Grocery Shopping Motherlode
05 Nov 2011 4 Comments
in Family, Kids, thrifty-ness Tags: aldi, freezer inventory list, grocery shopping list, pantry inventory sheet, save money without clipping coupons
Go straight to the list, skip the chat: Grocery Shopping Motherlode
There were times in our family’s life when we couldn’t afford to buy our six kids a lollipop at a softball game. Literally every dollar I spent was compared to a gallon of milk, because we went through about a gallon a day, between drinking and cooking. A typical grocery shopping trip looked like this:
The three older kids would each be pushing a grocery cart. Two younger children would be laying across the bottom racks of two carts to connect them, like a steel-basketed bullet train, and the baby was in the seat of the first basket. I would alternate between holding the list and the calculator, holding the baby, holding the coupons, and holding my breath that nothing got broken.
We shopped about once a week or every two weeks at most. Average monthly grocery bill: between $600 and $800, and this included toiletries, household goods, pet food, cleaning supplies, etc. It wasn’t unusual for our grocery receipt to be five feet long! Our older kids took perverse delight in telling the checkout clerk that we’d be back next week for the same amount of food. It usually dropped the poor clerk’s jaw, which gave the kids a good laugh.
Alright, so that being said, we’ve had to learn some tools of the trade to become a semi-pro shopping team. (See… you knew there was a reason we had all these kids!) We’ve also had to deal with a couple of food allergies (me to dairy, and Margo to soy). We’ve read books on coupon clipping, conparison shopped everything from big box stores to bread thrift stores, and scoured second hand stores and libraries for resources to help stretch every single dollar.
Today on Facebook I was invited to join a coupon club. And while I’m no longer shopping for 8 people on a weekly basis, I’d offered to share some of the kitchen helper files I’d created in order to manage the kitchen chaos. You’ll find here some downloadable forms that I’m glad to share with you. They are in Microsoft Excel format, and you can edit them by downloading them to your computer and opening Excel. (If you don’t have Excel, would you let me know? I’d be glad to convert them to pdf for you.)
When you download the file, you’ll find four files within it. They are:
- PRICE COMPARISON – a list done about a year ago, comparing prices of items we regularly purchased, from Sam’s Club, Wal-Mart, Aldi, and Schnucks.
- FREEZER INVENTORY – a list of everything we could ever want to put in our freezer.
- PANTRY INVENTORY – a list of everything we could ever want to put in our refrigerator and pantry. Both lists are organized first by category and then by alphabet.
- ALDI PRICE LIST- if you’re lucky enough to have an Aldi store near you, then you really can save a lot of money on your groceries. Even though most of our kids no longer live at home, we still shop Aldi every week, and our grocery budget for 4 adults is $150 a week, and still includes pet food, cleaning supplies, toiletries and the like. This list was originally compiled by a discussion group, and I edited it for my own tastes. But my prices are about a year old. So I checked and there’s a gal who is keeping a current price comparison on her blog!
HOW TO USE THE LISTS:
1. Edit the lists to add the food items you usually buy, and delete the ones you don’t.
2. Print your lists.
3. Clip the lists to a clipboard, or put them into a binder with sheet protectors.
4. Go through your freezer, refrigerator, and pantry. Mark an X for each item you have in the list. For example: if you have five 6-oz cans of tomato sauce, then mark 5 X’s next to the tomato sauce in your list. As you use the cans, put a line through an X each time you use one.
Bonus points: Print out a pantry list and put it on a clip board. Tie some yarn around a sharpened pencil and hang the pencil from the clip board. Hang a hook in your pantry or dry goods/canned food cupboard. Put the clip board on the hook. Repeat on the front of your refrigerator and freezer with those appropriate lists. Every time you use something up from the list, mark it off. Now take your lists and go shopping. You are a semi-pro shopper, because you’ll never have to return to the grocery store for something you forgot to put on your list, and you saved money and time, too!
If you’ve read this far and haven’t downloaded the list yet, here’s the list link again (so you don’t have to scroll up): Grocery Shopping Motherlode
A final note about coupons: they can be a great help to you, if what you usually buy is an item that you have a coupon for, AND if the item is on sale. But in reality, coupons present a lot of temptation to buy things that might not be in your budget. So keep your head about you when it comes to clipping those coupons, because you could actually be spending more money than you would save.
