Literary Sewing Circle: Amatka

 

Our Spring session of the Literary Sewing Circle is starting a little later than usual this year, but it's worth the wait. It's a genre that we haven't read together yet; dystopian speculative fiction, originally written in Swedish and translated by the author. I hope you'll take a chance on this unusual title and read along.

 I'm pleased to announce that our group read for this round is:

Amatka by Karin Tidbeck

Summary:

Vanja, an information assistant, is sent from her home city of Essre to the austere, wintry colony of Amatka with an assignment to collect intelligence for the government. Immediately she feels that something strange is going on: people act oddly in Amatka, and citizens are monitored for signs of subversion.

Intending to stay just a short while, Vanja falls in love with her housemate, Nina, and prolongs her visit. But when she stumbles on evidence of a growing threat to the colony, and a cover-up by its administration, she embarks on an investigation that puts her at tremendous risk.

In Karin Tidbeck’s world, everyone is suspect, no one is safe, and nothing—not even language, nor the very fabric of reality—can be taken for granted. Amatka is a beguiling and wholly original novel about freedom, love, and artistic creation by a captivating new voice.

(from Publisher website)

(you can read an excerpt or listen to an extract at the publisher's website as well)

Credit: Patrik Åkervinda 2020

About The Author:

Karin Tidbeck lives and works in Malmö as a freelance writer and translator, and writes speculative fiction in Swedish and English. They debuted in 2010 with the Swedish collection Vem är Arvid Pekon? Their English debut, the 2012 collection Jagannath, received the Crawford Award and was shortlisted for the World Fantasy Award. The novel Amatka was shortlisted for the Locus Award in 2018. Their second novel, The Memory Theater, came out in February 2021. Tidbeck’s short fiction is published at Tor.com, Uncanny Magazine, Lightspeed and more. They dedicate their free time to games, swordfighting and forteana. Find them online at karintidbeck.com and Instagram as @ktidbeck. 

This book is available for purchase in both hard copy and ebook formats.

You can find many formats at all of these locations:

IndieBound

Amazon.ca

Amazon.com

Amazon.co.uk

Amazon.com.au

Book Depository

Chapters Indigo

Powell's

Barnes and Noble

ABE Books

Biblio.com

Or, of course, check your local library!

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How does the Literary Sewing Circle work? We read a book together, discuss it, and then make something inspired by our reading. As long as you can point out what inspired you from your reading, even if just a sentence, you can share your makes in our final roundup!

Anyone can join, and you can sew, knit, quilt or embroider - any textile art that you like doing - to participate. This is a reading/sewing circle, very low-key; no competitions here, just reading and sewing for fun. 

There is no official sign-up to worry about; just start reading along if you wish, and leave your thoughts on the book or your project on any of the Literary Sewing Circle posts. We do have a dedicated book discussion post halfway through and again at the end, but leave your thoughts anytime. And you can follow along on Instagram too if you like: look for #LiterarySewingCircle and you'll find us.

And when the final post goes up, so does the project linkup -- you can leave a link to your finished project there, whether it is on your blog, a pattern site, or even Instagram. It's easy :)

So, join in, and share!

Literary Sewing Circle Schedule

April 2 - Announcement & Introduction
April 9 - Inspiration post 
April 16 - Author feature
April 23  - Halfway mark: book talk
April 30 - Inspiration post
May 7 - Final Post: book discussion wrap up & posting of project linkup

(you will then have just over 3 weeks to finish your project and post it; we'll close the link-up on May 31)

Everyday Dress in Medallion Print for #FrugalFrocks

When I saw an announcement for a sewalong challenge on IG called #FrugalFrocks2021, I knew it was one for me! I love dresses, and I love sewing frugally. The challenge was to take a free dress pattern, and match it with a fabric from your stash, and then reveal your make on March 31. I'll be sharing the project tomorrow on IG; blog readers get an advance view ;) 

I have quite a number of free dress patterns in my stash. I looked through a bunch of them, but ended up returning to the Everyday Dress by In The Folds for Peppermint Magazine. I had already traced this one last year and it was ready to go. I considered the Himari Dress by Love Sewing magazine, which I also have traced out. I also thought about making another Orla Dress. And I looked at the four or five dress downloads from Mood Sewciety that I have in my queue...and the handful from Fabrics-store.com. But when I found this medallion fabric in the deep stash I knew it would have to be the Everyday Dress.

Windy bright days don't equal ideal photo conditions ;) But they are lovely.

The fabric has a crisper hand -- it's like a medium weight fabric you might use for curtains or a pillow cover. But it also had the feel and look I wanted so I just went for it! Thankfully it turned out well; the fabric holds the shape of the dress in a way that I like (a soft linen makes this dress look too droopy for my personal tastes). It's also pretty, with turquoise, darker blue, mauve and gold in the print. 

The pattern itself is a pretty quick and easy one. It's theoretically reversible, with a round neck and a v-neck. I like the V neck in front, myself. The pockets went in just in the right spot and the finishing details, both facings at neck and hem, are nicely done. I really like the hem treatment, although it does mean that you'd better know what length you want when you cut it -- you can't really chop off anything at the bottom when you're done. The hem facing is incorporated into the cut fabric, and you just fold and mitre a couple of inches at the end. It gives a neat and tidy finish, especially around the side slits. I'm impressed with it! 

