BOGO Refashion

Before I read about Wardrobe Refashion, I used to fall for "bargains" that weren't really bargains. I can't believe that a Buy One Get One (BOGO) promotion lured me to buy not two, but four square-necked t-shirts.

The neckline on all of them was always wonky.

Perhaps the reason why I didn't previously own any square-necked t-shirts was because they don't suit me?  Or that the necklines don't lay smoothly?

Two t-shirts in my refashion bin donated their neckbands to the cause.  Plus, I have turquoise and cobalt fabric to recycle into a future color-block shirt.

Two instant tops that go with my new skirt!

The colors work really well with my latest skirt, Vogue 9951.

A better look at the color (mis)match.

I used only my regular sewing machine.  (I find serger thread at the shoulders and neck uncomfortably scratchy.)  There was a little bit of stretching/buckling, but a steam iron took care of it.

I steam-pressed the necklines into smooth submission.

I'm spending the weekend inside, wrapping up WIPs for both work and home.  Can you believe the amount of snow predicted for this April storm?  12-18 inches, AGAIN.

I decided to make lemonade with lemons.  I'm going to experiment with snow-dyeing.  Stay tuned.

Supplies not stash

Update: Carolyn wrote about pattern collecting today!
I also added an addendum about SABLE at the bottom of the post.

Fabrikated asked, Are you a Hoarder?
in response to Bunny's Wednesday Words
quoting Mimi

When I was employed by a major pattern company years ago, I learned a very important piece of information that I never forgot. Pattern companies don't sell patterns; they sell dreams. 75% of patterns purchased never even get opened by the person who purchased them. Look in your own storage, and tell me I'm not wrong on this... right?

I've read perennial discussions about whether sewing supplies are a stash (which implies something secretive and shameful) or a collection or a resource center. I don't like the connotation of stash, but was looking for a shorter name.

I think I'll just call it all supplies.


Supply
noun
1.
a stock of a resource from which a person or place can be provided with the necessary amount of that resource.

Stash
noun
1.
a secret store of something.

I don't make a secret of my sewing supplies.  I've shown my pattern collection.  I gave a tour of my sewing space in LA.  I keep a lot of supplies and inspiration for making stuff around.

It reminds me of something an anthropology grad student in my PhD dissertation support group taught me.  (Yes, I went to one the last 6+ months of grad school and found it useful.)  PhD dissertations often have vernacular titles, either as the primary title or as a subtitle.

[Aside:  My favorite subtitle was for a computer science dissertation about how to manage computer memory, subtitled "Big and Dumb is Better".  I begged for a t-shirt, which the author's friends made up like a concert tour t-shirt, and then wore mine to rags.]

The anthro student's subtitle was "Life on the Res" (short for reservation).  He unpacked the meaning of what outsiders see on the res and what the people who live there see.  He gave me an example of how he needed a part for his very old domestic car.  The part was no longer made and he didn't have the money for a new (used) car.

His uncle told him not to stress too much over it.  Most people on the res kept old, inoperable cars scattered around their homes.  To outsiders, they look like trashy eyesores.

His uncle took the student on a tour of the res, visiting with people, and asking if they had, or knew of anyone who might have the part he needed.  In one day, they had the crucial part and some other parts that could also be useful.

Those old cars are not eyesores.  They are supplies.

If you follow my link above to the tour of my LA sewing space, you will see how I save old clothing and scraps of fabric bought by the pound from odd jobbers.  When I want to make something, like this coordinated set of spring clothes for my daughter, I peruse the collection and pull supplies.

When you become known as someone who makes new clothes from old, old textiles potential finds you. I have a couple of bins of potential in both homes. ;-)  You can see more of these projects under the Wardrobe Refashion tag.

I also have bins of new fabric in both places.  Most of my books and all of my patterns reside in Boulder.

As I wrote in a comment to Bunny's post:

I open and read all my patterns. I've sewn with less than 25% of them. However, I have made more than 25% as many items as the pattern count because of repeated use of TNTs. I customize TNTs, informed by what I learned from reading other patterns.

I like to read pattern directions and look at the shape of the pattern pieces. Sometimes, I measure and compare it to other patterns that I have sewn or RTW.  I don't sew the vast majority of my patterns. But, I may take an element or technique from one pattern and use it on another.

Do you have to sew an item using a pattern's pieces to make use of it?

Pattern drawer for large Vogue designer pattern envelopes.

I buy a few patterns every season.  I'm haunted by an Issey Miyake pattern that I did not buy (in the 1980s) before it was discontinued.  I can't find it for less than $$$ on eBay (and not even in my size).  Also, if I don't support the people who put out patterns that I like today, how will they stay in business?

In 2010, I catalogued my patterns and also kept spreadsheets of how much I buy/spend on my knitting/sewing/dyeing hobbies.  The sum seems quite reasonable for something that I enjoy, that teaches me new things, and that clothes my family and furnishes our homes.

The same goes for fabric and yarn.  Local independent fabric and yarn shops are in constant peril of going out of business.   Fabric and yarn stores are businesses, not petting zoos.  They need to pay rent, staff salaries, and turn over their stock so that they can bring in new stuff.

The limiting factor is space.  I follow the technique of a sewing mentor.  I have a fixed amount of space I am willing to devote to my hobbies.  When supplies exceed the space, deaccessioning is required.  Over time, her collections of sewing supplies, artwork and furniture evolved so that it now contains only very high quality items.

I sort my supplies into bins that I really like and things that I will not be sad to part with.  I'm happy to give the latter away to friends (or my daughter's friends) who sew and knit.  My collection is evolving, too.

YMMV.  Everyone has different space and budget constraints.  But, let's stop feeling bad about something that should make us feel good, making things with our mens et manus.

Addendum:
I don't like the term SABLE for the reason that the S stands for Stash.  I expect to be less mobile toward the end of my life, so I want to have plenty of supplies at home when that happens.

