Cutting Correctly

Like many of you, when I was learning to sew, I was never told to cut off the lines that outline pattern pieces. I think most people I saw either cut outside them, or tried to go right down the center. When I finally heard that you should cut them off, I was surprised, but it sounded okay. I did wonder why the pattern companies never put that in the instructions. (Just one more surprise for us?) Perhaps they do now, I haven't looked.

So, I knew this was the thing to do, but it never really clicked in my head until I was doing these muslins for the coat and jacket I'm working on. I've been tracing around the pattern pieces with a Sharpie to mark the muslin, and it suddenly struck home that the reason you cut off the lines is because they're from tracing around the pattern pieces. It seems very obvious now, but I've never traced around pattern pieces to mark seamlines before except thread tracing on fashion fabric.

Since I'm doing Marfy patterns, there are no seam allowances on them so I'm not actually cutting off the lines, but I am stitching on the inside of the lines, which are fairly thick. I found the easiest way to get an accurate tracing from a paper patter (rather than an oaktag or other thicker pattern) is to use a slightly broader felt tip and run half of it on the pattern paper and the other half will fall on the muslin. That way there's no chance of sliding underneath the paper with the pen. When you're doing this, you're cutting single layer, although you can do double if you mark quite a few points with pins and turn your piece over after you've cut and then re-align your pattern and mark the second side. I do like to cut my fashion fabric single layer when it's important, though. It's easier to thread trace, and you don't have to cut all those tailor tacks apart.

What brought this on? I was looking at Fashion-Incubator and one of the archived posts featured today is about Marking & Cutting accurately. It's a classic, so read and enjoy if you haven't seen it, or even if you have, it's a nice refresher.

Back to the Jacket

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This is my sample for the bands on the sleeves and the pockets for Marfy #1234. I couldn't think what would be the best way to do this and it came to me the other day. The pattern is drafted so that the bands enclose the edge of the fashion fabric. I simply stitched RST on the seamline, flipped it over and folded under the edge. I will handstitch it down on the inside of the real thing. This is just pressed. I think it looks great, although the selvedge edge won't show on the actual jacket. These are the details that I get so excited about when I sew. Watching the fabrics blend and the steam pressing do its magic is just very satisfying. Now if the real thing will only look as good.

I got the notion to order a bunch of sewing books the other day. I was looking for some booklets by Alfred Bach, and found them at Abe Books. As long as I was ordering, I got a bunch of other things. These are used books, and in some cases, the postage for one book is more than the cost of the book, so I looked for other things to order to make it worthwhile. I was lucky enough to find 2 Kenneth King books, including the one that's hard to find, Couture Details. There are several still available, but I have to tell you, I got the one at the best price.

The Bach books are:
Short Cuts to Professional Dressmaking
Short Cuts to Professional Tailoring
Short Cuts to Fitting.

I don't have the fitting book yet, but the other two have impressed me, especially the tailoring book. They were all written before fusibles were available, but there are a lot of things that haven't changed, fusibles or no fusibles. My cashmere coat will not include fusibles either, so this should come in very handy. His list of steps to take when constructing a tailored jacket or coat is really good, in my opinion, as is his explanation of how to "morph" patterns together to get the details you want on the silhouette you want.

If you've never used Abe Books before, they're a nice resource. They're a consortium of used bookstores (maybe some new as well) that have pooled their search functions. They're mostly US, Canadian and UK booksellers. Their prices are generally considerably more reasonable than Amazon, plus it's nice to support small bookstores. NAYY, just a longtime satisfied customer.

