London jacket building site shots

I know I know.

The rest of the blogging world has nice styled and shot photos. 

Not me.

This particular set of pictures was taken in the doorway of my kitchen as the door was being replaced. Since resident husband-builder-photographer was otherwise engaged the only way I could get these pictures taken was if I stood in the doorway, took the power tools out of his hand and put the camera in.

And of course it is styled in my sewing clothes, yoga pants and tank top.

I am really super pleased with this as a pattern with genuine TNT potential. I found the shoulder/chest fit to be nice and smooth and if you take a close look at the sleeves those aren't the clunky boxy sleeves you would expect in a very basic one piece sleeve.

The sleeve cap was pretty high and the armhole up quite close to the body but the sleeves went in very easily.

Of course the pockets were meant to be lower but I got the idea in my head that with such a short jacket  they would look cooler up higher.

This jacket is made in a patterned denim and what you can't see here is that the facings are really generous, the pockets' topstiching catches them, and the back neck facing is really deep and large , almost like a back stay which I feel gives the back of the jacket a more tailored structure.

If I didn't presently have a grandchild asleep in the room where the jacket is now, I would take more pictures of these facings to show you.

Listen I am really happy with such a simple pattern that can produce fairly slick results.

I have been frustrated a lot lately with my busy life.

It currently isn't giving me all the sewing time I need - no more course overloads next year. However I can see that one thing I have achieved is a series of TNT patterns that I will use over and over again with confidence.

The Linda pant
The Sasha blouse and the Annie blouse ( these three from Style Arc)
Pamela's Perfect T
The Magic Shirt (also from Pamela's patterns)
Butterick 5760 cardigan

and now this jacket

This makes me even wonder if I should attempt SWAP this year, it will depend on the rules and I have my eye on Stitches Guild to see if they are released soon.

Who knows?

On my mind and my work table this morning

I have had an interesting week.

The markings done until the next deluge. Both the students and I survived. Some of my students I suspect are brighter than I am, some I suspect put less work into their submissions than I put into marking them.

Which is just about right.

I also talked to a a very nice political reporter this week who wished me happy birthday.

"How do you know about that?" I wanted to know.

"Read it on your blog" he said.

So much for not having my worlds collide. 

But then I thought, so what. People are multi-dimensional and that would include me.

So Dave you are going to find a lot of this pretty boring and I don't drop political hints here. At least nothing local. But thanks for reading.

But on that note I went by invitation to a political event last night. This served to remind me why I am no longer in that business. Thank goodness there were a few students in the room. Folks move on and I have.

While I was out, my husband worked on dinner and installing a new kitchen door. He said he knew he had taken multi-tasking to new levels when he realized he was hammering with an oven mitt on and turning the ribs with a crowbar.

If you know my husband you know that this is exactly what happened.

The ribs were great BTW and I love the new door. I was glad to be home.

I have many things on my to-do list this weekend and I am not going to do any of them.

I need some sewing time- time to bring my spirit back to the mother ship.

A few days ago my daughter and I went to a quilt store to get things she needed. I don't quilt but I am good at taking three year olds to the bathroom and keeping them out of the notions.

But of course I had to buy something, so I picked up this pattern on a whim:

It is your basic simple shape. I have been thinking one of those in the arsenal would not be a bad idea for elaborate fabric that doesn't need a lot of seaming, or for Channel drop-outs like myself.

I hope to finish a sort of wearable hopefully muslin today out of some random denim and some cotton that I am going to have to use for facings and hem finishing because I am that short of denim.

Here it is on the mannequin shot at an angle so I wouldn't fall over all the machines I have on the floor since I am in a reorganization phase:

There is a center back seam for shaping and a very good dart in this pattern and the sleeves are pretty good. All in all, since I was expecting a fairly crude shape from something with so few pattern pieces, this is a nice jacket, even if this version is a little short.

I see potential here and will definitely finish this today.

My sewing room clean up is part of my list writing for my fabric scouting trip to NYC is a few weeks. I have realized that I am going to have issues with bringing fabric back and I have to figure this out. I won't be going by car this trip which is the best option for bringing back fabric, and I am on sort of a don't lift really heavy things restriction since the big fix up. So throwing 50 pounds of fabric on the carousal isn't going to cut it.

And you know how helpful they are at the airlines these days.

I am thinking of not taking any clothes, just my Visa and my passport and an empty suitcase, and wondering if I shop somewhere if they would ship it back for me?

Might have to investigate that.

Now off to the sewing room.

Talk later.

Making yourself happy

Today is my birthday.

It's shaping up to be a pretty nice day. 

Dinner cooked by my husband, cake from my daughter, and everybody coming over here which is what I really want. I also got an exercise bike, a non-rickety one, which was something I really had my eye on too for a while.

