Vacuuming the Lawn

BurdaStyle 7287 done: Dramatic spy look for Natasha

2012-01-29T21:29:00.000-05:00

Thank you all for your comments on the NewLook 6067 dress from last weekend. It's a real kick to read your comments! KC, I might make it again, maybe in red? I wore it to work on Monday with a cardigan and found that the v was sort of collapsing, as the cardi was pushing together the entire neckline. I may try interfacing the entire V slit area to see if it helps. and maybe wear it with a shirt underneath instead of a cardi over it. I'm interested to see how it wears in the summer!

So, do you ever see one of those patterns where the style is kind of costumey and you're not sure where you'd ever wear it to but the only way to get it out of your head is to sew it up already???

Meet "Natasha" and her dramatic spy dress, cape, and fingerless gloves, from BurdaStyle 7287. I'm wearing it with a purchased belt and a long sleeved black shirt from H&M:

I saw this in the Burda catalog at Joann's last summer and it has been floating around my sewing room ever since, asking to be made.

I started it yesterday and finished it today. It's made from gray double knit fabric with lycra from Metro Textiles, purchased during PR Shopping Day back in Sept 2011. It's a substantial, heavy fabric with a nice stretch and recovery.

I cut size 12 in the bodice and waist grading to 14 at the hip. The cape is also a 12 and the gloves are essentially a 12.

As of this moment, no one has reviewed this on pattern review which made me wonder a bit--too cray-cray? Impractical? Or maybe previously published in their magazine and reviewed under the magazine number?

What attracted me to this pattern?

1. The fingerless gloves.

I've thought about making fingerless gloves for a few years now, especially for work.
I didn't have enough fabric to make both gloves out of one continuous piece, so I pieced together one of the gloves.

I cut the size 20 gloves and then tweaked the fit. Turns out, I could have cut the 12 and used 3/8 seam allowances and been ok. I like the rouched look and the size 20 were not rouching on my arm.

The pattern has you sew the seam for the gloves, then sew down the SA around the slit for the thumb. Er, there's NO way to machine stitch down the SAs for the slit after you have sewn that seam. Right now that slit is unfinished; I will have to hand stitch it down.

2. I like the cape.

I especially like how it drapes at the top and then hangs down. I think it's pretty flattering, if a cape can even be flattering.

I don't think I've ever worn a cape, much less sewn one.

3. I like the dress itself.I don't have any knit dresses with a neckline SO high. No need to worry about bra straps showing or plunging V's....you are COVERED in this Burda. And it has back darts! YEA! I don't have to get out my Muse dress to place the darts, they are already there. The CB seam is straight and I thought I would wind up curving it but I didn't. So the back could be cut on the fold.

Here's the dress by itself: No belt, gloves or cape. I cut 2 inches off the bottom of this dress and hemmed 1.25 inches.

Detail shots:
I used a 2.5 twin needle for the armholes and neckline, and a 4.0 for the hem. If you look closely you can see the stitching.

For whatever reason, I had a LONG struggle with the binding of the armholes as I did it as per the instructions. It creates a nice finish but it took me a while to get there. I wound up not following that technique on the neckline.

I bought this ribbon remnant for 40 cents from Soutache Ribbon in Chicago during PR Weekend last year, thinking I'd sew it onto some underwear. It's impressive ribbon; strong, sturdy, luxurious.

Today I thought this might make a nice "label" for the inside of the cape (as the cape has a front and back piece), and then sewed more of the ribbon into the dress, just to make me happy.

What is "Natasha" thinking?

Watch out?

Vote for me?

Is it even crazier with my winter hat? Do I look like I'm about to go out caroling?

So what do you think? Too crazy? Too costumey? Just right for a day at the office? (which, by the way, is where this whole look is heading tmw...)

Oh, and I'm going to Tucson, AZ for a week in Feb for work--should I stay extra time? If yes, to see what?

Food for the week:
Sweet chicken and broccoli stir fry from Rocco DiSpirito's Now Eat This Diet:

Be well and good night!

New Look 6067 done: my $1200 dress.

2012-01-22T13:53:00.002-05:00

My batman shot....

I am so used to blogging in the dark...it is rare for me to blog in daylight!

So...New Look 6067 is done!

I first saw this dress at the American Sewing Expo in September. I wasn't wowed by the picture on the pattern envelope in the Simplicity booth, but when I saw it on the model on the runway, I *had* to have it. I mean, it has a belt with an incredible contrast piping opportunity and you know I love piping!! and the dress had a lot of movement, too.

Then it started popping up on the blogosphere, and when I saw it on Elizabeth (who then lead me to Sheila who made it in a double knit) I *had* to make it and make it soon. It moved way up in my sewing queue.

As you know, I spent 5 hours on this dress on Sunday, and "just" had the facings, hem, evening up the darts in the back, and finishing the armholes (sleeves or no sleeves). I thought, oh, it will take about 3 hours more. It took 7.

In the poll I took last Sunday, there were 2 votes for cap sleeves. I decided to go for it, as it's been a while since I've made a dress with cap sleeves. I just love the way they are constructed. They are lined with a very thin stretchy knit that I bought on Thursday from Joann's.

(I also bought a new, smaller rotary cutter and it cuts like a hot knife through butter, it's amazing! I don't ever remember my old rotary cutter ever cutting that way....)

Here's a shot before the sleeve was attached to the dress. The lining is sewn to the sleeve edge first, then the lining is understitched (can you see the line of understitching?). This creates a nice effect and eliminates the need to hem the sleeve edge. Then the underarm seam of the sleeve is sewn. I was also pressing all the way during this as per Ann of Gorgeous Fabrics, which really does help!

Here's the inside of it again, but sewn in:

I hadn't set in a sleeve for a while, and these set in just fine! Lately I've been sewing sleeves in flat.

Then it was time for the facings. I had asked last weekend, slit neckline or folded over collar? The votes came back, 11 for the slit and 9 for the fold over collar (thanks for voting!!!). I actually went for the slit. I don't have any dresses with this kind of neckline. Now I do! But it was a struggle!

Some of y'all expressed concern about the the neckline being too high. When I took the pix last week, that was without the SA on the neckline. But even with the SA, it felt too high. AND the slit felt too short, also like y'all mentioned. I also had HUGE issues with getting a crisp corner.

So I fixed the problems via the following...

I played with some test samples! The top two samples are where one side is interfaced and the other isn't (like the facing is interfaced but the exterior fabric isn't). The bottom two samples are where both sides are interfaced. The left-hand samples are where I stitched with 90 degree angles; the right samples are where I stitched almost to the corner, then rounded the corner, and continued stitching, as I had read that method would produce a nice crisp corner.

I used this wooden corner-turner thingie my mom gave me last year.

I preferred the sample where both fabric and facing were lined, and I had stitched a 90 degree angle.
Then I ironed on interfacing to the front of the bodice in the slit area, then, using my French curve, drew a new, lower neckline, and wound up not stitching a 90 degree angle after all... and I also lowered the slit by 3/4.

And this is how it turned out after trimming, turning and pressing:

Could be better, but it is an improvement!
Interfacing the front in the slit area also eliminated the drag lines.

Then I cut 1.75 inches off the bottom and hemmed it 3/4 with a stretch twin needle (my fabric is double knit, so no need for the kick pleat nor a zipper. I also didn't line the bodice like the instructions stated.)

And now it is done!

Tights, Mary Janes....the whole 9 yards!

The side view is pretty good:

The back could be better, but I'm not tweaking it more. I eliminated the kick pleat as it doesn't need it.

I think it might need bra strap holders because the neckline is a little wide. In fact, what looks like diagonal drag lines is actually my bra straps, pushed out of the way of the neckline.

It's supposed to be 55F tmw so I will wear it to work as styled above, and with a cardigan.

I didn't make the belt with the piping because I like the look of the purchased belt a LOT!

On Emma:

In the style of Elizabeth, my dress is $1200. Elizabeth called this her $3300 dress (33 hours at $100 an hour). I was flipping through the January Vogue magazine this morning and saw prices like that for high end designer dresses--sounds right on for a custom dress! Mine was 12 hours so it's $1200. It took less time than Elizabeth's dress because mine does not have the zipper, lining, hand-stitched hem, or obi belt that hers has, and I didn't make a muslin either (a muslin was included in her 33 hours of sewing time.) You want details like that, it's another $2200!!!

And thanks again to New Look for featuring it on their Facebook page before it was completed--very cool!

And here's your food for the week, chicken piccata on spinach, another Rocco recipe, totally delish:

Be well everyone!!

Thanks for the love, New Look! Plus your voting results

2012-01-20T21:29:00.000-05:00

New Look featured my 6067 dress on their Facebook page on Tuesday--and it's not even finished yet!

KID, MD let me know about it--it turns out NL also commented on my blog posting to let me know, but yahoo mail filtered the comment.

Thanks for the love, New Look! You know I love you!

In my last post I asked for opinions on if the dress should have the slit or the V-neckline. Well, the votes are in and the race was tight: 11 for the slit and 9 for the folded over look. Two votes were cast for cap sleeves.

Concerns were voiced about the height of the top of the neckline for the slit. I didn't fold over the 5/8 SA so that is why it looks so high.

Trumbelina asked about doing bust adjustments. I don't think I can help with that question, but you could post it on the pattern review boards and see what others think.

Anyhoo, I am taking your advice into consideration. The plan is to finish 6067 while it snows tomorrow. Then it's supposed to be 55F on Monday, so I can wear the dress to work with a cardi and tights.

I have about 500 dresses I want to make. That may be an exaggeration. I have a LOT of dresses I want to make. And I dropped significant $$ at Joann's 40% off their ponte roma double knit fabric this week.

Be well and good night!

New Look 6067 in progress: to V or not to V?

2012-01-15T18:37:00.000-05:00

No one voted for navy in my last post, and I was also thinking gray, so I went with gray for New Look 6067! (To recap, I've seen this dress on a few blogs lately, and it has moved up in my sewing queue to today!)

It's still in progress. It totally needs the belt on me. Trust me (or dig around my twitter photos and you'll see what it looks like without the belt). There is a pattern for an obi-type belt with piping but maybe I'll just use the purchased belt I have. I mean, I love piping, but this belt works really well with this dress!

Ok, what do you think, should it have a split sort of v-neck like below...

Or a floppy folded-over "collar" (one of the views actually has buttons sewn on to this folded-over neckline):

Here is a close-up view:

Here's the side view.

And if you enjoy construction photos, here are some truly in-progress shots:
The points of the V's matching:

the front:

the back:

Currently, the darts are not the same length, ha ha! Not totally sure how that happened as I was pretty careful with transferring the darts.

As you can see, there's a lot of matching going on--matching the points of the V's in the front then matching with the CF pleat, matching the darts in the back, even matching on the side seam at the horizontal waist line (no pic of that). I used Amanda's trick from her invisible zipper tutorial where she just sews the area where the match is to occur, checks it, then if it isn't lining up, just rips out the stitching in that area (as opposed to sewing the whole seam, finding out the seams aren't matching, and ripping out the whole seam). So smart, and such a time saver!

This dress is supposed to have a zipper but since I used a double knit, I didn't insert one and am able to get it over my head. (The pattern is meant for a woven...but saw that at least one other person used a double knit without serious consequences...)

So, I still need to :

install facings and decide on V neck or folded over collar?
sleeveless or cap sleeves?
fix the uneven back dart length
hem

I've spent about 5 hours on it today. I was having some anxiety over sizing which covers about an hour of those five, but went with 12 grading to 14 at the waist and hip and now I'm excited for where it's heading! If you have an opinion on the neckline and cap sleeves vs sleeveless, just let me know in the comments.

Be well and good night!

Quick sewing and cooking

2012-01-14T22:56:00.002-05:00

Thanks for your comments and suggestions for blind hemming. Very much appreciated. I will blog when I actually try it...and also thanks for your kind words about being the Member in Focus on PatternReview.com. I was SO excited about it.

Here's my first sewing of the new year. I haven't timed how long it takes me to make these now, but it's probably an hour and a half? I'm much more careful with my sewing now, though I could have done a better job with the purple pair. With the striped pair, I lined up the stripes on the side.

Boyshorts.
Fabric: TexStyles in Austin during PR Day Austin, Nov 2011. Left over scraps from the StyleArc shirt inset.
Elastic: Pacific Trimming in NYC, during the NYC shopping day in Sept 2011.

Kinda have a nautical or French style to them, no?

Purple UW.
Fabric: Metro Textiles, NYC, while shopping with Antoinette, June 2011. Left over scraps from the Burda crazy ruffle dress.
Elastic: TexStyles in Austin during PR Day Austin, Nov 2011.
Definitely could have done a better job with them.

This New Look pattern has been popping up in the blogosphere. I think I will sew it tmw, but the question is, in navy or gray?? Also there is a marvelous piping opportunity there and you know I don't like to pass up piping.

It is National Soup Month and ironically I'm getting a bit tired of soup. I've been making quesadillas lately, using the recipe in Now Eat This Diet by Rocco DiSpirtio as a guide. I make mine with spinach instead of mushrooms, and with full fat mozzarella instead of reduced fat cheddar. Here I served it with cantaloupe which was actually decent, especially for this time of year.

Here are the books for this week. Just one library book, the cookbook.

I read Food Rules in January last year from the library but bought a copy this year. I highly recommend it; it's a fast read and nicely summarizes what I should be eating. It's beautifully illustrated. I plan on reading it each January to renew my commitment to healthy eating.

In Austin I discovered the puzzle called KenKen. I just got my first KenKen book and am enjoying it! I've also been doing the Daily Jumble online again. I haven't been into a puzzle phase for years but right now I'm into it.

It's getting late. I need to remind myself once again, sleep is a gift I can give myself.
Be well and good night!

Blind hemming on a sewing machine

2012-01-11T19:41:00.001-05:00

I ask you, dear readers....
Do I need the blind hem foot for my sewing machine to do blind hemming on a lightweight sweater knit?
Discuss! :)

Pattern Review Member in Focus

2012-01-03T22:09:00.003-05:00

I'm SO honored to be the Pattern Review.com Member in Focus today!!!

Here's the screen grab from the PR home page:

And here's the start of the interview:

You can read the full interview here on the PR blog.

Thank you Deepika, Diane, and the PR crew for featuring me. It is such a thrill and an honor and I've been super excited about it ALL DAY LONG (just ask my coworkers)!

PR has been such a great resource and community for me and I'm thrilled to continue to be a part of it.

Be well and sew on! (and yes, I used my Gorillapod to take that picture above on Monday evening!)

Navy StyleArc Demi Drape Top Done!

2012-01-02T15:07:00.000-05:00

Happy New Year! Thanks everyone for your comments on my 2011 Sewing Retrospective. You sewists are great! Kudos to you if you read the whole thing!

So at 6:30pm on New Year's Eve, I finished my last garment for the year, the StyleArc Demi Drape Top. I took some pix today and even extracted the white pants from the closet for the photo shoot.

So let's see:

I first heard about StyleArc patterns last summer on someone's blog, but I don't remember whose blog....
I ordered 3 patterns last summer. Every order comes with "the free pattern of the month"
If you live in Australia, you have a choice between a paper pattern printed on real paper (not tissue) or receiving the cut out carded version of the pattern, delivered on a hook (how cool would that be?)
The postage from Australia to the US is $$$, but at the time I couldn't find anyone selling them in the US (I haven't looked to see if anyone in the US has popped up selling them now).
The patterns are NOT multi-sized. I compared my measurements to the StyleArc chart and ordered a 12.

Here's the front of the pattern "envelope" (the pattern comes in a clear, colorless plastic holder so you can put it in a binder--clever!):

and the back of the "envelope":

The section on the left side labeled "construction" are the "directions".

StyleArc assumes You Know What You Are Doing when it comes to sewing. For example, step 3 (the first step 3--as you can see, there were steps 1-3 and then steps 1-11) states "Bind the back neck." If I just started sewing, I'd have no clue what that meant, but it turns out they do have some more detailed instructions with illustrations in the "Sewing Tutorials" section on their website. and they do have a section called "patterns for beginners". This pattern is rated "medium."

The construction refers to "vilene" which I think is like interfacing or stay tape (I could have googled it, but have not).There are no layout diagrams. Also yardage was listed for 45" but not 60" (and this is a knit pattern--do knits come in 45" widths in Australia?). If you want to use the contrast cami insert, they didn't specify a yardage just for that.

Samples of the fabrics are glued to the back of the pattern. One of them fell off so I stapled it back on to the paper as you can see in the photo above. The samples are very lightweight and stretch in all directions.

The pattern itself appears to be hand traced! which somehow makes me feel "closer to the pattern designer" somehow...or maybe just her intern...

I made a muslin on Friday which showed me that generally the fit was good and that a lightweight knit would work better than a stable one.

The cowl really juts away from the body in a stable knit!

So the fabric I used for the real-deal is from Kashi at Metro Textiles purchased during my first trip to NYC's garment district with Antoinette in June. It's a navy jersey that has a knit-appropriate interfacing already fused on. Together, they are heavier than I think the pattern calls for.

The sewn-in contrast cami insert is a navy and white stripe lightweight knit from TexStyles, purchased during Pattern Review weekend Austin in Nov. This knit is perfect weight, especially as the cami covers the entire front of the body.

So it naturally falls away from the body...
but I can "smoosh" it down

There's also some slight swayback pooling but not so bad.

I used lightweight knit interfacing on the neckline of the cami insert, to keep it from stretching during the stitching process. I used a stretch twin needle in the 2.5 width. I wonder if I should have used navy thread instead of white on the cami? I also feel like the cami is a little too low, which the one pattern review reviewer had mentioned...but in my muslin it seemed fine? I'm not sure why it is lower in the real-deal (I didn't finish the edge of the muslin, but that's only 3/8"??)

The cowl does shift around, and with the stripes it can make it look like the cami is off-center, depending on how the cowl falls. I think I might tack the cami to the shirt so that the cami will *always* be centered.

Because the entire exterior shirt is fused with interfacing, I didn't stablize the edges further.

I cut one inch from the bottom of the sleeves during the cutout phase, and hemmed the sleeve edges first before sewing the sleeves into the garment since the sleeve opening is mighty narrow. I also sewed the sleeves in flat contrary to the instructions.

So overall, what do I think?

I like how well the sleeves fit. I'm always afraid a pattern will be too small in the biceps but this wasn't--it's perfect. I felt the fit was pretty good overall, even though there is some swayback pooling. I like the style of the top. It took me 5 hours to sew the top (includes cutting time, but not muslin time). I will try more StyleArc patterns, especially the three I have in my stash (though the Emma dress is rated "challenging", ahem....

Be well!!

My 2011 Sewing Retrospective: Curl up with a beverage.

2011-12-31T21:40:00.000-05:00

Once again, I'm squeaking out this post just under the wire....and I squeaked out sewing one more garment, this StyleArc Demi Drape Top that I finished tonight (I'll write a separate blog post about it and the StyleArc experience later...)

StyleArc Demi Drape Top. (Yes, Elle, StyleArc includes fabric swatches in with their patterns! But that will be a separate post.)

Welcome to my 2011 sewing retrospective! This is a long post, so get your favorite beverage and settle in. At least there aren't any commercials.

In 2011, I sewed 22 garments (9 dresses, 3 skirts, 4 tops, 1 jumper, 1 vest, 1 nightgown, 1 flannel night shirt, and 2 leggings) plus 1 bag, 3 finger puppets and 10 pairs of underwear. Eclectic, huh? I didn't sew as much as I wanted to because cooking good-for-me food got in the way; thankfully cooking is faster for me now that it doesn't take me an eon to chop veggies anymore.

2011 Hits:

New Look 6071 is my absolute favorite. Finished at the end of October, I've been wearing this dress during this relatively mild fall and winter with a brown cami, brown cardi, brown stockings and brown mary janes (too bad I don't have any pix of me dressed like that!). It is comfy, classy, and I feel stylish.

