Five for Friday 4.24

April 24, 2015 By sklose Leave a Comment

1. After spending so much time on those unwearable culottes (part of the problem, I realized later, is that I sewed one of the pockets in backwards. Fixing it would mean taking so much apart though that I don’t think I’m going to bother; I don’t think they’d be much better after) it’s been hard to work up a lot of excitement about sewing. This is especially true since I don’t have a lot of time to sew. I use our little office/soap storage room to do it and that only gets sunlight first thing in the morning. I should probably invest in a couple of lamps so I can be in there in the evenings, but until then, I only have what little time I can fit in before work or on the weekends. I decided that the next project I wanted to tackle is this terrific dress, another one from Liesl. This is one of her Lisette patterns that she publishes with Butterick and the terse directions and complicated cutting layout and basically everything about it makes me really miss working with indie patterns, but I love the dress and want to to wear it and will persevere. I had initially wanted to do the sewalong with her (how gorgeous is her hand-dyed silk fabric?), but underestimated how much time it was going to take to cut out the pieces, so I’m behind. It’s helpful to have the write-ups to refer to though.

I’m using double gauze that I bought from Fancy Tiger Crafts. I initially had ordered a blue-gray, but they sold out of it before my order was processed and I substituted this indigo color instead. It’s a really gorgeous shade, a very green-toned light navy that absolutely no thread matches.

2. Speaking of Fancy Tiger, visting their site is dangerous. How gorgeous is this linen gauze?

It reminds me of the work of one of my favorite lettering designers, Eva Black, who’s started selling paintings recently.

3. This site superimposes a map of New York City over maps of other cities. It’s pretty interesting to compare, especially since they also provide population numbers.

4.Emma Thompson interviews Hugh Laurie, wins hearts.

5. Clickhole’s oral history of Mad Men is pretty hilarious. “Elisabeth Moss (Peggy Olson): Even for scenes he wasn’t in, Jon would burst into whatever room we were filming in and shout, ‘No, I’m not Don Draper! Don Draper exploded! I’m Dick Whitman instead! Yowza!'”

On taking your time when fabric shopping

July 11, 2014 By sklose 1 Comment

Earlier this summer, I stopped by B+J Fabrics and picked up a few yards of this cotton for a summer dress. I was in a hurry and when I a bolt in the cotton prints section that was still mostly wrapped in paper caught my eye, I grabbed it. I liked the purple-y gray and black colorway, I liked what I could see of the somewhat abstract geometric/mountain pattern, and I figured it would make a great dress.
Then I got it home and unfolded the yardage to put it in the laundry:I had accidentally bought three yards of novelty bat-patterned Halloween fabric.

I actually wasn’t especially bothered by it, though, and thought the whole situation was pretty funny. Plus, I like bats and I wouldn’t not wear a bat dress, even when it isn’t Halloween. Still, I had a really hard time deciding whether to use the fabric bat-side-up or bat-side-down. On one hand, if you HAVE novelty fabric, you might as well commit to it. I think a bat dress could be thoroughly charming. But on the other hand, I’ve been working pretty hard to edit down my closet and get rid of things I only wear occasionally (I’m thinking about doing Project 333—have any of you ever tried it?) and novelty dresses don’t really fit the direction I’d like my wardrobe to be going in.

I waffled and waffled and waffled some more, but last night I finally cut out a dress with the fabric positioned so it’ll read as mountains to passersby. But every time I look down at the dress, I’ll see the bats and crack myself up all over again.

Sunday morning

June 29, 2014 By sklose 4 Comments

Not where I am right now

I’m up early today and sitting out on the deck listening to the birds and watching lovesick squirrels chase each other around the trees. A collection of old rusty rain gutters are leaning over the fence from our neighbor’s yard and the peaches on the tree next to them are the size of ping-pong balls and sparser than I remember them being the last few summers.

I got a few plants again this year; the best thing I can say is that none of them seem to be dead yet. Apparently plants like sunshine? And being watered regularly? I’d like to have a real garden someday, but it won’t happen at this place.

I’m thinking about sewing projects and what I’d like to make for the summer and fall. Another Washi Dress or two, at least one of those Simplicity dresses I fit on myself in Liesl’s workshop. I’m out of range of our wifi out here and don’t feel like checking. I sorted fabric yesterday and rehoused it. There isn’t much of it, relatively–a small plastic bin of old sheets and pillowcases and black and charcoal prints for a quilt idea I’ve been noodling around with; a small bin of [the alarm on my phone went off just now; there’s something so ensmuggening about being up with coffee before one’s alarm] leftover fabric from completed projects, nothing big enough for a whole garment on its own, plus muslins [what do you do with completed muslins? I’m tempted to take them to the fabric recycler at the greenmarket today, but feel like I should keep them for reference or something]; and one small bin of fabric that’s enough to use for garments, whether it’s earmarked for anything yet or not. I don’t want to start hoarding/stashing/stockpiling fabric. I want everything that comes in to be assigned to a project and used quickly. I’d like to be smart about sewing.

