Up Next

Ignoring both the voices in my head telling me to sew the cut-out projects instead, and well as the snow-storm that hit Toronto, this is what's up next. (I'm making the version on the right.)

Yes, that is a spring dress. You may mock me now.

Sewing!

Finally! The sewing machine seems to be purring along. All is well with the world.

I didn't let this blue fabric from Rasi age in the stash. Even though I have atleast two other projects cut out, I wanted instant gratification, and this Simplicity 2938 top was it. I've made it before - here - and it didn't take much time to put together at all. A couple of hours last night, and a couple of hours tonight.

A few details:

- This top is a bit loose on me, I didn't need the zipper at all. It slips in fine over my head.
- I used bias as instructed to finish the armholes. I also finished the hem with it, attaching it by machine to the right side, then turning and hand-hemming. (I wanted the hem to be barely visible, and I still haven't learned to use my invisible hem foot.)
- I barely had enough fabric to make this, rules of grain went all out of the window. The back is cut on grain, the side front on cross-grain. Seems fine to me, with no ill-effects. I had 0.9 meters, but I think this is 36inch width, so here's what I had left over.


Anyhoo, I'm so happy my sewing machine is back and working! In good time for the serious de-stash sewing I need to do.

The Handkerchief Quilt - Epilogue

I'd taken my handkerchief quilt top with me to India to get it quilted. I was proudly showing off my quilts to my aunts, and one of them fell in love with it. So, of course, I gave it to her (hey, one less quilt to carry back = more room for fabric purchases.)

While my mom was still in India, I was talking to her on the phone, and she'd mentioned it was back from the quilter, and she was heading to my aunt's to deliver it. So, I jokingly told her to tell my aunt that she owed me two saris for it. (I was *joking*. Although I have the rather unfortunate habit eying my aunts' saris covetously and fondling the fabric.)

Anyway, talking to my mom again on the phone now, evidently my aunt took me seriously, and sent me two saris.

I feel guilty now.

Atleast a little.

So close, yet so far.

My sewing machine is back today - my parents brought it to Toronto.

Unfortunately, it is snowing cats and dogs here, which means my plan to go pick it up went by the wayside.

Sigh.

Eventually, I'll have a working sewing machine again.

Vacation fabric purchases

How does a vacation that starts with my aunt saying "I've been saving some patterns for you" and handing you a bag filled with vintage sewing patterns not turn out to be awesome?



Please don't hate me now.

Things rapidly went uphill after that.

And here's are photos of the loot.

From left to right, a dark blue, a purple and a printed cotton. The first two will be summer dresses - the print will be a skirt. I bought these off the street - all 100% cotton, and roughly $1 a meter. (Seriously, please don't hate me now.)

A taupe pant-length of fabric (polyester-cotton blend) which will be pants. ($3?) The pink checks were a bit of a mistake/afterthought, but I will sew it up into some kind of shirtdress, I think. ($2 a meter - 100% cotton.) And the beautiful black/brown plaid? This is my Istanbul wool purchase (100% wool; 2 meters; $20).

Part 1 of my loot from Nalli. The olive green (woven with red - a color called 'mandulur' in South India) is 100% cotton, and will be another summer dress. The next three are silk/cotton blends (mostly cotton, I think, from the feel; the silk just adds a bit of luster). The cream wants to be a summer suit (yes, ambitious.) The pink and the onion-skin-color are fabric for tops. The cotton was about $1 a meter; the silk/cotton blends were $2 a meter. (Nalli has great prices.)

Part 2 of the loot from Nalli. The first two from the left are my splurges. The cream is 100% silk, absolutely gorgeous, and will be a pencil skirt. ($8 a meter.) The grey floral I really fell in love with, it is going to be another summer dress, also about $8 a meter. The last two were silk-cotton remnants that are going to be tops of some kind. I bought these at Rasi Silks, another famous Madras saree store. (I think Madras is divided into a Nalli camp and a Rasi camp - I maintain Nalli is better, but I couldn't leave without looking into Rasi to see what they had.)

This is a lungi. It is also the most lovely plaid; and I *had* to have it. (2 meters; about $2 for the lot. 100% cotton.)

In addition to the vintage pattern loot, my aunt also gave me fabric from her stash. (Two reasons. Mostly because she is very nice. But also, I think she was a bit sick of me rummaging through everything in her stash and asking her what she was planning to do with them.) The first two are pieces from vintage sarees. 100% silk. She warned me the silk is fragile, but look, how pretty! I love these! The cream is a stiff-ish, medium weight that feels like a cotton blend.

