Catch Up!

I've been MIA on the blog, but busy as a bee in my studio. I made a surprise birthday shirt for Dave:

On my recent trip to Northern California, I went to StoneMountain Fabrics with
Shams and JillyBe and found this gorgeous Italian cotton in Dave's favorite color (sort of a gray-green-blue), and he had been wanting some new short-sleeved shirts, so I made it , using M2447 instead of my TNT M4079. What a mistake! The button spacing is wonky and I don't like the collar as well...memo
to self...TNT's are TNT's for a reason! However, Dave thinks it's PERFECT, so
I'll chalk it up to experience!

We have made plans to go to Sicily in September, so I get to plan a new travel wardrobe! This being my favorite kind of sewing/planning to do, I got right to work and made M5433, View D, in a beautiful Japanese cotton purchased on the

same No.Cal. trip at Piedmont Fabric, another one of Sham's favorite stores.

Both Shams and I fell in love with this fabric, and despite our combined many  years of experience, had the salesman cut our fabric before we asked the price...this is a BIG mistake, and you would think we'd know better...so I kind of felt like I was sewing with gold on this one.

Wanting to use this as a travel piece, I lined it and put my customary pockets in the lining. I'm not sure it'll make the wardrobe cut, but it's a fun addition to my closet.

This is a ghastly picture of ME, but it shows the pockets I added to the lining of the jacket; the one on my left is sized for a boarding pass, two others on the right side...

Then I made the first Style Arc pattern in a long time, the Abby Cardi in that beloved red/black ponte from EOS

I'm just getting started, so watch for more to come!

The Pants!

YAY! Here are my first (showable) pair of pants made from the draft Lynda Maynard made for me last month.

                                              No "Butt Puddle"


Kathryn (fzxdoc) on Stitchers' Guild suggested I put in a "before" photo...here it
is:

Big difference, huh?

They are made of an off-white stretch linen from Harts Fabrics. The linen shirt with the frilly pocket is an eBay find from Kedem Sasson.

I'm very happy with the pattern. This is my 4th try, so even custom fitted patterns need some tweaking and fussing. I will now be able to change the leg width and length, add design elements, etc.

Sandwiched in between my trip to San Francisco and the workshop I co-led at the Ojai Institute, I had a birthday and DH gave me this:

100,000 BTU's, people...that's hot! I cook a lot of Vietnamese and Thai food, so I have wanted this for a LONG time!

A Little Retail Therapy While We're Waiting...

for the pants...hope to have a picture to share tomorrow. MEANWHILE....

From my recent trip to San Francisco and wonderful shopping with Shams:

 A wonderful knitted jacket from Mio, one of Sharon's favorite boutiques... it's
blackest black, but lightened to show details...don't you love
the peplum back?

A couple of fabulous items from Smith Alder in San Jose....

 A gorgeous coated linen jacket from Ivan Grundahl

and a beautiful pleated shibori scarf. Shams knows her way around the

boutiques...

And a a couple of eBay scores...

 a fabulous shibori-dyed jacket from Babette SF...

and a Luna Luz "Cheerio" skirt with my new Trippen sandals...

Those of you with sharp eyes and good memories may recall seeing Shams

in her version of the Cheerio skirt

We DO tend to like the same things...

And last, but not least, my Dotty shirt (are you thinking I LOVE polka dots?)

It's B5678, view C,

in a lovely gray/black dotted swiss from Marcy Tilton. I wanted to make a shoulder/princess seam top and this filled the bill.

 À demain....

Tripping in my Trippens

Back from a highly successful trip to the San Francisco Bay Area...Trippen sightings, meet ups, fabulous museum viewing and a new pants pattern!

                                      Jillian  and Shams

                                        All three of us in our Trippens...

                   Unexpected meet up with Ann and Barbara V.

        and my 2nd and final pants muslin with Lynda Maynard. See how straight
those pants hang!

The exhibit we saw was the Jean Paul Gaultier "From the Sidewalk to the Catwalk"

and it was incredible.  I have linked to my Picasa album for pictures of the wondrous things we saw.

                                       JPG himself, by the wonders of holography...


I sadly won't be able to try out my new pattern until Friday; I am co-leading a Women's Wisdom workshop with a friend in Ojai.

          Here's my friend Shams...she made sure I had a WONDERFUL time!

The last pair of pants...

...I'll make before I get fitted for my NEW pants pattern!

These are B5614, lengthened to an ankle length.

They are ok...I did a wedge removal from the CB, hoping to get rid of those wrinkles, but they're STILL THERE!

So...I leave on Monday, Memorial Day, to drive to Northern California to meet with Lynda Maynard, a whiz at fitting, who teaches at a San Jose area college and also at Sewing Workshop in San Francisco. She has written a book, The Dressmaker's Handbook of Couture Sewing Techniques, which is very good, but obviously not enough for my aging brain. She has worked a lot with Kenneth King, and comes highly recommended by local sewists. She will fit me for pants over a 3 day period, and when finished, will give me a custom-made pattern which will get rid of the wrinkles!
                 
                                           More Pictures

While I am waiting for the various stages of fitting, I hope to play a little with Shams and several other Bay Area friends. Look out, Bay Area!

Meet Dotty!

It's been a long time since my last post; I've been sewing on this jacket for two

weeks, interrupted by a trip to Utah and Iowa to see children and grandchildren.

This gorgeous fabric, from Gorgeous Fabrics, of course, was something I could  not resist.

It's from Japan, a jacquard, in MY shade of red.

I used McCalls 5860, a recently OOP version of a jeans jacket, to "dress down" the fabric.

I made it pretty much as printed, except that I lined it in another fabric from
Gorgeous Fabrics

and I redrafted the collar, making it narrower. Those wide collars always remind me of the '70's! I'm very happy with it; the weight and coloration are more suited for fall and winter in my sunny climate, so I'll wear it once or twice and put it away for a few months.

                                           More Pictures

Fun project!

Pajamas, a Picnic and Roses

I haven't had much to show on my blog, recently. I've been sewing steadily, but I'm working on an involved project that's taking more time than I usually spend.
I did make myself a pair of pajama pants... B5572. I love the Asian Wrap  pajamas at Garnet Hill, but the ones I've had for years and years are wearing out, so I went looking for some high quality cotton/lycra knit. I found this

Valerie Wells Karavan knit here and made a pair of pj bottoms. DH thinks it's funny, as he is a Republican and I am NOT...but who wants to wear a donkey to sleep in?  The pants matched a tie-dyed cotton tee I made several weeks ago...

I like these so much, I have ordered more knit fabrics...in black and white, of course!

Today I hosted a meeting and picnic lunch with a friend of mine...it's a beautiful day here and my roses (and everyone else's) are glorious...

I was trying to look a little French, n'est ce pas?

More roses (and me!)

Wednesday we're off for a week to visit children and grandchildren in Salt Lake City, Utah, and Des Moines and Pella in Iowa. Maybe I'll find a few blog posts along the way...