Apparently, I Have No Pride (part 3)

Well, I didn't plan to be away for so long, but it's been pretty hectic around here.  Still not much sewing.  It's the time of year in Portland when all the relatives come to visit, so my sewing room has been serving as its alter-ego, the guest room, pretty much constantly for the past couple of weeks.  And now, Mr. flyskim has that spring cold that's been going around, so he moved up there himself this week.  (Tip?  I don't care if you are the supervisor, when you're contagious, don't go to work.  Anything else is just selfish.  All you're going to do is infect your co-workers, ruining any plans they may have had for the holiday weekend.)  So, many visitors, kitchen still not finished.  But there has been progress.  Without further ado, here are a selection of photos from the kitchen redo, since I don't really have anything else to share at this point.

Our contractor is coming in tomorrow to look at the tile work that still needs to be done.  We've had to stop and start so many times now, that we've run out of steam and just need some help getting it done.  Mr. flyskim goes to work tomorrow while I have another day off, so hopefully, I'll get my sewing room back.  I've cut out several patterns and want to finish up my denim dress so that I can get started with new things. 

An Easter Bonnet Can Tame the Wildest Hare

Or chicken, I guess.

So, Easter came and went with much hullabaloo.  The flyskim in-laws were in-town from California to spend the holiday, and they split their stay between our house and Mr. flyskim's sister's house, 12 blocks away.  This means that the kitchen remodel was put on hold (we got all of the cabinet doors back up and the new light fixture installed!) while they visited and we recovered.  Work starts in earnest again tomorrow after we get the car DEQ'd.  Sewing was also on hold because Mr. flyskim and I slept in the sewing room (it doubles at the guest room and while it's okay for the flyskim dad, I am not putting my mother-in-law up there with the cat boxes).  So what did happen?  Baking.

So, just a little out of focus.

As I may or may not have mentioned before, Mr. flyskim's family is orthodox Christian (Serbian to be exact), and this year, Serbian Easter and regular Easter fell on the same date.  His family has a reunion each year at Serbian Easter.  The location changes each year, and the number of people who attend depends on where it's being held.  This year, the party was up here in Portland, and because most of Mr. flyskim's family is in California, our group was rather small, about 25 people.  I made Almond Cake  with fresh raspberries.

This is the easiest cake ever (one bowl, one pan, no frosting or prepping of ingredients other than measuring) and one of the most versatile.  I made the same cake last Christmas Eve and served it with almond ice cream and chocolate and butterscotch sauces.  It can even be made a day or two ahead because it's even better if it's had some time to sit.  Just don't put any fruit or other toppings on it until you're ready to serve.  Oh, and it's pretty tasty, too.  The only reason that there was any left was because (1) I made another dessert; and (2) Despite my being the person designated to bring dessert, no fewer than three other people also brought multiple desserts.  More on that later.

Raspberry bread pudding with a vanilla cream sauce.  This was good, and it got rave reviews from the family, but I'm not super-satisfied with it.  It's the first time I've made a bread pudding, and it was apparent to me that I've got a few kinks to work out of the next one.  I used the wrong kind of bread, so the egg/cream mixture didn't fully soak into the crust.  I'd also prefer to find a recipe that doesn't use nearly two quarts (that's right, quarts) of heavy cream between the pudding and the sauce.  Maybe with a bourbon sauce next time.  Also, I didn't really love the raspberries. 

Be warned, I'm going to vent a little.  As I mentioned above, three other people brought desserts that we didn't plan for.  We had a grand total of seven desserts.  For 25 people.  That's like 8-10 servings for each person.  Every dessert except for mine was store bought, not home made.  And not from a good bakery, either.  From a local market with a mass-market set-up.  I love to bake, so I get the desire to whip up something that you ordinarily wouldn't make at home, and I'll never turn my nose up at a store-bought birthday cake (frosting = yuuummm!!!).  But I don't understand why someone would bring a last-minute, tacked-on dessert to a family event that they know is not being widely attended without checking to see if it was needed.  Were they expecting the hosts not to have planned something ahead of time?  (With Mr. flyskim's cousins that's always a possibility.)  Were they thinking that there would be nothing good?  (Also a possibility.)  Did they not want to bring wine (which would not have been turned away no matter how much wine showed up.)  But again, perhaps they should have asked and then they all wouldn't have had to take mostly untouched cakes and cupcakes home.  I suppose that I should be comforted by the fact that the only desserts that dents were made into were mine, but it's the principle.

