Cozy sewing

Every once in a while I read something that seems to hit exactly where my head is at the moment.

Today it was this article on Hygge Chic which apparently refers to a Scandinavian idea of "feeling cozy and snug, and being kind to yourself." 

Of course it doesn't escape me that this idea came out of a cold weather climate like mine, and say not out of the Caribbean, where the need to wrap yourself up is undoubtedly not the same.

Hygge is an idea worth thinking about. 

It suggests treating yourself kindly as a style statement, as something you can plan for, as opposed to something you revert to by putting on the old worn standbys hoping that no one comes to the door.

This idea of dressing for your actual life, and sewing for it, finding fashion that fits these needs rather than trying to fit yourself and your style into fashion, has been on my mind all week.

To give you an example here is what happened, among so many other things, in my life this week, what I really need to dress for:

• My daughter's family all had the stomach flu and so I did more than my usual picking up of Miss Scarlett after school at 2:30. High point was when she threw herself around in front of all the other parents - "I don't believe it. I have to go home where they are all boring and sleeping and all I want to do is go to your house and sew!" (Couldn't do it that day, had to teach, but have booked two sewing session next week after school).
• Taught my first class of the term online and video, happy to be back part time and on my terms. However doing online stand up requires careful prep and the rearrangement of the backdrops at the home front. Moved books that had appropriate titles in and Dr. Suess and cookbooks out of the shot.
• Took two dogs for three walks every day, crunching over the salt and balancing on the snowbanks.
• Discussed the liver enzymes of two other dogs with relatives in detail, over the phone.
• Discussed in even greater detail my nephew's new residence arrangement at university.
• Wasted about five hours researching bra patterns until I remembered I buy very good ones in the US every spring at the outlets.
• Calculated what this will cost with the Canadian dollar in the tank.
• Realized that we are on par with the Aussie dollar so spent 10 hours researching (researching really means me lying in a cooling bath with my iPad) online fabric sources in Australia.
• Spent a day mending for my youngest son who has gone to South America for three weeks to walk the Inca trail etc. The only garment repairs I don't avoid are those for my baby boys. This time it was my son telling me that for safety reasons it is really important when traveling in the third world (which probably is much like Nova Scotia but generally warmer) not to wear new clothes. Pretty much only the thought that zig zagging rips closed might save his life made me do it.
• Started my fifth attempt at sleeves that fit in that sweater I cut up. That's all I am going to say about that one.
• Tore over to my step daughter's son's sitter to retrieve him owing to the fact that the sitter's own child ate some money and had to go to the ER, with the other kids I was taking care of that day in the car.
• Dropped the car key under the seat once I arrived and was blocking the sitter's driveway. The four-year-old and I crawled under all the seats (how long has that other stuff been down there?) and finally found it although not right away.
• Spent a day worrying hard and a day being relieved over some family medical tests that in the end turned out fine.
• Watched the news and wondered if there is anyone with any sense out there.
• Thought of all the things I have to pack before we head off in the RV for points south in ten days.
• Listened to my husband say "what's to pack? Shorts and golf balls."
• Tried and failed to deal with my secret Tupperware and Nutella addictions.
• Counted my steps and realized that if you can't remember why you went to basement until you go back up and start over again you can really get fit.
• Which apparently is excellent for the memory.
• Answered a million student emails.
• Moved things into and out of my sewing to-do pile before we leave.
• Went back upstairs and then went back down and did it again.

You just don't do this life in Spanx and three inch heels, although hats off to those who can.

No wonder Hygge Chic is speaking so loudly to me.

As a result I decided to tackle real garments I need, one issue at a time.

First up getting up in a national park and taking the dog out for a walk when I wish I didn't have to. 

Needing pockets for the poop purses (what we call the doggie bags for some reason) and my phone, because I might as well count steps, and my son might be emailing me an "I am alive in South America" message.

What I came up with was this pattern and some sort of cable type patterned Minky. Very cozy if not elegant, as close to adult swaddling as you can get. I hope to make a lace/mesh vest version too to go over shorts and T shirts when I need the pockets and not much else.

Back to the Hygge jacket. Made as per pattern but put in one giant snap in case I need to close it up:

Basically feels like a short housecoat but hopefully people won't immediately figure that out

Side view because some people like to see those, also my boots

How this will probably actually be worn.

I have been thinking I should make a wool tailored suit, just to have in the can in case anything official happens sometime, but suspect this jacket was probably better immediate use of my sewing time.

