My Grandfather's Legacy

My grandfather's grandfather was a knife maker. He invented--and I promise, I'm not making this up--the serrated-edge bread knife, a story Grandad would've told you in a heartbeat if you'd asked. All through the late 19th century, his company manufactured knives in northern Ohio, and continued until two world wars made steel so expensive that they couldn't maintain the patents and competition made the company less profitable.

It never went out of business, though, and through 2007, my grandfather continued to run it nearly single-handedly out of the warehouse building his father had purchased. In November of that year, my grandfather died and the business came to a halt.

Had I ever won the lottery, buying that company and building it up again would've been one of my fondest wishes. No lottery for me, I'm afraid. But it's been very cool to see what's happened to the legacy my Grandad left behind.

One example? The image, above, is a commissioned sculpture using the parts from the factory that were originally designed to manufacture the signature Christy Knife, the sliding-blade pocket knife my great-grandfather invented after dreaming about it late one night.

From an email I received from my aunt:

The Fremont Public School Art teachers were commissioned to create a
sculpture for Memorial Hospital. The sculpture reflects Louise
Nevelson's work, a Russian born American Abstract Expressionist. The
sculpture is Mind, Body, and Spirit. The pieces used to develop this
sculpture have been donated by the Christy Company.
They are the boxes and patterns used in production. The patterns were
used to make castings. The castings were used to make the machinery,
that was used to manufacture Christy products.

I think Grandad would've liked that.

Shot Through The Heart, Baby

So, I missed the Friday preview last Friday. My car was busy needing a NEW MOTOR, and I kinda freaked a little. Then my Sweet Husband took me out for a date and bought me a minivan. And HOT WINGS! I'll post photos later, but know that only a shiny extra-large vehicle could distract me from posting photos of the spring line. Will get that next preview up ASAP!

In the meantime, here's what I've been working on for M for Valentine's Day:

I was inspired by this tutorial for a Poor Man's Silkscreen, and wanted to see if I could make it work for the shop. I really love the way freezer paper stenciling looks, but it's just not practical for volume; at the same time, I don't have the set-up for full-scale silk screen, and don't really want to go that route, either. This seemed like a great compromise.

I gathered the materials:

And I made a screen:

And I got a little TOO enthusiastic.

I hate that it smeared, but the good news is I totally could tell I was smearing it as I was working, making me think that next time I'll be able to throttle back a bit and get better results. I know M won't get the joke, but my husband laughed out loud when he saw the shot-through-the-heart applique with the text. Who loves the 80s? I love the 80s.

Sweatshirt Refashion

Last trip to the thrift store, I picked up this for 60 cents:

I brought it home and told my husband I planned to refashion it.  He asked, "What's wrong with it now?"  Well, nothing, really.  But it could be so much BETTER, right?  You know I'm right.

So I set about picking out the applique, one stitch at a time.  Nice idea, except that the central stitches go through ALL the layers, and are TIGHT.  So, I gave up.

And snipped off what I had been able to free, feeling an awful lot like that awful kid in grade school who ripped the wings off bugs just to see what would happen.

I dug through the stash to discover some quilting scraps to coordinate, and cut out a delicious bird shape:

Finished product, which is WAYYYY better than before, if I do say so myself:

And finished product being enjoyed almost as much as her first taste of Chef Boyardee (don't shoot me for the canned pasta--it was Monday!)

Sweater Pants

Started as a crewneck from the local Value Village:

Cut out a pair of size 2 elastic-waist pants:

Warm and snuggly for if the weather EVER gets cold around here. Stripes only match on the back, but considering how tough it was to squeeze the pants out of this size sweater, I'm thrilled they match at all!

This is what's left:

Am pretty sure I can work out some kind of apron-crossback-tunic-top for M out of this. I'll get back to you on that.

