Blogging break

I just can't seem to get to the 'new post' window...this home renovation stuff is nutso.  We're redoing two rooms...all that stuff is crammed, stacked, wedged and piled around the rest of the house.

It's nearly claustrophobic.

So I'm just going to holler 'UNCLE' here and take a blogging break until we can get some sort of order re established.

Hopefully  we'll be ALL done by Thanksgiving...

Choir Wardrobe 10/18/15

 Busy weekend...I didn't get my brown top cut out; mayhap I can get that done next week....

So I went with old and familiar... for the third week in a row, my brown wool jersey Pamela's Patterns 110, over my orange stretch lace Jalie 2566 T shirt, a burnout poly scarf from a remnant, and the new brown RTW jeans that obviously need to be rolled up just a bit.  I don't want to shorten them just yet; experience has taught me to let jeans go through 4 or 5 wash cycles before deciding whether or not to hem them.  I don't plan to put these through the dryer, due to the lycra content, but I am not going to do any adjustin' until I'm convinced they're not going to change length.

My inlaws did make it down; we went to an annual Royal Ranger event; a fundraiser for a local ministry that allows the Rangers to have use of their property for various camp outs during the year.  They run a number of 'buy a ticket and have fun' events.. and invite the community to come and have fun. 

My favorite activity was watching My Sweet Babboo man the 25-foot rappelling tower; he did the final hook - up for the kids and coached them over the side.  That's a pretty cool guy I married. ..in his FCF gear, getting a young fellow ready to go over the side.

:-)

Squeezing in a queue addition and a RTW rant...

We have company coming this weekend, which means I have to make the room I use for cutting back into a guest room.

It's not in too bad of a shape...well, it's been worse, anyway.  But I'm determined to get a top cut out before I pack it all up.

I've traced off virtually all the pieces of Vogue 9057  ...the view with the shirttail hem, the view with the pointy hem, both views with the assymetric hem...which I traced face up and face down, to get that offset...and the bracelet length sleeve and the deep-hemmed-for-rolling long sleeve and an extra short sleeve to be rolled a bit, plus one neckline binding to use. (And I just realized I didn't trace the armhole binding for the sleeveless version...rats...).  But I'm going to cut one of those out of the yummy brown rayon 4-way stretch that's been in the stash a while.   Probably won't get it sewn this weekend...there is company coming, after all...but soon.  Hopefully before Oct. 25th, so I can wear it in choir this month.

And we still have a plastic curtain with a red zipper blocking the back part of the house...fall break means the contractor went to the beach with his family.  So.  We have oddball stuff just crammed everywhere; it's going to be an interesting visit.

I had a wee bit of time yesterday between leaving work and having to be home for my youngster to climb in the car and head off to his second shift janitorial job, so I stopped at the mall in search of some colored jeans.  I wanted a gray pair and a brown pair.

I parked in front of the store that I'd had jeans-purchasing success in earlier this year, but a quick wander around didn't turn up any colored jeans.  So I hiked to the department store at the other end (fortunately it is not a huge mall).  I found three tables with colored jeans...Gloria Vanderbilts, Lees, and another brand that escapes me at the moment.

I started trying on 14's and 16's.   That was the size I'd bought last.

They were huge.  Granted, they were high in lycra content and they were labeled as 'relaxed fit' but...holy cow.  I went back and tried again.

I ended up with a pair of 10's and a pair of 12's that might be a bit big but I was tired of trying on.

Now, before you get all excited that my weight loss program has worked so well, I need to tell you that there is no weight loss going on here.

In fact, I currently weigh about ten pounds more than I weighed when I checked into the hospital nearly 30 years ago to deliver my firstborn.  When my regular, non-maternity size was a 10.

There is NO WAY I should've  left the store yesterday with size 10 pants.  NONE.

Now, I'm way beyond thinking the number on the size tag means anything at all.  But it would've saved me a LOT OF TIME had those jeans been marked for the actual size I am.  Then I would've tried on the right size to begin with, instead of pants that were two to three sizes too big.