But, I think it is good to think through how much you can reasonably use in a lifetime and who will take care of the surplus after you are gone.

The South Bay Quilters' Guild (southern coastal LA) accepts donations of quilting supplies.  Quilt fabrics and battings are used to make charity quilts.  Books and notions are sold and the $ from the proceeds are used for purchasing other supplies for charity quilts.

SBQG was discovered by funeral directors, who have been referring quilters' survivors.  When quilters' survivors reach out to the guild, we accept pretty much the entire collection, sort through it for what we can use, and then forward the apparel fabric to other charitable organizations that can use them.

Churches, schools, scout troops and other service groups can all use art and craft supplies.  Looking around your local area and leaving a list of places who accept donations of the type of supplies you have, is good estate planning.

I've also heard good things about Freecycle.

My Kondo moment

Do you use tailors' tacks or tracing paper? Both?

Looking at my tailors' tacks today, I recalled the first time I saw one.

My cousin (about 20 years older than me), was sewing a dress for herself. She left mid-project for some reason and I tried to 'help' her while she was away.

I had seen her clip threads and throw away stray bits of thread. There were so many bits of white thread on her dark dress pieces. I carefully picked them all out and put them in the trash can for her. Wasn't I a helpful child?   ;-)

Between the western and lunar new years, I usually do a bit of decluttering and cleaning.  This year, it seems like people have been hit by KonMari fever.  I was always a little bit like her, but not quite so extreme.

Where others read a how-to manual for discarding things, I read a coming of age story of a young girl, finding her place in the world.  The story of her sneaking into her brother's room to declutter it for him reminds me of my misguided attempt to help my cousin.

The story of her spending recess in the classroom to rearrange the book shelves broke my heart.

What did you get out of The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up?

While I was walking, sewing and cooking today, I reflected upon my own stuff diet.  Things have not worked out quite how I expected.  Both my parents downsized and I took home a carload of sentimental stuff.

Somehow, we accreted a second home and filled it.

[I feel at peace about this.  Scientists have so few job opportunities in the US today, living apart from spouses who are also scientists is not uncommon.  It's not what we would choose, but it is the our reality.]

I also know that this is a temporary living arrangement.  When DD graduates from high school (only 16 more months!), we will all live together again.  Bad Dad and I have made mental lists of what we will move from LA to Boulder, what we will store, and what we will pitch.  On each of my trips to LA, we sort through a different area of the house.

The KonMari method sounds cathartic, but is binging and purging ever environmentally sound?  Wouldn't it be better to not have over-consumed in the first place?  Supposing one has moderately over-consumed, wouldn't it be better to 'use it up' gradually (stuff diet) instead of throwing it all away (purging)?

Stuff from my parents' and in-laws' homes and our own excess stuff came in handy when furnishing and equipping our Boulder home.  I also frequented thrift and consignment stores in Boulder.  When we merge households, duplicate but not sentimental stuff will go back to thrift stores.

Meanwhile, I'm dreaming of a time when we will take long foreign family vacations again.  When that time comes, these hidden travel pockets will come in handy.

Where do you fall on the continuum?

Minimalism or maximalism?

Are you the type to "Use it up, wear it out, make it do or do without" or to make a clean sweep of excess stuff?

Joan Acocella's take in The New Yorker: Let it go

Comfort Squared

My highest sewing ROI for time is probably the 17 year-old flannel robe that I am wearing right now.  Then, it is a toss-up between my self-drafted aprons and knit pull-on pajama pants.  I make many pairs for Iris, myself, Bad Dad and for babies not related to us.

Bad Dad purchased some RTW knit PJ pants once, and they were so thin, they developed holes after a season.  The ones I make are visibly nicer.

The last time Bad Dad visited his very good dad (my FIL), he admired Bad Dad's PJ pants.  I got the hint and combed my fabric collection for future PJs.

I found two light-weight cotton/lycra French terry knits, in dark charcoal marl and light grey/ivory stripes. I had already traced out Kwik Sew 1139 in the right size so this was really a quick (or should I write, kwik?) project.

Kwik Sew 1139 is OOP, but it is available on Etsy.

Amazingly, I have sewn 15 yards and only purchased 1.5 yards of fabric in 2015. Let's not mention the ~30 yards I bought in SF and LA last Fall.  ;-)

I'm happy when I can make something simple, but much nicer than RTW.  That's fortunate because, these days, I don't have the time or attention to spare for more complicated things.

I made up a sewing list for the year and saw that the highest priority items are utilitarian things like PJ pants, aprons, pillows and hats.  I'll also throw in a couple of quick summer tops in fun prints.

What's on your 2015 sewing list?

Not Square

But done!

If you are concerned with squareness and matching prints, do not work with hand-printed African fabric.  But, if you embrace the spirit of making with more imagination and ingenuity than tools, then you can sleep under something like this.

Who can tell if this is perfectly square once a puffy comforter slips inside?

I got tired of the mound of UFOs that engulfed the couch.  This was finished.  Others found better homes while they awaited their turn.

This simple envelope of fabric took 2-3 months because it is so difficult to lay out and cut ~90"x90" in my tiny apartment and without a helper.  (See the fabric planning step in Slow Sewing.)

I had to move the furniture out of the living room, clean the floor, tape down one piece, then smooth the next layer down....  I avoided it until I really wanted to see my couch again.  Then, miraculously, the trimming and machine sewing only took one (long) evening.  I finished the hand sewing the next evening.

Creating and furnishing a second household has been terrible for my stuff diet (and finances).  I had to purchase duplicates of everything (including a home) we really need and use.  If you think about it, you need 2-3 sets of bedding--one on the bed, one in the wash, and one spare.  In Colorado, you need light cotton bedding in the summer and flannel sheets in the winter.  When Mark and Iris visit, Iris also needs a set for the sofa-bed.

