Our new apartment!
Following my success with making corduroy pants, I decided to construct another pair in raw denim. I purchased this fabric for $5.99 in the Garment District with the hope this project would come to fruition. Using the same technique as I did with the corduroy pants, I included pockets, and added my embroidered initials to the one on the right. I also ironed the seams flat, which allows the crotch to lay better.
The only issue that arose with the denim was that since the fabric has no stretch, I had to make additional cuts to the foot holes in order to put them on. I would suggest altering the pattern by an half inch to an inch to allow for the extra, necessary room. Overall, they turned out great! I’m excited to wear them around town today, and will be looking into patterns specifically for denim in the future!
Jimi Hendrix's "Bold as Love" on the Guzheng
Played by Luna. Exceptionally talented, she brings great life to the song!
Peoples Park (Seward Park), Essex at East Broadway, 8:40am, T’ai Chi Chuan
ShuangLiu Zhong Xue, Chengdu, PRC
Working in Chinatown has caused me to miss China more than ever. It has also reminded me of how grateful I am to live in a city with a massive Chinese population. Teaching English and art on Henry Street, I’ve learned more about the community south of Canal Street than I ever imagined knowing. These families have migrated mostly from Guangzhou, Fujian and Sichuan. They own restaurants that serve, on Henry Street alone, chang fan for $1.50, steamed in a flat file, cooked to order. Or jiaozi, 5 pieces for $1.00 and suan la tang for $1.00. They are happy to speak Mandarin and their spirits contribute significantly to the peaceful energy south of Canal Street. If I had to live in Manhattan, I would live right here. My Mandarin would get stellar. I’d probably take up the T’ai chi. I’ve already befriended a phenomenal shoemaker whose kept her home on Henry Street for the past two years. After three visits to her shop, we’re friends. I’m plotting my eventual move, and have already made significant improvements on my menu-reading abilities.
My American-Chinese students, my huaren, remind me so much of my students at ShuangLiu. They are growing up in a traditionally Chinese environment, with seemingly minimal increases in freedom by virtue of living in the United States. Many of them are the happiest people I know. They go to school six or seven days a week. They know they should be intelligent. They love computer games, and talking about Chinese culture. They bring wonderfully smelly foods to class, and for the moment, when they aren’t driving me nuts, seeing them is the best way I’ve found to spend my weekends, and ruffle up my Chinese feathers and believe, for a moment, that I’m back in China, my favorite place to be.
[Flash 10 is required to watch video]
One of my dear poetry mentors is expecting a girl! In celebration of a new genius entering the world, I decided to make a lambswool quilt using fabrics in the favorite color family of my mentor: purple.
The quilt was constructed using a combination of natural-fiber fabrics, namely cotton and silk, in a variety of weaves and prints including gingham and poplin, periwinkle, lavender and purple, purchased at Paron Fabrics and several other shops on 39th Street. I also purchased a cotton-satin fabric in beige for the underside of the quilt. Except for the lambswool, which was imported from Germany, all of these fabrics were made in the United States. The quilt measures 30” x 34” which allows it to fit nicely in a pram.
Another pocket square for Patrick.
This time I used a white, raw silk that was leftover from a college project. The heart is a special organ to me because I have a defective one, which was entirely fixed in 2010, works perfectly, is part bovine. The image was hand-drawn directly onto the fabric as was the text, directly written, in pencil. I used an embroidery stitch my mom taught to me fifteen years ago—knowledge that’s gone unused since—and multiple colors to indicate the various chambers and valves of the heart.
The seams are hand-rolled, to his liking, and cut to a standard pocket-square size. I think this will be a nice accessory for his gray suit jacket.
After nearly 24 months of solid wear, it was time to retire my beloved skinny jeans, which prompted the need for new pants. I decided that if I were to have new pants that I should make them, which provided the opportunity to have a sewing growth spurt. This weekend I made my first pair of cigarette pants.
Using Kwik Sew’s Misses Pants pattern #3807 with a few alterations, I constructed an elastic-free, zipperless pant with back pockets. The pockets were modeled loosely after my former pants, and were not included in the pattern packet. I selected a stretch corduroy fabric in cream from Paron Fabrics—with help from their employee, Lucy—based on the cost of the fabric ($8.00) and the idea that these would be my practice pants. I highly recommend this pattern for its minimal pieces and very clear directions. I also recommend using the pattern in at least one size smaller than what it suggests for you. I had to take in the crotch significantly on my pants, well beyond what I anticipated, however this is likely also based on how much stretch your fabric contains. In addition to this stretch corduroy, I will also be using this pattern to construct raw denim pants, which may require more give, and perhaps also: a zipper!
My original intention was to dye these pants plum upon completion, but wearing them now, I feel that the cream color works well. This is to say that I imagine I will be making several pairs of pants with this pattern—hopefully with continued success!
Villain on the express train!
As an attempt to reduce the amount of bags in my plastic holder, I watched this tutorial from Make Magazine, and decided to try making my own version of Tyvec. During my first attempt at sewing the plastic fabric I broke the needle on my sewing machine, which prompted the the question of how to “weld” the seams of the fabric together to make a waterproof bag.
These are my first attempts and resemble envelopes or coin purses. They are perfect for keeping small electronics safe from water in any bag, or for mailing letters! In the future I will enlarge and elongate this envelope pattern to construct a waterproof baguette holder—a necessity to transport bread on the wettest days!
I recently purchased A Handbook of the Heavens and reading it has revived my interest in the northern lights. NASA scientists predict that the 2012 Aurora Borealis will be the most spectacular light storm since 1958 and will be visible as far south as Rome. It is likely that we may catch glimpses of the auroras in New York!
In anticipation of the stars’ dance this winter, I’m watching this video by Terje Sorgjerd and others like it!
A great documentary about tradition and heritage preserved through a fabric’s production, and it’s dormant and re-awakened periods in apparel trends.
These were some ill-fitting Brooks Brothers pants, part of a suit I found at Housing Works last January. The suit was $20 and the jacket fit great, so I set the pants aside as a future project.
Today the future arrived. It would be an internet crime to post the before picture, but this is a photo of the initial alterations I made: I brought in the outer seams by an inch and tapered the pant leg (originally, they were wide and straight). I left some room in the hip which I think gives a playful, yet put-together appearance to the cut.
I also took in the waist by an inch, and fussed with the rear seam to tighten up the behind. So far, the fit is good. The next phase will be to trim the remaining fabric and decide on a nice finish for the edges of the seam.
My 2012 resolution will be to acquire fewer plastic bags. In the meantime I had to find a solution to storing the bags we currently have—and use!
This plastic sack-holder is a project my mom has made plenty times in an attempt to keep her own plastic mountains—and those of her friends—under control. The fabric used is the leftover of my newly-hemmed curtains. Gossamer-thin, I think it tastefully showcases the array of colorful plastic bags inside. Elastic was sewn around the bottom of the sack to provide a nice opening from which to grab a plastic in a pinch!
