Shameless Living

Sometimes you just need to spend some QT with yourself, and I don’t mean a day at home in your pj’s, sometimes you have to get out there and explore the world and have some experiences on your own.  A lot of people are embarrassed to do things alone, but not getting over that can hold you back from being the most YOU you can be.  While the internet can help you find a community with similar interests, we are not all blessed with a perfect friend or significant other in real life who is interested in seeing all the things we want to see, or experiencing all the things we want to experience.  Do not let this hold you back.  Get out there and experience on your own.  Some things are better enjoyed alone anyway!

This past Saturday I decided to take myself out for a day filled with my favorite things.  I woke up and had breakfast, then headed into the city.  It was a beautiful, unseasonably warm day, so I decided to take a little walk and headed off for my first indulgence: a latte.  A latte might seem like something that’s easy to enjoy with other people, but this, for me, is a great reason to take yourself on a date, you can indulge in all the quirky little things you enjoy that others might not understand.  I LOVE scooping the foam off of a latte with my finger and then licking the foam off my finger.  I get that lots of people might find it gross, but it’s a simple act that brings me a few moments of pure joy, so the minute I was out of the coffee shop I peeled the top off my latte and walked slowly through the sun toward The Fens dipping my finger in that perfect latte and licking away.  Reason one to enjoy a little alone time; you get a chance to indulge in your quirky preferences judgement free.

My next treat was just walking through Back Bay Fens and enjoying the weather.  If you’re unfamiliar with Boston we have an amazing city park system called the Emerald Necklace designed by Frederick Law Olmsted.  Back Bay Fens is probably one of the most under-appreciated parks the system, but it has some really cool things to discover tucked inside its perimeter.  As I was walking and enjoying the sunshine I came upon some sports fields and found people playing quiddich!  I didn’t realize people did that in real life so I sat down on one of the bleachers, soaked up the sun as I sipped my latte, and was introduced to a totally new sport.  Reason two to explore on your own, you never know what you’ll find, and when you’re not engrossed in conversation with someone else, you’re more likely to just stop and notice what interesting things might be going on around you.

Next, it was on the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum.  If you have never been you absolutely must explore this museum.  Its namesake Isabella Stewart Gardner created the museum, a famous patron of the arts who actually built her own museum to display her personal collection.  She was not a professional museum curator, so the collection itself is truly unique, and displayed in a very interesting and accessible way.  Every room feels more like a room in an eccentric family member’s house than a room in a traditional museum, but it’s uniqueness makes it endlessly fascinating.  You could visit the same room 20 times and still find some new little detail every time.  The museum also has a central courtyard filled with sculptures, beautiful plants, and water features.  It’s one of my favorite parts of the museum.  Isabella, as a person, is also an incredibly inspiring woman and one of my role models.   I enjoy visiting the museum with other people as well, but sometimes, especially when taking in art, it’s really important to experience on your own so you can explore at your own pace and be alone with your thoughts and feelings as you take in the beauty around you.  Reason three to take yourself out; some experiences enjoyed with others can take on their own meaning or bring you enjoyment on another level when you do them alone.

Each Saturday the Gardener has an art project for visitors to create, I made this awesome pop-up card on my visit.

After the museum, I headed home and decided to make myself a huge bowl of popcorn and watch a documentary; The Legend of Leigh Bowery.  Leigh was an artist who created clothes and costumes, but really, at the end of the day, he simply saw life as a work of art.  He has inspired generations of club kids and drag queens with his incredible imagination.  I was really inspired by his creativity and willingness to push the boundaries of what was possible in clothing, art, and life.  Reason four to spend some quality time with yourself is that sometimes it can be hard to find someone who is truly interested in all the same things you are.  Never let that hold you back, find time to experience those things on your own instead of just leaving them out of your life.  Even if you do have a partner in crime for your more avant-garde interests, they might not always be around to indulge you, so go ahead and don’t be afraid to indulge yourself.

