Coming Up This Week/More Pants and The Sew Along

Happy Monday Everyone! 

I'm one of those crazy people who loves Mondays. The day seems to hold all the possibilities of the week neatly in one day :)

A little later today, I will be doing the second post on my pant experience. 

Here's a sneak peek. The pair below were the first pair I made and I made them out of a wool crepe. They are not hemmed.  

The left side.

The dreaded back view :)

And the right side.

I'll have better pictures in my next post, along with the herringbone pants and the shorts. 

We will begin the sew along for the Islander Patterns Easy V Express Top tomorrow.

If you would like to join in, there's still time to get your pattern with a 20% discount. Just remember to use the code RHONDA at check out. 

We'll also discuss lengthening the pattern to make a dress. A dress out of this pattern is great as it's perfect for throwing on in the summer, and maybe even better with a shorter sleeve, or no sleeve. We'll also discuss deleting the sleeve, for a super cool version. With temperatures already hovering in the 90's. I'm looking for super cool!

Hope your day is off to a great start. 
See you a little later!

Sunday Night Reflections

Sunday's Salad/Mediterranean Summer Salad

I haven't posted a recipe in quite a while, but this one, at least in my opinion :), is well worth the wait. I originally made the salad during the winter, but for lack of a better name, I'm calling it a Mediterranean Summer Salad. It's light, and yet hearty enough for a main entree when you would like a lighter meal. For those of you who are vegan, it's perfect as it's full of protein.

Easy, easy to put together, just begin with mixed greens, about 3 cups. I like to tear them up a bit before I add the rest of the ingredients.

Top with 1/2 cup of cooked and cooled quinoa.

Next, 4 large, or 6 small radishes thinly sliced.

Chop 1/2 of a fennel bulb. The spicy aspect of the radishes mixes perfectly with the slightly sweet taste of the fennel.

Now add 1/4 cup of toasted and cooled chopped walnuts. If you are in a hurry, delete the toasting, but if you have time, the toasting of the walnuts adds a nice flavor. 

Chop 1 small avocado.
 

Toss the salad and set aside.

The dressing is so, so good. By all means, don't skip this step!
You'll need;
1/3 cup tahini (sesame seed paste)
1/3 cup of good olive oil
1 clove of garlic smashed and finely chopped
juice of 3 fresh lemons
Sea salt and black pepper to taste
Mix well. 

Dish up the salad, be sure to dig to the bottom as the good bits always fall to the bottom of the bowl. Drizzle the salad dressing over, dig in and enjoy! A warning, the dressing is so good that you'll want to eat it right out of the bowl!!!

The salad will make 2 large entree servings, or 4 side servings. Just increase ingredients for a larger crowd.
 

Mediterranean Summer Salad

Yield: 2 Entrée servings, or 4 side servings

Ingredients:

3 cups of mixed greens

¼ cup cooked and cooled quinoa

4 large, or 6 small sliced radishes

½ bulb fennel chopped

¼ cup chopped and toasted walnuts

1 small avocado chopped

Salad Dressing

1/3 cup tahini (sesame seed paste)

1/3 cup olive oil

1 clove garlic smashed and finely chopped

Juice of 3 lemons

Sea Salt and Black Pepper to taste

Directions

Mix all salad ingredients.

Stir to combine salad dressing ingredients.

To serve, drizzle salad dressing over salad and enjoy! 

It's All About The Pants

Unless you are one of a very small minority who can pull anything on and like magic, it looks great, you understand the challenge it is to get the perfect fit on just about anything. Skirts, dresses, jackets can all be a struggle, but we usually end up some some amount of luck in fitting and feel fairly happy with the outcome...except when it comes to pants!!! 

At least here in the U.S., it was World War II that ushered in pants for women. Women went to work in factories, building everything from airplanes to tanks. A dress just wasn't going to do, so they pulled on their pants and off to work they went. When the war was over, it was thought that women would return to their traditional roles in the home, some did, but many didn't. They loved their new found freedom, and they especially loved wearing pants. And so began the dilemma of finding a great fitting pair of pants. 

You may remember that I showcased Joyce Murphy of the School of Custom Clothing and Design back in February. Quite simply, Joyce has a passion for pants, and pants that fit well. Since last February, she has been working on a new website devoted to her method of fitting and it's just about ready to go. In the meantime, check out her website HERE. 

I interviewed Karen Bengston who has studied under Joyce and mastered pant fitting. Karen just held a pant fitting retreat in Colorado and I had the opportunity to attend. Lucky me! Since pants are a passion for so many of us, I thought I would walk you through my experience at the retreat. 

Joyce's pant pattern comes in sizes A-L with hip measurements that range from 35", to 63". Prior to the retreat, each participant was to take their waist and hip measurement and send them to Karen. Based on those measurements, she then chose the appropriate pattern size. 

When we arrived, Karen had muslins for us to try on, below is my muslin, made right off of the pattern. Not bad.

Here you can see the fit from the front,

My right side,

The back,

And finally, my left side.

