The Science of Pink

Did you know there is no pink in the light spectrum? That its a trick of the eyes?  I didn't until yesterday. Which I actually found somewhat comforting since I've really taken to the color pink of late, buying variations of it in fabric form.  My Goth alter-ego is crying a bit because it feels like I'm cheating on black. And red.

You know what though? Pink looks awesome with black.  But lets get back to the science of pink. Its not on  the light spectrum, its actually a trick your eyes play on you.





This is a great little one minute video that explains what I'm talking about. It sparked a somewhat interesting debate among science types in saying "pink is not a real color". Which its not, in the light spectrum. It does exist, however, as a pigment.  Popular Science has a very good article on that difference here.  The author, Rebecca Boyle, has this to say:

Thinking of pink the way we think of transmitted light is confusing, hence the controversy. Here's the thing: When you look at a pink object — that is to say, a thing that contains pigments or dyes which render it pink to light receptor cells in your eyes — you are not seeing pink wavelengths of light. An object appears pink because certain wavelengths of light are reflected, and others are absorbed, quenched, by the pigments. Pink is a reflective color, not a transmissive color — you can perceive it because your brain translates light bouncing off it. Color is a construct of our eyes and brains.

Cool, huh?  I love learning new things and this one (wait for it...) tickled me pink!  This pleases my inner geek in a way that makes me not feel so bad about falling in love with this color as an adult.

What Does Bangladesh and NYC Have in Common

Answer:  Women burned alive in a garment factory fire.  

source ABC News

Many of you probably have seen a tidbit of news about the Bangladesh Garment Factory fire that happened the Saturday after Thanksgiving (USA). And if you are a long time sewing blog reader you've probably heard of the Triangle Shirt-Waist Factory Fire that sparked (pardon the pun) a labor rights movement in the early 20th century United States. Both of these tragedies share a common story of lack of safety standards for the facility, along with grueling working conditions of those employed there.  With workers being locked in the building for 10-12 hours a day  and told they should be happy just to have a job.  This is even the PR schtick you hear from companies that use these factories. "We're bringing jobs to poor countries, we're doing a good deed!"  Sorry, I'm not drinking your kook-aid anymore.

I think, in this modern world where its just so easy to go to the store and buy a new shirt because the button popped off the old one, we forgot that actual hands sewed those garments together. There is a human cost in every item of clothing you own, not to mention material and environmental.  Sewing is one of the most common professions in the world (Overdressed pg. 659 kindle version) because of its very labor intense nature. For a majority of  Western society we have become disconnected with what this means and have failed to recognize the value clothing really should have. Here was a statistic, also taken from Overdressed, that had me reeling in shock:

"Every year, Americans throw away 12.7 million tons, or 68 pounds of textile per person, according to the Environmental Protection Agency, which also estimates that 1.6 million tons of this waste could be recycled or reused."

Every bit of that clothing was made by people, most likely in a developing nation in conditions similar to the two factories mentioned above. And from this statement I have several points that I could make but they are all things that deserve their own blog post(so... brace yourself). And according to ABC, this brings the number of deaths due to garment factory fires over 600 in the past five years in Bangladesh alone.  Unsurprisingly, we're starting to see workers band together and protest for better working conditions.  Chinese workers have been doing this too, and not just for the garment industry, for several years now which is why production has started moving to even poorer countries.

So, what should I say in conclusion?  I say question the label and the price tag. I say educate yourself on what it is that you are buying and why. Just like healthy food its possible to do the right thing on a budget, it just takes more effort on  your part. Learning to sew a button back on that shirt can't be so bad if it saves a life in another country, right?

Now excuse me while I take my soapbox back to the kitchen. I gotta reach something on the top shelf.

Cool Things

This is suppose to be a sewing blog and I'm suppose to write about sewing and maybe crazy things that my kids do.  And to be honest I have notebooks and scribbles of ideas and things I want to write about here.  Including focusing more on beginner information since, while I have plenty of veteran sewists following, I also have friends and somewhat random people following that are not and have expressed interest in these kind of things.

And, you know, I'll get to that soon. I will.  But you know what time of year it is? Yeah. Me too. And it makes me crazy.  So I'm going to post fun or pretty things here. Just cool stuff I found to take your mind off the holiday insanity.



