OH. RIGHT.

So because this is my personal lab book on daily life experiments as much as it is a blog, i’ll note this here for the inevitable next time:

Is the machine skipping big swathes of stitches while at the same time having rampant birds-nest-ing? You have the needle in backwards, ya bloomin’ idjit.

Madeleine’s needle goes in with the flat side TO THE RIGHT.  Not the left.

I’m going to go back to the sewing corner to make amends to my machine, while trying to ignore the sound of my beloved grandmother spinning in her grave.

The bright side:  I have the zipper in, now!  And since it’s only quarter-to-ten, i might get most of the rest of the skirt finished before bed.  Also, at least Crabby Media’s tablecloth for the Portland Zine Symposium is finished now, and a fine piece of over-sewn (i was testing, alright??) sewing it is, too.

I’ve been hovering on the edge of migraine country ever since my head exploded last wednesday night.  The 90°F temps over the weekend — when i was taking a papermaking class that was outside almost half the time — really didn’t help.  My most reliable migraine trigger is heat+light.  Yes, i moved away from the East Coast to escape the hot summers.

Earlier this week i began to have a sinking feeling that i’d chosen the wrong paper for the cover of Cipher #2.  The more i thought about the paper, the more i realized it’s much better suited to what i have in mind for Cipher #3.  (Yes, i’m already thinking about Cipher #3.  But then, i’m often thinking about what i’m going to do with my next zine, and so far i don’t think the “next zine”s have ever been what i once thought they might be, altho’ the ideas always go on the back burner for some future project.)  I thought i’d just push thru’ this hesitation since i’d already had about 25 copies made of the inside covers.  But today i finally copied off a few of the outside covers and i knew instantly that, yes, this is the wrong paper for this zine.  It’s hard to explain why, i just knew as i picked up the cover from the copier that it was wrong wrong wrong.  I think tomorrow’s scooter ride is going to include a stop by Paper Zone so i can pick out something different.  I’m thinking maybe something in a grey tone.

Tonight felt like a night for sewing.  A few weeks ago i’d cut out the pieces for a new skirt, so i sat down at the machine and started putting it together.  Andy had a party to go to, so it was just me and my sewing and my music.  (And the cats, but they were off doing their things at the other end of the apartment.)  My goal was to get as far as both side seams before calling it quits.  Naturally, when i switched over to the zipper foot the machine stopped cooperating.  I slightly loosened the tensions (upper tension and bobbin tension).  Nope.  I changed the needle.  Nope.  Not only would it not sew on the zipper, it wouldn’t even sew the piece of scrap fabric i test stitches on.  Sigh.  Thanks to complaining on Twitter, Andy and i already have a date to sit down with the trouble-shooting guide tomorrow to try to figure this out.  Please don’t conk out on me, 50-year-old sewing machine!  I’m sorry my usual sewing machine mechanic died!  I miss Gma, too!!

On the positive side:  I never did come down with a full-blown migraine, and my zine really is finished except for the covers, and this skirt will be as awesome as i thought it was going to be.

Now i’m going to curl up with one of my new papermaking books and just expect that tomorrow will be awesome.

PS:  Tinnitus still sucks.  This horrible shrieking in my ears can stop any time.

I’ve taken 3 papermaking classes with the wonderful Mary Ashton (via The Weaving Works).  Mary’s a fantastic teacher with a well-equipped paper studio.  She also has a thorough library of papermaking-related books.  Here are the recommendations she’s given out during the 3 classes i’ve taken with her — Introduction to Papermaking, Japanese Papermaking, and Tibetan Papermaking.

Many of these are out-of-print and can be hard to find.  I acquired my copies by regularly checking Powell’s, abebooks, and my local used bookstores.

papermaking — general

Art and Craft of Handmade Paper.  Studley, Vance.  (New York: Dover, 1999.)

Art and Craft of Papermaking.  Dawson, Sophie.  (London: Quarto Publishing, 1992.)

Complete Book of Papermaking.  Asunción, Josep.  (New York: Lark Books, 2001.)

Handmade Paper: A Practical Guide to Oriental and Western Techniques.  Cunning, Sheril.  (Escondido, California: Cunning Enterprises, 1983.)

Paper — Art & Technology.  (San Francisco: World Print Council, 1979.)

Papermaking.  Heller, Jules.  (New York: Watson-Guptill Publications, 1978.)

Papermaking.  Hunter, Dard.  (New York: Dover, 1978.)

Which Paper? Turner, Silvie.  (Design Press, 1992.)

papermaking — general (student suggestion)

Paper Pleasures.  Shannon, Faith.  (New York: Weidenfeld & Nicolson, 1987.)

papermaking — with plants

Dyeing with Plants in Zimbabwe.  Noy, Ilse.  (Harare, Zimbabwe: Zimbabwe Foundation for Education with Production, 1988.)

