The first batch

This suitcase full goes to the Salvation Army tomorrow.

I am using the list provided by the Salvation Army to value the items. I usually use the lowest value for anything that has been worn. If things are brand new, never worn, I use up to the highest value. If it seems new but doesn't have tags I use something in between.

We had an air quality alert for a few days here in Virginia (from the smoke resulting from the Canada wildfires), and I used my time to plan this project. 

I have been hesitating to do this for more than five years. If you recall Joan Didion's book "The Year of Magical Thinking," there can be lingering thoughts--perfectly normal!--that your loved one will need those belongings at some point. For her it was his shoes. I had the same reaction.

It seems less heart wrenching to give away some of mine together with some of his that he never wore. Your results might vary!

I plucked these from our closets and laid them out on the floor, along with a no-longer-used 20" suitcase.

I listed them all on a sheet in a notebook which I will use to record everything. 

I am recording things, not so much for the donation value (you have to donate an awful lot to affect your tax deductions), but because I want to look back and remember what I gave away, in case I go looking for something later. 

I know exactly what I have and where to look for it, including a tube of zinc oxide that expired in 2003!

When I'm 85, I might think I still have "everything." 

 

The Costumes of Bridgerton

Says Frecon, “But we got the research done. Then it was about gathering the fabrics and linen. We went to Sudbury, U.K. (the center of silk weaving), Spain and I went to Rome. We filled ourselves with as many fabrics and research.”

Sounds like a dream job for a costume design team! 

Read more about it: 

The Costumes of Bridgerton 

Sweet Swedish "death cleaning"

Swedish "death cleaning" doesn't mean I am going to die soon, at least I don't think so. I expect I will have a normal lifespan if I take good care of myself. So maybe another 21 years to age 86 like both my mother and my grandfather. I turned 65 recently. I lost my husband, way too soon, weeks after I turned 60. 

It's more of a re-organizing, simplifying, way of minimizing what you or someone else will have to do later, or even simplifying your own life on a day to day basis. It doesn't all have to be sad. It can be peppered with memories and with humor. It can be a years-long process. The concept has even been turned into a reality TV series! 

So...it's been five+ years since my husband died. Like Joan Didion in "The Year of Magical Thinking," I have not been able to give my husband's stuff away, unless I had some special reason to. The shoes, as she noted, are especially hard to part with. You keep thinking he will need them. Some thoughts are especially hard to dislodge from your brain. (There are actually biochemical changes when the brain undergoes the grieving process). 

Not many of our friends are my hubby's size. He bought a lot of things, especially for people he liked to gift. He was a big gifter. Our doctors, a long time lawyer friend, people he grew up with, relatives. My hubby was kind of the "uncle" who always had a treat for everyone. 

He also bought extras for himself when he found something he liked, especially shoes. "Buy more!" he would always tell me when I found shoes I liked. He was modest about the array of clothing he wore, and he took care of his clothes. But there are lots that are new with tags, unworn, saved for some occasion, some trip, or for later in life. 

So I am left with a closet half-full of his clothes and shoes, but the other half, (plus a couple of dressers and a chest), is full of menswear items that will never find their original intended recipients. I have tracked some people down but others are lost to time. Dress shirts, sport shirts, cashmere sweaters, and beautiful Italian silk ties are all waiting to bring joy to new owners! 

A few months ago the people across the street lost their house in a horrific fire. I was able to quickly find things in the sizes of the husband and wife, and some toys and books for the children. It barely made a dent. 

Last month during a big "spring cleaning" I culled many household items, mostly dishes, that were meant for big parties and which were crowding my cabinets. I await a visit from a couple of my young friends so they can add to the proverbial "hope chests." (What a concept! Young women start their lives on their own now, no waiting around for husbands!) 

We also have a lot of luggage pieces. You know, luggage has improved a lot over the past 40 years! I have hubby's original trunks that he arrived with in Philadelphia in 1969, which I will always keep, but since then there have been a lot of trips...mostly short business trips, so we have a lot of carryons and a few larger pieces. 

I have been told that even outdated luggage will be appreciated by children in the foster care system, since they are often moved around from home to home and many times carry their scant belongings in grocery bags. A piece of luggage would make them feel that they have something of their own. I've been in touch with the local systems but haven't heard back. 

Today there is smoke in the atmosphere from the Canadian wildfires. It's too hazy to spend much time outside (air quality is 314-hazardous!).

