Rain Rain Go AWAY!

Where is this place called The Sunshine State? It's been raining here for almost a week. And by rain, I mean ALL DAY POURING CATS AND DOGS. It *never* rains here more than a few hours at a time. Even during a Hurricane. The forecast for the next 5 days? Rain. And more rain. Seriously, I haven't seen this much rain day after day, night after night, in the 20 years we've lived here. It's making me crabby and sleepy. I haven't seen sunshine in days.

The dogs are going stir crazy because we've only made mad dashes outside to "take care of business" but they have no interest in staying outside anyway. They think they do when we head to the door but then they step one foot out and run for cover. I feel the same way. And I have a football game to go to tomorrow night. Ugh. At least I bought a new huge umbrella the other week because it was in school colors and I know where it is. (Dripping wet in my garage.)

OK, I feel (a little) better now. We really do need the rain because we've been in a record drought for years, but the upside of a drought is the great weather every day. I'm missing that.

So, needless to say I haven't made one iota of progress in the sewing room. All I want to do is take naps. If only I could. But I did sew the waistband onto the J Stern Women's Jeans pattern after dinner tonight and that helps the muslin a little. I still will have to add to the crotch length and remove leg length, but I'm optimistic that I'll work out these and my usual fit issues and end up with some nice jeans. It's going to be slow going though so don't expect instant gratification. ;-)

Here's a quick but terrible pic, with one knee forward. You can see my actual knee level marked by the red line and the pattern knee level in black on the muslin. You can see that I'm standing on at least 4 inches of extra length. And you can also see the tummy bulging over the wide elastic holding up the muslin. Feel free to ignore that.



Here's the only other movement in the sewing room this week - my fabrics from Fabricmart arrived yesterday. Left to right: poly/Lycra matte jersey, rayon/Lycra jersey, stretch poplin, ITY jersey, stretch cotton. It's nearly summer so my heart is leaning toward aquas and greens as it seems to do around this time each year.



A number of people commented asking for more information on "wearable" poly knits. I wish I had the answer, but it's a crap shoot for me. And it really depends on your own tolerances too. Many people can't wear poly knits ever. I can usually tell what will work for me by the feel but since I can't feel the fabric when buying online, I do end up with some winter-only fabrics. The print on the left above is one for winter. It just feels warm and heavy when I pick it up. The print second from the right feels lighter and drapier, like it will work for summer. The ITY knits seem to be mostly the "good" polys. I've had the most luck with them.

Truthfully, though, *anything* is torture to wear here in West Central Florida in August when the humidity is a steady 150% and you start dripping the moment you set one toe outside. Cottons do breathe better but they stay wet and icky. The good polys wick the moisture away from the skin and the evaporation process is actually slightly cooling, as if anything is cool here in August. ;-) My favorite summer knit fabric is a high quality rayon/Lycra knit. They feel cool to the touch, breathe, and wear like iron through multiple washings. I tend to buy some of all that I find in the colors/prints I like.