Monday, March 30, 2015

Two Purple Things

This is another New Look 6963. I have been sort of stuck on this pattern lately and I really need to move on. I am going to make at least one more but not right away. The fabric is the last of three pieces of cotton shirting that I bought several months ago when Denver Fabrics had a sale on it. I was going to use a different pattern for it but after thinking about it for a while I knew I really wanted it to be another one of these.

I wanted to find the perfect purple buttons for it but past experience has taught me that a search for The Perfect Buttons usually leads to frustration and a long delay in finishing the project. I happened to have these light blue ones already and when I held one against the fabric I liked the way it looked so I used them. There's a certain kind of satisfaction in making something completely from the stash.

I must be honest; I'm not thrilled with this shirt. I mean, I don't really dislike it but I'm not excited about it either. It is comfortable though and perfect for what I intended it to be, just a casual everyday shirt, and I know I will wear it a lot.

I also made the slacks last week. (I'm trying to school myself to not say "pants" because I know that means something different to our friends in the UK.) I started out with McCall's 6173 but I've modified the pattern so much I don't feel like I can claim it's that pattern at all anymore. The fabric is a cotton/spandex twill. I made them a little bit looser than normal because the stretch is very slight. (I'm all about comfort, you know.) They have a side zipper. I like side zippers, not just because they're retro but also because they leave the front smooth. No funny looking ridges or lumps under your t-shirts.

I already had two pairs of purple slacks but I had issues with both of them. One was made of a "stretch" twill that had so little stretch it was practically imaginary and they were not comfortable. Also, the specific color of purple was not quite right to match any tops that I have. The other pair was a baggy, pull on style that I didn't really like except for the color, a kind of subdued or "faded" purple that went with a lot of different tops. Aside from that, the pockets were too shallow for my Galaxy S5. This is of utmost importance. So, one pair to replace two pairs. That's a win. And the color, which you can't really see well in this picture, will go with several of my tops.

Friday, March 27, 2015

Fondling the Stash

Hey, everyone! Long time no blog. Well, you know how it goes. I do have something ready to show off but I have a lot that I want to say about it (and hope I remember to say) and not a lot of time this afternoon.

So here are a few candidates for my next project. (Next brand new from scratch project, that is. I'm actually thinking of doing some re-fashioning of older, seldom worn garments before I start something new. Maybe.) I'm really wanting to get in on the Spring For Cotton Challenge. These are all quilting cottons so one of them will likely be my challenge project.

And here's one more that I remembered I wanted to include after I had taken the above pic and was putting away the fabrics.

Thursday, March 19, 2015

Soviet Fabrics

Even their fabrics were full of propaganda. I hadn't thought about it before but a lot of Soviet art is rather interesting and sometimes even appealing and fabric is art. Also, I guess it shouldn't be surprising that propaganda, whatever its purpose, would be visually attractive. That's the whole idea: to attract and appeal to people.

Anyway, the fabrics... I wouldn't exactly say that I'm lusting after any of them but, yeah, a few of them are kind of nice. I guess, really, I like them because they're different.

Tuesday, March 10, 2015

Rescue Work

I said in my last post that I need to sacrifice a few things from my closet but I am not willing to sacrifice these buttons.

I love them! They were on a blouse that hasn't fit me in more than 10 years. I can still get into it and button all the buttons so I had been using that as an excuse to keep it but, honestly, it doesn't fit. So I replaced these lovelies with plain buttons. I have one more set of pretty buttons to rescue from a never worn garment before the big sacrifice to Goodwill.

Just a Gray Bag

This is what has been keeping me from sewing.

My husband asked for a new bag. I had been putting off making it and feeling guilty about putting it off so I finally decided that I must do this "next" but still kept putting it off. I used the Green Pepper cargo bag pattern which is really a very simple pattern and I simplified it even more by leaving off the end pocket and not making the flap over the zipper.

