Shopping

It was flag day yesterday.  One and a half of them anyway.  I have one and one half to go.  

This afternoon, I'm going to be doing some baking.  Poppyseed chiffon with a peanut butter icing at the request of the landlord.  It's okay because at the same time I am going to be putting on my supper.  I decided on pulled pork when I was digging for some non existent chicken yesterday.  With supper already decided, the day feels remarkably free.

But mostly this morning finds me contemplating clothing and me.  I have been wearing my new dresses with regular pants for now, and it is remarkably freeing.  Energizing even.  It makes me hunger all the more for some shirts and tops too.  

When I left office work I had a huge wardrobe of work clothing.  It did not translate into things that worked for retail, so I had a whole other wardrobe for retail. Jackets, dressy crisp gaberdine pants, basic tops and scarves to give me some colour and bang for what were a sets of black things and a sets of navy things for the office.  Breathable natural fabrics for hot sunny days in Southern facing storefronts beefed up by sweaters and shawls for retail.  By the end of my working life I had tons and tons of clothes besides a whole set of things that were really only good for gardening or painting walls.  And over the years, that has been what I have been wearing, augmented by plain t shirts.  

And an endless bevy of sweaters that were handmade by me.  Which was so rewarding to me.  

In the same way this sewing is energizing.  I am enjoying having all these new things at once.  It is a such a joyous thing to go shopping and come home with several new outfits at a time.  I am shopping, just in a different way than shopping is usually done.  But I am also looking forward to a time when I have enough and when the sewing is something occasional and fun just like going shopping is for so many people.  I will still shop my way, pre - clothing as is but shopping is fun online at least.  But mostly,  I look forward to the end of need.  

Scattered thoughts this morning.  So many things to be done.

Watching F1 took my blanket this far, though I really had hoped to take it to the marl.  I found the racing too exciting this year.  The changes they made to the car specs this year are a game changer and gosh darn it, I end up knitting to tightly and it makes my hands tire out before the race is done.  Still, it is a good start.  

And then I did this.  This is the wee split in the fabric.  Just the tiniest slice, though it is a bit frayed on the open cut part.  There was a section above it in the black where you could see the line of the slice but no threads were cut.  

I knew i wanted sunflowers or at least bright yellow ones, but what to do about the wide cut.  That needed to be stabilised.  

I did think about using a stabiliser fabric but ended up going with simple stitching.  I was going to make a bunch of flowers coming out of a vase, and I may yet go add more flowers but I kind of like it as it is.

There was work done on a few other small things but not so you would notice.  The job for today is going to be sewing again but this time flags of Ukraine.  My daughter in law has asked me to make some for her car and her house.  She gave me some cotton and I hope that will be strong enough to hold together.  I guess the experiment with felled seams is on.

The One is Never Enough Blanket

F1 season is back, which can only mean one thing!  It's time for a Sock Monkey Cabin Blanket.  

I have two skeins of denim colored yarn that were left when I understood Amy really wanted hers to be gray.  That is a lot of yarn so I asked if her sister Lindsay would like one.  So, this one is a freebie for Lindsay.

I wasn't quite ready to start last week. I needed to order the cream yarn.  It arrived yesterday evening in the mail. I only ordered last Sunday so great shipping time, Yarn Canada.

I had to go digging for the red yarn for the stripe but I used it when I was knitting Emmett's gramps and that bag of assorted not enough for much more than hats bag was holding the mirror against the wall.  

The large balls of the denim Comfort are in another box, but I doubt that I will need them this weekend.  They can come out later, when the box has just a bit more room in it.

Ready.  Set. Go.

Peppy

I didn't  sew the other day. Honestly, I have no idea what I did.  But the day passed with an assortment of the usual things going on.  So today is going to be sewing day.

The last of the Torrens flirty skirty dresses will be sewn and if I am lucky at least part of this pair of pants.

But before either of those, this.

