At Her Leisure

Another weekend, another night of a 3 hour nap. Why does my body hate me so? Partly I think it was because Sophie decided to curl up on the bed with me, which she never does, so I slept lighter not wanting to disturb her. Alas. I woke up at 4 am and decided it wasn't worth my time to try to sleep again, but hoooooo boy do I have regrets right now. Thank the holy stars that coffee exists.

Friday, My boss kicked me out an hour early because I had one hour banked from when I was sick in March. Twist my rubber arm! I got straight into the car and went to the auction house (I had won a 12x18 cutting mat), and then to Walmart for groceries. I forget why I wanted to go to Walmart specifically, as I didn't get anything I couldn't have found at a different store, but whatever. I popped into 7-11 for a Slurpee too, and got home about 10 minutes before the sky opened up and there was a river running down the street woohoo!

Most exciting though, my pattern arrived! EEEEE! There were no English instructions, only French, but it was complete and factory folded as described. The lack of English instructions doesn't bother me at all, the illustrations are clear enough. My French is severely lacking, one day I must fix that.

On Saturday I pulled out the poplin and started cutting out the dress. It took a good long while because the kittens were stage 3 clingers and spent a goodly amount of time sitting on my fabric. I had to make sure everything would fit first, discovered one piece that I thought was poplin was a different fabric entirely, cut the skirt side/back first (the pictured skirt with the top is from the Liz dress, which I do not have, but I do have a gathered gored skirt pattern that I like), with Calcifer's "help", and I started sewing not long after. I even changed the serger threads from white to black and finished edges, who AM I?

Dinner was mashed potatoes and creamed kale (basically an alfredo sauce) which was tasty. Earlier in the day I had made granola, which was also tasty.

Yesterday I started sewing up the skirt as much as I could, and then it was time to do something about the collar situation which I had not prepared yet. I cut it from the bedsheets I'd salvaged some years ago, again with feline help. Pinned on the first layer of bias tape and decided to do a second as well, partly because there was a stain on the upper collar that would then be covered by it, and also because the collar is a statement itself, the double row of trim just makes it even more so. Later I cut the knot tie from a scrap of red silk and hand-stitched it. Currently it is just pinned in place but omg it's so stinkin' CUTE. Sleeves are up next, I just didn't want to uncover the serger again. Plus I need to run a whooooole bunch of gathering stitches, which should be perfect for my very tired brain tonight.

Also yesterday, I decided to start a new audiobook while I was sewing, and I am enjoying it SO much, I spent most of the day listening to it! The book just came out and I'd been eying it in the bookstores M and I had gone to, and when I logged into my audiobook app to finish a different book I remembered that I had credits, so I used them! (The credits were purchased earlier this year, but since that was 3+ months ago, using them now meant the books were "free". Girl math!) And wow it's a good read. When I took a break from sewing to contemplate the stripe trim of the collar, I knit a few rows and kept listening. So good.

My library book is due on Wednesday and I don't think I can renew it as it is also a new release, so I started reading it last night too. I told myself I wouldn't do that this time, waiting until the last day to read it, but here we are. Tomorrow is Canada Day so I will have plenty of time to read.

Re: who AM I? above, I was thinking about how I had to take a break from sewing after CoCo '18 and when I picked it up again almost 18 months later in laaaate 2019, I had started to spiral about if I did X, then I needed do Y and Z and also J, K and L too, and quickly nipped that in the bud. I had decided to consider more about HOW I sew and not WHAT, which meant taking time to do things like basting and seam finishes. That fell off more over the past few years, but I was reminded of it again when I started serging. So I think I will start doing this more again, even when the extra steps seem like so much WORK and why do they even matter. They DO matter. They matter to me as a tiny little way to show up for myself and my work.

Payday today, so I refreshed my memory on this week's budget (since i need to get some groceries) and bleh. It's silly. Then I made some envelopes at work (abusing my access to a label maker and highlighters and blank envelopes) and sorted out the next pay day too. It is also stupid. Maybe I wouldn't be in this position if I'd considered a visual rep to start with but hey. Baby Corn wasn't born yet to give me financial advice.

