Trips & Travels & Pants

It's been quite the month.  Mr. Lina and I were off to Germany and Austria for a little film fest and vacation.  It's the third year in a row that Mr. Lina had a film accepted into the same Landshut film festival.  Every time we meet people in the film industry and reinforce friendships.  I swear, my Facebook page is half German now.  If I knew in 2012 that I'd be back to Germany 3 times, I would have taken a conversational German class.  As it is, we are getting pretty good at "menu-German".

Opening night, cloned skirt made in February.  Black photographs so well.

Did I mention I dyed my hair?  Wearing Renfew top with cowl.

Again, it was a good festival and his film "Oh Come All Ye Zombies" was well received.  It won it's block of films and came in second for audience favourite by a very narrow margin.  Year after year, their programming is just phenomenal.  He's up against some amazing films and we aren't exactly stacking the audience with cast members.

Mr. Lina at the film fest!

Same Renfrew as above at BMW.

Landshut is such a pretty little town.  Even going three times, we still got to see some new things.  The festival arranged a tour of the BMW component factory for us.  They don't hold back on the tour, I got to see engine blocks being poured and carbon fibre bumpers being made.  The also added a film maker breakfast, weistwurst (white sausage), bretzel (big soft pretzel) & beer, a traditional Bavarian breakfast.

That's a radler - beer (lager) and lemonade of some sort, very refreshing.  Pretty sure I have self-made pants you can't see.

We decided after the film fest we'd go somewhere new for a few days.  Vienna, Austria ended up being the winner, it's close enough to be cheap and yet still new to us.  I liked Vienna, it's very beautiful, compact and walkable.  We rented a one bedroom flat through AirBnB.  It was great, we could make breakfast at the flat, if we at a big lunch and just wanted nibblies for dinner, we could do that.  After being in a tiny hotel room in Landshut, it was nice to have a little more space.

Long day of walking, corduroy pencil skirt I made last year.

 The first full day we walked a crazy amount.  Through the old part of Vienna, over to the amusement park, went for a ride in their rather famous Ferris Wheel and Mr. Lina decided we should have lunch at the Donauturm on the Danube, sort of like their version of the CN Tower).  We didn't quite realize how far away it was and ended up walking 20 km that day alone.  Above I still had a few kilometers to walk to get to the flat and I needed to just sit for a bit.  Thank heavens those shoes are comfortable!

Did I mention it was windy at the top of the Ferris Wheel?

We did a day trip to Saltzburg.  It was pretty overcast and damp that day so I can't say I got the best impression.  We walked up to the castle that overlooks the town.  This is the area that The Sound of Music was filmed in.  It wasn't until we were taking the train back to Munich for our flight home that I really saw the alps clearly.

Walking to the castle in Saltzburg, never been so happy to be at the top.

Oh right, this is a sewing blog isn't it?  And I mentioned pants!  

Thurlow Trousers, lunch at the Rathaus in Vienna.

Yep, I made pants.  Since February I have made a black skirt and 3 pairs of Thurlow trousers.  The first were a wearable muslin where I figured out that the leg is just too wide for me.  I'm drowning in them as drafted.  Above I'm wearing the second pair, black twill that is shiny on one side that I put to the inside of the pants.  It means they slide nicely on my skin when I'm walking (which led to me being unable to sit still after too much beer and coffee).  This pair is a bit loose in the waist, but that makes them perfect for travelling and great for bowling.  I have full range of motion but feel put together.  I actually wore that exact outfit to work yesterday now that I look at it.

I made a third pair in grey, it's got some stretch and pile to it, but it's not quite corduroy.  After this pair being a little big, I trimmed them down further but I had such a problem getting the bum right.  Oddly enough I'm not quite as happy with them as the second pair.  I've also got a little post-vacation weight on me so I'm hoping some of that sorts out the fit.  I did wear them on vacation but the days I wore them Mr. Lina only seemed to take pictures from the waist up.  Perhaps he isn't as keen either.

On the adoption front, we're one meeting and an evening training session away from being "Adopt Ready".  I thought the meeting was going to happen today, but our social worker isn't quite ready for us to sign off on it.  He has reviewed our home study with his supervisor and I gather they are really eager to have all the i's dotted and t's crossed and working with an adoption worker to place kids with us.  So soon.  Soon.

I sewed!

Sadly I'm not done yet so I don't have pictures to show you, but progress has been made.  It's been ages since I last sewed and I'd like to commemorate the event with a sewing room saga.

When my parents were in Florida, I had two pieces of corduroy shipped to them from Fabric Mart.  Sadly, I forgot to save the pictures from the web site and I haven't taken my own.  Mind you, black fabric doesn't photograph well anyhow.  So... piece #1 was black Ralph Lauren stretch pin wale corduroy and #2 is a dusky plum (hedging towards brown) very wide wale corduroy.  The reason pictures are moot is that they would not convey how soft both fabrics are.  I swear the dusky plum is like velvet in it's softness.  Both pieces are far better than the fabric I used for my grey skirt, the skirt that has me wanting another corduroy skirt.

I washed the fabric late last week.  I left it to finish the last drying over the railing in the upstairs hallway so it would be in my way, taunting me.  Sunday I had the whole day free.  I woke up and told myself I'm going to sew today.  And did I?  No, stupid Facebook games...

But the England/Germany trip is fast approaching (like two more sleeps approaching).  I thought of how much I want another somewhat casual skirt to wear.  So I did it.  I moved crap from my sewing room to the guest room, I chucked more stuff to clear off the cutting table.  And I was decisive and I cut.

