Details and how hard should it be?

Like you all here I spend a shocking amount of time plotting my wardrobe additions, pattern surfing and fabric considering. About a month ago my DD came over and brought me this purse. She said she knew I would appreciate a big red bag but  I probably wouldn't get one for myself.

I was really pleased with it and started taking this bag with me to work. The thing is that it was amazing how many of my students and colleagues complimented me on it, on my style, and just how sharp I felt carrying it.

This made me think about accessories and the fact that I get so caught up in making garments that I don't pay as much attention as I should to what real estate agents call "staging" - the little details that bring out the best in a place, or in this case, a middle-aged sewer.

Look at BWOF. I was doing that this week and noticed just how heavily accessorized the fashion shots are, how much the style of the garment is brought out by great jewelry, gloves, shoes and bags. Take all those accessories out of the picture and would the same garment be as attractive? It's an interesting exercise. Look at Shannon's blog for truly inspirational and instructional information on her nail care regime - hands like those are going to make any outfit look its snappy.

And here's another thought to add to it. Maybe it's the recession, maybe its my own sewing audit that has revealed my assumptions, time, and energy don't add up, but I have been thinking a lot about things like how much do I really need in my closet, what garments really suit me, how do I do more, or at least better, with less, or at least enough?

The concept of enough is interesting.

To me it is about reaching a point of satisfaction with what you have made or are making, of taking time to enjoy what you have done and when you wear it. Really what words would you rather have in your head about your sewing? "I am so far behind with my projects" or "I love  what I have just made myself."?

Not a hard call to make.

This brings me to the complicated question of fashion. By definition fashion changes and is about the next thing, not the present thing. Some fashions do last however, the trick is to pick the right ones. Think the 70s and a Halston dress and then say plaid bell-bottoms. Chic lasts.

Sometimes I make something fashionable and I am not comfortable in it. Right now I am wearing a twist top T shirt I made a few years ago and I only wear it on home days. Somehow it feels gimmicky to me. This top never made me feel great, it only, for a brief time made me feel in fashion and that was never quite enough.

My red bag is another story. I feel cool with it now and as I haven't invested time and energy making it when its day is past that will be fine with me. What I will keep is my appreciation of my kind and thoughtful daughter.

So before I wear myself out trying to keep up with fashion, maybe I should focus that need on accessories, on polish, and use my sewing time, that is about so much more to me that the production of stylish clothes, for things worth making and saving.

For favourites. 

After all there are few things in life as sweet as sewing yourself something and knowing as soon as you try it on that this one is destined for favourite status - something that will give you as much pleasure day after day as it did in the making. Two sets of memories in garments like these and very worthwhile use of sewing time.

So what constitutes a potential favourite?

I am just working this out but have come up with three working criteria:

1. Fabric - I just can't get into either making or wearing something if I am not nuts about the fabric. Beautiful fabric is one of the huge and permanent joys of life - right up there with the happiness of a dog, a good deep sleep, a hot bath and a mystery novel where you like the people, friends you don't have to pretend to be better than you are with, and pressing a seam in cotton.

2. Simple styles - I am as easily distracted by the bright shiny object as the next sewer but simple clothes suit me best. I am a tall, curveless girl from the Canadian Prairies, and elaborate doesn't look right on me, maybe it is the look on my face. Minimal is my genre.

3. Timeless, within reason. See simple above. If I like something I like it to last, sometimes I think the thought of throwing out good clothes because they are no longer in fashion this year is causing hundreds of frugal prairie farmers to do a synchronized flip in their graves. On a more sophisticated level see Halston, also timeless doesn't have to mean style-less, in fact if you do it right it should be style that transcends - that's a good word.

All worth thinking about, as sewing alway is.

I forgot to say why it mattered

On the subject of why to do a cultural/sewing audit. The point of doing this exercise is to see if the artifacts, values and assumptions all line up - if they don't nothing is going to work out the way it should.

For example an organization that has the value "Our people are our greatest asset" but doesn't have family friendly policies or operates under the assumption that personal and work lives should be separate to the point that you have to call in to say you are sick when it really is your child, might lose its best assets in its people.

Make sense?

Try this on your sewing life.

School work

Rascal is waiting for a long walk and so this has to be efficient.

As you know the lines between my life and my sewing are pretty blurred. Often what I do in one area seems to help me understand another.

Take cultural audits. I teach a management class and one of the things students do is conduct an audit of an organizational culture. There are three things they look for:

Artifacts (the stuff - how people answer to phone, right down to the training manuals)

Values (what the organization says about itself - Our customers/patients/clients come first)

Assumptions (what lies below the conscious talk but powerfully determines behaviour, in the past things like women would always quit work to have a family and therefore were not worth promoting, and one that is my favourite this year from an African-Canadian student "there will never be a Black president of the United States in my lifetime" .... Well assumptions are pretty hard to change and people will cling to them even when it is not productive, even when it cuts them off from talent and progress).

So how does this apply to sewing?

