Washi Dress

Ta-Da!  

I finally made a Washi Dress!  I present: the Fern Meadow Dress.

The fabric is Cotton+Steel, and it is wonderful.  I'm not generally a fan of metallic accents on fabric, but on this fabric, they are very subtle and lovely.

I'm a longtime fan of Cotton+Steel anyway, and it was so great to make something out of their midweight cotton again.  This pattern is drafted for it, so it was a perfect opportunity to go back to one of my first fabric loves: a great print in a mid-weight cotton.

I made a straight large, no adjustments other than to add 2" to the skirt and lengthen the bodice by 1/2".  I also used a casing+elastic in the back instead of shirring, because I like it better, and I think it will hold up better to heavy wear (one pattern review said that her shirring gave out after heavy wearing).  For the record, I used 6" less than the width of the back at the bottom shirring line, and that was just right.  It also meant that the elastic casing and the front waist lined up perfectly.

The tucks are super flattering without being maternity-like, in my opinion.  I felt so good in this dress the day I wore it.  Cute and comfortable and just great.  I like the inseam pockets, but I think I might use the M7353 pocket on a future dress since the construction keeps the inseam pocket from flapping around in the breeze.

Another happy face.

The cap sleeve construction is very clever, and I like the clean finish that you get if you do it the way Rae suggests.  I did omit the neck facing because I find facings evil, and used plain bias to bind all the edges, as is my custom.  Much better!

I did muslin the bodice before making this, to check the darts and consider whether to make it with 3/4 sleeves or the cap sleeves or sleeveless.  I was pleasantly surprised that I didn't have to fuss with the darts at.all.  I always have to lower and shorten them (due to my chestly hound dog ears), so it was nice not to have to mess around with it.  

I liked it so much, I immediately made another one from some Denyse Schmidt fabric I found on etsy for a steal.  (What can I say?  I'm nothing if not predictable).  I used to make a lot of dresses from her fabric, but sort of forgot about it once I got into Cotton+Steel.  It was nice to rediscover it--I love this print so much.  The greens and yellows and grays are perfection.  

My apologies for the less-than-stellar photos.  My mom was here for a week, and I sort of had to grab them with my phone one morning after a school meeting, and it was indoors.  The yellow scarf didn't photograph correctly, but it is my Chinook from two springs ago.  I have in mind to make another soonish.  This scarf is getting quite an outing this fall--it goes with a lot of my fall things this year, and is just the right weight, since it is cotton+linen.

See that fabric?  Delish.  Later that same day, I found a rayon/cotton yellow cardigan at Old Navy that matches perfectly; I also have a several warmer cardigan and pullover options for when the weather gets colder.  Yay for options!

Cap sleeves again.  My muslin experiments told me that I would hate this dress with inset sleeves, and I'm glad I went the cap sleeve route with both dresses.  I can layer them with a shirt underneath too, I think.

Elastic waist casing, no changes from the first dress, nothing new about the construction except that I finished the bias by hand because I ran out of matching thread.  I used gold bias for just a hint of color around the edges.  I will probably go back and machine stitch the hem at some point, because it catches on the buckles of my boots constantly, but it is okay for now.

Another happy face! The cardigan is a thrifted piece from ThredUp and has cashmere, cotton and wool in it.  It's a really nice weight for the cooler weather.  I've not worn this style of cardigan for a long long time, and it is nice to come back to it again.

I have to restrain my impulse to Make All The Washi Dresses right now, but I know that I really only need two this season.  It feels good to find a wardrobe staple pattern, though, particularly since I'm over the Dottie Angel frock pattern at this point.  My M7353 is a good one, but it is nice to have a couple of options.  

I'm starting to feel a bit better in my skin (just a bit!), so that is helpful as well.

Talking Tuesday: How to Stop Time

I mentioned yesterday that Matt Haig's book, How to Stop Time, had some rare jewels of wisdom and keen observance toward the end of the book. I thought I'd share one here today.

"[The 1920s] was an age of noise, and so suddenly playing music had a new importance.  It made you master of the world.  Amid the accidental cacophony of modern life to be able to play music, to make sense out of noise, could briefly mad you a kind of god.  A creator.  An orderer.  A comfort giver.

...

