bodner066

This dress may be a keeper now. I say *may* because some stress eating coupled with much less movement due to the ongoing sciatica pain has added a few pounds and the dress is now more form-fitting on my butt than I like. ;-) But the sciatica is gradually improving and I'm hopeful less stress is around the corner. I removed the gathers in the skirt (which is another reason it is now more snug on my rear) and used that fabric to add a 2-1/2" band at the hem. I interfaced the strip with a fusible and left it raw-edged. The interfacing adds body so the unfinished edge won't curl  and also weight to get every possible bit of length from the skirt. It now hits right at my knee, which is my preferred skirt/dress length. This is the bodice underlayer. You can see that the facing is turned to the outside to create a blended modesty panel, although you could also change things up a bit by using a contrast. The last thing for me to finish this dress today was to sew the darts I had...

First, thank you everyone for your support on my vent post. I've now removed that post, its comments, and any other comments in the previous post directed at one commenter. I didn't mean for my vent to be an attack on anyone in particular, which is why I didn't single out someone and direct my words toward them. I apologize to that person who ended up being a target. Some comments on my vent post reminded us all that what can come across as scolding or negative probably started out as good intentions. I agree. I still don't like undeserved scolding, but I do recognize the intention. Always have. But I will say again, keep in mind this is my blog. I'm not stupid, and I've been public on the internet for close to 20 years. In other words, I know what I'm doing as it relates to ME. You don't have to like it or agree with me. And most importantly, IN THIS SPACE, vice versa. :-) Carry on.

I had the interview today that I mentioned last week. It went very well. There are pluses and minuses for me. More pluses, though. And they want me back for a second interview on Thursday. Thank you sincerely for your good wishes and prayers. They've definitely been helping.

I said I'd take a pic the next time I wore this outfit and here it is. It's after work, which has been busy all week and it rained on me as I was leaving so I'm looking a little wilted. But you get the idea. I'm also overdue for a haircut, which I'll be taking care of this weekend. Because I have an interview for a real job on Monday or Tuesday (still working out those details) . There may also be a possibility to stay where I'm currently temping but I don't know for sure. We're not yet at the point to talk about it, but I hear things. ;-) Right now, I'm just not picky. I need a  permanent job. I need my old income. I'll take just about anything that gives me that. Being a legal assistant again after 25 years probably isn't my dream job, but I'm good at it. And there's a lot to be said for the lack of stress, even in this very busy litigation firm, compared to my last job. I loved that job, yes, but I've come to realize it came wi...

Why is it that the no-thought projects become favs? Sorry no pics of the remake outfit on me after wearing it today. I came home and quickly changed into my dog-walking clothes to hit the sidewalk with the pooches before the evening t-storms. So, back to the topic ... I think the skirt and top took me 3 hours tops to make. Granted, I didn't have to do much for the skirt but even if from scratch that would've added maybe another hour. And after wearing them today, I know I'll be arguing with myself NOT to wear this combo every week. It's comfortable. It's pretty. It's flattering. I want to dig it out of the laundry basket and wear it again tomorrow. And I might even be tempted if a bright purple and yellow outfit wasn't just a little bit memorable. ;-) A 3-hour outfit, comprised of pretty much scraps and basics. I think there's a lesson here.

This dress/fabric sat on the sewing room floor in a wadder pile for about a year (click here to see the too-tight dress again, and scroll down) , and today it became a simple pull-on skirt with back darts to reduce waist bulk. Since it was pretty much already a skirt, all I had to do with the dress was cut it off above the waist, unstitch the unserged sideseams about 4 inches to remove the overbodice, then add the back darts, serge the sideseams, add a serge-n-turn coverstitched elastic waist, and hem it. Changing threads in the machines took longer than anything. ;-) And since the skirt only took about a minute to make , I next made Jalie 2806 from a stashed purple poly knit to go with it. The purple in the skirt actually matches exactly but the camera is playing tricks. (If you look closely, you can see the scraps from yesterday's dress on the floor under Zillie.) I was glad to save the print and also to find a matching knit in the stash. I still have more of the solid and mig...

I'm just about done with the dress, but as I suspected, it's too short. At least for office wear. I only have scraps of the fabric left which means I'll either have to keep the bottom raw-edged or piece some sort of hem facing. The style is too busy to add a solid hem band. So that, and a couple other things that bug me, are why it's going to be percolating for a bit. But that's what happens when you use the good stuff for a first-go. Sometimes the gamble doesn't pay off. Still, it will make a good weekend dress when it's finished. I was so short on fabric that I had to piece the "facing" of the underlayer of the bodice (it's a facing, but turned outward so the fashion fabric shows). This is OK in a print since it doesn't look unplanned if you spot the seam. I also raised the scoop of the underlayer two inches. Good thing, or else it would serve no modesty purpose at all. The underlayer unit itself wants to flop at the neckline so I'll...

I started this dress (HP 1138 Metropolitan Verano) before that day which shall not be named and finally got around to finishing it up two weekends ago. I wore it to where I'm working temporarily and received compliments, which was nice. (It *is* a nice group of people in this office, and I have no complaints about personnel.) It's an easy-to-sew dress but before I'd make it again, it needs some tweaks. Specifically, around the neckline and facings. HP necklines and facings are always hit or miss with me, and usually miss. I blame it on the drafting software they use since the home sewer version (PMB) always gave me the same problems without manual finessing. I used a lazy fix here and just took two darts in the back. Even if you could see them through the print, no one else would ever know they are a kludge fix and not a feature so I'm not going to worry about it. The front facing wants to roll outward on the hanger but seems to be OK when I'm actually wearing the...