Kermes

So a funny story about this dress.  I put it on this morning and couldn't figure out why the pockets were flapping around weirdly, like they weren't attached properly at the waist band.  I figured it was due to the light weight nature of the fabric, or the fact that this fabric was hard to work with and perhaps I'd made a sewing error, and moved on with my morning.

While I was standing at the bus stop waiting for the bus home after drop off, I realized that my skirt was actually sewn on backwards and the pockets are wonky because they go to the back instead of the front.  Ha!  I will have to fix it at some point, but for now, the dress is still wearable even with the pockets going the wrong direction.  (I'm telling myself that they are rear pockets--for the win!)

Anyway.  This dress is another woven M7353, from Art Gallery rayon challis from their Heritage collection, the Kermes print.  I fell in love with it while I was on my Carson dress rampage, as I saw several things made from this print that were so lovely.  I've said before that Art Gallery fabric is a little dear, so I had to wait a few weeks to order it, but I was so happy to have it show up on my doorstep last week.

I will say that this rayon is quite different from Cotton+Steel rayon--it is much lighter and was quite a bit more difficult to work with.  It has a much more mechanical stretch to it, and wanted to shift and squirm with every chalk line I drew to cut it out.  I probably should have used a stabilizer first, but I wasn't expecting it to be so tricky, given my previous experience with challis.  (It reminds me of challis from the 1980s or 1990s; not a bad thing, in my view)  It has the additional advantage of being 58" wide, so I didn't have to piece the sleeves.  The fabric does have a lovely drape to it, a kind of floaty quality, and it is definitely a summer rayon as it is quite thin.  Good for today, which is supposed to top 90 degrees!

I love the colors in this print so much; it reminds me a lot of a vintage dress I wore a ton a few years ago that is now both too big and too fragile for regular wearing.  

Hand in the backwards pockets.  (I have been very tired lately; it is my only excuse for such a ridiculous sewing mistake!)  I cut this dress very similarly to the Magic Tulip rayon dress, except I added 1/4" to the top seam of the back bodice in addition to the 1/2" on the front.  I did have a bit more trouble getting all the bodice seams to line up on the underside, but I don't know if that was a grading issue or a fabric shifting issue; perhaps both.  Still, the extra 1/4" makes the sleeves just slightly more comfortable, so I'll probably keep that change for future woven versions.

But still.  A good dress, with sleeves, for hot weather.  Win-win!  I think it will carry nicely into the fall as well, maybe layered a bit with a navy sweater.  

Painted Roses Rescue

Good news first.  I think I like this dress again. #rayonrescues

I ironed the heck out of it to put the hem back to rights and to get the creases out from the bust tucks in the front and elastic in the back.  I also took out the side seams to almost nothing to give the dress some additional ease, especially around my ribs, where it had gotten unaccountably tight after I changed the sleeves.  I'm still puzzling over why this happened, as it isn't a problem on my Menagerie dress, and the slopers are very similar.  After that, I put in the waist casing.  

For reference, my method was to measure down 4.5" from the armscye on both sides, and draw a line straight across on both sides of the inside of the dress in chalk.  I used that line as my guide to sew on the 7/8" wide bias tape and then inserted the 1/2" elastic.  I used a knit elastic on this one, as I was out of the soft stuff I usually use, but it feels okay against my ribs.  The braided elastic is what was too tight for this purpose.

I had already taken up the sleeves to 3/4 length a few weeks ago, so it was a relatively quick fix.  It is still not the most comfortable dress I own, but it is definitely wearable, and because rayon stretches over time, it is getting more comfortable as the day wears on.  I think the straight lines of the skirt and low volume of the fabric keeps the dress from feeling maternity-ish.  (At least, that's what I'm going to tell myself).

So I think it is okay.  I also made the happy discovery that rayon doesn't need a slip if I don't have on tights or stockings underneath.  Hooray!  I pretty much wear a slip every day, and while I generally don't mind, it is supposed to get to the mid-80s today, and I'd just as soon have one less layer on.

The bad news is that the lovely new-to-me clogs I had on yesterday literally fell apart on the way home from school.  The sole on one split in half and the heel just starting chunking away as I walked.  I've worn them exactly three times since I bought them second hand off ebay last month.  I'm bummed in the extreme, as I was looking forward to wearing them all summer.  I had a pair almost identical to them a few years ago that I wore out, and was happy to find a replacement that was so similar.  I think the pair must have been sitting in a hot closet for a long time to make the soles so brittle like that, because the shoes were in almost pristine condition when I received them.

