I want. And I’m stubborn.

So, a couple of weeks ago, I finally broke down and got myself an iPad. Well, technically, I got myself a toy and  I am fully aware of that. For the longest time, I researched the various tablet options and what they can do in depth to justify this purchase. When Apple came out with the new iPad and subsequently dropped the price for the iPad 2, I could no longer resist.

I got the girly one:

in white.

Naturally, you had to get some cover or protection with it. Their folding cover is so smart, it acts as a turn-on/off switch and a stand, so I ordered that one, too.

in blue. naturally.

Of course, that leaves the back unprotected, which is aluminum and could scratch when carting it around or laying it on hard surfaces.

Immediately after receiving the ‘toy’, I sat at my worktable and began to sew a cover. I used a remnant of the fabric I used for a cover for G.’s tablet, which I gave him for Christmas. Pretty much out of sentimental reasons because said tablet ‘ran’ off with another owner (along with various other precious belongings… but let’s not go there!) and because that cover looked so pretty, I wanted to duplicate it. Only, I did not quite have enough fabric to make the flap as long as I wanted.  And also because I basically never try anything on that I sew (or taste the food that I cook)… it did not – really -  fit.

yeah- too wide on the sides.

Since the fur-lined cover did not fit into my purse, I changed my mind and wanted to make some sort of a slip cover, an open envelope. Measured once, sewed… too tight in all aspects.

will fit upright. useless.

Okay, the third time is the charm, right? In this case, it took me three tries to finally get it  – I had to measure AND try:

fits snugly. perfect. thank heavens – finally!

pretty blue liner to match the cover.

Have I even said how much I like this iPad? I play music on it all week and the battery lasts almost that full week. The video and sound when skyping is far better than on the ‘other’ tablet.  The ways it handles and works the applications is plain awesome. I’m jazzed. Steve Jobs was a genius. He was stubborn too. So there is hope for me.

using it up

Today, my mother-in-law is celebrating her 96th birthday.  Actually, she is HAVING her birthday, I am not so sure about the celebrating part of the day. Since she is a bit forgetful these days, she may not remember that is IS her birthday today.  Other than that she is in remarkably good health.

For her entire life, my MIL was incredibly organized.  Everything had its place in her house and everything was labeled and carefully put away.  She also kept EVERYTHING, remotely usable from lidded containers to rubber bands, ribbons to wrapping paper.

When she moved to a retirement home in 2000 and cleaned out her house, I inherited – among other things – many yards of lingerie elastics.

There were lots of colors and varying widths.  I did not have a use for most of them, especially because they were at least an inch wide and too ‘lacey’ to use on top of a skirt or pant.  UNTIL I mustered up the courage to try myself at underwear. You see, I am (like probably most) VERY particular how my undies need to fit.  I need them to stay around my butt cheeks – nothing worse than undies riding up. I like them to be low cut to where I don’t even feel them.  And I like them to look good – not pinching little rolls of flesh here and there.

I have all this leftover fabric sitting around and figured that these little odds and ends may just be enough for panties. So this last fall, I took some leftover fabric (mostly bamboo) and the elastic lace to my annual sewing retreat at the coast.

Using well fitting store-bought panties as a pattern, I set out to work.

tracing a pattern, getting to work… and enjoying it!

I took several tries to get the right fit. Some were too tight. Putting elastic around the leg opening did not look pretty. Others were too high on the side and too low in the back.

But finally I got a fit that I like.

the latest batch (cotton jersey)

so pleased with the lace edging!

I am not sure when the GAP store will see me again.

versatile style

While I do have enough material to fill another ‘darling customer’ post, I’ll hold off on that and treat you to some outfit shots. After all, I’d like you to see what is IN the store, hanging on the racks.

This is the end of April and we had some days that made you swoon and think about spring and summer!

As most designers ship their seasonal items as early as February, I was subjected to pretty summer dresses for a good long time now. And I get to play with them.

That is how I figured out that have a few items that can be worn not like initially intended.

#1  Hazel navy/white maxi skirt

a very comfortable DRESS that actually stays up or a classy skirt...

