Thursday, March 25, 2010

A happy camper

A few posts ago, Trena posted a beautiful piece of silk she'd picked up along with a few patterns. 2 of the patterns were on my wish list and yesterday I stopped in Fabricville on my way home from work. The Buttericks were 65% off. The other pattern is a Vogue - I'm waiting for the next sale !

So, they did have the B5382 I went in for...

...but who on earth can go in a fabric store and not browse ??? Not me LOL !

I've got my eye on the lace dress in the March Burda and was looking at the 'good stuff' to see what I could find. So, I looked at the silks, the laces, etc...and wandered the store.

At the remnant bin, I saw a piece of blue (kind of teal) that looked remarkably like the silk charmeuse I'd just looked at. It was marked 1.2 m for $4.00 - I grabbed it and went to check if it was actually the same fabric. IT WAS !!! Then I noticed the sale tag on the remnant bin.

Silk charmeuse - regular price $34.99/m
1.2m piece from the bin - $4.00
Sale on remnant bin - 50% off

You do the math... :-)


Now I'm off to dig through my patterns to see what I can make with just 1.2m of 45" wide fabric.

Sunday, March 14, 2010

A mid-life crisis and a teeny bit of sewing

DH called my plans for Friday a Mid-Life Crisis !

But, apparently, I'm going to have to have another stab at it in a couple of months.

I went for a haircut and a color. To understand my history, I have baby-fine straight hair and not much of it. It won't hold a curl and it doesn't take color well. But, of course, I LOVE to color my hair and I do so knowing that I never know what I'm going to end up with.

I buy boxes of color in every shade from light brown, brown, red, orange red, burgandy red and purpley red. When it's time, I grab a box, DH colors it for me and for less than $10 a box, it's fine if it washes out quickly - and it DOES.

Undeterred, I've been talking about having a peekaboo bit of fuschia (or blue, or orange, or green ;-) ) in my hair for a few years now and decided to go for it on Friday. My stylist was practically wringing her hands in glee !!! You should have seen what she wanted to do. Stripes of electric blue and fuschia all over my head. Hello ? ! I'm just getting my nerve up here, AND I work in an office. They're used to me changing my color and cut regularly but at least it's not neon colors ! LOL.

Anyway, we decided on the electric blue to match the nail polish I had on at the time. Isn't it a great blue ?


She separated my hair from the top of my right ear diagonally to the bottom of the left ear. Top of the head is red, bottom is blue. Then she cut my hair to show the color in the back.

I love the red...I love the cut...the blue ? well...we never know what will happen when we put color in my hair and it was a LOT of work for a navy blue ear and a navy blue cheek - LOL.

A completely new cut for me...




See the underside ? In real life, it's navy-ish !

And the blue ear and cheek....mostly washed out now, thank goodness


Well, it's hair, it'll grow out - or I'll chop it off ;-)


Sewing - did some fixing on three skirts today. I've been putting it off and decided today was the day.

L to R -

M3341 - I messed up the invisible zipper - it wasn't stitched enough at the bottom and when I wore the skirt and unzipped it, the bottom of the zip popped out to the front !

M3341 - the facings at the zipper needed to be retacked down. Can someone tell me why houndstooth photographs so badly ? Geez, it's like a kaleidoscope !

Burda 07-2008-113 - oh boy, it needed to be let out a bit at the waist. I fit this thing, I couldn't tell you how many times, and once it was all done, it was too tight right at the waist. The invisible zip is in the side rather than the back and I WAS NOT taking it out. So, I was only able to give myself another 1/2" of room. We'll see if it did the trick.





Saturday, March 6, 2010

A week's worth of progress...

Follow-up to the bra fitting post ...

crdott & fabricfan asked where I got the new bras. Yes, fabricfan it was at Change. I didn't realize how few stores there are (only 3 in Quebec, I think). They were fabulous and I went back with a friend the next weekend for a couple more, since I needed at least one light colored one (but, of course, bought 2 LOL). My friend also got fitted and was very happy with her new purchase as well.

And, just for the record, I certainly didn't feel bad about the new sizing - my top half looks GOOD !

Now, what have I been doing ?

Just before the Olympics started, I found a group on Ravelry that was going to cast on a project during the opening ceremonies, with the goal of casting off by the end of the closing ceremonies. Well, there was no way I'd get a whole project done in 16 days so I decided I'd try to get my socks completed by then. At that point, I think I still had the gusset, heel and cuff to do. The bind off was done on the bus home Monday, 1 day late, but I count that as a success.


Next up... These are on my radar but are definitely NOT an easy bus ride project - so, I've cast on the next pattern in the SFTTU book - Diagonal Lace in the orange Opal I bought in New Brunswick a few weeks ago.



A bit of sewing has been done.

I'm working on my pants again. The inseam, outseam and crotch seams are all done. The waistband is next. 04-2009-119

My 4th version of M3341 (Basic A-Line Skirt) - Started way back in November - finished last Sunday. Need I repeat how slow I am LOL ? It was a straight 14 with a 3/4in. swayback adjustment. Invisible zip, rather than a centered application. I also added a lining.


Here's the back:

These were the first 3 I made from this pattern.



I'd like to put some more time into the pants this weekend...we'll see...