First Day of College

my baby got into college with a fifth grade education

Monday I drove my son Nels to his first day on campus. He’s taking Music Theory, English, and ASL to kick off his college career.

I walked alongside him past the birch trees framing our bright pathway – he stopped to inspect a centipede cheerfully trundling our way – and I felt the sun on my face, mirrored in the honeyed swing of my child’s long blonde hair. I knew I only had a few moments with him and his low, level conversation before he’d politely step back into his private world.

And I ate those moments up.

Holiday Robe Sew-Along Badge

holiday robe sew-along: supplies

Join the Holiday Robe Sew-Along!

 Holiday Robe Sew-Along Badge

 

As promised, here is a bit of a supplies post for the Holiday Robe Sew-Along, starting on the 10th of this month.

So first, I absolutely love this robe. I generally throw it on after showering, putting my hair up, and donning my undergarments. The jersey is so cool, and the drape and volume give a very elegant but modest effect so I don’t mind, say, answering the door if someone knocks.

Holiday Robe Sew-Along

For this sew-along we only need our pattern, our fabrics (if sewing a floor-length for an adult, I wouldn’t order fewer than five yards), and optional interfacing for the belt (you’ll want a knit or tricot interfacing; I favor Fashion Sewing Supply‘s products).

Holiday Robe Sew-Along
And before I talk fabrics, I am well-aware that sew-along peeps usually bend the rules. 🙂

The pattern I am using for the robe SAL is a pattern suited for knits or wovens, and carries a lot of ease. A lighter-weight fabric is the best choice, due to the sheer volume of the robe – especially if you’re going floor-length. My fabric choices below will highlight lightweight knits in either cotton, modal, or rayon (or a combination) – with or without lycra. You want to make sure your fabric is not sheer (unless sheer is the look you want). But remember, you can make this robe out of a variety of fabrics so if you want to try something else, post in the comments and I will give you my advice.

Obvious choices for this robe are solids, yarn-dyed stripes, and florals.

Green Jersey Fabric

Stripe Jersey Fabric

Floral Jersey Fabric
In alphabetical order, a few shops I’ve used in the last year that I’ve enjoyed working with.

Cali Fabrics is a great, quick source for inexpensive, good knits. You can search their knits by colorway. Imagine a glamorous Christmas-evening robe in this gold-on-navy sparkle knit; a playful daytime robe in this wonderful apricot jersey; something dramatic like this rose-print black and red. (You may notice the robe I demonstrate for this sew-along was made from the floral-on-sage rayon knit in this shop.)

Fabric.com is one of my staple sites. Not fast shipping, but free shipping. And they have a huge catalog of knit fabrics. I often search with highest price first, because you can find quality yardage at good prices that way.

FashionFabricsClub is rumored to be in cahoots with Fabric.com (let me know if you know better than I). They have a real hit-and-miss reputation, but the last time I purchased from them their customer service was fabulous. You can do a search on jersey knit or rayon knit to get started.

Similar to Cali Fabrics in quality and price, Girl Charlee carries great knits, and they are fast and inexpensive. Start at their knit section and work from there; cotton jersey and cotton lycra are both great choices, with lycra sporting a springier feel.

If you are interested in a cotton solid, imagine gnats is a great shop and Rachel is a wonderful person to order from! Her knit collection holds several laguna solids, which are great (and gorgeous) all-purpose solids (note: prices are per half yard).

Mood Fabrics has some of the most gorgeous fabrics around. Start in their knit/jersey section and go from there (look at this eggplant with metallic stars!). Fast shipping, too! Their customer service “Chat” function is very disappointing. But otherwise, I’ve been very happy with Mood.

There’s always Nature’s Fabrics – one of my favorite shops, hands-down. They have a lovely selection of cotton jersey prints and stripes. Many of their fabrics are knits, so searching a few other fibers yields wonderful results (like this rayon slub).

So there you have it! More than enough to get you started. Remember, you can email me or comment here if you want any guidance!

See you on the 10th!

Costume Workshop Sew-Along Badge

costume workshop sew-along: hat with ears

Costume Workshop Sew-Along Badge

Costume Workshop Sew-Along: Hat With Ears

Yo yo yo! Today’s the day we get started on some costumery. Instead of a typical sew-along where we are all making the same garment, I’m showcasing some costuming basics so you don’t have to have endless mishaps, glue-gun burns, blunted scissors, and bent sewing machine needles!

Well let’s just be honest. You are going to get a few glue gun burns. That’s probably given.

Flames!

