Category Archives: Sewing

June 11, 2010 · 10:41 pm

What to do?

With 1.5 m of this:

I

It’s a lovely, heavy-weight striped denim. The colour in the photo is crappy—it’s a fairly standard dark-wash indigo between the lighter stripes. I was not bad—a co-worker gave it to me. Cool! It’s not stretch, so it can’t become my next pair of Jalies (too bad, really). I’ve been dreaming of jean-jackets, but aside from lacking a pattern, it’s a little too gorgeous for a casual, slouchy kid jacket (and I already have a perfectly good jean-jacket for myself).

Skirt? tailored blazer out of denim? (that would be nifty, actually… especially with some edges left raw? hmm. It’s only 1.5 m long, but it’s really wide so there’s actually a lot of fabric. Enough extra for a pencil skirt?)

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June 10, 2010 · 7:56 pm

Ooopsie (Part II)

I went with a friend to Fabricland today, just to nose around.

The stretch denim I’ve been agonizing over ($18/m) was buy 1m, get 1 free.

I walked out with four metres of black stretch denim.

I didn’t really need groceries this week, did I?

I guess I’m set for my Jalies for the fall.

In other news, the cheap, crappy (but only ones they had) jean button just broke off my daughter’s jeans. If this becomes a trend it will suck mightily. 😦

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June 10, 2010 · 12:04 pm

Self-Stitched September?

I’m thinking about doing it.

Zoe of So, Zo announced Self-Stitched September a week or so ago. I discovered Me-Made-May halfway through last month and it seemed like a really cool challenge. I’m not ready for the full version—no way am I going to have enough self-made stuff by September to wear it exclusively—but I think I could maybe pull off the lite version of one self-made item per day. Especially if I get a couple more pairs of self-made jeans done by then. I can easily rotate the same two pairs of jeans almost indefinitely (and have done, on the several occasions where I only HAD two wearable pairs of jeans to my name… but maybe that’s more about me than you wanted to know), though it’s nice to have a few more for variety especially if I miss a laundry day. But if I had two pairs of full-length Jalies, I could wear those most days, swap in regular jeans with a self-made top every now and then, and the weather might still be amenable to the capris I just made (and haven’t able to wear yet as i’s been $%&%$$#$ COLD and raining here all week… at least no snow this week…) from time to time.  But anyway, let’s face it, my typical “everyday” wardrobe consists of 3 pairs of jeans in rotation and about 5-7 tops (plus grubbies/slub wear for the weekend). That’s not that much to come up with, is it?

So, to be ready for Self-Stitched September (also my birthday month… I could make myself clothes for a birthday present!), I would need to make:

Bottoms:

  • 2 pairs of Jalie jeans: plain dark jeans, maybe one stovepipe leg pair and one boot cut (since I don’t have any non-trashed boot-cut jeans at the moment… how did I end up with nothing but skinnies? I don’t even like skinnies that much except under boots!).
  • Ellen trousers? (I have been thinking of them for this grey wool. Though given I have only 3 yards perhaps a pencil skirt and a blazer would be better? Would I wear a pencil skirt? would I wear any skirt enough to justify making it for Self-Stitched September?) I haven’t had a pair of non-jeans other than camos in… decades. Like, since I stopped wearing the pink corduroy overalls. There was that one pair of black slacks I bought for the job interview that one time, but they were too short and I never wore them again. And yet, a presentable pair of dress-trousers would be a good thing to have, especially for conferences/job interviews (which I will, presumably, be facing at some point in the next few years). Palaeo is a pretty casual science, and I don’t feel like skirts are appropriate for an interview for a job that involves working with pneumatic tools and tromping through the dirt… but jeans are still not really it for a job interview)… so I’d like to have something.
  • Skirts??? See above. I like skirts just fine. Especially if they’re ridiculously long or ridiculously short. Neither of which are particularly practical… so they sit in the closet. I try them on once or twice a year to gauge fit—I can track my figure variations by where a skirt is sitting on my hips at any given moment. There was a period early in my Master’s thesis where I was over-dressing and wearing the long ones a lot, and it was fun, but I don’t seem to have that momentum these days. And my desire to show off my undies with the really short ones has waned over the years (though I did wear to death that one with the under-shorts liner… maybe I should make more like that)

Tops (Have to think about these… I think I have enough JJ’s, though I wouldn’t mind a white variation, maybe with a neck bow, though I’m not 100% about these paired with my wide shoulders)

