The Piny

If you pay attention to fashion or sewing trends, the pinafore is having a Moment.  Beloved by toddlers everywhere, they've made their way back into adult women's fashion.  I admit, when pinafores first came back in, I wasn't a fan.  The styles seemed boxy and unflattering to an adult woman's body, or they seemed too young for me, so I put it out of my head.  (Can I also just say: all the clothes in the stores right now are from the mid-1990s.  Are we really recycling fashion from my high school years already?  Sheesh.  I appreciate the nostalgia trip, but I am nearly 40 and don't really want to go back to high school, thankyouverymuch). 

In the past year or so, there have been a few brilliant sewing patterns for a pinafore, plus lots of great styling on Instagram that made me curious to try the style.  I thought Jennifer Lauren's Ivy Pinafore and Pippi Pinafore were the best of the lot.  There are other indie pattern makers who have come out with pinafore patterns too (Collette, Victory Patterns, and Tilly and the Buttons all have versions), but I didn't think they would work for my body type. 

So imagine my delight when I happened to find just the thing in Target this week!  Ignore the creepy-weird styling on the website.  I think I would have passed it over if I hadn't seen it in person on the rack.  I wasn't too keen to spend a bunch of money on an untried pattern, a new style for me, and fabric and notions, so at less than $30, this Target pinny is the perfect way to try out the style.

I actually like this a lot--it ticks a lot of boxes on the pinny front: bust darts on the bib, semi-fitted silhouette, fitted waist band, side zip, right length, good denim in a nice dark wash.  It is very close in silhouette to the Pippi Pinafore, which was the pattern that most interested me style-wise.  I'm still trying new things right now, and this felt new to me.  (I guess I'm digging toddler styles?)

My only complaint is that I'm going to have to take in the bodice at some point--it is slightly too big, but in order to get a good fit on the skirt, I had to take a slightly larger than ideal size for the top.  (Such is the basic problem of pinafores on an adult pear-shaped body).  I bought a 14 for reference.  I think a 10 or 12 would have been about right on top, but too tight on the bottom as the 14 fits just right below the waist.  So I'll have a go at alterations soon.

In other news, I'm down four pounds this week, so I will take it.  (To recap: I gained 10 pounds in the past month and am trying to lose it, plus another 10 or so to get to where I'd ultimately like to be).  I'm still not sure what I think about Noom (an app that helps with weight loss).  Sometimes I think, yes, this is a great tool, and other times, I think: I hate this thing and am not going to pay money for it (I'm still in the 14 day trial period).  I do like that the app eases you into good habits, a little piece at a time, which is helpful.  And I've given myself permission to not be super precise with logging (I'm not measuring all my food; just eyeballing.  I've done enough measuring in the past few years to have a good sense of how much something is by looking).

I like the way the food log is set up--it is better than My Fitness Pal, which is totally neutral about what foods you log; I find MFP can become a sort of game about numbers rather than the quality of what you eat.  (As in: you can still meet your calorie goal for the day on Milky Way bars, but that's not really a great way to do so).  Noom flags your foods by color and tells you what percentage of your food day should be in each color.  The colors help you make less calorie dense food decisions (i.e grapes instead of raisins).  Some of their classifications make no sense to me, but I'm going with it for now.  I want to eat some carbs in my day and not feel like I'm getting totally derailed, and I also need to eat better in general.  Baby spinach is going down well lately, and doesn't seem to bother my GI tract (shocker!), so I'm trying to get at least one salad in per day.  I also need to quit eating in the evening.  My dinners are usually kind of a mess, so I spend the evening trying to make up for it.  I just need to get into a habit of making myself a proper dinner and eating it with the rest of my family and then be done for the day. (I often cannot eat what I make for my family, so am having to scramble to make a separate plate for myself.  After working for 45 or more minutes on a different meal, it is hard to then make myself do a proper meal for one at the end of it).

So that's that!  I'm hoping that with school in session, and things starting to get into the school year rhythm, I"ll be able to put better habits in place.

