Mom jeans

A while ago I tried on a pair of Gap "boyfriend jeans" as a lark at a consignment store and it turned out I loved them. True the waist was very low, no place where my real life boyfriend wears his jeans I can tell you, but after years now of narrow, skinny, stretch fabric pants, they just felt comfy, even with a belt to keep them on my hips.

Here is a picture taken in the wind outside the RV looking like something someone would wear outside an RV in the wind I know, but this is an educational blog not a style one (obviously) but I wanted to share the leg shape and for you to imagine how comfortable they are.

I really have no shame at all, in addition to no chic either some days:

For a while now, even though I have Jalie's much lauded Eleanor jeans on the table at home to cut out, I have been feeling myself getting sick of the whole tight bottom, long loose top to cover the tight bottom uniform.

I'm feeling ready for a change.

So with the experience of my campground boyfriend jeans behind me I was most interested to read in the Huffington Post this week that Mom jeans, or at least a version of these, is back. Since I have a mom body more than a skinny one, as illustrated, I found this a pretty interesting development.

What I would like now is a pattern for these so I can customize them to my older mom body, as in adding a few inches to the waist.

I can't find a pattern out there yet but I have high hopes for Stylearc who do have that crotch curve that fits me perfectly.

What would be great would be something like this, Mom but updated. Much like myself actually:

Now if they bring back curled up bangs and giant button earrings we will be all set.

Now tell me.

Who else out there is ready for Mom jeans?

Memories

I have lots of posts in my head, and garments to talk about, and in the middle of settling in here in St. Augustine, selling the old rv in storage here and unpacking it too, I have been trying to find the time.

Instead of doing long posts, that's not going to happen, I am just going to catch up with short ones in the meantime.

How's that for a practical plan?

First one is about memories.

Miss Daisy came from a puppy mill somewhere in the backwoods of South Carolina, that's all I know. 

She spent the first two years of her life there until the puppy mill was busted by the police and she was one of the dogs in such bad shape she was slated for euthanasia. The folks who rescued her, S.A.F.E. here in St. Augustine, have a mandate to rescue dogs who are in that position and would otherwise be put down. When her puppy mill was in the news and the ladies here got in their bus and went and collected her and some other puppy mill moms.

As you know a few months later we adopted Daisy from them.

Daisy has since gone on to be very healthy, spunky, and fun. She just isn't that dog anymore.

Then on the way down here we stopped the RV for a few days at a golf course in rural South Carolina.  We had a great time, such beautiful, beautiful country.

Daisy didn't see it the way we did.

She went out for her first walk and sniffed the air and sat down and started to think. For two days she wouldn't eat and wouldn't go outside the RV much. Who knows what the wind told her, or what went on in her head those days.

I wanted to say to her that those days are past and they won't be coming back again her in life again. But you can't explain that to a dog, or some people too I guess.

How do you say it is over?

And what about the memories that are over and you are not sure if you are good with that.

I have been struggling with this a bit in my own life at home, in my house.

In my case the memories are not like Daisy's, they are good ones.

I have one sister who is very pro on the whole decluttering organizing thing. Last summer she went through my sewing room and bagged a bunch of my random stuff and restored order ( I got a lot of it out of the bags after she left I admit that). She also went around my house and showed me how to arrange things so they looked better. It was very helpful.

One thing she said to me that really struck, was that I was a very sentimental person. I was very surprised by this. I don't see myself this way.

I think it was the pairs of everyone's baby shoes on my dresser and the elementary school picture fridge magnets of  children who are now in their 30s that might have given me away.

I am one of those mothers who keeps everything if it came from a kid. 

Everything. 

How can I put it away? 

I try. 

My daughter, with some idea that clear surfaces are a good thing, made me remove my 25 family pictures from the mantle and start a more organized picture wall along my long hallway. This is a good idea, even if it means part of my house is like one of those restaurants where the walls are covered with a million autographed pictures and there are clear plastic sheets over the tablecloths.

I am good with that.

Now when I leave the bathroom the first thing I see is the picture taken of my middle son on the day his sister had her first day at school and I exactly want to see that.

But really how do you do this, handle the memories in the middle of the present?

I know women and books on organizing that say keep just one thing representing everything else.

What does this mean?

Put away the mask my daughter made of a plaster cast of her own face in grade three?

Listen. 

I am not a hoarder. 

