Ageing

A sewing site I visit recently directed me through a link to something on Ageing Gracefully.

Since I am sure I am not going to do that right, I read it right through. I realized that most of the ageing well stuff you read is all about skin and freaking out about looking older. Since it hasn't been my looks that got me what I needed my whole life, this is not my own particular crisis.

Let's face it I am older. So what? But there are some thoughts and observations I am putting together and I expect this list to grow. This is what I have so far:

1. Have younger friends. If all your contemporaries are going to die or get sick around the time you are that's got to get you down. If you have younger friends you will still have someone to talk to who understands you. My best examples of great ageing are my mom and my professional mentor. Both have friends 20-30 years younger, in fact nearly all their friends are in this category. Over the next two weeks I am having dinner with each of two younger women I worked with in the past, both in their thirties. One girl is making me dinner and serving me wine while I alter some pants and we catch up. Sewing is a great connector.

2. Go to your kids, don't expect them to go to you. This is not your first choice, but it is theirs, so you do it. Let's face it, all we want our whole lives is for our parents to be interested in what we do, and that involves being where we are. Naturally it would be far nicer to have them back asleep down the hall than staying in some hotel waiting until they wake up to call, but this makes the difference and if you want to keep part of their lives, move on with them. The parents who complain that no one calls or visits are the ones who sit at home and wait. I am noticing this.

3. Babysit and sew and cook and not just for relatives. Be useful and be glad every time you can do it.

4. Don't over invest in things your whole life. I am starting to see people de-clutter and downsize. What was the point of working your ass off for most of your life so you can spend the last part of it trying to get rid of all the stuff? I have a message on my answering machine from a relative who are moving out of a huge house I always admired asking me if I want "first crack" at buying their stuff so they can move into a condo. They have worked so hard and been so house proud not everyone knows them, and now they want to offload their life's work. BTW I have all the stuff I need.

5. Keep working, at something. I hate to say this because so often I figure it would be great to retire and cruise around but you really don't see that vacant look in seniors who have a job to do. This can be some kind of work, taking care of family, and even treating your sewing as a real job (I know that is completely possible to do and one day I am going to do it). I have an 84 year old father-in-law who says "there just isn't enough hours in the day" because of all his building and gardening activities. My husband puts it another way "if you can contribute, you should."

Anything you would add?

Fall is starting, at least the sewing part

There is a moment every year in August when I open my door and I can smell Fall. This doesn't mean the days can't still be warm, but it does mean that the change of seasons is in the air. When happens I know it is time to put away all my unfinished summer sewing projects and start thinking about fall.

I have a dilemma.

I am thinking about nothing but dresses at the moment but at the same time I know my skirt wardrobe has just about hit its expiry date. There are two black gab skirts that can and should be updated and shortened but the rest really shouldn't see the inside of a classroom this year.

That's the thing about skirts. Your old regular straight skirt is a classic and you can wear it to death. That's what's happened here.

I need a plan. Starting Tuesday if I finish all my summer term marking, I have some sewing time opening up.

I have decided that the thing I should do is this:

Two skirts, one dress, two skirts, one dress. Repeat until I get those dumb skirts out of the way.

To give myself a boost I am going to try some new Vogue skirt patterns and on the TNT attempt to add one cool designeresque feature to keep my interest. I have some wild silks I mistakenly thought might make cool coat linings (that impulse to be completely gaudy, clashy every time I opened my coat has passed) that I might put inside some of these old skirts.

I figure I should really rip through my skirt sewing this way, because really all I want is some new dresses.

Vintage pattern give away a day late

My apologies. My son is home for a week from DC and the place is hopping with family related events and meals. Not to mention the end of summer term marking I am supposed to be doing.

No sewing is getting done either, but all for the best reasons. Next week I am giving myself a sewing staycation and looking forward to that so much.

In the meantime here is a Large (bust 38-40) Bishop Method coat pattern.

It will go out to the first person who emails me with her address.

More later.

