From the what do you think of this? files

Yesterday's NY Times ran this article on McCalls Patterns and the home sewing industry in general.

It was obviously written by someone who puts sewing in the same category as hand waxing wood floors but that aside here are my own thoughts, and I am dying to hear your own reactions:

OK, I admit it, sewer turned designer after starting to sew four years ago leapt out at me. 

As a teacher I would never dis the devoted learner. I learned a long time ago that it is entirely possible to do something for 50 years and to be doing it badly for all 50 (we all know cooks like that). I also would never ever under any circumstances under estimate the power of determination to learn in turning anyone, fairly rapidly, into an expert.

I well remember a sewing student I once had who took her first class in September, unable to thread her machine, and by the beginning of the next summer was making insulated winter jackets. 

I also remember how hard she worked, and the fact she asked a million questions of me non stop.  She took every class I taught and it was always "Can you look at this? What did I do wrong?" and "Is this better?" Over and over again.

The point too is that she got great really fast but she wasn't doing this on her own. 

We have all taught ourselves, sometimes largely, to sew from pattern instructions. It is also true that there is just so so much you need to know that those guide sheets don't tell you.

There is a reason the guilds had apprenticeships and why trades today do too. Apprentices and journeymen, residents and doctors, sous chefs and chefs.

Experience is a teacher and life without rules of thumb can be heavy going.

Which is why sewers like me feel a strong obligation to pass what we have learned to those just getting going. 

If I know a way that will help you do it without crying I am pretty sure I should share that.

The second thing I felt when I read this was that the journalist had let cliches get in the way of accurate reporting.

We aren't that quaint anymore kiddo. Where have you been?
Crafts, sewing and home based art are not marginal any more.

Has this person heard of Etsy, or yarn bombing, or Indie patterns or sewing lounges? Urban gardens? Mason jar lunches? Breastfeeding and blogging? Things having to have joy for goodness sake?

Pinterest?

Creativity?

Listen there might have been a generation skipped over the power suits but young women, my 35 year old daughter's age for example, all tell me that learning to sew is in their bucket list. Soups are no longer coming from the can for these girls. Clothes still don't fit.

Six year old Miss Scarlett's friends have a sewing and knitting club.

Come to think of it give me four year experts any day if it's about the energy.

There is nothing like a half life spent in meetings without end, or magazines where you have to get to page 47 before you are past the ads, or hours spent unpacking things where the packaging is 90% of what you've bought and the what you've bought turns out to be pretty tiny, to make you want to stir your own pot or press your own seam.

Sewing can make you feel powerful, fulfilled and happy. Real happy.

So that's what I think.

Now how about you?

Flypaper thoughts nice weather edition

• Sometimes the places that are the dreariest in the winter are the most beautiful in the summer
• Profound message there
• Someone profound should think about it
• Floating in a huge outdoor salt water pool under a bright sun
• Catching four-year-old Miss Heidi as she roars down the twisting slide yelling "Brave Girls"
• Not worried about that one
• I keep testing pants patterns
• So nice to give myself time to do this
• Am not teaching in the fall and am doing nothing but sewing
• My gift to me
• And going to New York for supplies too
• I have so many people I take care of but I have to work my way through them now to see my son in New York
• I miss that guy so much you have no idea
• No idea
• I miss his wife too, she is special
• Actually how lucky am I?
• Speaking of missing
• One of the assignments was not handed in last night
• Got an email
• Forgot about your class and am off to a bachelor party weekend for my buddy
• Does Monday work for you?
• I mean if I wasn't alive what would I do for laughs?
• Life gets easier once you realize you don't have to iron linen
• I know a doctor who doesn't even own an iron
• Took me a while to get my head around that
• Her kids have never touched one
• I used to babysit for a lady who ironed her husband's underwear
• She also used to drink vodka and oranges in the afternoon
• Those were the broadloom days
• Don't you hope the camera always lies?
• This week I taught the niece who is staying with me how to knit
• I watched my hands and her hands
• Made me think of how many generations had done exactly this
• The chain got broken on ironing though I think
• She is a natural
• Made a hat in a day and used double pointed needles
• Hates school
• Which is for text based and not visual learners
• Hang on kid the road ahead is for the teach yourselfers and do-it-yourselfers
• The successes of the bachelor party students is short lived
• Take that one from me

Jalie's Dolman tops

I have had this pattern for a while and finally decided to test drive it.

