Button, Button, Who's Got the Button?

I do!  I do!  Well, Joy and I do!  Lots and lots of buttons

Now these aren't just any old buttons that you can buy at Hancocks or JoAnns.  These are BUTTONS.  Beautiful, special buttons made of glass, wood, shell, enamel, and even some plastic (shudder), but all very special.

As I told you three weeks ago, (I can't believe it has been three weeks since I last wrote in my blog.  I obviously live a very boring life!) our favorite fabric store, The Cloth Merchant, is closing the middle of October.  They have a wall of buttons.  Gorgeous buttons.  I would call Debbie and say, "Hi, Debbie!  I need buttons for the fabric that I bought last time.  You remember it, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah.  She would send me an email with pictures of several buttons and I would call and say send me the blah blah ones.  A couple of days later they would arrive in the mail and I would be delighted.  I wish I had done that more often. 

Joy and I talked about their buttons  earlier this week and how much we were going to miss getting buttons from them.  Anyway,  I got the bright idea of  driving to Tulsa this morning, timing it to arrive when TCM opens at 10:00 a.m..  We were going to shop for buttons, have lunch and then head back home.  I figured we would be home between 2:00 and 2:30.  Now I should have known better than that!  But it sounded good to my husband.  Oh, yes, we were scheduled to have the grandkids this afternoon starting at noon.  I figured DH could handle the kids for a couple of hours without me.

I got up this morning to pouring down rain.  Not the greatest of weather for a Road Trip, but not bad enough to stop us.  I got all dressed, did my hair, put on makeup; the "I'm going somewhere" thing, not the "Its Saturday and I can just whip a brush through my hair, brush my teeth and skip the makeup" thing. 

I hopped into the car and backed out only to discover that the moon roof was not quite completely closed and water had gathered in the corner over my head.  Of course, when I backed out the water ran out of that corner right on top of my hair and down my face!  Forget the hair and makeup!  Oh, well, we are going on a ROAD TRIP.  Woo Hoo!  I did make sure the moon roof was now closed tight and took a paper towel and dried up any extra water that might still have been up there.  Didn't want Joy's hair to get ruined.

I pulled up to the gas pump because I wanted to top off my gas tank.  I didn't want to start out on a 250 mile round trip with just a half a tank of gas.  Just as I was getting my debit card out to go buy the gas, Joy called.  She wanted me to know it was okay if I wanted to cancel because of the weather.  Weather?  Why would a little rain stop us from making our ROAD TRIP?  I'd cancel if we were traveling after dark and it was raining!  I'd cancel if it was snowing or even threatening to snow, or in this part of the country, I'd cancel if the weatherman was calling for ice or sleet.  I don't do those things, but for a little rain, heck no, I'm not canceling a ROAD TRIP!  Got out of the car and went to pump the gas only to discover that there was a leak right over the area where I had to stand to pump the gas.  Drip, drip, drip right on the top of my head.  Thankfully, I had my raincoat on and the hood up.  Didn't take long for the pump to click off.  I closed the gas tank and hopped back into the car only to discover that I had only pumped a couple of gallons and I had just a little over a half tank.  Sigh!  I decided I could get gas in Edmond.  I headed off to Joy's house.  Yes, I did stop before I got there and finished topping off my tank.  No drips on my head as I pumped the gas, but this time the drip was right over my car door.

I walked in the back door at Joy's and greeted Jerry.  He told me Joy would be out in just a minute.  Then he looked at me and said, "I can't believe you two are going to drive two hours one way in this weather just for buttons!"  Really!  I was standing there in my raincoat with my once lovely hair now wet and flat and my face washed clean of all my makeup and he is asking me why we would go 125 miles one way in the rain for buttons!  Didn't he understand?  The buttons were just the excuse!  This was an all girl ROAD TRIP!  Lots of time to talk and laugh and hoot out loud.  Stop and eat where we wanted.  No kids or husbands to take care of.  Good shopping time with someone that understands that you have to pull out five sets of buttons just to find the perfect set.  We were going on a ROAD TRIP!!!!

I tried to explain it to him, but I don't think he got it.  Thankfully, Jerry knows, as does my dear Roger, that nothing should stand in the way of an all girl ROAD TRIP!

So, off we went.  I had to drive slower than usual because of the weather.  I mean, just because it is a ROAD TRIP, does not mean that I wasn't going to be careful.  Joy said if it started to lightening we had to pull over, which I thought was a rather strange thing to do.  I mean, I've never heard of a car being hit by lightening.  I guess it could happen, but unless the road was higher than the trees all around us I figured we were pretty safe.  Anyway, it took almost two hours to make a trip that normally takes 75-90 minutes, but the time flew by because we were talking, laughing and hooting!

TCM was busy when we arrived.  Of course, there was a woman and her daughter standing right in front of the buttons where we wanted to be.  They finally moved and Joy and her sister, Janice, and I hogged the button wall after that.  Janice met us at TCM and helped Joy pick buttons while I picked out some.  I wanted some of all of them and I thought I must have bought a gillion until I laid them out and took a picture.  I had budgeted $50.00 in my head for the buttons.  Oh, that was funny!  I must have spent that in the first five minutes.   I am a Dave Ramsey Financial Peace University failure!  Sob! Sob!  But I do have buttons,  $158.00 of beautiful buttons and I will jump back onto the budget starting tomorrow.  I also bought a couple of end pieces of fabric and a package of Louise Cutting's elastic, so, as Joy reported in her blog, I did spend $200.00. I plan to use each and everyone of those buttons and when the garment is worn out or gets tiresome, I'm cutting them off and re-using them.  My $158.00 of buttons may last me the rest of my life!

We had lunch at a place that Janice knew of not too far from TCM.  Good food and lots of talk, laughter and hoots!  Then back to TCM we went to finish our shopping and pay for everything we bought.  About 1:00 p.m. I had a text message from Roger, "Are you on your way home yet?"  My response was, "Uh......no!"  What?  Did he think we were going to cut our ROAD TRIP short just because the grandkids had arrived?  No!

I don't even know what time we left TCM, but the rain had stopped and the sun was out and we did even more talking going home.  What a lovely, fun day we had.  If we had let a little rain stop us we would have completely missed out on a wonderful day and lots of gorgeous buttons!  Oh, and I was home by 4:00 and fixed dinner and did the dishes afterwards.  Roger even admitted that the kids weren't a problem.

So here are my beautiful buttons.  The top two rows were 50% off and the rest were 30% off.  The big ones on the right side will be used for purses or when I need just one special button for the finishing touch.

Happy Sewing!

Hugs, Phylly

A Weekend of Fun and Sadness

Roger and I just arrived home from a weekend spent with our oldest daughter and son-in-law, Heather and Ron and their two boys, Blake and A.J. I have decided that I consider Ron my son, that is why I crossed out the in-law part.  He belongs to us as much as Heather does.

Anyway, we didn't leave the three grandchildren that we take care of all the time behind.  Joshua, Keira, and Justin went with us.  Roger and Ron are big Ford truck enthusiast and they had a Ford Truck Meet at some members super nice garage.  They were very impressed with it, like I am with Joy's sewing room.  A place for everything and just gorgeous.

The older four of the grandkids are good friends and always have a blast when we get together.  Of course, Uncle Ron always has big plans for them and this trip was no different.  One trip they had Mentos and Diet Coke rockets.  This time he had built some kind of contraption with  balls and polls and they had a fantastic time.  Then he turned on the water sprinklers and handed out super soakers and they all had a good time, with Justin entertaining himself in a bucket filled with water.

Kids ages are 11, 8 1/2, 8, 6 1/2, and 2.  Heather and I took all of them for ice cream cones while the guys were at their truck meet.  As we sat at Braums amid two teams of junior high football players, I looked over at Heather and commented, "You realize these people think all of the kids are yours."  A look of shock came over her face.  I thought she was going to get up and start telling every table that she was only the mother of the two dark headed ones.   It just cracked me up!

