tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4281707554413228292024-03-14T19:44:56.429+13:00Letters from WetvilleSandrahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00679010667380926214noreply@blogger.comBlogger763125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-428170755441322829.post-7421339262504123172018-07-08T22:24:00.000+12:002018-07-09T01:44:45.550+12:00Heartburn & Paris EtcI never seem to read anything in sequence for book group anymore. Wrong book for the wrong meeting, or I have to go home because I was falling asleep because I spent three hundred hours of my life filling in forms for the government to satisfy itself that I am doing my job (generally ensuring that I don't have time to do my job) or some other thing.<br />
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So here is my record. Not even all about books. After the wonderful <i>America is not the Heart</i> by Elaine Castillo, I read Nora Ephron's <i>Heartburn</i>, (originally published c.1983 and recently reissued by Virago Classics, for the first time.<br />
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After reading almost everything I could find about Elaine Castillo after finishing her novel, this is what stuck in my mind:<br />
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<span style="color: blue;">What is striking about “America Is Not the Heart” is how it’s unapologetically Filipino, peppered with expressions in Ilocano, Pangasinan, and Tagalog and nuances like wearing tsinelas, calling everyone Ate, faith healing -- with no italics, no footnotes, no glossary of terms, something Castillo is adamant about.</span></div>
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<span style="color: blue;">“I’m not writing ethnography. There’s plenty of books on middle class white life in Brooklyn – I don’t know what that’s like – and they don’t provide glossaries for me. I don’t really see why I should provide glossaries, and in doing so otherize my stake in American reality, which should be taken as such,” Castillo emphasizes.</span><span style="color: #333333;"> (<a href="http://news.abs-cbn.com/life/04/23/18/millennial-fil-am-writer-elaine-castillo-releases-debut-novel" target="_blank">source: ABS-CBN News</a>)</span></div>
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<span style="color: #333333;"><i>Heartburn</i> is set in precisely the world of privilege Castillo references, which was offputting. It's a funny and well-written story of a marriage breakup, based on the author's own experiences. I didn't finish it with lingering thoughts.</span></div>
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<i>Paris Etc.</i> is my new love. I've just finished the 12 episode season on Lightbox and I hope they make another one. If you usually start watching Lightbox in front of short people, or at work, or on the train, I shall warn you now that every episode starts with a sex scene. I started watching idly and then I was more and more interested. None of the five women are heroes. Each episode goes deeper into the complexities of their motivations and challenges and responses and I liked how they were not always likeable. The cinematography is gorgeous. Lots of views looking down on Paris streets echoing how we were looking down into the lives of the five protagonists, and parallel shots of each of the separate women echoing each other unknowingly.</div>
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So now I *need* a new series to binge-watch to celebrate my temporary release from bureaucratic bondage, and to go to the library, cos' I spent my book buying budget all up. In the meantime, I have a choice between the latest <i>NZ Gardener</i> magazine (because I lacked budgetary constraint at the supermarket today) or an article on how we are killing ourselves being sedentary and fat from yesterday's <i>Press</i> newspaper. I think the latter can light the fire instead.</div>
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Anyways, I've been going to yoga almost every week for six months. This is a lifetime record of commitment to exercise for me. </div>
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I have started a new sewing project. It's black and unsuited to pub crawls. But as I gave up pub crawls some time last century and then I became a mother and torturer of young people, that is not relevant.</div>
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If Marianne Faithfull was writing 'The Ballad of Lucy Jordan' now, do you think Lucy would still be 37? Personally, I think she would be 46. Lucy had her kids younger (I have decided). Though now I go back to the lyrics, they are darker than I remembered. I recall it as her dropping everything and running away. Not committing suicide. Though I have a talent for missing multiple layers of meaning. Don't ask me how I earn money. Filling in forms does not require an understanding of multiple layers of meaning.</div>
Sandrahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00679010667380926214noreply@blogger.com14tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-428170755441322829.post-65139013059474722242018-06-30T11:37:00.002+12:002018-06-30T11:37:40.193+12:00America is not the Heart<div style="text-align: center;">
"Your word for love is <i>survival</i>. Everything else is a story that isn't about you."</div>
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Today is about the novel <i>America is not the Heart</i>. This book is really good, and it has made me think a lot. I've even staved off reading my next book (Nora Ephron's <i>Heartburn</i>) so that I can think about <i>America is not the Heart</i> some more. I hadn't finished it in time for book group, and no one else wants to talk to me about it (yet), so this morning I decided I could articulate my thoughts on my little, old, mostly neglected blog. At least the thoughts could take solid form instead of swirling in my head.<br />
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I found a <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/books/2018/may/23/america-is-not-in-the-heart-elaine-castillo-review" target="_blank">review for <i>America is not the Heart</i></a> when I was looking on the Guardian for something new to read. It's a great place for new inspiration for me - it's where I found Sarah Perry's <i><a href="https://www.theguardian.com/books/2016/jun/16/the-essex-serpent-sarah-perry-review-novel" target="_blank">The Essex Serpent</a></i>, Tobias Hill's <i><a href="https://www.theguardian.com/books/2014/mar/16/what-was-promised-review-tobias-hill" target="_blank">What was Promised</a></i> and Selina Todd's <i><a href="https://www.theguardian.com/books/2014/apr/13/the-people-review-working-class-got-screwed-todd" target="_blank">The People</a></i>. The <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2018/05/02/books/review/america-is-not-the-heart-elaine-castillo.html" target="_blank"><i>New York Times</i> review</a> for <i>America is not the Heart</i> was similarly promising.<br />
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I mention the reviews because I went back to them after reading as well as before purchase, perhaps to see if what I was led to expect related to my own experiences reading the novel. And yes they did. But I was still thinking. I looked at the book in some wonder from the West Coast of New Zealand, where Filpino men and women have emigrated here to work long hours on our dairy farms but I know very very little about the world they came from. <br />
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Three things about <i>America is not the Heart</i>: the Philippines, sex and family.<br />
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The parts of the story which centre on the Philippines (predominantly the early parts of the book) revealed the extent of my ignorance (very extensive) on the history of the Philippines. How could a history geek like me know so very little? I'd heard the name Tagalog, but had no idea of the multiple other languages such as Pangasinan and Ilocano. I had no idea about the New People's Army. I had not, in short, much at all about the Philippines until now. <i>America is not the Heart</i> echoes the brilliance of Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie's <i><a href="https://www.theguardian.com/books/2013/apr/15/americanah-chimamanda-ngozi-adichie-review" target="_blank">Americanah</a></i>, which explores life as a Nigerian immigrant in the UK and the US. But when I read (and adored) Americanah, I didn't have the same sense of guilty, shocked ignorance of Nigerian history that I had in reading <i>America is not the Heart</i>. I'd never once associated the Philippines with communist or socialist uprising, and now I want to learn more about the Philippines and about the New People's Army.<br />