The skirt waist has a sturdy enough elastic that doubles as a bandeau for a halter-less dress. I danced around in it for a while to make sure it stays up and won’t ‘expose’ you.  And if stays up on me – it will sure do it for you!

#2  Neesha ruched waist jersey skirt

this is the little skirt that goes everywhere!

This A-line skirt is so effortless. If you have something to tuck in, it will show its nicely ruched waistband and flare in a nice line. Wearing something over the waist, you can pull it down for a longer length and more classy look.

# 3  Hazel crochet fringe skirt

crazy and fun.

I know why I ordered this one. It is different. It will look great on a night out. It will certainly get you comments AND compliments. And again, it stays up!

Let’s go dance!

 

more curious customers …. and such

One of the perks of having a shop is that pretty much anyone can walk through your door. Well, for the most part, it is a ‘perk’… only occasionally there is the odd one out that you wish had not passed over the threshold.

It is great for people watching and trying to figure people out. Over the past few years, I have met people I would NEVER have met or spoken to in my previous professional life. I love that and appreciate it a whole lot.

Yesterday, I had a mother-daughter couple worth a TV show. Mother was all snazzily dressed up in suit and heels and Daughter (I guess, about 14 or 15) in Uggs (don’t get these anyway, especially not on a warm day), sweat pants and carrying a cell phone on a ‘leash’  of which hung little stuffed animals.  Other than that, they looked very much alike. As they were looking around, the mom would shout out:  HOW CUTE IS THIS! here and there. Daughter did not even raise an eyebrow. Later, Mother tried on a few skirts while Daughter was meeting every single one with a scowl. Poor mom – she REALLY wanted for Daughter to like the skirts. Well, needless to say, she did not buy any. As they left, Mother chewed out Daughter outside the store. How I would have liked to hear THAT conversation.

Then there was ‘Label Lady’. She looked like she was about mid-fifties.  She was pretty, had a nice figure and hairdo and was VERY talkative. One of the first things she told me was what size she wore BEFORE she entered Menopause. (>>> by now, I know how THESE conversations are going: most women will tell you IN DETAIL what Menopause did to them <<<)

As I carry an array of designers and ALL seem to have different sizing, I gently pointed out that fact and how I’d be glad to find her size. To which she exclaimed, ‘I WILL NEVER wear anything that says LARGE! NEVER!’  I probably should not have offered to cut out any offensive label because she then proceeded to say that she would also NEVER wear anything of which she knew had at one time the label ‘L’ in it. Poor thing.

Last but not least, I have encountered some very picky customers. No, not the ones who look at everything and then ask if you have THAT in Blue, or RED… but totally ignore the three colors you have. Also not the ones who love, love, love the skirt but only if it WAS half an inch longer. Or ask you to MAKE something similar to what is in the store, only with a tuck here and a pleat there. No, it is the customer who tries on the cheapest, marked down item, takes it off, tries it on again, looks at it from every side, wants it to be black instead of brown, only to take it off again. Then asks if you have and iron at hand and could I please iron the collar differently? Tries it on again – does it look good NOW? By now, we are about 60 minutes into the transaction. (>>> oh yes, I am friendly all the way and  u.n.d.e.r.s.t.a.n.d.i.n.g.<<<)

It is so much fun working in a store!

And yes, I made a $19 sale!

more stuff I made

This post is another tribute to my dear friend B. who never seizes to inspire me to try new things.

While visiting her, she was knitting a circular, twisted shawl  – a Moebius scarf.  Like with most everything, she pointed me to a you-tube tutorial by Cat Bordhi. (this is the one).  But not only was I intrigued by the scarf, I also loved the needles my friend was using.

The system itself is pretty well known – various gauge needles that attach to a cable of varying length, in order to fit your particular project. HOWEVER, this pictured system (Knit Pro) is only available in Europe as of now. I did get two different gauges of needles and two cables.

Since you knit this scarf in an endless loop, I had no real sense of how many stitches I needed. In addition, the cable is twisted like a figure 8 and therefore you cannot try on the scarf as you go.

Which resulted in this:

a turtleneck!

