A Week and a Wedding, Part 2

On Thursday morning, DD#1 and DSIL borrowed DD#2’s car and drove out to visit his parents, who live about two hours from Seattle. The rest of us piled into the rented minivan and went to Bellevue Square to do some more shopping. (Shopping is a blood sport in my family.) We had lunch at Nordstrom Grill, which is one of our favorite places to eat.

And for dinner, we went to The Pink Door, a block up from Pike Place Market. Years ago, when the girls were little—probably 5 and 10 or thereabouts—we took the train, with my mother, from Kalispell to Seattle. My sister flew in and met us. We stayed at the Marriott downtown, and one of the places we ate was The Pink Door. DD#2 was able to get us reservations for Thursday night. We ate outside, on the patio, and enjoyed a great meal and the absolutely stellar weather.

I had gotten a text Thursday afternoon that my dress was ready to be picked up, so on Friday, my mother and my sister’s fiancé and I drove back up to Alderwood Mall to pick it up. The girls and my sister went to get pedicures. While Ty was shopping for a dress shirt, my mother and I also went to the Soft Surroundings store, which apparently is going out of business. I have had good luck at that store finding long tunics in bright colors, and I also picked up a T-shirt and a sweater.

For dinner on Friday, DD#1 had made us reservations at Sogno de Vino, in Poulsbo, WA. We took the ferry across Puget Sound to this adorable little Scandanavian town and had another great meal there. (I had my fill of delicious seafood last week.) Poulsbo connects to Bainbridge Island via a bridge, so after dinner, we headed over to the wedding venue where the groom’s family was throwing a welcome party.

It was so good to see my cousins! My cousin Amy and her husband, Matt, were there, too, which was a lovely surprise. They live in Columbus, Ohio, and decided at the last minute to come to the wedding.

Saturday morning dawned bright and clear and our group of seven boarded another ferry to ride over to Bainbridge again for the wedding. We arrived in time to have lunch at the Hitchcock Cafe. My mother and I had eaten there in June, too, and I had the most amazing grilled cheese sandwich both times. After lunch, we went to the hotel rooms we had reserved for getting ready. And here is yours truly in her new dress:

Yes, it is different than what I normally wear, but I loved the color and the style. I’m hoping to have another reason to wear it some time.

The wedding was held at a small inn on Bainbridge Island. The setting was just lovely (photo shamelessly borrowed from my sister):

We had cocktails, dinner, and dancing after the ceremony, and then it was time to head back over to Seattle on the ferry again.

One of the fun parts of the night was meeting my aunt and uncle’s friend, Marcie, who reads the blog (hi, Marcie!) She has been friends with them since they all lived in Peoria, Illinois (decades ago). I also got to visit a bit with her daughter, Stephanie, although it’s hard to have an in-depth conversation at a wedding reception.

Our group was tired on Sunday and mostly hung out at the Airbnb. I took DD#1 and DSIL to Trader Joe’s to get cheese and other snacks to take back with them to Alaska. Some things are hideously expensive in Alaska, so they try to pick up those items when they are in Seattle.

I dropped my mother off at the airport Monday morning and headed back to Spokane. The BMW was ready and waiting when I arrived and I was home by dinner time.

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Yesterday was spent catching up and checking on who is registered for today’s serger classes at the quilt store south of town so I know what supplies to bring. We are having trouble getting students to understand that they cannot just waltz in and register for a class at the beginning of a class. As of yesterday morning, I had one person registered for this morning’s class on rolled hems and we were thinking of canceling it. That has happened before with other instructors, and the store did cancel the class. It is not fair to the store and especially to the teacher, who might need to know class numbers ahead of time in order to put together kits and supplies. Another student registered yesterday afternoon, so I am going ahead with that class.

I also sent my proposed serger classes and schedule for 2023 to the other quilt store in Kalispell. I want as much of my schedule set ahead of time as possible so I know where and when I am teaching, although I am not averse to adding classes if needed. I’m teaching a home dec serger class next Tuesday and added a second session at the end of November for some students who couldn’t make next week’s class.

My next-door neighbor called Monday night. This is a lovely family with four little girls. She wanted to know if I would give her kids piano lessons. (I knew she was looking for a teacher because she posted on the NextDoor site a few weeks ago.) As much as I enjoy teaching, I don’t enjoy teaching piano. If I did, I’d be advertising myself as a piano teacher because I know it would bring in a significant chunk of income. She pushed a bit to try to get me to say yes, and I finally said, “I just don’t have time to do that.” She responded, rather incredulously, “You’re too busy . . . at home?”

From the outside, I know I look like a retired middle-aged woman with plenty of time on her hands, not someone who is teaching two serger classes today and going to a meeting after dinner tonight. LOL.

A Week and a Wedding, Part 1

My cousin Lucy got married last Saturday, on Bainbridge Island near Seattle. Her mother and my dad were siblings. Lucy also works at Nordstrom. She and DD#2 see each other fairly often. The seven of us—my mother, my sister and her fiancé, DD#1 and DSIL, DD#2, and I—rented an Airbnb and spent a long weekend together.

All of my trips have a thousand moving parts. I actually left here right after church last Sunday. I drove to Spokane and spent the night and was at the BMW dealer bright and early Monday morning to drop off the car. My station wagon is a diesel and requires the addition of diesel exhaust fluid every several thousand miles. The “Add Diesel Exhaust Fluid” warning light came on the day Sunnie, Robin, and I went to Missoula. The husband filled the DEF tank when I got home, but the warning light wouldn’t go off. Part of the warning system includes a counter that counts back from 1000 miles, and when it gets to zero, the car won’t start again once it is shut off. It is a known issue with this system that urea crystals build up on the sensor inside the tank and cause it to malfunction. The husband has flushed the tank with distilled water in the past to dissolve the crystals, but this time, the warning light wouldn’t go out. I knew I couldn’t get to Seattle and back before those 1000 miles expired.

At least the BMW has a good sense of timing. I called Kevin and made an appointment to drop the car off and leave it in Spokane for the week. On the way over, the passenger’s side door locks started to malfunction. I told Kevin to fix everything that popped up on the diagnostic report, and if they got bored and ran out of things to do, the car probably could stand to have the front end aligned before I get new snow tires this winter. For all its issues, my car gets 40 mpg and I don’t want to give it up before I have to.

[The husband opined that if it broke down on the way, I should set it on fire and we would mail the ashes to the EPA. Kevin also told me that if it weren’t for the emissions components, he would rarely see those cars in the service department except for oil changes.]

I dropped off the car, Kevin got me a ride to the airport, I picked up the rental car, and was on my way. I had a 3 pm alterations appointment at the Nordstrom at Alderwood Mall, north of Seattle, where DD#2 worked as an assistant manager after graduation. The dress fit well in the hips but—wonder of wonders—needed to be taken in at the bust. It was a fairly simple alteration but one I did not want to tackle myself, and because I had bought the dress at Nordstrom, I took advantage of their alterations service. The seamstress fitted and pinned the dress and promised to have it done by Friday.

DD#2 and I went out to dinner. I must have done something right with those kids because both of them manage to find the most excellent restaurants. We went to a Mexican place in Ballard. I had scallop and bacon tacos.

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DD#2 picked me up on Tuesday morning. We drove to Nordstrom downtown, to her office, where I dropped her off. She has to go to the office two days a week now. I then took the car (a Jetta) to the VW dealer for an oil change. They had it done in an hour and I was back on the road, this time to the area down by the airport south of Seattle. I started at a place in Renton called Fabrics for Less. Had I been looking for trims, home dec fabric, or anything polyester, I would have hit the jackpot there. They were slim on garment fabrics, however. I then stopped in at Quality Sewing and Vacuum, in Tukwila, where I picked up a quilting ruler and one of these, from Traditional Primitives:

I had seen this in action on a quilting video. I like my stiletto and use it often when piecing, so I am eager to try this one.

