Blog Topics – Page 14 – Making Memories

A Carry-On for Me

By Jan | July 24, 2016 - 10:24 am |July 24, 2016 Bags

This summer has been filled with carry-on trips. My mother’s memorial service near Asheville, NC, required a Saturday morning flight down and a Sunday afternoon flight back with a knit dress, a pair of heeled sandals, and my cosmetic bag tucked into a carry-on bag. The next weekend I flew to Dallas on Friday afternoon and returned Sunday morning—another carry-on trip with the same knit dress and sandals so I could play a half hour of old hymns for my girlfriend’s husband’s memorial service. And a fleece jacket and closed toe shoes so I could watch my firstborn son play hockey. This was a great treat for me, my first game since he took up the sport about four years ago. I also got to meet and be scratched and bitten by his three-month-old kitten, Ash, who’s got a lot of learning to do about bonding with grandma! The next weekend was another short trip, a drive up to Lake Erie to attend a friend’s son’s wedding. A carry-on and a garment bag sufficed for that trip.

I’ve been getting a lot of use out of my Cleveland Orchestra Chorus backpack during these trips, but it’s not chic. And the space inside isn’t great. I wanted a me-made bag that I could tailor to my own needs.

I had had a couple of yards of Cotton + Steel/Moonlit/Tangrams in Indigo hanging around for over a year. I got it in a kit from Craftsy, but decided I really didn’t want to make the dress from that kit. Sometimes the fabrics you get from Craftsy are discounted so deeply you just can’t resist “investing.” (My son always scoffs when I call it investing. He doesn’t realize how much money he’ll make on the sewing yard sale after I die.) I looked at the size of each bag on the Swoon Patterns site, and decided Vivian, in the traveler size, was just the bag for me. My objective was to make this bag without a trip to JoAnn’s for any extra supplies. Alas, I needed navy zippers, so grudgingly made the trip and also stocked up on interfacing. But that was going to be the only trip. (Oh, stop laughing.)

I put in the zippered pocket, and it was the finest zippered pocket I had ever inserted into any bag. Until I looked at the pattern again and realized it belonged on the inside of the bag, not the outside. If my knees weren’t so riddled with arthritis, I would have kicked myself! (Really—just look at that zipper. Look at the topstitching. Now it’s got to hide on the inside of the bag.)

So after posting and asking for advice on the Swoon Patterns Facebook group, I decided I would use a solid navy for the exterior fabric and choose a color from the tangrams for belting for the straps and handles. I was looking for canvas, but JoAnn’s didn’t have navy canvas and the nice sales associate directed me to the 100% cotton duck. Perfect! Looking at the belting choices, I selected hot pink.

A wise shopper would have checked her hardware supply before leaving home, but I was obviously not having a wise week. When I got back home, I discovered I didn’t have any rectangle rings. But I did have some nice D-rings and snap hooks. So I made the straps with D-rings and put the snap hooks on the handles. I thought about putting a long adjustable shoulder strap on, but refused to make any more trips to JoAnn’s!

One other addition to the interior was also a mistake. As I was assembling the bag, I found one more pocket piece, but could find no reference to it in the instructions. It’s fortunate that the bag designer, Alicia, prints the names of each pattern on each pattern piece. I’ve got a new music tote bag, Alice, cut out, and one of her pattern pieces got mixed up with my Vivian pieces. (Holy Mother of Lost Needles, if I don’t clean up and organize my sewing space soon, I’m going to have to impose some sort of penalty!) So I had a lovely little patch pocket ready to go on the inside of Vivian, and decided to use a little leftover belting to hang a keyhook from the bottom of the patch pocket. I’m great at losing keys, and this way I can hook them in as soon as I get on the airport shuttle after parking my car and retrieve them a couple days later on the way back to the car. Brilliant! (I left the photo clickable so you could see the patch pocket—I don’t know why it’s sideways. But you can see it clearly!)

What dummy bought the wrong kind of zipper?

One more giggle for you about this construction project. You know how on your suitcases you can zip from either end of the zipper and if your pulls are together, the zipper is closed?

But isn’t that a great amount of space when fully opened?!

