Insomnia resulting in etsy searches and another chance for half size pattern 4936

In May last year I was so disappointed when an Etsy seller contacted me to say the pattern I'd ordered was missing and refunded my purchase.

The last couple of days my brain has woken me at 5:30 am (horrible, foolish brain) and yesterday I used the extra time to start folding laundry and clearing up my sewing mess on the table/sofa so that it's neat & tidy before starting sewing again.

Today I wasn't as productive and instead got my tablet out and looked up vintage mail order patterns on Etsy again.  I found another copy of 4936 and made myself think hard about buying it.  Yes, I did.

More half size patterns added to my stash/collection

It's been a while since I updated my half size pattern stash, and here's two of my most recent purchases.

This Marian Martin  9137 arrived in the post a couple of months ago - a sop to my desire to sew.  Once I use it I should get a photo of me posing like the cover.

Today I ordered this Simplicity

November July Dress already cut out

Editing this post cos I picked/named this dress in July when I cut it out.

I cut this dress out about 3 months ago on a meeting room table after work - and my statement that the print is NSFW (not safe for work) amused the two colleagues who walked past and wanted to see what I was doing.  I may dress less conservatively than I did in the past (lobster print and strawberry dresses) but I'm not sure they knew that I completely grasped the NSFW filter.

I'm using the same pattern as the strawberry dress, but cut slightly shorter to fit onto the 5 yards - yet again a one direction print means a less frugal layout.  I was also very careful how the mermaids were placed on the front & back bodice pieces. I don't want to end up with a starfish placed on bust point!

I got the microdot in navy/teal for the undercollar. Not only do I like the visual contrast, fabric yardage was tight.

October dress is finished

I don't have a full length picture as yet - I'll have to figure out how to set up a timed photo on my phone.  I'm really happy with it, and it's had a lot of appreciation from my colleagues - including from strangers in the lift. I remembered to snap a pic on the train at the start of my commute.

I had to seam the centre back of the upper collar as it's a 1 direction print and I didn't want an upside down cat/bowl on one side.  I carefully placed the upper collar so that there's a cat+bowl in the same spot on each lapel and didn't add a button as it would have looked awkward with this print.

Thankfully I got this finished within 2 weeks of the fabric arriving - as that was a self imposed condition of buying it.

getting back to sewing - an almost finished October Dress

It took me longer than expected to reshuffle the bed & sewing rooms, as I ended up buying a long neglected art deco bed and restoring it as part of the drawn out process.

I'm also looking at my options for 3rd party photo hosting as I'd used Photobucket for over 10 years and they suddenly changed their conditions of use. They're entitled but the complete lack of advance notification, and the dramatically higher than others annual fee ($US400 vs $US40-50) means that I'm going elsewhere.  I know I'm not going to use flickr.

In the past week I've cut out and almost finished a dress - that I'm intending to wear tomorrow.

The fabric is skeleton cats playing with skeleton goldfish bowls.

The pattern is a revisit of mail order 4866, with a pleated skirt, not gores.  This time using the bodice pieces of the strawberry dress as the lobster print dress is a size too big even after taking it in!

I'm making and wearing it an admittedly eccentric In Memory of my father.  That it was a difficult relationship because he was an alcoholic makes it no less sad that he died young - 30 years ago today.

Sewing is so therapeutic - I feel happier for having made something that's worked out.  It's giving me the motivation to finish the tattoo print, and start making my NSFW mermaid print dress.

Switching sewing and bed rooms on the horizon

I originally thought I could sleep in the small room & sew in the large one, but after being here 8-9 months I've completely changed my mind. The switch hasnt happened yet, partly cos there's still some unpacked boxes of sewing "stuff". Scary boxes of a mix of notions, unfinished projects and who knows what cos I shuddered and closed them. I need to put my big girl pants on and just start going through them.

I'll need to downsize from 5 to 4 single door cupboards for the fabric, and it works out as one got damaged in the move so lowest half is unusable anyway.  How I plan to decide what to get rid of is to work in reverse. I'll pick the top 10 in each fabric category, put them in the cupboards, then pick the next ten favourite in each category. Repeating until the cupboards are full, and what is left is the less loved pieces.

 The bench top i was going to add legs to for a sewing will be too long for the smaller room, so I'll soon visit IKEA and get the kids desk Pahl as it's height adjustable and the middle height is ideal for short me. It's 128cm by 58cm, so not quite the 140cm wide that I was going to get that would then also need adjustable legs. Getting it all in one is more affordable and simpler to assemble.

Cutting out the July mermaid dress.

I would be finishing the martini print but the bodife front pieces are sewn & hiding in sewing stuff. With the pattern piece or I would simply recut & sew.

The mermaid fabric has been insisting that it should be next. Even though I need work dresses, I'm listening to the mojo and cut it out this week. The pattern is the same as the strawberry print because not only was that always the plan but I know it fits. As its a single direction print, and 5 yards is shorter than 5 metres by 20cm the skirt has to be 5cm shorter. I've little wriggle room how I place the front bodice, so I'm going to play with it to ensure there isnt an awkward placing of mermaid boob on my bust point. Not a starfish either.

Demoralising dresses that didn't fit.

I've been training my left foot on the sewing machine pedal. Both the lobster print and Lost at Sea dresses are finished, but only the lobster is wearable.

Foolishly both dresses were a size too big, and too long in the torso and didnt realize until they were finished.

The lobster: after taking out the zip and removing the skirt i was able to alter the bodice enough to wear it. I had to increase all the vertical darts & the back almost appears to be princess seamed. It also needed to be shortened 2cm across the back, and 4cm for most of the front. After reattaching the skirt + zip its wearable tho not ideal. I forgot to add a loop in the waist seam to hang my work security pass from, and fixed that after wearing it a couple times. I need to get a decent photo or two and post them.

The Lost at Sea is a sorrier case. The same bodice issues as the lobster, but similar fixes haven't helped enough. So disappointing that it is still a size too big. As the ship motif is on the back, I didnt want to incease the vertical darts as per the lobster's back as it would break up. The sleeves are too long, and I could tell there was something hinky with the collar area. A second opinion was the collar isn't too small, the neckline is too filled in by the curve and it needs to be a sharper V. Pluss a size too big.

The thought of removing the zip and skirt a second time was bad enough. I can shorten the sleeves about 4cm easily, and gritted my teeth at the idea of taking out the sleeves and recutting the sides down a size. Where my unpicking stalled was the neckline. The buttonholes are already made so I couldn't finesse the new shape to be what I need. So I uttered some profanities, tossed the dress across the room and ordered more yardage from the states from the same seller. Hopefully its a close enough dye batch cos I'm making a new bodice & collar, reusing the existing skirt & shortened sleeves. Hoping it arrives in the next week so I can wear it soon.

Edited to add that I just gave myself the horrors cos I couldnt remember if I'd changed my address on etsy, and there's just enough time for it to already be on the way back to the states from my old address. Heart attack avoided cos its heading to my new home and it may have sat in Sydney from Monday to 4:58pm on Friday doing nothing, but I should get it next week.