Wow. Just wow.

I avoid subjects political and controversial on this blog, so I apologize for bending that rule today.

I believe that we have witnessed the most exciting day of our generation. When I went to vote yesterday I was looking forward to doing my civic duty, blah blah blah. I've voted hundreds (or at least dozens) of times before so I was more focused on what I was going to bring to my neighbor's potluck dinner for watching the Comedy Central election coverage than on the ballot. After all, I already knew how I was going to vote and it was just a matter of filling in the bubble.

Until I got into the booth. I had no idea how *special* it would feel to vote for the first African-American president of the United States. I don't think I've ever felt that way while voting (though voting for Clinton's second term was close). I came out walking on a cloud and with a huge grin on my face.

Not that Obama is *just* the first African-American president. He is a consummate orator, a man of measured reason, and truly wishes to heal the partisan schisms that have made us almost into two countries. Having lived in both countries (Texas/Louisiana and California/DC), I can assure you that we are one nation, indivisible.

My neighbor and I were not wedded to one station's coverage and when NBC wouldn't shut up as Obama and his family took the stage we flipped until we found a network that was just letting us enjoy their victory lap. It happened to be Fox News. There was no commentary during his speech and the commentary afterward was extraordinary--beautiful, poetic, and carrying Obama's message of healing to the disappointed viewers of one of the most conservative media outlets in America. K and I said to each other, "I can't believe Fox News just made me cry!"

It was an amazing night. I have been practicing denial about the election because every time I thought about it I got sick to my stomach. Last night it was time to face the music. It was beautiful music for me, and though I know it may be difficult for those who supported the loyal opposition I thought McCain's concession speech was gracious and commendable, and Obama's pledge to be everyone's president was reassuring (after all, my family is strongly partisan for the loyal opposition and I don't wish my happiness to be their oppression).

I have been leaking tears of incredulous elation since Jon Stewart announced, at 11:00 Eastern Standard Time, that Barack Obama is the next president of the United States. I'm sure they'll stop at some point, but for now I am enjoying the the hope that is filling me so full that it's welling out through my tear ducts.

What an exciting day.

**EDITED TO ADD**
I just thought to add something sewing related to make this somewhat relevant:

So which American designer do you think Michelle Obama will choose? I think it's going to be someone exciting, interesting, and fresh. I can't wait!!!!!! I assume we'll find out when her inaugural ball dress debuts.

(And to be bipartisan, while I think Cindy McCain's highly polished, high fashion look was perhaps not most apt for this campaign, I love her style, think she's gorgeous, and always enjoyed seeing what she had on.)

Millinery, or Do I Really Need Another Hobby?

I'm back from Germany! I didn't actually get anything sewing related. When I got to Frankfurt the hotel clerk at the Quality Hotel Kaiserhof was extremely friendly and helpful, so I hazarded to ask her if she knew anyplace to find sewing supplies. She said I merely needed to go to the big fancy department store and find the sewing floor. Imagine! I know that at some point in the not-so-distant past department stores in the US had sewing sections, but I don't think any vestige of such a thing still exists.

So I was quite excited to hit up the Kaufhof and see if I could find some of BWOF's beloved Vilene bias tape. Alas, while there was a small sewing section in Kaufhof, it was more like the sewing section in a Michael's than an elegant couture destination--needles and thread, iron-on patches, embroidery floss, that sort of thing. No real notions and no fabric at all. I actually found a couple of fabric stores in my wandering, but they were quite small and I wasn't in the market for fabric so much as notions and they had no notions at all. Alas.

On the non-sewing front, I wanted to get a 1920s cloche type hat and a pair of long leather gloves to wear with my cape. I don't prefer to wear leather, being a vegetarian, but for items that will last a long time and give good wear I will buy it rather than cheap things that will clog up a landfill.

I looked all over for hats, stopping into all the secondhand stores. But they were more high end contemporary wear than vintage. I couldn't find a hat store to save my life. I followed some signs to a market for local designers. The "market" turned out to be a few tables with hand-knit goods and hand-made purses--which were nice but not what I was looking for. There was a little shop nearby, Ton in Ton, that had a few hats. I got one that wasn't the exact style I was looking for, but is cute. It was made on a serger and looks kind of hand made (I mean that in a good way, not in a Loving Hands at Home way) and I figured the artisan appreciated my purchase. Of course, as soon as I bought it I found a hat store, but shops close at 4 on Saturdays(!!!!) and it was closed, so it was just as well. I haven't had a chance to photograph yet, but I'll try to show it off soon. I found the gloves at Promod, which is sort of a Contempo Casuals or The Limited of Europe. They're cool though--they have tiny buttons up the side.