After that, it was Joann Fabrics and then to the mall. My family has long been under the impression that I hate to spend money on clothes. That is not true. I hate to spend money on poor quality, badly fitting clothes that I end up not wearing. I bought a lot of new clothing on this trip. The stores are stocked with merchandise again, and at least a couple of CEOs got the message that some middle-aged women don’t want to wear low-cut jeans and crop tops. I had much better luck finding clothing that fit in colors that I want to wear, including a hot pink denim jacket (!).

I made myself adhere to one set of rules: I had to love whatever I bought—as in, I would have been sad to leave Seattle without it—and I was ruthless about it fitting properly. I stuck mostly to buying key pieces that I wouldn’t want to make myself. I did really well at Macy’s, although DD#2 pointed out that I was shopping at her competition. I noticed that there were a lot of items in knit ponte. I bought a pair of gorgeous green ponte pants and also a collarless black ponte jacket. DD#2 explained that ponte was big this year because people have been working at home (in athleisure wear and PJs) for two years and want comfortable office attire. Ponte is perfect.

I needed to be back downtown to retrieve DD#2 at 4:30 pm, so I arranged my route such that I could spend an hour at Pacific Fabrics. I haven’t been there in a couple of years. They used to have stores all over Seattle, but closed all but the one by the stadium. Their selection of garment fabrics was vast and included a lot of the lines put out by companies like Robert Kaufman (purveyors of Kona Cotton). I bought some Kaufman Brussels Washer Linen (a rayon/linen blend) and this gorgeous Ruby Star Society rayon challis:

I retrieved DD#2 from work and we went out for dinner.

On Wednesday, I did more shopping—I’ll do a review of the entire fabric haul later this week—and picked up food to have on hand at the Airbnb. My mother was the last to arrive, in the evening, and we all settled in for the rest of the wedding week festivities.

Husband Radar

I have this uncanny ability to locate the husband—I discovered this when we were dating and it’s been a bit of a joke between us for the past 35 years. He’ll give me the barest of jobsite information and I will find him. It’s a habit of mine every morning to ask him where he’ll be that day in case there is an emergency. I don’t need specifics, just a general location in the valley.

I was in the area where he was pouring a slab yesterday, so I drove around until I spotted his truck. Actually, the first thing I spotted was the bright blue generator cover I made for him; there are a lot of white heavy-duty work trucks around here, including some that look like his, but no one else has a custom generator cover. I parked the car and walked over and he said, “What brings you here?” and I said that I was making sure the husband radar still worked.

They poured a big slab yesterday. He was running the power trowel. The employees get to do the hand troweling.

It was a lovely day. We did have some rain in the morning, which was nice, and it is blessedly cooler. We covered the tomatoes last night because of a frost warning.

People do not believe me when I tell them how much the husband eats, although at fire department events, we make him wait until everyone else at least gets one serving before he goes through the line. I made a raspberry crisp the other day. He came home from work and ate half of it—HALF—while waiting for dinner to finish cooking.

If I ate that much, I’d gain 15 pounds immediately and someone would have to give me an insulin shot. I had two bites. I am pretty sure he consumes about 5000 calories a day, and he wears the same size clothes he wore in college.

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A fabric order from Girl Charlee arrived yesterday. I am indulging my need for bright colors:

The top fabric is a French terry, destined to be another Burda 6315 but hacked to make it longer. I made that pattern with a black-and-white French terry last year and wear it a lot. This print is supposed to look like a high-end designer scarf. The hot pink fabric is also a French terry and may end up as a Burda 6315, as well, to replace a hot pink French terry top that is about 10 years old and has been worn to death.

The middle fabric was a delightful surprise. It is a Hacci knit and it feels wonderful. Hacci knits are lightweight sweater knits. (This website has an excellent description of the different kinds.) The one I ordered from Girl Charlee is a blend of cotton, rayon, and polyester. I don’t wear sweaters much anymore, but every so often it is nice to have one to throw on over a lighter-weight top. I only feel like a little bit of a traitor sewing my sweaters instead of knitting them by hand. I will probably make a nice open-front cardigan out of the green. That fabric comes in other beautiful bright colors, too, so I could have several.

Fabric.com has an Act Fast Friday sale every week, so I nabbed two yards of this Tammie Green rayon challis from Riley Blake yesterday morning:

I am glad I didn’t dither, as it is now sold out. There are advantages to shopping at 4 am.

I don’t even care that I have to sew these fabrics into actual garments. I am just happy to have bright colors to wear.

I expect to settle into my winter routine here before too long and get back to some quilting projects in between making clothing.

Knit Top, Perfected

This is it. This is the top I would like to be able to find in stores but can’t. (Yes, I know, Duluth Trading carries long T-shirts, but sometimes I would like to be dressed up for more than just going out to the chicken coop.)

It has bust darts. It’s long enough. There is some subtle waist shaping. There are no goofy cuff details or other gew-gaws to get in the way. It can be made in colors other than muddy earth tones.

Hallelujah.

I really like this print. The background is navy with pink and white flowers, and I think it reads blue enough that I can get away with wearing a few bright yellow birds. I had two almost-a-yard remnants of double-brushed poly from Joanns and that was plenty.

At this point, I am limited only by my imagination and my ability to source fabrics I like in colors I want. I think I will draft a V-neck version, too, at some point. The one drawback, and it’s minor, is that I have to use the sewing machine for part of the construction. Theoretically, I could do bust darts on the serger, but that’s not the best tool for the job. Sewing them on the machine only adds about 10 minutes to the process.

I went to town again yesterday—part of a long story that has to do with the husband chasing down an issue on the BMW—and narrowly escaped being part of a multi-car pileup. Some idiot missed the left-turn lane to his destination, but instead of driving on and turning around to come back, he hit the brakes and attempted to turn left from the traveling lane. I saw the driver in front of me (who was behind this idiot) slam on his brakes. I hit my brakes, too, and would have been able to stop in time (I don’t tailgate), but I looked in my rearview mirror and realized that the car behind me wouldn’t. I managed to steer the BMW around the car in front of me with about six inches to spare and we all avoided meeting each other in the middle of the road.

Some days, it’s like Mad Max Thunderdome out there, and all because a few drivers behave as though they are the only ones on the road.

I stopped in at the quit store south of town because the dolman top I made over the weekend was out of some rayon challis that I bought there. I was going to offer to let Marianne (the owner) use the top as a shop model now that it’s cooler out, but she took one look at it and said, “I’ll buy this from you.” She went into the bathroom and came out wearing it. I actually think it looks better on her than on me:

We settled on a price and she got a new top. As expected, she did ask me if it was going to be a class. Maybe next spring.

[Is this not a lovely shop? This is only a small section of it.]

While I was in there, two women came in to shop (not together) and each of them asked if the store carried any garment fabrics. Marianne said that yes, she had some in stock with more on order and asked what they were looking for. I saw one of them carrying a bolt of this same fabric as well as the other rayon in stock.

Maybe it’s because I am in the midst of making my own clothes and everything looks like a nail to me (pardon the butchered metaphor), but I get the sense that a lot of women are annoyed/disgusted/disappointed with what is being offered in stores and want to make clothing that fits and flatters and lasts longer than one washing. When you have to go to the quilt store and ask if they carry garment fabrics, something is off. It’s not that I think the quilt store carrying garment fabric is a bad thing, just that a quilt store is not where you would expect to get rayon challis and ponte knits. Joann Fabrics is missing the boat in a big way. I am not sure who their corporate officers are, but I think they could stand to interview some middle-aged women and ask them how they feel about fashion and making their own clothing. A lot of the quilt fabric manufacturers make some really nice garment fabrics, too, but finding them is not easy.

Get off my lawn, LOL.

The BMW may be going in to the dealer in Spokane for an extended spa visit. I talked to Kevin in the service department yesterday, consulted with the husband last night, and will talk to Kevin again this morning. The husband could fix this particular problem if he had time—which he doesn’t—so he is willing to let the dealer take care of it. I just need to work out some logistics.

