Wrapping up SWAP, at least conceptually

On Thursday I am off to New York again, to see my son and his girlfriend, and I might swing by the garment district again.

What do you think?

I am seriously considering some sage advice Carolyn gave me last visit, and concentrate this time on hard-to-find-here notions, rather than fabric.

Of course if I manage to walk those streets and not bring home any fabric you will know for sure I have for some reason become a totally different person.

I hope the weather is good, to me NYC is a wonderful walking town and I am a walker, you see more. 

I am also looking forward to seeing my AirBnB host Eric again, he was such a nice guy. Of course he is a young New Yorker and eats every meal out. He is also a designer and my suspicion is that the spice jars on his kitchen shelves are only there because they colour co-ordinate. 

I had a glass of water in his kitchen (yes I was eating out all the time too, there are so many cool places and such excellent people watching) and I asked him for a "tea towel" to dry the glass. He has never heard of such a thing and the closest we could come to was he said "you mean a dish rag" which I don't think I meant at all - who would dry a glass with a rag? 

On my to-do list is "get Eric a tea towel." 

I wonder if the Superstore has them in grey.

I intend to take it easy this trip and wander around and drink tea and look at the people and go into stores and look at the clothes and probably go to MOMA and of course FIT has a shoe exhibition going on and I'm not missing that.

I have a lot on my mind.

I was catching up on my time wasting yesterday and I went over to BurdaStyle.

I had sort of given up on Burda lately since I decided to only sew Real Life clothes and my real life does not require many tight satin blouses with plunging necklines or coats without any closures.

I was surprised and pleased to see that the latest round is more liveable, wearable. Maybe this is because tight clothes and low waisted pants are going out of fashion and looser profiles have returned. Once we all get used to this new look I think we are all going to be more comfortable.

One thing that caught my eye was this coat, which remarkably is in a tall size, which I am.

What do you think?

This seems to me to be a cool coat and now I am wondering if I should make it as my SWAP sign off coat instead of the Vogue pattern below I had intended, which I could now make as a jacket version:

I would like some feedback on this.

Of course if I go with the Burda pattern then somewhere in NYC I am going to have to find someone who can cover a couple of buckles for me while I wait or at least within the day.

Life is so complicated.

Pants on a cold day

First the photographer, in putting some hot water in a bucket to thaw out the heat pump. The funny look on his face is he thought doing an outside photoshoot was sort of a dumb idea today.

Mitts I knit and felted out of Lopi. They are a bit like wearing a roll of paper towel on your hands, but warm.

I caught myself feeling particularly happy today and then I realized why. 

Snow has slowed this city down to a near standstill and I have been able to do nothing but cocoon in here with my husband and my dog and sew.

Perfect.

Since I was in a fooling around mood and, waiting still for those summer patterns and raincoat pattern to arrive from BMV, I decided to try the Claudia pattern from StyleArc. 

I have been feeling I wanted narrow ankle pants lately. 

Those full hem, thin thigh, dropped waist pants that have been in for so long are annoying me. Of course they look elegant worn the way they are supposed to be with 4" heels and long hems that touch the ground but if you have the kind of life where you are running up hills late for class, or loading dogs and grandchildren into cars, you wear flats and instead elegant you get flappy hems and stubby looking legs.

So the Claudia pant appealed to me. 

It is meant to be made out of stretch woven, and I had that, and have a seam down the centre of the leg which creates a feel of a crease. 

One thing I can tell you if you are thinking of getting into the new slimmer pants, is they absolutely have to have a crease to look right - a relief in a way for us old school mother types who learned the hard way "Moooom, you ruined my pants you ironed lines down them", that creases were now longer in - because now they are back.

The waist is also waist high and there is a dart in the middle of the back hem, I am not sure why but I am sure it is very useful.

This particular pattern was not on my pile-o-pants and now I wish it had been, because these are comfortable and would make good every day pants. Now I just need some nice stretch woven cotton which is going to require some fabric buying somewhere other than the bottom of the street.

Here are the shots. 

Taken on location, styled with some wet mitts and some cord from some snow blowing unit on the sidewalk and with fox terrier accents, and shorty snowboots:

My bum, Rascal's bum. The fabric is stretch so they are more comfortable than it might look in that area and I have learned to live with the under the rear wrinkles that you get when you need a lot of fabric to cover that part and then the fabric has to hit skinnier legs. Some things in life are to be lived with.

Since I was already amusing the neighbourhood with having my picture taken outside on a cold day I decided to show you some of my Vogue 1264 pants, four variations of which I made for my SWAP.

Here they are as per pattern in wool gabardine. 

The thigh is quite full in this pant, which is good in gab if you want them to be comfortable to sit down in which these are. I lengthened them because the original pattern is above the ankle by a lot but I over did it. This afternoon I am going to go back and chop 1 1/2" inches off the hem and re-hem them - another thing I learned about these slim pants, in addition to the need for creases, is they really need to be shorter so they look current and not '80s.

