I wrote a lot of words this week, so let’s wrap things up with some pictures.
1. This is a good theme for your 2019, if you’re looking for one:
(from a sticker that’s out of stock now at Ban.do)
2. This is accurate:
(From here)
About Karen
Posts by Karen Kaminski:
39: The Best of Times, The Worst of Times
As I start 39 and 2019, I am not even sure how to feel.
On one hand, I’ve discovered powerlifting. I’ve discovered therapy and anti-anxiety medication. I’ve stopped drinking. I wake up happy, I’m in the best shape of my life, and I’m learning how to be a better daughter, sister, and partner.
On the other, my mom was diagnosed with Stage 4 pancreatic cancer last year. It’s as if the news has tied my family to a train track with no hope of escape. The train is barreling down on us this year.
So instead of a phrase to aspire to or a goal to accomplish, this year’s theme for my life is a promise to myself and my family. If I’ve learned nothing else from therapy and the gym, it’s that things can hurt like hell and you will still survive them. They even stop hurting. Eventually.
We will be ok. We have our tools. We have each other. “And even semi-OK can be a miracle.”
2019 Sewing Plans
The 2018 Make Nine challenge was my first time really planning out projects; it was helpful to think about the year as a whole, what I needed in my closet, and what interested me to sew. With that said, I got distracted by new projects a fair amount too, and of course made more than nine things.
Part of my lack of focus last year was, um, buying a lot of fabric for future projects, so my 2019 Make Nine will use fabric I already have. I’m not going to say, “I won’t buy any new fabric in 2019” or anything crazy like that, but considering I have six additional cuts not shown here, I’m going to try to sew from my stash for a little bit.
So here’s what’s planned, in no particular order:
#1 is another Archer button up in ikat from Stonemountain, which my friend bought for me last year while she was in Berkeley. (FaceTiming someone through a fabric store = true friendship.)
#2 is an Ogden Cami in sold-out-everywhere Anna Maria Horner rayon. I found just over a yard on eBay last summer and have been hoarding it. 
#3 and #4 are a couple of Linden Sweatshirts, in fleece I indigo dyed in 2017 and some textured doubleknit from Stonemountain. I think these will be easy work outfits with wide-leg pants and cool boots.
#5 is a long sleeve version of the vintage jumpsuit I made last year, in Kokka abstract twill from Stonemountain again. (I’m just gonna say, Stonemountain knows what they’re doing when they include coupons for your next order with your current order…)
#6 is hopefully a Toaster Sweater #2–this is amazing merino sweatshirt fleece from an order from The Fabric Store in January last year. I’m going to test it out in Polarfleece first to see if I like the neckline; if it all works out I’ll have a new loungewear top, too.
#7 is the Silvia Coatigan from Schnitten Patterns (I have the pattern ready but need to print the instructions). I’m going to gamble and not make a muslin; my fabric is a wool/acrylic tweed from Fabric.com and lining from JoAnn, so nothing’s too precious.
#8 (and maybe #9; see next project) is another couple of Nikko Tops (the long sleeve version), in black rayon microrib and toffee cotton from Stonemountain’s Black Friday sale.
And finally, #9 will hopefully be a lengthened Tamarack Jacket in this astonishing double gauze I bought last year. My only hesitation is I’m not 100% in love with the neckline of the Tamarack I made in 2017 (Grainline crewnecks are generally too low for my taste); I love this fabric so much that I want it to be perfect. So I’ll ponder alterations and maybe a muslin and we’ll see.
And there you have it! Nine things that I have the fabric and patterns for, in an accidentally-cohesive color palette. (Bob Ross colors forever!)
2018 Sewing Year In Review
Favorite project of the year
It’s New Year’s Day, but I use my birthday on the 3rd to plan the year ahead, so let’s look back on what I made in 2018.
Jackets
- One quilted kimono, self-drafted and marginally successful (I think I might cut the weird sleeves off and make it a vest)
- Two Wiksten Kimono Jackets (now called Wiksten Haori): tan linen, amazing blue jacquard
Pants
- Emerson Pants in Japanese canvas
- Hudson Pants in glen plaid
- Arenite Pants in brown linen (These were the fail of the year; they were too big and too brown. I still the concept, though; if I find the right fabric I might try again.)
- A vintage Simplicity jumpsuit out of an IKEA duvet
Woven Tops
- Archer Shirt in blue linen-cotton
- Blaire shirt in blue stripe
- Two Willow Tanks: blue linen and Japanese print
- Ogden Cami refashion
Knit Tops
- Four versions of the True Bias Nikko Top–2 sleeveless and 2 long sleeve
- Three versions of the Adventure Top (only the first one [a muslin] made it to the blog, but I wore the others a lot this summer)
- A Toaster Sweater
Activewear
- Nikko Top as a hiking top
- Hudson Pants as gym sweats
- Hudson pants as hiking pants
- Emerson Shorts as DIY Patagonia
- Greenstyle Creations gym tank
Loungewear
- A mini capsule with Hudson pants and 2 Finlayson Pullovers (confession, I hate the fit on those pullovers–they were a men’s pattern, lesson learned–and am going to make something better and warmer this month).
Lingerie
- Six pairs of undies (I discovered both lingerie sewing and the deep and abiding joy of full-coverage underwear)
Gifts
- Three shirts for Doc: one long sleeve, one too-small short sleeve, one just-right short sleeve
- Two baby rompers
- A shirt for my brother
- A sleep mask
- A fort kit
- A makeup pouch
That’s 32 garments (34, if you count baby rompers) and some smaller projects–more than double last year’s output. Having a serger all year was definitely a game-changer.