And while Biscuit is normally the world's most indulged cat, she was tossed off the fabric pretty quickly.

Like I said, please don't hate me now.

The "Waste Not" Quilt Top

Two things were clear to me when I got to Madras. One, I really, really had missed sewing on a competent machine. Two, I spend entirely too much time on the Internet, and have all kinds of spare time when Internet access isn't readily available.

These two facts collided, and I sewed up this quilt top in Madras in the fringes of time in between non-stop shopping, eating and visiting family.

Quilters will know that quilting creates all kinds of orphan blocks and pieces. This quilt was created very simply - I put together orphan blocks from projects created by my mother, my aunt and me*. The work chiefly consisted of joining blocks together and adding borders to get each block to 12 inches, and then adding black sashing.


Nonetheless, despite the simplicity of construction, this is my favorite quilt top. I love how bright it is, and how cheerful.

Incidentally, sewing machines in India are so much better constructed. My aunt has a Singer which she bought ~4 years ago. It is all metal - comes with a table, and sews like a dream. Because, for many Indians, a sewing machine is a significant investment (and in many cases, their livelihood), I think the quality of the product is just that much better. Both my mom, who sews on a crappy Brother, and me (whose sewing machine troubles are well known) were seriously envious.

Next post - pictures of the fabric I bought, I promise. I just have to lay them out, and photograph them.

*At one time, I'd decided I didn't want to quilt anymore, and had given my aunt a ton of half-finished projects, fabric, etc, which is how my orphan blocks were in Madras in the first place.

Fabric Porn

I had 3 fabric stops planned in Madras (or Chennai, as it is called nowadays.) One was a street that is lined with vendors selling fabric by the roadside - but everytime I went there, I forgot my camera.

Another was to a wool store, which was a bit disappointing - the prices and selection are better in Toronto.

The third stop - Nalli - I did have the camera with me.

Everyone in Madras knows Nalli. I don't think a wedding can happen in Madras without a saree being bought from Nalli. I'm pretty sure I used to visit this store on a weekly basis growing up. My grandmother shopped here, my mother still gets recognized at the door, though she hasn't lived in Madras for over 12 years, and she also still gets a discount, unasked.

(You can guess from this exactly how much my grandmother and mother shopped.)

Now, Nalli carries an incredible selection of sarees, but also, importantly for me, it carries a ton of fabric. Silks, cottons, silk-cotton blends - in my opinion, this place has both the best selection and prices in the entire city.

Here's pictures as proof.

And in the face of all of this, I might have (ahem) bought about 40 meters of fabric, but I still maintain - this is me at my most restrained. (I'll do a separate post with what I bought.)

Confession time

I'm in Istanbul (last day here - I leave unearthly early tomorrow to fly back home).

On Saturday evening, as I was walking down Iskadil Cadesssi (I'm quite sure I've mispelled this) I saw a fabric store.

Ah, my heart skipped a beat. But alas, it was closed.

Of course, I made it there today (well, I tried yesterday as well, but it was closed since it was Sunday.)

And I did buy wool.

In my defense, just a tiny bit - slightly under 2 meters. It was so ridiculously cheap (~$20 for 2 meters) that I felt I had to.

Now for the true test - I need to go pack in a bit. It remains to be seen if the suitcase will close.

(And Kristy - another confession. I took the machine to India, but my parents are carting it back for me. Umm. Yes, I am rather spoiled.)

Pictures to follow tomorrow - as soon as I return, greet the little Biscuit, and download the ~200ish pictures I've taken on vacation.

Quick picture-less vacation post

It was as I feared. I have bought ridiculous amounts of fabric. Not counting lining (which I consider a necessity) I have bought approximately 35 meters of fabric. (I think. I'm not keeping track too accurately.)

I'd taken my broken sewing machine with me, and managed to get it fixed. (Cheap labor in India means I can get it fixed for a fraction of the Canadian price.)*

I've also eaten my body weight in food.

Which, of course, makes this a pretty awesome vacation.

*Yes, I realize that carting a sewing machine to India is a pretty ridiculous idea. But, I'm a pretty light traveler, and didn't have much other luggage.

The vacation countdown begins

On Monday, I'm off on vacation for two weeks. I'm very excited! I'm going to India and Turkey for a week each.

Now, I haven't been to India since I started garment-sewing, so I'm actually a little bit nervous. I'm afraid I'm going to come back with hundreds of yards of fabric, displaying no control whatsoever. (I should take a picture of the existing stash and take it with me as a reminder to slow it down.)