When the guys got home, we still had time to visit her local knitting store, The Knitting Nook.  What a lovely place.  This is the second or third time I've been there with Heather, but they greet me and help me with things just like they do Heather, who is a frequent customer/knitter.  They were having a "Yarn Tasting", which was a trunk show for Cascade Yarns.  They had dishes set up on all of their display tables.  Beside each dish was a set of knitting needles and on the dish was one to three balls of yarn.  The idea was that you could pick up the needles and knit a row or two or three so that you could try the yarn out.  What an absolutely wonderful idea.  Heather and I both fell in love with one yarn, but, of course, they didn't have it in the store, but ordered it for us plus some extra because after we showed interest in it, others came up and wanted to try it.  Oh, they were also giving away door prizes and both Heather and I walked out with free yarn and a pattern.  That was a pretty cool trip to a knitting store.  I forgot, they had a table full of food, as in cookies, candy, and brownies that were really tempting, but we both resisted since we had ice cream cones earlier.

But now I must talk about the sad part of my weekend.  Friday I checked my email and had an announcement of a Whine and Cheese party being held at my favorite fabric store which just happens to be in Tulsa.  The party was being held on Sunday, which was unusual since they aren't normally open on Sunday.  Yeah, I could go.  But, boo hoo hoo, it is the beginning of their going out of business sale and they wanted to give their loyal customers a chance to get what they wanted before the general public.   Since I was in Owasso, which is just next door to Tulsa, there was no doubt I was going.  I would have come up just for it if I wasn't in Tulsa.  Debbie and Nancy are just two very special people and I really hate to see them close their doors.  I had an email from Joy immediately after and she was as shocked and heart broken as I.

It turns out that with the economy and the fact that there isn't the strong interest in sewing they just weren't making it.  Okay, the interest is coming back, but it is mainly in quilting or from people that buy cheap fabric at Hancocks or JoAnns and have no idea how lovely it is to sew really quality fabric.  They don't value their own time.  Yes, good fabric is expensive, but it is a pleasure to sew and wears so much better than the cheap stuff.  I order a lot from the internet, too, which is another problem for the local fine fabric stores.  Actually, if I wanted fabric from Cloth Merchants, I did order over the internet, because I am a hundred miles from them.  I paid shipping costs and sales tax as well as the price of good fabric, because it was worth it. 

The lesson to me is to value the fine fabric stores.  There is one in OKC, but it is across town from me in an area that I seldom go to.  In order to patronize it I will have to make a special trip to shop there.  My time is very limited and just don't know if I will make the time to go there.  I also don't like the way it is arranged.  I find it hard to find what I want there and even the people that work there admit that they can't find fabrics.

 Shall I take my limited amount of sewing time and go to the local store or do I shop on the internet?  If we each find two or three special stores on the internet and support them wouldn't that do almost the same as shopping at the local store if they carry fine fabrics?
  So, what shall I do? I am really feeling heartsick over Cloth Merchants. How do we keep the fine fabric stores in business, whether they are local or on the internet?  I didn't teach my girls to sew.  Neither had an interest.   I learned to sew, because it was just part of being a woman, I thought.  I still have a hard time understanding how a home can be maintained without at least one sewing machine in the house.  How do we encourage our girls and even our guys to learn to sew and to value fine fabrics?  Has our society become too much of a disposable/throw away society to value time spent working with fine fabrics?

I'm thinking I can make a point of buying fine fabrics whether they are at my local fine fabric store or from two or three internet stores that I like and can establish a relationship with.  I'm also thinking that I can take the time and try to find the patience to teach my grandchildren to sew.  That patience thing is the hard point as they tend to bring out my anxieties when they are in my sewing room.

As you can see by the picture above, I bought my share today to help Debbie and Nancy clean out the store.  At the very front are four pants weight fabrics. The print to the left on the back row is a fraternal twin to the fabric Joy made her AND jacket from.  The next three are beautiful knits, the middle one even has sequins.  Then there is a turquoise linen and a pink linen for tops. Lastly is a red print with large flowers that looks more like Joy than me, but I've drooled over it a couple of times before, so I decided I was going to buy it today.  There is one other fabric that got cut off from the picture and it is a grey and tan Liberty of  London print.  I also bought three spools of thread and a package of interfacing.

Fare Thee Well,Cloth Merchants.  I will miss you dearly.

Hugs, Phylly

Its Better Than "Good Enough", Its Perfect! Well, Almost Perfect!

I usually settle for good enough instead of continuing to work for perfect.  I'm not saying I won't do that in the future, but this time I was determined that my Sure-Fit Designs™ Blue Print was going to be perfect because if I am going to use it for pattern work I don't want to be transferring problems into the next design.

Now this is a Happy Face!

 

No, this is the flat backside you are seeing.  The Happy Face is the picture above this one.


I had the three grandchildren on Sunday, so didn't get any sewing done at all.  But bright and early on Monday morning, which happened to be Labor Day and a Holiday, I started drawing off my new SFD Version of ABO  I used the SFD through the shoulder, armscye and the dart.  From the dart I went straight down and used the ABO pattern to determine how long to make it.  The ABO is basically straight, so this was a very easy pattern to change using my SFD blue print. I did lower the neckline a bit lower than the ABO since I didn't want to put the tab on the back that the ABO has.  I cut the pattern out of a piece of cotton quilting fabric that I picked up in Dallas a couple of years ago.

I noticed a few problems when I basted it together.
This is a bad "bathroom in the mirror" picture, but you can see that there is something wrong with the bust area.  Sometimes I have problems with darts
sticking out and wanting to make a point out on the side all by itself.  Normally, I do the "good enough" thing and ignore it, but this time I wanted it fixed.  I've been told that means the dart is too long, too wide, and/or comes to a point too fast.  So, I shortened the dart by half an inch.  That made it worse.  So I made it a curved dart.  Now the dart wanted to create its own fold.  Then I remembered a class with Lorraine Henry in which we were discussing my extra pointy darts and she said to do what the fabric told you it wanted to do.  So, I followed that fold and pinched it up until it disappeared.  I took a couple of pins and pinned that in.  I don't recommend this procedure as it was rather painful since the pins did not want to cooperate and go into the fabric.  Somehow, the pins found themselves into me each time.  took the top off and marked each dart on the inside with chalk and then stitched them.

 The stitching on the right was the shortened dart.  The dart to the left was the final stitching.  You can see it comes close to the end of the original dart and then actually becomes very shallow and and an inch longer than I usually do my darts.  These darts come to within 1.5" of my apex.  I usually stop my darts 2 to 2 1/2 inches from the apex.  I transferred this to my pattern and to my SFD Blue Print.

See the little extended point.  It is hard to see, but it is also curved in.  In the fabric it almost curves around my bust a little to allow for the fullness right in that area.  Yes, another one of my body's idiosyncrasies.

While I'm talking about the bust dart there was another change that I made in my SFD/ABO pattern.  I drew the front side seam straight down from the bottom of the dart.  After I sewed the dart into the front the side seam didn't meet the back seam properly.  I had a V dip in the area of the dart.  In order to sew the sides together I had to twist the front side seam a bit, which created a drag line under the arm.

Nothing like a shot of someone's underarm.  At least I removed the rest of the wrinkly arm!  Anyway, you can see the drag line.  There isn't anything I can do about it in this top, but I wanted to know why it was happening so I went back to the paper pattern.  The SFD/ABO pattern did the same thing when I folded out the dart.  So, I pulled out the SFD Blue Print and folded out the dart and the side matched up perfectly.  It wasn't the SFD BP, it was how I translated it into the ABO pattern.  So, I taped extra paper all along the side of the pattern, folded the dart and then cut the side straight.  When I unfolded it, I had a corrected dart, so the next top won't have that drag line.  This is another problem I have had in other altered patterns and it is caused by my poor drafting skills.  But now I know what I have to do to fix it.

The pink lines are the new seam lines for my dart in the SFD/ABO.  The change in the dart is because I made the sides straight instead of fitted like the Blue Print.

