Literary Sewing Circle: a roundup of projects

I so enjoyed this round of the Literary Sewing Circle! There was lots of good book talk, here on the blog and even some on Instagram and Pattern Review. I know there were many people reading who just didn't quite get a project done, so if you're one of them and you finish your project sometime, pop a link in the comments!

Today I wanted to share the projects that were made by deadline. There were a nice variety of inspirations used and some gorgeous fabrics too!

First let's look at the project that won the random prize draw: this beautiful top by Sara in Australia. She used a Japanese pattern book and some gorgeous fabric.

Then there was Lori from Frivolous at Last, with this great Japanese print Rachel Top from Jalie, inspired by Nao's anxious fish flops in her stomach.

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I made a thing! It's been a long sewing dry spell, but I cracked it with this @jalie_patterns Rachel top. What a fantastic pattern! Quick sew, amazing results. This is also my make for the #LiterarySewingCircle hosted by @sewmelwyk of Following the Thread. We read A Tale for the Time Being by Ruth Ozeki, which was a great read, and those koi fish represent the slippery fish the main character feels flopping in her belly when she's feeling anxious. You can read more about it on my blog (link in bio). #sewing #Jalielife #JalieRachel #handmadewardrobe #thanksimadeit #ilovesewing #reading #sewthebook [Image: Lori stands with hand on hips wearing a teal blue top with red-pink chrysanthemums and koi fish on the fabric and a sewn-in sash at the waist. She is looking to the side and smiling.]

A post shared by Lori Bee (@frivolousatlast) on Nov 5, 2019 at 3:22pm PST

And Sarah took her inspiration from Jiko's powerful character, and made some red pants representing the New Woman of Jiko's youth.

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It doesn’t get much better than reading AND sewing! This year @sewmelwyk selected “A Tale for the Time Being” for the #literarysewingcircle. My entry is these bright red pants which were inspired by Jiko, Nao’s Buddhist grandmother, who describes herself as having been a New Woman. New Women embraced modernization and rejected restrictive gender roles. One way this was shown was by scandalous pants wearing! One popular style was the beach pajama which I attempted to recreate using the @truebias #emersoncroppants as a base. Fabric is a vintage wool (I think) from a giant estate sale haul. As usual, making pants was a pain, but as I was making them I was channeling my inner Jiko “perfection, imperfection, same thing”, “love pants, hate pants, same thing”. Thanks for organizing,Melanie! I really enjoyed taking part! #sewingandreading #imakemyclothes #sewcialists #handmadewardrobe #memade #pantssewing #sewfancypants #sustainablesewing #sustainablefashion #literaryinspiration #sewtogether #sewfrugal #greensborosews #ncsews

A post shared by Sarah (@a.little.quiet) on Nov 11, 2019 at 9:26am PST

Dale made a glorious skirt from digitally printed fabric, inspired by Ruth and Oliver's trip to the mainland on the ferry.

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My #literarysewingcircle project is inspired by Ruth’s trip to ‘The Liver’ with her husband. Flying into Vancouver Island a few years ago in a smaller plane gave me an opportunity to see all the little coves, boats, and sailboats along the coast. This is an incredibly simple skirt made from a lovely digital print. It is terribly out of season now (hello, Winnipeg) but I’m looking forward to wearing it in the spring. #ataleforthetimebeing

A post shared by Squirrel Sox Sews (@squirrelsoxsews) on Nov 12, 2019 at 5:48pm PST

And finally, I made my Sushi Cat Terrace Dress by Liesl & Co, inspired by the lovely cats in this book, and then squeezed in a Chrysanthemum print lace top as well, which evoked the Japanese feel and kind of reminded me of elements of the cover, too.

Look for next year's first Literary Sewing Circle round sometime in late January/early February. See you then!

Literary Sewing Circle: Finale & Project Link Up!

Today is already our final day of the Literary Sewing Circle focusing on A Tale for the Time Being! I hope you've had the chance to read the book, and both the first and second inspiration posts, and are getting lots of ideas for a project of your own.

The project linkup will be added to the bottom of this post: as soon as you are done your project, just pop a link to your post into the linkup and we will all be able to visit your blog/instagram etc. and explore your creation -- remember, it can be sewn, or knitted, crocheted, embroidered... any textile art that you practice.