I think the cross-over front is just awesome.

Simplicity 2406 is a close second. The obi sash is amazing and I love the pockets!

New Look 6000 (sounds like a pattern...from the future!) was a very retro 60's style dress. I struggled with the zipper on this one, but moved it to the side for great results.

Also loved this retro 60's pencil skirt, Simplicity 2154. Loved it so much, I made it in brown, too.

Butterick 5559, sewn while catsitting Buddy, is another favorite.

He helped a LOT.

I'm also fond of this Burda 7379 with a crazy ruffle. Because who doesn't love a crazy ruffle, am I right??

LOVE this ruffle

And of course I love new underwear made with Antoinette's make-yer-own-undies tutorial.
Here's my favorite pair of the year:

I'm bananas for this underwear!

I made three fingerpuppets after being inspired by an ad in an Austin newspaper. The pig is my favorite.

Here's my "inspiration" ad:

Dr. Jeff LaMour, do you have any idea what you inspired?

2011 Misses

I didn't like this Vogue 1236 when it was done, mostly my fault. The neckline was too low so I sewed the straps with a larger SA, which brought the bottom of the dress up too high. And it's too small in my hips. Plus I used different fabric for the facings and I feel like they are on display.
I wore it once and never wore it again:

Other people love the Jalie tulip top; I sewed it probably a size or two too big. I never wore it out of the house. Its major problems disappear, as long as I keep my arms out to the side like this:

I don't know, I spent hours on Simplicity 50's retro jumper and feel like a kindergarten teacher. I wish I had cut it from uncut corduroy which would have made it look like velveteen, probably, and give it less of a teacher vibe. Worn only once.

I really don't like this Burda 7696. The V is too low, and I shouldn't have cut the bottom of the dress so large. This is my "reworked" version and it still needs more work. I think I wore it twice, then started taking it apart.

I gave my half-done "muslin" of this dress which was too big for me to a coworker who finished it--it looks great on her.

I think if I had made this Simplicity dress in a smaller size or a darker color I would have liked it more. The cowl is heavy due to its size (and my double knit fabric choice) and too large.

However the green muslin of this dress, with the articulated sleeve, is a favorite nightgown of mine.

Obviously, I don't wear it with a belt to sleep!

But what else happened?

I wrote my 100th pattern review this fall and my third pattern review star followed shortly after.
The New Look 6000 dress was featured on patternreview's blog and twitter feed. Thanks Deepika and the Pattern Review crew! I featured the dress on my holiday card with Suede.

Butterick featured the 5559 dress on their Facebook page in Nov.

I went to NYC's garment district for the first time ever back in June, with Antoinette. Meg featured our trip on her super useful blog, Shop the Garment District. I also had my "sewing-rite-of-passage" photo taken with Kashi of Metro Textiles. At my house, Antoinette pulled my hand-me-down serger out of the closet and showed me how to use it (though I still haven't serged "for real" yet)

I went again in September for Elizabeth and Robin's shopping day.

I attended 3 sewing conferences: PR weekend Chicago in May, which kickstarted my sewing again and inspired me to take my sewing up to the next level. Thanks Tina!

Old and new friends!

American Sewing Expo in Sept which is where I met Suede. The Simplicity folks gave me a copy of their Fabric Guide to say thanks for my support of Simplicity and New Look. I also took a serger class. And a zipper flower class, can't forget about that.

Meetup with Elle!

Went to PR weekend Austin in Nov where Leslie outdid herself. I now have a custom-fitted pants pattern but still need to sew it up. I also was introduced to TexStyles which I wish was in NJ.

I bought a sewing gauge and use it all the time! It is SO handy. It enables me to do things like this:

I finally started ironing my seams during the sewing process as per Ann on Gorgeous Things. It really does make a difference.
After being chastised by Benson of TexStyles, I now clip all my threads as I sew.
I installed my first ever invisible zip this August, then installed 4 more.

Inaugural zip; they got better after this one

I sewed my first ever welt pockets in June, then didn't sew them again.

I tried two new-to-me sewing pattern brands, Kwik Sew and StyleArc.

KwikSew 3740. I will make this again soon! Maybe even as-soon-as-tmw soon!

What about 2012 (and beyond)?
I want to learn how to blind hem on my machine; I want to make a real pair of pants; I want to get my serger in working order and use it. I will attend PR weekend in May in NYC. I want to buy a real dressform.

To all my blog and pattern review readers: A huge thank you for all of your comments and suggestions this year, and all your support about my various health issues (which are all manageable lately, may that trend continue, knock on wood!)

Wishing you a healthy and happy new year full of sewing and all of your favorite things!!!

StyleArc Demi Drape Top muslin

2011-12-30T22:40:00.001-05:00

Another 4 day weekend, yea!
Today I started working on a muslin for the StyleArc Demi Drape Top.

Cool design, right?

I think the big thing I learned is....
You will want to use very drapey knit fabric, similar to the swatches included in the packet...

Otherwise this above occurs....
I plan to sew the real-deal tmw, and a pair of underwear.
It's going to be a wild, wild New Year's Eve...

Be well and good night!

Christmas wishes

2011-12-24T11:01:00.001-05:00

Merry Christmas everyone!

I wish you good sewing and celebrity sightings:

My holiday card this year. Me with Suede from Project Runway season 5 at the American Sewing Expo, Sept 2011. I'm wearing New Look 6000 and those adorable Mary Janes from Sears (still on their web site. Type cupid shoes in their search box).

I wish you many beautiful blooms:

My coworker gave me this Christmas cactus last year. She repotted it in April when it was dying due to my ignorance. Now I know, even though it's a cactus it likes a LOT of water. Last year the blooms were bright pink. This year they are orange. My coworker said it "turned Princeton". Why are they orange now? pH of soil? (I thought that was only hydrangeas). Did she replace the cactus entirely??

I wish you good eats:

Warm chicken noodle soup--made with flat leaf parsley I bought at the farmer's mkt this summer. Amazingly, the parsley was still growing outside (barely!)

Chicken rotini

Or minestrone if you're vegan

I wish you yummy snacks :

Nestle Toll House Cookies with walnuts from scratch

I wish you easy hair and fun holiday jewelry:

I got it straightened again! And don't you love the moose pendant?

And of course, most of all, I wish you good health!
Merry Christmas one and all!

As a sewist, you need to read this

2011-12-17T22:03:00.002-05:00

Seriously.
It's a hoot.
I saw it on Lisa's blog yesterday.
Here's the site: Handmade Ryan Gosling
But this one's my favorite. So far.

(I don't even know who Ryan Gosling is. But the site is hysterical)

Kwik Sew 3740 done

2011-12-15T20:44:00.000-05:00

Hey triangle hair!

Oh hello 4 day weekend, how I love thee!
I finished up Kwik Sew 3740 today.This was my first KS pattern. I was inspired by the many versions of this shirt Leslie wore at PR weekend Austin.

My impressions:

the pattern is printed on real paper
the SAs are 1/4 inch as the directions are very pro-serger
I didn't see a diagram as to how to position the pattern on the fabric.
Although the envelope said it takes 1 5/8 I think it's more like 2 yards (the undercollar was not cut on the fold but rather at a jaunty angle, and it has a CF and CB seam--but since it's the undercollar you can't see it).

So, when I last discussed the shirt, I was annoyed that the SA of the cowl was visible.

So, Marie commented that she had read on someone's blog that they sewed the SA of half the collar then flipped it to the other side....this way the SA stays hidden. Great idea!I ripped out the stitching for the lower part of the front cowl, then made a snip and flipped the SA to the other side:

The SA is now hidden in the front, but the cowl doesn't scoop as nicely, especially when worn.(oh, and why not flip the SA to the other side all the way around the neckline? Because depending on how the cowl is draped, the SA would then show on the outside of the back collar/shoulder).

Anyhoo, here's what it looks like when the collar is flipped up, looking under the hood. On the right side you can also see my CF undercollar seam (if you have enough fabric, you won't have a CF undercollar seam):

The undercollar is much smaller than the upper collar, so that it pulls the upper collar under and thus hides the outer seam; isn't that cool?

There is some swayback pooling:

Oh, and of course I twin needle stitched the hems. The sleeve hem is a tight one because the sleeve is so narrow at the edge; I couldn't get the sleeve around my sewing machine.

Overall, I generally love the draping cowl, and I love how it doesn't droop into a v shape. I love that it's not too low cut. But I have to work with fitting and size. Speaking of which, this made me laugh; surely you jest Kwik Sew! I cut a medium but then wound up sewing almost an extra-small in the shoulders, medium sleeves and almost small in the torso.

ha!

I will make this shirt again, especially without sleeves for summer.

I'm getting the urge to buy a dressform again but as usual I'm larger on the bottom than on the top. Back to investigate dressforms again? Also thinking of buying a lounge chair for my sewing room. Hrm.

And in case you didn't see, PR Weekend 2012 (May 18-20) is in NYC! Mark yer calenders! and yes, I'm going!
Be well and good night (ab muscle is feeling much better, phew!)!

Breaking news: PR Weekend 2012 is NYC!!!!

2011-12-14T19:06:00.004-05:00

Hey everyone,
Just got some breaking news from Deepika's twitter feed.
PR Weekend 2012 (May 18-20) will be in NYC, not in San Fran.

Read all about it on the PR thread!!

Are you in????? Metro Textiles, Mood and many other favorites await!!! Yes, I am going!!!

(and guess what, I think I will do some sewing during this 4 day weekend I have that starts this evening, woot!)

Kwik Sew 3740 in progress

2011-12-07T21:21:00.001-05:00

Lisette was super sweet and emailed me this morning to make sure I am ok since I haven't blogged for over 2 weeks. The answer is yes! After the thrill of PR Weekend Austin, I had some additional vacation time and cleaned and reorganized a bit of my house and prepped for Christmas.

I'm working on KS 3740. It's my first KS pattern. Leslie wore, like, 3 different versions of it in Austin and they all looked fab. Finally, a cowl that doesn't fold into a v, doesn't fall over the shoulders, and isn't too low cut.

I cut a Medium.
At this point Monday night, I could see the shoulders are too big.

SO I cut the shoulders down to a small and then sewed the sleeves in with 5/8 inch seams instead of 1/4 tonight.

I'm not sure...

Problems:

I'm still hating the shoulders
I hate the wrinkles in the sleeves
I need to let out the hip area a bit (I sewed down the sides like a small but need to make it a medium)
also there is serious swayback pooling (not pictured); maybe I should put some darts back there or a CB seam...
also, the way the collar is sewn on (and I read the directions multiple times here but maybe I misinterpreted) the raw edge of the collar attachment can be seen. I'm very tempted to rip out the collar just so the raw edge isn't exposed.

So while I was super enthused about this shirt on Monday night I've lost enthusiasm for it now...but you know me, I beat a dead sewing horse til it revives itself.

Food! Chicken "ziti" from the Prevention 30 minute chicken dinners booklet:
my Christmas tree

my solar powered Christmas lights:

Be well and good night! (After 10 weeks of light or no ab/pelvic kidney pain, it has returned with a vengeance today. sigh...)

PR Day 2011: Austin Style

2011-11-22T18:47:00.001-05:00

You know how they say everything's bigger in Texas? Leslie proved it by expanding the round-the-globe 10th anniversary celebration of Pattern Review Day into a Pattern Review Weekend, Austin Style!

I asked Leslie's permission to attend ("Is Texas residency a requirement to attend? Would it be weird if a Yankee showed up?") and she responded with open arms. In fact, Kellie R from Illinois and Bonnie D from Ohio were the other out-of-staters in attendance.

Thursday night

Leslie volunteered to pick me up from the airport and whisked me off to Chez Zee to meet up with Roseana, Antoinette, Kellie, and Kellie's non-sewing-friend Kathleen. It was a great way to start the weekend, with lots of food and desserts, and old and new friends!

Leslie's 29 again!

Friday:

Leslie and I hit up Kerbey Lane Cafe for breakfast (the only two to brave the early start of the day):

I just adore that photo of us!

Way back in March, Leslie told me about a pants fitting guru named Sonja, who was happily on the weekend agenda. I attended her pants fitting workshop with 4 other women, while another group of sewists shopped and went to a demo of various sewing machine attachments.

Here's Sonja and Leslie:

Leslie is wearing pants she made from a previous pants fitting workshop held by Sonja.

We started with a McCall's pattern, but by the end of the workshop, I had a custom-fitted pants pattern. How about that??? I'm excited about this because I have never made real pants before, so I feel like I've skipped a few hours (days?) of frustration by starting with a custom-fitted pattern. And I met mars418, aka Martha, who has commented on many of my reviews. I recognized her immediately from her picture attached to her comments, and felt like I already knew her.

Lunch was at Kerbey Lane Cafe, where both groups merged (and our waitress from the morning was still there, only a little embarrassing).

At this point I'd say there were about 20-25 women in the group. This was the first time I met Margaret (LoneStarLady), who told her story about sewing pants for toads and skirts for mice when she was a little girl...and actually dressing said toads and mice in their outfits....she is a riot and little did I know she would be my chauffeur for much of the weekend with even more stories that kept us all laughing.

That afternoon, 4 who had not done the pants fitting in the morning did the workshop with Sonja, while the remainder checked out the fabrics from April (AKA The Fabricker, who will open a storefront in January) and also went to Silk Road to buy fabric at 30% off as they will be closing soon.

Here I am with Margaret at Silk Road.

I'm in Butterick 5559, she's in a Tracy Reese pattern that she has made 4 times, if I recall correctly. Bonnie's in the background!

The library card catalog drawers are filled with zippers at Silk Road!

The button collection at Silk Road

We then headed back to the hotel (the very cool, trendy, and as Leslie promised, Project Runway-style hotel called Aloft) to get changed into our evening wear for the cocktail party and dinner at Moonshine.

I'm in Burda 7379 and Leslie is wearing her Michelle Obama outfit.

18 women and one brave man (Leslie's husband) attended the party

It was really a fantastic evening and I got to meet some more new folks. We also got a chance to introduce ourselves to the group. It was at this dinner that Leslie admonished some for not writing pattern reviews...."You're not enhancing the sisterhood if you're not reviewing on pattern review."

Oh, and the apple pie skillet with maple syrup ice cream was delish!

Saturday
So Saturday morning we headed off to The Common Thread to hear Thea, an Austin stylist, talk about how to select fabric that best suits your features and coloring.
Bonnie happened to have an unexpected "family reunion" with the fabric from the shirt she was wearing!

Lots of women bought this confetti fabric:

Plenty of shopping going on

Then we headed off to Guero's Taco Bar on South Congress for a fantastic lunch. About 20 women were at the lunch.

In the afternoon we went to the Austin School of Fashion Design where owner Mary Margaret talked about many aspects of garment construction and the fashion industry. I laughed at myself as I thought we would be going to a college campus!

Austin School of Fashion Design

At this point we all split up. Margaret and I went to a Starbucks to refuel, then went shopping on South Congress where we encountered this kitty cat

I'm sure the cat celebrated PR Day in his/her own way!
Love his/her gray paw pads.

Then we headed off to the PR Day party hosted by TexStyles, a new fabric store in South Austin. It is organized by color and the fabric hangs on easy-to-handle hangers instead of unweildy bolts. Their prices are amazing too, and they have tons of knits. If the visit to this store had been earlier in the day, I think I would have bought a LOT more. (Like other PR weekends, I was feeling fabric fatigue at this point.)

I don't think I've ever been to a fabric store where the fabric was arranged by color; it's such a fantastic concept.

Here's the TexStyles gang:

(co-owner Benson, employee Heather, co-owner and male model Markhollan). Leslie is about to give away the PR book to the person who most recently learned to sew. There was also a prize for the person who spent the most $$ (who I think was Heather with $600 spent for the weekend!)

It was 80 degrees out so the party was indoor/outdoor, with generous outdoor seating. I'd estimate there were close to 40 people in attendance. The TexStyles guys know how to throw a party--there was a live band, and "light nibbles" (as Leslie referred to it) too!

There was celebratory carrot cake!

and cupcakes (I had a chocolate one which was delish--like my mom makes--real ingredients!)

It was the first PR weekend I've been to with a male model:

Do you like chest hair?

Benson had swag bags for each of us, and the later you stayed, the more free stuff you got! I have several cards of stretch lace now, woot! And he announced an amazing sale on fabric in the middle of the party, that essentially meant the fabric I had my eye on earlier on was now only $5 a yard--good things do come to those who wait! (I can also say I've never fabric shopped at 10pm before...til this party!)

For me, this shop best suited my fabric needs since it carries SO many quality knits at great prices, and if I lived in Austin, this would be A Very Dangerous Place For Me (and my credit card).

Somehow I didn't get a picture of me in my NewLook 6071 dress, nor a picture of me with Antoinette in her teal Vogue dress, sigh.

Sunday

We stopped for a quick picture in the lobby in the morning...
Betty (cyclegirl), me in Simplicity 2406, Bonnie, and Leslie

....then we headed off to the home of designer Juliette Kimes, who lives in the Hill Country of Texas. I doubt I ever would have seen the Hill Country if it were not for her generous invitation to have brunch at her gorgeous home that looks like a movie set. It's at the end of an unpaved road and has a gate to contain her 3 donkeys!

Juliette showed us some of her collection
and we skyped with Deepika, founder of PatternReview.com

Hi Deepika! Happy Anniversary!

Then we walked to Juliette's fantastic sewing studio

She has a lighted cutting table...

...and 3 machines (including the BabyLock serger that threads itself, and a top-of-the-line Bernina embroidery machine)

She stores her fabric stash on hangers, great idea!

Then Juliette rang the bell and we got to feed her three donkeys:
Benson feeds carrots to the donkeys
I got in on the action too

Look at that face!

But then it was time to say goodbye, and head back to Austin. Leslie dropped me off at Antoinette's house.
We went to Lick, Austin's newest ice cream joint

Just make sure you get the cow in the photo....
Love their signs:

We also went to two trendy clothing stores and ate dinner before sadly parting ways.

Here are 3 of the 5 dresses I wore this weekend

Here's the fabric I bought during the weekend

From left to right, 2 yds navy blue sweater knit and 1 yd blue/white striped knit from TexStyles, and 3 yards of deep teal stretch corduroy from The Common Thread. Who knew I'd have to go to Texas to find stretch corduroy?? Thanks to Antoinette for volunteering to ship it back for me!

Unpictured: buttons I bought at Silk Road and elastic I bought at TexStyles. I spent $100 total over the weekend.

So to Leslie, I say thank you for organizing the weekend! You are a fountain of incredible and organized energy (and you are a brave, brave woman to take this on)!
To the volunteers, especially Margaret: Thank you for your help in making this weekend run smoothly, and for carting me all over Austin
To the vendors: Thank you for your freebies and support of this event. They are greatly appreciated.
To those who tweeted with me (using the #prday2011 hashtag): I loved reading your real-time accounts of your events, like the snow that cut PR day Minneapolis short, the cool pincushion that the Ontario folks made, and reading about the Boston fashion show).
And to Deepika: Thank you for founding PatternReview.com. It's an amazing resource and has changed my life!

Check out Leslie's packet for PR Weekend Austin here.
Read about PR weekend highlights from around the globe here

Simplicity 3673, retro 50's jumper, done

2011-11-17T10:06:00.001-05:00

Thanks for all your comments about S3673, the Simplicity 1950's retro jumper. :)
I had asked how to handle the situation where I had mistakenly cut the CF on the fold, so I had an extra 1.25 inches in the front panel.

According to peer review, there was one vote to redo the front skirt panel, and many votes to just leave it as is (it's fine!) and one to tweak the darts (there are 8 darts after all). Concern was expressed for having a CF seam in corduroy. I generally don't like CF seams as I think they break up the garment. And the last time I had a CF seam in a dress, it resulted in the Star Trek dress. And we all know what bitter memories that dress contains. Ugh.