Lastly, was the sleeves.  I did the whole sleeve as a 42.  When I put the top on this morning I thought the sleeves or the back of the armhole felt a bit snug when I reached forward.  Not bad, but just a little snug, although I didn't have any problem driving or working on my computer.  But I met Joy for lunch (good excuse, as if we needed one) so she could look at it and see what she thought.  We agreed that it is actually the cap of the sleeve that was a bit snug, so, I will re-draw the sleeve on the Blue Print and on my SFD/ABO pattern and use a 44 for the back of the sleeve.

Thanks Glenda for the challenge.  I am absolutely thrilled that my SFD Blue Print is fitting so well. I intend to continue using it to make my patterns and yes, I'll just do it.

Just a word to those of you that haven't really used SFD.  I did a lot of the alterations that I knew my body would still need even with SFD as I was drawing out the pattern.  Joy and I have been working on fitting our bodies for four years now.  I know my body's problems/idiosyncrasies/uniqueness; whatever you want to call it.  Until you reach the point we have, please follow the directions that comes with SFD.  You will get a really good fit and will just have to tweak the fit a bit to make it almost perfect.  I don't want someone new to SFD to do what I did and then be disappointed and blame SFD.  It is a fantastic system.  If you don't use it you really should.  If you don't have it, why not? No, I have no connection with SFD other than a happy customer.

Happy Sewing!
Hugs, Phylly

My Perfect Sure-Fit Design Blue Print

If you read my last blog you know I was planning on working on the Sewing Workshop eShrug.  I did print out the pattern, taped it together and then drew it off on tissue paper.  I hate working with regular paper.  I always wind up with my hands cut up with paper cuts.  I am a paper cut wimp.  The only thing worse is pin rips in your hands.   One of these days I'll tell you about the tribulations of professional quilters!

I had also commented that because of the super boobage I panic when I try to combine a SFD Blue Print and a commercial pattern.  For me they are so different that I can't figure out how to work them into one pattern.  But Glenda, SFD's owner and designing magician encouraged me to just give it a try.  I decided it was a challenge so I set aside the eShrug to work with SFD. 

Now, I am very familiar with SFD.  Joy and I explored it a lot about three years ago.  But Joy has really worked with it a lot more than I have.  I tend to jump from pattern to pattern.  I have to do a lot of work on patterns to get them to fit me, so you would think that I would use a pattern multiple times once I get it to fit Nope, not me!  But recently, I discovered Louise Cuttings pattern line and I have been doing multiples of them because they seem to suit me so well.  The one thing I find with her patterns that I don't care for is that they are almost always over the shoulder and with my narrow shoulders, the shoulder is halfway to my elbow.

With Glenda's challenge to just do it.  I decided to re-make that pattern so the shoulders are where I want them.  Now, before you read the rest of this, please realize that I did not follow the instructions in the SFD book or video.  When you follow those instructions things work really well.  I promise they do.  I've just done it enough that I've started doing my own thing; not to mention when you don't read the instructions, you tend to forget the little things.  So any mistakes or problems I had are my own fault. Not SFD's

The first thing I had to do was make a new SFD Blue Print.  I've made a dozen of them, but it had been a while since I did one, so I whipped out my dress kit and my paper and made up a new one.  I remembered that the best fitting SFD that I ever did I used a 38 at the neck and shoulders; at the first armhole point I moved up to 40 and at the second armhole point I went to 42 and used that along the sides until I got to the waist.  So that is exactly what I did.  I pinned it together and checked the fit in the mirror.  Hmmmmm.......a problem, it didn't make it to the middle in the front.  Argh!  It needed an FBA!  I'm not supposed to need an FBA with SFD.  So, back to my cutting table to whip out another blue print.  This time I used the 42 all the way around until I got to the waist.  As I did this I realized that on the first one I had used the E cup instead of the F cup.  (Slapping my head. No wonder the first one didn't fit.)  So, I pinned the second one together.  Hmmmmm......., it still didn't quite meet the middle; still needed an FBA, but only an inch.  Back to the cutting table to add the extra inch.  Again, obviously, I'm not doing it right or I wouldn't need that extra FBA.  Now it met in the middle, but I had all this extra paper in the area above the bust. SFD is drawn to your measurements so it fits better than any pattern you can buy, but each body still has idiosyncrasies that you have to adjust for.  My body has lots of idiosyncrasies.  It comes from being sixty, bad posture, too many hours at the computer and sewing machine and carrying heavy purses and babies with one hip and shoulder. I have a round upper back, forward thrusting shoulders and I'm very narrow through the front, plus one shoulder is lower than the other.  That is above the waist; below the waist one word describes my body--short.

So, I took a marker and marked out all the extra that had to be removed in the front between the shoulders.  I noted the end of the shoulders needed to be moved forward an inch and I needed to add an inch for my round back.  So, I went back to my cutting table and did the third SFD.  Usually, I am not this persistent and would have just done the alterations in that second one.  OK, I would have done them to the first one and declared it good enough!  But I am tired of the shoulders never fitting in my tops, so I was determined to work out the problems and figure out what my problem is with shoulders, sleeves and armholes.  I started on the third one by marking the 38 and the 42 through the neck and the shoulder.  Then I laid the second BP on top and compared it with the changes that I knew it needed for my body.  I used the 38 at the neck, went to the 42 at the top of the shoulder and placed the end of the shoulder at 35.  The 35 accommodates the forward thrusting shoulder.  When I laid the pattern on top of the narrow chest I found that I needed to go to the 38 for the first number in the armhole and then went out to the 42 for the second number.  (Glenda, I'm sure your head is in your hands and you are wondering what I am doing to your beautiful system.  It is okay, I promise.There is nothing wrong with your system.  It is my body that is weird!)

For some reason, I picked up and actually read the instructions for those of us that need a bigger cup than the Adjust-a-Bust allows.  I was one of those that helped Glenda figure out what needed to be done.  I had already added an extension to my Adjust-a-Bust before she provided the instructions.  But as I read the instructions I found that my middle point on the AaB should be 2 1/2" from the one for the E cup instead of the inch that I had been using.  TaDa!  Didn't need the FBA anymore.  With that change, I was able to finish the front and move on to the back.

Oh, I forgot to say that I used the armhole template for the larger sizes between the two armhole points.  I liked the armhole that I got doing that better than using the design tool.

The back started with the 42 at the neck and the first shoulder point.  Then I added the 1" for the forward thrusting shoulder and found that I needed to use 48 for the 2nd shoulder point.  Coming down from there I used the 38 for the first armhole point and out to the 42 for the 2nd point.  I finished drawing the side and the vertical darts. I cut it out and did the round back alteration.  I pinned it together, tried it on and looked in the mirror.

IT WAS PERFECT!!!!!  It fit through the bust without any extra paper in the upper chest.  The shoulder seam was exactly on my shoulder and the neckline at the back set exactly where I needed it.  I was so happy!  I've never had any pattern fit me that perfectly before.  Of course, I still have to set the sleeve into it and see how it fits, but I have two inches of ease and I measured the armhole and the sleeve cap and found that the sleeve cap is 1 inch bigger than the armhole, which I believe is just right.  So, I am thinking it should be good.

I then drew off a blouse to try out the new pattern.  I have it cut out.  I kept the parts of the CLD's ABO that I liked but eliminated a lot of the extra ease (11" through the bust).  Hopefully, I can sew it up tomorrow and have a picture or two to add to the blog instead just my boring writing.

Happy Sewing Everyone!
Hugs, Phylly

Ta Da..... or Whew! It is finally finished!

Yes, I did it!  I finally finished the artistic top that turned out not so artistic, but finished.  That is okay because it makes me happy when I wear it, which I did today.  It  definitely isn't boring. 

