Japanese pattern books on their way . . .

I think I may be a little bit obsessed with all things Japanese lately.  My family has been watching the Studio Ghibli movies that Disney has released in English, even driving in pouring rain with incorrect google map directions to one of the few local theaters that showed Ponyo.

I have checked out a learn Japanese in your car audio cd from the library.

And I love Japanese inspired clothes, although they are unfortunately not flattering on me.  But, my daughter is young enough that she could wear anything and look cute so I ordered a couple japanese pattern books with girls’ clothes .  One has some adult clothes too and I think some crafts.

These won’t exactly be my first Japanese sewing books, but they’ll be the first I will be able to sew from.  Years ago I bought a Japanese craft book called “Petty bags”  (I assume it was a misspelling of Pretty Bags).  I have the dust cover, but the book dissappeared the day after I bought it and I never ever saw it again.   I have a feeling it must have gotten mixed up with some catalogs for recycling and went out with them. 

Now the big unknown question is if my daughter will actually wear these styles.   She recently announced that she likes plain clothes now (I think meaning she likes t-shirts and pants) after years and years of preferring skirts and dresses.

Denim skirt–a wardrobe basic

I am so pleased with how this skirt turned out.  For some time I’ve wanted a denim skirt that I could wear with a variety of tops, especially those that I’ve made but had few skirts that coordinated.  Over the winter holidays I was in the DC area and bought a strange piece of denim off the $2.97 shelf at G Street Fabrics.  It is a heavier weight stretch deep blue denim with some white in it, which isn’t why it was strange.  It was strange because it was sewn together at the edges, making a pocket.  There was a hole or two in the fabric as well.  Well, it was on the deep discount shelf, after all.  But the denim itself is very nice and the holes were on the edges and easy to work around.

So I had the denim, but it took me 6 months to choose a pattern.  I searched through years and years of Burda magazines, all my knipmode and Ottobre Woman magazines, as well as my pattern envelopes.  Since the denim is so heavy, I needed a style with no pleats, drapes, etc.  Straight skirts don’t work for me, so I needed an a-line or gored style.  After much deliberation I decided on Burda 7947, which I’ve had in my pattern stash for several years and had never sewn. 

I didn’t do many changes, just lengthened the skirt 5/8″ and did some fit alterations.  I intended to add the belt loops, but I liked the skirt without them, and figured I’d rarely wear a belt with the skirt anyway.  I added white topstitching to match the white threads in the denim.  The facings are made from red and white polka-dot cotton.  They aren’t visible from the outside, so it’s my own little happy secret.

Romantic style

I recently took a fashion quiz on-line (sorry, I don’t remember what site it was on), with the results that I was labeled a “romantic” in terms of my style.  I don’t think I dress particularly romantically–I think I got that label because I prefer skirts and dresses over trousers–but this blouse I just finished definately fits in the romantic category:

The print of the fabric alone qualifies it as romantic–which I believe is a lawn.  And the pattern, with the pleats at the neckline and at the waistline, is romantic too.  It reminds me alot of   regency fashion  .  To me, a total Jane Austen fan, that is a good thing.  One probably would look ridiculous sitting at a restaurant or strolling the aisles of Target in a regency gown, but I can wear my top, feel oh so Lizzie or Anne or Emma and not look at all out of place. 

The pattern is from the July 2009 issue of Knipmode magazine, which is a Dutch pattern magazine.  I don’t know Dutch, so I had to muddle through the instructions with the help of a translating website and a Dutch/English sewing term sheet.  Apparently, there is a Dutch word that means both “stitch” and “suffocate” as the translation website kept telling me to do things like “suffocate the neck edge”.  I have several issues of Knipmode, but haven’t sewn up very much so far.  I sewed the same size as I would in Burda or Ottobre Woman.   I only had to make minimal alterations–only a sway back alteration, some minor adjustments to the back pleats and side seams, and shortening the length at the hemline slightly as I am not as tall as the average Dutch woman (or American woman, for that matter).  Oh, and I made the sleeves a little longer so they would hit me at a flattering part of my upper arm. 

The pattern is very simple to sew.  The sleeves are raglan, a style I love as I don’t have to make a narrow shoulder adjustment to them.  Because I have narrow shoulders, I have to check the necklines of tops and often have to make them smaller, but this neckline was fine–covered my bra straps and although the front is scooped, it is not low-cut.   The entire neckline is pleated.  I stitched very close to the edge and then about 1/2″ in from the edge.  The directions (as far as I could tell from my sketchy translation) say to finish the neckline with a zig zag or overlock.  I used a rolled hem with my serger.  There are long waist pleats (4 in front and 4 in back) as well.  It is a pull-over top–almost like a woven t-shirt–which makes it quicker to sew than the average blouse.

I like to accentuate my relatively smallish waist, so I like the belt.  It is a bit looser unbelted:

I think unbelted, it would look nice with a short skirt or shorts for those with thicker middles and great legs. 

