finally, an archer

the archer shirt is probably the most blogged-about women's button down shirt pattern on the market.  from an independent pattern designer, it's literally been sewn up by everyone but me.  shirley bought me the pattern and in i dove.  mom's always cold, so i decided that for her bday this summer i would make her a flannel shirt.  that actually fits. lots of store-bought flannels are way to roomy on us wee ladies.  here's a view of the front.  i actually had to shrink up the pockets as the pattern creates 2 mega front pockets, but mom isn't mega so i didn't want the pockets to drown her.  

here's the back.  there's a small pleat at the center back to allow a looser, but not too loose, fit.  i cut the button placket, shoulder, and pockets on the bias.  i should have done the cuffs on the bias, now that i'm looking at these pics, but at the time i thought that that would have made the shirt too busy.  oops, you live and you learn.  all seams are french-seamed!  it's a beauty on the inside!

i made a lot of changes to this pattern.  first of all, although mom is 3 inches taller than me, her torso is short per american standards.  so, i had to take a lot out of the length.  however, she's got LONG arms.  really long arms.  the pattern's sleeves fit me perfectly with no alterations (which is scary because i've got short short arms...) so i had to make extra wide cuffs for mom.  look how LONG her sleeves are on me!!

the fabric is really neat.  vintage woven flannel.  unfortunately most flannel nowadays have the plaid printed on generic white flannel.  back in the good 'ole days (i think i belong in the time of the good 'ole days), the fabric was woven together with different colored threads to make the plaid.  i found this flannel (along with another, which will become an archer for me ONE DAY!) on ebay 2 years ago when i promised eric i'd make him a new flannel shirt.  however, he felt the flannel looked too pajama-y so i decided to make it for mom.  the colors are really neat: they're not as orange as the 1st 2 pics show them to be.  really they're a bright red and dark blue, most like in the pic below.  (this was from before i put on mom's special cuffs.)  i don't have a pic of mom in the shirt unfortunately.  i'm sure you've realized by now how camera-resistant my family is.

i made some fig newtons for eric's bday.  fig newtons are a pricy and super sugary treat.  so, i made my own and reduced the amount of sugar.  the recipe i used was super healthy, calling for whole wheat flour and wheat germ!  i put some walnuts in the figgy mix too but did such a terrible job chopping them that they were more like walnut chunks.  they took FOREVER TO MAKE.  omg 5 hours.  you have to prepare the dough, prepare the fig mixture (on the stovetop), roll the dough quickly so it doesn't melt (i do everything slowly so this part was a real struggle), lay the fig on it, fold them up, close the seams, transfer onto a cookie sheet, refrigerate, bake.

this was batch 1.  oh my goodness were they delicious!  they didn't last too long in our household and mom and dad only got like 8 by the time they finally got here to watch the animals.

so, mom and i made a 2nd batch together.  2 hours only, and so much tastier.  look how thick the cookie part is in the pics above.  look how thin and even the cookie part is below.  the thinner cookie was the winner.

we used a different fig (golden vs the dark ones) and mom made sure to super-chop the walnuts.  teamwork made all the difference.  the dough never stuck to the countertop!

mom and dad were in town while eric and i went to bozeman to do a 20 mile mountain ridge run for his bday.  we didn't consider the possibility of snow (in early october?!?!) and the extreme altitude killed my fitness level, so that plan got foiled.  we did get a 10 mile run in and 2 awesome peak ascents.  it was stunningly beautiful.  i hope to try it again next summer, when there's less snow hehe

i'm in the process of sewing him a new pair of carhartt workpants for his bday, which was over a month ago.  tutoring has made me so busyyyyyy

a new backpack for the new year!

well let's go back a step.  i'm taking time off from teaching and am professionally tutoring in the meanwhile.  i still needed a new backpack because the one i had been using was by that brand hershel, and man, that bag was not holding up.  i had bought it 3 years ago when i tore my acl because it was small and light.  the quality of the workmanship and of the materials ended up being terrible.  time for a new bag.  now i'd been eyeing taylor tailor's desmond rolltop backpack pattern for a couple years now.  the design is pretty fun, with a roll-top, webbing to keep the roll-top shut, a pop-out square pocket in front, small pockets on each side.  to be honest, i was waiting for the demise of my hershel because frankly, this desmond bag was just so much cooler.

