Bank Holiday Weekend Day 2

連休二日目はスターウォーズシリーズの新作、「ハン・ソロ／スターウォーズストーリー」を見に行きました。日本では来月公開。
感想：可もなく不可もなく。面白くないわけじゃないけど、面白いわけでもない。「ハン・ソロ」っていう題がついてるけど、ハンの人物描写は浅いし、物語事体もあまりどってことないし。でももともと期待してないのでそんなもんかな。
スターウォーズのメインストーリーの方のエピソード８にとてもがっかりだったのでそれに比べたらよかったかな。
スターウォーズシリーズの中で唯一面白いと思うのはスピンオフの「ローグ・ワン」だけかな、なんて言ったらスターウォーズファンに怒られるかな。

Second day of the 3-day holiday weekend. MOTH and I went to see Solo. While it wasn't bad, it wasn't good either.

Despite the title "Solo," the movie doesn't really explore who Han Solo is other than showing episodes of how he met Chewy or how he got the Millennium Falcon. Emilia Clark's character is so weak and pointless, and the story as a while is pretty weak. But, as usual, I wasn't expecting anything good anyway so not a huge disappointment.

By the way, the only Star Wars movie I would say is worth watching is Rogue One. I am sure the Star Wars fan would hate me saying that.

Bank Holiday Weekend Day 1

今週末は月曜が祝日なので3連休なのです。アメリカもイギリスも月曜が祝日なので、アメリカ時間で働く私も、イギリス時間で働くオットも同時に3連休。
連休初日は、いい天気の間にブレナム宮殿という、世界遺産にもなっている宮殿に行ってきました。イギリスの元首相、ウィンストン・チャーチルが生まれたところでもある。
実は今回が2回目（前回は宮殿の前庭で行われるスーパーカーショーでした。ランボルギーニとかブガッティとか）。今回の目的は宮殿の敷地内で行われるフードフェスティバル。

帰ってきてから犬の散歩。黄色い花がきれいに咲いていました。
ただの草っぱらに見えるけど、一応地図にも載ってるれっきとした公共の散歩道です。微妙に獣道ができているのです。

明日はスターウォーズを見に行く予定。

Three-day weekend. It's Memorial Day in the U.S., but it's also a bank holiday in the U.K., so both me who works in the Mountain Standard Time as well as the Man of the House who works in the British Summer Time are having the 3-day weekend. Yippee.

To start off, while the weather was holding up, we visited Blenheim Palace. It's a World Heritage site and famous for where Winston Churchill was born. This is actually our second time visiting there (the first time was the super car show to see rows and rows of Lamborghinis and Bugattis) and this time we went for the food festival.

Once I got home, I took the dog for a walk and the field was filled with yellow flowers. It looks like I'm going through a middle of the field, but it's a legit public walking path that's even on the map.

Tomorrow, we are going to see the Star Wars movie.

Knit Little Black Dress: Jalie 3024

ハリー王子の結婚式生中継を見ながらワンピースを作りました。
今回で使うの3回目の型紙はカナダのJalie社の型紙3024番。
（前に作ったのはグレーバージョンと70年代風花柄バージョン）
布はレースっぽいニットと黒ニットのコンビで。着心地はいいんだけど、気を緩めるとお腹ポッコリがバレバレなんだよね。（もちろんお腹引っ込めで写真撮影）
ニットなのにドレッシーに見えるワンピースになりました。

I made a little black dress while watching Prince Harry's wedding this weekend.

Let me say a couple of things about the wedding: First of all, I have to say, it was such a beautiful day for the wedding. Perfect weather. Couldn't be better. Secondly, did Americans surprise Brits with the animated Bishop's sermon? Interesting to see the facial expressions of the attendees.

Anyway, my LBD.
The pattern is Jalie 3024. I have made it twice before (the gray version and the 70's floral version).

The fabric for the skirt is a slid black ponte. The fabric for the top is like a double knit; cream color base knit and the lacey overlay knitted together.
I added a lining to the skirt portion using some black mesh fabric.

Since I have gained weight in UK, this time I cut a size S at neck and shoulder, then T at waist and the rest of the skirt.
I lengthened the bodice by 1", shortened the skirt by 2", and added the waist band pattern piece to the skirt pattern piece so no waist band.

Aaarh, this massive excess fabric at the low back is really annoying.
I did try the swayback adjustment by shortening the back bodice by 1.5". But the boat neck was too high on me so I ended up switching the front and back bodice. (This pattern uses interchangeable front/back bodice pattern.)

The hem of the flounce is totally left raw.

I was surprised how dressed-up this dress looks despite a very casual knit dress pattern with dolman sleeve. Very happy how it turned out except for the back (argh!).