But there was a sense of something tipping out of balance.  The times seemed out of joint.  There was too much decadence.  Too much intensity.  Too much change.  Too much happiness juxtaposed with too much misery.  Too much wealth next to too much poverty.  The world was becoming faster and louder, and the social systems were becoming as chaotic and fragmented as jazz scores.  So there was a craving, in some places, for simplicity, for order, for scapegoats and for bully-boy leaders, for nations to become like religions or cults.  It happened every now and then." (201, 204-205)

One of the gifts of being an historian is having a long view of things. (It can also make a Cassandra out of you, but that's another story).  You realize that most of what happens in the world has happened before, a thousand times before.  It is the way of things. 

I will say too: history does not repeat itself, but it often rhymes.


Quotes taken from:

Matt Haig, How to Stop Time. Canongate Books: Edinburgh, 2017.

Yarn Along: October

~knitting~

Quite a lot, actually.  I seamed up my Major John Andre sweater, and am now knitting the bands.  The set in sleeves were slightly strange--I've never worked with a sleeve cap that is shaped like these are, but overall it was okay.  The bands are not taxing, but it is a lot of stitches per row, so it isn't going especially fast.  I can't decide whether to add a button hole in the middle (plus a big button) or just plan to use a shawl pin if I want to close it.  My goal is to wear it next month, as the weather here is just starting to slide into fall.

I also finished my Autumn Hitchhiker!  No mods to the pattern; I just knit a ball of Berroco Sox self-striping yarn until I got to the end of the ball and bound it off.  The colors are kind of hard to capture in a photo--they are deep saturated autumnal hues.  It is wool, so a bit warm for now, but I think it will be nice once things cool down (hopefully by the end of the week!)

There are two Boneyard shawls on needles, because I have Shiny Object Syndrome.  I started the Garnet Heather one weeks ago, but cast on another in some hand-dyed Chinook that I've had for several years.  There is only one ball, so the shawl will be whatever size the ball knits to!  

The color variations on the hand-dyed are very subtle in person, and I'm hoping that the color isn't too close to my skin tone to wear near my face.  It is a sort of terracotta color in real life.  I like this pattern a lot, as it has enough interest to keep me going, but isn't too taxing to work on while doing other things (i.e. Knit-flixing).

I finished knitting the Peacoat Triangle Cowl in July sometime, but just got around to seaming it this week.  I still have to put on the buttons (decorative, because I made the pattern a bit shorter than called for owing to lack of yarn!)  

Buttons are my jam, and I have a lot of them, but I can't decide which ones to put on the cowl.  I had some tone-on-tone ones that would be super versatile, but slightly boring, so I'm more or less between these rust ones (from my 1934 Practicality Dress):

and the butterscotch ones.  

They are both from the 1930s.  I'm leaning slightly toward the butterscotch, but weigh in with your favorite in the comments!

~reading~

I finished The Eyre Affair in mid-September, and started on Matt Haig's How to Stop Time, on the recommendation of a blogger I read.  Fford's book was great, and I bought the next one in the series.

I wasn't impressed with Haig's book at first, but the last third has some real jewels of wisdom and keen observation about the role of history in society.  My main complaint about the book is that a) it is told in present tense, which I find grating, and b) the flashback sequences are told from the point of view of the present, as how a person would tell a story about the past, rather than being told in real time.  (So, for example, when he meets Shakespeare for the first time, or F. Scott Fitzgerald, he reacts to them as a person of the present time, with the weight of history on those figures, rather than how he would have reacted in the moment).  

The Awakening of Miss Prim has been on my to-read list for several years now, and I received a copy for my birthday.  I started it last night and am enjoying it so far.  It is, for lack of a better description, Benedict Option in novel form.  And it is delightful.  

I still haven't finished The Kremlin's Candidate--I read a bit in it, and then I get tired of it (I have some issues with Jason Matthewes' writing of modern Russia; he seems to be stuck in the late 1990s with regards to life and politics) but I do intend to finish the series.

Ponchik is currently obsessed with these two books:

She always has to read the U page on the ABC book--ha!  The other book was a gift from a babysitter several years ago--it is a super cute story.  

