Month: September 2025

Climate Change Has Caught Up With My Wardrobe!

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I may not have written much but I’ve been making pants these past few weeks. Why, you might ask, with a closet full of summer and winter pants, I doubled down on making pants?

Well, the weather in Nova Scotia has been unending sunshine. We don’t get weather like this. The “normal” in NS is a day of sunshine sandwiched between two days of rain! If it’s one thing we can count on here is lots of rain, all summer long. Then September comes and we get our best weather into the middle/end of October. Sunny, if a bit cool, days wonderful for being outside. For six weeks, maybe seven, we get our best weather of the year.

Not this year. It rained for most of June, days on end, and then July came and the sun came out and it stayed. In fact the weather has been so dry it’s been considered a drought! Wells have gone dry. Activity in the woods has been banned. We’re conserving water because the water level in the watershed lakes is extremely low.

The outcome of all of this is, after Labour Day when that one “fall’ day would normally arrive and I’d change over to winter clothes, that day hasn’t yet happened. I realized I needed a couple pair of fall coloured, if somewhat light in weight, pants to wear in this shoulder season that we never have! Something a bit heavier than the summer cotton pants and lighter than my fall corduroy or denim pants/jeans.

In addition, Sally at Sew With Vision asked if I’d do a class on making a basic pair of pants. I’d agreed. So I dug out my Japanese Monpei instructions and took a look at them. Monpei are constructed using 4 rectangles based on hip measurement for width and from waist to a smidge above the floor for length.

To create a crotch, the traditional Monpei uses a gusset based on two crotch triangles. I wanted the crotch to be incorporated into the front and back of the pants. So I decided to draft a pattern first.

I started by drawing two rectangles – one for the front, one for the back. I marked the vertical centre line (to use as the grain line), and drew in the horizontal crotch depth (including ease and seam allowances at waist and crotch).

I shaped the crotch using the measurements suggested for the gusset and drew the appropriate triangle to the front and the back along one side at the crotch depth. (In the Monpei instructions, the gusset triangles are cut from the top edge of the rectangle and repositioned at the appropriate depth along one side – the centre front/back seam.

In my drafting the centre front edge remained straight (because I need to be able to pull the pants over my hips and my waist and hip measurements are almost the same). I used a French curve both front and back to round out the crotch shape.

Then I shortened the centre front crotch length by 1″ and rounded the “waist” with the French curve, because my front crotch length is shorter in the front than the back.

I drafted pieces for a pocket to be placed on top and incorporated into the waistband and side seam (pants without pockets are useless!), and a pocket facing. Finally I created waistband facings.

Because the Monpei gives me a rather nicely fitting pair of pants I decided to go ahead with the basic design without comparing my drafting to any of the several pull on pants patterns in my pattern stash.

Using a Polyester/rayon knit fabric, I ended up with these:

Although you can’t see them, the front pockets are there.

I made two pair of denim pants using the same basic construction but added a fish-eye dart down the centre back and shaped the side seam to narrow the legs a bit. I also added a back pocket to conceal the top of the fish-eye dart.

Then I tackled pants for Sally!

First I made a muslin from the Monpei pattern I drafted using Sally’s measurements (no pockets – although I added the waistband facing elastic, and hemmed the legs so I could gauge the fit). The crotch depth worked well, but the legs were a bit short. Next I made the pants for Sally adjusting the leg length and adding pockets.

The plan is to display the Monpei/pants in the shop so people have an idea of what they’d be making when they registered for the class. (I have a hunch Sally is intending to wear them!)

So I’ve been sewing, just not writing about it.

Bisa Butler Is Back!

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I’ve written about Bisa Butler’s fibre art before. I came across a new Colossal piece today about her latest work.

Butler’s work is simply amazing with texture and depth and brilliant use of fabrics and stitching…

I don’t come close, I have to say.

Her pieces are large, each must take quite a bit of time to execute. I wish I had an opportunity to see them in person. Not going to happen. My travel days are pretty much over. But if you ever get a chance to see her work, jump at it!

Harnessing the power of empathy, Bisa Butler presents a tender, evocative suite of new works in her current exhibition, Hold Me Close at Jeffrey Deitch. The artist is known for her chromatic, multi-patterned quilted artworks exploring Black history, identity, and craft traditions. Her elaborate pieces combine materials like printed cotton, silk, sequins, beads, and velvet to create both large-scale tapestries and intimate vignettes.

Not There Yet –

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But not far off…

This is where it’s going.

Interesting that in the ad, mom (the woman) is the brave one, the one who supports non-compliance; dad (the male) is the coward, willing to submit. It’s also clear the son aligns with his mom’s view but without dad also behind him he’s pushed into acquiescence.

Read 1984 by George Orwell to see where trump is heading!

But in case you haven’t a copy of the novel at hand watch this:

https://saveamericamovement.substack.com/p/the-pledge-of-allegiance-to-trump

Paperclip Protest #2

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Fight censorship!

I just got home from having lunch with a friend. She came into the restaurant raring to talk. She’s a regular panelist on a couple of CBC radio programs. She’d spent the morning trying to negotiate the next panel opportunity. She was more than a bit exasperated.

The topic the panelists were being asked to weigh in on had something to do with their thoughts on why Canadians are feeling jumpy, grumpy, a bit scared – but please don’t talk about politics!

I’d say the majority of Canadians are steeped in the mess happening in the US and more than a bit concerned that we could be next. 

And while we’re not paying as much attention to Canadian politics, we’re keeping half-an-eye on what’s going on and a bit uneasy about the economy and social issues here at home. As much as anything, it’s politics driving the uncertainty we’re all feeling.

