Category: Musings

  • 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.

  • 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.

  • Project Runway Final

    So, Jeffrey won Project Runway.  I am not surprised as I kind of expected it.  Jeffrey wasn’t my favorite designer, I am not sure he was most viewer’s favorite designer, but it is not a popularity contest after all.  But I think he was the most innovative of the finalists and I never thought the winner would be the designer that might appeal to the biggest market cross-section, which might be Ulli, or even be particularly marketable.  Both Ulli and Laura have distinct styles and viewpoints and I think there are strong markets for both of them, but that is not what "fashion" is all about, at least not as it is practiced in the fashion centers like New York, among the fashion magazines and fashion insiders. Michael has talent, but he has a way to go developing that talent.  I am sure he has a future and I think that future is assured.  Jeffrey pushed all the right buttons and his designs were interesting and innovative.  Besides I think Jeffrey has a market, and there are Jeffrey ideas I would copy as well.

    That said, I have been a Laura fan since the beginning.  No, I can’t wear all her designs, but I still like her style.  But then, all you have to do is look at the accessories I wore to my anniversary dinner last night (and removed as I ran into the watch Project Runway only 10 minutes late) to see that I lean more Laura-wise than Ulli-wise.

    Accessories_1

    Sewing will continue today and the nursery set will be completed.  Then on to garment sewing for all you fans who are merely tolerating my foray into cotton rectangles.  I am actually enjoying the project, which is why I am regaling you with boring photographs of little strips of fabric. 

    I am much to easily pleased.  If it requires a sewing machine and an iron I am more than likely happy, no matter how mundane the task.

  • I petition the power sewists for strength

    I would like to honor all the sewists who come home at the end of the working day and actually get into their sewing rooms, or closets, or sit at a table and sew.  I don’t seem capable of doing it.  I admire their stick-to-itiveness.  I admire their energy. They must be the power sewists.

    Tell me all you fabuous sewists, how do you do it?

    Here it is Friday morning and I have not sewn in the evenings this week.  Of course I realize I am spoiled.  I am used to working a rather flexible schedule, partially from home, and often I can do creative things during the day and I spend the late evening hours at my computer working away on all the office accounting which often works well because G usually straggles in after 10:30 at least 2 or 3 nights a week.  But this week I am very much behind at the office and have been working full time all week, and I have been working daytimes because my car is still in the shop and I have to work out this car-pooling schedule.

    So I leave work and go to the gym and come home and make dinner and collapse. Between work and sleeping badly all week I was ready for bed at 8:00 last night, about the time I got home (early night — we ate out, no gym) when I am usually in bed around midnight and up around 6 AM. By the way, I slept late as well since there is no trip to the office planned today, I didn’t wake up until 7, after nearly 11 hours of sleep.  It make up for all those 4 hour nights earlier in the week (and no I didn’t sew in the wee hours either)

    Well, actually I exagerate.  Tuesday I ripped out part of the baby blanket I had made and photographed on Monday  The decorative topstitching on one side had made a buckle on the underside of the fabric so I ripped it out and redid it.  That was Tuesday night.  I started about 9:30 and finished about 11:30.  It took me far longer to rip and press that fabric flat and smooth so I could re-stitch it without more trouble than it took to actually sew the seam.

    Wednesday, I caught a ride home from the gym early so I got in around 9:30 and still had to sort through the mail and make dinner.  By the time G got home at 10:30, and we ate, it was bed-time.

    Thursday, well Thursday was a waste. 

    No office today, but lots of work.  I have software programs, paperwork from the new computer, an overflowing stack of bills to pay, and tons of financial and investment reports piled across the cutting table directly behind me.  I must have everything ready for my meeting with the actuaries on Monday. After I work my way through the piles I can sew or knit, or perhaps I will wimp out again and collapse with a good book.

    Oh power sewists — send me strength.

  • Beaux Arts Trio

    Sunday afternoon we drove up
    to Pittsfield MA, for the last of our annual chamber music concerts at South Mountain.  It was a beautiful clear day for a drive, if unseasonably warm.  In fact it was warmer in the Berkshires than it was at home on the Hudson River in Hyde Park.