I wound up undoing just the skirt side seams, and letting the front panel lie "flat". You can see the front panel is sticking out a bit on each side.

Then I sewed down each side.
And I hemmed.
And I wore it with a purchased boat neck shirt (maybe someday I'll make a Peter Pan shirt to wear underneath).
This is what it looked like after wearing it a good part of Sunday:

Somehow I didn't take a picture of the side view, but I took 2 of the 4 back darts a bit more.

It has a short back vent since I cut an inch off the bottom and then folded under twice, by 1.25 inches or so.I wore it to work on Tuesday, kind of concerned it might look like a kindergarten teacher. My coworkers assured me it doesn't look that way? I'm still on the fence. But it was totally comfy since my version is not as form fitting as the envelope picture.

And as you see I didn't add the bow. I think it's more adult-like that way.

The pattern envelope:

So, food. This is a new-to-me recipe, from the Prevention "30 Minute Chicken Dinners" booklet. It's supposed to be "Italian chicken, artichokes and rice" but I didn't have instant rice so I used orzo instead. and I didn't have oregano after my dried spice cleanout, so I used basil instead. I also used fresh parsley from my parsley plant outside, which is still going strong in this colder weather (and even after it was under snow!)

My library books. I haven't started reading either of them; maybe on the plane to Austin?

Here's some fall color from my back yard:

Do you know what this tree is? I don't. I call it the "prickly ball tree"

I don't know what I'm sewing next. Maybe one of these? But it won't be this weekend. It's PR Day on Nov 19 and I will be in Austin to celebrate it. I'm flying out this afternoon. Leslie has a packed schedule for those attending. It will be so much fun!
Be well!!

Thanks for the love, Butterick!

2011-11-12T21:49:00.001-05:00

Valery Peters from Butterick Patterns emailed me back in, er, Sept to ask permission to post my version of Butterick 5559 to the Butterick Facebook page (when my profile email was going to my unchecked gmail and not yahoo, so I didn't see the mail til Oct). My answer: absolutely! I'm honored!

On Wednesday, the pix were added to their Facebook page and in an album called 5559. Here are some screenshots:

Thank you for saying you think it's fabulous, Butterick, and thanks for the fantastic pattern! I think it's fabulous too and I got a lot of comments when I wore it back in the warmer weather. I will be wearing this at PR weekend Austin next weekend!

Something I've learned from my experience with Simplicity at the ASE and with Butterick here is that the pattern companies are reading what we write about their patterns!

(Update on the Simplicity retro jumper coming tmw night....)

How I messed up Simplicity 3673 view A/B

2011-11-06T20:19:00.000-05:00

I spent 10 hours sewing today and 1 hour cutting and marking yesterday.
I messed up Simplicity 3673 view A/B.
I knew something was up while making the garment, but didn't know what til almost 6pm today, when I was almost up to the hemming stage (still unhemmed).

Let's see if you guys can figure it out!
Oh and I would totally style this differently. I want to make/buy a shirt that goes with this better.
I made the length of view B with the sort of belt-like thing of view A (I haven't made that little bow thing; am still on the fence about that).

So, my first clue something was wrong was, the notches for the front bodice and front skirt didn't match

I thought that was weird. No one on PR had mentioned anything about notches not matching.
100 bonus points to you if you know what is wrong at this stage!

Continuing on, the gathers under the bust are really loose, and not as plentiful as on the pattern envelope. The little circles didn't match up at all.

50 bonus points to you if you know what's wrong at this stage.

And when I tried the dress on, I wound up sewing down the side seams like it's a 12, though I cut the 14. and yet somehow, there is still a lot of room in the front skirt....see how it's triangling out like an A line skirt...but it's supposed to be like a pencil skirt?

and the hips feel very wide?

25 bonus points to you if you know what's wrong now.
So I'll just tell the other parts of this sewing story, unrelated to the error, and will disclose what is wrong at the end.

I had fun getting the invisible zipper in; it took three attempts. I used Amanda's tutorial which helped a lot for matching up the band, and Sunny Gal Studio's hints for sewing the end of the zip

The band is cut from "uncut" corduroy (i.e. it doesn't have wale)....I used 21 wale corduroy at first (the bodice is lined with the 21 wale corduroy; and the jumper itself is made from 4.5 wale), but it was too short. (actually that's the 4th clue...10 points). and didn't have enough left of the 21 wale to cut a continuous piece. So I went into stash and used the uncut corduroy for the band. All corduroy is from Joann's.

Though I got the band to line up, the zipper was not lining up at the top, so I had to undo part of the bodice so I could get up inside there and sew the left side down to meet the right side.
This is when the left and right sides didn't match at the CB seam

I felt like I had done a good job with the bodice lining because I understitched the lining all around the neckline. First I stitched the neckline, then understitched the neckline, then stitched the armholes, and understitched the armholes as far as possible. The directions didn't mention understitching at all, but it keeps the lining from rolling to the outside. Here's what that looks like--a great closeup of the 21 wale corduroy--and the wale of the 4.5 cord too.

Some more pix:

Another pic of the front on Emma:

For lsaspacey: My cute Mary Janes in three colors:

For Gwen, the chicken pot pie I made Tuesday night:

SO! How many points did you get? Do you know where I went wrong?

Answer: I cut the front skirt on the fold when it was supposed to have a CF seam. I didn't realize this til I was looking at Pattern Review again, thinking about what to do about the bow, when I looked at christa S's review and saw that her dress had a CF seam....and that's when it hit me.

So, should I leave it as-is or should I fix it? I still have all SA from the size 14 so I could fix it and it would still fit. I don't like CF seams on dresses though and if I realized it I would have cut the front hanging the pattern 5/8 from the fold. So essentially the front of my skirt is 1.25 inches too big.
Also should I make the bow or not?
And does it make me look like a kindergarten teacher?
Be well and good night!

New Look 6071 View A done

2011-10-30T20:37:00.000-04:00

Thanks for your birthday wishes! It was fun! And the snow has moved on and it was bright, clear skies today!
So....lately I've been sewing on Sunday mornings and really enjoying it. I finished up the dress I started last night. Well, I'm thinking about ripping out the hem and doing a minimal hem to try to gain as much length as possible; I shouldn't have cut length off this dress!

Here's the pattern.

It's a New Look Project Runway "Workroom" pattern. I saw it at the ASE where I met Deborah again, one of the Simplicity reps. She said to be really careful about marking that front piece...so I was and it seemed to have paid off. I think it looks pretty elegant for not a lot of work. The right side front gets a "buttonhole" that the left side front is pushed through. It's basically a slit with some stitching around it. I guess it's not necessary to make a real buttonhole. Oh, and I didn't understand step 11 at all, so I skipped it and moved merrily on.

(I, um, actually used a sharpie marker to mark the dots, etc on the wrong side, testing first to make sure they wouldn't bleed through. I'm sure this is illegal sewing behavior but I figure all the sewists who do things the "right" way don't read my blog...)

That neckline is mighty deep. We're talking Burda deep. I'd like to make this wearable to work sometime (er, when it's not freezing out, maybe with tights and a cardigan and a tank like Carrie suggested). I *might* wear it to PR Day Austin.

The instructions state to cut out and use a binding on the neckline and armholes; I folded the edge over and twin needle stitched with the 2.5 needle. I think it looks nice. :)

I used the 4.0 stretch twin needle on the hem. (The pattern did have a "workroom tip" for the neckline and hem, that it could be serged and the SA cut off....too bad it didn't mention twin needle stitching as you know I love that technique. Why not expose sewists to it?)

Here it is with my super cute mary janes.

It's a bit of a story but is essentially the front of the dress is a 12 and the back is a 14.
I had swayback issues of course:

But I put in two darts (using my Muse dress as a guide--though that one had 4 back darts and I only put 2 in this dress). It seems to have come out ok, from the side view at least

Here's the back view "before":

Here's the back view "after". Maybe it's a little overfitted from the back view?

Well, I think it's fun and cute, and could see making it again, maybe raising the neckline (which I'd have to think about how to do, and would probably involve moving the "buttonhole"), in some super fun sparkly knit or something. :)

The Princeton farmer's mkt didn't have any flowers this week (though it had plenty of rain!). Mom gave me yellow roses for my birthday and they are gorgeous!

And I don't know; I just thought this was neat this morning, to see the shadow of my lamp on my bedroom wall

Be well and good night!

Did you hear?

2011-10-29T21:56:00.000-04:00

It's mah birthday!

Oh yes, it also snowed all over including NJ!! It's the first time it ever snowed on my birthday.

Do you see my pumpkin there in the snow? (oh, and my pumpkin growing experiment was a big FAIL. So that's a store-bought pumpkin)

My neighbor's tree couldn't take it; it looks like it collapsed under the weight:

And here are three trees in various stages of de-leafing:

So I had a nice lunch down the shore with my parents, then drove back to "beat the snow" but got caught in it instead. Once I got back to my house I took a nice 2 hour nap, ahhhh....

OH! So thanks for all the comments about the straight hair. It was SO much fun to have it straight for a few days and I got a lot of interesting comments on it at work and the gym and here on the blog. To answer your questions, it was flat ironed (not the keratin treatment) and done by my hairdresser. I had never had it straightened before. I'm not planning on flat ironing it myself, but I will have it done from time to time by my hairdresser. It seemed kind of weird the first two days and then I was really loving it.
So, it's back to curly, at least for today. ;)

Here's what I worked on tonight, New Look 6071, in progress. I picked up this pattern at the ASE.

It's not done yet, but you get the idea:

It's a pretty cool looking dress and the construction is pretty awesome, very simple in a way but it looks pretty cool. That v-neck is way low though and I'll have to figure out a way to make it more work-friendly. It is actually a brown double knit though the picture color looks weird.

Funny that I chose a snowy day to make a summer dress but it's my birthday and I can do what I want. I might wear it in Austin for PR Day next month.

Be well and good night!

Straight hair?! and Simplicity 2154 this time in brown

2011-10-23T21:19:00.003-04:00

Hello!
I liked Simplicity 2154 view D (the 60's retro pencil skirt) so much that I made it again, in the same corduroy, but in brown! (that shirt is purchased). This time I cut the 14 and wound up sewing the side seams down a bit more still..but otherwise it was the same alterations as last week's blue skirt. I think the waistband could be tighter, but it is nice to be able to breathe while seated, I suppose.

And here it is styled with New Look 6735 leaf vest I made last week

I wish I could say that making this skirt the second time was easier and faster than the first, but I had an invisible zipper meltdown where I somehow twisted the zipper when installing it...twice.. It totally baffled me! Third time was the charm.

So what do you think of my hair?

Do you like it? Does it look weird? Does it look like Ozzy Osbourne hair? That was the first person I thought of when I saw it...

For the first time in my life I had my hair straightened today. It will only last til it gets wet. I have always wondered how it would look! My hair is pretty long straight...

Some more pix:

and another

I started working on Simplicity 3673, which is a 50's retro pattern. Here's the back of the jumper so far, with darts on the left but not on the right, yet. I don't know if I'm going to finish this one, sewing with this plaid is driving my eyes a bit bonkers.

So as my birthday is coming up, I made some cookies and cake for work for an afternoon celebration. (At my office, when it's your birthday YOU bring the celebratory item. And I must say, several officemates are in denial about having birthdays). So I made Nestle Toll House chocolate chip cookies with walnuts from scratch:

I had a total fridge cake meltdown as well with the whipping cream. This has NEVER happened to me before.

So I started over and used a metal bowl and metal beaters that I put in the freezer first; used my mixer instead of the food processor; and finally had success with whipping the cream!

Ta-da! MUCH better:

(Oh, and thanks last week for the comments about the soup; I didn't try to fix it and it tasted fine.)
Farmer's Mkt flowers for this week:

I did a lot of chores today too, and with that, poof, the weekend is gone!
Be well and good night!

Simplicity 2154 view D: 60's retro pencil skirt done

2011-10-16T18:43:00.000-04:00

hello!
I was inspired by Elizabeth and her orange skirt over at Sewn, and decided to sew up a corduroy skirt of my own. Joann's didn't have any orange corduroy, so I went with this blue number instead. I can't wait to wear it to work tmw, albeit with a long sleeved shirt and maybe stockings. (The shirt is from JCPenney 2 summers ago)

It's Simplicity 2154 view D, the pencil skirt from their 1960's retro collection. I picked up the pattern at the ASE in the lower size range, then thought I'd need the 16 for the skirt, so I bought it at the 99cent pattern sale at Joann's on Columbus Day (a nice little post-work excursion).

I made it out of a beautiful blue corduroy from Joann's, which I also purchased Monday night. This fabric never hit the stash closet!

I wanted to show you the skirt with my shoes, but the lighting here is bad...but you get the idea. (I happened to go back to Sears today and buy the shoes in the other 2 colors):

This skirt is a simple pencil skirt but I love it because it actually is at waist level. It also has 8 darts and while I'm not a dart-lover, I do like the shaping it provides....no swayback fitting problems here!

Bad back shot. I realized after taking this picture that the zipper was not zipped up all the way.

I moved the zipper to the center back seam. I did this mainly because I wound up having to take in the side seams and it's easier for me to do that without the zipper in the fitting way. So the skirt is more like a 14 now. I also used an invisible zipper. I was so afraid of them before but now I love them. This is my third garment with an invisible zip.

I also had this idea that back vents were hard to do? This was actually pretty easy. I cut three inches off the bottom of the skirt, so the vent isn't as long as it could have been.

On my monitor, the picture above is the truest to the actual fabric color, a very pretty blue.

I did the hem twice, and as I used my surgical seam ripper to efficiently rip out the seam, it also efficiently ripped a hole in my skirt, which I think I salvaged with some fusible interfacing. Otherwise this skirt will get shorter by another 5/8 or so....

I also cooked today. Here's chicken cordon bleu with a honey mustard sauce from Cook This Not That, and cantelope chunks (my dinner). The sauce is made with 1/2 a lemon, which I forgot....went back to the grocery store tonight for the lemon. I love using the lemon squeezer:

I also made the summer vegetable soup. All was looking ok-ish here:

But I guess the milk curdled! That's the first time that's ever happened to me. I think it's still edible? Any thoughts on that?

Farmer's Mkt flowers for this week:

I went to my favorite bakery yesterday for some treats. YUM.

I think I'm writing my 100th pattern review tonight, about Simplicity 2054, both the articulated and unarticulated versions.
(ETA: My 100th pattern review is posted now!)

Be well and good night!

New Look 6735: quick fall vest in leafy green

2011-10-13T20:57:00.001-04:00

I've had this fabric from Joann's since last year. In the winter I made a sleep shirt from this fabric using a Vogue pattern, but I wanted to make a pullover vest too, to wear over a shirt or under a jacket.

The leaves are 2 shades of green and white, but somehow I think of this as a fall vest. Hrm.

I started this Monday night and finished it off tonight.

It's New Look 6735, view C without the sleeves, in size 14. I tried making the shirt before (in 2008, in turquoise) and failed with the sleeves, wound up wearing it as a vest.

In these pix I'm wearing the vest over a purchased shirt.

Do I look too much like a 5 year old in this fabric? Maybe it would be better to wear it under a jacket or cardigan?

Side view. I made the back from some leftover brown knit fabric.

There's a CB seam, so that wasn't very friendly for this fabric pattern. Thus, I used the brown fabric for the back.

This pattern has the front side seam longer than the back. You gather between the notches in the bust area. It's interesting I think. Like a fake-out "dart".

To finish the neckline, I fused on some knit interfacing and then folded over and twin needle stitched down with a 2.5 stretch twin needle.

I interfaced because this fabric stretches if you look at it sideways, much less touch it.

I interfaced the hem too. At the ASE this year, I heard one instructor cringe talking about this method, but I learned this technique from another ASE instructor last year. I think it boils down to, what works for you best in a given situation. I found the interfacing method does NOT need to be used for all knits. But in a case of a Stretchy McStretcherton knit like this, it works for me.

For all you structural biology/chemistry types, go ahead and find the asymmetric unit in this fabric. I dare you! Knock yourself out!

Be well and good night!

102 unread messages, or what happened if you tried to gmail me.

2011-10-11T20:01:00.001-04:00

So...my personal email address is yahoo mail. When you guys leave a comment on my blog, I get email at my yahoo address, so I know when you've commented. And I thank you for ALL of your comments about my sewing, and my health, and my food. I love my blogging community.

Sooooooooooooo....fast fwd to the ASE 2011 and meeting up with Lynnelle...she tells me she emailed my gmail acct but never heard back from me.

So tonight I decide to log on to my gmail account and there are 102 unread messages in there since 2009 (the last time I checked the gmail acct), many from you dear sewing friends. I have a gmail email acct because my blog is on blogger, but I don't use the gmail acct for emailing. But apparently when I leave a comment on your blog, it's showing my gmail acct as the reply-to...which I didn't fully realize (I remember talking with Antoinette about getting the reply-to to not be "noreply-comment@blogger.com" some time ago but I swore we got it to be my yahoo acct)...but realize it now after randomly picking an August email from MushyWear to read. Oh, and it looks like if you click on my profile, it says to email me at my gmail address...

I hope over the next week to address all this outstanding, long-overdue-for-a-response mail!

Holy cow---thanks for your patience!!

(Also, to address recent questions left as comments: Vanessa, yes, I love turquoise and made a turquoise jacket for my bday last year. It has MANY flaws in it so I have not worn it much. And for Ruthie and Lisette, sure, I can write a little tutorial about how to bind the neckline that way.)

Be well and healthy-healthy-healthy!

ETA: Ok, it's almost an hour later--I have read all my unread gmail and changed my profile email and comments reply-to to my yahoo address, YEA! Reading all your mail at once was like one big Christmas present, such fun stuff in there!

Simplicity 2054 view A done and unarticulated

2011-10-09T21:22:00.000-04:00

Today it was 83F here so it seems a bit bizarre to make a dress with long sleeves! But here it is, Simplicity 2054 view A, a Cynthia Rowley dress with long sleeves and a monster cowl collar.

I think that picture above makes me look like I'm running for office. "BlossomKyle for President: For a new Sewing America". Or, maybe if I wore my cowl on my back, I'd look like a super hero??

Comments were mixed about the articulated sleeve (i.e. a peek-a-boo or slit in the elbow sleeve) of my muslin of view C. Read all about it in this post.

The muslin looks like this, and I wore it as a nightgown last night. Very soft and comfy:

I wound up not making the articulated sleeve. I love Antoinette's idea of making this in black with the articulated sleeve, and Mushywear's idea of making the sleeves tighter...so there may be another version of this in the future!

That collar is actually a separate piece.

So you can take the cowl collar off and it is just a t-shirt dress...I will try wearing it like I wear Hawaiian leis--not right up against the neck.

Here's what the back of the cowl looks like. It has basting stitches that are supposed to be removed after the cowl is put together but I didn't remove them.

Here's an idea of the monster size of this collar--in the cutting phase:

oh! The fabric is from The Common Thread in Austin, TX. I purchased it with Antoinette and Leslie in Austin back in March. It's a lightweight double knit, very soft. :)

Side view:

Back view. As you can see I added a CB seam to add some shaping for the swayback.
Here's a closeup of the binding finish I used, which is different than what the directions recommend:

I just LOVE how this finish looks:

Here's an action shot

So yea, it's done! Maybe I'll call this my birthday dress?

So what should I make from this fabric??? Seems like the right time of year to use it, and I have a yard and a half of it. It's a double knit from Mood purchased with Antoinette in June.

Farmer's mkt flowers for this week. My favorite flower farmer has packed up for the season so I bought from a different stand this week.

I made chicken pot pie tonight; I haven't made this for about 6 months now and it is SO good. Aren't pearl onions the best? Unlike last time I didn't overfill the dish, yea! No smoke coming out of the oven was just a bonus.

Be well and good night!!

