In a universe where I am a standard size

That universe happens to be this universe, back in the 60's and 70's.

It's a half-size pattern - Size 14 1/2 for bust measurement 37". Half sizes are for women with narrower shoulders compare with the Misses sizes, a fuller hip, and a height of 5'3" or 5'4". 

I think they must be for womanly figures (ie a bust that has been affected by gravity over the years) because the french darts and bust darts end EXACTLY where they are supposed to on me. (In Misses patterns the bust darts usually stop a little too high for me even when I don't "petite" the pattern.)

It's quite roomy at the hips but this is only partly because I'm relatively narrow hipped (compared to my shoulders - not compared to other women my height!). It's got quite a flared skirt so that's all good.

I only just finished my version of this dress late this afternoon so I don't have enough light for a good photo. But I will post one soon.

A close up of the neckline 

I made view B in a nicely textured navy blue cotton with little white stars/flowers all over (actually this would be great fabric for a summer jacket). I started out with long sleeves, but when I tried it on I realised it gave off a modesty vibe that I wasn't after. So I shortened them to just below the elbow dart. I also made some self-lined round patch pockets, because I hate to miss out on pockets.  They and the neckline are top stitched in white.

A close up of one of the round patch pockets

I still had to shorten the dress by probably 3 inches, so it finishes above my knee. It's got to be short or the modesty affect prevails.

Normally when I sew something with sleeves in a woven, the damn thing doesn't fit me until I take the sleeves off again. This dress fits great with sleeves (though the sleeves don't fit that well into the armcye - but I always have this problem with Big Four sewing patterns).

OMG - TLM is a teen!

The Little Madam turned 13 on Saturday.

13!

She's definitely doesn't fit the stereotype of a teenage girl though - doesn't care about clothes (as long as they cover her up), completely uninterested in boys, and doesn't shower unless we force her to.

Based on what she's into now, TLM will grow up to make a living in graphic novel-writing, stand-up comedy or Pokemon. We love her so...

At last, a compost bin

We have what I like to call a compost heap in our back yard, though in fact it's just organic landfill. I knew that just chucking banana peels and old cabbage leaves into the designated spot wasn't likely to produce the stuff that keen gardeners love so much. But I thought it would be better than putting them into the rubbish bin where there really will be added to landfill.

At last we have a "proper" composting system. A bin, with a lid, ventilation holes at the side and a sliding door (for retrieving the finished product) at the bottom. Woohoo! no more discarded fruit peels going mouldy from all the rain, no more wasps and no more feeling embarrassed when the man with the mower comes around...

My reversible Tamarack jacket

At the risk of going full-on Chinese grandma, I give you...

the reversible linen, cotton and bamboo Tamarack!

Linen side out. It's looking paunch, but only because I wanted to show you the big sewn-on snap buttons ok?

Some pocket detail, with sashiko-inspired hand stitching

Back view - to show some quilting detail

Materials:

• linen from The Fabric Store (colour Marsala)
• cotton chambray from The Fabric Store (also used for the binding)
• bamboo quilt batting (140gsm) from Spotlight

So the only synthetic component would be the (lots and lots of) polyester thread.

Modifications:

• Made it reversible by binding all edges and replacing the welt pockets with patch pockets 
• Made a straight size 12 instead of a 10 as I was using 2 layers of batting. 

Learnings:

• Should have stayed with the size 10 and kept the shorter length of my test garment (a couple of inches shorter). This size is fine but it is voluminous.
• Should have known to remove bulk from the seams. As it is, the underarms seams take up too much room to allow me to wear a big jumper underneath.
• Did not consider that I would get bearding! On the linen side, bits of the batting work themselves to the surface of the garment and it looks like pilling (I pulled it all off before taking these photos). This only started happening when I had worn it a couple of times.

Cotton side out, the back view

Cotton side out. I used a classic chambray, which gives me a double
-denim look if I wear it with my jeans (so I don't)

and pocket details for this side out

It's a bit soggy

Yes I know it's winter and I shouldn't expect anything different, but - I am getting pretty tired of it raining all the time. It would be nice to have just a few more days of clear, sunny days interspersed among the days and weeks of showers, drizzle and downpours.

I've been waiting for like 4 weeks to pre-wash and line dry the bamboo quilt batting that I bought to make my "real" Tamarack jacket from, as well as the burnt red linen that I'll use for the top layer. (I decided on a mid blue chambray for the inside layer, and that I'll do patch pockets instead of welt pockets because then I can make it completely reversible!)

In more upbeat news, I am taking a week off over the school holidays, so I'll have more chances to do the aforementioned pre-washing and drying, plus cutting, quilting and construction. (If you're a quilter and the idea of line drying bamboo batting sounds like a really bad idea please tell me!) I may even finish it before the end of winter.

And in even more exciting news, I am planning a trip to Hong Kong to see the relatives at the end of the year. The last time I was there was maybe 30 years ago - so I expect it will be even more crowded than it was then. But hopefully there will be more and better public loos than I remember...

Tamarack jacket test garment

I ran out of bias binding before I could finish the sleeve hems and side seams

I've been wanting a quilted jacket for some time now, and nearly bought one last year while on a family getaway in Martinborough. I didn't though, because the boy thought it was a "granny" style. I suspect he meant "Chinese granny", as this style does have a bit of the Mao jacket look about it.

That is probably why, when I decided to make the Tamarack jacket, I didn't choose an indigo blue fabric.

Please excuse the inclusion of my faux-woolly blue polka dot socks

The above is the test garment (but there is the possibility that I won't get around to making the "real" garment for a long time - that quilting takes so long and so much chalking).

