Male Eggplant Make Better Eats - A Pattern Review Weekend Recap

Pattern Review Weekend, 2013, in San Francisco has concluded.

This was my first PR weekend and, since the event traveled to me, I decided to attend. I was mostly looking forward to meeting folks I know through blogs and sewing forums, and to seeing folks I'd not seen in awhile. I was quite eager to meet Claudine, of Rolling in Cloth. I have been reading her blog since I started blogging, almost 4 years ago, and I really admire her creativity. She was flying in early-ish on Thursday, so we arranged to meet beforehand.

About 30 minutes before she landed, our gloomy, overcast day turned sunny, so we decided to take a quick visit up to Twin Peaks. (Where I took the windblown picture with my cell phone.) Though it was quite windy (or maybe because of the wind), the views were good and we could see both bridges, the capitol building, Alcatraz, and other downtown landmarks.

Claudine wanted to visit Dharma Trading in person, a business she has mail ordered from many times, so we crossed the Golden Gate bridge and braved commuter traffic deep into Marin. On returning to the city, we had a nice dinner, then drove to the hotel to register for the weekend. It was nice meeting other people at registration and I ended up hanging awhile to chat, before heading home to my own bed.

The main event of the weekend is held on Friday. Sandra Betzina spoke in the morning and afternoon, ending around 5pm. She is a delightful speaker - very amusing - and she covered a lot of ground. We re-convened an hour later for a group dinner. The day was so jam-packed with activities, that it was difficult to meet and talk with people.

Saturday (today) was a shopping day but I slept in and then sequestered myself in the sewing room. Jillian did such a nice writeup of the weekend, that I refer you there for a more detailed description of the event. (I am feeling a bit lazy!) She called me this morning from Stone Mountain & Daughter, one of my favorite fabric stores, and it sounded like many of the 85 attendees of PR weekend headed right over to scoop up fabric treasures and exercise their 20% PR weekend discount.

It was all over so quickly, but it was so nice to meet and talk with everyone! To the rest of you attendees, I hope your Saturday shopping was successful and, based on Facebook updates I've been seeing, I should say so. :)

P.S. One of the topics discussed at my table last night, is the fact that male eggplant is better tasting and less bitter than female eggplant. I refer you to this article for more information. And, yes, I do check the gender of my eggplants in the grocery store and buy only males. Though I buy eggplant so rarely that I usually have to look up the "belly button" code. :)

Sewing Workshop Opal Jacket

The Sewing Workshop released the Pearl and Opal jacket pattern just days before Puyallup last month. I really liked the look of both jackets. I decided to make the Opal first, largely because it has less fabric over the bust, so I knew it was a safe bet to be flattering for me.

This is actually a very quick sew, especially if you use a fabric like this viscose/wool boucle (also from Sewing Workshop), which doesn't require seam finishes or hemming. Sewing this fabric is similar to sewing a wool felt, but with texture. It is a very forgiving fabric and is easy to sew, or un-sew, if that should be required.

The design is basically a cardigan style, with cut-on sleeves. (The front sleeve is sewn on with a dropped seam, but it's a cut-on style. There is a center back and back should princess seam, as well. Lots of fitting opportunities.) This jacket is the perfect layer for our chilly, but not freezing, San Francisco weather. (It has been very sunny lately, and, in fact, the sun on the camera caused the glare in these pics, but it is not super warm.)

The interesting twist to the design is a downward angled dart, which starts towards the side seam, near the waist. It ends before it reaches the front edge, which results in a soft, ruffling effect. This jacket works well in a fabric with some drape to it, or the released tuck might stick out stiffly.

I cut out a medium, which is where my high bust measurement (37.5") landed on the measurement chart. I then added a 4" FBA, to match my full bust measurement of 42.5". The fit was spot on. So do not assume that you should ignore the measurement charts on this one, or that there is a lot of ease, or it might be too small for you.

I had the rough muslin mostly constructed before my talk at Cañada last week, so I took it along. During lunch, Ronda and her staff evaluated the fit for me. Ronda ended up pinning out a second small dart, parallel to the primary dart. With that one little tweak, the fit was excellent.

This jacket has no pockets, and I might add an inside pocket for tissues. Because I did not have to finish the raw edges, I cut off the 3/4" from all around the outside edges, except the sleeve hems. I cut off 2" from the sleeve hems, which is normal for my short arms.

I omitted the button closure, as I plan to wear it open. The only other thing I did differently was to top-stitch the seams.

