The rewards of Teaching!

To see someone complete a project and smile at their accomplishment brings me great joy!

Sew, it was with much joy that I had the honor to travel to NYC with one of my youngest sewing students to visit the Mccalls Pattern headquarter to pick up the newest edition of the Vogue Sewing Magazine.  Why did we want to pick up this magazine you ask?  Because my young student’s picture is in the magazine!

Julia is a young person who knows what she likes and is talented at matching fabric and textures.  Not long ago she expressed a desire to make her own Holy Communion dress. Together we planned and began sewing her dress.  With the help of a magnetic seam guide, we worked on making her straight seams straight.  We also worked on slowing down to sew a nice curved seam.  The end result was a one of a kind dress that was totally Julia’s!  For me, this is one of the greatest pleasures of sewing, knowing your garment will be a one and only. 

I am so proud of Julia.  Here is a young lady that comes in for a lesson is in the evening after a full day at school.  In working on this project, she really concentrated so that it would be finished in time for her special day.  Little did we know at that time that a picture of her in this dress would be published in the Vogue Pattern Magazine!  With her rinestone tiara, she looks like a princess.

Kathy Marrone (Vogue editor) & Julia

The Vogue Pattern Magazine has a new section that focuses on  sewista’s of all ages modeling their newest creations.  The magazine thought it was great that such a young person is busy sewing!  And doing such a nice job too.  How lucky we were when out of the elavator we meet up with …. the editor of the magazine.  Following her into an office she handed out copies of the June/July edition.  Julia’s Mother and Grandmother were present also.  The editor was nice and posed for a picture with Julia while her mom took a quick picture.  She herself is busy finishing her own daughter’s wedding dress and to hear the description sounds perfectly lovely.

Speaking of weddings, Julia is currently busy sewing her flower girl dress for my wedding! Once again she chose a great combination of fabrics and a very pretty trim.  I can’t wait to see the end result.  The editor was interested in knowing what Julia’s next project will be and once she was informed that all the dresses worn by the bridal party will be home sewn, she asked that a picture be sent in!

Who knows, Julia may have another photo op coming her way!  How about you?  Interested in sewing?  Know a little girl with an interest that should be explored?  That ‘s how I started.  All it takes is the desire to learn and a little patience, we can help with the rest.

P.S. This is the same Julia I blogged about earlier regarding the messenger bag, how awesome is that!

A Tibute to Japan

Hello.  I may be back in the states and back to work in the shop but there is still much to write about.  And, when I travel, I am always reminded that no matter where a person is from we all basically have the same needs and desires.  This blog is a tribute to Japan and things Japanese and I hope you all will join me in your continued prayers for the people of Japan. 

If you remember in one of my early blogs, I mentioned that I had purchased a Japanese pattern book and asked for a vote to decide what style to make.  The winner was a top with  a  flutter sleeve.  I choose a Japanese cotton print in, of course, a leopard print!

One of my favorite haunts in Melbourne, Tessuti, had an intriguing array of Japanese pattern books.  I found them mysterious due to the fact that I could not read a single thing – but I liked the pictures!  There were books for childrens clothing, girls, women and men.

The fashions in the books I reviewed were creative and clean in style, but void of embellishment.  I thought, how hard could this be.  The only “trick” would be choosing the size and finding all the right pattern pieces.  Of course, it never works out that way, right?

One of the first obstacles I had to overcome was the language barrier and a lack of reading Japanese.  These books are not for beginners, though they do have good illustrations.  A little knowledge of garment construction does go a long way in working with these pattern books. 

Second, the patterns are in the book but just like Burda magazine patterns they are drawn on top of one another and must be traced.  (Fortunately, the patternmaking paper I found in Melbourne was sheer enough to be used as tracing paper as well.)  In addition, only four sizes were included in these books xs, s, m and large.  Remember the Japanese people are not large and generally shorter.  You have to keep these are things in mind and make appropriate adjustments before cutting your fabric.