You can walk across my rooms without tripping. No one is going to ever find cats under a pile of magazines in my house. I throw away everything from every job when it is over. My shoes are completely turned over every few years.

But how exactly do you put away the evidence of the best years of your life, when you actually have only one life?

Not saying that the present and those grown kids are not exactly just they way you want them now, but sometimes, admit it, you can think to yourself and not tell anyone, you know this is good but really I was in the zone, my zone, when I was doing that.

But do I want to be like the woman in a book I just read, an old woman visited in a room stuffed with mementoes? Do I want to been seen like that?

Of course not.

But where do I put the Lego pirate owned by the boy who will always be a bit of a pirate at heart? Away in a box?

So tell me how you store your own memories?

How do you hold on to what you need to and let go of what you need to?

Daisy and I would sort of like to know.

RV specifics

Since a few of you have asked, here is a picture of our RV with some details thoughts, flypaper style, on what I have learned about this new experience so far:

• It is like living on a boat
• Ship shape is not just a concept but a way of not losing your mind, or your pyjamas 
• Can anyone tell me where I put my flowered PJs?
• They were in my hand and then they weren't
• If you wash your hair in water that still has the anti-freeze in it your hairstyle does't look so good
• It will however have quite a fruity smell
• Trader Joe's has the best frozen dinners if you are feeling Thai at a rest stop
• It is nice to be snug with your own gear including the three vinegars you need and almond milk
• If you don't snap the flusher back right it is possible to flood most of an RV between say exit 76 and exit 77
• Camping World has free water and dumping
• Dumping becomes something you get really interested in
• Even if you are not a 14 year old boy
• If you decide at the top of the Smokey mountains that the roads might be icy and there are too many trucks on the road you can pull into the Flying J truck stops
• There the same trucks move over and you can stay all night, welcomed
• One of those weird things you do and decide between you never to tell the kids
• You can join a club that lets you stay at country clubs overnight if you golf
• Guess who is writing this from the parking lot of a golf course in North Carolina?
• Wonderful place for dog walking
• Tupperware makes a microwave spaghetti maker that does al dente in less than one bottle of water
• I can mark assignments on the road, strapped in and with my feet up
• I feel like I am living in a tree house
• I feel about eight years old
• With fruity hair

On the road again

I am writing this from a rest stop in Virginia. We are headed to Knoxville and tomorrow to Georgia and eventually to Florida.

It turns out this travelling in an RV thing, something we have never done before, works out just fine for us. 

My husband was more or less a nervous wreck (he didn't show it and wouldn't admit it) when we first set out as this is all new to us and there is a lot of technology, pumps, pipes, hoses, gauges etc. he is pre-occpied with but really everything has been fine so far. Personally I like having all my own stuff right with me and being able to eat proper meals at the nice roadside stops they have in this part of the country and walk Daisy and look at the cows.

Hauling stuff in and out of hotels when you are trying to do point A to point B is just about as fun as it sounds. This is so much better and more comfortable. Plus I can reach all my projects easily and avoid those mega gas station stops with all the weary people and all the popcorn chicken and fries that are cold by the time you get back to the car.

We are staying off the main highways, toodling along and realizing how much you miss on the I-95.

Of course we had a bit of a delay waiting for the storm to pass, and this made me have to cancel my visit into New York to see my son and daughter-in-law, but will catch them later.

In the end I took good advice and left all my UFOs at home. I have decided to fool around this trip and probably use the time to try out some Indie patterns. I have a printer here and a bit of random fabric and many of the Indies are fairly simple patterns suitable for small space sewing. My intention is to be totally honest (an advantage to being just a blip in the blogosphere) and if I find an Indie that I don't think works, find another one that is similar that does.

So that's it.

For a while here there will be experimental test activities without any real purpose apart from being interesting to me.

So watch for completely unrelated posts on my thoughts on sewing in general, generational sewing differences, sewing culture development and, of course, Indie patterns.

If anyone out there would like me to try, or share thoughts on, any particular Indie pattern let me know.

