HSM #12: Redo (Brown)

I kind of fell off the Historical Sew Monthly wagon there for a few months.  It was sort of on purpose, as I didn't really have any projects in October that were appropriate, and my Silver Screen project just wasn't going to get done during November with everything that is going on.  I'm probably never going to finish it, actually.  That's okay.  This year has been instructive as to what is practical for me as far as sewing time is concerned, and I'm learning to be more focused about sewing purchases and projects.

That said, this dress was pure frivolity.  I bought the fabric way back in April, intending to make a 1930s dress with it for the brown challenge in September. (It is hard to tell in the photos, but the predominant color in the print is brown).  I wanted to copy Jill's original 1930s dress in this fabric with a contrasting green collar.  I had sketched the collar shape a few times, and thought I could swing it.  I thought the fabric read Art Deco, and I really liked the fall palette.  After making the 1934 McCall's 8272, I was pretty confident about how to draft and construct the collar detail, and I knew I could use my Frankenpattern to get the basic shape of the original.

In the intervening months, however, I sort of fell out of love with the fabric, and lost interest in the project.  I was concerned that the colorway didn't work for my complexion, and didn't want to spend time or precious energy on a project that wouldn't look good on me.  I was sorting out my fabric bin earlier this month, and ran across the fabric again, and decided to put it in a donation pile.  I resolved to let it go, but decided at the last minute to just make it up already.  

I regretted the decision almost the instant I made it, and spent a day or two trying to talk myself out of it, and second-guessed every minute of the making.  I thought my drafted collar looked wrong, I didn't like the contrast, I thought the tab detail on the pockets was overkill, I didn't want to top stitch anything, I didn't like the fabric, I couldn't believe I was "wasting" a morning that I actually felt okay on a dress to wear for Thanksgiving when I could be working on the projects in my winter sewing pile.

Sometimes you just have to plough through to the end.  I'm actually glad I finished this dress!  It was exactly the right thing to wear for Thanksgiving day, and I'm actually really happy with the end result.  It isn't an exact copy of the original, but it definitely works for the era.  The vintage buttons came from the McCall's 8272, which I took apart at the end of the summer.  It wasn't really a great dress for me for a variety of reasons, and I couldn't see that I would wear it again next year.  The fabric wasn't very breathable, and I wasn't happy with the way it was wearing after only a couple wears.  But the buttons were fabulous, so I saved those!!  

I drafted the collar on the fly, and then just attached it like a flat collar after top stitching it down.  It was very easy to construct, actually.  I probably could have stood to make the sleeve cuffs wider to match the width of the collar, but by the time I realized my mistake, I had been fighting with the cuffs for a while and was about ready to chuck them all together.  The pocket tabs were easy-peasy and while they didn't feature on the original dress, I've seen the detail on enough period patterns and extant dresses to feel confident that they would fit.

Because my energy levels have been extremely bad these last months, I confess that I ran out of steam when it came time to make the self-belt.  I had it all cut out, but then I just.couldn't.do it.  I ran a bit of elastic through the waist casing and called it a day.  It's not really period appropriate, but it was very comfortable.  And the dress is just for me anyway, so I'm not super concerned.

I also made a pair of coordinating gauntlets out of some copper colored Swish yarn.  They warmed things up considerably!  (The gauntlets are just a general item in my wardrobe--I didn't make them specifically for this dress, it was a happy coincidence)

I used the same waffle stitch pattern I used last winter on the lava gauntlets, but made them a bit longer, and added some stitches to the end to make them wider at the elbow end and narrower toward the wrist.  I also seamed them to leave a thumb hole, which I like quite a bit.

I'm pretty happy with my top-stitching on this project--it's not perfect, but I get a little better on each try!

The contrasting fabric is from Michael Miller and makes me think I might use some more in a different color way to make a solid colored dress at some point--it is very nice soft fabric.

I like this mitt pattern because it has just enough going on to keep the knitting interesting, but not so much that I can't have my mind on a program or something else at the same time.  And I adore Swish yarn!  I think it is my favorite yarn so far.

