Sew Distracted

June Capsule Contest

 
After much deliberation I have definitely decided that the June Capsule Contest entry will come from grouping number 3:

I have found that I have quite a few things in my wardrobe and my stash that coordinate and work into this wardrobe and given the available time and my own tendency to distracted mental wanderings, this seems to fit the time best now.  This plan also calls for at least one TNT pattern and another garment based on a TNT pattern with slight modifications.

Although this collection will evolve into something bigger than the JCC, but the Capsule Contest provides the perfect jumping off point.

I can't get my story board attempt (version 1) to show up here so I will just go through my plans garment by garment.

All the garments discussed here are part of a collection but they will not all necessarily be part of the JCC, mostly because the more I look at the fabric and its coordinates in my stash, the more I realize that there are more than 4 pieces to this collection as it is evolving in my mind.  At the moment I am calling it either "Elegantly neutral" because I love the soft neutrality of taupe as a color, or "stones in the dessert" because the color also reminds me of dessert stone outcroppings.  Actually neither description probably fits but it is all my poor brain has come up with so far.   I hate naming collections. 

I would like to make this thin, mesh-like knit from Emma One Sock into a top with some soft draping.  I am hoping that it will work for something like the Sandra Betzina pattern shown in the photo.

I will need to make a muslin or this pattern before making the top to work out any fitting details as shoulders tend to be one of my problems, but from what I hear this is not a particularly difficult pattern to fit.







This is a lovely lightweight linen.  The subtle plaid still says pencil skirt to me, but I would hate the wrinkles in the linen and a pencil skirt would drive me up the wall.  Instead I am going to make my TNT pleated skirt pattern.  I will underline it with silk organza because I would like the skirt to have a little body and it would otherwise be rather limp (especially since I washed the linen) and it will be lined as well.


These two garments are the two definite players in my JCC submission.  I think I can do both of these.

Other options follow:




I want to make a skirt inspired by this Doo-Ri skirt.  I have been thinking about it, in various iterations, since I first saw it in a fashion magazine over the winter.  My first thought was going to be gray and purple organza, and that is still a possibility, but for this collection I am going to make this skirt in four shades of beige and taupe silk, using chiffon for the layers.

It should not be particularly difficult.  I think I can work from my basic pencil skirt pattern for the lining and silk underskirt, then I just have to add the layers of chiffon. 

So even though I don't really have a particular pattern, and I don't yet have all the fabric, some of which is on order, this skirt looks pretty much like it can be accomplished during June.


Then I get into the undecided part of my quest. 

I want to make a blouse inspired by this one.  I would use a chiffon that matches one of the layers in the Doo-Ri inspired skirt.  And rather than leaving it full through the body and belting it, I plan on reigning in some of that fullness with tucks at the waist, adding a little shape.

I definitely want to make this blouse.  I can probably find a pattern that will work for the silk under-layer.  But I will have to do some draping to get the outer chiffon layer to work just the way I want it.  That might take time and I don't yet know how much of it will be able to get done with the June deadline.

So far I am OK with the rules for the contest.  Both tops go with both skirts.

I also have fabric to make this jacket:


The fabric is a stretch cotton from Emma One Sock.  I am going to line it with a soft yellow stretch silk charmeuse.

The pattern doesn't look that difficult so I might be able to pull this off if I can't quite manage the chiffon.  However I will also have to make a muslin before cutting the jacket fabric. 

So the choice is really whether my time and my attention span is adequate for draing the chiffon blouse, which may be easier but the fabric is more difficult to work with, or doing the jacket.  The cotton fabric should not give me many problems, and hopefully the jacket is easy to fit as well.  But I am always a little reluctant to count on those "should be easy to fit" plans.

If it all falls apart, I also have some taupe silk knit that is destined to be made into a simple tank or sleeveless top which will also work with both skirts.

Choices...Choices...Choices.....

So, I joined the June Capsule Contest over at Stitcher's Guild and I have been struggling to put together a workable capsule.  The problem is not that there is nothing I want to sew, more like there is so much that I want to sew but it is scattered all across the map in terms of styles and garments.  Many things don't work into a capsule that fits the required parameters, or is too complicated and will require several muslins or attempts at creating the perfect pattern, and I really am trying to make this as stress-free as possible.

I had three basic ideas in my head, involving three groups of fabrics (click on photos to enlarge in another window):

FIRST IDEA
  You might recognize three of these fabrics from my recent trip to Fishman's in  Chicago:

Clockwise from the upper left:
>blue duoppioni for a blouse
>blue/brown linen for pants and a jacket
>darker gray organza for a blouse
>Gray wool/silk fabric from Michaels (a while ago)

The problems with this plan are:

!. I haven't refined the pattern choices

2.None of them are TNT's (I know this much)

3. I think I would like the glen plaid in a pair of pants but fitting them will take a while due to issues in pants fit and wandering side seams I have in all pants.  My previously refined technique works for solids but not for plaids or stripes.  I have an idea that I am pretty sure will work, but I have not begun to test the technique so a contest might not be the best time.

