totchipanda

Cut a mock up of the Madeleine dress last night, out of the offcuts from a different mockup 2 years ago, and part of the skirt. It's a very busy print, but that is OK.

First impression: too long, as always, and the waist (cut at size 8) was too tight, although it did close. I pinned up the shoulders by the seam allowance, taking effectively 1.25" out of the bodice length. I even put on a real bra to make sure the bust fit properly. I had some gapping over my right (smaller) boob, and the armscye's were quite high now, I'll have to lower them...

Waitaminute. What if I tried shortening the waistline area of the bodice instead?

Pulled the pins out of the shoulder and tugged it down, tucking in and pinning about 2" around the front waist. The back was pinned to the zipper so I didn't test it there, but it was also too tall. I had my back length measured by a pro several years ago, around my belly button it is 16.5", but if you go with the oft-quoted "smallest part of your waist", it is 2" HIGHER than my belly button. I still had some minor gapping over the right boob which could be solved by stitching it 1/8" narrower, and I think I'd like to take the shoulder in 1/4" too. I tucked in the seam allowance for the sleeve but it still felt just a titch too wide.

Sadly, this dress pattern does not have a lengthen/shorten area marked, so I pulled out the Scout dress pattern (TY again danabren!) and lined up whatever marks I could (dart lines to princess seams, etc) to mark that line. Hmm perhaps I should try the less fitted shirt dress bodice first lol.

In around all that I was making and eating dinner, declined to do any laundry, dealing with my stupid uterus, and cuddling the kittens while attempting not to doomscroll about the LA fires. Haven't made a plan yet about what to do this evening but I'm sure something will come to me by the time I get home :)

First finished object of 2025: A knitted shawlette! I was doing a test knit so technically this is mostly-done-in-2024 project, but I did the last of the knitting on Friday night and cast it off on Saturday morning. Just need to block it (which I meant to do over the weekend, but my knitting friend wanted to see Wicked in theatres after watching it at home, and I was VERY AVAILABLE to accompany her).

I kind of lumped around the house the rest of Saturay. Picked up a projector mount stand for whenever I get around to that; it just screws into whatever surface so I might mount it to like, a lump of wood and clamp it to a table or something. Or if I ever get a dedicated sewing room again, to the ceiling. I have it and that's what's important! Worked a bit on another shawl and the socks, didn't sew anything and didn't cross stitch. Gosh, what DID I do on Saturday besides rest?? (to be clear, this is a very valid way to spend a day, particularly when it is as cold as it has been)

Sunday was the movie. I meant to start a project I could work on without looking at, but I didn't, and I immediately messed up the sock pattern so I just tucked it all away and enjoyed the movie. Didn't cry this time but I had chills all through the finale. When I got home, I had a sandwich and then took a 2 hour nap, and spent the rest of the day knitting and playing games.

Support your local library, friends! I was able to get Gertie's Charmed Studio book both as a book and an ebook, and the ebook granted me access to the included patterns. I know they have her other books too, and other books with patterns like both of Cashmerette's books. So now I am noodling on what to make and how to make it (the "how" more for the jacket; it's tailored but not as fully as a coat), and happily watching all of the sewing tutorials on her youtube.

I put (some of) this on Instagram, but I should put it here! And one day I should put the collected photos in a more shareable place! (Whoops, I forgot about Textilia...)

Cassandra Stays
Jordie bralette (no photo ever, it's sheer lol)
Black poplin Patina blouse
Blue & white plaid sleeveless Bruyere shirt
Green wool Seatoun skirt test
Blue floral Ettie petticoat
Green silk embroidered mitts (machine embroidered, hand-finished)
White twill Rilla corset (WIP; needs binding)
Green striped Seatoun skirt (WIP)
Green silk brocade open robe
Remade Shay dress bodice and reattached it + added sleeves
Brown striped Elsie blouse (WIP)
Blue striped silk Nicks dress (i am SO SCARED of wearing this; also it needs an under dress)
Red Sorbetto blouse
Brown Mitchell trousers (WIP)
Bibs for my neighbour
Clematis wristlet
Maxine tote x3
Sock Sacks x3
Cat doll + blouse, bloomers, dress and apron
SO MANY HOURS OF CROSS STITCHING. SO. MANY.
6 pairs of knit socks (my goal was 12, but I made 6 pairs in 2022 and 2023 COMBINED, so this was a vast improvement)
FINISHED crocheted baby Yoda from 2019!!
The majority of 2 Rainbow Cat Barf scarves
Frogged 1 project
Started some knitted/crocheted dolls
Emotional support chicken (named Rusty)
Started 2 shawls

I think that's everything. I went through my photo gallery to see what I might have missed, but aside from a couple things that I know I didn't photograph, I didn't find anything else.

