Wellerman Remy

Almost the end of June and I'm still catching up from May!  That will probably be my song and dance all summer.  The hours of the day just seem to slip by me; I'm pottering in the garden, doing some deep cleaning and culling on our many bookshelves, getting the kids to and from camp, making meals, doing the dishes, laundry, etc.  It all adds up.  

Some critter (or bird, maybe) got into one of my strawberry plants overnight and ate all three partially ripe berries, plus a few more that weren't even fully grown, but left all the other plants alone (including a ripe strawberry on a lower placed planter).  Part of me thinks not to bother about it, because we share the planet, but part of me thinks that there are plenty of other places to dine in the neighborhood besides my plants, so go along somewhere else! This restaurant is closed!  None of the critters around here are the least deterred by cayenne pepper and the birds aren't scared off by the shiny CDs hanging around the planters.  Maybe I need to cut up some pie tins?  Anyway.

This make was one that I wasn't sure would suit me, but actually, I kind of love it.  I felt really great in this outfit, and the boots kind of made it for me.  

This is the gathered sleeve view of the Remy Raglan, a free add-on that I believe is now included in the pattern. I've been wanting to try it out for a while now. My primary concern was that the volume would overwhelm me, or that the sleeves would be in my way all day long.

Unlike other gathered sleeves, this one is loose at the cuff, so I knew that part at least should be fine.  I can't stand tight cuffs.  I found a length of linen on the doggie bag section of Fabrics-Store.com in the Marlin colorway, and while I was a little unsure that the color would work with my palette or tone preferences, it was cheap enough to use it as a toile.  

It turned out to be a really gorgeous shade of purple-y blue.  It looks more Delft-y to me on the website, which was why I was concerned.  Sometimes Delft shades are fine on me, and sometimes they are just blah.  I was concerned that it wouldn't go with anything, but it goes with my beet linen skirt very well, and my Purple Violet Squish skirt hack, plus my black pepper Free Range skirt hack.

I think it would also go with the dark denim skirt I thrifted and altered, but haven't tried them together yet.  I managed to squeak out one more wear out of this blouse over the weekend but I think now it will need to wait for fall weather.   

Not much to say about construction.  I made my usual size 8 (although I might have added a tiny bit on the side seam allowances; I can't really remember right now) and made the sleeve as directed.  The cuffs were pretty easy to make, and the gathers weren't too pesky.  (After making two dresses that had a LOT of gathers in them, the cuffs on this seemed easy.  I'll blog those dresses at some point). 

I'm not sure I'd make another one, because I think one statement sleeve blouse in my closet is enough for me, but maybe not?  I could see trying it in a really drapey rayon challis or something like that.  In any case, a highly successful make!  Who'd have thunk?  

Off now to attempt to impose order on chaos--ha!

Embroidered Remy

In the fall, when I was batch sewing 3/4 linen tops, I made a Remy from some pale sage Brussels linen that I hated immediately.  The linen/rayon substrate in a top made me feel hot and cranky until the humidity and heat broke sometime in October, and then the color made me feel very washed out and dull.  It didn't seem to go with much in my closet.  I put it and the skirt I made with the rest of the 2 yards into my bin to evaluate later.  

The skirt turned out to be a good summer make, and I've worn it several times already this spring.

The shirt continued to languish, however, and I wondered if I could perk it up and make myself like it better with embroidery.  I realize it is a lot of work to undertake to rescue a garment that might not be salvageable, but it was worth the experiment. 

I've been wanting to embroider some of my clothes for a while, but have chickened out because I didn't want to wreck something I already liked a lot.  It was a low-investment way to try out whether I'd like the finished look.  

I started with the front of the shirt, doing two lines down the center seam of the top using an iron-on transfer I had in my bins. I liked that well enough, and decided to repeat it on the sleeves as well. I added some whip stitching to the collar, cuffs, and hem, and it is...fine.

I like the look of it, as it is somewhat evocative of peasant-style rubashkas of Eastern Europe, although a white top with red stitching would be just about perfect.  I think the main problem is that I don't love the fit on it, and it doesn't go with much in my closet.  It matches the skirt in these photos, but that skirt really doesn't fit me.  Maybe the dark denim skirt I thrifted and altered?  I dunno.  

