Tit forTatting... Embellishing my Buttercup Purse

I love this way this bag looks
with my new yellow tee shirt
The combination inspires me to get a camisole sewn
for this tee sooner rather than later.

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Do you Love Butter? In Praise of the Buttercup Purse

In case English isn't your first language, or you just never encountered the expression before, tit for tat refers to payback. For example, if you used my new sewing scissors to cut out paper, I might borrow your hammer to pound the pavement and leave it out in the rain. I'd never do that of course, just saying....

I don't know of any actual connection between my piece of tatting and that idiomatic phrase.

Yes, hooray! I finished my new bluebird buttercup purse. In Do you Love Butter? In Praise of the Buttercup Purse, I  had a lot of fun blogging about the buttercup game (as played by my mother when she was a little girl) that this pattern brings to mind. 

What do I especially like about my new bag?
1) Simple quilting, batting and crinoline interfacing gives it real substance and the potential to hold up to what I put in her.
2) An excuse to embellish a covered button with a bluebird's face. Isn't that a darling closure?
3) The opportunity to make use of eight inches of vintage tatting that I bought at last weeks De Anza Flea Market. I'm pretty sure that's a world's record for me when it comes to speed at which I used a newly acquired embellishment.

Closeup of bag, tatting
and covered button

I also love the way this bag goes with this sheer yellow tee shirt I finished a few weeks back. Unfortunately I can't wear them out together until I get a camisole sewn to go under the tee, as it's quite sheer. 

National Sewing Month ¿Estamos Listos? Are We Ready?

(Co-Published with Me Encanta Coser)

Septiembre es el mes para nuestra nación a coser!

September is, of course, National Sewing Month

¿Pero estamos listos?

But, are we ready? 

1) Los suministros / Supplies

I have a goodly sized fabric, trim and pattern stash. (You guessed that didn't you?)

2) El Plan / The Plan

I've got a basket full of things cut out that I plan to sew in September

          - One pair of green shorts, the same pattern as I used for "The Lady Wears Shorts" (see my earlier posting)

          - A cloche style cap, like the one I now wear almost everyday (It needs break and a bath!) . Refer back to "Chewing a Bun with Tuppence" (an earlier posting)

          - A beige lingerie type camisole to go under a very pretty sheer, burnt-knit, dressy yellow tee shirt I finished recently. (No, I can't take a photo of me in it because it would only look appropriate in the kind of establishment I don't patronize! You probably drive by them too.) Believe me, I need a camisole under that tee.

           - One test pair of unmentionable nether garments!

           - A mostly sewn buttercup purse (See my "Do You Like Butter?" posting)

There a few other projects in my basket that I'm not committing to for September, but they could fill in any extra sewing time .... another buttercup purse in home dec roses and stripes fabrics (leftover from aprons I sewed for myself and my daughter about six months ago), a reconstructed tee shirt I'll likely use for testing binding techniques - but it will still see use in the garden, a pretty partially sewn silk wallet I started with my daughter about 4 years ago that needs heavy duty snaps installed - a skill I need to work on.... You know the kind of stuff you resurrect and put in your to do basket, but don't actually commit to

3) Estudio de costura/ Sewing Studio

I decided to get serious and  signed up for Cañada College Fashion 110 "Introduction to Sewing". I call myself a low intermediate level sewer (and I'm always willing to take a chance on an advanced pattern) but being primarily self-taught, there is so much I don't really know and so many things I can, and have been learning. For one thing I'm not naturally neat (something in the genes I think). I don't have a good sense of how closures and edge finishes should even look, much less how to do them in a standard way. Also I just do a lot of things the wrong way. In addition, I often find written instructions confusing. And don't get me started on youTube videos. Yes, I use and love them. But I've done some pretty odd things following them. (More on that another time)

             - Right now I'm working on the first tee shirt project for our Fashion 110 class. I hope to cut out a sample version of that tee this weekend before I cut into the good stuff in class next week. With the help of our wonderful teacher, Rhonda Cheney, I added a dart to the basic Stretch and Sew 333 pattern (Rhonda really did the dart. I traced over her work, but I wrote a lot of how-to notes while I watched her work). I'd like to test the basic front and back with dart on a couple of $2.50 tees -I use two of the same color for test garments-  before I cut into my good stuff in el estudio.

I also signed up for a 4 session Lingerie Sewing Class at Cañada. I'm looking forward to learning how to work with elastic better, for one thing.

National Sewing Month?

 ¡Soy muy listo! 

 I do feel ready!

National Sewing Month ¿Estamos Listos? Are We Ready?

Septiembre es el mes para nuestra nación a coser!

September is, of course, National Sewing Month

¿Pero estamos listos?

But, are we ready? 

1) Los suministros / Supplies

I have a goodly sized fabric, trim and pattern stash. (You guessed that didn't you?)

