CarpeAcum

Lazy Day

Today was one of those Sundays that got broken up into small chunks. I hate small chunk days. That's one of my favorite reasons for sewing retreats: nothing to do but sew.

At any rate, all I got done toward my sewing for $$$ was some knitting for the back of one of the bags. Everything that was done went with Bridget, so it's all cleared out. Whew! What a good feeling. Tomorrow, I gotta sew. Hopefully, no juicy sub jobs will present themselves at 6 in the morning. If they do, I'll just have to sub, then sew FAST.

Nearly Done

I spent the day sewing, and I am nearly done with the bags I'm sewing for $$$. I have two left: one that I'm knitting a back for (!), and one that is a big project that will take a while. Also, the handles for that one should arrive in the mail on Monday.

Here's what I learned:

1) Wooden handles are a pain in the patootey. If I do them again, I'd like to use a snap on the inside: sew the tape into the seam, then snap it on the inside of the bag.
2) Hand sewing is not so bad.

3) It's better to machine sew if you can. Using a zipper foot and tipping the fabric makes it possible to use a machine to sew the lining to the hooked fabric. It would be good to put some fusible web inside first, so you can keep it from rolling out.

4) This sewing hasn't been difficult, but it's futzy. I have to reinvent the wheel on every project. If they ask me to draw up directions for these, I'm going to wish I had taken better notes!

I also attended a GS Thinking Day event today. It went okay; the girls had fun, but I wish my girls had done more detailed planning, and that they got the idea of being available to the younger girls instead of clumping together like birds.

Tomorrow is an exciting day! I might even get to sew something for fun!

I lost a whole week

I lost a whole week to the sickness that ate my energy! I felt a little under the weather last weekend, but by Monday morning, I couldn't budge off my comfy chair. I had to cancel a sub job that I had taken about a month ago <sigh>. Tuesday was more of the same, which meant that I missed my GS meeting on Monday, and the GS leader meeting on Tuesday. It was just some sort of virus, but it knocked me flat.

On Wednesday, I was so excited to get up out of my chair and do dishes and laundry! Yay!

All of this meant that I got behind on my sewing for $$$, the deadline for which was. . .today. They're very understanding, though, and I have the weekend to get all caught up. It should work fine. I have a GS Thinking Day event tomorrow, and then Punkin has a dance class on Sunday, but the rest of the weekend is mine, all mine! I have 4 of the bags done, and I think there are 4 to go. The hardest part has been attaching the handles. Ugh.

At any rate, I only had to actually cancel one lesson, and postpone another. It's much easier to find another sub to take over a school job than to reschedule my own lessons.

So after however many days in a row of blogging and sewing, I fell off the wagon. But really, I was pushed. Or maybe I just lay in the road with no energy to get up, my head lolling about. It was a weird week. But I'm back!

A Coaster

Even though I was feeling under the weather yesterday, I still got myself into the sewing room studio to get something done. I had meant to finish another pair of pajama pants, but I neglected to turn the iron on (I thought I had--I think things were still a little fuzzy for me), so I decided to start something entirely new.

It's a Wrap

I bought this book at JoAnn's with a coupon some years back. I got several clotheslines at the time at my local Ace Hardware, and I have a drawer dedicated to this stuff. Last night, I opened it up and got it out. I found a scrap of fabric from the lining of one of Bridget's bags and cut it into strips. Then I made a coaster. It's not a thing of beauty, but it will serve its purpose, and it's done and ready to use! The next one will be better.

It occurred to me that a set of these would be a great Christmas present--everyone needs coasters! And it's the kind of thing I could start now and do a few at a time and have them ready *gasp* before Christmas--before December, even!

I'm going to post this, even though Typepad is being a little, um, difficult. I can't get it to accept a picture, and it won't allow me to put a hard return in where I want it. I guess I shouldn't have neglected it so long. If I have time to fix the issues, I'll repost later with the fixes, maybe even a picture of the coaster!

Jalie Patterns Arrived

The patterns arrived in the mail today. That's just about 1 week, so not too bad from the other side of Canada to here. I'm stalled on the first suit, though. Maybe tomorrow. . .