I will probably enjoy wearing it during Bright Week next year, as I was wanting something like this during Bright Week this year, but I was still working on the embroidery that week.  I enjoy the process of embroidery and find it somewhat meditative, so this project was worth it from that perspective anyway, and it gave me the confidence to undertake another embroidery project on a new top for summer.  I'm nearly done with it, and am looking forward to wearing it.  (Also: print and stick embroidery stabilizer is magic!)

In the meantime, enjoy some garden spam!  I've been working hard to get the kitchen garden into shape for the season, and I'm pretty happy with it now.  

A neighbor friend dug up her blueberry bush for me and left it on my doorstep early yesterday morning; I have good friends like that.  :)  It is loaded with tiny berries, and is definitely a different variety from the one I was gifted last summer from a different friend, so I'm curious to see how the two bushes do together.  I pruned the original one a bit this weekend, hoping to encourage more berry production, as there are only a handful right now, whereas last year this time, it was loaded.  I probably should have pruned it earlier, but maybe it will still fruit well.

I also hit the mother lode at the hardware store over the weekend as they had mature strawberry plants, some with already-ripening berries!  I bought three and put two in big pots and one in the middle box planter with the other bare roots I've started.  The ones in that planter seem to be doing okay, whereas I've lost almost all the ones I put in the boxes in the corner--probably not enough sunlight or something.  

My sun situation back there is tricky because half the patio is partially shaded in the morning and afternoon, but not the same half!  So the sun lovers get the prime spot along the brick wall where it is sunny most of the day, and the others have to make do.  Although I have to be careful that the brick wall doesn't scorch the plants.  It's a balancing act.  I also found a good looking watermelon vine with a bunch of flowers on it, and some purple cauliflower, a couple of bell peppers, an additional cucumber, and some herbs.  (To be clear, this is a 16'x8' space, with walls on all sides, and a large grill on one end of the patio).

The cucumber plants I put in a few weeks ago from an online order look pretty decent too, so perhaps we'll get produce this year?  I found a little wood trellis for them, since only two will be able to trellis on the mesh wall put in for that purpose in 2020, although the watermelon may be able to trellis there, so not a total loss.  

The raspberry plant is loaded with berries (and still sending out more flowers!) so we should get a decent yield if they ripen well.  I had a list of things I wanted to do today, but after a busy gardening weekend and a speed walk of nearly a mile to the bus stop with the kids this morning because I forgot my house keys and had to double back, I'm too tired to think straight.  I think I'll just take up my stitching and call it good.

Monochrome

The cold weather is definitely here and I'm a happy hobbit, since we've established that I should really live in the tundra. My garden is mostly ready for winter, and I spent a day last week sweeping and composting, although I'll have to do another round sometime this month, as more leaves have come off the surrounding trees, and a few annuals have finally packed it in for the year.  I saved and dried most of the marigold blooms this year; I may plant a few next spring and see what I get.  I like seeing the little bowl of dried yellow flowers on my counter.

 

I'm starting work on a stack of flannel I bought at Joann when I visited my parents two weeks ago.  I went in quick a minute for thread and came out with three skirt lengths of flannel (and the thread I went in for).  Oops. 

 In my defense, I'm not into hard waistbands right now, so even thought my thrifted wool skirts have a bit of elastic in the sides, they isn't quite as comfortable as my Free Range skirt hack. I've also had in mind to replace the lining on the wool ones anyway, as the synthetic lining they came with is very static-prone and drives me bananas. 

'Nuff about that.  I shortened my silky noil spruce skirt as the tea length was not working for me, and decided to try it as a two-piece dress with the Remy Raglan I've been wearing a lot this fall.  Generally speaking, if I want to wear a dress, I just wear a dress, but I'm sort of liking the two piece monochrome look.  I wore my beet top and skirt together a few times this fall and liked that too.

I've gotten a lot of wear out of both pieces this fall, particularly after shortening the skirt.  My Mackworth sweater came off the drying blocks last week and I wore it with this skirt; it was just the thing (pics to come). 

Not much else to say about this outfit, since I've already posted about each piece separately. 

I said to my husband yesterday that I feel like I'm living five days every day right now.  It's not so much that I am too busy, it is just that each day feels overfull somehow.  Probably the fast talking at the moment, so I'd better get on with things.

