I recently watched Season 1 of the TV series ROME on disks from Netflix. The costumes and buildings were beautifully done, and I became curious enough about Roman fashion and architecture to do some reading on the topics. I was especially interested in building tools, since many of the tools shown in the series looked very much like modern tools -- the claw hammers, for example. It also occurred to me, of course, that the tools used in the TV series were from a local hardware store, or borrowed from on of the set crew. Still, there had obviously been a lot of research done for the sereies, so it would be strange if they didn't bother to make the tool historically accurate. I wondered if some of the tools I have in my own workshop are similar to those that would have been owned by someone in Rome in, say, 40 BCE.

Tonight I'm reading a book about construction methods used in Rome from 3000 - 2000 years ago -- ROMAN BUILDING: MATERIALS AND TECHNIQUES by Jean-Pierre Adam. In order to test Roman surveying and building tools, the author made reconstructions based on reliefs found in graves and on actual tools, many of which were found in Pompeii.

On Page 66 there's a sketch of a mosaic found in a house in Pompeii that shows a leveling square. Turns out a representation of the mosaic is used in the opening of each episode in the ROME series, but it wasn't obvious in the picture on the TV screen, at least not to me, that the thing at the top of the mosaic is a leveling square, nor was it clear that the stuff hanging down from each side of the level represents clothing and accessories.

If you look at a photo of the mosaic, you can see the leveling square clearly, as well as the fine clothing on the left and rough clothing on the right. I could have guessed that the moth represents the soul and should have known that the wheel stands for the Wheel of Fortune. Death the Great Leveler.

I'd like to try to sew a Roman costume. I found  good book with illustrations of costumes taken from frescos, statues, and paintings.

Eleven Months Later ...

When I first took up sewing in 2011, I bought an inexpensive, basic machine (Singer 4423) and  promised myself that if sewing was still fun and exciting for me after a year, I'd buy a better sewing machine. A couple of months ago, I found a like-new Bernina Activa for sale on Craigslist, together with a cabinet, for an amount I would have been willing to pay for the cabinet alone. It was worth driving all the way to Canyon Lake to pick it up, and what a difference it's made! The Activa runs far more smoothly than the Singer, which makes it easier to get the stitches exactly where I want them. Top stitching was truly difficult with the Singer and amazingly easy with the Activa. I haven't yet tried out the Bernina invisible zipper foot, but I've heard it makes zipper installation a breeze. I'll be trying it out soon on a pair of pants. In the photo below, I've removed the extended wooden work table so I could sew cuffs on sleeves.

I also got the Necchi BU to run.

 I didn't have to take it to a repair shop after all, I was able to fix it myself. Comparing the Necchi BU with the Bernina Activa ... the Necchi is all metal, machined to very close tolerances. It runs very smoothly even after 61 years. The Bernina is made partly of plastic, which I expect will break down over the years. Its useful life may turn out to be only 20 or 30 years. On the other hand, it runs very smoothly and quietly, and I very much like the electronic features. It does more of the work for me, so I can concentrate on patterns and fabrics and fitting. I've retired the Singer, to be used as a spare, or maybe given away to another beginner sewist some day (sewist? well ... it sounds better than sewer, which brings to mind plumbing pipes and toilets).

The last time I wrote in this blog, I was making skirts. I made a few more, including this whimsical one made from a yard of home decor fabric I found in the remnant bin at Joann's, to go with a whimsical pair of shoes from the sale bin at Anthropolgie. 

Then I moved on to tops and shirts and learned how to match stripes and patterns.

As always, I started out with inexpensive fabric and worked my way up to more expensive stuff. I think my favorite shirt fabric so far is cotton lawn. It's so siky-smooth and light and cool -- perfect for our San Antonio climate.  Liberty of London have some beautiful prints, and I've found they can be had for affordable prices through UK shops on Ebay. You can find them by searching on "cotton lawn fabric."  Michael's Fabrics have beautiful shirting fabrics for more formal shirts. They're running a 50% off sale at this very moment. 

This past week, I began on pants. I've put off making pants, aside from baggy, unstructured ones and stretchy lycra exercise shorts and leggings, because I've never been able to find pants that fit properly, and I figured I'd need advanced alteration skills to make anything that would look decent. I finally decided I was up to trying it and made a shell using Vogue's # 1003, a special pattern made especially for fitting. I was truly astounded to find that from the waist down, I'm a perfect size 14, except for the upper thigh, which is 1/2 inch larger than standard; and the crotch depth, which is 2 inches shorter than standard (I have a relatively short torso and very long legs). All this time, all my life, I've thought I couldn't wear pants, and now I discover it can all be fixed with a couple of simple alterations!

