February-March Sewing with Silk

February ended nearly two weeks ago. What did you make in silk?

In January, I lined a dress in this large floral silk.  In February, I cut out a 12" bias strip the full width of  this fabric to make a long bias scarf.  This may not look like much, but cutting and hemming a long length of bias-cut light-weight silk is not a trivial project.

I plan to wear it with a linen shirt purchased at a thrift shop.  The label says Eileen Fisher, made in the USA of Irish linen.  It landed in the shop because of badly frayed buttonholes.  A spool of buttonhole twist and the hand-worked buttonhole method that my mother taught me when I was in middle school, and I have a new blouse!

I carefully pressed the long bias edges of the scarf to the wrong side, sewed close to the edge, turned it under and stitched it again.  Bias and lightweight silk.  Easier said then done.  But it is done and it is exactly what this blouse needs.

Ever notice that Eileen Fisher clothes and accessories are always solids?  While they use texture effectively, they .never. use prints.

A metallzed linen skirt lined in Bemberg rayon, Vogue 9951, completes this Spring outfit.

In March, we're sewing with a border print.  While shopping at SAS with Rose last weekend, a black cotton voile with white eyelet border embroidery came home with me.  Perhaps I should make another Burda 2011-02-101.

Cerisara in Silky Merino

I finished Cerisara more than a year ago and never blogged about it or updated the entry in Ravelry. I dropped by Twist Yarns in Manhattan Beach yesterday, in the hopes that KIP, knitting in public, would help me find the mojo to finish a Knit Swirl cardigan that had became very large and unwieldy. It worked.

It also gave me a chance to visit my cardigan, which is on display in the front of the store.  Twist Yarns is open Wednesday-Saturday and the first Sunday of every month.  That means you can stroke the Malabrigo silky merino (50/50 silk/merino) cardigan from 12-4 today.

Ravelled here (with construction details of interest to knitters).

@Steph A  Yes, the sweater feels lovely, but it clings to my hips a bit.  I need to line the bottom half of the sweater with some silk habutai to prevent the cling.

The truth is, I've made so many lovely clothes over the years, I need to clean out my closet.  I sent two bags to Goodwill and gave 4 sweaters to an Australian blogger that visited me over the holidays.  I also set aside a bag of clothes for a friend in Boulder.  Baby steps.

I wonder if, at PR weekend SF, we can hold a fabric and book swap one evening?  Hmm, that might happen if someone organized it.

Grandma Got STEM

"So simple your grandmother can use it." drives me into a conniption.

Ha, many grandmothers know more nuts and bolts about how technology worked in their day than their grandchildren, because they could actually see the mechanical working parts.

Moreover, my generation (today's mothers) is more likely to know computer programming than our technology-consuming children.

Pennamite forwarded a linke to the Grandma GOT STEM blog.  From Why this blog?

Perhaps, like me, you are tired of hearing people say “how would you explain that to your grandmother?” when they probably mean something like “How would you explain the idea in a clear, compelling way so that people without a technical background can understand you?”

Here’s a similar saying you may have heard: “That’s so easy, my grandmother could understand it.”

I would like to counter the implication that grannies (gender + maternity + age) might not easily pick up on technical/theoretical ideas. As a start, I’m planning a public awareness / art project using grandmothers’ pictures+names+connections to STEM. This blog is where I’ll collect the info.

Please forward the call below (and answer it if you know/are a STEM granny!). So far I have had some really nice responses, including people who have said “I think my Mother/Grandmother did something with STEM, but I never really talked with her about it. I’ll get in touch with her and get back to you.” I’ve also heard from a number of enthusiastic grandmothers directly.

I hope you pass the link on.

I was particularly fascinated by the autobiography of grandmother Arlette Lambert Porter.  She managed to parlay a degree in pure mathematics into a wide-ranging career in computer programming in many industries.  She's 70 years old, still working, and a proud 3-time grandmother.

I have evolved with the technology and progressed from programmer to systems analyst to director of information systems for my branch of this world-wide company. The advent of the internet and web-based networking allow me to now sit at my desk and transfer data all around the world in a matter of seconds. I have evolved with the technology and progressed from programmer to systems analyst to director of information systems for my branch of this world-wide company. It is not at all unusual for me to communicate with people from Brazil, Scotland, China, Mexico and Canada, in addition to people throughout the US on any given day.