I am very happy with the Opal. It is so quick to sew, has a very nice fit, and features boutique styling. I would also like to make the Pearl, and I was able to try on Ronda's, which is *very* nice. I am sorry I don't have any pictures of it.

Speaking at Cañada College and a Link Fest

This last Wednesday I was asked to speak to the Designer Detail's class at Cañada College's Fashion Department. (The link takes you to their blog, but they also have a very active Facebook page.)

I was slotted for 90 minutes for a show and tell of my garments and various techniques I've used.

What a lot of fun!

After the talk, several students came up and asked about some of the techniques and garments that I'd talked about. To make it easier for them to find the relevant posts, here are some linkies. (If I've missed any, leave a comment and I will add it.)

• Bias Fringe
• Lattice Smocking
• Curved Welt pocket (with a ribbing welt)
• FBAs in Knits, Advice for the Uber Busty
• Vertical Only FBA
• The Mammoth Dart
• Au Bonheur Coat with Needle Felted Circles
• Koos coat
• Au Bonheurs des Petites Mains gallery

Tonight, in fact, there is a millinery presentation at Cañada at 7pm, given by milliner Wayne Wichern. If you are local, you should check it out! It's free, though they ask that you RSVP as they are providing refreshments. Wayne makes beautiful hats!

Also, they have announced the speaker for this year's Artistry in Fashion, on Sept 28th, 2013. It will be Sandra Ericson, from the Center for Pattern Design. The spiral top I made recently is one of her patterns. It should be a fabulous show!

Finally, I am looking forward to some serious sewing this weekend! I managed to get a jacket muslined and took it to Cañada College on Wednesday. During lunch, I asked Ronda Chaney (head of the fashion department and teacher extraordinaire) to evaluate the fit. She made some tweaks and now I'm ready to get moving! If all goes well, I'd like to wear it to Pattern Review weekend at the end of the month.

Have a great weekend!

Top with Print Contrast Binding

Have you noticed this trend in Spring 2013 clothing? I am seeing it everywhere. Tops in solid fabrics (or in subtle stripes, plaids, etc) are sewn with contrast bindings/pipings/etc in print fabrics, usually florals. So I am jumping on that bandwagon.

Never let it be said that Shams doesn't pay attention to trends. (She may ignore them, but she is aware of them.)

I wanted an asymmetric neckline, similar to one I'd seen in RTW, so I started with the Renfrew top and sliced and diced the front - the back is quite plain, though the binding does wrap around the neckline.

The front after slicing and dicing. I added a 5/8" seam allowance to the bottom of the shoulder piece, shown on the left. The neckline bit was discarded. I also narrowed the shoulder, just slightly, at the back to correspond to the narrowed front shoulders.

To construct, I sewed the both shoulder seams, then applied the binding in one continuous piece all the way around the neckline. I then laid the bottom edge of the shoulder piece underneath the front by 5/8", and topstitched in place. I sewed the sleeves in flat, and then sewed up the side seams/sleeve seams. I hemmed the sleeves and bottom using Steam a Seam Lite 2 and topstitched on the sewing machine.

For the heathered "solid" fabric, I had more left over from my first Renfrew trial. For the contrast binding, I grabbed a print jersey from Fabrix and sliced off a 2" strip. I folded it in half and sewed it on with a 3/8" seam allowance.

Easy peasy.

I'm almost embarrassed to blog it. But not *that* embarrassed.

And, speaking of which, so many of my favorite bloggers are either retiring their blogs or going silent. I kind of get it, actually, since the longer one blogs, the harder it is to come up with interesting things to say or show. Life moves on, other things take precedence.

Hopefully, I haven't bored the bejeesus out of you yet.

DD1 was here last week for spring break. It was nice to see her. One afternoon, we both got haircuts. At different salons, but we met up afterwards. She went to the expensive salon (which did a beautiful job but it cost her beaucoup bucks) and I went to the beauty school, where my cut/color costs $18. I meet the nicest students who are about to graduate. It's a win win. Yeah, occasionally my bangs are crooked, but it's all survivable.

On Friday, I took both daughters to dinner. I was hoping we could grab some photos of all three of us, since I really don't have any. Alas, it was not to be.

Work has been intense lately. Most of the time, I work at home, on my sofa. Occasionally, I have a "helper". You can see how "helpful" he is.

The view from my laptop.

I have some sewing plans, but my weekends have been, and continue to be, pretty busy, so we'll see how much I accomplish. It would be nice to have a new garment or two for Pattern Review Weekend at the end of this month.

