Drat! I Was Right!

After posting about my skirt yesterday, I couldn't shake the feeling that maybe the creasing in the front was caused by my waist being lower in front. I became more and more unhappy with the skirt as the day wore on. So, when I got home, I tried the skirt on again and pinned a one inch fold out of the center front, tapering to nothing at the seam.

Before pinning:

See the crease under the tummy?

After pinning:

No more crease!

And from the side... Before:

Not smooth.

Blurry, but smooth

As you can see, the crease is pretty much gone. Which means I was right about it being an issue stemming from my waist and not about the darts at all.

So, what does all this mean? It means that I spent last night with my seam ripper detaching the waistband from the skirt. Uuugh. I feel like I am at a point in my sewing career (the terrible twos?) that I know just enough to recognize problems, but not enough to avoid them.

Winter Blahs & My Pencil Skirt Reveal

For the last few weeks I have been suffering from the winter blahs. And every time I try to give myself a kick in the pants to get me moving again (like my new running program), I seem to stall (like my sneakers going kaput on day 1).

However, last night, I did manage to pull myself together for long enough to make Phineas snap a few pictures of me in my pencil skirt. (Go figure, I'm wearing it with a cowl neck.)

I think I am finished, but I am not 100% certain. I may tinker some more. I had trouble getting the darts to lay flat, I think because of how thick/stiff the fabric is. So it is causing that wrinkle/pucker across the tummy, which looks worse in the picture than in real life, I think. You can see it in the side view photo, too. The darts end where it puckers out, and then it slopes in. See?

Although, now that I think about this more, I wonder if my waist being about an inch lower in the front contributes to there being extra fabric there to droop. Hmm, I need to think this over.

That said, I am pretty happy with this project for a number of reasons. I really like the fabric for one, and showcasing it with a simple pattern is exactly what I wanted to do. However, along the way I used some new tools and techniques. And this was my first project on plaid.

I already told you about using my new invisible zipper foot to install the zipper. In addition, I used my new 5mm narrow hem foot to finish the lining. It definitely took some getting used to because you have to use a very light touch and not try to make the fabric roll. The foot does it for you.

Lining sewn with my new narrow hemmer.

Matching up the plaid went ok, but not perfect. After I had finished the back, I learned a better technique for cutting plaid so that it will match better in the future.

Overall, I am mostly happy with the project and I'll defintiely get some wear out of this skirt. It came together easily, fits pretty well and I think is a fun addition to my wardrobe.

When is it time for an intervention???

I continue to amass cowl neck patterns.And this one is not even in English, although they did email me a translation.

But I am pretty sure that I have a problem. I don't think it has translated into a problem in my wardrobe just yet, since I haven't had enough time to sew up a slew of cowl necks. But even if I did, (rationalization #1) cowl necks look nice on me, and (#2) the patterns I own are really all very different, and (#3) this one could be the perfect one for me, and (#4) it is a versatile top/tunic/dress pattern, and (#5) it could expand my style to include leggings, a trend I have been resisting... Not buying it? Well, I did. And this pattern is now on its way to me from Denmark. So there.

By tomorrow (I hope), I will have taken some photos of my pencil skirt to show you. I finished it up on Friday evening. I also made some progress on my Calm, Cool and Cowl necked top, which in my defense is not very cowl-ish at all. It is more like a slightly drapey boat neck. Anyway, more on this later.

You never know what you'll find in other people's closets.

Compliments of my mother-in-law's closet:

"As seen on TV"

I present the Singer Tiny Serger, which I assume was advertised on an infomercial sometime in the late 70's or early 80's. Calling it a serger is a bit presumptuous as it has no cutting blades. But it really is incredibly small. Here it is with the latest Burda magazine for comparison:



For kicks, I decided to see if it still works. The directions are missing, but I was able to get it threaded thanks to a diagram on the machine, a pair of tweezers and a flashlight. The advertising on the box - Comes prethreaded, ready to sew - suddenly made sense. It took 10 minutes. I can thread my sm in 15 seconds. Later, when I plugged this little guy in, I learned that there is an internal light which goes on when you plug in the power and then off again when you plug in the pedal, presumably to help you thread.

I "serged" the edge of some jersey. The machine made an unfriendly chugga-chugga-chugga noise, but it worked. Stitch quality isn't great, but what can you expect?

I can't imagine what kind of craft project my MIL would have been doing with it - there were so many talented seamstresses in her generation of the family.

Anyway, the Tiny Serger is back in the closet, which is where it probably belongs. Happy Friday, everyone.

Not enough GO in the escargo!

