When I decided to commit to spending one day a week “unplugged” from work and screens as my resolution at the beginning of 2016, I expected that in addition to going back to regular churchgoing, I would spend more time sewing and would be even more productive than usual. And I have had a couple of uninterrupted sewing sessions during the last ten weeks and I made two dresses and a pair of PJ pants for my daughter. But what surprised me is that even more than sewing, what I have really relished is uninterrupted time to read, particularly in the early morning before church when the sun is coming up and the house is quiet and still. I have always enjoyed reading. I belong to a book group and I read for fun. But for many years, I was frustrated at the ever growing gap between the number of books I wanted to read and the number I had time to read, especially during the almost ten years I spent going back to school to become a Nurse Practitioner when all I read were text books and journal articles. I also have a long list of classics I feel I should have read but never did and I was starting to think I never would. But, this year has been different. I have read almost as many books in the last 10 weeks as I did all last year and it has been really wonderful. Not so much because I am crossing titles off a list but because having one day of the week with no plans means that I have a day when I can start a book on Friday and then read it all Sunday and really get into the flow of the book. It is different kind of experience than a chapter a night. Like watching a movie, I get caught up in the story and don’t want to stop reading. And I have read some great books which I am excited to share.
I also found some great resources online and learned how to make the most of my local library. And my husband gave me a kindle for a surprise birthday present back in January which I am really enjoying although I still do most of my reading the old fashioned way with printed books from the library.
I find the books I end up loving from a couple of trusted sources. These include the online group Great New Books which I follow on Facebook. This is a group of avid readers, some of whom are bloggers. I have enjoyed the variety of books that they recommend because each has different interests. One of the Great New Books members is Lindsey Mead who blogs at A Design So Vast. She and I seem to have similar taste in books and I have found books I have loved because I have followed her recommendations.
I have followed the writer Catherine Newman for several years. She blogs about parenting and life and shares amazing recipes on her blog, Ben and Birdy. I have not gone wrong reading books she recommends. I also highly recommend her book, Waiting for Birdy about pregnancy, motherhood, siblings. She is laugh out loud funny and also captures the magic and awe of parenting. It is a must read for all you young parents and parents to be. I am eagerly awaiting her new book: Catastrophic Happiness which is coming out next month. I pre-ordered it for my Kindle, something I have never done before, because I know it will be that good.
My main new source of great books and suggestions about how to fit in more reading time is Anne Bogel who blogs at Modern Mrs Darcy. Anne has always had great book suggestions and summer reading lists but I have sometimes been overwhelmed by the sheer number of titles on her lists but at the beginning of this year she started a new podcast, called What Should I Read Next. It is a simple premise: she has one guest and she gets feedback on books that they have loved and hated to make recommendations, but so far, there has been a wonderful magic that happens in the very short podcasts-20 minutes or so-and the conversations are really fun to listen to. Each guest has been really unique in terms of their taste, background, why they read and it has made the show so much fun to listen to and has added many new to-be-read titles to my lists. Anne also rates audio books, something I never took advantage of but as the result of a blog post she did about how to use Overdrive to download audio books from your local library, I have really enjoyed them in the car and at home when hand-sewing. I have also started reserving books I want to read online and picking them up from the library which saves a lot of time and money and motivates me to keep reading. I have picked up a couple of books that appealed to me at the library on a whim-because they were near the checkout. A few were forgettable but a several were great reads that I might have missed otherwise. All in all, I have read over 30 books in ten weeks-25 books and 7 audiobooks. I don’t read all genres but I do bounce back and forth between more heavy duty fiction and lighter smart chick-lit and murder mysteries and my favorite genre is probably memoir. I like contemporary fiction where the plot is unpredictable and the characters have flaws but I like there to be some hope and I like to like the characters. I have a hard time with books where the main character is unlikable or with whom I can’t identify at all. So here are the best of the group.