A pencil skirt is pretty basic.  I have made a few skirts and didn't see an issue.  But then I started looking, I've mostly made A-line skirts, or patterns for stretchy fabrics (my mom loved Stretch n Sew patterns), or for a size 10 that would need grading even from the grading I did when I made it before, I couldn't actually find a pattern that was... perfect.  I have a UFO for the pencil skirt for Butterick 5147 but something went wrong at the zipper.  It's horribly warped and yes, I probably need to put some interfacing to stabilize it, but I think part of the problem is that my hip is not the right distance from my waist making it bunch up too high.  It was not the pencil skirt of my dreams.

Somehow, I thought it would be easier to work from a combination of a) measurements, b) the Lekala back skirt piece (no idea where the front piece is) and c) the front DRESS piece for Lekala 5432 just guessing where to put the waist based on the curve of the hip.  I've made Lekala 5432 many times, first as linked above for a wedding with satin and swiss dot, then again in a knit, then again looser in a light rayon.  Lekala has no seam allowances, but I also needed to add width.  The pencil skirt was 3" smaller than my measurements (with no ease),  I know that the dress I wore to the wedding that is the same size as the pieces is too snug at the moment and I used every bit of seam allowance, so it needed a little width too.  Added to this, I had the back pattern piece but no instructions (although it's no real loss, Lekala directions are well, worse than Burda), so I opened up another pattern to borrow the directions.  And yet, I chose to frankenpattern it up because the shape is right.  Mr. Lina loves that dress because he thinks it makes my ass look good.  I trust his judgement on something I can't see well myself.  I added the requisite inches (roughly) and cut away.

At that point, I became my usual terrified self.  What if it's too small?  I knew I wanted either lining or underlining, I've found tights get caught on my grey cord skirt. So I used the already cut corduroy as my pattern and cut out some Bemberg lining.  I sewed it up with the laziest (crappiest) French seams EVER, and pulled it on with lots of room.  Lots.

For my grey skirt, I finished the seams by zigzagging and while it works and it's fine now, there was a phase of finding loose threads everywhere until it essentially shredded back to the stitches.  While I was trying to find pattern pieces, I came across my shoe box of satin bias tape and I thought that would be lovely on the inside.  So now it's sort of a Hong Kong finish with ivory satin bias tape.  But in my slapdash mood, I just folded the tape over and sewed it up rather than two passes to sew it on like proper bias tape.  The plum stitching looks pretty on the ivory satin bias tape.

As I was about to figure out the zipper situation, Mr. Lina came up to bed.  A sure sign it's time to stop sewing.  I really didn't want to sleep with thoughts of how it could be big like the lining or too small.  In attaching the bias tape, I was also having second thoughts because the seam allowances were going to HAVE to be wider than the bias tape (and thus wider than my crappy French seams).  And the corduroy is a lot thicker than lining, there will be turn of cloth kind of issues, I used the cut cord pieces for my lining patters so the lining is naturally a little bigger... maybe it wouldn't fit...

So I set the longest stitches and sewed up the sides.  The zipper isn't done so I can't speak to the true fit, but it's going to be just fine.  It's not crazy potato sack big, it went over my hips and it's not obvious where my thighs end so I won't be crying as I give it away or wait for 10lbs to magically disappear...  it's going to fit.  I can't speak to the fit at the waist, I haven't sewn the front darts nor the zipper, but if there is a little extra room there I might add a little elastic to pull it in rather than using darts to remove it.  A little pretzel and schnitzel room so to speak.

I am going to wear it in Germany after all.

Mochaccino Ramblings

I mentioned that my Thurs/Fri client got new coffee machines and oh boy I think I'm getting addicted to the mochaccinos.  They are lovely.  Caffeine is not always good to my punctuation and thought process, so we'll see where today's list goes.

• Mr. Lina has been sick this week.  He took Wednesday off work, worked a little from home on Thursday and has generally been hopped up on Neocitron and wanted to snuggle.  I've watched a lot of tv this week instead of sewing, but it is hard to argue with snuggles.
• I thought I was doing well until I started to cough last night.  I may be skipping the initial feeling stuffy part and going right to the cough.
• Which doubly sucks as we have very close friends visiting tomorrow night from the UK, with their two kids in tow.  I don't want to make them sick at the start of their visit. 
• I did switch to my better vitamins on Saturday, 2 pills twice a day.  I dunno if they are truly that much better, but I don't seem to have flourescent pee from the excess vitamins my body can't process all at once.
• Went to the clinic yesterday to review the plan, price and paperwork.  Switching from IVIG to intralipids streamlines the process, apparently I won't be taking Fragmin (blood thinner, daily injection) but they do want me taking vitamin E daily and there will be a week of being on an antibiotic.
• Intralipids take about 3 hours, they do it in the clinic in an examination room.  I am to bring a pillow, a blanket and something to do.  Apparently most people sleep.  I don't have to bring a driver (although Mr. Lina is still welcome to come) because they don't expect side effects and a nurse will check on me every half hour.  We'll do it once prior to Day 9 of the FET cycle, again with a second positive pregnancy test, and a third time if there is a heartbeat for the six week ultrasound.
• Ah, and the bill...  I guess I'm just too far down the infertility road for suprises, the nurse was teasing us we were so quick to agree and sign papers.  Intralipids will cost us $700 per treatment (far cheaper than IVIG but because that was done in the hospital it was covered by the government) and I'm okay with that.  I can't say I like it, but I'm the one that wants to do this, I would rather see my tax dollars pay for my mom's eye drops so she can see.  FET fees went up from $1200 to $1400, I got the feeling the nurse was expecting us to react to that.  It's not an unreasonable percentage over two years and they typically discount the second FET off of the same IVF by 50%.  I get a lot of personal care from nurses and it's still cheap relative to the US. 
• Odd that the car cost less than the clinic bill but seems to hurt more.  I put $900 into it in January, $1500 yesterday.  Ouch.  Next oil change better just be an oil change.
• So... no dressform for Sera. 
• For now.  And I'm okay with that.
• We are watching How I Met Your Mother on NetFlicks.  It's been great to watch good comedy.  And now we're at the point (season 6 I think) where Lily and Marshall are interested in babies so three episodes have resulted in one of the two of us crying (we seem to have different triggers). 
• How I Met your Mother also inspired Mr. Lina to send me pictures of tea cup pigs instead of lambs.



