Getting Down to Some Upcycling

On Friday I proved that it is perfectly possible to go out for a whole morning of fun garaging (I think we hit a dozen sales)…and spend only fifty cents. That’s right, living up to my name I came home with only two tea towels.

Naturally they came from the very first sale we stopped at. But I'm good with that, it means I did not succumb to the lures of anything I might later regret!

In lieu of showing you any exciting new purchases, let me share some recent clothing upcycles. The hubs was away last weekend, and I used the time to pull out all the many (many many) pieces of clothing I've brought home over the past couple of years for upcycle-play. I realize now I should have taken pictures as I was working, but you know how that goes. You get busy with a project and picking up the camera is the last thing on your mind.  But picture in your mind’s eye a dining room table heaped high with all kinds of clothing roughly sorted by color.

It was good to go through everything. I pulled a number of items that I decided I'd probably never use (part of that learn-as-you-go thing) and boxed them to send to the thrift store. Then I selected several pieces that I could accomplish something with fairly quickly.

Sometimes it's just a matter of a little refitting. One of the results of the weekend was the realization that I might have the world’s narrowest shoulders. When I really started looking, I saw that on virtually every shirt the top of the sleeve needs to be moved over at least an inch. So I started playing, and came up with a pretty quick fix. Instead of unstitching and resewing the sleeve, I created a tuck over the top 2/3 (more or less), which gives a pleat in the front and back. This can be stitched down, but in most cases I just tacked it at the waist. The shirt ends up still roomy and comfy but with a bit more defined shape. It's pretty unobtrusive when it's finished!

I started with four tops (one had a matching skirt) and two pairs of pants. One of the shirts was this heavy natural-color linen with a pointy collar and no shape at all.

The matching (too short) pants became crop pants, and what I cut off was used to lengthen the shirt sleeves.

I know, not much different! But now a wearable length.

On the shirt, I rolled the collar under to create one that stands up, 

did the shoulder tuck thing, and we’re done.

Another linen shirt from a church rummage sale got a similar treatment. This one had a collar with a neckband, so I removed the pointy collar and stitched the neckband back up for a mandarin collar. Gave it the shoulder tuck and added some bias tape I made with fabric from a free box under the collar, front bands and sleeve hems for a little more zip. 

The shirt with the matching skirt more or less fit but was much too short. The skirt had an under layer with a flounce, so the flounce became the new bottom section of the shirt. 

There were flounces on the sleeves too, which I just tucked under and stitched down. Another collar removal, a shoulder tuck, and this one was done.

The last top started out as this Eileen Fisher dress. 

Gotta tell ya, upcycling with an expensive brand like this makes you feel really wealthy!

I don’t wear dresses much anymore (ahhhh, retirement!) but I loved the heavy linen fabric. 

I cut off the bottom and used some of it to add triangular side panels. 

Did yet another shoulder tuck. I liked the bit of color I'd added to the green linen shirt, so I found another remnant and lined the neck band and sleeve edges with polka dots.

The last piece was a too-long pair of nubby silk pants that I paid fifty cents for a couple of years ago. They were comfortable but I doubted I'd wear them as slacks, so I decided to make something I've wanted since I was a teenager. (Yes, I’m blushing a bit to admit this!) Back in the day I really wanted a pair of knickers (ummm, knickerbockers to any Brits reading this!) and in my shy youth did not have the nerve to wear something like that. I waited, oh, about fifty years, but I finally have them! 

Hopefully I've left enough shyness behind that I will actually wear them. Probably to go garaging!

Sidestep

I've always found it interesting to see how the seed of an idea gets planted in my head, and how it grows, and the sometimes-strange fruit that is born.

Not to mention how darned long the process takes!

Last November I participated for the first time in NaNoWriMo—aka National Novel Writing Month. Thousands of people around the globe join in this madness, in which one pledges to write a 50,000 word story in thirty days. I might never have considered doing it if the founder of the event hadn’t written a book about it called No Plot, No Problem.  Which was the perfect title to catch me, since I've always considered plotting the bane of my writing existence. But what really sealed the deal was that my friend KK wanted to give NaNoWriMo a try as well.

