Making bias tape, and the birthday beast

Kat asked in the comments on my last post whether my reference to "self bias tape" meant bias tape made from the same fabric as the garment.  And yes, it does.   She didn't ask how to make it, but if you'd like to see a tutorial, there are some good ones out there, notably this one and this one on the Colette patterns blog.   However, the question reminded me that I had taken some photos of how I get the fabric going through the bias tape maker, because I haven't seen a tutorial for that.  This was my least favorite part of the process until I found it was easy when you pull the fabric through with a needle and thread, like this:

You anchor the thread as if you were about to start stitching, at the middle of the end of the strip.  Then you can drop the needle through the bias tape maker, and use it to draw the fabric through smoothly.

In other sewing news,  I finally took photos of me in my finished dresses from earlier in the year, which I'll post soon.  And I finished my skirt -- now I need to photograph that.    Looks like my posting average will go up a bit, at least temporarily.

A vintage pattern I got recently had a facing piece cut out of newspaper, which included this partial photo, which amuses me for some reason.   Are they having fun?  It's hard to say.  The pattern this came in is a mail order pattern, and there was a date on the mailing label of 9/13/46.  The clipping looks to be of a similar vintage.

Finally, today is Dinky's third birthday!   The birthday boy got a fresh rawhide chew, playtime at the park, an afternoon walk, and pepperoni off my pizza.  All things he gets each and every weekend.  Maybe it's good he doesn't know it's his birthday -- he might be disappointed!

Here's a shot of Dinky from this morning, featuring his warm-weather haircut.  The temperatures here are already reaching the 80s!  

I made a skirt all by myself, and I photographed it all by myself, too

In uncharacteristic spurt of sewing practicality, I made myself up a skirt and am well into a second.  Both are from Burda 7741, which despite its disturbing cover art has become a pretty decent basic skirt pattern.  It ain't stylish, but it's very "me", and I'm sure I'll make more of them eventually.

I made two skirts from this pattern in 2009, and blogged about them here.  It's the bottom part of the strange bibbed item worn by the mildly possessed girl on the right in the pattern's illustration.  I lengthened the pattern about two inches for those first two.  For the current versions, I kept the length, and also added about two inches of width to the front and back skirt pieces, keeping the yoke the same.  Voila, nice basic dirndl-ish skirt.   Here it is, adorning my pantry door:

... and here, adorning me.  I wore it to work with a pink shirt from Target that and a cardigan from Old Navy that is all schmeebot's fault.  

Neither the stool nor the back end of
the dog were meant to be in this shot.

As alluded to in the title of this post, I finally busted out the tripod and self-timer and gave them a try.  The frantic beeping of the self-timer sets me on edge (and by the time the shutter actually fires, it's all I can do to keep from twitching), but I have batteries on order for my long-lost-but-recently-found camera remote, which I hope will help.    And eventually I'll arrive at a better camera set-up: it is clearly too low here!  

There isn't much more to say about the skirt, so have a look at its insides:

It's lined in pink batiste, and I used self-fabric bias tape to finish both the skirt and lining hems.  As finishes go, it's not exactly a couture look, but I like doing it a whole lot better than hemming, either by  hand or by machine.  Also, I didn't want the skirt to get any shorter.  I was originally contemplating a pleated flounce around the edge, but decided keep it simple.   While this skirt is fine for work (and I've already worn it there) I expect it'll see a lot of weekend wear too.

If you're paying close attention, you might have noticed that I used this same fabric for my first Pendrell blouse but I promise I'll never wear them together!

This post was brought to you by the letter B

I have done a *little* sewing, and have a skirt about half-finished but I've been swamped at work of late so I've set it aside for now.  I hope to be back to it before too much longer.  But enough about the alleged skirt -- what's this about the letter B?

Thanks to Bea of Butterflies and Hurricanes, I was inspired to buy some Seriously Awesome Jeans.  I've been having trouble finding good jeans in this era of the dastardly skinny pant, in which I look like a freak of nature, if I can get the damn things on at all.   Usually they don't pull up over my thighs.  I have a very curvy, muscular lower half, and it wasn't meant for this look.   The good news is that for Spring we apparently are to expect a 70s vibe, and while I can't say that in itself sounds like great news to me, it apparently means that higher-waisted flare-legged jeans are on their way in.

