Learning sewing and French

Posted on September 28th, 2008 by Sacha Chua

Sewing is turning out to be surprisingly fun. I finished the wool jumper-dress (Simplicity 4097), learning how to work with wool and lining. It’s amazing how even my not-quite-matched-up work looks better with a little bit of lining. In a burst of confidence, I wore my jumper outside the house yesterday. It didn’t fall apart on me (hooray!), and it made me smile. And I didn’t need to unpick nearly as many seams this time around. I think I only ripped out one mistake.

I’ve started working on a matching blazer. It’ll be my first time working with interfacing (to stiffen the jacket front), reverse facing, and sleeves. I’m a little nervous about the sleeves, but I’m sure I’ll figure them out. I’m half-way through the process and the blazer is looking pretty neat.

W- and I passed by a fabric place earlier. He picked up some black-and-beige cloth for reupholstering the dining room chairs, and I picked up 2 3/4 yards of 60″ red wool. I think I’ll make another jumper with a different neckline. =)

I’m starting to really enjoy carefully measuring and cutting the fabric because I know that the attention I put into the early stages will pay off later on. The boxes we bought from Ikea yesterday have also greatly helped me organize my sewing corner. I was planning to get a sewing machine cover just to make sure Leia doesn’t get tempted by the thread, but the universal sewing machine cover looks clunky. I may just have to sew a sewing machine cozy. ;)

When I told Stephen Perelgut about my new hobby, he laughed and joked about my having too much free time. That’s not really true. I could always find plenty of things to do. I can be using this time to draw, write, cook, exercise, code, tidy up, fiddle with things, play with the cat, read…

I’m glad I added sewing to the mix, though. I enjoy creating things. Sewing is teaching me more about thinking in three dimensions with different colors and textures. Constructing my own clothes teaches me about the techniques used in the clothes I wear and the clothes other people wear, developing my eye. I’m getting better at accurately following instructions, deviating from the pattern where necessary. I think it does me good. In fact, it’s so enjoyable that I’ve started setting limits on how much time I spend sewing at any one sitting. (Leia also helps me keep track of time. Yay for cuddly cats!)

I’ve also been doing French lessons in the background. Of course, since I’m learning from Pimsleur language CDs (hooray library!), the example dialogue’s like this: “Bonjour, madamoiselle. Est-ce que vous voudrais bois quelque chose chez moi?” Aiyah. It was like that for Pimsleur Cantonese, too.

Still, learning is lots of fun. =)

More posts about: language, sewing // 4 Comments »

Short URL: http://sachachua.com/blog/p/5188

http://www.thegeekettespeaketh.com charo

Ah! Pimsleur! I so love their language series. I have to come around to listening the Pimsleur Chinese again soon. :D
Miguel

There’s a French coach for the DS; I doubt it can effectively teach French but it does seem to have a decently sized dictionary, as well as basic recording functionality that lets you compare your pronunciation against a proper French pronunciation.
- http://sachachua.com Sacha Chua
  
  J- has it, and I’ve been trying it out. It’s interesting trying to get my waveforms to match the recording – I’m nowhere near! =) Might be worth getting a DS again, although rumor has it there’ll be a new model next year. I gave mine to my mom so that she could try the yoga program…
http://www.vezin.net/blog Erwan

Bon courage pour le Francais

(A french reader of your blog)

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