Project Run and Play... Candy Inspired and Biting Off More Than I Can Chew

The theme this week for Project Run and Play was "Candy Inspired".  I love this theme and I tried to run with it, even though I knew I had pretty limited time this week.  I had a meeting for work Monday evening and we are getting ready to leave town on Saturday.  Needless to say, I am only half finished.  I decided to do some smocking on the top and it took a little longer than I expected.  I smocked both the front and the sleeves.
I didn't have time to assemble the top, but here is the front laid out for a general idea of what it will look like.  I plan to have buttons down the front.  The neck will be gathered onto a bias band.  I used a peasant top pattern as a base for this.
The pants, however are finished.  I did an inset panel on the side with lots of small ruffles down the side of the leg.  



Project Run and Play - Oliver and S Popover dress remix


I decided to sew along with Project Run and Play this week.  The challenge this week was to create your own take on the Popover Sundress by Oliver and S.  I joined the party a little late so my time was very limited and on top of that, working full time cuts that time down by about 75%.  I had SOOO many ideas of what could be done with this little pattern!

In the end I settled on one of the simpler ideas simply because of the time constraints.  I knew I would only have about 4-5 hours to draw up the pattern and sew the dress together and so I had to abandon my love for ruffles.   If I had had more time to sew I probably would have chosen something a bit more complex.  I thought about doing some hand smocking at the yoke, doing some double layered ideas with ruffles at the bottom, changing the yoke a bit, but in the end, simple had to win out.

So here is what I did.

First I added fullness to both the front and the back pieces.  I did this by simply adding a few inches across the center of the front and back pieces.

Then I added box pleats to the under arm area.



And pockets to the front.


It has been interesting to see different people's takes on the pattern.  I wanted to remain true to the pattern, but do something a little different.  I wanted someone to be able to look at it and be able to tell what pattern I had used, but see the changes that had been made, as well.

I'm also linking up with Crazy Mom Quilts for her "Finish it up Friday" post.

Beginnings


"All beginnings are hard".  I had a professor in college who began the first day of his class with that statement.  There is so much truth to that statement that it has stuck with me through the 20 some odd years since I first heard him make that statement.  He went on to emphasize the point that it might be hard in the beginning, but if you stick with it, it will eventually get easier.  It doesn't matter what area of life it is.  A new class, a new job, a change in life circumstances, learning a new skill, whatever it is, this statement holds true.  I often remind myself of this.

I am in sort of a season of new beginnings in life right now.  Some of them are welcomed, some are by life circumstance alone.  My husband is in the beginning stages of learning a new job.   While a welcome change, it isn't without the challenges of learning new things and being brought up to speed on new procedures and all of those things that go a long with a new job.  For me it is the challenge of getting up and going to work everyday when his new job allows him to work out of our home.  Even though I know he is "at work" and that he is working hard.  I can foresee the potential that I have to become jealous.  Especially when the weather turns cold this winter and I have to deal with driving to and from work in the snow, which is one of my least favorite things on Earth.   Still not sure how I wound up in Minnesota... LOL. So it will be an adjustment for me, as well.  All beginnings are hard.  

I have also been thinking about the beginning days of my sewing.  My mother taught me to sew when I was in junior high.  My first project was a pair of gray corduroy shorts (who remembers corduroy walking shorts being popular in the early 80's?).  I never finished them.  I had them completely constructed, including the zipper and for some reason I was afraid that I would "mess them up" by putting the waist band on.  LOL.  I now realize how silly that was and really wish that I had finished them. All beginnings are hard.

It has also caused me to think about the beginnings of The Merry Church Mouse and those first few experiments.  Like this one which was one of my first experiments with mixing prints.  I made these Easter dresses for my nieces back in about 1994.


Mixing fabrics is now one of my favorite things to do, but I remember shopping for these fabrics and finding it very challenging.  In the end I think it worked out,  but at that point I didn't really know where to start.  All beginnings are hard.  

I think about the unfinished seams in my early pieces and how I was a bit afraid to learn how to use a serger.  How in the world do you adjust the tension on 4 threads, let alone learn how to thread the thing in the first place?  All beginnings are hard.  Now, I don't know what I'd do without my serger.   My garments are much better for having learned to use it.  

Right now I am in a place where I want to begin anew rethinking this blog.  I have, it seems, been really floundering the last few years to sort of find my niche in the blog world and in the sewing world in general.  I think I really have yet to find my stride, which seems weird to say since I have been doing this for so many years.    I am hoping to participate in some new things and try some new ideas, and I hope that you will join me.  But I know... All beginnings are hard.  

So yes, all beginnings are indeed hard, but I also know that the work is worth the payoff.  What about you?  What new challenges are you facing in life or in your creative efforts?  Together, maybe we can help each other through the hard stuff and into the good stuff. :)
Follow on Bloglovin