My Mind Is Still Stuck

Howard sent an email last night saying that when he got to the market, the fabric guy was closed. He intends to look around at the market in Antigua on his way to the airport. I told him not to worry. I have lots of fabric. In fact...




... last night, I packed up this "stuff" for my friend's sister who lived in Slave Lake. Her house is one of the ones in the 40% of the town that was burned by an out of control forest fire. Lori Jane asked her sewing friends for donations as her sister is an art quilter and she thought having the start of a stash would be comforting. YES. You know what? Giving her this - a box and a bag full - didn't even make a dent. It's amazing what we have. We're so blessed.




A few days ago, Howard was able to visit our sponsor child Evelyne. She's sixteen. Yesterday, he went to visit...




... Slyther who is four. Howard said he kept hugging and hugging him. Evelyne seems to have been a bit more shy. I don't have a picture of Ronnie, my son Kyle's sponsor child. They were sent to his computer. We sponsor these children through Impact Ministries for $34.00 a month. That's less than the price of pizza. I think it's something everyone should do. I can't remember what motivational speaker said something to that affect - that the least you can do is sponsor a child - but it's so true.




I didn't sew at all yesterday. I did prep the pattern for the next prototype in-between coats of trim paint. I know that I said I was moving on to something else but I can't. My mind is still "stuck" on finding the best way to do this and time is running out. I think it was those wrinkles yesterday. The only difference between the two back drafts was the addition of sleeves. With the sleeveless version, I raised the armhole and cut off the seam allowance. With the sleeve version, I kept the armhole and sewed on the sleeve BUT...

... I did remove a lot of the ease from the sleeve to prevent puckering in the silk. I didn't measure to see how much was left, if the minimum was there. When I sent the pictures to my friend Caroline - the one I travel with - she said that she thought it had something to do with the sleeve and that made sense. It also made me want to try another sleeve muslin and, if I was doing that, I may as well try everything I'm contemplating.




I'm sewing the bodice, sleeve, and waist inserts of Simplicity 2217 above to the skirt of Vogue 8571 below. I used the C cup version of the bodice so I'm testing that as well. I'm between sizes on their chart. I compared the new pattern pieces to the pattern pieces from the previous prototypes and have widened the waist and hips accordingly. The Vogue dress is supposedly for knits only. It was the shape I wanted.

Aligning the shoulder points of the back bodices, the Simplicity 2217 has a 1 1/4" longer armhole so I took out my standard inch and will determine if more is necessary after the muslin... which I'll be making out of the geotextile fabric that Katie recommended... which is see-thru... so you won't be seeing it on me - maybe Millicent.

Yesterday, I ran errands, checked and double checked my hours at work, drafted the pattern, painted trim, and put together the box for my friend's sister. It sounds like so little and took all day. This morning, I'll clean up the painting supplies and then I intend to sew - this dress - all day although the sun is shining. It's calling me. I make take a break to go for a walk.

Talk soon - Myrna

Grateful - finished painting, for all that we have