Thank Oona for saving me from bloggy financial ruin

Oh hey, so Oona explained that even though my Picasa account is full, I can keep uploading photos less than 800 x 800 for free, so prepare yourself for some small, crappy, low resolution photos!

Oh, I certainly know how to attract the readers, don't I?

Where was I?  Well, after I made that yellow cut-out muslin I showed in the last post, I blithely made the alterations I thought I would need and cut into my red/white/blue double-sided shwe shwe. The result is....OK.  The fit through the bodice is a bit loose for my liking. I tossed it into the wash and dried it on high heat, since I hear that's how the best couturiers do it at Chanel. 

True story. 


OK, maybe not.  It actually helped a bit, but I would still like to open up the side seams and do a bit of fussing about with the fit. 

I also made a vest from a 1980 Style pattern my mother gave me.  I have had a morbid fear of vests since the '90s, due to these attrocities:  

and these: 

(I take exception to this "Mom's To Do List":  Up at 8am?!?  Sleep at 10pm?!?  What kind of slacker's paradise does this Mom live in?)

and these:

Mine is positively invisible in comparison: 

Taken by a 3 year old using an iPhone.  Doesn't look so bad now that you know the backstory, does it?  ;)

Tiny pocket for my stash.  And by stash I mean candy.

More to follow tomorrow, that's if I'm not exhausted from my vest-inspired "busy" Mom day of sleeping in, going to bed early, and not going to work.  Pft. 

Selfish Sewing: Catching up on two months of me-stuff

Let's see.....I last posted about some summer dresses I made, and now it's windy, wet and 6C outside.  I think it's been too long.  You can always look over at The Sew Weekly to see what's going on with all of us, but I don't post every week OBVIOUSLY.  I don't know how those other women find the time to make something every week.....I guess some of them work part time, or work at home, or have grown families and more time to themselves.  Or perhaps they are just better at planning their time.   I, for one, got home from work last night at 6:30, fell asleep with Tashi at 8:30 and didn't wake up until 6:30, so you can guess how much sewing I got done. 

Back in August I made a muslin of Simplicity 9253 (from 1971), using the world's itchiest linen curtain.  I ended up ripping out the zipper and giving the fabric to my mother to make patio cushions.

******Stop press******

I just tried to upload a photo collage and I got a notice saying that I've reached my 1GB storage limit.  I've gotten this notice before, but it's always disappeared after a day or so.  What's up?  Is this legit?  Do I really have to pay for blogger?  I used to have another blog for the grandparents to see the offspring, and that was WAAAAAY more photo heavy that this blog, and I never got a notice like that.

Hmmph. 

Unselfish sewing: Halloween edition

My son has put in his request for this year's Halloween costume by submitting to me the following sketch.  Care to hazard a guess as to what he wants me to sew?

My favourite time of year

So you know when you've been super busy and haven't blogged in a while, you feel like you have to post something really exciting to get back in the game?  And then the longer you delay, the bigger you feel like the post must be to merit such a long absence?  No? 

Everyone seems to slow down over the summer, whether it's because:
A) you're home with your kids and don't have a moment to yourself that doesn't involve cleaning up sand and wet towels and Popsicle stickies, or
B) you're travelling and your vacation destination has dial-up, or
C) you're just lying by the pool drinking margaritas all day and end up too drunk to operate a computer, let alone the flying blades of a serger.  (not naming any names)

The heat and humidity of Montreal summer have finally passed, and we're into my favourite time of year.  The chilly nights have given me back some of the energy that was AWOL for the past few weeks.  I don't have anything monumental to post, but I do have lots of little interesting things to catch up on, so I'll spread this out over a few days.  First of all, please join me in welcoming this beauty to my house:

 

 
This belonged to my great-grandmother Warren.  Luckily my parents are in the purging mode of life and drove up to Montreal last week with this in tow.  She needs a bit of work, but still runs well.  Luckily again, my neighbour does furniture repair/refinishing in his basement as a retirement job, so I'm going to pop over there for a bit of new veneer.

Also included in the purge swag, some fugly '80s patterns:

That poofy dress on the left look familiar?  Yes, it was the prom dress that my mother made for me in 1987, featured below in my Awkward Prom Photo that Oona asked us all to contribute for Promaballoona back in July.  

identities hidden to protect the innocent / guilty

It has a pretty tiny 32.5" bodice, so I doubt I'll ever use it again, but I just had to post the final piece of that prom puzzle.

More catch-up tomorrow.
V