Wrapping up Memorial Day weekend

First off, I rolled my trusty purple 10-sided die to pick a winner for my skirt give-away:

With only two entrants, I assigned all odd numbers on the die to the first, and all evens to the second.  It came up an even, which means the skirt goes to Sophie Miriam!   The elephant is included to add photographic interest -- it's a brooch I "won" on eBay not long ago.   At some point I'll post the results of last month's brooch-buying spree: I've never really worn them before, and now that I have them, I am uncertain exactly how to go about it.  (I know, I know, just pin it on your shirt, stupid!)

I finished my first version of Butterick 6574 yesterday, and could have photographed it today but I am celebrating the long weekend by being as sloppy as possible, and can't be bothered to get myself photo-ready.  I've also worn my glasses ALL DAY today, which hasn't happened since I got contacts 25 years ago.   Until recently, I didn't wear my glasses at all, but I was cautioned about this at my last eye exam, and I am trying to do better.   I still don't feel like "me" with glasses on, even though I do like the pair I have.

Anyhow, the second version of Butterick 6574 is coming along -- I just got the bodice sewed together and the seams graded and clipped.  I don't think I can finish tonight, but hopefully it'll be done before next weekend.   I won't know if my fitting tweaks hit the mark until I'm done -- for some reason I have to have the thing completely finished to really assess these things.  


Here's the fabric I'm using.  I've had it for ages -- I think I got it from High Fashion Fabric a few years ago.   It was only 2.5 yards, and the pattern calls for 3 yards, so I had to do some careful laying-out to get all the pieces in there.  I have some peach poly/cotton batiste to line it with.  I wanted to use green, but the piece I had wasn't big enough!

One last sewing-related note:  I picked up Sandra Betzina's Fast Fit: Easy Pattern Alterations for Every Figure from Borders this afternoon.   I think this one may be more helpful for my particular fitting issues.  Now that I've fumbled around with alterations on my own, books on the subject seem a bit more accessible, so I'm ready to actually learn something.  :)