Flypaper thoughts somewhere in Arkansas version

• First thing big thank you for all who supported me doing more writing here
• Means a lot
• Mostly still going to be writing about sewing because mostly do a lot of sewing
• I have some ideas for novels but have a lot of projects to get done first
• So I will share some concepts and maybe you can write it up
• Open source plots
• Thing you have to know is all of these are true
• Do not know how someone writes a whole book of made up stuff
• When real life is so dense with the unbelievable
• Idea for murder mystery one:
• A history professor notices an odd smell in his office
• Calls building maintenance
• They unscrew the air vent in the wall
• There, upside down, and considerable dehydrated
• Is long time missing university person
• Upside down and looking back at them
• Well sort of
• Verdict that the mummified individual
• Was a suicide
• Who had gone up onto the roof and done themselves in by throwing themselves down the air vent
• Which narrowed six floors down at the history department
• Personally I would have considered other scenarios
• And did at the time
• But second year students
• Are rarely called in for forensic consults
• Now teaching second year students
• I can see the point
• But still
• Maybe I better space out the plots between posts
• There is only so much reality we can all cope with
• Going home from a really wonderful visit with my stateside family
• Back to where I understand they had more snow today
• But there is always something relaxing about going back to Nova Scotia
• A place that runs on favours
• To the point you run your life counting on it
• However unreasonable this is as a life tactic
• Example
• Found a cool sewing thing on our equivalent of Craiglist today
• From a part of the province long way from me
• On a whim I messaged and said
• I am in an RV in Arkansas but my niece works in a hospital near you
• Well my niece works there too she said
• Of course she does
• I haven’t actually seen what’s she’s selling and she hasn’t seen the money
• But it is niece guaranteed
• Done
• Tulsa is a nice town too
• Quietest city I have ever been in
• And who knew it was a masterpiece of Art Deco architecture?
• Do they film movies there?
• They should
• Wonderful experience teaching at the Vintage Sewing adventure
• One lady, I am talking about you Marilyn Sweet, drove 400 miles to meet up
• We could have talked all day
• The people sewing has introduced me to are everything that matters
• And the Vintage Sewing Museum made a big impression on me too
• More than the David in Florence (looked to me like a kid)
• And the British museum
• Which has a pretty nice collection for sure
• But really
• The Vintage Sewing Museum has a whole wall of only blue machines
• And shelves of blue fabric to test sew
• And Miles Davis playing the blues right there too
• I mean really
• How can you compete with that?
• Once I am off this Arkansas highway and can download all my pictures
• I am going to show it to you
• Prepared to be amazed
• Some of those machines are bigger than you think

Berkeley sewing

When I was in Berkeley last week I was able to deliver a few things I have made.

Here is the BBQ shirt I made for my oldest son. I has a beautiful saying hidden in the waves, he is a sailor, in fact my favourite saying of all time -smooth seas don't make for skilled sailors.

I think I got the fit just a about right on this one. And as always pleased with the print matching on the pocket, my speciality.

I was also able to finally deliver two dresses I made for my daughter-in-law with fabric I got from Stonemountain in December:

Maddie is absolutely gorgeous and she loves this dress, but I decided she needed a square shoulder adjustment to make the front hang right so I did that while I was there and it really made a difference. She will wear this with heels and the length will be right then too.

I have a book at home in which I write down everyone's measurements as they evolve and figure notes. When I go home I am going to put down, Maddie has square shoulders.

Of course when I was there Maddie and I went back to Stonemountain fabrics. The baby needed some pants and we picked out some nice knits. Since I brought a vintage Bernina to leave there I was able to set it up on the dining room table and sew and chat. It was a lovely time for Maddie, baby Anika and I to share. I loved it.

I really like fabric shopping with Maddie because she has such an eye for fabric and can see things that I can't see. For instance she chose this rust knit and striped knit for a little hip baby suit and I think it looks so great:

Of course I have to say that Anika is a doll. I am not sure how they did it, except of course both my son and daughter-in-law are the nicest parents, but this baby smiles all the time.

I have a theory that people are born with their dispositions, and this one was born happy, there is just no other way to put it.

Boy am I lucky to have these guys!

