Sometimes I wonder

Sewing, yoga, running and blogging—four things I enjoy for the most part, although I’m not exactly what you’d call expert in any of them. Generally my enjoyment of these activities is enough for me, but sometimes I’m so competitive that I get myself all knotted up over my lack of expertise. Occasionally, it’s been bad enough that I’ve actually stopped doing one or the other.

Case in point, I’m trying to step up my fitness because I feel better that way. Tuesday morning, I did the hardest lower body weight workout DVD I own and just got more and more sore as the day wore on. Yesterday was a run day, and I was so sore from Tuesday’s workout that the run was miserably tough. I kept wondering why was doing this, why run, what’s the point? After all, I don’t run races (I hate to lose so it’s not fun for me), I’m not in any sort of a running group (which is way too reminiscent of running when I was in the Army, so no thanks) and it’s just me out there at 5 AM which is stupidly early because I have to be up by 4:30 to be able to run shortly after 5 so really—why do I do this?

I feel the same way about blogging. I certainly don’t have a big audience, I rarely get comments and yet I keep writing and have done so for six years and over 1100 posts.

Sewing—same story, different verse. I sew some things well, but struggle with others (forget welt pockets, they are dead to me). And still I buy patterns and fabric and I sew.

Yoga isn’t any different.  I will never be able to have my feet flat on the ground when I’m in downward dog, not ever. My triangle is a sad little triangle because I just don’t bend that way. I keep doing it though, in the hope that as inflexible as I am, I won’t lose the little that I do have as I get older.

Yes, I enjoy these activities. But sometimes I miss the days of being really quite good at something. Maybe you have to learn all these things quite young or maybe you really do have to be born with a certain build or whatever. All I know is I’m mostly right in the middle of mediocre and sometimes that just isn’t enough.

Edited the title because tone can't be read online and this isn't about me feeling down on myself or depressed. 

Sewing, fast fashion and me

A couple of weeks ago, I read a blog post about the author’s realization that she’d replaced buying fast fashion or disposable clothing with sewing fast or disposable clothing (sadly I don’t remember the site, it’s not one of my regular sites). Fast fashion items tend to be poorly made from cheap materials and generally don’t last more than a season, if that. They’re often made overseas in wretched factories like the one that collapsed last year in Bangladesh. I don’t like disposable fashion for a number of reasons, and generally avoid buying any.

But.

I realized I have a pair of PJs I bought at Target three or four years ago that are close to disposable—and I’ve gotten close to four years of use out of them. Conversely, I have some clothes I’ve sewn that have gotten zero use, either because of fit or the end result didn’t look good on me or some sort of user error.

So there’s my dilemma: am I falling into the trap of replacing one less than ideal product with another? Waste is waste whether I made the item or not. Certainly, the process of manufacturing cloth produces a lot of pollution no matter where that cloth goes.

I’m writing all of this because Sunday Kent and I shopped at Old Navy. Now I’m not pointing a finger at Old Navy, well maybe just a bit, but neither of us have any illusions that the items we got are couture quality. Of course we didn’t pay couture prices, either. I justified my purchases by getting things I can’t make well for myself (shorts) but must confess I also bought a camp shirt because I love the fabric.

So the other part of the dilemma (aside from moral and environmental issues) is budget. Those clothes were inexpensive: we got four shirts for Kent, two pairs of shorts for me, the aforementioned camp shirt and two tank tops for under $100. The fabric alone would have cost far more than that—never mind the additional cost of notions like thread, interfacing or buttons or the cost of patterns if needed.

Clearly I’ve got no answers. What do you think about this issue?

Pants on the ground

The middle grandchild has a fit problem with his clothing, specifically his pants. Much like his older sister, he has long slender limbs and tiny little acorns for his buns. That means if pants fit his waist, they are clam diggers, and if they’re long enough, he has to grab a fistful of material at the back of his waist so they don’t fall down. Well, that’s just no way to live especially since its winter and the boy needs pants he can wear.

I offered to sew up some pants so my DIL sent his measurements. According to the sizing chart, he wears a ½ T – keep in mind that pattern sizes are based solely on body measurements and have nothing to do with the sizes you see in retail stores – but needs more length in the pant legs. So I cut out a pair of what ended up being shorts to act as a fitting muslin for the little guy. If they fit, I’ll whip up another, long pair and anyway summer will get here someday. I lined the pockets for fun and used the same contrasting material to make the casing for elastic in the waist.

