The Mr and I are still tired.

Not sure why.  Don’t know if we’re not sleeping, or if that trip took more out of us than I thought.  It doesn’t help that we have had some appointment or other–4 one day–every single day.  The day after we got home there was a wedding to attend and a funeral the day after that.

At any rate, I can’t sew and my joie de vivre is just not up to snuff.  I’m catching up on blogs and getting plenty of inspiration, but there just isn’t any energy to drag myself upstairs to the sewing room in the evenings.  I still have my 1952 dress cut and waiting, and some piqué wanting to become a matching jacket.  The serger even has the right thread installed.

But it just ain’t hap’nin right now.  Maybe this weekend I’ll get a chance to recover some.  (I’m not counting on it, but maybe.)  Meanwhile I’ve been exercising Evernote to help me keep up with my burgeoning pattern collection.  (When we can’t sew, we sewing people buy sewing stuff…)

I first heard of Evernote reading Teri’s blog, and signed up earlier this year when I needed a better way to keep up with things.  It was so useful that I soon upgraded to the Pro version to take advantage of the additional benefits that upgrading brings.

Before Evernote, I had been listing the patterns I wanted to pick up at the next sale on a slip of paper in my wallet.  That worked fairly well, but sometimes I failed to capture the number of the latest needful pattern that I saw on Pattern Review.  Or worse, the slip would be in my wallet…  across the room … so I would start another slip.

Then there were two or more un-cross-referenced  slips with pattern numbers.  Some scratched off to indicate that those were now in a box upstairs, some not.

You get the chaotic picture, I’m sure.

One day I realized that my Droid could give me a sync’d list that I could refer to anytime I found myself at a sale.  All I had to do was put those needful patterns in Evernote, and tag them with “McCall’s” or “Simplicity” and “Buy!”  At the pattern counter, I would open my Droid’s Evernote app and search by the name of the company and “Buy” to get my list.

When I started changing my “Buy” tags to “Inventory,” my Evernote Pattern Catalog was born.

Here’s how I do it.  (If you’ve got a better way, I’d love to hear it!)

First, I see the pattern I want and copy the envelope photo into Evernote from the manufacturer’s website.  Then I add a link to the pattern and tag it with company name, Buy, kind of garments included, and designer (if I care).  Lately I’ve been adding the line drawings, too, because those are generally more useful than the photographs.  When I buy the pattern, I change the “Buy” tag to “Inventory” so that I don’t try to buy it again later.

I should add the purchase date, I suppose.  I could also include photos of the garments I’ve made from the pattern, along with alteration notes and my impressions.

That may happen at some point, but for now, I’m enjoying being able to peruse my pattern collection without leaving my seat.

Tags: Evernote

Six easy garments is not bad production for a month like this one!

	Simplicity 2614 top, which has been thoroughly blogged about already.  This is a great top and I’ve already worn it three times.  It does have to be ironed, but that’s a small price to pay.
	McCall’s 6082 from some Natural “Linen” I got off the FREE table at an ASG meeting. It’s certainly one of those poly-rayon blends.
	McCall’s 6082 from stashed Denim
	Another try at the Great Copy Raglan, a little smaller. I didn’t think I’d try this again, but I couldn’t resist, and it turned out better this time. I used some of Fabric dot com’s combed cotton interlock for this one.  I like both the fabric and the top!
	New Look  6762 raglan.  The reviews are bad, mostly because of the shoulder dart.  I don’t like that either, but it’s not *that* bad.  I’ll make this again with an alteration to the neckline and the sleeve.
	A t-shirt conversion using Jalie 2005.  There’s not quite enough ease in the upper chest/bust in this not-very-stretchy jersey, but it looks much better than the original boxy tee. Curves is putting out shapely tees this year, and I just buy a medium and wear it.  They don’t fit quite as well as my conversions usually do, but they fit well enough for the use they get.

No tag for this post.

All I can say is that whoever first settled South Louisiana must have arrived in January. By mid-day on Monday, I was wishing I had made five of my breezy Butterick dress–aka the coolest garment I’ve ever owned.   Instead I had packed mostly shorts and t-shirts.  Take it from me, in that kind of heat and humidity you don’t want anything restricting airflow at your waistline!

The week was fantastic!  We were working at the UMCOR Sager Brown depot putting together health kits.  I can’t say enough good about the experience, but I’m finding that I’m having to say it over and over again…sigh…I’m putting together a slideshow for Sunday School so that I’ll have a script and can tell everyone everything without trying to rack my puny brain every time someone asks.