A definite goal and a little personal competition. Exactly the right combination to get me going!

The NaNoWriMo folks strongly suggest that you start afresh for this endeavor. It seems to work best not to work with something you’ve started before, or on something in a series. So I sat down last November 1 without any characters or plot in mind. All I really had was a seed that had been growing in my mind since, um, about 2002, which was when I started thinking about Puss in Boots. No, I don’t think it had anything to do with the Shrek franchise, even though the first film came out in 2001. My mental image of Puss in Boots had more to do with the image on the cat food label I remembered from childhood. (I found him quite dashing.)

Being a children’s librarian I grabbed of one of the many illustrated versions 

to refresh my memory of the story. Puss is a trickster character, 

and the climax of the story is when he tricks the shape-changing owner of a castle into becoming a mouse that he can eat. In some versions the shape-changer is an ogre, but the one I read used a giant. 

And it struck me that other than being larger (and richer) than those around him, we had seen the giant do nothing to merit being killed and eaten and his castle and lands taken over by the miller’s lazy son. Not fair, cried my inner justice-loving child self. That is just so not fair.

Every once in a while through the years, I'd think about the theme of having everything stolen. We hear more and more about identity theft, but I was looking beyond identity, though that was part of it. Under what circumstances could someone have their life stolen?

And how could they get it back?

Somehow, when I began to write my 50,000 (plus!) words last fall, that was what erupted from beneath the surface. A woman with secrets, who steps away from her life for just a few days before starting a new job in a new part of the country…but when she tries to step back again finds that her life has been stolen. All of it. Home, job, name, money, all gone. It took me twenty-four days to discover what had happened, and what she would do about it.

Sidestep.

Available now!

Chicago Was…

…a blast! The city rolled out its finest spring weather for our arrival – seventy plus is wonderful anywhere, but in Chicago? Miraculous! The whole city in a good mood. 

Highlights: my Segway tour was terrific. No one else had signed up for Friday morning, so I got a private tour. 

Riding that thing was SO much fun that I checked our local Craigslist ads yesterday to see if there are any available. Just thinking about it…

After the tour I had a pizza lunch at Lou Malnati’s as several readers suggested. Very good, but I confess I’m more of a thin crust type at heart!

Next time I visit, I want to take the pizza tour. Apparently you get to sample from several restaurants and even see how it's made.

Naturally I visited a couple of thrift stores. We all do that, right, go thrifting in any new city we travel to? The only souvenir I bought came from one of them, a lovely pair of sterling earrings inset with lapis. 

My friend Marcia, who used to live in Chicago, told me not to miss the Cultural Center, and she was so right. It's in the old Public Library, and the building alone is worth a visit. 

Where else are you going to see a Tiffany glass dome in the ceiling over walls decorated with glass mosaic while you listen to a chamber music concert – for free?

But the really exciting thing for me was they currently have an exhibit of Theo Jansen’s Strandbeests –

amazing kinetic sculptures that I have wanted to see for years. I even got to walk one!

We took the architectural boat tour, another not-to-be-missed activity. 

Linda and I spent our last day doing something we’ve decided will be a tradition on our trips together. It started on our trip to New England; on our last full day we drove from New Hampshire to Maine…for gelato. This time we spent the day going from fabulous bakery to bakery to patisserie. 

Molly’s Cupcakes (not your usual bakery cupcakes, believe me!) and Vanille Patisserie (picture actual edible gold decorating a dark chocolate confection) got our top votes. 

We can hardly wait to go on another trip and see what food we decide to pursue on our last day!

Really enjoyed the train trip home, though I confess that the upper bunk was not the most comfortable place I’ve ever slept. (Though certainly not the most UNcomfortable either!) 

Something I didn’t expect was that after two full days of nearly constant movement, when we arrived in Portland it took quite a while to stop feeling a bit dizzy. Whenever I stopped moving, the floor seemed to be gently heaving up and down, like when you’ve been on a boat for a while.