I often think some of the most reliable pattern companies out there get overlooked because their basics don't have the hype.

Jalie for example has excellent drafting with a close to RTW fit and of course the incredible 20+ size range - truly family friendly patterns. 

They are also a company that tends to just let the quality of the patterns speak for themselves and they are short on the fancy word presentation. That said, those who try these patterns tend to end up making multiples and it is no accident that some of these patterns, like the bootleg jeans, have become sewers' classics.

Another quality company that often gets overlooked is KWIK SEW.

I also say that Kwik Sew has the best instructions and the worst illustrations/photos in the market, so often the covers just look dated to me. However no one does a better job of explaining how a garment should be constructed with contemporary methods among all the bigger pattern companies than they do. I always recommend their patterns for knits as lessons in an envelope for new sewers.

I of course myself often overlook these patterns and am on a campaign right now to sew up more of the patterns in my sometime pile this summer.

Back to Jalie's dolman.

Unlike many dolman patterns this one does not have a full cut-on sleeve but rather is a short sleeved dolman T shirt with the option to add on a longer sleeve section for a 3/4 sleeve if you want it.

This top also has a fairly subtle high low hem (I am so tired of the extreme versions of this style which I still think can look kind of messy) that is flattering as it breaks up that dreaded strong hip high horizontal line.

I made several versions of this top and tried a variety of neckline treatments, some as suggested by the pattern, and some out of my head and experience.

Here we go, with the usual high quality photos you have come to expect from me. I suspect that the bloggers with the wonderful photos designate more than 30 seconds for photo shoots. Maybe one day. Right now this summer I always have someone waiting for me to do something else.

Wearable muslin version from some cheap knit. This gives you an idea of how semi fitted this T shirt is, and how the longer sleeves fit into the shorter top. This time out I tried a twin needle hem, something I haven't done in a while, and is too wavy. I also tried  the fold under binding Jalie suggests. On my skinny shoulders I thought the necklline was too low so what you see later in other longer sleeve versions is the front neckline raised one inch.

Turned under and top-stitched, again with the twin needle as per the pattern. Again lots of folks have success with this but I feel this particular knit was too stretchy for it to work well. Doing this always makes me nervous, probably works better on a less bony chest.

The same fabric, neckline raised and the neck bound, better for me.

OK happy now. Raised neckline, nicer fabric (love this from Elliot Bermann) and threw out the instructions and did a simple ring of self fabric, like a ribbing application, cut 3/4 the size of the opening, stitched on and flipped up, no binding, no topstitching and IMO the neatest way to finish a neckline on a stretchy knit. Also the easiest. I went back to the cover hem for the hems too.

Side view, see how slight the high low is? Just enough to flatter but not enough to date. Jalie pull-on pants, previously reviewed.

 So now I have a future TNT T shirt that works for my particular body. Worth figuring this one out.