On the other hand, I did find a replacement pair of my lace up sandals, pictured above (they are exactly the same as the pair I wore out and wore a lot on this blog over the years), so there's that.  They are also second hand, but in really good shape.  I really prefer a closed toe shoe in the summer but it is hard to find something that doesn't hurt my feet or look orthopedic. I'm not quite ready for SAS shoes yet. 😯

In other news, the cake was a big hit. I put raspberry jam between the two layers of cake and we had chocolate ice cream with it.  Boo was happy, I think.  He got several Marvel-themed Lego sets, so I'm going to spend some time putting the last one together for him this morning (he can't do complicated sets himself yet but likes to play with the finished product).  

I started watching the AMC series Turn: Washington's Spies this week while sewing (after a failed attempt to get into it a year ago) and am enjoying it.  I really like Jamie Bell (even more so after his excellent work in Film Stars Don't Die in Liverpool--go watch it right now.  It is that good).  

My main question about the AMC series is the accents are all over the place.  Half the cast is British and half is American, and there is a complete mosh of accents.  I get that during the 18th century, people would have still had British accents, but there isn't even continuity in families--Abraham has a northern British accent (that is sometimes very pronounced) but his father, an American actor, has a generic American accent.  But I'm nit-picking.  The writing is quite good, and I'm enjoying the multi-threaded storylines.  I have a few quibbles with the costumer--please, for the love of Pete, put a shift under those stays!--but otherwise the look of the show is good.

Me-Made May 2018: Rayon Rescue

Sometimes I am like a dog with a bone.

Can you stand one more round of Menagerie dress photos?  No?  sorrynotsorry.  

Yesterday I finished another rayon version of M7353 (photos to come later this week when it is supposed to get very warm) and it occurred to me that there still might be a way to salvage my sad-sack Menagerie dress.

I really hate to waste good fabric.  My problems with the dress were several-fold.  I had tried to fix the first two a few weeks ago by shortening the sleeves and hem and moving the pockets, but the shorter hem looked really odd, so I let that out again.  I still didn't want to wear the dress, however.  I decided that the silhouette was the problem.

As my M7353 is my most-worn silhouette this season, I thought it might be possible to mimic the lines by removing all the bust tucks and elastic shaping and inserting a bias bound waist casing on the inside of the dress and then putting elastic inside, ala the M7353.  I removed the wonky pockets a few weeks ago because they were seriously saggy, off center, and just not functional.

I think this fix might have saved the dress!  I get that the print doesn't read well at a distance, and the resulting color is maybe not the most flattering thing I own, but I really like the lines of this dress now.  I'm going to see if I have some scraps to make inseam pockets, but if not, I'll live.  (I'm also officially to the part of the year where I do not know what to put on my feet, hence the dodgy foot wear choices).  I'm going to try it on my Painted Roses dress too and see if that doesn't help me like that dress again.  I took out all the shaping last night and am going to see if I have time to insert a waist casing today.

It is also May 1, which means Me-Made-May is officially off to the races.  Most of my clothes are me-made at this point and well documented here, so I don't know how much I'll photograph this year.  That said, I always find things to think about in the process of Me Made May, so we'll see.  In any case, I should probably dub this month "Save All The Rayons" month. Ha!

I also made a jersey dress for Ponchik two weeks ago out of the Cotton+Steel octopus fabric:

That girl and her octopus obsession.  I used the Gloria dress pattern from an etsy seller (it is very basic) and put box pleats on the skirt instead of gathering because I find it less fussy and the finish better.  I attached the front and backs of the skirts to the bodice and then sewed a long side seam instead of attaching the skirt in the round, which I also like better for construction.  I used a neck facing rather than a band because I like the way it looks and is also less frustrating to finish nicely.

My only complaints about this jersey are that the hem wants to flip up constantly, despite careful pressing, and I made the mistake of using cotton thread to sew it (it was the only color in my bin that matched!), so the waist seam isn't very sturdy; I've had to repair it a couple of times already.  I'll probably just reinforce the whole seam with poly thread this time.

Today is Boo's birthday, so I have to frost a layer cake, decorate the table, and wrap some presents! Wheee!!

Yarn Along: Magic Tulips & All The Green Things

Linking with Ginny for Yarn Along!  This is a longish post so grab a cuppa and settle in.  

The knitting is just below the sewing if you are just here for fiber craft!

~sewing~

I have had an epic number of sewing fails lately.  My Carson dress turned out so badly I didn't even want to show it to you.  (And so you get bathroom mirror pics).  The things I do for sewing science.  