OK here is my list:

Artifacts: Pfaff 7570, 4862 serger, 4 other older machines - 8 boxes of fabric, a lifetime supply of random notions, about 30 active patterns, 40 sewing books.

Values- I sew to achieve a better quality wardrobe that fits and is original.

Assumptions - it is possible for me to sew all my own clothes, to have them all be beautiful, flattering and fit. I have time to sew to the limits of my ability on every garment. I can make better than I can buy. The list goes on and examining whether or not my assumptions are enabling or hindering my enjoyment of sewing and my product are something Rascal and I are going to discuss on our walk.

What is your sewing culture?

Sisterhood awards

Do any of you ever find yourselves in a situation where you want to do something but want to do it well, and because you are time pressed, let it go too late?

Well the Sisterhood Awards have been like that for me.

A while ago Karen, who writes a wonderful blog, nominated me for this one, and it was up to me to pass it on. I was pleased with this award and understand the role these awards play in recognizing blogs we enjoy, identify with, and learn from. So often I will stay up late at night decompressing by reading blogs I like and most of the time I don't leave comments, even though the thoughts the blogger shares with me can stay with me all the next day, or longer.

These are conversations and in their own way the bloggers we read become friends, and who says that these friends have to live across the street? And the fact they don't, come to think of it, is even better because these virtual relationships are based on compatibility and shared interests, not convenience or geography.

I also realized that one of the things that was holding me up was that I felt I had to nominate someone who hadn't been nominated before, but that gets too complicated and really I add to my personal blog roll when I discover a blog I know I will go back to on a regular basis, because, well because, I feel sisterhood with this sewer, or sometimes knitter. That's why the blog list on my sidebar is so short, I really list only those blogs I personally keep up with. So here is my list for women I read and why:

1. For inspiration, to see new patterns tested (to help me decide if I want to make them too), for beautiful skillful sewing, even if I personally will not be making anything this complex anytime soon:

Marji (an artist and a thoughtful writer)

Cennetta (always so sharp and put together -the word is polished)

Liana (a master seamstress and a very creative and gracious lady)

Erica Bunker (a fashion forward scout with the most beautiful pictures)

2. For excellent sewers who make clothes that I might myself be making very soon. Those who show me how to inject some style into my real life:

Carolyn (inspired us all to work with TNT and find the creativity inside us)

Shannon (in her vintage SWAP days Shannon's clothes were strictly eye candy for me so I love her new direction with Loes Hinse)

Sew4Fun (a new discovery for me, this Australian sewer makes the most beautiful knit top and gives the most useful and detailed sewing advice)

3. For human talk about life and sewing, in addition to the wonderful projects:

Karen (a late night cup of tea read for me, dogs, life and an honest view of the world)

Robin (I think we are at the same stage in our lives and so much of what she has written, I could have too)

4. To make me laugh. All of the above also fall into this category but Crazy Aunt Purl (author f or Drunk, Divorced and Covered in Cat Hair) has provided me with quick knitting projects and more than a few smiles. A wonderful writer.

Evidence of sewing

In addition to  thinking about sewing/life (I find the two so similar I often mix them up) I actually have been doing some actual sewing. First of all the curtains for the first big bedroom window are done (when you break down a wall and make two small bedrooms into a master bedroom large enough for two of us and one Rascal you acquire a lot of windows) - tab curtains, lined and heavy enough to be stage curtains. The best thing about them is that they are done, but of course not put up yet. One step at a time. The other windows are smaller so I am counting on having these out of the way as something to inspire me to keep going.

I am also posting one of my elastic waist skirts, just to let you know it is not all couture sewing out there.

And two more versions of my now much loved Simplicity dress, shown a while ago in black and white linen - one in denim and one in dots. I think you can tell which is which.

And today six knit tops cut out for the trip because I realize that the husband's itinerary doesn't have any laundromat time in it.

A progress report, because yes there is progress, even in the middle of a hectic month.

So many things to say

I feel badly about dropping below the radar on this blog, because it is important to me. I think I will catch up with posts on various topics if you don't mind. I am going to be away later this month and want to get reconnected in my blogging before I go.

In two and a half weeks we are off on a little trip to DC and points south and I am pretty excited about that, and have been scrambling to get my assignments and marking to the point for all of my 97 students that I can press Submit on the online grading system at school the night before we take off, and then the next morning just do that. My daughter is a pediatric oncology nurse and working a night shift that night and coming with us for the first 4-5 days so she can see her brother in Washington and we are going to pick her up at 7:00 a.m. off her shift, load her in the car and head out. She should sleep until we hit the outlet stores in Maine.

My first story from this month:

A few years ago I took a machine embroidery course. There was a very nice woman there but she had a lot of trouble with her project. I remember at one point she threw up her hands and said, "Can't do this, I'm always just all thumbs." Well guess who the surgeon who operated on my DH last week turned out to be. I am assuming orthopedics is easier than sewing. Must be. All went very well, although there is a random staple that we can't quite explain, no where near the incision. He feels terrific though and that is all that matters.