Muslin of Simplicity 2054 view C : articulate this

2011-10-08T16:19:00.000-04:00

Hello!I started at 11am and finished this muslin at 3:15pm and that includes stopping for lunch. I wasn't as careful with some steps as I would normally be for the real thing, and I didn't iron it...but hurrah for a relatively fast dress!

I saw this brand new Cynthia Rowley pattern at the Simplicity booth and at the Simplicity runway show at the American Sewing Expo last month and bought it there. I want to add the cowl collar of view A to View C for the real thing, but for now, the muslin of view C is enough. (that cowl collar is a totally separate piece that lays on top of the dress like a scarf, by the way, very clever)

I don't usually make muslins, but seeing as I'm going to use some good double knit from the Common Thread in Austin, TX, I don't want to mess this up.

The muslin fabric is a lime green 'clearance' fabric I bought online, thinking it was a great deal for double knit, without knowing that it actually has all these horizontal lines on it instead of being an even color. It would have cost too much to mail it back and it's been fermenting in stash.

I first cut out a 14 grading to 16 at the hip but determined after the first try on that a straight 14 would be fine, woo!

It had an anticipated swayback issue:

which I fixed with a tuck which I sewed in. When I cut the real thing, I will add a CB seam and do the tuck in the tissue paper.
Instead of making the neckline as the pattern suggests, I finished it as follows (I need to find out what this finish is really called): Sew CB seam of binding. Pin binding to neckline. Sew in a 3/8 seam. Flip binding to inside of garment. From outside of garment, using a ruler, pin the binding down so that it's right on the edge of SAs . From the outside, sew the binding down evenly from neckline seam. Done! Looks great! doesn't flip over or anything like that. The binding is unfinished on the inside, but it doesn't bother me. Also that makes the overall binding lower than what the pattern calls for, which I think is good.

So at this point I wanted to see what the sleeve of view C looked like; so it's one-sleeved. Do you like peek-a-boo elbow or does it look like a mistake??? I'm thinking when I make the real thing, my coworkers might think I seriously messed this one up. Note that you have to figure out where your elbow ends and adjust the pattern accordingly otherwise the slit will not be at the right spot. I had to adjust upward on the pattern by 1.5 inches.

Another sewing coworker identified it as an "articulated sleeve" like Becky did in episode 7 of Project Runway.
I finished the muslin off and I will wear it as a nightgown..without the belt of course!

Show me your elbows!

When my arms are down, it looks like this:

The real version will be a turquoise blue. I might start it today, yea!
Be well and healthy-healthy-healthy!

Pattern Review blog surprise! Plus cooking

2011-10-05T21:48:00.000-04:00

So on Friday I was checking my twitter feed and saw that my review of NewLook 6000 was featured on the PatternReview blog...I must admit, it's kind of wild to read someone else's summary of my review. I don't know why I was chosen to be featured but I am honored! Then Monday night I realized that my profile pic is one of the rotating pix in their "what's new" box (if you go to http://sewing.patternreview.com/ and my pic isn't in the box, press refresh until it is). Get out of town! The dress is definitely a winner. I did fix the stretching of the CB seam over the weekend the "right" (or should I say better) way (i.e. ripping it out and ironing interfacing in, then sewing it back up) I wore it again to work today and got lots of nice comments, and have received great comments on the dress here on my blog and of course on my review at pattern review. It was my 99th review on PR...what will be #100???

In other news: It had to be done. I cooked tonight. I'd MUCH rather sew but I need to get back to eating more of my own food. Unfortunately I didn't have peas for the minestrone tonight.

Here's the lemon chicken orzo

Library books: a repeat (I needed a refresher), a novel and a book about ayurveda.

As always, be well and good night!

Buddy's back

2011-10-02T20:50:00.000-04:00

This weekend didn't work out the way I wanted it to as far as sewing....but I really wanted to sew something...

Hence, owl boy shorts, a little something. Stash scrap fabric; elastic from sewsassy.com, Antoinette's make your own undies tutorial:

I was going to cut out a dress...but Buddy (yes, I'm cat sitting again for 3 nights) rejected this fabric, yawn:
But he likes this blue one from the Common Thread in Austin, TX:

For the first time he had a taste of Hal:

Watching tv:

In the sink:

Princeton Farmer's Mkt flowers this week:

The 4th female pumpkin flower actually opened on Thursday, my little miracle!
Here's the male flower that did the job...not that there's a lot of time for a pumpkin to form:
Someone's sleeping....

Be well and good night!

American Sewing Expo Day 3: meetup with Lynnelle

2011-09-27T20:32:00.000-04:00

Previously on Vacuuming the Lawn, I blogged about day 1 and day 2 of the American Sewing Expo.

Day 3
My first class of the day wasn't til 9:45, thank goodness! Finally a chance to sleep in a little and not rush.I had taken this class last year but felt I needed a refresher. It was about the hinge and pivot method of pattern alteration.
Then at 11 I went to Angela Wolf's class about t-shirt construction and collar variations which I totally need to try out sometime.
Then it was time to meet up with Lynnelle from You Sew, Girl!

So awesome to see her again, and to meet her friend who used to sew then one day gave away her fabric stash and donated her sewing machine. Can you imagine?

We had lunch and walked the vendor floor. I picked up, ahem, some more elastic and a pair of Kai scissors. I restrained myself from buying any fabric at all, even though I was enthusiastically encouraged to buy some! I visited the pink double knit fabric at Vogue. I will place an order with the vogue fabrics website, methinks.

The "free gift" for filling out the expo survey at the information booth was a pen and measurements card from BurdaStyle. Kai scissors are in the middle, and some fun elastic is on the end (though it looks boring in this picture)

The funniest moment was when we visited a booth that sells supplies for making bras. The vendor actually lifted up her shirt to show us her hot pink bra. You don't see that every day!

Lynnelle is in the market for a new serger, so we stopped by the Sandy's Sew and Vac booth which features Baby Locks. We had a demo of a BabyLock serger that, ahem, threads itself! It's like magic, you press a button and woosh, the upper looper is threaded. Woosh, the lower looper is threaded. and almost-woosh, your needles are threaded. Pretty amazing!!!

But then I had to say goodbye to go to my class on making zipper flowers.Once again I was the only student who had trouble keeping up. The glue did not want to stick to the zipper so I fell behind. I think the glue and the content of the zipper fabric tape were not getting along at all. The glue was definitely hot (and it was my glue gun--I was packing heat all the way from Jersey)! I felt a bit like giving up. It started to work better when I used a different zipper. Eventually I caught up. here are the 4 zipper flowers I made:

Go ahead, guess which one was my first!
and here are the flowers the class made as a whole:

I wound up wearing the last one I made on my dress:

The dress is New Look 6909.

Then it was time for the dream sewing room drawing. I did not win. but on the way out, one of you dear readers called out to me, "Vacuuming the Lawn!" and we chatted for a few minutes about sewing, cooking and blogging. I'm sorry I don't remember your name!

Some gorgeous flowers outside the hotel:

There were also two wedding receptions at the convention center Sat night and they were setting up for cocktail hour

This is the best I've felt in a LONG time. I'm hoping you're feeling good too!

Be well and good night!

American Sewing Expo Day 2

2011-09-25T19:54:00.000-04:00

Sewing to the left, guns & knives to the right.

Previously, on Vacuuming the Lawn, I wrote about Day 1 of the American Sewing Expo .

Day 2, Saturday
I took a class taught by Project Runway Season 5 semi-finalist Suede and Nicole from Simplicity about incorporating classic, edgy and flirty looks with the SuedeSays collection of patterns. For one of the looks, they had applied velcro to a skirt so they could easily switch out different trims on the skirt--which I think is a great idea not just for demos but for real life too!

Back at the Simplicity booth, we posed for more pix. This time I'm wearing NewLook 6000 and Suede is wearing a jacket from his brand new Simplicity Suede Says men's line. I'm also wearing those super cute mary janes.

Suede is so incredibly nice and friendly, which he says is his midwestern upbringing. He autographed the SuedeSays pattern I bought, and said my parents must have been funky "in a good way" to name me Kyle.

All of the Simplicity folks were nice; I spent a LOT of time chatting with them in the booth and they must have been wondering if I was ever going to leave!

There was a fashion show of the new fall Simplicity and New Look patterns.

I wound up buying quite a few patterns based on seeing the garments at the show after seeing the garments in motion. What's so cool to me is the garments are THE ones pictured on the pattern envelope. So fun!
The highlight of the day was when the VP of Simplicity Judy Raymond said that she liked my dress and I did a great job sewing it (I believe she said it looked like it was off the rack) and then later on gave me the new Simplicity book "Fabric Guide: The Ultimate Fiber Resource" for being such a supporter of Simplicity and New Look. How AMAZING was that? Thank you! I'm looking forward to perusing it and learning from it. The book is in this picture of other things bought/collected at the Expo, mainly patterns but also serger thread from the Friday serger class, patterns, needles and the surgical seam ripper which I LOVE.

I also took some other lecture classes, one on bias binding and using bias tape makers (now I totally want to make my own bias tape, but failed to buy the tape maker, hrm), and a class with Sandra Betzina about her Power Sewing Toolbox.

The Passion for Fashion show was at night. It's like a mini-Project Runway. 12 designers are chosen from hundreds of applicants. They don't know the challenge til they show up on Friday morning at the Expo. This year they had to make a dress inspired by one of 12 movies. They are given $100 and buy the fabric and notions from the Expo vendors, then make their garments on the Expo floor, where anyone can stop, watch, and talk to the contestants. Then on Saturday night they have the runway show with three judges.

This year we were able to talk with the contestants afterward which was very cool.
Here's Third Place winner Gertie from Gertie's New Blog for Better Sewing:

Write your own caption:

Fan Favorite Lisa Simpson:

Second Place winner Cheryl Zemeke:

Cheryl made this clever hood that zips down the middle to open up into a shawl-collar style effect:

Passion for Fashion 2008 winner, PR columnist and teacher, PR Chicago weekend guest speaker and all-around sweet person, Angela Wolf. Loving the slits in her sleeves.

I also met another Project Runway Season 5 contestant Joe Faris. Since PR, he started up a jeans company called Motor City Denim Co.

So sad my double chin decided to make an appearance...

Such a fun day! I need to pack so I'll write about day 3, hopefully tmw, when I'm back in Jersey!

Be well, healthy-healthy-healthy, and good night!

American Sewing Expo day 1: I met Suade from Project Runway!!!

2011-09-23T19:53:00.002-04:00

Highlights from the American Sewing Expo, Day 1:

The number one highlight was meeting Project Runway Season 5 semi-finalist Suade at the Simplicity booth. Yeah!!!!

I'm wearing Simplicity 2406 and Suade is wearing menswear from his SuadeSays collection.
I wish I had fixed my dress...

He is SO nice. Greeted me with a hug, asked me what my name is, and we chatted about his tweets about last night's Project Runway. We also chatted about his SuadeSays pattern line at Simplicity. I asked if he'd mind a photo, and it turned out the Simplicity booth was already set up for that with the "SuadeSays" posters in the background. A Simplicity rep took a separate picture and posted it on their Facebook page. Then he said goodbye with a hug. How nice is that?    He is the third PR alum I've met. Tomorrow morning I am going to a workshop of his, plus the lunchtime Simplicity runway show and Passion for Fashion tomorrow night.

I also chatted with some of the Simplicity reps; they are so nice too. I just love the Simplicity booth as I am SUCH a Simplicity and New Look sewist. One of their reps recognized me as the person who takes front, side and back views in the mirror and says I sew up a storm (though she's made 14 dresses this summer; I've made 7). I told her last night I posted my 99th pattern review; which one will be #100? Possibly one of these that I picked up today:

Simplicity has a line of hats; am I too old to wear this one:

Bibs and hats:

Here's the wristband for today; much better than a handstamp!

Vogue Fabrics has a booth; here's their Sophia knit section.   This is the GOOD, soft, buttery double knit stuff that I will have to order online when I get home...especially that heathered PINK. I am wanting that pink something bad.

Isn't this dress awesome? It's one of the entries of a Passion for Fashion finalist (but not a dress they are making onsite as part of their Project Runway-style challenge).

I went to three classes today, one on zippers, Angela Wolf's class on denim topstitching and distressing (she is so entertaining, plus such great tips!), and a 3 hour hands-on serger class this morning.   Part of the class fee included the serger thread, which I totally wasn't expecting! And it's Maxi-Lock thread too, in 5 colors.

Here are my samples. As you can see, some are better than others!

But now I know how to do a lettuce edge which is something I've always wanted to learn. After that, the instructor made us clip our serger threads and thread the machine from scratch. I, however, was the only one who couldn't thread properly and the instructor said we'd have to move on so while everyone else learned rolled hem I was threading again. LOL. When I teach my software classes I know what that point is like, being an instructor, where I can't help students anymore, I just have to move on for the benefit of the rest of the class, and it was funny to be on the other side of that!

So tomorrow it's not just the sewing expo, just like last year the Gun and Knife show will be going on. Guess my glue gun that I need for Sunday's class will fit right in. Yup.

Be well and good night!!

New Look 6000 view C done; care for something to drink?

2011-09-18T21:20:00.000-04:00

Finally, it is done!!! New Look 6000 view C (sounds like Hal's cousin). I recovered my sewing mojo at the NYC shopping weekend yesterday and finished it today.

To recap:

I saw it at the Simplicity fashion show last year at the American Sewing Expo and I believe I bought the pattern then and there.
Shannon from MushyWear and Kristy Lower Your Presser Foot both made it and I loved it on them. I especially loved how Kristy said it was swayback friendly without needing a swayback adjustment.
I love the retro styling. In my fabric (navy blue) and with those sleeves, cuffs, and collar, I think it looks like a flight attendant uniform from the 60's.
BUT I ran into this problem:

Ah yes, the weirdy bulging invisible zipper at my upper back!!I asked you guys here in this blog post and also in this post on the pattern review message boards what to do, and I got a lot of suggestions, thank you for all of them! Here are all my attempts to fix the problem and subsequent alterations:

zipper attempt 2 (as zipper attempt 1 is above): As per Lisette, made sure the SA was consistent throughout the CB seam--it was. I then ripped out back zipper and basted up the back and tried to get it on over my head as per Carolyn and whirrlclunk's suggestions. Sadly could not get it over my shoulders. If I made it from a normal knit with crosswise stretch, I think I could have gotten the dress on without a zipper. However this fabric is an odd woven with stretch with the grain, so no dice. However I was pleased to see the bulge went away, so that gave me hope.
zipper attempt 3: put a side zipper in the side seam, as per whirrclunk. Ironed and interfaced the SA first as per the suggestion of many. I made sure to ease it in with the curve as per spottedroo. Sadly, I used a 9 inch zipper and the zipper pull wound up at my bust line, not a good look.
zipper attempt 4: as per many suggestions, ripped out CB seam, steamed and interfaced the SA on the CB seam. Inserted zipper. Zipper was broken, could not get it to zip all the way up. :( I don't know if I broke it when I ironed the coils flat or what.
zipper attempt 5: tried inserting a different invisible zip in the CB seam (after re-ironing the area with interfacing). The zipper zipped, but the bulging zipper returned!
zipper attempt 6: Ripped out the 9" side seam zipper and tried it again, this time with a 14 inch invisible zipper. Made sure the zipper pull ended up around my armpit. This time, I was successful! I then ripped out the 22" CB zipper, and removed the kick pleat as well, and then stitched the CB seam.
Cut 2 inches off the bottom of the dress (thus I don't need the kick pleat).

So here you can see the side view of the dress; not too bad! No more hump. There probably is some extra fabric lurking back there but I'm going to leave it be. The front of me looks lumpy from those waist pleats.

Looked through my button stash for the right buttons. I didn't have too many matching buttons, so I went with these plain blue ones. Instead of sewing one BIG button on the collar I used 3 smaller buttons. I thought about using the sailor anchor buttons again as pictured on the card below but did not, as they did not match the 60's flight attendant vibe. You can see the button I used sewn on the cuff, and also see the pleating detail at the waist. Those pleats were easier than I thought to sew.

The dress is navy; the buttons are a touch lighter than that though in some of these pictures they look like a much lighter blue.

Here's a closer-up view of the collar:

Kristy had noted the collar was floppy but I ignored her. Wish I had interfaced the collar as it is floppy and prone to deflating.

Here's the back. I think the wrinkling is from how I'm standing? maybe?

Aren't these shoes adorable???? You know I love running stitches.

I plan on wearing them with the dress. Can you believe, they were from Sears and were $30?
Some more shots of the dress:

I wish I could get the dress on Emma but I can't. She's just a mannequin and doesn't have collapsible shoulders. However I have learned that for my shoulders it is easier to get into a dress with a side zip than one with a 22 inch zipper. I have been scared of side zippers having struggled with them in the past but I think I learned a lot this time, and the invisible zip was easier than a traditional zip. Of course you have to be sure of the fit....

Ok, so....if you are going to the American Sewing Expo next weekend let me know so we can meet up!!!

In other news, it is starting to feel like fall around here. Normally I dislike fall and winter but I am ready for a new season and a new beginning. I did not have any doctors appts last week nor this coming week so that is great. I still feel the numbness/weird feeling off and on and like someone suggested I wonder if it is diet related? Well, I see the neurologist again the 27th. My back and shoulder hurts a little from the shopping yesterday (I overdid it with the fabric purchases) but my ab is feeling pretty good. And ever since I started meditation and did the MBSR meditation course I have several days a week without any back pain at all, yea! I have started to get my sleeping back on track with Belleruth Naparstek's Healthful Sleep CD. Highly recommend.

Be well and healthy, healthy, healthy! Good night.

NYC Shopping day hosted by Elizabeth and Robin

2011-09-17T22:03:00.001-04:00

Today was NYC Shopping Day hosted by Elizabeth from Sewn and Robin from Yarn Crawl. I didn't take many pix of this shopping day, sorry! But I had fun.

I hopped on the bus this sunny morning and arrived fashionably late. The two stores on the official itinerary were Elliott Berman and Metro Textiles.

But first I stopped by the garment worker...

He treadles!

Then I went to Elliott Berman where I didn't buy anything.

Here's the scene inside Metro. I'm not sure how many people were at Metro; maybe 20? Kashi had some help today. And I bought way more fabric than I should have.

I didn't know Deepika would be there, and it was fun to meet her baby, even if her baby didn't think fabric shopping was fun! And I enjoyed seeing many PR members again including Andrea and Karen.

After Metro we had lunch and then split up. Some of us went to Mood, which was very busy compared to my visit with Antoinette. Still no sign of Swatch the dog.

Then I parted ways and made my way to Pacific Trimmings:

And then I went to SIL thread to buy invisible zippers. Since I arrived late anyway, I wish I had bought zippers and trims first while I didn't have 20 pounds of fabric to carry. I could have browsed around more if I didn't have so much fabric. I did go back to Paron to see if the fabric I am STILL thinking about from June was there; it wasn't.

So I made my way back to the bus station and was in line at 2:15 (Antoinette, the bus arrived and left from a different gate than usual because of construction. I was certain to pay attention to how to get back to the gate this time!)

Here's my haul in my PR shopping bag while in line at the bus terminal. I wound up sitting on the ground writing postcards (yes, I bought NYC postcards!) because the bus arrived with a flat tire. So the bus didn't get on the road til 3:09. Some people in line with me were extra crabby about the wait, but I was ok with it. I'd rather the flat tire be at the terminal than on the turnpike.

So here is what $135 looks like:

Oh, and "Rose in SV" this is for you:

On the ride home, check out the "numbers" on this clock, and you'll know what town the bus was passing through:

It was a fun day; I'm glad I went; thank you to Elizabeth and Robin for organizing the day!

Princeton Farmer's Market flowers for this week: millet, coxcomb, sunflowers.

