Shoes, booze, bruise

We met some online friends in person tonight; went out for dinner and drinks and had a great time. Searching my cluttered closet for something to wear, I found the long-forgotten Miracle Shoes.

About six years ago I had this dress that needed a very particular pair of shoes to go with it. I knew exactly what they were - unfortunately it was impossible to find a pair of cheap velvet China flats in pale blue. Finally I bought a pair in dark blue, thinking I could just bleach them and be good to go. But soaking them in bleach only turned them dark gray. I think next I tried some kind of color remover, which produced a peachy-beige the color of vomit. I was alarmed - I had a big trip coming up for my birthday and had been planning to wear this dress, and now I didn't know what I'd do for shoes. Discouraged, I rinsed them out with water…and before my eyes they miraculously turned the perfect shade of powder blue. I added a little embroidery and beadwork to match the dress, which is long gone now. But I think I'll invest in some comfortable insoles and get these shoes back into occasional rotation.

I've wanted to post pictures of people I see whose outfits I like. I've started carrying my camera with me for that reason, but there just seldom seems to be the right opportunity to stop strangers and ask to take their picture. So here is my coworker Barb:

This outfit is entirely thrifted. I just love that belt - it's denim with varying sizes and colors of metal eyelets. She says she got it at Goodwill. (I'll have to get a closeup shot next time she wears it.) I'm also particularly impressed with the purple suede loafers - they look brand-new. She has such an individual style and great color sense. 

I finally got around to taking a picture of the back of the elephant coat.

Have I mentioned I've recently taken up roller derby? And that I am not very good at it yet? This lovely accessory - that's the inside of my right knee in extreme closeup -
is the result of brand-new skates with slippery toe stops and borrowed, ill-fitting knee pads, plus my own general clumsiness. I'll be working at (not skating in!) the bout this Saturday, but I think I'll be taking a short break after that to let this heal. I've gotten some arnica on a few friends' recommendation; I hope it helps speed up the process.

Just wrong

A friend asked me to mend some clothes for him a while ago - nothing major, patching up some holes, sewing on buttons. Today I finally got around to taking a look at the stuff and sorting out what needed to be done. So his clothes are now lying around the room, and I catch a whiff of them as I walk by. They’re clean, but they smell…disturbing. Foreign. If they were actually on him I probably wouldn’t give it a second thought. But without the person in it, other people’s laundry just smells wrong.

Tools

This is neat. Forbes Magazine has an article on the 20 most important tools in human history. I particularly like this companion essay on the importance of, among other things, needles and string. I’d always wondered how long ago humans started creating textiles. Apparently the “string revolution” was between 22,000 and 28,000 years ago. (via core77)

Today is also World Water Day. I promised myself I would at least observe the occasion by drinking more water and consciously appreciating how I can get it any time I want, clean and (almost) free. I’m afraid that so far most of my beverage consumption today has been coffee, but I’m sure I’ll be slugging down plenty of water (and appreciating it) at tonight’s skating practice.

If you want to celebrate both string and water today, I suppose you could go fishing with a net. Or use one of those little fishnets while cleaning your aquarium. Or just wear fishnet stockings.

It’s a carnival!

Jill at fiftyrx3 is having a Sustainable Style Carnival - she invited readers to send in pictures of their own reused and recycled clothing and creations. Some very cool stuff over there - and my coat and sweater-yarn made it in too!

It’s so inspirational to see the ideas other people came up with. I love those ReModern bags that the Worsted Witch wrote about. I do not need more handbags. I do not need more handbags.

Second coming of the green sweater

The other weekend I was running some errands across town and decided to stop in a thrift store on my way home. I wanted to find some sweaters to unravel to reuse the yarn - something I’d been meaning to try for a long time. One sweater in particular caught my eye: light green, ribbed, lightweight but huge and floppy. This was my sweater. I’d donated it to a thrift store years ago - but I could have sworn it was a different store. It had likely gone through at least one other owner in between, and now it found its way back to me.

Of course I had to buy it. $4.99 is a damn reasonable price for serendipity. I’d loved the sweater for its color, but it was way too big for me. Now it’s giving me another chance to turn it into something that will fit perfectly.

It’s HUUUUGE! And the perfect shade of green to match Blanche’s spooky glowing eyes.

Here’s the unraveling in progress. I still need to decide what to make with it, but whatever it is, I’m sure there will be no shortage of yarn.

Revamping the elephant coat

This project was years in the planning, and months in the getting around to documenting the whole thing online. At long last here it is.

I bought this coat about 10 years ago at an outlet store in Minneapolis. I loved the coarse red Indian cotton and elephant print - I was sure no one else would have one like it. After a couple of years, though, it was unevenly shrunken from repeated washings, and sun-faded in parts from sitting in the back of my car.