Let's see if the vest version is wearable or just weird.

New Spring Vogues

I was about to head down into the basement and the treadmill when, looking on my iPhone to see how many steps a person takes when they have done nothing but work on a computer all day, I saw the new Spring Vogues were up.

Since the outside is polar temperatures and the landscape white icy concrete, anything with the word "spring" sounded pretty good to me.

So here, still on the way to the treadmill, are my impressions.

Disclaimer is that there are some trends that just refuse to go away despite the fact I don't like them at all, never did, never will. I won't be commenting on those patterns at all.

These trends, just so you know, are high/low which my eyes still see as a mistake, colour blocking, which I know from experience is something you get pretty sick of after you have worn it three times, and those innumerable tops that stick out in points at the sides.

That said here are a few interesting patterns I noticed and noted:

Really pretty skirt, very ladylike. Will have to contextualize into the lifestyle that is heavy on walking shoes and dog walking, but for someone, somewhere, it is perfect.

Bit concerned about the boxy look everywhere. There is hourglass and there is toy box. The clump, clump shoes, even in silver, are not help.

This one is a wow. As in I am in grade nine and learning to sew. The neckline, and waistline just don't fit, and this girl is perfect. See above on high low, but really anyone would feel like a dumbbell in this dress. Oddly looks to me like one of those poor women who comes out of the Ladies with her dress stuck in her underwear and the mean girls won't tell her. I would. Just did.

What marching band does she play in and what instrument. I'm thinking drums.

The line drawing does not show the flower appliqués which are what caught my eye, and all the binding is decorative, but in linen or some really cool fabric this would be spectacular. Look at those cool sleeves.

I wasn't really taken with Kathryn Brennen's earlier designs, that seemed to me to use an awful lot of fabric without much style, but this dress is lovely in a tea dance the afternoon before they bombed Pearl Harbour sort of way. So nice to see something feminine like this.

With some nice silk this would be a great top to wear to one of those events you don't really want to go to but figure if you have to you might as well be comfortable. 

OK no one is going to walk a dog in this but really what a fun skirt. If I had a daughter going to the prom I might try to talk her into the glamour of this rather than the $5 hooker outfits most of the other girls will be wearing.

Nice jacket, very wearable with a good back, in the right fabric.

A dragonfly pin cushion. Just the project for someone who has completed every other task in life, right down to sticking names on the bottom of dishes she is leaving the kids, or has attached pre-wound bobbins in matching thread to every spool she has. I would have to be reincarnated a thousand times before I would have time to make this, but I like it anyway.

So now down to go read Ravelry while I walk, sort of fast-ish.

When the pictures don't match

While back I mentioned that this was my pick for the early Spring McCalls if you were looking to sew something wearable (sorry I am not putting jumpsuits - a garment that designers have being trying to sell us for generations - in that category):

Now correct me if I am wrong but doesn't this look like an A line but more to the straight skirt shape?

So why does the line drawing look like this?

And the hem width is really wide.

I have my suspicions.

I once helped unpack Big Four fashion show samples and saw much evidence of "tweaks" of the pattern to achieve a more camera ready look.

Probably not the biggest mystery to be solved on the planet today but one I am thinking about.

Butchery ongoing at my place

I have to make this quick.

We cut the cable cord over here a few weeks ago, since all we watch is online news and Netflix, and now I have to go over to my sister-in-laws tonight to watch Downton Abbey.

I enjoyed Christmas. I always do. That's just me.

I know that there are a lot of folks out there who don't feel like this. Some people associate this time of year with terrible memories and of course I get this.

Every time I read of someone who bought it on the roads this time of year I always think great, now that whole family is going to have to think about this every Christmas. My own dear friend lost her dad on Christmas Eve and her husband on New Year's Eve and needless to say the holidays for her were just something to last through. Who wouldn't understand that?

However without that to think of for some reason, despite all the intensity of emotion that Christmas always brings out in families, I always enjoy myself. I had fun the Christmas everyone vomited, for instance, I have found times to enjoy in all crises that coincided with the holiday, in sickness and in health, in things coming apart and that person who gets glum, I don't know, I always have a good time.

Think it's maybe the bright lights.

I like those.

My made with loving hands got mixed reviews this year. Miss Scarlett loved the doll clothes and her less diplomatic four year old sister said "well I like them but not that much."

Fair enough, it was a good quote anyway.

