Wednesday 18 June 2014

Sudden (me-made!) summer!

After WEEKS of whining that Dublin was still distressingly cold and non-summery, we suddenly have warm weather and sunshine! It's sufficiently pleasant that I am, in fact, writing this blog post on my apartment balcony in the sun, with factor 30 on to protect my dead-fish-white skin from burning.

More to the sewing-blog-point, I am ALSO suddenly thoroughly enjoying the fact that I started sewing for this weather long before it seemed at all likely to happen. The Met Eireann tweeted "Highs of 24-28C" this morning and I was absolutely spoiled for me-made choices when I reached into my closet to get dressed. Today, I ended up in my purple Burda skirt and purple polka dot Kitschy Coo raglan tee. I've worn the t-shirt a good half dozen times at least since I made it (even though it's a "wearable muslin" and the sleeves are really seriously two sizes too small on me), but this is the first time I've worn the skirt for more than just trying on/photography/fitting purposes. I actually LOVE the skirt now I've worn it most of a day, except that the fabric creases like crazy so now I look like a hobo. At the time I made this I had so many problems getting the back waist and hip to fit that I said I wouldn't make the pattern again, but now I am wondering whether that was a hasty call pre-wear!

Note to self: it's annoying when you can't immediately wear the stuff you've made, but it's awesome when the season you sewed for finally rolls around :D

I've been sort of vaguely planning ahead for the rest of my summer sewing, although in reality it's going to be rather interrupted over the next six weeks. I have a week of hospital appointments in the UK (lucky me, I continue to be a medical mystery, so I get to go and have ever more exotic tests run on me) next week, and then of course I have to get the Great International Move (2014 edition) underway in mid-July so everything will need to get packed up and moved and then unpacked and re-organized in my new place (which yes, will ALSO have a sewing room/spare room set-up, though tbh, mostly sewing room since my hostessing prowess is mostly untested).

However, the big question mark I have is about whether to do the PR mini-wardrobe competition before I leave in July. I REALLY want to, for once, because assuming that when the rules are announced (Which must be soon, surely? This isn't a competition you can do without time to plan!) they are the basic '4 items, 4 outfits' rules like last year, I have SUCH A GREAT IDEA, and also, all the fabric I need for it. This is the only competition where the fact that there's zero chance I'd win and the competitions are mostly pointless doesn't even put me off. I just like the idea of making little collections of clothes, okay, I'm a nerd that way. So yes, if the rules go up and are the normal thing, I have A Plan, and I will no doubt tell you ALL ABOUT IT in excruciating detail when/if the rules go live.

Who else is in for mini-wardrobing? I love seeing people's plans and how they put things together.

29 comments:

  1. Let's do it! I want to enter too! I can't win because I won the fitted blouse contest but so what. I also have a master plan for a great summer mini-wardrobe and I have all the goodies on hand for it - fabrics, patterns and notions. I'll even race to the finish with you so you can be done before TheBigMove!

    Good luck with your doctor's appointments!

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    1. Yay, let's do that! :D That would be awesome! I have everything bar one zip I think but I am holding off on buying it until I know what the rules are and whether my current plan holds up against it. Ditto on pattern tracing, though I will get that done for sure before 1 July. I am not faffing about tracing patterns once July starts, because I'll only have 2 weeks to get everything else done. Luckily, two of my patterns are easy short jobs, even if I go nuts on the finishing. :D

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    2. ahhh. The thread should be up by now! Wah! ;-)

      2012 was sew 4 pieces, have a 5th one (previously handmade or rtw) and make 6 outfits.
      2013 was sew 4 pieces to coordinate together and make 4 outfits.

      I have my 4 in my head but if they add the 5th element I might switch it up. Only 1 item that I haven't previously made...I should trace it this week!

      Ooooh I'm excited!

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    3. I know! I don't know why it's not up yet, they usually go up 2 weeks before the competition starts. The other competition (Pattern stash, boring) already has a thread :|

      The 2012 competition caused SUCH AN EPIC KERFUFFLE (by PR standards, at any rate, where the flaming rarely achieves any great level of vitriol) and people flounced off to make their own mini-wardrobe group because they couldn't seem to grasp the whole 5th item idea. So I bet they don't do that again!

      If it is just the regular 4 things, I am making one super easy new pattern, one easy made-several-times pattern, one marginally more difficult pattern and a pair of shorts. The shorts are the most worrying because: fitting. I may muslin them this weekend because it would be a reasonably entertaining and useful thing to do anyway even if for some reason the competition rules mean I don't end up making them.

      I am excited to reveal my ~~FANCY DIAGRAM~~ of mini-wardrobe planning.

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    4. soooo I tried to sketch out my ideas and yeah, I suck at drawing. In any form. I need some color pencils! :-D

      OMG I have to go read the thread now. I was so hoping that would be the 2013 contest because, more interesting combinations...right? But alas...

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    5. Oh dude, I can't even draw a stick person. I just do little things with Pixelmator (cheap Photoshop clone) and cut&paste technical drawings and images of fabric. My FANCY DIAGRAM capital letters was definitely more sarcastic than anything.

      (You will be BAFFLED by the thread, seriously. It's full of people just NOT ABLE TO GET IT until you want to actually scream. It was all happening at about the time I first started to read the forums at all frequently and I was like, wow, are these people just DUMB, or am I missing something?)

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    6. Oh god. As a scientist you are presumably with me on the LOATHING for people declaring how TERRIBLE they are at maths and haha, isn't it funny how they just can't understand it, as if it's something they should be proud of. When I teach statistics at the university I tell the students the first week that NOBODY GETS TO SAY THAT SHIT IN MY CLASS and I glare at them >:(

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    7. It's a weird "badge of honor" thing that yes...is crazy annoying.

      like really? No one is asking you to solve multivariable calculus or some complex matrices people!

