Utility Sewing

Utility sewing? What's that? It doesn't sound like fun, not like a Moto Jacket, or a Mirrored Fantasy Jacket; well, it's not so much fun, but very necessary when building a closet of clothing that will function often as a travel wardrobe. I like to have lightweight rayon shells to wear under jackets or shirts, not only when I travel, but at home as well...

Some of my shells are old enough to vote (!!!) and needed to be retired. So yesterday and today, I worked on the shell from Cutting Line Designs Pure and Simple, making slight changes to come up with an easy-to-make TNT shell pattern.

I have made FIVE...once I adapted the pattern as I wanted, I was able to cut out and sew a shell in 40 minutes!

From left: a black and white striped slinky, a puckered black rayon, a black and white check crinkle rayon, a white crinkle rayon and a black crinkle rayon.

I make them very simply, serge all the edges, turn under and stitch (except for the slinky, which I put a neckband on). This makes them very light weight, easy to pack and quick to wash and hang dry.

With these basics hanging in my closet, now I can go back to the studio and sew something fun!

TA-DA!

I finished my Moto jacket last night, after a 4 day sewing marathon...sometimes it helps to be compulsive!

After my disappointment last week with the original HP Moto pattern, I used my new TNT jacket pattern, Kwik Sew 2896, to make my own take on the jacket. I cut the short version, eliminated the in-seam pockets and added zippers on the sleeves,

                                                                            zippered welt pockets,  and down the front of the jacket.

I did not make the tabbed collar,

because I forgot to add the tab when I was cutting it out! Inserting the zippers was a challenge at first, because the ordinary way of doing a zipper hid my wonderful striped zippers...after redoing the sleeve zippers, I figured out how to do a "slot" zipper, and was able to showcase the zippers on the welt pockets

I lined it with a glorious polka dot poly charmeuse

which was hell to sew...by the time I sewed it, it had more whiskers than my Maine Coon Cat, MicMac,

and sheds strange puffy silvery polys all over everything. Oh, well, the look is everything... 

Now, where's my motorcycle?

                                

Margy vs Moto

I fell in love with this jacket from Hot Patterns...

I loved the styling, especially the use of zippers: one down the center, two on the sleeves and two closing the welt pockets on the front. I had found THIS zipper

and was dying to to find a project where I could use it. I had the long zipper, from Ghees, and then I found the short zippers, available from Studio Kat. I have never used Hot Patterns before, although I have often been charmed by their illustrations.

So, I ordered the pattern and received it, last week. This goes along with my desire to find some new, more fitted jackets. I read over the instructions, which were complicated, to say the least; they highly recommended making a muslin.

Although I'm not fond of the extra work, the number of pattern pieces and the unusual order of the construction convinced me I should do a trial run. I did, using a "what was I thinking of" cotton fabric

languishing in my stash. I made a bare-bones jacket, no lining,interfacing, pockets, etc. cutting a straight size 12, as I had no idea of the sizing of this line of patterns. 

I would like to think that 60+ years of sewing experience and a more than adequate brain would enable me to take on almost any project, but I'm here to tell you that I SUFFERED with this jacket! There are almost no marks on the pattern pieces, there is no differentiation in the pictures between the lining and the fashion fabric, and I was in DEEP TROUBLE! Suffice it to say I put the sleeves in 3 times, basting, etc. and finally realized I was putting them in BACKWARDS.

This is definitely a project that exhausted the upper case key on my keyboard.

Luckily, my friend Shams was there for me, as I cursed and whined about the obstacles I was encountering.

Today, I finished enough of it to try it on; besides being 3 sizes too big (which could be taken care of easily enough), I found I could not raise my arms more than 6 inches without causing dire consequences ...the armholes were too low. 

I tried on the black and white Kwik Sew 2896 I made two weeks ago...the illustration on the pattern cover was dowdy

but the pattern is beautifully drafted and fits well. I will make MY Moto jacket from this pattern, in a black stretch denim, lined with this

polka dot charmeuse, modifying it to use my black and white zippers!

The moral is, a pretty picture is not as valuable as a TNT pattern!

Portland, Puyallup and the PNW

I thought I would have a chance to post to the blog last week, but my time was jam-packed every day; I came home yesterday.

I flew to Portland last Thursday with a brief layover in Los Angeles, just enough time to take my daughter Maggie to lunch at a fabulous restaurant in Venice, Gjelina.

Waiting in Portland was my dear friend Carolyn (AKA Willie); she and I were roommates at UCLA, so we've been friends for a LONG TIME! Willie moved to Oregon several years ago and we occasionally get together for wonderful "road trips".