I am STILL working on the NL 6000 dress. It currently has a side AND back zipper. But that deserves a whole post of its own. I'm going to try to finish it off tomorrow. I have spent SO MUCH time on that dress. I'm not giving up on it. The light IS at the end of the tunnel.

Also, note to self, next time don't try to stuff too many items into the freezer because the door will just pop open during the night ruining all the home cooked food you made and froze to be eaten over the week. Really, self, you should know better.

Be well, hope you are healthy, good night!

All sorts of good things

2011-09-11T20:45:00.001-04:00

Thanks y'all for your many recommendations on how to fix the hump my NL 6000 created in the upper back zipper. I worked a bit last night on the fix, but am not satisfied with it and will continue to work on it some more. Details will be later. If I find some energy after work one night I will try it out otherwise it will have to wait for next weekend. I am thankful for your helpful suggestions and support!

Today I visited my parents to celebrate their birthdays. They are a year and 8 days apart in age.
We went to the Circus Drive-In for lunch. It's a Wall, NJ icon.
Here's almost all the possible permutations of us with the sign:

Dad hasn't been sewing lately but feels he will get back to it when the weather is cooler. Here he is with the Mood bag Antoinette scored for me during our June NYC shopping trip (I brought home some dresses to show my parents). I love that bag and use it a lot for toting things to and from work.
And you can see the cute little yellow house I grew up in.
And yesterday I received a surprise package in the mail from Antoinette; how sweet is this good stuff? The book is totally adorable and full of things like my grandmother made. Plus more underwear elastic! Sweet sweet sweet stuff.

Farmer's Mkt flowers this week:

Hope you are all well and healthy healthy healthy!
I'm trying to get back on track with my sleeping. Have to keep reminding myself sleep is a gift I can give myself!
Good night!
(I'm using blogger's new interface....where is the post button? where's the tagger? oh....)

How do I fix this? NL6000 bulging zipper

2011-09-04T18:34:00.000-04:00

So I worked some more on NL 6000. Opened the back vent, added facings, added the sleeves and cuffs.
But that zipper hump on my upper back persists. The zipper is bulging there.
It's only my second invisible zip ever.
My fabric stretches WITH the grain. Maybe it stretched while I was putting the zipper in (though it doesn't look like it stretched?)

Maybe I should have interfaced the SA on the CB seam to keep the fabric from stretching while inserting the zipper (though again, it doesn't look like the fabric stretched).

I think the zipper looks beautiful on the table, though you can see the hump is concave here...inward bulge

So, what can I do to fix it????
I'm thinking that tmw morning I might, ahem, rip out the zipper, steam the CB, and iron interfacing on the CB SA, and then try the zipper installation again. Maybe with a traditional zipper.

Here's the dress so far on Emma. I can't believe I didn't take a pic of it on me from the front now that the sleeves are in. It's kind of a pain to get into and out of this dress and I've been taking it on and off throughout the sleeve process.

I think it looks a little 60's flight attendant. But I'm ok with that. Can I get you a beverage?

Still left to do:

the hump
the fit at the hip
cut off about 2.5 inches and sew the hem
tack down facings
tack down collar in back
buttons

I must say, the back vent is beautiful, but after I cut off 2.5 inches and hem the bottom, the back vent will be all of 1 or 2 inches, something really silly looking. I might eliminate the back vent altogether. Kind of a shame, LOL.

New Look 6000 view C in progress, and food & flowers

2011-09-03T20:32:00.003-04:00

OH, it's got a ways to go, but here's New Look view C now in progress.

Here's the pattern envelope:

I first saw this pattern at the American Sewing Expo last year, during the Simplicity Fashion Show. So yes, I saw the actual red dress on the envelope, walking down the runway!! Ok, maybe that wasn't worthy of two exclamation points, but it was pretty fun, especially as New Look/Simplicity and I are BFFs. Then I saw Shannon from MushyWear make it, and then Kristy from Lower Your Presser Foot made it and said it's swayback friendly--NO swayback adjustment needed. Woo-hoo!!

I put in my second invisible zipper ever, not too bad. However, somehow this one is making like a hump on my upper back. I'm hoping when I put in sleeves, it might mitigate some of that. But here you can also see the lovely pleat/tucks/whatever you want to call them.

The back so far--the hem is haphazardly pinned up

Here's a closer view of the collar. I haven't put the collar facings in yet.

The fabric has been fermenting in my stash; it's from Joann's and is synthetic and has stretch WITH the grain, and sort of looks like denim.
Here's what it looked like as a 14:

A bit too big. I sewed it down to what I think is a 12, which is all the other pix in this post, which is probably too tight in the hip. I'm probably going to grade it out to a 14 at the hips and downward.

What it needs:

sleeves
sleeve cuffs
neck facings
buttons
hem
fit fixed hip downward
somehow fix that weirdy hump on my back?
open up the back vent
hook and eye half way up collar in the back

Here's some food I made Monday night! Lemon chicken orzo again

Summer vegetable soup. It looks weird (to me) but it tastes great! It has fresh corn, chicken, onion, tomatoes, zucchini, red pepper and milk in chicken stock. It's from The Food You Crave.

Are you craving it?

Oh, I already got guacamole on my new Vogue 1247 but it came right out in the wash today. The fabric washed up beautifully.

Here are some gladiolas from the Princeton Farmer's Market:

I'm feeling pretty good. Numbness/weird feeling comes and goes. It was on the right side briefly Thurs night this week but switched back to left side. I don't know what's up with that but I'm able to do everything I want to do even if it feels weird. Back pain has been 0 many days or just slight discomfort. YEAH!

Hope you are all healthy-healthy-healthy! Be well!

Finally, Vogue 1247 is DONE!! Plus pumpkin update

2011-08-29T18:18:00.000-04:00

Today was a planned vacay day, and then Princeton was closed anyway because of flooding. And somehow my sewing mojo has been recovered. So I finally finished Vogue 1247, the Rachel Comey skirt.
It's the one with the cute pockets, and as you can see, I kept the waistband.

As a reminder, here's the pattern:

Obviously, I added some inches to this pattern. After hemming, the skirt is 5.5 inches longer than the finished pattern length.

The shirt is from Ann Taylor Loft, in the clearance section. It has a lot of plastic beads that keep falling off, lol.

When I sewed down the side seams yesterday to take this from a 14 to a 12, I didn't line up the side horizontal lines

I spent some time today so that horizontal line matches on BOTH sides .

Oh, and then here's some ugliness with the invisible zip. The bottom of the zip is not so nice. So I just removed the stitching there and had the zipper "end" earlier, thereby having a "tail" inside with the zip which makes it easier to finish. Thanks to MushyWear for her recommendation to read SunnyGal Studio's tips on invisible zips.

Also, anon wanted to know how I sewed an invisible zip without an invisible zipper foot. I ironed the teeth flat like all the directions told me to do and used my regular zipper foot and made sure to get right up in there against the teeth. Which is easy to do til you get to the end of the zip. Then I couldn't get in close to the teeth, so it looked like this at the bottom:

So now it looks like this (it's hanging off my ironing board, that's why it's folded kind of weird). It's still a bit puckered and that's after ironing. But the zipper part looks nice!

So this morning my other concern was the "hole" between the top of the zip and the waistband.

After installing the hook and eye, it wound up looking like this, so the hole isn't TOO big.

The hem was the other trial. This fabric is from Jomar, purchased during PR weekend Philly. It's some mystery blend fabric. Definitely synthetic, with some stretch. Hemming it was a nightmare. I wanted an 1.5 inch hem. I twin needle stitched it. It created these "points" in the hem that looked horrible. Then I ironed 3" of interfacing on and folded in half, twin needle stitched. It started to pucker right away while the interfacing started to separate from the fabric. Then I cut 1.5 inches off, then twin needle stitched with a half inch seam, and then folded over again and did another half inch. Somehow the shape of the skirt is more pencil than A-line, but I'll take it!

In other news, the start of the baby pumpkin I showed you last week fell off this weekend and started to rot.

But here's a new baby pumpkin/female flower coming on. I will be sure to watch this every day so that I can hand pollinate it when it blooms. Carolyn wrote about the bees doing their job, but I want to make sure this pumpkin is fertilized! I also got out my gardening gloves and pulled the vine back a bit so it's not on the grass anymore. Pumpkin vines are very prickly!

So I hope everyone is healthy-healthy-healthy. Be well! I need to cook soon but would rather keep on sewing!

Vogue 1247 still in progress; Hurricane Irene

2011-08-28T21:56:00.001-04:00

Ah yes, the Rachel Comey skirt with the cute front pockets, known as Vogue 1247. When I last left you, I was up to the step for inserting the invisible zipper. I used a combination of my Singer Complete Photo Guide to Sewing 2009 edition, Amanda's invisible zipper tutorial, and the instructions that came with the zipper. My first ever invisible zip!

Shocker: I didn't know I'd need an invisible zipper foot (I didn't know such things existed) so I used my regular zipper foot and improvised. Also I wound up sewing the side seams down from a 14 down to a 12. It was just too big as a 14. Also my fabric has stretch.

Amanda's instructions were great for getting the horizontal seam in the back to match up. But you can tell I had some difficulty with the bottom of the zipper. I plan on fixing that tomorrow.

But I also had difficulty with the top of the zipper and the waist band. I haven't installed the waistband hook and eye closure yet, but you can see the white of my shirt peeking out there between the waistband and the zipper top. I have to play with that.

Here's the side view:

I still need to hem it too.

I was also thinking of ripping out the waistband entirely and just folding the top edge over and finishing it with ribbon or elastic or something.

band folded under

That would take care of the back zipper / waistband problem.

But I think it's cuter with the waistband.

So, Hurricane Irene. My sleep was interrupted often last night by rain, wind, or a combo of the two. It was a pretty fierce storm and I am glad the trees behind my house withstood the weather and stood tall and did NOT fall onto my bedroom! I wound up taking a 3 hour nap at lunchtime to compensate for loss of sleep.

I feel really lucky. I have had power throughout the storm, my newspaper was delivered this morning, I don't have a basement, so no flooding in my house. However, looking at twitter there is a lot of flooding in the Princeton area. Princeton University is closed tmw. The roads to my work and gym are flooded.

My parents live down the shore (~3 miles inland) and haven't had power since 11:30pm last night. I read the electric company's twitter feed to my mom over the phone. They have a gas stove so she can cook, but she needed a way to light the stove and didn't have matches or a lighter. So she went to Quik Check this morning and bought 4 lighters, whereas everyone else was buying coffee. The clerk wanted to know if she was planning on starting a forest fire.

So I hope you are all safe and not flooded, and that you are well and healthy-healthy-healthy. Good night!

Did I miss it? The pumpkin plant follies...

2011-08-26T16:48:00.001-04:00

I admit, I've been lax this week checking my pumpkin plants for female flowers. Most mornings there is a male flower blooming and, well, ready for service, and since they are on long stems, it's very easy to tell they're male.

So this afternoon I decided to check out my pumpkin plant again, closer up, to see what I could find, so I lifted up some leaves....and lo and behold, there is a FEMALE flower. The first one I have ever seen. But the bud is brownish. I tugged on the bud and it's firmly attached. Does this mean the flower never opened? It opened but I didn't see it yet it isn't ready to fall off yet? It wanted to open but now it's given up and turned brown? (that bit, at the base of the flower bud? That's the start of the baby pumpkin!)

Here are some males. These will bloom soon. You can also see the fungus on the leaves.

The plant has now risen up over the hostas since it ran out of space behind the evergreen tree and is now growing into the yard, against homeowner's association bylaws. This plant is totally illegal in my community.

It's such an outlaw...
I don't see any other female buds on the plant.
What do you think about that one female flower???? Lost cause????

My beautiful brain

2011-08-25T20:18:00.001-04:00

Princeton Farmer's Mkt flowers today

This morning the neurologist looked at my brain MRI images. He was really excited by how clear the images are; he said the magnet at the hospital is stronger than other facilities and the images are so clear. He said my brain is beautiful, look at the folds in my cerebellum! (My favorite flower farmer joked, "I bet he says that to all women"). So, no MS. The evoked potential tests were fine (look at those beautiful lines!) and so was my bloodwork (no lymes, and some other diseases were negative, and no diabetes). I got copies of all those reports.

I told him about my angst for the evoked potential tests. He said the tech who I didn't like for the evoked tests no longer works there. I told him about how I hated that test and how the tech wasn't really training the other person named Jill, the tension between them, how I thought I was going to start sobbing, etc, and he said, "Oh, so you were that patient! Jill told me about that." Then he said that tech was a bit of a nervous nelly, and I was thinking, he was a bit of a jerk. He said they might have been too generous with the amount of time they let him stay on the job.

He ordered an EEG of my brain, which I had this morning with a tech who was very nice, and an ultrasound of my neck (carotid artery), which will be in his office next week. With the EEG, the tech said the test was technically perfect but the doctor will tell me the results. Well, techs aren't supposed to talk about results.

The neurologist said since things are getting better, come back in 4 weeks. His first available is 7:45am in 4.5 weeks. He didn't talk about the spinal tap or further MRIs at all. He asked if I'm stressed, anxious, depressed, and I said I have been freaked out, stressed and depressed about this whole thing....that when I feel the weird feeling, I wonder if I'm heading toward life in a wheelchair. He said he doesn't think so! He said it could be stress related but let's see how it goes this next month. He said if it's still getting better in a month, then that would be the end of me seeing him. If it's not, then he might order more tests or medication. He didn't mention the spinal tap or more MRIs at all. He said he would send a letter to my PCP to let him know my brain is normal.

Last night Len asked me if I'm getting better. I said yes. He said, is it yes or is it wishful thinking? I said, it's really yes. A month ago I felt like I was going to pass out quite a lot because I was so lightheaded, I couldn't go to the gym, and the numbness was much worse. Now I can go to the gym, I push through the weird feeling, I don't feel like I'm going to pass out.

So, let's see what another month does! :) And on Saturday I'm going to see an Ayurvedic practitioner. I'm very interested in seeing what happens with that!

I have a 4 day weekend. Yeah! I wish y'all a flood-free weekend with this hurricane coming. And the earthquake was the other bit of excitement around here on Tuesday. I felt it at work in my 4th floor office--did you???

Vogue 1247 in progress; catsitting round-up

2011-08-21T21:04:00.001-04:00

I started Vogue 1247 today. This is probably the kind of skirt that can be done in a few hours but I only worked on it for about an hour at a time in two shifts--first to cut it out and second to do some light sewing.

It's the Rachel Comey skirt (I keep wanting to write "comfy") that's been making it's way around the internet, but I first saw it on Carolyn's blog. I don't really need another skirt but this one has ADORABLE front pockets. Antoinette calls them magnetic (which gives me an idea for magnetic closures, though that's not what she meant!)

So that photo is just to show you that the pockets exist--I'd never carry my scissors and rotary cutter around that way! The pockets are pretty hidden otherwise.

This skirt is insanely short; I added 9 inches to the length. I can always chop off some of the length I added.

So far the front yoke is sewn to the front and the pockets are sewn too.

Here's the inside of the front, to give you an idea of how the pockets are sewn. It's very clever.

And here I'm just holding the front of the skirt up against me.

I also sewed the back yoke to the back but next is to install the invisible zipper. I've never done one of those before but I figure 8:30pm is not a great time to learn! I plan on using Amanda's invisible zipper tutorial.

My catsitting concluded tonight when Buddy's parents picked him up and took him home. I miss him already but am excited to get a full night of sleep, I hope! He had been waking me up at 4:45am near the end of his stay, licking my face and nose, purring all the while. Very cute! But I *need* to get my sleeping habits back on track. Sleep is a gift I can give myself!

Also as his catsitter I didn't feel the need to discipline him so he had free reign of the house. This is my favorite picture as it took a certain amt of timing to get the picture when his paw was in the water glass.

And then he would lick the water off his paw

I like little cat paws and so I took some paw shots. Pam recently took some paw shots on her blog.

He helped me put laundry away

And he enjoys Princeton Farmer's Mkt flowers too:

And he helped me lay out the pattern pieces for the skirt!

I'm seriously thinking about getting a cat now!
Good night!

All sorts of good news including a rescued wadder!

2011-08-16T21:23:00.000-04:00

I got my bloodwork and brain MRI results by calling the doctor's assistant 7 times yesterday morning til she picked up the phone. I don't have Lymes disease and my brain MRI was normal (so no MS, brain tumors, or a host of other things)! So I don't know what is causing my numbness/lightheadedness but it is intermittent and not as bad as when it first started a month ago. I see the neurologist on the 25th. He said based on these results he might order more MRIs or a spinal tap.

I had the pelvic ultrasound yesterday which didn't show any real issues except a less than one centimeter fibroid. So my ab pain is still a mystery--it's either my pelvic kidney or a muscle issue or ???

Thank you for all of your comments on the Butterick 5559 dress! I wore it to work today and got lots of nice comments. The boat neck is a little wide; it might need some bra strap holders.

You might recall the problems I had with Burda 7696, and I couldn't wear it because the torso is too long. Here's what it looked like on me (and then the following weekend I redid it from scratch and shortened the torso).

I showed it to my coworker Marsha, also a sewist, who was able to make it work by adjusting the sash, hemming it, and adding the buckle! She is taller than me so the torso length was fine.
Here she is in the dress. LOVE the buckle.

She treated me to lunch, super super nice! Thanks Marsha for lunch and for rescuing one of my wadders!

Buddy has taken over my house, and my sleep. I hate being sleep deprived! But he is fun to have around.

Be well and good night!

Butterick 5559 view B done, plus catsitting!

2011-08-14T21:29:00.001-04:00

Thanks again for your wishes about my health, esp KID, MD!   I might very well take all the pix of my films and post them on flicker for your review!

Last night I started Butterick 5559 view B. I spent most of today working on it and I think it's finished!

AmandaS also made this dress, but in winter white.   Check out her version here.

Here's the pattern envelope. Instantly I could tell those sleeves would be too tight for my biceps. So I made the sleeveless view B.

I used navy blue ponte roma knit from Joann's. It's $12.99 a yard, the buttery soft stuff!

I sewed a 14 grading to a 16 at the hip. It worked out. Phew!

Instead of using the facings that are for view B, I used the neck facing for view A, then twin needle stitched the armholes. I also twin needle stitched the hem.

This dress has a lot of tucks, and some tucks have darts underneath them. I read reviews on Pattern Review that said to make sure to carefully trace the darts and tucks. That is true; otherwise they won't line up on the side seams.

Here's my left side; they mostly line up.

And my right side; they line up except the top one under the armhole. That's because I wound up taking a triangle out of the armhole down to the bust (on both sides, actually).

Here' s the back. This dress actually has a great opportunity for a swayback adjustment as the dress is actually cut as a top and bottom that's then sewn together. So the horizontal seam is already there in the back for swayback adjustment. However, by the time I remembered, I had already put the tuck in. I didn't do a swayback adjustment and it doesn't look too bad. I don't know, maybe I'll unpick it and fix it later.

on emma, front

on emma, back. Actually I sewed down one tuck in the back almost all the way across to see what it would look like. If you look carefully, you can see it. I will unpick that.

But just as cool are the inside of the tucks, as I realized when I turned the dress inside out last night as I was working on it.   The tucks are supposed to be ironed down but they don't seem to stay down; if that annoys you, sewing the tucks to the inside is a neat effect:

I am catsitting chez moi. Here's Viktor, also known as Buddy, or my fuzzy therapist:

He has already perused my fabric stash:

and spent a lot of time looking out the window on this incredibly rainy day

touch my belly

Inspecting the bathroom sink

and then taking a nap, half on the ironing board and half on the cutting table. Looks comfy!

Be well and good night!

What it's like to have a brain MRI

2011-08-13T15:37:00.001-04:00

I had a lumbar spine MRI in May 2009, which I wrote about here.

On Wednesday, I had a brain MRI with contrast to see what's going on with my brain, because of my intermittent numbness. The two MRIs were a little different.

