POLL: What's your Sewing Style?

Mike Behrent stood on a soapbox and shouted to anyone who would listen :

pictures?

POLL: What's your Sewing Style?

Regimental????

(F) Sew because it is a by-product of the fabric collecting?

and if I don't sew some of it, it really will avalanche one day and kill me like my DH keeps telling me.

I like to sew for others, too. I do sew for relaxing. Can go for hours with only water and bathroom breaks if I'm really enjoying myself.

I'll leave that as one of likes great mysteries

In due course :)

I see your list, Cea, and raise you the following: log carrier (that came back to haunt me, 20 years later, multiple thread colors, and all); duck blind (used for photography); bodysuits for my entire family, including husband #1; men's suits; neckties; swimsuits; fairy wings; stop sign costume; felt parrot and cardinal heads for costumes, along with the bodies; and lots of stuffed toys, including a house and all the contents. I always say the only thing I've never made is a girdle!

Karen Maslowski in Cincinnati

A kilt on it's own could set you back £2500.

A sort of 'Utilikilk' type thing? Fun! Must have pix! And do you wear it to work? THAT'S the teast of a real bloke! ;)

Mind you, I have cousins, uncles, and friends who wear the real thing in the family tartan for weddings, christenings, funerals, black tie do's, wore them scouting to international jamborees, climb and dance in them, and have even worn them for fighting. My great uncles WWI Black Watch kilt had been taken to bits and turned into a car blanket that my granny used still in the sixties. There was a small round hole near one corner that had been patched. Even all those years later, the rest of the cloth was still good, and the old pleat creases still showed.

I'll add spray decks for sea going kayaks that circumnavigated Ireland in 1978, a lorry tarp cut down for a Landrover (I put a clear vinyl window in that!), a fly sheet for a tent, waterproof bags, more fairy wings (or did I mention them before?), curtains and dressings for a 4 poster bed in a house that's over 800 years old, a gown that danced at a Richard II society dinner dance in the great hall at Belvoir Castle, and most of them long before I had the digital camera or the web space, or even thought of taking photos to remember them by! I do have a cutting of one of the blokes from the circumnavigation (he also ownd the Land Rover/lorry tarp combination). The fairy wings and the 4 poster are on the web site, but a lot of other projects are long gone...

That's what the bit of soft leather is for...

Re: POLL: What's your Sewing Style? (SewStorm) ups the ante:

Oh honey, if it's only bordering on illness, you still have room to stash more. ;)

I was so good yesterday. I went to Hancock's and only bought what I needed for the current project. Are you so proud of me??? It wasn't because I didn't see anything else either!

There was a gorgeous bolt of a sort of dark periwinkle blue stretch wool blend on the 40% off table. It was 60" wide, and soft as a double napped flannel. Just enough stretch to it so it would be comfortable, not enough to make it cling to the body. $13.99 per yard and then 40% off of that. So....about $8.39/yard. Drooled over it for a minute or 10. Remembered that I'm hip deep in projects right now. Dithered that it would be a really great color on me and since it was jacket weight would make a fabulous jacket possibly with matching skirt. Remembered that the stash is overflowing as is. Dithered some more that I do have to speak at an upcoming school board meeting and a new suit would be a great thing. Remembered that I have other wonderful suit weights in the stash. Dithered that I've already used those fabrics and wouldn't a new one be nice to play with. Finally, remembered that DH would be picking me up after he got back from the Honda dealer with the part for his car. *sigh* Not that he would have said anything to me, but it would have been akin to getting caught with my hand in the cookie jar. Guilt and some semblance of sense took over at that point.

I guess it balances out. I let him know when he doesn't really need a new "toy" for his collection. He lets me know when I don't really need a new toy for my collection. All without saying a word. ;) And best of all, he resists temptation by telling folks that SWMBO (She Who Must Be Obeyed) would not approve. LOL Gives us both an out.

Sharon

Re: POLL: What's your Sewing Style?

Many years ago, when I was between marriages, I lived in an apartment building where the 10 residents were mostly all young, single people. We hung out together a lot. The manager, Mark, was also an art director for P&G, and we got to be very good friends, riding the bus to work together in the morning and evening, and comparing notes on our various amores.

Mark's dad lived in horse country in Lexington, and he wanted to give him a gift that wouldn't break the bank, so he decided his dad's log carrier needed to be replaced, and could I make one for him? It didn't have to be fancy, he said, just sturdy. So I took the old one and duplicated it in canvas, and in the process, used up several ends of bobbins--hot pink, red, royal blue.