See what I mean? This will be fine much shorter with the right shoe. There can not be any kind of fold in the crease in pants like this.

Finally here is the same Vogue pattern in a stretch woven, leg narrowed a bit as a result and a short length.

So that does it for me for pants for a while, about seven pairs all up and only one to re-hem. 

Back to work tomorrow and to incubating the next projects.

Free time

My pile-o-pants are done. Seven pairs in the end, four of them for my SWAP. My ironing board looks like the counter at a dry-cleaner.

Now all I have to do to have that whole SWAP thing done is one raincoat and I am waiting for the folks at Vogue to send it to me in the mail.

This is nuts isn't it? 

I have a fabric store with that exact same pattern at the bottom of the street. But I am letting myself stall up here on the hill because I am getting it so much cheaper with that BMV membership which I have only because I pay for it, for probably about what I think I am saving.

Tomorrow I am going to start something else to be determined that is totally random while I wait for my raincoat pattern.

It only has to be in bright colours. 

This old February is about as much a nuisance as January was if you are a person who was actually supposed to be born in Hawaii but by some mistake turned up in the  Winnipeg Manitoba ( I was born in something called the Maternity Pavilion according to my birth certificate - what's up with that? Makes it sound like my mother gave birth in a  gazebo).

I think right now I need summer fabrics and colour like those English sailors craved limes on those long sea voyages.

I am sure I am coming down with sewer's scurvy. 

Too many black gabardines, too many grey flannels not enough citrus coloured linens or big loud old prints for big loud old days.

I don't know what I am going to do tomorrow but it is going to have some colour in it.

This waiting for things in the mail is kind of funny since mail itself is fading. 

In fact I can't mail any Valentines yet because I don't have any stamps in the house, and hardly do anymore.

This has got me thinking of those people you run into sometimes in some work places or on some sidewalks who have a lot to say about "the good old days" like they talk about the "kids today" as if they weren't far worse and didn't start a few fires in the the field behind the school in their day.

I don't have much time for the "I remember when" folks.

The things that really are most worth remembering are the things you think about in private, the things that are so close to you that it would spoil them to bring them out.

That's the part of the past you keep.

The fact is that things in this world are much improved and here is part of my list, add to it if you want:

• Skype and facebook and emailed iPhone pictures for grandparents who aren't as close as they want. How much did people miss when they were waiting for those flimsy airmail letters in blue paper? My mother had a cousin who went from Canada to England to play hockey once and never came back his whole adult life, except for a few visits. How did his mother ever manage? I just don't know.

• Sergers. If yours has ever been broken you find out really fast that there is no way pinking or turning under and stitching cuts it ever again for seam finishing. Some things are necessities of life.

• Online shopping. This doesn't need any explanation. How did we ever do Christmas without it? Or Paypal? You don't have to put your boots on, or warm up the car, or try to find that other mitt, or go out when you are tired and hungry. You can buy all you want while you in your slippers and are eating spaghetti. This is advancement.

• Ebooks and audio books from the library. This means you can still borrow when your overdue fines are so huge you are embarrassed to look anyone over there in the face. It means you don't have to carry bags of books with you on vacation and drop them in the water and the sand so when you get home you not only have to pay overdue fines but also replacement fees for books that were often not all that well-written or interesting or funny, or worse were about such depressing people that you quit after chapter three - but that you still have to replace. Ebooks are returned automatically in cyberspace if you are responsible or not, unharmed. And audio books can be listened to when you are going to sleep if you put your iPad in the bedside table drawer and set the timer. And they will put you to sleep because most of the time they are read by the wrong people, some English matron trying to make the voice of a Chicago cop for example.

All of these things did not exist in the good old days and that's too bad. 

Now to what I don't get:

• Body wash. When did they decide that soap didn't work? Why do we have one more tall plastic bottle falling off the side of the tub? 

This part of the modern world I don't get.

What about you?

A little time out

Just so you know a person can't spend all her time doing her paid job and finishing up her pile-o-pants without a break.

A person has to do a little time wasting to break the momentum, and in case you are behind in the time wasting department I will share mine with you.

Quite some time ago one of my fabulous step-daughers sort of squinted at me and said "you know they have great make-up videos on YouTube."

What you mean the mid 1990's where not the all time pinnacle of glamourizing technique?

Now you tell me.

So that remembered comment, and the fact the man I married actually said these words to me got me going:

"You know you look like Keith Richards".

I didn't make this up. 

He actually said that. He now claims that he was referring only to the large, made-by-me headband I wear to keep my hair up when I am in the bath.

The headband reminded him.

But really. 

What would you do to your man if he thought you reminded him of this:

I mean if that isn't a comparison to send a woman off to either dialling 1-800-get-adivorcefast or onto YouTube for make-up advice I don't know what is.

So here ladies is what I got.

All you have to do is a search for "make-up for old eyes."

