Restingmotion

There was no sewing time over the weekend as I spent the weekend in spring cleaning and preparation for some rearranging of our living spaces.  The movers and junk haulers come some day this week (hopefully), and once a bunch of stuff is gone, and a few big pieces of furniture have been moved, I can get busy settling back in.  In the meantime much is out of place and out of the way while we wait.

 After a weekend of dust and grime (going through G's old medical library and starting to clean the garage) I felt like wearing something light and bright yesterday.  Since it was gray and rainy and cool outside, white seemed perfect.

The vest is a little top I made a couple of years ago.  I am thinking that I basically prefer a more fitted silhouette but I am working my way into it gradually.  

• V-neck stretch knit tee, made in 2008
• White blouse, old
• White straight leg jeans, Gap, this year.
• Black Banana Republic belt, this year.
• Black patent rain boots, Aquatalia, purchased last fall.
• Silver and Gold necklace and earrings

The blouse doesn't fit particularly well anymore and must be worn with a vest, which severely limits its usefulness.  As soon as I finish the skirt I will return to the blouse muslin and make a couple of blouses.

Here is a variation, similar fitted lines, with the same jeans, that I wore last week.

This outfit was built around the green sandals.

• Green sandals, purchased last year.
• White jeans, Gap.
• Green sweater, purchased last fall.
• White tee, J Crew.
• Ivory and green quartz bracelet.
• Pearls.
• Tiny emerald pendant on an even tinier gold chain.
• Yellow belt, Prada, this year.

I am really happy with how these two outfits came out.  And I was happy wearing them all day.  From a completely personal standpoint, looking the photos also reminds me how far I have come in accepting my body in that I no longer feel I have to walk around sucking in my bit of a tummy, pretending like I am supposed to look like  a Barbie doll.  It is a small accomplishment, but one about which I am quite proud.  It is through these little steps that we come to self-acceptance.

My only issue with this outfit is with the necklaces which, although they are lovely, are really too small in scale for me.  I am not a small person and I feel that the necklaces look disproportionate and only emphasize the difference in scale.   Jewelry is something else I am addressing in my style reemergence, although I am taking my time and trying to think about what really works and what I really want.  In the meantime, I'm all for making do.

Metscan tagged me to post the sixth photo I posted on this blog.  When I started looking for this sixth photo, I was struck by two things.  First, the process of fitting seems to be a never ending quest; the body changes, the quest goes on.  Secondly I was surprised that it had been 5 years since those first posts.  Despite all the absences and changes in this blog over the years, I am still here.  I was also surprised to see that this post is my 490th post.  At a time when I feel like I haven't stuck to much, it seems that I have stuck to blogging.

In March 2005 and I was sewing casual clothes to take on a cruise on the upper part of the Amazon.  It was a small boat and I would wear trekking clothes during the day, but I needed a small collection of clothes for the evening, clothes that could see me through the casual and the more formal evenings on a two week trip with a very tight total weight limit for luggage (checked and carry-on combined).

 It is not a photo of great beauty;  very few of my photos were back then.

I was making a pair of pants and working on fitting issues. 

The beige pattern on top is a pair of pants that I had cut the previous September after taking a course with Sandra Betzina.  The pattern below it (in white) is for a pair of pull-on one-seam pants which I wanted to make up in a blue knit for the cruise.   I had used the white pattern the previous summer several times.  This is relevant because the patterns that fit me then, are the ones that are closest to fitting me now.

I posted the photo because of what I was learning about fit.  Notice the angle of the waistline on the beige pattern.  The crotch depth is much shorter at the center front than it is at the center back, as opposed to my previous pattern, where front and back were the same.    I have learned that this is a quite necessary alteration, and it is included in the skirt I am making now and my new pants draft.  

The blue linen pair, which were the next pair after the ones I am working on in that photo can be worn now, although they needed minor alterations.  I am a little thicker through the waist, and smaller through the hips, than I was then.  I have also learned that the waistline on all the patterns fitted at those early Sandra Betzina seminars actually extend an inch or two above my anatomic waist, although that may indeed have been my smallest point at the time. It does make me wonder because I certainly don't remember what I was thinking.

