The Mighty Moto

What's up y'all?  Hey, can you believe that its 2015 already?  Where did 2014 year go? The thing about time feeling faster as you get older is so true. This is part of why I've been neglecting this little blog of mine, life is happening and I should probably pay attention. Anyway.

I think this is just resting bitch face.

 I want to share a recent obsession, the motorcycle jacket. I've always loved them but was never able to own one because they were either too expensive or the cheap fashion ones made for models. Models whose thighs are smaller than my biceps because this viking grew up doing heavy labor (rowing, archery, wood chopping, tilling; these things make for lots of upper body mass). So getting my arms into one was basically a NOPE.

DEFINITELY INTENTIONAL. Rock that bitch face.

Right now motorcycle jackets seem to be everywhere on women, particularly in television. I think it has to do with the uptick in female heroes in the DC and Marvel adaptations to the serial screen. As a geek and a feminist this makes my heart happy, but as someone who loves history it also makes me curious. Like many of the articles of clothing eventually labelled as classic, it had its origins in the military.  I decided to do a wee bit of digging to find out more about its origins.

As it turns out the moto is an evolution of the bomber jackets used during WWI.  Originally they were brown horse or cow hide which had a thickness that helped protect the wearer from the elements.  Here's an excerpt from a great BBC article.

 In 1928, Irving Schott, co-founder of the New York City-based outerwear company the Schott Bros, designed and produced the first leather motorcycle jacket with a zipper. He named it the Perfecto, after his favourite cigar. A shield against the elements (replacing the less efficient button-down motorcycle jackets of the time), this important new silver feature, with its asymmetric positioning, also allowed motorcyclists to lean over their bikes without cutting into the body. The original jacket featured a cropped, snug fit, with a D-pocket and lapels designed to snap down or fold over each other and zip all the way up

FINALLY!  That asymmetrical zipper is explained!  I'd been wondering for years the point knowing it had to root in functionality.  Not getting poked and chaffed by a zipper is definitely a plus for me.

Surprise face.

 Of course, when fashion appropriates things they like to add a bit of pretty or fluff. On the runway there are motos in every color for Spring and even pre-Fall (prefall? Like why do we need pre fall and resort? WHY?  Its dumb.). I love the one above that Felicity Smoak is wearing from Arrow. As a matter of fact, all the Arrow ladies rock them at one time or another. This floral moto shows up in another super hero show but I forget which one.

"You should see the other guy" bitchface

I should point out that Marlon Brando made the moto jacket in black a popular element among the young and rebellious crowd with the movie "The Wild One" and the James Dean in "Rebel Without a Cause".  I don't think this association will ever go away, either.  And while right now its "anything but black" among the fashion crowd, having a black one in your closet will be a classic, always.

I have two of them planned for in non-black to take me through the year. The way our weather has been lately I only need a really warm coat a couple months.  Sort of related I've been craving jackets and blazers to help mix and match outfits for work. I think the non-leather jackets well certainly help with that, especially on days I need to bring the bitchface.  Leather biker jackets certainly help set the mood.

For a bit more history reading, Fit NYC has an article here,  and another somewhat less reliable source here.

Kitschy Coo Hacks: The Cowl Neck Maxi in Blue

Hello Sailor.

 y'all. Y'ALL. This is like, my favorite knit garment I've ever made, FOR SERIOUS. Its a combination of Kitschy Coo patterns that have been modified from the original. The bodice is from the Lady Skater but I used a Threads tutorial to create a cowl neck.

The skirt is the maxi version of the Camino Cap, but this time I had enough to go all the way to the floor.  The fabric is a navy blue bamboo rayon from Fabric.com, its one of their reorderable medium weights that aren't quite so clingy as other rayons. Still, if I'm going to wear it out and about it needs proper foundation garments for a smooth silhouette.  And I have, in fact, already worn this to work.  It was a bit bizarre because if ever staring was audible, it was that day. No one actually complimented the dress, but one lady on the elevator had her mouth open. When she realized I was looking at her she said 'Your hair is... amazing".

I was like "Um, thanks! Oh hey look this is my floor".  Cause I suck at taking compliments, its taken years to learn to just say thank you.