  • 3 JJ blouses. Even just the ones I have would be enough to spell the Jalie jeans for a day or two, paired with RTW jeans)
  • Something knit? All my tops are currently knits. I’m terrified of sewing with knits… and I never seem to find any good ones in good colours, so I never have any to practice on, so I never get over my fear. Maybe if I can get my serger functioning over the summer? The Lydia pattern at Burdastyle is only a dollar, though I have a feeling I could trace my own off an existing shirt without too much trouble… Or maybe the free Batwing pattern, though it’s not a style I’d normally wear.
  • Sencha-style blouse? I’ve been musing over trying to draft a pattern like this myself the last few days. Not that I don’t want to support Colette Patterns but the Ceylon dress and the Beignet skirt and the Lady Grey coat are way higher up the list.  And the blouse I’m picturing is a bit different… no tucks, just some side bust darts (very plain, actually). It would have to be in a really luxuriously wonderful fabric, too, silk or a really nice rayon. And I’m not sure how it would work with the rest of my wardrobe, since these blouses (IMHO) look best tucked into a waistband at the waist (on people with itty bitty waists who look good in such things). It would go great (in my head) with a Beignet skirt though…
  • Danielle dress? I was thinking about the dresses in my closet (trying to justify adding this one), and remembered a certain pattern. A large majority of my dresses are short, spaghetti-strapped, empire-waisted confections. At least one I’ve had since I was 15. Aside from the spaghetti straps, the Danielle dress fits in nicely… and the big plus about these dresses is that they go over jeans well for everyday wear. Well, some of them do. The sparkly grad/bridesmaid ones not so much. Anyway, if I could put a Danielle into regular rotation, it would be a lot more justifiable than just making it for my friend’s wedding reception… depends on my ability to conquer my Fear of the Zipper, I suppose (which is almost as great as my Fear of Knits)

On an unrelated, parental sewing triumph note, my younger daughter wore her vintage A-line dress/shirt to school again today, without me even suggesting it. Considering how picky she is with her clothes, this is a major triumph (she also wore it for spring picture day). The only downside of this little dress/top (it’s really too short to be a dress) is that it needs ironing. I iron LOTS when I sew—and very rarely for anything else. Also the square neckline is fraying a bit at the corners after washing; I clipped too close to the seam when turning it, I guess. I should ask my mom if she has any tips or tricks for square necklines.

Anyway, what was that tag again? Ah, yes, too much talk…

Ok, you’ve talked me into it.

‘I, Taran of Tanit-Isis Sews,, sign up as a participant of Self-Stitched-September. I endeavour to wear at least one handmade item of clothing every day for the duration of September 2010′.

Now off to apply for the flickr group…

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June 8, 2010 · 9:41 am

JJ the third

Newest JJ... still slight puddling at the back.

Almost done with this pattern? Well, almost. Sorta. I still haven’t *nailed* it yet, although this version was a lot closer. At least in terms of construction.

Black JJ with silver buttons.

I added 1 cm to each centre front piece this time, in an attempt to avoid the bust gape and get the front princess seam falling in a slightly better place (it tended to fall inside my bust point, which is not quite right). This accomplished my aim, but at the expense of some fit; the side seams were edging back and the whole thing was quite big when I tried it on, and the side-seams were riding a little far back. I took the side-seams in (curving from very little at top and bottom to 1.5 cm at thewaist, and I could have taken it in more… there’s probably still about 2 cm of extra ease. Apparently what I needed wasn’t extra room along the whole front, but just at the bust. So I guess I should take 1 cm off the side front (to match the 1 cm I added to the front) and then do a small full bust adjustment (!!! me!!!). Who’d’a thunk? And probably shorten the waist a cm or 2, which I think would get rid of the last of the back puddling.

Black JJ---Back

Construction-wise, however, this shirt is a thing of beauty. The fabric is 100% cotton with a subtle woven-in stripe that looks like cross-stich up close (I adore it… and I have lots more!) and it was delightful to work with. I actually got the collar attached properly (meeting, not overlapping) at the centre front) and neatly. I made one more slight alteration to the ruffles, tapering them at the ends, and I like the effect very much. I think I could still narrow them slightly… they seemed perfect on the sheer blouse, but a little big still on this one, maybe because the fabric is heavier? I bit the bullet and hand-finished the inside of the collar and sleeve cuffs, and hand-rolled the bottom hem, and if I get really ambitious I’ll overcast the raw edges on the inside. The machine did manage to make a disaster of the bottom buttonhole, but the others are perfect. I adore my little silver buttons.