I have worn this a few times now and am going to sew up the side seams and shorten it somewhat.  Right now the hem keeps getting caught up in stuff as I go through the days.  So in the end, a more traditional hem is what will be.  

I am full of energy and have a serious pep in my step today.  It may be the result of the lovely sunny weather we have right now, or the extra coffee I had yesterday.  Either way, I intend to use it.

Out and About

I am going out of the house today.  Weird to announce it but I haven't left in any sort of routine way since forever ago, so announcing it seems right.  I am off to visit Ludmila and to see what troubles we grandmothers can get into.  

I know she likes to keep busy.  She reminds me of Olga.  She always has to be doing something.  She loves bringing order to things.  I am a little concerned that she will find being there for the kids, to get them off to school and to be there when she gets home, that the midday will get long and feel empty. That is an awful thing to feel.   So, we, together shall contrive to do some fun things to keep her going till she finds her own path.

We talked about going to the greenhouses once they are open.  I know from last time when Luda was here that she enjoyed working in the yard and seeds and plants and the smell of spring will be of interest to her.  Maybe she will want to make some garden beds.  After that, I think that her and I will make it grandmother's business to go to farmer's markets for fresh produce.  That sort of thing can be difficult for working people to get to outside of big centres.  The nearest market to me is only half a morning long so if you are not able to be there right at that moment, you are out of luck.  I don't want to drive into  the city but I for sure can do Fort Saskatchewan.

I know that there is a big dog at their house, that if she befriends it and can get used to leading Cora, the dog will love Luda to bits if Luda will take her for a daily walk.  I am not sure if Luda has thought of that, but I will see.  Walking around, getting familiar with her new small town is important to her state of mind.  I know for Olga, it was finding the fire department made her feel at home and I hope there is something to find like that for Ludmila too.

Anyway, that is just rambling thoughts.  For today, coffee and chatting, while translating with google translate.  Lots to do, much to say, many things to learn.  

A Mixed Bag

I had some lovely company yesterday morning.  They were dropping a few things for Olga's mom.  I will deliver them tomorrow when I pick up sewing Olga has asked for.  

It meant too that my sewing time was small or not at all.  Not a problem really.  Not at all.  I pulled out a sock that was at a point of decision.  To heel or not to heel? 

As you can see, I heeled.  The heel on these were actually a foregone conclusion.  The amount of multi colored yarn I had when I started meant I had to use the green solid for the heels, toes and cuffs and lately, the socks I love to wear most often are the ones with a garter stitch short row heel.  I find the heel kind of difficult to knit if I am visiting so this was a great time to get it done.  This pair are ready again for zooming knitting.  

This also seems like a great time to show you the progress that happens when you knit a bit here and there.  

This is the very striking Agate Cove pullover.  The last time I showed it, I think was when I was having trouble with my hands aching after a bit of knitting it.  

Originally, I had it on 3.75 mm needles.  That worked great for the yoke, but it made knitting the body not a lot of fun.  I found myself avoiding working on it.  Rather than doing my usual increases at this point, I decided to change needle sizes to get the width I was looking for.  Thanks to Amy for suggesting that.  Suddenly knitting is fun again.  I am happy because I love this yoke.  I love this yarn and I love this rich blue colour. 

Sewing today I think, at least the top part of this bright yellow check dress.  Then some embroidery, I think.  I noticed a very small area where the fabric looks as if it had been folded and worn through on one of my skirt panels. On the bolt, this area would have been mid panel and no way would it have been picked up, backed as it was by the same colours.  

I intend to embroider sunflowers over the flaw.  A tiny patch of sunflowers to remember everything about this winter that has passed.  Sunflowers and cornflowers are the colours of Ukraine's flag. I think that is what flowers I will plant this year.  

Hitting a wall.

I had hoped to get the last of this dress style sewn by Friday, but I hit a wall.  The top of the dress went together beautifully as usual.  Even my little neckline hack went beautifully.  

