HG in E/L ... almost

Eyeliner


The closest thing to HG, yet.


Over the last couple of weeks, I've collected a handful of eyeliners that are pretty close to wonderful. They aren't smudgey, but they still creep just enough to end up in my lower crease.


Cream/Gel E/L
I really like the formulations of the new cream/gel eyeliners.


I've tried:
http://www.calvinklein.com/ck/beauty.aspx
http://www.sephora.com/browse/brand_hierarchy.jhtml?brandId=ck+Calvin+Klein

cK - Ultimate Edge Gel Eyeliner in Mica

By far, this gel liner has the thinnest consistency, which translates to the easiest thick line and most smudgeable. A bit metall-ick-y.






L'Oreal HIP
A bit dark in shade for those of us with lighter skin tones. Good consistency and application.




Make Up For Ever's - Aqua Creamliner in Matte Light Brown




















This has the thickest consistency, so on first try you don't think anything is getting on your brush, but this actually has the easiest application.


Hands down best color for lighter skin tones ... a true MEBB. They also have a darker brown and charcoal matte shade that I NEED to try. Gets my highest marks out of the four.




Stila's Smudge Pot in Bronze











Good texture, medium consistency, easy application ... awfully metall-ick-y.






I prefer matte shades to the shimmer/glitter/metallic craze.
This definitely warps my review in some ways.

MR - The Secret Life of Words

Movie Review - The Secret Life of Words aka "La vida secreta de las palabras"


This is such an odd movie. I don't quite know how to describe it.


Sarah Polley plays Hannah a typical factory worker (rote, repetitive tasks) completely cut off from the world around her.

Having been forced to take her first holiday in several years, she "offers" to care for a burned man on an oil rig (played by the incomparable Tim Robbins). This begins a series of improbable events: 1) an uncertified nurse caring for a burned oil-rig worker, 2) said care taking place on an oil rig in the sea, and 3) the oil rig being nearly devoid of entities following a major accident on the rig (in which one worker has died and one worker got burned).

IRL: the company would not have taken the liability of 1, nor left the patient on the rig for 2. And safety officials, inspectors, and miscellaneous other individuals would have been swarming that rig for 3.

I think I could have overlooked any one misstep, but all three really stretched my ability to "suspend disbelief and immerse myself" in the story. Yes, I am sure these decisions were made to create the "mood," but I can think of more believable/plausible directions.

In any event, the skeleton rig crew and irascible patient eventually cajole Hannah into revealing some secrets to her past.

(hint ... thanks to snippets in the beginning, middle, and ending, we know that Hannah shares the same diagnosis as the famous "Sybil" - aka Shirley Ardell Mason and "Eve" - Chris Costner Sizemore ... still lost? How about The Hulk, Dr. Jekyll/Mr. Hyde, or the biblical "Legion.")

It is a sad story with a "fairly" happy ending. You hear about torture and genocide. You hear the typical butchering of a foreign accent. You hear "silence."

This is a slow, deliberate movie. It does not plod along, but it should not be watched by a restless mind.


Do I recommend it? Hm, if only for the atmosphere created by the director, actors, and budget.


Actors:
Sarah Polley, last seen in "Beowulf & Grendel"
Tim Robbins, last seen in "The War of the Worlds"
Julie Christie, last seen in "Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban" and "Troy" (I can't remember which one was more recent)
Eddie Marsan, last seen in "Beowulf & Grendel"
Steven Mackinstosh, last seen in "Underworld: Evolution"
Reg Wilson, last seen in "The Machinist"

Yes, I really do spend a percentage of each movie saying, "Where have I seen that actor before?" Sometimes it's days before I figure the part out.

NP - OPI - Lunch at the Delhi

Review - OPI's Lunch at the Delhi




















While it will not be as long lasting as the famous Zoya Natalie 8 day mani, this is coming up on day seven.

At day six, it had two miniature chips, one on each pointer finger.

Between the start and end of my workday, being day seven, several large chips appeared, necessitating emergency removal of the polish that evening.

Other than that, there was a bit of tip wear, but I am pleased. With my recent experience of OPI's "I'd Like to Thank" still fresh, I was thoroughly impressed with the longevity of my new "Lunch at the Delhi."

I like the color: an odd mix of mango red, passion fruit, and orange-red depending on the lighting conditions. This cream is an unusual shade, difficult to describe. It is not a loud nor a bright red, but it approaches such descriptors. Additionally, it bares little resemblance to the bottle color, which I consider all the better.

Recommended.

MR - pt1 Jean de Florette and pt2 Manon of the Spring

Movie Review(s) -

The duology "Jean de Florette" and "Manon of the Spring"

A French tragedy in the best Greek tradition ...

