Injuries by Embroidery

So, funny story. I woke up one night in late July with excruciating pain radiating down my neck and shoulder into my fingers. Pain that barely responded to medication, exercise, or anything else. I tried chiropractic massage and adjustments, acupuncture, physical therapy, round-the-clock meds, and it only just took the edge off. Suffice to say: age 46 was off to a bang-up start.

I spent almost all of August in a haze of pain and medication and not sleeping.  My fingers went numb and I had pins and needles in my arm off and on, plus a lot of pain under my arm where the shoulder muscles come together.  

I did see an orthopedist during that time and he prescribed steroids for a week, which helped the first couple of days, but not much after. Had imaging done and: (*cue the trumpet*) I have torn my rotator cuff and pinched the nerve in my C7 vertabrae.

The tear is relatively small, so the doc wanted to start with a cortisone shot in my shoulder, which did help some.  I saw the neck person two weeks ago and she wants me to get a shot in my neck for the pinched nerve (pray for me!) as well as additional imaging.  I’ve had herniated discs in my neck for a long time, but it looks like perhaps the herniation has gotten worse.  

Here’s the funny part. I think I aggravated the whole thing with the embroidery project I finished recently. I did think initially I caused the injury that way, but that is ridiculous. Injury by embroidery! While things are better overall, and I’m on less pain meds overall, I still have to be careful.

My neck shot is in a week, as is the additional neck imaging, so I’m not out of the woods yet, but I still have costumes to alter for the fall play at my kids’s school, so I’m pacing myself with the sewing.

All that said, I’m quite pleased with how this blouse came out, pain not withstanding! I adapted a hoop embroidery pattern I found on Etsy, so it wasn’t too difficult. Sulky Stick-and-Stitch is easy to use, although I did baste it on again, since the piece was so large and I knew I would be carrying it around for a while.

It definitely makes me like this blouse more, and while I need to make some small fit alterations to it because I made it when I was much bigger than I am currently, I will be happy to wear it now!  

Apros of nothing: I do love lantana and mine are finally flowering again!

Hurricane Season

The past few weeks the weather has remained fairly gross--high humidity, highs in the mid to upper 80s.  The redeeming factor was that the nights were finally dropping into the upper 60s and low 70s, so the mornings were tolerable.  Sort of.  I did have a week there of being able to have the windows open most of the day, but then we had a stretch of days that felt more like mid-August than mid-September.  

Thursday, a storm blew through that was the tip of whatever hurricane is moving up the coast currently, and the heat and humidity finally broke.  Yesterday and today have been downright chilly and I love it!  My windows are open, I'm borderline cold without tights, and finally feeling like I can think straight again.

My garden has been producing steadily this month, but I think with the cooler weather it will slow down now, and I need to start thinking about winterizing the containers.  I transferred the hydrangea into one of the five gallon buckets that previously held my potato plants before they died in the heat.  

I put the rose bush into the other bucket and clipped it to train the sprawl to fit into the space between the two containers.  I also moved the wild flowers into a larger pot and combined them.  They seem to have weathered the transplant okay.

Finally picked this puppy today since the leaf above is well and withered.  Hopefully it is orange and ripe inside!

There are still watermelons on the vine (it suddenly started producing again after I put some fertilizer in the ground last month) but I think only one will make it to maturity.  It's like the little watermelon that could!  I saved seeds from some of the earlier fruits to maybe try planting next spring.  

There are three still ripening here.  There was a fourth but I accidently pruned it when thinning things last week.  It was small and unlikely to reach maturity, so no harm done.

I clearly did something wrong with my original blueberry bush last fall, so I'm hoping I can figure out what to do differently to make it fruit again next spring.  

As the weather stayed stubbornly humid, I did some last ditch sewing for the season this week and made up three quick linen tops.  All use my nearly-self-drafted woven t-shirt pattern, and it is just the thing to wear in hot temps.  It is cool, non-binding around the arms, and I generally like the look of it.

Mostly, though, the last few weeks have been all about jewelry making.  I've got some new pieces that I really love, and am still poking away at the beads, experimenting with this or that.  It is creatively satisfying.  The pieces in the collage above are sets that coordinate but aren't matchy-matchy.  I don't know if it is the (negative) influence of the 80s/90s or what, but I prefer to make sets that don't quite match, but go well together.  (Speaking of the 90s, I'm having a Moment.  I bought a midi-length black leather skirt and Doc Marten combat boots off ebay recently and have been listening to music from jr. high and high school.  Looking forward to going all stompy and grunge when the weather really cools).