If you need help with knowing what’s on sale at your local grocery stores, try this wonderful resource: mygrocerydeals.com
And if you need some help with your finances in general – you know, things are a mess, and you just don’t know where to start – then I can’t recommend Ellie Kay enough. She’ll get you back on track and get your finances under control. Go check out her website, at EllieKay.com.
Peg’s Dress – Alternative Sewing Finale
05 Nov 2011 4 Comments
in fashion, Interests, needlework / sewing Tags: sewing adaptive patterns, sewing for
If you’ve been following my blog for long, you’ll remember that I’ve been working on a dress for a friend who is wheelchair bound with MS. Her name is Peg, and she just celebrated 40 years being married to her best friend, Joe. She’d wanted something really special to wear to her anniversary party, and so hired me to make her an outfit. I’d talked about the beginning of the process in the post, “Sewing Adaptive Patterns.” An adaptive pattern is one that is altered so that a person with limited mobility can have clothes that are easy to put on, and yet attractive.
I’d made a necktie for Joe, and it wasn’t easy to sell him on a flowered pattern! Peggy can be a stinker, and up to the day before the party, she was telling Joe that I’d sewn a bow tie for him. I think he tried to hide his disappointment at that news, so he was a little surprised when I delivered a standard tie. He looked really good in black pants, a black button-down oxford shirt, and his flowered tie. Of course the tie didn’t last long, and we didn’t get a picture of him wearing it. But here it is, draped over Peg’s dress.
So the dress: I loved how it looked on her once we got it all tailored. But let me say that the dress that we finished with looks only vaguely like the flannel mock-up I made. So from the starting point, I had altered a Chinese-style shirt pattern, so that the hem was long enough and wide enough to turn it into a dress. Then I made the mock-up, which we further altered to add in princess seams and a back zipper. From there we cut the actual dress cloth, which was further altered to lower the collar, narrow the cuffs, add mock sleeve buttons, etc.
What this means is that I can’t go back to my flannel mock-up to create another dress for her. Too much altering has happened to it. On the other hand, this was a great learning experience that stretched both of us! We had to get out of our comfort zones and we didn’t know what would be the result when we were done.
We were both pleasantly surprised with how well the dress came out. She looked beautiful in it (but then, I think she’s beautiful anyway). We had a wonderful time at their anniversary party. Joe was so funny as he gave a monologue roast of some of his family and friends. It was neat that he introduced us to the people who have shaped his and Peggy’s lives. It helps newer friends like us to get a taste of the breadth and scope of who they are.
In other news…
I’m nearly done with taking the Acai Berry… the bottle is almost empty. I’ve updated my “Acai Berry Craze” post to add in my latest findings with this experiment.
Growing Old Gracefully
30 Sep 2011 9 Comments
Two bloggers recently talked about being in middle age and the fear of growing old. 49 And Counting talked about having chest wrinkles. Don’t laugh, younger women! You too will someday face this neckline bane. And Witty Biz Gal talked about older women seeking younger men in the cougar trend.
Our fear of “looking old” is exploited by the beauty and garment industries. As they see Baby Boomers face middle age, they gleefully rub their hands together in anticipation of the profits. Manufacturers put anti-aging formulations in everything from our hair shampoo to our foot scrubs. Fashion designers look backward to the fashions of our younger years, suggesting we should still wear mini skirts and platform shoes like we did 30 years ago.
Whatever happened to growing old gracefully?
We could fight our age tooth and nail, like the provocatively cougarescent Demi Moore. Or like Elizabeth Taylor. Demi should take notice: in her latter years, Liz looked anything but graceful. Slathering on more makeup and wearing plunging necklines didn’t make her look younger, or even attractive. It made her look like she was in denial. It was rather sad, actually.
But then there is prolific actress Angela Lansbury. Aside from the fact that I absolutely love Murder She Wrote, it being my favorite tv show of all time - it was also one of the longest-running tv shows of all time, continuing uninterrupted an amazing 12 years. Lansbury was 60 years old when the show began, and it became a family business as her husband, brother, and two sons became involved in the production.
The makeup and wardrobe chosen for her role in it were not only attractive, but age-appropriate. She wore beautiful suits, silk scarves, and a set of gold trademark earrings that can be seen in many episodes. There was a sense of presence with her in that role, and clearly showed she was comfortable with who she was. There was a gracefulness to her that will always mark my memory.
Lansbury is 85 years old, and still working. Her most recent movie role was in the 2011 Mr. Popper’s Pengiuns, playing opposite Jim Carrey. Even if she does sport chest wrinkles, (leathery tan or otherwise), she’s still careful to dress in clothes that are elegantly unpretentious and that flatter her form. She has presence about her that lights up her face when she smiles, in spite of the creases.
