I have been doing more sewing, less reading but loved the new book from Laurie Frankel which I found through Modern Mrs. Darcy’s Anne Bogel-she is right- don’t read anything about it just pick up the book and read it. I loved the writing and the characters and the author’s very personal viewpoint on the subject matter. After reading the book, I read the Modern Love piece she wrote about her own experience which is worth a read but read the book first. I also really appreciated Deep Work-another MMD recommendation- and am currently working on implementing some of the suggestions into my life. I listened to a great audio version of Persuasion and finally finished Gilead which I had started and never finished many times. I loved it but I think I loved Lila more. A big goal for me this year is to read more classics and more books I already own so I am glad to be making progress on those fronts. What are you reading and loving?

I had planned to spend August reading the classics. I started out with the best of intentions and as luck would have it, Audible had this amazing version of Anna Karenina on $2 sale right at the beginning of August so I snatched it up and started listening.  And I am still listening 5 weeks later. I am definitely enjoying it but am still only about 60% of the way through. What I found as I listened was that I needed something other than a classic to read when I wasn’t listening to Anna Karenina. And I also found that I needed something a bit lighter to alternate with Anna Karenina in my listening queue. So much for power reading the classics! I have read more this year than any before (94 books to date) and I think one of the reasons why I have been able to read so much is that I alternate different types of books so I don’t get bored. So while I have been working my way through AK, here are the other books I read in August. These newer books by some favorite authors:

Truly Madly Guilty was a bit tough going in the beginning. There is a lengthy foreshadowing of something that you don’t find out until well into the book and many of the characters were not initially very likable. I was becoming quite impatient with the author but eventually did like the book and the way the author resolved the story and was glad I stuck with it. The new Louise Penny was a fast read. I love her books for the setting and the characters as much as for the stories. She doesn’t disappoint. I started reading the Lucy Burdette light and fluffy murder mysteries set in Key West when my daughter lived briefly in Florida. They are fun to read, the protagonist is likable, the setting is fun and they don’t require any major thinking on my part. Just the thing! I also read two more books that are over 50 years old so I would count those as classics.

Although not fiction, I loved Travels with Charley which takes place in 1961, the year I was born, and is the story of a trip Steinbeck took across America accompanied by his poodle. It was eerie how Steinbeck’s reflections predict the future-his musings on the ways that the telephone is changing life as he knows it-amazing. Also interesting to read his first hand accounts on tensions in the South at that time and hard to think about how many things have not changed given all the tension in our country now. I also really liked reading this just after reading this book and this book which were also set in the early 1960’s. Both are set in small mill towns in Maine so it was interesting to read about Steinbeck traveling though mill towns that had been described in both the fictionalized world depicted by Stephen King and the wonderful memoir of Mexico, Maine by Monica Wood.  I really enjoyed both of those books this year and highly recommend them. I had never read The House of Mirth and I am glad I did although I was a bit disappointed by some aspects of the story. I won’t say more so as not to spoil it for those of you who may be planning to read it. It was a relatively fast read. The story and the writing were engaging. I alternated my listening with these two children’s classics.

Both were fabulous. The Wind in the Willows narrated by Michael Holdern is Sooo good. Again, I managed to get it for $2 I believe. Very much worth a listen if you have a chance. I had forgotten how wonderful the writing is and the narrator is wonderful. I have been slowly working my way through Harry Potter on audio and the third book came up in my library queue so I made time for it. Very fun. Finally, I read this sci-fi book. I enjoyed it but not as much as this one which I have recommended to everyone. I am not sure if I will go on to read the next books in the series but it was entertaining. and different from my typical reads. 

Lastly, I finished this book of essays by Annie Dillard whose work I had never read prior to this year. I loved some of the essays and found others hard going but will return to her writing. Beautiful descriptions of the natural world.

I am going to plan to continue to alternate classics and contemporary fiction which seems to work better for me than a diet of all classics but right now I am loving this work of non-fiction by an amazing author. It will definitely keep me occupied for a while. What did you love this summer?

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, The Cloth Pocket. Once there I realized that I had stumbled on a gem. They have lots of fabric but what sets them apart is how carefully curated the inventory is-you basically want to buy everything in the store because it is all amazing. The store owner has great taste. My friend Ginny looked on in a bit of shock as I went to town, knowing that I was stocking up for projects for the next year. One of the things I bought was this beautiful Ellen Baker double gauze. The fabric is called Charms and you may still be able to get it  by linking here.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 finished the hems with a facing made of quilting cotton in a pale pink print. I cut a 3 inch strip for the main hem and a 2 inch strip for the sleeves.See below-a bit rumpled after wearing. The width of the finished hem below is a bit less than 1 1/2 inches. 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.Ironically though today it feels like spring so I now have visions of summer sleeveless Washi dresses dancing in my head. Great pattern! So versatile.

I still have a couple of large pieces of fabric purchased on that trip in October and I recently used some of a birthday gift to get some beautiful fat quarters that I plan to  sew into quilts for my children. I have been quilting for 25 years but I had a long hiatus during my main parenting years and it is amazing how many new wonderful fabric lines there are. I can’t wait to work with them.

Link: Washi Dress

The pattern directions for the Beatrix show some techniques for creating a very finished-looking curved hem. I followed these when I made my Mudan Moss Beatrix and I was happy with the results but since then, I have chosen to use hem facings as I do when I sew my Washi and Bianca dresses as I like the extra weight that it gives the hem and I think they lie flatter. Doing them this way is quicker and I also like the contrast of using a second fabric for the hem. When I made the Beatrix in a tunic length, I made the hem facing a bit wider and used two rows of stitching as I felt it was more balanced. When I finish the hems this way, they tend to not curl up, something that has happened with my more narrow, traditional hems. I am also very happy with the look of the stitching about an inch up from the hem. Here are some pictures of the results.After many wearings and washings below.