A little testing, a little sewing...

Well, a few months back I got some Brussels Washer Linen, in a nice light cross-woven gray, for some drapey, comfy summer pants.

I  knew, though, that I'd need a fairly loose style.  And I didn't think my TNT Oxford pants were quite drapey enough.

I thought about just altering that pattern, but, goodness gracious I've got something like 600 patterns stashed in an old Simplicity cabinet; SURELY there was something?

Well, I pulled out this OOP Simplicity pattern, copyright 1996:

 Y'all.  That's the year the Flute Player was born.

But that top could be in today's pattern books.  And the pull on pants...well,  it was a possibility.  Unlike 85% of the patterns in the cabinet, which were purchased when I was a much smaller me, this one had a wide enough range of sizes that I thought I could make it fit.

But I didn't trust it enough; didn't want to use my nice rayon/linen on an unproven pattern.  So I went rummaging through the 'bottom weight cottons' bin and found a 1.25 yard remnant and cut out the shorts.
I trimmed a pinch off of the front and added the wedge to the back as a compromise low-butt alteration that, surprisingly, worked.

Sorry for the flat photo.  I've no idea when I'll actually get to wear them.  Certainly not on a work day.

These are an otherwise unaltered Medium.  MEDIUM.  I didn't even use my cheater adjustment of using skinnier seam allowances; full 5/8" on these puppies, because of the inseam pockets.

I will say this:  were I  a skinnier me, there would be ENTIRELY too much fabric collected around the waist.  But, being post-menopausally absent a true waistline, these work just fine.

I can trace off the longer version (I'll probably just trace the legs and overlap the pattern, lol) and cut away.

And, you know, I may look for some drapey something woven to try that top.  Just for fun.

Making one post work for two...

Not sewing related at all...although I did wear something I made...

We spent last weekend at the ol' stompin' ground, celebrating my In-Law's 70th wedding anniversary.

Rather than re-write the post and re-load the photo...I'll just link it up to the Other Blog.

;-)

Feeling...sacreligious?

The first sewing publication I subscribed to was Sew News, back in the 80's, when it was a large format, newsprint deal.  Before long, I had discovered and subscribed to the Sewing Update Newsletter, the Serger Update Newsletter (anybody remember those?  I still have mine in binders...) and the creme-de-la-creme of sewing publications, Threads Magazine.  My first copy was issue number 37, from October 1991.

The Update Newsletters eventually closed down; I don't remember if I subscribed to the end or just until I decided I had to pick amongst the subscriptions.  Sew News changed formats...and dumbed down its content to the point that it was like reading a women's magazine that had crafty discussions.  I didn't save those, but I do have a folder full of articles that I cut out of them. I gave it another go a few years back when I won a subscription in an online contest, but I was disappointed to see it no longer was a monthly publication.  And, while the content had improved somewhat...it still seemed more basic than creative and it didn't really seem worth the expense.

But Threads has rolled on and on.  Not too long after I subscribed, (maybe a year?) they altered their focus a bit from all-things-fiberly to strictly sewing.  I missed the interesting articles on making buttons from polymer clay and felting wool into hats, but since I wasn't likely to really use that (although I do have some aging Fimo somewhere...) it wasn't tragic.

But today I got this in the mail:

I haven't renewed yet.  I'm dithering.

The content has dropped over the years; those first issues were over 100 pages; this potentially last one has 82.  The quality of info has kind of vacillated; it's better now than it has been.  The decline in the printed product is a reflection of the times more than anything else, I think.  I mean, we haven't had a daily newspaper in these parts in years...it's all online.

And, to be honest, that's my biggest beef.  I'm a print subscriber, but I have to fork over more dough if I want to see the online content they call 'Insider'.  Maybe it's just me wishing for a perfect world, but it seems to me that the print subscribers should have access to the online content.  I don't even click most Threads links I see on social media anymore...what's the point if it's likely to be 'Insider only'?

And...then there's the fact that I'm simply not sewing as much.  It just doesn't seem justifiable to keep up the subscription so I can flip through it, smile at the end page story and put it on the shelf.

Maybe 27 years' worth (that's 162 magazines, all stashed in custom slipcovers) is enough.  Maybe.

Or maybe I'll put a check in the  mail next week...lol.  Can I really pull that plug?  Do I really want to?  Do I have good reasons not to?

Hm, hm and hm.

Butterick 5925 - slightly modified

This is just a fun top.  It's swingy and comfy and I may make more.  Maybe with cap sleeves, maybe with the ones in the actual envelope.

I need to find some largish scraps that kinda sorta go together and do the color blocking shown on the envelope.

Because I can always use more fun tops.

Another choir top...

I'm slowly sewing through the fabric in...next up was the medium blue bamboo/lycra jersey.  Since the decision came down that we were not going to change our colors for June, I had a little more time to get the blue in use.

I bought 2 1/2 yards, with the intention of making a Pamela's Patterns Cool cardi and a shell top.  But, try as I might, I was about 4" short of having enough fabric for both the cardi and the top.  I didn't re-measure the fabric after I pre-washed it but I really think it shrank up a good bit, just based on how much I had hanging off the end of the cutting table.

But whatever.  The fabric feels great on...but the serger didn't like sewing it.  I had LOTS of skipped stiches, and it kinda fed through unevenly.

I am seriously thinking about taking the serger in for a check up.

But, I just did a narrow zig-zag on the serging to catch the missed stitches so, it's ugly on the inside, but I won't tell.

Anyway, I ended up making another Butterick 5925 ... the Katherine Tilton tunic-y T top w/ pocket gores in the sideseams.  Only I borrowed a cap sleeve from another pattern ...summer and all.  And I cut my own neckband, just because I don't care for the floppy neckbands the Tiltons seem to love on their knit tops.  To each her own...

The hanger shot is pretty boring, but it's very comfy.  Ugly seams and all.

Maybe a photo of it on tomorrow....

I need to find the scraps from the light blue top and see if I can patchwork up a little top from the leftovers.  I'm SURE I kept them...even though there wasn't much.  I'm just NOT sure what I did with them, lol.

In other news, Number Two Son, AKA The Actor,  has found himself an apartment in Jacksonville, Fl, so My Sweet Babboo and I will be heading south with a vanload of his stuff shortly.  I haven't been to Florida since...2004?  Probably going to go a little more frequently now.  He seems to be doing well in his job.  They did their summer day camp event last week, which seems to have been a success.  Their children's ministry is very similar to ours, so he's fitting right in.

Lotsa road trips on the docket for this summer, as well as the final push to the remodeled-gym-turned-sanctuary.  Official first service is August 5.

It's gonna be a busy, busy summer....

Top Number 4

Crazy.  One tablecloth and four tops is all that I've managed so far this year.  Where has my sewing time gone? 

This is the lighter blue knit that arrived in the last indulgence.  In a modified Hot Patterns LaStrada top, after church last Sunday:

I pretty seriously hacked that pattern, fit-wise, but it's been brought to heel. One of these days I'll get it written up for Pattern Review.
  This is not my best color,  but with a topper over it it's not bad.