She has an ageless attitude of enthusiasm for life, which gives grace to the aging form her spirit lives in.
And that’s what I want to be when I grow up.
Heather’s Light Box
29 Sep 2011 2 Comments
in clothes recycling, exercise, Family, fashion, Fimo, health, memorials, needlework / sewing, thrifty-ness, weight loss Tags: acai berry, adaptive sewing, light box, memorial candles
My oldest daughter-in-law is a genius.
She’d heard that I’d attempted to make a poor man’s light box, using items I had on hand, with very little in the way of success. Last week she asked me if she could see what I did have, and maybe help me to fix it. I gathered an assortment of items:
- clamp-on gooseneck lamps
- clamp-on spot light
- an old pressed-board end table with screw-in legs
- leftover white muslin fabric from sewing Allen’s renfair shirt
- a clear plastic box
- scotch tape
- scissors
- an extension cord
- white poster board
With these items, she guided me in setting up the light box correctly. Now I already owned all the items to create the light box, but if I had to purchase them it still would have cost me less than $50. I did purchase two new gooseneck lamps so that the light box had it’s own dedicated ones, rather than me stealing one from Mark’s desk and the other from my sewing area.
The main thing I had been doing wrong before was to put the fabric on the outside of the box. The purpose of the white fabric is to diffuse the light so that harsh shadows soften and shine spots disappear or are greatly reduced. But by putting the fabric on the outside of the box, the plastic was still picking up and reflecting too much direct light.
She helped me to cut and tape pieces of the white fabric to the inside of the box, thus creating a correct diffuser for the lamps, and it works like a charm. It’s so great for photographing white-on-white, like these candle holders I just finished for a Memorial Beads customer.
We put the light box in the closet with the fuse box, so that the ambient light would be greatly reduced and allow for dark photography, like showing the candle holder with a lit tea light inside. Keeping the light box in the closet also allows me to use it at a moment’s notice; and yet it’s portable enough that I could disassemble everything in less than 5 minutes and put it into a rolling case.
Heather had created a new Memorial Beads design – the Leigh Bracelet – filled with memorial heart charms and crystal cubes. She’d spent a little time with the new light box and her camera, taking some shots of her bracelet for our catalog. It’s so nice now having a dedicated and ready place for us to take photos. Thank you, Heather, for bugging me about this. 
In other news…
I’ve finished my first week taking the Acai Berry capsules. If you’re curious about how I’m feeling about it, take a look at my post “The Acai Berry Craze” and scroll down to see the update.
I’m almost finished with my friend Peggy’s anniversary dress. She’s the one who’s wheelchair-bound and wanted something really special to wear to her 40th wedding anniversary party. I’ll have pics of both the finished outfit, the shawl, and her husband’s tie next week. It’s an adventure in adaptive sewing for the disabled, where we took a shirt pattern and turned it into a fitted dress with mock princess seams. If you’d like to see a sneak peek at the dress in progress, head on over to my post on “Sewing Adaptive Patterns“.
Clothes to Dye For
13 Sep 2011 5 Comments
in clothes recycling, fashion, needlework / sewing, thrifty-ness Tags: dyeing fabric, how to dye clothes in your washer, recycling clothing, rit dye
By now you probably know I’m an unrepentant clothesaholic and fabric hoarder. I cannot pass by a garage sale without stopping to see if there’s something that will fit me. Thrift stores have this magnetic pull. I have to fight my car’s steering wheel or it will take me into the parking lot. Right. You know the drill.
Before I went on my mission to discover my own personal style, I bought clothes without a clear sense of purpose. My closet is an overstuffed riot of colors, with no sense of connectivity. I don’t have a foundation of simple basics. Much of it doesn’t fit my lifestyle as a home-based business owner. Or if it fits, it’s the wrong color and doesn’t work with my Autumn skin tones.
Ugh. It was so much easier getting dressed in the morning when I didn’t know what I was doing!
Short of tossing it all and starting over with a brand new wardrobe (I wish!) — I’m committing myself to doing some pruning, altering, and re-purposing. It’s a slow, painful process at times, because I don’t have a lot of time to work on it, plus there are pieces that I love and don’t want to give them up. I remember a cream colored Irish knit vest I bought at Goodwill – adorable on the hanger, and at the time I thought it was really cute on me. But now I realize it made me look like I’d gained 15 pounds because of the bulk of the fabric around my waist. I looked like a Lego brick with legs. It has finally, reluctantly, made it’s way back to Goodwill.