And one last item.  Last night, in honor of the Royal Wedding, I made scones.  I use a mix.  Don't judge me.  Fisher brand is my favorite.  The scones from this mix are not too sweet (there's little worse in scones than a piece of cake masquerading as one), wonderfully moist and only need water to put together.  I threw in some chopped dried cherries and slivered almonds and replaced a little of the water with vanilla and almond extracts.

You knead these a little, divide them into three equal rounds and cut them into quarters before baking.  The box makes 12, and they're quite tasty, particularly when still warm.  I like them with jam.

So, scones to warm a cold morning, and we've had plenty of those here lately.  Cold mornings, not scones.  Oh well.  I'm going to use the rest of my afternoon off to get back to my dress-in-progress.  It's supposed to hit 75 degrees next week, and I'll want a new dress to show the warm weather how happy I am to see it.  Oh, and speaking of dresses?

Just stunning.

Yes, I took the day off for this.  Don't judge me.

Apparently, I Have No Pride, part 2

Sunday's the end of the week, right?  That being the case, I'm calling this update right on time which is no small miracle given the state of things around here.  As I mentioned, we're giving our kitchen a little spring refresh.  New countertops, fresh paint, a few needed updates.  Nothing big.  Except it is.  I don't know how people who do actual remodels do it.

We're painting the cabinets ourselves, and our entry, living and dining rooms have been doing double duty as a paint assembly line.  We have 21 cabinet doors, and each one required sanding, priming and two coats of paint.  Front and back.  Mr. flyskim took care of the sanding, but I've been in charge of the paint job.  I seriously wonder how they do this on the house selling shows in just a couple of days because this took me nearly two week working a couple of hours each night and two full Saturdays.  I just put the primer coat on the cabinet bases in the main part of the kitchen.  Paint begins tomorrow, and I couldn't be happier to see the end of this.

Here's the view of our dining room from the living room.  All the paint, and we've had to take a lot out of the kitchen to keep it from getting covered in paint and dust.  That's the last cabinet door drying on the saw horses to the left.

When the new countertops came in, we had to move the microwave.  Since we started painting almost immediately after, it's been living on the floor ever since.  Those planks on the floor are trim I'm going to use to make an awkward part of our breakfast nook look like a built-in piece of furniture (that's the plan, but who knows about the execution). 

Here's the half-painted breakfast nook.  It's actually pretty far along at this point.  What you're missing here is that off to the left, we've got a bookcase just sort of hanging out in the middle of the rest of the kitchen surrounded by all of our different paint cans.

There it is!  And there's Hyde supervising and starring in the photoshoot.  He's such a multi-tasker.  Again, this picture doesn't tell the whole story.  You can't see the large pile of donation items waiting to be taken down for storage in the basement until we can fit in a trip to Goodwill.  Those two paint swatches on the wall behind the bookcase are tests for the main part of the kitchen.  We picked the one on the right.  It's At Sea by Benjamin Moore.  The stripes in the arch were the tests for the breakfast nook color.

Speaking of At Sea, here is it on the arch wall in the breakfast nook.  The edging isn't done here, so you can still see some of the old orange peeking through.  I finished the edging in this room before dinner today.  These two colors are a perfect match for our backsplash tiles, and I'm not sure that the picture does justice to how pretty the combination is.

Here's the other wall of the breakfast nook.  These are the first completed cabinets, and I'm really pleased with how they turned out.  It was such a relief to get the doors back on so that I could put a few things away.  This is an odd little space.  We have upper cabinets and a counter, but no lower cabinets.  That's because under the counter and on the other side of the wall is the stairway to the basement.  There's beadboard under the plastic drop cloth, and I plan to paint that and the currently orange wall under the cabinets the same cream and trim them so they match the cabinet doors.  I hope that this ends up looking like an armoire rather than a hasty craft project.

 

Living with open cabinets has been an experience.  It's forced me to be more organized because you can't hide anything.  This picture was taken last week, so there have been some big changes.  Now the cabinets are completely empty, and they've all been primed.  I'm getting those doors back up on Wednesday, even if it kills me.

And one last progress shot.  The new dishwasher.  We've been replacing our appliances one at a time over the past couple of years, and the dishwasher was the last thing to go.  This one is so quiet, we have to stand next to it to figure out if it's running.  And sometimes, I have to actually touch it.  It's a little scary.  But it's so pretty. 