I'm not quite ready to contemplate my cold weather projects yet, so jewelry making is a nice transitional craft.  (Although I have been knitting all summer, just not with any kind of determination...a bit here and there while traveling or sitting in waiting rooms, or whatever).  

This morning we went apple picking for the first time in the area (I haven't been since I was a kid and a parishioner invited our family to pick on their home orchard).  We probably picked way too many, but considering that we can go through more than 10 pounds of apples in a week's time during the fall and winter, it should last us a little while anyway!  

I'm making a St. Pharnourios apple crisp since I owe him several breads, and cannot at this moment contemplate making a dense recipe.  We put a cross of chocolate chips on the top and I said a few prayers for his mother, so good enough, I say.  I think he'll understand.

Salvage (or not)

As in previous summers, I've struggled to find a dress pattern I liked (forget about loved).  The Anna dress was a clear winner this summer, but it isn't really a dress for everyday.  The Hinterland was a rank disaster, my knit dress hack from last summer feels too hot.  Hot flashes and knit cotton jersey are not a great mix in the summer.  The SewHouse7 Tea Dress wasn't for me (although I wonder about making it in a rayon challis, as I think I might like it better), and my very hacked and modified Simplicity 1080 annoys me.  I kept the Bluebird iteration because I can't seem to let it go, but it is my "I literally have nothing clean" dress, so not a distinct favorite.  

The Terrace dress from last summer is fine, I guess.  I let out the side and shoulder seams and cut off the pockets last month since it didn't fit well any longer (if it ever did, to be honest) and it fits better.  The Obi belt is a cool feature but I prefer the dress as a shift in the heat/humidity.  My Wildwood Sorrel is nice, but again, not for every day.  The Driftwood dress is just...okay.  The original iteration already went back in my bin to cut down for something else, and the second one is kind of languishing in my closet even though I've worn it a couple times.  I like the fabric, but am finding the print a bit much in dress form.  

Part of me wonders why I even care.  I have a lot of nice me-made and thrifted separates that are fine for church and every day wear.  But honestly, sometimes I just want the ease of a simple dress.  Maybe I just need to let it go.  I have one dressier dress (the Anna), a couple of church-appropriate dresses, and plenty of separates.  In any case, I'm out of steam for garment sewing this season and recently thrifted a white dress for the white summer feasts (at last!  This has been on my list for ages).  I've got a lot on my plate before school starts in a few weeks and can sweat through all my clothes in a week and still make the laundry cycle. Et finis.

Anyway, the Isla wrap dress was another dress that just didn't fit or suit.  I felt like a whale in it, and the waist tie annoyed me a LOT.  (Incidentally, that was what annoyed me most about my final S1080 iteration, and probably what I don't like about the Tea House dress).  Even though waist ties give a lot of flexibility, they can also bind uncomfortably as the day wears on.  

The bodice was a good fit, however, and I sort of liked the fabric, and didn't want to waste it.  (This summer has been a series of hard lessons about what I want to wear vs. what I enjoy looking at).  

My first thought was to just deconstruct it and cut a simple woven tee out of the skirt pieces, but after taking off the bodice, I wondered if the bodice could be worked into a top because I'm so short-waisted.  The length was okay with a very narrow hem, so I thought maybe it was a save.  

I wore it twice before deciding that the thing that annoyed me about the dress (the waist tie) was also annoying me in the top version.  I put the skirt pieces in my bin to reassess at a later date.   So not a success.  But it's okay.  

This summer has also been one of seriously purging the house; I missed it the last couple of summers because: Pandemic, and with six people, the house was uncomfortably full.  I do what I can in taking care about what comes into the house to begin with, but again, six people in a small row house with little storage and there are going to be problems no matter how you slice and dice it.  Particularly after remote schooling and 18 month lockdowns, etc.  So.many.puzzles.  It was also true that the kids had outgrown a bunch of toys and books, and so it was good to move those out to make better space for the things they do play with and read.  It was the summer to get rid of the "I might do something with this someday" bits and bobs, things I've held on to for a decade or more without looking at them, as well as assess and purge those places that are generally undisturbed in the house for years--you all have them, I'm sure.  