Before we left home,  I finished another pair of my McCall’s 6082 to take.  I didn’t wear them until we were headed home because something spilled on them in my suitcase.  Fortunately there were laundry facilities available.

These are awesome!  I love them.  Let me count the ways:  the fit, the denim, the comfort, the topstitching, the pockets, the wide legs, the side vents–and I could go on and on.

I also finished a couple of raglan tees that I”ll have to show you another day.  They are nice enough, but not nearly as satisfying as these pants!

Tags: McCall's, McCall's 6082

The first couple of weeks of a semester, work always tries to take over my *entire* life.  Fall 2010 being no exception, I’m about a week behind on telling you about my new cropped pants!

Nancy hit the nail on the head when she asked me about the pants leg width.  Yes, I changed it!

I had a specific style in mind, which neither view of McCall’s 6082 completely satisfied.  My pants had to be wide-legged, cropped, from a woven fabric, with a cargo pocket and vents at the hem.  Not only that, but I wanted an elastic waistband at the natural waistline.

So.

I used the upper portion of View A, with the legs of View C traced over it.  Then, I raised the top an inch to reach my waistline and added fabric for my elastic width.  The smaller pocket came from a Simplicity pattern, and I drafted the larger pocket based on the smaller one.

Three times already this year I have used a Palmer-Pletsch (P/P) pattern with wonderful success (this, plus M5818, and M5941).  The wonderful success came because I used a McCall’s P/P  pattern following instructions from the P/P Pants for Real People book.  I have tried using the instructions from the book with other patterns with less success, although I *should* be able to use the book with anybody’s pattern.

So what’s the difference between their pattern and any other random pattern, I wonder–besides the printed alteration lines and the extensive instructions, I mean?

Obviously it better suits my body than do other patterns straight out of the envelope.

Being a person with a cylindrical torso who is thicker front-to-back, rather than wider side-to-side, the improvement seems to come down to body space.  Look at these two photos.  I put the back of a Butterick pants pattern on my cutting table.  Then I laid the McCall’s pattern over it with the size 14 crotch level aligned.  The difference was obvious–body space.  The photo on the left has the center back seams aligned.  The photo on the right has the side seams aligned.

There were subtle differences in the legs, too, but I don’t know how much of that to attribute to style–and I didn’t photograph that, so I don’t remember exactly what they were.

The other thing that makes a big difference for me is the Palmer-Pletsch method of placing the waistband.

I’ve made a stable 1-inch band from the lengthwise grain of an old sheet that I use to mark my waistline when I fit–I can pin to it and find it very helpful in both final waistband placement and tissue fitting.  (I believe P/P has you use a length of elastic, but I’m not sure.  The book is upstairs and I am lazy.) I mark a line at the bottom of this band for the waist.  The point is, you can adjust every area up or down until you get the pants just right.  Since you’ve already adjusted  everything else, the up/down adjustment at the waist makes for wonderfully-fitting pants!

I love these, and I’m almost done with a second pair in denim.  If I can get those finished and photographed before we head off to Louisiana, you’ll see another successful P/P project.

I’m thinking of trying out View A with the slim legs when I get back.

Tags: McCall's, McCall's 6082

In the category of cazh, comfy, and quick, I give you the belly-shot of my new cropped pants:

These came out exactly the way I wanted them!  That doesn’t usually happen on the first try with a new pattern, does it?  I was reading on Stitcher’s Guild about Louise Cutting’s new pattern for loose, easy cropped pants, and realized that they were exactly the kind of pants I needed for my end-of-the-month trip to Louisiana.  I don’t have time for Louise’s pattern to arrive,  so I decided to roll my own version.

For mine I used a Palmer-Pletsch McCall’s, which makes it a lot easier for me to make things come out right, as you can see:

Palmer-Pletsch, I salute you!!  You make me very happy!

Now  I’ll warn you, the pattern for these wonders doesn’t look a thing like my new pants.  It’s McCall’s 6082.  Now would you buy that based on the envelope photo?  They put those cute skinny models in those awful ugly pants and think somebody is gonna pay $18.95 for it???  I ask you!!  Do they think we’re nuts??

Not me.

I did pay 99¢ for it.  Not because I particularly needed another pattern for pull-on pants of any description, but because I’ve had such wonderful success with Palmer-Pletsch pants lately.

SEVERAL HOURS LATER:  I had planned to elaborate, but there was no time.  I’ll put this up as-is and save further blather for another day.  Thanks for stopping by!

Tags: McCall's, McCall's 6082