A little ta-da moment…

Dropping in to share a quick ScrapHappy project for my neighbour, a link over to Kate’s ScrapHappy post, and share another project just restarted for the umpteenth time.

Several weeks ago I was about to start downstairs in my building, when I saw my neighbour trying to manage 2 crutches, a booted foot, and some small packages before coming up the stairs.

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We decided I’m come down first. On the way down I realised she needed a shoulder bag to put small bags in, and I had the very bag with me. A solution! I showed her what I had in mind and watched her easily and very adroitly balance herself upstairs.

Being a non-sewist, she had no idea how easy it was for me to make her a bag of her own… but a bit of thinking and we reasoned that a cross-body bag would be even better.

So that’s what she’s got, and it works a real treat. Mission accomplished! (Now I want one, too…. hehee! 🤣)

Over the weekend I had the urge to crochet, but I didn’t want to continue the project that’d been sitting untouched for weeks. What to do . . .

I ripped that forlorn-looking project down to zero and started over. And am happy to report it’s going great guns. At last I think I’ve found a good way to use this lovely yarn. Another little yippee!

🧶 🧶 💛 🧶 🧶

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red straps

My current slow-sewing-’cause-I’m-slammed project is a cross-body bag for my upstairs neighbor. She’s on crutches & currently has another cloth bag of mine, but it’s a shoulder version and can slip, messing with balance.

I know, ’cause I sometimes have the same problem when I’m carting heavy trash downstairs in my shoulder version!

I mean, can you imagine?! Up & down two looong flights of stairs on 2 crutches. AGHHHH!!!!!!!!

Better get these attached to something… catch ya later!

Have yourselves a fantastic weekend!

rainy Mondays

Don’t know what your Monday or week look like, but mine started with loud leaf blowers. However . . .

. . . as it’s Thanksgiving on Thursday, and I decided to start a stay-cation last Friday, it wasn’t a bother.

Especially after opening the kitchen window curtain & blind to see this peeking around the corner of the building.

I managed to get a teensy bit of mending done on the weekend, which I loved getting off the corner of my sewing table, mostly because it was a whole 1″ side seam of a nicely ironed heavy linen shirt, on its’ hanger, and kept being pushed off the table. However, am in a quandary as to what to do next…

Today the weather’s rainy but warm. Tomorrow and Wednesday it’s going to be clear and very cold. Thursday’s back to warm.

Last week we had similar changes, and I pulled out my dark green fleece LB Pullover from last January (here). It was quite suitable.

3 of 4, washed (brown’s drying). The top navy (& brown) are for pants, gold & green (below gold) are for tops.

Maybe I should cut out another. I’ve got gold fleece from last winter in stash. I do keep wondering about the darker brown fleece I seem to remember thinking would be good for lounging pants of some sort.

But those won’t be very flattering, as the fleece is thick. Perhaps a long skirt would be more practical (aka, flattering). I know I probably/possibly wouldn’t wear unflattering pants. And they might be uncomfortable because there’s not much stretch in the fleece.

Maybe I’d best dig out the fleece and see if my memories are accurate. Any thoughts, Wonderful Readers & Dear Sewists?!

Meanwhile, chicken on the stove is about ready, and I think the LB pattern is somewhere in the mess that’s my cutting table. . . see top photo. 🙄

PS/ I downloaded a (Libby app) copy of The Dressmakers of Auschwitz by Lucy Adlington last night and was up until 2 reading it. The library app says I’m 9% into the book . . . It’s fact, not fiction and very interesting.

Hope you all have a WONDERFUL week, Lovelies!

(not so) Wordless Wednesday

Finished off 3 small balls of leftover yarn a few days ago, and now have a narrowish looong scarf for somebody to wind around their neck on a cold winter’s day. Below are beginning, in-the-midst-of and completed views . . .

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• 

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The ends are ever so slightly differing shades of a creamy washable wool bought from a friend in California who was selling out her washable wool yarns.

The middle photo shows the leftover-from-a-shawl yarn of I can’t remember what fibres 60% silk & 40% wool (from discontinued HPKY Hand Painted Knitting Yarns, Daphne colourway), that I got from Loopy Yarns, the great (now closed) yarn shop I lived dangerously close to in Chicago.

The shawl’s probably on Ravelry, draped over a creamy foot rest if I’m remembering properly (yes!)… but I also remember blogging about it, and here’s that photo!

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  2009-crocheted lines, patterns, textures, shape (shawl)

It seems I decided to take off the fringe and do an edging around the shawl, which I duly crocheted. (See photo below.) After all that, there was still enough yarn left to crochet the centre section of that looong scarf. Remember the looong scarf??

Shawl with edging, completed 2015

Waste not, want not . . . . . 😉

2021, continued — or, Can I stop career dressing?

Diaries by paperblanks – my latest now in use.

