sarah in nyc

Today I’m supposed to meet some out of town relatives. The weather is dicey here in New York so I’m not sure exactly when I am to meet up with my relatives across town. I thought it was wise to cook right after I woke up. I made chicken with left over red wine, the dregs of the mustard jar and some rosemary.   I also rough cut some sweet potatoes , put olive oil in the pan and sprinkled with black pepper, cinnamon and ginger.I had to put the pan away in the fridge because otherwise I would have eaten the whole pan piece by piece. As always, my life is not just cooking, and not just client work.   My youngest needed a new batch of boxer shorts. I made him five pairs. I taught myself how to sew soon after my older son was born. While I have made clothing for all three of my kids, my youngest has benefitted from the fact that I had a few more years of sewing under my belt by the time I began making him clothing. With the exception of two pairs of novelty boxer...

  I had received this bag as a gift. I loved the shape. It looked cool. The straw was scratchy and made the bag less than comfortable to wear.   The bag had no interior pockets. It also had no exterior pockets to hold a metro card. Several months ago I bought this fabric. It’s a Marc Jacobs quilted faux suede. I bought it at Fabric Mart for an amazing price . I wanted to copy the straw bag in the suede. I was afraid to cut into the Marc Jacobs fabric, as I only had a yard of it. This week I bought two more yards of the fabric at an even better price. I now was ready to go wild.     It took me a long time to get to it. It was the figuring out that had me paralyzed.   Today was the day to try it out. I had used the straw bag last night and was frustrated by it’s limitations.   I ended up with this. With a pocket for my metro card. With an interior pocket to hold random small stuff. With another pocket to hold business...

I remember having an epiphany about clothing manufacturers back when I was in high school. Many manufacturers kept re-making the same shape over and over again in different fabrics. Now that I know a bit more about the manufacturing process, economically that makes a whole lot of sense. Perfecting a pattern is expensive business. I often repeat the same  dress shape over and over again. For me it isn’t a matter of economics. Once I get a shape that works, it’s nice to play with the possibilities of what it can be. Also if you are a bit of a lazy dress maker, like I am it becomes possible to cut out a garment without a whole lot of pre-planning or thinking.   I do however cut differently depending on the fabric that I’m using. This red dress is made out of a heavy weight stable knit that isn’t very stretchy. It was cut with a bit of negative ease.  ( the 1/4 width of fabric was  1.5 inches smaller than my hip measurement)   I cut this back version o...

I just made this mystery item for me. I made it to protect my new toy/tool. This is a detail, a snap pocket to hold the peripherals. I made a case for my new tablet.   My reason for getting the tablet isn’t a fun one, I’m going to Boston to help share in the duties taking care of my mother.  I will be there for at least several days. This way I can be in touch with my universe while I am away.   It is a crazy fun toy. I have already downloaded a bunch of sewing books from the early 20th century to read on the bus. I also plan to use it to help me practice the Haftarah I’m reciting on Pesach. My mother is improving. It was a stroke. It could have been much worse