See.  It's lovely and crisp in this small gingham fabric.  I love checks and plaids and this could easily become a favorite.  But

I had hoped that I would have enough fabric for the usual twice the width ratio for the skirt.  Because this is a narrower fabric the layout for the top pieces changed just enough to bugger me for the skirt.  I was about half a metre short.  The wall was do I still want the dress, or could I turn this one into a tunic top?  

I hemmed and hawed and in the end, decided for the dress.  Suddenly having choices is simply amazing to me.  The idea that if my pants are all dirty, the I have three garments I could wear is just unheard-of.  I can see me wearing a dress for everyday this summer for no other reason than that I can.  Plus there are lots of other fabrics that were bought for shirts and tunics.  I want this dress.  

I ordered just enough fabric to get me my two times gathering ratio.  Possibly a bit more.  If there is a bit more, I will use it along with some black to make a bit of a tank camisole type top.  

One of the patterns that I love from Muna and Broad, okay, honestly, Muna and Broad is so me, the I love them all, but one of my favorite is the Nullabor top and dress.  My personal choice would be to make the strap wider, but I am sure I can do that easy enough but otherwise it is a perfect little top to wear under.  It takes just a metre for a straight grain camisole on wide fabric, and if you want a bias cut, so it floats around you, a metre and a half is.  I already have some destined to be this , some plain black to wear under all the summer shirts, but some made with bits of leftovers.

Couldn't you just see the Nullabor on a top with the shoulder straps and top edge made of an neat check like this with the rest of a plain?  I can.  Or wouldn't it be great as the pocket edge trim on aCobden Chore Jacket?  The wee bit more of the checked gingham from this dress is going to go for something like that.  

My day started with company foc coffee, so things are only just getting under way.  Attention is going to paid to the last dress on the pile.  

This is one of my favorite pieces of fabric ever.  Checks and a glorious golden yellow.  Yum.

 

No pretenses.  This is a wild sort of fabric.  It is a lot of design for a piece of wearable goods.  

A lot.  Serious amount of moving flowing leaves of green and purple and white.  It's a weird mix of colours in a way and yet, it is very much a fabric and a print for summer and hot places.  It might be something the average person expects to find as beachwear in a tropical place, but when it is hot here, it is hot.  35 C on the beach is the same hot as 35 C on the prairies.  It is only in your head that there is a difference.

So call it a beach dress, if you will, and know that it is delightfully airy and I can't wait for a hot day to wear it and still feel cool.

I have to go now.  F1 is starting right now.  And World women's curling tomorrow.   So looking forward to the weekend! 

It looks better in real life.  The colours are much more vibrant and clear.  

Fabric with no pretenses

As expected, yesterday was a sewing day.  The fabric for this dress was a light and airy cotton viscose print.  I have two fabrics for dresses in this session of sewing because like my first madras cotton dress, it is wonderfully light and very washable wearable.  It is not however, crisp.

Even when I press this fabric, as soom as it is moved a bit or sewn to the next part, it is no longer ironed looking.  It becomes soft and a wee bit crinkled looking much like a double gauze does.  I am pretty sure that plays a huge part in why I love this fabric blend.  No pretenses and I don't have to iron it for it to look exactly like it is going to look while wearing.  

I get well along to completion yesterday.  I just have to attach the skirt and hem it.  I would have been happy with just getting the top completed, but my heel was feeling good so I just kept on working.  The skirt panels were sewn together and all the edges finished too.  By that time, my heel was giving it up, so I took the skirt and gathered it by hand and then pinned it to the top.  By that time, I was feeling pretty brazen, and I thought about pushing my heel to just get it all done.  I took it and tried but I couldn't focus any longer, not close enough for sewing at any rate.  As things go, that probably saved me time taking things apart this morning and redoing them properly.  

Anyway, dress number two will be complete very shortly and dress number three will at least have the interfacings attached to the fabric.  If I can get those small things done before I go to sleep, the dresses will all be done by Friday.  And then I can start on shirts and other tops for summer.  

