Stretching My Brain

I like to learn. That may explain why I’m always trying new sewing tricks and blogging about them here. I had to accompany some students in their voice studio recital on Sunday. The ladies were to wear long gowns, i.e. it’s a dressy event. I wanted to be dressier than I was (black knit pants, black tank, and black knit jacket) for the last performance I accompanied, but I didn’t want to wear a gown. I wanted to make something, but was struggling to figure out what. I have some personal concerns in my life right now, and many nights … Continue reading

Working One’s Way Up the Priority List

I just wanted to sew today. I just wanted to sew up some fabric—any fabric—that had been resting comfortably in my stash. I have a Caribbean cruise to prepare for, and I had a really cool piece of mesh knit that I thought would be great. I had read in Marcy Tilton’s blog about a double-layer mesh top she made using Vogue 8582. I love this pattern. I’ve made it several times, and find it very flattering to my body. I thought it would be fun to experiment with this new technique and see how the doubled mesh turned out. … Continue reading

A Bag to Meet All My Musical Needs

I’m currently working four different collaborative pianist jobs, which means several binders full of music, plus my iPad and Bluetooth page-turn pedal, and a calendar on which I attempt to keep my life organized. Since the first day of class, I have been trying to figure out the best way to keep track of all this music and transport it back and forth from home to performance space. When I made Swoon Patterns’ Alice for my grand-high-schooler to use as a bookbag, I started thinking maybe Alice was the bag I needed to schlep all my music. I have a … Continue reading