We went straight from a long, lingering winter to a full-on summer in about a week.  I'm finding myself looking for cool tops...the A/C in the old school building that is now our church is taking a while to get up to speed.

It's a long weekend; maybe I'll get some sewing done.
Or maybe I'll do another project that 's urgent.

Or maybe I'll make ice cream and hang out with family.

We'll see.

Bailed again

...but I did finish something, lol.  I realize that, since I had a MOUNTAIN of laundry to do, I wasn't going to be able to focus on cleaning out the sewing nook as the laundry would be in the way.

So I sewed instead.

From the Gorgeous Fabrics re-start...a One-Yard shirt:

This was my second choice on the fabric; the first choice literally sold out the order before mine.

But, hey, it's a T-shirt, right?  So long as the colors work, it's good. 

Vogue 9057. tweaked a bit.

It's not perfect; I didn't want to put a dart in it and skew up the graphics so I just eased the side in.  Only I didn't run the easing out far enough so it's kinda bunchy.  But so long as I put a vest or topper on...no one would be the wiser.  Dunno if I will try that trick again or not.

Got a sky-blue top cut out...an altered-up Hot Patterns La Strada T.  If I can just keep one thing in the pipeline to work on a bit...maybe I'll see some progress....

Old habits are hard to break...

Well, that and nothing in my closet fits.  Sugar binge  + schedule change that made the routine 2 mile daily walk nigh impossible and...well, I'm pulling stuff out of my closet saying 'I can't wear that...I can't wear that...I can't wear that...'.  Stuff that I could get away with last year I can NOT pull off this year.

So, despite my determination to make the choir wardrobe work w/ accessories, defaulting to sewing it is.  And, sometimes, that means a visit to the local neighborhood online webstore.

This time, it was Fabric.com, in search of gray and hydrangea blues for May's choir wardrobe.

Two bamboo/lycra knits  for tops/ cardis and a 3-yard piece of chambray gray Brussels Washer Linen for some nice relaxed fit floppy pants.  I'll look like a tree trunk but I'll be comfy.

7 more yards in.  I gotta get to the sewing machines....

But I'm gonna see if I can manage to get the sewing room cleaned out this weekend.  Maybe.  I will likely be scheduling it around a viewing of  'Infinity War'...just so I can talk to my kids, who saw the movie on opening day but are refusing to discuss it until I've seen it.  I expect it to be bodaciously depressing, because I know people die, but I need to just see it and get it over with.

I'll be going with the Actor, and I might even skip choir practice to make sure we do it, because...drum roll...the youngster has actually been offered a REAL JOB, with, like, benefits and insurance and everything, as part of the Children's Ministry team at New Life Christian Fellowship Church...in Jacksonville, Florida. (Backstory Here, on the other blog, if you're interested).  He's gonna leave the week after Mother's Day.  So my time with him is limited, and next week is his birthday, and friends are throwing him a goodby party...and ...and... anyway, it's looking like Thursday might be the only chance.  The Flute Player says she can't sit through it again.

But seeing it Thursday  would leave ALL DAY Friday and ALL DAY Saturday and Sunday afternoon/evening for dejunking cleaning and reorganizing the sewing nook.  I *might* be able to get it done....maybe with an eye to moving it to a vacated bedroom, when it actually is vacated...

So.  Life is about to get different.   Again.

The Arcadia Green Top

 I actually finished it week before last, but we  had some tasks that pulled us out of choir last Sunday so I didn't wear it until today.

Vogue 9057; I added a front seam and topstitched it just to give the solid fabric some visual interest.  The sleeve length was determined solely by the amount of fabric I had; that was as long as I could make 'em.  Which, given the fact that spring is very slow to get in gear this year, is just fine.

That's the first time I made that view; I kinda like it and may use it again.  The only tricky bit is mitering the front corners;  I don't know if the instructions are to miter them or not; I didn't look. LOL.  Mitering corners is just what I do.

All in all, I'll call the experiment a guarded success.  It took two tries, but I did get something the right color.  I may very well try it again if I have a hard-to-match color....and I used a white knit that was just too grayish (literally, it looked like it had been washed with dark colors and took some dye) to use as it was, so just finding a purpose for that was good.

 I kinda like that green.  It's fresh and springy.  

30 Years...

The Artist turned 30 today.

Just doesn't seem possible.

But, you know...he's a pretty cool dude.  I'm kinda proud of him.

Enabled.

Well, in the last post I invited enabling with regard to fabric used for those really soft, really stretchy, really expensive leggings sold by direct sales.  If you're on facebook, you've probably been added to at least two groups by folks selling said leggings.  My daughter bought me a pair for Christmas and, while they are super comfortable, the print on them is, well, a cartoon character and more PJ/loungewear than I'm really good with wearing in public.  So I was looking for some more, um, useable prints.

Nurse Bennett corrected my misconception that the leggings fabric was cotton -- it's actually a double-brushed polyester -- and put me on to Cali Fabrics...an online vendor I was not acquainted with.  I went to the site and poked around a bit.  I settled on two prints for the double-brushed poly jersey, and a rayon/lycra jersey in a dark dusty rose color that I'm always short on when it comes up in the choir rotation.

They arrived  yesterday.  I was very impressed with the packaging; they were double-wrapped in plastic, well protected against any USPS foibles.  The prints were lovely and the cuts generous:

I was surprised that the abstract had a bit of the rose color in it; it didn't show in the little swatch on the website.

But...the floral print is too thin for leggings. It's going to make a wonderful flouncy shirt, I think. The abstract is a bit thicker; not as thick as my Lul@R03 leggings but I think it's substantial enough to work.  And, because I had to order in whole yards and it was generously cut, I'll have enough for a T shirt as well.

I'm on Cali Fabrics' mailing list now.  Sigh.  Another opportunity to, um, exercise my willpower.

Giving in to temptation...

The arcadia green top is in progress...I would make better time on it but for some reason the kitty has decided that the chair in front of the sewing machine is the perfect chair for me to hold her and pet her and scratch her chin and ears while she purrs loudly.

So my progress has been somewhat delayed.

But I have actually succumbed to the siren song of the internet fabric sources...and two orders have arrived since the start of the year.

Just two.  Really.

First was a sale, the second was, well, an indulgence, plain and simple.

Up first, two pieces from EmmaOneSock...

I have a t-shirt made from the sparkly gray; I didn't realize it was the same fabric until I got it home and compared it.  I got some for a cardigan...guess I'll end up with a twin set.  The green knit is darker and blue-er than it looks in the photo.  That's mostly for the next time we get assigned dark green for Choir.  We got surprised with it for Christmas a year ago and I had NONE.  Now I have a couple of pieces...this is a four-way-stretch rayon/lycra; I've also got a ponte that I picked up last year.  That ought to be enough to get me by, should it come up again.