Flypaper thoughts from the chesterfield

• A chesterfield is what they call a couch in Canada
• Or a settee in Australia
• It's where I'm at
• Day two of three days of taking care of three kids six and under
• While their parents are at a wedding 
• The part about this I forgot was how much you put into them
• More than you feel you've got
• At least by 4:15 in the afternoon
• Or 6:00 a.m. in the morning
• So much more, but it's there
• It always is
• Makes me realize how much got poured into my own three
• In afternoons long forgotten
• That's why you never quite get over it
• Why old ladies stop young mothers in the street and say
• Enjoy this, it is the best time of your life
• They grow up so fast
• And young mothers can't quite believe them
• A noble prize for the company that can invent a modern stroller that does not require a degree in engineering to open
• "Push the button Babs, push the button"
• Not that button
• It does nothing
• I know two grandmothers who bought their own strollers just to have one they could open
• I am one of them
• Another prize for someone who can figure out a way of putting three car seats in a van that doesn't require a resume from the Cirque du Soleil 
• Do you know there are bottles that have removable bottoms?
• Best screw those on before you fill them
• Get that ready at night
• Although not doing that really entertains the troops
• Make sure the cat is out of the room before you close the door
• Slides that have curves are slower
• How is it that the kid who had such a messy room
• Has a house you have to tidy before she comes home?
• Filling up the blow up pool with cups instead of the hose works
• It can take you nearly to 4:15
• Why would anyone take a bowl of water to bed?
• If you move the pillow to the bottom of the bed you are not on the wet part
• You are short
• You are four
• It will be OK
• We will fix that tomorrow before Mommy comes home
• Right after we find Billy's shoe
• And the bandaids
• It will be OK
• Yes I will tell you the story about the time Babs found a severed racoon hand on the chesterfield
• Under a cushion
• More stories tomorrow
• Do you want the one about the boy who ate the pencil or about the time Babs put all Buddy's jewellery in the hole in the tree?
• When she was two
• Yes you can have a sleepover at my house
• All of you
• Maybe not next weekend
• OK?

Back in business and with Jalie

Those who read this from Nova Scotia won't need this explained.

Summer around here is visitors' time and that is what I have been doing. I won't go over the line-up but let's say I have enough time between guests to do one load of sheets in the washer and dryer. The slogan on the license plates is "Canada's Ocean Playground" and that is apparently true.

Being a conversationalist (that's a nice way of putting it) I love, love company and running my own version of visitor tours that are heavy on getting lost and ad libbing interesting stories about places I never thought we would be in.

However vacation season cuts into my blogging.

The next couple will be catch-up. My current visitor is one of my nieces and at 15 she is quite happy I think for a few moments of peace while I blog.

One thing I have been working on is some reliable version of linen type summer pants. Long loose pants are useful to have in the summer as a alternative to bug bites, that gummy wetsuit that is sunscreen and exposing one support stocking that you hope folks think is a wooden leg or something just as interesting.

A while ago I made Stylearc's Tessa pant which is the narrowest leg of their wide leg pants but I felt pretty swamped in them despite the promo that they were not too wide and not too slim.

As an experimenter I have then tried Jalie's Pull-on pants and shorts. I have to detour here a bit to say that I get all the Indie pattern emails, and although I find many nice patterns that way, I am getting a bit jaded with the elastic waist pants and plain T shirts billed as Iconic, Essential, and Ultimate, as I have said before.

I mean the wheel is already out there and has been for some time.

Nice to see a pull-on pair of pants called that, particularly if they have Jalie's superb drafting.

Back to topic.

These pants are wider in the leg but quite slim in the hips. The waist and angled side patch pockets are faced and of course you can have the facings on the inside or outside depending on how fancy you are feeling at that moment.

To give you a sense of how different these are from the Tessa's here is a Jalie pattern piece laid over the Tessa pants that I decided to recut:

Quite a difference isn't there?

I made this first pair as is, as I always do to see what alterations this particular pattern needs and was pretty pleased with them. Next version will have one inch added to the top waist because I am liking the feel of a secure waist these days and I am adding  1/2" to the facing so I can put a 1" elastic in the casing rather than the 5/8" I think the pattern calls for. The pants are certainly wearable as they are but having straight up and down hips I have a vague feeling when I wear them that suspenders would be a good idea.

I am also going to add a little sitting down room to accommodate what I sit down on. 

My current favourite method for doing that is this one which adds across the back side without increasing the fabric at the top of the back leg much or messing with the top of the crotch seam or side seam.

This Russian Pinterest graphic explains how it works:

Finally here are some on me shots in two photo shoots. The first ones were done in my backyard today by my husband, gives you a good idea of leg width and also how little bulk there is at the waist and hips. I will be reviewing the top soon too. Pardon the windy day hair, just look at the pants:

You can see through this thin T shirt where the waist line hits and why I am going to be adding a bit.

Yup there is a wrinkle but these are linen pants and I have already been running around in them

The wide leg shows in the back here at the top of my leg but given that they are wide linen pants I am OK with that,.
A little more fabric across my rear would improve the hang.