Work it, work it!

I could spend a lot more time dissecting the shirt,but really, I’m pretty darn happy with it. I can still see myself making one more version of this shirt (in opaque white)… but maybe I’ll have to change it up with the ruffles or something. And then figure out a long-sleeved version for winter…

(An interesting aside… as a smaller-busted girl, I have spent the last ten years or so largely braless aside from nursing and athletics, once I got over the excitement of actually getting to wear a bra and realized that most of them didn’t fit very well and weren’t comfy. This doesn’t bother me in the least… but with the addition of a couple of non-stretch JJ blouses to my wardrobe, I realized something. My usual staple tops are snug knits. These actually provide a bit of support in and of themselves. Not much, but enough to feel… comfortable. Without that, in these woven blouses… well, a bra just feels welcome. Interesting. no?)

Low camera angles courtesy of my mini-tabletop tripod.

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June 6, 2010 · 11:34 pm

Measurements

So it just occurred to me… I am usually about two sizes larger in the waist than in the chest/hips. I am resigned to that. But I’ve been musing about trying to make a vest for my hubby (he likes vests), and I can’t find any free patterns for men’s vests, but there are several for women’s. And then I go to check the sizing, and it dawns on me.

My husband has a 40″ chest and a 32″ waist. This proportion fits much more squarely with women’s sizing than men’s… and much more with women’s than mine.

/sigh.

Damn man.

So maybe he will get a vest made from a woman’s pattern after all ;). As long as I don’t tell him…

PS: I have actually been sewing madly this weekend, just nothing completely finished. The gambeson I am helping a friend make is almost finished (and actually got worn today… aparently it served its purpose well) is almost finished… we’ll get pics once he has all the buckles on it. For something that looked pretty much like a pillow when we started, I’m kinda impressed with how it’s turned out. And I am working on my third JJ, in black cotton this time, which is shaping up nicely and will hopefully be done tomorrow evening. And I want to make jeans. More jeans. (I don’t actually need jeans now. Nor do I have money for fabric. Ok, maybe one pair of dark, “presentable” jeans so I can give the crazy-eighties washes a rest would be nice. And a pair of boot-cuts… everything I have right now that doesn’t have holes in the knees are skinnies. And there might be enough of my stretch-denim left to whip up a pair of short shorts… just to practice my pocket stitching, you understand ) And jean jackets for my kids. But I think I’ll have to actually buy a pattern for that.) And I want to make a Danielle dress up for a friend’s wedding reception at the end of the month, but really I already have LOADS of formalwear that would be appropriate that gets very little use) Anyway, I keep hoping that the sewing bug will wane so I can get back to something else like, oh, cleaning my house… but no luck so far.

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June 4, 2010 · 1:06 pm

Jalie Jeans for me!

Jalie 2908 capris!

Yay!

Pair number one is complete! (minus hemming and rivets. Details, details.)

These are capri-length for summer (since I only have one other pair of capris). I used Becca A’s from Pattern Review’s alterations for making an even lower low-rise (thankfully her daughter and I are close to the same size) which worked perfectly. I also wanted a contoured waistband, so I used the one from the Burdastyle Ellen pants pattern (because it was free). This also worked out well, although it still ended up with a bit of gaping… I think probably from stretching during sewing as it fit perfectly when I was trying it on in advance. I converted it into a single-piece band and narrowed it a bit.

So… aside from my usual sewing blunders (I still haven’t quite figured

Jalie capris---front

out the zipper insertion… I got the zipper facing the right way this time but then sewed the fly shield on the wrong side, and the zipper wound up sitting way back from the centre front, which I think isn’t quite right) I’m pretty darn happy with these as a first pair. My attempt to pre-curve my yoke panel worked fine (there was no gaping at all at that stage of the try on, just after the waistband was attached). I think I have finally understood why the original yoke comes so “straight”… it’s very easy to take it in, but it would be somewhat harder to spread it out evenly if you have a flatter bum… so they drafted it to the “flattest common denominator”… at least, that’s my theory. I tried them on right after I sewed the outer seams, and wore them for a few hours to gauge the fit, after which I took each side in about a 1/4 inch. This improved it nicely, though it wasn’t that bad before; I think most of my issues with the “feel” of the pants have more to do with the fabric (which really isn’t very nice. Next time I will splurge on the $18/m fabric.