And, you know, I had to show some support for the  Gorgeous Fabrics re-launch.   The two bottom pieces are rayon/nylon/lycra ponte, very, very nice.   I aim to make Sewing Workshop Helix Pants from them, but that could change.  The top pieces is a crepe-y ITY knit; it's a substitution, the print that I wanted sold out just before my order popped up.  But that's ok, it's just going to be a t-shirt, so it'll work as well as the first choice.  It's really nice...not slick like other ITY jerseys I've gotten in the past.

So, my yards in has surpassed yards out.  I'm done buying for a bit.

Unless I come across some really nice cotton/lycra knits...like what is used in the leggings sold by direct sale in multitudes of Facebook groups.  I got a pair for Christmas...still haven't got a black top to wear with them, but it's coming...and I'd LOVE to find knit like that.

Anyone found a source?  I give you permission to be an enabler...lol...

Arcadia Green: Attempt 2. Maybe.

So I had to do a little creative hunting to get the second dye batch.  Between Wednesday night last week and Saturday afternoon, Hobby Lobby completely shifted stuff around and the whole notions wall, including the shelf w/ the dyes, had moved.  I finally had to ask an employee...and it turned out she was working right in front of them.

And the aquamarine, of which an entire bottle is required in the mix for Arcadia Green, was out of stock.  Bummer. I bought some emerald green and a dusky blue, mostly because that's all they had, to see if I could approximate it.  I was plenty nervous about it, but didn't know what else to do.

But I had to pick up some milk, and, wouldn't you know, Publix had a decent selection of Rit dye.  Including Aquamarine.

So I mixed up another dye batch, intending to leave it in longer.  But this time I also put in a chunk of the 'too-gray' white cotton lycra knit.  One way or another, I was gonna get Arcadia Green.

I agitated it for 45 minutes instead of the prescribed 30, and when I pulled the fabric out of the dryer...the rayon/lycra was still too yellow, and I thought the cotton/lycra was too light.

But when I put the Pantone color swatch against it (the top one on the card)...it's about spot on.  Funny...the color on the choir facebook page looks darker.  And it's a dead match for the aqua post-it notepad.

Y'all, we wore this color three or four years ago and called it 'Lucite Green'.  Wore it two or three years before that and called it 'Seafoam'.  Sometime in the past, we just called it Mint Green.

So maybe I have  a couple of pieces somewhere that will do.  And I can make up a Jalie T from the cotton/lycra.  The Rayon...I'll put that back for another day.  Or another dye bath.  I honestly don't know if the yellowish cast to the original fabric is what is giving the yellowed results or if it's just not taking that dye due to fiber content.

BUT...wouldn't you know...yesterday I got slammed with a nasty sinus infection that sent me to the Dr this morning for antibiotics and had me napping under warm facial compresses all afternoon.  I may not have a singing voice this weekend anyway.  And I don't feel much like sewing.

Arcadia Green Attempt One: Fail

According to a Google Search on Arcadia Green, it is Pantone 16-5533.

So I had a standard against which to check my dye results.

Which were abysmal.

Granted, the color rendering in the photo isn't spot on, it really is slightly less yellow, but still.  Not gonna work.

The gluey dots applied along the selvage for, I suppose, stabilization took the color just fine.  But the rest of the yardage...not so much.  It is *supposed* to be a rayon/lycra blend but now I'm wondering if that's quite accurate.

So, I will try again, and I will leave the fabric in the bath for a bit longer with less yellow in the mix.

And I'll throw in a second piece...if I can't get past mint green on the first one I should still get something useful.

But first I gotta make another run to Hobby Lobby for some more Aquamarine dye.

And maybe I'll check my bead stash to see if I have some Arcadia green beads so I can just make a chunky necklace.  If it weren't Easter Weekend, for which we have services spanning three days, I'd make do like I did this month (I will have worn the same top 3 out of 4 Sundays...)  But there's not a chance to do laundry between Saturday night and Sunday morning and the stage is HOT, so...

I'll try again this evening.

A little weekend project...

So, the choir will be wearing something called 'Arcadia Green', along with black and gray, for April.

But Easter Weekend services start Friday night...with April colors.

And I have ONE thing in my wardrobe that is close to the right color...kind of a dark mint green to my eye.

I did peruse my usual suppliers but didn't find anything that really looked right.

Then I got a wild notion and did a search for Rit Dye Color charts...and found

Rit Dye formula for Arcadia Green: 
1 Bottle Aquamarine
1⁄4 Cup Teal
1 Tablespoon Lemon Yellow
3 Gallons water

So.  

Now, I have several pieces of white fabric that I have ordered online through the years.  Some are...thinner...than I had anticipated, so they will be undies, someday.

Others were kinda off on the color.  Too gray, too yellow...

Anyway, I pulled the 'too yellow' piece; I have about 2 1/2 yards or so.

It's gonna go in the dye bath tomorrow.

If it works...I might keep that little trick in mind for the too-gray piece next time an oddball color comes up.

Workwear 35

Because, you know, if you get multiple compliments on an outfit it's worth a post, right?

Specially when there's been precious little sewing happening...

I discovered one of the ladies' rooms at the new-to-us church building in which I work has a MIRROR. So, if I can figure out how to do it better, there might be more workwear posts...

This is a pair of RTW gray jeans, a Vogue 9057 top from olive knit (purportedly rayon/lycra but, well, I kinda doubt that it has much rayon...) and a gorgeous silk/wool blend scarf from Novica.

That just happened to match the green in the top dead on.

In all honesty, I think the scarf was the attraction, rather than the outfit as a whole, but it's worth documenting because it works.

I really like that Vogue pattern, too.  Maybe more of them will show up someday...

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....

No pics...but at least something's done!

The Princess gave me leggings for Christmas...you know, the direct-sales, super soft,  a Facebook group for every rep trendy leggings.

They are printed w/ Tigger all over them.

Black, white, yellow, orange.

I didn't have a single thing I could wear them with. Not being of the 'Leggings are pants' mindset, I needed a nice long top that coordinated.

So I finally pulled out a chunk of black jersey knit last week and cut out a top I've been wanting to make for a while; Butterick 5925 , one of Katherine Tilton's loose designs.  Not the one with the pocket-bags-below-the  hem;  that just looks weird.  But the other one, with the pockets in the godets.

I traced it off last week, did my usual raise-and-shorten the shoulders and cut it out.  Took a couple of sewing sessions, but I finished it last night.

And tried it on with the leggings today.

It's a cute, comfy top...but it's about 4" too short to wear over leggings, I've decided.  As My Sweet Babboo agreed (he thought it was about 6" too short), I will be pulling out another piece of black knit for a different style at some point.

'Cause, you know, if someone gives you something cute and trendy, you  ought to make an effort to wear it.

I don't know if I'll get a photo of the latest top; it's black, it will be hard to photograph.  I'll probably wait and take a picture the next time I make it up out of wacky knit print remnants.  At least the seams will show up, lol.

