New Patterns and a Long Island Cheese Pumpkin

Did I quilt yesterday? No, I did not. My eyes were really bothering me. The air is very dry here and I stirred up a bunch of dust the other day while cleaning. The cotton batting also tends to irritate my eyes when I am quilting. I used some moisturizing eye drops and my eyes feel better today.

I spent several hours yesterday morning catching up on paperwork. The husband organized receipts for me to include with what I take to the accountant because we will get a tax credit for installing the wood boiler. That was his project and he is great about keeping records.

After lunch, I sorted through and organized my garment fabrics. I have a rough idea of what is in the stash, but every so often, it helps to make sure everything is where I can find it.

And then I spent a couple of hours tracing and re-tracing patterns:

  1. I did not realize that the “full bust” Love Notions pattern pieces included additional ease at the waist and hips in addition to the FBA. I think I heard Whitney mention that in one of her videos. I also remembered that one of my blog readers—I am sorry I cannot remember your name!—saying that her preference was to use the standard pattern piece without the FBA but to add a boob bump. I have been meaning to get out the Laundry Day Tee pattern and re-trace my size using the standard pattern piece with a boob bump to see if I like the top better that way. The ones I made last summer fit well in the upper bodice, but they are voluminous below the bust. I pulled all the pattern pieces and compared the full bust piece to the standard piece. The full bust piece does, indeed, have several inches of extra ease below the bust. I don’t need that, so I’ll make one up with the standard pattern piece.

  2. I am trying something with the Butterick 6754 basic blouse pattern. The one I made fits reasonably well, although it could have a bit more ease in the shoulders. I have broad shoulders and that is always a place I have trouble. (That may be why I like raglans.) The muslin I made a few weeks ago used the D-cup pattern piece. Knowing that bras have “sister sizes”—a 36C bra can be similar in fit to a 38B—I am going to make another muslin going up a size but using the C-cup pattern piece. That should give me the additional room I need in the shoulders without making the bust any bigger. I might still have to tweak the pattern a bit, but I won’t know until I try.

  3. I traced the New Look 6990 raglan blouse pattern to make up at some point.

I bought a top last summer that I would like to recreate, but I haven’t seen a pattern for a similar style until recently and I’ve been too lazy to reverse engineer mine. The Scroop Patterns Miramar Dress and Top is what I need.

I bought and downloaded the pattern and will take it to the copyshop this week to have it printed on their large format printer.

[In addition to raglans, I am trying to add more V-necks to my wardrobe. DD#2 has long maintained that they are flattering on me—and they probably are—but most of the time, they dip way too low for my comfort.]

I’ve been working on Squash Squad block #2 in the evenings. This is the Long Island Cheese Pumpkin.

I’m not following the pattern exactly. I don’t have thousands of dollars’ worth of Sue Spargo threads in my stash, so I am using what I have on hand. This has been a great learning experience, though, as each block incorporates many different stitches. I am not quite sure why my pumpkin is listing to the right, but oh, well. It’s an embroidered vegetable. It’s supposed to have some personality.

I’m close to being done with the embroidery kit that Tera gifted to me, too. That one is a Primitive Gatherings pattern. It consists of twelve 5” blocks. They’ll be appliquéd onto a flannel background.