an American fabric-shopping in Paris!

Yeah, that happened! There’s a lot more I could say about my trip, but we all know you’re really here for the fabric chatter, right? Of course right.

Several people were kind enough to give me recommendations for places to check out, via Twitter. Specifically Sonja and Sarah–thanks, ladies! I knew I would have to limit myself on how many places I could visit, since I’d be dragging Doug with me, so I ended up picking one recommendation from each sewcialist.

First up was Les Coupons de Saint-Pierre. I’d been forewarned that this place was one you’d have to dig through piles, but I’ve been a thrift shopper since I was 13, so I have no problem with that.

To be honest, I could have spent hours in this part of town alone–there were so many tables full of fabric sitting outside multiple shops, just begging to be noticed! For a girl who only has a handful of Joann’s in her entire state to pick from, this was a dream! But for the sake of my long-suffering husband, I restrained myself. Yes, there was a lot of digging to do. All of the fabric is piled onto tables by type, in 3-meter cuts–there was a huge pile of cottons, a section for linen, a part with leather hides, a huge section on the one side of the store for “silks”, etc. (I put the silk in quotes, because upon closer examination, I deduced that the sign probably meant silky and the biggest pile was actually polyester. All of the labels were in French, of course, but I made sure to look up the words for the different fiber types before I left!) So I bought 3 pieces of fabric here. When we were walking to the metro, I spotted a fourth “coupon” on an outside table that I couldn’t pass up, so we quickly bought that as well and kept moving. I forget the name of that shop, but it also had “Coupons” in the name, and looked to be pretty similar.

Here’s what I ended up with, from left to right:

1. A fine-wale corduroy, covered in embroidery and sequins. This was on the 5 Euro table outside the store. My first instinct says jacket, but since I already have a brown corduroy jacket, I’m pondering a fall skirt. A Beignet, maybe? French named-pattern for a French fabric!

2. The piece on the side of the road I couldn’t leave! It’s a thin jersey, and I do so love brown and teal together. I think this could be very nice as the lately-released Muse Jenna cardi, though I don’t have that pattern yet. 4,75 Euros.

3. A denim with a slight amount of stretch. I liked the cross-hatching in the weave. These will eventually become jeans, of course. I’ll have to decide whether to make them skinny, since that’s pretty much the only pants I saw anywhere in Paris, or give myself another pair of bootcuts.

4. An ITY floral jersey. This color scheme is odd for me, and almost completely outside of my palette, but something about it called to me. I don’t know what this one will be yet, but it’s not like I have a shortage of jersey patterns. I’m open to suggestions, though!

All together, the cost of these fabrics was just under 30 Euros. Which made the whole shopping trip cheaper than almost every single meal we ate. Those cafes are expensive when you’re buying for 2! Even for just sandwiches!

The second store I visited later in the week was La Drougerie. I didn’t end up buying any fabric here, because there was only a small selection and it looked like mostly quilt-type cottons. It was also sold by the meter instead of the 3-meter cuts, so it looked like that would add up quickly. It looked like the big draw here was the yarn–it’s the first thing you see when you walk into the door, and dominates the whole first half of the store. There’s also a room to the side where you can browse beads and buttons and trims, and again, I could have spent a lot more time here.

I decided to limit myself to just a small yarn purchase here, since the yarn is sold by weight. It’s a good thing I came armed with fiber translations, because as usual, there’s wool in almost everything! But I did find this super-soft linen/bamboo blend. It’s called Kaleido, Ravelry has it categorized as fingering weight, and I ended up with about 330 yards. So probably enough for a hat or a lacy scarf or something along that line.

Finally, I did do some crafting while I was gone! This was mostly done during times like airport layovers and sitting in the hotel room at night– I was originally thinking to knit on the plane some, too, but for both of the long flights, I ended up in the middle seat with not a ton of elbow room. This is the Unleaving Shawl from Knitty, which really looks a lot more like a scarf than a shawl and highly increases the chance of this actually getting worn. And it’s a really simple pattern, unless I’m so tired from flying for 8 hours straight that I screw up the pattern and can’t figure out how to backtrack and fix it. (Yeah, that happened once. Hopefully it’s not too terribly obvious. I really should not knit anything other than straight stockinette when I’m super-tired.)

