about the start of Me-Made-May, the month long commitment to wear self stitched garments throughout the month of May. As I wrote on Facebook, I am not participating in it because if I did, I would be wearing either ball gowns or lingerie for thirty days. One commenter said, “we see nothing wrong with this….” and they were absolutely right. As long as I wear the ball gowns over the lingerie, I’m good to go!

I respect and admire those that can participate in MMM. I have a busy day job that keeps me from churning out more than a couple of garments a year. Mind you, my projects are usually extravagant, but I barely come close to double digits. So the fact that some people have a full thirty day’s worth of self-made clothes in their closets impresses me! Bethany, Marci, Nette, and all the other ladies participating out there… you rock!

One of Philadelphia’s characteristics that I first fell in love with when I moved here were its murals and graffitis. On the sides of buildings, and many buildings might I add (almost every couple of blocks), are paintings that cover concrete from ground to second, third, fourth, fifth, or ten floor. In many colors too! The gigantic  paintings mush together many images and usually center around one theme – living green, racism, women’s rights, etc. Wrapped up in my own little world, I never questioned or researched this city, my city’s, quirk. I just looked and thought, “how pretty.”

Last week, light was shed on my secluded little life. As part of story (or post) for work, I interviewed Roger Gastman, the curator of an installation currently on display at our home offices. A graffitti artist during his teenage years, Roger switched focus from artist to collector, collecting music posters from the Go-Go scene, a world renowned punk and hardcore music scene where graffiti ruled. As part of one of his answers, he touched upon the history of graffiti. Technically, graffiti, or writings and drawings that are put on the surface of a public place, originated in Ancient Greece and Egypt. But modern day graffiti began… where… Philadelphia! In the 1960s, artists such as Cool Earl and Cornbread bombed the city with their tags. Ahhh… so that explains the murals around town!

Just like Karen wrote, most of us wear many hats. My main hobby is sewing but that doesn’t mean I’m not into other forms of art. Actually, I find most of my inspiration for sewing from other forms of art. So even though Roger and his installation have nothing to do with SPI, interfacing, or stretch factors, he still inspires me. You never know how this interview will seep into my sewing life.

Other than measuring sleeve and armholes, pants were the most difficult garments to measure when I worked in tech design. Getting the rise to lie flat so that I could measure its length was not an easy job and because rise is a crucial POM (point of measure), I couldn’t slack off. The difference between a back rise of 14 1/4″ and 14 1/2″ was the difference between a wedgie and no wedgie. No Anthropologie customer wants her pair of silk, tweed, or wool trousers riding up her hoo-hah!

Halfway through my stint in tech design, a new manager was hired for our department. With experience from retailers such as Victoria’s Secret, Anna Sui, and American Eagle, she knew her stuff. A POM she asked me to measure on all pants and shorts, a POM that wasn’t in the system (we recorded measurements in the computer), was the width of the rise. According to her, the width must be between 6-7″ at 2″ above the bottom of the rise for a good fit (see diagram). Because I sewed mostly dresses at the time, I tossed her tip to the backburner. But as I’m working on the pattern for the jumper (it’s coming along), her tip has come back to me. She had a lot of insider information so this could be another hidden secret of the tech world. But I ask you, have any of you heard this? Does this rule apply to all sizes (the pants and shorts I measured in tech were always size 6 RTW).

UPDATE: Thinking about this more, I might have figured out why a rise must be a certain width at 2″ above the ”bottom of the seat.” I remember that many of the pants and shorts received from the factories had a rise that resembled more of a “V” than a “U” shape. So, making sure that the rise is a certain width at a point close to the bottom, you are ensuring that the rise is a nice, smooth, and rounded curve. Does anyone else agree with my reasoning?

When life gets frustrating, like when you sew a wrong side to a right side or when you interface the wrong pattern piece (okay, there might be other worse that are non sewing related), I recite tried-and-true affirmations. Some may be cheesy and some may be deep but all of them are kept in my repertoire as weapons against negativity, chaos, and down times. Common, what better response can you come up with when life throws you a curve ball – “I’d pair boucle with chambray any day!”

What affirmations are quotes keep you running and in check?