Here’s a view of the back, which was rather poufy on my muslin but I managed to tame with adjusting the waist pleats and adding a sway back alteration:

I’m definitely making this again.  I going to make it in a solid purple batiste.  I’d like to make a white version too, but I don’t have any suitable fabric.  I think the white could look nice with a contrast belt.    And perhaps a rayon version–I have several smaller cuts of black and white rayon prints that would work well.

She stepped out of a fairy tale . . .

I can imagine Gretel or Little Red Riding Hood or Little Miss Muffit wearing such a skirt.  Fairy tales have very much been on my mind lately as I’ve been reading Grimm’s fairy tales to my kids, as I realized that, in our electronic age,  their exposure to traditional fairy tales has been very limited.  And I have a collection of fairy tale books, so it’s really inexcusable that it has taken me so long to get around to reading them aloud to the kids!  There are definitely some strong themes in these old stories:  be nice to old people and animals and good things will happen to you, be mean and bad things will happen to you;  if you don’t follow the advice of your parents, or others who are older and wiser, then bad things will happen to you; things aren’t always as they seem; and it is good to be the youngest.   I digress  . . . back to the skirt . . .

 This lovely skirt is from the spring 2009 issue of Stitch magazine, which is a special magazine put out by Quilting Arts.  In this issue there is an adult skirt and dresses, apron, hat, handbag, pillow, and softy patterns.  Some patterns are printed in the magazine, some you have to download from Stitch’s website, and others they give dimensions for you to measure out yourself. 

 The magazine gives instructions how to make this patchwork skirt in girls’ sizes 5 through 9/10.  It’s often a neglected size range–it seems there are so much more for toddler and preschool sizes.  The skirt has a dropped waistband (elastic waist) with gathered lower skirt made from full panels alternating with pieced panels.  There is an attached apron in the front, embellished with buttons and vintage trim (my addition).  The panels are top-stitched and I sewed a different vintage trim to them hem, with some decorative top-stitching.  I added a patch to the back waistband (below) made from a scrap of the same fabric as the apron because the fabric for the yoke was a sample piece and had “sample” stamped on it, which I wanted to cover.  Plus, my girl is a bird lover so I thought she’d like the added bird for fun.

Other than those little embellishement changes, the only change to the skirt I made was to add a larger hem allowance.  If I make it again, I’ll add 3/8 to the skirt pieces and yoke piece so that I could have a 5/8″ seam allowance where the skirt attaches to the waistband.  It is much faster and easier to attach a gathered piece with a 5/8″ sa than a tiny 1/4″! 

The pattern gives dimensions for all the pieces, which are rectangles of various sizes.  I used ten different fabrics in the skirt.  Here are a couple more photos:

Generally,  my girl’s t-shirts cover the red and white striped yoke.  Here she is demonstrating the twirlability of the skirt:

A closer view of the apron details:

And the back of the skirt:

Time to plant the Beets

I wish I had a lovely picture of beets to put here,

but I don’t.

I do have an envelope of beet seeds in my lap, waiting for me to plant them.  They are the early wonder variety and they promise they will be ready in 48 days.  That means in a month and a half and I’ll be making pickled beets and eggs.   My four year old and I love them.  We slice them up and eat them with Italian bread for lunch.

The early wonder variety is supposed to have very good tasting greens as well.  I’m not a huge beet green fan, but I’m willing to try these.

I’m off to plant these now (in the rain, but I can’t wait) and some microgreens too, which I’ve never tasted (in their micro green state, that is) but are supposed to be a new food trend.

A new dress

I made this dress to wear to my brother’s wedding.  Actually, this was supposed to be a trial run of the dress, but I like how it turned out so it’s going to be what I wear. 

This is view 4, the “square” dress from the spring/summer 2009 Ottobre Design.

I made only a couple minor changes to the pattern:  I lengthened the bodice by 1 1/2 inches–In retrospect I would have only lengthened it 1″ as the weight of the skirt pulls it down, especially at the sideseams.  I shortened the length of the skirt section slightly because I am short.  If I make this again as a dress, I’m going to widen the skirt slightly as the shortest section is a little bit shorter than I’d like.   The skirt consists of two rectangles sewn together and hangs to make the uneven hem.  It’s a flattering drape and twirly and will be fun to dance in. I also made 3/4 sleeves instead of full length (I did a muscular bicep alteration to the sleeve as well)

The magazine has directions for a braided belt–I made mine of the same fabric and I think it makes my dress too monastic looking, but I like the contrast scarf.   I wouldn’t wear this dress without some kind of a belt.

Sewing was simple and straightforward and I’m sure I’ll make another version or two–I’d like to adapt it into a t-shirt and make the tunic version and maybe another dress.

for my inner bohemian . . .

This is my second version of this top and my favorite I think.  I’m wearing it today because it’s sunny and in the 60’s.

Here’s version # 1

my son took that picture and chopped off my head, but he did get the whole top.

The pattern is from the February 09 Burda World of Fashion–view 118.  It’s hard to tell what the top looks like from the photo so here’s the technical drawing.  As you can tell from the drawing, the sleeves are not attached in the usual way which makes this a little bit tricky to sew, but I transfered the markings/notches and followed the directions carefully (rereading many times, although the directions are actually not bad for BWOF directions).  I took a few photos of the process that may help anyone else trying to figure out the assembly process. 