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Sex. The scene where Rosalyn and Hero first have sex is described in detail, both in physical description and in Hero's live-time thoughts on the experience. I wasn't sure about this. Until I finished the whole book and could see how Hero's approach to sex in the novel is illustrative of how she deals with her world(s). Then I could see that what Castillo has done works really well. And it does matter that the relationship is a lesbian relationship (I asked myself that at the same time as asking myself if I was being discriminatory or ignorant at the same time as asking myself lots of circular questions). Hero has to find herself through worlds that have been ripped apart multiple times, and eventually in the world of Milpitas which is tight and largely kind and conservative. That she has to find her way (salvation, place) there without a standard boy-meets-girl narrative works. The moments in the book relating to Rosalyn and Hero's relationship that are the most tender are not the sex. I've never seen a book make the act of someone holding someone else's hand (much later in the book than the first Rosalyn-Hero sex scene) so tender and significant.<br />
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Family. This one was the wave of reflection on the book which hit me last. The book is ostensibly a migration story and a love story, but it is the love of Hero for her seven year old niece, and the final scene where a simple, random and yet first shared meal says so much that ended up being the biggest story in the book for me. <br />
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In <i>America is not the Heart</i>, Castillo tells a story that brings big sweeps of ambitious history (changing the Philippines to make a better life for workers via the New People's Army) together with the minutiae of working a small suburban hair salon in another country. It's really good, and worth reading and sharing.<br />
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<br />Sandrahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00679010667380926214noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-428170755441322829.post-45455692411968505092018-04-16T22:39:00.000+12:002018-04-16T22:44:30.992+12:00Ancient remediesI went away for the weekend and suffered a traumatic incident.<br />
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It started off quite innocently. I was at my parents house, and they have properly (wastefully) good water pressure and gas hot water and so I had a very long shower and eventually followed that with borrowing Mum's hair dryer.<br />
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Ever since Hitchcock's shower scene, we have known that bathrooms are dangerous. Behind the clean white lines lurk danger, and yesterday was no exception. There should have been high pitched violins playing when I decided to step on Mum and Dad's scales.<br />
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The scales told a message I was not interested in hearing, using numbers I did not think should have relevance to me. I thought they might be broken, but my longsuffering and ever loving husband just talked supportively about exercise when I told him, which is not the same at all as declaring the scales corrupt and incorrect.<br />
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So it's no bloody wonder that I'm looking at dressing in stretchy jeggings and flowy merino tunics. Given the hike on the scales, one could argue that at least I wasn't eyeing up mumu dresses.<br />
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I had thought I didn't believe in diets, as statistics suggest they usually result in weight gain. So I'm not impressed that I gained weight even when I wasn't on a diet.<br />
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I <strike>may</strike> do need to walk more in order that I can still walk rather than waddle in 2020 and 2050. That's okay. We do pretty walks on the West Coast. I'm slowly recalibrating from my bathroom experience, and I haven't forgotten that in wet weather, beer and chips do have to stand in for nature walks.<br />
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In other news, I have been systematically wearing all trousers in my wardrobe to work out what stays up and why or why not. I can report that my jeans stay up but are not perfectly comfortable when they first go on, but if I want my pleather trousers to stay up, I shall have to take them in at the hip and waist and expect a little less comfort than the current trackpants-style waist simulation.<br />
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My next project is hacking this dress:<br />
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<a href="https://cdn.shopify.com/s/files/1/0720/5457/products/Euphoria_Designer_Fashion_Plus_size_NZ_Buy_online_Summer_2017_The_Reality_4035_Black_Front_Body.jpg?v=1501040686" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="800" data-original-width="571" height="640" src="https://cdn.shopify.com/s/files/1/0720/5457/products/Euphoria_Designer_Fashion_Plus_size_NZ_Buy_online_Summer_2017_The_Reality_4035_Black_Front_Body.jpg?v=1501040686" width="456" /></a></div>
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Using this pattern (Cashmerette Washington):</div>
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<a href="https://blog.cashmerette.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/11/WashingtonGreyTunic-4.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="800" data-original-width="533" height="640" src="https://blog.cashmerette.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/11/WashingtonGreyTunic-4.jpg" width="426" /></a></div>
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I am going to redraw the yoke so there are just two pieces instead of three, and the bottom yoke curve is more dramatic. Then the skirt part will be longer and have a replica curve to the hem and a balloon curve at the sides. Then I shall practice on some cotton lycra and cotton merino blend and if it works, make a red viscose one and a black merino one. Maybe I will like it so much that I will buy more fabric and make a green merino one as well.</div>
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On the subject of ancient remedies, I just finished Hannah Kent's <i>The Good People</i>. I thought it was very good, and so did the <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/books/2017/feb/03/the-good-people-by-hannah-kent-review" target="_blank">Guardian</a>. Now my only ancient remedy is to knit a scarf against the cold.</div>
Sandrahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00679010667380926214noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-428170755441322829.post-66785567088925730812018-04-11T21:52:00.000+12:002018-04-11T21:52:23.983+12:00Trousers should stay upTrousers should stay up. Who knows what part of my anatomy will need a sewing intervention next. It took me far too many years to develop successful interventions on my cleavage (or more specifically, how to cover it without strain lines - even tent dresses require alterations). <br />
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Ageing seems to be about parts of my body migrating south. I can now see exactly how fat ankles come about, and no doubt that is a joy in store for me once I sort out keeping trousers in the right place.<br />
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I think back five years, even three, and I don't recall walking down corridors hitching my trousers back above my belly. Or stopping in my office to hike my waistband back up to where it should live. There is no positive behaviour management system for my body, or not one I'm looking for right now. This is not a zone for discussing exercise. Or spanx. I'm not <a href="https://www.stuff.co.nz/life-style/fashion/68131031/shapewear-company-spanx-says-it-is-now-feminist" target="_blank">that kind of feminist</a>. <br />
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So, I'm back in maths mode this afternoon, thinking about where the tension should best be in order to hold everything up. I was in a pair of Barb Pants adjusted to be a skinny fit. They want to hang around below my belly. Not straight away. Just following a period of activity, generally such that I have an audience just when hitching and hoisting becomes desirable for my personal comfort. <br />
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I could understand a living thing wanting to live below my belly. There is serious shelter and warmth under my belly these days. But trousers are not babies and they are not living and they don't have rights. They need to be altered to <b><i>follow instructions</i></b>.<br />
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So I started some research, with the idea that maybe I need flat fronted trousers and an elastic back (arrghhhhhhhhhhhhhh like all the old ladies wore when I was a child). This article deals with the gaping waistband at the back, presumably due to a sway back. I've done this on shop bought jeans before. I could do this again, but it's not what's causing the front issue.<br />
