SFD Tweaks and The Skincare Orthodontist

How crazy is THAT title?  Well, it is as crazy as this day was.  I just can't believe the things that happen on a regular basis every time I leave the house.  Must be why I stay home and sew all the time.  I made a video for you because it is just more fun to talk about it than to type it.  Here is the link: 


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jSNwqEvuIMQ



You probably don't know this about me -- and probably don't care -- but since its on my mind, you are going to find out.  I am a MAJOR people-watcher.  Not in a bad way where I just look at everyone and judge them in some way, but I look at them and study them.  I study their clothes -- their haircut -- their movements -- their mannerisms -- how they interact with other people.  If they notice me and allow me, I will strike up a conversation with them.  I have been known to tell young men how handsome I think they are.  I told the cashier at Panera Bread who was taking my order that he had the most gorgeous hair.  Of course, at my age, people are SOOOOO YOUNG!  I kid you not.  The last time I went to see the eye doctor, my regular eye doctor was at another store, and a new guy was there.  What was his name??? -- something Vervak.  He came into the room where I was sitting next to the eye robot machine, and I thought he must be looking for his mother.  He came over to me and said, "Hello, I'm Dr. Vervak!"  I said, "YOU are a doctor!?"  I told him he didn't look old enough to be out of high school.  Of course, he probably wanted to tell me I looked old enough to be blind.   He informed me that he graduated high school when he was 13 or 16 (I forget), and that he graduated college when he was 21.  So, I guess he must have still been 21.  I asked him if he was married, and he told me he didn't have time for that because he was too busy going to school.  I guess so!!!

Back in the olden days when airports used to be really nice places to go and you could wander around at will, you could really "people watch".  I was sitting in one of the waiting areas one time waiting for someone's plane to come in.  I am ALWAYS early to everything, so I probably watched people for an hour getting off planes and walking past me.  I watched a lady from behind as she was walking away from me.  She had on a short, skin tight leopard print skirt and a bright colored blouse that fit like paint, and lots of large shiny jewelry.  She had on very high heels and stockings.  She had a wiggle in her walk, and her very blonde hair was piled high on top of her head.  I am thinking this lady is 18 to 21 years old and must be the airport's greeting lady, if you know what I mean. 

At some point, she turned around and walked back my way, so I saw her face.  I gasped!!!  The lady was 80 years old, at least!  Just goes to show you, you cannot judge a book by its cover -- or backside either!

When I was younger, I used to go to the nearby Mall to walk and to watch people.  I did that for years and enjoyed it so much.  Anymore, I am TERRIFIED to go to the Mall without a body guard, a doberman and a gun.

Not only do the teen shoppers with their tattoos and all-over-strange-body-part piercings scare me, the clerks in the store scare me.  I can't help staring at them trying to figure out what they were thinking to disfigure their beautiful, young bodies like that.  Not that it is hard to stare at them because most of them are talking on a cell phone and don't even know they are supposed to be waiting on you.  Thank goodness for the internet.  A wonderful way to shop. 

Phylly, do you remember that time we went to JoAnn's (or was it Hancock's) and that "guy" was behind the cash register.  We think he was a guy.  He was wearing several large pearl bead bracelets and had on a woman's blouse. 

Earrings, of course.  This went way beyond being gay.  It was creepy.  His fingernails were painted BLACK and they were long.  I was afraid to let him touch my material.  That is the one and only time I have encountered that in a fabric store.  We could not believe he got a job there.

If you watched the video from today, you know I am making a new blouse.  I will post pics of it tomorrow.  Not sure if I will try to cut it out tonight or wait until morning.  OH!!!  Jerry is having surgery in the morning at the Skin Clinic -- NOT the Orthodontist I went to today -- however, it is the same business -- just a different town.  Three places he has to have cut out: one on his forehead, and one on each hand.  Don't think I will be sewing tomorrow morning at all.  Maybe tomorrow afternoon.  I'll keep you posted though.

Hugs, Joy

  

New Pants and HAPPY BIRTHDAY PHYLLY!