Goal Setting

I have one major goal for Pretty Jane in 2009:

It comes with a bit of a story behind it. In 2008, I hired some sewing ladies to work for me, in order to increase supply to meet demand, and hopefully grow my business. They were amazing, and one especially taught me a lot about what I want and don't want in the products that I create and put out for sale. They weren't cheap, though. Yes, I increased my supply. Yes, I was able to meet greater demand. I was also more anxious about meeting deadlines and spending a great deal to have these women stitch items that I still had to design, cut out, ship, market, and sell. I was saving time sewing, for sure, but that's part of the fun of doing what I do! My profit margin was shrinking alarmingly and the hours I was investing were actually GROWING.

I started my company because I love my family, and I want to make them my very top priority. I want to have time to be with my husband, in our home and on vacations; I want to be the one caring for all our children, day-to-day; I want to cook our meals and clean and clothe; I want Family Movie Night every Friday and Lazy Day on Sundays; I want all of ussitting down to supper cooked from scratch each night and able to have real conversations with one another. I liked the idea of growing my business, having success and making a little more money for us, but the cost was higher than I anticipated, and the anxiety it was producing was taking away from what I most want: my home and family as #1.

Fortunately, I have no business debt, and paid these women cash. Through Beehive's Warehouse Sale I was able to clear out my unsold inventory and am able to look at 2009 as a new year to determine how I want to structure my business operations. And the decision was easy: in 2009, I won't be using any sewers. I'm going back to my original business model, in which I stitch every individual garment by hand myself. Yes, there will be fewer items. Yes, it means more sewing for me. But the results will be exactly what I expect, there will be substantially less anxiety since I'll be only my boss again (and not anyone else's), and I can stay focused on what matters most. Besides, with things going well at my fabric shop, and teaching two or three classes a week at Beehive while the kids are asleep, scaling back a little will allow me to continue to design while balancing all the other things I have in my life--personal AND professional.

So, the Three. My major goal for Pretty Jane this year is to maintain my production rate at three garments per day, on average. Some days will necessarily be devoted to design, others to R & D, others to cutting, and only some exclusively to stitching. But on the whole, I hope to average 3 garments per day over the course of each week. I'm aiming for now through April as the major test of the system, since the Inman Park Festival is in late April and I'm hoping to display solo there for the first year.

I'm keeping it right above my workspace to keep me focused--so I won't spend all my time checking email and drafting blog posts!

Happy New Year, everyone!

**The sign is made from an Ikea cork board, a fat quarter of Robert Kaufman's Iota's Garden vegetable print, two scraps of quilting fabric, and some WonderUnder. Took maybe 25 minutes total to put together, and will be repurposed at M's #3 birthday next summer. Not bad for a spur-of-the-moment creation!

Let the Holiday Craziness Commence

December? WHAT?? How did THAT happen?

Now that Thanksgiving is officially behind us, there is no denying it: the Holidays are HERE. Our tree went up yesterday. And down today, when gravity toppled our vintage spruce right to the floor. It's in recovery status at the moment; photos when we're out of the ICU**. 

I was out of the house Saturday morning and Sweet Husband, E and M did all the unpacking of decorations and arranging and general holiday-ing up. I got to come home to lights and ribbons and wreaths. It was awesome. I love that the lights are draped in coils on the front porch rather than wrapped around the handrails.
I love that the tchochkes are all mish-mashed on the bookshelves and tables, running into one another like a Christmas boxcar derby.
Mostly, I love that my family did all that for me as a surprise.  See?  I'm not the only one who gets all squishy around here--I was having a tough morning Saturday, too, so this was an awesome way to come home.

And I spent some of my day making for them, too. I had a chunk of this silly Sesame Street print in the stash, and am embarking on more Brother/Sister outfits. Clearly, I am a woman obsessed.
M's got done first, as it took the least thought:

She insisted on wearing it right away.

Next is E's, but we'll need a new tee for her--that last one was an XS, since she is in fact extra small. But their idea of XS is a little, well, trampier than E's idea of XS, so we're getting her an S as she goes into Beta on this whole matching outfits thing. O's will be last, since the Thanksgiving outfit juuuuust fit, and once we sent it through the hot dryer didn't fit at all. He'll need a whole new pattern, so I'm putting that off a bit.