Fiction:
11/22/63 by Stephen King-it’s long but very captivating. He is an amazing storyteller. I could not put it down but it took several days to read–a commitment but worth it
Brown Girl Dreaming by Jacqueline Woodson-it is fiction but based on the author’s childhood. Told in free verse. I listened to the author read the book as an audiobook. Highly recommend
The Red Notebook by Antoine Laurent-translated from the french, a little gem of a book. Quite short if you have limited time. I enjoyed it and was sorry when I was done reading it. I then read The President’s Hat, by the same author. Equally charming but if you have time to just read one, I would read The Red Notebook
Fates and Furies by Lauren Groff-this falls into the category of a book I am glad I read because it was well written and gave me food for thought but I wouldn’t exactly call it enjoyable. Quite intense and thought-provoking. Probably a good book club read.
The Last Days of Rabbit Hayes by Anna McPartlin-mom dying of cancer so skip it if this is something you would have a hard time with but I loved the book. I loved the characters and the family she portrays.
Come Rain or Come Shine by Jan Karon-10 years ago before I went back to grad school, I had read all of the Mitford books and really loved them but life got crazy there for many years and I missed a couple. I grabbed this from the library shelf and was really glad I did, especially since my daughter got married last year.
Memoir:
The Light of the World by Elizabeth Anderson-beautiful, heartbreaking-a must read, unless it would be very upsetting to you to read about the death of a spouse-in that case pass
When Breath Becomes Air by Paul Kalanthi-beautiful, heartbreaking, a must read-same caveat as above and the author here has cancer so if that is difficult for you then pass
Between the World and Me by Ta-Nehisi Coates-a letter from a father to son. I listened to the author read this and it was incredibly powerful. It is about 3.5 hours long. Can’t recommend more highly. I will listen to it again. In these times with all that is going on in our country, this needs to be heard.
This is the Story of a Happy Marriage by Ann Patchett-I loved her essays about her writing process, her relationships with her grandmother and her husband and everything in between. The Getaway Car, a story about becoming a writer, should be required reading for anyone who wants to write
Gratitude by Oliver Sacks-four long essays previously published. I had read them all before but got so much from them on rereading. I have this on my kindle and I know I will go back to it
Hammerhead-the Making of a Carpenter by Nina Maclaughlin. I loved this. I loved reading about the nuts and bolts of how this writer started out with no experience and learned a trade. I loved reading about Boston where my son lives. It reminded me of learning to be a nurse. Knowing about something and actually learning and performing the skills are very things. She also had some wise observations that she shared along her journey. Highly enjoyable. Not heartbreaking!
For the medical people: When the Air Hits Your Brain by Frank Vertosick, Jr MD-I really liked the author’s writing style and I have liked this genre of medical memoir since I was in 6th grade and read Emergency Room Diaries. I learned a lot too. Might not be for the non-medical people or those who are squeamish
My Kitchen Year by Ruth Reichl. I expected to like this but I ended up really loving it. I focused less on the recipes-although they looked amazing-I may have to buy the book at some point-I read the library copy–and read the little stories that introduced each recipe. Really a wonderful book. She wrote about picking up the pieces of her life after the magazine that she was the editor in chief of-Gourmet-folded under her watch. She comes across as someone who you would like to have for a friend-and not just because she would make you the best food you ever ate.
Four Seasons in Rome by Anthony Doerr-a memoir of a year he spent as a Fellow in Rome working on the novel that would eventually-ten years later-because All the Light We Cannot See- and being a new parent to twin babies. I love the descriptions of the city and the honesty he has in describing parenting and the struggle to put words to page.
Murder Mysteries:
I am loving the Flavia De Luce series on audiobook. The best. SO wonderful-although the heroine has a love of chemistry and the macabre so be forewarned, she will discuss the decomposition of bodies so if this would upset you, beware. But the narrator is so fantastic, the writing is smart, the character is so engaging-as if Roald Dahl’s Matilda became a sleuth. I will be sad when I am done with them but will probably listen to them all over again next year. They are that good.
I discovered a fun new series through Great New Books: the Amory Ames mysteries by Ashley Weaver: Murder at the Brightwell and Murder Wears a Mask. They have a Downtown Abbey feel and there is some romance. Very fun. There are just two so far but I am hoping she will write more.
