Late night elf work: Family ban alert

I have spent the last week coming down from term, helping my daughter with the kids, and getting some Christmas stuff worked through.


I just can't stand the stores during the holidays so it's either handmade or shopped online.


I laughed and laughed though when I saw this label on Meg's blog:

I am working on exactly that kind of project now, a sweater for one of my sons.  I am about 10% of the knitter I am as a sewer and I made the mistake of thinking I could actually make this:

I have knit sweaters for the other kids and it was my NYC son's turn.I got it in my head that since the designer was in Brooklyn and young it would be something he would wear. Yes, I know.


Like a lot of young knitter designer patterns it has more emphasis on structural knitting - short row shaping and I cord and fashionable techniques than traditional patterns. What I call mathematical knitting, based on my personal observation that a lot of good knitters are good at math, which I am not.


Getting this thing wrestled to the ground has involved as much ripping out as knitting and hours on Raverly and iTunes watching fast videos made by people who actually know what they are doing.


The sleeves have just about done me in.


Since the whole thing is knit in the round (good thing I hate sewing up knitting - those yarn seams just don't look sturdy enough to the sewer in me) you have to pick up the stitches for the sleeves and knit those on double pointed needles.


In my case this has involved knitting on 5 needles and every time I come to turn a short row (took me the first sleeve to figure that out) I sort of haul the whole unit around and slide half the stitches off one of the needles, put those back on the needle and try again.


Every once in a while I stop and check on things and if you were here next to my Lazy-Boy you would be hearing a lot of  "What the hell?"


I admit those sleeves are going to involve some hole darning to get them to look like sleeves, and the underarms look sort of like Rascal knit them. 


By the way here are some pictures of my assistant elves obviously exhausted by all they have been doing to decorate the house and get things ready:

Matching dog beds I hope you notice.


I should have sleeve two done today and then I will spend some rescue time with a needle and wool and put in the zipper.


The thing is I actually have learned a lot of new techniques making this and if I made another one now it would be fine. 


Maybe I need another label that says- "The next one will be better."


Once this is done I have only some sewing to finish and this morning that looks like a piece of cake then I think I am due to be a Lazy-Boy myself.

Bra school

Well I am done.


My classes for this term that is. Now I can pick up my creative life for a bit.


Last Saturday I kicked that off with a fantastic day with bra-maker extraordinaire Tory LeBlanc where we custom-fitted and sewed a prototype bra.


I have made bras before with some success but wanted a second opinion on fit. What I got at Tory's class was actually far much more.


First the final product:

Now this just looks like a fairly standard bra but what you can't see is the best part, a completely flawless, can't-be-improved-upon-in-any-way, fit. 


Can't show you that since this is a family blog and I can see the headlines now:


Middle-aged teacher posts pictures of herself in her underwear on the internet. Students mortified.


Back to the bra. Absolutely perfect, not a wrinkle, not a tweek required, great comfort, and terrific support. I started out by saying to Tory that the thing I didn't like about self-made bras was the seam, which showed in T shirts, and she told me that with the right fit and construction you can't see that seam.


She's right.


I wore this bra under a knit top yesterday and it was as smooth as those ride up foam-cup numbers you get from the store.


I cannot recommend the help of a good teacher, this teacher, enough. Tory only teaches small groups, there were only three of us in the class, and she gives private lessons. There is time enough to get the fit right and to really have good advice on technique. I, for example, was told to use more pins, I did and it made a huge difference:

I think the difference between teaching yourself how to make a bra and a good teacher is the experience gap. Tory has made thousands and frankly she really knows boobs. I ended up with an altered band size (I am between sizes), a different cup size, and a totally different underwire size than I was expecting.


And it worked.


Tory also give more designer classes on how to customize the basic pattern to a different style, and she thinks I should make a bustier. To be honest I think I have about as much use in my life for a bustier as I would say, a dog sled, but changing things up a bit from the standard issue might be interesting. 


The one thing I can see myself getting into is dyeing and here are some samples of bra fabric done in Kool Aid. The darker samples are those that were left in the Kool Aid a long time and the lighter ones just went in and out:

Finally here is her email as Tory says she is interested in doing workshops for groups anywhere who are interested.


Now off to work on my neglected house and my Christmas projects, more later.