Next, I had to do some investigation.  I had LOTS of questions.  For example, what size seam allowance would I use?  Were seam allowances included in the patterns?  In my investigating I found a blog called “Label Free“.   The women that write for this blog have spent a great deal of time making things from Japanese craft books and have taken the time to blog about the steps to take in using a Japanese Pattern book.  The pictures on her blog are very clear and that is where I found the answers to my questions.  The information in her blog took a lot of the mystery of working with a Japanese pattern book away.  There was even some translations of sewing terms! 

Armed with the knowledge I needed I finally began to sew and all I had to do was to “Just Make it.”  The result is the top I promised to make.  Thank you for participating in my survey and helping me decide which top to make. 

By the way, if you are interested or curious to look at a Japanese pattern book, stop by the shop and I will gladly show you.  In the meantime, join me in continuing to pray for the people of Japan.  They have a long road ahead to rebuild and restore their homeland – much longer than it would take to learn how to use a Japanese sewing pattern book.

A Room With A View

This has been the last weekend that Joseph and I will have together until he returns from Australia.  To make the weekend special we decided to take a short trip to Sydney.  Even though Sydney is about 800 kilometers away, we traveled overnight so the long tweleve hour train ride was not so bad.  What made it better was the fact that Joseph had found a great deal on a room at the Four Points Sheraton awaiting us for the following day. 

The ride was uneventful, but we were an hour and a half late getting into Sydney – ugh!  The reason we found out later is that there is a small window for the train to arrive before getting stuck behind commuter trains and a small delay becomes a long one.  Regardless, we arrived during morning rush hour and went straight to the hotel to check in, drop our bags and freshen up from our train ride.  To my surprise, Joseph managed to get a further upgrade on our room so that our room faced the much talked about Harbour!  For most of the weekend our activities focused around the Harbour except for one side trip that I wanted to make. 

Of course, with the help of Google, I found a fabric shop that intrigued me.  Turns out the shop was only a few blocks from our Hotel and was easy to find.  What a jewel of a shop!  Upon entering the shop you are greeted with a pretty vanilla/lavendar fragrance smell and soft peach interior.  Saigon Fabrics houses two floors of exclusive bridal and eveningwear fabrics.  The top floor was the bridal section and prices were top also, with prices ranging from $250-$450 a meter and up.  However the fabric was outstanding.  There were silks and satins with beads and embroidery, others with ribbon flowers and tulle flowers sewn into the fabric.  The first floor was awash in a variety of solid and embellised fabrics for every special occasion outfit. 

In addition to the fabric, there were gorgeous trims.   I found a particular fringed trim in pink that was affordably priced and I could envision using it on the bottom of a skirt that I will make using my Pattern Drafter.  Everything about the shop was pretty and feminine even the marabo and rinestone topped pen that I used to sign my slip with.  Thankfully Joseph is patient while I look. 

After scouting this and another shop, a Tessuti branch, we moved on to some sight seeing. We noticed a monorail train and thought that would be a great way to get our bearings.  Once around the CBD (Central Business District) and we had a better idea of how to get around.  Sydney is a much bigger and busier city than Melbourne.  Sydney feels like it brings together a mixture of New York and San Francisco.  San Franciso due to the Harbour and steep hilly streets, New York for the highrises, closeness of the buildings and narrow streets. 

One stop for us on our way to Hyde Park was Sydney’s Natural History Museum.  We were amazed at the variety of birds and butterflies that inhabit this part of the world. Continuing our walk along Hyde Park was St. Mary’s Cathedral.  St Mary’s is a majestic Catholic Church residing on the southern edge of the Botanical Gardens and just to the east of Hyde Park.  We made our way inside the church and what a museum of artwork and stained glass!  Sorry no photo’s were allowed inside the church.

Next Joseph asked me if I would like to go to a concert at the famed Opera House and hear the Sydney Symphony Orchestra!  I agreed we should not pass up this opportunity even though we were both weary from the day and our train ride.  With the help of the conceirge at the hotel we had two seats in the nose bleed section and off to dinner before the concert we go.  Even though we were at the top of the auditorium, there wasn’t a bad seat in the house. 

It was impressive to see the Opera House along the Harbour and even more impressive to see it at night.  This was just as magical for me as if I were a kid at Disney World.   The concert for the evening was Mendelssohn’s Violin Concerto in E minor and Mahler’s 7th Symphony.  What a wonderful end to our first day in Sydney.

