In Process: CWS Sans Frill

Well, here's the first muslin (in muslin) of BWOF 08-2007-126. I intentionally left off the bit of frill on the button placket and cuff as I wanted a straight-forward look to this shirt and I think the longer cuffs & pintucks at the waist add enough visual interest. Overall, I think the fit is at least as good as ready to wear ("RTW") usually is for me. In the interest of full disclosure, I tried this BWOF straight as drafted based on my full bust measurement to see if I could get away without a full bust adjustment ("FBA"). I think it worked if I just wanted to achieve "as good as RTW" fit, but that's not why I sew. Anyway, since BWOF is drafted for a C cup, I believe, and I haven't been a C cup for a while now, I'll have to do a few things on the next muslin:

• scoop a bit out of the lower back seam. I've never really sat down and analyzed whether that extra fabric clingyness is due to a posture, sway back, or tilted waist issue, or combination of some sort.
• work on that poufy sleeve cap. I don't think its a redraft issue, just more attentive sewing.
• redraft the collar a bit. The band stands a little too tall for my neck & I think the center front should be a gentle curve -- not squared off as called for in the pattern draft. That's just my personal pref.
• since the neck and shoulders are too big, I'll trace a smaller smaller size based on my high bust, then do my FBA to add the extra in the dart, move the bust point down, & add needed length.
• finally, the FBA may fix that pouch of fabric in the front, but if not, I'll fiddle with the waist shaping a bit.

Well that's all for now. Off to work on a skirt I traced off this weekend.

Look What the Easter Bunny Brought Me Today

I was out of town this weekend, so the Easter Bunny left me a note saying that I could wait for redelivery or call for pickup. Of course, I had to call and go pick it up on my lunch hour today!

First the story ….The summer after my freshman year in college, I worked as the Nature Instructor for a posh summer camp in the mountains of the Sierra National Park far, far away from all signs of civilization (okay, about 60 miles north of Fresno). The money was a pittance – we figured that we were making something like $0.60/hour – but I really liked working with the kids and camp staff, and being out in nature. Besides, how many students actually get a paying job (other than fast food or retail) after freshman year? Anyway, I really enjoyed meeting counselors and instructors from all over the world. Over the years a few of us have kept in touch from time to time and last year I got back in touch with a friend M in Japan via email. I probably randomly mentioned – as I am wont to do – that I wanted to learn Japanese pattern drafting technique at some point and that I was collecting all kinds of goodies in preparation. I used to have a Mrs. Stylebook subscription (you can get it at Sasuga Books), and I have some magazines and books that I found through various online sources (mostly eBay), but I’ve never tried my hand at drafting anything.

The Japanese technique really piques my interest because it seems similar to what tailors and seamstresses do back home in Nigeria. There you just go to the market and pick out a fabric. Gorgeous Swiss laces which are sold by the yard, batik- or tie-dyed cotton brocades sold whole to make a bubu, or in various matched sets of 3+3 yards for a top & bottom, or Dutch waxes and java prints with either traditional or modern motifs sold in 6 yard pieces. Then you take your fabric to the tailor (usually in the same market) and describe the type of garment you want, or pick a style from the ubiquitous picture books available in the tailor’s stall, or (best of all) rely on the tailor’s experience to design something suited to your figure, style, and the occasion. He will quickly take your measurements, and in a week’s time you’ll have an extremely well-fitted, sewn garment to take home with you!

This is what my Aunt’s tailor whipped up for me last year and I wasn’t even there!

He keeps my measurements on file and sews with 2 inch allowances in case I have to get it amended here in the U.S.

Okay, okay … so look what the Easter Bunny (a.k.a. M) sent me:


Wooo hooo! Pattern Magic vols. 1 & 2; Female, Winter 2008; and Female, Spring 2008! I'll post some pics from Female next time - I've already got a few marked in the Winter Collection.

For now -- Thanks M! And Happy Easter to the rest of you!

Hey La! Hey La! My Baaabbbbyyy's Back!!!!

There are other machines in my arsenal (beauties, all of them in their own way) and I'll post them from time to time as we go on, but my true baby, and the one for which I searched eBay, Craigslist, and various Yahoo!Groups for a good, solid year is my old Bernina 830 Record -- the last of Bernina's purely mechanical sewing machines produced in Switzerland. I paid $500 for her about 5 years ago, which is a little dear, but she's worth it! Besides, I have gotten other vintage machines at a steal, so I think equilibrium has been achieved in my collection.

Anyway, I had to send her out for her regular tune-up at the local "spa" . But she's back now, and raring to go! Sew on, SistahB!

DST = Daylight Sequins Time?

I recently went to a luncheon put on by a local chapter of my sorority to honor a few community leaders and award a scholarship to a local student who, despite family and economic challenges, still forges ahead with his/her education. The luncheon was held at the Adams Mark hotel in downtown Dallas. The program was great and the speaker, Julianne Malveaux, was fabulous! The luncheon is the EVENT OF THE YEAR for this chapter and the ladies all turn out in the best of their best Sunday best. Now my sorority is known to be a bit 'bougie, so gorgeous hats, heirloom pearls, and matching shoes & handbags usually abound at the event. But is it just me, or aren't sequins just not the "it" thing to do for daytime events? I LUV a little bit of shine and shimmer just as much as the next girl -- the surprise bling of the perfect bronze handbag, the shimmery hint of a silk cami under a staid business suit, or the sexy silver sandals that show off a perfect pedi -- but full on sequins from head-to-toe before 5 p.m.? I think not!

