People

This has been an interesting year for relational interaction, in three specific ways:
One. The longer we stay in this church, the closer we become to those in it. As we all grow and change, especially as many of us ease out of school into "the real world", maintaining healthy relationships in church can be a lot of work! Specifically those friendships with people who have very different personalities, and learning how to better relate to young men as friends.

Two. In the past year I've come to know my Grandma better. Hard of hearing and with poor eyesight, Grandma is changing from being an strong-minded independent lady to a someone needing in-home care. Taking care of a person who can hardly walk down the hall has been challenging, and I haven't even done that much. Yet.

Three. I've done a great deal of traveling this year, from Nebraska to Scotland, from California to Illinois. I've met people and made new friends at Presbytery, Liberty Day, and Reformation Faire. House-sitting, babysitting, and dance events have kept me out and about a great deal. Dance acquaintances, church family from other states, and new contacts through the dance business have added to my acquaintances. My family is planning a trip to Texas over New Year's, and I'm thankful that since Jen has to stay home to teach and watch the dog, that I can stay home too. It seems like every other week I'm packing to go somewhere, and I confess as thankful as I am for the opportunities I'm getting tired of it.

People are difficult. How do you deal with people?

Adventure is out there!

This past weekend Jen and I traveled with some friends to an Advanced English Coutnry Dance Workshop in Iowa. We stayed in a seedy Super 8 motel. We got the last non-smoking room in the place, which happened to be a handicap accessable room with one bed. And it smelled pretty bad, too. Our view out the window was an old truck from decades past.

The band was Bare Necessities, whose recordings we use heavily at our own dances. The location was a neat sort of 1950's dance hall. The music was great quality and I really enjoyed it; but the cross-dressing flute player really unnerved me. The hall with the wooden floor was neat, but the drawings of nude ladies in the refreshment room made getting drinks a perilous mission.

We all got sore. It was eleven hours of dancing in two days. The dances were more advanced than what we teach, but I think I can say we more than held our own dancing among the lifers(those who have been dancing all their lengthy lives, which most of them had).

We got all dressed up for the formal dance on Saturday night. Colonial clothes are the best.

We were very glad to have our friends there. The atmosphere between the two different dance camps, conservative and liberal, is extreme and can be stressful. We joke that there the people who dance ECD are either home schoolers or hippies, and that's really fairly accurate. It was an adventure to attend, and I'm glad we went.

Thankful

This being the month of thankfulness, I thought I'd post about something I'm thankful for.

My Sewing Room.

Our house is two old houses put together, so in the middle upstairs is this medium-sized room with low slanted ceiling on both sides. It makes an awkward bedroom because everyone else has to walk through it to get to the bathroom and storeroom. The slanted ceiling makes it hard to place furniture. But in our unheated second story it's the warmest room because the stovepipe runs through it, and the antique floor grate is in there too. We girls use it as a sitting room, retreat, and most importantly, a sewing room.

I've become very thankful for this space during the dump of costume sewing in the past year. I can spend my morning upstairs alone, concentrating on my work. I can make a mess and not have the pressure of cleaning it up for lunch. If we move it's doubtful whether or not I'll have a space for sewing.

Thank you, God, for my sewing room.

Caleb's Coatee...

Is too large. Anyone have any tailoring tips for me? All I know to do is take if off, take in the seams. Put it on. Take it off, take in the seams. I already have one tail completely done, and I do not want to take it out.

Make Do

When you have to sew a large quantity of costumes, like I do, with a deadline, like I do, improvisation can be your best friend. For myself, for paying customers, and for my brothers I sew period correct clothing, but for performances I don't always have the time or the money to sew the right way. Thrift stores and donations are my supply stores; coupons and creativity are necessities. Here you see before you a wool suit coat, probably from the 1990's and too large for any of my family members. Rescued from languishing in a dusty closet, it is ready to be transformed to a new purpose.

Chop it up.

Cut out the sleeves and the collar. Hack it to pieces. Vent your anger at the people who gained weight between costume fittings, and those sour individuals who don't like their costumes. Forget your mountain of waiting projects and scissor that thing apart.

Take your traced, borrowed or stolen but certainly not bought pattern of a nineteenth century man's waistcoat and place it where convenient. Make it fit. Save the front seams and buttonholes if you can.

At the end of cutting you should have the all the parts for a basic, not entirely correct waistcoat- an easy way to spice up any man's wardrobe. You may have to add some lining to the back piece, if you take out the usual polyester lining like I do. Take off the plastic buttons and buy some metal ones at Hancock's when they go 50% off.

This is how I sew. Shocked?



My little camera doesn't take very good quality close-up photos, so I had Caleb take a few with his super fancy camera. Here is tail number one, close to completion. All the buttons are plugged in, the pleat is stitched down, and the lining is ready to be put over all.

The top of the tail with its beautiful and expensive buttons.

Caleb has a nice camera.

Caleb's Growing Coatee

I hope you're not all sick and tired of hearing about the coatee, because it's a long ways from finished.

I had to cut the tails down to a shorter length to fit Caleb's class and era. I've tacked down the front flap of the tail and stitched on the fake pocket, which will have four buttons on it for decoration. The tail pleats seam to serve no purpose since they're going to be stiched closed as well.

The tail pleat with its two decorative half hidden buttons.

Plugged buttons, on the underside. Poke through the wool with an awl, push the button loop through, and thread a bit of fabric through. The button is secure and flat on the outside of the coat.