The "up" side, I guess, is that aside from groceries, I'm doing OK. My cats have food, I have access to get food as long as I'm careful, and I have plenty of hobby-related things to keep me entertained for a very long time.

Since I was partially inspired for a sailor dress from Gothic Lolita fashion, I did an image search for ideas, and I've settled on this one from Beleganty. I like the double line of stripes on the skirt. I'm planning to make this from poplin and I'm not 100% sure if I'll make the collar a contrast colour. I'm also not 100% sure on what colour to make the stripes out of... although I'm very sure I don't have enough pre-purchased bias tape to do as much as I'd like. Luckily, making bias tape is very easy and kind of fun. Black and white is so classic, and I plan to put various knots and bows onto pins so I can change them out as I please.

I was cruising YouTube this am looking for entertainment and found a sew-along video for 1948 Mccall's culottes. Hilariously, they look exactly like Gertie's Elsa culottes. I decided I wanted to save my teal twill for said culottes, so I think it's time to bump that higher on the list. And I really do need some tops. Summer is coming fast and I'll want to be stylish and cool.

Finished cutting pattern pieces and taped them all together, with PLENTY of help from Sophie. She wanted pets, so she was being super duper cute by rolling onto her back and patting my arm with her paw, but she didn't want to sit still for pets so I mostly worked around her. There are plenty of tape spots with her fur trapped beneath them. I want to trace off the pieces to make a mockup before I start on the dress I have in mind.

It's been a weird week for clothing. I do need to do laundry, but I also just don't want to wear anything I currently have, especially pants. I want dresses, but I've mostly made sundresses (not work-appropriate). I want skirts but the one is wool (delicious, delicious wool) and the other was modified two summers ago and is now too big. Plus I'd like to fix up the zipper, it is definitely not my best effort lol. I made it as a dress in 2009, took the bodice off 2023, have since lost a couple inches. I braved the closet today, namely bc its one of the Forbidden Doors and getting the kittens out of it can be real tricksy, and am wearing the top I made a couple months ago and wool trousers. It's OK. Clearly need to be pushing this wardrobe building kick I'm on.

Finally sat down with my Monopoly money last night. Couldn't find any envelopes, but I flung the pieces around and that was fun. I started by pulling my current balance + tomorrow's deposit, and then went through my app and sorted the paper until I had accounted for everything and could see what I had left. It was helpful, actually, bc I had a number in my head that was NOT the number the money represented and now I can act accordingly. I want to find a little toy cash register (or I guess a lockbox would be OK too) to put the money in. Make it more fun for me lol.

Took a nap yesterday despite feeling much more awake. Woke up just before the alley construction on the other side of my wall started getting very noisy indeed. They'd laid down some mesh/overlay to further build on, and I could guess they were laying the gravel next and compacting it. It was SO VERY VERY LOUD, the walls and windows and windows were shaking and I paused my show because I couldn't hear it. I expected a large truck or something with the amount of terror the cats were experiencing, but then the worker finally moved into sight of a window and... it was one guy with a hand-operated machine. Good lord that thing is unholy. They didn't get the whole alley yet so I expect they will do so today and terrorize my cats some more. (Actually they didn't seem too bothered. They aren't fussed with thunder or fireworks either.)

Because my hand was still sore, I only spent a little bit of time cutting out pattern pages. I spent a goodly amount of time looking at tiny paper slicers so I will purchase one of those soon to make my life a little bit easier. It's still sore today too, but again improved even from yesterday.

It was late last night when I remembered to check my Monopoly game, and I had NOT, in fact, added the extra bundle to the game. It is currently in my backpack awaiting my attention. I would want to be careful adding it in anyway, the stack is not very neat and bent on a lot of edges. Let's be real, I'm never going to actually PLAY it, I have it more as a nostalgia item lol.

