Shopping Not Sewing

The mojo was in light attendance last night. I interfaced the skirt waistbands and that was it. I'll finish up the skirt over the weekend, and hopefully something else too.

So, instead of sewing, I went shopping online before the BMV sale ended. I noticed the New Vogues were in the sale, then off the site. Not nice, IMO, but it's not like I was really going to sew any of the new patterns before the next sale. Instead, I bought some of the items that were on my wishlist, which will be plenty to keep me busy — along with those still in a holding pattern from previous sales. Carolyn will be happy to see that the Rachel skirt was purchased and will be on its way to me. ;-)

Then I headed over to Fabric.com and some sweater knits and lightweight wools for skirts are on their way to me. It's going down to an artic 69 degrees this weekend so I need to be ready.

Previous online shopping from PalmerPletsch.com arrived in my mailbox yesterday, including more interfacing and this DVD. I always enjoy the P/P DVDs and they are so reasonably priced. I'll let you know what I think about this one after I've watched it — hopefully over the weekend.

I rounded out the evening by clearing some too-big pants from my closet. The brown pants second from the top are my wonderful stretch bengaline (from Australia) pants. I'm almost sad they are too big. Bye-bye stretch bengaline. I'll miss you.

I also found a pair of jeans in the closet that fit and I was going to wear them today for Jeans Day at work but I really wanted to wear a belt with them because they are a little loose in the waist. However, in my infinite sewing wisdom, I didn't add belt loops to them. I didn't want to be pulling them up all day, so I'm not wearing them. Maybe I'll add some beltloops over the weekend.

Here's what I wore to work yesterday. The dress is too loose to wear on its own, but with a wide brown belt under the cardi and the neckline Hollywood-taped closed, it works — which means now I have another outfit for a few more weeks, with an added bonus of being really comfortable. I really like this cardi. Some of the sweater knits I just bought may turn into its sisters.

Simplicity 2475: In Progress

I made no progress on any sewing last night. After writing 2 reviews, I fizzled. Tonight, I cut out and pressed the pattern tissue for this skirt and then cut out the waistband from the fabric to pin it and try it on. It fits. Well, probably. At least I know it's not too small, which is always a good thing when going right from unaltered pattern tissue to the fabric. But I have so much of this fabric that if the first make turns out to be a muslin, I can still make 4 more and a jacket. ;-)

After testing the waistband, I cut out the rest of the skirt. And that's where I'm quitting. It has been a very busy week at work, which I like, but I'm tired. I've also decided I probably want to line this skirt. That means I need to baste it together to be sure it fits and then cut out a lining if it's a go. And, even though I've now cut out the waistband pieces, I'm thinking of moving the side zipper to the back. All of that is just too much for my brain tonight.

This skirt is one from Simplicity's "Amazing Fit" line, with separate slim, average, and curvy pattern pieces. That's all well and good IF you know whether you are slim, average, or curvy. Nowhere does the pattern tell you how to choose between the three. As usual, it just tells you to pick your size from the measurement chart, and nothing about which fit you should pick.

Now, I'm pretty sure I'm curvy. But on the other hand, I usually have to straighten hip curves on patterns. So, does that make me curvy some places and average others? I just think it's kind of lame for Simplicity to ignore how to choose your fit within a size because plenty of women don't really evaluate their bodies fairly. Maybe I'm just extra grumpy because I'm tired. My unsolicited advice is to cut the curvy because it's biggest and then pin to fit and trim away what you don't need. But then that sort of defeats the Amazing part, no? And makes it just a regular skirt pattern.

Tuesday Nuthin'

This is really just to load these photos before I write official reviews so there's not going to be too much new here.

I wore this today, with PH and a cardi and I was very comfortable temperature-wise.

If you remember, when I first made it about 3 weeks ago, it was on the snug side of things. It's not anymore. Here's the first pic (unhemmed) to compare:

I did NOT wear this jacket, but I wanted to take some pics for the review. Unfortunately, they aren't as clear as I was hoping. Pffft. But the jacket fits better now too (even though it's hanging crooked in the pic) so maybe I'll even wear it for real.

And that's about it for now, since I want to get the reviews done and then get up to my sewing room. I may or may not have changed my mind about first sewing a skirt to match the new blouse. ;-)

More Outfit Pics

Are you getting tired of seeing me posing in the mirror talking about clothes? Don't answer that.

