Sewing Wardrobe Staples

This is a first for me.

I made four garments in one day.

Really really simple garments, but still.

Using a striped, tribal printed knit, I made a pair of Style Arc Laura leggings. (I love that pattern, which has no side seams, making it much easier to match stripes.)

I also made a simple tube skirt from the same fabric. I do like wearing short skirts over tights or leggings. (I didn't use a pattern for this - it's just a rectangle with an elastic waist.)

For two months now I've wanted to make myself a short black sheath dress with 3/4 length sleeves - sort of like a long t-shirt. I had a nice black wool ponte that I wanted to use. But this sort of sewing is so.boring. that I kept procrastinating.

I had to force myself to get it done. While I was at it, I cut out another simple tube skirt from the black ponte.

For the dress, I traced the upper body (neckline and armscye) from the Style Arc Adele top. I removed the a-line shaping and lengthened it to a short dress length.

Easy peasy.

As boring as this sort of sewing is, I will get lots of wear out of these garments.

Jillian came to visit me at work last week. She was my first Google guest! Thanks for a fun lunch, JillyBe, and for the pics!

A Conference Bike. (It's hard to see, but I'm wearing my new plaid wrap skirt.)
Heading back to my office

I am also linking up with Patti's Visible Monday!

DKNY Inspired Plaid Wrap Skirt

I was gifted this fabric more than a year ago. I was attending a local sewing group gathering and we were swapping fabrics - a very boisterous activity. I was hanging back (I have so much fabric already!) when Georgene very sweetly tossed a piece of fabric my way.

It was a piece of red plaid and I loved it. I'm not sure what the fiber is, and I haven't burned it, but it feels like part rayon, part poly, and maybe some lightweight wool. It washes beautifully and has a lovely drape.

I saw it as a skirt, but I wanted to find just the right pattern. I spent a lot of time looking at patterns, current and out of print, but I couldn't find exactly what I wanted. I wanted a narrow, short skirt with a front drape. There are many patterns like this, especially from the 80s but, in the end, I did my own thing.

This skirt is very simple, which is why I have a post so quickly after my last post. :)

It is basically a rectangle, fringed on two ends, with a partially elasticized waist - I used 1-1/2" wide elastic, and it closes with a hook and eye.

Very simple.

I'll be wearing this over tights and leggings, so I'm not concerned about "over exposure", and I don't think that is likely to be a problem anyway, as the overlap of the wrap is quite generous.

I love wearing short skirts to work, so I will be whipping up a few more of them, in solids and prints, and in a variety of styles.

I am wearing this with a jacket, McCalls 6294, that I made a couple years ago and a hand dyed silk scarf that was my only purchase last August at the ACC Craft Fair.

Have a great week!

Asymmetric Sweater in Blue

Happy President's Day (and hopefully a long weekend), for those of you in the U.S.!
Happy weekend to everyone else. :)

First, I want to thank Carolyn of Diary of a Sewing Fanatic. On Friday, she listed her top 10 sewing blogs. She included a second list of her favorite "Art to Wear Stitchers" and I was included in that list.

Welcome to the new followers I have, as a result!

The funny thing is, I don't really think of myself as an "art to wear" sewist, but I know what she means. There are so many of us who like our clothing a bit "off the beam", whether it's Lagenlook, steampunk, retro, or vintage, that it doesn't feel so unusual to me.

And I am happy to report I have some sewing to show you. Since I have so little time to sew these days, I haven't been able to attempt big projects and, when I do have some time and energy, I work on appeals to me in that moment.

Recently Gayle, a creative force herself, gifted me with a pattern that she had traced off from RTW. I decided to test the pattern using an inexpensive sweater knit, so I used the blue knit leftover from a cocoon sweater I had made.

This was a very quick sew!

For the drawstring, I used a strip of the selvedge from the knit.

Twirling
Closeup of the sweater knit, though this phone pic looks a bit washed out - the other pics are taken with my Canon. (By the way, I sewed the hems and the drawstring channels by hand.)
I love this bracelet made of old rubber tires and bike parts, but I quickly realized that it doesn't really work with a sweater knit.

I definitely like this top well enough to make it again! I do plan to wear this to work, so that makes it career-wear, right? Carolyn? :)

Oh, and you should check out Gayle's striped version that she made last November. Thanks again, Gayle!

(And this post just goes to show what an amazing community we have of online sewists. I am grateful to each of you!)

Status Report & News

One beaudacious babe hanging out at the Grand Wailea Resort in Maui
(I told her to give me a call if she needs an FBA.)
Sunset on Maui after a rainstorm

Shams, skip the gab and get to the gossip!

Aloha!

I miss you guys!

