Letters from Wetville

I 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. So here is my record.  Not even all about books.  After the wonderful America is not the Heart by Elaine Castillo, I read Nora Ephron's Heartburn , (originally published c.1983 and recently reissued by Virago Classics, for the first time. After reading almost everything I could find about Elaine Castillo after finishing her novel, this is what stuck in my mind: 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, n...

"Your word for love is survival .  Everything else is a story that isn't about you." Today is about the novel America is not the Heart .  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 Heartburn ) so that I can think about America is not the Heart 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. I found a review for  America is not the Heart 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 The Essex Serpent , Tobias Hill's What was Promised and Selina Todd's The People .  The New York Times review  for America is not the Heart was similar...

I went away for the weekend and suffered a traumatic incident. 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. 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. 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. So it's no bloody wonder that I'm looking at dressing in stretchy jeggings and f...

Trousers 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).  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. 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 that kind of feminist .  So, I'm back in maths mode this afternoon, thinking about where the ten...

Sometimes 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. I started with seeing this, Chocolat's Staple Skirt : I like it a lot.  Two problems: 1. I would get tomato sauce on that colour before the first day of wear was over. 2. $327 is a lot of money. 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.  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: 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.

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 Jackets for Real People 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 History as well. The trousers are my first foray into sewing pleather.  The walking foot handled it beautifully.  I started with Style Arc Barb pants and ke...

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. 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. I've ordered Jackets for Real People - 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 ve...

This 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. 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): This potentially explains a lot.  I've mucked around with FBAs u...

I 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. I present to you the following images: 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). 2. I didn't have paper when I tortured my second kind and patient maths teacher at some ungod...

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... ...

For 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. I did not anticipate returning to maths. 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 ...

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. 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. 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. ...

"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, Troubling Love , p.103.

Brighid & I went out with camera before her swimming lesson today, and took turns playing photographer. Endeavour trousers (Cake Patterns) in green linen from Spotlight Gillian wrap top (Muse Patterns) in grey knit from The Fabric Store. 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.

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. 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.

There may not be a photograph. I made a muslin of the Blank Slate Novelista pattern out of an old sheet.  I've discussed my learning on shoulders here .  All week I've looked forward to two things: drinking Captain Cooker beer with my husband on Friday night and finishing my Novelista shirt. 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. Ba...

I 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. 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. Then I decided to have a go at a button through top.  At first I was all set to go ta...

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...

 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 ...

This is my second version of the Sewaholic Nicola pattern and I love it.  My first version is here .  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 ...