Talking Tuesday: The Antimodern Condition

This excellent little book is being held hostage by ridiculous publishers who are listing it for a king's ransom.  Try to find it in a library or on ILL if you can--it is a worthy topic.  My husband has been reading parts of it aloud to me, and I intend to read the whole book (it is short) myself when he is finished.  The quote below encapsulates a lot of what I think about the post modern, post secular condition.

"Anxiety is inherent to all forms of modernity and is indeed a product of it: modernity creates anxiety and this is because modernity demands change.  Anxiety is the flipside of flux and transgression.  Modernity cannot accept the world as it currently is, and so we are anxious for change.  But then the effect of change is to make us anxious about our futures and our place in the world.  So we are anxious to create change and anxious because of change.  It is not, we might say, a question of status anxiety, but of anxiety as status."

Peter King, The Antimodern Condition: An Argument Against Progress.  Burlington, VT: Ashgate Publishing Company, 2014, p. 51, bold face emphasis mine.

Odds and Ends, Vol. 9

I've got another great line up of articles for you, and it has been so nice to hear from several readers that you are enjoying these links!

Sarai at Colleterie has been collecting links on simple life and finding contentment in the everyday, and I found this article on the medium chill to be a useful perspective, particularly as I'm a satisficier in some areas of my life, but a perfectionist in others.  Equally intriguing is this short piece from The Nife En L'Air that pokes holes in our ideas of simple living (hint: it's not an aesthetic, and it's not necessarily something you can easily Pinterest).

Mat. Anna posted a short story a while back, and I found it such a useful way to think about saying the Jesus Prayer.

Amazing color photographs of pre-revolutionary Russia.  The color makes them seem contemporary and close enough to touch.

Via

Rod Dreher ponders the collapse of the American family in the last 40 years.  What is especially interesting is reader Anastasia's comments included at the end of the piece.  Indeed.

Ivan Plis writes about the dangers of seeking Christ through the internet instead of by living the life of the Church and the liturgical cycle.  I've encountered this phenomona many times over the years, and it is still worth repeating: The best way to learn about the Orthodox Church is to live it; go to the services, participate in the cycle of fasting and feasting, pray the prayers, read the Fathers (not online!), go to monasteries.  This is the way of discipleship.

Also in First Things, John P. Burgess writes about the modern Russian Orthodox Church, and the complex legacy of the Soviet period and how that is being worked through today.  From the article: 

"But the story of the Church’s rebirth is more complicated than Western analyses suggest....The biggest impediment to success is Russians’ low rate of active participation. Although as many as 70 to 80 percent call themselves Orthodox and have been baptized, only 2 to 4 percent regularly attend the liturgy. Even fewer keep the Church’s fasts. Still, sociological surveys have established that Russia is one of the few places in the developed world where people report that religion is becoming more important to them, not less. I am constantly surprised by Russians like my friend Tanya. A well-educated and professionally successful Moscow resident, she questions the existence of God, never attends church services, and doesn’t even know the Lord’s Prayer, yet makes pilgrimages to remote Orthodox monasteries, where she says she experiences a holy world that fills her with utter joy and peace. For her, a low rate of everyday participation clearly does not contradict a high degree of affective affiliation. The Church believes that the explanation is both simple and powerful: Orthodoxy helps Russians understand who they are as a people and what makes Russia unique among the world’s nations."

Via

An Atlas of True Names: this is quite interesting, as it identifies place names by geography and history, rather than a random name.  For instance, Ohio is called the Land of the Large Creek, and Pittsburgh The Pit-Dweller's Town.  I'm geeking out over here.

Kelly Flannagan talks about how our cultural American Protestant work ethic might lead us to teach the wrong lessons about what is important to our children.  I think he gets at something important, which is, yes, you can accomplish many things through hard work alone, but there is a cost to doing hard work at the expense of everything else in your life.

I found these paintings of the sea by Samantha Keely Smith oddly mesmerizing.