A fabulous video with a great guy who actually puts on his "mature eye make-up" on one of his very own eyes as he speaks. (Just ignore the part where he defines "mature" as anyone over 30, I did and I am sure Keith did too, and BTW old Keith could do with a good look at this video himself).

Enjoy.

January done and most of the SWAP

There hasn't been a lot to show lately because I have been working away on pants. 

I have six pairs on the go, two sort of wearable muslins and four for SWAP and I feel like they just are not ever, ever, going to be finished.

I am not a production sewer. Even for myself.

My admiration for anyone who can do it, sew the same thing over and over again, is limitless. To me putting the pieces of the puzzle together is what is exciting, this repetitive stuff is dragging me down and squishing the old Mojo.

In fact all this pants sewing, plus the fact it is January and I am a sunshine kind of girl, has had me get out the Light Box - you know that simulation light to fool your body into thinking it is not in a gloomy place.

It is meant to counteract Seasonal Affective Disorder. Mostly people get down with this, my own dad used to start drinking his coffee alone in the living room in January and wouldn't talk to us until noon or March whatever came first.

I can't say I get down, but I do get slow. So I decided the fact these pants seem to be taking four centuries to finish meant I had to get out the big guns and put myself under the lights until at least I could get the hems done.

Desperate time require desperate measures.

Do you ever do production sewing?

Blog awards and ten things

Over the past few months I have had notices I have received several blog awards. I really truly appreciate these nominations and want to thank those who made them. 

I am always stumped though on the next steps, which involves nominating and passing on the award to ten other bloggers. The thing is so many bloggers I read most frequently you all do and I would like to reserve the right, and I will do this, to recognize new blogs I am noticing.

Today I want to mention Mainelydad a self-taught sewist who does beautiful work, all the really hard stuff, and continues to challenge himself. Right now he is warming up to make a kilt.

No kidding.

One of the things of course about these blogger awards is the recipient is usually asked to say a few surprising things about themselves and of course that is always interesting.

I have put off doing this because I am not sure I can think of what about me is surprising, or important, or interesting.

But here goes.

Ten things you maybe didn't know about me:

1. I don't get out of bed in the morning until I read the NY Times, the local paper, and three other online news sources. I like to know what's going on and don't want to be caught off guard.
2. I was once in a bank during a robbery and didn't notice it. I was too busy helping a blind man use the ATM. I only looked up when the police arrived.
3. I eat more than a 14 year old boy.
4. I am the same height as I was in high school.
5. I have sewn pretty much all of my clothes since I was 12.
6. I used to go on business trips with a computer case with a small sewing machine disguised in it. I used the hotel lobby computer to do my work.
7. Nancy Zeiman once read my hint.
8. I was once mistaken for a body guard at a political event.
9. At cocktail parties I talk to the dogs and the kids and wait to go home.
10. I have failed to learn to crochet nine times. This year.

The only problem with a useful SWAP is...

It can get sort of boring.

I mean all these tops need pants and I have two pair nearly done and the others cut and finished.

Nothing really exciting to report about them other than the fact they have two legs and a zipper in the side and fit better than most on the Vogue pattern site. Also I am using the same pattern but different fabric and therefore totally different eases - I am cutting an inch total off each side for the ones with a woven with stretch in it.

I suppose this is mildly interesting as a demonstration of what we all already know and that's a different fabric totally changes the fit.

I will be glad when these are done and I can do something more interesting. Might insert a dress into the line-up until I can get that raincoat pattern, my last SWAP garment, sent here.

I am thinking of a dress for Valentine's day. 

We used to go out to a place that was sort of a grotto underground (Le Cave for my local readers) for Valentine's because of the cheesecake.

Then some slick son with bright ideas inherited the business and decided to bring it up out of the underground and go all right trendy and expand the menu and reduce the portions so they were minute with swirls of reductions (that's what you call not enough sauce) on it on giant white plates.

And of course in four months they were out of business.

In an attempt to reproduce the extreme romantic atmosphere of a seedy underground restaurant we found another place that was partially above ground and although it was not Le Cave, it at least had stalactites hanging from the ceiling made out of some very ancient dusty plaster. 

We were quite happy with its 50s Italian menu there for a few years until that place burned down, which is not surprising since it was a well-known fire hazard.

And then there were the three Valentine's days when my spouse was in Tennessee working and I was here shovelling snow and working and deciding that Valentine's day does matter to me after all.

Well in acknowledgement of this fact I am happy to report that the burned down place has recently re-opened after several false starts and I have booked us in for dinner on the 14th. 

They sounded surprised when I made a reservation.

I am not going to spoil the surprise by going down to see if they have replicated the decor but since they are still in the same basement type location I am hopeful their servers still don't have first names, are in fact still called waiters, that no one is going to offer me freshly ground pepper, and that the food is spread all over the plate and not arranged in a tower.

And I'm thinking a new dress is in order.

I mean if you look like someone's mom and dad all dressed up for special occasion you should at least look like it.

I might even order a Pink Lady.

I wonder where Miss Scarlett stashed my pearls?