Monday, March 06, 2006

And the award for making me feel fat goes to

My new skirt!

So I joined the Sew? I Knit KAL some months back. It took me forever to find a pattern I liked, but when I did it only cost $1! Woo hoo for sales!

It took me much longer to find fabric that I liked and I ended up only spending about $22 on it - I really like this fabric.

I was off work today because I start a new job (tutoring) tomorrow and tutors aren't allowed to tutor and sub. So, a free day! I was very excited about this as I didn't knit but a few rows on the now defunct sock yesterday as I was busy filling up our new purchase:

It's an antique Chinese Linen Cabinet. We only have one tiny Walm*rt dresser for most of our clothes (ie: what doesn't hang up). The bottoms of the drawers were falling out and it was a pain in the ass. We couldn't really afford this right now, but we both loved it and knew we'd regret it if we didn't buy it. The best part is that all of my clothes except for my dresses, blouses, skirts and pants fit in here!

And it's red with pink drawers, so it qualifies for Project Spectrum too!

Also yesterday I made an oh-so-cute bag from a kit from JoAnn's for my SIL's birthday. Unfortunately, I didn't take a picture of it. :( But it was very pretty, and I think she really liked it, which was good as she is notoriously difficult to buy for.

I whipped up a batch of chocolate chip cookies too - I added red food coloring to try to make them pink, but it didn't show up, so no photo. However, upon removing the last pan from the oven, I thought I'd just grab it sans mitt for just a second. Um, yeah. Burned the hell out of my left index finger. So bad I couldn't knit. :(

Anway, back to my point (and I do have one), I was looking forward to a nice day of knitting today with the first season of Grey's Anatomy to accompany me. However, I decided that I really wanted to finish that skirt now that I had all the pieces (I picked up a zipper and thread and interfacing at JoAnn's over the weekend). So I spent over two hours cutting the pattern, pinning it to the fabric and cutting it out. I was going to quit then, but I wanted to finish! So I sewed the side seams and tried it on - it fit! Woo! I added the waistband and got ready to put in the zipper. Oops. Bought a 22" zipper. Needed a 7". Not sure how I screwed that up (though I think the zipper was misplaced at the store). so I decided I'd go back to the store, but first I wanted to try it on again. Um yeah. Doesn't fit. At all. About 4 inches too small around. Really ticked off.

I bought the pattern according to my dress/pant/skirt size (in between an 8 and a 10 depending on the store). Should have paid more attention. According to Simplicity, I needed a size 18!!!!!!! Yikes. Feeling like a fatty.

I have been wanting to lose a few inches in my midsection, and now I'll have to if I want to wear this. However, I was wondering if I could modify the skirt for now - add a side triangular section to give more ease on the zipper side. Anybody have any experience doing this? Your help is greatly appreciated!

And if you haven't voted for my sockpal pattern choice yet, go do it!

4 comments:

  1. What a beautiful linen cabinet!! Definitely worth the splurge. I love the fabric you chose for your skirt! Very spring-like and classy. Sorry to hear things didn't work out with the zipper and sizing... don't feel bad, it's the company and NOT you; when I was in sewing school in middle school, all the patterns I bought were from Simplicity's Short and Stubby line. What a way to grow that awkward middle school self-esteem! ;-)Sorry, I'm no help with the modification, but I'm keeping my fingers crossed that it all works out. Take care, Jenn! :-)

    ReplyDelete
  2. I'm useless with the sewing - sorry - but I love love love the cabinet. Gorgeous, and totally worth it. You'll have it forever.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Hmmmm...not sure what to tell you about modifying the skirt. But I can recommend measuring the pattern pieces before you cut anything, then measuring your body to be sure of the size you need. I have had many disappointments when I didn't do this step first. I think whoever makes up those sizes must be high.

    ReplyDelete
  4. I've always had that problem with pattern measurements, and some are worse than others. (I can't sew, but my mother is amazing.) I learned long ago to go by measurements, not sizes. When she made my bridesmaid dresses years ago, one of them freaked out when she saw her dress was a "size 18" and we had to talk her down to convince her that it wasn't really that big!

    I'm sorry that happened to you - I hope you figure out an alternate plan because it is beautiful fabric!

    ReplyDelete