random thoughts – Day 2,232 (Monday) – home life

Miss Kiki commanding
her (my) space.

The day had a slow start. The alarm went off at 6:30 and I hit “snooze” and dosed off again. Shortly after, the Kiki morning alarm activated. Once started, the morning meows generally continue until I exit the bed. 

Once I’m up, she meows until she is hand-fed at least three Temptations treats, then she leaps onto the bed and takes over the space for the entire day. She will allow me to visit and stroke her face and tell her how beautiful and wonderful she is. It’s easy to do because she is those things. 

The slow start carried itself into a leisurely day. The house had been cleaned for company on Saturday and is still nice and tidy, so nothing was needed in that department. I sat on the couch and surveyed the orderliness that will hold until I get sloppy and the sewing machine comes back to the table. The ultimate goal is a dedicated sewing station in the craft room, but it’s not quite there yet.

Later, two dance friends came over. One to work on our choreography, the other to visit, observe, and provide advice on the choreography. It feels like a great system, having an audience to provide input. The dance is mostly finished, and now we are applying the polish and finesse. In about five more weeks we will present it on stage. We also checked out my too small choli for another dance in another show in June and developed a plan for reworking it. This means another sewing project in the queue and it's going to be a busy stretch of five to six weeks. Thank goodness I have money-saving domestic skills. 

random thoughts – Day 2,231 (Sunday) – quiet solitude

Early evening in the back yard.

The temperature was back around 60 degrees and the sun was shining all day. The drive to dance group this morning was highlighted by clusters of daffodils and bright yellow explosions of forsythia in yards and along the roads. The trees are beginning to dress themselves in pale pink and white flowers and the grass is becoming green again. Spring is a magical time of year. 

It was a nice afternoon to relax in solitude with a book. A much needed nap snuck in there, too. A couple times I thought there was something I was supposed to be doing besides reading a book, and I'll probably find out in a day or so when I get a "did you forget about Sunday?" query.

The refrigerator is stuffed with leftovers from the pre-comedy show gathering at my house last night and the eating will be very good for the next couple days. Before heading to the Polish American Citizens Club, we ate cheese and crackers, chips, veggies, dip, hummus, mini empanadas, burritos, etc. It was fun.

A mini empanada and a burrito were warmed with queso and served with guac and pineapple salsa for lunch. Sliced celery sticks were devoured with hummus as an afternoon snack. There is a container of empanada refried bean filling left and I may get kitchen experimental and trying making it into veggie burger patties.

Dining room peace and tranquility.

The sweatshop closure remains in effect at least until Monday while I enjoy the order and peaceful splendor of the dining area for another day or two. The machine may be at rest, but sewing has still been front of mind as I’ve been searching online for bulk rolls of at least 13 yards of black chiffon ruffle ribbon trim. It's not completely scarce, and there is trim out there, but I’m reluctant to fork out $35 - $50 for it and keep hoping for something in the yard sale "please make it go away" bargain price range. A gal can dream.

random thoughts – Day 2,230 (Saturday) – saying goodbye

random thoughts – Day 2,230 (Saturday) – saying goodbye

Today Aunt Jennie was celebrated and laid to rest after a lovely funeral at St John the Evangelist Church that was crowded with family and friends. Aunt Jennie married her husband (Albert) and lived in Townsend for most of her 88 years. She and Uncle Albert were married for 55 years when he passed away in 2011.

Aunt Jennie was one of six children in Dad's family. With Uncle Albert she raised seven feisty children of their own. She was a grandmother to seven and great-grandmother to six. She was the glue that kept the family connected and the cookout she hosted each August in her backyard was a summer highlight attended by her kids, their kids and grandkids, and her many nieces and nephews.

Aunt Jennie was talented and practiced the art of calligraphy. Cards from her were easy to spot in the mail and always felt special. 

Remembering Aunt Jennie.

She enjoyed crocheting and made countless blankets for homeless communities, nursing homes, family members, and friends. During the funeral service, Fr. Sean Maher asked who had a blanket from Jennie and nearly every person in attendance raised their hand, including him. Mine is striped in shades of aqua and white. My sister’s is purple. Mom’s is in neutral creams and tans. A basket containing the project in green, gray, and white that Aunt Jennie was working on was at the front of the church and later in the parish hall for the gathering.

