Already a good weekend!

So here it is only Friday and it's already a good weekend for me. Why?

First, my wearable muslin t-shirt (dress) is finished! That means I can finally take that colour off the machine and get working on something else! Namely the real t-shirt and a ton of Hallowe'en projects.

Second, I heard from my BFF (who is coming up for a visit this weekend) that the tie for C's costume is in and BFF will bring it with her today. Yay! That's one thing off the loooong Hallowe'en list AND it gets me the colour that I need to use for the lining of the Hogwarts robe.

Third, I won some purple (I LOVE purple) wool fabric on eBay and it should be shipping soon. I might use it for *my* robe for Hwe'en, not sure yet as the pattern for that isn't done yet so I don't know how much material I need.
I don't really care, if I get to use it for the robe; cool. If not...well it's purple and I'll make something else! Maybe the coat my robe pattern was originally designed for. I'm taking Butterick 5144 a Retro pattern and making it longer so the back touches the floor. So if 5 isn't enough for the robe maybe I need a new fall coat...?

Fourth, I won a prize! Sarah over at Rhinestones and Telephones  had a draw and I won a pattern! I've never won anything from a blog give-away before so I'm really thrilled! And she's a fellow Canuck! Yay!!!

Well, time to go cut out the t-shirt and get working on that, new pictures soon, I promise!

Ta!

Bonus day off

Today I took an extra day off to extend the holiday weekend we had in BC. Well, in reality I took it because I had a dentist appointment but I'm trying to forget that part. LOL
Going to the dentist is one of my LEAST favorite things.Not because of my dentist; he's great! It's because of a bunch of deep-seated childhood issues with dentists. Fortunately Dr U understands it's not him I hate and still works on me.

That wasn't the bonus part though the bonus was making sure I knew how to deal with my appointment so it didn't ruin my day. So here we have Rules to deal with the Dentist;

1) Take the day off. That way you don't have to get right back to work and pretend it's all okay when you really feel like crud.

2) Take painkillers before you go. I always feel like my face has been used for a hammer throw target (even just for a cleaning!) so this is an important step for me.

3) Book your appointment early, then come home and go back to bed!

I think #3 was the secret to today's success. By the time I woke up almost all of the freezing was out and I felt like a human being again. Human enough to even go out and do a little Hallowe'en thrifting. Now I have a man's pullover to remake into a Hogwart's cardigan. Hmmmm

On top of that I also got some sewing done. My working muslin is almost done. Maybe tomorrow? And then I will take some pictures too. But right now C wants to go buy some iTunes with her card so....

Ta!

Results of Make and Mend Month

Last week Shelley at New Vintage Lady posted that due to some supplies for her M&M finally still in the mail and a few requests from folks that she was going to extend Make and Mend July.

While I totally understand her decision it makes me kind of sad because I actually finished it! I don't usually finish challenges like this. I'm thinking that being off for about 2 1/2 weeks of that helped ;-)

So I'm going to post my final results anyway. The theme to M&M was to use what you had, specifically

*Use fabric you already have for any new project.

*Alter a current pattern for a new garment.

*Repair/Mend 3 things from your ‘fix’ pile.

*Repurpose at least one piece of fabric.

*Make something for someone else.

Here's how I did; 

Use a fabric you already have for any new project; C's apron The patterned material in C's Apron is probably 10 years old or so and was bought for either her or her sister when they were little. Probably to make a cute dress out of. 

I think this will get more use! 

 Of course the advantage to this project is that is also fufiled Make something for someone else

I just hope that's allowed! >grin<

Next up... Repurpose at least one piece of fabric 

These cute place mats started out as a Marshall's bag that then get ripped. Rather than throw the bag out....new place mats! I have plans to make some more from this source; the fabric is great and how do you complain about 2 place mats for 1$?!?!?

Repair/Mend 3 things from your ‘fix’ pile. I don't  have many pictures of this one but I did complete all three. 

The first was a tank top for C - that got the elastic lace repaired so it no longer has a purple safety pin holding it all together. 

2nd was a tank top of mine, bought 2 or 3 years ago. It had that bulge out at the arm pit that's supposed to be chest room on a plus sized figure. Yeah, that never worked, it just looked like this big gaping mess under my arm that delighted in showing my bra to the world. 

Third was fixing up the new dress for C that we had bought in May. It was a great dress with some lovely styling but WAY too long for a teenager. So, 3 inches off and a hem later....

Alter a current pattern for a new garment. 
This was my last thing and I still haven't finished the garment but I'm getting there. It is coming along nicely and my alterations were just the thing. 

First I added an inch to the front side seam (since my front is bigger than my back - to get things to fit without the back being huge usually means the side seams skew to my front) tapering down from the arm hole so hopefully the sleeve wouldn't need to be adjusted. Then I added some to the front as a FBA. 
I have never actually made a FBA even though my B has been F for quite a while. LOL 


I have made another modification since then and still have to shorten it for a t-shirt but all and I I'm really happy with these changes and I have to thank Shelley for pushing me to them. 
Oh! The pattern I'm using is Simplicity 3697
I'm not sure when I bought it but it's been in my stash a while! Another thing to thank her for. 


So that's the end of my M&M for July. Since M&M has been extended to August I'm going to continue working on things (especially the mend part!) but soon it will be time to start working on Hallowe'en costumes. Yay! My favorite sewing time of the year. 


I promise to finish my 3697 t-shirt though first....with pictures, of course!


Ta!