Friday, March 30, 2018

Weekend Scrolls & Reads

Not much to share from the interwebs, unless you want to join me on helter-skelter stops across Ravelry or ponder capsule wardrobe templates.


So here are some snapshots of projects in process....

1 1/2 panels stitched on the Alabama Chanin swing skirt,
haven't begun to cut the reverse appliqué yet.  



Rondeur


Bert and Frances say "Happy Easter/Passover" to those who observe.



Buen Finde!

Monday, March 26, 2018

Minimal Monday: Stuff I Didn't Buy

Or, small exercises in restraint.


Clare Vivier Messenger Bag


Photo: eBay


This was the hardest to pass up. For sale at 1/4 of the retail cost on eBay and in oxblood, no less. I own a tiny CV cosmetic pouch--after 5 years it has a soft patina that rivals my daughter's beloved blanky. This bag comes pre-patina'd. So. tempting. 

I reminded myself that a) I recently switched to a smaller bag for comfort's sake and b) my Alabama Chanin class and trip to Denver was not free. Which brings me to....



Alabama Chanin Ribbed Dress

Photo: Alabama Chanin

Natalie Chanin's assistant looked so chic and comfortable in her ribbed dress layered under a tunic. A sale announcement arrived in my inbox 8 hours after I got home from Denver, still basking in the afterglow of class. 

Reality check: I have an AC skirt kit from the class I *just* attended, and feeling comfortable in these these garments would require an over layer. I don't have anything over-layer-y right now. I reminded myself that AC has periodic sales and instead decided to experiment with silhouettes using fabric, safety pins, and possible muslins. And now for a 180....


Earrings at Target 

Photo: Target


I love bakelite, lucite, and anything that looks like either of those. And what would be the harm in spending $8?

While clothing wears out, jewelry does not. I'd like whatever jewelry I acquire to stand the test of time regardless of how humble it is. Embarrassingly, the work conditions of the person who made these were only my second thought. Maybe that's why I this caught my eye...


Maria Antoinette Embroidery Kit

Photo: French General


This had a lot of nostalgic appeal for me--francophilia + tall ships. Buuuuttt... it doesn't reflect who I am right now. There are other ways to be whimsical. 


All of these things together would have cost half the price of my recent Alabama Chanin class. Unlike durable goods I've purchased, I have no regrets *at all* about taking this class. I'm incredibly grateful to be able to choose experiences over stuff

Thursday, March 22, 2018

Fish-Eyed Eleonores



On my last pair of Eleonores I gathered the back waistband by stretching a shortened length of elastic along the piece as I sewed. The whole time (like 1.33 minutes, but still) I was petrified that I'd compromise the timing mechanism on my vintage machine (again). So for this pair I drew a 2" fish eye dart in the center of the back waistband and clipped the excess fabric.

Center waistband seam is actually a dart. 

Attaching it required easing with ALL THE PINS and a bamboo skewer to nudge the bulk into the seam allowance. In the end I still have a couple of puckers that I couldn't pin out. So when I discovered that I accidentally sewed the waistband elastic side out, I wasn't exactly keen to rip and re-sew. Thankfully I wear my shirts tucked out. (I would joke about not wanting to get into a car accident wearing these pants but my daughter just got her permit.)

Puckers!

This version is also slightly transformé en skinny, to quote the French version of the instructions. I narrowed the leg to be something between skinny and straight. This tutorial is super-clear, but it took me about 3 tries to finally get it right. Thankful for the tip about using your scraps to trace and modify your pattern.

Before and After: "skinny" leg on the right. 


The fabric is a burgundy version of the gray sateen that I used for my first pair. The gray pair has stretched incredibly after a few wearings, and I'm wondering whether this is a reflection of poor fabric quality or if stretch wovens just don't keep their shape over the long haul.

Have you found that stretch fabrics sag a lot? 

Tuesday, March 20, 2018

Man Hands





This Sunday is my brother's birthday. I sent him some Joe Schmoe mitts that I made out of Tosh Merino Light in Asphalt.

Happy Birthday, bro! Wish we could celebrate together.

Monday, March 19, 2018

Weekend Scrolls & Reads





So much for automated scheduling! Here's last week's Scrolls & Reads, augmented....

I joined the Alabama Chanin Facebook group and suddenly my feed is wonderful again. AC's time-consuming sewing method would make it hard to sustain a dedicated blog, and this group provides a much-needed space for encouragement and show-and-tell.

I couldn't stop reading The Year of Less. Cait Flanders gives a candid first-person account of how minimalism is about mindset and not just a curated wardrobe of high-end Garanimals.

Knitters and hand-sewers might want to check out these stretches.

I owned a boxed set of The Little House on the Prairie books as a kid and imagined Laura's life to be a paradise of churned butter and friendly farm animals. We couldn't we live in a soddy? This interview makes me want to read Prairie Fires.

For some reason I can't bring myself to spend the money on Fashionary templates, as awesome as they seem. So I downloaded one from the Fashionary site.