Then when you move one of the pulls, the zipper is open between the pulls. I thought that was the kind of zipper I got. Nope. I have no idea how this zipper is intended to be used (probably a jacket—duh on me!).

This was my first experience with Alicia’s “drop-in” lining, and I was very impressed with how easy it was to attach. If you haven’t used any Swoon patterns before, I highly recommend them for the clear instructions. Many of you know I had a long career as a technical writer and legal writer and editor. Alicia is an expert at turning sew-ese into clear, easy-to-follow instructions.

So that’s the story of the riddled with oopses bag. I wasn’t sure about the cording as I was inserting it, but once it was in, I loved it. I will probably make my own on the next bag, rather than using a purchased product, but I think this looks pretty fine.

And the finished bag. My new Vivian will be put into use in two weeks when we head to Detroit to catch a Louis CK performance and do some exploring for the weekend.

Blessed Sewing Time!

By Jan | June 25, 2016 - 3:39 pm |June 26, 2016 Garment Sewing

2 Comments

Finally! I was able to sneak fifteen minutes here and a half hour there over the past week and get a tunic top made, clearing one piece of yardage out of my stash. I’ve rescheduled my life for the next school year, and will have three weeks in a row mostly to myself in late July/early August, along with a two-day workweek throughout the school year. My goal for the summer is to reorganize my sewing room with a major declutter. But this accomplishment—the new top which I finished today—just whetted my appetite. That was sorely needed!

The pattern is Butterick 6136, another drapey, flowy tunic from Katherine Tilton’s marvelous brain and imagination.

The fabric is a rare acquisition from JoAnn’s. (Rare means I rarely buy fabric there—it doesn’t live up to my quality standards.) I really can’t even remember why I bought it. I must have had some event or trip that I wanted a new top for, and then it didn’t happen in time. It’s a rayon/lycra blend with what is referred to as a “wet hand.” I don’t really know how to define that for you, except to say it kinda feels like it’s wet when you touch it. I imagine I’ll get some comments here to clarify that. I love the colors in this print—black, brown, rust, deep red, and a touch of olive green or teal tucked in here and there. The photo from JoAnn’s website does not show the colors well.

What should I have done differently. Well, this fabric has a lot of stretch. The pattern envelope wants the sewist to choose a knit with just over 25% stretch. Grab ahold of the fabric with your thumb and forefinger, hands held 4″ apart. Stretch the fabric. It should stretch another 1¼”. This fabric easily stretches three more inches. Walking backwards through the cobwebs of my mind, I remember the Stretch & Sew classes I took when my boys were two and four years old and I made all their little tee shirts and pull-on shorts. If your fabric has more stretch than the pattern calls for, you want to go down a size or two—depending on the amount of extra stretch.

With this pattern and this fabric, I should have cut a 14 instead of a 16. Because I didn’t, the tunic hangs loosely on me. I think that will just make it cooler in the few really hot days we have every summer. At least that’s how I’m going to justify what I did.

I actually made a 3″ box pleat in the middle of the back, around the bra line. It shouldn’t really show, as drapey as this fabric is, and it should pull out some of the excess.

(After writing all this and after dressing for dinner, I ran downstairs and took another 2″ out of the left and right side seams at about the line of the bottom of my bra. Better. Not perfect. But not so tent-like.)

And next time I’ll cut a smaller size.

But now I have a new top to wear out to dinner with friends tonight. And that makes me happy.

Bali Ready

By Jan | May 12, 2016 - 12:15 pm |May 12, 2016 Garment Sewing

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Am I ready for next week’s Bali Fiber Tour? No, I am not. I have several pieces of fabric to make into cute tops, and I think they will not be made before I leave. And you know how obsessive I get about my travel wardrobes.

What happened, you might ask. Life and school happened. Back in March I had six mini-opera performances, preceded by several rehearsals. And I accompanied and played in the pit for seven performances of My Fair Lady in Sharpsville, PA. Then there was Cosi fan Tutte at YSU, which has taken part of five days of each week since mid-January. We finished Cosi the 24th of April. Then there was a senior recital to accompany for a trombonist. His program included a Very Nasty Hindemith sonata. Then, right on target, I got the text from my brother than our mother was failing, so the first week of May I spent two days driving to and from Hendersonville, NC; a couple of hours practicing with all my voice students for their juries; one day playing for juries; and then on Friday I flew to Vegas and drove to Kingman, Arizona, where I met my new sister. (If you’re not up-to-date on this tale, it’s written here).

