Go Ahead and Revoke My Sewing Privileges

Goodness gracious. Two sewing flops, or more accurately, one flop and one should have been simple but I'm *still* trying to "make it work" (H/T to Tim Gunn). First, altering a skirt. I made several 6- and 7-gore skirts last summer, when I was losing weight. Since I have (happily) kept those pounds off, I thought I'd alter one of the skirts yesterday. Easy-peasy, right? Not here, not now. I tried the skirt on, "pinched" out the right amount of fabric, still leaving wearing and design ease. Turns out the pinched-out amount was 1 gore of a 7-gore skirt. Must be my lucky day. Except that I didn't take into account that what I pinched out was in between the seam allowances, and the first thing I did was to cut off the gore, including cutting off the seam allowances. I took a close look and decided that that was okay; I still had plenty of ease. Onward... Sewed new seams, rehemmed the skirt, and redid the waistband casing and elastic. Well, surprise surprise, when I tried it on, there was not a millimeter of ease. What? {{palm to forehead}} I neglected to take into account the fabric that would be taken up in the 2 new seam allowances. Ugh. So I finished pressing it and hung it in the closet. In case I should somehow lose enough more pounds... Or I might just donate it tomorrow. Second up is that sundress. Yes, it is now *that* sundress. Should have taken me a couple of hours, knowing how slowly I work. Anyone else could have done it in an hour. I have now tried three different ideas for attaching straps that extend past my shoulders. I am now removing three rows of stitching of the second strap, after which I will put it away til another day. No photos, lucky for you. Question: If you ever have this kind of experience, how do you *not* give up? Throw in the towel? Take up a new hobby? I would appreciate any encouragement you might have to offer. Blessings and peace...

Now I'm Part of Bloglovin, I Think

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Evidently this is what I need to do to be part of bloglovin (?). Blessings and peace...

An Easy Little Sundress But I Need to Cover My Shoulders

Okay, now for something easy-peasy. Inspired by Rhonda's Creative Life, I want to make a sundress. Goodness, the bodice is already shirred. All it needs is a seam down the back... Wait, I need to cover my shoulders. 

I'll do what Rhonda did and shorten it in a way that I can retain the bottom border. I'm going to make mine somewhere around knee length, so there will be plenty of fabric to work with. I have something like this in mind. (If you have any Photoshop skills, please don't shoot me; this is just an awful combination of a couple of screen captures, I know.)

The fabric is rayon, machine wash, tumble dry and on sale (as of today) at Joann's. (The link takes to you a different print.) I bought mine at the Joann's near my house. 

So I need to make the shoulder "straps" wide enough so that the fabric falls so gently around my shoulders. Rhonda mentioned stretching the bodice when stitching the shoulder straps to achieve gathers. So far, so good. But her straps, which are perfect for her and really very cute, don't cover enough of me for me.

Any ideas? Suggestions? Is this something you've tried? How did it go? I really want to keep this easy. You know how slowly I sew, and I'd like to wear it this season. :)

Does blogger or blogpost or whatever this is have any emoticons? Where are they? I need them! And thank you for any/all ideas.    

Blessings and peace...

My Pants Are Finished and Angels Are Singing

Because you might not realize the significance of my having just made a pair of pants that fit, I bring you the before. Well, it's not really a before, actually; it's a pair of pants I purchased and have been wearing. They're black stretch denim Not Your Daughter's Jeans. I did a bit of color enhancing because photographing black fabric and having it show anything is next to impossible, for me anyway. So here we have:

I didn't bother to draw lines to bring your attention to anything in particular. Some of the wrinkles are simply from wearing them. Oh, and here we have the same pants, back view:

I believe we could call this one smiles, frowns, wrinkles, and folds. Sigh. This is why I sew. Or should I say why I have been trying to sew a pair of pants that fit me for oh about 20 years.

And here we have my just completed, made from Sure-Fit Designs, pants (fabric is grey tencel):

And the view from the other side:

I do seem to be standing at a bit of a tilt. ??? Smiles: no. Frowns: nope. Wrinkles: not a one. Folds: nada. I believe this is referred to as the Holy Grail of Garment Sewing. 

Here's a close-up of the pockets (I wrote about this process recently, will add a link when I'm not on my way out the door):

Because the pockets don't show in the previous photos.

And me?

P.S. May I please have extra credit / bonus points for not talking about how my weight has changed over the years and how my body is not exactly the particular shape I'd like it to be and when did I shrink I used to be taller and how some of my "soft tissue" seems to have moved from the back of me to the front of me? And how only the inch of hair closest to my scalp is my natural color and not the orange that is the rest of it and at least it's not pink like it was when I colored it a few months ago before I applied Clairol Oops, yes that's a real product? And how we should sew for the body we have and not wait until we have the body we want? Thank you.

Blessings and peace..