    Pittsfield had already passed peak and most of the trees were
    bare or just lingering with a few brown and yellow leaves hanging limply and
    sadly. Winter will be here too
    soon. I usually love the fall drive up
    to the Berkshires: The glory of the fall
    leaves, the fall flowers especially, the autumnal colors of the chrysanthemums
    and asters and the beautiful beds of
    Colchiums that seem to glow with a vibrant, almost translucent pink sometimes
    with a hint of purple. But we missed all
    that this year; we were in Tennessee hanging on to the last of summer, and welcoming our grandson into the
    world. It seems odd to come home and
    find that Autumn may have passed us by.

    Fall peak is approaching but
    has not quite arrived in  Hyde Park.  The maple at the bottom of the hill, acutally
    on our neighbor’s property is in full blaze of red and copper. The maples on the hill, between the house
    below us, and our deck, are still mostly green. But these tend to turn later. The
    maple by the sewing room has lost over half its leaves, odd as it is usually a
    mid-season maple, turning after the maple at the bottom of the hill, and before
    the ones on the slope. Strange year we
    are having.

    The drive up the Taconic
    parkway was interesting because there was such an unusual contrast in the
    colors of the foliage. Some areas were
    totally devoid of leaves on the trees, other areas were still in full leaf and
    completely green, while yet other areas were a tapestry of beautiful oranges,
    reds, yellows, tangerines, and glistening coppers shining in the sunshine. Usually the picture is more consistent, a
    study in fall glory, rather than this rather odd patchwork, not to say that it
    was not lovely, just a little disconcerting, as if we had been away and then
    come back to a world that had shifted imperceptibly, still the same and yet
    slightly different. Interesting how we
    don’t really notice things around us until we go away and return again.

    I tried to figure out if
    there was a pattern, for example north face of hill versus south, altitude,
    east versus west – but there seemed to be none that I could  discern. Perhaps I was just not looking critically enough.

    But, I started out with the
    intention of writing about the concert, which was glorious – a perfect cap to a
    music filled weekend.

    Beauxarts_005

    The concert opened
    gloriously with the Schubert Notturno, lush and lovely, a perfect respite for
    us as we had misjudged the timing and had rushed into the concert just as the
    concert was beginning. Luckily the staff
    at South Mountain were well trained and I could hear the parking attendant radioing the concert hall as we dashed from the parking lot "2 walking, no, 4 walking".

    And the Shostakovich was
    fabulous, tight and controlled but still emotionally resonant. I enjoyed it very much, found it very
    powerful and moving, but although the applause was quite generous, not everyone
    shared my sentiments, which of course should be expected in any group of music
    lovers. In fact I was lost in thought
    during the second half of the program, having overheard the people sitting
    behind me discussing the Shostakovich at the close of the intermission (and no
    I was not trying to eavesdrop). Therefore, although the Schubert trio was beautiful and received thunderous
    applause and a standing ovation, almost a leaping ovation, I was not perhaps as
    moved as I should have been, as I might have been had I been paying more
    attention.

    Sometimes I wish I could
    just flip a switch and turn my brain off, tell it to go away and be quiet. I wish I could learn to just sit and enjoy.

    But what profundities caught
    my attention? Nothing of great import I
    am afraid. Following a comment that the
    Shostakovich was played very precisely with restraint and the commentator
    preferred the playing of Bernard Greenhouse, the long-time cellist and founding
    member of the Beaux Arts Trio, to that of Antonio Meneses whose playing is a
    tad bit more reserved, my mind started wandering along the theme of the changes
    in the trio over the years, different ways of listening to music, and even
    memory itself and the art of “paying attention”.

