Simplicity 6824

 

It's been four years since I bought this pattern, thinking - the size 7s aren't that far away...since I was sewing size 6s then.  Well, we're finally there *ha* but maybe a bit beyond.  Esme is eight, now - but her measurements aren't far off from this pattern.  I did have to add an inch and a half to the shirt sleeve for comfort that she wouldn't grow out of the shirt tomorrow.  

 

in size 7, shirt without collar

The pattern is from 1974.

I made view 1 long sleeved shirt, but did not do the collar.  I have this thing I do with facing and turning over the front edge into a collar-like creature.  Esme said the shirt looked like a blazer, to her.  She had wanted the heart buttons on I think the watermelon backpack project - but they really didn't fit or have any purpose there.  So, she was happy when I said this was a project they could work in.

I finished it last night and she wore it to bed like a pajama shirt.  I promised her I can make a pair of pink cotton pants to go with it and maybe she can even wear it at a sleepover later this year.

If I made another one I'd make the tails a little longer.  The nice thing about shirts is that if they fit well in the breast and armhole areas - you can alter the length of sleeve and front as much as you want.

Pink Raglan dress from Simplicity 7465 copyright 1967 with alterations

  

Simplicity 7465, copyright 1967

I made this today, with some alterations.

This pattern caught me into buying it because it boasted raglan sleeves or regular looking sleeves in the same pattern.  Do you see how they did it?  They put a yoke on one version of the dress - using the same lower half of the dress, and the raglan sleeves when added to the yoked version turn out looking very normal with set-in shoulder and armhole.  The version without the yoke comes up and finishes like a regular raglan.

I made several alterations to the pattern from the get-go.  I couldn't help myself - plus I had already cut a pair of pants out of the fabric I had bought, and had to 'make up' for not having the entire two yards anymore that I had planned for.  But, I knew I could do it - and with a bit of fiddling here and there, it happened.

Here is Esme pretending a knitting needle is a wand, and goofing off.. she is casting a magic spell.  I love the way the sleeves move, as I said in another post - sewing takes 2D and makes it 3D, then you get to see 3D in motion on a body.  The sizing of this one - size 6 chest 25, is a little large on her, and I made the long version instead of shortening it like I normally do.  But, it works on her - and it will grow with her over the next year or so better for having long sleeves now.

The skirt has some excess planned into it for the tie back, which allows her to both be comfortable in it standing or sitting and run as well.  It is a good design.  I had her try it on to make sure I had put the ties at her waistline before I sewed them down for permanency.   This picture also shows the slightly fallen yellow hairtie ribbons I put in her hair this morning for school.

The dress after it was finished - it really looked too big on the hanger, almost a size 7 or 8... not a 6.  Esme even said when she saw it that it was too big for her!  But the ties (seen below) were not tied tight at that time, either.  I took a second fabric I had and put panels in the front skirt because I had not put the inverted pleat in.. they weren't much, but enough to ensure it would not hang tight.  I've tried the inverted pleat before and been dissatisfied with it.. so I wasn't willing to try it with this fabric, maybe another time to do this pattern 'as it is written'?  Maybe not.. I know what works on her, and I know what my sewing style likes...which is what works on her :)

Pre-wear on the hanger, back ties.  It was supposed to have buttons, but I altered for a zipper.  It stays much better on her.  The other alteration I did is slightly visible here, but not otherwise.  I cut the back pieces apart at the center waist to reposition the fabric and make the most out of my short yardage.  I would not have gotten them out of the fabric in full pieces.  It is seen only as a disturbance in the pattern but the pattern is so all-over eye-dazzling that it doesn't matter much. 

Yay for good sewing projects :)

Super Kangaroo girl (unlined cape with ears sewing project)

Super Kangaroo Cape, with a hood, with ears

I love this picture :)

It's not Batman, Mom - it is a Kangaroo cave, in the DESERT. 

Looking at herself in the mirror. It is a nice length and this picture showed it off well.

McCalls pattern 6631
'red riding hood style cape'
size 6, 1940s
I bought this back in December 2011 and finally got a good enough ambition to make it.  

 

A few shots of her playing in the garden with me this morning...

I told her she looked like a hobbit.. and she said no definitely a Kangaroo..