One other fun sewing-related story from the trip: Doug and I had just gotten on the metro later in the day after dropping off my fabric at the hotel, to head to Notre Dame. There were two older ladies in the seats near the rail we were holding onto, and one was telling her friend (in English) about something having to do with a silk-cotton blend and the pattern she was working with. So when there was a pause in the conversation, I asked them if they sewed, they answered in the affirmative, and the three of us got to chatting about sewing clothes! I didn’t have time before our stop to ask their names or where exactly they were from, though I’m guessing America based on the accents (or lack thereof, to my ears). But they did like my Cooper bag that I was carrying, and had heard of Colette when I replied to their question of what pattern I’d used. It’s amazing that I could instantly find someone to talk to in a random subway on the other side of the world because of sewing!

If you do want to see travel photos, I have a small selection up on my Instagram. I still need to sort through the photos on my SLR, and when I uploaded those and the ones on my phone this morning, I have over 700 photos from the week! But I’m also going to make a Flickr album of my favorites, mostly to make it easier to upload and print. After all, this is exactly the sort of trip that makes me want to dig into my scrapbook paper and play!

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Do the (blog) hop!

I’m sure many of you have seen the blog hop that’s been going around about our writing processes lately, and Alessa nominated me! If you don’t know her, she lives in Germany, makes wonderful, colorful dresses, and started a new job as a doctor this year (congrats!) So it’s an honor to be nominated by her. And here’s my answers.

Early days blog photography, when Donna 1.0 was my main model.

Why do I write? I started this blog waaaay back in 2007, mostly just as a way to keep track of my own projects, make notes of changes that I’d make when re-using patterns in a place where I couldn’t misplace them, etc. Somewhere on the way, people actually started reading it and (gasp!) commenting. And suddenly, I was actually part of a sewing community. Since I live in what is basically a desert for garment sewing, and the only people I know who sew regularly are my mom and grandmother (who are both more into quilting), this is a pretty big deal! When the “sewintists map” went live, I kept checking and checking, but I’ve never seen another pin in Delaware. I guess it’s a good thing I’m only a day trip away from Philadelphia/Baltimore/DC, right? So my blog is still mostly just for my own personal documentation, but also as one method of keeping conversations going with other sewcialists.

A recent outtake with both dogs trying to get in the action!

What am I working on? Blog-wise: you probably wouldn’t know it, but I am attempting to work on improving my blog photos. My current challenges here are that I don’t have anywhere good to take photos outside on a regular basis, since I live in a middle-unit townhouse that has a lovely view of one of my state’s busiest highways from the backyard, and I’m still trying to convince my long-suffering husband to not be scared of my camera. Also, photobombing Golden retrievers. 🙂

I’m also working on writing more concisely, because I have a tendency to ramble!

Sewing-wise: I’ve got two projects going on right now! One is my winter coat, which I’ll probably write more about soon. This one pretty much demands in-progress posts. The other is a patchwork skirt commissioned by my sister-in-law. It’s a good thing she’s patient, because I started this one before my wedding dress and it still isn’t done! But since this is the perfect project for Scraptember, I’m trying very hard to finish it this month. We’ll see if I make it, since I’m leaving for vacation on Friday!

How does it differ from others of its genre? I don’t think my blog is all that unique, tbh. I don’t design patterns, I’m not an expert at fitting or pattern hacking, and I’m not trying to come up with anything to sell at this point in my life. Since I’ve already turned one hobby into a job, via my music teaching and occasional performance, I’d like to keep my crafty life as something that’s just for fun! I guess what does make me a little different is that I don’t just sew–that’s why I named this blog what I did. I’ve been teaching myself to knit, I make jewelry when the mood strikes, I‘ve been making scrapbooks since I was in high school, and sometimes I do other “crafty” stuff. And I need to remember sometimes that just because something isn’t sewing-related, doesn’t mean it’s not creative or unworthy of a mention.

Or not-so-secret costumes, though only the Whovians would get this.

Also, some people like “secret pajamas” clothes…. I like making secret costumes! (AKA things inspired by geeky things I love, which can still be worn in my everyday life.)