I have been talking to the family.

On one of my calls one of my sisters she told me how her whole family did zero, nada, nothing, for her own recent birthday. That was two weeks ago and I can tell she still feels bad about it, and she really is one of those wives and mothers who does everything for everybody.

I told her if birthdays matter to you make sure you get everyone organized to celebrate it.

Took me a while to figure this out.

The thing is when you get married you might connect with someone who comes from a different approach to these things than you do. 

In my own family all events, everything actually, was A Big Deal. Not in my brother-in-law's family and not in my husband's family either.

So rather than being miserable on a day no one remembered, I start early and make it clear that if it makes sense or not to my significant other having something happen on my birthday is a good thing.

Listen, I said, a card for these events is nice. A meal is better, and a something of any price range is much appreciated. Just to make sure this hasn't gone down too far on the to-do list I have asked a couple of times this week "well how are the birthday plans going?"

At the risk of being totally sexist I have to tell you that marriage and sons have taught me that most males just want to be told what to do rather than being the recipient of a lot of post-event sighing or The Look. 

Of course it is perfectly reasonable to say that if you have to ask for it, it doesn't matter. If you were dealing in a world of women that would be true. 

But since we're not I would counter that with, if it matters to you why not ask for it?

You can't always count on The Look or for the dinner plates hitting the table loudly being translated appropriately.

Women always do this.

I have read in the organizational literature that many women on the way up in their careers think if they work longer, harder, above and beyond enough, Someone Will Notice and eventually they will get their reward.

In fact the evidence is that the world, workplaces in particular, are not meritocracies and in fact no one probably will notice. More likely they will just get used to the idea of being in a one way relationship where the benefits flow only one way.

How many of us have seen some over-worked woman passed over for a promotion in favour of someone who did only what was required but did so publicly?

Sometime smart outdoes fair.

I was also struck this week by a quote from Gloria Allred of all people. 

She said a woman should decide what she wanted in a spouse and then be that person herself.

Sure would take the pressure off.

So if the person who makes sure you have a great birthday is yourself that's OK.

One year older and that little bit smarter.

Raw denim

I thought you would enjoy this.

My youngest son has just brought over a pair of "raw denim" jeans to hand wash. The idea of hand washing is beyond his great brain.

I had to google the instructions but he was right.

Raw denim is denim that has not had the dye rinsed out. Therefore as you wear it, the dye comes away in the creases and you get patterns of fade that are individual.

"Like the human finger print!" the manufactures claim.

Honestly.

In case you are ever up against raw denim here is what you are supposed to do:

1. Wear them all the time. Sleeping in your jeans is recommended.

2. Waiting 6 months to wash them.

3. Yes you read #2 right.

4. Fill a bathtub with lukewarm water and a non-detergent detergent.

5. Turn the jeans inside out and submerge them and weigh them down with something.

6. Soak for 45 minutes, rinse, and hang outside, upside down, to dry.

7. Go back and see your mom in 6 months.

On the leading edge over here.

Elles not so swell

First things first.

The parents are back and the little girls are no longer my responsibility. 

We had a great time.

Like riding a bike, but I am sure my own kids weren't this well-behaved.

My daughter reports that both children were happy and relaxed when they arrived home.

She also reports that they are interested to know why all the TV remotes in the house now seem to be broken and what happened to the dishwasher. 

No idea. 

I wonder if they have also noticed that they now have a 3 year old who can sing Barbara Ann by the Beachboys right through without any mistakes, and that the kid who doesn't eat does great with potatoes mixed with yoghurt, if you let her eat with her eyes closed.

The scrape on the car had nothing to do with me BTW. I am blaming it on the man who was installing the new kitchen cupboards. He was trying to make a fast get-away.

You get what you pay for.

Seriously it was all fun except for that damn pink bear who went AWOL about every 20 minutes. Note to all new mothers who create small children dependent on one cuddly toy.

Buy duplicates.

After all the excitement I went back to my regular life which right now involves marking 147 assignments (this is a real number not something I am putting in here for comic effect, in fact nothing is here for that purpose, this is my real life).

I am taking a break from the marking to blog. The last email was from a put-out student who was offended I had queried her use of the semi-colon - something she puts in there randomly every third word or so.

"But professor you don't understand, semi-colons are part of my style."

I resisted emailing back asking her if she was e.e. cummings and instead quoted Hemmingway who said a writer should use only three semi-colons.

And that was in one life.

To keep my spirits up while I mark I am doing my standing desk thing at one end of my sewing cutting table. For every 10 papers or so I let myself go cut something out. I am getting a lot cut out.

And if I really need a break I do some stitching.

One of the things I have done is a muslin, apparently, of StyleArc's Elle pants.

