Happy Labor Day from Port San Luis

Greetings from my 1966 Driftwood Trailer

The perfect kitchen for a Betty Crocker Camp Dinner!

Happy Labor Day folks! We took the Driftwood out for the second time to Avila Beach up on the Central Coast of California. Every RV in the world must have been out so I felt it fitting to send a greeting from my little trailer. I actually cooked sausage and eggs on the tiny stove! There was no water where we camped and the bathroom was down the mountain but the views were unbeatable. Port San Luis in Avila Beach is one of the oldest ports in California, having been a working port for the Spanish and a passenger ship embarcation spot until the early 1900's. Nowadays it is a fishing pier and you can go out fishing for a half day or a whole day on the fishing charters that leave from there. There is an old fish restaurant on the end of the pier called the Port San Luis Inn. There are lots of  sea lions you can watch on the end of the pier too. The whole place has a kind of old California John Steinbeck feel to it. With the economy being the way it is it looks like camping is making a comeback in a major way. It seems the RV world is not immune to the American tendency to supersize everything . The trailers just keep getting bigger and so do the trucks . Our little trailer was totally drarved by these behemoths! It reminded me of the little House in one of my favorite children's books, The Little House by Virginia Lee Burton after they build all the skyscrapers and the little house is left in the middle.

The view of Port San Luis from our campground

Last week of Summer andBack to School.

My suntanned Dad at Dinner

The pleated Skirt made from One Yard wonders

Goodbye Summer Vacation!

Jean Christophe and Baby Kissa

Friends at the Baby Shower

An art filled wall at Darla's

The view from the glass walled dining room at Darla's

Fist Day of School.

It's been a busy week. Yesterday, Wednesday was the first day of school for my three older kids who are now in the 11th grade 10th grade and second grade. My friend Monique and her husband Jean-Christophe and new baby Kissa are also in town from Paris and they also spent the day with us yesterday. We had a little dinner party last night so I spent all day Tuesday cleaning the house because between having the  kids and their friends home all summer and all my  projects things were really a disaster, kind of like the inside of my sewing box . I also spent the evening trying to find school supplies at  Target and Office Depot. All the other schools started a week before ours so everything was picked over. Isabelle was thrilled to find the last Harajuku Girls notebook at Target. Lily had to settle for a Barbie Folder. Oliver being a teenage boy is way too cool for character stuff and bought plain black and khaki green everything. Upon leaving school Lily informed me that her really "kawaii" meaning cute in Japanese school pencils we bought in Little Tokyo were too flashy for her teachers' utilitarian taste and she is supposed to have the plain yellow ones. So last night after our dinner party we did a KMart run and there wasn't a plain Ticonderoga pencil to be found. Isn't wearing  a uniform enough for her school? I sent my kids to private Catholic School for many reasons but can't they have a little freedom to choose their own pencils? Monday I took Lily to  Vons to sell the last of her candy bars because our first meeting of American Heritage Girls was that afternoon. And what might you ask, is American Heritage Girls? I guess you could call it an offshoot of the Girl Scouts only with a Catholic vein running through it. And guess who co leader is for the 6 to 9 year old Tenderfoot Unit? That's right yours truly. We had a great time making peanut butter pinecone bird feeders. The leaders have to wear khaki bottoms and red polo shirts. I wasn't inspired to make myself something as drab as all that but I did find a cute khaki straight pencil type skirt at the Ralph Lauren Outlet. On wearing it to the meeting I found it a little hard to walk in though. Oh well! Sunday was also a busy day. After going to morning mass the whole family, except 16 year old Oliver who went to the beach with his friends headed down to Venice Beach for a Baby Shower for my friend Monique held at her friend Darlas place. Darla owns a boutique on Abbitt-Kinney in Venice and her significant other is an artist who built their house which was modern and interesting . It was half made of glass and filled with funky art. We had fun at the party and ended the day having dinner at I Cugini on Ocean Avenue, our old standby for delicious Italian food which we have been going to for 20 years. We also checked out the newly rebuilt Santa Monica Place which is now an outdoor mall. It was beautiful but felt really touristy without the charm of the Third Street Promenade next door. Last but not least I started working on my first patternless garment since I'm tired of patterns that don't fir right. I draped it on to my dress form. I call it the Barbie Dress. I also made a little girls simple pleated skirt from the book I bought One Yard Wonders. It was super easy  to make. You draft it right onto the fabric.