I made the shorts from Simplicity 2907, which is out of print now. I’ll make his long pair out of them too, I just won’t do the seams across the knees. That seam would bug me so why inflict potential irritation on him.

I also whipped up a yoga mat bag for myself. I’ve been meaning to do this for a while and have had the pattern cut out for a couple of weeks. But it’s so cold and the dining room (which is also our sewing room) has just been uncomfortable to work in. This is from McCall’s 4261 which I bought for $1 from the remainder table at my favorite fabric store in Boston. All that was left was a huge size but that’s OK, all I wanted was the bag pattern.

As is often the case, I sort of ignored the directions and lined the bag with fabric and batting so it’s stronger, made my own strap (seriously, the pattern called for a yard of 1 inch wide webbing – that’s like calling for a can of cream of chicken soup in a recipe. Just make the damn white sauce already), and also my own drawstring instead of a purchased cord.

A quick December sewing update

Kent sewed some really cute stuffed animals for the grandkids this year. At first he was only going to sew one for the youngest, and then he realized that the middle child (also a boy) might like one. Finally he reached the conclusion that he couldn’t sew for two of the grandkids and have the third – the oldest and a girl – without a stuffed animal.

So away he went. I helped in that I actually stuffed the dogs and also did the hand sewing (he loathes hand sewing and I don’t mind it, well not much anyway). Here’s how they turned out:

She named hers Pinky Pie

Both boys got a Tiger Dog

I also did a Secret Santa exchange with some friends. We had a deadline and of course spending limits so I was pleased to be able to make a bag for Magpie from some absolutely lovely black wool and then line it with a sort of toile (it’s actually a stretch denim of sorts but I personally would never wear jeans made out of that material). I forgot to take pictures before I got the bag made, wrapped and mailed so she very kindly took some for me.

Inside

Outside

Days 15, 16 and 17

By the end of the week, I find it’s harder to post daily. I’m usually about as energized as a can of flat soda. So here are three more things to go on my gratitude list.

Day 15

For the most part, I’m glad I’ve lived such a nomadic life. Sure, there are times when I get a pang of envy or a case of “gosh if only” when I hear people talking about the life-long friends they’ve got or the connection to a specific place because of how long they and their families have lived in that area. But those times aren’t all that frequent and really it’s more like wondering what it would be like to have blue eyes or be tall or some other not likely to happen event.

I’m sure it’s all just a matter of whatever you’re used to – whether it’s living in the same house for more than four years (haven’t done that yet) or moving on average every 1.4 years (which I have done). And I’m used to being nomadic. Moving or making new friends or finding new favorite restaurants or dry cleaners or what have you just seems to be normal to me. I think the greater challenge will be to see if I can stay in this house that I do love so much for more than four years. Stay tuned on that one.

Day 16

Wally sticking his head
through the sewing machine

I am so very glad I sew.

And I’m downright tickled that Kent’s got into it too. In fact he’s already sewn two gifts for family this Christmas and has another three items planned.

I like that we can share this hobby, I like that we are both learning to really fit our clothing and I like that anymore it’s a slightly unusual hobby. You can see some of what I’ve made here.


Day 17

This one may sound frivolous, but I assure you it is not. I am beyond thankful to have a great cat sitter. Our cats ended up getting really wigged out during our time in Boston, and unfortunately the boys haven’t returned to a more normal, placid cat/Zen existence. In fact, Eddie has only gotten meaner when he feels threatened and we aren’t around (he never acts aggressive if we’re here – our Boston vet said he’s a cowardly bully and that’s pretty accurate). Wally is much more high strung than before we lived in Boston, and will just go hide when he’s scared. He’s gotten a lot worse about anything that smells like the vet. He hisses and attacks the other two cats if they smell like the vet, and he’ll hiss at himself if he’s the offender. Only Chloe is relatively normal.

Stacy refuses to give up on the cats. She swears she will get them to accept her and in the last 18 months, she’s made real progress. I hope she never does give up because otherwise we’d either have to stop traveling or the kitties would get kenneled at the vet’s. I shudder to think of what the readjustment period would be like after that.

New labels

I got sewing labels a few years ago; I thought it would be nice to put labels in the things I made (especially gifts) so I ordered some. I couldn't quite visualize the size of them when I ordered the first set and honestly, I wasn't sure if I would use them or not so I got small (cheap) ones.

But they are really tiny and I never put them in the clothes I make for myself. Kent had gotten himself some labels and I liked his so I ordered from the same company.

