January dress plan: rocking the lobster print

The B-52s concert is only 2 weeks away, so I need to start the dress this weekend, as the following Saturday I have a baby shower to go to, and I don't want to be finishing this dress the day before I need it - I've done that far too many times and it's no longer an exciting buzz but a dread of not finishing.

Last year a mid 20th century vintage button stash was passed on to me by historical costume friends who thought I could use it. At least one of the buttons in these will be perfect for this fabric. As I can't remember pre-shrinking the lobster print - thinking I did isn't certain enough - I'll try to do that tomorrow, and hope the predicted showers don't interfere with it drying.

Hopefully I can squeak this dress in as finished before the month ends, but at least it's not going to add to my UFO list.

I'm fairly sure that I'm going to use this bodice, and the multi pleated skirt of my Strawberry Dress. I really like all that fabric in a skirt.

More an increase in Unfinished Projects than a "year in review"

Technically I finished 3 items in 2016, the blue bustle dress squeaked over the line on the first day of the year, the 1920s dress made in July and my strawberry print dress was also made this year.

I also faced reality and threw out the unfinished Lilly Rose dress that had become an abomination. I also threw out a nightie I'd started back in 2014 and stalled on. It wasn't working so I quickly filed it in the bin as I was packing/unpacking from my move.

Otherwise, 2016 has added to my UFO pile of projects. In reverse order
 - the martini dress is half made
 - the 1740s bum pad is cut out, but unstitched
 - the red/black on white retro "March" dress still waits for me

I still have from before this:
 - the 1940s house dress I started sewing in 2015. I thought December but either I appear to have lost the post in my blog re-naming - OOPSIE - after doing the pattern work a year before that; or more likely I only imagined doing a post on the half sewn dress.
- the blue shirt from *cough* years ago.
- the pink on green 1806 short gown ensemble
- pink white stripe regency saque hat, half sewn
- blue (with tiny black diamond) open robe, half sewn
- regency stays: mantua maker pattern cut out for a friend
- regency stays: Missouri Historical Society, cut out
- striped pocket hoops, 80% sewn
- 1850s ruffled petticoat, needs levelling & waistband. therefore needs cage crinoline.
- cage crinoline, bag & vertical straps sewn, needs steels & waistband (may be discarded)
- Pink & white stripe lobster tail cage bustle, sewn, needs canes/steels inserted & waistband
- red bustle dress, part cut out (may be discarded)
- 1917 austerity corset, toile cut out
- insects-on-blue cage-bustle

Oven like weather, also known as a heatwave

It hit 43.4C (110F) out west yesterday, and "only" got to around 34C or 93F in the city where I work, and the forecast  out west for today is 42C, so I've already bought a cheap movie ticket for in the city after work. Anything to delay travelling back out to the oven.

We've already had a 44.5C day - which was insane but bearable cos once it got over 40C the humidity went away.

Sadly, the humid days before I came back to work triggered an auto-immune flare that has been ridiculously painful. I'm grateful that I have some endone tablets (oxycodine!) left over from after being in hospital. I've not taken any yet, but knowing they're there has helped me cope mentally.

It took me longer than I expected to get back to feeling well, so I've not started sewing yet.  I'm definitely getting twitchy to do that, which helps me feel even closer to my normal.

I wanted to make a loose/light weight dress or two for wearing around the house, and got out of stash a 4m length of lawn that I was going to use for a caftan-like gown. Instead I decided it would be better as a 1920s day dress. Scratch than from this project.

I have a couple of other fabrics and will locate them, but suddenly realised that the babydoll woven cotton nightie with a built in bra (wire free) that I bought from Bravissimo a few years ago would be an ideal style, providing comfortable support but it's too short for this purpose.  I'll take a couple of photos to share of how they manage the back closure without the dress back being fixed to the bra band.

I scoped out wirefree bras in my size (giant boobs of doom) and found Ulla by makebra.com and it was and will be available as a PDF download, except they're updating their website so their shop is down at the moment. So hopefully it'll be up again by the end of the month.  They still have the page available for instructions on making Ulla style.
















At home, once everything is unpacked properly - or enough to be seen as a reliable tenant - and I have some $ saved I'll ask the real estate for permission to install ceiling fans in the bedrooms. It'll make sewing and sleeping easier in weather like this.  Heatwaves suck, it only got down to 29C/84F overnight and was already 34.5C/94F at 7am when I got up to get ready for work.

An unexpected start to my holiday break

I'm trying to post once a week, and I was expecting to have some sewing content this week. Unfortunately I ended up in hospital on Boxing Day, thankfully only overnight. However I left with 2 different antibiotics plus a strong painkiler, and a letter to take to my doctor in 3-4 days. I'm seeing him tomorrow, and i'll be seeing the specialist in the hospital again in 6 weeks about managing a new chronic condition.

It could be much, much worse, and I'll be on the waiting list for a test to ensure its not masking anything worse.

I'm disappointed but can deal with it - especially compared to the big C, which wasn't excluded until the specialist examined the CT scans the next morning.

So much unwanted drama, and it's interfering with my holiday plan to finish the last unpacking and sew some pretty dresses. I'll get to that next week, though I suspect at a slow pace than I hope for.

