Sew Paradise

Nothing like a little a little snow coming down to get me in the mood for sewing something for winter!  It’s been a weirdly warm winter, with 55 degree sunny days in January, interspersed with 24-degree days without snow.

This week I cut out the collar and marked the man’s sweater-turned-capelet. I took detailed photos which will become a tutorial on this blog soon. The sewing will go fast, hopefully it’s done by next weekend.

For at least the last ten years, I’ve been envisioning a hip-length vest with tall zip collar for cross country skiing. I wear Polartec power-stretch leggings from Christine Jonson’s Base Wear Two pattern, and a wicking top from Patagonia (which is now too large, I’ll be replacing it with a wicking top from Christine Jonson’s Travel Trio Three – the raglan sleeve top.)  If it’s really cold, I wear a black-and-yellow (for visibility) winter bicycling jersey from Giordana over the wicking top and under a vest or jacket.   I’ve been wanting this vest for running or skiing for years. Complete with handwarmer pockets, a pocket for my phone and my iPod shuffle. When I run, or when I ski, or bike, I often concept projects (it’s also how I fall asleep.) Some day, some technology will exist to transfer these designs to a file, instantly. But for now, this vest, which has been in my head for a long time, is in the sketching stage, on paper.

But it’s not just any old vest, I want something with some style – asymmetric zipper, a really tall fold over collar, curvy shaped princess seams. Something equally at home with jeans and a blouse as with a wicking thermal top and running tights. The vest must also have integrated back pockets.  If you’ve ever biked in a bicycle jersey, you know how handy those back pockets are! I run in a bike jersey just so I can have pockets for my stuff – phone, food, music) that won’t move around too much when I run.

I’ve long posted here that I really don’t ‘sew ahead’ – like the NY, Paris and Milan fashion scene, which works, seemingly, a year ahead (pre-fall 2012? I just got over fall 2011!), the sewing scene does somewhat the same. We’re seeing sleeveless tops and airy dresses, graceful pants and sandals – oh, how I miss them – sandals. But, it’s presently 1 or 2 degrees F outside right now, there are two inches of fresh snow outside. I can’t bring myself to sew for spring, and then have to WAIT to wear them! Wait? are you kidding me? The best I can muster is winter sewing in fun spring prints & colors.

For Miss Peanut, there’s an Oliver & S free Lazy Days cotton print skirt with pink binding on the hem that’s almost sewn. For Mama, there is a Jalie 3132 Nursing Hoodie in Alma Mater colors (dark green with white organic cotton) upcycled from a favorite, but too-large school tee. For little guy, there will be corduroy pants with knit lining and matching knit lap-shoulder tee (drafted, both, in Garment Designer).

Mama is also upcycling a man’s shetland cable sweater into a capelet with a faux fur collar. Something like this: (from Devi Kroll)

It just seems right that we’re still cozying up to winter sewing.

A singlet-style top, bike style shorts

The other day, I was pulling out of the preschool dropoff and had the choice of turning right, where I’d run the gauntlet of fast food, favorite sub shops and even a grocery store. Or turning left, which is largely a residential street, connecting myself to the highway, then through the outskirts of downtown, which is a food desert (and that would NOT be dessert!) I turned left. I had soup and fruit instead.

I know this is a sewing blog, and I’m getting there, promise. On Monday of this week, I signed up for a sprint triathlon – a 5k run, 13 mile bike ride and 400m open water swim in early June. I can already do the run and bike distances, so I’ll be working on time reduction there. The swim is another matter. I can probably swim 25 yards, maybe 50 comfortably, and maybe 100 gasping for air. 400? Gonna need to work on that. Plus, I haven’t run in 10 days. Or been on the bike trainer (it’s winter) in 3 weeks.

But the thing that bugged me the most about this decision is, what on earth shall I wear? There isn’t anything I do or sign up for or commit myself to that I don’t also think of what sort of gear one needs for that excursion – whether a trip to a beach destination, a ski outing or this triathlon. I plan ahead for a winter break getaway by sewing linen wide leg pants and summer tops, and I wonder if I have a pattern or two for this triathlon thing.