Concurrently with pants education, I've decided to come back to jackets. With an incredible surfeit of ambition, I attempted to make a blazer when I first started sewing. The unfortunate result can be seen here: Why Learning to Sew Is Good For Your Brain. Luckily I used very inexpensive muslin and learned quickly that I needed to master some basic sewing skills before attempting anything more difficult than Very Easy ... and also to gain a basic grasp of the characteristics of various kinds of fabric, and at least a glimmer of understanding of style, such as figure types and which colors and styles are most flattering to my figure and coloring, and to understand how 3-dimensional garments are translated to 2-dimensional patterns and vice versa, and where to buy suitable fabrics, and how various kinds of interfacing affect the shape and movement of the garment, etc, etc.

I think I can say, at this point, after almost 2 years, that I have progressed from being a total beginner to the advanced-beginner stage. And maybe I'm finally ready to attempt a fitted jacket. Not a highly tailored garment, no, but at least a fitted jacket. Vogue 2554 has a version without a collar that looks to be a good starting point, together with Vogue 8817 for shoulder pads. I plan to make the shoulders and pads a bit smaller than the pattern. I've found that it's best if I make my own shoulder pads, since my right shoulder is a bit lower than the left, and if I make my own pads, I can take this into account and make the right pad a bit thicker than the left. I was going to use some wool gabardine I got on sale from Fabric Mart, but I've just this morning read that gabardine is "unforgiving." So I think I'll use wool crepe instead. I have a couple of pieces of wool crepe, one of which is a not-very-attractive color (looked better on my monitor when I ordered it). I'll save the beautiful light-blue wool crepe for later, after I've learned from the inevitable mistakes I'm sure I'll make on My First Fitted Jacket.

In June, 2011, before I had fully realized how much I had to learn before I could expect to make a blazer suitable for any purpose other than gardening or house-painting, I bought several men's suit jackets at a thrift shop. There's a photo of one of them here: Lesson in Deconstruction.

My original intent was to alter the men's jackets to fit me. Ha ha ha ha. Yeah. They actually fit OK in the hips but were GIGANTIC in the shoulders and arm holes, and they had lots of little pockets that interrupted the fabric, so it proved to be impossibly difficult (at least for me) to alter them.

I did actually end up making a vest from one of them and even got a couple of compliments when I wore it. But one of the arm holes somehow turned out quite a bit large than the other, so I had to keep one arm down all the time. Some possibilities for a comedy skit come to mind ... I think I'll just wear it around the house from now on.

Aside from the one that became a vest, the rest of the jackets have slept quietly in a plastic box these many months. I bought 6 altogether, I think, for something like $7 each. Well, now I've found a use for them, and I suspect they'll be worth every penny I paid once I go full-force into Jacket Making Mode. They all appear to have been constructed with layers of horsehair canvas. I've gathered from reading that fashion has moved toward lighter and less structured for a while, and is now moving back in the other direction. I hate the square-looking things I've seen in fashion magazines that look as though the models are wearing cardboard boxes. But fashion aside, from the un-fitted jackets I've made, I learned that one does want some structure in a jacket, else it will look limp & wrinkly when you wear it.

Horsehair, or horsehair-wool blends are used to shape garments. The hair holds the pose the tailor sets into it with moist heat -- like curling your hair using a curling iron. But horsehair fabric is very expensive -- $20, $30, even $60 or more per yard for fabric that's wide enough to use to structure a jacket. Considering this, it looks as though the price of each thrift shop suit I bought was worth it, for the horsehair alone. (they are very old suits, probably from the 1950's, when structured men's jackets were IN; I should probably be saving them as museum pieces rather than using them for parts). 