Relatedly, I made a list of 4 places I want to visit in India, 3 of them were fabric stores. I sense doom.

I also hear there will be fabric in Turkey, which is very exciting. I'm dreaming of wool...

I haven't touched the dress since the last post - work has been chaotically busy (the run-up to two weeks of vacation, I fear), and so has my social life. I would really, really like to get this dress done before I leave - we'll see.

Vacation wardrobe? Hah. I have no idea how people manage it, really. Every time Trena goes on a trip, she sews amazing travel wardrobes. I need to learn her time management skills.

Irrational sewing phobias

We all have them, right?

Mine are darts. I hate sewing darts. A dart can get me to procrastinate on a project for days and days...

Why is this coming up now, you ask? Because my current project, which I cut out in Myrtle Beach, is this dress.



Which has, count them, 34 darts to sew.

I therefore estimate that I'll be done with this dress in 2011.

Look - actual sewing!

It isn't a quilt top, and it certainly isn't a UFO bag. It is an actual skirt!

I got back home today, and sternly talked myself into making buttonholes. My friend's Elna came through like a trooper - the buttonholes were painless. I was panicking for nothing.

And voila, a skirt! (Chocolate brown does not photograph well. I had to fiddle with the settings to get this to show the pleat at all. I'll try again tomorrow too, but I'm too sleepy to care right now.)



This Dec 2009 BWOF skirt was on practically every blog I read in early December, and the enthusiasm in blog-land was the only reason I looked at this pattern twice. (The Burda styling did not do this skirt any favors.)

It was also a perfect project for someone who was using an assortment of half-working sewing machines to get it done. It only had 4 pattern pieces. No zipper was required. It needed to be hand-hemmed. (Football on TV helps for incredibly tedious tasks like this.)

I made it in a brown fabric I bought forever ago from JoAnn. (In other words, before I knew any better.) It is a medium weight skirting fabric, but the downside - it unravels like the devil! I didn't dare make french seams since I'm stuck in sewing-machine-hell, but I will fray-check the heck out of it before I wear it.

Ah, it is nice to finally finish a garment. This feels good. (Plus, I really like the skirt. I was afraid the pleat wouldn't be flattering, but it actually is really pretty nice looking.)

Handkerchief Quilt Top - Done!

I'm still having trouble with the sewing machine. These are so frustrating that *everyone* around me has heard me whine about it. I'm hoping for some spare time this week to go and test drive a couple of options, but if I don't manage to buy a sewing machine, it doesn't get done for the next couple weeks; I'm off on vacation the first two weeks of Feb. (Which is pretty awesome, really.)

In any case, a friend loaned me her Elna. It has a few issues, but I jury-rigged it enough to complete this quilt top.

Up next - the Dec BWOF skirt that a lot of people have made. I'm actually almost done with this, I just need to get brave and try a buttonhole with a non-optimal sewing setup.

The most exciting news this month...

Could it be?

In an odd, inexplicable, head-scratching, wonderful, random way, my sewing machine works again.

I have no idea why. (Except maybe something had jammed, and me taking it to the repair guy to see if it was a cheap fix might have jolted something loose to get it to work again? )

It could stop working any minute.

But until that moment, I'm celebrating.

And sewing.

Resisting Saturday Sloth

Read more here about the Madhur Jaffrey project - one of my 2010 goals. For an index of recipes, click here.

I was sitting around at home feeling really lazy on Saturday afternoon. But, then, there were a bunch of veggies sitting in my frig threatening to die. And so, I got to work.

First I made a list of what I hoped to get done. (As it turns out, this was a very optimistic list. )


Then, I popped in my favorite CD in the player.

I noted the time. (I am such a geek.)


I got cooking.

And three hours later (!) I had 4 dishes done, lots of veggies used up, and food in the frig for the week ahead.

Jan 16 Cooking: Green beans with fresh coconut and sesame seeds; Cabbage and tomatoes cooked in mustard oil; Potatoes and tomatoes cooked with fresh coconut; Diced potatoes with spinach.





And finally, I congratulated myself for not sitting on the couch the entire afternoon.

I had a friend over for dinner, so I got a chance to try out all the food, and it is all delicious.

