Silence in the Sewing Room

Not lack of sewing, just silence.

Lily the cat seems to have lost her voice. Normally she has a very loud and demanding meow, particularly when she's standing outside the workroom.

Yesterday, low scratchy meow. Today, nada.

This happened before - about a year and a half ago, when she had the expensive butt surgery, her voice changed. It changed back, but I don't remember when.

One of the many negatives about the internet is if you go looking for something, you're sure to find it; searching "cat voice change" gives you lovely frightening ideas like laryngeal tumors and renal failure.

So I took her to the University of Penn's vet emergency room last night around 7:00 p.m. My vet didn't have hours until Monday and Ididn't know if I could get her an appointment, so even though it might just be something minor, I wanted to get her checked out. Minor has a way of turning major very quickly, and animals rarely show when they're in pain.

When we walked in, the waiting room was overflowing. A tech comes out, asks what's wrong, I give her the symptoms - also licking her lips, a little lethargic, maybe a little weight loss, just not acting like herself - and the tech says they'll probably run some blood work to see what's up.

8:00. 9:00. 10:00. Another tech comes out. "Lily?" she asks. I raise my hand. She's come to take a full history, including all about the surgery in January 2009, even though she's got the chart in her hand - which she obviously hasn't read because she asked if Lily had sustained another animal bite. Two hospital visits, one surgery and several thousand dollars later, it was determined it was never a bite; she'd simply been picking at her own infection.

But whatever. She takes a new history, disappears.

11:00. Midnight. Doctor comes out, with tech in tow. "Lily's people?" We get up, go into an exam room with her. She goes over the history again.

Why did I think my cat was sick? I repeat the symptoms. So that's enough to make me think she's sick? Yes. She's lost her voice, she's licking her lips constantly, she seems a bit lighter than usual, she's not acting like herself and she hasn't slept with me in a few days. The last time she exhibited most of that behavior, she was nursing a $3K infection just left of her tail.

The upshot: her bloodwork is fine, her kidney function is completely normal, her temperature is good, she's a sweet cat and I'm apparently a competely hysterical paranoid mother. That'll be $175 please - and 6 hours of your life.

I'm still taking her to my vet tomorrow, because now she has no voice at all, and I know my cat better than an overworked doctor in a Saturday night emergency room who can't see a (hopefully) minor issue with Lily because she's got way worse problems to deal with.

Fingers, toes and paws crossed, everybody. Even though I complain about her constant yammering at me, it's too freaking quiet in the sewing room right now.

The second triple

As a follow up to my "One Pattern, Many Looks" post the other night, here's my other favorite dress to play with - BWOF 2/08 #113. I've also made this one three times, the final striped version just this weekend.

It wasn't like I needed another dress; I've been on a bit of a dress roll lately. But I felt like sewing something, and I wanted an easy project.

Because things don't always work when you want easy, this project presented a few problems, but nothing that couldn't be worked out. I cut the pattern pieces as a single layer so that the stripes matched on the top and bottom. I measured and marked my invisible zipper placement, and of course when I sewed it in, the bodice seam was 1/4" higher on one side than the other.

I thought about taking the zipper out and starting over, and then I looked at my leftover fabric and started cutting bias strips. I pressed it and then sewed it over the seam, and somehow - don't ask me, I think the gremlins were working this weekend - the bias tape ended up being 1/4" higher on the opposite side.

Profanity was heard in the sewing room. And outside the sewing room. And probably out in the yard.

Had a moment of thinking about it, and then I took some of the leftover bias tape and made a bow, and hand-sewed it over the crooked portion of the tape. It covers both sides of the zipper without making it hard to zip, so I'm calling that one a design element.

I still had some bias tape left over, so I stitched it down right above the hem to add a little interest.

Here are the other two versions of this same pattern - a stretch woven cafe print from last summer, and a cherry-printed cotton (non-stretch) from later in last summer. You can't see the bodice structure in the other two versions, but the cherry drses has all the seams outlined in piping, which not only feels vintagey to me, but shows off the detailing of the design in a way that I like.

The cafe print is basically the same version as my current stripe (although the new fabric is a little lighter weight and stretchier, and so the front neckline is a little unstable and wants to turn down). I may make lemonade out of that one as well, and actually turn down the part that wants to turn down, stitch it down and enjoy the visible contrasting stripes.

On the non-sewing front, we've gone from near-drought conditions to near-monsoon in a matter of days, and my house is taking on water like the freaking Titanic.

It thundered and rained last night, but other than the leak in the front porch roof that I've been avoiding dealing with, nothing major happened. This morning, the wind changed and when I came downstairs, it was raining in my dining room. Horizontally, spraying out across the room from the bay window frame. WTF? It was also raining in between the interior and storm windows, which brought on a fishtank effect and caused the water to run out - over the windowsill and down the wall.