I think it was Julie who asked how I do good mirror shots. Well, Julie, as you'll see below — it's a total crap shoot. I turn off the flash, try to hold the camera as still as I can when I'm too lazy to get out the tripod, and then snap a billion of each pose and weed out the best. I'm not always successful. Some of these are the "best" of really bad and blurry.

So, this is what I wore today. I think this is my first repeat at the office, but I didn't take a pic of me in it the first time. It was Monday, I stayed up too late last night, and I knew this would be comfortable — plus it was clean, pressed and ready. I also remembered that last Monday I was almost too warm in a sweater. Today? I was cold again. I really need to make or buy some sort of shawl that I can toss over my knees in the afternoon. It's my bare/un-PH legs that get the coldest.

I made everything. The top is Vogue 8118 (OOP), which I made 3+ years ago. The skirt is the half-lined Burda I just made. And the cami is self-drafted and made from ivory Powerdry. I'm so glad the cami fits again. The top is sheer, but not as sheer IRL as it looks here. I even made the undies I'm wearing but I'm not modeling those.

Although I said I'd do pics on me when I had the coordinating skirt sewn, I went ahead and snapped a pic with today's skirt because I hadn't even tried on the finished blouse after closing up the sewing room last night. It was too late and I was in too-big pants that wouldn't have looked right with it anyway. I'm very happy with the fit and style and I'll be making another top from this pattern very soon, with a sleeve cap fix.

Next, on to another Walmart purchase. This is the Before so don't panic, and I know it's completely unflattering in this state. But it was only $7 on clearance and it's my colors (brown and teal), and I'm thinking I can refashion it …

… to something like this:

It's got a shirred elastic waist but I think I can just cut the top off above the elastic, shorten it, and hide the seam in the blousing. Plus take in the sideseams and sleeve seams. For $7, it's worth a try.

Here's what I'm wearing now, from the back of my closet. Both of these will be going in the too-big box after this wearing. The top is an Onion pattern and is quite baggy and too long. The pants waist comes up to my bra line. Hah. (Speaking of bras NancyK, I don't need an actual "fitting," since I'm pretty good at knowing if a bra fits me properly. I've already bought a few in smaller sizes so I'm good in that department.)

Tonight I'm going to catch up on some DVR'd TV shows so there won't be any sewing. It was also pouring rain on the way home so I didn't stop at Joann's either. There's always tomorrow. I think before I make a skirt, though, I'm going to be making a quick top that I can wear with a sweater I bought last week. And then a denim skirt for Friday, although I'm thinking that Rachel skirt would be great for a denim skirt (especially after seeing Julie's), so you may just get me yet Carolyn. ;-)

Butterick 5678: Finished

Just a few quick pics of the finished blouse before I head to bed.

As you can see, I made the view (B, I think) with the waist tabs and self-fabric belt. I didn't have enough fabric to cut the belt to full length so it's a little short. I also left off any pockets both because of the fabric shortage and the boobage. ;-)

Speaking of boobage, I know I've said it before, but I really need to reshape Zillie. This top almost doesn't fit her because both her bust and her back are bigger/broader than me. Her hips are smaller, though, darn it. (I'll get a pic of this on me when I've got the skirt done.)

I'm not happy with the hem. It's too ripply from fighting the fabric and the curved hem. I want to re-do it, but I don't know if I actually will. I guess it depends how it looks with the skirt to come and how motivated I am.

The pleated "design feature" of the sleeves turned out fine. As I said, you'd never know it wasn't intentional from the start, so that's fine with me. Much better than fighting a badly drafted sleeve.

Close-up of one of the tabs.

Overall, I'd recommend this pattern but beware of the sleeves. I made very minimal alterations. No FBA because none was needed. The D cup front pieces were perfect on me, including apex height. I think I'm actually between a D and DD now. The sleeve bicep width was fine, even if the blasted cap didn't fit into the armhole. I also narrowed the shoulders and took a tuck below the neck on the center back piece due to erect posture (like a sway back alteration but higher). That's it for alterations. Oh, one last point of note — watch the front princess seam notches. I'm pretty sure one is in the wrong place. I'll try to remember to double-check it when I write a real review.

Now to decide on a skirt pattern from the stash. And also something in denim to wear on Friday. Probably another skirt.

