Anna Almost-Wearable Muslin

But let's get real - I'm already wearing it, so there's not a huge chance I'm going to change my clothes!

I finished this up this morning, after working on it bit by bit over the last week.  The jury's still out on this, and if I do make it again, I'll have to make some more changes.

The only changes I've made so far are to go from a size 6 at the bust to a size 8 at the waist and hips, and a 1" swayback adjustment (a half inch either side of my horizontal line).

According to the pattern envelope, I should be in a size 2 for the bust, but I wanted room for my shoulders and I don't like to be constricted.  Also, I didn't want to grade across 3 sizes from bust to hip, and I think I do need the room of the 8 in the waist and hips.  The bodice feels a bit big though, so I may scale it back to a 4 next time.  I'll also need to take some length out of the bodice over all - maybe 1/2" - and a bit more in the swayback, 1/4" or so.  As it is, I'm getting some "lumping" around my waist where the bodice meets the skirt.  I tried to capture it for you, but the combination of my on-its-last-leg camera and this crazy fabric I used make it a little difficult to see:

let's pretend we don't see that weird wrinkle you-know-where

you can see that the front is still a bit shorter than the back

Things I did differently from the instructions:

1.  Interfaced my neck facing with my very lightest interfacing - I wanted a bit more structure there.

2.  Pressed the waist seam down rather than open.  Let's face it:  you just can't get away from Gravity.  It was going to end up that way eventually, so I just pre-empted it.  I finished the two seam allowances together with the serger.

3.  Tacked my facing to the shoulder by stitching in the shoulder seam ditch for 3 stitches - a nifty trick I learned from the Pattern Runway Kimono Dress instructions.

4.  Understitched my facing to the seam allowance, then trimmed it to about 1/4".  (This is, of course, after clipping into the curve.)


Things I didn't do and wish I had (aside from the fit issues):

1.  A full lining.  This fabric is one of the more supple quilting cottons, and it feels a bit lightweight to me.

In the Beginning Fabrics:  Bloom Modern, Seeds Red

2.  Stabilize my zipper opening.  Honestly, by the time I got to the zipper, I was getting kind of bored.  I really just finished the dress to get it off my coffee table.

3.  Taken more care with my hem.  The fabric is so busy no one will notice the terrible job I did, but I know it.

4.  Lengthened the skirt.  I only hemmed it to about half the height recommended in the instructions, and this "midi" length hits me mid-knee.  I'm only 5'4"  people!  I wanted it a little bit longer to coordinate with the vintage vibe of my cool shoes:

Conclusion:

It's OK.  I don't love it and I don't hate it.  I'm not sure yet if I like it enough to do the work it needs to fix it, and if I do, it will be a while.  Right now I'm ready to move on to something else.  I like it slightly better belted, but I don't have a belt to go with these shoes.

I'm sure you've also noticed that these pics are a little hair update.  I'm not at the point yet where my second-day hair looks as great as the first, but I've definitely got a lot more curl going on than I did a week ago!  I'm really loving this method so far.

this picture is about the hair

I want to give a big shout-out to Pam at Paint Box Polish for turning me on to Turbie Towels - thanks Pam!  I bought a couple a few days ago and tried it out this morning for the first time.  Between the Turbie Towel and the diffuser, my hair was dry enough to work with in about a half hour!  Go get one, people!

NATURAL!! I still can't believe it!

A new fiber project

My hair!!  This is along the lines of a PSA ;-) 

I don't think I've ever mentioned it before, but I often have trouble sleeping.  One night last weekend when I couldn't sleep, I ended up doing a massive google research to see if there were any tips I could find to deal with my hair.

My hair has been bugging me for the last few years.  It's always been naturally wavy, but even more so since perimenopause.  When it's wet, it hangs in long, loose, pretty curls.  But as soon as it dries, it ends up in a frizzy, poofy mess!

Well, after that hair-research marathon, I ended up ordering the book Curly Girl.  I read it this week and today was my first day of trying out the method.  I'll outline below what I did, but first let me say I am very pleased for a first trial.  Check out my hair:

My hair is dry!!

Another resource I found is the website NaturallyCurly.com - there's a little test there you can take to find out what kind of curl or wave you have, which will influence what kind of care you need.  I'm a 2B  -  Wavy Curvy.

One of the problems I've had with my hair aside from the frizziness is that the curls and waves are not uniform across my head.  Apparently this is pretty common for my type of hair.  One of the reasons I'm so pleased today is that the waves look consistent for the first time.

So here's what I learned:

* Use sulfate free shampoo and conditioner.  Really - I had no idea.  I knew that my "moisturizing" shampoo and conditioner were drying out my hair, but didn't know there was another way.  And it was expensive salon stuff too!  I ended up buying Nature's Gate Hemp Shampoo and Conditioner from the health food store for 1/3 the price of my salon brand, and it works SO much better!

* Do not use combs or brushes.  The only detangling I did was with my fingers while it was wet. 

* Do not dry the hair with a regular bath towel - they are too textured and end up producing frizz.  I dried my hair by gently scrunching out the moisture with an old tee shirt.

* After washing and conditioning, scrunch gel or mousse into the hair and then DON'T TOUCH IT until it's dry.  This was really hard for me.  I'm so used to pulling it back into a ponytail or bun after combing it out.  But I hung in there, and I'm really pleased with the result.  Again, no need for an expensive salon product:  I used Suave Professionals Captivating Curls Mousse (recommended on NaturallyCurly) which I picked up at Target for about $3.  Once the hair is dry, scrunch it again to release the stiffness from the gel or mousse.

* Avoid products with the following ingredients:  sulfates, silicone, any other chemical ending in "cone" like dimethicone, alcohol.

So - really off topic from what I usually post about it, but I was super excited about this so I couldn't resist sharing!  I'm very curious to see how it looks tomorrow after I sleep on it.  But I may not sleep - I may just sit up all night admiring my hair!

Do any of you ladies have wavy or curly hair frustration?   I'm hoping this is helpful to someone else out there, but there's a good chance that all this is common knowledge and I'm late to the party yet again!