My sewing schedule is so tight these days, and I prefer sewing in super long chunks of time as opposed to a half hour here or there.
But what to sew is always difficult. I really have more than enough fabric at this time. I have more than enough patterns too. I'm not saying I won't buy more here or there, but the stash is big enough.
I have decided to use today and the next two days sewing a jacket pattern that fit me quite well when I made it last year. I had a few issues, namely that the wool had a bit of spandex in it, and then when I fused it (the front portions) is wanted to unstretch from the interfacing.
The jacket is Burda 7934
My finished jacket
And the fushia lambswool on the bottom of the pile is the one I'm using.
Hopefully I'll be done in these few days' time. I need to get interfacing and a zipper for the front. I should have enough wool to whip up a simple pencil skirt for my daughter in NYC also. Won't she be surprised? Well, not if she reads this.
Emergency Bra: Unsnap, separate cups, inhale...
by Elizabeth Armstrong Moore
Remember that bra we wrote about last year that lifted more than just our spirits when it won the 2009 Ig Nobel Public Health Prize?
Well, creator Dr. Elena Bodnar--whose inspiration comes in part from having witnessed as a young physician the devastating affects of the Chernobyl nuclear plant disaster in 1986--is introducing the now commercially available Emergency Bra at the MIT Museum in Cambridge, Mass., on September 28. She hopes we can all "get a feel of [sic] the product," as she has grown fond of saying.
The bra is, of course, meant to be taken off, something most adults presumably have experience with. Once removed, it separates into two masks which, when placed over the nose and mouth, filter out particles that were found to be as harmful as radiation in Chernobyl.
There is also some noise of a "counterpart device for men" in the works, though the precise shape it will take has yet to be revealed. The emergency bra may work well for women, but attaining the second of the two resulting masks does require men who are not cross-dressing to beg and plead in the event of a disaster.
As Bodnar explained in her alluring Ukrainian accent when accepting the award:
Ladies and gentlemen, isn't that wonderful that women have two breasts, not just one? We can save not only our own life, but also the life of a man of our choice next to us.
Now, a year later, what was once a bizarre and intriguing idea has turned into an actual bra that can be purchased online for $29.99. Ladies, it's a sexy red and comes in a wide range of sizes, from 32B to 40C. Gentlemen, Bodnar assures us that in the event of an emergency, the size of the cup does not matter.
YouTube Link Watch the video through the link as I still need to work on resizing my blog pages to fit videos.
Some time back I had this strange desire to emulate other fantastic sewers and their desire to follow fashion by reading fashion magazines. I was going to make a fashion bulletin board (the bulletin board is still in it's plastic wrap.) So I sat down at the bookstore one day with a pile of magazines, picked out my favorites, and took the subscription cards out of them. Oh, I also wanted inexpensive magazines.
Mailed those darn cards in and a few months later I was being inundated with fashion magazines.
Just remembered I forgot "More" and the subscription to "Oxygen" (but that one isn't mine.
This was an absolute mistake on my part. While one or two magazines a month "might" be okay for me, I truly dislike magazines. Maybe I should say I dislike fashion magazines.
.........WAIT......Burda comes every month too (I think I might drop that subscription) and Ottobre, and Modellina. My daughter's been picking up La Mia Boutique for me.
Um....I'm sure not getting much sewing done lately.
I truly am not into fashion. I do not watch Project Runway or Mad Men. I've been to NYC twice now this year and have yet to step into a clothing store other than Filene's Basement, and only my daughter got something. I didn't even go fabric shopping last time I was there (just too darn busy being a tourist.)
So I place all those magazines in the magazine rack in the bathroom, thumb through them a bit. Maybe I see a pair of boots I like, but you'll never find me buying them. I guess I just don't get it, the whole fashion thing that is.
When the magazine subscriptions run out I will probably stick to my favorite, one I've gotten for a super long time now, Allure. I also think Lucky is fun to look at.
And I will also say, it's not that I think any of the magazines are bad, it's just that it was overload on my part.
I have been so darn busy lately that sewing is totally on the back burner. Today though, I actually had time and whipped up a quick sleeveless top to wear dancing. The good thing about "dance" tops is that they don't have to be perfect, as I wear them in a dark environment.
I've sewn this pattern now three times I think. Twice I've posted photos with the ruffle (one in blue/white and one in the orange/pink/white knits.) I also made up a top in solid red. Oh, I did one in a black/white snake print with red piped elastic at the neck and sleeves.
Today I did it in a polyester print I have.
Photo of the pattern, which to me is obviously a TNT.
I have raised the neckline a good 1"+ and without the ruffle skip the center front seam. The armhole fits nicely.
So now I have this TNT and I really want to start working with it. I have other KwikSew patterns that I can compare it with as far as different styles go.
Other things happening lately is that I visited my daughter Michelle in NYC, but didn't do any real fabric shopping. I did get some powernet for bras, but we were so busy being tourists that fabric wasn't that important.
Plus I recently got a part time job that is working me close to full time. So I'm very busy and very tired.
As far as sewing goes, I'd like to make more simple tank tops for dancing...or maybe add short sleeves to the pattern too.
