Dropping in...

 Oh, my goodness y'all, Saturday is AUGUST.  I am not ready.  I am not done with summer.  (And, technically, summer goes on for another month, but all the schools in these parts start back in early August and it becomes Functional Fall, even though the temps are through the roof.  Crazy.)

So...what HAVE I been doing all this time.

Not much sewing, I'll tell ya that.

I have darned some socks.  I have hemmed some tea towels.  I have hemmed a tablecloth, but I'll talk about that later.

To date, this year, I have constructed ONE pair of pants.  One.  And it took a ridiculous amount of time to do it.

I haven't been sewing, I haven't been writing, I haven't been painting...I have pretty much been living in my left brain.

Y'all.  We migrated the data base at church, where I (was) the data base administrator.

I knew it was coming.  See, back in the day, when we moved to the previous data base, let's call it ABC,  it did a bunch of stuff really well but...there was a  part of it that was intended to be used for scheduling volunteers and planning services which was useless.  I mean, it didn't work at all.    But that's ok, because there was this other software company, let's call them XYZ, who had developed this marvelous software for planning services...worship sets...scheduling band, choir, vocalists, with a music library and even reporting for the music use/performance license...and it expanded to be used for scheduling children's workers and other volunteers.  So we just used both of them.  And there was a third company that we used to interface our giving and registrations...the money handling...and hosting the church app.  We didn't start with them in 2013, but we did move to them.  We'll call them $$$.  Which of course, is not their name but kind of reflects my attitude about them, lol.  

So, got all this? It's crazy but it all adds up eventually.  Well, ABC did a lot of improving and upgrading.  They did finally develop a volunteer tracking system that worked almost as good as XYZ's, but it didn't have the same music library/ license tracking.  They were developing an app, and the capability for payment handling.  They'd even rolled out their payment scheduling for that and it looked to be cheaper than $$$.  This was back in 2019, and I really thought we could get rid of the other two software contracts and just use ABC.  Have everything in the same place.

Then, at the very tail end of 2019, $$$ bought out ABC.  Swallowed them whole.  Or, almost whole.  ABC, as a company, went away, although everyone still referred to that system that lived on under $$$ as ABC out of habit.  Things got rather rough as $$$ tried to integrate themselves with ABC.  But they never combined the data bases.  They talked to each other, but there were still two completely different sets of data.

Meanwhile, XYZ has been expanding their offerings, developing modules that could be used independently or together, depending on the needs and size of the church.   And our new online membership program interfaced with the relatively new people part of the XYZ software.  We were slowly duplicating a increasing part of our data in that other data base.  

It was getting ridiculous.  We needed to get everyone onto ONE platform.  And, thanks to the gold standard scheduling/ planning module that began XYZ, the decision was made to migrate everything there.  But our contract with ABC (now the church management side of $$$) was coming up for renewal and we didn't want to commit to another year with them.

Y'all. We had about 8 weeks to make that jump.

Now, I had said for quite some time that if we ever changed data bases I would not continue as the Data Base Admin.  I just turned 67, it doesn't make sense for me to learn a whole new system because the hubs and I are starting to talk about retirement.  I'd have to turn around and train someone else on it.  Much better to make that decision and have the new person/ people learning the new platform from the beginning. I, I said, will get the data ready to move and then stay and help cleanup.  After that...we'll see.

So that's partly where I have been.  I won't go into the ugly details, lol.  I will just say that, by way of comparison, we had 9 months to move the data base in 2013 and that was a MAGNITUDE less data than we have now.  

So now I am the data base janitor, lol, and others are running things and planning things and I'm basically merging the pile of duplicates that were created when we migrated to a data base we had been running in tandem with for 13 years.

Then there's the travel.

My sweet mother in law passed away December 12; she was 97 and tired of the health struggles and more than ready to go.  The memorial service was scheduled for a BITTERLY cold weekend at the end of January, and all the kids and grandkids...save one grand-daughter-in-law...were able to be there.    But the house is being cleaned out, with things being divvied out to whoever wants or is willing to take things.  There will be a sale of the rest to clean out the house and then the house will be sold.

So we have made two more trips to northern Indiana to collect household goods...and my living room looks like we just moved in.  We've made one trip to Florida to deliver housegoods to the kids there, and we have another trip to Elkhart to collect the last few things, and another trip to Florida to pass things along in the early fall.

Plus, July 17 was The Flute Player's 30th birthday (can you believe it???) so The Princess, The Dancer (The Artist's wife)  and I made a quick trip down to surprise her.

If you're counting, that's three trips..so far... to Elkhart and two trips...so far...to Florida.  It's just a wee bit farther to central Florida than it is to northern Indiana, which is about 10 hours driving time, to which is added any stopping for food, gas, potty breaks and leg stretches.  And I have been working on data base migration around all of it.

Now, you'd think that I'd be glad to have a break from that by sewing but TBH I am pretty much brain fried, lol.  And I need to move around a bunch of stuff in the house to  make space for the things WE have collected from the house in Elkhart.  Lots of shuffling and moving and rearranging and maybe outright purging needs to happen and it must be done by Christmas or I won't have any place to put the tree, lol.

I have had Thoughts I would like to share about some of this process and maybe I will catch some time at some point to get it all written out in a coherent fashion, lol.  But, in the meantime,  here's a pic of the four of us...me, The Flute Player, The Dancer and The Princess... playing miniature golf but I am wearing the very comfy  loose drapey pants that I made this year especially to wear on trips to Florida, lol.  FWIW...I am TERRIBLE at mini golf, lol.

If you can, zoom in on the shirts...designed by The Princess to commemorate the weekend.  The Flute Player's is a bit different...she's the Honoree...but all of us that went to her celebration dinner wore the T shirts.  She was surprised and it was a great weekend...if completely exhausting, lol.

I am still managing to post somewhat regularly on the faith blog (where the above link goes) if you ever wonder if I'm still kicking around the interwebs.  And I got a wild notion to start a third blog earlier this year for just writing; it's barely active.  But it's hard to post on the sewing blog when there's literally no sewing happening, lol.  I will admit to being very frustrated and WANTING to sew...but I do better when I can dedicate some TIME to it and that just has not happened much this year.

So that's the state of things at the moment.  I have pretty much decided to not participate in the Christmas production this year, with one of the driving reasons being I just have too much on my plate.  I have to leave some breathing room somewhere...

