Sew Distracted

Hello From The Studio

There have been some happy hours spent in the studio this summer and yet at the same time there is very little to show for that effort.   Much of that was spent in handwork practice that I am not ready or willing to share, or that is not mine to share.  Some time was also spent with some older textiles, refreshing my memory regarding textile restoration, hand work, and organizing thoughts and plans.  It always seems like the planning bit is the longest part of anything really, and in many ways the least amenable to blogging because it can take me days to organize my thoughts into a path, and longer yet before that path becomes coherent.

 

Why should it be so complicated you ask?  Don't I just want to make clothes?  Well, yes. Yes I do, but being myself, I can even manage to turn that into a maelstrom of musings.

 

First however, I finally finished the bookcase that goes in the Northwest corner of the studio.  It had been partially assembled, and I had some piles here and there, mostly on the pressing table, making it unavailable for current projects.

 

Here is the finished corner now.  Well the rubber mallet is no longer on the floor; it has been properly put away.  I added four cubes, and shifted the bookcase slightly so it occupies that entire end of the room between window and wall.  This required moving the white plastic cubitec unit that I had built in the laundry room, and later found to be less useful than I had hoped, out of the basement and across the way to the studio.  Then of course I had to remove all the books, expand the bookcase and put everything back.   

 

This all took place over a series of days.  The books were sorted and put in order.  Then there was a mad frenzy of searching because it seems very apparent to me that a box, or two, of books is missing, and yet I cannot find them anywhere.  I am certain I had certain books, equally convinced that I would not have given them away for anything, and yet they are nowhere to be found.  It is completely illogical that, of all the things that could disappear in a move, two boxes of books would be the items that would "fall off the truck".    I have no explanation. I probably never will, and really it is irrelevant.

 

But it was a great deal of fun to reacquaint myself with my knitting, sewing, and fiber books.  Many happy. hours were spent reading, looking at patterns, dreaming dreams.   I still think I want to come up with some plan for cataloging the patterns in the various volumes and magazines, as well as the notebooks full of patterns I have clipped over the years but I am really not sure if I will ever get to that.  The world is full of patterns, and yet, I also discovered there remain many things I still want to knit, or to knit again.

 

There is still a lot of organizing that must happen before the studio is fully functional but increasingly it is becoming a space that works for me.  I really like what I have achieved so far, and it has proved functional and maintainable. There are still some boxes of things to sort through, and the two bins of UFOs are larger than I would like, but at least everything is together in a coherent way. 

 

I did get all the sewing patterns organized, or most of them.  There is a small basket of about a dozen patterns that have turned up here and there on my desk waiting for me to get around to cataloging and filing them.  I also got about 1/3 of the yarn stash photographed, catalogued, and put away.  The remainder has been corralled but I need to work on plans for how to organize the storage closet.  I got started, changed my mind, and temporarily abandoned the project.  I can't resume cataloging until I have a coherent way to sort and store the cataloged yarn. I rearranged the sewing tables, but haven't yet shifted the way I store tools and small things so that they work with the new sewing arrangement. Actual sewing then, as opposed to cutting and flat table work, is still a little bit of an adventure.

 

I bought fast-dry foam and sunbrella fabric to make new cushions for the outdoor seating, but then, when I had the time and energy, we were drenched in rainfall.  Now that it is dry, I once again do not have the energy.  Sooner or later it will all come together. In the meantime the materials are in their own corner, waiting peacefully.

 

The last time I wrote, dress patterns were on my mind.  They still are.  I ordered more muslin because I was out but I have not made much progress on the dress front.  The five dress patterns are dresses I will wear again and again, and I have no problem with that.  I am living in the three dresses I made.  They are pretty much worn, washed, and worn again.  I am perfectly content.  I could simply make more dresses and continue on my merry way.

 

But I also have a closet, a closet that contains clothes, mostly separates, that need to be worn.  Sewing dresses is easy because I don't have to coordinate them with anything else.  But what do I do about my other clothes?  I do want to wear them.  And I don't particularly want a closet full of widows and orphans.  In the past I just sewed, and knitted, whatever it was that I felt like sewing or knitting at the time, and hoped that eventually it would go with something in my closet.  But I think I want to take a more organized approach. I want a closet where everything works together, or at least with its own capsule of items.   And this means both more time thinking about what I have and what I need, and also more shifting to a more organized approach.

 

It started with these slim stretch cotton ankle pants.  They fit now and I very much like them.  Except that, as you can see, they were initially too wide at the ankle.  I don't recall if that was the style when I purchased them, (whenever that was; I am surprised I held on to them) or if I just have narrow ankles in comparison to my hips.  But I don't think the combination of this width and this length is flattering.