I also read a couple of the Aunt Dimity series by Nancy Atherton which I have enjoyed for many years and the latest book in Louise Penny’s Inspector Gamache series which are very different in terms of style but both very enjoyable.
How to Read More
I have adopted many of the suggestions Anne Bogel makes here. I read multiple books at a time. I have a book available on my phone at all times because the kindle syncs to the phone, I listen to audio books in the car and when I sew. But the biggest change has been having one day of the week that is unscheduled and during which I don’t go online. It has really enabled me to read in a a way that was not possible for many years and for that I am very grateful.
I keep track of the books I read on Goodreads. I like being able to look back and see what I read and what I loved most. I don’t write reviews but I do rate the books and Goodreads has a tab called STATS that you can click on that will sort the books by year and by rating. I also like to be able to add books I want to read to my Goodreads account so I don’t forget the titles.
Right now I am loving Big Magic by Elizabeth Gilbert. I was not a huge fan of Eat Pray Love. I think I read it when I was also newly divorced and so broke that reading about her travels was hard to relate to but I loved her novels: The Signature of All Things and Stern Men, a novel about lobstermen on an island in Maine that I read way before Eat Pray Love and before I knew who she was. It is interesting reading her take on the creative process right after reading Ann Patchett’s book since they are friends and have similar insights.
Happy reading! And check out What Should I Read Next on itunes even if you are a mom with no time to read. You can subscribe for free. I honestly look forward to the new episode each Tuesday. And all you moms, have faith. You won’t always be up to your eyeballs in laundry and soccer practice. One day you will have time. For now, you have to be creative and use nap time or do what I did and tell your kids after dinner that if they are very very good and brush their teeth and get into bed in their jammies, they can have extra “Quiet Reading Time”. I did this every evening. I tucked each one into bed with a stack of books and they loved it. And then you can read your book-if you are not too exhausted. But you have to start them early! I also love what Austin Kleon says here in his post on How to Read More. Pay particular attention to number 1.
More all-time favorite reads for adults and kids below.
Back in October, I was lucky enough to find myself in Austin, Texas, visiting my son for his birthday and staying with a friend I have known for over 20 years through two states (we both moved from the same Brooklyn neighborhood to the same school district in the same Connecticut town without realizing it and ran into each other at the elementary school), one preschool playgroup, parenting teenagers, our respective divorces, many bowls of bibimbap (she is Korean and we have had many fun shared meals with and without kids) and many other hills and valleys of our respective lives. While I was there we had a bit of time to kill on a Sunday afternoon before we met my son and his girlfriend for dinner (food in Austin = amazing btw) and I set the gps for a little store I had seen online, 
I like to make two of a pattern at a time. I started the double gauze dress and a second Washi with sleeves (made with Bound fabric by April Rhodes also from the Cloth Pocket-sadly now sold out-) right after the holidays. I worked on these a bit at a time. Here are the bodices. I have made the Washi dress pattern 8 times this year so it goes really fast.
The double gauze is a bit trickier to work with than quilting cotton. It stretches and shifts and frays and so I wanted to do french seams which took a bit more time. In my experience, it is better to cut the pattern with a bigger seam allowance for the seams that you plan to french seam. I did that in this case and it ended working well. I actually sewed the first seam and still had a lot of frayed threads poking through so I sewed a second seam.
Luckily I had enough ease and while the fit is close, it fits nicely. Double gauze has a bit more give than quilting cotton so I planned to make the fit a bit closer.
Looking at this picture reminds me that I have plans for this blue chair that involve fabric that isn’t blue! Hoping to learn how to make a slipcover sometime this year. The good thing about double gauze is that it has good recovery. One time through the washer and dryer and you wouldn’t have any idea that it had stretched in the sewing/ironing process.
