No Sewing This Weekend, But a Haul

This weekend was the Material Girls meetup, but it was sort of a bust due to the switch to Daylight Savings Time. We get together at Ann Silva's Bernina, but the person who works at the store and lets us in didn't appear. I had brought some giveaways and so did a couple of other ladies, so we did a swap meet from our vehicles.

That ended up well! I got an almost full bolt of rayon challis (yes, it's bright but it's pretty and has a great hand),

a yard or so of Guatemalan ikat,

some wooly plaid mystery fabric (cat blankets if nothing else),

and a couple of pieces of Space Alien cotton from Roswell, NM.

I also picked up a couple of patterns--a vintage Calvin Klein Vogue and a Butterick Connie Crawford T-shirt.

We adjourned after it became clear that no one would be letting us in, and I headed over to TJ Maxx. I discovered that they are remodeling--the new fixtures are quite nice, I must say. Several items jumped into my cart and came home with me.  Some shoes

There were also a couple of tops and some lingerie, none of which have been tried on yet. The temporary dressing room was small and I didn't feel like waiting in line. Once I'm tried them on, I'll decide if I want to keep them or take them back. So, no pictures of any of that.

Santa Fe Weekend

We had another opportunity for a getaway for Presidents' Day weekend, so we went an hour north to Santa Fe to soak in some Northern New Mexico atmosphere. We had gorgeous weather, sunny but not too cold.

As we often do, we stayed at the LaFonda Hotel right on the Plaza, which meant we could park the car and walk to whatever we wanted to do. The hotel is undergoing a renovation right now, so prices were much lower than usual. Delicious food and drink were still available though!

Except for Bill Maher in concert, we didn't do much scheduling. He was hilarious, by the way. We had a lot of time to just hang out and explore. Of course, that's an opportunity for window shopping. Lots of jewelry! I liked the necklace below, with its heart motifs:

One of my sewing goals is to eventually make a Pendleton coat, so I always like to see examples:

Santa Fe has many arty clothing boutiques. I was quite taken by this ensemble, especially the scarf:

I also liked the top featured in this ensemble. Fortunately, it's pretty similar to this Vogue pattern, so I will be making one.

Sandra Betzina and Marcy Tilton favorite, Babette, has established a Santa Fe outpost. Interesting clothes, but I couldn't look much further since I walked by before the store opened on Sunday:

In the end, I did do some actual (sale) shopping. I purchased a slate blue cardigan, a skirt, and these shoes by a new-to-me brand called Fly London. Oh so comfortable, but with an edge!

On the way out of town on Monday, we also stopped by Santa Fe Fabrics where I picked up several items while DH relaxed at the bakery next door. I bought some basic black ponte for separates, a textured knit, and a couple of separating zippers.

This weekend has been at home, and I spent all day yesterday in the Sewing Cave working on a couple of items. Stay tuned for that! I'm not sure I will have them posted today but hopefully soon.

Oy Vey

The new year has been incredibly busy so far, so no sewing projects thus far in 2012. I did do some post Christmas shopping, however. Most of it was via the internet but I also dipped a toe into the consignment shopping pool.

First up, some new fabrics from Casual Elegance, both are knits:

Both of them appeared on the site last fall but I've been trying to restrain myself. When I noticed that they were in the remnant section, I could no longer resist! The top one is much prettier in person, with little raised gold dots on a nice taupe shade. The second one is a burnout knit with a few splashes of silver.  2 yards of each. I'm really looking forward to playing around with these.

Next up, another internet purchase from 6pm.com, which is Zappo's clearance site. They don't have as great of a return policy as the main site but it was the year end clearance and free shipping, so I took a chance.

I lightened the picture a bit so you could see a little more detail, but these are dark black suede in real life. This is the second pair of Naya that I've purchased and they're really comfortable and well made. They'll be great to wear at work.

As I mentioned, a little consignment shopping. 2 Time Couture is located a couple of freeway exits from my office in downtown so I stopped by on my way home from work for their post holiday sale. And I bought these:

I know, "eww, used shoes, what are you thinking?" But folks, these had minimal wear, maybe worn once. I've bought "new" shoes that had more wear on them from try ons. Leopard hair calf with dark brown patent leather accents! How fun! The heels are a little high but quite stable.

I also bought some underthings at Soma's sale but pardon me if I don't post them here. You know what undies look like and besides, they're in the laundry.

My sister in law is flying in from New Jersey tomorrow, so I'll be cleaning instead of sewing today. And I'm being totally lax, but the Christmas stuff is staying up for a little while longer. I just don't have the energy to take down the decor before she arrives. It's a relatively modest display anyway, and somebody should see the tree besides DH, me and the cat.

Stitchology

Last night, I went to the grand opening of an ASG friend's new business venture. Stitchology is a sewing parlor and fabric boutique that will offer a variety of sewing classes. It also carries independent patterns, such as Colette and Sewaholic, as has a select group of fabrics.

The proprietor, Melissa, is an Albuquerquean who returned to town after earning her degree at Indiana University. She was in the fashion program there, and spent the last few years custom designing and making custom clothing while also teaching sewing. Now she's decided to be her own boss.

The shop is charming, with vintage touches and pops of Tiffany blue. She has a great location in the North Valley that's just a hop and skip from Old Town and I-40. She's pretty close to my house, so I know I'll be visiting often,  especially with La Montanita, our locally owned food co-op, in the same shopping center. How simple--sewing and food in one place!