Jalie patterns immediately come to mind. So does Christine Jonson’s BaseWear One, with a singlet-style top and bike style shorts. I need a thinner chamois and a dry-fast one, too.

It also occurs to me in my pattern stash I have a racerback tank top style top and bike shorts pattern from McCalls, too. My goal this year is to use stuff that I have. I can purchase replacement chamois, specific for Tri garments. Plus the bonus part is I can make the top nursing friendly. I know my son will be almost two, but he’ll still be nursing and when he sees me, this is often the first thing he wants.

The small changes I made yesterday, to turn left, and this morning, to grab a homemade pumpkin bar and grapefruit instead of Quality Dairy donuts, they add up. And what gets me through it, in part, is the planning  – what will the event look like, what will I wear there, how will I perform.

I started sewing this reversible hoodie in “shockwave” a Missoni-esque rayon lycra from Christine’s fall collection 2011 about a month ago. It is basically two identical hooded jackets sewn together and turned right side out through an opening in the sleeve.

"shockwave" Missoni-esque rayon lycra hoodie, reversible.

It’s important to follow the instructions. My instinct was to shove one sleeve in the other before sewing them right sides together shut, but I can see how this would NOT have worked. Christine shows you how to do this correctly, and, of course, it works perfectly.She also has some tips for making this with longer fold-up cuffs to show the contrast side when wearing. Even in this very soft rayon/lycra, it’s got some weight to it, and warmth. Plus self lining it gives wearing options (seen here with my Escada vintage trousers) AND finishes the edges perfectly!

The reverse side of the Christine Jonson hoodie. And my vintage Escada trousers

I scaled back this year, but still am sewing. Tonight I’m making a pup tent (indoors or out!) for my niece and nephew, aged 6 and 4, two plush pillows and a floor cloth for them. The tent is a twin sheet in green & white striped fabric. For 15 years it was my shower curtain (the outer part) in my bathrooms both in Florida and in Michigan. The floor pillows and cloth are curly fun fur (very soft, I think it’s called Cuddle Fur) in brown. All is from stash, including the pillow stuffing, so I’m reducing stash, reusing AND making a fun gift!

And my peanut – she’s getting a Princess Dress, but I’ll probably be sewing THAT on Christmas Eve!!

Twice in two days I’ve seen two women, in almost an identical outfit, but each, I could clearly identify her age (young or middle-aged). As I am now, a middle-aged mother of two (that brings to mind a whole host of ideas – almost none of which I would describe as myself), I pondered this. Both women, observed downtown in our midwestern college-and-capital city, were wearing cream belted winter coats. Both were wearing dark trousers (black in one case, charcoal in another), both were wearing high heels (one, boots, the other, pumps). The middle aged woman looked great. She had long-ish dark hair, about my length, she had a nice laptop bag she toted. The young woman wore a trendy newsboy style winter hat, carried a basic classic tote, with longer, blonde hair. What about these two women made me instantly know their ages? I couldn’t see clearly enough to tell, for sure, I was in my car, both were crossing at opposite corners to me.

It occurred to me it was very subtle details. The young woman wore a hat. I think women of my generation never wore hats. The young woman had longer hair, styled in a more face-forward style (middle aged women tend to wear bangs or have it  more off of their faces, with fuller hair). And the bag. The young woman also carried a trendy oversized purse, and a bright, but classic tote for her other items. It really is the detail – the accessory – that changes the look.

So on that note, I’ll look to edit my accessories. I did just buy the new oversized bag, and last night I dreamed I’d lost it at a 5k race (that’s another dream altogether) and I wasn’t upset by the contents as much as losing the bag itself! I love hats, scarves and funky jewelry. That’s where I’ll focus my efforts.

The challenge is, while I love things like high heels, with running, they don’t really love me. I have to treat them like dessert: it’s okay, but you can’t have it every day. So as I move to flat shoes, the challenge is that they have to be modern, or worn modernly. Flat riding boots with jeans tucked in. Flat strappy sandals. Ballerinas. This year, the topsider or the moccasin.

While I am a middle-aged mother of 2, I’m hoping that you can’t pick me out of a lineup of middle-aged mothers of two