Wooly waver jacket: everything can't be a winner.

Fun fact: did you know that nice wool coating fabric can cost $20-30/yard? At that rate, plus the time involved, it seems kinds of inefficient to make a wool coat. Not everyone sews to be frugal, but I do. 

So while I wanted to use up flannel scraps and fur leftovers for parts...i didn't have the important outer layer. I found myself with a fabulous pattern and no fabric to sew it. (see this year's resolution. i am a pattern glutton. we all have flaws ;)

Luckily, expensive places like cities also have special super bargain places like the East Bay Depot for Creative REuse. Isn't it great that creative is IN THE TITLE? like, don't just use it, make it GREAT, people. 

On a very productive I scored the bundle above for less than $10. excellent pressing tools, 2-3 yards of wool fabric, and that adorable bunny sateen - maybe a lining? Not wanting to lose my thunder, i took the barfy pink home and plunked it in a stew pot with some aqua dye. 

in process, with instagram filter. looks a dream, no?

it turned out ok. I'd prefer the color were more saturated, but it had gotten really cold out, I'd already dyed my fingers once, and i wanted a flippin coat. 

IT went together really easily. YAY! I interlined with leftover flannel bits from various dresses and PJs, used some paracute cord i bought for a long gone BF for the inner drawstring and, my favorite part, reused some gift fur from a dear friend's 2006 christmas gift for a luscious faux fur hood. 

see? it all fit together so nicely! This lining is some tahari stretch satin i thought i would use for lingerie about a year ago. Turns out I don't wear satin pjs and don't really have a satin lounge robe kind of life. You guys. it's good to be honest with yourself. 

my handstiching is getting better....inside the lovely perfect length everything fit together cuff.

anyway, the color's not great on me. 

the hood is 100 pounds.

all the photos with me in em are on my laptop at work (school).

i think i messed up the button placement.

all those layers in the middle make the cinching kinda lumpy.

image stolen from student artwork @ my school. i love it.

something i'm doing makes all of my lower right plackets wonky.

everything can't be a winner. It's the process sometimes. Learning.

tell me about your near misses?

Goals for 2016: this gets long but not because it's a lot of goals

This year I did a really good job of making clothes I'll wear again and again, from pajamas and undies to jeans and party dresses. 

Stuff I made /top nine in 2015- from bottom- light jacket, swimsuit, jeans, summer dress, pjs, t shirts, and a sick Halloween cape. Not pictured but worn regularly: flannel dress, workout pants, pj variations, kid clothes and swimmers, 500 undies for me and people near by ;). 

Now I'd like to find my next /new /expanded tried and trues to make my wardrobe mega functional and totally me.

This year I have one goal. Beyond continuing to grow my skills and reducing the global impact of getting dressed, I want to go on a pattern fast. I've done pretty well with a fast on fabric, using what I have, I mean, before buying more. I make exceptions for a particular project that I force to the top of the list (my wool coat right now, for instance!), so it doesn't go into the stash hole. I've shopped the same at the reuse shops as regular fabric outlets: very judicious, with a plan, execute that plan. No hoarding! 

I scored this coat-making bundle at the reuse shop and immediately got to dyeing. Put it to work!

It may be trickier for patterns, because buying patterns feels low impact, resource wise, as so many are PDFs. Even more, they have that exciting NEW feeling, and make me feel like I'm supporting the indie sewing industry, which means employment for so many creative women. That's tricky, right? 

I love that these women (and Taylor), are kicking ass and making dollars, but I need to let others do the spending for a minute. 

That sicky pink wool after dyeing, with fur that has been in my closet since xmas 2006. Geez that's a long time! It's interlined with flannel left from my flannel dress and some pj pants. 

On the list, then:

Black Birkin/Kendall skinny jeans, this time in a straight 29. Nail that fit!

Sutton blouse v 1

Another Papercut Alexandria (v2) or Moji (v1) casual pant, especially for hiking. This is the pant I reach for most on the weekends, but it's missing from my wardrobe. 

Finish Waver jacket (in process photo above)finished: here 

Maybe this is the year for a finlayson...? I love how easy and profesh the kid version turned out, I can imagine getting lots of play from an adult edition.

Happy child wears handmade 

Halifax hoodie! (Replacing a threadbare h&m zip up from around 2007?? Frugal fanny, that's me!) Two versions: In $1 mystery fabric and maybe again in a nice one like merino 💓

Try out Cambie dress (I fell for the bday sale 😭) It's built for someone shaped completely different from me, but also seems like a fun dress that could be made in a variety of fabrics to go lots of places/events. Let's see!

Investigate pencil pants. I have the sew over it pattern, the Manhattan trouser, and a burda pattern, but I haven't been able to cut fabric for them. What's that about? I know some of it is body stuff- not wanting to suffer ill fitting pants, worry that I'll cut the complete wrong size...sadness after all that time and fabric and $ invested. 

Watch this space for continued fear and avoidance or a deep dive like I did with t shirts...which got me a go-to I love, and helps me avoid new pattern hysteria😳😁😀. 

Silk blouse, wool twill jacket with flashy insides, excellent denim, sneaky unders, all me made. That, my friends, is a wardrobe. 

