Giving a Program to Omaha ASG

I'm getting ready to give a program on Wardrobing and Sewing With A Plan (SWAP) to the Omaha chapter of ASG on Thursday. I'm going to take quite a few garments as well as some wardrobe planning methods and ideas, so it should be interesting I hope. They've asked me to bring some of my covered shoes as shown in Threads as well. I'm kind of excited about it. It's always fun to talk sewing and clothes.

Wardrobing has always held a fascination for me, as I think it does for most sewers. After all, isn't it really all about the clothes? I really only have ever had myself to sew for, and I have to say it's been nice in a way. Yes, it would be fun to do things for a daughter so I could try all the cute, trendy things that I'm a little bit past, but then again, I don't have to share my sewing time across more than one wardrobe. I guess that makes me a little bit like the Selfish Seamstress, although possibly (I hope) not quite as blatant about it. I do love her haikus, though. Very funny stuff.

Speaking of SWAP, I have to give a big shout-out to my dear friend Carolyn of Diary of a Sewing Fanatic, who won the Grand Prize in the SWAP Contest at Stitcher's Guild on Artisan's Square. She definitely deserved the win, with the gorgeous work she's done, and I think she's surpassed herself. Be sure and take a look.

There's Always Something....

Isn't that the truth?

I traded cars on Monday. I was driving a Ford Explorer, and I don't need the 4WD feature much anymore, plus it really cuts down on the mileage you get. I now am driving a Suzuki Kizashi, and so far I really like it. I think it's a cute car, too. I can't believe the major room I now have in the garage, which used to have both the Explorer and the Lincoln TownCar in it, as well as everything else one usually finds in a garage, and then some.



The bad news is that Tuesday evening I sprained my ankle. I was carrying some things from my Mom's house downstairs here, and I missed the last step and fell onto the landing, right on my foot/ankle. I've never actually sprained anything before, and I don't think this is as bad as what I've heard described by others, so I'm hoping it will heal quickly. I've been doing the ice/rest/elevation thing, and along with an Ace bandage wrapped around it, it seems to be improving. The swelling is moving down toward my toes now a bit, and the actual ankle and above looks perfectly normal. Just when the gardening season is beginning to really heat up, here I am, hobbling around. Oh well, at least it's not permanent.

I am hosting the Mu Phi's Tuesday night (my music fraternity) but luckily I don't have to make the dessert. My brother's going to come over and get the folding chairs out of the basement for me, and I think I can do everything else, albeit slowly.

I'm doing a program for the Omaha chapter of ASG on the 20th, and I had a lot of plans that I was working on for that which may have to be slightly modified, but it should be a very nice evening anyway. They've asked me to speak about Wardrobing/Sewing with a Plan, and to show some of my covered shoes as well.

A Coat in My Future? and Books!

 

It's a horribly cold day today, (high of 15) and I went out this afternoon to the grocery store for a few essentials since this is going to be the "warm" day for the next week. Of course I felt compelled to stop at Hancock Fabric for their 5-day sale. There were a few of those 99 cent Simplicity patterns I needed.

Well, I took a quick tour around the store and happened to notice a piece of extremely wide-wale corduroy on the home-dec remnant table. It's my color, a dull gray-green, and I've been looking for a corduroy like this for a couple years to make a coat. There was a little over 3.5 yards, so I can make a car-coat length, which is just what I want. There was also a nice thick, fairly drapey faux suede in a matching color, so I can have a little detailing. Then I happened to find a beautiful stretch moleskin in a very similar color as well. I'm thinking a pair of pants from it, and there may be enough for something else as well. So, my quick look turned into a huge bag that I brought home. I'm really pleased with what I found though. The three pieces are in the photo above. I want a fairly plain style, and I'm going to look through my patterns, as I suspect I have something that will be just perfect. I'm hoping to end up with something similar to a RTW coat that's my everyday do-anything coat. It's getting a little aged now, so a replacement would be fine.

 

I got a wonderful book for Christmas from my sister. It's the one on the right above, The Art of Knitting: Inspirational Stitches, Textures, and Surfaces by Francoise Tellier-Loumagne. It's quite unusual in its approach, and is mostly photos of various knit techniques, not necessarily handknit techniques, or even regular knitting machine techniques. It is quite inspirational though, and I'm enjoying dipping in and absorbing it slowly.