Wonderfully artistic isn't it? (Said with tongue in cheek so it sounds more like "Wunrfrll lrtk id ni")  I tried. I did get the green color in it and the pinks near my face. All that strip piecing is much too time consuming for someone that works 40 hours a week and comes home to three kids, a husband, and a very dirty house.  Not to mention all the laundry and the cooking and dishes. So, I minimized it and through in a bit of the Tilton sisters with the different fabrics I used. But Joy Joy loved it and I got several compliments on it at work, so it can't be too bad.

The fit could use some work and so, I think I will be working on this pattern with my SFD blue print.  That is another story.  I love using SFD, but every time I've tried to use it with a pattern I get scared and go back to Palmer-Plestching it.  I know that isn't a verb, but Joy and I have turned it into one, although we usually abbreviate it to P&P it.  If you saw my size F bust dart and what it looks like next to a commercial pattern, you would understand my fear.  Especially  after I change that size F bust dart to a princess seam. The top of the shoulder looks like it would be on the side of my arm.  I look at that weird thing and then look at the commercial pattern and say, "How the heck is that normal looking thing (the commercial pattern) going to be changed into something that looks like my weird bust pattern.  Then I stuff SFD ( Sure-Fit Design) back into its envelope.  Joy has made it work so well, that I really feel I ought to be able to do it to.  After all, we have to do everything together! ;-)

Next, I think I am going to do a shrug to go with a purple outfit that I have.  I bought the fabrics at Cloth Merchants in Tulsa with the idea of making a top and pants.  Instead, I managed to get a top and pants out of the first fabric, so I'm thinking that the sheer fabric I had planned to be used for a lined top will become a sheer shrug to wear over the others.  That third piece makes such a difference in what I look like.

This is totally off the subject of sewing, but I consider this my journal, too.  I need to say something here that I think is important.  It is about character and decision making.

I'm sixty years old and a good portion of my life I have spent working in credit unions.  I've done everything from working the teller line to being the President/CEO of a credit union in the DC area.  However, most of my time was spent in the loan department as a loan officer or an underwriter.  This is back when the loan officers actually made a decision and didn't rely on the computer to tell them if the loan was good or not. (Sorry, but in my opinion it takes a person to make that decision, which is probably a reason I don't work at credit unions any more.)  In other words, loan officers were hired for their judgement and underwriters not only had good judgement, they were the pickiest of the nit-pickers.Working in loans you develop instincts about what makes a good loan and what makes a bad loan.  You had to be able to back it up with facts, but I could usually tell within ten minutes of meeting the person if it was going to be a good loan or not.

The facts you need to back up your decision came from the "3 C's", Collateral, Capacity, and Character.  Collateral was what was offered to secure a loan, a car, a house, or a signature. Capacity is the ability to re-pay the loan; does the borrower have sufficient income compared to debts to pay the loan.  Those are both important, but to me, the most important thing is Character.  For character, I looked not only at the interview and the application, but the discussion over the credit report.  What I found over the years was that you saw patterns of behaviour from that discussion.  If the borrower had flawless credit and a reasonably low level of credit, that was an easy loan.  If there were one or two 30 day late pays and they could explain, ("The baby came two weeks early and in all the excitement, I forgot to make my payment.") then as long as the capacity was there it was probably a good loan.  But if there were more or bigger problems on the credit report then the discussion became really important.  If I asked about a problem and the response was something to the effect, "it was somebody else's fault" and I felt the explanation made sense, I went on to the next problem.  If the answer was again "it was somebody else's fault" I became concerned.  The pattern that was emerging was one of bad decisions and blaming others or bad luck for those decisions.  If that was the end of the bad credit I would ask for documentation to prove their version of those two things.  However, if there was still more credit problems and it always came down to "it wasn't my fault" they weren't going to get the loan, because I realized that their next bad decision could mean my loan wouldn't be paid.

I see so many young people now that are like that.  They don't realize that it is their own bad decisions that are causing their problems in life.  Everyone has bad things happen to them, but again, it is the way you handle those problems and the decisions that you make that will make the difference in your life.

$100,000 in student loans to get a degree that will earn you $30,000 a year is a bad decision.

Getting pregnant before you are married is a stupid thing to do.  Okay, in my opinion having sex outside of marriage is stupid, not to mention it is a sin. But having a baby that you can't support is equally stupid.  Killing that unborn child is murder, plain and simple.  From the time that child is conceived it is a human being and has rights to life every bit as strong as the mother's right to life.  So, if you fall into sin and do get pregnant, at least give that child a chance and give him/her up for adoption.  You will have a better life and so will that child.  For Pete's sake, don't get married just because you are pregnant.  Which brings me to the next thing.

Marrying the wrong person is the biggest mistake you can make in your life and will make the biggest difference in the life you lead.  Don't marry someone that is not ethical or trustworthy.  If he/she lies to you now, you better believe he/she will lie to you later. 

Stay out of debt!  Yes, this is the former loan officer saying, "Stay out of Debt".  As the Bible says and Dave Ramsey repeats so often, "The borrower is slave to the lender."  Don't enslave yourself for a new car.

Just think and make smart decisions.  Be honest with yourself and others.Maybe someone reading this will be helped by it.  I hope so.

I think Blogger is telling me it is time to stop and I still have the pictures to post. 
Hugs, Phylly

Hep! Hep! I Stuck!

That is what my youngest grandson Justin was yelling Saturday afternoon.  I came running from the kitchen into the living room where he was playing!  As I was running, I could hear my husband roaring with laughter, so I assumed it couldn't be too horribly serious.  Sure enough, Justin was standing on his head in my recliner and couldn't figure out how to get out of the position.  About another hour later there was the same cry, "Hep! Hep! I stuck!"  This time he had tried to slide under the TV stand to get a toy out from under it.  Most people would have tried to reach under it with their arms but not Justin.  When I walked into the living room all I could see of him was from the waist up. "Hep, Nana! I stuck!"  Again, my husband was sitting in his chair grinning from ear to ear.  I reached down and grabbed Justin by the hands and just slid him out from under the TV stand.  He took off to see what other situation he could get into.  Life is never dull with a two year old around for entertainment.

But, right now I'm feeling like I need to yell out, "Hep! Hep! I'm stuck".  I'm in the middle of a creative project and that is just the way I'm feeling.  I started this strippy top with lots of enthusiasm and ideas.  It has gone through a 1" wide strip phase, to a Bargello patchwork phase and back to a stripped variable width, but narrower than 1" phase and I feel like I'm getting no where.  Every book I've ever read by a fabric artist and every video I've seen by a fabric artist all say the same thing, "Just take the fabric and play with it until you get what you like."  I think what I am learning is that I don't know how to play, or I don't like playing.  I am not really comfortable with "going with the flow".  I want to make a plan and have it turn out like I planned it the first time.  I don't expect to execute that plan and then not like it and have to change it into something else.

Secondly, my time is very limited and playing with the fabric and changing my mind every five minutes takes lots of time, which I don't have.  I love the process of fitting and making the pattern. But this playing thing takes too much time. I can easily spend two weeks altering a pattern until it fits me.  But that I think out and figure out what I need to do and then do it.  But this artistic thing is just too much for me.

After two weeks this is all that I have.  It isn't even wide enough for half of the front.  Of course, I have been hampered by a case of allergic conjunctivitis, according to my doctor.  In other words, last week my allergies went wild causing my eye lids to swell up until I could barely open my eyes.  My vision was blurry, too.  I take allergy medicine everyday and use a steroid nasal spray, so why should my allergies be able to do that?  Mainly, I spent my evenings sitting with my eyes closed as much as possible last week.  I finally went to the doctor and he gave me a 'script for steroid drops to put into my eyes.  They are still super sensitive to light and tend to want to get blurry.  At least now I can sew again.

I've got a lot of time and fabric invested in this top, but I'm seriously wondering if I am going to finish it.  I'm not even sure I will like it if I do finish it.  I started this project as the answer to what to wear with a pair of pants that I made out of the dark green material.  It is a beautiful material, but just not a color that I want near my face unless I want everyone asking if I am sick..  I decided this morning that there was no reason that I couldn't wear the pants with a pink floral top so I wore them to work.  So, do I really need this top?  What to do; what to do?

