About Me

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Los Olivos, California, United States
You can reach me at fool4fabric (at) gmail (dot) com

Sunday, February 21, 2016

MEOW!

I'm not sure whose hide this is supposed to be...
but it would surely be fearsome to come upon the owner in the jungle...

This lightweight jacket isThe Minoru Jacket, by Sewaholic Patterns. My friend Shams recently made this and I fell in love with the pattern, particularly the collar. This is an audition for a pattern to use for a Paris Coat; I used a cotton
stretch jacquard I bought some time ago from Emma One Sock.




I made a few changes to the pattern, eliminating the hood, the sleeve bands, the elastic at the waist,and darting the shoulders rather than gathering them. I also lengthened the jacket by 4 inches, added fish-eye darts, front and back, and added two zippered welt pockets. I lined it with a lively polka dot.



The jury is still out on whether I'll use this pattern for the Paris Coat...I'll wear it for a few weeks and see what I think.





Enough people have expressed curiosity as to my "saving" the Cutting Line Designs Light and Shadow Vest  in my previous post, that I decided to explain what happened and how I fixed it...non-sewers may skip down to the Food Porn...



 The pattern consists of a right front, a left front, the back and the cowl collar. The two fronts are quite different in order to provide the asymmetrical shaping.
The problem was definitely "operator error"...even after close to 70 years of sewing, I still need to be aware!
 The fabric, a striped silk dupioni, looks the same on both sides. I cut each front out as indicated, and (I thought) labeled them with pieces of tape as I do when
using fabric that is identical on both sides. 

 One of the joys of using Cutting Line Designs patterns is the written instruction, 
which is always clearly written, illustrated and covers all details. Per the instructions, I serged the hems of the front pieces, folded up the hems, mitered the corners and used Steam-A-Seam to fuse the hems. Then I top-stitched them. When I started to join the two fronts to the back, I realized I had somehow hemmed the left front on the right side of the garment. And since I had serged, mitered, hemmed, fused and topstitched, I couldn't undo 
my work. So I covered the error with bias tape, added the same tape to the other side and to the back, so it looked (unless you were too close) like it had been planned!


My Instant Pot got more of a work out lately; for Valentine's Day dessert, I made this


It's a Meyer Lemon Cheesecake made in the pressure cooker...and it was
VERY GOOD...we seldom eat dessert, so it was a treat!

I also used the I.P. to make the herbed beans in this recipe...



And tonight, we are having 

up my Bean Club beans!

A few more days in my studio, then DD and DSIL are coming up for the weekend. Yay!

I'm linking up with Patti's "Visible Monday". Come on over!

TTYL

Sunday, February 7, 2016

TO PARADISE AND BACK!

Bosque del Cabo, Osa Peninsula, Costa Rica
Truly a Paradise on earth, and we have been fortunate to visit for the second time. This time we went to celebrate our 40th wedding anniversary. It was the
perfect choice, we were so very well taken care of.



We spent the days walking, seeing the incredible wildlife, lounging by the pool, napping in the hammock...


and ate fabulous meals, 3 times a day. The fresh fruit was exotic,

the choices many, the bar close by and welcoming...




How lucky we are!

I finally got into my studio, after the usual post-trip activities, and managed to
"save" a vest I had almost made into a wadder...




The pattern is from Cutting Line Designs, the vest from "Light and Shadow' and 
the fabric is a beautiful striped dupioni I bought from Emma One Sock at least
four years ago. The stripe is red, black and silver, and goes with so many of my
wardrobe items, I was desperate to "make it work"...and I did!

I am in the (pleasant) throes of planning a wardrobe for my trip to Paris in the fall...I am skewing the color scheme a little...instead of the true red I have been wearing, I have chosen some fabrics and RTW items in a claret tone, which has a little more blue/brown in it. 

I found this lovely alpaca poncho and fell in love with it...


It is perfect for travel, light and airy! The hat is by Kangol, I have
the same model in black, and it is crushable, so good for travel. (It's called
"The Diva"!)



I also found a pair of boots (imagine that!) that go with the claret tones...


Not only is the color right, they're highly comfortable and will be good for travel.

Based on Sham's recommendations, I enrolled in Marcy and Katherine Tilton's 
newest Craftsy class, called "The Artful Teeshirt".  In their inimitable way, they have made another winner. Their instructions are so clearly spoken, and as always, I learn something new every time I watch it. Highly recommended!

I will pay a visit today to Patti's Visible Monday... come on over and see the highly visible women! Thanks, Patti....

TTYL...