Back to School: Cielo top and dress for my new class

Why am I standing there in my garden, holding something cool and fizzy, wearing my latest sewing which is the Cielo Dress from Closet Core Patterns?

Now that summer is coming to an end we are starting a new season of virtual classes, The Hello Stitch Sewing Club. We hope to do something a little bit different with this, so this class will be part formal instruction and part social sewing time. Here's the link to register.



We plan to do a different pattern each month and I chose this pattern for our first one because it has a lot of options for making a dress or a top and looks good in a lot of different fabrics.


Here's the info from the Hello Stitch website class page: 

We're kicking off the club by doing a Cielo Sew Along! For the month of September, we will meet each Tuesday as I introduce new topic or skill that will be related to the project. Choose to meet for "Happy Hour" between 5:00 pm and 6:00 pm, or join us for us "After Dinner" from 7:00 pm to 8:00 pm. Then meet up again on Thursdays from 6-8pm for Social Sewing. For those who need a little more help with their machines, we'll also hold Office Hours to help troubleshoot any issues that may arise.  All these times are Pacific Standard Time - so if you are another part of the country perhaps you can join in! 

Hello Stitch has also put together a complete kit you can order with pattern and choice of fabric, plus thread and interfacing. Fabrics are pictured above. If you already have the pattern then you are all set or you can buy the pattern as a PDF immediately from Closet Core or other pattern shops.

The lockdown and restrictions to opening have been really tough on the studio, and so many small businesses in the bay area. I really want them to survive and they are getting by for now. They do longarm quilting and have other aspects of their business that continue but not holding in person classes is a real challenge. So I hope you continue to support small sewing businesses in this difficult time if you can. I know everyone is dealing with challenges - doing school at home for children sounds exhausting to me :)

As is my habit lately - this is more lockdown sewing so I rummaged in my stash and found this cotton pique fabric.  I opted not to put the bands on the sleeves, as it's a slightly thick fabric and with the temp around 105℉ on the day I was sewing I felt it didn't need any more fabric! I put some darts in the center back - more just to see how it looks and I like it. So another option for this pattern which I will talk about in the class.





I was actually going to make it sleeveless however since it is designed for sleeves the armholes were too low. I will also go over how to make that adjustment so it can be sleeveless or have a cute ruffle sleeve. I think I like it belted on me but I made this a bit big in the hip and hem width, I will probably go back and take it in (when the weather cools off!)

So are you getting interested in some social sewing?  I hope so as I really miss teaching classes at Hello Stitch and getting to know so many new stitchers. Here in the bay area we are heading into the 6th month of social distancing which means very few in-person interactions that are not absolutely necessary. I've spent this time mostly with my family and seeing some friends in very careful outdoor sessions but now that summer is coming to a close I think life might be a bit dreary. But we can sew socially and make some new connections along the way.

Once I had the pattern out I decided to make the top version, this time in a cotton voile from my stash.  This one is all about the sleeves and I have some ideas on how to do a little pattern hacking here as well, if you wanted to add button cuffs or even reduce some of the fullness.



This pattern has two options for neckline finishing, either an interfaced facing or bias binding. Both have some pros and cons so in the class I will go over my tips for neat neckline finishes.




This piece of fabric sat neglected in my stack for ages and now that I've sewn it up I think it will be quite versatile in my wardrobe and go with other things I have like this wool blazer.
OK - now that I've mentioned blazers what might you be interested in for subsequent classes in our Hello Stitch Sewing Club? I haven't decided on the October item but I think we will be leaning towards cozy stay-at-home separates. But maybe after that we could do a jacket class? I was supposed to travel to the east coast to do my jacket class this Oct. 2020 but that is sadly postponed to who knows when. In the meantime we have to be creative and stay connected as we can.
In any case I would love to hear what you might be interested in doing in a virtual class. We are also open to doing a weekend class as well which might work better if you are in a different time zone.
Lots of options.

So that's the scoop on our upcoming Hello Stitch Sewing Club class. Here's the link to register or see more information. 

Just to review, it's starting Tues. Sept 8, option of either 5-6pm or 7-8pm and then Thursdays Sewcial Sewing 6-8pm when we will catch up on your progress, answer any questions, discuss anything you are working on and just stay in touch over a topic that brings us all together. (no need to participate in the whole time on Thursdays - you can drop in for some quick answers or stay the whole time as we sew together).  Class will be held on Zoom.