Purple Gray dress for Kindergarten

 Probably a touch on the 'formal' side - she said it was 'just like a gown', but it is the same basic idea as the other dresses I made for her last year, and which she wore to preschool.  This was fabric I had on hand and a remnant from her other dress for 'pretty'.  I had some pink fabric I wanted to use but it wasn't washed and dried yet.  The fit is just about perfect so it should be easy to whip up a few more time permitting.

I played with the front pleats a little because the back pleats were SO full... hopefully it looks like a happy medium.  The sleeves on this work out the most perfect of any pattern (this is Butterick 3600 again, size 6 with very few alterations, copyright 1960).  The zipper up the back does make it really easy for her to put on - doesn't sound like it would, huh?  She can get her head and arms into it without any 'trapped' feeling and then come to us to pull the zipper up.  It fits on a hanger nicely and she is learning to pull the zipper down to get the hanger out.

A few more of these and she will be ready for K this year - and a few new pairs of pants.  As Mark said last night, she will be 'teased' by those kinds of kids no matter what she wears - and this works for us on all levels.  Until she asks for something else in particular I'll sew her some high quality well-fitting clothing and send her off in it and we'll see where she leads me about it.

For pants I'm using size 5 Simplicity 6583 copyright 1974 and it is a perfect fit, as well - just the right length and with a 21 inch elastic in the waist.

Interesting:  We are watching 'Colonial House' on DVD borrowed from Grandma, and I am examining the set of their sleeves, and the arrangement of pleats and tucks while I was sewing this dress up at the same time... ironic :)  I know that those clothes were made by hand by someone for the show - but I doubt they were made specifically for those people, just to a general size.  The people on the show think the clothes are uncomfortable...  I am making these dresses for Esme because they fit her better and last longer than storebought..

I'm sure the insides of the 'period' clothing are much less simple though.. and multiple layers would not help with comfort, and being in an environment full of bugs without air conditioning in the heat or heat in the cold adds on to that as well.

we're on to the 6s and then the 7s...

Just a little note to myself.. both of these patterns are coming in the mail. 

Butterick 4543 size 7, dress with long sleeves
I saw this one and it was so very pretty... yet simple, yet compelling.
I went looking all over the internet until I found someone who had it for sale at a reasonable price.  It was a size up from where I need it, but then I thought - well, just at the beginning of this year I was sewing fives for her, and then it has bumped up to six recently with both of the last two dresses... Size seven isn't that far away, really.

Simplicity 6824 size 7 shirt, pants . 

They had this one, too - so I added it on mostly for the pants.

That, along with a coat and a full skirted shirtwaist dress I caught a good while back should provide a lot to choose from for sewing the next size up.

 

Soup and tea remedies for sinus infection

My family was always one for making 'herbals' , tonics and teas and food combinations to try to chase the basic ills of fever and cold and stomachache away...  I guess I inherited some of it, the information and the art.  My nose usually tells me what I need and then I go about trying to make that happen.  Mark says I can eat more black pepper and garlic on something than anyone he knows. 

My shelf contains the following always - garlic powder, onion powder, curry powder (madras style with yellow turmeric), black pepper, cayenne pepper, oregano, basil, mint leaves, cinnamon, ginger powder and diced ginger root pieces.  Beyond that I have strong black tea, lemon juice, honey, coffee, cocoa powder, white vinegar, balsamic vinegar and apple cider vinegar, olive oil, orange juice, tomato soup, chicken noodle soup (or broth), miso soup, canned carrots, canned pineapple, licorice tea, peppermint tea and a certain brand of echinachea tea that is hard to find but is from Traditional Medicinals.   There are a few off the wall things in there that are not used very often (anise, marshmallow root, etc.)  I have peppermint extract and eucalyptus oil for adding to vapor baths to clear congestion.   Sounds like a major tea party and luncheon, right?  Those are the basics for throwing together something in the middle of the night that might break a fever, have a chance at fighting a bacteria and just keep everything on the way to recovery.  My grandmother (part Ojibwe / Anishiniabe ) was told to be also fond of willow bark and white pine needle tea.  I've had the tea before, but the trees do not grow here in the South very well, and the willow bark was a substitute for aspirin.  I remember just a tiny bit about going through the Northern Minnesota woods with her and a few things she showed me that were edible there, a few sweet clovers and of course raspberries and blackberries.

What I have been making every few hours the past few days with my sinus infection was the echinachea tea with honey, chicken broth with garlic, ginger, black pepper and curry powder, ginger/honey syrup and tomato onion powder soup.  I feel much better than the past two days - with a lot of sleep, water and coffee on top of that.

