My Instincts Were Right!

I was leaning heavily towards wearing the black Burda dress, but I had originally made the print dress (before that issue of BWOF was released) with the intention of wearing it to the reunion. When I saw how great that black dress was, though, I found myself wavering and the votes all confirmed my thinking. The print dress will be the church on Sunday dress. Thanks to everyone who 'voted'! ;)

Church on Sunday will be interesting. You see, DH's parents...well, his whole family...are Quite Musical. For their 40th anniversary party (20 years ago), the kids and kids-in-law joined them and sang an arrangement of 'I Love to tell the Story' for church. Ten years later, we thought it'd be fun to do it again...that time, three of the older grandkids joined us. This year, we've pulled out the music once more and we'll be adding all but the youngest two grandkids and singing the same arrangement at St. Paul United Methodist in Elkhart. I don't know if we're singing for the first service, the second service or both services, but if anyone videos the event I'm gonna try to post it here.

At the very least, I hope to post a photo...there should be 18 of us singing...if some of the grandsons do not back out ;).

I probably won't get another post done until after all these festivities, so have a safe and happy Independence Day celebration!!!

Just for fun question

We have a very, very busy party weekend coming up; how often do the Dear In-Laws sixtieth (that's 6-0!) wedding anniversary celebration and Dear Hubby's 35-year High School Class reunion fall on the same weekend? Not to mention the family reunion that got slipped into the same time frame!

Anyway, I'm taking all three of my newly crafted summer dresses with me, and I'm not sure what to wear where. I've got a hunch, and I'll probably do what I like anyway, but I thought I'd ask, just for grins....

If you were me, would you wear the the Slinky Madison Avenue dress or the Burda WOF black jersey dress to Hubby's class reunion (at which I will only know about 4 people)? I haven't really pressed him for his preference yet (I will...), as he declares he's not sure what he's going to wear (but is leaning towards business casual slacks and a polo shirt). It's at the local country club, and the announcement said come however. Past reunions have seen folks dressed in everything from sparkly glitz to farmer's overalls; so anything's ok.

I've got a couple of knit shirts that I'm trying to finish up before we go; part of the festivities include family photos, and Dear MIL has said she wants everyone in jeans and a solid (not black or white) shirt. I know, I've got a ton of choir stuff that will work, but, well, it was a good excuse to move a couple of yards out of the stash, KWIM?

Arg, Matey!

My Sweet Baboo and his Senior Commander (just for the record: I did not make Sr. Commander's pants) are trying hard to look fierce; MSB later said he wished he'd quit shaving a week or so before the event but he didn't even think about it. He did get one picture of the back of Senior Commander's coat; he's talking to a gent from another church whose wife had made him a pirate suit from the same pattern, although his had been made for another purpose sometime earlier and has been used several times for different characters. MSB said it was really nice looking; he thought it was made out of something that looked like upholstery fabric. I saw the photos that he appeared in and wished I'd gone to the trouble/expense of putting some lace on the sleeves for the Senior Commander's shirt.


And, just for my sewing/traveling buddy Miss A, here's a photo of our other Deputy Senior Commander wearing the shirt that she made.

It was an interesting weekend, by all accounts. MSB told me that they did three skits w/the pirates; in the third one, the 'good guys' had given the 'treasure map' to one of the younger boys, and the pirates came off the stage to capture him. What they didn't figure on was ALL the other boys jumping to the rescue! I would have LOVED to have seen the resulting impromptu melee between the 'pirates' and the boys who were trying to fight them away from the map...it totally flummoxed the guys who were the pirates and they had a difficult time 'capturing' the youngster with the map (who was part of the skit and knew what was going on). I still chuckle thinking about the surprise they had....

Incidentally, Senior Commander's coat and vest are from Simplicity 4923; all three shirts are from Butterick 4486 and the ratty pants are a modification of the breeches in Butterick 3072 (I didn't review those; didn't really have appropriate comments to make since I messed around w/the pattern from its intention)

Choir Sundays 08 #19

This month's colors:blue jeans w/green, yellow or orange tops


Jacket: Sewing Workshop's Thai Coat, in a wildly printed cotton twill purchased from Vogue Fabrics at last years' Atlanta Expo. This really is walking right on the edge...maybe even over the edge...of Too Wild for Choir, but I *did* make it for choir last year and I've got to wear it at least once a year to justify it hanging in the closet. And it is fun to wear... ;)

Top: Vogue 2925 top again; it's about the only orange thing I've got that looks even close to ok on me.

The jeans are Lees and are almost too long, even with the taller shoes. These don't have much flare; I may take up the hem just a wee bit one of these days.

I probably won't have choir posts for the next two weeks; we've got some celebrations coming up that will pull us out of choir (more on that later...)

Tomorrow: Pirate Costumes at Pow-Wow... ;)

Bailing

I cut out the lining for the pirate vest yesterday, and got stopped dead because I couldn't find the remnant of fabric I used for the interfacing/underlining on the first vest. I looked and looked, and, while I was looking, I had a few moments of Real Thinking.

And I recollected that I had a LOT more to do today than sew a pirate costume that really wasn't absolutely necessary anyway. My Sweet Baboo and Number 2 son are both going to Pow Wow; Number 2 Daughter and I are both going on the Girl's Retreat. We all are supposed to be at church bright and early in the morning to pack up vans and head to our respective destinations.

Which means I have laundry and packing to do today. Now, I *might* possibly have been able to squeeze in the pirate costume, but, really, the only reason I was making it was to get it off my list...not because it was needed. The shirt, pants, and sashes I've already made for him will be quite sufficient.

Sigh. They may become UFO's...but it's not worth putting myself into a totally stressed mode just to prevent that. So I'm bailing. The vest pieces are going back into a bag; I'll get to 'em when I get to 'em.

And I will not allow myself to be guilty over it...

Looking for focus

I didn't want to start on the brown linen pirate costume pieces yesterday; I really, really want to sew Real Clothes. So I piddled and diddled around and did neither. I thought my Flying Needle Saturday would abate the urge for personal sewing, but I'm afraid it actually did the opposite. Geeminey, it was fun to write some reviews and hang some new things in the closet!

But I really, really don't want those pirate pieces to hang around indefinitely; and if My Sweet Baboo is going to use them at Pow-Wow, I have to have them done by bedtime tomorrow night.

C'mon, Lisa, deep breath...you can do it....

Flying Needle Saturday

If you watched around the edges (i.e, the pattern reviews), you probably realized that I made...from throwing the fabric on the table to finished garments...two knit tops and a little jacket on Saturday. I didn't realize my personal sewing mojo was so keen...I gave it a couple of days and got 4 garments done!

The jacket you can see on yesterday's Choir Sunday post; I didn't update the review since I didn't really have any new info to add.
Both of these tops came out of ONE YARD of fabric! (I'm so proud of myself). I had to alter the Jalie pattern; it is supposed to have a cut-on lined front, but I didn't have enough fabric, so I added a seam allowance and turned the edges under. It worked...and I realized what a great use-that-last-bit of fabric pattern this is going to be. The pieces are short enough that they can work around bigger pieces on the folds. DD may very well get several of these....

One thing that has struck me funny, though, is the number of comments I had about the color. I usually avoid orange like you wouldn't believe, but this has enough red in it that I can sort of get away with it. Since this is the second year we've used orange in choir, I thought it would be worthwhile to go ahead and see if I could get something in the wardrobe that's usable....