I hope to see you (virtually) in September!  let me know if you have any questions about this class or ideas for our upcoming sessions.

Happy Sewing, and stay well,
Beth

Today's garden picture is the humble geranium. Except I don't think they are so humble - I think they are gorgeous. In fact I've turned into geranium collector. They are such hardy plants and ridiculously easy to propagate. The plant that keeps on giving! I've started to buy some of the more exotic ones, bicolors and with interesting foliage. They are a great plant for our hot and dry weather - when the rain comes they always seem to spring back up. Plus they remind me of Italian travels and the lovely window boxes of bright geraniums everywhere. Tornerò lì un giorno! Speriamo di sì.

FibreMood magazine review with a couple of tops from Issue 10

This is the summer of trying new things in regard to sewing. Plus more indulgence of my new sewing obsession, pattern magazines. Now that I am a loyal Burda subscriber and stitcher, I expanded my outlook to try Patrones, a Spanish language one. Around the same time I kept seeing people sewing from FibreMood, which is a Belgium based magazine, fairly recently established and growing in popularity. I boldly asked if one of my European readers would send me a copy and 2 lovely people did so (again thank you to Sabine and Jacqueline 😘) thus I now have a choice of several FibreMood magazine issues to play with.

The question might arise if I'm interested in any other sewing magazines which are available. I'm aware of a few. La Mia Boutique is an Italian sewing magazine and you would think I would be interested in that as a student of Italian, however I have had a couple of issues and the styles have not interested me at all. The other one I know about is Ottobre, which comes from Finland (available in English) Their designs also seem to lean toward very basic, and probably a good wardrobe builder but not really of interest to me.



Back to FibreMood. The magazine itself is gorgeous, the layout is so well done and the photography is beautiful.

I will come out with my conclusion right now and say that I probably won't sew very many things from the magazine, as most of the styles are quite simple or not not shapes that I want to wear. But I definitely wanted to try something from the issue and the top on the cover attracted me due to the very cute detail in the back.

This is peak stay-at-home sewing, rummaging through my fabrics, finding something suitable and sewing it up with not much thought about wearability.  Below I'll show you some details of the magazine using this pattern as an example, and then show you some more general info on FibreMood.



If I were trying to make something completely wearable, I would have changed the neckline slightly (too high for my comfort) and I don't think that front ruffle suits me. It seems a bit too childish for my liking but it was fun to try it out and I wanted to sew it exactly as the pattern was designed.

Here's the garment in the magazine, showing the front and back. The gingham does suit the pattern although it really puts in the prairie-dress category for me.



This was a good pattern to start with, as I could see how their pattern pieces worked, the tracing, cutting instructions  - the whole works. Also the sizing. I chose by my bust size, and I think I sewed a 38 in their sizing for the first magazine I had which was the Dutch edition. I also received a UK edition so that was in English, however I didn't really have any trouble using the Dutch edition as their instructions are in pictograph form (very similar to some Japanese sewing books) and it's not really all that necessary to read the words.

Note that they have all the instructions for their patterns available as FREE downloads on the website, in all the languages and measurements (inches and centimeters). You just have to register on their site but then you can really investigate a pattern more thoroughly or get the instructions in the language you need. So I did look at the US instructions  - just to make sure I was on the right track for size. Note that the size numbers differ a lot, so the size I made for 36" bust (93cm) is a UK 12 or a US 8 or a Spanish 40 or a Dutch 38.  Don't quote me on that but you get the idea. It's a good idea to stick with the measurements and go from there, ignoring the size number. Although you do need that size number for your pattern tracing. For every pattern they do give the finished garment measurements which is great.



I have to say from a graphic design point of view this magazine is far superior to Burda, they probably have fewer patterns in an issue, and the patterns are not as complicated, but they layout and instructions are so good. The section with the pattern sheets is printed on heavy cardboard, and has color coded illustrations of the pattern sheets, so you can open the sheet that corresponds to the one you are using, and then find the pattern pieces based on the key. For example the top I made, which is called Lola, is in green on the pattern sheets D and E. So they actually show you where the pattern pieces are on the sheet, see my bright pink arrows showing the sheets.






The pattern sheets are 33" x 23" so a very manageable size to put on your table and trace from. This sheet only has two patterns on it, one in green and one in red so it's fairly simple to locate your pattern pieces and trace.



