Vogue 1114 Issey Miyake

I'm very excited about my latest project. I love the intrigue of Miyake patterns and went into this one thinking it would probably not really be a wearable garment as some of my Miyake's have been in the past. What a great pleasure to find it not only wearable but wonderful! I thought it might require leggings to look right but discovered it is great with regular pants.It took me a long time to come up with two fabrics that work together, partly because there is a lot of yardage involved. The black takes over 3 yards and the contrast 1 3/4 if the fabric is 45" wide. I searched my stash for awhile, then ordered some fabric from Fabric.com which I hated (thankfully they are wonderful with returns), went back to my stash and finally settled on black with the silk chiffon animal print for contrast. I laid out the pattern and discovered my original black was short on yardage. Dipped back into the stash to find another black. This wool dobby (left from some projects years ago) had enough yardage but was quite different than the original plan. But how pleased I am with the result. I think it is even better. All this to point out that I'm sure I spent a lot more time looking for fabrics than construction which was probably around 5 hours.

There is one main pattern piece, cut twice and joined at center back. No side seams. Most of the construction is easy but there are a coupled of places that have the usual Miyake puzzling affect where you scratch your head and study the drawings a lot. But the instructions are all correct and if you follow along carefully (having marked all the dots precisely) it goes together beautifully. Sleeve facings and the contrast piece are the only other pattern pieces to deal with.

I think I like it best with one side buttoned up and the other side buttoned crossed over. I'm unlikely to ever wear it with both sides buttoned across the front but took a photo to show you that look. Also, although I like the unbuttoned look from the back, I'm not crazy about it from the front so I probably won't wear it that way either. I like it both with the sleeveless tank and the longer sleeve.

What I've been doing

Home once again from a fantastic reunion/visit with family in Jackson Hole. Everybody had fun and we survived lots of babysitting time including overnight with the 3 am bottle and 5:30 am wakeup. I had one afternoon with time to myself so I traced several Burda WOF styles for future sewing. I chose simple ones with just 3 or 4 pattern pieces as my time was limited and the set up awkward. Hopefully sewing will start soon.

I'm recovering slowly from a bizarre medical situation that has me functioning more slowly than usual. I woke up 3 am in the motel on the way home Monday with an increasingly painful elbow. After a few hours I got up and looked in the mirror to find a very swollen elbow and arm. A little black mark made me think I had been stung or bitten. Asked the Motel manager if they had scorpions. Fast forward.... fever, chills, red and hot arm. Finally Wednesday I went to the doctor who didn't buy into the sting/bite theory but called it a staph infection. Asked if I had banged my elbow recently. I couldn't remember doing so but what with hiking, rafting, and playing with babies maybe I did. Apparently the bursa at the elbow is a very vulnerable place so that if it gets hurt and then has a open cut, the staph bacteria, which is around us all the time, can invade. I did have roughness on my elbow as though scraped so that must have led to this. Hopefully the antibiotics will work for me although I read that the staph bacteria is very resistant. I'm saying all this so you will attend to any scrapes with disinfectant!!