I love the Linda pants but wanted to see if I could do something with a narrower leg.

Well I got that. Here is a lousy iPhone shot in the bathroom:

About all you can see here is that these are some skinny pants. This is one leg and I can get my own leg in it, it just won't bend. 

Obviously the stretch woven I was using was more woven than stretch, but even if it was stretchier I didn't really have those legging things students are wearing for pants when they shouldn't in mind for this project.

So one of the things I have cut out is another version of the Peta pants with the bottom hem brought in an inch either side and the profile of the Elle's used to blend in the seam.

We shall see.

In the meantime about a month ago someone asked me how I pretreated wool jersey.

Well what I do is put the dry jersey in the dryer for 10 minutes on a low/fluff type heat with a wet but well wrung out tricot half slip. 

This seems to get just a shade of shrinkage out of the fabric without actually shrinking it. I then lay the jersey out on a table to recover overnight.

This seems to work.

Now back to my assignments.

Scenes from the babysitting front, day two of five

Not a lot of time but here goes:

• If someone spills milk on the edge of the counter you might want to check to see if any went into the drawer below. Or the drawer below that. And the one on the bottom. Also check under the pot lids.
• If you were to pull off the tabs of the disposable diapers by mistake, black electrical tape works just great and is water proof.
• If you smell toast burning yes it may be because you are having a stroke.
• Or you may have burnt the toast.
• Do you know they now make spaghetti-Os in the shape of princess crowns? A good plan B if you don't have any bread left.
• Don't lose the pink bear.
• And don't say "where the hell is that bear?"
• They remember to tell those things.
• Why would a person who won't get into the car after pre-school because their sleeves are wet from painting want to stand in the rain without a jacket on because they don't get wet in the rain?
• Look behind the chair for the bear.
• The best person I have ever slept with may be this Golden Retriever.
• Nutella rocks.
• Before they leave make sure you know how the remote works.
• How was the debate?
• I got stuck on mute.
• If you draw a heart on a Hallowe'en monster it is not scary anymore.
• Nap time is over.

About blogging and being a noticed blogger

A little while ago I congratulated the Mood bloggers.

Coincidentally, I heard from a few folks who were not happy they were not chosen.

Listen, it's a great fabric store. 

I am quite happy to be a private citizen who can go there as this is allowing me to disguise my visits to a much missed son as fabric buying trips. I love Mood, and whole lot of other places in the garment district, and I have been thinking of them all there in NYC increasingly as the fabric store at the bottom of my hill becomes increasingly depressing.

That's where I am. Frankly my sewing is more about experimentation/stress relief/fooling around than distinguishing myself at this stage of the game when there is so much going on.

But I do understand. A long time ago I wrote a lot for Threads and had a good time doing it. Everything I thought was interesting they thought was interesting and that was just great.

However somewhere a long the line the editorial direction changed and I started to be sent ideas and fabric, and what I was doing for fun became an assignment. I remember being asked to do a piece on stripes and was sent some high stretch silk (try matching stripes in something really stretchy, under pressure) in a colour that I would never wear and more or less hated.

So I decided to give it a pass unless the project was what I wanted to do, and let's face it what I want to do is pretty erratic.

I admit however feeling slightly disgruntled when I saw other names in that magazine, even though the simpatico editors I had worked with had moved on, even though I had moved on.

It was no longer my turn.

I also had to remember that just because someone else was doing a great job didn't mean I wasn't.

This is a lesson I seem to keep learning and re-learning in my life.

In the family I am no longer the big cheese, although it causes me great pain to admit that. I thought around the table last night that I no longer am the one telling the funniest stories, I am more the listener, and more the person who packs up the leftovers, and does the dishes in a quiet house.

Of course I would give everything to have one of those meals we used to have, everyone at home, everyone on the verge of a food fight, but that stuff is happening more often than not at other tables.

But I like to think I was the one who taught them to make people laugh.

I just checked and there are 7 billion people in the world. Being a really deep thinker I have figured out that means I am not always the one chosen and that the high points are just going to come and go in my life.

I stopped doing radio when I was introduced as someone who used to be as a political operator and I don't want to be known as a "used to be."

Which sort of brings me to blogging, although not really.

Why do any of us blog?

To be famous, discovered, appreciated?

Well some bloggers are, and good for them because there is a lot of work in excellent blogging.

Sometimes I am slack about it and I am well aware that the garments I show are not as wonderful as the clothes I was sewing when I had more time, and maybe when I took it all more seriously too.

Sometimes I wonder if it is worth it, particularly when someone emails me and tells me off, but then I read a comment and someone tells me that they spit out their coffee when they read something I wrote because it seemed true or funny to them that morning and I kind of find it reassuring to know I am not alone in the world.

Don't we all?