“Fabric and Cats”–there was a lot of both this weekend as I’m catsitting for friends and my own kitty has to help me with the fabric because the sewing room is sunny.
Friday Links
1. There’s been some good stuff on Instagram, like this from Notes From Your Therapist:
(Wow yes does it make me feel uncomfortable and holy shit do I not like feeling uncomfortable but guess what, nobody has ever died from just feeling uncomfortable.)
2. This is good, too, from You Look Like A Man:
(I DO want that, actually; I love being stronger in general but if we’re being honest I also love what lifting has done for my ass.)
3. This hybridizer lets you make your own mythical beastie.
High Fashion Ruffles
Sure, our nation continues its descent into a dystopian nightmare, but haute Laura Ingalls Wilder was all over the spring 2020 runway at Viktor & Rolf:
If I ever feel like my own versions of Liberty florals and ruffles are too much, I’ll just look at these. Maybe next season I’ll add a hat!
Wednesday Poem
I fee this one lately:
In Praise of My Bed
by Meredith Holmes
At last I can be with you!
The grinding hours
since I left your side!
The labor of being fully human,
working my opposable thumb,
talking, and walking upright.
Now I have unclasped
unzipped, stepped out of.
Husked, soft, a be-er only,
I do nothing, but point
my bare feet into your
clean smoothness
feel your quiet strength
the whole length of my body.
I close my eyes, hear myself
moan, so grateful to be held this way.
Tuesday Project Roundup: Ruffles and Florals
I have been feeling the ruffle moment in fashion for a while now; when I saw Martha at Buried Diamond’s vintage ruffle blouse in not one but TWO contrasting Liberty prints, I lost all reason/fear of looking like Anne Shirley and went for my own version.
Did I go straight for the good fabric? Yes (at least both prints were on sale). Did I make a muslin? No. Did I cut a size 12 instead of the 14 because I didn’t want it to be too voluminous? Yes. Was that a mistake? Yes. I love this but the cuffs, collar, and shoulders are just a leeeeetle too tight. I can wear it now but I’m not sure it’s going to work after another 6-month max cycle at the gym.
I seriously love it, though. That main Liberty print is so great, with its crazy Mary Blair/Technicolor flowers. I sent a progress picture of it to my friend and she gave me the nicest fashion compliment I’ve ever gotten:
I mean…that’s a really good compliment. Such is the power of Liberty and ruffles.
It’s Monday (And A Snow Day)
Work from home and roll around on the dining table to show how exciting it all is:
Friday Links
1. This is the most accurate thing I’ve ever read:
But hey! It’s the last day of January. We’ve almost made it.
2. It’s a leap year this year so why not try a 29-day challenge for February? Austin Kleon proposed it and makes the case for February being the time for resolutions anyway.
3. Via this article by Mike Monteiro (which is great), I learned that the CWA–my daddy’s union!–is helping video game and tech workers organize.
..the industry’s practice of making employees work 100-hour weeks for months on end to finish a game in time for the preset delivery date, often without extra pay—a practice known as “crunch”—came under fire in discussions among workers, as did the rolling layoffs that come when companies staff up and shed jobs to fit cyclical production schedules.
Go for it, friends! You can’t scare me, etc.
Opera Stuff
I didn’t write about it here but I saw Akhnaten in the Met Opera simulcast back in November and it was incredible: A countertenor, a dozen jugglers, everyone moving in slow motion while singing “ah.” These things don’t sound like they would add up to anything other than “weird” but it was deeply moving and amazing to see.
I just found (via Kottke) this short video from Vox about how the production came together. I love behind-the-scenes/rehearsal footage so it’s right up my alley, but it also gives you a little peek at the costumes and some of the choreography.
Buy It Or Make It? Knit Set
After burning all my skinny jeans, I have knit things on my radar and have been seeing “knit sets”–a relaxed sweater and a matching sweater-knit skirt–at fast fashion places like ASOS. (I’m not linking because 1. fast fashion and 2. each piece is $40 and that is highway robbery.)
These look comfy! And warm! And versatile! And like something you could make with this fabric (or this, if you don’t want to buy from Amazon-owned Fabric.com)…. 
…and this pattern, all for about the cost of ONE piece from ASOS. 
Hooray, sewing! And hooray, clothes that don’t leave button marks on your muffin top.
Tuesday Project Roundup: Pants For My 40s
This was a conversation I had with my friend recently and let me tell you, I was FEELING this sentiment:
All of my skinny jeans are too tight (I now have an “athletic” build, a.k.a. “exercise butt”) and coming home at the end of the day and changing out of those leg-prisons and into the soft knit joggers I’d recently made was heaven.
Then I saw that my favorite company, Nooworks, had launched knit joggers in their fantastic prints and I had a lightbulb moment: First, I would burn my too-tight jeans, and next I would find a good printed knit and make myself some STRETCHY PANTS that are still work-appropriate.
The smug look of someone who goes to meetings in pajama pants
These are the Greenstyle Brassie Joggers again, quickly becoming my favorite pattern. I went up one size from my lounge pair for maximum comfort/work appropriateness, but they’re a hair baggy (I’m not complaining, though). The cotton knit was a lucky find from Fabric.com–it’s European, I think, and is light without being flimsy.
This were my first time making the Brassies with the zip pocket variation and the instructions were excellent. Just look at that tidy finish: 
I love my new non-jean pants so much. I’ve been scouring the internet for more cool printed knits. I have a plain black ponte pair on the machine right this minute. It’s a whole new world of stretchy pants!