Here's a picture of the old ones (on top) and a new on the bottom:

As you can see, I've stayed with the same sort of color scheme (and added a kitty). I really like that I don't have to cut the label to size.

I have been a little busy

New Look 6071

And I have pictures for you this time. I have a dressmaker’s dummy (form?), which works for showing the clothes. Truth be told, I’m a little disappointed with how it works to use for actually fitting my clothes. I can adjust the thing a bunch of different ways, but at the end of all the dial twirling, it’s still just measurements around – there’s no way, for example, to make the back narrower like mine and forget about getting the bust to be my size. I think this dress form is maybe a B cup. We won’t talk about my cup size – suffice it to say, I’m a bit further down the alphabet.

But the dress form at least lets me show what I’ve finished.

First up is the New Look dress I mentioned last week. I promise the dress doesn’t look quite so saggy on (again, it’s hard to replicate the human body on a dress form) but you can see how the cross over stuff looks. I'm very pleased with the way this dress fits me; best of all, I did no altering.

Frankendress 1

Next is a dress I cobbled together from two patterns (a Frankenpattern if you will). I’m quite pleased with this dress actually. The original pattern (McCalls 6069) calls for a cowl neck in the back, and I found that both annoying and excessive. So I took the back bodice from another pattern, re-drafted my armscye and here’s the result. The fabric is pretty interesting too. It's a sort of waffle weave, almost like long john material only much thinner. There are tiny sparkled throughout – it's a subtle effect, but they're there. I want to find a skinny black patent leather belt to wear with this and I may take this on our trip next month. If you’re wondering, the dress form has a winter white turtleneck on it. I find the white less distracting than the red of the form. Unfortunately the white sort of shows through plus I didn’t pull the sleeves through (didn’t want you to think this is a jumper).

Frankendress 2

Next is a dress on its third life. It started as this skirt, which I realized was not at all flattering on me and even if it were, I’d never wear it. Then I remade the skirt and added a bodice to become this cowl neck dress (which is, yes, McCalls 6069). Again, there’s just too much material and I never wore the dress. So now it’s resurrected itself one final time. I like the neckline on this dress and I’ve always loved the material. I think/hope it’s a keeper in this form.

Frankensweater

Finally, today I did another Frankenpattern. I have a waterfall cardigan that is about as tailored as those things gets. I also have a pattern for a more typical waterfall cardigan but didn’t want swaths and swaths of fabric in the front. So I traced out the front of the RTW cardigan and sweated bullets over the armscye. I like the fabric, I’m so-so on the results. We’ll see if it continues on in this form or if I give up on it or make it come back as something else.

A success

I figured I should post one of my sewing successes. This is Simplicity 2215, a Cynthia Rowley pattern. Fortunately, I read the reviews before I started so I knew going into this that there was a lot of ease. In fact, there was so much ease that I cut a size smaller than my measurements indicate I need, and still ended up taking in the dress about an inch all the way around, and also bringing the waist seam up about an inch.

I chose not to make button holes; there’s an invisible zipper on the left side seam so I didn’t need the buttons to actually work.

I got the fabric in Boston about a year before we left. I’d made a top out of it and loved the look and feel so much that I went back and bought them out of the rest of it. It's a cotton gauze-ish material with enough weight to it that I didn't need to line the dress. Matching the plaid was a nightmare as it's a crazy one way plaid. I did well to get the rows matched across the bodice front. Fortunately it's a busy enough plaid that the non-matching seams are almost unnoticeable.

I don't think I'd make this dress again. While it's great for summer casual days, the way it fits is not how I generally prefer my clothes and it's not enough of a winner in terms of design to go to the trouble to alter the fit. But hey, it's done, it's cute and that's good enough for me.

Smoke gets in your eyes

Yesterday I was working on salvaging the second dress and was nearly done. I needed to press the facings and then finish up some hand work. The end was in sight. Then I got some bad news about a co-worker and stupidly continued to work on the dress.

I turned on the iron, adjusted the setting for my fabric . . . or so I thought. The first couple of passes with the iron were fine and then the fabric just melted all over the iron.

Once I realized what was happening, I ran outside with the iron because it was throwing off a lot of smoke and I was afraid the smoke detectors would go off and freak out my crazy cats. Then I hung up the dress and put all my sewing stuff away.

I'm going to try to get that melted fabric off, although I’m not hopeful. We're probably getting a new iron soon. Like today.

Sewing, sewing, sewing

Where to start . . .