Well, that just about catches me up to the present time. Blazers and pants. And I should probably keep at least one shirt going too. I find that I enjoy having several things in progress at any given time. That way, if I feel like doing hand sewing while talking to my husband or listening to an audio book, I can do some button holes (I like to do buttonholes by hand -- they look so much prettier than machine-made ones) or other hand sewing.  When I have a longish stretch of uninterrupted time, I can do cutting out, and so forth. Oh! Another new thing -- up until now, I've only made things for myself. I didn't feel I could make garments worthy of being gifts. But now that I've gotten moderately proficient at making shirts, I've offered to make one for my husband, and while I can't honestly say that he's terribly excited about it (he's not a clothes kind of guy), he's interested enough to consider styles and fabrics. If the jacket I made for myself turns out OK, maybe I'll try one for my husband as well. I'm not sure, though ... I may be veering off into the overly ambitious again.

Navy Blue Skirt

Yet another Vogue 8606 skirt. This time I used navy blue woolen fabric. The fabric was rather loosely woven and thin. I knew it wouldn't hold up well at all unless I underlined it. I used a lightweight silk twill for the underlining and Bemberg rayon for the lining. It turned out a lot better than I'd feared, given the relatively low quality of the woolen fabric. I think it may even hold up pretty well.

So here's another conservative and not very exciting, but needed-for-work outfit (with my dog Rufus in the background). I did, in fact, wear this very outfit to work today.

Here are the underlining (I used the underlining for the facing of the yoke) and lining.

I like the skirt so much I'm going to make at least one more.

Wearing the Brown Skirt

I was pleased to wear the new brown skirt to work earlier this week. I've almost completed the navy blue version and am working on yet another sage green one. My wardrobe lacked skirts, and with the large size difference between my waist and hips, it's difficult to find RTW skirts that fit properly. It's great to be able to make as many as I want.

Keep in mind that I work as a tax and business lawyer in a city that's generally pretty conservative, so I have to dress conservatively at work.

What I'd really like to make and wear are garments more like this:

I should make some outfits like that to wear in the country, where I go to release my inner-Artemis. I am in the country as I write this. There's an almost full moon in a hazy sky, rings around the moon as though it's floating in a crystal bowl. What causes those rings, In wonder ... I read that the rings are caused by moonlight reflecting from ice crystals within cirrus clouds.  According to folklore, I read, rings around the moon foretell bad weather in the near future. Here in central Texas, cirrus clouds often appear shortly before a front moves through. I see that the meteorologists are forecasting a cold front that will likely bring rain Sunday night and Monday. This is good. We still badly need rain.

Sometimes I think this place takes too much of my time, scatters my energy too much, and I wonder if perhaps should sell it. But when I try to imagine how that would feel, I am filled with sadness and regret. I don't want to lose the country part of myself.

Effects of Obesity on The Brain

This post has been moved to my other, more eclectic blog, Altamira Garden, since it really does not belong in a blog about sewing.

A New Skirt and a Refashioned Jacket

I prefer yokes to waistbands on skirts. I used Vogue 8606 for this embroidered woolen skirt. Since the wool is fairly scratchy, I lined the skirt and used satin fabric for the yoke.

I didn't realize how much the wrinkles were going to show in the photo, or I surely would have ironed the skirt before snapping the pic. It had been to the country for the weekend, where I hemmed it by hand. I'm pleased with the skirt, except for the invisible zipper. The patterns calls for installing the zipper all the way to the top of the skirt (in the back), but the satin I used for the yoke is a rather bulky polyester (the wool fabric is nice enough that I probably should have used silk rather than poly, but even then I would have wanted to interface the yoke, so it still would have been relatively bulky), making it difficult for the zipper to go all the way up. I solved the problem by using hooks & eyes on the yoke. I'm now making the same skirt in navy blue wool. I extended one side of the yoke to overlap the other in back. I'll probably use buttons rather than hooks & eyes.

I found a tropical-weight wool blazer at a thrift shop in a color I wanted. I was feeling quite pleased with my purchase until I got it home and discovered tiny moth holes in the sleeves. It was not worth returning the jacket, as the price was less than the cost of gasoline and the value of time it would have taken. The moth holes were all far enough down the sleeves to allow for a short-sleeved jacket. I cut off the sleeves and used the lower parts of the sleeves to make cuffs.

