Finishing up

How about that. 


I finished my son's shirts and since he arrived home last night, gave them to him. They fit fine, looked great in fact and he said he would wear them to work. 


Of course I don't have pictures. He is staying over at Miss Scarlett's. I have to start taking my camera with me and will see if I can corner him for shots before he goes. 


He is a sharp dresser and like most men particular about what he wears. Have you noticed that? Even if all a guy wears is T shirts and white tube socks they still will have very specific ideas about what tube socks and what T shirts. It's incredible. You have to get it right. I find that takes more focus than I have sometimes and also because this son is my only one away I like to do an excellent job with anything from me he takes away with him. I want him to always know his mom is thinking about him.


So last night when he told me the shirts were great I immediately said "I will make you more" while my daughter dug me in the ribs and whispered "what are you talking about those shirts nearly killed you." Of course I will make more but fortunately am out of great shirt fabric right now.


I am about to enter my season of making-things-for-other-people with the holidays coming up. I have found that as kids get older they appreciate things that are made for them more. In my case this is going to involve tons of knitting and some more sewing.


So before that hits I am going to finish off a few odds and ends. 


Here is one of them, a dog walking jacket I still have cut out from last year. I have this in corduroy, as suggested, and will be highly surprised if it works at all with all those pleats in the back. But I knew I needed a camp coat type thing but wanted something more campy for my walks every night in the woods with those crazy dogs. The woods BTW that are full of deer this time of year. We see 6-8 white tailed deer every night and I really think I should dress for the occasion.

Here's my pattern, and I will construct this over the next few days when I should be doing other things. What do you think?

 My mojo is high this morning, too bad I have to go off to work.

Testing, testing

I have one of my son's shirts now done. Beautiful fabric from Michaels. I am going to try to get the other one's plackets unpicked today after work and that whole one done before he leaves for NYC on Sunday.


My husband is walking around saying "only two more days to that baby," Miss Scarlett toilet-trained herself yesterday, my dishes are still on the bed in the spare room, and I am washing my pots in the laundry room. I have deadlines at work and need to get in there shortly.


So of course the first thing on my mind is sewing.


It should be of no surprise to anyone that many of my best ideas go nowhere. 


For instance I had this brilliant idea that I would test and report on a variety of basic sewer's sewing machines (as opposed to the fly-me-to-the-moon kind). I even sent off a few emails to some of the companies and offered my astute services.


So far not even an "are you nuts?" back. Hope is dimming on this project. I may even be forced to sew some white shirts.


I love testing things and even have some experience.


Years ago, when my kids were little, Threads had me test scissors. 

A big box of a gazzillion scissors came to the house and we had three happy days cutting things up. 


It was a riot. My middle guy, then about eight, was particularly good and by day two was saying things like " Good weight in the hand, nice grip, good points." We stopped testing when someone tried to pink the living room rug and filed our report. 


I contend I gave those kids a wonderful childhood. Even though I was once toasted at a wedding as the "mother who made the best Hallowe'en costumes and the worst lunches."


Which reminds me I better make mine.

Flypaper a.m.

Here we go again, blogging when I should be cleaning.

• My DC-then London-almost NYC son is coming home for a few days this week en route.
• Time to finish those shirts I have been working on for 1.5 years
• Why did I put those sleeve plackets on backwards in the spring?
• I wasted an hour of sewing time researching cognitive degeneration on the internet.
• Where is that really good seam ripper?
• You know the one with the dog tooth marks on the handle.
• Who decided to replace the chocolate bar dispenser at work with energy bars?
• Shouldn't there have been a vote about that?
• At 4:00 p.m. a girl needs Mr. Hershey.
• I offended the medical profession this week.
• Felt bad about that, particularly about those who also sew.
• My husband says the new baby is coming this week.
• He went into a trance while doing the dry-wall and predicted.
• My sewing guild has just changed the Sewing with a Plan Group to a just-finish-something group.
• We are all happy about that.
• I want a new sewing machine.
• I don't care about embroidery, 500 stitches, memory, mirroring or advanced anything. Just give me a nice stitch and a Reliable Buttonhole.
• That costs less than it would take to convert this house to solar energy.
• I would have done the shirts earlier if my buttonholes were trustworthy.
• My current machine is a former top-of-the-line.
• I am no longer going to my hairdresser of 20 years.
• I have changed up from someone who says "Oh god what can we do?" to someone who pats my shoulder and says "you have a very nice personality."
• Why did I wait this long?
• Dogs can smile.