Everything BUT sewing...

 Good Grief.  How has it been two months since I last posted?  

Things have been ...busy... of late.

I have chipped away at a couple of projects in the sewing room but there's nothing really worth talking about in there.  Which is disappointing.

But, since I last stopped by,  we have had a trip to celebrate our anniversary, I made a spur-of-the-moment drive up to Indiana to help freeze sweet corn, driving up and back by myself,  we've had a holiday and a women's conference and a 10 day trip to Florida, where we spent a large portion of time with all the kids at Disney World.  

I had a button that read : "I am celebrating a New Hip!"...and got wished 'Happy Birthday' SEVERAL times.

Of course, we all did the Halloween Party in Magic Kingdom...and I pulled out the Edna costume for the 3rd time. 

Knowing how these things go now, I got a quick picture in the mirror before we left our (not on Disney property) resort, lol.  Good thing; I didn't get a chance to get a good pic of it later.

I got more reaction to it this year than I got last year; one of the cast members at the entrance told me I was the first Edna Mode he'd seen.  Which surprised me, because you can BUY an Edna Mode costume on Amazon.  But I heard 'No capes!' over and over again all night, lol.

If I could by chance meet up with the actual official Edna character for a picture I could retire the outfit and plan a different one.  I'm thinking Roz from Monsters, Inc, but we'll see.  

 I did NOT get the costumes done for the Florida kids' church wardrobe.  I got a good start on cutting one out, but that was it.  

I'm still working on a massive data repair project that is taking up days off.  I was planning to go in on Friday (our offices are closed on Fridays) for the 3rd time since we found the problem, but...I have laundry from the trip piled up, and we're supposed to have the remnants of a hurricane in our neighborhood on Friday...I may just stay home and do laundry.

And, dare I hope, spend some time in the sewing room?

The fiddly bit is done

 At least, I think it is. 

I finished the yoke on the velvet skirt.  I ended up doing quite a bit of hand basting on the pockets, and I hand finished the buttonholes that are on the back side of the elastic waist should I decide I need a drawstring to augment the elastic.  I kinda expect I will; I think this is going to be a rawther heavy beastie.

But you really can't tell it has given me so many fits, just looking at it, lol.  

The pockets hang a bit lower than the yoke but that really doesn't matter.

But I have to cut some more pieces before I can sew any more on it and...it's all going on hold for a bit.  Easter is coming, and we are having a workday at church tomorrow to hit the costumes needed for the Easter production.  Dress rehearsal in a little over two weeks...(deep breaths).

In all honesty, I'm expecting the team to need to make about a dozen costumes...and, being Bible costumes only, they are amenable to assembly line production, which we are going to hit tomorrow.

6 tunics for wee little dancers who will be celebrating in the Palm Sunday scene, out of this fabric:

I ordered that during a big sale at FFC last Wednesday.  Didn't get the shipping notice until yesterday, so I didn't expect it to show up until, like, Tuesday next week.  I was scrambling to pull together other projects to work on with my big crew (6 ladies are coming!) tomorrow.  But it was on the step when I got home today.  Miracles do happen!

I traced the pattern and made the adjustments for the dancers (shorter, slits on the sides; they'll have some pajama-like pants under, which we found online). So we have work to do!

And The Actor and his Little Red Haired Girl are coming up tomorrow; he had the week off from his new job, which apparently goes on holiday during spring break, so he came up and they've been working on wedding plans from her folks.  But we will get to celebrate St. Patrick's day with them.  Gonna give corned beef a try...don't think I've ever had it, let alone cooked it.  But it doesn't look to be too difficult.  I will throw it in the crock pot before I head to church.

So we enter another Busy Season, lol.  Deep breaths... ;-)

Back in the Costuming Zone...

 Four weeks from LAST night, the 2022 Christmas production opens.

Yeah, I'm just a little anxious.  Life has been very busy.   My Sweet Babboo had shoulder surgery last month and he needed more repair and so has a lot more of a recovery than I did.  He's not going to be driving for at least another 3 -4 weeks, so I'm doing the chauffer thing just about daily.  Working from home to minimize the to-and-froing,  I also scaled back my costuming commitment...someone else is handling the Costume Mistress role for this production, I am kind of organizing the opening scene, which is a play-within-a-play Dickens scene.  I expect to be making a bunch of little girl pantalets at some point but for now I have a specific assignment.

One of our main characters is a time-traveling Ebenezer Scrooge...long story.  Last year, the part was played by a guest actor who had his own costume.  But he's unavailable this year; he's traveling with a production called 'The Ebenezer Experience'...if you get a chance, it's worth seeing.  So...one of our own will play the part this year.  So he needs a costume.  And he's 6'4" tall...so we had nothing in our stash that worked.  So 'tis my job to get something for him to wear.

He's providing his own pants and shirt, so I'm working on the vest and cloak.  And, as the gimmick used for time travel is a pocket watch, the vest must have functional welt pockets.

I had been picking up costume patterns over the years whenever Hancocks (RIP) had a Big Sale, and I pulled a pattern from the collection that really looks rather hideous on the envelope photo

but had a suitable starting point for a vest.

I'm using view B, but I altered the neckline considerably.  In addition to making it about 3" longer, lol.  I also added a center back seam and a slight curve to the upper back after fitting a first pass muslin.

The fabric came from one of the other ladies on the costuming team...she has an upholstery business and this was a remnant.   I had to make an emergency trip to Joann's for lining and paid a truly ridiculous price for some poly lining...I couldn't manage to pull one of the '40% off any full price fabric' up on my phone in a timely manner; apparently I had to have a password for the app to do that. I'd made the run to the store while My Sweet Babboo was doing his physical therapy so I was on a time crunch.  I gritted my teeth and paid for it, and grumbled all the way home.  Grumbled more when I cut it out, but what ya gonna do?  They're the only fabric store in town.

Took me three tries to get the welts right; first ones came out too small, even though the pattern measured right.  I did an envelope-style welt so I'm guessing something happened with the diagonal seams.  Block fused interfacing to another piece of fabric to cut longer welts and cut the first one out upside down (the stripe order matters).  Fused another piece and recut that welt a third time.