~sewing~

I finished my two knit dresses for the fall rotation, both M7353s.  The first is a basic navy blue knit (I've worn it twice already, but haven't gotten photographs yet!), and the second is this lovely Art Gallery jersey from the Splendid Fusion line.  I'm obsessed with this print and color combination this fall.  I'm looking forward to wearing this dress.

The next project on the queue is to finally make a Washi dress.  I bought the pattern ages ago, but haven't wanted to fiddle with fitting the bodice.  When I was making Dottie Angel frocks all the time, the Washi seemed too similar to bother with.  Now I think it is different enough to warrant giving it a try.  The silhouette is actually more similar to the M7353, but is drafted for a woven, so I'm curious to try it, as sometimes the M7353 doesn't work as well in wovens, even with my mods.

I bought some Cotton+Steel fabric to test it out (I don't generally keep enough fabric in my bins for a rainy day.  Almost everything in there is already allocated to something else).  I'm thinking of making it sleeveless and wearing a long sleeve shirt under for cooler weather, or a gray cardigan over in warmer.  I might also just put on 3/4 length sleeves.  If it works, I have in mind to make a flannel version for winter.

Oh, I almost forgot--I finished my other fall make: a heavy weight corduroy skirt in a cider color.  I'll take proper photos of it when the weather cooperates.

My other project is to remake one of my 18th century petticoat skirts, as I turned the gold one into my marigold linen Everyday skirt.  I have another length of gold linen (less marigold, slightly more brown) waiting.  I'm to give my 18th century clothing presentation again in January, so I have to get it done before then.  At least those skirts are pretty fast to make, probably a morning's work.

~watching~

I re-watched the first six seasons of Inspector Lewis during September, because it felt like a cozy blanket during a chaotic month.  I'm generally over police procedurals, both British and American, but this show is less about the case of the week and more about the interplay between the main characters.  (I especially like watching the development of the relationship between Lewis and Dr. Hobson). 

My husband and I started watching Broadchurch last week, and I had to turn it off about 20 minutes in.  The pilot episode features the murder of a kid about Piglet's age, and I just.could.not.even.  The acting is great, but man, the subject matter was dark.  We switched to Fawlty Towers instead. 

I'm also making my way through the final season of The Americans--I have about three episodes left, and I cannot wait to see where it lands.  I have a bunch of links saved from people who dissected the finale over the summer, and I'm eager to read them all when I'm done watching.  That show is excellent, excellent, excellent.  They got so many details right, and I love that the Russians speak Russian on screen.

Robert Redford's (supposedly) last film, The Old Man and the Gun, did well at the festivals last month, and I'm eager to see it.  I also found some Tiny House videos on YouTube that I've been watching as well--I find the efficiency of small spaces interesting--it is my IKEA downfall. 

A friend told me about The Miniaturist and that looks interesting as well.   

And finally, unrelated.  We have this icon of St. John of Kronstadt that was in a fancy case with a metal riza, and it has always been difficult to mount on the wall because of the way the back of the case is made.  For a long time I've hung it on command strips, and that was fine, but last week, one of the command strips came loose in the high humidity, and the case fell down with a rather dramatic thump.  There was no major damage (just a bit of ding on the wooden frame), so I reglued the strip and rehung the icon and it promptly fell off again last night and the fall quite damaged the wooden frame.  So I took the icon out and will just hang that. It is going to take some doing to fix the frame, and I need some additional supplies and patience to do it.  I do wonder if St. John is trying to tell me something, leaping off the wall twice in a week's time like that.

Joining with Ginny for Yarn Along! 

A Situation

A few weeks ago, I started following Stasia Savasuk on Instagram (if you don't already follow her, you should!  She's great).  She runs a style school through her blog, and every six weeks or so, a group of women go through a course in style, but it is really about learning to love your body and accept your body while putting your best foot forward every day.  Stasia is on Instagram almost every day, and she talks a lot about body issues, and acceptance, and I've gained a lot of insight from her.  (One of her oft repeated mantras is: the problem is not your body, the problem is in the clothes.  Fix it if you can, let it go if you can't).  She recently gave a Tedx talk and it is now on YouTube--I highly recommend it (but have a kleenex handy!)

I've said this myself for a long time, even talked about clothing companies and sizing, and issues with slopers--all that.  I know why the clothes don't fit intellectually--that the reason why clothing doesn't fit isn't because my body is wrong, it's because the clothes are wrong.  But it is still hard not to take it personally.

