I think I'm going to try to write the post I was thinking yesterday.

Yesterday, we returned home from a week away with family. We hit snowy roads both coming and going and ending in a few inches of fresh snow at my doorstep. After you've been cramped in a car for hours on end, shoveling snow feels wonderfully fresh and fun. All three of us were out shoveling or brooming the snow and generally feeling glad to be home Afterward once inside, I got that feeling that I should immediately start unpacking and going through the mail, but I let myself wait. Instead, I sat in my gray armchair and knit the last ribbed inch of the sock I've been working on, as the last half-hour of sunlight-on-snow lit up my window.

I love the December holidays and the busy, merry-making parts of winter, but I've also come to love the coming months, the cozy months of winter, because there's really no reason not to sit and make things and have a little tea and watch a movie snuggled on the couch. I plan on being here plenty during the cozy time. During the busy time, there was just too much going on for me to have very much good to say!

But I did make a lot. These little sewn things were gifts for my nephews, ages 1, 3, and 9—an artist and two boys who certainly are not adverse to tossing a ball. The pencil case is of course Kathy's pattern as seen in Last Minute Quilted Gifts, and the balls were this pattern from the purl bee.

It's November, and I am making stuff to give to people. Last year I was doing this some time after November, like the day in December that was the day before I was leaving home for Xmas. That was a bad idea and I won't do it again. Last year I made kettle handle holder for my knitting buddies, and these potholders might actually be the thing I make that is most requested by family and friends. I used to think that people wanted it just for the cute factor. They would say they burned their hands on their kettles, but I didn't quite believe them. That was before I got my new stove. My new stove is gas. The old one was electric. Gas burners make your kettle handles much hotter. I found this out the hard way the first 10 times I went to pull off my tea water. Each time I burned my hand a little voice in the back of my head went, "Now you're cooking with gas!" It was fairly obnoxious, and I finally put on the kettle handle potholder I had made for myself.

If you want to make a kettle handle holder for you or someone else, here id how I did it. This pattern is also being published in Lark's Quilt It with Wool, due out in January. (Drat it's not out pre Xmas—I think it has good gift ideas.) Make as many as you want, but please don't make to sell.

Kettle Handle Potholder

Materials:

• 8.5 x 5 in. piece of felt (I used a fulled sweater)
• 8.5 x 5 in. piece of pattern cotton fabric for potholder backing
• 1/2 in. double fold bias tape (purchased or made yourself)
• 1 button

Instructions

1. Pin the felt to the cotton fabric rectangle of the same size, wrong sides facing. Quilt the two layers together. Use straight lines that run lengthwise and are 1 in. apart. Start in the middle, then work your way out to one side, then the other.
2. 
   After quilting, the edges of the cotton fabric will most likely not match up with the edges of the felt due to stretching while sewing . Trim the edges so that they are even--you will trim about 1/4 in. from each side.
3. Cut two 7in. pieces of bias tape, and sew the opening edge shut on each. These are your ties.
4. 
   Apply the binding. Cut two pieces of bias tape the size of the long sides of the potholder. Tuck the sides of the potholder into the fold of the bias tape and stitch close to the open edge of the tape. Take the two ties and line up one raw edge of both along one short edge of the potholder on the felt side. Pin them in place. Cut two pieces of bias tape that are an inch longer then the short sides of the potholder. Fold the bias tape over the short sides of the potholder, tucking the raw edges of the tape under. Stitch close to the open edge of the tape, through all layers.
5. Finishing: Trim the ends of the ties on an angle. On the felt side of the end of the potholder without the ties, sew the button about an inch from the edge (or place it so it fits your particular kettle when wrapped).

Sometimes embroidery takes me a really long time. It's not because it's hard, or boring, or tedious—it's because the thread runs out. It's the whole inertia thing. When I'm stitching, I want to keep stitching and when I have to stop and thread the needle, I want to just stop. Also, and perhaps this a window into the amount of anxiety I am capable of having, when the thread is about 2/3 used up, I get a little worried wondering when I am going to run out and have to re-thread. This is so weird because threading is not hard. I still like embroidery, though, and this will be pretty cute when it's done.