I have absolutely everything done on the vest I can do other than the welts.  The lining/ facing assembly is constructed, the vest back has the tie ends attached...I'm gonna hafta take a deep breath and tackle the welts.  I cut them with the stripes going horizontally, so I'm going to have to sew them exactly right or the stripes will show the boo boo.  But I've got to sew it with the lining on top of the welt, so it's going to be blind.     Gonna do that tomorrow...when I'm a little fresher than I am at past midnight, lol.

Once that's done, it's just a matter of bagging on the lining and adding the velcro closure and the just-for-show buttons, which I don't have yet.

After this, it's a cloak for him.  I have nearly six yards of fabric; I'm going to make a cloak with a short cape and a collar.  I hope.  The fabric is narrow; each piece, except hopefully the collar, will need a length of fabric.  So it's gonna be close.

After that, I have some skirts to make up...and then possibly the bloomers.  We'll see.

Costume check will likely be three weeks from tomorrow.  I'm running out of time.

Start with a Scarf 2022...the April Set...

 Holy moley.  It's nearly November and I'm just now getting the April set up.

Just for the record, I'm going to just carry this into 2023; I just have bits and pieces on some of these sets to do but Christmas production costuming has kicked in and I have  a PROJECT to tackle...more on that later.  But the culottes from this set have just been languishing.  I've got to clear my sewing room for the PROJECT so I just bit the bullet and finally got them finished up tonight.  Which means I can post the set, lol.

Because it's only been nearly 7 months since Janice posed her picks, Here's a Reminder as to what she chose. It's a skirt, with two top options,  a bag, a pair of shoes and a pair of earrings.

Here's my take:

I decided to make culottes instead of a skirt; I don't wear skirts all that often but culottes are fun.  The pattern is McCall's 7131; which looks like a pleated skirt, at least from the front, lol. I made a pair out of black Tencel twill for the 2019 wardrobe and really like them, so I got some blue Tencel twill...in a bit lighter weight...to make another pair for this year.  I just can't believe it took me this long to get to the sewing room.

Most of the wardrobes in the Vivienne Files post had two pullovers tops;  the Hydrangea Scarf choices were two button-up cardigan sweaters.  I really didn't need two more cardigans at this point so I decided to pull two cotton sweater shells from my closet; the white one is from Chico's...I got it on sale last year; the blue one is from Lands' End and it is ANCIENT.  It's getting rather fuzzed and I should replace it but...LE hasn't offered them in a while.  So I'm hanging on to it, lol.  

The bag is the same design as the backpack bag I got for the 2019 set; I really, really liked it and decided to go with a blue one for this year.  I haven't used it yet; it's waiting on a round of waterproofing spray.

The shoes are Allegrias and they are fun!  Allegrias are funky shoes anyway;  they have sueded interiors so they are comfortable to wear without socks.  I think I've gotten comments on them every time I've worn them.

The earrings make me smile.  They came from my grandmother's jewelry stash and every time I wear them I think of her.  She's been gone since 2001 so I guess they could be considered vintage, lol.

I split the year-to-date wardrobe into two slides; garments and accessories.

As I said, I have bits and pieces to do to complete the next sets but I don't want to post them out of order...even though I have been sewing the pieces out of order, lol.  Most of the things are being pulled from the closet, but I have done a bit of purchasing to augment the sewing.  So, while the posting is behind the pace, I have added quite a bit to the wardrobe, so when I get the next gap filled I'll probably be able to do two or three installments pretty quickly.  

 I do want to finish the course but it clearly isn't going to happen anywhere near the one year timeline.  And I have an expansion idea that may extend it a few months.

So, yeah.  But I gotta get through the Christmas costuming next...

Still no garments made this year...

 Ok, I still have no real sewing to report.  I have been mending all the facemasks....where the bendy bit has worn through or broken, and a tedious business THAT is...and I have worked hard, if not too successfully, at reviving a lost art:  Darning socks.

I remember in the last year of my grandmother's life she moved around between my mom & dad's house and that of my dad's siblings, as she was dealing with cancer treatments that left her really not able to care for herself.   But one thing she did while she was at my parents' house, at least, was darn socks.  I remember going to visit when The Princess was about 5 months old and being astonished at the incredible work done on the toes of relatively cheap socks.  But my grandmother was of the 'make it do or do without' generation, so she darned the socks.  I, however, bought socks that were so cheap it made more sense to throw them out when they got holes in the toes...which they did at a truly ridiculous rate.  But, fast forward mumbledy mumbledy years and I have become enamored of cushy and supportive and ...expensive... socks.  Socks that don't wear through the 2nd or 3rd time you wear them.  But...even these wear through at some point, and they are definitely worth the effort to darn.

Even if I am terrible at it.

Case in point:

 Sigh.  At least no one will see the toes.  It might help if I had an actual darning knob; I put them over a laundry detergent measuring cup cap.  It worked...sort of.  

 I have also washed my 'MOB Dress' rayon crepe, and I discovered something when I pulled it out of the dryer...

(hanging lengthwise)

 

(Hanging crosswise)

That print is actually horizontally oriented!  The more I look at it the more I think I'm going to have to cut the dress out on the cross grain, just so those twiggy things look...right.

And I am going out on a bit of a limb for the pattern.  I wanted something with a bit of a vintage vibe but a trip to JoAnn's didn't really turn up exactly what I was looking for.  So I dug through the pattern stash and found a dress pattern that I made up sometime in the 1998 - 2000 time frame (the copyright date is 1997).  I loved that dress and wore it and wore it until some weird something happened and it got a hard, melty place in it (it was rayon crepe...so go figure).  I don't know what it was but it was truly tragic.  HOWEVER, it is the size I wore 20 years ago...

I'ma gonna hafta size that puppy up a little bit, ahem.  But this is the closest I could find to the  dress I want, so we'll see if my fitting skills are up to the task.

And we'll also have to see if I can find appropriate buttons.  I may be scouring the internet.  I really have not had much luck looking for buttons; all the sites seem to be so hard to navigate.  I just want to search for, say, 3/4" blue buttons, but...for some reason that isn't very searchable.  

I have a wee bit of unselfish sewing to do, and I have at least ONE thing my wardrobe needs desperately, but maybe by the weekend I can see about altering up this pattern to fit the current bod.  I do seem to remember that it was generously...maybe even excessively...blessed with ease, so perhaps I won't have to add as much as I expect.  We shall see.

I'm still here...