I really love hats, always have, and the problem is that I have a tiny head (but a big brain, LOL). It's impossible to find hats that fit. I have been wanting to make hats, proper hats using a hat block and steamer, for ages. This vision of a 1920s cloche just won't go out of my head so I'm going to try it.

New hat blocks run $350-$500, but there are many vintage specimens available on eBay. I was clicking around and found this set that I just had to have. The aluminum is definitely not a traditional material, because pinning/nailing your felt to the block is part of the process, but how much do you love it? And love that it comes with both a cloche and a pillbox block? I don't plan to become a consummate haberdasher. I mean, I'm The Slapdash Sewist. How likely is it that I'd be The Meticulous Milliner? (Though if one were perfectionally inclined and made hats I think that would be a cute name.) So it will serve well enough for my purposes.



Of course, the first place to go for hat-making information is the internet. I've been a fan of La Bricoleuse for quite a while. She is a professional milliner/haberdasher for the stage as well as a professor and generously gives a lot of detailed information on her projects.

I really liked the Wannabe Mad Hatter , especially her series on making a 1920s style cloche.

Here is a more slapdash approach to making a hat (for stage purposes), that gave me ideas for making a hat without a big investment in a block (though I decided to go ahead with the block anyway). This is from The Costumer's Manifesto by Tara Maginnis

Supplies are not available from so many sources as for fabric, but this list of online millinery suppliers from Something About Mary is as comprehensive as I can tell.

Now I just have to (im)patiently await the arrival of my block and find some wool felt. You can buy felt "hoods," which are roughly blocked into a hat shape but need refinement and final shaping. You can also buy wool felt, though it's hard to find 100% wool felt--it's mostly 20% wool/80% rayon (which won't do at all!). I have some roving I purchased in Sweden three years ago and there are some good sources on Etsy so I think I will probably end up making my own felt. Then I'll have to dye it. Then block it. This could be quite a process. But I had to confess my obsession and, more importantly, its resulting purchase on the blog to make myself do something with it!

A serger last month, a hat block this month. What will December bring?

Turn That Sweater Upside Down

Someone on PR posted a link to this Craftster tutorial by MrsBowles for making something wearable out of a traditional Stay Puft Marshmallow Man shaped sweater that balloons over the torso and arms and snugs at the wrists and hips with ribbing. My interest was immediately piqued, and I went to the Goodwill the next time I could use my neighbor's car (we have a car-sharing arrangement where he parks in my parking space and I get to use his car once a month).

I guess everyone else has figured out that this style is not flattering, because there were virtually none of them at the Goodwill! I actually don't like the Goodwills in the DC area much because they're too nice. This sounds ridiculous, but the point of Goodwill is the thrill of the hunt. The ones here don't have much on the racks, and everything they have out is pretty current and good quality. Whither the funky vintage? Why no crazy bedclothes that can be made into fun skirts? I find the prices still reasonable and I'm happy to pay them, but others feel that $5 is too much for a sweater. I don't know of any crappier thrift stores in the area, though there must be some.

Anyway, I found a really nice grey lambswool Gap sweater that, upon getting home, I realized was great as is and just too nice to cut up. And this.



I hate turtlenecks. My collarbones are one of my nicer features and I like to show them off; plus, I feel all choke-y in turtlenecks. It has the requisite balloon-y shape and ribbing at the cuffs and hip. But it was great raw material--I love the colors, and it's 100% wool and had been well cared for.

It's best to start with a sweater at least two sizes too large for you. Even bigger is even better, because then you can felt it before starting the project and you won't have to worry about raveling. This was only about a half size too large and was almost too short as is, so I knew I'd need to adapt MrsBowles' tutorial by adding in a midriff band to give me more length. I went through my stash and the best match was some grey wool jersey. It's just luck that this was wool; any jersey will work, though it needs to be a medium or heavy weight to stand up to the sweater.

The basic premise of this refashion is to make an empire line, bell sleeved sweater by turning the lower halves of the sweater and sleeves upside down. Simple yet brilliant. Doing this on a striped sweater made it super easy to cut apart, I just had to choose a stripe and follow it. You'll want to cut about three inches under your bustline (I cut about an inch too high), and two to three inches above the elbow (I cut about 3 inches to high). I immediately finished all the edges with the serger so there would still be some sweater left to sew back together! I'm still working on optimizing the differential feed to allow stretch but not actually *be* stretched.