Some thoughts and a quick request for feedback

Hi folks.

This morning I am in Tulsa Oklahoma. Today I am going to be visiting the vintage sewing museum and this evening doing a book signing at the incredible Art Deco Mayo Hotel.

Tomorrow I am going to be teaching all day and really looking forward to that.

After this we will be heading home.

It has been a really great trip. Basically we relaxed in the state parks and concentrated on spending time with the other guys - my son in Austin and my oldest son and his family in Berkeley. It was tremendously restorative for me to do both.

This trip has also given me some time to think about what to do next and that includes this blog.

While I have been away I did a podcast interview for C & T who published my book. One of the comments made during the course of the questions was that my book was very different in that there was a lot of writing in it, as opposed to most books they publish which focus more on instructions. This was interesting because I have been thinking about doing more instructional stuff particularly for new sewers, I am thinking Youtube, but I also think this was a very valid comment.

I really like writing. In fact the best part of the book process for me was the writing not the sample making to be really honest, although I liked doing the step-by-step instructions when I thought they were about sharing something stress reducing and easy making ideas.

This also got me thinking about this blog.

I don't know about you but social media often overwhelms me. So many great garments, so many beautifully styled photos, such tremendous output. 

I sew all the time, nearly every day, but it is often a communication thing, a creative thing more than an output exercise. Many of my garments are now for other people and I always want to do a surprise. This doesn't make for consistent blog presentation.

I really don't think I can keep up with that kind of blogging, the garment photos twice a week stuff. That is done so much more capably by other people. I really want to just communicate with other sewers about our lives and our sewing more than do a lot of show and tell, because my life doesn't work like that.

So I am thinking about doing this.

Focusing on my Instagram account @bemodi for the showing what I am making part. I want to do this particularly when there is a pattern I want to share or a fabric source to pass on. I will still do garments and construction here of course, but Instagram is so fast and easy for this kind of stuff and that is helpful for frequent posting.

Using my Youtube channel Barbara Emodi more for the kind of information I want to share with newer sewers in particular, or for techniques I would place in the nifty idea category. I have decided to do some basic how-to's on Youtube for my daughter-in-law in Berkeley. I left her a machine and she has outstanding textile/design sense and might find those useful.

Writing in this blog about stuff. 

Thoughts I am having, considerations on sewing, a little more unplugged. This might be a disappointment to those who see this as a sewing only blog, but to me sewing is part of the flow of my life. Hard for me to make that separation.

I think I need more of a writing outlet right now than to feel the pressure to produce regular sewing production blog posts - it would be good to go a bit more random.

Flypaper thoughts type writing more often here if you get my drift.

So I guess the question is what do you think?

Vogue 9253

This is a very popular pattern. I believe it has made it to the Patternreview hit list and there are a gazillion versions out there in the digital world.

It is a beautiful flowy dress with a major V neckline. Most of the reviews have been occupied with going with that look or trying to counter it will various modesty panels or neckline redrafts:

Interestingly when my DIL did our big Stonemountain and Daughter fabric shop in December and she picked out this fabric, a beautiful rayon batik:

Vogue 9253 is the pattern she chose for a maxi dress. She is tall and slim and can wear necklines like this, and I thought the fabric was perfect.

I cut this dress out at home and finally had the time this week to make it. Of course this is a dress that you really can't show on a hanger, definitely needs a person in it, but we are going to have to wait for that when I see her in a few weeks time.

I still wanted to show it to you though and decided that it would be a good idea to show you what was around me when I made this at the picnic table, definitely one of those now I really know I am not in Nova Scotia moments:

Of course to be right in location like this has its perils - prickles are fairly easy to extract from a dress, from myself not so much:

Now onto the pattern.

Really I made this one up just as instructed, the kimono sleeves have in a slighter way the issue of the River dress, but not too bad. I have to say though that having sewn kimonos from Japanese instructions that the underarm usually is left open a bit, forming a natural gusset, or in later patterns, a gusset has been added. That could still happen in a garment like this:

Now I realize that these shots are not particularly edifying, some dresses just don't show on a hanger, but hopefully have served to illustrate how nicely this extremely popular pattern works in a nice heavy rayon.