    Of course I thought Meneses
    played beautifully and I loved the piece. I found the very precision and restraint emphasized the emotional
    resonance of the piece. Shostakovich uses
    so much folk music, and there is so often such a dichotomy in the music, a fine
    line between joy and pathos, hysteria and despair, that I sometimes feel that
    over-emphasis of the emotional aspects of the music almost blunts its force,
    making the music a parody of itself. Of
    course I can get carried away in an emotional performance just as much as the
    next person. But what struck me here was
    that we all bring such different perspectives and histories to each piece of
    music that we might hear each work in completely different ways. I might love a piece and you might hate it,
    or vice versa. But that doesn’t mean
    either of us is wrong, most specifically not. If it touched anyone it was probably quite good. Music always has that power to transform, or
    should always have that power to transform. But each of us approaches it a little differently.

    I think that is why I have
    such increasingly mixed feelings about reviews. Everyone has a bad day, a day where they might not feel like playing a
    particular piece of music, but they must, it is a job not just an art, and this
    might be apparent in the performance, because no matter how professional we
    become we are also still human and music is an emotional medium. And it is hard not to judge, not to
    criticize. There are so many technically
    excellent performers out there, who might play a piece to perfection as it is
    written on the page, but yet it still might not move the audience. Oh it was easier to say X left out half the
    notes. But how do we separate out the
    baggage we bring into our own judging?

    Admittedly I also spent part
    of those few minute thinking about truly mundane and selfish things. How could the speaker behind me remember how
    Greenhouse played a particular work? I
    have particular trouble with this kind of thing, and I know it must simply be
    that I don’t pay enough attention. I
    know I have heard a musician perform before, I usually know if I have heard a
    particular work before, but I am terrible about remembering who played what and
    when they did it. Many people do
    remember these details. I was talking to
    the director of the concert series and he told me it is a lot of work
    coordinating what gets played and how often a work is repeated, and that many
    patrons do remember that Group X Played the Mozart Z 2 years ago and complain
    when the same group plays it again in such short rotation. I was stunned. I don’t remember that. And frankly I would probably love hearing it
    again, even if I had heard it a dozen times before, or more. Each hearing is like something new, an
    opportunity to be freshly swayed. Maybe
    these others save the programs and compare them? Always looking for a way to make myself feel
    better I, but I suspect that truth is that I just don’t pay enough attention,
    and so I vowed to do better. But when
    did I make this vow? During a wonderful
    performance of the glorious Schubert Trio in E flat Major, to which I was not
    paying adequate attention because I was letting my mind wander over such truly
    frivolous issues.

    Next year. Next year I will try to do better.

     

  • As usual, straddling the fence


    You Are 45% Left Brained, 55%
    Right Brained



    The left side of your brain controls verbal ability, attention to detail, and reasoning.
    Left brained people are good at communication and persuading others.
    If you’re left brained, you are likely good at math and logic.
    Your left brain prefers dogs, reading, and quiet.

    The right side of your brain is all about creativity and flexibility.
    Daring and intuitive, right brained people see the world in their unique way.
    If you’re right brained, you likely have a talent for creative writing and art.
    Your right brain prefers day dreaming, philosophy, and sports.

  • We interrupt this program

    The challis skirt is done.

    A muslin has been made of the simplicity jacket.  The black and white fabric has been cut and marked but not interfaced.  The charmeuse lining has not yet been cut.

    Thursday night I get to say hi to my new grandson!

    Happy sewing!

  • Life is too Short…..

    Ann over at Gorgeous Things  wrote a lovely post the other day titled "Life is too short to buy cheap fabric".   I agree whole heartedly, and since I was unable to post a comment directly to Ann my thoughts are spilling over here after romping around my thoughts throughout the day.

    I agree with Ann that this is not a question of snobbishness.  But it can be a way of life, hence "Life is too short…" for so many things.   Life needs to be embraced, to be lived and buying and struggling to sew cheap fabric is not enjoyable and is not worth the time spent.    As Ann pointed out, "just because a fabric is expensive doesn’t mean it’s not cheap, and
    just because a fabric is cheap, doesn’t mean it’s inexpensive."