Waaaaaah, Waaaaah -- I have spent all day, so far, making my dark brown pants.  They turned out okay, but it is nothing short of a MIRACLE.  Its those crotch issues.  The GOOD news is, there aren't any V's in the back!  I am making progress here.  I'm going to start all over and try it again.

Let me give you some shocking news:  You may NOT be exactly the same on both sides of your body.

Or is it just me????  One of my hips is 3/4" wider than the other.  Goodness.  How did THAT happen.  One side of my waist is wider than the other side.  Of course, to find these things out, you have to cut yourself in half and measure each side separately.

I really want to make a new blouse, but I don't want to get off pants until I get my pattern perfected.  I think it is really hard to measure your crotch DEPTH.  If I could get that right, then I could fix the length, I think. 

Phylly is coming in a couple weeks.  Maybe I'll just wait for her to come, and we can play with the bendy curve together.  We always get a lot of laughs out of that.

Jill told me she is going to keep me posted on my new dress form.  I am SO excited that she is making "her" for me.  I sure will post all about her the day I get her!



So here are some pics of my new dark brown pants.  They are a bit snug in the back hips, but that is my fault for narrowing the hips because I thought they were too big.  The reason they were too big was I hadn't put the darts in yet.  DUH! 

  

Now for the IMPORTANT NEWS!  Today is Phylly's birthday!  She is still 50-something.  She is the only friend I've ever had that is younger than I am.  Maybe she is just too immature to know she isn't supposed to like me.  I had a friend once that told me it was too stressful to exchange birthday gifts, and she didn't want to do it anymore.  Talk about heartbreak!  She is the one who started it by giving me a gift one year.  I just don't get some people.  Phylly and I exchange gifts.  GUESS what I got her -- go ahead GUESS .......

Okay, I suppose that wasn't all that hard.  I got her FABRIC.  YAY!  Our favorite thing.  It is a cranberry batik.  I will post pictures when she makes it up.  I also gave her some royal blue and red linen I bought online and decided it had too many slubs in it for me.  Phylly isn't nearly as picky as I am, so I gave it to her.  I'll post pics of that too IF SHE EVER SENDS ME ANY!!!

My friend Glenda, who owns Sure-fit Designs is having a chat tonight at 7 PM.  That is why I am posting early today.  Plus, I need to watch some more lessons from the BH&G guy about gardening.  So I shall close for today.  I still haven't thought of that OTHER kewl tool I forgot about.  Probably won't come to me until I need to use it again. 

Hugs, Joy

Measurements and Gardening

Fedex showed up today and hauled Marsha off.  Now, I anxiously await her replacement, Jill.

 
I got an email from Fabulous Fit this morning requesting MORE measurements.   So far, I have sent a page of Upper Torso Lengths, a page of Upper Torso Widths, a page of Lower Torso Lengths and a page of Lower Torso Widths, and that does not include the Sure-fit Designs measurements I sent and the measurements Jerry took with his Caliper.  Good heavens!  You'd think we were going to mass-produce "Joy" dolls instead of just make a dress form.

So I spent most of the morning checking all my measurements and doing some laundry.  I accidentally wore my glasses into our bathroom this morning when I went down to take a shower.  I nearly fainted when I saw the countertops!  If you could grow tomatoes in hair and hairspray, we would have a bountiful crop!  One thing about being older -- a good thing, I guess -- is that I don't see every speck of dust and dirt like I used to.  I usually leave my glasses up here by the computer when I go down in the mornings to take my shower.  But sometimes, I forget, or I find another pair.  Anyway, I spent the next hour with my magic rags cleaning our bathroom.  Since I FOR SURE don't wear my glasses in the shower, it always looks clean.  I did wear my contacts in there one time, and I immediately turned around, came out and grabbed bleach and a scrubbrush and went back in.  I nearly asphyxiated (try finding THAT in the dictionary if you don't know how to spell it!) myself, but the shower sure was sparkly that day.

All that done, I wondered what to do next.  What came to mind:  Why don't I learn how to make a garden?  Isn't that what you would have thought too?