I decided to start this giveaway project, starting with a bag of my own stuff that I put together during the height of the pandemic. If I give away some of mine, and some of hubby's, I think it will be easier. I don't want my sister and friends to deal with as much. I feel like simplifying. 

I have the first suitcase full. I will write more about the process later. 

I am keeping track of the items I give away, not so much for donation value, but just as a record to remind myself what I don't have anymore! I tend to remember everything I ever owned, and I anticipate forgetting where some of this stuff went once I get really old.

For donation value, use a reference like the one from the Salvation Army (that's where most of my stuff will be going). You would need to accumulate a lot of give aways before it will affect your tax bracket though. (Ask your accountant!) 

When/if I am ready to give away appliances or furniture, I will probably donate to Restore. I expect this project will last for the rest of the year. It's mid-June now.

Coping with pandemic weight gain

They say...they say, everyone will emerge from the pandemic as a hunk or a chunk. (Or a drunk, but that's beyond the scope of this entry!). Speaking for myself, I wanted to use the time for a lot of extra exercise, but with politics and all...I haven't been as good about it. Also, the favored hiking places became CLOGGED with people! Not a very fun prospect. I can get my 10,000 steps per day in by walking outside, and even inside I can get about 8,000 steps in, but it doesn't feel vigorous. I've gained about six pounds and lost muscle mass, and my waist is about 4" larger! Before I re-wardrobe myself, I feel like going back to my standby plan, Diet Simple by Katherine Tallmadge. We got in touch with each other again in the past few months, and she now does virtual consults! Diet Simple is not a diet. It's a flexible way to learn new habits. Katherine has been helping Washingtonians fit into their best wardrobes for decades! She's well educated in the field, urbane, and non-judgemental. Book a consult to get back on track and you won't regret it!

Pink houndstooth inspiration!

Embed from Getty Images The ever-aspirational pink Chanel look! In this case, Penelope Cruz wears a dress, pink and white houndstooth tweed. This fabric from Exquisite Fabrics might just give me the look, and it's lighter weight and less bulky than a tweed. Am I in the mood for a dress? How about you?

INSPIRATION GARMENT, ETRO

If I had 100 million dollars, I would order all of my clothes from Etro.

I look at their pictures sometimes, for inspiration. 

I actually have some fabrics in these colors.

Do I need a dress with lace sleeves and lace overlay skirt? Probably not.

That probably should stop me. 

But, if I sew it, the occasion will come. 

Dress from Etro. https://www.etro.com/us-en/

The color blue

Those of us who work with color have probably been mystified or frustrated by colors in our imagination that just cannot be duplicated in life!

I used to see beautiful, vivid colors that might occur in nature but do not seem to replicable with dyes, paints, textiles, or other media.

Sometimes it's evident that color is elusive...just hover around the paint counter at your local Home Depot long enough and you'll hear frustrated customers who cannot find the right shade of white, or husbands and wives disagreeing whether a color is blue or green.

So when a "new" pigment is discovered and released for commercial use, its pretty exciting!
Crayola held a contest to name the vivid color, and the winner was "Bluetiful." (The scientific name for the pigment is YInMn). 

By Mas Subramanian - Mas Subramanian, CC BY-SA 4.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=49854366

In my fabric life, there's a silk chiffon waiting for a beautiful creation...use code BLUE for 30% off your blue fabric purchase through 3/4.

Do see color or patterns as you fall asleep? There is a name for them: Phosphenes. They are thought to occur because of the natural electrical charges that occur from normal body/brain functions. While we are awake, the inputs to our eyes and brains just distract us from perceiving them!


Attributions:
The Metropolitan Museum
Wikipedia
The University of Oregon
ArtNet News
Exquisite Fabrics

2019 Oscars, the 91st Academy Awards

I hadn't watched the Oscars for years, and I missed the red carpet arrivals, but there was plenty to see during the awards portion! A nice little break from doing taxes.

This morning the stories were all about "pink" as the dominant color on the runway. That's okay, but what caught my eye are the fluid silver numbers!

As usual, Jennifer Lopez wore what many people would consider "the" dress, made with what looked like broken mirror pieces. The mirrored bits reflected the red carpet nicely too!
Embed from Getty Images


Other silver dresses (I love silver) were worn to perfection by Brie Larson (and complimented by Samuel L. Jackson in classic form)... Embed from Getty Images


  ...America Ferrara...
  Embed from Getty Images


...Lily Aldridge...