That cabled sweater I just finished needs to be ripped out. I probably should have taken a picture, but I got started on that last night. I’d done a sizable gauge swatch before I started and figured out all of my numbers to account for the fact that the fabric would grow a fair bit in width but not much in length after it was washed. Turns out: not so much. The garment behaved exactly the opposite as the swatch and left me with too-tight sleeves and a too-long armscye and neckline that was just plain peculiar. It happens sometimes and it’s inexplicable and discouraging and there’s nothing to be done about it except start over. It’s lovely yarn; I’ll enjoy working with it again, I guess.

These squirrels must have been this spring’s crop of babies. They’re awfully scrawny compared to the well-fed monsters that I usually see waddling around the neighborhood, the ones that are barely able to scramble up a tree when the landlady’s cats are in the yard. And too energetic. Squirrel life seems like it’d be pretty easy around here; it breeds lethargy.

The best summer dress

June 18, 2014 By sklose Leave a Comment

I’ve written before about how much I love the no-longer-being-produced Mociun tie-front dress and how happy I was to realize that one of the Washi Dress expansion pack variations is a dead ringer for it. I finally finished a version of it this weekend and I love it unreservedly.

I wore it Friday night with heels to go out to dinner with Rob, then with sandals on Saturday when I was going to be meeting a bunch of new people and just pulled it on today with silver clogs, knowing that I’m going to be seeing a couple of my most stylish ladyfriends tonight, so I think it may officially be my new favorite dress.
If I’d known how much I was going to like it, I would have done a better job putting it together though. I was really just thinking of this as a test run. I’m out of muslin so decided to try the pattern out using some cheap poly satin I had a fair bit of yardage of. Years ago, my mom and I had bought all of it that was left on the bolt, getting a big discount, and split it. I’ve never really known what to do with it though since the pattern is attractive but the fabric itself is so shiny and cheap looking. I figured I’d get it rid of it by testing the pattern, but when I got it out, I realized that the wrong side is actually pretty great looking, so that’s what’s on view. It made assembly tricky though, since the sides facing each other for all the sewing were really slippery.
I’m not sure the degree of shininess really comes through here; that’s the “wrong” side on the left and “right” side on the right:
The dress came together very easily and quickly. It’s fitted with bust darts and an elastic casing at the back, so there’s no zipper to insert. It’s fitted enough on top that it doesn’t look like a sack, but it’s loose enough to be light and breezy and comfortable all summer. It looks good on its own or with a cardigan or blazer over it or tights or leggings under it, so depending on the fabric, it’ll work for all but the very bitterest cold days. I want to make half a dozen of them. I ordered some of this gorgeous Nani Iro double gauze for my next one; I can’t wait.

Spring/summer sewing

April 17, 2014 By sklose 2 Comments

This is the time of year when I get excited about sewing all over again. Partly it’s because I’m looking ahead to warm-weather clothes, which are so much more conducive to sewing than most winter clothes. And partly I think it’s just part of the year’s cycle; after months of rich braises and knitting, I crave crunchy salads and sewing. Turn turn turn and suchlike.

So I’m drawing up a sewing list, based on what I’d like to be wearing this summer. I’ll probably make a couple of Staple Dresses and Everyday Skirts. There’s a muslin of the latter mentioned in the post linked in the last sentence, and I have one in the same black cotton/silk twill fabric as that dress just waiting to be hemmed. I think both of those patterns would be nice in a fairly large-scale print, something like this Charley Harper nuthatch print, which marches right up to the too-whimsical line, but stays on the right side, I think, since it’s so graphic.

I have a muslin of the Scout Tee on my kitchen table waiting to be sewn together; once I have the sizing nailed down, I’ll make several in simple graphic patterns like these (both from Purl). It seems like an incredibly versatile pattern; the shape looks like it’ll work with skinny or slouchy pants, full or narrower skirts.
The directions call for sewing the shoulder and side seams before setting the sleeve caps in, but I’m used to doing it the way sweaters are assembled: sew the shoulder seams, set in the sleeve cap, then sew one side seam from the lower edge to the sleeve cuff. It just makes so much more sense and seems so, so much less annoying. I think I’m going to try one sleeve each way on the muslin and see how it goes. I can’t see any reason why the easier way wouldn’t work just as well, but I guess I’ll find out.

The Gabriola skirt from Sewaholic is really chic and pretty. It would be a stretch for me to actually execute–there’s some fancy piecing business around the waist that calls for precision and attention–but I love it.
I’d also love to make a version of this Mociun dress, which is no longer being produced, but I can’t find a pattern that really looks like it.Plenty of people have adapted existing patterns to make their own. I’m not sure my pattern fitting/drafting skills are there yet, but maybe I’ll give it a shot. It doesn’t seem that complicated.

Carolyn hipped me to this top, which I love unreservedly and would wear constantly. It looks a lot like a warm-weather version of a tunic from Uniqlo that I’ve been wearing at least once a laundry cycle all winter. The only thing stopping me from buying the pattern and enough fabric for three or four versions is that my sewing machine isn’t great for knits—the zigzag stitch doesn’t work and the repair guy I took it to said it would be more expensive to fix than to replace the machine—and I don’t have a serger. I do have a few friends who do though…