Making it work

A few months ago when I was home recovering from my surgery, a friend loaned me all 8 seasons of Project Runway on DVD. Each night Scott and I would watch a couple of episodes. I think it helped me in my recovery - the thought if being well enough to sew clothes again was something to strive for.

One episode, while the contestants were shopping at Mood Fabrics (as they did every episode) Scott turned to me and said "You know, maybe we could go back to New York, and you could go shopping at Mood and I could pat Swatch (the store's resident dog).

And that's why we're currently in New York, and part of the reason I worked so hard to get fit and healthy again (the subway stairs are killing me though).

(In case you're wondering about the Red Lobster photo, fans of season two will know that's where Tim Gunn took Andrae on their pretend date according to Santino).

We've got some beans and some good cornbread

We're staying in a ground floor apartment in an old Brownstone in Harlem while here in New York City. We'd never been to this part of Manhattan before, but I am falling in love with Harlem already.

And why?

For one it's a lot quieter than the rest of the city. And safe. The subways are close by. People here sing out loud, all the time. Last night a guy in our street was singing Peter, Paul and Mary. Guys I walk past on Malcolm X Boulevard on my way to get coffee in the morning rap. Even when they speak to each other, they sound so lyrical.

And despite being two of the whitest people treading God's earth - which makes us the minority here - we are politely ignored and mostly anonymous.

Probably the best reason for loving Harlem is the food. The other night we experienced soul food at Amy Ruth's for the first time, and tonight we went back.

Cornbread before every meal. I love this stuff and I'm going to make it when I go home. And collard greens - how delicious you are!

This meal - The Ludacris - was a true test for someone who doesn't usually eat chicken and no longer has a gallbladder to process all that deep fried badness. But it was lovely and homely ( although not as stunning as the jerked shrimp I had the other night) and while I didn't eat it all I did feel very loved through the food.

Slow down, you move too fast

It hit me this morning, as we sailed under the 59th Street Bridge and I sang that song under my breath, that since we came to New York City our holidaying life has slowed down considerably.

How can this be when we are in one of the fastest cities on earth?

We are so relaxed. So. Relaxed. I love this city. It's been 15 years since we were last here, and so much has changed, and yet so much hasn't.

Don't ever change, New York.

Private lawns, public parks

Yesterday morning we walked down Astor, which is the street behind where we are staying. Beautiful, genteel houses and apartment buildings with no gardens to speak of but a patch on the sidewalk.

The bigger houses in this post (I have no say as to their order, thanks to the crappy Blogger app) were designed by Frank Lloyd Wright and are situated in Oak Park not far from Chicago. We spent half a day there - so interesting and just a little surreal to see the Prairie School in the flesh.

No Chicago post would be complete without a photo of the bean in Millenium Park.

We are leaving Chicago in a few hours and we are very sad to go. I don't care what Doris Day says - I'll take Illinois over Deadwood City any day.

A long train ride to another city awaits us, and there are more adventures to be had.

Buy the sky and sell the sky and lift your arms up to the sky

The main reason we came to Chicago, besides the promise of deep dish pizza, was the lure of the big buildings.

Here the architecture, history and art of Chicago are all wrapped up in one. And to be here, to look up and see different styles and different eras all blended together and sitting next to each on Michigan or Wacker or Wabash is something to behold.

Really, really behold.

Two nights ago we visited Willis Tower (formerly Sears) and looked down on some of the amazing buildings in the world. This morning we participated in a river tour organised by the Chicago Architecture Foundation, and looked up.

It's hard not to feel small when in the presence of giants.

Just blew in from the Windy City

The sandwiches here in Chicago are incredible. Show me the pickle, I say.

We happened to be here for Open House Chicago 2011, and it has been a real treat. Man, that Santa Fe building is the bomb. This is totally open plan - no windows between the floors and a big skylight roof above and below. It was built by the architect of Chicago as a building for architects, and almost 100 years later architect firms are still here.

Lucky buggers. Would kill to work here everyday.

Also - Lake Michigan is monstrous but also very beautiful. I wake up to this view every morning.

City of angels

Sometimes you just have to get away. So we went to a place where room service arrives on a table and is set up in your room, everything is served with a side of ketchup, water comes with lime wedges - on the side- and the ice cream sundaes are bigger than your head.

We're actually not here anymore, but we are somewhere else and we are still away. And that's the main thing.

The making of the White Flowers tea dress

The White Flowers dress commenced with truly beautiful fabric - a black cotton embroidered thickly with off-white flowers. I bought it at Tessuti a couple of summers ago and I knew it would be a dress - I just had to find the right dress pattern.

Sewing it, however, proved to be a problem. The fabric, while soft, is densely woven. Pinning the pattern to it was impossible. Machine sewing it produced a popping sound when a needle went through it. I started with a denim needle, but the resulting big holes were unappealing so I switched to a sharper universal needle.