I'm considering the class on making a special occasion dress using the Peony pattern from Collette--I could use some help fitting a sheath dress and haven't yet tried this pattern line. And of course, I've already bought some fabric--

Congratulations on your new venture, Melissa! I hope your business is wildly successful for years to come!

And thanks for your hospitality! The grand opening was a lovely opportunity to preview your new place and celebrate. Aren't these sewing oriented mini cupcakes cute, by the way? Needles and thread, and the others are spools.  And the chocolate requires no design, just sprinkles.

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On the home front, no sewing since last weekend. Halloween and DH's birthday on November 1st took two evenings out of the beginning of the week and I never got caught up. DH is taking a leave of absence from work, so he's around every evening when I get home. Which is good, but on the other hand--let's just say it's like a preview of his retirement.

As a result, the cardi is still waiting to be finished. Perhaps I'll set up the buttonhole machine this afternoon and at least do some testing of buttonholes.

Also, I appreciate the concern over my foot issues. I am under a podiatrist's care and she has given me the go-ahead on limited heel wearing if I feel up to it. Most days, it's some variety of "comfort" shoe--Born, Clark's or Sofft--and now that the weather's cooler, I can add boots and clogs to the mix.

In Progress: Simplicity 2154

This pattern is my latest project. I'm making the cardigan, shown in orange in the large envelope photo. I selected this because I wanted a cardigan that had features similar to a lot of ready to wear that I'm seeing right now--crew neck, straight front opening, etc. This 1960's retro pattern really fit the bill. It even calls for a grosgrain ribbon facing, which I've noticed in several recent cardigans that I've bought. And I'm also old enough to remember when that's how all cardigans were done.

In addition to that, the sleeve has a fairly high cap. It's installed in the round because side seam is drafted about 2" toward the back of the cardigan. I was going to change it but I like this detail, as it reduces some of the bulk that can happen with intersecting seams.

I'm making a test version from some sweater knit that's been aging in my stash since 2002. It's a gray cheetah print that looks great, but unfortunately, it hides most of the pattern details. It's a test run of this pattern for some nicer sweater knit that I was unwilling to sacrifice to the unknown. So far it's a success, but I still need to make buttonholes for it-eek!! I spent some time this afternoon making sample front openings to experiment with but I don't want to start on buttonholes until I'm fresh. So I probably won't finish this one until next weekend, but that's ok.

After the sweater samples, I made a few seam samples for the next project after this one, a faux fur vest that I've christened The Smudge Vest. It's another test, using a remnant I acquired through ASG. It's white and resembles my cat's coat, hence the name.

I've had some questions about the booties I wore with the TSW outfit from a couple of weeks ago. I confess, I haven't really worn them in real life since winter 2010 when I was still in banking. At that time, they were surprisingly easy to wear, probably due to the extra leather and elastic fabric on the upper combined with the insoles I put in just about every pair of footwear I own.  But all that was pre-neuroma.  I'm being reasonably cautious about going back to heels especially since I don't have to wear them at my current job. I hope I can make them work eventually--they're a lovely pair of shoes, espresso croc-embossed leather from Talbot's.

TSW Now Shirt and Quincy Pant Photos

Hot off the press, so to speak! I took these just minutes ago with the self timer and tripod, just after getting home from work. I wore the Now Shirt with jeans to the office today and switched into the Quincy Pants and killer booties after getting home.

Crazy Feet

Are you familiar with 6pm.com? It's the outlet division of Zappos. Through the wonders of e-commerce, they send a daily email. Usually I click it right into the Trash file, but I saw these on sale last week:

And those were a pretty close copy of these Kork-Ease that I'd been coveting:

 

At a price of $24 vs. $150, I clicked to buy. They arrived at my house on Tuesday. Hoo boy, I like them but they're a bit more extreme than I was expecting.  They're tall--1 5/8" in front, rising to 4 1/4" at the heel. In spite of all that, they're surprisingly comfortable because the foot itself isn't bent into a Barbie doll angle. Yes, I wore platforms the first time around in the 70s and the time after that, so I guess I'm not a believer in the adage that you shouldn't wear a trend again if you wore it the first time.

The other pair was more reasonable: 

These are Clarks and the second pair I've bought in this style. They'll look fine with trousers and skirts, are walkable, and are not overly "comfort shoe" looking. I had a neuroma in my left foot last year, and although I'm hanging onto my business banking heels for now, I'm trying to spend most of my time in shoes that don't crowd my toes or force them forward. That means wearing shoes that are somewhat sensible, even though I may veer into crazy platforms from time to time. 

The podiatrist has signed off on this, probably because she knows I'll comply better with fewer restrictions. Yes, she understands how I am.

This One's for Peace Bang

I follow a blog called Beauty Tips for Ministers. I'm not a minister, not in the least, but I enjoy the writer's take on fashion and style. Recently, she posted about shoes, I remarked on a favorite pair of mine, and she asked for a picture.

So Peace Bang, here you are, a picture of my favorite pair of peep toe tan suede platforms:

They came from Nordstrom's in Portland OR circa 2003 or so. They're extremely comfortable, having been the only pair of decent shoes I could wear at work when I suffered a severe ankle sprain a few years ago. They dress up or down, so I expect to have and wear them for several more years. At the time, they were the most expensive pair of shoes I'd ever bought (Full price! Nordstom's!!) but they were worth the money.