I never thought the high-waisted look was for me -- too mom-jeansy on my figure.  However, this morning I spotted Bea's me-made March post, which included some adorable high-waisted jeans that she made herself.   Alas, making my own pair is not on the map.  (Remember from just two paragraphs ago how I am struggling to finish a simple freakin' skirt?)  Anyhow, Bea's super-flattering jeans were enough to make me pause in front of the high-waisted jeans at the Gap.  I grabbed some.  I tried them on.  They were a tad too big, but I was surprised to find that I loved the look.  I went home without them, but checked online, to see if I could order them.  Nope, they were sold out in all but one size (not the one I was looking for, of course).  Uh oh ... now I was really sure I wanted them!   I went to a different Gap, where I found some the exact same size as the first pair, but these miraculously fit.   I could damn Gap for their inconsistent sizing, but I think I'll just be delighted that I got my jeans.  :)

I also bought another, not quite as high-waisted but equally nice fitting pair.   The first pair has now been taken off the website, so I can only show you the photo.  The other pair is here.  I think a big part of what makes these work is that the waist truly fits me (I'm used to higher waists being super gappy) and the back pocket placement, which is lower than the typical "mom jeans" look.  Now I need to get cracking on some vintage blouses to wear with them!  If I ever finish my skirt ...  Anyhow, thanks Bea for the inspiration!

Though I have not been sewing, I have managed to stock up on sale Butterick and Simplicity patterns from JoAnn's.  It kind of boggles the mind how modern patterns can be $17 most of the time and then suddenly $1 on sale.  Not that I'm complaining.

There's one more B to mention in this post ... this one is for Barbara, my neighbor, who gave me all this lovely fabric:

The fabrics in the upper left (a black one that's hard to see, and the two teal tweedy ones) are heavier, home-decor-like fabric that would be good for making bags and such.  In the upper right are some smallish (about 1 yard each) quilting fabrics, which could become bag linings, or perhaps used for trim, or facings, or with coordinating fabrics.  There are also some bigger pieces of cotton fabric (the purple striped one is probably seven or eight yards!) plus a sampling of rayon and/or poly fabrics that will be good for blouses.  And that lovely pin-striped wool suiting!   Anyhow, it's a wonderful windfall, and I look forward to using all of it!

Seven things

Marie tagged me for the Stylish Blogger Award, and I am honored!   (And also slightly amused, as I am stylish approximately zero days a week.   But we can be whoever we want on the Internet, right?)  Marie has been turning out these wonderfully detailed aprons of late, and you should go check them out on her blog.  There really should be more occasions for wearing such fantastic aprons -- they are wasted on mere cooking!

Anyhow, the Stylish Blogger Award stipulates that you share seven things about yourself, and that you pass the award along to seven other stylish bloggers.   So here goes ...

1.  I am a huge animal lover, and I've had a lot of different pets over the years, including birds, fish, reptiles and invertebrates.  I currently have a four year old canary named Sunshine (but called Eeper for the most part, because of the little sounds she makes) and a dozen land hermit crabs who dwell in a 75 gallon terrarium.  Hard to say how old the hermit crabs are (they cannot be bred in captivity, and thus were all wild-caught) but I've had them for five-plus years.  A little less than three years ago, I got my first dog.  You've seen him lurking around in my sewing project photos.  His name is Dinky, and he's a "ratapoo" -- a rat terrier / miniature poodle mix.   And let me tell you, my dog is amazing.   I never knew I was a dog person (though my husband did!) but clearly I am.   I could go on and on about my dog, but I'll stop now.  :)


2.   My husband is also amazing!  We celebrated 20 years together last month (we've been married 16 of those).   He's my best friend and supports me in everything I do.  We've always had fairly different hobbies and interests (and sleep schedules!) but we share fundamental beliefs and aspirations, and have a similar sense of humor.   I think at this point he knows more about me than I know about myself.

3.  Besides sewing, one of my other major hobbies is film photography.  I also collect vintage cameras, the crappier the better (so long as they work), and I have over 300 of them.  I use digital cameras some too, but for me, film is where it's at.  I love double exposures, light leaks, cross processing, scratches, colored gels, long-expired film, dirty lenses, you name it!   My flickr stream is here, but this is a sample:

4.  I'm a software developer, and have a Master's in Computer Science, but before I figured out that I enjoyed programming, I got a BFA in Fine Arts (Drawing) and a PhD in Cultural Anthropology.   I was in school a looooong time, folks, but I'm happy to say that I did finally end up with a career I enjoy.  

5.  I'm a native of the state of Florida.  I was born in Tallahassee, and went to college in Gainesville (where I met my husband).   As far as I'm concerned, North Central Florida is the most beautiful place on Earth.  Fun random fact: Samuel Coleridge's description of Xanadu in the poem Kubla Khan was partly inspired by descriptions of North Central Florida written by the naturalist William Bartram.   Yep, paradise ...  certainly it will always feel like home to me, no matter how long I am away.