Am also thinking of gifts to give, and who'd like what. My family have largely declared they'll not be exchanging gifts with the adults this year--my sister, my parents, even some of our friends have cut back and are focusing on the kids only this giving season. I, on the other hand, wisely neglected to mail gifts to my sister and mother for the past two Christmases, always thinking, "I really should send those..." And so we have plenty to share this holiday season. See how procrastination can often be in one's favor?? Clever me.

Still, all the little ones would love to have something handmade under the tree this year, so my dance card is filling up with ideas for them. Stay tuned this week as I work my way through sewing projects to give and get.

**I suppose I'll know I've become a true blogger when rather than shriek in horror when I get out of the shower and see our Christmas tree lying sprawled on the living room floor I rush not to rectify the tragedy, but to my camera to document it, instead. Sorry to cheat all of you--us, really, and posterity--out of that image. Will do better next time.

Thanksgiving Recap

Our parade

Our weather

Our kids

Our baking

Our newest tradition

Our favorite tradition: A Christmas Story begins its non-stop screenings on Thanksgiving Day.

A Week of Gratitude, Day 6: Free and Easy

Taking the WHOLE week off to spend time with my amazing family. Am auto-posting a series titled "A Week of Gratitude" while we're off doing cool stuff like baking, digging out the Christmas decorations, jumping in piles of leaves, making final visits to the playground before the weather gets too cold, visiting with the relatives, taking looooong drives all in one vehicle, singing songs loudly, and anything else we can think of. Be back in a few days! Happy Thanksgiving, everyone. This year, let's be glad of all we have...


A Week of Gratitude, Day 6: Free and Easy


Driving the hundreds of miles from my mom's to our house gives me plenty of time to daydream and stare out the window. This year, I'll be thinking about how lucky we are to have the freedom to do as we please, to travel from one home to another, to celebrate the early days of our nation and those dedicated Pilgrims, who despite having brazenly stolen the grain that kept them fed that first winter were no doubt focused and persevering.

That will inevitably lead to thoughts of other travels, like our long-postponed honeymoon trip to Hawaii and Europe, and how seeing things even for the second or third time is seeing them through new eyes when you share them with the people you love. Hawaii was brand-new when seen with my husband, who had never participated in any type of ocean watersport before--anathema to the ears of this beach baby, and I delighted in taking him ocean snorkeling for the first time and seeing his excitement at all the fishies.

Neither of us had been to Paris or to Spain, and exploring those places together was joyful, not least because finding a travel partner whose temperament and personality complement your own is a monumental task, and ours mesh fantastically.

All this freedom, all these memories. We'll talk about them this weekend, I'm sure, telling stories to our family from our adventures. And I'll be reminded for the 1,278th time just how much I have to be grateful for.

A Week of Gratitude, Day 5: Traditions

Taking the WHOLE week off to spend time with my amazing family. Am auto-posting a series titled "A Week of Gratitude" while we're off doing cool stuff like baking, digging out the Christmas decorations, jumping in piles of leaves, making final visits to the playground before the weather gets too cold, visiting with the relatives, taking looooong drives all in one vehicle, singing songs loudly, and anything else we can think of. Be back in a few days! Happy Thanksgiving, everyone. This year, let's be glad of all we have...

A Week of Gratitude, Day 5: Traditions

I have spent most of the Thanksgivings in my adult life at my mother's house. She makes the turkey just right, and always has the sides I love. She has an itinerary, but also a aura of ease that makes it natural to relax and let worry leave you. I like that I can sit still and not feel like I need to rush, or take a nap on the sofa without embarrassment, or have a snack any old time I like.