The seam is a lot better looking in person than on this photo--it is quite straight and neat.

And my boots are all wrong for a period photo (as is my hair) but as I said: poor energy, and it was Thanksgiving, after all!

The Challenge: Redo (Brown)

Fabric: Molly B 1800s Fabric in Harvest Stripe (100% cotton broadcloth), Michael Miller cotton broadcloth

Pattern: self-drafted/Frankenpatterned

Year: ~1934

Notions: bias tape, all purpose zip, vintage resin buttons, thread

How historically accurate is it? 6/10.  The basic shape is good, and a reasonable facsimile of the original dress, but the zip is wrong for the period (zips were in use, but not commonly available to home sewers until later).  Press studs or buttons would have been better for a side closure.  The bias tape I used is modern, although the usage is period (although, probably for a dress like this, it would have had proper facings).  The 100% cotton fabric is reasonable, as is the print.  The original dress had a gored skirt, but I prefer a simpler cut.  It's not wrong for the period, but gores would have given it a more period look.  The cut-on sleeves are period appropriate, but the original dress had set-in sleeves.  The elasticized waist is wrong.  I went for cut-on because I strongly dislike how inset sleeves fit me on woven fabrics.  I should have gone with the fabric self-belt and in-set sleeves for better accuracy, but I was going for comfort and wearability over strict period accuracy.

Hours to complete: 4-5.  The collar and cuffs added a lot of extra time.

First worn: November 26, 2015 for Thanksgiving Day

Total cost: ~$40

Zwei Leben Denim Skirt

I think anyone who has followed my sartorial journey on this blog will notice that there has been a subtle style shift over time.  I think it is only natural, and in a way helpful, to drop into a groove.  I'm finally starting to feel like I'm getting there in terms of what I want to wear on a daily basis, and therefore, what sorts of projects to make that will best suit me.  I still love vintage styles, and clothing history is particularly interesting to me, and I think my style will always have some vintage elements to it, but I'm no longer trying so hard to achieve a specific vintage "look."  

A while back, I watched a European film with Liv Ullman called Two Lives (I highly recommend the film--it is European noir storytelling at its finest, and the Cold War storyline is both compelling and chilling).  I always notice costuming choices in films and shows now, and the knitwear in this film is particularly good.  But what really captured my attention was an outfit worn by Ullman in the opening sequence of the film--a rather ordinary denim skirt with a tunic-length cowl-necked sweater. 

I decided I needed to make a denim skirt stat.  I did look around to see if there was something comparable in ready-to-wear, but as always, I was underwhelmed by the offerings.  Almost every denim skirt on offer had a front closure, which I find particularly unflattering to my figure type, and almost all were well above knee length.  I did find one or two that were close to what I wanted, but didn't have pockets or a proper waistband.  The longer skirts tended to be gored and ankle length.  Not really what I wanted.  

So I trundled off to Denver Fabrics to find some denim.  I got lucky and found a nice length for under $20, and eagerly awaited its arrival.  I ordered some gold thread from Wawak for the top stitching, and plotted my design.  I used my vintage Anne Adams straight skirt pattern, and made the fit modifications that I have made for the last few iterations (I'm leaving off all the seam allowances during cutting, and sewing 1" seam allowances).  I put in a back center zip to reduce bulk on the side seams and also make it easier to take in when I lose more weight.  

I've shrunk out of three skirts in the last two weeks, and I expect I will have to take this skirt in again in the spring.  I'm debating what to do about those three skirts that are now unwearably too big.  I've already taken the Shetland flannel skirt once and the burgundy skirt in twice.  The navy twill skirt is equally too large.  I might just let them go and start over again next season. I've been sewing up my winter rotation projects, and I'm not feeling like I need them for the winter.  I'm also questioning whether I even want a navy twill skirt, because I sort of feel like what I've really been missing is a denim skirt and now I have one!