Saturday morning we were greated by the Sun and the warm  humid temperatures of a late summer day.  It is the beginning of fall here, but it was like one of those very hot late summer days we sometimes see in September.  We did see some evidence of the beginning of autumn as we walked through the Botanical Garden situated along the harbour.  We saw leaves turning yellow and others beginning to fall to the ground.  

As we walked through the gardens we saw lots of flora and fawna, and would you believe bats!  To my surprise, in some sections of the park, the trees were full of large fruit bats hanging upside down and flapping their wings to stay cool.  As naive as I am, I only think of bats in dark places likes caves or attics, but not in broad daylight!

From the gardens we may our way back to the Opera House we decided to investigate a ”Hip” area called “The Rocks”.  This area is built on the rocks underneath the famous Harbour Bridge.  This being a Saturday, we found a craft market to explore and found an Aussie kids book for Joseph to read to his grandchildren!  Along the water I enjoyed checking out a “pop-up” cafe.  It’s uniqueness is due to it’s construction using all recycled materials and serving organic foods.  The cafe even grows some of its ingredients on the building itself, very cool!

As the day drew to an end, we finished our short Sydney stay by walking up to the top of Observatory Hill.  On our way, we were passed by a number of bridal parties all heading in the same direction.  We managed to stumble upon one of the seemingly choice photographic spots for wedding parties taking pictures with the Harbour Bridge in the background.  It was impressive and we were (distant) uninvited guests to another wedding taking place at the top of the hill.  Getting ready to head back to Melbourne, our day of trecking through the city ended as it had the evening before, with a beautiful view of the Sydney harbour.

The Perfect Fit!

Early on in my stay here in Melbourne, you may remember that I met a woman (Maria) at the Australian Quilt Market who had designed a ruler called The Pattern Drafter.  At the market, Maria had given me a very quick demo on making a pattern sloper for a bodice and showed me a muslin she had created using her Drafter.  Using only her ruler and a measuring tape, she told me that you could create a sloper for a bodice, a skirt, pants or a sleeve.  Taken together, these slopers are all that is needed to create custom designed clothing that will fit each individual, using your own body measurements. 

Naturally, I was curious and wanted to know more.  She told me that she would have some workshops coming up at the beginning of the year that would provide a hands-on experience using her ruler. 

I kept in touch with Maria over the holidays and agreed to meet her after I returned from our trip to New Zealand.  Finally, the appointed day arrived and I traveled two hours by train, to a town in the state of Victoria called Bendigo.   Maria met me at the train station and took me to her studio for the workshop.  Our time together was less of a workshop and more of a private tutorial on how to use the ruler.

During our time together, we created a sloper for dress and pants.  It went so quick I had just enough time to sew up the muslin for the dress before heading back to Melbourne.  The muslin sample fit like a glove!   My time with Maria was like meeting an old friend, she was a pleasure to meet and work with.  We had much in common and I enjoyed talking to her during our time together.

One of the things I was most interested in drafting was a pattern for a pair of nicely fitting pants.  If you know me at all you know that I almost always wear a skirt.  This is partly due to the fact that I have a very hard time finding pants to fit nicely that are not too tight, too low in the waist and do not ride down when I sit down. 

Well , as I write this blog, I am wearing a pair of pants.  A pair of dark denim city shorts to be exact.  For the waistband, I made a facing and after sewing it on, understitched it to help hold it in place.  I placed the zipper in the center back so that there is no extra bulk over my tummy or hips.  Regardless of where I placed the zipper, I had the freedom to make them any way I so desired.  I even had control over the length.  It is wonderful to know that I now have a workable pants pattern.  And, I won’t stop here.  I see a dressy pair of jeans in my future along with linen capris and a wide leg pair of trousers for the fall.

At the moment, a have few extra pounds on me.  (I didn’t know the food in Australia would be so good!)   My point in bringing this up is that when I proceed in making another pair of pants and have lost some of this extra fluff, I will still have the Drafter to make myself another pattern.  I will always be able to make a nicely fitting pair of pants for myself.  Same goes for a blouse, jacket, dress, skirt – whatever! 