When you make a lot of your own clothes, some of those lines get even blurrier.  I made it, I fitted it, therefore, it should fit my body.  It should feel like "me" on the inside.  And when it doesn't, or it doesn't fit all day (ahem,  separates), I get down on my body.  Why can't my body be the same size all day?  Why does my middle have to get so thick after I eat anything?  Why doesn't this skirt fit in the waist after being washed a few times?  Why is this dress pulling at my hips when I sit down?  Why do I have to carry most of my weight in my backside??

At some point this past year, my Dottie Angel frock style no longer matched my insides.  For a few years, it did.  I felt great in those dresses--like the best version of me.  And then I didn't.  And I'm still trying to figure out why and what does.  Match my insides, that is.  I make note of outfits that make me feel good, and keep those in regular rotation.  For most the summer, that was separates.  The reason why this matters, and why I keep banging on about it, is that the right clothing can take you through your days in a positive way.  The wrong clothing can make an otherwise good day seem bad.  I would rather show up for my life with a heavy dose of positivity!

I've been struggling a bit with my fall wardrobe, because I have a number of what Stasia would call Situation Clothing.  She had a story one day about a sweater that made her feel awful, even though she really liked the garment, and it fit her well.  As the day wore on, the arms of the sweater sagged at the elbows, they didn't stay pushed up to her preferred length, it just wasn't working with the activities for her day.  She ended up spending most of the day focused on how much the sweater irritated her, and not on the other things she was doing.  At the end of the day, she took the sweater off, washed it, and donated it without a second thought.  I think she even changed into something else that didn't bug her so as to end her day on a positive note. 

I've been thinking a lot about that, because I'm finding that those 10 pounds I gained last month are mostly sticking around and my gastroparesis is not in a happy place right now, so my middle expands and contracts a lot during the day.  It doesn't affect the fit of my dresses very much, but it does affect my skirts. A lot. You might even say, I have A Situation.

Earlier this week, I took apart the waistband on my marigold linen skirt and remade it.  The Petersham interfacing had shrunk during the past year of heavy wear, and had rolled in a weird way that made the front of the waistband look super schlumpy no matter how much I pressed it.  The back elastics were also tight. 

I pulled out the janky 1.5" Petersham, replaced it with 1" Petersham so the waistband won't roll, and put in 1" woven elastic in the back.  No regrets. 

My one moment of perplexity about this alteration was this: when I make an Everyday skirt as directed, with 1.5" petersham and the double channeled elastic in the back, I use 12" long braided elastic.  Any longer and the waistband sags in the front, any shorter and it pulls uncomfortably in the front and back.  When I swapped the elastics for a single 1" woven elastic (the kind used in every first skirt sewing project everywhere), I only need about 9.5".  The channel is still exactly the same length, it is just shorter.  And the 1" elastic is way more comfortable around my waist.  I'm starting to think that 1/2" braided elastic isn't a great choice for garments because it is "hard-fitting" elastic, whereas knit or woven elastic (not braided) seems much kinder to the body).  Note to self.

I had put it off and put it off, thinking that if I could just lose those pounds I gained last month, the skirt wouldn't annoy me so much, but I realized, I don't have time in my life for clothing that annoys me no matter the reason why.  (Thank you, Stasia).  I don't have time or emotional energy for clothing that causes A Situation.  I don't want clothing that reminds me of its existence or makes me feel bad about my body.  I want to feel good in my clothes, not have negative feedback from them. 

So, with that in mind, remember this skirt?  

Not too bad, but I really didn't like how it felt on me.  The center box pleat did not behave well (the fabric wants to curl along the edge in a weird looking way.  My olive linen skirt has a similar problem; I intend to fix it for next summer.

 I pulled off the eggplant linen waistband, and unpicked the center front box pleat and turned it into 18th century style pleats as on the marigold linen.  I changed out the 1.5" petersham for 1", and put the 1" woven elastic in the back and I'm MUCH happier with this skirt now.

This is my happy face:

I also made a skirt this month that I didn't blog that was clearly a Situation garment.  (I haven't even blogged in yet).  Actually, I made two skirts like that.  One was the eggplant Birch rayon refashion that I wore twice and hated so much that it went to the donation pile almost immediately, and the second is this teal twill skirt: 

this picture is true to color.

