New Look 6184 Finished

ワンピース、完成～。柄が大きいプリントなので、ウェストの切り替えで花束のプリントがちゃんとつながるように頑張りました。襟元にプリーツが入ってるんだけど、柄が派手すぎてプリーツが柄にうまってしまったかな。

My New Look 6184 dress is finished.

I am very happy with my pattern matching. The print pattern does not match on the side; I focused on the match at the waist line and just tried to avoid awkward placement of the bouquet.

 The above is where the center back is meeting at the waist seam. Makes me smile.

The front neck has pleats but buried in the rather bold print.

Totally unintentional pattern matching happening in the back. (I don't know why the pink gets so strong in this picture)

I messed up the vent and had to add some stitch to reinforce. The stitch is done only on the under-flap so it is not visible from the front.

As you can see, the lining is attached to the zipper too loose so it's really baggy there.

WIP: New Look 6184 - 5

金曜に有休をとって、月曜は祝日なので、４連休中なのです。
オットが金曜から２泊三日でキャンプに行っていたので、裁縫して、映画みて、犬と散歩な週末でした。
ワンピースはもうすぐ完成です。

I took a Friday off so this is my nice long 4-day weekend. The Man of the House went for a 2-night camping/fishing trip on Friday, so I was home alone. Naturally, I lazied the hell out, sewed as much and as little as I wanted, hang out with the dogs, and binge watched Pride and Prejudice (the BBC version, of course), all 6 episodes.

My New Look 6184 dress is almost done. I messed up the vent a bit, and I should have sewn the lining to the zipper differently (or by hand) because it bagged around the zipper. I hope it does not get caught on the zipper in the future. Understitching also took forever.

By the way, my mother informed me that this pink with purple flower kimono fabric she gave me that I am using as a lining here is merino wool. No wonder why it shrunk so much after a wash and a dryer. I don't own wool garment so I did not know that wool fabric can be this thin and not scratchy. So, after a close look at the fabric surface, I think it is maybe crepe? Wool crepe?

All is left is hemming. I have decided to sew the shell hem to the lining since the lining is sewn to the vent and I don't know what to do with the hem when the vent is lined.

WIP: New Look 6184 - 4

ワンピースの裏布にする予定の着物の生地を洗ったら、縮んだ！
もう、普通に洗濯機にかけて、普通に乾燥機にかけたものね。３センチぐらい縮んだ（笑）
おかげでスカートの型紙、微妙に入らないし。
（縫い代で調整します）

 As I had decided to use the 30+ years old kimono fabric as my lining, I washed the fabric.
Well, the fabric shrunk! It shrunk over an inch in width and now my skirt back won't fit.
Oh well, I will have to deal with it with narrow seam allowance.

I cut everything, sewed the darts and pleats, stay-stitched, and even serged all the raw edges. Since the dress will be entirely lined, I didn't have to treat the raw edges, but, I wanted to take care of it. I am enjoying the slow sewing process, I guess.

Pattern Purchase

裁縫をするスピードの１００倍ぐらい早いスピードで型紙ばっかり買っています。セールだったの。
一つたったの１ドルだよ？買わなきゃ、じゃない？だって１ドルだよ？

一つ目。
いろんなサイズのポーチ。カバンとかポーチとかは、型紙なくても作れるけど、サイズとかを自分で考えるのが面倒くさいので、型紙あると便利。たった１ドルでサイズもデザインも違う型紙が買えるなら、買って損なし。

二つ目。
これは私的には微妙なんだけど、マキシ丈のラップスカートとワイドパンツ。作るかどうかわからないけど、将来的にあったら使いそうな、１ドルだからまぁ、いっか、な。

 

三つ目。

シンプルなジャンパースカート。飾りのない、ただのワンピースの型紙がほしかったのです。

四つ目。
これもとてもシンプルなカットソーの型紙がほしかったのです。

五つ目。
砂漠気候ではあまり必要ないけど、犬のコート。小型犬向けのコートの型紙はたくさん売ってるんだけど、大型犬向けのシンプルなのはあまりないので、これほしかったんだ。

I went to JoAnn to buy a dirndl pattern (Burda 7057), and bought a bunch of Simplicity patterns as well because it was on sale for $1 each. One dollar each. Can't beat that. (Unfortunately, Burda was excluded) I know, my pattern purchase speed is exponentially faster than my sewing speed, but it's a dollar each. I don't spend $5 on a cup of coffee. I can spend $5 for 5 patterns even though I may not get to sew them in the near future. I work hard, I deserve some splurge once in a while.

