Bagua Pants

The Man and I are taking a bagua zhang class every Thursday at the Academy of Martial and Internal Arts. Martial arts is something new for me. I've been really enjoying it. I'm learning to move my body in some different ways, which I think is good for the mind as well as the muscles. Plus The Man and I are allowed to spar, now that we know enough to not knock each other's blocks off by mistake. The Man refuses to take dance lessons with me, so this is the closest I'm likely to come to waltzing with him.

Anyway, my skills are improving bit by bit, but my wardrobe is woefully inadequate. I have a stable of running gear, but apparently shorts or neon leggings are just Not Done in martial arts. I've been wearing a pair of cheap yoga pants (also Not Done, but better then shorts). Those pants are kind of hot and polyester-y, and they only have one tiny pocket inside the waistband; maybe big enough for lip gloss, but nothing else.

So I made me some Bagua Pants.

This is the Snake, with what I think is the Crane stance. I'm a newby though

I used pattern #112 (Jogging Pants) from the March, 2014 issue of BurdaStyle magazine. Burda describes them as narrow jogging pants with an elasticated waist. Short and to the point. They advised using fine knits or jersey, and it just so happened I had a hunk of brown cotton jersey just waiting in my fabric closet.

That makes this project is a two-fer: Burda Challenge (check) and Stashbusting Challenge (check).

This is the Lion

The pattern was super straightforward. There are 4 pattern pieces, one of which I didn't use (the back pocket). They have you draft your own waistband and ankle bands, but even I can draft a rectangle without too much drama. OK, I did initially cut the ankle bands too narrow, but I had plenty of fabric to fix that little problem.

Snake

I do appreciate the front pockets. They describe them as 'hip yoke' pockets; they're the same kind of pockets you see on trouser patterns. They're nice and roomy but don't look too baggy. I won't be able to haul around too much stuff, because this fabric is so light, but they can handle my car keys for sure.

Waistband shot - The Man tells me baby blue satin drawstrings are also a no-no in martial arts. I'll have to swap that out before class.

Burda says the waistband sits about an inch below the natural waist, but the slouchiness of elastic and drawstring puts it a bit lower on me. It feels like just about the perfect rise for a pair of sweatpants.

I'm pretty happy with them. They feel much lighter than the yoga pants, and they're certainly comfy and very easy to move around in. In fact, I have them on now as I slump on the couch writing this post.

You know when you get home from work and you just want to yank off your shoes and constraining office clothes and chill? This is what you want to be putting on. I can see myself making another pair in a perkier, non-martial arts color for lounging purposes. Bet they'd make great jammies too.

I leave you with the Unicorn

My review of the pattern is on PatternReview.com here.

Crazy Dog Lady for Sure

I finished my entry for the Crazy Dog Lady Challenge, and I must say I'm pretty pleased with the results.

As a reminder, my inspiration dog is my Great Pyrenees, Zoe.

And this is a close-up of my fabric, a very soft and well-behaved cotton from Cotton and Steel. I'm suspecting this might really be a coyote rather than a dog, but the resemblance is remarkable, don't you think?

We adopted Zoe three years ago from Great Pyrenees Rescue of Northern California. When we got her they thought she was about 3 years old, so we figure she's about 6 now. She's just the sweetest dog you would ever want to know. To her, a stranger is just a friend she hasn't met yet. She works with me doing pet assisted therapy. Twice a month we visit a nursing home with Furry Friends. Zoe also heads to the public library once a month, so that kids can practice their reading with her. She's a totally non-critical audience. That's a program called Tales to Tails. This weekend we'll be visiting the library up at the Santa Cruz campus of the University of California, so that stressed-out students studying for their finals can mellow out by cuddling a big, white fur ball. That program is called Pause for Paws.

The blue isn't really as dark as it looks here

I decided to use one of my favorite patterns for this challenge - the Edith blouse from Maria Denmark. I thought the vintage style of the blouse would be a good match for the slightly retro-style fabric, and it's certainly an easy top to wear.

Front view

The blouse has darts front and back to give it a nice shape.

Back view

And the cut-on sleeves just cover your shoulders.

Better idea of the color

Here's a picture on Mini Me, to give you a better idea of the color. The background is a very soft blue-grey, livened up by green cacti, pink jack rabbits and, of course, Great Pyrenees.

I had what I thought were the perfect buttons. I got them at an antique mall in Illinois when we did our road trip to Chicago last summer. I think they look like little full moons, just the thing for a while dog (or coyote) to be howling to on a Spring night.