What I like about this skirt is that it is nice and casual.  I was deliberate about the gold top stitching to keep the skirt very casual.  I often struggle to find the right balance of properly dressed and overdressed.  I've said before that this is an exceedingly casual dressing city, and while I don't want to look schlubby, I also don't want to look overdressed all the time either.  It makes me feel weird and out of place.  I feel weird and out of place enough already, I don't need my clothes contributing to the problem.

A few construction details: I split my Hollyburn pocket in half and used some leftover Cotton and Steel fabric from one of my winter dresses to make part of the pocket facing and reduce bulk on the pocket seam.  If I do this again, I will make one or two construction changes to make it a straight up two part pocket rather than seaming it down the middle for the fold, but this worked okay.  

I zig-zagged all the pinked edges because the fabric sheds like crazy.  I also decided against a button hole and went with dress slide and snap for the closure as I felt it looked better.  I used a heavier weight metal zip for the back closure.  All in all, I'm pretty happy with how it came out.  

Just the facts:

Rust henley: Chaps via ThredUp

Zwei Leben denim skirt: me-made using Anne Adams 9481 with Hollyburn pocket addition

Tights: Foot Traffic in Heather Mocha

Boots: B.O.C. by Macy's

Earrings: Target (old)

Talking Tuesday: The Struggle of Memory Against Forgetting

I read The Unbearable Lightness of Being many years ago, and one of the lines of that book has always stuck with me: "The struggle of man against power is the struggle of memory against forgetting."

via

Last week, Rod Dreher posted an excellent reflection on what he termed "the fragility of historical memory," or how the West forgot its stories.  I've written at length about the importance of history (both in a meta sense, and on a personal level).  We cannot possibly understand where we have been, where we are, or where we are going without having a detailed history in our minds, both as individuals and as a society.  The crisis of the modern era is one of forgetting, and without memory, we cannot find or follow God.

Dreher writes:

"I have spoken of the Benedict Option as a project of remembering as resistance.The urban theorist Jane Jacobs was not a religious person, but she described our time as the beginning of a “Dark Age” in that it was characterized by mass forgetting. We have deliberately cut ourselves off from our own history; the past has no hold on us. We have maximized our own freedom by minimizing any narrative that tells us who we are and what we must do. We think of ourselves as self-created. There is no “Great Chain of Being” to the modern American, no order extrinsic to ourselves that we belong to. I think again of Rowan Williams’s remarks on Dostoevsky, which I highlighted in this recent post on the novel Laurus:

RW: Dostoevsky famously said: “If there’s no God, then everything is permitted.” It’s a view the west might consider more often. Dostoevsky’s not saying that if there’s no God then no one’s watching us and we can do what we like. He’s really asking: what’s the rationale for living this way and not otherwise? If there’s no God, then there’s no shape to our lives. Our behaviour needs to be in tune with something. If there’s no divine tune, how do you know where to go, what to do? To believe in God is not a business of rewards, but an ability to make sense of things."

~Rod Dreher, The Fragility of Historical Memory, American Conservative Blog, November 3, 2015

 It is difficult to fight the impulse to forget when all around us seems to encourage it.  When each new outrage or horrific event crowds the mind and blinds the eyes.  But we must remember.  We can start by reading (or listening) to the Bible.  By reading the lives of the saints, to understanding the arc and sweep of historical events, particularly in the early years of the Church.  We must remember we are the Creation, and that God asks specific things of those who choose to follow Him.  Things that are not easy, and may even cost us our lives.  We must be ready for sacrifice.  We are not called for a life of ease and comfort, but for a life of salvation, of being made perfect as our Father in heaven is perfect.  The process is often painful.  But we must remember in order to know who we are: children of God.

~wiws~The Fit is In

I love this blouse, but it hasn't gotten as much wear as I would have liked because I didn't really have a great cardigan to wear with it--especially not a heavier weight one.  I love rust and green together, so I knew my Ramona would be the perfect pairing for this blouse and skirt for church today.  As I said yesterday, the weather has turned quite chilly, and I'm suddenly wanting All The Wool Things in my closet.  I can't knit fast enough!!

