Podcast : Wardrobe planning

And here we go:

Podcast two: wardrobe planning

On having been around a while

This is a birthday month for me and it has occurred to me that one of the things that happens is a person realizes how many stories she has in her head, and how many of those stories still influence her as she has watched the world rotate.

Obviously in no relevant order here are some of those things:

• I had grandmother who says she had a cousin who was abducted by aliens in Alberta
• Gone for two weeks 
• You have to watch those empty roads late at night my grandmother said
• Particularly in Alberta
• I once made a bathing suit out broadcloth with a zipper in the bottoms. I was just following the pattern
• Looked pretty baggy when wet I can tell you
• I remember being a kid and going to the farm and the phone on the wall was on a party line
• Different rings for different houses and if you were quiet you could keep up to date
• A background where my mother said "you know Eldon's wife lost her leg to cancer
• But she got in the wheelchair and she still got her canning done"
• Of course she did
• My mother is on Instagram now 
• I am old enough to remember my dad saying no woman could be president
• Come her period she would blow the world up
• No one argued because he was a pharmacist and obviously had the inside medical scoop
• Plus he had no idea of how much goes on after the menopause
• Glad I have come this far

Stylerc's Margaret pants

Despite my current love affair with Jalie's pull-on pants I always keep my eye open for something new from Stylearc.

Stylarc has nailed my crotch curve and it is sooo nice to be able to make a pants pattern right out of the envelope.

So this last week when I discovered some grey Bengaline fabric on my shelves (alert finding fabric you can't even remember buying is not a sign of early onset anything, just a symptom of what "add to basket" can do to a fabric collection) I decided to try a new pattern for stretch woven.

Here is the lineart for the Margaret's:

 A nice simple pant with darts in the back to reduce the elastic bulk.

These are obviously as easy a sew as you can get. I made the 12 right off the printer.

Here is my version. Due to the stretchiness of the Bengaline these are really comfortable. I would note too that compared to other Stylearc pants the crotch is cut high and close to the body, much like a jeans fit, which actually helps the pants move well.

The bengaline is pretty stiff of course and that shows in the creases, but really for everyday pants, to be worn in this very kitchen as illustrated, I think they are great

The internet is the place where you put up pictures of your backside and consider this useful

So another pants pattern to add to the rotation, although definitely you would need a very stretchy woven (Stylearc recommends 20-30%) for this pattern, so you can get the slim fit without feeling captured.

I am not going to bother showing you all my pairs of wide legged Jalie pull-ons, not much different, but I am going to show you one pair again so you can see the contrast in leg widths between the two patterns, and different fabric types - the Jalie's are drafted for wovens and as a consequence there is are more gathers around the elastic and more drape.

IMO a girl needs more than one style of pants in her repertoire:

Well where is the world has Babs been?

 I know, I know.

The last few weeks got away from me.

We had back to school and some extra child minding requirements. I lucked into a windfall of 25 pounds of crab apples and you know I can't pass that up. That and the fermented cucumbers (yes you are able to can them at 15 minutes in a boiling water bath once the fermenting is complete), plus we had my son's in-laws here in Nova Scotia for a lovely visit and some golf around Cape Breton.

I am by far the worst golfer in the bunch (understatement of the 21st century) but am the sort of golfer who enjoys herself a lot just because it's outside and it's just a game right?

Not like I am putting in welt pockets or anything.

Here are some pictures of that trip and one of the golf courses:

When I got home I took some time to do some sewing, a pant suit, four pairs of the Jalie pull-on pants and a new pattern, Stylearc's Margaret stretch woven pants.


First the pant suit. 

I watch enough news to be thinking about these as a concept and when I saw some nice faux suede at the local Fabricville I decided to make my Jalie pants again, I just love that pattern, I am feeling loose pants these days after all those years of skinny pants and a not skinny body, and this pattern for a jacket:

The basic shape was fine but in one of those bone-headed attempts to make a pattern "easy" the front facing was eliminated and this jacket is lined right to the edge - pretty tricky to do this without the front flipping around.

I actually made this and wore it for a day and then went back in took out the sleeves and reinserted them by moving the shoulder seam in 1/2" for a better fit and moving the front seam at the opening below the collar further in 1/2" to move the lining back. I really wish I had used my common sense and drafted a facing for this jacket but hopefully now it is wearable - I go by the comfort factor - if it's not right enough I won't wear it and this one I know will.

It was one of those things that takes time and you hate giving it that time but not doing it will make you crazy every time you wear it.

I always say that the only real difference between a good sewer and a really fine sewer lies in the ability to go back and take out and fix mistakes.

Sometimes even I do this.

So here are the pictures, starting with the jacket and then the pantsuit:

Impromptu photo shoot when babysitting, pardon the lack of styling, I probably wouldn't wear polka dot socks with this outfit

Now the pantsuit. Not an impractical concept at all really.

I think you can see here why I redid the sleeves and changed the front show the lining was not as obvious

Who says I don't do action shots?

Back on track now, hopefully Daisy and I will be podcasting again before the week is out.

