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  • Goodbye Old Coat

    I have decided to add a new photo album of older garments that I made pre-blog.  In truth I  don’t have a lot of them.  The garments from my 20’s are long gone and I haven’t done as much sewing in recent years, although I am trying to sew more.  Still I want to save pictures of a few things while I still have the opportunity.

    This coat was made in February 2004 while I was in San Francisco at one of Sandra Betzina’s sewing weeks.  At the time, I wondered if I was being silly sewing a coat in February when I could have been working on spring things.  As luck would have it a major snowstorm blanketed the east coast a few days before I was supposed to fly home and I was lucky to have the finished coat.  I wore it home and then I wore it for the next 3 months.  We had snow and freezing temperatures on Memorial Day weekend that year which is very unusual.    In fact it was still cold as late as July 4th that year, in the 40s, after which we it became brutally hot. 

    Boy was I glad I made a new coat.

    Greencoat1

    But the coat doesn’t work anymore and so I am going to donate it.  I wore it for that first extended winter and all the next winter.  Last winter (2005/2006 I gained too much post-menopausal weight and it was too tight across the upper chest and upper arms.

    This year it is no longer tight, but it doesn’t fit.  Perhaps it never did, perhaps I have just shifted enough that the problems are more noticeable.

    First of all it is considerably too big across the front chest.  That could be taken in.

    But it is feels too tight through the upper back and I have trouble moving my arms.  I have checked this, it is no narrower than coats that fit comfortably so it must be something else. 

    When you look at the photo you notice the wrinking and pulling at the right shoulder.  That is because my right shoulder rolls forward.  When we made the coat, we moved the shoulder seams forward, but I did not yet know how to redraft a shoulder shape and corresponding armscye to accommodate that kind of shoulder shape.  I don’t have enough room to move my arms because the ease is in the wrong place.  This is not so easily fixed without redrafting the coat and I have no extra fabric.

    The problem is not noticeable in a coat that is a little broad through the shoulders and I have the height to pull that off but in a more fitted coat, like this Fashion Sewing Group pattern, it is a definite problem.

    This was also the first coat I had made in several years, and I used some
    new techniques and abandoned some old ones, I am not sure all that
    successfully.  I am happy I made it, it has garnered many compliments,
    but there are definitely things I learned and things I would do
    differently if I were making it again today.

    (The only reason the left shoulder looks good is I stuffed an extra shoulder pad and some batting in there because it is now so loose over my chest the coat just collapses. Then I had to push and prod and pull to get the coat to even begin to hang naturally.  Believe me it did not originally look like this. And Matilda needs liposuction again, but has decided to wait until after the holidays, so the coat pulls on her in places it does not pull on me.)

    Here is a detail of the front hooks:

    Greencoat2

  • Stocking up on Greens

    "You have an awfully lot of vegetables" said the pimply faced young man who was checking me out at the Hannaford this evening.  A little later he continued with "I’ve never even heard of some of these vegetables"; he was learning their names as he entered the PLU #s into the register.

    Then he held up an unlabeled vegetable.  "What is this?"  "Beets; those are the organic ones so they will cost more" "I didn’t know beets had so much green stuff on them" was the reply.

    I like to buy beets with the greens still attached.  They are usually fresher.  Besides I like the greens.  But we are coming into the season of wilted beet greens.  The organic beets had better looking greens than the others, but even they were a little wilty along the edges.

    Beetgreens1

    We had been despairing of finding good beet greens for  a few months.  Oh I know we should eat seasonally, but beet greens are so good, they have become a staple around here, not least because they are part of G’s favorite breakfast.  (I will have to write about that some day).

    So I was thrilled when I discovered that they had bagged baby beet greens in the store.  They will not be the same as the thick leaves of mature beets, but they will still be great in a salad or a quick saute, something to grab in a hurry.

    Beetgreens2

    Later this evening, after dinner, I sauteed up the mature beet greens before they wilted further.  As you will see, I like the stems too.

    Beetgreens3

    Usually I have rather large bunches of beet greens from the generous bunches of beets sold by the Migliorelli farm all summer.  The greens on today’s bunch of beets is much skimpier so I adapted the recipe to a smaller quantity, more or less.

    SAUTEED BEET GREENS
    serves 4

    11 ounces onion, minced
    1 pound beet greens with stems
    2 tablespoons olive oil
    1/4 cup chicken stock or water
    1/8 cup balsamic vinegar
    1/2 teaspoon salt
    1/2 teaspoon marjoram
    1/2 teaspoon fennel pollen

    Cut the stems away from the beet greens and reserve.  Wash the beet greens and the stems very thoroughly in several changes of water.  Slice the beet stems very thinly into tiny pieces.  Cut the greens into thin strips.  Keep greens and stems separate.   