I used just two fabrics rather than the standard two fabric layers plus an insulation layer. The facing layer is a cotton poplin quilting fabric that was on sale at my local sewing, quilting and knitting shop. It's got variable brown polka dots on a black background and makes me think of a crowd of planets.

The backing layer is actually from the boy's old grey sweatshirt which I had originally intended to use to make a sweater dress. Using this meant that I didnt have quite enough meterage to make the jacket or sleeves quite as long as I wanted - but actually the length is fine on me (high- to mid- hip length). The sleeves are definitely a bit short though, and I'm considering adding some "cuffs" to lengthen them.

Fit

According to the instructions I am in between a size 10 and a size 12. The dimensions of the size 12 garment looked like it would be too wide on me, so I made a 10. Now that it's almost finished (I ran out of bias binding so didn't get the sleeves finished just yet), width-wise there is plenty of room around the torso but not a lot of ease around the armcye.

So for my next version I may try either going up to size 12, or doing a 12 around the armcye and a 10 everywhere else.  

2 Possible user errors

I had never attempted a welt pocket before but was confident the instructions would be so good that I wouldn't need to do a practice on on scrap fabric. My first pocket was a disaster - the slash I made was about one inch wider - on each side - than the welt! I then re-measured the marking on the pattern versus the marking I'd made on the jacket but they match, so I don't know what happened there. For the second pocket I did not sew the rectangle according to the markings but instead based it on the width of the welt. This worked and the resulting welt pocket is something I'm not at all embarrassed for people to see.

The sleeve was also somehow much wider than the jacket armcye, so I just made sure the top of the sleeve lined up with the shoulder seam and trimmed off the excess at either side. This might be why the finished jacket was relatively tight around there, so maybe I traced the wrong lines in that area (on front and back pieces)!

Anyway, once I have finished binding the sleeves and washed all of the chalk lines off it (and sewn in some hook and eye closures) I will be happy to wear it around, outside the house even.

Op shopping win!

This isn't me or my jeans - but I think it illustrates nicely what my usual dressing room experience is...

Coinciding with my extreme moulting has been a slight size reduction body-wise. It's a bit disconcerting (but still welcome) when I lose weight and don't know why.

So now very few of my jeans fit me, unless I am doing the boyfriend look (ie. looking like I am wearing the jeans of a boyfriend who is a 5 foot tall wrestler).

So on Monday when I had a day off I decided to go secondhand jeans shopping. I would limit myself to no- or low-lycra denims because once that lycra stretches out the jeans look rubbish.

At the very first op shop I visited I found three - yes three - pairs of designer jeans in my (now smaller) size and in great condition! I had one pair each of Ashley Fogel (a NZ company, now defunct), Mavi and Workshop jeans for the princely sum of $35! Sure, two of them are bootleg styles, but that should be easy to alter into straight legs.

I now have jeans ranging from size 10 to what would probably be size 14 (the latter being pairs I made myself during a fatter time) and I have realised that I should really keep the jeans that don't fit me because in 6 months' time they might fit me again.

From edgy to Dixie

Yesterday I started wearing my wig at work again. I take off as soon as I get home - although to start with it felt like putting on an old shoe (ie fairly comfy), as the day wears on it starts to really bug me where the ear tabs hit the top of my ears. (On one side, anyway. It must be true that one of my ears is higher up than the other...)

It's a nice wig style (a dark brown with red highlights version of this) I have, but definitely a bit on the bouffant side, no? It's probably due to the need to hide the construction bits of the wig that it is so bouffy, but I do wonder whether this amount of volume is a hangover from the Southern belle look?

I started swimming again a few weeks ago, and now I am going to start swimming with a cap on. I tried one of those latex ones in a shop yesterday, and after I took it off I probably spent 10 dodgy minutes trying to remove all the stray hairs off it. Awkward!

And what am I going to wear to my Taiko drumming lesson? A wig? A beanie? Or go head-commando?

Anyway unless there's a sudden reversal of folliculer fortune I aim to buy one of those hand-tied wigs to replace this one. This type of construction is supposed to produce a more natural look, but costs an unnatural amount of money compared to what I've already got (not that that was cheap!).

I'm thinking this one, this one or this one. Though if I want to get the government subsidy to help with the cost of it I will have to wait until July (12 months after my last subsidised wig purchase).

It's raining hair. Again.

In the past week or so I've gone from no noticeable hair loss, to seeing the odd hair slipping off my head onto whatever surface, to experiencing a worrying amount of hair loss.

So what do I mean by a "worrying amount"? If I stand over the washbasin and rub my scalp as though proactively shedding all available dandruff , there're enough short hairs collecting on the bottom of the basin to plush up your average-sized mouse pad. It definitely looks like more than about 80 hairs per day to me (supposedly a normal hair-shed).

I keep asking the boy and TLM to check the top and back of my head and they've promised to let me know if they spot any scalp show-through. The boy said that I always shed hair at this time of year. But I'm pretty sure he's only told me that once before - 13 months ago just before it all fell out.

Once I got to work I checked in the mirror and was concerned that up top was already looking alarmingly flat. Hours later I remembered I'd worn a beanie on my way to work - and even very short hair can be subject to hat hair. Although... there's definitely more scalp on show at my left temple than there was a few weeks ago.

A greenish pullover

I've been wearing this pullover quite a lot - surprisingly I quite like the pistachio colour and high neckline (one good thing that has come out of my hair loss and subsequent pixie regrowth is that high necklines actually look okay on me now).

The yarn is a cotton and acrylic blend I got on sale at KnitWorld.