I'm tinkling with ideas for upcoming projects, but I'll put those in another entry since we all know planning is the mostest fun!

Another sleepless night where I woke up after I should have left for work already *yawwwwn*. Calcifer did the thing where she darted out in front of me as I tried to leave the room and then stopped dead and hesitated, making me almost step on her. Kitten, move your adorable fuzzy little BUTT RIGHT NOW.

Friday was a total write off, but I did cut out and stitch a mock-up of the short stays. I cut an XL body and XXL gussets. Just holding it up on me, the back was overlapping, so the next day I stitched the seams another 1/4" in to approximate an L. Even put grommets in! That was much better, but the backs still touched and it was a little loose, over all.

Saturday I woke up and I felt like I needed to do some running around. Namely to pick up my brain meds, as I was nearly out of one and totally out of the other. Then I went to the thrift store bc it was literally 2 blocks away, where I found the case of a 1950s Singer buttonholer, which had a few of the dies and the plate cover, but not the attachment itself. Someone had opened a bag of thread and stuffed the bag and a few spools inside. It was the green case so not the one I need (I think; I've seen that the pink one has the slant shank attachment. I already have 2 1940s straight shank attachments), and I left it behind. Then I went to the grocery that was nearby rather than the one I normally go to, partly because I wanted to price-compare. A lot of the things I wanted were only slightly more expensive than the other store, sometimes by a matter of cents. It was fine, and suited my needs and energy levels. DONE.

At home, I forget how it happened but I found some strips of coutil that I'd cut for the Victorian corset I made in 2021 and I wondered where the remainder of the fabric was. There wasn't enough for a full corset or stay, but there would be PLENTY for a short stay! So I moved some boxes, which got the corner where I wanted to put one of the sewing machines open, moved that, found the fabric, reorganized the boxes, went and cut the short stay. I took a bit off my L pieces to approximate an M and cut XL gussets. Then I went and TOOK MY TIME (gasp who am i!) to SERGE THE RAW EDGES (GASP) and stitched away.

It is... OK size wise. I can lace it pretty snugly and still have a gap. I only have that one perfectly sized spiral steel and no short-enough straights, nor any sturdy enough plastic bones. I found one singular cable tie that is considered heavy duty without being the REALLY heavy duty type, but only enough for a couple of the seam channels. I did put the heavy heavy duty one in the front as the busk type, but I had bent over to get a dress out of the bin and that little bit immediately got pinched as my tummy moved. That was not a mood and makes me think a long stay will be more ideal in terms of getting the *perfect* silhouette. I need to add the boning before I can bind it, and it was rather late in the evening by then, so I put it down for the time being.

Also had pulled out aforementioned Victorian corset and changed many of the not-heavy-duty cable ties for straight steels and tried it on. I was sitting down, which helped to immediately adjust the bottom edge. The pattern was Truly Victorian and has a straight bottom, which would work OK if it was much shorter than it is but on me it is much too long. I pinned the adjusted edge in place and stuffed the bust improver in the front, which filled out the bust area and made me giggle. I love ridiculous underwear. Will need to use shorter steels in those channels now too, but that is a project for future me.

Yesterday I got up SO LATE after waking up far too early, and decided to bake! I made orange cranberry bread (but I took it out too soon, so the structural integrity is lacking) and bread. The orange loaf is delicious, the bread did not turn out well and I'm not sure if it's because I had too little batter in too large a pan, or if my yeast didn't activate. It is very old by now, so I will get new yeast and try again. The resulting loaf was short and dense, but tasty and edible. That all took 2 hours, so by the time I was done, I was DONE. I pulled out some really thick cotton canvas to make a mock up of the long stay, but decided (with Calcifer's help) that I should wait until I could print off the M pattern.

I am trying to think of my winter slow-down in an intentional way, so I decided that I was very productive already (two baking projects AND a pan of dishes AND scooped the cat box) and I would now rest. I put on a show and knitted until dinner time. After dinner I took a shower and laid around in bed, where I was awake until 3am and then slept through my 6am alarm and was late for work, whoops.

