Life Keeps Getting in the Way

You know you've been away too long when someone writes to tell you they miss your posts. What sweet message that was too. Thanks Julia! A couple of things have been going on and none of it includes sewing.

The good news is that I'm continuing to lose weight, now down 25 pounds (I don't get to change my tracker until Monday). I've had to buy some new clothes because I couldn't alter patterns and sew them up quick enough to keep my behind covered. It was fun to shop because things were fitting me. I'm now officially an XL instead of a woman's 1X in tops and I am now wearing size 16 jeans. No more shopping in the woman's department. I have to get down another size to shop in the petite department though. That's my next goal. Bob just helped me pin up a couple pair of new pants that need to be shortened. I hope to get them done today. Maybe after that, I can get back to some real sewing.

My partner Stephanie and I were supposed to start our sewing classes through the city parks and recreation department this month but no one signed up. We probably won't get any students until the official brochure of classes is mailed out.

The bad news is that I'm having some health issues. Sorry if this is TMI. Because I had post-menopausal bleeding twice in the last 8 months with the last one being two weeks ago and lots of pelvic pain, the gynecologist wants me to have a D&C. He wants to check to see if I have any cancer cells growing in my uterus. I had an ultrasound in November and my uterus looked normal and all my ovarian cysts were gone which the Dr. said was probably because of my diet. However, endometrial cancer wouldn't have shown up on the ultrasound. Being the HUGE procrastinator that I am, I'm going to wait to worry about this until I've had the test and my Dr. tells me there is something to worry about. I was so hoping that with menopause I would be saved from the hysterectomy my gynecologist and family Dr. wanted me to have 13 years ago. I'm just now waiting for approval from the insurance company for the D&C.

Today I was planning on visiting the 18^th Annual Art of Motion Picture Costume Design exhibition at the Fashion Institute of Design and Merchandising in Los Angeles with Stephanie. It was raining pretty hard this morning and I was feeling lazy so I postponed the trip. Instead I dropped my son off at the library and then went across the street to JoAnn's. That's only my second visit this year. They were having a sale on patterns and I picked up a few on sale and managed not to bring anything else home with me.


I think this Rebecca Taylor dress is so pretty and I have some poly jersey that should be perfect for it. Of course, I'll have to make the neckline a bit more modest and I'll make the hemline straight across instead of having a shirt tail shape, which I think looks stupid.

I've had my eye on this pattern for a long time, but I just felt it wouldn't do anything for my big round apple shape. Now that my apple is getting smaller, I decided to go for it. Again, some poly jersey would be great for this one. I plan to make all the pieces from this one.


While I have a TNT pattern similar to this one, I liked the different sleeve options. I would also have to alter my TNT pattern anyway so I thought I 'd start with this new one. I like both the looped neckline and the twist front. I think the twist front would look great as a dress.


Here's another dress that I thought could shrink with me because of the drawstring. I love those tiny puff sleeves on view c. I think it would be perfect in a lightweight cotton knit, I'll need to do a FBA for this one.

As you can tell, I'm getting ready to do some summer sewing. It's going to be hard to guess what size I'll be at the end of May, but I'm going to use a size 16 pattern and do a small FBA and cross my fingers that they fit.