This fabric drapes beautifully,  I might add. LOVE IT. Let's see what else? Ah yes, I used clear elastic at the shoulders and the waist for stability. I did cut the bodice two inches shorter to have it hit at the right place with the weight of the full skirt. I just did a rolled hem on the serger because this is a knit and well, I was feeling lazy. Wanted to WEAR IT NOW!

This is the "Would you please do something about your dog barking all fucking day" face. Seriously people, if you are going to have a pet, don't neglect them!!

I want like, a closet full of these! I'm wearing it around the house right now and I can be active and do things in it without worrying. If I'm cooking there are aprons for a reason!  I also know that y'all are going to ask me about a tutorial, I've already mentioned to Amanda (Of Kitschy Coo) that I'm game. The kids are away with their Grandma this week going road tripping, so its been quiet and I've been concentrating on the six things already cut out. Yes, SIX. Crazy, I know. I have another hand full of things I've not yet blogged and need to share!  I've started working out again now that my pain management doctor has agreed that it will take more pain meds in the short term but be beneficial in the long term. I'm pretty determined to make that uphill journey for a second time (the first was before Mom went into hospice).

So tell me, have you ever hacked a pattern until is was barely recognizable from the original? Did you like it afterward?

Stay tuned, later this week I have photos for Oonapalooza!

Kitschy Coo Camino Cap Duo!

we're looking fierce today

Hey, Psst. You. YES YOU. Do you know what this is? If you guessed the latest pattern from Kitschy Coo then you would be correct! This latest addition to her pattern collection is purrrrfect! I was so happy I got to test from ground zero on this one. Its such a cute and sassy design wrapped up together.

The Camino Cap is a downloadable PDF (-->GET IT HERE<--) that can be made up as both a shirt and a dress. There's the contrast yoke or one piece, and it comes down and covers the shoulders very nicely. This is especially good for those of us in a work place that has two settings: beer cooler or meat locker. In any case, I made an almost maxi length for me, and I confess, did it to completely rip off Katie's wonderful version. I lengthened at the "lengthen here" line and at the bottom. But since I made Felicity one as well, I didn't have enough to reach all the way to the floor. Normally I would wear high heals but soft ground, nope.

Mama Cat and her Kitten

Yes, you read that correctly. Mother/daughter outfits. She was gracious enough to wear hers with me for photos. I'm in size eight, she's in size 1. I had to shorten the bodice for Felicity by about 2 inches, the waist is a bit low and its large at the high bust but that's ok, room to grow!

Spot the belt. GET IT? Hahahaha, I kill me.

This is the husband's favorite, cause I'm smiling.

Check it out, I didn't even need to do a sway back adjustment!

Lawd that girl, she's getting her red belt this Saturday, btw, WATCH OUT BOYS!

I love the little dip in the back, makes for a lovely show of the nap of the neck. Kitschy Coo has THE BEST necklines.

Its like looking in the mirror sometimes.

This is me basking in the glory that is this dress, and/or contemplating how many more I want to make. OH, I have even told you the BEST THING about all the Kitschy Coo patterns. They are made from the same block so most of the pieces are interchangeable. I've had several hacks stewing about and tested, and I want to make some tutorials. Maybe when the kids are visiting relatives with their Grandmother later this month.

That's all for now!

Summer Vacations and Destination Weddings

Remember back in school when the teachers would have you write an essay on what you did during the summer? I kind of feel like I'm about to write one of those now but I'm only a month into the summer school break. Remember that cruise I mentioned? Yup, that was awesome. It was also almost three weeks ago but I didn't get any of the actual wedding photos until today. Its kind of hard to take pictures of yourself when your job is moral support for the bride. Not that she needed much, its the happiest I've seen her in two decades.

It was a lovely wedding and a lovely vacation. The wedding was during our first stop in the Grand Turks, it was just family and best friends there, most of us were actually in the wedding. We'd had no rehearsal or anything like that, and seeing as it started at 10am we'd all managed to forget to eat. Which made cocktails at 11am extra fun. The food was amazing. It was sushi and other hors d'oeurves, and an entire section of gluten free, including cake. I had two pieces of cake because I NEVER get cake anymore.