Samantha Keely Smith

The Farmer's Wife offers a useful corrective to us mothers who feel pressure to do it all, be it all.  In short? Prioritize your children's hearts, be very selective about what you read about parenting on the web and in books, don't be your children's primary entertainer, and define your own fun.  All good rules to live by, and most of her guidelines are things we are trying to do at our house as well.

Protopresbyter Vasile Tudore writes about how living in the information age can get in the way of our spiritual life.  From the article: 

"This avalanche of information about everything and anything has turned all of us into information junkies. We constantly check our phones waiting for the next piece of news or conversation to pop out. We live and breathe information. There is only one downside to this addiction, we start having less and less time. Paradoxically, when we can find anything quicker than ever, we end up having less time than ever. Work doesn’t get finished, conversations, unless virtual, are on the brink of extinction, human interactions are a bare because they take you away from the urge to know everything right now!"  I'm still working on balance with my computer use, and I find it a tricky line to walk, because I have a lot of social interaction online that I wouldn't get anywhere else, and I do a lot of our household shopping online, but I'm trying to be more mindful when I'm online, and ask myself, am I here to create, to work, to contribute?  Or am I here to numb, to tune out, to ignore my life?   If the latter, I try to turn off the computer and do something else.

Sometimes, I think Christy lives in my head.  I'll be thinking about writing something, and then she goes and says it better than I ever could!  A few weeks ago, she wrote a quick take (#2) about how searching for "easy" in every day life can be a pitfall.  It is something I've been thinking about a lot lately too--I think we do a disservice to the hardships of life by constantly praising and seeking out that which is easy.  There is much in life that is hard, and while I don't think we should seek out hardship for the sake of it, neither should we ignore difficulty, or pretend it doesn't exist, or that there isn't something spiritually useful to working through hard things, or learning how to master a skill that is difficult.  I think there is more to say on the topic, but I'll leave it there for now and perhaps revisit it soon.  

I seem to be stuck on images of the sea lately.  This photograph is amazing.

Jem Cresswell

I started out my history career in the medieval period, and so I'm always drawn to articles and stories from that time period.  I found this myth-busting article about the Crusades to be so illuminating, especially for our current relationship with the Muslim world.  Turns out, what goes around, comes around.  But then, we knew that, didn't we?

Via

Finally, Rod Dreher continues with an ongoing theme of storytelling with a brief post.  At some point, I need to parse this out, as it is a theme I think about a lot: who I am, how the stories I tell about myself are influenced by what others have told me, how my thoughts about who I am are shaped by those stories, etc.  I read a fascinating book a few years ago that raised a lot of these questions for me called What Alice Forgot.  Stories have a tremendous ability to define us, to narrate our lives, and the stories we tell and how we tell them are important.  

In a related note, we are entering the great big world of audiobooks for kids, and having listened to Danny Kaye's fabulous retelling of several lesser known fairy tales ad nauseum, we have discovered the wonderful storytelling of Jim Weiss.  We listened to his narration of King Arthur's Knights on our way to church yesterday, and after church, I went on Amazon to find more of his recordings because he is a wonderful storyteller!  We also ordered the first Adventures in Odyssey, as I remember those stories from my own childhood, and remember them being entertaining for adults too.  We have several car trips planned this summer, so we need good listening material--the kids are so quiet when there are stories on!!

And two more:

Gracy Olmstead writes about not idealizing pastoral over place, and in an excellent linked piece, also compares Thoreau and St. Benedict's approach to simple life.  Skip Waldon Pond and go for Benedict, I say.  There is so much I want to say about these two articles, but I'll save it.  Just read them!!

A Horse is a Horse, Of Course of Course...

Doing the link up thing today, for Five Favorites and Yarn Along.

