It Snowed Last Night

Last year on these exact dates, we were struggling with 40" of snow.  Last night's snow was chump change compared to that.  3-4", wet, and mostly melted by mid-afternoon.  More like a spring snow.  But don't be lulled, friends.  Spring is closer, but IT'S STILL WINTER!

Our yard has plenty of material for a photographic jaunt, and I got out early enough to take photos.  I enjoy the black and white quality, the patterns that emerge, the interest lent to familiar objects. 


Ordinary isn't so ordinary with its frosting of snow.

The yard art is temporarily enhanced.

And nature's patterns look new. 

On the wind in February

Snowflakes float still,

Half inclined to turn to rain,

Nipping, dripping, chill.

                                                     ------ Christina Georgina Rossetti

The Inadvertent Seamstress

This month's sewing projects involved tailoring.  I've messed around with a bit of tailoring the last few years, having more or less success.  Enough to make me comfortable to take some chances if necessary. 

First I wanted to hem a couple pairs of pj's I'd purchased at Walmart.  This was the project I was working on when the sewing machine froze up late last year, causing this whole seamstress thing to take its current form.  I gave up ratty t-shirts for sleepwear years ago, and am well satisfied with cute (sometimes cheesy) tee and shorts sets.  I have a collection, old enough that the elastic in the waists is getting flabby.  I could replace the elastic, but the pj fabric is worn enough that it might not stand up to ripping out the old elastic.  Besides, they're OLD and I want something NEW!  Unfortunately, Walmart no longer carries tee and shorts sets at any time of the year.  And with fit so iffy, I won't order clothing on-line.  However, it occurred to me that I could purchase the sets with longer pants and hem them.....VOILA!  This Inadvertent Seamstress is READY!

BEFORE

I'd cut the legs off last month; here's an approximation.

DURING

Trimmed, turned up and pinned for hemming.

The machine does the work!

AFTER

Ready for a snooze or two! 

Since I'm looking for sewing projects, these will be the last pj's I purchase.  They're super simple to DIY, and there are lots of free patterns on line.  I'll keep an eye out for patterns at the thrift stores, too.  

The next project was tailoring for fitting.  I'd read about a technique called ruching (pronounced rooshing), which is a gathering technique.  I looked on line for a definition:  what a can of worms!  There's gathering, ruching, shirring, frilling, pleating:  all similar and often used interchangeably.  I'm going to call what I did ruching, because that's what it was called in the YouTube videos I watched.  The technique is to cut a piece of elastic shorter than the area you want to ruche, then sew the elastic to the inside of the garment where you want the ruche to be, stretching it as you sew.  When you release the elastic, the ruching appears.  I'll show you. 

I have two t-shirts I wanted to try it on. One is a tee given to me as a gift.  It's a size large.  I'm thinking perhaps the giver confused my larger than life personality with my physical size?  HAHAHAHA!  Anyway, I love the graphic, and wanted to see if I could tailor it with ruching.

BEFORE

Too big.  But so funny!

I decided to ruche the sides to shorten the length and draw in the waist.  Since the sleeves are also too big, I decided to ruche them as well. 

 THE RUCHING TECHNIQUE

Here's the elastic stretched in the area I want to ruche.  I sewed it on with a zigzag stitch.

DURING, VERSION I

See the ruching?  The elastic gathers the fabric when it goes back to its original length. 

Though I liked the look of the ruching from the side, the shirt was still too long and I didn't like the sleeves from the front.  

 So I cut off some of the length and hemmed it.  Better, but I still didn't like the sleeves.

 DURING, VERSION II

 So I turned up the sleeves and hemmed them.

 DURING, PART III

With nothing to lose and still unsatisfied, it's time to think out of the box.  I cut most of the sleeves off entirely!

DURING  PART IV

Still not what I want, my scissors are sharp, and I'm feeling reckless:  I cut the neck off and went from crew neck to boat neck.  Yikes!  This is wAAAAy more neck than I'm used to wearing or seeing!  It's now certainly a summer shirt.  I'll try it out this summer and see how comfortable I am actually wearing it. 

 AFTER

 

The other tee is an old running shirt that has a boxy fit in the waist, and I wanted to see if the ruching would help define the waist.  

 BEFORE

AFTER

Again, I like the ruching from the side.

 

But I don't see much of the effect from the front.