Since our eldest was little, one of the things she and I look forward to each time we go to Grammie's house is walking down the road to the nearby park to play on the playground or walk the exercise trail or enjoy the weather. Going again this year was the first time our middle child really appreciated the playground, and the first time our new baby has gone at all. I loved the feeling that we were building a tradition with all our family, that all our children would look forward to this each year and remember playing there, with us or with one another. I love that all the damp coolness of the playground mixes up in my memory with the smell of the leaves and the sound of their voices and the taste of the food, that I remember what they were wearing and what they said as they ran and played.

On Thanksgiving Day, I am thankful for continuity and the rebirth it brings.

A Week of Gratitude, Day 2: Babies!

Taking the WHOLE week off to spend time with my amazing family. Am auto-posting a series titled "A Week of Gratitude" while we're off doing cool stuff like baking, digging out the Christmas decorations, jumping in piles of leaves, making final visits to the playground before the weather gets too cold, visiting with the relatives, taking looooong drives all in one vehicle, singing songs loudly, and anything else we can think of. Be back in a few days! Happy Thanksgiving, everyone. This year, let's be glad of all we have...

A Week of Gratitude, Day 2: Babies!

So, since I took the risk of taking a load of flak for saying my husband has had a greater influence over who I am and who I've become than my children, I must must must mention how thankful I am for my little ones.

There are three of them, each so different, so themselves, and so much like me in their own ways.  I am reminded of all my shortcomings on a daily basis, and taught humility in ways I never imagined possible.  Some days I am burdened by how huge the task is before us, and others I am brought to tears by how grateful I am to have been chosen as their mother.

Our eldest, just like me in good ways and in bad.

Our middle, so lively and exhausting, so able to bring me to my limits--both of joy and frustration.

Our little bitty one, who by asking for such simple things--food, rest, comfort--reminds me that none of us ever get our fill of being held and nurtured.  These are my teachers and mentors, more so than even the adults in our lives.  

They are the honest mirror to my actions, to whom I cannot lie and about whom I must be truthful with myself.

I am so deeply, profoundly grateful for how they've each changed me, but even more than that, for how they will keep on changing me, every day, for all our days.

It rocks to be Mommy, where even the bad days are good.

A Week of Gratitude, Day 1: To My Husband

Taking the WHOLE week off to spend time with my amazing family. Am auto-posting a series titled "A Week of Gratitude" while we're off doing cool stuff like baking, digging out the Christmas decorations, jumping in piles of leaves, making final visits to the playground before the weather gets too cold, visiting with the relatives, taking looooong drives all in one vehicle, singing songs loudly, and anything else we can think of. Be back in a few days! Happy Thanksgiving, everyone. This year, let's be glad of all we have...

A Week of Gratitude, Day 1: To My Husband

So sweet, so deserving of a special post all his own...

In Thanksgiving season, I start by looking at the things that have changed my life in the most obvious of ways.  The greatest of those--yes, even greater than having my children--has been my husband, that guy in the picture above, on the night we met.  Who, when he tells me I am beautiful, is the first man to say so who has ever made me believe HE believes it, and isn't saying it as a means to some other end.  Who, no matter how stridently we argue a topic, always goes afterward and gives sincere thought to what I've said, and often comes around to my point in the end (in his own time, of course).  Who, no matter how frustrating I can be, always makes it clear that he loves me and is willing to make colossal sacrifices on my behalf.

When he was in Iraq this last time (his second), the minister he met there talked about having an "attitude of gratitude," a cliche label for a very real and very elusive skill.  My husband called me, using a chunk of our very precious fifteen minutes of phone time, to tell me he'd been thinking of me the whole day and how thankful he is to have me as his wife.

As Thanksgiving week begins, I'm returning the favor.

Stroller Bag

I saw the greatest stroller bag on Rae's blog back in September, and commented on how I didn't know I NEEDED one of those, but as soon as I saw hers I NEEDED it. And not just in the lustful, breaking-the-tenth commandment kind of way, like, I really saw that I could get a ton of use out of it.

