Red Cedar
More apocalypse, less angst
Post #2057: Experiments in dressmaking (seam edition)
As I mentioned in my last post about the Cappuccino Dress I’m working on, I was thinking about doing more than just zig-zagging the interior seams to finish them (I have no serger so that is never an option). For the initial dress seams, I used the french seam technique – which I use whenever possible because it makes a garment as beautiful inside as it is out – but this dress has some unusual construction elements that make french seams not possible in some places. So I’ve decided to try a Bias Bound Seam instead.
Using 1/4 inch double-fold bias tape (in bulk I bought 10 metres of it at Dress Sew for $2.29), I started tacking it down with pins last night while watching an episode of Midsomer Murders – but quickly realized that with that little room to play, any shifting of the tape while sewing would cause a terrible mess – and my pinning skills aren’t the best. So instead, I switched to hand-basting the tape down, and am midway through the process – as pictured above. It’s taken me about an hour so far, so I anticipate that with another hour I will be done – and the final machine-sewing won’t take more than twenty minutes.
I used to really resist hand-basting in this fashion, even though it’s recommended for all sorts of things – hems, zippers, bindings – because I had a rush approach to garment-making. While I don’t pretend that using more hand techniques is turning out couture garments on my end – taking a step back and giving time to each step definitely does cut down on the frustration. And it also turns out a nicer product.
What I notice right away while hand-basting the seam-binding is how much it gives the inside of the dress a vintage garment feel; this used to be a very common way for home sewists to do finishes. I once went to an estate sale for a very elderly woman who had sewn all her life, and had racks of handmade garments and vintage fabric for sale (that’s where I bought the wool used in the Woodland Stroll Cape). Every one of her garments had bound or French seams – even the housedresses and aprons.
In any case, I’ve got a busy weekend ahead and I probably won’t get this stage finished until Monday. My husband leaves town for ten days tomorrow morning, and while I’ve got a full schedule for the week – I’m pretty sure his absence will allow me a little more time on the sewing machine (and knitting needles, and so forth).
Post #2056: Somehow just being….
All the things I want to do, and all the things I have to do – aren’t exactly lining up these days. Partly it’s that slump thing I wrote about recently, but partly it’s because I feel so inspired to knit and sew and go for long walks in the mountains – and my days and even my weekends aren’t allowing for as much of that as I would like.
But at the same time – I feel like my wants are crazy big at the moment even though I have (almost, literally) everything in my life that I want – and that anyone could ever want.
And here I find myself smack dab in the middle of the Second Noble Truth. Again. Desire and craving for something else, until the something else comes along for enough time to get bored of it – and then desire and craving for another thing, and another. “There is the origin of suffering…. attachment to desire. Desire should be let go of.”’
Like Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden – their needs were met, and yet still they were tempted into the one novel experience left to them. They bit into that apple, and thus all of human history is suffering – and the apple stands in for desire forever more.
My desires are not lustrous, nor far-fetched. I can attain all the things that I want, and yet I am held back by the desire to have more time, more energy, more leisure – and then rushing from one project to the next as though the only point is to finish in order to start anew. It makes me restless just thinking about it.
Can I step back for one second and just be? Just be here at my desk making my earnings, or just be kneeling on my meditation mat in the mornings, or just be sewing the seam-bindings onto my new dress. Just be one of those things at a time.
That’s the practice, I suppose. Counting the breaths in one place at a time.
Post #2055: Autumn Zen
In the Zen tradition that I am involved with, there is a custom of intensified meditation and contemplative practice in the fall – known as Fall Practice Period – which opens this Friday. Beginning with a two-day non-residential meditation retreat (where we go to the Zen-do and meditate all day and into the evening, but return home to sleep), we craft the following six weeks around a self-designed program with the goal of deepening our commitment to zazen (meditation), sangha (community), and dharma (the teachings and philosophy of the Buddha). At the end of this time is a seven-day silent residential retreat with the head teacher, and then a closing ceremony.
For my period of practice, I have made the following intentions known to my teachers -as a way of holding my own intention out and asking for support:
- increased daily meditation length
- increased attendance at the Zen-do – although I can’t make many of the Sundays, I have committed to weekday early mornings and volunteered to help open the meditation hall if others are unavailable to do so
- limiting intake of alcohol (not that I drink a lot – but you know how it is….)
- attention to healthy life practice (food/exercise)
- gratitude practice
I have also decided to undertake a craft project as a mindfulness practice – and since I already do a lot of handwork, I have chosen something that I don’t do a lot of – embroidery. As I bought the book and the materials for this project sometime ago, it also fits the criteria of using up items that I already have:
This bag by Naoko Shimoda features the artwork of Heather Moore – for a piece that I think will make a good focus in October. I am going to try to prep the piece tomorrow so that I can focus on the hand-stitching starting next week.
