New York and the Rapturous Sewing Guild Trip

A busload of sewing guild girlfriends,  an afternoon matinee, fabric shopping, eating drinking and merriment...now that's the rapture I have planned for tomorrow.  Yes, I'm eagerly anticipating a terrific visit with my northern creative friends.  But I'm going to seriously restrict my purchases and stay on my current fabric diet.  Besides, I grew up outside on NYC and there's nothing prettier than a spring or early summer day in NYC.  I worked two summers,  1970 and 1971, as a tour guide at the World Trade Center construction site.  "Building Stewardesses" Sonic Memorial link   (See if you can pick me out in the picture.)  The New York economy was awful during the '70s but I was young, optimistic and thrilled to have this fantastic job.  On my off hours of I spent time exploring Manhattan and all the free, fun things to do.   I still love it the same way today.  People watching, a wonderful Broadway show, great ethnic food and the buzz of a metropolis.  Yup, I'm definitely a suburban girl and love these city trips.  So I may not come home on Saturday night with bags or boxes of fabric, but I'll still be walking on air....and walking on tired feet.

Daily deluges and thunderstorms have kept me indoors most of this week.   I've sewn up three Simplicity 2364 tops while trying to decide what to make for my next two jacket projects.  That means I've been looking closely at my humongous northern fabric collection and while I can find plenty of fabric in NYC that I WANT I certainly won't find any that I NEED.  The only "need" I have was just fulfilled with a Fabric Mart email this morning.   Now that I have a summer sheath dress pattern pretty well tweaked, I would like some more stretch linings and what do you know, Fabric Mart has a collection of stretch poly charmeuses for $1.99 a yard.  I normally would never use poly for a lining since I hate the heat and "sweatiness" of it.  But I think for a sleeveless sheath it will be just fine.  And I love how a lined sheath feels.  Of course, I might break my fabric diet when I see some of the knits at Metro.  Kashi always gets me with those.  And in the interest of supporting the economy and small business.....oh, you know the rest of that story.

Simplicity 2364 in rayon silk knit

In Vera Lang brown knit from Fabric Mart

The rainy days have come with frequent night and daytime thunder and lightening storms.  Personally, I love being inside on a rainy day.  Makes me appreciate my home, shelter and the eventual sunshine.  Sam the basenji has never been bothered by storms or fireworks, always a very stoic dog.  Lucky the rescue dog is definitely different.  He's huddled next to me or under furniture each  time the storms started, not really trembling but not happy about the conditions.   Guess we're fortunate that he's not like some dogs who truly go beserk with those weather patterns.

Happy weekend, everyone!

How Sam repsonds to thunderstorms

How Lucky responds to thunderstorms

Sewing Weather Arrives and Brings Simplicity 2364

Simplicity 2364

Hooray for rain today in Maryland.  I speak as a gardener and as someone eager to have an excuse to be sewing.  I got back from my wonderful Texas whirlwind visit on Sunday evening.  No fabric shopping (I left that to the wonderful Chicago PR weekend participants) but lots of great sights, lovely people and delicious food.   And, yes, Audrey, I too have been upgraded on flights just because I was polite and nicely dressed....but not this hectic flying weekend!  Packed planes, long lines....what were they giving away at airports this weekend?

The Oasis overlooking Lake Traverse

My brother and I saw the sights of Austin over a two day visit.  Spectacular views from Mount Bonnell and The Oasis, a riot of fun on 6th Street at Esther's Follies and great canoing weather at Zilker Park and Gardens.  Couldn't ask for a better time.

Zilker Gardens

Great food and history...where Janis Joplin debuted

Now that I'm home,  Mr. Lucky has left on his golf excursion to South Carolina with a bunch of fellow fire dept. retirees and I'm holding down the fort with the two dogs.  I should be weeding and planting but the nice rainy weather means that I get to do some sewing instead.  Yesterday  I did a muslin of Simplicity #2365 and today just sewed up the "real" one and have another on the cutting table.  I tried a similar Sandra Betzina Vogue version a few years ago but never  was happy with the result, way too big in the shoulders and chest area.  This one I really like.