    Heat olive oil in a nonstick skillet over medium heat.  Add onion and saute until soft and golden but not browned.  Add the beet stems and continue to cook until the beet stems are soft and the onions are beginning to brown and caramelize.  Add salt, marjoram and chicken stock.  Stir well and continue to cook until the liquid is reduced by about half.

    Add the beet greens to the skillet and saute until greens are wilted and liquid is mostly evaporated.  Add balsamic vinegar and cook just until liquid is absorbed.  Remove from heat and add fennel pollen.

    Serve.

    I have to admit I loved the beet greens before we discovered fennel pollen and they are excellent without it, but the fennel pollen elevates the greens to a magical place.  I don’t think G would have thought of beet greens as one of his favorite vegetables until after we discovered the fennel pollen.

  • Musings on Digital Patterns

    There has been a discussion on one of the sewing boards about a company that produces patterns to be downloaded and printed at home.  When someone commented that a digital pattern should fit better, my mind started whirling and I started pondering.

    I have always thought that the idea of digitally
    transmitted, downloaded and printed patterns is wonderful. But having worked with computers for many
    years, and having written CAD programs and programs that do 3 dimensional
    modeling and problem-solving, I am well aware that this is not as easy as one
    might think.

    First of all there is the issue of getting the measurements. Four, eight, or even twelve measurements are not enough to
    adequately reproduce a human body. Then,
    everyone takes measurements differently. I suspect that if you have 4 people measure you, the results will be different. When we fitted out our dress forms last winter I had three sets of measurements of myself, taken by my mom, my step-daughter, and my DH. They were all different and I do not believe this is unusual, even if you use people who sew regularly to take the measurements.

    So if people aren’t accurate at measuring, who is? Well people can be trained, but different
    body types are easier or harder to measure.

    What about digital scanners or whole body measurement
    systems? I used to think these would be
    the wave of the future but they have been less than successful. First of all, for manufactured clothes, you
    lose all of the advantages of mass-production if you have to cut garments
    individually. Things automatically
    become much more expensive. Secondly
    even digital body scanners may or not be all that accurate. Each person’s measurements may appear
    different depending on the way they are standing when they are scanned. Also, different undergarments or lack thereof
    will affect they way the body is measured. And last but far from least, the amount of body fat will definitely
    affect the fit of the garment. This is
    probably why these systems have been most ineffective with larger clients. In order to measure accurately measurements
    must be taken in reference to some structural point on the body (shoulder
    point) etc and on a human body, these usually relate to the bones which make up
    our sub-structure. But body fat can make
    it very difficult to find the underlying structure, even when you are measuring
    by hand and are able to palpate the body for its underlying structure. A
    scanner, unless it is also an MRI (not likely) will not be able to determine
    how the person is padded referable to the underlying structure. Human bone structure comes in a very small
    set of variations compared to the variations in human bodies because human
    bodies have a widely varying degree of padding. If you have a total measurement of body mass, but you don’t know how
    that mass is distributed relative to the underlying bones and joints, you are
    still going to have trouble making a pattern to produce a garment that fits
    that person and is able to move with that person.

    Once you have a set of numbers representing a person’s measurements, you get to the entire issue of producing patterns
    from the measurements. This takes a
    highly skilled programmer with experience in three-dimensional modeling and
    converting complex mathematical systems into working programs. It also takes a highly technical
    understanding of the human body and how the measurements you have taken
    actually relate to the body and the way it moves. Thirdly you need outstanding pattern making
    skills to understand how to make a pattern to fit that body using all the other
    mathematical data you have incorporated.

    Sounds impossible doesn’t it?  It is not, but hopefully you can appreciate
    why we don’t have anything that does this yet. A program that would work, say even 75 % of the time, would take thousands of
    thousands of man-hours of work by highly skilled and therefore highly expensive
    people. It would simply cost too much,
    and it would probably cost too much for most manufacturers to implement the
    program and provide custom–fitted clothes because most customers would not want
    to pay the price. And I am not convinced that you can really model all the
    extremes of the human-body spectrum. But
    with a population in the billions, even the relatively small percent of people
    at the extremes can number in the hundreds of thousands or millions. You can’t get custom fitted jeans for
    Wal-Mart prices. And I think even $100
    for custom fitted jeans is too cheap once you figure in the overhead and time
    spent cutting, sewing, shipping, selling, etc. It is just significantly cheaper to cut large quantities of the same thing. And most people want good salaries and cheap
    clothes. In this case it is a lose-lose
    situation. This would be even more true
    for sewing patterns, which are a smaller market.