Fast forward to about 10-12 years ago. Mark had left Cincinnati for Olympia, WA for a couple years, then St. Louis for several more, where we lost touch. A job opportunity here brought him back, and he found a house to buy just down the street from us (Mark also knew my husband, even longer than he's known me). His father passed away about 7-8 years ago, and when Mark went to sort out which of his dad's belongings to bring home, he came across that log carrier, still in use. He called me to come over to see something, and there it was, with it's ridiculous thread colors still glowing!

The blind I made (and a duplicate I made later) was a real marvel. It was made of camouflage ripstop nylon, with a zippered door in back, and a two-way zippered opening in the front for a camera. Windows on the front and sides had to have camo screening on them, plus flaps that could be rolled up out of the way. The whole thing had to fit over an aluminum frame (similar to a tent, but taller), with Velcroed tabs to secure them. I said it was like slipcovering a tent.

The only drawback to this blind was that the nylon rippled in the wind, so it scared the animals (my husband is a wildlife photog). The next one I made was of a sort of duck or lightweight canvas, and had several modifications. Luckily, by then I had my commercial sewing machine, since all that canvas was a bear to haul around the machine!

I've designed another blind, similar to one that duck hunters use, that attaches to a flotation device worn by the photographer, but they decided they didn't need it, and it never got made. Thank goodness! It was going to be awfully complicated.

Karen Maslowski in Cincinnati

There's a place in California that sell the tartan, which is made in Scotland, for $47 a yard so I used denim as a practice run :) I wore it out and around yesterday, if fact, I wore it all day. It's not really a utilikilt, it's closer to a casual kilt. A bit less fabric than a formal kilt and a bit wider pleats. It's so comfortable I expect to wear it often and I'll make a couple more casuals. Probably end up wearing one most of the time :) The next one is going to be a formal kilt in Barra MacNeil Ancient tartan. Not too surprised your Great Uncles kilt lasted so long. Those military kilts were around 20 to 22 ounce material. Made to last forever. But, being part of his uniform I'm sure he never really cared to wear it again once he was out of the service. Nice that granny put it to use. Bet it was warm too IIRC, WW I was the last time kilts were actually wornn in battle and earned the Highland Regiment the nickname "Ladies from Hell" :)

[snip]

(F) Make clothes that I can't buy ready made. I bought all my shoes -- except the gym slippers -- and both my winter coats. The rest, from socks to hat, from the skin out, I have to make myself.

It's a slippery slope -- it all started when I could no longer bear the flimsy, ill-fitting substitutes for blue jeans that are on the market now, and despaired of ever finding work pants for a woman. (Am I the only female in the world who ever weeds a garden?) Then I got tired of having to wear pullover shirts all the time, then I couldn't stand having shoulder seams around the elbow and pleats dangling from my bust points when I wore a T-shirt, then I moved out of reach of the only store that sells all-cotton underpants.

As the coupe de grace, more-or-less just for fun I made an all-cotton pullover bra -- and had to hastily make another before it got filthy, because I couldn't bear to put my polyester bras back on.

I have sewn just for fun, and if I ever get caught up with stuff I need last year, I probably will again. The gym slippers are just for fun, and I've never had a chance to wear my "Wizard Suit" with the quarter-square sleeves. (I did go for an evening walk in it after the trick-or-treaters were put to bed last Halloween.)

Joy Beeson

Peggy, sorry to respond late. I'm not a garment sewer so I might not be in the best position to comment on it just yet (but I hope to take up garments soon). However, just skimming the book, it looks to be fairly comprehensive without being too fussy. There are many useful illustrations. Lots of techniques like bands, ribbing, belt loops, bindings, casings, closures, collars, cuffs, darts, facings, gathers, hems, interfacing, mitering, pleats, pockets, ruffles, shoulder pads, sleeves, tailoring, trims, tucks, waistbands, zippers.

I find this easier to comprehend than my 1975 copy of the Reader's Digest Sewing Guide. I love all the details of the RD guide but I'm not ready for it yet... My copy seems to be an earlier edition; the clothes look very

1980s (shoulder pads, etc)

If you can access

and do up a search, there areconsiderably favorable reviews of the book. It might help you make up yourmind. Also, there is an option to look "inside" the book.

-- Rose's Sewing Page

Sorry Mike, kilts were worn in WWII. My late DF was in the Black Watch -

52nd Highland Division. He managed to misjudge his leap onto the beach during the Normandy landings in '44 and the kilt took a long time to dry. DM had a good imagination and impressed us kids with stories surrounding the "bullet holes and persperation stains of battle" visible on this kilt which were in fact moth holes and age stains. I've got it now but just keep it the way it is for the memories. btw, The Scotsman newspaper ran an article yesterday about kilts made from salmon leather. Looked good, no smell!

ticketyboo (glad to be back from long-time-lurkdom with new working pc)

Hmmm. I was under the impression kilts were replaced in WW II in combat. I do know they were worn otherwise. Thanks for the info :)