Friday Night Sewing and Shopping

I made it through my first week and it was great! Don't get me wrong — I'm tired and thankful it's Friday and the weekend, but I'm looking forward to going back on Monday. Hopefully, in a new outfit. ;-)

Speaking of which, after shopping (details below), I did a quick straightening up of the cutting table and then cut out another Burda skirt. I decided not to press my luck on sewing tonight lest I turn an easy skirt into a skirt from hell so that's the extent of my Friday Night Sew-In but at least I spent some time in the sewing room. I'll sew it in the morning. In case you can't tell, it's brown. I used the fabric for a jacket 3 years ago and the skirt was cut from the scraps. Less than one full yard. That's another bonus about losing weight — my clothes use less fabric. The jacket is too big now so I won't have a suit. But I always liked the fabric so I'm glad to get a skirt from it.

When talking about the floral twill skirt I just made, I forgot to mention that I added a kick pleat to the center back seam, so I could walk. I'm doing that again here. I just eyeballed the addition I taped on.

Now for the fun stuff. I had to run to Walmart tonight, a phrase I think I say at least 3 times a week. I decided to go to the smaller one since it's next door to Beall's (a Florida department store) to see what they had to offer. I took some cell phone pics, so the quality isn't too great and I'm sporting some mighty goofy looking expressions. lol

But before I get to those, here's the shoes I bought at Stein Mart the other night. These are black, but I lightened the photo so you could see some details. I have a white pair very similar to these which I like a lot, so I was happy to find their sisters in black. I wore these today for "jeans" day with my denim skirt and a Sunshine Top that has black in the print. I wore them all day and then shopped until 9 PM and my feet felt great. Definitely a winner.

Next up are these bone/nude sandals. I'm still on the fence. I like them because they are VERY comfortable and neutral, but they are also on the verge of fuddy-duddy. What do you think? But some days I don't care and am only interested in the comfort factor, so I'll probably keep them. They were on sale for less than $30 so it's not like they are a huge investement.

Necklaces from both Stein Mart and Beall's. I could've spent $500 on "cheap" jewelry at either store. They both have a great selection and very reasonably priced.

I think this one is my favorite. I love all the colors and the dangly bits.What looks red is really coral, so that's my color too.

OK, goofy picture time. I did not buy this. It makes me look like a tree trunk. But I liked the interesting cowl neckline. It's double-layer and very deep cowl plunge.

Here I am with my hand down inside the cowl pulling it outward. Hard to tell, though.

I didn't buy this combo either. This is a Petite size and the skirt was still too long on me. The print looks black in these pics but it's really both brown and black and the bottom edges of both the top and the skirt are dark brown.

I hiked the skirt up to my bra, hiked the top so that the "stripe" hit me under the bust and then threw on a short-sleeve brown cascading cardi. This actually looks pretty good now. I bought the cardigan. Yes, I could sew one but I can't knit and this one has nice ribbed edges that I can never duplicate with a sewing machine. I think this will get a lot of wear since it's short-sleeved and brown.

This is a purple sweater. It looks horrible and felt very suffocating. I didn't buy it. I was also wearing it over my Sunshine Top because I was too lazy to get completely undressed again.

And for a good laugh — Hoochie Mama Debbie. NOT office appropriate. Didn't buy this one either.

I don't have pics yet of what I did buy, but except for one blouse, it's pretty boring. The cardi you saw above, plus another brown cardi/twinset, waist-length. I bought a dress too, but I'm just thinking about it and not sure I'm keeping it. Same for a couple more of the Stein Mart pieces. I'll try them all on again over the weekend and make some decisions. Plus I'll get a better sewing plan in the works, including maybe reworking Vogue 1250 and using a print. The black "muslin" I made earlier is way too big in the back now so I'm going to need to remove the extra width I added. I'm tempted to re-trace it and sew it as-is.

Lot of grand plans. I'll see what actually comes to be after the skirt is done.

Oh, and one more comment about pantyhose. I didn't wear any today with my denim skirt, of course, and OMG I was FREEZING by the end of the day. So cold that I turned off my A/C in the car for the ride home. And the outside temp was in the mid-90s if that tells you anything. I keep the house about 77-78. I think the office is 74-ish. It makes a huge difference to my bare legs. The girl — OK, she's in her 30s (I know because I overheard her telling her birthdate to someone and I felt old) so she's a WOMAN but she looks younger — who sits near me keeps a shawl at her desk, which is almost like a blanket. (Did you follow all that?) I think she's on to something. ;-)