There are other things that I’ll keep because the colors and fabrics work for me but they need altering – the waist nipped in or the shoulders brought in, buttons moved, darts in the shoulders or hem, etc. Those things are in a huge pile in my sewing area.
And there are things that fit but just aren’t my colors. Rit Dye to the rescue!! Or Dylon if you can get it (try JoAnn Fabrics). It’s a better quality dye than Rit, in some cases. But I’ve used Rit many times with success. So let’s talk about that!
One of my sisters was saying that she’d wanted to try dyeing things but was too afraid to do it out of fear of ruining it. And that’s a legitimate fear! Some fabrics take dye better than others. And people worry that they will stain their washer or otherwise ruin it. If you follow the instructions on the dye bottle, you will be just fine. I’ve dyed lots of things in my washer and we’ve had it for 12 years (go Kenmore). My washer is still nice and white inside. If you’re still unsure and want some advice before diving into the dye, the Rit website has a great section on what you can dye, and how best to do it. It also has a fun blog to read. If you’re crafty, you’ll like their site.
So armed with my two bottles of dark brown Rit Dye and a container of salt, I headed to my top-loading washer. (Top loaders are better than side loaders because you need to add wet fabric to an already agitating washer. But if you have a side loader, don’t worry. There are other methods of dyeing, and they are all on the Rit website.)
I set my washer to large load, because there were a bunch of things I wanted to dye: a silk skirt, a denim wrap skirt, a pair of pants, and that length of corduroy fabric. I set the temperature to hot wash and cold rinse, delicate cycle so it wouldn’t splash but would agitate, then put it on the longest wash cycle. As water started filling the washer, I poured the dye into the hot water, being careful not to splash. After that, I measured two cups of salt (one cup per dye bottle) and poured that in, too.
While the washer was filling, I put my fabrics in the sink and got them thoroughly wet. If you put dry fabrics into a dye bath, they will dye unevenly. So making sure the fabric is thoroughly wet is important. Once that was done and the washer was full and agitating, I carefully slid the fabrics into the washer. It’s important to be nearby, because the washer will need to be reset on it’s wash cycle at least once to keep the clothes in the dye bath for a minimum of 30 minutes. I put Allen’s laptop on the kitchen table and started working on this blog post.
When the time was up, I allowed my washer to finish it’s cycle naturally. Then I left the dyed clothes in the washer and reset the wash cycle, let it fill full of water, and added clothes soap. My silk skirt is a hang-to-dry type, so I added fabric softener to the final rinse. After the washer was done, I pulled the clothes onto the edge of the washer. Look at how each different fabric took the dye differently.
After all the clothes were out of it, I reset my washer to a hot wash and large load, putting clothes soap and a cup of bleach into it. The bleach cleans my washer beautifully, removing any residue of dye that would get on other clothes. I’m confident that the washer doesn’t retain any residue from the dye, so I washed a load of white clothes right after I cleaned the washer.
Ready to see how the dye did on the clothes and fabric? I had some mixed results.
My denim wrap skirt, which used to be a traditional denim blue, has darkened a couple of shades to an indigo. I was expecting brown! But I hadn’t checked the fabric content first, just assuming that it was 100% cotton. My mistake. The skirt is actually 65% Tencel, which is considered a subcategory of rayon made from wood pulp. It has a rayon-like consistency – no wonder I liked the skirt. Rayon is my all-time favorite fabric, hands down. However, Tencel doesn’t dye easily, so my skirt is retaining most of it’s blue color. No matter; it’s a darker blue and will flatter my figure better than the lighter blue did.
The cream pants that I dyed were an unknown manmade blend – the tag had been bleached so that I didn’t know what the material actually was. So I was happy when it took the dye at all, coming out a dark tan color. Problem is, I found a stain that I didn’t know was on the pants. I could use a color remover and remove the dye, then try to remove the stain… but chances are, that won’t work. So I’ll toss the pants. I could keep it an try to make a gored skirt, but I have so much fabric and clothing already that I really don’t need it that much. Out it goes! Since the pants only cost me $4.99 at Goodwill, it’s not like I’m losing an investment piece.
The silk skirt took the dye beautifully! It’s a rich, deep chocolate brown and I absolutely love the color. Only problem is, I also found a few small stains on that skirt. In this case, however, I’m going to cut the skirt apart to remake it, into a skirt that is slightly less full but which doesn’t have the stain spots on it. Silk is expensive, and a skirt easy to make. So it’s a keeper in spite of not being able to wear it right away.
