Hello my lovelies!
How have you all been? Are you embracing the autumnal experience that seems to be upon us? Or are you holding on to every last gasp of warm weather that you can? Did you spend your langourous summer afternoons sipping cocktails and sewing beautiful things? Or was it full-on, hard-core family vacation time? And how about that whole back-to-school thing? Yummy, yummy.
Something earth-shattering has happened here. Are you ready?
The winter slippers are out and in full rotation. It feels way too early to me, but my tootsies were cold and I'm wearing a short skirt, so socks weren't an option. Well, they are an option sometimes, but they weren't today. I learned something new about myself yesterday. I was excavating the depths of the underbed drawers, looking for a wooly sweater, when all of a sudden it occurred to me that I am a winter person. Now don't get me wrong. I love summer. There is very little that I love more than walking outside and having the heat hit you full in the face. We don't get many of those days, so I revel in them when they are here. But I love wool. And sweaters. And layers. And wooly layers. Winter is good. That's my story today.
But before we bid summer a lovely adieu, there are a few loose ends that need to be tied up.
1. The Steeking.
I cut the knitting. And it was good.
I machine stitched on either side of the stitches that were reserved for said purpose, using a small stitch length and doing it twice for good measure.
You can just see the stitching on the green wool.
Then I sliced that bad boy open. Now I am engaged in the tedious process of hand stitching the grosgrain ribbon on the button bands. For some reason, it's taking me a long time and I am not enjoying it. It will be done soon though.
I tried the sweater on, and the fit is exactly how I like it - big enough to layer but fits through the shoulders.
Now just to finish it.
2. The Blue Shirt
Ah yes. The blue shirt that I cut out at the same time that I cut out the yellow pants (soon to be #3).
There is a story there.
A couple of things have occurred to me lately. One is that I hardly ever document my successes on this blog. That's not a good thing. I think it might be the worry that I won't like pictures of myself in the clothes that I feel so great in, and it will sour the clothing for me. But that's a little silly, and boring for the six of you who drop in here regularly. So I resolve to take more positive pictures.
The other thing that has occurred to me is how fussy I am about the clothing I wear. It has to fit properly (or at least be a reasonable approximation of a good fit) and it has to feel like "me".
That second bit is a little ethereal, I realize. But what it means is that, once I put it on, I don't want to think about it again. If I catch a glimpse of myself in a mirror, I don't want to think "oops", I want to think "nice". It has to feel good. No pulling, tugging, or rearranging.
That last one is the part where the blue shirt fell down.
Here's a picture of my dirty mirror and me in the shirt. After putting another small dart in the side, the fit was pretty good. I really like the neckline and the collar.
But.
The pattern doesn't line up in the front. It lines up horizontally, but not vertically.
Here's a picture on the dressform. Those diamonds don't work. It's all I can see when I look in the mirror. But I think I could get over that, once buttons and buttonholes have broken up the pattern a little bit. The thing that killed this shirt?
See that? This fabric sticks to everything. It sticks to the dressform, and whatever pants I'm wearing, and my bra. Everything. It is hard to get a picture of.
This is the best one I can find of it on me. Ignore the sewing day hair. See how it collapses around the armholes? That's because it's stuck to my bra. Those wrinkles at the waist? That's where my track pant waistband starts. STICKY!
And that, ladies and germs, is the story of how a perfectly nice shirt became a stack of fabric to use in another project.
The pants are great though. More on those tomorrow.
Step away from your computer and go enjoy the sunshine (but thanks for coming)!
