Justified Distraction

So far, i have only the front bodice sloper finished. That's it. With a little more gumption, I could have the front, back and the skirt sloper done by now. So what's the hold-up?

Well first of all, that first one took me much longer than i anticipated. (which other pattern makers tell you is always true of your first sloper--the next ones are supposedly cake from here--we'll see) Seems some of my measurements weren't as accurate are previously imagined, and it made for a skewed version of a sloper. Luckily, since i decided to do it on the computer, I was able to make changes quickly--but it still meant looking up the measurement again, remeasuring, plotting the lines, etc etc etc.

All the while it looked as if G-d had decided to try that whole flood thing again, and frankly i was a little concerned that i wasn't even in earshot of an ark being built. Rain, once a harmless and really infrequent guest here in Southern California, now registers on my radar as a concern. In January 2005 we had a mini-mudslide here at the house, covering our back patio and making for quite an exciting evening for us. Our house is a three story job, built into the Hollywood hills. I want to say it was built in the 50's. Pete's told me a bunch of times but i never remember. It was built by a concrete contractor, so we know it is study and practically earthquake-proof, in fact we rarely feel them here. But all that won't stop the mud from enveloping it if it so chooses.

I say mini-mudslide because in comparison to what other people went through that winter, this was just pie-making mud. We were "blessed: to only have a covered back patio which the gardeners cleaned up in a day! WE also had the sandbagging help of good friends that night, which kept the mud from entering the house. Other folks lost their homes aand lives that winter. But now when it rains, hard, FOR DAYS, i get a little antsy. Not only have i got the hillside on my radar, but I am also taking stock of the "floodibility" of my studio--which rests at the bottom of our house.

A basement in California terms, but not midwestern terms. I've got everything arranged down there that if it sits on the ground it is plastic or otherwise not prone to water damage. All my fabric, patterns, sewing supplies, as well as all my scrapbooking paper and supplies are down there, and the thought of mold or mildew or any other form of water damage gives me random facial tics. Ala Virginia Woolf, it is a room of my own, and it stresses me out whenever it rains like this. I haven't really had a flood like i did the year of the mudslide, but its always in my head. Right now i have a few puddles in there, in the usual spots, and while we have been told the storm has passed, it's still raining.

On top of this, i had a MIL in town for a week, my husband's cousin is coming for dinner tonight, i have to pick up my mother at the train station tonight, and we are heading to CHA (the biggest craft show in the COUNTRY) tomorrow. And i am the mother of a 3 year-old. And a chihuahua who finds urinating outside during the rain to be an activity beneath him. Needless to say, I am having a little trouble focusing on the task at hand. (not to mention the three orders i need to get to once it dries out downstairs) Distraction has been the rule of my day, and frankly it is a wonder i was able to make a pot of coffee today.

And its raining again. My goal is to get the back finished today. but I'm not holding my breath...

Lightning, Tornados and Dart Placement, Oh my!

So i am about to draft my first sloper--ok, not my first, but my first using the proper methods and not some thrown together research from the internet. (for those of you unfamiliar, the "sloper" is the base pattern one uses to create other patterns--the mother pattern if you will. It is the Bechamel sauce of patterns) And i've been pondering my two options--do i draw it by hand, or use my CAD program? Both have skills in which i am strong, and skills which frustrate me.

As a child of public education, my math skills are mediocre at best. I love to lay blame at education, but really, math skills just don't sit well in my wheelhouse. Don't get me wrong--i made it through the college prerequisite of Algebra II with little trouble, although pre-Calculus did prove to be my black knight. I can do math--even in my head (including fractions!) but it may take me a minute more than others. This is what i mean. I've taught myself and been taught to do the proper functions--i'm just not as speedy as others, and it's even worse if i am distracted. If that makes me a moron in some people's eyes (and you know who you are) then you can suck it.

Anyway...

in order to draw out patterns by hand, math is involved. Some measurements have to be cut in half, quartered or what have you. And you say--well, just bust out the calculator! Yeah, but then you still have to convert to fractions in order to get the measurement correct on the ruler, etc etc. I'm sure it's a piece of cake for some, but it turns out to be a little more work for this dominant right brain. So i figured (after the quote from Pete--"well, the computer, right?" when asked what he thought i should do) I'll do this on the computer. I have to fight the fact that i don't sit right in front of the computer, which leads to head and backaches (and yes I've tied to fix this--I'm not a moron--see above) and of course the ever present eye-strain. And frankly, i feel a little guilty about letting the "machine" do my work--even though i have to plot every line and angle.