How does my writing process work? Most often, I start with the words. I’ve always found it easier to consolidate my thoughts in writing, rather than verbally. Also, sometimes I pre-write my posts at my retail job, when I’m close to finishing a project and don’t have anything else to do. (Shh!) After that, I take the photos/pester Doug into taking them for me, edit my text as needed to match them, and post! Lately, that’s also been followed by tweeting about the new post, since sewing completely sucked me into the Twittersphere. 

I’m supposed to tag two other people, so I’m nominating Katie from Kadiddlehopper and Helena at By Eitchy. In case you don’t know them, Katie makes fabulous clothes for both her and her highly photogenic daughter, and has the most stylish Barbies around. She’s seriously tempting me to get out my old Samantha doll and make some outfits for her with my scraps! Helena lives in Sweden, is working through a really fascinating project she calls “Sew For A Change” where she’s also working on greening up her lifestyle, and has also been in pretty much the same boat of re-examining her wardrobe plans and ideals through the Wardrobe Architect project. I also find it interesting when she talks about Swedish culture, since it sounds like it’s soooo different in a lot of ways from what I’m used to here in America.

FESA plans!

It’s that time of year again! I do love this sewalong, and this is the 3rd year I’ve participated. You all know how I feel about the cold, and my ironically wool-phobic skin doesn’t help matters. (I say ironic, because since I got married, my last name now starts with Wool! Go figure.) So this is a great way to keep me focused and excited about making things to get me through the winter.

So without further ado, here are my plans for the next couple of months. I’m keeping things rather conservative this time, so maybe I can actually finish everything?

Fashionable Foundations for Frosty Weather: I have some stashed knit to try out the Espresso leggings, and I’d like to knock out a pair or two of them. Since woolly tights are a sad no-go for me, I think this could be a great way to keep my legs warmer for wearing skirts. (I wear boots with skirts a lot, so the no-foot-coverage thing won’t be an issue.) Not to mention it’s a layer I can wear under my jeans while I’m shivering my way through the last bit of October at the outside register at my retail job. (I have some black, too, but it’s a much bigger bolt since I’d also bought this fabric with that aborted attempt at a Red Velvet in mind. Oh well. I can always use black knit somewhere, right?)

Chic Chemises for Cool Climates: The definite is that I’d like to finally finish up the Roheline cardigan that I’ve been knitting since August 2013! (Though I really didn’t get it started until last September, since I had to restart no less than 7 times.) I’m so, so close to finishing the sleeves, which means I only have the yoke and buttons to go, so it’s not unreasonable. Depending on how the time goes, I also wouldn’t mind trying out the Archer blouse, since I didn’t get to that in my summer plans.

Fabulous Frocks: I would like to do a Darling Ranges dress if at all possible, since the colors will be great for taking it into the winter. Also, I meant to make it last year, so it’s time. I’m hoping to knock this one out next month, since The Monthly Stitch’s theme is “Frocktober” anyway. I’ll just need to find a layer to go over it–I have yarn to knit a yellow cardigan that will pair nicely with this, but there’s no way I’ll be able to finish 2 cardigans in this time span.

Baby It’s Cold Outside: My old peacoat that I made in 2007 is starting to fall apart. Replacing that will be first priority! (Even so, 7 years, including the polar vortex of wintry doom that we had this past year, is not bad at all for my first me-made winter coat!) I’m hoping to play around with a few more tailoring techniques, but I’m using the exact same pattern as the first one, so at least fitting won’t be an issue. I actually have started cutting this one out already, but since there’s 4 layers involved, I’m still on the outside. (The black and white tweedy fabric has been cut, but I’m underlining most of the pieces with that greyish silk organza that’s right next to it. And that’s taking a little longer. Especially given that I haven’t been able to touch it since Saturday.)

Other projects: I’m hoping to knock out a skirt before the end of the month, because a long-standing project I’ve been making for my sister-in-law is perfect for Scraptember! I may knit up a scarf, too, since I’m strongly leaning towards a one-skein project to take on my upcoming trip to France. (Next weekend! Eeeeee!) After all, I have a lot of plane/airport time, and at least 6 hours on a bus to get to Normandy and back, and I’m not sure how well my Kindle battery will hold up for a cross-continental flight. Also, I know from experience that I sadly cannot read on the bus without getting sick.  Maybe I’ll have better luck with just keeping my hands busy.

I’m also beginning to plot out what I’m going to make for the Disney sewalong that Katie and I are co-hosting in November, but that project is still a secret!

