Terminado - The Bramble Blouse - Another Semi-Fitted Sleeveless Summer Blouse

You don't hear the term brambles used to refer to berries much these days.
I think it dates more from times when lots of berries grew naturally
in woods and fields, and folks just went out to pick their own, come summer time.
Nowadays most of us find our berries in a box or frozen bag.
The birds and squirrels score most of the ones I have in my yard.
Oh well, they can't run to the grocery store like I can! I don't really mind.
And it saves me a bit o' trouble in those prickly bramble bushes.

Hey! Do you remember the podcast I did in July, where I talked about creating my sleeveless, pink and white seersucker blouse Amaryllis blouse from my much altered tried-and-true shirt pattern (it started out life as B5586)? Well I enjoyed wearing Amaryllis so much (that gal has been a real go-to summer wardrobe choice) that I made another blouse from my same much altered pattern.

And doesn't it look pretty durn cute with my sage'y green shorts from two summers ago? I think so! I've also been wearing it with my new Midnight Sky black denim skirt, but I don't have a really cute photo of that combination yet :-)

Oh yeah, I altered the pattern a little more!  I just can't get enough of altering now - no pattern is safe from my fideling fingers.   Blame my wonderful dress form buddy Conchita for that! Because this crisp bramble printed cotton doesn't hang off a woman's body in the same way as the loosey-goosey seersucker I used for Amaryllis, I made a few changes to my Bramble Blouse as I was creating her. . . 

i) I took the long front darts I'd created from the hem, up the princess line, to the bust apex, and extended them up above the bust apex. 
ii) I also took those darts in more - so my Bramble Blouse is all together narrower than Amaryllis.  
iii) In addition I added long darts along the back princess seam. 

My dress form Conchita was really useful
when it came to making the
Bramble Blouse more fitted

These alterations resulted in a semi-fitted blouse that's just a little more fitted. 

OK, I admit it. I used good old
safety pins to try out that extended dart.
Because just after I tried this out on
Conchita, I slipped it on
me and checked out that new dart in the bathroom mirror.

Amaryllis is somewhat fitted,
but less so than my Bramble Blouse
That works because she's made out of a non-crisp seersucker

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Web Resources

Audio/Podcast Summer of the Blouse - Amaryllis http://meencantacoser.blogspot.com/2014/07/ench-by-sew-022-summer-of-blouse.html

Blog Posting about Amaryllis http://meencantacoser.blogspot.com/2014/07/amaryllis-my-new-semi-fitted-blouse.html

Wardrobe Builder - The Midnight Sky Black Denim Skirt http://meencantacoser.blogspot.com/2014/08/terminado-wardrobe-builder-midnight-sky.html

Creating Conchita, my Dress Form Friend  http://enchantedbysewing.blogspot.com/2013/09/ench-by-sew-12-dress-forms.html

Golden Gate Memories in the Family

(click on the photo above to get an up close and personal view)

A walk to and/or over the Golden Gate Bridge is a lovely long walk from San Francisco's Presidio, a lovely destination in it's own right. Recently I went to an exhibit about artist Mary Blair at the Disney Family Museum while my husband hoofed it out to the Bridge. Still  recovering my health a bit, I contented myself with taking a photo of the bridge, from the back side of the museum. Reflections on his families history, in regards to the bridge, have me planning a fall walk out onto the span. Such a promenade is a the perfect local field trip.

John A. Roebling was famed for wire rope suspension bridges, like the Brooklyn Bridge and another well known construction San Francisco Bay Area locals still admire. My mother-in-law was always very proud of her father, Willard G. Marks', work for the John A. Roebling company, which supplied the cable for the Golden Gate Bridge. Each of her children inherited little sample paper weights of cable used for the bridge. Ours is on display on the secretary desk in our living room.

It turns out there was more to the provision of that cable, than simply rolling it up and sending it over. PBS did a special on the Roebling Crew's work for this huge undertaking. 

Nice knowing my husband's family has an interest in what it is that keeps our footing sure, when we take a walk across this beauty.

~ ~ ~

Web Resources

Spinning the Cables -- The Golden Gate Bridge (Roebling Crew) http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/americanexperience/features/general-article/goldengate-spinning/

John A. Robling (Johann August Rõbling) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_A._Roebling

The Roebling Museum is in New Jersey http://roeblingmuseum.org/about-us/the-roeblings-sons-co/

Remnants of Hurricane Marie

Here in the San Francisco Bay Area, we have earthquakes. Tropical Storms however belong to another realm. We did see a little of what my elderly neighbor from Minnesota used to call, "buttermilk sky" as a result of Hurricane Marie however.

I'll take earthquakes over hurricanes and tornados any day.