On making

I've been thinking lately about why I make things.  Mostly it is is utilitarian--I make clothes or quilts.  But it is more than that.  There is an intersection of sacred time and sacred space that needs to be expressed as physical beauty in everyday life.  I think occupying in that cosmic space is why traditional societies decorate their clothes and homes with patterns and designs that are beautiful and symbolic for their own sake, not for any utilitarian value the decoration brings.  There is an important spiritual orientation in the making.

with my French terry rose Elemental skirt

I often struggle with guilt over my making, since I do make more than I technically need.  And there is a drum beat in my head about the environmental cost of absolutely everything I do.  That drum beat is fairly unhealthy, I realize, and I'm trying to find balance between saving everything and throwing it all away , but it is hard.  The past few weeks have been a flurry of making on an order unsurpassed, and I realize it is coming from a place of distress, from the need to keep busy to keep my mind from running away with me about my dad.  I wake up in the morning and I think, what useless thing will I sew today?   But I try to remind myself that there is value in the act of making itself, in the creation of something beautiful, even if the thing isn't perfect.

The need to make is an itch that is hard to scratch in other ways. Artists have long made things simply for the beauty of the created thing--be it a painting or a sculpture or whathaveyou, and there is not inherent utility in the finished piece beyond the beauty it may bring to the world. 

I've been re-reading the Throne of Glass series the last few weeks (I read all seven books in a big gulp last fall, and while I wanted to take my time this go-round, I seem to be gulping them down again...but I digress). In the fantasy series, the characters who have magic have to release it in small amounts every day to keep it from building up in them and becoming unmanageable. The urge to create feels a bit like that to me.

Anyway, enough about that.  I made this Remy Raglan over the summer, intending to save it for the fall, since the fabric is a wee bit too heavy for summer.  It is the same fabric as one of Peggy's samples, and I don't mind being a lemming one bit in this instance.  

I love this blouse so much.  The fabric was a splurge for me, but it was worth the cost too.  I ended up finding the same fabric on sale this fall and bought enough for a skirt as well, not to wear these together, but just to have more this squish in my closet.  (I'll show the skirt soon; it is delightful).  I made the shirt specifically to go with my mustard cord skirt, as I have a sweater near this color that I love to wear with this skirt, but the sweater is too heavy to wear in these shoulder months.  

Wind tunnel!

I made a straight size 8 as usual, but fiddled with the length again, as my original cropped length feels a tiny bit too short.  I originally took off 2 1/4" from the pattern length, but am adding back in 1" now, and that seems to be about right when I do a bias bound hem.  

I've gotten the hang of making my own bias now, and if I can spare the fabric, I usually do that.  (I cut the bias as efficiently as possible, to preserve yardage, so it means I have a fair number of joins on any given piece, but I don't care).  

The drape of this silky noil is perfect for this top, and it is so light and comfortable against my skin, a plus for my hot flashy perimenopausal self.  (Also, can I just point out that Google's spell check writers apparently doesn't know what perimenopausal means, since it keeps flagging it with no suggested spellings?  Grr.)

Anyway, a happy make, combined with another happy make (or two), and good things all around.  Off to sew another Remy today in some seafoam-colored Brussels linen.  The only question is: should I go for the sleeve expansion pattern that is definitely Extra, and possibly not my style, or stick with what I like?  Make the button collar or keep it plain? Stay tuned for the answer!

*And about my dad.  He started chemotherapy yesterday, and will have a five day course before they consider sending him home.  The therapy course will take about six months to complete. The good news is that the histology reports came back with lymphoma instead of lung cancer.  Lymphoma is more treatable, so there is a chance he could come through this.  That said, the lymphoma is fairly advanced, so there's a long road ahead.  My dad has an excellent oncologist, and a great medical team around him, so the Lord continues to accompany us through this journey and we will continue to pray.  Thank you for all the notes and prayers--keep 'em coming!  Prayer does not change God, it changes us (C.S.Lewis).  

Free Range

I'm mostly a skirts and dresses gal, but every now and again, I find myself wanting to wear pants.  And am not able to find anything that fits my proportions properly.  I have one pair of skinny jeans with a flat waistband that is just okay, but the fit in the seat still leaves a lot to be desired.  Since this is my year of Sew House 7, I figured I might as well give the Free Range Slacks a whirl.  I'm trying new things, and since the Remy was basically designed for the Free Range Slacks, I figured, why not?