Armed with my 'strong soups' and plenty of fluids I'll probably be back at work tomorrow.

Sewing:
Tonight, I have a new dark blue dress half done for Esme, with long sleeves and a gorgeous astronomical pattern to the fabric.  I am using the Simplicity 4969 pattern from her camp shirt, size 6, with the opening adjusted to be in the back instead of the front.  That, mixed along with the sleeves from Butterick 9644, size 6 jacket.  Since I put most of my 'go to' patterns away, it is hard to find just what I want to work with.. so I end up conglomerating whatever is on the top of the stack.  So far, looking at what I've got, it looks like it will work just fine.  I could tell I was sick, though -- I sewed a facing to the wrong side and took several minutes to realize what was wrong... then I looked around my table for five minutes to find the bobbin case cover that was underneath my pair of scissors.

Size 6 Simplicity 4969 TOP front, back, sleeve head, 

skirt from DRESS cut in half vertically.

Size 6 Butterick 9644 jacket sleeve, length and elbow width

Yes, the dress turned out perfectly.  I had to add the normal 'three small tucks' at the front of the sleeve on each side to make it line up properly with the other pattern.. but it looks pretty and normal for her little girl attitude.  The dress hangs a little large in the bodice (as she is technically a size 5 right now and it is a 6) but that is a good thing and she likes her dresses that way.

bambi bit

I am working at making this pattern better - still have a few more to make. Esme liked this set so much she took it to town with her today. I should make a few for sale in the shop, too - my standards are so high though it would take several more tries to get one good for sale.


Bambi (as said by Esme), and baby, and one of her other favorites 'Mack' dog

I would like to see some of my internet presence grow again - I have just 40hour work-work-worked for so long now I need to make it a bit of a priority to see what is happening out there, make new things and work on the book I promised Dot I would think further on. I am updating my Squidoo lenses - and made a new one about vintage children's patterns to sew for babies and toddlers. Sewing the vintage patterns has been a whole other world than modern ones - I have learned so much from them.

Vintage childrens sewing pattern lens with lots of info

Simplicity 7371

Simplicity 7371, circa 1967
girls size 6
I made view 3, top left corner.

Posing on the tractor with a very dirty face and disheveled hair.
She had just been in the sandbox!

from the side - it is hard to get her to sit still today!

I stitched this up last night with the Singer Heavy Duty - very easy, less than two hour job for everything prior to the buttonholes. The thing that was best was that the facings first joined together, then joined to the garment and then were just topstitched over once they were turned inside-out. It made for very easy finishing.

The pattern asked for 1.75 yards of fabric - but when we were in Murray I had only bought a yard of this koi goldfish fabric. I shortened the sleeves a little and also the width of the back at the side edges an inch on either side. This made the entire garment fit in a yard of fabric. What would have been the inside facings on the front pieces I cut from another piece of fabric and joined - which worked really well to help make the pattern fit on the yard.

Esme's reaction: She had seen the picture and saw it was for night - she would wear it to bed. She still wants sleeping bed shoes, but that will be later. She said it was slightly too big - and I said she would grow into it. She interpreted that the shirt was FOR growing and she would eat a lot of food, then wear it to bed and GROW and in the morning she would be big enough to throw cars around. She was disappointed in the morning that she was still little - maybe she had not eaten enough food? I tried to explain she would be growing in little bits, over time, like the baby kittens. She still thinks the shirt is for growing and really likes it ;) She also wondered if she slept in our big bed with the shirt on if she would grow faster than sleeping in her little bed.

Rolling out the yards....

Sewing mode has started. I've been collecting a few yards of this and that over the past two weeks in preparation for this weekend. I have plans for: Robot shirt, planetary pants, hello kitty pants, not sure what to do with the brown flower fabric... sheep shirt and plaid jumper are still on the list but I want to make sure those end up well constructed, not rushing them... Fabric is in the washer, soon to be in the dryer... start cutting out pattern pieces and most likely sew up the pairs of pants immediately.

several items to be patched, green size five dress could be saved if I replace the entire skirt.... torn severely! There are several dresses that need to be put in the 'almost trash' drawer - stained and starting to become a little small, but still a good emergency item if she gets everything else ruined.