Survived yesterday! I got home, plonked myself on the couch, and did gloriously nothing. I watched some movies. WHAT movies, I couldn't tell you. (Thinks for a moment) I watched Juno and Cinderella, aka things that I've seen a million times that did not require my attention whatsoever. Dinner was half a bag of chips.

Around 9 I thought OK this is a good time to move to the other room, I'm starting to feel like I could sleep for the next three years. Started to do that but of course that triggered some energy, so I collected up the last of the knit fabric (less left over than I thought, but still plenty for a shirt) and put it away, then took the scraps out from a project 2 years ago and laid out a Rita blouse. Currently considering taking apart the old dress and making Rita into a dress, since the old dress is a shapeless sack that, while adorable, does not suit me. The sleeve situation was tricksy with the remnant but I set it aside and told myself this is soooo not a today problem. Then I decided to print out another pattern, so I did that. I'd left all the various tabs open so hopefully there would be less faffing the next time I wanted to print. Limited success. Absolutely did not want to be trimming pages with my hand the way it was so it just got put on the table and I walked away.

Into bed and lights out. Solstice a few days ago means we're still getting tons of light and sunset is still around 10pm. I finally put everything down and conked out around 1130. Slept about 6 hours, which is not NEARLY enough, but at least it was a straight 6 hours without waking up in the middle. My hand is MUCH better today, still a little sore and I still need to be careful with it, but improved. I really must have slept on top of it or something while I napped.

Early AM half-asleep thoughts: I messed up my budget (slightly) until mid-July, whoops. My friend sent me a video of the most adorable cat on the internet, Baby Corn, "budgeting" for his new couch since he's a big boy now and outgrew the last one. (I'd already seen the video, and voted that he should blow his earnings on the best couch.) This morning I randomly thought about all of the Monopoly money in my house. I have a 1960s version of Monopoly Canada that my dad had found a pack of money for at the thrift store. No game, just money. I've added it into the game itself (I think) once the kittens knocked the box off the table and it needed to be sorted before being stored again. Baby Corn is the financial role model I need, apparently, because these two thoughts connected. I can't have actual cash for budgeting since it just... goes away, and virtual budgeting is limited success atm. But what if... what if I used Monopoly money. I could have a visual representation of what I have that doesn't have any actual value so can't be spent willy-nilly. I'm gonna consider this today, I think.

Part of what spurred this was realizing I hadn't accounted for some automatic payments, but I DID account for a large one later in the period. I'll have to move that large one to the next period bc I won't have enough to cover it (even if its the kind of payment that I get most of it back, it won't be enough to cover the smaller ones, and also is the last one of the cycle so there's nothing to draw from) which means I can stop worrying about groceries. I WILL learn all this eventually, it's just a slow process with the fluidity of money and pay cycles.

Remember this super cute Gunne Sax pattern I found recently? The one I was super tempted to spend $100+ to get?

Today I took the time to print a page of the pale version to better suss out the proportions of the skirt by drawing lines and measuring etc. I was poking around Etsy again and happened to run across a copy for $26 Canadian. And shipping was only $4! Reader, I slammed "buy it now" so fast that it tried to access my old card that I haven't changed yet whoops.

It's the smallest size, but that is OK because I am confident in at least attempting to make it larger since I would need to even if I'd gotten a larger size anyway! I wanted it mostly for the layers and how does it go together and how tall is that bottom ruffle anyway?? I also noticed that it's entirely English/French and metric measurements, so I suspect this one was made exclusively for the Canadian market. Oh boy am I excited to dive into this one.

Had a great sleeping schedule all weekend, getting 8 hours in both nights and a 2 hour nap yesterday, but then I came out of a doze at 2:15 AM and didn't manage to drop off again. Not helped by the 5:20 AM thunderstorm. It is going to be a long, long, loooooooooooooooong ass day.