Other than the required shortening of the main pattern pieces prior to cutting, I didn't have to make too many adjustments. I was planning on shortening the sleeve, but since my old fabric was only 45" wide, I wasn't given much choice about how much to shorten them! I cut them as long as possible on this fabric and as it turns out this is the perfect length for my short arms. 

This was a fast sew but a thoughtfully planned one. The pattern has good instructions and a nice finish, as mentioned. I think I may make another in a different type of fabric for a whole other look. I'm so pleased that this sewalong finally gave me the impetus to make this dress, which I downloaded and traced over a year ago. 

Can't wait for a less windy day to wear this! ;)

Weekend Review: A Single Thread

 

A Single Thread / Tracy Chevalier
NY: Viking, c2019.
321 p.

This is a novel full of details about canvaswork embroidery. Really! (note the cover design). But it's also a novel about a single woman in post war England -- a "surplus woman" trying to build her own life as a single working woman outside the traditional bounds of expected early marriage.

It's 1932, and 38 yr old Violet Speedwell has just moved out of her overbearing mother's house to the nearby town of Winchester, home of a great cathedral. She lost both her older brother and her fiancé in the Great War, and has been caring for her mother ever since. But now she's had enough and finally manages a transfer to the Winchester office of the insurance company where she works as a typist. 

Winchester isn't far away, and she still visits her mother weekly. But she's also building her own life; living in a boarding house, penny pinching to eat and live, and discovering the Broderers group at the Cathedral by chance. Even though she's never been much of a needleworker, she joins in to help make kneelers and cushions for the Cathedral, to leave a trace of herself somewhere. This group of women also becomes her social group and support in many ways. There is much time in the novel devoted to explaining the designs, the actual stitches and colours, and the designer, the great Louisa Pesel, all based in the real embroidery history of Winchester Cathedral. 

At the Cathedral, Violet also meets a bell ringer, Arthur Knight, married and much older than she is. But there's a spark there. The novel explores the possibility of a relationship like that in this era, as well as showing other concerns that single women had to face, when Violet gains a stalker. This theme was a bit disturbing, and I'm not sure it was essential. If this character had been removed from the novel, the story wouldn't have lost anything, in my opinion. Reading this book over the past few weeks when so much violence against women was happening in our world, I found it particularly disturbing. 

The detail given to embroidery in this novel is also given to bell ringing, a particularly English occupation. This reminded me of Dorothy Sayers' The Nine Tailors, and just as in that book, I glazed over during the details of bell ringing technique. Perhaps others might do the same during the embroidery parts, but not me, and I hope not the readers at this blog! 

The book is well constructed, moving along a good clip, and bringing up so many concerns in a single woman's life. Dependency, the expectations to care for parents, money, companionship, meaning, children and lack of, social constrictions -- all were quite naturally enfolded into Violet's story. Some of her choices might not be the expected ones, or ones that a reader would choose on their own behalf, but she's a realistic and believable character nonetheless. The interplay between Violet and her brother and his family, and her mother, was delicately balanced and highlighted how Violet's life and her options differed from her sister-in-law's 'married with children' life trajectory. I found it an engaging read that I enjoyed overall. 

Projects Underway & Upcoming!

Lots in progress and about to be underway around here. I certainly didn't want to miss the chance to announce that the Literary Sewing Circle is back for our spring session! We will be launching this round next Friday, April 2 -- stay tuned for the title announcement. I'll give you a small hint. It's a genre we haven't tackled together yet...think speculative fiction...and perhaps something translated... The initial post with the title and schedule for the session will appear here in a week.

But no finished projects to share today. This week I've been working on My Body Model sketches, cutting out a couple of things, and giving a little clean up to my sewing space! 

I do have a handful of projects in the queue, and they are all bright & cheery colours just right for Spring. First up is Butterick 6655 in this floral linen blend -- it's about half done and I'm sure it'll be finished shortly. I had to make a few sizing changes on this but nothing too difficult. 

Next I'll be working on the Penrose Blouse. It's cut out and set aside as my next project to sew up. I used a lightweight cotton curtain that I thrifted since I thought it would be perfect for this summery top. 

I also just received 2 yards of this lovely viscose jersey from Sew Much Fabric -- another of my prizes from my recent #BHMPatternDesigners challenge win. I have to prewash it and then it will be made into a jersey dress. I have some pattern ideas but haven't decided on which one exactly, not yet. Suggestions welcome :)

And I'm also starting on a top-secret pattern testing project this weekend, so I'll have lots to keep me busy over the next few weeks. Although I hope you'll join me in some bookish sewing starting next Friday! 

Fashion Sketching with My Body Model

 I was lucky enough to win a premium package from My Body Model in my recent #BHMPatternDesigners Challenge win. I've been intrigued by My Body Model for a while now, and this finally gave me the impetus to measure myself and get my personalized croquis downloaded and printed. It was so easy, and promises to be addictive. 

