Waiting for the rain

My niece took the above photo of me during a visit to the cottage this summer. A storm was coming, and I sat on the dock looking out across the lake at the gathering clouds. I love thunderstorms, as long as I know I can get inside somewhere warm and dry when I want to.



I've updated both My Life In A Nutshell and Will Write For Chocolate this past week. I've posted Nutshell above.

I'd Blather more, but Jeff and I are going out for a walk. Hope you're all having a great weekend!



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Dear Toronto, easing, and B5

I mentioned yesterday that the newest Dear Toronto post uses Urban Tapestry music in its background. Here's the video, for those of you who haven't seen it yet:



Poor PosterChild. Well, at least his piece (whatever it was) got some attention before it was taken down. You can see a close-up of the piece in Posterchild's blog.

The music is "The Friendship Song," a 3-part a capella piece I wrote and arranged for Urban Tapestry some years ago. It's always fun to perform. :-) The track is from our Sushi and High Tea CD (Dodeka Records).



Thanks for identifying the mystery plant yesterday! Apparently it was a forsythia, most likely a Northern Gold Forsythia.

Thanks also for all the advice re: easing. I did manage to get the sleeves into the armholes, but (like so much of my sewing these days :-) it wasn't pretty. Still, I wore it to Urban Tapestry practice last night and Allison and Jodi complimented me on my new creation. They had to say they liked it, of course, because they're my friends. :-D

I'm posting some excerpts from your "easing" comments here for my reference, and in case any other newbie sewing-types out there find it useful:

From Teddy:

"Try tacking it along the stitchline by hand, with fairly small stitches, then steaming it with and iron to shrink down the bigger part (although that generally works better with wool fabrics)

Also remember that the gathering/folds only have to be absent along the *stitching* line, not the seam allowance part of the fabric. Sometimes I find that, if I really can't get rid of them all at the stitching line, I get them as small as I can and sew the seam once, then I take the stitch ripper to the places where there are folds and cut the stitches at the fold and one or two either side, then run that section (or the whole seam if there are more than two or three areas that need restitching) back through the sewing machine stretching the smaller layer in that area with my fingers as it's being stitched (it's fiddley, but not as bad as it sounds or reads).

As with many things, you'll get better at it with practice and I do know people who have no problem dealing with "ease" at all.

I have a theory that everybody has at least one aspect of sewing that they just can't get the hang of, and many of us have several (sleeves, ease, buttonholes, piping, even-gathering, and smocking being mine.. although that last one I think counts as en embroidery problem).

And another that is common to many is the moebius garment (usually a lined garment which seems fine until the moment you try to turn it out the right way and it simply goes around and around in a twisted loop with no way to get it all out the right way). Annie, I and many others suffer from this from time to time."

From nagasvoice:

"There's a limit to how much extra fabric can be eased. It's basically a squashing and stretching exercise--stretching the small armhole to accomaodate, and squash the too-big bits without crinkling them because the fabric weave will shift and compress narrower *at that spot* if the weave is flexible at all. If it's too stiff, it won't give. If there's too much of the sleeve cap, just decide where you want deliberate pleats (usually at the top of the shoulder) and call it a day."

From Fifona:

"I use lots of pins at right angles to the edge of the fabric, joining the centre points and then halfing (halving) the distance between the pins and joining the two layers at ever smaller intervals. The more fullness in the sleeve, the more pins I would end up using to make the seam flat. (Then I would sew over the whole lot hoping the sewing machine needle did not break, rather than sewing a hand-tacking seam and removing the pins, but please don't tell my school needlework teacher!)"

From starmalachite:

"Re easing: have you learned the trick of making a line of basting stitches around the sleeve just inside the seam allowance (i.e., between the stitching line and the edge of the fabric)? If not:

1. First of all, find the marks on the pattern pieces that indicate the center top of the sleeve and any other marks that indicate where 2 pattern pieces meet. (These marks are normally along the stitching line.For a simple sleeve, there may not be any but the center top one, which normally meets the body at the shoulder seam.) The marks are usually roughly arrow- or wedge-shaped. Copy these onto the reverse side of the fabric on each pattern piece. You can just use a dot or whatever instead of the exact shape as long as you can tell which is which. The idea is to align the matching marks on the sleeve and body as precisely as possible.

2. Next, make a line of long (about 1 to 1 1/2 cm, more or less -- no need to be picky), loose stitches around the sleeve in that position. These are often called basting stitches. They should be loose enough that you can pull the thread easily through the fabric. Leave enough dangling thread at each end that you can grip it. (It may be quicker & easier to do it by hand instead of changing your machine stitch length, then changing it back.)

3. Pull the thread at each end and work the fabric toward the middle of the thread. You'll need to work on one half of the sleeve at a time, of course. You should end up with a sleeve that is slightly smaller than the sleeve opening

4. The trick is to distribute the gathers *evenly* around the sleeve. Pin it to the body, making sure that the pattern marks match up. If you look at other clothing you own, you can see what the end result should look like.

5. Stitch the sleeve in place and check the look and fit. Don't be afraid to rip the seam and do it over if need be. Once you're happy, pull out the basting threads.

6. Enjoy!"



I've updated my B5 Virgin report with A Late Delivery From Avalon. Be warned there are spoilers (so don't click through if you haven't watched the series yet).

I was amused, though, by the brief flash of a FABRIC SALE going on at the station. :-D I'm keenly aware of fabric these days, and am going to Fabricland today for their weekend 50% off sale. Last weekend, I browsed some of the fabric stores along Queen St. W. and nearly died of over-stimulation when I saw the ROWS AND ROWS OF FABRIC piled high everywhere in all those shops.

Be still, my heart. And my wallet.

I decided to check out the price of one fabric I saw that looked VERY cool, thinking "hey, that would make a gorgeous top" but nearly fainted when I saw that it was near $40 a metre!!! ACK!!!! I've been used to $3-5/metre fabrics up to now.

I ended up going away with a couple of remnants for $10 total instead and was still quite content. :-) I'll leave the pricier fabrics for when I'm much more experienced.



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