2) El Plan / The Plan
I've got a basket full of things cut out that I plan to sew in September

          - One pair of green shorts, the same pattern as I used for "The Lady Wears Shorts" (see my earlier posting)
          - A cloche style cap, like the one I now wear almost everyday (It needs break and a bath!) . Refer back to "Chewing a Bun with Tuppence" (an earlier posting)
          - A beige lingerie type camisole to go under a very pretty sheer, burnt-knit, dressy yellow tee shirt I finished recently. (No, I can't take a photo of me in it because it would only look appropriate in the kind of establishment I don't patronize! You probably drive by them too.) Believe me, I need a camisole under that tee.
           - One test pair of unmentionable nether garments!
           - A mostly sewn buttercup purse (See my "Do You Like Butter?" posting)

There a few other projects in my basket that I'm not committing to for September, but they could fill in any extra sewing time .... another buttercup purse in home dec roses and stripes fabrics (leftover from aprons I sewed for myself and my daughter about six months ago), a reconstructed tee shirt I'll likely use for testing binding techniques - but it will still see use in the garden, a pretty partially sewn silk wallet I started with my daughter about 4 years ago that needs heavy duty snaps installed - a skill I need to work on.... You know the kind of stuff you resurrect and put in your to do basket, but don't actually commit to

3) Estudio de costura/ Sewing Studio
I decided to get serious and  signed up for Cañada College Fashion 110 "Introduction to Sewing". I call myself a low intermediate level sewer (and I'm always willing to take a chance on an advanced pattern) but being primarily self-taught, there is so much I don't really know and so many things I can, and have been learning. For one thing I'm not naturally neat (something in the genes I think). I don't have a good sense of how closures and edge finishes should even look, much less how to do them in a standard way. Also I just do a lot of things the wrong way. In addition, I often find written instructions confusing. And don't get me started on youTube videos. Yes, I use and love them. But I've done some pretty odd things following them. (More on that another time)

             - Right now I'm working on the first tee shirt project for our Fashion 110 class. I hope to cut out a sample version of that tee this weekend before I cut into the good stuff in class next week. With the help of our wonderful teacher, Rhonda Cheney, I added a dart to the basic Stretch and Sew 333 pattern (Rhonda really did the dart. I traced over her work, but I wrote a lot of how-to notes while I watched her work). I'd like to test the basic front and back with dart on a couple of $2.50 tees -I use two of the same color for test garments-  before I cut into my good stuff in el estudio.

I also signed up for a 4 session Lingerie Sewing Class at Cañada. I'm looking forward to learning how to work with elastic better, for one thing.

National Sewing Month?

 ¡Soy muy listo! 

 I do feel ready!

Do you Love Butter? In praise of the Buttercup Purse

My latest buttercup purse is
still in the construction stage.
I sew it as one long double sided bag,
then just stitch across the bottom of the lining
before tucking it down inside the bag.
The big bird image above is part of an inside pocket.

Some  favorite postings

* Romancing the Dress Part 1: Dainty

* Romancing the Dress Part 2: California Romantic asks do skirts really fit into her active and arty modern life?

* Romancing The Dress Part 3: The Dress Comes to Life

~

Back in the 1920's, when my mother was a little girl, there was  a game amongst her friends in regards to buttercups. They tickled each other under the chin with the bright yellow flowers and giggled "Do you love butter?", then checked to see if any pollen had stuck to their little chum's chin. My mother, not being a sentimentalist, recounts this activity with a curling lip. The fact that she still recalls it, tells it's own story.

I happen to love the buttercup purse pattern by Made by Rae. I first  discovered it on the purses/bags/wallets forum at Crafster.org. It's a free, easily downloadable purse pattern, with the caveat that it's not to be used to create items for sale. I've probably made close to ten of these winsome bags by now in a variety of sizes. Wonder what you'd find stuck on the bottom of my chin?

Eva's Cowgirl Purse was a Buttercup

The basic pattern produces a rather small pocket-sized purse (which also made it perfect for 4 year old Eva). But that's just the right size to hang across my chest to hold my iPod, keys and reading glasses and accompany me on a walk or when I'm attending to domestic activities. Essentially I use it to replace a pocket and it keeps my pants pockets from wearing out. I don't think the original pattern includes a long handle, but mine always do. I've started interfacing those handles with Peltex interfacing for a really sturdy strap.

I made this goodly sized Buttercup in purple velvet
cut from a never-made-but-cut velvet suit
I turned up in my own sewing stash

However quite often, as in the case of this bluebird buttercup above, I enlarge the pattern for a regular purse-sized bag.

Techniques: 

After downloading the pattern (it's only a couple of pages) and stapling or taping them together, I photocopy them at a couple of different sizes. I think 129% is the biggest my local copy store goes, so sometimes I've enlarged an enlargement. I also like to simply extend the bottom of the little purse to make it deeper.