What made this a "Not Fun!" thing to make was the fabric. I'm not even sure what it is exactly but it's very stiff and hard to work with. Some kind of synthetic, probably nylon, with a rubber-like coating on the back. I found it at Walmart. It was obviously not intended for the home sewing industry. No disrespect for Walmart, please. Their little fabric department does have some cheap crap and an annoying lack of notions but they also have awesome stuff like this. Yes, awesome. Even though it was difficult to sew it makes excellent, sturdy bags. This is the third one I've made. I used my treadle machine. I have serious doubts that a non-commercial electric machine could handle this fabric.

So, what next? I finished this bag last Thursday and I still have not started anything else. I'm in that between seasons mode. If I make something that is appropriate for the weather we're having now I might only get to wear it once or twice before the weather warms up but if I make something for warmer weather I might not get to wear it for several weeks so it's hard to get motivated for something like that. Also, my undersized closet is seriously overstuffed and I need to sacrifice a few things before I add any more to it. I do have something in mind though, that I will try to at least cut out today.

Thursday, March 5, 2015

Seeing Blue... and Yellow and a Lot of other Colors

I posted this on my other blog then thought, even though it's not directly about sewing, it is related. Every time we choose fabric we are thinking about color.

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Researchers believe that we were not able to see the color blue before we had a word for it. This seems totally bizarre to me and I think, "That can't possibly be true," but there is some fairly convincing evidence. On the other hand, if we couldn't see blue before we had a word for it why did we ever need to invent a word for it? But if it is true, it makes one wonder what we are not seeing now because we don't have a word for it. It also brings up a number of other intriguing questions. Do people who have some kind of language difficulty also have difficulty seeing colors? And what do toddlers see before they learn the names of colors? Does having different names for similar colors - azure, turquoise, sapphire, cobalt - help us to see those colors?

Here's something else color related: a a test to determine if you are a tetrachromat. I guess you could say my result was "inconclusive"? The first time I looked at the multi-color bar I saw 33 colors. I immediately tried again to check myself and saw only 31. That was a couple of days ago. I did it again a few minutes ago and saw 34 colors. Seeing more than 32 colors in the test makes you a tetrachromat.

Interestingly, the article says that tetrachromats are irritated by yellow. I love yellow - either bright yellow or a soft, buttery yellow; I'm not terribly fond of the more greeny yellows. So maybe I'm really not seeing that many colors? Or maybe I'm just different? Or maybe the article is wrong. I am strongly opposed to the notion that people who are physically the same in some way necessarily have the same likes and dislikes.

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So, what about you? Are there any tetrachromats out there? What are your favorite colors? What colors do you hate? (whether you're a tetrachomat, trichromat, or dichromat)

Monday, March 2, 2015

Is The Top of "The Hill" Closer Than You Think?

Where would we all be without strangers on the Internet to tell us how to dress? Here is yet another list of Things Women Should Stop Wearing After Age 30. What's really funny about this list is that on a good many of the items the author says that no one of any age should wear them, and I have to agree with some of these but this list was supposed to be specific to women over 30.

From my perspective (way over 30) 30 seems like a strangely young cut-off age for most of the items in the list. Graphic tees? Really? She lost me right there. I sew most of my clothes of course but graphic tees are the one kind of RTW item that I wear often. And "bedazzled anything"? I don't wear a lot of rhinestones and sequins and glitter myself but it seems crazy weird to suggest that a woman should suddenly give up sparkle the day she turns 30. And the weirdest of all? American Eagle jeans. Really? Why? Someone explain this to me please. I could understand if it was low-riders but the ones in the picture are not.

I believe in freedom of choice and everyone minding their own business so I would like to say that age doesn't matter and we can all wear anything we like at any age but, realistically, I'm not sure I could stand by that absolutely. What we wear is a personal choice and what looks good varies from person to person, based not only on age and body type but also things like grace and dignity and other intangibles. It's too complex a matter for simple lists. But please keep making lists. They're so much fun to ridicule.