Do you have a problem with measurements from where you are not the same size on top as on the bottom half?  Using the Pattern Drafter it doesn’t matter as long as you take accurate measurements.  My measurements are currently in centimeters, but it could be in any form.  At first I felt apprehensive, but I don’t find that to be a problem.  Why you ask?  Because a number is a number is a number.  Once you have taken the necessary measurements in centimeters (or whatever sizing) you only work with those numbers.

Lastly my fellow sewista’s — just so you aren’t left out — you won’t have to travel to Australia to purchase this wonder ruler or take a workshop.  Just Make It Sew in Burlington, New Jersey will be the first among shops in the States to satisfy your curiosity and quest for the perfect fit!  I will be offering a workshop on the Pattern Drafter soon after I return from Down Under.  Check out the JustMakeitSew website for more details and reserve your spot now for this class.  I will have a few of these wonder rulers for sale and will be taking orders for more if needed. 

Christchurch BE (before-earthquake)

I’m sure you’ve heard about the devastating earthquake in Christchurch New Zealand.  Having recently visited there, the people and city have been much on my mind and in my prayers.  Some of our nicest experiences were in Christchurch.  The downtown hotel where we stayed was just across the street from the Cathedral, one of the main iconic attractions of the city.  We began — and ended — our trip in this lovely city.  And, now, the earthquake has forever changed the face of the city.  

As I wrote the blog, I was only able to post a few of the photos from out trip, but we had many, many more that we hadn’t posted — until now.  If you are interested in seeing Christchurch as we experienced it, feel free to visit my Flickr photo account and see some of the other photos from Christchurch that we took as a tribute to the people of the city and those who have now lost their lives in the earthquake.

Mixing business and adventure

The next day began as the previous one had ended – along Lake Wanaka, sitting at a (different) cafe, enjoying a repast (breakfast) and working on the next installment to this blog series.  It was a beautiful morning.  Before proceeding on our journey however, we took a short stroll into town for postcards.  

One of the few shops that opens that early in the morning was a bookshop/stationary store.  While in the bookshop, I spotted a book written by a New Zealand designer and shop owner, Annah Streton.  I couldn’t resist making the purchase, curious to read about the experiences of a successful female entreprenure and New Zealand fashion designer.   Among her many business endeavours is a magazine called “Her” aimed at inspiring and guiding entreprenuial women.  Apparently there few women leading businesses in New Zealand.  The other thing that peaked my interest was one that hadn’t crossed my mine until this trip.  That is of New Zealand having a Fashion Industry — it does!  (More on Annah in a later blog.) 

Leaving Wanaka our goal was to get as far as Franz Joseph, a town and glacier by the same name.  Before this trip, I thought of glaciers as simply an ”iceberg”, though that is far from the truth.  Before we got there however, we had to drive up and over the only pass this end of the south island to New Zealand’s west coast.  It’s really just up the coast from Milford Sound, but getting there is about a 7 to 8 hour drive. 

Across the pass and down the west coast of New Zealand is a temperate rain forest.  And, rain is the operative word.  Not long after we crossed the southern alps, as they call it here, it started raining — about halfway before reaching our goal.  Before making it to our first destination for the day, Fox Glacier, we stopped at a little red carnival type trailer out in the middle of no where (seriously no where) serving sandwiches, hot cocoa and coffee. “Good on them” for setting that trailer up since all we saw for  miles and miles were ferns, forest and fields with some views of the ocean on our left side.  Next to the trailer was a low stone wall covered with white quartz stones that had been found on the same beach.  People had one-by-one written messages on the stones and placed them on the wall, we did the same and added another to the collection.

After our caffeine break we made it to Fox Glacier.  What a sight!  This glacier is a river of ice sliding down from the tops of the nearby mountains.  As we approached the mouth of the glacier we could see a cave where a torrent of water was streaming from its mouth.  Men using heavy equipment were working near the head of the glacier to keep the river channel flowing so as to not wash out the walking track, parking lot and everything else they have created here.  Walking up as far as the track would allow us, we passed a number of waterfalls and had to cross a number of streams caused by the rain that was falling harder and harder.  By the time we made it back to the car, we were as soaked as the ground around us, even though we had umbrellas and rain gear.  Dinner that evening was at the foot of the mountain in a quaint restaurant sitting near a gas fireplace listening to the heavy patter of rain on the roof.  We were so happy for the warmth!  Back at the motel, clothes were hung everywhere in hopes that they would dry out before being packed up for the next morning.