I will be very interested to see how this fits on Maddie and of course I am feeling some angst about the fit of that neckline. Last year about this time I altered a beautiful vintage dress for her with a remarkably similar style and at that time my job was to give her more room for her ribcage under the bust. That got a bit tricky without any extra fabric to work with but fortunately the dress had a very deep hem I was able to use to find that little bit of fabric in.

However as is so often the case we end up sewing the next project haunted by the last one (does anyone else ever experience this?) so I might have over compensated with what I have done here.

This pattern has tucks in both the bodice and the skirt at the front and these are very useful for fine-tuning fit in that very important under bust area. 

Maddie measured for me and I knew she had a 31.5" underbust and the pattern as it was designed was for a 30" in her size. Given the softness of the style in general as well as the fabric I was very, very wary of having this seam too tight - that would be a lot of strain on the zipper and of course this is not a style for a waist stay. So after many trial bastings, thinking, changing my mind, and finally considering that there was a big sash that would be tied under the bust anyway, I adjusted the tucks so this under bust seam was 34" long or 2.5" ease, figuring it could then be adjusted by the ties for fit and comfort.

This may or may not be a good idea, and it may or not mess up with the fit of the bodice over that V, but my mind was remembering the maneuvers I made last year to give her extra room in this area.

At any rate I can fit it finally on her when I am in Berkeley the end of the month and adjust as necessary then.

I am going to be sending a machine, one of my vintage Berninas ahead.

My husband is going to be going to Berkeley for a few days on his own to see the baby and I will give it to him to carry and negotiate through the airlines. So by the time he is back and I go myself for four days (we aren't going on a long drive this year and have decided Daisy wouldn't fly too well so we are doing baby visits in relay) there will be a machine waiting for me.

I just can't see having any of my kids anywhere without a machine for me to use when I visit.

On a personal note this trip is going really well.

After an intense fall I really needed to rest up a bit and settle down and see my other children. Both boys are in the US. People say to me a lot oh that's so hard and of course my first choice would be to have all the kids lined up in houses on my street, but seriously it has added so much to our lives to have them so happy in such interesting places. We have really been able to get in touch with the youngest's life here in Austin and of course being here makes hops out to the West Coast so much easier than from Nova Scotia.

They are all such good kids. In fact even after I am home I will be back down here again, in Nashville in May. My son and daughter-in-law are going to an annual Memorial Day weekend they do every year with friends and they are bringing my down to stay nearby with the baby for four days while they go off and do that. I mean how lucky am I?

The River Dress, the fabric makes it

One of my pleasures of my year was discovering that my daughter-in-law in Berkeley is a gifted fabric shopper. 

She has that wonderful ability to look at fabric and know what kind of pattern will suit it. This is a real talent and one I discovered in a trip to Stonemountain and Daughter in December.

Here is some terrific rayon challis, something I personally didn't notice on the bolt, made up this week in Megan Neilsen's River Dress

I was interested to try a Megan Neilson pattern. These patterns have a strong following and appear to be really well drafted.

We saw and liked the store sample we saw in the the store and the pattern was intriguing for several reasons.

• It can be worn either side, the V neck for example at the front or at the back. I can't right now think of another pattern drafted to do this.
• The construction appeared very simple, no closures, just pull on over your head. The V neck makes the neckline big enough to do this.
• The sleeves are raglan, almost as high as a set-in sleeve. I was hopeful this would make the all important neck/shoulder fit not too sloppy or loose, something that often occurs in designs as simple as this one:

• A lot of versatility in this pattern, a dress or top, to be made in a woven or a knit.

I made the woven version dress of course and made it exactly as instructed. No surprise here but I am often not as smart as I think I am and over time I have decided it is just courtesy to the designer to make up an new pattern exactly as specified.

Having done this first time out, here are a few construction details I would change up for what, in my mind at least, would be a better result.

Here they are.

1. The woven neck binding falls into the category of what I call seems easy is hard. The sewer is instructed to apply the binding in a ring around the neckline, stitched, turned and top-stitched, with a slight dip in the shape of the neckline at one centre (I guess front or back depending on how you will wear the dress/top). The instructions specifically say not to trim the seam allowances because the binding will be wrapped over it.