    If you love to sew, it is a waste of money and time to spend time on something that is crap.  And cheap fabric, whatever the price is crap, it is money and time down the drain.  You might as well just buy your clothes at Wal-Mart.  But we all know that we don’t sew or knit because we can get shirts and socks at Wal-Mart.   If something is worth spending time on, it is worth doing well with quality materials.  Quality materials do not have to be expensive.  The Internet has made a wider range of fabrics available to more people.  But learning to know and appreciate quality takes time.  I am not saying that we should run around in silk pants and tissue-fine cashmere tees while burping the baby and weeding the garden.  But it is worthwhile to learn about quality and buy the best quality of whatever is appropriate for your needs.  If you need washable pants and cotton tees or blouses, buy good quality cotton, that feels good when you wear it, sews nicely, and holds up well through repeated launderings.  You will feel better and be happier with a few nice things that fit well, and look good, and stand up to the wear and tear of daily life far more than a dozen things that look like crap after a few washings.

    If you need a suit that you are going to wear several days a week all season for a year or more, and it needs to look good traveling, you might not want to invest in super 120’s cashmere blends, which really don’t hold up all that well, and they aren’t meant to.  But you can learn to distinguish the different qualities of wool and buy a good lightweight wool that will sew beautifully and hold up to all the abuse you throw at it.

    My friend Mary used to tease me that whenever we traveled together I always took the same navy suit, and it was true, I did.  I made that suit out of a lightweight pinstripe that sewed beautifully, never wrinkled, and wore like iron.  I spent about $20 dollars a yard for that fabric, and I didn’t think it was that expensive, and I wore that suit for 4 or 5 years, traveled around Europe and the US with it, and was sad it when it finally started to look a little worn.  That suit was well worth the time I put into it, and it would have been a good value even had I spent more on the fabric.

    Life is also to short for cheap linings, cheap interfacings, cheap notions and threads.  They all make the process more difficult and reduce the value of the finished garment.  Life is too short not not to take time pressing and making something to the best of your ability.

    OK, let me get back to that one.

    I wrote a few months back about zippers.  More exactly I wrote about the dearth of good zippers available for purchase near me and how I had decided to buy good zippers by mail (or on my trips to NYC).  Well I kind of did that.  I ordered some basics.  When I set aside a group of fabrics to sew, I would look at the zippers I might need and order them; but I don’t really have an adequate set. 

    For example when I decided to make the maroon skirt I did not have an appropriate zipper.  I thought I did.  I looked in the zipper box and said "I have a maroon zipper" and thought no more about it.  But it was a 24" zipper.  Luckily zippers can be shortened.   I decided that I needed to approach my zipper stash, and yes i now have a zipper stash because life is too short to use a cheap zipper that will break, or to interrupt a sewing project because I have to wait a couple of days for a zipper.

    I have my fabric stash organized by color.  I am pretty consistent in the colors I love to wear and those I don’t.  I also know what lengths of zippers I most commonly use.  So I sat down with a zipper color card and ordered an assortment of zippers in the colors I most frequently sew in the sizes I use most often.  Then I made a list, a spreadsheet actually, where I list the sizes and colors of zippers in stock, and cross them off as I use them.  When I use up a particular size and color of zipper it goes on my sewing notions list, which is one of the ongoing shopping lists that live on my Palm and always travel with me.  You never know when you might find yourself near a zipper source after all, now do you?

    This plan doesn’t work for the exceptions, those fabrics and projects that aren’t in my normal repertoire, but with those projects, I usually know they might be unusual, can check my supply, and order the proper parts at the beginning of the process.  But this way, if I get a mad urge to make a top or a skirt, or most things for that matter, I can just jump right in and sew.  Life is too short to do it any other way.

    The problem is that I increasingly think life is too short for a lot of things:  cheap sentiment, cheap food, cheap wine and so forth.   If life is worth living it is worth living well and fully, seizing every moment and making the most of it.  And so life is also too short to let it be ruled completely by the demands of others.  Life is too short not to put myself first at least some of the time.

    Last week I ran around like crazy responding to everyone else’s crises, saving the day, fixing this and that, and ignoring my own needs and desires.  I was totally spent by the effort and I did not get any time to sew and precious little to knit.  But I don’t have to let weeks like this become the norm.  I can say "no".

