For real. New laptop, photo editor, the whole deal. Only I have to re-learn how to do pretty much everything; I had not picked up the camera in months, let alone edited a picture... So it will be slow for sure, but I am excited about blogging again.
Lately I have been in sewing mode. I have barely touched my knitting needles in a while, but the sewing machine is smoking. Partly because Santa brought me a wonderful, beautiful, lovely Brother PC-420PRW; which I think is a perfect intermediate machine and is taking me to new levels. The weird thing is that I had never before longed for a left-handed machine (not that it exists), but fiddling with the little buttons with my right hand can give me agita sometimes.
So I am getting into garment sewing, which is scary and extremely satisfying. Before, I have sewn tons of things for the house, from small slipcovers to roman blinds; and children's clothes, but the few times I tried to make something for myself I was always disappointed by the poor fit I got. And then I discovered Craftsy... and I went insane. I started with a Couture Dress Class with Susan Khalje (because, you know, I had never sewn a dress in my life, so why not start with a couture one...) and I learned so much that the next thing I knew I was taking fitting classes, learning patternmaking...
Anyway, I am hooked. Mostly I have been working on getting a perfectly fitting sloper (a basic pattern that can be used to create different garments or adjust other patterns), I am on my third one but I am getting really close; I have decided that it really has to be perfect, and it actually fits me well everywhere except for the armholes, but I'm going to get there!
Now I have to tell you about my armhole childhood trauma. For real, you try getting into a fitting room with my mom and a sleeveless blouse: she fixes her eagle gaze on your armpit and you know immediately that the gorgeous garment is not going to cut it. A disgusted expression creeps up her face as she sees that yet again another pattern designer has failed to draw a perfectly curved armhole that lies completely flat against the very edge of the arm hiding any flesh that doesn't belong to said arm. An armhole is exactly that: a hole for an arm; not for any other part of your body, no matter how closely attached to the actual arm it is. So here we are, fighting with the armhole curve.
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¡He vuelto! En serio, ahora sí. Ordenador nuevo con Photoshop y todo. Ahora la cosa es volver a aprender a hacer y editar fotos, que hace siglos que no toco la máquina. Así que la cosa será lenta, pero poco a poco volveremos a coger ritmo.
Últimamente no hago más que coser. Las agujas de hacer punto están polvorientas, pero la máquina de coser echa humo. En parte porque los Reyes me trajeron una máquina nueva, una Brother PC-420PRW, que es lo más bonito que hay. Es increíble lo que un máquina un poco más sofisticada te permite hacer. Antes tenía una genérica de Sears que sigue funcionando bien, pero lo más sofisticado que tiene es el ojal automático. La Brother puede coser sin pedal, que es como entrar en la liga profesional, la velocidad se maneja con un botón (incluso si utilizas el pedal, con el botón puedes controlar la velocidad máxima). Una vez que terminas una costura puedes cortar los hilos con un botón, levantar el prensatelas con la rodilla (y una palanca) cuando necesitas las dos manos para controlar una curva, una esquina o un bies... Bueno, que se cose más rápido y mejor.
Y encima he descubierto Craftsy, un sitio web en el que puedes tomar clases de costura, punto, ganchillo, dibujo... Así que estoy como loca aprendiendo a adaptar patrones para que me queden bien; porque hasta ahora era imposible, o eran enormes, o me quedaban bien en la cintura y pequeños en los hombros...