And now on to the second part of this little game:  I get to tag ten blogs and ask them to post their sixth photo and tell us why they chose it.

K-Line

Bad Mom, Good Mom

Couture et Tricot

Materfamilias

La Belette Rouge

Life in LaLaLumay Land

3 Sleeves to the Wind

Une Femme d'un Certain Age

Fiber Arts Afloat

Sew West

Have fun.

This is not a style blog. And yet, it is, because to sew and knit clothing one must make decisions about style. 

As I've worked my way up to deciding what to sew, I've been exploring what I want to wear, using a few basics, as well as an assortment of things that have, so far at least, survived the various purges of my wardrobe.  Sometimes I am  more successful than others.  

Yesterday I wore this:

Inspired by the far more stylish than I likes of  Materfamilias, Karen, and Deja Pseu, I decided to create a polyvore on the floor as a record of what I wore.   

Most of this outfit has been residing in my closet for years, although the pieces were strangers to each other.

• J Crew chinos, several years old.
• Blue Brooks Brothers ribbed cotton sweater I've had for years.
• Stuart Weitzman Sandals purchased 3 or 4 years ago.
• Ferragamo bag also ancient.
• Red, White, and Blue scarf by Perry Ellis purchased in the early '80s, when I had my first office job.
• 36" lapis and majorica "pearl" necklaces, early to mid 1980s.

 The nice thing about this POTF technique is that I have a record of what worked and what didn't.  I can record the smallest details, and I can make notes about what I need to buy, make, change or leave blissfully alone. 

Since I love accessories and they are always an integral part of how I feel about a particular outfit, having a detailed photo is perfect.  When I find the combination I like, I tend to stick with it.

• My basic day-to-day watch, by Rado. 
• Wedding set, reset for our 20th anniversary.
• Lapis, opal, and ruby ring by William Scholl, late '80s.
• Barry Kieselstein-Cord alligator hoop earrings, purchased this year from Beladora.

Of course seeing the outfit on the floor is useful, but doesn't really show how it worked on me.  That is fine if I know that the pieces fit and how they look, but fit has been an issue lately as it is changeable.  More exactly I have been changing and the clothes are not adapting to match.  This sometimes leads to unpleasant surprises.

 I did manage to get a photo before the day ended though, and although this outfit ended up being not perfect, the results were far from unpleasant.  I will admit however that when I first looked at this picture, moments after it was taken, that I was horrified at how baggy and rumpled I thought I looked.  Time has softened the harshness of my personal reaction, and although I realize that I tend more toward rumpled than sleek and polished, I would prefer a little less bagginess.

Anyway, here is my assessment:

The pants are growing looser weekly (though my weight is not changing) and this particular pair tends to get rather rumpled quickly.  With a sleek, more fitted top this might be fine.  With a loose sweater not so good.

This sweater used to fit quite snugly and hug my curves.  I liked that fit.  There is nothing wrong with a loose comfy sweater, and it might look much better over a fitted boot cut jean. But what I actually want is a better fitting ribbed sweater.   

I like this sweater because it is simple and easy to  accessorize as it makes no demands of its own.    As soon as I saw how loose this sweater had become I was reminded of a really lovely pale blue yarn that had just arrived at my LYS, Invernal by Aslan Trends (color 059).  It is an angora, merino, nylon blend and it feels really scrumptious in the hand.  Although this sweater is cotton, it is too warm to wear in hot weather and not warm enough for cold weather, so I am leaning toward the wool blend.  I do have several blue cotton yarns in my stash, all of which are slated to become other sweaters, sweaters which are still desired and are far more of "speaking" sweaters than background sweaters so they don't really fill this particular need.  It seems a blue ribbed angora/merino/nylon sweater is somewhere in my future.

 My main issue with this outfit is with the necklaces.   I love the look of the scarf with the beads, but I seem to have increasing doubts about long necklaces on me, but I am having trouble pinpointing the problem, if there is a problem.   I tried shortening the necklaces, and I liked it but at the same time also liked the proportions of the space when the necklace was longer.