Original pocket pattern...

... which didn't work out so well in practice

There were some hiccoughs in the production. I spent quite some time drafting a lovely ankh pattern to topstitch on the pockets… and totally butchered it when I tried to stitch it down. Partly I’m not very good at machine embroidery, partly it was the stretchy fabric (perhaps I should’ve interfaced the pockets)… anyway, that was a bust, so I reverted to some boring straight lines. Oh well. I did make the pockets mini (the same size as my daughter’s) and I like the way they look on my less-than-oversized bottom. The

Not-quite-couture hand finished buttonhole

interfacing helped with the “flabby” feeling of the waistband immensely, but thickened it up enough that my machine balked at doing the buttonhole… so I hand-finished that, which is the first time I’ve ever tried it. It’s definitely not as nice as all those couture hand-finished buttonholes I’ve seen photos of ;). I originally failed to heed Becca A’s advice and cut a size Q yoke (same size as the rest of the pattern) rather than a size R as she suggested, and it was too small (since the lowering of the rise widened the seam… I am brilliant, aren’t I). So I had to re-cut that too.

The topstitching thread, as expected, was a little finicky. I found that most of its tantrums happened at the start of the seam, and could be avoided by holding

side view... gaping at the back doesn't really show.

Back view: boring lines on pockets.

on to the top thread so that the end didn’t get sucked down into the bobbin and do weird things, but it was still a bit of a crapshoot. And I managed to shatter my double-needle (perhaps I’m cursed with those) when I went to do a test stitch with it and had the stitch still set to zig-zag. The needle hit the presser foot. The waistband turned out a little bubbly and bulgy, and the fly is still a little gapy; I’ll have to try a couple more fabrics so I can figure out whether that’s me or just the flabby fabric pulling funny.

(artistic photos by my daughter… sorry about some of the wonky angles 🙂

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June 2, 2010 · 2:34 pm

Jalie Jeans test type… 100% complete

No pics of them on the kid (yet… maybe after I wash them) but here’s the final details:

Jeans front finished---rivets and belt loops!

The rivets went in quite well (it’s much easier to hammer metal stuff in now I have a concrete garage floor to work on!). They did need to be shortened, but they seem to hold well (I’ll get back to you about whether they’re STAYING on in a few months). I experimented with not shortening one, and regretted it—it went together and didn’t damage the caps, but the inside cap kind of skewed off to the side, so the inside and outside caps are offset. You can’t tell from looking, of course, and it feels solidly attached… but not desirable.

The belt-loops as measured were kinda long, but that’s fine. I put them on after the rivets… before would have been smarter. I was going to sew them right by the edge of the front pocket, and couldn’t because the rivet was in the way. Not that their current placement is a problem,

Back---finished. Cool belt loops!

but note to self for the future. In the back, I criss-crossed the centre back belt loops. I like. 🙂

Oh, and I finally located and tried out my double needle for the belt-loops and hems! I bought it last fall, just to have a double needle, despite my disastrous results the first time I tried to use one (the bobbin threads got tangled and when I tried to raise the needle one of the tips was getting bent funny and snapped off. This was about five minutes into my first attempt to use it). But for whatever reason this time—better thread, auspicious alignment of the planets—it gave me not a hint of trouble this time. I did take the advice I read somewhere to put the spools on so they spool out the thread in opposite directions (eg. one clockwise, the other counterclockwise). Maybe that made all the difference. No idea. Anyway, aside from the fact that the double needle I have wasn’t purchased with jeans in mind and is a bit narrower between the two tips than the rest of the top-stitching, it worked perfectly. I did the hems with it (the zig-zag from the bobbin makes it stretchy, too, even on a regular straight stitch!). I wound up doing two rows of the double stitching on the belt-loops (the zig-zag underneath does a really nice job of finishing the triple-folded bottom surface), and I was worried that they were too uneven, but once cut into the short lengths they looked fine.