Photo by Gabriel Gabriel on Unsplash

Today's post also gives us the chance to talk about our reading experience a little more. If you haven't yet had a chance, check out our first discussion post for some specific questions and feedback from readers -- also take a look at our feature on Ruth Ozeki and how her writing reflects her Buddhist approach to life, and see if it raises any questions for you.

Did you enjoy this novel? Did you have a favourite character? Was there a theme which particularly resonated? What part of it stood out for you as your inspiration for your project? Was there anything you didn't like about this novel? Had you heard of it prior to this readalong? Did you recognize any of the character quirks in the story? What did you think of the mix of narratives? How about the idea of time as a fluid concept? Do you think that the role of writing and storytelling was important in this story?

Photo by Tomas Sobek on Unsplash

Here are some of my thoughts on this novel.

I read it first in 2013, when it was published. I loved it then, and I've really enjoyed rereading it and digging right into it looking for deeper themes and details. 

As I shared in all the previous posts, there are so many things I love about this book. Both the storylines, of Ruth and Nao, are so compelling. Each of them is dealing with elements of their lives that they aren't thrilled with, though I think we can agree that Nao's reality is a bit harsher. As Sara pointed out in the last book discussion, they are both facing compromises that have been or must be made, not always by their choice.

And I find the settings so similar even if they are half a globe apart. Though Nao is in a busy, crowded city, she's still isolated and alone. She's quite literally isolated, as if she isn't even there, by her cruel classmates in their final ploy to harass her. And both of her parents are absorbed by their own concerns and distress, leaving her to manage the emotional distress she faces all alone. I just realized that both Ruth and Nao have absent mothers, and perhaps a strong need for that mothering that they are missing.

And of course, the life of Jiko is such a rich vein. The way she represents the best of Japanese culture, history, and religious thought, as opposed to all the terrible, shallow and dangerous currents that Nao moves through in daily life, is so powerful. Jiko is calm, a rock in the centre of this tumultous sea. There are so many of these contrasts in the story -- between Jiko's life and Nao's school experience, or their cramped apartment and Jiko's large empty temple in the countryside -- between the quiet, sparsely populated BC island where Ruth lives (but where you know everyone) and Nao's frenetic city where you know no-one -- between middle aged Ruth and teen Nao -- so many more contrasts to highlight the themes of the book.

I also love the scientific themes in the book. From Oliver's trees to Cassie's barnacles, from the discussion of the ocean gyres and the effects of plastic pollution all the way to theoretical physics and concepts of time, there is so much to think about and talk about and make a reader dizzy! I hope you were inspired to think and create while reading this book, like I was.

Now as to my project, I have a lot of ideas! I just hope I have enough time. I might try to do two projects because I just can't decide on one. But as I am also a Time Being and a busy one, I'm not sure about that ;) 

I am going to start with a dress made from a fabric I mentioned in a previous post, a Michael Miller Katamaki print that I picked up at Goodwill quite a while ago. It's a pretty big print but I want to see if it will work! I'm inspired by the presence of many cats in this novel, and by the visit to Arigato Sushi in "The Liver". After that, if I finish it, I want to try one of the pieces from one of the many Japanese pattern books I've been sharing over the last month. Or maybe a Waffle Patterns Snowball Dress! If you are currently making plans, please feel free to share them in the comments, too -- I'd love to see them. 

Photo by Annie Spratt on Unsplash

What project have you made, inspired by your reading of A Tale for the Time Being? Share a link to your project post here! Links are open until NOV 15 so you have a full month of sewing time to finish and share.

Don't forget that any finished project shared by the deadline will be eligible for a draw for a 30 Euro coupon from our sponsor, Waffle Patterns! (approx. 3 patterns) Get your projects in! 

Literary Sewing Circle: Inspiration Post

It's time for another inspiration post, and this one will focus more on the granular, sentence level inspiration that we can find in this book! (our last post looked more at the settings, if you missed it)

As I was reading, I was thinking about some of the imagery that stuck out for me, and also some of smaller characters and elements of the story.

If you look at it this way, there really are infinite directions you might go in with a project!

Photo by Anastasia Zhenina on Unsplash

Early on in the book, when Ruth first finds the diary, she notices the handwriting on the pages, smudged violet letters. Ruth notes:

Print is predictable and impersonal, conveying information in a mechanical transaction with the reader's eye.
Handwriting, by contrast, resists the eye, reveals its meaning slowly, and is as intimate as skin. 