I knocked a to-do project off the archive list this weekend. (Yessss!) It's part of my efforts to catch up with the things I've been meaning to do—things I'm doing for others, in some way. Although the chair will be enjoyed by everyone, I did it now for Elie because he works so hard on this house of ours. He makes it looks new and crisp while still being old and stately, using methods that are completely beyond my talents. I can sew though.

This chair is one in a set that used to belong to Elie's mom, and she very kindly gave them to us a couple of years ago. They're covered in a peach velvet that has seen much love from grandchildren, dogs, parties, you name it. They've been needing some work, but nothing structural, just prettying up the dirt. I've always liked chairs in Country Living that look like they've put on understated dresses—fitted and tied linen numbers. I've had this in mind for these chairs for so long—I don't even know when I bought the fabric. The chair has such a simple shape that it wasn't hard to fashion covers with some basic pleating. I more or less spread the fabric on the chair and pinned and cut away where it shouldn't be. Then I did the edges in piping to sharpen them up. Now, the dirty peach is still under there, and I was reminded of what the instructor of the upholstery class I took a few years ago said: Upholstery can hold ages of dirt. If you cover an old chair, your cover is as likely to get dirty from the inside out as the outside in. Gross. To combat this, I made an under-layer of blackout curtain lining. It's kind of rubbery-plastic-y, so I don't think the dirt will come through very easily.

Here's the before:

Again, with the instructables! I can't help it. Whenever they have a sewing-related contest, I feel a need to make an instructable and enter. This contest was Kids Crafts—always fun—so the Beebs and I worked together on a tossable dodecadedron, which is a 12-sided rhombus, which is what you get if you sew pentagons together at all their sides. I chose this shape because one of Eva's friends brought home a school project that did this with paper (and had Abe Lincoln facts on each side) and we thought it looked neat.

The cool thing that Eva got to do on this project was to decorate the fabric (actually interfacing) with free motion embroidery before we cut it. It was great for her because she (understandably) gets frustrated trying to keep a seam allowance while learning how to operate a sewing machine at the same time. My hope is that projects like this will help her get comfy with the sewing machine so that she learns to love it and not curse it.

The link to the actual instructable is here: Sew a Dodecahedron.

1. Kasia(2), 2. Denim Kasia skirt, 3. Stripey Kasia skirt, 4. burdastyle's kasia skirt, 5. Red and blue skirt, 6. green kasia, 7. Burdastyle 6012 - Kasia Skirt , 8. Burdastyle Kasia 6012, 9. Kasia Skirt

Created with fd's Flickr Toys

I love how cute the Kasia skirt is. I admire it often on these folks on flickr. Nikkishell has made three of them, and they are all great. I am very tempted to make one—I even have a stretch cotton twill that would be the right sort of fabric—but I'm afraid it work work on my pear-ish shape. The high waistband (and obviously also the sailor-type buttons) make this skirt really fun, but it would not be fun if the my hips made the waist ride up higher and higher as the day wore on. It's really cute though.

I spent most of today looking really not cute. I'm pretty sure I was wearing that ugly old baggy t-shirt from that team building exercise I did for my old work—the one with the curry stain. I was painting, and then Elie and I hauled a lot of funky insulation up to the attic. We're trying really hard to clear out the back room so that we can actually finish and heat it this winter instead of closing it off for the season, as we've done for the last couple of years. Part of doing this has meant putting a bunch of random stuff on craigslist. I love craigslist and freecycle because we always have so much perfectly good stuff that just isn't useful to us anymore. Beige rolling office chair anyone?

First thing's first: A big thank you to Amy Karol for sewing Simplicity 2599 in Liberty. I love this poppy print so much and this was exactly the right thing to make with it. So given that I exactly copied that idea, there's not a lot of creativity put into this top in my part, but there is a nice amount of pattern manipulation—I tweaked it to fit me right.