My sweater for my middle son, the one he requested, was not one of my greatest hits. Sometimes I find it hard to transition from sewer to knitter. 

For example there was a four inch jump in the sizing and my kid ran between the two so, knowing he had slim hips but strong shoulders, I came up with the idea of going down a size in the hips and up to the next size in the shoulders. (He has a 42 inch chest so I did 40 hips and 44 chest).

What resulted was a sweater that looked so V shaped on that he did a muscle man imitation in it, my husband asked "Is this supposed to be a Superman suit?" and my son-in-law who I otherwise really like laughed so hard he fell off the couch. I was actually planning on gifting this particular SIL with a sweater for his birthday but now may do that next year instead. Or the year after that.

At any rate I had to reclaim the sweater for a major fix up. 

Now a good knitter would have unravelled it and started again but I am a risk taker and also a sewer so I looked at this differently. Seeing the sweater as fabric I knew exactly what kind of alteration it needed I figured (ignoring the fact that I have already demonstrated faulty judgment so far on this project) so instead of unraveling, I zig zagged the lines where I needed to take it in, cut right through my knitting (I sort of remember this idea for making steeks in the Craftsy course I obviously dropped out of) restitched (small zig zag, think sweater knit, in this case literally) and then inexpertly picked up new stitches around the armhole for more normal looking sleeves.

I am pretty sure all this proves is that I am an experienced sewer and probably never going to be a great knitter.

And if you don't believe me here are the pictures:

Now off I go to see if the Mr. and Mrs. Bates can avoid criminal charges for at least five minutes, if Lady Mary will ever figure out that Tom Branson really is the obvious choice for next husband, and if poor Edith can pull herself together long enough to understand that if she stops expecting the world to abuse her it might do that.

Wish me luck.

Happy New Year!

I have been neglecting this blog, but not neglecting the family. I know you will get that.

So here is a quick catch up before I go make a cake for tonight's dinner.

First off here is a picture of daughter, mother if my three grandchildren, in a dress I made for her.

It is the Ballet Dress by Indie design Dixie DYI. Like many indie patterns it had an illustration and text gush (did I actually write gush, sorry about that) that made it easy for a hip person like my kid to go for it.

As a pattern it had issues and was not particularly well drafted. In the end I lowered the neckline, changed the treatment for applying the binding (which was sweatshirt style not dressy dress style) and re-cut the armhole and sleeves so they didn't bind, and note that Katrina does not have heavy arms at all.

In the end we got a dress that we were both happy with and got a lot of wear over the holidays.

I am usually a fan of many of the Indie patterns, Stylearc, Sewaholic, Noodlehead and Grainline (mostly) produce excellent patterns with good current wearable style. Others demonstrate that the ability to upload a .pdf do not necessarily reflect pattern quality worthy of the price.

That said the great Indie patterns are truly great and I do not intend to miss out on any of them.

Which leads me to my own sewing New Year's resolutions, and I am interested to hear yours:

• Explore more Indie patterns and report honestly on them. I want to nurture talent but also to protect new sewers who deserve, as we all do, to be facilitated, not frustrated by the patterns they purchase. Every time I run into a problematic pattern instruction or drafting issues I mentally see a picture of some young mother, the woman I once was, getting in a little hopeful sewing time while some child slept. I hate the thought that a pattern issue might cause her to think the problem is her when in fact it is simply in trying to execute the impossible. I don't want anyone to give up on sewing.
• Blog more. I have a real busy life and often hold off on posting because I don't have super pictures or something profound. However I do think thoughts and see a lot of humour in life so I think that might be enough some times. I am in no competition here.
• Save some time by coasting by some things on the www. If you blog has crossed the commercial line in my head or if you approach me to ask if I will pay $25 to be your pattern tester (true, this happened this morning) I am moving on. I got a lot more sewing done when there was less to read. I am going to post a blog roll soon of what I actually do read most days.
• Sew more from my stash, in fact as much as I can. I have reached that critical mass stage where the fabric on my shelves has started to oppress me, feel like a to-do list. How did that happen?
• Go through my patterns and ditch anything I am not going to sew this year. I have to make room for new ideas.
• And finally the big one: Sew nothing in 2016 for any other reason than it a) gives me joy to think about it b) can teach me something new.

Now over to you.

What are your sewing resolutions?

From Santa's workshop

I have been neglecting my blog lately, but that is probably a function of focusing on my family and getting ready for Christmas.