One of the moth holes

First sleeve cut (I cut the fashion fabric first, then cut the linings to fit)

Finished Sleeve with Cuff

Finished Jacket

I have started out the new year with a cold.  If I have to work when I have a cold, I'm a very unhappy person, but if I can hang around the house feeling pleasantly lazy, I don't mind too much, long as my immune system can get the upper hand within a few days. In addition to napping a lot, I spent some of my down-time sufring the Internet. One of my primary topics was weight loss. In reading blogs of people who have lost lots of weight or are trying to lose lots of weight, or who have decided not to try to lose weight, I gained more understanding than I had before of what it feels like to have a large body. I also read some interesting explanations of why it's so hard to keep weight off once one has lost it. The gist is that when we've lost a significant amount of weight (for example, 10% of our highest weight) our bodies produce several  hormones that put tremendous pressure on us to eat and replenish the lost weight. Our culture bombards us with enticing foods. both in reality (such as when well-meaning co-workers bring cake for our birthdays, and when we are served meals rich in carbohydrates and fats) and in images (I seldom watch TV, but I believe many of the ads involve unhealthy food).  Something like 97% of people who lose weight end up gaining it back within a year. It's heart-breaking to see the blogs that were started, hopefully, and apparently abandonned. A year or so ago, I went from 165 to 145, mainly because I wanted to avoid knee surgery. It's been rough keeping the weight off -- even though my own weight loss was trivial compared with that of some of the bloggers out there who've lost 50, 100, 150 pounds of more, it was still more than 10% of my body weight, and I've been dealing with the hormones and cultural attitudes toward food (it's really diabolical when you think about it -- our culture glorifies thinness, yet treats food as a reward and focus of special events). My young-adult weight was 125. As I recall, when I was racing bicycles and was in the most athletic condition of my life, I was at 130 - 135, presumably because I had more muscle mass. That was my original goal for 2009 - 2010: 130 - 135. I got stuck at 142 and then gained 3 pounds (these are all approximate numbers, since the weight fluctualtes from time to time -- I always try to measure my weight in the morning before breakfast), but they capture the directions and relative amounts. So now I'm down to 140, heading to 130 - 135. 

I eat much better when I'm "on a diet" than when I'm not. I actually prepare meals rather than grabbing fast food or snacking on crackers or potato chips. The trick will be to find ways to make preparing healthy meals fun. 

And what about the clothes I've made for my 145 pound body? These yoked skirts should be fine, as they can easily slide up & down a bit. The jackets and blouses will be fine. My upper body is mostly muscle anyhow. Most of the fat is in my hips, stomach, and thighs.

Christmas Stockings

My daughter thought of a wonderful thing to do with fabric scraps -- she made these cute Christmas stockings. She has promised to provide a step-by-step tutorial.

My seemingly interminable batman top project is finally coming to an end. After all that work, I'm not thrilled with the results, but I learned a considerable amount. The jacket is made of poly moleskin on the outside and poly satin on the inside. It is meant to be reversible, but I don't think that's realistic with the fabrics I used, since the front edge is meant to fold over and expose the lining. Neither of the fabrics fold easily, so I had to steam the edge to get it to fold over.  Both fabrics feel smooth and soft against the skin. The jacket covers up the batman godet in the back of the top, so to that extent, I succeeded at what I set out to do. But the outfit as a whole seems sort of dull and depressing.

Maybe some beads would help ...

I dunno ... I'm sure I'll wear the jacket, and I'll probably wear the top too, but not often. So here's what I learned from this project:

-- when making a new pattern that involves transitioning through several sizes (eg from size 14 bust to size 18 hips, which pretty much describes my pear-shaped torso), it will save time in the long run to make a muslin.

-- if a garment has a finished edge that goes around the corner from front to bottom, hand baste first, to make sure the facing and hem will mesh properly.

-- when sewing two slippery fabrics together (such as the poly moleskin and satin), hand baste critical-fit areas such as the arm openings on the jacket. It saves time in the long run, because you don't have to rip out and re-do seams, and the basting thread is very easy to remove.

-- when a project isn't turning out well, sometimes it may be best to quit sooner rather than later.

Aside from these specific things I can list, I became more skilled at sewing in a way that's difficult to describe. In the past, I've never paid too much attention to the learning process. When I was first learning to fly single engine aircraft as a kid, I noticed that practicing landings in my mind had a positive effect on my actual performance; and when I studied for school exams I found that writing things helped me to remember them better than just reading them; and the only way I could really learn the stuff for engineering, physics, and math classes was to understand it and work it our for myself, rather than just memorizing formulas. That's about the extent of my prior analysis of the learning process. I'd never before paid attention to unconscious processes that go on when one is learning a skill such as sewing or carpentry. I still have no idea how it works, in the sense of the mechanics; but I notice that specific tasks get easier each time I do them. Threading a needle, for example, or holding the fabric exactly the right way as I feed it through the sewing machine or serger. I'm amazed and delighted to observe these new skills developing, without any particular effort on my part, other than to go through the motions of doing the tasks.

