Or rather was for sewing.
First, I made do with the zipper I
removed when I disassembled the black linen skirt— It is a bit of a
PITA to do that when reworking a fly front closure. But with out a
new one handy—and not wanting to wait, what other choice did I
have? So now, it's been reassembled—6 inches narrower, and
almost as much shorter. (I didn't get the waist band perfect—but...
It's a lovely handkerchief weight
linen—and so worth the effort of remaking. And looks good in spite
of the less than perfect waist band. I have another skirt just like
this one—in a bleached white linen.
Then, on a roll, and with black thread
already threaded in the machine, I disassembled a shirt dress—This
too, is now 6 inches narrower, and almost the same shorter. The
sleeves got removed and reshaped, too— making the shoulder a bit
narrower, too. But the collar and neckline are intact. Later I can
add to the existing back darts, and incorporate some front darts, and
make this dress another size smaller with not too much effort.
The dress is a heavy weight linen and
after decades of wearing has reached that wonderful soft state—it
gets machine washed and dried, and ends up not smooth and crisp, but
not a mass of wrinkles, either—perfectly wearable, casual softness.
I added new buttons to it a few years ago, to dress it up and
change the look—and now its been changed again.
So now I have a few pieces of clothing
that fit better—coming up next up are 2 more linen shirt
dresses—sleeveless ones. But first a linen/rayon blend skirt, in
white, with pretty (machine) embroidery on the patch pockets. It's
been disassembled already--there are a few more linen skirts after
the embroidered pocket one, (like the white one mentioned above) to
also redo. The zipper will stay intact in the embroidery pocket skirt--this one I am taking in at the sides. I had to remove (and will replace the pockets) and the waist band, but the zipper will remain untouched.
Maybe, while I am at it, a linen jacket, will be reworked, too. If not
completely redone, at least partially reshaped. Likely the collar
and neckline remaining unchanged—I'll just remove the sleeves, cut
down both the side and shoulder/armhole, as well as the sleeves. I
have both natural linen ones, and bleached/white linen jackets—and
currently no light weight summer jackets that fit. Most of my other
jackets are nice, but not worth altering to fit the trimmer me.
It just makes sense to work on the
nicest of my over--sized clothes—and not the cheapest. Some of the
cheapest skirts will just have some elastic sew in—not even inside
the waist band—just on the inside edge to let me get a few more
months of additional wear out of them. Pretty fancy duds for not
doing much of anything special.
I really need to keep up sewing—and
get the fabric I have cut and sewn. I don't look thin(ner) and
better wearing baggy shapeless clothes—and I garnered a few
compliments today—several people finally noticed that I was thinner
is my better fitting dress. I am still stuck at the same weight—but
I have been exercising more, and I am trimmer and fitter looking-more
muscle, less fat, and better looking.
I got another inch of the socks done,
too, and the last 2 rounds of chart 2 (pattern round and plain round)
on the shawl—well those 2 rounds got done this AM. One more inch
of the sock before I can start the toe—so its not quite done
yet—but closer! The next round on the shawl will take a bit of
time, too. It's time to add a new life line and some more stitch
markers. Chart 3 is smaller (printed in a smaller grid) and will be a
bit harder to read. But I need to get back to work on it.