Flypaper thoughts

• My last real class of the term today.
• Now I think I will miss them.
• New year I am going to make a Chanel jacket.
• About time.
• Mainly because someone said it was like wearing a cardigan.
• I like cardigans.
• Looks like I am going to be asked to teach more distance courses in the future.
• This will suit me very well. I can knit while I am online with the headset.
• Two dogs, one ball in a house while there is rainstorm outside is crazy.
• There would be no Christmas at all if we left it to the men.
• Just a turkey and no vegetables.
• And presents bought at Canadian Tire (just what it sounds like) at 5:00 p.m. Christmas Eve.
• I can't find Jarbo Garn sock wool anywhere.
• It is the only yarn bulky and soft enough for fast socks.
• The one mail order place I tried ran out.
• Might have to go to Canadian Tire.
• My last child to move out next month has suddenly started to clean up.
• A sign he is ready to go.
• He broke the vacuum.
• They all are neater in their own places then they were here.
• Do you send out Christmas cards anymore?
• A few students have brought me some.
• Happy holidays written in big careful first year script.
• I am excited about my bra-making workshop on Saturday.
• I have made bras before but the teacher is funny.
• After teaching all term I want to be taught.
• My husband is going to be home two weeks at Christmas.
• He can buy the turkey.
• And walk the dogs.

Restorative therapy

I am heading into my last week of classes and exams. I have had a good term and great students, but we have pretty much worn each other right out.


So I am lining up some restorative therapy for myself. 


I know some women go to a spa and get wrapped up and steamed when they need restoring.


I did that once with my friend when we were at a convention in Vegas. We went to the day spa at the Hilton and ended up hysterical with the giggles the whole time because we, a couple of girls from Nova Scotia, had traveled all the way to the desert to get wrapped in seaweed. Made complete fools of ourselves in serious company so after we went out and had our fortunes told and then took our good pores out for Japanese food.


Off topic.


OK, some women go to a spa, or buy a nice bottle of wine and light candles. Not doing that because my husband has left me a case of his pretty-good homemade wine. 


And those candles. 


Do you ever wonder about those movies where they are in rooms  or around bathtubs and there are about 400 candles already lit? 


I mean usually it's some beautiful single mother entertaining Matthew McConaughey, and she has put her two year old to bed and she still has time to light all these candles before dinner. 


Or it's Meg Ryan or somebody in a bath recovering from her sleazy husband's affair soaking away in a gorgeous bath with at least 500 candles in different sizes all lit around her bathroom. 


You know just before the day where she shows someone her dress, this old thing I threw together, and they offer her a job as a head designer for Dior. So there sleazy husband.


OK, all I want to know is who lit all those candles? A single mother with a two year old? A woman who 20 minutes ago discovered she is dead broke and there never was pension fund after all? 


How long do you think it takes them to light all those candles? 


Who puts them out? 


Where are they stored between crises or romantic evenings?


Under the sink? I want to know. The back of the linen closet? Down the basement? 


Would you ask Matthew McConaughey to hold the two year old while you went down to the basement and got out all those candles from the shelf next to the Christmas decorations and that wreath that is mostly now only strands of glue gun glue and a few wobbly pine cones?


And don't they worry about fires?


On topic.


So this is why I am not soaking in bath surrounded by candles (and the combination of hot water and my husband's aged a full two week wine is probably not good for my blood pressure) and why I am not at a spa.


So instead I am restoring my soul with what I know will work for me when this week is over. This just arrived from Amazon:

And Saturday I am treating myself to a full day bra-making workshop.


It couldn't get any better than that.

Vogue 1137 Mom's version

Having discovered what a cinch Vogue 1137 was to make I decided to use it for new, warm, housecoat for my Mom. She lives in Winnipeg, Winterpeg to those who were born there like I was, and a place where the police directing traffic used to wear long Buffalo coats, which must have weighed 800 pounds but certainly were warm.

Dressed for warmth in Winnipeg

In fact a famous Winnipegger went down in the Titanic in his Winnipeg Buffalo coat, probably was not the best for staying afloat when wet. Much like the wool bathing suit my own grandmother, also from Winnipeg, made me wear one summer to keep me "warm in the water." When the first wave hit me and I got wet I went down and I could hardly stand up.


That's wool for you, when wet.


Needless to say I went synthetic with my Mom's housecoat and used Polar Fleece. To make it easier for her to get in and out of I put in a long separating zipper. The front of this pattern is sort of overlapped at the front so it looks closed when you wear it, which I like. Just like the bust darts that give this a little shape.