SECOND IDEA

My second plan revolved around this printed linen/cotton blend fabric that I picked up from the sale table at JoAnn fabrics a couple of years ago.  It is a home dec fabric and therefore has its issues, but I absolutely love the print and the colors.  I want to make a casual jacket but once again I haven't picked out a pattern.  For this piece I suspect I am going to have think of a few likely choices, and then I am going to end up laying the pattern out on the fabric and figuring out which shape style I like best with the print.

Below the cotton are two pieces of silk matka which match the colors in the print perfectly.  The green will be a sleeveless shell of some sort.  I plan to use the red for a dress. 

I believe that the jacket fabric will work with all kinds of light colored chino and khaki-type summer pants or white, but obviously to form a capsule, I need at least one more piece and I haven't yet found the perfect coordinate.

Well, there is one possibility:

The middle piece of fabric in this photo is another silk matka, this one is a greenish gray and I think it works with both of my first two capsule plans.  It works well with the Michael's wool and although it doesn't match any of the colors in the JoAnn floral print, to my eye it seems complimentary.

Of course, if I use the gray-green, which capsule do I work with?  I am sure that I am going to make something with these groupings, but at the moment I am really having trouble focusing my attention on just what I am going to make.

So perhaps my best choice, for the June Capsule Contest, at least is to go with option number 3:

THIRD (AND MOST SUCCESSFUL) IDEA

Again, here are more of my Fishman's fabrics, as well as many of the fabrics that I had swatched for my trip to Chicago.  From the top Center:

>two pieces of pink/coral silk duoppioni for a blouse  
>yellow/gray/coral cotton/spandex print from Emma One Sock.  Jacket weight.
>light weight linen from Michael's. 
>light weight knit from Emma One Sock
>taupe silk/linen/nylon rainwear.

This grouping is coming together much better in my head at the moment. 

I know I want to make a skirt out of the Michael's linen.  The weave of the fabric says "pencil skirt" to me but the light weight and the fact that it is linen tells me I need something with a little more volume.  I have two or three patterns in mind which will work and I can narrow my choices from there.

I also have good ideas as to what top I want to make with the deep taupe floral knit from Emma One Sock.

I have plans for another skirt and a blouse which will work with these fabrics, but I don't have all the fabrics out yet and there is one fabric I need to order. The two tops would work with both of the skirts so that should not be a problem.  The skirt could be adapted from my basic pencil skirt pattern.  The blouse will have to be draped, but will hopefully not be too difficult.

I could also make a jacket using either the rainwear or the printed cotton.  I will make both jackets eventually, but I need to refine pattern choices, and I suppose I need to commit to which garments will be my contest entries. 

More as I refine my plans.

Knitting Update

Typead has upgraded the post-editing features and although everything looks promising for the future, at the moment it is driving me crazy.  I couldn't get links in yesterday.  I haven't mastered getting the pictures the way I want them, and I just don't have the patience right now.

Here's a rather blurry photo of me wearing the binario tee that I finished a few weeks ago.  It is part of a set designed by L'Atelier in Redondo Beach CA, called Compare and Contrast.  I call the tee Compare. As you can see, I am wearing it over a turtleneck rather than a camisole -- although I am generally loving the extended spring we are having, I admit that I would like it even more if it were cool and sunny so that I could bring out a few more spring and summer clothes.

The knitted fabric of this tee is very fragile and easily snagged. As I have been working around the house today, I have folded the ends of my turtleneck sleeves over the end of the binario tee, to help prevent future snags.

We still (at 4 PM) don't have water.  We were told that we were the third in line when I spoke to the pump person this morning.  He really was not convinced he would get here today but he did call me when he went to the second house  on the list at about 12:30 to tell me that if he didn't make it, we would be the first on the list for tomorrow -- so it looks like another night in the hotel.  Luckily we reserved a room this morning "just in case" as it is a busy holiday weekend with an antiques fair and two college graduations.

[ updated to add that the pump repair person will be here at 8 AM tomorrow ]


I did use a little bit of water to wet the pieces of the contrasting vest (Contrast) which is supposed to go with this tee.  After the soak, I heated the water, which had turned pink, to  wash up a few lunch dishes.  It has been a long time since I have washed with hot water from the stove, and I keep forgetting and reaching for the tap.  We are able to get water from one of our neighbors, but it is a long haul up an down the driveway with full two gallon water buckets.