Aunt Jennie was feisty, quick-witted, and had a wicked sense of humor. My cousin Missy, my sister, and I each hope we can have half our Aunt’s fire and pep as we age and her sudden departure leaves a hole. May she rest in peace.

random thoughts – Day 2,229 (Friday) – sweatshop saga – skirt done-ish

The production schedule held, for the most part. There was a lot of re-pinning the fourth and final tier this morning to fix some issues. There was a 10:00 leftover pizza breakfast. When the sewing was underway, the thread broke twice, and both times it was because it had somehow come off the spool and wound itself around the post the spool sits on. This is a new glitch that isn’t in the machine manual troubleshooting guide.

Anyway. The skirt got finished around 2:00, which is a relief, and technically by the hoped for deadline of “by lunchtime” based on 10:00 breakfast and what turned out to be my 4:00 lunch/supper. I eat when I want and not when the clock suggests it.

All four tiers assembled.

It took about five minutes for me to start critiquing the thing and I already see things that I wish were different. The purple is too dominant, which was not the vision in my head, but that is a factor of the quantity of black and gold fabric that was available. Now I’m cooking up a plan to do some sort of ruffle or overlay at the seam below the first patterned tier to minimize the lower purple one. A hip scarf will cover part of the top tier because that's how we usually roll. 

For now, the entire sweat shop has been temporarily disbanded. Every indication the dining table was a sewing center worksite has been removed. The table is needed tomorrow for guests. Friends and I are going to a comedy show at Gardner’s finest entertainment venue (The Polish American Citizens Club) and they are coming here for appetizers first. I had thrown out the invitation in late January when we got the tickets, and suddenly, here we are in late April and I’m hosting guests in less than 24 hours.

I’m very out of practice in the entertaining arena. I hosted Christmas Eve, but that’s been it for years. I barely remember what serving pieces I own or how to plan food. Tomorrow’s food plan started in one direction a few weeks ago then spun into another because I changed my mind.

Temporarily not a sewing center.

As soon as I put away the sewing, I went through cabinets and pulled dishes to hold queso, salsa, veggies, crackers, and cheese. Now the table is full of salsa and queso jars and bowls, boxes of crackers, and serving plates. I keep second guessing and thinking maybe all the food should go on the kitchen counter instead, but I’ll need the space tomorrow to assemble food. 

Vegetables and cheeses were cut and arranged on plates and set in the fridge. The empanada filling was made and is in the fridge. Tomorrow morning my family and I will be at a funeral, and I’m glad I got all this stuff done today. 

There was a run to WalMart for a refund on a clearance item bought yesterday (fruit cake diced fruits for $1.73) that rang up as full price ($6.94). I would never have bought it for the full price, I don’t even know that I’ll actually use it, but I like fruitcake, so maybe I’ll make one. 

The trip yielded rolls of black and gold tulle for possible purple-minimizing ruffles on the skirt, and also frozen burritos because I panicked that I didn’t plan on enough food for tomorrow. Note: there will be six of us and we have 1.5 hours before we’ll need to head to the show, so it’s doubtful there won’t be enough food and I am just neurotic (always) and nervous about being out of practice with social things.

random thoughts – Day 2,228 (Thursday) – sweatshop saga – the final fourth tier

Preparation of the final tier.

 I woke up early. The pinned big skirt beckoned. After a couple cups of coffee the third tier was stitched, I was pleased, and it was time to start on the fourth and final tier. It’s the home stretch. 

Laid out across the floor, the flattened circle tier ran from the bedroom, through the living room, and ended in a heap outside the living room door. It looked like a fancy runway for a cat fashion show. Kiki was doing her day shift in the bedroom and had no interest in the metallic splendor laid out on the floor. 

The plan for the tier was to mark the center front and back, sides, and halfway between the centers and sides to help with setting the tier equally around the bottom of the skirt. During the marking, I realized the bottom edge wasn’t hemmed yet, which is easier when done as a detached flat panel instead of a gathered ruffle with the weight of the entire skirt to manage at the machine.

It took several hours to hem the 25 yards of fabric in the tier, and some if it was due to my planning. At first, I pressed the edge with the iron and then pinned the hem, which was time consuming. When my back hurt from hovering over the iron and hem edge, I decided to start the sewing. Several yards had been pinned and then stitched with complications. The thread tension dial on the machine kept changing from 4 to 0, resulting in the stitching on the underside being loose. Much thread was ripped out. I sew, therefore I rip. Then I resew. There was a lot of “for fox sake” being uttered.

I finally realized I was bumping the dial as I removed pins with my left hand and set them in the pin box to my right because there was no room to the left and the skirt would knock them all to the floor. That’s when I skipped pinning the rest of the tier and hand formed it as I sewed. It was slower sewing, but faster overall without the separate pinning step.