I have made next-to-no progress on the sewing room clean up; My Sweet Baboo came down with a nasty respiratory infection and missed his camping trip.  So I had somewhat of a distraction when I had planned to be home alone cleaning.  We'll see if I can get it done in the next three days. Or at least well started.

Gonna take a social media break; maybe that will help focus! :-)

Steeling my nerve....It's Time...

After a  crazy couple of months getting ourselves moved into a facility-in-renovation and getting enough of it functional to hold Sunday and Wednesday services, our leadership has done an amazing thing:  Everybody on staff is getting a week off.  Not all at once; we've been split into 4 groups, with  1/4 getting a break so 3/4 of the staff is on hand over 4 weeks.

My turn is next week; I've got enough hours in this week that I can leave around noon tomorrow; offices are always closed on Friday.

And my hubby has a camping event this weekend.

So.

This is the weekend I tackle the sewing room.

I'm ready for some order.

I can do this.

Um.  Yeah.

I'll post before and after when it's done, lol.

Loss of a Landmark...

Saw this on the news last night....logged on today to find that the fire had re-ignited overnight and there is literally nothing but a portion of a shell left.

I've been to Sir's irregularly...it is a 45-minute to an hour drive away...and the stock varied greatly; one visit would yield very little worth bringing home while a visit in 2007 saw me hauling home nearly 50 yards of deals; a good bit of which is still in the bins.  It was THE place to go to find costuming fabric; especially after the deterioration of the fabric department at Wal-Mart.

It was a place that still SMELLED like I remember fabric stores smelling as a kid.  The good ones.  With real fabric.

It was a family business; who knows if they'll try to rebuild/restock.

I can hope, but given the current status of the retail fabric business...I fear they're gone for good.

Glad I have a stash....

A Rather Inauspicious Start to 2018

Sometimes, the urge to MAKE SOMETHING just gets irresistible...

Even in the midst of the crazy...hubby out of town, the church, which is also my place of employment, moving into a new facility that's still in the midst of renovation...packing, moving, unpacking, cleaning, cleaning, cleaning...lol.

Last year, I bought about 4 pieces of fabric to make tablecloths.  I love using upholstery cottons; they're usually treated w/ a stain resistant finish and they're drapey and washable...what's not to love?

Oh, yeah.  They're usually only about 52" wide...and my round table on the porch is about 55" around.

But I came up with a plan.   

1. Buy extra length.
2. Straighten one edge; measure off 62" and pull a thread and cut.
3.  Split the remnant in half lengthwise
4.  Remove all selvedges
5. Match the cut pieces to the center of the long piece; sew the seam and then serge it.
6.  Fold carefully into quarters
7.  Mark an arc 31" from the fold point
8.  Cut on the marked arc to get a circle
9. Use the serger to roll the edge.
10.  Fray check the tail and trim after dry.

Simple, no?  It really doesn't take long.

And the Sewing Urge hit, so I thought I'd sew up one of the pieces of tablecloth fabric.

But I had a problem with this particular piece of fabric....

The first time I made a circle table cloth, I didn't pay any attention to the placement of the motifs on the center line.  As a result, the large motif is slightly off center vertically.  It's not terribly wrong, but it bugs me.  So this time, I picked out the prominent motif and measured out of the center 31" on both sides.

Unfortunately, I had a fairly sizeable chunk on the end that I would otherwise have just evened up to square.  Which meant that, after I matched up the long end to the sides and folded it into quarters, the extension quit about an inch too soon.

Sigh.  I guess I'll just have a slightly short drop on the cloth.  I didn't want the off-center motif thing going on again.

So I folded it up into quarters, with the shortest side up, and made the arc 30" instead of 31" from the center.

And it sat there for about a week before I could get to it again.

When I had a chance, I trotted upstairs and cut along the marked arc.
Gave the remnant a tug but it didn't seem to move right.  Oh, the rotary cutter didn't get all the way through the layers.  Not unusual, just give it a quick little slice.

But that slice seemed awfully thick.  Did it really not go all the way through?

No! Gasp!  I had looked at the thing cockeyed and for some reason CUT UP THE PIECED SEAM .

I'm still not sure what crossed my wires, but I had a 6" gash on either side.

I don't often cry when sewing, but I confess to shedding a few tears at that point.  I really, really liked the fabric.

But, it's either fix it or consign it to tote bags, so I scooped up the circle and went to the sewing machine, where I zig-zagged those gashes shut.  They're on the drop...they won't be noticed...right?

Someone's gotta look close to see it.  One is right on the seamline, the other is just off a bit.

But, whilst suturing the gashes, I noticed that I DIDN'T have the shortest side of the matched pieces up.  There was a healthy divot missing off of one end of the arc.

No!!!

What to do, what to do...

Y'all, I unpicked the seam a bit, whacked a square of the remnant (it was a trick to get my brain around matching that on two sides) and pieced it in.

It's not invisible, but it's not very noticeable, and, given the patching already done, perfectly serviceable.

In hind sight, it probably would have worked better, matching wise, to have put one of the smaller motifs in the center.  It would have at least still been balanced.  But...it is what it is, and it'll do.

And I just realized I'd knocked it about an inch off center before I took that last pic.  Oh, well.  You get the idea.

But, given how hard I tried to ruin that, lol, I'm kind of skeered to tackle anything else until I've gotten my calm back, lol.

The Dismal 2017 Stats...

Finally clearing the slate for a new year.

I just didn't manage to get to the sewing machines much last year.  Partly blaming the on-line Master's degree, which pretty much consumed the first 5 months of the year, but I can only partly blame that.

To be honest, I think the current jammed-up, cluttered sewing room is as much to blame as anything. That, and re-gaining the weight I lost in 2016 kinda killed my sewing motivation altogether.

But, as they say it's a new year and a new day.  Cleaning the sewing room is on my radar...after I get a few other things caught up...(and I'm making progress there) so maybe I can post not-so-dismal stats this time next year...

Fabric In: 74.875 yds
Fabric Out: 31.625 yds
Last fabric added: 11/15?/17
Garments made for me: 15
Garments made for other family members: 2
Home Dec Items: 1
Muslins:1
Misc. Church Sewing: 12? 14? Nine-patch squares for table decor;

Still, the fabric-in total was the 3rd lowest for the year since I started keeping records of such things back in 2004; and it was just 3/8ths of a yard over the 2nd lowest total, which was in 2010 (in 2015 my yearly total was 72.625 yards; that's the most disciplined I've managed to be... but that year I sewed over 62 yards, so I only added about 10 yards to the stash.  I'm way off of that this year).

I'm not going to totally restrict myself from buying ANY fabric...there are some gaps in the stash, and if I need Brussels Washer Linen I'm going to buy some, but it's gonna have to be something I NEED and will SEW when I get it.

Back to the old paradigm that I lived with until something like 1990...buy the fabric when you're going to sew it.