Here is "contrast" on the blocking board:

I have started a new project: I was just too tired and too distracted to do any complicated color work, or to try and figure out where I was in some previous project, or to match yarn to pattern, so I just grabbed some old Missoni yarn and am making a sweater in the round without a pattern.  In fact I am working with out a gauge swatch either, as I started it in the hotel last night and didn't want to wait.  I'll just keep my fingers crossed until I get a little further along and see how I am doing (I have less than an inch so far)

The yarns are Missoni Shanghai, Missoni Caprera, (cream), Gedifra Crocheta (light olive green) and GGH Monsun (dark green).
 
At any rate, although the water issue is a bit of a pain, I am happy to have power and internet service, as well as a phone.  Most of my neighborhood is still without phone service -- there are only two of us who switched our phone and internet service to the local cable company last year.  That came back up within a few hours; the phone company is telling my other neighbors that they will have phone service by tomorrow sometime.  Luckily I also have cell-phone service as the town of Red Hook put a tower in near the Hudson a year or two ago and my house, being close to the river, picks up it's signal.  The people on beyond the ridge behind my house don't pick up that very well either and my town is embroiled in a discussions about when and where to put a cell tower.

Fishman's Fabric Haul

I promised to post photos of my haul from Fishman's Fabrics after my Chicago Weekend, a month ago now.  I did have swatches of a group of fabrics for which I was trying to find coordinates.  For the most part I was successful.

First are two pieces of silk organza.  They are two separate shades of gray, a very nice quality of organza. 

They were purchased to go with another piece of organza, to work with a particular set of garments:












Unfortunately in the intervening time my plans have changed so the garment I described to my companions is now going to exist in a different fabrication.  Needless to say these organzas will be used.  I am fairly picky about organza, the cheap stuff really makes me itch and is not worth the agony incurred when using it in a garment.

Two colors of silk duoppioni, the perfect shades to coordinate with a particular fabric, and another piece of duoppioni which coordinates with my original fabric as well as with a stunning piece of linen I found at Fishman's.











Here you can see all the fabrics that I was planning to work with, the original fabrics which were already in my stash, and the new additions:


Well, actually, I don't have the organza in this photo, but you get the idea.  I will be telling you more about these fabrics over the next few days as I plan the garments I intend to make.  At least some of these are also possible for the June Capsule Contest over at Stitcher's Guild, about which I will also be writing.

There is one last piece of fabric I purchased at Fishman's, A stunning piece of linen, destined to be a dress:



I want to write more but now I have to head out to dinner and my hotel for the night, where I unfortunately do not have internet access (because my portable computer is still not working and not yet in the shop).

We had big thunderstorms here this afternoon and lost power briefly, phone/internet service for several hours and we also lost our water supply.  There was one big, really really close lightening strike.   I suppose that the electricity in the ground fried the pump that operates our well.

I won't know more 'til tomorrow.  DH thinks we are going to camp out here without running water for the weekend.  I am not convinced. 

Yipee Ki Yo!!

When Marji  told me that the May Knipmode had the pattern for a particular Bottega Veneta dress I knew I had to get a copy.

It arrived today and I am thrilled.  I can't wait to make the dress.  And there are couple of other things I like as well -- a Valentino suit perhaps? A blouse with a fabulous ruffled neckline? 

So now I am officially overwhelmed with ideas of things I want to sew.  Just think a year ago I thought I had lost my style and I found just getting dressed to be stressful, now I want the world to go away and let me sew, sew, sew.  Well, I also want time to go out and wear all these new creations once I have made them.

I know I also promised to post pictures of the fabrics purchased at Fishman's.  Those have arrived too, I just need to get them photographed.

Home

We have returned from our travels and I am busy doing laundry, sorting through buckets of mail and generally trying to get life settled back into some semblance of normality -- when I figure out whatever normal is supposed to be.

I had intended to post while I was away but the portable computer is down, I think I probably did something stupid one night in a sleep-deprived state of frustration -- but fixing that is yet one more thing on my to do list.

I did finish the robe before we left, and it proved to be the perfect companion to the pajamas. 

At first I had great, over-ambitious, plans.  I was going to use French seams and make everything just so perfect, but the reality of a certain lack of time brought me to my senses.  It is quilting cotton after all, no reason to go crazy.  So this ended up being simple sewing, serged edges, simple seams, no fuss. 

I traced off a pattern from a favorite robe so I pretty much knew what to expect, except that the cotton fabric has much less drape than the rayon of the original robe.  I made all the narrow tubes for ties and sash loops then turned them at the doctor's office when I was playing chauffeur one day only to find that in the end I didn't really need them all.  At least they entertained me for a bit.

I decided I liked the robe better without the sash.  The cotton is stiff enough that the robe was not flattering belted and tied, but it hangs gracefully on its own.  I ended up using a simple hidden hook and eye and leaving it at that.

We came home to find the irises in bloom, apparently the only bit of springtime cheer going on up here.  Although it was warm in Tennessee, I am told it remained cool here the entire time we were gone.    Despite the fact that the pool was opened before we left, and the solar heater is running, the water is still a chilling 63 degrees.