She's very good at giving kisses

To Pullayup and Back

I just got back from my most exciting sewing trip ever. My sewing bud, Jessica, and I went north to the 2015 Sewing and Stitchery Expo in Pullayup, Washington.

And we went by train.

Amtrak train 1131 pulling into the station

We had a romette with two beds and our very own bathroom.

It's about a 22 hour trip from San Jose, CA to Tacoma, WA and we enjoyed every minute. Besides the gorgeous scenery passing by out our window, we got in some quality knitting time.

The Steel Bridge in Portland. I love Portland. We had time on the way up to walk about a bit and grab a coffee.

 I went a little crazy with the seminars. I think I signed up for 15. Some were better than others, but I learned something from every one.

Most creative vest

Here we are in the thick of it!

There were a bunch of fun booths in the marketplace. We did some cruising every day, in between our classes.

As a Stashbusting Sewalong participant, I tried to keep my credit card in my wallet. But I failed.

Stretch elastics for lingerie making

Marking tools, new shears, a measuring tape and a nice jacket pattern

These are the fabrics I don't feel too guilty about, because I don't have an assortment in stash. The two khaki pieces are stretch twills: one will be the Jalie jeans pattern I've been itching to try and the other will be another pair of BurdaStyle 10-2013-127. The berry piece is rainwear - I want to make a Minoru for wet days. That's if we ever have another wet day here on the Central Coast. Our drought is becoming the new normal.

The two pieces on the right are slated for shirts: the dotted green is a cotton gauze and the black is polyester with a nice, heavy drape. Maybe an Archer?

The roll up top is a light weight wool. I think I have enough for the McCall's 6709 pictured up above.

Here's the group I should feel guilty about. Knits. I have a whole shelf of knits in the fabric closet. But this is a bundle of coordinating fabrics from Marcy Tilton's booth. I've been wanting to try some pattern/print mixing, and using a pre-picked palette will be a good entree for a nervous Nellie.

One of the good things about the train is you can bring a honking big suitcase!

Social Sewing

I used to do a lot of social kntting back in the days when yarn was my drug of choice. There's something very soothing about chatting with a group of women while everyone's fingers are busy. It's like swimming in a pool of friendship. You can dive down to focus on your knitting when you need to, then surface to rejoin the conversation.

Social sewing is a bit harder to organize; at least with sewing machines. There's more stuff to cart around and you need a bigger space. Still, every once in a while we can make it happen, and it's always a total blast.

My friend Carol came down to visit last weekend, and she brought along her new sewing machine for a test drive.

Carol used to do a lot of sewing. In fact, at 14 she had a job sewing dresses for sale at a shop on Solano Avenue in Berkeley. Then marriage, a lot of moves, two sons, and a teaching job came along and absorbed her creative juices. Sewing took the way-back seat.

We planned our get together to dive into the features her new machine has to offer. Since Carol's sewing experience was on a Singer Featherweight, there were some fun things to explore. One of them was the stretch (a.k.a. "lightening bolt") stitch, so we sat down to sew us some tee shirts.

Here's her version of BurdaStyle 09-2011-108, or the Easiest Tee Yet.

I've written recently about my angst over attaching neck bands to tee shirts. Take a look at Carol's work here! Smooth and flat, just like a neck band should be.

Neckband attached - Like A Boss!

It was like riding a bicycle. Once she got her hands on that presser foot, she was off and running.

 

What a fun way to spend a Saturday afternoon! Just wait until she gets a chance to play with her buttonhole foot.

An Oldie But a Goodie

As a participant in the Stashbusting Challenge, I've been chipping away at my collection of knits. I wear a lot of tee shirts, and I have a couple of TNT patterns that I return to over and over again  (Renfrew, I'll always love you, baby) .

I was very happy to be reminded of an old favorite pattern while shuffling through my wardrobe a couple weeks ago. It was a chilly day and I was looking for a tee with some coverage when I came upon a top that I'd made years ago, back when I first started sewing again.

It was my Christine Johnson V-Neck Tee. I wore it to work that day and remembered what a really great top it is.

So I yanked a hunk of knit fabric out of the stash and made up another one in black.

I think this would be a great first knit top for a beginner.  The collar is a long band that waps around your neck and than goes down the front to make princess seams. Not a great description, huh? Maybe you can see what I mean from the drawing on the pattern envelope.

I've made a fair few tee shirts  by now and I still fret over attaching the collar bands. You want to stretch it enough so that the band will lay flat against your neck, but not so much that the seam goes all wavey. Which is a different degree of stretch with every knit, of course. I'm getting better with practice, but it's still a gamble every time.

With this pattern, I can just stitch the pieces together as they lay and everything fits perfectly. It's also super simple to adjust the depth of the V neck by lengthening or shortening that first seam line.