The first part follows Gerard Depardieu's "Jean de Florette" as he attempts to farm the land at his newly inherited property outside a little French town. He automatically has two strikes against him: he is a hunchback and a city boy.

Unbeknownst to him and his family, unscrupulous neighbors (an uncle and nephew team) have blocked a spring on the farm in an effort to force the sale of the land. (As revealed in part 2, all the townsfolk know of the spring's existence.)

The farm has struggled along for several years when a long drought ruins the crop, almost certainly the final nail in Jean's dreams of country living.

Part 1 closes with a death in the family, the farm sold off to the unscrupulous neighbors, and Jean's little daughter Manon witnessing the neighbors uncorking the spring.

Admittedly, I fell asleep during a couple of parts of this movie ... I don't feel that I missed much.

- My one little pet peeve, you just don't block springs with a piece of wood and concrete. The water will find its way around, or the spring will change course. (Having lived through various exclamations from the significant other during my movie career, "Gasoline does not do that", "Helicopters don't do that", "Planes don't do that", and so on and so forth, I felt it necessary to return the comments in kind.)


Part 2

Manon, having run away to live in the country while her remaining family moves back to the city, has grown into a beautiful young woman. She attracts the attention of the unscrupulous neighbors, who decide she will be a good marriage candidate to the nephew (a rather charmless and disurbingly amoral creature). Understandably, Manon disagrees with the nephew's alarmingly declared love and marriage request.

In a fit of pique, having followed one of her goats into a cave and finding the head of the water supply for the whole town, she blocks said water source and makes her way into the town to enjoy the fruits of her labor.

Fingers point, confessions begin, and for a short while, town life comes to a screeching halt. Yes, the townsfolk knew of the spring, but said nothing because the new owner was a hunchback. Outsider snobbery at its best.

Part 2 closes with a suicide, the desperate procession of the townspeople, an additional death, a wedding, and life returning to much the same as before.

I found the reactions off at several points in the movie, and, once again, disagree with "a little bit of stone and mud can block this spring upwelling for several days." Jawohl, fraulein ... oops, wrong language.

I found part 2 more engaging than part 1, though I enjoyed them both to some extent.

*** There is a bit of "wholesome" female nekkid-ness in part 2: neither disturbing nor disgusting, but rather carefree and light-hearted.***


Known actors - Gerard Depardieu, last seen in "The Man in the Iron Mask," he and Jeremy saved that movie, while Leonardo and John tried to sink it.

No other familiar faces were glimpsed in these movies.

Considering its English subtitled, French speaking language (and that I neither speak, nor understand French), the action and storyline kept me present and accounted for ... disregarding a few nod-offs during part 1.

NP - OPI - I'd Like to Thank

Opi Polish Review "I'd Like to Thank"





















I didn't even get the chance to add a second top coat. This manicure had massive chipping by the second day, especially on the pointer finger, and the polish came off at day three. I will have to admit that following the first round of chipping between day 1 and 2, the application settled out, and I did not have a noticeable wear difference between days 2 and 3.

I've got to agree with Cincyfan at http://www.alllacqueredup.com/, while this may be described as a copper shimmer, it has little warmth at all. "I'd Like to Thank" is a rosey mauve shimmer, but it has too much pink in it for me. While the pink doesn't show up much under my full spectrum light, it is almost garish under fluorescent office lighting.

I'm not real comfortable in this shade, though I don't think it looks all that bad. So I'd say it will definitely work for anyone near neutral coloration, but not either extreme of warm or cool.

I didn't have any application problems with this bottle. However, between the chipping and the pinkyness of the coloration, I'm tossing this bottle (i.e. finding some poor thing to foist it off on ... maybe my SIL).

Additionally, since I've got small fingers, I dread applying polish to my pinky nail with OPI's "ProWide Brush." It is as wide as my nail and makes application near the cuticle an exercise in patience. Also, it is very easy to overload the "ProWide." *sigh* Then again, the narrowness of other brushes makes application to the rest of the nails time consuming. I need to ponder on which I prefer ...

PR - Vogue - 2939

Vogue 2939


I threw, almost literally, together a muslin for this snap front dress shirt. What attracted me to the pattern most was the severely inset sleeves. And I'm really pleased, for two reasons:

#1, I've recently had rotten results with Vogue 8323 and Vogue 7799, and I was ready to give up on Vogue patterns

#2, I love the pattern, I'm very pleased with the muslin and expect future tweaks to make it that much better. (Which is good, since I doubt I'll make use of the other pieces.)


































Starting with the back ...



















