Sew Distracted

Summer Heat

 This beautiful fabric arrived in the mail last week, a surprise gift from a friend.   When I first opened it I was awed by the beauty of the strong colors.  It practically shimmers with hot summer heat. I noticed the texture and assumed it was linen, but I was distracted and I didn't really feel the fabric, didn't run it through my hands and assess its drape.  It is not linen; rather it is silk.  And I still think it is beautiful.

But what should it become?  My first thought was that I should make a dress.  But I had a much harder time pinning down what kind of dress.  A shirtdress?  A sundress?  I came up short on ideas.  I thought of things but had trouble visualizing them as something chic and modern.  I thought that as much as I love the pattern, cutting the dress and not ending up with something that looked old or dated or fusty was harder.  Retro chic is not my thing.  What to do? What to do?

I thought I would turn to a master of bright, even ethnic print.  I started looking through the archives of Dries Van Noten's last several spring/summer collections.  As usual I came up with lots of inspiring ideas, although not necessarily for this particular fabric.  I continued to think that a dress might be nice, but that I should play with shape or drape. Perhaps some interesting placement of the pattern would work well.  Tucks, pleats, and interesting folds figure heavily in the 2010 collection and there is much potential there although it would require some playing with pattern and muslin.

 I also thought the pattern might work well as a light jacket or a skirt, or perhaps both, although not to wear together,  worn together I might look more like I was wearing some draperies resurrected from the 1970s.

In the Vogue Pattern catalog, this new jacket caught my eye.  It has the right amount of interest and drape, and is geometric enough to play well with the pattern.  This is a strong possibility.

 Although I was originally thinking of a narrower skirt, one perhaps with a bit of drape or interesting play with line, I also recognize that there is potential in this skirt from the April Burda Style magazine. Actually, I tend to waver on this, worrying about whether it is just right, or if I am once again falling back into old habits and assumptions:  if you don't know what to do make a skirt.

I haven't made a decision yet.  There are several things that are higher on my list of priorities at the moment.  But the fabric is here, and I have intentionally left it out, draped over Matilda, waiting to see what ideas arise. It has indeed captured my fancy and my dreams.

365 and counting

 Sometimes I think that my true avocation is as a cataloger.  Not that I don't do other things, but I do love lists.  I love reading them; I love creating them.  I love maintaining them.  Because I love lists I was attracted to medieval literature.  Who but the medieval author would throw a list of all the known birds or colors in the middle of a poem?  Because of my love of lists I was drawn to early literature, and beyond the Medieval, to 16th century literature and Spenser (portrait of Spenser courtesy of Wikipedia).  Because I wrote my thesis on Spenser, I was hired by a computer time sharing company and discovered my love of computers, and later, my love of databases.  Lists come full circle from the Medieval to the Modern.

How does this relate to sewing, you ask?   Well, I have been playing with databases again, learning Filemaker, a database program with which I have no prior experience, but I do have experience with databases in general.  I started with a simple offshoot, and discovered it didn't do what I wanted, and I am moving on, slowly.  

I am cataloging my sewing patterns (knitting patterns too, and fabrics, among other things).  I have only just begun, and so far I have 365 items in the pattern database.  That is a lot of patterns, and truthfully, I have only scratched the surface.  There are not even two file drawers full.  Now there aren't 365 paper patterns in there, yet.  Some pattern envelopes contain multiple garments but I am only interested in one. Some contain multiple garments and I am interested in several; these get separate listings for each garment.  By doing this I can easily pull up a screen full of pattern illustrations or even of line drawings.  I can search by type of garment, or by recommended fabric, or anything else for that matter.  Do I want to remember why I bought four 2" buckles?  I can search for the pattern.  

There is great potential here.  My brain is buzzing with ideas.  Each time I enter a pattern, either new or old, my enthusiasms are renewed.  But there is also a fair amount of duplication.  I am weeding as I go, noticing how many jackets or dress patterns have the same lines, identical styles.  There is very little new under the sun.  Are the differences enough to warrant storing the pattern, or are they extraneous?  Decisions must be made.

In the meantime new patterns are always available.  The new Vogues are up.  The April Burda Style arrived. Do you think I would ignore these sources despite pattern overload?  Not on your life.  But I am trying to be more careful.  It is easier now.  I look on line at the Vogue patterns.  As I look at a dress, I pull up similar dresses in the background on my monitor.  Sometimes I pass the new pattern by.  Sometimes I don't.