Thinking back over the trip, it strikes me that the real value in travel goes beyond the things you see. (And eat!) I was forced out of my comfort zone and did a number of things that I would normally never do. And succeeded at them, which is pretty much guaranteed to bolster your confidence. It’s awfully easy to stick with what’s familiar when you get to my age, and I confess to some trepidation before we left home. If I hadn’t already paid for that Segway tour, I might have chickened out.

Thank heavens I didn’t!

All Jazzed Up

Friday was the perfect spring day. Perfect, I tell you! Well, except that we didn’t have Judy with us – she is in Hawai’i, so no pity needed! – but that meant we fit nicely into my sporty convertible. (Usually KK chauffeurs us in her comfy SUV.) AND it was sunny, And about 80 degrees. Which of course means Top Down…which is my personal definition of a perfect spring day.

Our first stop was in KK’s neighborhood, which was good because she found one of those tall bistro table-and-chairs set, and it was easy to get it back to her house. (I can get a lot in my back seat with the lid down, but not that set!) I picked up another addition to my colorful-vases-in-the-window collection, though in point of fact this is actually a hand blown aquavit glass.

At least according to the box it came in. A Kosta Boda piece from Sweden. 

It's even signed.

 

Even though it's shorter, I think it fits right in with the rest of the gang.

I also scored a lovely metal peacock yard ornament, which is currently hanging out under our Japanese maple among the maidenhair ferns. 

I admit I’m getting something of a collection of yard ornaments, but hey, this was two bucks. Yes, I am a sucker for a good deal. 

But I’m even more of a sucker for something that makes me laugh. Like these jazz-hands frogs.

 

They came from the estate sale of some folks who seemed to have been into frogs (this was not the only choice) and Nascar racing. (And now my unruly brain is seeing images of frogs at the wheels of race cars.) I’m not sure where this quartet will end up, but everywhere I try them 

they make me laugh.

My last dollar was spent at one of those sales that you think has absolutely nothing for you. Nice folks, friendly chat, but mostly kid stuff for sale. It was at the house of a middle-aged lady whose daughter and two year old boy had recently moved in, so they were trying to get rid of stuff to make everything fit in the 1800 square foot house. Especially since the middle-aged lady’s father is about to move in as well. Four generations! I hope they are one of those families who really enjoy each other’s company. Anyway, we were saying our goodbye’s and heading toward the car when I noticed this box on the driveway. 

And there were indeed Space Bags inside – those storage things that you suck the air out of so your stuff takes less room. 

One extra-large, four large, and three mediums, which I think is pretty darned good for a buck. I had been thinking about getting some, because I want to try them for travel. The mediums should be about right for my small suitcase.  Because my SIL Linda & I are about to go on a trip! (Burglars please take note that neither of our homes will be unoccupied – our husbands are staying behind along with vicious guard dogs. And guard gorillas. Just sayin’.)

She has a conference in Chicago this weekend, and I’m going along. While she is in meetings on Friday…I’ll be touring around Chicago on a Segway! Never ridden one before but have wanted to for years, so this is one of those bucket-list things. I suppose the chance of passing a garage sale while we’re touring is slim, right? I confess I have already scoped out the location of any thrift stores closest to where we’ll be staying.

When the conference is over we’ll spend a couple of days playing. Would love to hear your recommendations for where to go – and where to get the best pizza! And then we are coming home on the train! We will have our own little bedroom with a tiny bathroom, and we are very excited. This is another thing I've wanted to do for years. I've ridden on trains before, but never in a sleeper car. It's probably a good thing there won't be room in my bag for extra clothes, or I'd be tempted to put together a vintage costume for the trip. As it is, I'm sure I'll be feeling very Agatha Christie-ish. Do you think there’s any chance we might take an unexpected turn and end up in Istanbul instead of Portland?

Anyway, since we’re taking the train we want to keep our luggage as small as possible. Hence the space bags. I’ll let you know if they were useful!