This is not the first photo shoot of these pants. Earlier in the week I spent the day with the kids at the place we swim and at the end of that day had my niece take some pictures while we ate ice cream.

My niece was careful and gave instructions, Front, Side Back and we didn't realize until I looked at the shots that the girls thought those orders applied to them too.

Not the best garment shots (particularly when I unflatteringly decided to show my stomach so you could see where the waist line sat) but good for a laugh and that, in my books, is everything:

Flypaper thoughts decluttering edition

• My daughter is amazing
• She loves her job
• It involves giving little kids chemo and calling mothers later to say what the bloodwork looks like this week
• My baby does this and feels called to do it
• Her favourite line is "they are still kids"
• She tells us more funny than sad stories
• She is amazing
• She has a sideline however
• It's called getting me shaped up
• Right now it's decluttering
• Who needs 18 family pictures in the living room? she said
• Doesn't it feel better to have just a candle and a clean surface?
• Actually no
• Listen I know it's very big right now
• Apparently there are folks who have the time to hold every item in the house in their hand
• And ask "do you give me joy?"
• If it doesn't say the right thing 
• It's off to Value Village's in-box
• Where it will stay, until next week
• When someone asks you to make a jelly salad in a jelly mold for a retro party
• Or in organizing you decide to file papers in the paper trays you gave up at the same time
• They actually tell you right now to keep only one memento from each child
• Ha
• You want the rock you painted the happy face on in 1991?
• Got it
• You want the pillow you sewed buttons on for mother's day 1992?
• On it
• More to the point this does not work for sewers
• No matter what button came off I can find a match
• Whatever I need I have just the thing right here
• Purse stiffening for the purse I meant to make ten years ago
• Invisible zippers from before they made a comeback
• Enough shirt buttons to button up Wall Street
• Purple sequinned chiffon for when the American Girl has an event
• Stuff so the bottom of never knitted slippers won't slip
• Your house looks like you have lived in it for 30 years she says
• Well I should hope so
• If I wanted clear surfaces I would book myself into the Holiday Inn
• Right now my kitchen counter holds this:
• The only dog food that doesn't make Daisy have diarehha
• A kerchief my dad wore around his neck when camping
• Spices a one year-old unloaded just for fun
• A picture that says To Babs fr. SJM I love you
• Stink weeds in a jar
• A box of disinfectant wipes we split
• One burnt oven mitt
• A photo of Mr. Rascal standing in the dishwasher I want to frame
• The frame
• An iPhone with a shattered screen
• Speaking of which
• I have a req for an X ray to see if I have another sewing needle imbedded in my foot
• Last one was a Schmetdz 70 jeans
• It says drop-in these are the hours
• I also have a 5:10 appointment at the Apple store with a genius
• And an email of nine things to do before I get there
• Another email saying to get there ten minutes early before the genius sees me
• All to fix a screen that broke because no one thought ahead that this might happen if you give someone something thin and slippery
• Listen
• A genius is someone who invented penicillin
• Or the zig zag stitch
• And you kiddo have the face of someone who passed because you were in a good group
• Maybe what we are cluttering our lives with isn't on the counters
• However I do have one word of wisdom
• If the B12 says it expired in 2008
• You might want to throw that out

Style when life changes

For a while now my friend Carloyn at Diary of a Sewing Fanatic has written about her transition from dressing for a Manhattan corporate office job to one that has a dress casual approach.

I have followed her on this topic with interest.

My own life is also under transition.

For a long time now I worked in political communications, where you were always on for the media, and then as a university prof. I admit to a far amount of vanity with my sewing for work.

I admit it.

For instance a term required 24 lectures and I made sure I had 24 different outfits for every lecture. My female students sometimes commented on this, many knew I sewed for myself, and I enjoyed having an audience of sorts to sew for.

It has been almost a year now since I have taught in the classroom. Instead I am teaching my courses online and can do that from home or anywhere I am at the moment. This really suits my life right now and I enjoy not being tied to a specific location every Monday and Wednesday or Tuesday and Thursday.