Making, Mending, Refashioning

Making: an eggplant colored Everyday Skirt in a rayon-linen blend from Joann's.  Kaufman's Brussels line has a similar colorway, but I had a 50% off coupon for Joann, and I was in a physical store this summer, so there you go.  I do think the Brussels line is slightly nicer fabric, as the Joann's version is just slightly stiff, but it will do.  The color is a nice deep eggplant-y purple.

I'm pretty please with the front of this skirt--it hangs quite nicely (although not quite as nicely as my red version from the Brussels.  But still.  This was after two bus trips for school drop off, and several children sitting on my lap, and it doesn't look too rumpled).

A bit more rumpled in the back.  I also think that the ever so slightly less drape on this fabric makes the back hang less nicely, but it might also be sizing that will come out with additional washing.  

I was on the fence about this shirt--I bought it last year at a Ross near my parents' house, and wore it as a cardigan-type layer, but this year I find I wanted to try it as a proper shirt.  It's okay, I guess.  I didn't love it or hate it yesterday.

My main issue is that the sleeves are just marginally tight around the biceps, but the next size up looked too big on me.  A perennial problem.  *le sigh*

The thread match on this skirt was particularly good, I think.  I wanted to construct the front waistband for a fully interfaced waistband (i.e. cutting the seam allowance to match the width of the petersham) but I forgot, and didn't want it to come out shorter than I prefer.  As it happens, I probably could have got away with it, since this skirt is 1" longer than my marigold linen skirt, but oh well.  Next time.

The sandals were a late ebay find and I lurve them.  One of my summer Dansko sandals bit the dust in late August, so I'm glad to have a second pair for next year (and get a bit of wear this year yet!)  That color green is practically a neutral.

In other sewing news, I mended one of my husband's cassocks (again).  This method works well for points of stress (as behind a button) or for knees that wear through, as I do it for my boys' pants when they go through the knees.  You just need a bit of iron-on patch and your sewing machine.  

Cut the patch to size, and apply to the wrong side of your garment.  I used square edges on this patch, but I use rounded ones on knees.  Zig-zag around the edges of the patch to tack it down.  I like a 4x1 stitch length for this.  If there are actual holes in the middle of the patch, go over those with a similar zig-zag to close.  If doing this on a knee patch, I like to add several lines of straight stitching in a zig-zag pattern over the whole patch to reinforce.

(The wrong side).  In this case, the hole came from one of the side buttons pulling through the garment and creating a tear.  I had mended it with a patch a few months ago, but my husband caught the cassock on something and tore it through again two weeks ago.  So I reapplied the button.  A tailor's trick--use a small button on the wrong side of the garment to anchor the button and give it stability like so:

The right side:

In reality, the mend is not very visible once the garment is on him and buttoned up.  Ditto for the mends in my sons' pants. 

And finally, a refashion:  I did this over the summer when I realized I didn't want the Blue Forest dress as a dress, but wanted it for a blouse instead.

I unpicked all the tucks and pockets and elastic, and cut a curved hem (it is a bit long) and then reapplied the hem bias.  

The leaves are a perfect match for my marigold skirt, so I was eager to pair the two together.  I think I like this blouse a lot, to be honest.  I wasn't sure about it until I wore it, but the double gauze feels great against my skin, and it looks nice with the skirt.  I am comfortable, but also feel "dressed" for the day.

Apologies for rumpled photos--after the bus run this morning.  It was crowded, so I had children on my lap again.

I think the blouse will look nice with the eggplant skirt as well.  I finished another Everyday skirt yesterday (out of a dark teal Hampton twill) that I'm excited about.  I made some swaps to my rotation, and am now feeling like it is coming together nicely.  I'll write more about that when I blog the teal skirt, I think.

I'm doing a trial period of the Noom app on the recommendation of a dear friend.  I'm not sure what I think about it yet, but since I'm struggling to know what to eat right now, I'll give it the 14 day free trial and then evaluate.  

In the meantime, I made this for a couple of meals lately and liked it very much:

baby spinach with poppyseed dressing, grilled cheese on wheat bread, fried eggs, seltzer water

Let's Get Real

This summer was intense.  In previous years, we had a babysitter or two to help out with the kids during those long weeks when they don't have camp.  This year, for a variety of reasons, we did not.  Indeed, we have not had regular childcare since late February.  It has been a difficult transition for me.  So I had a lot of intense hours and weeks where I was "on" from early morning until early evening or sometimes later.  I also got a pretty nasty viral infection at the end of June that got into my lymph nodes and caused problems for most of the rest of July.  (More on that in a moment).