Fabric Confusion and a Gift

I am just not ready to quilt yet, but I needed to do something with my clothing patterns. I decided to re-trace the Classic T-shirt Dress pattern onto fresh tracing paper. I had cut and taped the first version to move the bust dart and the tape doesn’t always stick well to that Pellon Easy Pattern. While I was at it, I decided to make an actual T-shirt version of the pattern, too. And once that was done, I decided to test my pattern and make a muslin out of some double-brushed poly remnants from the stash. (If you give a moose a muffin…) I think I’ve got this one dialed in. I made it long enough that I could fold up the fabric to see where the length was most flattering—which is about 4” longer than anything in stores—and adjusted the pattern to match. I still have to attach the neckband and hem it, so you won’t get a picture until that’s done.

I still can’t decide how I feel about double-brushed polyester. DBP just doesn’t breathe. In the winter, though, it’s toasty warm (because it doesn’t breathe). And it doesn’t drape well. It’s actually kind of “sticky.” DBP seems to be the in thing, though, and fabric suppliers have a lot of it. DBP makes up the bulk of Joanns fall and winter knit fabrics.

Shopping for fabric frustrates me. I would prefer to see (and feel) it in person, but I can’t even find decent clothing here in Kalispell, Montana, let alone fabric with which to make my own. I make a point of looking at the fiber content tags on the pieces of RTW that I do like. I have a Liz Claiborne tunic from a few years ago that I love, but I am going to have to retire it soon because it’s starting to look faded and worn. (I still have a Liz Claiborne T-shirt from about 20 years ago that I only wear around the house because I cannot bear to get rid of it, but my kids said I shouldn’t wear it in public.) I would hack the tunic into a pattern and make myself a few more, but I am having trouble finding a similar fabric. The tag says 95% rayon/5% spandex—a blend I sew with a lot, actually—but it’s much heavier than any rayon knits in my stash.

I went in search of heavier rayon/spandex blends, but how do I know what is “heavy” without being able to feel it and see how it drapes? Some suppliers will give the weight of the fabric, but that’s useless to me without a frame of reference. And some suppliers give the weight in ounces and some in grams per square meter (GSM). I think I’ve finally found one online fabric store from which I can order swatches in each of the weights of rayon/spandex they carry so that I have something tangible for reference.

T-shirt fabric is another conundrum. My favorite store-bought T-shirts are a blend of polyester and cotton, usually 60% cotton/40% polyester or vice-versa. Can I find that as yardage anywhere? Nope. I can find cotton/spandex and polyester/spandex, but it appears that the only way one can get the kind of T-shirt fabric I’m searching for is to order it from overseas on Alibaba. I am not planning to go into garment manufacturing.

The husband has zero problems finding clothing. Just sayin’.

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I was in town yesterday getting groceries when Sunnie texted me that she was at the thrift store in Bigfork and was I interested in this?

I have picked up several little Janome machines at various thrift stores, including one that went to live at DD#1’s house in Alaska and another one that I take to quilt classes. They have plastic cases but the insides are all metal. This model retailed for $199 and Sunnie said that it had just arrived in the store yesterday. She brought it home and gifted it to me because she said I wouldn’t let her pay for fuel when we went to Missoula.

I have a bit of an ulterior motive here, too—I am going to schedule some beginner sewing classes at the community center up the road. I’m thinking classes of six students where I teach them how to make a burrito pillowcase. I have plenty of sewing machines, but I’d rather take plastic machines than 40-pound all-metal vintage ones, and these are sturdy little models.

I am going to start with one Saturday morning sewing class in October to see if there is interest. Susan offered to help me. We’d really like our community center to be a place where people can come to learn new skills. We’ve already had some classes on making soap, starting seeds, and making pie crusts.

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DD#2 texted me a copy of the welcome e-mail that Nordstrom sends out whenever someone gets a promotion and joins a new team. She was promoted to Assistant Buy Planner recently. As she explained it to me, the buy planner is the person who comes up with the budget and the buyer is the person who chooses and orders the products. The e-mail included a summary of her four-year work history with Nordstrom, starting with the Retail Management Internship she did when she was still at Gonzaga. She’s accomplished a lot in that time. Nordstrom does a really good job of training its workforce and promoting from within. She’s still working primarily from home, although she has to go into the office two days a week. As frustrated as I am personally with clothing, it’s fascinating to hear about what she does every day.

Stuck Between Seasons

This heat should break, finally, by Thursday. The forecast high for tomorrow is 89 but only 67 on Friday. Hallelujah.

I pulled up the tomatillo plants yesterday. I think they would produce as long as the weather holds, but I have to call a halt at some point. There is one winter squash plant with aspirations toward world domination, and it grew itself right through the middle of the tomatillo patch. I had to surgically excise some of the tomatillo plants. Now the winter squash has (more) room to spread.

I put six gallon zip bags of tomatillos into the freezer for later processing. This is the first year I’ve grown them, so I don’t know if that will be too few, too many, or just enough. We’ll find out. They were a delightful addition to the garden. Thank you, Sarah, for sharing your seedlings with me! I will do tomatillos again next year for sure.

I hauled in another wagon load of tomatoes yesterday morning. Some of them are absolutely huge. I’ve got a variety called Weisnicht’s Ukrainian, from Susan, and most of those tomatoes are larger than my palm. I also have an Abe Lincoln tomato plant, from Elysian, and one of those clocked in at almost two pounds:

I wish I could tell you my secret for growing these enormous tomatoes, but I have no idea how it happens. Not tilling the soil and growing on black plastic certainly makes a difference.

It’s quite a rainbow of tomatoes out there. Left to right, these are Dr. Wyche, Weisnicht’s Ukrainian, and Cherokee Purple.

I also have an orange one—variety unknown—and the green Aunt Ruby. (Sarah, I have one of those for you.)

We’ve been eating watermelon and cantaloupe. I’m not a big fruit person, but I do like strawberries and cantaloupe.

I am ready for the garden to be done soon. At some point, we’ll have to go out and dig potatoes. The winter squash need another week or two, but the 2022 season is coming to an end, at least the outside part of it. I’ll still need to make tomato sauce and salsa.

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I had a marathon session Sunday afternoon with the coverstitch machine and hemmed two Laundry Day Tees, a pair of black ponte Renee pants, the black ponte Magic Pencil skirt, and a black stretch velvet top that I made but didn’t show you. I expect those black Renee pants will get a lot of wear. I wore my navy ones to church on Sunday and could have left them on all day. They are that comfortable.

I’ve lost my sew-jo, however. I don’t want to make any more hot-weather clothes, but it’s still too hot to think about making cooler-weather clothes. I was not motivated to start anything yesterday. I tried to put the sleeves into the teal polyester top, but the Janome—despite sewing everything else I threw at it without complaint, including ponte and a drapey woven rayon—balked at that fabric again. I tried three times and now that top is in indefinite time out. Sometimes it just isn’t worth it. That was clearance fabric and I wasn’t in love with the design, so I won’t be too upset if the top never gets finished.

I pulled out my stash of knit fabrics and looked them over. If I can find my lost motivation, I might make a long-sleeve black Laundry Day Tee out of some rayon/spandex. I’ve just sewn so much black lately. That one won’t take long, though, and it’ll get me through this transitional season.

Golf Cart Driving Lessons

WS spent the day here yesterday so Elysian could go on a fishing trip with the veterans group (she’s former Navy). He is a very responsible 8 year-old, so I decided he could learn to drive the golf cart. I let him drive me around the driveway and yard until he got tired of it. When his mom came to pick him up, he drove her around, too.

The little boys have their own YouTube account. I learn such interesting stuff watching the videos they choose. I never knew there were so many creative ways to blow things up, LOL. (Boys are so different from girls.) And now I have to put Mentos and Coke on my shopping list so we can try making a geyser. If we’re going to blow things up, we should have a chemistry lesson in the process.

I hauled in another wagon load of tomatoes from the garden. We’re getting some yellow Dr. Wyche tomatoes—a variety Elysian likes—as well as some unknown orange ones. I sacrificed a couple of huge Oregon Star, Cherokee Purple, and Purple Russian tomatoes for seed; those will ferment this week to remove the gelatinous seed covering and then I can dry them and save them for next year.

I am happy with the number of tomatoes going into the freezer. I should have plenty for salsa and sauce.