The Knitting? Yes.

As I said, the knitting.  I haven't been doing g as much particularly with the stress of the last few weeks, but there has always been some knitting.  What has been done is low thinking knitting.  I couldn't even do the Gridiron socks without issues from low brain power.  What I could do was this.   

I have really enjoyed working on this cowl calming restful rounds.  It isn't quite perfectly on pattern.  I am making the stripes be three rows instead of two.  There won't be as many stripes either.  From all the pictures of this project, the design is already pretty long.  I don't want longer by a couple inches because of too many rows here and there. 

I want soft rolls of cozy to block the chill at my neck.  Too long would just be in the way.  

But yesterday, with my little world settling down and my sewing finding its feet admit the rest of things, I took a whole day to just knit.  Sometimes I feel pushed and rushed but I am not and yesterday, I set in my mind that I can just knit a whole day rather than sewing even when I didn't want to.  And so I knit.

 

I am just really starting to show how this pattern works.  The little pop of blue forms a hole in tiny lake of white.  More and more the colour is showing up. It is not a strong contrast.  It is a very soft blue but it pleases me to no end.  It isn't  a huge piece of knitting but it was a great way to slowly get back into hand work that demands more than just going around and around.  

I lied.

I lied.  It was a terribly difficult job.

When I did the last dress out of my bright Madras cotton, I did not as I suspected, do the gathers using a string method.  I did them the more usual way by sewing two rows of basting stitches and then gathering.  I checked.  It went effortlessly, of that I am positive.  However...

The problem is that this lovely blue fabric is a lot thicker, heavier in weight than a Madras cotton which is almost gauze like.  It is even slightly heavier than a good basic cotton poplin. The two rows of basting stitches was not a good idea for this fabric.  Not at all.  I did try doing a zigzag over a strand of crochet cotton but that still left the basted stiches pulling till they broke.  I ended up doing some hand basting with a fine weight crochet cotton and that may well be my good to from here on for all the cottons but fine very light fabrics.  I worked nicely.  This fabric was great for it.  I could easily keep the same number of stitches in the tiny plaid like grid.  

And then it was done.

It is exactly what I hoped it would be.  I wore it for a few hours on Saturday, just to see if the length is okay or if I wanted it shorter, but it is fine where it is.  It's mid calf on me which is a good length for when I am sitting and doesn't get in the way as I work around the kitchen.  It is wide.  Seriously wide.  I could cut the dress to a smaller size, two sizes down actually, but, what I found doing my muslins for fit was that for complete comfort, for the best cooling airflow, the wider cut of the Torrens patterns was better.  

I really don't need the skirt that wide.  If I wanted for fit, and for looks, I could just go with a straight skirt.  I know that this gathered wide cut does have it's level of the ridiculous about it, but that is the thing about this dress and my adventures wearing the first last summer.  It was ridiculously wide cut but cool.  It caught air under the skirts and made me feel cooler than in anything else I wore last summer.  

I have three more dresses to sew, each more or less looking like this one, but in very different fabrics.  

That won't however be the end of the Torrens-ing.  I have a couple summer Box Tops in my plans too.  

I am gradually getting to a point where knitting and sewing are fitting comfortably in a day.  Tomorrow, I will show you my knitting progress on one project for sure and possibly on two!

A Question of Pins

Well, here I am, ready to make this

To fit 

This.  

It isn't a difficult job but it does have me wondering, 

Do I have enough pins?

#Torrens Box Top

It is much too easy to skip a post when I am sewing.  When I have my summer things sewn, I will be vaccinated full time I think, but I worry that I would let it slide.  I really don't want that to happen.  I still enjoy it. 

So, what have I been doing?  Sew.  Sew.  Sew.

The top of dress one is done sewn and is waiting for the skirt.  I am not sure that I can do the skirt today.  Focusing close for four hours is about all I can do and that means my sewing day is pretty much done. I will show you what I have so far.  