--1--

Juliana: 1, New York 1290: 1.  I'm pleased to present my latest make: New York 1290!  After the disaster of several weeks ago, I was determined to figure this pattern out, and I had some fabric sitting on my chair begging to made into a summer dress, so I got a little brave on my drafting day, and pulled out the beast.  I trimmed 1/2" off the upper curve of the neckline so that it would hit lower on my chest (the original neckline was almost jewel-height, not a great look for me), and also trimmed 3/8" off the center placket as the instructions indicated.  I decided to add in the darts after sewing up the side seams, and split the shoulder yoke section so that there is a seam at the shoulder instead of just one curved seam at the gathered part of the yoke in the hopes that making a shoulder break would help with the facing issues I had on the last version.  I also shortened the whole thing by 3", which was just enough.

It was not to be.  Things were going great until I got to the facings (again!)  I decided to install a lapped (metal!!) zipper on the front instead of sewing 13 buttonholes by hand (obviously) and that went well, as did all the other seams, but then I came to the facings, and ran into exactly the same problem as before!  I had drafted full facings this time, instead of trying to bind with bias strips, and it was just.not.working.  So I threw the dress into a corner and pouted for a few minutes before getting really brave and just hacking the neckline into a square (don't worry, I used a ruler and chalk), which I know how to face, as well as being my current favorite neckline style.

--2--

And it worked!  After that, everything came together swimmingly.  Also, my new favorite thing is lace hem tape.  Where have you been all my life?  I bought a bundle of them from an etsy seller for some ridiculously low price and pulled out a lovely mint green package to use on the hem of this dress.  I was able to use a machine hem on the whole thing and it just went so fast and quick, plus it looks so nice on the inside. Oh, and I had these vintage coral buttons that were a perfect match to the flowers on the dress--win!

--3--

You like my horse pin?  It's from Acorn and Will and was part of a lovely bundle of their brooches that my husband gave me for Mother's Day! The theme song from Mr. Ed keeps running through my brain (and probably yours too now!)  Birdie keeps pointing to it, exclaiming, "Horsie!" and then asking me why I have a horse on my dress. 

--4--

Sweater progress: slow but steady.  I've done the arm hole decreases, and now the top part is going pretty quickly.  It seems strange to be knitting a woolie when it is 83 degrees out, but if I want to wear it when it is cold this fall and winter, I need to keep at it now.  Plus it is nice to have something in my hands when I'm in a waiting room or some such.

--5--

Reading: I just finished the latest Outlander novella, released this spring to help us Outlander fans last to the next Big Book publication in June (I can't wait!!)  I was so sad when I finished it (I basically read it in one big gulp--a thing you can't do with the Big Books!)  But then, I expect nothing less from Herself.  Now I need to know what happens to Michael and Joan!!  I'm hoping that thread will be picked up in Written in My Own Heart's Blood.  (Also: the Starz series has a release date of August 9!!  Which means hopefully Netflix will get it shortly after the new year--happy Christmas to me!!)

Go see Hallie for more Favorites, and Ginny for more Yarn Along!

Pedal Pushers

A few weeks ago I took the plunge and bought some 11 oz dark wash denim from Joann.com, and when it arrived, I took one look at it, got scared, and threw the whole package into the closet, still in the plastic wrapping.  (Please tell me I'm not the only one who gets scared of projects).  I was washing some other fabric a day or two ago, and decided I might as well wash the stuff, just in case the urge to cut jeans hits me.  And hit me it did!  I was planning to do full length pants, but the weather has gotten significantly warmer in the last few days, and I realized that pedal pushers would do better for this season.  Any jeans I'd make right now would likely have to sit and wait until fall!  I decided to have a go at Gertie's Butterick pattern, 5895.  I knew the waist wasn't going to be high enough because I'd measured the rise once before, and I'd read reviews that there is a bit too much ease in the bigger sizes, so I decided to adjust the pattern as I went and hope it turned out okay.  I cut an 18, but added enough inches to make the rise 15" on both the back and front (for some reason, I only needed an inch in the back, but almost three in the front--what is up with that??)  I also significantly shortened the length because the finished length was a whooping 33"!!  For pedal pushers!!  That is the industry standard for full length pants.  Plus my legs, as we've discussed previously, are just short.  