                                                  Willie

We stayed at a favorite hotel and went to a great restaurant (the name of which I can't remember) with some friends, after which we saw a very good play

about Mark Rothko. Early the next morning we left for the Sewing and Stitchery Expo in Puyallup, Washington.

Up front, I have to say we stayed for only 4 hours...it's billed as "the nation's largest sewing show" and it's an introvert's (that would be me) nightmare! We managed to find the booths which we wanted to see, met several kindred spirits

                                             Neufy from SG

                                           Lynn Elliott-Harding 

and attended the Marcy Tilton/Sandra Betzina fashion show and the Louise Cutting/Linda Lee fashion show. Both Lynn and I had pieces in the Marcy show,

                                  Lynn's beautiful felted wool V8430
and mine

the "mirrored" black silk V8620. No fabric buys for me...I saw some I liked, but the crowds were too much. So, a set of Kai scissors and some Derwent Color Blocks, and we were outta there! On we went to Tacoma, staying in a lovely hotel
which was filled with art glass.

Next morning we went to the Museum of Glass, which was fabulous!

The Chihuly Bridge of Glass is a spectacular beginning, then we watched artists blowing and carving glass. There were two exhibitions which I LOVED:
This one and this one. The museum is definitely worth a trip if you are anywhere near it.


On we went to Seattle for two nights at the Alexis Hotel, definitely one of my favorites. We shopped at Maggie's Shoes, where I found these new Trippens

had a glass of wine in the elegant lobby

dined well at the Metropolitan Grill

and went to the Gauguin and Polynesia show at the Seattle Art Museum.
Here is Willie in her gorgeous Itemz jacket

We had FUN!

Black and White Jacket

After wrestling all week with it, I finished a new jacket this morning; it's KwikSew 2896. I was specifically looking for a jacket that was closer-fitting than what I've been sewing, like CLD Anything But Ordinary, which I made up as a travel piece for my recent trip, and then decided I didn't like it enough to take.

I have loved this pattern and have made it up at least a dozen times, but it no longer is flattering on me. 

So...I was looking for a pattern with princess seams which could be more closely fitted.

Although I have not been a great fan of KwikSew patterns in the past, this one seemed to be what I was looking for.  I was actually waiting for this pattern

but it took a long time to be delivered, and I didn't want to wait!

I like the in-seam pockets

and the close-fitting silhouette

The fabric is from Emma One Sock and I "jumped" on it, as she only had a small amount. It is a very interesting fabric

and, in my opinion, needed a simple pattern that would not compete with the fabric.

Here are more pictures:

I think I like it!  Maybe I'll take it to Puyallup next week!

"The Blouse Perfected"

I just finished sewing Cutting Line Designs "The Blouse Perfected", View C,

in a Nylon Crinkled Taffeta.  The pattern went together easily, with Louise Cutting's usual excellent instructions. (There is an error in pattern numbers in the instructions for View C...be sure to check her website.)

The wind was blowing, so I had to take photos inside...

I'm very happy with the blouse; I cut a Small, and made no changes except to put a larger button on the left front to hold the fold. The smaller button kept falling out of the loop.

I also made another pair of Style Arc Linda pants; I've lost some weight since I first made the pants, so I tried to do a Flat Seat Adjustment, but I'm not happy with the results. The front looks fine, but the back is still full of wrinkles

so I have some more work to do. I used a stretch poly that looks like brushed denim.

I'm finally getting over the cold I've had for TWO weeks...you can tell it in my face, above! It feels so good to be sewing again!

The Evolution of a Travel Wardrobe

Several people have shown some interest in how I decide what to take on a trip; I decided to tackle this while my trip to Ethiopia is fresh in my mind.

First of all, I travel in what I wear daily. Yes, even to the dirty, dusty places which we seem to frequent. In other words, I don't have clothes just for traveling. When I started going to India more than 20 years ago, I found that I loved wearing colorful, pretty clothes and interesting jewelry. It's a perfect way to connect with the women in the country I'm traveling to; they ALWAYS notice and often give me a "thumbs up" sign, or ask in sign language if they can trade something of theirs for something of mine. I'm obviously not talking about France or Italy here, although I love "dressing up" for travel to countries like those, too.
So, no nylon travel pants that zip off into shorts for me! At my age, I know what looks good on me and what doesn't...and  being a million miles from home doesn't change that.