But here’s the thing. The real benefit of this sew-along are my Skype sessions. This is where you and I video chat and you can tell me all about your project and I can direct you to sources, help you find techniques, and advise you! My next three Fridays are open for Skype appointments  – 12 to 3 PM PST on September 16th, 23rd, and 30th! I already have slots filling in (albeit slowly) – so if you want to reserve a spot, text (360.500.3287) or email me!

Summer Dress In Double-Gauze: Samples

tres mujeres; tres vestidos

So yesterday I had the immense pleasure of spending an afternoon with three lovely women, in three versions of my latest summer dress.

An ivory with geometric motif in charcoal, for Phoenix:

Summer Dress In Double-Gauze: Samples

A gorgeous teal for Astrid (um, what is up with her perfect accessories? Tomato-red toenails and heels; beaded earrings in canary? XOMG):

Summer Dress In Double-Gauze: Samples

And a gorgoues double-faced periwinkle for Jen:

Summer Dress In Double-Gauze: Samples
Needless to say we had a lovely time – and a fabulous lunch afterwards at Frontagers. I couldn’t help thinking these three women looked like three gorgeous summer blooms!

Summer Dress In Double-Gauze: Samples
I am providing a sew-along for this very dress. Here is a supply post: we start stitching on June 15th. This sew-along is appropriate for beginners, intermediate stitchers, or advanced practitioners. In addition, it is a wonderful pattern to get acquainted with Bootstrap Fashion, one of my beloved pattern companies.

See you soon! <3

Summer Dress In Double-Gauze: Samples

Wakey-Wakey

/=/ complicity

My veganism happened to me. It wasn’t something I aspired to, or something I did “to be a better person”. Because I didn’t think I could do it. I guess I thought people who were vegan were tough sunovabitches who didn’t need food to comfort them, to fill them up, the way I did.

I believed if I became vegan, I would be hungry all the time.

And sad.

Wakey-Wakey

But wait, let me go back:

The first time I tried veganism I was thirteen. I was off to a YMCA camp, and there was little there for me to eat. I didn’t know how to advocate for myself, either. I ate plain bagels and applesauce and felt hungry and pinched and sorrowful about it all. I felt anger at all the people there who just didn’t give a shit. I was tired and grouchy.

I got home from camp, and I remember a lot of green salads and french fries at restaurants. I think I went without animal products about six months, that time around. No slouch there, I mean. Many thousands’ gallons water, hundreds of lives spared. But I didn’t feel supported, understood. I felt alone. It couldn’t last.

In the twenty-plus years since I’ve flirted with veganism and vegetarianism more than once. It was inspiring for a bit, then would come to seem impossible. An uphill battle.

But something changed earlier this year. I had finally settled into vegetarianism in earnest, and with a bit of joy. Meat had come to taste like death, like a corpse. I could leave it behind, finally. Eggs were no trouble. They’ve always been a bit repellant to me, and that conviction had been growing.

And then, early this year, I came to know I’d soon be saying goodbye to dairy. No one has loved cheese more than I. Let me tell you!

Yet, I was seeing deeply that behind any animal product, no matter how much we don’t want to look, and how much we insist we “try” to buy “humane” meat or eggs or milk, there were things happening that no human being could feel okay with. I started to know the math wasn’t right. Backyard chickens – we used to house some, remember? Well, where did all the boy chicks go, when you order your chicks from the feed store? Nowhere nice, as a very haunting video demonstrated. A two-and-a-half second video that to this day, I wish I hadn’t seen.

Where did roosters go? Did they have a quality of life? Are hens supposed to lay as many eggs as we’ve bred them for? Do they enjoy safety and longevity? Are the many health and predation issues they suffer, just “part of life”? Or is there another solution?

What about all those calves? Do they miss their mothers? Where do they go? They are slaughtered and turned to veal. The dairy industry is the meat industry. Cows cry, bellow, and feel pain. Mothers search for their babies for weeks after they are torn away.

I knew this.

And I couldn’t even stand to watch videos that answered any of these questions. I still haven’t viewed the phenomenal and award-winning documentary Earthlings; I saw less than a minute of footage and had nightmares for two days.

But it was a conversation, two in a row in fact, that lit the lamp of awareness. I had started to explore the cruelty of eggs and milk, aloud, when the topic came up. I wasn’t in a hurry to talk about it all; but I was thinking it through. And these two conversations I was met with ignorance – a man passionate about “natural” foods, who insisted the males on the dairy farms had good lives after they were “sold”. I said, “Where are they sold to? What becomes of them?” – and he said, “They go to farms,” as if these bulls were given long happy lives. Then, two days later, a woman who promoted cage-free eggs on Facebook responded with startling vitriol when I suggested any kind of egg consumption may not be very ethical by any human standard.