    So I am hereby declaring that life is too short not to spend time sewing and knitting.  I insist that I should have some time in my sewing room this week, time to work on my Marfy muslin, and perhaps time for some other things as well.  I want time in my sewing room for my own pleasure and sanity.  In fact, I deserve time in my sewing room because it is, after all, my life, and this is the choice I wish to make.

    Wish me luck.  I tend to waver when faced with the competing demands of others.  But life is too short not to try.

  • Prep

    Mondays are always busy days, but they are also days with a kind of dual existence. Years of training has led me to treat Mondays as the first day of the working week, the week we catch up from the lax behavior of the weekend, and yet, in this household at least, Monday is still part of the weekend simply because G does not go back to work until Tuesday.

    It has taken us a few years to settle into a working 3/4 schedule that fits well with our plans, personalities, and dreams, but we seem to have settled into a grove of sorts.  Sometimes Monday is a play day and sometimes it is a work day.  This week it was mostly work.   G got the mowing done as this was really the first day dry enough to mow for over a week and I was given some time to get things taken care of in the house.  The repair guy came for the oven.  It was the heating element, something new.  He expected it to be a fuse.  15 years with this oven and I’ve gone through 5 oven fuses, although we’ve never had to change the other one, for the stove top – is that weird or what.  We also have never had the heating element go before.

    Somehow household chores are always more pleasant when you are both working, even on separate tasks, with little breaks over the water bottle under the shade tree and interruptions of companiable conversation. Mondays often include time for a slower breakfast, pondering a second cup of coffee, and a lunch spent together.

    Although we eat a great deal of local produce, especially in the summer months, and very little processed or prepared convenience foods, last night G asked for one of his favorite dinners, Spaghetti with Tuna. The primary ingredients come from cans:

    Prep1

    The tomatoes could have been local, had I put up tomatoes last year, but I didn’t.  There are only a few other ingredients:

    Prep2

    The recipe is by Marcella Hazan in The Classic Italian Cookbook.  It has been a favorite so long that I just know it.  It really needs flat leaf  parsley.  The shallots were a substitute, nice but without that special intensity the sauteed parsley brings to the dish.  I thought I had parsley; imagine my chagrin that instead I had two bunches of cilantro.  Shallots had to substitute. I suppose Thai or Mexican cuisine is in our future. The pasta with tuna sauce and a big salad of baby lettuce, baby bok choy seedlings, radishes, and slender baby carrots made for a lovely dinner with a glass of red wine. 

    After dinner I finally got back to the sewing room and cut out the pattern for the coat, Vogue 7833.  I attempted to check the pattern for errors but got nowhere.  I don’t know what to look for in a raglan sleeve coat. This was when it dawned on me that  I have never made a raglan sleeve garment of any sort.  My mom made them for me when I was little.  I was told they fit better.  But somehow I got it in my head that I didn’t want raglan sleeves and avoided them like the plague in my own sewing adventures.  Well, it is about time to begin.   

    Springcoatmuslin1

    I traced off the pattern onto “soil separator paper” lengthening it by 10 inches while I did so.  The coat would be short for me regardless. At 29" it wouldn’t quite cover my bottom, much less hang nicely below the crotch line as illustrated in the line drawings.   But I wanted this to be longer even than illustrated.  I will probably go longer yet, but I need to see the first draft.

    I decided to try making the first muslin out of the soil separator paper.  It looks sturdy enough to sew.  It is thinner than PatternEase, but should still work.  It might not hang as well as a coat, it is clingy, but it will at least tell me if I am headed in the right direction.  I don’t really like this stuff as pattern paper – it is hard to read what you write on it, it clings to everything, markers bleed through it, but it is so sheer that you can trace even the palest most difficult lines.  It would be nice if I can also use it for muslins.  If the muslin idea doesn’t work, this roll will be my last.

    I am hoping to get the muslin stitched together today and then we will see what happens.  It looks simple.  Hopefully it will work well.