One of the sweetest two hours of that crazy week was the opportunity to substitute for the Stambaugh Chorus accompanist and play the Fauré Requiem with them, a precious-to-me work that was sung at my late husband’s memorial service eighteen years ago.

So … insanity around here.

But I managed to scrounge up fifteen minutes here and an hour there over the past 10 days to finish one top for the trip. The pattern is McCall’s 7020, which I’ve made three times already. Those posts are here.

Backview, showing different stripe widths and orientations.

The fabric was one of MarcyTilton.com‘s “Cool Combos.” Marcy’s exquisitely curated site makes some really fabulous fabrics available to the home sewist. The combo I picked up was gray and white – a quarter inch stripe, a skinny stripe, both in very lightweight jersey. Then a heavier jersey printed with small white dots. I decided to use just the stripes for this top. Both fronts and one back were made from the wider stripe, the other back and the sleeves from the skinny stripe. And they were alternated horizontal/vertical on each piece—i.e. right front and left back stripes go up and down, left front and right back go side to side.

This pic should prove how lightweight the knit is. Yes, I will wear a tank under it!

This was not a knit with a lot of give, so when I tried it on after applying the sleeves and sewing the side seams, the sleeves were too tight. I tried taking a narrower seam allowance, but they were still too tight. So I just cut the sleeves off, leaving 1″ of sleeve fabric. Then I cut ⅜” strips of fusible tricot interfacing, fused it on, folded, pressed, and double-needle topstitched. The hem was finished with the same method, 1¼”

I love it. What do you think?

And it’s super-duper cool for the heat and humidity of my Bali adventure. My flight lands in Depensar on Saturday afternoon, May 21.

Worn here with a pair of Eileen Fisher stretch crepe crops in “silver.” I think the top would go just as well with white.

En Français

By Jan | April 8, 2016 - 12:38 pm |April 11, 2016 Garment Sewing

Keep Calm and Sew On

By Jan | March 6, 2016 - 5:59 pm |March 6, 2016 Bags, Gifts

1 Comment

I hate how busy I’ve been this semester. I’m preparing a full-length “Cosi fan tutte” for late April. A kids’ version of Cosi, with its own abbreviated score, will be presented the morning of that event’s opening. I have not yet seen the kids’ cuts, but know that I am the orchestra for that production, where I believe I’m only accompanying the recitative (but the entire score for all the rehearsals over the entire semester) for the full evening opera. A 45-minute opera for kids, Billy Goats Gruff, is to be presented today at Stambaugh Auditorium and then five times this week at local schools. And tonight starts tech week for “My Fair Lady” in Sharpsville [PA]. If you’re counting, that’s two major productions and two hour-long productions. A lot of black dots. And I accompany four voice students who have at least five pieces each in their repertoire, along with two senior recitals to play.

That leaves no time for sewing. And a big hole in my life.

Yesterday morning I was exempted from the MFL rehearsal (big sigh of relief), so I snatched two hours and ran downstairs. Back in October or early November, I saw the pattern for the Bendy Bag from Lazy Girl Designs. It looked cute and quick and easy, and I whipped up several to take along to Thanksgiving in Amarillo to gift to my dinner companions. One friend of my Amarillo family wasn’t able to be at dinner that day, but I have been wanting to make another bag to send out to her. So yesterday I dug into my scrap stash and found enough leftovers from Gayle’s bag to make a Bendy Bag for Maria.