Obviously, it needs a bit more room in the hip area, and a bit more taken out for my sway back.

My typical pattern adjustments include: 5/8" taken out for sway back, 1/2" taken out for erect upper back, hips one size larger than bust, shorten sleeves, and narrow shoulder. The only adjustment I did not make to this pattern was the narrowed shoulder.

Sleeve looks good from the back, upper back looks fairly good ... onto the front ... uh-oh




















Love the collar and sleeve hem treatment, but the front sleeve is wrinkling really funny all along the upper arm. I think the armscye seam and sleeve is simply too long in front. This will be a unique adjustment for me. Not necessarily the first time it has shown, but as I'm in search of TNT patterns, I'm going to perfect this pattern.

There is no pulling at the hips in front. But I may have a bit much fabric in the upper chest, and I think I'll start with a horizontal tuck across the upper front and sleeve.

AND, I'll use a higher quality fabric next time around.

The hem treatment was "homaged" directly from a top I spied a waiter wearing several months back. Since I like the option of tucking or leaving out, this facing gives a great finish to a shirt. I will de-emphasize the peaks at the side hem just a bit.

A highly recommended pattern, versatile and wearable. The snaps could easily be changed into buttons and I encourage profligate interfacing use, as well as an invented back facing (the collar lies so much nicer this way).

Quiz - Science and Math Nerd

Although the title and description really offend my literary nature ....

What Be Your Nerd Type? Your Result: Science/Math Nerd   (Absolute Insane Laughter as you pour toxic chemicals into a foaming tub of death!) Well, maybe you aren't this extreme, but you're in league with the crazy scientists/mathmeticians of today. Very few people have the talent of math and science is something takes a lot of brains as well. Thank whosever God you worship, or don't worship, so thank no deity whatsoever in your case, for you people! Most of us would have died off without your help.
Literature Nerd
Artistic Nerd
Gamer/Computer Nerd
Drama Nerd
Social Nerd
Anime Nerd
Musician
What Be Your Nerd Type? Quizzes for MySpace

Yeah, pretty accurate. :)

NP - Zoya - Irene

Zoya Polish Review - Irene


















I like warm polish shades. And as much as I like the weird and oddball shades some companies put out, I've never seen a pretty green ... until now.

Zoya Irene is this lovely, shimmery, medium olive shade, leaning to the warm side yet still skirting the neutral edge.

Base - Zoya Anchor Basecoat

Polish - Zoya Irene (2 coats)

Top - CND Dry & Shine (requires buffing to shine, otherwise it finishes matte, I shined with a paper towel ... I think)

NP - Zoya - Natalie

Zoya Polish Review - Natalie

If you had told me I could keep a manicure, esp. a medium creme, on my nails for 8 days, I would have said, "You are ODing on a substance (legal or illegal), please stop."

I've never had a manicure last longer than 3 or 4 days on a medium to dark shade, much less a creme that shows every little mistake, chip, and wear point.

Here's my proof, 8 days (I've got to write it again, EIGHT DAYS!!!) of a mani:




















Base - OPI Nail Envy Sensitive and Peeling Formaldehyde Free formula

Polish - Zoya Natalie (2 coats)

Top Coat - CND Air Dry

2nd Top Coat applied on day 3 - Zoya Armor Topcoat


Perhaps that second top coat saved me from early wear. I so rarely remember to reapply a top coat, I'm far too busy with other things.

BTW, all polish is 3 free. Mixing formulas (apparently) gives poor results.


Zoya Natalie is not the easiest polish to apply, I'd say it is a halfway polish (between shear and opaque), and if you apply too lightly you get streaks, but if you apply too much it is hard to thin it enough without destroying the application.

Regardless, I love the color. It is a russet, reddish brown. I'd call it the warm equivalent of a creme mauve. It blends with so many other colors. I've pretty much gone through an entire wardrobe considering how long this mani has lasted.

I don't recommend this for cool toned individuals, but for neutrals and warms looking for a medium creme.

NP - Nubar Options

Ah, HA! I've found it. A wonderful matte polish that is free of currently known nasty chemicals.

Introducing Nubar's Matte Finish Nail Protector






























It dries quickly and lasts for a while. I recommend it for: when you want a fast protective nail coat with no shine, and when you want to mattify your polish.


I also found a polish that I've been searching for forever (meaning at least 10 years). When I was in HS, Cutex had this clear red polish. One of the only polish bottles I've ever emptied completely through constant use.

I've been searching for something similar from a 3 free company: zoya no dice, likewise OPI, and Revlon's options are disappointingly narrow ... enter Nubar.