Coat Muslin

Well, I've pretty well finished the coat muslin on The Great Coat Sew-Along. I haven't heard from Marji on her opinion of it since I got the sleeves in and the collar on. We had thought it might be too big in the back, and I tried narrowing it a bit. It was not good that way. I think the cashmere is going to hang differently enough from the muslin that the center back won't fold as it is now. I think it will look rather luxurious and nicely full. I hope so anyway. Pearle had a good point as well, which was that since this was going to be kind of a special coat, I may want to wear it for a long time, and I may gain a pound or two at some time in the future. Heaven forbid, but I would not be terribly surprised. Even if I stay the size I am now, I like the way it feels and looks. Here are the photos of the finished muslin. Now if Marji comes up with something, I'm going to try it, but for now, I'm pretty well set on this, with possible adjustment of the off-grain center front. It's swinging a little far to the side in the muslin, but you can't tell what will happen in the actual fabric, which is thicker and heavier. And as Roberta Carr says, you can always cut it off and you're right back where you started, no harm, no foul.


More Muslin Photos

These are taken with only a blouse underneath. You can see it with a suit jacket underneath, without sleeves at the Link above. The other photos with sleeves are with the back narrowed, which I don't like.

My fabric is on its way, and when it comes I'm going to work on deciding what underlining and lining, etc. I will use. I don't think I have any silk that I'll want to use for the lining, but I want to see how a few prints I have look with the cashmere. I'm not sure I have enough of any of them either, but I can see.

Coat Work

I've got the body of my coat muslin together and ready to check. I'll take photos tomorrow and see how it really looks. So far, I'm pretty pleased. I haven't tried it with a jacket or sweater underneath, but it looks like I should have plenty of room for that.

Marji asked about the pattern drafting on the front/side piece and I have some photos of the piece itself and of the marked muslin, which is easier to see I think. As always, follow the photos links to PBase where you can see larger, more detailed photos.

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There's a lot of shaping in the dart which is really the side seam, and it makes a nice waistline curve on the coat. You can see that much better on the close-up of the muslin piece here.

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There's not a lot of seam allowance after you cut down to the horizontal dart so you can match the vertical dart. When sewing the first side I stitched the horizontal dart and then cut down to release it. On the second side I tried cutting first. This was a mistake I think, as it leaves such tiny seam allowances to work with twice instead of just once. This is definitely a spot for some reinforcement and/or overcasting.
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MaryBeth commented on the attractions of a pattern already drafted for turn-of-cloth, and I thought you might all enjoy seeing the collar and undercollar patterns stacked up. The undercollar is on the top, and is quite a bit smaller. The CB and neck seam areas match exactly, then the upper collar gradually increases toward the point and remains larger all along the outer edge.

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The collar stands and front facing are also drafted this way.

Below you can see the inside and outside views of the vertical/horizontal dart combination after it's stitched.


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Tins asked about the Roberta Carr off-grain adjustment. It's in the Palmer/Pletsch book, Couture by Roberta Carr. It's a method of adding a wedge of fabric to an opening, like a coat front or a skirt slit or whatever so that it hangs closed nicely. I imagine we've all had skirts that had a nice, on-grain slit that wanted to swing open all the time. This happens with anything that's sort of narrow, or at least not really flared, and which has an on-grain edge at the opening. You add according to the formula, and it all depends on the length of the garment and the weight and properties of the fabric for how much you add. On the muslin it's a little tough to tell since it's not the thickness that the cashmere is, but I think it's going to be a nice addition to the pattern.

I did get my swatches today and I don't care for any of the contrasts they sent with the print. They're all beautiful fabrics, but they don't really go with this. So I'm planning on an all-print coat. I'm wondering if it isn't yarn-dyed and jacquard woven too, as it has the pattern on both the front and back. The contrasts were all wool/cashmere blends and they didn't have the same surface look as the 100% cashmere, which is probably okay, but the weight and feel of the fabric is completely different. After feeling and holding the almost weightless cashmere, the wool blends feel stiff and heavy.

Coat Decisions Part 1

Well, after all my pattern ideas, I have settled on one that I didn't even mention or show in the last post. I should have realized right away that since this fabric has such a busy print, it needs a very staid, classic style to balance it. When this year's Marfy catalog came out, there was a coat pattern in it that is a style I'd been looking for, and although I had no plans to make another coat anytime soon, I bought it. I knew that if I didn't, with my luck when I wanted the style I wouldn't be able to get it or find another. This is Marfy #1746.