Butterick 5678: In Progress

I may or may not get this done today, which is OK since I wasn't planning on wearing it until I have something to wear it with. The main hold-up will be buttons. I don't know yet if I have any suitable since I haven't looked in the bin yet. If not, I'll stop by J's on the way home tomorrow. Actually, I'll stop either way since I need a couple of invisible zippers to tide me over until I remember to place an online order.

The print I'm using is a very drapey and slippery and sheer poly picked up at Hancock's a few years ago. I have to sew it very s-l-o-w-l-y because it has a mind of its own, wants to walk all over the place, and tells me that seam allowances are really just suggestions.

I've mostly been able to tame it into submission, but I'm up to putting in the sleeves now and they are giving me fits. If anyone ever asks me what my least favorite thing about sewing is, my answer would be setting in sleeves. Or, more correctly, setting in sleeves with too much (read: any) sleeve cap ease. I've vowed that very soon I'm going to revisit some of my sewn blouse patterns and find one that has a great armsyce and sleeves and then use that combo from now on. I know I have at least one or two. I just have to read some past reviews and figure out which ones they are.

I knew from my muslin that there was too much ease in these sleeves (like 1.5"-2"). But I also cut into the shoulder of the bodice pieces to narrow them and after rewalking the sewing lines, I thought I had corrected it. Apparently not. There is no way this fabric will ease and I don't have the patience for it or any more of this fabric to cut new sleeves. So I just said screw it and pleated the ease evenly on both sides of the shoulder seam. No one besides us will ever be able to tell it wasn't intentional. Heck, they don't even know (yet) at work that I sew.

Carolyn asked what I was pairing the finished blouse with and suggested Vogue 1247 (the Rachel skirt). While that pattern is on my radar, I have a few other skirt patterns that I actually own and thus are higher up in the queue, so it will be one of them. The skirt fabric is below. It's kind of a brownish greyish olive something, and I have a TON of it. It will be good to clear some of it from the stash.

Who Lives in a Pineapple Under the Sea

Spongebob Squarepants!!

Or, my muslin for Butterick 5678.

Moving along from the trainwreck that used to be my blog and email, after running errands much of the day, I finally got up to the sewing room to steal more patterns work on more office clothes. (Sorry, I just couldn't help that one.) This is my muslin for B5678, which is a multi-cup pattern. I wish *every* top pattern was a multi-cup pattern.

I measured myself (something I have to do now before each new item, since the measurements keep moving) and I'm definitely now squarely in a 16 for upper chest. I blended from the 16 to the 18 for waist and hip, and that was it. I still have to try out the sleeve, but even if that has to be adjusted, it ain't no big deal. And I need to shorten the back between shoulder and armpit due to super-erect posture, which is always a fit issue with woven button-front shirts, but that's also an easy fix.

Since this fits but is actually on the near side of snug, I will sew the sideseams with a little more ease. In the real fabric, of course. Spongebob is cool, but not very work appropriate — even on Fridays.

* * * * *

A few last words on The Drama. First, thank you for your support. It's been a weird couple of days. And for those of you who are getting flamed on your blogs, I wish that wasn't happening.

Second, this person posted a photo which she purports proves copyright infringement. What it proves is that — OMG — we both "designed" a perfect 4.5" x 3.75" rectangle, as part of a pocket to hold credit cards which, strangely, are all the same size too. You can't see the details in her photo but if you could, it would show that another of my pattern pieces she claims is a duplicate of hers is actually NOT the same size. As I said earlier, she must be using some kind of ruler I've never seen. What her photo shows me is how different these pieces are and that when one is looking through the eyes of a green monster, one sees whatever they wish. I'm also wondering where's the comparison of my other 13 pieces to her other 4? Could it be that they are different? Hmmm.

I will leave all the crap comments on yesterday's post because I think they speak volumes about the authors, but now I'm done. Any further anonymous or thinly disguised slanderous comments against me — and especially my family — will be deleted.

And The Winner Is …

Congratulations Mary Sue! Please email me at djc at cedesign dot com to claim your Ooo Rah Wallet pattern download and to provide me your mailing info for the fabrics!

* * * * *

Unfortunately, with this happy news comes some rotten news. Apparently another Etsy wallet pattern seller has gotten a bee in her bonnet that I have copied/stolen her pattern. Nothing could be further from the truth. I think those of you who've been around my sewing and blogging for a while already know that. I'm still new enough on Etsy that I don't know how they act on such complaints, so if the pattern suddenly disappears from my Etsy shop, you'll know why.

Beverage?

Yesterday at work we had a little excitement. At about 10 AM, the fire alarms started shrieking throughout the building with a loud announcement that a fire had been reported in the building. We all stood around for a couple of minutes wondering if we should heed the alarm, then grabbed our "important" stuff (purses, phones, etc.) and headed to the stairwell. Let me tell you, I was very happy I was wearing the comfy shoes! We got to the building lobby and then outside, where we were handed cold bottles of water. At which point it became obvious that it was drill and not an actual emergency. Although it was the first drill where I've had beverage service. ;-)

We were all herded across the street and down a block to a waterside park. Even a helicopter swung by to see what was up. Maybe it was part of the drill too?

Speaking of shoes (I was), I picked these up last night at Target.

Along with a bunch of other stuff that I've already decided I'm not keeping. Target's fit model (or models, who knows how many there really are) is just enough off from me at any size that I'm better off not buying clothing there. I realized that years ago but I thought I'd give it another shot. I brought some stuff home to evaluate different styles, etc. in a more relaxed setting, but I'm not going to settle for "almost" when I know I can either buy or make "great" so I'll be making some returns on Saturday. The shoes I'm keeping. I wore them bare-legged all day today and while they're not as cushy as the comfy shoes, they were fine and I didn't feel any need to kick them off as soon as I walked in the door. The heels are higher than they seem in this photo — between 3 and 4 inches, which is HUGE for me. I never thought I'd be wearing heels again.

Today was fairly uneventful, until the drive home. It had been POURING the last hour at work and the streets downtown were flooded. Like 3 ft. deep in places. Really. It's amazing how quickly rainwater accumulates here. Even after 22 years, I'm still impressed. So, like many other commuters, I did a u-turn from my usual route and slowly made my way through the deluge to different streets. Surprisingly, the detours only added about 15 minutes to my trip. Not too bad.

Parting Shot: The Marine is on his way back to Yuma as I type. Thankfully, the impromptu gift I ordered through Amazon got to him in the nick of time. Now he'll have something to read on the flight and over the next six weeks.

Dress Re-Do for Wednesday's Outfit

I'm writing this Tuesday night but scheduling to post on Wednesday since I just posted some ramblings a couple of hours ago.

After my last post, I got my rear end up to my sewing room and attacked the dress. I knew it wouldn't take long and I was right. An hour, tops, and a good chunk of that time was rethreading my machines, changing needles, and winding a bobbin, and keeping half an eye on The Biggest Loser (OMG how does anyone lose 37 lbs in one week?? Speaking of which, I've decided I want a personal trainer. lol).

Here's the dress before, with 3/4 sleeves and a plunging, work inappropriate neckline.

And after. The sleeves have been chopped, turned, pressed and coverstitched. The neckline was ripped out where it was orginally attached (it's sort of a faux crossover, so there's only very little of actual overlap) and resewn with less plunge. Not bad for a $19 dress from Walmart and a little time in the sewing room. Thread is free, right?

Here's how I'm wearing it on Wednesday (or how I *did* wear it, since my tenses are messed up by writing this the night before). Yep, the dress goes with the comfy shoes. Synchronicity.

And now Zillie is nekkid and I have to decide what's next. Poor Zillie.

Tuesday Tidbits

How's that for an alliterative but completely meaningless title? ;-) What I should really have called this post is "I've Got Nuthin'."

Remember how I said my office is cold? Well yesterday I wore my new brown pencil skirt with the print … oh wait, I have the photo from the other day. This outfit:

Plus I added pantyhose and wore closed-toe pumps.

And I was HOT, and not in a good way (or in a personal summer way either). I ended up taking off the sweater by afternoon. What was up with THAT?

Today I wore the skirt re-make and the print shell I had with it in the last set of pics, plus the short-sleeved brown cascade cardigan and the shoes in the pic above, no PH. My legs were a little chilly by the end of the day but overall I was comfortable. Especially during potty breaks. Is that TMI? ;-) I think someone hit the thermostat yesterday and today it was back to normal again. It was the same people who decided to all get on the roads at the same exact time this morning, adding another 15 minutes to my drive. Can we please have a sign-up sheet for commute times? ;-)

I'm SO glad I kept those shoes, though. They are so comfy that I would still be wearing them now if I didn't have to take them off to get my capris on. I've already decided I'm wearing them tomorrow and will now have to build an outfit around them. The skirt re-make didn't even feel tight today. When I was trying it on after finishing it the other night, it was after a filling dinner so I was feeling a little puffy. I wasn't puffy today and it was comfortable. This is good, and bad. Good for obvious reasons. Bad, because it means I may not have as much time with it as I hoped. Catch-22.