 I didn't even bother hemming it, it was just that bad.   I could carry a child to term in this dress.  The skirt just has so.much.volume!  And the pockets are absurdly tiny.  (And yes, I know the pockets were recently redrafted, but I was working off the original dress pattern and didn't realize how very tiny the originals were until I'd finished).  

The bodice is a bit snug, and the arms are pretty fitted for a woven garment, but I was between sizes and went down a size, based on what others had written about the pattern.  I still think it was the right call, as the next size (a medium) is 3" larger in the bodice and a huge amount bigger in the skirt.  I also didn't like that there were no finished length measurements, so I had to do a bit of sewing math as I was cutting out to figure out how long to make the skirt.  (It is too long).  

I can cut it down for a dress for one of the girls, so at least it isn't a total waste.  But still.  I hate waste.  Especially when it costs money.  

I had another not-quite success of an Everyday skirt from a gifted fabric remnant.  The fabric was so pretty--it looks like gzhel pottery on a linen substrate--but I didn't really have enough for an Everyday skirt and tried to make it work anyway.  The result isn't quite...right.  I'm frustrated with the project so I don't want to fiddle with it right now, and it is a warm weather garment, so I put it in the bin to deal with another time.  

I also remade the stripey shirt into a dress for Birdie, and while it technically turned out wearable, it isn't the best looking thing I ever made.  It is just okay.  Not a stunning success.  

I'm unhappy with my Menagerie rayon dress and my painted roses dress hack just didn't work.  The painted roses dress fits really oddly now and is pretty uncomfortable.  I think taking up the hem on the Menagerie was a mistake (I can let it out easily enough) and I'm not sure I love the shape of the overall dress on me even though I love the print.  The pockets are seriously wonky and I wish I had done inseam pockets (I could fix this, but I'm not sure I have enough fabric). 

I also wrote that rayon makes me cold-sweat in cooler weather.  Since it has been quite cold until the last two days (when it suddenly jumped to 80 degrees!) I've not wanted to wear any rayon.  I had a revelation this week, however, (a real "duh" moment), which was: stop wearing rayon in cold weather, you dummy!  Rayon is quite lovely in hot weather, as it skims the body and stays cool to the touch.  Wrinkles fall out of it, and it feels really nice against the skin in heat.  I think I was just stuck on how I wore my rayons last spring, and for whatever reason, I am feeling the cold much more this year.  My husband keeps calling me a human popsicle.  It is ridiculous.  It is like my core is cold or something.

In the meantime, I have been stalking Instagram for the Carson Dress (to figure out if it was going to work for me as a pattern or if I should try the Fen or Fringe dress instead as they are all similar) and noticed the Art Gallery Kermes rayon challis.  I instantly fell in love with this fabric (and several of the garments that were made from it), but at the price point, I wanted to make sure I had a pattern I loved to pair it with.  My rayon adventures this spring have been...not great.

But I suddenly had a thought--and here's the part where I love a pattern to pieces and start to make it in all kinds of unsuitable fabric in an attempt to make it work for everything. *snort* 

I wondered if my McCall's 7353 would work in rayon.  I knew Colette had made a Myrtle out of rayon, and I also knew that if the pattern had positive ease, it was a good candidate for making in woven.  Rayon has a fair bit of mechanical stretch, which helps too.  Based on my experience with the spruce knit dress (a regular closet favorite at the moment), I knew the pattern did work in a fabric with less than ideal stretch.

I had some unloved rayon in my stash from last summer.  It is from Cotton+Steel's Magic Forest collection, and I had bought it thinking I would love it, and then kind of fell out of love with it.  I had four yards and was flummoxed how best to use it.  I wanted to give it away, but had no takers.  So there it sat.  I thought it would be perfect for a test garment, as I had enough to recut things if I needed to.

And...success!  I did have to recut the entire bodice once, but that was it (and used up almost the entire four yards on this dress because of it), but I'm pretty happy with the result both in looks and fit.  I've been wanting more 3/4 sleeve options in my warm weather closet, since I burn so badly (even through clothing sometimes!) and I'm at high risk for skin cancer.  But it is hard to find the right fabric for such a venture since we don't have central AC.  Rayon is just right because it is light, airy, and doesn't cling. 

I made the following alterations to make the pattern work for a woven:

1. I added 1/2" to all seam allowances on the front bodice pattern (the arms are much narrower on the front than the back).  This includes the bottom bodice, as I wanted to lower the bust line a tad.

2. I added 1/2" to the bottom of the back bodice to match the front.  When I put these together, I ended up with a triangle on each corner that was an inch longer than the front, and my brain can't figure out why.  I trimmed the excess and it worked out, but I'm still puzzling that one.

