No Pretty Pictures, Just A Question

As this new year begins, I have a question...

Why do you read my blog?

There are millions of blogs to choose from, with tons and tons of chatter., so what draws you here?
As I move forward, it would be interesting to know what you really like. I'm not asking for what you don't like. There's so much negativity in this world and I would rather focus on the positive. Besides, I think that in finding out what you do like, I can then figure out on my own the rest :) Remember, you can catch a lot more flies with honey than you can with vinegar.
I so appreciate that you do drop by, and I especially love hearing from you.
Thank you :)

Monday Morning Inspiration

One of my favorite authors is Edgar Allen Poe. As often as I have read his work, I still keep a dictionary near by as there are so many words that he uses that are sadly, no longer a part of, at least the common day English language. Language was used to create subtle differences. The same can be said for sewing techniques. It's easy enough to pleat a full skirt, or just gather it up, but what about cartridge pleating? Cartridge pleating can become a design detail, or it can be used as it was traditionally. Below you see cartridge pleating as a design detail.

Here you see cartridge pleating used to control the fullness over the shoulder.  

You can see cartridge pleats used in graduation gowns and choir robes. The picture below is a great example of how the pleats allow for the fullness, but also keeps the fullness from rising up as it would in traditional gathering.

Below is a different take on a pleating detail that I thought was rather interesting. I think this is a Chanel garment. I love the tiny sequins between each pleat.

Although this is not a vintage garment, it's a great example of how cartridge pleats were used in skirts to control the gathering.

This is a vintage garment. The cartridge pleating gives a very fitted look to the top of the sleeve before it explodes.

You've seen this example before in a pocket inspiration post. A little difficult to wear something this large on the hips, but interesting nonetheless.

I thought this example was especially pretty.

Cartridge pleats used to create cuffs.

Totally avant-garde.

Here are a couple of examples from my own wardrobe.
A little dress with a 1920's vibe.

 Rather than cartridge pleat the fullness, I did a number of gathering rows. This is a much simpler way of achieving basically the same effect.

The sleeves on this suede jacket are done in the traditional cartridge pleating manner.

 Here you can see all the tiny little tucks.

If you would like to give cartridge pleating a try, I found this website,
http://historicalsewing.com/how-to-sew-cartridge-pleats The explanation is the best that I could find. This is a great tutorial especially if you think that you might want to do a period costume at some point.
And finally, this is not cartridge pleating, but when I was searching for examples, I came across this jacket and I thought the design lines were just so pretty. Thought you might like to see it too :)

Have a wonderful week!
Rhonda

Sunday Night Reflections

The most beautiful curve on a woman's body is

her smile.

Eating For Your Future

As many of you know, I believe in the power of acupuncture. Some years ago now, I had the opportunity to work with a wonderful Chinese acupuncturist. He was trained as a medical doctor in China as well as an acupuncturist. He is now on staff at the University of Texas Medical Branch in Galveston, Texas where he practices acupuncture. In short, he guided me to a much more healthy lifestyle and saved me from a rather major operation. Before I left, he insisted that I find a good acupuncturist in Chicago. It turned out to be a difficult task. I mentioned to my general practitioner that I was having a difficult time finding an acupuncturist that I liked. He asked me if he could recommend one to me. I almost fell off the table as many doctors are not so open to alternative medicine. I have now worked with the new acupuncturist on and off for just about 5 years.
With the diagnosis of the moles on my retinas and the potential for cancer, I marched back to her office. One of the perks of White Moon Healing Center is that the acupuncturist, Mary Helen Lee has a partner, Conan, who is an incredible herbalist and as it turns out, a fabulous cook. Conan writes for Epoch Times and includes recipes in his articles. He gave me a link to this article, so I decided to give one of the recipes a try. I was so happy that I did, as one bite and my mouth was so very happy!!!

Italian White Beans and Kale

2 tablespoons olive oil
1 large onion chopped
1 shallot chopped
8 cloves of garlic sliced
1 bunch of kale chopped, discard ribs
8 to 10 sprigs of fresh thyme, stripped of leaves. Discard stems.
2 bay leaves
½ teaspoon sea salt
½ cup water
2 15oz cans of cannellini beans, drained and rinsed
fresh ground black pepper to taste
½ teaspoon umeboshi plum vinegar (optional)

In a large covered pot, sauté onion, garlic, and shallot in oil until transparent. Turn heat to medium, and add water, salt, kale, bay, and thyme leaves. Cook covered until greens are soft, stirring occasionally. Turn down heat, add beans and pepper and cook another few minutes. Remove bay leaves and add umeboshi vinegar before serving.

