Monday, July 28, 2014

I can draft my own patterns - here's the proof !




What a grand and busy day today was ! I left even before  Beloved Hubby to get a jump start on the laundry – and had to ask him to bring me the quarters I left on my desk. Arrgh. But I got a triple-load done, went to the bank, put gas in the 4Runner, grabbed a shower, and, yes, got my new driver’s license. All before 11am !


Of course, that nearly wiped me out for a while, but I perked up after lunch and took FIL to the grocery store. They were having some deals on fresh veggies, so I got a great cauliflower – Dearest Son picked it out – a nice bundle of carrots and some lush green celery. Since I have a noon Dr. appointment tomorrow, I also let him pick out something special for lunch, and I got the chips and soda Beloved requested. And I still have enough change for another set of laundry Wednesday !


It was wonderful that the heat wasn’t so oppressive today, and should be cooler than today for the rest of the week. I don’t know if I should thank the Polar Vortex or Elsa ! But I was still a bit drained, so during the heat of the afternoon, I enjoyed one of my favorite pastimes – trawling online for free patterns ! Found a couple I didn’t already have, as usual for American Girl-size, and realized something. Of all those wonderful patterns I got for Crissy and the DP&M dolls from Crissy and Beth, and the dozens I’ve amassed before and since, I was still missing one basic article of clothing. A non-elastic waist skirt ! There’s not one in the lot. I’m all for elastic waists even in my own clothes, but there’s times you just want a waistband or just a flat hemmed one. Odd that there wasn’t one already – but then again, there was only one skirt in the lot, and it was floor length.


Well. That can’t stand. Wasn’t sure how I was gonna do it, but I was gonna at least take a running stand at a flat-waist slim fit skirt. Traced Belle #2’s waist to her knees on a sheet of paper, then measured how thick she was at her hips. Divided that by two and added a quarter-inch seam allowance…and got a too wide skirt front. Took off about half of that, added a half inch and cut that in half for the back pieces. And it fit ! I’m still surprised that worked. But I have a working skirt pattern I can adapt in any of a hundred ways ! Go me !


Decided I wanted a new blouse to go with it, so I folded yesterday’s ‘Hospital Gown’ pattern to make a short one. Just barely had enough of that fabric for it, so I eliminated the back closure allowance, which improved the fit a bit. This time, the blouse took less than an episode of Law & Order, so I think I have my go-to shirt pattern. Wanna tighten up that neckline, though. (grin) There’s loads of alterations I can make to that pattern !


So, yaaay ! Belle’s wearing a complete outfit that I created the patterns for. True, they’re simple, rather blocky patterns, but I made them all on my own, and they work ! I’m feeling pretty proud of me.



Also very, very tired…

No comments:

Post a Comment