Quick sewing and cooking

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!

Patriotic Panties; Burda 7696

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!

Blah blah blah and underwear. Oh, and food for Gwen.

So after the Muse dress I felt like I should whip up another dress real quick...yeah right. I needed a break. I wanted to make a super quick skirt, using this fabric and this WIDE elastic:



I decided to muslin it first. I naively thought that I could just cut a big rectangle o' fabric out, and sew it to the bottom of the elastic, while stretching the elastic out, easy peasy done done done.

SO here's my muslin (and my out-of-the-closet fabric stash):


It looks amazing on Emma. HORRIBLE on me. So horrible that I'm not showing you pix, and I've shown you pix of some pretty horrible things on me. HORRIBLE.  There's no need for THAT to be floating around the interwebs.

So I whipped up some underwear instead (elastic from sewsassy.com, tutorial from Antoinette, applique from Vogue Fabrics PR Weekend Chicago; fabric NOT from Vogue Fabrics):


Yes! That is a sequined pineapple.  Aloha!

I took care to make sure the striped lined up on the sides, but sadly cut the crotch section askew.


Whatever, only you and me will know that.

Farmer's market flowers from this week (larkspur, which I haven't seen in AGES).  They are thirsty so be sure to keep filling up the vase.


Roses from my neighbor; I got these in exchange for my mint.


Here's my poor rose bush that came with the house; black spot hits it pretty hard each year but right now it's blooming:


Rose A:


Rose B:


Rose A and B cut separately:


Rose A and B together:

That blue vase is from my mom. It's a childhood favorite of mine.

Library books...4 is too many; one is overdue. That "Myth of Stress" one is AMAZING. It takes a key concept from "Change Your Brain, Change Your Body" and expands it to a whole book. If there is something in your life that you feel should or shouldn't be happening now, but isn't, this will get you to understand why. Really, really amazing.  Sleeping seal print from OneBreathPhoto on Oahu keeps watch over me while I sleep.


And Gwen, I cooked two dishes on Saturday. I'm going to do the slow reveal and only post one of them today. It's a lemon chicken orzo soup from The Food You Crave by Ellie Kreiger.  I didn't put the eggs in it; it just seemed weird to me to put eggs in a soup?  So I didn't do that.   I love it when a recipe calls for fresh lemon juice  because I can use my lemon squeezer.  So. Much. Fun!



Be well. Good night!

Simplicity 2406 in progress: don't give me the cold shoulder

Here's the dress I've been working on.  I still have to hem it, deal with the sleeve length, figure out what to do with the sash, and sew the right pocket.  (yes, that is a binder clip on my right hip, holding that pocket area together).



When I went to the American Sewing Expo in Novi, MI last September, reps from Simplicity were there  and one of them was wearing the Cynthia Rowley 2406 dress.    It looked really amazing on the rep and thus it went onto the list of patterns I must make.

The rep made view B, in the same navy blue as the picture on the  pattern envelope.  That's when I learned that a dress with these sleeves with the peak-a-boo shoulders is known as a "cold shoulder dress".  It also has a dramatic open back. 



Since I want to wear the dress to work, I cut out view C, which has raglan sleeves.  I sewed the dress straight up the back.  No zipper needed.

In the first picture above, I just tied the sash.  In this picture below, I tied the sash but then pulled up on the fabric above the sash so it's more like the pattern photo.  It creates a slightly different effect.




Here's a side view.


At PR weekend Chicago, Cennetta told me she appreciates reviews that talk about problems with fit, like mine.  I haven't made any fitted garments since last year so it was a good reminder that yes, I talk about fit!

I cut this in a straight 12.  The fabric is navy blue linen-look fabric from Hancock Fabrics.

• First, the neckline is too wide and I hate worrying about bra straps showing.  So I took a one inch wedge out of the center back, reducing the neckline by 2 inches.  You can see below the neckline is smaller.  I hadn't sewn the wedge yet in the pic, but it is sewn now.

Here's when it's just clipped.  You know I love binder clips for fitting issues!