I really like how the collar comes up slightly to warm the back of your neck. I think it looks a little bit vintage tucked into a high-waisted skirt but it's really easy to wear casually with jeans.

I was so happy with my black top that I immediately made a purple one.

I like theis V Neck version so much I'm tempted to just keep churning them out. But then there's that Cross Your Heart view. Also cute, right? And the gathers would probably be a good strategy for someone who needs all the help she can get in the chestal area. I'm thinking it would also make a cute tunic top made up in some of the chiffon-y fabric I have backlogged on shelf two of the stash closet.

Christine Johnson says you can make these tops from knit or woven fabrics, but you'd need to size up for a woven. Does anyone have a rule of thumb for how much larger I should go?

My pattern review is on SewingPatternReview.com here.

Oldest Stashed Fabric, Busted!

This is my entry in the Oldest Fabric category for the February Stashbusting Challenge.  I toyed with entering it under the Ugliest Fabric category, but I have to admit, it's been growing on me.

I'm not 100% sure which is the absolute oldest piece in my stash. I recently used one of the true ancients for this jacket. That piece had been folded up in my closet for so long that it had begun to fray along one of the creases. From this I learned that you can't keep stash forever.

This fabric is definitely up in the senior cohort though. I bought it probably 5 or so years ago at Findings in Carmel. Gosh, I still tear up when I remember going to their closing sale.

In the early days of my sewing renaissance I would find myself attracted to a fabric because of the color, or because of an interesting texture. With reckless abandon, I'd call out to the fabric lady to cut me two yards; no, wait, make that three! I'd buy like a drunken sailor on shore leave. Especially when fabric shopping with my friend Jessica.

Then I'd get the plunder home and realize that, while I did like the fabric as an object, I had no idea what to do with it. Like, for example, this hunk of green sweater-y knit with tweedy flecks all over it. So it sat in the lower levels of the stash for year after year. Every so often, I'd pull it out and heft it, then slide it back in the closet. No inspiration.

Then I discovered McCall's 6844. I had no idea that you could sew a cardigan! I though you had to start with yarn and spend 3 years knitting the darn thing, only to find that it made you look like Mr. Rogers.

In contrast, this cardigan took me about 4 hours from start to finish.

McCall's 6844 was a Sewing Pattern Review pattern of the year in 2013. With good reason too. It's easy to put together and includes a couple of cute variations. I made View A, the shorter version without the peplum.

I would have cut a medium if I followed the measurements on the pattern envelope. Because I'd checked out the reviews on Pattern Review, I cut a small. Good move. Otherwise I made it up exactly as instructed, including using interfacing on the collar. I'm glad I did - it seemed odd for a knit cardigan, but it gives the collar a bit of structure, which is nice.

You know, I like it. It's light but warm, it fits pretty well and I like the shawl collar. I can see myself making a few more of these. In fact, I have another ancient piece of knit fabric that may finally be seeing the sun as the longer, peplum-less version.

Crazy Dog Lady

I know I said I was going to limit myself to three sewing challenges this year, but that was before Sophie Lee of Two Random Words* announced the Crazy Dog Lady Challenge.

How could I say no? As a dog-lover and the owner of a Great Pyrenees, I feel obligated to participate.

Let me introduce you to Zoe:

My inspiration dog

Here are the "rules," copied from Sophie Lee's blog:

"You can interpret the challenge however you like – whether you make a garment from dog-themed fabric, make yourself a dog costume, make an outfit for your dog, or ALL THREE, is up to you. Even a dog quilt would be awesome!"

I stepped out on my Stashbusting Challenge to attend the Superbowl Sunday fabric sale at Hart's, where my friend Lisa (and a bunch of other friendly fabric lovers) helped me go through every bolt of dog-themed fabric in the store.

There were a surprising number of options to choose from. Some were cute, but bad colors for me, some were a bit too youthful (read "pre-school") in style, but there were several that were very tempting. I ended up going with a nice, soft cotton from Cotton and Steel.

I'm willing to stipulate that these guys are probably coyotes, or possible wolves.  The cacti point in the coyote direction. Still, they're clearly members of the genus canis, so I figure this fabric counts as dog-themed.

Don't you think there's a clear resemblance to my inspiration dog?

Exhibit A

Exhibit B

I have until March 15 to turn 1.5 yards of this fabric into (probably) a blouse. Game on!

Bonus adorable picture of Zoe (at 75 lbs) with her friend Hermes (at 2.5 lbs)

* Coincidentally, The Man is an expert in the mathematics of Random Walks. Eerie, huh?