So I work though these feelings, put the boy down for a nap, set up my work area with my measurements and my book and...Lightning. Have i mentioned that it's been raining like one might want to build an ark? Turns out this super storm is rolling through Los Angeles, and rather than the usual traffic snarling rain, we've had a few extras--thunder, lightning, and the report of possible tornados down by the beach. my my my. Even now, as i look through my front window, i can see that Burbank is catching hell, and we ain't really dry over here either.

yeah--one could interpret this as a "sign" that i should do this by hand. Except that these little storm amenities don't just affect the use of my computer. If i were to do this by hand, i have to go down to my studio and get the supplies and bring it back up here--which requires another trip outside. Rain and our outside stairs are hardly a good combo. So i interpreted it as another "sign": watching post-Golden Globe fashion reviews and waiting for it all to pass. And as the weather clears, my son awakens, and today's chance to draft this sloper is washed away. But the snow on the mountains is pretty, and sky is clear of smog for a change...

Humility

There is nothing quite a humbling as a tape measure.

In order to draft these quality patterns, I figured i would use myself as a model. That way i can test the fit more accurately (although alterations might prove a problem) While it might be educational to create clothes based on the standard measurements of a particular size, it would also be depressing if those clothes were cute and i couldn't wear them.

So i trudged downstairs in the middle of this rainstorm to grab my tape measure and the last of my dignity. You see, measurements are not a personal task--oh the basic three can be (bust/waist/hip) but the ones needed for proper drafting require proper posture and someone else's eye. So not only am i going to get a numerical reminder of the weight i have failed to take off throughout the year--but i get to do so with my husband's help. nice. Although, truth be told, he did seem to linger over any of the measurements involving my bust. Claims he wanted better accuracy. @.@

Loving our bodies and our curves, turns out, is no easy task. No matter how much we are told one thing, we are bombarded with another and left in the middle to decipher this secret language. Yes, men like curves--but should that even matter? What i mean is, should our own body image even depend on what a stinky boy thinks? if you are heterosexual, that is. And if you aren't--wouldn't women be harsher? Or more forgiving? And let us not forget the role of gay men in this whole debacle--men who love physical perfection and then run magazines telling us how we are supposed to look, when their opinion gene-poolside of natural selection shouldn't even matter to us since they will (most likely) never choose to mate with us? It is an ever present conundrum.

And before you bark at me about health and fitness, Yes, I know. But even at my "healthiest" i was a size twelve--PLUS size in the model world. PLUS size. a twelve. I would kill to see a twelve again.

well, that's not entirely true, since i've had a year to take off this weight with no success--and i can testify that some days i try and others i don't. So my passion to see a 12 again isn't as high as imagined. And in all honesty, is it a passion to see size 12 again, or a passion to be where i was 10 years ago? Because i could get to a twelve again, but i can't be 29 again. And i never thought that bugged me, until today.

In the end, i made a self-deprecating comment to my husband about some measurement--hip i think, and he looked at me and said--"I don't know what you're worried about. i don't even know what all these numbers mean anyway."

Exactly, Pete. Exactly.

Focus

Ok--it's time to focus. I've been twiddling my thumbs long enough trying to figure out what/where my direction and focus lay.

The bible. Armstrong's Patternmaking for Fashion Design. I finally got a good deal on it last year, and it's still sitting on my shelf pristine and lovely. I expected it to be dogeared and worn by now. I figured i would never be able to put it down. This book was gonna tell me EVERYTHING i needed to know.

Problem is, it did, and little more. I have been in pattern-making overload. Overwhelmed. Gobsmacked, if you will. But too often i have let my fears get the best of me that i shy away from the things needed to be done. So, I now have a vision--and my current goal is to put it into action. I am going to work through this book, style by style until i have created, FROM SCRATCH the garments i have dreamed about making. Ok, some i have dreamed about--others i just need to create so that i understand the concept.

The fear you ask? multitasking. It's not as if the orders have stopped. I'm still sitting on one while i finish another, I'm researching one and i have two friends having babies within the next few months, and a loyal customer with friends having babies this year as well. It's not like i don't have enough to do, and a toddler to boot (and a house to manage, and a dog to feed, and a husband to cherish, all while maintaining my sanity, skin care regimen and dropping 20 lbs). I am obsessively monogamous to a project--to the detriment of my creativity (and business!) sometimes. People in the corporate world multitask daily. Hell, other SAHMs do it minute by minute--and i can to, which is why it is confusing to me that i can't seem to take that skill into my studio.

So, little by little, day by day, I am going to learn (for real this time--and not just wingin' it) how to make a good pattern, and thus the perfect garment. By the time Benji hits preschool, I want to be able to say i can make ANY garment requested of me, and not shy away from those that scare the bejesus out of me. I do not need Simplicity, Vogue or Butterick to create for me the item i want and/or need. (not that i am in any way considering giving up my extensive pattern catalog, you understand) I just need to end this dependence once and for all.

So, next step: Measurements. mine. ugh.

