Category: All (-ish)

Colette Patterns Moneta. Testing the waist.

After the Mabel disaster, I began my Moneta project by tracing a few inches of waist from the front and back bodice in both L and XL sizes.  
As usual, I fall right between L an XL on the size chart (why is there a gap?) except for my waist which skewed all the way to the top edge of XL.  After tracing my mini-test pattern, I then cut strips of material from my main material, after first checking that it was an area of “extra” material.  Then it was a matter of sewing them together and trying them on to see which one fit.  Knowing that the XL was a much better fit than L gave me the confidence to continue on with the project.

Thursday walk to work. sneaky edition.

I love me an alley in the daylight.  Here are some discarded flowers to add to that alley sense.

Blackberries looming.

Blackberries getting their close-up.

There are still a goodly amount of unpaved streets in Portland.  Will that ever get fixed?

Greenery and laundry.

For a long time there were skinny houses being built everywhere.  Now?  Tall apartment complexes.

Across the street from the soon-to-be tall apartment complex, we find the typical mid-century apartment complex.

Squirrel feeder.

Interesting roof.

I wonder if Karen and Simone love each other?  Or maybe Karen or Simone’s significant others were into a sort of one-up thing?

I’ve always wondered what’s up with this business on Interstate. Not enough to do any research, though.

I stared at this for a long time before I figured out that it was broken glass with cardboard blocking the hole. It sort of looked like the mirror surface had peeled off the window.  

Because I’m a child of the 80s, my first thought upon seeing this poster was, “Corey Haim?”

Nice beetle.

I’ve noticed this punk look a lot this summer.  Shaved for a mohawk, brightly colored, not in stand-up mohawk form.

Postcard from China

Aside from the fact that this is a Christian Church, I can’t tell much about this postcard and the descriptors on the back are all in Chinese. 

Look at these stamps!  (Placed in the lower left-hand corner.  The address was on the left side too.)

My observation of the many postcards I’ve received from countries with character-type (as opposed to letter-type) languages is that the handwriting is beautiful, not at all like the scrawl that comes out the the US and Europe.  I wonder if languages with characters require a greater attention to detail?
One postcrosser even wrote in her profile a plea to please write neatly.  

Thursday walk to work Yard/Garden Edition.

I love how squash in a parking strip sprawls all over the place.

These are new builds (probably replacing smaller houses, though I don’t know for sure) that I approve of, just because they don’t look like every other piece of new construction in this city.  The one on the left (the orange one) was featured in the paper once upon a time.  The gentlemen who own the house are both over 6 feet, so everything in the house is sized to them.  Which means I won’t be purchasing that house.

Squash and corn in parking strip.

When lettuce bolts it reminds me of Christmas trees.

Nice setup.

This tiny backyard house has always intrigued me.

Sunflowers in driveway divider.

Beds ready to go.

I love how nasturtiums turn into mounds.

One of the poetry posts. Here is a link to the poem by Jane Hirshfield.

Great address font.

Onions are getting ready to be harvested.

Good mid-century detail with modern flair.  Don’t you just love that bright green door?

Here’s an unusual house. Pink stucco and very square with flat roof. It’s at 1644 N. Emerson and I fear it’s probably not long for this world.  It’s empty, the lawn hasn’t been mowed and the fence is chained shut.  A quick look at Portland Maps tells me the property taxes are paid up though, so it’s not in foreclosure.  Maybe it is just waiting for a new tenant. Although I wouldn’t be surprised to find it torn down.

Rain garden.

Cute Victorian.

Detail of cute Victorian.

Homemade disk golf holes.

I’m headed for the Broadway Bridge, but it will take a lot longer than 12 minutes to get there on foot.

Someday I’m going to go to this.  It’s $3.00! How many dance classes are $3.00?  Not many, I can tell you.

Ainsworth Wine and Gifts is going out of business.

Here’s my mid-walk bathroom stop.

These are new leaning benches.  They came about because regular benches make some sidewalks not ADA accessible and also Trimet wanted to sell more ads.

Good collection of stickers.

Beautiful sky.

Jayda gets some love.

Really good bike seat covers.
And so ends my walk.

Postcards from Virginia and Virginia

Someone has been having fun cleaning out their stash in preparation for a move and someone else has been enjoying said someone’s largess.
Regular commenter Sara tells me that she and semi-regular commenter Shawn enjoyed how this couple demonstrates the changing nature of fashion and shape.

Indeed, S&S, indeed.

Random songs of the moment.

Through postcrossing, I found a blog by a photographer who lives in Singapore who also reads YA fiction. We seem to have common interests and so I’ve been checking in.  She has a great feature where she will now and then post the video to a song. I think this is brilliant and plan to do the same thing. I’ll start by copying her. This is a very fun video, both to listen to and watch.  If you like dance numbers or cute 50s dresses, this is for you.

Here is Kathleen’s original post.
http://www.kathleenchere.com/blog/2014/7/7/i-couldve-been-your-girl

Colette Patterns finished Mabel

Okay, fixes made.  Here’s the final result.

And here is an overly large photo (I’m not sure why Blogger didn’t shrink this one) from the back, showing the kick pleat, which was the feature that lured me in.

The outside pictures weren’t showing the texture of the fabric, so I brought the skirt in for a closer shot.  You can see that the pencil effect has disappeared and the front/center panels ratio is off.

I really love the material, though.  And it’s a very comfortable skirt.  The waistband should be much bigger, but I cut it off twice due to making mistakes in construction.
I blame myself, not the pattern for the disaster.  I think my problems were threefold:
1.  My knit wasn’t firm enough, which meant it just kind of “let go and let god” when I cut into it, which is nice for some things, but not so much when  you are supposed to be keeping a shape.
2. I didn’t do a very good job of taking my measurements.  Twice.  Because Mr. Hornaday, my 8th grade shop teacher taught me to always measure twice.
3.  My scissors are incredibly dull and they stretched out the fabric as I was cutting.
So I’ve learned my lesson.  I will attempt this skirt again with a stronger knit and later in the day after I’ve finished my other projects. And licked my wounds.  I’m going to start the next version by cutting and sewing the waistband and TRYING IT ON right then, before I cut out the skirt parts.
As a post script, the first time I wore this out and about, it relaxed even more, and I ended up pinning out the sides, just so it wouldn’t fall down.  I think this material would make a great shapeless wrap-type jacket.  But not a skirt.