Pattern #1. Simplicity 1153.
It's a set of patterns for a bag and pouches for various sizes. I don't really need a pattern for a simple bag or pouches like these, but it's only a dollar! Instead of coming up with a size or design on my own spending hours going through web sites for idea, I can have patterns ready for me, for a dollar!

Pattern #2. Simplicity 1069.
It's a simple maxi-length wide pants and wrap skirt pattern. I don't know if I am going to make it anytime soon, but I wanted to have it just in case. Because it was a dollar.

Pattern #3. Simplicity 1252.
A jumper. I wanted a simple, slightly A-line dress pattern.

Pattern 4. Simplicity 1805.
A very simple knit top. The design is exactly what I like: simple and casual.

Pattern 5. Simplicity 1578.
Living in the desert climate, the dog coat season is very short, but this is one of the rare large size dog coat pattern so I had to have it.

Dog Update

２か月近くステロイド剤を飲んでいたユキですが、すっかり具合がよくなりました。
バレーフィーバーの薬は続行中だけど、もう心配ないようです。
そして、シシトウ、もう飽きた（笑）

Our Blue Heeler was on Prednisone almost a couple of months tapering down, but she is finally off and doing well. She is still on anti-fungal for Valley Fever, but I think she's fine.

WIP: New Look 6184 - 3

作成中のワンピースの裏布に、母からもらった着物の生地を使うことにした。
この生地は一体何でできてるのかな。触った感じポリエステルではないようだけど。

I was digging through my fabric box for a lining fabric and came across this fabric. The actual color is much paler than it appears in this picture.

It is a vintage kimono fabric that I got from my mother. I think it's safe to say that all the kimono she made and the kimono fabric she has are 30+ years old. I think she bought the fabric, intending to use it as a kimono lining or make a kimono undergarment, and it never happened.

I don't know what the fabric content is, but I do not think it's polyester. It has a very good drape and very fluid and silky, like rayon chameuse. 

One thing about the kimono fabric, as I mentioned before in my duffel bag post, is that it is only 13 inches wide, so it's is kind of hard to use. But it works for my New Look 6184 dress lining since the pattern pieces are pretty narrow too. I will have to seam the center front of the bodice and skirt pieces, but since it's lining, I think it will work just fine.

WIP: New Look 6184 - 2

古いシーツを利用して、作成予定のワンピースの試し縫いをしてみました。
やはりフィッティングがイマイチで、あれこれ直して試し縫い２作目。

マイナーな修正が２か所ある以外はいい感じなので、試し縫いはここまでで本番の布やっと登場。
柄が大きいので、柄を服のどの位置に置くか悩み中。

Working on my New Look 6184.
I have made 2 muslins and I think I am ready to move on to my real fabric.
The patterns on the fabric is rather big, so I'm trying to figure out the best pattern layout.

Behold the Power of Manure

わざわざ花壇を作っているにもかかわらず、うちまあまりガーデニングにこってるわけでもないので、知識も乏しく、基本的にとりあえずホームセンターで植物を買って、植てみて、育てばラッキーなノリでやってます。
今年は花壇の土が減ってきたので、花壇用の土を足しました。
肥料のことはよくわからないので、うちの肥料は基本的にたい肥。牛さんの排泄物のかほり。
そんなたい肥の力でししとう、ナス、バナナペッパー、ハラペーニョが豊作すぎてびっくり。
ちなみにナスは２回冬を越した３年物です。

We are not real gardeners who know what to do with the plants. We are more of a "let's get some vegetable from Lowe's and plant them in the garden and see how they grow" kind of gardeners.
Sewing equivalent of buying a fabric at Wal-Mart and make a tote bag kind of sewer, I guess.

