Tots Around Town on the Trolley to the (New) Tretyakov

Now that the weather is warmer, we are joining our friend A and his mama in their explorations of the city. Yesterday was our first "Tots Around Town" adventure. We took the trolley to the New Tretyakov Gallery near Gorky Park. The art there is most 19th and 20th century, and to be honest, not really my thing. But it was nearly empty, had a stroller ramp AND an elevator, and nice wide rooms perfect for toddler exploration. So off we went.

This is Z and A on the trolley. N is in the jump seat behind Z.

Exploring the gallery.

Natasha decided that this painting was best contemplated while lying on the floor.

We spent about an hour and a half checking out the exhibits, and then walked back outside to wait for the trolley.

Mama and Natasha happy on the trolley.

It inevitably broke down, and we ended up walking the remaining mile back home. But it was a nice sunny day (have I mentioned it's finally spring??), about 45 degrees, and we enjoyed the walk.

Are you sure you want that?

Moscow has obviously changed quite a bit since I last lived here in 1987. Back then, there wasn't a place in the city that you could mistake for the United States. Today the lines are a bit blurrier. Many of the local pharmacies looking on the inside just like a CVS, complete with an ATM by the door. There are McDonalds', maybe not on every corner, but certainly enough that you need never fear lacking for a Big Mac. So it's occasionally jarring when you do run into a bit of local flavor.

Like at the grocery store. In the United States, when you end up with an un-barcoded item at checkout, a price check is no big deal. Saturday morning during my weekly Auchan run, I found myself in the check-out line with two unmarked items: a badminton set and a play tambourine (it's birthday party season here). The cashier sighed and asked whether I wanted the items. I nodded. She signaled a stock girl who looked at me, sighed heavily, and said "Are you sure? Are you going to buy them?"

I confirmed my intention to, in fact, pay for the items that I had put in my cart. She stared me down with that look of mingled boredom and disgust that Russians are so good at. How dare I force her to do her job?

I should emphasize that this was not an isolated incident. It has happened before to me, and it happened to my friend who was in the next checkout line over with a barcode-less bag of frozen tilapia fillets. Every time, they ask whether you are really really sure you are going to buy the item.

A few minutes later, though, the price-check had been completed, I paid and was very politely thanked for my purchase. (Something, by the way, that I find Stateside cashiers don't very often do.)

Refashion: Long and Blah to Short and Flirty

On Sunday it was 50 degrees and sunny. It was the first spring-like day we've had. There was cause for celebration. And some wardrobe-tinkering inspiration.

So I pulled out this skirt, which I bought some 10 years ago for like $7.99 at TJ Maxx. I feel like, at some point, long flowery bias-cut skirts were fashionable. But this skirt has mostly just hung in my closet for awhile. I pull it out occasionally to try on, lifting the hem and thinking "This might actually be cute if it were shorter." And then I put it back to hang for another eight months.

Not this time, though. I measured my skirt. It was 37 inches long. And I determined that I wanted the finished skirt to be about 21.5 inches.

I cut 18 inches off the bottom, leaving 19 inches on the main skirt.

Then I chopped three inches off the bottom piece, including the hem. This was my ruffle. I could have made it more ruffly by cutting up more of the skirt to add width. But I was in a hurry, so I left it as is.

I gathered the ruffle and pinned it to my main skirt, then sewed it on. I also cut the faux-drawstring tie off the skirt's waistband (seriously, what is the point that? Since I am not in the habit of tucking shirts into elastic-waist skirts, it just pokes out under the shirt and looks dumb.)

Ta-da!

Bonus, I now have 15 inches of fabric left, which will be plenty to make Natasha a matching sundress. Look for that in the future.

WELCOME SPRING!!!

Jeans-to-skirt refashion and Natasha's cooking clothes

I read a lot of blogs. More than the ones on the sidebar. My bookmarks bar is crowded with sewing and knitting and cooking and baking and crafting blogs of all natures. Whenever I'm on a particular kick (sewing at the moment, if you couldn't tell), I tend to write posts that mimic those I see on one-topic blogs. I want to have a blog of each kind. But I'm too scattered, and not focused enough on one hobby, to really do that. Which is why this blog is so inconsistent. I probably alienate 90 percent of my readership every time I post. Sorry about that.

ANYWAY.

"Refashion" is a word that crops up a lot in mama sewing blogs. It means taking your old unloved clothing and making it into something fabulous. So, inspired by this and this, I set to work. I pulled out a pair of hastily bought post-baby jeans (you know, the ones that look great in the store but stretch out ridiculously after a couple hours of wear ... why can't they make inexpensive women's jeans without spandex anymore?) that were headed to the refugee bin. They looked like this:

First I ripped out the seams on the hems.

Then I cut with my pinking shears (figured it would save a step later, but it didn't, so I won't be doing this again). Also, I ended up undoing that leg seam later anyway to get some extra fabric, and because I had already cut there, I lost 3/4 of an inch that I really could have used in the length of my skirt. If I do this again I'll just rip the seams out instead.

When I was all done, I ended up with two of these (you can see I ended up taking out the back pockets too, to eke out just a bit more fabric).

I didn't take pictures of the rest of the process, but here is the result, which I'm pretty happy with.

(Don't let the sunshine or my light attire fool you. It's still winter here. Right around 32 degrees.)

And I finally got Natasha to pose with her cooking ensemble, which I sewed earlier this week (OK, "pose" might not be the best word to use here):