6.  Another thing I love to do is run.  I've been running regularly since I was around eight years old, though back then it was because my parents made me!   At this point, it's more of an ingrained habit than a hobby.  I do pretty much the same run (about 3.5 miles) every day, and just relax.   I have no interest in pushing myself or being competitive, I just do it because it feels bad if I don't.

7.   I am a major introvert, and my husband and dog provide all the social life I could possibly need.  I feel uncomfortable at social gatherings because I've never mastered the art of small talk.   I can geek out about hobby stuff, but I don't know anyone in real life who shares my hobbies (so I'm fortunate that my husband is happy to listen to me prattle on about them!)  Lately I've been doing more presentations for work, and that has actually helped some, but I'll always be a loner, though not at all in an unhappy way!

So there are my seven things, and here's who I'd like to nominate ... some of these folks may not read my blog, but I won't let that stop me.  :)

1.  First off -- schmeebot!  We met a few years ago through our shared interest in photography (and specifically, in sending Polaroids through the mail) and have become close friends despite living a thousand miles apart.  Or maybe because of it -- who knows how I might drive ya crazy if you had to see me every day, schmee!

2.  Georgi is a fellow animal lover, and of all the photographers I know of, nobody has a closer photographic aesthetic to mine  She has many breath-takingly beautiful film shots in her flickr stream.

3. Shannon of Hungry Zombie Couture's blog was one of the very first sewing blogs I started reading, long before I ever imagined I'd blog about sewing myself.  I love her sarcastic wit, her gorgeous sewing projects, and I would happily kidnap her shoe collection.  And of course, she also has an amazing dog! 

4.  Bea of Butterflies and Hurricanes who keeps turning out these enviable vintage garments -- I love each and every one! 

5.  Little Black Car, possibly my closest vintage sewing neighbor, who has brought many a 1970s-does-1940s gem of a pattern to my attention.  Plus we both love rick-rack!

6.  Jenny of the ironically named Chronically Uncool who brings us Tetris fabric and gorgeous full-skirted 50s numbers.

and finally, 

7.  Marianne of Dancing With Poodles, who hasn't posted in a while, but I hope will post again soon.  I love her sense of style, and what an awesome name for a blog!

In which I dabble in pattern drafting and well, yay!

Here it is, the last day of February, and finally I have a dress to show!  This one took the full month, both because I've been busy with other stuff (mainly work) and because I started out to make a different pattern, failed (or it failed me ... a little of both, perhaps?) and had to go back to the drawing board.

Here's the pattern I set out to make.  Looks innocent enough, right?  Well, it turned out to be "teen" sized, which is vintage code for "designed for someone way shorter than me".  There was also something weird about the way it was drafted.  I got the bodice together, but it did not look like the picture.  The bottom neckline slanted a a weird angle.  The fit was poor.  It was just bad news all around.  (Expect to see this pattern on Etsy sometime in the near future.  Caveat emptor.)

I really, really loved the styling, though, and I might have pouted a bit to my husband about it.  "Couldn't you draft that?" he asked.    Well not from scratch ... but what if I took a pattern that does work for me as a starting point?   That seemed achievable, so I got out Butterick 6149 and went to work.

Here's what I ended up with.  And can I say, it really wasn't so hard?   What was I afraid of?

I made the following changes to the bodice (the skirt remained unchanged):

1.  Altered the left and right front bodice pieces so that one was a few inches longer, and the other a few inches shorter, in order to get the asymmetric placing of the buttons.

2.  Figured out how big a scallop I wanted, and drafted a half-circle piece to trace.  I started off thinking I wanted four scallops, but it looked too busy, so I tried three and that works for me.   I accounted for the seam allowance as I measured, so that the bottom scallop wouldn't disappear into the waist seam.

3.  I liked the neckline from Butterick 6149, but didn't want it to be so dramatic on this dress, so I relaxed the angle a bit.

That's it!   For some reason, it came out a bit loose in the waist, which is probably a sewing rather than drafting error.  But I like it, and heck, I find a looser fit more comfy anyhow.  (And I'm afraid style loses to comfort every time with me.  Sad but true.)

The fabric is some sort of cotton with a subtle stripe to it, probably purchased from the clearance section at High Fashion Fabrics, but I don't remember for sure.   Weight-wise, it's probably not that different than quilting fabric, but it has a different hand to it -- hard to explain.  The lining is aqua voile that matches the buttons, plus I used the last of my red polka-dot fabric from Butterick 6149 to the bodice front facings.  So yes, what looks like a whimsical combination of aqua buttons and red stitching is actually anal-retentively color coordinated with the inside of the dress.   :)

Still no pictures of any dresses on me, but here's a final dress-in-the-garden shot.  The dog even got in on this one -- it's almost like I'm there, right?