I divided up our LA bedding, but we didn't have enough to fully stock the CO home.  In the summer, I caved and purchased a cotton duvet set.  For winter, I used a red flannel sheet set that I already owned and some coordinating fabrics from my collection.  I didn't have enough of the African red/black print and auditioned many fabric pairings before selecting this black/white stripe.

The duvet-top fabrics and buttons came from SAS Fabrics.  The other notions came from Joann's.  The flat sheet from the set became the other side of the duvet.  Cozy!

The bed may look familiar, but it's actually a duplicate.  I often have difficulty falling asleep in hotel rooms.  In order to make both places feel like home, I purchased the exact same bed and mattress for CO. The duvet I sewed in this picture stayed in CA.

Step away from that calico

because, if you listen to your tween when she selects a cool calico print, and you make her a dress, it can end up too stiff and never worn.

Burda 8511 Front

Burda 8511 Back

The fabric was on sale. The zip came from my stash of 25 cent zips from SAS. I have already used Burda 8511 successfully for myself many times. This took me about $5 and an afternoon. Lesson learned.

I photographed it only to document it so I can put it in the out bag.  Hopefully, someone else's princess will be less finicky about stiff fabric.  I couldn't get a photograph of her in it (several years ago, when I made it).

She threw a hissy fit recently about trying on clothes that had been made or purchased expressly for her to her specifications because she didn't want to be interrupted.

I think she will not be getting mom-mades for a while until she behaves more charmingly.  I think it is time for mommy to step away and let her purchase her own clothes with her own money.

The last time I moved to Boulder

Aerial CU picture via here.

The last time I moved to Boulder , I shipped my books via USPS media mail, packed up six boxes of things I would not need right away and sent them via a UC Berkeley classmate who was also heading to Boulder for graduate studies*.  The rest of my stuff fit in my little Mazda 323. There was even enough room to bring Bad Dad along to help with the drive and housing search.

Why do I have so much stuff this time around?

And who gets the kitchen appliances?  How much cooking will I do just for one, Bad Dad asks.  I plan to cook in large quantities and trade leftovers, of course.

My new office is in the lab at the top of the mesa in the upper left hand corner.  It is small, but it is mine and has a window.  My new apartment is at the base of that mesa, by the shuttle stop so I don't have to drive or bike UP the hill.  I may bike down the hill for fun, though.

Not much sewing is happening, but I will try to post some refashions I made in January.

* There is a joke about a Berkeley--Boulder--Cambridge pipeline for physical scientists and Bad Dad has done time in all three.  I paid my friend $$ to help with gas for his UHaul trailer so he transported my bulky winter clothes and burgeoning fabric and yarn stash.  It was just a handful of boxes of books and 6 boxes total winter clothes/fabric/yarn back then.

Happy New Year

We rang in the new year sitting on the couch with old friends and sparkling grape juice.  After we slept in, we went on a tandem ride to the beach.  We had a slow leak in the back tire and a spectacular pop in the front tire.  I watched the dolphins swim while Bad Dad changed the tubes in both tires.  I forgot to take pictures then, but I did snap a couple of pictures while riding along Esplanade.  (His cell phone was handy in the seat-back jersey pocket .)

For you statistics wonks, I'm posting a tally of 2013 projects that I bothered to document on my spreadsheet.

For ?	# of Projects
Me	21
Iris	18
Home	10
Others	49
Total	98

I clearly need to improve my selfish and selfless sucker sewing ratio.  Although I made 98 projects, nearly 4/5 of them were not for myself.  Moreover, some of them were made for complete strangers through CASA (Court Appointed Special Advocates).  What is wrong with me?

I've done a lousy job on the Stuff Diet, too.  How did I use only 98.5 yards to make 98 (92 sewn, 6 knitted) things?  It seems that I did a fair amount of refashioning and working with recycled materials in 2013.  Developing a reputation for refashioning can be dangerous.  People keep bringing me stuff to refashion.

I spent one month helping my mom move out of her house and settle into a much smaller apartment in a more convenient location.  She sent me home with over two dozen event t-shirts collected over the last 20 years.  I refashioned them into about 10 long-sleeved t-shirts.  My doctor has just offered a dozen more shirts left behind by her sons when they moved out.

I purchased or brought home (through free share tables) 246 yards of fabric and used 98.5.  I measure fabric when I bring it into the house and before I cut it.  Even optimistically allowing 10% for shrinkage because I prewash all of my fabric one or twice before cutting, that still leaves an embarrassingly large net increase.

The $$ doesn't bother me because most of the fabric I buy is industrial waste purchased from odd jobbers for $1-6/pound.  Furthermore, I sew most of Iris' and my clothing and sew for friends and strangers, too.  My sewing studio just needs more breathing room.  I will give away some stuff to good homes until I find a comfortable and workable balance.

Let's not get into the UFO (unfinished object) count.  Why did I finish only one (unblogged, too!) sweater and leave four sweaters awaiting a few hours worth of seaming/finishing work?  I'll write more about this sweater later.  It's fantastic.  I love it.  Even Iris likes it.

Iris has taken up making and I need to rearrange the sewing room to accommodate two makers and our ongoing projects.  This may involve hiring a handyman and more IKEA kitchen cabinets.  It will definitely involve giving stuff away to make more room.

Right now, we're making soft-circuit bracelets with LEDs and felt.  That means I can't sew until we finish that up and put those materials away.  We had some engineering design disagreements and the fact that I wanted to do more research before proceeding to cut.  She actually said, "Now I understand why you are a theoretical physicist."  How sharper than a serpents tooth…

I had the self control not to bring up the Dunning-Kruger effect.

The definition of a friend

is someone I don't feel the need to clean my house for when they come over.  I have also heard someone say on NPR that, if someone helps themselves to stuff in your fridge without asking first, and you feel fine about that, then you are friends.

I enjoy hosting friends visiting from out of town.  I like to stay with friends instead of a hotel whenever possible.