CNN, my leatherette skirt, and Vogue 8750

I finally finished Vogue 8750, despite 125 students and the environmental hazards of nearly being hit by flying kitchen fragments on a more or less regular basis.

Here it is on me and in sort of a bent leg detail that is meant to show you the interesting seaming:

I managed to actually get this done by going AWOL to the sewing room and drowning out the sound of heavy equipment by turning the Sewing TV up real loud. I love the news and so my channels of choice were CNN and CBC Newsworld.


I did a lot of watching this guy do interviews:

Somewhere along the way, I made up a "what if" scenario if Anderson Cooper ever showed up here and decided to interview me about this skirt. Here is how I think that would go:


AC 360: We are joined here tonight by Babs who has just finished the completion of a not leather skirt at the age of nearly 58, a project she has been planning on returning to ever since she did that thing with the iron on her first attempt in 1978.


Now Barbara how did you train for this project?


Babs: Well Anderson I have been making skirts now for 40 years. I have fully explored the waistbands that are too tight and the facings that are too loose. I have made them in velvet with the nap running up the front and down the back and am sure nobody noticed. I have made denim wrap arounds with ties so thick they didn't make bows and I have done the centred, the lapped, the hand-picked, once with pearls, not real, in each stitch, but now work exclusively with invisible zippers because you can re-stitch them 8 times and the stitches don't show from the right side. I find this a plus.


AC 360: Interesting. Can you tell us more about this specific project? My team here did some research and most not real leather is referred to as faux or pleather - what's with the leatherette?


Babs: Well Anderson I went back to the source on this one. Since this particular piece was bought by my next youngest sister in that discount place near the access road behind the Winnipeg airport, my suspicion is that it is leatherette, although I am almost certain, about 87%, that she didn't grab it from the car upholstery section and not tell me. This one of my sisters is pretty honest.


AC 360: Interesting. Now tell me if there were any moments in this project during you really, and this is not an age-related question, doubted you would be able to go the distance?


Babs: Good question Anderson. I was a bit concerned about the curved inserts to be honest. Four of them, two front and two in the back. Those can start pretty good, but you know how it is, once that presser foot starts moving and you start moving those pins-in-the-seam-allowance out you can just see it advancing - one layer longer than the other, like the Wave of Doom - and you know that you are going to be left with a 3/4" at the end. But this is a pretty well-drafted pattern and that almost didn't happen.


AC 360: Yes but to be honest did you trim off any extra at the end of the seam? 


Babs: Can you notice anything in the picture?


AC 360: The pictures are kind of blurry.


Babs: Exactly.


AC 360: Interesting. We are running out of time here so in closing I have to say I noticed you didn't top-stitch the hem.


Babs: Good eye. I was going to but I was pretty pleased with my top-stitching, yes I know the picture is blurry, but trust me on this, and I figured a stitched hem would ruin the effect. I got some double-sided tape and used that instead. Man is that stuff slick.


AC 360: Interesting.  Finally Babs do you have any wisdom you would like to share with other women of your generation considering a leatherette skirt?


Babs: I sure do. First this is a cheap project. Second my leatherette has a very smooth knit backing so I didn't do a lining. It held up well at the Greek restaurant I made my husband take me to last night since he demolished my kitchen. Secondly, it doesn't show the dog hair and does not require ironing, I really mean that, and only used a rayon setting with a press cloth during construction. Third it is easy to maintain. The Tzatziki came right off with Windex. Fourth when I wear it I feel unbearably hip and cool and since I really am not either hip or cool I feel this skirt expresses that perfectly. It's not really leather either. And BTW this is a killer pattern - really slimming, makes this 18 look like 10.