 It's been a minute, lol.

I'm supposed to have done a summary of last year's sewing and purchases and whatnot and, nope, hasn't happened.  

Because I think I only made, like, two tops last year.  And a bazillion (well, maybe 90? ish?) masks.

I probably should do a little follow up to the mask posts; I've discovered something as they have been washed and worn and washed and worn and washed and worn...

Anything put in for a bendy bit either eventually a) breaks or b) pokes through the binding or c) both.

Most people that I made masks for have left those in the drawers and opted to wear the disposable ones. The ties are not very popular.

But it is interesting that the CDC mask recommendations that are coming out in light of more contagious strands of the 'rona are to wear a mask that is 2 - 3 layers thick (yup, mine are 3 layers) and ties rather than loops over the ears.  So, there's that, lol. I have made a version of the facemask that has elastic ear loops and is somewhat box shaped, so as not to need the bendy bit, but I'm finding that, for whatever reason, it's difficult to be consistent in the sizing.  You'd think if they are all constructed the same they should end up the same but so far that has not been the case.  But I haven't made nearly as many of those so perhaps I just need more practice. They are a bit trickier.

But I have placed the first fabric order of 2021...for some pink knit tops.  I finally came round to acknowledging that blue-based pinks are colors that I wear well so I am looking to make a little capsule wardrobe with some pink mixed with gray.  Nice and soft.  After I replace my favorite gray cardigan that I apparently left hanging in the closet of the Bed and Breakfast we stayed at for our 40th anniversary last August.

The last time I wore the cardi...

Not to worry; I have some suitable knit in the stash; I just need to clean off my cutting table and get on it.

I am really feeling the creative itch to sew a bit so hopefully I can unearth myself from the mask making materials that I kind of went overboard collecting and digging out of nicely packed away goods.  And I do have a small Christmas project to blog about so maybe I won't be such a stranger in the coming weeks.

Meantime, if any of you have not stumbled onto this youtube channel before, I'm going to share my latest binge-watch...there may be historical garments in my future, lol.

Bernadette Banner

 

I have leaned something from the historical costuming rabbit hole I went down...scraps/ remnant yardage is termed 'cabbage'.  I'd never heard that term for it and I think it's hysterical.  

 

I have way too much cabbage about, lol.

A Snowy Afternoon....

Well, well, well, there are visible flakes in the air in the Rocket City and, despite the fact that the whole system is going to blow through really fast and the ground is crazy warm as it's been in the 60's for the last few days... one of the local school systems closed early, which mean my office also closed early, as we follow the schools.

There are perks to working for a ministry, even if the salary might be below industry standards.  I got to come home at 2 today.

So I thought I'd take a minute and catch up on some stuff.

Like, where I have been for the last...month...lol.

I have been appointed the head seamstress (NOT the costume mistress, lol...I am only in charge of the costumes being sewn) for an original production we are doing at church the weekend before Christmas.  I've held off on posting pictures, because, well, I don't want to spill any beans.  But I have made a couple of angel costumes unlike any other angel costumes we've used in the past.  They did some video taping Saturday, and the only change I have to do is add a wee bit of velcro hook to the hem of one of the guy's britches (yeah, britches) so the pants will grab his socks and not work up out of his boots (yeah, boots).  I will post some pics after Christmas and you can see what we had, lol.

But that wasn't the end of it.  Spent Friday and Saturday at church, working on the Tiny Sheep.

Four years ago, we did the first version of this production, and we had some tiny sheep who were, like, 4th graders.  This year, our tiny sheep are, like, kindergarteners.  The costumes from the previous show are way too big, but I didn't want to cut them up in case we needed bigger ones in the future.  So we got some more of that crazy curly poly fleece and made 8 little v-neck vests for the current crop of tiny sheep.  Remembering the mess from the first set, I  was determined to make them at church, instead of either a) bringing the mess home or b) sending it home with someone else.  So we had a workday and a friend cut them out.  I gave her my coverall apron and a construction filter facemask...she was puzzled but wore them when I insisted.  She soon saw what I meant.  'This stuff is worse than styrofoam!' she said.  We swept the floor about a half dozen times but there was still feathery fluff on it on Sunday morning.... The fleece did NOT play nice with my serger, which seems to be having knife issues again, and what I thought would take 90 minutes took all day Saturday and then some...I still wasn't done.  Grumble grumble grumble.

Fortunately, I have, like, 17 hours of sick leave to use or lose by next Thursday, so I am going to burn sick leave...in order to avoid getting sick by staying up until way late trying to do stuff.  I got a good bit caught up yesterday afternoon, and should be able to do the last bits in a couple of hours.  The other ladies worked on alterations and ironing all the Bible costumes we have for the nativity scene at the end; unfortunately, we seem to have lost a number of our Bible costumes pieces over the years.  I'm short a few robes, but I am REALLY missing the head drapes that we use.  I like to use two for the ladies and I don't even have enough for one apiece at this point.  The guys wear smaller drapes and can actually go bareheaded if necessary, but the ladies MUST have something on their heads.

So, I will be hitting my stash this evening at some point to see if I can find some 'why did I buy this?' fabric that will work for head drapes...our cheap fabric sources have gone away and I can't do $5/yd for the head drapes that get lost so easily.  So maybe I have something up there that will work... I hope.

I haven't forgotten my 12-months - 12 outfits challenge, either.  This month Janice posted dressy outfits...mostly sweaters and skirts...with accessories.  I'm not sure I'm going to get anything done on it; certainly not before Christmas.  Maybe after, which is a shame since the dressy outfits are intended to be worn to the Christmas festivities.  And I really, really want some black stretch velvet pants. Cross your fingers for me, lol.  I actually HATE sewing stretch velvet, but after that sheep fleece, it should seem simple...

So ...Waddya do about National Sewing Month?

I decided I need to spend SOME time in the sewing nook. Every day.  Even if it's only 5 minutes, changing the thread on the sewing machine and serger.  Which is what it was yesterday, lol.

And I'm thinking about next year.  Crazy, I know, but if friends can take their 'college football opening game day' photos in front of a fully decorated CHRISTMAS TREE, I figure I can start thinking about sewing projects for the new year.

And here's what I'm thinking....