Those corners in a cabinet that hold the detritus of a house; detritus you stop seeing after a while, and maybe forget is there.  Stuff that was organized one way a decade ago but no longer reflects how you actually use the space or the stuff.  You know, that stuff.  The basement still has some unexamined corners that I intend to keep poking away at, and the kitchen needs to be gone through more carefully, but overall, it has been a good season.  The house feels lighter, I feel less burdened by chaos, and I think the kids are more contented, even though there was some dissent at first.  (But I might want that again someday!)  Thankfully, my kids are extremely used to my refrain of "we can't keep everything or we'll drown" and the regular sorting/purging of stuff and clothes they have outgrown.  

Now on to write some lectures about Marxism and apocalyptic millenarianism to present to the 12th graders this year!

Easy Breezy

As I said in an earlier post, my nearly self-drafted woven tee pattern has been a wardrobe staple this summer.  Made up in linen, it is cool and comfortable, and I can sweat through it and it will dry quickly.  I drafted it to wear untucked, which gives maximum air movement through the garment and am very happy with it.

I ordered two half meters of linen from Blackbird Fabrics in late June to make these shirts.  One was the everyday linen, and the other a custom pattern exclusive to Blackbird.  Blackbird has nice linen but it is considerably more pricey than my usual, and I knew I could get a top out of a half meter if I skipped the self-bias binding.  (As an aside, I notice a lot of sewists I follow on Instagram make fabric-hungry patterns from their linens and other fabrics, and I wonder how anyone can afford it?!?  The two half meters cost as much as a dress length of decent fabric from my usual places).

While I was waiting for the fabric to arrive, I got an e-mail from Blackbird to say that one of the colorways was having trouble with dye-fastness and included hand-washing instructions.  They offered apologies, but no refund or discount on a future purchase for my trouble.  To say I was not thrilled would be an understatement.  

Nevertheless, when the fabric arrived, I prewashed the green and cream one by hand and the purple one in the washer and dried both in the dryer. That seemed fine, so I made up both shirts in an afternoon. The green and cream one has seen heavy wear, and I dutifully washed it by hand several times, rinsing it immediately. Each time the fabric came out the same as it went in.

 

I should say, in case anyone is interested, the purple one is similar in weight to the IL019 at fabrics-store.com, and the green one is like IL020. It has a really nice hand.

One day in mid-July, however, I was doing five things at once and left it in the little tub I use for hand-washing for about half an hour instead of rinsing immediately.  

Well. The dye ran badly and was mottled on the ivory. It wasn't terrible, but it wasn't great either. I wore it a few times like that, and then just ran it through the washer like my other linen tops, which evened out the color, although the ivory is more seafoamy now.

Not a terrible thing since my wardrobe palette is heavy in that color.  All's well that ends well, I guess, but I'll think twice before ordering from the exclusive Blackbird line again.  The top has gotten a lot of wear this past month, though:

I do like the everyday linen a lot--it is very smooth without the slubs I've gotten accustomed to from fabrics-store.com.  I'd be interested to see how the washed linen compares.  

To be clear, I understand that the lower price point at fabrics-store.com means short-staple linen instead of long staple, hence the slubs, but it doesn't bother me.  It also seems like the dye-fastness on the everyday linen is a bit better than my usual linen too, so here's hoping the purple one will continue to look good!

Go Big or Go Home

So, remember this handkerchief linen Remy I made last summer?  I wore it quite a bit, but always felt that the 3/4 sleeves were not helpful overall.  Because: hot flashes.

It was a nice at-the-lake-swim-coverup, but generally, I couldn't wear it at home because of our swampy mostly-AC-less existence.   (By way of example, it has been 82 degrees inside the house for the past several weeks.  And that was a great improvement over the temperature outside).

In the fall, I cut the sleeves to short sleeves and rehemmed by hand, keeping the cut-off sleeve pieces together in my bin.  I almost cut into them several times for other things, but my hand was stayed each time.  

Fast forward to May, and I wore the short-sleeve version on a hot day, which was just the thing.  At the time, I was plotting the first embroidered linen tshirt, and had in mind to embroider this one similarly when I finished that one.  