You might remember the fabric from an ill-fated Frankendress I made a couple of winters ago.  For some reason I had about five yards of this fabric, and so I had 2 generous yards left over after I made that dress, but I didn't know what to do with it once I stopped making pencil skirts.  When I was making my fall rotation palette and planning sewing projects, I thought this skirt would be perfect for fall.  I love teal generally, but it is particularly striking with fall shades.  I was gifted a ridiculously expensive length of wool challis in fall shades, and it has this teal in the pattern.  I have in mind to make a blouse out of it at some point, but I wanted to make the skirt first.

The twill was a poor choice for the pattern and the design decisions I made for it, as it ballooned out in the front in unflattering ways and didn't hang right.  I had to smooth it down every time I moved, and felt slightly preggers in it.  I was almost ready to put it in the donation bin (no regrets!) when I thought I should at least try the waistband alteration and see if that helps the fit.

I pulled off the waistband, turned the center box pleat into 18th century style pleats, and sewed it up again!  Worked a treat.  The skirt hangs ever so much better now, and I feel pretty good in it! 

After that, I pulled out all my bins and did a bit of an overhaul of all my clothes.  I decided that I want clothing in my rotations that I feel great when I put it on, not because it ticks a color box, or fits well, or goes with a lot of things.  I thought of outfits I've worn this season that I thought: yes, this is a good one! and kept those.  Anything that was negative or even neutral went away, either to store for later evaluation or to donate.  I tried to think in terms of whole outfits rather than individual pieces, which was helpful.  The process also clarified my winter rotation a bit as well, and identified some key holes that need filling and some other pieces that I don't need to make right now.

Now to sort my in-between seasonal shoes.  Again.  It is a perenniel problem: what to put on my feet when sandals are no longer appropriate, but it isn't quite time for tall boots and tights yet.  Oh, and I can't wear junky shoes because of all the issues I have with my feet.  The danskos only look good with tights, and the brown shoes above are okay, but not fabulous.  I've got a couple of promising candidates.  Watch this space.

Can't Get No...Satisfaction

I've been mulling over where my food train got derailed this summer, and while I can point to a number of different things--gastroparesis flare, ongoing viral infection, cancer scare, high stress summer, etc., at the end of the day, I think my biggest problem is that I got bored.

Tomato sandwiches!

When I started my keto-ish diet in the summer of 2017, I was desperate for a change.  I was still eating a relatively small range of foods to accommodate all my swallowing issues, and my blood sugar was all over the place (I have always struggled with hypoglycemia).  I was mostly living on Cream of Wheat, baked potatoes, the odd sweet potato, and Chex.  And Milky Way bars.  *facepalm* It was not the Road to Healthfulness.

When I did some research on a ketogenic approach, it was the first way of eating that was mostly foods I was able to tolerate.  (Paleo is too fiber-intensive for gastroparesis and most other food plans are rely too heavily upon chicken and/or nuts, both of which I'm allergic to).

Armed with a bunch of new recipes and raw determination, I set off on my merry way, dropped 10 more pounds, started feeling much better, and then...I don't know. I made keto-ish foods for my family but got sticker shock at the amount we were spending on groceries.  Keto is not budget-friendly if you have boys to feed and can only eat beef, and my girls can eat as much as the boys sometimes! The keto meals I made went over extremely well. So well in fact, that there were no leftovers, so the price-per-meal was staggering.  We may as well have been getting takeaway every day.

Once we got into the Nativity Fast, I couldn't keep serving the rest of the family keto meals (there are really no vegan-friendly keto foods unless you want to drink olive oil all day), so I started making fasting-friendly things for them and something keto for myself.  (Long ago, my father-confessor gave me a blessing to keep a heavily-modified fast, given the rather extreme complications of my food life). 

Spinach pies--a treat after so many years!

It is a lot to keep up with, since I would prepare a full meal for my family, and then have to make something else for myself from scratch.  I've mostly been doing dual meal prep since then, and frankly, I got tired of it.  I don't love to cook, and planning/preparing meals for six people every day (and twice on the weekends) is a chore.  We had two pretty long fasts this summer, and I couldn't keep up.  I started defaulting to eggs and bacon because they were fast and easy.

keto caprese omlette

Sometime in August, I discovered I could eat more things, and I was suddenly able to swallow bread again.  It was a feast after the famine, and I broadened my culinary horizons to include grains, some legumes, and some greens, but gained ten pounds doing so. I'm not happy about this, but neither am I happy about going back to eggs and bacon all the time.

