Woo, it's been a while! About 3 years. Not much has changed. I still start projects and never finish them. I'm still fat. I still like to bake. One new thing is, I've started sewing!
I learned to sew when I was 10 for 4-H, and pretty much haven't done any sewing since. I was recently sent a link to this AMAZING quilt show going on in DC and it made me want to sew things of beauty, too. I pulled out the old sewing machine that my parents bought me when I went to college (quote refurbished unquote, and probably older than me), and ..... sewed absolutely nothing because it apparently couldn't take the years of neglect and committed suicide. Luckily, this was over the 4th of July weekend and if there's one thing Americans like more than mixing alcohol and fireworks, it's sales on holiday weekends. Joann's had a good deal on a basic sewing machine, and I was back in business. I made a couple of quilt blocks and, pleased with myself, decided to try making clothes.
When I was in college, I decided that I hated my green bedroom wall with floral print border that only 3 years earlier I had begged for, so I bought like a bazillion yards of fabric to cover it (ok, maybe not that much, but I have no idea how to measure fabric. I just have to take the nice lady at Joann's word for it that she really did give me 3 yards. Anyway, there was a lot.). I held on to it for whatever reason and was able to use it to make this "practice" skirt to remind myself how to read patterns. I learned a lot, like that the people who made the pattern actually do know what they're talking about when they show you how to lay the pattern out on the fabric, and that when the diagram says to lay something out on the fold, you should keep the fold and not cut through it. (Why would I cut through it?? Seriously, Diane.) I was vaguely confused on the skirt part, but I figured that maybe the pattern assumed I was smarter than I am, and would know that if it called to sew two parts of something together and I clearly had in my hands four parts, I should repeat the step. It was only when I got to the yoke that I realized I had done something wrong, and only when I started on the next pattern (see below) that I realized WHAT I had done wrong.
Satisfied that I had learned all I needed to know (ha!), I moved on to a harder pattern, McCall's 5619 (View A, if you're wondering - I hate puffy sleeves). I bought some pretty light blue fabric with embroidered flowers and eyelet lace, and some plain white to go underneath so I could wear it in public without traumatizing children or getting arrested. At this point, you're expecting me to chronicle how spectacularly I failed, but I haven't yet!! I successfully cut out the pattern, paying attention to the funny little pictures and words, and equally successfully used fusible interfacing for the first time. Tonight I hope to (successfully) sew parts of it together.
Because I just can't help getting ahead of myself, I also spent time yesterday looking for the perfect sweater to wear with it. I'm leaning toward this one, because I feel that the boob area is the most interesting part of this dress, and most other cardis button at the top and sort of cover it up. Another option is a see-through, laceweight meshy design.
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