*I did not add the Umeboshi plum vinegar as I didn't have any on hand. 

I had thought that 8 cloves of garlic would be overpowering, but not at all. As I said, one bite and my mouth was a very happy place!!! For those of you who are accustomed to having a meat dish at every meal may find it difficult to eat a vegan meal, so maybe give this a try for lunch. My husband and I had this for dinner a few nights ago and we both enjoyed it. I had a little leftover, so I had some for breakfast this morning and it was very satisfying. Maybe with the start of the new year, try substituting one regular meal with a dish like this. I think that in time, you might find yourself substituting a few more :)

A New Type of Resolution

On Christmas Day, our priest told a story of a miracle, not the miracle of birth that we've all heard, but a different type of miracle.
World War I began in July of 1914. Many thought the war would be over in a very short period of time, but it raged on and thousands lost their lives. Some asked for a truce on Christmas day in 1914, those in charge declined. But nonetheless, a miracle happened, guns were laid aside and opposing sides came together, offering gifts of food, cigarettes and cigars. It is believed that even a game of soccer was played. As the day drew to a close, the soldiers returned to their foxholes and once again picked up their guns and the war raged on.
As our priest told the story, the thought that occurred to me was, what if they had refused to fight? What if the soldiers who came together had laid down their guns and refused to go on?
As I thought more, I thought of the guns and the wars that we fight in our daily lives. What are those guns? They are jealousy, prejudices, anger, unforgiveness, spite...and the list goes on. What if we were to lay these guns aside? What if????

Mother of Reinvention commented that an ad was made, telling the this story. She said that it received some rather negative press.
Dagmar sent the link and I think it's well worth seeing, so I have included it in this post.

Fabulous Free Pattern Friday

Sweeping Rectangles Jacket

It began with the Sweeping Rectangles Tee.

Moved on to the Sweeping Rectangles Skirt.

Then, the Sweeping Rectangles Dress with Pockets. This is exactly the same as the tee top, just lengthened and pockets added to the contrast panel.

And the final installment in the series is the Sweeping Rectangles Jacket. The jacket is made up of 3 rectangles and it is so very easy to do.

The solid fabric is just a rectangular piece that forms a shrug. The piece that goes around the neck is another rectangle.

 The back view. The third rectangle is the sweeping rectangle portion, which is just another rectangle.

With the piece laying out flat, you see the shrug which is just a tube. With your arms stretched out, measure from one wrist to the other for the length. For the width, measure around your bicep and add at least 2" of ease.

In this picture you can see the rectangle that goes around the back. I used a 60" wide piece of fabric. Once the shrug portion has been sewn, try it on and measure from the bottom of the shrug to your desired back length and then use the full width of the fabric. If you are a little wider in the hips, you may want to put a seam at center back in order for your back panel to provide more room.

The back panel will be sewn across the back of the shrug, across the bottom and will stop at the seam intersection of the sleeve of the shrug. At this point, the remainder of the rectangle will hang free. In our next step we will attach it to the front panel.

The front panel is as I said, just another rectangle. Measure around the opening of the shrug across the neck from one arm seam to the other. Then measure the back panel that is hanging free. This will determine how long the front panel will be. I put a seam in my panel at center back. 

To determine how wide the center front panel should be,try on the shrug and measure from the seam at the armpit to the center of your chest. Double this measurement. So if your measurement from the armpit seam of the shrug to the center of your chest is 12", your front panel will need to be 24" wide. The front panel will be folded in half so that it is finished on both sides. Fold the panel in half and sew it to the back panel portion that is hanging free, across the neck area of the shrug and then down the other side of the back panel that is hanging free.

That's all there is to it!. Very simple and quick to make. Be sure to use a knit fabric as you will need the stretch for the shrug. The neckline rectangle and the back panel could be made out of a lace or any other fabric that has a nice drape.
The jacket can be worn with pants or a skirt. I made a matching skirt which is also just a rectangle with an elastic waist.

Clothes and The Choices We Make

Happy New Year EVERYONE!!!!!

