Vogue 8810

My apologies.


You know I like to blog a lot.


Truth is I am not firing on all cylinders at the moment and my half days feel like full days right now.


Yesterday was a great day by the way. The whole day.


Some sewing friends and I met up at one friend's house (where she has the most beautiful and well equipped sewing room of all time) for an afternoon of sewing and then a BBQ.  This was my first social day out and man did I ever enjoy it.


I knit and gave my two cents worth on Sheila's tissue fit of two jackets, she makes beautiful jackets, and checked out Cindy's version of this skirt, which I have been mulling over since last summer:

It's a pattern, like many others, you really need to see in person before you can make up your mind. I sort of thought initially that the pockets looked like I should be selling hotdogs at the game, you know to keep change, or with one of those coin dispenser things on a belt, but it's far classier than that.


This, I realize, would be a perfect golf skirt, you could keep your tees and a couple of spare golf balls in there. Maybe some snacks, and it is an excellent housework skirt.


I could tear around here, when I am back to tearing around, picking up pins and putting them in those pockets before someone found them in their foot, spare buttons, single socks, dried dog food that someone named Rascal has transported to another room.


The possibilities are endless. Classy stuff. And I could make it in denim, which I still have left overs off.


And what do you know Vogue patterns are on sale on BVM this morning so obviously the sewing gods are right there with me on this one. Into the cart and checked out.


But that's all later.


Always one mental project ahead.


Which brings me to Vogue 8810.


Here it is, you tell me what you think and I will tell you what I think:

Old Navy belt instead of the tie in a bow over my stomach. I am not crazy.

Requisite bossy subject shot. BTW about that rope. There is no 50 shades of grey going at at this house, you better believe that, (and it's not going to get read here either), but I was putting away the dog rope as part of my elaborate staging for the photo shoot.

OK what can I say about this dress:

• It was easy to make. That's where I am at the moment so that's a good thing.
• I added about a inch to the top and two to the skirt. It really is a straight skirt pattern with a top attached. It might be possible to jam them together and cut it out as one but there is a little shaping to the waistline on the skirt that I think is useful so I made it up as I was supposed to. Unusually.
• The tie if you have a concave stomach is made by top stitching on a casing above the waist seam. Just so you know. I threw the casing piece out.
• I used sort of heavish denim because it was $12 a meter cheaper than lighter denim, but maybe this was a shade heavy for the band treatment around the armholes. Sort of semi-flange armhole that is also fairly cut away - you can see that in the bossy, non-bondage shot.

OK now the thing is this is a straight skirt, 3 1/2" of ease across the hips which is fine in a straight skirt with seams and a strong zipper, but not quite the same when it is held together at the front with buttons.

This is always a problem with shirt dresses if they are narrow and I knew that going in but choose to ignore that prior knowledge.

It's a find standing up dress but you might want to think about carrying a sweater, or a large purse, or a small dog with you to put on your lap when you sit down.

I definitely wish I had made this in stretch denim, which would have been $12 more a meter.

As it is I spent considerable time this afternoon practicing sitting down positions in front of a mirror so no one would confuse me with Sharon Stone in that Basic Instincts, uncrossing her legs in the movie shot - not that I am confused with Sharon Stone a lot, not that I ever don't wear underwear.

You might want to think ahead about this and wear something that really could be mistaken as only underwear in this dress in case the dog jumps off your lap and you cross your legs.

It's that kind of dress, and I do a lot of standing up.

So I like it, but wish it stretched.