 CRA-ZEE.

At least they were on sale.  I got both pairs for less than $60.  That was encouraging, considering I was on the brink of giving Stitch Fix a try with a request for gray jeans...knowing that the jeans that came in the one box I sampled had a $128 price tag (that whole box went back...).  I was that convinced that my wardrobe NEEDS gray jeans.  So, while I'm shaking my head over the size tag, I'm tickled to get something new into the wardrobe;  the only non-blue-denim I've worn in longer than I can remember is black.

You will see them in the Choir Wardrobe.  Probably a lot.

They'll look good with those Tilton tops..

Choir Wardrobe 10 11 15

Yeah...that's the same cardi as last week; wool jersey  Pamela's Patterns 110 .  It's such a nice brown....

I have a tan Guipure lace tank, bought on a double clearance rack last year on an out of town trip for significantly less than I would've paid for the lace yardage.  It has some gappy going on at the armholes, but as long as I've got a cardigan over it that totally doesn't matter.:-)  I've got a burnt orange Jalie 965 tank on under it,  to be consistent with the colors for the month of burnt orange/burgundy/tan/brown.  It's funny...I bought the lace top last year with the intention of putting it with the orange and brown for October choir, but figured I'd wear it with other colored tanks through the year.  None of them pop quite like that burnt orange one....I don't know that I've worn it with anything else...

And Levis.

Not sure when the seasonal clothes are going to get switched; the home renovation is kinda messing with my  normal schedule for these things.  I have some brown rayon jersey pulled from the stash...I may just have to make myself something...lol...

Choir Wardrobe 10/4/15

October colors are burgundy, burnt orange and brown or tan.  I went with the neutrals today...

Brown wool jersey Pamela's Patterns Draped Front cardigan #110, worn over what I *think* is a sleeveless Burda boatneck T #108  from the Feb 2009 issue of Burda World of Fashion (now known as 'BurdaStyle'), with some slightly modified (looser leg) Loes Hinse Oxford pants in a nice tan Tencel twill.

I don't think I've put this combo together before, but I rather liked it.  I squeeked in a little burnt orange in the necklace combo.

I haven't really talked much here about the wall-replacing we're doing;  but I thought I'd show the plastic barrier that's up to try and keep the dust out of the main part of the house:

(Novel use for a Really Big Zipper, no?)

My laundry and my sewing cave are both on the other side of that zipper.  It's kind of a nuisance to haul stuff  (read: laundry baskets) through it; it's really not that big of an opening. And the power cords are strung over my ironing board.  So I'm tracing patterns and will likely add a couple more garments to the queue in lieu of actual sewing.  Our contractor thinks he can finish the job in a couple more weeks; I think that's pushing it a bit but it should be close.  Definitely will be before the month is over.

It's going to be a big change on that end of the house. I'm excited to see the finished rooms, even if we're not going to get all the decor straightened around for a while yet....

Ten years ago today...

This is the way the back hall way looked when we hauled in our machines on Oct. 1, 2005 and officially opened the costume shop for the 2005 production of 'The Gospel According to Scrooge.'

Which was significant in many ways, not the least being that it was the impetus for me to start blogging, so that means I'm quickly approaching my ten year blogiversary, but you will no doubt hear more about that before long.

We have not repeated that production since then, which is kind of surprising, but, well, I don't even know where we would set up a sewing room if we were to do it again; every inch has been given over to offices and classrooms that are used multiple times in a week.  This view  has changed; now that hallway looks like this:



What was an open room to the left is now multiple offices.


And I'm now on staff, doing data base management, which is a rather far cry from the free wheeling costume design of ten years ago.

But seasons change; they go in cycles.  After several years of a hiatus in any kind of drama ministry, we are holding auditions Saturday for a new troupe of thespians, to be available to do skits and other drama ministry.

There may even be a major production in the wind again in the next year or so.

I may be dusting off the ol' costumer skill set again after all.