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Then I turned to the Curvy Sewing Collective, as that is the best resource for curvy sewing on the net. Jennifer has done a <a href="http://curvysewingcollective.com/pattern-throwdown-stretch-pull-on-pants/" target="_blank">pull on pants pattern throwdown post</a> that I studied like a doctor studies symptom charts. Jennifer does a high waist on her pull on pants. I climb off the bed to measure where my pants get to when they are where they should be. One inch above my belly button. I shall try two next time. It's not like anything is going to be tucked in.<br />
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I think there is something funny about the fit on my legs that might not be helping. I've done wrinkles diagnoses before on trousers, using resources like <a href="https://closetcasepatterns.com/jean-fitting-adjustments-best-fitting-jeans/" target="_blank">this one</a>. It can leave one a little dizzy, and the more you look, the more wrinkles you find. I have the Palmer Pletsch guide to Fitting Pants. It shows me how to make the pants the old ladies wore when I was a kid. <br />
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I wonder what they are doing in RTW clothing that could give me less depressing clues. I found this <a href="http://www.scarymommy.com/not-your-daughters-jeans/" target="_blank">tirade</a>. That's nice that she doesn't find lycra useful. I think lycra is a fantastic product. So I look at <a href="https://www.nydj.co.nz/fit-guide" target="_blank">NYDJ website</a> and it's all about having the waistband higher and some fancy criss cross front action. I don't think I do $300 on trousers.... The Cashmerette Ames Jeans could be in my future. Maybe. There is a backlog of stashed fabric & patterns to respond to before I buy any new patterns.<br />
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I have another theory. If my knickers go hiding under my belly, my trousers follow suit. It's all the fault of Bendon for stopping making my favourite knickers. Except, a little research shows they have started again. That's a cheaper line of inquiry than $300 jeans.<br />
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<br />Sandrahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00679010667380926214noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-428170755441322829.post-551771404927137762017-09-22T22:29:00.000+12:002017-09-22T22:29:34.423+12:00PlanningSometimes future sewing is more gripping than current sewing. Like today, when I'm up to the collar stage on McCalls 6898 but windowshopping on the net instead.<br />
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I started with seeing this, <a href="https://www.zebrano.co.nz/shop/chocolat/staple-skirt/" target="_blank">Chocolat's Staple Skirt</a>:<br />
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<a href="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-KDW8yQybWMg/WcTiMKi_KXI/AAAAAAAAEKk/EjTLK-nKsHk0roOTWMPg13kDrKKWdcC6gCLcBGAs/s1600/Zebrano%2BChocolat%2BStaple%2BSkirt.PNG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="804" data-original-width="379" height="320" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-KDW8yQybWMg/WcTiMKi_KXI/AAAAAAAAEKk/EjTLK-nKsHk0roOTWMPg13kDrKKWdcC6gCLcBGAs/s320/Zebrano%2BChocolat%2BStaple%2BSkirt.PNG" width="150" /></a></div>
I like it a lot. Two problems:<br />
1. I would get tomato sauce on that colour before the first day of wear was over.<br />
2. $327 is a lot of money.<br />
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So I go looking for patterns to make my own, I have nothing to wear with this, and no fabric that is suitable. But that should not always be an impediment.<br />
I look at Vogue 8499 and Vogue 8975 and I see this version of V8975 and it seems I could be back in dress land again:<br />
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I'm not sure I can make the dress in fabric as soft as the Chocolat one appears. Maybe I have to chop it off at the waist and put a wide elastic band in.Sandrahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00679010667380926214noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-428170755441322829.post-5745654148455013172017-06-17T23:11:00.000+12:002017-06-17T23:11:05.298+12:00McCalls 7288 & altered Style Arc Barb pants<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
Black never photographs that well, but it's pretty useful otherwise. I need to wear the jacket a few more times, but at the moment, it clearly needs a narrow shoulder adjustment, and that will also bring the armscye upwards. It's a little too big from the waist down as well. So the cuddly jacket is working for this one, but I might make the shorter version. I had been thinking of the pleated back again, but maybe I will go classic, after seeing some beautiful online versions. I didn't get the button placement right for the collar to sit flat, and now that I've lost my jacket-sewing virginity, I decided I was ready for <i><a href="https://www.bookdepository.com/Jackets-for-Real-People-Marta-Alto/9780935278699" target="_blank">Jackets for Real People</a></i> to teach me how. Book Depository really is like a late night addiction for nerds, and just to make things efficient, I ordered Elsa Morante's <i>History</i> as well.</div>
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The trousers are my first foray into sewing pleather. The walking foot handled it beautifully. I started with Style Arc Barb pants and kept on trying them on and narrowing the seams until at the point below, where the wrinkles are coming from other fit issues (and fabric challenges) that can't be fixed by narrowing seams. I can't decide just yet whether pleather is work-appropriate. The stripey top underneath is just what I was wearing while sewing, but revamping a disastrous laundry day tee that is in red fabric to go with the black pants and jacket is my next sewing project.</div>
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<a href="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-QEyjyVm4Ot0/WUUE5dFYYFI/AAAAAAAAEJ8/b3FPaTc-ieIA2AiM61GcciiQsM6EmMmIgCLcBGAs/s1600/IMG_2083.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1200" height="400" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-QEyjyVm4Ot0/WUUE5dFYYFI/AAAAAAAAEJ8/b3FPaTc-ieIA2AiM61GcciiQsM6EmMmIgCLcBGAs/s400/IMG_2083.JPG" width="300" /></a></div>
The collar, yoke and hem are all from a skirt I loved and will never fit again. <br />
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<a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-dcpND0e4Dc4/WUUE5Q9XuQI/AAAAAAAAEKA/UEKWUdnBBL4L1p7PeimkY1EpWr7Lfbl0gCLcBGAs/s1600/IMG_2086.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1200" height="400" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-dcpND0e4Dc4/WUUE5Q9XuQI/AAAAAAAAEKA/UEKWUdnBBL4L1p7PeimkY1EpWr7Lfbl0gCLcBGAs/s400/IMG_2086.JPG" width="300" /></a></div>
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<a href="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-LPmnbAh_ErY/WUUE5OeQadI/AAAAAAAAEJ4/-IKfnqAUP70ebBlGBpiTt2v7qQ8a59TsQCLcBGAs/s1600/IMG_2088.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1200" height="400" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-LPmnbAh_ErY/WUUE5OeQadI/AAAAAAAAEJ4/-IKfnqAUP70ebBlGBpiTt2v7qQ8a59TsQCLcBGAs/s400/IMG_2088.JPG" width="300" /></a></div>
I really liked <a href="https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2017/06/170614133734.htm" target="_blank">this article</a> on dressmakers and 3-D vision.<br />
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How good is this poem called Embarrassed? <br />
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I'd never heard of Hollie McNish before, and it would seem that everyone else has, but that's what the <i>Guardian</i> is for - catching me up on the awesome stuff I'm not hip enough to pick up first, third or 17th time round.Sandrahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00679010667380926214noreply@blogger.com76tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-428170755441322829.post-15197516483746306942017-06-11T21:58:00.001+12:002017-06-11T21:59:51.214+12:00Glimpses of sewing projects<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
Sewn, worn and partly photographed. The glimpse of dress is the Cashmerette Appleton. It's my second version, and I like it and will make it again.</div>
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The jacket is McCalls 7288. It's better worn over jeans or trousers, but I was keen to give it a test drive. The shoulders need narrowing next time, and that will lift the armscye. I like the shawl collar, but haven't quite put the buttons in the right place for the collar to sit right. I need to wear it a few more times to decide whether I will take the front seams from the waist down. This version is like a cuddly coat, but the next fabric is thinner and I was thinking more tailored jacket than coat for that one.</div>
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I've ordered <i>Jackets for Real People</i> - I think I'm ready to learn some jacket making craft. I have the fabric to make a red version of M7288 - it will be the shorter style that still has the back pleat. I've seen some beautiful versions of the short and non-pleated version online so might make that one day. Some clever sewists lined their 7288 jackets even without instructions.</div>
