Exams et cetera

Exams are upon us! Well only sort of in my case. I only have two this term and they’re spaced a week apart which means lots and lots of time for sewing. I move back home next weekend and need to gather up all my worldly possessions, again. Still no news from Queen’s however I did find out about a textile conservation program in Glasgow! I’m going to apply but now that I have seriously begun considering doing my master’s abroad, I’m feeling trepidatious about the whole thing. I’m hardly an adventurous person and the prospect of moving so far away without knowing anyone is definitely unsettling. I also will have to make some sacrifices for the vision of how I wanted to live over the next two years. I had my heart set on living on my own somewhere but finding an affordable place in Kingston would have been hard enough, finding one overseas will be near impossible. It makes so much more sense, if of course I am accepted, to live in residence there, however I was hoping to avoid that possibility. Still I need to conceive of the next two years not as My Life, but rather Temporary Studying, after which My Life may begin. Still it feels like I am postponing what I want for myself…

Some sewing has been happening! O.K. so I have a hard time finding shorts and skirts that are both comfortable and flattering so I usually resort to jeans in the summer which seems illogical but usually I just don’t have the time/energy/motivation to do anything about it. But not this summer! I randomly was in an antiques store over Easter weekend and I bought my first vintage pattern!

Normal
0

It’s from 1941, a really simple skirt. It’s not in my size but it was simple enough that scaling it up should be easy right? Well it worked fine for the back, not so much for the front, thus the additional panel you see in the image below. I am also not nearly as willowy waisted as a proper 1940’s girl so I shifted the skirt down from the natural waist to my hips, adding shape to the waistband in the process. I think it turned out pretty cute, and it has pockets! And cute buttons in the back, see the buttons???

Normal
0

I’ve got plans for another summer dress in a cutsie white swiss dot that I hope won’t turn out tooo garden-partyish. I want just a smidge of garden party! I’ll probably modify this pattern and add sleeves. I’ve made this before and it fits me well and is super comfortable.

Normal
0

In historical sewing news… remember this? Well I’ve finally slapped together a skirt for it and am in the process of trimming it. As you can see I’m handsewing some black velvet ribbon along the pleats.

Normal
0

I’ve got plans to make some skinny jeans and a ball gown bodice among other things. We’ll see how far I get before I leave town. Oh yeah gotta pack too…