I can hardly remember what that was like...the excitement of going to the fabric store, coming home with the new fabric that I could hardly stand to wait to run it through the washer/dryer before slapping the pattern down and attacking it with the scissors.

Now, of course, that kind of immediate gratification just doesn't happen.   I had a good 4 or 5 stores a short drive a way then...that had things like cotton and linen and silk...now there's just Jo-Ann's World of Quilting, Polyester and Crafts.  But I digress...

So, this year I intend to Shop the Stash.  I might make things for choir...or I might make things I'll never get to wear in choir.  I might make aprons and tote bags.  I might come up with a SWAP plan.  Who knows.

But I want to get my sewing room cleaned out and somewhat organized.

Then I can have some fun.  Shop the stash...slap on the pattern...make something new...

A New Paradigm...I hope...

I looked, and do you know, I ran some form of a Choir Wardrobe post for nearly ten years?  With a break here and there...

Hard to believe I've been blogging that long, but it was 12 years last fall, so...well, time flies.

So I've been contemplating my sewing. The choir wardrobe has literally driven my sewing choices for who knows how long; yet I have been accumulating fabric in all sorts of styles all that time that has languished (note to self:  next post, do the dismal 2017 stats...lol).

Fabric dot com sent an email to me (actually, more than one), saying they were worried about my stash...afraid I was going to run out of fabric.

(laughs hysterically)

I posted on Facebook that they should be afraid I would open a competing fabric business, based on the stash.

But you know, the stash has been weighing on me.  So many unfulfilled dreams.  Those lovely blouses, awesome jackets,  sharp dresses...that have never been made.

So my goal for 2018 is to dare to sew pretty things from the stash.

Also on my goal for 2018 is to have fun sewing; I'm going to try to sew without deadlines.

But first up...my sewing room is a disaster.

A DIS.AS.TER.

No, I'm not posting a photo now.  I'll take a 'before'...and, when it's clean, I'll post it with the 'after'.

I may not get much sewing done for the next month; it may take that long to clean it out.

'Specially as I haven't started yet.  Got some other urgent household business to take care of first.

Regarding choir; I'm going to give it a go and see if I can use what I have, with possible minor accessory purchases, for the entire year.  Unless something changes radically, or some previously unknown color shows up in the mix, I should be good...even if I just go in all black or all brown or whatever the neutral is for the month.

So...here's to shopping the stash in 2018! :-D

Choir Wardrobe 12.31.17

In the interest of not having a bodaciously long and rambling post, I'm going to stick to the Choir Wardrobe for today and save other stuff for another day.

Burgundy, black and gray were the colors for December, and since we had 5 Sundays in the month I actually did get to wear the new stretch lace top. 

Worn with the ancient Vogue cardi-wrap I wore last week and the black-denim-look ponte Sewing Workshop Helix Pants, because I didn't have any dressier pants that 1) fit or 2) were clean.  There's a charcoal gray Jalie 965 tank under it, because, yeah.  Stretch lace.

Looking at the photo, I'm wishing I'd made the top about 2" longer....which would have been the original length of the pattern.  What looked frumpy in rayon knit would have looked fine in the stretch lace.  It looks a little skimpy to me, but that may be partially because of the knit pants.  Drapey straight-leg pants w/o a topper would probably have worked better.

The topper was because it was cold Sunday...even here in the South. I'm not complaining; this Hoosier-born gal needs a bit of cold around the holidays for it to even feel right.    Now I want one 3 -4 inch snow and we can call it winter and go to spring. LOL.


AND...with that post, I'm going to retire the Choir Wardrobe...it may come back again or it may not, but I'm feeling really ambivalent about posting the same ol stuff over and over (I know, there's a new top this week, but in general...it's all old...).

But I want to refocus my sewing priority, and I think the paradigm shift on the blog will help.  In all honesty, I started the choir wardrobe series back in the day as a challenge to myself to see if I could wear something me-made every Sunday for a year.   I met that challenge...over and over and over again.  Now it's rare that I DON'T wear something I've made.

So now I need a new challenge. 

And I'm thinking.  I'm thinking....

:-)  Thanks to everyone who has followed the series all these years!

Last project of 2017

Back in, oh,  September I managed to find some kind of Christmassy-themed upholstery cotton and ordered 3 yards for a tablecloth for the round table in the sunroom.  Because, you know, I wanted a bit of Christmas cheer to go with the ancient kitschy aluminum tree with the color wheel.

But nobody makes cotton upholstery fabric in greater than about 54" widths, and trial-and-error has proven that a 62" diameter circle works best for the tablecloth.  So piecing is in order.

Sometimes I can get an invisible line...sometimes not so much.  This time is not so much, but the little trees (those are green trees with red trunks.  Actually they are lime green trees with fuschia trunks, but at a glance it's red and green) are kinda eye-swirling anyway so I don't think it's going to be too noticeable.  Green wooly nylon serger rolled edge.  The trickiest part is the piecing and the cutting.

I've got half a yard...ish...left over.  Eventually I'll make a little totebag out of it.

While I had the serger set up for a rolled edge, I decided I'd tackle another quick project.  Last year, I found a 70" red jacquard tablecloth and tried to make it work.  But it was so long it drug on the chairs and got in the way and...anyway, I decided to cut it down to a 62" circle and serge it up.

I was really surprised when I cut it out; I folded it on the lengthwise grain (easy to see due to the jacquard pattern), then folded again on the crosswise and the hem was way uneven going around...as much as 3" off in one spot.  Cheap construction, I thought.  I marked the arc and cut the circle down, changed the thread in the serger and took off.

I checked the progress after about 6" and found that the weave on the fabric was so loose that the rolled edge just pulled off.  Oy.

So I put my wide rolled edge foot on the sewing machine and began to sssslllooowwwllly work my way around it.  I didn't do too badly until I hit the first part of the circle in which I was sewing against the grain. Oy oy and double oy.  The fabric just opened up.  The edge frayed like crazy and the hem suddenly got really ugly really fast.  I stopped and ripped and started again and stopped and ripped and got frustrated and just kind of gritted my teeth around to the cross grain bit, which worked better.   Went pretty good again until I got to the opposite side where I was going against the grain again and...after starting and stopping a couple of more times, I pulled the whole side off and zig-zagged the edge, on the off side so that I was sewing with the grain, to stabilize it.  Then I went back and ran that quarter through the rolled edge foot again.  Still not great but  much better.  When I looked at the first rough quarter...it was bad.  So I ripped that out, trimmed the crazy thread tails and zig-zagged it on the right side and then ran that side back through the rolled edge.

Oh yeah.  On that first side I forgot to switch back to a straight stitch so I actually zig-zagged the rolled edge.  Which laid so much nicer than it did the first time that I also zig-zagged the second side when I re-did it.  So two alternate quarters are straight-stitched on the hem and the other two are zig-zagged but I'm OK WITH THAT.  At least all the edges are secure.  If anyone looks close enough at the hem to see the inconsistency...I'll think they're really weird...lol.