The pattern is called Keynote Pullover, by Mary Lou Egan. I can't recall the name of the book - Easy Knits, Simple Knits or Quick Knits - something like that. Boring title, very knittable designs.

I have been thinking I should be knitting with organic fibres, but knitting yarns are expensive enough as it is. My next knitting project will be from an unraveled cotton/acrylic cardigan I made two summers ago that I never wore. Even if I can't do organic at least I can do re-purposed :-)

A slightly different jeans-to-skirt refashion

This is the skirt I made during the sewing meet-up I went to a while back. The boy gave me a pair of his jeans which had a nice fade on it but was well ripped in the knees, plus a pair of navy blue twill (rather than denim) jeans.

This is the back. One of the two patches is from TLM's old tartan cord jeans

I cut up both pairs and flipped them upside down so that the pants' hems form the waist of the skirt, while the skirt hem is from the crotch of the pants - giving me some swishy shape.

This is the right side view. 

The navy pants were used mostly to form side pieces, which I pleated up until the total width around the waist felt about right to me. Then I add a D-ring and strap (from The Little Madam's old school backpack which I cut up) so the skirt would stay up. A red jeans zip that I bought cheaply from a furnishing's shop was added to help with the closure but in the end is just decorative.

Front view

I added one of the jeans pockets (the other I had inadvertently cut through), plus a pocket I sewed up out of the navy. Once I'd sewed them down with two  lines of topstitching I realised they were too low and close together to be front pockets. So that side is now the back!

The end result is just above ankle length - a little too short to wear with sneakers but still wearable, especially with boots.

I haven't been back since, only because of a lack of suitable sewing project and/or it was going to be too nice a day to spend indoors. But if the timing is right I may get to the next one with a Tamarack jacket.

The undies saga returns

In this episode of the undies saga  heourroine makes more attempts to make herself well-fitting, sporty-looking, affordable cotton undies.

The story began when, armed with a swimsuit sewing pattern (Kwik Sew 3239), this slightly stingy sewer bravely tackled issues of pancake bottom, lack of overlocker and few materials (due to stinginess) - to produce promising but not-quite-there-yet underpants.

Then she received a valuable gift - a free bikini-style undies pattern (Megan Neilson's Acacia). This produced a few wearables -

Acacia - Used lingerie elastic for the classic look. The shape wasn't exactly what I was after but it was quite wearable - until the elastic started to come apart with each wash!

I made a couple of versions of Acacia with self fabric binding, with mixed results. One pair didn't stretch much after I was done stitching it up, the other pair wouldn't stay up.

In the spirit of upcycling, the next pair was made out of two of the boys' unwanted t-shirts. I won't be doing a  gusset in a contrast colour next time, okay? 

For this pair I went back to the Kwik Sew pattern for a higher waistline - but it is too high. At least there's a barbeque on the back. I used  foldover elastic at the waist (but it's not folded over), and strips of viscose/elastane (from a maxi dress that I shortened) around the leg holes. 

I made a second pair from the same Kwik Sew pattern with a slightly lower waistline and using viscose/ elastane for the waist and leg openings. But theres no photo because but I'm taking them out for a test drive. My takeway from this exercise is not to use old or thin jersey. It feels a bit baggy on (though the shape is fine.

This one I have high hopes for. It's the boyleg view from the Kwik Sew pattern, with a deep panel of viscose/spandex around the waistband (so it's not too low cut) and the legs are just folded under and sewn down. I had to draft a gusset for this because the original pattern doesn't have one (just a front lining piece).

I found with my first boylegs that the seam at the centre back gives me a nice bum shape. However the flip side of this is having to put up with wedginess. I wanted short legs on than designed because  I want to be able to wear them with re-usable pads when it's that time of the month.

Bamboo is back in my life

As a person of Chinese extraction, I'm familiar with things like the sight of a building completely covered in bamboo scaffolding, eating with bamboo chopsticks and cooking on bamboo steamers.

Less traditionally, I'm dipping my toe into bamboo fabric and knitting yarn (well, thinking about it and looking for it anyway).

But it's taken me till now to buy a bamboo toothbrush and bamboo clothes pegs (which can be tossed in the compost once you remove the non-bamboo bits).

When I announced this to the boy, he said that his family used bamboo toothbrushes when he was a boy! Which would have been back in the 70's and 80's! And they weren't even hippies!

So it's great that I can slowly switch to bamboo where possible (and affordable - 7 bucks for a toothbrush seem expensive) without having to worry about resistance from the within the household.

Though it makes me sad that bamboo implements went so out of fashion for so long, to be replaced by animal-choking plastic.

Mindful walking

While the boy and The Little Madam were off playing croquet, I decided to take a mindful walk.
A mindful walk is when you go for a nature walk somewhere and make yourself really conscious of the views, the smells and how you are feeling.

For example on this morning's walk I was really, really mindful of how my vulnerable my knees are since my injury about 6 weeks ago, and how much I really don't want to break them again.

You might actually call it a stroll, but that sounds so common...

Middle aged activism

I always thought it was supposed to be the young who get all angry about injustice in the world.
I didn't getting particularly angry about it in my youth.
Or maybe I did but I have just don't remember.

Anyway lately I find myself getting really angry about all sorts of issues - plastic in the oceans; Syria's government killing it's own people; sexual harassment; workplace bullying; the National Party; freedom campers who treat the wilderness (or other people's back yards) as toilets...there's too many.

Should I be pleased that I am finally willing to talk about this stuff and even give my MP a piece of my mind?

Or should I be worried that I have started the journey towards becoming a grumpy old woman?