Likewise, I'm improving my understanding of the Spanish language without any conscious effort in the sense of saying "Now I'm going to sit down and study this." I had to replace my computer a few months ago, and when I set up the new one, I chose Spanish as the language, rather than English, which is my mother tongue. Since the computer's set up to use Spanish, all the "help" pages are in Spanish. When I go to my home page, the news is in Spanish. I can get most of the news stories in English if I want to, but if I just want to read the headlines, it's easier to just read them in Spanish than to go searching for English versions. I was amazed one day recently to notice, while reading a news article in Spanish (the headline was interesting, so I clicked on  it to learn more), that I was halfway through the article before it occurred to me I was reading Spanish.

Here's something even more interesting: when you stimulate your brain to learn one new thing, it's as though you've given it a shot of growth hormone or something. Shifting the brain into learning mode seems to make it easier to learn anything, not just whatever is it you're concentrating on. I'm not sure if there are certain things that are, as it were, taboo for the elderly brain. Certainly I would have major problems if I tried to learn, say, ballet, because my knees are shot. So there are clearly limits imposed on physical learning by the condition of the body (but if one had a sophisticated enough avatar, could one learn to be a virtual ballet artist?). But are there intellectual limits? I don't feel especially motivated to study math-related topics at the moment, although my undergraduate degree was in math. But I think I could probably get into learning to play a musical instrument. Is this because I'm afraid I can't do math anymore? I almost feel compelled to do it just to see if I can. If only I could live to be 150 or 200! Then I might have time to do everything I want to do.

Last year I studied Hebrew just to see if I could. I signed up for online classes with eteacherhebrew.com. It was really cool. The instructors were in Israel, and the students were from the U.S. and Australia and France and the Phillipines -- really all over the world. We used AT&T meeting software. I noticed that after working on Hebrew lessons, Spanish seemed very, very easy. I reluctantly made the decision to work on Spanish rather than Hebrew, since Spanish is a language I need to know every day, living in San Antonio.

A New Top and A Great Fabric Store

I took the day off from work yesterday to spend time with my daughter, who has come back to Texas  from Nevada to be in her friend's wedding. She'll be heading back to NV on Monday. There was rain off and on the whole day, which I was very happy to see. It doesn't mean the end of the drought. We're still far short of our average rainfall amount for the year; but some rain is surely better than none at all. I heard on the radio that now "only" 41% of Texas is in the Extreme Drought category, whereas the figure was 88% at the start of October.

Here's a photo of Austin's CBD from our car cruising up South Congress. Light rain was falling even as my daughter snapped the photo using my phone.

The highlight of the day, and the reason I'm writing about My Day Off in my sewing blog, was visiting a relatively new fabric store called Austin Texstyles, owned and operated by the very talented Benson Roberts and Markhollan Swientek. It truly makes a difference when the owners of a business also operate the business on a daily basis. We got a warm welcome and were encouraged to look as long as we liked. Benson and Markhollan were there to help when we needed advice, or help finding exactly the right fabric. If you live in the Austin area and appreciate nice fabrics, you can see for yourself. The shop is located at 2605 Jones Rd, Austin TX 78745. Be sure to check them out of Facebook too, as they sometimes list surprise sales there. http://www.facebook.com/Austin.TexStyles

Here I am at Austin Texstyle, wearing my latest finished garment, Vogue 1071 again, but this time I made view A, which has buttons down the back. This is a wearable muslin (I learned a lesson from the mistake I made with View C). This time, the top fit perfectly (The top is worn under a denim jacket I made from a slightly altered Burda pattern).

Hanging Around the House Clothes

I have a tremendous lot to learn about sewing, of course, but it's encouraging to note how easy it's become to make simple, comfortable garments like the brown linen jersey leggings I'm wearing in the photo. It got cold here a few days ago, it it was very nice to be able to make leggings and a long-sleeved knit top in just a couple of hours. 

