Two sewing machines gone, two more heading out.

This morning as I sipped my coffee and glanced at the sewing table in the corner of my kitchen, I had an epiphany: 

I cannot -- will not -- sew amid this kind of clutter anymore.

Now, less than twelve hours later, I've already sold one sewing machine, taken another to the thrift store, and have two more posted on Craigslist.  It feels great and I've made $40 so far.

These are history:





Things are looking much better, though I still have a ways to go.  (That's the same table!)



Now this is not my primary sewing area, but I do use it.  It's where my Singer 15-91 lives, and I used the Singer a lot to make my parka.  Can you imagine trying to work in that hellish environment?  No more.

In other news, I've received the rest of my outerwear patterns.  Today I bought some fabric for the Green Pepper pullover (below), which I will henceforth call an anorak.  Some people call what I consider a parka an anorak.  I, however, call a parka a parka.  To me, an anorak is something you pull over your head and it has a hood.  This.



With fabric, I wanted to go either classic or over-the-top.  I opted for over-the-top, partly because my parka was classic enough, but also because I couldn't find anything classic in colors I liked.  Here are a few things I considered today:

Metallic coated nylon!





When I crushed the fabric in my hand, it didn't return to its original state and I wasn't sure how it would wrinkle (or unwrinkle).  I doubt I'd want to iron that.  Plus, let's face it: it's a little Tin Woodsman-sy.

I liked this nylon print...





But it seemed a little drab somehow.

OTOH, this blue was vivid:



But it was rubbery feeling and I was afraid it wouldn't breathe at all.

Then I saw this psychedelic cotton/nylon blend:



Bingo!  I bought two and a half yards.  What I love is that it has a classic 60/40, cotton/nylon outerwear feel, and that it's kind of acid-trippy.



I may get started as early as tomorrow.  It's time for some genuine male pattern BOLDNESS. 

Have a great day, everybody!

The Secret Dressing Room Selfies!

Readers, I know it's wrong -- or is it wrong?

I don't often try on clothes in store dressing rooms and take stealth selfies because I hardly ever shop in stores.  Still, there are times when I'm exploring what's out there and it's the only way I can remember what I'm seeing.  It's not like I'm going to copy something for resale nor am I the store's customer; I don't buy ready-to-wear anymore (with the exception of socks).

I just want to record what I like so I can improve my own projects.

Plus, these same details can often be viewed on the stores' own websites.  But not always.

I've become obsessed with sporty outerwear since finishing my parka, and I'm already planning future projects and thinking about improvements I might make to the patterns I have.  There's so much cool "heritage brand" outerwear out there, updated interpretations of American classic workwear or vintage hiking/mountain climbing gear, often (though not always) created by Japanese designers.  This link is precisely the kind of thing I mean.

Today I visited a favorite store that carries brands like these, and I saw a wonderful coated-cotton raincoat with many marvelous details: hidden pockets and zippers and plackets and snaps, a detachable hood, and more.  It's much heavier than my parka and -- I hate to say it -- considerably hipper looking, in part because it's solid black inside and out.

Front pocket.

Chest hidden pocket.

Separate zipper shield.

Removable, snap-on hood.

Adjustable cuff.

Front metal zipper.

Inside collar.

Zippered inside chest pocket.

If I make another big coat this winter -- and I'm not sure I will -- I think I'll definitely go with a matching lining -- it creates a sleeker look.  And metal zippers are classier than plastic.  A detachable hood makes a coat somewhat more versatile.

If you're wondering what this Made in China coat costs, well...



I no longer make public judgments about price.  Is that price high or not?  It depends what you're comparing it to.

Meanwhile, I have received my latest outwear pattern purchase and hope to pick up fabric for it this week.



Confession: I have two more outerwear patterns on the way.  I'm officially obsessed!





In closing, I can't remember if I ever asked you this before:

Is it OK to take detailed dressing-room photos of clothing you want to copy -- provided, of course, you're not wasting a salesperson's time in the process?  And if you post them on your blog, does that cross a line?

Have a great day, everybody!

"And a Child Shall Lead Them" + Rita Moreno!

Friends, if you really want to make a six-year-old's day, let her walk your chihuahua.

I hung out with my friend Suzanne (of Beau Baby blog fame) and her charming daughter, Lucy, this afternoon and really had fun.