But, what if you are hosting a stranger?  A stranger from our sister city in Mexico who hosted my (not always angelic) child during Spring break?  A stranger who, according to my normally not observant child, keeps an immaculate house?  Iris' host sister's mother is also coming as a group chaperone.  They will both stay with us for one week.

I asked our (Mexican-born/US Citizen) biweekly housecleaner for advice.  She replied that our house is pretty good for an American house.  We are going to tackle the house together the morning before the guests arrive.

Bad dad thinks the house looks fine.  I pointed to holes in the ceiling from repairs made 20 months ago.  "Oh, I forgot about that and stopped noticing.  We should get someone in to repair all the plaster and repaint."

He did notice that the dining room chairs were torn and wobbly.  We are eating on the piano bench until they come back from the upholsterers.

We sent some blinds out for repair and purchased new blinds for two bedrooms.  Now the rest of the blinds look shabby and their days are numbered.  Hmm, why hasn't the blind repair place called me back yet?  It's been a week.  [Update: they are working on it.  They had to order parts.]

We started with Iris' bathroom that guests share.  Mark fixed the towel rack.  I performed an archeological dig in the medicine cabinet and under the sink cabinet.  Why do we still have baby stuff? You can see the counter now.

New guest room sheets are on the way.   UPS says they should be delivered today.  [Update: UPS handed them off to USPS for delivery in 1-2 more days.  WTF?]  The pillows will get a good wash were washed in hot water.

I am tackling piles of clutter, one area at a time.  Now that I am looking, I see we have piles (and spiders!)  everywhere.

I may call a handyman and tackle the garage after the house.  I have BIG plans!  But, everything won't be done before Friday.

Meanwhile, I see from LinkedIn that my dream job just opened up in Belgium.  They need someone to test earth observation data and software as well as write their data preservation plans.  Hey, that's my specialty.

If hired, I'll move.  The hell with housework.  I'll let the other two clutterbugs sort out their own piles.

Seriously, there are parallels with sorting through and curating data and household clutter.  It takes knowledge, insight and imagination to understand how things are used, the effort it would take to replace something, to imagine future uses for old stuff/data and weigh that against the cost of storing the stuff.

I'm really, really good at that.

And data analysis and curation pay so much better than housework.

Whale Story

The stuff diet is complicated.

Iris found this stuffed whale in a recent toy roundup. I thought it would make a fine starting point for another read me a quilt. Unbelievably, I didn't have any whale fabric in my stash collection and Hancock's of Paducah was offering a free shipping promotion.  Therefore, this whale batik leapt into my virtual shopping cart.

How did a stuff diet lead to purchasing more fabric?

Moreover, the READ part of read me a quilt required a whale-themed book.

How did a stuff diet lead to book shopping?

I couldn't find anything suitable.  Fortunately, a non-quilter that attended our guild's quilt show donated Down to the Sea with Mr Magee to our guild for the program.

Near the end of the book, the whales wave bye-bye with their tails.  A Google image search for whale flukes turned up this iconic image and the quilt designed itself.

I got the idea after lunch one day, found the image, designed the layout and selected fabrics by 3 PM, and finished binding it at 2:30 AM that night.  There was a 2-3 hour break to prepare, eat and clean up dinner, but otherwise the creative fever wouldn't let me quit.

The stuff diet will take forever if I put this much effort into every little stuffed animal.  On the bright side, I only used one yard of newly-purchased fabric and found a good use for yards of fabric, batting and thread cluttering up my sewing room.

• Finished size 41" by 52.5".
• Imagery courtesy The Smithsonian Institution. which acknowledged NOAA for exhibit materials.  I infer that the image originated from NOAA.  (In my prior job, I interviewed the NOAA historian and he said that the NOAA photo library is free for public use.  I should send him a link to this post.)
• 2010 read me a quilt
• 2011 read me a quilt
• the first 2012 read me a quilt
• It had been my habit to make only one read me a quilt per year, but CASA (Court Appointed Special Advocates) had appealed for more gifts and clothing.  During this recession, they are seeing an increase in children entering the foster care system because of parental drug addiction.  Please consider donating cash and time to help CASA.
• Is anyone interested in posts about digital object preservation such as my notes from interviews with NOAA and NASA archivists and historians?

Slow Fashion

We reached home at a quarter before midnight on Saturday. By Sunday night, not only is everything unpacked, but everything has been cleaned and put away, including the laundry.

While I slaved away on the home front, Bad Dad took the car for a wash, hunted and gathered groceries, took Iris to CTY camp registration, bought her textbooks and supplies and coordinated camp carpool plans. They are now at a classic film screening. He signed them both up for a Last Remaining Seats, a summer classic film series in "movie palaces of downtown L.A.'s Broadway Historic Theatre District." They have returned. It's official. She is as squeamish about Sunset Boulevard as I am. Anyone who takes a 10 year old to see Sunset Boulevard deserves the Bad Dad moniker, n'est pas?

I took advantage of the time alone to inventory their clothes and make up a shopping list, mending pile and sewing plan. They're actually not that long.

I had inventoried my own clothes before the trip, bringing a suitcase of clothing to friends in Boulder who would provide a better use for some of my clothes.

The arms of Big Apple Cardigan and Wren grew while I wore them. I felt like I Alice in Wonderland during her shrinking phase as my hands retreated into the sleeves. Those two cardigans look so much better on their new owner, a 15-year old competitive swimmer with her big shoulders and long arms.

Similarly, sweaters whose sleeves had shrunk look much better on a petite friend. I also left her the Leaf Yoke Ensemble and Katrina Rib. My closet feels so much lighter.

Anyway, I've been mulling over a couple of things my daughter said about our fashion differences.

First, she said that I should wear my shirts untucked. I remember having this discussion, at a similar age, with my own mother. She prefers her shirts untucked. I asserted myself by tucking in my shirts. Now my daughter is asserting herself by not tucking her shirts. This must be a generational thing because a friend says that her kids tell her that shirts shouldn't be tucked.

