Spring 2020 Jalie patterns: Romy

Well it is that time of year again when I participate in Jalie's spring launch of new patterns with my own reviews.

This is how this works.

A few months before the Jalie spring collection is released myself and a group of other sewists have a look at the patterns. Mostly we check to make sure the patterns are typo and error free. We also have the opportunity to choose some to make for ourselves and review on our social media channels. I usually try to select patterns that are things I would actually wear myself for this first look. Often however when I see what other sewists make, I go back and try other patterns later on that I decide look interesting. I will certainly be doing that again this year.

If you have been reading this blog for a while you know that I am a long time fan of these Quebec based patterns. There are several reasons for this.

First of all I love the size range, which pretty much covers my entirely extended family- all in one pattern. I love that something I can make for myself can also be made in a version for my grandchildren and I don't have to go out and search for another pattern. It's like having a pattern store in my house. Whatever I need to make for anyone chances are there is a Jalie staple I can use or adapt.

Second I like the fit. Jalie is one of those lines that really is as close to good RTW in fit as you can get. Also, because the sizes are so incremental, about an inch between sizes, it is very easy to make slight alterations just by fading in and out of different size lines. I also change the ease for many garments by making up a different size--I have close fitted shirts in one size and ones with more ease just in the size up.

Third and this is best for last, I love the construction techniques. Learning a new construction technique is just about my favourite thing in life. I am actually serious about this. Always, always when I make a new Jalie I discover some new nifty way to put clothes together. Sewing with this patterns has made me a better sewist.

Over the next 10 days or so I am going to be posting my reviews of my favourites of the new patterns.

Today I would like to start with Romy.


This is a pattern for a tunic or shorter sweater. There is a nice funnel neck with a really cool construction method I can't even describe. There is also a band I had some concerns about. I was remembering the waistbands of all those old sweatshirt styles. However this band is not at all tight. Because I am tall I added 2" to the short version.

I used a really, really soft bamboo fleece and it was perfect for this pattern -cozy, cozy, cozy. These days I appreciate all the cozy I can get.

The sleeves are very wide, at the body but not loose at the arm. This adds to the cozy comfy factor considerably.


And finally an out take shot taken before we went outside, with my Covid hair and my best Covid companion. 

My just stop fooling around and take the picture face.

This really is a winner of a pattern for these times I think. Super comfortable but also stylish. I have already earmarked three more pieces of fabric from my reservoir for more versions of this. A fast, fun sew too.

Flypaper thoughts another homebody edition

• My middle son texted me and noted that this has been a great time for people to rediscover hobbies
• It is actually a time that has reminded me that my whole life is already about hobbies
• What is fading for me was whatever I ever did that was not a hobby
• You could say that we have gone pretty seamlessly into stay at home mode
• I have learned a few things
• And have wondered a few things while I have been homebound
• I have been making stock
• So much easier than figuring out grocery delivery
• Actual saved vegetable peel stock like they say you should 
• Never was desperate enough to do it before
• You know it's pretty good
• Discovered my husband is quite the sewist
• He personally made over 100 masks
• I have been stalking Ravelry looking for patterns
• Just in case I am issued another lifetime or two
• To do all that knitting
• Learned to knit with my left hand to be faster
• Since I am not sure about that second lifetime issue
• Really is faster
• Tell me
• Why do all crochet patterns call for synthetic yarn?
• Yarns no knitter would use
• Same patterns would be so much nicer in natural fiber yarn
• I have been sewing from my shelves
• Of course
• When I was away my niece's boyfriend who is also my son-in-law's nephew
• Moved my sewing room to a different level of the house
• On the request of my husband who wants to renovate the basement
• They figured this out via text when I wasn't pay attention
• Note to self
• Have you ever had your entire sewing room, fabric, and supplies 
• Reorganized by an electrician?
• He put things in logical l order
• Colour coded my threads
• Neatly folded all my fabric by type
• Really disorienting
• Going to take time to get things back to where they should be 
• I had everything organized by emotion
• Things like mending 
• Out of sight of course
• The projects I would like make next in the middle of the current project
• To maximize my distraction
• Glamorous projects in full view in case I start to be a glamorous person
• Stuff stuffed in drawers when I am on a roll
• Too inspired for neatness
• Vintage patterns bought because I once sewed the originals 30 years ago
• I had things organized by hope
• Does this make sense to you?
• I have many things that I will never use 
• But I am soothed by the illusion I might
• Like that metal EAZI welt pocket gadget
• Been meaning to try that out since I was sewing vintage 
• When it was current style
• I have gone out and looked at the buds in the branches
• And appreciated the swagger of the neighbourhood cats
• And pleased dogs wondering why they are getting extra walks these days
• I am finding things in my own house and my own self
• I didn't know I had
• Or had forgotten
• But remembered who I am and where I come from