Here is Bon Bon French Manicure:


This lovely, mild orange looking polish goes on with a deep sheer peach effect. My favorite of the two polishes I ordered from Nubar. It helps hide the fact that my nails beds are purple.









Here is Mon Amour French Manicure:


This color, which looks like clear red (more like the Cutex I remember) goes on almost color-less. I was expecting something with a little more pigment. Needless to say, this is not a favorite, and will probably be finding a new home.







Chipping and wear with such sheer shades is almost impossible to see, so this is a mani that lasts for a week or more with me. Wear seems no better or worse than any other "new" formula.

I've looked at their color cards and thought of ordering more. BUT, since they don't do ingredients lists on the bottle or on their propaganda ... I'm hesitant. They do say they are big 3 free, but what are they hiding???

Nubar Nail Polish - Check it out for yourself

E/L

Eyeliner ... my NeverEnding Story

I'm not a big eyeshadow fan, so I finally stopped buying it. I hardly ever wear any.

Likewise, mascara is a hardly ever event. I buy a tube every six months or so, use it 5 or so times, and toss it when it gets out of date. I just don't like the way it feels on my lashes.

However, eyeliner (e/l) is a totally different story. It is my eye makeup. I wear e/l everyday, on both lids. And that's where I run into my problem. I can handle smudgey liner on my upper lids as long as it doesn't migrate far. Unfortunately, it's a different story on the lower lid, where liner migrates to my under eye crease and disappears from my lash line. This is true for all pencil type liners, and yes I've tried a few.

So for this year, I will find a HG e/l. Since the scuttlebutt about gel liners seems so positive ... longer lasting than a pencil, and much easier to apply than a liquid ... I've taken the plunge.

I dropped by ULTA on my way home from dinner to look over their brush selection, and decided to peruse their gel liners. They had Smashbox Cream e/l (which has a bad ingredient for me), Garden Botanika Long Lasting Cream Gel e/l (bad ingredient), Stila Smudge Pot (with no ingredients list to be found), Elizabeth Arden Gel e/l (no ingredients list), Smashbox Jet Set Waterproof e/l (no known allergy ingredients, but a poor color selection to this point), and L'Oreal's HIP Cream e/l. My first attempt will be with L'Oreal's HIP Color Truth Cream Eyeliner in Brown (930).

It is 0.159 oz for ~$12 and has the following ingredients list:
Isododecane
Polyethylene
Cyclopentasiloxane
Trimethylsiloxysilicate
Disteardimonium hectorite
Alumina
Phenyltrimethicone
Hydrogenated Polyisobutene
Phenoxyethanol
Lecithin
Propylene carbonate
Propylparaben
Butylparaben
and
coloring agents

i.e. no Ricinus communis ... to which I am allergic


I like the brown color, but it is a little dark for the lower lids. It can be applied lightly, and in the four or so hours since first application, it has not smudged at all. No liner in the lower lid crease. Wow. I did not think this was possible.

So I'm going to need at least a grey/charcoal, light bronzy brown, and a red brown. Now to continue my search since L'Oreal only has the following colors: Black (of course), Brown, Teal, Midnight Blue, and Eggplant. All but the brown are totally useless to me.


Some other products I may try include:
* Stila Smudge Pot $18 * (on order)
Bobbi Brown Long-Wear Gel Eyeliner $19
Bobbi Brown Long-Wear Cream Shadow $22
Make Up For Ever Aqua Creamliner $20
Smashbox Jet Set Waterproof Eye Liner $22

I can get to the ingredients lists of all but Bobbi Brown's products. BB follows EU regulations, but that only tells me so much. I've dropped a line to the BB team, and hope to get a positive answer from them soon. In the meantime, I'm placing an order for Stila Smudge Pot in Bronze and will keep an eye out for the perfect brush for applications, since that is half the battle. You need a narrow, not too full brush that balances stiffness with flex. Either extreme, too inflexible or too flexible, gives you a rotten application.

I really wonder whether the application will be much different between the various brands, because their ingredients lists are very similar. I look forward to the Stila Smudge Pot, they are running a no shipping sale right now, and it will be an interesting comparison between the brands.

The ingredients list for Stila Smudge Pot:
Isododecane
Polyethylene
Cyclopentasiloxane
Trimethylsiloxysilicate
Disteardimonium hectorite
Lecithin
Phenyl trimethicone
Hydrogenated polyisobutene
Propylene carbonate
Barium sulfate
Phenoxyethanol
and
coloring agents

Notice something? Those first 5 ingredients, exactly the same ... and a $6 difference. Well, what's the product amount difference? Stila is 0.14 oz., less than the L'Oreal product. Just something to keep in mind.