If you, like me, follow Janice Riggs on The Vivienne Files you know that she's been repeating a series she did last year...building wardrobes around Hermes scarves.  One outfit...generally 3 items... a month...taken from the colors in the scarf.  At the end of the year, she's got a fully coordinated wardrobe.

So, I've begun to scout the internet for a suitable scarf from which to do likewise.  I may or may not make each of the three items in the months' additions, but I'm going to make that my goal.  Starting in January.

If I CAN find a scarf I want to build a wardrobe around...in my price range...lol.  I slop stuff on scarves so easily that I'm skert to spend a bunch of money on one.

Anyone interested in joining me next year?  You've got four months to find a scarf that suits YOU. ;-)

Meanwhile...life continues and the sewing space is, um, evolving a bit.

We've had a 'guest bedroom' since Son Number One  moved out on his own in 2012.  I moved my cutting table to that room and the fabric/patterns/etc have kinda taken over.  I go in and do a mass cleaning/hiding of stuff on those rare occasions when we have guests.

But it's been QUITE some time...like, 3 years...since we last had overnight guests as our parents have gotten past the roadtrip stage of life.  So that room literally has not been straightened out/organized in 3 years.

Um, it's a MESS.

And, well,  the time has come, the walrus said, to talk of many things.  Of...why Lisa's back can no longer tolerate the much-loved waterbed.  The one for which I've made multiple custom sheet sets.   If you've ever owned a waterbed, you know that, periodically, you have to add water as some evaporates into air bubbles that get bled out about once a month.  If you don't add water, the support level drops. Significantly.  Now, we've known for some time that we need to do something about the water bed so that we can elevate the head of it to alleviate GERD symptoms, so it had been a while since we'd added water.

And last week I had a day with back spasms so excruciating I thought I had a kidney stone.  Only I had no other kidney stone symptoms AND...the spasms cleared up completely after I spent the night in the guest room bed.  After I rather slowly and painfully moved all the patterns, fabric, scraps, etc off onto the cutting table so I could get into it.

That implicated the waterbed as the culprit.  I haven't slept in it since.

So...this is all SO complicated...we did some cleaning in the room that Son Number Two vacated when he moved to Florida back in May.  I need to move the cutting table and all related sewing paraphernalia into that room so I can move the guest bed (queen size) out into the middle of the room so that it's accessible enough for two people to use it (IE, there's room for the hubs to put his CPAP machine), as it's going to be a process for us to take down the waterbed so we can move the bed we bought today into its place (delivery scheduled for the 14th).  We'll both be sleeping in the guest room for at least a few days.

You see the chain of events here?  So...I'm planning to sort and organize stuff as I move it.

Hence why I may only get to actually sew for 5 - 10 minutes a day for the next couple of weeks.

Ultimately, I want to turn that recently vacated bedroom into the new sewing cave and move the machines up there and everything, but there's more work to be done first. Not to mention a set of bunkbeds that need to go...somewhere else.  And the pin-sucking carpet has got to go.

Who knows when that will happen.

So, lots of handling of sewing stuff and dreaming about future projects, but not much actual sewing.

Maybe I'll get those washer linen pants done before time to put them up for the season...

At the end of a busy month...

August 5 was the day that we celebrated the 'grand opening' of the new church auditorium...the gymnasium of the school that we bought...that had been gutted and rebuilt.  We had special services every Sunday this month in celebration.

From the back office/data entry position, it was like having a month of Easter.  Awesome, amazing weekends, but a lot of work.

Plus, we had a trip home for  my folks' 60th wedding anniversary, My Sweet Babboo's 45th year high school reunion, and the 104th annual Pippenger reunion.

Needless to say, no sewing happened. At least, no personal sewing.  A team of us did make something like 50 sashes to be embroidered to wrap on the chairs to reserve them for ushers/pastors/ leaders w/ duty, etc.  That happened right before we left town.  God bless the lady who did the embroidery.

I've barely kept laundry caught up.

So I'mma just gonna talk about some plans that I've got on percolate but haven't really gotten to.

I did cut out the gray Brussels Washer Linen pants.  They are sitting on the ironing board, right where I put them after I cut them out.  First step is to reinforce the crotch curve; I've heard that Brussels Washer linen tends to stretch out when worn.  I've got some fusible tape to put on it.

I should put it in the 2018 projects list...since this is like, the first thing I haven't just cut out and sewn up.

Plus, I happened to wander in to Charming Charlie (one of the few that hasn't closed) early in the month...or maybe it was late last month...wow, the selection has dropped considerably.  But I did find an interesting navy/white rayon/lycra jersey tunic that came home with me for probably less than I would have spent on the fabric.

It actually was a pretty close fit, but the shoulders are wide and the armholes low, as is usual for these things,  so I took the sleeves off and opened the side seams.  I need to raise the underarm somehow; I can't just recut it because the armsceye is about an inch below all my patterns.  So I may have some piecing.  And I want pockets in it somehow.  Thinking I'm going to do some color blocking with solid navy godets and pockets in the side.  Maybe.

I have an aunt (I would say elderly aunt as she's in her mid 80's, but elderly doesn't do her justice.  She hasn't slowed down a bit) who had some fabric she said she wouldn't use, so she gave me two garbage bags' worth while we were on the farm.

I glanced through it there but didn't really dig into it until I got home.  There were a couple of pieces that went straight into the donation bag...do you remember that 80's poly stretch terry that we all made athleisure stuff out of?  Yeah, that went in the bag, as well as some yellow poly linen look.  But the balance of it...maybe...

There are a couple of pieces that might make tote bags...or corn hole bags, lol...but there are some linings that I'll use to make pockets, some nice wool remnants that I'm going to have to use carefully, because there's not much, and one gorgeous bit of rayon challis that I'm guessing is from the late 80's...jade green, hot pink and royal blue paisely on black.  I had a whole capsule wardrobe based on those colors back in the day.  There's 3 yards.  Lots of options for that.  Oh, and there's also two yards of gold lame'...the same stuff I used to make all those Pippin shirts.  No idea what to do with it.  Can't imagine what Aunt Wilma got it for, unless it was some crafty thing. There's a bit of gold-and-white lace that may have been intended to go with it.

I haven't tallied this up for the stash; not sure what I'll do with it.

Because I haven't sewn,  part of my recreation has been filling up my shopping cart at online vendors, dreaming about it a bit...and then deleting it.

But one piece managed to actually make it through check out.