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After Elysian and WS left, I knocked out a top from the New Look 6555 pattern:

This pattern is going into the tried-and-true pile. Not only does it fit well, it only took me two hours to make, start to finish. I think I’ve also gotten over my dolman allergy as this doesn’t feel bulky under the arms at all. The fabric is a rayon batik from Northcott that I picked up at The Quilt Gallery in Kalispell.

[I’ve noticed that the stock a store carries has a lot to do with what colors the owner favors. I think the woman who owns The Confident Stitch in Missoula leans toward brights, because I can always find good colors for winters there. The owner of The Quilt Gallery tends to prefer muddy earth tones. I’ve been with her when she has ordered fabric and she gravitates towards browns, navy, and charcoal. This rayon batik line comes in some really beautiful brights, but she went with the more muted colors.]

I sewed the front and back center seams on the Janome and finished the edges on the serger. I had to do the front center seam on the machine because of that keyhole opening, so I did the back center seam the same way just for consistency. I did the shoulder and side seams right on the serger, however. And the Janome was fine with this rayon, so I think the issues I was having with that teal polyester were mostly because of the fabric. Putting the sleeves in and hemming the teal top is on the schedule for tomorrow.

I was watching some TomKat Stitchery videos yesterday while making this, and was pleased to hear her say that individual sewists will prefer certain pattern lines over others depending on what sloper the designer uses for drafting. The fact that I have trouble with Love Notions patterns is not in my head. She also said that some people do just fine with patterns from the Big 4 companies. As long as the pattern information includes the finished garment measurements, I have very little trouble getting the correct size. For the New Look 6555, I started with the size that corresponded to my full bust measurement but then went down one size after looking at the finished measurements. I wanted flowy, but not so flowy that it was flowing off my body. I can’t stand it when a top slides around on my shoulders.

No doubt two or three of the rayons I bought in Missoula will end up as versions of this top. I’m going to wear it to the quilt store this week, too, just to show the owner what the fabric looks like made up, but I know she’s going to ask me to do a class on it because I used fabric from the store. I am still trying to figure out how to resolve the clothing class conundrum. Making clothing is not as simple as making a quilt, and not every garment lends itself well to a class.

One of the patterns I picked up at Joanns on Friday is this dress:

I have just enough of the In the Neighborhood rayon from The Confident Stitch to make this, but I will do a muslin first in one of the other fabrics. That rayon was not inexpensive and I don’t want to risk ruining it.

Temperatures are supposed to cool to something more seasonable by the middle of this week. I hope so. I’m tired of being hot.

I Hauled Fabric

Robin, Sunnie, and I left yesterday morning around 7:30 and headed to Missoula for the day. Robin needed to drop her Janome 6600 off for service—neither of us will use the dealer here—Sunnie is always up for an adventure, and I had some fabric shopping to do. The drive down was cool and pleasant, although we arrived before most of the stores were opened. I adjusted my route a bit and we started at Joann Fabrics, which opened at 9 am. I found a couple of clearance fabrics in two-yard chunks.

I’ll probably use these for muslins, although they are in colors I can (mostly) wear, so if the muslins are wearable, I’ll have a couple of extra tops. I cannot do mustard yellow. I am hoping that top fabric will read more white/pink than yellow once it’s made up, because it is pretty and I like it.

After Joanns, we headed to Vicki’s Quilts Down Under. Robin was looking for more Halloween fabric she bought there last time, but it was all gone. I had fun in the back room with the garment fabrics and picked up two lengths.

The top fabric is a rayon challis and the bottom fabric is a rayon jersey.

[Let me just say, preemptively, that I would like a wider range of colors, but sometimes fabric colors are almost as limited as RTW clothing colors. I happily would have bought emerald green if I could find it anywhere.]

We dropped Robin’s machine off, stopped at Goodwill, then went to Kohls. I didn’t buy anything there—everything is in muddy earth tones (or teal) and too short—but I did see quite a few ponte pieces, including a black ponte sheath dress. I tried that one on just to evaluate the style and sizing. I like mine better.

Our next stop was the mall. Sunnie wanted to shop at Chicos. I thought we might also get lunch at the mall, but apparently, the pandemic finished off Caffe Dolce once and for all and both their locations are now closed. We went to Red Robin, instead, but that turned into a teaching moment for the kitchen and wait staff who didn’t bother to tell us that the chicken for our salads was frozen. They made us wait far too long for our food, although the salads were delicious when we finally got to eat them.

After lunch, we visited another thrift store. I had not been to this one as it is in a part of Missoula I don’t frequent, but it was large, clean, and well stocked. I will visit again.

By then it was after 3 pm. We headed downtown to the Confident Stitch. I know that merchants in downtown locations want people to come downtown to shop, but honestly, there is a reason people go to malls in the suburbs. Missoula’s downtown is always congested to begin with. Throw in some construction on top of that, and I had to drive around—and around and around—for about 20 minutes in order to find a place to park. Sunnie had brought her handicapped tag, but even that didn’t help us. We finally found a parking spot and made it to the store.

I’m on the mailing list for The Confident Stitch, so I knew they were having a 20% off Labor Day sale. I also knew which fabrics I wanted. These are both Goldie Olding fabrics, from a line called In The Neighborhood.

There was still plenty of the blue/turquoise print, although it was going fast. The pink was gone save for this remnant of 1-1/3 yards. That is enough for a flowy tank top. I don’t wear many tank tops, and I got rid of most of the ones I had, but when it’s 96 degrees outside, sometimes they are a nice option.

We finished off the afternoon with scoops of ice cream from Sweet Peaks, a Montana company. DD#1 knows the owners and worked at the Sweet Peaks here one summer. I had Campfire S’Mores, which was delicious.

Getting home took a bit longer than we wanted due to a few residual tourists, but I arrived home to find two packages of even MORE fabric. The first one is from KnitFabric.com. These are all jersey knits:

Again, I’d order a wider range of colors if I could find them. The black jersey is earmarked for a simple waterfall cardigan to replace one that I have just about worn out.

And finally, these came from Stylemaker Fabrics:

Yay! Hot, screaming, retina-scorching pink!

I’ll have plenty too keep me busy. I also traced New Look 6555, which is that dolman top.

There are only three pattern pieces to this one: Front/sleeve, Back/sleeve, and neckband. This should be a quick sew.

I’m still working on warm-weather tops. It is supposed to be 94 degrees here today. I have WS for the day and his mother said he could help me around the property, but I think once we bring in tomatoes, cukes, peppers, and tomatillos, we’ll be looking for inside projects.

I was home for about half an hour last night when our fire department got paged out for a structure fire in our neighborhood. I went to see if the firefighters needed food but ended up getting drafted to make sure they stayed hydrated. I’ve been on enough fire scenes to know how to be useful without getting in the way. I was there until it got dark and the fire was mostly out. The husband didn’t roll in until about 3 o’clock this morning.

Fussy

The yoke was the least of my worries with that Burda pattern. Sewingpatternreview.com only had one review, and the reviewer noted that the pleated neck detail gave her the most trouble. With that in mind, I carefully marked the lines from the pattern onto the fabric and paid close attention to the instructions for making and anchoring the pleat. Or so I thought.

The fabric is clearance polyester crepe-y something from Joanns. It was giving my sewing machine fits. I changed thread, changed needles, and eventually got the machine to sew it. I need to take my machine in for service. I hit a pin a week or so ago (arrrggghhh), and although the machine seems to sew fine on quilting cotton, the fact that I was having such issues with this polyester is making me wonder if I threw it out of time ever so slightly. Or it could have been the fabric. It is thin and drapey but it does not want to hold a crease, so pressing it is an exercise in frustration. The serger wasn’t terribly fond of the fabric, either, so maybe it’s just the fabric. Sometimes it really is the fabric.