Second story:

My dear daughter, mentioned above, is into her second trimester of pregnancy. On my learning curve is that this is not my pregnancy and she has actually been very sick, something I never was, which I realize has nothing to do with anything. She has been sick to the point of being quite miserable so one thing we decided to do was to go to matinees together when our schedules allowed to take her mind off it. 

The world of matinees is new to me and I have to tell you it is terrific. Instead of hordes of junior high kids we usually have the afternoon theatres to ourselves, except maybe for another mother and daughter duo. The rules are we go only to girly movies that require no thought and where the clothes are as interesting as anything else.

I had forgotten how important clothes are in movies. With all my angst over personal styles I realize that this is exactly what a costumer designer does for a film. Each character has a style that both reflects her personae and makes the most of her appearance.

Now isn't that exactly what we are all trying to do as we SWAP and in our discussions at places like Stitcher's guild?

Most instructive.

OK this is what I have noticed:

1. Colour is important. Obviously the actresses have to look good but they have to wear the clothes not the other way around. Colour draws your eye to the main characters, the extras are usually wearing neutrals.

2. Styles are actually very simple, very simple. Again probably that makes sure that the clothes don't dominate, there might be some decorative detail but the shapes are very simple. In one scene in Duplicity Julia Roberts wore a plain pant suit with a mandarin collar jacket and no closures, as plain as it could be, but in a wonderful silk in an unusual blue.

3. OK if the clothes are simple and the colours strong, accessories are interesting and key to the character. Remember Meg Ryan's cardigans in You've got mail?

There is a theme here and of course you only see the themes that are moving in the same direction you yourself are.

I have been wondering in my busy life just what I wear that I feel most comfortable in. 

I hate to admit that lately it has been the three elastic waist straight skirts I made this month and knit tops and sweaters. So how many fancy sewing projects do I need or want right now? 

Sometimes when I look at other people's blogs I am so impressed with the quality of the workman ship or the ambition of the garment that I think that's what I need to be doing too. I love these pictures and descriptions and undoubtedly spend hours and hours every week enjoying the sewing I see being done in other lives and in other homes. 

The truth is that I have done far more complex sewing in the past and imagine that when my life adjusts to give me sewing days and weeks on a regular basis rather than sewing minutes and hours I will be able to do more of that again. But right now, today, this week, this year, this life, I have to be more strategic in how I apply my time and energy and contrive how to feel the best I can in my clothes (as in comfortable and confident that I look as sharp as I can) with what I have to work with.

For me right now that makes fit a priority, more flattering colour and good fabrics.

Fabrics.

Now that's what's missing. I have been diligently sewing up a lot of the back log but what I am left with is basic - how excited can I get over yet more black linen blend. Who wakes up early to go look at basic black yardage?

I most definitely need to get myself into a place where the fabric is delicious for once and capable of making me feel that way when I wear it. Serviceable I can buy, beautiful I need.

Quick late night thoughts

I have been off air this last week and I am sorry about that. If only the posts written in your head could count. A medical issue in the family is now looking much better, 71 term papers are marked, and I am getting back to normal.

When things were stressful I realized the role sewing plays in my life as an escape - thinking about sewing takes me to a place that gives me some mental space when I need it. When I think about it too the times in my life when I was the most sewing productive they are often times in my life where other things were lacking, when my kids were very small and I needed to feel I had goals and achievements, on long nights on my own when my first husband was away at work, in fact any time in my life when I needed to have a personal sense of achievement, particularly when other kinds of achievement were hard to come by. Sometimes I can remember even think then  I was spinning straw into gold, turning borrowed bits of time and sometimes scare resources into something productive and even on good days, beautiful.

So when I was going through a bit of waiting and worrying this past while, but didn't really have the time or energy to sew, I became almost obsessive about thinking about sewing. 

After everyone was in bed at night, or early in the morning before the day started, I was constructing imaginary wardrobe plans, cruising the pattern sites, putting almost fabric purchases into my virtual shopping basket and then closing the window when I got to the checkout, making notes and plans for myself.

Clothing quite apart, my sewing world is my safe and sane place, a place where I can create all sorts of different realities, a positive, familiar place. My vocation, really, and like all vocations comforting in the security of skills you could execute in the dark, comforting in the way you can only feel when you are doing the stuff you really know how to do, that you are good at.

When I think of all the jobs I have picked up and put down in my life, using my education and experience to learn new things, fit into new positions, acquire new personae, it means a lot to me, underneath it all, underneath all my masks, the mask of professional for example, which some days in some situations takes a lot out of me to not let that mask slip, not in public, I possess a skill. 

A permanent skill, a craft that I can take with me, touch bottom with, count on. A skill and a craft with its own vocabulary, techniques, culture and associations. At these moments I understand why guild membership lasted for centuries in the middle ages, why it made sense to start a project that would last for centuries (see my stash), and why wherever a guild member travelled they knew they could find fellow travelers and could sit down with them, and out of common knowledge, start familiar, and useful conversations.

Like those we are having now.

Thank you.