From http://blog.girlybubble.com

• I don't know if we just power through this story arc or shelve it for a while.  Sometimes it's good to release a little pressure off of the emotional dam. 
• Today is day 31 of this cycle, we're heading into some potential PMS time if my period sticks to it's 35-43 day "routine". 
• Okay, this is going to sound lame, but... we go camping Victoria Day, May 21st with a big group of friends.  If this cycle ends April 1, the next cycle will end fairly predictably at 28-30 days because I'll be taking Provera/Lupron, so say it ends April 30th.  The embryos are specifically Day 5 blastocysts, so they need to be transferred 5 days after I ovulate, so Day 19-21 and that puts the transfer right in the middle of the long weekend.  Yay me.  Another year of camping being fucked up by infertility. 



Day 5 Blastocyst, not actually mine.

• Do I hope that this cycle lasts closer to 40 days and the Provera-induced nightmare lasts an extra couple of days so the transfer is later that week?  I'll still have to drive into the clinic at least once, possibly every day, over that weekend, but we don't travel far to camp, it would be about an hour each way.
• This is the petty and annoying part of infertility treatments, my life becomes nearly unplannable until the time arrives but two months out I know there might be complications.  I've missed camping a few times now because of infertility.  The first IVF cycle I figured I could manage it not realizing that I'd be on two injectable drugs starting that weekend that needed to be refrigerated but not frozen (frozen is more of a risk overnight than too warm in May).  It was insane and led to tears on my part and Mr. Lina completely stressed out worrying about the very expensive medication.  At least this time all the medications are pills.
• Monday I had my performance review and while it went well, there was a clear dividing line of happy Sera prior to August and not so happy Sera after August.  I am harder on myself than they are on me, but in a way that paralyzes myself into feeling useless.  It was nice to hear they still want me. 
• Positive feedback included that I am a good presenter.  I know that, at least, I feel that I am good giving presentations.  I enjoy doing it and I like teaching people, I am comfortable with questions on the fly.  It seems that because I am perceived as quiet, they think I will be shy and then are pleasantly surprised when they attend a presentation and I'm relaxed and engaging. 
• This is a reoccuring theme in my life, people see me differently than I see myself.  Half of them know me as the bubbly, chatty person that feels natural, and the other half think I don't talk at all.  Seriously, the first time this happened was kindergarten.  Although, I was rather selective of who I talked to then so it wasn't entirely unfounded.
• I misplaced my cell phone yesterday, I had it prior to walking into the mechanics, but not after the doctors.  I'm pretty sure it's in my car, I can't see it but my hands free bluetooth seems to be connecting to it so it has to be there somewhere, right?

So, that's essentially my week in review.  With friends visiting overnight, I don't think I'll get to sew this weekend.  Next project is a second take at the Consultative Dressmaker pants block.  I am eager to get at it so first opportunity I'll be there.

Back in the Saddle

I dropped my in laws off at the airport this morning on my way to work.  As much as I struggle while they are visiting, it is again proof that about the time I adjust to having people in the house is when it is time for them to go.  In some ways I wish they stayed longer so that the time that they are here doesn't feel so precious I can't go off and do my own thing when I need a break and I can have time to adjust and just enjoy having dinner made.  I have a great time while we're playing cards or out and about.  Well, maybe less so at Bass Pro, Toronto Sportsman's Show or Canada Computers.  Not much that really appeals to me at any of those places.  Particularly the TSS, it was too big to hang out by the live fish tanks or falcon exhibit and find them again because they didn't know what was going to catch their eye next and none of us really knew the layout. 

The queen bed arrived on Monday afternoon, some trading was done to max out the guest room bed.  We have kept the frame and box spring from that room but moved our mattress over.  I didn't sleep all that well the first night on our new bed.  I guess because it has independent support or whatever the term is (like the bowling ball commercial) there is a little ridge down the middle.  I woke up a few times in the night not sure where Mr. Lina was and feeling an uphill battle to find him.  Last night was a more solid sleep.  I will say that bed is super quiet.  This also helps in ah, dealing with um, various forms of stress while having guests in the house.  ;)

The weather has been absolutely beautiful the past week.  However... my Tues/Wed client has horrible air circulation.  In fact their air conditioner is broken and so old that a part has to be made for them because no one makes air conditioners like theirs anymore.  That won't be fixed until mid-April apparently.  Yesterday was 22C outside, 28C in someones office (not that hot at my cubicle, but hot enough).  They set up 6' fans all over our area so it's like working with a plane taking off in the cubicle beside me.  I saw this coming from past summers here so I dressed accordingly.  Yesterday I wore Kwik Sew 1595.  I don't wear it with this tie belt, I have an elastic belt I made but I don't have a picture of the outfit together.  Anyhoo, I like that although this dress is polyester knit (similar in weight to my Renfrews), there is no sleeve (the cap is just a wide shoulder, there is  no under arm seam).  With air flow at the arm pits and a loose fit, it works well in summer without hose and winter with tights/boots.