I made a size Medium and added 2 inches to the length (I am 5’9″). This is shorter than my typical Washi. I usually add 3 inches but recently I have made a couple of somewhat shorter versions to wear in the winter and fall with tight or leggings and boots. The summer versions I like to have about knee length and the double gauze version falls a couple of inches above the knee. Washi in progress post shirring below. There is a great explanation of how to do the shirring on the Made by Rae website.
I lined the bodice with organic cotton unbleached batiste which I bought from fabric.com and which I need to buy more of because it is a perfect lining fabric. I top stitched around the neck seam because I thought it would make the neckline hold its shape better. I do this about half the time depending on the fabric I use. I used the sleeve pattern that you can print from the Made by Rae website. Rae has a tutorial that explains how to measure and add sleeves. 
I added a bit of ribbon with snaps for bra and slip straps. The key is to remember to do that during the sewing of the lining which gives a much nicer finish. I used the video tutorial by Rae for sewing the lining using the sausage technique to get a clean finish. It is bit tricky with the sleeves since there is quite a lot of fabric in the fabric sausage but it ended up working well.
I sew the strips on with a 3/8 seam (eyeballing it) and then fold and iron and sew a line of stitching to catch the upper edge. These are not bias binding, just strips of fabric cut on the grain. Since they are going to be sewn on to a basically straight edge, I find that this works fine and it is much quicker and easier than bias strips. For the double gauze dress sleeves, I used a 2 inch strip and created a channel and inserted elastic.
On the Bound version I used a 3 inch strip for both of the hems because I didn’t plan to use elastic and I thought it would lie flatter and that has been the case. Although I didn’t originally plan it, I ended up using the same pink cotton for both dress facings since it was the perfect weight and I had just enough. Sleeve facing in process below. I fold it so that the amount folded under is almost as big as the hem. It lies nice and flat. I don’t have any issue with not catching the entire folded edge and I am happy with the finished product. I do a lot of ironing. I iron the first seam after I sew it and then fold on the seam and iron and then do the sort of three way fold and iron again inside out and then flip it and iron it on the right side prior to sewing and make sure I am happy with how everything lines up before I sew. Sometimes it is so well ironed that I don’t even pin the sleeves. I do pin the hem to make sure nothing shifts.
If I were using a fancier fabric, I would hand sew the hem but I have used this technique for quilting cotton, heavy flannel and double gauze and I am really happy with it.
I like the little bit of a contrasting fabric, it is quick and it is forgiving and the seam between the two fabrics is an easy visual guide for where to turn the hem up. I included more examples of this in a prior post about finishing techniques that I have used on many of my garments.
I love both of these dresses and I know that they will get a lot of use.
Morning light through the window of my front door at Sunrise Valentine’s Day 2016.
My new year’s resolution for 2016 was to keep Sundays as a day of rest. After almost 9 years of working most weekend days, I decided to do what I have to do to keep this one day a week as a day off. I don’t work and I don’t generally go on social media. It has been a wonderful treat. I have loved having unrushed time, being able to attend church regularly, having big blocks of time when I am awake and well-rested to sew, having the time and energy to go for a walk or cook a nice dinner.
Happy Sunday!
The view out the window of my sewing room on a recent unplugged Sunday.
I also made 3 dresses that were fails- all of which were for other people. I find it a challenge to sew for people other than myself and the one daughter who is close to my size. Two of my fails were made of knit fabric-I need to work on my sewing with knits skills- and one dress made of a somewhat stiff satiny party dress material that is hard to work with. I also sewed 2 felted wool sweater quilts that were not fails! These were inspired by a beautiful blanket I purchased over ten years ago in the Berkshires from 
As were the recipients.
I used the leftover plaid flannel for facings on a Pearl Shift. 
I finished these two early this week so technically first garments of the new year! They have already been worn to work. I bought some heavy cotton flannel on sale at Joanne’s before Christmas. I am so happy with my first Pearl and I know these will get worn all the time too. Great for those snowy cold days with leggings or skinny jeans and boots. 