Flypaper thoughts: still homebody edition

• Life is where we left it
• Still physical distancing
• So against the grain for a Canadian personality
• Folks cross the street to avoid being too close
• I am so sorry we say
• Don't want to be rude
• I am sorry they reply
• We are sorry enough for the whole world
• Just in case
• Daisy is on the mend
• Two more weeks in her upgraded cage rest to a blocked off living room
• She is OK if she can see me
• Can you cover me?
• I ask my husband
• Just a minute to go get something
• I'll be quick
• I notice that people are getting a bit touchy
• We are all like Daisy not so good when our people aren't around
• Little things not big things
• I watch my husband sew the masks 
• And I want to tell him
• Clip your threads, clip your threads
• Almost nothing upsets me as much as people who don't clip the threads
• I once taught a woman who sewed jackets for her children who were all in the navy
• She never cut one thread
• In fact her garments were coated with random loose threads
• They can but those off themselves she said
• I used to have visions of sailors on the decks in the North Atlantic
• Trying not to fall overboard while they trimmed threads from the ends of seams with nail scissors
• My husband wants to know what kind of person 
• Puts a pellet of soap in the dishwasher without taking the plastic wrap off it
• And then wondering why the dishes aren't clean
• I know exactly what kind of person
• Someone who cuts her threads
• I miss the kids the most
• I am craving little people
• The littlest one in California Facetimes
• Dog she says and I show her the dog
• The other guys a few streets away call me on the phone
• They call to talk to me in funny voices
• To ask me to bring over my board games and leave them at the end of the driveway
• They know I have board games from when we play them here
• They know I don't play cards
• I am terrible at cards
• Just an interruption in the conversation
• What kind of grandmother can't remember how to do 
• Go fish they want to know
• This kind of grandmother I say
• The one who lets you each bake something different in the kitchen at the same time
• And cleans up
• Maybe I should use this time to learn a card game
• That would really surprise them
• How's your hair?
• I cut mine and with my sister's encouragement by text
• Am trying the Curly Girl method
• This involves using lots of conditioner and brushing your hair with your fingers
• Why are you wearing one of my T shirts on your head
• My husband wants to know
• I am doing the Curly Girl method I tell him
• Absolutely nothing surprises him
• Maybe I should consider that fact
• Not sure my technique is down though
• I look in the mirror and remember something my dad used to say
• Hair looks like a cat sucked it 
• Maybe it's the wrong kind of T shirt
• I am experimenting with low sugar baking
• Made a bunch of oatcakes they could use in the NHL
• An excellent Swedish apple pie with no crust
• A carrot cake that was mostly carrots
• The thing is we don't have much sugar
• Next thing will be war cake
• The one without sugar, butter, or eggs
• I am sure there is a diet that belongs to somewhere
• Vegan Keto?
• I am going to be sewing for the young women in my family
• I have a question for you
• How come when we had babies we went up a size
• Women used to say " well before I had kids..."
• When describing their figures
• It was assumed that your belly would settle in
• Like it was supposed to, like your own mom's did
• Why does your stomach feel like a pillow Babsie
• My grandson once asked
• Because I had babies I said
• My mom had babies he said
• She doesn't feel like that
• So why do young women give birth these days and end up by summer with a flat abdomen?
• What do they know that we didn't
• Do you think it is the oat hockey pucks?
• The pies and the cake on my counter?
• Should we be eating war cake?
• Life is full of so many mysteries
• And now I have time to solve them

Visual Islands

Things have been very busy around here. My husband and I have gone deep, deep into making masks for nursing homes and those hairbands with buttons for healthcare workers. 

I have been doing the cutting and my husband has done most of the stitching.

In addition I have been working on some of the new about-to- be-released spring Jalie patterns and will be showing those to you soon.

This whole pandemic experience has been, to say the least, kind of weird. There will be many stories of loss and lost when all this is done.

In the middle of that however there has been real opportunity to consider the value and beauty of those places where we are nesting in place right now, and of the people in our lives. This is such a good thing.

I want to share one of my own bright spots with you.

My son's girlfriend is in Texas. We are not quite sure when the border will be re-opened and we will see her again. She's a photographer, and a long way from us at the moment. But one of the wonderful things she has done during this time is to document some of the sights and sounds of every day life.

I have found the pictures and short videos she has posted nearly every day really cheerful. I thought I would share some of them today, in the hope that they will give you the little lift they give me.

Here's a sample to start courtesy of @kaleyazambuja

Enjoy.