Baby dress with Asian Fabric and ruffled panty

Here is a dress I made for Baby Gigi with some of the fabrics I bought downtown last week. I used  a store bought pattern, Butterick 5017. The drawing of the pattern showed the skirt to be more gathered than the dress really is.

Who can resist a ruffled baby pant. This is the only stage in life when ruffles on the butt actually look good!

A pensive moment. You can't believe how hard it is for a baby who doesn't walk yet to stand still for a moment. Crawling doesn't really show off the outfit.

Here is a shot from behind. Next time I make this dress I will increase the gathering of the skirt . The asian looking fabric was a real bargain. It's by Roxy Quicksilver and was only 2 dollars a yard.

Simplicity 2405 adding a neckline insert for modesty

Pattern envelope

Low gaping neckline

Addition of a fabric panel.

I shirred the panel with narrow elastic on the wrong side.

I added a braided trim to cover the stichline from the added modesty panel. 

The finished result. It looks good on Isabelle but it was a disaster to make!
I decided to make a maxi dress from some really interesting Anna Sui Fabric I found on sale. I bought  Simplicity Pattern  2405 and based on my measurements I should be a size 12. Well when I sewed it up it was huge! Of course I was too lazy to make a test pattern from some cheaper fabric so I ended up having to take it in about 4 inches from the sides and this threw off the fit of the whole garment. To top it of the bustline was too low and gaping  so I had to figure out how to add some kind of panel . I came up with the idea above. Once I attached themodesty panel I noticed there were some cheap looking stichlines around the neckline which I wanted to hide so I fashioned a braid to sew on by hand to cover the stitchmarks.
The conclusion I have come to regarding store bought patterns is that by the time I finish correcting all the mistakes on the fit of the pattern I might as well build a garment from scratch. I pulled out my old patternmaking books from FIDM and I bought a  new book called: Design It Yourself Clothes and I am going to be making more original patterns from now on. Commercial patterns never seem to fit right, sorry Simplicity!

Los Angeles Fabric District Field Trip

Thursday I took my girls down to the LA Fabric District to buy some new fabric for upcoming projects

A stop at the FIDM scholarship store where you can find incredible deals on trims and fabric

Some beautiful cottons at Micheal Levine

You can't go to the Fabric District without stopping for a bacon wrapped hot dog topped with Avocado salsa

The corner of 9th and Maple

You can get cash, feathers, AND a Tiara in one stop!

Laying out my 3$ a yard cotton

Walking down Maple

Trims at Kashcool on 9th Street

Using up my fabric stash

So I'm planning on going to the Los Angeles garment district tomorrow to do some fabric shopping. I can't help but feeling a little guilty because I already have so much fabric as you can see. A lot of it I have been picking up over the years at Flea Markets or thrift shops and various trips to the garment district downtown. But not much of it is actually that great for making grown up clothing. Quilting cotton is wonderful for children's clothing because it's so bright and durable but I'm not that crazy about the drape for my own clothes.There are some fun projects in this great book I just got from Amazon called One Yard WondersOne-Yard Wonders: 101 Sewing Fabric Projects; Look How Much You Can Make with Just One Yard of Fabric!. I could use up some of the fabrics I'm not that crazy about by making shopping bags for the grocery store. I need a new shower curtain and I would also like to cover my vintage ironing board with something cute and colorful. It's a beautiful old wooden board but it has an ancient stained cover on it which is getting a little too dreary for me to handle as you can see from the photo above. Maybe the fabric can be used to make some quilts to donate to my kids' school for the fundraiser this fall. Does anyone have any interesting ideas?

Sunday Morning Crepe recipe

Crepes are really easy to make and somehow have a lot more panache than your average puffy pancake. Here is an easy recipe:

1. 2 eggs
2. 1 cup milk
3. 1 cup flour
4. 2 tablespoons melted salted butter

Put everything in a blender and mix.
Heat a flat cast iron pan coated with Pam. Put about 1/3 cup mixture in pan . Pick up pan to spread runny mixture around pan evenly. Flip crepe when browned.
Put the crepe on a plate and place a couple of tablespoons of your favorite jam in the middle. My homemade nectarine recipe is pictured.
Fold the crepe in half . Fold in half again and put a napkin around it.
Yum!