And today it's Lekala 5432 in a really light rayon if I remember right.  That sweater will be coming off this afternoon.

Jeez, that reminds me how long it's been since I got my hair cut, it's in a pony tail today.  I really should do something about that.

Warm weather has me digging out summer shoes.  Those cute red flats above?  I can only find one.  I'm sure I had a pair of open toed black heels for work, can't find them.  I wanted to wear some super casual sandals to bowling, I could only find one.  Is our hall closet like the dryer with socks?  Eating one shoe at a time?

I think purchasing a dress form will be put on hold for a bit.  My car has a whine when moving that I have been trying to pretend is not there but it's past ignoring now.  Add oil change, tire rotation and I found out Monday the A/C doesn't work.  This will not be a small bill.  Also, the FET will likely run about $1,000 depending on how the clinic discounts or prices have changed, how much medication is covered and added transportation costs.  We can cope with both bills, but I don't want a dress form enough to shoulder debt for it so we'll see how those bills go first.  I suspect my savings will go to one of those two and I'll start setting aside money again.  I've managed just fine so far and if I really want it, there is always the duct/paper tape options.

Tonight, I get to enjoy some Shepard's Pie my MIL made for dinner and a quiet house.  A former coworker is going to call me up.  She's leaving a place I'd like to work so I'm getting the inside scoop as to what is going on over there and if I really would like to go there.  Location isn't everything if the environment has changed from what it was.  Lots of movement creates positions I could move to but it also may change what I liked about it. 

Perhaps I can move some of the crap we hid in my sewing room and start planning my next projects.  It was mom's birthday on March 10th and while I had a long talk with her on her birthday, I didn't have a gift ready.  I think Renfrew would suit her well so I offered to make one and let her pick from a few suitable fabrics I had in stash.  That will be the next project.  Then a summer weight Renfrew for me because that polyester 3/4 sleeve will not work as summer approaches.  Then a return to pants.  Or the Tanit-Isis blogiversary top.  I have some lovely plumb bamboo that would work well.  Or the Blank Canvas Tee.  Or I did buy Pendrell when I bought Renfew and silk was in the fabric order from my parents earmarked for Pendrell.  So many plans, so little time...

Signs It's Time to Pause

If you remember, my grey skirt was made because I didn't have matching thread.  I had cut out the slip (?) of a gift, but not sewn it up.  Friday night I tackled sewing now that I had matching thread.  I worked until 6ish, home at 7, went out for dinner with Mr. Lina so I did get a late start on the evening.  One thing I like about that pattern is that the pieces really line up well.  Even with me grading up 5" on the hips, notches lined up, the pieces were the same length, etc.

Lekala 5241 or Modern Pattern Sewing Red Slip

I did forget a few things. 
A.  I sewed the whole seam down forgetting about the cute slits at the front.  I was lazy on this front.  I could have unpicked the 2 seams but meh, it's stretch fabric, I put in a lot of extra fabric for her hips, pretty sure she'll have room to move.

B.  I cut the SA too big.  I use my overlock stitch on past versions as they were sheer and I didn't want to see the seam allowances.  As much as sheer wasn't an issue, I went to sew it the same way but I had cut wider than that.  I will admit to trying it on (over clothing, we have similar bust measurements) and realizing this was WAY too big at the sides and around the bust (although the extra at the bottom fell nicely).  Sadly this was after I had put the bias tape on so it was a true PITA to fix.

C.  My sewing machine is not a mind reader.  More on that shortly.

D.  Pictures.  Yep, ran out of time.  I was suppose to be at the bride's house at 3:00 (20 min drive).  I finished it a bit past 2, then wrapping, out of the shower at 2:30, I managed to leave at 3...  Sigh.

So the sign that it is time to pause in a project and go to bed.  I had it done, bias tape along the top/straps (black satin bias tape that Fabricland sells by the meter), all it needed was a hem.  I was getting tired, it was midnight, but I thought I'd push on so all that all I had to make were panties the next morning.  I bought a double needle a while ago but really haven't had a chance to use it.  In theory, this should be quick and easy.  I practiced with a scrap to see if I wanted to put some interfacing or tissue to stabilize but honestly, the part that looked best was left alone so I went with that.  Then I realized I should overlock the hem.  Switch feet and overlock so it doesn't shed so much.  Then go back to the double needle.  That was my downfall.  I did not change the stitch back to a straight stitch (see item C above) although I did put the width back to 1.  I was so confused why it was going through so much thread, then it struggled with every vertical seam, eventually coming to a standstill.  That's when I noticed the back didn't look the way it did on practice, way too much thread back there.  I rethreaded a whack of times and go figure it looked the same.  I went to bed with the hem half done and completely confused.

Next morning I look at it, use some scraps, see the same thing happening (because it was still doing what it was set to do), rethread again...  I finally looked at the stitch setting and realize my mistake.  I went back to the hem and broke a double needle trying to go through a big lump of thread I was too lazy to pick out.  Sigh. 

So off to Fabricland.  10am on a members 50% off day, it was better than the craziness I expected.  I stayed away from fabric but I did stock up on notions and two double needles.  Sewaholic posted today about the triple stitch with the warning to sew carefully because 3 threads are a PITA to pick out.  Let me tell you, a double needle of overlock stitch was looking pretty painful until I finally saw the pattern of where the bobbin thread was.  After breaking one needle, it all needed to come out no matter what time was involved.