I'm also working on a turquoise blue crinkly-satiny polyester top that's a practice run for the same top in silk chiffon. The turquoise poly top is turning out to be quite attractive, so I'm sure I'll end up wearing it. Also a dark navy skirt and jacket. The fabric, ordered online from trimfabric.com is pretty nasty. It's a rather loosely woven wool that I can tell will not hold up well. It would have to be underlined to hold any shape at all. I believe it will be quite comfortable as a loose-fitting jacket -- the same Lois Hinse kimono pattern I used for the oatmeal colored jacket. It flows so loosely anyhow, I don't think I'll need to underline it.  I'll have to underline the skirt to keep it from being lumpy and shapeless, but that's OK. 

The Möbius Band As A Continuous Bias Strip

Upon studying the instructions for vintage Vogue Pattern # 1071 (View A) last night, I was perplexed by the instructions for creating a long bias strip to use for binding the neckline. The pattern piece looks like this:

Here are the written instructions:

With right sides together, pin ends of CONTINUOUS BIAS together, matching symbols. Stitch. NOTE: Edges will not be even at ends of seam.  Starting at one extending end, cut along cutting line, forming one continuous bias strip, as shown. 

As shown? As shown??? The illustration provided in the instructions was worse than useless. All I could do was cut out the fabric, play around with it, and see what I could come up with. I was delighted, upon fitting the two ends of the pieces together in the only way that would possibly produce one long continuous strip of fabric, to find that I had constructed a Möbius Strip, which is a strip of paper (or fabric, in this case) with the ends of the strip fastened together after giving the strip a 1/2 twist. The resulting strip has only one boundary, which you can prove be drawing a line along the length of the strip starting at the seam. The line will end up at the seam, but on the "other side" of the strip.  Here's the way the fabric looks:

Instead of trying to mark the cutting lines on the fabric, I pressed them into the fabric. This made it a bit difficult to produce a completely even edge, but that shouldn't matter, since the raw edges will be hidden within the seam. When I cut along the 3 cutting lines (all in one long cut), I ended up with a long, continuous strip. Is that cool or what!

Music to Sew By

I'm in the country this evening. We had rain last night and today. The winter grass is coming up, emerald green. There is no sewing machine here, so I bring hand sewing to work on when I'm here. Maybe some day I'll set up a sewing machine here.

Hand sewing is actually a very calm, soothing activity. I brought the thrift-shop silk suit that I still have not finished taking apart; a pair of  RTW trousers that are still wearable for working in the garden, but for the relaxed elastic at the waist; and the Batman top, which still has some buttons to sew on (no, I have not given up on the Batman top -- I was merely delayed, because it turned out that the jacket pattern is for a reversable jacket -- I ordered some black satin for the reverse side).

Pour Quoy is one of my favorite compositions of Tielman Susato. Here is another version I'm fond of: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3Gkvc9BOBrs. and another very fine one on the virginal (this time only one musician rather than a duet) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zByXQEMlUQU .

I know this is terribly off-topic for a sewing blog, but I want to remember where to find this video of a woman playing the harp and singing. If I don't embed it here, I fear I'll lose track of it.



I cannot resist one more. I love Sefardic music, especially the love songs. This one was inspired by the Song of Songs of King Solomon.

Lois Hinse Kimono Jacket

I'm using Lois Hinse's kimono jacket pattern. The main part of this jacket is made from a very loosely woven wool that I imagine might be somewhat like woolen garments worn by medieval European peasants. Here's an example of homespun wool offered for sale this very day by Faserhaus:

My fabric, however, is machine-woven. It's an excellent insulator and so will be perfect to wear on a cold day. Unfortunately, it's also very scratchy, so I have no choice but to line it. I'm making a Bemberg rayon lining. 

For the collar I used upholstery fabric. I'm quite pleased with the jacket so far. I still need to hem it and insert the lining, and probably shoulder pads, which are optional. I've really enjoyed making this -- the instructions that came with it made it all very easy. The pattern was for an unlined jacket. I cut a lining from the same pattern pieces as the jacket, with an added pleat in the back for wearing ease.

I avoid shops on Black Fridays, but I did stop by Saks earlier this week and had them set aside a jacket, which I called in and paid for today, at a deeply discounted price. I feel somewhat guilty for buying a jacket, as though I should be making stuff, not buying RTW. I assuaged my guilt by telling myself I can learn something useful from the construction details of the jacket. Not that I plan to take it apart any time soon! Here's a photo of the jacket from online. Of course it doesn't look quite as good on my aging body as on this model, but still ... 