The bodice came together easily on the first day, but by then my fingers were toast from pushing all the pins into the fabric and so I was done.

I started the skirt the next day. I cut the full width of the fabric (as the embroidery was along the selvedge) which was 2.5 metres. The skirt is 27 inches long.

When I wore the Not Sorbetto wearable muslin dress for the first time I had a chance to assess what worked and what didn't. The top was great - I couldn't fault it except it could be a little shorter at the waist. But the skirt, as lovely as those four pleats are, tended to grab knickers and tights at the internal part of the pleat.

So a rethink of the pleating of the skirt was required. I decided to make knife pleats and have them directing away from the centre back and centre front. I spent an hour pinning, measuring, re-pinning and finally, basting the pleated skirt to the bodice. Then I tried it on for size.

My mum always told me to wear the shoes you were going to wear with the dress or skirt before determining the correct length and working out the fit. She was right.

I'm glad the length was perfect, because I didn't fancy taking the length from the top of the skirt after all that bloody pleating. So I finished off the waist, and turned to the side zipper because, let's face it. The hem was already done.

Experienced sewers will know what I'm about to undertake here. I did question my nuttiness at attempting a hand-picked zipper, I must admit. But this was a special dress, and I thought it would be worth it.

And oh - was it ever.

These photos were taken at my brother's wedding in Brisbane yesterday. It was a truly wonderful day. There was a massive thunderstorm in the morning, but by lunchtime it was clear and even a little sunny.

My mum loved my dress. My husband loved my dress. I loved my dress. No one else noticed my dress even though I'd told my aunties I'd made it myself.And that was OK because all eyes were on the bride. Her outfit was stunning. She was stunning!

I was cool, and very comfortable. The flowers on the dress kept my baby nephew distracted as I held him while his parents were busy getting married. And when I crashed from exhaustion in the hotel room hours later, the dress was extremely comfortable to pass out in until I had the energy to shower and go to bed properly.



And that adds up to a winning dress in my book.

Oops - missed it by *that* much

So ... the last two days of Self Stitched September follow.


September 29. Decided there hadn't been enough black in my life this year. And given we are going into summer shortly, I may not wear all black until March next year. I am depressed at the thought of a summer of non-blackness. Obviously. Me-made doily skirt, and a me-refashioned half slip.



About the half slip - I only bought one because the cotton sateen in this skirt sticks to tights, and I tend to look really stupid when I am walking down the corridor at work, grabbing my skirt to make it sit straight. Rather than line it, which is what a sensible person would do, I decided to cut the bottom off a longer purchased slip, then reattach the lovely 4 inch side lace trim because the lace was oh-so-pretty.  Except for some reason the stretchy slip and the lace that's left didn't actually add up to a whole skirt's width. So there is now a 3 inch gap at the back of the slip (conveniently where the skirt slit is) where no lovely lace exists. And then all day I spent hitching my slip down as it kept riding up with the friction of the skirt. Didn't cling to my tights though, so ...

Seriously, it would have been easier to have lined the blasted skirt.

September 30. Last day! And it's casual Friday at that! I decided to embrace my new-found love of purple (not really. I'm still not a fan.) The skirt was my first me-made skirt from a couple of years ago. The fabric was given to me by Liesl and I just love it. It's worn really well (and it's green, not the yellow in the photo).



So what now? Where do I go from here? And what did I learn?

* This year, it was easy to get the husband to do the photography. Put a DSLR camera in his hands and he becomes quite the fashion stylist.

* I only sewed two items during September (the Not Sorbetto top, and the Not Sorbetto dress) and crocheted one (Dorothy's Tail scarf) but this was two more items than Me Made March. Mind you - in March I was busy being seriously ill, so maybe no rewards for September's effort.

* I solved the problem of March's photos showing me to be shortlegged due to the tall photographer by having the photos taken on the front stoop while the photographer stood in the garden below. However, the early morning sun may have killed my eyesight.

* September proved that I could adjust patterns, and draft my own as well. I am beyond pleased with my bravery  about this kind of thing.

* I really love sewing and wearing my own clothes. Next winter I want to have more me-made tops.

*Bring on Me Made May 2012, I say!


Since October started, I have started and finished the tea dress for the wedding this Saturday. But I will wait until after the weekend to blog about that. In the meantime, here's a little tease. (Aren't those jaundice-yellow runners awesome?)



On a post-project high, I started making a skirt with no pattern (again) and I was going great guns until I sewed a hole into my finger with the sewing machine, spilt tea over my skirt, and then discovered that the back seam wasn't going to match up, therefore making a hand picked zipper impossible. My sore finger and the skirt are currently having a time-out in the naughty corner.