Author: stenaros

Three sentence movie reviews: Friday Night Lights Season 1

I’m not really anti-spectator sports (meaning I love to read about baseball in novel form, and I don’t mind that spectator sports exist, I just don’t care to watch them) but I do have limited patience for football culture especially–it seems to magnify a lot of what I find unattractive about US society.  So why watch this show all about high school football in Texas?  Because the characters made me fall in love with them, broke my heart and keep me coming back for more.

Tracing pattern pieces

I’m feeling confused about how to make the changes from the muslin to the pattern, so I’ll distract myself with tracing all the pattern pieces.
 
Here’s the official pattern piece.
 
I devised a check system to ensure that I got all the pieces I needed.  I have to be wary of project pitfalls and one of them is not having everything I need.  If I miss a piece and have to backtrack to this stage, there’s a good chance I won’t finish the project.
 
The file cabinet holds what I need.  Here is a skirt piece and a pocket.
 
I only use the finest tools.  A true statement in the case of the rulers, which have been invaulable.  A false statement with the pattern weights which are just whatever object I can find to serve as “heavy.”
 

Three sentence movie reviews: Before Sunrise and Before Sunset

In preparation for the next movie, a review of the first two was in order.  Once again, I found my front teeth drying because I smile for so long while watching them.  Now the hard part will be waiting for the next one.

Cost: Free because they are Christi’s
Where watched:  at home with Christi, Kelly and Ameena.

posters from:

Have you been to the Good Stuff bakery?

Unless you happen to work at, or attend the school where I am employed, I’m guessing you haven’t because this bakery is run by a fifth grader. He takes orders from Tuesday through Thursday and delivers on Monday.  No exceptions.
 
And when he delivers, there is branded packaging.  He knows his marketing.
 
And his craft.  Those Almond Toffee Bars are delicious.
 

Muslin fitting part 1

I want to start off this post by saying that when I was looking at the fitting pictures from the Crepe Sew-Along Flicker Pool, the ones that helped the most were those of people who were not anywhere close to model sized.  So even though I’m not thrilled with my size in any of these, I’m doing it for the good of the fitting process.
Here’s the first muslin front view

Side view

Back view.

Thank goodness I had a handy helper who did his darnedest to pin, even though he had no experience and no idea what he was doing.  Plus, he had to listen to his girlfriend’s not super specific instructions (“See that floppy part along the bottom?  Can you grab that?  No, not that floppy part, the other one.)  The fitting process would not have been done without him.  Thanks Sweetheart!

Here I have drawn where my “breast point” (aka nipples) are because those darts are very high and I need to lower them.  I’ve also pinched a bunch of excess fabric in the front around the armpit area.  I’m also making note that the waist doesn’t actually make it to my waist, so I need to add length at the bottom.

Matt has pinched off a bunch of droopy stuff on the back.

Another side view of the lack of extending to stomach.

Reunion dress. Material and pattern fitting.

I’m not a “finisher” which means that I enjoy planning and beginning projects and getting them done is my least favorite part.  This means I’m already planning my next project by the time I hit the mid-project phase.  So it was with the Auction Dress.  I couldn’t wait to get started on the dress I will make for my 20-year high school reunion.  This is why I have a firm “one project at a time” rule.  But the auction dress is done!  And now I can make the reunion dress.

The pattern is the Crepe pattern from Collette Patterns.  I’m going to make the sweetheart neckline version.  Conveniently, there was a sew-along on Gertie’s Blog for Better Sewing back in 2010-2011 so I will have guidance.  I’ve even set myself out on a sewing schedule.  When I was making the Auction Dress I hated how the sewing stuff sat out on the dining room table making everything messy all the time.  So for this project I will work only on the weekends and put everything away.  The sewing schedule will also hopefully keep me from the “gotta finish now” frantic nature of the last project.

I picked out the material two weeks ago because that was the day my excellent sewing companion could go.  This project will teach me underlining, so I had to find two kinds of material that worked well together.  With the good judgement of my sewing companion here’s what I (well, it was mostly she, not I) came up with:

The outer layer.
 

The underlining.
 
Here’s how they look together.  There is also a contrast sash that will be made out of the underlining fabric.
It looks good, eh?
 
So this week I’m tracing the pattern and working on the muslin.  I’ve decided to trace the pattern because patterns are expensive and I would like to keep mine in usable condition.
 
Here’s a fun initial pattern fit.  I can tell there will be changes with the muslin.
 
Especially around the sleeve area.
 
Because I totally ripped that open with my broad shoulders.