Sorry for the hanger pic.  I have yet to find a place to take timer pics of myself so this will have to do until Mr. Lucky returns.   Everyone wil be happy to see him back here since one of the dogs must have eaten someone else's food while at the kennel.  Yup, upset tummy and a two time workout for the terrific Royal carpet cleaner that we bought years ago, thanks to a PR recommendation.   So I have a few more interruptions each day and evening just making sure that we all get outside before any more inside accidents.  Later this week, the garden.  Until then, another top!

Simplicity 3678, Great Comfortable Knit Dress

I have not been a dress person for a few decades but watching terrific sewists around the globe sew up wonderfully flattering dresses is convincing me to reconsider my fashion plan.   This one was easy to sew and I'm pleased with the result.  
Simplicity 3678 has several neckline variations and I liked the crossover View B the most.  I'm not a fan of jumpers since I try to avoid another layer on my body if at all possible.  When I first purchased the pattern I made it up as a knit top and decided then to remove the gathers from the back lower section.  I got several compliments when wearing it but hadn't taken the time to try the dress version.  I sewed a size 14 through the neck and bodice area, with a FBA...mildly tedious to do on those three pleats.  After the bodice area I tapered out to a 16 for the bottom skirt.

I used lightweight knit interfacing on the bodice band since it seemed too flimsy on my short top.  I folded out the gathered section on the bottom back.  I do need extra high hip space but the gathers front and back were too round.  This dress is from a nice medium weight poly rayon lycra from Fabric Mart.  It's super comfy although there is some clingy to my body fluff in the back.  The short top version doesn't do this since it's a nice heavyweight slinky knit.

Speaking of slinky knit, this would be a wonderful slinky knit travel dress that is casual yet can be accessorized.   I've seen versions of this dress in those Travelsmith and other travel clothing catalogs.  I did not do the sleeve gathering in the upper arm area on this version but will definitely add that detail with another one.  Ok, off to catch my flight.  Hope you all have a wonderful weekend wherever you are in the world.

Last Minute Travel Sewing

Guess where I'm going tomorrow?  Yes, I'm flying to Houston to visit my brother and sister-in-law in Texas.   Haven't been there in forever although Houston, Dallas-Ft. Worth and San Antonio were a big part of my traveling career days.  It's a quick four day visit so most likely no fabric shopping....which is fine with Mr. Lucky and my storage space.   I decided to make myself extra nuts and try to sew a new dress to wear for traveling.   I'm the generation that still remembers when taking a plane flight meant you dressed up in your Sunday best....now it looks like late Sunday morning PJs is the attire du jour.   It's Simplicity 3678 and I'm really liking the look and feel of this one.

I have plenty of other things on the agenda that must get done today (pack, dig and bring plants for neighborhood plant sale, attend theater performance tonight)  but I would love to squeeze in finishing this dress.  Maybe you'll see a finished picture soon!

Jacket #4, JAM and M&S Schmalberg Flowers

Happy Mother's Day!  It's a gorgeous spring day in Maryland, perfect for wearing my new jacket and bringing flowers from the yard to our Flower Communion service at my Unitarian Universalist church this morning.   The stitch and flip jacket technique that I used on this jacket worked out quite nicely.  It's fully lined but since the lining is treated almost like an underlining, it makes for a comfortable, almost sweater-like jacket.  I've used this technique on other jackets in recent years and can't rave enough about how well it works.  There are some limitations but overall it's the best way for me to wear a lined jacket but live in a warm climate almost year round.  Yes, it's a repeat pattern, Simplicity 3884, now officially a TNT pattern since this is my second version.

As for the flower pin I'm wearing, that came from a fun NYC garment district visit to M&S Schmalberg who use old wooden "stencil" molds to create custom flowers for designers and individuals.   WSJ article on M&S Schmalberg  It's actually a rather reasonable expense to have them custom make flowers from your own fabric.  If I were planing a wedding or special anniversary outfit, I would definitely look into having them create custom coordinated flowers....imagine a small corsage of bridal lace as a sentimental way to keep your wedding dress lace as an everyday accessory.

For those of you super curious, here's the inside of the stitch and flip jacket...after a full day's wearing.  A little wrinkled but uber comfy:

Hope it's been a good day for you, wherever you live.