After much swearing, some panic and every available bath towel and several old blankets, I had to go to work. My housemate checked later, after the rain stopped, washed and dried all the towels and reinstalled them for the rain expected tonight and tomorrow. She then called me at work, told me what she did and mentioned that oh, by the way, the attic was dripping as well, and is now spread with a fashionable blue tarp and several plastic fabric tubs to catch the water.

So, tomorrow. I have a hot date with my roofer at 8:00 a.m. Does it get any better?

And does anyone wonder why I've been stress sewing?

One Pattern, Many Looks

This contest starts on Patternreview on July 15th and runs through August 14th. It's one of my favorites, and a contest I would absolutely enter if I could (Contest Committee members can't enter contests, for obvious reasons, although I did get special dispensation for the Menswear Contest last year).

This contest always starts a lot of discussion on the boards about what can and can't be done and what changes can be made, but sometimes I think people just overthink it. Sometimes you don't need to do anything drastic to a pattern to turn it into a completely different dress - sometimes all it takes is fabric, or a different neckline, or even a different attitude.

One of my favorite patterns to do this with is Burdastyle's Fatina dress. I've made this pattern three times now, and none of the dresses resemble each other in the slightest, and I made no major structural changes to the pattern for any of them.

The first, the black and white pinstripe, wasn't altered at all, I just added the amazing floral trim.

For the second version, the plaid, I separated the bodice from the skirt so that I could cut the bodice on the bias and added a ribbon over the seam. I did add a short sleeve, but I don't consider that a major change either.

The third version is the most recent, and for the chocolate swirl dress, I kept the separate bodice and I sliced the skirt into thirds and added a hem band.

Three distinctly different dresses from a very simple pattern, and a very roundabout way of saying I made another dress yesterday, from another summer TNT (BWOF 2/08 #113), and all three iterations of that dress will appear shortly.

I'll try to get a picture of me in the new dress tomorrow if I wear it to work.

Clothes for small people

Baby and kids clothes are not something I make a lot of - not many of my friends have kids and the few co-workers who've had them aren't generally the type to appreciate something me-made - as opposed to something from whatever fabulous baby store I'm supposed to buy from. So they get what they want, and those with better taste get me.

One of my best friends, and the most stylish man I know, is expecting. Well, okay, his wife's expecting, but he's so excited you'd think he was. Once they found out they were having a girl, I have to say I was almost as excited as they were.

You see, I've been planning for them to have a little girl long before they were. They got married in November, 2007. The got married on the Friday of PR Weekend, 2007, so I could only go on Saturday, just a few hours after coming home from their reception. And one of the things I bought on that marathon shopping day was a piece of candy pink velvet embroidered with flowers. I wasn't quite sure why it called to me so loudly in Metro Textiles; I was too tired to see straight, much less think about a baby from a marriage less than 24 hours old, but subconsciously, I think that's just what I was doing.

Can anybody say first Easter dress? As a practice run, I put together this little number, BWOF 10/05 #139. A little garish? you say. What baby wears purple? you ask.

I'll tell you. This baby.

The mom's favorite color is purple, and her dad's nickname for her since she was a baby is Ladybug. So when I realized I had enough fabric left over from Mario's recent shirt, I decided to make the dress. I went digging through the trim boxes in search of something coordinating, and came across this ladybug trim, which I've had for so long I don't remember getting it. (I'm thinking some time in high school, which means the trim is older than the mom and dad).

To tie it all together, I got out a twin needle and did all the topstitching in red and yellow. The pinafore straps are buttoned with yellow flower buttons (and red buttonholes). I added a third yellow flower button over the join in the trim above the pleat.

I handed it over on Thursday. Dad loved it. I swear I heard the mom squealing that night.

Apparently, I'm going to be that aunt. You know, the one who makes the stuff that no one else would ever consider putting the kid into.

Good thing the parents have taste.

Is it a . . . tree cozy?

It hit 102 degrees in Philadelphia today.

And the trees are wearing sweaters.

I'm just saying.

Do it right the first time

And you won't be forced to wake up during the night, thinking about how you screwed up, and wondering just how much work it's going to be in the morning to take it all apart again.

I knew I wasn't going to get very much sewing done this weekend, what with one thing and another, so I decided to work on one substantial project. I think I'm one of about 10 sewists left on earth who haven't tackled the Jalie jeans yet, and it was time.

I'd already bought two different stretch denims, neither of which excited me all that much after I got them home. When I went to Joann's with Andrea the other week, I bought a piece of stretch denim that I still liked after I washed it.

