Dose of Diva ... Part 1

First of all, exercise update:  Last week I accomplished my 3 one hour workouts.  Tuesday's was a brisk one hour walk with the Pilot.  Wednesday was a one hour bike ride of the walking route (done twice) with the Diva. Thursday was TRX torture Day.  Today, the Pilot and I walked a new route for another hour.  Tomorrow the Diva has already reminded me of the bike ride.  Then on to TRX again.  What have you done this week?

Now to the main topic - the daily dose of Draping Diva!  Welcome to the first in a 4 part series starring the Draping Diva herself!

Here is a photo of the Diva herself modelling the jean jacket she made last fall. She practiced slow sewing to the point of it almost becomming a UFO! By the time she finished it, the "jacket" had shortened into a crop style w/ 3/4 length sleeves! She is doing her best Charlie's Angel pose with one of the Pilot's toys.

Today she attended the first day of a Sewing Camp at store owned by my dear friend Darrell Thomas. 
Background - Since Darrell left Bank Street and moved to Little Italy, he has gained more space and added a dedicated classroom.  To that end, he decided to run a sewing camp over 4 days.  4 days of learning to sew.  What is not to love for a Junior Draping Diva?  Especially since she was gifted with some BEAUTIFUL batiks from my other dear friend MaryBeth when we met up in Toronto last month.  She now has a sewing machine of her own (My mother's old Singer), a small stash and now she has a sewing box with tools!  I decided that we will start building her "Hope Chest" with the sewing tools first! So, on the weekend we went to Darrell's and bought her the essentials so that we no longer have to share.

DAY 1 - She is the youngest in the camp by about 4 years.  The age ranges from her all the way up to the lone male university student.  The experience varies from her minimal experience to others that have none to some with more.  4 hours of sewing instruction.  What is not to love?

First project is a lined tote bag.  She had to measure, mark then cut and stitch.  She is so excited as she assembled the two side panels, two lined pockets, and the straps in class.  She came home and then finished the top stitching ont he straps even though it wasn't homework.  She was so excited that the machines at Darrell's are the same as Mine that she promptly asked if she can "practice" on my machine ... yup.  I sense a trend towards time sharing here ... Of course, this could be justification for a new machine for me :)  (I would be perfectly OK with delegating the Singer to buttonhole duty now that I have the proper attachments ... but I digress.  Back to Diva).  She is setting her alarm to get up in the summer.  To sew.  HOW COOL IS THAT??????

Tomorrow they finish the bag and then start building an apron that has bias binding (purchased for this time) then progress on to PJs on Thursday (really cool kimono style top to this Burda Kids pattern).

Projects attempted since last post: The Little Black Dress project
1. Neue Mode 22774 (no link found at this point, I may post pic, I may not see previous post) a princess sheath dress with a sweetheart neckline with a shaped front yoke inset
Status - on hold; it needs more fitting than I have time for.  All those body changes have made my TNT adjustments to be Terrible and Terrifying!  So, it is shelved for now until I have more time to get real finicky with it.
2. Vogue 1100 (the dress)
Status - in progress.  The muslin came out OK, the lining is cut and and basic fitting is complete. It is tweak time.  I need to add the vertical darts in (adding extra in the midriff area to shape the extra from the upper and lower adjustments).  Tomorrow is the final work on the lining.  Tomorrow before work I am preshrinking using the method from the blog Off the Cuff and then tomorrow night I will finish the lining and be (hopefully) able to cut the wool gab.

Tonight I took the night off as I was sewing late last night and the walk was later than planned.  Tomorrow I will get more done.

See you all tomorrow!  Remember ... get out and DO something so that you can SEW something!  Get the family involved ... who wouldn't love a guaranteed hour long walk with the Spouse/Partner twice a week?  I know, I have the luxury of built in childcare now that Rugby Boy is old enough, but you can get creative.  Swap walk times with a neighbour or fellow parent.  Get a rotating playgroup going where two or three sets of kids play while one of you goes for a run/walk.  Trade off works!

Exercise in frustration?

Monkey Girl begged us to get a new bike 2 weeks ago. Her other one had been so well used that the bearing case died a fast death and locked the pedals. For the age of the bike and the other abuses it had seen in its early days as Hamster Boy's bike, I can rest easy knowing it is replaced. That being said, SHE wants to bike to school each day, so that means that Mommy has to as well. Not a bad thing,really, I like my bike. I just hate the first few days of riding it as the body remembers what the seat feels like and the knees remember what it is like to pedal.

I am determined to not just bike the 2 blocks to school (and that is the long route) and then park the bike. Yesterday I left early to pick her up and did a couple of blocks beyond the school and then doubled back and did a circuit around the school track. Today, I dropped her off and took another long way home. It felt like it was forever with the wind in my face on that last part of the trail. But I felt like I was getting a workout. I figured that since I had not measured out the mileage, I should wear my pedometer tomorrow. I must have been going for about 30 minutes or so by the feel of it ... Then the bubble burst. Just as I was approaching the turn that would take me to the bottom of my street, I see another mother from the school. I know the distance she had to walk, including a drop off of another child at a neighbouring school. She is fast walker, but she has 2 other kids in tow, so she is limited in speed somewhat. But not limited enough to mkae my ride the 30 minutes I thought it was. When I got home, it turns out I was only out for an extra 15 minutes ... Talk about deflating my ego! Oh well, at least I know that is a good baseline. Now I can plan a longer route to get me that 30 minutes each morning (except coffee Thursdays!).

I posted my Dragon Pants review over at PR. Debbie C. seems to have picked something up that I missed, that being the back waistband dips, more so when hiked. She recommended I revisit my curve and add more length. I have not yet done this, but have seen how others have had success looking at this. Also, when I put them on today (fresh from the dryer) I really noticed the dip. I also noticed that they are too big all over. The new curve I am not sure on, but I am willing to take another look. I think that once the younglings are in bed, I will head to the workshop with the tin foil and check my crotch curve. I think that in order to put the Dragon to rest, I am gong to have to pull out that Tencel and sew up another pair in a smaller size with a new crotch curve, made from the foil experiment. I have some fabric in the washing machine that I bought from Ressy just for these pants, in a nice Khaki green and also in a dark tan colour. She called them "Misty" and here is her description:

50/50 cotton/microfiber Water Resistant....soft with nice
drape..could be used for light weight jackets, trench coats (with
interlining), sportswear, jogging outfits etc..etc.. Very breathable
while being moisture resistant.

That should do it drape-wise. Can't wait to see how they feel once they come out of the dryer! As I like the green better, I think I will use the tan as the next muslin, without any topstitching.