Esme is sitting upside-down on my bed with her feet in the air, watching Tarzan. She was good in town. She just drained a pez dispenser of all of it's candy and had two chicken legs. She has been good but demanding all day... hopefully she will let me sew without one hundred interruptions? Maybe fifteen... I have a tentative playdate set for her for tomorrow... we will see if it comes around.

//hello kitty pants finished. I used Simplicity 8943 pattern (vintage) size 5 and had to trim the back panels by more than an inch on each side to make my one yard work. But - it fits and is long enough. all the rest of the plans went by the wayside after the try on stage. Esme and Daddy were learning MineCraft again and I took a crash course. I was soon building a waterfall for Esme to use as a waterslide (she can walk and jump pretty well and wander around). A bit later Esme had crashed in her bed and Mama was still up building castles, mining for iron ore and smelting iron and glass in the furnace. I stayed at it until midnight. Mark says I need my own account now ;) Esme can't have her own account until she learns not to dig down into a hole and can't get out! Also, never shear a wolf with the sheep shears. It is bad news. That was me.

//Oh my word - where did this one come from? Every once in a while she still blows me entirely out of the water with a complete thought that makes too much sense.

Esme was dancing around making bubbles and humming downstairs. I was sitting there knitting.
I said 'it's like Esme and the Beast, huh?' about the song she was humming.
She says: 'No, I'm Esme. We're in the green house, on EARTH. The Belle and the Beast are on TV.'
I pressed: Well, if we're on earth, where are they? Where do things on TV live?
She says: 'They're on a ship, a spaceship, with the aliens and Hello Kitty.'

She has recently been watching the 3 disk set of Hello Kitty and has absorbed them. I think they are really good for her because they 'retell' other stories with the same characters. Some of the stories she knows from other forms - like 'Aladdin' and 'Peter Pan', and others she doesn't yet know are parodies - but she really does 'get' the idea that they are telling stories and "playing pretend". I hear a lot of 'it's (two-tend) pretend, like Hello Kitty/Catnip/penguin/My Melody etc...'

Brown gingham pinafore Simplicity 3603

homemade pinafore over storebought shirt

The shirt came from her aunt Gail the Christmas before this one - and it is one of the few items I can stretch the neck on wide enough to get Esme to cooperate with it. I'll try to make her some of the blouses out of this pattern or another later - because she will outgrow it.


Simplicity 3603, undated

The only pattern I could find quickly was Simplicity 3603 in size 5 (pictured). I am at the point where I believe Simplicity patterns are sized just a tad bit bigger than McCalls... the 8001 size 5 was a very good fit, this is a bit big even witha shirt underneath it. The split square necked front was a bit of a challenge, as well as the skirt was actually VERY full... I tend to pleat instead of gather, just because. I'd never get anything done if I had to fuss with gathers instead of neat pleats. Esme doesn't seem to mind, so I keep on.




A single snap holds it right now...

The back opening also overlaps a little on a reinforced buttonband...
buttonholes to come next, as I usually do those by hand. Esme requested pink buttons. I'll probably put a few down the front, as well? And the brown rick rack would look really nice if I could get my hands on some. The white rick rack... I'm not sure what the point would be?


Loula and Esme are like two peas in a pod now


Esme actually has the puppy thinking: 'Will you slow down?'
Mama and Daddy feel that way most days, too!

Blue Rabbit dress

I made this a few days ago, mentioned it but did not get a chance to take any pictures. She wore it to town today. It is a McCalls 8001 alteration - with the two pleats in the front instead of one, and a dropped skirt front as well. It is the last bit of the blue dobby rabbit fabric from Japan bought several years ago. It was previously featured as two pairs of pants, so it has done well for two yards!

She put her socks and shoes on herself. We had to take a package to the 'mailman' for Grandma, and Esme enjoyed the idea of helping with that, even though she was more interested in reading her bike book when we got there. The train set pictured is a clearance item Daddy found for her and she nearly lost quite a bit of hair to it yesterday - we had to work it out! She still did lose a little hair, but it is very hard to tell, as Daddy did a good job rescuing what he could from the track mechanism before finally cutting a small lock off with it. Hopefully she will be more careful with it now.

Today I am inspired by the Betsy McCall paper doll archives I found on the internet. I can't believe I hadn't seen them in all this time! Several of the dresses shown for the paper dolls have the corresponding McCalls pattern number the dress can be made from.