All was going well until it came time to attach the neck facing. The neck facing didn’t line up with the pleat in the front. Clearly, I had done something wrong. I ended up taking out the stitching to release the pleat and worked backwards. I pinned everything at the back neck and shoulders and worked my way around to the V, then re-formed the pleat there so it lined up with the facing. I had sewn the pleat correctly, but the instructions on how to anchor it to the other side of the bodice were confusing (I’m being kind), and that was where I had gone astray. Now that I’ve done it, I see how it needs to go, but that took some work.

Burda instructions assume a lot. There were no further facing instructions—nothing about understitching—but I went ahead and graded the seams and understitched the facing, and after some gentle persuasion, I got the neck facing to lie nice and smooth on the front. In fact, it looks much better than I expected given all the fussiness.

The inside isn’t too bad, either.

I clipped that facing into the V as close to the stitching as I dared. Also, I used the tricot interfacing on this piece and I think I will do that as a matter of course going forward, even on wovens. I think it is an improvement over the woven interfacing.

Marguerite, you were right about the yoke construction. The second yoke piece is to enclose the seams. The instructions say that the inner yoke piece can be hand-tacked to the inside or the yoke can be topstitched from the outside to anchor it. I chose the latter option. If I make this pattern again, though, I will dispense with the second yoke piece, serge the yoke seams instead, and draft a facing piece for the back neck.

I still need to set in the sleeves, but I am satisfied with the way the body fits. (It looks better on me than the dress form, I think.) At least I nailed the correct size the first time. And it’s long enough.

I am trying to be disciplined and make things according to the pattern before I change things. I’m doing that partly because I am totally self-taught when it comes to sewing, so I want to see what construction techniques the designer of the pattern thinks are the best. I learn new ones that way, too. I need to remember, though, that patterns are written for people without sergers and that there are plenty of ways I can streamline construction using mine.

Will I make this again? Eh, I’m not sure. I don’t know if I like it enough to put up with the fussiness of that pleat. I noticed that the sewist who posted the review of this pattern added buttons at the pleat on her top. I was thinking that one big button in that area might jazz things up a bit.

I’ll see how I feel after I add the sleeves. Also, this is teal and I really don’t need Yet Another Teal Top in my closet.

I’ve got the Susie Blouse pattern ready to go, and a pattern for another top that looks like it might be suitable for a flowy rayon. That one has dolman sleeves, though. I’ve got a serious mental block when it comes to dolman sleeves and dropped shoulder sleeves. I avoided those like the plague when I was knitting because they always added so much bulk at the underarm in a place where I didn’t need more. A flowy rayon behaves far differently than knitted sweater fabric, though, so perhaps I just need to suck it up and try the dolman pattern.

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I pruned the raspberries yesterday morning. I think it’s easier to do in the fall when I can see which canes are done bearing. I’m also trying to prune out the thorny variety in favor of the thornless one, which produces bigger, tastier berries. After a couple of seasons of serious pruning, I am making headway, but I still have one section that needs work. The raspberries are determined to spread and I am determined not to let them, so it’s a constant battle.

One of the tomato varieties I got from Susan is called Aunt Ruby, and she reminded me the other day that it is a green variety. The only way to tell it is ripe is to feel it. When I went through the tomato patch yesterday, I located the plant. Thankfully, the label was intact. I also got a Grandma Mary’s paste tomato from her and a Weaver’s Black Brandywine, both of which are producing. I may not save seed this year, though, because I just can’t be sure of some of the varieties.

Another Tourist Season is Over

Our visitors flew home to Cleveland yesterday, but they left a few gifts. One came from my cousin Aimee, who sent a T-shirt:

So very true!

And Hannah and Matt gave us a gift card to one of our favorite date night restaurants. It came in this beautiful card that revealed a pop-up greenhouse when I opened it.

Hannah used to work at American Greetings, so she knows her cards. I’ve got this one sitting here by my desk. Isn’t that beautiful?

After Matt and Hannah left for the airport, I tidied up the house until my friend Susan arrived. She and I spent the afternoon together yesterday making postcards to mail for the upcoming Fall Pie Social, one of the fundraisers for the Mountain Brook Homestead Foundation. (That’s the website I’ve been working on this summer.) I have a big office photocopier. Susan brought the cardstock and we printed and cut and stacked until we had 1400 postcards ready to mail to local addresses. We also put the event listing up on the local Facebook pages. If you’re local, please join us that day for pulled pork, nachos, ice cream, and—of course—homemade pies. The Pie Social will be held at the Mountain Brook Community Center, 2353 Foothill Road, on Saturday, September 10, from 4-7 pm.

The husband had to babysit a slab yesterday—they poured in the morning but he needs to make sure it sets up properly, and depending on the size of the slab and the weather conditions, that can take all day—so after Susan left, I worked on some sewing projects until he got home around 8 pm. I traced this Burda top (6278):

This one has deep buttoned cuffs, which I will change to either a plain band or a hem. There is also a shoulder yoke detail, which I like, but when I read through the directions, I could not for the life of me figure out why the pattern has you cut and interface TWO yoke pieces. Burda pattern instructions are minimal, to say the least. I think they are also translated from German because some of the verbiage is worded interestingly. I read the instructions over and over and studied the illustrations (also minimal) and eventually figured out how the top goes together. I feel better about starting this one. I also checked the bust darts against the Classic T-Shirt Dress pattern and they shouldn’t need to be adjusted. I think I might make a cardboard version of the bodice of that Classic T-Shirt Dress to have for comparing to new patterns I want to sew—sort of a quick-and-dirty sloper.

I will say that sewing wovens requires a slightly different mindset than sewing knits. I can whip out a Laundry Day Tee on the serger in about an hour. Tops made from wovens require the use of both the sewing machine and the serger, and I have to stop and think about the order of operations. Do I finish the edges before or after I sew the seams? Are there seams I can do on the serger only? Does this need a four-thread seam or just a three-thread finish? I do a lot more stopping and thinking with these kinds of projects.

I got an e-mail yesterday from the woman who organizes the quilt sale for the Mennonite Country Auction in Ritzville, WA. She was checking in to see if our church had quilts to donate this year. I have a few; I am going to pull them out today and get some photos for her. I know that all the sale organizers are struggling to get enough quilts. I have several more basted and ready to quilt, but I won’t have time in the next month to get them done. They’ll have to go in next year’s sale.

And I pulled out the bag of cream-and-white scraps and started sewing strips together.

This will eventually become another Candy Coated quilt, although I might do the Sunday Morning Quilt from that same book just for a change of pace. We’ll see. I am going to work out in the garden this morning and then I need to put serger handouts together.

Black and Teal

I started cleaning out my closet. I am being ruthless. Anything that doesn’t fit well or is the wrong color is getting donated. What’s left is mostly black and a fair bit of teal. Teal seems to be the one saturated color that I am able to find on a regular basis, but I am just as tired of it as black.

I’ve got some hot pink and other jewel-toned fabrics on order. I do need to get working on some cooler-weather tops, though. I traced two patterns yesterday—the Sadie top, similar to my Liz Claiborne tunics, and this one, from Sew Over It, a UK company:

I need simple, dressy tops to wear to church. The cuffs have to be plain hems or bands so they don’t get in the way of me playing the piano. This one has a 3/4 sleeve option, which is even better. DD#2 keeps telling me I should add some V-necks, too, and I like the collar on this top very much. And the pattern includes bust darts.

Joanns had Burda patterns on sale over the weekend, so I picked up a few more of those, too, for similar kinds of tops. I suspect there will be a fair bit of frankenpatterning going on, though, because I like some details from some of the tops and some details from others.

I’m knee deep in it at the moment. Knee deep in fabric and produce.

I weighed one of my tomatoes yesterday, just for fun:

One pound, 5.5 ounces. I’ve got several this size. I really need to find the labels, though, so I know what I am saving seed from.

The zucchini plants are spent. I might pull them out this weekend. I also need to dig up horseradish and make a batch of fire cider. I made that last fall and used it over the winter when I felt like I was coming down with something. It’s heavy on the garlic, onions, horseradish, and orange juice. It needs a lot of honey to make it palatable, but it’ll warm you up nicely.