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Huge family weekend, with lots of maths questions on the long drive sections, but no sewing maths. I've ordered Elsa Morante's <i>History</i>. I've been reading Lucia Berlin's short story collection, <i>A Manual for Cleaning Women</i>. The stories are indeed good, but a bit bleak for the end of each day.Sandrahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00679010667380926214noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-428170755441322829.post-53504525553695111422017-05-28T22:31:00.000+12:002017-05-28T22:31:05.105+12:00Armscye shapes & A Love StoryThis weekend I managed to sew up some beautiful princess seams on McCalls 7288. Shame that I sewed them inside out. So now the inside of the fabric is the outside. I wasn't redoing those seams, particularly as I suspected that undoing them would cause problematic stretching of the fabric. Progress has continued apace, though just now, as I assessed whether I had anything that would photograph usefully (All that black half sewn fabric? No.), it occurred to me that it might look like dressing gown. I'm currently wearing my other black jacket/cardigan which has been compared to a dressing gown before.<br />
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Still, Something I learned. The Curvy Sewing Collective has a facebook group and the discussion on there is often useful. Today someone posted this comment (It is a group with 14 000 members and I took out the identifying details, so I think I'm okay to post):<br />
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<a href="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-3PaYVI8kCUk/WSqhfkUueUI/AAAAAAAAEJM/upnoPOHBO7Q1keI16-_QBau46kcfZ_FCACLcB/s1600/FBA%2Bprincess%2Bseams%2Btip.PNG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="362" data-original-width="398" height="363" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-3PaYVI8kCUk/WSqhfkUueUI/AAAAAAAAEJM/upnoPOHBO7Q1keI16-_QBau46kcfZ_FCACLcB/s400/FBA%2Bprincess%2Bseams%2Btip.PNG" width="400" /></a></div>
This potentially explains a lot. I've mucked around with FBAs until I dream of them, but not made progress with why the shape just above my bust at the armscye is usually wrong. I'm going to try drawing the FBA line higher in future and see what happens.<br />
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In other news, I can't be thinking about maths all the time (plus, the placement of the slash-and-spread line above is maths of a kind). Really, I have to think about beautiful things like <a href="http://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2017/05/22/a-love-story-samantha-hunt" target="_blank">this writing</a>. 'A Love Story' by Samantha Hunt is my first exposure to her writing and I loved it. I wish I had been able to read it when my babies were young, especially the first one. How does she capture what motherhood does to our sense of self and perception of the world around us? She definitely achieved it for me.<br />
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<a href="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-crPiAEIPSt8/WSqirViHZxI/AAAAAAAAEJU/MtOEbxO491MfEbkmhh_iaEHHDIo0V9K1ACLcB/s1600/A%2BLove%2BStory%2BSamantha%2BHunt.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="940" data-original-width="690" height="400" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-crPiAEIPSt8/WSqirViHZxI/AAAAAAAAEJU/MtOEbxO491MfEbkmhh_iaEHHDIo0V9K1ACLcB/s400/A%2BLove%2BStory%2BSamantha%2BHunt.jpg" width="292" /></a></div>
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Also, <a href="https://e-tangata.co.nz/news/tina-makereti-stories-can-save-your-life" target="_blank">Tina Makareti's Stories Can Save Your Life</a> is beautiful and I think her call for action to build a wharenui for all our Pacific stories is important. </div>
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Then I found that Stella Duffy had a new novel last year called <i>London Lies Beneath</i> (and another one already this year), and that I still hadn't bought Elsa Morante's <i>History: A Novel</i> but given I've been buying more fabric quite recently, plus more undergarments (there could be a post about the search for the perfect slip yet), then I had to be so restrained that I didn't buy anything. I'm not sure that fabric is more important than books, but I have remembered that I have to feed my children before buying fabric or books. </div>
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<br />Sandrahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00679010667380926214noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-428170755441322829.post-87223435518842108902017-05-21T21:36:00.000+12:002017-05-21T21:36:13.307+12:00on parabolaeI started out the weekend thinking about parabolas. I've (almost) finished the weekend looking at parabolas with my very patient husband. According to google, the most common plural form of a parabola is 'parabolas.' However, as I have been thinking about maths until my head drops sideways, I think the older and less common term 'parabolae' is a better fit, because it sounds a bit like a disease.<br />
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I present to you the following images:<br />
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1. Where the weekend started. If I'd heard of a parabola before, I didn't remember. My first kind & patient maths teacher told me it was like a breast, so I could visualise the shape I was then invited to consider lines skimming along and gradients being calculated. I made some progress, and then it stuck in my head, the equivalent of poorly digested food (that's the fault of my brain, no one else's).<a href="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-oVZWzPhtcDY/WSFQMod5GQI/AAAAAAAAEIQ/0ywfHNrMcKUBj7ZqHRPm6cPFYLVoY9JwgCLcB/s1600/IMG_2023.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-oVZWzPhtcDY/WSFQMod5GQI/AAAAAAAAEIQ/0ywfHNrMcKUBj7ZqHRPm6cPFYLVoY9JwgCLcB/s400/IMG_2023.JPG" width="300" /></a></div>
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2. I didn't have paper when I tortured my second kind and patient maths teacher at some ungodly hour of Saturday morning, but I did find maths paper and ask more questions tonight and this is part of what I got. That funny 'S' means something that I have forgotten. I now have a theory about the origin of the phrase "it's all Greek to me." But the image part, and the facts about what can be calculated from this parabola and the tangents and the gradient, I have made progress with. I'm doing better with terms like 'rise over run' than I am with the equations.</div>
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Kind Maths Teacher #2 also showed me what can be done on the <a href="https://www.desmos.com/calculator" target="_blank">Desmos Graphing Calculator</a>. You can make it make ric rac! Currently, <i>I</i> can not, but I haven't ruled out mastering this algebra-meets-graphs-meets-computer thing. </div>
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3. Then I was thinking about symmetrical mathematical forms and the tension between using these as ideals and the realities of human bodies. To be precise, I was thinking about the reality of women's bodies. Madonna's conical bras probably deserve an academic paper for their comment on the presentation of an idealised, mathematically pure female form all by themselves.<br />
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4 & 5. What do you notice about the cleavage of the fertility goddess and the watermelons? I notice that they are both different shapes and sizes. If you put a blouse on them, one side would fit differently to the other.<br />
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So, maths matters for pattern adjustments, because human bodies can be categorised as asymmetrical and irregular if big business is making your clothing based on pattern blocks developed for small and symmetrical women and telling you whether your size is worthy and acceptable. If you control the tape measure and those numbers are empowering for you alone, then the tyranny of shop sizing dissipates.<br />
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For examples of sewists who knew about maths all along, see<br />
<a href="http://www.sewmamasew.com/2011/07/spatial-skills-patterns-using-nets-math-when-you-sew/" target="_blank">Spatial skills and patterns</a><br />
<a href="https://code.likeagirl.io/the-engineering-of-sewing-f29f0a65bf6a" target="_blank">The Engineering of Sewing</a><br />
<a href="http://curvysewingcollective.com/how-to-grade-up-a-vintage-pattern-basic-slash-and-spread-grading/" target="_blank">Grading up a vintage pattern</a> (look at the comments as well).<br />
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I have finished an entire dress this weekend and I'm pleased with it, but haven't worn it to get photos yet.<br />
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<br />Sandrahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00679010667380926214noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-428170755441322829.post-47690149593455613922017-05-20T22:08:00.001+12:002017-05-21T21:37:00.382+12:00Princess seams & jackets<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