In which I discover we have been unwittingly eating caged pork! And pick up rubbish as penance.

One weekend I wasn't able to get out of accompanying the boy grocery shopping (usually I get to stay at home and TLM goes with him).

But its a good job I did.

For I don't know how long, he's been conned into thinking that a "pigcare" label on a packet of pork means it's as good as free-farmed. I didn't think so, and after we got home I went on the 'Net to check.

Sure enough, I was right and he was wrong. That label just means the pig farmer met the minimum animal welfare requirements - which is nothing to hug your tree about.

I hope the boy goes back to buying Freedom Farms products because that's a brand I do trust to let their pigs roam.

Also, last weekend TLM and I picked up plastic rubbish that we found in the gutter as we went for my shuffling walk! For the longest time I felt guilty for not picking up rubbish because I knew that by not doing so I was increasing its chance of ending up in a waterway. But this time we did it anyway.

We did have to walk the rest of the way home with our hands away from our bodies, to avoid spreading rubbish germs to the rest of our body...

On social sewing and the picking of brains

So last Sunday I went to a sewing meet-up, my very first. It was a bit daunting at first, because everyone else seemed to know each other well from years' of previous meet-ups. But in the end I not only enjoyed some sewing camaraderie but nearly finished making a long fluted skirt from two pairs of the boy's cast-off jeans (photo to come after I'm done with the project).

I also had the good fortune to be at a meet-up when Bernina sewing reps cam a-visiting. So - after 30 years as a Bernina owner - I learned how best to clean the shit that accumulates in the machine when you use it. Not only that, I got to pick their brains about how best to handle stretchy fabrics.

The main takeaway from this is to use stretch needles (not just ballpoint needles) and the machine's vari-overlock stitch, and that I have the very presser foot that goes with this stitch. So that's what it's for!

I'm still not convinced this will allow me to topstitch the binding on my Thunderpants-lookalike undies, but I will take what I can get and try it out.

Snail's pace

For the last few weeks now I've been forced to choose between not walking anywhere, or walking very slowly, carefully and tensely.

It's not easy being crippled by tendonitis and doc-knows-what other causes of knee pain. It started in my left knee, but I'm now getting more frequent pain in the right knee too (due to the rest of my body compensating for the injury).

I'll be seeing the doctor tomorrow and he'll probably refer me to physiotherapy.

A stripy linen something

I bought 2 metres of this nice candy-striped linen at the Fabric Store sale recently.

This amount should be enough for me to make a sleeveless max dress, a long sleeved short dress, a maxi skirt and a sleeveless shell top, 2-3 sleeveless shell tops or a long sleeve shirt plus something small.

But I cannot decide what to make.

I really enjoy wearing my long linen skirt in this heat we've been experiencing, so it would be good to have another long skirt to mix and match with my tops.
And I wouldn't mind some more tops, a mixture of sleeveless, shortish sleeved and long sleeved.
But I really like the idea of a stripy sundress.
Mind you there are some very appealing jumpsuits around too - even though I'm far too practical-minded to wear one.

A leftovers summer knit

Sometime after I found out I couldn't wear wool hats due to my new-found wool allergy, but before I started wearing a wig (and well before my hair grew back), I ordered enough cotton knitting yarn for hats in five different colours.

By the time I had finished my first cotton beanie (in dark green with a criss-cross texture pattern) I'd already started wearing a wig.

So after a bit of research and a couple of false starts I made this top.
The front is in blue and green stripes, with an eyelet row every 2 or 4 rows. I tried to vary the width of the stripes so that they were narrow around my waist, for an hourglass effect.

It's my own design, loosely based on the measurements of a knit chevron top in one of my Designer Knitting magazines.

The back is the same pattern but with red and orange stripes. You can also see my new hairstyle. Hmm...it does look better from the front especially if you screw up your eyes a bit so that the wrinkles blur.

Worn with my cool Britannia-themed singlet underneath, plus a pair of jeans which has been over-dyed, patched over where the denim has stretched out and become bubbly, and finally chopped off to become a pair of casual shorts.

Unsurprisingly my new top is too warm to wear this summer, except when it rains and the temps dip below 22 degrees and I'm sat on the couch with my injured knee resting on cushions.

Stoppable (except when it comes to sewing)

So I was going to take this whole week off, get TLM out of the house and away from her electronic devices, and enjoy some summer.

I revived my high intensity interval training-style hill walks - this means whenever I have to walk uphill I walk up as quickly as I possibly can. (This, along with my sugar intake restriction, was behind the satisfying weight loss that I enjoyed about 10 months ago.)

I even ran up them hills - well, for the first couple of days of my holiday anyway. On the second day I felt my left knee graunch during an uphill lope. The next day I took TLM to the local surf beach to play in the waves and do an ice cream stroll. And then my knee kind of blew up on me.

Three flippin' days on the couch followed; days of heat and sun (and one of refreshing rain) and restlessness. My laptop sure did get a good workout.

I did get some sewing done - a more successful pair of undies and bucket hats for the boy and me. Making the hats was a great way to use up fabric scraps. I used the free denim bucket hat pattern this time (rather than designing it on the fly, which is so time consuming...). I highly recommend this pattern. Any flaws you spot in these hats is probably due to user error.

I made this in the size large. It turned out to be too big for me so I gave it to the boy. It is mostly a single layer of linen plus a double layer for the brim. The boy won't wear it in public because it's not his style - but he won't give it back to me so that I can resize it for myself :-(

One side of a reversible hat in size medium (which does fit me). Love this cotton print,  which is scraps from a kimono sleeve top.

The other side of the reversible hat. The purple is linen, the navy is cotton, the grey-blue is linen I think.