Then a few weeks ago, I saw this link over on Wardrobe Refashion and checked out the details on Julie's blog. Great pattern, seems pretty easy, and just the shape I was going for (with some minor alterations).

So here we have Baby O's new stroller bag,

from some Japanese canvas I've been hoarding for over a year.

I switched it up with a button closure at the top of the handles,

and did some contrast topstitching on the side seams and at the handles.

It's pretty roomy, and has an interior pocket plus a cell phone pocket out of the lining fabric. I love this one, but admit it has gone through some iterations before getting here, right the way I like it--including three duds. This final product, though, is just what I had in mind, despite the frustration of all those false starts. Am inspired to make even more!

Am thinking of reusable grocery bags in this shape...

Happy shopping, everyone!

Ten Things I Love Right Now

Leaves changing

Tiny baby hands

Fresh bread coming out of the oven

Playgrounds and parks, one last time

Learning who my daughter is becoming, bit by bit

Hearing music through the house--played live, and with verve

A clean kitchen

Catching up with faraway friends and learning only geography keeps us distant

Family movie night on Fridays, all of us together on the sofa with fresh hot popcorn and a PG rating

Waving goodbye in the crisp mornings, looking forward to some peace and quiet.

Sort of.

Hope this is the start of a great week for all of us!

Brother and Sisters

Last post: the Corn Fabric.

This post: Some background.

First, you'll need to know that I'm a lot of different people. I taught school for a long time, theatre and English. Most recently, I was an archaeologist. Really. I have a graduate degree and everything. Wrote a thesis and was offered big fellowships to fancy schools. I studied acorns, mostly--I'm not making this up. My focus was paleoethnobotany, which is just a swanky way of saying that I like food, and I like learning about how food was used in prehistory. And there is simply no way to study prehistoric food in the Americas without studying CORN.

I have some pretty strong feelings about corn. Even as I type that, I am well aware of how crazy cakes it makes me sound, but there it is all the same. I feel powerfully strongly about CORN. So when I saw this fabric with my friend Erin four or five years ago at Jo-Ann, I had to had to had to grab two yards of it. I guess I intended to make a blouse for myself? But this is a much better use of this particular print.

Brother-Sister Outfits.

I used to be one of those moms who sort of "Ewwww"ed when I saw or heard of brother/sister outfits, but maybe that's because I never had a brother, or because sister/sister outfits are so easy and obvious, or because I didn't have any boys. It might be because most of the time when you find a brother/sister outfit set, they're insanely traditional and usually involve smocking and insipid embroidery and probably lace and ruffles (for the brother AND the sister). Not really my style, and not something I aspired to put on my children.

But CORN brother/sister outfits?? Well, now. That's a WHOLE different story.

A quick overview:

For O, a teeny tiny little button-up shirt. No cuffs, since he's still too itzy bitzy; the sleeves are open at the ends. But it does have a shirttail hem and a structured collar, lots of menswear detailing.

And it looks so great under these babywale chocolate overalls. They have a sweet button closure at the crotch for quick diaper changes--this kid can make some poop, it's like Chernobyl in his pants half the time.  I think the red flannel lining and the teeny pockets really make the whole outfit.  And I should point out that this shirt represents the first (and maybe only) time I've made a garment without a pattern of any kind--I totally eyeballed the whole thing.  So, if he tries it on and it doesn't work, E gets new clothes for her dolls, I guess!

For M, a pretty jumper with gathers and a contrast band on the CORN skirt.

Buttons here and on O's whole outfit are coconut ones Sweet Husband and I brought back from our honeymoon in Hawaii.  I even put in pockets on the side seams for all her fall treasures she's sure to collect on our nature walks in the cool weather.

For our big girl, E, an athletic-styled tee with a CORN applique

All this needs is a little freezer paper stencil for humor--I want it to read, "Howdy, Pilgrim," but I loaned out my brown fabric paint at an inopportune time of year. If only I were good enough to do a teeny John Wayne on the sleeve...