Steering Wheel Bag

先月、おとなりさんちのレンジローバーが盗まれ、オットの車も鍵をこじ開けられました。幸いオットの車にはペダルロックという、アクセル・ブレーキ・クラッチペダルの上に鍵付きの箱をかけているので車泥棒はドアを開けたところであきらめたよう。ちなみにオットの車の隣にあった私の車は見向きもされませんでした。なんかちょっとショック。

オットの車は旧式すぎて（92年式？）キーレスエントリーとかないし、エアコンもついてないし、窓は手でぐるぐる回さないと開けられないような車なんだけど、人気が高いのと簡単に鍵をこじ開けられるということで盗難率が高いらしい。そしてイギリスは車の窃盗が多いので（ヨーロッパ他国で売りさばかれる）ペダルロックをかけて盗難防止をしていたんだけど、オットは今回の事件でセキュリティ強化だ！とか言って、車のハンドルを取り外し可能なハンドルに変えました。

そしたらさ、ハンドル入れる鞄が欲しいな～、ハンドルに傷がつかないようにクッション性のあるのがいいな～と頼まれた。

そんなわけで、ハンドル鞄。なんかもう、結構上手にできて、オットにあげるのちょっともったいない。

Last month, our next door neighbor's Range Rover got stolen. MOTH's truck was also broken in by busting the door lock. Fortunately, he had a locked box called pedal lock over the clutch/brake/accelerator pedals so the thieves probably just gave up once they opened the door and saw the pedal lock. They, by the way, weren't even interested in my dingy car.

Because it's so old (1992?), MOTH's truck doesn't have much electric gadgets like key fobs, A/C, or power window, but because it is a popular truck and that because it's easy to bust or pick the door lock, it is also popular among the car thieves to steal. Also, stealing is very prevalent here in the U.K. and cars get stolen all the time to be sold in other parts of Europe.

In order to tighten the security, MOTH bought a removable steering wheel for his truck and he asked me to make a bag for the steering wheel.

So, here you go. Bob's your uncle.

Materials:
Exterior - 1000 denier Cordura. Probably 1000D was a bit overkill for a tote that only carries a steering wheel. But it's so sturdy.
Lining - pre-quilted poly cotton?
1" nylon webbing for strap.
#5 nylon zipper.
Land Rover patch. Just because.
Lobster clip and 1/2"-wide twill tape for key strap that goes inside the front pocket.

I traced the shape of the steering wheel to use as my template for the bottom part of the tote.

I added 1/2" of ease originally, but it was too loose, so I trimmed off the 1/2".

I sew the lining for a dry fitting. This is after I trimmed off the 1/2" ease. Now it fits nice and snugly.

Deciding the length of the strap and pocket size.

Patch is sewn on the pocket. A lobster clasp is attached to the twill tape.

Strap and the pocket is sewn on the front exterior panel. (No pocket on the other exterior panel) The key strap is sewn under the strap inside the pocket.

Making zipper end tabs.

Zipper panel done. This is actually my second attempt. My first zipper was too short for the steering wheel to go through so I had to re-do the whole panel.

Zipper panel is attached to the lining.

Front panel attached to the gusset.

Top stitching around the gusset.

Exterior bag done.

Bag top.

 I even made a cobra knot zipper pull.

Key strap exposed.

I really like making bags, and though this is a relatively simple tote, I am so exited about the finished bag. I love it. Love it. Love it. I just like the "tactical look" bags (you know, rather than bags made of quilting cotton). How I wish I had an industrial sewing machine...

Spring has come: Simplicity 1805 Dolman Sleeve T-shirt

4月に熱波が来て暑くなったかと思ったら、やっぱり霜が降りるぐらい寒い日々に戻っていたんだけど、5月になってやっと本格的に春到来の模様です。家の前の道もすっかり緑々しくなりました。

春にふさわしく、花柄模様で袖の短すぎないTシャツを作りました。
去年使ったシンプリシティの1805番の型紙を使って、今回は裾にバンドがあるバージョンを作りました。
布はレーヨンにちょっとスパンデックスが入ったニットです。
この型紙は、すっごくシンプルで縫い目も数えるほどしかないので布を切ったりする時間のほうが、実際にミシンに向かってる時間より長いくらい。
パンツは前に作ったジーンズに見えるゴムウェストパンツね。

We had some heat wave in April but then it got back to freezing cold (like literally, the grass would be frozen in the morning). But I think we finally got the proper spring weather. It's beautifully green everywhere.

To celebrate the spring and the warmer weather, I made a floral T-shirt.

The pattern is Simplicity 1805. (Out of print now? I can't find it on Simplicity website anymore.) I used this pattern before for the raglan sleeve version (View E without the hem tie) and the dolman sleeve version (View A). This time, I made a View C, which is also a dolman sleeve but with a hem band.

The fabric is rayon/Lycra jersey. I really like the relatively large floral prints.

 I think the large scale print worked well for this pattern with very few seams.

I cut a size XS. Shortened 1" above bust all the way across the sleeves, and 1.5" at the waist (I am 5'3").
I also narrowed the neck opening by 1/2" both sides.
The pattern calls for a neck binding finish but I just fold the neck band piece in half length wise and added it to the neck opening as a neck band.

In my previous version, I had to add a center back seam because of the fabric shortage and I added a back contouring. I did the same on this one as well, but since this one has a hem band to make it more blouson effect, I think the back contouring is lost anyway, so the CB seam was totally unnecessary. I did pattern-match this time though.

Using this pattern for the second time, it was a very fast project. I spent more time cutting the fabric than sewing. I really like it, but the quality of the fabric wasn't too good. After the initial pre-wash, the print is already slightly fading. Unfortunately, the floral print as well as the black background is printed on a white fabric (so the wrong side is white), so the print fading is very noticeable. Also if you stretch the fabric, like hem band, the non-printed white part of the weave shows.

But that's OK. I still like it and I can make many more in the future.

(Worn with my Jalie Eleonore.)