A little reminiscing....

 So, yeah, I am procrastinating.  I popped my knee a bit this evening and it hurts, so I'm sitting at the computer instead of putzing around the cutting table on the next costume...

I poked around on the blog a bit, looking at old posts, and I stumbled across one from 2007 in which I asked all my readers where they were from.

Saw a lot of names I hadn't seen in a long, long time.  I don't think I'll try it again; I had about 30 folks comment on that post and I'm sure I'd get nowhere near that now.  I don't think people comment like they used to.  I know I don't, lol.  Back in the day, there weren't feedburners and we read everyone's post right on the source.  Now most of the blog reading is done on something like Feedly and it takes an extra three or four clicks to get to the 'leave a comment' box.  I'm just as guilty as anyone else of reading right by...sometimes I think I'll go back and leave a comment but I almost always forget.  So I'm not whining about the lack of comments...just kind of wistfully remembering when it was different, lol.

But I did get a bit nostalgic for the community that we had back in those days; we all sewed and wrote it up and commented.  It was a real treat.  We even had some meet ups on shopping road trips and expo dinners, lol.  It was an amazing thing to see how we all connected via the web.

These days...folks are youtubing instead of blogging.  I do have a youtube channel; I think I got it when I made an account back in something like 2009.  I had no idea it was even there until fairly recently.  But, lawd have mercy, I don't think I could come up with enough content to make the youtube channel a thing.  I'm having enough trouble keeping two blogs active.

Maybe I'll fiddle with it in retirement, lol.  Be a cheesy old lady youtuber. Keep the brain sharp by learning video editing.....

Yeah, right, lol.

So anyway this is kinda pointless except to say that I had a love burst for all my friends...those I've met and those I haven't ...who pop by and read the sporadic posts and sometimes even leave a comment.  I appreciate all of you more than I could say.

I will hopefully be back shortly with another costume to show ;-)

Found in a box...

 I wasn't even really aware I had kept this...

Back in 1991, I made applique'd sweatshirts for the family Christmas card photo...

(It's a good thing you can't see much of mine, it was pretty garish, lol.  I used remnants of a bit of piecing I did of some Christmas prints for another project).  Kids at this time were the Princess and the Artist.

Eight years later,  The Actor, age 5, wore the toy soldier shirt to his grandparents' house... pictured with his brother and two cousins...

A couple of weeks ago, I dug all the way to the bottom of the 'Christmas Shirts' box (which also has seasonal towels and oven mitts and such) and pulled out the toy soldier shirt.  I'd forgotten it was still here.  My Sweet Babboo still has his shirt, although he says it's  too small (hm).  Mine was put into a family reunion auction several years ago; I think the Princess's shirt got hand-me-downed to younger cousins, so I was surprised this shirt was still here.

It just happened to fit the Little Prince this year:

The only thing that these three photos have in common, besides the shirt, is the Artist.  

How fast time flies...

A little bit of the gold glitter paint that crisscrosses the soldier has broken off, but other than that it's held up pretty well.  Mayhap in two or three years Little Brother (and that nickname will change once I hit on the right thing...) will wear it as well.

Maybe I need to make a new batch of candy cane shirts.

They were complicated...I first sewed red ribbons (two different widths!) onto white fabric, then turned that into the candy cane applique's.  I have since found some candy-cane striped fabric, which works, but the ribbon looks so much nicer, lol.  I may even have a few extras in one of my scrap bins...

Yeah, that'd be crazy.  Better to just enjoy the old pictures, lol.

That Jacket in My Senior Picture...

 The pleated velvet skirt is turning into one of THOSE projects in which every time I put the needle in the fabric something goes wrong.

So I'm taking a pause from my stitch-picking-out to post a wee bit of sewing joy that came my way today.

I have been hunting and hunting for a pattern I used back when I was a (koff koff) sophomore in high school.  Yeah, that would be age 15.

It was the first time I made myself an honest to gosh capsule wardrobe.  Nobody called it that back then, of course, but that's what it was.

I bought two chunks of poly double knit from the local Ben Franklin store...one a navy blue crepe and the other a blue and white micro houndstooth...and made

1) a jacket and gored skirt from the navy

2) a pair of pants and a skirt from the houndstooth

3) a reversible vest...navy on one side, houndstooth on the other

I bought two ribbed knit turtleneck bodysuits, one white, one navy, from JC Penny and I was set.

I wore the jacket for my senior portraits...we didn't do that drape thing in our neck of the woods...

This is the best pic I have of it.  You can't tell much about it; that was a sleeveless turtleneck top under it, if I remember right (pics were taken in June...).