We woke the next day to puffy white clouds, brilliant blue sky and a view of the Franz Josef glacier from the front of our motel.  The night before there was too much rain and fog to see much of our surroundings.  A short drive thru the town of Franz Josef and we were entering the parking lot for this glacier.  It was a solid 45 minute walk up the river bed to the end of the path to view this glacier’s head.  This time I was close enough to the mouth of the glacier to see the cave underneath and water flowing out.

It is awesome to see these huge rivers of ice slowly making their way between mountains.  It is said that they can extend or retreat over 1 meter per day.  It takes about 5 years for the snow from the peaks to move down the sides of the mountain and make its way to the ocean as ice melt.  As glaciers go, that is a fast moving glacier.  Also, seeing the blue ice of the glaciers, we understood where all the blue water in some of the lakes comes from.  And, unless you are booking a helicopter ride or hiring a guide for a walk on the glacier, there isn’t much else to do.  So, on to Hokitika, our final stop before returning to Christchurch.

To our dismay we did not find Hokitika to be warm and fuzzy.  A quick tour of the town didn’t have much to encourage us to stay, so we drove up the road a bit to Greymouth to enjoy dinner that evening at another Speights.  If you didn’t recognize the name, Greymouth was the area where the disasterous mining accident happened not too long ago.  Above Greymouth we stopped to see another interesting rock formation called “The Pancake Rocks”.

Our final day in New Zealand was Saturday – Watangi Day. Watangi Day is the day the Maori signed a treaty with the British allowing them to become British subjects and letting them stay where they were but mostly ceeding New Zealand to the British empire.  

We had a beautiful drive from the west coast through Arthur’s Pass taking us back to Christchurch.  It is just amazing how different the two sides of these “Southern Alps” are.  On the one side, a complete rain forest — green and lush with tall palms, trees and other vegetation.  Just across the pass, it is brown and dry with grass with few if any trees. Along the peaks of the mountains, one could see the snow that would eventually make its way to the coast as a glacier. 

At one stretch break we had an opportunity to take pictures of some wildflowers, a small butterfly and of course the landscape.  There is something very soothing and comforting about these mountains. 

It wasn’t long before we found ourselves back in Christchurch.  After checking into our hotel we found a small library and finally had success posting one of the blogs we had written.  Internet service in New Zealand was sketchy, expensive and notoriously inconsistent. 

In addition to looking for a spot with wifi, I was in pursuit of a magazine article that I spotted at the beginning of this trip.  I had not had a chance to finish reading it and so I was curious to find it again and finish.  Joseph knew where a library was in downtown Christchurch so we stopped in.  Simple I thought.  Just find the magazine, find the article and make a copy of it to read on the plane back to Melbourne. Wrong.  After searching for the magazine, I found it but with only 5 minutes till the library closed.   Did I have enough time to find the article, copy it and get out so the library staff could go home?  Of course just when you are looking for something, that is the time you can’t find it.  (To read the conclusion of this story you will find it on Just Make It Sew’s facebook page.)  

What Joseph did find for me, while I was looking for the magazine, was more evidence of a fashion industry in New Zealand.  They have their own version of the WWD called “New Zealand Apparel — The Business of Fashion”,  a monthly publication.  I wished I had time to review the library’s issues, but time had run out so I will just have to satisfly my curiousity by looking it up on the web.

Our final evening meal was of Indian food in a restaurtant named “Little India”.  While Joseph chatted it up with the waiter, we discovered they have a restaurtant in Melbourne not far from the church we attend.  We had one last event to follow up on our trip.  Back on our first day in Christchurch I had noticed a poster advertising a classical concert to be held in a park.  It was the ASB Classical Sparks concert commemorating Watangi Day and ending with fireworks.  What a nice way to end a great trip!