    Years ago, when I was writing CAD programs my DH thought I
    should write a program that would model my body measurements and create
    patterns. I thought about it
    briefly. But I realized that I don’t
    have the pattern making skill to write a program that could translate any
    desired shape of garment into a pattern that would fit me. Most importantly it would take me a LONG TIME
    to write such a program because you would have to write all the possible
    variations and allow for them to adapt to future design ideas and body
    shift/weight change. OK CAD programs
    are more advanced now and I wouldn’t have to do it all myself, but even so it
    would require more programming that I want to do. I figured I can buy a pattern
    for a shape I am not familiar with, alter it to fit me, even with muslins, and
    make hundreds of garments before I would ever get that program perfected, and I
    would probably be tinkering with it the rest of my life. Leave these things to the people who live to
    program….me, I’d rather be sewing.

  • Blink

    Blink by Malcolm Gladwell was an easy to read, entertaining book, that was perfect vacation reading.  In fact I read most of it on vacation, nearly two weeks ago, and just got around to reading the last two chapters this past weekend; not because I wasn’t interested but because I was distracted.  I finished just in time too, it is due back at the library tomorrow.

    I have to admit the book was interesting and it wasn’t exactly what I expected it to be.  Certainly it made me think about the world, how we perceive the world, and how and why we do the things we do in a different way.  Generally any book that makes me think about my life differently or change my perception of things is successful, whether I agree with the author or not.  Generally what I find enjoyable or interesting about a book is about the internal revelations or conversations I have with myself because I have read the book.  If the conversations lead to some kind of insight, intended by the author not, the book was an enjoyable and interesting experience.  This book provided that insight because it made me look at some of my assumptions and judgments and look at them in a different way.

    But the book has its faults and in some ways the book can be used as an apology or a defense for all kinds of snap judgments and assumptions that a society or some aspect of it want us to make.  I don’t believe that is the intention here, but it is inescapable.   And at times the research seemed spotty or inconclusive, as if we had a bunch of vignettes or examples of things that may be true but it was a bit of a stretch to make them related.  At other times connections seemed more direct and inevitable. 

    In the end, what we read and learn can add to our insights and our ability to make good decisions and do the "right thing".  But only if we allow our mind to grow and discern.  This is true of books or anything in life.  Blink made me think about the pros and cons of the kind of decisions we make on a daily basis.  It was a book I enjoyed reading.  It is not a book to treasure and come back to again and again.

  • Promises, Promises

    I had a good weekend overall preparing for the Holiday season and puttering about with several projects.  I also resumed work on the jacket, later than I had originally anticipated, but I don’t regret the delays; I was having fun with other projects.

    I didn’t start until after dinner Sunday night, probably around 9, so I did not finish construction of the outer jacket. The bodice is constructed and hanging (loosely) on Alyssa Rhiannon, who is currently hiding in the closet guarding the Christmas gifts:

    Siimplicity40473

    I decided to interface the peplum of the jacket although the pattern instructions do not call for this.  It just seemed a little floppy without the extra support.  The peplum pieces are all interfaced and ready to go and I should be able to attache them in my next sewing session.

    I am determined to continue working on this regularly, and to make time for sewing a priority.  I know I have said this before, and it hasn’t gotten me anywhere, and I also realize that the Christmas season may not be the best time to begin a new schedule, but it’s worth a shot.  Worst comes to worst December can be my practice month and by January I will be fully geared up and ready to sew.

  • copper

    Copper

  • Contented meanderings

    I had hoped that I would continue my thoughts from yesterday but I have been far too contented to spend time fretting over issues or thinking interesting thoughts.  Contentment is too complete a state to allow for fretting and stewing, or for an excess of interesting argument.  I suspect we do not give enough credit to pure contented indolence as a prerequisite for happiness…

    Anyway today was spent at the gym, office and computer with a generous helping of reading time (curled up with a cup of coffee) and knitting time, while listening the Neil Diamond’s 12 Songs, his new to me album from last year.  It can be a difficult album, very close-miked, new songs which seem almost painfully poignant and personal at times, with a kind of talk-song delivery that can be very weary-worn.  I am enjoying the album, and although it is definitely not uplifting, it is, in a way, heart-warming, with a mature voice that can hit close to home.