SUMMARY

• Love the pj's!
• The side ruching doesn't have as much of a visual effect as I hoped.
• When there's nothing to lose, start cutting!
• Since I've adjusted my attitude toward sewing, I found these to be fun projects.
• If nothing else, the sewing machine surely got its WOM (Workout-Of-The-Month)!

Ruminations: I Beg To Differ

     Today’s Ruminations are a reaction to a November article in the local newspaper,  originally published in the Los Angeles Times Opinion section.   It’s called “Advice for the climate-conscious consumer:  Don’t sweat the small stuff.”  The author, Kumar Venkat, is the founder of CleanMetrics Corp, whose mission is “to enable data-driven climate actions by both consumers and businesses”.  (www.cleanmetrics.com).  From Venkat’s article:  “I have learned to follow a simple rule of thumb that helps me cut through all the climate-related noise: Don’t sweat the small things when it comes to climate change. Focus your energies and investments on a few big actions that you can sustain over the long term.”

Source:  Wikimedia Commons

     The data Venkat offers in his article supports his premise that many of the small actions consumers have been encouraged to take for years don’t make a statistical difference in climate change. He uses the exhortations to decrease the use of single use plastic of all kinds, purchase locally grown food, do laundry with cold water, et al, as examples of actions that make an insignificant difference. The big actions he proposes include using public transportation instead of driving, driving an electric vehicle, and switching to green energy for household use.

Source:  pngimg.com

     While I can’t argue with his statistics, I do beg to differ on two counts. 

     First, I know the author was talking about small stuff related to climate change, but let’s acknowledge the value of small stuff standing alone.  I believe our individual belief in the value of our daily small stuff action is what leads us to paradigm shifts necessary for larger issues like climate change.

     Here’s my favorite examples of this dailiness.  There are many adaptations of The Starfish Story by Loren Eiseley.   If you don’t know it by that name, you’ll recognize it by this saying:  “Saving one dog won’t change the world, but for that one dog the world will change forever.” 

Flickr

 

     An example of small stuff mattering in a larger way is the story of Mimi Ausland.  In 2008, at age 11, she decided wanted to help feed the animals in the local shelter.  She and her father rounded up some sponsors and started a website, Freekibble.com, where anyone could answer a daily question and cause a donation of 10 pieces of kibble to the shelter.  Within two years, Mimi’s cause caught the attention of Ellen DeGeneres, who had Mimi on her show.  Ellen is one of the owners of Halo Pet Food, and during that show made a large donation to Freekibble.  That eventually led to Halo being the exclusive sponsor of FreeKibble.  So far 26,436,779 meals have been served to animals in shelters throughout the country.  That’s not small stuff. 

Source:  youtube.com

 

     The other way in which I beg to differ with Venkat’s position is that it is based on the arrogance of a metropolitan upper and middle class ideology, which itself is based on the ability to make economic choices.  There are a lot of people who can’t afford to make or even have access to the small stuff choices, let alone purchase an electric vehicle (!) or retrofit their house for green energy(!).  Please!  And using public transportation because you can’t afford a car is not a choice.

Source:  Flickr

     An example:  Mexico City recently banned the use of plastic bags.  According to Business Insider (www.businessinsider.com), grocery stores will be fined if they give out plastic bags, and will begin selling thick plastic fiber bags to shoppers for 75 cents.  All well and good, but with a minimum wage of that same 75 cents per hour, the economy of choice immediately raises its head.  As for many of us, there’s a culture of reuse of the bags, with garbage cans and waste paper baskets sized for the bags, separating trash for the garbage trucks, picking up pet waste.  Additionally, Mexico City has an on-going water shortage problem, so washing out unlined trash cans can be problematic.  And because Mexico City’s plumbing is often old, toileting trash is often put in a trash can rather than flushed.  That’s not trash they want to dump directly into the outdoor trash receptacle. 

Source:  Reuters

     Solutions to climate change are are not singular.  We certainly need scientific and policy leaders.  We need the companies who are agents of the problem to step up to their responsibilities. But we also need everyone to do what small stuff they can.  I believe, and will continue act on the belief, that the small stuff choices we are able to make are the very agents of the change that Venkat is driving for.  The kids who feed animals in shelters are tomorrow’s leaders of change and action.  Statistics drive a certain kind of change.  The small stuff drives our hearts, and that’s where I believe change starts.