Now to distract you from my lack of sewing. . .Kittens!

Of Dentists and Swimsuits

I wrote this out yesterday, then left the computer window open and someone in my household closed the window without saving. I hate that. Now I have to figure out what I was trying to say. Do you ever feel like no matter what it is, it's worse the second time, even though you can't remember what you wrote first, and it's quite likely that it was not any better, or even EXACTLY THE SAME WORDS? Since you don't remember? Here goes. . .

We went to the dentist today. Since the dentist is right around the corner from the closest Hancock Fabrics, I decided to go in and wander around and see what they had. I'm half-heartedly looking for some fabric to make a lining for an apron from some stash fabric. I went through my stash bins last weekend, and it gave me the strength to walk out of JoAnn's with NOTHING on Thursday when I went in just to look around. Nothing looked as inspiring as fabric I already own. I need to replace some buttons on a cardigan, but since they weren't on sale, and I'm not wearing cardigans right now, I can wait on those.

ANYway, I walked into Hancocks, Punkin rolling her eyes and sighing. I told her she could go next door to the Petco, alone (this is a big step for me, not her) instead of having to go to the fabric store with me. Off she went, and I sauntered through the store, looking for nothing in particular. I noticed that the McCalls patterns were on sale, and even though I had looked through the catalog online, I thought I would look through the book. Well, I found two patterns, 3566 and 5400 that together are exactly what Punkin wants for a swimsuit. I messaged Punkin to come and look at the patterns.  She likes the boy cut bottoms in 3566, and the halter top in 5400. I don't know how I missed these when I was looking online, but at $0.99, I got them both. The Jalie pattern still hasn't arrived, but I'll probably use it, too, when it gets here. We went looking at swimsuit fabric then, and even though there was an orange print, Punkin chose a solid turquoisey blue. I bought a full yard, and I'm thinking I'll get a couple each of different bottoms and tops out of it. I have lining fabric and elastic, so I'm going to make one up today.

It was interesting looking at patterns with Punkin--and there was another mom on the other side of the pattern book table doing the same thing with her somewhat younger daughter. Punkin liked 5591, and I asked her what she liked about it: the yellow and black print? the pleats? the waistline? What she liked was the yellow band at the bottom. I asked if she had noticed the pleats and she said she had <motherly doubts>. Then we looked at 5856, and I pointed out that I though she would like this one better because of the waist treatment. I showed her the line drawing on the page (which was missing in 5591) and pointed out the lack of waistband (although truthfully, the model on 5591 has the skirt almost at her actual waist, where no 13 YO would consider wearing a "waist" band [when I had Punkin measure her waist at the fabric store so I could buy the right pattern size, she first put the tape measure around her hips, where her jeans were]). Even though she talked about liking the pleats on the skirt, when we thumbed past another pattern, she pointed at the yellow twin set and said she would wear that with the skirt from the other pattern--highlighting that she was still more drawn by the color and print than the actual pattern.

I have often had this problem when trying to sew for other people, but especially for children. Learning to look past the beautiful fabrics on the pattern envelope is a learned skill, and if you don't have the natural ability, then it probably takes some work. Every time I tried to sew for my nieces when they were growing up, they would pick a pattern and try to find the fabric in the picture. Come to think of it, when I was working in the graphics department for an engineering firm, we had to have the new test logos printed up in the actual colors for the engineers to look at and approve--an exercise that cost the company several hundred dollars in, since the printer had to change the ink in the machines and create new original documents for each run (long before color printers were on every desk). The decision makers couldn't make the leap from seeing the colors on the computer screen to what they would look like on paper. In the end, they chose the least imaginative and most comfortable logo--it looked just like the old one with the new name attached.

I'm not sure where this is going, but hopefully, I'll have a swimsuit for you to look at by the end of the day. I wouldn't want you to have to imagine it.

On Its Way!

I got an email this morning telling me that the Jalie patterns are on their way. Did I mention that I threw in a stretch jeans pattern? No? Well, it kind of leapt in the cart, so I kept it. I had read good things about it, and I am always on the lookout for a good jeans pattern. I am twice the woman that the Selfish Seamstress is, and half the sewist, but I'm willing to give the 27 sizes a try and see if I can find one that fits.