The brown corduroy is a grand success, I’m happy to say. It’s a wide-wale cord with a beautiful braided style to the wales. I’m going to be making a sporty riding jacket with it, with a suede collar and elbow patches, something like these. This will be my g0-to fall jacket when it’s done. (By the way… yes, that blue marble is my kitchen table. Ooooh that’s a subject for another post!)
Oh, and those white clothes I washed right after I cleaned the washer?… See, Ma? No dye!
Shapewear And Surprises
04 Sep 2011 5 Comments
in Family, fashion, Interests, Kids, needlework / sewing Tags: family, kids, Shapewear
I know some of you were expecting the results of my Shapewear Poll on Friday. Well, an unexpected surprise derailed my plans to make that post, but I’m bringing it to you today with two posts in one: Shapewear AND Surprises.
This is my very own pair of Spanx. It’s a bicycle short shaper. I treasure it. It has a high waist that is comfortable over my tummy and ribs. It has no elastic or silicone at the leg openings, so it gives a smooth line under skirts, dresses, and most pants. It tones down my hips and rear and overall gives a little firmness to everything.
There’s a very nice little article that explains shapewear on Wikipedia (article here.) As the article says, historically women have worn foundation garments of one type or another for hundreds of years.
The proof, they say, is in the pudding. So in order to give you an idea of a “real person” getting transformed by shapewear, I took before and after pictures of myself from my biggest (no pun intended) figure problem: my backside. These photos have only been edited to crop and resize; there’s no airbrushing here.
This first photo is of my dark blue knit dress. I have a regular bra and briefs underneath it. Thin knits like this love to hug and emphasize every body bulge and ripple. Note the wrinkles at my waist, emphasizing my swayback.
Now I have on a shaping tank top and those Spanx briefs. Notice the swayback wrinkles are gone. The knit skims over the surface of my torso, thanks to the bump smoothing that the shapewear provides. There’s a gentle compression and it allows for a little more definition to my waist.
For me personally, I see these things as wardrobe aids that I wear with a fair amount of frequency. Yes, it depends on the outfit and the occasion. I don’t wear them daily. However, they are comfortable enough that I could, if I chose to.
I was interested to see what the results of my informal shapewear poll would be. I think it’s actually a pretty fair representation of our culture’s view of foundation garments and the reputation that undergarments like them have gained.
I’d like to hear your thoughts about the poll, and share any feelings you have about your own foundation garments, if you have any.
NEXT: The surprise!
On Thursday I received a phone call from Phil, our son who is at Fort Gordon in Georgia. He and his wife, Jewel, were making an impromptu trip home for the weekend, and wanted to let me know. They also wanted me to keep it a secret from the rest of the family, even as I gave them bogus reasons to show up at my house on Saturday.
The two lumps underneath the pink blanket are Phil and Jewel. They’d arrived about 5am Saturday morning, after driving straight through for 15 hours.
First thing Phil does when he wakes up is cook. He’s an excellent amateur chef and has a great nose for combining spices. Next thing you know, his younger brother, Mark, is hamming it up for the camera and gave him a … well, I wasn’t sure what it was. Didn’t look like a man-hug to me. Must be an Army secret handshake or something. :^D
We went to dinner that night at Jewel’s house. Her mom, April, made a feast of ribs and chicken. She’s a great cook and it was delicious. Everyone from our side of the family was invited, and at one point there were 17 people crammed into April and Mike’s’ living room. From the left are Ryan, Margo’s husband; Hilary, Jewel’s best friend, Jewel herself, and her daddy, Mike.
Our oldest son, Steve and his wife, Heather, had just driven home that day from Toronto, Canada. Coincidentally another 15 hour drive. They were exhausted but wanted to see Phil and Jewel. From the left are John, Steve’s best friend; Phil; and Phi’s best friend, Josiah. (By the way, John… love the “Professional Russian” t-shirt. I want one.)
About 9pm we all went over to Jillian’s to play games. April and Mike played pool with Allen and I, while the kids all hung out in the arcade. We had such a good time! We don’t get to do many things with Jewel’s folks, even though we get along quite well, so this was a treat. And talking to Phil, he and Jewel had a blast in the arcade, and won so many tickets that they were able to get her the zebra striped electric guitar. Wow, what a night!