I loved Melissa's Truthtelling post of a couple months ago—so much good advice about picking a pattern. Among other things, Melissa writes about what she looks for in a pattern as far as style goes. What things would she try on in the store. I had been nodding my head in agreement until this part, until I realized that some of her definite do nots were some of my definite dos. She says nothing that gathers at the waist for her, and I say, "yes, please gather at the waist! (Just don't squeeze it.)" She asks, "Where are the darts?" and I say you'd better be careful where you put those darts, buddy. So then the light bulb went off—we have completely different bodies. It shouldn't have been such a surprise, but it was. Now you know I love checking out flickr to see how patterns I am considering look on many different people. Being able to compare real bodies in patterns might be the best way to decide if one is going to work for you, but you have to be honest and aware of your shape. I think I consider these things when purchasing a pattern, but I'm pretty sure I'm not always honest with myself about how something that could look really cool on other people just might not look cool on me. But, OK fine, now you're at the point when you've chosen a pattern but what size to cut? Here's another falsh of knowledge from Melissa's post—I remember reading some time back on her blog that she cuts the same pattern size that I do. Good gracious! How would that ever work? The same size for two different bodies? How is it possible that anyone ever gets good results when sewing from a pattern? Enter my prime home sewing problem—The Small Bust Size.

General small bust problem: The pattern companies are not thinking about you

Sewers in the know correct me if I'm wrong on this fact, but most patterns are designed for a C cup. If you have an A cup and you cut a more fitted pattern as-is, you may end up with puffy fabric at your bosom. This is very disheartening. The pattern maker does matter some here, particularly if you compare Japanese patterns to American patterns. Japanese patterns are generally more boxy and less fitted, and I've found that works well for a small bust.

Small bust problem #1: Cup Size

A number of modern patterns are starting to include different tissue pieces for B,C, & D cups. This is a really great start. It doesn't help those of us on the ends of the spectrum, exactly, but it gives us something to work with. If you compare the different pattern pieces for B, C,&D, you'll notice that the main difference is the size of the triangle which you pinch in to form the dart. Bigger bosom=bigger triangles. Great, right?! If we want to fit a smaller bust, we just sew a smaller triangle right? Not quite so fast. If you simply cut the same pattern and sew a smaller dart, the fabric you cut is still there, it's just outside the dart instead of inside the dart, which means you have random extra fabric in your shirt, which makes it puffy feeling in the armpit. No one likes this. I think if there's one thing we can all agree on, it's nicely fitted armpits. I made the mistake of trying to fix a dart this way while sewing a vintage pattern, and here's the puffy pic to prove it. (Doesn't this shirt look like a dentist or a lunch lady? Also, BTW the small busted ought not sew vintage blouses. Torpedo bra anyone?)How do we resolve this? Oh, I had my clever seamstress friend, Sarah on the phone trying to figure this one out. Here it is: Before you cut your fabric, you need to make your side dart smaller on your pattern so you cut less fabric right there in the bust area. To do this, pinch in the middle of the dart on your pattern and just fold the extra tissue down. Keep the dart as long as it was, just make it a smaller angle.

Small bust problem #2: Side darts

If you have a small bust, you can use a side dart, but it could take a lot of manipulation (see above). Even after all that, it might not be quite right. For example, on my Simplicity 2599 Liberty top at the top of this post I cut the smallest cup size of the multi-cup, just-my-size pattern and that pretty much worked, except that the darts were under my bosom. Now, this could be because I'm on the petite side, but I think the pattern didn't account for the fact that when you have smaller breasts, the center of your bust is higher on your torso. Good thing I chickened out and made a muslin first before cutting into the good stuff! I fixed this problem by taking a half-inch tuck in the pattern above the dart.

Back to side darts. How to ditch them: One of my all-time favorite patterns, Simplicity 4077 doesn't use side darts for shaping at all—it uses front darts. This works great for a small bust as it's much more subtle, just like us, the small-busted. Subtle.

Small bust problem #3: Sidelinin' it—the side seam and bust-to-waist ratio

The side seam was a major point of contention with my gray McCalls dress. This pattern has seam shaping on the front. I should have been rather hesitant to try a pattern with seam shaping in front, but I wasn't really putting the proper amount of thinking into fitting my bust at that point. The pattern had cup sizes and the front luckily went OK, but oh the side! (See diagram.)