Here's a closer look, one think that's both a benefit and a drawback is that there are a lot of sizes so it's a bit of careful work to trace your size, but it's nice that every pattern comes in the full range of sizes.  You can see that the markings are fairly minimal - a few notches and then the grain line (straight arrows) and items on fold line (arrows with half circle).  I found the markings were sufficient and this pattern had a lot of small pattern pieces but it sewed up perfectly.  The pattern sheets are on sturdy and opaque paper which makes tracing easy.



Here's the instruction sheet in the magazine, they include all the necessary information in a very neat and compact way. I have a difficult time judging the instructions as they seem just fine to me (a person who really doesn't look at the construction info for most any pattern) but I think they were clean and include a lot more help than the Burda stream of words which you have to puzzle through.




This top is all about the back, and I think I will play around with the pattern, probably change the front neckline and remove the ruffle, but keep that back opening which is really cute.  I love things that have surprise backs, like this dress that I made last summer for my vacation in Hawaii. (Sob, miss you beautiful Kailua).





Here's a look at magazine layout - they give quite a lot of space to each pattern and the photos are lovely. Following the current trend the patterns have names not numbers. If they take up a page layout to show just the back of the pattern then it reappears in a more informational photo on another page layout. After all - we need to see the front and back of a garment, right?





I think their tech drawings are good as well, they show all the details and are not overly artistic or exaggerated.




That's a cute sundress and if summer weren't drawing to a close, and I hadn't just made something very similar I would be tempted to sew that one up. Note for next year :)

I decided to try another pattern from the issue, Ida, something very simple just to get more impressions of the pattern sheets, instructions etc.  This top is not really something I would likely sew or wear but it looked interesting and didn't take up too much fabric. I think if you made it in a really lovely voile or even the interesting textured fabric like they have it would work.





I used some lightweight seersucker that was in my stash, perhaps a bit too much body for this style and I would never wear this - will probably cut it up to make masks. However the fit and sizing was fine. I think it's asking a lot of a pattern design to fit and look good front and back when there is no shaping.   See the image below, neckline edge also sticks up above her shoulders and doesn't really fit or land right. I think that in an inherent problem with this type of top.  Anyway - I just wanted to try out another pattern from the issue.




A couple of other notable features of FibreMood is that you can purchase any individual pattern on their website, in a variety of languages. But I think they have buried the most fantastic feature, which is the 2nd bullet point in the text below. You can print a single size - with or without seam allowances AND on A4 or A) paper. I would just choose the size that fits your upper body and then print out and adjust as needed. Many of their styles are quite loose and I think the fit adjustments might be minimal.



They also have a very robust online community - plenty of help and also uploads of finished garments  uploaded by people who have sewn the patterns. A lot like the previous BurdaStyle website although actually a bit better perhaps. They also have sew-alongs and video for lots of the patterns.

On the whole if I were a beginning - intermediate level sewer I think it would be a great place to find info and inspiration. For me the patterns are not all that interesting although there are a few that are really appealing. Which is pretty much what you can say about any pattern company - not all are going to be my cup of tea but definitely some to try. (Cup of tea - why do I use that phrase?  because it's a good shorthand way to express the idea, despite the fact that I can't stand tea - coffee forever!!)

So that's the latest on my foray into FibreMood. I hope some of you give it a try and let me know what you think. Their website is really well done and easy to navigate, and the patterns are quite reasonable. ($ 8.49 US).

Thanks again to Sabine and Jaqueline and to everyone who reads and comments. I've found the conversations in the sewing world such a good escape from the current news. It makes me happy to connect with so many lovely people all over the world who are interested in this wonderful craft and hobby.

By the way - I have a fun online sewing class coming up in September, I will add the link here but will give more details next week.

Up next, my BurdaStyle jumpsuit, and today I picked up a big stack of fabrics that a friend decided to destash to me. Mostly winter wools and blouse weights in gorgeous blues and purples, but I won't be touching any of it until our weather cools down.
Sadly our fire season has struck even earlier in the year for 2020 - what else can this year bring? OK don't answer that - we are about at our limit with covid plus extreme fire danger. The smoke is lingering all over N. California and while I'm not in any current danger zone (as much as a Californian can be safe) the smoke is unbelievable and we are hoping that we don't have more lightening strikes or high winds.




Take care everyone, stay clear of whatever mother nature is throwing our way.

Happy Sewing,
Beth

today's garden photo, a cheerful dahlia that I rescued from it's previous spot in the front yard. The dahlia next to it had disappeared down a gopher hole, so I dug this one up and put it in a large pot. Finally it's putting out some cheerful blooms.

