A new effort with a new pattern

I am feeling the need to get back into my sewing room. For whatever reasons, this tax season is the most challenging of the 20 years I've spent doing taxes. I am only working 20 hours a day, scheduled 5 hours a day over 4 days, with the daily hours often extending until a client is finished, but by the time my day is over I'm wrung out. I need the release of my creative activities. 

Since I now have a sloper that fits very well, this morning I intend to take this princess seamed sloper pattern and draft a side darted pattern from it. Then I can use that to help with alterations on purchased patterns. Due to the changes in my body, depending on the actual design I use, there will probably be both left and right side patterns for both front and back. 

The woman I found, Jewell, did a great job on fitting me, but the right to left differences were startling to me. On my right side, both front and back, she pinned out a shoulder princess seam from top to bottom, removing width all the way down. On the left side, the front is similar to the right, but with a different shoulder. On the back left, the shoulder dart was increased slightly, but then no intake was taken from the should dart to the waist where there is a fisheye dart, and then from the waist down the dart was overriden with an increase down to the hip. This is the best fitting sloper I've had since I worked with Ginny and Lyra at Santa Rosa Junior College back in the late 90's and early 2000's. 

In the back of my head is a project that will be rather extensive, and probably wait until summer. I want to use my sloper to draft a basic jacket pattern than can be adapted to either blazer, bomber jacket, or other types as I decide. Many years ago when I taped sewing programs from the television, I adored Shirley Adams series, The Sewing Connection, and she could take one pattern and turn it into multiple looks easily and with some minor pattern work. I have almost all of her booklets from those series and she is truly inspirational no matter what type of textile work you do. The videos are now on You Tube but the quality of the videos isn't as good as the shows were in real life.

But, for now, I'm concentrating on a few small items. I've seen the Friday Pattern Company's Patina Blouse in several iterations over on Instagram, and I'm taken with the look and want at least one, maybe several. I did buy the pattern and although, I'm not loving the picture on the front, I love the looks of it. Here's the line drawings:

I think it looks polished and new, and yet at the same time that collar is reminiscent of vintage clothing. 

I'm also doing some sewing for a forthcoming Great Granddaughter who needs a custom quilt, for her arrival in June. I'm also sewing for a small person and her Barbie doll. Her birthday is in April, so that is as much a priority as anything when my sewing time is limited.

I'm hoping to be doing more sewing this year, and posting more frequently! Here's to a lovely 2025.

A little sewing in my

 I'm back to work, and tax season has hit with a vengeance this year. I'm not sure whether Turbo Tax has a great ad campaign, or people are anticipating huge refunds due to the hype, but from the starting gate, this year has been fast and furious. 

I'm only working 20 hours a week, but at my age, when it's so busy, that is more than enough. At the end of a 5 hour shift, I'm exhausted. Luckily, with remote work and telecommuting, I only have to look good on the parts of me that show on the monitor. That means nice tops, and sweats on the bottom. Even though we're not where people are getting snow counted in feet, it has been unusually cold. So sweats are my best bet for sitting all day.

Since I've lost enough weight since last year, AND my sweats are getting worn out, I've redrafted my Don McCunn pants pattern and am in the process of replacing worn out pants. First pair was a burgundy pair with fabric bought from Pico Textiles February 6, 2023. It's only taken 3 years to use it! LOL

Then my Great Granddaughter's birthday is coming up, and because she's all about leggings, which IMO are quick and easy if you have appropriate measurements, I got her Dad to take some measurements for me, and I have a trial pair made from the free Sweet Red Poppy Leggings pattern, and a remnant of cotton knit purchased from Black Bird Fabrics in July of 23. Like most of us, she's multiple sizes, so bespoke garments are the best choice. 

And finally since I had leftovers from the remnant, and she's really into Barbies, I thought it would be fun to make a matching pair of leggings for Barbie. I got an "I love you so very much darling" text when she found out that was happening! Made my day for sure. This not quite 5 year old texts much better than I do!

So without further ado,  three pair of pants...

Just want to add that the tiny pair for Barbie took the longest to make and was the most frustrating! I do have arthritis in my hands as well as some nerve damage, and today I realized that I have some impaired hand mobility that really affects the use of the fine muscles used for sewing tiny items. I'm hoping that as I do more of this, along with knitting and making a quilt for an upcoming Great Granddaughter, I'll be able to recover some function. 

We'll see. I did turn 79 a few weeks ago, and I'm noticing more things than I have in previous years. Luckily, all the things I'm doing is keeping my cognitive functioning in pretty good shape, but physical deterioration is apparent. I did sign up for an online Pilates class with My Pilates Time out of New Zealand, and when I do the classes, I do notice better balance and strength. Just need to do more physical activities every day!