Trying it out on My Body Model

After stalking the Instagram hashtag for a few weeks, and dithering about which view to make, I finally decided to go with the straight leg version, as I was kind of crushing on the silhouette, even though I know it isn't my best look.  Then I dithered a while about the fabric, before going with the Brussels Washer Linen Yarn Dye in black.  Again, not a color I would normally gravitate toward, but I saw another blogger with similiar coloring to mine make the pants in that substrate/color and thought it read nicely on her. 

Straight leg with Remy Raglan

The sewing was relatively straight forward, and like all my Sew House 7 makes so far, I find Peggy always has some clever construction bit that I've never done before.  This pattern was no different, as the yoked pocket is constructed without a facing, which greatly reduces bulk in the front, a nice feature on a pant with an elasticized waist.  I also liked that there were a lot of seam lines to make adjustments if need be (although in truth, I needed no modifications except for length).

I made a straight size 12 (I was between a 12 and 14 on the size chart, but a look at the finished measurements convinced me that I was better off sizing down).  I ended up with a 2" hem instead of the 1" specified, and possibly could have gone another 1/2" or so, but cropped pants are so tricky!

The waistband construction is to make a casing with waistband facing and insert the elastic, but I like the Elemental Skirt elastic application because it prevents the elastic from bunching or rolling around, so I did that instead, and then sewed down the edge of the casing as instructed.  I originally tried turning the edge under as with the Elemental skirt, but it looked weird on this pattern.  

The fit is superb, I have plenty of room in the seat, the rise is great, and I felt really great in these pants, for about three wears.  In my quest for skirt unicorns, I had wondered about converting this pattern to a skirt, and had done so with some wonderful silky noil. 

You'll notice that I shortened the 3/4 sleeves on my Sphinx Remy to short sleeves.  I figured I'd get more wear out of it in the summer, when I actually wanted to wear it, but was too hot in anything but short sleeves.  I did the same to my white one and am reasonably pleased with the results.

After wearing the noil skirt several times (stay tuned for pics), I decided I would be happier if the pants were turned into a skirt.  It didn't hurt that the weather stayed gross well into October and I found the pants slightly stuffy, which was not my intention for this make.  

I'm not sure I got the length quite right, but it is just below the knee, and similar in silhouette to the purple skirt from last week.  It's not my favorite thing, but I'll wear it.  I don't know if converting the pants was the right thing, but I'm also not sure that I would have continued to wear them, so it's hard to say.  Maybe just call me Meg?  Perhaps the slim leg option might be a better silhouette for me, as evidenced by my playing around on My Body Model:

But maybe I just need to embrace the fact that I don't enjoy wearing pants all that much.  On the upside, I do really like this pattern as a skirt (another unicorn!), and I will use the clever yoked pocket application in other contexts too, so nothing is wasted.

The top is a true Frankenpattern in handkerchief linen, part of Juliana's Sewing to Keep Breathing campaign.*   I used the Sorrel dress bodice for the shoulders and the Portrait blouse for the waist shaping and length, the Coco dress for the boat neckline, and the Carson dress for the sleeve.  And I got it out of a yard.  The color is amazingly rich.  I plan to make a robin-egg blue one today.

  

*On a personal note.  Things are pretty tough right now.  My dad was diagnosed with lung cancer last week, having never smoked a day in his life, and is in hospital on a lot of oxygen.  They are trying to get him stable and move him to the oncology unit to map the tumor and give a round of radiation so that he can maybe go home in a week or so.  Through Divine Providence, he's at one of the best hospitals in the world, and I'm grateful for all the ways that we see God's hand in this, but it is also agonizing.  Please continue to lift us up.

On unicorns and linen

So.  There are some hard things going on that I'm not prepared to write about yet, but if you are a praying sort, please hold my extended family in your prayers if you would.  I'm sewing things I don't really need to keep my hands and mind occupied, so expect to see a fair amount of makes and not very much in the way of Deep Thoughts.  I suppose it is a good way to try out new things?

#sewnshownseated

I mentioned that I'm on the hunt for a unicorn of a summer weight skirt pattern.  I love my slim skirts in the late fall and winter, but the heavier fabric is totally unsuitable for our swampy (and long) summers, and I've never really been able to find something that worked well with linen, which is my preferred warm weather fabric.  

