Nothing new here.

I had meant to get a fair amount of sewing done over the weekend, but it turned out that Hubby had to use my sewing table (a.k.a. the dining room table) for a work project, so I ended up baking a batch of cookies, doing a fair bit of reading, and working on my Still Light dress instead.  Oh, and playing with Picnik some more:  you may have noticed my new header.

We did end up taking a very nice walk in Ping Tom Park yesterday.  It was chilly, but sunny - perfect weather for walking.  Especially when you need to walk off the banh mi you've just eaten!  Here are some snowy pics I took:

looking toward downtown from the south end of the park

I love the yellow branches, white snow and black benches.

I'm not really sure what this structure is!

The Windschief hat and cowl in action!

snowy rocks by the river

the "pagoda" next to the river

snowy underbrush

view of downtown from the north end of the park

I've been reading Fit for Real People, in hopes of figuring out what I need to do with my Peony muslin.  It seems to confirm what I was beginning to suspect:  I've been choosing the wrong (too large) size for myself.  Although my size 0 front bodice piece seemed like it would be too small when I pinned up the darts and then held it up to my body, my size 2 muslin is clearly much too big, and the difference between the two sizes isn't all that much.  So my next move is going to be to shorten and narrow the darts, after I've moved them.  The bust darts need to come down about an inch and the waist darts of course need to be moved an inch or so toward the side seams.

That's something that confuses me about this pattern.  I can't think of anyone who has boobs with their apexes so close to the middle of their chest, which leads me to believe that Sarai moved these darts toward the center as a design feature.  So far, I haven't come across any finished dress that hasn't had the darts moved out to the side, and conventional wisdom is that these darts should extend down toward the waist in line with one's bust apex.  I spent a fair amount of time over the weekend trolling the internet looking for pictures of finished dresses, but wasn't able to come to any conclusions about this.

I was going to move on and print out my Pussy Bow Blouse pattern and start assembling it - and now my printer won't work!  I think the universe is telling me I should go clean the bathroom . . .

ETA: I forgot the title!

Well, after writing all about my legwarmers yesterday, I picked up my Still Light dress instead and worked on it for a couple hours!  It's slow going:  I've used about two and a half balls out of the nine:

Two things I always forget about alpaca:  1) it's slippery and 2) it's inelastic.  Add those to the dark color I chose, and a simple design like this becomes a little tedious . . .

In other news, look what I did yesterday:

I remembered I had this Snapware container I had bought over the summer for storing nail polish.  It didn't work for the polishes - they were way too heavy and the container was too slippery.  But I wondered if my patterns would fit in there.  And yes, they do!  Perfectly!!

One level is for my Colette patterns, and the other level is for everything else:

And because I'm a little nuts, the Colette patterns I've already used are on one side, and the "virgin" ones are on the other.  And on the other level, the Lisette patterns are on one side, and everything else on the other.  This makes me happy.

This morning I got out my Peony stuff and sorted through it all.  I'm trying to psych myself up to get back to it over the weekend.  I've got my original size 2 muslin (doesn't fit); the size 2 muslin with SBA and darts shortened and moved (doesn't fit); and a size 0 muslin that I cut out and pinned the darts but didn't sew because I could tell they needed to be moved.

Honestly, I'm thinking it would be easier just to get a boob job and make my body fit the pattern, rather than continue trying to achieve the inverse.  Does anyone have any sage words of advice for me on this matter?  Any help would be greatly appreciated!

The truth? I can't handle the truth.

I've been busy the last several days finishing up a super-secret project - so secret, this is the first time I'm mentioning it, although I've been working on it for the last two months.  But this morning I put on the finishing touches and packed it all up. It's the one handmade gift I'm making this year, and it's for my mother.  And after she receives it, I'll be able to share!

After I got that done, I decided to spend a little time with my Peony today.  I've had a few people express interest in how that's going, and although it may seem like I've put it on the back burner, I have been slowly working through it.  And I have to admit, it's a little frustrating.

My first go at getting the right fit in the bodice was to cut a size 2 - a size that's worked for me in the past with Colette patterns.  I did this despite having taken my measurements and come up with the following disconcerting info:  bust = size 0, waist = size 4, hips = size 8.  My foggy reasoning was that a) I was planning on wearing a heavily padded bra with this dress and b) it would be easier to adjust the fit in the bust and the waist if I cut the size between the two.