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Sherri McConnell, of A Quilting Life, is big on productivity tools. She recommended a podcast called The Productive Woman. I haven’t listened to it yet—maybe today. I am curious to hear this woman’s advice. I get a lot of comments from other people about how much I do, but working hard and being productive (and learning things!) makes me happy. And I am a poser compared to the husband. He works harder than anyone else I know.

[Robin, you will be happy to know that he replaced that rotted board in the bridge going out to the greenhouse.]

I saw Tera on Sunday. Her route home from church takes her past our church, and when she saw me in the parking lot, she pulled in. We visited for about 20 minutes. We agreed that we need to put a trip on the calendar for next year. If we don’t schedule it now, we won’t do it, and I had such fun going to Garden of Quilts with her last September. (That’s the same weekend as my cousin’s wedding this year, or we might have gone again.) We’re thinking maybe the Sewing and Stitchery Expo in Puyallup, Washington, next March. That’s not too far from Pacific Lutheran, where DD#1 went to college, and I know my way around the area. Gail Yellen usually teaches serger classes there. I would love to take a class from her.

The Produce is Rolling In

I canned 12 pints of carrots yesterday:

I might do another batch—I haven’t decided. These are good to have on hand to add to soups and stews during the winter.

I will have to set up a portable folding table soon for tomatoes.

I pick them when they just start to get some color and bring them inside to ripen in this south-facing window. If I leave them on the vines, the ground squirrels and turkeys come along and take a bite out and leave the rest to rot. I need to make some notes about these varieties. I know the Cherokee Purple and Oregon Star (paste) tomatoes because I grow those every year. I am not sure what those huge slicing tomatoes are. Hopefully I can find the labels. The other paste tomatoes are either Purple Russians or Opalka (I see some of both). Susan started the Opalkas and I bought them at the plant sale. That little cherry tomato has been wonderful. I snack on those.

The husband came out to the garden and made sure the watermelon was ripe enough to pick.

I usually bring them in too early so I have him check. There is only one other little one on the vine this year. They got such a late start because June was so cold. There are quite a few cantaloupe, though.

This will be my life for the next several weeks. I won’t be done completely until I have 50 more quarts of salsa on the shelf. That will be around the middle October or so. I am rather glad we took a break from raising pigs this year.

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I can’t decide what I want to make next. I’ll probably knock out the two pairs of Renee pants I have lined up and reassess.

I bought a dress to wear to my cousin’s wedding. I ordered it from Nordstrom and it came last week, but it needs some alterations. I have alterations credit at Nordstrom, so I made an appointment for the day I get to Seattle and will have their alterations department look at it. That will be safer than me taking it apart. I might have to pay a rush fee—I get to Seattle on Monday and the wedding is Saturday—but that’s okay. I am also taking the dress I wore to DD#1’s wedding as a backup.

I have a lot of plates to keep spinning in September.

A Much Better Fit

I knocked out Version 2.0 of the See & Sew raglan cowl yesterday:

This one is two sizes smaller than the one I originally made and is the correct size for me. It fits loosely without being tent-like. I am dithering about the cowl; it probably does need to be cut on the bias, but I still wouldn’t use allover interfacing. I would use knit stay tape only on the edges of the cowl to help stabilize them. This smaller size does also need the back pleat, which I left in. I am adding this pattern to the “tried and true” pile, although the next couple of iterations probably will have long sleeves. I could also do a faced neckline instead of the cowl.

As nicely as this fits, however, I still cannot wear orange of any kind. Also, the placement of those two pink flowers on the bodice was a total accident, LOL.

I did a bit of research on color palettes. My mother, aunts, cousins, and I all did our “colors” back in the 80s when that was popular. I was identified as a Winter, in stark contrast to everyone else in my family. Now the seasons have been broken into subcategories. “Winter” encompasses three groups depending on whether one’s coloring is “cooler” or “warmer.” I can’t quite tell which subcategory I fall into, although I suspect cooler. Wardrobe advice remains the same: Avoid muddy earth tones, oranges, yellows, and faint pastels in favor of jewel tones and saturated colors.

That has been an ongoing battle for decades.

I’ve resigned myself to the fact that I may have to do most of my fabric shopping online or when I am in Seattle. Interestingly, the first episode of Season Two of the Whipstitch Podcast was on how to shop for fabric. The show notes include links to some new-to-me retailers, like Emma One Sock. Oh, my.

We’ve had a couple of days of cooler weather and I am more inclined to start making some fall and winter tops. I really need to do a purge of my closet, but the prospect of having clothing that fits in colors that are flattering makes me giddy with excitement.

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We have houseguests for a few days. My cousin Lynnette, who was two years older than me, died suddenly when she was 35 and left a husband and four kids under the age of eight. Lynnette’s oldest daughter and her husband are using us as a home base while they visit Glacier and do some hiking. They arrived yesterday. After they head back to Cleveland next week, I need to work on some serger class prep. I have three new serger classes scheduled in September and they happen right after I get back from another cousin’s wedding in Seattle. (I have a big family with lots of cousins.) I need to have everything ready to go before I leave for the wedding. We also have our Mountain Brook Homestead Foundation Fall pie social on September 10, and a candidate for our interim pastor position is visiting that weekend. I decided against participating in the Mountain Brook Craft Co-Op sale at the end of September because so much else is going on. I also don’t have a lot of inventory as I spent most of my sewing time this year on serger classes and clothing.

If I get through September in one piece, I’m going to Ritzville, WA, for the Mennonite Country Auction on the first Saturday in October. I am planning to stay for the quilt auction this year. I’ve always had to miss it to get back to play at church on Sunday. And I’ve got four serger classes already on the schedule in October.

The tomatoes are rolling in. I am putting the ones we don’t eat immediately into the freezer for sauce- and salsa-making later. I made a gooseberry crisp for the husband and put two gallon bags of gooseberries in the freezer for this winter. They are such a labor-intensive fruit because the stems and blossom ends have to be cut off, but the husband’s Grandma Milly used to make gooseberry pies for him and I know he likes them.

Today, it’s canning carrots. I have ten pounds to clean, cut up, and process. I’ll be in the kitchen if anybody needs me.

So Very Close

I knocked out the Pamela’s Patterns Magic Pencil Skirt Wednesday afternoon using some of the black ponte. I wanted to start with a simple pattern from her line to see how she does her drafting and fitting. I chose the high-waisted version, which she recommends for people with long torsos. That was a good decision.

I would say that her sizing is aimed at mature bodies. Her size range seems to be larger than standard, because I traced and made the Medium pencil skirt and still had to take in each side by half an inch at the hips (more on that in a moment). I left the darts in both the front and back pieces. I think the back ones could be adjusted a bit, but it is hard to do fitting adjustments like that by myself. I was happy with the way the skirt looked and fit when I was done. It just needs a hem. I put it in the coverstitch queue.

After I transferred the sizing adjustments to my version of the pattern, I compared the skirt to the bottom half of Pamela’s Classic T-Shirt Dress pattern. I was hoping that that pattern would fit better than the Tessa dress because Pamela’s version has bust darts. I traced the Medium—based on my high bust measurement, as suggested in the pattern—but when I laid out the skirt pattern on top of the dress pattern, I discovered that I was going to have to grade down quite a bit below the bust. Truly, I am shaped like a Barbie doll. I am larger on top, with a well-defined waist, but my hips are narrower than one might expect given my bust measurement. I actually graded down from a Medium in the bodice to a Small in the waist to an X-Small in the hips (!) in order to have the dress pattern approximate the same size and shape as the skirt pattern.

[This is exactly the problem I have with RTW dresses. If it’s big enough in the bust, it will be swimming around my hips. If it fits in the hips, I won’t be able to get it closed on top.

Yesterday morning, while waiting for it to get light enough to go out to the garden, I cut out and put together a muslin of the Classic T-Shirt Dress using the Joanns clearance interlock. My first impression was, “Wow, something that actually fits!” There were no gapes or wrinkles in the upper bodice. The darts were positioned perfectly. The dress skimmed over my hips, so grading down to that smallest size was a good move. I set the muslin aside to revisit after lunch, when I thought I might put the sleeves in just to make sure things still looked good.

