Tag Archives: Projects

On The Road Again!

On The Road Again!

Last night, I made an overskirt with a pocket and a muffin cap to go with the Renaissance Faire costume. Carolyn does not want either. Audrey has an overskirt, and made herself a drawstring pouch for her outfit. I might braid myself a belt from some scraps and make a little pouch for cash, but it’s nice to know I’ll have a place for keys and personal items hidden under a big pouffy skirt.

After I finished that, my back was killing me, and it was time for bed. When I was at the doctor yesterday to get something for my infected fingernail (owies!) I also asked for something that would put me really, truly to sleep. She gave me Ambien CR, and I took it and slept a solid 6 hours. That might not sound like much to some of you, but it’s a big step in the right direction for me.

We’re driving up to the orthodontist today, with a side trip to IKEA so I can finish organizing the laundry/computer room and get another table for sewing that doesn’t shake like mad. I think we might visit some people briefly, maybe get some seasoned laver from the Asian market up there, but we’re kind of seeing what happens as we go.

ADD Upside. . .

ADD Upside. . .

So last night, I decided to take the sleeping pill before lying down, but my busy brain had other plans for me. The thoughts were tumbling all over each other. I tried concentrating on the hum of the A/C unit, but it was like trying to turn on a table fan to cover up the loud party noise in the upstairs apartment. I tried a meditative technique – allow the thought, then let it go. But after I let it go, it called all its brothers and sisters and cousins and told them the grill was fired up and there was free beer in the fridge. Well, at least I’m prepared if I ever get any Jehovah’s Witnesses coming to the door early on a Saturday, I’ve figured out how to draft the pattern for my skirt and hidden purse for the renaissance faire, and remembered which box a particular piece of fabric is in. . .it went on for hours. *sigh*

One of the thoughts that occupied some time, though, was that this busy, busy train of thought that makes connections all over the place has served me well in not only learning things, but teaching what I know to other people. It’s sort of like super-mnemonics (for people who can’t remember anything with mnemonics. Go figure.). I always did well with languages, because they had obvious connections to one another, and in English as well as in Romance languages, I can very often figure out a word or phrase I’ve never seen before because it has connections to words/phrases/etymological roots in the language it’s in, or another I know. I always said I learned more in my German class than I did in my English classes, and now I understand that by taking German and Latin and Spanish and French, I was strengthening my knowledge of all of them by connecting them together. Once I’m teaching Spanish, this will come in very handy. In the beginning, when I started sewing, I did it to save money or to have something specific, like a long pale blue concert dress. It was a functional thing I did. But once I started to teach myself pattern drafting, and researched and learned the way my sewing machine worked, it started to make connections with other things, and even with itself. I never connected why the pattern markings were where they were, but then suddenly – this is where the armscye curves diverge, this marks the front and the back on nearly symmetrical pattern pieces, here’s a good place to alter, here’s a not-so-good place because you need to fool with other pieces, this is where the body curves in, this is where it curves out. . .and once I learned how the sewing machine made a stitch, I could thread any machine you put in front of me, and knew exactly why the take-up lever was the most important part to keep an eye on (stop sewing when it’s down, the next stitch pulls the thread out from the needle. If the thread comes out of the take-up lever during stitching, the thread doesn’t get pulled back up and you end up with a birds-nest of thread under the throat plate that might permanently damage your machine, and definitely messes up whatever you’re sewing!). As a result, I was able to teach my beginning sewing students how to find their bust points and make cup size adjustments, and I always started my classes by taking the machine apart and showing my students how it worked. Everyone who attended all the classes walked out with finished projects that fit, we had very few machine mishaps, and lot of people came back for more classes.

I also understand different learning styles, and being able to make connections meant that if I had a student who needed to do it herself to learn it, I’d see and walk her through as she worked. If a student needed pictures, I drew. If someone needed it explained, I could think of different ways to explain something if the first one didn’t take. And yeah, thinking through this stuff caused a lot of sleep loss, but it served a purpose in the end.

So. . .am I tired? Yes. Am I wishing for that doorbell to ring early on a weekend so I can argue religion? Heck, no. . .but I am looking forward to going to the sewing table today and having everything already worked out in my head so I’m less likely to make mistakes and waste time.

I Love Ken’s Hardware!

I Love Ken’s Hardware!

I forgot to mention in yesterday’s entry. . .you see, I’d gotten to the part where I was supposed to put the grommets into the vests for the RenFaire costumes. I hoped against hope that the grommets and grommet tool I’d gotten would work, despite the fact that they came from the craft store and were manufactured by Prym-Dritz (under a subsidiary label, the sneaky bastiges!) Needless to say, those hopes were dashed, but thankfully on scrap fabric rather than the costumes themselves. The amount of time and money I’ve wasted on their second-rate products should have taught me something by now, but I guess I’m just too optimistic about it. So my first call out to find a decent grommet setting tool that doesn’t cost $150 is to boating/fishing supply store – hey, they must have stuff for repairing sails, right? Well, they had something in their catalogue, but not in stock. No good. I find a couple of places online, and the kits are under $10 – you do need to buy one for each size of grommet, but that’s OK, I’m not going to be making tons of stuff with grommets. However, add in the shipping, and you almost double the price. Hubby, in the meantime, had suggested checking with Ken’s, since they’re local, and have every friggin’ tool and piece of hardware under the sun – and they have a website! He checked, and sure enough, they had these kits, in stock, and they were still open.

I went in, and not only did they have the size I needed, but a whole bunch of others, and additional packs of grommet sets, too! The hole punch needed some help, but the grommets worked, unlike the Dritz ones. Hooray for Ken’s! (They’re on Fischer Blvd in the Cost Cutters plaza in Toms River, BTW. . .)