Pinned about 3/4 around.

The momentum of the hemming propelled me to the pinning of the tier. It was slightly easier than pinning the third tier yesterday, but still tricky. Despite trying to carefully space the tier, some sections ended up not quite matching and would run out of ruffle for the space (like the previous tier). Sections were reworked (some several times) to redistribute the fullness. After hours of labor, it’s pinned only about ¾ of the way around. The end is in sight.

A decent night of sleep, some morning coffee, and with luck, the rest of the tier will be pinned and the whole thing stitched by lunchtime Friday. Hopefully. Fingers are crossed.

random thoughts – Day 2,227 (Wednesday) – sweatshop saga - waist and third tier

And just like that, the week is half over in a blink. There was a trip to WalMart this morning for two-inch elastic for the big skirt and a few other things. There were challenges inserting the elastic into the casing, despite deliberately making the casing a half inch larger than the instructions said. It was tight feeding the elastic through the casing, then, after I stitched the elastic ends together, I discovered I had twisted it when I stitched it and it couldn’t lay flat. Got that fixed, tried it on, and the waist was too loose. After a few more missteps, it was finally done. I hope.

Third tier pleated and pinned in place.

Mid-afternoon (3:00), it seems I was possessed by Saint Tabitha, patron of seamstresses and tailors. Instead of organizing the donation that is scheduled for pickup Thursday morning, I decided to start the third ruffle tier. The 6.25 yard tier looked sweet and innocent but the 12.5 yard ruffle layer that needed to be pinned into it was intimidating. The 25 yard tier that will finish it might also finish me.

The instructional video I’ve been following features a very chipper sewist who makes it all seem very simple and easy but that must be some happy pills or white wine mixed with some editing magic because it isn’t quite that simple. 

I marked the front, back and sides of the waistband with colored clips – red for center front and back, blue for the sides, purple for the points halfway between. Then I marked the corresponding points on the ruffle, matched the clip colors, and started pleating. Easy-peasy. Nope. Not so fast, sister.

It started out well and then fell to crap. At first, it was easy setting the pleats, but it turned out to be like the false spring we enjoyed last week. The clips ran out and I started using pins. Very stabby pins. There was blood. Then, I kept running out of ruffle and had to backtrack and respace the pleats to fit into the smaller tier. In the end, it was finally pinned, and at 9:00 I called it done for the day, despite really wanting to get the seam stitched today. There were lessons learned that will carry over to the fourth and final tier. I hope. 

random thoughts – Day 2,226 (Tuesday) – sweatshop plans

Four seams available
for adjustments.

The sweatshop operated on the production operations management rule in grad school – do the quick jobs first to get them out of the queue. Psychologically, it means something got done and the daunting to-do list might not be so long and I needed the mental boost, so the afternoon was absorbed with a couple projects that are quicker than the laborious 25-yard skirt. 

Today’s successes were letting out the seams on an Indian choli top and working on the coin bra. Ideally, there would be a local warehouse selling thousands of belly dance costumes and I wouldn't need to do all this labor, but that is not the case, so I sit and I sew and I sew and I rip out stitches. (Or, if you prefer the tongue twister Mummu used to love, "She sits as she sews and she sews as she sits.")

The choli was bought with a companion saree over the weekend. The brilliant design of the tops is that there are multiple seams stitched in. If the top is too small, stitching from the seams can be removed. This particular top had been taken in smaller, so in addition to four machine stitched seam lines, there was an additional hand stitched seam. That was the easiest one to pick out. Two machine stitched seams were removed after that. It needs to be tried on again and reevaluated. It’s also a little too short, so I’ll need to add a band of fabric at the bottom, which I’ll cut from the saree. At least I have the comfort of a plan.

Coin bra in process.

The second project that got moving along is the coin bra. Digging through my swimwear, I found the black swim top I hoped I had not donated away before moving. Whew! To add stability, a bra that didn’t fit quite right was disassembled for parts. Some parts were set aside for potential future use and the cups were hand stitched into the swim top. This will provide a sturdy foundation for two triangular panels of coins to be stitched on. For now, those have been tentatively pinned in place. They need a little work, as some coins are missing and the panels could be a smidge smaller, but at least I have an idea of the look.

Then it was off to dance group. We ran through many of the dances in the June show, except the two large numbers which were impossible to run due to absences. It’s hard to rehearse dances with nine or ten people three or four are absent. Hopefully next week we can run them.