I've been looking for a rich red denim for a denim jacket for the longest time and when I found that Ann had some, well, I actually bought it (the photo is off; it's not nearly as orange-y as it looks).  It's already pre-washed and ready to sew.  Whenever I can manage to get to it.

Hopefully September will be a little more forgiving and I can get to the machine.  It is National Sewing Month, after all...

Not the week after all..

I have a long, skinny laundry room that really was just a closed off side of the garage.  The sewing nook is on the far end; past the sink, the washer and dryer and clothes rack.

The area at the bottom of the steps down from the main floor of the house was a horrible, horrible mess.  I think stuff got dropped there when we moved in and never moved.  No, I didn't take a 'before' photo of that...it really and truly was too embarrassing.

But that's the only bit of the laundry/sewing room that got cleaned.  My hubby came down with a nasty sinus infection which turned into bronchitis that had him coughing so hard he was actually whooping to get his breath back.  I was scared that he'd somehow contracted whooping cough.  But, no, he was just coughing really bad from the bronchitis.  He's had a z-pack and is better...but not completely back to normal.

So, anyway, he didn't go on his camping trip.   And I didn't get to the sewing nook.  Now I'm trying to decide if I want to just piecemeal the cleaning or wait for another clear weekend.  Problem is, I want to haul everything out of the room into the den, which is a bad idea if there are other people around.

The kids have been hosting a movie night every Sunday, watching all the Marvel movies in order to prepare for the premier happening at the end of next month.  So I don't think I can spread out the sewing room contents for an extended period.  At least not until the end of April.

So maybe I'll just suck it up and keep sewing in the chaos a bit longer.  You can see just a wee bit of it in the background of that photo...We'll see.  I still need a long black top to wear with those Tigger leggings...

Meantime, the bottom of the stairs looks SO MUCH BETTER....

Pirates 2017

Arg, Mateys, 'tis time again for the pirate costumes...

Not because Captain Jack is back on the big screen, but because, in our 6 -year rotation of summer themes in the children's ministry,  Pirates of Paradise Island has come back around.  And, as it so happened, this year we did a Family Crusade instead of kids camp.

So, that meant we were pirating from ages 0 to whatever. (We have to beat the villain to the treasure...which turns out to the Bible....)

Twelve years ago, just before I started the blog, we did the Pirates theme and did a family crusade with it.  My older kids were helping the then-youth-pastors with the Red Team efforts, so we all joined up.  The Artist actually wanted me to make a shirt for him; I found a DEAL on rayon/acetate at the dollar table at Wal-Mart (pause for sad reflection as that source is no more) and I made a shirt for him and also one for myself (still my favorite pattern review).

It just so happened that My Sweet Babboo and I celebrated our 25th wedding anniversary right in the middle of it and we got a family photo:

                                                                   (August 2005)

Well, in the intevening years I made a shirt from the same pattern for My Sweet Babboo, as the Royal Rangers did a pirate theme for Pow Wow  about three years later.  So when we were coming up on this event, I realized that everyone in the family had a pirate shirt...except the two kids who work in our children's ministry every week.    I looked through my fabric stash, but didn't have a piece suitable for pirate shirts.  I had used the piece I'd intended for shirts for them for a charitable cause and never managed to replace it.

But, I had to run some errands on Friday and made my way to the opposite corner of town to the only fabric store left in The Rocket City...Jo Ann's.  I'd only been in there about 4 times since it opened several years ago and wasn't hopeful.  But...they had a rayon/linen blend in creme that was right at the top of my price range (sale price at that) and there was exactly what I needed for two shirts...5 yards...on the bolt.  So I brought it home and ran it through the washer and dryer.

Whilst it was preshrinking, I poked through my collection of patterns.  Keep in mind, this was Friday afternoon and the event started Sunday evening.  I didn't have much time and I really didn't want to do twenty eyelets  in a hurry.  So I pulled out an as-yet untried pattern, Butterick 5008, which is apparently out of print.

No Eyelets....very basic.  I picked view D, with the front seam and flounce, for The Flute Player and view C, minus the sleeve ruffles, for The Actor.  I figured I could trace the pattern in less time than it would take to hammer on 20 eyelets anyway.

I read the reviews on PatternReview and decided to use buttons on the cuffs instead of the ties and just cut the ties for the neck.  I *thought* I was cutting the ties twice the length stated on the pattern, intending to cut the number of tubes to turn in half.    I also altered the collar pattern for a one-piece collar, ala Nancy Zieman and Louise Cutting.

Got up Saturday morning but got a slow start and really didn't get to sewing until around noon.  But I figured it should only take about 6 hours to make the two shirts, so I wasn't worried.  I could do it around the laundry....

I started by making the fiddly bits first... the ruffles, the collar and band assembly, the sleeves and  cuffs, and the ties.  I used my rolled edge foot..the skinny one...for the ruffles.  It wasn't hard but it was tedious slow work.  Not as slow as any other method of edge finish, though, I'm sure!  I fused the interfacing on the collars, bands and cuffs, and ran the ties through the serger.  

And hit problems.  The tie pieces were only an inch wide, and I thought I'd be slick and run  long serger chain,. then fold the strip around it and sew the edge so I could use the long chain to turn it.

Well, the strips were cut on the straight of grain and with a 1/4" serger seam, I COULD NOT get the first strip turned.  Finally broke the chain trying.  I decided that 1) the strip is too narrow to use a 1/4" seam 2) the straight of grain had no give in it and 3) it was too short for me to cut it in half.  I don't know if I misremembered the measurement when I cut it or if the measurement was just skimpy to begin with.

So I went upstairs and cut 1 1/4" bias strips out of the remnant of the fabric.  I couldn't cut these long enough to split them, because I only had a wee bit of fabric left, so I had to cut 8 ties.  I sewed them on my conventional machine with about a 3/16 seam allowance...and fought to get them turned.  I finally went to my ancient beauty supplies and pulled out a roller clip...essentially a giant bobby pin...cut a slit in the end of the tie and managed to get them all turned with the bobby pin.

But I lost something like TWO HOURS messing with those stupid ties.  And I had to keep stopping for a bit to switch laundry out and fold stuff.  By the time I got the ties on the bands, it was time for a dinner break.  The Actor and the Artist were both involved in the big Opening Sword Fight and were at rehearsal all day Saturday;  The Artist came by the house to work a bit on his costume.  He wanted a peg leg for at least part of the week and needed a crutch, so he came by to make use of the woodworking tools in the garage.  The Actor had to stay behind to do some janitorial work, so he didn't come home until later in the evening.