January 1960 McCalls magazine paper doll dress
brown dress with a white pinafore
Betsy McCall sees Leonard Bernstein's youth concert...
It lists the pattern to use is 2358

I saw one brown dress with a white pinafore (January 1960) that I really liked. I want to replicate the look but with a brown and white gingham check pinafore. I bought some fabric but could not find any brown rick rack at the store - they had a place for it, but something else was there. :( I'll poke around and see what is in my collection, maybe I have some hiding - I know there is red and blue... I'd like the pinafore to go over a blue dress or a brown dress. Esme has been painting a lot lately and both of her new short sleeved dresses have bodice and skirt frontispieces FULL of paint splatters.... that don't wash out! Well, that is the good thing of being a seamstress... clothes are not irreplaceable, it just takes a little time set aside to make or remake them. And paint splatters do not make them unwearable... just maybe not the best attire for town trips et al.


McCalls 2358 girls dress and pinafore sewing pattern
I've passed up the chance to buy this one a couple of times... I wouldn't again!
It looks so different in the plain brown above with the white pinafore

I also know I have another pattern (or two) that are similar enough to work with... going to go sort through them now and find one about a size 5. Side note: Mark got me some peppermint coffee which is VERY good. :) I really love peppermint coffee and am sad it is only available during the 'holiday' season.


McCalls pattern 6631
'red riding hood style cape'
size 6, 1940s

I've ordered a copy of this pattern to come in the mail. I don't see Esme wearing the armholes like that - but I could be wrong. And, it doesn't mean I can't alter it into something she would wear. I am very interested in the assemblage of the hood - and the general idea itself. I might be able to expand it larger to make one for myself... which I probably would wear as pictured.

finished McCalls 8001 - can't love it, but it works

I finished McCalls 8001 dress tonight. As Esme says: "I can't love it" But, it does work. Remember it is a size five, which she just barely doesn't swim in. There is room for growth here. Take a look at how the skirt is open when she is sitting, and relaxed when she is standing. That was not easy to get right, and I still think I did it a little haphazard. The ties in the back were essential to not making it stick STRAIGHT out in front of her. Note: These are also the 'wiley pants', although the major feature of them (a flat tummy band) cannot be seen.


Heading off downstairs with her broom and 'wand' (a pencil)


skirt detail and 'magic wand'
It would do nicely with a red ribbon sash all around the middle.
Then I put her hair back up, so she could see and I could see her.


The dogs decided to take center stage.


Partially because they realized
she had a cookie and might drop it!


McCalls 8001 size 5, circa 1961

The reason I bought the pattern was for the coat, which is still to come ... the dress was just tempting and fit the type of fabric I had on hand better, although I did have to piece that, too -- the two color version of the dress was due to not having enough of either to make the whole thing.


And a better shot of Nova's puppies


She is still very protective of them and has not left them for very long at all.

Now for cupcakes, as the laundry and dishes are nearly done.
//note// Esme quote of the night : Upon seeing Lisa Simpson kiss Nelson, and while standing on her head in our bed... 'ew gross. That's a gross kiss.' Daddy and I both lost it. Mark says: 'And... I guess that's four?' (as in years old)
//note// We played with the pattern blocks at her request. They were a very good investment. We read one of her easy books together and she knows more words by sight than she used to - mostly color words and a few words like 'and', 'the', 'come' and 'for'. That is all from Starfall. She said the word 'sleep' was 'sheep' so she is just memorizing the look of the words.

8001 has arrived and playing puzzles

McCalls 8001 size 5


Not much to say, this pattern has arrived and I hope to work with some of it tomorrow. I have some spare fabric I should dig out and put in the washer. I have red gingham fabric and some last of the Animal Town fabric to put together to make the dress on the right. I will need to find more (~ 2 yards of something) to try the coat with before I use my more expensive pink calico. We also have a large grocery run tomorrow... we've been putting off all but the most important things for about a week.

A while back someone at work gave me a set of 'mini-puzzles' that have three letters each, and a picture split between each letter piece. Esme brought them to me a few nights ago and said 'This is my bag full of animals.' There are several of them that have animals on them - cow, pig, cat, bug etc... What impressed me this time is that she actually took care and time to place the extended parts from one piece into the gaps in the other piece, straightening each one out and going over it with her hand to feel it 'pop' into place. She used to try for an instant and then start crying and telling me to do it. She was so proud of herself when we finished all of them.