Fair enough.

The weird thing, to my mind at least, comes in how the mitre in the V is then formed.

The instructions basically tell you to pinch a tiny pleat in the binding and stitch right up through it, through all layers, which on the woven version would be, 5, contained within the binding, forming the miter line of the V.

Here is a pattern shot of that done, in the knit version I believe, on the website:

Looks pretty good but you and I both know this is not exactly a beginner's manoeuvre.

When it was time to make my own I looked at my fine rayon and the tiny space I had to execute this move and elected to do the stitching by hand:

 The trouble of course with this method too is that you are left with a tiny pebble of fabric behind the mitre and there is a very fine line between pressing it flat and over-pressing. This fabric is very loosely woven too and even though those aren't hand stitches showing in my mitre, but threads from the fabric, it looks that way and this bugs me.

I won't do this neckline this way again.

A really easy way to make a mitred corner involves stitching down to the point of the V, right side of the binding to the right side of the garment fabric, stopping with the needle in the fabric, right at the V and then fold the miter yourself. I like this method as you can use your hands to get it right before you commit to stitching.

This method is really well illustrated here.

The second issue I had with the instructions, which I know were meant to be as easy as possible but as so often is the case this can actually complicate matters, was that both the bottom and sleeve hems are meant to be 2" and, this is actually my point, the one continuous underarm seam along the sleeve and down the side takes a very sharp and definite angle at the armpit.

With such a small and high armhole this is inevitable but really makes for, in my view, a tight pucker under the arm. Go back to the picture from the pattern site above of the orange top. See that pulling under the arm.

The fact is that a high armhole really needs to be set in, have a gusset to release the strain, or to be clipped.

Here is a shot of one of the underarm areas (sorry pre pressing but I wanted to get a shot in right away) as it came out of the machine made as per instructions:

See that? This is the fabric talking to you saying I am grabbed in way too tight here, let me go.

Since the sleeves were already in and I didn't have any offcuts with me to make a small gusset I went in side and clipped almost to the stitching line, which was double stitched, good thing.

Here is the effect of that clip from the right side, on the other sleeve before pressing but you can see how much the fabric is sighing here in relief for being released:

I think we are often too afraid to clip. The key to knowing if it needed to be done or not is if, once the clip has been made, the cut opens up, displacing what was caught into air.

To keep the clip frozen you can do a couple of things, iron a small piece of knit fusible to the area before you cut for example, of if you don't have that with you to work with in the woods, you can go old school and simple overcast the raw edges of the clip by hand:

Notice how wide that clip spreads? It really needed to happen.

So final verdict.

Excellent fabric, I am so happy with this dress. It is going to look great on Maddie.

Interesting pattern but I am going to get into the instructions and customize them for myself next time so they actually are easy.

I will probably do that when I get back in my own sewing room, nice fabric in mind. 

Sew kraft-tex bags blog tour: caboose edition

When the very nice folks who published my book over at C&T asked me if I was interested in participating in a blog tour for a new book Sew kraft-tex bags  I said sure, 
I would love to.

Now this was not because I have actually ever sewn with Kraft-tex, or that I am a particularly crafty person, or even that I am a bag-maker. Sleeves, hems and zippers are more my end of the business.

No, I said yes because I got an advance look at this book and thought wow, I have to get myself into some bag-making.

Here's a taste of the projects in the books, all of which can be made wholly or in part with Kraft-tex, or alternatively in many cases also entirely in fabric:

I have been feeling an urge to start making some bags lately and have been thinking about materials. I like the idea of sturdy natural materials, but I have some thoughts on working with leather.

Years ago I once ordered an entire calf hide to make a skirt. 

The hide was huge.

So big that I spread it out on my double bed to have a good look at it. Then I noticed a hole.

Right in the middle. A bullet hole.

I felt terrible.

It's one thing to work around a flaw in fabric. 

It's another thing to be working around a death. 

(My kids claim I am prone to over dramatic statements - you can probably see why).

So the concept of vegan leather has its attraction for me.

But not vinyl, off gassing is a poor trade-off, in my opinion.