The directions for the pockets are the worst directions I ever read but I "trusted" them and forged ahead, ugh.  I got the left pocket sewn (and you can see my left hand in my pocket in some of the pix) but I'm still playing with the right pocket.   I honestly thought  I took a picture of what the pockets looked like after I followed the directions, but I did not.  They were hysterical.  I then got out my Singer Photo Guide to Sewing and followed those directions instead.  Still I am having issues with the pockets.  The left one is ok and will stay.  The right one is in danger of being axed.

The sash is another issue.  It's supposed to go around the waist twice (oh in the pix above, it is still inside out).  It barely makes it around my waist twice.  I really like the effect of the sash going around twice, because it kind of makes it look like an obi or that there is a waistband.  So I could add a 5 inch chunk or so in the middle of the sash to make the sash longer.    Or I could just let it go as-is.

Also I am playing with sleeve length.   The original sleeve length is in the first few pix; the last few have the sleeves rolled up.  I think I might actually like the look of rolled up sleeves!  The pattern wants you to elasticize the sleeve bands with fat elastic but I don't like that look--too much like sweats. 

Another issue is I had problems with the facings matching the neckline of the dress, so I had to let the facings out, but that may have been an error with me cutting since no one else on PR mentioned this (unlike the pockets, which were mentioned a lot).  Then the back of the dress is supposed to have gathers at the neckline.  No one else commented on this either, but there wasn't very much room for gathers, they came out really weak looking, so I eliminated them entirely and just took it out of the CB seam (and they would have had to go anyway after I took out the wedge from the neckline).

I had to play with the front gathers to get them to where I like them to be.  Finally they look fine.

So I had been really struggling with the dress, and without the sash it looks like a shapeless choir gown, so at one point I thought about abandoning it, but I read the reviews on PR again and it gave me the courage to continue on!  I hope to finish this dress next weekend.

Friday night friends came over.  I cooked minestrone and they brought cake from LaBon, yum!


And Jasmine gave me flowers from her garden. I love them, bugs and all!


My mom gave me these very cool looking green carnations on Thursday. I like them with my red couch and white chair and pillow.

Here are my library books.  I read almost all of "Click:  The Magic of Instant Connections" on the plane to and from Chicago.  I'll read "The Myth of Stress;  Where Stress Really Comes From and How to Live a Healthier and Happier Life" next.  I'm guessing it's going to say that it's our reaction to events that creates stress, not necessarily the events themselves...


Good night and be well!

flowers & books

Lily of the Valley from the Farmer's Market...filling my office with a gorgeous scent!



The pink path! It was a rainy day yesterday, and the blossoms were mostly on the ground instead of the trees, unlike last week's photo.



Looking back on the path....


Ok, I am really loving this book!  I don't write book reviews but if you like style and/or sewing and/or First Lady style, you are going to enjoy it.  I also enjoyed the discussion on Michelle's right to "bare" arms.  It started with Dolly Madison's plunging necklines and Frances Cleveland's bare shoulders, and apparently has been "downhill" ever since...

Good night and be well!!

Happy Easter!

Long time, no blog!  Here we go:

Here are some signs of spring:

Farmer's Market daffodils, on my desk at work.

Bradford Pear blossoms I picked up during a walk tonight.  There's a story behind that shotglass that's vaguely related to Easter...maybe another time...

My purple orchid at work dropped all its blossoms, but opened new ones.  I'm losing my office at work so in ~3 months, so pix like this will be history.  I haven't told my orchids yet but they will be so depressed to lose their light source.


I cooked today but it's nothing you haven't seen before:  a very yellow meal:





and I previously made this which I messed up, sigh:


So I started a bag tonight that I might bring with me to SPR weekend Chicago if I finish it on time. It's Alexander Henry "perfect pattern" fabric that I bought at Stitch Lab in Austin last year.




Look what I'll be making soon:


Current library books + one of mine.  Everyday Icon is about Michelle Obama's style. 


Here's a library book from a few weeks back--it's excellent! You don't have to believe every thought that enters your brain...


Hope the Easter bunny treats you all well!
Be well and good night!