Now that I’ve made a bunch of these, I’m able to whip through them pretty quickly. There’s only one change I’ve made. At the bottom of the zipper, a tab is attached to extend the length of that piece to the bottom of the bag. But the way it’s attached leaves an opening that would allow small items to escape (Imagine a beader toting part of her stash in this cute little bag, or a jeweler with loose stones ….). So instead of edgestitching the folded end of the tab to the end of the zipper, I rotate the tab to place the folded end at the bottom. I turn in the raw ends ½” and press, then sandwich the stitching line of the zipper (where the instructions tell you to place the folded end of the tab) and edgestitch to hold it in place. Then I edgestitch down both sides of where the zipper tape is sandwiched and trim the sides of the tab (as instructed). The only difference is that you won’t see the zipper for your edgestitching. A quick chalkmark or a deftly placed pin will tell you where to run your edgestitching. And the resulting look on the inside is more elegant, to my way of thinking.

The only other thing I don’t love, but am willing to live with, is the zigzag finish on the seams inside. But honestly, not one person to whom I’ve given these bags has complained. 😉

I carry a Bendy Bag with me at all times in my big music tote. It contains all my chargers for page-turning pedal and iPad Pro and phone. I can imagine lots of uses for it, and know more iterations are in my future.

And finally, for your viewing pleasure, a B.B. I made two weeks ago for my granddarling’s high school French teacher. She likes foxes. I hope she likes the bag half as much as she is liked as a teacher.

If you’re interested in the fox fabric, it’s from Robert Kaufman’s “Creatures and Critters 3” collection, designed by Amy Schimler.

A Winning Tute

By Jan | January 2, 2016 - 6:30 pm |January 2, 2016 Gifts

Quick and Shiny

By Jan | January 1, 2016 - 11:19 pm |January 1, 2016 Garment Sewing

2 Comments

Somewhere two weeks ago I read a sewing blog where the writer talked about some fabric she purchased from NY Fashion Center. Of course I ran over there to see what they offer, and was blown away with this tie-dye web foil print spandex. Seriously, this fabric is not something I would ever have thought of sewing with. But a shipboard pool and a walk along the beach in Aruba were on my mind, and a little swim mini skirt from Land’s End was calling out for a coverup.

While I waited for the fabric to arrive and while I was looking for some free time to spend in my sewing room, I pondered patterns. I burn easily, and we’ll be spending ten days sailing around under the equator. So a t-shirt was a better idea than a cardigan or fly-front sweater. I had been eyeing Marcy Tilton’s Vogue 9057 for months, and View A looked like just what I needed.

I needed it to go together quickly, and this did. It feels great. I think it looks cute with the miniskirt, and with my Teva sandals, I can walk and swim and generally have a Caribbean blast.

There was one thing I didn’t like and wish I had done differently. On View A, the neckband is only 1″ wide. The instructions say to attach it with a double needle, then just press it up. That’s a raw edge finish, which I do not like. I could have gone back and cut a wider band, but I was very pressured for time. I moved the band in from the edge of the top seam allowance, so that I was sewing about ¼” on the band and ½” on the top. After sewing the seam, I trimmed off the excess of the neck edge, then wrapped the band tightly around the edge and to the back. I pinned from the right side close to the edge of the band wrapped to the back, then used a double needle to topstitch. It works for me better than the raw edge, but it’s not ideal. Ideal would have been to cut the wider neckband from the other views.

For the sleeve hem and skirt hem, I interfaced the inside edge with a ½” strip of fusible tricot interfacing, then turned that ½” to the inside and pressed. I finished the hems with a double-needle topstitch at ⅜”.

It’s a fun top. It’s totally unlike me. And even though I’m not really happy with the finish on the neckline, I’m only ever wearing it to the pool or the beach, and—not to be condescending—no one will ever notice it. (Are you familiar with the sound of a tired musician at the end of the worst month of the year for musicians worldwide? You just heard that sound.)

As I raced to finish pre-vacation sewing, I also made a quick cute batik pillowcase for Jas’s travel pillow. I’ll blog that another time. And I hemmed the sundress I made in July, using my new Dritz chalk hem marker. I was never pleased with the hemline and needed to shorten and straighten it. It’s going into the suitcase along with the t-shirt above. Tomorrow is a party for my new daughter-in-law to meet Jas’s and my close friends. She’s in town for a few days and I wanted to take advantage of that, despite the fact that we’re flying to Florida on Sunday and sailing on Monday.