 Which patterns have caught my eye and survived the cut?

This caftan by Ralph Rucci was an obvious and immediate choice.  First it is by Ralph Rucci, although I wouldn't necessarily buy a pattern just for the designer name, Rucci is a long time favorite and I am very biased.  Secondly I adore caftans.  I adore putting on a caftan at the end of a long day.  Perhaps this stems from something in the styles of my childhood, of dreams of women in colorful caftans by the pool, drinks in hand. But to me, an elegant caftan is the epitome of luxury.  

 But what else?  More practical things perhaps?  No, I guess not.

This dress isn't particularly practical.  It is classic, timeless enough that I could wear it for a long time, elegant.  I don't yet have anything like it in my catalog and I doubt I have many patterns in this vein.  This is a style that I didn't think would look good on me when I was younger.  It  might not have then, or it might have been a missed opportunity.  It is an opportunity I don't think I want to miss this time around.  I might not wear a dress made out of this pattern often, but I would wear it, and feel elegant doing so.

 Then there is this dress.  This is much more practical, more versatile.  It is a nice pattern.  It is also similar to others.  It is not that unusual, but there is a bit of difference, small variations in the seaming, the slight crossing at the front.  Is this worth purchasing again?  I could probably duplicate it.  Would I do so?  At the moment I am leaning toward buying this pattern.  If I wait for the sale it is not a large outlay of cash, actually it is more of a storage issue.  But so far I am leaning toward getting this one. 

There are quite a few other pretty, nice usable Vogue patterns this time.  Most of them are small variations on designs that are produced over and over again.  For the most part, I already own those designs. The new variations may show me new ways to work an old pattern, but I don't need the new pattern to achieve this.   That doesn't mean I am not looking at anything else though.

 There is this Miyake pattern.   I like both the pieces.  The jacket is interesting.  I have almost similar short jacket patterns with interesting seaming, but not quite this.  It is interesting enough, and appealing enough that I would buy it.  

As a bonus, I like the wide pants too, although I would not wear the two pieces together.  My younger slimmer self might have done that, but not my current self.    I see these pants as perfect casual summer pants for entertaining around the deck or the pool, for casual summer parties with a close fitting top to balance the fullness on bottom.   I might even wear them with a little wrap top from this Koos pattern (Vogue 2971). 

 As for Burda, there are a lot of pretty things in the April issue, but to my jaded eyes they mostly look like reconfigurations of the same-old same-old and I will probably pass them by.  This blouse has really caught my eye though.  It is the combination of the ruffles, and the simple deep v-neckline with the stand-up collar.  I passed it by originally, and then a particular fabric came into mind.  I don't know if that fabric will work, more about that later, but it made me reevaluate the pattern.  

 The more I think about it, the more I believe that this one might just have a place in my summer blouse collection.

Yesterday

It took me all day to hem three pairs of jeans yesterday, and I still have the chinos to go. Instead of hemming the pants now, I am sitting here trying to write a blog post and my mind is coming up blank, whirling with all the things I want to do, want to make, the ideas swirling in my brain and not somehow finding their way to my fingertips.

Yesterday made me wonder how I am going to find the time to do all the things I want to do.  It should have been an easy day.  I finished my chores early.  I had planned the time.  But it just didn't work out that way.  It was a day filled with interruptions and questions and general confusion, and each time I thought I had everything settled down, it all erupted right back up again.

There, it feels better just to write it down.  

Tomorrow will better.  And at least I hemmed the jeans.  I wonder why I always put chores like that off.  It didn't take long to try them on, turn them up, cut, turn up the new hem and stitch.  Easy.  What is it that makes me want to start some complicated new project rather than finish some small simple task that will immediately make life simpler?

Shopping

Spring hit me rather hard last week.  

The temperature was gloriously warm.  The sun was shining, and suddenly all those lovely, newly fitting winter clothes seemed dark and dreary and drab.  Oh I am sure there will be opportunity to wear them yet.  I am well aware that last week was warmer than most of last summer, but spring fever was upon me.

Unfortunately spring clothes are still in short supply around here and I had no real intention of making them all.

 I had already ordered a stack of tees, having discovered that I had only one long sleeve cotton tee, a wardrobe necessity.  The one in hand was a deep blue-purple, nice but limiting.  A supply of black and white was immediately necessary, and few flattering colors wouldn't hurt.  Luckily I quickly discovered that J. Crew's "perfect fit" tees did, indeed, fit me perfectly.

