“Frock Consciousness”

By in quotes 1 Comment

From The London Review of Books, an essay by Rosemary Hill about “frock consciousness” in Virginia Woolf. I think the essay really wants to be a book, as it’s a little rambling, but it’s a fun (scholarly) read:

The correct answer today is that we dress for ourselves, but that isn’t quite true either. We dress to say something about ourselves and the question is: to whom are the remarks addressed? […] The effect on other people is…one end of an arc, the point where it comes to earth in the outside world. The other end, the spring of the vault, is in the interior world of the wearer and it is somewhere between the two that frock consciousness happens.

There’s even a quote from Virginia, which is pretty much how I feel planning sewing projects or ordering something online:

‘Happiness is to have a little string onto which things will attach themselves. For example, going to my dressmaker in Judd Street, or rather thinking of a dress I could get her to make, & imagining it made – that is the string, which as if dipped loosely into a wave of treasure brings up pearls sticking to it.’

Tuesday Project Roundup: Baby Prison Vogue

By in sewing, Tuesday Project Roundup 1 Comment

What’s cuter than a baby-sized, prison-striped jumpsuit?

Only a sunny yellow cloud version!

My friend who got married three years ago is expecting a baby boy, so I made the Brindille & Twig Baby Harem Romper for a shower gift and it lives up to all the hype–easy, modern, and really damn cute. (The hat is from this tutorial.)

The stripe fabric is Riley Blake knit from Fabric.com/Amazon; the cloud fabric is German via this Etsy shop. The colored cap snaps are from my new favorite place, Snap Source. (They have the best selection of snaps I’ve seen, ship really fast out of Michigan, and have the most fool-proof setting method I’ve used to date. I’m never getting Dritz snaps again.)

I used a three-thread overlock in my serger to do all the seams and threw some rainbow thread in the upper looper for the black and white version, just to give it a little color:

I wish I’d known about Brindille & Twig patterns seven years ago because there’s so much I could have made for my nephew. In hindsight, he got some really fugly things from bad McCalls patterns–too bad it took me so long to discover indie designers. But now there’s no going back!

Goodbye, March

By in Toby

We went to bed early all weekend–Doc was getting over a cold and I was getting over a really terrible month. Toby was there for us, though: He’s usually not a snuggly cat at all, but he came and sat on Doc’s legs during a nap and cuddled up to me Sunday morning.

Friday Links

By in Friday Unrelated Information

1. It’s Good Friday in the Christian calendar so that means it’s time for my two annual religious experiences: Bach’s St. Matthew Passion and the Good Friday Music from Parsifal.  

2. Similarly inspirational, a transcript of a new talk by artist Austin Kleon: “How To Keep Going: 10 Ways to Stay Creative in Chaotic Times.” I love #9 (“The demons hate fresh air”):

Pretty much everybody knows that walking is good exercise, and most of us know that it’s great for thinking, for releasing our INNER demons. What we don’t emphasize enough is that walking is also a great way to battle our OUTER demons — the people who want to control us through fear and misinformation.

Advertisers, marketers, politicians…it’s in their best interests for us to be plugged into our phones or watching TV, because then they can sell us their vision of the world. If we do not get outside, if we do not walk out in the fresh air, if we do not see our everyday world for what it really is, using our own senses, we will have no vision of our own with which to combat the disinformation.

Thursday Poem

By in poems

The Trees

by Philip Larkin

The trees are coming into leaf
Like something almost being said;
The recent buds relax and spread,
Their greenness is a kind of grief.

Is it that they are born again
And we grow old? No, they die too,
Their yearly trick of looking new
Is written down in rings of grain.

Yet still the unresting castles thresh
In fullgrown thickness every May.
Last year is dead, they seem to say,
Begin afresh, afresh, afresh.

Wednesday Reading

By in Uncategorized

From BuzzFeed News (I know), a short and delightful essay by Alanna Okun about how making her own clothes made her confront her measurements and think a little more kindly about herself:

I stopped thinking, for a moment, about my body as anything other than the vehicle for this beautiful item I wanted so badly to bring into the world. I stopped thinking that it had to look or be anything other than what it was, because the sweater, somehow, would conform to its requests. My body had nothing to do just then with sex, food, pain, worthiness, or value. It was just there, and it was mine, and so too would be this sweater.

I love the end:

“Look what I made” isn’t just a cute little mewl for attention; it can be a battle cry. “Look.” It can be a command. “Look at me, as I am, as I want to be. I did this. I made this, and you can’t ever take it away.”

When Life Gives You Lemons, Get Your Knitting Together

By in knitting, sewing, Tuesday Project Roundup 1 Comment

I say “lemons” but the news is pretty good for my mom–it will be a long road ahead but she’s already beating the odds and will continue to do so.

But there’s going to be a lot of visits and waiting rooms in the future, so over the weekend I became obsessed with finding a bag that zipped to hold my sock knitting for all of it. Then I realized I’m surrounded by fabric and the internet, found this pattern, and sewed it up Sunday morning.

I had big scraps leftover from my quilted jacket and some natural canvas from an abandoned project, so I only had to buy the zipper. (Pin from Stay Home Club. I’m the president.)

The “open wide” feature is really nice for digging around in the bottom. It also makes it look like it is almost big enough to sit in–or at least big enough to try with your front feet:

Thanks, Dune

By in Uncategorized

I don’t quote it much here but Frank Herbert’s Dune series is probably one of the most frequent things to pop into my head (Laura Ingalls Wilder is up there, too).

Blame it on early exposure and complete world building, I guess–but the Litany Against Fear has served me well for many years. Here it is:

I must not fear.
Fear is the mind-killer.
Fear is the little-death that brings total obliteration.
I will face my fear.I will permit it to pass over me and through me.
And when it has gone past I will turn the inner eye to see its path.
Where the fear has gone there will be nothing.
Only I will remain.

Four Years

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Four years ago tonight, I went to a hipster taco place to celebrate my friend’s husband’s birthday. Because my friend is a magician, there were not one but two single men there.

Because my friend is smart, she hadn’t told me about this beforehand.

The hipster waitress told us about the hipster specials, saying, “The fish for the fish tacos tonight is escolar.” Single Man #1 said, to no one in particular, “Pablo?” and I thought, “Who’s this guy?”

This guy, it turns out, is the most patient and generous man I’ve ever met. He’s calm on the exterior and Steinbeckian in his depths (he really does wave at dogs and cars). He gives the best advice and the best hugs has become the bedrock of my life. It has been a privilege to spend the last four years learning from him and I wanted to publicly celebrate it.

(We’re not going back to the hipster taco place for dinner, though.)

Tuesday Truth

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(via)

Spoiler alert: I bought more fabric. My friend was in Berkeley for business, FaceTimed me through Stonemountain’s selection of ikats, and brought this cut home for me:

Then, of course, while I was picking it up I had to see her beautiful tower of fabrics from there and that also happened to be the first day of the Stonemountain anniversary sale–so I bought even more fabric online.

Fabric doesn’t go bad, though, right? And 2 of the 4 cuts are for the 2018 Make Nine plans, so that has to make it better. Somehow.

(Also it’s pattern release day for these pants I’ve been stalking on Instagram so I might as well just buy those too while I’m at it. Right?)

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