Flypaper fly by

• Have done some sewing but no time to blog
• Leave for 2.5 months in Florida day after tomorrow
• Packing the RV in the driveway and continuing what passes for normal life
• Question
• Should I take UFOs or new stuff to make?
• Some of those UFOs have at least 5,000 miles on them already
• There and back and the sleeves still not in
• Never under estimate the power of a good garment
• True story here
• Last weekend my 88 year old mother was woken up in the middle of the night
• Woman at the door was battered and said the Hell's Angels were after her
• What did my mother do?
• Exactly what any good Christian with not a brain in her head would
• Let her in, called the police, and called the woman's mother
• Her mother would want to know
• All ended well by the time the cruisers left
• Apart from the nearly giving my sisters and I a stroke when we heard this
• Why, why did you do this mom?
• Don't you watch the news?
• "I knew she was not a bad person" said my mother.
• "How could you possible tell that?" I asked
• "She was wearing a good coat," said my mother
• I forgot to ask what the fabric was
• And you wonder where I got it from
• My youngest is still on tour in Peru
• And everyone thinks I wake up at night and can't get back to sleep because of my age
• Actually it's their age
• Big snowstorm forecast for when we drive into Boston and when I was planning to see my kids in NYC
• There would have to be one big pile of snow before I drive past New York without a site visit
• I think they might be afraid of that
• My own grandmother was a Winnipeg snowshoe champ in her day
• If you have ever stood on Portage and seen the police in buffalo coats you know that is no joke
• That woman was riding around in the bus in nylons, a mink coat, zip up overshoes and a plastic rain hat at -50 into her early 90s
• The insulating value of a good tight perm and button earrings
• I have decided to redefine my own style
• That's as far as I've got so far
• Some of the ladies in the sewing guild are brave
• Inspired me to try arty
• First time
• Made Cutting's Easy, ageless and cool pants
• Magnificent instructions
• Not sure that I have not produced what my dad would have called Whoopee pants
• When I slow down enough for pictures you can tell me
• BTW best sewn item of 2015 was a sleeping mask
• Makes the difference between sleeping like a rock and like a skipping stone
• Think of Miss Daisy and I driving down in an RV full of unfinished projects towards the sun
• Will have time then to post of the journey
• Now back to packing

Cozy sewing

Every once in a while I read something that seems to hit exactly where my head is at the moment.

Today it was this article on Hygge Chic which apparently refers to a Scandinavian idea of "feeling cozy and snug, and being kind to yourself." 

Of course it doesn't escape me that this idea came out of a cold weather climate like mine, and say not out of the Caribbean, where the need to wrap yourself up is undoubtedly not the same.

Hygge is an idea worth thinking about. 

It suggests treating yourself kindly as a style statement, as something you can plan for, as opposed to something you revert to by putting on the old worn standbys hoping that no one comes to the door.

This idea of dressing for your actual life, and sewing for it, finding fashion that fits these needs rather than trying to fit yourself and your style into fashion, has been on my mind all week.

To give you an example here is what happened, among so many other things, in my life this week, what I really need to dress for:

• My daughter's family all had the stomach flu and so I did more than my usual picking up of Miss Scarlett after school at 2:30. High point was when she threw herself around in front of all the other parents - "I don't believe it. I have to go home where they are all boring and sleeping and all I want to do is go to your house and sew!" (Couldn't do it that day, had to teach, but have booked two sewing session next week after school).
• Taught my first class of the term online and video, happy to be back part time and on my terms. However doing online stand up requires careful prep and the rearrangement of the backdrops at the home front. Moved books that had appropriate titles in and Dr. Suess and cookbooks out of the shot.
• Took two dogs for three walks every day, crunching over the salt and balancing on the snowbanks.
• Discussed the liver enzymes of two other dogs with relatives in detail, over the phone.
• Discussed in even greater detail my nephew's new residence arrangement at university.
• Wasted about five hours researching bra patterns until I remembered I buy very good ones in the US every spring at the outlets.
• Calculated what this will cost with the Canadian dollar in the tank.
• Realized that we are on par with the Aussie dollar so spent 10 hours researching (researching really means me lying in a cooling bath with my iPad) online fabric sources in Australia.
• Spent a day mending for my youngest son who has gone to South America for three weeks to walk the Inca trail etc. The only garment repairs I don't avoid are those for my baby boys. This time it was my son telling me that for safety reasons it is really important when traveling in the third world (which probably is much like Nova Scotia but generally warmer) not to wear new clothes. Pretty much only the thought that zig zagging rips closed might save his life made me do it.
• Started my fifth attempt at sleeves that fit in that sweater I cut up. That's all I am going to say about that one.
• Tore over to my step daughter's son's sitter to retrieve him owing to the fact that the sitter's own child ate some money and had to go to the ER, with the other kids I was taking care of that day in the car.
• Dropped the car key under the seat once I arrived and was blocking the sitter's driveway. The four-year-old and I crawled under all the seats (how long has that other stuff been down there?) and finally found it although not right away.
• Spent a day worrying hard and a day being relieved over some family medical tests that in the end turned out fine.
• Watched the news and wondered if there is anyone with any sense out there.
• Thought of all the things I have to pack before we head off in the RV for points south in ten days.
• Listened to my husband say "what's to pack? Shorts and golf balls."
• Tried and failed to deal with my secret Tupperware and Nutella addictions.
• Counted my steps and realized that if you can't remember why you went to basement until you go back up and start over again you can really get fit.
• Which apparently is excellent for the memory.
• Answered a million student emails.
• Moved things into and out of my sewing to-do pile before we leave.
• Went back upstairs and then went back down and did it again.

