The Girl with the Blue Dress

I have been doing some school, some work on my son's highschool transcript, some house cleaning and now a little sewing. My blue/turquoise dress is definitely looking a little more wearable after the 30 minutes or so I spent on it. I sewed the neck down-didn't use the facings because of major bulk issues. I decided against the stand up collar for the same bulk reason, but also to allow me to wear it with tissue weight turtlenecks or sweaters under it. I also sewed up the side seams and sewed one of the pockets up. I have just pinned the pocket in place as well as the silver buttons. What do you think? Obviously needs hemming. I am going to cut off quite a bit. I tried it on and it looks a bit dowdy at this long length on my 5'2 frame. I am thinking the knee. There will be a fourth button on the front and then another pocket with a button. I will try it on to place the pockets so that my hips don't make them flip out-that would be tragic! I like the fit of the dress though, comfortably snug but not tight. Hopefully the weekend will provide me with some sewing/knitting time.

I am hoping I don't have to scrub rocks with comet and a toothbrush over the weekend. Scrub rocks with a toothbrush you say? How odd! Yes I did say it and have been doing it as well. We are still working on our fireplace insert area of the house and my hubby has decided we need to use rock from our very own creek-(sentimental & affordable). Quite a laborious task for him and my son to dig them out and push them all up the hill in a wheelbarrow though.The problem is this rock is quite gross. Due to the dry spell, it is covered in algae and moss and dirt. That all has to go before it can be attached to a vertical concrete wall. So we are scrubbing them all with a toothbrush. I know you wish you could participate in the weird antics with my family, but alas you cannot.

Pre-Turkey Day sewing

I had to take my oldest to college classes this morning and then go finish grocery shopping for Thanksgiving. I ran in Hancock to get a zipper and thread for this teal/turquoise polyester material I am using for the Simplicity dress pattern. Came home and put everything away and decided to try to get the main parts of the dress put together. I figured it would be better hanging on my dress form rather than in a stack on my table. So after a couple of hours of sewing I am in pretty good shape. The dress is of course inside out, but I wanted to try it on to see about the fit. Next up will be the zip. These side inset pieces were a little weird. I don't think I did them quite right. The instructions said to slash the solid lines-which I didn't do because I didn't know what they were talking about*. They become darts, so now I understand why you needed to slash them. You get odd bulk from the first seam if you don't cut the material. They look ok, but I may have to fix them. Polyester seems to be a dream to work with. No wonder everything was made out of it in the 60's and 70's. I am using a size 16 ballpoint needle and polyester thread. Several of the dart seams are done with the stretch stitch. Lots of new things for me, but I like learning new techniques and stitches. Not sure if I want to leave this sleeveless so I can wear a tissue weight long sleeve under it. Maybe the sleeves would look best. I will get my mom's opinion while she is here. My parents get here tomorrow and I can't wait to see them! Will be posting some of my tried and true Thanksgiving recipes soon.

Simplicity 9158

Well my sock is just a cuff and a flap. The videos don't give detailed instructions on how to turn the heel and I am not experienced enough to figure out how to proceed. I will start over on a new sock pattern, but for now I am working on the Christmas wreath paper punch and it is turning out great. I decided to cut the pattern pieces for this dress (view 1) out tonight. I was given a bunch of material from a really sweet man who lost his wife about a year ago. There is a turquoise polyester double knit in the bunch and I am going to use it. Probably won't get to far on this due to some weekend plans, but maybe Thanksgiving week. I am looking forward to a school break and some retro sewing.