Simplicity 2452: Two and a Half Days Left

There was no sewing yesterday. Tyler and I dealt with the insurance company, emptying the car, supervising the tow truck, and arranging a rental car. I never did get a nap, and fell into bed around 7:30 PM and slept straight through to 2 AM, at which point I got up and grumbled because I missed the opening NFL game. Then I was awake for a little while and watched some of Project Runway, until I fell asleep again. So, all in all, yesterday was a wash.

Tyler's doing well, spirit-wise. Of course he's not happy that his car is wrecked but he's not as bummed out as I thought he'd be, which in turn makes me feel a lot better too. He's already looking forward to the next car. lol But that won't happen for a while since this one has to be sorted out first and he's returning to Yuma AZ in a couple of weeks for a 6-week stint. He'll also be promoted to Lance Corporal while he's in AZ, which means a little more money toward the next car payment. By the time he's back from AZ, we'll be thinking about Thanksgiving so maybe I can drive north again and do another round of car shopping and turkey-eating with him. ;-)

This morning I was up early after all that sleep and sewed together the muslin. Below is Round 1 of alterations. I started with a 16 and then did a morph between Fast Fit for full tummy and another book I can't remember at the moment for the FBA (which is essentially the "seam allowance method," if you're familiar with that).

As you can see, there was a need for Round 2 of alterations. The full tummy adjustment gave me plenty of room across waist and hips, but there was not nearly enough room for the bust.

At that point, I had to take a break for a haircut appointment, picking up the rental car, and a lunch date with my sons. It's very hard to eat low-carb in a Mexican restaurant but I did very well. No tortillas, rice, beans, or churros for me. ;-)

When we returned from lunch, I went back to almost the starting point of the front side panel. I removed the full tummy adjustment because now I was going to use the Palmer/Pletsch princess seam FBA and that would add width all the way down. I did keep the seam allowance "bump out" at bust level. 

Here's my re-altered (and completely mangled) pattern pieces. At this point, I think there's more tape than tissue. As soon as I get off the computer, I'm going to re-cut these pieces and sew them onto the remains of the first muslin and evaluate. If it's OK, then I'll add the sleeves and see where I am. Fingers crossed that I can cut the real fabric tonight, and maybe even start sewing it.

Tyler is leaving tomorrow around 6 AM. I'll be up to see him off and then I'll be spending all day in the sewing room, hopefully emerging with a finished new jacket.