most excitingly, all the materials are from eric and his dad.  eric had put aside some orange leather for me (i do love me some orange) and helped me dig around for all the hardware.  i'm a lucky girl, this brass hardware is some of the best on the market.  such great heft to each piece!

i used the grey canvas from eric's and dad's shorts. and for the lining, this thicker floral quilting cotton i had gotten from knittn' kitten, out in portland oregon, years ago with shirley.  i wanted to mix rugged with girly.  the pockets all have stitched triangle reinforcements in the corners.

eric helped prepare the leather for me to stitch on.  it was not easy.  he split the edges so they'd be thinner, used special incredibly strong double sided tape to fold edges over and to attach them to the bag.  i then used the heavy duty sewing machine that mom and dad got me for christmas a couple years ago, along with a leather needle, and stitched the edges up.  carefully, oh so carefully, because leather is not as forgiving as fabric in terms of ripping out threads and restitching.  the navy tag in the corner is from a set of bunny embossed tags that eric made for me one christmas/hanukkah.

the only item i had to buy for the project was nylon webbing.  i had never worked with webbing before.  it's magical how it swallows up stitches and hides them among its threads!

i had to add snaps to the sides of the roll-top so that when i rolled down the top, the top wouldn't flatten out to the sides like wings behind my back.  

this was eric's design addition.  he's crazy good at problem solving with projects.

see how the roll-top is now the same width as the bag itself?  genius!

the inside of the bag is pretty sweet.  2 side pockets and a 2-slot wide pocket along the back.

and now for the grand finale views!  i prefer to cross the front straps because i feel like they make the bag look less wide:

here's how they look not crossed:

the orange isn't as shiny as these pictures make them look.  it's more matte, although just as bright!  side view:

eric suggested that he try the bag on so one could see how the bag should fit a normal-sized person.

this was such a fun project to make!

fuzzfeed:  lil' fuzz was darn cute recently.  i caught him with his little front paws crossed!

green puppy

eric has an employee whose young son is pretty sick.  because he has so many hospital visits, i really wanted to make him something soft that he could bring for comfort, company, and familiarity.  i haven't made fleece jackets and pants for my parents in a couple years (although i'm due to make dad a new set, as his green one, with the pocket zippers, is so dilapidated!), and thus i didn't have any scrap fleece lying around like usual from those projects.  however, then i remembered this fleece robe that mom got for me a while back which was far too big for me, but had the nicest fleece, actually even better quality than the fleece blankets i used!  sorry, mom!  this is a much better use for the fleece!  (i plan to use the rest to make myself a new fleece zip-up since mine melted while i was in iceland.)

i love when eric joins projects.  we make a great design team together.  he wanted to add soft lambskin accents to the puppy, so, he selected his softest bright blue skin and designed a little nose.  as the son of a dog breeder, he was adamant that the nose be anatomically accurate, hehe.  he did quite a bit of online research on nose shapes!

usually i embroider a nose on the puppies, but i much prefer the look of an actual nosey.  the nose was whip-stitched on.

then we had some decisions to make.  what kind of ears should we include?  2 up ears, chihuahua-style?

one up ear and one tucked ear?

2 tucked ears?

they were all really darn cute, but we settled on one up ear and one tucked ear because it looked the most playful.  we also switched which ear was tucked so that the one with the best piece of leather was more exposed.

so. darn. cute.

check out that nose!  the eyes were a pair of vintage buttons from that former coworker of mine.  the mom loved the puppy!!

on the home front:  our garden is totally out of control and cucumbers, kale, tomatoes, and peppers are ripening like crazy, faster than we can eat them.  the collards are all down now and in the freezer, but we had SO many cukes.  eric made spicy dill pickles!