I'll say that I really like sewing with denim, but there are a few things I should have done differently with this pattern.  I moved the zip to the side because I prefer that, but with the pocket placement, it ended up having a lot of thickness on the side right at the bottom of the zipper.  So I probably should have left the zip in the center back.  The extra rise worked out okay, and the denim I bought has no spandex in it, so I imagine they will get more comfortable as I wear them.  The sizing is good, although I could have stood to make the back darts a wee bit deeper as there is a small 1/2" gap at the waist in the hollow of my back.  Unfortunately, when I tried the pants on before putting on the waist band, this gap wasn't really that obvious.  And now I can't really fix it without starting over on the waist band.  I also wish the pockets were deeper--the drafted pockets are very shallow--I can't get my whole hand into them comfortably, but at least the pants have pockets!  I left the bottoms unfinished since I knew I'd be rolling them up anyway.  I finished all the seams with zig-zag--it worked great!

About the blouse.  Last summer I got a big fabric haul from my mom and grandma's stash, and I can't remember if this fabric was my mom's or my gram's, but I do have distinct memories of making Barbie clothes with this fabric at some point.  I decided I really wanted to make something with it, but since it was a remnant, and probably about a yard and a half, but not in one continuous go, so I had to get a little creative in cutting it out. I decided to use my hacked Simplicity 1590 pattern, with the square neckline, which went fine, but then I made some dumb mistakes.  

I decided to try and make the sleeves a little more offset from the side seams, but I goofed, and in order to fix it, I had to take a little bit of fabric off the side seams.  Oops.  So this blouse ended up a bit narrower than expected, so I left off the back darts and made the front waist darts very narrow.  I probably could have left them off too.  I also didn't think about the fact that I would need to match the plaid when I did the button placket, so there is a little bit of wonkiness on the front bottom edge as a result.  I finished the bottom with rayon seam binding, and ended up doing flat felled seams on the sides because of my cutting error, and I had to zig-zag every pinked seam edge to keep it from unraveling, so there were some frustrations.  Also, the button placket gave me a few headaches, but it is done now.  I just need to go back and redraw the pattern again, and fix a few things on the original redraft to make the pattern neater and less problem-prone, because I think it basically works.  

Anyway, this blouse is a nice lightweight addition for summer, and I'm quite pleased with the whole outfit!

My husband calls these my Pippi braids

Yarn Along: A Mushroom Sweater

I've not been knitting a lot lately, as my sewing projects seem to have made the top of the pile, but I'm slowly working on a mushroom colored cropped cardigan, with Lion Brand Wool Ease.  I'm using an Andulusian stitch pattern, which is just varied enough to keep me interested, but not so hard that I can't attend to other things while I'm knitting.  It is basically stockinette stitch with a 1x1 rib worked every third row--easy to remember, and also dead easy to see where you are on the pattern, which I appreciate at this stage of my life.  The color is a little hard to photograph--it has a subtle pinkish tone to it, and the yarn has little black threads twisted through it, so there is a small amount of variation in the yarn that I find interesting.  I think this will be a nice basic piece when I finish it!

I'm also reading Cheap, which is, so far, quite interesting.  I've got lots of things I want to say about it, but I'll wait until I'm finished to discuss in detail.  The first chapter covers in quite good detail the history of discount retailing, and it is fascinating.  Her second chapter is a little more dense, and I'm still working on the third chapter.  I'm hoping that she comes to some useful conclusions by the end, because right now, everything she describes is pretty diagnostic, and not very prescriptive.  

Also: a sneak peek of my latest make.  Another blouse, in a fabric from the stash (but this fabric has history--stay tuned!)   I'll try to get photos later this week and have a more in-depth post on the blouse soon.  This blouse was a bit of a bug-bear for various reasons, but I'm glad I persevered and finished it.  Note to self: do not attempt to change a hacked pattern after cutting fabric, especially when one is working with a small remnant.  But I did more bound button holes, and while they still need work, I think I'm getting better.