I’m glad I waited, because after lunch I looked at it again with a more critical eye. I thought that the upper bodice was too long vertically. The top fit better when I pulled up an inch out of the shoulders, but then the bust darts were in the wrong place. The pattern has this note: “Do you feel as though the armholes in garments are often too long? It could be that you are shorter (petite) in this area.” It then goes on to describe how to use the shorten/lengthen lines to adjust the armhole depth.

I measured the pattern and the armholes are 10” deep. A 10” armhole is deep in a handknitted design. Personally, I think it is way too deep in a sewing pattern. And I am far from “petite.”

Back to the drawing board. I used the lines in the pattern to remove 1-1/4” from the armhole depth on the front pattern piece. Then I had to move the bust dart down. I made the same armhole adjustment on the back pattern piece and also on the sleeve pieces. I had enough of the interlock left to cut a T-shirt length out to test those changes, which was okay as I thought the bottom half of the dress fit well. (I added that 1-1/4” back in to the length below the bodice on both front and back.)

I think this may be as close as I get. (I hear Zede Donahue’s voice in my head warning against overfitting. Some sewists succumb to the temptation to get garments to fit with zero wrinkles, which is unrealistic.) The only other change I might make is to use a slightly larger seam allowance to get this to fit just a tad closer. The seam allowance specified in the pattern is 1/4”, which baffles me. Why do some of these designers use such a narrow seam allowance? Are they all former quilters?

I am comfortable enough with this version to go ahead and make the ponte dress. I think I could also use this as a T-shirt pattern because even though T-shirts usually stretch enough to accommodate the girls, I like the fit better with the bust darts. That neckline is way too high, though, for T-shirts.

All of this is good information that I can use in my classes. If you’re short, the Love Notions patterns will probably fit you well. (Whitney, of TomKat Stitchery, is 5’2”, which is part of why I think she likes that line so much.) If you’re taller than 5’5”, start with a pattern line drafted for taller people, like Seamwork. If you’re skinny, you probably will like the Liesel + Co patterns or Grainline patterns. And if you’re curvy, just go straight to the Cashmerette patterns. You’ll still have to make some refinements, most likely, but you’ll be closer to the goal than you might be otherwise.

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And now, back to the cowl neck top. I picked up this clearance fabric at Hobby Lobby on Wednesday:

Does this have enough pink in it that I could get away with wearing it? This is retina-burning, for sure. The fabric is 100% polyester, not rayon, but the drape is similar. I need to trace the smaller size of that pattern and put this one together.

Some day I will be done with all this fitting and can make the actual clothing.

Guess Your Pattern Size

Yesterday was a mixed bag. I restrung my windchime successfully. That was a spatially-challenging project, so I was proud of myself for getting it done.

I need to adjust that center string up a couple of inches, but I am enjoying hearing the chimes again.

My other spatially-challenging project was making the See & Sew B5513 top.

Eh. Lots of pros and cons here. Lets start with the pros:

  • I love love love the fabric. This is a woven rayon from Hobby Lobby. Is it super high quality rayon? No, but it has bugs all over it—bees, dragonflies, butterflies, and moths. I love it so much I plan to buy more of it when it goes on sale again. (Hobby Lobby sales rotate on a three-week schedule.)

  • I really like the raglan style. I know raglans fit me well (broad shoulders) and I should make more of them.

  • I also love the cowl neck. More on that in a moment.

  • It comes in two lengths, and the tunic length was perfect.

  • The overall construction was complicated enough to be interesting, but not so complicated that it was frustrating. Seams were done mostly on the Janome and finished on the serger.

The cons:

I have never used a See & Sew pattern before. I am not even sure they exist anymore as I pulled this out of my pattern stash. See & Sew patterns seem to be a low-budget version of one of the Big Four companies, with emphasis on the “low-budget” part. There were three body measurements given for choosing the correct size: Bust, Waist, and Hip. That was it. The only finished garment measurement given was the circumference at the hem. The description of the top says “loose fitting.” From that minimal information, one is supposed to figure out what size to make.

I figured wrong.

I went with the size that corresponded to my full bust measurement because the pattern did not differentiate between full and high bust. I should have measured the pattern pieces, although there is a lot of origami in this design with pleats and darts.

This top is so “loose fitting” that I could hide a couple of toddlers underneath. Thank goodness that rayon is drapey. The finished top looks okay on my body, but clearly, I need a smaller size. I suspect I could go down two entire sizes—which, incidentally, would correspond to my high bust measurement—and the top would fit much better.

Things I would change:

  • This top has darts in the shoulders and pleats in both front and back pieces. I’d be inclined to remove the back pleat and cut the back bodice straight. I think there would still be plenty of freedom of movement thanks to the shoulder darts.

  • The pattern says to interface the cowl, which is cut on the bias. I used the lightest possible interfacing and ended up pulling it off the fabric after I got one edge sewn to the neck opening, because the cowl wouldn’t drape. It’s a deep cowl—about 9” deep when doubled over and sewn down—and all the interfacing accomplished was to make it stiff. I would not interface the cowl with anything. I am not sure it needs to be cut on the bias, either, if it isn’t interfaced. I think the primary reason for the interfacing is because drapey rayon has no prayer of holding its shape once those bias edges are released. It is also possible that a very light knit interfacing would work better than a woven one. I’ve run into a couple of designers who say that they use the knit interfacing exclusively, even on wovens.

The husband asked me if I could take this top in enough to fit me better. Not really—it would be faster to make another one from scratch. This only took a few hours to put together. I might see if there is any drapey rayon on the clearance rack at Joanns that I could use to test a smaller size, because I like this style and would make a few more if I could get the size dialed in.

I really appreciate the indie sewing pattern designers who give finished garment measurement and/or specific ease measurements in their patterns. That information is so helpful when deciding what size to make.

I keep telling myself this is a process. I do learn something from every project, but I understand why a lot of sewists stick to a few “tried and true” patterns or only buy patterns from one or two pattern companies. Making muslins, even from clearance or sale fabric, costs time and money.

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Whitney, at TomKat Stitchery, released a video this week about the “Coastal Grandma” fashion trend.

I’ve seen this trend pop up on other social media sites, so I watched the video to see what she had to say about it. As she described it, I thought to myself that it perfectly captures my mother’s and my sister’s fashion aesthetics (and my sister lives in North Carolina), but then I laughed because two of the patterns Whitney chose to illustrate the trend are jacket patterns I have in the queue to make for myself. And the accessory pattern she chose was the Fremont Tote from Klum House. I made one of those a few years ago and loved it. I think of my fashion aesthetic more as “Montana Chicken Farmer,” but I clean up nicely when I have a mind to.

Microbe Magic

It’s science project season here. I put some cucumbers into a crock a few days ago and covered them with a brine solution. It has started to bubble.

The plate and the glass weights keep the cucumbers submerged. In another week or so, I will be able to transfer the pickles to jars in the fridge, which will slow down the fermentation process. I do not expect them to last long in the fridge because the husband likes pickles. A lot.

[The Magic School Bus episode “In a Pickle” has the best explanation of fermentation ever. Highly recommended.]

I sweep through the garden every morning to gather what’s ripe. I am getting cucumbers, zucchini, tomatillos, tomatoes, lettuce, chard, and collards. Some cantaloupe and a watermelon are close to being ready, too. We are going to have a ton of acorn squash.

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I’ve mentioned before that I try to keep Mondays as a prep day for my sewing projects. That seems to be a good system. It keeps the cutting room organized and gives me a steady supply of things to work on. Yesterday, I traced patterns and did some cutting. These projects are ready to go:

Pamela’s Patterns Magic Pencil Skirt, black ponte.

Seamwork Lenny Dress, the muslin to be made from some clearance interlock from Joanns. The interlock is a juvenile print with cars all over it, but I needed three yards and the price was right. Who knows—you might see me wearing it some time. I do have “nice” interlock for making this if I like the way it fits.

Seamwork Sadie Tunic, muslin to be made from a beefy clearance knit from Joanns, although it’s a lovely blue ribbed fabric, so if the muslin turns out well, I’ll probably wear this one, too.