Really, I have always wanted to have a garden.  My grandparents always had a huge garden and my Dad always had a nice garden.  My futile attempts at gardening to date have been to plant two tomato bushes, each in its own pot, on my back patio.  We actually did eat some one time, but usually the big fat green worms ate most of them.  YUK!  So here's the thing:  There is this website called "Craftsy" that I read about somewhere -- probably on another blog -- and Craftsy has lots of online classes you can take including two on gardening.  I got an email yesterday offering me a gardening class for less than half price, so I thought, "What the heck, I'll sign up for it."  So this afternoon I listened to some guy from Better Homes and Gardens teach me about gardening.  VERY interesting.  A lot of work, for sure.  When I saw what all he had produced in his garden, I thought about finding out where he lives and asking if he has enough to share. 

 I am not exaggerating -- and everyone knows I do that a lot -- but you can't even use chicken manure -- which is supposed to be wonderful for a garden -- unless you know how old it is.  Would someone mind telling me HOW one determines the age of chicken poop?!  Maybe that is in tomorrow's lesson. 

While I was listening to Mr. BH&G talk about gardening, I decided to finish my brown pants with the crotch adjustment from way back to what must be weeks by now.  I just have to put the waistband on and hem them up, so I may post a picture of the completed pants tomorrow.  Then it will be back to blouses for me until Phylly gets here in a few weeks. 

Time to go fix supper.  Leftover Roast tonight.  I love it when I have leftovers.  Even have a salad already made.  Heard Jerry come in a few minutes ago. 

Hugs, Joy

 

Sunday and SFD Muslin Dress All Done

Good Sunday Morning!  Preachin' day here for us.  Rev. John Hagee was talking about lies this morning, and how many lies the younger generation has been taught to believe are true in the schools and the world.  I can certainly attest to this in my own two children.  He's not talking about the kind of lie that if your wife asks you, "Do these pants make me look fat?", you respond by saying: "Duh!!! - I'm afraid the button is going to explode and fly across the room any moment!"  You say, "No, dear, you look great in them."  He's talking about the kind of lies the world teaches such as: there is no penalty for sin -- nothing even is a sin -- no such place as Heaven or Hell -- and things like that.  But I won't get up on my soapbox about all that, or I may never come down.  Let's just say I totally agree with him.

So after church, Jerry was already a captive in my sewing room, since that is where we watch church on my large computer monitor, so he OFFERED to help fit my muslin dress on me.  Wow!  I sure took him up on THAT offer because I want to mail it tomorrow in the box with Marsha.  He is getting a little TOO GOOD at it though.  He had it fitting me like plastic wrap over a meatloaf, and I had to tell him to let up a little.  He said, "You want that dress form to be right this time, don't you???"  Well, yes, I do, but good heavens.  A lot of good it would do me if I suffocate in the muslin before I mail it to Jill at Fabulous Fit!

The muslin dress is all done, and I am here at our store right now.  I have opened up Marsha's box and put in my dress and some underwear.  I want my new dress form to be wearing all of that when she comes to me.  I actually took pictures of myself wearing only bra and panties.  I felt like a total floozy, at first, but then I thought:  Hey!  This could be a bathing suit.  It covers up all the same stuff.  So I didn't feel so horrible after that.  Watch for me on the cover of Victoria's Secret catalog!

Now, if you've known me over five minutes, you know I NEVER wear dresses, but I needed a muslin dress for this project.  It was easy to make using my Sure-Fit Designs Dress Kit.

Here is my tracing paper over the SFD template in preparation to draw the front of my dress.

Here, I have finished the SFD front and back of my dress.  BUT, I still have to tweak the back for sway back and round back.  I always hate this part because it messes up my perfect pattern.



Here is a picture showing the back with both corrections done in it.  One of them fans OUT and one of them fans IN.  What a back I have!!!  Check out those grainlines!

What I do for the dart issue on the right is I draw the whole dart BEFORE I distort it -- I cut it out -- and then I have a move-aroundable dart I can just trace onto my paper pattern.



Then, I had to find some "muslin".  I didn't really have any muslin but I found this nice piece of cotton that I probably bought on sale years ago at a quilt shop. 

