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 :)

bit before I sew

Esme told me all about the big alphabet and animal book she gets to read now at school - she passed the letters test to get into reading instruction.  I'm very proud of her, which in a way seems a bit silly because I knew she could do it at the beginning of school.  She said she did not know her alphabet at the beginning of school (which, she did) and now she does, so now she can learn to read.  This is better than saying she could not read at all, when she can.  Good steps - and we will see how that progresses.

She told me about blue and gold hairclips with ribbons that the other girls have for blue and gold day.  I put yellow ribbons up in her hair around the tops of her braids and then braided them together.  I hope it lasts the day.  I need to get to the table and make some more clothes - the need-to-wash pile just keeps becoming more than the available to wear.  One of the two tshirts I bought as school clothes has already come apart in the sleeve, so I had to pull one of her handmade dresses out at the last minute when I saw it.  I have fabric set aside, and a new dress pattern that came in the mail that has a clever option between raglan or regular sleeves.  When I saw it, I had to get it... if you are a sewer a pattern that can choose regular or raglan sleeve construction is a head-tilter.. how did they do that?  I'll show you how.. it was actually fairly simple and elegant.

I should also go out to the garden today and check on the items that are left - lima beans, Daphne beans, Hopi String beans are starting to produce, cowpeas are producing in multitudes, the indian corn, the cucumbers and peppers... eventually we will need to mow much of it down and seed vetch to enrich the soil for next year. 

Happening around here...

Esme's reading skills are getting much better, and her math skills, as well.  I still don't know what if anything they are working on with her at school but she is diving deeper into her computer games like Starfall and PBS kids after school and calling them 'the best games ever.'  This morning she was standing at our kitchen counter eating her pre-bus snack and staring hard at the contents of the back of the counter while chewing.  I asked her what she was looking at, and she swallowed, then said out loud 'start with clean coffee maker and cold fresh water.'  She was reading the instructions on the coffee can.  She missed the word 'Always' and then said 'Steep by steep' for the 'step by step.'

 But, she can read fairly well - and it has become more and more evident the past few weeks as she notices writing on everything and is paying attention to what it says/could say to her.  She asked me why the drawings in her room from last year had tiny writing on the edges and why I didn't tell her it was there before -- it is my writing her name and date.  She got mad at me for that for several hours.. until I reminded her that she saw me write it back then and wasn't mad - so she shouldn't be mad about it now.  *roll eyes*

We started a chapter book last night on Daddy's half-mocking suggestion - thinking it would make her go to bed quicker.  Nope.. she was bouncing monkey style on her bed hanging from the canopy after the first few pages but I continued reading because she was interested in the story 'Wizard of Oz' and I could catch her eyes and get her to look at pictures or words here and there.  We read through the second chapter - and I asked her recap what had happened.  She told me she wanted Mom to redraw the pictures on new paper with colors, because they were black and white and rather roughly done.... I thwarted that with 'someday, not soon.'  She still doesn't get the concept of 'soon'... asked me about that the other day again - 'what is soon...'  'it is earlier than later, a few minutes, I'll get you out of the bathtub soon, etc..' 

We did some math the other day as well - she knows what the '+' and '=' means.  I think that is from Starfall as she is only getting 'trace the number' and 'draw one more shape' at school.  She piped up in one of our conversations where I had used the word 'addition' to tell me about those signs and that is what that is about, Mama.  She got almost every one of the one digit equations right that I asked her - and wrote me a couple as well including '2 + 20 = ?  Then she argued with me it could not be twenty-two... guess she felt that was cheating putting twenty and two together... then Mark said it really was, and I think I saw the 'light' in her eyes as she realized 'putting together'='addition' twenty-two...

I actually felt like I could start teaching her more about multiplication and other things a while back - she might be ready for it... but it might sabotage what they do at school although I don't know how....  it is so hard to tell because her homework still comes home 'color in the lines' and 'you didn't finish this' etc etc... She has the ability but I don't know how they are coming at her in the group of twenty-five.  I don't know if showing them what she can do will make them ignore what she needs help with (handwriting, by far.. she hates it) or push her harder like we do at home to get past the stubborn layer.   I made her finish one of the sheets that said 'not finished' last night with her homework and Mark thought it could be cruel... to add to her homework as much as I do .. but it doesn't seem cruel to me, because she is smart in those ways, and needs to be responsible as well, learn to complete things, to be neat, to write even if it seems hard, to follow the class rules etc.  That is what Kindergarten is going to be about for her, instead of learning 123 and ABC...

I should have been making her dress today because I close at the store tonight... but all I wanted was sleep...  had to write down a few of these before I forget them and wonder 'when' this happened.

Experimental corn crossings... August third

 This is the first third of the ornamental corn crossing.  This is the Smoke Signals, Pink Hopi and Mandan Bride mixed with last year's corn.  I think the Glass Gem had a hand in the one with the blue kernels, it was in the next plot and because I WANTED mixing, I did not shield any of them from each other.

notes: Pink Hopi and Mandan Bride were flour corns.  The corn from last year was a flint corn with some flour components.  The Smoke Signals, Glass Gem and Japonica were all flinty popcorns.  Most of this crop shows the flint or 'glass' kernel type.  There is one cob not pictured that was pulled a week or so ago that had more of the flour type kernel, larger, flatter and not as shiny.

Pink Hopi is showing through on this set.

 The Smoke Signals was the dark black vs. yellow and it shows up in several of the cobs.
The second cob from the left is nearly ideal, and will be passed through, as well as some of the more pink and purple kernels and some from the flour cob.  The Glass Gem is still to come. we will see how that turns out!

Esme had to show off that she helped me find the corn and shuck it in the field.

Dodecahedron ball and previous attempt

Brain relaxing with platonic solids... highly reccommended.
All finished now... ok actually I'm thinking of making more...
 not sure exactly what, different sizes, maybe a tetrahedron and then an icosohedron...

The second attempt in progress.. looks like it will be as it should.  I did ti all handsewn to avoid the same problem happening as last time.

Esme with the original attempt, made on the sewing machine.   It is still a very fun toy, but shaped more like a two sided star with a circle in the middle.  She likes it a lot and it does bounce well.  As I was making the second one she told Daddy I was 'practicing again.'   Touche.. Touche.

still here...bits

Still here, trying to adjust to the schedule and taking it easy, I guess.  I haven't done much in ways of projects over the week... listened to music on Spotify, mostly Celtic rock, whaler drum rock and other strange mix things...  Seven Nations, The Mahones, Great Big Sea (my old favorite), the Elders, Greenland Whalefishers, Dreadnoughts (the celtic one, not the rap one)...  I guess I didn't know that really was my kind of music - have always listened to Classical and I know the instruments are part of it in that style... unique sounds, beats and rhythyms.  And I was reading and listening to more physics lectures, French lessons... not my usual rush around get stuff done that is 'real' ... brain stretching maybe.. my own way of relaxing?  I know my mom wants me to call her.. had dreams the other night.. my sister sent me an instant message today asking for my phone number again (which has not changed in many years)...

Esme is not really wanting to go ALL week with school every week.. but she is excited about the weekend and not having to go, play Minecraft, watch cartoons etc... we'll see where she is again on Sunday.  That is my next day off... I do have things to get done, clothes to sew, house to clean... sort of just stretching my brain rope out until I get there.