To play with this you might take on a fabric that incorporates text, or abstract text at least. You could go with print, or with hand writing patterns. Like these --

Print by Alison Glass for Andover

Michael Miller's Nevermore -- includes both handwriting
and ravens/crows -- what a match for this book

Or you could just go for a pattern with an evocative name! Like the Ruth Dress by Seamwork

Or the Muriel Tunic from Mocha 2 for Ruth's neighbour

Or even the Callie Dress by DG patterns (another pattern maker based in BC), for the scientist who takes a look at the barnacles on Ruth's lunchbox.

In more natural directions, Nao describes a gingko tree at Jiko's temple:

The leaves are shaped like little green fans, and in the autumn they turn bright yellow and fall off and cover the ground, painting everything pure golden.

This has a beautiful feel to me, which could be interpreted with fabric using a gingko print, or incorporating some embroidery: gingko leaves are a lovely shape to use in textile work. 

Gingko print on Spoonflower

You might also like this free pattern for the Gingko Top from Mood!

In one chapter, Ruth and Oliver head to "the Liver" to go to Arigato Sushi, looking for some help reading the Japanese writing in the letters tucked into the lunchbox. This quick mention of sushi reminded me of many fabrics in the kawaii tradition, such as these two, both from Northcott

Or of course you could just go with cats! From Pesto to Chibi, there are a number of cats who weave their way into this story. There are so many cat prints out there. And even a few cat themed patterns.

Black Cat Tropical Palm on Spoonflower

Or you might even mix cats and sushi with this Michael Miller Katamaki print or Alexander Henry Kitty Rolls cotton!

Katamaki

Kitty Rolls 

If you want to go with another animal, the Jungle Crow that hangs around Ruth and Oliver's cabin and is pestered by ravens is another possibility.

Crow Morning on Spoonflower

Whatever you choose, whether your inspiration springs from a character or a scene, a place or an animal, an image or a fragment of a word, just share the resulting project by November 15 with an explanation of where your idea started from.

I'm really looking forward to seeing what sparks your ideas, which element materializes as your project. You can share your thoughts and ideas in the comments here too, whether you're still pondering or you already have a great solid idea.

Next week we'll wrap up our book discussion part of the Circle with a final book chat and the project link roundup will be posted there as well for you to add to for the next month. Happy reading, and happy sewing!

Literary Sewing Circle: A Tale for the Time Being

Fall has arrived, and with it our Literary Sewing Circle autumn round! I'm really thrilled to have both a wonderful Canadian book as our featured read, and an amazing sponsor too!

I'm happy to announce that our group read for this round of the Literary Sewing Circle is

A Tale For The Time Being by Ruth Ozeki

Summary:

In Tokyo, sixteen-year-old Nao has decided there’s only one escape from her aching loneliness and her classmates’ bullying, but before she ends it all, Nao plans to document the life of her great-grandmother, a Buddhist nun who’s lived more than a century. A diary is Nao’s only solace—and will touch lives in a ways she can scarcely imagine.

Across the Pacific, we meet Ruth, a novelist living on a remote island who discovers a collection of artifacts washed ashore in a Hello Kitty lunchbox—possibly debris from the devastating 2011 tsunami. As the mystery of its contents unfolds, Ruth is pulled into the past, into Nao’s drama and her unknown fate, and forward into her own future. 

Full of Ozeki’s signature humour and deeply engaged with the relationship between writer and reader, past and present, fact and fiction, quantum physics, history, and myth, A Tale for the Time Being is a brilliantly inventive, beguiling story of our shared humanity and the search for home.

(from Goodreads)

About Ruth:

A longtime Buddhist practitioner, Ruth was ordained in 2010 and is affiliated with the Brooklyn Zen Center and the Everyday Zen Foundation. She lives in British Columbia, and New York City.

Her first two novels, My Year of Meats (1998) and All Over Creation (2003), have been translated into 11 languages and published in 14 countries.

Her most recent novel, A Tale for the Time-Being (2013), won the LA Times Book Prize, was shortlisted for the Man Booker Prize and the National Book Critic’s Circle Award.

(excerpted from Ruth Ozeki's website)

photo by Latrippi

This book is available for purchase in both hard copy and ebook formats, as well as in audiobook format (read by the author!)