Another vintage half size pattern for my collection

I'm counting down the work days until I can catch up with friends, relax and get some sewing done in my 2.5 weeks off work.

I took the reins off my impulse control for another half size vintage pattern from Etsy. I like the neckline and hope to use it for one of my dress-a-months ... I've now more choices to make me dither when it comes time to cut out the lobster or any of the other fabrics.

First step is to finish the August martini print dress first, and the last steps on the extremely overdue March dress.

Then I need to use the nautical tattoo fabric, as it had a must-use-by December concept attached to it's purchase, still an achievable goal. I had played with the idea of using a sailor collar pattern, but realise that style is more youthful than myself.

After that the lobster fabric, so it's finished well ahead of the concert. Then the mermaids, and I want to wear the aqua/blue dress to work the first day after our unit moves to head office next year. Deferred to March, and if it's pushed back I'll wear it anyway. It goes with the colours selected by the project design team and someone else joked that we should co-ordinate our clothes. The mermaid print is an equally good choice, but it's not really suitable for the office.

off topic - popsicles for the grown ups

or at least, for those of a legal drinking age.

We just had a couple of 38C days, and luckily Kmart has icy pole (or ice block) molds in stock, at a cheap price. After work last night I stocked up and I'm looking forward to trying one or two of these recipes over my holiday break (I'll be having 2 weeks & 2 days off)

Cucumber Ginger Gin Popsicles
http://www.shutterbean.com/2014/cucumber-ginger-gin-popsicles/

Lime-Basil-Gin Ice Pops
ghttp://www.hungrygirlporvida.com/blog/2012/08/20/lime-basil-gin-ice-pops/

Gin & Elderflower
http://sheerluxe.com/2013/08/09/.VZOhXhNVikp

Gin & Tonic Ice pops
http://www.ginandjewels.com/?p=2518

Mohito Ice Blocks
http://www.notquitenigella.com/2016/02/13/mojito-ice-blocks/

Creamy Margarita Popsicle (though I'd need to make a lactose free version)
http://hostthetoast.com/creamy-margarita-popsicles/

This is the moment when I wish it was feijoa season (4-5 months away, cos these sound delicious
Feijoa Gin Ice Lollies
https://peasepudding.wordpress.com/2011/03/31/when-autumn-gives-you-feijoas-make-feijoa-gin-ice-lollies/

Another new-to-me half size vintage patternpattern

I'm continuing to pace myself with the unpacking and have finally passed the point where it felt like it would never end.

I've found even more fabric to go into the cupboards. Fabric that I knew I had but was still in plastic tubs somehow, and last night I opened a box of books (I knew I had it!) that was still unpacked from when I moved into my previous home ... back in 1997.  I discarded all but two of them, one that I kept was a prize for coming 1st in 7th Form Accounting for my school.

The pattern drawers are in place, and the tea chest of patterns unpacked into it. I'm sure that I have more patterns in another box but I'll get to them soon.

I got the nautical/tattoo print and the lobster print fabrics out to remind me why I need to keep turtling my way to unpacked. Slow & steady will get there soon enough, and I've taken a rest day each weekend due to exhaustion.

I've bought a couple more vintage patterns, including this Marian Martin #9056 - a half size.

This Anne Adams pattern #4973 isn't half size but I like the bodice detail and can frankenmorph it onto bodice pieces that already fit me.

A sewing increment and another half-size vintage pattern

I'm counting down the days (or big sleeps) until I get my iron injection and it's 3 to go.  I'm hoping that it kicks in as quickly as the previous ones did and that the unpacking gets solidly kicked along as a result.  My unpacking has reached as far as my current/summer sewing boxes of stuff, which was timely as I was rescued by a good friend on Saturday. The sewing guild group I'd usually have gone to was cancelled as the venue wasn't available so instead I took a load of laundry and a couple of sewing projects to my friend's place.

I made a very very casual pair of shorts for around the house wear - cotton rugby jersy in a wine red with an elastic waist and unhemmed.  Summer has arrived and I wore out my previous house-shorts when I moved. I'll possibly add a photo soon - they're purely functional so I've something cool to wear when I go hang out the laundry or take out the rubbish.

I also took the March dress, that has been neglected since I realised that I'd also need to make a slip or half slip before I wear it. However, it was easy to reach and so achievable in the circumstances.  As my friend Colleen said on the day, I am unlikely to get around to making the slip until the dress is finished and I want to wear it. She's right.

Unpacking the tote bag I realised that the bodice wasn't with the skirt & sleeve pieces so I wasn't able to get much further than cutting out the shaped band for the sleeve hem. I'm fairly sure that the bodice is in my sewing machine trolley from my last sewing guild day, where I made the new collar/facing. It must have been in September, as I got the microdot fabric at the end of August.

Because unpacking the stash has made it even more real that I need to shop the stash first, I've used vintage pattern buying as a substitute for sewing during the moving process. I bought this one on ebay AU last week, even through I could draft the collar myself this way I don't need to.  The button on each collar is a simple way to draw the eye up the body ... I hope.