I had a pretty intense gastroparesis flare in mid-July.  I think the virus, combined with stress and general fatigue, greatly contributed to the flare, but my appetite went away, my nausea went up, my waistline bloated greatly, and I generally could not tolerate my "normal" keto-ish foods.  I doubled my motility medication (to little effect) and I had a two week period where Ritz crackers were kind of what I could manage.  Oh, and I got a sinus infection just for kicks and giggles.

By the end of July, I was in pretty poor shape.  The problems in my lymph nodes culminated in a rather large lump in my left breast that led to a mammogram in early August.  The lump on the left side turned out to be nothing, but in the process of having a look-see, the technician discovered something on the right side that was troubling.  I have a fiberadenoma on that side, and the troublesome spot on the right side was in the same place and about the right size and shape, but the doctor didn't like how the margins looked, so a biopsy was duly scheduled.  I won't lie--I was pretty anxious for most of the month of August.  I was pretty sure it was just that stupid fiberadenoma, but your mind goes in a lot of scary directions when you hear things like "3 mm mass with jagged margins"--google it, I dare you.  (No, don't.  Really).  Strangely, I got a lot of writing done in August.  But not a lot of sleeping. There's nothing like a cancer scare to up your productivity.

I had my biopsy in mid-August.  I was expecting a fine needle aspiration (done 13 years ago when the fiberadenoma was first found/diagnosed), but instead I got a punch biopsy.  I've had them before (once without any anesthetic!), and I'm not scared of needles, but the lidocaine took the stuffing out of me for a couple of days. There was a vessel feeding the thing that she hit on the way in, so I had a massive bruise where they did the punch.  It is still visible and slightly sore, almost three weeks later.  I had to wait another five days for the biopsy results. In the end, it turned out to be the same benign fiberadenoma from before.  I admit, the psychological toll of the whole thing, combined with the rest of the summer, derailed me on so many levels. 

On the upside, I made the happy discovery that I could swallow soft bread after two years of being completely unable to do so; I enjoyed a few grilled cheese sandwiches before graduating to toast and cereal, and then....dum, dum, dum, a Subway sandwich.  Believe me, no one was more surprised than me!  Keto (ish) was relatively easy to follow when carby things were impossible for me to swallow, but now that these things are eatable again, I find I am having a hard time eating mostly eggs and cheese and bacon with the odd piece of fruit.  My egg tolerance is down right now, so that doesn't help either.

This was followed by an accidental chicken exposure that produced...nothing.  Nada, zip.  No reaction whatsoever except for a slightly itchy feeling in my mouth, which could have been due to something else entirely.  I had already scheduled an appointment with a new allergist to get retested, since I've been wondering where I am with things, and it has been almost 10 years since I was last tested.  After that incident, I'm very curious to see how things stand with chicken.  Because after almost eleven years without chicken, and being paranoid about it (because my reaction to it has been very severe), it would be nice to eat it again!  (Try eating anything healthy without chicken or most fish and not tolerating salad particularly well.  It is hard.  And very very very monotonous.  I'm a terrible dinner guest). 

This is where things stand right now.  I gained weight in August.  More than I'd like to admit.  Some of it is water weight, because it went on so quickly and my clothes still fit, but I'm sure some of that is from the bread and other junky carbs I've eaten in the past month.  We did a lot of traveling in August and I got tired of being a poor house guest, so I ate what I was served whenever possible.  I suppose it is a little like starving and then being presented with a bounty--it is hard to know where to start and stop. 

I confess that I am struggling to know what to eat, or how to interpret my body's signals for hunger and satiety, since they've been off for so long I no longer trust them.  I'm trying to be gentle with myself--to have a bit of a break from how hard food has been for so many years, and eat what seems appealing and easy on my system, since my gastroparesis flare is still ongoing.  I realize that I can't eat like this long term, but I think I need to get some of the pent-up food frustration of the past two years out of my system before I can get back on the wagon, so to speak. 