The Sorbetto that was late for everything

I love sewalongs! Especially when I can work things so that one project fits the parameters of multiple ones. What can I say, I guess I have a hard time not wanting to participate in All The Things. I mentioned in a recent post that I’d been planning to make a Red Velvet that I could use for both The Monthly Stitch’s birthday sewalong, and the Sewcialists’ Tribute month, and that it didn’t work out. So my plan B was to revisit my original list of things I planned to sew this summer, and make the Colette Sorbetto. My thought process, since I was still in DragonCon prep mode at the time, was pretty much this:

“A lot of cake has flowers on it, so a floral print top would work for cake. Even if they’re daisies and not roses. And I’m sure somebody out there likes Sorbettos enough that I could say this is a tribute to her, right? Right!”

And then I didn’t finish this until yesterday anyway, which makes it too late for both sewalongs. Oh well. I’ll probably throw this one up on TMS anyway.

Oh, right, you probably want to see that shirt, don’t you?

So here it is, in all of its slouchy glory. I’m still not convinced this is a good pattern for me, to be honest. It’s all right when tucked in, though that’s not a look I often go for, and I guess I’m a little stuck on looser top + fitted skirt still = waist definition. But it is pretty comfortable to wear outside, which is good, because September and July seem to have traded places this year! So while I was enjoying mostly that golden range of 70-85 degrees most of the summer, now that it’s unofficially fall, we’re back to 90 degrees and 200% humidity. Go figure.

I did make a couple of changes, which are completely unoriginal, given how long this pattern’s been out. I lowered the darts about 1″, because they were way too high on the original pattern. I’m pretty sure they’re in an ok place now, but the shirt tends to slide forward on me and bring them too low, so it’s hard to say. I also replaced that front pleat with some gathering–I thought that might help it work better with both the pattern and, well, my chest. In that, I do think this was more successful than my last attempt. Finally, I lengthened the pattern as much as the fabric would let me.

Untucked, it just looks like a sack. So while I was considering/planning to bring this on my upcoming France trip, now I’m not so sure.

As for the fabric, it’s a rayon challis that I acquired via a swap with Kat about a year and a half ago. I hadn’t sewn with challis since, oh, the 90s. And I forgot how lovely it can be to work with–which is good, since I have 2 more pieces stashed for dresses! And I guess a year and a half really isn’t all that bad, as far as my stash habits go. I literally still have fabric that I purchased back when I was in college (over a decade now, yikes!), though at least by now, it’s a piece leftover from a finished project.

The time of year pretty much demands that I move on to more fall sewing now. So let’s evaluate how I did with my summer sewing plans overall, shall we?

Tops:

1. A navy daisy-print tank, most likely a slightly modified Sorbetto. See above.
2. A royal blue button-down blouse, from a Burda mag. Not even close to thinking about this one.
3. A navy Archer blouse, which will probably be closer to the fall. I did think about this one, but it obviously didn’t happen.
4. A striped ivory knit tee–hoping to use the Plantain but we’ll see if I have enough fabric. Done, cardigan-style.

Bottoms:

1. Fitted/skinny-ish jeans. Check!
2. Thurlow shorts. Too bad I didn’t have time for these, because I really could have used some shorts that fit for when I was at work, if nothing else. Maybe next year?
3. Solid black Thurlow pants, which I do not currently have fabric for. And I still don’t have fabric for them, but I still should do this sometime. My black RTW pants that I’ve also had since college are finally starting to fall apart!
4. Possibly some black Clover pants– I have fabric that will work, but have not tested this pattern yet. Maybe I should just use that fabric with the Thurlows?
5. If I have time, a Pavlova skirt. I didn’t have time.
6. I also have a plum skirt that I can do a quick refashion of to make it a better skirt. Maybe this fall?

Dresses:

1. A navy/ivory Cambie  Done!
2.  A plum/yellow/royal/white Darling Ranges. I’m bumping this one to my fall plans.
3. A yellow/white/turquoise Reglisse dress. Part of me is tempted to say I want to make this in October, since The Monthly Stitch is using that pattern as one of their Frocktober contest ones, but the colors are just sooooo summery. I dunno.
4. A plum/green/white/ knit Tiramisu maxi-dress Done!
5. A black tank knit maxidress, from McCall’s 6559. Done, though shorter than planned.