~ ~ ~

Web Resources

Hurricane Marie impacted beaches in Southern CA - making all the surfers happy, but causing death and destruction as well

http://www.pinterest.com/pin/565624034424189681/?fb_action_ids=10204519521856518&fb_action_types=pinterestapp%3Apin&fb_ref=565624171858495096%3A5ab44a8b6e1c4b4cba6d&fb_source=aggregation&fb_aggregation_id=288381481237582

Ench By Sew-023: Capping off Summer, The Tapestry Cap (Technicos/Techniques)

My latest cap creation is a faux-tapestry print

Hey! 

The latest Enchanted by Sewing Podcast has been published!

Listening Option I) You can listen to the show right on the web by clicking on this link

(http://traffic.libsyn.com/enchantedbysewing/CastFINALAug2014CappingOffSummerENCHANTEDbySEWING.mp3 )

~ OR ~

Listening Option II)  Click on this link to iTunes  to download this and other Enchanted by Sewing shows to your mobile device (iPhone, Android, etc.) free from iTunes 
( https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/enchanted-by-sewing/id566370325)

Did I miss any links mentioned in the show? If so, please post those links below and share them with everybody

Email- EnchantedBySewing@gmail.com

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This show is created, produced and brought to you by me! - Laurel Shimer. THE Enchanted by Sewing PODCAST IS, An  EXTENSION OF my regular sewing blog - Me Encanta Coser, which,  roughly translated means, Enchanted By Sewing

My blog is written in English. The name celebrates the historical and modern use of the beautiful Spanish Language in the San Francisco Bay Area of California, where I live

* * *

I've gotten lots of use out of this sage green cap (and another blue one) that
I first made two years ago. Both caps match shorts, which I wear together.
I also wear the caps on their own with other things in my wardrobe.
Every one of my daily walks, includes a cap.
http://meencantacoser.blogspot.com/2012/09/the-lady-wears-shorts-part-2.html

I’ve worked on a couple of different sewing projects in August. Of the four I’ve worked on I’ve finished three - a wardrobe building elastic waist black denim skirt (like the blue one I finished in June and have been wearing so much), another semi-fitted sleeveless cotton blouse (like Amaryllis the subject of last months 'cast - I haven't post about this yet, but plan to soon) and a tapestry cap.

That cap is especially important to me. As you might have noticed in previous shows I am kind of a preacher when it comes to protecting our skin from the elements. I listened back to my shows from the last couple of months, and it seemed like I went into great detail in both ones about wearing my sun screen and a cap whenever I head out the door, whether for a walk or even a ride in the car.

I figured if it was so important to me, it was time to do an episode about the kind of skin protecting garment I’ve made a few times now, sharing the techniques and some of my inspiration.

  

1)         Pensamientos Primeros/First Thoughts

Why do I need to make my own caps and hats?

Wayne Wichern's Millinery is in the San Francisco Bay Area. I took my first millinery class at Cañada College, from Wayne. He has a lovely private studio where he conducts further workshops and open lab. He's a wonderful man and teacher .http://meencantacoser.blogspot.com/2013/09/matters-millinery-making-my-own-hats.html

 2)Technicos/Techniques  

-       

 How I create caps, based on the "Good Hat Day Hat (cap)" in the first One Yard Wonders Book.

3)         Pensamientos Finales/Final Thoughts

The Louisa Mae Alcott book I referred to in the cast was An Old Fashioned Girl. You know you can download books in the public domain (that volunteer readers have recorded) for free from Librivox, right? 
https://librivox.org/an-old-fashioned-girl-by-lousia-may-alcott/

Blue Skies Hat Sewing, Ideas for future hats and caps I hope and plan to make

I've got plans to take Wayne's 3 day workshops. Wayne Wichern's Millinery is in the San Francisco Bay Area. I took my first millinery class from Wayne. He also has a studio for more intense workshops and open labs. He's a wonderful man and teacher - http://meencantacoser.blogspot.com/2013/09/matters-millinery-making-my-own-hats.html

There's a pretty cloche-esque hat pattern in this magazine, which has a lot of other fun stuff as well.

http://www.interweavestore.com/the-unofficial-downton-abbey-sews

I See the Moon

I see the moon,

The moon sees me,

Shining above the old oak tree.

Please let the moon,

That shines for me,

Shine for the one I love.

(traditional song)

Mission San Juan Bautista (haiku, Bay Area Field Trip)

More than two hundred years

Since Ohlone and Yokut folk

Built for Spainiard's God.

How long since a woman's hand first began
to form this grinding stone?

~ ~ ~ 

Web Resources

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mission_San_Juan_Bautista

Pelican Haiku (San Mateo County, San Francisco Bay Area)

Pelicans over San Mateo County Coast
Pescadero CA, south of Half Moon Bay

Pelican soars low.

My heart flies out to greet her.

She just wants to fish !