It looks like summer is still a little ways away.  But of course that could change tomorrow.

It does however strike me as somewhat funny that although I am still hoping for warm weather and don't yet have my summer clothes out and in circulation, the new Harper's Bazaar has arrived and is filled with predictions and plans for fall clothing (despite the Nicole Richie's summer frock on the cover).

Right about now joining Marji's coat sew-along sounds like a good idea.

Tagged!

Materfamilias tagged me for the following meme:

1. Pick up the nearest book.
2. Turn to page 123
3. Find the fifth sentence
4. Post the next three sentences.
5. Tag five people and acknowledge who tagged you.

As it happens, I am in the midst of  packing preparations and I have two books on my desk, stacked one atop the other.  One is the book I hoped to finish, but have not, and the other is the book I hoped to take with me and begin, but will not.

Because I cannot decide, which book to use, and because the precedent has been set, I shall post from both:

From Doris Kearns Goodwin's Team of Rivals

If he wanted a seat in the U.S. Senate, however, he would need the support of Ohio Democrats, a task that would not be made easier by assaulting a Democratic president.

Of the four future presidential rivals, only Edward BAtes matched the vehemence of Lincoln's opposition.  He charged Polk with "gross & palpable lying, " arguing that the true object of the war was "plunder and conquest."

And from the other book, Jonathan Coe's The Rain Before it Falls comes this passage:

She came back from dinner that night rather early -- at about ten o'clock.  Beatrix and Thea had already gone to bed. I poured Rebecca one of those brandies for which we were rapidly starting to develop an appetite, and told her of Beatrix's request.

Well, now I really want to start reading that new book and find out what is going on, but alas it will have to wait.  The anticipation will be sweet indeed.

But first I need to share the fun and pass this on to five friends.

I select  Liana, Marji, Grace, Gina, and lastly Lisa at Blackwater Park  (if and when she finds the time, which may or may not be likely).

That said.  I am going to shut down the computer and prepare myself for vacation mode.  I will have my portable with me, and I hope to get time to post as I do have things to share, but frankly,  that 20 month old darling of a grandson gets first dibs on my attentions, so we'll see what I get to...no promises.

Oooh! Fabric!

There has been no sewing this week, although I still hope to whip out a simple robe in the two days remaining before my departure for Tennessee and DSD's doctoral hooding.

However, a package arrived from Vogue Fabrics with my Chicago purchases.  It included this:

The silk duopioni on the left is an odd shade of gray/brown/bronze that happens to pick up the colors in a group of fabrics around which I wish to build a small grouping or collection.  In fact all the fabrics in this photo blend into that grouping and are in the color families I was seeking out.

The two left fabrics were on sale for $2.99 a yard.  The two organzas on the right are 54" wide and were also on sale.  I purchased more than I will probably need for my group, although I might use them as underlining.  I am not worried about finding a use for these.  Organza is a basic and these colors are perfect colors for blending with many of my fabric choices.

Then we get to the frivolous stuff, the fabrics that were not in the plan.  One was on sale, one was not.

This cotton lawn was light and felt sinfully soft and smooth.  It is a good shade of red for me and I love the geometric pattern.  At $2.99 a yard it seemed like I would be foolish to resist.   It will become a lightweight summer top.

I also purchased this lovely wool.  Several of us looked at it and decided it wasn't quite right.  When I went back for a second look it seemed like it was the perfect shades of gray with a touch of brown and muted blue that I wear well.  When I saw that it was a panel and the size of the panels I knew what I wanted to make and so, after further consultation with Patti and Patty, it went into my bag.   Since this will be a fall project I will not start it now but I am planning to put it in my bag for San Francisco in July, when I will be participating in another Sandra Betzina sewing week.  It looks like I am developing a sense of what I will be sewing that week and I will start gathering together my projects and setting them aside the end of this month, when we get back from Tennessee and the Carolinas.  I will update you more about the plans at that time.

The package from Fishman's has not arrived.  One fabric needed to be ordered and I was told it would be about a week before they would be able to ship.  If it arrives Monday I will post photos.  Otherwise, since I am leaving for 10 to 12 days early Tuesday morning, it will all have to wait.

I DID finish one knitting project:
This is the tee I have been working on knit from Trendsetter's Binario  yarn.  The pattern is by L'Atelier in Redondo Beach, CA and is part of a set called "Compare and Contrast".  It was the sweater-of-the-month for May 2007.  Hey one year late, not so bad.

I have started the contrasting vest that goes with it, but I have already worn the tee once over a thin cotton turtleneck.  It may be May but it is still cold here.  Unfortunately it has been cold and gray, gray, gray, so photo ops have been limited.  Perhaps by the time I finish the vest, the sun will have come out again.