Undies #6, bound with  lingerie elastic (not correctly, but it works) instead of self binding, using the Acacia pattern. Fits really well, but I think it's a bit low-cut for my taste.

In case you're wondering, I don't often sew for The Little Madam. She is very picky about what she wears - mostly cargo pants and long sleeved t-shirts in non-girly colours. And hat-wise she will only wear baseball-style caps that she can fastern around her ponytail.

Redirecting old clothes

I love to cut up the boy's (and mine) unwanted clothing and turn it into something I (or TLM) would be happy to wear.

But often I don't, because the shirt or jacket is in great condition - and wouldn't it be better to donate it to an op shop, who can sell it to someone who can't afford to buy "new" new clothes?

I'm going to stop doing that now, because apparently a huge proportion of donated clothing just doesn't get sold, but ends up in the landfill.

So I'm thinking that the green way to go would be to re-use our cast-offs - where possible - so that:

• they don't end up in landfill, which is much more likely than I'd previously thought; and 
• I consume much brand new fabric.

Last week I turned one of the boy's unwanted Calvin Klein t-shirts into a summer sleep singlet, and two more of his t-shirts into a baseball shirt for TLM (who, although it is high summer, will not expose her arms or legs so must wear long sleeves and trousers).

Undie odyssey part 2 -

There goes my plan to make a matching crop top and undies set.
The cotton/lycra fabric must be less stretchy than I thought, because when I sewed up undies #4 (using Acacia) in this it turned out to be a tad tight. On the other hand, the crop top is a little loose around the ribs and I think I over-shortened the shoulder straps. With the crop top though, it's because I'm still working out getting the fit just right and over-corrected.

Then I bought some more cotton/lycra (this time in an angel print), and sewed up undies #5.
Nope, a bit too loose. I suspect my measuring of the waist and pantleg bindings has been a wee bit inconsistent...

Also, I noticed a lot more rippling in undies #5. So even though the fabric should have good stretch and recovery something is letting me down. After reading on the 'Net and some of my sewing magazines, I've decided its because I shouldn't be stretching the pieces as I sew them.

I remembered that the rippling only started after I top-stitched the binding, so perhaps for the time being I will omit that step.

I did think maybe I need an overlocker, but first I'll try (in this order):

1. sewing a lot more slowly, and moving the fabric along manually if it seems to be getting stuck under the foot
2. using some of the stretch stitches (not just zig zag), now that I've gone back to the manual and read about them
3. getting a stretch needle and twin needle
4. a walking foot - this will take a while, as I have to find one that is compatible with a Bernina 1020. This machine is older than two of my workmates!

On my new blog title

I decided to rename my blog, since my knitting has fallen away somewhat (due to the need to avoid wool in particular and animal fibres in general) so the old name is no longer very applicable.

One of my motivations for making my own clothes (even undies) has been to remove myself from that whole planet- and ethics-trashing trend that is fast fashion. So this blog's new direction is about trying to go greener (but I'll still blog about the family and other stuff).

Recently I made the decision to go vegetarian for my work lunches. This doesn't sound like much, but my family is heavily into meat, so breakfast is about the only meal I have that is mostly meat-free!

Then I switched from "normal" tampons to organic tampons - though it had to wait until it was possible to find a brand that wasn't a lot more expensive than the "normal" brands. Apparently organic cotton breaks down within about 5 years, a fraction of the time it takes for the normal cotton to break down. Since our rubbish is usually contained within plastic bags, I don't know that a quicker breakdown is actually realistic. But it's got to be better for my body, and for the people who produce the organic cotton right?

The next stage of my greening is switching from disposable menstrual products to reusable. I won't go all the way and get a moon cup, because to be honest I don't think I've got that many years left of periods. But I have ordered some fabric pads and once I start using them it'll reduce the amount of rubbish quite a lot for approximately one week per month.

Unfortunately the boy is not that interested in the path to green enlightenment (though he will buy free range food for my sake). But TLM is willing to humour me so there's hope she will take it further as she gets older and wiser.

Unselfish sewing

The Little Madam, now 12 1/2, is now big enough to wear women's clothing.
She isn't tall for her age, nor what you might call "well developed" for her age. In fact she's smaller than most of the kids in her age.

But she does fit a woman's size 8 (NZ sizing) in raincoats, almost fits a Warehouse pajama size XS  AND is almost too big to fit a Simplicity size XS.

Today I whipped up a raglan-sleeve tee for TLM using the raglan tee pattern from my Sew U Home Stretch book (by Wendy Mullin). I used the XS size and some polyester/elastane jersey that has a nice dark green-to-pale mint ombre colour effect on it.

I added self-fabric sleeve and hem bands because the body and sleeves were a bit short (to be fair, the original pattern has three quarter length sleeves), and also around the neck (instead of ribbing 'cos I had none). I had to cut down the neck because it would have been too small to go around her head. Not sure if this was user error, or that a XS woman has a much smaller head than a pre-teen of the same body size.

the collar stands up a bit as it's not ribbing, but I like to think of it as a low funnel neck...

it looks like I used contrast fabrics, but these are all cut from the same cloth, which is ombre dyed

Now that I have done my non-selfish sewing for the year I feel justified in going back to sewing undies and crop tops for moi.

An undie odyssey

I have always liked the undies made by the likes of Thunderpants and Fanny Adams. They are super comfy and soft, and there's no tight elastic or wedginess. However I can't really afford to spend up to $28 per pair. Plus their undies only come in 4 sizes - if their hipster undies don't fit you perfectly they are going to fall down!