The Torrens Box Top has these cool cuffs rather than sleeves.  That was the first thing I did after cutting all the interfacings for the dresses this morning and I did it wrong.  I sewed it as I would for a collar rather than sewing the ends together to make a circle. Fixed and sorted in short order, of the reasons why I simply adore Torrens.  

I had decided to make this fabric have a faux button front and that proceeded well enough so far as sewing went.  I wanted to use little covered buttons.  However, the little metal parts of the button are soft that I  have ruined several buttons just trying to put the back shak part on.  Plus, the little part that is supposed to help you out the shank part on is to soft to actually do it.  What a mess.  I am going for less matchy matchy buttons unless I can find something that is a good blue in my button stash.  

Harrumphhhhh

But over all, 

it is exactly what I needed it to be,  a nice summer dress.  I have the top complete but I hope to get the gathering started on the skirt pieces.  I am going to try the trick of sewing a zig zag stitch over a bit of cord or string.  I don't recall if that is what helped me get the green and turquoise dress so nicely gathered so easily but I think that is what I did and it was amazing.   And if it is not what I did, it is time I tried it.  It looks amazing.

I debated sewing all dresses interfacings one day, then attaching collars, then sleeves etc, but though the basic dresses are very close to the same, I am doing a couple variations just for fun.  Because each top will be a bit different, it felt more correct to do a dress complete at a time.  

Besides that way I get to wear them each in their time.  I am so looking forward to this!

Ironing and Cutting

Olga' mom has arrived and I am just thrilled.  

Otherwise I am still sewing.  I am cutting out all the dresses.  They are going to be pretty similar and the sleeves and other facing will be nice and easy to do in a bunch in one sitting.  

Before cutting  I had needed to do one final step of prepping.  I had to iron everything.

The nice folded bunch was done during the first of the days draws of the brier. I set the board in the living room and just ironed away.  It was great.  

Still one to go though.  And it really needs to be ironed.  It is hard to cut this fine woven cotton well without it being pressed.  The only upside is that this is the last time it will be ironed.  Well beyond the ironing required for sewing that is.   

I debated when I started this venture about ironing.  I am not a huge fan of ironing. I never ironed my linen.  I can't abide the fresh crisp look in my clothes.  I am not in the office anymore and so I want natural fabrics to be natural.  

The pants I have sewn are not wholly natural, but there I needed something different and sturdy like iron.  But all my shirts and tops and dresses are going to be as natural a fibre or blend as can be.  Unless I fall in love with a print of course.  

It's not like that never happened before.  

Yes!

It has been a couple weeks now that I have had a hard time sticking to my knitting.  That has to be obvious.  But I expect normal soon.  

My daughter in law's mom made it from her bunker in Kyiv to Poland late last night.  She got into the shorter line for people who had a place to stay in Poland versus the longer line for those who did not have a place to stay.  And because Luda has never not found friends where ever she goes, by the time she got to the head of the line, she had a friend (complete stranger) who gave her a place to sleep.  And that is Ludmila and the Polish people.  I love all Poland today.  

Anyway, she is safe in Poland and will be here in Edmonton late Monday night.  I have been crying since I heard the news and I am still breaking into tears a bit as I type.  It is just such a relief to know she is safe.

So things will be a new kind of normal shortly, but they will be normal.  I am counting my blessings for our whole family and remain praying for all of Ukraine.  

Turns dreams into Real

Ah to dream and dream again.  

Sewing is not particularly great for blogging.  I get started and never pause to rest my hands and take photos.  Sewing is full of bits where you stop and start so you never end up with cramping and never quite seem to have the same need for arms stretches and wrist bends.  You might need a good back stretch, but you can do that when you are getting the next seam ready to sew.

My dress fabrics arrived.  When I was purchasing last year, I bought only two pieces of fabric with the intent to make a dress.  One is already sewn and I found one other piece where I have the four metres minimum that I need for a nice gathered skirt to attach to the Torrens Box Top. I may have one other, but most of the fabrics are three metres and that is fine for a shirt of any kind, but not enough for a nice dress.  So I bought a bit more fabric once I had my bike shorts idea.  