There's one last big push over the next couple of days.  We have to stop no matter where we are in things on Wednesday because the in-laws are coming up for Easter, and we'll need a couple of days to clean.  I don't expect to get everything done by then by a long shot, but if I can get the cabinets done and the breakfast nook close to finished, I'll be very well pleased.  Oh, and very sad.  Because of the kitchen scramble, there's been no sewing at all.  But I have the Monday after Easter off work, so I plan to be stitching like a madwoman.

Apparently, I Have No Pride

Or I would never publicly post photographic evidence of how we've been living these past couple of weeks. But first thing's first.  Here are the before shots.  We've been working on a cheap and dirty kitchen remodel.  We were originally going to just rip the whole thing out and start from scratch (except for our appliances) this summer, and we'd been saving up for that project.  But some issues have come up that have made the idea of spending a lot of money redoing a perfectly useful  (albeit old and a little crusty) kitchen more than a little unattractive.  So, we decided to see what we could do on the cheap.  We're lucky, because the layout works for us.  Here's the kitchen before.

We stripped the door frame a while ago but ran out of paint.  Our plans are to repaint all the trim, so we're actually a step ahead of the game there.

The refrigerator and range are fairly new, so those were always going to stay.  But that blond oak has been driving me batty for years.  And while I don't like the laminate floor, while we've been working on the house, it's been a godsend.  You can drip pain and stain on it and drag heavy pieces of furniture across it with no noticeable damage.  You can even take a scrubby pad and cleanser to it.  We'll be keeping this for a while longer and replace it when we're closer to wrapping up the entire downstairs.

Our current color scheme is orange and turquoise.  Honestly, the entire kitchen was turquoise when we bought the house.  Walls and countertops.  (Actually, we've since found that a lot of the house was turquoise before we bought it and the prior owners just did a sloppy "Designed to Sell" treatment before putting the house on the market, but that's another story.)  While I love blue, I couldn't cook in that. After much trial and error, orange was the only wall color that really worked with the existing countertop.  We're not orange anymore.

The dishwasher was the last appliance we replaced.  This is where the crusty comes in to play.  Oh, and that baseboard?  That's a plank from the laminate floor.  Like I said, sloppy "Designed to Sell."  And totally unnecessary.  We never thought we'd find a house that was decorated to our taste, and neither Mr. flyskim nor I is put off by wild paint colors or bad surfaces.

So, here's the new color scheme.  We're going with blue/green with ivory painted cabinets and a black laminate countertop.  We've already had that installed, and it really gives the look of soapstone.  We'll be tiling the backsplash with the above glass subway tiles.  And then there's the paint.  It's only partially done, but I think it's going to be wonderful.  I'll post the WIP pictures by the end of the week, but here's a sneak peek.

Not that this was an issue after painting our kitchen orange, but no one will be able to say we're afraid of color after this.  Pip is just thankful that it no longer looks like Halloween every time she walks into the room.

So, This is What My Blog Looks Like When it's Asleep

Sorry about the absence.  We're in the middle of a kitchen remodel, and there's been no time for anything else, inlcuding working on my half-finished Easter dress.  Which will see completion this weekend if I have anything to say about it.  Right now, most of our cabinet doors are scattered around the living room, and we have to side-step saw horses and cats everywhere we go.  Picture of the carnage tomorrow.

The Cloak of Indignation?

It's been nothing but kitty pandemonium around chez flyskim lately.  The boy cat had a mass on the back of his leg that the vet has had us monitoring for changes in size and appearance for the last year.  These are supposedly common enough that it wasn't worth putting the little man through the trauma of having it removed unless there was a reason for suspicion.  However, someone forgot to mention that even if the mass didn't change at all, it could still rupture.  And that's exactly what happened last week, so off we went to the vet.  The result? 

One consultation and minor surgical procedure later, we have a non-lumpy but pretty annoyed little Hyde with a shaved hind leg, two fewer teeth (a longstanding problem) and a nifty, new fashion accessory. 

Our boy in his e-collar

We keep trying to tell him that it's better than the cone, but we haven't been able to convince him that this is not the most horrid form of torture ever.  Not only can he not hide under the bed, but the girl cat has become all aggressive and territorial and he can't even indulge himself with a good groom.