The second thing is a bit more serious. She remarked that there is such a time lag between my sewing plans and actual production, that the clothes will have gone out of fashion by the time I finish them. Thus, one needs to buy trendy clothes quickly, before they fall out of fashion.

NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!

I do not want to participate in fast fashion, where kids toil to make t-shirts for other kids (Gap), or the garment workers are locked into the factories (like just about every cheap mass-market retailer) or the workers have to sue just to get paid their wages (Forever 21). This blog is about the antithesis to fast anything. We make everything from elemental carbon and water in this household*.

This is one reason I signed up for Wardrobe Refashion, a program where people commit to not buying mass-market clothes. It's like Weight Watchers for people who over-consume clothing because you get to buy one new item every two months, like WW food points. Exceptions are made only for clothes needed for work. Thus, WR forces people to rethink their consumption patterns to only what they really need, what they can find used, or what they can make.

She was just upset because I sewed a bunch of things for her in January and February, and then went on strike until June. I was upset to see the things I had laboriously made for her thrown on the floor in a trampled mess. I decided to behave more like The Selfish Seamstress until her behavior shaped up.

I broke the strike with a tunic for her made out of a skirt I bought from Goodwill two summers ago. I was going to turn this skirt into a pillowcase when she intercepted and said that she wanted it for a sundress. Two years of growth later and the skirt only stretches to tunic length. So perhaps her criticism about my sewing production rate was legitimate.

She has issued a press embargo on her clothes until she has debuted them in front of her friends. Thus, I cannot show the tunic, which we both think is the cat's meow.

Luckily, I am a year behind in blogging about the clothes I have already made for her. So I will show you another item I made from thrifted pre-softened jeans. These flares were a bit too tight at the knees so I slit the side seam in the offending area and inserted a flash of purple flowers in the seam. 1970s retro-groovy!


*This is an old affectionate joke about UC Berkeley synthetic organic chemistry professor, Henry Rapoport. He was a spatial genius. In lecture, he used to switch writing hands to give the audience a better view of the blackboard. When he was trying to explain a complex reaction, he used to write with both his left and right hands simultaneously. Try taking lecture notes in his class!

The maker's dilemma

I'm somewhat overwhelmed by the amount of stuff I have acquired for making stuff. It's really quite scary. But, occasionally, I am really happy that, when the urge to create strikes, we have enough to do just about anything.

Iris used to play imaginative games with another girl in first grade and her teacher suggested that I invite the girl over to our house to play. She mentioned that the play dates should always take place at our house because things at the other girl's house were quite rough*.

During one play date, I suggested the girls paint. Iris has two craft carts full of supplies--one for painting, another for scrap booking. We set up the paints and papers and I let the girls at it. When I walked by again, the guest asked if she could have another sheet of paper.

I pointed to the stack and told her to help herself. She painted another and then another. Iris got bored and read a book while her friend painted. I overheard them talking.

The guest asked Iris what happens when she uses up her supplies. Iris told her that I buy some more. The other girl was stunned.

I was reminded of this incident when I came home with this skort from the Lands' End clearance rack. Iris said that it fit, but she would not wear it so plain. She wanted an asymmetrical motif on the front.

I got out my stencil books and paints. None of them were what she had in mind. Then I remembered a Japanese pattern book that had some simple, but bold embroidery motifs. She found the perfect one immediately.

All I had to do was scan the motif and display it with Picasa. I moved the size slider bar until it was enlarged to just the right size. Then I traced it onto a piece of printer paper using the computer screen as a lightbox. I transferred the motif to the skirt using carbon tracing paper and a plastic Hera marker while Iris rummaged around in my tin of embroidery floss, looking for the perfect shade of blue.

I showed Iris how to do a back stitch and she went at it with surprising perseverance. When she got tired and went to bed, I finished the last ~20% for her. The project was conceived and executed in one evening because I had all the supplies on hand.

Another morning, I decided to make the Star Fragments quilt out of the book, Flying Colors. I've been dragging this poster from one home to another since 1983. I saw the George Costakis collection at Lousiana.dk and was completely blown away by the saturated colors and composition. The poster is faded now, and I wanted to put something really bright in its place. I found everything needed to complete the project in the sewing room.

I thought about cropping out the clutter, but then decided against it. There are so many commercial images of clutter-free perfection, I felt like it would be a public service to show what an actual house with children looks like.

(Lest you remark that I only have one child, have you met my husband yet? Yes, that is the Lego NXT set I wrote about in What Do Automobiles and Spacecraft Have in Common? while guest blogging for the Atlantic Technology site. Iris made that Duplo rainbow when she learned the colors of the rainbow--and their order--in kindergarten. We keep that around to remind us that red goes on the outside and violet goes in the middle. The rainbow sits on a set of nesting boxes that she used to play with as a baby. No, the stuff diet is not going well. Why do you ask?)

After I bound the quilt, I put it through the washer and dryer. While I was waiting for that to finish, I made this charity quilt top. Sometimes, I just want a brainless project that is ready to go. I always keep a few 7-minute quilt top kits stored in Ziploc bags in the sewing room. It took considerably longer than 7 minutes.

In other news, I finally recovered my ironing table. The old cover was so stained and ripped. The padding also needed new augmentation as it had compressed to the point where you can see the impressions of the metal grill underneath. I was really happy to find the perfect fabric, this sturdy African printed cotton, in my collection.

20 years ago, I had a heat-sensitive mahogany dining table that required a cotton insulator pad under the table cloth. I got rid of the table, but saved the pad--for 20 years. I must have known that I would need to recover an ironing board someday.

