What to say before I get back to reporting on sewing projects

Hi folks.

I know it has been a while since I posted and I know you understand. 

We are regrouping around my daughter's situation and that takes time, and effort. She is a remarkable, remarkable person. 

As her mother I can't fix any of this for her but there are some things I can do. One of those is to follow her lead  and do what she needs me to do. That includes not asking her every day how she is feeling. It's pretty clear that we already know the answer to that.

I wasn't quite expecting how much learning this was going to require of me. I have been so lucky in that for some reason none of us are asking why and are just more or less accepting this. I am in fact just very grateful right now that this will be more something that will require some major life adaptations, now and in the future, rather than facing something even more serious. We have all been affected by the situation of the young girl who lives right across the street from Katrina, who the very same week this all happened was diagnosed with a difficult, but hopefully treatable, cancer. May she survive and may my daughter adapt to a new reality.

The truth is, and we all know this, is that in every family there always is something. Right now this is our thing. 

I am also understanding that the most powerful thing anyone can do is keep it normal. You just can't let that be taken away from you. I remember a long time ago in another context really understanding the adage that living well is the best revenge. It is time to understand that again.

I also believe, quite deeply, that whatever lessons you need to learn in this life will come back to you again and again until you learn it. My daughter has always had trouble with uncertainty, she is highly organized about everything to sort of a world class degree, and here she is now asked to learn to live with a long term chronic illness with an uncertain future. The way she is rising to this completely amazes me. Completely.

Me, I have always had trouble with hyper focus on an issue. My general approach is to hit things with a hammer until I fix it. My sewing self education has been a relentless example of this - I keep at it until I understand it, and I have no idea how many people have been left waiting for their dinner as a result.

And now here I am helpless. A test of faith indeed, as it always is when there are no other choices left, which I believe is exactly the point.

Which bring me back to the importance of being normal, or turning my mind away from what I can't do, to what I can. To doing what you would in normal times to make these times normal again.

You know it sort of works.

I am learning that despite the adaptations and the no turning backness of things like this, the more you can be who you always were and the more you can let the person you are worried about be who they always were, the more you can shrink the challenge down to manageable size.

And in all of this for me sewing is no frivolous thing.

After all I have been sewing since I was eight years old. To keep doing that now is to be bigger than anything that happens on the day.

Does this make sense?

So this past weekend I went on a three day sewing retreat where I sewed a lot, talked a lot and saw what other people, my good friend sewers, were making. I wasn't worried about anything all weekend except maybe what ever did I do with that piece I needed for the back bodice that I was sure I packed.

And right now, tonight, I am making a red cape for a Little Red Riding Hood costume for my middle grand daughter named Heidi.

Now what in the world can be any saner than that?

We are going to be alright.