Flypaper thoughts, the I should be doing something else edition

• Before we go any further read this from Tim Gunn
• If you read it already this week, isn't he right?
• And this is another reason why we sew
• Have almost finished making an imitation suede pantsuit
• Haven't worn a pantsuit since the last century
• And that's not just me
• That Jalie pants pattern is the bomb 
• Cut one size smaller because the fabric stretches
• Really enjoying my niece in the basement
• Smell of garlic cooking at 11:00 p.m.
• Sound of washing machine at 3:00 a.m.
• Love having a kid in the house again
• It's the right background noise
• Miss Heidi's first week at big school
• "Get me a book"
• "See I don't know one word, they didn't teach me to read"
• Her big sister was asked "How was school?"
• "I went, I am home."
• She's learning the ropes
• I am fermenting pickles in the spare room closet
• They should have taught me to do this in school
• The front of my house has been attacked by grape vines
• Think we are moving way past possibly the jelly possibilities
• On to vineyard scale
• How do you think Sewing on the Edge would look on a label?
• I can see small feet crushing grapes in the bathtub
• Why is it just when you decide to cut out sugar someone brings home a variety pack of squares?
• Me who can't be left alone in a house with chocolate chips in the cupboard
• Is there such a thing as grape squares?
• What tops go with a pant suit?
• Where do you wear a pant suit?
• Nice fabric though
• New idea for career counselling
• Decide what clothes you want to wear to work and find a job that matches
• I can hear the loons flying over my house
• What are they telling me?
• Maybe that I should go put in the washing
• And hem those sleeves on my jacket
• Read that big trees actually send out favourable vibes to their little trees
• I had suspected as much
• I am doing that for my sister in my basement
• Never underestimate the connections

My exercise program and work out gear

I notice that the really good bloggers often post information about their workout routines, usually in response to requests from readers who want to know how they stay in such great shape.

I also note that none of you have asked me that.

But just in case what is holding you back is shyness, here we go.

The sharing of my fitness secrets.

But first the background. As I have mentioned before my niece is now happily resident in the basement floor of my house (not as bad as it sounds it is a walk out basement with full windows.) 

This means that I am now cutting out on a table upstairs. What you see below is my workout routine shot by the resident photo/journalist/cook. 

I am wearing my standard workout outfit which is an apron. I wear an apron all day because I am messy and because it has a pocket in it that I can put my iPhone in which counts my steps. Sort of a improv Fitbit. 

I keep an eye on my steps and when they are running too low (below about 12,000 a day) I go outside and walk up and down the hills of my neighbourhood, go on the exercise bike and watch Netflix or in the summer go for a swim.

Then I get back to sewing.

Enjoy my fitness routine, short but educational.

Jalie's pull-on pants revisited

A while ago I made, and blogged about, Stylearc's Tessa pant and Jalie's Pull-on pant. 

I have pretty much figured that normal life has a real place for wider leg linen pants and that they function both as something comfortable to wear in hot weather, and something handy to have in trans seasons.

I also figured that elastic waisted pull-ons made sense in a pant that was already sort of pyjamas in disguise and I went looking for a pattern to make something like that.

Stylearc's Tessa promised to be that pant with a waist that was not too bunchy (that one thing you really don't want to have happen in a woven elastic waist) but it sort of was that kind of waist when I made them up. I can do enough billowing over the belly without actually sewing it in too if you get my drift. Also the leg shape was just wider than I was ready for yet after all these narrow legged pant years.

So I then tried Jalie's pull-on pant that has a nicer more manageable leg and less ease around the waist:

I made up a grey linen pair a few posts back and really liked them. However after the wear-all-day test I realized that not having much bulk around the waist meant not much comfort around the middle when I was sitting down, and linen Spanx are not for me.

So I went back and made another pair, this time cutting them in the size for my natural waist and tapering back to my hip size. First time out I optimistically thought that my larger than the pattern waist would be accommodated by the elastic stretch.

This new version did of course add in more gathers than version one, which I guess is a fashion minus, but it moved them definitely into the category of pants I want to wear. A plus.

I really feel that sewers underestimate the importance of just plain old on the body comfort in making real favourite clothes. I often do.

So here are the pictures, made in purple linen because I tried to dye some shocking pink linen navy which anyone knows means you end up with purple pants.

If you are wondering about my styling notes this is what I wore to Home Depot with the spouse this morning with a Vera Bradley bag my daughter got for $7.00 at a thrift store, and a necklace that has the initials of all my children and grandchildren on it.

I have included two shots with my T shirt tucked in so you can see just how gathered they are, but of course I would never wear them like this. These pictures are purely for educational purposes only.

Basically all these pictures look more or less the same but I have included them all because I couldn't decide which one showed the legs best.

Also as a sewer's only bonus I made the patch pocket facing and the waist casing (these can be sewn showing out or on the inside) out of some green linen I had because I have always thought green and purple go nicely together:

The details, with my grandmother's hands holding them

Finally I really like the patch pockets on these pants, they function like slanted inseam pockets but of course are so much faster to sew:

I love this pattern and now it is just about to turn to fall, I have a summer pant TNT. Naturally.

On the podcast front I have cleaned up the sidebar labels and cleverly realized it would be helpful if they were in alphabetical order. You can find Podcasts under P. There is only one now but I am planning a back to school version for later in the week.

I have also added a proper rss feed to the site, which as it stands will take you to a feed for all posts and podcasts.

I spent several hours trying to set up a podcast only feed in iTunes but the error messages were getting annoying and I was worried this was going to cut too far into my sewing time. Maybe later. In the meantime there are two ways through this site to access the podcasts and unless anyone has any other brilliant ideas that might be the way this stands for now.

Now back to the cutting table.