I'll keep you posted about the arrival of the patterns. It still says 10-12 days, not including weekends, but as Teri pointed out in the comments, I'm pretty sure that's an overestimate, intended to make me jump for joy when they get here in a nearly-excruciating 5 days. 

Meanwhile, Punkin is reduced to wearing last year's SCOOPNECK 1-piece <dramatic, arm-flinging sigh>.

Okay, she's not that bad, but I can hear her thinking it.

Still Invincible

Punkin recently decided that she needed a new swimsuit for this summer. Last year's suit simply would NOT do. It has a scoop neck, and. . . MOM! I can't wear THAT!

She wanted a tankini. I thought about tankinis and her body shape and suggested that she should try on some swimsuits, figure out what style she liked ( I knew she wouldn't like a tankini once it was on her body) and then I would make her a suit from the orange fabric that I have on hand. Orange is the new pink, doncha know.

So we went to the local Penneys to buy summer clothes (score! No summer here yet, but all summer clothes are on clearance--that's what nationwide chains get for setting up sales and merchandise to all stores equally. They send us sleeveless Easter dresses [sleeveless? In March? Are you kidding me???], and start the summer clearance before we've had a single day over 75), and tried on some swimsuits along the way. The swimwear was mostly picked over, but there were a couple things to try on. Punkin wanted to buy something RIGHT NOW, but I convinced her that I could make something that would make her happier. She reiterated the "no scoop neck" policy, and I assured her that I did, in fact, want her to share that information BEFORE I sewed an entire suit--not after.

So I went looking for swimwear patterns. Not surprisingly (but still--surprisingly) there was nothing that I could buy locally--very few swimwear patterns in the Big 3, and nothing remotely suitable (SUITable--I crack myself up). I checked out Kwik Sew, and no boy cut bikini bottoms there. So I checked out the selection at Jalie, and came up with Jalie 2446. It's just what she wants. And it's available locally, only it turns out that it's not. I called Seattle Fabrics, and someone checked for me, and they don't have this one pattern. So needed to order it. I finally got around to it today, having decided that I have exhausted my local sources. After I hit the order button, I read the part where it says that it will take 10-12 days for it to arrive. I know it's coming from Canada, but still. . .10 days?!?

I informed Punkin of the time lapse, and she said, in perfect teen-ese, "Mom. I think you can do it. I mean, it's just two triangles and a strap thing that goes around, and the bottoms are just shorts. You've made shorts before. You don't need a pattern."

Ahhhh. . .she still thinks I've got it.

Lazy Vacation Days

Today was another lazy vacation day. I had a goal set, and I didn't make it, but I'm okay about it. We had a wonderful family lazy day. Punkin had her friend SF over to finish sewing the bags. It was about 20 minutes of sewing. I guessed it would take about an hour. 3 hours later, the bags were lined and ready to go. Each girl got a big kick out of pulling the whole bag through the hole in the lining. It goes from looking like you just made a big rectangle of fabric to looking like an actual bag. It's magic! They loved it. SF had some problems with her machine, and that put a damper on her enthusiasm. She still needs to put crosshatches on the straps, but that's all topstitching and it should go quickly. Punkin got her bag all done, although she had great difficulty staying on task. She seemed to want to flit to whatever else was going on around her. The same child that I have watched play Wii games for several hours running with no bathroom break and usually without eating, because she would have to stop to fix it. So I know it's not her concentration ability that is lacking. It's just something about sewing, I guess.

Then The Beard and I played some Super Mario Brothers until we were tired of getting our behinds kicked. Then he did some writing and I avoided cleaning the den, which was my one goal for the day.

One more break day, and then I am going to try my hand at substitute teaching. I have no idea how it will go, but I'm going to give it a try.

Sewing Lessons

(I think this is disjointed, but I'm so tired that I'm not even sure of that. I'm not even checking for spelling. Read at your own risk.)