I'm not sure what I want to make next.  Maybe it's time to make some skirts, which arguably I wear a lot more than dresses.  I could add some fun decorative elements to otherwise simply-shaped skirts, like a pleated hem, or more scalloped edges.    On the other hand, I have a 1930s pyjamas pattern with a top that I think would make a cute blouse.  And my vintage dress patterns always beckon.   Argh, I really need to sew faster or find some more free time!

A recipe so simple even I can make it

I actually did a little sewing today!  I might finish a garment during the month of February after all.    My project is in what I think of as the home stretch -- it merely awaits buttons, hand-sewing of the lining to the zipper, and hemming.  Hopefully I can get some or all of that done tomorrow.  Meanwhile, I thought I'd share something else I made today:  ice cream bread.  My husband found the recipe on BoingBoing and wanted to try it.   So I picked up the ingredients:

Death by chocolate ... mmm.

I am about the furthest thing from a cook there is.  It just doesn't interest me.  I seem to be incapable of following instructions, which is part of the problem.  I confess that I didn't even follow the link to the recipe  until I was posting it here (and I still haven't read it).  I just asked my husband for the pertinent details and off I went.  But you can't really mess this one up.  Or believe me, I would have.

Basically, to make ice cream bread, you take equal amounts of the stuff pictured above (I used two cups of each, then another spoonful of ice cream) and mash 'em together.  Probably you should let the ice cream get a little melty before you try to mix in the flour.  And for God's sake, don't do what I do and try to knead them together with your hands .... ice cream is @$#&! cold!   I ended up mashing at it (right in the cooking pan, as I also hate washing dishes) with a couple of spoons.  This is what it looked like right before it went into the oven:

Pardon the appearance of my pan -- it has seen much brownie batter.

Thirty minutes or so at 350 degrees, and what comes out of the oven doesn't actually look a whole lot different, but sure enough, it's bread!   Actually, the texture is pretty scone-like.  And it tastes pretty darn good, for something so simple.   We ate it for lunch.  :)

Don't worry, there is no chance that this will become a cooking blog!  Hopefully I'll have a finished dress to show soon.

Bonehead no more -- the finished dress

Last time I posted, I was bemoaning the many mistakes I made on this dress, but I'm happy to say, the bodice do-over took and it came out not half bad.  It was worth the extra time (and thankfully I had the extra fabric).  Unfortunately, the stupid cold weather leaves me in no mood to have myself photographed in it, so I sent the dress out to wander the back yard on its own:

1942's Simplicity 4294 in all its sunny glory.

It looks a little creepy hanging in midair like that, but the bamboo makes a nicer backdrop than my sewing room clutter.   The pattern is from 1942.  It has those nifty squarish-inset sleeves from the time, which my gingham does not show off to advantage. However, when I tried topstitching on bodice v1, I didn't like the way it looked, so I nixed it on the redo.  Another design change I made was to make the collar white, which was a definite improvement.  Incidentally, the collar was a bit confusing to me, as the back part of the collar is actually attached to the front bodice pieces.  You sew them together at the center back of the collar, and then sew that to the back bodice.  Once I'd gotten my mind around that, doing my usual full lining was no problem.  

I did some pattern alterations on the bodice as I traced it off, and by round two, I had realized that the set-in belt was way too small.  I added two inches, and wish that I had added maybe a teeny bit more.   I also lengthened the bodice by about an inch, and went with three buttons instead of two.  I waffled for a long time about which buttons to choose: I had red, yellow, and blue, all of which would work.  Blue won, as you can see.

And here's a photo of the dress wrong side out.  As I've done in the past, I both lined the dress and used the provided facing pieces.  I didn't use interfacing (which I hate ... maybe because I've never bought the good stuff) and that was the right choice for the collar (the facing pieces are made out of a medium weight cotton) but the belt could have used some.   I used the main fabric for the belt part of the lining just because.

I finished this close to two weeks ago, and have since moved on to other projects.  I started with a 40s mail order pattern, but it didn't pan out -- the fit was off, and quite frankly, the drafting of the thing was wonky.  It also turned out to be a "teen" sized pattern, though it didn't say so explicitly, and I've found those a challenge to work with, since apparently I am no longer a teen.   I loved the style of this fail of a pattern, though, so I went back to Butterick 6149 and used it as a starting point to draft my own version. I didn't try to make it exactly the same as the one I was copying, but the inspiration comes through clear enough.   I've got that version cut out now ... just need to find time to sew the thing together.