Finished the Ginger pants on Saturday, and I mean FINISHED them. Waistbands on the night before, buttons sewn on, hook and bar sewn on, hemmed. The whole shebang! I hung them on a door to admire. It was early enough in the day that I printed out a new pattern, trimmed the pages, taped them together, AND started cutting out a new project before I had to leave to pick up M.

Movie was good, basically a scene for scene remake of the OG. In some ways this was better than the Disney modus operandi of "let's remake it, but better" (and it's never better). It was a live action remake, the end. Toothless looked great, Gerard Butler reprised his role as Stoic and just ate scenery the entire time (he was having so much fun), the other dragons were also great, all in all super fun. Of the Disney remakes, I liked Cinderella the best because it was not a scene-for-scene remake, but when they did Beauty and the Beast I really did not like it because it WAS a scene-for-scene (but they changed my favourite one). No, we don't need more pointless remakes. I do hope we get another HTTYD.

After the movie we hit up two Walmarts for blind boxes of dragon plushies (I walked away with two Disney boxes to get the Kuzco figures; M got the dragon she wanted and another one), the small-batch ice cream shop sort of local to me, and the bookstore next door. When I got home, I finished cutting out the new project and went to bed.

On Sunday, new project got fully sewn from neck to hem and is already done. That's knit dresses for ya! I made it because people in the Discord said they had made several iterations whenever they needed an easy win, and one had gotten it down to a matter of hours. It took me about 5 hours, WITH a break for lunch and putting in unaccounted for pockets (may or may not have been successful). Some day I'll have a whole whack of photos for these, but for now you'll have to trust me that it is STINKING CUTE. I almost wore it today but my quick try on yesterday revealed that the bodice is just too long overall. I ought to raise the neckline (easiest fix) because I will definitely be flashing people and that's not a mood at work.

Other random thoughts:
I really need to look into a new Windows machine. The laptop with the Adobe wot does layers is so ancient at this point. It takes so long to do anything, and I mean it is really noticeable. Downloaded a pattern, Firefox said "Opening, 0s" and it was 2 full minutes later when it actually opened. It is an exercise in patience when I want to print. The Chromebook has very limited print functionality and mobile Adobe sucks monkey butts. I will have to struggle through for the next who knows how long until I can make that happen.

My hand is very very very sore. It was fine yesterday until I woke up from my nap, and ever since it's just been ow ow ow.

I have almost a meter of the knit fabric left over so I fully plan to make a shirt of some sort.

No sewing tonight. It will be a miracle if I make it through the day.

Sewing was a wash yesterday. I did go ahead and lop off 1/2" at CF tapered to nothing at the sides, did rather a hack job of it, and immediately sewed the small CF waistband wrong. Twice. Called it then and there, the longer bands were NOT going to go well.

Another sleepless night thanks to this stupid organ, punctuated by a most malodorous smell. I typically ascribe those smells to my weed-smoking neighbour who stands barely past my window and stinks the place up, but this had an added layer of a petrol refinery and it permeated the entire back side of the house. Did a skunk wander by and have to discharge its back end at something? I've never smelled skunk spray that was fresh. It took like an hour to clear out enough to open the window again. The sun was definitely rising as I attempted to sleep again. At least this time my dream wasn't deep enough to pull me back so firmly into sleep when my alarm was going off.

But more unpleasantness awaited me. Was reading on the train, as I normally do, and my body suddenly decided it didn't like, not one little bit. I managed to make it to a station, got off and immediately plunked my butt down on a bench. I started looking for the nearest bin bc I was about three seconds away from puking. When my motion sickness decides to rear its head, it does so ferociously! Not helping at all is that I am also dehydrated enough to be dizzy when my head changes positions, and I've been having trouble focusing through my glasses, looking down more when I don't need to and getting that awesome reading lens watery effect. I'll have to get a pair without the reading portion for travel like this.

Anyway, I am super tired and still not feeling like my tummy is settled and I really need a drink. Send good thoughts, it's gonna be a long day.

Oh yes, and tomorrow's plans are the new How to Train Your Dragon movie with M! That will be fun. I expect my pants to be finished this weekend.