The other book is The Knitter's Book of Yarn by Clara Parkes of The Knitters Review. I expect to be able to match yarns and patterns more easily with this in hand. I hope so anyway. I imagine a lot will depend on whether I take the advice I'm given, or whether I decide I can make it work anyway. Live and learn!

 

My last new treasures are the Japanese pattern books Pattern Magic 1 & 2. I read on several websites in December that you could order them from AmazonJapan, and they were having a free shipping special so it was the time to order. I'd been wishing for the first one for quite some time, and when this deal came, and both books were available, I bit. Well, they're lovely books, and when you order, no shipping shows in your total. However.....when they come, the shipping is included, and it's slightly more than the cost of the books. I contacted AmazonJapan and they will do nothing about it. So, I'm pleased with the books, but there's a definite bad taste in the mouth as well.

Nightie, Night!

I bought some beautiful embroidered-border batiste from FabricMart some time ago, and finally got around to making a nightgown from it. It's such a fine, thin fabric that it feels quite luxurious, although it's cotton. Perfect for a nightgown. I used my copied-from-a-favorite-RTW-gown pattern, and although it's quite simple, I'm very pleased with it, as it's exactly what I wanted.


Photo Link Here

I was planning to use some trim for straps and the top edge, but as I worked with the fabric I enjoyed the feel of it so much, and it was so light that I was afraid trim would weigh it down, so I decided to do narrow turned tube straps, and also to just turn the top edge over twice and do a hand stitched finish. I used Edge Stitch, as described in my favorite sewing book, Sew the French Way. It's said to be de rigeur for fine lingerie seams, and it's very pretty. It's also used to attach lace and appliques to lingerie, as it has tiny decorative holes when you're done. It looks very much to me like the heirloom stitch on my machine called Point de Paris, although this is much finer and more flexible by far. It only took a couple hours to do the stitching, and I enjoyed it. I may even do more. You can see it in the next photo, and if you want a real close-up, use the link below the photo.


Photo Link Here

The yarn I ordered Thursday night from elann.com came yesterday (Monday) which I thought was excellent service. I'm planning an Instant Jacket type cardigan out of each of the two yarns. The left is Louet's Celebrity, and on the right is Austermann's Soft Wool. I also got a couple sets of double-pointed needles that I needed.


Photo Link

I've also begun to seriously plan my Fall sewing, and have begun tracing and altering the patterns I'm planning to use. This is not something I generally do more than one pattern at a time, and I'm finding that this is really focusing my mind on details of what I want to do, and has been quite the nice experience. I dislike cutting out a number of garments at the same time, as it's so easy to change your mind about some detail when it's too late, but I think this mass alteration plan may be a good one for me. That way, when I'm ready to sew, I'll be ready to sew!

Inspiration Welcome

Summer always seems to be a hard time to get a lot of serious sewing done. There are just so many things that need attention right now, and sewing is one of the things that gets put on the back burner for a bit. I'm still getting some knitting done, as I can do it anywhere, while the sewing is much less portable.

Except for the planning and inspiration processes. I'm almost never without a small notepad or notebook, and I love to make lists of planned garments, coordinates, fabrics, etc. The fun just never ends! As an adjunct to this, I am looking at lots of publications for ideas, as well as online sources of course.

I just ordered the new Marfy catalog (Fall 2007/2008) today.

There are supposed to be six free patterns with it this time. The Spring issue had 3 more free patterns than advertised, but I think that was a fluke. I'm kind of excited to know that it will soon be here. I went ahead and ordered it with courier delivery, so it may even be here next week!

I got my new copy of Ornament Magazine yesterday.

I really like this publication. It has a lot of things besides textiles and clothing, but everything is of a very high standard, and one idea does lead to another....

I've also been redoing my closet and finally decided to seriously begin using my former sewing room (an extra bedroom) as a dressing room and closet adjunct. So, with a lot fewer clothes in my main closet, it's much easier to see what I have, what I want to wear, and where it all is. I also ruthlessly weeded things out, much more so than I've ever been able to bring myself to do before, and I'm so pleased with the results. It's definitely a work in progress, and probably always will be, but I'm going to try to keep it up.

I'm happy to say that the wisteria is finally blooming, although certainly not as much as it would have earlier if not for our very late, very hard freeze this spring. Since the vine is fully leafed out, it's also not as dramatic as the earliest bloom usually is, but it's very nice to see it. I've been pruning bushes, weeding the lawn and flowerbeds, and dividing waterlilies and moving them around to various ponds which need more or less shade. I just keep telling myself that it's really good exercise.