MR - Beowulf & Grendel

Beowulf & Grendel


Beowulf - Gerard Butler ... my previous exposure was LCTR: Cradle of Life

Hrothgar - Stellan Skarsgard ... POTC: Dead Man's Chest

Grendel - Ingvar Sigursson ... new actor

Selma - Sarah Polley ... also new actor to me

Hondscioh - Tony Curran ... I last saw him in Blade II

Music by Hilmar Orn Hilmarsson


The film looks beautiful, which makes sense since a lot of it was filmed in Iceland.

The acting was, for the most part, good. My only complaints in this category are:
- no subtitles and the accents and muttering could run together making the speaker all but incomprehensible. I think I caught 3/4 of the speeches.
- Sarah Polley, half the time she was awesome, half the time it was like she was only reading the script ... I can only assume direction failure for these moments.

I'm a big Sci-Fi/Fantasy fan, and agreed to watch this mostly because Gerard Butler and Tony Curran were in the film. I enjoyed the film and don't feel that my time was wasted. Admittedly, it won't be going on my keeper shelf (which houses Blade I-III, LCTR: I and II, and POTC: I and II). It is not something I would watch over again, though I'd listen to a commentary.

I've never read the Beowulf story, and don't know how faithfully the film was adapted. However, I suspect, from the storyline of Selma, that the screenwriters took a lot of artistic license with the original.

Finally, the language in the film is a bit crude, perhaps locker room lite. It didn't bother me, though it probably would have bothered a younger me (I've since read and thoroughly enjoyed Selina Rosen's Queen of Denial and Recycled ... that's one mouthy Barion Queen).

Goals - 2008

2008 Plans

I have several plans/goals for 2008. They include:

- Finding my holy grain eye liner -
I'm tired of smudgy eye liners that end up in my crease within a couple of hours, but I'm also unwilling to coat myself in primers and finishers that blast my makeup in place for the a 48 hour minimum hold ... this is going to take a while.

- Finishing more items of clothing -
This will include: finding more TNT (tried 'n true) patterns and working harder at finishing items in a timely manner (no more 3 month coats). If I can finish one item a week, I'll have 52 new items of clothing in my closet by the end of 2008.

- Eating healthier
Can I go strict vegetarian?

- Dropping some fat and adding some muscle
Workout more often, and lift more weight

- Figuring out my best manicure
Best base, lacquer, and top combo

- Find a great job
Something in: engineering, environment, biology, wetland, superfund cleanup, etc.

Best of 2007

Best Finds of 2007

I going to place an homage to All Laquered Up and Blogdorf Goodman by listing my favorites of 2007. Being that I'm not the product junkie that these bloggers are, but being rather particular about chemistry and application, my list is very different from these lovely ladies. Additionally, these aren't products that were necessarily released in 2007, just the ones that I used in 2007.


Best Shadow - Physician's Formula Matte Collection Quad Eye Shadow

Best Lip - Cover Girl Triple Lipstick (discontinued, of course)

Best Foundation - Cover Girl Smoothers SPF Tinted Moisturizer

Best Eye Liner - still looking

Best Mascara - Almay One Coat Nourishing Mascara

Best Perfume - i Profumi di Firenze's "Ambra del Nepal", I smell like an exotic dessert all day long

Best laquer - Zoya

Best polish bottomcoat - OPI Nail Envy Sensitive and Peeling (Formaldehyde Free formula)

Best polish topcoat - CND Air Dry (hands down, no competition)

Best accessory - scarves (they dress up a work outfit like nothing else, you can wear them in a hundred different configurations, and they don't cost a great deal)

Best vitamin - DEVA Vegan Multivitamin (digests easily)

Best jewelry - classics with a twist in true gold, regardless of color: yellow, rose, white, green, etc.

Best computer accessory - keyboard condoms rock, aka silicone keyboard protectors


Worst Products of 2007:

Ann Taylor -
Haven't they heard of the pear shape? Even when I find "curvy" pants to fit my hips, the waist is still two sizes too big.

Why is their product so poor? I've had a least one hem fall out of every pair of pants I've ever purchased from them, I've had the hem fall out of both legs in some pairs. I've had the hem fall out of an un-lined jacket I purchased from them.

Why does their interior finishing fall so short? I've had two pair of AT pants grow by at least one size though the day ... in the waistband. When I took them back to customer service I had a real fight, because I'd "worn" the pants. They told me, it is common for the pants to grow a size, you are supposed to buy them one size small. Excuse me? If they can't be bothered to properly interface the waistband of a pair of pants, I'm NOT going to pay the price.