AC 360: A 14. Keeping them honest.

A shout out to nurses

I don't know if any of you are healthcare workers. I don't know if, as I write this, any of you are coming down after a 12 hour shift, or getting ready to go on one.


If you are a nurse I just want to say thank you. I was in having a conversation yesterday finding out that some surgery I was told 25 years ago might have to be done sooner or later - well I'm getting close to later. Doesn't matter what, no big deal, it's not that interesting to even me, but that whole thing was made better for me because of a nurse.


Doctors look at numbers and see you as a chart. Nurses look at your face and remember you are someone's mother.


Do you have any idea how important your work is? I hope so.


Listen.


When I take over I am putting twice as many nurses into hospitals and paying them all twice as much. Three times.


That's a promise.

Vogue 8750 and Petersham waistband

That old leatherette skirt still needs a hem and a photographer.

What I can do this morning however is start commenting on the instructions for this pattern.


The supply list suggests a grosgrain ribbon for a hem facing. I think what they really mean is a proper shaped grosgrain called petersham.


I happen to have some bought in a nice little notions shop in Nottingham England (the UK really has great tailoring supplies - sewing there seems to me to be more structured) when I was  visiting my husband's daughter a few years ago. I am the kind of traveller who brings back notions but no presents for the relatives and no pictures. 


Sorry about that folks.


Anyway Nottingham is pretty far to go for waistband ribbon and I am sure you can get it online or at classy places such as do not exist in these parts.


I have used it in a few skirts and personally found it a bit rigorous for this squishy waist, but hauled it out for this project. The leatherette is sort of like bubble gum, bit of stretch, and I figured it would be stabilizing.


It is a fast and easy finish and here is how it works:

This is what Petersham looks like laid on a table. 


It may look like grosgrain but it has a curve. This fits the body. The smaller edge is top-stitched wrong side to right side of the waistline and when it flips down the wider edge curves out  a little like the skirt so it's all smooth:

Top-stitched on the right side

View from the inside, you just sew the ends to the sides of the zipper and tack it down on the inside to the seam allowances. Because of the shape of the petersham it naturally stays in place.

Outside unpressed

On another note I see in the news those two kids have finally been released from jail in Iran.


Their poor mothers. I can hear it now a few years ago, "Mom you are so uptight. Everybody goes hiking in the mountains near Iran these days. It's not like when you were a kid, just chill O.K."


Now off to teach kids like these.

Hurricane Leo hits my kitchen

The leatherette skirt is done except for the hem and I actually like it a lot. The pattern is great and fits.


I am going to get some pictures and comments up tomorrow if I can - my photographer took off his Cookie Monster suit today (huge, huge hit that was) and got into the destruction side of renovation. That took him off paparazzi duty.


You may remember that a few weekends ago the downstairs bathroom was gutted. Now I have a kitchen to match. Destructo man went through layers of wall, paint, flooring, back 50+ years.

My dishwasher and only current work surface sort of

Historic layers of my kitchen as it went out the door and onto the front lawn

What was behind the wall behind the wall behind the cupboards

I am feeling somewhat disorientated. This was not something I had scheduled, planned for, or expected to be happening this fall. I had this in my four year plan and this was not the year. Right now was supposed to be year one and the kitchen was year four.

Nonetheless (is that one word?) Things had to get moved out of the way of the tornado and my house looks like someone took all my stuff and flew over the house in an airplane and dropped out all out.

Now I am not a perfect housekeeper and can live with a fair amount of chaos, but when this was not on the agenda - well it sort of makes me want to take tomorrow off to go down the basement and spend the day doing hand-washing (an activity I find particularly soothing) or putting my patterns in a new order, or go buy chocolates and have a bath in the afternoon and eat them and read a murder mystery where the hero is one of those smart alec talking PIs women who has a kitchen. (Has anyone read the Spellman series? Hilarious. ) 

Instead I believe I am booked to do a performance as an adult at a local university. How did that happen?


But when I come home tomorrow I am putting on that leatherette skirt and stand in what used to be my kitchen and get some pictures taken. Makes sense.