She might be old enough to get another 9 or 10 piece jigsaw puzzle. She used to love her puzzle when she was <2 years old although all she could do was point where the pieces went then - couldn't manipulate them at all. I have a Poky Little Puppy Puzzle 24 pc. somewhere around here - but that is TOO many pieces for her, still, I am sure. There was a kit of 'Infantimo' mini-puzzles very similar to the ones Bob gave to Esme on Amazon. They are sized a little smaller though, and as Grandma pointed out - she doesn't sit still for very many people. Usually she sits still with me when she has focused in on a task close to bedtime. When she visits Grandma though, she is ON and active - running and seeing what trouble to get into etc etc..

The Case of the Wiley Pants

The pants pattern is Simplicity 6121

I have been heard in public to say that I find making pants boring. This pattern heard me. This was the wiliest pair of pants I ever have tried to sew. Finally, I got them done, after two mistakes - one from being distracted (a big one that took an hour to remedy) and the second was just not interpreting directions properly. They're done. They fit. I see no reason to make a second pair this way at the moment.

So - I cut the doggie fabric out of this pattern, tried and true, used for the past year or so. It took me an hour, where the other took me about four.


Simplicity 7196, copyright 1975

So we are up two pairs of pants, and my next day off is Friday.

Other: // I want to record this as a time when Esme is going more 'abstract.' She is telling me about time, and dreams (10 minutes? when asking when we are going to leave the other morning, first this then that about things she wants to do, 'eat this later' about food she wants to put in the fridge). She told me contents of dreams she has had in her sleep and can recognize when characters in tv shows are 'having a dream', now. We've talked about dreams being in your head, and I also had to explain what it meant "pictures in your brain, when you close your eyes and still see pictures they are in your brain, inside your head". I told her she could remember what strawberries tasted like, it was in her brain even when she didn't have strawberries, or what Nova's ears looked like when she was upstairs... I think she got it, but time will tell. She used the WORD 'dream' today several times, which makes me think she did get it.

She is also understanding a lot more of what Mark and I are saying to each other (when she lets us talk - have to work on that). She is picking things up everywhere - and using them, and we are having to stop and realize we understand what she said, it was very 'pat on' and maybe we have to sit down and have a talk about it. And she understands what we explain to her better than before, as well. Also - she is picking things up like imitations (started imitating MY imitation of Mickey Mouse, then told me it sounded more like Itchy and Scratchy), dance moves she sees on Youtube just for a few minutes, and imitating other things like a flyswatter end put through her hair tie to pretend she had an arrow in her head (like a cartoon, she said) and a xylophone stick on top of her head and beeping to pretend she was an alien baby out of another cartoon.

Slow bird and worm

First off, very glad to see Grandpa home and hope he is doing well. Mark says he does seem to be. I have tomorrow off but probably will not visiting out of general caution - people at work have not been well, flu and sinuses etc. Grandpa will need his energy and Esme takes much of OUR energy even without recent hospital visits... Take care Grandpa!


McCalls 8001 size 5
'slow' bird caught this worm, one year later!

//Saturday//
Patience paid off... this item is coming in the mail. It was November 2010 when I saw one I really liked but wasn't the right size or anywhere near what I'd pay for it.... I'm very happy thinking about making this coat!

Pants are on the agenda for tomorrow. The fabrics are coming out of the dryer now. The last pants that are not terribly highwater on her were 21.5 inches before they were hemmed at top and bottom... may need to extend that just a tiny bit more... not much, though. Will need to locate my elastic tonight, as well... and see if a trip to town will be needed or not. Miss Judy at work wanted to see Esme again. She could not believe she was that much bigger than she was in March. Oh yes, she is!

Because she can't read yet - I can report here that Esme's birthday and Christmas surprises came in the mail today. They are tiny, but detailed - and she will love them. The day is approaching fast - less than two weeks. I still need to get frosting for her cake, and some paint for another gift. We have plenty of balloons and candles for the cake... maybe another practical gift like more socks. I had a package hidden around here the next size up... can't find it! Will have to look harder. //found// all I had to do was complain loudly to the air.. and the next time I opened the same box - I saw them. ??


//Sunday// Pants! Working on them. I really had enough of everything, so we decided to stay home and keep warm. I am cutting out a trial pair of pants and ready to start piecing them now. I'll want to dig in my stash later and if there isn't something to 'trial' the coat pattern (when it gets here) with I might buy a few yards of plain red fabric. That always gets used here or there, and can combine with the red and white striped fabric I've been keeping stashed.