So I thought I could take them in, tapering down from the knee.  I didn't want to take up too much, because doing that would require dissassembling the entire pant, recutting it and putting it back together.  It would be easier just to make new pants.   The pants are now about 1 1/2 inches narrower at the ankle than they were in the photo above (see lower two photos). And the blue thread is really not that bright in real life.  

I think they look much better.  But the process of altering the pants made me think about what I have in my closet and what goes with what.  Although I was thrilled to find something I had forgotten that fit me now, I was also frustrated to see a closet full of clothes that do technically fit, but which I have no idea how to wear so that they work for the person I am now, with the body I reside in now.  I need to figure it out.  I need to let go of what doesn't work, regardless of whether it fits, and I need to have a plan to make and/or buy things that I will actually use  together with the things I have.  

 

And so it seems I have a whole new project. I have started working on that: pulling clothes out of the closet to see what goes with what, trying on outfits, photographing them, putting everything back away.  It is daunting because I have to try everything.  I've been avoiding buying new things or making new things because I didn't know what I had, and opening the closet was overwhelming. It is one thing to add a new item to an existing wardrobe that woks well together, and to create outfits and play with ideas.  It is somewhat more exhausting when when I don't know how anything goes together, and many of the things I once wore no longer work for who I am now.  Sometimes it feels like this closet belonged to someone else and I am, in some ways, starting from scratch.  It is all exhausting.  It is also very rewarding as I have a much better sense of who I am now and what I want to wear now in this stage of my life.  I am gaining a more focused sense of what I need and what I want.  

For example, one thing I noticed is that the above pants look much better with the pointy toed flats than they did with the ankle-high buckled sandals.  I  discovered that I like a necklace that sits much closer to my collarbone.  The 18" strand of pearls in the top photo is too long and needs to be shortened, probably to somewhere near 16".  Pearls that are never worn because the lengths of the strands are wrong can be restrung.

 

I am developing a catalog of sorts of what works, and series of lists and plans.  I don't want to make, or even spend money buying, something that doesn't work.  Oh one of the things about making is that not everything works, and I am sure I will make many duds, but at least I won't be flying blind. I am not sewing now and yet, finally, I am becoming increasingly focused and excited about the options ahead.

 

Learning

I haven't been quite as absent from the sewing studio as I have been from this blog, but I can't say that I've been making earth shattering progress either.  

 

I finally got around to finishing up the sloper that my friend Liana helped me start the beginning of March, and which I transferred from film wrap to paper the beginning of April.  It is what, the end of May now?  I am certain that a little more timeliness would have helped the project, but at least I am slowly inching forward.

 

I used that first paper draft of my sloper to make a pattern draft for a cardigan I was knitting, a cardigan meant to be rather boxy and knit with positive ease.  I wanted something a little less boxy, with better shape around the shoulders, so I plunged ahead, even though I had not yet made any attempt to fit that muslin.  Yes, fools rush in.  But there will be more about that on the knitting blog.  There would be more already but I have suffered from a great failure to take photographs of progress along the way.  

 

Anyway, although it seems incongruous, playing  with shaping through knitting has been instructive mostly because of the scale.  I don't have to cut an entire garment, I can play with shaping incrementally, ripping and reknitting as needed.  It may sound painfully slow but it has also been an instrumental process in helping me clarify my thoughts.

 

Eventually I decided I needed to fit the muslin.  

It went pretty well, and mostly was spot on.  The seams ended up where they were supposed to be. The neck and the armscyes were mostly ok.  The bust however was problematic.  Whether we compressed my breast tissue too much with the plastic wrap, or I componed the problem by allowing the plastic to relax somewhat I will never know.  You can see that I don't have enough width in the bust in the photo above, and the pulling is also pulling the armscye out of alignment -- that pucker.  It needed more work.  

 

Actually, in this photo I have actually captured one of the few times in my life where I have felt busty, or accepted that I might actually need a full bust adjustment.  Oh I knew it in my head, and although I gained volume post menopause, I also accepted retroactively that I had probably needed larger cups sizes when I was young and skinny and thought of myself as "dartless", a moniker coined by my mother and which I apparently struggled to outgrow, despite all evidence to the contrary.  In all likelihood I simply needed a smaller band size, and bigger cup size than I could find in my local JC Penny.  Add that to my own, also probably culturally-informed issues with my scoliosis, and let's just say that I wasn't helping myself in the fitting department.  