The dress pictured above, is a nearly finished garment for meditation – the Cappuccino Dress which I wrote about here. I have some finishing work to do still – including seamwork, sleeve cuffs and hemming. I used a French seam where the dress allowed for it, and I am thinking of ribbon-finishing the other seams as an added touch. This is a way I think garments should be in essence – very simple in appearance, but with attention paid to the details that (mostly) only the wearer would notice. I’m going to the fabric store today at lunch to see if I can find some seam tape – otherwise it’ll be zig-zagged by tomorrow and ready for wear once I hem it.
And of course, all of regular life will continue during this time – work, the band practices, the family visits, a trip to Las Vegas (more on that later) – it’s not as though I am suspending it all to go sit on a mountaintop. Rather, I hope to bring a greater attention and ease to the work I undertake during this time. We’ll see how it goes!
Post #2054: Some knitting notes.
My fall has started off full of lovely things, but as usual – it isn’t leaving much time for sewing or making, except what I carve out during the weeks. This past weekend was no exception – I had a concert, a four-hour meditation class, a dinner party, and band practice – as well as some much-needed hang out time with Brian. So I haven’t progressed on my current sewing project at all, though I did manage to fit some sweater knitting in during the TV-watching phase of hanging out on Sunday.
The Paulie sweater body is now about four inches from being done and I am very pleased with the fit – it’s hard to tell from this photo, because the stockinette is curled under, but it comes together to within a half inch when pulled out – and there are still button bands to be added. I think it’s going to work with a few more increases around the hips – and if anything, it might be a bit bit (which I don’t mind as long as it doesn’t bag out):
The Beacon Shawl is also moving along, but there is really nothing to show there because it is just endless garter stitch in one colour right now. Once I start on the gradient, it will get interesting again.
And finally, I’ve decided to participate in the Fringe Association 2015 Knitalong to create a Cowichan-style vest for Brian. I owe him something besides the winter scarf since he so amazingly painted the sewing room – and this item will be a cozy throw-on at the cabin. I’m planning to knit this in super-bulky on Size 15 needles – a huge contrast from the fingering weight Paulie knit on size 3s – and besides the fact I have never done colourwork, I expect this to take shape much faster than the other two projects I am working on.
I’ve ordered the yarn from KnitPicks – an Alpaca/Wool blend (pictured) – which I hope will arrive next week so I can get started on this. In the meantime I’m going to practice some stranded colourwork techniques to see if I can get the hang of two-handed knitting, or what method I might prefer to work in. This pattern is knitting flat (not in the round and then steeked) which makes me a bit more confident – cutting my knitting feels a little too advanced for me at this juncture.
I’ve been at this knitting thing now since June and I am pretty happy with my progress on the skills front. I can now knit an even stockinette stitch on small needles, I know how to pick up a dropped stitch using a crochet hook, and I have a basic idea of how gauge works when it comes to knitting (versus crochet). I am not a super-speedy knitter, but I don’t think I ever will be – speed isn’t really my goal – but I think I move along at a respectable pace. I’m looking forward to another skill-building project in the form of this KAL – which includes helpful notes and thoughts from a panel of really experienced knitters and knit-wear designers.
I am feeling the need to get back to crochet at some point in the very near future as well – I’ve got a thread-weight curtain in my queue which offers me months of time with the hook in my hand – but at the moment I’m a bit knitting-obsessed.
Post #2053: So many books….
Okay – well, not *so* many. But three, and they arrived all at once after months of being on the holds list at the library. And the worst part is – these are all books that I really want to read (unlike the many that I reserve at the library because maybe….). In the order that I reserved them are Romantic Outlaws which is a mother-daughter biography about Mary Wollstonecraft and Mary Shelley, Where the Heart Beats, another biography, this one about John Cage and Zen Buddhism, and A Little Life, a novel that I ordered because it was on the Booker longlist (and is now also on this week’s released shortlist). I expect that for the next little while there will be more bus reading than bus knitting to and from work.
I dove into A Little Life last night, feeling that I could most easily knock the fiction off first, and am now 99 pages into it – It’s 720 pages long, so at this rate I could finish it in a week. We’ll see how I do, but it will mean putting other things to the side. Fortunately I am a quick reader, and this book’s characters have pulled me right in – so I’m compelled to some fervent reading.
I have to admit that books haven’t exactly been at the forefront of my life lately, I mean, besides all the reading I did for grad school which was quite a lot – and I suppose that’s part of it. It’s been all required reading for four years, and in between I have focused more on making (sewing, crochet, canning etc) than scoping out the latest literary must-reads.
But now, as fall creeps around and I prefer to spend more time in bed on Saturday mornings, is the time for a good read. Three books in three weeks is a bit of a challenge, but it’s all about priorities, right?
Red Cedar 