Shortening sleeve length

Sodetake wo tsumeru

Work has been a collection of SNAFUs. The very description of my job almost guarantees that the people I work with on a daily basis are much smarter than the general population. (I didn't say I was smart, I said that as a collective group, my colleagues are smarter than most people.) But since we're specialists, we have clerk types who SHOULD be helping us with our work, but can't (or worse, won't) perform simple tasks. And when I say simple tasks, I mean 5th grade math. Sigh...

With that going on, I haven't had much time or energy for things like sewing. Last month, I shortened the sleeves of my chambray jacket. This is my grownup denim jacket that I throw on over my T-shirts or turtlenecks and wrap a scarf around my neck to pretend I thought about getting dressed in the morning. The trouble is, I had to roll up the sleeves for my hands to show. I could have shortened them at the cuff, but that would have meant dealing with the vented cuff and quasi-antique buttons, which I both really like.

So I did the only thing a girl could do...

I ripped out the sleeve at the shoulder, and shortened it there.

The chalk marks are 4 cm from the original seam. They will be the new (target) sew line. I marked this line the old fashioned way, using a ruler and chalk, measuring 4 cm from the original seam, marking, measuring, marking, measuring, marking and connecting the dots.

And here it is, all sewn back together again.

There is minor creasing at the shoulder, but I think it falls in the realm of "what, you are bothered by THAT when there are children starving in Africa? Get a life" territory. It would probably bother me more if the jacket were something like wool serge, but it's chambray with a bit of a crinkle, so, yes, there are children starving in Africa. The sleeves are now the perfect length, and when I wear the jacket under my also DIY altered trench coat, the cuffs don't show! So, Yay me!

I really need to sew again.

I'm up earlier than usual today because airway blockage woke me shortly before 4 a.m. OK, I made that sound a lot worse than it actually was. My nose is stuffed up from pollen allergies, made worse by my being too tired to shower before going to bed (it actually makes a difference. Showering before bedtime ensures that you wash all the pollen out of your hair). Then I started answering work e-mails (attempted cleanup of previously mentioned SNAFU) and it was all kind of downhill from there. I think I'll post this, then shower, and get the Pumpkin Daddy's breakfast ready (but not the Pumpkin Prince and Princess's, not yet, because the three of us have a holiday but the Pumpkin Daddy has to go to work).

I can't get out!

Derarenai!

A couple nights ago, I was Jillian Michaels-ing after having put the kids to bed. About 1/3 of the way through the workout, I heard a voice call "okaasan!! I can't get out!"

I caught my breath and went upstairs to the master bedroom, which is where the Pumpkin Daddy and Pumpkin Prince sleep. I found the Pumpkin Prince between the double bed and the crib, and inside the comforter. He'd somehow crawled through the spaces between the snaps on the opening of the comforter cover, and fallen between the two beds while trying to get back out.

The rescue effort was severely hampered by my inability to stop laughing.

This is a very bad picture of me in the mirror wearing my now reasonably fitting black dress from the previous millennium and new quasi-Chanel tweedy jacket (minus shoulder pads and about 4 cm off the sleeves). You can also see the beds and comforter cover that were the source of the Pumpkin Prince's misfortune.



I'm currently working on my chambray jacket. I am trying something I have only heard about, which is shortening the sleeve at the shoulder. It's taking longer than I thought it would because I'm also dealing with work stuff at home. Sewing is stress relief (when I manage to get it done right).

I looked at the sidebar and I noticed I got a hit from Turku, Finland! Hi, Turku! My boss lived there for a year. I am juggling the logistics aspects of going there in 2014 for work stuff and taking the kids with me. They love Moomin.

Unhealthy!

Fukenkou!

I have a little time to myself between the kids' bedtime and my own. I usually do my sewing or Jillian Michaels-ing at this time.

I'd been trying to alter a black knit dress bought in a previous millennium. Thinking I'd try to add about 6 cm (2 1/2 inches) to the waist and 3 cm (1 1/4 inches) to the hips, I took out the 4 darts part-way and took out the side seams. Black thread in black knit fabric turned out to be really hard to rip out without damaging the fabric, and it was a slow, tedious process. If that weren't enough, when I tried the dress on, a good couple centimeters of the lining peeked out of the hem and it looked baggy at the sides. So I got frustrated and sidetracked.

I realized that on nights I didn't sew or exercise, I ended up eating chips and drinking soda. Which is unhealthy. Especially at night.

There's obviously only one solution, which is sew and exercise more and eat less. At night, anyway.

(I finished the dress alterations, by the way.)

(Wow, 3 posts in 14 days...better be careful, I might hurt myself...)

Of the things I said I wanted to do,  I've managed to make these for the Pumpkin Princess's boots. I bought the fake fur online. I cut a rectangle out of fake fur, sewed it into a loop, and turned over and stitched down the edges. I cut the black leg-warmer-ish thing out of one of my old T-shirts and stitched it on the fur.

The neutral color goes so much better with the pinks and purples she favors.

We took it on a test run to the local mall. About 20 minutes in, the black lining started sliding up and the fur cuff started sliding down. I think I will fashion a stirrup out of plain elastic and see if she'll do another test run.

My next project will be a 10 year-old black knit dress. It has 3/4 sleeves. It's a pre-pregnancy dress. In fact, it's a single girl dress that was bought before I started dating the Pumpkin Daddy. If i can take it out enough so that it's not drum-tight against my, um, curves, I can wear it under the cropped tweed jacket that started all this alteration/ sewing madness!