He tries, but he just keeps grooming the collar.  He's managed to get to his front feet, which means he can wash his face, and one of his back legs.  Wouldn't you know that it's the leg with the stitches?  He hasn't pulled them out yet, so we're just keeping an eye on it. 

And as if the collar and the problems with mobility and grooming weren't enough, the monkeys who control the food keep taking pictures of his pain.  The one bright spot in this for our little boy is that he's been feasting on the canned food he loves but we won't usually give him.

So, we've been a little distracted around here, to say the least.  Don't even get me started with the girl cat.  We've tried separating them, spraying Feliway, feeding them the same food (Pip's waistline is not thanking us), praise and treats for not growling, but the girlie is just not backing down.  And we have to take Hyde back to the vet next week to get his stitches removed, so even if we can restore the status quo by the end of the week (the usual readjustment period), it's just going to start back up again.  We'd take her to the vet with us, but that's actually an even more traumatic ordeal that involves sneaking up on her with a very large towel and usually results in maiming.  Us, not her.  And the vet. 

I have, however, been able to work on a Talbot's inspiration dress.  I'm making Simplicity 2917 (view A in the shorter length as suggested on Pins and Needles) using a lightweight, stretch denim.  The fabric has a slight metallic weave to it, so it has a pretty sheen.  The fitting went well, and I started the sewing last night.  I'll report back on this later.

She seems so innocent when she's boning up on her sewing skills.

Until then, wish us luck in surviving the bad mood that is currently Pip.

A Forest Bird Never Wants a Cage

Pink finch and linnet bird?  Maybe not.

 I've recently finished Simplicity 2501, and while I'm really proud of my work on this blouse, it's been a learning experience.  Let me just warn you before we get too far that despite my best intentions, this is about a size too small and a good three inches too short.  However, there are a lot of things to love about this blouse, too.  I made View D with the short sleeves.  I originally wanted to do View D with the sleeves as shown on the envelope, but since I bought the fabric before I knew exactly what pattern I was going to make with it, I didn't have enough. 

I used this beautiful cotton voile that I purchased at Mill End Store last summer.  It kills me that I don't have this fabric to make something for myself anymore, because I was in love with this material.  It's so light and airy that it's perfect for summer.  I think I saw this fabric still available earlier this winter, so I think I might venture back to see if I can get some more.

Here's the blouse on me.

Huh.  From here, it doesn't look too bad, but trust me.  I barely got it buttoned at the waist.

Lesson #1:  Retake your measurements regularly, particularly if you suspect that you might have changed sizes.

I started with a size 12; however, I suspect that I should have gone up to the 14, so even though I did pattern fit this and do a slight full bust adjustment, it still didn't give me quite enough room for comfort, both physical and mental.

I think the bad fit might be a little clearer in this shot.  You can really see how short this turned out on me and the gaping of the buttons.  I'm not particularly long-waisted or tall, so the length (or lack of it) surprised me, especially since it doesn't look this short on the model on the pattern envelope.

Can you tell which button I neglected to do?

Further proof?  Here it is from the back.

So, full bust adjustment or not, the back is too small.  See all the pulling?  My pattern fitting did not look like this.  I took photos and everything because I suspected that the back might be too small.  Which brings us to . . .

Lesson #2:  Measure the pattern to verify that it will not only fit you but also have the appropriate design and wearing ease, particularly when your fabric has no stretch.

-and-

Lesson #3:  Don't go months without sewing wovens because stretch fabrics are easier to fit and faster to sew.

Here it is on the hanger.  Isn't it pretty?

That being said, I love this pattern so much that I'm headed to Joann's on Saturday so that I can get another copy to correct my fitting mistakes before this week's Simplicity pattern sale ends.  I guess this version will have to stand both as a muslin and as a practice piece.

This was my first time using a pattern that had a cup size, but I had been warned that I might want to go up to a D cup instead of my usual C.  That was so right, because I still had to add a 1/2 inch FBA, and I really don't think that was because of making the wrong size.  In spite of this, I loved the cup sizes because I'm always convinced that I distort bodices with my usual 1-2 inch FBA.  My only issue?  A smaller FBA means that you make smaller adjustments to the rest of the pattern, and if you rely on the full FBA adjustments to make other parts of the pattern large enough (like I do), you could find yourself with a garment that just doesn't work the way you expected it to.  On the plus side, I do think that I've mastered the simple sleeve alteration because I did a 1 inch enlargement, and that turned out perfectly.

