Opossum Attack and Some Sewing

My home is being invaded by Opossums every night. My son has been kindly setting out the trip cage and we've caught one for each night of the week. Until last night. We caught two at a time. Son and I were yelling, "SCORE!" at each other and doing high fives. Husband took them to a park to play with the other wild creatures. Husband has taken four Opossums to the park, and he let two out back into the back yard. "But Sherril, I pointed the cage into the neightbor's yard." As if that would really confuse them and they can't find their way back. So, the cage is set and ready to catch some more baby Opossums. Wanna see?


Last night I completed a skirt (skort) for my Wardrobe. It's embroidered laundered cotton and for the undershorts I used a lime green interlock. Oh, and it's KS 3341 which I've made before. This time I added two inches at the lengthen/shorten line and I added one inch to the shorts at the hem. Even when I bend over you can't see the shorts so I'm not sure I should have bothered. I think it goes nicely with my new Ottobre top and my shoes are almost a perfect match. I bought them a couple of years ago at Khol's.


I spent today trying out a new pattern. I could probably be done with three Wardrobes if I didn't keep trying out new patterns. It's S2962, an It's So Easy pattern. Only I'm not finding it so easy. I first made it up as is, with no alterations whatsoever. I don't do that very often, but the envelope says it has a bust measurement of 51" for size 18. My bust is 46 1/2" so I decided to try it in muslin.

Not going to work, no way, no how. I think they lied. That is not 51". I knew a pattern not requiring alterations was too good to be true. I spent some time adding a FBA and rotated it to become another pleat. Then I altered the front and back yokes and added some to the back hips. Then I had to make a trip to JoAnn's for more muslin. I got 5 yards thinking I'm so smart only spending $10 but some fabric was calling my name that would be perfect for this top and match perfectly for this wardrobe. So 1-1/2 yards came home with me too. Of course it wasn't the stuff on sale. Of course I didn't have a coupon with me. But not to be deterred, I found a coupon on the back of their FashionFusion magazine. It was 50% off one fabric cut. The magazine was $3 but I still saved $4.50 on it so don't I feel smug? Then on my way home I saw a yard sale and got almost two blocks away before I turned around and went back. I came home with five vintage patterns and a brand new ironing clapper for $5.

Once I got home, I cut out the muslin and sewed it up. The sleeves are giving me trouble. I can't figure out how to sew them on. That's my next challenge. Here's how the muslin looks without the sleeves.

I cut it in the longer length thinking I might like it long with the added pockets. I've already decided to go back to the shorter length and not put bulk adding pockets right over my belly. What was I thinking? As you can see it's a much better fit. I think it will hang even better in a drapey fabric instead of the stiff muslin. After I figure out how to install these weird sleeves, I'll cut out the new fabric. I may get the Wardrobe done before the end of the month after all.