And when I folded it up to put it away, I saw that the edges were not at all even.  I have real empathy for the poor stitchers that had to sew it in the beginning.  It was ghastly.  But I have a dressy-festive table cloth to put on the round table if I want to.

And if I'm not at church or a party tomorrow, I'm going to be cooking, so...no more sewing this year.

Gonna do some thinking...hard ...about sewing priorities for 2018.  There may be a paradigm shift coming...

Choir Wardrobe 12.17 and 12.24 2017

I didn't even realize that I hadn't managed to post last week until I posted the note about the lace top.

Which I actually didn't wear today; we were to wear 'dressy' clothes...ie, kick it up a notch from our usual casual laid-back style.  But I'm getting ahead of myself.  Better back up and talk about last week first.

 Choir colors for this month are burgundy or something close, lol, black and gray.  So I've got some Land's end black jeggings under  my Butterick 5244 Muse dress, made up in a (reversible, actually; the wrong side is solid black) rayon/poly doublknit.  It's kind of a fun retro thing to wear and it almost always garners comments from folks.  Even though, if you read the review, you'll see it's far from a perfect effort.  And there's a flaw in the back that I never noticed until I'd worn it about a year.  Looks like someone put tape on it and pulled off some of the top layer of burgundy, letting the black shadow through some.

Keep moving.  LOL.

Actually posting this between Christmas Eve services today;  we split our usual 3-service schedule into two in the morning and one in the late afternoon, and did family services (IE, no child care above 2 years; the kids were with their parents for a one hour service).  The choir did a regular worship set, with some Christmas themed-songs mixed in with contemporary arrangements of Carols, then returned at the end of the service in robes (yes, we borrow them for special events from time to time) to do Eddie James epic 'He's Here'

I actually posted the question on the choir FB group last night...would we be partaking of communion on the platform?  Because if we were, I needed to make sure to wear something with pockets, for the little sealed package of wafer-and-grapejuice.  But, no the choir was not going to be on the platform during communion, so I was safe to go pocket-less.

So.  The garnet red (oh, did I say garnet red?  Of course, I meant burgundy...lol) slinky Sewing Workshop Cityscapes Dress, which fit better 15 pounds ago, but that's the beauty of slinky, no?  BTW, that pattern is out of print but it is, I believe, now available as a PDF download.

Also with the nearly-worn-out-and-needs-replacing black jersey Vogue 8305 cardi-wrap.  Which I peeled off before I put on the robe. LOL.

Off to the final service of the day; choir call is in about 20 minutes; gotta run or I'll be late. :-)

A Merry and Blessed Christmas to all my sewing friends!

Yes! I made something!

Last night, I had the thought that this is becoming less of a sewing blog than a 'Hey, I'm still wearing clothes that I made ages ago' blog.

So I stayed up late and made a top in the current choir colors.

It's a stretch lace that I bought because it was black and burgundy, a combo that is worn most every November.  We didn't wear it in November this year, but it's the nominal color for December.

I don't know if it'll work for me to wear it for Choir, but I might wear it for Christmas or New Year's.  With a Jalie 967 tank cami under it, of course.

Took me  a couple of hours, all told, but I didn't stick with it solidly.  And I had a little trouble with the hem; I used a zig-zag that was too wide the first time and it tunnelled up pretty badly.  A little unstitching and a much narrower zig-zag and it was much nicer.

There's a wee bit of sparkle in the fabric; it won't be warm but, hey, this is Alabama.  And it will be kinda festive.

Vogue 9057/Marcie Tilton, View A.

Choir Wardrobe 12.10.17

I'm a day late...the church offices are MOVING and this weekend, my office is broken down and scattered betwixt the old and the new...which meant I came home and did the weekly data entry all evening and did not get a choir post done in a timely fashion.  At least I managed to get My Sweet Babboo to take the photo...

So.  We still kinda sorta don't know what color we're wearing this month, with our standard black/gray, lol.  The swatch on the facebook group page is  pretty much the same color we wore last fall and called 'garnet red'.  But the word description for it is 'crimson/burgundy'.  And who knows what that is???

Most of the choir is going off the word 'Burgundy', so we had a lot of near-purple in choir on Sunday.
But, hey, the lights kinda make it all work somehow....

I wore more old stuff... a gray rayon/lycra jersey  Christine Jonson Basewear 2 turtleneck shell,  Black RPL ponte Oxford Pants, and a Sewing Workshop Tribeca Top  that I made in 2007?  I think?  from a piece of GORGEOUS brocade jacquard that is, depending upon the light, deep red on gray OR fuschia on denim blue.  I typically call it red-on-gray and go with it.  I generally wear it as a topper, because the buttons are spaced a bit far apart for true security (explained in the review) and the sleeves are a little too dropped for good arm mobility; something that I do need in our praise-and-worship style choir.  But it's a good beefy fabric and works well as a topper.  It always gets compliments....

I should wear it more. :-)

Choir Wardrobe 12.3.17

Wow!  Something I don't think you've seen before... ;-)

Choir colors for December were listed as 'crimson/burgundy' and black.  We weren't sure if that meant we were supposed to wear crimson OR burgundy or if some folks were considering that to be two names for the same shade of deep red.   So we had a range of colors.

I decided to wear the ancient-yeah-you've-seen-these pants that I really don't like, except the colors in the stripes (red and white) on the black makes them so doggone useful.  It's the first modification of the Jalie Classic Pants, made eaons ago, and if I really want to make use of the pattern I need to do some adjusting.  But this actually was cheap Wal-Mart fabric; I just didn't expect to like the colors so well.

Of course, I'm watching for replacement fabric in something nice to the touch and not so poly/lycra-y. 

Very Nice black ponte McCall's 6844 cardigan, which you have seen before, and a red washed silk charmeuse New Look 6762 shell top that you haven't  seen yet, for all that I made it early this year.  Just didn't have the right occasion to wear it.

And, while that top is in a wardrobe pattern w/ a jacket, I've found that it works better w/o a topper, because it has cut on-cap sleeves which get pushed in by a jacket, resulting in some drapiness in the upper chest.  That completely goes away if I don't have a jacket on.  But, well, I needed a cardi today so I just dealt with it.    I did work the pattern over a bit...moving the neckline in at the shoulders to be more strap-friendly and adding a bit of a FBA.  I've made three or four tops from it now and I really do like it.

None of these patterns have been reviewed yet, shame on me.  I need to dust off the ol' templates and get some reviews up.

Choir Wardrobe 11.26.17

Of all the choir wardrobe posts I've done, this one seems to me to be the most inane. 

But there's a lesson in it, I think.

We did not have a normal service today.  In light of the loss the church staff sustained Friday morning, there just was no way for business to continue as usual.  Today's service was a reflection on the life and ministry of our children's pastor, who passed away suddenly and unexpectedly early Friday at the tender age of 50.