CB Spiral Top in Knit

No sooner did I finish my test of the CB Spiral Top when I knew I wanted to make it in a striped knit. This top is so easy to convert to a pullover top using a knit. Just leave off the front facing, which is cut on, and add a seam allowance.

Voilà!

The fabric is this great lightweight sweatshirting I purchased from Marcy quite a while back. An oatmeal and dark grey stripe, and there are flecks of black in the oatmeal stripes. For the neckline, I used a binding. The knit is a 2-way stretch, so I had to use the stripe in the long direction (I would have preferred the short direction, but it just wasn't stretchy enough). I cut the binding so as to favor a grey stripe at the neck.

And that's pretty much it! I just love this pattern and already have plans for another, though I'm not sure how soon I will sew that up.

If you're getting this close to check out the stripe matching, you just might get hurt!

I'm not sure that I will get much sewing done this weekend. I expect to see DD2 on Saturday. DD1 is flying in today from university on spring break and we are going to hang out on Sunday. She wants to go to the gym with me and then go shopping. I need to do some snoop shopping as I am thinking I might make a dress to wear to DD2's upcoming graduation and I don't know what suits me.

I hope you have a good weekend!

Jalie Yoga Pants - 3022

I need some new TNT pants that are more fitted, so I decided to try the new-ish Jalie Yoga pants pattern, 3022. This pattern calls for a 4-way stretch knit, but I didn't have a bottom weight 4-way stretch knit, so I used a 2-way stretch ponte.

I traced off a size S, based on my hip measurement. I made no other changes to the pattern. These fit great! I love the RTW look, fit, and styling of the Jalie patterns. The 2-way knit (instead of a 4-way) was no problem at all.

These pants were folded up in a suitcase for a few days, hence the wrinkles. I was too lazy to press them for the pics.

In the interest of full disclosure, I saved the following picture for last.

I have been feeling that many of my clothes are making me look a bit frumpy (having lost 22 lbs so far). I can take in some of my things (though not all), but I haven't yet started the altering process, which I really hate. This top, which I really like, is one I can't easily alter because of the cool pointed asymmetric pocket, which is sewn into the side seam.

So, for the photos, I used a technique used frequently in professional photo shoots. I used a hair clip to clip the back of the top to remove extra fullness. I even took a photo of the back so you can see my naughtiness. I wish it were only that easy to alter for real!

I really love these pants and need to make a few more pair!

A couple more things:

Vote for Rhonda!

Rhonda Buss, of Rhonda's Creative Life, attended Sew Expo in Puyallup as one of five semi-finalists to appear in a spot on the sewing television program, Sew It All. After that presentation, which you can view at the link below, she made it to the finals. It is now down to her and two other contestants who are competing as a sister-in-law team. I thought she had a great entry – you can see her video if you click the following image link.

Please vote!

Finally, I'm sure you have seen that the blogosphere is a-twitter with the news that Google Reader is going away on July 1st. I guess Google just isn't interested in being in the biz anymore. But all is not lost - there are other alternative readers out there. In fact, Mary, of Mary Sews, has written a nice post on replacements for Google Reader. Personally, I don't use Google Reader, I use Blogger Dashboard, but you don't have that unless you have your own blog on blogspot.

I decided to add a widget to my blog to make it easier to follow using Bloglovin. (You can see it in the upper left corner of my blog.) I experimented with Bloglovin' and it's great. It's easy to set up, easy to use, and you can choose to have your favorite blogs sent as an email if you prefer. In fact, Jillian wrote a nice post on how to set up a bloglovin' account. And it's free!

Thanks, ladies, for all of the useful info that you share!!! The internet/blog sewing community is fabulous!

Renfrew Take 2 - with Zipper

You may recall that I tested the Renfrew top in a size 12 recently - it has a very nice cowl neck. I wanted to make another in a larger size and I wanted to include a zipper at CF. (An idea I saw in RTW.) The zipper ends at the cowl, so it is functional, but not particularly useful.

The fabric is a novelty knit from Fabric Mart about a year ago. It has a black underlayer and a mottled grey-ish knit overlayer. There are circles cut out of the over layer, exposing the black under layer.

Once again, I did the Vertical Only FBA. On this version, I had to narrow the shoulders by about 5/8". Once again, I left off the bands and the hem and wrists. I otherwise made no changes.

I like this top! It is very easy to wear and the collar lays nicely. This pattern line is designed for pear shaped women. I am not pear shaped, but this top seems to work on most all body types.