Hiking the Dish (Stanford University, Field Trip)

Hiking at The Dish

Radio waves measure stars,

Space commands and chat. 

The Dish, a giant radio telescope above Stanford University, can be counted on as a time travel portal that takes me back to a time when we *knew* our short-term future lay beyond the stars.
~ ~ ~

Web Resources

About The Dish at Stanford University http://dish.stanford.edu

Wikipedia on The Dish http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Dish_(landmark)

Pattern Work: Binder Clips and Household Hooks Keeps Pattern and Fabric Sections Current in a Small Space (Organizing )

Three clips in action!
A little binder clip is hooked over the neck of the hanger.
A bigger binder clip is attached to the top of the hanger.
Farther down one of the hanger hooks supports a few more pattern pieces.
I take advantage of the up and down bits of the clips as well, to keep things out of the way.

Since I've begun working with patterns I'm creating from scratch or altering, I'm finding that I need to keep my pattern pieces handier during the project. That's because I make more changes as the work progresses. 

Locating and re-ironing a particular piece really adds a lot of time. It also just kind of makes me feel nervous not to have my pattern pieces handy, when I have so many personal decisions invested in them!

The most important things are:

1) Don't lose any pieces! I've invested a lot of myself and my time in them.

2) Have all the actual garment pieces, as well as pattern pieces ready and pressed 

I've seen photos of sewist's and designer's studios with their big tissue pieces hanging from specially designed walls and display areas. That's really neat! But, I don't have that kind of space. I've mentioned before that I have a sewing zone, not a whole room. That means I'm sharing my sewing space with my family.  It means I clear off the communal work table, and put most of my bits and pieces away, every time I stop a particular work session. Honestly, I'd rather have the company than the space!

A skirt hanger holds up a number of current pattern pieces. More pieces dangle from another binder clip I slipped over a nail in the corner (off to the left). These areas are, more or less, out of the way from other folks who use the family room where I sew.

My pattern pieces and cut out garment sections are another thing however. I need to be sure I have all those individual pieces - both cut out fabric sections and individual pattern pieces I need to refer back to - close at hand and ready to use. I also need them to stay as pressed as possible in between work sessions. I bet you know the challenge of having maybe only a half an hour to sew. It can take that long to re-press a cut out section or pattern piece.

What works for keeping my pattern pieces at the ready and out of the rest of my families' way? 

Binder clips (two sizes), skirt hangers with clips, and every out of the way hook (or nail) I can find, does the job for me. I also have one of those long 'S' hooks (designed for plant pots) that I can slip into loops like the curly brackets that support our high shelves. Once I have hooks in place, I have something to slip my clips and hangers over. There are my pattern pieces all ready to go - snugged in a clip - with the cut out fabric attached, or just on their own waiting to be called into use, or  ready for a penciled note. 

I can hang up layers of pattern pieces within one binder clip and laying over another. I can dangle all those clips from a hook, nail or the neck of a hanger. Several items (both paper and cut out pressed-and-ready-to-go fabric) can be clipped together. 

This method of keeping all my pieces hanging at the ready has really helped me during my current work on my shirt dress Ivy. That silk noil fabric wrinkles like crazy, and I've saved a lot of ironing time.

Once the project is over, I'll make sure I've got all my notes on the pieces, then fold and press them, and store them away in my "Tried and True" pattern box. But for the time being, my clip and hook organization method keeps what I need handy, while making sure nothing gets in anybody else's way.

Figuring out how to keep my pattern and garment sections pressed and at the ready, helps make my sewing time more enjoyable, because it keeps my project steaming along.

That's the kind of thing that keeps me . . . 

Enchanted by Sewing!

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Web Resources

More About My Sewing Zone http://meencantacoser.blogspot.com/2013/07/the-sewing-zone-no-room-for-sewing.html

The Sewing Zone - Carving out Room for Sewing

I used to dream over those photos in sewing and craft magazines where the happy sewist has a lovely room dedicated to the enchanting pursuit of sewing. 

She (yeah, I know you sewing fellas are out there - but in this case "she" is an imaginary me) has racks on the wall full of neatly arranged spools of thread, full length mirrors on either side of the room, shelves and cabinets stocked with neatly organized and folded fabrics, interfacing and lining, file drawers stocked with patterns that look like they did the day she brought them home from Fabulous Fabrics and two permanently situated dress forms in some idealized size, onto which her patterns fit without the need for any kind of adjustments. Naturally her sewing machine occupies the place of honor, right next to a huge perfect-height cutting out counter.

Now let's get real. I live in a small two-bedroom house with two other people, a pooch and a marvelous marmalade cat. We do other things here besides sewing, including cooking, eating, watching movies, reading newspapers, magazines and books, and gardening. Out here in California many folks have smaller houses and most of us don't have basements or the kind of attic you can walk in (we can slide a few things along under the eves by standing on a ladder, but that's not where I want to cache my sewing inventory - though I have done it!). There is no hardly-used room or covered space that I can discover. Our garage does not house our cars, but it does serve to store bikes, tools,  and numerous metal racks that hold products from the big box store and other household necessities.

There's no little-used room or commodious closet (our bedroom closets were built in the late 30's when, apparently, people were happy to be able to hang up 5 or 6 garments and call that their wardrobe) that I can claim as a sewing room. But over time I have carved out what I call my sewing zones. There are two sewing machines setup on different parts of our family room, and I'm happy I can keep them setup all the time. My sewing zones also includes room in some cupboards and on shelves in that same room. I share those storage areas with other members of the household. In a pinch, I've been known to hang fabric folded over a hanger in the front hall closet, or one of our tightly packed 1939 closets. And, yes, I do have a few stacks of plastic bins on the big box shelves in the garage, that hold another portion of my fabric inventory. My duct tape dress form, Helen, lives out there in a plastic bag as well. My new dress form, Colette, (I'm making her in a class at summer school) will live there as well, when she's not in use.

When I need to do some cutting out I clear off somebody else's work or study project from the family room or dining room table, get my project done and then shift their stuff back. When my daughter was younger I used her twin bed with one of those grided accordion folded up cardboard things you buy at the fabric store. I have to keep my ironing board put away when I'm not actually using it, so that people can get out the back door.

My sewing zones are kind of fluid. If we have a party, I may need to carry my machines out to the garage (don't open the door and try to walk, please!), and when my daughter graduated and moved back home (good fortune on the post-college job hunt Darling) I cleaned out the whole front hall closet for her and managed to stuff the fabric inventory I kept there into another corner of the antique wardrobe that compensates for our lack of closet space.

I don't fret about moving things around. I don't mind if you want to watch "Myth Busters" while I sew, in fact I kind of like it. I often put on an old movie in the background for company when I'm sewing on my own anyway. When I do my hand sewing I watch t.v. with my family, or curl up with it in my bedroom, or take it out in the living room to hang out with others while they read or play a game. Because sewing can be a pretty social activity, and I don't need to be isolated to have a lot of fun doing it. I'm very happy for you if you are able to dedicate an entire room to sewing, but I'm not envious. 

Don't get me wrong, I wouldn't turn down a present of a special just-for-me room if the great goddess of sewing suddenly showed up on my stoop and handed me the golden key to an invisible door I'd never seen before. (Yes, that does sound like a children's novel waiting to be written, doesn't it?) However, no matter how limited my space, you're always going to find that I'm still.... enchanted by sewing.