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I actually looked at this pattern originally when I was going through coat patterns I have, but I was so fixated on a swing-type coat that I just dismissed it, and as I said, a swing coat style with this fabric just never came together in my mind, no matter how hard I tried to make it do so. For some reason, I came back around to this pattern and looked at it again, and suddenly I could see it in this fabric, and it seemed to be just perfect.

The pattern has a Front and Side piece that are cut in one with a vertical dart from the pocket level to the armscye in lieu of a princess seam, and also a short horizontal dart off of the vertical dart. There is no side seam. The Side piece joins the Back as an armscye princess seam, so there's a lot of unbroken area for a patterned fabric. There is a CB seam. It has a 2-piece sleeve of course, and the under- and upper-collar and front facing are drafted to include the turn-of-cloth. I've found all Marfy patterns to include this, and it's awfully nice. There are no lining pieces, but that's easily remedied.

I've ordered a swatch of the gorgeous Cashmere Print I want to use from Elliott Berman Textiles, and also asked for a swatch of a plain cashmere or similar fabric in the darker color if they have it. I think it would be fun to do the facings, under collar, and bottom side of the pocket flaps in the plain color. They said they'd look, and if I can't get it, doing everything in one fabric will work very nicely too.

I checked the hem circumference of this pattern against several other patterns I have, and also against several coats I have, and although at 60" it's narrower than the other patterns I checked (the Patrones is 74") it's the same as 3 coats I have that I like very much, and which are perfectly comfortable in width. So, I'm not worried about that.

Marji suggested that I do Roberta Carr's off-grain addition to the CF on this coat since it is fairly narrow, and I'm glad she brought it up as I'm not sure I would have thought of it. It's an easy change to make, and I'm now ready to cut out the muslin and stitch it up to try on. I'm glad to do this muslin for reasons other than the obvious fitting, as I'm figuring my own yardage needs, and I came up with 3 yards by measuring the pattern pieces. The catalog recommends 2.8 meters for a smaller size than mine, so I'm hoping to be pretty close. I don't want to order more than I need to, and I certainly don't want to get too little. I cut my muslin piece at 3 yards, so I'll see if it will work. If not, I've got more muslin and either way I'll know how much to order. I may order a little extra anyway, just in case, and for print placement.

My sister had a wonderful idea about using any scraps. She suggested glove cuffs, and wouldn't that be pretty luxurious? I've decided that any gloves I make should themselves be a knit or at least non-ravel fabric that's somewhat stretchy. Even leather has some stretch. Anyway, that's all pie in the sky until the coat is done.

I know I'll need underlining for this, and I'm anxious to get the swatch and see what I think might work, and I need to find a really nice lining. I'm thinking silk, and I'll see if I have something I like or if I need to order something.

As The Vogue Sewing Book says:

"Don't skimp on the inner fabrics: interfacings, underlinings, and lining fabrics should match your fashion fabric's quality."

I want to do this well, and if I'm going to use a wonderful fabric, I want to at least try to end up with a wonderful coat. I'm certainly going to have all the help I could ask for to get it right.

One thing I've realized while planning and thinking about this is that although I've always said Yes when asked if I have more than one project going at once, I actually don't do it very often, or at least if I do, it's not more than one "major" project, so this will be an interesting experience from that angle as well. I'm not sure I'm really comfortable putting down the jacket I'm working on, for example, and beginning pattern work on this coat. I think I need a list with steps to do on it more than ever before.

Coat Pattern Dilemma

I was lucky enough to get to participate in the Marji's Great Coat Sew-Along although I wasn't sure if I was going to be sewing or just watching and learning. It seems that I may get to sew, but now I can't make up my mind about a pattern. I was thinking seriously about this Patrones design, either as a raincoat or in a seafoam melton.