I still don't know the results. I still don't know the results of my bloodwork from 2 weeks ago; the doctor's office has not received them. I left a voicemail with the doctor's assistant on Friday asking about it and asking her to call me back; no response (she told me on Tuesday they still didn't have the results). I'll try again Monday.

Ok, so for the brain MRI. First I checked in and filled out some paperwork in the waiting room. I saw a nurse that takes some of the same gym classes I take and said hello to her. I thought it would be great if she was my tech but she wasn't. But the tech I got was totally nice and friendly and the polar opposite of the tech from the evoked potential tests. Yeah!    She came right up to me and said my name. As we walked back I asked her how she knew who I was, and she said when you check in, the clerk puts a description of what you're wearing on the form. Hrm.

Since this MRI was with contrast, they put in an IV first. I had to wait awhile for the person ahead of me to finish up his MRI. I don't know what was going on with him, but it sounded like he was having some difficulty, with lots of cheerleading on the part of his tech, and a "what did you react to? let's get you to a nurse" afterward.

Then it was my turn. I had to lie down on a table, shimmy up til my shoulders touched this piece of plastic. The tech put earplugs in my ears and then some padding around that.    She then put a cage/mask type thing over my face. I wasn't expecting that. It snaps into place. I'm not really claustrophobic, but I could see that being a problem if you are. She asked if I wanted a blanket; I said yes. The table moved me into the machine. Unlike my lumbar MRI, I could not see down my body; I could only look up, through the cage and to the top of the MRI machine.    The tech told me how long each scan would last (3 minutes, 2 minutes, this is the longest one at 5 and a half minutes, etc).    Then she took me out of the machine, the other tech injected me with the contrast dye, and I was moved back into the machine for some more scans.

I did my meditation breathing, one that I learned from Whole Living (breathe in and think the word "strong", breathe out and think the word "calm").   A friend of mine asked me to figure out if she should go on a work trip or not; I thought about that.   At one point I felt headachy.   I occasionally moved my feet or hands. My shoulders were definitely tense. The MRI machine wasn't as loud as I remember it from 2009, though this was a different facility and a different type of MRI.

Then it was over. I had asked the tech how long it would take. I think she said 15 minutes without contrast and 12 minutes with (or was it 20 and 15?)? But it seemed to be faster than that? The table moved, the tech took out the IV and put on some gauze and a very funky red bandage, and told me to wait while they printed the films. I was wearing long pants, socks, shoes, and a short sleeved t-shirt (the same shirt I wore for my lumbar MRI--it's got a squirrel on the front, one of my favorite gym shirts).    I felt really cold and then I started shivering. I don't remember the last time I shivered, but the tech got me a warm blanket (it really was warm, like it had been in a dryer) and I sat there. A guy in blue scrubs (radiologist?) showed up with the films and asked if I was ok. I said, I'm always cold but I'm shivering. He asked if I wanted to see a nurse. Nope! He showed me the way out and I was back in the Princeton warmth.

I then drove over to the Princeton Farmer's Market and told my favorite flower farmer my story (he asked if I had today off since I was, well, wearing a squirrel shirt). I think he got more than he bargained for as I dumped my medical history on him (back/ab/pelvic kidney/shoulder/numbness). He is so sweet, he actually gave me green and black eyed susans for free. How nice was that?

Then I went back to work where I showed some of my coworkers my brain.

So the parts that are super white on the top, that's just the halogen lightbulbs from my dining room lamp. because I don't have, you know, one of those lightboxes to light up the images. They gave me a file folder with several pages of images.

Here's my pumpkin plant. It is running out of space and growing up the side of the evergreen. It has some fungus growing on the older leaves, and is still not producing female flowers (ok, Pam asked how I know if the flowers are male or female; this site explains (warning, it has a talking advertisement)! Anyway, I had no idea about pumpkins and female flowers, but I'm getting worried that mine won't produce any female flowers...)

Then I just thought this was funny. The other roomba charger is downstairs so one of my Hals is waiting in line!

So....
knees are great
back pain has been light except for Sunday/Monday
ab pain comes and goes but overall is fine (pelvic ultrasound is on Monday afternoon)
shoulder is getting better, slowly
numbness and lightheadedness is intermittent. When I do have it, it's not a intense as before.

Sewing: I will be doing some soon. I think. :)

Be well!!!

Reader Q&A

2011-08-09T21:08:00.000-04:00

Soooo...I asked about the sleeve lines in my last post about the Jule tulip sleeve shirt, and you guys answered! Thank you! I might play with this pattern some more sometime and see if I can fix that issue. I agree, the shirt is too long in the shoulder line. But I also think I didn't do a great job tracing the pattern. I think I'm actually going to cut the sleeve pattern directly out of the Jalie paper as I don't ever see myself tracing that piece out properly.

Now time for some of your questions, answered!

Gwen wanted to know "where's the food"...there you go! I cooked tonight, after dinner. Those are in-progress shots, simmering away...minestrone and corn chowder. Antoinette, when you were here, I forgot to add the pearl barley. Oops! I haven't experimented with new-to-me recipes for a while. It's time to do that again soon. I'm stuck in a cooking rut.

TracyKM wanted to know about swayback puddling. I don't know how to determine this without doing a muslin first, but it involves figuring out how much of a tuck needs to be taken, then transferring that tuck (just fold the pattern over) from the CB waist or slightly above it eventually folding to nothing at the side seam (that way the length of the dress at the side seam doesn't change). It's essentially what I did in my black Burda dress, only I fixed it on the fly by adding the horizontal seam at the waist and taking out the 1" tuck via the seam there. Also, like Jodie said, adding a CB seam and shaping that can help too.

The Slapdash Seamstress stated that it's hard to find good quality knits at Joann's. I *adore* their $12.99 ponte roma knit--it feels "yummy". But they also sometimes have good knits that aren't the ponte roma.

Hrm, it felt like you guys asked more questions, but I guess not!

Health update:

still no bloodwork results from 7/29
got the authorization code--my brain MRI with contrast to rule out MS is Thurs morning.
my pelvic ultrasound is Monday afternoon.
I'm still feeling weird/slightly numb/lightheaded on and off. I don't know what that's all about but I'm hoping the tests will figure it out or this just goes away on its own
I'm feeling burned out from managing my health. :(

I finished the mindfulness based stress reduction course Monday night. I thoroughly enjoyed it; it has changed the way I look at my back pain. and I think I might have made some new friends from it too!

Be well and good night!!

Jalie 2806: tulip sleeved goodness

2011-08-07T21:21:00.001-04:00

Tonight I made Jalie 2806, the scoopneck top with the tulip sleeves.
Above is my attempt at a Jalie type pose, as per the pattern envelope, but with a Mary Nanna style belt.

Here's another pose attempt, without the belt:

I made size V with a decent knit fabric from Joann's. It's not the good stuff (the ponte roma knit), but still pretty good.

Hello swayback issues.

The thing that bothers me is those lines on the sleeve....see them? What is causing them?? How can I stop that from happening?? (other than never putting my arms down).

When my arms are down, the sleeve wrinkles are really pronounced.

I wonder if it's because I perhaps didn't carefully trace the tulip sleeve pattern piece, maybe, possibly:

Here's a closeup of the sleeve detail; of course I twin needle stitched the edges.

It took me 3.5 hours to make this shirt from trace to finish. Only I can turn something simple into such a long, drawn out project. One reason is I had issues with the neckband, but that was because I cut the notches at the neckline too deep so I couldn't use such a small SA as the Jalie patterns want...another was this:

After twin needle stitching the sleeve edges, the sleeve then gets sewn into the sleeve hole. (this is due to the neat tulip design. The sleeve has to be hemmed first). I left the "second spool" of thread on my extra thread holder on my machine, which is really a bobbin I wound. Well, somehow the thread from that bobbin wound up as above...

Thankfully I was able to take the side casing off and remove that thread, but I haven't been able to get the casing back into place. But it's good enough that I can sew. Yes.

So here are all the patterns I want to make before the summer is out, LOL. Let's see how many I actually do....

Farmer's Market flowers for this week; black eyed susans with mint!

Be well and good night!

Stupid tests and Simplicity 2594 emerges from the magic closet

2011-08-03T20:37:00.000-04:00

Stupid, stupid tests. I had the "evoked potential" tests yesterday, as ordered by the neurologist. On the surface, they seem like pretty simplistic tests to take. Sit there with some electrodes attached to your skull and chill out. But you're not allowed to move OR tense up. Um, hello, how are type A personalities with chronic pain issues related to chronic muscle tension supposed to take this test? For two of the tests in particular, the tech said if I tensed up or moved, he would have to start the test all over again. So I did horribly at that. He moved on to another test and then back to that one at the end.

Test 1: stare at a block on the center of a tv screen, one eye at a time, while all these black and white squares dance around it. It looked like a video game circa 1982. They used gauze to cover my eyes one eye at a time. Well, when it was time for the right eye to stare at the screen, the gauze over my left started sliding down my left cheek. But I wasn't supposed to move or talk. I felt like I was concentrating more on the gauze moving down my face. By the end, I had some peripheral vision in my left eye. I wish I had said something. But I'll tell the doc.

Test 2: Put on some earphones and listen to clicking sounds. This is the test where he kept saying I was moving or tensing but he didn't know where.

Test 3: The tech put some device on my wrists that made my fingers move. But I wasn't allowed to move anything else or tense up. I'm thinking, how am I going to get through these tests? I channeled the energy of the most competitive person I know, thinking that if it were her, she would be able to be perfectly, utterly still and not tensed. After that I got through test 3, then went back to test 2, and got through that.

I don't even know what those tests were for.

At the checkout desk, I asked if my bloodwork is back ("no") and how it's going getting the authorization number from the insurance company for the MRI ("hrm, your file hasn't moved out of dictation, but once it has moved on, then the person who calls the insurance company gets it and will make the call").

The waiting room was more full this time, and I had to wait and see people sitting there with their big folders full of old fashioned films and looking glum, terrified, and/or bored.

I felt like, I don't belong here, this is not my path, why couldn't we wait to get the bloodwork results back before doing these tests, I don't like this tech, I don't like the tension between the tech and the person he is training, I am ready to get off this treadmill of doctors and nurses and techs and tests.

I went to the car and FINALLY had the BIG CRY. I have been waiting for the big cry to happen for a while now. and then I went to Whole Foods and bought cookies. You know, the double chocolate chip ones that are $1 each. SO GOOD.

Last night I saw my chiro. He said my periods of numbness could be neurological, but it could be musculoskeletal. It could be that I'm having pockets of hypoglycemia when I'm lightheaded. He thinks I'm wound up right now which only makes it worse. Hyperventilating would also cause numbness. He did his active release technique on muscles and nerves that go into my skull and down my arm and leg. So my plan is to start an enhanced stretching routine, sleep more, eat even better than I'm eating already, not read any medical website, and chill out.

OH, and today was the first day I wore Simplicity 2594. Mary Nanna has talked about her Magic Closet where garments she doesn't like go to ferment and emerge better-liked after a period of time. I made S2594 TWO YEARS ago and finally wore it today. Here's how I styled it, with this very cool glitter belt from a Princeton consignment shop clearance rack for $4.

and here's the back:

I last talked about it here on my blog, and also pattern reviewed it.

I remember, it was such a struggle to make this shirt; that yoke was horrible to sew. But I loved wearing it today with the belt!

Pete sent me this very cool get well card today; I just love it! (also love how random sewing fluff is in the picture):

Thanks for listening to me yammer on about my health issues. I've decided too that I'm healthy, I'm healthier than I think I am, and there's nothing wrong with me.

Be well and good night!

this week in health

2011-07-31T18:59:00.001-04:00

Pumpkin plant in back yard with male flower...still waiting for female flowers to bloom!!

Thanks for your comments on the Burda rufflicious dress. I wore it to work on Tuesday; the ruffle was a big hit. It definitely needs bra strap holders, though. The weight of the ruffle pulls the dress to the left, exposing the right bra strap.

No sewing this weekend as I did chores yesterday and went to a 6 hour silent meditation retreat today. The program I am doing is Jon Kabat-Zinn's Mindfulness Based Stress Reduction (MBSR) program, though I'm taking the class in Princeton, not Massachusetts. It's an 8 week program.   I have two more classes to go. It's a great class and have found it helpful for dealing with my chronic pain, though today my back was screaming through the class. Often the meditation reduces my back pain but not today!

So last Sunday night my left cheek started feeling numb, like I gone to the dentist and had novacaine. Such a weird feeling, which lasted through early Wed morning. Plus my arm was numb on and off, and my lightheadedness continued much of the week. I called my PCP Monday morning who was able to get my appt with a neurologist moved up from Aug 16 to Wednesday afternoon.   The neurologist asked me how I was doing, and I said, "I'm a little freaked out" and he replied, "awwww...". He also looks like a grandfatherly teddy bear with a white beard and white hair. He may be the most calm doctor I've ever been to, and his office was efficiently run. My appt was for 12:30 and, get this, he actually came into the room at 12:30!!!

He did some of the same tests as my PCP and some new ones (Hold your hands out, palms up, eyes closed, and drew numbers on my hands, what were they?)   He ordered an MRI of my brain with contrast to rule out MS, bloodwork for things like vitamin E and lymes disease, and 3 evoked potential tests. I had the blood drawn Friday (results??? but wow I was lightheaded for that test, and the phlebotomist had trouble drawing blood and now I'm bruised there--first time that's ever happened) and will have the evoked potential tests Tuesday afternoon. I'm waiting to hear back from their office with the authorization code from my insurance company so that I can then schedule the MRI.    He said depending on the test results I might have to have other MRIs or a spinal tap. Eek on the spinal tap. Let's avoid that at all costs shall we?? I don't see him again til Aug 25, his first available, to discuss results.

Yesterday I felt the best I have in two weeks! No numbness nor lightheadedness.

As for my abdominal pain, I saw my gyno for the annual exam on Monday. He says my pain is too high for it to be related to my reproductive organs but he could order a pelvic ultrasound if I wanted. I said yes, so I'm to call on the first day of my period and get the u/s scheduled for about a week later. He thinks my pain is either muscular or that I'm really sensitive to my pelvic kidney.

I never heard back from the surgeon about my CT results. Well, she had said if the CT was clean to see my gyno for a pelvic u/s or go to a gastroenterologist for a scope. I'm thinking of letting that go for awhile since my CT was clean as noted in this post (though the gyno noted that the CT scan results didn't mention the uterus or ovaries and that normally they do). Anyway, I haven't had bad ab pain since the day I wrote my frustration post.

So yesterday I slept in and took a 2 hour nap in the afternoon. Subsequently I was wide awake at midnight, after watching, ahem, Say Yes to the Dress Bridesmaids edition and some other drivel. I probably didn't fall asleep til 1am. I'm trying not to lie down til bedtime tonight otherwise I will have a gigantic nap...

Princeton Farmer's Market flowers for this week, my happy, happy black and green eyed susans (with some flowers left over from the week before).

Be well and good night!

Burda 7379, maybe done?

2011-07-24T22:03:00.002-04:00

Hello all! Let's talk about sewing today. I decided to give Burda 7379 a whirl... I'm a sucker for a great ruffle, and this one delivers.

I mean, really, check out this ruffle action (that is ruffle on gathered armhole action there).

And check out my "fake out sway back adjustment". It's called using a belt and pulling up the part that should have been tucked in a swayback adjustment up and over the belt. Here I did that poorly, but you can see the rufflage on the back of the dress as well. (These thin straps are not hiding my bra strap, I might install bra strap holders). (and I might cut across the back of the dress and do a real sway back tuck back there).

and a closeup of front rufflage.

So, there were a few things.
I used a knit fabric instead of a woven as per the pattern envelope. I recall vowing previously to never do that again, on a different pattern. I acknowledged breaking the vow and went ahead anyway. This knit is from Metro Textiles, from Antoinette and my big NYC shopping day. It is a thin knit and sort of wrinkles a little bit, which surprised me.

According to the pattern, the dress is supposed to be cut on the bias of the woven fabric. I cut it on the grain since it was a knit, size 10 grading to size 12.
I tried the neck facing but it was kind of a disaster. So I turned the edge over and twin needle stitched. Looks ok.
The left armhole actually gets gathered too! I wound up finishing off that armhole with single fold bias tape. But the armhole is TOO big, especially compared to the right armhole. Another great expression there.

So I sewed in about an inch there to take care of that problem.

Oh, and here's the ruffle in progress. It's two big long strips of fabric, cut at intervals which I'm not sure was necessary. and the directions were confusing for that. The illustration did not match the pattern directions. So I cut the bottom strip every 3.25 inches and the top strip every 2 inches which matches the illustration and made more sense to me. However, I'm not sure that cutting the strips on any interval really would have mattered.

Anyway, these pieces are based with two rows of stitching down the middle, then gathered and sewn on to the top (and then that left armhole is gathered as well).

And here's a closeup on Emma, twin needle stitching and all:

Oh, and the directions. I hated how the pattern adds SAs and then the directions say to "cut off SA at edge of neckline" and "cut off allowance at edges of armhole". What? When I gave up on binding the neckline I cut off some of that SA (while I was cutting off the binding, lol), but did not cut off allowance at edges of armhole.

So, yeah, if I hadn't spent like an hour futzing with the neckline (installing neck band, removing neck band, tightening neck band, reinstalling neck band, waving the white flag and just cutting the neckband off, turning the raw edge over and twin needle stitching) I probably could have done this dress in about 4 hours.

So, I might do a swayback adjustment on this, and I might install bra strap holders. Or one or the other. Or neither.

Oh, and here is a cicada from last week, on the outside looking in

Be well and good night!

The CT scan results

2011-07-23T21:05:00.005-04:00

Hello lovelies! Again, thank you for all your warm wishes. I really, really needed them. And for the doctors and nurses who read this blog (KID MD and Vanessa) I am totally interested in your opinion! Don't hesitate to let me know. :)

My brain is on overdrive. I took two, 2-hour naps this afternoon. The first one woke me up because I had a dream (nightmare) where I couldn't see anymore. Ugh. My brain really needs to take a holiday...

Ok, so here are some results! My bloodwork is normal. I don't know exactly all the things that were tested (vitamin B12 and thyroid were among them), and I asked for a copy of the results, but sometimes they don't send them. I will keep after them with these results since I will need them for the neurologist.

Anonymous asked if I take a lot of vitamins because it seems like I am mainly vegetarian, and too much of some B vitamins can lead to neuropathy, just like too little B12 can lead to it too. The answer is I take a basic one-a-day multivitamin, Fisol fish oil capsules (they are small and easy to swallow) and vitamin D. I had fallen off the wagon taking the supplements but am back on that wagon.

I never heard back from the surgeon about the CT scan results. I went to the imaging facility on Friday evening to pick up the CT images (for my burgeoning 'greatest hits' collection) and the receptionist said, "oh, they didn't include a copy of the report. Let me print one for you now." JACKPOT! So here you go. Basically it says I have a normal abdominal exam and a right pelvic kidney. NOTHING about a hernia!

So last Monday when I saw the surgeon, she said that if the CT scan is clean, she would refer me to a gastroenterologist for a scope. She also asked about the last time I saw my gyno; that will be on Monday and I will bring all reports and ask him if he has any ideas about my pain.

Here's the ultrasound report for my kidneys and bladder from 6/14/11, with the comments from the urologist (I have blurred the radiologist's name):

As for the numbness, it is back on and off, and I feel lightheaded quite frequently. My mom found a member of her family with MS; we are genetically linked through my great-grandfather. However it's also plenty hot out and I never do well in hot hot hot weather (though I am inside in a/c like 99% of the time these past few days). Here's the car thermometer yesterday at 5:30 or so pm:

Weather.com also has had "air quality alerts" for probably 2 months now and maybe that has something to do with it too. Perhaps not freaking out about my health would help as well, and going out and having some FUN would help too. Two neighbors have said I should relax and not do so much (one suggested that I stop reading pain books), and my boss has said I can take some personal days. I am really appreciative of my boss because he does not make me feel guilty for taking so much time away from work for so many doctor appointments.