Here's Karen fitting me. What a joy it was to be the one being fitted :) In this picture, an adjustment had been made to the waist and side seam.

Joyce's master pattern comes with adjustment lines that are to be stitched into the muslin. One of the lines is between the hip and waistline. Here you can see that Karen has pinched up the pants at this line.  

The fitting is complete. 
Front,

Right side,

Back. 
You can see that she did not continue with the same amount pinched in all the way to center back. Remember, this is just the muslin fitting, so the adjustments need to be made to the pattern and then the fabric will hang nicely. 

Left side.

In my next post, I'll show you my finished pants. I actually made 2 pair of pants and a pair of shorts. I had a GREAT time!!! One pair was made from a wool crepe, the other from a wool herring bone. The shorts were made from a denim with 3% lycra. Each fabric reacted just a little differently to the pattern. More on that as well in the next post.     

Karen is thinking about holding another retreat in September or November of this year, 2017. If you think that you might like to attend, email her at karenssewunique@gmail.com. Nothing better than going to a retreat with a goal in mind and walking away with it accomplished :) 

Sunday Night Reflections

I'm A Discount Code At Islander Sewing Systems!!!

Janet Pray of Islander Sewing System sent me a message and graciously offered a 20% discount on the Easy V Express top pattern for anyone who comes by the blog and would like to make up the pattern. And get this...all you have to do is enter the code RHONDA. I'm a discount code, what fun!!! You can find the paper pattern HERE, and the downloadable pattern HERE. 

I made the pattern up, THIS MORNING!!! as a dress and wore it to the Haute Couture Club June Banquet. That's right, I waited until this morning to get it made :/

I had planned to use the fabric from the resale shop dress I showed you yesterday, but I was a little short on fabric, so off to the stash for something different. Thank God for a stash! 

The pattern is quite easy to put together, but the neckline is just a bit tricky. The week of June 12th, I will begin the sew along, so there's plenty of time to get your pattern and follow along if you would like. We'll talk about lengthening the pattern and making it into a dress. We'll make a sleeveless version, maybe change up the sleeves for a little something different, and we'll also go over the neckline construction so that there are no questions. 

I really like the dress as it's super easy to wear, and I can pair it with heels are flats for a more casual look. This would also be cute as a tunic with tights, so lots of possibilities.

So remember, just put in the code RHONDA at checkout for your 20% discount.

Thanks Janet!!!

Easy Summer Sewing/Islander Easy V Express

I had hoped to have my new episode of Sewbussted's Material Witness up for you today, but alas, I have not finished the tutorial portion of the post, so it will have to wait just a bit longer. But, once it's up, I think you'll truly enjoy it :)

I got up this morning and said to my husband, "I want to be like Mike." You may remember the commercials that aired a number of years ago when this little kid said, "I want to be like Mike." The Mike he was referring to was Micheal Jordan. While Micheal Jordan''s athletic abilities are something to be admired, I'm referring to a totally different Mike. 

I absolutely love going to the theater. There's just something about watching a live production play out in front of me. A number of years ago, my husband and I saw a play about 4 men who had been taken prisoner in a middle eastern country. They spent years in total darkness. All very accomplished men prior to being taken captive. Based on a true story, it was interesting and heartbreaking to watch how they dealt with captivity. One of the actors in that play was Mike Nussbaum. My husband and I both were so taken with his performance, and have followed him since.

Last night we had the opportunity to see him in a play entitled, Relativity. It's a fictional story about an encounter that Albert Einstein could have had with a daughter that he and his wife in real life had given up to adoption. At 94 years old, Mike Nussbaum was absolutely incredible, and he held my attention throughout the entire play. The play also addresses questions about what is important in life, work, family and does one trump the other. Very thought provoking. If you are anywhere in the Chicagoland area, I would encourage you see the play. It's been held over until June 23rd, so there's still time. Just click on the link above for more info. 

Over the summer, we are going to have a little sew along of sorts with the Haute Couture Club of Chicago. Just a little something to encourage everyone to do a little sewing over the summer. We've chosen a lovely little top from Islander Sewing Systems. It's the new Easy V Express. 

To introduce the pattern, I am making it up...today :/, to wear tomorrow. I'm going to lengthen the pattern and make a dress. I've looked through the pattern and the instructions live up to the name, only 3 pieces and it is so very simple to put together.

I love finding pieces at the resale shop that I can use as fabric. Below is a strapless dress that I purchased a couple of months ago and pulled on over my t-shirt for this picture. The fabric is really nice and I like the pattern. While this would be cute on hot summer days, I think I'll enjoy it more made into the Islander Easy V Express. 

I'll show you the final garment tomorrow. 

For the sew along, I will be making up a few examples of the pattern, maybe changing the sleeve, making it sleeveless. Lots of options. If you would like to sew along with us, pop over to the Islander website and pick up a pattern. In later posts, I'll give you the opportunity to share your makes, and we'll also have conversations on our Facebook page which you can find HERE. 

I'm really looking forward to some fun summer sewing!