Lesson #4:  When you do something for the first time, make sure that you really understand what you're doing before you do something permanent like cut your fashion fabric.

I thought that the instructions were fairly clear.  Others who have made this pattern have mentioned that the instructions jump around, and they do, but with as many different variations in both the bodice and the sleeves, I'm not so sure that couldn't be avoided.

You can see here my coordinating waistband facing.

I didn't pay enough attention to the pattern instructions, so I ended up only cutting two of the front waistband.  If I'd gone through the pattern more thoroughly and paid attention to how many fabric pieces each pattern piece needed, I would have realized that the waistband was self-faced.  I improvised and used a white shirting for the waistband facing, both front and back.  In retrospect, I think that worked out better.  The fabric is a very sheer voile that I chose not to underline as I planned to wear this with a white silk camisole.  Having both the outer fabric and facing with a pattern on it might have just ended up looking muddy.

Lesson #5:  Read through all of the pattern instructions, no matter how boring it is.  Don't just wing it.

-and-

Lesson #6:  Don't dispose of your extra fabric until the project is finished just in case you forgot to cut something.

Because the fabric was so sheer, I decided to try French seams.  And aren't they beautiful?  They were so much easier than I thought they would be, and they do look lovely from inside and out. 

peplum a good three inches.  Other than that, there aren't any changes that I would make. 

So, I guess the only question that remains is what do I do with my gorgeous blouse?  I'm too proud of it for it to go in the donation pile, but I don't know anyone who it would fit both physically and style-wise  Maybe I can frame it and hang it as art in the sewing room.

The Mirror Crack'd from Side to Side

Look, Ma!  No sleeve finish!  I'll explain that later.

So, pretty much like everyone else, I've done up my own version of McCall's 5974.  This is View C, and I actually finished it back in January but hadn't gotten pictures of the dress until recently.  I made it out of this great monochromatic rayon jersey from Fabric.com.  It reminds me of a shattered mirror, all craggy and jagged.  I thought it would suit this pattern because of the more structured waist detail, but I'm not so sure.  It may be too busy for this pattern.  The great waist shaping gets a little lost.  If I make this again, I will use a solid colored fabric.

This was a fairly easy pattern.  The instructions are straightforward, and easy to understand.  As others have noted, this pattern runs large, particularly when it calls for a stretch fabric.  I made a 14 and had to bring the side seams in, and I could have made it even smaller.  This really hasn't mattered because of the wrap around waist tie.  I did not interface the waistband so that I could omit the back zipper, and I sewed the sleeves in flat.  This has created a problem with the finishing of the sleeves as they're too narrow to sew on my machine now.  Chalk that one up to experience.  For now, that limits this dress to wearing with a cardigan, which is okay in the winter, but I wanted a long-sleeved dress so that I could wear it by itself when the weather gets warmer, so that will have to be fixed.  I also didn't finish the edges of the waist ties.  They are hidden, and the fabric doesn't ravel, so the only thing finishing them would do is take out some of the stretch.

This is a Palmer/Pletsch pattern, so it comes with the fitting alteration lines directly on the pattern.  The only fitting change I made was to lengthen the bodice front in the center by 1 inch, tapering to nothing at the sides.  I may have to add more length if I make this up again because the waistband seam is clearly visible above the top of the wrap.

The one problem I have with this dress on me is the back view (then again, I don't know anyone who really enjoys their back view).  When I gain weight, it goes straight to my back, and the ties cut into the soft parts of my back.  As a result, I get this unattractive bulge between the waistband and the bottom of my bra (I know. TMI).  One of the other reasons why I'm currently limited to layering this under a sweater.  This isn't a comment on the dress itself.  I've seen it look super-cute on a range of body types and sizes.  It's just something that I've noticed on me that I don't think that anyone's mentioned before.  If you're at all self-conscious about your back, this could be an issue for you.  It is for me.

For the most part, I really like this pattern, and this dress, but I'd like to make it out of a solid color with some small adjustments.  Better fitting in the body of the dress, longer bodice top.  Actually hemming the sleeves so that I'm not limited to wearing this under sweaters in public.  I think I might shorten the hem as well.  It looks like it's hitting me at an awkward place on my knee.  So, not my favorite, but not bad as a halfway point. 

 We'll see how the next version comes out, but that will have to wait because I'm working on fitting with a woven fabric.  This is not going well, but hopefully, I'll learn something.  Stay tuned!