The anger that met my most open-hearted musing really made an impression. I came to see that if I wanted to offer a choice to people, I would have to step across the threshold myself.

And I woke up a few days later and knew, Today’s the day.

And now? I’m vegan.

It has been a beautiful experience. I could write so much more about it! Veganism this time around has given me an intense, keen joy. To my astonishment, my family and many friends have followed along. Some to full veganism, some to vegetarianism, some to just less animal products – good for them, good for the environment, good for the heart and mind.

My children follow. My daughter is a passionate, lovely vegan. Her sense of humor is different than mine; but we are wicked and we share our joys and frustrations together. My son, who I never thought to see eschew meat, became a vegetarian just before my birthday. He is working toward veganism now.

Our household has changed. It happened so quickly, but it is not a surprise, not really.

Gentleness suits us. It seems to deliver more life, more humor, and more peace. Some people think when we consume meat, we consume not just hormones and poisons and unsafe chemicals – but adrenaline and fear and hate.

I don’t know what I think of that, but I do know that veganism brings me joy. I wouldn’t have found this serenity if I hadn’t let myself change. I find there is more to learn, more to love. I find I don’t have to listen to arguments, apathy, and angry words from people who don’t demonstrate a better plan for the environment, for the compassionate heart. They are free to their opinion, but are they who I want to advise me? This helps me think deeply – who do I want to listen to? Who can help me?

Joy has entered my household, in a surprising, wonderful way.

May you find the same!

maxi dress sew-along: cutting and marking

Welcome back to our sew-along! Today we will be cutting our fabrics and marking them. It’s a lot of work, and some people dislike cutting. I, however, enjoy it quite a bit! It is a good time to familiarize myself with the pattern I’m about to create.

First, we need to prepare our pattern a bit more. For instance: I am installing a zipper in the back, and although 3/8″ is perfectly adequate for a zipper installation and, in fact, would mean the seam allowances would be entirely hidden by the zipper tape, I am going to advocate for a larger seam allowance to show off our flat-lining technique. This means we will be cutting the fashion fabric with a 1″ seam allowance at the back seam only; we will cut our lining pieces somewhat larger still in order to flat-line. I am going to be adorable and actually show you how to draft for the flat-lined pieces here, too!

So first: the bodice pieces, fashion fabric:

Now: the bodice pieces, for the underlining:

creeper peeper

Nels lays on the bed, eyes fixed, body still. He’s pretending to be a lifeless, motionless doll – for as long as he can. I lay my body on top of his to see if he’ll giggle. He’s silent. My right ear on his chest; his birdlike ribcage, his heartbeat – so strong! After a few moments I find a peace, feeling the life of my boy, but I’ve enough of our game’s concept in mind that when he suddenly and silently cranes his head to bite my neck I am half-convinced this eerie doll is coming to life and I am freaked out. He starts laughing, and his arms grasp me as he tries to play-bite in earnest – and now I’m scrambling off in equal alacrity. From a loving stillness to a froth of action! Phoenix, hearing the commotion, flits in the room and tries to fight him off. We’re all tense and electrified by our creepy little preternaturally-undead talisman!

The cold outside seemed all the more cruel after the evening’s swim; a pristine sky and harsh, cold stars – a bite to the air. My time in the water tonight was rough – I had to work too hard to get my requisite number of laps in, and this work left me nauseated. My husband’s car; no heater. Brakes so bad they grind. My car is in the shop as of this afternoon on the forth iteration of a door handle repair – our previous garage bungled the job three times in a row. I’m upset as this car repair means we won’t be able to afford taking Phoenix and a friend for a zoo trip for her 12th birthday, Sunday. I haven’t told her yet, but I know she’ll be okay. I just have to wait until I’m okay. I need a night’s sleep on the disappointment of today.

My son, and Emily – our sunny afternoon lunch at Thai Smiles. I dunno. I think you can tell that they like one another.

Nels + Emily

Nels + Emily

Nels + Emily

you can count on about two more weeks of this

No-No last night…

Sleepy

No-No this morning:
Knittin Kittin

SERIOUSLY though this kitten-fostering has no downside. She’s so young and mostly she needs so much love, water, food, and cuddling. That’s it.

I should add that if anyone reading here wants to adopt No-No, our family is not responsible to place her. Interested parties can call Inge Johnson at 533-1141 on a Wednesday or Saturday – she works at PAWS of Grays Harbor. I have not yet met Inge; I have been working with Deb from Harbor Rescue (FB link) and very slowly learning the ropes of fostering and responsible rescue.