I promised myself that I would have a little knitting treat after I finish up the 1918 Outing Sweater.  That has been a beast of a sweater to knit.  I tried it on after completing the body, and realized it wasn't going to suit me at all--it is nearly dress length on me, and just doesn't really look right on my frame.  

I'm on a costuming forum for the 1910s, so I asked there if anyone wanted to take it off my hands, and I had several takers immediately!  So as soon as I finish the collar on this bad boy, it is going in the mail to Sharon B., and I'm going to cast on something fun--probably the Hitchhiker scarf, because I've had the yarn to make it for ages and it seems like a fun side project.  I seem to need several things going on needles so I don't get bored. 

I wore the sweater all day yesterday and was so warm and cozy--I'm happier with the fit the more I wear it.

I mentioned that I took in this skirt 2" on the hips and almost 4" on the waist last weekend--I thought it might be worth showing the fit difference.  It is a lot better now!  It is definitely not a skirt to wear to a big meal, but I'm much happier with how it looks and feels now.  Since I had to pull the waist band off anyway, I remade the whole waistband with 1" petersham interfacing and I'm much happier with it.  

I think those vertical lines across the back are wrinkles, not drag lines.  I also worked a buttonhole and put on the original vintage button I meant to use when I first made the skirt.  It all looks much more professionally finished now.  I really love this style of skirt, especially for the colder months.

I'm off to church in a little while.  Hopefully I can get a PLN (Post-Liturgical Nap) this afternoon.

Just the facts:

Autumn Flowers blouse: me-made from vintage fabric

Ramona cardigan: me-made from Valley Yarns Amherst merino yarn, vintage buttons

Rust Corduroy skirt: me-made from Robert Kaufman heavy-weight corduroy, Anne Adams pattern

Amber necklace: etsy

Earrings: Target 

Tights: Foot Traffic Signature Cotton Tights (my favorites!)

Boots: Macy's

Linking up with FLAP for What I Wore Sunday!

Yarn Along & STATurday: Finished Objects and Perfectionism

I'm a bit late to the Yarn Along party this week, but I just finished up my Ramona cardigan yesterday, and wanted to be able to show off something finished this week!  (I know, I didn't even blog about *starting* the Ramona cardigan.  Things have been kind of nuts here)

I'll start with STATurday, however, since it has been a while since I checked in about my weight loss progress.

First is the good news: I'm down 19 pounds since mid-July.  I'm actually shrinking out of clothing that was too tight in the spring.  I spent last Saturday taking in two skirts (and one of them is going to need to be taken in again soon), including the corduroy skirt I made less than two weeks ago.  I had to take both in about 2" on the side seams and I took in the waist of the cord skirt almost 4"!  I bought a wool Pendleton skirt on ebay that is two sizes smaller than my usual size.  It is slightly snug in the hips, but I think a few more pounds gone and it will fit just fine.

I've not actually taken my measurements for a while, but I think my clothing is a good metric of my losses.  I will be curious to see where I am when I do get out the measuring tape, however.

I can't really speak to my food life right now because the mess with my throat hit crisis proportions over the weekend, and I had to have another endoscopy (#3!) with dilation on Wednesday.  I have to have another one in about a month for the second stage of the dilation; until then, food is going down slowly, but at least I'm not having an impaction every other meal.  I'm still eating cautiously, however, and sticking to soft foods.  Needless to say, my appetite has taken a hit.  (Not a bad thing, just hard on my psyche--I worry about feeding tubes in my future)

As for my exercise, things have stalled out a bit.  I was getting into a good groove of running 6.0 mph every other lap for 3 miles, for a total of 38 minutes (I'm gunning for an 11 minute mile!), but this week, things just came to a standstill. Birdie has been sick for a while now, and she hit crisis over the weekend too, and ended up being home three days this week.  I was up all night with her on Sunday, and sleep deprivation really messes me up.  I didn't make it to the gym at all this week because I just couldn't drag myself out of bed before 5:00 a.m.  I did keep up walking the boys to school each day (2 miles round trip, plus an additional round trip on Wednesday because I couldn't drive after the dilation), so I felt that I was burning some calories anyway.  I'm trying not to let the perfect be the enemy of the good, but that is really hard for me.