Using the old cover as a pattern, I cut and hemmed the replacement cover. I tried to thread a piece of string around the edge the same way as on the old cover, but I used the only thin string I had, crochet cotton. It lacks the tensile strength to allow me to gather up the cover taut. It snapped immediately, sending me to the fabric store to buy some polyester cord. I found polyester cord, but some more fabric also came home with me.

I did take a trunk full of stuff to Goodwill and another trunk load went to Iris' cousin. While we cleaned up her room, Iris found some neglected but well-loved toys. While I was taking the boxes downstairs, she built an assemblage, complete with Snap Circuit sound effects.

So her floor was clear for like, 10 seconds.

* I had previously mentioned that we moved into what realtors euphemistically call a "neighborhood in transition". The other girl was an old timer family that people like us are pushing out. She lived with her grandmother, who couldn't afford the rents here any longer. A few months later, they moved a mile to the east, where rents are lower, but the homicide rate is 10 times higher and the elementary school has a ~90% poverty rate (vs ~20% here).

Our neighborhood school was full up and she was unable to get an inter-district transfer. She attended another school for one year before she was able to get readmitted to our neighborhood school.

By then, she had completely changed. She became very quiet, didn't play imaginative games any more and had become obese. The changes occurred in just one year.

People in that neighborhood are scared to let their children play outside. Several children have been shot in gang cross-fire in recent years. Check out the excellent LA Times interactive homicide map to see the disparities. We live sandwiched between gang warfare on one side and a resort-like beach community where homes sell for $2-20 Million.

Meanwhile, we are cozy inside our home, but we are up to our eyeballs in tools for creating.

Earth Day 2009 Resolution

I read Weather History Offers Insight Into Global Warming last Fall and the accompanying graphic below.
I immediately thought that it would be great if all of us observers kept a record of what we see. It doesn't have to be elaborate. Even an index card tucked in the recipe box with the dates of the first [fill in the blank] bloom of the year, or the first of last snow, would be a climate record.

I thought about keeping a recipe and gardening notebook and dedicating a few pages in the front for noting benchmark events around Chez Bad Mom. I imagine tables for first crocus, Siberian iris, Japanese iris, jacaranda, hydrangea and Japanese anemone blooms of the year. Of course, the crocus bloom came and went while I was battling infections. But, it is not too late to start a notebook for the rest of the eagerly anticipated events. We can also track the contents of our biweekly CSA produce boxes and what we made with them. Mark has been incredibly creative.

Earth Day falls midweek this year; that's why this is such a short post.

• Walking My Watershed is a longer and Earth Day appropriate post.
• The Daily Breeze summed up area Earth Day events around the South Bay.
• Redondo Beach residents can drop off toxic/e-waste at 1521 Kingsdale Ave between 9:00 and 15:00 at 1521 Kingsdale Ave on Saturday, April 25.
• SEA Lab will offer household paper shredding between 10:00 and 15:00 on April 25.

We spent a couple of hours last weekend purging stuff. Many of Iris' broken toys went in the trash. Others were bagged to be sent off to her cousin. I took a bag of surplus from the sewing room to the share table at tonight's South Bay Quilters' Guild meeting. We have bags ready and awaiting the toxic waste roundup and shred event coming up this Saturday. We lost quite a bit of stuff weight and it feels good.

Aside:
The e-waste bag contains a Rowenta iron I bought 15 years ago. When I bought its replacement at Costco last month, I overheard a couple discussing which iron they should buy. They wondered why anyone would buy the $80 Rowenta over the $25 Black and Decker. After all, they have to buy a new one each year. I rest my case.

Stuff Diet Giveaway

I have one more giveaway from a recent closet purge.

Remember the gray cabled cardigan? I don't wear it much because I discovered that I do not like wearing Patons classic wool. If I had made the entire thing out of Cascade 220, it would have been a keeper. It should fit a medium, or a 34-36" bust.

It comes with a matching knee-length gray wool crepe skirt made from Butterick 6407. It should fit someone with a 28" waist and 38" hips. It's a beautiful Italian wool crepe, but it is too tight. I also I made the mistake of lining it in polyester. A (skinnier) seamster should be able to easily replace the lining.

The raised waist is very flattering, especially if you are long-waisted like me.

There is a catch. I would prefer to send it to someone in Australia who can ship a couple of Chez Badmom staples not available in the states in return. I have run out of Hydraderm Sorbolene Cream and Probiotic Easiyo packets. I guess that is more of a swap than a giveaway.

Fall Cleaning

I have been cleaning out our family's wardrobes slowly all summer. It does not make for exciting and photogenic blogging. I made an effort to fix things that prevented me from wearing much of the stuff I already owned. I reworked several tops by nipping them in at the waist, let out some waistbands and hemmed about 6 pairs of pants and a couple of jackets.

I am still trying to figure out what my "real" body size is. Almost 8 years post baby, I still don't know. One illness and I can drop 15 pounds again. One injury and I can gain 10 pounds. One holiday and I can gain 5 pounds from sampling all the food.

I donated several bags of stuff I wasn't wild about and wasn't wearing. I said goodbye to some worn out clothes. Iris claimed some of the stuff that will probably be forever too small for me. I polished all my belts and shoes. I probably should have done it more often because the leather cracked on several items. One belt had disintegrated to goo. Yuck! Iris and I had fun using touch up paint on some of the 1980s Beene Bag shoes in purple and green.

To my surprise, a clothing inventory showed that there were actually gaps in my wardrobe. For instance, I didn't have basic black or brown belts in my current size. Mark has no blue or green sweaters even though blue is his favorite color and he has the most amazing deep green eyes (framed with long lushy eyelashes that he uses to his advantage whenever needed).

Cidell and Carolyn wrote about cleaning out their closets and showed garments that they made and no longer own. Letting go of clothes that I made is the hardest for me. As I wrote before, they are my portfolio. Here is a red rayon/poly crepe jacket lined in rayon challis. It fits me well, but I don't really like to wear jackets that long and I should have used a nicer fabric. My time is worth it.