Summer tops: not quite what I planned

Actually, I don't really know what I planned. Or didn't plan. The sewing this summer is all over the map, what with not really needing anything (at all!), not going anywhere, and then deciding to use this time to try new styles and shapes. Thus I've had a few clunkers, things I just wouldn't wear. Right now I'm sewing things that the wearability doesn't really matter - just trying to see if a pattern will work and feel comfortable on me. So far the out-of-my-comfort zone has served to reinforce that I like streamlined shapes, details, a minimum of ruffles and I don't really like big sleeves.
Here are a couple of things I sewed recently - looking at the pictures the first one is more wearable than I thought, and the second falls into the category of "what was I thinking" due to fabric choice.



I had this coral eyelet fabric in my stash, no idea where it came from but I really like the color.
This is the drawing from the July 2020 Burda magazine, pattern # 110.  I wanted a sleeveless top but that was an easy change to make.

However  - that gathering and pleating at the center front and center back waist was just too much for me. It make the lower part stick out, I tried it on and felt like I was wearing a ballet tutu. There is the before (left) and after (right). I took off the bottom part, smoothed it out, made a couple of pleats at either side and reattached.   In a perfect world this top wouldn't have any seam in the middle but it was already done so I had to work with that.




I know a lot of people finish garments and if they don't like them they just move on, perhaps donate or give away but I like to try and re-do if possible. I'm still not crazy about it but it's a lot better.







That is the most accurate version of the color, which is really pretty. I just made some bias binding from fabric in my box of plain cottons, the binding is pink but it blends just fine. Quarantine sewing, make do!  Who are we kidding? I would never go out and buy fabric just to make binding, I always rummage around in the stash and scraps.

Next up is the what was I thinking top. Well the top itself is not too bad but I think the fabric just looks goofy. I saw this on the Mood Fabrics website and I think it was the palm trees and the ocean that grabbed me. It looked very tropical and all my travel will be of the virtual, a girl can dream variety for the time being. So I ordered it and then when it arrived I thought, hmmm, not so sure about this one. But I decided to make a tunic top which would use the border print. Thus we have this.



Seriously, I will never wear this. It's just too weird. Also I wasn't quite sure how to deal with the border print, as you can see it goes from dark on the bottom to light in the middle, and then the other edge was darker, which I used for the sleeves. I think I only ordered about 1.5 yards also, so not really enough to make something else. A maxi dress or caftan might have been better but I didn't have enough fabric. And I never wear those things :)







There's the drawing from the magazine. Once I made it I realized the center V placket is a bit too low for my liking. I can see now that it is below the bust darts. I didn't really pay attention to that. I do like the shape and collar, so I could see sewing this pattern again with just raising the bottom of that placket a bit.






So that's it for these less than successful tops. I have a few other things that didn't work, so stay tuned for more :). But also a few winners lately including the jumpsuit from the June 2020 Burda.




Stay well everybody and stay cool if your weather is like mine - it was 106℉ here today and supposed to be over 100℉ for the next 5 days in a row!!!!!!

Happy Summer Sewing, Beth

Today's garden photo, this albutilon which I bought at the local junior college horticulture department sale a couple of years ago. They didn't have the sales this spring which was really a disappointment, I'm sure for the students as well. It's a hummingbird favorite.

Patrones magazine review and a shirtdress from the July 2020 issue

There is a good possibility that I am becoming a bit of a pattern magazine addict. Since subscribing to Burda in the fall of 2017 my sewing has been about 70% Burda patterns. I just find them so appealing, full of styles that I want to sew. They definitely have some amazing coat and jacket patterns but also a great variety of tops, blouses, dresses - just about any idea I have I can find a similar pattern in the magazine. Once you have your correct size and ease figured out then the consistency is also a benefit.
When I wrote a couple of posts starting in early May on how I use Burda magazines (part 1 and part 2) a reader asked about Patrones Magazine, which is a Spanish pattern magazine. It was Sarah who mentioned that they had an App, which also had a free issue to download so you could check it out. Of course I immediately downloaded it on my iPad and found that it is very clever and easy to use - despite my Spanish skills being non-existent. Here's my impression of Patrones and the app, plus their patterns and instructions.

This is the first thing I sewed from a Patrones, it's from the July Issue # 411, pattern # 30. I wanted to sew up something that I really didn't need the instructions for, so a shirtdress was perfect for that. The pattern pieces were quite obvious - nothing tricky and it went together perfectly. Also I wanted to check out their sizing and get an idea of which size to choose, and the fit. More on that below.