Flypaper thoughts Friday night edition

• Well
• It has been a while since I sewed a Butterick pattern
• Shapes and end result were great
• But
• Where did these instructions come from?
• Remind me when I am boss of the world to ban "for knits" patterns
• With "for wovens" instructions
• Stay-stitching, hems that are basted, pressed, trimmed, finished basted, then pressed, then topstitching two parallel rows of straight stitches
• Twin-needles anyone?
• Cover hem?
• Serged seams?
• This is getting tiring
• No wonder new sewers or any sewer are buying the best indies with 20 pages of good, realistic instructions
• You got to keep up folks
• I try to do that myself
• If my 90 year old mother is on Linkedin why not?
• (she's down as "looking for new opportunities")
• My latest is trying to learn how to apply false eyelashes
• You can buy a lot of fabric for the price of extensions
• I figured DIY for $5 from the Superstore was a better idea
• After all I can make bound buttonholes
• How hard can it be
• Yeah well try making bound buttonholes with one eye glued shut
• Another trick
• Don't put them on upside down so they curl into your eye
• Fairly disappointing when you are going for glamour
• I am going to be so ready for Halloween
• About to gear up for the costume requests
• Trouble is they change their minds the afternoon before
• Last year that was after the feathers were stitched onto the owl cape
• And the owl decided to be a princess like last year instead
• My son-in-law is great at Halloween
• One year the kids were the lion, the witch, and the wardrobe
• The middle child burst into tears
• "Why am I wearing a stupid box with drawers painted on it?"
• So next year she got to be a racoon
• With claws I glued to some wool gloves
• I am thinking of going as the Cat in the Hat
• After all I am the one who says we need to clean this up before your mom comes home
• Currently babysitting a Golden Retriever
• He's having a great time
• So far we are down two pounds of butter, a small dog bed, a package of hamburger buns
• And the pumpkin pie before it got served for Thanksgiving
• What I have learned
• Golden retrievers have heads that are counter height
• Tomorrow I am cutting out a shirt for my son-in-law
• A summer shirt he has been waiting for since before we started covering the tomatoes at night
• Oh well
• Then I am cutting out for myself
• Stay tuned for trial versions of a series of T-shirt patterns
• Because next weekend I am going on a three day sewing retreat
• Same place as last year in the hall of a local yacht club
• So excited
• Nothing but sewing people doing nothing but sewing
• No more trying to pretend that you are really interested in anything else
• It's my birthday next weekend and I can think of no better gift to myself
• Don't you think so?

Construction details reversible Lisette knit skirt

I am in the process of doing my twice a year sewing of samples for the Fabricville blog, Fabricville being the Canadian equivalent of Joann's in the US or Spotlight in Australia, although probably bit more fashion fabric oriented than either one.

I am working with some really interesting suede knit that has a rayon/poly knit fused to the back of it - nicer on the body than some of the scuba versions, I thought.

This has not been previously announced but this fall is also my season to work more intelligently with my cover hem. 

I have a Juki 1500 which is a great machine - I bought it because it handles the bulk of cross seams without hiccups. So it's a strong machine and trouble free but not one for which there are many attachments. 

Of course now, due to many evenings spent in the bath with my phone which I shouldn't use suspended above water (already have had one repair because of that and let's not even talk about the cracks in the screen), I realize that a cover hem binder is a great attachment but one that I don't have for this machine.

As a result I have bought from some mysterious source in China a generic version that is about the size and appearance of a bicycle gear and I have no idea how I am going to attach to my machine before I can even attempt to use it.

Current Facebook group advise suggests drilling your own attachment holes (Ha) or machining up a nice attachment platform in the sheet metal shop some people seem to have out in the garage. 

We actually don't have one of those sheet metal set-ups here  since our garage space is currently filled to the brim with semi disassembled snow blowers, what I am told are investment motorbikes, ride-on lawn mowers inherited from my high speed driving late father-in-law, and towers of winter tires.

No room for a sheet metal substation. as useful as I am sure they are.

So as a fall back I note that some woman are just taping their binders in place with packing tape.

That's probably what I will do.

None of this is on topic because I haven't figured out how to stick the binder to the machine much less use it, so don't expect to see much activity on that front real soon. But I thought you might find this an interesting topic.

I really do want to start using my cover hem for more than basic hemming, so I have been inspired by this two-side fabric to make a reversible skirt. This might be useful when I travel.

Am I the only one who puts literally nothing much in her suitcase and still can hardly lift it once the top is zipped closed, and routinely pays excess weight baggage fees every time she flies?

I need a ton of multi-purpose clothes.

The pattern I used to make my skirt is a beauty Jalie's Lisette:

This is such a nice pattern with a great peg shape and a really nice contour yoga style waistband in View C, which is the view I have made before.

There's something really important you need to know about the Lisette however and that is that it is tight, negative ease tight, and really requires a very stretchy fabric and a really flat abdomen to avoid the dreaded belly cupping.

The first time I made this skirt I liked it but really decided that I was just too old to look like I was in my second trimester. 