Help! Help! I'm stuck!

Hugs, Phylly

Slicing and Dicing

First I must rant.  Why is it that when mothers/grandmothers watch the children they are responsible for them, but when fathers/grandfathers watch the children it is the mother/grandmother that is still responsible for them?  I don't get it!

Today, I was fixing dinner and since what I was cooking involved hot popping grease I did not want the children in the kitchen.  The older two were next door playing, so they weren't the problem.  It was their two year old brother Justin that was the problem.  You remember this kind of two year old; he's never seen a wall he can't climb, a bowl of water he won't dump,  the back of a couch he won't jump off of, a mud puddle he won't jump in, or a door he can't open.  Yes, that is our sweet little grandson, also known as "Nana's Little Terror".  Anyway, all went well for a while.  I could hear the TV and Justin playing (meaning toys being thrown or dropped) and an occasional, "No, Justin! Don't do that!  Do you want a spanking?" and Justin's sweet little, "Yes."  He says, "Yes" like most kids say, "No"  After a while I realized I wasn't hearing Justin playing.  So, I yelled to my DH in the living room, "What's going on with Justin?  It is awful quiet."  I heard some mumbling and grumbling coming from the living room and then "I'll find him."  I headed to the living room to help just in time to see Roger come out of our bedroom with Justin held at arm's length in front of him.  My husband says, "I KNOW WHY THEIR TOILET WAS STOPPED UP LAST WEEK!He's got the toilet stopped up and water is over flowing all over the floor!!!"  Then he plopped Justin down on the floor and yanked the soppy wet jeans and shirt off of him and stomped back into the bathroom to clean up the mess. I stripped the soggy diaper off of Justin, and let him run around for a minute naked while I turned the fire down under everything on the stove.  Then I cleaned him up and dried him off, put a clean diaper on him and found clean clothes for him to wear.  I plopped him down in the chair and made him sit there for two minutes. He knew he was in trouble and he better behave.

I can understand why Roger was mad at Justin.  Obviously, Justin misbehaved.  But why was he mad at me?  Okay, I went to the bathroom and forgot to put the latch back on the door, but if he had been watching the little guy,  he wouldn't have had a chance to make such a mess.  Neither of us are yellers by nature, but this time when he yelled at me about not latching the door I yelled back at him about not watching the child.  I can take care of three children at the same time and cook a meal.  I might not be able to breathe when dinner is ready (the anxiety thing), but none of them would have made a mess or been in danger.  Why can't he watch one little boy and keep him out of trouble? This is not the first time he's made a mess in the bathroom while Roger was watching him!

I will also point out that after dinner, DH hid out in the bedroom with the door closed and locked while I did dishes and watched all three kids until their Mom picked them up after work.

So, I ask you again, why is it that when mothers/grandmothers watche the children, they are responsible for the children, but when fathers/grandfathers watche the children, it is still the mother/grandmother that is responsible?

Here is what I accomplished tonight.  I laid the strips I did on top of another fabric that coordinates.  I think I am going to need more fabric. It take a lot more fabric than you realize when you start sewing them together.  You lose 1/2" of every strip you cut.

I think I prefer it better without the coordinating fabric that I laid the strips on.  It just doesn't have enough pink in it.  I'll have to do some more stash diving. I may need to find another green.

Happy Sewing!

Hugs, Phylly

ABO Top Inspired by Artist Ann Williamson

Thank God for talented people like Ann Williamson that can inspire us much less talented people.  I wrote about her work in an earlier blog.  Since my blog is so new it ought to be easy for you to find it.  I believe I called it, "Inspiration".  I just love her work.  She must have infinite patience to do all the applique and hand beading that she does.  Then there is the hand embroidery!  I would love to have her talent and her patience.  Unfortunately, I don't.  I can't draw worth beans, but I can copy.  I do know how to strip piece and while I won't be using kimono silks, I will be using good cotton quilting fabrics and lining it with fine cotton batiste.

 This is the article in Threads Magazine Feb/Mar 2012 that inspired what I plan to do.  I remember reading the article and drooling over the pictures.  It is available as an article on the Threads Insider Website.  If you are a serious seamstress, sewer, sewist, or whatever you call yourself, you need to read Threads Magazine, and be a member of Threads Insider.  At least be a member of Threads Insider.  You really get so much for your money.

Actually, this little artistic top will be the solution to a dilemma that I have.  You see the Marfy/MSS pants are made of a beautiful Tencel fabric that Joy Joy gave me a year or two ago.  It is a sort of an olive green color, which is most definitely NOT my color.  Joy bought the fabric at Cloth Merchants and washed it as she does every fabric she buys.  It came out of the washer fine, but when she took it out of the dryer she found that the color had crackled.  That means that everywhere there was a fold of fabric in the dryer it left a white line.  She was upset and called Cloth Merchant.  They generously refunded her money, but told her to keep the fabric.  She didn't know what to do with it.  She didn't want to throw it away, but she knew she wouldn't use it.  So, I told her to send it to me if she didn't want it and I would use it to practice embroidery on.  Well, my intentions to practice machine embroidery never were fulfilled. I always have lots of unfulfilled intentions when it comes to artistic endeavors.  Do you?

A few months ago, I ran across the fabric in my stash and decided I could dye it teal.  I bought dye at the local yarn store thinking since it was a "natural" fiber that was the proper dye. Yes, fabric dyeing is one of my unfulfilled intentions.  I should have read up on it again before I bought the dye as it turns out the dye I bought was for protein fibers like silk and wool.  The dye I needed was for cellulose fibers like linen and cotton.  Anyway, I read up on the dyes while my fabric was in the washer in hot water that was a beautiful shade of teal blue.  Unfortunately, the fabric came out a slightly bluer shade of olive green, that after being washed a couple of times to get out any extra dye is basically back to its olive green.  But the fabric had become very soft and the color of the fabric, including the crackled areas had become much softer looking so that it almost looks like a batik.  So, when the time came to make up the Marfy/MSS pants I decided it was the perfect fabric.  If the fit was off I wouldn't have wasted a fabric that mattered to me.  Although, come to think of it, I do have quite a bit of money invested in the fabric even if my dyeing didn't work.

 But then I needed a top to go with the pants.  So, last week while exercising I noticed the scraps of the Tencel laying next to a piece of a pink fabric and thought I could wear the pants with a pink top.  But I didn't want the sharp contrast of the pink top with the green pants.  My mind went back to Ann Williamson's work and I decided to strip piece the top.

I went to Threads Insider and found the article I had read and here is how she started so she could estimate the amount of fabric she would need. So I did that, too.  She probably cut slivers and sewed them up.  I will sew together a piece of pink to a piece of green and slice and dice and re-sew until I get what I like.  Then I will cut it out of the ABO pattern sew it up and line it with some cotton batiste that I already have.  Another unfulfilled artistic intention, smocking a baby gown.  (I have so many of those.  There just isn't enough time to do them all.)

If this doesn't work, I can always get the right dye and try again. 

The grandkids have arrived and I will have to get out of my sewing room now.  Sigh!  Never enough time in my sewing room.

Happy Sewing Everyone!

Hugs, Phylly

Why Mess Around With a Good Thing?

I have my Marfy/CLD MSS pants all stitched together.  They are fitting great.  I have the hems almost ready to be stitched.  Now I just have the waistband to cut out and attach. As I was picking out threads at one point this evening I got to thinking and wondering about something. 

I think I showed you the Marfy pattern and the CLD MSS pattern last week and compared them.  The Marfy pattern has a fly front, a waistband, darts and straight legs.  The straight legs are a bit full for me.

Louise Cutting's My Swing Set pants came out in February or March of this year.  Joy Joy and I were blessed to be able to take a class with Louise in Tulsa at the wonderful Cloth Merchants store.  We got to
try out the pattern before it was for sale and Louise fitted it for us.  I love, love, love this pattern.  It is the first time I have ever been able to get a pair of pants to look that good in the back.  Usually, I have folds down below my very flat butt, but not in the MSS pants.  The legs aren't too big either, another constant problem.  I have made three pairs of these pants.  It is too warm right now for the last pair I made.  I should be able to wear them again in another month.  I find that I go to the MSS pants constantly.  They are comfortable and they fit really well.