I hope to have some sewing to show soon. Nothing as awe inspiring and dramatic as Margy's studded jacket, of course. But something.

(By the way, Margy used the same fabric that I used for my vintage dress and Jillian used for her Balenciaga Bolero jacket. Also, when Sandra Betzina wandered into the fabric store one day while I was shopping, I pointed the same fabric out to her and she bought some for pants she was making up for an upcoming Vogue pattern. And, no, this fabric is no longer available.)

I did go on a quick team building trip to Maui a week ago. It was a great trip. My (mostly) self made clothing worked out well, given that I had to cobble a wardrobe together in short order, and that I own very little in the way of warm weather clothing.

I particularly enjoyed my Style Arc Alexi (harem) pants. (Selfie taken in the shiny elevator door near my room.)
Hibiscus henna tattoo against the Alexi pants
A colleague caught us taking selfies on the snorkeling cruise - we are on a 54-foot catamaran headed to Molokini. (The swimsuit and goggles worked out well.)
Resulting selfie
I also used my poly chiffon Burda top as a coverup
LOLOL.
Do you need any more proof of my uber-bustiness?
Hawaiian Islands, indeed. Aprés Snorkel
We lost count of the many humpback whales we saw, but it was many.
Friends and colleagues, Kathy and Mary, and both superb tech writers

At the top of Haleakela
Not much to see but fog...
We also rode bikes down Haleakela. I highly recommend riding a bike down Haleakela. It is quite chilly at the top of Haleakela. And foggy. It was about 30ºF. For that we dressed in layers.

On the way up Haleakela and snuggly warm in my Sewing Workshop Cowl Sweatshirt and Flannel Lined Style Arc Cassie pants (One of my favorite pair of pants and definitely one of my favorite pants patterns!)
At rides end

I wore the maxi dress that I made, along with the tie top, to dinner and it worked out well.

News

A couple things I wanted to mention:

First, if you follow the comments on my Open Letter to Vogue blog post you have seen that Vogue reached out to me last week regarding my post. I was very impressed and will have something exciting to report in the near future. Stay tuned!

Also, I have heard some worrying news about a great fabric resource, Thai Silks in Los Altos. (Their retail business is Thai Silks and their wholesale business is Exotic Silks.) They recently laid off some long time employees and many are worried that they may close their doors. If you need any wonderful silk fabrics, please consider sending some business their way.

A few more Hawaii pics:

Le Fin(s)

Ready, Set, Snorkel!

Wow, was this a quick sew!

I needed something I could wear swimming and snorkeling and I had very little time to get it together.

I purchased a swim tee from Lands End, in navy with white polka dots. (I really liked the blue tie dye swim tee, but it was not yet in stock.)

Yes, I could sew this, but I was in a rush.

To go with the swim tee, I sewed up a pair of swim shorts. I just happened to buy several coordinating nylon lycra swim fabrics more than a year ago from The Fabric Fairy, so I used the navy-and-white diagonal stripe.

I used the Style Arc Laura Legging pattern, which I have used before. It's a great pattern - it has just one pattern piece - there is no side seam or separate waistband. I chopped it off a bit above the knee, cut it out, and sewed up the three seams, lickety split.

I had plan to complete the shorts using gripper elastic but my order of gripper elastic didn't arrive in time, so I used regular elastic.

I also sewed two short lengths of elastic into the top, one at each side seam, several inches above the hem. This elastic will be attached to the top of the swim shorts, once I have them on. This will prevent the swim tee from flying up in the water and exposing the goods, but there is some play so it can move a bit.

Besides protecting me from sunburn, this swim top lets me wear an actual bra - I will have much better support than if I wore a bathing suit with built-in cups. (Those are not nearly supportive enough for me.)

As you can see, I also ordered a custom snorkel mask from Snorkel Mart.

The process was quite easy - I entered the corrective value separately for each eye - you don't actually need a prescription - it's sort of like buying reading glasses in that regard. (My eyes are -3.75 and -3.5, and the options don't include quarter fractions, so I rounded down and ordered -3.5 for each eye). I haven't worn the mask underwater yet, but I can *really* see with it on dry land. The mask feels very airtight, so I am hopeful that it won't leak.

It will be so nice to *see* the Hawaiian fishies, rather than a big blur, and the mask cost only $55, which seemed pretty reasonable.

And, yes, I have shaved my legs.

To my colleagues and the denizens of Maui: you're welcome.

By the way, the corrective snorkel mask can be used in the shower, too, for useful activities like leg shaving.

If you haven't yet seen the gorgeous jacket that Margy made for the workshop I led, check out Margy's elegant jacket! Also, Gayle has made a beautiful jacket using a pocket pattern that I provided at the workshop. Check out Gayle's beautiful and wearable jacket!