My only appts for this week are the gyno (monday) and massage therapy (thursday). I need to cook. and tidy up some more. and do laundry.

Here's some flowers from my neighbor's garden, that he gave me on CT scan day (so nice!):

Princeton Farmer's mkt flowers on my desk at work Friday morning:

My poor orchids; maybe they are just going through their lifecycle. The left is my white orchid (no blooms) and the right is my purple orchid (just two blooms):

Of course the day the purple one had 14 blooms on it I didn't have my camera, and then the old blooms started falling off.

Here is my largest pumpkin plant. I learned about pumpkin plant fertilization from t his web site but the plant still doesn't have female flowers (and it's been two weeks since the first male flowers appeared on the scene--male flowers are blooming almost daily):

I rediscovered this paper mousepad yesterday. My new pain tracker? Lol.

Be well and good night!!

What it's like to have a CT scan

2011-07-21T06:23:00.000-04:00

Hrm, 5:15am and I'm wide awake! So what better time to write about yesterday? Again you guys are the BEST and I appreciate all your warm comments and support.

I had the CT scan yesterday. Thank you for the comments on what the CT scan is like. First, no breakfast. I had to drink the special drink and also had the IV injection. The drink tasted fruity, and was the consistency of a milkshake so I pretended at various points like it was a chocolate milkshake. Or that I was a reality game show contestant. It did feel like the drink was regenerating itself in the cup at times, lol. I was at work drinking the drink, and I was glad to be there doing my job instead of at home worrying about my health.

Then it was time for the test itself. The tech sort of interrogated me. I felt like if the doc ordered the test, that should be enough, but she asked a lot of questions, trying to understand why I was having the test, I guess. One of her questions was "why do you have a pelvic kidney" which I felt was like asking "why do you have brown hair?" and I said it's congenital and then she explained she thought I might have been a transplant recipient as that's where transplanted kidneys are placed? Not me. Like I wrote in last night's post, if I was on my toes I would have quoted Lady Gaga and said "baby, I was born this way". She says a pelvic kidney can not be felt, so now it's 2-2 in that game, with the surgeon and chiro feeling the kidney and the CT tech and urologist saying it can't be felt. I pulled out my old analogy "maybe it's like when you make your bed and you leave your socks under the covers. there's a lump there because the socks are pushing up the covers" and she said that is possible they are feeling the displacement since the kidney would be pushing up the intestines, because my kidney is behind the intestines. Or that what the others is feeling is just abdominal fat.

She said the test would determine for sure if I have a hernia. At the end of the test she talked a lot about the orientation of my kidney being horizontal instead of vertical (interesting, since the ultrasound from 6/14 said it was "slightly malrotated".) This makes me think maybe the kidney is moving around? Is that even possible? I was in some pain in that area during the CT test whereas I was in no pain at all on 6/14 in that area.

She said she thinks maybe it's something gastrointestinal, have I been scoped? No. So then I asked if she saw a hernia and she said she doesn't read the images (I know, they're not supposed to say anything but since she was talking about the orientation of my kidney and talking gastrointestinal I thought I'd give it a shot) but she said she didn't see anything "big".

So the test itself was removing my bra (she let me keep my shirt on, and I was wearing gym pants (no metal) and socks, though she wouldn't let me keep my cardigan on) and lying on a table. then she put the IV in and left the room. Unlike an MRI where the table slides into a narrow tube and is very loud, the CT is very "out in the open" and the machine looks like a donut on its side, like Vanessa said. The first few images are taken without IV contrast. Then she comes back in and starts the dye injection. she said I would feel warm and like I peed my pants, and that I might taste a metallic taste in my mouth. Oh yes she was right about the warm feeling spreading through my body and the sensation like I peed my pants. No metallic taste though my mouth felt weird esp the tip of my tongue, but all of those feelings went away probably in a minute. Then there were more images taken.

During the image taking process, this computer generated voice said "breathe in and hold your breath" and then the table moved and then the computer voice said "breathe". At one point the tech checked in with me over the intercom. I kept my eyes closed for much of the test though there was no real reason to. it's definitely easier than a MRI, though for the MRI I had (which was 2 years ago for my lumbar back pain) there wasn't anything for me to drink beforehand and I wasn't injected with contrast dye.

The tech told me to not get too many CT scans and that the radiation accumulates over time, like sun damage.

I was out of there in half an hour and back at work afterward. I took a training course in the afternoon and thankfully did not get the runs from the special drink. If you really want to know I was gassy but that was it. I asked the tech about the runs and she said it wouldn't happen with this drink.

Then last night I had the appt with my chiro for my shoulder and of course we talked about the CT scan, my kidney, and my numbness. He said he really doesn't think I have MS or a mini-stroke; he said why would your PCP tell you those things and get you all worked up? He said anything is a possibility but there's no need to freak out at this point. I told him about my granddad's mini stroke at 42 and he said, "Let me guess: was he a smoker? and a drinker?" I don't smoke or drink. He also doesn't think I have vitamin deficiencies. He said a B12 deficiency presents itself like in all toes or all fingers, not one sided like my numb/weird feeling.. He thinks it's musculosketal, like nerve impingement (which was a possibility my PCP mentioned too) though my muscles were not too tight in many areas. and then when I told him I was outside most of Saturday at a party and didn't turn the a/c on til my weird feeling Sunday night (it was pretty hot this weekend), he said "stop. don't tell me anymore". My chiro is definitely my best doctor and knows me the best. My dad said it sounds like he is more like an "old fashioned" doctor of years ago. Before all my back pain I used to think chiros were quacks but this one is not! He does active release technique which I have found to be incredibly helpful for my knee and back pain.

Then last night I talked with my neighbors for a couple of hours, wrote a quick post, and went to sleep around 11:15. I woke up at 12:30 and then at 5am.

My back pain has been super light lately and even non-existent for several hours. The meditation is helping that.
My knee pain only happens occasionally with transitioning and is very light.
My shoulder is painful during certain movements and I'm aware of it though not focussing on it.
My ab is hurting right now but not very much. I'm not miserable like I was the Friday a few weeks back when I wrote my huge frustration post.
I walked up and down stairs several times without thinking about it. I felt lightheaded and a little weird last night but I think that's understandable.

I am grateful for all your positive comments. Be well!!!

Why do you have a pelvic kidney?

2011-07-20T21:05:00.001-04:00

You guys are GREAT!!! Thank you so much for all your warm wishes. I got to my car this morning and realized that I walked down the stairs without thinking about if my legs would work or not--yeah!! And the CT scan went fine and I could feel all your warm energy during my test (or maybe that was just the IV contrast dye!). I will write more about the CT scan and my visit to my chiropractor (who is my BEST doctor) tomorrow, I hope, when I have more time. Right now I need to get a shower and get to bed.

I hope to get my blood work results tmw (for the numbness) and CT results on Friday (for the ab pain). I'll keep you posted!!!

Oh, and the title from this post is the question the CT scan tech person asked me. Really, if I was on my toes I would have quoted Lady Gaga and responded, "baby, I was born this way".

Be well and good night!!!

Visit to the PCP, and what I have to drink for tmw.

2011-07-19T19:40:00.001-04:00

Hello online family! Thank you for all your kind words about yesterday's post..
Here's what happened today. I woke up and still my arm and leg felt numb, though not as badly as yesterday. Stairs were still a little scary but not as scary as yesterday. I felt like I had more control over my leg than yesterday.

I was able to see my PCP today at 1pm (Meg, to answer your question, he is a DO). Overall he said not to worry, he thinks I'm fine. He took blood for various things like thyroid function and vitamin B12 deficiency (he asked if I'm a vegetarian. I'm not, but I haven't eaten red meat in a long time. So tonight I had a hamburger...)

He said my numbness could be MS, a sign of a mini-stroke or some other things I didn't understand. He said he doesn't think it is any of those things but is referring me to a neurologist.

He did some basic neurological tests on me (like me pushing him, pulling him, moving my fingers in certain ways, tapping me with the little rubber mallet thing, following his finger with my eyes, etc) and said that I pass the neurologic tests.

He also asked if I was having a panic attack when it happened. I said no but I have been feeling stressed out.

I also explained that I had the numb left arm last Feb/Mar, numb toe and numb right ring finger too during that time, but that I never had that weird feeling like maybe I couldn't climb stairs.

I made the appt with the neurologist, but the first available isn't until Aug 16, 4 weeks from today. My mom joked either I'll be healed by then or dead.

He said for my right shoulder that hasn't healed from PR weekend, I should see the physiatrist (pain management doc) I saw 2 years ago and get physical therapy. I'm sticking with my chiro.

I picked up the stuff I have to drink for my abdominal/pelvic CT scan tmw morning. The test is at 10:30 and I have to start drinking at 8:30 (up to line 1 in half an hour or something like that), then some more at 9:30 (up to line 2), and then some just before the test begins (the "save" section). No breakfast, and no liquids except this stuff after 6:30. I wonder how bad it's going to taste.

You can bet I will be doing some visual-imagery style tasting with this stuff.

I've never had a CT scan so if anyone would like to comment on what that's like, please do so. I've had an MRI so if you've had both tests I'd love to hear a comparison.

Last night I decided that I have three goals: a big cry, a big sleep and a big hamburger. One of the three is done!

Thanks again for your well wishes! Be well and good night!

Quick update on visit to surgeon, some flowers etc

2011-07-18T19:08:00.001-04:00

Ok, I saw the surgeon today. On July 20 at 10:30am I will have the CT scan. I have to drink something before the test, which I will pick up tmw.

The surgeon:
*disagrees with the urologist--she said it is my kidney, she can feel it, and that's where my pain is. She actually said "I disagree with him"
*says I'm the second patient who has shown her the New York Times article and said that the article gives false hope to some people that it is a hernia
*felt the area again and said there's no way it's a hernia near my bellybutton or groin area
*said that small hernias can occur in other places, so the ct scan will show that (I think) or whatever else is going on in that area, like a fibroid.
*the area of my pain is too high to be an ovarian cyst
*said she's more comfortable with me having a ct scan than an mri
*she thinks that b/c my kidney is slightly malrotated, that when I feel pain it might be rotating further out of position.

She said if ct scan shows nothing, possibilities of next steps of action are:
*get a ultrasound of kidneys while i'm having pain to see if the kidney is rotating out or blocking the ureter
*go to a gastroenterologist for a scoping of the intestines
*do laproscopy to see what's going on in there.

I told her about all my other pain including the 2-month-old shoulder pain, back pain (that is dissipating), and the numbness and weird feeling in my left arm/leg which started last night and I am still having off and on today. She said I should go back to the PCP to report all those things. She doesn't think my other pain/numbness issues are related to the ab/pelvic pain. Back in late Feb/early March my left arm was numb and one toe on my left foot was numb, and my right ring finger was numb. My chiro worked on the arms and the weird numb feeling went away in a few days. I see him on Wednesday and hope he can help with that weird numb feeling again. I overall feel bit lightheaded and not all quite there. I went to my favorite gym class today at 4pm (I had taken a vacay day) and got through the class, but the feeling in my leg is weird. Like when I go up and down stairs, I'm not sure if I can climb them or not? weird weird weird.

Sometimes, I just feel like I'm falling apart. Am I falling apart???

I didn't do any sewing this weekend but I "helped" my dad with the new serger he bought himself (a Brother "Lock" 1034D):

Thankfully he bought cone thread the next day and threaded it again and it works FINE now. I need to try it out with my own serger again!!

I took these pix this morning, of flowers from Thurs at the Princeton Farmer's Mkt, and a rose from my garden:

and here are some daisy flowers from my mom

I'm off to my meditation class now!!
Be well and good night!

Burda 7696: done. A swayback sewist's nightmare

2011-07-10T21:51:00.000-04:00

Previously on Vacuuming the Lawn, I showed you Burda 7696, which was too long in the torso and too big overall.

I started over with some delicious Joann's black ponte roma knit, the super soft stuff that costs $12.99 a yard but I always buy on sale. I had it in stash. It's probably the best fashion fabric Joann's sells.

I cut a 12 grading to 14 at the hip this time.

First thing to fix was to fix the long torso. I cut along the "shorten here" line and overlapped 3/4".

I also didn't like the front drape placement, and raised it an inch. Also the v-neck has been raised as a result of the torso alterations.

I also didn't like how droopy the drape was. I thought I'd be clever and cut the front drape as a 10. Joke was on me, that pulled the dress too tight overall, so I sewed the panel in again with a smaller SA, so that it was essentially a 12. But the top part of the drape was too loose (hello 3 little bears!), so I pulled on the top corners so they would stick out into the dress, to get the fit I wanted.

Here's the dress inside out, with the corners sticking out (I've since cut them off). I like my "sci fi" costume.

Oh, I also decided to ditch the facings. I folded over the armhole and v-neck and sewed down. One less thing to worry about, and a dress with this kind of thick knit doesn't need a double layer. I HATED how my understitching looked on the facings in the muslin.

But then it was time for the BIG CHALLENGE. My swayback.

So here's what the dress looked like as 12 grading to 14...in the back.

Horrible, right? Waaay too tight, lots of horizontal lines going on...

I let out the CB seam to minimal SAs, which gained me an inch. Phew. So I thought I could tidy up my back with some darts, like I did in the Muse dress. Um, that looks even worse:

So I took out the darts. Here it's just minimal SA in the CB seam:

But still pretty ugly.

So I pondered for a bit. I thought about declaring Burda 7696 dead, but I decided to keep on beating this dead horse.

Somehow, Vogue 1250 popped into my mind. It's the "Hot hot hot" dress of this summer, all the sewing bloggers are making it, and it's a knit with a horizontal waist seam in the back which I thought was kind of weird but you know what, it would work with this dress! But I don't own that pattern...yet. So I took the plunge and CUT THE BACK WAIST to create a seam. Oh yes, daring indeed. I played around with this for a bit, but I could have just done a 1" tuck grading to nothing at the side seams.

Here I am with my binder clips, testing the waters. Looking better already, huh (and festive--love binder clips in colors).

Here's the inside with my swayback adjustment (before I cut out the 1" SA for it)

and the outside:

and here's what it looks like on me:

I honestly don't think I can get this any better.
Here's the side view; my swayback is really emphasized, plus the front of the dress drapes out a bit...

And here it is on Emma:

OH, yeah, the drape piece is supposed to use a 2" buckle for the dress, but the shirt view had this loop piece instead. Since I didn't have a buckle handy I used the loop piece and I think it works fine.

I'm tired. Counting the muslin I spent 15 hours on this dress, and it's actually pretty simple looking, especially in comparison to the Muse dress which took 20 hours and has many more details (welt pockets, collar, tabs). It is time for an easy knit shirt, me thinks.

Princeton farmer's mkt flowers this week:

And my pumpkin vines are blooming:

And here's the bumblebee action for today, with my rose of sharon:

Be well and good night!

Happy July 4th!!! StyleArc patterns hath arrived!

2011-07-04T21:07:00.000-04:00

Spirit, let's hear it....a flag in another development, discovered on my walk tonight.

How is everyone's 4th going??? I enjoyed reading Antoinette's blog posting today about our trip to NYC and seeing the dress she made from fabric purchased that day.

I cooked and baked today. This picture is blurry; those cookies don't look good but they were!    I baked because it's my chiro's birthday this week...but there have been other recipients as well, including my stomach!

Looked what arrived Saturday! StyleArc patterns from Australia!   Here's how they come, in binder sheets. The free pattern is in the bottom right binder sheet, with a customized letter.

Here's the Emma dress pattern instructions with sample fabric. The instructions fit on one page! The pattern itself is folded up and sealed with a "stylearc" sticker. You have to order your exact size. No multisized patterns here.

Here's what it looks like unfolded. The paper is sturdy. and it appears that the pattern has been hand traced!

The Emma dress is rated "challenging". I think I need something easy right now....like redoing the Burda from yesterday???

The rose of sharon opened up this week and HUGE bumble bees are back! I waited too late to take these pix; the flowers are already starting to close up. But the bees love all that pollen!!   And I love those bumble bees. I think they are pretty cool.

Coming in for a landing!

Be well! Good night!

Patriotic Panties; Burda 7696

2011-07-03T21:20:00.000-04:00

Thanks for your comments on my last post, Vogue 1236. My mom, who has only seen the photos like you, also approves the length, and if SHE approves, then it must be ok! Thanks too for your good health wishes again. I feel a LOT better today than I did on Friday when I wrote my big frustration post.

To answer some questions, spottedroo asked, "How does the belt feel to wear?" The answer is, pretty ok. I mean, I'm aware of the sash as I'm wearing the Simplicity dress, but it's not too tight or too constricting. And it's above my pelvic pain so it's not pressing on the area of concern. Lsaspacey asked "how does it feel when you sit down in it?" Ok...with the Vogue I feel like I have a bit of thigh exposed but it doesn't feel too tight around the hips then, since I wound up using minimal SAs.

So it's July 4 weekend here in the USA and I made some patriotic panties to celebrate.

The flag patch is courtesy of Antoinette. She bought a big bag o' patches at Pacific Trimming and asked me if I wanted one. oh yes! I don't know what she's planning on doing with her patches but I knew as soon as she offered what I was doing with mine! I'm sure this is what the founding fathers envisioned for this nation: the freedom to sew one's underwear, in order to form a more perfect panty.

This morning I thought I'd crank out BurdaStyle 7696. I should know better. "cranking out" anything rarely goes well..especially if it's new to me!

It's proportionally all wrong and too big. I cut the 14 grading to 16 at the hip but I think I can cut the 12 grading to 14 instead. Also it is too long in the torso. And please note, I had already raised the V by about 2.25 inches. If I hadn't done that, I think the v would be squarely between my breasts. You ladies who love Burda were right about the plunging necklines. and that panel thingie is way too low and it's drooping.

I *love* the expression on my face here and I wasn't even mugging for the camera. But you can see how if I hike this dress up a lot, and pull it tight, the panel thingie is where it should be, at my waist.

And here I am all binder clipped up with the alterations I think I need to make

So if I hadn't already trimmed SAs and understitched I could probably take the dress apart and start again, but since I've already done all of that....this might just be my muslin.
So I think the dress has super cute potential if I get the sizing and proportions right.

For the holiday weekend I'm taking time off from my pain books and focusing on some junk food for my brain

It's the prequal to Sex and the City (though after The Carrie Diaries, which was about Carrie's senior year of high school , published last year). Summer is about her summer between high school and college, and I'm enjoying it more than The Carrie Diaries. It was in the Young Adult section of the library so I made my 2x young adult body way up to the third floor Teen Section of the library. Wow, it's like another world up there. There were actual teens lounging around reading, and they have a big fish tank!

In nature news, my pumpkin plant is healthy and happy; this one is in the ground

Here's the one in the pot:

and here's a close-up of the buds

There will be cooking and baking tmw but nothing you haven't seen before. But I'll post it anyway. :)

Happy 4th everyone!
Be well and good night!

What are you looking at? Vogue 1236

2011-07-02T20:42:00.000-04:00

A HUGE thank you to all my commenters wishing me good health and suggesting causes of my pelvic pain that I described in detail in my last post. The article Rose in SV referred to, about hernias in women from the NY Times, sounds a LOT like what I feel. Not 100%, but close.

I called the PCP on Friday around 11:20am and left a VM for the nurse. Never got a call back. Guess everyone was already out for the holiday weekend. I am going to ask PCP if he will order either the CT scan (what the surgeon kept referring to) or the MRI (as in the NYT article) so that I have the results before seeing the surgeon on the 18th. I'll keep you posted. In the meantime I feel a LOT better today....and finished Vogue 1236.

I think it's too short and too tight around my hips, but I'll let you guys decide:

I cut a straight 12. I think this wound up being more like a 10 on top, 14 on bottom (minimal SAs below the waist down to the hem!). It has pockets.