This fabric has a rose pattern in it, so I thought about naming my new dress form "Rose".  But I already have a chicken pincushion named Rose, and Phylly has a daughter named "Rose", so I decided that would be too many Roses.  Then I got to thinkin' about it, and I decided that since Jill at Fabulous Fit is being so gracious and generous to pad a dress form for me herself, that I want to name my new dress form Jill.  Joy and Jill -- kind of like Jack and Jill -- too cute.  Besides, that is one more "J" to add to our huge family of J's.  I have a sister that married and divorced three J's -- my other sister is married to Jon -- I am married to Jerry -- my brother is James, and my sisters are Janice and Judy.  My Mom, obviously, named all her kids J-names, and she named all her pets J-names except for three goldfish she got when we were little.  She named them Fido, Fuzzy and Fooch. 

And what does any of THAT have to do with the muslin and your new dress form???

Okay, okay!  So, I found this fabric and ironed it.  I put on my new SFD pattern, and I cut it out.

My dress turned out pretty good.  Here I am modeling it for Jill at Fabulous Fit.

I look like a giant bell.  You could pick me up by my head and ring me!

Oh well, it is nobody's fault but my own that I'm overweight.  And I couldn't possibly lose weight now because I wouldn't be able to wear all the Sure-fit Design blouses and pants that I've already made.

Look at poor Phylly.  So skinny that now, she has to make all new clothes. 

Dear Lord!!!  Do I ever look like my Mother!  Except she has wide, even shoulders, and she is thin and she has beautiful all white hair, and she looks great in dresses -- but OTHER THAN THAT.....

The Sunday pot roast is almost done.  The potatoes and carrots should be tender by now.  I'm going to run downstairs and make a salad.  We have lemon meringue pie for dessert.  We would have company over, but our neighbors don't like us.  Well, they probably like Jerry. 

Oh, oh, oh!!!  I forgot to tell  you the best part.  Phylly feels sorry for me because of the whole Marsha thing, so she is coming down here to spend the weekend with me March 10th.  How wonderful is that!? 

Gotta go.  It's suppertime.

Hugs, Joy

Dress Form Revived!!!

Okay, my faithful followers.  I have very happy news! 

If you have read the last several days, you know I gave up trying to get Marsha, the Fabulous Fit dress form, to match my figure.  I have her all packed in a large coffin-like box ready to go back from whence she came.  It was just too hard for me to get her exactly like me.

After I got the three boxes all packed and taped and ready to ship, I called Jill at Fabulous Fit.  I think she is the owner.  She is not the same lady that called me yesterday morning.  She asked me if I had a few minutes, and since I am CALM today, I was very happy to listen to what she had to say.

OMG!  Am I ever glad I called her.  You won't BELIEVE what she offered to do for me.  Honestly, I may be having a daydream of what I would really LIKE her to do -- not sure.  If I am not hallucinating, this is what she offered to do.

She wants me to take pictures of myself to send to her.  I should have told her to call Sharath Kulukool!

First, I have to make a muslin to fit my body.  Then, I have to put it on myself and take pictures.  Then I will send the muslin and the pictures to her, and SHE -- HER VERY OWN SELF -- will pad a dress form for me!!!

If you could see my face right now,
this is what it looks like.  So sad yesterday, and now this. 

What a VERY NICE lady. 

Just imagine what I can do with a dress form that actually looks just like me together with my Sure-fit Designs kits?

Hope I have a lot of muslin.  Actually, I do have an entire bolt of black cotton batiste.  That may not photograph too well.  I should just fly to New York!  I have that face lift money, you know, and Jerry won't LET me have a face lift.  But that would involve a plane.  No way!!!

Jill even told me I could blog about it.  How sweet was that???

I am still here at the store.  Trying to decide if I should hang around so Jerry can take me out to dinner again tonight, or if I should go home.  Think I will go home and look for muslin.  If I can't find any, I may head to my other house so I will be close to a fabric store, and then Phylly can get over to my house and HELP ME!

YAY!!!!  God is so good to go behind your back when you aren't looking and just fix everything, isn't He?

Gotta go.  Headin' to the house.

Hugs, Joy

Another One Bites the Dust!