Inspiration

Weekend freedom from work gives me a chance to catch up on interesting blogs.

I got this from a comment by Joanne (Stitch and Witter blog) posted on Tilly's blog (Tilly and the Buttons). Joanne got it from Amanda, who was quoting Ira Glass, host of This American Life, which is one of my favorite radio shows. Mr. Glass is talking about making videos, but what he says applies to any creative work.

http://www.openculture.com/2008/05/ira_glass_on_why_creative_excellence_takes_time_.html

To summarize:

1. Be aware that when you're a beginner, you'll go through a period of time (years) when your stuff isn't all that good;

2. To get better, you have to keep working hard;

3. Give yourself deadlines -- for example, one project per week.

This is such good advice, and comes at such a perfect time for me, when I need inspiration, that I'm going to take the liberty of repeating it once again here, so I can be sure to find it next time I get discouraged.

Giving the Student Encouragement

Both gamblers and students need to acheive small successes from time to time, to keep them going. With this in mind, I took a break from the dreaded Batman top and gave myself an easy project today, a project that provided almost instant gratification.

This is a Christine Johnson tee shirt pattern.

This tee could be called a wearable muslin, because my ultimate goal is to make this tee in silk jersey. But it's much more than a muslin. I used very light-weight rayon jersey, and in this loose fitting tee, it's like wearing a gentle spring breeze. The intended purpose of this tee is night wear. It's easily the most comfortable nightwear garment I own, perhaps the most comfortable I've ever owned. From laying out the pattern to the final stitch, it took only about an hour to make it. I sewed and finished all the seams in one pass of the serger and didn't bother with hems. It's so comfortable that after I tried it on (great fit) I couldn't bear to take it off. 

I wish I knew exactly what sort of fabric this is, so I could get more. It would be wonderful to use for camisoles. I keep saying I'm going to start a notebook with detailed descriptions of all fabrics I buy, a swatch attached to each description. So far I have not taken the time to do this, but I really must start.

I'm Not Gonna Let This Top Get Me Down!

I'm probably revealing a deep character flaw here, but I can't stand to be beaten by an inanimate object. After spending a few hours brooding about my major failure with the Batman top, I decided to make a loose fitting unlined (i.e. easy-to-make) jacket to wear over it and cover up the hideous godet in the back.

So after work on my way to the grocery store, I stopped by Joanne Fabrics and picked up some rather pleasant polyester moleskin that's exactly the color I wanted.

I plan to use Vouge 1243 as a pattern for the jacket.

I've never sewn mole skin before, but I've long been intrigued by the name. From time to time I've found dead moles in the garden, and their coats are very soft and velvety, as is this fabric. I generally don't like using polyester, because it doesn't breathe, but at this point I don't care! Anything to salvage the Batman top!

A Fifth Alternative

The top looked pretty bad as a jacket, and I could tell it would look at least as bad if I cut it off at the waist. I doubt that anyone would want it if I tried to give it away. That left the scarf alternative. But as I gazed sadly in the mirror, I thought of another possibility -- a godet. Yeah, I know godets are generally inserted in skirts, but why not a top?

I found a video on How To Insert a Godet, and it looked easy. The video also has some nice guitar music at the beginning (it is from a website called www.flamencodressmaking.com). Actually, I became quite distracted by the various flamenco videos that showed up. If you like flamenco music, listen to this by Paco De Luci: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8t7ngya7e90&feature=fvst  and here's a TV documentary on the life of the magical flamenco dancer Carmen Amaya: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OaNe5IqD_LM&feature=related

Anyhow, back to the godet. Sadly, I didn't have enough fabric left over to make the godet in the same fabric as the top. I had some black silk broadcloth that was of approximately the same weight and a not entirely dissimilar texture.

So I inserted the godet, using the instrcutions in the flamenco skirt video. The process was successful, and the top is now more than roomy enough at the hips to button in the front. The problem is that from the back, it looks very silly. My husband commented that it looks like a Batman costume.
Here it is viewed from in front:

And now the back:

What a terrible failure! I can't even pretend it's a fashion statement. It's just plain ugly! I should have made 3 or 4 small godets instead of one large one. I'm not going to try to rip this one out and do it again. The fabric is too delicate. But I think I'll make another top like this, the same too-small size, and insert 4 small godets in the back. It would look something like this, except I think this dress/top has godets all the way around.:

Hmm ... maybe all the way around would be good. Instead of all one fabric, I think I'll use two different colors ... maybe solid red, and white with red dots, like a flamenco dress. This time, I'll remember the lesson I should have learned a long time ago -- make a muslin first.