 

But this is not the time root out the past; rather it is time to dress me, now.

 

It seems this meandering path toward fitting and sewing has been a process of reaching some understanding.  My full bust is slightly over 5 inches larger than my high bust.  Obviously then I need full bust adjustment and I need darts. I wear a fairly small band size, slightly larger since breast-cancer surgery for comfort reasons, but that is neither here nor there.  I am also not only asymmetrical but tallish (5'9") and have a long torso, both of which serves deemphasize the bust, which can be to my benefit. Except when it is not, when it keeps me from fully realizing my own options.

 

Still I learned some things.  I did need more width at the bust, but not a lot, and mostly on the right rather than on the left.  There goes that old asymmetry thing again.  And I needed more length on the left than on the right.   

 

I didn't take another photo, post pattern-correction, and I was not absolutely meticulous about every little detail.  My plan for this muslin was that it offer fitting help and give me an idea of how to work with patterns and my own three-dimensional shape, not be a perfect model for drafting future patterns.  In fact, I am still having trouble wrapping my head around patterns, and how this muslin translates to other shapes.  That is part of the process I am sure.  Hopefully long forgotten muscle memory will be activated as I progress and I will not spend all my times floundering in the weeds.  

Here are the front pieces.  As you can see the asymmetrically is not is markedly noticeable here, at least not as much as in the back, see previous post for that.  I haven't gone to the trouble to give you a photo that highlights scale or the actual differences or sizes of anything here.  That is not the point for me at this moment.  Right now, this exercise is as much conceptual as it is practical. My immediate sewing needs are for summer garments.  Heat and humidity are not compatible with closely fitted garments in my experience.    I could probably spend my life playing with perfecting something that is supposed to be an abstract guideline.  And then I would have nothing to wear.

 

I don't think I want to think about any of it at all right now.  But I will.  I assume I will have to.

 

Sloper beginnings

A little late here despite my best intentions.

Beginnings of a sloper.  This is what scoliosis does, rendered in two dimensions.  And I am extremely grateful for it.  The alternatives, in my case, had I never had surgery, would be far far worse.

 

When Liana was here at the beginning of March, we made a cling wrap sloper.  We were both a little out of practice, and I could have purchased something more clingy, but it was a good start. I had every intention of transferring the fragile plastic to paper and then making a muslin immediately.

 

Life took a different turn.

 

This is not a surprise.  I made one of these before, when I lived in New York, and it was phenomenally helpful with fitting and pattern alterations.  I knew already that I was not symmetrical.  And yet looking at a flat paper version of oneself is somehow still disconcerting.  None of us are perfectly symmetrical.  None of us are without flaws.  None of us is truly comfortable seeing any part of ourselves as we truly are.

 

A certain balance will be achieved when I trace off the fronts.  This means that if the left back is smaller than the right back, the left front will be larger than the right front.  As I said I already knew this.  I haven't cut pattern pieces double, or even on a fold, for years.  In terms of ready to wear, it explains why separates, and simple, loosely fitting garments are easier for me to wear, than more fitted options.

Here is another picture.

You can see not only the difference in size, but also the difference in torque or angle.  I find this rather exciting and I am looking forward to the process of exploration and discovery that is about to begin.

 

Alas April and May are phenomenally busy and I have some non-clothing sewing that must be done in the immediate future.  Although I am pretty desperate for summer clothing, I am also not interested in rushing.  I am hoping that as I can get to sewing, I can also start with simple, less fitted garments, which may be my preference once the heat and humidity arrive, and expand my options as time and energy allow. Whereas my younger self would have found this frustrating, now I am patiently content.  Time and energy may not be in great supply at the moment, but that too will change, and anticipation is, in and of itself a gift.

 

 

Make It Work

Not sewing, yet, at least not from scratch.  Rather a down and dirty alteration wins the day.

 

A trip to Key West had me in a bit of a tizzy the first few days of the new year wondering what on earth I would wear.  Most of my summer clothes are at least a size too big, more likely two to three sizes too big, but that was something I actually didn't discover until I tackled the alteration pile.

 

 

Of course I had the top I altered to take to Tucson.  I thought perhaps I could alter the two dresses I made in the spring of 2020 (photo above). That is when I learned that I was not necessarily down one size, but at least two, and possibly three.  