I pay great attention to what items weigh; the older I get, the less I want to be dependent on someone to help me with my luggage. I travel with a 22" Eagle Creek suitcase that I check, and a large tote as a carry-on.

On most of my trips, at some point in my travels, I start keeping a list of what I've brought that doesn't get worn, doesn't work, etc. I also keep an ongoing list of what I DIDN'T bring that I wish I had. I find that if I wait till I'm home to make those lists, I forget too much.

For instance, on my trip to Ethiopia, I realized that my long-time practice of packing my clothes in zip-lock baggies needs to change, maybe to packing cubes of some type. As I wear a lot of black, a baggie of underwear doesn't look very different than a baggie of tops, at least to my aging eyes. I reminded myself that I have vowed to tuck silk long-johns in my luggage before; they take up no room or weight, and quite often are welcome.

I need to find a protein powder to mix with water, as I don't like sugared energy bars, but quite often need a helping of protein to get me through the day (suggestions are welcomed!)

I want to download some Audible books on my iPad, as well as ebooks; sometimes I just want to listen to something, not read.

So...here is what I took with me on this trip; if you look back in my blog, you will see that I started "interviewing" clothes a long time ago...and I also allowed myself to make some big changes less than 24 hours before we left!

These are the pants I took; from the top, the black/white tweed pants I made, my TNT Eileen Fisher Slim Stretch Ankle Pants, another TNT pant, Eddie Bauer Bremerton Stretch Twill, a Marcy Tilton Vogue pant I made in a "zen" black and white fabric, another Marcy pant in black and white polka-dot cotton/lycra mix, a black rayon crepe pull-on pant from Loes Hinse (Cruise Pant) and finally, a Giselle Shepatin "clown pant".

The tops I took, from the top: a dark red tee from Target, a black/gray/white shirt from Itemz, a tie-dyed tee from ???, a TNT Blanque cotton asymmetrical shirt, the Style Arc Adele tunic in a rayon knit, a black/gray stripe slinky shell (forget the pattern), a Marcy Tilton tunic in another rayon knit, a black tee from Target, a black/white check crinkle rayon shell (made years ago, forget the pattern), a black and a white rayon crepe tank, also from years ago, a Sewing Workshop Stella t/neck in a black and gray print, and the top part of the Giselle Shepatin outfit (lightweight black cotton with white zig-zag trim).

The "jackets" I brought:

From the top: A white "safari" shirt from TravelSmith; my "can't travel without it" vest from Magellans (lots of pockets), a black and white rayon crepe kimono from at least 20 years ago, a black taffeta Itemz jacket, a reversible red/black rain jacket from Mycra Pac, and a pleated shirt/jacket from Babette SF.

The shoes/accessories I took:

Red Arche shoes, Black and Gray Arche shoes, Red Ecco Walking Shoes, Black Ecco Walking Sandals...and a wonderful selection of colorful bracelets to choose from!

And a few scarves...

So, what DIDN'T work? The Babette shirt/jacket, that was just too tight-in-the-sleeves and hot, the Itemz black taffeta jacket, not practical enough (no pockets) and too hot, and the "Zen" black and white pants, which are great worn for a few hours at home, but stretch and droop something awful on a trip.

A secret...the Eddie Bauer black twill pants were a main-stay, and I never washed them. I brushed the dust off, and spot-cleaned them, and aired them as much as possible...and I don't think I offended anyone!

The black with white polka-dots pants were cool and comfortable; on one day the dust turned the polka-dots beige, but after a wash, they were fine. No wrinkles, no spots, excellent!

The Eileen Fisher pants are somewhere between leggings and a slim pant, and with one of my knit tunic tops, allowed me to feel a little "dressy".

As far as laundry goes, I don't rely on hotels, as many of the places we go have no laundry services. I wash my underwear in the shower every night, and wait for a two-night stay to wash things that need a little more drying time.

One more word, not wardrobe-related; being the techie I am, the development of the iPad has changed how I travel. No more MP3 players, phones, books, etc.
I downloaded both Dave's and my pictures daily, was able to look at them, do basic editing, and add them to my blog posts easily. The blogging was done with simple iPad apps, and saved for those rare times when I had wi-fi access, to post.  I read at least 7 books, and watched the first season of Downton Abbey. I kicked myself for not pre-downloading maps, itineraries, etc. which is easy enough to do. I used a Notes app to make notes as we went along so that I could remember where we went, what we saw, and how I felt about it. And, of course, when we DID have wi-fi, I was able to check in with my nearest and dearest.

Bon Voyage!