Friday, December 28, 2012

Funshine, New Blouse and a Surprise Visit

Yes!  The sun is shining today.  So much better.  I am so much more energized than I was yesterday with the gray skies.  I've been running all day like the Everready Bunny.  I've washed the clothes, cleaned up some of the Christmas decorations and I have finished my latest "muslin" that is actually a very wearable blouse.  I took pictures for you, of course.

You have to know the story first.  I found a darling jacket at JC Penney's when I was Christmas shopping for our Mom's.  I was in what I consider the "Granny Department", but I kept finding the cutest things for myself there.  Now, that I have lost -- drum roll ........................

on my DESM diet -- a total of TEN POUNDS,  I can now put on a garment in the store, and it fits me in the neck and the waist and the belly and the hip.  What a DElight.  I brought home so many new garments for myself that my credit card is probably having a nervous breakdown.  Yep, I'm down from 157 to 147.  And that means I lost even through Christmas.  That shows you how much we aren't included in the family festivities. 

ANYWAY, I found a darling jacket which you will see in a minute, but the blouse they had hanging next to it that was supposed to MATCH it, did not match it at all.  It was quite a bit off, and I couldn't believe it was a set.  Therefore, I bought just the jacket and decided I would make my own blouse to match.  Next problem was WHICH blouse.  I went through my zillion patterns, and I came up with Butterick 5610.

I decided to make the white/black version with the inverted pleats down the front and straigh hem.  I first, of course, had to make a muslin.

So here is the muslin made out of some cute navy blue fabric I found in my stash.




You can't really tell there are inverted pleats in this picture, so I took this picture for you:


I decided I didn't want the pleats to open up over my belly, so I sewed them up from the hem to my waist.  I think this will look better on the red blouse I'm going to make.

And here is a pic of the little-bit-too-big armhole for my PR friends:

Here is a picture of this blouse UNDER the jacket so I can see if it is a good style for the jacket:



I think it looks fine, so I put up the two pieces of red fabric I purchased to see if they matched good enough.  I think they both look good.




The second one is a shiny satin, and the first one is a linen look with little lines running through it.  The one in the store was a strange bright pink color.

And what was the surprise???  I had an unexpected visit from my daughter, and we got to talk -- well, I got to listen -- for over four hours.  I think she may have missed her Mom a bit over the last year.  I sure did miss her!  Things aren't all better by any stretch of the imagination, but it is a start.  You never quit loving your kids no matter what they do.

Gotta go.  Gotta sew.  One more blouse, at least, before next year!

Hugs, Joy



3 comments:

  1. Love the red colour - goes great with your jacket.

    Skye

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  2. Wow Joy...congratulations on the weight loss. You definitely look slimmer in these photos - and you look great - of course!

    The red is going to look great with the jacket. The New Year is coming quickly, but you sew so fast, you'll have this blouse done in no time.

    And as you are sewing blouses before the end of the year...we are filming our last 2 videos for the year. When I load them to YouTube (on or before Dec 31) we will now have 100 Sure-Fit Designs videos up. Whew!!

    Happy New Year!
    Glenda

    ReplyDelete
  3. You are a dynamo yourself, Glenda! Making the videos is a TON of work. If mine don't come out right, it is just too bad, because I don't know how to fix them yet.

    My NEW pants are getting too big for me, if you can believe it. I just want to get down to 145, and then my goal is to stay there. That is just two more pounds -- or three -- depending on which day I weigh,lol.

    Happy New Year to you and Wes!!!

    Hugs, Joy

    ReplyDelete

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Hugs, Joy