 

These two dresses saw heavy wear over two summers, and I knew that they were too loose, unwearable really, by fall.  But the reality hadn't really sunk into my head until I tried them on again with the intention of making alterations.  They fit beautifully when they were made, and I have to thank my friend Marjorie for all the fitting help, but that also meant that more than the most minor of alterations would be required, if alteration was even possible.   I decided to accept that they have served their purpose in my life, that they are still in good condition, and it is time for them to find a new home.

 

 

Enter a Lafayette 148NY tank I purchased 7 or 8 years ago. After trying it on I realized that although I needed to take up about six inches, this was actually manageable in this loosely fitted tank by simply taking up the side seams, and perhaps removing some extra volume at the center back seam as well.

 

 

Initially my plan was detailed, to meticulously deconstruct and then replace all those beautifully finished seams.  But when I actually looked at the garment I realized the fabric was far too fragile for this to happen.  Seven season of wear have taken their toll, and although the top remains wearable, its time is limited. 

 

This knowledge was freeing.  Since the alternative was the rag pile, there was no reason not to just slash and seam, and I did want one more wearable top for the trip.  Therefore,  I simply serged off the side seams, taking out four inches at the bust under the arms and tapering to nothing at the hem.  Notice that shaped hem in the top photo.  Taking significant volume out of the hem would require much more extensive work than the top was worth, especially at the side seams, where the curve is sharp, so a decided bell shape would be preserved.   I also took a big chunk out at the back waist, about 2 1/2 inches, tapering to nothing just above the bra line.  I had a little more leeway at the hips, and was able to remove a small amount of extra volume at the center back hem, but not much.  The trick was to take out enough to eliminate some of the bagginess, but not so much as to shift the side seams toward the back.  The serged edges were tacked neatly in place at the underarm and hem and I was done. Easy-peasy, and if it survived one trip I would be happy.  Everything else is just a bonus.

 

 

Enter the obligatory hotel bathroom photo.

 

The top works.  It is far from perfect, but it fits at least as well as anything I could buy and it fills an immediate gap.   As you can see the top remains loosely fitted through the body.  And it is also quite wrinkled here as this photo was taken about half way through the day, when I took my mid-day retreat from the sun.  If one cannot live with wrinkles, one should not wear linen.

 

Perhaps all I needed was a bit of mad panic and a holiday out of the confines of familiarity and routine.  My brain is sparkling with ideas, and although I still have unpacking and cataloging to finish before extensive wardrobe sewing begins, I am looking forward to new sewing.  Somehow it has even dawned on my that even the idea that I have nothing, no patterns that fit, is itself an opportunity. It won't, perhaps be fast, but it will be fun.

 

After all, how often does one get an opportunity to start over? 

An Accounting

Not surprisingly, I did not accomplish as much as I set out to in 2021.  And yet, I have surprised myself.  I made a few things.  I blogged sporadically.  I am still here and can't wait to spend even more time in my sewing room, studio, personal hideaway, or whatever I want to call it.

 

I only blogged about sheets and a few boring household things before my world got a bit upset and I couldn't manage blogging.  I also made a few pairs of casual pull-on pants and a simple boxy top or two, things to get me through the summer and through chemotherapy.  I didn't have the energy to blog, the making alone was enough, and alas all those things are now too large and have been donated, so there are no photos to share.

 

I did bring a stack of clothes up to the studio to altar and repair.  Two coats were included in that stack, one of which you saw in my last, mid-December, post.  That coat only needed buttons.  The other needs a bit more work but it is still a simple repair.  The weather has warmed a bit though, so there is no immediate rush.

The remainder of the alteration pile consists of summer clothes which have not been high on the priority list.  An exception was an off-white polyester-crepe blouse, which I took in so that I could wear it in Tucson over Christmas.  It was a simple alteration as there are no darts; I simply needed to take out a little extra volume at the side seams, under the arm and then restitch the armscye binding.  A bit tedious, but not difficult.  As you can see, I did not get the seam lined up perfectly neatly, but it is good enough.

 

Still, I did more sewing than I have done in years.   I started cataloging my inventory (again) and made great inroads.  I will finally finish unpacking the studio in 2022. And wonder of wonders, at least to me, although I bought some fabric in 2021, I actually used up more fabric than I purchased. I sewed 39.25 yards of fabric and I purchased 27 yards.  None of the fabric I purchased has yet been sewn, but still; I am content; this is still a major step forward.

 

I am looking forward to more adventures in the coming year.

 

 

 

muslin progress

 Well, I did manage to get the skirt muslin sewn together and the initial alterations done.  The pattern was no where near my current size (although it was the smallest iteration I still had of this pattern.  It must have been from the end of 2005, not the beginning as the skirts that only needed an inch or two taken out of them are from early 2005.