I'll be honest, when I saw the photos I freaked out. I was like "I am not that wide!!", and then proceeded to have a melt down over my weight.   Then hubby pointed out they used a wide angle lens. Ug. Oh, and Dreama is the same height as Felicity when she's not wearing 5 inch heals. So I'm like a giant compared to all the other women. Or a Viking. Let's go with Viking.

*warning, picture heavy post ahead*

Me, Dreama, Dreama's beau, Dreama's Niece Cas, Felicity, Phaedra, Aurora.

The Soon to be Mr. And Mrs.  Of note, the necklace and earrings are my Mother's. She loved Dreama very much and so Dreama wearing her jewels meant she was there in spirit.

This adorable little girl. She and her cousin were very serious about their flower girl duties. Later she also decided my arms are the best thing ever. She'd crawl up in my lap all during the cruise and hug them and go "squish squish squish!" and then blow raspberries and giggle over and over.  Its kind of hard to hate a part of your body that gives three year old girls that much joy.

Obligatory photo, I'm trying not to cry. 

Let's not forget about Simon. I couldn't make him a suit so I had him pick one out from the Easter day ZuLilly sale. I was like "really" and he said "really".  I had to hem the darn thing up like 10 inches (its a size 12 for boys!!) and he was just the coolest mac daddy around.

So after the wedding we still had six days ahead of us!  Its honestly the best vacation I've ever been on because I didn't have to do one lick of cooking or cleaning. The next day was St. Thomas and when we all woke up and headed out to the Lido deck the entire thing was covered in towel animals. It was AWESOME! Except the part where Simon almost got eaten by a fuzzy alligator.

Baby elephants love to sun in lounge chairs.  I don't have any photos of our first trip onto the shore, I just didn't feel like lugging around my dslr.

Simon and Felicity swimming in the Lido deck pool.

Our next stop after a day at sea was Tortola, where we got to swim with dolphins!  It was also Felicity's birthday, and since Dreama and family were going on a deep wreck dive their niece wasn't old enough to go (that entire family is scuba certified).  So after talking to Cass' grandparents she came along with us. Again, no DSLR and the photos they took during the swimming with dolphins were not great AND 35 dollars FOR EACH PHOTO. OMG, I'm still mad about that racket. I got one cell phone photo of the three, with dolphin photo bomb.

Smile!

Cas was gracious enough to take a photo o the four of us together. I'm wearing a hummingbird skirt here that I have yet to blog about. I'm a bad blogger, sorry. 

The next day was St. Maarten, we docked on the Dutch side. At the last minute we decided to book an excursion out on a catamaran to do some snorkeling and swimming. We were warned the French beaches are clothing optional. We were unconcerned and figured that warning was why it wasn't a full booking. Felicity was the only one that even noticed one person. 

As it was both of them were much too busy swimming from shore to boat so they could jump in as often as possible. We anchored in 16 foot deep water and it was almost like glass, you could see the bottom so clearly. Hawaii wasn't even this clear.

Seriously, have you ever seen water so clear?

After the first snorkeling trip I decided to stay on the boat. The snorkel was tons of fun but as I was swimming back to the boat my legs gave out on my and I felt myself starting to panic. Since I'm more aware of most of what impending panic attacks feel like I started calling for Daecon. He was keeping up with the kids and reminded me I could inflate the flotation device, I did, but kept saying in as normal a voice as possible that I need help to get to the ladder. One of the crewmen swam to me and grabbed me by the arm and somehow LIFTED me onto the ladder saying in a Jamaican accent "Its OK baby girl". Daecon had my towel and a xanax in hand, told me the kids were OK and didn't complain that i had to SEE them before I calmed down.

The same lovely crew member gave Felicity some shells he found. Nice ones too!

Daecon and Simon enjoying some wind.

This was the view from the swimming cove. The amount of sun made it challenging to get not over exposed photos. Problem was that the moment it was cloudy I had to change the settings again. I can't lighten some of my others without out graininess. Its OK though, I did come up with a few good snapshots.