Tonight I hope to cut another mockup. I'm curious to see how the M body will work with the gussets (which I will cut open but not place yet). Get my show on again and knit some more. Cross stitch. A nice cozy end of December evening <3

danabren bullied me into working on the skirt last night, so I have the waist seam covered with bias tape now. I was going to start adding hooks but then decided that I should eat, only I couldn't decide WHAT, and by the time I did (basically a quesadilla filling on tostadas), it was so late that I knit a bit (and had to take it all out bc I missed *one* stitch right at the start. "This is ok, this is fine, it'll just be off by one row!" said I, and kept knitting, but it was lies. So I ended up taking out the three rows I had just done and putting it away.

Tire appointment went OK I guess. They brought me the tire to show me that the inner coating had detached and turned to dust, so they couldn't repair it. And since it's best to change tires in pairs, not to mention the other front tire had a bulge on it and has since April 2022, I opted for new tires. The invoice did note a bead leak so the facebook consensus was correct, it just wasn't something I could do anything about. Alas!! I was holding onto a chunk of cash for bill payments that thankfully aren't due until the end of the month/early next month, so I did have enough money to cover it. But wow that wasn't how I planned to spend the afternoon.

Afterwards, I finished my grocery shopping and went home, where I had a nice nap under the kittens. Evening was baking show, cross stitch and tostadas for dinner. I am hoping my new tires will handle snow and ice better than the last ones, but since the last ones were "not at all", that bar is very low lol.

Today I have therapy at lunch, where I plan to talk about my Plan with a financial company for debt relief, and then this evening I have a meeting with said financial company to discuss said debt relief. I am wondering if I should just plan to get some take out for dinner since this is a lot of emotional labour for me. I'll think about that, since the $80 I planned for the tire became nearly $400.

I sat down on the couch on Friday and... took a nap. I was SO COLD. When I woke up, I moved to the bedroom and buried myself under layers of blankets. I'd eaten my snacks at 4pm and by then I wasn't really feeling like eating would help, so I didn't.

Saturday I woke up with a migraine. Possibly bc I was hungry/dehydrated. GEE I WONDER WHY. Took some drugs and went back to sleep. By the time I woke up at 1pm I was feeling sort of ok. Tried plain toast with butter and a cup of tea but stayed in bed all afternoon, and by the evening I was feeling stable enough to wash some dishes and make cream of mushroom soup. Still tired though, so I moved my stool over to the stove so I could stir while it cooked hehe. It's not silly if it works!

Sunday feeling much more like myself. I tried to make a cup of coffee, but the Keurig made a funny noise and died. And perhaps had a burning smell? It is living on the floor until I can take it out. It was a $250 machine that I paid $20 for, so it served me well over the last 16 months. But now I need a new machine, and I think I'd like to get a full on drip brewer, a little 5-cupper if possible. In the mean time, I have other options (French press, v-cup drip; trying to use the Keurig basket with boiling water was a complete waste unless you like to chew your coffee).

Decided how I wanted to make the pockets on my striped skirt, and then ACTUALLY SEWED SOMETHING!!!! So, the pockets I drafted on VIBES and was very blase about adding the seam allowance when I cut them out. Shoulda drawn it on, alas. They've been pinned with the box pleat for over a week. Did I just turn the edges under? Line it? The book suggested that pretty much every pocket that wasn't a collection of straight lines should be lined, so OK I'll line it. Would I line the entire thing, then pleat it? Or line it with the pleat in place.

I chose the latter. And since I was so "meh" about the seam allowances, I do not have symmetrical pockets, nor mirrored versions thereof as I cut the fashion fabric the same side up lol. The depths to which I do not care. Then I basted the CF because the book gives very clear directions about how to do a slot seam and CF placket. Went to go place the pockets and thought you knooooow I should mount this on the belt for best practices. Made the belt, reached the point of adding in boning and ran out of bobbin thread, so called it a day.