Papermaking with Garden Plants and Common Weeds.  Hiebert, Helen.  (North Adams, Massachusetts: Storey Publishing, 2006.)

Plant Fibers for Papermaking.  Bell, Lilian.  (Liliaceae Press, 1981.)

papermaking — with plants (student suggestion)

Art of Papermaking with Plants.  Lorenté, Marie-Jeanne. (New York: W.W. Norton, 2004.)  Caveat: Mary thought this was a good book overall, except for the fact that the author used bleach and lye in all her papers.

papermaking — Japanese

Japanese Papermaking.  Barrett, Timothy.  (Trumbull, Connecticut: Weatherhill, 1984.)

Guide to Japanese Papermking.  Farnsworth, Donald.  (Oakland, California: Magnolia Editions, 1997.)

Today was “Copy Your Favorite Garment” class:

Make a pattern without taking your garment apart. Pattern–making experience is not necessary, but you must have sewn clothes, know garment construction plus sewing/pattern terminology. This class is for those who cannot find a pattern or can’t fit patterns but own a garment that fits (and not mind pinning it and getting some wash–away ink on it). I’ve taught this class for 15+ years at local stores and since 2004 at the Experimental College.

It’s thru’ the Experimental College at the UW (it’s a student group), which is a great resource if you’re in the Seattle area.

GothLoli PA Dutch mystery skirt

I wanted to take the class because i have this fabulous skirt which never fails to receive compliments — but for which i have no pattern.  The awesome things about this skirt are:  #1, it has sixteen gores.  #2, the fabric is weird and quirky.  I tend to think of it as a GothLoli Pennsylvania Dutch skirt.  Can you imagine how fabulous this thing would be over layers upon layers of tulle??

The weird thing about this skirt is that Mom and i aren’t sure where it came from.  We found it in my grandmother’s sewing things when we were cleaning out her sewing room.  The gores were sewn together and the zipper was hand-basted in.  But all it took was one flip to the inside of the skirt and Mom and i knew instantly that my grandmother had not put it together — the seams were shockingly uneven and rough.  But the skirt mysteriously fit my waist, so i brought it home.  Put in the zipper, fitted it with my usual band-less waist, and sewed up the hem.

The more i wear it the more i love it.  (Tho’ i don’t wear it often because the ironing of it is a pain.)  The more i wear it, the more i want more skirts in the same pattern (okay, ironing be damned).  But there are no patterns for mystery skirts!  And so today i learned the basics of making a pattern from the garment itself.

And now, i shall make more and more skirts just like it.  First up, a skirt in this:

alphabet: red-lime (by applesandorange, @ Spoonflower.com)

Oh.  My.  Freaking.  Word. I loved this fabric the instant i saw it.  Yes, it’s a Spoonflower fabric — and, yes, that means that 1 yard of cotton will cost about $18.  I would normally not pay that much for fabric if i were buying it at a local store.  (The most i’ve ever paid for fabric was $15 a yard, but it was Japanese fabric in an adorable owl pattern and the drape and feel of the cloth was absolutely divine.  And that is the careful-est sewing i have ever done on any garment.  You bet i didn’t want to mess it up.)  But i think, for a design that i absolutely adore and at a cost that will go to support an independent designer, i might be willing to make an exception to my upper-limit for fabric cost and buy this one.

Ladies and gentlemen!  Our e-stenciler works!!!  [paroxysm of joy]  Once we’ve sobered up from our celebratory drinking, we’re going to start planning a test run of the mimeo/duplicator.

Rex Rotary 2202 (e-stenciler)

*  Today success smells like burning because the stylus actually sparks and burns as it’s making the stencil.

The older i get, the more the genetics i inherited from my grandfather kick in.  Namely:  I just am no good before 10am.  Work is especially bad because i need to be there at 8am, tho’ fortunately i’ve gotten everyone trained to leave me the fuck alone until at least 9am (and my morning work is kind of a drudge so it’s not like i need to be awake to accomplish it, thank goodness).  But even weekends are hard.  Today i have to be in Wallingford — which is just the next neighborhood over! — at 10am, but i’m sitting here wishing i could just go back to bed.

You know how the common wisdom is that the older a person gets the less sleep they need and the more they become morning people?  Not my grandfather.  After he retired, he’d sleep in until 11am every single day except sunday (church, of course).  He’d happily stay up until midnight, 1am, 2am catching up on the programs (usually sports) he’d recorded.  During the 6 months i lived with my grandparents before i moved to Seattle, i’d come home from working on the night obituary desk at the newspaper and settle in on the couch to watch TV with him.  We’d each have a big bowl of ice cream and enjoy “The New Yankee Workshop” together until past midnight.  Come morning we’d usually wind up waking up at the same time, and then it was a race to see who’d get to the shower first.

My grandmother, of course, would have already been up for about 4 or 5 hours.  Good gravy, i have absolutely no idea how she could do that.