Ah well, it was finished in time, black lace panties were made to go with it.  The bachelorette itself was fun.  I like the bride, but honestly, some of her friends are a tad shallow and I said I'd drive, I wasn't sure how it was going to go.  Fortunately a very good friend was also part of the party, we had a great time.  Dinner was at The Chef Upstairs. 

This isn't us, it's from: http://www.thechefupstairs.com/interactive_dining.html

It's a cool mix of dinner and cooking lesson.  I got to plate the beets.  Dinner was not very Sera-friendly (carrot risotto is hard to adapt to being carrot free) but the chef was a trouper fixing what he could and I ate a lot of beets.  Good thing I like beets.  We were going to head out to a bar in Toronto, but the bride was feeling a little headachey and wanted to go somewhere closer to home.  Ended up at the pub where Mr. Lina and I had our first "let's meet for drinks and see if you look anything like I remember from Oktoberfest" (lots of alcohol at Oktoberfest, neither of us remembered names correctly, although he was closer than I was).

The boys had a longer day than us, beer tour starting at 11am.  They went to 4 microbreweries in Toronto, dinner then went to watch the hockey game at a pub.  They had some pub frustrations and ended up meeting up with us at the same pub.  Mr. Lina was crazy drunk, but oh so very happy drunk.  It can be annoying being the sober driver around drunks, but how do you get upset when he's asking for "hangaburs" as we approach a McDonalds?  In the drive thru he was muttering in frustration at the seat belt because he tried to tickle me and couldn't reach.  Ah, it was fantastic.

Sunday was recovery for Mr. Lina.  We were suppose to play Dungeons & Dragons, but he wasn't mentally up to running it and there was some miscommunication so one player couldn't make it.  There are 3 D&D themed board games that are a great time, highly recommend (and no, you don't need to know anything about D&D).  We played The Legend of Drizzt.  The characters are from a series of books I didn't read but for Mr. Lina bring back fond memories.  It's a great cooperative game for 1-5 players. 

Image from the Amazon site linked above.

If you are interested in board games, I'll add the occasional review.  I grew up playing with my dad and brothers with rules like "we play until 8pm or when Clone cries".  You know that rule was created based on experience.  As a result, I didn't want to play board games and I'm pretty fussy.  If it gets overly competitive, too "screw your neighbour", or boring as hell (why does anyone play Monopoly?) I'm not interested.  We're usually playing games that are a little less traditional than Clue, unless you go looking, you won't hear about them.

Well, off to bowling tonight.  I have the itch to sew after two projects finished in short order.  So rewarding.  The problem is that work is going to dominate my time.  Too much on my plate right now. 

Friends with Ex's

Mr. Lina moved from Manitoba to Ontario with his girlfriend at the time.  Lots of other Manitobans followed them.  When I met Mr. Lina, it had been about 13 months since they ended their 7 year relationship.  While they weren't hanging out regularly, they were finding comfortable footing because of mutual friends.  All of his friends seem to have done what I think of as incestuous dating.  This baffles my suburban brain sometimes, I don't keep in touch with my ex's nor date my friends ex's (nor my ex's friends), I don't need to.  Small towns with a small pool of geek-friendly girls makes it harder to do that.  I saw his point about mutual friends and figured I could certainly be polite and civil.  We didn't have to be best friends.  Jealousy certainly wasn't a factor for me, I did feel anger about how they treated each other (sitting on a couch at her house that we were still paying off wasn't easy either, I'm told that made sense on paper).  It is surprising they stayed together as long as they did, but I think that has more to do with being stubborn than happy.  They are both good people who were so unsuited as to be comical.

She is getting married (for a second time, her first husband was an ass but that's a different post) in January.  I really like her fiance.  You can see that he loves her and values her, he will continue to care for her in a way she probably hasn't experienced in a long time if ever (I'm including time with Mr. Lina in that, those were not happy years).  We went to her first wedding, they came to our wedding, we're going to the wedding coming up.  I did skip her shower, I wasn't interested in going and fortunately it was while we were in New Orleans so I didn't have to make up an excuse to not buy her a toaster she doesn't need.  That said, I am going to her bachelorette party next weekend. 

At the NYE party, sewing came up.  Dave's girlfriend saw my Colette book under the tree and it turns out she sews.  Next thing I know, we're all talking about sewing, things I've made, bras and... I'm taking measurements for making lingerie for Mr. Lina's ex.  I wasn't quite sure if I wanted to go that route, but part of me doesn't want to buy lingerie that likely won't fit her and I did buy some fabric with her in mind last time I was in Fabricland.  Adding to this, we had a whole drunken (her more than me) heart to heart where she told me that she thinks of me as one of her close friends and how happy she is that we can be good friends.  It left me at a bit of a loss for words.  Net-net, I'm on the hook to make something for the 14th.

A few thoughts on what will suit her and things to consider in picking what to make:

• She has a curvy, pear shaped figure
• Similar bust measurements to me, but adjustments would need to be made to the hips
• She is not confident in her body, she would not feel good in something too revealing
• Her weight fluctuates a lot but even at her recent high points, based on pictures from 15 years ago, it's a whole lot less than what she was.  Her weight is distributed differently than the tape measure alone implies and I think it's because some weight came off more easily than others.  Fabric needs to float away from her body rather than cling to bumps.
• It needs to be simple, I don't have a lot of time to step out of my comfort zone for a practice run.

I am leaning towards Lekala 5241 (or Modern Patterns Red Slip).  I've made this for myself (sheer cheap polyester) and my SIL (polyester satin) and I like the way the princess lines slide over curves.  I feel pretty in my version  It's not hard to make, grading out the hips wouldn't be too hard with 5 seams to play with.  Only down side is that there isn't bust support that might be good for her confidence.

