In Which Tom Is a Little Sew-and-Sew

I think, by God's aid, I've figured out the fake-flowers/ribbons thing. A thousand apologies for the mopey tone of that last entry. I never was very good at sticking to my resolutions. :-(

Anyhoo, I've decided to wear ribbons when I feel like it—providing it's appropriate to the occasion—and as for flowers, well, methinks I'll just make meself some pretty barrettes. A full-blown wreath is too theatrical for aught but Ren Fest or the like. :-P

“Wood Violet” is officially finished! PTL! >Confetti< It fits great, looks smashing (if I do say so myself), and best of all...it irons out beautifully. :-D Not like some cottons that you practically have to iron soaking wet in order to get >most< of the wrinkles out, LOL. I'm so lovin' this blouse. And did I mention that it's PURPLE? ;-) I was going to get rid of the pattern (Simplicity 5663, circa 1982) because of the high armhole thing, and because Mom and I found a Butterick pattern very like it. However, “Wood Violet” fits so nicely, and it really wasn't that hard to fix the armhole, that methinks I'll keep it for my future blouses, and let Mom use the Butterick pattern for herself.

So now I'm on to testing out Butterick 4827—that Medievaloid costume pattern we bought a while back. Scraping together enough fabric for the mock-up was...erm...fun. Thankfully, there was indeed enough, but I had to piece several panels. Looks like I need to get me some more old sheets from the thrift shop! ;-) It's quite a motley-looking dress, that mock-up, with half the panels white and the other half yellow, and some of the yellow panels with white tops...hee! Oh yeah, and some of the piecing seams ended up on the outside. Oy. But as I keep telling The Boggart (and my mom reminded me the other day), IT'S JUST A MOCK-UP; it doesn't have to be *perfect.* :-P I'm pretty much sewing it up as-is (baring the lacing in back) to see what's going on with it, how it fits, what this kind of princess seam looks like on me, things like that. Then I can tweak it and use the mock-up pieces as a pattern (once it's the way I want it) when I cut out my fashion fabric (eek!).

...providing there's enough of anything in the stash to make a dress out of, that is. I don't really want to go buy more because I have fabric coming out my ears! :-P Just not all of the same stuff, LOL. But hey, at least I'll have this pattern all ready when I do have enough fabric for it! :-D

So far my observations are as follows:

• Yikes! Shorten this thang about a foot!
• As-is, this pattern is a fabric hog
• Wow! The neckline is actually at a MODEST height! Fancy that
• Erm, the waist looks a bit snug....
• The grommets (for the laced closure) are put in a separate band that's sewn to the back opening of the dress, and therefore easily omitted (we'll see how easy it is to install a zipper instead)

So we'll see how it goes once it's all sewn up.

In the meantime, I still have several long-sleeved blouses to finish up. Because eventually, the weather will get to be warm enough to doff the bulky sweater-sets and throw on a nice cool blouse. ^_^ And when that happens, I want to be ready this year.

Until next time, Gentle Readers,

God bless,

~“Tom”~