When I started my keto-ish approach last summer, I felt it was a way to get off the fast train to Diabetesville.  My diet was severely restricted because of all my swallowing issues, and starting keto felt like widening my dietary field in a lot of great ways.  I felt better overall (once I got over the induction flu), and mostly stopped having issues with hypoglycemia.  My gastroparesis symptoms settled down quite a bit too, which is odd since high fat is one thing to avoid with this condition (fiber is the real problem, but fat slows motility too).  When I did have grains on occasion, I noticed I felt pretty bad afterward.  I tried to steer my diet toward carbs that did not include grains.

I did lose ten pounds last summer and reached my first goal weight, and my CBC numbers are good.  But I still want to lose more weight and it still seems impossible, particularly given my recent gains.  I'm trying to be okay with this.  I'm nearly 40, and it isn't going to get easier from here in.  (All Bodies Are Good Bodies).

So I'm trying to find the way forward.  My goal is to be healthy, and I want to have enough energy to keep up with my kids and the basic demands of city life.  The high-carb diet that is typical of Americans is not the best option for me, but the so-called "healthy" diet of every women's magazine in America is not one my body can tolerate.  I also can't eat 100 calories for lunch and make it through to supper.  So I'm figuring it out.  I'm hopeful that my allergy appointment in two weeks will give some clarity and possibly widen my dietary field somewhat. 

First thing is to lose the weight I gained this summer.  I'm always less active in the summer because I'm in the car a lot more and because I don't tolerate heat very well.  This summer was particularly bad because I was sick so much of the summer and it has been hotter than usual.  Now that I am back in the school groove, I'm walking more during the day, and generally moving around more.  So that is all to the good.  There is a Barre studio that recently opened near my house; I'd like to see if my neuroma can tolerate that, because my running days are over.  I have a neighbor who walks in the morning; we've talked about doing it together sometimes.  I don't want to get into something that I have to do like my job, but I do need to be a bit more active in my day. 

Bread is my kryptonite.  I don't like pasta all that much, and rice is just okay, but I can eat bread all day.  But it doesn't really love me back.  I can tolerate grains in small doses, but I can't build my diet around them; I feel like garbage when I eat too much grain.  I love potatoes too, and can tolerate them relatively well, but I think it is probably best to limit them as well.  And cake.  I love cake to distraction, but it needs to be a birthdays-and-holidays sort of thing.  I think I'm probably going to land in some sort of paleo-keto hybrid, which is the dietary direction I've been headed for a while.  As with my clothing, I'm going to have to experiment with things again for a while to see what works and what doesn't.

In the meantime, I'm going to have a slice of cinnamon raisin toast.  Because I can.

Yarn Along: September

School started today.  I think we can all say a collective AMEN.

And no, I do not have two sets of twins.

~reading~

A friend recommended this series to me, and the book does not disappoint!  It is full of clever literary references and I am quite enjoying the tone.  Think Monty Python meets Inspector Lewis.  Delicious.

I bought this book on Eneagrams on the recommendation of another writer and I'm eager to read it.  I'm kind of a sucker for this sort of thing anyway, but I think it will help with character development in my writing as well.

~knitting~

 All the Fall Things, namely scarves.  I'm mostly working on the Hitchhiker, because it is a good weight for fall, and goes with my palette nicely.

But I'm also working on the Boneyard Scarf as well.  It is very easy and mostly mindless.  I'm using DK weight Swish in garnet heather.  It will work well with my winter rotation.  (Is it just me or is there no discernable difference between DK and Worsted weight Swish?  I have both in the same colorway and they seem exactly the same to me).

~watching~

I watched a bunch of movies in August, because, things, and at least one deserves its own post (Zoe) but this is the list for now:

On Chesil Beach: Very Ian McEwan. I liked it, but it isn't for everyone.

In Time: funky dystopian sci-fi film in which time has become currency.  I liked it a lot.

Our Kind of Traitor: another LeCarre adaptation with Ewan McGregor and Damian Lewis.  It was a bit hard to get into (the beginning is a bit gritty), but I enjoyed it in the end.  Stellan Skaarsgaard was a treat.  I also find myself playing a little game lately of "Find John LeCarre in his own film."  

Zoe: a fascinating look at the future of AI.  Somewhat disconcerting, but tons of food for thought.