My in-progress buttercup purse is a recreation of one I made from the same quilting-cotton fabric last January. I loved the bird embellished fabric so much that I pretty much wore it out. I didn't line much more than the top pieces and it didn't stand up to the weight of the items I put in. So I started over with fresh fabric.

This time through I stabilized the buttercup's bird fabric not only with fusible quilt batting on both the outer and lining layers, but also with a layer of crinoline on the inside of the outside pieces. I also did some simple quilting on the outside layer.

This buttercup should really standup to the service I expect of her. 

Cascades Ahead, Juan de Fuca Plate Off the Port Bow

Click on the illustration above 

to get up close and personal with this Cascadian view

(co-published with Postcard from California

)Crater Lake was the first big stop on our recent trip into the Cascades.  It was also my first good long view of a range of mountains that first shoots up in my home state of California and dances all the way along through Oregon, Washington and into British Columbia.

The volcanic nature of many of these mountain peaks are all the fault of that boisterous Juan de Fuca plate. Or, if you prefer, you can blame it on Juan's kin, the troublesome North American plate. Skimming along towards each other atop the earth's mantle, at the rate of a couple of centimeters a year, both are headed on a disaster course.

As little Juan continues to converge into that big ole North American plate, watch out! Being more dense (of course since he's an oceanic plate) Juanito is just making trouble for himself. He's getting subducted under his bigger continental cousin. You'd think those oceanic plates would have figured out by now, that's the way the laws of plate tectonics work. But those kids never seem to learn!

Kickin' it in Our Sagebrush Sandals (Cascades:Crater Lake)

Crater Lake, California

Click on the illustration above,  to really enjoy the details

(co-published with Postcard from California)

While we were walking along the rim of Crater Lake, I was already planning a return trip back to see more of that incredibly clean, blue, blue, blue water in the high, dry air.

I particularly liked reading the informative little sign about a pile of ten thousand year old  sandals an Oregon researcher found beneath volcanic ashes, demonstrating that people were probably living in this area before, and possibly during the eruption that created the crater that makes the lake basin. 

They were made out of sagebrush. Liiiiike, how comfortable would THOSE be to hike in?

There were dozens of pairs of shoes left. How come? Didn't somebody miss them? Could it be an ancient days Cinderella story?

A spot of time travel to solve this little mystery is definitely in order.

Perhaps an ancient Cinderella, ran off and left her sagebrush slippers behind

The Lady Wears Shorts: Part 1

These shorts are a little loose at the
fitted waistband now because
I lost a little weight.
I made the first pair with belt carriers and
I think I'll do that on the third pair too. 

A few  favorite postings

OK, I admit it's not all shorts with me 

Romancing the Dress Part 1: Dainty

Romancing the Dress Part 2: California Romantic asks do skirts really fit into her active and arty modern life?

Romancing The Dress Part 3: The Dress Comes to Life

They aren't glamorous or high fashion, but I probably wore shorts every day this summer.

Since I much prefer to wear things I create myself, I was really happy that I found a shorts pattern that worked well for me this summer, McCalls 6403. I made two pairs of shorts out of this pattern, and could have used three. (Yes, your right I have another pair cut out in my sewing basket .)

Actually I created a third pair from another new pattern. In the process I found a style that is decidedly unflattering for my H-shaped figure. I'm never going to make those right-at-the-hip cargo pockets again. However, shorts are still so practical that I have even gotten a lot of wear out of the never-again shorts. I wore them several times in the garden and for hiking. They only work with my big loose boxier tees, and I only have a couple of boxy tees that I've made that I like.

I walk or hike every day, and shorts seem like a basic, practical requirement, but I remember when women couldn't always put practical first.

When I was growing up, there were lots of places where women were discouraged from wearing anything other than skirts or dresses.  During elementary and middle school (we called it junior high then), we were required to wear skirts and dresses. Our public school system saw themselves as the gatekeeper when it came to teaching us how to be ladies. When we challenged the rules and wore pants, they sent us home to change, or called our parents. Unhappily for the school administrators, when they called my liberal mother she gave them an earful of her ideas on females making their own choices when it came to what a lady wears!

Shorts make hooping work. Try this in a skirt!

Before my family moved to California, we lived closer to a small town in Mexico than we did to the U.S. town to which our mail was delivered. When we crossed the Arizona border into Mexico we always changed our shorts for a skirt, because at that time prostitutes were recognized by their clothing, and nice women didn't wear any kind of pants. Even my feminist mother wasn't going to battle the norms within another culture. On went the skirts as we once more assumed the accepted role of ladies.

I'm really glad my modern day California culture supports my wearing the practical clothes that makes my life comfortable.


Coming Soon Techniques and Challenges for this pattern