And hopefully soon I'll be posting more. I just haven't wanted to take the time to write lately and didn't want to post anything out of obligation. It never really seems fun. I hope you have something planned for the summer, Northern Hemisphere readers!

New Toys and Past Lessons Remembered

I bought a new sewing machine!  Or rather, I financed a new sewing machine. I'm excited either way because I looked at my numbers before taking the plunge. This ain't my first rodeo going down this road, you see.

Let me back up a second though and give you some photos. I finally decided to go with this one after pondering it for some time because of Caroline's one year review. Its a Janome 8900 that I bought from Ashby Sewing during their annual Sewing Expo sale. If you live in the Atlanta area I HIGHLY recommend them, especially for getting your machines serviced. The guy that does the work is recognized nationally for his expertise.

At this time I don't have a special table that the machine sets into, this is one that husband and brother in law built for me. Its very sturdy, just like this machine. Full speed and everything in the sun room vibrates, but you can barely hear it, which means I can sew when my husband works from home. SCORE! I decided to not install the knee lever because I'm more likely to injure myself on it than find it useful. For whatever reason my hips are always larger than I think they are, come to think of it so are my bewbs. I run both into door frames ALL THE TIME.

Stop laughing.

So as you can see this thing is huge. Lots of stitches, lots of carriage space, and I even got the extra spool holder for my larger thread spools.

One of my more favorite features, slots for the most used feet! The tension is automatic but has an override button and there's a walking foot in the storage container at the bottom (not pictured) along with bobbin storage and even more feet. When I was checking out they asked if I needed more bobbins.

"How many are in a package" I asked.
"Ten" she said.
"I'll need two then" I said
"What in the world are you sewing!!" she exclaimed.

Apparently quilters don't switch bobbins out that often. I know I need a black, red, and blue wound at all times, and really several other colors. Or two of one color if I'm working on something with lots of stitching. I don't know about you but I hate stopping to wind a bobbin, so lots of bobbins it is! Oh, and it takes standard needles so I didn't have to rush out to buy more. In any case, I love this machine to bits.

But lets go back to about this not being my first rodeo when it comes to financing. We bought our house back in 2002 before the prices skyrocketed but the regulations for financing had begun to loosen up. This was also before the bottom dropped out of the tech industry when outsourcing became the norm. I had done a lot of research and when we chose the house we chose one that we could pay on one salary, despite it being a tiny house. This turned out to be a decision that saved our asses. Even so, what happened to many in 2008 happened to us in 2004. One or both of us were out of a job at any given time for several years.  During that time I was staring down the long road of possible foreclosure and lots and lots of credit debt. We did the credit consolidation, we liquidated all our retirement funds (what little there was), we had to turn to friends and family. This was a time of hardship for us but we made it through. A decade later we both have steady jobs (queue superstitious knocking on wood) and our credit has been repaired. We have, on several occasions, used the X number of months no interest financing. These are great deals, and how I financed my new sewing machine. THE TRICK, however, is to be absolutely certain you are never late on your payment, because then they charge you an obscene amount of interest. And the laws being what they are, they will then share that information with all the other credit companies and they will jack your interest based on that one card. And if you overpay it goes toward principle, not the next month's payment.

Its a racket.  Its a racket I would not gamble with unless very certain I could do the monthly payment on time. When I financed this through Ashby they made sure to tell me this all up front before I sign the documents, which I thought was amazing. Most places don't, but I already knew because, well.. been there, done that.

I know that was long winded and maybe a bit off topic but I believe in sharing knowledge, be it how to do an FBA or how to keep from getting scheistered by credit companies. Got any nuggets of wisdom to share?

Trifecta Two and a TNT

I did not make just one Trifecta, I made two! In fact, if my main serger didn't need to go to the sewing machine doctor I'd probably have cranked out another  two or more. And a whole slew of Simplicity 2369 variations. But for this post we're going to focus on view D, the pants. But first the top.

Is this how I smile? 