*ETA* I just read about their closing of a bunch of stores due to poor performance ... *sigh*, if they would just raise their quality by a smidge. Look at it this way, if I can get 100 wearings out of a $200 pair of pants, I've spent $2.00 per wear on those pants. If I can only get 4 wearings out of a $50 pair of pants, I've spent $12.50 per wear on those pants. Yes, classic, well made styles, will last you much longer and cost you less in the long run.


Urban Decay Smoke Out Pencil - I've never had a pencil dry out on me soooo quickly.

Vincent Longo Duo Eye Pencil - I've loved the application, but I'm allergic to one of the ingredients. If I remember correctly, it has castor bean oil.

Almay Hydracolor Lipstick - This caused my lips to burn badly. I'm definitely allergic to something in the formulation ... I think it has a citrus extract in it, but I'm not sure that it caused the problem. And since I reacted to 3 different shades, it wasn't a fluke.

Graduation ... Again ... Finally

Graduation

Okay, I graduated on the 15 of December with my Master's. FINALLY. I began to think it was never going to happen. (So did many of my family members.)

My robe had these funny sleeves that hung to my knees. I felt like I was in a Tim Burton film...

My brother tied my sleeves together in order to complete the straight jacket feel.


According to my research, I can now be called a Magister or Master, and they both sound so wrong. Just call me Kira.






My degree is in biology and I've focused on entomology and botany. I hope to find something related to the life science field work-wise. I've put in a couple of applications ... keeping my fingers crossed.

PR - Vogue - 8307 cont.

Vogue 8307 cont.

Um, yeah ... still working on the coat ... :)













This is the inside of my coat, with the sew-in upper back piece the bright, blinding white staring you in the face.

I've got the hem steamed into place and the lining cut out. Now I just need to sew the lining and front facing together.

My plans include:
- complete topstitching of coat, working around the pockets is going to be interesting
- re-inforce button area, I've chosen a doubled button so it's going to be heavy
- insert sleeves
- sew in sleeve head
- insert lining as one step
- add buttons
- wear coat

The last will be most rewarding.

I've had a bit of discussion regarding wool washing with some fellow "designers" and we seem to fall into two very different groups: washers and dry-cleaners. I don't dry clean anything. Period. So I would fall in the washer group.

I have a Kenmore Oasis washing machine that does not have the traditional agitator, and I've washed many a wool fabric in this machine. However, I also washed many a wool with my old (and broken, hence the Oasis) typical agitator washing machine. I do notice that the new machine doesn't punish the wool quite so much, and fabrics that would turn into muslins with my old machine might be salvageable with my new machine.

However, I think the most important thing to do is wash your wool fabric as you plan to wash your finished product. And if you dry clean everything, don't waste your time with washing. Wool is, for the most part, a tough fabric (regardless of how quickly moths can break down the fibers). It can handle washing and drying, usually. There are, however, a couple of caveats (of course).

Wool is a protein based fiber, and has many similarities to our own hair.



















The hair on the left is a sheep (wool) hair as it goes through a dyeing process. It is from the website http://www.presentltd.com/rugs/natural-dye-de.htm.

The hair on the right is a human hair from the website http://pwatlas.mt.umist.ac.uk/internetmicroscope/micrographs/curious/human-hair_z6.html.

The biggest thing that should jump out at you is scale size. The scales on the wool are larger in proportion to the hair than the scales on a human hair. This probably makes it more responsive to humidity and you need to react accordingly.

Hence, don't dry on high heat and don't strip oils from the wool with a harsh detergent. Easy, peasy ... uh, what constitutes a harsh detergent? *Sigh* Anything that is alkaline and soapy.

Fyi, as far as I can tell, Woolite ingredients include: alkylbenzenesulfonic acid (a strong oxidizing agent), sodium hydroxide 50% sol'n (aka caustic soda, a caustic metallic base ... i.e. alkaline in solution), and sodium lauryl ether sulfate 70% sol'n (a very drying detergent). In other words, don't use Woolite to wash wools.

I've used Kookaburra, Ecover, Nikwax, 7th Generation, and All Free & Clear with fairly good results. I like Kookaburra the best for smell, Nikwax the least for smell. Having written all this, NONE of these companies want to publish their exact ingredients list and I wouldn't be surprised to find nasty ingredients in any of these products. A really good, gentle shampoo would work as well, if not better, for washing wool. And shampoo ingredients are listed on the bottle. Perfect.

Basically, this means that my coat fabric was washed and dried before I began cutting, and I'll wash my coat as it needs a cleaning. Though I will probably lay out and hang dry my coat.

PR - Vogue - 8307

Vogue Coat 8307


Admittedly, I've lusted after this coat since I first saw the pattern. Sophisticated, but comfortable.

