Joann is not good-for-nothing

PATTERN SALES!!!

Joann is having a sale this weekend on patterns. McCall's are $1.99 and Vogues are $3.99. Apparently in a few weeks, they will have Simplicity patterns for $1, which is pretty cheap. They're kind of sneaky about making you feel like you've gotten A REALLY GOOD DEAL on the receipt, because they print the retail price (the patterns I got are between $12.95 and $20) even though they always sell McCall's and Vogue patterns for 40% off retail (my patterns would have been between $7.77 and $12 most of the time) so it still is a REALLY GREAT DEAL, but not quite as great as you have proof of it being. I wonder if they do that so wives can show their bread-winning husbands that it would have been downright wasteful to have not bought patterns at this sale. My mom used to do, as a sort of entertaining I Love Lucyesque skit, some fuzzy math of this sort for my dad when it came to sales.

Anyway, here is what I bought. I hope to make some of these some day.


McCall's 2094

"8 great looks, 1 easy pattern" A fairly basic looking shirt pattern.


McCall's 6035.

This one only has 4 great looks, and is also a shirt pattern, but with princess seams and different sleeve variations.

I'm not sure how princess seams will work on my body. I'm very hourglassy. One of the things I find most difficult about buying clothes is finding a button-down shirt that accommodates my bust while at the same time showing off my waist. Usually if it fits at my waist, my bust is busting out. So, one of the most exciting things about sewing my own clothes is being able to tweak things to fit me. It seems like quite a challenge though, so I got this:


McCall's 6044

A men's shirt to make for my boyfriend, so I can try making sleeves and collars and things without having to worry about darts and princess seams. I don't know how thrilled my boyfriend is about getting measured though. He's probably also not excited about faking enthusiasm. We'll see.

I also got some dress patterns.


McCall's 4769

A nice shirtdress.



Vogue 8443

A nice dress with a v-neck that I fear may be too low for my comfort and for my foundation garments.


Vogue 8379

A nice wrap dress (universally flattering! "very easy"!) which turns out to be the 2nd best pattern of 2008 according to Pattern Review. I had thoroughly researched the McCall's patterns before I went to Joann, just in case it was a madhouse, thinking I would refrain from spending the exorbitant $3.99 on the Vogue patterns, but it was not at all mad and I thought, what the heck, what's $3.99? and started browsing he Vogue catalog and was clever or lucky enough to pick up what seems to be an awesome pattern. Good work, me!

I also bought some material for the McCall's dress:



It's 100% cotton, but it has a weirdish texture which makes it seem a little cheap. It was inexpensive ($4.49/yard) and I will feel less bad about screwing it up than if it weren't so uncostly. I only fear it will look cheap when I sew it up. But I'm doing my best to keep in mind that Mistakes Will Be Made.

I also bought a bunch of muslin to make muslins with, and a wrist pincushion, and stuff to transfer pattern markings accurately onto fabric, and thread for the dress, and some orange Tic-Tacs. I always buy candy at Joann for some reason.

I'm not sure what to do next. I ordered Wendy Mullin's Sew U, and I thought I would do a mini Julie and Julia/Gertie and Vogue with that book, but I have the dress pattern and the material...Maybe I'll wait for the book to come before I decide.

My boyfriend just told me to stop blogging and start sewing. I can't, having made this unbreakable decision to wait, but I'll be good and wash my stripey dress fabric now. And then I'll just sit and admire my slowly growing stash.

blah blah blog

Here's what happened:

I have another blog which I started when I moved to Mexico. I stayed in Mexico for far less time than I expected to and then I didn't do much for four years. After a while, I was just writing posts every year around my birthday. I missed last year. I guess that blog is dead now.

I don't know that I have so much to write now, but I got a sewing machine from my boyfriend for Christmas and I started reading a bunch of sewing blogs for inspiration and advice. This afternoon, I was bored and all out of new posts to read, so, as a silly sort of game, I was thinking of punny sewing blog names (change the word "so" in a phrase to "sew") and checking to see if they existed yet on blogger. Most of the obvious ones are already taken. My boyfriend said, "So long and thanks for all the fish," which is the title of a Douglas Adams novel and which makes absolutely no sense if you change "so" to "sew" which is probably why it's still available and also why I decided it was perfect for the sewing blog I previously only had the vaguest notion of creating. (The Foggiest Notion would be a good blog name for a sewingperson in San Fransisco.)

I have small hopes for this blog. Mostly I hope it will be a catalyst for getting projects done. I have lots of ideas right now. I have less money than is ideal. I do have a seam ripper, so I feel okay about making mistakes. I do like the idea of a blog by someone who is just starting out, because many of the blogs I follow are by women (and one man) who are already quite accomplished and are doing things I can't imagine trying. Like sleeves. I've already finished two projects, but I will save them for a future post so this isn't one of those sad blogs gathering virtual cobwebs in some dusty corner of the internet. Wish me luck.