I wear this cotton jacket in the summer.

Don't you love the chevron details?

I also treated myself to this reversible wool/lycra jacket for winter.

Very graphic, and I can use the pockets from both sides!

Stash Addition

I went to SAS fabrics last Friday and did not find what I was looking for. However, I found these two bolts of Tana Lawn, Pelagia B and Pelagia C. 20 pounds per meter in London, $40 per yard in NYC, $130 for 56 yards in Hawthorne, CA. Some people who live less than 5 miles to the west are afraid to venture into Hawthorne, but that just means less competition for me. ;-)

I also bought some silk remnant pieces that I will use for lining. If you look inside my garments, you will sometimes see mismatched lining pieces.

SAS sells some fabric by the yard, others by the pound. There is gold and dross so be prepared to spend some time digging. I bought up all the Tana Lawn, but left plenty of good stuff for the rest of you.

Patternreview posted an article about Fabric Shopping in the LA Fashion District today.

Yelp says that there are SAS Fabrics by the Pound in both Hawthorne, California and Phoenix, Arizona.

Clutter

I've been following Crazy Aunt Purl's progress in decluttering. Did you see her desk and her closet? Do scroll down the desk entry and see the "before" state of that room. I am so impressed with her persistence and discipline. Compare her recovery from divorce and crushing debt to this woman's.

The Stuff Diet at our home continues to have its ups and downs. We are actually doing a good job of not buying stuff we don't need (except for more yarn and fabric, but that is another post). It's akin to trying to lose body weight.

And that is the other news. After bragging about how I can wear clothes I bought 20 years ago, that is no longer the case. It appears that my skinniness was a symptom of ill health. Now that my lymphocytes are behaving more like functioning lymphocytes, the weight is not dropping off me any more. I am the same weight and size as my mom when she was my current age.

I gave some clothes to Goodwill, and Iris asked to hold on to some of the better stuff until she is older and can wear them. She is going to be a very well-dressed teenager someday.

Stuff Diet Success

In the past month, I managed to pare down from 3.5 to 1.5 bicycles. I feel so much lighter.

I overheard my neighbor's daughter ask her dad for a ride to a friend's house. He replied that he had 1.5 gallons in the tank until the next payday and he was not going to drive anywhere unless it was an emergency. (Fortunately, he works from home and all major services are walking distance in our neighborhood.)

I always liked the girl. She takes care of our plants while we are gone. When they cleaned their garage, she gave her outgrown bicycle to Iris. The next time I saw her, I offered to give her my about town cruiser bicycle. She loved it. I had the pleasure of seeing her ride it until it became too dark and her parents called her inside.

This morning, I sold my racing bicycle to the fiance of a coworker. She is training for her first triathalon and needed a racing bike. She got a very good bicycle for not much $, and I got more space in the garage. We are both very happy.

Digression
How did I became the owner of 3.5 bicycles?

I used to ride my bicycle everywhere in grad school. First, I bought a used rental mountain bike, then I traded it in for a new Diamond Back Apex (Bike 1). When I had enough money, I bought a second set of rims, tires and (gear) cassette. On pavement, I used road slicks; off-road, I rode knobbies.

Mark and I toured overnight many times, most notably in the south of France and California wine country. I used to ride difficult single-track trails in Colorado, including those marked "experts only". (Have you experienced the thrill of a single track descent through trees? Any sane person should be scared. I have the scars to prove it.)

I used to scoff at the middle-aged people, with their much fancier bikes, who couldn't keep up with us twenty-somethings on our cheaper, non-suspended bikes. However, I was enough of a gear-weenie to know that I would ride better with a lighter bicycle that shifted more quickly. So, the first summer after I landed a real job with a real paycheck, I bought a Specialized Stumpjumper (Bike 2) with Shimano Deore XT. XT really does shift more crisply than LX. You can feel the difference.

I didn't ride it much. There just isn't much dirt on the west side of Los Angeles. And I kept getting injured, even though I wasn't riding anywhere near as many miles as I used to.

Mark became obsessed with randonneuring, ultra-marathon bicycle events. I couldn't keep up with his racing bike on my mountain bike. I bought a racing bike to match his (Bike 3). We were so cute. His Cannondale was blue with yellow, mine was red with yellow. I think I rode it between 200 and 250 miles total. I kept getting injured or sick. I couldn't keep up.

We bought a Santana Sovereign Tandem (Bike 3.5) about the time I became pregnant. We thought that would be a good way for me to stay in shape during the pregnancy. As soon as I got over the morning sickness, we could ride all through the second trimester (the "good" trimester).

That never happened. The morning sickness ended at week 13. I had a cerclage at week 14 and was put on bedrest until week 37. I gained 50 pounds, lost muscle tone and had a horrible, horrible birth experience. ( I will not narrate that story here because I want to encourage those sitting on the fence to reproduce.) Anyhow, after the bleeding stopped, when Iris was 10 weeks old and sleeping 4-5 hours at a time, we got right back on the tandem.

Once.

Then my hip gave out, I was unable to walk or even move my leg more than half an inch and I spent 3 months in 3x weekly physical therapy to learn how to walk again. (The orthopedicist says that is a common complication from long bedrest, which he thinks should not be so widely prescribed because of all the damage it does to a woman's body.)

Once I was able to walk again, and Iris was old enough to sit up in the rear child seat, we planned to go out on the tandem as many weekends as our work schedules permitted. We did go out a few times.

But I kept falling ill, one infection after another. Two sinus surgeries and a set of ear tubes later (3 if you count the two sets Iris had), we were ready to try riding again. My joints were too swollen for me to ride in the low road bike position. I could only ride in an upright position, and only for short distances around town. I wanted to carry stuff around on a rear rack but the Stumpjumper did not have brazeons (mounting points) for a rear rack.

