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