Christmas Outfits and Christmas Concerts

AnnaBeth had a plain white sweater (a hand-me-down from a neighbor) that we decided to embellish to match her new blue skirt . First I sewed on a blue flower trim, purchased at JoAnn's:



Took off the front fastener -- a white button and loop -- and added dyed -to-match ribbon in its place. Then gave the entire thing a thorough coating of cat fur:


The only way I could get the cat off of the sweater was to hang it vertically:


Sweet pose:



Fashion model pose:


The rosette on the skirt was a ready-made dyed-to-match item -- the fabric and trims were from the Casa Collection at JoAnn Fabrics.


They sang in the morning service and also in a concert in the evening. Both girls had solos.


Post-concert photos:



Thalia decided to wear her hair up because, "it doesn't feel like a performance without a bunch of hairpins sticking in your head." Her friends from Irish Dance will know what she means.

I'm Forever Sewing Bubbles

Another satin bubble skirt, this time for AnnaBeth, who is at a dress rehearsal for a choir concert and thus unavailable to model:



Ottobre 4/2005 #33 "Puff-ball skirt" in a size that doesn't exist. The smallest size was 134, which is fine for height but way too big around. So I altered it to make it narrower -- not exactly difficult since the shapes of the pices are pretty basic.

Also, I did the lining differently than the pattern. I went ahead and made darts in the lining (the pattern uses elastic around the waist to take in the extra fabric). I handstitched the lining to the skirt along the waist (the pattern leaves them as 2 totally separate pieces, attached only at the hem -- each is supposed to have its own button or hook fastening). And then I put some elastic in the back, sewn into the lining plus into the grosgrain ribbon used at the waist (the pattern calls for petersham rather than grosgrain, but I didn't have petersham).

All of which give a smoother lining next to AnnaBeth's waist:


Plus I think it will be easier to get on and off having the lining attached to the skirt rather than having to fasten the lining and then the skirt over it.

Thus ends our adventures in bubble skirts for this Christmas. Although Ottobre has at least one more bubble skirt pattern ....

Next, to the fabric store to buy trims to embellish a sweater. I can't do that, though, until the last Girl Scout comes and picks up the rest of her fall nut order ... the mom said she'd stop by this morning, and, yoohoo, she has precisely 30 minutes until the morning is over. At least I have plenty to do here while waiting.

Seamstress Rats

Get all of the Pattern Ease scraps from the sewing projects.



This is on the top floor of their condo. By morning it will have disappeared into various kleenex boxes. Amy seems to be the interior designer of the two; she is delighted to get new materials for the nest and spends much of her time rearranging everything.

Work in Progress Wednesday

Sunday afternoon I was standing in a checkout line and the cashier asked if I had to go to work the next day. I said, "Yeah." And AnnaBeth was scandalized, since I wasn't actually going to work that she knew of. Because, you know, mostly we just watch television and eat junk food all day.

Anyway, when I've managed to rouse myself from my leisure life this week, another skirt appeared for Thalia:



Ottobre 5/2009 #12 "Very Twirly" skirt, version B, in heavy satin. We shortened it about 8 cm. And I don't think she's planning to wear it with those socks:



By the way, the directions say to reach through the opening you left in the side seam of the lining in order to turn the whole thing inside out so you can pin the lining to the shell and sew them together to make it "bubble" -- just so you know, you really need to do it that way. If you try to just flip the pieces together, sew it up, then turn it through the opening you'll end up with a topological wonder, somewhat like a sewn version of a Klein bottle.

Also, I thought it was sort of odd that you pleat the lining. But it came out reasonably well. Even the zipper was acceptable, if you don't mind that the yoke-seam match-up slipped.



I know there's some slick little trick to getting that to match up perfectly, but I can't remember what it is. Maybe next time ... which will be in a couple of days when I start AnnaBeth's Christmas outfit.

In the meantime, it's time to mix up some more homemade rat food:



It doesn't have the tofu or blackstrap molasses at this point. Or the millet, which has disappeared from the cupboard.

Speaking of tofu, the checkout cashier for that shopping trip tried the conversational gambit of asking if I'd tried that brand of tofu before (Nasoya), since she thought it was a really good brand and really enjoyed it. I just said, "No," because I wasn't sure how she'd take it if I said, "Actually, I'm buying it as rat food."

I seem to be struggling with making small talk with clerks this week. Maybe I should pretend to talk on a cell phone while I'm checking out, and save us all the bother of trying to say coherent things to each other.

Cozy Evenings Have Arrived

The air is suddenly quite cold. Rick got home from Arkansas this evening, and built a fire in the fireplace. We make homemade pizza and watched White Christmas. Now Rick is teaching AnnaBeth to play Gin Rummy, I'm knitting, and Thalia is curled up on the couch with Harry Potter.

Also, today the Christmas baking commenced -- 8 dozen cookies made for Thalia's choir's fundraiser. Tomorrow the kids will assemble plates of cookies to sell.

By the way, her new skirt fits, but it's a lot more A-line than we expected.



Also, she had the best turnout of any of her troop while standing on the stage ... force of habit from standing in line at Irish Dance, I guess.

My horoscope says I'll be vindicated for a choice I've recently made

Possibilities:

Even though I have a dental appointment later this morning, I didn't floss my teeth last night. Maybe that will turn out okay.

OR

This will actually fit Thalia, since I just made size 36 as is with no fitting or alterations or whatnot.



Ottobre 5/2008 #2 "Buttoned denim skirt" I left off the belt loops and belt since she said she'd not be tucking her top into the waistband anyway. Which also makes it okay that the topstitching on the upper waistband is really uneven (well, no, it's not okay, but no one much will see it). Also, I didn't do the topstitching in high contrast thread or do anything much to emphasize it -- I would've done a triple stitch to make it show up more, but I was in too much of a hurry and this has quite a bit of topstitching (the skirt is in 7 sections, and then the waistband and hem band are also topstitched, as is the button band), so I just zipped through it with regular thread and a regular straight stitch.

It's sort of cool that the only thing I had to buy to make this is the buttons. I used some Hello Kitty fabric for the waistband facing.


Okay, I gotta go brush my teeth and find out which decision will be vindicated. Or maybe neither one will. Yikes!

Work in Progress Wednesday

A sock in Trekking Pro Natura, which is wool and bamboo. Very nice yarn.



The cat has been trying to develop a closer relationship with the rats.



I think the main reason she wants in that room is because the kids have been spending time in it with the door closed.


The Christmas tree is up, but undecorated. Well, it has lights on it because it's the sort of artificial tree that comes with lights built in.

And the kids are dealing with the gigantic amount of Girl Scout Fall Product items I just picked up from our Neighborhood Leader (or whatever you call the Neighborhood person).




Tomorrow we'll hand out all of the nuts and candies to the appropriate Scouts during their Christmas party/Court of Awards. Speaking of which, Thalia's leader sent out a reminder that since it's CoA the girls should wear their vests and white tops and khaki bottoms. Which would work better if Thalia had khaki pants. So she had the clever idea that I could make a skirt. Tonight. Snicker snicker snort. If you know me, you know that my first thought was, "who cares what they want you to wear -- it's a suggestion, not a requirement, for pete's sake."

But, you know, I buy bottomweights in standard colors whenever they're on sale, and wash them up so they're ready to go .... I'm teetering on the brink of doing something really stupid here. Except the dining room table (where I usually cut things out) is covered with nuts. Because the kids didn't want to sort nuts in the living room because of the rats. Although I think the rats would love to help sort nuts, although their sorting criteria would probably be different than ours.

Anyway, I may or may not be getting any sleep tonight.