I continued to run at a snail's pace through the holidays, not gaining any ground but not losing any either. However, having set some new running goals - and with a dinner of mac + cheese waiting at home - I left for the gym on Tuesday evening, raring to go.

Phineas has created a new running program for me, working up to a 10k and also working on speed. I do well with a program. It's how I operate. Whether it is a garment to sew, a cooking or baking project or an athletic achievement, I do best when I have a clear goal and can see all the steps to get there (sewing instructions, recipes, workout plan...) But anyway, off I went to the gym for day one of 10k training.

After a few minutes on the treadmill, there was something rubbing rubbing rubbing my right heel. I stopped the treadmill and checked it out; a knobby piece of turquoise fuzz was stuck to my sock, probably from the wash. I plucked it off, laced up and was back to running. But the rubbing rubbing rubbing got worse - a blister was imminent. So, I got off the treadmill to examine my heel. That is when I noticed it: it was not an innocent piece of fuzz! A piece of turquoise lining had ripped away from the inside of my sneaker leaving a pit!

The offending sneaker.

That is what was rubbing. And that means my sneakers are done for. The sneakers that carried me through my first 5k! Sigh. Poor sneakers.

Now that it is a day later, I am feeling much more philosophically at peace with the idea of new sneakers at the start of a new endeavor. In the interim, I am going to try using a little moleskin to protect my heel until my new sneakers arrive. I will update you on my progress once any has been made!

M+C Experiment: Crack-n-Cheese

Now that the holidays are behind us, I got back down to my mac + cheese experimentation last night.


Recap: We've tried 2 different kinds of mac + cheese recipes: my mom's recipe, which is not as unique as I thought (see this recipe from the NY Times). And the wildly over-the-top custard-based recipe from Cooks Illustrated.

From the first recipe, we liked the gooey-ness, but not the Velveeta. From the second, we loved the breadcrumb topping, but found the sauce overpowering.

The Plan: So, it was time to try a bechamel/white-sauce variety of mac + cheese. There are endless examples of this version, but I narrowed down to 3 recipes: Martha Stewart's so-called Crack-n-Cheese, Ina Garten's variation, and an LA Times "House" recipe. Phineas and I decided to start with Ina Garten's recipe, which called for the lowest cheese-to-pasta ratio (20 oz cheese:1lb pasta), figuring that we can increase from there. One thing we borrowed from Martha was cooking the pasta al dente and then rinsing it so that the additional starch would not make the sauce grainy. That step worked very well.

This is all that Phineas and I could manage to eat.

The results: Rich. Leaden. There was entirely too much sauce. When I dumped it into our casserole dish, there was more sauce than pasta, and it was more cream sauce-like than cheesy. It was just as overpoweringly decadent as our previous attempt. We could not eat very much of it, and were both left feeling bloated and yet not satisfied.

Epiphany: That is when it occurred to me that this is why American's are fat. Perhaps to sell cookbooks - or bowls of mac + cheese - you have to produce a recipe that stresses "bigger-better-more" over "balance". And that is not what I am looking for. Don't get me wrong, I am not counting calories here. But what I want is a dish like the one I had in Montreal. It was just right; I cleaned my plate and yet didn't feel gross or bloated or like I had eaten a lead bar. It was cheesy and creamy in just the right proportion.

The Verdict: Back to the drawing board. This recipe was too rich, without being cheesy enough. I don't think that increasing the amount of cheese would help since this mac + cheese is just too rich to begin with. I have a plan to move forward, but here is where we are going to take a big leap away from mac+cheese recipes and into guesswork and tinkering. It could get ugly.

How ugly? Well, I promised Phineas that I wouldn't subject him to mac+ cheese every week, so I will be back in 2 weeks with a next version.

The Little Things: Buttons!

This morning, I was sipping coffee at my desk and trying to motivate myself. I was feeling like the only person who had to be at work today. Even on my commute, it seemed like everyone else was heading to NY for fun rather than office drudgery. This made me considerably mopey.

After an unproductive hour, I decided that a 10 minute surfing break might help things. So, off I went to a few sewing blogs that I follow. That is when I learned - wah-hoo! - that I won a give away on The Diary of a Sewing Fanatic. So, a selection of mother of pearl buttons will be heading my way. Suddenly, the day is not looking so bad afterall.

In other news, I cut Phineas' pj's this weekend along with the Calm, Cool and Cowl neck top from Hot Patterns that I did a quick-and-dirty muslin for a few weeks ago. I also *mostly* finished my pencil skirt. I'm tinkering with the front darts a bit (they won't lay flat!) and also have to hand sew the lining around the zipper. Otherwise it is done done done! Photos to follow during the week...