Contrast lace sleeves! In fact this is almost an exact copy of one I made for Felicity and failed to blog about it. I did put it up on Instagram sometime last summer though. The stretch lace I got in 2011 at the Sewing Expo. The black fabric is a medium weight bamboo knit from Fabric.com. Its 5% lycra so has great recovery and doesn't grow like most bamboo knits which is awesome.  They have several basic colors that are re-orderable. I want all of them because they are so soft and snugly. I could just throw them all on the bed and make a fort.

I think I might be scowling at the neighbor's screaming kids.

Uh, I'm not sure how this one got so washed out but hey, at least you can see my butt clearly. And now would be a good time to mention the pants. I love them! I can actually pair them with a nice knit top and wear them to work, like this set, and be comfortable. Like I said, I want to make many more of these along with the view C tops from the Simplicity pattern. I could wear them and feel put together at work even during The Monthly Visit (its really the worst four days of the month).  In fact, a few more fancy stretch laces and such and I could get away with the Trifecta as well.

Almost bitchy resting face.

Did I mention that these pants go perfect with Kitschy Coo tops? They totally do. The blouse didn't require anything special other than elastic along the arm seams. I also put clear elastic in the crotch and inseams of the knit pants to help them keep their shape.

My husband posed this one.

Ya know, I'm not getting any kick backs or anything for telling you how much I love Kitschy Coo patterns. They really are just that awesome.

p.s. I just got my Espresso leggings and Riff shrug in the mail and its killing me not to start on them RIGHT NOW. I have to make some frosting.

My Spearmint from Lolita Patterns

Seduce them from 20 paces without removing a stitch!

Hello friends, have you heard about the Spearmint from Lolita patterns yet? No? OH BUT YOU MUST!

There will be a sew-a-long much later but now I want to tell you about this coat. Its the first test pattern I've every done and it was challenging, a wee bit stressful, and very, VERY rewarding. I've had more than one coworker try to steal or bribe me out of this coat. A word of warning, however, its considered a top coat, so its perfect for transitional weather, an opera coat, or if you live in a more temperate area like I do, its perfect for most winter days.

I made the first of the plus-size range, the size 18 with almost no modifications. I did do a forward shoulder and large arm adjustment (my first on a 2 piece sleeve) which is standard for me. In full disclosure, there were a few issues with the beta test pattern. On the plus sizes specifically, the pockets were oddly low and the sleeves a couple inches too long. These have been fixed in the released version! I also could have fixed both issues during construction, but I'd already perfectly pressed the pockets and I like longer sleeves for warmth, anyway. On the plus side, the pockets are easily accessible with the seat belt on, which is good cause I'm pretty absent minded about where I store keys and phones.

Very long sleeves!

But we're here to talk about how awesome this coat is! I've been looking for something with this sort of romantic collar for AGES and there's nothing out there in my size. I love the Lolita aesthetic but its rarely available in my size, which is why I'm kind of in love with Amity and her company right now. She did some serious market research and uses a completely separate block for her 16-24 sizes. This means no FBA was required! And with 3/8 inch seam allowance the princess seams were a breeze to sew up.

For the shell I used a Shetland wool I acquired from Fabric Mart a few years ago, and the lining is a silk twill by Marc Jacobs, ALSO from Fabric Mart. The combination of the two makes this very warm, especially with a hat and scarf. You can see the hem itself is bagging a bit, this is completely my fault. I did not stay stitch the seams together but have since fixed that. Its in the instructions and very easy. The other thing that was amazing is the bag out lining is done completely by machine! It was a very non-euclidian feat of geometry that had me going "This will never work!" and then TADA!! It was done. Like magic. My mind, it boggled. This is the first full size coat I've made and I think I'm going to make the shorter version of this next in turquoise. And possibly one for Felicity too! Deets: Shell Fabric: 4 yards of Shetland wool at $8 a yard Lining: Three yards of silk twill (60" wide) at $9 a yard Pattern: Retails for $22 dollars and if I hadn't pattern tested I'd be more than willing to shell out my money for it! Time to Complete: Including muslin, construction, and feedback, a total of 12 active hours over three weeks, second one would take about 5 from cut to finish

In seam pockets!

More photos!

Back view

Swoosh!

Yup, that's how I roll.

And there it is y'all! You know you want to make this coat, you really do.