I've spent at least one entire winter's worth of sewing on jackets or cardigans which still don't work on me after three iterations. I never want to see McCalls 6844 again in my life, and I'm over the Muse Patterns Jenna cardigan as well. But winter is always cold, and so the project is reincarnated. Last year I had a go at McCalls 6898 (below right). It is a blouse with princess seams and cup sizes. The first version was unwearable, but I did learn useful things, like how short my arms really are and that I can need a full bust adjustment AND something new to me called a hollow chest adjustment on the same body. The same neighbouring parts of the body, no less. The next version is the white one below left, and that was quite successful and has been worn. I did buy some beautiful liberty fabric on sale to make another version and then cut into it for a short-cut dress that I'm not so sure fits. Cut in haste, repent at leisure...</div>
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From that pattern, I learnt the following about princess seams on me: use the D cup, drop the bust point, scoop out the top hollow part and make room for sagginess beneath the bust point (we could go for 'lower fullness' as a preferable term).<br />
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Now I am going to apply that knowledge to a jacket pattern. I did buy a jacket pattern without cup sizes, but making bust room from scratch was too daunting and I had to go pattern shopping again. So, the new project is McCalls 7288, view D but with the shawl collar:<br />
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I bought black merino on sale from The Fabric Store, thinking that a structured jacket in soft merino could give me cardigan-level wearing comfort but without so much sloppiness. When it arrived (the risks of ordering over the phone), the right side up was quite flat. <br />
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But I had a plan. It's time for the saga of the black velvet skirt.<br />
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It's 2003. I have a baby only weeks old, my body has changed in ways that are not predictable, my lifestyle has transformed and I need some more clothes. I vomited so much while pregnant that I am indeed lighter than before, but that isn't entirely the joyous occasion I might have predicted. I can't try on tops when they might not fit and they might get milk stains on them. I can't try on clothes while wearing my baby, and few changing rooms fit a pushchair. One day I bought a skirt at Tescoes because they had a changing room big enough to put my son into the baby seat of the trolley and put the entire trolley in the changing room. I'm not sure I want to continue this method of dressing myself.<br />
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So when I get to New Zealand (from London, baby tour of the relatives), and Mum comes shopping with me and can look after my son by the changing room, it's a very special occasion. I buy an orange shirt which I wear until it has holes in it, and I buy this gorgeous black hippy-night-out skirt. Which I don't wear until it has holes in it because the basque waist is not so forgiving as the oversized orange shirt.<br />
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Fourteen years later, I have cut up the skirt into its various component fabric parts, and I have added some of them to the lustre-less merino, as with the back yoke below:<br />
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In addition to the Sandra-shaping around the bust, I have also shortened sleeves and shortened the neck to back-waist measurement.<br />
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More to come. I forgot how long it takes to write a blog post.<br />
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<br />Sandrahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00679010667380926214noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-428170755441322829.post-64127604540898009442017-05-20T11:33:00.000+12:002017-05-20T11:33:03.880+12:00Sewing, maths & feminismFor many years, I thought I would return to playing the violin. As a teen learning the violin, several adults revealed that they had also played when my age, but had never gone back to it. I was not going to be like them. I would serenely fit violin playing into my successful adult life. I would not spend my thirties wishing I could go to the toilet by myself.<br />
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I did not anticipate returning to maths.<br />
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The maths I liked when I was at school had satisfying procedures. I liked long division and I liked all those layers of multiplying long numbers with each other. I liked algebra. Geometry was not so exciting. The later stages are a bit blurry and then I quit. I was going to be a journalist and maths had gotten a bit hard and I fobbed my parents off with geography and accounting. I also dropped chemistry, because even though I liked it, it was quite difficult and my arrogance knew few bounds. If I couldn't get good grades easily, why bother. Why anyone believed that I would be engaged with geography and accounting, I'm not sure. It occurs to me 30 years later that perhaps no one did believe me, but they either thought I needed to learn the hard way or they just hoped I would shut up for a while if I got my own way.<br />
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I did a little bit of sewing as a teenager, assisted by my very talented mum. <br />
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As an obsessed feminist historian in the 1990s, I thought a lot about the ways that women had left a record of their love for others and their values through their craft work. I still wasn't thinking about maths, but I was very interested in the research a historian friend was working on to do with women and technology. She taught me that when technology is related to women's work, it is not seen as clever, difficult or 'technical.' Cue cooking and crafting. Try making a sponge cake if you would like to test the assumption that there is little technology (or science) involved in winning baking prizes at the A & P Show. <br />
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About seven years ago, I started sewing again. I'd done tiny bits in the middle, but this time the hobby stuck. I was back at work in increasing portions, and the clothes I could find that fitted me in the shops were variations of tents. It occurred to me, buoyed up by a growing fat activism scene on the internet and by some fabulous sewing blogs, that this wasn't a compulsory state of affairs if I sewed for myself.<br />
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If I wanted to sew clothes that fitted me, the standard patterns weren't going to be any more help than the ready made shop clothes unless I learned to make adjustments. Serious adjustments which were never mentioned in the 'Big Four' patterns (Simplicity, Vogue, McCalls, Butterick). According to them, bodies were only short or tall. You could grade between sizes, but always, your boob sizes related to your shoulders. Ask yourself (if relevant): as my breasts have grown larger, have my shoulders also increased with them? Probably, when you were 14, but not so much at 35 & 45.<br />
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This is where I rediscover maths. Not just calculating budgets and mortgage repayment scenarios, but geometry and turning two dimensional paper into three dimensional clothes.<br />
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I'm blessed with a lot of mathematicians in my life. They are all generous with their knowledge (and patience). It's no accident that I've gotten more interested in maths as I've been sewing - I'm sure that one has prompted the other. I'm going to have a go at using sewing as a focus for putting words and maths together, seeing if I can chart the thinking and practical process of making adjustments. I've done a bit of this before, but I can't find much evidence in old blog posts. Maybe it went on Facebook instead, that very useful short term communicator which has no useful archiving functions. The historian in me wants archiving function.Sandrahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00679010667380926214noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-428170755441322829.post-35614198547513791352017-05-20T06:54:00.000+12:002017-05-20T06:54:35.283+12:00Will I post again?It's a funny thing, blogging. I didn't mind blogging for the whole world to see, but once my out-in-the-ether-blog collided with my people-I-look-at-many-days world, that's when I got too self conscious.<br />
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Then Facebook came along and changed the landscape. I could do short posts and it was easy to post photos of my sewing without many words. The original reason I'd been blogging (space of my own while I was raising small children) has passed now I'm at work lots and the kids are bigger.<br />