Hellooooooooooooooooooo on Friday!  A gorgeous, sunshiny day again.  I have to go to our store in town in a few minutes to get the dress form packed in three boxes and ready for pickup Monday by Fedex.  I will be SO GLAD when that stressful ordeal is over.

What I am playing with today is actually EASY to use -- EASY to assemble -- EASY to work with -- and gives me great pleasure.  It is my latest "Kewl Tool".  Hence, I am starting a new blog section over there in the right hand column called KEWL TOOLS.  Check it out, and let me know what you think.

Before I decided to play with the new kewl tool this morning, I decided to toss the princess seam blouse in the trash.  Every time I look at it, it reminds me of that dress form.  I'm going to start over on something that never adorned Marsha's body, especially, since the makers of the dress form informed me she was made wrong -- my blouse was made wrong -- and I was made wrong.

This reminds me of the time I took the quilt class many years ago from a teacher named Mary Beth something-or-other.   I was a total novice quilter, and didn't understand any of the terms.  The class was called  "It's Okay if You Sit On My Quilt".  It was suppose to teach you how to make a quilt simply and quickly.  The class was weeks and weeks long.  You had homework every week where you had to make a sample of whatever technique/pattern Mary Beth taught in class that week. 

This particular week, the assignment was:
Make a quilt that has one PLAIN block and one PATTERN block and alternate them in the quilt.  You can't imagine how I studied and worked and painstakingly agonized over the homework.  Finally, I came up with two blocks -- one just a plain square and the other was from a book I had.

I made an equal number of plain blocks and patterned blocks.  Then I crawled around on the floor on my hands and knees for hours arranging and rearranging the blocks until I thought they looked good.  The little quilt was about 3 feet by 5 feet.  I got the quilt top all sewn together -- not padded or quilted -- this was just about TOPS -- and I went to class with my homework proudly in hand.  Now, let me point out here, that the class was jam-packed-full of women.  Some were young, but most were older and very experienced.  The teacher would call us up to the front of the class to show off our homework, and I would go up with what was usually a 1 foot by 3 foot sample to show the class.  Most students had finished tops, but one lady -- 60 or older -- would come up in front of the class carrying an ENTIRE QUEEN SIZE QUILT completed padded, quilted and bound.  I didn't know if there was any hope for me or not, but I sure was going to give it my best try.

So homework night came, and we had to show what we had done.  My turn came to go up to the front of the class and give her my quilt.  I handed my quilt to her.  She lifted it up and looked at it and said to me in an annoyed voice, "WHAT IS THIS SUPPOSED TO BE?!"

Why couldn't the floor just open up and swallow me and my awful quilt right there and then?  I was so, so, SO embarrassed.  I didn't even know why she didn't like it or what I had done wrong.  She tossed my quilt down on top of all the others and said, "Who is next?"

I went to my chair and died slowly the rest of the night.  I wanted to throw up.  I was hot and sweaty and confused and sick.  I thought everyone in the whole room but me KNEW what I had done wrong and that my quilt was really horrible. 

That was it for me.  I never went back.  I quit quilting.  I kept all my homework samples from that class including that piece which I finished when I purchased my long arm 15 years later.  I named it "What Is This?"  Here is a picture of it.  The little square at the top has the name on it.

Anyway, farewell to the turquoise princess seam blouse! 

The weekend starts today, so I will start a brand new project.  I may finish the brown pants I was making though.  Even though they were on Marsha, I don't relate them to her like I do the top. 

I better get to the store.  It will take a long time to get the dress form and all of its attachments, padding and base packed. 

Remember to check out the Kewl Tool, and I'll post some more if any one of my not-so-vast audience says they like the idea.

Hugs, Joy

Farewell to Marsha, the Dress Form

Yep, I'm very sad to say it, but Marsha has been disassembled and will be packed at UPS for return tonight.  I got a VERY unexpected call from the company I got her from this morning whereby I was informed that I didn't know how to measure myself, I didn't know how to measure Marsha, and my turquoise blouse was obviously WAY TOO BIG for Marsha, and I needed to add a lot more padding!

Well, I can't even begin to say how crushed my spirit was.