Plus: a non-scale victory!  My actual wedding ring fits again.  I have a slender band in a bigger size that I bought when I was pregnant and have been wearing for the past several years, but I realized it was close to falling off all the time, so I tried my ring again and it fits great!

I'm trying to remember that this is a long game, and I need to pace myself.  I have four special needs children who are still very young, a busy husband who works long hours and my own health issues aren't going to go away.  I can't just snap my fingers and make everything work the way I want it to at the time I want it to.  And 19 pounds is nothing to sneeze at.  

(Keen-eyed viewers may recall that this chambray dress had a square neckline originally.  I liked it, but I didn't love the drag lines on the upper bodice, and I didn't like that I didn't have a single light weight cardigan that looked good with a square neckline, so I changed it to a u-neckline sometime in October.  I'm much happier with it now, as the new shape released the drag lines, and makes it much more versatile with my layering options).

On to my Ramona!  I loved willfulmina's version of the same, and immediately snapped up the pattern a few weeks ago.  I had ordered some merino worsted weight yarn from yarn.com that I decided would be perfect for the project.  It took a few gauge swatches, but I ended up knitting this on 10.5 circulars (I didn't size down for the cuffs and bands, but I sort of wish I had done the cuffs on 10s).  It was an incredibly fast knit.  I think I knit the whole body in less than a week (although I did go back and frog back about four inches, because the written length came out to a very unflattering place on my body.  *shakes fist at short waist*)  

I also frogged back an entire sleeve because I really despise working on dpns, and it was taking me forever to finish one sleeve because I hated the process so much.  I couldn't see doing it again on the second sleeve and still finishing this sweater before the end of the winter.  I ended up knitting them flat from the cap, and then seaming up the middle, which worked a charm and went very quickly.  The sleeves came out slightly too long (again with the short forearms!) but that is pretty normal for me in ready-to-wear.  I just turned back the cuffs once.  If I make this again (and I'm sure I will), I will omit the last round or two of decreases.  

I knit a 35.5" (S) size, because I'm finding that if I knit according to my full bust size (about 38" these days), I end up with a sweater that is way too big in the shoulders (this is what happened with the Almost Lady Gansey sweater I knit this summer.  I knit a size 40, but the shoulders just came out way too wide--the sleeve cap hit at a terrible spot on my upper arm.  I loved the color but ended up hating the fit and feel of it, so it ended up in a donation pile.  Remind me not to knit with acrylic yarn again).  I need to knit according to my upper bust, because then it fits fine in the shoulders.  Also: raglan sleeves are my friends.  I also prefer a slightly more fitted sweater, and often size down in ready-to-wear, so I think the same needs to apply to my own knitting.  

In any case, I'm pretty happy with this finished sweater.  The neckline is ever so slightly too wide, but I think that is a function of the raglans, and it doesn't bother me too much.  I used some random brown buttons I had bought on etsy a long time ago for something else, since I didn't have any green ones the right size that matched the yarn.  

I think the contrast is nice (and the buttons have a small amount of detail on the face that is interesting)  I do think I would change a few things for next time, but I will wear this one in any case.  The merino is very soft and warm (it suddenly turned quite cold!) and I really like the color.  It goes nicely with my fall and winter palettes.

Also: my boot search is complete!  Just in time too, as the heels on my Modcloth boots were almost flapping in the wind this week.  I sort of forget about Macy's as a place to check for this sort of thing, but they had the goods in the end.  

I got these boots on a great sale, and I'm so pleased with them.  The toe shape and heel height are perfect, they are real leather, they don't slouch around the ankles (I hate that!) and the shaft actually fits comfortably around the top of my calf.  (I got the regular width, and the buckle at the top can be adjust about 1/2", which was about right--my calves are about 15.5" around at the widest point).  I like the buckle detail, and I think that the sole is constructed in a way that could be resoled in the future if need be.  I wore them yesterday for the walking commute to school and I was totally comfortable.