The other thing is that I hate wearing bras because they make me feel asthmatic. I basically just don't wear one if I can possibly get away with it (it helps to wear tops made from crisp wovens rather than super-drapey knits). I can get crop tops that fit but are made of synthetic fabric, which is a bit sweat-making in summer, or pretty cotton ones (from Thunderpants for example) that would be great except they don't fit me.

So all this is leading up to...my sewing my own underwear.

I started out with Kwik Sew 3239 which is actually a swimsuit pattern. ( I may even use it to make a swimsuit one day - variations include crop top, halter neck bikini top, low cut boylegs, high cut boylegs, briefs, bikini bottoms and tankini).

I used a viscose and elastane fabric that was sitting around doing nothing ever since I realised that brown looks horrible against my skin tone -

these are the low cut boy legs. I raised it to a mid-waist.

These are the briefs, after I lowered the waist.

For both of these I used self fabric binding instead of elastic, for the Thunderpants look. Of course they otherwise don't resemble Thunderpants pants at all.

Then I had a go at making the crop top, using a combination of the above fabric plus an old black long sleeve t-shirt that I no longer wore -

The fit is almost perfect on me. I had to remove length from the shoulder straps, and veered between small and medium in size. The lower band is probably a bit wider than the pattern would recommend, but that's to accommodate my need for room about my rib cage.  The only thing I would change for the next one I make, would be to narrow the shoulder straps - either by cutting them narrower or by turning in the binding after sewing it in. I may also experiment with using the halter bikini to get a more plunging neckline in a future crop top.

I have also had a go at Megan Neilson's Acacia pattern for undies. This is your classic hipster brief, and the one I have decided to use in future undie-making. The shape is great (covers your bum, just the right about of rise, comfy to wear). However I don't have a photo for you because it's in the laundry basket (have already worn them twice since making them). As I did with the other undies above, I substituted the elastic for self fabric binding.

I've already cut out my next crop top and Acacia undies - it will be the first time I match top and bottom!

Zealandia

Pretty isn't it?

An unexpected pixie convert

My hair grew back in patches to start with, the boy shaving it back until I had pretty much 100% head cover.   Then I wouldn't let him shave it any more except to tidy it up around the edges (as you do with a lawn).

It's now about Annie Lennox length and - quite unexpectedly - the look seems to suit me!

I have always thought that I could not carry off a pixie cut, because when I looked at photos of women who looked great in super short hair I saw coltish girl-women with high cheekbones and large round eyes. 

I am have none of those features, yet ever since I had my "reveal" (i.e. going out in public without a wig or hat) I have had nothing but compliments (and that's taking into consideration the fact that my workmates are incredibly supportive people who wouldn't laugh out loud if I turned up looking ridiculous).

So this whole experience - despite the distress, self-consciousness, expense and physical discomfort - has thrown up an silver lining. It's resulted in me discovering a look that is both wind-defying and funky, and which goes really well with my sixties-inspired outfits and my Docs.

Squelching while the forest sings

It was my birthday yesterday, so the boy and TLM came on a nature walk with me. I wanted to go to this particular reserve because we don't go there very often (because it's on the other side of town and because you have to pay to enter). And because it was my birthday neither of them complained about it.

Of course they enjoyed it at least as much as I did. The muddy track was no match for our tramping boots; it was still, warm and sunny; and we could hear wildlife in surround sound.

I wished we could have stayed longer, maybe done a few additional tracks or even just stood around a bit more to match up the birds with their songs. But the boy has a tendency to rush through places and it would have been unrealistic to expect him not to this time around.

Still, it was a great 60 minutes.

It was calm but the sea was noisy

I took some leave this week, the second week of the school holidays. The boy, who had been underemployed forever, got a contract, then had the contract extended, then ran out of work again. So this is kind of a family staycation.

Which means that the boy can spend all week playing computer games instead of looking for work, and TLM (who turned 12 in August) is strongly asserting her right to spend her holidays on the couch with at least one wi-fi enabled device in her hands.

I spend some effort trying to get at least one of them out of the house sometimes, but it is easier if I just take myself for a whine-free walk and see where I end up.

My knees have been giving me gyp lately - I fear it's arthritis (nooooooh!It means I'm getting old!) but I am compelled to keep walking. Maybe its keeping the joints from getting worse. I hope so.

I walked to the beach, perhaps about an hour's walk, probably less if I hurry. It was surprisingly calm there - most often it's gusty enough to give you a good sandblasting (over-exfoliation ).

The surfers and boogie boarders were enjoying the surf; a naked toddler got her feet wet then ran away from the freezing water; and a little black terrier let me pat him on the back. Summer's a-comin'.

A wig is like a push-up bra

I know I look better when I'm wearing one that when I'm not...
but when I've been wearing one all day I just can't wait to take it off.

A brand new is always way too tight...
but once it's stretched out from wear it's almost comfortable.

If I was single and seeing someone new, I probably wouldn't want to take it off in front of him.

I'm always tugging at it surreptitiously throughout the day.

When I'm wearing one I kinda feel like I'm cheating...
so sometimes I go without just to show I don't care

Being there with hair - a wiggy milestone

I bought a wig. This wig. Except I didn't pick the blonde one (of course) - mine's a dark brown with red bits in it.

This is the view from the left 

This is the back view

I wore it for a few hours on the Sunday, then I didn't get to wear it again for several weeks because there were "fit issues". It was too tight.

It turns out that my head is bigger than average, and the consultant didn't realise that when I was trying on her on-hand supply of wigs. She stretched it out for me but it took a while and then it got stuck in the post...