 

Lekala 5241 - Red Slip



Other thought is to look at my stretch lace and see how wide I have and do what I think of as my usual (which this group hasn't seen so it's not usual to them).  A band of wide stretch lace (hopefully 6") and a circle skirt hanging from there.  I wouldn't say the support from the elastic is great at my (our) size but it keeps the girls in place at least.  I purchased the original like this and I still like it 7 years later (although I like mine better).  Straps are usually made from the skirt fabric.  I could see this working for her figure too because it comes in snug where she is small and floats out from there.

I did see some fabric on clearance ($3/m) that I bought with her in mind.  It's on the grey side of black, the fabric is a little sheer, but it has very short (0.5cm maybe?) fringe all over so it's not actually sheer because of the layers in the fringe.  I'll have to update with a picture because it's hard to describe.  What I like about it (for her) is that it only hints at being sheer and the texture of the fabric will hopefully hide any lumps.  Black is always a sexy colour.  It will be an absolute mess in my machine and cutting area, just having it cut at the store created a lot of fluff.  I'm going to have to check for nap.  Lekala is cut on the bias if I remember right and I'm not sure how it would go for the circle skirt.  I'll do a little draping when I take pictures to see how that would work.

Any thoughts or suggestions?   I like to ponder these projects before diving in, but I will likely work on it Friday night or Sunday.  I guess I have been thinking since I bought the fabric in December.  That still leaves some time mid-week if things go horribly wrong.

I just got word that Clone and his wife have left for the Northwest Territories this morning.  I gather their plan had been to leave Tuesday, drive to Edmonton, meet up with a friend and drive together to Hay River.  The friend needed to adjust his plans to be in Edmonton this Sunday so they moved up their departure plans to today.  I'm sad and happy.  It's going to be an adventure for them, I'm glad I won't see her belly growing so I can stay in fantasy land where she's not pregnant until I'm ready for reality, but, I feel sad.  My therapist was suggesting that maybe I wasn't up to doing Boxing Day with my family, maybe I should back out for my own mental health.  I said no, it was too hard to do that, easier just to suck it up and go.  I'm glad I did, that's the last time I saw them and I don't know when they will be back or if I'll make the 4,500 km trip to Hay River.  That makes me sad.  I'll miss them.  Clone gives good hugs and his wife really wants to be my sister. 

On the bright side, this is a good kind of sad, not the depression kind of sad.  So good to feel that difference.

New Orleans Part 3 - Sencha day

I figured my last NOLA post was getting a little long but there was still one more day - and my only self stitched day.  Seriously, clearly I wasn't thinking of that angle when I packed.  We didn't take pictures and I've already told those stories, this was the last tourist day.

Sunday was about catching the last couple of sights we missed - and mostly of the French Quarter walking around variety.  We had a lovely breakfast at the Rib Room with the same waiter as on the Natchez.  Bill is fantastic, gave us a tour of the private dining rooms below. 



Bill!  At the Rib Room - seriously ask for Bill.



We also got to go up to the roof of the hotel.  What a view...

Then it was off to walk our breakfast off.  Mr. Lina had read about cornstalk fence in our little guide book.

Imagine having to take that yellow can of paint around to paint the corn?  Close up it's pretty clear there are many layers of paint to that fence.  It's certainly original.

Bill gave us directions to find Francis Ford Coppala's house, so we HAD to walk by to see.  Mr. Lina is a movie fanatic, so he was pretty jazzed to see it even if nothing was going on.  Apparently he rents it out when he's not using it, aimed more for housing cast & crew.  It's a bit out of our budget.  ;)

60 day minimum to rent from FFC.

Our meandering took us to Jean Lafite's for a drink and Armstrong Park on our way to Treme.  We loved the HBO series, although we still have to watch season 2.  For me, it really grounded what I was seeing, thinking of where Davis or Antoine lived or played...  When we got to Treme, there was a parade.  Good timing.

Treme has a mix of houses that are well cared for and fixed up and some that still have a lot of damage I can only assume is from Katrina.

Then to the Mint.  The mint also hosts a display on jazz and Preservation Hall in particular.  It's a bit odd to share a building, but well worth a visit.  Actually, I could have listened to the guy at the desk for a whole lot longer.  He lived through Katrina and while we didn't ask about it, he was happy to tell his perspective.  He had been in the navy, didn't know how to swim, but seeing the world, he knew they were poor.  Prior to Katrina, he said NOLA was a place you could be poor and not know it.  After...  The illusion was gone.  He has 3 fears, high water (he can't swim), snakes, and dead bodies.  He saw all three with Katrina and spent 6 days in the Superdome because he didn't have the resources to leave.  Sadly, other people arrived at that point and so he went back to doing his job and we went off to listen to music and read about Preservation Hall.

Exhibit for Preservation Hall

Happiest tuba player ever when we were at Preservation Hall.

For our last dinner, we went back to the Crescent City Brew House to have crazy huge oysters.  I wore my black polka dot Lekala 5432 out for dinner and got an unsolicitation.  It was quite lovely and we took pictures of the oysters, but not of each other.  We really should ask staff to take pictures of us while on vacation.

Now that I look at the pictures, you only have one of me wearing Sencha and you don't really see much.  It was a warm day, but I was wearing a sweater most of the time. 

Sadly, one of my covered buttons came uncovered.  It's not pretty having a silver button in between all the pretty purple ones.  I remember thinking after doing them I should have put a little glue down just to be sure they stay put.  Lesson learned for next time.