The solution, of course, was to buy a hybrid bicycle to ride around town! (This is still Bike 3.5 because I gave the Apex to the owner of Aviation Cyclery in Manhattan Beach. Russ fixes them up and gives them to rural kids in Mexico. So many drop out of school because their villages are too small to have a HS and their families can't afford bus fare to school.)

Because I would only ride it for short trips around town and to work, I decided to try a step-through frame so I could also ride it while wearing a skirt. This was a mistake as I learned later that it was impossible to mount a water bottle to the curved frame. Moreover, it was a mid-level bicycle and I was never happy with the way the shifted. Once you have used XT, you can never go back, especially several grades down to Altus. Just ask my friend who drives a Porsche.

Somewhere in there, we also bought a Burley trailer to tow Iris around when she was too big for the rear seat. We didn't use it much. When she was too big for that, we bought a Burley Piccolo so she can ride along. That got a little bit more use and is the system we still use today.

See a pattern here? I kept thinking that I would get better and then I would ride more. More mileage and better health were always right around the corner. I was buying fantasies, not bicycles.

Two summers ago, I found out that maybe just staying alive and somewhat mobile would be as good as it gets. The gene test and family medical history finally made me face reality. Meanwhile, the bicycles sat gathering dust and taking up space in our small, townhouse-sized garage. They weighed upon me. So much hope and disappointment. I had to get rid of the evidence.

My first thought was to sell all three single bikes and replace it with a single city bicycle with a horizontal top tube so I could easily access a water bottle and cage. (See? More retail therapy!)

Trying to sell three bicycles simultaneously was daunting. I went to Beach Cities Cyclery in Hermosa Beach for advice and to see what they would give me in trade. Brian, the owner, is too nice. He talked me out of buying a new bike. He gave the Stumpjumper a tuneup, figured out a way to mount a rear rack and swapped out the SPD pedals for flat pedals and toeclips.

It does seem like sacrilege to ride a Stumpjumper only on pavement around LA, but what could be greener than re-purposing an old bike? Plus, they don't make city bikes with XT. Gotta have the XT. You can't go back.

In defense of Paddington

Paddington has been savaged by Writing Maternity and Hopeless but not serious for lacking a narrative arc and embodying episodic sit-com humor. How on earth did it garner children's classic status?

Well, I love Paddington because my first boyfriend loved him. When he traveled halfway around the world with just 2 suitcases, he carried a little Paddington with him. Why did Paddington so strongly resonate with him?

Paddington is a light packer. He left deepest darkest Peru for London with only one battered suitcase. My friend had two suitcases (and a backpack) and carried Paddington as a reminder that you don't need much.

Moreover, Paddington is optimistic. He tries to be helpful, and he relies on others for help. Things turn out ok for him because of the goodwill he finds in others.

I also appreciate that Paddington has found a look that works for him and doesn't fell any need to sartorially stray. He has his yellow hat and blue duffel coat. What more does a bear need?

In that sense, Paddington is aspirational. He owns little and travels light.

True, he gets into some funny situations when he takes people literally. So do Amelia Bedelia, Ramona and Clementine. Literal meanings are sometimes silly. That's why children find the books so funny. Like sit-coms, the stories allow children to anticipate Paddington's mistakes. Children can laugh and feel smarter than Paddington. That's the whole point of the stories.

The chapters are self-contained and can be read in pretty much any order. If that makes them episodic and lacking in narrative, so be it. At the end of a chapter, you can turn out the lights and go to sleep. You won't be begged to read one more chapter to see how it will end. That's a good thing.

If you take the stories for what they are, amusing little fluff stories, you can have a pretty good time. Iris and I have shared some deep belly laughs over Paddington's first bath and other misadventures. Sometimes, we lie in bed and say things like, "Remember when Paddington tried to clean the chimney?" or "Remember when daddy tried to fix the washer and caused the great flood of 2008?". Then we both convulse with giggles.

For me, Paddington's appeal is mainly aspirational. If only my stuff diet could whittle my belongings down to one suitcase. I would settle for getting my belongings into one carry-on and one "personal item" each time I fly.

El Segundo Bike to Work Week Events

Media coverage of Bike-To-Work Week events in the South Bay has been sketchy again. Last year, I posted a schedule of Bike-To-Work Week events for 2007. Here's some info for Bike-To-Work Week 2008 in the El Segundo Employment Center area.

The 8th Annual El Segundo Bike-To-Work Challenge will be held from 6 to 10 a.m. on Tuesday, May 13, in The Aerospace Corporation's Visitor Lot/Gate C located on Douglas Street, just south of El Segundo Boulevard. Many of El Segundo's employers will be competing for bragging rights (and a trophy) to see who can bring in the most bicycle commuters. Free continental breakfast, t-shirts and goodie bags^* will be provided.

There will be a bicycle and commuting expo outside the cafeteria at The Aerospace Corporation at lunchtime on Wednesday, May 14. MTA, AAA, commuter services and bike club members will be on hand to help you find a commute route using public transit, carpool/vanpool or bicycle. Several area bicycle shops will also be present with special deals for Bike to Work Week.

MTA is sponsoring a Bike to Work Day on Thursday, May 15, 2008. Check their website for more details. South Bay Pit Stops at:

1. Aviation Station Metro Green Line
2. El Segundo Station Metro Green Line
3. Torrance City Hall 3031 Torrance Bl, Torrance

* I have written before about how much I hate goodie bags, but this one actually contains good stuff. Last year, they gave out LED lights for commuting after dark!

Bicycle commuting in the news links:

• Riding a bike to work is more than a healthy commute: It's a sign of adulthood via the LA Times
• Bike to work next week and win a folding bike via Emerald City Blog
• Catching Up results from the 2007 El Segundo Bike-To-Work Challenge

Maybe you are looking for a good used bike to use for bicycle commuting? You are in luck. As part of my stuff diet, I am selling two (out of 3.5) of my bicycles. Email me through my profile page for more info.