You can find many formats at all of these locations:

Amazon.ca

Amazon.com

Amazon.co.uk

Amazon.com.au

Book Depository

IndieBound

Chapters Indigo

Powell's

Barnes & Noble

Biblio.com

ABE Books

Or, of course, check your local library!

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How does the Literary Sewing Circle work? We read a book together, discuss it, and then make something inspired by our reading. As long as you can point out what inspired you from your reading, even if just a sentence, you can share your makes in our final roundup!

Anyone can join, and you can sew, knit, quilt or embroider - any textile art that you like doing - to participate. This is a reading/sewing circle, very low-key; no competitions here, just reading and sewing for fun. Although we are very lucky to have a special sponsor offering this time around -- one of the finished projects will be chosen at random to receive the free pattern offering. Just finish and post your project by the end of the linkup and you will have a chance to win.

There is no official sign-up to worry about; just start reading along if you wish, and leave your thoughts on the book or your project on any of the Literary Sewing Circle posts. We do have a dedicated book discussion post halfway through and again at the end, but leave your thoughts anytime. And when the final post goes up, so does the project linkup -- you can leave a link to your finished project there, whether it is on your blog, a pattern site, or even Instagram. It's easy :)

So, join in, and share!


Literary Sewing Circle Schedule

Sept 13 - Announcement & Introduction

Sept 20 - Inspiration post & featured sponsor

Sept 27 - Author feature

Oct 4 - Halfway mark: book talk

Oct 11 - Inspiration post

Oct  18 - Final Post: book discussion wrap up & posting of project linkup

(The project linkup will be live until November 15 - a month - so you have enough time to get your project posted)

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And now for our sponsor! 

Yuki of Waffle Patterns has agreed to sponsor this round of the Literary Sewing Circle! Waffle Patterns are chic modern styles with a Japanese flair, and can be purchased via the Waffle website. 

Waffle Patterns has just released a new jacket pattern, the Arare pullover, a classic anorak style jacket which is currently on sale as a launch deal. Check it out!

Anyone who reads along and posts a link to their finished project by Nov 15 will be eligible for the draw to win a 30 Euro coupon to the Waffle store! (~3 patterns). Get your projects in to have a chance for this great sponsor offer. Thank you Yuki!

My favourite Waffle pattern: the Snowball Dress!

Thrilled to Announce: the Stratford Garment Guild!

I'm thrilled to announce the creation of the new Stratford Garment Guild! Inspired by the Ottawa Garment Guild (and guided by them with some set-up information, thanks guys!) and by the Atlantic Sewing Guild, I decided that our community also needed an in-person garment sewing group.

With a handful of other local enthusiasts I went ahead and held a planning meeting and we are now pleased to announce that the Stratford Garment Guild is live and will be meeting regularly starting in September of 2019, in Stratford. More information to come as we add content to our social media accounts and website.

But for now, if you are in the Stratford, Ontario area and want to keep up on what's happening, follow us on Instagram or on Facebook.

See you in September!

April Updates

I can hardly believe it's April already! March was a blur for me: I didn't get everything done that I'd planned. So here is a little update about what's happening in April around these parts...

I need to finish up my purple polka dotted dress for Fabricville! It's all cut out and ready to sew...I'd planned on finishing it last week, but flu put a halt to my plans. This week is the time :)

I did finish my Louis Antoinette Plume Dress for the Literary Sewing Circle sewalong, in the nick of time.

And then I discovered on Instagram that Louis Antoinette is running a sewalong contest, #hacklamode, in which you can pop over to their website, download the Lolita Dress for free, and hack it to your heart's content. Prizes & everything! It runs until May 5 so you have a month in which to get creative.

Another free sewalong, with random prizes, can be found over at BurdaStyle -- there is a track jacket sewalong hosted by Meg Healey. You can register for the sewalong and get a copy of the pattern, until the end of April. Registering makes you eligible for the prizes. If you've ever wanted to make a light rain jacket for these April showers, now is the time!

And of course today is the final episode of the Great British Sewing Bee -- while two of my favourites didn't make it to the final round, two others did. So I'll be watching with bated breath to see who triumphs this time around. And I so hope we won't have to wait years, again, before the next season.

What else for April? Well, I have many patterns in the queue that I'd like to try. I have a few books, like Breaking the Pattern, to trace some patterns from; I have a long queue of shirtdresses to get started on. There is always something!

What about you? Does April look busy for you?