Tracing off the pattern was no big deal, not after all the Burda tracing I've done. Now that I know what size I am, I'd be tempted to just cut the original pattern pieces out, but if I make these in a non-stretch, I'll have to go up a size, so let's just leave well enough alone, shall we?

I've made jeans before, from Ottobre. I liked them, they fit well, and the instructions were good. Same here, with Jalie. I think the fit is somewhat better on these, but I have to admit to liking Ottobre's instructions better. I got a better fly front with their instructions, and now I'll have to pull them out and compare to see where they differ, because I'm not completely thrilled with my zipper in these - the tab is visible at the top, so there's not enough of a flap over the zipper.

Easily fixed, but still.

I cut these out Friday, and worked on them Saturday and yesterday. I finished the jeans last night, and had Mario take pictures this a.m. The first three photos are from before I went back inside and took the jeans apart again.

I read a lot of pattern reviews for these jeans before starting in, but I basically decided to just go with the pattern as is (and the instructions) and see what I got out of it on the first go. Overall, I'm pretty happy - the fit is good, though it's easier to get a nice fit with stretch. It's what happens after you wear them all day that I worry about. Your butt's only going to sag so much in a non-stretch denim; with stretch, the floor's the limit.

One thing I did NOT like about the pattern is the waistband. They have you cut it on the bias. Stretch denim and then the additional stretch of bias? With no interfacing? Really?

I gave it a shot. As you can see in the first closeup, the waistband pulls - on the bias. It also folds over the button, and the buttonhole is stretching out from lack of interfacing.

When I finished them last night, I thought they were good enough. I don't wear my tops tucked in anyway, and I knew what I would change for next time. I was okay with the result.

Except I wasn't. I woke up at least twice during the night, thinking about that waistband. After having him take the pictures this a.m., I came back inside and retreated to the workroom with a large black coffee and my seam ripper and took off the band and made a new one.

Since my denim was stretch, I had to cut the band on the lengthwise grain to get no stretch in my new waistband. I cut it longer than the pattern piece, just in case I needed some extra. I used a light-weight interfacing, with an extra layer in the button and buttonhole area.

Sewed it all back together, topstitched, hammered the button into place and tried them on again. Much better this time. As you can see from the second photo, any issue of the jeans not fitting at the waist now is more body-related than clothing related. I can cope with that - I can't change the shape of my body, at least not in an hour and using only a seam ripper.

All in all, the Jalie jeans pattern is not the sewing epiphany it's seemed to be for so many people. Which is not to say I won't make it again, but I know what I'll do differently next time.

When did it start?

When did you get bit by the sewing (crafting, knitting, insert-your-obsession-here) bug?

That's something I've been thinking about lately because of a book I recently read - Handmade Nation, the Rise of DIY, Art, Craft and Design, by Faythe Levine and Cortney Heimerl.

I picked it up because I've been doing a lot of pre-season craft show work and I was thinking about much more interesting craft shows are recently than they were when I was a kid and got dragged to them by my mom or a relative. A lot of the time these days, there's plenty of stuff I'd like to buy, and quite a bit I can't afford - which isn't what craft shows used to be either. But then again, I'd rather see something I want that I can't afford than a whole room fully of crafty goodness that I wouldn't give house room to.

The book contains short profiles of about 25 crafters of all kinds, but what interested me the most was that almost all of them, when asked where desire came from to make things, said that they grew up around someone (a mother or a relative) who made something. It didn't have to be the kind of thing they grew up to make; it was enough to be raised around creativity that it sunk in.

My mom could draw, and while she didn't much like to sew, she could. There was a machine in the house, and every once in a while lightning would strike and she'd want to make something. It usually ended badly, with much swearing and a wadder in the trash can, but that's another story. My aunts sewed; my grandmother sewed. They embroidered, they knitted, they tatted.

They made stuff.

I remember being a little kid and always having some kind of project going, whether it was painting, making furniture for my doll house, sewing clothes for random dolls, trying to build a Barbie-scale log cabin in the back yard out of sticks (too much Little House reading, I'm sure). Many, many projects involved Elmer's glue, which I thought was the greatest thing ever created. What else could you mix with torn-up white bread to get clay? What else could be painted on fabric to get a waterproof effect for Barbie's raincoat? What else . . . well, you get the idea. I was in love with a glue that you couldn't sniff. (I sniffed Crayolas instead - the ambrosia of a fresh 64-box of crayons!)

There were beads, sequins, yarn, fabric, glue, paints, crayons, etc. in my room, and something was always in the midst of turning into something else. I guess it's not surprising that I still have the urge to make stuff, almost all the time.

What about you? Is it nature or nuture? Were you surrounded by creative women growing up, or did you catch the bug all by yourself?