Layering pieces: Honestly, I didn’t touch this category.

1. a 3/4 sleeve jacket, from the ivory/black embroidered twill I got at Mood and Simplicity 4491 (which I’ll modify to shorten and cuff the sleeves.)
2. An ivory Carmine shrug.
3.  a yellow knitted cardigan, which I already have yarn and a pattern for, but starting it will have to wait until I finish my grey cardigan. Considering I haven’t even finished my Roheline cardigan yet, this was a definite no-go.

So all in all, I had 18 things on my list, only made 6 of them, but also made about 6 things that weren’t on this list at all for DragonCon. Plus that Kimono tee from the maxi-dress leftovers, and a couple of refashions. So I guess that isn’t too bad for this summer!

Next post: FESA plans!! Did I mention I love sewalongs? But for now, I’ll leave you with my “smug model” photo. Because I can. And this particular picture makes me think that maybe tucking in a looser top could actually work on me. Maybe.

a traveling companion bag

Last bit of Dragon-Con related sewing, I promise!

The one thing I finished up just before the Con that I didn’t say much about earlier was a new bag–I wanted something that I could use for both day trips and airplanes, and this one worked out beautifully. This is the Cooper bag from Colette Patterns, and I pretty much mashed together the messenger bag and backpack versions. My original thought was to make the backpack straps so they could zip into the back, but at the end of the day, it was far more simple to just make a removable messenger bag strap, so that’s what I did.

Under normal circumstances, I probably would have passed on solid grey and navy. But my planning revolved largely around this Spoonflower print of TARDIS (Tardises? Tardii? How do you even pluralize that, Whovians?) and Gallifreyan writing that Doug gave me last Christmas. Since it was the quilting cotton, I figured it would be best utilized as a bag lining. As for the outside, it’s leftover grey twill from my Thurlow pants, and some stiff poplin-esque fabric that my mom destashed on me. I didn’t manage to completely use up any of these fabrics, which particularly surprises me with the grey since it was already leftovers, but it’s a start.

And yeah, I stuck a TARDIS on the outside. Because I could. And also because since I have this habit of taking a little plastic TARDIS with me on trips and sticking it in random places, I figured it was fitting. 

The one non-pattern addition I made was the separating zipper–I figured if I was planning to carry this around for day trips and such, I’d feel more comfortable if I had more than a flap and a couple of magnetic snaps standing between me and potential pickpockets. My mom, who is quite experienced at making bags, was kind enough to sew this one along with me and help me figure out the best way to do the zipper, since she added one to hers as well.

And here’s the back! The only thing that somewhat annoys me about this bag is that the straps tend to flop out past the sides when I’m carrying this messenger-style, but it’s not annoying enough to undo the straps and try to come up with something different. I was also pleased to learn when carrying it around this past weekend that the webbing straps were surprisingly comfortable, though I’m not sure they would have been if I’d been wearing anything sleeveless.

All in all, I think this bag will be quite useful, and now that I know how it works, I’d definitely use the pattern again. Maybe Doug will actually let me sew one for him sometime?

DragonCon, and what I wore!

Well, I’m back.

The trip to my very first fan convention was a ton of fun, despite the lines and sleep deprivation. I got to hang out with a friend who I’d previously only met in the real world once (hi, Faith!), I met several actors from favorite tv shows and movies, and got a couple of books signed by one of my favorite living authors. Oh, yeah, and it was basically one giant 4-day costume party, so of course I was all over that!

Several of the things I wore were me-mades that I just ran out of time to blog, so I’m sharing them now. (This will probably be a fairly picture-heavy post, so consider yourself warned.)

For Thursday, we decided to do a Despicable Me theme– Cassie went as Gru, and Faith and I as her minions! We even found bananas to carry! I went the cheap/lame way out for my goggles and just wore my glasses, partially because I ran out of time to make more accessories, and partially because I had to get up at 3:30 AM to make it to the airport. My me-made for this one was the yellow hoodie. I’d originally planned to take this opportunity to try out the Disparate Disciplines Avocado Hoodie. But due to time/thrift shop constraints, I decided to keep it simple and short-sleeved.  The result is a Renfrew with an Avocado hood. The “hair” on top is just basted-on scraps of black leftover from my recent dress, so I can remove that anytime.I’m actually really happy with how this quasi-hack turned out, and could definitely see more hooded Renfrews in my future! But I’d still like to try the Avocado for real at some point.

