For all my friends in the US, it's Labor Day. Hope your day is lovely and you have time for food, family, and whatever makes your heart full. For those not in the US, Labor Day is a public holiday designed to honor the American labor movement and the contributions made by workers to the strength, prosperity, laws and well-being of the country. (Wikipedia)
As a child, in my hometown, it was always the day before the first day of school, so we attempted to grab every last bit of summer we could. As an adult, it was always a three day weekend that allowed one tiny last minute weekend getaway or celebration before we headed into the fall season with no breaks until Thanksgiving. At the current time, I think most schools around here start in around mid-August, this year the 13th, so those kids are enjoying a three day weekend.
In my family on Labor Day, my dad would barbecue, we'd have potato salad, macaroni salad, fresh watermelon and sliced tomatoes from our neighbor's garden, and sometimes, if we were lucky, some home churned ice cream. Today I have a rack of baby back ribs that will go into the crock-pot while I spend the day sewing. Sides will be a bit more healthy and less caloric.
I finally have my moulage set and ready to move on into making it into a sloper, so that's on the list for this week. After the first 1 1/2" sway back adjustment, I had to do an additional 5/8" tuck on both the upper and lower back at the waist seam tapering to nothing at the side seam. Now it looks just about perfect.
I'll be moving on with getting some things made with my sloper to check fit as soon as I've got that together. I do still have to take the sleeve class and get a sleeve that fits into my bodice and still works with my bodacious biceps! But first I'll be making up the Jalie Rose into a sleeveless shirt. Around this area, it can work on it's own, and then under a lightweight jacket or cardigan for at least a couple of months yet.
I'm also finishing up two swimsuits that I started earlier in the week. One from a very old Rose Marie Reed stash fabric, blues, aquas, light purple, and similar colors, possibly purchased in the 90's when Stretch and Sew would bring their fabrics to town once every few months and another in a relative new fabric from FashionFabricsClub.com purchased in March in p
urple, turquoise, and berry. I hope to have them done today. Still need to put the darker one together, and sew the elastic around the armholes/back and legs to the lighter one. I've used the new Jalie 3350 pattern for these, and I think they will be great for my Aqua Aerobics.
For both of these, I've used the front from View A and the back from View B. I did enlarge the straps as the directions call for 3/8" elastic with the fabric wrapper over it, and for a larger woman, a 3/4" elastic works much better, especially in a class where we're jumping and running, and really moving around a lot. While I won't be strutting my stuff in public at the current time, they're going to work perfectly for the intended use. I've been trying to work out a custom bust cup that will fit my body, and think I may have an idea that will work. These have a double cup ling so you can install "removable cups." I did buy a couple of pair of molded Wacoal cups yesterday that should be here this week. We'll see if I'm going to need to use them in the future or if my idea works well.
Although I've purchased several Jalie patterns over the years, I hadn't actually sewn any up until now. I have a friend who had purchased one of their patterns and was quite pleased. It was her first PDF, and having the ability to only print the size you want, was an eyeopener. It made an awful lot of sense to do that! I'll be using more of them in the future for sure!
Since August is done, I'm checking in on my Sewing to do list for the last three months. I did amazingly well IMO. I have the Suzy Furrer bodice class almost completed, with the bodice fitting now. Hooray! The next few lessons are how to convert the moulage into your sloper, and truing it up, transferring to tag board, and some design options. I will have to carefully follow the instruction to change the moulage into the sloper, but the rest I have done in pattern classes before, so nothing earth shattering for me. I got the two pair of shorts completed, finished the first quilt and made another for the new grandson. Made some receiving blankets, and a baby shirt, and am working on swimsuits. No lingerie got started this month, but that's on the horizon I believe. I figured the swimsuits were more urgent as the ones I've been wearing the last year and a half are getting pretty sad and worn looking.
September-October-November goals will be to complete the sloper on tag, make the Jalie Rose, perhaps get the McCalls 7575 shirt muslined and fitted, along with a couple of pair of long pants for winter.
I also made a decision that in order to avoid any dementia or Alzheimer's I need to exercise my brain more, and along those lines decided to sign up to complete taxes for next year, which includes taking a 60 hour tax class. I signed up, took their assessment test, and passed, so have an interview tomorrow for the job. Because I passed both their initial assessment tests, I'll be starting as a tax specialist versus the initial tax assistant. It's a step up on the ladder, and comes with a slight edge.
The tax class starts the 24th of this month, and will be three mornings a week until mid November. There will definitely be homework also, so that along with my Aqua Aerobics classes and whatever sewing I can squeeze in should keep me busy over the next few months. I'm looking forward to it! AND, if I decide it makes sense I'll use some of my earnings for a stand alone cover stitch machine. We'll see. I believer there is a dealer here in town that sells the Babylock, and if so, I'll be checking them out.
So that's my week in review. I'd better get busy on my next week. Wishing you all a sew special week!