Just the right length

Choudo ii take
So I took in the sleeves of my quasi-trench coat. I say "quasi" because real trench coats are made of specially treated cotton or wool, and mine is made of the same material as the Pumpkin Princess's windbreaker. It's great as a grown-up windbreaker, and also during cedar pollen season (the pollen shakes off more easily than regular cotton or wool).

I ripped out the stitches in the cuffs and also part of the seams so that I could move the cuff strap up. The sleeves are slightly tapered, so when I tried to machine stitch the cuff, I got some really ugly creases. So I decided to hand stitch it in place. This way, it still looks a little lumpy, but smooth to the point where I can accuse a non-sewing geek who notices the lumps of having issues I can't help them with (and the sewing geek will totally understand about getting to the point where you just kind of call it a day. Unless, of course, they are a Japanese sewing geek, in which case all bets are off).



I tried the coat on, very, very pleased with myself...until I realized that the sleeves on the cardigan I was wearing were too long, and a good 2 inches showed from the cuff of the coat. I suppose I could wear it with the sleeves of whatever I'm wearing underneath rolled up, but that usually only works for the first 10 minutes after I go out the door. So it's either bracelet length sleeves (3/4 sleeves for you normal sized folks), or altering the sleeves on all my sweaters.

Made to order

Tokuchuu

I haven't made New Year's resolutions, but I did make New Year Holiday resolutions. It is a short list of things I wanted to do during my 6-day holiday.

1) Limit late night chips binge to 3 nights out of 6. Mission accomplished.

2) 3 sessions of exercise (probably Jillian Michaels's Ripped in 30). 2 sessions.

3) Alter or embellish 3 articles of clothing. Almost done. Sort of.

Item #1: a pair of Uniqlo pants I'd bought shortly after giving birth to the Pumpkin Princess. The idea was that I was not sure what my body was going to do after childbirth, so I would buy cheap pants to carry me over. I did lose most of the baby weight, but my body changed shape, so the cheap pants were a good call. However, they didn't fit right then and they don't fit right now. I tried taking in the waist at the sides, but now they look too tight at the hips. So I altered, but it didn't help.

Item #2: a pair of navy blue Eddie Bauer pants with a concealed side zip. I took in the waist at the back seam. They have now become the most perfectly fitting pair of pants I currently own, and perhaps are the most perfectly fitting pair of pants I have ever owned in my life (but they have ceased to be Eddie Bauers because I forgot to sew the brand tag back on before stitching the waistband back together). I'm now considering altering the leg line. They are slightly flared, but the flaring starts a few inches below the knee (flares are most flattering if they start an inch or two above the knee). I am swaying between making them a pair of straight leg pants and re-cutting the flare to be more flattering, or just leaving them as they are now. I love that they fit, but just because they fit does not mean they have ceased to be a lint magnet...

Item #3 (or 2.5?): The Pumpkin Princess' velveteen jumper that she can't wear to school because it doesn't have pockets. I cut pockets out of a dress she grew out of, fused interfacing to it, and stitched them on. I want to add lace (also ripped out of a dress she grew out of), so this one is not completely done.

So the new sewing machine is being put to good use! I have so many plans about what I want to alter/ make, and I need to control myself from biting off more than I can chew. Right now I want to:

1) Make boot cuffs for the Pumpkin Princess's new boots. They were on sale. They have adorable bronze colored, star-shaped studs, but they also have a red plaid cuff that clashes with 70% of her wardrobe. I ordered some fake leopard print fur online, and will probably stitch it to some quasi-leg warmers I hope to fabricate from an old T-shirt.

2) Alter some more pants. I ordered thread online. There are few things that make you feel like a better sewer than you already are than owning a set of color swatches for sewing thread.

3) Alter some jackets. I have an Eddie Bauer chambray jacket bought about 2 years ago that has vented cuffs with antiquated buttons. I want to see if I can shorten the sleeves at the shoulder, because I really like the vented cuffs. I also have a jacket that I bought about 10 years ago that still fits, but...looks like I bought it about 10 years ago. I haven't managed to put my finger on exactly WHAT makes it look like I bought it about 10 years ago, but the fabric is still in great shape. If I mess up, I'll just use that as an excuse to buy one like it. If I don't mess up...I'll come back to this blog and brag everyone's ears (eyes?) off!

Happy New Year!

Did you know?

Shitteta?

Why didn't anyone tell me this sooner? This rates almost as high as "it is not entirely your fault that you will be in a bad mood before your period" as things I should have been told sooner (like sometime during the 20th century).

 I thought it was really bad genes and poor eating/ exercise habits that kept me from finding pants that fit. Well, maybe that's part of what's going on, but I love not being held responsible way too much to acknowledge this :) It's not my genes' fault, it's my jeans' fault!

So for starters, I'd bought a jacket that looked good on a fashion blogger I liked for about 8000 yen (never mind that said blogger is about 1 cm taller but 6 dress sizes smaller than I am). I knew the sleeves were way too long, so I spent a couple hours shortening them. Then, I decided the shoulders looked wrong, so I took my trusty 100 yen-shop seam ripper and took out a few stitches in the lining and removed the shoulder pads. Then I hand-stitched the hole in the lining closed. The jacket fits much more nicely around the shoulders now, to say nothing of the sleeves looking right post alteration.

In a delusion of grandeur, I bought a sewing machine. So far I have only used it to hem the Pumpkin Princess's new curtains, but when I get the hang of things, I would like to use it for DIY alterations. Because it's not my fault my clothes don't fit! And I need to justify spending the money on a new sewing machine (when I could have just winged it with my mom's machine)!