Embed from Getty Images
















All images used by permission.

Threads magazine shares a lace top pattern!

This looks like a good idea to me.  A nice lace top would be good to wear to the Fourth of July with jeans.  (Where I am going, I don't know. Could be the Castleton Festival or maybe Graves' Mountain.  Or Ida Lee Park.  So many choices!)

This top takes a yard and a half of lace.  One hint in the directions says not to cut the front and back pieces separately, but to leave the pattern pieces joined at the shoulder.  There's an error in how that is expressed--that shoulder join is referred to as "the vertical seam."  In fact it would be a horizontal seam.  Glad I could clear that up for you before you get started!

Your finished top will be a little less than 27" in length in front and the same in back.

Ready, buy the lace, get the instructions, and go!

Sewing UFO's

In the world of sewing (and maybe other hobbies too) this means "Un-Finished Objects."  In the course of my past career, there were many times when I had to put away an in-progress project and it got forgotten or the seasonal usefulness of it had passed.  In other cases, maybe I was unable to solve an "issue" but was unwilling to throw away the project (I just love the fabric too much).   Then there are the alterations or ideas I had to change the garment to update it.  All in all, I have a space dedicated to "UFO's" now....It's hanging space about the width of a washer (because it's in the former upstairs laundry closet).  I'm a little bit proud that the whole closet is not filled.

Anyway, I retrieved a jacket in progress from the closet last night and started to study it.  I taped and did pad stitching on the hair canvas and a mock welt pocket way back then, but never turned the collar.

It was meant to have had awful rounded peaked lapels (Remember those--what was it, 1969 or something?  What was I thinking?) and the front is slightly cut-away.  The back is gathered into a sort of peplum.  I guess it's supposed to resemble one of Ralph Lauren's hacking jacket-like creations. It's no doubt too small, but my girth alteration is easy--just add onto the sides seams if I have some of the fabric in my stash (or lose weight)..

So I started to finish this thing.  First order of business was correcting "something" that was wrong with the cut of the upper collar and the way it joins the lapel.  Then I whacked away the beagle-ear shape of the lapel peak.  It's still a bit of a peak, but not so wacky.  Looks pretty good.

A remaining problem is that I don't have pattern pieces or envelope anymore and don't even recall how the pattern was supposed to look.  So making a lining is going to be trial and error.

So far, here's what it looks like:

FRONT

BACK

If you love beautiful classic woolens, zoom in on this.  It's a camel's hair and wool blend houndstooth with charcoal gray and camel.  The only way I can wear camel.  :)

*********

And here's another long-postponed project:  I had the pattern and fabric together and ready to go for ages, then discovered I didn't have enough fabric (I would have had enough for the contrast, must have interpreted the pattern envelope wrong).

This one was made with a rayon and silk woven check, paired with a tropical weight wool gab for the contrasting bands.  It was a very fun pattern to make!  It's a little short on me in the back, despite the fact that I made a muslin and adjusted the pattern.  But, I wore it with jeans the other day (black ones) was pretty happy with it.

Potential sewing room

Certain things are present, but the room is not organized yet.

This is the "fabric annex", a space under the eaves that hubby had finished for me (his idea) so I can stow my guilt-inducing tubs of fabric (there are 16 of them).  A project has to be to go through the ones that have been jostled during the move, and re-fold the fabrics.  Maybe even document my yardages!  The space has two access doors, lights, and a light switch inside each door.  It's finished off with plywood and spray painted white.  Now all my friends want one!

New sewing room!

I get to set up my new sewing room very soon!

I've been having trouble deciding whether to get all new, fancy sewing room furniture (Arrow, Horn of American, Koala,  Kangaroo, and a couple of other companies offer some pretty elaborate setups).  I couldn't find anything that really looked like I would use all the features (they are bulky, and they are VERY expensive). I almost wanted kitchen cabinets instead.  I've seen some people use Ikea kitchen base cabinets for storage.  I even have cabinets from the kitchen remodel that I could use.  The shape of the room reminds me of Martha Stewart's sewing room, even down to the dormer windows.   And I am a big fan of the green.

You can tour the room on this page:  MARTHA'S CRAFTS ROOM

And, you can even buy furniture like what is shown, in that wonderful green!