But then, with the warm weather I was itching to get to work in the yard, which has been long neglected.  I refuse to garden in St. John wool knit pants however, or heels, and more shopping was in order, namely for basic pants to get me through the summer working in the yard and running in to town to get mail or make a quick stop at the lumberyard or garden supply store.  

Nothing fancy was required, just jeans and/or chinos.  I could make them.  I have made jeans, although not completely satisfactorily, and I wanted jeans that functioned but in which I also felt comfortable going to town. I also wanted my jeans now, not three muslins from now so I went shopping. Perhaps this is too much to ask, but luckily I continue to be able to find nice jeans.

 In fact the day I went jeans-shopping last week, my first stop ended up being my last stop.  I walked into the Gap, pulled two pairs of jeans off the shelf in two different styles and made my way to the dressing room.  Both pairs fit fabulously.  

I ended up with two pairs of "Always skinny" jeans, one in a dark wash for going to town and one in a medium wash which will hopefully function for all casual activities.  I've been without dark wash jeans for a few months now, and I've missed them.  I seem to have come late to the appreciation of dark jeans.

As for the medium wash.  I promptly got online and ordered two more pairs as they only had one pair in the store in my size.  I've already hemmed the first pair and worn them in the garden all weekend.  And I am quite grateful that The Gap uses a fairly standard jeans-type topstitching thread so that the thread in my stash matched the thread used on the jeans.  It really bugs me when the stitching at the hem does not match the rest of the jeans, even in the garden.

As for the other pairs, they too are necessary, even though I am trying to get away from buying too many multiples.  After all I would like to have two pairs of jeans lest one pair be covered in mud or grass or what-have-you, and I prefer not to have to wash my jeans every night if I am working in the yard.  Every other night is often enough.

And I also need a pair to leave long to wear with heels.  Yes, I wear jeans with heels.  I wear medium wash jeans with heels.  I used to feel guilty about this.  I am far too prone to guilt.  I don't wear my dark wash straight (read skinny, although the skinny jeans are not nearly as skinny on me as on the model) jeans with heels, but I do wear the medium wash jeans.  It finally occurred to me that my issue with jeans is not dressing them up by wearing a dark wash, my issue is using jeans to dress a more formal garment down.  I wear the medium wash jeans to take the formal edge off a too formal or too dressy jacket so that I can wear it around town without feeling like I've gotten all gussied up.

I am completely relieved to have that settled in my head.

 I also came home with a pair of dark wash boot cut jeans. I haven't had a pair of dark wash jeans since November when I finally recognized that my old pair was unflatteringly large and I have missed them terribly. They are my preferred silhouette, along with trouser jeans, as they make my legs look longer.   I don't really need multiples of these.  Or perhaps I wish I did, because I think I could live in them.  But I don't, need them that is. And having too many pairs of the exact same style is boring, except when they are needed of course.

A nicely fitting pair of chinos seems to be  more problematic.  Perhaps I will end up sewing those.  But then again, perhaps not.

The problem is, if shopping is so easy, a couple of issues pop into my head:

If I can go to a store and get clothes that fit and I like easily, why should I bother trying to reach my weight loss goal?  Isn't the whole thing about feeling comfortable with myself?And if I have clothes that fit and flatter, I tend to feel comfortable with myself.   Of course that is the same thought that got me started gaining weight in the first place. 

Secondly, if I can buy jeans or chinos, why should I sew them?  Luckily I live in an age when I can run to the store and buy manufactured clothes.  I do not have to literally clothe myself and my family.  This is a good thing.  Besides I would rather sew something I enjoy sewing.  Actually, finding clothes I like is rather liberating.  It takes the pressure off.  That sense of desperation, of not having something to wear is gone.  Now I can just enjoy.

And the Winner is

Thank you all for your comments and interest in the Marfy pattern.  

I entered you all into the drawing this morning and the winner is Aud!

Today, I must get out in the yard and start doing something to reclaim this piece of property after a few years of neglect.  And I do mean must, not just as an obligation because I live here and have a certain amount of pride, but because the warm sunshine of the last few days has me dreaming of plants and flowers and gardens and yes, vegetables too.  It is only March.  Our last frost date is still a couple of months away.  But garden I must.  I am looking forward to pulling things out of the ground and stamping around in the slushy mud that remains.  I am sure there must be some deeper meaning there, but I prefer not to contemplate it.

But first I must go hem a pair of jeans.  I will not go out digging and uprooting things in nice wool pants and heels.  More about that later.

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.