High Hip Wide Hip Friendly

Yesterday morning, I drove my sort of son - he spends so much time at our house, we just call him our other son - to the airport and this morning I'm picking him up again and we're going out for breakfast. He's in the military and needed to fly to a meeting and back, returning on the early bird flight which means I'm up earlier than normal too.

It's so cold here that I'm mostly staying tucked up in my studio unless I have a reason to go out and then I piggy back whatever I can. On Tuesday, I went to Fabricland after driving my youngest son to work and yesterday, after driving Colin, I went back for the 60/40 acrylic wool blend shown above that was marked way down, so far down that I bought more than enough for Vogue 8780 for $18.00. LOVE deals like that.

I washed and dried the yardage and it came out beautifully, soft with plenty of drape. The pattern calls for lightweight fabrics and notes that the wrong side will show. This should work. Most likely, I'll use it with the fuzzy side out as the other colors show up better on the brown/black plus I prefer the darker side to the light brown.

With the second Butterick 5685 muslin, I sewed the vertical seams at 1/4" adding 4 1/2" in circumference and dropping the underarm by 3/4" because of the armscye princess seams. It has enough ease for a coat now although the collar still seems too big. If I decide to go ahead with this pattern, I'll play with cutting the collar down until I get to a manageable size but first, the sleeves would need a LOT of work. After dropping the underarm, there wasn't enough ease left in the sleeve cap which would have been easy enough to fix only they twisted something terrible. Sleeves and I have a history. We do not get along. I'll work it out if I decide to go ahead.

Brenda - I agree that double breasted jackets are not necessarily the best style line for my figure type however, a wide shoulder element and princess seams are and those two seemed to balance out the other. And, as you noted, sometimes it's just nice to try something different. That said, before I go any further, I'll muslin Vogue 8626 below which also comes with custom fit cup sizes.

A friend with the same figure type as mine made this coat last year and it turned out beautifully. As you can see with the higher waist and the pleats, the back is high hip wide hip friendly. The combination of shoulder princess seam lines in the front and armscye ones in the back is one of my favourites. They fit more smoothly this way.

I would prefer a little more drama in the front of the Vogue pattern so - if that muslin works better - I'll attempt to frankenpattern the wider collar on McCall's 5759 and blend the two. It should be doable and I love challenges like this. Making things fit. Making them work. Making them fun.

The McCall's jacket would be really fun to sew only I'm worried it's too fitted for me right now although it wouldn't hurt to muslin it too and see what I think of the style. The pattern doesn't have individual cup sizes. I could copy those lines from the Butterick jacket. It does have a two part sleeve. Those - and darted ones like the Vogue pattern - always seem to fit better. 

When I mentioned to Howard that I was getting messages from all sides that I should be making purses, he agreed saying that it was obvious I had enjoyed The Handbag Project enormously and considering how many purses I've made over the years and how they always seem to make me happy, why not do those? Hmm... ? ? ? 

Because purses are predominately textiles, they're definitely my forte and a wonderful place to showcase colors, texture, and embellishment HOWEVER... I refuse to leap from one thing to another to another so I'm thinking this idea over and at the same time have scheduled a lesson on beading and wire wrapping techniques which would be good for both the purses and the necklaces. On the drive back from Fabricland, I even found myself dreaming of polymer handles and purse feet. This could be win-win - one of those all things work together for good type things. YES YES!

Even though I'm a visual learner, I rarely watch on-line videos. I spent a couple hours yesterday watching YouTube videos on purse making. There's a LOT on there. For the most part, the information was familiar but I did pick up one or two new tips and that's always good. I also visited several purse and purse supply sites and spent some time on Etsy to get an idea of what's out there - 41,684 listings under handbags and purses - Wow! And you know what. Same story. A lot of not so wonderful stuff and some really amazing. That seems to be the norm.

birdmommy - What I meant with the comment about the SAD light was that I already knew about it and wondered what other techniques people incorporated into their routine. Thanks for thinking about me with the article. Like grabbing the ColdFX the minute you think you're getting a cold, I jumped on this at the first feeling this year and that's helping tremendously along with finding things to create in the studio. Creativity for me is ALWAYS great therapy.

Talk soon - Myrna

Grateful - caring readers. THANKS!

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Personal Growth -  Do your best. Work from the heart for your real Master, for God, confident that you'll get paid in full when you come into your inheritance. Keep in mind always that the ultimate Master you're serving is Christ. The sullen servant who does shoddy work will be held responsible. Being a follower of Jesus doesn't cover up bad work. - Colossians 3: 23-24