I wore it to work on Friday, but by the time I got back from lunch I was ready to yank it off and replace with a nice comfy hat. All of my workmates were really complimentary about my look, so that was good.

Today I managed to wear it for the full day, right up until I got home. (As expected, the boys in my workplace showed their support by just saying "nice hair" and leaving it at that).

Yes is a bit uncomfy to wear a wig, even after the stretching - if it's loose enough to feel comfortable I reckon it's too loose to stay in place on your head. It was also slightly itchy at times, but surprisingly I stopped noticing after a while. And I am pretty intolerant of tightness, hence my resentment of bras.

For this reason I plan to only wear it a couple of times per week. (It'll be a bit like heels - they make me look taller but aren't comfortable to wear all the time.)

The great wool purge of 2017 - or my body heat in synthetics

I have been slowing packing away all of my woollen clothing. It's a bit sad, but hopefully I'll be able to sell a few items on TradeMe and gift some others to The Little Madam.

The purge has left my wardrobe almost bare (thanks goodness I'll still be well clothed for summer), leaving me with a pretty minimal winter wardrobe:

• two skirts (one of which I just bought yesterday)
• one dress
• no cardigans
• a really nice shirt I got at the Tempest closing down sale
• one coat (warm enough when it's 12 degrees Celsius but useless in the rain)
• one raincoat that has a thin poly fleece lining
• one cotton scarf
• the few cotton/acrylic hats I managed to finish in the last week
• no arm warmers/handwarmers/wristwarmers
• only cotton socks
• 1 polypropylene top

I knew I would need to find another warm layer to supplement my remaining coat (viscose, polyester etc) and raincoat, to survive this weekend's bone-chilling temps. I was resigned to having to buy...sigh...a puffer jacket.

Gawd I hate puffer jackets. Maybe it's slightly unreasonable, since they are at least warm, light and sensitive skin-friendly. I managed to find one at the Kathmandu sale, one thats only thinly padded with down and shaped so that I look like a healthy adult female rather than a cushion on legs. In a pale aqua. It does the job I guess.

A wool-less winter is hell for a knitter

Now, right in the middle of winter and in our second bone-chilling storm in two weeks, I find out for sure that I am allergic to wool.

"But I always wear a cotton layer underneath!" I protested. My dermatologist assured me that this wouldn't make any difference.

This is devastating to me, not just because it's hard to keep warm when limited to cotton (because I hate poly fleece and hardly have any garments in this fibre), but because I now have to put all my lovely hand knit woollens away - possibly forever.

Not only can I no longer wear the boxy fair isle jumper that took two years to complete (and many others), but my wonderful Untouched World possum merino jacket that was a present from the boy, must also be packed away.

And my knitting. Almost of of my knitting projects have to be packed away indefinitely and I am now furiously knitting cotton hats to replace the merino ones that previously covered my naked head.

Ah well. I guess no-one ever died of being banned from wool.

Nardole and me

When I'm wearing my cropped duffel coat I look an awful lot like Nardole from Dr Who -

Our coats are even the very same colour! But mine has a hood on it. Also I don't wear glasses (except when I'm driving).

Seriously!

Gone today, hair tomorrow?

While waiting for a medical certificate that has the right information on it, I went down to my local wig shop to try some one.

It's not really a wig shop in the way that, say a cheese shop is full of many cheeses.They only have perhaps 6-8 wigs on display (and order in if you want something different and are prepared to commit yourself to buying it). Only one display wig was approximately the right length and only one (a different one) was approximately the right colour.

First I tried on the short one - it was a short bob in what I would call black. I looked in the mirror. Way, way too dark. Way, way too much hair.

Then I tried on the medium length one, a sort of shoulder-length shaggy do a with long fringe, but at least it was a nice dark chocolate colour with red bits in it (the colour my hair used to be maybe twenty years ago). Way, way too much hair.

The consultant used some sort of spray on one side and brushed that side down so it would look more flat (which is how my hair usually is, when I have any). Then it just looked overly thick and flat.

So I was a bit disappointed. Despite my earlier excitement at the prospect of luscious, wavy hair like I used to wish I had, when it came down to it I realised I just wanted to have hair as flat and straight and boring as my hair used to be (with slightly more volume). Because anything else just screams "WIG!".

So what do you think about this one?

Getting' wiggy with it

Here in New Zealand, if you are suffering from temporary or permanent hair loss you can get a government grant that goes towards the cost of wigs or other head covers. So I left a message for my dermatologist about getting a medical certificate and started looking online at wigs.

After seeing what's available I was feeling pretty damn positive! I could go wavy! Curly! Blonde even! Like this one.

However the grant won't be enough to pay for more than one wig, so I will have to pick something a little more believable that I can wear when it's just not socially acceptable to be wearing a knitted cap (like, weddings, dinners at nice restaurants, work events...). Like this one.

But even if I have to go the less spicy route to wiggy-ness, I will still have the benefit of volume. Volume! Without mousse, back combing or blowdrying!

My copious Google-research tells me that wigs aren't necessarily hot or itchy to wear, and some you can even wear swimming. I know it's not as good as having one's own thick head of natural hair, but it feels like a great consolation prize.

In the meantime, I'm finding a lot of the regrowth is coming up grey. I suppose it had to happen some time, but I was quite enjoying being the only 50-something in my workplace with almost no grey.

The other thing is how to deal with the need for a light hat for indoors but a warm hat for outdoors. I could duck into the ladies' loos every time I need to go in or out in order to swap hats. Or I could pop a second hat on when I go outside then very, very carefully remove that layer when I go back inside. I'm still working on this one.