I have no idea what happened to that pattern; I had been kinda low key looking for it on vintage sites for, well, a really long time. it didn't help that I couldn't remember which pattern company it was. One night last week I found one of those sites that has a bazillion patterns and just started scrolling through the 1970s listings, just to see if I could find it.

I found it, and found an Etsy seller that had it in a size 12, which was the largest I could find.

It came today.

It's cut, of course, but it's all there and 'm going to trace it and see if I can alter it up to fit my current shape.  It has such interesting lines; the back is princess seamed.  It's unlined, and the pocket flaps are fake, so I may actually upgrade it a bit and make a lining and put pockets in.  We'll see how it goes.

If I ever get that (grumble grumble) velvet skirt done...

Ready For a Little Nostalgia?

 I am in a Discord sewing chat group and the discussion has turned to SWAP...I mean, this is the time of year when SWAP discussions would be going.  Had there been a SWAP this year, it would have been the 20th.    But Stitcher's Guild has disappeared into the internet void and, barring its resurrection on some other site, the book has closed on SWAP as well.

That made me rather nostalgic, so I decided to go trawling through the photo archives and see if I can do a little reminiscing about Wardrobes of Years Gone By.  

Warning...this is likely going to be a LONG post.  Grab a cuppa if you want to join me on my stroll

SWAP is the acronym for Sew With A Plan.  It was based on an article in Australian Stiches, and the original concept was to plan out 11 projects...patterns, fabric, etc, and assemble all the needed notions; I think the garments were all to be cut out and then...sew the whole lot in two weekends.  It was to create a new capsule wardrobe in a short time.  The basic plan was to select a print and make a skirt and top out of the print, then select colors from the print for the rest of the wardrobe. Two pairs of pants, two skirts, six tops and a jacket...from the print and two (or maybe three) solid colors that were in the print.  The skirt and top together would work as a dress, and all the other pieces could be mixed and matched.

In 2003, this concept was much discussed on the also defunct Sewing World discussion board, and then-fabric-retailer Julie Timmel came up with the idea for the SWAP competition.  We had from Dec. 26,  2003 to March 31, 2004 (I think...that sounds right) to sew up an 11 piece SWAP wardrobe.

I tried that first year, but we had an Easter production at church that year that put the crunch on my time.  Plus, I had problems finding a print for the required skirt/top combo.  I ended up using a poly crepe...that was printed crooked...on a Dos de Tejas pattern that I'd never used before.  Anyway, I wrestled with that thing and recut it and...I *think* I finished all the pieces, but well after the deadline, and I don't have a batch of pics for that year.   I can't even tell, looking at my folder of sewing photos from 2004, which of the red/ white or blue garments I meant for the SWAP...but here's the much-hacked two piece dress...which, having no pockets in the skirt, only got worn a couple of times.

In 2005 I decided I needed to pick the print FIRST, instead of deciding on the colors and then picking the print.  I found a wild lime green/ royal blue/ brown/black challis print at the now-defunct Hancock's (there is definitely a theme here) and for whatever reason decided THAT would be the basis for my Wardrobe.  And, believe it or not, I actually finished on time and took pics.

That was before I started blogging, so no real discussions about it.  I wore several pieces till they were not wearable, had a couple that I, um, outgrew, but the brown/black pieces are still in the wardrobe and still get worn when I feel kinda arsty fartsy funky.  My Sweet Babboo was terribly unhappy with me for hanging the garments on the venetian blinds...  That, to me, only sort of met the brief because I coudn't wear the funky black/brown top under the jacket.  But I did have lots of options, especially with the twinset, which counted as one top (there is a top under the cardigan in the picture).

2006 the rules changed and we no longer had to use a single print for a skirt and top...we just had to have garment that had a pattern to it of some sort, but we still had to have 6 tops, 4 bottoms and a jacket. I picked a tweedy blue/gray boucle for my print element and used it as the jacket.

I'm looking at that now and thinking...I made ANOTHER blue twinset?  I'll be honest, I am totally blanking because I don't remember two, lol.  Maybe the rules allowed a previously made garment that year? The tops and the gray pants are all too small now; the jacket BARELY fits but the black skirt and the black pants are still in the closet.  As I recall, we had to use one pattern twice... once as it came, and once with an alteration.  I added a godet to to the back of the black skirt, which is the same pattern as the blue one.  That collection actually was tied for 3rd that year.

I didn't even try to do swap again until 2012; partly because I didn't need another wardrobe, partly because I started back to work and lost most of my sewing time, but also because some of the rules just didn't work for me.  I didn't see the point of doing something just to be doing it, if it wasn't something I wanted in my closet.  But 2012 was a bust...I don't think I got out of the planning stage before I realized that it just wasn't going to happen that year.