Butterick 5277

It has been a while to get this pattern posted and the shots are in the early evening sun so I hope you see what you need to. 

The collar attracted me to this pattern and it still is what I like most about it. My fabric was a heavy rayon crepe and I am not nuts about this fabric (this was sort of a muslin) but this pattern needs something heavy. The collar pieces are cut on the bias and not interfaced.

There were only french darts in the front and back and I added, semi-successfully, a bust dart by copying one from another pattern and adding the extra to the length. I just couldn't figure out how to do a FBA with these raglan seam for the sleeves.

The extra ease that would be accommodated in a bust dart was allowed for in this pattern with easing at the side seam (I absorbed this into my dart) and some easing at the top of the bust incorporated into the front raglan seam. I did use this ease into the raglan seam and did it carefully but I think it still produces a bubble above the bust that you can see as sort of a wrinkle under the collar.

My other issue with this pattern is that these little sleeves are lined to the edge (tricky to do without any wrinkles at all with all that bias going on) and with the way the collar is supposed to close at the back neck.

The edges of the collar (each piece, right and left is essentially just a large rectangle) go straight up even with the centre back and the theory is that you sew hooks and eyes to hold it all closed. Now remember that this collar is not interfaced and on the bias. I spent 3 1/2 hours putting hooks and eyes on and taking them off trying to get it to lie right and not pucker.

In my opinion it is a dumb idea to trust your whole dress to something like a couple of hooks and eyes. 

Which reminds me what's with there only being eyes in those packages these days. Eyes wooble and are weird, those little metal bars were good - nice and sturdy and they held things in place (thread bars are totally useless IMO - I never saw one that the metal hook didn't saw through in 20 seconds). Who decided to take those bars out of the packages? I want to know.

So in the end I just took them off and let the collar do its thing, but really this collar should have been angled out to overlap nicely and naturally at the back.

Finally I thought the underarm was cut away too much. As far as I am concerned it's the armpits that are the first to go and there is not a damn thing you can do about it so don't cut away those armholes.

My verdict?

I still think this is the cutest collar ever and I am going to save it and trace off the neckline (I love that this is a big collar but not tight around your neck) and put it into a TNT sheath.

I am not a thin person but I think I look that way in this dress because the collar is just so balancing. I kept thinking this would have made a dynamite plus size dress if the pattern companies had any sense.

BTW the brooch in the last shot is from my son-in-law. He is one of the best things that ever happened to this family, many a family event he looks at me and I know he is reading my mind. 

He is one of my blessings. I will be glad to wear this brooch.

What I can tell you about installing windows

When you take the old window out you can break some of the tiles around the window frame. You know the ones you just re-grouted. These have to be replaced, which will be a new skill.

In this morning's paper there was a flyer from the community college - Home Maintenance. Guess who's signed up? In no other area of my life do I rely on someone else to do it, so why here and with this? My sewing is largely self-taught and I never gave up on that.

I have also finished a dress about which I have much to say, just need someone to take the right pictures.

I'll be back later.

The best thing about sewing is not the clothes

My mom is one of those who says "it's always something." She is right of course, if you have a big family who is always in everybody else's business and we do and we are, well there always is a something.

Lot goes on in life and if you are looking for material to worry about, well yes mom, there always is something to work with.

It can crowd out your mind. You know what I am talking about. The thoughts you have in the middle of the night, the issues that don't have tidy solutions, the things you are not crazy about, can't do anything about, but know you are going to just have to learn to live with. Some things don't happen for a reason, that's the truth, some things just happen. 

But when I go down to my sewing room it all just goes away. Knitting, you do when you have to think, but sewing takes you to a place where your mind lets go of everything but your project. When sewing takes over it takes you away.

It is such a relief. You are relieved.

I think sewing just rests my soul.

You feel that?

A Jalie to give away

I am continuing with my clean out. I am never going to make this pattern, just not me. But if it is you, send me your address via email and I will send it to you. I enjoy giving away things I don't need to someone who does. Beats tossing it out.