Make Nine #6, Just In Time To Wear Once

By in 2019 Make Nine, sewing, Tuesday Project Roundup

When I re-organized the fabric stash in August, I got to fondle my one precious cut of out-of-print Pegasus rayon (from Anna Maria Horner’s “Fibs and Fables” line) and decided to hurry and sew it up.

“Hurry” in this case meant doing a full bust adjustment (FBA) to the pattern (the Ogden Cami) and then making a muslin to double check the fit, which means this baby got one wear before the weather turned. It’s worth it, though, because: PEGASUS.

I did a one inch FBA (my first, using a combo of tutorials I found online, because it was really confusing) and sewed the straps a quarter-inch wider than called for. That allowed me to put in some strap keepers so things stay in place;

(I used serger thread chains because I still can’t make a nice thread chain to save my life. I guess I could work on my hand-sewing skills for 2020…)

I love this as much as I thought I would–I never thought I’d need to make an FBA but it fits so much better with the darts. Also: PEGASUS! Six-year-old me and almost-forty-year-old me are equally delighted.

Hot Springs, Plans

By in weekend report

We took a long weekend off to originally go camping, which turned into plans for a staycation when the weather didn’t want to cooperate. I had big plans for day trips, taking my nephew out, maybe painting an accent wall–but we only got the first day’s activities in because I got sick.

But what a first day! Our friend told us about a place 2.5 hours north that her brother was bringing back to life: Maple Grove Hot Springs. We went up for the day to check it out and soak and it was just lovely–stunning setting, perfect fall colors, and the best natural (non sulfur!) hot springs.

After we got back home and my head cold hit, I kept wishing I had a hot springs handy for soaking. We’ll have to go back and stay!

Friday Things

By in Friday Unrelated Information

1. More Twitter, which is accurate:

2. I am inordinately pleased by this:

Learning!

By in Uncategorized

Sometimes you can learn from Twitter (assuming you trust your Twitter source, which seems decently legit).

Things I Don’t Need: Leather Jacket Edition

By in fashun

I don’t know where I got the notion that I need a classic leather moto jacket but here we are, a 20-year vegetarian (who, admittedly, does buy leather shoes) pining for something not only impractical and unethical, but hella expensive.

Expensive and GORGEOUS:

(I’m not linking any of these because I don’t want to give my dad a heart attack. But first image is Madewell; second is LTH JKT, which has an eyeroll-y name but seems about as ethical as a leather company can get.)

The Dry Down perfume newsletter talked about leather fragrances last year; I dug up the archives and they’re on to me:

The leather jacket is a bizarre luxury object: Toughness, rebellion, and the ghosts of motorcycle gangs, sold by fashion houses at the same prices as a high-end handbag or an evening gown. For most of us, a leather jacket is a little bit of a fake, and a little bit of a lie. It’s promising more than we can deliver, trying to project stronger swagger than our persona can really support. Leather jackets rarely look as good as we think they will, or as good as they feel to wear. They are cumbersome, too warm or not warm enough, hard to quite match to the weather. They overwhelm most outfits that aren’t jeans and a white tank top, and paired with jeans and a white tank top they just remind you that you aren’t either young Marlon Brando or a 1990’s supermodel.

Well then.

 

…Did I mention there’s a sewing pattern for a classic moto jacket? And that Mood sells leather by the hide?

Tuesday Project Roundup: Still Going To The Gym

By in sewing, Tuesday Project Roundup

Here’s another pair of Super G tights in a festive elf stripe for cooler weather, from a limited print run by Blended Thread Fabrics:

Please notice that stripe matching over the side pocket panels–I’m very proud of that. And please also note how I placed the darkest parts of the stripe repeat over the gusset and crotch, the better to hide that crotch sweat. (Hey, it happens.)

And can we talk about the new experience that is going to the gym in the mornings? After the layoffs at work happened, it was too hard to make my preferred 5:00 pm class time–and the 6:30 pm class just cut the evening in two. So last week I tried the 7:00 am class and I had so much focus for the rest of the day, I felt like a WIZARD.

It’s taken me 39 years but I’ve finally figured out SO MUCH: exercise is fun! doing things first thing in the morning is great! eight hours of sleep matters! go to bed early! I know my dad is proud.

Autumnal

By in nature

It’s the Autumnal Equinox today and the mountains have gotten the memo: The light has changed to that slanting golden light and it was brisk up there.

A beaver lodge that’s just right off the road in upper Millcreek!

 

Happy Birthday To My Brother

By in birthdays 1 Comment

It’s my big brother’s birthday today! Before I started therapy  a year ago, I always assumed my brother wasn’t anxious because he’s so gregarious. He got my mom’s extrovert genes and, because I couldn’t talk to strangers without agony, I assumed Alan was just a fundamentally happy guy.

Now, of course, I realize that he got the family anxiety as much as I did, but it comes out in different ways. He is a happy guy, and so loyal to the ones he loves, generous and kind–but he also feels things deeply, worries as much as any of us, and just wants things to be perfect. (Brother, I feel you.)

He has the added worries of being a parent, which I honestly can’t imaging coping with, and he does such a good job with his son, who adores him. He lives much closer to my parents than I do so he took on the lion’s share of visiting them over the years, especially now that Mom is gone.

He has the mind of an engineer and the curiosity of a historian, an encyclopedic knowledge of anything mechanical. He does all the cooking for the family and is a better chef than I am, much more patient and willing to try new things.

My brother is a remarkable man who’s doing a great job and I’m proud to not only know him but call him family. Happy birthday, Alan. I love you.

Thursday Essay

By in essays

I get the newsletter from journalist Anne Helen Petersen and this week’s was so good, it’s hard not to excerpt all of it. I’ll let you get the gist from the paragraph below:

Are you willing to embrace that truly slight inconvenience—and maybe pay a few dollars more—so that a person’s job is significantly less shitty? Think about in practice: are you willing to wait five more minutes for an Uber so that, when you get in, you know that your drive has health insurance and is making a living wage? […] Are you willing to have slightly less so that others can have significantly more? Or, as I like to think about it, do you actually care about other people?

Read it all (and subscribe yourself) here.

Did You Know?

By in Uncategorized

I’m a little late but there’s still time to enjoy Palindrome Week

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