We needed to add soil to the garden this year, so we bought bags of soil and amended the soil. I am no soil expert, so my fertilizer cocktail is basically manure, peat moss, and vermiculite. Peat moss and vermiculite is more to retail water in the soil than as a fertilizer.

We put a lot of manure this year and the garden smelled like a farm for a few days. I guess the vegetables liked it a lot and we are getting more peppers than we can consume. (What am I supposed to do with so many jalapenos every day?)

The two eggplants we planted 3 years ago survived 2 winters and they are going strong this year again.

"Matt's Wild Cherry" tomatoes are growing like crazy, and growing out of nowhere near we had it last year. Definitely wild. Unfortunately, it grows like a jungle and eventually it will cover the whole garden so I pull them out as I find them growing where they are not suppose to be.

WIP: New Look 6184

裁縫室の掃除をしたので、新規一転、次は何を作ろうかな！
いろいろ考えた結果、１年前に始めて、うまくいかずにほっぽりっぱなしになっているワンピースを頑張って完成させることにしました。
型紙はニュールックというブランドの６１８４番。
とてもシンプルなワンピースなんだけど、うまくいかないのよね。
胸がなくて腰回りの厚い長方形な私の体系は、西洋人サイズを基本に考えられている型紙にうまく入らないので、修正箇所が多くてつまづいているわけです。
去年は３回試作品を作ったところであきらめました。
今年はどこまでいくでしょう。

Now that I have reset my sewing room, I am excited to start a new project.
After a careful thinking, I have decided to go back to my failed attempt of New Look 6184.
I started it last year, made 3 mock-ups and gave up.
It's such a simple dress pattern but I just could not get it to fit right for my middle-age half-size rectangular body.
Let's see how far I will go this time.

Men's T-Shirt Refashion

オットが、サイズの大きいTシャツの脇を詰めてくれというので詰めたんだけど、スリムフィットなTシャツになったら前身ごろのプリントの位置がバランス悪くなってしまったので、私のタンクトップに作り直しました。
脇の縫い目はそのままで、腕と首の部分だけ、たまねぎ工房という型紙屋さんの無料タンクトップ型紙を参考にしました。
腕と首のとこにはパンツにつけるようなゴムをつけてみました。

Man of the House asked me to take in the side seams of a T-shirt. It is size Large and he is size Small kind of guy. So I used his existing T-shirt as a guide and narrowed the T-shirt.

I had MOTH try it on before I shortened the length and found that the circle print now sat too low in the front proportionately.

So I decided to convert it to a tank top for me. I kept the re-sewn side seams as is, and used a free tank top pattern from Tamanegi-Kobo as my guide for armscye, neck opening (though I lowered the center front quite a bit) and the length.

 Yup, the proportion now looks much better.

I finished the armscye and neck with dark brown picot elastic. My pulling of the elastic was apparently not even so some parts get gathered a bit but I'm overall happy with my new tank. I wore it to walk to dogs tonight.

Overdressed

今シーズン初のプチトマトとナスが採れました。

First cherry tomatoes and eggplants of the season.

I finished reading Overdressed by Elizabeth Cline, which was the last Colette Book Club book.

Hmmm, where should I start. First, reading Overdressed was like reading my own senior thesis (I was a sociology major). The author had done a lot of research and had a lot of statistics and research results to talk about. But the story is so shallow. I expected a bit more in depth story, especially when she was visiting factories and garment district on her own and had first hand impression to report.

It felt like she was stretching the story too much to make it a book. Anecdote here, statistics there, but what is being told is the same: Americans are obsessed too much with fast fashion, which can only be achieved by abuse of cheap labor overseas. We all know that; that is the principle of capitalism. What I wanted was the author to tell the "story" instead of some statistics.

The contents are also not organized very well. Her field research stories are haphazard, and often redundant.

So that was a bummer. I think the whole book can be shaved down to a few page magazine story and that would have been better.

As a subject matter, the book had a few points that I had never thought of. One was that all the polyester garments that I own and so prevalent in clothes these days are not biodegradable. Never thought of garments as ever-lasting garbage.