Minimal Monday: Making and Producing

I've been sewing for 20 years. I started with hand quilting and in 2010 began to sew garments. Since then, I've had existential sewing crises every 18 months or so. Most of them have been fueled by projects gone wrong, but my recent interest in minimalism has introduced a new element of sturm to the drang. Or vice versa. #fancywords.

Am I sewing for the pleasure of making, or to produce ever more clothing? I mean, I realize that sewing inevitably results in stuff: muslin/toile, garment, and scraps scraps scraps. To say nothing of the environmental impact of making and transporting fabric.

Unlike quilt making, garment sewing is very much product-driven for me: a lot of the initial appeal lay in marrying pleasure to necessity: I'll sew my own clothes!  But my style preferences could make it easy to overproduce---I'm more likely to emulate Eileen Fisher than Kate Spade. Simple silhouettes still require attention, but nowhere near the fuss and fiddling of gathers, floppy bows, and ruffles. Hats off to my fellow sewists who enjoy those things--I can barely get myself to do buttonholes.

So how do I temper my love of making things with my wish to live more simply? Perhaps by shifting my focus to making instead of producing:

Technical Practice. AKA extreme muslin-ing. When Peter of Male Pattern Boldness first started his blog, he sewed every day using old bed sheets and thrifted fabric, his creations ranging from cocktail dresses to men's underwear. This approach reminds me of my husband's dedication as a classical musician. He spends hours playing scales and etudes in addition to his concert repertoire, all in preparation for an ephemeral "product." I could practice on scraps in between projects to hone and stretch my skills (maybe including buttonholes).

Meditative Stitching. The Alabama Chanin method of sewing unites the zen of hand quilting with forgiveness of fitting jersey knits. For me, a heavenly combination. I took a class from Natalie Chanin in Denver recently and the high sustained me through the 8-hour drive back to Albuquerque. I feel myself drawn more and more to this kind of sewing and there are times when I'd like to jettison fitting pants, installing zippers, and matching grain lines in favor of hand-sewing bliss, Make Nine be damned. However, this statistic (via Fringe Association) makes me more determined than ever to produce some of what I need when ethical, local, and/or second-hand sourcing isn't feasible.

So it's probably more realistic to balance my focus instead of shifting it entirely. My closet purge and modules are proof that I have the luxury of taking my taking time on projects, from pattern choice to final product. And in between, I can enjoy the making.

Do you ever struggle with making vs. producing?



Thursday, March 15, 2018

Modules: Spring & Summer

Last week I reorganized my clothing into four modules: Spring/Summer and Fall/Winter Work, and Home/Errands/Dates. My previous post described my clothing organization as "Six Items or Less/Miss Minimalist  mashup";  that's not the case unless "around six"= 12 or fewer. 

Here are my Spring/Summer versions. I'm using the terms "spring" and "summer" to refer to temperatures above 65 degrees (mid-April through early October in Abq). My original Make Nine plans will likely be modified to fill in the gaps. Unfortunately, there are no cool re-purposed-pipe garment racks in this post. 


Spring/Summer Work 
(10 pieces, not including shoes and bags)



  • Eileen Fisher Washable Crepe pants in black, gray, and taupe. Purchased new in 2015-16. I wear these all year. The black pair is almost 3 years old and still looks great. 
  • Eileen Fisher silk jersey tank, thrifted 2014. I wear this year-round and it could also have date applications.
  • Pendleton Cotton Cardigan, purchased on eBay in 2016. This will likely be its last summer. 
  • Not pictured: Boden raglan three-quarter sleeve tee, purchased in December. Like the pants this is worn year-round (so far).




Shoes & Bags: Dress-ual sandals, black ballet flats, gray pumps, fabric loafers (on their last leg) and black crossbody (not pictured).  

To make: Solid-colored tees, likely using Jalie 3245 because the linen tees I love (see below) have curved hems. A steel-gray Rondeur because I have the yarn and the pattern. Looking forward, a black cardigan. 




Spring/Summer Home/Errands/Dates 
(8 pieces, not including shoes and bags)




  • Lands End flat-front chinos in beige and orange. Points for flat-fronted-ness. Purchased summer 2017 out of desperation. 
  • Ann Taylor Loft linen tees in red and black. Purchased 2016-17. These are surprisingly awesome.
  • Maroon gauze tunic. Thrifted 2017.



Shoes & Bags: Leopard bag and beige perforated flats. I could use sandals and "trainers." This bag clashes with the prints I own and really doesn't "go" with much that I have, but I can't let it go.

To make: Denim skirt, likely Sew House Seven's Alberta Street pattern instead of the A Frame skirt because body type and flattery. A date-ier top and possibly some denim Eleonores. Also dreaming of an Endless Summer tunic(s) and leggings to replace the chinos. Will likely need some type of cardigan to ward off air conditioning. 


Donated

I never wore the book. 