Every year Videodrome Discothèque puts on an amazing all David Bowie themed dance party. Costumes/tribute outfits are definitely encouraged. Last year I went with some of my girlfriends and just wore a rad outfit with some Bowiesque blush and had a great time, but this year I wanted to get more into the costume. I was thinking of reusing my Halloween costume (Jareth from Labrynth) until I google image searched Ziggy Stardust and BOOM. BEHOLD:

I instantly started thinking back to the swants I made about a month ago and the more I thought about it the more this seemed like the perfect costume project. I just needed a big fair aisle sweater. Here’s how it came out:

To make your own first you need to find a suitable sweater

Requirements:

1. Choose a sweater with a crew neck, it will end up being the leg hole.
2. A sweater with set-in sleeves will work the best because it will result in a smoother line around the crotch. When you lay it flat on the floor it should look like a “T”. I HIGHLY suggest you try the sweater on (one leg through the neck hole and one leg through an arm) to see how it will look before deciding on one. Look for how the arm will fit one of your legs and how the neck opening fits the other and if the transition between the two lays relatively flat. You should look something like this:

Here’s a picture of the sweater I used. The pink lines show which seams you will be altering the blue lines are more or less where the final seams will be.

After you have your sweater you’ll also need:

1. A tapestry needle
2. Scrap yarn in a similar color to the sweater
3. Some safety pins or stitch markers
4. Optional but highly recommended: a sewing machine.

First you’ll want to remove the second sleeve, the one you are not using as a leg. Be careful to rip out the seam that is already there so you have a solid piece of sweater to work with that wouldn’t unravel from the edges. If you have to cut it free you might want to sew along the edge you’ve cut (steek it) to reinforce the knit. Next you’ll want to take the arm in. Check out this steeking tutorial for help. First, cut along the under-arm seam (don’t worry about being careful on this one because you’ll end up cutting this part off anyway, so hack away). Then drape the sleeve over your arm, pinch the extra fabric and and mark how far you want to take it in to make it fit. Remember to leave extra room at the top of the arm, you’ll need it so you can move your arm once you set the sleeve back into the body of the sweater. Then steek both sides just outside where you want your final underarm seam to be. After steeking you may want to trim the extra fabric before mattress stitching, but I recommend you don’t trim the sweater near the top of the sleeve until you try it on again to make sure you left enough room for a functioning arm hole. Finally, mattress stitch your new underarm seam back together.

Next, take your new sleeve and make an armhole for it that starts just below the bottom band along the same seam you originally removed it from. Again, be careful to just open the seam that was already there (or steek the edge if you just cut it out). Make the hole the same size as the new sleeve. Then mattress stitch the new sleeve into it’s new home.

The blue line below is approximately where I made my new underarm seam and the yellow lines show where you are going to reattach the new sleeve to the sweater.

At this point, project Cosby Sweater->Ziggy Stardust is basically in tact, your legs are there, your sleeve is in, try it on and see how it looks!

While you’ve got it on decide how much fabric you’re going to need to take out at the sides. I suggest starting with the longer seam, the one that ends in the sleeveless side of the romper and has a full leg. Pull it to fit, starting at the top (the arm/neck opening) and manipulate the sweater until it is snug enough. Mark where you want to take it in to, use stitch markers or safety pins to mark the stitches you want to end up coming together along the side seam. Then back to the sewing machine for more steeks. Use the marked stitches as a guide and sew two lines down each side connecting the marked stitches. After you finish your steeks cut off the extra fabric and mattress stitch the side back together. The steeks make mattess stitching SO MUCH easier because you have a line to follow while sewing.

Here’s mine, on the left is the sweater when I had taken it off after marking where I wanted to take it in to, you can see the pins and the blue line was where I mattress stitched it back together. On the right is what it looked like after I had steeked it and had cut out the extra fabric on one side:

Try it on again and repeat the same process on the other side seam. I suggest tapering the shorter side seam from near the leg opening to just under the new armpit.

You’re done! It came out AWESOME, right? Congrats on your mastery of advanced swantsing, you should be proud! Thank you Stephen West from West Knits for making this possible! AMAZING.

Photo from the fabulous Videodrome Discothèque