Belt is like the obi sash from Simplicity 2406, but it's not as wide. I simply didn't have enough fabric.

I would have cut this longer but again, not enough fabric. Plus on the model on the envelope, it looks long enough. I actually cut an inch off the shoulder straps to bring up the neckline, which I thought was too low...robbing me of that precious inch from the hem, which I totally could have used.

Also the front piece of this dress curves out to the hips but then IN to the hem, instead of straight down...funky.

On Emma, without the sash:

I stitched down the pleats on the front, so it looks kinda nice, but I had BIG problems from the facing, which I cut from a different color fabric b/c I didn't have enough fabric. BAD move. That other color facing is like all I can see. and that's after understitching as far as I was able to. Also the way to connect the front to back shoulder straps is tedious to me. I'd rather have a center back seam and sew the facings on completely around the neck and armholes.

So, I think this needs some time in Mary Nanna's magic closet.

Overall the dress is a lot like Simplicity 2406, though I think I like 2406 better just because it has more coverage and less poufiness up top. and it fits better around the hips. And I get tons of compliments on this dress every time I wear it. I even got an unsolicitation this week from the dentist's receptionist, who grabbed the knot of the sash, and said "I love this dress! I have to get my waist back!"

In nature news, I bought green-eyed susans this week, and there was one black eyed susan in the bunch:

Momma robin and her baby have left the nest; from hatch to flight was less than a week.

I have already started BurdaStyle 7696 tonight and plan on finishing it tmw, plus a patriotic July 4 surprise! If you want to take a guess on what it might be, please do so in the comments!

Good night and be well!

What would you do?

2011-07-01T10:02:00.003-04:00

Ok, I need to vent about my frustration with myself and my pain…and there may be too much information in this post....but you are my online friends and I'm open to your suggestions.

I am still having ab/kidney/pelvic/whatever pain and the pain is exacerbated because I went to the gym 3x last week (MWF—just cardio, no toning)…then it went away by Sun, but Mon I had the most painful ovulation I’ve had since I was a teenager, and then I did yoga in meditation class Mon night which seemed to make the ab/whatever pain worse.

So it’s been in a steady state pretty much of constant, but not excruciating, pain in that area this past week. I have not gone to the gym.

So…I googled last night and scared myself again, that I think I have a hernia.

Here’s the history:

1/10: Was doing ab work at the gym (specifically “the bicycle” ab exercise, which I’ve done a million times before) and felt something pull in my abdomen, like a muscle pull, on the right side.

1/31: went to my favorite dance based cardio class and felt something pull even more. It was painful and uncomfortable and I couldn’t ignore it. It hurt to wear real pants with zippers, to laugh, to drive over potholes, to lie on my side, it woke me up in my sleep, etc, for approx. a month after 1/31.

The PCP thought on 2/1 that my pain is a small hernia because he feels a small bulge on the right side that is not on the left side. He refers me to a surgeon. I go home and remember, I have a pelvic kidney on the right side…maybe that’s it?

Surgeon’s first available appt was a week later. The surgeon on 2/9 did not feel a hernia. She said she could feel my pelvic kidney, which is in the same area as my pain, and she correlates it to my MRI image from May 2009 (incidental finding on my lumbar spine MRI). She said it could be a rectus abdominus muscle strain, or the ligaments/whatever that hold the kidney in place could be stressed or strained. She said I could have a CT scan but said she didn’t feel strongly about it, it’s radiation exposure, and asked if I wanted the test. I SHOULD HAVE SAID YES as I *think* that would show if I have a hernia or not. She said I could book an appt to come back in 4-6 weeks or just see what happens and then book an appt if necessary. I should have booked the appt.

4/15: had menstrual cramps so bad that I vomit, twice. It felt like contractions—and I’ve never been pregnant/in labor.

4/22: see my gyno for a yeast infection, and he asked if I had pelvic pain then, and I told him my story up til that point, but that was that. He didn't seem bothered by the vomiting either.

Went back to surgeon 5/3—11 weeks later. Pain is getting better, some days 0, not gone away though. I was getting back to the gym too at first just treadmill walking and then going back to a cardio class or two, no toning classes. In general, I have to be careful to tighten my abs when doing any kind of twisting motion. She said she didn’t know the cause of my pain. Said that she still doesn’t feel a hernia. She brought up the CT scan again, but said she thought it was probably the pelvic kidney and referred me to a urologist. I should have said YES I WANT THE CT SCAN. She said if the urologist said it’s not the kidney, to come back. She also said because I’m thin I “give a good exam”, I don’t have a lot of fat so she would be able to feel it if I had a hernia, and she thought my ab muscles are quite strong based on some things she had me do.

Saw the urologist with first available appt on 6/10, 5 weeks after surgeon (he came highly recommended by a friend of mine, and pain was light and intermittent, so I felt I could wait). The urologist said it’s almost impossible to feel a pelvic kidney. He said “just because you’re skinny it doesn’t mean you can feel the kidney.” He said it could be a hernia but since surgeon said it’s not a hernia, it’s a muscle strain. He said a CT scan could be ordered, but it’s radiation exposure, and all it will show is that I have a pelvic kidney. Ordered ultrasound to see if there was a UPJ obstruction but thought it would be unlikely. Said the only way to damage a pelvic kidney is blunt trauma like being punched in the stomach or being in a car accident. At this point I should have asked, What is everyone feeling then in that area if it’s not the kidney?? The PCP, the surgeon and my chiro all feel something there. The urologist did the exam with me standing; everyone else can feel "the thing" when I'm lying down. I didn't think to ask him to feel it lying down, because I had sort of assumed he was going to say yes, it's the kidney, and give me some kind of treatment plan...

On 6/14 I had the ultrasound of both kidneys and bladder. Got the report in the mail 6/16. My pelvic kidney is smaller than my left kidney and slightly malrotated, standard stuff for pelvic kidneys. Urologist wrote on the report “OK. No significant abnormalities.” By this point I was feeling like, ok, it’s starting to go away, resolving itself, it’s almost over.

So 6/27 was the painful ovulation, and that night the meditation class had yoga in it that exacerbated the area. The yoga was basic PT core stretching and strengthening for the most part, I mean, no major poses or anything.

I called the surgeon’s nurse on Tuesday 6/28. The surgeon had asked me to leave the nurse a VM telling her what happened with the urologist. Well, the surgeon’s nurse calls me back and says “the surgeon does surgery, nothing muscular. You have to go back to your PCP or maybe an orthopedist, I don’t know, but not the surgeon.” I told her that the surgeon said to come back if the urologist said it wasn’t my kidney, and she said the surgeon is away now, would the 18th at 1pm be ok? Great!

Last night 6/30 I saw my acupuncturist, she said it sounds like I have a hernia since it is exacerbated by physical movement (i.e. going to the gym, or twisting motions like if I’m not careful turning over in bed). She used to be an occupational therapist, so she is a nice blend of eastern and western medicine. She does this energy medicine work too now, like reiki. So she did that on my abdomen and said it doesn’t feel inflamed, it’s not pulsing or giving off heat. She said she feels something there, though, and maybe it’s not a hernia, maybe it’s just the kidney. She said I could have uterine fibroids, an ovarian cyst, or endometriosis. She thinks I should see my gyno. My annual gyno visit is July 25. She doesn’t think my PCP can do anything about this problem.
My chiropractor, who I have been seeing lately for my shoulder pain, thinks the ab pain is from my pelvic kidney, and that the urologist is full of himself. My chiro can feel the pelvic kidney and also correlate it to my MRI image like the surgeon. He says I need to do strengthening work on my core. (But I was doing strengthening work when I injured myself!)

So I don’t know what to do??? Ask my PCP if he can order the CT scan so I can find out NOW if I have a hernia? Try to move up my gyno visit? Wait it out til the 18th and 25th???

In the meantime, my back pain, which has generally been decreasing since kicking off my new eating plan in Jan, is pretty much light to nil the past 2 weeks, my shoulder is still annoyed from PR weekend Chicago and I’m going to start doing my own PT on it in earnest. My knees have been great since Sept 2010. My 6 month dental and annual eye exams were fine!

Sigh…while I am getting better at going to doctors there is room for me to improve....

My dad, sewing, and other random stuff

2011-06-26T21:38:00.000-04:00

Black and green eyed susans (and little purple flowers too) from the Princeton Farmer's Market

Thanks everyone for your suggestions about the serger threads (and to Noile for saying it's fine!)
I'm going to play around with it more maybe next weekend? I'll keep you posted on if it's the thread, stitch width or knife cutter.

And thanks to debbie for offering up her NL6731. I checked tonight and it turns out I had messed up your email address last weekend, so no wonder I never heard back from you! Anyway, I found the pattern at Joann's yesterday, I guess they never purged it so I bought it.   yea! :)

The Joann's in Lawrenceville is undergoing a big renovation; looks like it will be double in size. LOVE love love the improvements so far--the small, easy to push carts with the dedicated slot for fabric bolts, padded chairs for looking through pattern books, and brand new pattern drawers, yeah!   I wound up buying a bunch of Burdas. I'm sort of stuck on my Vogue that I started on Monday, I kind of feel like it's not going to turn out. So I'm eyeing up Burda 7696 as my next project. I have several dresses I want to make but I never got around to sewing this weekend?

I did a bit of closet purging. Occasionally sewing bloggers write about their closets....I really don't know how you store everything you make!   Especially those of you making an entire outfit or more per week.

Anyway, someone who has been sewing is my dad! He never sewed a stitch in his life til mid-May, when he bought himself a Singer to tweak the fit on car seat covers, and to hem his sweatpants. He is now tailoring mom's pants and blouses. and he has even used a twin needle and said it worked FINE the first time! I'm impressed.
Here he is, in his den, with his sewing machine. My blog posting on success with twin needle stitching is on the monitor (though at this point he had only ordered the twin needles):

Obviously he needs a better sewing table than some folding tables. He said he will build himself one.

It was fun to give my dad sewing advice, and hear about his sewing adventures and show me his sewing work.
And here are my parents on the day before their 47th wedding anniversary.

Look what I found while weeding this week; a hatched robin's egg!

I looked up into the tree and found the nest---with momma robin inside, watching me! But I didn't see or hear the baby.   However, last night at least one more egg hatched and I spent a joyful breakfast outside, looking at the little baby and watching momma feed it, while I fed myself.

Oh, and here's a bit of the other side of the Jersey Shore. This is Sea Girt, NJ, two weekends ago.

Anyone lose their sunglasses?

Be well and good night!

Featured on STGD; Vogue 1236 in progress, Serger 911, food

2011-06-21T19:48:00.000-04:00

Hello!
A post in 4 parts.
Act 1
It is so fun for Meg to feature Antoinette and me on her fantastic blog Shop the Garment District--go check it out! Thanks again Meg for your awesome map. You're like the Lonely Planet guide for the Garment District!

Act 2
I started working on Vogue 1236 yesterday during my day off. I cut it out in a straight 12. I should have cut a 12 grading to a 14 for the hip. Sadly there were no hip measurements on the printed pattern. Thanks Vogue! Sure, I could have measured them myself. Anyhoo, I wound up doing minimal seam allowances in the hip area on down.
I felt the neckline was too low so I took an inch off the straps. Now the dress feels like it might be too short. LOL.

Here's where it's at now; it needs understitching, then to be stitched at the shoulder seam, a belt and a hem. It has side pockets but the right one is kind of messy. Sigh.

The directions say to baste down the pleats, but I stitched them down. I mean, why not? Kind of a nice detail there. (Also the directions never explicitly say "and take out the basting stitches later).

It really feels like a Cindy from Colour By Number dress, doesn't it?

Since I was low on fabric, I got creative with the pockets and sewed two pieces of fabric together.

The facings are obviously a different color than the exterior fabric. I'm hoping once I understitch and iron that the facings will be totally hidden. We'll see. I'm kind of feeling like this one might need some time in Mary Nanna's magic closet...

Act 3
Any ideas on how to resolve the thread twisting back on itself as it comes off the cone thread? Maybe cone fillers would help?

How to resolve this? The looper thread is not kissing up against the cut edge of the fabric. I tried playing with the stitch width but the width doesn't actually seem to change.

I thought I'd throw it out there to you guys...

Act 4
My dinner tonight. I just made a fresh batch of lemon chicken orzo soup after work tonight, and am eating it with cukes and bread from Whole Foods:

As I usually make two dishes at one time, I also made some vegan corn chowder tonight. I used Antoinette's leftover almond milk.

I read somewhere never to buy kitchen gadgets that have only one purpose. Therefore I should not have bought my lemon squeezer, but how can you NOT love it? Its yellow color makes me happy! It's one of those Michael Graves for Target things. And since I FINALLY cleaned out the kitchen cabinets, I have a dedicated space for it, yeah!

Good night and be well!

Hitting the NYC Garment District with CleverGirl

2011-06-19T14:10:00.001-04:00

I was going to start sewing NL6731. I've made this pattern before in other views but today I was going to try view D.

Two things have stopped me:
1. The fabric I was going to use is kind of wrinkly
2. The larger problem: I don't have the front pattern piece nor front band for view D in the envelope. Who knows where it went? Then I looked at the simplicity site, ebay and etsy, and no one is selling the pattern anymore. Hrm. Kind of puts the brakes on that idea! Does anyone want to give me the view D front pattern piece and front band for view D for NL6731?? or maybe swap it for another pattern I own?

So instead I will blog about the big news. On Friday Antoinette from CleverGirl and I went to the Garment District in NYC!
It's my first visit to the Garment District, and Antoinette's first visit to NYC ever.

First off, a HUGE thanks to Meg from ShopTheGarmentDistrict for her incredibly helpful annotated map, which included places to eat and specified which shops had bathrooms. It made the research prep for this trip insanely EASY!

We got on the bus right outside my house:

Antoinette was ready for the day with some comforting Dunkin' Donuts coffee, while waiting for the bus:

Antoinette wore her rooster shirt, based on S4179.
The bus could not have been any easier. About an hour and a half later, we were at Paron's:

I am still thinking about a piece of fabric that I didn't buy at Paron's. Navy embroidered cotton. Sigh.

I'm wearing NL6807 in view E.
As we walked over to Mood Fabrics, the Garment District button and needle caught our attention:

Flag too:

Finally we made it to Mood. It's on the third floor of an office building so no exterior shots; thankfully Meg's guide specified that info so we weren't left scratching our heads.

Although it's hard to see here, this piece of fabric was gorgeously pinned and draped:

Knits, my dream world:

Here we recreated this picture we took at Jomar in Philly last September:

Looking for the perfect striped knit:

Yes! This is my section:

Antoinette finds her dress form double:

And, in honor of Mary Nanna's aging rocker jacket, here is some aging rocker fabric:

Antoinette asked if I'd like to run through the aisles with a bolt of fabric while yelling "I need a yard and a half!" while she recorded it on her iphone. I declined.

Mood is expensive, well organized, well staffed with friendly employees (including a bouncer), clearly labeled, clearly priced, and neat. We did not see Tim Gunn, nor did we see Swatch the dog (extra points to Antoinette for remembering the dog's name; I couldn't think of it--something with an S. Scrap? Stitch?)

Antoinette scored us both the Iconic Mood Fabric Shopping Bag as seen on many, many episodes of Project Runway, and on our shoulders the rest of the day.

I never realized this bag wasn't a flimsy paper bag:

Then it was time for lunch at the Macaron Cafe, as per Meg's guide:

This "macaron" business is new to me. I have heard of macaroons but only recently heard about macarons, and they are definitely distinct from each other:

In this shot you can see a pistachio macaron AND Meg's map

Here's a dark chocolate macaron:

Antoinette asked if this is the shot from the opening sequence of Project Runway; I'm not sure. I just wanted to take a picture of the sign that says "Fashion Ave".

Next up it was time to FINALLY finally finally go through a sewing blogger rite of passage. I have NO IDEA who started this tradition of having one's picture taken with Kashi at Metro Textiles, but it was a MUST DO.

Kashi's prices are low compared to Mood and his cuts are GENEROUS. My 1.5 yard cut was 1.875; my 3 yard cut was 3.75. And it was $21 TOTAL. You have to do some digging to find what you want though, and ask Kashi for the prices.

Then we hit a bunch of stores in rapid succession:

Spandex House, which really is filled with spandex knits, then SIL Thread with the MOST number of zippers I've ever seen in one place (this is just a sliver of the zipper collection):

Then Pacific Trimming, which I think was the best store of the day.

Elastic, elastic, elastic:

Did I mention elastic as I have NEVER SEEN IT BEFORE?

Grommets:

Tons of hardware there too. Reasonable prices.

Then it was time for a stop at Baked By Melissa:

3 mini cupcakes for $3. They're not much bigger than the size of a quarter. The chocolate chip mint one was the best of this bunch:

Then we headed over to M+J Trimmings, which was much more expensive compared to Pacific Trimmings, though the store was bright, light and beautiful. AND it was the first shop of the day with carts so we could push our heavy purchases instead of lugging them around the store.
And it was after leaving M+J, folks, when the lightening and hail storm struck.

We were headed back to Pacific Trimmings to pick up a few more things when we had to take cover in an alcove.

I learned that hail hitting bare skin hurts!

We made a stop at Spandex World then got the bus back to home:

here are my purchases from the day:

The two pieces on the left are from Mood. The argyle is the most expensive fabric I've ever purchased at $18 a yard. On the right are two pieces from Metro Textiles. The navy is actually completely fused with interfacing, all for $4 a yard.
Elastic from Pacific Trimmings. Why yes, I did just order 105 yards of elastic from sewsassy.com but this elastic is different. lol. (the pink actually has silver in it, which you can't see in the pix).

And I bought serger cone thread at Pacific Trimmings for my BIG DEEP DARK HIDDEN SECRET (I was given a serger that I had never tried-til Friday night! Antoinette showed me how to use it! But more on that later):

Also that night we made pompoms using Antoinette's new pompom maker:

It was such a fun visit with Antoinette! Thank you for your visit AND for showing me how to use the serger! I had a blast!

Elevation, wreath, cubes, etc etc etc

2011-06-09T20:59:00.001-04:00

Eleray said the fabric storage cubes in my last post were a good idea. They are from Target a few years back--maybe Target still sells them? Over the years the stash fell into disorganization but now it's back on track (um, with the fabric at least!)

Gwen, I'm so glad you enjoy the food pictures! As for the photos looking professional, I was thinking I should take more care when I take the food pix, like actually wiping the edges of the plate or bowl... Some day I will have to write a food post to more fully explain why I am doing what I am doing and how I'm doing it, but the main idea is to reduce my pain by eating better. One of my pain issues right now, my shoulder, probably doesn't have much to do with eating. Right now my shoulder is more of a concern to me than my pelvic kidney or even my back. Specifically tweaking the fit on the last two dresses I made aggravated it more. I didn't sew much last weekend and nothing that required fitting like the dresses, but still my shoulder is annoyed. My chiropractor and I have been working on it since it became irritated in Chicago. I know, if I were a horse I would have been put out to pasture by now! However this summer feels different, better, and more hopeful.

I have written before that, since PR weekend, I want to elevate my sewing. Some of my coworkers yesterday actually noticed the elevation in detail with the Muse dress--the welt pockets in particular, and the fit. Yeah!

I have been wanting to make this wreath for a while; tonight was the night. The flowers are leftovers from when I did a lot of floral stuff...but I have run out of grapevine wreaths and actually had to buy the wreath at Michael's this weekend for $5. Then I saw the orange flowers while I was at Michael's and bought them too for contrast.

Farmer's Market flowers for today: bachelor's buttons and calendula

I finally turned on my a/c tonight, for the first time this year, since it reached ~100F today. It was around the same temp yesterday but I didn't turn on the a/c. My coworker was amazed and wanted to know if I'm a lizard.

Be well and good night!