I don't spend much time with children, but I always enjoy it when I do.  They're cute and they just adore animals.

I know from nearly every daily dog walk that there's something about chihuahuas that enthralls kids -- especially girls.  I guess it's the breed's small size and big ears or something.  Plus that chihuahua movie...



While Willy (the white one) is OK with pretty much any human he meets, Freddy does not cotton readily to children (or skateboards, or garbage trucks, or men in uniforms...the list goes on).  He gave Lucy a bit of a fright at first (and second), but he finally calmed down in the apartment when we gave him his beloved Lambchop doll to suckle.

He's still barking at Lucy below:



Before the dog walk, Suzanne, Lucy, and I visited the latest show at the FIT museum, "Dance & Fashion."  I enjoyed it, though I was disappointed that none of Ginger Rogers' gowns were included; it's more about how dance costumes influenced fashion and vice versa.  It's open through January 3rd and the museum is free.





In other news, I just finished reading Rita Moreno's autobiography.  Actually, I borrowed the book-on-tape, read by Rita herself, and highly recommend experiencing it that way.  She's had quite the life and, unlike many celebrities who grow old in a bubble, has a lot of self-awareness.





Moreno is probably best known for playing Anita in the 1961 film version of West Side Story, but she had already been around a while by then (she even had a small role in Singin' in the Rain) and is still active today.  She's also one of the few performers to have won an Emmy, a Tony, an Oscar, and a Grammy.  Marlon Brando is a big presence in the book, as he played a huge role in her life; in fact she came close to killing herself over him, but you'll have to read to book (or watch one of her many YouTube interviews) to find out why.  I read a lot of celebrity autobiographies, and this is truly one of the best.

Moreno is also a fabulous performer.  This Emmy-winning performance is a favorite (the fun begins at 0:11 sec):



Moving on, I bought a book for a penny today!  It's Sewing Activewear" from the Singer Sewing Reference Library series.  (Of course, shipping is $3.99, but it's still a good deal).  I read Miss Celie's review, and it sounds worthwhile, especially since I'm planning on stitching up some running gear in the months ahead.

And that's it.

Any Rita Moreno fans out there?

Have a great day, everybody!

Post-Parka Depression + So You Want To Sew a Men's Parka...

OK, so actually, I'm not experiencing post-parka depression but the title sounded intriguing.

If truth be told, however, I have been in a mild funk for more than a month now, and the parka project helped lift me out of it.  The challenge now is to stay out of it.  Sewing helps.

And speaking of parka projects...

All in all, I was very happy with my Daisy Kingdom parka pattern.  A minor quibble is that I would have liked the pattern to make clearer how much overlap there is on the center fronts (i.e, the pattern just labels the front center edges as "CF," when the actual front is roughly 1" wide, after the seam allowance is accounted for.).  But that's what a muslin is for, I guess.  I just never went further than making sure the basic fit was right.  If I'd been making this in a plaid, say, I would have had to carefully study exactly how much the left front overlapped the right.

The Daisy Kingdom pattern, which dates from 1983, is not easily available (UPDATE: a newer version, now dubbed DK Sport, can be purchased at Seattle Fabrics; see links below) but there are other parka patterns out there you might wish to consider if you're interested in making a coat in this, or a similar, style.

The Green Pepper "Men's Oregon Jacket" pattern (below) can be purchased on the the Green Pepper website here, as well as a few other places, including Etsy and eBay.  It looks like it only has two pockets (instead of nine, like my Daisy Kingdom pattern), but that might not be a bad thing depending on your comfort level with making pockets.  Plus you can always add more pockets on your own.  Or just carry a knapsack.



Another in-print pattern is Vogue 8842.  There's actually a BMV sale going on right now that ends tomorrow (Thursday).  I'm seeing a price of $5.99 here today.  The Vogue parka also is a bit simpler than the pattern I used, but again, that's not necessarily a bad thing.  It includes a version with a hood and without.



Canadian Jalie has an in-print parka pattern and it includes both child and adult sizes in one envelope.  You can find it for sale here, and there are user reviews on the site too. 



Finally, there's Burda 8855 which is out-of-print and doesn't have a hood.  Still it's cute pattern as these things go.  Not so easy to find...