I made another bag, this time for me:

And then Kent got us a second sewing machine -- if you count the serger/cover stitch machine, we are up to three Berninas. A Bernina store in Gladstone was going out of business so we got a pretty good deal. Mom, if you're reading this, it did come with all the feet. The saleslady was mistaken.

I made a dress:

And Eddie helped:

I was fearless then

The first thing I ever sewed was a sleeveless jumper with a zipper in the back and decorative trim down the front. My mother had signed me up for a sewing class, five or six group lessons I believe, and I was 10 years old. The next thing I sewed was a straight dress, again sleeveless – this time with no zipper but it did have a sash at the waist. I was 16 and did it in one night. In fact I was in such a hurry, I used Stitch Witchery for the hem, something I will not use any more.

And from there, things took off and I was pretty much fearless. I made myself tops, and dresses and even a two piece swim suit. I was very proud of that suit because I’d had to add quite a bit of material to the bra portions. I was sort of nervous about that, only because I’d never altered a pattern before but it turned out OK.

I sewed most of my maternity clothes for both pregnancies and made a winter coat, a hat, countless tops, dresses, curtains and pajamas for my sons. But somewhere along the way, I lost my fearless ways. Darts began to intimidate me, I got very nervous about whether or not I could actually make whatever it was I was making. So I drifted over to more crafts-oriented projects – like bags.

But yesterday something changed for me. I bought a blouse pattern that’s pretty fitted (four darts in front, two in back!!). And I made it from fabric I had on hand. I’m pleased to say it fits and I like it, I really like it. (By the way, I think the reason the pattern is called young is because it's cut a little on the shorter side. Since I'm short waisted, that works out well for me.)

So next up, I’m going to sew a dress. The bodice is pretty fitted on this one too, with the princess seams I whined about in 2011. Hopefully I won’t screw it up. Even if I do, at least I’m trying.

I made this!

I've been wanting a koozie (coozie?) for a while. I will occasionally drink a diet Coke but really don't like how the cold, wet can feels, plus the soda warms up faster than I want. But I refuse to pay money for a commercially made koozie with lame, slightly offensive sayings on them, even if they are just $1 each.

In the meantime, I've been wrapping my can in a napkin or paper towel and either tucking the ends in if it's a paper towel or else using a bobby pin which looks like this:

I think you'll agree that looks downright low rent.

Today I found a tutorial that sort of laid out how to make your own koozie. Only as it turns out the measurements were pretty much off and also the so-called koozie was more of a can wrap. It had no bottom. I don't know about you, but to me a koozie should have a bottom.

After completely redoing the basic pattern pieces (which included taking a full inch off the width of the material and shortening it by a half inch, oh and adding the round bottom piece), I ended up with a pair of me-made koozies:

Not too shabby, eh?

So many bags

I have been on a sewing tear lately, but not clothing. Instead I've been making bags and most of them are gifts for others.

First up is a bag for Fiona and family. She's pregnant with their first child, a boy, so I made her a bag that can be used as a diaper bag but doesn't really look like one. Kent was invaluable in making this bag because how the pattern pieces got placed on the fabric really made everything come together well. I left that in his very capable hands. I also made some bibs, burp clothes and a terrycloth towel/blanket.

Outside fabric is all from the same piece of cloth

The green in these items does go with the green in the bag;
you just can't tell that very well from this photo

Next, I made a bag for my manager, who is leaving by the end of June (and sooner if her replacement can be found). She's been an amazing manager, the best in my entire career and I will miss her dreadfully. This picture doesn't really do the bag justice because in real life, this is probably the cutest bag I've ever made.

 And finally, I made this one just because I had enough of both materials and felt like it. The interior material is actually remnants from cloth Kent is using to make a shirt. What can I say, the man loves large, one-way plaids. While I love the look of the fabric on the inside, getting that huge one-way plaid to match about made my head explode.

The top is tucked down so you can see the lining fabric

Pics please

Here are pictures of the fabric we got in Italy:

Kent's orange/black houndstooth woven wool.

My lambswool woven wool.

It's kind of difficult to sew in our current place. I think it was easier in some ways to sew in our apartment in Boston, only because getting everything out was slightly easier and we both had a routine in how we got things done.

We will almost certainly use the front room in the new place as our sewing room. We use our dining room table to cut out patterns and the sewing cabinet will look nice in there, not like there's a sewing machine hanging around in the room at all. Plus the built-ins at the end of the room will hold all sorts of things, including fabric, supplies, equipment and so on. Kent's bummed we don't move until the middle of January because he'd like to get cracking on that shirt right now. Oh well.

