Mattel makes a funny !

Current Mood : Silly
Current Image Notes : Click to embiggen, it's worth it. 

It may already be Spring, but I think we’re already headlong into Summer ! When I sweat just writing this, it’s gonna be a scorcher. I may have to start killing crane flies. I don’t mind ‘em really, but when they keep dive-bombing me to the point where I can’t concentrate on my sewing, somebody’s gotta pay. If they stay up near the ceiling or over behind things, I have no problem with ‘em, but landing on my overheated skin repeatedly, using me as the base in a game of flirt tag, or flying back and forth an inch in front of my eyes is a bit too much.

Did you see this ? Mattel had some April Fool’s fun with us ! Sad thing is, most of us would buy it. I think it’s funny as cats. Even Beloved Hubby thought it was clever. I bet the scalpers would make a fortune. (grin) You can see and read the whole thing at the Gory Gazette.

Well, as mentioned, I sewed today. It was a near total disaster. You’ll get to see it tomorrow. BTW, that was *not* the skirt I had cut out for that top. I made the same thing years ago for Lagoona, from an online Bratz pattern I adapted on the fly. It wasn’t quite what I wanted and didn’t fit well, so I redrew it and saved it, but never tried it out. Friday, I decided I wanted to work it again, but I completely forgot that the pattern was untested. The top part worked OK, but still needs some revision.  

The skirt was a total wash. Oh, it fit the waist, but didn’t even cover that butt. So I had to cut out new fabric, and I wasn’t sure how that would work either, so I used what was sitting out. You guessed it. Starfield. Gotten tired of that print yet ? I nearly am. I made curtain tie-backs out of it yesterday, and I only have a few feet of that bedskirt left. Not sure if I wanna buy more when it’s finally used up, or try to forget I ever had any of it in the first place.

Decided to just gather and sew a rectangle, and attach the halter top to it. This was a bad plan. I’d also forgotten how the halter was attached, so I had to futz with it several times to get it right. At least I was smart enough (after the first failure) to use big, easy-to-remove basting stitches. I also forgot how thick gathering gets, and that when a gathered piece gets handled a lot, it tends to slip. I don’t know how, I had it tied off at both ends, but I ended up darn near finger-pleating the thing, and of course, the pleats should have gone the other way. (sigh)

But in the end, I got a decent dress, and I know about where to make changes. Also not to use striped fabric if it’s important that the stripes match – on the original skirt design, both side pieces are at an angle to the front. There’s simply no way they’ll *ever* match. Not even cutting the pieces at the same angle worked. Yes, I tried. Arrgh.