The New "Classic" Crisp White Shirt

As I mentioned before, my next project is a classic white shirt. I was going to do Sandra Betzina's Vogue 7903, but having read several reviews on PR, I decided it was a little to "blousey" for my purposes right now.
So I flipped through some of my BWOF mags and came up with this one:
I really like the classic collar & band, jazzed up with the longer cuffs. And I especially LUV the pintucks at the waistline! I've got it traced out and I'm going to do a full on muslin since I haven't worked with BWOF patterns in a while and I have all new measurements (thanks to DBF) to work with. Let the games begin!

Delayed Resolutions

I make New Years’ resolutions -- sometimes I write them down, but most of the time I don’t. I usually have forgotten all about my resolutions by Valentine's Day (its the heart-shaped chocolate that does in my "get fit this year" resolution every time!). So I decided against resolutions this year. I thought it would be uber-kewl to publicly proclaim to family, friends, & co-workers that I was resolutionless. But I think it’s in-born to make resolutions (or whatever "nom" you prefer) at the start of a new year...I think most of us optimistically look forward to that new beginning and opportunity to start afresh with a clean slate. I certainly ended up making quite a few "not-a-resolution" resolutions for Lent. I wasn’t going to give up anything, as would be the Lenten tradition -- you're supposed to give up stuff as part of a plan to make a permanent change in your life. Instead, I just decided to be good to myself by eating right, exercising more, saving money, & paying some attention to my lifelong passions - learning Igbo (I am Igbo, after all), traveling, & sewing.

So this weekend I (1) signed up for a bunch of classes (tennis, deep H2O aerobics, & belly dance) at the local rec center; (2) made some black bean soup; (3) rebalanced my 401k; (4) read the 3-month backlog of emails from my online Igbo class; (4) uploaded the pics from my last trip to Scotland & convinced myself I could actually swing the short vacay to France this Spring and my sorority's convention in DC (in direct opposition to the saving money not-a-resolution resolution); (5) signed up for a class at Make to get my sewing mojo back; and (6) got my surprisingly willing BF to help me take a new set of measurements – all 32 gazillion of them! I compared them to my last set of comprehensive measurements, from 2006, and at least I’m a consistent - tho' bigger - hourglass. At least being a tall (almost 5ft9in) hourglass makes style choices a bit easier.

Not-so-classic Crisp White Shirts

Okay, one of the paralegals I work with loves Oprah. Anything Oprah (or one of her endorsed guests) says goes. For instance, right now she's on a red wine kick because Dr. Oz — an Oprah endorsee — said red wine was good for your heart, and although red grape juice has similar benefits, it’s not as effective. To boot, alcohol has an instant, coma-like effect on said paralegal, so she doesn't really drink. Can you say "lightweight?" Most importantly, she HATES red wine! So now she's got her husband running around town looking for red wine varietals that she can "tolerate" enough to take her nightly 4 oz. dose of "medicine." Apparently, having to choke it down like those bad-college-shooters mixed out of scrounged up dorm liquor doesn’t seem to faze her. I, and everyone in the office, have given her permission to switch to the grape juice, but she won't budge.

Don't get me wrong, I like Oprah and I love how inspiring and introspective she can be. But I thought I was equally inspired and introspective in my own way, until I failed Oprah's "what's the single most important piece of clothing in a woman's wardrobe?" test.

It's the classic, crisp white button-down shirt — of course! The day after that show aired the ladies at work were talking about it over lunch. I hadn't seen the show (I'm a hard-core HGTV fan), but I did guess that the crisp white shirt was the most important piece in a wardrobe, followed by the classic trench. I swore up and down to the ladies at work that I had a whole closet full of them! See:

That conversation put a bug in my bugaloo, so this week I decided to rock my $9-Lord & Taylor-cranberry-red-cashmere-sweater with a crisp, white shirt. I failed to notice, however, that all of my white shirts have 3/4- or bracelet-length sleeves. Not a single full length sleeve to be found! I just knew I had at least one french-cuff shirt in there! NOT! Nothing worse than a 3/4-sleeve cuff "bump" to ruin the line of my cranberry cashmere ... not to worry, I rocked it anyhow!

All this to say ... my next project is to get off my process-paralyzed tush and get working on a button-down, crisp white shirt with fabulous cuffs!

It’s a Process, Dummy

I used to live in San Francisco. You know what that means … access to some of the finest fibers and fiber artists in the world! (Britex, I MISS you!) I was poor but partaking at that time. Any extra $$ after rent and car payments, I poured in to my City girl life, including sewing. My fab sewing instructor at the old Sewing Workshop told me and the rest of the small class of serious over-achievers-as we were sweating & swearing our way through learning single and double welt pockets—that the JOY of sewing was in the process. Eureka! Now, mind you, my formative years were in the 80s and that makes me the epitome of instant gratification, so this was a novel idea for me. But chewing on it later after successfully completing that double welt (I wonder where that sewing journal and sample are now???), I figured out she was right. I am SOOOO a “process” person … to the point of paralysis sometimes.