Creative Ennui

I've got the blahs. The "i don't wanna sew ANYTHING" blahs. It comes on me from time to time--hard to imagine but true. I go from constantly drawing patterns in my head all day, getting fabric inspiration from random tv shows and counting the minutes until my son goes down for his nap so that i can dash downstairs and create to, "eh, maybe later." I suppose its just a block. A sewing block.

I think this is due to a string of sewing disappointments. Projects for myself and friends where the image in my head just didn't match the actual project. Frankly, it makes me feel like one of the bottom three on Project Runway, just moments away from being "auf"-ed. (ANd has anyone even noticed that she's pigeon toed? It bugs me every week.) And my current project?--pissin' me off. It's as if my mojo has left me, and i'm havin' a tough time finding it again.

Of course, with any creative endeavor, the key is to get back on the horse. But like any creative block, you don't want to. Better to wallow, i suppose, than to create another failure. (failure! Like 90% of people even noticed the problems--criminey!) It's as if every time i step into my studio, I am expecting Michael Kors to pop out of the shadow and tell me, with his fake tan and smarmy sneer, that my work looks like a baboon's ass. And i would just sit there and nod, thinking, yes, yes it does, and baboon is sooooo last year...

AHH! Where is the passion i had 0nly a few months ago?

I know in time, this will pass, and i will once again be living in my studio--just in time for the rain/flood season, no doubt. But until then, i am endeavoring to push through, forcing myself to get down there for at least an hour a day to do SOMETHING--even if it is make the ugliest Halloween costume ever.

Shut-up Kors!

A real sewing job

Well, I haven't posted in forever is due to the fact that I have an actual sewing job! I am creating 32 (gasp!) mu'u mu'us for a local Halau (hula school). Now, for those thinking this is an easy job becuase they are imagining the type of garment worn by Homer Simpson, think again. mu'u mu'us are really any kind of dress as I am discovering. I am creating a traditional mu'u mu'u with the ruffle on top and bottom. and th other two are really just dresses. with big skirts. Something pretty to twirl while dancing.

I am loving this job because it is relly pushing me out of my comfort zone. The only crutch i have is the Wild Ginger Celebrations software which creates the patterns for me. But that doesn't mean i use them as is--i am still altering and changing them.

Tonight is the first fitting. Only two dresses: my client wants to see as example of each dress before i start making the bulk. This really is a step in the right direction for me. Since i was a kid i wanted to be a fahion designer--not necessarily Calvin Klein, but definitely making clothes. This job is inspiring me, and i hope my client likes what she sees! She could be the network i need to get moving. I could happily create mu'u mu'us as a career. as long as i get to design something for myself from time to time.

Once i have a finished product I will post pics. But here are two of my design drawings (also a push outside the box for me)

Coloring Caddy

Materials*:

(A) rectangle 15"x28"

(B) One rectangle 15x16

(C) rectangle 15x28

(D) rectangle 15x16

(E) rectangle 15x11

(F) 2 strips 20x3

* i marked these pieces all seperately so that i could label them for contruction. Obviously it is your prerogative what kind/color material you use for each piece.

heavy pellon fusible interfacing ( for A & F)
1 piece fusible batting ( for C--doesn't have to be fusible--i just chose it for control during construction)

1. prepare your visible seams on B, D & E. I used a satin stitch edging on E, and turned down 1/2" on B & D. I also added a strip of the pink corduroy to B because it needed some contrast. That piece is probably about 3 inches wide. (didn't measure--just let the muse guide me!)
(2) find the middle of all your pieces and mark them. Fuse interfacing to A. place B on A matching the centers and sew along that center mark. Then find the center horizontally and sew along that line to form pockets.



3) Fuse interfacing to F. To make it easier, cut your interfacing piece 20 x 2” wide. Fold down the edges over the interfacing, fold in half and sew along both edges to make straps. Attach the straps to the right side of A, matching both sides. I used my rotary cutter mat to make sure my placement was spot on. Baste into place.

4) Attach E to D along the middle. Sew another line 1 inch parallel to that middle seam on each side. (This gives you folding room, and makes sure the crayons don’t disappear into the pockets.) Then mark horizontal lines every inch for regular crayons or every 1.5 inches for the fat ones. Make sure to mark from your seam allowance (.5 inch!) Sew these seams creating the crayon pockets.

5) Fuse the fleece to the wrong side of C. Attach the crayon pockets (E&D) to C , joining at the middle seam only. You may want to baste all the pocket sides down at this point as to avoid accidents later.

6) Put your two pieces right sides together, making sure the straps are inside—not poking out of the seam you are about to sew. Sew around the two pieces using .5 seam allowance. Leave an opening for turning—make sure it’s big enough. Clip your corners, trim out excess bulk if you can. Turn your piece, pushing out the corners. Press and sew up the turning hole. Attach hook & loop tape to the corners and fill with crayons and coloring books!





A boyish variation with machine Embroidery: