Summer break and a few links of interest

I am going here

Summer took its time getting here this year, then almost immediately there were fires. Now we are in a monsoon weather path and the burn scarred areas are being scrubbed with rains. I knew this could happen, but had never seen it in action.  Here is a link to a youtube video of one of these burn scar flash floods in action: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bBQ4TKOR-9E

I am getting ready for a vacation so I am not sewing much and writing even less. I am exploring what alterations I need to make on commercial patterns so they fit properly with less trial and error by comparing a pattern I scratched off of a dress that fit with a couple of different pattern drafting methods to see if the results will be any closer.  When I am finished I should have a great set of blocks or at least be able to more consistently pre-alter purchased patterns. Once I have tested these so I can compare them I will tell you more. 

While I am right in the middle of this exploration Brooke, at Custom Style also made a test using ratio reduction of purchased patterns on a copy machine. It was amazing how much better her results were so I plan to test her method too, but it will have to wait until after vacation. 

Here is a link to her two posts where she describes what she is doing and shows her results. You may find this helpful.  http://customstyle.wordpress.com/2013/07/09/pattern-sizing-experiment-part-1-grading-vs-ratios/  and http://customstyle.wordpress.com/2013/07/10/sewing-pattern-sizing-experiment-part-2-testing-three-mockups/

Ok, now if these three links are not enough for this one little post, here is one more I found yesterday. These harmonies are so beautiful you just have to listen. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6y1aOg_UO_A&feature=c4-overview&list=UUplkk3J5wrEl0TNrthHjq4Q

It is time to enjoy the hot summer and visit other places and people for a while, but I will be back soon.

from Online Etymology Dictionary:

vacation (n.) 

late 14c., "freedom from obligations, leisure, release" (from some activity or occupation), from Old French vacation, from Latin vacationem (nominative vacatio) "leisure, a being free from duty," noun of state from past participle stem of vacare "be empty, free, or at leisure" (see vain).

Meanings "state of being unoccupied; process of vacating" are early 15c. Meaning "formal suspension of activity" (in reference to schools, courts, etc.) is recorded from mid-15c. As the U.S. equivalent of what in Britain is called a holiday, it is attested from 1878.