Beets

Remember the Platonic ideal of a summer skirt?  Turns out it wasn't Platonic or ideal.  I did wear it a bit this summer, but I felt the fit was off--like it was too big or something. I think it is because I sewed the ban-rol elastic in the back at tension rather than straight across, which keeps it stretched out but retains elasticity, if that makes sense.  For those wanting to use ban-rol elastic, if you stitch across the lines while pulling it taught with the fabric, you will have to cut the elastic significantly shorter to account for the held stretch.

 I was also disappointed that the waistband started sagging after the first wearing and creased right in the middle, despite my using Ban-rol to interface.  I think it was the fiber substrate, which has rayon in it, but still.  The skirt ended up feeling sloppy and like a last resort item in my closet this summer. 

That said, I still love the fabric and find it a useful part of my closet.  Particularly after finding the black pepper skirt such a great addition this fall.  I put it away with my summer clothes, but in the "not sure I'm keeping this" part of the bin.  I wanted to figure out a way to make that skirt work.  I had done French seams throughout and wanted to salvage a nice make somehow. 

My constantly changing waist measurement means that an elastic waist is my friend these days, so I decided the best way to rescue the thing was to convert it to a fully elastic waist, ala the Free Range skirt or my embroidered Everyday skirt hack. In order to deal with the bulk from the yoked pockets, I made the seam allowance for the waistband facing a small as possible, and pressed rigorously before applying the elastic, again using the Elemental skirt application method.  The pocket openings are slightly small, but I don't mind as they are still usable.

I also decided that I wanted to use up that beet colored linen to make another dropped shoulder top, since they are so useful to me right now.  The least little bit of humidity in the air and I'm sweating profusely (thank you, hot flashes), and my stripey knit cotton shirts are not robust enough to hold up to that kind of abuse.  So I'm wearing these loose linen shirts on repeat right now.  

Through careful cutting, I was able to get this shirt and another Free Range skirt out.  Three garments/three yards of fabric--not bad!  I've yet to sew the skirt, but it is on my list; Juliana's Therapeutic Sewing for Stress Relief program is going strong.  Cotton flannel is on deck after I get through the linen pile.  

 

But back to the beet linen.  There aren't any useable scraps left except as piecework, although I'm very inspired by Rae's patchwork Cleo.  I've had in mind to make a crazy quilt from my scraps (and I may still do that!) but I'd try a more structured scrappy skirt like that. 

(Rae's post on fall outfits was also inspiring to me; maybe I'll post something like that as well!)  I wore these two outfits over the weekend, for what it is worth, although the yellow scarf only lasted through Liturgy on Sunday morning.  I did despair that actual fall weather was going to be a tease for the rest of my life, but these past two days have been delightful.  I might even put on a sweater today--imagine that!

Trio

It's almost November and I'm still catching up on posting projects from September and early October, so forgive the out of season photos.  It was hurricane hot and humid here until like last week and I was beginning to think I was never going to be able to wear a sweater again.  But thank the Lord, the heat and humidity seem to have finally passed, with morning lows in the 40s and 50s and highs in the 60s.  My kind of weather.  My kids remarked this morning that Alaska would be a good place for me.  Indeed.

 

On a more prosaic note, I tripped getting onto the city bus this morning, and totally wiped out in front of everyone on the bus and behind me in line--a wonderful and humiliating start to my day.  My left arm aches and I can tell my ribs will be sore later, so I think my plans for today might need to include a down shift.  I probably need one of those wristbands you get in the hospital that says "FALL RISK."  Think that would help?  Ha!

I would probably mind less if I hadn't had a fall at church two weeks ago that similarly damaged my right side.  (The fall was one of those weird accidents--someone's coat slid onto the floor as I was going by, it caught on my shoe, and I went down hard).  I sort of feel like I've been through the wars about now. 

Anyway.  I thought I'd post about three projects at once to save time.  The first is the Free Range skirt hack I mentioned in the last couple of posts.  I used the same silky noil from yesterday's Remy Raglan.  The hack is basically to straighten the line from the top of the thigh to the middle of the calf by removing the crotch curve.  There are plenty of tutorials out there on how to do this (I think Helen's Closet has the best one), but it's a pretty easy change. 

The Free Range Slacks are constructed with three pieces--front, back, and sides.  I cut the crotch curves out of the front and back, and kept the side panel the same since it has straight side seams.  I did shorten all the pieces to the lengthen/shorten line closest to the bottom of the pattern, and while I like the length on this version, in the future, I would probably take it up to just below the knee as with the pants I hacked after the fact.

#SewnShownSeated

One note: it would be easy to overlook that the grainline on the back piece isn't straight to the side of the pattern, so if you make these either as pants or as a skirt, be mindful of that.  Otherwise, I made these according to spec.  The noil was a little tricky on the pocket facing, as the fabric wants to sag a bit, and I had to be extra mindful about not letting the fabric hang off the edge of my table while sewing.  If I sew on future make in this substrate, I'd probably interface the edge.  The pockets aren't super useful as a result of this feature, but I can at least put a housekey in my pocket, so that is something.  

Next is the top.  I had an almost usable scrap of the Meadow linen left after making my dad's shirt for his birthday (which I have yet to post...so much behind).  I decided to piece together a simple top and hope for the best, since I liked the color and was trying to use up things.  I used the Sorrel bodice as my base, and lengthened the back and front by 2".  I had to piece a corner of the back shoulder and the 2" add on the back hem, but otherwise, it was pretty easy and the piecing isn't too noticeable.  The linen is handkerchief weight, so it was a nice top in the disgusting weather of September.