I ripped out the flimsy cotton lining, carefully disassembled the shell, zigzag-stitched around all the raw edges to prevent fraying, and threw the pieces in a fresh bath of red Rit dye. Then I drew over each individual elephant, line by line, with a Sharpie - tedious, but worth it to bring the faded print back out.

And then I put it in a box and all but forgot about it for another couple of years, just waiting to find time and inspiration and the perfect pattern.

The original pieces of the coat before cutting. The two long pieces at the top were a built-in scarf. At the bottom are the pockets, and it’s obvious where they used to be. You can tell that they stamped the elephants on after the coat was cut out and at least partially sewn.

The pattern I used is Vintage Vogue #V2884, a 1954 design. I’m a sucker for those midcentury styles.

Laying out the pattern pieces to try to make everything fit - front and back fabric is folded in half, and the sleeves are stacked one on top of the other. The sleeves of the old coat were way too short, partly due to shrinkage. I lengthened the sleeves of the new coat about 2 inches, which turned out to be a little too long. The sleeves are constructed in two pieces (as per the pattern), and one of those has a seam across it as well (from my patchwork). If I get really ambitious, maybe next year I’ll shorten them just a bit.

Fizzgig supervised this project (and necessitated much use of the lint roller).

The front pieces were a sort of L-shape, the bottom part forming the pockets. I cut where the pattern is folded (see previous photo for a clearer cat-free view) and patchworked it together, with a seam that extends from the existing seam line between the front and side panels.

I cut the collar and front facing from an old pair of black cotton velvet pants. The other pattern piece in this photo is a side panel. I thought I might have to cut those from contrasting fabric as well. They ended up being made from many small pieces patchworked together, with elephant parts pointing every which way - a really neat effect.

The pattern had the back in two pieces. I cut mine in three.

The sides of the back are solid pieces, and the middle panel is made of three sections stacked vertically.

I really like the decorative effect of the flat-felled seams. After this and a couple other projects, I almost remember how to make those without having to look up directions every time. They’re easy, but just one of those things that doesn’t want to stick in my memory.

There was a lot of ripping and re-sewing of seams.

I used muslin for the interfacing on the collar and cuffs. The muslin was new, not recycled, but it was left over from another project. Here you can also see the underlining. All the pieces are reinforced with it - the pattern specified cotton batiste. I used an old flannel blanket my neighbor gave me when she moved. I worried it would make it too warm, but it’s not - there’s my lesson that cotton really is a lot less insulating than wool.

Fizzgig has to be right there whenever I’m sewing. Actually he prefers being between me and the machine. I’m not sure what he finds so fascinating about it, especially since I moved the nice warm lamp that he used to bask under. He’s perfectly safe there, but it still freaks my husband out - I think it reminds him of what happened to the Grinch’s dog.

The pattern called for padstitching on the interfacing and underside of the collar. I’d never heard of that before, and it confused me a little - there was no definition. Was I supposed to put some kind of padding in there? My sewing reference books were almost as vague, but from context and a few photos I figured out that it just means hand-sewing all over with big stitches. It makes sense to me now; it’s what keeps the layers together smoothly and prevents them from bunching up.

And here’s the finished product, a little dirty because I’ve worn it all winter (it’s in the laundry as I type this). The only parts I bought new were the lining fabric, shoulder pads, thread and buttons (covered with self-fabric). Everything else is recycled. It’s shorter than the pictures on the pattern envelope looked (or maybe it’s just that it’s wider) - but I can live with that. I’m still thinking of maybe putting another button below the bottom one; it flaps open a little. All in all, I’m pleased with the result, and it’s been a good conversation piece.

Welcome to Three Cat Night.

At the beginning of 2006 I looked in my closet and found it full of ill-fitting, outdated and just plain ugly clothes that I seldom wore. Adding to that my overflowing stash of unused yarn and fabric, I realized I could probably singlehandedly outfit a small (though unfashionable) country. Yet I was still struggling to put together something decent to wear to work every day.

I felt the need in many areas of my life to consume less and produce more, and (inspired in no small part by Project Runway) I decided to set myself a challenge. My new year’s resolution was to try to make as many of my own clothes as possible using materials I already own. If I could get around to taking pictures and putting them up on a blog, so much the better.

My main focus with these projects is threefold: to save money, to be creative and to waste less by using what I have instead of accumulating more stuff. I’ve been reading a lot lately about artists and crafters creating sustainable goods - using only materials that have been produced in the most ecologically responsible way possible. I think that’s a terrific goal to shoot for, and someday when I progress to buying new supplies, it will be more of a priority. But for now, for me, it’s secondary. I figure I’m still doing my part to “sustain” something if I use the polluting-corporation-produced synthetic fabric that’s been sitting on my shelf for two years to make something creative and original, rather than going out and buying yet another prefab piece of polluting-corporation-produced synthetic mass-market boring crap (and letting that fabric linger on the shelf).

You do what you can, and every bit counts. And maybe you even inspire someone else to do more too.