A Sense of an Ending: indie film with Jim Broadbent.  I'm not sure what I think of this one.  It was a strange story and the trailer set me up for a very different sort of film.  I liked the interplay between Broadbent and Harriet Walters.

About Time: this was fantastically fun.  Bill Nighy was delightful, as was Domnall Gleeson.  It is from the same creative team as Notting Hill and Four Weddings and a Funeral, and it is a brilliant movie.  It is really about a father and a son, and the story is so lovely.  I wish this film had been better publicized--it is that good.

Salmon Fishing in the Yemen: another film that I was surprised by.  I enjoyed it very much and found it quite delightful.

~sewing~

Nothing at the moment, but I have the two Everyday skirts on the queue:

 As well as the two knit dresses for my fall rotation:

Just as soon as I catch my breath!  

August was pretty intense (more on that later) and I'm still recovering.

My husband has a crazy busy week with an intense three-day sitting, I had stuff to do at school this morning, plus my annual skin check with dermatology this afternoon; I still have to pick up some uniform pieces from the logo place, and I'm getting back on schedule with my writing partner tomorrow.

  

Linking with Ginny for Yarn Along!

Project 333: Fall 2018

Time for the fall rotation!  I've been eager to start this rotation (as I always am very ready for fall and winter!) and I'm hoping this one works out well.  But first, I should say, this rotation is also kind of a hot mess.  Mostly because I'm still finding my way with my sartorial self at this juncture.  I've moved away from dresses as a daily uniform, to shirts and skirts.  I kept that in mind as I planned my fall, including my sewing plans.  I'm not sure I've quite hit it, and this rotation is a bit heavy, but I also know that these three months undergo the biggest shifts in temperature (we are in the high 90s with high humidity currently, and will probably drop below freezing by December).  

My skirts are almost all Everyday skirts, as I like this silhouette the best at the moment, as it is the most flexible and flattering.  My marigold linen skirt got heavy wear last fall and spring, and I expect to wear it a lot this fall too.  The olive linen was a favorite all summer, and will carry over nicely into the fall.  The Eggplant Birch rayon (far left) is a bit of an experiment in refashioning; I'll write a separate post about the details of the refashion later.

I have two more skirts cut and plan to sew them up this month: an eggplant rayon/linen mix, and a heavy cotton cord in a lovely cider color.  

 My dresses are lean: the Kermes (for this hot ridiculous weather we are having right now), the Motherdress (also for this hot weather), Rennie (layered up when cooler) and Bluebird (also for layering when cooler).  I can wear them now with a light cardigan to keep my arms covered.

I also have two knit dresses planned for the colder end of the rotation (M7353s of course!):

A plain navy knit, and the Splendid fusion knit by Art Gallery.  I'm especially looking forward to wearing the latter.

I have a lot of shirts in this rotation, and I just couldn't seem to whittle them down.  Some are better for layering under other things, some are better for warmer weather, some for colder weather, and so it goes.

Purple henley, blue striped knit shirt, green knit shirt, burgundy knit shirt:

Rust henley, Blue Forest blouse (unblogged), navy knit Battenberg shirt, chambray button down:

I'm unsure about the Blue Forest blouse and the chambray shirt for a variety of reasons, so we'll see how much wear they get.  I'll blog about the former soon--it was another experiment in refashioning.

Various lightweight cardigans:

I may not need this many cardigans, since I'm wearing fewer dresses and all my shirts have sleeves, but I'd rather start out with them in the drawer and then find I don't want them than have to dig through when I need a light layer.

Heavier weight layers: (L'Enveloppe, green jacket, purple cardigan, navy cardigan)

The jacket was eight whole dollars with a coupon, and it is the perfect length for my short torso (the unicorn of jackets, really). I thought it was a low risk way to try something different this season.

Heavier weight pullover tops: blue cowl top, cream button up sweater, black layering shirt, gray wool sweater, paisley scarf.

The scarf has a lot of my palette colors in it, and I love the color combinations that will go with that scarf.  I plan to wear it a lot!  I'm also still at work on my second Hitchhiker, which has all the fall colors in it, and hope to wear it before the rotation is finished.

