A break from previously scheduled programming

I will be taking a break until next Monday or Tuesday, while I do this wedding. We are now expecting a cyclone which may impact on the outdoor ceremony, although the bride says it will not rain, and she is pretty tough. Brothers are trying to negotiate surfing time off during the day and the husband is up to his elbows in buttermilk biscuits. Have had to change around cabin occupants because of different political views (who called this election, either election anyway).

Full report and back to sewing next week.

I'll miss you.

In praise of my sister Nancy

OK to bring those hanging on the progress of the wrap-that-looks-like-a-baby-blanket (we are not even going to discuss what could have been made if Mom had been given more time and access to internet fabric sources) yesterday's trip to Fabricville produced nothing in the way of a trim to dress this thing up. Trim a couch I could have done, a bridal wrap no.

After about six calls from intense extended family in Winnipeg, I finally got on the phone with my sister Nancy was was just unpacking from another family wedding on her husband's side in Baltimore last weekend.

"Not to worry," she said, "we have the fifth best bridal store in Canada here in Winnipeg, I'm going over there now"

Next call was from Nancy and staff at the fifth best bridal store in Canada.

"Who is the designer of her dress? OK we have the dresses by that designer here and we are matching the satin. Pearls? Silver or gold beading? OK we have six wraps here. Fringe or no fringe? 24" X 70" OK? "

"OK I am buying a wrap here, should be a perfect match, will bring it in Thursday."

I love my family. They are crazy and over-involved and workshop the death out of anything but they never let you down. As we are hosting a three day event we have a lot of work to do and I have lists with names on them right on the table by my front door. Thursday my husband is taking the day off to cook for the crowd that flies in, in three shifts, that night. One of my dear stepdaughters is renting a car and going down four hours before everyone else to advance the lodge for us to make sure everything is OK. Her sister is getting up Saturday morning early to make coffee for everyone's cabin. My sons are polishing speeches and someone is getting the dogs ready. The hairdresser has in fact decided to come out of retirement for us and trek through the woods to do our hair.

This family has tremendous back-up and the groom's family are exactly who we would want to be spending the weekend with. In a challenging world, with all we have gone through together, on both sides, we have so much to celebrate this weekend.

Oh and even though I couldn't find trim, guess what Fabricville did have? Pant weight crepe, 2 meters for $1.00. Unbelievable. The gods are with me.

A busy week ahead

I really enjoy posting to this blog but I can tell that with The Wedding six days away and guests starting to arrive today that it may be hard to post for a week or so until the dust settles and I can set up my machine again.

Yesterday's project was a wrap for my daughter who has been resistant to considering the possibility that it might be cool in the evening in Canada at the end of September. Being the ideal mother I did not say I told you so once as we raced around town trying to find something Saturday, our one local fabric shop having turned up nothing. Nothing in the stores either so in the end we bought two wool pashminas and some off white satin for lining. I sewed the pashminas together, then sewed a tuck on either side in a sort of an attempt to make the seam look like a design feature and stitched a satin border around the edge and lined it.

"Looks like a baby blanket" said my husband who is the last person on earth to make a fashion commentary, so this means it really, really looked like a baby blanket. So off came the border and we decided to wear it satin side out and I am off to Fabricville this morning to see if there is some trim or appliques to add.

Not posting a picture as you can imagine how it looks, two pashminas sewn together lined with satin.

I told you so.

Anyway a small bump in the road and lots to do today, am teaching all week of course but have delegated remaining house jobs to my husband and son. So far my husband has pitched in and spent the weekend building a rotating compost bin and my son has been moving surf boards.

The prime gender differences in relation to major events I have decided is that women say "Oh my god six days we don't have any time" and males say "No worries, six days we have lots of time."

Let's hope Fabricville produces excellent trims this morning.

The issue of pants test fabric

As I get my head and supplies together for my pants testing I have to make a decision about fabric. I know it is traditional to make a muslin out of, well, muslin but the fact is that I don't wear pants out of muslin like cotton fabric. When your aim is more to skim the body, or at least the lower part of this body, stiff fabric just doesn't work. The fabrics I like in pants are crepes, wools, linens and rayons, or a cotton, if it is a soft twill type. I also know from sewing that a pattern that works in one kind of fabric can be totally wrong, and fit quite differently, in another fabric. So I have decided to make my tests in a rayon blend. I will also need mega yardage, so cost is a factor and I fully anticipate producing multiple wadders in my quest.