 

we probably have over 30 cayenne peppers.  i threaded them with fishing wire and strung them up to dry.  of course, we then used these strings as decoration in the kitchen, hehe.

tonight, we're making tomato sauce!!

what eric does while i sew

many of you probably wonder what eric must be up to while i sew.  i used to sew primarily in the bedroom at that little sewing table that we set up next to the bed.  however, recently i've been sewing on the coffee table/chest in the living room area of the apartment so that eric and i could explore our hobbies simultaneously in each other's company. 

here's the view from my sewing machine: 

 

to back this story up a bit, 2 weekends ago, while i was finishing up alice's bday top, eric decided to harvest not 1, or 2, or even 3, but FIVE of our collard plants.  they were taller than me, and with the stalks, they probably weighed as much as me.  look at how proud he is!

not convinced that there's a lot back there?  here's a side view, to give you a better perspective:

not a small feat to clip all those leaves off and to wash them.  bath time!

he then flash-boiled them all and vacuum-sealed them into packs for the freezer.  we'll have collards for the rest of the year!  woot! 

applause for eric!  this feat took hours.  oh, wonder how i was able to sew and photograph him at the same time?  he usually documents my sewing while he's in the midst of his activities too.  skillz, yo, we got skillz.  wondering what lil' fuzz is up to while we're busy? 

lil' bunny has got to rest.  zzzzz's.  here's a ridiculously cute picture of him lounging on the perch in his travel cage while we were up in westchester for alice's bday dinner last weekend.

alice's bday top

for alice's big bday (i won't tell which, a girl never tells another girl's age!), i used the zsalya top by kate and rose patterns and this abstract dot floral chiffon that i've been saving for the perfect project (for years!  i got it in my dc days) to make this cute little number.  the contrast fabric at the yoke and cuff are remnants from the black cotton dobby dot poufy bell-sleeve top that i made when i lived in philly.

i thought the actual dots juxtaposed with the dot chiffon would be a neat combination.  i love me a shot of irony.  although her bday was mid-july (we went to nova scotia to celebrate it!  pics to come next soon.  i have to fetch some from eric first), i finally got this top done last weekend.  here's the bday gal in her top and me in that pink jersey tank i made 2 summers ago.  note: my eyes are open, they're just ABOUT to close hehe.

i love this top on her.  alice is quite the gardener.  her yard is super coordinated in terms of what colors bloom when and where.  it is really stunning.  it was thus necessary that the top i make her be floral.  i didn't want it to be regular flowers though.  too expected.  artsy abstract bright dots seemed perfect for the occasion!  i shall dub this top and pattern the "alice top." 

so admittedly, the 3/4 length sleeves were more like 8/9 length on alice's arms (see above).  so, i brought the top back home and shortened up the sleeves a bit and reattached the cuff.  woot!  here's the front:

here's the back:

hope you had an amazing bday, alice!  here's to the the most fantastical year yet!

and the fuzzfeed: lil' fuzz recently has been sprawling out after his bunny crack pellets feeding session.  it's a rough life being such a cute lil' bunny. 

and a belated father's day gift

i know, just say it, i'm the worst child possible.  i can't seem to get my deadlines right for gifts.  it's hard though, i'm a working gal!  for dad's father's day gift this year, i made him shorts.  i had an easy enough time making eric's shorts and dad has been saying for years that he needs new shorts (a big fat lie, if you ask me, because i keep finding new pairs of shorts in his closet whenever i visit home).  i made them really similar to eric's shorts, to be honest.  navy interfaced pockets,

a navy waistband, and a navy zipper shield (zipper shields are supposed to be in the self fabric, but i'm a dope and wasn't paying attention when i cut everything out, so dad's shorts have a navy surprise every time he unzips, hehe).  those are eric's shorts on the right and the zipper shield is the panel directly under the button.

dad ended up finding them a tad too long (he likes his shorts well above his knees) so i ended up taking the bottom hem up by a little over an inch after this pic.  the waist was also a little loose so i moved the button further in.

after these adjustments, the fit was pretty spot on with his store-bought shorts, so *pat pat on my back* for me!

fuzzfeed:  after we realized lil' fuzz had been accidentally starving due to his crazy high metabolism, we started giving him twice as many pellets and being even more generous with the fresh vegetables we fed him.  he then got super lovey and snuggly

and loungey!