I left off the dramatic cuffs because I thought they might get in her way. I cut the sleeves back a bit to make sure the really narrow part was gone so they are sort of 3/4 length, or 2/3 length, or 1/2 length now. My sister Nancy says if the sleeves turn out to be too short when Mom puts this thing on she will sew something on the bottom for me.


Actually my mother who is very short has been complaining for the past 50 years that all her sleeves are too long.


Be careful what you wish for.


Here it is:

The pockets are parallel I promise. This must be an optical illusion.

On to other Christmas present making - although this is going to be a hard act to follow.

The light at the end of the tunnel has red and green lights on it

I am entering a new season.


My husband left for Tennessee yesterday and will be there until spring, with one week off a month during which he will come here or I will go there. He is astute enough to have integrated some fabric shopping and family visiting into this arrangement so I will be OK.


On the way down he stopped and visited his cousins in Boston on  layover:

As photographed by a young member of the family.


Like nearly every Acadian (French) Nova Scotian family a bunch of them moved to New England at various stages for work, and even a generation or two later all come back to Nova Scotia frequently. The group you see here must come back to Isle Madame off the coast in Cape Breton four or five times a year at least and they were all born in the States. The same is true of my son-in-law's family and every Acadian family I know.


My dogs marked the first night we were batching it by being up every 1 and 1/2 hours to see if anything was new happening in the yard. We have a lot of wet snow and they didn't get a lot of exercise yesterday. I will be running their little paws off today - although they are now exhausted and passed out in the living room.


I have one more week of classes and then a term off where I do nothing by my own thing and work on building some online courses which I can do from my dining room table.


I figure this will be the first time in 24 years that I won't be dragging myself off to work somewhere in the winter. I am really looking forward to having some time to collect my thoughts and remember what I do when I don't have to do for anybody else.


This weekend I am free to sew, mostly finishing up Christmas presents, and having a friend over for dinner tonight where I am going to be serving her the easiest thing I can think of as possible.


BTW on Vogue 1137. I decided to make my mom a version for a housecoat - big pockets and separating zipper up the front, and I hope it works out. The thing with that pattern is that the sleeves are cut quite narrow below the biceps ( you might want to be careful about this and cut them wider for yourself.) I have tried it on about a fifty times and tried to recall how wide her arms are.


Off I go for a third coffee and to do some dog glaring.

Vogue 1137

Here it is, a quick version of Vogue 1137. Pardon the lack of baseboards in the background, all part of the process. 


And I have my arm in the air as part of my very clever sleeve display strategy.


OK, so how did I get here?


Every holiday folks show up in the morning before I am organized, or I sit around and do that present thing and later look at the pictures and think I didn't look completely or even partially organized in the old robe with jammies hanging out.


So I decided I needed to get more elegant. Only problem of course being that neither I nor my life are elegant, and I don't really have a lot of sewing time right now.


Enter Vogue 1137.


The issue before last Vogue Pattern magazine did a neat version of this pattern morphed by a clever staffer into a coat. Really clever, it also featured a skirt made out of a vintage apron pattern, which I can guarantee you is not an idea I would have ever thought of.


Anyway. I have been looking for a coat pattern that grabs me for a couple of seasons now-trouble is I have worn enough winter coats by now to have a picture in my mind of what I want, but am not seeing that same picture in the pattern books - so I had the idea that maybe I too could morph this pattern into an acceptable coat.


But as a coat uses up a lot of good expensive fabric I decided to make a muslinish out of something, and figured I could use some nice cotton velour I had hanging around, in a much richer blue than this picture shows, and kill two birds with one stone.


This is my verdict.


I like it.


I mean the sleeves are cut-on so there is not a lot of sewing, I used the collar as is (but left out the pockets because I ran out of fabric), lengthened it to accommodate tall me, and wacked in an invisible zipper down the centre front. The pattern is for no closures so this worked out fine without alterations.


I interfaced the cuffs and am currently under the delusion that the cuff detail lifts this velour housecoat into elegant territory. It certainly looks better than what I wore under the tree last year.


Will I make a winter coat out of this pattern?


No probably not.


The sleeves are a little narrow and the collar pretty close, great for a housecoat but not roomy enough for an overcoat,  but my "muslin" is useful enough for me not to care.