Phil and Jewel left early this morning to have breakfast at Margo and Ryan’s before driving back to Georgia. We really enjoyed their surprise visit and are looking forward to seeing them again over the holidays.
Memorial Rings
31 Aug 2011 2 Comments
in fashion, Fimo, Interests, memorials, needlework / sewing Tags: adapting patterns for the disabled, keepsake rings, memorial beads, Shapewear
Time to post some recent work!
These are sterling silver rings with a Memorial Bead in the center. I’m really excited about adding these to my keepsake line, because they provide a really subtle way to wear a reminder of a lost loved one. The speckled stones in the ring are created with dried flowers and clay.
SHAPEWEAR POLL: A reminder that the poll closes tomorrow. If you haven’t voted yet, please do. The votes are anonymous, and you can see the results of the poll any time. I’ll be posting on Friday about Shapewear: what it is, how to make best use of it, and what I personally have experience with. (Before and after candid shots will be forthcoming. Wow, talk about being transparent….)
ADAPTIVE PATTERN SEWING: I met with my friend last night and we talked about the custom pattern she had. What she liked, what she didn’t. When she told me the pattern was ten years old, that made me think we maybe needed to go with something different. We talked about camouflage – how it’s difficult to find wheelchair-friendly garments that are intended to hide some areas and highlight others. When it was all said and done, we decided it would be better to find a dress pattern with slimming princess seams, that was made for a woven fabric. I took her measurements and then came home to look through my patterns. I found a few things that I think she might like, and she’s coming over on Friday to make a decision. I’m going to make a test garment out of some flannel (or some tightly woven plaid I have… the plaid would give me alignment benefits because of the pattern, similar to using a gingham). If the test garment works, then we’ll do the real thing. Plus, she’d have a sloper pattern to use for other garments! Double the benefit, double the fun.
Body Issues
28 Aug 2011 10 Comments
Does that phrase just make you want to curl up inside yourself? It does for me. Frequently.
“Every woman has something about their bodies they don’t like.” I know that’s supposed to be comforting. And it is, to a small extent. I know I’m not alone in struggling with this. But it doesn’t really help all that much. It’s more the ‘misery loves company’ kind of help.
I just want to look good! Is that too much to ask?
I want to feel good about my appearance. I want to make a good first impression. I want to have the confidence that I don’t look sloppy, or overly-done, or like I don’t take care of myself. There’s this illusive balance that I’m wanting to achieve: it lies somewhere between being intentionally comfortable in my own skin (regardless of it’s shape), and trying to fit into a media-driven culture that is pretty specific about what the standards of attractiveness are. And how I don’t measure up.
I’m not talking about the opposite sex, here. (Even though that is a huge part of what the culture says the measure of attractiveness is!) I’m talking about the kind of attractiveness that is pleasing and inviting, in a non-sexual kind of way. An attractiveness that projects warmth, approachability, self-awareness and self-confidence. And I want to appear put-together. Like I’ve got it all under control.
Wow. See what kind of issues that thought process stirs up? Yes, it has to do with physical appearance; but it also has to do with character. With who I am, down inside the shell. Cuz, baby, that stuff is gonna work it’s way to the outside – no doubt about it. I might have a Malibu Barbie body, but if I have a Wicked Witch character… yeah. Totally ruins it. Can I get an amen?
I’m sitting here asking myself where I’m going with this. I guess what I’m trying to say is that, even though I’m surrounding myself with books on how to have a realistic wardrobe that works for my figure and lifestyle, on a budget I can afford — that I’m also trying to deal with some deep-seated psychological issues, too. The (impossible to achieve) desire to be liked by everyone. The desire to be taken seriously and not dismissed as an air-head. The desire to even be admired. Rejection and acceptance…I’ve had these issues since childhood. And while I’m chipping away at them and can see that I’ve made some progress, I sure haven’t gotten them licked yet!
So really…. if I’m not comfortable with who I am on the inside, isn’t it nigh impossible to be comfortable with who I am on the outside? Am I paying attention to camouflaging my fat as an attempt to camouflage my insecurities?
I would like you to respond, dear readers. I really want to hear what you have to say about this, about your own struggles, and how you’re doing in dealing with them. But… do me a favor? I kinda don’t want you to try to ‘make me feel better’ by giving me compliments. Don’t worry, it’s not that I think I don’t ever deserve compliments (because sometimes I do. Oh, I have pride issues too… but anyway) it’s just that, right now, compliments aren’t what I’m looking for. Just know that I think sweet of you, to want to do that, and then go on and tell me about your struggles. Maybe misery loving company has some greater value, after all.