I seem to be able to write a lot about not very much these days.  I do want to write a bit about what is going on with my weight and food life (it deserves its own post!) and have to blog some of these makes, but first I have to get my kids launched into their new school year this week and try to catch up on everything that got set aside this summer while they were home.

Over and out!

Project 333: Summer 2018 Wrap

I was away for the long Labor Day weekend, so I didn't switch my clothes until we returned today.  Just as well, as the heat and humidity are still high-high-high, and very summery feeling.  That said, I'm ready for fall.  But before I natter on about my fall rotation, best to wrap up my summer.  

My daily uniform this summer mostly consisted of a tank (below) paired with one of the five cardigans (above) with an Everyday skirt, or a 3/4 sleeve boatneck shirt paired with an Everyday Skirt.

The tanks are from Target, the Universal Thread line (so good!) and the cardigans are a hodge podge of thrifted goodness.  Ditto the shirts.  The navy and pink striped shirt was a bit of a miss.  I like it in theory, and I did wear it quite a bit with my denim pencil skirt, but I'm on the fence about keeping it.  The other three shirts (burgundy, yellow stripe and blue stripe) all got heavy wear.

Not spectacular photos, but here is one iteration with my red skirt:

Here's another (with the blue indikon Everyday skirt):

I wore a lot of yellow this summer.

My dresses did not get as much play this summer.

I did wear the chambray Motherdress (far right) a fair bit (it was particularly great for traveling). I wore the blue linen dress a handful of times (mostly to church). 

 The Liberty #1 and #2 dresses were worn once or twice late in the summer.  (I also wore Liberty #2 a couple of times in the spring with a long sweater).  I pulled them out of storage sometime in late July or early August when I wanted some variety in my closet.  

I decided it was time to retire Liberty #1 after I made more repairs to the fabric under one of the arms.  I still like the dress a lot, and want to keep it, but I don't want to have it on regular rotation any longer.  Liberty #2, I don't know what to do about it.  I like it, and I think it looks okay on me, but I'm sort of out of love with this style right now.  I'll probably just keep it in reserve for when I want something loose and pretty.  I always have some days in August when I can't stand to wear anything I've worn the rest of the summer.  It was perfect for those days.

The York double gauze dress (far left) ended up being a special occasion/church dress this summer, and I like it very well for that.  It was lovely to wear to the wedding in June.  I might even wear it for Pascha next year.  

The navy Birch dress (second from left) was a similar special occasion dress.  The striped knit dress was fine.  I wore it a handful of times, with a cardigan, and I like the fit and feel of it, but...I don't know.  I didn't love the way the fabric wore (it was a $20 amazon find) or the fact that the stripes were not matched on the side seams at.all.  I'm not sure it was especially flattering on me.  The Kermes dress (far right) was a nice church dress as well.

My Everyday skirts got tons of wear.  I decided that the chambray skirt will need to be replaced next summer with something similar but in a different type of chambray.  Perhaps another Brussels linen chambray, or even the Rustica I used for the Motherdress, because this chambray just doesn't hang well for a skirt.  My other skirts were fabulous, however, and I'm really happy with them.  

I started out the summer with two white linen blouses, but the other one had a higher neckline that wasn't as flattering on me, and the sleeves drove me crazy, so I'm just keeping this one, which I've had for several summers now:  

It is lovely and light and pretty.  The Gzhel skirt (middle) is another special occasion skirt, and I'm on the fence about my Gemini linen top (far right).  I only wore it once, but perhaps next summer it will feel better to me.  I put so much work into it, I'm leaving it in the rotation for next year.

Overall, my summer rotation was very lean, but I was actually pretty happy with it once I settled into a daily uniform of separates.  I liked my color palette, the accessories that went with everything, and felt good in almost all my clothing this summer.   That almost never happens, so I'll take it!  My weight has been all over the place this summer, and my food life has taken some rather interesting twists and turns (more on that later), but I still felt relatively good in my clothing.

My big takeaway from this rotation is that it is okay to have a few dresses set aside for church and feast days (of which there are quite a few in the summer), and that I don't need too much for my daily wear when the weather is fairly stable.

This post is probably long enough, so I'll be back tomorrow with my fall rotation.