Yup, it's MONDAY again!

Greetings from me and Bob!

Monday morning and there's so much planning to be done.  I don't know about you, but I haven't quite recovered yet from last week's excitement: the makeovers, the contests, the snow!  Frankly, it's hard for me to keep up with my cousin Cathy; she has seemingly limitless energy and can stay up all night and still style a fashion shoot in the morning.  Very different from me.


As always, Monday is a time both to reflect on the previous week and to map out a tentative plan for the week to come.

Let's briefly review last week.

1. Cathy swept into town on a cloud of Glamour, took me by the hand and gave me the sophisticated look I've always wanted.  I can guarantee you that I have been maintaining this look since then.  Not only is it easy, since Cathy seems to have "disappeared" most of my other clothes, but it also leaves me feeling more confident.  I was on the subway yesterday in a close approximation of this and I actually felt taller -- and happier.  So once again, thank you, dear cousin of mine.

2. I sewed last week -- not much, but I sewed.  I made my very first cotton knit tee shirt from McCall's 3438, a vintage mens underwear pattern from 1972, and for a first stab, it's not bad.  I realize in describing it I wasn't clear about how stretchy the knit is -- more like taffy than anything you'd ever pull out of a Jockey 3-pack.  It's semi-sheer and clearly much stretchier than was intended for the pattern.

It's interesting: when I go fabric shopping most of the cotton knit I find is extremely stretchy and the less stretchy cotton knits are scarcer.  Or maybe they're just not in the $2/yd. area.  Must explore.

3. Michael's parents came to visit on Saturday, which gave us a reason to straighten up the living room and put things in order.  I'm always so happy to have my fabric and accessories put away as opposed to piled on every available surface.  I can think again.

4. I visited my friend Johanna in Queens yesterday and look what she gave me:

 

It's from 1969 and chock full of great sewing tips and wonderful illustrations.  I love old sewing books and I'm delighted to add this one to my collection.  Thank you, Johanna!

Johanna also has a fantastic collection of vintage sewing machines -- ten to be exact, which kind of makes me feel normal with just eight.  While many of my machines are obscure, last-tweek-before-model-termination types like my Necchi 555, Johanna has the best of the best, including a Singer 201-2, a 301, and a Featherweight.  I was privileged to try all three (well, really all ten) and I can tell you they are fantastic.  As soon as I got home I bid on a 201-2 and a 15-91 on eBay and lost.  Maybe it's just as well -- it all felt a little desperate and dirty.

 

I'd shlepped carried my Singer Genie with me for Johanna to try, and the poor zigzagger was as outclassed as Stella Dallas at her daughter's graduation party, if you know Barbara Stanwyck movies.

And now, on to this week:

1.  I never got around to sewing pants and frankly, I don't think I'm going to this week either; I'm just not feeling it.  I want to pick up some more knit and perfect my tee shirt technique, I think.  Those little undergarments are deceptively complicated if you want them to look like RTW (ready-to-wear) and I do.

2.  I downloaded my first BurdaStyle pattern yesterday!  I figured it was time since I've been posting my projects on their website so much lately and never tried their downloadable patterns.  This one is called "Jakob" and it's a mens shirt pattern.  We'll see how it turns out.  I may make a shirt for Michael since he's wanting to work on his look since I got mine.  We can be a little competitive that way and it's probably not healthy.  I can help him, but heaven knows I'm no Cathy.

One of the things that does kind of bother me re Burda is that I have to print out twenty-eight (28!) pieces of paper to assemble the pattern, which seems like a lot of paper just to make a shirt. I probably already have enough mens shirts patterns to last me the rest of my life, but I'm always up for something new.

3. As always, I'm leaving room for the spontaneous.  I'll probably hit the fabric stores today or tomorrow and who knows what I'll find and where that will lead?

Now then, how are all of you doing with your projects?

Somebody's been staying on track, I see:

Sue from San Antonio just finished this Dale Evans jacket, and let me tell you, if I started this garment today, I might finish it by June...of 2011.  When I looked at this and then turned my eyes to my dinky pink tee-shirt, I bowed my head in shame.  Great work, Sue!

So what's up with y'all?

Sarah: did you finish the fitting shell?  Toby: How goes the belt and suspenders?  Elle: Did you finish the Sencha blouse?   Darci: Did you finish the shirtdress and did you wear it yet?  Puu: How's the 1952 coatdress coming along?  Meg: How about that sheath dress?

I know full well that many of you were busy with your Cousin Cathy's Makeover Challenge projects, but not ALL of you.  It's March, kids -- we'll be thawing out soon and we're going to have to have something to show for our snowed-in weeks. 

OK, time's-a-wastin'!  

Go forth, my children, and sew!