Tried again in 2014.  I had a great plan, based on the Vivienne File's Common Wardrobe.  But that plan included a trench coat and I spent the entire time frame working on the trench.  Which is still a workhorse for me in our mostly mild winter climate. I have a long stripy scarf and a fedora hat and I totally bound as the 4th Doctor when I go out.

2016 rolled around and I needed some clothes, so I jumped in to the swap with a plan around a black denim jacket.  Never settled on a pattern, and at the almost last minute switched my plan up completely and made 10 of the 11 garments in about two weeks....which made me feel like I was channeling the original concept, lol.

It was cluster swap...small units that combined into the whole.  All of these clothes are still in the active closet...except the white cowl neck top, which stretched completely out of shape, and the gray knit cardi that I left in a hotel room in 2020.

2019 was the first time I tried sewing along with the Six Scarves series on the Vivienne files, and the SWAP  rules that year required an inspiration piece...like, you know, a scarf. I decided...what the heck, I'm making clothes based on a scarf anyway, let's just turn it into a SWAP.  And I got to use the trench coat as the one 'previously made' item

Then, of course, there was 2022.  Again, I was sewing based on a scarf, and again, I decided to just push a little extra on it in the first few months and turn it into a SWAP wardrobe.

  And I was the only one who did. That was probably the biggest indicator to me that the community we'd had and loved around SWAP and sewing had fractured.   I still haven't used my gift certificate yet; I want to use it on something...special.

Thassa lotta clothes, y'all.  But the challenge of the SWAP pushed me more than once to do something I've been meaning to do (hello, trench coat).    I wouldn't do it again this year...for one thing, I'm still finishing up last year's scarf wardrobe, and I have some things I want to do to expand on that.  So I wouldn't fit a SWAP this year.  But I really like the whole capsule wardrobe thing, and I've learned a lot over the years by doing it.  

And... who knows...maybe the next time I need a wardrobe update I'll make a plan and block out a weekend for cutting and two weekends for sewing and see if I can do it.

The Great British Sewing Bee is back...

And it is a challenge to watch it on this side of the pond.  Links disappear quickly.

But it is ever so charming and astonishing that the folks actually manage to pull off the challenges in the allotted time...more or less, anyway.

It was 70's week  this week. Flared legs, punk deconstruction and flowing maxi dresses.  Somehow the whole punk thing never made it to rural Indiana; I had to look it up to verify that it really was a thing in the 70's....I was thinking it was more of an 80's thing (maybe I'm thinking of grunge?).

Needless to say, I would have failed that horribly.

But, somewhere (maybe Instagram?) I saw a challenge to post a photo of yourself from the 1970's in honor of 70's week...with bonus points if you're wearing a home sewn garment.

So, here's one of the earliest pics of me in one of my own creations:

Thats a 'First Day of School' pic... me heading into 7th grade, which would have been 1971.  Barely in the 70's, to be sure.  I really liked that dress...but it was made of dreadfully cheap fabric which faded almost immediately, not to mention I was 12, which was the age of growth spurts, so it only actually fit for about six weeks. I think I wore it only two or three times. And yes, I felt very clever for taking a short cut with the hem and machine stitching it down, then covering it over w/ rick rack so the line of stitching really didn't show.

All things considered, 7th grade was one of the most difficult years of my entire school career.  Looking at the white socks and the haircut...maybe that's no surprise, lol.

Choir Wardrobe 07.09.17

I said I had some of the bright turquoise knit leftover from the Jalie Cardi you've seen a couple of times this summer.  I found it and used a bit to make up a rather altered version of Hot Patterns Fast and Fabulous La Strada T.

I made it last right after I bought the pattern, back in 2015.   It was NOT compatible with my short narrow shouldered self; that version was worn for PJ's a few times and then went into the donate stack.

I hacked up the pattern a bit...narrowing the top, widening the bottom, shortening it and making the front-facing a cut-on instead of a sew-on.  And I rather arbitrarily selected a spot at which to quit sewing the side seam to allow for armholes, as the pattern did not have one marked.  The armsceyes are snug.  Not uncomfortable, but not flowy like shown on the pattern envelope.  I may add a bit of a wedge to the yoke to give them more drape without drop...

I'm much happier with this iteration.  It's not quite perfect but it's certainly wearable, which is more than I can say for the original.

Anyway, for the June/July choir wardrobe colors of white, black, gray and turquoise,  I put my new top with some 12-year-old embroidered linen/rayon Stretch and Sew 704 'Quick 'n' Easy Pants'  and, of course,  the ever-present Burda waistcoat.