Head full of holes

It's a pity I bruise so easily - I've had a bunch of blood tests in the search for what's behind the deforestation on my head (and my eyebrows. and my eyelashes), and each needle prick has left behind a large bruise. I worry that if I don't cover up my arm sufficiently people will think the boy has been bashing me about.

As if this wasn't enough, this afternoon I had to return to the dermatologist to get some biopsies done. I didn't know for sure, but expected that he would gouge out some skin from my scalp.

I was quite right - this is exactly what he did. About five times. It wasn't intolerably painful, but as he stitched me up I realised my heart was pounding. Not with fear, I think. But definitely pounding.

Then it all started ache four hours later....

On the plus side, my stash of indoor-appropriate hats is building up nicely.

This one might be a bit too casual for the office but it'll keep my neck warm

Life's not all bad as a baldie (only slightly)

The cons:

1. If it's raining, I have to figure out how to wear my hood up without it dislodging my head cover. (Umbrellas are no good in my windy city).

2. I look really silly without something covering my head.

3. It's really not a sexy look (it might be if I were a model and shaved all of the remaining hair off).

4. When I told my extended family about it, they all wanted to see my naked head. The hell they will.

5. I wasted $30 on a big elephant-print sarong, which I turned into two long headscarves before giving up on the idea of wearing headscarves.

The pros:

1. I get to wear hats a lot, which is nice because I have a lot of hats (most of which I knitted myself).

2. I will save money on haircuts, which is handy because I would need to have no haircuts for the next 2 years and 6 months in order to save up the amount of money I will have to spend to see a dermatologist privately about my hair loss.

I think it's rather ironic that it's highly likely my hair is falling out due to financial stress - and finding out how much it costs to see the dermatologist is adding not exactly making that stress go away.

3. There's not much chance of my leaving home without my hat, and then being too cold when I leave the office for my lunch break.

4. I worked out how to sew my own exercise hat from an old t-shirt. That'll be handy if my head is still not presentable by summer.

5. The Boy is still lovely to me, which make me love him more.

6. The Little Madam is still lovely to me, which makes me love her more.

a Kildare jumper for The Little Madam

I've previously knit and unravelled two garments for myself from this yarn (two extra large - as in 400g - balls of blackberry Stylecraft Special), neither of which I wore much.

This latest recycling of the yarn is going to get a lot more wear -

Here it is in its inert state...

Here it is being posed awkwardly...

...and here it is in action, so to speak...

Here's the Ravelry link.

On the continual fall-out of my hair

It's been a week since I went to the doctor about my kamikaze hair. He prescribed me some stuff to tame my scalp and invited me to see him again in ten days if my hair is still misbehaving.

Well, it is.

The floors of my house are a real mess, as they are covered in black strands - as is my pillow. When I look in the mirror I'm reminded of a guy I once went tramping (hiking) with when I was at university. His head was mostly bald at the top but long-haired at the sides and back, like an egg wearing a fringe.

My progress in learning to tie a head scarf is very slow (if it is happening at all). Mostly I can rely on the pirate-style do staying on, but any other way soon fails and is replaced by one of my ever-reliable knitted hats. There are some really inspiring YouTube videos showing you how to tie a head scarf stylishly - but watching them is the only easy part.

At times like these I'm thankful that I'm still working from home. It means I don't have to spend more than a couple of hours in any one day in public, with my head inexpertly covered.

Did you know there are many websites that sell headwear aimed at women going the full-Sinead due to alopecia and chemotherapy?

Stubbly like a kiwifruit

To save money, I only go to the hairdressers when my hair so long I just can't stand it any more.

If I had known two Saturdays ago that my hair was going to fall out, I might have opted to save my $42.

It started happening a week ago this morning - handfuls just fell off my head while I was in the shower. I run a hand through what's left of my stylishly bobbed locks and it comes away full of limp strands. I get out of bed in the morning and the sheets are covered in wavy black lines. The floor looks like that of a busy hairdresser's.

I'm comforted by the stubble that has appeared in the place of the escaped hairs, so it is growing back. But it's surely going to take months.

I really don't know why this is happening to me. Is it because  the day before, I had done my first dance class in probably two decades? And then took TLM and her friend for a hill walk later in the same day? Is it because my body is sugar-starved? (Not likely, despite my efforts to be sugar-free during the week). Or the result of two years of worrying incessantly about money? (But at long last the boy has got a contract and soon money will be flowing in - for a couple of months at least.)

My off-centre part is more like a broad, dried out riverbed.

When I dare to gaze in the mirror I am reminded of the wispy-haired bird-girl in TLM's book,"Eep".

Thankful that it's almost hat weather, I have spent Easter weekend with a knitted cloche practically glued to my head whenever it wasn't just the three of us. I like how it looks and all, but it isn't actually quite that cold enough to be wearing it indoors with the heater on.

Tomorrow I will try wearing a silk headscarf, gypsy-style. I will probably look ridiculous, but at least I can avoid sporting a comb-over.

Death traps

We have had it with the flies in this house - they buzz around my head, try to eat our food and die in inconvenient places.

I think it's worse than it's ever been. The only plus side is at least they aren't mosquitos or some other bite-y bug.

I am not at all in favour of fly sprays. They squirt chemicals all over the place and, anecdotally, don't actually work.

I did some googling research  and read that if you hang a plastic bag half-full of water plus a few coins in the doorway, the flies won't come into the house.

However the boy did not seem think this was good enough - probably because all the flies seem to be in the house already.

So he went out to and bought some fly paper (above) and a fly-catcher (like a dream catcher but icky-ier) (below).

 

Welcome to your demise, flies!!