Natural Wonders

After a relaxing overnight stay in Te Anau along a beautiful lake it was time to travel to Milford Sound.  Joseph was very excited about this as this was one of his “must do’s” while in New Zealand.  Not knowing anything about where we were going, Joseph told me that Rudard Kipling had called Milford Sound the “8th Wonder of the World”.  

We got an early start and were well on our way before Joseph realized we had less than 1/4 tank of gas.  We ending up having to turn around and head back into town for petrol.  We just missed the boat line that Joseph would have liked to have taken, but no worries, there were others.  The preferred ride would have been a bit longer and taken us all the way out of the sound to a lighthouse on the coastline.  Their next boat was likely to get canceled due to the threat of heavy rains so we opted for a shorter ride with another boat line. 

The weather held off and what awesome views we had anyway, cruising between slopping mountains rising from the depths of the water.  We learned that the plants and trees covering the side of the mountains live in a very symbiotic relationship — to survive the steepness of the mountains and fact of no soil, they have to cling to each other and to small cracks in the granite to stay in place.  Seals rest on rocks along the waters edge and towering waterfalls define the height and slope of the mountains.   Going along the sound, the boat cruises near a waterfall giving the passengers a thrill or — for those still outside – a shower.

Joseph loves to chat with people and struck up a conversation with one of the men working on the boat.  Turns out he was from Lynchburg Virginia.  Yes, it is a small world. We left Milford in the afternoon, drove back through Te Anau and on to Queenstown our next evening’s destination. 

In Queenstown we discovered a wonderful restaurant called ”Speight’s Ale House” and if you are ever in New Zealand you must try one.  We learned later that each Speight’s is different.  This one was in a stone building and had a cozy pub atmosphere where we conversed with a couple from Wales and learned a bit about their part of the world.

The next morning we slept in a little later than we had and it was a good thing.  It rained overnight and into the early morning.  So far we had been very fortunate with weather and it looked like another pretty day was on the rise.  After breakfast at McDonald’s (they are everywhere, right?) and the use of their free wifi, we were on our way to find Humbolt Falls (which we never did).  

Lake Wakatipa, of which Queenstown borders, was just gorgeous.  Even with the sky a bit overcast it was a brilliant azure blue color.  We had not viewed water so clean and beautiful.  As we drove up to a little village called Glenorchy, it was hard not to keep looking and stopping to take pictures.  (Lord of the Rings fans will easily recognize this location.)  We ate lunch in this small hamlet near the lake with snowcapped mountains framing the brillant sky as our backdrop.  Joseph continued driving as far up the valley as he and our little car would go.  We made it as far as Paradise (it was no lie) and then were stopped in our tracks by a deep rocky creek.  At the creek ford, we met another American on his own, whose car was stopped by the same ford.  He was a Maui police officer on holiday in NZ.  

Have I mentioned how nice the people here are?  On our way back from Glenorchy, we made a pit stop back into Queenstown to book our next overnight stay (in Wanaka) at an “i-site.”  As we drove out of town Joseph realized that he did not have his camera with him.  He knew just where he left it, on the counter at the i-site.  We turned around and prayed that the camera was still there.  Joseph was more concerned about all the pictures we had taken that day rather than the actual camera.  We had “no-worries“  as the attendant noticed Joseph had left his camera, set it aside and contacted our next destination to have them notify us that it was safe and would even have mailed it back to us!  People here clearly go that extra mile in dealing with others. 

On the way to Wanaka, we make a quick stop along the way in Arrowtown.  There are many little towns here that cropped up during the gold rush years (same period as the California gold rush) and these towns have a distinct western appeal as you can see from this photo.  We arrived after 5pm and of course all the shops were closed!  Anywhere you go in New Zealand and Australia closing time is usually 5pm – 6 if you are lucky.  We ate dinner and then made our way to Wanaka, another lovely town bordering another beautiful blue lake. 

We finished the day enjoying the cool evening sitting outside a cafe with a pot of Earl Grey tea and overlooking Lake Wanaka with music from the local Wanaka radio station playing in the cafe.  The station was located just above the cafe.   Looking ahead, we only have a few days left and a lot of ground to cover.  Stay tuned for the last episode of our New Zealand adventure.