Once your edges are secured, it's time to make the V front. First, find and cut up the center, then cut your V opening.



Again, secure your edges with the serger (or a zigzag stitch). If your sweater is a loose gauge as mine was, it might be smart to stabilize your neckline with twill tape or grosgrain ribbon or something. I didn't, so after it was done I took some yarn and wove it into the neckline just outside the ruffle, tightened the neckline a little, and tied off the yarn.

Now it's time to make the ruffle. My ruffle was three inches wide and about twice as long as my V neck opening. This might have been a little too much ruffle. I finished the edges with a contrasting thread color just for fun (and also because I didn't have a matching thread color), and cheated on the gathering by using only a single basting stich.

To sew the ruffle to the neckline, underlap the ruffle. You're sewing right side to right side, but you're not lining up the edges and sewing as with a normal seam. You're just overlapping the edges kind of like you were shuffling cards. Sew with the sweater side up, as close as possible to the edge of the sweater. Here's what the underside looks like.

Now cut out your midriff band. Mine was five inches wide (including the half inch seam allowances) because I have a ridiculously long torso for being so short and I wanted the sweater to comfortably reach the top of my hips so there'd be no danger of showing my belly when I lift my arms. Sew the side seam so that it fits comfortably but not too tight (2 inches of ease or so). Put on the top part of your sweater and overlap the V neck edges so that the fit is good, pin and baste. Not that I ever baste. Then pin your midriff band and sew. Here's the overlapping V:



I found it best to sew with the sweater on the bottom so the feed dogs would help me ease it in. A loose weave sweater like this requires a lot of easing.

Now try on your upside down lower half of the sweater and take in the sides if needed. I had to take in the ribbed edge about an inch and a half on each side, tapering to nothing at the bottom to give plenty of room for my hips. I did this seam with the serger, but probably should have used the sewing machine as the seam stretched like crazy and I have little points at the side. Once it fits, sew the lower half to the midriff band.

For the sleeves, it's basically the same thing. Gather the edge of the upper sleeve (hard to do! It ended up more like easing), sew to sleeve band (add plenty of ease in sleeve band--the bulky seams will make it much tighter than you think), turn lower cuff upside down and sew to other edge of sleeve band. This is where, again, it would have been better to have a bigger sweater, so the puff was more obvious.

And voila! It took me about 2 1/2 hours because I had to mess around with things a bit.



I felt like I needed to bring the turquoise overlocking into the rest of the sweater, so I made a little belt for the midriff, but actually I think it looks fine without the belt, which is how I wore it yesterday. All photos from this project are here.



I am now obsessed with sweater recon/sweater reconstruction/sweater refashion/whatever you'd like to call it. When I went to the Crafty Bastards craft fair in the summer there was one girl, The Devil Made Me Do It, who had done *amazing* clothes out of felted thrifted sweaters, but that kind of thing just doesn't come naturally to me so I have to use tutorials. Sad. I'm going to try to get Second Time Cool from the library, and I also searched online. My google searching didn't come up with a whole lot of ideas, but there were a few.

Sarah in NYC did an article for PR on refashioning sweaters last year; as a result I cut up the center of a sweater that was too small and crocheted the edges with embroidery floss to make a cute cardigan. Please note that single crochet is the extent of my crochet knowledge; other than this all I can do is sad and uneven scarves that curl up and even sadder and more uneven dischloths. You don't have to be an expert to do this.

There's a whole lot of turning sweaters into cardigans, such as this one from One Pearl Button and I love the little collar Erica Makes Stuff added. But I'm really not into cardigans.

I like this tunic from judethelost--check out the clever pocket she made of the ribbing cut off the sleeves! I can't quite master the wearing of the tunic, though. I don't know what kind of bottoms to wear with them. I feel like an oversized upper piece needs a fitted lower piece, but then I'll look like I'm in the 80s (and not the good kind of 80s).

Red Panty Crafts had a few cute ideas; I like the two piece cardigans at the bottom of the post.

There are several clever "Frankenknits" projects on Knitty by Kristi Porter; my favorite is the shibori felting technique, though I think it's best suited to scarves as demo-ed; I'd find it too cutesy for clothes. I also like her idea of turning a ribbed waist into a collar.