The other thing was the growth of Chinese economy and Chinese labor not being the cheap labor anymore. The author raised a good point about other developing country not having the technological and labor capacity to fill in China's shoes.

The last bit it got me was actually mentioned at the very first part of the book: that industry garment sewing, despite being done in a big scale factory, is still done by people. I mean, at all other mass production, factory workers just push buttons and machines do the job automatically. But when it comes to garment sewing, the sewing machines, no matter how specialized, are only tools, that require workers to operate one-on-one.

The book had such hypes a few years ago, so my expectation was high. I guess my impression of the book would have been different had I read it when it first came out. The subject matter, the "shocking" part of the fast fashion, has already gone stale. I wouldn't call it irrelevant, but it was an old story. The book would have had more lasting effect if the author focused more on the in-depth report or use more book appropriate writing.

So Zo Vest #3

Tシャツのあまり布でまたキャミソール作りました。
以前に作った奴と同じ型紙で、サイズ一つ大き目で作りました。
実は余り布の長さが足りなかったので、裾にヒラヒラをつけてみました。苦肉の策ってやつだな。
お揃いで胸元にもヒラヒラつけてみた。
裾につけるヒラヒラの長さを計算するのに、久しぶりに円周の計算とかしちゃった。（ヒラヒラは円というか、ドーナツ型に切った布でできています）

Using the left-over fabric from the T-shirt project, I made a cami using So Zo's free "vest" pattern. This is my third iteration. I went up a size this time and cut a size 10. Still pretty form fitting.

Since the fabric was a left over from my failed raglan sleeve T-shirt project, I did not have enough length, so I added some flounce at the hem and at the neck.

3" short...

The hem flounce is a 3" wide doughnut. I just calculated the circle radius based on the length of the hem. For the neck flounce, I just drew a smaller circle and cut a 4" long section. The edges of the flounces are totally left raw. 

My flounce pattern and calculation.

I wore it to work today with the hem tucked in.

This is how it looks with it untucked. I guess with the flounce, it should be shorter to balance out. My already short legs look even shorter, don't they?

 I erroneously attached one of the strap twisted, so I will have to re-do that part.

Leotard T-Shirt

Tシャツ、完成。
デザインや着心地はとてもいいんだけど、この柄はこのデザインには合ってなかったかな。
完成Tシャツを見たオットの感想は：「８０年代のレオタードみたいだね」
なぜ彼はファッションに関心すらないくせに厳しいのでしょう。
階段の手すりにかかっている寝袋には目をつぶりましょう。乾かしてるだけよ。

Ignore the sleeping bag on the banister.

Tada~. A completed T-shirt. After so much re-doing.

The pattern is a Sweetheart T-shirt pattern from Gertie's book, Gertie Sews Vintage Casual. I have made a knit pencil skirt before from this book as well.

It is a simple T-shirt pattern with cap sleeve option, sleeveless option, 3/4 sleeve option, and pleats at the bust option. The book also explores how to change the sleeves to a puff sleeve etc. I made a straight forward T-shirt with pleats at the bust, and shortened the sleeves to make it half sleeves.

I cut a size 4. The fit is pretty good with this fabric, which is rayon/Lycra. The patterns have 5/8" seam allowance. I would probably just cut size 4 and sew with 1/4" seam allowance if the fabric is more stable and less stretchy.

I really like the pleats at the bust. Such small detail but it adds interest. I also like the shape of the neck line.

What I'm not too sure is that I think the pattern and the coloring of the fabric wasn't meant for this particular design. I will definitely try again with different fabric. So I would call this a very wearable muslin (and I totally wore it all day, going out to Chipotle and all).

And guess what the Man of the House said:
...80's leotard...

I mean, I totally agree, but I still like it!!!