And lastly, a wrap top!  I mentioned previously that I've been crushing on 18th century silhouettes again, and thinking about how to work them into my closet in a more modern way.  One of my ideas was a wrapped bodice, but I ran out of steam when I tried to draft it myself. 

Something like this.  I especially liked the little tie closures along the edge.

My main issue with wrap tops generally is that they are never drafted for small busts and gape badly when they fit in the arms and shoulders.  Nonetheless, I decided to look at wrap top patterns and stumbled on the free Peppermint Magazine wrap top, which has over 1,000 posts on the IG hashtag.    

That said, the Peppermint wrap top is generally well liked, and folks say the overlap and coverage are good, and the drafting well done.  The sizing held me up, as it is VERY generously sized.  My measurements put me solidly in the D size, but it seemed like most people sized down at least one or two sizes, and I couldn't decide whether to do a C or a B.  I found one IG post with someone who also sized in the D range and sized down to a B and was happy.  So that's what I went with, and used the beet colored linen I bought in August.

The B fits quite well, the coverage is good, and my only beef is that I could use slightly more arm motion in the sleeves, but I could always add a gusset in later if I want to.  The fit is good in the shoulders and otherwise, and I do have pretty good range of motion, but I think a very small gusset would make it perfect. 

I tried to make a dolman sleeve version last week out of a yard of linen, but it was an utter catastrophe, such that I cannot even rescue the thing--and trust me, I tried.  I hate it when things go that badly, but given the amount of new patterns I've tried this fall,  I suppose one fail isn't too bad. 

 

It is fun to have a wrap top in my closet--I'm find it is nice to have a variety of options right now, given how much my internal temperature swings around throughout the day, and am glad I tried a new pattern and silhouette.

#reallife

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).  

In praise of gussets

Sometimes the old ways are better.  Actually, the old ways are often better because they've been tested and tried over a long period of time and hold true. 

Take the lowly gusset.  A small triangle of fabric, applied to the underside of a sleeve.  It doesn't seem like much--such a small scrap!  But oh, what a difference it makes to comfort and fit in a woven sleeve!  I've always wondered why I struggled to get dolman sleeves to feel comfortable in a woven fabric.  

I like the look, but not the restricted arm movement.  Ditto for most inset sleeves.  These guns need room to move!  But I am finding myself drawn to wovens more often these days, and so it was worth finding a fix.

Enter the shift.  In 2016, I completed a full 18th century working woman's outfit--the equivalent of jeans and a t-shirt.  It includes a shift, stays, pockets, modesty petticoat skirt, 2 regular petticoat skirts, a short gown, fichu, stockings/garters, cap and Berege hat.  When I made the shift, it was after much trial and error with the geometric period drawings; in the end, I modified the American Duchess 8161 shift pattern to fit onto a half width of linen so I could cut two out of the yardage I had.

One of them didn't fit well at the time, so I gave it to a friend who wears it for a night gown and loves it.  Mine was in the box with all my other 18th century trappings, but I got it out in September to try as a nightgown for myself.  I was experimenting again with 18th century silhouettes, and wondering how to get more linen into my life. 

I loved wearing the shift so much that I bought another length of bleached linen from the doggie bag section of Fabrics-store.com and set to work.  Unfortunately, enough time had passed that I forgot a few things I did to maximize fabric usage, so I only got one full-length shift out, plus a top.  But oh, that new shift is even better, if that is possible.  Making two in a row reminded me about the brilliance that is the sleeve gusset. 

So when a Frankenpattern experiment with dolman sleeves turned out badly, I tried a gusset, and it fixed the sleeve fit (but not the rest of the problems with the make, so I'm trying to recut it into something else today). 

 

I immediately applied the same to my dawn linen and arctic linen dropped shoulder tops, which fit well but pulled slightly under the arm, restricting movement.  The gussets totally fixed the problem, and they are possibly the most comfortable tops I own right now.  The top is a mosh of several patterns: the Sorrel Dress bodice, the Potrait blouse, Coco dress, and Carson dress.  The bodice is mostly Sorrel, with some shaping at the bottom from the Portrait blouse; the neckline is Coco, and the sleeve is Carson.  A true Frankenpattern!

Talking Tuesday: Fragmented life

Image via

Max Lucado tells a story about a village full of worriers, who have a collective freak out any time anything happens and are quick to rush to conclusions and judgement.  There is also a poor man in the village who does not join in, but rather rebukes their foolishness again and again.  

When the poor man's valuable horse goes missing, the villagers moan and groan, telling the man he is a fool for not selling the horse and living off the proceeds, but the man says merely, "All we know is that the horse is not in the barn."  He reminds the villagers that we cannot judge a situation in the midst of it, as life comes in fragments.

Later, the horse returns unharmed and brings back many more horses with it.  The villagers are quick to say what a great thing it is, that he now has all this wealth in these horses, but the man reminds them that they cannot say one way or the other; it is too soon to judge.  

Much calamity befalls this man (and the village), and each time the villagers come to him to worry and commiserate, he calmly replies that "all we know is x."  Sometimes the thing turns out well and sometimes not, but each time, the man remains calm in the face of the storm.  

We have told this story in my mom's family for years, and it has become a kind of shorthand in times of distress: "All we know is that the horse is not in the barn."  So I keep reminding myself of that when my fears and grief about my dad threaten to overwhelm me and carry me into the deep.

All we know is that the horse is not in the barn.

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.