 I had spent so many hours getting her to what I thought was a very close fit.  The lady disagreed with me and told me my blouse did not fit her AT ALL in the front or in the back.  So, either I didn't know how to sew a blouse to fit me -- or Marsha needed a bunch more padding.  I was so broken-hearted.

 I had really become attached to her, and I was enjoying her so much.  I wasn't DONE with her yet, but that was because I was still waiting for futher instruction that I never got.

The company has been more than nice to me about offering me a bigger form or taking this one back.  I really didn't want to start over after spending all that time.  As difficult as I am to fit, I never should have ordered it in the first place.  But then, isn't that the figure that needs a dress form the most???  I don't know.  I thought that for $1300, I would be getting the best choice out there. 

Here, I say Goodbye to Marsha.  I'm not too joyful, I have to say.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BOwgwrf4Vgs

So now, I shall have to find something else to blog about.  Think I'll go back to making a blouse-a-day from my Sure-fit Designs patterns.

If I EVER say I am thinking about ordering a dress form again, will somebody just shoot me!

No more blogging today.  Have to make a 50-mile round trip tonight to get her packed up at UPS so FEDEX can pick her up.  Sure glad Jerry bought the little delivery van. 

Hugs, Joy

A Christmas Story

Jerry is on a tangent today.  His investments are doing really well right now, so he is wanting me to give him every dime I have stashed so he can add that to them.  I tend to go really extra-super-crazy when he does that.  I don't know what it is like at your house, but here, if I ever give him my spending money, I never see it again -- ever!  I have saved enough money for a face lift twice now, but the first time, I bought the Longarm Quilting Machine with it, and this time, I'm just holding on to it for "just in case".  It makes me feel safe to do that for some reason.  I agree that interest from the bank is diddly-squat, but still.  If I need that money, it is very easy to get in a flash.  Jerry never understands my urgent need for things like sewing machines and fabric.  I spent the first 20 years of our marriage asking him every time I wanted to spend a dollar even though I worked the entire time.

A long time ago -- in the "olden days" --  the Oil Company where I was the Manager of the Land Department, gave me a $400 Christmas bonus.  That was 25 years ago, and back then, that was like $4,000.  I was so excited.  It was a "Christmas" bonus, so obviously, it was Christmas time.  I decided I would buy a television for Jerry so he could watch it at night in our bedroom.  Back in those days, we had only one TV.  When he opened the gift on Christmas morning, he had a FIT! 

He wanted to know:

WHERE did I get that money!?
and
WHY ON EARTH did you make such a STUPID purchase with it!?

Oh yeah.  I was big time hurt.  I cried and cried, and I couldn't believe he was so ungrateful.  I decided that if I ever got extra money again, I was just going to hide it under my mattress.  Meanwhile, Jerry watched the TV every night!

Another year went by, and I got another Christmas bonus, only this time it was $2,000.  I DID NOT TELL JERRY about it.  Well, I always get real weird at Christmas because it is all about Jesus, you know, and I want to do the right thing even more than I usually do just to please Him.  So I remind myself that Jerry is the head of the house and of me, and I must submit to him as he submits to Christ -- and he does.  I decided to take the $2,000, which was all $100 bills, and I got a bunch of little jars and boxes.  I proceeded to wrap up about 8 little packages, all containing some amount of $100 bills in them, and all "From Joy - To Jerry".  Christmas morning came.  The kids were little then, and we were all opening presents.  I was so proud of myself for giving Jerry all that money, and I was ready for major applause, hugs, kisses, etc. 

Jerry starts opening his little gifts.  He unwraps one, and he takes out the $100 bill, and he kind of liked that.  Then he opened another one which may have had 2 or 3 bills in it.  He looks at the money, and he looks at me, and he gets a very worried look on his face.  He opens another and another, and he starts to simmer and then to boil.  He puts the jars down -- he puts the boxes down -- he gathers up the money (not even all opened yet), and he shakes it at me, and he says, "JOY, WHAT HAVE YOU DONE!!!!!???"  "WHERE DID THIS MONEY COME FROM!!!!???"  "I WANT TO KNOW RIGHT NOW!!!!"  "IS THERE MONEY IN ALL THESE PACKAGES!!!????"