Last night I sat through 2 hours of video tutorials online because the graphics software I'm using is actually pretty new to me so I want a better idea of what I'm doing. I mean, I know what to do, I just fumble trying to find it in the software. (And while we're on the subject, who the heck at Microsoft decided to completely change the location of EVERYTHING in the latest iteration of Office? OMG I hate it. H.A.T.E.) Two hours of basic and boring tutes was all I could take and I was passed out on top of my covers in front of the tube by 10:30 PM.

Tonight I'm going to try to work up the motivation to fix the RTW dress that needs the neckline crossover raised, instead of watching more tutes. Tsk, tsk. I also want to make the sleeves short instead of 3/4 so I can wear my short-sleeved putty knit jacket over it.

I'm looking forward to my first paycheck this week, more shopping (yes!) and more sewing on the weekend. Hi, my name is Debbie and I've become a clothes horse.

Skirt Re-Make

Here's the Before. The skirt pretty much falls off me. (BTW, this skirt fit in late-May and was too tight before that. I'm shocked.)

And the After.

I lost some of the "trumpet-ness" because I also chopped off 4" from the length, but I gained a skirt I can (and will) actually wear.

I made it a little snug on purpose because I'm not going to be doing this re-make again. When it gets too big to wear again, it will be tossed or donated.

The skirt has 6 gores, 3 front and 3 back. Ordinarily, I probably would have removed the waistband and taken in each vertical seam. But this skirt has a side invisible zipper, which is in a pocket …

… with button tabs.

I didn't want to mess with the zipper or pockets. But I noticed that the center front and center back gores were wider than the side gores and decided that I could just alter the CF and CB pieces and not throw off the sideseams (or pockets) at all.

So I unstitched the waistband above those pieces and then ripped out the seams connecting the centers to the sides, and ended up with this:

(The dress underneath is still waiting for me to stitch the neckline higher. It will probably take me 15 minutes to do this, but yet there it still sits.)

Oh, before any ripping, I had pinned the waistband so that it fit and then marked it with washaway marker. I measured the take-in distance at the front waist and removed that from the CF gore. I did the same for the back. 

Then I sewed the gores back in and cut the waistband to fit the new circumference (most of the waistband was still attached to the skirt. I just worked in the areas above the CF and CB gores). I narrowed the front waistband in two places - I was trying for seams above the gores but I missed. I narrowed the back waistband at the CB only.

I'm happy with the remake. It took a few hours but I think it was worth it. I couldn't have cut and sewed a new skirt with these features in the same time. Once again, I'm glad I have mad sewing skillz. ;-)

Next up will be this skirt. I'm going to cut it down from the waistband and add new, tighter elastic. This one should be a pretty fast re-do.

I think I've had a pretty productive weekend. My laundry is done. I made a skirt, remade another, returned unwanted purchases, returned books to the library before they were late, gassed up the car, and tomorrow's lunch is made and in the fridge. Now I've about 2 hours before sleep time so I'm going to watch the rest of the football game and just generally veg.

Drive By

Just a quick update before I head to the sewing room and football games on TV.

Thanks for all the nice comments and your honest opinions about my shopping binges. (I'm enjoying the binges immensely, BTW!). I returned both dresses. After looking at my photos and in my closet, I decided that I really prefer the separates, and look better in them too — print or solid. I think it's more flattering on me to have three pieces instead of two. It breaks me up in a better way. Plus, I really like to mix/match which is why you see me buying pretty much within the same main color palettes. So, dresses are off my radar at the moment. Which, of course, is subject to change on a whim because I have lots of whims. ;-)

I also returned the wild jacket, the target necklace and one other necklace that I decided was just so-so (the wooden-like bead one in the photo from the other day).

While returning stuff at Beall's this morning, I also planned to get the mustard twinset. But, alas, it wasn't to be. What I thought was mustard in the store light was really more camel in the fitting room light and it matched my skin too closely. There was another shade, more yellow, but it was *too* yellow for me. I decided that there are more stores to conquer and I could be patient instead of settling. How very grown-up of me, right? hah

My initial assessment of what I have and what I don't tells me that I need more tops that go with my new work pieces. I have LOTS of tops that I like, but not that I'd wear to an office. I also would like a few more skirts and a couple more less structured jackets and/or twinsets. But I don't do "Chanel" jackets so I'm not sure how unstructured I really mean. I'll know it when I see it. ;-) I also need a couple more things to wear on Jeans Fridays, that aren't jeans. So, another denim skirt and a maybe a second from a non-blue denim. I think I'm set for this week without exact repeats of what I wore last week, so not quite as much pressure. Which is probably a bad thing as far as output since I slack off without a deadline.

This afternoon, I'm actually going to try to rework a RTW skirt I bought 3 years ago and never really wore. It will mean ripping it apart entirely, but the fabric is so nice that I don't want to just toss it without trying to do something first. And during the week, I'll work on a couple of knit tops including a boring but needed ivory shell.

New Skirt and the Rest of the Loot

How come I could sew this same skirt in an hour the other night and it took me all freakin' day today? Yeah, I do work best (at least more efficiently) under pressure. I always have.

This is the finished skirt, along with the blouse and a brown belt I bought at Beall's last night and another sweater I bought at Stein Mart earlier in the week. I'm keeping everything. Oh, I'm also wearing the shoes I showed earlier. I'm keeping these too — they are just too comfortable NOT to keep. While I'm wearing them with all the rest of the outfits below, I'm sure I wouldn't really do that.

I lined this skirt. Or rather, I partially lined it. I wasn't up for fiddling with a lining around a vent today. I also cut the lining on the cross-grain and used the selvage as the hem. I'm running out of invisible zippers. This one is burgundy. One more lining shortcut was to overlap the front pieces on the princess seams, mark (and sew) darts instead, and cut the front as one piece. The lining is machine-stitched to the zipper tape. So with all these shortcuts, it's not like the lining took that much extra time today. It was maybe a 20-minute addition altogether. I guess I just needed to goof off all day, catch up on some blogs, and check my email 300 times around sewing a simple skirt.

It's becoming obvious that this is going to be the year of the sweater/cardi for me. Here's a close-up of the raw-edged trim. You can also see that I used a snap closure for the skirt. Nice and quick!

Same skirt, brown twinset from Beall's. I'm keeping this too. The belt I already had. Beall's has other colors in "my" shades that I'm tempted to go back and buy, especially the mustard-colored set. It's a tiny bit snug but it's my week to retain water IYKWIM and the next size up was too big. It doesn't look too tight in this pic so I'm OK with it. What do you think about mixing browns like this? I was just trying things on without changing the skirt, but I think I kinda like the look. Too bad I don't have some leopard print shoes. Yet. Hahaha!

The brown cascade cardi I showed in my last post.The bottom band looks darker here but all parts are really the same. The directional nap is catching the light differently. Another keeper, I think. (How many brown sweaters do I need? Or teal/turquoise? Hah!) I may trace off a pattern from this since I like the shape and that it's not too "cascade-y."

Wild jacket (knit) from Stein Mart. Not keeping this. I like it, but not enough to keep it for what it cost. And it doesn't really go with much of what I have.

A dress from Beall's. I'm not sure on this one. It looks OK to me, but will I really be comfortable with the sleevelessness and being able to see down to my navel from the cowl? Well, it seems like I can. I always wondered if people taller than me can see what I see when I look down? Note to self: Buy more Hollywood tape with a Joann's coupon.

Yes, I can cover it with a cardi like this, but then what's the point of keeping it only to cover it up? But by itself, it does make me look thinner, doesn't it? Maybe I'll keep it for going out. What do YOU think?

Dress from Stein Mart. Not keeping. It's really a little too tight around the bust and I would have to hem it. I'm sure I can find or make something else that I like better, even though this isn't terrible. The necklace on the right? It can't go back fast enough. I feel (and look!) like I'm wearing a target. But it was worth a try if only to find out it's not me.

And for the heck of it, here's a shot of 3/4 of my closet. The box on the floor at the back is my too-big cast-offs. Much of the stuff still hanging will probably find its way into that box, especially 99% of the pants hanging lower left. I don't wear ANY of them right now. The pants I do wear are out of the range of this shot. My love for prints is quite obvious, no? ;-)

I'm going to sew some more tomorrow and watch football, after I decide tonight exactly what it is I'll be sewing. I have too many ideas/possibilities which is making it hard to narrow it down. It's definitely so cool to be dressing up again.