I need to get Mr. Lina to do a little photo shoot for me so I can post my new Sorbetto's.  I have been wearing them a lot, for being more summery, I'm actually making them work into my winter wardrobe.  I'm tempted to make a third, but looking through my fabric stash, nothing really says Sorbetto.  Ah well.  Not a lot of time to sew in the next couple of days anyhow.  My brother and SIL are coming for dinner Friday, Kev Corbett (recent winner of Nova Scotia Musician of the Year and veteran of my basement) is playing in Oakville tonight so I'd like to support him.  Saturday we're off to the Christmas Tree Hunt...  Maybe Sunday I'll sew.  Nope, D&D.  Sigh.  One day I will get back in that room.

Unsolicitations

I absolutely adore the term unsolicitation, compliments that are not prompted, particularly (perhaps exclusively) for self sewn items.  I received several this weekend at the wedding I went to. 

I actually had a hard time deciding what to wear.  I have a RTW red dress that I've worn once and would like to wear again, and my first version of Lekala 5432 in black swiss dot with salmon-ish satin underlay.  I was doing a reading at the wedding, I knew the bridesmaids were wearing chocolate brown and flowers would be in fall colours including red.  I don't like wearing straight black to weddings, but I thought with the pink satin, it would work out okay.  I put the option to Mr Lina, he picked Lekala.

I am reliant on friends for pictures for the most part, Mr Lina took the picture on the right, but that's the only picture of the dress we have.  We were both busy chasing after our friends toddler (and taking pictures of her and the bride) and neither of us thought about taking pictures of each other.  I've tried to crop out my friends from this group picture for their privacy.  At least I have two angles from pretty much the same moment.

So, unsolicitations.  I got compliments from several of my friends and while they know I like to sew, this is the first real dress up wear I've made so they wouldn't expect me to have made it.  I actually wore this for New Years, but only the bride and groom were at that event, it was a new dress to everyone else.  One of my friends thought it looked worth about $500.  I love her, I think she's spent too much time at Coach outlets to believe her on that estimation.  Far better than the ignorant coworker comments that Sewing By The Seat of My Pants got from her little children's outfit (not to mention all the stories in the comments).  Perhaps part of the difference is we are just accustomed to paying more for formal attire than children's clothing.  Who would blink at a party dress price tag around $100?  $150?  $200?  I wouldn't depending on the dress (although as the price goes up, the likelihood of me actually buying it goes down).  Another friend complimented the colour, that it fit in well with the bridesmaids and looked perfect while doing the reading.  She asking if I had the wedding party colours in mind when I bought the dress.  It was a nice specific compliment that resonated true.

Looking at the pictures has me realizing I really should wear better undergarments.  I can tell where my nylons end at my waist, a little smoothing would be good with such a shiny fabric.  The two bottles of wine consumed at OCFF the night before and dinner at the wedding were likely not helping with the tummy control situation either.  That's okay, I danced and danced for the rest of the night, I got my exercise in. 

Jury duty

I was summoned for jury duty this week.  I like the concept of civic responsibility and I wouldn't mind serving on a jury to see how it all works out.  That said, perhaps a 6-7 week trial with 3 weeks notice isn't always going to work out well.  I have vacation planned next Friday, then a week in November.  Mr. Lina was sure this was going to be yet another reason to not visit New Orleans.  But it all has worked out well.  The judge deferred my service so I'll be called again in a few months. 

With such a long trial I was wondering what on earth it could be.  Someone at bowling was at jury duty last week and his was a 5 week murder trial.  The trial I was called for was mostly drug charges (spanning Canada, USA and Peru) and some weapon charges.  The time consuming aspect seems to be more about complication than the forensic details of murder.  5 defendants, 5 lawyers, 16 charges although not all of the charges were against all 5 defendants.  It took a surprising amount of time just to check that they all entered pleas to the right crimes.  I wasn't expecting that to be part of jury selection, so this was a pretty cool learning process even if it was relatively short.  Here is hoping the next time I'm called it's something less complicated with more lead time so I can plan around it.

And more Google translate humour from Lekala (keep in mind it's not their fault Google isn't thinking in sewing terms).  Dress 4023 is a pretty knit dress, and I do like to buy knits it seems.  This is something I could tackle without directions I think.  There isn't that much to wrap my brain around.

No crazy name like yesterday, it's simply a knitted dress.  But the pieces, there are 3 in total, you'd figure front, back and sleeves.  No... it's back, sleeve, and rack.  It would only be funnier if there was a separate upper bodice piece that really was for the "rack".  Then in the instructions they say to sew darts on the shelf.  I half expect them to talk about the boobies if there was more than 3 steps to the instructions.

The court house just happened to be near a Fabricland.  And I used the last of my snappers on my latest Sencha blouse between the buttons.  So I HAD to go.  I did show restraint.  I bought some wide waistband elastic at 50% off.  I also bought some 5" wide belting elastic because I made an elastic belt for myself and love it, but seem to have misplaced it and I could make it better based on the old one.  I resisted many other things that were 50% off, but I came home with 2m of this poly/viscose (took me a minute to realize that's rayon) at $4/m from the clearance table.  It's got a bit of stretch and feels very soft.  I put it in the machine/dryer to prewash and it seems to have come out well.  It's a pretty plum colour with black. 

Again, I shop faster than I sew.  :)

Signs you have a translation problem

I was just browsing through the Lekala offerings.  Many that I like I have or they look too complicated to tackle with Russian instructions.  I was looking at this dress, 5854.