Today, I got to help a budding young sewist. One of Punkin's friends (let's call her, um. . .SF [that's actually for Starfire, but it could also stand for Sewing Fan]) got a sewing machine for Christmas. It's a Brother machine that her mom got at Walmart, but it sewed reasonably well. She brought it in the box. The box was still taped. I think that both she and her mom were completely intimidated by it, and just hadn't gotten up the nerve to open it and start. I chose a simple tote bag pattern, and off we went!

First, I made her identify the parts of the machine by looking them up in the book. Then we worked on winding a bobbin and then threading the machine. There are so many parts of sewing that are automatic after you do them for years. She was so tentative threading the machine. I had to point out that it would go much more quickly with two hands, and that most of the time the concept was the same as flossing your teeth--taut thread makes it go fast.

We went into the sewing room (look out!) and picked some fabric. I chose some denim with a design weave--it has a name, but I can't think of it now--and the girls chose some cotton quilt weight fabric to go with it. I wanted the one layer of denim for durability and versatility: denim goes with everything! I wanted the other layer to be lighter. No one wants to carry around a tote bag that weighs 5 pounds empty! But I wanted the project to be lined so we didn't have to worry about finishing the edges of stuff. When I learned to sew, I just didn't finish edges because no one told me to. Then I got a serger, and that's what I use for finished edges now. But I wanted SF to be able to use only her own machine for this project. SF chose a maroon gingham, and Punkin chose a WSU Cougars print.

Speaking of learning to sew, I got the tote bag pattern from the only sewing class I ever took. It was an evening class at the local Community College (Olympic College) and it was the late 80's. That teacher was the one who got me started on the Singer Sewing Reference Library. I ordered it and got one book every month or so until I had all of them. They are hardback books, and I have used them countless times over the years. Eventually, I got an index for them, and that has been useful, too. The tote bag pattern is typed on a typewriter (pre-word processing, and pre-page layout programs), 6 pages worth, with illustrations added in. I like the bag as sewn, and there are lots of little tips in the pattern. The two girls seemed to be able to follow the instructions AS LONG AS THEY READ THEM!!!

Me: Where do you place the straps?

Punkin: It doesn't say where to put them.

Me: Are you sure it doesn't say anywhere? SF, how did you decide to put your straps there?

SF: I'm doing what Punkin is doing.

Me: But your straps look really far apart. Where are your directions?

SF:. . .

Me: . . .

SF: . . .um. . .

Punkin: <pointing> Those are mine.

SF: . . .

Me: <Don't say anything. Don't say anything. Don't say anything!!!>

SF: Over there on the floor? By the table across the room?

Me: Well, let's check out what they say. Oh! Here it says, "place the straps the width of the pocket."

Punkin and SF, in chorus: Ohhhhh. . .

And so on. At one point, I had to go into the other room and let them make their own mistakes. Punkin's straps are backwards: the seam faces the outside. She is willing to live with it rather than spend 2 minutes to fix it. It's her bag. SF had to completely re-do her straps. I did the stitch removal, because it's a pain, and because I wanted to make sure there were no holes in the fabric. I had her pick the threads out after I cut them, though. I'm pretty sure she will remember to check twice the next time. Then I had her pin the straps on and show me before sewing. We had to compare with the picture. She wanted the straps to look like straps that you would hold the bag with, and not be right sides together, with the straps down against the bag. She compared hers with the picture, and we got that part straightened out.

The next part is the side seams, then the lining, then tacking down the straps. They are mostly done with the visualizing part. I think they are both excited to have a tote bag they have made themselves. They worked on it for 3-4 hours straight, even though they had a "sleep"over Monday night and hardly got any sleep at all.

It was fun working through the project with them. It was remarkable how different their styles were, both their learning styles and their approaches to problem solving. It was also interesting that they are both allergic to reading directions --g-- We find this with the Girl Scout troop as well. They are likely to forge ahead without any research and then be really frustrated when they have to do something over. I figure they learn by having to fix it themselves.

I meant to take pictures. They both had their machines set up on the kitchen table. I will get pictures of them the next time, and definitely pictures of the finished tote bags.