On top of all of this, I bought a few things from J. Crew and Madewell (and even exercise tights from Old Navy), but I bought a few more from Everlane and Outdoor Voices and Girlfriend Collective, aka more sustainable/sweatshop-free places. And the majority of my new clothes in 2018 were made by me–a first!
Second favorite (ok, it was almost a tie)
Year In Review: The Christmas Presents
The end of the year kind of got away from me, so let’s take a week to review what I made and what I want to make for next year–starting with some Christmas presents.
I didn’t really plan it, but my brother’s family all got handmade things this year. It started when my brother was talking about a shirt he had in high school, which we both loved (I stole it from him and wore it to junior high when I could): a Levi’s button up in navy and white buffalo plaid. I knew Kaufman made a really nice heavy duty buffalo plaid a couple years ago; I found the last yardage in existence on Etsy in August and bought it.
I started before Thanksgiving and batch sewed it along with Doc’s birthday shirt (using the same M6044 pattern). He was really touched and says he loves it–the fit is great, as you can see.
For my sister-in-law, an actual rocket scientist, I found this science print on Spoonflower and sewed her up an Ida Clutch, minus the magnetic snap, so she can use it as a travel bag when she goes to all her rocket science conferences.
And finally, I wasn’t going to make anything for my nephew, because I thought, “What seven-year-old wants something that could have been given in Little House on the Prairie times?” Well, turns out this seven-year-old does.
I brought sock knitting along on our beach vacation road trip in October and he was fascinated and learned how it all worked. Then he told me, “You should make me a scarf that’s blue and green and purple and orange.”
Reader, when we got home I ordered the yarn so fast my keyboard was smoking. I made his scarf really long (probably too long) because I thought it would be more fun and dramatic for a little kid. He opened the box on Christmas and said, “Oh! It’s my scarf! You made it like I asked!” and that was the best reaction I could have hoped for.
1. Bros! Have you ever wondered what animal you could even lift? Find out at What Animal Do You Lift. (I can deadlift a young male puma! My PR is a baby giraffe!)
2. This is the current theme of my life, it seems, but it feels good. Probably related, I cleaned out some actual drawers over the Christmas break. I have those New Year Vibes.
Via Carissa Carlson/People I’ve Loved
Christmas!
I got a cold in my nose for Christmas but my sickbed was very festive, Toby didn’t leave my side, and the celebrations and thoughtful presents were still wonderful.
Friday Links
I have Monday through Wednesday off so I’ll be back Thursday. Be kind to yourself this coming week; even if you like the holidays, things can be overwhelming.
1. It’s the winter solstice today. We made it through the darkest part of the year. (I have to say, taking meds has made my SAD nonexistent this year, and it’s been great.)
2. Here’s Anne LaMott on hope, in an essay for National Geographic, and it’s a good one:
Everyone I know, including me, has lived through devastating times at least twice, through seemingly unsurvivable loss. And yet we have come through because of the love of our closest people, the weird healing properties of time, random benevolence, and, of course, our dogs.
At regular intervals, life gets a little too real for my taste. The wider world seems full of bombers, polluters, threats of all kinds. My own small world suffers ruptures…that leave me struggling to stay on my feet.
In these situations I usually have one of two responses: either that I am doomed or that I need to figure out whom to blame (and then correct their behavior). But neither of these is true. The truth is that—through the workings of love, science, community, time, and what I dare to call grace—some elemental shift will occur and we will find we are semi-OK again. And even semi-OK can be a miracle.
3. And here’s Beatrix Potter’s “The Tailor of Gloucester” online, in case you need to read a Christmas Eve story about talking animals and sewing (aka the BEST Christmas story).
Seasonal Poem
Looking at the Stars
I still think about the shepherds, how many stars
They saw. We owe our love of God to these sheep
That had to be followed, or companioned, all night.
One can’t just let them run. By midnight
The stars had already become huge talkers.
The Parent sits in her proud Chair, and is punished.
The Dog follows the Hunter. Each time a story ends
There is such a long pause before another begins.
Those of us who are parents, and getting older,
Long, as tonight, for our children to stand
With us, looking at the stars. Here it is,
Eight thousand years later, and I still remember.
Internet Fame
I’ve talked about Ask A Swole Woman here before; she’s the reason I started lifting. She’s now writing a column for Self and, back in September, I wrote in to ask for advice on what pants to wear to the gym that aren’t leggings. (Remember these sweatpant knockoffs?)
She published my question last week! Of course, the kicker is that since I wrote in, I’ve gotten a lot more comfortable with doing gym things (and how my butt looks), so I go to class in leggings like it ain’t no thing. As she says:
“…stretchy fitted pieces just do truly make a lot of the practical elements of lifting easier for everyone, regardless of your biology or geometry, and I do think many people end up making this transition not out of narcissism, but rather out of a kind of necessity. We are a stretchy-garment-loving people, and we come in peace.”
Indeed.
***
And in more internet fame, I posted Doc’s birthday shirt on my Instagram yesterday, tagging the fabric store because I am not proud (and because I want as many people to have nice ikat as possible). They featured my post in their Story!
Seeing it like that makes me realize that IS some pretty nice pattern matching, if I do say so myself.