Then I thought I'd do some other things I've been putting off, like getting the screw out of my exterior door jamb so I can use the damn thing and laundry. Got a bag together, got a screwdriver and prepared myself... only to realize almost at the last minute that my friend still has my actual keys, which have the laundry room key on it, and I have the copied set, which doesn't. DAMNIT. Well fine, I'll try and get this frame out of the door to replace it with the glass since it's not cold enough to freeze your Winnebago out. And discovered that I couldn't, because it was painted shut in the summer. I tried to break the line with a knife and bang it out, but she is STUCK. Fine, it is what it is. Didn't even consider that might be a problem, so I probably should have looked at that earlier in the fall! Oh well.

Put a LOT into the cross stitch over the weekend and the new photos are up on Flickr. I reached a point height-wise where the remaining upper fabric, even clipped up, is in danger of being stitched, and I'll need to move it to the right again pretty soon. I did nearly stitch that little flap when working on the flower basket. I also discovered a missing square on the pattern, which was also missing in the PDF version I bought lol. Well, I'll just fill it in as I see fit.

Thank you everyone for your kind and encouraging words about my upcoming appointment <3 It got moved to a little later in the day today so I have a little bit longer to be anxious about it (and about making it on time).

My tummy is still a little upset. I say upset, but I don't mean like, nauseous. It's more like cramping, and my intestines weren't too please either. It started feeling better yesterday afternoon but it did NOT like the sandwich I made for dinner (literally bologna and cheese on toast with mayo and mustard, tomatoes on the side, no other veggies or seasonings) and I spent the rest of the evening being flat with a kitten on my tummy.

I put one whole thread into the summer stroll last night, and I am kind of dying inside that I can see it better (particularly the light threads on a light background) without my glasses on. Does this mean I need reading lenses? How does one even know what kind of reading lenses to get? Woe, woe etc lol.

I took a shorter break on Tuesday so I could go home earlier, changed into comfy clothes, grabbed the sweater bag, and went off to blood donation. Which I couldn't do, bc my iron was too low. Stopped at a gas station on the way to my friends' place to discover that the one tire was completely flat, and WOW driving is a lot easier when it's not! Guess I better replace those soon (facepalm).

Dancing is now over, and my girl took second place. Enjoyed it all! Sweater was knitted and I was supposed to drop down a needle size or two, didn't have it with me, carried on anyway, maybe messed up the ribbing pattern bc my friends don't have lights that are suitable for sitting and watching TV with, so I was knitting in the dark. I'll check it tonight or tomorrow.

Earlier this week I made some lil project papers with lists of supplies on them, and then folded them up and put them in a lil plastic cup to pull from at will. It's mostly historical pieces, so I definitely want to add some modern things in as well, but for now it will do. This is to help me not lump around for three solid months, working on projects I WANT to work on can only be good! I tipped the cup when I was putting it away and the last paper I collected was "Seatoun skirt", of which I purposely bought striped fabric for pre-October. So earlier this week I patterned out the pocket shape I wanted for that, and it will be my first project.

Link: 1922 book on skirt making, which includes several pages of pockets (no measurements, a whole lot of "size desired") and the clearest directions I've seen about these stupid interior waistbands that no modern pattern has ever made sense for me. (Pg. 14)

Weekend is looking to be very chilly, and I have no plans to go anywhere besides an errand or two. Plans otherwise include nomming, cuddling with the cats, cross stitching, knitting, baking, napping, and reading. Subject to change without notice. I should play with the Cricut this weekend...

I forgot to say, I have to restart my barely-started 30 yard challenge. The store I got my striped fabrics from is having a sale and they had white voile for a good price even before the discount so... I bought it. It's for a regency "little white dress".

So that means I need to get going on my replacement stays. K sent me home with the pieces cut out for Fig Leaf's transitional stays, and I did baste them together the other night. They are too large, as I expected. I need to try them on a little more appropriately to assess the fit -- IE; with a shift and while standing, not sitting on the couch in a t-shirt while trying not to disturb the cat on my lap.

In talking with my therapist the other day, I told her how I was all fired up for sewing projects, and she suggested that I make a list along with the supplies needed for each one so that I don't get hung up on "well I want to make X but I'm missing Y item to do it". I think that's a great plan and I intend to start it very soon.

Weather has become distinctly winter-like this week. Temps today around single-digit F (for the Canucks/Europeans, -13) and its been snowing, with more expected later today. I have THINGS TO DO outside the house but also... can I make it work for a couple more days. I have lots of soup in the fridge and I have discovered how absolutely delicious toasted or fried corn torillas are. Maybe I can make it through the next few days without needing to make special trips.