I    it's officially 2015 all over the world! When I was in the first grade, our teacher had us figure out how old we would be in the year 2000. When I saw the number, my first reaction was that I would be pretty old :) WEll, it's 15 years later, i'm still here and i don't feel so old!!!!

     Last Monday i posted the book, "women in clothes," as a possible read for the new year. melwyk of http://magpiemakery.blogspot.com/, being the good librarian that she is, did a little research into the book and came up with some very interesting information and i thought i would share it with you as i think that rather, or maybe in addition to the the typical new year's resolution list, you might want to take a look at the survey. it's very thought provoking.

     the book was developed....

     "Through original interviews, conversations, surveys, projects, diagrams and drawings from over six hundred contributors – including Miranda July, Cindy Sherman, Elif Batuman, Mac McClelland, Lena Dunham, Molly Ringwald, Tavi Gevinson, Rachel Kushner, Roxane Gay and Sarah Nicole Prickett –Women in Clothes explores the wide range of motives that inform how women present themselves through clothes, and what style really means."     

Here's a look at the questions that were used to DEVELOP the book.

1. WHEN DO YOU FEEL AT YOUR MOST ATTRACTIVE?

2. DO YOU NOTICE WOMEN ON THE STREET? IF SO, WHAT SORT OF WOMEN DO YOU TEND TO NOTICE OR ADMIRE?

3. WHAT ARE SOME THINGS YOU ADMIRE ABOUT HOW OTHER WOMEN PRESENT THEMSELVES?

4. WAS THERE A MOMENT IN YOUR LIFE WHEN SOMETHING “CLICKED” FOR YOU ABOUT FASHION OR DRESSING OR MAKE-UP OR HAIR? WHAT? WHY DID IT HAPPEN THEN, DO YOU THINK?

5. WHAT ARE SOME SHOPPING RULES YOU WOULDN’T NECESSARILY RECOMMEND TO OTHERS BUT WHICH YOU FOLLOW?

6. WHAT ARE SOME RULES ABOUT DRESSING YOU FOLLOW, BUT YOU WOULDN'T NECESSARILY RECOMMEND TO OTHERS?

7. WHAT IS THE MOST TRANSFORMATIVE CONVERSATION YOU HAVE EVER HAD ON THE SUBJECT OF FASHION OR STYLE?

8. DO YOU HAVE A UNIFIED WAY OF APPROACHING YOUR LIFE, WORK, RELATIONSHIPS, FINANCES, CHORES, ETC.? PLEASE EXPLAIN.

9. ARE THERE ANY CLOTHING (OR RELATED) ITEMS THAT YOU HAVE IN MULTIPLE? WHY DO YOU THINK YOU KEEP BUYING THIS THING?

10. HAVE YOU EVER SUCCESSFULLY GIVEN SOMEONE A PRESENT OF JEWELRY OR CLOTHING THAT YOU CONTINUE TO FEEL GOOD ABOUT?

11. IS THERE ANY FASHION TREND YOU’VE REFUSED TO PARTICIPATE IN AND WHY? 

12. CAN YOU SAY A BIT ABOUT HOW YOUR MOTHER’S BODY AND STYLE HAS BEEN PASSED DOWN TO YOU, OR NOT?

13. HAVE YOU STOLEN, BORROWED OR ADAPTED ANY DRESSING IDEAS OR ACTUAL ITEMS FROM FRIENDS OR FAMILY?

14. WAS THERE A POINT IN YOUR LIFE WHEN YOUR STYLE CHANGED DRAMATICALLY? WHAT HAPPENED?

15. IS THERE ANYTHING POLITICAL ABOUT THE WAY YOU DRESS?

16. PLEASE DESCRIBE YOUR BODY.

17. PLEASE DESCRIBE YOUR MIND.

18. PLEASE DESCRIBE YOUR EMOTIONS.

19. WHAT ARE YOU WEARING ON YOUR BODY AND FACE, AND HOW IS YOUR HAIR DONE, RIGHT AT THIS MOMENT?

20. IN WHAT WAY IS THIS STUFF IMPORTANT, IF AT ALL?

you may answer these questions and more here. You could print out the QUESTIONNAIRE and use it as a personal tool, or submit your answers, your choice. as we move into this new year, i think questions such as these help us to think about what we really like, what we really want, and how we want to spend our time as we move forward.

May 2015 be your best year yet!!!!!