The buttons match better in real life--there is a pale green stripe running through the plaid.

Yarn Along

Talking Tuesday: Possibly Pounding a Dead Horse (Sheryl Paul on Screen time)

I really don't mean to keep banging on about the problems of technology and finding a way to have technology but not let it have control, but this article was too good not to share a portion.  (And yes, I remember when blue tooth technology was very new, and thinking a woman totally mad when I saw her walking down the street, animatedly talking to herself.) Her list of questions to ask yourself before sitting in front of a screen is superb, and her approach to technology eminently reasonable.  Read the whole thing.

"Like all vices, the substance isn’t the problem. Just like we can approach food as a way to avoid, numb out or fill up or as way to nourish ourselves and even connect spiritually, so we can use screens the same way. In other words, it’s not about denigrating the object or substance and stating categorically that “computers are bad”; it’s about recognizing that we, as humans, have a tendency to become addicted to anything that offers a temporary escape from whatever is uncomfortable in our lives."

~Sheryl Paul, "Addicted to Screens"Conscious Transitions Blog, 5/4/14

(This video addresses the same issue, but from a different perspective)

What Not to Sew

I have a few crafty friends, and I was chatting with one of them a few weeks ago, and she mentioned that she finds sewing for herself daunting (she mostly sews for her kids).  After our conversation, I started thinking about why I find sewing for myself so satisfying, and came up with a little list that I thought I'd share in the hopes that it might help someone else discover the joy of sewing!  

This skirt is one of the first things I made last fall when I got back into sewing after a decade-long hiatus.  It doesn't really suit my personal style list on a number of counts, but I'm keeping it for now because I'm still attached to it for symbolic reasons.  Plus the yellow is cheerful and the fabric from one of my favorite designers.

The first thing I'd say about sewing for yourself is to inventory your personal style.  The best way to do this is to look at the clothing you wear the most.  What kind of fabric is is made of?  Is it cotton knits, or do you steer mostly toward woven fabrics?  Floaty or structured pieces?  WhatDo you wear a lot of denim?  Skirts, trousers, dresses?  What sorts of details do you like about the pieces you wear most often?  Does it have an interesting embroidery pattern, or is the print appealing, or the shape?  What sorts of silhouettes are you drawn to when you shop for yourself? 

I've been making a sort of personal style list for myself so that I can steer my sewing toward projects that I will love and wear again and again, and this is my list so far:

I like:

cotton woven fabric in novelty prints

microbrushed twill in solids

rayon challis in fun prints

wool/tweeds for winter in browns, grays, and blues

blues, reds, and greens

curry yellow/mustard accents (nothing near my face though)

French breton shirts (LLBean are my faves)

A line skirts with pockets

Dresses with pockets and self belts

Shallow scoop, "U" or square neck lines

Kimono sleeves (I don't mind setting in sleeves, but really like the look of kimono sleeves)

Novelty print notched collar blouses without chest pockets

Wellies

1930s/1940s style Hooverette house dresses (with wellies is perhaps my sartorial ideal)

Metal zippers either lapped or regular set

Interesting buttons and buckles (if they coordinate, even better!)

Saddle stitching

Hand embroidery, but in small doses, like on a pocket edge

Hourglass shaped dresses (fitted on top to a tailored waist, then a fitted a-line skirt)

Eisenhower-style banded blouses/light jackets

Knitted cardigans in a cropped/fitted style

Jewel tones

Solids on bottom, prints on top

Solid dresses with interesting details like novelty buttons, or small amounts of embroidery

I'm hoping this list will help me to clarify my thinking both when shopping for finished garments and also during the design stages of sewing.  

I really didn't wear this much in the fall, but I am wearing the skirt more this spring, and making an effort to find pieces in my dresser to go with it (yellow is a hard color to coordinate with, I find).  I'm also planning to add patch pockets to the front, as that is my primary beef with this skirt (fit issues aside).