Well, I wasn’t discouraged that easily. I watched Cat Bordhi’s video one more time and in it, she offers a free pattern on her website, which I printed out and took with me on my last trip to Europe. I actually started to knit ON THE PLANE over.

just right to fit around my shoulders

My friend was knitting a length that would twist around your neck twice, but I am actually pretty pleased with how this turned out as you can see the twist of the scarf. This gets two thumbs up from me… thanks to following the instructions.

Rummaging around in my mother’s closet, I found a leftover of yarn, that I started to use when I finished the blue scarf above.

not quite as wide on my shoulders

For this one, I invented the pattern and drew it out on graph paper first. This one literally had to end when I ran out of yarn.

I like my Moebius creations. They are a perfect necklace alternative.

And as for the knitting needles, I am now scouting for another project. I have already been to a yarn store!

 

buildings (up and down)

On my walk yesterday, I came across this horrible sight.

The bulldozer looked like a fierce animal eating away at this house. If you look closely, you can see the chandelier of the dining room swinging back and forth from the hitting force. That made me all the more sad. Somebody’s house, somebody’s HISTORY and MEMORIES taken out by the swing of a machine.

While I have no idea what was wrong with the house, or why they may have decided to rather take it down than renovate it, this violent action touched me. Walking around in my neighborhood, I witnessed similar actions; you can read about it here and here.

People build houses rather quickly around here. You go on vacation and when you come back there may be two houses on a formerly empty lot. Yes, I know – building wood houses is a lot faster than putting up brick after brick to build a single wall.

Knowing that the bulldozer probably will haven taken out the house in the video within 24 hours, I walked back over there later last evening.

huge gap between the garage and the house

a gaping, open wound

Again, not knowing HOW one decides to destroy a house like this, I still don’t understand WHY they are not preserving the materials for later use.

A few weeks back, they took down a house next to my shop… and this is what THEY did:

first they removed the windows, then the roof

all the wood carefully removed and loaded up

Granted, it took them about two weeks to remove all the materials. However,  whatever was taken out there can be either recycled properly or resold to someone who is renovating another older home. I applaud companies like this one!

In the case of the above (video) house, I am afraid that all the construction rubbish ends up on a landfill.

For the ‘newly’ made (razed clean) empty lot, I’m afraid to see monstrosities like these going up:

I don’t get it: look at the scale between the older house on the left and that tall, skinny weirdo!

Hey, I like NEW houses. Modern, sleek, well-designed buildings. Just not those functional, non-descript lot fillers.

stuff I made

I use my sewing machines a lot. I hem pants. I fix holes. I take in wedding gowns. I even make hand protectors for weight lifters. I tell my customers that if it is possible to do with a sewing machine, I will do it.

While this is rewarding, it severely limits making things for myself. Or sewing for fun.

That’s why I like it all the more when the bug bites me and I am getting on a sewing roll.

Before Christmas, I made all kinds of boxy pouches, which was so rewarding because within the hours of an evening a had a few to look at!

boxy pouches

Around that time, I also needed a slim dress to wear as first layer under a bunch of jackets.

Since I did not have time to go fabric shopping, I used what I had and made this little number in a couple of hours.

orange tank dress

And because it was so much fun and I got requests for them, I made phone and accessory pouches.

flat pouch parade

A great many of the boxy pouches ended up as Christmas gifts. Most of the flat pouches came with me on my recent Europe trip and were given away as ‘omiyage’ (host gift).

Despite the busy season and my impending travel, it felt so good to be productive!

I can’t wait for the bug to bite again!

looking back

Even with my mind still fogged up from jetlag, I want to put down a few observations about my experiences here and there. And what HERE and THERE does to me.

This morning, I found a quarter on the street. Actually, I find money a lot around here (Portland) and almost NEVER in Europe. On one hand, I think that America in general is not such a rich country and it surprises me that people lose money on the street. I have found mostly coins, sometimes as many as 2 Dollars in one spot. Europe on the other hand is rather well off and one could think that people over there might not lose sleep over a few lost coins.

Now that is one theory. Then it occurred to me that people in Europe use wallets to hold their coins. Wallets with a (zippered or buttoned) coin compartment. Over here, most coins (especially guys’) live in a pant pocket. Maybe that is the reason they tend to fall out and end up on the street for me to find. The question remains why people leave them there and don’t pick them back up.