But, I don't do the kind of crafting that requires drawer after drawer of paper, glitter, or other little objects.   The only thing I feel I am lacking is an extended flat sewing surface, and I think we can engineer a regular table so that my machine can be dropped in (I'll lift it out when I want to access the free arm).

My most important consideration is to keep my fabric hoard clutter out of my sight, because all that fabric makes me feel guilty (I haven't had much of a sewing life for about 8 years, and it's funny, the less time I had to sew, the more fabric I collected...gave me a sense that I would come through, somehow).   I used to have 3 commercial/re-purposed sets of  chests of drawers with 4 drawers each.  The thing is, I have so much fabric that the drawers became very heavy, and they were probably not made for that much weight.  They collapsed downward, leaving me only access to the top ones unless I wanted to haul out, unpack, and repack every time I wanted to find something.  So, I did the thing that I dreaded...I transferred everything to 16 big plastic tubs.  Sigh.  I was able to keep them out of sight in my long basement cedar closet, but like I said, no sewing life for a few years anyway.  As I saw the light at the end of the tunnel, my hoarding tapered off.

Hubs decided that the thing to do was to finish off a space under the eaves, and give me two access doors (because the space is long and narrow), lights and everything!  The whole thing is finished with plywood which is spray painted white.  So it's kind of like a dedicated fabric attic.  It's a brilliant solution that has my friends busy hiring handy men to do the same thing...thanks hubby!

Yesterday was the big moving day, so my antique sewing machine (gg grandmother Elsie Hill's) and a few other items that I hadn't moved previously made it to their new room.  I have my old library table with its single drawer, where I keep my bobbins, tape measure, shears, seam ripper, etc.  There's a shelf on the bottom where my pattern pieces can rest while I still need to consult them.  The machine goes on top.  My office desk goes in there, too, as does a reclining chair that I will use for knitting and hand sewing.  The big cutting table that I thought I wanted for the center of the room....I don't know.  I really want something I can access from at least three sides, if not four, so I'm considering a movable top (maybe two pieces of plywood) that can rest with the desk on one end and the library table on the other.  I do also have a drop leaf table.  That way I wouldn't have to have a permanent big hulking piece of furniture...unless I decide to become a quilter of course!

Logo rebellion

Lesley Stahl's piece on Luxottica, the Italian eyewear manufacturer and distributor, made me think that back in the 70's and early 80's Luxottica was THE luxury brand in eyewear.  Our neighbor at our original location at the Watergate complex was "Watergate Opticians," where owner Nancy Glick purveyed fashionable eyewear that could not be found elsewhere.  I didn't even need glasses yet, but any visiting relatives would head next door to find the latest styles.  It was BEFORE prestige logos were a must-have...it was all about (mostly) tasteful design.  I think that Diane von Furstenberg and Luxottica were the top of the line brands for eyewear (maybe Givenchy and YSL were available too, but I can't quite remember--and it wasn't about the logos).  Somehow, "design" must now be tatooed with a prominent logo in order to be relevant in the marketplace.  When did that happen?  Luxottica says that its first prestige deal was with Armani in 1988 (that would have been the "power suit" era, and Armani's suit was kind of the power power suit).

I remember a first trip abroad when I was 20.  I was abroad for a month, for work.  My goal at the end of my assignment was to stop in Paris, buy a pair of purple shoes for fall, and get a haircut (yeah, I know, nobody believes I ever get a haircut).  I didn't have much time, and I didn't then and still don't speak French that well (I tend to say things like septente instead of soixante-dix, which means I speak better Swiss than French).  Anyway, I bought some fabric at Rodin (surprise!) got lost (which was fun), bought two dolls for my younger sister, and some Godiva (which must have still been a Belgian company at that point--you bought the candy by grams at a sidewalk stand instead of in the famous gold ballotin in a suburban shopping mall).  I ate quiche (which was not very good after all).  I opened an account at Credit Agricole.  Saw the most beautiful display of purple shoes on the Champs Elysee (so many shades of purple, magenta, plum, so many finishes, perforated suede, leather, I could not have chosen--so I just carried the image around with me ever after).

The Dior boutique had just been redone in shades of gray.  Celine was kind of fading into obscurity. I found the tiny Balenciaga boutique, where racks of perfect, fluffy silk dresses were being wheeled in the front door (back from a private showing, perhaps).  I was able to pick out a tie for my husband.  Afterward, I climbed part of the way up the Eiffel Tower, which was less than a dollar.