When I measured the pattern I also discovered that this knit skirt had been drafted to be about 3" less body measurement in the hips, so of course it was extremely body conscious.

So this time when I used this pattern again I took the measurement of my own hips - 40" - and added that 3" and then selected the pattern size for 43" hips. My idea was this would give me a knit skirt that would just be exactly my measurements, but because it was a knit still stretch enough to be comfortable.

Pretty crafty thinking for a person who cut this out in her slippers and an apron over a nightgown just after breakfast I thought.

Here is a shot of the original skirt, the one in my usual Jalie size laid down over the skirt I made in the size of someone who has hips 3" bigger than mine (also representing a 40" skirt, if you are not confused already):

Sorry the grey skirt looks wrinkled. I grabbed it from my to-be-given-to-someone-smaller pile, for the picture.

Now back to my fabric. One side is navy fake suede and the other a grey knit, sort of like a T shirt. Since I travel a lot with family everywhere and I had this brainiac idea to make a reversible skirt, I decided to use my cover hem on the "wrong side" the grey jersey, to cover up the seam allowances.

In my own mind I figured I would have two skirts, one a nice classy suede one, and the reverse a sort of atheleisure look since the reverse side of me, not the maturing dog walking basement sewing side, is so hip.

So here are the technical details:

1. Side seams. Stitched these first on my sewing machine with a stretch "lightening" stitch. A triple stretch stitch or a narrow zig zag would do just as well.

2. I trimmed the seam allowances down to about 1/4", knits don't fray, and cover stitched from the right side, more or less centering my stitches on either side of the seam. I had navy serger thread in the needles and a grey wooly nylon in the looper. Here and there some of the raw edge of the seam allowances peeked out past the cover stitch loops but I just trimmed those away after with my trusty duck billed scissors, which did, as they so often do, save my life.

Here is what that all looked like:

3. Of course when I considered the next step, which was the hem, I realized I wasn't as smart as I thought I was. Of course turning the blue suede to the wrong side to hem would mean there would be a blue hem allowance on the grey side. I solved this by pulling out an old school trick from this old school arsenal and put on a false hem.

A false hem, in case you are new school, is simply a strip of fabric sewn along the bottom of a garment and when this is turned up the seam becomes the hem fold and therefore is invisible. I stitched a grey side of the strip (I sewed it in a circle to match the circumference measurement of the hem)  to the blue right side of the skirt which of course gave me a hem allowance on the grey side that was also grey when I turned it over to hem. I cover hemmed the hem just like I did with the seams.

So this is what the hem on the skirt looked like from the right side:

And the turned up hem with the raw edge more or less covered by the cover hemming on the wrong side:

And here is what the seam joining the false hem to the skirt looks like when the hem was finished:

4. Having warmed up on the hem I did more or less the same thing for the waistband, that I split in half along what would have been the fold line, added seam allowances. This allowed me to make a waistband that was one side blue and one side grey. I then stitched the waistband unit to the top of the skirt, blue right side to blue right side, then cover hemmed that done like I did the hem and the seam allowances:

I am pretty pleased with this project. I have done a lot of sewing for other people recently, and I was so happy to do that, but it did feel good to invest a bit more time than was necessary on something I can wear.

Next I am making a jacket to go with this (my daughter has worked hard to keep me from veering off to matchy match with only mixed success) and when the whole deal is done expect some pictures of all of this on me. 

But in the meantime I thought you might find the construction details interesting.

Another one of countless Adeline dresses

There have been many versions made of Stylearc's Adeline dress and I have made several for myself and now two for my remarkable daughter. 

The pattern is intended for a woven but really it works just as fine in a knit.

Katrina needs really comfortable clothes right now so I made this version in a French terry. The only real change we made was to dispense with the shaped hem facing, probably necessary in a woven, as Katrina found it too restrictive for movement. In a knit this uneven hemline turns up just fine and of course I cover hemmed it since I am trying to use my cover hem as much as possible these days.

