totchipanda

Weather continues to be a rollercoaster, with highs of Too Much, smoke blowing in from the west (one of the towns evacuated in early May was evacuated again...) and a couple of promising thunderstorms (that ended up being nothing but rain and some very rude wind).

Saturday I sat outside a yarn store with a friend and we knitted for Knit In Public Day. People were inside knitting, but it was really a lovely day despite the high smoke and wind. After I got home, I was going to work on some sewing, but once I finally decided that I was going to make mockup #2 of the Lora dress and make it in a nicer fabric, I pulled that fabric out, realized it had never been washed, and it definitely needed to be after first coming from my aunt's estate (age unknown) and then surviving my asbestos-laden flood. I then realized I definitely had A Colour I Buy A Lot because there were three other lengths of various fabrics in the same colour family so they all got washed. That was nice at least.

Audiobook got put on while I waited for the washer to finish, and I sewed that tank top from the other day.

Sunday I fitted the bodice with a bra on, and tried it with both my regular one and a bralette that I like. In the end, I liked the fit of the non-adjusted bodice better, with a lowering of the armscye and taking in the sides a lot. Over lunch, I noodled on how best to adjust some of the fit, because I kept struggling with it? And then I had an epiphany. I kept trying to account for fit at the side seams because EVERY GUIDE EVER says that's the preferred way to do it, but that's not where my issue is. My issue is FRONT AND FORWARD. So I made some slices and added both width and length to the front piece, which resulted in a bigger dart but you know what, it f'n WORKED. My fabric is no longer escaping towards the side seams where it thinks it belongs.

Yesterday I sewed it all up and tried it on and I am so happy with the fit. I also pressed a few hems that had been waiting, and today I am wearing my BRAND NEW ME-MADE TANK TOP and I actually love it! I was worried about the fit (I made a size too small) and the fabric (this is the most polyester fabric I own outside of various taffetas) but it's super great. The fabric drapes beautifully, so it falls off my boobs and hangs. The smaller chest means it kinda hangs towards the back, but it looks intentional. It doesn't touch so much of my skin that it makes me want to crawl out of it, either.

The beanies have their first ever vet appointments next week. They're so close to being 100% ready to be adopted (teary eyes)

Saturday I woke up at 3:13 am. When I went back to sleep, it was on the closer side of 6 am. I ended up dozing until 10:15-ish, not feeling like I really slept again, and when I did get up it was "too late" to do grocery shopping so I said Nope! and just hermited all day.

Shay dress is almost complete. I even busted out the modern machine to put one of my four ruffling feet on. And I tried three of the four (the last one is not the right type for any of my machines) before settling with the modern one. The others worked OK, but I wasn't happy with the results. I need to get some interfacing (AGAAAAAIN WHY) for the button stands.

I think, in the end, it will be too big. It closes (just) with the seam allowance pinched together. But it's swooshy and light and will be nice to wear for summer.

Before I could do most of the sewing though, I needed the dimensions of the skirt panels! So I got the projector hooked up and spent an hour or so doing that. While I was at it, I traced off the Lora dress pattern too. There was a lot of marks where it was just a beginning and an end, it was really satisfying to take the paper after and draw on the rest of the lines and see a pattern take shape :3

So on Sunday, after I put Shay away, I decided to leap into Lora. The bust area is a straight 14, and the skirts were a mental challenge! I traced both the 14 and 20 lines, bc I need a lot more room for my booty and belly than my boobs lol. A local maker I follow made her dress without a mock up, but I wasn't going to spend that much effort on a dress I can't wear, so I pulled out a poly-cotton? I think? It presses like cotton but it's too... papery, almost, to be cotton. And cut that out, with the skirt on the size 20 lines. "I'll fit it after" I said.

Quickly sewn together and... I messed up ahaha. The back was not a complete wash, I put the darts in wide, and still needed a little tuck on both sides. The curved sides do not need to be curved, they can be straightened. The most egregious error was that I put the front dart in WAY too wide! There was a notch for the bust area to be matched to, but I took it as the dart. So it's a little funky in terms of width and also height, and then in gathering the bust to it, I ended up with an area of very tight gathers, plus adjusting for the weird height put a wrinkle into it.

Plus... it looked like someone's nightgown. The bodice was far too large, and came up SO FAR on my chest. Tucking in the seam allowance helped a little. It was also too big. I folded down the pattern across the width of the pieces, and I think what I actually need is a small bust adjustment. I did retake measurements on Saturday night but I don't fully remember them. Maybe I only needed the smaller size range (except I'm right at the top of it) instead of the larger (where I am at the bottom end) (WHY is this not a company that gives you access to both sizes like others, sorry I have an "average" top half and an ass to make the gods jealous, I'm not paying for both).

I put it down then, because it was almost 2pm and I needed to eat. Rest of the afternoon was spent laying on the couch and napping. Oh, and I had gone to the store in the morning because I was awake a lot earlier and I was able to get it down and be home and put it away by 9:30 am. Grocery day is great because suddenly we have all of this FOOD!! Dinner last night was a Hello Fresh recipe that I made all from ingredients we had in the house. For, I might add, less than their cost to me. (Or comparable, if I had had to buy everything new, but I keep a lot of these ingredients in my pantry/fridge, like balsalmic vinegar and whole grain mustard.)

Last night I slept a whole 3.5 hours so there is not a lot happening in my brain. I would like to say that I will do some work on the Lora dress but... no promises.

Beanies are getting so big. They are so playful, immediately leaping all over my lap and my siblings, chasing things, pouncing, running. Chihiro could not be bothered and took a nap on my shoe. Roomie J said "neutral no" (he's not fussed either way, but there are a couple factors that make him lean a bit towards no) and Roomie M did not opine, but I know she's concerned (rightly) about her allergies. Yet I really want a kitty.

Tarot this morning was 9 of pentacles. Rewards, either happening or coming, but don't lose sight of the journey. I woke up thinking that something is changing, but am far too tired to sus out WHAT. Is it housing? Job? Kitty? Who knows.