See & Sew B5513, which I had in my pattern stash.

I am going to make View A (short sleeves and cowl neck) from a drapey woven rayon. This is a raglan-style top and it has pleats in the front, back, and shoulders. A woven rayon will be a nice change from all the knits, although I will sew/finish as much of this on the serger as I can.

I also knocked out two more Laundry Day Tees on Sunday afternoon. They are waiting to be hemmed, along with the Lark Tee. I have enough rayon jersey in the stash for five more LDTs, but I’m wondering how many is too many? They have just been so comfortable to wear in this weather. I could do a few long-sleeve versions, too, for next spring.

I’ve been watching all of TomKat Stitchery’s videos on knits, and I am feeling braver about branching out to some different styles. I love wrap dresses, but I steer clear of them for obvious reasons. In RTW, those kinds of dresses tend to gape in unfortunate areas. Whitney made the Antrim dress from Itch to Stitch, which has full bust pattern pieces, and it was very flattering on her.

{Zede Donahue has pointed out on more than one occasion that “full bust” does not mean your bust circumference is large—it means that your full bust measurement differs significantly from your high bust measurement, usually by 4” or more. One can be petite, with a small frame, and still need to do a full bust adjustment.]

We’ll see. I need places to wear all of these things I want to make.

I’m also evaluating some pattern club/subscription services. Almost all of the indie pattern lines have some version of one, ranging in price from a few dollars a month to several hundred dollars a year. If I join one, it has to be because a) they design clothing I want to wear; and b) I know that their patterns fit my body type. I am a member of the Thoughtful Creativity YouTube channel ($5 a month), but I’m thinking of canceling that one. There is such a thing as too much content, and she puts out a lot of members-only videos—so many that I am way, way behind.

Heat

We have an outdoor church service at a local pavilion every August. On the Sunday we had it last year, I don’t think we broke 60 degrees. Today, it will be 92. We did get some rain last night—actual precipitation that did not evaporate before it hit the ground. I’ve got doors and windows open right now, trying to cool off the house. According to the forecasts I am checking, it doesn’t look like this is going to break until the second week of September.

Oh, well. The tomatoes and melons are happy.

The husband was busy with a building project yesterday:

He is putting in a wood boiler. We have a lot of wood here to use up before it rots, and this will provide a secondary heating source for the house. Eventually, he will run lines to the old and new shops, as well. He trenched the line yesterday and ran the hose and got it all backfilled before the rain came.

I do not know much about this system. I trust the husband, though, and if he decided that this was something that needed to be done, then it must be important.

One of my jobs this week is to source more greenhouse plastic so that can be replaced as it’s been a little over 10 years since he built the greenhouse.

This has been a week of repairs. I dropped my 14” Farberware frying pan and broke the handle. I got that pan as a wedding present 32 years ago and use it every day. I actually have two because I picked up a second one at a thrift store a while back. Thankfully, replacement parts are still available. I ordered two new handles and replaced them on both pans:

And yesterday’s mail brought the repair kit for my large windchime. It broke during a storm. I’ll restring it with the new parts and hang it back up.

I also received my Pamela’s Patterns order this week. Joann Fabrics had a 60% off one regular-priced item yesterday (a rarity), so I stopped in and got enough black ponte knit to make the Magic Pencil Skirt and the Classic T-Shirt Dress. Yes, I will have a lot of black ponte pieces in my closet, but they are basics and go with everything. I think I am going to do a winter version of that dress with long sleeves and the portrait collar.

We have houseguests coming this week so I need to do some cleaning and organizing. That’s a good thing.

Cucurbitae and Solanaceae

I laughed when the husband brought that golf cart home, but I have discovered that it is very useful for hauling produce over from the garden. I used to use the kids’ old wagon, but the golf cart holds a lot more and is fun to drive.

Yesterday’s haul included a box of cucumbers:

If WS wants some for the market, I said he could have them; otherwise, I might start a batch of fermented pickles. These will just keep coming for the next few weeks.

The tomatoes are insane. Some of the plants are so large and so heavy with fruit that they are pulling over the tomato cages. I have started picking the tomatoes as soon as I see them ripening and bringing them inside to finish. I do not want the ground squirrels to get them.

I have one tomato plant whose fruit is suffering from blossom end rot and I am not sure why. Thirty-nine other plants are just fine, so I do not think it is a systemic issue such as lack of calcium or inconsistent watering. I got down on the ground to see if I could find the label for that variety, but it’s a jungle out there and if that plant has a label, I won’t find it for weeks yet. It’s a smallish paste tomato of some sort. The chickens are getting all of those.

I cleaned off the gooseberry bush and came in with several gallons. Those will likely end up in a pie for the husband and perhaps some jam.

This is a mystery squash—Elysian and WS like to sneak a seedling into my collection every spring and I wonder if this is this year’s contribution? It almost looks like a Delicata, but it might also be a winter squash of some sort.

We’ll find out!

The pollinators are quite busy:

If I stand in the garden and listen, I hear a constant low hum.

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I finished putting the hardware—straps, buckles, and snaps—on the Slabtown Backpack and it is officially complete. While I love the finished product, those kinds of projects are nervewracking, because any small mistake at the end can ruin hours and hours of work. I triple-checked everything before I secured rivets and snaps. I also told the husband that I was very happy he bought that anvil.

The Bernina serger was set up for rolled hems, so I finished a stack of napkins before changing it over for regular serging. I have two LDTs ready to make as well as that Lark Tee. I like to assembly-line my projects as much as possible so I don’t keep having to rethread the machine and change needles.

I got a very nice e-mail this week from one of the students in my Spokane serger class, and last evening, the owner of the store called to let me know that the response was overwhelmingly positive and she would love to have me teach again. Yay! More road trips.

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The big news in Kalispell yesterday was a subadult black bear that somehow found its way into town and was being tracked on social media. People posted pictures and videos of it at the mall, over by Walgreens, and walking past one of the elementary schools. FWP thought they might have to dart it and tranquilize it in order to get it back out in the woods where it belongs. Sometimes the mama bears kick those teenagers out, especially when there are cubs, and the teenagers have trouble figuring out where they belong. Town is not that place, LOL.

Fun With Aprons

Wednesday was a fun day because I got to teach two Cookin’ in Color apron pattern classes. I had a morning session with one student, Cindy, who had been in my Serger 101 class. She chose a beautiful bright combination of fabrics for her apron and we finished off the waistband with a line of metallic green Glamore 12wt thread:

For the evening class I had Dawn and Marianne. Dawn requested the evening class because of her schedule. Marianne owns the quilt store; she was happy to have an evening class, too, because as the owner, she rarely gets to take classes. Dawn went with Tula Pink fabric:

And Marianne used the Montana Memories batiks:

We are slowly but surely building up a base for these serger classes. The interest is there and I do think people want to start using their sergers if someone will show them how. I am starting to feel like a serger evangelist.

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It appears that we have three more days of this oppressive heat and then a front moves in and we should cool off a bit. I sincerely hope that is it for the 90-degree weather this year. I’m done. I am glad for the heat only because it has helped the garden along after a very slow start. We probably will have to cover tomatoes next month to keep them going if we get a frost, but we do that almost every year.

I cut out another Laundry Day Tee in a rayon jersey yesterday. I’ve decided I am going to stick to rayon knits for that pattern because they drape so well. They are also cooler than double-brushed polyester. I am finding I reach for that first LDT from rayon jersey a lot because it’s so comfortable to wear in this heat.

I also traced and cut out a Lark Tee, from Grainline Studio. This is a new one to me and I am curious to see how it fits.

Still in the queue are the Lenny Dress and the Sadie Tunic. The Lenny Dress needs a muslin. I think I’ll use some interlock knit from Joanns for that. I am going to skip making a muslin for the Sadie Tunic only because I compared my Liz Claiborne tunic, which is very similar, to the pattern. The fit is close enough that I think I can get away with not making one.

Before sewing today, though, I need to do some work out in the garden. Our salad last night was comprised mostly of ingredients we grew, which is always so gratifying.