So, verdict? Definitely some loving-hands-at-home going on in the details. But, perfectly respectable from a distance (even I don’t notice the offset pockets unless I look for it) and the kid loves them. Considering her lukewarm reaction to her jacket, I am going to declare these a success. Which is good because I cut out my pair last night…

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May 31, 2010 · 3:00 pm

Gambeson

Gambeson pieces---see the markings for the quilting lines on the (white) lining side

This is not strictly my project, but a re-enactor friend wanted some help with making a gambeson, a kind of quilted shirt for wearing under his armour. So yesterday we spent some time looking at pictures online, and then trucked off to Value Village (which might actually be redeeming itself in my eyes) where he was able to pick up a nice heavy blue cotton curtain (Ikea), a large white cotton tablecloth (I hated to cut it up… it was actually quite nice) and a raggedy-ass old polyester duvet, all for under $20. We brought it back to my house, took some measurements, and cut out a the various rectangles (fronts, back, sleeves), stitched them together, and then began fitting. I’ve never done a draped pattern before (using the term “drape” very loosely), but it was really neat… as we pinned it on it became pretty obvious where we needed to remove

Test sample of machine quilting. The hand-quilting sample was too embarassing to show.

fabric around the arms and neckhole (and add a gusset under the sleeve)… and by the time we were done we had what actually resembles a fairly “modern” pattern silhouette. Nifty! Anyway, this is how it sits right now. I was trying to convince him to hand-quilt (time-consuming but less fiddly since I don’t have a walking foot and more authentic, but he wants to use a contrasting thread for the quilting  and neither of us were going to be able to make that look good by hand. Ah well.. this way he’ll probably have the shirt in a week or two, rather than it taking months.

Now, for a disclaimer—I’m not and never have been a re-enactor, although I can understand the appeal. But if I were, I’d be such an authenticity snob… I can totally see myself fully hand-stitching a garment just so that it had the right “look”. Making something with a re-enactor who really doesn’t care about authentic detail as long as the general look is right… well, it’s not what I would want in a garment. However, not my problem, right? 🙂

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May 31, 2010 · 2:21 pm

Jalie jeans, test type

Kid's jeans (first try on)

So, I took the plunge. Well, in miniature. Just putting the finishing touches on a trial pair of jeans… for my daughter. A little torn—on the one hand, they’re very cute, but on the other hand, there’s enough booboos in the construction and fitting issues that I’m a little dissatisfied—more with myself than with the pattern, however. Oh, and the plaid flannel in the cut-outs is the same fabric as the pocket lining, and was a pair of my hubby’s pyjama pants long, long ago. So glad I kept those scraps!

On the plus side:

  • they fit! Like stretch jeans should… which may actually be a little snug.
  • I LOVE the pocket design/yoke and front leg detail. We were inspired by a pair of jeans belonging to my younger daughter, and I think it’s so super cute. I am excited to see how it looks once it’s washed and frayed. The cut-outs on the front leg and the back yoke are both backed with another layer of denim behind the flannel, for strength. The pocket just has the flannel.
  • The red topstitching is super nice, even though it doesn’t show quite as much as I might like. I used the triple stitch with regular thread, and I really liked it for topstitching because it is SLOW…

    Are these not the coolest pockets EVER, I ask you?

    much less chance for me to mess up, especially along short lengths. All in all the topstitching, though not perfect, is a LOT better than my last attempt. My “edgestiching” blind-hemmer foot definitely shows its limitations along longer seams, although that may be as much shoddy construction of the foot (the screw that adjusts the front extension is really loose, so it jiggles out slowly as you go along… this is just as much a problem for blind hems as for edgestitching).

  • I also didn’t have any trouble catching the 1 cm seam allowances in my second row of topstitching; some people had complained about this in their pattern reviews.
  • I added the perfect amount of length to the leg (1″) (at least as long as they don’t shrink in the wash any more)… they should be perfect once hemmed as is.
  • I put buttons and buttonholes on the inside waistband to thread and adjustable buttonhole elastic through the back (a fave feature of mine for most kids’ pants these days). However, my gaposis-fixes were such that I don’t think she’ll actually need it.
  • hammering REALLY helped with a few of the ultra-thick areas. I am impressed.
  • I almost got the fly right on the first tr. Almost.

