Yarn Along: May

~knitting~

I finished my Stoker pullover sweater and....it doesn't fit.  It blocked out really big, and putting it through the dryer didn't really help that much.  The color does me no favors, and I just don't like it.  Blerg.

I finished a little gray hat, which fits just as I want it to.  I made the smallest size for once, and made the crown height shorter, and that seems to be the right combo for the way I like to wear these.

The Lightweight Pullover is progressing apace.  I nearly pulled it out to make an Owls pullover, but decided to keep on keeping on, and I'm glad I did.  I'm past the torture part (the 9" collar and raglan increases) and now just working the body.  I think it will be nice for late fall, assuming it fits well.

~reading~

I finished a bunch of Lenten reading right before Pascha, namely Father Alexander Men's Inner Step Toward God (very good), plus dipping into Meditations for Holy Week.  I read a chapter or two in The Benedict Option as well.  

I started in on St. John Chryostom's Marriage and Family Life after devouring Philip Sherrard's Christianity and Eros.  Sherrard's book is slim but dense, and his third essay is kind of bonkers, but the other three are well worth the price of admission.

After reading a snippet of The Wilderness Journal somewhere else, I decided to give that book a go next.  I say that with hesitation, as I did not care for her last book at all, but I'm willing to be open-minded about this one, based on what I read so far.  

I have a book by Czesław Miłosz waiting on my stack as well.

~sewing~

I made a couple of lawn dresses for Birdie from some of my old dresses, a begged-for strawberry dress (four years running now), plus a birthday dress for Ponchik (photos coming soon).  

I reused the pockets from my dress, which worked a treat.

This fabric (below) was my absolute favorite of all the Liberty lawn knock off dresses I've made, but I had to come to terms with the fact that a) the style no longer suits me and b) the dress itself was a bit long in the teeth after four seasons heavy wearing.  It was still good enough in the middle to cut down for a little girl dress, however, so I'm glad to be able to see this fabric on my girls for a few more summers!  I cut it long and it has 1" of hem that can be let down, plus the elastic could be let out.

Reused the pockets on this one too.

I made a strawberry dress for Birdie out of some Penny Rose fabric several summers ago, and she was super sad when it didn't fit anymore, so now I've had to come up with a new strawberry dress a couple years running.  Last year's strawberry dress went into Ponchik's drawer this year.  Birdie was super sad about it and asked for another.  So here is iteration number 3!!

It's pretty cute if I do say so myself. (I used Simplicity 8101 for all three dresses because a) they are easy and fast to make, and are super easy to cut down my old dresses for and b) the girls can dress themselves in these dresses, unlike the Geranium which requires a bit of input from me).  I also think the S8101 is a better play dress.

I also made another plain denim skirt for me, out of the leftovers from my Maudie skirt.  On the left is the Maudie skirt, on the right the new one.  It is slightly shorter and bit more pegged at the hem.

I lined the pockets with my favorite Liberty knock off lawn (that I remade Birdie's dress out of).  There are fumes of both fabrics left now.

I ended up having to take in both skirts last week, since the Maudie skirt had gotten too big, and the new one drooped weirdly in the back because of poor fit on the backside.  

Both fit much better now.  I also did a few alterations to some other things in my closet, but I'm not super happy with them.  My skirt situation needs some serious attention.  

~writing~

I'm still querying agents for the manuscript, and starting to work with feedback from beta readers.  (I plan to have another round of beta reading in June).  I sent off a query to FSG, which was terrifying. #punchingabovemyweight  #wayabove

~watching~

All kinds of random stuff I've seen before because I need comfort watching and nothing new is especially appealing.  I'm looking forward to The Spanish Princess on Starz later this month.  I have a couple of foreign films in my queue that I really do want to see, but I haven't been in the right headspace to absorb them properly, so I'm waiting to watch them.

Although!  I did go to an actual movie theater on Tuesday to see Avengers: End Game.  It was worth every penny--I won't spoil it for anyone, but it is a completely satisfying ending to the long story arc that the MCU has been working on all these years.  Well done!!

That's all for me!  Linking with Ginny for Yarn Along.

Birdie's Fusion Blouse

One mistake rectified at least:

I used the same Lazy Daisy Jones pattern as for Birdie's namesday shirt, and she loves it!  I even found a yellow skort on ThredUp that will match the yellow of the shirt, so I think she'll get a nice late summer/early fall outfit out of this!  (It is exactly the same style as the blue skirt below and I had enough credits to pay for it.  Win).

The shirt was fast to make and I reused all the bias tape I'd used on my blouse, so it was easy peasy.  I think it took all of 45 minutes to cut and sew it.  (It took maybe 20 minutes to unpick all the original stitching, but I had a friend over yesterday, so I sat with my seam ripper while she and I talked and our kids played together).

I also got Birdie's birthday dress sewn up at the same time--I had cut it out several weeks ago and the clock is ticking to get that thing finished!  I ended up rolling all the hems to finish rather than using bias, and I rather like it in the rayon challis.  I'll take more pictures once she wears it for her birthday.

York Dress

This is the York dress.  The end.  Just kidding.

This is a double gauze from Cloud 9 by Sarah York that was released earlier this spring.  I hesitated a LONG time over this fabric and then decided I didn't want to make anything from it and closed out my browser tabs.

But then I found out I was going to a June wedding in the Midwest, and realized sometime in April that I had nothing to wear to the wedding.  I remembered that fabric, and knew I could make a woven M7353 out of it.  I made my usual changes, but added an additional1/4" to the bottom back edge of the sleeve seam.  I like the extra room and incorporated this change into a linen version I made shortly after this one but haven't worn yet.

The fabric is beautiful, and double gauze is so soft, and I'm glad I made this dress, but I'm still not 100% happy with the fit on the sleeves.  It is just a wee bit snug on the bicep, although gauze does stretch with wear.  I haven't actually worn this all day yet, just for the photos, so I can't say for sure how it will feel at the end of the day.

But for the wedding, with some nicer shoes and better jewelry, I think it will do fine.

The print is so pretty, and it is nice to have something a little bit pretty for the summer, even if it isn't something I'm going to wear every week.  

I think what I'm finding for this summer rotation is that I really want to spend my week days in separates, and wear dresses to church.  At least, mostly.  So it is probably good that I only have a few dresses this rotation.  I'm still working on the skirt situation, as the three I started with are proving inadequate to my wants.  I made another one out of some long-stashed fabric last week but haven't worn it yet, so we'll see if it fits.  I have some dark olive-y green linen coming for another.  (Watch this space!)  I'm also keeping my eyes open on ThredUp for good finds, as I'm finding skirts to be rather wretched to fit at the moment (I love my Everyday skirt pattern, but sometimes I want a different silhouette and don't want to fiddle endlessly with a pattern to try it out).

So things to discover.  I'm also experimenting with make up a bit, as I need to wear sunscreen every day now, and it isn't too much to add concealer, eye shadow and mascara to the mix.  I'm trying to keep it fast and easy, otherwise I won't keep up with it.  I'm in such a weird place with my body and my physical appearance and getting older and...well everything, I don't know.  I just keep trying things to see what sticks.  I'm working on another body image-type post, but I need more time to percolate.

I also made two dresses for Birdie in the past couple of weeks.  Simplicity 8101 (aka Dottie Angel frock for girls).  I graded a size four out to the next size and added length and Bob's your uncle.  The leaves dress was made from left over fabric from my Blue Forest dress of last summer.  

I had bought enough to make the girls a dress in addition to mine, but ended up not making it last year since they had enough clothing.  It was nice to pull that fabric out and just cut her dress out quick-like.

I'm considering whether to add 3/4 sleeves to my dress to make it more wearable for me this year; it was one of the dresses to go into my fabric bin this year, even though I really like the print and fabric.

And the Carson dress fail is redeemed!  I cut off the bodice and used the (LARGE VOLUMINOUS) skirt to cut Birdie's dress.  Worked a treat, and was the right amount with a bit leftover.  

She loves it, and I love how it looks on her!  (I *almost* want to try again for myself, but am reminding myself that I am not what I enjoy looking at).

Finally, this is the difference between girls and boys:

Nice, cooperative, imaginative play.  For most of the afternoon on Saturday.  Bliss.

(The boys?  Not so much).