I finally found a textile guru and sewing teacher locally to help me fit a torso sloper, and it's been very enlightening. My body right now is almost like God found two people that looked kinda like me, cut them in half and stuck the two different sides together. From this  point on in my evolution, I'll be making separate right and left bodice pieces so that they fit me correctly. 

Next on my agenda is a couple more pair of sweat pants, a couple pair of flannel pajama pants, and then on to blouses. Keeping my fingers crossed everything goes well from now on!

More soon I hope!

Happy New Year!

 Hello all of you readers. I am wishing you all an amazing, fruitful, joyful 2026!

In many ways my 2025 was tough, in many ways it was wonderful. Due to many factors, not much sewing was done. I'm hoping to revise that in 2026. 

I'll be 79 in a few weeks, and that has revised a lot of my physical components that I never would have suspected. There are multiple items that affect my sewing due to body changes that were unexpected. I have some arthritis in my hands that makes things difficult frequently, and I was not thrilled to hear from my doctor that I have osteoporosis and had a 9% bone loss from 2024 to 2025. It would have been nice if in the 1980's when I started on thyroid meds they had mentioned (if they even knew) that thyroid meds cause bone loss. I could have done some mitigation throughout the last 45 years, and it would have made a difference. Oh well, hindsight. 

My body has changed pretty dramatically, with my right shoulder lower than the other by almost 1/2", and the left shoulder point has moved forward some. I also have some curvature of my upper back. In addition, since I moved here to Las Cruces and mostly retired, I have lost, depending on the day, 50 pounds. I still have about 50 to lose to get back to my Weight Watchers goal when I was a leader, but it is coming off, albeit slowly. 

So I am setting some intentions for 2026. Not resolutions, because those are easily forgotten. But intentions IMO, help to move things forward.

Once again, I will be working seasonally for Turbotax. I've done the online full service tax preparation with them for the last two years, and in addition to thinking they are the most wonderful company I've worked for in the 52 years I've been working, I enjoy the work, the interactions and connections with the clients, and also it's nice to have some extra income. Beefing up our savings is high on my list. 

And the best good news is that we are going to have a new great grandchild in 2026. They'll be born the 2nd of June, and we have been invited to come visit for a week afterwards. To that end, I have joined an online pilates class that will help me with balance and strength. Adding that to my indoor bicycle, and my healthier eating is going to make a huge difference I believe. The little weight bearing exercises included in the Pilates will also increase bone density. It's gonna be a great year!

My oldest great granddaughter has found Barbies and is enamoured with them. For Christmas I sent her some store bought clothes, and was appalled at the quality. I have since downloaded many Barbie patterns, got some tiny notions, and expect to use up some scraps making Barbie clothes. She'll be 5 in April, and I find her delightful. She's been reading since she was 2, and is a MUCH better texter than I am. She also loves jokes, so I text her jokes, as well as sending frequent missives. I bought a huge box of note cards when I found out she loved getting mail, and try to send her a card at least a couple of times a month. We're going to be thrilled to see her along with her new sibling this summer. 

My recent good news includes the fact that I have found a local person who is an accomplished sewer, designer, and can help me with fitting. She's close to my age, and really understands the issues that arise as we age. She lost 50 pounds last year and is still moving forward with that as she got some alarming news from her physician. Due to a fluke, I found her online. A friend and I had taken a weaving class, that was very enjoyable, and I was thinking I wanted to learn to make jewelery. In reality, I don't think I can with my hands, but I was looking around for a class. 

Jewell came up. She does a bit of everything. She teaches sewing, weaving, spinning, jewlery making, belly dancing, knitting, boot boogie, eastern drumming, a stretch and balance class, and was doing a Sashiko class, as well as a Shibori dying class. Anyway, long story short, I sent her a text asking if she would be interested in helping me to fit a sloper. Got a text back and we made an appointment. She was very surprised to even find someone here who knew what a sloper is, let alone was looking for fitting help with one. I had drafted a top with the Bodice drafting class from In House Patterns, but was having a horrible time with the fitting of the back, shoulders, neck, and upper chest. It just wasn't working for me. 

We had a long, about 2 hour conversation. I like her very much, and found we have a lot in common. She has the Wolf form pattern blocks, and I am using one to make a new torso and sleeve sloper, that we're meeting to get it fitted to my unique and asymmetrical body on the 8th. Once I get the whole upper area of shoulders, back, sleeves, and above the bust fitting, I'll be on my way with my sewing. I anticipate making several garments in 2026. I also have a new Don McCunn draft for my pants, and will be using that to get some new sweat pants and pajama pants sewn up in the next few weeks. 

I'm sure there are many more items I want to share, but that's good for now. Have a wonderful 2026 my friends!