I knew during the 2019-2020 winter that I needed to sew up some winter clothes a basic winter wardrobe, but I had an intuition to put it on hold. (It was a short, warm winter 😉.)

After decades of dressing professionally — whatever that means — my fabric and pattern collections mirrored that style. Meanwhile, I was working from home, trying to ramp up on-line diction & coaching sessions, and living a more relaxed life style.

Last March the rest of the world reluctantly joined me.  My resistance to more casual styles started to crumble. So did everyone else’s.

By November the wonderful world of indie pattern designers were churning out more appropriate patterns, and smart U.S. fabric stores were bypassing the post office for UPS or FedEx. BUT: Would I go the PDF route?

For me, everything started to coalesce when Love to Sew aired an October podcast, Sewing Loungewear. Then Vogue Fabrics had a quick fleece sale, PDFPlotting announced a big PDF pattern printing sale, and several indie pattern companies also announced sales.

Resistance fled.

3 of 4, washed (brown’s drying). The top navy (& brown) are for pants, gold & green (below gold) are for tops.

Thus, I find myself with 4 pieces of nice, soft and cuddly fleece for pyjama-style tops & bottoms, and a couple other pieces for spring makes. Heaven knows I’ve already got enough rayon for hot weather wear.

Now I’ve gotta run . . . there’s an LB Pullover pattern needing glue stick attention, and a Talvikki, and I need to consult my jacket pdf pattern pile . . . oh, and get those muffins done for Friday’s Virtual Tea Party. You’re all invited!

See you then . . . . . I hope! 😘

 

 

☕️ 18 Sept~Time for A Virtual Tea Party !

How about next Friday, 18 September or virtually anytime?

I know this is a bit past the 15th.  😉It gives me time  to travel down under to say a quick G’day to  Su (of Zimmerbitch, in New Zealand),  and wish her well. It would be grand to meet her, and perhaps a few of her lovely tea party friends.

As these events are virtual, anyone is welcome to join in with us on the 18th, or any other day that suits. So, fancy a cuppa another day? The virtual kettle will always be on the hob, and the scones will always be fresh. 😘

Sewing — belatedly

Hem tape for the teensy hem

Finished!

Blanket binding for a soft waist band

I managed to make up a piece of quilting cotton purchased during long ago California years, which means a seriously long sojourn in stash.

With only 1 yard of 45″ rather heavy cotton, I didn’t have a clue what to do with it. But . . .

Something kept reminding me of it in June (so this is really late). It’s almost the weight of my shweshwe (see shweshwe posts of 2016  here & 2020 here).

Emboldened by all I’d seen, read, and heard during June’s virtual Sewing Weekender, I cut the piece in half and made a simple gathered skirt (sans pockets).

One of my favoured skirt lengths is about 21″ and this really came too close for comfort. So I fudged both the waist band (which I would normally turn under for a casing) and the hem.

I used cotton hem tape to extend things a bit around the bottom hem. Searching through my odds of bindings I discovered some wide santiny blanket binding. Using narrower than usual elastic, I just had room. But no pockets for this skirt.

(Ooooo . . . I just remembered where I put my rayon lining yardage, so there’s hope yet!)

I like the body of the fabric! Barely knee length, it stands away from the body as a shweshwe fabric might. By some miracle the width reacts well to the gathers of the elasticated waist so it’s cool during these humid summers.

Discovering I couldn’t get black or beigy knits for tank tops, I forgave myself and  ordered them from L.L. Bean.  I suspect mask production and slowed importing are responsible for the shortages, so I was grateful to find these!

The tanks were too long for my torso, so I immediately shortened their lengths — an easy fix. Both of them work well with this skirt and have been worn.

To illustrate why I’ve kept this cotton fabric for so long, you might should know I’ve specialised in teaching vocal technique of the classical kind for over 40 years.

Madama Butterfly

Tosca

Turandot

So you can see how close the skirt art is to the iconic Puccini poster art of yore, I’ve chosen the above three as examples. Via Amazon, here are reproductions of the originals for Madama Butterfly, Tosca, and Turandot.

Hope to see you Friday-ish!

PS/ For those of you on IG, find us at #virtualteaparty2020

PPS/Just linking the bottom half of this post with Wild Daffodil’s Textile Tuesday series. Even though I know today’s Friday. 🤣

ScrapHappy Saturday, August

Lo-o-o-ng strip of denim scraps

Another scrappy project not completed…

Added strip (colour is off – scraps are correct.

Wonder of wonders! For once I’m working with scraps and remembering to get something posted. Am joining up with Kate, Cathy, and other scrap-happy folk.

Back in June I made a pair of stretch denim shorts from leftover denim. As I started wearing them around the apartment and sitting down, I realized they were the exactly perfect length for the hem to fold up whenever I sat down.

I tried ironing. Nope. Then I remembered I still had scrappy strips of the denim in my stash drawer. He-he-hee . . .