Even though the top I'm working on now is a failure, all is not lost. It will look OK with a jacket. The bright point of all this is that I learned a couple of new things, for the cost of my time and about $17 worth of fabric. Plus, I found the website of a very interesting woman, Anke Hermann. It was her video I watched to learn how to make a godet. From her website:   In 2004, after years of working in Information Technology as a programmer I decided to leave the corporate world behind and turn a dream into reality: to combine two passions of mine - sewing and flamenco - as a dressmaker for flamenco artists. Now, my clients include flamenco schools, flamenco dance companies as well as numerous flamenco dancers and students 

After so many benefits, being able to actually wear the top is gravy.

Rayon Top

I'm making the long-sleeved version of Vogue 1071, copyright 1993.

I still need to put on the cuffs, top stitch around the edges of the top, make button holes, and sew on the buttons. From the project, I'm learning how to make sleeves with pleats and cuffs at the bottoms. I'm also learning to handle a rather delicate rayon challis (I bought it from Vogue Fabrics). I was quite pleased with the top until I tried it on (belatedly, alas, after I'd already cut and sewn it). I sort of forgot that when garment extends over the hip area, even if it's a top, the size in the hip area must be larger than my hips. I forgot the lesson I was supposed to already have learned -- measure for size & try on the pattern before cutting the fabric. So I don't get a passing grade on this one.

At this point, I can think of four alternatives: (1) give the top to someone with smaller hips than mine, or donate it to Goodwill; (2) cut the top off just below the waist; (3) wear the top as a light-weight jacket, with the front open; (4) cut up the top and make the pieces into a scarf. I think I'll probably choose (3) and wear a silk tee under it. One of the things that appeals to me about the style is the length.

Although I had planned to make a woolen jacket next, I'm going to make this top again instead. This time, I'll make sure it fits properly.

In April when I first decided to learn how to sew, I had no idea I would also need to learn about fashion. I knew the importance of color and style, but my original plan was to make whatever garemnts I felt like, regardless of current fashion trends. Lately I've been spending more and more time looking at fashion websites. I've even subscribed to Harper's Bazaar. I still don't feel compelled to conform to currently popular styles, but it's fascinating to see what the designers are coming up with.

More Fashion

I love the spring 2012 fashions that are being shown, for example, in Paris. I long to improve my sewing skills so I can see an outfit and figure out how to make it. In a way, seeing these beautiful clothes is discouraging, because I have such a long way to go. But it's also inspiring. Some, like the one below, would be difficult to do, because the fabric is unique.

But some, such as below, would be possible for a talented person:

Knit Pants

These pants were made using Butterick 4348, a "vintage" pattern from the 1990's. I made the leggings in the large size, which means they hang a bit loose on me. The result is a very comfortable pair of pants.

More thoughts about wearing high heeled shoes ... in the top photo, I'm standing on the balls of my feet, as I would be if I were wearing high heels. In the second photo, I'm standing with my weight distributed across the full surface of both feet.

Putting the weight on the balls of the feet decreases the apparent size of the hips by a couple of sizes, pulls in the stomach, and increases the girth of the calf muscles. No doubt about it -- the high heel posture is highly flattering.

So I wonder if one could somehow adopt a high-heel posture without standing on the balls of one's feet ... perhaps if one's muslces were strong enough ...

For inspiration, here's a photo of Joseph Pilates at age 82. He didn't need no stinkin high heeled shoes.

Rib Knit Top

This is one of the quick projects I've been working on while also doing a more time-consuming lined jacket.

There's plenty wrong with this top. The bottom hemline stretched when I topped stitched it. The sleeve opening needs to be a bit deeper. The bust darts need to be smaller. Instead of ripping out, which I've found is very unpleasant with stretch knit fabric, I'm going to wear the top as-is. If I go public with it, I'll wear a jacket over it to hide the wrinkles under the arms. Despite its shortcomings, it's comfortable, and the color is good.

This was made from Vogue 8151. I used fabric left over from another project. There was not quite enough fabric, so I had to shorten the sleeves and the top itself.