A NEW TITLE!

NANA  is what I told my son I'd like to be called.  My mother's Mom was Nana and she was the most wonderful grandmother.  I hope that Jakob will think as highly of me when he's old enough to have an opinion.  He was born at 2:43 this afternoon and mother and son are doing well.  It's certainly exciting; even my husband who doesn't show excitement was teary eyed.  We'll go down for the brit milah, which if it is done according to tradition will be next Sunday.  He's a very considerate child so far.
Here he is at about 10 minutes old sent from the new Dad's Blackberry.  The hospital has wi fi, so we got regular updates during labor.

Isn't he fabulous!  Josh says that he has a full head of hair under the cap.
We called our daughter Alex in Korea when we found out Sarah was in labor, and she insisted that I call her even if it was the middle of the night her time, which it was.   You can see how excited she is if you read her blog entry, the link is over on the left in my blog roll.  AAA Alex's Adventures in Asia.
I promise that I won't post too much on Jake, but this first day is pretty special.

SNOW, AND MORE SNOW

It's officially a blizzard and a record snow.  We had 25" of snow and of course this is when my dh's old Ram Charger that he keeps going for the plow decided not to stay running.  We have a 700 foot driveway.  Fortunately we share it with several other houses and the main, shared driveway has been plowed.  But, getting my car down to it may be a little hard.  Ah, well I work at home.  I may get stir crazy, but hopefully I'll get a lot done. But, not the shoveling.  Here's my husband clearing a path for the dog. 

I USED A PRINT!

I actually got one of my prints cut and sewn into this terrific sweater coat.  Hot Patterns has some very nice designs for knits these days including this great  1018 Riviera Cardigan.
I've posted a complete review over on PR, though there isn't a lot to say about such a simple project.  It took me longer to match and cut it out than to sew it up.  
Hot Patterns Riviera Cardigan 1018 review

The pants are a wool blend with a small amount of lycra from Emmaonesock, as is the sweater coat fabric.  I used my trusty tnt Hot Patterns Razer pant that I narrowed down to an 18" leg at the hem.  I used this method from Threads,  a much better way to narrow down a pant leg than just drawing it in narrower as many books instruct.  This one does not leave you with excess fabric below the rear end or in the thigh.
Oh, by the way, I took this with my new camera.  It has a cool setting where the self timer recognizes your face when you enter the scene. It didn't work in front of my brick fireplace wall, but it did work above.  It's meant to enable the photographer to enter a group photo and it recognizes a new face, but it worked here quite well for my purposes.    You can also set the number of pictures it will take.  

Did anyone see the column in the NY Times yesterday? Altered by a Sewing Machine by Michelle Slatalla..  This is the third article I've seen recently about women who have decided to learn how to sew.  Michelle talks about learning that sewing is about process and she's all about product, though she does conclude that sewing is changing her.   I've been sewing for a lot of years and it's still about process to me.  I love the planning not only of wardrobes, but how I'm going to make something.  I make samples of techniques, even when I've done them before.  I fit as I sew and sometimes I still get surprised by the outcome.  It isn't about how fast I can make something or how cheaply I can make it.  I am not looking to save money by sewing.  I love the process of it all.  This is not to say that I don't want a great finished garment when I am done, but that isn't why I love sewing.  What about you,are you a process or product sewer?

PRINTS, DO YOU LOVE THEM OR HATE THEM?

Recently I was sorting through photos on my computer and came across this group of print fabrics.  For a woman who is a professed non lover of prints, I certainly have a lot of them! I do like an animal print and I am always on the lookout for another one.   I never know what to do with large, over scale prints and small ones bore me and make me think frumpy.   I am always striving for a wearable, cohesive sophisticated wardrobe where I have lots of choices and having  too many prints just doesn't work.   I do look for sophisticated, unusual prints and most of these fit into that category.  So why haven't I made them up yet?  Partly my plans are always bigger than my ability to get them  sewn,  Sometimes I buy with a particular pattern in mind and change my mind about the pattern.   Then I have  fabric with no clue what to make with it.  Plain fabrics don't go out of style, but prints do.  Most of these fabrics are spring or summer weight cottons, silks and knits  My New Years resolution is to get as many of these sewn up as possible.  No new prints until I get these sewn.  Yeah, right.  Of course if that gorgeous, unusual prints rears it's head you know it's going to come home with me.  Especially a good animal print.  I am much more selective these days and it  really needs to speak if I am going to buy it. This is a good thing.  At last count I had 363 yards of fabric in my stash.  This does not include linings.  That's  a lot of fabric!
All of these have plain fabrics in my stash to complement them.  Some even have garments already made that they would go well with.
I have a few more prints, but these are the  ones I like best and may actually get made up.

