Various dresses, tops, and a skirt!

The Deer & Doe Givre dress in navy ponte.

It’s been quite awhile since my last post, but I have been keeping busy sewing! The school year has started again and with it the traditional hustle and bustle, so I’ve had less time to post about sewing. I’m actually not teaching this quarter — how fortunate am I! — but with writing, presentations, and family life, my schedule nevertheless gets a little packed.

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Chartreuse Seamwork Tacara

A white woman with dark hair stands in front of a bookshelf, wearing a bright green, baggy dress, her hands in her pockets.
Hard to miss me in this dress, huh?

This is a new silhouette for me: the Seamwork Tacara dress, which is voluminous and cocoon-shaped, with raglan (I think?) sleeves and big pockets. (My mother-in-law was kind enough to buy me a Seamwork membership, which I’ve enjoyed.) I really like the versions I’ve seen on other people, but I don’t know. Looking at pictures, it’s not…my ideal version of myself. I think perhaps it could use some hemming. I also decided to make the 18 because it was the smallest size in the larger size range (which I had to print separately), but I wonder if the 16 might be a better fit.

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Flowery rayon Holyoke dress

White woman stands in front of a bookshelf wearing a flowered maxi dress and smiling.

Hot off the sewing machine! This is my second Cashmerette Holyoke dress. (I love my first version.) I really like this pattern: the dress is swishy, cool, and perfect for summer. The lack of fasteners (the buttons are a lie!) make it easy to pull on, and the elastic in the back waistband make it super comfortable. Oh, and big pockets! It’s easy and comfortable enough for an everyday dress, but I think it would also be appropriate to wear at a wedding or outdoor party, should I ever attend one.

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A blue scuba Rivermont, a graphic tank, and a pink sundress

White woman with dark hair stands in front of a colorful bookshelf wearing a pink sundress decorated with yellow lemons.
Butterick 6674 in rayon from Fabric.com. Imperfect and in need of ironing, but it’s a breezy pleasure to wear.

Here in L.A., we’re starting to take tentative steps toward reentering the world. My husband and I are fortunate to be fully vaccinated, and we’ve slowly started to expand the list of activities we participate in. Two kids complicate the situation, but we’ve been able at last to allow Dora to participate in some playdates, which she’s sorely, sorely missed. It’s clear that her healing from the isolation and anxiety of the previous year will be a long, complicated process. But we’re fortunate that her school is really supportive and we have some good professional help.

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A gold Zadie, an amazing pattern cabinet makeover, and kids’ stuff

A white woman with dark hair wears a gold-colored jumpsuit with a tie waist while a baby dismantles the books on the shelves behind her.
Guess who’s crawling.

Happy 2021! And good riddance to 2020. I can’t say that the calendar change has eradicated our stress or household chaos, but we’re getting through it. I’ve been wondering lately whether any resources will be available, post-pandemic, to get kids re-socialized. If my own household and my friends’ are any indication, a lot of kids have really regressed socially, while acquiring a range of anxiety-related disorders. We are doing everything — everything — we can to maintain my kids’ mental health, but there are real limits to what one individual can do amidst structural collapse.

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Simplicity 1653, McCall’s 7739, and kid clothes

White woman in pink wrap dress stands in front of colorful bookshelf.

We’re holding it together (mostly) here as we await the promised post-Thanksgiving COVID surge. We’ve been locked down now for nine months, and the situation is absurd and untenable, but we’re continuing nevertheless, because what choice do we have? At least we are in the incredibly fortunate position of having relatively secure incomes, and I am hugely thankful that no one in my family has yet gotten sick. I don’t expect that we’ll be able to see our extended family or friends for Christmas, so we’re all taking deep breaths and preparing for a long winter.

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Sway and Rivermont dresses, plus kids’ clothes

Papercut Sway dress in ombre silk chiffon.

I’m sorry to say that we’re still on firm lockdown here in L.A. In fact, things are quite a bit worse than my last post; California made the patently absurd decision to start opening up a few weeks ago, and as a result, infection rates have skyrocketed. My family was expecting this—anyone, including the governor, county supervisors, and mayor, should have been—so we’ve been prepared, but it is terrifying to watch the devastation unfolding around us. We’re back at the level of lockdown we were in May, not even permitting ourselves to go to the grocery store, and it’s tremendously frustrating. Dora’s school will almost certainly be online in the fall, and UCLA announced an all-online plan some months ago.

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