The second thing I'd say is what is your style of sewing/crafting?  Are you someone who likes to make a project quickly or do you like to take your time and do a project in stages?  Do you have a lot of attention to detail?  Do you like handwork or hand sewing?  Is it important to you that the insides of your garments are cleanly finished with seam binding or serging?

These sorts of questions will help you to narrow in on the sorts of projects to put on your list.  For myself, I prefer to get projects done quickly, and while I have a lot of attention to detail, I don't like spending multiple days on the sewing part of projects (this is mostly to do with my sewing set up, which must be put up and taken down every time I sew).  I like small amounts of hand sewing like hand-worked button holes, and small amounts of embroidery, but don't really have the patience to work with fiddly or floaty-type fabrics that require a lot of special handling, or with projects that need a lot of tailoring like pad stitching on a fitted jacket.  I'm okay with pinked seams and I don't mind zig-zagging the edges of fabrics that need it, but I don't make a habit of it.  I also don't yet have the skill set to do a lot of grading and fitting, and while it is something I do want to get better at, my kids are still pretty little, so I'm limiting myself to patterns and projects that:

are relatively easy to sew and press (and the fabrics reasonably priced)

use fabrics that are easy care (novelty woven cottons, mostly)

should fit relatively well right out of the pattern packet

don't require a lot of hand sewing (except maybe hemming or buttonholes)

The third thing is what sort of equipment do you have to work with?  If you primarily wear stretchy knits, but don't have a serger/overlocker or the proper sort of needle/walking foot to sew with knits on your machine, you are probably going to find sewing with knits frustrating.  Ditto for floaty fabrics like chiffon or georgette that require a steady hand, lots of hand sewing, and attention to fabric edges (which will fray unless serged or otherwise finished; pinked seams won't cut it)

I do have a twin needle for my machine, but am pretty intimidated by knits at this point.  At some point, I'd like to try a knit that is stable like a woven, such as ponte, but for now, I'll stick with my woven cottons and twills.  (And I'm sure the new Collette Knits book can help me sort out the details when I'm ready!)

Finally: are you afraid of your own measurements?  The most frustrating thing is to spend time sewing a garment and then it doesn't fit!  Just get out a soft measuring tape and do it.  The gift of a well-fitting garment will be well worth it, and it is a numbers game after all.  I've learned, especially during these last few years dressing vintage style, that it is best to go by garment measurements than by size.  Might as well designate sizes as Bumble Bee or Giraffe, for all the difference they make as to whether something will fit well.  The important part is the measurements!  

And because I'm feeling sort of brave, I'll give you mine:

Bust: 38-40" (depending on where I'm at in the day with nursing), B cup usually

Waist: 33-35" (depending on how well my gastroparesis is doing)

Hips: 43.5"

Shoulder width: 17" (this is approximate because I had to measure it myself; I just know I'm about 1" narrower on each shoulder than industry standard)

Upper arm circumference: 13.5"

Upper thigh circumference: 23" (this is important to know because if something is really fitted through the hips, you can get thigh bulge if there isn't enough ease across the tops of the legs; not pretty. Also: I still think I have decent legs.  Muscles.  Got them in spades.  And a little chub too, let's be real.)

Inseam: 27" (Snack size!)

Rise: ~15" (I know, I know!)

*ducks and hides*

I'm slowly refining what I like to wear, and translating that into a list of sewing projects to make (and knit!), but I'm really happy with almost everything in my closet right now, so, progress!

Sometimes you win some, sometimes you lose some

Dear New York 1290: You win.  

You were a beguiling pattern, with only three pieces, plus sleeves, and I was super intrigued by the unusual yoke pattern (which looked so much like Tasha's wonderful 1940s dress) that I just had to try you.  My previous experience with a vintage New York pattern was so positive, the instructions so clear, the diagrams so useful!  But that pattern was probably from 1941 or 1942, whereas you, New York 1290, you had the inestimable privilege of showing up in the May 1939 catalog.  

Apparently home sewers in 1939 knew a lot more than home sewers in 1942.  I had a blue linen-rayon blend that coordinated so beautifully with a little scrap of fabric from my grandma's scrap bag.  I was excited to use my vintage pack of red ric-rack.  The fabric had a nice drape, didn't wrinkle very badly, and I thought would be nice for summer.  But oh, New York 1290, you deceived me.  I am deceived.  I know someone made you at some point, because the bodice had been shortened 1/2" (and the pins still in it!) and there was an extra pattern piece stuck in the envelope.  I do hope hers turned out better than mine.

  

Perhaps I went wrong with the grading--the whole dress is at least 2" too big all the way around, and that is about the amount I added when I graded it, so I probably should have trusted the pattern and styling and cut as is.  And the linen-rayon blend turned out to be the type of material used for old lady pants and refused to take a press.  So a bad choice on my part.  But, but.  New York 1290, where I really went wrong was in the facings.  I get that facing patterns cost extra, and are just a nuisance to include in the pattern, but really, is it that difficult?  I even made some bias tape for the facings, but things just went south from there.  By the time I got around to trying it on, I was a bit put out.  And became even more so when I discovered it looks like a shapeless waitress outfit.  So I give up.  You win.

Better luck next time.

Sincerely,

Me.

P.S. For the record, I think this pattern would look great in a novelty print cotton, and I do intend to try the pattern again once I've recovered my equilibrium, but I think I'll make the yoke pieces separate like on Tasha's dress  (see her profile pic for the example), cut the pattern as sized, and remove the ten tons of bulk in the front center seam and shorten the whole thing by at least 3" (I measured for a 44" long dress and would have had a 5" hem!)  I think it will look fine once it actually fits me, and is in a better fabric.

Onward!  I do have two successful sewing projects to share today, and I guess these can qualify for Sew for Victory, so I guess I get two more under the wire!! 

I made this blouse as a muslin, not intending for it to be wearable--it is the from the Tossed Flowers dress fabric, but it is the portion that didn't print correctly, so it doesn't have any yellow in the flowers.  I wanted to experiment with changing the neckline of Simplicity 1590 and also making the sleeves a wee bit longer. 

 I pulled the B pattern out of the envelope, since the neckline on that version is higher to start, and would be less trouble to redraft, pulled out my freezer paper and went to work!  As I got going with the sewing part, I realized that it might actually be wearable, so I decided to take the plunge into the big world of button holes!  I made my first hand-bound button holes, and I've got to say, I like them!  They aren't perfect, but they are quite functional, and I'm pleased with them and myself.  I kind of enjoyed the process of sewing them.  I used quilting thread as I didn't have any button hole twist on hand.  I also realized after sewing them, that my button band ended up not in the middle after the redraft, but I will fix that on the next iteration.  (It's a design feature; that's my story and I'm sticking to it!)  I accidently left off the front waist darts, but since it also has bust darts, I think I can get away with it.

My other make is the bottom half of the New England dress.  I used hunter green microbrushed twill and it is just so soft and cozy.  I lined it with some olive green rayon bemberg I'd bought for another project but ended up shelving.  

This skirt was another experiment in drafting.  I wanted to make the skirt section of the New England dress into a stand-alone skirt, and wanted to extend the pocket section into the waist band instead of having the mock bib as on the dress. 

So I did a few adjustments, added a waistband (that I sized very carefully!) and it is a great fit!  The best fitting skirt I've made so far.  I was feeling so confident that I made another buttonhole closure on this one too.  Look out, I'm on a roll!!

  

  

 And that's really it for me for Sew for Victory 2.0.  I still have to do something with my strawberry fabric, and had been leaning toward a dress with a color block bottom, but now I think I should just go for a stand-alone blouse as a blouse will give me more options for it.