Patrones Coat

Then I saw this fabulous Cashmere Print, and I've been thinking about it ever since. I've gone back and forth and right now I'm forth. The big problem is that I can't decide on a pattern that would do it justice. Here is the sort of thing I'm thinking of, but I worry that the two Vogue patterns are dated, and the Simplicity is more of a jacket, which is fine, but I'm not sure I'd do it for the Sew-Along.


Vogue 1227

I'm leaning toward the swing coat slightly, and away from the Issey Miyake coat, but I am by no means wedded to anything yet.


Vogue 7322

There's also a Marfy pattern that would be great, but it would need a contrast, and I'm not sure I can get one easily, or in time. I would think the darker color would be what I'd want, and it would have to be an exact match.


Marfy 1418

The Simplicity appeals because of the bias peplum, which would show off the print very nicely.


Simplicity 4047

Anyway, I'm going to have to make a decision about the Sew Along pretty soon whether I do the cashmere or not.

Marfy 1234 Jacket Shell

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Here's how far I've gotten on my first version of the Marfy 1234 jacket. The fabric is much more a melange of colors than I think shows on the photo, and the contrast which is just laid on top of the jacket shell is a perfect coordinate. It's a taupe which just makes the colors pop in the jacket fabric. The reverse of the taupe is a dull aqua, and it's okay with the jacket too, but it didn't make it sing like the taupe does. I'm so sorry this doesn't come across in the photo, at least on my computer, but it's great in person. This is something I just bought, and for once I bought a lot, so I have 5 yards of the taupe/aqua to use for coordinates. Definitely pants and probably a skirt, but I feel like I should do something with the reversible qualities of the fabric too, so I may come up with something else too.

I never did post photos of my jacket muslin, although I took enough of them. Every time I did, I found something I could improve. I ended up tucking out about 1" at the waist, and 3/4" above the bust in the front and tapering to nothing at the side back seam. There may have to be a little more taking in at the hem, but I wanted to wait until I saw how it was going to hang in the actual fabric, as that can make a difference. It's not overly big around there now, but the muslin doesn't drape like the boucle, and I don't want it to look skimpy.

I'm now at the point where I need to decide whether to fuse-underline the sleeves. I'm sort of against it, as I don't want them to be stiff, but I wonder about doing a small area at the cap, besides the hem area, which will naturally be fused. I also need to decide on a lining.

I've been pulling threads out of the extra boucle to see if I want to make my own trim, besides the contrast strips on the sleeves and pockets. It could be very pretty trim, but I'm not sure I want to go that far. I think I may like the very tailored look.

Comments, Comments

Like all bloggers, I love getting comments. I should respond more quickly to them, but I do appreciate each and every one, and I love that I learn so much from them.

Iris Pins:
Marji wanted to know if the Iris pins I got are like the old ones.

I am not sure, but I'm leaning slightly toward NO. It may be that I'm using them on some tough fabric, but my old ones, which like Marji I guarded carefully but eventually ran out of anyway, seemed to be sharper or something. These are okay, but no better than the Clover quilting pins I got at JoAnn's last year. I do love the way the new box opens and closes. You push the top down to open and squeeze the lid when you put it back and it holds tight.

Patrones:
Mardel is making the same coat pattern I'm planning on! What fun, and it will be interesting to see how they turn out. (It will be very interesting to see if I get it done at all.)

Nancy K and Marji thought the neckline might be wide for a raincoat. Yes, I suppose it is, but I guess when I say raincoat I really mean spring coat that might be in the rain a little bit too. I don't really do much walking outside where I would be wearing something like this without having an umbrella also, so I think I can get away with it.

Marji asked if Krystin still has copies of this issue. As of a couple days ago, no although she was waiting for payment on one or two, so you could ask.

Elliot Berman Fabric:
I'm so thrilled that you all like this too, and I'm pleased to be able to help you all find more fabric!