Well, that didn't work.  I ended up moving the waist darts out to the side an inch and shortening the bust darts by an inch.  The fit was OK in the waist, a little loose actually, but I don't like to be constricted about my waist.  But there was still too much poof in the bust.  So, armed with my new Colette sewing book, I decided to go for the Small Bust Adjustment:

Phew!  That was not as easy as the book made it look!  I really struggled with this, and just couldn't wrap my brain around how to get it to lay flat once I'd pinched out some of the excess.  In the end, I just ironed the thing; you can see a gap near the armscye.  Then I traced it off:

Somehow it looks bigger than the original; not sure what to do about that.  Then I realized that having done that adjustment, the front was now a good inch shorter than the back:

Gah!  What to do?  I think I need to lengthen the front, since the length on the original was good, and I'm long-waisted.  But the Colette book doesn't address what to do about the back!  I've spent hours poring over the internet, looking at blog posts and forum posts - anything I can find to help me figure out my next step.  I even bought Fit for Real People.  Which has pretty much the same directions on the SBA as the Colette book, in case you're wondering.  I haven't read it yet in full though, because I just got it yesterday.

In the meantime, one of the forum posts I read made me think maybe I should just try out the size 0 bodice - the size that is supposed to be correct for me.  So today I traced it off and cut out the muslin pieces.  I didn't move any of the darts, thinking there must be a (stylistic) reason they were designed to be so close to the center, and I wanted to see if I could get it to work.  I pinned up my darts, and before sewing them, decided to hold it up to my body just to see.

Ugh.  I think it looks even worse than my first muslin!  (The one with the darts moved and shortened, but no SBA.)  And seems like it will be small.  I'll probably end up sewing it together after moving the darts, just to make sure, but I had to call it quits for today.  I'm going to take refuge in my knitting again.

And I'm looking into signing up for a sewing class.  I need help!  Any advice on this matter will be greatly appreciated!

Weekend Update

Hi Folks!  Back to the grind, eh?  I have lots of things I need to do today, but I wanted to show a couple of the things I accomplished over the weekend.

First off, I finished the first front of my 1958 sweater and started the second one! It's coming along so nicely:

I've already steam blocked these two pieces.

Yesterday, I finally sat down and began my muslin for the Peony dress.  A real, honest-to-goodness muslin, made out of actual muslin fabric!  My first time ever! This dress needs it; in contrast to most of the other things I've made, the fit is important on this one.  I'm only doing a muslin of the bodice though:

I traced out and cut a size two, and then ended up moving the lower front darts one inch out toward the side seams, and shortening the bust dart by one inch:

The fit is almost there, but there is a little poufiness in the stomach area that I'm not quite sure how to deal with.  I'm continuing to read the chapter on fitting in the Colette Sewing Handbook, so I'm hoping to find some info that will help me correct that.  This is the first time I'm making significant changes to a pattern, and I'm a little scared but also proud of myself!

Finally, after all the knitting and sewing were done, I sat down and put this on:

Zoya Kristen, Feel Collection winter 2011

Isn't that lovely?  The color changes depending on the light, sometimes leaning grey and other times leaning almost aqua.  I can't stop looking at it!

Surprise!

Remember this goofy photo?

Well, Caitlin emailed me a few weeks ago via flickr and asked if I would like to be a Featured Seamstress on the Colette blog!  I have to admit I'd forgotten about it, and when I was scrolling down my reader this morning, it was kind of a shock to come across my own face!

If you're interested in sewing and aren't reading the Colette blog, you really ought to be!  And if you've come over here from the Colette blog, welcome!  It's no secret I'm a big fan of Sarai, Caitlin and the brand.  My new favorite thing is the outfit/styling posts (a la Polyvore) Caitlin has been doing lately, showing different ways of styling Colette garments.  Genius!

Speaking of Colette patterns, I'm slowly working toward making the Peony dress.

I've traced the size 2 bodice pieces and will be making a REAL muslin this time.  I want to get the fit just right.  But I'm taking my time; Hubby bought me The Colette Sewing Handbook the day it came out, and I've been reading a little bit each day.  I think I will have to do a fair number of adjustments with this pattern, so the information in the book will be invaluable.  Sadly, I don't think I'll have any time for sewing until after the holiday.

But - I have finished the back of my 1958 sweater!  I started the first pocket lining, but ended up spending much of my day yesterday editing an article for my brother-in-law, after which we headed over to our local jazz club to hear Kenny Barron.  And after that we went out to get Indian food.  Mmmmm . . . curry!