Here is how it looks, really who wouldn't use a dress like this? 

This is a cocoon dress, wider at the waist than the hem and the pockets are large and as a consequence set quite close together. This may seem funny when you put them on but really, as a place to put hands, are quite functional.

The V neck here is faced, this is a pretty plain dress, but there is a nice roll-up detail with the sleeves that I actually think looks even better in a knit than a woven. I just ditch stitched the cuff along the seam line on both the top and the underneath side of the turn back to hold it in place.

I think Katrina likes this about as much as anything I have ever made her and it's always nice to score a win with adult children who have better taste than you do.

Flypaper thoughts this nigh's edition

• We are regrouping
• That's what you do
• Everyday life is where all of us live anyway
• I have been meaning to tell you
• My new best way to cook any kind of greens is in the slow cooker
• Force them down under the lid, add garlic and olive oil and turn it on to high
• Check it when you remember that you left something cooking
• Really terrific
• I have decided to minimize the cooking
• But maximize the sewing
• Seems like the right balance to me
• My 85 year old neighbour has just adopted a Golden Retriever puppy
• The whole street is now raising it
• Turns out she knew what she was doing
• After all
• Currently working on a reversible skirt
• I have family everywhere and some travel this fall
• When you travel with five pairs of shoes
• Four coats because you never know
• Knitting projects that have seen more travel than production
• There isn't much room for clothes
• So I had this brainwave about reversible clothes
• Stay tuned on that one
• Speaking of travel
• Airplanes are last on my list
• Remember when you could smell the food in the galley
• And you sat there wondering should you say chicken or beef
• Always there was mushrooms
• And silverware
• Now the attendants drag garbage bags down the aisles 
• And collect plastic cups of ice cubes
• Every flight I take there are two inched deducted from my leg room
• And I get bonked on the head by folks trying to put steamer trunks in the overhead
• It is a great injustice that trains don't make sense
• I actually tried to cost a train trip from here to my son in San Francisco
• $11,000 and that's one way
• I could book a flight to Mars for that
• Or go around the world on a ship
• Actually can confirm that
• When I was 8 my dad and I took a train home from the Rockies
• There were little beds and you were rocked to sleep across the country
• Which reminds me
• I had a friend whose dad was the chef for the CNR's president
• One day from university we went down to Central Station in Montreal
• Down down five layers of tracks down underground
• And he sat us in the president's car and cooked us dinner
• Now why don't they give us back the trains
• So I could go a little way from my house and get off a little way from my kid's house
• With the only interruption being
• Fields and rivers and the windows of houses sliding by
• Windows where families eat dinner and dogs run around yards
• And crops zooming by that you can't name
• Except the ones that you can
• And that makes you proud that after all these years you can remember someone teaching you
• That's sugar beets
• And walking between the cars which feels dangerous but isn't
• And playing cards being something to pass the time
• On a train there is time to pass
• So unusual
• Can you imagine
• Having extra time
• And every one wouldn't say the first thing you talk to them
• "Busy I'm so busy right now"
• Like we all know only one line to say to each other
• And you could take so many suitcases that they wouldn't be called bags
• And you wouldn't need to make your clothes reversible
• And five pairs of shoes seemed about right
• If they gave us back the trains

Flypaper thoughts illustrated edition

I want to thank all of you for the wonderful supportive comments you left after my last post. You will never know how comforting they were.

It seemed to me the best next post would be a flypaper thoughts, but illustrated edition.