Whew. Going to bed now. And don’t be scared by the photos—that’s New Year’s Day me with no makeup!

Rudi and I wish you a happy new year.

Out With the Old, In With the New

By Jan | January 1, 2016 - 12:10 pm |January 1, 2016 Inspiration

4 Comments

Tyler and his bride, Leslie, with the darling Miss C looking up in wonder.

As most humans are wont to do, yesterday and today I have been looking back on 2015, pondering what I wish to change for 2016.

Change? Almost everything! Last year was one of the hardest years in my life, with a few bright lights tossed in to keep me sane. It started on Christmas Day of 2014, when my brothers decided it was time for Mother to reside permanently in a nursing home. The task of cleaning out her apartment in the assisted living facility and deciding what to do with her now-unnecessary possessions fell to me. I had to extend my trip to NC by a day or two to accomplish that, and was very thankful for having leased a sport utility vehicle a few months earlier. I made multiple trips to the Rescue Mission and to Goodwill, made fast calls to antique dealers, clock specialists, and moving van lines. I ended up with more possessions not of my choosing crowded into my home.

Bright Spot #1 came in late January when we traveled with three other couples to a rental house on the Riviera Maya in Mexico. That memorable vacation is documented in my travel pages.

In this same time frame, I learned I had been chosen for a research associate position in the Philosophy and Religious Studies department at YSU, where I was to work as an editor in the Center for Islamic Studies. I was extremely excited about this position, and anxious to begin upon returning from our Mexico vacation. Alas, the university provost had different thoughts on the position. I was able to work for the CIS over the course of the next five months on a contract basis, and dearly loved the people and the work. But once we started a new fiscal year, the work went away. I am sad each time I think about this situation, and continue to hope they’ll get rid of that provost and put into place someone who wants a university with STEAM, not just STEM. (Science, Technology, [Arts,] Engineering, and Mathematics.]

A few weeks later I started the task of cleaning out my son’s house, recently vacated by his former wife, an incredibly thoughtless and self-centered woman. Anything she didn’t want, she left in the now-vacant house. Over the course of the next two months, I trashed bag after bag of canned goods with seven-year-old expiration dates, half-used and unwanted craft supplies, and various other items she had bought on a whim. I made trip after trip to Goodwill, the Rescue Mission, and the recycling station. I dropped off at the consignment shop thirty (thirty!) pairs of unwanted but still very usable shoes and boots, along with armload upon armload of perfectly good clothes. I vacuumed floors that hadn’t been vacuumed in months. I made a personal commitment to declutter my home so my sons would never have to go through what I was suffering with this house. I became the best friend of the realtor, who had been unable to ever depend on my former DIL to empty litter boxes on showing days. I ended with more items in my home, generally gifts I had given my former DIL through the thirteen years of their marriage—she now wanted nothing to do with me, despite act upon act of unrequited (and probably unappreciated) kindness to her over the years. (Here’s to learning a lesson about unrequited kindness!!) When it was all done, I was able to feel good about the work I had done. I had turned a cluttered and filthy nightmare into a house which potential buyers could actually see the good bones of. There were several offers, but unsupporting banks. It finally went to the bank, and now a family with twins in elementary school are enjoying the beautiful house. While I’m very sad for my son to have had to go through this, I’m happy for the new owners. May they live long and prosper.

In May I made a whirlwind trip to NC for my mother’s 102nd birthday. I made little moments of kindness to myself on that trip—an hour here and an hour there to shop in favorite stores old and new. That trip turned out to be the last time I would see her healthy enough to feed herself. That ability is now gone.

Bright Spot #2 was when Jas suggested we take a trip to celebrate my birthday, as we had during our first year together, five years earlier. Here’s the account of that trip, taken with our dear friends Mike & Marilyn.

A few days after our return from Toronto, I departed Ohio for six weeks in Northern Michigan, where I would work as a collaborative pianist in the theatre division of the prestigious Interlochen Arts Camp. That experience is documented in weekly posts here. It was the best and worst summer of my life. There are some Bright Spots, which I’ll lump together as #3, in those six weeks. However, after six months of retrospection, I have decided I will not return to IAC in 2016.