Disaster Every Step of the Way

久しぶりに裁縫する気が出たのはいいけど、４か月ぶりの裁縫は、縫い目一つ縫うたびに何かがおかしくて、縫い直し。縫ってはほどき、縫ってはほどき。Tシャツ一つ作るのに一体何時間かかったのでしょう。
完成間際に襟元に穴開けるしね。

I guess my sense of sewing was so way off after 4 months. I was making 2 T-shirts (using the same fabric) and disaster happened every step of the way. I also totally forgot the order of construction: I put the sleeves inside out so I had to unpick the serged sleeves after they were top-stitched with coverstitch; then I forgot to topstitch the raglan sleeves on one arm; then I realized I did not put the neck band until the side seams were sewn, etc, etc, etc. I don't know how many times I had to unpick serged seams and coverstitched seams. Good that I had a cell phone full of podcasts.

I was so close to finishing this T-shirt, then I slit a hole on on the back neck. I was about to throw the T shirt out.

What I found while I was sewing, first time in 4 months, is that I like the construction process, more than the finished product. I like "sewing", which includes all the tedious process of pressing and unpicking and re-doing until I am satisfied.

So I unpicked the two-thread coverstitch on the back neck where the hole was, unpicked the serged seam, lower the neckline a bit to cover the hole, and re-sewed it back.

Phew, it was quite a work for simple T-shirts.

Back to Sewing Room

最後に裁縫室を使ったのは、１月。４か月間ほっぽりっぱなしの裁縫室はこんな有様。
やっと裁縫室に戻る気がでてきたのでとりあえず掃除から始めます。

Last time I used my sewing room was back in January. It has since become a dumping ground. I had to borrow the two rolling tables (one I use for serger & cover stitch machine and one that works as an ironing board) for a yard sale and afterwards, the tables were just shoved back in the room.

Now that I have regained mind energy to do something productive, I am back in the sewing room. Let's start from cleaning this mess. I have 4 months worth of podcasts to listen to while cleaning.

B is for Burgler

スー・グラフトンの探偵小説、「泥棒のB」を読みました。
先日映画「オデッセイ」の原作本に続いて、２週間で２冊も読み切るなんて、私にとっては速読並の早さです。
日本語訳版を読んだのはどのくらい前？１５年ぐらい？なんか久しぶりに読みたくなったのよ。
ちなみにこのシリーズはアルファベットシリーズと呼ばれていて、タイトルがアルファベットの順で、Aから去年Xまで出ました。日本では早川さんが翻訳版を出してたけど、Rで終わってるらしい？
舞台が１９８０年代なので、携帯電話もインターネットもない時代の探偵小説は、今の時代からするとじれったいけど、それもある意味新鮮だったりします。
年末にAを読んで、４月にB。この調子でいくとシリーズがZで完結するころにちょうどよくとどくかな。

Finished reading Sue Grafton's alphabet series, B is for Burglar.
The series starts from A is for Alibi, and goes on along the alphabet; she has published until X, I think. It is a detective novel of a female private investigator, Kinsey Millhone.

I actually read A through K or so when I was still in Japan (the Japanese translated version, of course). My mother and I both really liked detective stories with female protagonist and we shared this Kinsey series, Sara Paretsky's V.I. Warshawski series, and Patricia Cornwell's Kay Scarpetta series.

The Kinsey series is set in the 1980s (well, the earlier books were in fact written in the 80s). It is slightly frustrating to read a detective trying to solve a crime when she does not have a cell phone or an Internet, but it also feels good old days, too. Many characters are constantly smoking and everybody has ash trays; the speed of communication is tantalizingly slow without e-mail or cell phone.

Pepper Collections

うちのペッパーコレクション。
手前からしし唐、ハラペーニョ、バナナペッパー、ビッグジム。

２年目のしし唐が豊作すぎて食べるの追いつかないです。
とりあえずバター炒めにしてみました。
去年は実のつかなかったハラペーニョが復活したので、ハラペーニョとビッグジムはタコスにいれてみました。
バナナペッパーは別の日に肉詰めにしました。

Our peppers from the garden. From the front, Shishito pepper, jalapeno, banana pepper, and big jim.
The second year shishito is doing so good that we can't keep up with them. I sauteed them with butter this time. Jarapenos and big jims went in the taco meat.
Banana peppers were consumed as stuffed banana peppers.