And of course Summerset has done a few refashions as well.

Anemone of FreePlayCraft cut up a very large sweater into an asymmetric cardigan and crocheted the edges, which suits me much better than a regular cardigan. Lee Meredith was also inspired by Anemone.

I'm looking more for clothes than accessories, but the photos on this Threadbanger tutorial are too adorable not to share.

There's a whole board on Craftster dedicated to reconstructing clothing; if you search "sweater" on that board you come up with some really creative projects people have shared.

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Can anyone think of a pink motorcycle jacket BWOF did recently? And can tell me how much yardage it calls for? Cidell is considering pricing leather in Egypt but I forgot to look last night and tonight will be insane packing for Germany (leave tomorrow!) and won't get a chance and by the time I'm back she'll be back.

Classic/Trendy

I was so tickled with my outfit yesterday that I had to share it. I am loving that argyle is in right now (I remember getting an argyle sweater vest as a birthday gift from my neighbors when I was 7 or 8 in the early 80s and it was a prized possession). I've had these tights for a couple of years, but have generally worn them with long boots so you only get a little peak, as it's a whole lot of argyle going on. But now that it's in style I could wear them full on.

Although this outfit is totally trendy right now, I've actually had most of the pieces for years. The belt is probably the oldest; I got it from WalMart 5 or 6 years ago. My mom gave me the sweater (cashmere!) for Christmas a couple years ago from Target. I made the skirt 2 or 3 years ago, Simplicity 5914; I love that pattern and have made three skirts of it so far (boucle version). The tights, as mentioned, are 2 or 3 years old--I got them from the H&M girls' department. The 13-14 year old size are around the same as the smallest adult size of tights. The shoes are the only new part, Fitzwell Willow from 6pm.com. They come in several sensational colors; I got gold and teal and am really tempted to go back for more. But add up all these pieces I've had for a while and it's totally au courant.

I love how you can put together classic pieces in a trendy way. My style, as you know, is "retro fantasy," not classic at all. I appreciate and admire a woman with timeless style, but I am not satisfied by elegance--I want pizzazz. Even the most respectable off-white cashmere cardigan is not safe in my hands. And I wouldn't want it any other way.

Making Piping

I have not seen a version of Butterick 4985 that I haven't loved, so I put it into my sewing queue. I plan to use it on some pinstripe silk dupioni I got from Paron at PR Weekend 2007, but since it's such a nice fabric I figured I'd make a wearable muslin first. I used the fabric I got at Fake Paron in NYC when I went there in March to see Xanadu (warning: site plays music), which is closing soon on Broadway I hear but will be touring. If it comes to your city you really should see it. It's hilarious. I saw Ricky from Season 4 of Project Runway in Fake Paron, which was my celebrity sighting of the trip.

Anyway, I wanted to emphasize the corset-like lines of the lower bodice, and I decided piping was just the thing.

I started by cutting strips of fabric two inches wide. For the vertical piping I just cut on the grain; for the piping around the neck I cut on the bias so I'd have better flow. I chose the width based on seam allowances of 5/8". If you use wider or narrower seam allowances, adjust accordingly. Remember that part of your width will be taken up with the piping.





Using your zipper foot so you can get snug against the cording, fold your piping strips in half and run cording down the fold. I used rattail braid I had handy. After the piping is made and cut for the seams, I sew over the top to keep the cording in place but leave the bottom loose so I can trim the cord at the hem.










Again using the zipper foot, pin the piping into your seams and sew. As you can see, the two inch width on the piping strips ends up with perfect piping at a 5/8 inch seam allowance. Just line up the edges of the piping with the edge of the seam allowances and you're all set.




Finish your seams and press them open. Pressing didn't smush down my piping, though you do have to pick which side you want your cording to lie. You can see that I made this before I got my serger. I kind of want to go back through years of projects and serge all my zigzagged edges.



When hemming, you want to cut the cord slightly above the hemline so you don't have too much bulk, which can make your hem all bulgy. Press the hem under and then pull out your cording. Mine was easy to trim because I could see the fold that had been pressed into the cord and trimmed a little above the fold. You can also measure to double check. When you sew your hem, break the stitching at the piping so that you don't smush the piping and/or have glaringly unmatching thread.

The piping on this came out really cute, though I need to open up the right side of the collar and trim the neck piping even more, as it sticks out a little. All photos of this project are here and the review is here.