Marfy #1234 Jacket:
Marji mentioned the collar treatment on the Marfy pattern, and I'm really planning on not doing a contrast collar and details right now. I may change my mind, but I want this to be a go-with-lots of things jacket, and I'm afraid if I have a large contrast area, that will make it harder to do that. I'm thinking of a flat ribbon trim for the sleeves and pockets. It's just an applied band, so I can make that decision anytime. The collar and lapels are integral of course, but I think I'm going to try it without the contrast and see how I like it. I don't want it to be "blah", but with this fabric, I hope it won't be anyway. Now if I do it in the NE tweed as well, that will have a contrast as shown in the pattern.

Jacket Muslin

I don't often do "real" muslins, more often a kind of possibly-wearable muslin, but for this Marfy jacket, I wanted to do it right, especially since I now have a couple of ideas of fabrics I'd like to use with it if I can get it just right.

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I made it to JoAnn's yesterday and bought a bolt of muslin (with my 40% off coupon of course) so there is no excuse now. I also got some very nice $2/yard cotton canvas type fabric for my coat muslin from the home-dec clearance they were having. Marji has convinced me that muslins are the way to go for at least tailored things, if not more.

I'm fairly pleased with my flat pattern alterations, all except one. When I do my FBA it also adds width to the lower part of the front piece. I don't necessarily need that, or not all of it, and so I used the method in Palmer/Pletsch's Fit for Real People to remove it. I thought the method seemed a little cavalier, and I don't remember doing it this way before, but I couldn't recall what I usually do, so thought I'd try it. Well, it was not a success.

They basically have you slice it off the side of the front piece at an angle from the bottom. Unsurprisingly, this causes the front piece to swing to the sides, making it look like it's much too small around. Since I left very wide SAs when I cut out, I'll just add it back in, and then remove the amount piecemeal from the other seams, and maybe some from this seam, but certainly not all of it. What was I thinking? Very little apparently. Perhaps hope springs eternal for the quick, easy fix.

I haven't put the sleeves in yet, but the collar and neckline is just lovely. I'm a little worried about over-fitting this if I start in to put a little more shape in it. It's really supposed to be fairly loose, at least for Marfy, but it should have some shape. Well, after I get the sleeves in, I'll be able to tell a little more.

The thing I'm really excited about now is that I think I have stumbled upon a group of fabrics that would be perfect for the June Capsule Collection at Stitcher's Guild. I had hoped to join in this, and then I became sure I wasn't going to be able to sew for a while yet. Suddenly, I am getting some sewing time in, and it's just great, but with all the fabric I have, I was stymied when I tried to figure out what to do right now, besides work on this muslin. I need some summer pants, and I want easy care over anything else. I just don't need going out and looking stylish clothes right now, although I wouldn't sneeze at them either.

I have 3 fabrics I bought within the last year that match beautifully. One is a reversible bottom-weight with a silvery taupe on one side and a dull aqua on the other. At the same time I bought an aqua jersey knit and a fine linen-look fabric. It could be linen, it was a mystery fabric. They look great together, but there was no "pop" to them. I was holding things against them, and tried the Green Multi Tweed from Nancy Erickson that I got this spring, and it's absolutely perfect! It just made my heart sing, and made me want to sew again right now. What a great find. I want a jacket of the tweed in the same Marfy pattern I'm working on now, pants from the bottom-weight (and there's enough of that for something else too), a tank top from the jersey, and a camp shirt from the linen. I love it when the decisions are made. Even if I change my mind later, it seems like once I have something to change it from it's so much easier to get down to it.

I can't decide whether or not to order the laminated wool fabric that is shown at the bottom of the last post. It's a lightweight sweater knit with no lengthwise stretch, but good crosswise stretch. I don't really know what to do with it. I really like it, and maybe just a knit top is what I should do rather than something more involved. I was thinking of a Burda WOF dress, but it's for 2-way stretch fabric, and I'm not sure this will work. I think it would, but I don't want to stop everything else right now to make a dress 'muslin' with a similar knit.

This is 103B from the 2-2008 issue.