There is the main screen of the app. Actually that might not be, as I purchased that issue so it is showing that July issue. On the main home screen it shows the various issues, and there is a video you can watch, at the top of this photo is the place to click for that video on how to use the app. Even though it is in Spanish it was really clear and helpful. Then if you click on each issue they have a preview, some of the previews just show the table of contents page (which does include all the garment photos but is not always ideal for judging a pattern) and then some previews also show the tech drawing page. So that is a bit hit or miss, however I did look at their Facebook page and it appears they do a preview of each issue there so that's a place to look if you want to see more detail.




This is the dress I made, each issue appears to have 4 patterns that are inspired by or are knockoffs of designer items. They used a viscose crepe which is probably a better fabric, softer and more drapey. My blue dress is a lightweight cotton, which is ok and what I had around that seemed suitable but just a tiny bit too stiff.



I wasn't sure about the sizing, I did some comparison to Burda and also read over their size page, and came up with size 40 in Patrones.  More on size below.  As far as I could tell this dress is not supposed to be fitted at the waist, as it pulls over the head with the buttons down the front. I can get it over my head and shoulders but not over the solid shoulders of my dress form, thus these pictures of it hanging here.

Let's get technical - here's what I figured out about using the app and the patterns. Before I go any further - I think this is a brilliant way to reduce paper, printing, storage etc. The instructions are available on the device, you download the pattern and then send to your printer, and they have a feature that I think is brilliant in terms of PDF's. I realize most PDF patterns don't make you print the instructions if you don't want them, but their PDF of the actual pattern pieces seems to be about 9-12 pages.  I think that's a big improvement over a standard 20 - 40 - 60 page PDF.

Here's the dress I made, # 30 Vestido Pepe Jeans (which I guess is inspired by this European brand, similar to Zara maybe?)



The instructions and layout are very similar to Burda or other pattern magazines so no trouble there.
I didn't use their cutting layout but I always glance at it so as to make sure I haven't omitted some pattern piece by mistake.


Here's how you get the actual pattern. Once you have opened the issue then you click on the symbol next to the pattern you want, and it asks if you want to open in an external application. On my iPad it opens it as a PDF document which I then email to myself so I can open on my laptop, and then print on my printer.  (as my printer is a pain in the you know what and only prints when it feels like it, and not wirelessly).




One other thing I forgot to mention, on that photo above of the red paisley dress, if you are on that page of the magazine in the app, and you click on that small rounded arrow next to the small tech drawing, it jumps you right to this page with the download. Like I said, clever!

Ok, time to talk about sizing. Note above that this dress I've chosen is available in 3 sizes, 40-44-48.
So they don't include the pattern lines for the sizes in between and if you are size 42, for example, you just have to trace in between the lines of the size 40 and 44. This may sound confusing but it seemed pretty doable once I saw the PDF.



In Burda I start with a size 38, and in American patterns such as Vogue or McCalls I start with a size 12.  All those patterns are around a bust measurement of 34" which means the neck, shoulders, chest will be a good fit for me.  I made a little chart to compare the sizes, and wanted to look at Burda 38 and 42, which are like US pattern size 12 and 16.
To find the comparable size in Patrones, I looked at the measurements not the size number. The size designation which is just a title, it could be A, B, C whatever and thinking that Burda size 40 and Patrones size 40 are the same will get you into trouble.

So going by bust and hip measurement a Patrones size 40 has the same measurements as a Burda size 38. Similar situation for the Patrones 44 corresponding to a Burda 42. However, note the difference in the waist measurements with Patrones using a much smaller waist measure across all sizes. Noted! and I will adjust accordingly.  I didn't look at their patterns for the size 50 - 58 but I imagine it is comparable and you would need to compare measurements to find the appropriate size for you.

They also have some specific issues for plus/tall, for easy, and for party dresses. 

I forgot to mention, each issue is........drumroll please.....    $ 3.99 

That is a bargain for all those patterns, especially that they live in the app, you don't have to store or print unless you want then, they are available to look at whenever. They don't even take up much storage on your device, I think it just accesses it each time you click read as opposed to actually downloading the whole issue. 