      How I loved stats. I really, really loved it! I keep telling my daughter she's going to love it too. She doesn't believe me :)

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    8. I enjoy stats a LOT. It's weird because all my research is qualitative (and my first degree was in history, of all unrelated things) but I LOVE stats and I love teaching it. It's all so logical and systematic and you can SEE when students get it. Plus I enjoy the fact that when you do classroom level problems, there's An Answer, and it's like, 7.4 or whatever. There's never an answer when you mainly do qualitative research. Of course, whether I BELIEVE the There Is An Answer type outcomes statistical analysis gives you is a totally different question! :D

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  2. I am totally crashing this discussion. Hah!

    I am not stalking. Well. Maybe a little. You two crack me up. Mmm...multivariable calculus. I have degrees in math, but have never taken a class in statistics. Probability theory? Yes. Statistics? Hell to the no.

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    1. You should ALWAYS crash conversations to talk about maths. :D

      Although, as it happens, if you talk too much about it I stop understanding. My first degree is in history. I specialized in mediaeval political theory. My actual pre-PhD job ended up highly statistical of course, but it's not like I have any kind of proper qualification in maths. I should probably not be teaching anyone statistics, and yet, somehow I keep ending up doing so! I only teach first year undergraduate business school students though, so it's not like we do anything very complicated.

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    2. I teach first year undergraduates as well. Oftentimes, I find myself helping them unlearn all of the horrible math they acquired before joining my class. It's gotten to be really scary.

      The three of us must be kindred spirits because I didn't understand all the fuss about the 2012 mini wardrobe rules either. It made sense to me. I discussed this with another member because I thought I was going nuts. I won that contest too. =) I'm probably not going to join this one, but I'll be rooting for you and Nakisha.

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    3. I taught all Masters level students this year (not stats, but my actual subject for a change, which is Management Information Systems) and of course they all had to write papers and whatnot for assessment. I actually had native English speaking students hand in papers with grammar errors like "should of" in their text. I really don't even know what high schools are teaching any more, because if a 22 y.o. postgrad is making those kind of errors, ugh, what are the kids who DON'T pursue higher education like? D: (Also, it's so funny how many academics I've 'met' in the sewing world!)

      I had to go back and look at your winning wardrobe, and ooooo, pretty! Did you wear it all a lot after you won?

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    4. OK, now I'm crashing in. I always laugh when people say they can't even draw a stick figure because I have an art degree!!

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    5. Chesneykat, I am envious of your obvious artistic talent then! I am definitely not proud of my can't-draw-a-stick-figure lack of skillz. Sadly, however, the artistic muse passed me by when handing out gifts!

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    6. Oy vey. Student writing is atrocious! I sometimes have students submit written explanations of their work. Judging by what I get, grammar and punctuation seem to be mere suggestions - sort of like a car's turn signal: sometimes you use it, oftentimes you don't. I end up correcting more writing errors than math errors.

      I wear everything except the orange knit shirt. The neckline stretched terribly. I don't even know where it is. =)

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    7. What I can't understand is students who hand in badly written papers with tons of spelling mistakes... written in Word, which has absolutely loads of ways of checking your spelling. Why would you not spend three or four minutes running a spell check, especially when your lecturer has TOLD you she likes to see well written papers? It's just dumb.

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    8. I know!! Word not only has spell check, it has a grammar checker too!! I would almost accept a submission pulled out of someone's ass over what I've been receiving. At least then I know what I'm getting. ;)

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    9. I AM SO WITH YOU. Some of the stuff I got from my post-grads was just shameful. As in, I literally wanted to give them YOU OUGHTA BE ASHAMED OF YOURSELF as a grade.

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  3. I wanna teach math!!!!!!! :-) Although the husband and kids have decided I should never teach anyone, anything. Boo them.

    YESS! I remember your ensemble L!! YOU made me try the amazing fit pants! Yay!!

    And chesneykat...shaking my head. LOL!!!

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    1. I wouldn't personally teach any level below higher education. I'm supportive of my students but I'm not looking to have the kind of classroom relationship with them you have to have at high school and especially at primary/elementary school.

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    2. Didya see the response to your question about the mini-wardrobe challenge? They are making the rules "challenging". I bet this messes with my half-formed plans. If they're going to be challenging though, they need to PUBLISH those rules, because all the people who couldn't cope with the 5 items, 6 outfits rule will need time to make sense of it all!

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    3. ITS UP!!!

      5 sewn items. One can be a wearable accessory (eg scarf) and the 5 items must combine to make six looks

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    4. Oh man, the fifth item threw me for a loop last night because I'd only thought of 4 things, but this morning I woke up with like, twenty ideas for the fifth thing. :D I AM EXCITED.

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    5. I am in a frenzy over what my 5th idea should be too!

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    6. I like the high school level and up. I loved my ninth graders. They were old enough not to be whiny and young enough to be scared of me. It was perfect. =) Middle school is toughest because hormones start to kick in and students don't know what to do with themselves. Well...nowadays I think they've figured it out - which only adds to the problem. Primary school is not for me. You have to know how to add. =)

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    7. My mum taught 5-6 years olds and LOVED it, but I haven't got the patience or mind-set for the littlest kids. She says she wouldn't teach undergrads for ALL THE MONEY IN THE WORLD. It all works out somewhere so long as we all keep preferring to teach different age groups. :D

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    8. Haha. Among the three of us, we have all levels covered!

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