You just don't do this life in Spanx and three inch heels, although hats off to those who can.

No wonder Hygge Chic is speaking so loudly to me.

As a result I decided to tackle real garments I need, one issue at a time.

First up getting up in a national park and taking the dog out for a walk when I wish I didn't have to. 

Needing pockets for the poop purses (what we call the doggie bags for some reason) and my phone, because I might as well count steps, and my son might be emailing me an "I am alive in South America" message.

What I came up with was this pattern and some sort of cable type patterned Minky. Very cozy if not elegant, as close to adult swaddling as you can get. I hope to make a lace/mesh vest version too to go over shorts and T shirts when I need the pockets and not much else.

Back to the Hygge jacket. Made as per pattern but put in one giant snap in case I need to close it up:

Basically feels like a short housecoat but hopefully people won't immediately figure that out

Side view because some people like to see those, also my boots

How this will probably actually be worn.

I have been thinking I should make a wool tailored suit, just to have in the can in case anything official happens sometime, but suspect this jacket was probably better immediate use of my sewing time.

Let's see if the vest version is wearable or just weird.

New Spring Vogues

I was about to head down into the basement and the treadmill when, looking on my iPhone to see how many steps a person takes when they have done nothing but work on a computer all day, I saw the new Spring Vogues were up.

Since the outside is polar temperatures and the landscape white icy concrete, anything with the word "spring" sounded pretty good to me.

So here, still on the way to the treadmill, are my impressions.

Disclaimer is that there are some trends that just refuse to go away despite the fact I don't like them at all, never did, never will. I won't be commenting on those patterns at all.

These trends, just so you know, are high/low which my eyes still see as a mistake, colour blocking, which I know from experience is something you get pretty sick of after you have worn it three times, and those innumerable tops that stick out in points at the sides.

That said here are a few interesting patterns I noticed and noted:

Really pretty skirt, very ladylike. Will have to contextualize into the lifestyle that is heavy on walking shoes and dog walking, but for someone, somewhere, it is perfect.

Bit concerned about the boxy look everywhere. There is hourglass and there is toy box. The clump, clump shoes, even in silver, are not help.

This one is a wow. As in I am in grade nine and learning to sew. The neckline, and waistline just don't fit, and this girl is perfect. See above on high low, but really anyone would feel like a dumbbell in this dress. Oddly looks to me like one of those poor women who comes out of the Ladies with her dress stuck in her underwear and the mean girls won't tell her. I would. Just did.

What marching band does she play in and what instrument. I'm thinking drums.

The line drawing does not show the flower appliqués which are what caught my eye, and all the binding is decorative, but in linen or some really cool fabric this would be spectacular. Look at those cool sleeves.

I wasn't really taken with Kathryn Brennen's earlier designs, that seemed to me to use an awful lot of fabric without much style, but this dress is lovely in a tea dance the afternoon before they bombed Pearl Harbour sort of way. So nice to see something feminine like this.

With some nice silk this would be a great top to wear to one of those events you don't really want to go to but figure if you have to you might as well be comfortable. 

OK no one is going to walk a dog in this but really what a fun skirt. If I had a daughter going to the prom I might try to talk her into the glamour of this rather than the $5 hooker outfits most of the other girls will be wearing.

Nice jacket, very wearable with a good back, in the right fabric.

A dragonfly pin cushion. Just the project for someone who has completed every other task in life, right down to sticking names on the bottom of dishes she is leaving the kids, or has attached pre-wound bobbins in matching thread to every spool she has. I would have to be reincarnated a thousand times before I would have time to make this, but I like it anyway.

So now down to go read Ravelry while I walk, sort of fast-ish.