If you know of any other men's parka patterns out there, let me know.  There aren't oodles of men's outerwear patterns but it isn't quite the wasteland I'd first thought.  You simply have to do some research.

You're likely to need notions like two-way zippers, velcro, gripper snaps and, occasionally, grommets.  I had very little experience with the snaps and none with grommets, but they were much simpler to install than I had expected, and no need to purchase expensive pliers: you just need a mallet and good aim.  I did most of my stitching on my Singer 15-91; the Kenmore lacked sufficient piercing power to handle multiple layers of my outer fabric.  But it handled the lining just fine.  I did the cuffs on my Bernina 930 since it's a free arm.

I don't know a whole lot about where to source authentic parka-type fabrics, so if you have some good sources you can share, please do.  I'm aware of Seattle Fabrics, but their website is not very user friendly.  However, they DO have a page on their website called "So you want to make a lined parka" with fabric and notions recommendations.  Check it out here.

UPDATE:  Another excellent source of technical wear/outdoor fabrics, notions, and patterns is The Rainshed Inc. in Oregon.  Their website is here.

And check out the extremely comprehensive Specialty Outdoors site, here.

And that's it.  Next up, I may try making a windbreaker for running.

My latest purchase:



Not sure if I'll tackle this next but it's in the queue.

Have a great day, everybody!

Peter Models the Completed Mountain Parka!

Friends, today is the first day of fall (Happy fall!) and my parka is finished.

You can see me model it here.

I think it's a pretty good facsimile of the classic 60/40 mountain parka, though I can't vouch for the fabric being a 60/40 (cotton/nylon) blend like the original.

I added the final finishing touches -- six gripper snaps -- yesterday afternoon.



I'm so glad I ordered two packages of these, because neither package had six complete sets like they claim.  (Both had only five of the button tops along with varying numbers of the other pieces -- as many as eight).  How difficult is it to count to six?







Anyway, all six snaps went in perfectly.  It took time to measure and mark carefully on both sides and to cut the tiny hole in the fabric, but once I did, hammering them in was very straightforward.

Once again I was able to avail myself of my trusty mallet, purchased more than twenty years ago at the flea market when I was playing "Rancid Harry," the village leper and handyman, at the New York Renaissance Festival.  All I have left from that experience are my memories -- and my mallet.



This morning was very fall-like (cool, mid 50's), so it was actually great to be wearing a parka during our photo shoot.

Did you know this classic mountain parka -- designed in 1968 -- has a cult following in Japan?  (You can read more about the original design here.)

Anyway, it's great to be finished with this challenging project.  Onwards and upwards, I always say.

Have a great day, everybody!

Parka Post #3 - Hoods, Cuffs + Baby's First Grommet

Friends, at last I can see the light at the end of the tunnel vis-a-vis this parka project.  If I had my snaps in hand, I could probably finish tomorrow.  Unfortunately, I'm still waiting for them to arrive in the mail, so Monday at the earliest.

But I made my first grommet and it wasn't difficult at all.

My grommet kit -- which I'd purchased to use in making swimsuits but never bothered -- includes all the necessary equipment.  I don't remember what all the parts are called so I'll just show them to you.  You need your own mallet to hammer the grommet closed, but I actually have a mallet in my tool box!



The doubled piece of fabric below serves as a reinforcement.  First I had to punch a perfectly round hole in it using the metal punch (on the left) and a soft piece of wood included in the kit.





The grommet base sticking up is now placed through an identical hole in my lining.  I pounded down the grommet top (called a "washer") with the included tool (and my mallet) and it worked perfectly.

From the back it looks like this:



And from the front, like this:



The waistline drawstring will be drawn through the hole in the lining.



I also made a hood, and that has a drawstring too, though no grommets.  Each end is knotted and sealed with Fray Check.





My lining -- essentially a second coat -- is complete and ready to be attached to the outside.





I also made cuffs with velcro tabs.  I should mention that the pattern instructions are excellent: they're written clearly and include detailed diagrams.  I was thankful for that when I made these cuffs; they're a bit of a puzzle as they're mirror images of each other.











And that's it.  Tomorrow I will attach the two-way separating zipper, the lining, and hopefully the cuffs.  It's going to be a big day. 

Have a great weekend, everybody!