So, why did I decide that I needed to try the Marfy pattern?  Yes, I wanted a fly zipper and a regular waistband.  But reality is that the elastic waistband is not really uncomfortable.  Louise recommends cutting the elastic (purchased from her) 10"-12" less than your waist measurement.  I think I made the last pair only 9" smaller than my waist and I liked that better.  The elastic is very soft and you cut it smaller to keep the pants from sliding down.  However, I have a waist that is ten inches smaller than my high hips.  Nothing is going to fall off of me.  If my waist and hips were closer in size, I could see cutting it 10" smaller than my waist, but with my waist to hip difference, I think I am going to use 8-9" less than my waist measurement from now on.  Like I said before, I don't like even the thought of elastic pinching my waist. 

I do this all the time.  I get a pattern to fit me and make it once and then move on to another pattern.  The exception to that has been CLD's Relax A Little top.  I've made it three times and I took the first one that Joy made because she didn't like the way it fit her, but I was perfectly happy with the way it fit me.  I love that pattern and I will make it again.  Why don't I do that with more patterns?  Most people don't have any idea that the four RAL tops are the same pattern.  They are different fabrics, different number of buttons, different collar treatments.  Two have pockets and two don't.  I could make it longer or change the neckline.  Why don't I do that instead of starting over with a new pattern and trying to make it fit me?

With the Marfy pants I wanted to try the pattern line because I had read wonderful things about it.  But when I compared the CLD pattern and the Marfy pattern I found the crotch almost the same, but realized that the Marfy pants were going to be way too full for me, so I traced the Marfy waist onto the CLD pants.  I could have made fly front pants with a waistband from the CLD pants without the Marfy pattern, but I wanted to try the Marfy pattern.

Maybe I am constantly making new patterns because I like the process of making it fit me.  I am process driven more than results driven.  The process is like a puzzle and I love to work puzzles.  But why don't I use the TNTs like the CLD pants and the RAL top and work out different ways of changing them?  Wouldn't that be just as much of a puzzle?

Am I like the moth drawn to the fire and always looking for that bright and shiny new pattern to make me happy? 

How about you?  Do you jump from pattern to pattern and never really explore a pattern's full possibilities or do you have TNTs that are used over and over again?

Happy Sewing!

Hugs, Phylly

Marfy Pants and a Question

Is there a Rainbow Bridge for cats?  Of course, I know there isn't really a Rainbow Bridge for dogs, but I like to think that God has some special place for our beloved pets.  Heaven will certainly be a happier place with them than without.  I have several dogs waiting at the Rainbow Bridge for me; Tiny, my first dog, Brandy, the first dog Roger and I had, Peaches, our children's first pet, Cinnamon, my beloved Chocolate Lab, and Nutmeg, our sweet, but very neurotic Yellow Lab mix that was Cinnamon's faithful friend and kept him in line.  But there will only be two cats waiting for my family there.  We still have our Pepper cat, but yesterday, our three legged Seven of Nine went to be at the Rainbow Bridge.  Our home is a little sadder today because of it.

Seven came to us as a wild kitten that got caught in our fence.  We rescued her and took her to our Vet for emergency care.  Dr. Ramage is a wonderful Vet and we just love him and his staff.  The first thing he told me was that he would have to amputate her leg at the shoulder because the circulation had been cut off so long and that it would be almost impossible to find a home for her. Our household is a house full of dog lovers and with our two Labs, I wasn't sure how well a cat  would work.  Dr. Ramage assured me that the cat would be just fine because Labs are so friendly.  So she came home with us.  The dogs never bothered with her.  But she didn't have a thing to do with them either.  Actually, she moved into one bedroom and whomever lived in that bedroom became her personal servant and bed warmer.  She wouldn't have anything to do with anyone else.  First our daughter lived in the room with her and when she moved out, our son moved in.  Robert has taken care of her for the last ten years and it was he that held her in her last minutes.  I know he is missing her, but there will not be another feline addition to the household.  We do still have Mr. Pepper that came into the household as a friend for Seven.  Instead, he discovered the two Labs and kept them terrorized.  I swear he barks like a dog.  No meowing for him.  I've noticed Pepper has spent the day in Rob's room.  I guess they are both missing Seven.

I basted my Marfy/CLD pants together today and found that they were just a little snug through the hi-hip.  Nothing unusual about that.  I had added a second dart to the Marfy pattern, so I took those darts out, but it was still just a little more fitted than I like.  So I think tomorrow I will let out the area from the waist down  about four inches.  It won't take more than about 1/2".  But the backside had the good looks of the Louise Cutting's My Swing Set Pants.  I do love that pattern.

I didn't get much sewing time today and sorry, but no pictures.  We've had the kids since 9:00 a.m. this morning.  I took the oldest two up to school to meet their teachers since school starts tomorrow.  I expected to have most of the evening to sew, but my daughter came home from work and did not look well at all.  Her face was bright red and she said she hadn't felt well all day.  I wanted to take her to the ER, but she would not go.  I checked her blood pressure and it was 135/98.  I know that is way, way too high for that bottom figure.  I fed her some dinner and made her stay with us until it was time to put the kids to bed.  I also had her take a potassium tablet which I know should help.  I sat down with the kids and explained to them, that Mom was sick and it was very important that they not get her upset tonight.  We also made sure that Joshua knows how to use her phone to dial 911 and call me.  Her husband works nights and won't be home until in the morning.  I made her promise to check her blood pressure in the morning and go see her doctor if it was still high.  We did get her blood pressure down to 124/97, but that bottom number is still dangerously high.  I would like to call her, but I also want her to sleep right now.  I will be calling her in the morning.

Hugs, Phylly

This Really is A Little Bit of Sewing!

My intention in starting this blog was to write about my sewing and document  what I have learned and made.  However, I seem to keep writing about everything but sewing!

Tonight it is school supplies.  Have you bought school supplies lately.  My word!  I attended school in California from second grade up.  My parents didn't have to buy school supplies until I started middle school, or Junior High as it was known in California.

When our oldest daughter started school in Gearhart, Oregon I had to send a dozen pencils a couple of packages of notebook paper, a box of crayons, two boxes of cookies, a box of tissues and two rolls of paper towels.  I thought that was crazy.  Then we moved to California for a few years and we didn't have to furnish anything for school

In Hawaii, it was notebook paper, crayons, erasers, glue, paper towels.  I don't remember all of it, but I do remember walking them to school the first day and we got all of it in my red wagon (Not a station wagon, a four wheel red wagon with a long black handle. I bought it for unloading groceries and bringing them from the parking lot to our town house.  Very handy.  Yes, it was MINE.)  We even carried the neighbor's school supplies in it.  That wasn't so bad for my three and my neighbor's one.

From there it was Washington state, and I don't really even remember school supplies until the oldest one hit middle school.  Next it was Virginia, and when we arrived there we bought notebook paper, pens, pencils, and crayons, plus we paid a book fee of $2.00 for each child and a supply fee of $20.00 per child.  By then I wasn't even surprised.

I volunteer each year to get school supplies for the two grandchildren that we take care of that are school age. I met Roger for dinner and then we went over to Walmart.  Thank God he was with me or I would have turned around and come home.  I do not like Walmart; I do not like crowds, and I really do not like Walmart when there are crowds and everyone is going every which way.  I deal with an Anxiety Disorder, where my chest gets tight and pretty soon I can't breathe.  But he got in there with me and I kept my eyes on him to help me stay calm and focused.