• My daughter is doing better. The medical details are her news, not mine, but she is getting back on her feet and we are all adjusting to the new normal with energy levels up and down.
• Life going on.
• When my mother, an only child, was 16 she lost both her parents within a few months. The aunts put a red rinse in her hair and that summer all got to work and sewed her a new wardrobe.
• The belief that if you look good you feel good is sort of in the genes.
• Here is one of the two Adeline knit dresses I made for my daughter while she directs family operations from the couch:

• The first sign I had my daughter was getting better was the request to redo the neckline because something more open is flattering, and to take off the faced hemline for something more flexible when walking
• My kid is on her way back 
• My children have been making custom requests their whole lives
• You might think a diagnosis will change your life
• What actually changes your life is finding out how good and kind and generous and caring people are
• The dentist arranged a crew to make meals
• Neighbours are walking the dog
• The kids have started to say things like "who's bringing dinner tonight?"
• And the folks my daughter works with sent over this one lunch, the boxes are frozen dinners from a restaurant with fancy meals

• That's me in the mirror taking the picture and two of Katrina's coworkers who set it all out
• One of the things we have not had to deal with is the why me questions
• My daughter is a care coordinator in a paediatric oncology department
• The part she already knows is stuff happens out of the blue to people who were just minding their own business
• BTW even when I don't have time to blog I always post a lot on Instagram because it's well instant, some, but not all of these, pictures are on there too
• My Scarlett was over and wanted to chill out on her own down the basement
• That Eversewn machine is so easy to sew she had taught herself to do whatever she wants
• There are pictures all over it for threading paths and what to press to make things happen
• A machine for the icon generation
• Here is a random bit of sewing she did, layers and layers of knit zig zagged down, creative work

• She just loves watching the machine stitch
• I so get that kid
• I am making more lucky shirts, here is one in bamboo knit from Jalie 3245

• And here is more family sewing. A denim shirt for one of my much loved sons, this one in San Francisco:

I am thinking that the cap on this sleeve needs to be trimmed down a bit. I pattern alter by iPhone these days

• On other upcoming sewing is a wedding dress for my youngest sister who is getting married in about 7 weeks. Since she lives in another province I can see more iPhone altering in my immediate future.
• Do you think there is such a thing as a knit wedding dress?
• And in a few months a new baby in California
• Now the question is 
• What is she going to wear?
• It all makes sense
• Stick with it

Little personal update

I have been offline for a bit now and unsure about how to talk about it.

Things have been busy around here.

About ten days ago my dear daughter, the mother of my three grandchildren, was diagnosed with a very rare neurological disease with an indeterminate recovery and the potential of some progression. This has affected her mobility and energy levels drastically. Her medical care has been outstanding, no issues there, but this has been a big event in our lives.

This is tough, but then again so are we. I have confidence in that, in her care team, in her resilience, in this family's ability to deal, and in life.

The fact too is that one of the benefits of being my age is that by this point you sort of know things happen and that you can all get through it.

My role has been the grandmother stuff, taking care of the kids, making food, whatever I can see needs to be done and I can do. And I am far from the only one.

My niece said it best. My daughter has an army behind her.

In those times when I was home alone in the house with the kids waiting to hear news from some test I found myself going down to my sewing room and refolding my fabric. It was very soothing. It sort of reminded me of who I was, who we are. It reminded me of where I have come from to this day, of the clothes I made for her when she was a little girl, of an ordinary life that doesn't seem that close to us right now.

Sewing has also given me something to do when there was nothing I could do.

I made her a lucky shirt with bright flowers on it to wear to an important MRI. 

When she said that new clothes are always cheer anyone up I started sewing.

I made a soft Adeline dress yesterday and have another one cut out to go. I may loosen the hem on this one so it is a little less restrictive. I have a couple of pairs of Jalie pull-on pants cut out. And another lucky shirt. When she can my daughter says she will have pictures taken for the blog. But right now I am sewing away on a little island in front of my machines at something I have always done my whole life.

I feel we are battening down the hatches around here right now seeing where this thing goes, but that we will adapt and be fine. Once we have an idea what the new normal looks like we will live it. Of those who have this particular condition many, of not most, have it much worse at onset. We are hopeful for the rest of our news to be good news and for Katrina to be one of the ones who experience considerable recovery.

So that's my status report, down folks, but most definitely not out.

Now off to get some kids off to school.