Food Notes:
- I especially adore the potatoes and tomatoes, which tastes very kurma-like. (The link leads to a recipe that looks similar, though the recipe I used is simpler - fewer spices & less grinding.)
- I've made beans with coconut before, (in fact, frozen veggie cooked with coconut is one of my staples - a good 5-minute dish.) This version also has cilantro chopped with the coconut, which is unusual to me. (I wonder which part of India it is from. Coconut usage is heavy in South India, but this particular mix of herbs & spices was new to me.)
- The cabbage was yummy, plus I've never cooked cabbage with tomatoes. New food combo!
- Of all the recipes, I was a bit underwhelmed by the diced potato with spinach, but I think it is because it is a fairly common Indian dish (aloo palak or aloo saag - most Indian restaurants will have it, though with considerable amounts of butter & cream added.)

I've still some pictures to post, and my index is seriously out of date, something to rectify. I do keep an Excel spreadsheet to track my progress though (I've already admitted to being a geek) and right now, I'm at 14.26% complete. (69 recipes cooked; 415 to go.)

Old Sewing - Butterick 5173

I'm not going to formally review this, since I made it over five months ago, and I don't remember much of the process.

However, I do remember the gathers were a pain to do. And, despite a lot of trying, they end up scrunched up over my tummy. Not a flattering look, unless you are trying for the 3-month-pregnant look. (I'm vain enough that I'm not showing a side view...)

Still, it isn't too bad, and I did wear it out a couple of times over the summer.

(I'm pretty sure the hem is even, and it looks weird because of the way I'm standing...)

A *very* bad sign

I was in the suburbs yesterday, and I talked my mom into driving me to Fabricland. (Canada's big-box fabric store.)

Practically everything in the store was on sale.

I found some beautiful 90% wool fabric, perfect for making pants.

And about a million pretty knit prints.

Some faux fur, in case I want to experiment with making a faux fur coat.

But...

I ended up buying just 3 meters of cloth - Bemberg lining. The restraint!!!!

I think my stash is overwhelming me. Plus, the sewing machine uncertainity isn't helping. I haven't sewn something real in over a month. I am GOING to sort this out by the weekend - this is ridiculous - I have 3 projects all cut out, another 2 traced out, and mountains of stash fabric everywhere I look.

Quick Sewing - UFO Bags

Since my stack of UFOs keeps steadily increasing, I made some quick bags to hold them. This project was mostly designed to use up the "What was I thinking?" fabric and some of the ridiculous amount of trim I have lying around.

20 minutes of sewing, while watching the Patriots get dismantled. Sigh. It was not a good football day.

First cooking of the year

Read more here about the Madhur Jaffrey project - one of my 2010 goals. For an index of recipes, click here.

I've been slow to get back into the swing of cooking since returning from vacation. But yesterday, while watching Ocean's Thirteen, I did a bunch of chopping, and I cooked up some of it today.

First up, on Jan 3rd, late at night, I was a bit peckish, but was too lazy to cook. Hence, salt lassi. (Whip yoghurt, water and salt up in a blender for a couple seconds, pour into a glass, and drink. My kind of lazy food.)

Jan 3, 2010 - Salty Lassi


And now, the fruits of Oceans Thirteen's chopping.

In the bowl, Brown Rice, Okra fried with onion and green chili and Oily toovar dal with cloves. The oily toovar dal looks completely disgusting in the packaging, but is quite tasty when the oil is rinsed off.

Jan 7, 2010 dinner: Okra fried with onion and green chili and Oily toovar dal with cloves.


I made the okra for lunch, it was delicious, and quick to make. (The cutting takes time, but the cooking is quick.)

I also made a good stash of food for the week.

Jan 6, 2010: Eggplant cooked with crushed mustard seeds and yoghurt.


The eggplant is really good, but the sauce is quite bitter. The recipe notes say it should be eaten with Indian bread, which I think will cut the bitterness quite nicely.

Jan 7, 2010: Green bell peppers cooked with chickpea flour


Food confession - I don't like green bell peppers. I actually seriously loathe green peppers. I tasted this though - and it is quite tasty. (I'm never going to voluntarily buy and cook green pepper though.) I'll sample a bit, for the sake of the project, and then feed it to my parents.

The Handkerchief Quilt Top - Part 2

Just to clarify, in case you were wondering, these are new handkerchiefs. I bought them for this project. (Rather, I made my mom buy them during a trip to India.)

Apart from buying the handkerchiefs initially, my mom rescued my progress tonight. I didn't have a suitable blue fabric in my stash, so she brought me some. (Along with food! I am a princess!)

Anyway, the blocks are done.



I laid out the pieces on my bed to play with placement. It goes without saying, of course, that Biscuit decided she must lie right in the center as I was working. It was not helpful.

I'm free tomorrow and Thursday, so it might indeed get done this week.

(Or, I could do my French homework?)