3.  I added 2.5" to the skirt length (my usual addition)

4. I turned the waist casing down toward the skirt because of a sewing error.  It worked largely because this is rayon.  In a bulkier fabric, I would have had to unpick a bunch of stitches and turn it up.  I used seam binding to finish the edge neatly since rayon frays.  I also used the 5/8" fold over elastic in the casing since I like the way it feels around my middle.

5. This rayon is only 45" wide (unlike most, which are 54-57" wide) so I had to piece the sleeves.  I cut to the elbow sleeve length, and then cut out the pattern piece from the elbow line to the cuff.  I sewed them with 1/4" seam allowance and zig-zagged the edges (I zig-zagged all the seam allowances).

6. I sewed the dress seams at 3/8" (the pattern calls for 5/8") and graded out to 5/8" at the waist on the bodice to make the skirt match up with the bodice.

I'm going to try this with the Kermes.  I may even remake the painted roses or menagerie dresses next year.  Watch this space!

~knitting~

I realized I'm knitting all green things!

I started the Rivel cardigan in Lost Lake Heather Swish (that gorgeous complex olive color I wrote about in my Sherwood Cowl).  I am finding it to be a pretty satisfying knit.  I've been wanting to move away from raglan sleeves, since I'm not super happy with how they fit me, so I specifically looked for a pattern with set in sleeves.  

At least one knitter made this by knitting the sleeves down from the cap in short rows, and I have a book on how to do it, so I'll probably try it.  I was worried about keeping up with the cables, but it is a four row cable pattern and pretty easy to read as I go along.

I'm also working on another simple cowl to go with the Triangle dress.  It is a single skein of Rowan wool I had in my bin from a clearance sale somewhere.  The color is actually quite variegated, but it is hard to see unless you look closely.

This is my Jade Calligraphy cardigan, but I'm seriously considering frogging it for a Rivel if that cardigan turns out well.  So I'm not working on this much right now while I consider options.  

~reading~

I just started Marilynne Robinson's Lila at the good advice of a friend familiar with my novel.  My friend suggested it might prove useful.  So far it is a great read, and almost makes me despair at ever attaining Robinson's craft mastery.  Almost.

I'm also still reading Rodney Stark's Rise of Christianity and highly recommend it.  

~watching~

I have a draft post going on what I've watched in the past five months or so, but for now, I'll just say I'm watching McMafia with the always wonderful James Norton.  There are some issues with the production, but overall, I'm engaged and interested in the story.  I do think it is trying just a leetle bit too hard to be The Night Manager, though.

~listening~

I've been listening to Home Free's Timeless album all week--so good!  Can't stop, won't stop.  I also listened to the Vocapeople's Life is Music when I wanted some variety.  Their album is a hilarious musical odyssey through a bunch of different eras.  Oh, and a bit of Cowboy Junkies and Wailin' Jennys.  But you already knew that.  Fretless is good too.

That's all for me!  Whew!  You made it all the way through.  Go have a chocolate and a nap. 😂

Holy Week & Pascha 2018

Christ is Risen!  Truly He is Risen!

I didn't actually take many photos during Holy Week because I was directing the choir at one of the local parishes here for most of the services.  I had a bit of extra time before the Holy Saturday Vesperal Liturgy to snap a couple of photos of the tomb, which was beautiful.  The liturgy was also beautiful and has really grown on me as I've directed it two years in a row now.  I especially love the Magnificat of that service: Do Not Lament Me O Mother.  (It is also sung on Friday night at the Lamentations).

The Holy Saturday Liturgy just says: "Get ready!  Pascha is coming!" to me in a way that the other services of Holy Week don't (and shouldn't, as the focus of the services in the early part of the week is on the coming Passion on Friday).  

I also watched The Passion on Friday night, as has become my Holy Week tradition since my girls are still too young and squirrelly to make it through the long Thursday and Friday night services.  (We go to the first 20-30 minutes and then head home so they can go to bed.  I also take them to the Vespers on Friday afternoon, which lasts an hour).  The movie always puts me in the right headspace for those days. (And yes, I want to see the new Paul movie!)

Our home parish leaves the shroud (called the plashinitsa in Russian, epitaphios in Greek) in the middle of the church until the start of Midnight Office at 11:15 p.m.  (There are differing cultural practices about when the shroud goes into the altar; some parishes bring it into the altar earlier in the evening).  Since I attended the Holy Week services at local parishes, it was nice to venerate the shroud at our home parish just before the Paschal celebration.