The reviews I've read on this pattern are pretty positive, and I PM'd one of the reviewers who said she thought it ought to work with a one-way stretch knit. They both said the front skirt that underlaps should be full width, which I'd agree with, so then I'd have to figure how much extra fabric, and the skirt at least would need to be lined so it would slide rather than catch on itself. Oh decisions, decisions! Maybe I'll just wait and if the fabric sells out, it wasn't meant to be.

Birgitte just asked such a good question that I'm going to edit this post and add my response.

She's thinking of the same Burda dress pattern, but with silk jersey (yum!) and wonders "What kind of lining would you use?" I honestly hadn't thought it through, but was just thinking vaguely (like so much of my thinking) of a slick lining fabric so the top layer of skirt front would slide over the lower, but of course, it's going to have to stretch. Then a slip came to mind, but that still wouldn't help the top layer/lower layer bit, although I did think about attaching the underlap to a lining layer if I don't have enough fabric to get clear to the side seam. From the layout it looks like I should have no trouble, but you never know. Then I combined my ideas and came up with tricot. I think a very nice quality tricot, especially a satin tricot, such as you'd make a nice slip or lingerie from would be ideal for this. It would stretch, and it would be nice and slick. Nylon is not hot like polyester either. Of course for silk jersey, you might want another stretch silk, but either one would work. I have lots of really nice tricot in some good neutrals, so I think this is a plan!

Wonderful Fabric!

Elliott Berman Textiles was a new name to me when I received a message at Stitcher's Guild that I should take a look and try them. Well, I did and I just received my fabric today, and it is just as wonderful as the very large swatch they had sent. Here's the fabric from their site, and below I'll give you a very detailed description of the fabric in-hand because I think it's impossible to get the feeling of the actual fabric without the swatch in hand, since it's a very complex weave.


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It's a wool with a very dark brown and caramel background. This is a single thread, and the caramel fiber is finer, and wrapped around the darker brown thread very much like a knitting yarn. It's a boucle weave, but very small, low loops.

It has a variegated yarn which is a very short eyelash type woven on the face into squares of about 1/2". The colors are marigold, russet and steel blue. The eyelash also includes a very small percentage of cellophane/shiny eyelashes, which gives the fabric a bit of sparkle when it's in the light, but is otherwise unobtrusive.

There's a thick/thin white yarn (the thin is a thread and the thick is like a blob) which is woven in squares on the back in the spaces between the eyelash squares which shows through a bit in the center of the squares. Its main purpose is drawing the fabric up into a waffle effect so that the eyelash lines form raised squares and the background is the dark/caramel part.

It's extremely light in weight, and looks like it might be a knit, but it isn't. It's a Bill Blass fabric, and it certainly has a lot going for it, since with all this detail, it reads as just a nice fabric until you really begin to look. Anyway, I'm smitten. and I have decided on a jacket and eventually a straight skirt. The jacket pattern I've chosen is Marfy #1234, a Chanel style jacket.


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I've been working on altering the pattern for the last couple days, and I'll be ready to start a muslin pretty soon I think.

And of course, I had to order just one more swatch, and it came with the wool. It's a laminated wool knit, and is a very unique fabric. It's very tempting. You can see a pretty good scan of the front and back below.



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I have a lot of plans, but I've had quite a while to plan. It looks like I'll be able to get some real sewing done soon, and I am ready!

First Patrones

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I ordered the December 2007 Patrones magazine from Twisted Angel the other day, and I got it Monday. It's a Spanish pattern magazine, somewhat similar to Burda World of Fashion. It's a little more geared toward designer patterns, and there are some nice ones in here. There are 3 blouses I could see making, and a classic evening jacket, although that's something I don't need. There are also several evening gowns since it's the December issue, or maybe they have them all the time, but I doubt it. Several of the gowns remind me a bit of 1920's lingerie, and I began to think that one at least would be fun to do as a very luxe nightgown.
Photo Link It's something I'll have to think about anyway.