I watched the three videos that Erica has posted about the basics of garment sketching for total beginners (that's me) and tried out some of her tips and tricks. It's easier than I thought it would be. The croquis with the right proportions makes a big difference in getting the feel of a garment right for me. Some of the tips included using the line drawings and model images from your chosen pattern to note the shapes, starting with dots to mark the edges and shapes of things, then drawing in the curved lines to connect it all. That made it work so well!

I started by sketching out some of the items on my 2021 #MakeNine list, starting with the ones I'm planning on making next. I started just with pencil sketches to get the feel of how this works. It's really neat -- so fun that I can see doing this a lot! I'm not a plan oriented sewist in general; I tend to have a mental overview of the patterns I'm interested in and then make things according to mood and whatever fabric is currently speaking to me. So this should be an interesting addition to my sewing process, maybe I'll get my sewing queue a little more organized this way. 

I found that using the tiny adjustments to the way lines curved that Erica talked about in her videos made the sketches immediately more realistic. I haven't really tried using colour or representing fabrics more realistically yet, but I'm already hooked. Have I mentioned how fun it is? It feels like the grownup version of FashionPlates ;) 

I'll have to practice more to really get the hang of it, as I've seen so many people sharing their garment plans using this technique on Instagram which have inspired me. I really love Nateida's paper doll process that she shared at the beginning of the challenge, and want to give that a go once I get the garment drawing bit down. So much potential! The next time Erica offers her drawing class, I'm in 😍

Weekend Review: Fierce!

 

Fierce / Jo Weldon
NY: HarperCollins, c2018
232 p.

This energetic read is a fun introduction to leopard print in many area of fashion - from politician's wives to burlesque, from movie stars to goddesses of history. It's a smallish size, but heavy with glossy paper and tons of photos and images; even the cover is shiny and metallic. It's very visually appealing! 

I enjoyed this one. The author writes well, in an entertaining style, but also compiles a lot of information on how leopard print appeared in society -- from Egyptian, Chinese or Aztec goddesses, on up to the current day. There is a nice balance of text and image in this book; often her statements are immediately supported by a photo or drawing. She refers to how leopard print is a symbol or signifier, from the far past up to the rock & roll era, as well as in burlesque and in cinema. There are lots of images of models and actresses in various forms of leopard print as well, which is always fascinating. 

There was enough text to this book that you feel like you learned something, while enjoying the trip. But what makes this book particularly special, I think, is that the author opens the book with a classification of the many spotted cats that are included when people think of "leopard print" -- from leopards to cheetahs, jaguars, ocelots and more -- and differentiates between their spot patterns. And while doing this, she also talks about each species and how vulnerable it is to extinction currently. While she celebrates the print, she also strongly discourages wearing actual furs, noting that it's actually illegal in many places now to trade in the pelts of big cats. And the book closes with this note, again, and a listing of six different cat conservation organizations that you can explore to get involved with or donate to. This is an important element to mention so clearly, so I was impressed with the thoroughness of it. 

If leopard print appeals to you at all, I think you'll enjoy this book and all its social history, plus the great fashion images and discussions. It's well organized, engaging, and just lots of fun to read. 

Retro upcycling: stash skirt to top

 

Today's project is a quick refashion -- well, sewing it up was quick, although it's been cut and in my to-sew pile for months! I had a gathered skirt that I'd bought at a thrift store YEARS ago, because I loved the fabric. But it didn't fit and the style was just too old-fashioned. So I took the waistband off, and the gathered skirt turned out to be quite a large rectangle of this lovely drapy paisley print. But even a large skirt doesn't have tons of fabric, so a sleek top it would have to be.

I had this McCalls 4632 from 1989 in the stash, and thought that View F, the sleeveless one in blue, would be perfect. I was able to fit this onto the fabric neatly, cutting the hem of the top on the hem of the skirt, so that I didn't have to redo the hem but could use the pretty ribbon-edged one that already existed. This also made the project faster. 

Putting it together was fairly easy, with a couple of adjustments for my precut pieces. I sewed up the gathers and shoulder seams, then moved on to the facings. Because the front neckline is so closely fitted, there is a slash opening in the back and there are supposed to be a couple of buttons with thread loops. I was able to find an appropriate button in my stash, after auditioning about 6 varieties. They not only had to be smallish shank buttons which matched the fabric, I had to be sure they were very lightweight as well, since this fabric is very drapy and soft. I finally went with one button only, because I had this perfect choice but only one of them! 

Then it was a simple double fold hem on the sleeve openings, and I just double folded the side seam in the hem allowance and hand tacked it down, to keep things neat and tidy. And that's it! This pattern calls for shoulder pads, which I always leave out, but the fit of this one might just need some small ones. I'm thinking of adding in some 1/4" shoulder pads to hold the sleeve out a bit -- I think it'll show off the shoulder gathers a little better. 

This one is quite long, so looks much better tucked in, I think. Because it's just a geometric shape with no darts I think I could probably even wear it backwards if I wanted a front neckline slash tunic, though ;) I enjoyed this quick refashion and am happy to save this silky fabric and make into something wearable once more.