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This morning, surfing the net instead of sleeping, I wondered about blogging again. I've gone back and read the writing I'd stored on a private blog. Some of the writing is okay, but what really struck me is that I had a record of some very specific experiences, and they are precious now. I've written the story of each child being born, and I have an unfinished piece I really like about visiting Cousin Mary's house and the stories I learnt about each object. I so wish I had finished that story. Now Mary has advanced dementia, and that story is gone.<br />
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The world is broadly divided into those who avoid writing and those who need to write to make sense of the world. The relationship between public writing and needing to make sense of the world is more problematic. But now I've re-read Mary's story and the mention of the lost child, I feel like I should try harder. In my paid job, I exhort people to share their ideas in writing all the time. The part where I ask them to go public is, I think, what is making me think I need to blog here again rather than behind a wall. Creative writing stays behind the wall, but I'll start by tracking my sewing here again.Sandrahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00679010667380926214noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-428170755441322829.post-76196129577009461192016-06-04T11:15:00.000+12:002016-06-04T11:15:10.003+12:00Ferrante on sewing"For all the days of her life she had reduced the uneasiness of bodies to paper and fabric, and perhaps it had become a habit, and so, out of habit, she tacitly rethought what was out of proportion, giving it the proper measure." - Elena Ferrante, <i>Troubling Love</i>, p.103.Sandrahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00679010667380926214noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-428170755441322829.post-75901341386212753002016-04-18T14:12:00.001+12:002016-04-18T14:12:13.704+12:00beach photos: Gillian top & Endeavour trousers<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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Brighid & I went out with camera before her swimming lesson today, and took turns playing photographer. <br />
Endeavour trousers (Cake Patterns) in green linen from Spotlight<br />
Gillian wrap top (Muse Patterns) in grey knit from The Fabric Store.<br />
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I've been working on culling my wardrobe, perhaps as preparation for attempting to read Marie Kondo. I took two bags to the Sallies (yes it's school holidays!) and both times came home with fabric, clothes and bowls. I think overall there is less in the house after the exchange. Next is book culling. I'm doing that to the Rotary sale people, which means I can't purchase while I'm dropping off. Most necessary after the op shop experience.Sandrahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00679010667380926214noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-428170755441322829.post-51685943524642111092016-04-18T09:52:00.002+12:002016-04-18T09:52:37.429+12:00Blue merino Appleton<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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I finished my first Appleton yesterday, and persuaded my daughter to take a picture. I didn't follow instructions and line the shoulder point up correctly, but otherwise I'm really pleased with it. The fabric was $8 per metre in the Fabric Store bargain bin. I'd make this again. Next time I will lengthen the sleeves and I will make two right fronts. The amount of crossover isn't as much as I would like. I'd like to do this in Lillestoff fabric next time.<br />
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I've also made another pair of Endeavour Trousers (Cake Patterns) and another Gillian wrap top (Muse Patterns). I really like them both, and will share if I organise myself to iron and find a photographer.Sandrahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00679010667380926214noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-428170755441322829.post-40188560154236578062016-03-05T17:49:00.000+13:002016-03-05T17:49:31.695+13:00the full caboodle shirt making wadderThere may not be a photograph.<br />
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I made a muslin of the <a href="http://blankslatepatterns.com/products/novelista-shirt" target="_blank">Blank Slate Novelista</a> pattern out of an old sheet. I've discussed my learning on shoulders <a href="http://lettersfromwetville.blogspot.co.nz/2016/02/on-shoulders.html" target="_blank">here</a>. All week I've looked forward to two things: drinking <a href="http://www.musselinn.co.nz/Capt%20Cooker%20notes.htm" target="_blank">Captain Cooker beer</a> with my husband on Friday night and finishing my Novelista shirt.<br />
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It's finished, and all mistakes are mine and not the pattern. How can there be so much to fitting? My new shirt, which is definitely a triumph in terms of new sewing skills, fits across the bust in terms of no gaping buttons. But above the bust is a disaster - there is far too much fabric just where everything should be smooth. And the collar looks enormous on me. At the back, everything blouses out and I lose all back waist definition. Sometimes I read that even an ill fitting blouse fits better than a RTW one. But in my case, I can't do a fitted RTW blouse up, and this is the next step in terms of ill fitting but functionally wearable.<br />
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Back I went to previously unmined topics on the internet in search of explanations. I can now add hollow chest to my list of fitting challenges. A hollow chest + FBA combination is apparently rather common.<br />
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Somehow I'd imbibed the idea that a collar + stand button front shirt was the best kind of button front shirt. Don't ask me how I got this, but I did. Now, as I look at my collar points almost touching the edge of my shoulders and the collar generally out of proportion to my neck, and consult the internet for ideas, I realise that my short neck, narrow shoulders and goiter are more suited to a simpler collar option. The simpler, standless collars on my <a href="http://lettersfromwetville.blogspot.co.nz/2016/01/sewaholic-nicola-in-linen.html" target="_blank">Sewaholic Nicola dresses</a> are much better suited to me.<br />
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I did consider making another Novelista shirt with the back of the Sewaholic Granville substituted, but as the pattern is $NZ30, just to sub a back, I'll pass. I would like to have another go at princess seams one day.<br />
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Meantime, I've sought refuge in the comfort a previously sewn knit pattern for my next make - the <a href="http://sewingmuse.com/products/gillian-wrap-dress" target="_blank">Gillian top by Muse Patterns</a>. I have some grey fabric from my Wellington fabric shopping last year. It's the last piece of fabric in my stash (apart from remnants of previous makes and some lining fabric), meaning I will HAVE to go fabric shopping soon.Sandrahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00679010667380926214noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-428170755441322829.post-91104475807525868502016-02-19T20:58:00.000+13:002016-02-19T20:58:03.708+13:00On shouldersI spent many years sorting out full bust adjustments. I still spend a long time on most patterns making full bust adjustments, but I'd branched out into other fitting challenges. When sewing up some Jenna cardigans this summer (not yet photographed or blogged, but I'm wearing the yellow one as I type), I kept narrowing the shoulder on every iteration. Finally, the blue version had a good shoulder fit, but it still fell off my shoulders if I didn't pull it on firmly.<br />
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That made me think some more about items which DO fit on my shoulders. I have a favourite Max brand green merino hoodie top. I measured the shoulders on that (they fit perfectly) and they were tiny shoulders. But because of the style of the hoodie, it didn't slip off easily. My Sewaholic Nicola dresses are slightly wide in the shoulders, but because of the little cap sleeve, they look fine.<br />
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Then I decided to have a go at a button through top. At first I was all set to go taping up the Muse Patterns Melissa dress. Then I decided that reviews that Melissa was on the wide shoulder side plus it was double princess seams to alter suggested it wasn't the perfect starter experience for princess seams. I bought the Blank Slate Novelista pattern and ran up a muslin.I altered the shoulder straight off as it seemed that shoulders were ALWAYS too wide on me.<br />
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First. Time. Shoulders were too narrow. So when I remeasured using the muslin on me, it turned out that I should have sewn up the blouse shoulders as printed. Fancy that! So now I am sewing the Novelista again, with a huge FBA to the princess seams, but shoulders as printed for the XL size. This time in fashion fabric.<br />