    I admit to always liking Neil Diamond.  I think he always had talent and I liked him even when he seemed to have sold his soul to success and sang mostly treacly-saccharine songs — but then I have always had a weakness for the sappy side of things.  This album is something different and the more I hear it the more I am glad I have heard it.  I’m no music critic though, and goodness knows many people run from MY choices in music. Still, made for a nice afternoon.

    Simple dinner tonight:  slow-cooked barbecued pork ribs from the freezer that needed to be used up so I could make another batch, and a lovely red bell pepper and red cabbage slaw, served warm-room temperature.  I don’t like my red cabbage too icy cold, especially not in a vinegar mustard base.

    Redcabbageslaw

    Red Cabbage and Bell Pepper Slaw

    1/2    cup               white vinegar
    1/2    cup                water
    1/4    cup                sugar
    3/4    teaspoon.     salt
    1       tablespoon    mustard powder
    2        tablespoon    olive oil
    1       tablespoon    black mustard seeds
    1        pound          cabbage, shredded
    3                           red bell peppers, cut in strips

    In a saucepan bring vinegar and water to a boil with sugar, salt, and mustard, and simmer, stirring occasionally, for 3 minutes. 

    Heat a large heavy skillet het the oil over moderately hight heat until hot but not smoking.  Add mustard seeds and saute until they begin to popl.  Stir in the red cabbage  and saute, stirring, for 2 mintues.  Stir in peppers and saute, stirring for 2 minutes more.  Add vinegar mixture and simmer for 1 minute.

    Drain vegetables into a large fine sieve set over a saucpan. Transfer the drained vegetables to a bowl.  Boil the liquid in the saucepan over moderately high heat until it is reduced to about 3 tablespoons.  Stir reduced liquid into the vegetables.  Chill slaw, covered, at least 1 hour, or overnight.

    ** As I mentioned above I like this at room temperature or slightly warm, but I am not a slaw eater by and large.  The rest of the family likes it just fine cold.

  • Work…Work…Work

    I am almost caught up from our trip over Thanksgiving week.  There are only two small piles of paperwork to finish,

    Work

    and a pair of pants that needs to have the buttons sewn back on in the background.  They are from Chico’s and are about 2 years old so if the buttons held up this long I can’t really complain. 

    Hiding out of site is a pile of ironing and some shoes that need polishing.  They are on the cutting table so that I don’t give myself permission to start sewing before I have finished basic maintenance.  Tomorrow is grocery shopping day and I haven’t finished the list yet — this is the first winter-season shopping since the farmer’s market closed, and I am wondering how much I should plan in advance and how much I should leave open to market finds.  I can take my portable computer with me, I have all my recipes there (although not the extensive cookbook collection) as well as my pantry and freezer lists.  I have spent some time coordinating the freezer list to the menu and shopping list so that now, when I plan a menu, it should tell me what I have in the pantry and automatically reduce the quantities on the list as I use items in the menus.  Of course this week will be the test run, so I don’t yet know that it will actually work…..

    Needless to say, I have been busy enough that I haven’t actually missed sewing yet.  The jacket is sitting patiently on the side and I can see it, filled with promise, and I know I will get there yet.  I have spent some time knitting so I am getting some fiberly therapy.

    I have also been s.l.o.w.l.y sorting through my extensive pattern collection, deciding what I will save and what will get stored in the file cabinets in the sewing room.  It is a very slow process, usually taking a couple of passes through each category.  I find that ruthlessness doesn’t come as easily here as in other aspects of household decluttering.  Perhaps this because patterns have both physical worth (or lack of it) and dream potential.  It is that dream state that is hard to analyze and categorize adequately.

    I have also sent off thread packages to most of the people who requested them; you should be receiving them shortly. 

     

  • perigrinations on vacation plans and energy use

    We have just returned from a trip to Kansas where we had a
    wonderful time, with a fair amount of driving around. The entire trip and the prospect of the trip
    have found me engaging in occasional peregrinations on energy use, vacations,
    and the world in general that are not really directly related to the trip, but
    more a pastiche of random bits that have been all stuck together in a kind of
    “current state of the world vs. my life” montage.

    As this blog was intended to be a
    journal of sorts, I have decided to indulge these random bits and see if
    anything interesting comes out of them, although I am not really seeking or
    expecting answers or insights.

    I suppose it all started with thoughts of holiday
    travel. Am I going to stop traveling
    because it requires excessive energy use? No. There are certain aspects of
    being an American, and being affluent enough to afford travel that I relish and
    am unwilling to give up. But still I
    think about it, perhaps more than I should. The issue has come up several times as I have booked a few trips over the
    next few months.