Shapewear Poll
26 Aug 2011 2 Comments
I’ve reworked my previous Facebook poll, to allow for more choices and anonymity. So please help me out with this poll, won’t you? I’ll be posting the results on my blog a week from now, and talking about the kinds of Shapewear that I use. You’re invited to leave a comment along with your vote, but no one will know what you voted unless you say so.
Sewing & Style Book Reviews
20 Aug 2011 2 Comments
in books, Color Analysis, fashion, Interests, needlework / sewing Tags: book review, fashion advice book, sewing technique, style advice book
Last week I renewed my library card. It had expired 2 years ago, and I just hadn’t gotten around to getting it renewed. And now that I did, I’m thinking to myself, “you knucklehead, why didn’t you do this a lot sooner?” Yes, I missed my library.
So I checked out some books on sewing and fashion. There is one missing from this stack, I realized after I’d edited the photo. It’s a book on wearing scarves. I often wear them and happened to see a book about them on the library shelf. Well that book will make it into a different review. For now, let me deal with the ones in this stack, from bottom to top.
Singer Sewing Specialty Fabrics. This one is from the wonderful Singer sewing series. I have about half that series in hardback – a bonanza find at a thrift store. They are like gold to me. If I ever have a sewing technique question, one of these books will address it. Maybe not as thoroughly as I’d like, but I’d get at least a decent overview. This volume on specialty fabrics gives you some really good hints and tips to work with silkies, knits, and heavyweights. I would definitely go out of my way to add this one to my collection. The techniques are taught in a step-by-step method with accompanying step-out pictures. My only caveat: the garments shown in some of the volumes in this set are rather dated; but you aren’t reading this book for fashion advice, so it’s easy to ignore. I’ll be giving this one back to the library grudgingly.
Fabric Savvy. I was surprised by both what this book did include, and what it didn’t. I doubt I’ll be using African Mud Cloth in any of the garments I sew for myself. However, that section was pretty interesting. Yes, there IS mud on the cloth, apparently. I liked that this book dealt with pre-washing advice as well as pressing advice; not something that is often dealt with and certainly not in pattern packages! It also gives needle recommendations, stitch width and length, etc. A handy reference if you don’t mind how limited in scope the book is. I had hoped for more advice on now-common fabrics, like Rayon blends and stretch blends. That being said, there’s an updated version of this book, and I’ve requested it by inter-library loan. The description says it gives newer advice for newer fabrics. This particular volume goes back to the library without a backward glance.
Perfect Plus. This is a cute book, let me say that first and foremost. Some things I like about it: the author takes detailed photos of herself in the outfits she proposes that you sew. And to help you along, she has included all the pattern pieces! She gives you a little questionnaire to help you decide how many of the four garments (pants, top, skirt, jacket) you will need to fit your lifestyle. She gives fabric recommendations, talks about color coordination, and if you still don’t get it, she shows pages and pages of actual outfits in color-coordinated sets. Now, how freaking cool is that? I was falling in love with the book until I read one little statement: yes, the patterns go from sizes 14 to 24; but they are proportioned for a 5′ 2″ woman. Uh-oh; I’m 6 inches taller than that! I was actually pretty saddened because I wanted to make the outfits in this book. However – she gives me good advice on basic coordinated outfits, and because the lines are simple and clean, I already have patterns that would be similar to hers. So this book gets renewed and I’m not going to probably look for it on Amazon. My daughter and daughter-in-law are both under 5’5″, so I will probably show it to them, but the clothes are aimed more at women in their 30′s and up who want a simple, non-flashy, non-trendy, classic wardrobe. They might not want it now, but when their kids start coming along, they will want clothes that can be spit up on by babies, thrown in the washer and dryer, forgotten about for a week, and come out with no wrinkles to iron. (Good Lord… okay, that’s the kind of wardrobe I want for myself !!)
The New Secrets of Style. I am going to be a little bit harsh about this book. It is filled with pictures of actresses, tv personalities, movie stars, prominent figures, and the like. Filled. Literally. Page after page. It’s more like a having a coffee table book of collected InStyle Magazines. Okay, so why all the harangue? I admit to looking for magazines like InStyle when I have to sit and wait at the doctor’s office. But my motivation is purely voyeuristic; I don’t actually want to relate to the human beings depicted in it’s pages, let alone dress like them. I couldn’t care less what the Red Carpet Crowd wears. It’s totally impractical for my life. So why did I pick up this book? Well, two reasons: first, I did not look through it when I took it off the shelf. That was my mistake, because it would never have come home with me if I had. But also, I really thought the title, “Secrets Of Style”, was on creating your own personal sense of style. Admittedly it does touch on the principles of finding your own style and creating a wardrobe around it, but the advice is so shallow and weak it barely gives a nod in that direction. Alright, enough diatribe. This book goes back to the library post-haste.
