Blogger Meetup at Cañada College

Cañada College, nestled in the hills off Hwy 280

It's almost here! Another opportunity for local bloggers to gather, network and gab! Not to mention the eating and the sharing.

If you are a blogger who will be in the vicinity of Cañada College in Redwood City on Monday, August 13th, from 7pm-9pm (building 3, room 255), please come!

I know that JillyBe will be there, as will Amy and Beth. Others have mentioned it to me but not posted it publicly, so I am not going to call them out.

Please RSVP to Ronda Chaney, head of the fashion department at Canada. I hope to see you there!

Teagarden Twist - Striped Tube Scarf

One of the bloggers I follow is Jane, of Lucky Sew and Sew. Last month, Jane made a top with a twist, a "tube scarf". (Click either picture to see her blog post.)

I loved it!

I decided to try my own version, using the Teagarden T. Mine is fun, but Jane's is more versatile. I may have to try this technique again. :)

Zipper Talk - Part 2

Let's talk about zippers for a minute.

I love zippers, but am bored by functional, utilitarian zippers that lack design interest. I've been ordering zippers for awhile now from ZipperStop in the garment district, which sells YKK zippers. It can be overwhelming to face the choices they offer and, still, most of their zippers are fairly vanilla. They are wonderful quality, yes, but the zipper tape, the zipper pull... it doesn't inspire excitement.

I needed a lightweight separating zipper for a current project and decided to order from ZipperStop. If you look at their offerings, they have a page of zipper pulls. It was not clear to me how this works. How does one swap out a zipper pull? I decided to give them a call.

I spoke to a woman, Barbara, at ZipperStop who really knows her stuff. She explained to me that I could change the zipper pull myself or they would do it for me.

Hot dog!

They charge $1 to customize a zipper, which includes shortening it, but they will also swap the pull for the same $1. So, if you want a 14-3/4" zipper with a ring pull, they will charge you $1 total to modify it, on top of the price for the zipper and the pull. However, you might want to phone in such an order. If you do use the website, select "shorten for $1" and then explain what you want done, even if it's just to swap out the pull. (But don't forget to also order the pull.)

I ordered the YKK color card. I've been meaning to forever, but had been holding off because, at $35, it's not cheap, but I am so glad I bought it. It has over 400 snippets of different colors of zipper tape. I will be able to use this with any vendor that sells YKK zippers.

I ordered a few sample zippers to try out the zipper pulls. I really wanted a lightweight (#3) zipper for this project, but they do not offer fancy pulls for #3 zippers. Most of their pulls are for the medium weight (#5) zipper. So I ordered a selection of 18" and 20" separating zippers, both brass and aluminum teeth, with three different pulls: foxtail, ring, and donut. I also ordered the lightweight zippers in 18" and 20".

Top to bottom:

1. #3 (light weight) molded plastic separating zipper, 18" ($2)
   
2. #3 (light weight) molded separating zipper, 20" ($2.10)
   
3. #5 (medium weight) aluminum separating zipper, 18" w/ ring slider ($5.10 total)
   
4. #5 (medium weight) brass separating zipper, 18" w/ foxtail slider ($5.25 total)
   
5. #5 (medium weight) brass separating zipper, 20" w/ donut pull slider ($5.30 total)
   

The prices for these zippers are quite reasonable!

I phoned my order in on Thursday morning. Barbara was incredibly helpful - fabulous customer service and they really know their zippers. The package arrived on Saturday by priority mail. I like my new zippers though, unfortunately, the medium weight is really too heavy for my project, so I will be using the lightweight zipper, sans interesting pull. I will just have to console myself with a superior zipper at a reasonable price. ;)

At the same time, I also ordered some zippers from a couple different sources, so there will be more zipper talk!

• Zipper Talk

Fallout from New Bras and ACC Craft Show

I took the day off work yesterday to attend the ACC Craft Show in Fort Mason. I've been wanting to attend this show for years, but more on that in a bit.

Of course, I wore one of my new bras. Now, let me preface this by saying that I thought my old bras were working pretty well. Oh dear, was I wrong.

• I decided to wear my polka dot Au Bonheur coat. It no longer fits me properly.
  
• All my TnT patterns now have the bust fullness located too far down.
• Most of my sewn clothes now have the bust fullness located too far down.
• Bummer.
• I was paper fitting a new Vogue pattern yesterday. My bust is now located at the same level as Vogue believes a bust should sit. I did not think this was possible. In my natural state, my bust is at the same level as my belly button. I did not believe it was possible to find support that would hoist me to that level. Wow. This will make it easier to alter patterns in future.

The ACC show was nice and a couple reasonably priced items followed me home. Wandering into Susan Otterson's booth, I caught her taking a picture of my coat. We struck up an enjoyable conversation and I bought one of her Merino spiral scarves. She knits all of her fabrics, as well as does the sewing, and her work is beautiful. She is a fan of Koos van den Akker, so we had a nice chat about his designs. She doesn't have a website yet, but you can email her.

Susan Otterson's booth

My other purchase, from Tess McGuire, was a cloche-style felted hat. A very sweet lady, who posed through several photos with humor.

Tess McGuire

My friend Sue also made a purchase. She bought a beautiful necklace from Nature's Creations.