Pastor Dave was a huge Captain America fan, so word went out Friday night that the choir was going to wear either Captain America shirts or, if that wasn't possible, royal blue and red today.

Well, I didn't have a Captain America T shirt.  My kids had had trouble finding them at retail...they were selling fast as folks who knew Pastor Dave all bought them to wear in his honor.  My hubby is still convalescing; I hate Black Friday weekend shopping.  I really just didn't have the oomph to go on a t-shirt hunt.

So I had the brilliant idea to go to Hobby Lobby and pick up some transfer paper and a T shirt and download an image from the internet and create my own.

I even found a really cool Captain America shield graphic...one that looked battle worn, so that if the transfer wasn't perfect it wouldn't really show up.

But I didn't click through to the source and just as I closed the window after downloading a copy, I saw the phrase 'deviant art'.

Suddenly I had the sinking feeling that I hadn't downloaded an open source image but someone's personal artwork.  I went back to the search page and hunted it down and, sure enough, it was an image created by an individual and shared on his site.

Using his image on a shirt w/o his ok, not to say compensation, would be patently against everything Captain America...and Pastor Dave...would stand for.

I couldn't do it.

So, today, I was in royal blue and red.

Old Coldwater Creek knit jeans;  an old Coldwater Creek sweater shell.  And a modified Jalie 2919 Pleated Cardigan..  Also old.

And a clear conscience, if a bit of regret that we did't brave the crowds to track down retail shirts.

I will say that this mornings services were hard but amazing.  Pastor Dave's son spoke briefly on behalf of his family, and made the following statement, 'I know two things.  One, that this is unfair and I will never understand.  Two, that I will trust my God and not lean on my own understanding, but I will acknowledge Him in all my ways and I know that He will direct my path.'

As I said, hard...and amazing.

Godspeed, Pastor Dave...

I debated which blog should host this.  It deals with church and faith; so perhaps it should go on the faith blog.  But I recently posted a memorial to someone I'd only watched on TV;  this is much, much closer and dearer.  If I could write about one, I should definitely write about the other.

And I have posted about working with our children's pastors many times over the years; sewing costumes and set pieces.  You might remember the costuming ....the  gold dress with the white oversleeves and both of the boys' tunics in the above flyer, for instance.  Pastor Dave added the studs to the tunics, making them more ruggedly squire-looking.

That was just a bit of the awesome eye for detail that Pastor Dave would exhibit. I never failed to be amazed and inspired by his vision and genius, all with the goal of using that creativity to share the gospel in a way that even little kids could understand that they are loved.

Today, I woke up to a text message that our beloved Pastor Dave had had a massive heart attack in the early morning hours.  Of course, being a person of faith, I believe he's currently walking around heaven enthusiastically reacting to the beauty and the creativity in abundance.    But also being a person who loved him and his family,  enjoyed working and creating with him and just plain liking him as a warm, kind-hearted, caring person....well, I had to read the text three times before I comprehended that it said what it looked like it said.  I can't fathom the effect on his wife and three kids (all pictured in that flyer, but the kids are now grown). They have been in my heart and prayers all day.

He was a colleague on church staff; that meant that, as the DBA,  I was involved with the Kids Quest team for registration for the big summer theme events as well as volunteer costuming. But above and beyond that, he was a pastor to my kids.  He pastored them when they were young, educated them in ministry as teens and mentored them as young adults.  My two youngest are now lay adult staff members of the children's ministry team.  We've seen the ministry up close and personal, from the backstage, and I can tell you that it is authentic.  The pastors lived what they taught.  They set high standards and challenged the kids to...for those in leadership, insisted that the kids... meet those standards.

He created all the puppets himself;  designed the stage for our children's sanctuary, designed the sets for the children's theme every summer...ranging from medieval castles to steampunk labs to dinosaur enclosures, pirate ships and more.  He even did some sets for local high school productions and community theater groups.

But, also, in times of crisis, both national (think 9/11) or local, it was Pastor Dave that the church turned to for guidance in helping our kids process and deal with the harsher side of life.  He had the ability to break something down to a kids' level and help them understand.    He truly loved the kids...and they loved him.

He was also a huge Captain America fan; his office is FILLED with figurines, posters, and other memorabilia.  Facebook profile pictures have been converting to Captain America references all day long in honor of Pastor Dave;  my older son actually stopped at Target to pick up a Captain America t-shirt and found a nearly empty display.  The clerk commented that she'd filled that to absolute capacity just yesterday.   I expect to see a sea of Captain America T-shirts at church Sunday.

There's no way to estimate the number of lives he has impacted.  He will be sorely and deeply missed.

Late night thoughts...

Doing the mom thing and waiting up on a kid to get home...might as well dust off the 'new post' page, eh?

I actually finished a top over the weekend;  I wasn't in choir this week since I was home playing post-op nurse for My Sweet Babboo.   He had a cyst removed...the CT scan showed it on his bronchial tube, but the surgeon said it appeared to be more connected to the pericardium (sac around the heart).  It also was lymphatic in nature, but the pathology all came back benign.

He looks like he had a tussle with a shark.  Pain meds are keeping him tolerably comfortable, but come with their own set of ...issues...so we'll be glad when the soreness abates and he can back off of them.  But he's on the mend, and I really  have not noticed the persistent cough that started this whole line of investigation.  So hopefully that was the culprit and he can remember what  it's like to feel good.  Sometime around Christmas.

Anyway.  Sewing.

I had an olive green jersey knit in the stash waiting for that to roll around in choir; almost missed it this go round but I will be able to wear it this Sunday, if all goes well and I can leave MSB at home for a few hours unattended.  I used Vogue 9057, the asymmetric long sleeved view that I have loved so much in the dark brown version I made a couple of years ago.

I had a time.   The presser foot on my sewing machine doesn't allow variable pressure adjustment (which probably would have been a deal breaker had I thought to ask about it when I was test sewing); it ate the first mitered corner I tried and I had to fudge it a bit in the end to cover the resulting holes.

On top of that, my serger wasn't trimming the seams cleanly; it was just kinda chewing them. By the time I sewed my last seam on the serger I was so frustrated I was ready to throw it in the car and haul it to the dealer for some maintenance. The chewing was dragging on the seam and making it waver; I couldn't stitch straight.  I got through it and pressed it and thought, well, I'll keep moving.

Then I happened to think...it HAD been a while since I gave the serger a good cleaning.

Found the oil, found my lint brush and went at it.  And found a sizeable chunk of lint in the spring that holds the moveable blade, which was probably pushing it just a hair away from the fixed blade.

Once I got it cleaned out, I ran a test seam on some scraps.  No problems.

Which just goes to show...everything needs a little TLC* from time to time. :-)

I'm going to be cooking tomorrow; turkey and apple salad and pie, in preparation for the feast of Thanksgiving.  My favorite holiday; probably more of what Christmas was like before it became such a consumer-fest.  Family and food and thanksgiving.