I confess, I had a MOMENT when I was ironing the pants last night, recollecting making them during the time we were renting a smallish house between the house we had lived in for 20+ years and our current abode, and suddenly realized that it has been 12 years since we moved  to the current address...which means the pants are 12 plus years old.  In actuality, they were part of the first SWAP I completed, back in 2005, before I started blogging. (goes to look for photos... finds them...)

Most of this no longer fits, or has gotten worn out and is long gone.  :-(.  But, the rayon/linen embroidered pieces..the black pants, the brown lantern skirt and the color-blocked shirt/jacket, are still in the closet, still getting wear.

But it made me think...maybe I should do a serious closet purge.  If I'm still wearing 12-year-old garments, I could, possibly, be just a tad out of fashion...lol.

The Spirit of Christmas Past

Not too long after I got married, my maternal grandmother went through a doll making phase.  Among others, she made a Raggedy Ann and Raggedy Andy set that she kept.  After she died in 2001, Ann and Andy went to live with my aunt, who lives in a small house and she recently decided that the dolls needed to go to another home.  They were sitting on my mom's sun room sofa when we arrived, and before the evening was over, Mom asked if would like them.


With the traditional sentiment embroidered by my Grandma herself on both of the dolls...how could I not?

It was like bringing home hugs from Grandma. I'm not sure where I'll end up putting them, and the clothes could use a bit of freshening, but just seeing them makes me smile a sunshower sort of smile.

That Love/Hate Thing

There are several discussions going around on the boards and on blogs... 'What do you love about sewing?' or 'What do you hate about sewing?' that have kind of made me remember...and think.

I remember my sister (who used to be a fairly accomplished seamstress; she made a leisure suit for Dad when she was in high school, but has gotten away from it) and I discussing 'What do we hate about sewing' once upon a time many, many moons ago.

Back and forth between us, we listed all the things that we found tedious and uninspiring. Keep in mind, this was back in the day before either of us needed (or realized we needed, anyway) any fitting changes made to a pattern. As well as I can remember, here's what we listed:
cutting out the pattern
laying out the fabric (we used a chest freezer for a cutting table; access only from one side made it, um, challenging)
Cutting interfacing
Fusing interfacing (it was cheap pellon then!)
tailor's tacks
finishing the edges (no sergers then! Everything was zig-zagged around)
stay stitching
sewing darts (how could anyone get those points smooth and even?)
gathering anything
putting in zippers
turning collar points
top stitching
sleeve plackets
trimming/clipping/grading seams
marking/trimming hems
hand sewing (buttons, hooks/eyes, hemming...)

In short, just about every single operation involved in the construction of a garment (except buying the fabric!) was on the 'Ick List'. But we both agreed that we 'loved to sew!' I remember pointing that out and we both laughed. It didn't make sense.

But realistically, any of those things is very tedious and not-fun when done as an isolated task. But constructing a garment is so much more than the sum result of a bunch of isolated tasks. It all works together. For instance, making a dart isn't fun...but watching fabric take shape as the darts are completed is.

And that's what we all love about home sewing...watching that garment move from a concept and flat yard goods into a three-dimensional garment that reflects the individual's style. When each of the elements are integrated into the whole, it does become greater than the sum of the parts. (Of course, improved equipment and techniques have probably improved my attitude somewhat in the interim also).

But to me, though, sewing is freedom. Freedom from the dressing room, freedom from the fashion cycle, freedom from poor quality/inflated prices, freedom from manipulative marketing strategies. (Well, sort of. I have been known to be suckered by enticing pattern envelope art...).

And I *love* freedom! ;)

More Design Dreaming

Currently, the 'cream thread in the serger' project is a short-sleeved version of Jalie 2111, from the same plaid cotton as the bias tiered skirts, a project to which I believe My Sweet Baboo has been totally oblivious. I really hadn't planned it to be a surprise, but, well, his birthday is in about 4 weeks, so maybe it will be ;)

But, this is just 'put your head down and sew' work; it's not really getting my creative side engaged. So, I'm doing new projects in my head...things that might or might not get made once the queue is down. I've been noticing the great high-waisted skirts (like Laura's and Erica's and Summerset's) and started thinking about high-waisted skirts I'd made years ago. I actually found one of the patterns still in the cabinet...I seem to remember making view A from denim:



(copyright: 1987). There's another Vogue pattern that may or may not still be about the place in a box somewhere that was an 8-gore skirt, with a high, faced waistline that I remember making from white linen-look fabric for Easter 1990 (hah! Found a photo...it was the Spring of the Sailor Outfits:)

I have since learned that that skirt probably would've maintained its appearance much better if I'd've boned that high waist, but, well, that was beyond me at the time. Now I'm thinking next time I'm in the attic I need to see if I can find that box of outdated patterns, but I fear it has already gone to Goodwill.

