: