Sewing Procrastination or Mojo priming procedure

OK__ what I need to be doing is sewing pants which is code for fitting pants, which anyone who sews knows can be a trial and vexation. So, what to do? I got the mojo going with a trip to JoAnn's -- since I was passing by, where I unearthed this polyester clown vomit on the "get-it-out-of-here" table. It's soft and lightweight and so assertive that in the upcoming hot weather it will only need to be slipped over the head, no accessories permitted.

The pattern is a copy of an OOP Vogue Easy Options. I made this once and got complements on it but the fabric I used, a cotton / poly knit shrunk and the dress got shorter. In my mind, there was not enough dress for me to sit on in the end and it was uncomfortable unless I wore pants underneath it.  Pffft!
                                                

I remembered that it was cool in the heat but it also fell off my shoulders. I'd chosen the pattern by the bust size, it would have been better to choose according to my upper chest measurement. The pattern companies assume that a 40" bust belongs to a proportionally bigger woman with broad shoulders and (still) a B cup. I didn't know any of this then.

To revisit this pattern I used my Sure Fit dress kit. I put the pattern over my body blueprint sloper and re-drew this dress to fit. The shoulders were adjusted, unlike these girls, I was not born with shoulder pads. I moved the dress kit bust dart to the underarm as in the pattern and traced the dress from there to the hem following the pattern outline and lengthening it so my bare legs won't be exposed to subway seats. 

Vogue has a facing for the neckline of the dress. I cut a strip of fabric crosswise, 3 inches wide and 10% shorter than the neckline length. The strip is sewn together on the short ends folded in half lengthwise, right sides out, and attached to the neckline. Quick and dirty. If I'd thought about it, I'd have stabilized the shoulder seams with seams great.

Because of the print on the fabric, the back could not be laid on the fold and I had to ad a center seam. If I had it to do over, I'd have moved at least some of the back dart take-up to the center back seam. 

My photographer suggested the pose with my Mother's Day foxglove. I'd just finished sewing and ran out barefoot for the shot.  When I wore my dress the first time I was able to accessorize it after all:

My favorite brooch, hacked from a 99 cent store ring by my favorite tech guy. No other bauble could stand up to this print.

Drunken Lacy Baktus

Here's a scarf "inspired" by the Lacy Baktus pattern on Ravelry. I didn't intend it to be lopsided but here is how it ended.

Though no alcohol was involved, my Baktus is not symmetrical  as it should be.

At the 2012 New York Sheep & Wool Festival, while my friends were contemplating  a fancy spray bottle for their nuno felt work, I was pulling chunks of dyed fleece from a bargain barrel. Ahead of me at the barrel were two women planted together as a berm so no one else could get near. They wore that look the dog gets when you walk past him with the bone you just bought and gave to him, they tore through colorful fibery oddments pulling out what they wanted and tossing aside the "obvious" dregs. Hunched over so I practically couldn't see what was in the barrel until they decided to toss it, I was pleasantly surprised that just about every color they didn't want I appealed to me.

Funny, it still works as a scarf.

I've been spinning singles from this cache of dyed locks and roving. I didn't think there was enough overall to play and make something like a sweater with. It is soft like Merino. And there's a hat.

The Amazing Project

In Regatta

So, I was minding my own business when I became obsessed with this yarn: "Amazing" from Lion Brand. Even after my first project with it, the very cool Lanesplitter skirt was a total DUD and impossible for me to wear. For a project like that, the suggested Kureyon yarn is really the best because it is far more sturdy. Amazing is soft and light.  Though I'm a "once bitten" sort of person, I could not stop thinking about this yarn. Go. Figure. 

When I found it on sale, and figured out what it would cost to scratch that itch, I decided it was worth $15.00 to stop thinking about it so much! I have since gone back to the trough and am working on the fifth shawl from this yarn. The first one I gave to my sister at Christmas but didn't get a snapshot of it. I couldn't even block it properly before I had to flee that state.