The "photograph" picture of it isn't all that thrilling, the necklace makes it look like there are buttons.  Lekala has a photo contest of sorts so a lot of patterns have a link for finished garments.  I liked the way this looked finished so I thought I'd download it.

First I save the pictures, then I save the pattern, then the instructions.  They open in Russian and Google offers to translate it.  They title each outfit and this one is called...

I wish I was kidding...

Snicker...

5854 Knitted dress with a smell

(Makes you wonder where they shop for fabric, eh?)

RECOMMENDATIONS FOR SELECTION OF FABRICS: jersey medium or low degree of elasticity of natural or mixed fibers .

AND YOU NEED: rubber band

Make sure you don't forget that rubber band.  At least the fabric recommendation makes sense. 

Lekala bonanza

Thank you to Fehr Trade for pointing out that Lekala is offering size 44 and 46 for free for a month.  Oh I like these months.  I've downloaded a ton in the past and while I'm slow to make them up, I love glancing through my folder of possibilities.  The few patterns I have made up I have done more than once so it feels like I have used more than I have.  The size 46 with a FBA is pretty close to my measurements.  I also need to shorten it.  Surprisingly, people do not often design patterns with152.5cm height in mind.  (Doesn't that sound taller than 5' and a half inch?) 

I wore my new Sencha blouse yesterday and it did pretty well.  Something is pooling in the back, but tucked in it looks great and the covered buttons bothered me less than the snaps did.  I was surprised by that.  Sadly, pictures will have to wait for another day.  It was Mr. Lina's actual birthday yesterday so I spent the evening hanging out with him.  He was feeling tired and a bit under the weather, so we had beef stew and leftover cake at home rather than going out.  Warm comfort food on a rainy day. 

I promised fabric

At the outset of my post yesterday, I said I'd post fabric next for my glassy eyed readers.  Who knew you'd actually understand? 

However, I have not been fabric shopping.  I have been fabric ogling at Falling Through Your Clothes (this in particular) but I managed to resist going to Fabricland on my way home from a clients office this afternoon.  I was pretty proud of myself for holding the wheel steady as it started to go on autopilot to the right.  I thought I had a piece of fabric similar to her, alas no.  I think I was smoking crack, or it speaks to how your stash changes when a year goes by between purchase and looking at it again. She has a lovely black and white satin with circles, I have this:


Thread is there for scale, those are BIG circles.



In getting the brides lingerie made, then getting the house ready for overnight guests, I really made a mess of my sewing room.  I think some clean up has to happen before I'm productive again.  For the moment, I will drink my rooibos (vanilla at the moment, perhaps apple pie later on) rather than sew it.

Sigh, what a mess.  There is rooibos tissue over on the sewing desk, that is my ill-fitting Sencha hanging on the rack.  The black & white satin is in the corner by the closet...  I gotta get organized.  Hopefully shame will help. 

I posted Lekala 5432 a bit ago, the version I made for the holidays.  I'm wearing my polka dot summer version today, clinging desperately to warm weather that just isn't happening here.  15C isn't too bad, but that wind makes it feel a whole lot colder.  I thought adding a little sweater would be enough, but I felt under dressed.  Maybe with tights it will transition to fall better, but it's a thin rayon.

I think I need practice taking pictures.  I really don't like any of them, they were all a bit blurry, but that's as good as it's getting today.  I have a bit of work to finish up and then off to a birthday event for my sister in law.  I can't say I'm looking forward to the drive into the city, but it's the right thing to do.

Lekala 5432

I feel pretty fortunate that the size that Lekala have put up for their free month of patterns is pretty close to my own.  I download like a fiend, but the directions really suck.  That said, the notches line up, the clothing fits and once I've figured out directions that work for me, it's not so bad.

I have made Lekala 5432 a few times now.  First was a party dress for New Years Eve.  We were hosting a handful of friends, it was casual, but it's my house, I can wear what I want.  And I wanted to wear something I made.

It's form fitting, and with all that gathering at the bust, I didn't have to do a FBA, just added a little length to that piece.  What I didn't anticipate is that I'm short, the darts in the front and back bodice aren't quite at the right spot, the waist nips in while my hips are going out.  My first try on of the dress you could see EXACTLY where my thighs ended.  Not pleasant.  So that dress has seam allowances that are truly miniscule to give me a little more wiggle room.

Speaking of wiggle room, Mr Lina really likes the back view of the dress.  I think it's more evident what he likes when I'm walking.  My best invisible zipper ever is on that dress.

He took pictures with a flash and I don't really like how they look, but I do like how they show off the swiss dot overlay on the crepe backed satin.  So ignore that water spot and look at the fabric.  Isn't it pretty?  I had both fabrics in my stash and put them on top of each other and thought it might work.  Left them draped over the guest room bed for a couple of days to be sure.  The satin on it's own is too... rosey or something, I bought it on clearance for next to nothing.  The swiss dot was used for an outfit for the third bride of my university friends so this was truly stash busting that probably cost less than $15.

Not sure what that spot is centre back, but look at the fabric.

I have since made this up in a knit and a woven rayon/linen, both I wear to work.  The knit version doesn't have a zipper and I added elastic under the bust to keep it snug there.  The rayon/linen wrinkles like crazy, but for a hot summer, it's good work wear.  It will transition through September well with a little sweater.  I made it a little looser through the hips/bodice, summer is not a time for snug clothing.  I also put a lace godet at the kick pleat of the black version.  It seems to work.

Anyone who is more talented than I am with shifting zippers may want to move it to the size.  You need the opening at the waist, but the neckline doesn't need opening, it's actually tricky to zip up because of the elastic at the neckline, it's hard to pull it taught to pull the zipper.