Negatives:

  • The instructions say to attach the back pockets before you sew up the centre back seam. Despite marking very carefully and gluing the pockets in place so they didn’t shift around, they’re still not even. Next time I will definitely put them on AFTER the centre-back seam is stitched (which is the next step anyway so it’s not like it’s a big rearrangement.
  • the yoke definitely needed adjusting for back gaposis. Now, my nine-year-old definitely has a booty for her age (to her father’s dismay), but on the other hand proportionately I doubt hers is any worse than mine, so I will definitely curve my yoke in a bit before I cut it.
  • I adjusted the yoke at the sides (since the centre back, which would’ve been better, was already topstitched and I didn’t want to take tucks due to the cut-out peekaboo layers at the yoke), which left a bit of a pointy stop at the top side.
  • the waistband kinda sucks. This is for various reasions:

    Kid's jeans: front (finished except for belt loops, hemming)

  • 1) I cut it on the straight grain, non-stretch direction, rather than on the bias or the stretch grain. This is because I like pants that stay up… but I should’ve added to the length because it was a little short.

    Kid's jeans: back (finished except for belt loops and hemming)

  • 2) I didn’t interface it. This might’ve been fine with a heavy-duty denim, but this denim is so light and stretchy, it’s just floppy. My bad. I got lazy and impatient (and forgot).
  • 3) I angled it in at the centre-back seam to further reduce gaposis, which was successful but left it with that little divet at the back. I am definitely excited to try my contoured waistband. Thoroughly interfaced.
  • the jeans button is a little off of where it needs to be; I centred it on the buttonhole, but its post of course needs to go at the END of the buttonhole. And of course since it’s fairly soft and floppy, this makes the whole fly (which IS interfaced, by the way) pull a little wonky. I suspect the solution will be to stitch the end of the buttonhole closed a bit. And next time, position the butotn AFTER cutting the buttonhole. I think for mine, I will hand-stitch the buttonhole so I can do a keyhole, but for these I just did the lone buttonhole setting on my machine. (and it says it all about how thin the denim is that I even COULD do the buttonhole on my machine, which doesn’t like to do buttonholes on thick fabrics at all.)

(sorry about the colour in the last two pics… the camera didn’t like having the black couch in the background. Also the jeans are  rather rumpled in the last couple of shots because she won’t take them off long enough for me to hem and put belt loops on.)

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May 26, 2010 · 1:23 pm

Ooopsie

Today I bought fabric. Not randomly, I might add—ok, mostly not randomly. I could have bought MUCH more, especially since somebody appears to have donated an entire stash to my (usually lame) local Value Village recently. But I was restrained. Especially after I found out about the $500 vehicle tune-up we have to pay for tomorrow. Oopsie.

Black cotton... won't this make an awesome blouse?

Anyway, although I could cheerfully have bought much more, especially at Value Village, I was comparatively restrained. I bought a black cotton with a bit of a woven-in stripe. I probably don’t need four metres of it… but on the other hand I know I will use it, here and there, sooner or later. And won’t it make the CUTEST JJ? Also I have plans of a Danielle dress with this and some horrendous black-and-white pattern synthetic I bought years ago… but more on that later.

Giving in to the Jalie jeans pattern that has been sitting, traced out, silently calling my name, I also

Stretch denim... blackish with a bit of vertical stripe

bought 3 metres of this stretch denim; it’s black with a subtle vertical striping effect. Fabricland had exactly three kinds of stretch denim (that I could find) and this was the only one that wasn’t $18/m. (Now… if I get to the point where I can put together a top-notch, kick-ass jean, $18/m is still less than $40 for a pair of jeans and thus roughly half the cost of the jeans I typically buy, even allowing for notions. But for a first go… this stuff came to about $8/m, which is at least halfway bearable if I create a complete wadder. Of course, when I checked the stretch, instead of the 20% Jalie recommends, it’s more like 30 or 40%… so I went and retraced the pattern a size smaller. I bought three metres (what was left on the bolt)… I’m hoping it will be enough for a set of capris (the trial run) and a full-length, but we’ll see. If not I’ll get a couple of pairs of capris for the summer and my oldest daughter will get the jeans she’s been asking for.

Wool... I'm thinking that blazer I'm always talking about.

Then we went to VV and I picked up this grey wool… three metres for $10; I know, not a real steal thrift-store wise, but VV seems to get by on “prices just a little bit better than Walmart” /sigh. I could’ve bought a lot more, too… someone must’ve donated a fabric stash recently because there was a TON of fabrics, some of them very nice. Unfortunately my hubby called with the news about the vehicle repair halfway through my shopping excursion, so I restrained myself to just this wool. Can’t you see a nice blazer out of it? heck, it could even have a matching pencil skirt if I got really ambitious. (Would I WEAR a pencil skirt? this is my dilemma.)

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