It's been aging in my stash for about a year, and an Aussie friend of mine has been strongly hinting that I need to start my coat before winter hits.

So I pulled it out and started to figure.

The planning stage on such a garment as this can take days of work. You can skip this phase, but the results probably won't please you.

Here's what I've done so far ...

• tissue fit the pattern - this is a close fitting pattern and the preliminary tissue fit was a must that pointed out a couple of problems
• bust point too high, drop by one inch
• add length for long torso
• add width from waist to upper mid back, this is an usual alteration for me
• figure out what additions to make to the pattern
• pockets - how can anyone live without pockets in a coat?
• drop the shoulder pads (ick) and add a sleeve head
• interface the entire shell
• add a sew-in interfacing in the upper back for stability

I'm using a rust colored wool blend for the shell. This fabric has required a bit of fudging as it has horizontal cording. I'm cutting the coat on the crosswise, so I don't have enough for the entire coat. I'll have to cut the facing from something else, and I had to piece the under collar.

Additionally, while it wastes more interfacing, I've been interfacing the length of fabric before I cut out the pieces. This keeps me from throwing off the grain and shape of the pattern piece in the course of fusing.

I've got the back, side back, front back, upper collar, and lower collar cut out. I'm starting work on the front and front facing, and then I get to do most of the process over with the lining (only the back has a separate lining piece).

I'm pulling everything from stash, so my funky coat will definitely be funky inside as well. I have this gorgeous cream, tan, and teal nouveau stripe silk that I had purchased for a blouse, but could not find a pattern that would work. This will be my lining.

I'm using the Palmer/Pletsch book "Jackets for Real People" to tailor my coat -


Pattern instructions are so basic, they leave out a huge number of steps. As I want this coat to last, I've got to put much more into this than the instructions would lead you to believe. Palmer/Pletsch to the rescue.

Kira's Top Ten

In following along with Tim Gunn's suggestions and the Stitcher's Guild, here are my top 10 must have, classic pieces chosen specifically for my pear shaped body:


1. Shirt Dress in a medium to dark color (M/D)
HP Plain and Simple Shirtdress

2. Hepburn type timeless pants in M/D
HP Razor Sharp Pants

3. Shirt in cream/ecru
HP Great White Shirt

4. Woven Tank Top in cream/ecru
I've got a funky Patrones in progress at the moment

5. Trench/Military Jacket
NL 6617; Wool crepe

6. Chanel Jacket in rich colored boucle
I've got at least 3 patterns for a starting point, and I'm following Cheri Dowd's "Shortcuts to a Designer Jacket" article in Threads magazine Dec 06/Jan07

7. Tall boots in Black
Dansko FINALLY released their Risa in Leather, see photo at top of post (I don't wear suede on account of the furkids)

8. A-line skirt in M/DHP A-line

9. Khaki's
One of my Burda's

10. The perfect T-shirt (asst. colors, but definitely several to match or blend with M/D items)
Jalie 2005


Admittedly, the basics are very boring to make. Once you've adjust your pattern perfectly though, you can whip out a couple pieces one after the other, or intersperse them with more fun sewing.

Basics are also great to batch process, especially as you can do the skirt and pants from the same or similar fabric, sewing and serging both patterns at once.

And finally, you will get much more wear out of your basics sewing, than your "fun" sewing. Might as well put your sewing time to good use.

Of course, fun sewing is necessary to feed the creative soul.

Kira

Bumps in the Road ...

What have I done lately?

(sigh ...)

School kinda interfered again, but the good news is my degree is so close I can almost smell the drying ink!

The bad news is that all of my sewing has been knit based, since it is fast and requires no interior finishing.

So my first adventure of the month was with New Look 6429, the ubiquitous faux knit wrap dress (it does bring Loes Hinse's Portofino to mind).


After throwing together a bodice muslin from cheapy, freeby poly; I realized I'd need to take a lot more out of the upper chest to prevent gapping. I have a shallow/concave chest and unadjusted wrap styles make me look like I'm: trying on Mommy's clothes or advertising, as NOTHING is left to the imagination.

As such, with my second full muslin I've taken out a total of 2 inches in darts from the upper neckline.

Now that the neckline has been adjusted, its time to look at everything else: length, gathering, and fullness.

I'm pretty small boned, so too much fabric can overwhelm me. I'd also like to save fabric, so I narrow the back/side skirt by about 6 inches total. Now I can get two skirt backs out of a doubled layer of fabric. This reduces the amount of flare in the skirt to something resembling more of an A-line than a circle skirt.