Anyway, what has been percolating in my head has been to use those patterns and redraft the skirt into a much straighter style. I think that'd look good w/the Perry Ellis cinched-waist design (view C). Actually, I don't think it would be too terribly hard to do.

The bigger problem will be grading the pattern up from a 12 to a 14/16/18 to fit my now middle-aged middle.

Which begs the question...'Does a middle-aged middle really look good in a high waist?' Erm, maybe that's the wrong question...perhaps it should be 'Does a high waist do anything to minimize the middle age middle?'

Wish I had time for snoop shopping...I'd try on a couple and see...

Oldie but Goodie

The Copyright date on this pattern is 1986; I'm not sure when I purchased it, but I actually made it in 1989...in fact, I purchased my serger when I was about halfway finished. The fabric is a denim tapestry-type weave from Piece Goods Shop; it was about $10/yd, which, to me at that time, was a HUGE fabric investment. I remember having the most difficulty trying to decide which side I wanted 'out'...I finally compromised by using the dark side for the body of the jacket and the light side for the lapels and pockets (The line on the pattern represents where I whacked it to better suit my 5'4" self). I've made the jacket about 4 times, but only the denim one has stood the test of time. The others just plain wore out.





Believe it or not, I still wear it...1" shoulder pads and all...and frequently get compliments.
Makes me feel a little better about my most recent novelty denim purchase...at $35/yd, that's a HUGE fabric investment now. But, if I'll still be wearing it 18 years from now, it'll definitely be worth it!

My Vintage Sewing

First, Carolyn posted some several-years old still-in-her-closet garments she'd made, then Marji, while thinking about participating in the Pattern Review Vintage Sewing Contest, reminisced about sewing in her teen years...and challenged her readers to also post about their years-ago sewing. Summerset kicked it up a notch by modeling the drop-dead gorgeous dress she made and wore for her high school prom...and still looked drop-dead gorgeous in it. Sigh. Jealousy is a sin...jealousy is a sin... (just kidding. I think.)




Well, I can't even get into these two garments any more, but I thought I'd show them to you anyway. The red dress was made for my first high school dance...back in December of 1973. I still marvel at how well I matched the plaids, given my sewing skill level at the time. I think I wore it at least once after I got married, and somewhere there's a photo of my oldest daughter (now 21) wearing it for a school function when she was in middle school. Pattern company and number? Surely you jest...

The skirt was made from a Jessica McClintock/Gunne Sax pattern in 1982, after marriage but before kids. Blue denim w/lace overlays and ribbon trim. I think the last time I wore it was sometime after Baby 1; I'm not sure I ever skinnied down quite enough after Baby 2. (It has a 25" waist). DD pulled it out last fall, looking for some costumy something for a church event, and marveled that I'd ever worn it. "Good grief, Mom, you were a Twiggy!" Well, maybe. That was a long time ago...

Lisa at The Hem Line has recently posted TWO patterns that I remember making back in my teens: I made View 3, w/o lacing from a pink/puple swirly poly print, and I think I also vaguely remember doing those loops for lacing on another dress, but I can't remember anything else about it. That would've been my Freshman year also. In the spring of my Senior year, the traveling multi-church youth choir I was in used a floor-length version of this one, made out of several colorways of a floral poly print, as our group outfits. In the puffy poly, it wasn't terribly flattering on anyone...sorta like a bunch of bridesmaid's dresses (I guess that WAS the beginning of my choir clothes saga...).

I wonder whatever happened to those patterns....

Oh, I do have one garment that I made more than 10 years ago that I still wear; but that'll be for another post. ;)

Christmas Eve Sewing

Not mine, my mother's. And not this year, but many years ago in a little house far away. I'll guess I was about 7 or 8, laying in bed awake long after bedtime. Crying into my pillow, in fact, because I *knew* Santa wouldn't come if anyone in the house was up and about, and my mother was sewing. And sewing and sewing. I'd doze off, then wake up to still hear the hum of the sewing machine. I listened for sleigh bells, afraid to hear them because, of course, Santa would pass us by since Mom was still up. When I finally did fall asleep for the night, at who knows what time (as a kid, I was sure it was Very Late, but it may only have been 10:15...who knows now?) the light was still on and the sewing machine was still going.

And to think I credited Santa for the handmade doll clothes I got the next day...