I didn't really have a way to shorten these as I wore them but I am considering restringing the lapis at least (a pearl upgrade is on my wish list). I always liked this length because I could wear it doubled or long, but now I am questioning this, and wondering if two separate necklaces would be a better choice.

As always I seem to have more questions than answers, and I wonder if I just think too much.

Yesterday I finished the skirt muslin.  Not much work was needed.  I sewed the darts, mostly as they were in the pattern, although I moved one to make them appear more symmetrical on the back of the skirt.

When I held the skirt up to look at it, after sewing the last dart, I thought: "It looks so small".  It wasn't.  In fact the fit was almost perfect.  The waist was a little snug.  I no longer have the waist I had 5 years ago.  When I looked at the skirt in the mirror I realized that I did not need to let the skirt out all around, that it was snug in front, and that the side seams were being pulled out of alignment by the front.  I released two of the front darts, giving myself about an inch and a quarter.

It was almost perfect. I marked the correct waistline on the muslin as the original skirt pattern extended about 2 inches above my natural waist.  I wondered briefly if I ever wore it that way, but I seem to recall that I did.  It seems that I was a bit of a fuddy duddy in my youth.  I think I am much younger now, but perhaps it is merely that I am more confident now although that may be merely self-deception.  

I also pegged the skirt a bit. The board straight seams were aging and the tapered shape seems much more flattering.

I regret that I did not take a picture.  I was pressed for time, having only about a 90 minutes during which time I hoped to finish the muslin and seam and block the body of a sweater.  

Inspired by yesterday's success, I blocked out two hours of sewing time this afternoon during which time  I dismantled the muslin and used it to create a new master pattern.  I finished out my allotted time by gathering together the materials necessary for a skirt so that I would be all ready to begin laying out the pattern and cutting.

The last two days have been so successful that I decided to try to schedule sewing time regularly, if not every day, at least 5 days a week, in 2 hour increments, for now.  That is the plan anyway.  I don't quite know how it will go over, it being a unilateral decision and all.  It seems to be a commitment I have been reluctant to make, not because I don't want to be sewing, but because I have had trouble giving myself permission to make it a priority.

 

I'm going to take my time with this.  The print is rather large and I want to spend time playing with placement of the pattern.  I'm in no rush after all.  I although I feel in a way "desperate" for pretty new clothes, I don't need them to go anywhere in particular.  Jeans will see me most anywhere I go.  What I actually want are not just any pretty clothes but things that are just right.  I'm sure I will make mistakes along the way, but getting the things I want, the way I want them, is worth time and the risk of wadders.  

Some days I just feel like pulling my hair out.  There is no time to focus on anything.

 Luckily there are simple projects for days just like this.

I've had a simple necklace of wooden beads for some 25 years now.  It is nothing fancy, very basic, but a summer favorite.  I picked it up from a street vendor somewhere.  

A couple of weeks ago the string broke.  I managed to find all the beads, and since I really love this thing, went to a local bead store to get the items necessary to fix it.  This is the first time I've ever fixed a broken necklace myself, but it is just stringing material, beads and a clasp.  It seemed like it was about time.

The coral beads were not originally part of the necklace.  Although I love this simple necklace, I somehow have been wearing it less frequently in recent years because it always seemed either too short or too long.  It was too long to wear with a tee and a little too short to wear outside the neckline on a shirt.  The broken string created the perfect opportunity to turn this into a necklace I would use, and to learn a new skill without much sacrifice.  Again, it is really the most basic of necklaces, no knots, just string, beads and a clasp.

 The coral beads were what I found in my stash that worked with the wood.  These too are very cheap beads, purchased from another street vendor, this one somewhere in the British Virgin Islands.  The string on this strand broke long ago, but I saved the beads, not because they were precious, they aren't, but because they intrigued me.    

Inexpensive stained wood beads meet coarse dyed coral.    I am very happy with the result.