bodner066

The cardi make and the dress re-make have been on my To Do list forEVER. I made the dress 3-4 years ago and shortly after it became too big. Since I love the print and colors, I've wanted to re-do it. I've also wanted a lightweight short-sleeved brown cascade cardi for far too long. I need the extra layer in an air-conditioned office and brown goes with so much in my wardrobe (and matches this dress too, actually, although the colors are off in the photo) . I'm happy to report that both items are now in my current wardrobe. The cardi is a quick sew, using Simplicity 1945, which I had used once before for a beige winter version. I had it cut out last weekend but needed to get some more dark brown thread before I could sew it. Both of which I did yesterday. There's no pattern indication for short sleeves so I just eyeballed it and folded up the pattern pieces evenly so all the seams would match. The dress re-make was a little more convoluted, especially since I also wante...

I'm doing most of my blog reading these days on my (Android) phone, with Bloglovin' . It has a great little app just for that. So, my selfish plea is that if you haven't already "claimed" your blog on Bloglovin', please do and then add a button to your blog so I can add it to my read feed and keep up with what you're doing. I hope to squeeze in some sewing this weekend ... stay tuned.

Here's the finished Uptown/Downtown dressed down for casual wear. I walked the dogs in it tonight! The knit is very drapey rayon/Lycra from Fabric.com a couple of years ago. I know lots of you also bought this and other prints when they showed up at Fabric.com and Fabricmart. I think I still have one or two left. It's not a great quality and thinner than I prefer but it will make a very comfortable one- or two-season summer dress. I'll wear it with this knit cardi and heels at the office. The cardi got a slight makeover this afternoon after I finished the dress and while I still had the coral thread in the machines. It was too big and putting off a frumpy vibe, even for such a vibrant color. I hacked 1-1/2" from the sleeves and resewed the sideseams smaller and shapelier. I've been wanting to do this for over two years. Sheesh. Why do these simple fixes always get put off for so long? Back to the dress, I ended up removing 1-1/2" from the bodice length and sin...

I really thought I'd be back earlier in the week to show my finished dress, but I ran into a speed bump on that road. More on it in a bit. As many of you guessed, the dress I'm making is indeed the Hot Patterns Uptown Downtown. As soon as I post this, I'm going to close comments on the last post and tomorrow announce a winner for this Hot Patterns dress (below), the Classix Nouveau Primavera. I ended up with two, one I bought and one which was gifted. So I'm paying forward the gifted copy, which is uncut, but the envelope has been opened and the little flap on the back with fabric details is smudged. But you can get that info from the HP website. So back to my current make ... The pattern goes together like a dream, but I cut and sewed the longest length for the bodice section and as soon as I sewed the seam, zigzagged a casing in the seam allowance, and threaded my elastic through, I decided it's too long and needs to be shortened. Yeah, I should've basted, an...

Above is currently what's up in the sewing room. I expect to finish it tonight, or mostly finish, but I need to take a break and get to the grocery store. I thought I'd post a sneak peak while I'm out and make a little "contest"/giveaway. I have a duplicate all-sizes (different) dress pattern from the same indie company as I'm currently sewing. So, if you guess what dress pattern (yes, dress) the above is, your name will be entered into the giveaway draw, winner to be announced next Saturday. I'll mail the pattern anywhere, so this is open to everyone. Once I post the finished dress and identify the pattern (tomorrow evening at the earliest), the contest will close. I spent some time yesterday organizing the sewing room a little more. I still have a LONG way to go! One of the things that was bugging me the most was not having my thread organized and handy so I got my thread racks hung and loaded. This reminded me of a little tip I picked up somewhere years...

Finally a post, and some sewing. We took the dogs to the dog beach on Davis Island today. We've been a few times in the last month since it's only a few miles away, and it's free. ;-) That speck in the middle of the pic is Dani taking a dip. Chili saying howdy in "dogspeak." And trotting along to find more butts to sniff. And that's the extent of the useable dog beach pics. It was way too bright to see my shots on the camera screen so most were blurs or shadows. But we all had a great time, photographic evidence notwithstanding. Yesterday, I dug out a spot in the disaster that is my sewing room. I've still got fabric and other crap from the move everywhere. Plus my sewing table won't make the turn into the room so it now has a spot on the back porch, disassembled, until I chuck it. Once I have a steady income again, I'm going to have to buy a foldable cutting table, like the one I used to have. And a big clothes rack. OMG. No closet space. Urgh. ...