The pattern company adjusted for cup size on the front, but they didn't adjust at all on the side. I do not have a V shaped side. Because my chest is not terribly much wider than my waist, I do not need a lot of extra room at the top to accommodate it. How to fix: If your body has less of an angle at the side seam, just sew that seam with less on an angle. Instead of keeping strict with your 5/8 seam allowance, allow the seam allowance to grow bigger as you stitch from the bottom to the top of that seam. Warning: in patterns with sleeves this will affect the size of your armpit hole. I find issue #3 to be more of a problem with sleeveless tops than ones with sleeves.

That's my take on it. There may be more correct solutions, but this is what I've found through trial and error. If you read this blog because you know me and not because you like to craft, and you really never wanted to hear me say "bosom", I'm sorry, but I'm afraid you've read too far.

I'm listening to the happy funny sounds of Elie and Eva in the kitchen making some sort of crumble. They're saving the cherries from rotting in the fridge. Eva wants to know, actually, why the cherries are so much bigger than our wild plums. Something about "cultivated varieties". I'm trolling through the blogs because sometimes after a bit of a Monday all I can think is, "Good God, show me something pretty!" Thank you for that.

And maybe this is something pretty back. I started this dress back in June, and I was bound and determined to finish it up this weekend. It's been sitting in a pile in the dining/sewing room mocking me. If I didn't finish it soon, I would be sad. There comes a time in the summer season when unfinished projects serve as a reminder of all the things you thought you'd get done this summer but just didn't quite get to. Ha! I have turned it to a victory. But oh, it was a struggle. The top was sized wrong for me, and I had to re-sew the side seam a few times, and there was hand sewing, and I always dawdle on arm hole facings. In the end though, I love it and it fits. It's McCalls (McCalls? Who sews McCalls?) M5801. I possibly even made it in the same fabric (linen: black weft tan warp) as the envelope—weird. The sash isn't in the photo, but I made that too. I may have bought the pattern in part because I liked the funny little smirk the model has. I wish I had thought to smirk like this in the photo.

The headband is from the Anthropologie sale room in Shrewsbury, NJ. I like it, even though I don't think I can wear it to work. It's a bit distracting.

Last night I had a couple hours on my own, so I cut out these shorts for Eva, and then I sewed them up this morning. There's nothing quite as easy as shorts, and I had been owing Eva these. I bought a bunch of Heather Ross Far Far Away about a month ago, and I chose the frog prince print hoping that Eva would like it, and lucky me she did! She liked it enough to request that it be used for something for her before I even made the offer. How gratifying. We looked through the patterns together to find something she would like to be made up into froggies. There were some very tempting dresses, but in the end we decided that the shorts were more practical. Eva has many dresses that she loves, but doesn't wear much because they don't let her do her favorite summer activities, you know, climbing trees, doing cartwheels, etc. The shorts are letter "o" from Girly Style Wardrobe. I did them in size 140cm, the largest size in the book. Oh how sad she won't fit these patterns for much longer!

hope you're having a lovely weekend.

Oh, Stylish Dress Book! How you are filled with stylish dresses. This is my first stylish dress book pattern,—so excited about the book before I made it. I envisioned making every single pattern and then making a gallery page just to show each piece next to its letter. When I write it out it sounds even more crazy, especially because I know there are patterns in that book that I would never wear. I just love the idea of the book so much. In practice, I am not actually a Japanese model, and the voluminous tops don't drape in the same way. This top is letter B. It came out rather poofy in the front, and I was just going to embrace it (even though someone else in the house called it a mumu), but my mom had the brilliant idea to gather up the front under the bosom. Perfecto! Now I love it.

Used some of the Liberty I bought when I went to London last summer. I don't think I even blogged about the fabric I bought then, but it was so exciting. I happened to hit Liberty on their annual clearance and customer appreciation sale. Bonus. Also, did you know they have remnants there? They do. It took me so long to cut into the fabric because it seemed so dear, but then after a year of not using it, it made me more sad to have it go unused than it made me anxious to cut it. So!

Today was our first day of school here. It was completely uneventful, and now we have to start thinking about schedules again. It makes one realize that what is really especially good about the summer are a those unstructured evenings. Ah, well.