The pants pattern is Simplicity 6121 (altered for less flare)
same pattern I made her blue coat in July from.

This pattern is different than all of her other pants in that it has elastic only in the back - and a flat waistband up front. That is a challenge -- going to attempt.

I had a very typical - no that is not our child that just did that.. oh yes, it was...type of thought. Typical, for us, in that she is always surprising us. She was playing the new xylophone from Grandma and then she hit two notes in succession that perked my ears. I was cooking around the corner. It perked her ears, too. Then I hear - straight out of a Simpsons episode - dance of the sugar plum fairies followed by 'Maggie - quit that racket!'.. and she repeated that sequence five times before coming and telling me I had to pretend to be Homer so she could 'do it right.' *facepalm* My child. Our child. Who has been watching Simpsons religiously for several years... And she still really likes the idea that she could be Maggie Simpson (she knows how to type that on her computer now and pretends she is Maggie when she types it). She already has an alter ego! And an ear for a tune...

The other one was more fun and normal - she took the xylophone sticks over to me about ten minutes later and looked at me, looked at them... they are round balls with long wooden sticks on them. She pulls her chair stool up to me where I am cutting up vegetables and sits down prim and proper with her knees crossed and holds the sticks with the round ends up and moves them up and down vertically... while adjusting something invisible with one hand every once in a while. She looks up at me and adjusts imaginary glasses. "I'm knitting. I'm knitting a blue dress. See?" Again. My child. imitating me. And making me feel like some Grandma out of a 1940s postcard!

Some days you just have to shake your head.. laugh.. and know she gets it from the both of you.

Blue yoke shirt jacket, sunflowers and more

The first of the sunflowers is starting to open. They are 'Lemon Ice' heirloom breed, gotten free with one of our squash seeds.


The other tremendous pumpkin in the garden is starting to turn orange


The pattern is Simplicity 6121.

I received it in the mail yesterday, and worked one up last night. I'm not happy with the collar :( Collars are definitely something I will have to work on. The pattern had no 'stand' or small band that goes between the collar and the shirt... but I might have to make one for the second try. I might also have cut the collar on the bias.. but didn't. The yoke's points will need to be worked on better, too... but considering the medium amount of care I placed on making them last night they turned out better than expected.



She swears it is not too long for her and that it is a jacket for *brr* cold. I did think the sleeves were extremely well designed. They were easy to set in and also move nicely when she does.


It goes down to her knees and she wore it for about fifteen minutes until I told her it was too hot for it outside


The yoke fabric is an Aunt Grace scrapbag print.



I'll have to practice the sort of pattern quite a bit more - but making the buttonhole by hand worked much better than any work on the machine has done.


Bunny, our Staffordshire, finds a duckie in her water dish and is amused.


The fence is being 'eaten' by the other squash plants. See the one growing right ON the lightweight fence? I think it is a Turk's turban, but it might be a Jarrahdale. I hope it survives. It might rot there, though :(

//NOTE// : More imagination antics today. Esme found a pink puppy watch that was a Happy Meal item a friend at work gave her - and she held up one little finger and said 'Oh, I got 15 minutes - I have to go to work!' and went out the door. She came back in (because we didn't follow) and said 'OH NO! There is a monster out there.' We said 'oh, okay.. , out on the porch? Maybe you shouldn't go out there, then.' To that, she grabbed a 'bazooka' type toy that was in her toybox and said 'This will work.' She went back out on the porch and pretended to have a fight with the monster. Mark said 'that's my girl - don't settle for hiding in the house, get that monster!' Later she was filling a small wagon up with water in our bathtub and saying 'I got my coffee.. oops! I dropped my coffee! It's all gone! I need more!' over and over... I am pretty sure it was a comment on Mama for drinking so many cups ;)

She also was a half-terror at her grandparents, asking for all food under the sun after she had already eaten. She did eat some of it.. which was decent. The visit ended in embarrassment for her. I was most upset that she did not even SAY anything at all... we have been working on it but it is just going to take heaps of patience, mostly on Mama's side of the issue. I marched her home, got her cleaned up and gave her a cup of milk to drink while she watched Clifford. That worked as sneakily planned. She went to sleep on our bed and we went downstairs to can our tomatoes and get ready to jar up the pickles which have been soaking in brine and vinegar for 8 days. There are eighteen half-pints sitting on the table and more in the pressure canner starting to heat up.