I could not believe the amounts that they had to have.  They each had to have 4 dozen sharpened pencils, yes, 4 dozen, SHARPENED pencils.  What does Walmart have?  Packages of 8 unsharpened pencils.  So, that was six packages for each child.  Now we just have to sharpen them.  Three boxes of crayons each, three boxes of colored markers each, and a box of  colored pencils.  Two pink erasers each, and a package of pencil top erasers each.  Four dry erase markers each and two highlighters each, pink or yellow please.  Then there were the various notebooks and folders.  None of them was one or two each.  It was four, six or eight each. 

Then came the notebook paper.  First grade Keira had to have two packages of 500 sheets of wide ruled notebook paper.  Third grader Joshua needed three packages of 500 sheets of wide ruled paper.  Of course, Walmart had it in packages of 150 sheets.  We bought 17 packages of paper.  Now, I ask you, what in the world are they going to do with that much wide ruled paper?  I got to thinking about the school supplies I bought last year.  I remember buying wide ruled paper last year, but not nearly that much.  But I don't remember seeing work come home on that wide ruled paper.  I just remember worksheets coming home.

The list went on and on; white glue, glue sticks construction paper, three boxes of tissues each, liquid antibiotic hand soap, rulers, zipper bags, pencil boxes, and a new book bag for each of them, not on wheels, please.  The total was approximately $150.00. 

I have to ask the question:  Do they really need all that stuff?  Really?  What happens if the parents/grandparents can't afford to buy it all?  Is the child going to learn any less if he only has two dozen pencils, one box of crayons, and a couple of erasers?  My husband works for another school district and his question was where is the teacher going to put all this stuff for each child?  Isn't this really excessive?

Oh, and it all has to be labeled with their names.  This year I'm going to print labels and stick them onto everything instead of sitting for hours  writing their names.Oh, yes and sharpen all those pencils.

I am exhausted, so there will be no sewing tonight.

Happy Sewing?  Wish I was!
Phylly

Off the Grain

My dear Aunt Estelle was a seamstress.  She sewed for other people for her "pocket" money.  She was a very talented seamstress and very good at fitting.  I wish she had taught me fitting, but I didn't need much fitting in those days, except for shortening everything.  Of course, I never saw Aunt Estelle in pants either, so she didn't have that fitting challenge.  I'm really showing my age, aren't I?

Every summer I would spend two weeks at Aunt Estelle's.  She taught me to sew and I will savor her memory forever because of that.  My mother loved to sew, but she did not like to teach.  It made her nervous, so Aunt Estelle was my teacher.

One of the first things that Aunt Estelle taught me was to straighten the fabric.  Back then fabric was usually 36" wide, with 45" about the widest you could find in the store.  We would clip at the end of the yardage  and pull one thread all the way across.  That took a bit of time because the thread would pull three or four inches, if I was lucky, and then it would break.  I would take the scissors and carefully cut as far as I could on the line that was made by pulling that string.  With my luck, it always seemed that about three inches from the far side, the thread I was pulling would disappear into the cut end of the fabric and not make it all the way across to the other selvedge.  Then I painfully started over. (With a big, deep sigh!)  Then we would fold it in half with the selvedges together.  If the ends came together and the fabric laid nicely at the fold then the fabric was on grain and we were ready to start pinning on the pattern.  Unfortunately, that seldom happened.  So we would unfold the fabric and she would take one corner and I would take the opposite corner and we would tug the fabric on the bias until when we folded the selvedges together the ends were even and the fold laid smoothly.  When I was by myself I would start at one corner and again work my way down the length of the fabric tugging on the bias every few inches.  Believe me, that is quite a  workout!

When I started quilting about ten years ago, I was told I didn't have to do all that tugging anymore.  To square the fabric, you simply folded it in half with the selvedges together.  When the fold was laying nicely with no wrinkles, and the selvedges were together, you took a long ruler and placed it square with the fold and took your sharp rotary cutter and cut the uneven area off.  I was also told that if you go to all the trouble to tug the bias until it was straight on grain, it would just go back to being off the grain later.  I don't remember the fabric returning to being off grain when we tugged it until it was straight.  Believe me, when we man-handled it into place, it wasn't going anywhere.  In quilting you are cutting small pieces, so it may not matter if the fabric is a little off grain, but when you are making a coat or a pair of pants, it really is important.

Four years ago, I started making all my clothes.  I have found that most fabrics don't have to be pulled and tugged until they are on the straight of grain.  Manufacturing methods have changed and improved and fabric isn't so distorted.  But once in a while you get a fabric that is off grain and you have to get it back on grain. Sometimes, it is the best fabric that is off grain.  Instead of the 36"-45" wide fabric of my teens, the fabric is 45"-60", but my arms didn't get any longer, and I'm not  nearly as limber or strong as I used to be.  If there is anything that I would say I dislike about sewing, it is having to straighten off grain fabric.

Yesterday, as I laid out my fabric to cut my pants out, I discovered that the fabric was one of THOSE!  I have had my husband help me a couple of times, but he just isn't as efficient as Aunt Estelle was.  I even had to explain what I meant by the term, "bias".  But yesterday that would have meant going in the living room to get his help.  Since the living room was full of kids (grandkids plus the neighbor kids) I decided I would just do it by myself.  Believe me that isn't so easy to do when the fabric is wider than you are long!  I did the best I could, but it wasn't perfectly straight.  By the time I said, "Good enough!" I was worn out.

I didn't think to take pictures before so you could see how much off the grain it was.  The fabric was from Cloth Merchants in Tulsa, and bless their hearts, they pull the thread across and cut it off the bolt so you know the cut ends are straight.  At least I didn't have to do that.  I do have a few pictures of it after I worked on it.

 A definite sign that the fabric is off grain.  The selvedges aren't together and below you can see the  "lump" in the folded edge.  I would like to say this is how it started up, but this was the best I could get it.  The picture above makes it look worse than it actually was.  

I don't know what I did this time, but I can't get the printing down below the bottom picture.  That is all for now.  I'll show you pictures of my pants later this week.  It is time to go to bed.

Oh, forgot to say, daughter, SIL and grandkids went home tonight after dinner, which SIL & DH made.
Happy Sewing, Hugs, Phylly                                                                                         

The Best Laid Plans of Mice and Nanas.....

Oops!  I completely forgot about cleaning the oven.  I did clean the dining room up, but that was as far as I got.  I was exhausted when I finished.  I decided I'd done enough for one day.  I wish I had taken pictures of the before.  I have no space in my laundry room to fold clothes, so they get piled on the dining room table until I get time to fold them.  Yeah, right!  Which is the problem; I never find time to fold them.  To complicate the issue the grandkids computer is in the corner of the dining room and with them in there the clothes get knocked on the floor and pretty soon you can't tell we have hardwood floors.  It looks as if it is carpeted in clothes. Oh, not my clothes.  Its the grandkids clothes, underwear, towels, sheets, Roger's clothes, etc.  I usually hang mine up out of the washer.

Unlike Joy Joy, I am not a cleaning machine.  She keeps telling me she makes messes, too.  The difference between us is that while she will clean her cutting table of books and magazines by tossing them in the floor, she will pick them up when she is finished with what she is doing.  I would walk by the mess in the floor for six weeks and every time I would think to myself, "I need to pick that stuff up."  I always have good intentions, but never get things done.  My life is just too busy.  Of course, Roger says that I could find the time to clean if I wanted to (as he sits in his chair watching TV.)  He forgets that if I don't get to sew, I am not happy and if I'm not happy I can get mean! (Yes, Joy Joy, mean!)

As I said before, I have my three grandchildren five days a week, Thursday through Monday.  I work Monday through Friday at FMS.  When I get home the kids are there and we have them as late as 11:30  on week nights.  Usually we have them 8-10 hours on Saturday and Sunday.  I love them dearly, but they surely wear me out.  Roger and I had three children that were stair steps just like the grandkids.  One day I said to him, "I don't remember our kids wearing me out so much and getting on my nerves."  He just looked at me and smiled, "You're thirty years older than you were then."  It does make a difference.