Let me ‘splain

No, there is too much. Let me sum up.

Things have gone from bad to worse to just bad again with Mr. Feral regarding our current water damage. In an unexpected, very last minute development, his plumber will be in our home this morning, supposedly tracing out the pipe that leaked and capping it off. We’ll see if that actually happens—we made the offer to allow access to our home over a month ago but Mr. Feral didn’t move on it until Friday. We've also made it clear that we'll cover the ceiling repair costs but not anything having to do with his pipe. I suspect his plumber may think that we are going to pay for today's work. We are most definitely not paying for that work.  

Our own reconstruction starts Tuesday. We’ve signed our contract, sent deposit checks, and the floors were ordered and are ready to be installed. Bostonian will start with the walls, which should be about a three-day job. The job itself doesn't take three days (we don't have that large of a place) but the mudding compound has to dry. The floors are supposed to be replaced beginning Thursday and that part should be done by the close of business Friday.

I leave for Denver this morning, and I’ll get home Friday night. Even if Bostonian has to come back on Monday, that work shouldn't kick up construction debris into the air, so I should be OK to return.   

My lungs continue to improve, although I will confess I get impatient for faster progress. I'm holding steady at about 80—85% of where I’m supposed to be on the peak flow meter. Still, I’m really happy about that and hope that once all this construction is done, I will get all the way back to normal. You might already know how competitive I am, so I’m slightly driven to see that improvement.

On an unrelated note, I actually won something from one of my favorite sewist bloggers. Carolyn has a truly impressive stash—one I couldn’t duplicate ever because our apartment is so small—but even she reached her limit. She’d found some fabric that just didn’t do it for her anymore and offered them to her readers. Long story not so long, I won a piece! I love to read her blog because she’s absolutely fearless in what she makes and doesn't hesitate to take a pattern into a very different direction based on what she's creating. Sometimes I get a little too fixated on how a pattern is supposed to be rather than considering how it should be for me. She inspires me to take that step. 

Some of what I've made

In this picture, you can see the large bag I made for Jen--it's the same pattern I used for my pink bag only here I've used heavier material which will make for a sturdier bag. You can't see the lining, but it's a laminated version of the monkey material you see on the rest of the projects.

I didn't want to use a print for kids on the outside of the bag because after all, Jen is an adult. But she's also expecting her third child, so I tried to make this bag useful for carrying around things for her children. I put pleats on the bottom of the large interior pocket and elastic on the top so she can put sippy cups in there. I made it big enough for two cups, I think. The laminated material can be wiped off if/when things get messy in the bag,

I also made a baby blanket, three bibs, three spit cloths and a hooter hider for nursing.

And here's a picture of the two throw pillows I made for us. As you can see, Eddie approves. 

Where the wild things are

This morning, I tried to collect some of the finished projects to box up and send to their recipient. I'd draped a jacket of mine over the projects to keep curious cats out of things. Only that strategy didn't entirely work since I found two cats curled up on the jacket.

I love how Eddie watched me very carefully while Wally studiously ignored me.

A mash up

No posting since Thursday because I've been working on a huge stack of sewing projects:

Nice floors, huh.

That mess is actually about 10 projects all stacked on each other. To date, I've finished five of them so I'm about halfway through.The cats, predictably, are entranced by the mess so at the end of the day, I have to carefully drape a blanket over everything so they don't get into things they shouldn't.

And here are two random, recent pictures of the greys. Chloe likes to sit on my lap staring at the computer and I managed to get a picture of her online obsession.

Chloe

Eddie loves it when we watch TV and will squeeze his girth into the smallest place possible, almost always on me, and then fall asleep with a paw draped to indicate his ownership.

Eddie

Bragging just a little

My niece, Beth, has a little baby girl named Valentine. I made Valentine a pink dress after she was born but I didn't make a newborn size. Babies grow so fast and first babies get so many clothes, I didn't want to add to the clutter. So she's just now the right size for the dress, which is about where I thought she'd be. Check out how cute this little girl is in the dress I made:

OK really, she's just flat out cute.

It's not the dress :-)

Dear Alison,

The jacket for your doll is all done. See?

It's got a hood and is lined so your doll stays warm.

Tomorrow I will cut out the top for your mom, but I probably won't finish sewing it until Friday. Then I will send everything to you in Virginia.

Love,

Nana