So all in all 35 successful garments, 3 learning experiences and the 2 afghans. I am going to be honest and say that I am not sure how I did this but many of the suggestions that Christine Haynes makes in her 
Earlier this year I made two patterns from the Basics Collection by Cali Faye. They are both straightforward to sew and flattering to wear. I was inspired to make the Voila Shirt by 
I then went on to make two more Voila blouses with leftover fabric from my quilting days. I thought these cotton floral prints would work well with the shape for summer blouses. 
I made the two blouses at the same time which went fast. I lined the bodice of the cotton versions with white cotton muslin and I lined the navy double gauze version with the shirt fabric. I took 8 inches out of the width of the front and back of the floral shirts since the first navy blouse was still very full even after taking 6 inches of volume out front and back.
Shirt above prior to hemming. Shirt below getting bra straps added to lining of bodice.
The shirts fit well and the neckline is flattering.
I made the Pocket Skirt in a khaki green heavy cotton from Joanne’s. It worked well for the skirt and it has become a basic that I wore often all summer.
I cut a large and added 2 inches to the length. Pocket detail below. The construction is very straightforward. 
Attaching the waistband.
In the process of making the second skirt, I realized that I had reversed the front and back of the waistband when I made version one and so fixed that on version 2. Ironically, the second skirt did not fit as well because the front of the Calie Faye skirt is designed with more fullness than the back and my shape is the opposite. Luckily my daughter wears the same size but has a slightly different shape and it fits her perfectly so off it went to Florida where she wore it last summer.
When I made version two, I sewed the zipper a bit low leaving a gap at the top of the waistband so I made a button placket to hide the gap. I am happy with how it turned out.
I will definitely be making new versions of both of these patterns. Things I will do differently next time: french seams on the double gauze versions due to fraying, reverse the waistband on the pocket skirt, add more length if I make it in another flowy fabric such as linen or rayon. It was fine at the shorter length in the khaki but I think longer would be more flattering in flowy fabrics. I would also do hem facings for future shirts and skirts to cut down on fraying.
After many wearings and washings below.
The neckline facing is fraying due to my fabric choice and not using a wide enough strip of fabric to be able to turn it under and have a clean finish but it isn’t visible and it hasn’t affected the wearing of this garment which is in regular circulation. So comfortable, great right out of dryer, doesn’t need ironing and the heavy cotton flannel drapes well and doesn’t wrinkle too much when worn.
It is comfortable and cute over black leggings with boots and I have several more versions planned. I was not sure about this pattern at first because I was afraid it might be too shapeless as a dress and I wasn’t sure if the flared shape of the hem would be flattering but then I thought about making it as a tunic and wearing it over leggings so although I normally add length when I make dresses, I made this exactly as the pattern dictates cutting between the medium and large sewing lines. I added a zipper as a design feature. I don’t ever use it, I just put this on with it zipped but I was really happy with the look of the metal zipper with the yellow on the plaid.
The pattern matching worked out because I made a mistake and cut the two back pieces on the fold as one piece by mistake and then cut it apart. This turned out to work in my favor for matching the plaids!
I used some of the blue grey woven cotton fabric that I used for one of my Bianca dresses to face the hem, sleeves and neckline. I made the dress very quickly so it is not super neat on the inside. I liked the look of having the neckline topstitched about an inch down from the neckline.
When I make it again I will use French seams for a neater effect and less fraying. The fabric is a thick cotton flannel bought on sale at Joanne’s which is where I bought the zippers. I have definitely gotten my money’s worth from this dress and this pattern. It even made it into our Christmas card!
I went back to Joanne’s and bought several more yards of this fabric in different designs with plans to make more versions for myself and my daughter. I need about 2 1/2 yards to make the dress/tunic but found 2 yards of a second plaid I really liked so I pieced the sleeves. I don’t think it will be super noticeable.
I plan to use this plaid for the facings on the blue tweed Pearl:
Future Pearl Shifts:
These are high on my to-do list for this winter. Great pattern! Easy but with a nice shape. I definitely recommend it.
Hamming it up for my husband the photographer. I don’t usually ask him to take pictures but I was so excited about this make! It is great over leggings with boots. I was really happy with the final shape.
nursebeansews 