And now to what I think is the best part of these downloadable patterns, the PDF for this dress was 9 pages. NINE!  Because the pattern pieces are overlaid, or nested or whatever you want to call it. So similar to a Burda tracing sheet but on the other hand so much easier to use. You do have to trace out the pattern, it's obviously not possible to cut it out since they are overlaid, also you do need to add seam allowances but I felt it was worth it to just tape together 9 pieces of printer paper. In fact the back skirt is not include as it was a rectangle, so they give the measurements for that piece (similar to how Burda would for the same idea).  As mentioned above, it is only 3 sizes and if you were interested in one of the sizes that fell between the ones printed you just draw/trace in between. It looks pretty easy to me. To make the dress I traced the smaller size (40) and graded to a larger size at the waist.

Another thing to note is that it shows up in the PDF as colored pages, I chose to print in black/white lowest quality, again because why use my colored inks for a PDF that I will toss in the recycle bin  after tracing.

Here's how it looked on my computer screen. They have the page numbers, and that little measurement guide so you can verify it's printing at the right size. These patterns don't have a huge number of notches and markings, but the ones that are there are reasonable obvious. The collar and collar stand fit perfectly on the dress so I figured that was a good guide to how they worked.




Here's the waist ease in this style. As mentioned, I can get it on fine although perhaps the waist was supposed to be a bit more loose, like the style of the Myosotis dress?





I thought this dress was a bit on the short side, and I lengthened it a couple of inches. It's still a bit short maybe? or I'm just no longer used to the full skirt look on me. But as the for the fit around the neck and shoulders, I'm pretty satisfied with starting at size 40 and will perhaps experiment with another pattern to check.

And now for a look at a few other pages in the magazine to give you a better idea of their offerings.
In this July issue I saw several things that I thought were really pretty - they do seem to choose nice fabrics and pair them well with the styles.

I have no need for a beachy maxi dress but these are both so pretty in different ways.




This pleated dress on the left intrigues me, the pattern pieces are very plain so I think the result is achieved by sewing lots of small tucks which release over the bust and then are belted. I will keep that in mind in case I see the perfect fabric. It would also make a nice top - maybe that's an idea. The yellow dress on the right is in size 50-54-58 and I think while simple it has a lot of style, very office chic if we ever go back to work dressing!






Patrones is supposed to be noteworthy for their outerwear, coats and jackets although I didn't see anything particularly interesting yet. But these are spring and summer issues so I will wait to see what the fall issues bring. That white coat is quite nice, I don't care for the length with that floral dress but the tech drawing is appealing. I actually started out with the dress on the right, even using a plaid seersucker fabric and I think I chose the wrong size so it was a failed attempt, with a not so great fabric. Also that kind of asymmetrical front is not the best idea for trying to check fit so at that point I found the other shirtdress pattern.



And my all time favorite of the issues I've bought (which are 2 so far plus the free issue) is this jumpsuit. So cool! I plan to make this in denim just like the example. Or maybe lightweight corduroy? We'll see what fall fabric shopping brings.






There's the technical drawing page, they include several child's or baby patterns, and I think one issue had 2 knitting patterns for cute sweaters.

For $ 3.99 I think the whole thing is quite a bargain. My biggest problem with Patrones is not the language barrier  - I can sew pretty much anything without the instructions and the diagrams of the cutting layout help a lot to show you what is what. It's the fact that everything is in centimeters! I wish I could use centimeters automatically but my brain is stuck in inches and so I am constantly converting. Such a pain! Oh well, maybe with practice I will get more used to it.



Time to dash. I can't believe it's August already - while some days seem endless (endlessly boring in this quasi lockdown limbo) the summer is also flying by. I just finished a jumpsuit from the recent Burda, it's so cute and easy I might make it again. What is happening to me - jumpsuit mania?

If you have any other questions about Patrones feel free to ask and I will try to answer. And if you are trying to brush up on your Spanish it might be a great way to do that.

As for my language study - I'm a longtime speaker and study-er of Italian, so lockdown time has led to watch all kinds of Italian language programming on Amazon prime, (and MHz service). I think my Italian swearing, which was adequate, has improved immensely watching all the different shows :) Not saying that will help me in polite conversation. The only drawback is that I actually watch the foreign language shows so I can see how things are translated in the subtitles, to improve my vocabulary. With any other English language movie or show I'm sewing while "watching" which means mostly listening and glancing up periodically to see the action.
How about you? what new stuff are you watching while sewing these days?

Arrivederci a tutti e buon cucito, Beth

Today's garden photo, the morning glories appear mid-summer climbing over the back fence and I'm always dazzled by the color.