I went back to the machines, making the cuffs and sleeves and attaching the flounces to the front of The Flute Player's shirt.

The Artist got his crutch assembled and put a layer of stain on it...then came into the house and pulled up the original Pirates of the Caribbean movie on the chromecast.

Arg, matey, it was hard to sew and listen to th' movie in the next room.  It'd been a few years since I last watched it.  I confess to making much less progress than I might've otherwise.

When The Actor got home, he told me he was using a shirt from the church costume wardrobe so he didn't need one for the next day.

I ditched his and began to work solely on the flounced shirt.  I finally got all the pieces ready and began assembly.

I was putting the collar on at, oh, eleven thirty?  Somehow I got confused and ended up putting the collar on with the wrong side out.  I didn't notice it until I'd trimmed the seam.  I used the one-piece collar...that meant the collar back had a seam on it.  Disgust...but, you know, it's in the back.  No one will know that it's not supposed to have a seam.  Costuming, not couture.  I kept going.
Finally finished it at one AM.  She was still up and good-naturedly put it on for a photo.  She was very pleased.  Oh, btw...I shortened it 4" before I cut it out.  It's a long shirt.


I was running registration for the event...which is rather complicated, as we had to track points the kids earned  all week for some big prizes at the end.  The Flute Player was helping with some of the registration tasks, as well as some of the technicalities of the production, so we were both in costume.  My Sweet Babboo just dressed to add to the ambiance.
The Princess was the only one in the family who didn't make it to the event.  She wanted to bring her nephew but couldn't get it to work.

But we did get another family photo...this one will make the Christmas letter!

 I sat down at the machines this morning and finished the Actor's shirt.  He's not as pleased with the shirt as his sister was with hers; he's worn my shirt in several different events and  he much preferred the lightweight rayon/acetate.  And he liked the lace up front.  I may yet have to add some eyelets to his shirt, if only to keep the kinda skimpy facings in place.

Should have a choir post tomorrow; we didn't have choir last week because of the pirate set and I was too congested to sing the week before.  But I'm gonna try it tomorrow!

(If you're curious, here's the picture of The Artist with his 'Peg Leg'...lol)

Choir Wardrobe 04.23.17

A rather chilly, drizzly day today...wearing the blush pink that was so overwhelmingly worn by my fellow choir members early in the month as being in the mauve range, with black and, um, near-black.    McCall's 6844  cardi (still unreviewed; hm, I've made it 4 times now, I should review it...lol..), black ponte; Vogue 9057 relaxed fit T, blush pink rayon/lycra jersey, also still unreviewed Sewing Workshop Helix Pants, 'black denim' ponte knit.  The cardi was just warm enough for the quick little walks across the back parking lot so I could skip the children's ministry check in bottleneck between services.

I'm coming down to the wire on the online Master's degree work; got an email last week from the folks who are adminning the  group  seminar/correspondence classes they're doing at church  for undergrads through the same online institution.   She said that they'd been in touch with West Coast, who have told them I'm nearly done, and invited me to participate in the 'graduation' ceremony they're hosting next month...if I finish that last class.  I was surprised; I didn't think anyone was tracking it.

So guess what I'm going to be working on for the immediate future.  But it is the last class.  And my calendar is *fairly* open this week.  My original, personal goal was to finish by the end of April.  I just *might* make it.  At the very least...I should finish by the first weekend in May.

Then I am going to attempt to catch up the long-neglected housecleaning.

Then I can see about making myself a badly-needed SWAP wardrobe. Which of course, will be too late to be a participant in this year's contest.  But at least I can make up my own 'rules' ...LOL.... ;-)

Choir Wardrobe 02.12.17

Happy Valentines' Day!

I am having trouble getting to the 'post' button lately (hence the delayed choir post); even more trouble getting into the sewing room.  Still no progress on the white shirt, so February's black-and-white wardrobe is still pulling from old stuff.

A black slinky Sewing Workshop Cityscapes dress (which is out of print but, I believe, re-released as a downloadable PDF) and Sandra Betzina's  Vogue 8043 jacket.  Mixing the 'little French jacket' with an Edwardian hobble skirt was kinda fun; I don't think I've put those two together before. In any case, it's a  notch or two up from my typical choir wardrobe.

But, in other news, the lack of sewing/blogging is directly due to other stuff going on; just finished class number eight of the online master's of ministry program I'm doing through West Coast Bible College and Seminary;  plowing straight on to class number nine (out of twelve).  My goal was to finish by the end of April but class eight was a toughie and took longer than I'd planned.  So now it's going to be a bit of a push.

It's messing with my sewing time but the goal is in sight... ;-)

Choir Wardrobe 9/4/16

We had a great church service today; our Executive Pastor spoke as our Senior Pastor was at the opening of a new building for one of our campuses that has been setting up and tearing down in a school every Sunday for nearly 6 years. They fought a MOUNTAIN of red tape to convert a former car dealership into a church facility, but in the end...they have a permanent place to call home.   They had a celebration, and we had a challenge to keep growing.

Which is very interesting, as that's exactly the theme of the textbook for the current online class I'm taking.

Time for some introspection.


I wanted to start off with that bit of backstory, just to put into perspective my, um, interesting morning, choir wardrobe wise.  Because it really isn't about the clothes.  Even though I feel like I have a smidge of egg on face...it's really not about the clothes.  (click the sidebar link to the post about the choir wardrobe if you've never read it...)

The choir wardrobe for September is the colors for the Women's Conference decor...black, gray and garnet red.  There was much discussion of what, exactly, garnet red would be.

Now, we do have some posters about the building with the red in the graphics, and there's a particular red dress that has been in all the social media promotions.  So my take on it...which was reinforced by the color of the pillows that I sewed for the decor (see previous post)...was that it is a deep, true red.

I have a silk top that is exactly my idea of the color, which I intended to wear today, but it was wrinkled and I ran out of time to iron it.  So I ended up wearing  a red Jalie 2566 cap-sleeved T, the black BWOF 5-2009-108 collared vest and striped Jalie pants that I have never managed to review.