    Kansas: approximately 1400 miles

    Tennessee: approximately 770 miles

    Arizona/California: cross-country.

     

    We decided to drive to Tennessee, mostly because we have time
    available over the Christmas Holiday and G doesn’t feel like flying. G would remind me that the cost of two
    airline tickets is only a few hours of work and is not cheaper in terms of pure
    personal economics. But the office will be closed during the period in question
    and therefore time is available. It is
    not a bad drive. I think that for the
    two of us driving is a more efficient use of fossil fuel derived energy even
    though it takes longer. A train might be
    better, but I am not sure of train service. I could look into it but won’t bother. As I said, I am not seeking answers here. I know the information about
    schedules and energy use are available and I know how to find them but that
    knowledge really won’t change the outcome. We will take the trip, we will enjoy the drive because we enjoy driving
    trips, and sometimes we will fly to Tennessee because there are always others
    factors involved in planning trips and we are lucky enough that the children can
    live far away and we can still visit them.

    Were we to fly to Tennessee, it would require two short plane
    rides of about 1 to 1 ½ hours each on relatively small jets. These are not efficient. It would be better if we could fly directly
    to Tennessee
    on one flight, and this is indeed
    possible if we drive down to Newark. There are two direct flights a day. The approximately 2 to 2 ½ hour drive to the airport (each way 5 hours
    total in heavy traffic) may or may not use up the difference in fossil fuel
    spent per person for the trip. But even
    if the actual flight time is shorter, the total travel time becomes longer
    simply because of the longer drive to the airport. The added trouble caused by the fact that the
    direct flights are very inconvenient if one is driving to the airport does not
    help. The morning flight is at 6 AM,
    which would make for a VERY long day, or an overnight in Newark, which just adds to
    the time and expense of the trip.

    The Arizona/California trip is also an easy trip because we
    will obviously fly cross-country. This
    trip may even be efficient in our normal two-leg itinerary, requiring a stop in Chicago. This time however, we are flying directly
    from NYC to Arizona with a return to NYC
    directly from California. This of course means that we must get to the NYC airport, a 2 hour trip
    by car. The difference in fares is
    significant. In winter, the difference
    between a direct flight and one-stop is also significant as it reduces the
    chances for weather delays and layovers.

    Of course, once we arrive we are renting a car and driving
    from Tucson to Palm Desert to San
    Diego. This
    makes far more sense than flying out on two or three separate occasions and I
    suppose this is the only argument I can use to justify the energy use. But we enjoy driving, and I thought of this
    in
    Kansasas
    well, as we drove along, looking at the rolling hills, stopping in various
    little towns. Perhaps it is an American
    thing, this piling in a car and driving, but I love seeing the countryside this
    way. I grew up in Texas after all. The other fact is that much of this country
    is spread out over great distances and most people will never really be able to
    live in a way where they can walk from store to home to work. I am not sure this is even desirable.

    So how do we balance our love of tools and modern
    conveniences (all of which use power) and the ability to talk, move, or go
    anywhere in the world with the problems of providing enough energy for everyone
    to be able to share in this kind of bounty? It is a difficult question. I
    think we should all be more aware of our energy use and where our energy comes
    from, as well as its true cost. Cheaper gasoline is not an answer but raising the price won’t solve the
    problem either. Too many people need to drive. Too much of this country was planned on the idea of cheap gasoline. It will take a long time to change, if that
    change is even possible. I will still
    take my driving trip even if gasoline were $5 a gallon. I am fortunate to be able to do that. I would probably change my daily routines,
    coordinate trips to use less gasoline, change the priorities in our daily
    life. I honestly don’t feel that I have
    a right to cheap gas or cheap airfares for that matter but I will take advantage
    of them if I can.  There is much to do and much awareness-raising
    still to be done. But we really can’t go
    back, and we must also face the fact that much of the world wants to be us and
    have what we have. We have no ability or
    right to deny them that. The only
    solution is to find a better way, and perhaps all take a little more
    responsibility and pay a little more of our fair share.

  • My bags are packed….

    We head off to Kansas tomorrow for an extended Thanksgiving trip and will be back next weekend.

    Although I am packed, I still hope to make it to the gym this evening and squeeze in a couple of hours of office work, just so I will not be quite so inundated when I get back. 

    The jacket waits…and waits….and waits….

    Have a happy Thanksgiving.