WTH, Shams? A Floral Maxi Dress

Why the heck am I wearing a floral maxi dress?

Good question!

Yes, it's true that our weather has been in the 70s.

This is just not right for January.

We've had almost no rainfall this winter so, unless things change soon, we are facing a real drought this year.

But that's not why I've made a floral maxi.

On my first day of work I learned that there was going to be a team building event in Maui.

I had almost no time to prepare for it (no time to shop for fabric or patterns) and I own almost no warm weather clothes. You don't really need them in my corner of San Francisco, where summer almost never visits.

This piece of rayon lycra knit came in a free bundle from FabricMart many months ago. I immediately earmarked it for donation, as I really don't wear prints like this in my everyday life. When I learned I was going to Maui, I dug it out. It's pretty perfect for Hawaii, I think.

The pattern is Annie's Cami, a woven tank top pattern from Style Arc. (I would never call this style of top a "cami" since, to my mind, a cami has spaghetti straps.) I already had this pattern in my stash.

I omitted the bust pocket, the center back seam (which is shaped - a nice detail but I didn't need another seam in this flimsy knit), and lengthened it by 25". I made the hem about 60" wide, thanks to a friend (Lynn C!) who measured my stride with a tape measure. I just barely had enough fabric to cut it out and I wish I'd made the dress another inch longer.

After sewing it up, I removed fullness from the side seams - about 5/8" from each side seam (2.5" total) from the bust and about 2.5" (10" total) from the waist, tapered to nothing at the hip. (This pattern is designed for a woven, not a knit, so it has more ease than I needed, plus it's a size 18 which is not my current size.) I eased the dart (which I had lowered) at the side seam.

You can hardly ask for a simpler sew. I love the fit. I am even happy with the neckline, which I often raise, but I didn't this time.

I plan to wear this with the black voile Butterick tie top that I made in July.

Twirling...

This is a quick team-building work trip, so I don't need a lot of clothes (thank goodness), but I have decided (largely because of the print of this dress) that the primary colors of my travel wardrobe will be black, white, and orange. Yes, ORANGE. I have some new orange shoes from Lit Foot, and plenty of orange jewelry (that I already owned, plus my daughter gave me a beautiful bracelet with orange in it for Christmas).

I also have a great collapsible orange straw hat that I bought second hand some time ago and packs flat. I love red, but orange is fun, too. :)

This hat collapses so that it's completely flat.

My swim "suit" will be in blues. It's not really a swim suit, but I'll post more after I have something to show.

I also can't resist sharing my favorite new sleep shirt.

At work, employees are called "Googlers". There are various riffs to this theme. When you are a new employee, you are a Noogler. In my first week of work, I joined a group called the Greyglers. Yes, these are folks who self identify as older and who might discuss issues relevant to older employees. They also have a workout group which I have not yet checked out.

I was thrilled to buy the Greygler tee-shirt from the Google store. In fact, I went back and bought two more of them so I'll have spares. You can buy one, too.

In the Google store, they call this shirt the "Wise Android Shirt". I don't work on an Android project, and I don't have an Android phone (at least not yet), but I love the little robot mascot, which is why I bought the giant stuffed Android for my daughter (also available in the online store). And I really do plan to give it to her.

Maybe. :)

Clothes for the Hip Dude

Several weeks ago a colleague was visiting my (shared) office. He was standing so that his side was to me as he was speaking to another colleague. Imagine my surprise when I spied an octopus print peeking out of his side pocket.

And my delight.

I could see that the double welt pocket on the back of the pants also had the print peeking out and I gently moved his shirt a couple inches so that I could see better.

Then I thought better of this and I knocked it off. (Though not until after I'd noticed that the same print lined the front fly.)

Those of you who love clothes as much as I, will understand.

I asked and learned that he has lots of these pants. He bought many pairs from a local company called Betabrand.

So I looked them up that evening.

This company, located in San Francisco, has really cool clothes for the hip young set. He favors the pants called "cordarounds". I assume that they are so-called because the wale of the corduroy goes horizontally *around* the body, rather than in the conventional vertical direction.

I now enjoy catching a glimpse of his fun contrasting pockets, but you don't have to resort to any untoward behavior to see for yourself. Here are a few pics from their website, which is a lot of fun. They have women's clothes as well, but I will save that online investigation for a bus ride.

(While I wouldn't wear most of their clothes at my age, I get a lot of inspiration from creative clothing like this. And if I had a son to shop for, I would totally buy these for him!)

UnGreen Cordarounds with Octopus Contrast Khaki Cordarounds with Geisha Contrast Chestnut Cordarounds with Bunny Contrast Graphite Cordarounds with El Diablito Contrast