Remember, I said I have nine days vacation from the kids?  Well, my vacation ended last night at nine o'clock with a call from my daughter saying that their plumbing had backed up and their apartment was flooded; could they come over.  What else could I say but, "Yes."  So, they arrived an hour later.  As much as possible, I am trying to be invisible in my sewing room and direct them to their mother for all their needs.  That does not usually work.

I thought you might want to see some pictures of them. What grandmother doesn't share pictures?

 Keira, age six and Nana, 10 x 6.  Yes, she is ornery,  cute and never stops talking.  Ever!  She begins every sentence with "Nana...."  I tell her she is wearing out my name.

 Joshua will be eight in August.  Smart as a whip, but has an, "attitude" sometimes that gets him in trouble. I've taken care of him since he was a newborn.  He never leaves but what I get kisses.  Loves to "scare" me.

Justin in his Easter outfit.  He loved that hat!  He is pure boy!  If he can pick it up, it will be thrown.  He will be three in November.  Have you ever had a child go through a "yes phase"?  He says, "yes" to everything.  "Do you want a spanking?"  "Yes." says Justin with a big grin.  How do you spank him at that point?

Please pray for me!

There will be sewing in the next post, I promise.

Hugs, Phylly

Wonderful Fridays!

Don't Fridays just feel wonderful?  Its the beginning of the weekend and I can sleep late in the morning.  Sleeping late means past 7:00 a.m. to me.  Such a luxury to not have an obnoxious alarm go off and wake you up.  I really hate alarm clocks.  When the alarm clock makes a little "clicking" noise I reach up and slap the thing off because I hate the loud noise.  On the other hand, my dear husband, Roger, lets it blare on forever!  I'll be in the kitchen on the other side of the house from the bedroom and it will be driving me crazy!  He doesn't even hear it.  Fortunately, he hears my voice when I politely (or, maybe not so politely) ask (demand) he turn it off.

Oh, yes, we were talking about Fridays being the beginning of the weekend. A lovely weekend for me.

My plans for tomorrow include cleaning the oven.  We won't discuss how long it has been since it has been cleaned.  Supposedly you can set it to clean itself and come back in four hours later and have a shiny clean oven.  Yeah, right!  It never has worked that way.  Halfway through the cycle it starts beeping and flashing numbers at me which, in oven language means, "YOU BETTER TURN ME OFF BEFORE I BURN YOUR HOUSE DOWN!"  I had a repairman out to fix it and we thought it was fixed, but the next time I turned it on, it did its flashing and beeping thing.  So, I've just decided to do it the old fashioned way. 

The only reason I can clean my oven tomorrow is because I don't have my grandchildren this weekend.  Its the first time I haven't had them on a weekend in a couple of years, other than when I have been out of town.  Normally, I have them nine to ten hours on Saturday and Sunday.  So, my plans are to clean the oven and at least the dining room tomorrow and maybe clean the kitchen floor on Sunday.  After that I can do what I want to do-------SEW!

I want to finish  Joy Joy's birthday gift tomorrow.  If I get that done, then I will cut out some pants from my new Marfy/MSS pattern.  I've decided to make the pants out of denim.  Then if the fit isn't perfect I'll just use them for "around the house" pants. If they fit well, then I'll have a new pair of pants I can wear to work on Fridays and out of the house.  Not that I get out of the house much except to go to work.

No pictures today, but I think I've finally found one for my blog that I like.  I spent the evening watching videos on using Photoshop Elements and then playing with it a little.  If nothing else, I know how to crop photos now.  If I could just figure out how to save them and move from the Edit side to the Organize side without being rudely beeped at a dozen times I would be so happy.

Happy Sewing,
Phylly

Inspiration

I am a short person.  According to Palmer and Plestch, I am not petite, just short.  From my waist up I am normal, but my lower torso and my legs are very short.  Then to top it off, I am large busted.  Very large busted.  Consequently, I find that I am better off  wearing solid colors or small prints and trying to dress from head to toe in one color.  But ever so often a beautiful large print speaks to me and I want to wear it  You know what is  coming next don't you?  I found a beautiful Asian floral print that was just gorgeous and I wanted to wear it and share it with other people.  So, I decided it would become a jacket.  Joy Joy helped me fit the pattern and then I cut out the jacket in my beautiful fabric.  I basted it together to check the fit again and discovered.....LARGE PRINTS ARE NOT FOR ME!

So, I decided maybe if I made the side panels in a dark coordinating fabric it would break up the big floral print and look good.  I had a perfect fabric in my stash; another Asian print, but this time it was tone on tone and read like a solid.  It was another favorite fabric.  So, I cut the side panels in the new fabric and then basted them in place.  I repeat,  LARGE PRINTS ARE NOT FOR ME!  Joy Joy didn't even get to see it.  I pulled it off and it went straight into the scrap pile.

That was two years ago, and it has been in my scrap pile ever since.  Then, I discovered Ann Williamson's blog and website.  Eye candy is definitely the word for it.  If you haven't visited her blog or website, you really must take a look at it.  This is the web address:  http://annwilliamson.com/handmade-designer-womens-apparel/   She does lots of strip piecing of fabric.  Her jackets are just amazing.  As I was working on my pants pattern tonight I was thinking about her jackets and how beautiful they are.  It dawned on me that the fabrics I'd used in my jacket would be beautiful broken up as Ann does.  So, tonight, I pulled the jacket out of the pile and started cutting strips.  I will have to find another navy color because I only had a half yard of the tone on tone.  That isn't nearly enough.  But I may have more in my stash, or I'll find some elsewhere to match it.

Isn't inspiration great when it just strikes out of the blue like that?  I think I just need more solid and less floral and it will be great.

Happy Sewing,
Phylly

the Beginning

This is my first blog post and I'm really not sure what I am supposed to be doing.    My goal is just to make it a place where I can record my sewing, maybe a bit of life and some of my thoughts.  I'm not much of a photographer and I'm not the fastest writer or typist in the world, (That would be my friend Joy Joy.) and I live a very busy life.  I work 40 hours a week, then I come home and five days a week I watch my grandchildren, ages 2 1/2, 6, and an almost 8 going on 17. I have them all day Saturday and Sunday.  I sew when I can, which isn't nearly often enough.  I do as little house cleaning as I can get away with, mainly because my choice is cleaning or sewing and I'm afraid cleaning is almost always going to lose out.

I've become interested in Marfy patterns recently.  I tried a free one out of the catalog that I ordered from Vogue and liked it.  I ordered three patterns; two jackets and a pair of pants.  All three patterns came in a 6"x8" envelope.  Each pattern was folded into a little packet just a little longer than a playing card.  (I know, this is where I should insert a picture, but I don't know how. I need you, Joy Joy?)  Anyway, I decided to try out the pants pattern.

It is Marfy 3110 in a size 48, straight leg pants.  It has pockets, a fly front zipper and a narrow waistband.

Woo Hoo!  There is some wasted space, but I managed to copy a picture over here.

The really nice thing about the Marfy pattern is that the pattern is already cut out in your size.  I compared it to my wonderful Louise Cutting "My Swing Set" pants pattern and the crotch shape was almost exactly the same.  The MSS pants have an elastic waist, but I really prefer.a zipper in pants instead of elastic.  Elastic always seems to pinch.  Believe me, I don't get the elastic too tight.  I do not like discomfort!  But there always seems to be a pinching sensation.  I realized after I traced off the Marfy pattern (I"m not cutting into a pattern all the way from Italy!) that what I had done was morph the waist from the Marfy pattern onto my MSS pants.  The Marfy legs were too wide for me so I narrowed them to the MSS width.   I had to take almost two inches off of the area above the crotch.  Marfy's length from the waist to the full hip is 8", mine is 6".  The crotch was almost the same, which is what I really like about the MSS pattern because it actually fits me there.  Marfy does not have seam allowances, but that is not a problem for me.  The first time I make the pattern up it will have 1 inch seam allowances.  After that, I will use 5/8" seam allowances.  I'm not sure what I will make it up in yet.  I have to check my stash.

Well, this is the beginning and I don't know how long I will do this, or how often.
Happy Sewing,
Phylly