Reading the Gospel outside the church doors at 11:50 p.m. or so.  Father David bangs on the door shortly after that to say: "Lift up your heads, O ye gates; and be ye lift up, ye everlasting doors; and the King of glory shall come in!" and then someone inside says: "Who is this King of Glory?"  and Father David says: "He is the King of Glory!" They do this exchange three times (because we never do anything just once in the Orthodox Church!) and then Father says: "The LORD of hosts, He is the King of Glory!" and the doors spring open, and we go inside.  All the lights are on and we sing "Christ is Risen from the dead, trampling down death by death, and upon those in the tombs bestowing life!"

It is wonderful.  (It was also very cold outside this year--below freezing!  I was wearing a heavy sweater, woolen scarf and a down coat with tall boots and I was still cold)  Ponchik was heavily wrapped as well but was still shivering inside my coat.

The church is so so bright after the darkness of the Midnight Office and the dark colors of Holy Week.

The Gospel reading of the Liturgy:

Red eggs for Pascha! (I bought The Miracle of the Red Egg for our burgeoning Pascha book basket this year).

I set up a little Paschal season tableaux on my living room cabinet.  Some of the eggs are from Russia, others I've just collected here and there.

Someone sent us that card a few years ago so I framed it and put it out each year.  I really love those folk art prints.  I have a bunch of the Christmas ones that I put up for Nativity.

Eggs!

These are wooden, by the way, not proper pysanky.  I'd love to make some real ones some day.

I also put up my Paschal greeting window clings.  The right windows are in English, Russian, Greek, and Arabic.

The left windows are in Latin, Dutch, Georgian, and Romanian.  There is an Orthodox etsy seller who makes them.

And I'm sure you are all dying to see my Pascha dress. *snort*  I did get it done in time, but I had to wait until Holy Monday to actually sew it together because spring break (which fell during the 6th week of Lent) was abso-freakin-lutely nuts.

So another M7353 (are you surprised?) in Robert Kaufman Laguna Jersey.  I really like this jersey, because it is a nice weight, has the right amount of stretch, isn't see-through, and handles quite well.  It comes in a bunch of colors and I'd like to make a navy one later this year to replace a navy knit eshakti dress that doesn't suit my style any more.

I went with the Ladybug colorway, but I do wish I had gone with the regular red, as this was a bit more to the orangey-red than I really wanted.  I love a true blue-red but I didn't have time to swatch it.  But it was still good.  When this dress bites the dust, I'll get the regular red colorway to replace it.

The upside of this particular shade was that it coordinated very well with my Pavlovo-Posad woolen scarf from Russia that I bought years ago.  (It has a few moth munches on one corner now, but I keep wearing it anyway).  Because it was freezing!

I had on peacock-teal tights, which matched the blue in the scarf too.  Because I'm matchy-matchy like that.  😂

As has become my Paschal tradition, I put Home Free in the CD player on my way home from church yesterday, and listened to their new Timeless album (It is GREAT!)  The kids and I got donuts on the way to school this morning, and I had my first hot coffee in a while.  

It is a good Bright Monday.

Christus is opgestaan!

Hij is waarlijk opgestaan!

(Dutch)

Palm Sunday Jumpers

Last year, I made the girls green dresses for Palm Sunday (and another set for Pentecost).  Apparently, Birdie liked that a lot, and two weeks ago, asked me what the Palm Sunday dresses were going to be for this year.  I said I hadn't made anything and she responded definitively: "I want a green dress with ferns on it."  I told her that it was a bit late for ordering new fabric, and besides, I didn't think I would have time.  She was so disappointed that I put my thinking cap on and remembered a short length of bull denim in my stash.  

I bought it a few years ago for a fitted skirt and then didn't end up liking the color.  The fabric has been sitting ever since.  I've taken it out to donate more than once, but it always ended up going back in the bin.  There was *just* enough to squeak out two jumpers.  (I had to cut Ponchik's on the cross-grain, but it didn't seem to matter with this fabric).  I omitted the facings and just bound all the edges with bias.  Worked a charm and the girls were super happy with them.  

The pocket was a last minute addition, as both girls wanted pockets, but I couldn't get the scale right to put two functional pockets in the front and I was in a rush and didn't want to dig out the kanga pocket from their S8101 summer dress pattern, so they had to make do with one.  Turned out pretty well!  I will say, this fabric handled very well, but it frayed like nobody's business.  I'm still finding little green threads all over the place!

We are in Holy Week now, and it is a busy time for us.  I'm hoping to sing the Hymn of Kassiani tonight, Byzantine style, so I need to practice that, as it has been some years since I last sang it. (Pray for me!  It is a difficult piece of music to do well).  

Good strength to everyone running this last leg of the race!  It's Friday, but Sunday's coming!