I also really like the online format. I have designed the courses I teach and work to keep them dynamic. I am on video cam on my laptop so the students still see me, and I can see most of them. The conversations are active, either when a student takes the mic, or by the constant flow of texting at the bottom of my screen.

However what to wear is no longer an issue. They see me from the neck up and like so many news anchors I have seen who wear a jacket on the top part of the body that shows, and jeans and runner below, the pressure to dress is not the same.

My life now is so much more home based. I prepare my classes from my dining room table and this summer will be spending two days a week taking care of kids while my daughter works, and hosting various friends and family.

Most of my former wardrobe is now irrelevant.

I thought about this when I wistfully looked at the new Vogue dresses - many are things I would have made before, but really they represent the kinds of things I have just taken and donated to Value Village.

I know there are some bloggers who are largely at home and say they still sew and wear this stuff but really I don't know how they do it. How do you walk the dog, scrub out the bath, sit and mark papers in a pencil skirt and heels?

I want to look stylish of course, like I always have, but not sure how to do that. What we have going on here is a work in progress and likely some new mistakes as I try to figure this out.

Interestingly one of my sisters told me to watch Frankie and Grace on Netflix and, although those ladies are older than I am, they are where I am going eventually, and I am intrigued by their styles, which seem to represent two different versions of non working women dress:

One one hand you have Jane Fonda in shirts and fitted pants (so think she looks frail IMO but that is off topic) and Lily Tomlin in loose layers.

I note a lot of sewers are going the Tomlin route and it certainly has its advantages - easy to fit and sew for one. The Tilton sisters look, the Louise Cutting look.

I am pretty sure I am somewhere in no man's or no woman's land between these two ladies and not sure where it is going to turn out.

In my experiments I have made a few new pants shapes lately to see how I like them. I am still wearing support hose on the leg that had the dvt and I am not sure how I feel about that in dresses. In the winter in tights it is not an issue. I am also letting my hair go grey, it is in so much better condition when I do, and those two things at one time seem a little much for me right now.

It is interesting but changing your style can actually make you feel quite vulnerable - that is both surprising and a challenge.

So on that note I am going to share some actual outfits I wore on actual days this week.

These are another pair of Stylearc Talia pants and a way too long crochet top I made (you have to remember I am the most rudimentary crocheter, just a beginner) because I was so pleased I could do the pattern that I just kept going. These are wonderfully comfortable pants and I made them shorter as per the pattern.

I know I looked a bit rumpled but this outfit was worn on a day of taking care of an almost 2 year-old, a 4 year-old, and a 6 year-old. We played school, pioneer family and topped it off with a request from Scarlett that we do a spa day in the backyard.

This is what that looked like:

That's yogurt on her face and she was thrilled. The other two ate their cucumbers and went on the trampoline.

Some time ago I made Louise Cuttings Easy, Ageless and Cool pants (took note of the comment that a reader would not let her husband see her in them ) which I shortened by three inches to see how that looked:

Better but still big. Note I have thoughtfully styled these with a $7 Vera Bradley handbag my daughter bought me at a consignment shop and a banana. Wore this driving my husband to pick up his motorcycle at the shop. I call these my house cleaning pants. The giant pockets on the sides of the legs are excellent for picking up the random stuff you unearth while cleaning like bobbins and toy wheels under the couch or clothes pins on the lawn.

Finally I also tried Stylearc's Tessa pants in black linen. Of the very many elastic waist wide pants Stylearc has right now these are actually the narrowest and despite the claim that they have just enough fullness to fit smoothly at the waist I found them fairly gathered. I also had to remove 4" in length which is unusual for me as I am 5'9" even still I am going to have to go back and chop off some more length I see here - I won't be wearing these with heels in my front yard.

I am giving myself credit for trying new things but not sure if the loose look really works on this rangy midwestern body (rangy except for the middle part). 

I feel I am starting from scratch here at this new stage and obviously have a long way to go to figure out my new style for a new stage.

My question for you all is, what is your at home/casual style? What works for you and what doesn't? I could use some help here. I really could.

Those Vogue dresses are looking pretty good.