First fuse fusible bias tape as directed.  Sew the shoulder seams of the front and back yokes and attach the neck trim, which is referred to as piping, but is attached as a regular ribbing neckline is attached.   Then gather the bottom of the outer sleeve (burda calls this piece the sleeve) and then attach the bottom of the inner sleeve to this.  Sew the inner sleeve to the seam allowance.  Then gather the top of the outer sleeve and attach to the front and back yokes.  It will look like this:

Next, sew the lower front and back pieces to the yokes and part of the sleeve.  The notch on the sleeve will be lined up with the seam allowance of the lower front and back piece.  Here’s a picture:

The blue chalk mark on the top piece denotes the edge of my seam allowance (I added a one inch “just in case” allowance at the side seams) and that mark lines up with the notch on the sleeve.  Only sew to this mark–the seam allowance will not be sewn here.  It will look like this when you’re done:

in the picture above it’s easier to see that the seam allowance is hanging free.  The next step is to sew the side seams together.  Then sew the underarm seam of both the inner and outer sleeve in one seam from the notch on the inner sleeve to the point where the underarm sleeve seam meets the side seam.  After that seam is sewn it will look like this:

You can tell from the picture that the inner sleeve (which is the lower part of the “sleeve” here as it hasn’t yet been turned to the inside) is only partially sewn together at the underarm and there is an opening at the end.  The next step is to turn the inner sleeve to the inside of the outer sleeve (although you do this with the sleeve inside out, so you are folding the inner sleeve over the top of the outer sleeve–it will end up on the inside)  and sew to the seam allowances of the armscye.  I found it helpful to first match the shoulder notch to the shoulder notch of the inner sleeve–make sure that the seam at the lower edge of the outer/inner sleeves is slightly to the inside–it should not show from the outside when you are wearing the top.   If it does show, just make the seam allowance a little bigger on your inner sleeve, which will draw the seam toward the inside.  The open edges of the underarm seam on the inner sleeve are separated and sewn to seam allowances of where the outer sleeve was sewn to the the lower bodice pieces, making a Y:  here’s a picture:

Here’s another picture of the finished sleeve inside out:

Then, all there is left to do is to hem the top.

Making Marshmallows

Never in a million years did I ever think that I would make marshmallows from scratch, but I did and they are delicious and taste just like store-bought marshmallows, only fresher tasting.  They are amazingly simple to make and here is the recipe at ajc.com (scroll down below the hot chocolotate recipe).  You can make them in different flavors by changing the type of extract you use and you can tint them with food coloring.  You can even cut them out with cookie cutters.   Mine were vanilla, white, and cut into squares with a knife (use plenty of confectioner’s sugar as the marshmallow slab is sticky).

If you want the marshmallows to have a dry  ”crust” like the storebought ones do,  cover the container you store them in loosely with plastic wrap.  If kept in a sealed container they stay moister on the outside.   My kids asked if they can be roasted over a campfire and I don’t know the answer to that, but I would think I would try  with marshmallows that had been left to get slightly stale (with  a little bit of a crust) as the fresh ones may be too gooey to get onto a stick.

Here they are melting in my ziggy mug!

One warning:  when I added the hot sugar mixture to the gelatin mixture and started beating, there was a dreadful aroma coming off the mixture–I think from the gelatin.  I worried that the flavor would not be good, but the scent was gone by the end of the 12 minute beating process and the end result tastes sweet.    Also, because the recipe calls for gelatin, it is not vegetarian.

My new (old) machine

Meet my new baby–don’t know if it runs or not yet, but she is very clean and when I turned the wheel the needle went up and down (always a good sign).  This beauty belonged to my maternal Grandma and I think it was purchased in the late 1940’s.  From what I understand, Royal sewing machines were sold in department stores and via mail order.  They were affiliated somehow with Westinghouse.  This machine was made in the USA and was $189 when new.

I’m using her for the image for my blog as she is my oldest machine by far, as my Kenmore 52 was manufactured in the early 1960’s. 

My family actually has another new machine, a very lightweight Kenmore 3/4 machine that my daughter wanted for her birthday.  The big machines are a little intimidating for her yet.   So that brings our total of machines up to 5 sewing machines and a serger.   And three of those were free (to us, at least). 

I think that’s enough.  I never intended to start a sewing machine collection and I have already run out of good places to store all these machines.   Although I’d never refuse the gift of a treadle machine in working order . . .

 

Happy Holidays

My husband photographed this tree on a recent hike–it seems appropriate for this year’s holidays.  I am enjoying my simpler, more economical approach this year and making gifts has been a lot of fun.  I really like that I have no regrets that I’ve overspent.  I sewed my last stitch before Christmas this evening and won’t resume sewing until after New Year’s.  It’s a time to focus on being with my family and enjoying our winter break together. 

So Happy Holidays to all of you out there and may 2009 bring peace, prosperity, and productivity to you all.