I had a non teaching term this fall and for the first time in decades have been able to get more of what I can get done for the holidays.

Hands up if some of the pressure for December for you is the continuous process of giving up on your to-do list or if you have ever sat at your desk after 6:00 p.m. and piled things into the Amazon cart.

That's been me, but less so this year.

So to give you an idea of what I have been doing since I haven't been blogging, here are some pictures. (Some shots, like the Christmas dress I made for my daughter a few weeks ago are still to come).

Here is Miss Scarlett in front of the children's hospital where my daughter works, waiting for her to come out so we can take her home:

For the first time ever I did not do the big tree in the corner. 

To fit that into my living room every year I have moved out a chair and this year I decided I really needed the seating. My Pinterest daughter came up with the idea of a table top tree. I fought the idea thinking this was part of the slippery slope that might one day lead me to sitting in a dark house at Hallowe'en so I don't have to hand out candy. Or having a small pink fake tree on the coffee table while I sit there in my fluffy slippers.

However I have my real tree still and all the random, not decor, heavy on memory decorations that represent all my Christmas to date:

And here are thirteen pint jars of my sister Dawn's wonderful antipasto recipe. It is sitting on top of a 130 year old treadle machine my parents gave me when I was 16, painted up by a neighbour, in one of those years when my dad went to grad school again and money was tight. It worked wonderfully BTW:

Here is the recipe, it is really great and simple:

This shot is Mr. Billy exploring my table top tree. My daughter's tree doesn't have anything on the lower half since Mr. Bill is very good at yelling "Ball" and hurling the decorations across the room:

One of my slower projects has been clothes for the American girl dolls. Basically these involve the same sewing time as the same garments would be in adult size. Let me tell you the doll sized jean jackets have been put on hold:

Finally as I have said other years my little neighbourhood is famous for its lights. In fact some evenings we have as many as four tour buses going up and down the streets. (It is a point of honour if they slow down in front of your house). My own place is well decorated but these shots are of other houses near me that I snapped on an evening walk. 

My neighbour who lives in the one below told me that one evening when she came home late from a meeting, her husband was out of town for a few days, and there was a car parked in front of her house. Tired she went up to bed but was detoured by a knock at the door, "Would you mind turning on your lights?"

That's how it is around here.

I also actually finished knitting my youngest son's sweater. This took me about a month, breaking my own land speed record and expectations. I pick him up at the airport today coming in from Texas so I go this done under the wire for sure:

 I also made twenty pair of polar fleece lined felted wool mittens. My husband has been collecting wool sweaters for me from consignment shops as he toured around rural areas for work. They should be warm:

So back to the workshop, with extra dogs in the house and a husband booking tee times down south for the winter, I need to stay focused.

More later.

I stand corrected, or in this case educated

Well first of all my apologies, cosplay, of course I get that. Makes perfect sense. Speed readers unite.

I know all about anime, and can spot a steampunk outfit from across the street, but this one has passed me by, or at least my neighbourhood in Halifax, Nova Scotia.

I read more, once I read the helpful comments, and realized that I understand cosplay, and like all women have been doing this, dressing in character or like a character, so much of my life.

Hands up if you ever suited up for work, or heaven forbid are old enough to remember when dressing for success meant a version of what men wore right down to the little scarf numbers (Palmer and Pletsch did early do-it-yourself instructions) that were lady ties.

Haven't we all done this? Haven't most women dressed the part at some stages of their lives, or tried to redefine themselves with wardrobe changes?

It is a really interesting question.

The bride who feels like a princess. 

The woman who is caught by a co-worker out getting milk and is horrified someone she works with has seen her without make-up. 

The way you feel in your first heels, like a real grown up woman. 

The way you want to get out of those heels the day you decide you are wearing them for someone else. 

Why you put on your lipstick when you have had bad news. 

Why wearing flannelette pyjamas makes you sleep safe like your dad was still in the living room.

Everyone is so sure the way women should look and we try so hard to pick up on that.

What are you wearing is the first most important question.

I wonder if we are really asking, who should I be?

Or how much unlike you can I risk.

At some level I think sewers, an undoubtedly cosplayers, are exploring this - one trying to find self definition through self expression, possibly the other trying on different ways of being.

As for me right now as my own life is opening up again, post child raising, work more strategic than routine, I am wondering if it is time to dress the outside like the inside - which is something I am going to have to do myself. 

Wonder what that is going to look like?