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I have a goiter which is quite prominent on one side of my neck and less so on the other side. Then I have shoulders which are quite differently shaped. So visual symmetry around my neck isn't going to happen. I think these aspects contribute to cardigans falling off me, and I will be conscious of this as I choose outer layer garment sewing patterns. Cardigans have been the most difficult item for me to find in a form that I actually like the fit and style, and maybe the neck issues are part of that.<br />
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I'm tempted next (as part of my desire to make another hoodie style merino top like my shop bought one) to make the Blank Slate Denver tunic, but altered to make a looser fit for the tunic. By the time I FBA those princess seams, I think I'd have a looser style front.Sandrahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00679010667380926214noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-428170755441322829.post-85012414951748856642016-01-17T17:50:00.000+13:002016-01-17T17:50:07.171+13:00Endeavour Trousers by Cake Patterns<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
I love these trousers. I bought them as soon as they came out. I made a test shorts version and thought they were a little snug. That's until I realised I had sewn 1.5cm seams when I was supposed to have sewn 1.2cm seams. Cake Patterns have a great personalised fit and I chose the 35" waist and the 45" hip. This meant going down from my actual waist size and slightly up in the hip. I'd made Cake Patterns' straight skirt pattern last summer and knew this was the sizing I wanted from then. The fit is fantastic. The photos don't do justice to the fit, as I'm on wonky ground and didn't bother to smooth the trousers before the photo. I'm making some more as soon as I find the mid blue, heavier weight linen which I covet for the next version. It's fabric shop sale season coming up, but most unfortunately my children need new shoes and school uniforms instead. Ah well. The top is the Muse Patterns Gillian top, which I made last summer and wear a lot.</div>
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<br />Sandrahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00679010667380926214noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-428170755441322829.post-57597834571878002362016-01-17T17:36:00.000+13:002016-01-17T17:36:20.185+13:00Speedy dresses: Myrtle & Lady Skater<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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After spending weeks on two shirtdresses, these were super speedy and satisfying makes by comparison. The Myrtle is made from some not very stretchy cheap knit which I didn't know what to do with. I'm wearing this dress now and it is very comfortable. It's not work appropriate as much is revealed when bending down. I could see it being more practical in a winter version with a long sleeved t-shirt underneath. I made a FBA on this dress, and then found it was a bit more than I needed. So for the next version I've altered the pattern to take out 1 cm at the front and back shoulder and a sway back chunk out of the back bodice. I've straightened out the curve made at the side seam by the FBA and taken 1 centimetre off the bottom of the front bodice. I've added 2 inches to the pattern (yes, I use whatever measurements work for me in a mixed up fashion for sewing. My cutting board is organised into inches which makes adding length easier in inches) as I'd like a more elegant length and swish in the next version.<br />
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This is the Lady Skater, also satisfyingly quick to make. I spent ages getting the pattern to work and made a lovely one with Lillestoff fabric which I haven't photographed or blogged. Then, after identifying that I had nothing to wear for evening work functions, I made this up. Although it is the same size as the cotton knit Lillestoff version, it comes up snugger in feel. If I started this one again with the same fabric, I would make the sleeves full length and hem with a narrower band of blue velvet fabric, scoop the front neck out a bit and add to the length to get a lower mid calf length. Nice shoes though, eh? I don't expect to need to wear this for a few months, so will see what I think then.<br />
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<br />Sandrahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00679010667380926214noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-428170755441322829.post-10128480106197134572016-01-17T17:12:00.001+13:002016-01-17T17:12:03.200+13:00Sewaholic Nicola in linen<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
This is my second version of the Sewaholic Nicola pattern and I love it. My first version is <a href="http://lettersfromwetville.blogspot.co.nz/2015/12/spotty-paradise.html" target="_blank">here</a>. This time, there is no bra showing, and I'm really happy with the fit. I adore the fabric. If I was a dedicated blogger, I would have had a shower, done my hair and moved the photo shoot down to the beach. I'm not, though there is a slew of pictures/posts coming because I did persuade my husband to photograph various recent makes. I don't have a lot to say about this make, as the changes from the first make are documented in the first version. I did learn a lot from making this dress, and am even feeling like I might be an intermediate sewist rather than an advanced beginner now that I can do yokes, collars and buttonholes. I've discovered that I can put this on over my head without recourse to the buttons, which is useful in a hurry. It does require ironing but I think it's worth it in order to wear such lovely fabric. I don't know if I will make it again soon - two shirtdresses is enough for the moment - but I do recommend the pattern. I'm not the pear shape which Sewaholic drafts for, but I think this dress works for the busty figure as well.</div>
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<br />Sandrahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00679010667380926214noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-428170755441322829.post-41713934415563129652015-12-30T18:24:00.003+13:002015-12-31T10:59:31.426+13:00Spotty paradise<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;">
Eight months since I posted last... I have had the sewing machine in action in that time though, especially lately.</div>
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Brighid in a Kitschy Coo Mini Penny Pinafore dress. This is really nice and easy to sew. Brighid likes it long, but I think a shorter version in a beefier knit would be great for winter, possibly sleeveless so it is a genuine pinafore.</div>
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The Sewaholic Nicola. Even though Sewaholic explicitly designs for a pear shape, I could see the potential for making the bodice work by rotating the FBA to the shoulder pleats. At first, I didn't like the finished result, but it is so comfortable, and I'm getting kinder to myself on the imperfections, such that I'm now thinking of making a second. I've got some beautiful fabric put aside for this.<br />
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Usually I have to narrow the shoulder of everything, but this one I did not.I cut a 16 almost everywhere except the skirt, which I cut a 16 in the back and an 18 in the front. I added a 1 1/2 inch FBA which I rotated to the shoulders. I had to unpick the waist seam and cut length off the back and front as I had not measured and allowed for my short torso. I was so unconfident that I would ever make it again by that stage that I didn't even write down the length that I had chopped off, but it was more in the front than the back - perhaps I had just needed width in the FBA to some extent.<br />
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The hem isn't exactly right in the photo, and I need to fix that, and put an invisible dome in between the 2nd and 3rd buttons. For the next version, I will measure the current dress in order to adjust the back and front bodice length on the pattern. When I rotated the darts, I curved the bodice up a little too much (leavivng a baggy bit above the bust) and I'm going to straighten that out a bit. I'm also going to raise the armscye so that my bra does not show. I did think of making a short sleeve, but the cap sleeve is nice, and has the effect of balancing my otherwise uneven and sloping shoulders. <br />
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There are very few Sewaholic Nicolas on the internet, and none by anyone curvy. I waited for inspiration but eventually just started, and now I'm pleased with the result. I think the original pattern is for a softer fabric, but this is soft enough, and multiple washings will soften it more. This cotton makes it more sturdy for work and play and suits me better, I think. Sometimes I tie a bow, but mostly a knot. I'm a big fan of dresses, but bows and ruffles not so much.</div>
Sandrahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00679010667380926214noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-428170755441322829.post-11913514565118619212015-04-24T21:34:00.002+12:002015-04-24T21:36:11.888+12:00Muse Natalie Dress #2<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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So, I had a go at an FBA for this dress, and it does fit better. I don't think it is a <i>perfect</i> fit, but I'm not sure that I'm up for more changes and another round at the moment. I found the fabric at Fabric Vision in Christchurch recently for $15/metre. Two aspects of this dress are particularly attractive from the sewist's point of view: it only uses two metres of fabric, and it sews up quite fast.<br />
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When I made the fit changes, I dropped the triangle insert and because I wanted this dress to be work appropriate, I sewed up the part above it. It has successfully ensured that it is work appropriate, but looking in the photos, it does change the style lines of the garment. That was not so noticeable to me looking at it in the mirror. The Muse Gillian pattern is much easier to fit on me (wrap dress, so no surprise), but it is a longer make and uses more fabric.<br />
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I like the fabric, but it is all polyester and I've realised it is going to be quite warm to wear. I suspect a problem could be that it doesn't breath well and I end up smelly wearing it. I have the fabric to make a top in this pattern. That doesn't have the gathers at the front. I'm thinking of making it longer than the top in the pattern piece, to be more like a tunic. <br />
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When I made the first version, I thought I wanted it a shade shorter. Now I think it ideally needs flowy fabric and to be longer. Maybe I will make another one.... A merino version, perhaps without the front gathers, and with the lower neckline (I can do a camisole underneath), would be nice.<br />
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I tried using a twin needle for the first time. It worked. Sandrahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00679010667380926214noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-428170755441322829.post-8691377717514382232015-04-14T21:44:00.000+12:002015-04-14T21:44:43.373+12:00 Muse Natalie dress & Burda 9755<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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Burda 9755. Don't make it. My first experience with Burda and it was appalling. The instructions were terrible and I ended up making my own up. The fit in the upper chest isn't fantastic but I won't be changing it and doing another version. This is Brighid after we went to see Cinderella at the movies, where Cinderella herself wore a similar colour blue for most of the film. She does have two feet, but is practising curtseying in this photo. It's a win because Brighid likes it, and chose the fabric and pattern herself when we went to Blenheim last summer. If I made another pattern with a band/ribbon around the waist for a child, I would pipe it or make it in contrast fabric so it stood out better than this.<br />
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The Natalie Dress by Muse Patterns. I cut a 40 at the neck and shoulders, a 42 for the sleeves and a 44 everywhere else. I like the dress, but I need to work out how to do a FBA on this and also to use my CSBCC tonic tee shape which I've been working on to put a centre back seam in which takes the sway back wrinkles out and puts some more width in over my bum. The sleeve length is also wrong on me - I think I shortened it too much. I might also go to a 44 sleeve for the next version, to be sure I can comfortably fit a thin winter layer underneath. Given that it will always have leggings underneath it, I'm thinking the next version will be one centimetre shorte in length.<br />
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Of course, some blogs (most) have fabulous photos and the models style their hair before the photo shoot. The photo shoots for such blogs don't involve an eight year old taking some pics on her ipod after kung fu and before the merry-go-round called bedtime begins.<br />
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Mine doesn't. It does document my sewing journey, and it's my small testament to myself that I can do more than just work and work and work and parent all night and day. I'm still sewing, I'm still learning and this is my small contribution to curvy sewing confidence. I'm also not doing that thing where you make yourself look skinny in your pose for every camera shot. The feminist implications of learnning always to take up less space are crap. <br />
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Grey is okay. It is very drab compared to my usual colour choices. I have a mint green and black print ready for the next dress version and a red stripe for a top version. I also bought some hot pink merino on sale and it will either be a Natalie Dress or a McCalls 6408 cardigan.<br />
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I've also got some slips to make. Shop bought slips are either very short or very long. Those nice stretchy ones with no lace are also only made for skinnier persons than myself, which is a bit outrageous. So slip making is high on the agenda.Sandrahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00679010667380926214noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-428170755441322829.post-54272612387848691092015-04-10T21:37:00.001+12:002015-04-10T21:38:02.223+12:00sewing still, blogging once moreApril, and the first post of 2015. Hmmmmm.<br />
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Still, I have been sewing, and hopefully this school holidays I will photograph and post the Muse Patterns Gillian dress, Natalie dress and two Jenna cardigans I have made. I've pleased with both dresses. The cardigans fit, but I'm not sure they are the cardigan shape I really want to wear. Sounds like last year's McCalls 6844, a pattern that I was the only person in the online sewing world not to be successful with. The cardigan project continues.<br />
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I'm just back from a trip to Christchurch where they have fabric shops. Real ones. I got some fabric at Fabric Vision, and some at The Fabric Shop and some at my latest and greatest shop find - Bolt of Cloth. Bolt of Cloth is heaven for those of us who like bold colour.<br />
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I also bought Butterick 6031, so that I can make slips that fit me. The best fitting slip ever, a blue one I found for 50 cents at the Sallies at least five years ago, gave up the ghost just as soon as I bought the pattern. I could only find beige tricot (seriously) at Fabric Vision, but then I went to Lincraft on my last day in the middle sized smoke and found some swirly bright green fabric to make a slip with.<br />
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No pictures today, but I have prewashed almost all of my new fabric. I believe the final purchase total was about 18 metres. I'm posting now and hoping to follow up with pictures very soon.Sandrahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00679010667380926214noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-428170755441322829.post-44397181856647058172014-12-30T22:34:00.000+13:002014-12-30T22:34:40.639+13:00Gillian dress by Muse Patterns<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<a href="http://sewingmuse.com/products/gillian-wrap-dress" target="_blank">Gillian Dress by Muse Patterns</a>.<br />
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I have found sewing nirvana! I cut a size 40 for the yoke and a size 44 for everywhere else and no other alterations and it fits me!! !!!!!!! !!!!!!!!!!!!!! I'm going to make the dress version in a blue polka dot fabric next, and then I have a grey fabric and black contrast to make a winter version after that.<br />
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This is my first ever pdf pattern, and I took the plunge because I loved the pattern AND I found that Kat, the designer was a New Zealander and wanted to support her. The instructions were great and I was really happy with the finish I achieved (I speak as someone who has done quite a bit of basic sewing, but is not an advanced or highly skilled sewist). It did take absolutely ages to tape and cut the pattern pieces, so I'm thrilled that I have a good result from my efforts and will use the pattern again soon. I do have my eye on the other Muse patterns - the Jenna cardigan and the Natalie dress.<br />
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It doesn't gape when I bend over, but I am going to put a hook and eye in at the crossover point to be sure that I have secure cleavage coverage for work.<br />
<br />Sandrahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00679010667380926214noreply@blogger.com8