This necklace, made with real dogwood blossoms that are encased in copper and electroplated, then finished with a green patina. (By the way, Sue made this top from a great stripe knit that we both bought from Hart's last March. I've also seen this fabric on Marcy's site.)

His work is beautiful and he collects leaves from all over, even from Japan and Europe. (He has a special import license - I asked.) Additionally, these are two pins that are attached to a waxed linen necklace, so they can be removed and worn as pins, switched to a necklace of a different length, worn separately, etc.

From this booth, I bought a teeny tiny pin, about the size of a penny. I can't remember what plant it was from, but it looked like curly kale. I like kale, so that's my story and I'm sticking to it.

After viewing the show, Sue and I ate at one of my all-time favorite restaurants, Greens. A gourmet vegetarian restaurant, I haven't eaten there in years, but it has fabulous views of the marina and Golden Gate Bridge.

Golden Gate Bridge, encased in fog

We'll see how much sewing I get done this weekend. I am doing some college prep with DD1 and a friend of DD1. I have finished the project with the spaghetti tubes, but I'm not sure when I'll get photos.

Have a great weekend!

Edited to add: Several of you have asked which bra I ordered. I didn't think to add that info, so here it is. Funny enough, I am wearing the same brand and model of bra as before, just several years newer (and one cup size larger, at a 36H). It's the bra Oprah recommends, the La Mystere Dream Tisha. I also ordered the La Mystere Lace Tisha, but have not yet worn that in any photos.

Teagarden Twist - Front Zipper

My most used TnT (tried and true) pattern is Sewing Workshop's Teagarden T. I've made at least 13 of them, in different colors and patterns. It is my version of a t-shirt and perfect for my large-busted-but-small hipped figure. The reason this pattern works so well for my figure is that it uses underarm gussets. I love gussets. I wish more patterns used them. It's a great way to add bust room without bloating the rest of the pattern.

I've now started playing with the pattern – mixing it up. For this version, I used a doubleknit fabric from Marcy Tilton and I added a zipper at CF. Because this fabric is a fairly stable doubleknit, I added 1" to CF when I cut it out, for an increase of 2", in the front only. In fact, I placed the front of the pattern along the selvedge when cutting it out. The resulting top fits just right.

I finished this top a couple weeks ago, but it's been almost relentlessly foggy and cold, so I wasn't impelled to get outside and take pics. It's hard to believe that 30-40 miles away it's 90 plus degree weather, when here it's in the 50s and 60s. Micro-climates galore.

The zipper is a very nice one from Zprz that I purchased two years ago at PIQF.

At first I was planning to use one of my great striped zippers, and I auditioned it before I even cut out the top. I liked it and was prepared to use it.

But when I had the top to the point where I was ready to insert the zipper, I pinned in the striped one and took a mirror picture. I didn't like the effect. From a distance, the black and white stripe merged into grey and the result was bleh.

The striped zipper is pinned to the top, and I left a lot of the tape showing. After seeing the photo, I decided to use a black zipper and to leave less of the tape showing. (Note to self, clean bathroom mirror.)Oops, I didn't notice that the top is a bit skewed on the hangar, as evidenced by the crooked CB seam.Closeup of the great zipper.No comment.

Oh, I will mention that these pictures are the first I've taken since receiving some new bras. It feels like I'm wearing a vise, so it must be working. ;)

Forgive me, Rodgers and Hammerstein!

(Lyrics by Shams)

Issey Miyake and Koos Van den Akker,
Japanese textiles and felted alpaca,
Int'resting zippers, bizarre fastenings,
These are a few of my favorite things!

When my work bites! When the cat screams!
When I'm feeling baaad!
I simply rev up my sewing machine,
And then I don't feel soo saaaaaad!!!

This popped into my head while the Olympics were on. Oy. Sometimes I have no idea what goes on in there.

Look what I was playing with last night.

I think I'll go with the black, though the green has its merits. But black, I think.

What the Heck, Vogue?

I posted yesterday about the new Vogues. I was in a big hurry and wanted to post while the sale was still active.

Now that the rush is over, here are some musings.

For some time now, sewists in the blogsphere and participating on forums have been wondering what is up with the poses Vogue is using to feature their new patterns. The image at the top of the post was taken from their new patterns page. It has been pointed out, quite rightly, that it is reminiscent of the wall of a high rise building. Or maybe a Top Model version of Celebrity Bingo. A model "shadowbox", as it were.

For example, let's look at the model in the third square on the top row.

Is she going to the bathroom? Is she channeling a samurai? Or is she hiding freakishly fat knees? Inquiring minds want to know.

The same dress, in a different fabric:

So... crouching is possible in this dress? Good to know!

This dress is actually the Lynn Mizono dress, Vogue 1312. My Tablecloth skirt was inspired by the RTW version of dress, which I still haven't seen in person. It will be interesting to compare the Vogue pattern to my version.

How about the second woman in the second row:

Cat burglar?

This is a Chado Ralph Rucci dress. I like this dress very much. The seaming is lost in the red fabric, but if you study the line drawings, you will see how interesting it is.

How about the styling of this Marcy Tilton bag?

Muriel, Costco is having a sale on leaves today!

Thanks, Hilary! But I'm good.

Shoot, I need a bigger bag!

I like the look of this bag very much, even if it won't hold my jumbo leaf.