Weekend Tracings

I'm just not excited about the tiered cotton skirts. Oh, I wanted one really bad this summer, when we were taking long car trips. A pull on long crinkly cotton skirt is one of the best, coolest, most comfy things to wear when traveling by car on days when the temp is approaching 100 degrees F (if my math is right, that's what... 38 degrees C?). And it did consume a lot of fabric from a near-full bolt that had been in the stash for years. But I'm not having fun making it now.

So it wasn't hard to set my skirt aside after I finished the one for DD (dunno if I'll get a photo or not) and do a little pattern tracing.

I traced off the trench coat pattern; I think the only change I made was to add walking ease to the front. I did trace off one size larger in the shoulders than normal, because one of the previous reviewers mentioned it was a little snug when worn over a sweater. I intend this to be a honest Southern-winter coat, not a fashion item, so a little oversized will be good. I'll wear it over sweaters and maybe even light jackets. Normally, I would shorten the sleeves, but more than one of the reviewers noted that the sleeves seemed short, so I didn't alter those. I decided to leave off the pocket flaps, which meant that I have enough buttons for the double-breasted version. The fabric's prepped, the pattern's traced, and I realized I have almost a whole 5-yard package of Peggy Sager's knit interfacing, which will work great on the gab. So that project is Ready To Cut.

But, hey, the table was up and I was in the tracing zone, so I kept going. I altered the Vogue Wrap Dress pattern, adding 1 1/4" to the bodice length and tracing sleeves two sizes bigger.
I also taped together the free Burda pants download, but I didn't trace it. The sample square, which is labeled as being 4" on a side, actually printed at 3 15/16" on a side. So I need to take into account that slight variation...on 40" of hip, that's 5/8" that's missing. Anyway, it's taped together and I'll get to it eventually.

I kept tracing; the knit top from Vogue 2925 and an oop McCall's jumper for DD. I've got one more pattern lying on the table...McCall's 5460 city shorts (crops? knickers?) for DD, then I'm putting everything up until I feel like I can cut again.

Looking at the queue, I've got my skirt, a shirt for My Sweet Baboo and two blouses to do with cream thread in the serger, then I can switch to black. There's a BUNCH of black to be sewn, then I've got four pieces than need fuschia thread and just a few that need something else. So I think once I get to the point where I switch from black to pink, I can cut out new projects.

And, yeah, those costumes for children's church are still lurking about; I'm working on getting a chunk of work time at church to assembly-line those with some of the other sewing ladies. But I'll likely work on some of the oddball items along the way. We'll see.

But for this week...I'm just going to make myself finish that skirt. I've got 4 days left to get the house clean....