Short notice costume parties!

First of all sincere apologies for my absence. I’m not sure if anyone other than me noticed I haven’t posted in ages but I feel I should acknowledge it anyway! I’ve had plumbing problems (the actual type NOT a euphemism lol), an embarrassing backlog of housework and several social engagements to contend with. Not that I’m complaining. It is beyond me how women all over the world manage to run households, raise children, sew kick-ass outfits for themselves and keep their blogs up to date.

Anyhow, last Wednesday night I received a party invitation in the post – for Friday night! Short notice at the best of times but this was fancy dress. Having studied costume for three years I take this topic, justifiably I think, very seriously. The theme – Degrassi Junior High.

Oh the horror! Anyone who lived through the fashion vacuum that was the 80’s would tell you IT WASN’T THAT GREAT! Seriously, my year 12 ball was in 1986 and it was hideous. Still with a positive attitude I considered my options:

1. Make something – no way, I have so many projects started, waiting to start or almost finished that it is ridiculous. I could not justify spending my entire Good Friday sewing something for just one night. The last fancy dress I went to I produced a medieval princess and a Viking in only 4 days – but it really put my Christmas present making behind schedule. So my only choice was:
2. Op-shopping. Usually I am a total failure at this so I was dubious, especially given the short notice. I finished work at 2.30 on Thursday and raced to the two op shops on the way to my fella’s house – nothing. So I picked him up and we screamed over to the next closest shop, about 15 minutes drive away. By this time it was 4.10 and the shop closed at 5. My blood pressure was extremely high by now. I grabbed a skirt, belt and handbag without trying anything on and my fella found some hideous pale blue high-pant jeans and a spotty shirt to coordinate with my skirt. Twenty eight dollars later we were done…
   
   The party was pretty good too. Here’s a pic.
   
   Doesn’t my fella look classy with his beer and ciggie?
   
   On a more serious note I do have many many more interesting projects to update on and I’ll try to get to them ASAP. Bye for now

Shift dress. Almost. Done...

The shift dress is hanging over my head like I don’t know what! It is so close to finished now that I just can’t wait to get it done. I originally posted that I was making the longer version of the dress (Simplicity 3744), but it seems my evil twin was in charge the day I bought the fabric and she only got enough for the short version. I duly cut out and made up the short version on the off chance it would be okay. It wasn’t. It was VERY short! After a quick debrief with my Mum when she came over to fit the toile of my wedding outfit we decided that I should get more fabric and make the band as in view C. I worried that it would look tacked on but Mum convinced me that if I top stitched it in the same way as the facing and placket it would look intentional. So that’s what I did.

Fortunately we still had some of the fabric left at work so I was able to buy another 40cms to cut the band. I had enough leftover lining to cut that too. So now it’s all done except the hand stitching and do you think I can find a nice fine hand sewing needle anywhere? Nope, not a one. I must own thousands (well at least a couple of dozen) and the gremlins have hidden them all! So the finishing has to wait until I go to work tomorrow and buy some needles.

On to the wedding outfit. I have fitted the dress toile and have had to make some interesting alterations to the pattern. I’ll do a detailed post on these later. I won’t be doing any extra work on the dress for a few weeks because the fella and I have just embarked on a serious weight loss/fitness plan. I’ll be working on the jacket instead as the fit in that is unlikely to be badly affected by my losing weight. I’ll be making a practice version in denim and then if that goes well I’ll make it in the gold silk dupion (not really comparable fabrics I know but I really hate making toiles, I’m fairly confident about the fit and I only really want to check if the style works on me and with the dress style!).

Finally a non-sewing project I’ve been working on – the mermaid scarf from knitting daily. I am using a periwinkle blue 4ply cotton from Rowan that I bought in England back in 2001. The evil twin must have been in charge then too as she picked up yarn from two different dyelots which was really noticeable in the stocking stitch top I was knitting. I couldn’t bear to part with it though and I knew that eventually I’d find a project that would disguise the colour difference. I started with the recommended 3.5mm hook but found it was coming out too small so I started again with a 4.5mm hook and it looks great. I’m about half way along the first layer so it shouldn’t take too long to finish – I hope.