I faffed about with the design for quite a while before figuring out what I wanted to do.  I stitched the red one in between and then started this one on the flight home from visiting my parents in June.  

The initial embroidery went quickly, and I washed out the stabilizer, but it looked a little...unfinished.  So I took one of the designs I had made when deciding and incorporated it into the back, wrapping the embroidery around the whole neckline.  I also added a few more elements to front to fill it in better.  

The extra design and stitching took a few more weeks, so I didn't finish this until mid-July.  Then I decided I wanted to add cuffs to the sleeves to make them look a bit more polished, which took additional time to get to and complete.  I resewed on the sleeves, thought for a hot minute about leaving them 3/4 length again, but realized short sleeve is more useful to me at the moment.  This tutorial was helpful for retroactively adding the cuffs.  

I admit, it does feel a little "precious" now, but I am reminding myself that clothes exist to be worn.  Plus it is very pretty! 

I really like how the color scheme worked out--it is a little more peachy than the other white one, so at least the palettes are slightly different but still work with a lot of my skirts.  

I wore it a couple of times in July for church. Our church has AC, but it is an old building and rather humid in the choir area, so I'm always hot.  This was the perfect stay-cool-while-standing-in-close-quarters-for-two-hours blouse.  I realize the untucked look is maybe not the most flattering on my figure, but at the moment, my hot flashes + the weather mean that I kind of don't care.  It's good to have air movement in my clothes--probably something I should have figured out long ago, but there it is.  Some things you only learn in your 40s.  Ha!

Driftwood

In my new pattern making frenzy this spring, I stumbled across the Driftwood dress by Twig and Tale.  Ordinarily, this pattern would have been a hard no for me, as the gathered bodice style usually doesn't look good on me, but I had seen a version on Kate that I really loved, and thought it might be a pattern worth looking into.  

(She makes a lot of really cool stuff, from wire weaving, to spinning, to history bounding clothing, etc. I stumbled across her account whilst looking for ideas to spruce up a plain sweater).  The hashtag on Instagram* provided a lot of different samples on different body types, so I took the plunge and bought the pattern.  

NB: I get my pdf patterns printed at Pattern Printers now since there is no minimum order and the shipping and cost-per-pattern is very reasonable. (I used to use a different online service, but the minimum order cost meant I had to wait to print a whole bunch of patterns at once). I buy my Ban-rol and other elastics from The Sewing Place, which is run by the same company and they will combine shipping, so it is a win all around.

I toiled the dress with Indian block print cotton voile, and I admit this color scheme is not the best for me.  I wore it for Ascension with the sleeve bands in place but found them restrictive.  I even resewed them with a smaller seam allowance for more room, but after I made the second version without them, quickly removed them and rehemmed the sleeves.

I like the flutter sleeve, but the dress makes me feel pretty meh.  I was hoping it could be my "white" summer dress for the two white church holidays in the summer, but this isn't it.  I took off the buttons and put it back into my fabric bin to reassess for one of the girls at some point.

My second version came out better, and I've worn it a few times.  I like the print better, and tweaked a few details for best fit, but I'm just not sure about the silhouette.  Maybe a slightly shorter hem would do it?

I used the Hinterland skirt piece in size 6 to get the volume of the skirt right for me, and used the Isla wrap dress pocket piece since it anchors in the waistband.  

I used knit elastic measured roughly around my waist, and added an additional line of elastic for better waist shaping, but am thinking I could use an additional 1/2" on the elastics.

This dress might work better for my style in a rayon challis with long sleeves for shoulder seasons.  Or even in a solid linen without the button top for summer.  There are some nice features to the pattern, and the gathered neckline looks better than I expected, but I think the drape of the voile isn't quite right for the combination of pattern and my taste.  

In any case, I'm glad I tried the pattern.  I learned some things and tried a new silhouette, and the second dress is an okay church dress, so there's that.  Being short on the summer church dress department, that's a good thing.

*Instagram has become so unusable in the past few months that now I tend to use it to look at sewing patterns and other samples instead of looking at my feed. Social media increasingly seems like a bad idea all around, so I'm wary of too much engagement anyway. I've been off Facebook since 2016 and haven't regretted it once, and I enjoyed Instagram when I first joined in 2017, because it was just chronological pictures of the people I followed, but no longer.