Last month I dug said scraps out and measured them all to the same height. Then I sewed the pieces together, and added them to the bottom of the shorts.

Now they’re just above the knee, and I still have enough for a patch pocket or two. Maybe even one large enough for a phone…

Success is sweet! 🤣

silly saturday

Isn’t this wacky fabric? From auntyacid.com, have had it stashed for about 4 years. Am making a mask for a friend.

It’s been severe storm warnings this afternoon and yesterday, with morning temps into the extreme range.

Am not complaining about the storms, as they do cool us down considerably. Phew!

But one does avoid phones, and most electric appliances… Reading from a real book is definitely safe!

As promised, here’s that recipe for the chocolate cake.

Converted this to a JPG file for uploading. You should be able to download & print it.

The raisin spice cake recipe can be found here. And there’s a Wiki article here.

The original Wacky Cake recipe is here, and it’s Wiki article is here.

Happy baking, everyone! Be sure to let us know if you try these out!

textile tuesday

Joining along with Wild Daffodil, here are a couple of photos I took to remind me of this fabric.  It tends to hide away in Winter Stash and I forget it.

The nap is very irregular, unlike a velour or velvet. When light hits it, it gleams alluringly –the swirl of colours glowing with added silvery and golden light.

I’ve worn it in winter as an additional very large scarf, but it slipped and slid everywherer. Too fiddly. So I undid the couple of seams and sent it back to Winter Stash. And I forget all about it. . . .

Wish I could figure out what to do with it.

Any ideas?

development or procrastination?

Right sides of both fabrics are showing.

Lately, whilst chatting with a dear sewing friend, I asked if she’d done any sewing, adding I hadn’t, but was planning several things.

She detailed some of her thought processes for a new piece of fabric, and I told her about some of my design thoughts for two projects.

Then I asked, rhetorically, if we were procrastinating, or simply in the development stages of our projects, remembering the steps I’d already gone through.

One process started out as a simple bag. Then I realised a full lining was necessary.  Over the weekend I realised that a handle would be an awfully handy thing to have, and added that to the overall design concept.

Meanwhile, scrap fabric had been located and the seam ripper separated what was backing on the previous project, and will become the lining for both projects.

What do you think, Dear Readers?  Is this procrastination? Or development as part of the overall design process?

(… if this sounds suspiciously like it could also apply to some fancy-smancy car or architectural design, doesn’t that say something about what we sewing peeps are really doing…  🤓 )

 

Happy New Year❣️

Has everyone survived the first week of 2020? I’m slooowly getting back to whatever currently masquerades as normal.

True to form, the weather here has turned unseasonably warm, and I’ve pulled out a very rustic wool from my collection.

I’m calling it rustic. Actually, the hand is scratchy, even after being washed and air dried. ( Oops, guess who forgot to finish those edges… 😖)

Showing it to a sewing buddy she immediately said it has great movement and I should make a coat to show that off. Maybe a swing coat, and she also suggested Deer & Doe’s Opium Coat.

Sunday I went hunting online. Do you know The Fold Line must have every pattern on earth listed, and at least half of them are coats? Try looking through 30 screens of 24 patterns each. 😳

I did discover several alternatives, including Folkwear’s Swing Coat, and their Hungarian Szur Coat.

But I’m having trouble visualising this rough, loosely woven fabric as anything other than a very casual longish A-line skirt and simple jacket. Something fairly loose but lined so the fabric isn’t against skin.

Any suggestions greatly appreciated❣️

All for now, except to wish you all the Very Best in the New Year! 🎉 🎉 🎉

creative permissions

discovered kit

I remember learning to sew in the dim, far distant past. In those Dark Ages one did not vary from the pattern. It Was Not Done.

As independent pattern designers began trickling onto the scene, there was one who included a permission slip inside each pattern, giving the sewer permission to make changes. Fast forward to now, with everyone hacking up patterns right and left.

But a concept can linger on in dark corners . . . Follow me into last weekend.

I was on a search amongst my two rather large and thoroughly tangled boxes of fasteners, zips, embroidery threads, ribbons, laces, felt squares, and other crafty bits & bobs.

Having a 13-disc mystery to listen to whilst sorting made it much more enjoyable. . . 😉

mending

Remember my linen top mending project? I have a hazy idea for a solution, and that was the impetus for the sort out.

Then I discovered the above little kit, picked up several years ago even though I didn’t like the colours or the method – punch needle. (Lime green??? 😱)

But what have I been learning from blogging friends’ embroidery posts? You’re allowed to make changes. So-o-o . . .

I’ve been giving myself permission to do just that, and left lime green & turquoise on a lime background, for a russet butterfly on mossy green background using satin stitch. And maybe a touch of blue somewhere.

What do you think? Have I gone too far? I’m not trying to copy nature, it’s just what I was drawn to.

If creativity is about freeing one’s soul and spirit, it’s interesting to realise there are still plenty of boundaries to overcome.