skirt design - croquis

 So the next step of the designing process is the croquis. The class recommends using a photo to use as a base, so I had my husband take a handful of photos of me. I've got front, diagonal, and back views, but I'm starting with just the front view. I might have him retake some pictures - the forward leg screws with perspective and makes it harder to draw on it. Suddenly I understand why so many clothes-showing photos have the leg to the *side* not forward, but this is a detail I hadn't really noticed until I started looking... One then traces the outline of the body onto paper.

skirt design - inspiration

So it turns out that learning to make clothes that fit me is not the easiest thing to do. After a lot of frustration with commercial patterns, I tried taking in-person classes locally in patternmaking. While it was super helpful, the particular instructor I chose doesn't really work from blocks/slopers like I'd hoped. Instead, she drafts to measurements using the patternmaking method she was trained in (which of course involves some 'standard' measurements) and then adds design before fitting. I've got an excellent trouser pattern now, plus I got help in fitting a half dozen other patterns/designs, but it wasn't quite what I was looking for. I want to learn how to use a sloper or block to both make my own patterns and to adapt commercial patterns more easily to me.

Halifax Hoodie review

I actually finished this sweatshirt like, a month or more ago, but didn't get around to pictures til today.  Lovely weather at the park today! (finally! it's been cold and drizzly/rainy/cloudy up til last week...)

photo tutorial: Fully lined pyramid bag with tab and zip stop

So in my last post (October! So long ago!), I talked about pyramid bags and why I thought the tutorials I could find were not ideal. I thought about it for a while, and have figured out how to do a fully lined, no raw seam showing, folded zipper pyramid bag with a zip stop and a pull tab. It is possible to put in a top tab as well, but I didn't here. I mention how in the cutting instructions. This is a bit of a fiddly/tricky construction, but it's not all that difficult, and I really think it's worth taking the extra time to get the result I wanted.

sewing: pyramid bags

I decided I wanted to try making some dice bags, maybe even sell them. However, selling them requires bags to sell, which meant, finding some bag types I can make.

I decided to try making pyramid bags - maybe I'll make a big one for a knitting bag sometime; they seem to be quite popular. All three bags have fusible fleece fused to the outer fabric, and quilted in straight lines lengthwise at ~2.5cm intervals.

cemetary

(post written in May 2019 as I finally get around to finishing these posts)

The morning of our last day was spent at the famous Pere Lachaise cemetary which was close to where we were staying.

medieval things

(post written in May 2019... because I'm a slacker and didn't get it done earlier.)

We went to the Musée de Cluny, which is an excellent museum of the middle ages.

musée marmottan

(post written in July 2018 as I sort through old photos and discover I never finished the Paris trip).

I mysteriously have almost no photos of this day. I think maybe I decided to just look at things and not photograph it all? Based on a couple of blurry pictures, it looks like we went to the Musée Marmottan Monet.

They have a bit of an eclectic collection - medieval illuminated letters (most of which look to have been cut out of larger pages, which is too bad), the personal collection of art, furniture, decor of Mr Maromottan (in whose house the museum is located), various impressionist works, as well as a collection of Monet pieces that had been kept in the family - the feel of these pieces is a bit different from what one often sees in more famous works. Luckily for me, the website of the museum has many photos of the artwork on display, so it's ok that I didn't take pictures.

The only photo I have from the interior of the museum.

They also had a Pisarro exhibit, which was really interesting, though crowded (we were in the last days of the exhibit).

That is also the day we went to Les Halles and stopped at Muji.

petit palais, sacre coeur

(post written July 2018 as I sort through photos and discover I hadn't quite finished writing up the Paris trip...)

Looks like it was raining in the morning.

We went to the Petit Palais in the morning and looked at art in a cool building.

The front door of the Petit Palais

 Emile Gallé, ~1878. Vase decorated with Chrysanthemums and Praying Mantis. Enamelled glass.

Eugène Feuillâtre, ~1912. Vase "La Mer." Translucent enamel over copper.

Greek vases

The Grand Palais across the street

Lunch was at Angelina... again...

And then we discovered that next door to Angelina, there is a bookstore... one that carries English books. How we missed it after passing by so many times, I don't know...

The weather cleared up, so we headed towards le Sacré Coeur.

We walked up the front stairs (and stopped for a bit for a snack and drinks at a café with a brilliant view of the building)...

We enjoyed the view from the top...

The building itself, both outside and in (though I don't think we went up to the top, I think it was too late in the day? I don't remember).

We went around the corner to take a look at the other church, St Pierre de Montmartre.

Then we walked down the side stairs...

Dinner was with friends at an Ethiopian restaurant. Giant (I think the plate was a foot and a half across) flat soft crepe-ish thing, with various foods. Tear off a piece, scoop up whichever glop you wanted, eat with your fingers. Quite tasty.

weird and wonderful colors and shapes

The Natural History Museum in Paris is a collection of associated museums (they're not apparently actually one entity; you have to pay separate to get into each section, though there is a discount for having been to another). They consist of a large garden with buildings around the perimeter, plus a zoo. Of course, in February, the gardens are perhaps not at their best.