I need to add to the length of the skirt, as this dress is office bound and that means it should at least touch my knees. And my long torso puts the gathering directly underneath my chest, rather than at my tummy. So I spread the outer bodice to add more gathering and drop the gathering point by several inches.

So far, so good. Now I'm ready to cut into fashion fabric. Maybe that will be next week's adventure.



My next two trials are finished and drying at this moment.

OOP Vogue skirt and Kwik Sew 3384 (gaucho-like pants)

The Vogue has been sitting on Snowdrop's table for several weeks now, waiting for the 60 minutes or so that I would need to finish it (the pieces were: cut out, interfaced, elastic sewn, the works). It's an old Donna Karan 4 gore knit skirt that is just perfect for me. I was so proud of myself, now I've sewn and washed it.

The Kwik Sew was a bit trickier. I pulled out the pattern:


I've been wanting longer "gaucho" type pants: i.e. fuller. In my experience, close fit does not a comfortable summer make. So I've planned fuller knit pants that still look good for work but that feel comfortable. I've been picturing a knit Hepburn costume in my mind. So I tugged on and down my one lonely pair of gauchos to get a gander at hem width. My gauchos were 32" at the hem. No problem, looks great. Compare that to this pattern ... the pattern says the pant hem is 40" in the size Large, but it measures to 43". That's a big difference between my gauchos and this pattern.

So I set about figuring out how much to narrow the pant legs. My first muslin, I've removed 5" total from each leg. My results are clown pants, just too much fabric.

So for the second pair, I take a dart out of each piece the length of the pattern. As a result, I've pulled a total of 11" out of the hem circumference and feel as though I have accomplished my goal.

I'm wearing these tomorrow, as I've got an outdoor meeting at noon. Now for more fabric to make many more knit hepburn's.

:) I'm that much closer to a working wardrobe.

NP - Water-based Suncoat

Water-based Nail Polishes

I've flirted with the environmentalist approved polishes from time to time.

I tried the old peel off polishes from Honeybee Gardens that ended up being a gloopy mess shortly after ownership began. Additionally, dry time was cry inducing and longevity was cuss inducing (one day manis anyone?).

My latest foray into water based polishes trialled the mostly everything free Suncoat. These have some great advantages over their predecessors, but they also have a major disadvantage. They dry quickly, even three coats plus a topcoat. And they last about as long as any other manicure of mine lasts (3 days).

I guess I should point out that I wash my hands at least 20 times a day. I have pets, and my nails are tools. In essence, I'm lucky when I can get 3 days out of a polish. I've usually got some tip wear within a couple of hours. Needless to say, I never go out for a "professional" manicure. Who wants to waste that kind of money?

Suncoat


The ingredients list of Suncoat polishes, direct from their website (they aren't hiding their chemistry):
Water
Acrylate copolymer
styrene-acrylate copolymer
Glycol ether
Benzoate ester
+ Color additives

I've got 5 colors:
11 - Sienna
16 - Plum
27 - Innocent Nude
31 - Beige
32 - Apricot

These polishes tend to be a bit sheer-er than I am used to. So 3 coats is not unusual, but as I said, they dry fast so an additional coat isn't such a problem. They don't have the smoothest application, but I've never found a great polish that does (I am the queen of brush marks). They also have a slightly musty odor, unlike any other polish I've tried. It is a nice change from, "Please do your nails somewhere else, that stuff stinks!"

So, why don't I have a drawer full of Suncoat polishes. They do have their downside. They are a MASSIVE pain to remove, and the longer you let your manicure/pedicure go, the harder they are supposed to be to remove.

I left my polish for no longer than 4 days, and it took 20 minutes to remove the polish. I'm used to 5 minutes at the most.

All the time I made up for by having a quick drying polish, I lost when having to remove said polish.

You can use their corn-based remover, regular remover, or even basic water. However, you will probably be scraping away polish from your nail, and that is guaranteed to remove your topmost nail layer (or at least a portion thereof).

I've got fairly thin nails, disregarding the weapons hanging off my pointer fingers, and I need all the nail bed I can salvage. So I can't wear this stuff week after week. Maybe once a month at most.

If you have: thick nails, zen moments while buffing, and still despise the scent of the new OPI, China Glaze, and Zoya polishes, I recommend looking over Suncoat's offerings. I love their number 11 Sienna shade, it is reminiscent of OPI's new Don't Melbourne the Toast.

27 - Innocent Nude is a great shimmery nude, blends in well
31 - Beige is ever so slightly deeper than 27 - Innocent Nude
32 - Apricot is really a peach, fairly sheer
16 - Plum is ... a shimmery plum, I haven't actually worn it, so I can't describe it any better than the sample