What's on Zillie?

Zillie (my dressform) holds my in-progress, or in this case, stalled projects. I liked this fabric because it's all of my colors and a little sparkly too. But it's been in the stash for YEARS and so I'm not entirely sad to be tossing it. A little sad, yes, but onward and upward.

This is the pattern. The problems are there in the photo, if only I had paid more attention. But I wanted to try a different silhouette than my usual. Yeah, no. There is just way too much fullness and fabric at belly and below. Camouflage is one thing. Ridiculous added volume is another. Plus the way the print "landed" is also unfortunate.

From the side ... can you see how much width this thing adds? Would make an awesome maternity tent. ;-) Needless to say, I won't be finishing this one. And you won't be able to convince me otherwise.

Next up is KS 3764.

I'll be finishing this one, if only as a wearable muslin until the fabric disintegrates. Which, I'm guessing, won't be too long from now. This is also years-old stash, bought from a co-op. I think it's really cheap upholstery fabric. It's not a knit. Just a bunch of chenille on an open-weave kind of backing. Weird stuff. And I have purple too.

But the last time I made this KS pattern, I hacked it to make a RTW knock-off and I was much bigger than I am now so I had to trace smaller and start somewhere. Cheap upholstery fabric is as good a place to start as any.

It will be OK as a muslin. I really would like to make a leather moto jacket sometime soonish (like before 2016?), but I have no idea where to get good leather or how many hides I'd need, etc., etc. so that project will be a while before I even start. And then bright, shiny will likely distract me for a while along the way too. Maybe I can get Peter to shop leather for me??

I'm planning to finish the jacket this weekend and hopefully make something else that I actually like. The week whoooooshed by with the Monday holiday and I'm happy to be heading into another weekend. Maybe I'll even get through a few things on my list.

Thanks for all the very nice comments on my last post about the sneaky way to fix a gaping neckline. I'm not brilliant, though  ... just doggedly determined not to surrender. Hah.

A few personal notes ...

The job is still going splendidly. I really like my workgroup and what we're doing. No, it's not a creative design job but the money is the same and it's 100% stress/drama-free. At this stage in my life, that's much more important. I can be creative on my own time, right?

I've started looking for a new place for Alex and me to live. I love my city neighborhood and my 7-minute commute but this house and my landlord have major problems that can't be solved by me. I'm not in a hurry this time, so it may be months before anything actually happens on that front. But if you hear of any great Tampa rentals, let me know.

Not sure I mentioned it earlier, but the Marine was promoted to Sergeant. He's doing well but looking forward to getting out in 3 years. He has other life plans and wants to get at them. At least he's now only 6 hours away so we'll see each other more often between now and then.

I'm also now a quasi-grandma. My stepson and his girlfriend had a baby boy last week. Alex is beyond thrilled about being an uncle. I'm hoping to see them all soon. They live on the other side of Florida, about 3 hours away. I just need to figure out dog care. Alex's dad will be coming from VA to meet his grandson in a couple of weeks and Alex will drive over then to see them all.

And that about rounds out what I've been up to. And, Susanna, I haven't forgot you. Just slow-going around here.