In September, my beloved partner and his two brothers lost their 92-year-old mother, who treated me as her own from the day we met. Her passing was a great loss to her children, grandchildren, and great-grandchildren. The only blessing was that she went quickly and did not suffer.

While at Interlochen, I began discussions with the new head of the opera program at YSU. In August I began working as the accompanist for the program, and accompanying the voice students of this professor. Additionally, I accompany the chorus of the local opera company in preparations for the November opera performance. And I accompanied the “mini-mainstage” production of that opera, a 45-minute tailored-for-kids version that is presented on a November Friday morning to busloads of local schoolkids. And for a relief from all that opera, I agreed to musical direct “Christmas at the Pierce” for the Area Community Theatre of Sharpsville [PA]. (Link to YouTube video of the show.) From the first of November through the 20th of December, I had about three open days on my calendar. Insane!

I was grateful for the invitation to sing with the choir of Christ Church Episcopal in Warren, OH, for their Lessons & Carols service, as it gave me another opportunity to sing in a choir with my son. Oh, how I love doing that!

My greatest sadness of that period was that I had no time to sew.

Tyler and Leslie, in May of 1994 and in July of 2015.

My firstborn, Scott, now 42, with his new niece.

I did, however, make time to sew six bags to take with me to Amarillo for Thanksgiving (Each of the women at Thanksgiving dinner received a bag of her choosing from the lot of six bags.) and Bright Spot #4, the wedding of my DS#2 to his high school sweetheart. They each had their training-wheels marriages, and have now made the marriage that will last for the rest of their lives, which I hope is a very long time to make up for the heartaches they suffered during their prior marriages. My new DIL, Leslie, is a wonder. She is the chair of the dance department at a Texas university, received tenure in her mid-30s, and works as a choreographer in the theatre department at Interlochen during the summers. She is also the mother of a talented and smart-as-a-whip five-year-old daughter. Honestly, this wedding and marriage is so precious to me, it makes up for all the nastiness of the year!

As soon as I was done with music for December, I raced to NC to spend a day with Mother, who—by all appearances—has now seen her last Christmas. At 102, she’s told her doctors she wants no more intervention when she is ill. She has recurring problems with urinary tract infections, and the doctors indicate her next infection will be her final. She can hardly hear, is not motivated to communicate, and her right hand is crippled by arthritis, so that she cannot feed herself. She has lived a long, full life, and is greatly loved by a lot of people. My family feels very lucky to have had her around this long.

After returning home, I turned around the next morning and we drove to Columbus to celebrate Christmas with my partner’s family, ensuring that we drank a traditional Irish toast to his mother.

As I pack for our first vacation of 2016, a cruise with our travel pals to the Panama Canal, I will leave you with Bright Spot #5. In 2008, after moving to Ohio to be near my grandchildren, I was able to sell both my houses in Tucson, at an out-of-pocket cost greater than $70,000. (Remember the financial crisis of 2007-08? I do!) After borrowing right and left to make these closings happen, I ended up in 2010 in a debt repayment plan, which is one of the best things that ever happened to get me out of an untenable situation. In December of this year, I was finally able to make my last payment and breathe an enormous sigh of relief. If you ever find yourself in a similar situation, I highly recommend Money Management International. Their counselors and advisors are kind and respectful. They work for you, not for the organization. They will help you find a way to meet your obligations without having to declare bankruptcy. I will sing their praises until I die—a date on which, without their help, I would have passed along lots of debts to my sons. Now I can enjoy the rest of my life without enormous debts hanging over me.

And that was the year. Five bright spots, plus a lot of hardship and heartache. I truly am glad to see 2015 move into the rearview mirror.

As I enter 2016, I’m focusing on seven performances of My Fair Lady in Sharpsville in March, and several performances of “Cosi fan tutte” at YSU in April. Before I left Mother’s bedside last week, I made sure to thank her for all the piano lessons she had driven me to.

My sewing time will again be limited the first half of the year, but I also thanked Mother for taking me to the Singer Sewing Center for classes in 1963, awakening in me a love for all things fiber.