Independence Day Recap

Independence Day was a sewing related day, but one without actual machine time (rats!) I did end up going to both Jo-Ann's and Hancock's, though, and managed to pick up some more "must have" fabrics, including yards of black 100% linen, some brown and turquoise rayon/linen blend, a couple of beautiful rayon prints, and some Chinese-style brocade. I couldn't help it. Jo-Ann's had all clearance 50% off, plus all linens were 60% off. And Hancock's had a bunch of fabrics for $2 per yard. I'm still in the process of washing everything, so no picture yet.

Hancock's also had Simplicity 5 for $5, so I succumbed. I bought 3875 (yet another Duro-type dress), 3756 (a Threads pant collection), 3678 (a cute Threads pattern for knits), 4038 (skirts) and 4275 (another Threads pattern).

My main grievance of the day is that Hancock's is so doggone slow. I swear, it took ages to get one cut of fabric measured (and it wasn't even a cut, I took it all), then I repeated the process of waiting at the cash register. It's not like there was a line, I was the only one up there. Yet it took forever (well, 15 minutes at least) to give someone my money because no one was even at the register! Hello?!. If I were a dishonest person, I could have walked out and no one would have been the wiser. I realize this is a company in Chapter 11, but please! Does your staff have to be so slow? Granted there were only 2 employees working but there seemed to be no urgency to their efforts. I'll always pick Jo-Ann's over Hancock's for this reason alone.

Anyway, the rest of the afternoon and evening kind of drifted away, although I did work on tracing off Loes Hinse's Gore Skirt Group, view B. I cut it from the fabric Thursday evening, sewed the 6 gores together last night, and have it almost finished today. I used the brown and white tropical poly that I bought at Jo-Ann's Memorial Day sale.

The skirt is a nice pattern that I think I'll be making up several more times. But beware, Loes' claim of 4" of hip ease is a bit misleading, at least to me. Loes obviously places the hip at its traditional location of 7"-9" below the waist. Umm, that's not where the widest part of my body is, in spite of the weight loss thus far. Good thing I did a little flat pattern measuring and chose L, instead of the S indicated on the back of the envelope!!

Other changes: I took off 1 1/2" inches of length at the tummy area, and ended up taking off another 1 1/8" at the bottom during the hemming process. The completed skirt is 33" long, and I'm a short-waisted 5'4". In other words, my height is in my legs. So keep this in mind if you're planning on using this pattern--it's long. I think that was more of the style in 2003, when this pattern was first published. But don't say I didn't tell you.

I'll also post a picture of this one as soon as I can put it on the dress form. This other skirt is still on it because, yes, it still needs to be hemmed. However, I'm going to leave it as a UFO until September, when I should be at maintenance weight. In other words, I think it's going to need to have the side seams altered down. Since the colors are perfect for fall, I'll just wait and do the side seams and hems at one time.