Cheeseburger Pie!

I mentioned this to my therapist recently, and she said she thought it was because I wasn't getting satisfaction from my meals. Yes, my meals were fuel for the road, but I wasn't getting "full" so to speak. Even the so-called "cheat" foods I was having didn't really satisfy me--it was more a craving in my mind for something that I thought was food. Turns out, those cravings are probably not for food per se but for relief from all the stress of my life. Heh. 

This one was okay.  I ended up leaving some of the bacon and naan for another meal.

In the past month, I've tried a lot of different things, from the Noom weight loss app (decided not to continue after the free trial), to getting back on the keto wagon train, to intermittent fasting, but nothing really stuck.  I kept choosing tomatoes on toast and English muffins, cereal, and other grain-loaded carbs.  

At the end of the day, I'm just tired of food.  Tired of the constant restrictions, tired of the numerous food decisions I have to make for my family and then make again for myself.  Times three meals a day, seven days a week.  

So here is where I am right this minute is: eating regular food with the rest of my family at regular times.  Huh.  I decided that I can't give up bread right now, after so many years without.  (We are having a lot of simple grilled cheese or quesadilla type meals lately, and making another meal for myself on those days is just.one.more.thing).  And I feel okay when I eat bread, so I don't have a strong reason not to.  

I also wonder what it says about our society that so many of us feel that we have to cut out entire food groups or exercise for five hours a day in order to look a particular way.  (I always remember reading an article in People magazine a few years ago, where different celebrities were interviewed about what they ate on a particular day, and I remember one woman saying that she had to exercise all morning to justify a small portion of pasta for dinner that night.  The rest of her food day was...spartan.  How sad is that?)

It's kind of a weird and interesting place to be--eating regular foods, without a lot of restrictions--and one I have to relearn, after 3+ years of nearly always having to make myself something separate, often at different times from everyone else so as not to lose my mind.  (I worried greatly about the effect of having a mother not eating in front of them was having on my children, having seen that effect elsewhere to negative results.  'Nuff said).  

keto BLT 

So I have to relearn the practice of portion control, and get back in touch with my body's signals.  Anyone with hypoglycemia will tell you that it teaches you to be afraid of hunger--of going too long without food.  The consequences can be rather unpleasant.  The intermittent fasting I did this month helped me to overcome that (again).  I suspect it will be a lesson I have to learn again and again.  But I do actually feel okay after meals--satisfied, mostly.  I have some bad habits I need to work on, but I'm noticing that my cravings are better under control, and I can talk myself down from them (mostly).  It doesn't have anything to do with the specific foods I'm eating or not eating, but I do think it has a lot to do with giving myself permission to eat everything I'm not allergic to, but not to overdo it on anything.  It's not the path to weight loss, but I'm taking a short break while I get my head back in order.

I also purchased a pedometer--Noom was helping me to keep track of my steps, and while I like the feature, I do not like having to carry a phone around with me all day, every day, so this little device is easy to slide into my pocket.  I'm hitting my target most days just doing my normal stuff, so that is good.  I guess those 47 stairs in my house are counting for something!

I also started walking a bit more in the afternoon with my school pick up routine; the neuroma in my foot is pretty unhappy with all this humidity, but I'm happy if I can go halfway (about 3/4 mile) before picking up the bus.  Sometimes I walk the whole way and sometimes I catch the bus near my house, but I try not to beat myself up if I do a little less.  My days are pretty jam packed at the moment, and I think having one less thing to think about is helpful right now.

I'm more or less maintaining about eight pounds above where I was mid-summer, and that is okay right now.  I also remember reading Geneen Roth about seven years ago when I was really working through a lot of my food issues, and she said sometimes you have to gain a bit while you are relearning how to have a normal relationship with food.  So that's where I am at the moment.  At least my clothes (mostly) still fit.  I've got a post brewing about that and will finish it soon.

I realize this is probably interesting only to me, but I find it helpful to have a record of these things to refer back to.