The t-shirt may have been just a hair brighter than my idea of garnet, but it's close.

With the exception of one other lady, who wore a shirt the same color as mine, pretty much the rest of the red in the choir was heavily mixed with brown...last year's Pantone color-of-the-year, merlot; close to burgundy.

I told my brighter-red buddy that we were the sparkle in the glitter today.

SO....the women's conference is next weekend.  We'll see what the main red is in the decor; if it turns out to be the merlot color, I'm going to be living in black and gray for the rest of the month; all my burgundy is winter-weight.   But if it is the true red...well, I've got some of that. LOL.

BTW, the women's conference, She Is Worth, will be live streamed if anyone's interested.  We have 1191 pre-registered, which has blown away all previous records for conference pre-registration.  My job on the church staff means that I'm over the pre-registration and the check-in processes, so it's going to be a very busy week.  The first session is Thursday at 7 PM Central.  Holler if you want particulars and I can set you up with the link to the feed.  It's free...

I'm still here...

Snapshots today.

First it was jury duty.  I was released on the 2nd day, but I went straight to work.

I had a lot to get done to take a week off.

A week of vacation.  Well, a week of visiting family. 

Which is wonderful and was wonderful but it's not a go-someplace-and-chill-out vacation, if you know what I mean.

Then we came back from a week out of town.  I think...as of last night...I've finally caught up the work that piled up while I was gone.

Now I have to deal with the work that piled up while I tended to the first pile.

I've actually had to bump my part-time hours up at work from 24/wk to 28/wk.

I've finished 4 out of 12 online classes that will eventually net a Master's Degree of sorts.

Can I just say...I've been busy?

I've actually taken choir wardrobe photos for the last 3 weeks but haven't managed to post them.

I've been wrangling pillows through the sewing machine for decor for the women's conference that kicks off two weeks from tomorrow. 

I only had 7 to cover; it's not that involved.

But life has been that crazy.

The silk Plaza jacket ...which I have decided to leave the sleeves off of...is still in progress.

Very beautiful, very frustrating fabric to work with all around.

But I wish I had decided to leave the sleeves off before I used up so much fabric trying to cut them out.

I could've had a kewler, longer vest.

Oh, well.

I have some beautiful fabrics I want  to sew but I am going get the crazy Plaza topper finished off before I cut anything else out.

And I have to finish the pillows before I can do that.

Maybe tonight.

Meanwhile...here's the choir photo from last Sunday, in this month's designated colors of black and white...





 Yeah.  Old stuff w/ a purchased T shirt.  I just have had no luck sourcing white T shirt knit that isn't sheer.







 
I wouldn't have time to make white T's now anyway.


 
Maybe I can get back to the sewing room...after the conference... :-)

Blogging break

I just can't seem to get to the 'new post' window...this home renovation stuff is nutso.  We're redoing two rooms...all that stuff is crammed, stacked, wedged and piled around the rest of the house.

It's nearly claustrophobic.

So I'm just going to holler 'UNCLE' here and take a blogging break until we can get some sort of order re established.

Hopefully  we'll be ALL done by Thanksgiving...

Choir Wardrobe 09 20 15

Hello again!

Our annual women's conference at church was last weekend; due to the stage set, we didn't even have choir last Sunday; the risers were gone and there was no place for us to stand.

But we're back this week; September colors are black, gold and ivory.

Kinda makes me wanna shout 'Boiler up!'...but I managed to restrain myself.

I actually indulged in a bit of online shopping last month; stumbled across a metallic T from J Crew that I thought would do nicely.  It looks tan in the photo, but it really is a sparkly gold. If I had made it, there would be a few tweeks I'd make before I made it again...chief among them being I'd add about 2.5 - 3 inches to the length of it, and I'd lengthen the sleeves just a bit so I could roll them up.  Or maybe put a  faux cuff on them.

And I might raise the neckline just a pinch, so I wouldn't have to wear a cami under it.

But I didn't make it, so I won't be worrying about it.

Except I like the loose T concept...so I may actually be doing a little alteration to one of my T patterns, using this T as a guide.  We'll see. ;-)

It's teamed up with my black cotton/lycra sateen La Fred Daphne Pants and what is probably the single most-worn item in my wardrobe, the black twill vest from the 05/2008 issue of BWOF. 

I'm rather amused that I've got the Birkies on; I meant to put on my black ballet flats but I was wearing the sandals around the house before we left and just totally forgot to switch.

At least they matched.

We have some home renovation work starting...or rather, starting back...this week.  I have a queue of sewing projects that have been languishing wilst I did the push to get all the registration ready for the conference, and then we went straight into cleaning/moving things to get things ready to knock a hole in a wall; I'm hoping to spend some time with my sewing machine in the next couple of weeks.

I don't think I'm going to get the gold leather vest done in time to wear it this go-round...

too late for Sunday...

I admit it has been a crazy busy December; I forgot to take choir wardrobe photos on the 8th; we did take 'em on the 15th but I didn't have time to post one and, while I'm not gonna embarrass myself by flagging it as a choir post, I'll throw it up just because it's the Jiffy Pop top again...not too bad under the plaid Robin's jacket .  I'm thinking this will go into the suitcase for Christmas  day...maybe...

And I did finally finish the brown knit Oxford pants and FTA skirt.  I managed to squeeze a little sleevless t onto the remnant, and that's still in progress, but I'm glad to have the others done.  Ridiculous how long they languished for want of a double needle hem...

Don't know if I'll get back to the blog before Christmas Day itself or not.  If I don't, here's wishing all my blogsphere buddies a Merry Christmas or Happy Hanukkah, with all your favorite people and customs!

...and I said 'No'...

Picking up the Flute Player from a mask-building session at school tonight, the director asked if I could make a dress for the show...kind of a poly organzaish over poly silky looking thing, just from what I could see in the bag.

I told her unless it was something I could do tomorrow evening, I was going to have to say no.  Because the only other time I have available for sewing is at 2 AM.

So she said she would ask someone else.

What I *didn't* say was, 'You know, if you had asked me in August I could possibly have worked it in.'

I do not like telling people 'No'.  I really don't.  But...sometimes, that's the only reasonable and logical thing to do.

Meantime, progress made today on the Loud Jacket: Zero.

I'm telling myself 'No', too...

But I *do* have tomorrow night available.  We'll see if I can get to the sewing machines...