Well, as you can imagine, I was heartbroken.  He thought I had robbed a bank.  It never entered his mind that I could have come by the money honestly, I guess.  Back then, I still had a lot of estrogen in my body, and I was known to cry if someone just blinked twice.  I started crying -- and then sobbing -- and then I ran into my bedroom and threw myself on the bed.  (I did that a LOT in those days.)

Tammy and Jeree were playing with the money and wanting to know if they could have it since Dad didn't want it.  Jerry was sure I really had robbed a bank by then.  He came in the bedroom and he tried to comfort me, and he insisted I had to tell him where that money had come from.  I finally sobbed out that it was a Christmas bonus, and I wanted to give it all to him so he could invest it because he was mad at me for buying him a TV the year before.

Finally, he took a huge sigh of relief and did what he always did when I was in that state.  He picked me up off the bed like a sack of potatoes -- because I wasn't moving -- and he held me tight and apologized profusely.  I guess you can't blame him for his reaction.  I guarandamntee you, however, I NEVER, EVER did that again.  The next several years, I got $5,000 Christmas bonuses.  I came home from work and handed him the envelope, and that was that.  He was a very happy boy!  To this day, it is sitting in some investment account and still growing. 

So, AS I WAS SAYING, he came up here this morning wanting to know how much money I had saved and could he invest it.  I said NO, NO, NO, NO!!!!! 

He said, "Okay", and he went to work.  After all, Christmas is over, and I'm not feeling THAT holy right now.

Back to sewing.  Maybe I better get showered first though in case I need to make a video. 

Hugs, Joy

LAUGH WARNING! Beware Software Support

It would take 10 pages to try to describe what happened here this morning.  I decided to just sit in a chair and SHOW you.  Be ready to laugh

-- or maybe cry

-- when you see what a super-crazy thing I did today.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NwmdUb0lYuA

Now, if I can convince myself not to run away from home and go into hiding, I really need to get back to the whole crotch curve saga for those of you who are waiting for it.  Good thing I won't be running for public office EVER!

Hugs, Joy

Dress Form Update

Whew!  What a day.  I worked at least 8 hours getting Marsha padded today, and then Jerry spent another hour helping me when he got home from work. 

If you recall, I had ordered MORE shoulder pads and more big flat pads (thigh pads) for Marsha.  It turned out that my batting worked better for padding Marsha's hips and back, so the big pads were not used.  I did put the extra shoulder pads on Marsha, but it made my problems worse instead of better.

Here is how my blouse fits me in the shoulders and neck:

Here is how my blouse fit Marsha in the shoulders and neck with 2 sets

of shoulder pads and extra padding under those. 

  Good heavens, you could hide an inner tube inside that opening!

 And here is what the arm looked like when I attached it with all that extra shoulder padding:

How LOVELY is that?  I wonder if they would let a 61 year old granny play football?

Following is a link to a video I made explaining how the day went and how I ended up taking out those extra shoulder pads.  The whole idea was to get Marsha's shoulder-to-apex measurement to be the same as mine.  And with those sky-high shoulders, it was.  Later, I did remove the extra shoulder pads, and I was able to get her measurements pretty close.  I also had to take the pole apart and rebuild it.   I need to talk to Bobbie some more.  She is supposed to call me back.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M_3nr5YEXk0



Soooooooooooo, I made that video and about that time Jerry got home and came upstairs.  I told him my day's woes and explained that I was going to have to return the arms because they would not work.  Mr. Fixit informed me that HE could fix them.  I told him I had worked and worked with them, and they just looked crazy.  He gave me that "you poor, pitiful creature" look and he immediately started working on Marsha.  He had been working since 6 AM today, and I'm sure he was already worn out.  If something is broken though, he HAS to fix it.

First, he told me the pole was wrong, and the people who made it were wrong and nobody knew anything, and he was putting it back the way it was.  He did.  Marsha was clear up in the sky again, so he had to undo the pole and put it back the Fabulous Fit way.  He still says that spring is the goofiest thing he has ever seen since it has no purpose at all. 