So that is what largely unintentional shopping/making looks like, and frankly I was surprised to find any coherence at all under the kudzu. The realization that I have enough comfortable and reasonably flattering clothing for the spring and summer months takes a lot of the pressure of off producing. (More on that next week.) 








Monday, March 12, 2018

Minimal Monday: Magic Capsules


A lot (okay, the majority) of my research on reduced consumption/simplification/minimalism has focused on clothing. Behold my platonic ideal:



I get that this wardrobe won’t transform my quasi-suburban house into a warehouse studio. But I do imagine a freer, more actualized self, much like the women in the Title Nine catalog:

Vocation: Nonprofit Communications
Avocation: Knitting and Sewing
Kryptonite: Naps
Fridge: Cold-brewed coffee and string cheese


The pressure (real or imagined) to have a consistent but not redundant "look"  has stopped me from paring down my wardrobe. As a former colleague used to say, these might be “old feelings that are not appropriate for the situation I’m in right now.” I entered the workforce in 1992 in a large but conservative city. Weekend- and work-wear were distinct categories, business casual environments were rare, and dressing for the job you wanted meant owning a week’s worth of different skirt suits.

I'm the one on the left.

It’s 25 years later. I live in a casual city in the laid-back southwest and work part-time for a nonprofit. I’m pretty sure no one thinks about my outfit frequency. With this in mind, I dove into my wardrobe.

The resulting "system" is a 6 Items or Less/Miss Minimalist mash-up. I've designated four "modules" of roughly 6 items each: Fall/Winter work,  Fall/Winter home/errands/dates, Spring/Summer work, and Spring/Summer home/errands/dates. The home/errands/dates capsules definitely skew towards home/errands. Unless you go on a date to the grocery store, which is a very real thing when your kids are little.

I'm going to re-visit my Make Nine list this week, and this whole exercise has caused me to rethink (for the 800th time) my approach to making clothing.

Have you ever experimented with a small-ish wardrobe?


Friday, March 9, 2018

Weekend Scrolls & Reads


I joined the Facebook group for readers of the blog Simply + Fiercely. On Tuesday she published a code for a UGE discount on the Kindle version of Cait Flanders' book The Year of Less. It's still under $2. I'll be reading it in my motel room tonight in Denver, where I'm taking a class with Natalie Chanin!!!!!!!


The brackets are out for March Mayhem over on Mason Dixon Knitting. I'm loving the Moth and the Tailfeather cardigans.


Buen finde!

Wednesday, March 7, 2018

Indicum Sweater

This is my second Make Nine project:



The pattern is Hilary Callis Smith's Indicum. The body yarn is Knit Picks Capretta in cream and CC for the corrugated ribbing is Tanis Fiber Arts purple label in Fig.

This might be headed for Waddersville. The armscyes seem *really* high, and the corrugated ribbing rolls in spite of my aggressive blocking. It's the sort of thing that I'll be neurotic about because I spent my late 30s reading way too many blogs about how French women only wear things that are perfectly perfect.



And the yoke looks so yoke-y in the back. Because it's a yoke, duh. I suppose I'm used to seeing color or pattern in these situations:


Debbie Downer, party of one! Sorry, readers.

I'm not sure what will be next in the Make Nine queue...I'm reevaluating my choices after an epic-ish wardrobe purge (more on that next week) in the midst of an existential crisis about making and materialism (more on that next next week).

Monday, March 5, 2018

Minimal Monday: Status & Simplicity

One of my goals for 2018 is to reduce my consumption and pay off my smallish-but-nagging unsecured debt by April. I’m on track to be debt-free after selling several scarves on eBay. Vestiges of an old life, I originally bought them as much for their covert display of prestige as for their beauty and craftsmanship. They’re devoid of logos but signified my taste to the Right People.

The relationship between consumption and status-seeking seems obvious. But over the weekend I came across this article in the New York Times by Jacoba Urst. She mentions simplicity as a “form of cultural capital" and cites Joel Stillerman, who coined the term “post-materialist values”:

…But minimalism is also meant to project taste, refinement and aesthetic knowledge. “‘These people,” he said, “are making the statement that ‘I can afford to have less. I appreciate books and travel and good meals.’”

As someone who grew up in a household that could only afford to have less (without the travel or good meals), this resonates with me. Choosing minimalism is a privilege. Something to think about as I move towards “less”: what’s motivating my purchases? Because I don’t want socks-sponges-hand cream to be the new scarves.
 *For all 3-4 of my readers: “Minimal Monday” will now be a thing.   








Saturday, March 3, 2018

Weekend Scrolls & Reads


I recently purchased this embroidery kit, but this caught my eye as the owner of a fluffy white bunny. Cue the Watership Down nightmares.

This weekend I'll block my  Indicum sweater. Setting up the corrugated ribbing inspired me to search for stranding-in-the-round and I found this article about yarn dominance. I also favorited this bag pattern on Ravelry.

This post over at Luxe Strategist warns against "lifestyle inflation," and articulates why I want to downsize well in advance of retirement.