Currently under consideration is this from Fabricmart a rayon pantweight herringbone crepe, and I am having good luck with Fabricmart this week. The colour is right. I am well aware, from having posted pictures of black garments, that it is impossible to really see the detail or to judge fit in them. The muslin colour is the right thing. 

Now I know in the back of my head that there are lots of good arguments for traditional muslins, like stable fabric when measurements are transferred back and forth, but I think myself that there is some value in testing in the category of the final product.

We will see.

Of course I have about 200 miles of black test type fabric in my stash and nearly as much red but I don't think that will do for testing purposes, although it will be nice to have that back up for emergencies.

On fabric

I love fabric.

I wish there were more local fabric stores but they aren't so I do a lot of my shopping online. Fabricmart is one of my favourites, even though the shipping to Canada can be pretty steep. The fabric too can be a surprise, and mostly it is a good surprise. If you scroll down past pants to my vintage coat plan posted a while ago you will see a print lining, the image taken from the  Fabricmart website.

Well I ordered that fabric to line a coat with considerable ambivalence, but here is a picture of it, arrived today. 

I really love this fabric, first of all it is silk and secondly the pattern is far more retro than I thought it would be and so just perfect for a vintage pattern. I am partial to character linings, it's one of the joys of sewing for yourself to add a surprise. As soon as the pants project is done, this coat is next, I may do the red coat or I have a black and white tweed that would be cool too. 

Typical sewer, mental sewing about seven projects ahead.

Off to bed, my daughter, who has insisted that it would be hot in Nova Scotia for her September 27th wedding, has called to say that we are going to have to go out shopping tomorrow for a warm wrap. Ten to one I will be serging this time tonight.

Pattern candidates

For two of my test projects I am going to have to find basic pant patterns to work from. I have already decided to use a Burda to test the Murphy method and another commercial pattern for pivot and slide.

So far these are my Burda candidates. Off course the green pants, Burda 3114 have a fly front, but all

 other details are what I am looking for and I think I can just transfer the zipper to the side without distorting the pattern. The leg on these pair of pants is slightly flared and I know that wider is fashionable this season so I will have to figure out if they are still appropriate. The second Burda, 8087, has a wider leg. I will have to choose one for testing purposes - anyone have an opinion on the remaining shelf life of slightly flared legs? I find the line flattering but don't want to date myself any more than I already do on a daily basis.

Finding a basic pants pattern from the other pattern companies is in fact harder than I thought, have a look for yourself. Lots of fiddly detail and trendy shapes, but a pair of pants that might end up as possible repeat items - not so much.

Finally I did what I always do and looked in the Wardrobe section of the pattern collections for a simple pattern and came up with this for a plain, side zipper, natural waist pant, Simplicity 3539. One step forward in the planning process. Now maybe I can find time this weekend to nip out and pick these up (once I have made my Burda decision) between heavy duty housecleaning, more baking and things I promised I would do weeks ago like book a coffee urn.

Pants research

With all that is going on in this house at the moment any sane person would not be thinking about sewing.

But I am, maybe that is keeping me sane; I just thought about that. The way I see it if you can't sew with your hands you can still sew in your mind, and housecleaning leaves a lot of mental space for thinking.

So I have been planning and researching the pants project. 

One decision I have had to make is what patterns I am going to use for the pivot and slide and Joyce Murphy techniques. I have been pondering the Burda crotch as so many great sewers swear by it and decided to email Joyce to see what she thought. Here is part of that exchange, reproduced with her permission:

Start with my JSM Pant 1 pattern or a Burda. The crotch curve in my JSM Pant 1 pattern and a Burda pattern are almost identical. They have the long back crotch shelf and the short front crotch fork which puts the back inseam from knee to crotch on the bias and leaves the front inseam closer to the straight of grain. I use this bias if I need to lower the entire back crotch shelf straight down to give more room low in the seat. This shortens the back inseam making it necessary to stretch the back inseam to meet the front in sewing. The JSM Pant 1 pattern is deigned with the back inseam slightly shorter than the front out of the envelope.

Interesting. Since a baggy front crotch is one of my pant fitting challenges, I will definitely be testing one of the Burda patterns. I have looked at the JSM pant but because is missing some of the design features I like and has some I don't (tapered leg, fly front and slant pockets) I think that adjusting all that might get in the way of fitting. So I think what I will do is use the Murphy method on a Burda pant and Pivot and Slide on a pattern from the Big 4.

At least that is today's plan. Looking forward to October 1 and getting this project launched.