I'm still trying to decide if I'm going to actually join in with Marji's Great Coat Sewalong or if I'm just going to be an observer. I'd really like to sew along, but raincoats are on my brain, and I think this opportunity to make a great coat with expert assistance should not be wasted on a raincoat. That said, there is a neat coat pattern in this Patrones that calls out to be a raincoat.
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I think the photo of the coat is just awful, as is the fabric and the standard of sewing that I can observe. I really like the lines of the pattern though. I think this one will have to wait, or else really hurry up before the Marji-Coat.

Textile Trends

I found an interesting link to some large scale images of trend textiles shown at the Los Angeles International Textile Show in April. Very interesting and a nice overview of 11 identified trends such as Into The Wild, Marrakesh, Gray Days, etc. Here's a small taste with thumbnails from several of the categories. I would imagine that these fabrics are just now coming into the retail market if they're here at all yet.


You can see larger images on their website, and there are more fabrics in each category than usually shown in trend reports.

This is from an interesting publication, The California Apparel News.net

Tag, I'm It

I've been tagged for a Getting To Know You meme by Rhonda of Rhoto's Rag.
As I read through my answers, I'm almost embarrassed to be so boring. Oh well, this is it.

WHAT WAS I DOING 10 YEARS AGO?
4I was sewing and knitting, although knitting was a fairly new skill at that time. I learned probably 15 years ago.
4We were still farming actively, so there was a lot of activity in that direction. I drove tractors, combines, trucks, whatever was needed. I still miss my "spring get-in-shape-right-now" program, which mainly involved helping to load the drill during planting. We'd go out about 3 or 4 times a day for this. After about a week or so, when it got almost easy, we were done. I am not a happy exerciser, but I don't mind working for a purpose.
4I was doing a lot of singing and work with music clubs, which I still do.


WHAT ARE 5 THINGS ON MY TO-DO LIST TODAY?
4Work on my woven gloves.
4Work into altering the pattern for my next jacket.
4Decide on a coat project in case I get to sew along with Marji and the gang instead of just reading and wishing.
4Start in again on my draped dress. It's fairly close to done so I might as well get on with it.
4Become acquainted with my sewing room again, perhaps.


SNACKS I ENJOY:
4Crackers
4Chocolate Malt
4Cookies
4Apples, Oranges or Grapes


THINGS I WOULD DO IF I WERE A BILLIONAIRE:
4I have no idea. I can't think it would change much immediately. I'd get an accountant to advise me on tax things, and probably set up a foundation to put the money where I would like it to go rather than just let it go in taxes. Personally, I'd like to have a beautifully finished sewing studio, but the main sticking point which is having to endure the mess, time, and strangers in the house while it's being done, wouldn't change if I were a zillionaire, so that might be out anyway.

PLACES I HAVE LIVED:
4Nebraska my whole life. First in Holdrege, now in Lincoln. I've spent extended periods in Southern California, Laguna Beach mainly.

WHAT TYPE(S) OF WORK HAVE I DONE?
4Babysitting to start. 50 cents/hour and double on New Year's Eve!
4Carhop at A&W (I did not like root beer when I began, and I still don't.)
4Office work and sales for a women's department store.
4Cocktail waitress during college.
4Since then I've been at home, and I do a lot with the businesses, but I have no official title or job description. Mainly I make sure everything gets done one way or the other.

5There is a connection between the clothing sales and waitressing jobs. They let us have a charge account at the store and when business was slow, we would try on clothes and talk each other into buying them with our discount. I ended up with a lot of very nice clothing, and a pretty good sized bill. I decided I had to get out of the way of temptation and into someplace I could make enough to pay off my account. It worked.


SIX (6) “PEEPS” I WANT TO KNOW MORE ABOUT. (Somehow this sounds like marshmallow chicks.)
4Barbara Cat Fur Studio
4Mardel Sew Distracted
4Laura Laura's Sewing Room
4Carolyn Diary of a Sewing Fanatic
4Vicki Field Trips in Fiber
4Suzanne Miss Fine Fabrics for Fashion and Fun!