So when I heard about Kraft-tex, a paper type product made in Germany and distributed in C&T,  I just wanted to try it out. 

I had heard that it was tough and when washed and dried looked like leather, or at least like itself, interesting in its own way.

So I signed myself up.

When my roll of Kraft-tex arrived,  I began to have my doubts.  

Kraft-tex comes in two formats, plain and unwashed and dried (the basic colours like the Stone I ordered come like this) or pre-washed and pre-dried in multiple colours and therefore soft and leather-like.

My do-it-yourself selection looked a lot like a roll of construction paper when it arrived.

Is this going to hold up to my wild lifestyle I wondered? 

Kids climbing over my purses in the car, dog walking and poop bag carrying, stuff from the grocery store stuffed in because I forgot my reusable bags and am too cheap to pay for plastic. 

Around here an everyday bag is thrown and jammed into corners. 

I need an under the seat bag, a back of the restaurant chair bag, a full of library books bag.

That I would also take out for dinner.

I just wasn't sure that something that started out looking like construction paper was going to hold up to all that.

So my assistant or supervisor, depending on who you ask, and I decided to take the opportunity to do some material testing of Kraft-tex, before we committed our high priced time to it.

Here are three videos we made during the testing phase of this project. 

First the road tests:

Then the tensile strength test:

And finally the test results:

Pretty thorough lab we are running here. We even brought in an outside expert to ensure our results were objective - sort of a highly qualified peer view, by a representative of a larger group:

So we really established that Kraft-tex is very, very strong. Very durable. Probably even Babs proof, and that's saying a lot.

Next up was how does it sew?

• Crumple, machine wash and machine wash a manageable section to prep the material. Iron it with a hot steamy iron but really some of the texture is really what you want - the pre-treatment turns it from construction paper to vegan leather and you can do it yourself. Even in a camp ground Washeteria with all your old messy campground clothes.
• Use ordinary thread and stitch settings and off you go normally. However this is a fibrous material so I lengthened my stitch length a lot. The book covers all the sewing and prep issues in great detail.
• Use clips instead of pins.
• Understand this is stiff stuff so sew as much flat as you can. The authors of the book, and this is well-illustrated by the projects, suggest that a combo of Kraft-tex and fabric for many details, like bag handles, as the most effective way to put together many sections.
• Oh and if you get your bag dirty, just through it in the washer and dryer. Apparently this is the same material they use to make the labels on the back of jeans so think of that as a point of reference.

So what did I make?

First off I made one of the projects in the book, the Stephanie bag, in which Kraft-tex is used as an accent almost, as one surface of the straps and as the band the straps fit into, on an otherwise fabric bag. I love this bag, and the Kraft-tex was so fun to work with:

In fact I had so much fun working with Kraft-tex that I decided to use the same pattern and a small piece of black cork, because I always travel with a bag of random scraps for obvious reasons, to make and entire Kraft-tex bag:

At this point, understanding completely how strong but stiff Kraft-tex is, I changed up the construction steps in the  pattern from the book.

First off I changed the darts used in the original pattern to add shape, to a boxed bottom. I also used a drop-in lining, which is what it sounds like it is, rather than a turned inside out lining used in the fabric version.

I really feel that I am just getting started in my Kraft-tex adventures. 

It is so easy to work with and such a hard wearing, cost effective, alternative to leather or vinyl. Even as a strip to apply to a fabric strap for body, or as the bottom of a fabric bag for stability, even small amounts of this material would be so useful.

Let's brainstorm. The book is an excellent place to start but what else can I make with it. I am thinking super class sewing machine/serger covers, nesting baskets, belts, could you make belts? Wallets? Cutlery holders? Hats could I make a brim for a hat with it.

What ideas do you have for me?

In the meantime make sure you go back to the C & T site  for links to the other wonderful bags made by other bloggers and for a chance to win a copy of the e-book here.https://ctpublishing.lpages.co/sew-kraft-tex-bags-giveaway/

*Update: since I wrote this blog post C&T has sent me an affiliate link as one of their offers. I haven't done this before but my understanding that if you follow-up through this blog I will receive a small compensation:

Here's that link