How do you stay inspired but not shopping? Please share your sources!

And happy happy happy new year.

Xoxo

Bex 

Shawl collar hack for the Rowan tee

I drafted a lil shawl collar for the Rowan tee, since I love the way it fits but wanted a fancy family event version. 

I'll post a pattern piece for you soon! 

In the meantime, here are the photos my model has allowed. 

I definitely bought that smile by chasing him with the camera. Whatever it takes, sweet boy. 💓

Party dresses part 1: black

Score 1 LBD for me. At long last!! 

I bought the fabric as a Memorial Day "turned in my grades!!" present, and the pattern (Vogue 1448) in the summer from a local I usually can't afford, Piedmont fabrics. (It's so nice in there, just spendy!)

It took truly 4 yards of wide (60"?) rayon jersey. I had scored the jersey for $1.99/yard-some crazy special from fashion fabrics club- so I win for what could have gotten super pricey super fast. 

I did the cutting and a lot of careful sewing during a 3-day thanksgiving vacation; so calming. 

I graded some craziness like 12 at the waist 14 at the bust 10 at the shoulders/hips...but could have just stuck with a 10 all around I think.

Here's an inch-ish I took out of the back at the side seam (an invisible zipper insertion I totally smashed, by the way, in a good way yayyyy).

 

And here is how I made it fit in front. I angled the front cross pieces about 2" farther than designed to remove drapiness and give myself a flattering snug neckline. 

I tried a couple of things- elastic in the seam, basting the crossover together, and pinning the shoulders to my bra- but this worked best. Took the photo to prove to myself that it's needed when I take out the dress next time and think I can skip that part;)

Then I wore it to a party! I fl39!|+]{*% love it!  I wonder though, what's your go-to party dress?

High Waisted Skinny Jeans = FASHION (baste + gather Birkin Flares)

High waisted




















hip hugging


cone mills denim (made in the USA!)

one muslin + one weekend


one weekend


They're the Best Ever.

The pattern is here at baste + gather: (yes that pattern is for Birkin Flares. It's all good) and this week everything there is 50% off. Check it out. there are some really cool jeans-making tricks and great pattern features included.

I've already worn them two days straight - one day soon I'll add rivets and belt loops. I may also pinch that little pooch out of the center back.

Then i'll make a black pair. the black pair i'm going to cinch a bit at the front pockets, because just like on my Gingers, the pocket facing/lining seam occasionally pops a bit. expecially on the left. is that my sewing or my body? weird.

Tell me if you're making them! We can have a sew-in :)

Life on the Edge: book review (for the sewing scientists)

It's a book bridging quantum physics and biology, and it's a fascinating connection of sciences. I have a background in ecology, so the concept of trippy connections and unexpected effects was easy for my to accept. But the microscopic, even invisible effects that can be explained by quantum principles (tunneling, for example, which was compltely new to me), were tremedously enlightening.

How do robins know to travel exactly 15 degrees south?

The authors have taken on a difficult task - a book about exceptionally complex topics written for the lay reader. Is there such an audience? The writing is pretty basic, so basic in fact, that I x-ed out entire pages so that if I went back to re-read, I wouldn't bother with them. But once I waded through the basic sections, there would be a really rich page or two of deep connection.

How does photosynthesis ACTUALLY work, for instance? The quantum explanation made me so delighted (I'd paste it here, even, except that I gave the book to a quantum mechanics-obsessed student who hasn't yet returned it). Of course there's not a mechancal explanation, or we'd all be dead (ok never born) from starvation. I like to see magic in the natural world- defined as phenomena that humans just couldnt' recreate with our clunky abilities - and quantum tunneling is that.

stomata. CRAY. 

I'm a self-identified science nerd, so I have a working understanding of a broad range of science phenomena. As a teacher, I am also required to constantly deepen my own understandings as students bring misconceptions and new ays of seeing -that is, I have to use deep critical abilities to know when questions are wacko vs genius. So I think I'm a pretty good pop science reader, is what I'm trying to say. I'm not, however, used to seeing myself as a physicist.

This book has given me tools for understanding quantum language and experiments, which makes me feel dangerously educated. I recommend it for anybody who's curious about this field - you can skip the easy part and geek out on the deep parts. OR if you're not so science-y already, read the whole thing and enjoy that someone has taken the time to meet you where you are. And then trip out.

Ted talk from the authors here.

I received this book from Blogging for Books for my review.

Charley Harper ts for my boy

Quickie- need to buy a whole yard of fabric to get a long sleeved t shirt for this tall child...here's how we made do with less, using stash and scraps and a lot of giggly design time. The yellow is another shirt underneath, not a ruffle ;).

Fabricworm had a sale - I used the chance to score some Wanderer fabric for myself and my mama, then these sweet knits for the boy, who needed long sleeves for fall. He picked these two designs out of the whole Charley Harper line. I love em!! 

Both shirts are Rowan tees from the titchy threads pattern. I accidentally left out a couple of pieces, getting brazen and thinking they were optional, so the hood, up top, is a little narrow. Oops. Lesson learned- use the hood stripe piece no matter what.