Does This Make Me Look Fat? I think Leah Feldon should rewrite this book so that angels sing whenever the cover is opened. Little Disney butterflies should flutter out. Birds should come out of it and help you get dressed every morning. Yeah, it’s that good. The biggest reason this book is going to become a permanent part of my collection is because the author takes the time to tell you WHY. Why certain clothing works for you and why it doesn’t. The title should be, “WHY Does This Make Me Look Fat?” As I read this book, it was like the heavens opened up and I finally understood why some of my outfits looked great on me, and others not so good, even though they were in my colors. This book is painstakingly written, and there are NO photographs. The best you’re gonna get is black and white line drawings. There are no color-coordinated swatches, no examples of some cutie-pie modeling what the author is talking about. What you will get is down and dirty, make-me-look-slimmer advice. Pages and pages of advice, for everything from clothes to accessories to hair. I do have a couple of minor caveats, and they are very minor: first, the author is very opinionated, stating her advice as “rules”. She does say that you can feel free to break them, but you should do so knowing exactly WHY you are breaking them. She also believes that the Classic Style is the best style. I tend to disagree with that, because there are certainly people who will look better in a Sporty Style or a Romantic Style. However, most women work, and the working world usually dictates that the Classic Style is the style recommended at work, enforced more or less depending where you work. So I can ignore her little soapbox on the Classic approach, because in general terms she does have a point. The second caveat I have is that the author LOVES black. Black, black, black, black, black. “Hell, I’m an Autumn!” I say in dismay. “I can’t wear black!” Alas, that is simply NOT true. I have this one knee-length jacket that is black with a dark purple collar and cuffs. That thing makes me look HOT. Seriously hot! It’s my favorite power piece and I love how I feel when I’m wearing it. So if I’m an Autumn and black is not okay on me, why does this jacket work? It’s got two reasons: one, the color closest to my face is a grape purple color, which does look good on me. If the collar were black, it would drain my face of color. But since the collar is purple, it works. And two, the cut of the jacket fits me like a glove, skimming over my curves without being snug. So for those reasons I can wear black, with very careful moderation and attention paid to HOW the black is worn and where it is worn. The author’s focus on black is really a focus on monochromatic dressing. Black just happens to be her favorite monochrome. Now I can’t just go out there and start sewing all black tops and pants and jackets. I’d look like I was constantly in mourning and it would age me ten years. But I can do a dark cocoa brown, or olive green, or deep dusty plum. Put me in a monochromatic top and pants that were one of those colors, and I’d rock ‘em. It would look like I’d lost ten pounds. And that would have Leah nodding her head in agreement. Careful accessorizing makes the monochrome pop (scarves, pins, belts, jewelry, etc.) so you don’t get bored wearing just one color from collar to hem. So as I know you can guess, this book is getting renewed. I’m going to read through it a second time, a bit more slowly, and I guess the librarian is going to have to pry it out of my fingers to get it back.
Trinny and Susannah are a hoot. What You Wear Can Change Your Life is another book I do like. They have a very no-nonsense approach that is presented in a humorous way, softening the blow when they give you the do’s and don’ts of their version of style. I like their photos, using themselves openly and candidly as models. My favorite section of the book is where they talk about Shapewear. More on that in another post! These two do tend to have a more trendy outlook on the outfits they chose, and so their books will have to be updated every now and again as those trends change. But overall, their book is pretty good. They do skim the surface of the WHY question and their before/after photo comparisons are well worth the look. Will I buy it? Actually – no. It’s a cute book and I love the humor in it. I did get something out of it. But they really didn’t tell me much that I didn’t already know, besides the section on Shapewear. I had read their book from cover to cover in one sitting, devouring it and reading hilarious sections to my husband (to his dismay, since he was also trying to read. But hey, he was a captive audience). If you have this one available in your library, I would recommend reading it. And for you, it might be that sky-opening revelation complete with Disney characters. It just wasn’t for me. I’m debating whether or not to renew it and re-read it; I’m leaning toward giving it a second chance. But I don’t think I’ll cry when I have to turn it back in.
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