Another observation about ME is that I seem to have become a lot more cautious. I do consider myself a trusting person and a risk-taker. Yet, at the same time, I am realizing that I suck in my breath in various situations where I would not have done it before. Especially around children… I fear they might fall, stumble, get lost, get mistreated. In Europe, kids roam a lot freer than around here; they ride the bus by themselves, play out on the street, dig holes and climb trees.  I guess I do not see that many kids by themselves here.

Driving fast scares me now. What has become of me?  I used to be a night cabbie racing through the streets. Am I just older and wiser or has the constant fear media around me made me anxious? People in Europe seem to be a lot more self-reliable than people in the US. They blame themselves for not looking out if they stumble over a hole in the ground. People around here seem to be constantly nervous that somebody might break into their home or that something awful could happen to them. I guess that has made me more aware of things that MIGHT happen. Over 20 years living here will do that. And I am not even watching TV. That’s why I had to laugh at myself when I discovered that I had left the key stuck in the front door over night. Blame it on the jetlag..

… add a layer!

For a while, I was interested in this one dress we presently have at the store. I tried it on multiple times but could not quite decide that it looked good on me. In fact, I wasn’t so much interested in the DRESS but in the SLIP that came with it. Getting the dress just for the slip? No.

The slip is actually a nice dress all in itself. A sleeveless little shell. Would work well as a summer dress. Well as a little number UNDER some things. Also well with a t-shirt and the dress OVER it.

However, I still wasn’t going to get the dress even for those many possibilities.

So what’s a girl to do? ( … a girl with  a good number of sewing machines at home?) —–>>> MAKE ONE!

I did.

It is not black. It is burnt orange.

I made it from some soft bamboo that I had left over.

So okay, it is still officially Winter here and I wanted to wear this dress in any of the ways I had imagined wearing the one at the store.

bottom layer: tights

Here you see the ‘store’ (black) dress, my self-made dress and some tight options. Getting excited!

striped tights, 2nd hand jacket

Now I HAD to wear my knocked-off  dress to work. This was a decent day, not too cold, so I threw on a lightweight cotton jacket and my favorite hip belt.

the 'cold' outfit

But what if it gets colder and I still want to take my orange slip dress out? I threw on a heavier wool cardigan. I am pleased with my little summer dress/slip/shell.

(Needless to say that I now OWN the cardigan. Did not plan on that. But am HAPPY! )

what the ****!?

Allow me to gripe a bit.

No, not about the bicyclists riding at night WITHOUT LIGHT.

Also not about the folks who do not seem to know that their cars have a TURNING SIGNAL.

And I have long stopped to complain about the POURING RAIN.

Well, I need to let off a bit of steam about SOME of my ‘customers’.

Now, most of our customers are PLAIN AWESOME.  However, like everywhere, there are exceptions. And, also like everywhere, these exceptions account for a lot of work.

There are those people who freely share their abundant advice, ‘You should carry THIS, or THAT’; ‘Can you MAKE this in a different color/shape/style?’;  ‘This would WORK, if it was longer/shorter/wider/tighter RIGHT HERE.’, or ‘If this was HALF THE PRICE, I would totally buy it’, all the while I am listening and act sympathetic.

Then there is the lady who realized at dinner, WEARING the dress she bought, that she didn’t receive the compliments she was expecting and continues to return the dress TELLING you the story.

Or the person who returns a pair of socks, claiming that ‘there is a hole in it and I haven’t even worn them’ after s/he ripped out the tag forcefully (which OF COURSE will rip a hole in the darn thing…)

Oh, the guts these people have!

At least, we have somebody to actually deal with when they do this to us. But then there are the shoplifters of which we unfortunately had some pretty ruthless ones this Christmas season.

I’d like to think that they wanted something pretty for either themselves or somebody else and simply couldn’t AFFORD it. Maybe them shoplifting is a sign of the depressing economic times we are in. Or they do it as a sport.

I do hope that they experience some good times in the stuff they took from us. Us small business owners. Who do not have ‘shrinkage’ built into our budget. Who hurt when we don’t have the $100 that item they stole would have brought.

And that KARMA gets them. Eventually.