As for reading, I just finished The Three Stations, one of the more recent Arkady Renko mysteries.  The pacing on this one was a bit slower than some of his other novels, and one of the plot lines was a real nail biter, but I'm happy with the way everything resolved.  I really enjoy the series and I love immersing myself in Russia every so often.  I think I have one more to read before I'm up to date.  I'm also continuing my background research about special ops for this character I'm developing.  

I finished season four of Person of Interest a week or two ago, and decided to start back over at the beginning again.  Like Alias, POI is even more enjoyable the second (or third!) time around because you can see things develop while knowing where it is going to end up.  There are details in the earlier seasons that make more sense in light of what happens at the end of season four.  I'm eager to see what happens this season.  I'm also watching Blindspot and The Blacklist this year.  I really loved Legends with Sean Bean, and am eager for season two (which is airing now, so will probably hit Netflix over the summer).  I keep meaning to pick up Homeland again, but after the dramatic conclusion of season three, I'm still kind of reeling from it.  I knew it was coming, I was prepared, but I need a bit more time before I jump back into that world.  

Linking up with Ginny for Yarn Along!

Just the facts:

Back to Basics Chambray dress: me-made, June 2015, modified October 2015

Ann Taylor brown knit shirt: ThredUp

Green Ramona cardigan: Valley Yarns Amherst in Jungle Green, Ramona cardigan from The Brown Stitch, random vintage brown plastic buttons from etsy

Holmes necklace: put together from findings on etsy

Earrings: bought in Ireland in 2010

Boots: b.o.c. Faye in Mahogany at Macy's

Talking Tuesday: Building Community in Place

I find Gracy Olmstead to be a thoughtful, articulate writer, and I always find something interesting in her blog posts.  Last week, she posted a wonderful article about the ways in which community has broken down in America, and considers how communities are built and function together.  

She writes:

"It seems that oftentimes, we give up community out of a desire for greater space, greater financial stability, a better job situation. But, as Roberts puts it, “we are meant to have tribes, to be among people who know us and care about us.” As our jobs increasingly carry us away from the neighborhood, and our reliance upon the car grows steadily, it may be that a simple dedication to staying put can help community grow. Because while our rootlessness often results in greater space, it can also compromise or neglect our deeper need for place: for a sense of home, and community."

~Gracy Olmstead, Space or Place? American Conservative Blog, October 29, 2015

Any long time reader of this blog will know that I often struggle with the limitations of raising a large-ish family in a small Victorian row home in the middle of a large city.  How I sometimes long to be able to send the kids out the door into the back yard (we don't have one), or to be able to pull our car into the garage next to the house (we park on the street, often several blocks away from our home).  To have some distance between the general ick that is the city street.  These things would make our lives more comfortable, easier, but we would lose what Olmstead refers to as the "spontaneous encounter."  I can't count how often I run into a neighbor or a friend on the street and have a conversation.  Those encounters are very valuable, as they build up social capital, and strengthen the ties of our local community in largely intangible ways. 

We've been in this house for eight years now, and it is the longest I've ever lived anywhere, ever.  Rod Dreher has written at length about how difficult it is for us modern Americans to stay in place, to put our feet down and really plant into the ground where we are.  The transient nature of our lives is perhaps the defining characteristic of post modern society.  It doesn't make for easy community.

When I am tempted to see greener grass in the suburbs or the countryside, I am reminded that we have a good life here--one where I can walk the kids to school, and my husband can bike to work.  Our pediatrician is a seven minute walk from the house, and the children's hospital a 15 minute cab ride.  We have a good park less than three blocks away, and several more that are an easy walk.  We are walking distance to several grocery stores, and many other small bodegas in between.  We know almost all our neighbors, and relations on our block are generally cordial and helpful. For all that living in the city and raising a family is sometimes difficult, we are very blessed.  

There is a messiness to engaging with the seething masses of humanity, of building community amongst different sorts of people, but I think it is a good work in the end.