A few weeks ago, I was organizing my fabric bin (again) and saw the Purple Violet Squish dress in there, waiting for the chop.  I had no firm plans for it (just a vague thought of maybe cutting it down for one of the girls at some point), but decided that it might be worth taking off the bodice and making a waist casing and see if I can get a functional summer weight skirt out of it.  Not that I particularly need more skirts, but it was an experiment with low stakes.  Worse case, the thing could go back in the bin for a later cut down.  

Plus, another unicorn discovery: summer church shoe conundrum solved!  Dankso to the rescue again.  Thrifted Jacindas, possibly even more comfortable than my Birks. 

I had a decent amount of fabric left from the original dress, so I cut a waistband facing and some 1.5" elastic ban-rol. I used my Elemental skirt pattern as a guide for the elastic and application method, and am totally happy with the result! (I've worn the skirt three times since). I didn't think a fully elastic skirt would work, as my previous attempts have been utter disasters, but something about the way the elastic is applied in the Elemental skirt keeps it from looking bunchy and weird.  Plus, very comfortable!  I'm really digging woven fabrics right now.  They feel more put together to me than a knit, for whatever reason.  If I'm going to wear a knit, I like to pair it with a woven, but I'm enjoying wovens on top and bottom too.

Birdie was my photographer for all these photos, and this one cracks me up. 

As to the specifics, the dress was made with the M7353 skirt, which is drafted for a knit, but I've used it several times on wovens.  I think I still cut the smallest size in the packet, but possibly made the seam allowances 3/8"?  I made the dress long enough ago (and altered it several times after making) that I can't be 100% certain). 

The waistband facing came from the Elemental Skirt (or maybe the Free Range Slacks, I can't be certain), adapted for the width of this skirt, although I think they were quite similar.  I applied the elastic as with the Elemental skirt (Peggy's application instructions for this are genius, by the way), but then sewed down the bottom of the facing to the skirt itself as with the Free Range Slacks.  (Stay tuned for a future post on the Free Range Slacks).

After that success, I wanted to try a similar hack on the embroidered linen skirt.  Shortly after my post, I deconstructed the entire thing and put it back together on slimmer lines, but it still looked terrible.  I decided to try the faced elasticized waistband trick on it, thinking that it couldn't hurt to try.   

At that point I had a skirt that was totally unwearable, and I was even considering cutting up the pieces to use the embroidered bits on something else.  I kept the original waistband piece on but took off the ban-rol interfacing and removed the 1" ban rol elastic from the back and folded everything down to accomodate a 1.5" ban-rol elastic.  

I'm pleased to report that with about 30 minutes of hand sewing, I have a totally wonderful wearable skirt!  If anyone wants to replicate what I did, cut the Everyday Skirt side panels at half width and apply waistband with a 1" seam allowance, with tiny tucks near the pocket facing edges at the top.  Sew waistband to back edge and fold over to create a faced edge, then fold the edge under about 3/8".  

Hand or machine sew down the bottom edge, leaving a gap to insert elastic.  Cut ban-rol elastic to length (I like mine around 29", which includes a 1/2" overlap, and my waist measurements are around 33").  Alternatively, sew elastic ends together and sew casing closed after insertion.  The latter method is slightly trickier, but less tedious, in my opinion.  

And for those with keen eyes, you'll notice that I've altered my Remy Raglan as well.  I have been crushing on mid-18th century silhouettes again (blame a rewatch of Outlander), and wanted to modify this shirt into something evocative of a 1750s bodice.  Since I don't wear stays on the daily, I knew it was going to be an echo rather than the full concert, but I like the shaping on this, and have worn it a few times since, much more happily than in the spring.   

This.  Can I just wear this on repeat?  Preferably in some place cold like Scotland?  Please and thank you.

I did two sets of 1/2" tucks on the front and one set of 5/8" tucks on the back, using the Sorrel dress bodice tucks as a rough guide.  It is still fine going on over my head.  I had thought about opening up the center seam and converting it to a lacing closure, but decided to leave this as is for now.  I may do it on a future iteration, however.  What it is about a laced bodice that is so appealing?  (There is a fine line between appealing 18th century laced bodice and costume-y pirate girl, and I want to stay on the side of the former and not the latter, obviously!)

So a few successes, anyway.  Right now, I'll take what I can get.