We'll need to get a lot of use out of these this next week to make them worth the trouble I went to, but I am crazy insane in love with this silly print, and can' wait to get shots of all of them in their little matching outfits.  Hoping your holidays are cooling off and that the gifts of America's bounty are soon to be on your table!!

**Just for the record, corn is NOT a theme here.  It is a "unifying element."

Two Words: Stuffing.

Thanksgiving, believe it or not, is SO soon. I get excited, since here in the Deep South, that means it might get cold soon. Maybe.

Last year at this time, my Sweet Husband was still in Iraq. I asked my in-laws to put up their Christmas decorations over the Thanksgiving weekend so that we could shoot a video to send to him that looked like Christmas morning for him to watch and feel, just a little, like he was there with us. It was a pile of work, and worth every second, and he was so happy to have that little piece of home out in the desert.

This Thanksgiving, we get to be together, and I can hardly stand how excited I am to have this holiday with my amazing husband. I know, I write about him a lot and say all these sappy things--but truly, he's so great, and even though being happy is boring, it overflows out of me.

In preparation for long walks among the falling leaves, and football games on the wide screen, and six kinds of pie, and a (hopefully) moist bird, the first ever cooked in our little house since we're staying home this year with our new addition--in preparation for all that, I've gotten a little excited.

About this:

Next post: where that sick excitement has taken me. It's yummy.

Competitive Parenting

Last week, I dropped M off at preschool. When I picked her up, there was a new poster hung on the wall next to the classroom door--a progress chart. It had listed, along the left side, names of each of the children in her Younger Twos class. Along the top of the chart were the names of various two-year-old skills: "ABCs", "Shapes", "Numbers", that sort of thing. Many of the children had multiple stars. M had only one.

I stood, waiting for the mother ahead of me to collect her daughter so I could enter the classroom and get M--and then hurry on home for naptime, which I think we all know is Sacred. The Other Mother was having an animated conversation with the teacher. She--the Mother--seemed very concerned about WHICH gold stars Darling Daughter had received, since she was certain that her girl knew her ABCs and 123s, and proceeded to remind the teacher of that at length. AT LENGTH.

Seriously? M had one star. I was deeply unconcerned, since I don't need gold stars to tell me my kid is awesome. I also know she knows her ABCs and shapes, and that she DOESN'T know her numbers, and a gold star one way or another isn't going to define either her intelligence or her abilities. It made me laugh at how overly concerned so many parents get, how competitive they can be about the silliest things. It's Big vs Small, people, not the SATs. I felt so smug, so certain that I was above All That in a way the Other Mother wasn't.

Yesterday, when I picked M up, she had all but two columns filled with starts, and for one column, she had TWO stars. I came home feeling smug, confident that my child was clearly Better and Smarter. Then I alternated that smugness with berating myself for being a hypocrite. Notice I wasn't able to shake the smugness altogether. Did I mention she had TWO stars in one column??

It seems even when you grow up, gold stars still have some hypnotic power over you that causes you to lose all reason. For reals.

Making Progress

Remember this?

Cars and boats are taking shape! Just need to push on through these last few stages and get these bumpers FINISHED. I know we'll ALL get more sleep once the little man is out of Mommy and Daddy's room and in his own (shared) nursery.

Results soon!

Football Season

Alabama football takes center stage at our house from August to January (we hope!). I made my Sweet Husband a seersucker shirt in red and white for the first game over Labor Day weekend, but the details made me a little crazy, and I didn't really love how it turned out.

Too cold for seersucker now, anyway.

So, I altered the pattern and combined it with some details of another that I liked partly and hated partly, and am planning to use some mini-houndstooth babywale corduroy from the stash. I'd better get moving, though, if I want him to wear it for more than the championship game (y'know, the one everyone in my house will be a WHOLE lot happier if we make it to?  that one).

Oh, football.  You are a fickle and cruel mistress.  But at least we can be well-dressed, both in winning seasons and...not-so-winning seasons.  May the latter be few and farrrrr between!