Keepin’ It Real Since Birth

As I try to get this blog rolling, I’ve been looking at how other bloggers do it. One piece of advice I see over and over is an admonishment for bloggers to keep their posts positive. In theory I’m all for this. Most of us don’t search the web and read blogs to increase the negativity in our lives. Lord knows I get enough negativity in the car ride bringing Benjamin home from school; I don’t need more of it in my online life. Even on Facebook I tend to hide people whose status updates are continually negative because I don’t want to fill my brain with it.



But—and you knew there was a but—I am not an especially positive person. I don’t superimpose a rosey glow on everything I see, nor do I experience what self-helpers preach:  positivity breeds positivity. I’m naturally dark and grave, even at my best and most positive, and attempting to bedazzle that for the masses is silly and not what I’m about. I always said my motto, if I had one and it was PG-13, would be, “keepin’ it real since birth.”



Another recommendation by various successful bloggers is to have regular features. This not only keeps you posting regularly, which is another tip, but allows readers a sense of expectation and something to look forward to. There are a number of regular features I really enjoy on blogs I read and this seems like a good idea to me.

• Peter @ Male Pattern Boldness updates his Goals and checks in with his commenters on Mondays. (He’s even mentioned me, which totally made my day!)
  
• Chez Larsson posts her week in photos on Fridays.
  
• And, Joanna at A Cup of Jo posts her links for a lovely weekend on Friday, which is always just a hodgepodge of fun things she’s found on the web.

All of this is quite a bit of lead up to say that I will be adding at least one regular post to the blog soon and it will not necessarily be positive in nature, although hopefully it will be positively received. Essentially, I’ll be complaining about bad design, stupid ideas and wondering why I’m not general manager of a great many things. Stay tuned for that. I need to come up with a good and clever name for it first. And, I’ve got to comment on these student essays. I’d like to eat some ice cream too, but that will likely make me want to nap instead of work.
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Although I've read lots of stuff about blogging, I thought this one was pretty darn good: Colour Me Happy’s 10 Things I’ve Learned about Blogging.

Where's the 40-year-old bag now?

Remember the 40-year-old bag of fabric my neighbor sold me at the garage sale--for all of two dollars? 

 Well, it's not the only old thing cluttering up my house these days. I've got so many cool bits of this and that but what the heck am I doing with them? I can't seem to get them all up on Etsy and I'm not moving very fast on the sewing myself. So, I did indeed pass it on. Of course I passed it on to my favorite male sewist and blogger.

Fortunately, Peter from Male Pattern Boldness has a "yes" only policy when it comes to free fabric and patterns so he was happy to add them to his clutter. What exactly did he add to his clutter?

These fabulous colors of...some shimmery fabric. It burned fast and I couldn't tell what it was.

And this very hip and contemporary (1970) tie, bow tie, vest and ascot pattern. Michael, Peter's significant, has seen him in harem pants, but I'm not sure if he's ready to see him in an ascot. And Peter, if you're reading this, ascots do not go with striped tanks.

Probably, Cousin Cathy will end up with a new purse from the fabric, which would be fine by me.

The 40-Year-Old Bag

I scored at the neighborhood garage sales and I didn't even really get to go to them I was so busy at my own. A gal was at my sale buying some of my fabric remnants and craft stuff and my son told her the lady four houses down had more fabric. This was news to me, so, we both made a b-line down there. She drove; I walked; we got there at the same time. 

Frankie did not, in fact, have any fabric out--our information was bad--but she got some out and sold it to us. (While we were there, her husband got out a ladder at someone's request, and sold that. They also got out some canning jars, and sold them. They were very accommodating.)

What did I buy besides some lovely vintage earrings that belonged to Frankie's mother? Well, Frankie worked at a fabric store 40 years ago and this bag has the new pattern and cut fabric for the project ready to go--as if she'd just come home from the store. In 1970. 

What exactly is in the bag we'll keep a surprise for just a bit. But I was thinking as I went to bed last night that I was putting the focus on finding an outfit for the wrong cousin. I like dresses and that's part of the reason I wanted to style Cathy; she gets all the attention, which is natural with her charisma, and the camera just loves her. But, where is the love for Peter? When left to his own devices he picks out harem pants! Maybe he needs some old-school style a-la my neighbor's garage sale. But, I'm not sure he can pull off poly/silk patterns straight from 1970. After reading today's post, maybe he's too nice.

I got goals people

Coming soon to Smarty Pantalons

Now that the garage sale is over, I can focus on other things: like picking up the garage sale stuff. Well, hopefully not just that. I've got another post planned for the sale, an update about what happened and more advice about having one, but for now I'll just give you the skinny on some of my plans for Smarty Pantalons this coming month.

• More frequent posting. I've been so crazed I haven't been good at regular posting: garage sale over, school out, regular posting in. (I plan on blogging with my students this summer so hopefully that will keep me regular as well.)
• Getting to cleaning up the house and garage. Unfortunately, there is too much Etsy and garage sale clean up left to ignore this. And, I slept like the dead today so did not get much done.
• Get more stuff up on Etsy. If you've come here from Etsy or A Beautiful Mess--Thank You! I've had good traffic and good sales so far. I've got lots more to go up and it's just a matter of fitting in the time.
• Make a mock-up muslin of my first original Smarty Pantalons creation. When I have a prototype, you'll be the first to know and we'll do a give-a-way. I also have a couple of destash give-a-ways planned of patterns and fabric so let your friends know.
• Create an outfit for Cathy, Peter's cousin, over at Male Pattern Boldness. I've been looking at lots of fashion books lately and all I can think about is what would look good on Cathy? I love dresses, but I'm round and lacking height and they don't love me. Cathy can pull them off.

I've got more goals, but I think this will keep me busy. For sure. Of course, I'm gonna squeeze in some vintage shopping as well, since I mostly stayed close to home and worked my feet sore last week. And, I need to fit in walking the dog, visiting grandpa and arguing with my child this week too.

Charlie is happy the sale is over too; it was stressful!

Chez of Good Ideas

If you haven't made your way over to Chez Larsson, do it; it's a great source of good photos and good ideas. Mama Larsson is a very non-Martha Stewart homemaker and professional--much less fuss and clutter and much more good sense. I love her post today about all the plastic figures in her son's room collecting dust. Her solution? Put them in clear jars. She's got a great sense of humor too, as you can tell from the Simpsonesque quips in today's post. Check it out.