I ended up taking 2 inches out at each side seam, or 8 inches total from the girth of the skirt, all the way down from waist to hem.  That certainly makes me feel better about my efforts now, although somewhat appalled about my history as well.

Here's a quick photo of me in the substantially narrowed skirt.  The hem will be a little shorter than is marked here (olive line), just at the bottom of the knee, which will be a much more flattering length.

I haven't finished fitting the skirt at the waist yet.  It looks like the skirt pattern extends up about 2 to 3 inches above my natural waist.  I probably just chopped it off as I made each skirt, although several of my older skirts are too high at the waist.  

I am putting it aside for now because I had a gluten encounter over the weekend.   I am still a bit bloated from the GI symptoms and also from taking prednisone which I need to control the rampant hives which are also brought on by the smallest bit of gluten.  

 This is my favorite belt this spring.  I usually wear it on the third (middle) buckle with my jeans, at about 1" below my waist.  I last wore this belt on Friday and can't buckle it at all now, the closest I can get is to about an inch from the largest hole, which is what, 3 inches over normal? I am wearing an old belt that I hadn't given away yet, a belt that I stopped wearing because it was too large.  This amount of bloating will make a difference in the final fit of the skirt.  It behooves me to wait.

Since I have the basic dimensions of the skirt, I could probably start cutting the lining at least.  But things should be back to normal by the weekend.  Once I pass the belt test, it is full steam ahead.

It was the Shoes

Remember this skirt??

I made it in 2006 and it has been one of my favorite summer skirts ever since.  I made the sweater too so together they make one of my favorite outfits.  No comments on sweater fit allowed, this sweater has seen many years of expansion and reduction and it is till in my closet.  That is enough.

But it is the skirt I am writing about today.

Since I made that skirt I have lost some weight, mostly through the rib cage and waist with the result that the skirt is currently about 3 1/2 inches too big in the waist and it falls down on my hips.

This means that the length also falls to about mid calf, not the most flattering place.  It has been like this for about a month, but lazy me, I figured with heels I could get away with it, and I just didn't want to be bothered.

But if the skirt falls low on the hip, the sweater shown in this photo becomes too short.  As I approach my 50th birthday it seems that having a bit of tummy peeking out between my skirt and my top is not a desirable look. 

And the extra length on my legs makes my already short legs look shorter and the long torso look even longer.  Not a particularly flattering look.  What is the point of being tall if you still look like you have short dumpy legs?

This particular image was brought home to me on Monday, when I decided to wear this skirt with a new pair of shoes I had just picked up on sale for a really, really good price.

I love, love, love these wine patent flats. Yes, I said flats.  Loaboutin flats.  They look really cute with the above skirt, if I hike the skirt up to just below my bra so that it actually hangs at the right length.

I wore the skirt anyway on Monday, and when I got home, I resolved to fix it.  After a skirt that is a flattering length will good look with flats and heels.  So I took the waistband off, resolving to alter the skirt.  I don't want to take it in at the side seams because I don't want to redo the zipper.  There are twelve pleats in this skirt so it will be easy just to make each pleat just a tad deeper, thereby shrinking the skirt through the waist and high hip, but maintaining that nice billowy fullness through the body, which looks good still. 

It took me over an hour to get the waistband taken apart without ripping the lining though.   It has been sitting at my sewing table ever since.  Tuesday there was no time.  Wednesday I hoped to get to it but I needed to work on something that was easily interrupted and not in my sewing room, so knitting won the project war.

Today, it is not likely.  I will be out from around 1PM until after 10, and I am already stealing time from my to-do list to post this.

Perhaps this weekend.  Although I also have to take down the current computer and set up a new one, transfer all the data, and convert a few things to run on new programs.  It ***should not*** take all that long.  But you never know.

And by the way, it strikes me as really, really funny, that right after I write a comment on Gigi's Blog stating that I don't like wearing peep-toe shoes because I won't wear hose with them and I don't like the feeling of all that leather around my feet without hose (sandals and canvas shoes are no problem), I go out and buy a pair of peep-toe patent leather shoes and wear them all day for a couple of days without hose and love them.  I guess even I can be knocked out of my fuddy-duddy ideas.

Go figure.  Never say never.

Corrections

I went back and made some corrections to my post on broad shoulder alterations.  I had not been careful enough and it had been plaguing me, not that the techniques were wrong, but that I was not meticulous in my measurements.  The three new patterns, using three diffferent techniques, should have yielded the same results. 

This error has been corrected and you can go directly to that post here.