We got past that issue, and he picked up one of Marsha's arms and started working on that.  He got the right arm in -- stuffed a bit of padding above it -- and it looked pretty good.  Here he is working on her other arm.  What a sweetheart!  How do you like that top I painted on Marsha to cover up her bra? 

Here is Marsha all done, with both of her arms in -- thanks to Jerry!  I didn't even notice that she had turned Martian green in the next two pics.  Wish I could sew a blouse as easily as I can PhotoShop one!

Fabulous Fit seems to be a good company, although I think the directions they include with the dress form are very minimal.  They had no instruction at all for the type of dress form I purchased, that being one with the long body stocking, hanging from a pole and having arms and legs. The Ebook was no help at all.  It was about how to make a garment.  I KNOW how to make a garment.  Bobbie from FF is very nice and willing to help however she can.  She is really busy though.  She often has to get off the phone because she is on another line or busy doing something.  I guess I have been spoiled rotten by Sure-fit Designs service.

Even with those negatives, I think I will be very happy with Marsha.  I need to make sure she has a proper sway back and recheck all her measurements.

That is it for today.  I'm gettin' in my jammies and doing something that doesn't require much effort or thinking. 

Hugs, Joy



WHY This Obsession w/Crotch Curve, You Asked

HERE is WHY I am trying to PERFECT my SFD (almost perfect) pants blueprint, Becca.  I have strange things going on below my waist, such as:

One high hip - one low.
One fuller hip than the other by 3/4".
Long crotch LENGTH but short crotch DEPTH (I think--not sure about this).

When I make my pants up using the SFD blueprint for jeans, I get this "V" pattern between my hips in the center back.  Both pair of jeans in this post are Sure-fit Designs patterns.  This is one of those "tweaking" issues that Glenda talks about.  It seems to be a combination of issues though, and I need to break them down.

You can see it in the blue pair of jeans on the right even though there isn't a bright blue box around it.

THAT is what I am trying to get rid of.  It is in ALL the pants I make.

I sent the above picture to Peggy Sagers and she said:

The crotch DEPTH is too short

and

The crotch LENGTH is too long.

Well, if my "bowl" drawing is correct, it is the other way around.  We shall see.  Any advice Glenda?????

More later.  I'll post a pic of my muslin in a little while .......  Okay, a LONG while is up.  I did make a muslin today of my new pattern.  I cut it above the knee because I wanted to see if I was anywhere near correct before I cut out an entire pant.

At first, I saw the same V's.  I was soooooooooooooooooo sad and disappointed: 

Notice, I forgot to sew the darts in!  Duh!!!  I also have some pins taking in the side seams that were too big probably because the darts weren't in.  I think I pinched too much there.  Jerry came into my sewing room about that time, and seeing "something that needed fixing" he came over to assist me.  I'm sure he wonders WHY ON EARTH I don't know this stuff by now, but he knows better than to comment.  I would just cry and tell him I'm going to make more quilts.

So Jerry put a pin in the back, and this is what we got:

Notice that the V's are gone!  Yay!  Only problem is, there is still too much sag UNDER my bottom.  I knew what to do about that, so I took a dart across each hip as shown below:

Except for the strings hanging down the center, it looks pretty darn good to me!  Unfortunately, I didn't realize I had left the darts out until much later.  Actually, I probably don't even need them!

Those 3 pics above are the SAME PAIR OF SHORTS.  I can't believe the color is different in every picture.  They are dark brown.

I've got a bit more tweaking to do.  Obviously, I have to add the darts -- at least, in the front.  I'll post pics of my finished pants when I get them done.

Oh, yes, I almost forgot to share these helpful illustrations with you.  They were in a post from Germany or Russia or somewhere sent from a friend at Perfect Sew and Fit.  In the article, they had actually MADE a caliper out of Pepsi can strips, and they measured a lot of areas with it.  I was reading a translation, but even it was hard to make out.  I wasn't quite sure what these pics were telling me to do.

I have not tried measuring my body in a doorway yet.  Suppose I should try that next!!!

Hugs, Joy