Flypaper thoughts: well we are still here version

• Needless to say we are all still homebound
• On some level I am enjoying it
• There is a relief in limits
• Got to remember that when this is done
• I am working with what I can find in the house
• Turns out I can find a lot
• Turns out good thing I never kondo-ed my life
• Clutter, particularly in my sewing room
• Is what you live off of in hibernation
• These notions, this fabric, these patterns
• Are to me what nuts are to a squirrel
• Something to live off of until spring
• We are making masks
• Like crazy people
• For the nursing homes, for the food bank, and even for some of my daughter's patients
• My husband has gone into full obsessive mode
• Developing systems and timing his unit production
• Sometimes that guy is my hero
• Food comes slowly by delivery
• We are cooking what we have on hand
• Simple
• I am noticing that all the selfie shots in social media
• Are now replaced by pictures of people doing things with their households
• More pictures of kids not being rushed around
• Board games
• Cards
• Baked bread
• The dog and the cat
• Notice how much people are not missing
• Not the stuff but the people
• I try to not think about that part
• I have one family in California on the other side of a border I can't cross
• I can't get closer that a few meters to my grandchildren just a few streets away
• I have another son who is thankfully in this country for once but I can't go visit
• Will he be gone when I can?
• These are little hardships
• My big lesson from these weeks is that I already have every thing I need
• And everyone
• How much of our baggage have we laid down during this?
• How much do we not really need?
• How much do we really not need?
• How clear it is what is precious
• Like the FaceTime chats with a one-year-old
• Like the fact of living with a hero
• Like the kindness of my neighbours
• Of women on bikes dropping elastic off at my door
• Or the sight of a neighbour who carries an ancient dog outside for the fresh air
• Wrapped in blankets and immobile in a cart
• But with his nose lifted to the smells of the breeze
• How beautiful is that?

Flypaper thoughts: still in quarantine edition

• Well we still have a pandemic don't we?
• I only hope it doesn't get too bad too fast
• There will be many stories out of this
• Hardships that are invisible
• I am thinking of my friend whose marvellous husband 
• Just went into a memory care facility
• Because he has early onset
• Now she can't go and see him
• I wonder what he thinks
• My mom said to me
• We got through the war, we got through the flood (Winnipeg in the '50s)
• We can do this
• Of course we can
• My first father-in-law was in forced labour in Russia in the war
• He walked back to Hungary in the winter
• How did he do that?
• The secret he said
• Was that he made sure, even if it was with snow
• He washed every day
• Now that was a something
• We are at the end of week one of self-isolation
• Daisy has a ruptured disc in her neck
• So she is on bed rest for a month and a half at least
• She's in the dog stroller in the day and not liking it
• But that's the way it goes
• Ever tried to keep a dog from moving their neck?
• But we can do it
• Main crisis at the moment is the shortage of flour
• My husband is a stress baker
• And I am a stress eater 
• A very successful marriage
• I made a decision to dress every day like I was still going to the office
• I sorted my enormous button collection on Tuesday wearing my pearls
• I knew I had them for some reason
• I had a female boss early on who told me
• If I was going to have a decent career I needed pearls
• Never wore them
• Thought I was too young
• Too matronly for me
• But turns out they are perfect quarantine wear
• So this is what I was saving them for
• Tomorrow I think I am going to put on stockings
• Covid-19 what do you think of that?
• You will be hearing from me again

Flypaper thoughts: quarantine version

• Home now after an odd trip home
• Double time
• In the house for two weeks now
• All good except Daisy
• She has a very bad foot/shoulder
• Trying to do telemedicine with the vet
• If all else fails will have to leave her in the yard 
• And have someone take her in
• Strange times
• My DIL in Berkeley has a a cough
• They aren't tested but she's been told to behave as if she has the virus
• Two front line health care workers here
• And a son and his girlfriend now separated by a border
• Hard when they sail out of your own safe harbour
• Not entirely patient with those who are noncompliant
• We need to get this done
• However
• My neighbour left muffins at the end of the driveway
• My son put his hand to the front window
• My husband is cheerfully stress baking
• I discovered a pattern piece I lost
• I am getting that sock knitted
• I folded the laundry as soon as it came out of the dryer
• I am making sure I wear jewelry and my lipstick every day
• I am using up all those Christmas bath bombs
• And eating peppermint patties
• I had a group chat with four seven-year-olds
• I made a lesson plan for my virtual home schooling
• Bees, capitals of the provinces, and creative writing
• I am modifying my old 4th year writing syllabus
• Work with what you have
• I think later in the week we should do cover letters 
• And how to address an envelope
• 6,8 and10, seems to me to be about time
• I have an idea for fractions with coloured water and measuring cups
• It occurred to me that I am living the life of a '50s housewife without a car in the Canadian winter
• Pretty close to being that person anyway
• Unpacking so I can get sewing
• Need to see those stitches form in a line
• Just want my dog to get better
• Happy with our leaders here
• That matters
• Someone smart I worked with said to me once
• Never stand too close to insanity
• It is contagious
• So true, so true
• I think I will sew small things tomorrow
• Important to sew in different proportions to events
• I am thinking of you
• One day this will be past