So where do you fall in the print debate? How do you use prints in your wardrobe?

What I'm Working On

Playing with my new camera for one thing.  My old camera died a few months ago and I've been looking around for what to buy. I had already decided on a Canon Powershot S90 when the review in the Times clinched it.  It had pretty much everything on my want list.  It has a fast lens at f2 at 28 mm and it has a moderate telephoto at 105mm to satisfy my portrait needs.  I had an S60 which I loved, so it wasn't hard to convince me that this was the camera.  It's small!  That was the hardest thing to get used to.  At about 7oz with battery and card, it is easy to cart around and doesn't bother my neck. So far, I've just played and taken shots of Mr Nicky to send to Alex in Korea.  Now at 17 and a half, Mr Nicky doesn't do too much, so they all pretty much look alike, but Alex is thrilled to get photos of him no matter what.

I am preparing to sew, as they say.  I loved Sigrid's post on production sewing but it takes a lot of time to get even 3 new patterns prepped.  I have the green Burda twist top from my Wardrobe cut out.  I am in the midst of cutting out Hot Pattern Riviera cardigan in a black and white sweater knit with black wool knit trim.  The next up for cutting  is my tnt t shirt in a green wool blend sweater knit for Emmaonesock. I also altered the Burda side gather t that Sigrid made and I haven't decided what to sew it in.  I have some red rayon jersey that might work.  Then I'll cut  the  tunic knockoff with the nailheads.  I altered my tnt t shirt, V8151, laid out the nailheads on the pattern, and whoops I am short a bag.   I ordered two just in case and to play with. I'll cut that out last while I wait for them to come.
I also want to cut out the gray wool and silk pants from the wardrobe plan.  None of it is very complicated sewing, so I hope that I'll finish and not have ufo's left at the end of winter! I do have the silk blouse from my plan cut, so I could sew that too.  We'll see what I sew first.

I Need Some Input

A couple of posts ago I showed this tunic I am going to knock off.

I have a nice wool knit that I'll use without a lot of stretch.  I know how to draft the facing. I'll sew it on and before attaching the outside edges of it, I'll  apply the nailheads.  I was thinking that since the neckline will be large enough to go over my head without having to stretch that I might use some silk charmeuse for the facing instead of the wool knit.  I figure I need to sew it on before I attach the nail heads or I'll have difficulty sewing it on.  I'll interface the charmeuse, probably  with some silk organza..
What do you think?  
Also, does anyone have any suggestions on a good way to apply the nail heads?  Burda showed using a spoon to press down the backs of each nailhead. 

Finally, some sewing to show you!

I finished my leather skirt and my gray knit top in time to wear them to our sewing bloggers  dinner in NYC last weekend, but I didn't get any good shots of them  until today.  The top is Burda 113 12/08 in a very nice wool jersey from Emmaonesock.  The skirt is lambskin from Leather Suede and Skins in NYC. It's Burda 134 9/09.  It's one of their take one pattern and make 4, and they show them on dressforms.  It's really not the best way to see how a garment looks in real life. They describe this as a mini skirt.  I didn't add any length and I am 5'6" tall, the height they draft for.  Does this look like a mini to you?

I love  them with my motorcycle jacket as it was planned in my ill fated 2009 PR Wardrobe.  It's fun to wear and Cindy from PR day describe my outfit as 'Rock and Roll' .  I do feel chic wearing it. I have already gotten a lot of use out of it.  It looks great with my Tom and Linda Platt dress too and with the mild weather we've been having it works as  light weight outerwear.

I realize that I never posted a picture of my denim trousers.  They are in the wash and need a picture taken, so that will be later in the week.   I am still working on my McCalls jeans, 5894.  They are ill fated I think.  I ran the tab of the zipper off the top and had to rip it out.  This is why you should never sew a zipper in like Burda tells you to, at the end, with your garment already in the round.  If I hadn't already put so much time into them I might be tempted to chuck them, but they are flattering and the fit is good, if not perfect.  Of course, do I ever think I have perfect fit?  Not in pants anyway.  That flat rear end of mine is a pita  to fit.

Here are the links to my reviews on PR.

leather skirt

knit top