As for the overalls, they’re just horrendous shorts I found at the thrift store. I should be nice, since some other sewist took the time to resize the legs and turn them into shorts. (The inside seams are basically raw and obviously home-sewn, while the hem was hand-stitched.) But it ended up fitting me really oddly–almost too-tight around the thighs, with the torso and straps being too long and baggy. The original overalls were XL, which probably explains it. And if I ever do this costume again, I’d definitely try for different overalls, but  they were literally the only ones I could find that weren’t made for toddlers! I added a hand-painted patch with the Gru logo on it. You can see it a little better in this photo. And look, we found a monster minion!

I started Friday off with a Firefly t-shirt, but changed into my old Eowyn costume partway through the day, because one of our main activities that we all wanted to do in the evening was the Tolkien track’s “Evening in Bree” party. (Which was SO fun.) I don’t have much to say about this costume, since I’ve mentioned it here and there on the blog before–the only new addition was the blonde wig. Which did get a little snarly in the back by the end of the party, so I need to figure out how to untangle it without ripping all of that fake plastic hair out. The only other thing I’ll say is that the costumes in the contest were amazing, and I felt very out of my league. But I did have a kid come up to me at the end of the party and hand me a sketch that she’d made of my costume, which I thought was really sweet.

Saturday was Belle day for me, and easily the crowd favorite! I’ve talked about the blue dress and the top here recently. Since then, I added an apron made from an old bedsheet in my muslin pile, and a bow made from scraps of the blue dress. (Just a tube, stuffed with some leftover tulle from my wedding dress to keep it perky, sewn around a hair elastic with another scrap of knit.) I also carried around a basket, which I swapped with Faith, who was doing Red from Once Upon A Time that day because all she needed was a stuffed wolf, and my book didn’t fit in mine. I got lots of compliments from passers-by on how “cute” my Belle was, and several people asked to take my picture. But the two best moments were when I was getting a couple books signed by Jim Butcher, who saw me coming up and sang a line from her intro song in Beauty and the Beast (“Look there she goes, that girl is so peculiar…”), and the little girl I passed in the skybridge between hotels whose face lit up as she squealed, “Belle!” Making a kid happy made me feel rather good about my life that day.

I did have a couple people ask me where the Beast was. I told them that he was back at home, taking care of the library. (Sorry, Doug.)

Sadly, I didn’t make it to any Doctor Who-related activities, but Cassie, Faith and I did go around dressed as companions on Sunday. I don’t have any pictures at the moment of Cassie as Oswin/Clara, since that’s on another girl’s phone, but we ran into a couple of Weeping Angels (yikes!), so this is Faith as River Song and me as Amy Pond. This costume was super-easy– just the zipper-leg jeans from earlier in the spring, (because after all of that time sewing the skinny jeans, I saw a picture where the cropped jeans she was wearing in my chosen outfit had that detail!) and a thrifted and slightly modified plaid shirt. Also, tally marks on my arms with liquid eyeliner, because as one person I met put it, “Amy without the hashmarks is just a girl in a plaid shirt”.

This was an easy recon overall, though I guess “regeneration” would be a more appropriate term here! I shortened it to get rid of a tear, took in the sides and sleeves a bit, and cropped the sleeves to more of a 3/4″ length before sewing the cuffs back on. And since one of my costuming goals was clothes I can wear in the real world, I can quite confidently say that I will be wearing this one over the fall.

I saw so many amazing, creative costumes, and it really makes me want to step up my costuming game! Sadly, not all of my pictures are the clearest– they looked fine on my camera, but the ones from the first day or so, while I was still trying to adjust my settings, ended up slightly blurred. But I did go ahead and make a Flickr album of ones that I wasn’t just passing in the hallways and therefore couldn’t stop, and thought were funny, creative, or just plain amazing, along with the pictures I’ve already shared here. (I’ll admit there’s a disproportionate amount of Lord of the Rings-related costumes, and Disney costumes. But I have an excuse for the Disney, since I’m co-hosting the Sewcialists’ sewalong in November!) I’d definitely love to go back again sometime if circumstances/money allows, especially if I have time to do some real costuming beforehand!