If you celebrate Thanksgiving, I wish you joys as you reflect on your blessings; if you live elsewhere and it's business as usual on Thursday, I still wish you a day of joy and maybe a little TLC somewhere along the way.


*if you're not up on the acronym, that 's Tender Loving Care  :-)

RIP Nancy Z....

I know, there are memorials all over the blogsphere today, but what kind of a sewing blogger would I be if I didn't acknowledge the huge influence Nancy Zieman was?

In the days before internet, her Saturday afternoon PBS show inspired me and taught me shortcuts.

Pivot and slide rocks.  I may not always agree with exactly how it was taught (dividing the necessary addition by the number of edges...um, if I need more in front, that doesn't quite work.) but the strategy of sliding and swinging those pattern pieces made so much more sense to me than cutting things apart.

That one-piece collar that Louise Cutting has made famous in her patterns?  I saw it on Sewing with Nancy years ago.  Not to say who was doing it first...but, before internet, Nancy showed it to me. 

A couple of the oldest books in my sewing library were authored by Nancy.  I have her pants pattern and pants fitting book; I made, I think, two wonderful pairs of pants that fit from it but have not done the start-from-scratch that would be necessary to refit the pattern since the big M  gave me a big Middle.  But I know I *could* do it.

I recorded-as-I watched most of the shows back in the late 80's and early 90's, until she moved more into quilting and such, which wasn't my area of interest.  Of course, I still have those in a box somewhere but they're unwatchable as our ancient VHS player can't be trusted not to eat video tape anymore.

Nancy's Notions was a go-to source for things I couldn't buy locally.  Again, before the internet, that was amazing.

I still use the exam room table paper to trace patterns.  I think I'm on the last roll I purchased some time ago.  I wish I had started tracing patterns earlier.  Not because the patterns were expensive, but because...they went away.  The Big 4 retire patterns before they hit their stride, I think.  Even a pattern that I paid $1 is priceless if I can't replace it.  Thank you, Nancy, for teaching me how to trace patterns so I can fit them without spoiling them.

Nancy was a steady, dependable source of information and encouragement, as well as an amazing example of courage.  Her messages to the public during her illness were ever positive, even the last one that related the fact that the cancer could not be treated and she was stepping out of the public to spend her last days with her family was not sad in tone.

She was an amazing woman and the sewing community will miss her.

Choir Wardrobe 11.12.17

In Which She Actually Wears Nothing that She Made.

Really.  It does happen on occasion.

Colors for November are brown, tan, burgundy and olive green.  The vest is probably not brown enough for tan, but it is a kind of ecru in real life so I fudged it.

Brown jeggings from Wal-Mart and a burgundy T-shirt/tunic from the Women's Ministry Merch Shop. 

See, November happens to be Adoption Awareness month and the women's ministry offered a set of T shirts, tunics and dresses w/ various names of God in Hebrew script, with all proceeds benefiting the ministries that we partner with to care for widows, orphans and foster kids.

The name on my top, El Emeth (Strong's 571), means 'God of Truth'.  We were supposed to take a photo of ourselves wearing the shirt of our choice and explain why we chose that name.

I first picked the top because, well, to be honest, it was the style that most suited me.  And the color is more-or-less right for choir this month.  But if I were choosing according to the graphics, I still would have chosen this top.

I had a epiphany during a lunch-time prayer-and-journal session back in January in which I realized my core value is truth.

Once I realized that about myself, a lot of things fell into place...from why I want to make sure our stage costumes are correct to why I teach Bible classes.

Which is kinda odd, considering that, as a kid, I would tell the most outrageous stories (one I remember...'I walked in my sleep last night and woke up curled up under the high boy cedar chest.').  Probably for attention, I think.   It quit when I was in about the 5th grade and got called out on my fancy by someone whose opinion I valued. 

Perhaps the value of truth took root at that point.  The concept that there is truth and there is...not truth.  And I learned that it didn't matter how much I wanted something to be true, if it wasn't true, it. wasn't. true.  Opinion did not sway the needle from 'not true' to 'true'.

Which pretty much flies in the face of the current trend to consider all truth relative to point of view.

But a core value of mine, nonetheless.

(oh, yes, the top has pockets...lol...)

Choir Wardrobe 11.05.17

November colors are Burgundy, Olive Green, Tan and Brown.

I suppose, if you want to get technical, the slinky Textile Patterns Monaco Shell is closer to Garnet than Burgundy, but it's in the right family.  Brown wool jersey Pamela's Patterns Cool Draped Cardi, and wool/lycra blend black-on-brown stripe Loes Hinse Oxford Pants.

The newest thing is the cardigan...and that's from, like, three years ago?  Four years ago? (Checks date on review.  4 years ago.)

I have fabric in all four colors.  Must find time. LOL.

It's been Twelve Years...

Hard to believe that twelve years ago today I launched Sew Random, to blog my way through costuming a production of 'The Gospel According to Scrooge'.

I looked, and, so far as I can tell, the first photos posted to the blog (it took me a bit to figure that out) were these, on 11/10/05:

The 'Google Archives' don't go back that far; I had to search through the early posts  to find the first photos  (and I had to upload them again).   Angel 1 and a Townsperson...work in progress.  The white lace on the pink dress came from the wedding dress sleeves...removed to be replaced with the green trim.  And it just fit; I think I had three little lace motifs left.

Since that time...Bible costumes galore, baptism robes, school productions, mother of the bride, SWAP collections, both finished and not finished...not to mention items made in the 'choir wardrobe colors' and the occasional pillow cover or table cloth.

Normally, I'd do some kind of giveaway to celebrate the blogiversary, but this year I'm bailing on that, mostly because the next 6 weeks are going to be absolutely crazy and I'm not going to commit to any more than is necessary for survival at this point (writes and deletes long detailed boring explanation.  Maybe later.).

But I didn't want to let the day get by without a mention; as always, I really appreciate everyone who stops by and takes time to follow along with my ramblings...especially when there's not much sewing happening.   Or blogging, either...I wrote more posts in 2005 (and that was just November and December) than I've done so far in all of 2017.  Sigh.


Thanks so much to all of you!!  Big hugs all around. :-)

The Last GF Purchase...

You will possibly remember the stern talking-to I gave myself regarding a going-out-of-business sale.  With way more fabric in than I've been sewing...I couldn't really justify adding more, just because it was a good buy.

But then I happened to click on the page with the laces and specialty fabrics, instead of my normal jersey knits.

Y'all.  You know you can't just walk into Hobby Lobby or JoAnn's and find stuff like this.

I'm, by an large, a sewer of practical garments.  It's really outside of the box for me to get something like this, and I'll be stretching my creative boundaries to actually come up with garments for it.  I don't really have a good track record of knowing what to do with lace yardage.

But I'm not going to rush this.  The blue lace might even become a Mother Of The ______ garment; and none of the three eligibles are even dating.

But it's nice to know I've got it...and when I do sew it it will be with fond memories of a friend who supplied me with wonderful stuff for a few years.

Godspeed, Ann!