Oh, she's brilliant. Go check all her violin stuff and you won't be sorry.


 
Another young lady with a budding movie making career ahead of her.

  Oh, also. One of my long time friends called to tell me he's working on a movie with Nicholas Brendon.

Sewing Bloggers Are Awesome

A while back, miss Juliet of Crazy Gypsy Chronicles had a lovely little give-a-way. I had all but forgotten about it, wrapped up as I was in personal drama, that the box was a delightful surprise.

First up was the most awesome pin cushion ever of pincushions. Its a teacup, WITH A DRAGON!  It just so happens I'm a dragon in the Chinese zodiac, and I love dragons.  She has a tutorial on how to make your very own here. Also, some navy and red cotton floral that is destined to become a summer blouse.  And a cute little bug in a box, which has since sprouted legs and walked off. Probably somewhere in the depths that is The Upstairs (That's the kids' domain. Also, that is where all my tape disappears to. I'm stuffing my daughters Christmas stocking full of every kind of tape imaginable this year.)

Up next:

BUTTONS! And Patterns! AND MORE FABRIC!  Oooh, that blue and white was claimed by Felicity, so that will probably end up being a summer blouse for her. I don't know what I'm gonna do with the buttons, but I'll find something. They are just too beautiful.

And in the very bottom of the box was a bar of dark chocolate, which has been hidden among my sewing notions for emergencies, such as sewing sleeves on backwards and Simon trying to do parkour in the house (more on that later).

So, thank you Miss Gypsy for the wonderful smile!

Men of the Cloth

I highly recommend watching this preview about Italian tailors. The Kickstarter has less than a month to raise 17,000 dollars. SPREAD THE WORD! I want to see this film come to fruition and so do you.

The Week in Snapshots

Hello Everyone! I want you to know that I got all dolled up to take photos on my newly cleaned up back porch only to discover the camera battery dead and the charger missing in actions. Add this to the lens cap I lost on the horseback ride and I was a sad panda.  So. I've ordered replacement parts and a remote. Here's hoping, right?

So, in the mean time you get Instagram photos. Here's a collection of outfits that include me made items. Two Renfrews and my cropped jacket. And a few other things as well.

Clover facings

The best part of this fabric is that it matches both colors of corduroy I picked out to make clovers. I also adjusted the waist band pieces to curve in more as they were too wide at the top previously for me to feel comfortable.

 Also, I finally relented and told Felicity yes on dying her hair. She wants RED hair, like mine. I said we'd do the lightest red first.  So I got strawberry blonde and it turned out lovely. In fact, it turned out to be the exact color my hair was at her age. It was spooky.

Can I wash it out yet?

Hair all done and I'm ready for bed! 

 And she wore the gold dress her Grandma bought her recently. I love this photo of her playing the Nintendo DS at the Thanksgiving party we had early. Cause I'm on-call Thanksgiving and working the Friday after. And the hubby is working both days. Woo.

So did I mention I made like, three renfews?  Yup, two cowl neck ones out of sweater knit and I'm practically living in these things. Here's a sparkly black one. I have to wear a cami underneath or it gets scratchy but it looks just so awesome.

This photo was taken after a 12 hour work day and I had just washed my face. 

On to work outfits!  This first outfit goes with my new jacket.  The gold blouse and the skirt are also made by me.

My eyes, they are closed.

I love these pants, they are RTW from Layne Bryant. Only problem?  They start sagging after about 8 hours of sitting. Bleh.  All these photos are taken in the locker room at the work gym. Yes, we have a gym at work and its free.  Working for Evil Corporations does have its perks. Fortunately, the one I work for is fairly benign, in that most of what they do and support I agree with.

Work outfit 2, Striped Renfew 

Dior Advertisment

I bought the September issue of Vogue just so I could have the photo of this dress' guts. I'm so fascinated!
I love it very much.

Label ALL THE THINGS

I sorted and labelled all my notions. I have a photo of all my lace zippers somewhere.  Gotta find it.

And last, but  not least, my two oldest cats curled up in the rocking chair together sleeping.  These two are often at odds with each other but they set it aside when its cold.

Work Week Is Not Over Yet

Source: Uploaded by user via Fabric on Pinterest