Poilievre is back in the House of Commons playing his broken record again, sounding just the same as he did before the election in, when was it, past March (no, I just looked it up – April 23/2025) – feels like years ago! 

I can’t believe anybody is listening to him, paying him any attention. He’s at it again, tearing down, making no effort to be constructive. He’s still doing his best trump imitation. 

And the fact that PP is back in the House of Commons, still campaigning in an election he lost both as potential PM, as well as his seat in his Ottawa riding, is having a chilling effect on the CBC.

Since PP introduced his defund the CBC campaign even before the election campaign itself, the CBC has tried instituting policy to limit political discussion on its talk shows. A couple of the program hosts have joked about censorship. This was the first time I understood what’s actually going on.

So I’m not just wearing my paperclip in solidarity with Americans fighting to preserve most of their constitutional rights, including freedom of speech, freedom of expression, freedom of religion,…. 

I am wearing my paperclip to remind people here in Canada our freedom of speech is also under attack. I’m wearing it to protest censorship right here in Canada!

Hell, if the CBC can be forced to self-censor, quietly gagging program panelists before there has been any discussion of defunding the CBC in Parliament, then we all need to be proudly wearing paperclips!

Better dig one out and get wearing it.

Today.

And now something different…

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Pair #4 Finished

(As the Monty Python gang used to say “And now for something completely different!)

I’m working away at those six pairs of socks I agreed to knit for a friend for her daughter and granddaughter for Christmas. I will make the deadline – two pair left – three weeks/pair. I’m hoping to be finished by the end of October/first week of November!

I’ve already started pair #5 – in green.

My only concern is whether the foot is long enough – if it isn’t – I’m going to have six pairs of socks with feet I’ll have to lengthen by around 4-5 rows.

(I’ve started thinking about how to do that – like by cutting the foot open, adding the rows to the foot, then reattaching the toe end using a Kitchener stitch! It would be less work than unravelling the toe, knitting the extra rows, and reuniting the toe!)

Fingers crossed the socks will fit.

The Jimmy Kimmel Test

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From Dave Pell [https://nextdraft.com/archives/n20250918/?utm_source=substack&utm_medium=email]

I’ve been following Dave Pell for a long time. I’m fascinated by his ability to read widely and offer succinct synopses of what he reads. So daily, I read his newsletter, The Next Draft, keeping up with a range of happenings I wouldn’t otherwise know anything about. He’s one of those news aggregators who does a great job, and I find his take on the world, and his humour worthwhile.

Here’s his take on what the cancelling of the Jimmy Kimmel Show represents.

Even when it comes to his business, it’s always been personal for Jimmy Kimmel. He’s been taking major career risks by fighting for what he believes in for a long time. In 2017, motivated in part by his son’s medical challenges, he began using his monologue to challenge a terrible health care bill being pushed by the Senate GOP. Back then, some politicians and members of the media referred to a Jimmy Kimmel Test — used to determine whether a kid who was born with certain health difficulties would be covered and get everything they need (regardless of cost) during the first year of life. I suggested we adopt a different Jimmy Kimmel Test: Will a person take personal and professional risks to stand up for what’s right? As I wrote at the time, I can’t say many good things about Donald Trump, but I’ll give him this: Donald Trump is a values clarifier. He’s a living, breathing reminder of which values you cherish and what you’re willing to stand up for. We’ve spent countless hours analyzing the character of Donald Trump. But that’s a settled issue. 

The real character being tested is ours. We’ve seen that character wilt in our halls of Congress, our institutions, our universities, and our corporate boardrooms, as a parade of rapid-fire knee-bending has heralded in a new era of American exceptionalism—one in which we prove that no country capitulates to authoritarian tendencies faster than us. We’ve been let down over and over. 

But Jimmy Kimmel didn’t let us down. He kept calling out the Trump administration, even though he knew he was being targeted. Even though he knew that he had much at stake, given his career and huge public profile. It’s that kind of courage that inspires so many of us to wake up each morning, fire up the laptop, and continue to fight the good fight. Jimmy Kimmel is one of the best, most caring, most generous, and most popular people in Hollywood. 

Let’s hope his colleagues pass the 2025 Jimmy Kimmel Test: Will you stand up for someone who has been standing up for you for years? 

And let’s hope the rest of us pass that test too, because if his show’s coerced suspension isn’t stopped, the cancellations won’t stop there. Kimmel has always known that it’s personal. The rest of us better get that message soon.

The Jimmy Kimmel Test – it’s about speaking truth to power. So far, the mainstream media (print, TV, radio) have failed the test. They’ve kowtowed to trump et al. They seem to think that if they pay him off, in cash, in flattery, whatever, he’ll let them carry on. But pay once, and you keep on paying. 

At some point, people (who have easily given in) will learn they, too, will have to pass the Jimmy Kimmel Test.

Paper Clip Protest

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Joyce Vance today shared the Paper Clip Protest that’s just getting going – to symbolize opposition to the attacks on free speech by trump et al.

It seems E. Jean Carroll started it on Thursday: Paper Clip Protest – Comely Reader! I suggest we all start wearing the paper clip. Subtler than a red hat, more powerful as a CONNECTION,” she wrote, explaining they were also worn during World War II as a sign of resistance against the Nazis.

I just found a small pink paper clip in my stash of “office” stuff. I intend wearing it (I’ll see if I can find a large pink one at Dollarama!).

Here’s the link to Joyce’s short piece: https://open.substack.com/pub/joycevance/p/paper-clip-protest?utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=email

Let’s get this growing!