I was saturated in fashion by the time I left, and there was nary a logo to be seen.

Now, logos are annoying.  In certain quarters, a logo-soaked fake Vuitton bag is more "valuable" than a plain Calvin Klein leather bag (or a plain good quality leather bag of any kind).  Some people who can afford or almost afford an upper echelon bag (or watch or scarf) won't even buy one because they'd rather buy ten knock offs.  Others won't buy an authentic bag because they don't want anyone to mistake it for a knock off.  These perverse logo madnesses have totally displaced good design, and they certainly don't convey "prestige."  Didn't Pierre Cardin teach us anything?

A Vogue or Harper's Bazaar magazine from September 1979 would be fun to have.

Sewing with the Elsies

So there I sat, at my great-great grandmother's sewing machine, which had been in my great-uncle's barn until he decided I should have it.  I, car-less as I was, waited for my mother to deliver it once when she decided to visit.  Minnesota, the brand of the machine.  Still with implements in the four drawers of the sewing table.  Ahh, the tracing wheel...the one that must have made all the tracing marks on the drop leaf table that my grandmother used for sewing, or sometimes for extra dinner guests.  Hundreds of tracks of dimples, driven into the finish of the table top, spoke of a lifetime love of fabric and sewing.  First my grandmother's grandmother, Elsie, and then my grandmother, Elsie. Later I'd be given a picture of the first Elsie and her two sisters, clothed stylishly, in dainty cotton dresses.  Pretty girls, of whom I knew little.  But my cousin and I played with their vast collection of paper dolls.  We named one "Delicate and Fragile."

The machine, with a scrollwork metal treadle, did not work with a smooth motion as had my grandmother's Singer.  But it had lived in the hay mow of a barn, with hay and cow feed, and owls and baby calves, leftover ropes, buckets, hoses, and farm implements.  So I was happy, treadling away on my 1970's jersey.  There were extra needles, an extra bobbin or two, a lock of hair.  My grandmother's grandmother's machine.

My dress came out fine, and the wedding to which I wore it was joyful.  The marriage lasted a few years.  I saw the bride, my co-worker Sue, years later on the street.  She ran up behind me and told me where she  now worked, and her new name.  I can't remember it now.  It might have even been her maiden name.  I wish I had taken her to lunch, but life was pressing down hard on me.  I hadn't even recalled that I had any friends.  There I was, with a real friend, for a few precious moments on 17th and K Street.

It all started when...

...I was a student.  It was 1975, and I was working for an unnamed US government agency, part-time, in order to pay tuition.  One thing led to another, and I got a well-paying job with a lobbyist and put off continuing with school.  Mistake.

I made the daily walk from Capital Hill to Foggy Bottom (yes, I did--Metro was just in its infancy then and the nearest stop from Union Station was at Farragut North--so I took the opportunity to walk.  Times were simpler then).

I'd walk down Constitution and veer off onto Pennsylvania, usually, to walk past one or the other side of the White House grounds.  Yes, you could do that then.  Vehicular traffic even flowed unbroken down Pennsylvania Avenue back then, which, given the state of air pollution in those days, left my sandal-ed feet covered in greasy soot every night.

Hari Krishna devotees would stand on the corner of 17th and Pennsylvania on certain days of the week, offering flowers which the unwary would accept and then be informed that they have to pay for (...a certain resemblance to European gypsies in that respect).  Down 17th and then over on G or F Streets, sometimes with a stop at a very cool pharmacy where I once bought a green floral umbrella. Avoiding a walk past a certain bar where I knew one of my oldest friends would be drinking the night away.

Into my little building at the corner of 20th and F, at the back on the first floor.  Lock up, cook dinner, and read or watch an ancient television that I had bought at the Salvation Army store near Dupont Circle.  Remember that store?  My tv got three or four channels.  Books were better.  Or sewing.  Except that I didn't like the old, downtown, messy fabric store that "everyone" seemed to recommend.  Woodward and Lothrup carried fabrics, up to that point.  I bought a jersey in an apricot print (sort of a typical 1970's floral---spaced out and purple-y and teal-y flowers on an apricot ground.)  I needed a dress to wear to a friend's wedding.  The buttons were those aurora ball buttons that La Mode used to carry, remember them?  I probably still have the leftovers on a card, somewhere.....