Two lovely airy light weight cotton rayon blends.  Perfect for summer wear which is really what dresses are for.

A navy linen cotton blend.  This whole five metres was under twenty dollars and was therefore too good to pass up. The black and white gingham is the usual cotton poly blend, which I adore because the checks are so small and last, also an easy care cotton poly.  All the fabrics are very light weight.  

Ahem.  Yes.  Four. Fine. There are five.  I had forgotten about a value buy I did a few days before the flowery brighter fabric haul.   I wasn't really looking for five.  I meant to buy only two to treat myself for my johnny come lately decision about biker shorts, but they were a really good deal and now that they are here, they are perfect for what I wanted.  All of them.

I may make one of these fabrics into a Waikere dress, with its button up front (like the blue version I think, with the gathered skirt) but we shall see.  There is a lot to be said for the utterly easy care of slipping the thing over your head and calling it dressed.  

I just remembered.  I do have one other fabric for a dress, one truly lovely thing and I am not sure what pattern I will use.  It is one of those florals with roses on a black background that just takes the breath out of me it is so pretty.  

Dream big.

Pounding stuff seems to have helped.  I woke in the morning with a plan to sew and I actually followed the plan.  

First up was to resolve a problem on a pair of pants that I tried to sew last summer when the kids were here.  They were just a basic Glebe pants, but I think the fabric is what revealed the real problem.  The two other pairs of Glebe pants I have sewn were in more substantial fabrics and that may have made the hang less obvious.  I did not make any notes to shorten the rise on the next cut nor did I make any adjustments on the pattern.  When I cut that last pair, it was in a very soft knit.  It as the kind of knit that is usually reserved for lounge wear and possibly nightgowns.  It was thin and very slinky and kind of marvelous.  I cut the pants as usual, and put in the normal elastic waist but they almost could not support themselves on my body.  I tightened the elastic, and then I could see the awful way the pants hung in the front crotch.  It looked like I had an empty potato sack hanging there. Eww.  It is one of those things that I just did not know how to deal with.  So it sat for a long while.  Eventually, I took to the wise internet and found something that I thought would work and then I tried to open the seams to do the repair.  

Not fun.  It took forever to start it, and once started, it took over four hours to do.  It was the softness of the fabric and the second also very light weight knit that I used for a lining that made it impossible.  Eventually, I did it and it worked.  Then, I had to hem them, and I did that wrong the first time, so I had to redo that too, but by the end of the day, it worked and it worked well.

I also finished a mostly complete birght red polka dot shirt.  The fabric was one of the ones that were so inexpensive that I couldn't not purchase it.  I played around a bit with the bottom skirt (if you will) of a Torrens Box Top. It's not perfectly thought out, but it will be wearable in my quiet little world on a hot summer day.  The hem is long enough to catch and funnel the breezes up through the top in the same was a dress would, but is still just a shirt.

I also cut out and mostly sewed a pair of pants. I had a couple seams done the other day, before my heel problem made me stop but I got all that done.  Lots of long straight seams.  Not hard, but the new sewing machine is not quite so fast as the old one.  It sews so much more reliably, though, never breaking the threads, never knotting up, that it probably is faster in the end for all that the old machine simply did long seams faster.   I just have the waist band to sew on.  My foot was giving out by then  and it was lunchtime.  

The big debate for tomorrow is make another pair of pants, or do I  cut it and run and make a dress?  The dress would be fun.  I am going to make it just like the one I already have, with as much of a gathered skirt below a slightly cropped Torrens Box Top .  I love that dress, and now that I am planning for some bike shorts for wearing underneath, I want a couple more.  It is the most comfortable thing ever.

Anyway, time for bed for little old me.  Time to dream of dresses and the kinds of knit cardigans that I will make to top them off.  I never told you about those dreams did I?